I'm so impressed with your resolve! And you're almost there!!! Just another week, right? Yay!

Get ready to celebrate!!!!

LOL

Well, how about calorie-free chocolate, while we're at it. ;)

Ah, the wish list of all the things "they" should figure out how to make taste so great AND allow us to reach our goals. :p

Heh heh!

I quit drinking because I can't stop once I start, then I make bad food choices since being UTI makes me feel hungry also I feel bad the next day so three strikes against alcohol keeeps me away from it

One more week! :D

all right, dangit! time to cut out the booze!
 

You need to ask yourself, "How important is the booze?" Do you control your drinking, or does it control you? Are you able to have a good time without alcohol? Does the alcohol change your personality? If it's just a habit, it takes about 7 weeks to break. Why not change to iced tea, and have that as your "social" drink. You'll definitely feel better about yourself in the long run. All of those empty calories add up.

Today is our anniversary. Husband bought a bottle of Dom Perignon, and I made my goal. Wasn't bad at all, even with the 6 bottles of red wine sitting in my wine cellar. :p

Have a much harder time staying away from the Ruffles...

http://tickers.tickerfactory.com/ezt...c4/s-event.png

Happy, happy, happy anniversary!!!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats!

Congrats on the anniversary!

Just wanted to check in and let you know I rejoined WW officially this week. I had been doing it on my own for months and loosing the same 3 lbs over and over. Decided I needed the accountability of weigh ins and someone looking at my food diaries to keep me from jsut playing games with the points.

Have cut alcohol consumption in half, trying to get back to just weekend consumption. I usually hit the door looking for the wine cork and don't stop until bedtime so 4 glasses, almost half of my daily calories, were consumed by 10pm. Only had 2 glasses last night after a 40 minute walk. Have to find other things to fill my time. I usually love to get in the bathtub with a good book and a glass of wine but made myself take a wine glass full of diet coke last night. It's a struggle I'm determined to win!

Yay! Way to go!

Keep it in check, cut it in half, get the exercise in... whatever!

All positive steps! Well done!!

Have a great weekend, everyone. :D

TY full_of_grace and parsp! It was definitely a memorable anniversary, as after we drank the champagne, the biggest earthquake we've experienced in our 4.5 years in rural north Japan hit right around midnight.

Want a challenge? Try cleaning up broken glass (from a very large vase that fell and shattered into a gazillion pieces) while you are tipsy. :lol:

Anyway, I have family coming to visit on the 1st and staying for a few days and we have plans to drink wine while they are here. As soon as they leave though, I'll be posting another no-alcohol mini-goal to get me to Halloween!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

Oh my GOSH! That's crazy!!! What timing!!!!! LOL LOL LOL on the cleanup. Bless your heart! A challenge indeed!

I'm glad you're safe and that you got to enjoy your celebration!! Here's to many more!

You are an inspiration! Don't think I could commit to Halloween this far out. That's impressive!

Thank you for checking in and again, glad you're safe and glad you had a lovely anniversary celebration.

:cheers:

Had first weigh in Wed and was down 4 lbs so I'm thrilled and motivated! I know first weigh ins are usually bigger losses than average and I am a very slow loser, but I'm sticking with it and determined to be a Chick in Control!
Lost my father and husband 2 months apart two years ago, so wine has been my drug of choice and 40 lbs later I'm ready to take my life back. I'll be a first time grandmother in 7 weeks, so that's a great motivator to get healthy, plus I'm ready to see what else... who else... is out there for me :)

Parsp, Congratulations on the 4 lb loss! I hear you about the wine, I've got a week of family functions coming up and my mind has been toying (alot) with the Chardonnay I'm going to be offered. I've been keeping it out of the house, but out in the real world my mind hasn't given it up.

Grace this is pretty much explains it:

1. I want that first drink.
2. I convince myself that I'm "good" otherwise, so I can afford the drink.
3. I get bratty and say, "I can have whatever I want, dammit," and have a drink.
4. I feel sorry for myself for preventing myself from having a drink.

Perfect thread!

I really want to be able to have a drink in a social situation and enjoy myself without it leading to a binge of either booze or food. This has always been the main compulsion that derails my weight loss.

Congratulations!! :carrot: That's so awesome!

I'm a slow loser too, so I love any good drops like that! :D (But I'll take 'em all, just the same.) ;)

Congrats on heading into grandmotherhood! How delightful! Definitely a motivator for better health! Yay!!

