Brr! Is it cold where you are? It's 31 degrees here and the cats are all plastered up against the heat vents and the little one is sleeping on top of the modem.

After working the stretch of 15 out of 17 days, I finally had a weekend to try to catch up. I still feel tired but at least I got a lot done. We have a family dinner here next weekend and a dinner party on Halloween, so there will be lots of cooking in the next two weeks.

After the gym this morning, I get to run the Halloween candy gauntlet at the grocery store. Honest to goodness, no wonder we have an obesity problem in our country! The stuff is cheap and everywhere. I remember going through several bags of PB cups before Halloween and having to restock ... !! Wonder how many calories are in one of those bags? I've stuck to our no Halloween candy pledge so far and intend to keep it!!

Funny, I realized that if I overeat, it's on my usual healthy food (typically carbs, of course!) Instead of donuts or cookies, these days it's Ezekial English muffins, oatmeal, or Kashi GoLean. Regardless, too many calories still equal weight gain but it's interesting that I go for the "good stuff" instead of the sugar, white flour junk I used to live on. I can't decide if it's because my tastes have genuinely changed or if I just have such a huge NO sign on a lot of foods that I can't mentally allow myself to eat them. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

My week is going to be work and cooking. The freezer is pretty empty and I like to have lots of meals prepared. It's definitely soup and chili weather!

What's going on for you this week?

Holy cr*p batman! Don't know why I looked that up on the calendar but the new year is fast approaching.

This year was a "holding pattern" year for me as far as weight issues go. Next year will be different.

I'm going to decide, before the end of October, whether I will push down to 130 lbs. or change my goal to 135 lbs. and then healthily maintain between 130 and 135.

I was thinking that 135 was an admission of defeat but now I'm not so sure. I'm going to eat healthily for the rests of October but not diet and see what weight my body wants. My brain has already checked in with the unrealistic 125 lbs. so now I'm going to let my body choose.

Then I will average out the two numbers and strive for that as my "official" number.

Have a great week everyone!

Dagmar (no more candy )

Good morning, guys! I am solo this week; my husband is freezing his tushie off in Boston. It's not exactly warm here, either. Anyway, as soon as I get the kids on the bus I am hitting the gym. It's going to be a crazy week.

It was cold here last week but it's supposed to be warmer this week. Last we we had lows around freezing and highs in the 40's, but today's low is supposed to be 45 with a high of 60.

Meg, PB cups are evil! They taste so good, but they are so bad. 232 cals for a 2-pack with a whopping 14g of fat. I could probably eat like 10 packages without blinking.

Dagmar, 10 weeks! Geez. Have fun at your reunion BTW!

Hi Ward!

More later, I'm scatterbrained this morning...

Good morning! Cold here today - had frost on my car for the first time this season.

Meg - I love peanut butter cups... On the healthy food overeating, I've been doing it more the last week, too. Kashi, decent trail mixes, fruit, things like that. I was trying to sort out my overeating triggers last week,thought it was interesting that I was following old patterns just with healthier food.

Dagmar - 10 weeks... wowza.

Ward - have fun at the gym. Did you make your run yesterday? It was cold in the morning...

Jessica - I think we are supposed to get to 64 here today, too.

Ever since Saturday night everything I've eaten has been making me sick. I had a chargrilled & fruit salad from Chick Fil-A Saturday night for dinner, and noticed as I was eating that I felt unusually full really fast, uncomfortably so, and a little nauseated. It faded after a few hours, I figured it was just gas. The next morning my pb&j did the same thing. After that I had some plain popcorn, a white turkey hotdog, a small amount of macaroni and cheese, half of a cup of coffee, a mango another salad for dinner and some yogurt. This morning I had a small smoothie with yogurt and almond milk, some frozen fruit. Same symptoms from every item. Sudden gassy feeling, almost immediate bloating, mildnausea and some discomfort in that part of my abdomen just under the rib cage but above the belly button. I've had problems in the past that resulted in a gall bladder ultrasound, but they didn't find anything, and the problems stopped. I'm not doubled over like I used to be, but am in some pretty decent discomfort. Any suggestions as to what might be going on?

Good day everyone!

Hmmm. It's cooler here, cooler than 'usual' but it's still going to hit 89. I love this time of year!!!! We eat dinner outside (lunch when we are home, too). It's something that the rest of the country does most of the summer but it is out of the question for us. So October and November become our BBQ months (although we don't limit our BBQ's to this time only).

The other day I bought my Halloween candy--several packs of full sized Reese's PB cups. I bought it and put it in the fridge in our garage. As I was loading it in the garage my DS says to me "are those Reese's?" to which I replied "no." So he asks "then why do they say Reese's?" (I guess you can't pull the wool over a high schooler!) I replied that they were for trick or treaters of which we get very few and that when Halloween is over, the stash belongs to him. He was quite pleased! Now for me and DH to stay away from them!

