Hi all....am in NC with DD and will write more when I get back home. DD says she can see big diff in my size.......yah Karen3

Good Morning Everybody
My goal today is to go to the gym.

Hello all. I've been busy the last few days. Sunday I went shopping in a snowstorm (yes, you read right!) and almost went off the road. But I got home safe and sound. Monday I waited for the snow to melt (ha, ha) and dipped candles for DS's wedding. They have little flower candles that won't burn long enough because the base was so small so I dipped them all (about 70 candles) until the bases were bigger. Now they'll burn for about 2- 2 1/2 hours without sputtering out. I ruined a t-shirt with wax but it was an old one from last year and a cheap one too so I'm not upset. Today I wrote out the wedding menu that will be at each place setting. Here's the picnic themed buffet menu:

Wedding Menu

Assorted Sandwiches

Garlic Fingers & Donair Sauce

Pigs-in-a-Blanket & Dipping Sauce

Broccoli & Cheese Quiche

Assorted Potato Salads

Tortellini Pasta Salad

Coleslaw & Oriental Cabbage Salad

Orange, Lemon & Lime Swirl Salad

Lettuce & Sliced Tomatoes

Vegetables & Dip

Meat Balls & Sweet & Sour Sauce

Lentil Roast & Special K Roast

Turkey & Dressing

Rolls & Butter/Margarine
Carrot, White, Whole Wheat

Cranberry Sauce
Sweet & Dill Pickles, Tomato Relish
Assorted Salad Dressings


Desserts

~Wedding Cake~
Orange Pound Cake
with Orange Curd Filling

Ice Cream
Chocolate & Butterscotch Topping
Whipped Topping & Cones

Lemon Pie Tarts

6 Layer Dessert

Apple Flips

Assorted Cookies

Fruit Salad with Whipped Topping & Vanilla Pudding (regular and sugar free)

Assorted Chocolates


Beverages

Sparkling Juice

Lemonade

Assorted Soda Pop

White & Chocolate Milk

Bottled Water

I also finally got on my bike today for an hour and have been eating pretty good since Mother's Day. Have a good day everyone.

I did it!!! I stayed out all day, until time to watch "The Biggest Loser." I weighed myself in the morning, ate breakfast, hit the gym, and then hit Las Vegas. For me, home is just going to be a place for sleeping. Good night

wow Isabella, can i come to the wedding too??????? Oh my goodness, that all sounds so nice.

Good for you Jada, that sounds like a great day.

Just time for a quick post, up early to do my work out. Hope you all have a great day.........hi to everyone!

Susann

Good Morning!
Isabella...are you cooking all that yummy food yourself? Nawwwww, you would have to have a half dozen Isabellas to do that. I see everyone isn't vegetarian like you. How are you going to unwind after the wedding, it's been so many months preparing. You are a very good mom!
Jada...were you let down last night about who won the 'Biggest Loser'? I wanted Mikey to win, but I'd settle for Tara who has never been below the yellow line and won all the challenges. Helen's face now shows her age but that's the problem with losing too much weight, it usually shows up in a haggert looking face. I wouldn't have bet on a 48 year old winning over an 18 year old, go figure.
Hi Rosey, Karen3 (what are you doing, haven't heard from you lately),
Susann!
Lynn...my hubby detailed my car a couple of days ago. Since we live out in the country, mine gets really dusting inside.Who did you want to win last night?
I found a great recipe for carrot cake with pineapple this morning, I'm going to bake it now.
Catch ya all later.

Hello all,

Usually there is something on my e-mail whenever someone makes a post on here. There hadn't been any and I kept thinking ~ my, the thread is slow ~ where is everybody (even though I had been to the thread and seen the posts). Finally it came to me ~ I had posted on the first May GG thread, but not this one, so there wouldn't be anything in my e-mail ~ Duhhhhhhh. What a goof ball.

Maybe I am in some kind of sugar induced fog. I have been having the hardest time lately. My weight is slowly creeping up. Several things I think affecting that. (Forgive me if this gets long ~ I seem to lack the ablility to be brief when I share things).

