Good morning! Coffee's on and I'm trying to prop my eyes open long enough to get to the gym. I made it there every day last week except the one when our power went out, so my goal this week is every day.
I just read Lily's post about how she spent yesterday and am exhausted. Lily, if I could accomplish in a week what you do in a DAY, my house would look a whole lot better! But I'm sorry about the boo-boo. And Shane leaving.
Is everyone healthy? How many days, Anne? (not that you're counting or anything) How are you feeling, Lisa? Shane, what's up with the cardiologist and the job - did I miss it? Jessica, do you feel like the thyroid meds are making a difference? And how is everyone else doing?
Meg, you're always up bright and early come Monday morning, coffee in tow and ready to start a new week. And more importantly a new GYM week. We all know you're going to make that goal of yours.
I had such a great "maintenance" week and a wonderful realization, that I really, REALLY can do this forever. After being away the prior week and putting on quite a few, I went right back strictly on plan and I'm just a tad over ticker weight now. I just LOVE this.
Anyway, did any of you catch that awesome Super Bowl yesterday.? Woohoo!!!! Go Giants. What an incredible 4th quarter. I watched it with my husband and daughter. We had tacos during the game. They had it with meat,shells and all the fixin's. I had a huge salad and a taco seasoned chicken breast with it. Crumpled up 1/2 a shell, put it on top of the salad with lots of salsa and had a great taco salad.
Hello all! Do you mind if I join in? My name is Kara. I've been following a mishmosh of "plans" over the past couple months - little bit of South Beach with some calorie counting and I just did two weeks of Fat Smash because I was lazy and the menus were printed in the book (it was almost exactly like South Beach!)... I've always eaten pretty healthily, just sometimes too much of a good thing, you know? Anyway, I'm facing a month and a half of transition as we move from South Korea to Germany, via New Jersey, and I'm wanting to try REALLY hard to stay within some guidelines that can keep me at least at this weight, if not dropping another few. I tend to gain about ten pounds during a move (and we move a lot - this will be the ninth time in eight and a half years!) because of all the craziness. There's so much to worry about that I don't have the time or energy to focus on good eating and exercise, so I'd really like that make that a top priority this time around (the focus on good eating and exercise, not the worry ).
Blah, blah, blah.
So, Wednesday is the big flight. My six year old, three year old, one year old, and I will be flying from Seoul through Japan and Minneapolis to Philadelphia and then staying with family until my husband joins us mid-March and we head across the other ocean to Europe. What an adventure, huh?!
Wow talk about stressful!!! Nine times??????? 3 kids? Wowzer. It's amazing that you've kept your weight in check throughout all of this. Really amazing. I am surely looking forward to hearing more from you.
I wish you so much luck as you embark on your next move. Good for you for wanting to make your weight a priority throughout all the craziness. I am so impressed and you've definitely given me something to think about.
Good Morning All.
Meg- You inspire me.
Robin-Congrats on a great week.
Kara-Welcome. It sound like quite an adventure. Think of all the great stories your kids will have.
Lily-My 9yo dd fell down the steps yesterday and pretty hard on her tushy. She's limping pretty bad. I'll have to tell her we grownups can have the same luck. I hope it heals quickly.
Last week was a wash out for me. I had one friend die from cancer, another be diagnosed and then my brother called with a diagnosis too. I pretty much spent the week in a depression. I'm going to do my best to work out of that this week. Going to go get on the treadmill now.
I feel like I ate nearly my own weight in ice cream yesterday. OK, I had a big bowl, probably two cups of the stuff, and it was wonderful, but once upon a time I could have downed the half gallon. Super bowl was mostly chicken breast and veggies. I'm apparently at the hungry stage, so I have to take it easy and try for cottage cheese instead of ice cream more often.
Lily, I'm sorry Shane had to leave so soon, and I hope your injury heals quickly. Usually, you have to be about 2 weeks from a due date to get that much cleaning done!
Meg, your consistency continues to amaze me.
Robin, we are a Patriots household, and DH is quite sad. Not so much that the Pats lost, but the Giants won, LOL. Personally, I'm not even sure I saw the end of the game.
