Good morning chicks! My turn to start the new thread! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Fall sports started for us so DD had soccer and volleyball! Dinner out last night with some friends. Tutte Mare is not a good choice and I am feeling it this morning. I think it's what Newleaf called the food hangover! Did get up early and rode the bike, now I'm off to work. Happy Monday!

Carol - your determination to get up early and work out is amazing! Funny, I KNOW it works, and it sets such a positive tone for the whole day ... but it's probably my awfulest bugaboo. I did take one step toward it - I committed this week to only hitting the snooze once. And I did get the trash out last night instead of scrambling this morning. Now to get lunches made the night before, too ... and that will free up enough time to get in some exercise. I've been following your bathroom remodeling notes - pictures?

I still have to finish reading last week's thread, so I'll post more in a bit.

Well, I did have a slight weight hangover this morning; it was those damn nuts after the 35 min. on the treadmill. I intended to do an "easy stroll" but I set the machine on random and read my LARGE PRINT BOOK (still doing that!), and it turned out to be pretty vigorous. Afterwards, I decided that I hadn't had really any protein during the day other than 1 tsp. almond butter, so I opened a bag of nuts "to just have a handful". I need to master this nut demon, come up with a strategy to PUT THEM AWAY before I start with my first serving, and then distracting myself when I am done eating them so 1 serving doesn't turn into 4. Ack!!

But overall, the weekend didn't do too much damage; I weigh less than I did at the end of last weekend, and so that's really the downward trend I'm looking for.

Have a great week, everyone!

ICUWishing I really can't force myself to get up early to exercise, either... But I am trying to be really diligent about exercising once the boys go to school, BEFORE I start working (I work from home), doing errands, or really anything else. So with that, I need to finish my coffee, do a little "urgent" work, and then go hit the elliptical.

Marie: Yay! Love the scale photo. That is definitely a picture-worthy moment.

ICUwishing: good job on getting back on track!

newleaf123: yay for a downward trend week to week.

dmc2009: way to go with peppers for a late night snack!

Onmyway: sending good wishes for a speedy completion of your bathroom. Good for you for morning exercise -- probably the best cure for a food hangover!

I lost about half of yesterday's dramatic weight gain, so feeling a bit better about life! Today should be less challenging. Thanks, everyone, for your support and kind words!

Marie - congrats on the "4"s! You have worked long and hard for this. Enjoy!

gardenerjoy - fortunately, those fast weight gains are usually gone pretty fast with a few days of good eating.

newleaf - I had a bad "nut" day this weekend, too. I also only meant to have one serving, but it turned into 4 and gave me an "up" day instead of a "down" day on the scale.

ICU - one step at a time! I'm also trying to get more things done in the evening and to then have easier mornings. It's not so hard for me, but the ds's add a lot more complications. This morning they were wrestling on the couch and things got out of control. Sigh. Short of locking them in their rooms, it's hard to stop the constant competition.

dmc2009 - that's a good idea for zero calorie snacks after dinner. It sounds like an idea I should incorporate into my plan. Hmmm..

Yesterday, I was at two events that served cake and I didn't eat any. In the first one, I cut and served cake to 100 people and I didn't have even a nibble. Instead, I had a 1"x1" Rice Krispie square which would have very few calories in comparison to even a small slice of cake. I was rewarded by being down a half pound this morning. That felt good!!!!

newleaf - I'm still coming to grips with the idea that exercise has to be the same level of commitment as food. Sigh.

gardenerjoy - congrats on flushing out the sodium bloat! Water's wonderful!

Marie - when I can take the same picture, I am going to make a bunch of copies. One will be posted in the pantry, one on the fridge, one inside the chip drawer, and one on the bathroom mirror. Getting under "a buck fifty" is a huge accomplishment - on top of a spectacular weight loss already. You go, girl!

dmc - great choice on the snack - that is how thin people eat! Ditch the negativity - there's nothing impossible about a pound a week, especially with the hard work you're putting in. She's just envious of your commitment.

pres - Excellent! You are one strong woman! Apparently everything went very well with Mom! I'm so glad mine is also doing a weight loss project right now - it's cut way down on the temptations. She has ways of finding delightful little "treats".

