Lizzy - Good luck with the BBQ! I'm sure you'll meet some nice people

Hi Ladies! Well here I am at work... early on Saturday morning. Boo! But I'm actually awake and in the mood to get stuff done. Yesterday was OK food-wise. I planned my day and ate all my planned stuff and was still hungry. So I nibbled on a couple of things before finally making toast with PB. I know, high in points, but I think I really needed the protein because after that I was good.

Today is planned now too. I think I know what my problem has been. I never changed the WW online tools over to maintaining, so it still had me eating less points in order to lose. I remember being frustrated thinking ... "I thought I could eat more now that I'm on maintenance!" Well guess what... I can!

Oh and TOM arrived early. REALLY early. I think its because I'm off the BC now and my body is adjusting. But I'm all crampy and moody

Paint - Congrats on your anniversary! My 5 year is coming up in August. Hard to believe its been that long. We've actually been together for 10 years now!

Stitches - I hope you have some better days soon. A lot of us have been in the same position you are lately... including me!

lizzy - on finishing the semester! I'm so glad I'm not in school anymore. Undergrad and grad school was enough. I might go back for my doctorate, but not for a long time.

vdaybaby - I've learned that being strict just doesn't work for me. I have to go with the flow. Because if I plan one thing and I really don't feel like eating it but I eat it anyway because it was the plan... well I'm just going to want what I originally wanted anyway. So don't be too strict with yourself!

kelijpa - You will make it, do not give up!

Chey - Way to go on the Tex Mex! It sounds like you will have a lot of fun at that Mexican place. I haven't been out for Mexican in quite some time, but I cook it at home pretty often. Actually, I just don't go out to eat very often!

luvmyfam - I know what you mean about the moodiness. I go through that too every TOM.

Faerie - If you have not been to King Richard's Faire in Mass. yet, get thee to the Faire! I go every year... I love it! As for justices, when I got married we had a female justice. A lot of older family members thought it was strange but who's to say you can't have a woman marry you... right?? She was great, actually! I loved her service. She offered for us to put our personal touches on it, but we liked it as it was. I particularly remember the part where she asked us to hold hands and said things like "These are the hands that will hold you up when you are down. These are the hands that will hold your children" Actually, DH got a wedding tattoo and it is two hands holding each other. I cried when he came home with it because I had no idea! Here's a picture.

Mod - Boooo for work on Saturdays! Especially during TOM! Oh, I've heard some marvelous things about King Richard's! In fact, I might even like to start there, but some say I may get spoiled And if the fiancé & I happen to find a woman to marry us, we've got no qualms with that! We just want to find someone who we have a good feeling about. ^^

Good morning Ladies

Thanks for all the congrats on my weight loss,even if it was small. I'll still take that.

Its yucky out,raining and winds a blowin. Luckily that my DH and I got to walk on the beach yesterday. Sorry I haven't been on this thread,as I have lots of housework to do, not being well this week with my tooth extraction & bone spar removed.

Some one mentioned at another WW web site that if you divide your points into 3-4 meals that body burns more that have different points at difference meals. What to you think, or is that for a Leader to answer.

SHRINKING-Sorry about your hangover. I'm not a drinker and every time I have white wine,I have to put some diet dry orange soda into it.I think its called a Formosa.

VDAY-Sorry about you gain after a good loss,but won't you start binging again if you don't use your weekly food allowances. I know I would,as my person point target is 20. Just be careful not to let you body go into a starvation mode.

CHEY-I had that problem with craving sweet/salty but more of the salty variety and I spoke to my doctor about that and he told me craving salt is a lack of carbs,that when I was than on Atkins when the craving s began.Now that I'm on WW I don't crave salty items anymore.I think the sweet craving comes from another nutrient that our body's are lacking. Don't know which one,having to go back and ask the doctor.

LUVMYFAM-Don't have that Tom hanging around anymore,but I remember those days. Glad that your aware of the problem every month.Than you can take action and try to control the cravings.Its not easy,but its doable.


FAERIE-Thanks for the understanding words to comfort all.So far I haven't been binging as I use my point allowance for that. I wasn't on the board that along so I want to congratulate you on your fort coming wedding and you trip to India. That must be a exciting time for you.,Take care.

Have to go,have a great morning

Hugs BB

Mornin' girls. I hope I have time to get through this. We've got a guy coming to quote some windows for our house this morning.

BB- Walking on the beach sounds marvelous. What a great workout!

Mod- Congrats on your impending anniversary too. We got married late in life, so it's funny telling people we're only on our 6th anniversary. We've been together nine yrs.

Lizzy- Good luck on the BBQ this afternoon

Faerie- Ahhhh, there you are! Glad to have you back! We've missed you! Tell work they've got to quit taking up so much of your personal life!

Keli- I may end up at the video store getting a good Chick Flick myself. The only time I get to watch them is when DH is traveling.

For everyone struggling with binging: Is the weather decent where you're at? I know for me if I just get out of the house and get away from the temptations it helps. There are some days when it's too time consuming to go to the park, so I walk my horse pasture. Just getting outside makes me feel so much better. It clears my head and changes my whole attitude.

