Good morning from hot and humid Florida! I'm here in Naples, visiting my parents for a week. It was so odd to go from falling leaves and brisk temperatures to palm trees and blazing sun. The only way you'd know it was fall here is that you'll occasionally see a pumpkin nestled at the base of a palm tree.

My biggest challenge here is eating out. My parents eat every dinner out, and often breakfasts and lunches. Yesterday, EVERY meal was eaten out. I'm trying to make good choices but we all know that restaurant meals are so much higher in calories than the same thing made at home.

So to counter the mega-calories, I went to the fitness center here by their pool. It's just a few pieces of cardio equipment, exercise ball, rack of dumbbells, and a universal gym, but it's all I need. I did some bike and my PT exercises for my knees and back -- the whole workout took about 90 minutes, pretty typical. But when I left to walk back to the house, there was my father, driving down the street looking for me. He decided that 90 minutes was far too long to exercise, so something must have happened to me. It was so funny, with me trying to explain that 90 minutes of exercise is normal for me. I still don't think he gets it, but I warned him that if he shows up at the fitness center today, he has to work out.

So how is everyone today? What's new? Is everyone surviving Halloween candy?

Hello Meg, and everyone that will post here soon. I hope this new week is finding you all well.

There isn't much to report on the French front, it's the same old work-studies-work thing, interespersed with the occasional dinner with friends. Luckily, the weather has been very nice in the past two weeks, if you except one rainy day; I haven't even started heating my apartment yet (and I'm sure we all know here that people who've lost weight tend to be cold more easily than others).

Fortunately, I don't have to cope with Halloween candy; although there are some people in my country who celebrate it, it's really not a national custom, so I don't have to stock up on anything.

Speaking of stocking up, I've recently realized that I actually feel better with a couple of "junk foods" at home than without. o_O It's probably my good old human nature of wanting only what I cannot have. If I have cookies in my pantry, I know they're there, and oddly enough, then I feel "reassured" and end up not wanting them; if they're not there and I think about it, I end up going out just to buy crap. But in any case, studies are so absorbing that I can't be bothered with snacks, so it's all balanced out in the end.

One thing I wonder, is there other people here with a "hoarder" habit? Not necessarily junk food, more along the lines of being afraid of lacking food because, for instance, you've spent years being used to never having what you want? When I was still living with my parents, at the time, they had a lot of money problems, so we always had the same 2-3 old cheap foods at home, like pasta and bread; now I wonder if it's not the reason why I tend to always buy a lot of different foods, in fear of not having this-or-that if by chance I want it. (Not that I'll eat all of it... it's rather the contrary: expensive, because there's always something that ends up going stale or rotten, since I buy too much. ) Just wondering.

The incident with your dad is too funny! I will keep that in mind this week (DH is studying for his exam and it's not going well) whenever I need a chuckle.

Speaking of dads I took all the Halloween candy to my dad's house and put it in "my" closet there. He never goes into that closet and I'm not gonna either until Oct. 31

I had a when I got on the scale this morning. Then I did the reality check and realized that no, unfortunately the 4 lbs. I'd lost since Friday were probably mostly due to high caffeine intake/dehydration over the weekend.

But I am down 2 lbs. and that's "real" weight that's coming off the ticker. (Whaaat??)

Does anyone else think that, if the intelligent life in other solar systems ever gets ahold of these posts, they'll think we're all a little cuckoo?

Have a great week everyone!

Dagmar

Good morning everyone! I had a great weekend, although I ate a little more than I should have. Skipped out on exercise because I was still recovering from the previous week. (I know, that's no excuse!)

In any case I am back on track from today on! No Halloween candy problems yet -- we haven't bought ours. We probably won't until a couple days before Halloween. We're hosting a Halloween party at our house for our cooking club, so I'm guessing that will be quite a splurge.

Weight is crappy. Still up at 141. I guess those 4lbs I gained in Portland weren't water after all. I don't get it -- how could I really gain that much in a week? Especially with my eating being more on-plan than off? My metabolism is just insane this year. Ten months after going on thyroid meds, I'm still only down 2lbs from where I started, and I lost those by halfway through January.

