Hi, I've been busy with the holiday rush. Finall, started decorating yesterday. It sure is a challenging time food wise. I have the same problem with all the parties and the food at work. Everyone wants to celebrate with their favorite cookie or treat. I'm staying on plan, but it's been a challenge. I have two celebrations today. One this afternoon and another tonight. So wish me luck. Stay strong everyone. Lori

Jude - :hug: You are right - tomorrow is a new day! You CAN do this! Really, really - you can. I really have found that I have to have alternatives to cookies at my office - things that I enjoy and feel good about eating. A real key is that they have to have protein - if I get on a pure carb/sugar bent - not much on earth can keep me from binging on cookies.

Everyone has different foods that make them feel sated. For me, low-fat string cheese and nuts do the trick. Some of the protein bars are great too. I really like the little 100 calorie Balance bars. They are almost like eating a candy bar, but do the trick.

I think this time of year it is important to pick things that you really like and feel like a "treat". If everyone around is chowing down on holiday goodies, it is hard to feel good about your plan if you feel deprived. Try some different "healthier" alternatives to the office treats - things that won't trigger the sugar monster - and see if that helps.

Lori - hope you did well at the holiday celebrations! You are getting close to 210, and then onederland is only 10 lbs away. You CAN do this!!!

I got a bit more shopping done (online) yesterday and Amazon has already shipped 3 of my gifts - gotta love it!

I'm definitely in a tea obsession place right now - half of the gifts I ordered were tea related.

Had to take DS2 to the emergency room at 6:30 this morning, so that got the day off to a rocky start.

And, I'm sore from shoveling snow for an hour last night.

I've decided that I can get my Christmas cards done this week, if I pack them in my briefcase and knock out a few every day at lunch time. Gonna give it a try anyway.

Hope you all have a great start to the week. Stay strong while those holiday temptations call your name!

Laurie

Hey Laurie! Glad you're back!

Lori, Freda, yes, it is a challenging season. Everyone has their own strategy for dealing with it--but the most successful do seem to have a strategy, that is, they aren't just "winging it." Even if they don't stick to it 100%, they seem to do better that way, I think.

All I have to report is my usual working weekend. I'll be glad when I get a break from this, probably in January and part of February...

I'm having a lovely morning fire in my fireplace, with a nice hot cup of coffee with some cocoa in it. I found the just plain unsweetened cocoa! My friend said, "Look in the baking section," and by gosh, there it was! I had been looking in the beverages--coffee, tea, etc.--and they were all sweetened versions, even the "no sugar added" one. :mad:

(I guess you can tell I don't do a lot of baking... :lol:)

Jude, keep that urge for sweets under control! :drill: Step away from the cookies. :drill: I think the grocery gift certificate for your daughter is exactly right. Good choice! And you have that trip to look forward to. :broc:

I'll tell you, normally it would take a lot more than cookies for me to cave in. If I want a "treat" it has to be something really special. Having said that, though, I have to admit that sometimes I lose my mind. No, really! Like in Massachusetts--we went out one night with our aunt to Dunkin Donuts. Her idea. This was supposed to be fun. I got a maple frosted donut. Well, fact is, I didn't really want it, I didn't really like it, I was sorry I ate it, and I had indigestion that night. Jeez! :dizzy:

Hope you all have a good week!

Jay

Hi everyone. Glad to hear that you guys are all manageing the holiday treats.

Not sure what my problem is. Called sugar addict I presume. I just need to find my seratonin kick elsewhere. I seem to have no problem not becoming an exercise junkie. :rofl:

I hear you Jay. What is the rationale behind having a couple of cookies. It is just mindless eating. I have been working a lot and it is tireing. I have a couple of more Saturdays to work and then I will have some time off.

I am not too worried about Christmas as I will spend it with my son and he does not eat sweet things. Won't even have a dessert that boy. Well if I made a pie he might. But that won't be happening. :nono:

I have just realized that being overtired is my worst time to eat the wrong things. So I need to plan more sleep for the next while.
:yawn:
We have wall to wall food here for the whole week. They are doing staggered Christmas lunches as we are a big place. Mine time is Thursday at 6pm. So I can have turkey and potato and salad. The veggies are too starchy and there is stuffing and gravy but I will pass on that.

