I did a little tidying, went to church (looking smashing in a nice narrow skirt), went to friends for lunch, our folks never did show up ... I had a nap instead :) And then I did upper body tonight.

My son-in-law had the same lunch as me and was ill as well ... hmm ... I emailed Eastside Mario's!

Hi everyone. Are any of you very familiar with TOPS? I'm wanting to find out about it. I'm not trying to lose more weight, but thought maybe the group support and weigh-ins would help me with my maintenance efforts. I know that it isn't expensive. I just don't know if they will look at me like I'm nuts for wanting to join for maintenance purposes. There are all kinds of programs near me for wt. loss but the maintenance programs are for only if you were on their wt. loss program, which I wasn't. (Ex. Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem), I don't know if WW would let me come and weigh and sit at meetings or not without wanting to lose more. Any help or advice would be appreciated. I don't know any other maintainers near me to form a group with.

Lily, I don't know much about TOPS and can't help you there. But I don't think you're nuts at all for wanting group support for maintenance! There have been plenty of times when I've thought how wonderful it would be to have some kind of ongoing support in real life. I got really excited when I heard about a program at the local university here called 'Life After Weight Loss' - but it's for WLS surgery patients only. :shrug:

I wish I had a better answer! Why not call TOPS or WW and explain your situation and see what they say?

I don't know anyone else in real life who's lost a lot of weight and kept it off. When I meet someone at the gym who's lost weight, I love talking to them ... but sadly, they've all turned around and put the weight back on. So, like you, I don't even know enough people to start a group with.

Maybe we're too rare for a real life group? Maybe the Internet is going to be our best option?

Lily, I would definitely check into WW if a weekly "real-life" support group appeals to you. I joined recently with a friend of mine even though we didn't have much to lose. We were both looking for accountability (weekly weigh-ins) and support, encouragement, etc., more than actual weight loss. They've been super nice and that extra accountability (for me, at least) has been extremely helpful. It keeps me very mindful of my eating and exercise.

Congrats on your weight loss and maintenance - good luck!! :)

Thanks Meg and Karyn, I'm going to look into both TOPS and WW. I think I could really use group support for my maintenance for the first 2 yrs. (at least) if at all possible. I need that positive interaction. Plus the weigh-in accountability. I'll let everyone know what I find out.

Had to share. My DD came into the living room last night with her Hula Hoop. I said "let me try". I can do IT. I may have found a new form of fun exercise for me. LOL. I played with these a lot when I was a kid. It never had occurred to me to try one now.

Well, I think I have survived the great Mom visit of 2006. We had some fabulous food while she was here:

1. I made portabello mushrooms stuffed with quinoa, red peppers and feta, appetizer was a decadent chevre and cherry jelly on crackers made with cranberries and hazelnuts.
2. Dinner at Purple with cheese, wine and chocolate cake
3. All you can eat sushi
4. Moroccan food, including a wonderful phyllo pastry appetizer with chicken/egg/almonds topped with powdered sugar
5. Fancy dinner at Salish Lodge - the best mushroom bisque soup EVER (with sherry cream served on the side), 1 glass of wine, 1 roll out of the bread basket, cheese/chestnut/butternut squash ravioli, chocolate mousse with huckleberry sorbet...coffee with cream (so good!)

I'm so weird about food. On a daily basis, I'm just not tempted by most "normal" foods - donuts and Pringles and fast food burgers. Give me a special occasion and a fancy restaurant, I want to go all out. Thank goodness those events don't come up very often!

This morning, I am back on track. I cut up veggies for snacks and made 4 lunches for the rest of the week. I de-seeded pomegranates for 4 days too! Last night I made a big pot of leek/spinach/chickpea/tomato soup. I am set for healthy eating for the rest of the week, ready to eat a little lower calorie the rest of the week (1400 or so compared to my usual 1800). So far so good, pants are still fitting the same (might take a couple of days for the damage to come through!)

I knew you could do it Glory. The food sounded great that you had. I'm glad you enjoyed the visit with your mom. Excellent job on the getting your meals prepared for this week. I had every faith in you.

Nice job Glory! Sounds like you splurged on foods that were really worth it. Much much better than landing face down in a pile of Cheetos as I'm prone to do once in a while.

