Seeing as we are all trying to be healthy and lose weight and exercise etc. I just came accross this little blurb and could not stop laughing so before signing off for the day (I dont unsually go online at home after work) here you go:
"Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die"
Hope you all have a good evening!

Thanks for the laugh, Ashley! I'm taking that as a good thing!!:carrot:

Miri, I am from Pelham Bay. I have afriend that lives in Co-op city and I went to visit her this past summer.. Small world.

Yes, low carbing is not easy and it really needs to be done CORRECTLY in order to be safe and effective. People think it is about eating meat cheese and eggs and although that will help you lose weight it won't last very long...giving up sugar is really where my struggle lies, I can live without bread for a while.

Annie, I really know where you're coming from. When my X and I were getting divorced and life at home was less than enjoyable for my girls my third daughter decided she wanted to go to boarding school. Sounds fancy shmancy, but here in Israel boarding school is also a type of education for kids who come from disadvantaged homes as well. We managed to get her into a school that has a high degree of education. It was expensive, and I couldn't afford it, and they gave us a full scholarship, tuition, room and board, the whole thing.

And what did my daughter do with this wonderful opportunity? She threw it all away. She didn't show up for class, she didn't study, she misbehaved to the point where they were threatening to expel her. Time and time again I had to travel up to the school to once again promise them that she would behave. I even had letters written by social workers and rabbis that because her father was such a ****head she needs the stability the school can give her.

Even with all of that she didn't bother showing up for most of the matric exams, and she graduated, but without a diploma. I was mortified. I was brought up and live in an environment where education is revered. And my kid flunked out of high school. I told her I support her, I told her I love her, but I was (and still am) very disappointed.

It took her a year to get her head together, and last year she decided she wanted to go to hairdressing school. A lot of people in our demographic would look down on this, but she knows that she is not going to be a rocket scientist anytime soon. I managed to scrape together the tuition, and the kid really rocked it this past year. She's now working in Jerusalem and has even started saving money.

I'm telling you all of this, Annie, just to let you know that sometimes kids do screw up. Just keep loving them and encouraging them, sooner or later they will figure it out. They may be sorry about lost opportunities, and you may be disappointed, but the best thing (I think) you can do for your son is tell him that you love him, but you are disappointed. I want to say in the end we all live happily ever after, but I can't.

This little group here looks like a strong, supportive bunch of women. If you need to vent, vent here.

:grouphug:

Z-girl, I have a good friend from Pelham Bay, but his partner died last Christmas and now he moved upstate to be with his brother's family.

The thing to remember with the low carb diet is to make sure you get your fiber from veggies. You can get really bunged up just eating protein all day long. I tried it for a month last summer, lost about 3 kilos, but didn't poop for almost two weeks. That's what made me stop. I'm eating lots of carbs now, but they are whole carbs, brown rice, wheatberries, quinoa. No whole wheat pasta, though, that stuff is vile! :barf:

I'm trying to give up Diet Coke. That's my major addiction. I have given up smoking, I've given up (but gone back to) single malt whisky (just a dram or two on the weekends) and coffee, I could probably give up chocolate, but I can't seem to beat the Diet Coke fix.

Miri, giving up diet coke was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I still have it on occasion but refuse to buy it and have it in the house. It truly is a horrible thing to drink, bad for everything.

My father owned a diner in Pelham Bay, so I was sort of 'famous"..or should I just say everyone knew who I was..LOL.,.the neighborhood is okay, sort of holding up but Coop City is definitely NOT what it was.

Yes, it is important to get fiber in when on low carb. I make a muffin out of flax meal and that helps keeps the pipe clear.

Unfortunately I haven't had much luck getting this low carb thing off the ground, baking gingerbread cookies last night with my kids did NOT help!

Good day, all! LOVE that we have a good group chiming in here. Ashley - loved your health line!

I read this on someone's thread on here and I email it to myself now and then;
Being overweight is hard
maintaining your weight is hard
Losing weight is hard ...
you have to pick your hard.

I love it. I am making things much harder than I need to. It's like I would never keep offering beer, wine, hard liquor to an alcoholic. Why do I continue to tempt myself with this and that and the other?

Last night we were in the final preps (well, tonight's the FINAL prep) for our trip - last night home is tonight ... and so we opted for chinese food. My idea. he loves it and I like the kung pao chicken as it's not fried and is loaded with crunchy celery and carrots. And is spicy. Anyway, we always split a meal, which is good. But when he drove off to get it, I heated up a sliver, about three bites, of my quiche. Then had 7-8 slices of turkey pepperoni. Then five wheat thins with hummus. I'm SNEAKING THE FOOD. And then ate my portion of dinner, faster than he did. And I was done but not FULL. I need to start majorly reducing portions here. Eating less at one sitting.

I feel like such a failure.

More later... I'll be out of pocket for a few days, but will check in when I can thru the holidays.

NP, don't beat yourself up about it. Some days are good food days, some days not.

Sometimes I'm so good, and proud of myself, and then some days... well... it's like there's this hungry little monster inside of me, and I have to eat to feed her! :devil:

One good strategy: no matter how hungry you are, eat slowly. You only start to feel full after 20 minutes, so eat slowly and stop when you feel full. Don't just train your body, train your mind.

