Hi everyone,

We all have a hard time at special events, Dina, it's all of the everyday days that count.

I was at a Grey Cup (Canada's version of the Superbowl)party last night and all there was as to eat was pizza and chicken wings. I brought some veggies so I could eat those, but that's not what happened. Those little chickies were calling my name. Oh well, today is a new day.

Nothing else too new. Winter has set in here. The last snow we had is the 'staying kind'. I actually don't mind it as long as the sun stays out.

Talk soon,

Good Morning . . .

Our weather is overcast and getting somewhat warmer today . . . I'm with you DENISE . . . I'd rather have it cold and sunny -- with or without the snow on the ground.

Nothing too exciting for me today . . . been looking through my 40 or so specialty Christmas Baking cookbooks to see what I could modify into a slightly lighter version . . . found a few that are worth a try with reduced sugar and reduced fat. I'll keep you posted if any turn out okay. Guess I have to admit that the 'baking bug' is grabbing me again as it does every year at this time. So far I'm staying strong -- but I know I will fold. Actually it's not the baking that gets me -- its the eating of what I bake.

Have a great moving and shaking kind of day, gang . . . later . . .

Good morning ladies, wow, I can't believe it. I made it through turkey day and I actually had a .8 lb loss, yea !!!!

DENISE: You asked if those cookies I made were my Christmas baking, not really, just a trial run on a new recipe, but it turned out to be an excellent choice for a Christmas cookie. My DH decided that this past weekend would be a good time to start our (his) Christmas baking, so I turned the kitchen over to him. He made 8 dozen each of 3 different kinds of cookies. I sampled 1 of each kind and then they all went to the freezer. Best thing is the freezer is out in the garage so I won't be tempted to run out there and snitch any of them. I usually do all the candy and breads and he does the cookies. Didn't get much decorating done tho, too busy watching football games and doing laundry. You are right about eating this time of year. You just have to do the best you can and start over the next day, it's one day at a time. We have DH's Christmas party this Friday night so I will have to plan accordingly.

DINA: It's not easy for any of us, but just keep telling yourself that you CAN do it and you will succeed. This is a tough time of year to stay on any kind of eating plan and most of us are so busy we don't get the exercise we need. BUT, look out January we will be on a mission then!!!

LINDA: It is always fun looking through cookbooks. I went to an antique store on Saturday "just looking" and she had a very old Betty Crocker cookbook. I didn't buy it but I may go back as I didn't even look to see the price of it, she had sooo many books that I was trying to look at all of them. I have an old "Farm Journal" cookbook that I got at a yard sale for a
quarter and I love it. So many of the recipes call for lard and I just laugh,
what were our parents and grandparents thinking using lard? Although it does make the best pie crusts.

Did some decorating at the clinic this morning, will do more tomorrow when I don't have patients coming in to interupt me. It is overcast here today but it is supposed to get up in the 40's and then tomorrow the 50's and then we might get some snow. I don't mind snow if it doesn't get icy too.
Better run the dryer just went off and I need to get things folded and put away. Hope everyone is having a great day.


DONNA

Good Morning . . .

Started today with a major senior moment . . . dragged the scale- out of the corner because I though today was the 28th and time for my monthly weigh-in . . . and he kindly rewarded my stupidity by telling me I had lost 2.8 pounds in the past 4 weeks (less 1 day). Will weigh again tomorrow and take the lower of the two numbers and then change my ticker. Now, of course, since I'm feeling pretty good about things, this will likely be the day that the 'baking bug' wins the battle and I reward myself by eating somethings I shouldn't.

Know what you mean DONNA . . . it's amazing how much 'lighter' the regular (i.e., not specified as light) recipes have become in the past few years. Unfortunately, the serving size has gotten bigger to make up for it.

Gues I'd better get myself moving and shaking, gang . . . see you later . . .

Morning all,

Well it's a beautiful sunny -24C (-11F) day here in the 'Peg. I guess winter has finally come.

