ICUwishing: congratulations on making it through a tough week!

newleaf123: yay for tackling those hills! I'm so glad that it went well.

Hydra: have fun with your jewelery making!

wyndymoon: glad you found us and welcome! Sorry for the loss of you mom. My parents are both gone and I know that it's a very sad time that takes a lot of adjustment. Be kind to yourself!

CruiseCAT: hope your knee improves before you have to take that big step of getting it X-rayed.

Everyone else: have a great weekend!

Today's adventure is going to visit one of our CSA farms. It's a couple of hours out. They are feeding us, but I'm not too worried about finding something on my plan to eat. I'm pretty sure that I can count on having lots of farm-fresh vegetables to choose from!

CruiseCAT, sorry that your knee is still not right yet... have fun with the doggies at the park!

GardenerJoy how fun to go out to the CSA farm! I'm considering doing a CSA next year, but need to research it a little further. If I recall from the information I saw this spring, the places around here don't deliver, which leaves you having to go out to the farm each week? Not sure... Have you been happy with the CSA?

I experienced exhilaration this morning! My DS8 had a soccer game this morning and I grabbed a certain Gore-Tex jacket from my skinny days to keep me dry. I LOVE this jacket. But the problem is, it is a pull over your head, long enough to cover your bottom. It's got a heavy zipper up the side (from the bottom) so you can vent heat. Anyway, when I put it on, the side zipper was up, meaning the coat was flapping open at the hip. Last time I wore it, I *couldn't* zip the zipper down -- it was too tight across the butt. Today -- down it went, easy. This is a jacket from my skinny days, that I have a lot of fond hiking memories in. I am thrilled to be wearing it again!

And at least the scale didn't go up.

Yes, it was a crunchy cookie. Last night it was crunchy pretzels.

I lost momentum, but still working out and walking every single day and tracking my food. Its at night that I do the BAD deeds.

Heavy sigh...

Today is a new day, and a new opportunity.

Glad to see everyone here and sorry to be such a drive byer!!!

dmc2009 - keep on with the exercise. Way to go!

newleaf123 - it must feel good to fit into your old jacket! That's a good NSV.

gardenerjoy - what is a CSA farm?

Cruise - hope your knee is better, soon.

wyndymoon - welcome!

Hydra - your jewellery sounds lovely. Are you willing to share any pictures?

ICUwishing - ooh, I like your snack suggestions. I'm allergic to garlic, so I can't eat salsa. Do you have any suggestions for other celery dippers?

weightlosswanted - congratulations on the .6 of a pound. Every little bit helps.

I'm struggling with what to eat these days. When I lost the first 20 pounds, I was only exercising lightly. Now, I'm doing 5-6 hours a week in the gym, with interval training to keep my heart rate up. I was feeling extremely hungry all the time, so I tried to increase my calories somewhat. That didn't work well and I still had crazy cravings. I went to the part of this site where people weight train and they recommended a certain author, Tom Venuto. I read his book and followed his recommendations to a "t". I also gained half a pound in 3 days. Sigh. Now, I'm going to combine some of his recommendations with my previous way of eating and hope for the best. The good thing was that while I was eating the way he recommended, my energy level soared. The weight gain was not good, though. It is frustrating to have such a messed up body. I try not to think about the hormone specialist doctor who said I would not be able to lose weight without drugs. I'm determined to find a way, though.

Pres,

Muscle weighs more than fat, so maybe you are doing some serious firming up.

Today, out of curiosity, I pulled out the tape measure, so I looks like I have lost 2 inches off my waist, maybe more if counting my all time high.




that is encouraging. I am still tracking and still exercising and every night I don't eat is a good one. I am not having the wine and really avoiding sugar still, so that is good.

Lets keep moving!

New Leaf : good job on the bike ride! hoping I can start doing that someday. no hills here in the low country though : )
cruise:sorry the knee isn't healing well, x-rays might be a good idea.
wyndy: welcome!
hydra: you're giving me the itch to pull out my bead trays!
icu: hope a "me" day helps : )
marie: ouch on the wrist!
joy: the trip to the csa sounds like fun. we have a couple here but you have to go to a pickup point (hard to do with no car) and their packages are designed for a family, not a single person. I bet lunch was great and super healthy!
pres: I agree, in the past I've found when working out builds muscle it can temporarily slow weight loss but you'll keep losing inches. and those muscles will help you lose more weight over the long term.

So I bought myself a "magic" scale from amazon.com. Everytime I get on it, it reads two pounds lighter - I can step on and then off 5x in a row and lose 10 lbs in 5 minutes...it could only happen to me : ) Scale at the gym shows only .5 lbs lost, I'll take it!
Got my digital food scale today, hoping it works better than the bathroom scale.

WLW, I want a scale like yours! LOL

We finally had a beautiful day of sunshine to enjoy today. Hubby and I did some errands in the morning but started to feel badly , so came home to take a nap. We're feeling better again. LOL

The electricity went off for a few hours Fri and I didn't realize the computer was still off. Out of sight out of mind

WLW, I like your magic scale also!

Marie, sorry to hear about your wrist.

Newleaf, Yay on the jacket fitting!

Wyndy, Sorry for your loss. Good job on restarting the weightloss. Welcome.

Hydra, I use stainless steel wire, I haven't the nerve to try silver! Your work sounds beautiful. Post pics if you can.

