This warm weather has been such a nice home-coming gift! Guess it gets cooler again tomorrow, but a day with just a windbreaker was great!

Silly - I just LOVE Italy, too - we hit Florence (my fav), Rome, Sorrento and did day trips to Pisa, Pompeii and Paestum. He was really into the ruins and so I wanted to work in what we could along that front. Love to travel and just need to figure out how to afford more of that. :)

All I want to do this weekend is relax. Next weekend I'm flying home (Florida) and kinda just want to do not much of anything here now. Lazy!! Have a lot to get done, though.

FL- have fun finding good deals at the farmer's market!! I love that, but only hit ours in the summer. It runs May-Oct.

Penguin - good luck vibes going to your hubby on the job! How long until they make the decision on that position?

Annie - hey there - how have you been doing? How's this semester started out for your son?

Ashley - Could you go to LA for a visit now and then or too mch $$ from Canada if your husband gets that position? Good way to look at that time, though - YOUR time.

Ange - WOW - China!! Looking forward to hearing how that goes!

Barb - I missed the veggies of the week - have to get to the market and will stock up - I need to get back with filling up on more veggies. And more fruit. Didn't get in much while on the road.

Activity for the past 12 days was great - walked a TON. Aiming to get out on the trail with the dog after a run to petsmart tomorrow... Hubby is working nights now for the next few days, and so he'll be sleeping days. I try to keep it kinda quiet around the house so it'll be a good day to get outside activity. Plan to wrap up early tonight and sleep!

Hello All
What a lovely community you have here... I am new to 3FC and hope that... I can contribute to it and draw on you all for support. I am over 40, Married, and most of my excersize this past month has been shovelling snow.

looking forward

WELCOME, Izzadawn! I'd send a fancier-looking greeting but I'm not as computer savvy as everyone else :) I'm with you on the shoveling snow madness. ENOUGH! :) Though it is good exercise, I have to grant it that. But I'm ready for spring soon. What are your biggest challenges?

A nice sunny morning here. Made out my marketing list and will tackle that before too long. Want to get some biscotti baked this afternoon for my sister-in-law's bday.

Excited to see the scale return to what it was before our trip - yay! Now to get started on moving that down another pound...

Thanks all- I didn't know some other farmer's markets were not open in the winter, we have several around that are open all year round.

The weather today was wicked, winds were 40mi. per hr. & only in the 30's. We went to the Farmer's market in Kutztown, it's called Renninger's. Maybe some of you may have heard of it. There is one in Florida also. Half is Antiques, other half is the farmer's market. Got alot of fruit there, but spent more than I wanted to. I got better deals at our local market, 2 bags of small blood oranges for 1.00! Now that's cheap! I was proud of myself, didn't buy any baked goods or candy at either place. Still went way over my calories with all the fruit I was eating once I got home. Also went food shopping, I'm ready for bed! Rode the bike for 30min this morning & I was walking all day. I'm gonna ride the bike some more tonight cause of all the extra calories. My weight stayed the same, but I might see a gain tomorrow!

I don't see any posts on here for all last night or today? Or is there something wrong w/ my computer?

The weather is cold, no walk today. Rode the bike for 30.min. I gained a half pound, not bad considering the higher calories for the past 4 days. They were healthy calories though. Can't believe it's been a week since I ate any kind of junk food. I'm stuck on fruit & yogurt, since I discovered chocolate yogurt, I'm hooked. Also i like to snack on dry Kashi cereal, there are a few kinds I like to keep on hand if I just want a snack. I think it's tasty. With that stuff here, I don't even want junk food.

My computer was being a jerk yesterday and wouldn't let me online. It kept wanting me to 'restart', so I finally gave up and just knitted most of the day. I was afraid to do too much or bring my headache back. {Hubby finally fixed the computer for me}

Today is very nice, partly sunny and 75*! but its supposed to start raining again tomorrow. Hubby and I did some running around after church. He's now changing the oil in the car.