Kara, welcome! I see you on the Cool Runners thread, when I go lurk and remember my less encumbered days. Good luck with your move. Sounds very hard.
My counter reads 133 more days, Meg. Seems like it is slowing down. Boy is doing well, starting to do a good job of beating on me; I'm in transition from cute to painful. And nobody can feel it from the outside yet either. Can't wait to share with DD, who still is working under the brown caterpillar in the belly theory.
We have lost the blond-haired dolly, which is a tragedy! Must go search.
Oh Lisa, what a horrible week you had! I'm so sorry that so much has been dumped on your shoulders. I find exercise to be a big stress-reliever and hopefully your treadmill will be for you too.
Kara! You and I have chatted in a few other forums and we're thrilled to have you join us here in Maintainers. Wow, you're going to have a crazy few weeks, so good for you for making your health a top priority. Feeling fit and energized will make everything go smoother, I'm sure. Check in when you can and let us know how things are going!
Robin, believing that we can do this for life is so important! Understanding that we're the ones in control and that the choice to maintain or regain is always ours is the key to maintenance success. Only one person in this world can make us fat again, and that's ourselves. No one or nothing can do it to us. And once we understand that we hold the reins and we're in control ... well, then the choice is ours. Yes, you really CAN do this forever! (and phooey on statistics!)
I'm back from the gym (Leg Day) and won't be able to walk tomorrow -- hurray!!
Lisa -- Ack, I'm sorry to hear about the bad news. I hope that things will turn out less depressing for you than they currently are.
Kara -- Welcome here!
I ate something I probably shound't have eaten for lunch today, but considering that it had a 95% potential of turning into a binge and it didn't, I won't complain too much. At least I enjoyed it, and will go back to my usual fish/veggies stuff for dinner tonight.
Besides, I'm now the proud owner of a jump rope (one with an actual rope, mind you ). If I can't bust out some serious cardio with that, I don't know what gives.
Oh yes, I have a housing-related question: what do you do when your windows frame are in aluminium, and when the contrast between the heated room and the very cold outside created water condensation inside the room? That crappy thing has caused water to leak along the inside wall, which I'm afraid will be leaving spots now. > And I have absolutely no idea if the solution would be to open the windows more often, turn the heater on all the time, or on the contrary never turn it on. (I'm not for giving my landlord more fodder about "ah, this or that was ruined while you were in this apartment, so it's yours to pay for".)
Hi Anne! You may be skipping artificial sweeteners right now, but if not, have you ever tried adding SF dry pudding mix to cottage cheese? (about 1/4 packet - sprinkle it on and stir it in) It actually could be a passable ice cream substitute that way. And chocolate SF pudding mix stirred in cottage cheese with a tablespoon of natural PB tastes like a Butterfinger, seriously.
Oh yes, I have a housing-related question: what do you do when your windows frame are in aluminium, and when the contrast between the heated room and the very cold outside created water condensation inside the room? That crappy thing has caused water to leak along the inside wall, which I'm afraid will be leaving spots now. > And I have absolutely no idea if the solution would be to open the windows more often, turn the heater on all the time, or on the contrary never turn it on. (I'm not for giving my landlord more fodder about "ah, this or that was ruined while you were in this apartment, so it's yours to pay for".)
Aluminium windows We have a condensation problem as well so I understand only too well. Theoretically, the solution is to increase ventilation and increase heat. Not always easy. This is what we do. Wipe away the condensation every morning and open the windows a little (but not enough to get freezing) to air the room and the windows. Try to keep the room warm. I think you've got limited heating like us, haven't you, so that might be difficult but do your best. Try not to dry wet washing in the room. Finally, I've just learnt about some things which you put under the windows to soak up the moisture. http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!9011
I'm thinking about buying some for our house.
Oh, and remove the spots (are they black mould or hasn't it got that far?) with dilute bleach.
Meg, thanks for the ideas. I'm not avoiding artificial sweeteners right now, but I am trying to limit them, and am mostly using them for Crystal Lite when I just cannot stomach yet another glass of water, and to make this weak, pathetic beverage that passes for coffee palatable. The pudding cottage cheese sounds great. Do you blend it up to make it smooth or just stir? But I actually like cottage cheese in all its lone salty goodness, so I'll probably just go for that for now.