At least I have workout motivation now. This morning's run felt great, I even was ready to get out of bed before the alarm went off. It's getting cold here -- anyone else? During the day highs are in the low 60's and it's pretty nice, but it gets chilly at night. When I went for my run this morning it was in the 40's. I pulled out our winter sheets and blankets. We haven't turned the heater on yet but it will probably be soon.

Good morning!

I've been thinking about Lily and hoping she's having a great time with her son. I have visions of a mother/son motorcycle ride down the highway.

Meg, about your Dad going to look for you. Did that give you a flashback to childhood? Parents never stop worrying about their kids no matter what age. Do your folks hit the senior specials at Dennys? Frankly, I was quite pleased when I could order off the senior menu--so much less food and better prices.

Kery, while i don't have the hoarder habit, my sister lost a lot of weight while having Snickers candy bars in her freezer. Like you, when she had them around, she never ate them because she always knew she could have one whenever she wanted. That's totally opposite of me--I can't have that stuff in the house, or I will eat it.

Dagmar, I think there's a lot of things that they'll think are crazy. Political ads come to mind. . .

Jessica, congrats on getting out there and running even when it's chilly. We were 70 yesterday with a low of 40. We've already had a frost. I like the colder nights--better sleeping weather. So was it Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine? Hope 2009 brings a better result with your thyroid medication.

So we were able to get our car in the garage for the first time--yay! It's a good thing because we've had to scrape it almost every morning for the past week or so. Every room now has furniture in it, but we've still got boxes to unpack.

We took Saturday off and went out into the country to pick apples. I can't remember the last time I actually picked apples off the tree, but it was fun walking around the orchard and finding the best apples. They don't seem to grow my favorites here, but we got some Cameos and something the orchard owner called Gypsies. The Gypsies have pink flesh--kind of strange looking. I'm a bit picky about apples. They have to be really crisp, or I just won't eat them.

Happy Monday to you all!

Hi maintainers!

It has gotten kind of cold here the last couple of mornings. It'll be in the high 60's this afternoon, though. Makes it hard to dress the kids for school.

I was on plan all of last week (yay!). I made a huge pot of vegetable soup w/ ground turkey breast and I'll be eating it all week. Yum! A big hunk of cornbread would make it perfection, but you can't always have everything, can you?

No way am I buying Halloween candy yet. Actually, I can buy it in advance and as long as I don't open the bag, I am fine. But once the bag is opened, it's a free for all. I will have lots of challenges coming up though. Chili cook-off Saturday night, neighborhood Fall Festival on Sunday. I am motivated to stay on plan because I have my annual gyn appt. next week and I want to wow my doctor with my weight loss. Am I weird or what?

Speaking of apples, I made myself a delicious treat yesterday for under 100 calories. About 1/4 of a granny smith apple topped with non-fat plain yogurt, a little caramel sauce and a little granola. yum!

Have a great day, everyone.

Good morning everyone!

Meg~wave hello to my aunt--she lives in Naples, too!

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday night at Dana's concert was great. She is SOOOO happy there at school and it really makes me happy to see her so happy. We had dinner at El Torito and I had soup and salad (and a margarita).

Saturday I was roped into going to a conference--lunch was served. Thankfully it was buffet! One half was build your own salad and the other was build your own sandwich. I made a big salad and then took two slices of turkey, a pickle and a slice of provolone cheese and rolled it all up for my "sandwich." Afterward they had a cookie bar. I thought to myself "I'll grab one on my way out." Guess what? I forgot! No cookie for me. But it didn't make me stop thinking about cookies.

So, off to the grocery store I go. In the bakery area I look at the box of a dozen oatmeal, raisin and nut cookies. Nuts? Nope, not in MY cookies. They had another box of HUGE oatmeal raisin cookies (no nuts) BUT the cookies were TOO huge! Then I noticed that they sold the cookies individually (wow, 79 cents per cookie and they weren't even the huge ones). They looked, well ANEMIC. Like they hadn't been baked long enough. So I turned my back on those and thought to myself "I'll grab a candy bar at the checkout." Guess what? I FORGOT!

I got all the way home before I remembered! So at home I indulged in two Trader Joe's espresso pillows (has anyone tried these?) They look like chocolate covered espresso beans (Barbara, are you listening?) but instead of an actual espresso bean it has bits of espresso toffee. They are MUCH stronger tasting so only two little guys are more than satisfying!

