Dagmar, I've never lived with someone else's dieting structure. Sounds stressful! My DH is the type to "forget" to eat all day, then eats a pound of hamburger in kraft mac and cheese and a bowl of icecream and just stays skinny. I basically just ignore his food needs since he often won't come to the table when food is prepared. I make enough for him and invite, but just leave him to his own devices.

Andrea-sure, I could do any of the the things you mention...but I'm not willing to (yet)! After 10 years of either tightly controlling my sugar and/or cheese intake or looking for the next great food plan, and feeling guilty and wrong if I wasn't living "abstinently", well...I'm burnt out on rules around food. But generally cooking low-cal and having some foods that I eat a lot of really feels ok. I might not lose, but I'm not gaining. For now, having the freedom is worth it.

Last night I measured my rice and cheese but had 2nds and 3rds on greens, and made a non-fat sorbet instead of my usual ice cream. All else equal, I'm choosing to make foods that are "volumetric friendly". It's when I'm exposed to "outside" food that eating low-cal is harder. I know you all know what I'm talking about. I do know the tricks of taking small portions of the high-density foods and large ones of the low...but sometimes there's just not a lot of low-density options at an event. It's a work in progress, but I'm happy to know that I'm maintaining doing what I'm doing.

Having a puppy is so much like having a toddler, it is uncanny. I tell people that she is a toddler that we forgot to put a diaper on! Though she is doing very well with the potty training. Puppy proofing? Yes and no. She is in a crate if we aren't home. When we are home, we watch her like a hawk. She is confined to our downstairs and has a million chew toys, toys, dog beds, etc. You can't take your eyes off of her for a second-- she'll be happily chewing a bone and turn around and start chewing the wall or cabinet! So, yes, like a toddler.

Dagmar-- that eating plan doesn't sound great, at least the way your dh plans to tackle it. Hopefully if he doesn't lose on it, he won't want to continue it. Does sound good for you to have a long dog-sit.

Hoping for a good work day here, followed by bikram with dh. Happy Thursday all.

Oh, goodness, I couldn't live with your DH, Georgette. I could never prepare something and invite someone to eat and have them ignore me. I don't know how that would make me feel. I was raised having a family meal each night together. It felt weird to have someone missing. When raising my kids we always ate together, around the table. And it is something DH and I do to this day. I set the table, prepare the food, and we eat together. Sure there have been times when there is an interruption and either someone isn't there or we skip dinner, but it always planned. Do you waste a lot of food when he doesn't join you?

Michele~puppyhood is the primary reason I don't ever want a puppy again! Kittens, yes, but not puppies! I'll probably continue to rescue dogs, adult dogs! Sure they come with their own set of problems, but most of the time they're housebroken and not prone to destruction like a puppy.

Today is my "day off" at work. I'm at work for an hour this morning and then I'll go do my weekly grocery shopping. Afterward I'll do a Costco run and return to work for maybe another hour where I'll have my lunch (99% of the time it's a salad). Then I'm going to do some shopping! I don't get to go shopping much anymore and I feel the need for some new additions to my wardrobe.

Hoping my new lawn will be finished today--they really made headway yesterday. But boy those guys drink a lot of Monster energy drinks! I went out to clean up dog poop this morning and there were cans all over! (Also hope they clean that up!)

Allison Most of the "new" contractors, according to DH who works for one, have their crews clean up every night. No coffee cups left on site, no cigarette smoking on site EVER, no lunch garbage left behind. Some even have their crews sweep the work areas if needed. I think this is a good approach. Nothing like a mess to clean up to turn the customer off.

Dagmar :dizzy:

So I went to the dermatologist and had some benign skin lesions burned off. I pointed out 3 to him. He burned off 5 - 2 of them were ones that I wanted gone but he left the biggest one near my bra strap which is most prone to irritation. It would have been helpful to have a mirror to check - I felt general sting/ache all along my collar bones so wasn't sure what he'd done.

At least he's charging by the quarter hour so I got my money's worth. :p

Dagmar :cool:

I don't love this part of him, and sometimes it makes me downright mad...but the nice thing is that he is very much "live and let live" and doesn't have a string of expectations for me either.

We don't waste much food at all. When he sits down at night, after I go to bed, he eats like a garbage disposal. I would say we waste very little food.

I'd love to have my nuclear family gather around a table regularly, but it doesn't seem to be the family life I'm going to have. We are much more "catch as catch can." I have the power to change that, but I have to be willing to spend some social capitol to do it. Right now, he's cleaning the house, and I'm happy about that. Not ready to rock the boat again yet.

Michelle - I don't know how you are doing it with a puppy and working and DH out of town. It must be exhausting. My DS and DIL got the golden retriever puppy 18 months ago and I only had him sometimes on weekends and I couldn't believe how much stuff he got into! He is much better now, but still into everything!

Graduation was really nice. Moved her out of dorm today and put stuff in storage for when she moves back in a few weeks. Eaten a ton of food, but also walked a lot. Want to get up early and run tomorrow down the Hudson. That's one of the runs she does. My knee is kind of hurting when I walk down hills - not used to hills at all. These NYC hills are probably nothing compared to what many of you have but for me, they are a lot!

Here is a silly picture of DD at graduation.

Your DD looks very happy in the pic Sharon - just the way someone should be at graduation!

Dagmar :dizzy:

Sharon, hope you are still soaking up the NYC atmosphere!