Anne

I'm having a little trouble with my 20 yr. old son needing to gain some weight. He looks unhealthy. He is almost 6' and weighed 138 at the Doctor yesterday with his clothes and shoes on. He's always been thin but muscular. He just look bad. I know he's tired and stressed. Works night shift and isn't sleeping well. Has some financial stress. Recently broke up with his longtime girlfriend. I'm very worried about him. He seems to be catching colds and bronchitis often. I had a long talk with him today about his skipping meals. He's not trying to lose weight, but seems to just be picking at his food and not eating a full healthy diet. After our chat, he decided to add back in the protein shakes that he used to use when he was a weight lifter. I thought maybe adding ice cream to the shakes could help him gain a little weight. BTW, he normally weighs 145-155. He has his own apartment and has been coming over every day. I fix him meals and send food to work with him. I normally eat LC but am making some extra carbs for him. He is trying to find a better job to help his finances and refuses to take money when I offer it. He can come HOME, but right now he wants to keep his own place and try to get through this.

Morning everyone! I have nothing of note to say, just good morning!

Here are a few pictures from mom's visit!

http://gloriana.myphotoalbum.com/vie...umName=album07

Lily, that's so admirable that your son wants to get through this on his own. I don't know if I would have the stamina for that, and I'm 33! I hope that the protein shakes help him to gain weight. What did the doctor say about his weight, anything?

Glory-It looks like you had a wonderful time. I sure would love to try a moroccon restaurant. I almost always love 'ethnic' food.

Lily-It has to be so hard to be worried about your ds. I hope he finds a better job with better hours. I worked nights and it totally messed up my system.

Glory, you and your Mom both look terrific. Glad you had a good time, and the food sounded wonderful. :)

Lily - my goodness, that's really skinny! I would think the protein shakes would help, and are better than a bunch of junk food. Sounds like he just needs regular healthy meals as well.

Thanks ladies for the support. I will never stop worrying about my kids no matter how old they get. All the men in my family have always been thin, but he is unusually thin right now. The Dr. even told him that he needs to gain 15-20 lbs at least. I am currently helping him to fill out applications for a better job. He's also in the military Army Reserves and does a lot of Physical exercise on his weekend drills. He just seems to be totally run-down right now. When I worked night shift, I never slept well. Ate poorly and it wreaked havoc on my health also.

Fix that boy some peanut butter milkshakes!

Glory, I wish he would eat PB. It works wonders to pack lbs. on me when I'm not even trying.

Does he like guacamole? Lord knows that does it for me. :lol:

No he doesn't eat guacamole. He never has been one to eat sweets. I don't know how I fed this child. He hates the foods that I love. He doesn't even like cheese or butter or mayo. He likes meat and potatoes and bread. He likes stew, chili and chicken and dumplins, plus spaghetti and lasagna. I have been making these for him and DH. I wonder if all the energy drinks that he is drinking are causing him to have such a decrease in appetite.

That is entirely possible. If I drink things like Red Bull I eat hardly anything. But if I drink more than two in a day I have heart palpitations, and that is SCARY.

That has to be rough on you, cooking those things for him and DH when you can't have them yourself. :(

He drink Red Bull and such. It really doesn't bother me to fix those things for them and not to eat them myself. I'm used to it. Now, if it were sweets it would be different, I'd want it too. I compromise. If I make them chili, I take mine out before adding any beans. If I make spaghetti with meatballs, I just have some meatballs and salad and green beans. Since I do LC this works OK for me. I don't feel deprived.

Glory, great photos! I'm sure everyone tells you that you and your mom look alike. :)

I'm making meatloaf for my men tonight. They work hard (DH outside all day) and they can handle that kind of thing. I'll have my stuff. Nobody minds any more.

Ooohhh, I love meatloaf! I remember when I was doing Atkins I had found this absolutely fabulous recipe, but now that I'm eating more carbs I don't dare make it, because it's pretty high in calories and fat.

But maybe for a special occasion someday...hmmm... *plotting*

I'm off to a dental appt. this AM. Everyone have a great day.

I'm back from dentist. Not a single cavity in 15 yrs. Yeah. I do have a chipped tooth that will be fixed next Wednesday. I hate, hate, hate going to the dentist. My teeth are all shiny and clean now.

My DH's Aunt is in the hospital. She had a heart attack last night and isn't expected to survive. She is the sweetest woman in the world and is 78 yrs. old. We are heading to the hospital when DH gets off work at 3PM.

Lily--so sorry to hear about your Aunt. Take care.

Thanks. She is such a feisty lady. But, has had health problems for the past yr. since breaking a hip and her DH passing away. She has a huge ranch and absolutely refuses to move to a retirement place. She says she'd "rather live a week in her own home than yrs. in a retirement place". I don't blame her. I'd be the same way. We visit her and take her fishing sometimes, she loves to fish and hunt.

She looked a lot better than we expected from the other relatives calls. She was alert, talkative and rational. We had a nice visit. Her heart rhythm is stabilized now with very few ectopic beats which is great. I hope and pray that she pulls through this.
.