There is pop or juice to drink. And trays of sweet treats from Costco. Costco is like the Sam club. Big slabs of desserts that are not fit for humans really. :(

So I will be good. I will bring my own stuff.
This week will be the end of the heavy entertaining here so that will be a relief.
I will be glad to get through the season staying the same weight. :crossed:

Thanks for all your suggestions. Lori you seem up for the challenge. We can do this.....
Jude:comp:

Hi all - hope you had a good day. We are under ANOTHER storm warning tonight. Getting tired of snow already!!! Though, I shouldn't complain, they think we might get rain next week - and on top of the snow - it will be ugly.

I'm happy to report that I am making significant progress on the "holiday" front. DH helped me address cards last night and they are DONE!

I stayed home from a church finance meeting tonight (DS2 is very ill with a tooth infection and I wanted to keep an eye on him) and managed to wrap most of my Christmas presents. Almost everything else is being sent directly to the recipient :)

I'm still debating whether to drag out the big tree. I'm actually contemplating bringing out the little 3 foot fiber optic tree instead. I'm a bit of a scrooge when it comes to decorating this year.

We bought a new scale yesterday (DS2 is too heavy to weigh himself on our regular scale and we are trying very hard to help him make better choices - 'nuf said on the topic - I could go on for eons) and - ugh - it weighs 1.8 lbs higher than my regular scale :yikes:

So, I'm wrestling with using the old scale, using the new scale and keeping my ticker on the old one, or using the new scale and adjusting my ticker accordingly.

Decisions, decisions ...

Jay - the fire sounds lovely - and I'm glad you found cocoa!! I wouldn't have thought of the baking aisle either. I used to run a food coop and I still have oodles of plain cocoa. Thankfully, it is sealed in Ziploc bags and then Tupperware too. It will probably last longer than I do :lol:

Jude - stay strong! I have found that when my schedule leads me to be overtired - while nothing helps completely - I CAN lessen the effects by 1. Eating often (small quantites) 2. Doing some deep breathing (or even simple yoga poses) every hour or so 3. Staying hydrated - preferably without a lot of caffeine) 4. protein every couple hours - not a lot, but a high protein snack really does help.

I agree with Jay - the gift certificate sounds perfect!

Hello to everyone else! Hope you had a good start to the week!

Another quick :wave:

Good Morning everyone.

I'm like everyone else, busy, busy! Such a hectic time of year. I always say i'm going to get a head start but I never do. At least the house is decorated and the gifts i have gotten are wrapped and under the tree. I have a wrapping center set up in the basement. Works so well.

Lori, Just make a plan for the dinners and stick with it. So easily said, so hard to do. It is hard when you aren't the one making the menu. Just do the best you can.

Jay, I agree, most of the things we eat out of plan are just because they are there. And usually NOT worth the calories at all. I have started carrying a fiber one bar in my purse for occasions like that.

Laurie, I hope your son is feeling better. We never stop worrying about our "babies" do we? We had almost stopped decorating too, after my son was married. Didn't really start again untill the grands came along and now we decorate for them. It's like "the circle of life" I guess.

Jude, I agree with the rest. A gift certificate is perfect. I hope you find your plan to beat the "munchie" monsters. I think most of do something a little differently. It's trial and error, what works for you. Hey, try them all!

Linda, Hope you are feeling better. Not that any time is a good time to get sick, but this is a rotten time to not feel well.

Make it a good day, Freda

Hi all, hope you had a good day. We got dumped on last night and I walked to work since the roads weren't plowed yet. School was closed, so I knew I wouldn't need to drive to any of the buildings today. I just finished 1 1/2 hours of moving snow, so I definitely got in my exercise today! Pictures are attached. I don't think I will be able to plug in our nativity since over half of the bulbs are buried in the snow. DS2 isn't going to be driving his car any time soon either :lol:

Hope you are staying warm and dry and enjoying this fine Tuesday!
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6...vityzo8.th.jpg http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4958/woodxm2.th.jpg http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4676/carsz6.th.jpg

Oh Laurie what a lot of snow. And you do all the shoveling? That is a big job. Sorry to hear about your son. Hope all is well with him soon.:getwell:

Thanks for the encouragement Freda. I do just need to learn how to walk away. I am not one to eat stuff that people bring to work as in homemade. I just tell myself that who knows who has had their fingers in that. That turns me right off. Not sure why I think stuff from a store is much better. Today is a better day. I ate my big meal for lunch. I will see how that works. I eat so late it is better that way anyhow. I eat lunch at 3 and then dinner at 7pm. So need to keep dinner lighter.