Dawn, Welcome, glad to have you join us.

NP, we just have to wait and see. :dizzy:

Fruitlady. our farmer's market is only in the summer, but we do have all produce stores called Easy-Way. They usually just do local produce but that may change in the winter.

Have had a pretty relaxing weekend - got a great marketing trip done, highlighted by actually finding a [rather expensive!] gardenia in the flower section that somehow found its way into my cart. I was just yesterday morning talking to my mom saying how much I missed the gardenias in the spring up here ... I usually bring one home most mother's days when I fly home, but they last a month and keel over. I'm hoping this one that's loaded with buds will be so fragrant and actually BLOOM! :)

Have done okay staying on points today - weighed in and am down another half pound - that'll be it until I weigh before going home this weekend. Originally from Florida, so that's "home" ... whenever I'm on the road, my hotel is "home" ... here is "home" ... hubby was giving me grief last week for calling our hotels in Italy "home" .... heck, I lived in Italy for several years growing up, so that could be home, too, right? ha!

Rain coming tomorrow and snow after that, but it's been a few nice days out of the 30s!

Off to prep my lunch for tomorrow. And trying to stay away from a piece of chocolate... I have this record playing over and over "what damage does ONE piece do?" ARGH. It's the "one piece" every night mentality that will do me in...

Hey gang! Just now checking in since Friday. Just a couple of personal comments, sorry I'm not commenting on all, but I did read!

Welcme, Izza!! Glad you are here.

NP-I'm thinking the slightly larger size of your thighs might be from all the walking you did on your trip?? I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Fruitlady-I'll have to try those Yoplait choco thingies!! But for some reason things with that kind of consistency don't seem to satisy me and/or fill me up.

Went to the dentist Sat. a.m. and got my dental plate adjusted and it is much better. Hope I don't have to have it adjusted any more, but at least we know what to do if it is still too rough. Feels okay for now. Just still getting used to it.

Weekend w/ fiance was nice, even though TOM came to see me yesterday.:mad: Did some walking around w/ Tootsie out there yesterday, it was such a pretty day. But today....Tootsie was running full tilt back to the house and injured her leg somehow. I am hoping it is just a sprain. She will not bear weight on it so I am taking her to the vet in the morning unless she shows great improvement over night. She hasn't eaten or drunk (drank?) much water since she hurt herself. I take her out and sit her down to potty and that is all she has done. I feel so bad for her. Here is a pic of her resting in her little bed this evening: Looks like it will show at the bottom of the page.

Hope you all have a good day/evening.

Had to make another post to attach another image. This is a pic of the crocuses blooming in my yard! Spring is on its way!!:carrot:

ETA: Oh well, it won't let me post it. I'll put it on Photobucket tomorrow and post it then. I'm too pooped to party right now.

Hello everyone! Just a quick check-in today. Dropped Tootsie off at the vet this a.m. and am hoping to hear good news soon. She still isn't eating or drinking and barely using her leg. But she somehow jumped up on the bed while I was in the shower.:?:

I have pulled a muscle or something in my left shoulder/upper back myself this weekend. I called my doc in hopes that he might call in a mild muscle relaxer for me to try to get it feeling better w/o having to take off work and go see him. I believe he is going to do it and I'll have it this evening. Surprising, as he is usually really adament about seeing you first before prescribing ANYTHING. Hope it helps, it was waking me up last night and is really painful.

I did get up and move this morning (best thing for me when I feel like NOT moving), but was very careful of my shoulder/back....no weights or resistance bands. I did the entire 5 mile walk DVD and was proud to get it all done. 65 minutes!!

I made cake part of my b-day cake last night. I will ice and decorate it this evening and we will have it tomorrow evening after dinner. Hope it turns out!!

Thanks for the Warm Welcomes

Annie how old is you Pup? she won't eat if she is in pain the vet will be able to help with that. as for your soar muscle Epsom Salts Bath, and or Tiger Balm, they have a new sport version that comes in a larger tin. works for me!!!