Lily - I hope thing will work out well for the aunt. She sure sounds like a great old lady. i also went to the dentisat yesterday! No cavities, but DS is off for an appointment with the orthodontist next monday. usually this is covered by insurance, but I'll just check this weekend.

I'm, off to an appointment with my lawyer.

have a great day all
rabbit

Thanks Rabbit, she's still holding on pretty well.

I am now done Christmas shopping for 10 of my 16 people on my shopping list. The stores are already getting very busy. I may get some more done this weekend. I have stuff hid all over the place. I haven't started wrapping any of it yet. I have also ordered lots of Avon stuff for stocking stuffers. It feels good for me to shop. For the last 3 yrs. I had to write my DH a list and have him go shopping because I couldn't walk far enough to do it. Now, I'm all over the place. Bad thing is, every store I go into, I see something else that I want for myself. I saw some pretty bras and a body shaper thing tonite that I had in my basket. Then I felt guilty spending more on myself and put them back. I'll wait and show them to DH and have him get them for me for Christmas. I did buy me a thick winter coat tonite. I can't resist everything. LOL. I do love buying the pretty undie things now that I don't wear granny drawers and huge bras anymore. (I've already bought 4 new bras in the past month).

Lily, you must be loving just being out in the stores. How cool that you can shop this year!!

I'm trying to get all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving (I think I'll get close, but not quite there). I really hate crowded stores too and am doing more and more shopping on-line this year than ever before. There's nothing more frustrating than looking for a size or color in a store and it not being there! So much easier to just click and have the nice UPS man bring it to my front door. :D

I have the same problem that you do with finding things for myself when I'm supposed to be shopping for others. Tee hee! One thing I've noticed about clothes shopping since I've been maintaining is that I'm getting much pickier. At first, everything looked good and I bought too much. :o Now I have to really l-o-v-e something to buy it. We live in an old house with tiny closets, so that helps me control the excessive buying. Ah, but if I had one of those fabulous walk-in closets .... :faint:

There were three things that I swore I would never wear again after I lost weight:

1. big Tshirts to camoflauge my butt (yeah, right - as if no one could tell what was under there!)

2. elastic waist pants (except gym pants)

3. old lady undies!!!

So I hear you on the cute lingerie! Don't you just love all that little lacy stuff? :devil:

As for T-giving, I'm nervous. It's the biggest get-together in my family and there will just be so much to eat and drink. Sometimes the sheer gluttony of the whole thing turns me off ... but sometimes it's hard not to join in. I think one key for me will be to try to get enough sleep. Too bad it's the thing that takes too much time!!

So what's everyone up to this weekend? We're going to rake leaves, clean, and do errands (we are just SO exciting :lol: )

Hi Gang:
Old ladie undies I love not having to wear them!!
The elastic waist pants rule is one I live by as well Meg.
Christmas shopping always equals lots of stuff for me as well. Now I just give my husband the bill. He is happy because he hates to shop and I am happy because I love to shop. So it works out. But he still has to get one or two surprise for me. I can't let him off the hook that easy.

Holiday stress is already in full gear for me. My in-laws who live in FL, I live in NY aren't coming in this Christmas. I was very excited till my DH informed me that he would like to visit them, before the holiday. So now we are going to FL for a long-weekend, in December. This will be a stress filled weekend for me. Their lives are worse than a bad soap, with out the glitz just the drama.

Happy turkey day to all. Enjoy the best and leave the rest!! That's my holiday motto. Also love Robin's HOLI-DAY not HOLI-MONTH.

Undies- I actually went to a lingerie store and got fitted for new bras. Wow, who knew that size could change so much. I bought pretty plain stuff because I'm not too girly, but I don't look like I'm girding myself for the Ride of the Valkyries anymore either, yeah!

Weekend-It's our annual Cub Scout food drive, so if nothing else I'll get in about 5 or 6 miles of walking today. Unfortunately we always have a pizza party for the boys afterward for lunch. I'm worried about that. I'm taking an apple and almonds and a pria bar and hope to maybe indulge in one piece of cheese pizza. I hope I'm strong!

Christmas shopping-Eek! I'm not one to ever get done early. I don't much like shopping (except for books) so I tend to put it off. I also have to wait for my kids to decide what they want. I'd hate to get it too early and them change their minds. The adults I need to buy for usually ask for gift cards so that takes no time at least. What I'm really worried about is the holiday baking I always do....

We are doing Christmas in January this year (DD is too young to really know) after my parents get here. So I'm kind of planning to shop on the 26-27th. It'll be a zoo for sure, but a cheap zoo.