I have been following the FA food plan and I get to see a dietician next week. She thought it was a great plan. But there are no snacks and I am finding the meals too big. The idea is to break the habit of grazing. And I am a HUGE grazer. Or was. This does seem to help. Going pretty good today.

Jay have you ever heard of Penzeys spices? www.penzeys.com
They have 2 blends of chocolate powder. One they call Natural and one they call Dutch and Dutch being the smoother taste.:coffee2:

I ordered some spices from them and they are wonderful. Love the Fox Point. And Laurie they have gift boxes.
Not sure where you live Jay but there is one in Jacksonville Fla. And there is one in Detroit and in Grand Rapids.

So that is all my news for today. I am tired and have not been to the gym yet this week. Could have gone this morning but.:dunno:

I suffer a little from SAD and it is certainly dark these days. Coming to the 21st which is the shortest day. I feel so much better when January hits and the days just start to get a little longer.
I have been doing some reading about sugar and seratonin and the article did say that there is seratonin to be found in exercise. Something to do with seratoning being released in pain as in the runners high. :running:
So I need to get on that. Here is the link if anyone is interested in the article.

http://www.womentowomen.com/insulinr...rcravings.aspx

Well back to work and more self control.
Huggs.....Jude:getwell:

Hey everyone,

I'm slowly digging out from under the pile of work... soon a couple of projects will be gone and my life will be more "normal."

We did go for a walk on the pier, though, a few days ago. It was sunny and brisk, and the birds were out. Just getting outside is so great! Really changes the mood sometimes. People were out hoping to catch some mullet in nets off the pier, but I think the fish have gotten smarter. The school kept swimming the other direction.

CD, that's some snowstorm! You know... I don't remember schools just automatically closing if it snowed when I was younger. I grew up in Salt Lake, and we did have some pretty good snowstorms. We walked to school anyway. Maybe it's because it was "The West" and we were all rough, tough Westerners? :lol:

Lori--It's hard to lose with all the parties and goodies around, and I feel fortunate that I don't have to go to an office at this time of year! Even then, there is so much stuff on the TV ads that one gets triggered.

Jude, thanks for the spice link. I like Dutch process cocoa the best. :D I don't know why I'm having such an urge for it--maybe it's the high.

That article was interesting although pretty technical, Jude--like something I would write. :lol: Yes, exercise is good for moods. It's the beta-endorphins that are responsible for the runner's high--but I have to tell you, ordinary exercise doesn't get you there much. Still, I'm someone who puts tension and stress directly into my muscles, so any kind of activity that uses them makes me feel a lot better and more relaxed. Exercise of course, and also massage, and a nice soak in a hot tub will help, too. And that's not even counting the weight loss benefits.

Do you have the full spectrum lights, Jude? They are helpful.

So I'd best get back to work now... I'm barely hanging on with eating right, but I am not giving up. I am still making it to the gym. I should take today off, but I'm not sure I will because I haven't been doing very strenous stuff when I'm there. It's called "slacking." :drill:

Hey Freda, make it a... :yes:

Jay

:wave:

The sore back is feeling about 80% functional this morning but our strange, strange weather continues. Not a big problem for me since I'm not going anywhere very quickly this week anyway. Just nursing the silly pinched nerve. Luckily, I was done the Christmas shopping and shipping. Still have a bit of wrapping, but just for local stuff so I can take my time.

Have a great dahy, gang . . . :carrot:

Jude - I actually have a full-spectrum light on my desk at work - I also have issues with SAD. Thankfully, I now have two offices, and one has a window. My first office is interior in the building. I used to go to work and leave work in the dark - never seeing daylight for days on end.