Congrats on that loss Meowee. Now you should be a bit friendlier to your scale. No more bad talking him.

Congrats on your loss too, Donna. Decorating. Wow! You guys are really ahead of me. I think because I'm not working this year and am not into the Christmas concerts, etc. at school I'm not getting into the spirit as much.

I had a NSV this morning. I put on my watch to go to the gym and I had to put it to the next size down. It's amazing how these little things can make our day.

Talk soon,

Thanks so much ladies for the kind words and for being so supportive.

Meowee, you're very lucky your husb. likes to bake. It's a big help.

Settie, that statement is sooo true. I'll just do it again, besides, this is teaching ourselves to eat better and not give up.

Donna,congratulations to you! That might feel like a small amount to you, but you did it!!!...you didn't gain and on top of that you fit into something new. That's awesome!

I called Curves today and spoke with the woman in charge. I told her that my back was back to normal and that I just couldn't get myself to get in there. She told me that, if I wasn't there by 9:15 tomorrow a.m., that she was going to call me. I think that is what I need folks. lol So it looks like I'm going to exercise tomorrow....and I'm kinda excited about this.

Dina 556

Hi Ladies...Sorry to be MIA so much lately. My Dad has been terribly sick for over a week, didn't think he was going to pull through last wednesday morning,
but he made it. He has puenommonia, complicated with other lung problems. Friday afternoon he went into crisis with an irregular/rapid heart beat. We could see on the monitor, his heart beat was between 190-170, and the nurse came in and said that it was really only in the 120's. Ladies, we are not stupid!
My brother demanded that our doctor be called. Turns out the nurse was not telling the doctor about my Dad's condition, and the doctor was out of town. He immediately came back to care for my Dad. It took 8 hours to get my Dad back into a regular heart beat, and he had to be transfer to a different hospital with a cardiac unit. He finally got to come home yesterday afternoon, but he is on oxygen and ton's of meds. I'm so thankful that we now live only 15 minutes away, so I can help my Mom out. Going to take a long time before he is fully well.

My hubby had two interviews on Monday, and two more next week. We are very hopefull that he will be offered one of them. I have been on so many interviews, I've loss count, and no job. Probably a good thing since my Dad needs me know.

Thanksgiving was very nice at my brothers house. He smoked a turkey, pork loin and also baked a ham. There were 32 of us for dinner. I never made the 7 layer salad, my brother-in-law is a veggan, so he eats no dairy, meat or fish. I made a salad with greens, grapefruit, oranges, avacado and light poppyseed dresssing.

Not doing well trying to stay on program right now, but will try to get back on task this next week. Got a few Christmas gifts bought, but with no jobs, looks like my kids will have to be happy having us back and baked goods.

I'll be back either tonight or tomorrow to write personals.

Cheryl

Morning all,

Cheryl, I'm so sorry to here about your dad. It's a very trying time when caring for a loved one. I'm sure your Mom is very thankful to have you so close.

Dina, you're lucky to have such a supportive leader at Curves. I hope you enjoy your workout.

Not to much new today. Planning to do some errands around town.

Talk soon,

I try to check in here every week or so. I have been trying to find a sub-forum to settle in on but I seem to follow the threads that have the livielest discussions.

I too empathize with your Dad's illness. Both my parents faced separate health issues in the past nine months.It was tense at certain moments but things have settled down and they have past through it. My parents are 996 miles away and I have had to do my caregiving over the phone. My only sibling and sister, who has her own health issues, has to do the majority of the "being there" in person stuff. It is the best I can do in this situation and I accept that.

I had to work longer hours last week since I didn't work on Thanksgiving or the Friday afterwards so I decided I would conserve my energy for working and not walk on my treadmill. I felt at peace with that decision since I had been working out quite vigorously for the preceding 10 weeks.