Snow again here in Pa. & another small storm coming again tonight, so depressing. Rode the bike for 30min. the weather is so crappy, no walk. My weight stayed the same, that's ok , but I'm starting to think about junk food. I have to go to the store tonight, I hope I don't give in to any temptation. My calories are finally on track today, I don't want to mess it up. My stomach didn't feel good last night after I ate some fresh baby spinach, i hope it wasn't a touch of E-coli or something. I was actually in pain with stomach cramps, popping Rolaids like crazy too. After about 2 hrs. it got better, couldn't fall asleep right away at bedtime, some ways I was laying hurt my stomach. If I eat junk today, it could make my stomach hurt again.

Have a great day everyone!

Izza-My dog just turned 12 years old. Vet called, thinks it is just a sprain/strain and will give her some anti-inflammatories to bring home. I'm relieved.

Fruitlady-I can understand being tired of winter. It was in the high 70s here all weekend and is now 38 degrees. Well, at least seeing the crocuses this weekend helped me.

Here is the pic of the crocuses.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...cuses22011.jpg

Hi all, i'm just in transit in Hong Kong, and about to get on local china flight to go to work this morning. Nice hotel breakfast hasn't assisted my resolution to be good with the diet this trip, although i did just have museli, fruit and one piece of toast (no butter) so could be worse.

Right, lets see where i'm going to be staying this week, and what its like. Not worked in China before so should be interesting....

Annie - awww, hope it's good news for Tootsie, what a sweet girl! Lovely pic of crocuses too, it reminds me of growing up in England and seeing the crocuses as a sign of new life and lengthening days. Funnily enough i've just pulled something in my left shoulder too - it's only minor though. Did it whilst trying to do some sideways situps this morning!!

Dawn - Hello! welcome, and good luck with sticking to plan and being able to do something other than shovel snow very soon!

NP - Great you're back, and posting again. We missed you!

Fruitlady - hope you're feeling better today and manage to avoid any junk!

not sure whether i'll be able to log in over the next two weeks or not, so if i disappear, that's why!

sorry about all the exclaimation marks in that last post. Slightly excessive.
Must be feeling a bit too chirpy this morning. Could be the three cups of coffee i've already consumed.

Wavew wave! Welcome Izza, love the pics, Annie...we won't have anything blooming for MONTHS still.

I've been crazy busy with crafts, go figure. Our co-op produce was cool. We had to call one of the admin gals to find out what it was...jerusalem artichokes. They look like ginger, but don't smeel like it. Kind of like fingerling potatoes, but not exactly. Flesh like a radish but milder. Comsistency like a dense water chestnut. I put them in a hamburger/cabbage stew instead of potatoes and it was very good. One nmore dy of that left, then I will be making either a pear and white wine reduction or a fig and red wine sauce to go over ground chicken breast patties. I am not sure whether we have mini pears or figs. It's kind of fun getting mystery produce.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Barb

Good morning All!! Gray and cloudy and snow flurries, so we dodged the snowstorm that others are getting. Planning to go out for a dressy dinner later tonight, so I'm looking forward to that. Now thinking, "I HOPE I have something dressy that fits, or else it's dark jeans, high heels and a lacy top." Keeping my fingers crossed.

Annie - How's Tootsie this morning - any more movement on her leg? How about you - how's your shoulder? Take it easy with that!

Ange - had to crack up at your chipperness :) I didn't even notice the !!! marks, and had to go back and look for them.