I'm bumming a bit on wt being up a tiny bit this week, though it's clear why from looking at my food intake. Still below redline so I'm still celebrating!

I'll update my ticker in a bit, as this is official weigh day.

Dana
Dana2

Sharing a couple photos of DD at her graduation. She was so happy! And she's coming to visit next weekend!

Congratulations again Allison and Sharon on having such beautiful, happy, accomplished daughters!!

Yesterday didn't go as planned for me. That's what I get for being so smug-- gonna have a great day at work, then go to bikram yoga with dh.... ha ha....

I had my pet sitter lined up to come give Ellie lunch and take her out around noon. Dh thought he was going to get home fairly late but got home earlier than expected at 2:30. It was obvious that no one had been to our house. My poor baby had been in her kennel from 6:30 am-2:30 pm. The amazing news was she didn't have an accident but she also had been couped up all day and didn't have lunch. Today is her surgery so she couldn't eat or drink after 9 pm last night, so we certainly didn't want her missing a meal. We didn't want to put her back in the crate and go to yoga... So, we played with her for a few hours, gave her lunch, and then went out briefly for sushi once she was tired out. So, no yoga, plus a bigger meal than planned. Doesn't work well with the healthy eating plans. Oh well....

I *almost* feel sorry for the pet sitter. She is uber reliable, has a great business and is very trusted. She has so many clients that she will sometimes have another employee do some of the visits. She told me that she had a doctor appointment and "Bradley" was supposed to come by. She was heartbroken that Ellie was in her crate all those hours and she promptly fired Bradley and promised me that she would always personally do the visits in the future. I know she felt bad as I really voiced my unhappiness with her but I needed to make a point if I can still trust her down the road.

This morning was interesting to say the least. Ellie didn't understand why I wasn't feeding her or giving her water-- I've never seen a dog that loves water as much as her! She was taking it out on Dewey and chasing and attacking him! Dh is on duty now and will be taking her to the vet soon. I hope the drive and drop off is uneventful!

We had to laugh about something that happened last night. We named Ellie after my mom and one thing my mom loved was coffee-- she drank it all day every day. I was having coffee on the couch last night (decaf) and Ellie bounded into my lap spilling coffee everywhere. This morning dh said her head smells strongly of coffee. Only fitting....

Weekend plans for me? Hopefully yoga this afternoon and the gym tomorrow morning before we pick up Ellie. Not sure how much care and attention Ellie will need after that so I'm playing the rest of the weekend by ear. Except I do have a hair appointment tomorrow afternoon-- I'm planning on reading To Kill a Mockingbird while I wait there-- apparently I never read it when I was younger and it is my bookclub book.

Georgette, I'd forgotten that you're working to get away from "dieting rules." Sounds like you're working on an IE approach? Bill, in this forum, uses primarily "The Beck Diet Solution" - an ANTI-diet book that teaches behavior modification and learning strategies to teach you a more conscious way of eating, rather than espousing any particular diet philosophy. Once he returns from Italy, he can probably explain it better, or you can read the sub-forum just for that on 3FC. And now I'll butt out :>)

Michele, your travails make me realize how much easier my life is since giving up our neurotic rescue dog. And that your recent pet-sitter story sounds a lot like my "flaky babysitter who didn't show up so I couldn't go to the party" stories from a few years ago...

Allison and Sharon, congrats on your daughters' graduations.
Dagmar, if I were you, I'd call the dermatologist's office to say that he "missed one" and you'd like him to remove it too - for free since he should have gotten it the first time.

It's the start of Memorial Day weekend right now, and I'm sitting in a quiet empty kitchen watching the birdfeeder as I type. I know I should wake up the kids (it's already 9:40 am) but don't want to spoil the peace and quiet. Wish that my 3 DS's could get along more actively; they're fine when each is doing his own thing, but as soon as two of them are bored, they self-entertain by squabbling. Every year, this 3-day holiday is like a "warm-up" event for the marathon of whining, boredom and arguments I get all summer. And, yes, all 3 have activities (camps, grandparents, trips and, for the oldest, an unpaid 6-week internship) this summer, but there's still PLENTY of time left over for getting on each others' (and therefore, my and DH's) nerves.
Did I mention that I was an only child?

I'm also an only child, Andrea. I hated it and wanted at least two kids. My two daughters have never gotten along and it makes me sad. Their personalities are just so different. I keep hoping they'll get along better at some point but I don't know when that will be. It's the primary reason I'm taking a cruise just with older did. Younger dd had no interest when she heard older dd and I were planning it.

Allison Dana looks beautiful and happy - so nice!

I too am an only child. And I don't have any kids of my own - due more to not finding the right partner rather than having anything against kids. I was "borrowing" my cousin's daughters for awhile but now one just graduated high school and the other will be starting it in fall so they have their own busy lives. I hope to reconnect with them once they are adults.

Dagmar :cool:

Allison, beautiful pictures!
Michelle, that is sad that they don't get along. its amazing how different siblings can be when raised I the same house and supposedly the same way. Although you know how it is, you try to treat them equally but you have to give to the one that needs you the most. Keep the puppy stories coming so as to remind me why I don't want to start over with a puppy! That is so cute about the coffee though!

Loving Long Island. Cousin and her husband are so much fun. Went to several vineyards for wine tastings today. Eaten a ton, but did run Friday, biked Saturday (but leisurely) for 24 miles and ran today so hopefully I'll be about even upon getting home. Got two weeks left of school when I get back.