Congrats on your loss!

Wow--you're really organized. My husband says I have a mental block against making a grocery list or if I do make one, I often don't use it. Again, I think it's part of that "food fun" issue I referred to before.

I'm avoiding the scale this week because I feel fat. My shorts even seem a little tight. This is discouraging since I've been eating at or under what I thought were my maintenance calories. For more than a year on maintenance, it seemed like I could eat nearly anything and as long as I stayed within my calories, I would not gain weight. I'm wondering if that has changed because I seem to be gaining now even though I'm doing the same thing (I will weigh myself in a couple of weeks; this week is the pre-period week, so I'm afraid I've retained water).

I like grocery shopping if it's at an unusual store (like the asian or jamaican markets I go to occasionally). Regular grocery shopping is pretty hohum. During the week I tend to cook the same things over and over 'cause I'm tired, they're fast, I know approx. how many cals my portions contain, and there's less chance of DH freaking out over something he has to eat.

I do experiment on weekends when the weather's crappy or I'm not working. That's about 10 weekends per year so our menus are pretty standard.

For me the "food thrill-seeking" occurs when dining out. I keep forcing DH to go to new restos (so many reasonably priced ones in TO to choose from) and I order something different each time.

Dagmar :dizzy:

Welcome back ! You can do it !
I've been missing a few days, myself due to a computer crash.

Again, with no help from me, the one pound is managing to stay lost. IDK what I'm doing, but I'll take it. 1 pound a month kinda sucks. If I could get it to 1 pound every two weeks I'd be happier.

Ah, Bargoo, computer crashes are no fun!

Those of you who have time between returning to the house (from work or wherever) and making the evening meal, how do you spend that time? I find the "changeover" times from one place to another are difficult to handle at the moment and some days there are too many. I need to mark them somehow without too much fuss or too much food. Traditionally, a cup of tea does the job in Britain but it's not cutting it with me at present. I seem to remember Allison reads her story book which sounds very calm and relaxing.

Today, I've hurtled in from work/school/supermarket, taken some photos, sorted out some work comms, mown the lawn, negotiated and agreed the DB's access to the internet for tonight ... and eaten too much on the run. Now resting before making the tea. It's not very restful.

Birchie - that between time kills me. I find if I do something in the gap I'm okay - ideally exercise, but work in the garden helps, too. If I'm idle I snack.

Birchie~it really all depends on what time I get home from work. If I keep myself at work until 4 PM and get home around 4:30, I'm pretty busy right up until dinner time--feeding the animals, cleaning the kitchen (despite trying to keep the cats off of the counters, I know that they still jump up there), and fixing dinner. On the days that I'm super slow at work I'll leave as early as 3 PM and then I have oodles of time on my hands. Those are the days I might sit down with my book or work in my book of crosswords. Snacking hasn't been an issue lately. If I'm hungry, I'll allow myself a moderate snack and then leave the kitchen. I was being quite diligent about getting on the treadmill in the afternoon, but taking a second shower each day was getting monotonous and I've given up. I know that isn't the right thing to do, but I just cannot for the life of me grasp the notion of getting up earlier to exercise.

I feel quite tired by 4pm so I want to stop but know I have to start again quite soon. I get up at 6am and it's usually non-stop, one way or another, until I get in. I think I'll have to start making a pot of tea again and sit down for a set time. (Sometimes I'm so tired I just go to bed for an hour. That's when the light's gone off too late for me, several nights on the trot. Yes, I do need my sleep.)

I get up any time between 3 and 5 a.m. (not by choice). I start work @ 8 and usually get home by 4 p.m. at the latest depending on how busy I am any particular week. I have the same routine - shower, eat a protein snack (usually cheese or similar), drink a hot drink in winter/cold in summer, feed cats, 20 min. nap, and start dinner prep around 5:30 or 6 p.m.

That provides a much needed break in the day, some fuel - both food and drink, and sometimes even a bit of extra sleep. That gives me the energy to get through dinner, chores, cat activities, housework, work prep for the next day, and some TV time with DH.

Dagmar :dizzy:

Birchie-- I tend to struggle with this more in the summer when I'm not working. I keep wandering into the kitchen thinking I'm hungry when most often I'm not.

My housecleaner is coming tomorrow for the first time and will be doing a "deep clean". I'm spending much of today trying to put stuff away so they can actually get to everything to clean.

Dh and I had fun in Napa (overnight). As suspected my weight has shot up. I came back yesterday and got to bikram and went again this morning. I'm probably going to go to UJam this afternoon too. I'm trying to stay uber focused and get back to my redline by the time I go to Houston to help dd move (mid July).

Tonight, however, we are taking younger dd out to our favorite Italian restaurant. I ALWAYS have trouble staying out of trouble there but I have a plan. We order an amazing bruschetta and it comes with three pieces so I will have one. I won't have any other bread. I will not have my usual wedge salad, but instead will have minestrone soup. For my main, I will order whatever fish special they have and will ask to substitute veggies if it comes with potatoes or the like. That's the plan anyway-- I'll get back to you on whether or not I stick to it! Obviously no dessert or alcohol for me....

No such interval in my life just now. I get up about 4:30 am, have breakfast, head to the gym at 5:40 am, have to be at my desk between 8:30 - 9 AM, which could mean commuting to CT, leaving by 8 AM, or hopping in the shower and then sitting down at my desk at home. I end work anywhere from 6 PM to 8 PM, make dinner (or if I haven't had a morning workout, go to the gym then), and I'm in bed by 9-10 PM.

As for grocery shopping, I've been through a period when I was obsessed with it, practically, going over the ads for the bargains, visiting three stores to cherrypick from sales. And I've been through periods when I try to cram it in during the evening commute. Usually though I go at 7 AM on Saturday morning, before the day really starts, and try to hit two stores quickly. I find it a source of stress & plan it like a Navy Seal mission, down to imagining the aisles in my head and what I'll grab on the way.

Operation Italian restaurant was a success!
They didn't have minestrone soup which threw me for a curve. However, I got the soup of the day which was a crab and corn chowder (small cup). For my main, I had the fish special which was salmon over grilled zucchini. My weight was actually down today! :carrot: Now to keep going to get back to my redline weight. :o

That one missing pound from Sunday is still mysteriously gone as of this morning. That said, I'm fixing a rather carb-heavy meal for dinner tonight so it might show back up tomorrow.

Congrats on the Italian restaurant success, Michele!

:cp: Well done!

I'm hoping other people's successes here will provide some much needed motivation for me. I have gone rather badly off the rails lately probably due to a combination of fear and excitement. I am actually going to own a house. We're going in for our first "visit" and the HVAC guys are meeting with us next Wed.

I am generally a very responsible person and I know I will enjoy having a house. But the responsibilities and legalities of it all are kind of daunting. I do have DH to rely on - have to keep reminding myself I'm not doing this alone.

Dagmar :eek:

Great job with the Italian, Michele! Woo!

You can do this, Dagmar. Buying a home is one of the top five stressors, I think. It will be done soon, then you can work on getting everything the way that you want it. :)

I'm trying to pull myself together. Exercised the last three days, trying to eat better. I bought some trail mix on Tuesday, but I'm not ready for that yet so it needs to go in the trash once I'm back in my office. Had to go to a restaurant today, 1.5 hours from my house, to investigate a harassment issue. On the personal side, I feel like things keep whacking me around this month. Things have slowed a little, but the month has overall been pretty terrible. Here's hoping July will be better.