I had been trying to do without the artificial sweetner. Back along I used to use Equal, but read bad things about it ~ one being that it caused arthritis like symptoms. I had been feeling so stiff in my joints, so I quit using it. I don't know if it really helped or was my imagination that I felt less stiff. I began using Splenda instead and had been using that for probably 5-6 years. I had stiffness from time to time then ~ kind of like flare ups of my arthritis, but lately, it seems like the stiffness is there all the time. So, I thought maybe Splenda might be bad for me too. So, for about a month now, I have been doing with out that and just using sugar to sweeten my tea and coffee. I think that is part of my weight creeping up. Then.....

I went to the pantry shelf the other day to get something for snack for my grandson and found a package of double stuff oreos and some tubes of pringles. At first I left them alone, but then just knowing they were there, I just kept thinking and thinking about them and finally gave in to temptation and over the course of a few days consumed 2 tubes of pringles and the whole package of oreos. I asked my husband that if he buys that stuff to please put it somewhere else so I don't see it. Cookies and chips are my weakness.

Yesterday when my grandson was over I went to the pantry and there were more cookies (Keebler, some that were like the girl scout thin mints). After a while, I got into those. I am so frustrated. I asked my husband again to please not put the stuff where I would see it. He basically said that I was the one trying to lose weight and that I needed to figure out how to just not get into the stuff. Grrrrrr.

I have got to figure something out. I don't feel good when I eat a bunch of junk. Despite all the self talk and lectures to myself and knowing that it is not good for me, I am struggling to do what I know I need to do. I feel so stupid, because I know it is not good for my health and I do it anyway.

Guess I'd better get off ~ gotta do the before work nap.

Thank you for reading/listening.

Take care

Glynne.......Sorry, that was my flub up on accidently closing the May thread. As far as stiffness and arthritis, I have that every day and never heard of it caused by artificial sweetner. I don't use too much Splenda anymore, I started to sweeten my 8 glasses of water with a package of lemonade kool-aid, lemon rind/juice, two bags of brewed decaf green tea and some Stevia instead of Splenda. I haven't notice any difference in my stiffness. I'm not stiff when I walk around, only when I sit for awhile. I thought it was just old age

Quote:
I had been feeling so stiff in my joints, so I quit using it. I don't know if it really helped or was my imagination that I felt less stiff. I began using Splenda instead and had been using that for probably 5-6 years. I had stiffness from time to time then ~ kind of like flare ups of my arthritis, but lately, it seems like the stiffness is there all the time. So, I thought maybe Splenda might be bad for me too. So, for about a month now, I have been doing with out that and just using sugar to sweeten my tea and coffee. I think that is part of my weight creeping up. Then.....

It doesn't take much for the pounds to creep on and I do the same thing with no-no foods I have in the house for Bruce. If it's out in plain sight, I eat it. Or somethings I'll freeze it but that doesn't always work either. Last night I was hungry for something chocolate and I ate a slice of frozen chocolate cake right out of the freezer. And I wonder why I can't stay at the same weight?

I'm such an idiot. I can't believe my computer has survived nine years. I found out the problem with my computer is the lint caught in the air filter under my computer. I didn't even know there was one there.

I read an interesting article yesterday at the library, written by two doctors, on weight loss. They said there's no such thing as will power. The brain is stronger than we are. If we want to lose weight, we have to change our environment. If you buy a new boat and it's in rough waters, and you don't want your boat ruined, you have to move the boat to calmer waters. That's what I did yesterday, I moved my "boat" out of the home. They also said to eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch and snack to eliminate making food choices, and then be creative with dinner.
Right now, I'm taking care of computer stuff, and getting my food ready for the day, and then I'm heading for the gym, and visit family.
I wanted Ron to win on "The Biggest Loser", but he didn't, so I didn't care who won. Helen does look older. I have a younger sister who's thin, but I look younger, because her small wrinkles really stand out. My fat fills out the small wrinkles. I don't tell her that though. My grandmother was overweight and even at 90 she didn't have wrinkles, I think because fat fills in the wrinkles. Just my thoughts. When she went into a nursing home, and lost weight, she began to show her age. I'd still much rather be thin, for less stress on my joints. Hugs, Jada

Hello everyone.

Bobbi, I'm cooking a good deal of the food and freezing as much as I can beforehand. I told DH to stop me if he sees me trying to freeze potato salad. I'll have an army of people staying here at the house for the wedding so I'm going to put them to work with the sandwiches, vegetables, etc... The fiance's mother is not an excellent cook but she'll be doing some of the sandwiches and cookies and cooking a turkey. She makes really good lemon pie so she's doing the lemon pie tarts as well. I've cooked for crowds for years with church functions and worked my way through college in a cafeteria and bakery so I guess I'll have everything figured out.