NP you are NOT a failure, we just sometimes make bad choices is all. The fact that you are even trying is progress. I absolutley love your hard bit! Hope you have a great trip!
Growing up I faced two or three comments that made me feel so ashamed that I guess I learned to eat not in front of people but eat normal meals only with them. This may sound dumb but after I got married 5 years ago a big temptation would over take me when my hubby would go out. It kinda caught me off guard and now I have to guard myself if all of a sudden I am on track and then he goes out. It seems so dumb I can just be minding my own business at work or home (mostly at work) and wham! I have this overwhelming sensation to go eat. It's stupid and I hate it. I am on plan today and was yesterday.
One day I was in the grocery store on the way to work, as I had a compulsion to just go binge and while I was looking at the cookie isle I felt so discouraged and disgusted because I so just did not want to eat but is like my mind and body take over, so anyways a voice went thru my mind from the Dr. Phil show where in the opening he says 'I know things are tough out there but we can do this' that was so awesome cause I walked away and had a wonderful on plan day.
Miriyummy love the train your mind piece!

So everyone here today, things are tough out there, life is stressful but WE CAN do this!

NP, please don't use the word failure. You had a "collapse"...with the holidays and prepping and traveling I think we're all a bit out of sorts....and top that off with an unsatiable appetite and it doesn't get harder than that...I like what you said about picking your hard........My favorite saying is nothing tastes better than how skinny feels.......When you wear something and feel good about it.....nothing I eat is worth taking that away from me. Eating is something we do to stay alive, it has become my hobby and coping skill . That is so wrong.
Anyhoo back on that horse and that's an order!!

So far so good with my Atkins plan...cooking up a lot of different vegetables today.....and making a big salad. Lack of planning is where I fail.....

Hello everone! I'm just popping in for a morale boost before heading off to the holidays in Denver. Just when I thought I could get back to my regular schedule, my computer pitched a fit and had to go in for repairs...so I've missed most of this month again. Did whatever walking I could in betwen baking the dreaded ninetyleven cookies to take to the family. Ate too much dough and some actual cookies in the process. Didn't even try to stay on plan, just to make reasonably good choices most of the time. I put back on a pound or maybe two, but considering...

I'llk be back around after Christmas and get back on my plan for food and for exercise. Nothing going on here from Jan. 1 until May, so there are lots of chances to hike and hike.

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Barb

I'm so glad to see so many of us here supporting each other!:carrot::carrot:

Miri-Thanks for the support in my situation with my son. Yes, I always tell him that there is NOTHING he could do to make me stop loving him. We are just trying to get a commitment from him that next semester will be better. We cannot pay for failing grades. I just pray he really means it when he says he will do well this spring. I want the best for him, I'm sure you can understand that.:) Glad your daughter is back on track. I'd love to hear how you ended up in Israel from NY.

Ladies, Re: Diet Coke....I will not give up my caffeine-free Diet Pepsi or any other diet beverage. There are just some things I cannot do without and that is one of them.:D I can really admire those that do.

NP-Hang in there! You are not a failure and I think you are doing pretty well considering it is the holidays.....you are getting married in a few days.....WOW, anyone would be stressed. Be kind to yourself and just do the best you can for now.:hug:

Ashley-Congrats on winning the showdown with the cookie aisle!!

Zumbachica-The veggies sound great!! I am not on Atkins, but veggies have been a big part of my plan. Good job!

Barb!!-So good to see you! I hope you see this before you leave and have a wonderful Christmas!!:hug:

This is my last day at work until next Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to being off and spending time w/ my boys and fiance.

Love to all!!

A HUGE thank you to all for the support. I don't like drama and now realized that I'm relatively dramatic with my struggles with this. I get so flippin' frustrated. Before I hit 40, whenever I needed to lose weight, I focused on it and LOST IT. Not ever skinny, but healthy and within the healthy range. Now, it's like I have been using excuses and don't want to turn into that. if there are 168 hours in a week, I SURE should be able to find seven to exercise. I'm going to do a ticker for exercise come January, i hope :0 Thanks again!

No idea what's for dinner tonight - we're trying to clear out the fridge. Maybe cereal and fruit if there's still milk... That's speedy and not many dishes. Packing up and heading out tomorrow morning. I baked more biscotti last night and now I'm DONE with the baking! yay. At least I didn't bake cookies, because I have a very hard time with limiting those. I'd have passed Barb's "ninetyeleven" amount - ha ha!!

Think I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning and see where I stand when I come back from our trip/christmas/wedding and just go from there. Should be able to eat well on the trip as we won't be in restaurants too much, but enough!

Happy holidays! I'll check in as I can - thanks so much for spinning my day much more positively.

NP said, "I'm going to do a ticker for exercise come January, i hope"

I think that is an excellent plan!!:carrot:

How do you count it when you're traveling and are walking all over a city for say, eight hours, not counting when you're sitting down for lunch? Do you count all that or split it in half since it's not completely speedy walking and at times have to wait to cross the street?