I totally understand about having used booze to self-medicate. Been there! Good for you, recognizing that that played a role in allowing your weight to creep up... and putting it in check now.

That's what this is all about, huh? ;)

Good for you! I'm excited!

I played with a, "No booze in the house," line for a while. It seemed to work. I don't go out a LOT, so it helped to keep my at-home "glass to relax" habit out of the equation.

Still, I needed a strategy for drinks when I *did* go out, so I did the one-water-for-every-alcoholic-beverage thing. Also tried to steer toward lower-calorie and/or lower-sugar choices.

That is EXACTLY it.

And for me, it's the emotional parts of it (bratty, feeling sorry for self--numbers three and four, in your list) that do the most damage. I found that I spiraled to worse choices with my drinks because of the emotional impact WAY more than if I would have just said, "Hey. Gonna have a cocktail," without all of that emotional attachment to it.

I had a test of this last week. I went out with a group of friends with whom I'm always the "big drinker" in the bunch. (They have two glasses and stop. I'll have four.) This time, I was the lightweight--along with one other--and the other two really boozed it up. We all laughed about the "flip flop," but I took it as a really great indication that I *do* have it "in me" to stop after just one or two and still have a WONDERFUL time with my friends.

I don't have to deprive myself of the social fun, or even of the drinks! I just have to make mindful, specific choices that help keep me in-line with my goals.

Yay!

I love learning this, reinforcing this in myself, testing it out, learning where the limits are, and knowing I can live within them more than I might've thought I could. ;)

Yay!

Yay for all of us!! :hug:

full of grace, Congratulations for doing so well! It really does feel wonderful to be in control and still enjoy yourself. :)

I had a nice extended family dinner, turned down the beer they offered me as I arrived, drank seltzer and lime instead. I had a lovely chardonnay with dinner then went back to seltzer. :carrot:

Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!!!! That's AWESOME! :carrot:

Yay, you! :D

You are all such great motivators. Despite my very tempting week I did have a .6 loss so I'll take it. I was proud of myself for even going to the weigh in for one, and was thrilled with any loss for two! I had 3 nights out and company over 2 others. I was going to not buy wine for the other two nights and try to go without, but someone brought wine to my house... of course I drank it. Perhaps this will be the week I test my resolve. I have done one thing though that helped... I measured my regular glass of wine and found it was 8 oz, so gave myself a visual on a 6 oz serving which I am trying to stick to.

I have to admit, I am struggling with this same issue too. I have a family full of alcoholics, so I'm quite sensitive to alcoholism and how one can be a functional alcoholic and what it looks like - which is why I'm very concerned about this issue. When I first started WW/SB this year, I decided that I wasn't during any drinking during the week -- but on Friday night, I'd be out with friends at my favorite bar, and I'd drink too much. Saturday night - friends and I would be having dinner out, I'd have one or two martinis. When my weight loss stalled, I knew why - I was drinking waaaaay too much alcohol. I stopped drinking almost two weeks ago - total - to see what the result would be on the scale. Went to my favorite neighborhood bar and - I SURVIVED AND HAD A GOOD TIME WITHOUT THE ALCOHOL.

I'm sure you guessed the scale result correctly - the scale has started moving again.

Moral of the story - for my weight loss to keep moving, I have to leave the alcohol alone.

Glad to know I'm not the only one struggling with this.

Does that mean I won't ever drink again? No, I'm sure it doesn't. I do know what the end result will probably be, though, if I decide to have those three drinks when I'm out with the girls.

Isn't this place great??

Absolutely!!!!! That's awesome! In the right direction! Yeah!

Good for you! Every little bit has to help. :D Keep at it!

That's what's so tough about pushing your drinking to only specific days... you almost want to go overboard on the "drinking days" to make up for how "good" you were otherwise. It does get tough. Or at least it can. ;) Hang in there!

Definitely not! Social drinking is a part of many folks' lives and it's a matter of personal circumstances whether we are able to manage drinking and our goals or need to cut it out altogether in order to do better for ourselves.

And that's what it's all about, really. Mindful choices.

I mean, the drinks are going to be there when the goal weight is reached, so it's a matter of creating better choices DURING the journey and during maintenance too. I guess that's why the all-or-nothing option doesn't feel right to me. I know I'm not going to give up having a drink now and then once I hit goal weight, so to give that up now seems like a set-up for a "failure."

