Carla - good to "see" you here! Good luck with the stressful week and not "taking it out" on the food. I think that's the hardest thing for me to get through to myself. It's certainly was the cause of my recent (last month and a half) gain,.
I went to my meeting this past Saturday after being away for a couple of weeks (we went down to AC on Columbus Day weekend) and the scale showed a 0.4 gain - not bad all things considered. That does mean though that in order to get back down to unseen territory I still have 2.8 pounds to go. I need to lose at least that before my SD's wedding the day before Thanksgiving. I think I will end up getting the Spanks for my midsection just in case (the top of the gown is a stretchy fabric). I don't know if the gown would fit smoothly on top even if I lost 5 pounds between now and then!
The hardest thing for me to do is not snack away my stress from work. My schedule is still not straightened out and the whole process (long story that I won't go into) is getting me down and discouraged. I have to keep reminding myself that snacking doesn't change any of that! I did OK last night and hope to string another good day together with yesterday.
I'm sneaking in a post from work since I slept in a bit this morning.
Judy - 0.4 isn't bad at all, factoring in being out of town. I know you can get the rest off before the wedding. I think it's a good idea having the Spanx on hand just in case, especially with the stretchy fabric. I'm sorry to hear that your schedule isn't straightened out. Sounds like it's not been a fun year so far. I hope it gets better. I hear you on snacking away the stress. I know I've used food since a young age to comfort myself and it's a very hard habit to break. Good for you for stringing together a good OP day the other day. I hope yesterday went well too.
I haven't really journaled or counted points in awhile. Right now I mostly pay attention to carbs - on a good day. That said I did lose a pound this week and last, so I guess I'm having more good days than bad. Right now I'm thinking up strategies for having food at hand for the busy days. Ana really likes my pasta salad (made with Barilla Plus pasta and low-fat mayo and sour cream) so I'm thinking about keeping a big bowl of that and some cole slaw made with vinegar and a bit of oil in the fridge and some good deli meat like Boar's Head so we can always have salads and sandwiches in a pinch. We'll see.
And now to get started with my day. Yesterday we launced our new program and it went well, but made for a long day. Tonight John, Ana and I are attending as a family, so I won't be working it. Then it runs four more times.
Carla - congratulations on the pound lost!! Having good food at hand is so important. I have snacky things like 100 calorie bags of whatever but I really need to get healthier things in the house again - like the Baby Bell light cheeses (1point each) and some ready to grab veggies. Good for you for paying attention to the carbs and way to go on having more good days than bad. One step at a time, which is what I have to remember to do about the emotional eating! Yes, I'm planning on going to get the Spanx this weekend just in case.
The year hasn't been the best but at the beginning of this week I decided that I had to make a conscious effort to think positively because walking around the way I was feeling was NOT making things (or me) feel any better. I've been semi-successful with it. One thing I'm trying to do is to stop each evening and take a "gratitude inventory" - nothing extensive but just to remind myself of the people and things I have/am doing in my life for which I'm grateful. Now I have to try to translate that into action in terms of the evening snacking. I did well on Monday but then had a bad evening on Tuesday (and I don't know why because I really was feeling better about things) and a so-so evening last night. Tonight I'm going to try the "kitchen is closed after dinner" mentality - sort of tough love with myself. I have to anyway because as it is I will have to use 2 flex points just to get through to dinner (and that's with cutting down on the planned dinner.) I've been really hungry between breakfast and lunch for the last couple of days so I brought some healthy but higher point snacks today (which I ate all at once!) and then just grabbed a 1/2 bagel (leftover from a morning meeting) in the faculty room right after I ate lunch (after one of the teachers complained *again* about pull-outs.) Not hunger eating, obviously. OK, one step at a time - and progress not perfection. Tonight I will pick up my knitting or needlepoint if I feel the urge to snack. Right now, as I have yet another extra, unpaid period, I think I'm going to go for a walk.
Judy - Good for you fro striving for the positive attitude. It makes a huge difference. I'm sorry about the complaining teacher. In an ideal world, no child would need extra help and therefore there would be no pullouts, but it's not an ideal world and everyone just has to work around that. I know that sometimes Ana was bummed in first grade because her pullouts caused her to miss science, which she liked. And we felt badly for her. But, she had to master reading if she was going to get beyond 1st grade science, so pullouts were the most important. She's still pulled out today and as far as I know none of her teachers ever complained. We had our conference with her teacher last night and it didn't seem to be an issue.
As far as the snacking, it's a daily battle for you and me, isn't it. If you're like me you snack to celebrate just as much as to comfort, so snacking after having a better day doesn't surprise me. Is your schedule still causing you to have blocks of unpaid periods in between paid periods? This is the same school you were at last year, right?
Not much new at this end. Ana was off of school yesterday so I re-arranged my schedule and had yesterday off. I was so tired, I got nothing done other than to take Ana to buy a birthday present for a party she's going to. Back to work today, and tonight where I have to help teach a pre-school class since we didn't get enough volunteers for this evening. Then, since Ana will be at a sleepover, John and I will either go to dinner or a movie.
Carla - I hope you and John had a nice evening together on Friday. Did you go out for dinner or go to see a movie? Yes, the snacking is daily battle for us and I snack to celebrate as much as to comfort. How did your conference with Ana's teacher go, well I hope? Yes, pullouts are not the best situation but necessary for certain students. I am at the same school as last year. This year there was a new (less per grade) pullout schedule and as I was involved in the scheduling meetings at the beginning of the year, I did not feel comfortable insisting on certain blocks (being "low man on the totem pole." Last year, the veteran reading teachers basically made up a schedule for me as I didn't start right at the beginning of the year. In any case, we (the reading teachers and the principal) had a meeting on Friday and switched the schedule around so I hardly have any unpaid blocks, although it was done so my day starts later in the morning and runs until the end of school. I would prefer what I had last year - starting first block and out in the early afternoon - but I'm going to try to make the best of it and use the extra time in the morning to get some activity in before work (while being able to sleep slightly later too.)
I ended up with a 0.8 pound loss this week and I credit it mostly to the tough love in the evening. I allowed myself maybe one snack on Thurs and Fri evenings, then brushed my teeth and told myself that the kitchen was closed except for water. I also used some of the tips from the latest WW magazine, including finding something else to do when I wanted to snack, like making my lunch for the next day. Tony and I had Chinese take-out yesterday and knowing how tight my rings are, I managed to *not* step on the scale this morning - an amazing feat since I am int he bad habit of weighing myself every morning. I'll see if I can keep off the scale tomorrow too.
I'm going to catch up on some emails out here on the patio. It's 73 degrees right now, bizarre for the middle to end of October. Have a great rest of the weekend,
Judy
Weigh in at home 10/15 - 10/21
