My house is restored to clean again and the ton of laundry from both kids rooms is done. I bet they had 40 towels in their rooms.

I managed 5 min's last night on elliptical and my legs felt like I couldn't possibly make another step. But, I'm going to keep doing this. Still using the treadmill too.

My step-daughters who know I eat LC sent a huge package of 7 boxes of candies, cookies and assorted crackers to me and DH for Christmas. I didn't open any of the boxes. Had DH take this to work for all the employees. My son doesn't eat this stuff and my DD always tries to watch what she eats and she didn't want it here either.

My MIL had me a photo album made of all the family from my step-daughters wedding. It is beautiful and was completely full of 5x7 pic's. She also had me 4 8x10's made of family to hang on the wall in nice frames. She said she wanted to replace the family pic that I still have hanging with me at 234 lbs. LOL, I'll proudly take that pic down.

Replacing that picture is awesome Lily. I didn't get any formal exercise today, but I took dd shopping and feel like we walked quite a long time. One of the things I bought was a new pedometer. Hopefully I won't lose this one and will be able to keep track of my steps.

I keep my wedding pictures with all 280+ pounds of me prominently displayed in my house. There are two main reasons. The first and most important is that it was one of the most significant days of my life and I was profoundly happy and it is good to remember that. The second is that it reminds me how difficult life used to be. I find that the longer I maintain (and at my heaviest pregnant weight I was still 50 lbs less than that picture) more I forget that.

Anne

I don't blame you anne, for leaving up the wedding pic's. I would too. Taking this pic down is sort of bittersweet. When I look at it, it reminds me of where I came from. I hid from pic's for yrs. so don't have hardly any pic's of the whole family together except this one. I may move it to my room with the treadmill, so I can still see it.

I have to say that it felt awesome this yr. to tell family that I wanted a size medium pajamas. They not only fit but are very loose. It's no longer an embarassment for me to tell my size. When I was size 20 I'd tell DH that I was a 14 and they'd never fit. This just gives me such great incentive to stay this size.

Well, I finally got my winter cold. I've had fever and congestion and feel pretty lousy. I have a Dr. appt. tomorrow morning. An 8 hr. round trip to see my specialist. He's doing a ton of lab work, so I'm hoping to see some improvement in labs. I have managed to cut back on prednisone to 10 mg. daily without a rash, so this is great. My Dr. wants to try to eventually get me totally off prednisone which I have been on for over 3 yrs. now.

Anne-One of the things I don't have are wedding pictures. I would hang them no matter what too.

Lily-sorry you've got a cold. I hate feeling bad but knowing it's not really 'serious'. It feels serious.

Dh and I went out to eat with friends last night. I did just ok. I had a grilled porkchop and two helpings of green beans vs a potato. I had my salad plain but did eat 1/2 a white dinner roll. I have a New Year's Eve party to get through and then it'll be back to normal. I hope someday I can view what is supposed to be fun a little less like a gauntlet to be run, but for now it feels like going into battle. Maybe after this becomes a longer habit it'll be easier.

Well, I guess the calorie-counting thing works. I had access to a scale yesterday after about a week without one, and I had not gained any weight -- despite the stuffing fiasco (see post above)! That day, I definitely overate stuffing (was very uncomfortable when I stood up--had difficulty walking), but I had had plenty of calories left for the day, so I guess it all worked out.

When I'm at my home, I eat the same things pretty much everyday. Since I've been away, I've eaten a lot of things that aren't on my usual schedule, but by tracking calories, I've been able to keep from piling on pounds! And this is without my usual 4x/week exercise!!! I ordinarily wouldn't eat stuffing, banana fritters, and large servings of mashed sweet potatoes w/ olive oil, but I've now found that I can now eat those things without leading to major havoc! How freeing calorie counting is! I probably will revert to my regular eating plan when I get home, but this has been a nice lesson to learn, and having no access to a scale for a week while I was eating differently and seeing no bad results after a week has helped convince me even more! I can now see why some people weigh only once/week.

I think it has also been good training to have lots of leftovers around. I usually make my meals each day because I really wonder if I could handle eating appropriate portion sizes when a lot of food I really like is sitting around. I'd be afraid I'd overeat if I made enough food for several days at once! My mom has been out of town for the holidays, so I've been doing a lot of the cooking around here for myself, my dad, and my brother. I've made curried chicken and veggies with with rice, roasted whole stuffed turkey/mashed sweet potatoes, cornbread (brother helped w/ that)/mexican corn/steamed broccoli, and last night's meal of baked salmon steaks/baked potatoes/homemade banana fritters/mixed veggies. We have wayyyy too much food -- we could all probably survive for 2 weeks or more on what's in the fridge right now! My dad bought the turkey, and got a 20 pound turkey for 4 people on Christmas!