Susann, of course you're invited to the wedding. Everyone is invited and all the food will be virtual so no calories.

Jada, Jada, Jada. You've got to stop talking about the Biggest Loser. I almost read the spoiler for myself tonight. Ha, ha. I'll get the rebroadcast on a local channel tonight.

Gayle, I'm right with you on the junk. I'll eat it and enjoy it and then have so many regrets. I did it last night at a bridal shower for my niece. I did so well the first hour and a half and then all resolve gave way and I dived into to the goodies. What a table of desserts there were besides lots of munchies before the lunch was spread out. My niece received many nice gifts and $600 in lieu of gifts. I guess her mother paid us all back in sugar.

Today I've eaten very lightly to try and counteract last nights indiscretions. I don't know if that will help but it soothes my conscience if nothing else.

I got up this morning and did housework and washing most of the day. I can finally see the top of my dresser and bedside table. I cleaned mirrors and light fixtures, washed sheets, blankets and towels and hung them on the line. (Hard to believe we had a snow storm Sunday night.) I cleaned the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms and one of the basement bedrooms I made dinner and supper and made bread and gave mom a bath. Some days I have more energy than others and today is one of those days. Ha, ha. I'll get on my bike for an hour or so while I watch the Biggest Loser tonight and hope that helps too. I so don't want to go back up to the 140s again. Three more days of light eating might help but then mom's 92nd birthday party is this weekend...sigh... and then our bridal shower and wedding. When will the celebrations end?

Have a good day ladies and keep moving.

Bobbi,

That is ok about the thread thing. About the stiffness ~ maybe the Splenda has nothing to do with it either. I have not used it for about a month and don't seem to notice any difference. I too am better when I am up moving around, but when I sit ~ even for a short time, I seem to stiffen up so quickly. If only I could keep moving all my waking hours ~ LOL. I am so busy at work, that I just want to sit and rest up on my days off. Oh well. I could have accepted the stiffness as part of old age if it had come when I felt myself to be old, but it started in my late 40's and I guess my head protests my body acting like it is old already

Good Morning Girls,

I'm up early, but can't get myself back into my exercising like I know I need to. I've got to get back to that. I haven't been walking outside either, the weather has been really yucky, and I don't have a great place to walk here, without driving a bit first and parking my vehicle somewhere. We have a city park, not very big, but ok, when it turns off pretty this summer, I'm going to take mother and wheel her around in her wheelchair and I'll get my walking in and she'll enjoy the weather.

Gayle, I guess we all go through the binges, I wish there was a magic way to make us stop. I had heard the same thing about Equal causing the stiffness. I never used Equal, I just use the Sweet n low, that good old cancer causing stuff.....according to the experts years ago.......lol.

I wrote an offer on a house on Monday, wish me luck that we can get a deal together....a little more money toward a vehicle.......mine is a 98, with 167,000 miles on it. I think I'm gonna drive it till it lays down and dies....which could be any day now......lololol.

Everyone have a good day, I've got to get busy.

Susann

This helps clear up what fish 'not to eat'. We usually buy frozen wild catch salmon when it's on sale. Just once I'd love to have fresh salmon from the sea, I envy folks that live on the coasts.

1. Large predatory fish. Shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, and white (albacore) tuna may have high levels of mercury. Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of contaminants, and should avoid these species. (Small-catch tuna is OK, as it has high levels of omega-3s.)
2. Omega-6 rich fish. Farm-raised tilapia is one of the most highly consumed fish in America, yet it has very low levels of beneficial omega-3s and very high levels of potentially detrimental omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory, and inflammation is known to cause damage to blood vessels, the heart, lung and joint tissues, skin, and the digestive tract.
3. Farmed salmon. Avoid farmed salmon (also called Atlantic salmon), which is what you typically find in supermarkets, restaurants and fish markets. While less expensive than wild salmon, farmed salmon is lower in omega-3s and may contain residues of antibiotics and other drugs used to treat diseases in fish farming pens. What's more, levels of PCBs and other contaminants in some farmed salmon have been found to be much higher than those found in wild salmon.

My goal today is gym and visiting family. I'm going to stick to eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and snack.

Good Morning Everybody
This morning I weighed 219 !!!!!! I'm finally below 220. Thanks 3FC!!!