So glad to see so much good dialogue going on, here. :D

I just found this thread and am so impressed with all the posts. Everyone of them keeps saying that is my behaivor with wine and vodka. And you all seem to be handling it so well you have inspired me.
I have gained and lost the same 30 pounds 4 times now in 2 years and when I look back on the gaining it was me going back to my old eating habits thinking I will never gain it back again and poof boy did I gain it back!

And I can only blame it on the open bottle syndrome in my house. So tonight I am making a commitment to myself that I will only have wine when
1. have met my first mini goal of 5lb loss
2. must exchange exercise for glasses of wine (need to figure out the exercise/calorie rato)
3. only buy regular bottles of wine so I can not overinduldge when I do drink

Thank you all in advance for the support

For me, some days are better than others. ;)

That's probably been one of the best "lessons" from this thread, for me. The whole "an open bottle is an empty bottle" thing. I didn't even realize it was a policy here 'til I read it from others.

Sure enough, when I keep the booze as a "when I'm out" treat, it's easier to manage. I don't go "crazy" like I thought I would, to "make up for" having been deprived. I'm not deprived at all. That's a great lesson!

Awesome goals! :hug: Tons of support here! :D Good luck to you! (And to all of us.)

Well I slipped already LOL I thought I could ignore that wine sitting in the frigde until those first 5 pounds were gone -- wrong

I did weigh myself finally and lost .5 lbs from last week and today I bought a used stepping machine which I will set up tonight. I figure for every 30 min I am stepping would equal one glass of wine? does that sould about right?

Well anyway the wine is gone and not buying any more until those stubborn 5 are gone and I get into that exercise routine....wonder if I could do the exercise and save up points like in weight watchers and have my wine all at once?? Oh the ideas and excuses that keep going through my mind. And the thing is I know I don't need the wine and can go without it, have done it many times before and don't know why this time seems so hard

Well, I am on weight watchers so I'll tell you the exchange for my weight (228) and sedantary lifestyle (all of which factor into how many points you get for activity.) I would get 2 pts for every 10 minutes of stairclimbing at a 30 steps per minute pace. 2 pts equates to a 5 oz glass of wine. (Measure those glasses, that not much by modern wine glass standards.) Currently on Flex program you cannot accumulate activity points. You either use them on the day you earn them or not. HTH

Oh, I forgot to say I reached my first 5lb goal today with a 1.2 lb loss for a total of 5.8 in 4 weeks! Yeah me! Now this is a funny obstacle, but since the Olympics have been on I've been staying up later to watch them which makes for a very long evening = more temptation. On the other hand with the 8:00 EST start, I've had plenty of time to get my walk in each evening to kill some time before they start. Trying to think of low point non salty snacks to keep me satisfied and out of the wine. So far ice cream (1/2 cup sugar free) has worked for me!

Thank you for helping with the exercise/wine rato that will really help me.

Congradualtions on the 5.8lbs weight loss that is so awesome!
You know when I am being good a snack that works for me and grosses out my family is..I eat garlic dill pickles..the only problem is they are high in sodium but they have the salty, crunchy that I tend to crave

Thanks, Nancy and keep posting. Sharing these obstacles and how we deal with them helps us all!

Looks like I'm posting to myself, but wanted to post a mishap I had last night. After having a "stayed the same" weigh in week I got really serious and planned a perfect on program week. I find if I write things down and go to the trouble of counting the points and checking off the healthy eatting boxes, I will usually follow my plan. Well, I did not give myself enough food for dinner last night and those two glasses of wine I allowed myself sent me down that "an open bottle is an empty bottle" road of no return. Lesson learned... do not drink on an empty or near empty stomach. Must have food first! If not, bad things result!

Hi Parsp, I've been on vacation and dealing with some family issues so I haven't been around much.

Those open wine bottles in the house are impossible for me to resist too, and sometimes I'll be very careful with calories because I know I'll have the alcohol later and am saving them. If I'm at home this will end up in the empty bottle and probably extra food once my sober defenses are down.

Your'e right an empty stomach is not a safe place pour wine.

You've been doing great! step over this bump, and keep going. :)

Hi Parsp! Not posting to yourself! I'm here too. ;) :hug:

Sorry you had a slip. I wish you a very speedy recovery from it, as a quick bounce-back is the best way to minimize the damage! :D

I saw a really cool episode of a diet doctor show on FitTV in which the doc talked about the importance of having protein when drinking alcohol. She said that in order to not go off the glycemic scale with booze, a handful of nuts or a piece of cheese can really help.

So, I've taken to eating a spoonful of peanut butter before boozing. Sounds gross, I know, but it does seem to keep me balanced and keep my weightloss going, even when I do drink.

