OP and one more pound gone today. Clouds are rolling in, so I hope for rain tonight even though I still need to walk

Beck FB Wednesday Sabotage: Dieting is too hard, it’s just not worth it.
Response: Dieting is hard SOME of the time, but not all the time. If I think back on the past week, it wasn’t hard every single minute of every single day, and I can’t let the memory of the hard times color my perception of the week as a whole. Besides, being overweight is hard, too! Either way it’s hard.

nationalparker Thinking of you as you play mediator and wishing you LOTS of patience.

maryann Thanks for the congrats. Kudos on an awesome day and sense of power.

Wannabehealthy :wave: thanks for sharing your advice. I've found that eating a wider variety of veggies helps too. I think that it makes a big difference in how my joints feel.

Debbie/Lexxiss Kudos for checking in when it is not easy. Congrats on a good day.

BillBlueEyes Hurray for a functional dishwasher and lowered stress.

Cheryl/GosfordGirl Bummer that circumstances are conspiring to keep you from the gym. Kudos for a good food day and weigh in.

onebyone Congrats for a good TOPS weigh in!

bethFromDayton Kudos for a plan for tomorrow to keep the munchie attack away.

Just a quick check in tonight to say that I am so happy to be full-steam-ahead on plan.

Being on plan and eating healthy takes care of so much angst. I need to try to remember that when the going gets tougher.

Off to the hotel tomorrow night. Food is packed and ready to go. Hoping to be back where I was when I fell off the rails- 286 by the middle of next week or so.

Take care everyone
:grouphug:

Cannot believe how this day has imploded. Discussion of who would like to take what devolved in under three minutes between brother/sister and that was that. I know the next few days will be terribly awkward with whispering among her kids and ostracizing DH and me. I said to him if it's uncomfortable, we'll just get a hotel. But then that makes it hard to pack up next week. Stomach churns. Amazingly, though, I ate dinner. Solidly. He's got all the time in the world to tackle this - it's she who is typically in a rush for things to be settled.

Viewing is Thursday and funeral Friday. I feel this has cast a shadow on the mourning because lines have been drawn in the sand and teams are being drafted. Her family comes in and the whispering will begin.

Would this help?
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...pily/?ALLSTEPS

Thursday night
 

Coaches

Eating was to plan and exercise was walking 10K steps and going to gym. I am staying within a fairly constrained eating plan and at the moment it is easy because I seem to be focussing on other things - I am sure that will change but it is lovely when food is not the centre and where what I eat is enjoyable and enough

I am now talking to the dogs again even though they created mayhem, because it was my fault to overfill the slow cooker - but it is a surprise when they occasionally remind me that in fact they are little animals and they behave accordingly.

BillBE - glad you are winning with the plumbing and that you now have a functioning dishwasher. Credit for being OK with eating and exercise - that is a success

Debbie (Lexxiss) - I saw your mammoth job with the blinds - I was impressed. Serving $1000 of bacon/eggs is also impressive - the sheer exercise of it. You step count per day when you work would be outstanding. Glad you had a good food day

Wannabehealthy - thanks for sharing your insights about sugar cravings. I do find when I am focussing on veggies I generally eat better too

Maryann - your walking adventures have been interesting - makes me want to get outside my comfort zone and take off. Credit for taking the power to resist and refuse a desired food

Tricia - Huge Credit for the weight loss - you are on a roll. Hope you got rain.

Nationalparker - Your situation sounds really difficult and that would be difficult to navigate - you are doing well to maintain a sensible approach to food so credit. You know you need to protect your interests in this and stay firm and focussed so sending supportive thoughts your way

Credits
- Checked in
- Ate on plan
- Measured my food
- Ate sitting down
- I stopped eating when satisfied
- Weighed myself
- Exercised - got to gym
- Made opportunities for incidental exercise
- Made a food plan for tomorrow - and have packed lunch

Thursday - Amelia Earhart Day
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, included the library because my turn for Frozen finally arrived. I've got a week to find a slot to watch it and find out why there's such a fuss. Eating was OKish, so partial CREDIT moi.

Fun activity was to finish installing new faucets on the basement utility sink. Fun because there was no plumber involved and it was simply remove and replace type of plumbing - easy enough for anyone who is willing to lie on their back with a basin wrench to reach up and behind (and get wet). And fun because DW has wanted these for some time but I was reluctant to spend what the plumbing supply houses charge for quality faucets and even more reluctant to install the cheap ones that leak after a year. Think I'm now done with plumbing for a few years at least.


CeeJay - Can't get better than "full-steam-ahead on plan." Thanks for the great reminder, "Being on plan and eating healthy takes care of so much angst."

