JayZeeJay~oh, ouch, your poor dog! Hoping she feels better soon!

Okay, I've had some time to decompress from yesterday's mega plane ride. DH and I were going to try to stay awake until our regular bed time (or close to it) and didn't make it at all! At 7:30 we turned in. At 10:30 I woke up and fretted that I wouldn't fall back asleep (the two previous nights were complete fiascoes due to little or no sleep on my part so this early wake up was scary). Thankfully I did fall back asleep and only woke one other time before my final wake up (and kitty pounce on my tummy) at 4:50 am.

I've read most, if not all the posts on this thread starting from the time I left. I cannot even start to comment on most of them--far too many for any coherent thought on my part.

So my situation is this: I've been gaining weight for months. I haven't been exercising regularly for months. I gained about 5 pounds on my cruise. I feel gross. My clothes fit although I had to rely on spanx for most of my dressy outfits on the cruise.

I don't want to have to rely on spanx.

So here is my plan. I have read on more than one occasion that doing something for 6 weeks usually helps the mind and body adhere to that thing as part of normal life. I have also come to the realization that no matter how I track things (paper, apps, etc.) I loathe having to track things. I must have three or four apps on my phone that help me track food yet I hate plugging all that into the stupid app. So I am not going to track any calories/fat/protein/etc. Instead I am giving myself 6 weeks in which I will have four goals per day. The goals are:

1) no alcohol - 5 points
2) no candy/ice cream/cookies - 2 points
3) 3 regular meals (no seconds) and 2 small snacks per day - 2 points
4) 20 or more minutes of exercise - 5 points

The ones with the higher points are more difficult for me, thus they get extra points. I will weigh daily and for each half pound loss I'll gain 1 point. I'll keep track of points and when I amass a certain amount (thinking of 50 but may change that) then I get one reward. I haven't decided on what the reward will be yet. I'm also going to be fixing a lot of salads for lunch rather than relying on Smart Ones and Lean Cuisines for lunch. I'm going to eat more whole fruit for my snacks. My dinners will each feature two vegetables.

What say you all? Good/bad/no comment?

Jayzeejay.... Poor baby! It happens. Certain breeds more than others. What breed is your baby?

Allison... I love your idea. Will you make a chart with stickers like we did for kids? What about any penalties? I might want to join you with different points. I don't drink so it wouldn't make sense for me to count that. I paid myself for working out for a long time and bought rewards, but I work out almost every day so it ceased to be a motivator for me.

Allison, I think that sounds great. I hadn't realised you'd been putting on weight. Didn't you lose a lot with some kind of delivered meal? I thought you'd cracked it then.

Very good idea to ditch the Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine. You could make much nicer food (with more vegetables?), freeze and take to work, perhaps. I know your own food would be much nicer.

I think I prefer all positive reinforcement rather than penalties. I don't like the idea of taking away from what's been earnt. We need all the credit for good behaviour that we can get. No beating up necessary!

Originally Posted by silverbirch:

I think I prefer all positive reinforcement rather than penalties. I don't like the idea of taking away from what's been earnt. We need all the credit for good behaviour that we can get. No beating up necessary!

Birchie I too much prefer the carrot to the stick. Rewards are so much better for the soul.

Dagmar :love: vs :rollpin:

Originally Posted by silverbirch:
Allison, I think that sounds great. I hadn't realised you'd been putting on weight. Didn't you lose a lot with some kind of delivered meal? I thought you'd cracked it then.

Very good idea to ditch the Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine. You could make much nicer food (with more vegetables?), freeze and take to work, perhaps. I know your own food would be much nicer.

I think I prefer all positive reinforcement rather than penalties. I don't like the idea of taking away from what's been earnt. We need all the credit for good behaviour that we can get. No beating up necessary!

Birchie~yes I did lose weight with the delivered meals, but once off of them, the pounds came back (albeit fairly slowly). While following such a diet is pretty easy it doesn't equal real life and real life caused the weight to come back on. I need to keep in mind portion control AND real food.

I'm very much in favour of real food. I think good real food helps me at a very basic level in a way "pretend food" can't and doesn't.

Good luck with the jet lag, Allison.

Night All! :)

Aaaahhhh. Two nights of good sleep!

And so far my point system is working. 9 points yesterday and a 2 pound (almost) loss as of this morning. I'm going to start writing down my weight each morning to make sure. I remember the whole numbers each morning, but not the fractions and so it might not be a true 2 pounds.

This afternoon after work I'm heading to Trader Joe's to stock up on veggies and fruit. Thinking a melange of fresh veggies over ww penne this evening sounds divine for dinner.