Good morning all,

There is finally a chill in the air here in northern Florida, too. It was in the 50's this morning. It's very nice after the long, hot summer! Definitely cooler up here than in Naples where Meg is. I've got a big can of black beans and tomatoes in the pantry and lean ground beef in the freezer. Chili makings + cool weather = happy Megan.

Ward, I KWYM. The teacher's pet in me wants to impress the dr. with my weight, too. Of course the last 2 year's it's been +5 lbs each visit.

Sheila, oh, I love to go apple picking! Sadly no orchards here in Florida. Sounds like a lot of fun and I'm glad that you're getting settled into your house.

Jessica, though I can't relate to the thyroid problems (though I called the dr's office this morning - they haven't called me back though - to schedule an appt. to switch allergy meds/possibly get thyroid tested/etc) I can certainly relate to frustration about being above your goal weight. sigh. Let's keep at it and not loose our determination!

Dagmar, WTG on that 2 lbs!!!

Kery, I hoard food a little bit. If something that I eat is on sale, I'll stock up, and also since I only go to the city every few months, if that, where the grocery stores carry a lot more of the foods I prefer, I will definitely stock up there. I do think it comes a bit from my mom, who is a major hoarder - once I counted 30 boxes of cereal for our family of 4 - and she did grow up without much money. I'm also in the camp of not able to have ice cream, cookies, etc. in the house. I just think about it constantly, drives me crazy.

Meg, that is too funny about your dad looking for you after 90 minutes of exercise! Geez, I'd attract daily search parties if 90 min. were too much. Enjoy your visit with your parents. Wear your sunblock!

Hi everyone else. Let's make it a great week!

Good afternoon (though it still feels like morning!)

I've been busting my butt between my day job, personal training, writing my eBook, working on my web site, designing web sites for other people, renovating my porch and yard (yeah, it's a process - I am the sort of person who can look at something and see enormous potential; now, I am just extracting that potential to match my vision ), and training myself for the Ms Gainesville Open Bodybuilding competition that I now have exactly one year to prepare for. Did I tell ya'll about that already? I forget. I'm going to compete as a lightweight, which in this contest just means under 125 pounds. I'm up to 128-129 right now, but hitting 125 after "drying out" will not be hard at all. A lot of people competing for these types of contest lose a lot more than just 3 or 4 pounds.

My relationship has hit some rocky points and I'm stuck with a difficult decision. I'm honestly not sure what to do. It's been the main cause of stress for me lately, but I figure I will let fate and destiny take care of that one for now. It's a very, very complicated situation.

Halloween candy has not been a problem for me since we're not going to buy any. And if we do, I'll make sure it's something I don't particularily care for, so that staying away from it won't be a problem. I've been printing out pictures of natural female bodybuilders, figure competitors, and other women in the fitness industry and posting them around my apartment to remind myself why I should avoid anything without nutritional value.

Meg - it is hot and humid in Naples right now?! It's actually cooler than usual today in my part of Florida. @ your dad thinking something happened to you just because you exercised for 90 minutes! That's... priceless. How are your knees doing lately?

Sheila - I wonder if I could order off the senior menu. I mean, they give you less food so they SHOULD charge you less, RIGHT? even if you're NOT in your, um, golden years? I have always wondered - does appetite really decrease with age, or does metabolism just slow down and then make people realize they just need to eat less to not gain weight? BTW - the line in your signature - "women who behave rarely make history" - I love that quote - I actually have a pin with that on it

Kery - *raises hand* Hoarder habit? Yup! My parents didn't have much money when I was growing up, either. It was "all or nothing" - we had two weeks of the month with a plentiful amount of food and then two more weeks without anything tasty. SO, whenever we went grocery shopping, it was gluttony central. My parents even told my sister and I to eat whatever we wanted and as much as we felt like. Now... I have slowly gotten out of the mentality of "must not waste food" and keep in mind that if I'm throwing away food, I'm actually being LESS wasteful because I'm not wasting those CALORIES on something more nutritious.

Mudpie - congrats on losing those 2 pounds!

WardHog - that snack sounds delicious, but I'd have eaten the whole apple

Sheila, it was Portland, OR. The weather for running was great there early in the morning!

Ward - I can avoid candy if the bag isn't open too, but DH can't. Then once he's opened the bag and I see him eating it, I can't resist anymore, so I just don't buy it if possible!

