bleh. I really wanted some frosted birthday cake and ice cream today. Don't ask me why--I just WANTED it. I went to the store and decided buying a whole cake was probably a bad idea. I ended up with some Little Debbie snack cakes (stars and stripes--like Zebra Cakes but patriotic ). I used to be able to eat a whole box of them in one sitting and probably did so about once every other week. Tonight, I had 3 packs (so 6 little cakes) and that was it. I also actually bought a container of whipped frosting--I LOVE frosting--and I planned to have a sort of planned binge. But I can't do the frosting after the little cakes. I just can't.

And even including the snack cakes, I'm only like 300-something calories over my recommended weight loss calorie goal for the day. I've been doing well all week, so with plenty of water, it shouldn't even affect my weigh-in.

I feel kinda icky now after eating those cakes, but I kinda like it. I used to be able to eat so much more and so much worse and feel normal. I'm glad my body now recognizes that this is not everyday stuff, if that makes sense. And it's not that I feel nauseous or anything--just very blech. I'm glad I fulfilled the craving, and I have no desire for more. Back on plan tomorrow

Jill...good for you for having a little indulgence, but not going overboard...which is sometimes sooooo easy to do!

I was reading all of the posts about kids and TV. I have to admit, that my kids probably watch too much....and I have to take full responsibility for that.
Having said that, they are also all very good students, have lots of outside activities....sports, church, friends....so I think I have been able to maintain a fairly good balance. It is my youngest who I sometimes have to pry away from the Wii or one of his favorite cartoons.
To all of our Canadian friends...have a great long weekend!! We don't have very much planned...my dad turns 65 this Sunday, so we are going to a party for him...other than that, just hoping the weather is nice for some gardening and maybe some golf.

Hi Blues, I didn't WORKOUT TODAY, but I did go to the zoo with my family. We were there for about 6 hours, I estimated about 2.5 I was actually walking, very strong for the first part of the day, then it turned into strolling, then just dragging, finally I kicked my mom off the scooter wheel chair so that I could drive it around....LOTS OF FUN.... and I got a little sunburn, hopefully it won't be too bad!
Tomorrow is the memorial for my Uncle that passed away on May 1st. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of my family, some I haven't seen for years. Also, looking forward to learning more about my Uncle, funny how we learn some things about people AFTER they have passed.
I am going to take a FREEBIE WEEK THIS WEEK... I have had two days off of work this week, and not staying op. I haven't been doing my normal morning weigh ins... so I don't really want to know right now.

Hi gang, time for my daily check-in . . .

I had planned to start my day in the vegetable garden, but dh had other plans for me. Now, get your mind out of the gutter . . . It was his right to ask this task of me, because I said I would. Some time back, we got an opportunity to buy some ( used ) oak kitchen cabinets, a lot of them, at a local recycling store. We have "need" of them downstairs for the second kitchen,which is now my weight room. I chipped in half and dh the other and I promised to help get the cabinets ready. Well . . .dh being the OCD/PTSD guy that he is, decided to paint all the interiors, first flat primer, then enamel. Then he will spray varnish the outsides. So, today we painted and painted (pics below).

Then, in the heat of the day, I was "allowed" time in the garden. It got up to 103 today!!! Did that stop me? Of course not, but I did have to take a LOT of breaks, just stop and sit, then start again. Got two types of potatoes in (Butte and Caribe - 6 each) , and lemon cucumber along one section of fence. I also made a shade for my lettuce plants and made 3 more shorter raised beds. But tonight, I feel ill, I think I got a little heat stroke.

Josephine - thanks for the info on the broiled broccoli, and your positive comments on the porch. We do spend a lot of time there. And you (and Amarie) also like sweet potatoes, so now I have a new item to add to the garden, but maybe not this year. Have fun at the pool, wise move to save your back.

Paula - thank you too for the comments on the porch, I added one more picture of it just for you (below).

Anna - Your garden sounds way cool. I envy your jump on it. DH demands a lot of my attention, so its hard to get blocks of time to do it. He is always home - unlike some who wish theirs were! Yes, I have fruit trees, apple, pear and quince. Made some quince jelly and apple pie filling. Also make salsa and your freezing ideas sound like a good plan for me. The DH with PTSD must think we're in survival mode - we have 2 refrigerators and 2 freezers as well as an overstocked pantry. Thanks for the ideas.

Amarie - You must care for yourself, if you're no good for you, you won't be any good for anyone else, so don't feel you'd let us down. What's good for you is good for the team. Get back op and you can lose without the exercise for awhile. How'm I doing? Good for some reason, no problem sticking with the plan, no binge temptations, drinking lots of water and eating more fiber and gardening exercise is bringing the scale down (we'll see how much tomorrow) Hang in there . . .