Hope the holidays are going well for everyone!

I just got back from my Dr. appointment. He put me on a Z-pack (antibiotics). I still had a fever today. However, I am feeling a little better. All my liver enzymes were again improved. My weight was fine, maintained since last visit, so I was pleased and so was my doctor. My cholesterol and triglycerides were drawn and I'll call for results on these on Tuesday. I am scheduled for an ultrasound of liver again in April. So, all in all it was a good appointment. I survived the Christmas holidays without weight gain so I am thankful for this. Now, to get better on the elliptical. Hope everyone has a great New Years.

Tara, there has been a lot of food around my house too. In a way, I'm glad because I haven't felt like cooking the last couple days. Everyone has had the leftovers. I haven't felt much like eating, except just some fruit here and there.

Tara - you're doing great! There are just 2 of us at my house, so I almost always have leftovers. The big thing for me, with both the original meal and the subsequent ones - is to put the meat and starch portions on the plate from the stove. That makes it a thought thing to get up and have seconds. I usually put the veggies/salad on the table as seconds of those are not a bad thing as a rule. Plus I usually have a big glass of water with my meal. It slows me down and helps me feel fuller on less food.

Lily - I'm so impressed by all you've managed to accomplish while being on prednisone! My DH was on it off and on for a year or more so I'm well aware of the side effects. Here's hoping you can get off it soon. Whoops we were posting at the same time. Congrats on the doc's visit. How's the elliptical going? I had the same experience as you moving from the treadmill where I could go a long time to the elliiptical which kicked my butt in like 5 minutes! Now I can do 45 or more, though there's still that boredom factor that kicks in at about 30 min.

I'm having a very quiet New Year's. We have a brunch with 10 or so friends on Sunday morning, but otherwise no plans for 3 days. I'm looking forward to reclaiming my house from Christmas. :lol It's also supposed to snow another 6-8" - boo, hiss.

Pat, thank you. My Dr. today told me to start taking only 10mg. prednisone every other day, alternating with 5 mg. So, my dosage is going down, which is great.

I had a talk with my hepatologist yesterday about me going back to work. He said "absolutely not". Says that my health is much better off with me staying home and getting plenty of rest, avoiding work stress and avoiding being around others who are sick. (I'm an RN). I'm OK with this. I like having the time at home with my kids. My long term disability insurance is paying me as much as I made working anyway.

I just want to wish you all a Happy New Year since I will be busy most of the day. May it be happy, healthy and full.

Hope everyone has a great and safe New Years Eve. We're staying home.

We're staying home too and I like it that way.

All my company is finally gone and I need a day off and maybe even a nap. No cooking and definitely no treats!!! Do any of you feel guilty throwing away cookies and goodies that the rest of your family would eat just because you have a problem with them in the house? I'm struggling with that question today.

I've been at my parents' house for 1 1/2 weeks. Prior to this, I thought I would have needed to throw some things out, but we have had a couple of cookie tins around, and I haven't touched them. At Thanksgiving, there was also an apple pie, that I never tasted. These are things that I would have formerly eaten and possibly overeaten prior to my lifestyle change. Now I've just decided that I don't eat that stuff anymore.

I compare the attitude to being a vegetarian and not eating meat, no matter how good it smells; or being Muslim and not eating pork. I realize that there are a lot of foods out there, but I don't have to eat them all -- good taste is only temporary, and is food really THAT spectacular? There are probably better things in life. The importance of food to me has really decreased since I changed my lifestyle. I eat more because I need to, rather than because it tastes good and triggers brain "happy centers". (Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the food that I eat, and I do make sure it tastes good!)

The sweets thing has probably been easier because I haven't eaten sweets in a long time, so I've convinced myself that I don't really get that much out of them. If I tasted one...it might send me back over the edge! Right now my mind is set so that I prefer to eat real food over high calorie density goodies.

Now, if I was alone in my apartment with a healthy-seeming loaf of cranberry pecan bread from the local bakery...and I started eating it...yikes! I'd probably eat the whole thing. I just don't even put myself in that situation anymore! So, I think there are some things that I might not still have good control over, but it would definitely be a conscious decision to go out, buy it, and eat it all that day -- being fully aware of the consequences! Somehow, though, I think it would be pretty easy to avoid eating it in a home with others around compared to refraining from it while alone in my apartment! Weird how things work.

Not sure I've made any sense...

Meg, I felt a little guilty regifting a huge tower of 7 boxes of candy, cookies and assorted crackers. I gave them to our neighbors, that are friends of ours. They have 2 kids that will eat them. Most of it would have gone to waste here. I threw away the pumpkin pie that I had made. No one had even touched it. Sent my Aunt's home-made fudge to work with DH. My family really isn't bad to eat sweets. Now, I'd feel guiltier if I had thrown away their home-made Mac n Cheese.