Hi everybody. Kind of a drive-by post this morning. It's been a stressful time at work, and we are leaving Thursday for a visit to the in-laws (a whole different kind of stress) and DH's Boston Marathon. Not sure if I'll get a chance to post for a week or so. Not doing so well, food-wise, but just trying to survive this and then sort it all out later.

Seems like that is the cycle for me lately, survive, and sort it out later.

Anne

Hi all. I'm struggling to get back on track after having 2 huge family easter events over the weekend. I might have hit rock bottom yesterday when I knowingly ate something I'm allergic to and am now experiencing its wrath. Stupid yes, but it is definetly making me want to eat better now.

I think I'm buying a new road bike this weekend. I've been looking for awhile and the shop is having a sale so we'll see what price it comes down to. I love my mountain bike, but it'd be nice to go fast sometimes.

Brandy~may I ask what it is you are allergic to? I ask because my MIL has developed some weird allergies to certain foods as she got older and she is "thinking" about eating a small amount of one to see if she is still allergic. Her allergy symptoms are extreme stomach cramps from the foods. Her foods are walnuts (but pecans are OK), broccoli and assorted other green vegetables (but not all) and avocados. She adores avocados and wants to see if she still has problems with them.

I ate everything in moderation and didn't budge my scale. I even had a decent portion of Banana Pudding. :)

I'm fighting a killer bronchitis these past two days. Argh! When will winter and it's maladies end? Pat, I'm sorry to hear about your car, but I'm glad no one was hurt.

Hi everyone, the temp is a little warmer now in the 50's but it's raining.

I'm now back on track with my indoor exercise. It is so easy for me when I skip a day or so of exercise to realize that it has became a week without exercise. I am now noticing since getting back into my exercise routine that I'm staying asleep better at night and not as draggy feeling during the day.

I talked to my SD's soon to be XH last night. He is going to let us have the grandbabies each Thursday night for an over-night visit. My DH is happy with this arrangement too. We were afraid that with the circumstances that we'd hardly never get to see the kids anymore. I have an extra bedroom that I have set up for the kids. He actually seemed very relieved that we offered to take them one night a week.

Easter was a non event for me, no candy or big dinners or temptations!

Yesterday, I went to the local library and picked up several books on weight loss. I know, it's out of order ~ first I lost the weight and now I'm reading about how to do it. Mostly, I want to reinforce that I must continue with the healthy lifestyle in order to keep the weight off.

The book I started reading last night and would recommend is "The Business Plan for the Body" by Jim Karas. It talks about setting a 'Mission Statement' for your weight loss. Mine is "to maintain my healthy weight by continuing to eat well and exercise every day." I'm going to post it on my monitor so I see it every day.

He talks about the need to 'Go Public' with the announcement that you're going to succeed at losing weight or in our case maintaining our weight loss.
He recommends that we get a 'Management Team' to support us through our goals. That we should sit down with everyone important in our lives and explain our 'Business Plan' for losing weight/maintaining loss.

He has a chapter on 'The Competition' ~ what other fad diets are out there and why they won't work for long term success. He refers to the formula of Calories In - Calories Out = Body Weight as 'The Financials'

Now I'm on Part II Taking Action. There are three chapters in this section. One on calories and the need to keep a food diary, one on exercise, and one on setting realistic goals.

Part III is on Success. It's why I picked the book up in the first place. I want to reinforce the knowledge of how to keep the weight from returning. How to avoid the "Lapse, Relapse, Collapse" that Meg quoted from Anne Flecther the other day.

Lily ~ glad to hear you'll be able to see your GK's each week. The adoption of our niece is slowly moving ahead now that both of her parents' rights are terminated. This week, she's going to spend a couple of days and nights with her soon to be new parents.

Lily, glad to hear that you're going to be able to build a good relationship with your grandkids. Kids these days need all the support systems they can get. I see so many "latchkey" kids at the library, and most of them have obviously been raised without learning any respect for other people or property, never mind manners! Grrrr

Carolyn, my DH just started on these meds after Christmas, and the appetite increase came after he increased the dosage. He's increasing again this week and we'll see what happens. So far he hasn't gained any weight, but I've noticed he's eating a lot more. He's had a very poor appetite for years, so this is noticable. I try to keep healthy foods and munchies. He's not into candy or chips, etc. But he did go through 2 lbs of carrots last week. :lol:

Anne - you're going to Boston? My old stomping grounds. I grew up in the suburbs, and many of my school vacations were spent in Boston. We kids could there cheaply on the bus/subway, and then we'd shop and eat from the street vendors (not too many of those these days) and sometimes even look at the historic stuff. We always got Patriot's Day (4/19) off from school too.