OMW - I'll be in Bay City on Thanksgiving day, but my mom lives in Shelby Twp and I expect we'll be there on Friday. If you're going to be there more than one day, we might be able to work something out!

patch - that b'day dinner sounds YUMMO.

mystical - you don't need luck to work out! You can do this. Give it a couple weeks and you'll wonder why you were nervous about it.

wlw - Hang in there. It WILL move. You've made some significant changes to the way you eat, and sometimes it takes a while for the bod to realize it. Patience! All experiments seem to require at least 3 weeks of evaluation time.

hyrda - have fun with the babysitting!

This is the hardest part about the whole journey though why did it take me all summer to figure this out?

So trying to up the exercise & get back into running 3x/week- but I'm having motivation issues

Marie- love the scale shot! Congrats!

Had a great workout day that involved 20 min of running & 70 min of walking- trying to keep the scale from going up as I wait from TOM to arrive

But it sounds like everyone's week is off to a great start! Way to go ladies!

The books I ordered for my 15 pound loss reward came today. One of them is on gluten free eating and looks like it has some good recipes in it, the other one is the exercise program called Callanetics and I remember having this book and doing the exercises almost 20 years ago!

ICU - yes, everything went pretty well with my parents. I even managed to lose 2 pounds while they were here. My mother has said some extremely hurtful things to me in the past, but it usually only happened when I was feeling vulnerable. Since I'm feeling pretty strong right now, I don't seem to attract the same kind of comments.

CanadaMel - good work with the exercise! I found that after a couple of months of regular exercise, I now crave it.

Hydra - would love to hear how the Callanetics work out. I remember them from the past, too.

I had my job interview yesterday. I think it went ok, but I don't know how I stack up against the others being interviewed in terms of experience.

One bad thing was that a woman who I had to terminate in my last job now works at this place where I had an interview. We saw each other as I was waiting to go into the interview room and it really shook me up. She's obviously got the same horrendous attitude that got her in trouble before (she's been "let go" from 4 jobs in a row). Shortly after she saw me, I saw her take one of the interviewers into a small room, no doubt to tell her how awful she thinks I am. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I'm offered the job. The good thing is that they will decide by Friday, so I won't have to wait long.

PresMaggie, bummer about the woman you saw. But if I were the interviewer and someone took me aside to bad mouth someone I interviewed and liked, I would not think badly of the interviewee, but the person. Don't worry.

ICU, last night I made a bit of of a differnt choice, but it was still low calorie and not bad. I had a piece of low cal bread, a smidge of almond butter and just a dab of agave nector and half banana. It was just enough... but it scared me, it felt too decadent, but I know I didn't go over my calories.


Gardener, it's peppers tonight for sure!

OWY, hope all is going great with you!

I am hoping for another pound this week gone!!!!

Pres - I wouldn't worry about that woman, I'm sure EVERYONE knows how she is.

Had another GREAT long weekend with Mack. He's back to work today and I'm headed to Vegas for the night. Meeting with a friend for a hike up Mary Jane Falls and will be back tomorrow evening.

The scales have been moving so slow but I am getting close to being a "normal" weight (140.8) and then the 130's are right after that. I have never really considered myself on a diet this time and looking back on the last 9 months I truly feel that I have made a life style change. I will never be one of those that works out everyday, I can't see myself ever giving up my poolside beer and Ben & Jerry's is still a favorite. What I have found is "balance" and it's a GREAT feeling.

Hope you all have a good week, I'll be back to posting on Thursday.

