Good Morning
Here it is Oct 10th. Seems like it was just August yesterday. We are still having such nice weather, but they say it will change here soon. Well, I have lots of nice sweaters to get washed up and ready to wear.
Aleka, don't get too concerned about finding the perfect spot for things right away. Especially in the kitchen. You can aways rethink and redo it later. When your uppacking, your tired and you can't always think as well as when your rested. But, I know it's good to have stuff in it's place. DH is forever reorganizing the garage, he does it almost every few weeks. I can't find anything out there anymore.
I've gained almost all the weight back that I initially lost. I love SS'ing, but I think I will have to go to something else. I'm going to start to look at other plans today. I'm thinking no sugar, low fat and reduced portions. Isn't that what the new WW plan is, Aleka?
Lynn, have you started Curves and if so, what do you think?
Hi Anne, hope your well.
Have a good Sunday ladies, Nikki

Good afternoon,

We just had our first company. DH's uncle & his wife stopped in. They're down here for a couple weeks checking out their rental unit they'll be in this winter. The town where they rent is just north of us, about a 20 min. drive away (it takes about an hour in the winter months)

Nikki, I'm so sorry that SS didn't work for you. I've read other posts on SS board that it does happen to some people. What if you still SSized but did a lower fat version and portion control. Everything that I've read always points to calories in..calories out. No matter which program you're doing. Yes, that is something like the new WW plan. Only, there is no portion control, you eat when you're hungry and stop when you're satisfied, not overly full. I plan on using their portion sizes though. At this point I don't trust myself.
Also, WW advocates everything fat-free. I don't believe in that, so will do low-fat instead. I figure that if I do the new WW program, I can still use SS recipes except make them low fat. I bought that issue of Family Circle Magazine and saw the diet you mentioned. That looks pretty good and you seem to get plenty to eat. Have you decided what plan you'd like to do?

Hi lynn..Anne, hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your day.
Aleka

Hello Everyone:
Thanks so much for your good wishes for Thanksgiving. We had our
big meal yesterday and if you took a look at my stomach right now....

Today is my mothers birthday so I will be eating birthday cake
What can you do

I am sorry I haven't been on line too much lately. Between that dam job
and my sons on our home P.C.........

I am thinking of pulling out my info on points and doing a low carb version
of that theme. I think because I am in a hormonal transition I am getting
into more problems with my weight. I am going to try natural progesterone cream that I ordered on line from Young Again Nutrients in Texas. We can't
buy it off the shelf here for some odd reason........I know the book by
Doctor Lee mentions Estrogen Dominence which I have every single symptom
off. Apparantly your progesterone level falls to o production long before the
estrogen quits. Because of my extra weight I also would be producing alot
of estrogen still which probably explains why I don't suffer from hot flashes.
Natural progesterone is suppose to help with the weight gain, hair loss and
a few other troublesome symptoms. I am going to give it a whirl and follow
the vitamin regime and see what happens. I still beleive 100 percent in
low carbing and plan to continue with the exception of trying to bring down
my total days carlories.
Have a great day everyone.......I will post more this week

Anne.

Good morning,
Anne, it's ok if you can't post often, I know what it's like to have kids around the house, you cann't call anything your own. I'm sure glad your ok.
Happy Birthday to your mom
That is interesting about the progesterone cream. I buy all my vitamins and supplements from www.ourhealthcoop.com. I will have to see if they have progesterone cream too. It's one of the cheapest places I've found to buy products. They also have lots of information about vitamins and supplements. I really like this company.
I was looking at the WW site last night and I am thinking about doing that too. I guess, I'm looking for faster results than I'm getting (or rather, not gaining weight). I do believe in low carb and I love SS'ing. I feel better than I did. I was thinking that it might be more for me when (if) I lose some weight.
For you guys that know about WW, I'm kind of confused about the whole thing. There is the Core plan, which I think your going to do Aleka. I decided against that, because I have no idea when I'm full and part of that plan is to eat until your satisfied. My stomach is so stretched out, I am never satisfied. I think that I need much more structure, probably counting points. Is that part of the flex plan, or is the flex plan something else? Should I go to the meetings or do it on line? I'm really not much for going to meetings, but I would if I had to. How can I do this as inexpensively as possible?
I'm getting a lot done in my gardens, getting them cleared off. Speaking of that, I better get myself moving, I have lots to do today, take care, Nikki

Here's a link to their progesterone cream, it's 6.83 a jar. They have a good explaination about how it works too.
http://www.ourhealthcoop.com/ourhealth_pr.htm

Nikki

PS-I tried to order this and kept getting an error message. I emailed the company and they sent me an email right back. They are out of stock because they had to refuse a batch of stock because it didn't pass testing. I Just love this company, they seem so honest.