I got one of my Christmas trees up and I immediately thought of baking. It seems like all of that is a string of activities I associate with the holidays. I have my first Christmas party this coming Saturday and I don't want to go. I usually have my husband go. I am the fattest person at my church and I just hate social situations where there is a lot of food and secretly I want to "pig out" but I don't because I don't want any one to think the obvious---there goes another fat person eating too much. So, I don't go or if I do go I don't eat there and then, of course, come home and eat and eat out of frustration.

I have avoided a lot of social situations in the past twenty plus years as a result. I feel too self-conscious. If it's my immediate family or close friends, I don't mind but with "strangers" I do. I'm a coward in this area and I admit it. I am going to go but I know I will be tense the whole time. I asked my DH how long he went last year and he said 90 minutes. I hope, we can be in and out of there in that amount of time. THIS is the part of the holidays I HATE.

We have two other parties we are invited to and I have avoided them in the past couple years as well. My DH has resigned himself to go without me but I know he hates it when I bail on him. If I have a cold, my period or if I am "lucky" enough to be sick with the flu then at least I have a "cover" but I really hate going to big social events where I am the only one who is OBESE.

I remind myself that next year, God willing, I will be closer to a "normal" weight and then I can feel like I can eat like others without someone scruntinizing what or how much I am eating.

Good luck on your holiday eating and activities in the month ahead!

I'm working on the second day of feeling . . . but thought I'd stop by with a quick

Hi gals, just a quick note to correct Settie on who's dad is ill, it is
Cheryl's Dad that is so ill, I'm sure she will appreciate your well wishes.
More later, Donna

Sorry about the confusion Donna & Cheryl. I knew who I was talking to - just had a senior moment.

Morning . . .

It is the last day of November and I'm still feeling a little 'iffy'. Hope tomorrow I get to start the month feeling normal -- or as close to normal as I ever get.

See you later . . .

Good morning all,

I sorry to hear that you're under the weather Meowee. I tink you're right that by December you'll be feeling mush better.

I did it. Down 2 lbs and met my 2nd 10% goal - now to start on my 3rd 10%.

Have a great day everyone.

Talk soon,

That is a great achievement, good luck on your next goal. Don't worry about the confusion, we all have those senior moments, trouble is they seem to be happening more often. LOL Those NSV's are almost more rewarding than the scale telling us we lost.

LINDA: I sure hope youThis is not the time of year to feel yukky. Did you have to miss your "shop till you drop" Thursday ?

DINA: That's great that the gal from Curves will call you to get you to show up,
I don't belong to any gym but maybe I need to get someone to call me and get me going again. I start every day with good intentions then I get to work and get all my "have to" jobs done and then I skip the exercise part, guess I need to put that on my "have to" list.

CHERYL: Glad to hear from you again, but so sorry to hear about your Dad. That nurse should be reprimanded for her actions. I know it must be a comfort to your Mom to have you close now. You must have loved your
Thanksgiving this year being with so much family, I know how much you have missed that. Your salad sounded WONDERFUL . Good luck with your Dad, I sure hope he gets better real soon, so hard during the Holidays.

PAMATGA: I'm sorry that your parents both suffered illnesses during this past year. We are in that age group where we have to take care of ourselves and our parents. Unfortunately I have lost both of mine, but I had to take care of my Dad for almost 10 years from a distance, lots of running back and forth. Luckily I only lived 4 hours away. I hope they are both doing better now.
I wish you didn't feel like you have to avoid social situations because of your weight, I know people can be very cruel about those things. Would it be possible for you to take along things that you know you can eat so you didn't feel obligated to eat fattening foods ? I sure wish I had an answer for you, it can't be fun staying home and sending hubby to these gatherings. Good luck in finding a solution to this problem. Just keep working hard and you are right, next year you will be at those parties !!

Ok ladies I have to scoot, it's time for patients. I have my first Christmas party to attend tonight. Wish me luck. I have planned for the increase in calories but I'm sure I will go overboard, I always do. Can't help it, I love to eat !!!!!
DONNA