Easy come, easy go - back to 154.0, thank goodness, despite TOM. I ate 1300 carefully-chosen calories yesterday. Funny how as the setpoint moves, so does the "alarm threshold". Going back above 155 practically induced panic!

pres - I totally agree with DMC there - they are probably already highly aware of this person's limitations, and the fact that you've clashed with her may actually increase their estimation of you.

dmc - that DOES sound good! It would send me into an awful carb spiral, though. My idea of a snack is something like a piece of cheese or an avocado, or the dreaded nuts. I've discovered that 25 pistachios, counted out (and bag re-closed and tucked away) take a while to eat and have far fewer calories than one would think. My plan's kinda screwy, but hey, it works! Low-fatters run screaming in fear when they hear what I eat.

Hydra - I think the best rear view I EVER had was when I was in college and picked up my Callanetics book again. It works. Period!

Hey guys, nothing exciting to report over the weekend expect my cateract surgeon saw me again and says I'm healed so I don't have to see him again. He played around with some lens called prisms which tilt the angle of what I see in one eye to match the other but referred me to another dr who speciaizes in this which would help with the double vision.

Hubby is doing well. The swelling on the side of his head is almost gone.

Presmaggie, YEAH on the scale showing you reward for your excellent choices. Rice Krispie bars are really pretty low in cals so you did great. YEAH on the 2 pound loss!!!!! I’m sorry that the attitude teminate-ee was employed at the interview workplace. Perhaps if they don’t see through her attitude and adore her, you wouldn’t want to work there. At least the timeline is short.

OMW, welcome to the morning exercisers. I don’t think I can handle a day without it anymore. This morning as the doggies and I did a 2 mile walk, I kept pointing my headlamp up to the dark sky. The stars were brilliant and the sliver of a moon was so beautiful. It was awesome. Even after the scale decided to give me the 150 this morning, the day can’t be ruined with the blood pumping on a beautiful starry morning.


Newleaf, I “know” nuts are healthy but they are so loaded with calories and tasty, they’re too easy to overeat so I tend to stay away from them. But give me some almonds or cashews, I don’t think I could stop either.

Joy, I’m glad the scale is being kinder. Keep at it and it will be kind more often than nasty. Mine is NEVER nice every day. Women's bodies fluctuate too much for being stable day to day.


ICU, have you experimented with exercise? Like really trying to find what you really like to do? Just putting on your fave music and dancing around the house as you do cleaning or whatever counts. Once you’re hooked on the feeling good high, it’s impossible to give up. I’d give up food way before I’d choose to give up exercising.

Canada, if you’re not motivated to run, why run? If I were told to run 3X/week, I’d seriously come down with a debilitating cold. Now tell me to elliptical 5X/week and walk 7X/week (my routine) I’m there and ready to play. Exercise is like food – you’ve got to find out what you like. Of your great workout yesterday, I’d really like the 70 min of walking.

Hydra, enjoy your reward. The books sound interesting!

DMC, great choice on your snack. Isn’t it awesome when decadent is also low calorie???

Cruise, you hit it on the head – balance. Great word choice. I’m with you on the foods. I love my nightly ice cream cone. I’m obsessed with Breyers Cherry Choco Lover ice milk. I fell in love with it way before my weight loss. My cone size has gone down to the real serving size, but no one can get me to give it up. I pair it with Oreo cone and the 170 cone is my nightly treat. Eight every night. Of course, unless I ate too much during the rest of the day and the 170 is out of my budget. But as I LOVE my cone, I do anything to stay under the cals. That’s balance in my life. Choices.

So finding the before pics and a current one is harder than I thought. I will keep working on it.
Marie

pressmaggie - I hope your career plans work out for you. It is so hard to find a job, let alone a good job these days. Good luck to you.

dmc - good job of keeping those calories low, it is not easy some days.

cruiseCAT - I like your attitude. You are doing a really great job.

penguin - good to know that you and hubby are doing well.

I had a doctor visit this morning and he was thrilled to see I had lost 20 pounds since my last visit. He decided not to put me on meds for my high triglycerides and he did another blood test to check them.