Hope everyone's hanging in there as this week gets underway. I had a frustrating night last night (worrying about work and misc.) - made turkey burgers and baked fries so an indulgent mentally meal, but not off track completely, Had made a salad but went to "chill" it I popped it in the freezer (as it'd sat on my desk all day) and forgot it there for about 20 minutes instead of 2 minutes... it was HARD and completely frozen. But then kept going back for this and that. ... ended up with a slice of american cheese (which i justified by saying it "could" have been on my burger, but I saved it for later ... huh?) ... a few slices of turkey pepperoni - 17 of them are 70 calories and I tend to take 6-7 at a time and count as a point ... then a few crackers I brought back from Italy - like short breadsticks... then a few more. All in all i grazed and grazed and ended up with an additional 300 calories of crapola. Why didn't I just unpeel a banana and have a glass of milk for some nutrition? grr.

Brought a light lunch and

Good Morning All,

I feel Fabulous today,:carrot: dispite Anniedrew showing off her un snow covered flowers... LOL. Glad to here your pup is ok. I have 3 dogs so am well aware how you worry when they are down. I would post a pic of my yard if I could figure out how to do it.

Yesterday was an off day (No Work out) but I stayed on target for Calories. and my muscles aren't as sore today.

I'm also Happy one a 1 pound loss, 3 day in a row I've been 196lbs...Yayyy for me!!!

ange82much No need to apologise for exclaimation points, I use them in excess!! :) Have a Great trip, "I am so Jelous" I'm sure you will be kind to your body and stay on track.

nationalparker: I appreciate the well wishes and have already order Turbo Fire that should arrive in time for me to stop shovelling. I've also been doing Jillians Yoga Meltdown, And Wii fit plus.

Thanks Again all

We took April to the park yesterday and because of the impending rain had the place practically to ourselves. Afterwards we did some shopping and running around.

Today, I'm doing the regular things. bread, laundry, etc. I got up early because the fridge was making noise but as soon as I got up it stopped.:?:

I have some catching up to do today.

Annie, sorry to hear both you and Tootsie {she's adorable!} are injured.

Fruitlady, hope your stomach is better today.

Ange, have a good time in China!

Good morning, all.

Busy this weekend, didn't get around to posting. Down another pound. Actually was down more, but then ate off plan, so I hope to recover from than soon and be down more by the end of the week. Also been off exercise plan, but will be getting back to that. Too much playing and not enough working.

PPenguin--good luck on DH's job.

Ange--Good for you on the 1/2 marathon training and down several pounds.

Izzadawn--welcome.

Annie--Sorry to hear about teh goggie. Hope she's feeling better--and hope you're feeling better, also. Glad to hear the plate is working out better. My crocus are also coming up.

Gotta go.

Hi all! If you saw Tootsie walking/running around last night, you would never think she was practically crippled 12 hours prior...:?: I'm very glad she is feeling better, but I am supposed to be keeping her confined. OI'm just trying to be sure she doesn't get too excited and resprain her leg or whatever she did.

I, on the other hand, am not doing any better with my shoulder/upper back issue. I spent most of the night in the recliner with a heating pad on my upper back. When I lay down it feels like someone is stabbing me with a knife. I honestly felt like I might need to go the ER, but didn't. Would have called in today if not for all the time we have had off lately. I am a little worried. I had a cervical fusion back in the late 1990s and I never want to see neck problems again. The fact that the Flexeril the doctor prescribed did nothing to make this better kind of worries me. I also feel terrible from the Flexeril, too. Just drowsy and confused. I don't know what I am going to do tonight if I can't sleep. I may have to actually go in to see the doctor, but I don't want to. I have taken enough time off lately. If it isn't better I will call and at least see if he would let me try a Medrol dose-pack and see if it helps.

Needless to say, I did not exercise this morning.:(

NP-I wonder if you have ever tried this with the turkey pepperoni...

Crispy Pepperoni

17 Turkey Pepperoni Slices
1 Paper Towel

Lay the slices in a single layer across the paper towel. Place in the microwave for 45 seconds. Turn over, try for another 30 seconds.

You can continue heating, or shorten the heating time according to your tastes.

...I think I got it off a thread here a while back.

Have a good day everyone!