I haven't had any wine at home since starting this thread (I know!!!!! Amazing!) as I've been keeping to vodka, here, if anything. If I have wine, I have it while I'm OUT, so it's "by the glass," no questions asked. ;)

Have you considered buying those little bottles of wine (they sell like a four-pack of wines, some places)?

Or, another option, and I know this sounds counter-intuitive, is getting a HUGE bottle of wine (or wine in a box, LOL) because then you just pull off your GLASS and don't think about "finishing it off." That's sort of how I approach the bottle of vodka. No need to go back to that bottle for more, as I'm not "trying to finish it" like I would/did/have with wine.

Just some thoughts. YMMV, of course!

Happy weekend, everyone! :D

Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, I have done the little bottles before and although I can still drink 4 of those instead of 2 if they're in the house it does help. It also helps to only the have the 2 servings I intend to drink chilled. May try that again. The only problem is the bargain hunter in me knows you can get twice as much in the big bottle for about the same $ as the individual bottles. I've rearranged my plan for the weekend to put a little more substance in my evening meal and have included laughing cow cheese as some protein too, so thanks for the ideas.

That's a great idea!! :D Very smart!

Yes. Here's how I cured myself of that little dialogue (because, "Take better care of your body than your wallet today, or else you won't have a body on which to carry a wallet tomorrow anyway" didn't seem to work).

I drank my two (or whatever magic number) and then poured the rest down the drain right after pouring that last "allowed" glass.

Yes, the whole time, I was thinking, "What a WASTE of MONEY!!!!!" And then I said, "Right. And if you could CONTROL going back for ONE MORE GLASS, you'd be allowed to SAVE the money, KEEP the bottle in the fridge, and have some TOMORROW without having to spend twice as much."

Cured me, right then and there.

Yay! Good luck! Lemmeknow how it goes! :D

Happy weekend!

FOG, I am sitting at my desk LOL at your post, imagining that little scene with you berating yourself as you poured the wine down the drain. Loved that! I believe that visual might actually help me... hopefully without having to give myself the same lesson :) Thanks for the post.

I stayed pretty much to my program this weekend with a few changes in plans. Went to a shower/cookout for my daughter Sat night where no alcohol was served, so by the time I got to where I was spending the night the hotess and I had two glasses of wine while we caught up and went to bed. I'm definitely finding that the more I fill my time with other things to do, the less tempting the sitting and sipping become.

The other hurdle was that the hostess doesn't drink coffee, so although she had a beatiful breakfast prepared, there wasn't a cup of coffee insite. Imagine that! I don't think I've had a coffee free morning in 40 years! So we were going to Church and Sunday School and I figured I'd get a cup there. No! Not even a coffee pot going there either. I survived, but don't want to try that again anytime soon! I didnt' want to embarrass her by saying, can we stop at the 7-11 for a cup of coffee. Note to self. Take your own coffee to that friend's house in the future!

2 days to go till weigh in so I'll let you know Wed how it comes out.
Walking, drinking water, and preplanning are my focus points this week!
Hope everyone else has a good week too!

Every time I read the post here I just shake my head and say...that is me too! I tried so hard the past week to cut out the wine and somehow (I know how) a bottle or box ended up in the refridg.
Well Sunday Morning (and darn that was hard) I took the remaining wine and poured it down the sink and made my husband PROMISE not to buy any more at least untl halloween. Of couse I was a bit restless last night without those glasses lulling me to sleep but I survived. Tonight will be better I was pround of myself that I did not even go over my points looking for something to replace the hand to mouth habit that goes with the wine glass. With the support here I think this is a turning point? anyway you all are great!

Damn, you people are brave pouring that wine out. The quick shop is only 5 minutes from my house, and they have chilled wine on hand, so not having any on hand is not always an answer for me, but it's pretty expensive and they only sell the smaller bottles, so not that much damage can be done if I get restless as you say.

I think having the limited amount I worked into my plan is best for me although I'm sure my weight loss would be faster if I could cut it out 100%.

Sounds like some of you are also on WW with reference to points so I will add that I am tracking on a weekly basis how many bonus points I have left over, how many points I used for alcohol, and how many activity points I earned, so I can see what worked, and try to improve those ratios.

Mush on!