The blond dolly has been found, so my two-year old tragedy will be averted. Hurrah!
Who else has popped in? Good morning Kery, silverbirch! Kery, think of your windows like a soda can, it beads up on the warm side.
Oh joyofsix, I am so sorry for all that you and your loved ones are going through.
Anne, I've had ice cream since hitting maintenance. But it's pretty safe to say that a 1/2 gallon of ice cream will never enter my home. Any form of ice cream eaten has to be done outside of my home or bought home in a single serving portion. Now of course in the old days, a single serving portion WAS a 1/2 gallon, but now I mean a TRUE siingle sized portion. What, like two licks or something ? Great job on controlling yourself. When I was pregnant with my oldest, I lived on ice cream. Scary, but true. Hagen Daz was my favorite at the time and I know their stock went up during that period.
Meg, I really think I've always known that I can do this forever, I mean what choice is there? So yes, believing it is a HUGE part of it. I'm NOT willing to ever be overweight again. I'm just not. But this past week, I really ENJOYED doing it and am getting more confident. It was a joy to be back on plan after the vacation and it was joyful the week prior ON vacation where I felt I was able to splurge. I LOVE that I am so thoughtful of my eating after years, no make that decades of mindless eating. I LOVE that my week vacation didn't spiral into 2 weeks of poor eating. I'm really okay with the cycle of gaining a few, losing a few, gaining a few, losing a few. And I now know that this is MY way of maintenance. I just hope that my body ALLOWS me to go on this way.
And Meg, I really hate cottage cheese, but your "recipe" with the SF pudding sounds like something I just may like. I may actually try it. Hmmm........
And Lily, I confess, I didn't even lurk in maintenance last week after my usual Monday morning drop in. I'm off to see what's going on with you. Something's up. Whatever it is, I hope it all turns out for the best.
Silverbirch -- Thank you for the advice, I'll try that. The spots aren't anything mouldy (yet...), it's just that you can see that water has trickled down on the wallpaper on that specific wall (I only see them well because my desk is located right under). Although I'm not sure if I should try to dry it quickly with a blow-dryer, or let the wall get dry on its own.
hmmmm..the immidiate responses come from Wales & Holland..why doesn't this surprise me at all ??
One of the main points would be, as Silverbirch says, to keep your room aired. During the day and night you breathe out a lot of moisture that can condense on the window. It also takes a lot more heat to heat the wet air. So it is a good idea to air your room for a couple of minutes every day so the moisture content in the air gets down. Also, if you cook in the same room this will give a lot of extra moisture in the air, so in that case also try to air the room afterwards.
The idea is to replace warm wet air with cold wet air, which will become warm dry air when heated.
I also use dilute bleach for the spots, but it is like if you start having them it takes ages to eradicate the mould totally.
Can you use an electric fan heater to dry out the wall once you got the moisture down ?
Good luck, and like silverbirch says...spring is on its way.
Maintainers Chat: February 4 - 10
I made it there every day last week except the one when our power went out, so my goal this week is every day.
Lily, if I could accomplish in a week what you do in a DAY, my house would look a whole lot better! But I'm sorry about the boo-boo. And Shane leaving. 
).
Kara! You and I have chatted in a few other forums and we're thrilled to have you join us here in Maintainers. 
(and phooey on statistics!)
). If I can't bust out some serious cardio with that, I don't know what gives.
And I have absolutely no idea if the solution would be to open the windows more often, turn the heater on all the time, or on the contrary never turn it on. (I'm not for giving my landlord more fodder about "ah, this or that was ruined while you were in this apartment, so it's yours to pay for".)
You may be skipping artificial sweeteners right now, but if not, have you ever tried adding SF dry pudding mix to cottage cheese? (about 1/4 packet - sprinkle it on and stir it in) It actually could be a passable ice cream substitute that way. And chocolate SF pudding mix stirred in cottage cheese with a tablespoon of natural PB tastes like a Butterfinger, seriously. 