Annie - Good to hear that Tootsie is cruising around comfortably but that you're in such pain. Good luck with that! Thanks for the idea on the pponi slices - I've never thought/tried that but you can bet I will! :) I used to LOVE the regular pepperoni on a pizza that got crispy...

Good job, Kitteh - on the pound (or more!) lost. Yay! You're so close!

Cut myself off in the last msg but today I'm going to try to go light at lunch and then enjoy my dinner without worrying about it too much. Brought some clementines - this box is completely hit/miss between decent and terrible. Hard to complain when I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy and afford fresh fruit, though.

Hi all!
Annie, thanks for the picture of your crocus, can't wait for my flowers to come up.

Nice & sunny today, but cold. It was 18 degrees at 10am. Rode the bike for 30min. & I'm still on track with eating clean for the last 8 days, that's a miracle for me, with the help of chocolate yogurt, I am able to stay away from junk food. So I'll be having it in the fridge all the time. Lost 4oz. cause my calories were lower, due to my stomach problem. It feels better, but still not perfect. I just realized this morning I managed to maintain between 108.9 & 109.6 for 5 days straight. I might have this maintaining thing figured out finally. Now I just have to resist this craving for peanut butter & ice cream I have today.

Have a great day!

Just popping in for a drive by as usual. Wieghed myself this mornign and I am in a new decade. FINALLY! It's been such slow going these last few months...if I could get the eating and the exercise right all at the same time, I'd have lost enough to have completely disappeared by now ;-)

Annie-glad doggie is doing better.

NationalP-now you know what to do next time...a banana instead of graxin-I'll have to remember that for myself.

fruitlady-you're doing so well now...you don't need peanut butter and ice cream...and there's always skinny cow sammiches as an alternative that is "less awful" if you just can't resist.

Gotta go. Innkeeper meeting and I am still not dressed...was working, so I could stay in my jammies. Will tyr to do the wATP dvd when I get back. And try to remember to try it with the 2lb weights.

Barb

Had yesterday day off and struggling with some terrible family issues with son and wife and thier 1 1/2 year old with the separation. I lost it and ate junk all weekend. This was so emotianally tramatic that I even sedated myself for a day and a half with some anti anxiety meds which helped some.
I am feeling better today and hoping to go on my walk in the next few minutes but it is still so icy not sure if the trail will be okay but i will go outside anyways and check it out.

Annie - sorry to hear about your shoulder and hope you are feeling better, love the photos of puppy and flowers. It was so cold on the weekend I was glad I had an excuse to stay in. -21.

will try to catch up more this week. Thanks NP for the input about LA it would be good to go visit him at the halfway point, I was very surprised the flight was only 149 one way but maybe that is some sort of sale.

FL - the ecoli thing is scary, but good the pain subsided and hope you have a great day!

A few years ago my Mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. {she's fine now} A kind online friend sent her a hand knitted Prayer shawl. At the time, I asked for the pattern to the shawl. It took me a while but I finally tried it. It was very easy to memorize and went quickly. I made one for myself, and plan on making a few others to take to my church so they can pass them out as needed.

This is the first one I made for myself.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/...330cd51cc6.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/...d21c2377b5.jpg
same pattern with a different yarn.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/...d7fe5d613a.jpg
Different pattern in progress

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5257/...f9fdc96a1a.jpg
crochet shawl I started today. Ignore the weird tilt to my head:o:D

Penguin, awesome prayer shawl, they are very pretty.

mirj, - hope your doing well

Was able to walk yesterday, yay, we got a bit more snow so that helps with traction, planning on going out again today as well. Stayed on plan yesterday, had tomato, spinach and chicken sandwich for dinner, allbran for breakfast this moring, and in serious need of caffiene. Was up at 4 again today for no particular reason. Having grilled chicken breast for dinner and small potatoe and some broccoli. Lunch the regular chicken spinach sandwhich. I feel on the edge of a binge but keeping that under control I want to keep seeing my pants get looser and summer is coming!