Since I started on ww this week I am also keeping track of the alcholol pts and exercise points. The past three weeks I was calorie counting only to binge and go over my calorie range with the wine. So I am hoping this will curb me. I carry the paper with me everywhere

Hi All,

Parsp- No morning coffee!? Not even at church? The doughnut and coffee time is the bribe to get my daughter to go.
I cut wine/alcohol out of my last weight loss, I lost alot of weight, probably would have lost more slowly if I'd kept it in, I think it's better to learn to incorporate it into a plan.

Nancy-Good job not eating to take place of the wine.

I've never poured out wine, but as an option I might now. :)

Parsp, I am LOL at "FOG." LOL That's GREAT!!!! I love it! ;)

Of course! I hope my tragedy inspires you all. ;) LOL Of course it wasn't tragic... it just felt that way. It was the height of ridiculousness, which is why it worked. Just so silly!

Totally agree!!

I'm one of those horrible hostesses. I don't drink coffee and neither does my husband. So, we don't have a coffee maker or even a jar of instant coffee (although I do have a bunch of BistroMD protein cocoas now. LOL). Luckily, we're very close to coffee houses, but I always forget that folks who stay over might like to have coffee!

Good for you! So far, so good this week for me. Weigh-in in two days and my "unofficial" numbers are looking good, so that feels great. :) Trying to have a 100% on-plan day today, not even a handful of nuts off the program, but we'll see. Being too rigid can be a bad idea sometimes, so I'll just see how it all flows. ;) But being good is on my mind. That's a good thing.

Woo hoo!!!!! It's so hard, isn't it? But it feels empowering too. :D Good for you! And good for your hubby too! It's nice to have allies in-house.

Not sure how you feel about supplements, but I've found melatonin is a nice thing to take about an hour before bed. Really puts me at ease and allows for good "lulling" when there's not the wine for that. ;)

Glad you're finding it to be a turning point!! I figure every day has the potential of being one! :D I'm glad we're in this together and I'm glad you enjoyed the bonus of not going over points, due to that habit. Yay!

Even if that's just ONE day of success and then tomorrow you buy a bottle of wine, that's ONE day you did it and that shows you that you CAN do it again and again. :D And that's how we build success. By knowing it's possible! Yay!

Yep. And I make myself walk to the market if I really crave the booze in the house. And I take the long way. ;) So that way I'm adding in some more incidental exercise to "earn" that booze. Also, I won't buy a ton because I have to schlep it home on foot!

Yup. I say that to myself a lot. "If I cut it out altogether, I'd be in Onederland by now." Yep. I would. But I might also hit Onederland and balloon back up to over 210 or something due to the "reaction" to being so strict for so long. So, let's just take this path. It's the one I'm on. ;) That's what I say the most.

And without being "all or nothing," I feel more "normal." I can socialize with my friends and not feel like I'm punishing myself, not allowing anything to drink while others can have, etc.

It's better for me, for sure. I just know how "absolute" I've behaved in the past and that's always been met with a reaction of rebellion. I don't need to do that to myself this time. This is better. This feels better. ;)

So far so good!

Glad to have you folks on the journey with me. Really glad. :D :hug:

FOG thanks for the thought on the supplement, I tried some once and they did not do anything for me except keep me more awake would you beleive? My body always tends to act wierd around medications and suppliments.

But I want to say no wine last night and I did manage to sleep a bit until our phone rang at 1am this morning! One of our daughters girlfriends--going to have to do a bit of mom stuff to the caller when I see her -- I get up at 5am to go to work!
ah here I go wine wine wine LOL

OK. Had a .60 loss this week, so of course I'll take anything that is going in the right direction, but I'm going to redouble my efforts to have less alcohol points this week and more activity points. My new focus is to have at least more points at dinner than I have alcohol, cause I like pp have been guilty of saving points for alcohol at the expense of real food, milk servings and oil servings which are higher in points than other things I could be eatting. Thanks for the continued support. I'm expecting one day to say I've made it to where the healthy guideline of one drink of day will satisfy me.... but I'm not there yet!

Oh Parsp you can do and and congrats on the .60 loss this week. My weigh in is not until Monday and so far I am feeling good too.
You are going to make it ya know parsp! just curious though with the alcholol points how many are you allowed per week. I am following the points but just don't know all the in's and out's of the program.

Thanks for the support. According to the WW Healthy guidelines women should limit alcohol to no more than 1 drink per day and men no more than 2. I serving of wine (about 4 or 5 oz) is 2 pts. Most liquors are 1 pt per oz, I believe, so that would be about 14 pts per week. Of course, for those of us consuming more than that we would have to count the points for whatever we have, but we would technically not be on program since we'd not be in compliance with the healthy guidelines.