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Yay for being an organic biome that converts bacon and eggs into a boiler.

Cheryl (GosfordGirl) – Neat that focusing on other things eases the challenges with food.

maryann - Kudos for success with Day 17 - End Overeating with " reaffirmation that I have control."

nationalparker – Family tensions during such an emotional time are just painful; I do wish you well finding a path through this. You are bigger than 'whispering' by those childish enough to still play that middle-school game.

Tricia (AZtricia) - Here's hoping that Arizona gets rain to celebrate another pound gone forever.

Carol Sue (Wannabehealthy) - Love your experience that the nutrients in veggies staved off the cravings for sweets.

Readers -

I can second Wannabehealthy that massive amounts of veggies made a difference for me. I can't stand them steamed so I eat them raw in giant salads or roasted or stir-fried (sometimes both) in any number of dishes including with a small amount of pasta. I've also been aware that the nutrients in the veggies may be what has calmed the cravings. I know that my blood tests just came back with all the nutrients where they should be, even though I gave up my multi-vitamin years ago.

WI: -0.4 kg, Exercise: +40 1015/1400 minutes for July, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

nationalparker: thinking of you. It took us 3 months to empty my parents house. But, they hadn't moved in something like 15 years, so there was a lot of stuff in nooks and crannies. I'm sorry this is turning out so difficult. I like the link that AZtricia came up with. Another method: give everyone a different colored post-it-note pad. Each person puts his or her post-it on the things that he or she wants. Things that only have one post-it go to that person. Things with no post-its go to the charity shop or in an estate sale. Things with two or more post-its get negotiated. At least, then you know what the real problem areas are and aren't arguing over things that don't matter that much to any one.

BillBlueEyes: I have "Let it Go" in my Good Morning playlist -- so I'm frequently listening to it while posting! Like right now...

Nationalparker, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's very hard to lose your parents, the ones who took care of you throughout your childhood and loved you unconditionally.

When my mother passed away we had the problem that her rental unit had to be emptied in just a few days or pay another months rent. Being a daughter, I was aware of the few items that meant the most to me and allowed my brother to take most everything else. There were several things that had been in the family for years and years, but I felt that my brother deserved to have something too. Unfortunately, when he split up with his wife he threw everything away! Did not even consider asking me if I wanted it, and even gave some things to a woman he was dating. I was very bitter about that. These items which could be passed down as family heirlooms are now gone forever by his selfishness.

I hope your division of property goes better than mine did.

P.S. for BillBlueEyes. There's an inside joke in Frozen that you might have to be a girl to know. The most beloved Disney princes are the ones who dance.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Two days OP and the weight is back to ticker. Credit for strengthening my resistance muscle several times as my body craved to be free of restriction. Credit for consciously thinking about changing my definition of full. I have a camping trip this weekend - the last of the season. Typically it is tougher to stay OP. I reread my advantage card - I will feel loved and nourished when I am OP. I don't want to have to move my ticker up come Aug. 1 so I will log in all my food in MFP and slow down decision making. Especially important is sitting down to eat anything!

Have a headache :( after a 3+ hour board meeting which put my lunch WAY late, I've been tired. Dh had a bad day and added stress to mine with his venting. I'm not hungry, but have only had 1300 calories today which might be part of the headache. Going to stop anyway since it is 6:30. Hopefully it will make a happy scale tomorrow. Wishing you a great day!

I need to pay attention to this!!! Beck FB Think Thin Thursday: Remember, you’re only one workout away from a good mood. If you’re in a bad mood, instead of eating to make yourself feel better, consider getting some exercise! It will give you the good feelings without the guilt.

BillBlueEyes Hope you enjoy Frozen. We liked it, but the boys are sick of the songs.

Friday night
 

Coaches

Today was a good day with food. I am getting takeaway for dinner and have tried to make sensible choices (waiting for it to arrive) but who knows. I try different restaurants and the food is always full of things I wouldn't choose. I am trying a new Thai restaurant so hopefully it is OK - I want a break from cooking. A busy weekend ahead to get ready for the start of semester and then it should get into a rhythm that is less stressful and more predictable. But this weekend is tricky.