Interesting weekend. We went to see the Jaguar I want again on Saturday and talked numbers with the salesman. I sat in "my" car, too. Still haven't driven it, but that's beside the point. Now to ask the CPA for advice on the numbers and we'll be one step closer to getting it (as long as no one buys it before me--oh, and it's RED!).

Allison, red equals cop magnet!! I'm sure you will not ever go over the speed limit in your red Jag, right?

Meg, I, too, find myself overeating on the "good" stuff and not touching the "bad" stuff. It's nice that I don't eat sugar or sugary carbs, but a handful of walnuts here and there adds up as does an extra serving of homemade refried beans (without a flour tortilla).

Dagmar, figuring out what your body wants sounds like the way to go. Sometimes the number we want is too hard to maintain in a healthy manner.

WardHog, hope your crazy week is a good one!

Jessica, a high of 60 sounds pretty good compared to the 40s.

Shannon, I have no idea about your stomach problems. Wonder if it's what you eat as opposed to just eating? Hope you can figure it out.

Got all the garden residue out of my raised beds. Sadly, I finally had all the tomatoes I could wish for, but they were all green. So I have to wait another year to use my canning jars, although if I can get my kitchen put back together before the apples go away, I could can some applesauce. It's almost 9:30 and the handyperson said he'd be here at 9:00. Since this is the only morning during the week I go out for coffee, I'm not happy about having to wait around for him. Edited: Aargh, I called his house and his wife said he was planning to be here at noon. We settled on 1:00 pm. English is their second language so we sometimes have a communication gap, but he does great work for a great price.

Happy Monday to you all! It's spitting rain here, and a little colder than usual. Perfect for the soup I'm making in the crockpot using the last of the veggies I picked over the weekend (minus the green tomatoes, of course).

Shannon, could it just be indigestion/sour stomach? If you take tums or some other antacid, does it help? It could also be some kind of stomach virus. Failing that, any chance you could be pregnant?

Allison, good luck with the car!

Sheila -- DH picked the green tomatoes off the plants before pulling them out and set them on the counter, and they are actually ripening (slowly, but about half are ripe now). We also made cooking light's "unfried" green tomatoes with them which was good.

I overeat on healthy foods too. I'm pretty sure I gained up to where I am now by taking seconds and thirds at the dinner table, not by eating a lot of junk food.

Actually speaking of weights and body composition, I think I've built up enough muscle that 130 may not really be a good goal for me anymore. Right now I'm fitting into all of my cute little "goal" skirts with no problem, despite being more than 10lbs above goal. My jeans are still a little tight when they come out of the dryer, but that's kind of always true. I still have a couple skirts my mom bought me that I've never been able to wear (she bought me 6P instead of 6 regular, and 6P is a good bit smaller), so right now I'm thinking if I lose enough to fit into those skirts, I'll probably make whatever weight that is my "new" goal. If it's 135, that's fine.

Hey everyone!

Just realized that I don't post in here, but have NO idea why. So I'm going to start!

I also tend to overeat my healthy foods - and when I do have something less healthy, one is "enough" (except a few limited trigger foods). Isn't it strange how things change?

Shannon - I also thought about taking an antacid. Sometimes if my stomach gets sour, I just have to take something to break the sourness cycle, and then I'm good. Something to consider (as is the pregnant thing, if that's a possibility).

It is raining here - seems like I went on vacation and it became Fall while I was gone. I have some planting to do, so hope the rain lets up...otherwise I hope to can some mustard today (Fat Tire Ale Mustard...mmm). Still canning like crazy to line up Christmas gifts...the canned goods (several jams, dill pickles, two different mustards, salsa) will supplement the cookie baskets we do annually. We're also going to make an "un-marmalade"...marmalade without the peel, because most people I know like orange flavor, but not the actual peel part in a marmalade.

Jessica - I'm a Mylanta or Pepto person normally, and neither of those help much. Alka Seltzer has helped. Hm. Maybe it is just some weird gas quirkiness and the fizzy alka seltzer settled it out. There is always the chance that I could be pregnant, though I'm on birth control pills and am very specific about taking them so I would say it isn't as likely! If I didn't have some history of similar symptoms I would be planning a drugstore run right now to find out, though, and now I'm going to have that in my head. Not wanting to be pregnant, by the way, so hopefully that isn't it.

An additional symptom has popped up in the last few minutes - hot flashes. I just had to take my sweater off down to the tank top under I am so hot. The other two women in my office are using their space heaters right now, so they think I am totally insane. The thermostat on my space heater says it is 66 in my office. Might be a doctor day...

Allison - the car sounds great!

Jessica - I also find I'm still fitting all of my skinnier clothes with a higher weight. It is all about the strength training, I think. I actually bought another pair of size 2 pants this weekend, and I currently weigh 5 pounds more than I did back in January.

Dagmar - find what works for you that you can maintain. Don't make yourself crazy for a number that is really too low for you.