I just saw that Christopher Reeve passed away. I can hardly believe it. Here's what they said on the news about why he died-
Publicist Wesley Combs said Reeve suffered heart failure at his New York home. He was being treated for a pressure wound, a common problem for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in complications.

My best friend developed heart problems and almost died from a bacterial infection similar to this. It was really hard for her to fight it and she was in excellent health. It took years for her to get back to being able to function and work again. I would think since Mr. Reeve was already debillitated, it was just too hard for his body.

Hi,

We're getting rain today. Our lawn was getting kinda yellow so this will be good.

Anne, glad to hear from you so that we know you're ok. A very Happy Birthday to your mother When I got off of Premarin it took me a few weeks until I started having hot flashes. Now I get them regularly. Sometimes I get both, hot flashes then chills and believe it or not sometimes just chills. This is so much fun.....NOT! Let me know how the cream works for you because I'd be really interested in trying it.

Nikki, the WW new point system is the flex points. You have a certain target point to eat to, depending on your weight range. The more you weigh, the more points you're allowed, then as you're losing weight and get into a different weight range, your daily point allowance gets less and less. In addition to your daily point range, you have 35 flex points per week to use as you wish. You can add some to your daily point range, use them all for a splurge, or not use them at all. If you don't use them, you'll lose them for that week. Then the following week, you get another 35 flex points. In other words you can't accumulate them. I think there is a special until Oct. 16th that you don't have to pay the registration fee, just the weekly meeting fee. As far as going to meetings, you know you have to face that scale every week so you're more apt to stay OP, that's a great motivator I've read posts from other people and they just go and sign up, get their material they need, stay for the meeting, then don't go back. I honestly don't know how much it is to do it online. If you punch in your zip code on WW homepage, it will find a meeting nearest you and tell you of any specials that may be going on. Let us know how you make out.

lynn, hope you're having a good holiday.

Aleka

Good afternoon,
Aleka, thank you so much for the information. I think I will probably go with on line meetings at present. The reason being, I don't think I would make it to the meetings down town. The time they meet, is the time we have supper. Even though DH wouldn't starve to death if I was gone one night a week, I just know it won't work out.
I bought some stuff off of ebay. I saw one of the sellers (who was apparently just a regular person, not a mass merchandise seller) who was selling all of her stuff (she said it was from earlier this year) from WW for $30. I am not sure what I need or don't need, but this included the following -Complete Food Companion, Dining Out Companion, pocket points guide and the black points Calculator. I also bought the Take Out Tonight Cookbook. Do you have a favorite cookbook from WW? Right now, I just want to read about the plan. I have 10 days before I have to buy groceries again and I would imagine all the high fat foods I have won't fit into this plan very well. I gained more weight too, so that is motivation to change my woe again. So, after I get the stuff from my ebay purchases and read that, I'll join WW on line. I am reading their boards now, so I can get an idea of what is going on.
Our weather is getting cooler and windier. Fall is in full swing. I will have to burn up some leaves soon.
On DH's next days off, we are going up to the casino with a group from his job. I use to work with all of these people myself. They decided to put $20 each in and then play one of the real high dollar machines up there. I have never even been in the high dollar area of the casino, so this will be fun, just to go in there. They are a roudy bunch and it should be a real good time.
Hope your all doing ok, Nikki

Good afternoon,

The sun is shining today and it's a beautiful day outside.

Nikki, sorry you gained more weight. I hate when that happens. The stuff you ordered off of e-bay is good. I have that calculator and I love it. At the moment I don't know which box it's packed in. If you do WW online, I'm not sure if they send you the material or not. The Complete Food Companion I used constantly, but the restaurant guide I didn't use quite as much. But it is helpful when you do go out to eat. When I was going to meetings, our leader told us that sometimes if you calculate the points on whatever you're eating, and it differs from what is in the book, go by your points calculator. You still can have the high fat foods, but it will cost you in points. So, if you still have some of it around the house, you can use it up if you want. You just have to use the serving size they recommend in the book. I went the low-fat route, it costs an extra point or two, but to me it was worth it. I bought quite a few cookbooks when I attended WW, but I never made anything out of them. Have you looked at the WW site they have in 3fc? They have some wonderful recipes posted. Here is another website that may be of help to you. www.dwlz.com (Dottie's Weight Loss Zone). They have all kinds of WW tips and recipes. It's a good site. Your trip sounds like it will be so much fun. When will you be going?

