Blip up of 1.5 pounds. Ugh. But that will be under control, dagnabit!

I tossed and turned for an hour or so at 3 AM but did manage to fall back to sleep and then had some terrible dreams. Then I woke up with a stiff neck. I don't know what that's all about.

Everyone have a great Monday!

Had a lovely Easter day, church in the AM with a coffee break after service, had a couple of cookies, they were not that great ( when will I learn ? ). We went out for lunch I had Tilapia stuffed with Crab and steamed vegies, ( So far so good ). Then came desert, I have not had ice cream for ages so ordered an ice cream Sundae, it was enormous and delicious, I couldn't eat all of it, not because of the calories but because it was too much, I actually ate only part of an ice cream desert. Will wonders never cease ? I needed a battery for my phone so took care of that and since we were passing an outlet and none of us had ever been there we stopped as I was looking for summer shoes, found a shoe store and bought 2 pairs of shoes, then it was time to go home and contemplate my sins.

Great weekend in eastern CT meeting my bf's family and eating too much. Listening to his mom's boyfriend hacking and choking all night on diseased lungs instilled a new guilt in us both and we are more motivated than ever to quit smoking. I had a truly lovely time with them all, spent lots of times in the forest in Windham, CT and on the beach in Watch Hill, RI. We saw a fox, a pair of ospreys building a nest, lots of sandpipers and plovers, and encountered a huge flock of what I believe were black brants.

Dudettes, hola!
Happy holidays to all :)

I am in this bizarre phase, been here only once or twice before since my way of eating has changed. It's weird, like I'm "cured". It's not that hard to stay on plan, eat small portions...

Alas, then I get a big hormone swoop and I realize I still have issues ;)

xo to all

I am up four pounds from the where I was Friday - I totally accept that it is because of my stupid food choices this weekend. I stayed 200 under calories on Friday, but had a salty evening snack. Right at my calorie budget on Saturday, again with a salty dinner. Then yesterday we went to my grandmother's so I indulged in some of those foods I only have access to maybe twice per year. Then I had a marshmallow ad chocolate easter bunny. I accept it, I'll recover from it this week. I'm pleased that the high point of the upswing is still lower than I weighed a few weeks ago. Progress. :)

I wandered and have had this post open and unfinished for an hour. Hitting submit now before I lose it.

Krampus-- it sounds like you had a lovely time. I implore you and bf to quit smoking. It will never get easier. Both of my parents smoked and had horrible problems as a result. Horrible addiction. I smoked socially for a couple of years in my teens-- I met dh when I was just shy of 19. I was smoking when he met me-- he told me to put out the cigarette-- and told me it was a nasty habit. I put it out and never smoked another cigarette again. I am so glad I quit when I did!

Krampus, good luck with quitting smoking! My sister quit with the help of nicotine patches several years back and has been smoke-free ever since. It was her second attempt -- first time she just went cold turkey and it didn't work out. The patches really helped.

This weekend was kind of mixed for me. The weather was beautiful and we took Carter to the park where he got to wade in the river, which was fun. Passover Seders were good in terms of seeing family but I ate too much. I had a great yoga class Saturday morning and yesterday we took a nice long walk with Carter. On the other hand, I am incredibly stressed out about finding a new sitter for Carter and spent a while Saturday crying about it, partially because I ask DH for help and he basically says "let's just not ever go on vacation, it's too much trouble." (He knows I am upset with him about that.)

In any case I contacted yet another person and she has been very responsive which is much better than the other company . . . but the other people would be with him 6pm-7am which is a nice long time. Then I got another person's name from DH's aunt, but he is a guy who just does pet sitting on the side rather than a full-time bonded & insured professional. OTOH he is only $30/day and spends all day with the dog, and she's known the guy for 20 years. Ack! I'm getting more stressed out just thinking about it. Then whenever I stress about this, I start feeling like I'm a bad dog mom, and I don't pay enough attention to Carter, and I have been slacking off on training him, etc. etc. etc.

In any case, weight is only up 1lb from a week ago so I guess that's okay. I bought Cadbury eggs yesterday since I haven't had any this year but then put them in the closet because they have corn syrup so I can't eat them until Passover is over.

Can I just say that I love my 7am Saturday yoga class? It's so hard to get out of bed for, but I'm always so glad that I went. It's a pretty intensive class, there are only a few people because it's so early so there is more personal attention, and when it's over I still have the whole day ahead of me.

I felt depressed and wanted to lie on the sofa watching TV nearly all weekend, except for trips to the gym and grocery store. I did a lot of cooking, mostly of vegetable side dishes and also roasting meat. But did not feel motivated to go outside into the cold sunshine, even though I've been wondering what birds are starting to return to the area or passing through on their way elsewhere.

I ate quite sensibly all weekend, with my only splurge being a slice of prime rib on Sunday. Basically, I ignored Easter except for getting my mother a potted blue hydrangea and, on Monday morning, a six-pack of Reese's peanut butter eggs, marked down.

I need to get out of the house more on weekends when I'm not frenetically hunting down personal belongings.

I am in diet mode! :cheer2: Weighed 139.8 yesterday and am 137.4 today. :goodscale: This is day 3 of being OP and day 2 of logging everything and planning out what I eat before I eat it.

Lots of stress re DH's new job but he made it through the first day and I will be nothing but supportive. He is really afraid to be hopeful about any new job so I will cheerlead and keep my mouth shut about the whining. Which will start any time now as he has a 9 hour day plus 1 hour commute either way. To him that seems very unreasonable. He will begin whining about us moving to the west end of the city.