Just have to interject here that those shawls are pretty. I took a crochet class a few years ago but was just so bad at it and impatient. I may try taking up knitting to see if Im better at that.

Thanks so much for the compliment! Most people I've met seem to prefer one over the other, they either knit or crochet, but a few of us do both.

Hi guys! Well, my upper back/shoulder/neck area seems to be some better today. I was able to sleep better last night....I was very careful about how I moved around. Still uncomfortable in some positions. I really feel like a nerve is irritated. I am going to give it a few more days and see if it gets better on its own. I really don't want to take a steroid (what my doc usually gives me for this type of thing) and will avoid it as long as I can. If it doesn't get completely better soon, I will call the doc ASAP. I HATE the muscle relaxer he called in for me. It makes me feel NOT GOOD. Weird.

I did not exercise again this morning. I'm so scared to irritate whatever is going on. If it continues to feel better I will resume tomorrow morning. Maybe keep the arm movements to a minimum.

I sure enjoyed my birthday dinner and cake with fiance and the boys last night. I ate that lovely homemade cake I made without any guilt whatsoever. I will probably have another piece tonight, too.:p After it is gone, though, no more full fat/full sugar cooking for a while in my house. I will never have any willpower over that type of thing.

PP-The shawls are beautiful! Love the multicolored ones.

Hope you all have a great day!

Good afternoon. Not a good week for me, exercise-wise, but still doing well on the eating. I think I've been fighting off a little bug, just enough to make me sleep a lot. Doing better today, so I hope to get back to exercising.

Annie--Yay for goggie feeling better; sorry to hear you're still not doing so well.

Ashley--I'm so sorry for you family troubles. I hope it works out as well as possible.

PPenguin--Beautiful shawls. I crochet; never could catch on to knitting.

FL-- glad to hear you're feeling better.

Angelskeep--keep up the good work.

Gotta run, break's over.

I'm really struggling to get back on track here today ... stopped and got cinn rolls and coffee cake for a coworker's bday and HAD to test the cinn roll - just ate the icing becuase that's what I wanted, but that's not a freebie. Then after folks were raving about the apple coffee cake, I tried a sliver of that. And then another slightly bigger sliver, making a full serving of it between the two. Lunch out at his choice was bbq. I aimed for a serving of turkey, no bun. Only sandwiches. Oh, so instead of LEAVING the bun, like any sane person would do, I just ate it. And french fries. So a 19-point lunch and I'm into my weekly bonus points now (for non-ww folks, just means i've gone over calories and into my cushion) and now will end up with a healthy salad and baked chicken tonight because if I don't add protein I'll be noshing all night. This is after a night last night at a nice restaurant where I ALSO went thru my daily points and into that cushion, but I planned to there... So with that in mind, I'll go healthy as I can tonight, get in a walk on the trail if I can (SHOULD be able to) and tomorrow night ... and hopefully get back on track for the weekend in Florida. Usually not too tempted there as it's a busy time and I tend to relax with a cup of tea fairly often. But GRR on my snacky attitude and "gimme bread" mentality.

Annie - Glad to hear you might be on the mend - and a hearty belated Happy Birthday to you ... I think in my rush to try and get caught up with folks here last week, I missed it...

Ashley - hang in there - how are things today up there for you? Sounds like it's an extremely stressful time for you with the issues... our thoughts are winging north to you.

PP - you do fine work! NICE!

Hope everyone has a great evening (or day, Ange and Mirj!) - speaking of which, where are you, Mirj?? :)

Checking in quick before I start dinner.

LOVE the shawls. I have crocheted since I was a child. G'ma taught me, but no time for it right now. Never did learn to knit.

Ash-sorry about the family stuff and hope it gets smoother for you.

Nationalp-PUT DOWN THE JUNK FOOD and get back on track.