Doing a bike race today El Tour de Tucson, the shortest option 35 miles and pacing a friend on her mountain bike. My first race for someone else! It seems very different.

DD has been sick. Roseola they finally diagnosed after the rash broke. One of those childhood diseases everybody gets, completely not serious, but it has been uncomfortable for her, and so for us as well. Juggling work with 2 people and no day care has killed any kind of exercise for the week, other than one short pitiful run, but that's oddly been OK, because I've had a 4 day headache from stress and dehydration and wouldn't have been able to anyway.

I've got a week off, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Anne

My weigh in this morning wasn't good. I weigh anywhere from 143-148 depending on how the scale is positioned on the bathroom floor. I am very frustrated. I have greatly increased my exercise since getting over the ankle injury. I haven't changed the way I eat. I feel thinner and my clothes are looser. So, not sure what my problem is. I am going to have my DD set me up a fitday account and try to count calories as well as my usual carbs and see if this helps. For starters I'm going to cut my breakfast meat portion in half. I may break down and buy new scales if I shop more this weekend.

Meg, my closets aren't very big either. I bought a large clothes rack that is now in my bedroom to make extra room for clothes. It is 10 feet long, but my bedroom is at least 400 sq. feet, so it fits nicely. DH and I love it, we don't have to dig to find clothes anymore. We have moved our masterbedroom to our large game room so that we have more room. Our other closet was small to start with and DH had half of it taken up with a large gun safe.

I'm nervous too about the holidays. I need very much to stay on program. We'll be having Thanksgiving with my Aunt and MIL. They are both on Atkins, so this much will probably be good for me. MIL is famous for her homemade pies. Last yr. I allowed myself 1 piece of dessert and it worked. I'll try to do the same this yr.

I'm going hunting this coming weekend with DH. I tried my old camouflage things on and they fall off me. I found some camo of my sons tonite. When i picked them up, I thought, there is NO way these little things could fit me. But they fit perfect in the waist and are saggy in the butt. I was simply amazed. . My son's are a 30 x 32. Sad to say, but my own were an XXL from previous yrs. It seems that sometimes these small victories are the BEST. I was so excited that I almost called my DH at work to tell him, but I'll wait and show him when we go hunting.

Lily, if your clothes are fitting and you've been excercising more since your ankle healed, you're probably getting a bit more muscular--hence the possible weight gain. Especially since you haven't changed your eating habits. It is discouraging, though. I totally can related. Meanwhile, congrats on fitting into DS's camos! That's great!

I actually got my DH out shopping yesterday--alone! I had an event at our Guide Dogs and couldn't get out and DS wants a Nintendo Wii which came out yesterday. I send DH packing first thing in the morning. No luck at Target (the guy in front of him got the last one) so off to Best Buy where he got the 4th to the last one! So, Christmas shopping has begun!

Have a great day everyone!

Thanks allinell, that is what I was wondering about. Because my tummy is flatter. My clothes are loose. My leg muscles have returned since I have been exercising so much. I do feel a lot firmer now. I'm trying not to be frustrated because I feel like I look better than I did.

I love it that I can wear my son's camo. Very first time in my life to be able to wear anything of his.

I got some unexpected money in the mail today from an old IRA at one of the hospitals I worked at for a short time, many yrs. ago. That hospital sold and they sent everyone their money that had less than $5000.00 in the account. I went ahead and used it for shopping. It's not my main IRA and I had forgot it was even there. It was a blessing and will help cut down the amt. of overtime my DH has been working to make extra Christmas money.
So, off to the mall I went.

. I have lots to wrap. I have everyone bought for except some small things that I want to pick up like hats, gloves and such.

I had told you all that I was worried about my son. He had been sickly, losing weight, stressed out, financial problems and GF troubles. His Dad sent him a bundle of savings bonds today that were totally matured. They were from the $200.00 monthly that I allowed him to save for Shane from the child support over the past 18 yrs.(I knew that he would not spend Shanes bonds, he saves his money wisely). So, Shane can be debt free again. He is paying off his jeep and his motorcycle. He was so relieved and so was I. This had been stressing me out really bad. Just knowing how much trouble he was having and it being almost Christmas time. We have a total of 6 kids and now 3 grandkids, so Christmas stretches our budget each yr.

Sometimes I miss working really bad. But, days like this make me realize that I am not able to work. A couple hrs. shopping and my entire right side was hurting so much that I was in tears. Came home and took a pain pill. It still hurts too much to even lay down. I have asked the Dr. why my right side hurts so much. He says it's because my liver is enlarged and pressed into the right ribcage. I feel like I've taken a beating.