Saturday, and it's Christmas Eve, or going to be within another 10 hours or so.

I'm at 154.3, up a pound. Toured Lyndhurst yesterday, decorated for Christmas, but then sat in the hotel all afternoon. I was exchanging email with the contractor and an eBay seller, running Google searches, getting a new faucet through Amazon to replace the incomplete set, researching a trip to Tucson in March, reserving a hotel room and purchasing plane tickets.

Meanwhile my mother watched bad TV and made a loud phone call to her sister in which she voiced her opinion of all I'd been doing wrong.

It was like being in bad solitary confinement, made worse because it wasn't really solitary.

This is not a good Christmas, but in 24 hours, it will be over.

Saef, your interactions with your mother are a cautionary tale for all mothers out there. :-( I'm certainly taking note. Hope things get better quickly.

Maybe your mother is jealous of your success, wealth, and independence? So she criticizes you to vent her feelings?

And so ends my unasked for amateur psychology analysis. That'll be 5 cents please.

But, as you say, it'll all be over in less than 24 hours.

Dagmar

Sunday, and it's Christmas Day and Hanukah coincides with it for the first time since 1978.

Weight at 152.5, back down.

Saw "La La Land" yesterday, up at the Jacob Burns Film Center, a great place and thronged with crowds.

Had quite a fight with my mother. It has to get better from here, right?

''Tis the season!

Celebrated first night of Hanukkah after Christmas Eve mass! 😜

Dh's older brother called with unexpected news. His wife is PG. He is almost 56! And she's well into her 40s. We aren't thrilled. I had to leave the room so I wouldn't react. We think they're trying to save a failing marriage. They have 2 girls already. Oh well. Not my life or really my business.

Not celebrating Christmas per se until the 27th when dh's younger brother and his wife arrive. But we are having a full turkey dinner with a huge turkey for 6 of us. I'm not a fan of Christmas dinner. I'll have to keep my mouth shut today.

The day after Christmas, a holiday from my company.

It's Monday and I'm at 152.4, which is pretty good for a Monday. (Last Monday, I was 154.4.) This in spite of dining at a friend's. I said "no" to the three-tiered tray of desserts that was passed around, and to imported Cadbury chocolates.

Mother is feeling better for getting to talk for nearly five hours with other people. And boy, did she talk.

I hope everyone had a good holiday (and i hope 2017 is much better for all of us!)

I for one have to get back on the horse again, having used the holidays as an excuse to go off my plan that has maintained me for almost 4 yrs. i can do it but good grief....

Anytime I overeat, I avoid the scale. This head-in-the-sand approach helps me avoid needless self-castigation and self-loathing but also sets me up for failure in the maintenance department. Since I've had a terrible month (2 months?), I've been erring on the be-kinder-to-yourself side but I'm pretty sure I must be around 135 right now, and the mirror sets me up for self-loathing anyway.

I've been eyeing the Weight Watchers site, contemplating rejoining in the hope that it will give me the kick in the pants that I need to stop indulging. Problem is, there are few WW in-person meetings near me, and I'm pretty "different" from most other attendees, so I stick out like a sore thumb and it makes me self-conscious. But doing online-only WW doesn't seem worth the money. Have any of you used the online version? If so, what did you think? Was it helpful to count points instead of calories? Moreso than using a cal-counting program like My Fitness Pal (which I've used on and off for years)?

What I wouldn't give for something that counted calories (or points) FOR me like a Fitbit does steps, as I ate, and put the number in front of my face in an un-ignorable way. I'm pretty sure that would work to stop my overeating in its tracks.

Andrea, i'm the same but i'm not a daily weigher AT ALL. In fact maybe once a month but it got that way after i gained a few lbs on Zoloft, although i've now been off of it 3 months and still battling those few lbs. I need to get back on the weekly or bi weekly weigh in.

No way am i weighing myself after this last week bc i know i'm up and i know it'll take a few weeks of diligence to do anything about it.

I wish you luck in finding a plan and sticking to it! For me, the only way i've been able to maintain the over 100 lb loss is i stick to the same eating plan 6 days a week and i have a "cheat" meal on Friday. If i have food choices, it makes me go off the rails. It's so pathetic but i've accepted it's the way i am and it's not hard for me to stick to a plan, otherwise i wouldn't be able to do this. But i do know that is not the way most people are, they would go nuts eating the same food choices every day.

Tuesday morning, and I'm at 151.8.

We spent some time in my apartment yesterday because the workers weren't there. Everything's dusty from my four-month absence. Finally, we hefted the heavy airconditioner from the bedroom window and put away the wicker chairs in my storage bin. Also I filed away papers. This was a fairly good day, as I could see myself making progress toward moving back in.

At the end of our time there, my mother & I went our separate ways: She headed off to the casino to use up another of those generous free-plays, meant to lure in players who might prefer to spend the holiday with family or shopping. I went to the nail salon for a pedicure and a manicure, long-deferred and therefore more satisfying than usual.

I hope today holds up, too, as it may be a similar kind of day.

Neurodoc - for me WW online works - I prefer it to calorie counting - for me having a system that encourages healthy eating makes a difference. I have never attended a WW meeting.

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well. Saef, glad to read that you're closing in on moving back in to your place.

I'm back at work after a few days off that started out great. Then DH and I both came down with a nasty cold on Christmas night. We drove home on ice-covered highways yesterday and it was surreal; we both had the chills and were dizzy. It would have been scary if we'd felt well enough to be afraid. Also in our favor - we splurged and bought a used Subaru before we left, and put snow tires on it, and thank goodness we did.

Andrea, I know what you mean. I haven't weighed myself for 6 weeks because of the work craziness and because I don't expect a good result. It is really hard to make this a top priority when there is so much else demanding my time and hard work.

Andrea - I'm in a pretty hard freefall right now, too. I really do wish that there was something that could tell my calories and put them in flashing lights in front of my face, definitely. I hoped that the GoBe Fit would work, but it didn't. And, I knew it wouldn't when I bought it, but holy grail and all. I've never tried WW, but my uncle used it to lose close to 200 pounds and still uses online groups for support and maintenance.

Saef- I'm so sorry that your holiday has been so unsettled and difficult. I hope you get to move back home soon.

Michele - I don't know that I would be able to be supportive of that, either. Wow. One of my friends I graduated from high school with just had a baby last week, she turns 45 next week. She didn't tell anyone she was pregnant until about two months before she was due because she said she knew that some would be critical. It was an accident, but she seems to be pretty happy about it.

Susie - I am where I am right now in part because I went nuts over a very formal, specific plan. I have to figure out how to find the happy medium.

ETA - Just saw JZJ - I'm sorry about the sick at the end of the holiday, very glad that you had a safe car in time for your drive.

I'm back at work this week, DH and DSS are at home. We have DSS this week through Friday night at dinnertime, have had him since Sunday morning. I have a couple of vacation days left this year, but have way too many "we have to have this done by the end of the year" tasks to take time off this week. Glad that DH was able to get the time off after all to hang with him. I may try to take off Friday if I can catch up by then, it is a half day for me anyway. Also haven't weighed in a few weeks, and won't. I have no plans of exercising or eating right for the rest of this stinking week.

2017 has to get better, doesn't it?

Yes, 2017 HAS to be better.

I am feeling rather low right now. Not because of the holidays and the usual let-down that often accompanies it. We had a rather low key weekend which was nice as I'm at the end of this horrible cold and DH is right in the middle of it. My low feeling is because of my weight which has refused to budge for weeks or even months now. I really can't pinpoint it at all because I'm not overeating or eating the wrong things. Can hormones really be the culprit? I've been playing the guessing game for months--should I join WW? Should I call one of these weight loss clinics in the area? Should I go back to Nutrisystem or Medifast?

So, I'm going to do a little soul searching today. Like you, Shannon, I doubt I'll doing anything this week. But that's mainly because of the New Year parties that are upcoming. I have a dinner to-do on NYE (our monthly wine dinner) but I plan on not drinking much just because I don't want any trouble driving home (even though we'll be home well before midnight). NYD, we have the annual birthday bash for DS, DH and FIL and we have 11 of us for that party at my house. We always do lasagna (I do seafood and MIL does standard). We'll have salad and garlic bread and one of the guests is making the birthday cake. After that, no holds barred.

Looks like many of us will be back to square one come New Years. I'm bored out of my mind and ready to go home but we are here until January 1.

I know my weight must be atrocious. My clothes are beyond tight and I'm much more sedentary than usual.

Dh promised he'd take me to yoga but it hasn't happened once and I'm trying not to sulk. He's getting pulled in a million directions with his family. His younger brother and family arrive today so we will do Christmas tomorrow as the little kids will be here. I know I'll have even less control over meals and exercise once they're here. I'm ready to go home.

We met older dd's boyfriend last night. They seem quite happy and he seems like a good fit for her.

Trying to find the positives as I know my grouchiness will get me nowhere.

Happy holidays right?!