Tawny - so good to hear all this positive talk about your gym workouts. I especially liked when you said: "I'm feeling good on the inside all day." And woohoo about the ever-nearing onderland!!! Very proud of you. I hope to catch you soon. Great job.

Jill - I found that interesting and so cool that even though you binged, you were not out of control, or out of touch with your body. I liked when you said, that your body recognizes "that this is not everyday stuff". That is a huge step, I think.

Well gang, with all the bad backs, bum knees and down-in-the-dumpsies, we'll just have to limp together to the finish line for the Memorial Day 5K. We can do it, we're the Bluesers!!!

Dora

i am jumping in -hope it isn't too out of the "loop"

about exercise- yep - today I am counting gardening time to make it to Monaco- haven't ever been there . One idea though would be to go to Lake Como area- not sea but still a place in the sun!

tv and kids - moderation is necessary - harder to preview tv shows but worth the time and I am happy to report that discovery channel , animal planet, history channel has great programming that is interesting for whole famly viewing.

gardening- I plant my favorites - lettuce and herbs, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers,eggplants, swiss chard, beets, potatoes, onions,etc I think I will also look into the sweet potatoes - see how well these grow around here.


binge times and being able to control - that is a huge accomplishment - congrat's on that!

hope weigh-ins go well for all!

Linda

Blech!
DH dropped the kids off at grandma's house yesterday morning. He came back with my bike that was in storage and a giant Christmas tin full of no bake cookies. I told him to put them in the freezer and he didn't. I started out good and only ate two before we left to run errands. Then while we were in town DH stopped and got us both an ice cream cone from McD's. Not a great choice but better than the apple pies I wanted.

We got home and DH started putting new tubes in my bike tires and I came in to warm up the turkey rice veggie soup I made the night before. Had a big bowl of soup and within 20 minutes I was SICK! DH felt fine so the only thing I can think of is maybe all the sodium affected my stomach. I was trying to calculate how much sodium there was and it was A LOT. The turkey was really high and all I had was regular chicken broth instead of the low sodium kind I have been buying. Plus I wanted some wild rice in it so I dumped in a box of Rice a Roni white and wild rice so that was even that much more sodium there. Either way, after seeing it twice I am not eating any more of it. In the garbage it goes.

After I was feeling better I ate a few more cookies and then had PB and banana sandwiches. Yup, two of them. A little while later DH made Bagel Bites and I ate a bunch of those. I was really, really afraid to get on the scale this morning but I'm only up 3/4 of a pound. I'm gonna drink a TON of water today and get back on track.

The good news about all of that is my bike is back up and functional again so I can start riding. I'm gonna have to start of SLOW though as I haven't been on it in about 5 years. I almost bought a new fat butt seat for it but decided not to. My butt won't be fat for to much longer hopefully.

Jill - I understand completely about your craving. I can't stay away from those no bakes. I think I had 6-7 yesterday. That is really good though as usually when she brings them over I can eat 15-20 in one day. That is why I don't make them myself.

Dea - My kids watch WAY to much TV also. 80% of it is prerecorded videos and the rest if PBS. We only have 4 channels here. They love going to grandma and grandpas with satellite and cable.

Dora - Can I come live with you? I'll sit in an unused corner of the porch and eat vegetables all year long. I'll leave the kids behind and you won't even know I am there.

I don't know about a Memorial Day 5k, but I just got back from walking for an hour and 45 minutes My feet hurt (I think I need new sneakers), but I needed lots of minutes today to meet the weekly exercise challenge. I need only 16 more minutes/miles to get to our beach in Spain! I'm sure I can squeeze that in at some point today, but I wanted to get the bulk of it out of the way early while it was a little cooler and before the sun was in full blast.

Well, it sounds like the guy who was going to power wash our deck bailed out on us again today. I think my parents have a power washer. Maybe we can borrow theirs when we go down there next weekend.

So, instead of working on the deck, I've got plenty of other stuff to do today. We need to vacuum pretty badly--dog fur everywhere! Oh, the joy of puppies I also have clean dishes to put away, a table full of junk mail and stuff to clean off, and a fruit salad and tossed salad to make for a party tomorrow (this will also involve grocery shopping for the ingredients). Oh, and at leat 16 more minutes of exercise in there somewhere!

On the topic of kids and tv...I grew up watching quite a bit of tv. My mother ran a daycare out of our home when I was little, so we would all watch cartoons in the morning before school and then movies after school. We played outside and stuff, too, but there was definitely tv every day. And not the educational stuff, either--I hated Sesame Street I've watched what the experts would say is "too much" tv my whole life, but I think I turned out okay. I did lots of activities in school, played softball for 10 years, had lots of friends, always made the honor roll and National Honro Society, and would pretty much never do anything wrong for fear of the wrath of my parents (I really feel this last part is KEY).