Sheila - I was going to say the same thing about the green tomatoes, my grandmother had a bunch of them and left them out on a warm spot of the counter and the are turning red.

COLD??? I wish! I'm ready to break out my sweaters but we're still in the 90's. It's supposed to drop to the 80's later this week. I remember being really excited about this when I moved out here but after only a year I'm sick of it already!

Dagmar, I can't believe 2009 is ending already. I'm also toying with what my goal weight should be... but I think next year I am going to focus more on weight training. I just want to be... firmer. =)

Ward, good luck this week!

Shannon, no idea what's going on, but I hope it ends soon. Sounds miserable! Yikes, I just read your second post - hopefully it's not pregnancy.

Allison, test drive it! It will make the decision much easier! I test drove a BMW (their new 1-series) last spring and almost got it because it was a dream to drive... but I'm glad I went with my car instead. The beamer was a tiny little 2-door and I need a bit more space because I am moving around a lot and will be for several more years.

Sheila, the soup sounds wonderful! One of these days I will get a crock pot.

Jessica, I agree - I'd definitely move my goal weight up 5lbs if i was more muscular. As of now I've just gotten a little.... soft. ick!

Hey Amanda! Welcome to the weekly thread =)

This morning I could not drag myself out of bed to save my life. I had very noble plans of getting to work early (I set my own hours), working diligently all morning, then going to class and finishing an assignment before hitting the gym and coming home to make dinner. Great in theory if I could just get my bum out of bed. Really, I need to work on this. It is a recurring theme in my life!

Sheila~can you believe that I'm 46 and have NEVER had a ticket? Well, nothing worse than a parking ticket anyway.

Iris~I don't think I need to test drive it. I've read owner reviews on Edmunds.com and everyone compares it to the BMW 5 series (my 2nd choice car was a BMW 650i convertible--but they START $30k more than the Jag!).

Amanda~I wondered why you never posted here! Fat Tire Ale mustard--that sounds really good. Is it your own recipe?

Jessica~when you're muscular you can weigh more and still look great and fit into smaller sizes. Isn't it wonderful? Now if only I could get there!

Shannon - that's the sort of thing I had last week. It happened with anything I ate. In the end I decided to eat very, very small amounts for each meal/snack (I have 5 a day) and to drink huge amounts of very weak tea. It made me re-evaluate everything I eat & improved my sense of taste.

So sorry you've got this. I promise I do wash my hands before using the computer for 3FC!

Birch - I did have some iced tea last night that didn't make me ill, now that I think about it.

Amanda - I had wondered why you didn't post in here. Welcome!

Iris - I couldn't get up again this morning either. I have memories of getting up in the morning to exercise for about six weeks beforey surgery in January, only sporadically since then. The one common thing is that when I get up I'm glad I did, yet I still can't make myself do it... And, I wore a sweater this morning and now it is 61 out and I'm dying...

Mystomach settled after Alka Seltzer so I tried a sandwich of plain toasted wheat bread and grilled chicken for lunch. Bad idea - halfway through the forster half I started to feel sick again. So, at the doctor now, an pretty miserable. I weighed 131.4 on their scale, which is 8 pounds higher than mine at home on Friday, 4 pounds higher than last time I was here. Rationally, I know I'm fully dressed, wearing boots and was full of liquid where I drank water for the inevitable urine sample request. Emotionally, it almost made me cry. The poor nurse was trying to reassure me that it wasn't really much different than last time I was here in shorts and a tshirt, all of the above things. I got worked up enough that I'm fully expecting the doc to come in an talk to me about eating disorders and body issues. I'm a little stressed too because my boss was in the restaurant when I left and I figure he must think I have the plague or something - I've had more doctor visits in the last year than in the last ten. Blah. I hope she tells me something instead of the "we don't know what is wrong" of the last time I had these symptoms. I can bet I won't exercise when I get home, and all I want right now is a milkshake.

Hi all,

It's chillier here, too. On Friday a front came through and the temperature went from 90/75 and very humid to 65-70/45-50 and much less humid over the weekend. I had to dig out my sweatshirts but am enjoying the change! BF and I built bonfires at his place in the woods Friday & Saturday night and sat around the fire enjoying quality time together. We also got a lot of yard work done Sunday, since it was pleasant to be outside again! He mowed/weedwacked my extensive lawn and I finally got around to clearing out my garden beds that have been sitting neglected in the heat of summer, preparing for my fall/winter garden. I got a lot of bathroom and kitchen scrubbing done as well. Other than that BF and I just relaxed and hung out, so we had a really nice and rare free weekend together.

PB cups were definitely created by the devil. They are too yummy.

Allison, you'd better be knocking on wood right now! I got pulled over and given a warning for speeding once, but nothing worse. Your potential new car sounds very nice!

Amanda, I'm also curious about the Fat Tire mustard. I like Fat Tire in general, when I can get it this far East!

Hi everyone! Off to work, ho hum...