BillBE - nice that you think it is fun to fulfil DW's long held wishes to have new taps in the sink. Haven't seen Frozen so looking forward to hear about it

Gardenerjoy/Nationalparker - I left my poor sister to deal with my parents home (their possessions) and then I came in for the 'valuables' where we decided together who should have what. But there was a lot of work for my sister to clean up and clear out what amounted to their life. Pretty sad. And it did take a while to work through that. I really like Joy's idea of the post-it notes - that would at least force a discussion and some decision making

Maryann - Credit for resistance and for staying the path. Enjoy your camping trip

Tricia - Not surprised you have a headache! Hope the scale cooperates tomorrow :crossed:

Credits
- Checked in
- Ate on plan
- Ate mindfully most of the time
- Ate sitting down
- I stopped eating when satisfied
- Weighed myself
- Made opportunities for incidental exercise
- Made a food plan for tomorrow

Friday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – It was the day to organize books that have spilled into stacks surrounding the favorite reading chair - not a pretty site. Turned out that I had 26 books containing a bookmark suggesting that I wasn't done yet. So part of the 'organizing' was to accept that I was, in fact, done with at least half of those; I'd gotten what I wanted from them and had no intention of reading more. I gathered three cardboard boxes of books to leave the house whether nobly or in disgrace. I sold them to DW for $1 each (a good price!) and will never have to worry about them again. She is much better at giving away books than I am. It's easy for me to handle the junk books that I think no one should read and the thrice read mass market paperbacks that have earned their cost, but it's hard for the nature books in pristine shape still worth their $30 cover price. Now they're her problem. Yay for married life.

Eating and exercise continued as OKish - CREDITish moi. My major accomplishment was to buy an inexpensive landline telephone for an upstairs corner of the house where it's nice to have a nearby phone when it rings. Fortunately, Radio Shack still sells such things (at near give away prices). The other stores just looked at me as if I had two heads, LOL.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Congrats on good blood tests without taking a daily multivitamin. It was one of life's great disappointments to learn that no long term study reported a benefit to multivitamins - with the single exception of folic acid for pregnant women. [Thanks for the tip about Frozen.]

Cheryl (GosfordGirl) – Hope that new Thai restaurant is satisfactory so that you can use it for your desired break from cooking. Kudos for a good day with food.

maryann - Have a happy camping trip.

Tricia (AZtricia) - Ouch for one person's stress - Double Ouch for two people's stress stacked up. Hope that headache disappears along its own merry way.

Carol Sue (Wannabehealthy) - Ouch for the loss of family heirlooms - good luck processing that loss, even now so many years later, so you can let it go.

Readers -

Hi Coaches!

Yesterday was a good food day....nothing extraordinary. I did, however, resist continual offerings of ChChip cookies at the auto dealership, where I was researching the possibility of a new vehicle. We are at the point where we need to seriously lessen the miles on our midsize 4WD and save it's use for winter necessities and benefit from the fuel economy of a smaller car for our regular traveling. Translation: I am really tired of the 1981 Tercel, which leaves me stuck in a 3mileX3block radius every time DH leaves because no sane person would ever take that car out of the city limits and onto I-70. Nice to use my well honed justification skills on something other than food. lol

I've got to run this morning. We are headed down to Denver to help DD with party prep for her 2 yr old's birthday bash tomorrow. DD is 1 week from delivering grandkid #2, and isn't too mobile. I will be back later if internet cooperates. I found myself already musing over tomorrow's party food. credit. That's a great way for me to operate.

Have a great day, coaches, and thanks for being here!

a day or two
 

Coaches

My laptop is finally back from the laptop fixers! They had to replace my whole lid/screen cause it went black 2 weeks ago. It got sent off but because it was less than a year old I paid only for the labour, which was well worth it. It seems though I have chosen one of the most expensive to fix screens as the whole thing has to come off and be replaced. Thankfully this happened while less than a yea old and an employee where I bought it found the actual transaction for when we bought this. Very happy to have it back.

AND credit moi for weighing in this morning. I felt "fat" and "heavy" and have had two weigh-ins where my weight has steadily climbed. I am still eating low carb but not low cal and not totally tracked either but no snacks, just three meals. So yesterday morning I was back to 276.9 and despairing that today I would be back to where I started last week, esp. since I "feel it" and nope. Wrong. Scale read 272.3 which was a shocker! Good news as I prepare for another big workday and then we leave for an overnight trip to Ottawa tomorrow, back Sunday and the final push to get ready for my art opening on Thursday evening. I have started piece #5 and need 5 more! OMG coaches. I hope to get #5 completed this morning then begin #6. Tomorrow afternoon we are going to the Whoop-De-Do BBQ for an art teacher of mine. We were asked to bring good wishes or a bottle of wine and so yesterday I bought some Meade at a local winery! OMG I have discovered I *love* meade. No surprise since I studied medieval art and history! More of a surprise why I have only just tasted it in my 50th year. The winery also had bottles of Apple Jack! Made me miss my brother as he would have loved a gift of Apple Jack. *I* also loved it. Like a smokey apple bourbon. I don't drink because I come from a family of addicts and I'm not fooling myself over the power that stuff has for us, but wow. WOW.

Ok better go.[B]

Wish me luck getting my work done today!