Around my middle school years, my mother showed her disapproval of my watching shows like Beavis & Butthead, The Simpsons, Married With Children, etc. I would still watch them when she wasn't home, though. And then I went to college and discovered South Park (we didn't get Comedy Central in my house growing up)

Anyway, all that tv, and I've always been intelligent, "so mature for my age" (as has been constantly pointed out by others since I was a kid), responsible, a respectful. I don't think the amount of time spent watching tv is the problem--I think watching tv and doing nothing else or watching tv without parental commentary are the problems.

Oh boy, Blues, I think I'm gonna need a little push today.

I REALLY want to get a badge each week. And this week I still have 191 minutes left to get in! Over 3 hours today...

Here's what I have planned:
Two 10 minute walks
45 min tread
Walking to do grocery shopping & back estimate 60 minutes
= 125

That leaves 66 minutes left... Oh! But I'm going to be cleaning & packing up a lot of boxes tonight. If I do that consistently, I'm SURE I can count that. (Right? ) It's a lot of lifting & moving things around & walking to the dumpster.

I think I can do this, everyone. Today is my high points day, too. So I should be able to get in enough protein to help keep me moving. I'll come back and tell everyone how I've done!

Morning Gang! I'm feeling cheerful because my knee feels tons better this morning, yay! I'm about to go gently walk and cycle and see what's doing. I don't know if I can get 210 minutes of exercise in to get my badge, but if it feels good I'll try. We are going kayaking this afternoon and that's 2 hours right there, so I'd only need another 90 minutes of walking, biking or swimming.

[QUOTE=zinkemomx2;2205153]

Dora - Can I come live with you? I'll sit in an unused corner of the porch and eat vegetables all year long. I'll leave the kids behind and you won't even know I am there.

I was going to ask if I could live with her. I can share a room with you if we have to. Your place sounds wonderful. I always thought it was cool where you are. It was cool here for today but summer is about to hit us with the ugly stick. We will have 3 days of summer here. Hot/Hot humid/ and hot/humind/windy. I am getting ready for hurricane season the next few weekends. We will start cutting the boards for the windows, trimming trees and getting a stock pile of groc. for June1 to Nov1. FUN FUN FUN.

TTYL
Paula

I'll share a room. No problem. As long as it doesn't involve 3 year olds or cranky husbands.

I just got back from a 3.4 mile bike ride. That doesn't sound very far but I haven't been on a bike in 5 years. My butt says OUCH! I need a few minor adjustments, seat height, handlebars, helmet (I couldn't chew my gum as it was to tight) but overall it went well. I hope to get the kids interested in riding more. Then as they get better I can run while they ride and we will all be going the same speed.

I have to agree with both of you guys.. Dorsa house is th place to be..

Chellez... week 5 hop could be to doras house.. lol Cabana boys on the porch... hmm sounds great lol

no kids no hubbys just cabans boys and Doras gorgeous house If i lived in a house like that i would never need to go on holiday

Just wanted to stop in and say hello and have a great weekend.
I have an NSV. I shampoed my carpet and didnt feel like i was dying. Last fall when I did them I thought I was going to die. I worked up a good sweat today but not even tired from it!!
Weigh in today was good also. 2.4lbs off.
Have a great weekend everyone.
debi

Well, nothing much going on today except running errands and doing research online on stuff I have to buy while hubby is at work today...on a Saturday

Dora, so when are you having us over? We all love your porch

Jill, for me it used to be the crumble mini donuts that you see in the snack aisle in the grocery store. They come 6 in a pack. That and coffee ummm... I haven't bought them in couple years. I go grocery shopping, when I walk in that aisle I look at them go hmmm....and keep walking before I go weak and buy them Glad you had a planned binge and didn't go overboard...maybe I'll try it too.

Yeah, it's going to be another gorgeous mid-80's day here! I hist the gym at 5:30 for a couple hours and now am going outside to work in the yard before it gets too hot.

Dora - Ambitious project with the cupboards! I love seeing your pictures too! Cannot wait to see your garden in full swing this summer! Wow, you're really getting the heat wave effect from SoCal! 103!!

I'm at a plateau I believe. Lost nothing last week and only .4 as of this morning. I'm busting my butt at the gym, and mostly op as far as food goes. That's how it goes...if it continues for weeks I'll know I need to tweak something. I'm not overly frustrated, but when I think of the amt of weight I have left to lose and I know the amount of effort I'm putting into getting healthy and fit, it does get a little annoying to see the same number (give or take a few ounces!) day after day. I don't have an alternative but to continue doing the right things and doing them over and over every day. Sorry I cannot be contributing more in the weight loss numbers. It's not for lack of trying on my part!