ICU, Moslty I'm a choc fiend but occasionally I get the crunchy munchies. I can't keep chips in the house but seasoned croutons are a favorite of mine.

Joy, I had "Young Moms" last year {20's-30's but some 40's} and we had a hard time getting them to open their mouths especially for the first few months. {we don't call on anyone, if you want to answer the questions its up to you} but this year I'm co leading the 50-60 age and these women aren't afraid to speak their mind. Its actually a refreashing change. When I first started I didn't speak for the first 6 months, and still have trouble sometimes, even though I'm 'In charge!"

newleaf123: I love our CSA. Ours delivers to several locations in the area. My pick up location is quite close. It definitely encourages us to try my veggies in more ways. Congrats on the "new" old jacket!

dmc2009: keep stopping by -- I'm convinced that helps! Yay for the 2 inches lost! I'm doing the tiniest amount of strength training and I swear that I'm thinner at this weight than I was the last two times I was here. I don't have measurements to prove it, but I really feel like the strength training is making my 10 pound loss feel more like 15 or 20.

presmaggie and Marie: CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You pay a subscription fee in the middle of winter to get a box of veggies every week during the growing season. The idea is that the community takes on some of the risk -- if the tomato field gets flooded, we don't get tomatoes in our box. Our CSA has two farms, so the risks are substantially lowered -- both farms are growing tomatoes, so if one crop fails, the other farm is likely to be able to take up the slack. It's a great way to support local farms and get fresh, locally-grown produce. A good source for finding CSA is:
http://www.localharvest.org/

presmaggie: Good for you for making changes to see what works for you.

Marie: hope your wrist heals quickly. DH fell on his wrist during a bike ride and had off and on problems for a year or so every time it got wrenched in some way. It did seem to heal a bit faster each time. He found a brace helped some. I always recommend ice, but he thinks it's cold and rarely takes me up on the offer!

patchworkpenguin: LOL at the 50-60 women who speak their minds! That sounds like a great group.

The farm tour lunch had lots of veggies -- unfortunately, they were mostly squash and potatoes. Oh well, I kept the portions small and did okay -- and got in some walking. It was a fun trip with some beautiful scenery.

dmc2009 - one step at a time and before you know it, you'll be at goal!

Marie - I hope your wrist is ok. Thanks for the support. I have actually lost an inch on my waist in the last week or two, so maybe all my work is paying off in muscle build-up.

weightlosswanted - how frustrating about the scale. Wouldn't it be great if we could lose weight that fast, though?

patchworkpenguin - isn't it interesting how much the older women speak out? Yesterday, I went to a talk at my church's women's group and the speaker was 67 and she had gained so much wisdom from just living her life. I look forward to being that age and being more peaceful about my life, no matter what happens. She had had some really trying times and she was able to see the good that eventually came out of everything.

We're having the last gasp of summer, I think. It was one of those gorgeous sunny, crisp days yesterday. The leaves are starting to change color and it is truly my favorite time of year. Last night, dh and I had one of our rare nights out. After a wonderful dinner (roast chicken, potatoes and veggies with a couple of spoonfuls of dh's dessert), we went for a walk down to the harbour where the lights of the older, cherished buildings were reflected in the mirror-like surface of the water. Heaven.

gardenerjoy - I guess we posted at the same time. Thanks for the explanation on the CSA. We have a similar kind of thing here, but I haven't participated due to the fact that all winter it would be nothing but kale and chard and I can only eat so much of that stuff.

WLW, return the scale. No scale should ever give you a variation. The only time I had that with a scale was when I set it on carpet. I moved it to hard floor and the variation went away.

Penguin, how odd that we’re 2000 miles apart and our electricity was out on Friday for a while as well. Yesterday I was digging out my 105 cal serving of M&Ms and said to my husband, “Hello, my name is Marie. I’m a chocoholic.” So you have a fiend here as well.

Joy, thanks for the explanation. That is an incredible idea. I can see why all of you here are excited by your CSA. And both squash and potatoes are good for you. It’s the drenching of butter that usually ruins their reputations.


Presmaggie, sounds like your date with DH was wonderful. Between the dinner and walk, it sounds romantic and wonderful.

My wrist is back to where it was before the fall so that is good. The cold is causing havoc with my asthma (with the thick smoke not helping in the least). I failed my idea of not weighing for a month. I made it a week. I just couldn’t handle seeing the scale and wanting to know what it says. I did get to 149 from the 149.6 so I got to change my ticker. I also went on a mango frenzy an hour ago. The cold fruit feels so good down the throat. I really love mangos. I’d never had them before this summer and I’ve gone wacko for them.

Marie

Nothing much exciting going on today. I am thinking about pulling out the treadmill which is better than my usual 'exer-what?"

Its suppposed to be sunny for the next few days until thursday night when it will start raining again. Sigh.

Marie, Even if I have something non choc for dessert I STILL want choc.

Maggie, I feel the difference between the two ages is that the younger are still aware/nervous about what others think of them or will say about them, while the older women know who they are and aren't afraid of what others think.

Be proud of me I got the treadmill out, acutally I batted my eyelashes at Hubby and he got it out for me.... But I ran on it. I did Cardio Coach 1!, which is 35 min of walk/jog intervals. Hopefully, I'll still be able to walk tomorrow, I tried not to overdo it since this is my first CC in a long time! I feel good, like I have accomplished something so maybe that will encourage me to exercise again tomorrow. I've got to start somewhere.