Also in favor of carrot versus stick, Allison. I like the rewards for points earned, and your points look great for your needs. Maybe I need to do that, too. LOL

I'm on week 6 of a 9 week challenge with PhotoChick. I have been spot on the weeks up to now - I made every planned exercise target for 5 weeks, and food has been averaging 1450 per day with some lower days during the week and some higher days on the weekends. This past Friday I weighed 142.3, lowest in months. I had a few chicken wings and some beer Friday night, but still stayed under 1950. Some ice cream Saturday, 1876 for the day. Some popcorn Sunday, 1765 for the day. Then Monday I was worn out tired, so I cut my cardio on Monday and only did weights. Then cut my cardio Wednesday and only did weights, still worn. Then yesterday ate everything not nailed down, and skipped last night's planned yoga (though still did yoga in the morning.) This morning I weighed 146.8. I think I can deconstruct what happened. Saturday and Sunday I didn't get enough protein, had mostly fat and fast burning carbs. By Monday I was worn out and tired from five weeks of exercise, and didn't have enough protein in my to carry through it. Took me a few days to work out the carb hangover, and when my weight hadn't changed by yesterday and I was still tired I had a bad for me, carby lunch. Which led to a bad for me, carby dinner. All added up to bitter resentment, and feeling like I'd denied myself Mexican food or Chinese food or quick takeout for weeks and for what? Bam. Burger and fries for dinner.

So, here's the thing. I can have a burger and fries sometimes, as long as I manage it. I can eat out, have Chinese takeout, whatever. Just have to manage it. I did too many risky things at one time and I crashed. Even with that, I still have exercised every day, though not as much as I wanted. I still have made calories for the last 5.5 weeks with only a few days high that I balanced out. I have still had healthy habits, had a lot of water, done yoga in the mornings, gotten enough sleep. So I need to not beat myself up for yesterday, realize some weeks I can't be 100% on point and that 85% is fine, and sometimes let myself have Mexican food before I explode. LOL

Yesterday wasn't a reason to go off the rails the rest of the week, what I've done this week is overall pretty good, crazy food included. I did limit the crazy food yesterday somewhat and didn't eat anything else after 6:30pm.

And drink more water today to get rid of the stupid salt I added yesterday to what I was already trying to get rid of. :)

Getting enough protein - that's what works for me too, Shannon. But the DB has to get enough CARBS too. Read lots of carbs. And the SO? Well, I don't know about him which is just as well as I find two of us quite enough to think about. (I know, a complete lightweight.)

I think my carbs have been creeping up and that produces a poor result. Thanks for making me concentrate again.

Everything in moderation, right?

DD wrote the other day that she fell into the trap of eating one thing too many and figuring out that the whole day was shot so why not throw in the towel. She's since stopped that mentality and changed it with more of a "well, I made a mistake, I'll get right back on the horse."

Allison, I have a hard time with the 'I made a mistake' thing. I tend to either beat the horse to death the next few days to make up for it or let everything go to heck for a couple of days. Not much 'wipe off my hands and get up and going again', I'm either on or off.

Allison, I love your plan and it makes sense. I've been seeing a slow creep into some unwanted territory too - I swore I never wanted to see 150 again, and yet, here I am this week at 153/154. Odd, since in the last couple of months, I've run more miles than I have in the last decade. ;) I have been mulling over exactly how to tackle it and your fresh view comes at just the right time.

shannon, you caught it, you're here, and perfection's a b!tch. :hug: Looks like you've identified the source of the problem and can add that to your toolbox. I know that for me, I need to have a pressure valve built into my plan - a predetermined way to deviate and be naughty for a bit, and then to get back without too much self-flagellation, because I get really stupid when I'm mad at myself. :D Like, empty the pantry and freezer into my face kinds of stupid. So have your Mexican dinner occasionally and follow the path back ... if the three extra pounds of water weight come back off in ten days instead of four, they'll still come back off.

silver, I agree completely about the "real food". I'm on a different branch re the protein - it's the fat that makes things work correctly for me. I've learned this lesson the hard way. :p Regarding active young men and the way they eat, DH and I were teasing DS at dinner the other night: about the only difference between his dinner manners and a great white shark feeding is that the great white shark rolls its eyes back in its head. :lol: I don't think, on my worst binge, I've ever regarded my food quite so desperately. At least, I hope not.

Originally Posted by traveling michele:
Jayzeejay.... Poor baby! It happens. Certain breeds more than others. What breed is your baby?

She's a Doberman. A badly bred, tiny runt that I got from a rescue. She has a history of autoimmune disease, and she also gets recurrent urinary tract infections with almost no immune response to the bacteria, so her immune system is certainly not "normal". I just can't believe that this thing completely blew up overnight. Dogs are really incredible though. She still wags her tail and kisses me and eats her food, even with her eye bulging out of her head and exudate pouring out the side of it (sorry if that was too graphic). It must hurt horribly but you would never know it by her.

Allison: that sounds like a good system. I have fallen very slack in my behaviors recently too. I think that having a defined reward for your good behavior - and something that is really worth working toward - is a great plan. I may give that a try for the next week. Hmm, reward...

Poor baby! I love dobermans! I've had two including Annie.... One of the best dogs I've ever had. She was an abused, undernourished stray who came into our lives and heart with heart worms. She developed bone cancer and we amputated her front leg. I miss her!

Poor puppy, Jayzeejay. I hope she recovers soon. :(