Allison - great job avoiding the cookies and candy bar!

Megan - I think the most frustrating thing about being stuck 10lbs over goal is that every time I think I'm making progress, I'll have an off weekend and gain back everything I'd lost. I'm crossing my fingers that my triathlon training will help a lot!

Shane - This is the first I heard of your bodybuilding competition! That's so exciting!

Kery - talk about hoarding, DH has gone crazy with it lately. Whenever there is bad news about the economy, he has this huge fear that there is going to be massive world economic collapse, and goes and stocks up on all our staples. Right now we have about 20 canisters of oats, a six-month supply of pasta, a huge number of canned foods, and about 50 pounds of rice.

Lately I've been having these weird hypoglycemic episodes. It's usually right before lunchtime, but not always, and it doesn't happen every day. Basically I'll get jittery and shaky and nervous-feeling. I don't really feel that hungry, just that if I don't eat I'll keep being shaky and it will get worse. I'm wondering if this is related to my thyroid issues, or if this is related to my diet. For example, here's what happened today: I woke up at 6, went for my run. Breakfast at 7:30: oat bran hot cereal, 2tsp brown sugar, raisins, skim milk. Snack at 9:00: a big apple. 10:00: hot cocoa (regular, they were out of the sugar-free kind, but it's only 80cals). 11:00: cup of white tea, no sweeteners. At 12:00 I was shaking and jumping around in my chair, and it was really bad by the time I ate at 12:30. I still feel a little jittery even though I had lunch and ate the banana I was saving for this afternoon. Anyone have ideas?

Jessica - It may be related to your thyroid, but it may not. There is a surprising number of people who simply have idiopathic hypoglycemia.

This may sound ironic, but perhaps you should try reducing the amount of carbs in your diet. If you start eating a lower carb/low-glycemic diet, then your pancreas is required to produce less insulin, which may eliminate the subsqeuent hypoglycemia.

It's also surprising the number of people who believe they have hypoglycemic episodes, but when monitored, show no correlation between glucose level and symptoms. On the other hand, symptoms might be related more to hormone levels and relationships than to actual blood sugar levels. But it is really problematic to just assume. On the other hand (again ), if you're not fainting, and simple choices solve the problem, launching a medical investigation is probably not warranted.

Shane - I heard that people with hypoglycemia should eat fewer carbs, it does sound counter-intuitive!

Julie - I mentioned it to my doctor when it was happening nearly every day, which was right before they put me on a second thyroid drug (cytomel) and changed my dosages. She didn't seem concerned at all, and you're right, I'm not fainting or anything like that. I just feel like I drank five cups of coffee mostly.

In any case my next thyroid test is scheduled for next Wednesday so I guess we'll see what happens then.

Julie - that is true, too...
My girlfriend thinks she has hypoglycemic episodes, but I've tested her blood sugar several times and it's been within normal range. I think she is just addicted to sugar; she eats a very high carb diet full of donuts, ice cream, candy, pasta, white rice, and the like.

I think for a lot of people, it is about finding balance (no-carb isn't always healthy, neither is lots of carbs). Most people in general will feel better when not consuming too many simple carbs, but everyone's body reacts differently.

Meg - Have fun in Naples! I'm jealous of your 90-minute workout!

Kery - I definitely have the "hoarder" mentality. I grew up fairly poor, so now that I'm an adult with my own money (albeit not that much), I've always kind of wanted to stay stocked up on things. Not just food -- everything. I don't feel right if I don't have an overabundance of food in the house. It's silly, but I've always been like that.

Dagmar - congrats on the loss!

Sheila - picking apples sounds fun!

Hi Jessica, Wardhog, Allison, Megan!

Shane - it's very good to hear from you! You definitely sound busy! It's incredibly cool that you're doing a bodybuilding competition -- that's amazing!! I'm sorry to hear that you're having a bit of a struggle in your relationship, and I hope you work everything out for the best.

As for Halloween candy, I've had a few handfuls of candy corn but we haven't bought anything else. I've been doing much better with my eating but still haven't been able to exercise (other than a few walks with the stroller). I haven't been feeling well, though. Honestly, I've been sick since June, but now it's worse because my left ear is completely clogged up and won't clear no matter what I do. Any suggestions?