Jay - This year is unique. Due to MI's economy, the department of transportation told all counties that they needed to cut their budget and not pay overtime for plowing. Thus, the roads are a mess and busses can't travel. We are a very rural district with the majority of our kids riding the bus. Thus, our assistant superintendent is on the roads starting at 3 am when the weather is nasty. He and our transportation director drive oodles of miles to determine if it is safe to run the buses. We had a two-hour delay today due to road issues. Unfortunately, unlike teachers, I have to report at my usual time - regardless of the weather. I made it today - thanks to my 4 wheel drive Tracker. The plow left a 3 foot wall of snow at the end of my alley. I was able to bust through it and make a path for everyone else in my neighborhood to get out :)

Linda - hope you are 100% soon. I still have to ship my packages. DH has Friday off and has promised to take them to UPS for me :D Yahoo!

Well, today was a good day - eating was 100% OP and yoga this morning and an hour of shoveling for cardio :D

We spent the evening "golfing" on the wii. This is going to be interesting. While I know that this was a GREAT family Christmas gift, and that DS2 will benefit from both increased family time and physical activity - it will stretch my patience. I'm used to my evenings being my own - with spending them doing things that I want to do. Time for me to be less selfish and spend time doing things with DS2 - he needs our support right now.

Hope you all had a great day!

Well I used to be from the prairies and school always got canceled at least once in the winter. It was because the teachers could not make it in. :D

The kids could all walk. I remember having a snow drift that completely coverd the front window. All you looked out at was a wave of snow.

No I don't have a light and I should look into it. I started taking Vitamin D last year and really noticed an improvement. I find once January hits I am so much better. :hat:
Jay I think that our bodies like to eat at this time of year. Sorta a hibernation kind of thing. Keep on with the gym and your exercise that will help.

Linda I heard that the maritimes had a fair amount of snow. It is supposed to snow here tomorrow. Everyone on the west coast just goes crazy when it snows. We will be soooo busy at work.

I have had a better day at work today. I have been able to figure out what some of the work problems are. This will be the last week of the excess food. Some one came and asked tonight if I wanted to come and have turkey dinner as they had lots. Well I thought no I have just had lunch 3 hours ago and so declined. Afterwards I thought hmmm that might have been a first. It was not about the food but more about the timing.

That is a huge thing for me. I never thought about how I timed my meals before I went to see the dietician and she pointed it out. Just because my work slots my dinner at 5:10pm it is not time for me to eat till much later as my lunch is at 230pm.

I am feeling pretty good today. Spoke with DD on the weekend and though it went well I still find that it is a trigger. I am working really hard at letting go of how I think she should live her life. Or I won't have one!!
It is making sense but not sure it is getting easier. I am trying to take the time for what is important and let the rest take care of itself.

Hey Lori how are you doing? I hope you are keeping the food at work at bay.

Tomorrow is a new day. Hope to stay OP as best as I can.

Hope everyone is enjoying their evening......Jude:dancer:

Hi there . . . :grouphug:

JUDE . . . you should ask if your dinner hour could be moved a bit . . . that's a :crazy: schedule.

Back is still about the same -- guess I just have to be patient. Today will not be a Mall-Crawl day anyway. Actually nothing is going to be moving very far or very fast around here. Solid sheet of ice out there and since all the snow melted before the freezing rain started there isn't even a cushioning layer under there.

At lest I've still got electricity and that's not true for a few areas in NS. Did think my telephone service had gone out earlier this morning, but that turned out to be a simple little 'cat'astrophe. Sometimes wonder what they do in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping. Maybe I don't really want to know. :s:

Good Morning,

Got an early start and got out and got some things done! The stores are opening earlier and that's good for an early-bird like me. I'm pretty useless in the evening.

Laurie, that was some snow fall! Much more than we got down this way. But it's a reminder that this is Michigan and it's coming! My sister is a teacher in Ky. and they call school off if they have snow flurries, I think. Just don't know how to handle the snow. How si DS?

Jude, I'm glad you've been able to start working thingsout, food wise and relationship wise. Some things we can controle and some we can't. We just have to learn to controle what we can and the let the rest go. (i'm talking to myself here too).

Linda, I have a problem with back pain too, so I can really understand the problem you're having. Hope you feel better soon.

Jay, Will you get the "projects" done before Christmas. I know that will be a relief for you. Wish I didn't have to face work for the next few days. Now is the time all the doctors start bringing in the goodies.

Freda