I've been very successful with not eating with the stress of dealing with my car. We did to to a pie auction square dance on Sat night. I had made two pies to eat (chocolate cream and fresh strawberry) and one to auction (chicken), but only had a bite of the chocolate - had to be sure it was okay, you know. :lol:

Well its almost dinner time and I'm doing well with staying on plan today. I am buying a bike too! I did all the fit stuff today but knew they are having a sale this weekend and didn't think they'd give me the better price early. They did but I wasnt prepared with my checkbook so I'll go pay and bring it home tomorrow.

Allison-My food allergies now are primarily soy and beans. I "grew into" quite a few allergies and then found a holistic approach to "cure" most of them but cant seem to get rid of the ones left. I get stuck in the bathroom for hours from my bodys reaction. At least they're not life threatening reactions.

Pat-I'm glad you're doing well dealing with all the stress of the accident. Thank goodness everyone is ok.

Hi ho. It's been days since I checked in ... first there was a board meeting, then there was Easter, and through it all, I've been puny. Tonight is the first time in about a week I've felt like myself. So, I just wanted to say hi. Now, I've just got to catch up with everyone. Hope all is well.

Anne, Have a great trip to Boston. I live near the MA/NH border and know several people running next week. We travel into the city quite often, love it there. Good luck to your husband!

Brandy, Congrats on the bike, glad for you that you are staying OP.

Lisa, Hope you're feeling better soon! No fun being pregnant and sick.

Pat, Good thing you don't care too much for sweets. I would have a VERY hard time controlling myself at a PIE AUCTION!

Robin, Phew! Your job definitely keeps you busy. Hope you get settled in soon.

I've been doing pretty well with exercise and food. My dh set up this awesome new weight lifting circuit for me that I do without any rest. I was feeling like I didn't have time for lifting with the new baby, but this routine hits all my major muscles and boy do I feel it. I can do it relatively quickly and it is proving to be the jumpstart I needed. Cardio is right on. I'd like to cut back a tad on my carbs - ugh - it's not easy. I've mentioned this already, but breastfeeding makes me very hungry and when I'm hungry, I don't want to eat salad. But my jeans were looser this morning and I'm still losing albeit very sloooooooowly. I actually have considered stopping bf'ing just to lose weight, but then I come to my senses. There is nothing more important than the health of my baby, so I'm just going to deal with it until she reaches her first b.d.

Snow forcasted in NH tomorrow. I can't stand it. It's bright & sunny today, but still freezing. Where is spring?

The scale put me back to my goal weight this morning. I was really expecting it to go down rather than up. Hopefully, this is just the up tick I sometimes get before going down a few.

DH is up at our north Jersey apartment this week for job interviews. So I'm going to swing dance class and party without him. I know enough of the guys and even a few gals that like to lead so I feel very comfortable going alone.

Finished the Business Plan for the Body book. It was a good read. Now I'm on Dr. Phil's 7 Keys for Ultimate Weight Loss. His plan makes sense to me. Luckily, I did it instinctively over the past 15 months.

Hi everyone. My computer was down this morning so just now able to check in.

I'm staying on plan fairly well. We ate out dinner tonite and I did share a dessert with DH but the rest of my meal was totally on plan. I did 2.5 miles on treadmill and 30 min's of floor exercises tonite. I cleaned both my kid's bedrooms and did at least 8 loads of laundry and put it all away.

I told everyone here that my DD is trying to lose weight but Hates to exercise. I watched her do 50 situps and a bunch of leg lifts tonite. She is trying to trim her waist size. I was happy to see her do some exercise and she asked me to remind her to do it EVERY evening. I showed her the AB exercises that I learned from watching the Yoga AB workout on TV and she did some of them with me also.

Did anyone else catch the show tonite called "Fat, What No one is Telling you". I saw most of it. It was actually pretty depressing and made it sound like anyone who was once obese will automatically continue to be. Granted, I've seen the statistics but choose to believe that it is possible with continued effort to keep this wt. off.

Hi maintainers,

lilly, I guess this forum is the living proof that it is possible to keep the weight off with continued effort. Also, I know little old ladies who persevere in continuiing their efforts to keep the weight off, and succeeding!

Just keep doing what you are doing.

Rabbit