I will never get caught up, so I guess I won't even try. Tonight's dinner is ground boneless skinless chicken breast burgers with mango salsa from the co-op basket foods and baked sweet potatoes from the same. I have been on a wicked popcorn binge for days, but at least it isn't chocolate. Air popped corn with butter flavored cooking spray, and lemon pepper salt of all things. Low cal as far as junk. I haven't been walking hardly at all. It's been way too cold and windy and I just can't seem to get motivated to WATP inside. The good news is that I have a lot of hope of being able to eat junk occasionally after I lose the next lotsa pounds and still maintain. I will be really glad when the weather cooperates again. I swear this is the coldest/windiest/snowiest it's been since I moved here 9 1/2 years ago. ARRRRGH!

Barb

I had a terrible night last night, i had to go to the hospital. Had stomach & back cramps along with discomfort in my chest & bloating. It was scary, thought I was having a heart attack. All my heart tests were ok, but they kept me over night, I just wanted to go home. Dr. thought it was gall bladder related, but tests were fine on that too. Today they wanted to do a cat scan of my stomach & pancreas. I refused & demanded to go home, I felt much better after the meds they gave me last night. All my blood work was good except for my sodium levels were low, my blood pressure was only 59 over 45.( low sodium can do that) they didn't say much about it though. I know i eat a low sodium diet cause I don't eat much processed food, about 800g. a day. I do exercise & drink alot of fluids, so I'm probably losing alot of sodium also. So, no cat scan, I discharged myself against the doctor's orders. I know my body, these symptoms were either from low sodium or low fat. I knew I needed both, because I didn't over eat or have junk food in 9 days. I just kinda forgot to add more of them to my diet. My fat intake is normally about 7g. a day, I know it's not enough. Everything I eat is low in fat or fat free, if I forget to eat nuts for more fat, then i am low. Sodium is hard for me to get too, but I'm gonna eat more from now on. I don't ever want to feel that way again, I didn't get even 1 hr. of sleep last night in that emergency room. I'm pooped! I rode the bike tonight for 17min at least, after I ate sodium & fat packed peanut butter & ice cream I felt energized. It tasted so good after that horrible hospital food I had to eat.

Yikes! I'm glad you're home, and okay...but don't do that kind of thing anymore, please! Make sure you get enough of the things you NEED, including fat and sodium. I'm pretty sure that 7 g fat daily is waaay too low for anyone. Skinny and dead is NOT attractive!

Hugs to you, fruitlady. I worry sometimes. You are so strict with yourself, it's like the opposite extreme.

Barb

Hi there chickettes!

yeah-hey! Just got internet access after a few days without.

Eating far far too much here in China, every meal is a huge banquet that we sit in front of for hours with loads of dishes lined up.

So far this week i've eaten turtle, pidgeon, pigs kidney and chicken feet. And far too much of the more usual things too. Have to say it's all been really really tasty and so so much better than what passes as 'chinese food' in Australia or UK.

Have also been out for a run in the morning, just along the city streets in the dark, which isn't too exciting. Worried about forecast of a 20 degree temp drop tomorrow though so it will be well below freezing and windy. Not so good.

fruitlady - look after yourself, hope you're much better soon.

Good morning.

Down another half pound, but still not exercising, so I know I could have lost more if I'd been exercising like I usually do. Just really tired. Hope that will be over soon. Ate to plan yesterday, so that's good.

Snow here, so the Puget Sound is nearly closed down. Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want about our whopping 2 to 3 inches of snow, but we have hills. And more hills. And then some more hills. Plus we tend to hover around freezing, so we get ice build up on the roads. It's supposed to snow some more this afternoon--if so, I'm outta here early.

Fruitlady--maybe your junk food cravings are a sign. Eat more fat and don't sweat the sodium so much (no pun intended; keep up the exercise). If you can't bring yourself to eat full fat versions of food, then at least stop at low fat and stay away from the non-fat. Fat is good. Your good health is a treasure--protect it.

Getting off my soapbox, now. I hope everyone has a great day.