We've been through all of this before and there are totally valid reasons why I can't do that. I will stand firm. I wish we didn't have to go through this every time DH feels very insecure. It's exhausting and I'm already very :tired:.

But I will soldier on. And I won't mention anything about DH's weight for a few weeks until he gets his schedule sorted out. :D

Dagmar :beach:

Scale blip is gone today. I must be doing something right. 2 people in the last week have commented I look like I've lost weight. :D

Saef, didn't you mention not having time to go birding? A nice day out on a hiking trail would make a great weekend activity. Of course your birds might be in FL still. Even though it's unseasonably warm, the loons are still here. I thought they were supposed to migrate North by now.

Jessica, you're making me want to go to my yoga class tomorrow. I don't know if I can but I might try to squeeze in both a NRLW workout and yoga. I know what you mean - I've never regretted going to a yoga class!

Krampus, sounds like a nice time w BF's family. Glad the first meeting went well. If you decide to quit smoking, you know we'll be here cheering you on. :cheer: (Please, please quit.)

bargoo, congrats on goal! Very glad you're here to remind us that it CAN be done, it's not easy - but oh so worth it. :)

exhale, I know exactly what you mean about trying to turn the tide. I loved your post over in the support forum about dropping the "ulterior motive". It is truly a head game. My body's plenty willing to go along with exercise - I just have to get my brain out of my way.

michele, glad you made it back through the nasty weather! Migraines are no fun at all - hopefully your dd will see some relief with the new idea.

megan, yes, I needed the Monday kick. I like the weekday routine; it's weekends that really trip me up. With Friday nights added in, that can represent a third of the 21 weekly mealtimes. Perhaps I can't afford to be off-plan for 33% of the week? :lol: Gee, no new information there! :frypan:

allison, weekend blips, BEGONE!! :)

krampus, best of luck with the smoking. My parents were both massive addicts - put away a carton a week between them. My mom was able to quit a couple of years back after a runaway respiratory infection that landed her in the hospital for 5 days and a threatened diagnosis of COPD (which killed her dad in a slow, awful manner). My dad - well, he switched to a pipe. :rolleyes: As others have said, we are cheering for you!

kitty - :wave: If you've got it nailed down with the exception of "that time", AWESOME!!! Glad to hear you're doing so well!

shannon, the holidays are ... the holidays. Now we have a long peaceful stretch to Memorial Day, yay!

jessica, I hope the doggie situation is solved soon. You are a great doggie mom! Vacations are always worth the trouble. Like a morning yoga class, only even better. ;)

saef, sending you positive wishes. You need that downtime! We're having a chilly return to "normal" weather - I'm feeling sorry for all the frogs who thought it was spring, and all the blossoming fruit trees. We might even see a bit of the dreaded "s" word tonight.

Dagmar - go you! Sending you strength and peace for dealing with defusing DH's stress. :hug:

I did OK at Easter dinner. I was the one charged with taking food from the kitchen to the table, so I preloaded my spot with the green salad, pickled beets, and peas/carrots. By the time pierogies, ham, sausage, and German potato salad made it by me, my plate was heaped full of colorful good stuff. I got caught by dessert - I'm used to MIL always making things from scratch, so I thought I was safe. She's getting older, though, and taking some shortcuts. The cherry filling was canned (red dyes) and the whipped topping was Dream Whip mix (yellow dyes). So I'm purging off the puff with green tea and lots of water. I'm DOWN TO 152.5 already. :eek: Cripes!

My car is in the shop, so I'm borrowing the department's Fiat 500 for a few days. I forgot how much fun little cars with stick shifts can be! Wouldn't want to drive it in the winter, and I'm extra vigilant about losing it in a pothole, but it definitely is adding some zip to the morning drive!

Becky, thanks for the compliment re: goal, but staying at goal is even harder than losing. I know some don't understand that but it is soooo true. If only we could reach goal and stay there without losing or gaining but remaining at goal. Never gonna happen.
To top it off I forgot to weigh today , I guess I got a little distracted when my toilet ran over.

I have been invited to a "memorial" dinner of sorts by the clients whose dog recently died :(. This is a first for me. Usually I drop a nice card and the key into the mailbox and that's it. We will all cry I'm sure.

There are going to be BBQ'ed ribs :drool:. I am going to eat and enjoy. The occasion will be difficult enough without me whipping out my calorie counter and scale. :dizzy:

Tonite I will stay on plan, despite DH's being away, there being beer :devil: in the house, and my dad's rather disrespectful phone call just now. :mad:

I am going to shut myself in my office with a big pot of decaf tea and my copy of "What Would KEITH RICHARDS Do?". Sorta the Tao according to Keef.

Wonder if he has any dieting advice? :lol:

Dagmar :yoga:

Exactly! A head game. Even with food. For example, this evening I thought of putting half of my dinner in the fridge for tomorrow; pretty sure that I would have been OK full 20 minutes after dinner - sometimes I play that game with myself - how little can I eat and still feel comfortably full 20 minutes after I'm done - but tonight the brain started calculating calories, nutrients, yesterday's meals, tomorrow's meals....ugh! I ate the whole thing. (I wasn't uncomfortable 20 minutes later, but could have done with less:o)

Now I remember why I hated :stress: weighing myself every day. I ate an extra 300 cals last night and the scale is up 1 lb. today. If 1 lb. has 3500 cal then . . . :dunno:

. . . but we all know it doesn't work like that. I did write down the extra 300 cals this morning and have already logged all my food for today. Nothing salty :devil: today and I will force myself to drink water.

What do all of you do to make water more palatable? I really don't LIKE it. But everything else, except diet soda and we all know where I am with that, has calories that I can ill afford at this point.

Dagmar :dizzy: