I find it helpful to remember (when I can :) ) that weight is just a number. It's a measure of where your body is at that moment in time. It's not a reflection of what kind of a person you are, it's not an indicator of anything except your body's weight at that moment. I look forward to your thread Anne, because I know so many of us, me included, have a tendency to base our day's mood on what the scale says that morning! So unfair for a mechanical object to have such power over us. What I try to do now is weigh at the gym before I start my workout, which is usually at 5:30 pm, and I'm fully dressed in my wo clothes, including shoes. Recording the weight right with my wo stats let me see the trend. I refuse to be influenced by the actual number. My personal "official" weight is the one I get Monday mornings, first thing, naked, on my home scale. :) Again, I can see a trend (hopefully downward :lol: ) rather than focusing on the actual number that day.

Mel, I was at Michigan State from 1968-70, while my 1st DH was in grad school there. I worked in the reference dept of the library, and lived in married student housing. Michigan was not my favorite place! I'm a mountains and ocean kind of gal, and except for that 2 years, have always lived on one coas or the other.

Hi to all:

Is it still only Thursday. This seems like the week that will not end it just goes on and on. Not to positive this week. Maybe when the Sun comes out again I will feel better. NY has not been cold but has given dreary a good workout.
Tough week food and exercise wise. Had some health concerns that turned out fine but stressed me out before the verdict was in. I also forgot my own advise that this is a know danger zone for me. Post tramatic Stress after an event(holiday) alway seems to catch me. Well now that I have acknowledge it time to overcome it.
Weight just been a number is so true but it has lead me on a downward spiral more than once. I look forward to your insights Anne.
TGIF I am rushing it.

Hi all, its been a good few days here for me. Coming off my mild cold and with the rain stopping finally and into the next week, and eating/exercising well, its been a good time. The kitties are fed and sleeping soundly, and all is right.

Today while doing retail therapy in my favorite thrift store, I found 2 pairs of good microfiber black warm-up bottoms - perfect for playing tennis on cold days. Neither had been worn before - still had tags. One jusssst fits now but needs to be shortened (my tush looks esp cute in this pair), and the other will fit well in about 15 to 20 pounds less from now, and is the right length. I am eccstatic about this!!! :cb: :cb: :cb: They were 65 and 85 cents! Must be from the glut of end of the year tax deduction donations. I also got some other cute things, but these are the best of the lot!

Jan

Thanks for the replies, I know I should relax more about the numbers on the scale - I still fit into my size 8 jeans, and I dont "feel" or look any bigger - and I know I havent over eaten and I have kept up the exercise (if not a bit more, with the training for the swimathon) but it is hard!! Looking forward to reading your thread Wndranne about demystifying the scales :) Ideally I would like to just go by how my clothes feel and how I feel and look, but get scared of gaining too much if I dont keep a close check on the numbers :dizzy: My goal is to stay away from them and only weigh once a week, and I have been doing really well with that so far and I have droped my calories back down to 1400 for this week, and will see what happens at my WI next wednesday.

Still job hunting :) Take care everyone!

Tash X

I'm finally done my nights. I agree with Gina that it feels like a long week. I've been eating terribly. A handfull of this and a spoonful of that. Through some twist of fate and too many hours awake, I still lost those two pounds I always lose on nights.
The trick is to flip back into the real world without the nibbling and noshing :)
I've got supper all planned and a bee in my bonnet about cardio so maybe it'll be OK.

Interesting to see these MSU Spartans here--I grew up in East Lansing and loved going to El Azteco for nachos. I came home today around 4:15, said (to myself and out loud) that I would have a limited snack and get out of the kitchen until time to make dinner. Had a bowl of Shredded Wheat/Puffins mix with skim milk, segued into 2 hard-boiled eggs (including yolk) and 1 rice cake. It was too much. Well, tomorrow is another day and another chance. The weekend will probably be easier because I can eat much more frequently and not have the hectic pace of work as a constraint.

I am weighing in at my Sunday WW meeting...we'll see. I can definitely adjust this pattern.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Have a good weekend (pouring rain here).

Is there anything nicer than the beginning of a three-day weekend? The university closes for Martin Luther King Day, so I have three whole days. It's extremely cold here, so whatever I do, it will be inside, but since there's always lots to do inside, that's no hardship.

Food and exercise are going well these days, although at midweek, I felt rotten. I either lifted too much on Monday, wrenched my left shoulder, or slept on it wrong; Thursday, I could hardly move it. But yesterday, I felt OK, so I got in a pretty good lower body workout. I tried *one* set of one-armed rows with a very light weight, just to see what would happen. So far, so good; feels alright this morning, but tomorrow will be the test.

Sounds like everyone is getting back on track. Jan, I wish our thrift stores measured up to yours; they don't come close. Your garden sounds wonderful; I'm ready for spring and it's only January :)

Elana, I have a suggestion for you: if you can't have your snack in the car, can you have it pre-measured and/or pre-served when you get home from school. Then, when you hit the door, grab it and LEAVE THE KITCHEN. Eat it somewhere -- anywhere -- else and then vow to WAIT, to not have anything else for at least 20 minutes. Spend that 20 minutes changing clothes, opening the mail, doing whatever you usually do. It will give your brain and your stomach a chance to find each other. I'm guessing that a bowl of cereal and skim milk is pretty filling, but your "full button" needs 20 minutes to become activiated. If you're not in the kitchen for that 20 minutes, you can't eat the 2 eggs and the rice cake. I've started doing this after dinner, and it has made a HUGE difference.

Tash, hope the weigh-in goes well tomorrow. If those Size 8's feel good, I'd say you're doing everything right! If you can think of the numbers as an indicator rather than an absolute, it might help, eh?

And speaking of pants ... Ilene, Size 6! You rock !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gina and SusanB, how do things look today? The week finally ended, thank goodness. I hope the weekend gives you some restorative time. Take care.

I seem to have a list of errands to run, so I've gotta go. To all of you, have a happy! And breathe.

Good thanks Robin. I just did decent legs for the first time since the 6th! Carbed first and should go have my shake. Things are looking up.

I used my restorative time to peruse my journal this morning and am planning my week more carefully this time.

I need to get some groceries today and get some cardio in.

There's a pilates DVD in SpecialK boxes. I saw that on TV. I think I'll pick one up and have a gander. Never hurts to mix things a bit.

Happy Saturday, everyone! :wave:

Jan, wtg on finding such great deals. I have so much fun finding "previously loved" clothing at next to nothing.

Ilene, SO cool that you were convinced those 6s wouldn't fit - and they DID! :cp: An awesome surprise, yes? Were you grinning from ear to ear in that dressing room? Did you want to shout it out so that fellow shoppers could share in your milestone moment? ;)

Robin, I hope your shoulder feels better soon! Any improvement today?

Anne, I'm looking forward to your scale thread, as well. I've had my battles with the scale the last couple of weeks. I'm a daily weigher - it's just been my way to make sure I stay within my maintenance range. But I'm in losing mode now and my "new weight" that usually comes off super quick, is not. I've had to learn about patience all over again. I know I can't go a whole week between weighing only because I would be crushed if after a whole week of hard workouts and tight eating I didn't see a loss. My compromise has become waiting a day or two between weighing. It's helped me back off from my obsessing about the number.

Thursday night was my 2nd WW meeting. I lost 5.2 lbs for the week. ((Just to clarify, my first 6 lbs of water weight DID come off fast, it's the last 10 that I've been struggling with.)) I got a little congratulatory ribbon and everything! :D I'm really enjoying WW and the points system. I've been able to apply everything I've learned the last three years so it's compatible with MY approach. The points have re-opened my eyes to being smarter about my calorie intake. I have two friends counting and going to meetings with me so that extra support is fun and helpful, too.

I kicked up my cardio this week and I think that's why I'm seeing movement again on the scale. I was depending entirely too much on my snow shoveling. Now, I just look at it as "bonus cardio."

Have a great weekend!!!! :wave:

karynlee said:<<I've had to learn about patience all over again. I know I can't go a whole week between weighing only because I would be crushed if after a whole week of hard workouts and tight eating I didn't see a loss. My compromise has become waiting a day or two between weighing. It's helped me back off from my obsessing about the number.>>

I also weigh daily and am also in losing phase. What has really helped with my patience is to tell myself, yes, I am working on wl, but I shouldnt expect to see results on the daily weighings. What I have done on days that I know I have been doing well is to tell myself that today's weight doesnt really count, and the only weight number that really counts is the one on a future specific date, several weeks ahead of now. This has really calmed me down with respect to the scale.

And yes, I love my thrift store. The ones downtown are nowhere near as good. Not only were they expensive, but they didnt have much either. I never shop in those. Ick. This one is in a relatively affluent neighborhood with no other thrift stores for miles so they get good donations, and have fewer shoppers. This past week there was a tall, elegant looking blonde shopping for clothes in my store, She had armloads of fashionable looking stuff. So did I, LOL.

Today has been good. I almost finished pruning my roses and weeded and transplanted 2 bushes. I got 2 small bouquets from the trimmings. I worked outside for about 6 hours on and off so that was todays exercise for this old broad. Food was tastey, lean, and not too much. And the weather was superior. Ah, life is good.

Jan