Hello, all!! Been a good day - worked, volunteered at the elementary school (Thursday activity) and got photos ordered from our trip to Italy for my mom to see tomorrow ... will just pick up at the Walgreens at home. They have a daily deal and today's was a free 8 x 10 collage of photos ... so what the heck, did one of those, too :) NICE. Free with no other purchase (so if anyone else is wanting one from xmas or something ... good deal and fast to do). Think it'd be fun to do at the end of a year to recap trips and events from that year, too - fun gift idea, so I'm keeping that in mind.

Subway for lunch - got the salad and no chips, so back on track. Thanks for the nudging! (or scolding!) ha ha... Need it!

Ange - there is no way I could eat those things; you're so brave. Hubby asked what I'd eat when we travel to places like that and I just say I'm bringing a suitcase of granola bars... he laughs, but I'm pretty darned serious.

Ange-I've been trying really hard to learn about (and eat) foods that I haven't always liked, but your items this week sound positively frightening! You are really brave!

Kitteh-the weather channel is calling for more snow in your corner of the world. UGH! It does make it hard to get out and exercise, huh? I'm almost at the point of doing the dvd in the house. Almost! I too would lose more if I'd move more!

nationap-back on track is AWESOME! And I love your deal n the collage thingy. I usually upload pics to walmart and then they get done really fast-even enlargements, but we have a walgreens here, about 6 blocks from my house, so I'll have to keep them in mind.

So, we went a day early and got our groceries, by car not on foot. It finally got to zero degrees a little while ago. And the rest of the week is looking just as bleak. One of hte cashiers grew up here and even he agrees that this is like the longest, coldest, snowiest winter in a while. No bicycling for sure. Not even much outside walking. The wind chill just makes it too dang cold. Oh, our local animal shelter just had some awful news. The lady who had been in charge since September had been stealing money and also using the company debit card for her personal shopping. Nearly 11K stolen and bills for power, and food and etc. for the animals weren't paid for 3-4 months. Makes me so sad and angry. All our pets have always been the neediest ones we could find at the time at the shelter wherever we lived. And I used to volunteer at the one here working with the dogs who needed extra attention. So, our b&b association will give them a check, but it's just so small compared to what they need. Robert & I went there this morning to see what else we could help with besides money. They are down to bare minimum staff, so we'll try to go a couple of mornings a week to clean cages and wash food dishes. We won't be able to go at all in the summe, but maybe it will help to get them thr0ugh if enough people each can do a little. I cannot even imagine what kind of person it takes to steal from poor animals who can't take care of themselves.

Tonight is oven baked chicken breast with more of the mango salsa. More baked sweet potatoes. Roasted yellow squash for Robert and shredded cabbage and avocado for me.

I wish I could spend more time gossiping with the chicks, but this will; have to do for now. Who knew my "off season" could be so dang busy!

Barb

angelskeep, ange82, kitteh - Thanks, everyone on this thread is wonderful, your advise is so true!

I'm recovering from the low sodium & fat problem. Feeling more energy now, but still need to catch up on the sleep I lost that night. I found out that I had some symptoms of low sodium for days & didn't realize it. Being tired, getting headaches(I never get headaches)& less severe stomach cramps all happened for days before it got real bad. The bloating & gas came from eating low fat so I will start buying yogurt with low fat instead of no fat & making sure I eat nuts everyday for that issue. Today I went a little crazy, i ate a half jar of reduced fat peanut butter, besides the fat, there is some sodium in it also, but not a huge amount. So I got the fat & sodium I needed today, but my calories are 2875! I have to tweek something here. I'll gain all the weight back in no time if I don't watch it. Maybe I'll just eat more yogurt for the extra sodium on most days. I'm so bloated up with water that my pants are tight.
I gained 3.5lbs of water, now if I keep eating a reasonable amount of sodium everyday, how am I going to lose the water weight? I rode the bike for 30min this morning, now I'm gonna start painting my sunroom ceiling a nice spring green color.

You live & you learn!