Hi Anne and lynn

Aleka

Aleka, thanks for the website. WW on line doesn't provide any written material and the only way to buy it is to go to a meeting or buy what they call WW at home. There are two kits, without the calculator, it's $90 and with the calculator and something else, it's $120 or 130. Both kits come with the food companions guides, the diary and the Day trekker, if I remember right. I've read some people that do it on line are unhappy that they aren't getting the written material that you can when you attend a meeting. Thought I'd go with that woman from ebay, she said she only used it for 2 weeks, then gave up (kind a sounds like myself on other plans ).
I have looked at the WW group here too. I figure, it will take awhile to get my ebay purchases. Paypal is updating their website and it took quite a while for me to get them paid by check. Now, it says it might be up till the 14th before my check clears through paypal. After that, I have to wait forever for the mail, so it might be a week or two before I get this stuff. In the mean time, I'm going to be reading alot of stuff on the internet. Like here and that website you mentioned, thanks again, Nikki

Hi Everybody: Back after a few hectic days at DD's. My puppy went to her new home, they seemed very nice and DD's boy friend works with 1 of them. They have allready arranged a "play date" at a leach free park for the 2 puppies. Mya is very lonely and very needy today, we have been to the park 2X today and it is only5 o'clock. I posted a long post yesterday and hit the post quick reply and instead of the page that says "Thanks for posting etc" a page saying site can't be found came up. I tried everything to find my post but it was gone. I was so p----- off I just got off the computer. Sorry about the weight gain Nikki, $30 sounds good for me for all that. I joined WW after I quit smoking and have all that stuff. I have a few great site for WW with points and will post them for you. How goes the unpacking Aleka? In a minor way I am going though that myself. My pots and favorite appliances but all bedding tv's in other words I strip the trailer when I leave. I leave nothing because of the dampness over the winter. I am still putting stuff away and rearranging what I just shoved into places when we got here. We have company arriving tomorrow, our friends that spend 6 months in Florida have to kill a week before they cross the border for insurance reasons. The weather is fabulous and is supposed to be all week so we will have lots of walks to look at the amazing fall folage. Well I guess time to get going, will talk to you all soon. Hope you had a great holiday Anne. B

Hi again,

Nikki, Sorry it's going to take so long for you to get your stuff from e bay. If you have any questions in the meantime, I'm sure Anne, (I recall she did mention about counting points), lynn, or I can help you.

lynn, I bet you're sorry to see Morgan go. I'm sure Mya is going to miss her for a while. It really does sound like Morgan has gone to a good home. The unpacking is going ok. I found out to my dismay that I don't have as many kitchen cabinets in this house as I did in NH. So, it looks like I'm going to have to do some serious downsizing. I am just shoving things now just to get them off the counter. Once all the kitchen stuff is unpacked then I'll go and organize things. Have a wonderful time with your company.

Have a great evening.
Aleka

Aleka,
My kitchen is the size of most people's closets. I think when they built this house, they didn't remember that they were going to need a kitchen, until it was already built. I have so few cabinets, it's just enough for a little food and a set of dinnerware. So, I bought a set of cheap shelves and put my small appliances in my computer room. Yeah, it's tacky, but I got to have my little kitchen toys. I also have the top shelves in my closet full of kitchen stuff and my hallway closet (suppose to be a linen closet) full of pots and pans. In the execise room, I put shelves in the closet and made it into a small pantry. We even have the freezer and another refrigerator in the garage. I guess you could say, my house if my kitchen. If I ever get to redo this place, I'm sure going to make sure my kitchen gets a lot more room. Anyway, you might think about using some other (unconventional) places for storage. It works for me Nikki

Good morning,

Nikki, you have some terriffic ideas on places to store your kitchen things. Thank you! DH thought of using some shelves in our linen closet for a pantry which I thought was a good idea. When my IL's were cleaning out their basement they gave us one of those tall metal storage cabinets. We brought it with us and all the small appliances along with some pots & pans I don't use will be stored in it out in the garage. I can't live without my SS grille and my vegetable steamer I don't want to keep them on the kitchen counter like I did in NH. We also brought the refrigerator we scoffed from the cottage when I sold it, and that is out in the garage too. What I have done is saved a good sized empty box and whatever I know I'll never use or miss, I toss in the box to be sent to Good Will or some other charity. I'm sure since the hurricanes a lot of people could use the stuff.

Hi lynn and Anne

Have a good day everyone
Aleka

Good afternoon,
My youngest DD and her boyfriend may have gotten a house. They made an offer on this house they like and it was accepted. They have a loan preapproved through the VA, so if the VA says the house passes their inspection, then they have a house. She loves it (I think it's too close to downtown, but I could never live in town again). I'm happy for her and I think it beats the heck out of renting. At least this way, I know she won't be moving out of town any time soon either.

I have applied for a job as a case manager for Medicaid. I sent the resume in today. They are really looking for someone with a degree in social work, but said they would accept an RN with 3 years experience.

Well, we're off to the casino, wish me luck! Nikki