That being said, yesterday I mowed for dh (riding lawnmower). I slid in the seat and ended up running into my brand new tin barn! I was p*ssed! I've waiting a long time to get this barn and I go and dent it all up. I was in no mood to go chasing mushrooms for dh after that, but I loaded the dogs and fumed all the way to the park. I got there and my mood instantly started lifting as I walked. The further I went, the more mushrooms I found and the happier I got. By the time I made it home, I was able to face hb, own up to what I did, and wait for him to start giving me crap! He wasn't too bad. I found him a motherload of mushrooms

Oh boy...well, BBQ was very fun, everyone there was very nice and friendly, and it was funny sort of trying to flirt with single guys and try being single again...except that John is still such a huge part of my life, and so it's hard to stop saying, "my boyfriend." oh well, I'll be moving out soon enough.

But, of course, I ate over my points! Er, mostly drank over my points, in fact, but I kind of binged before going (y'know, sort of a WW binge -- rice cakes and hummus, some peanut butter, but definitely too many points). So I wasn't really hungry, and started off alternating beers and water, didn't get too drunk but I did have to drive so I thought it best to eat a hot dog before I left (is that just drunk logic? Like, I hadn't really eaten much at the party, figured I should have something in my stomach before I drove? I don't know, it still makes sense to me this morning). Honestly, though, I was just slightly buzzing, so please no worries about drunk driving...I walked a line and said my ABCs just to be sure but I was drinking lots of water. Wow I'm babbling.

ANYWAY, when I got home John had ordered Chinese food...uh oh. Ate a few scallion pancakes. It's as though all WW stuff goes out the window if I've had anything to drink, or if anything about my day is off schedule, like a party or going out to dinner. I've been aware of that for a few weeks now, but I'm looking forward to bringing that awareness into actual change. Soon enough, I'm sure.

So, today should easily be OP. I'm going to clean house, bike to the gym, do some weights, and bike back. Then head over to my brother's to spend some time with my little niece, come home and cook a very well planned dinner.

Mod -- What did you get your master's in? Yep, I'm looking forward to leaving school, but also kind of scared out of my mind to have to get a real job esp with all the loans I have now!

Faerie -- I hope you get to one of those fairs! I went to one when I was very little, all I remember are these enormous pickles they sold. I believe it was King Richards. I don't think I was that into it, but I was prejudiced against them from a young age when a girl I really didn't like in grade school came in with her hair in these ridiculously intricate braids that she had gotten done at a Ren Fair. Basically, if she was going to be into that, then I was NOT. Silly stuff, grade school, isn't it??

Beach -- oh, you make wine drinkers everywhere get a mysterious cold shiver down their spine, talking about adding orange soda to wine! I wish I weren't so into wine, though. You know, as far as the points are concerned, it ain't so good.

Kim -- again, I am so enchanted by the amount of activity you do just on a normal basis -- cutting the lawn, mushroom hunting, that is so cool!!!

OK, I'm going to get to work cleaning house. Bye all!

S

Happy Sunday Evening, Everyone!

BB - Thank you! About the different points at different meals... I'm not really sure. I think that it's just a natural occurence for most of my meals that they aren't all at the same points value. And then I usually have a snack in between meals... For my own meals it's about what is tasty & what's going to keep me satisfied for the most amount of time. Whether or not this makes a difference either way... I dunno!

Kim - Gah! I'm sorry about the lawnmower incident! I know what you mean about going outside and just, I dunno... being. Being outside changes me into a better person most of the time! If only work would stop butting into my personal time...

Lizzy - You're really practicing those drinking tricks! Like the water inbetween drinkies and all! One step at a time, I'm sure that soon enough you'll be able to indulge in a drink without forgetting about points. And I know what you mean about people ruining things! There's this boss I loath at work, he really enjoys a lot of the same TV shows I do... and it makes me cringe and feel icky... Silly right? Yeah,... it still happens to me!

---

As for me... I'm finally getting crap done! It's Sunday, I have a few hours. I've been organizing & cleaning. Sure I've done a little here & there, but this is it. This is the BIG one. And I'm moving around a lot (yes, I'm taking a break at the moment) so I'll be counting it as my exercise for the day. Gosh I have a lot more trash than I imagined... >_>

I have overtime galore this week, again. Good news is that I don't need to come in this Saturday... I wouldn't be able to anyway considering I have a U-haul truck I need to use that day.

Anyways... back to working!

Hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

Well the weekend was "eh" for me. TOM arrived on Friday (super early) and I was exhausted when I got home. I worked for 9.5 hours on Saturday and did grocery shopping on my way home. And yesterday I really WANTED to get a bunch of stuff done but I was so tired and feeling lazy that I couldn't bring myself to do much at all. I watched a lot of TV, cleaned the bathroom, did laundry, pulled a few weeds in our mulched areas outside, and made dinner. Thats about it! Meanwhile DH was outside all day putting together our new grill, getting rid of a concrete pad on our patio with a sledgehammer, mowing the lawn, etc.

BB - I like to eat about every 3-4 hours. I haven't been OP lately, but when I was I would eat 4-5 small meals instead of big meals and snacks in between. I never made them all the same points values though, I usually just ate whatever I felt like having that day. I really think it does help (at least me) to eat smaller meals more often.

Paint - "The further I went, the more mushrooms I found and the happier I got." I know I read that the wrong way, but I was laughing hysterically at that sentence! DH and I are looking at buying a shed for our backyard. Our lot is only 7500 sq. ft. so not very big. DH does a bunch of car stuff and our 1 car garage is getting smaller and smaller all the time!

lizzy - I got my bachelors and masters in computer science. I'm the same way when I have a couple of drinks, although I can't use that as an excuse for my own binging this weekend because I didn't have anything to drink!

Faerie - Are you moving in with your fiance? I've heard you talk about moving a lot lately and that was what I assumed but you know what they say about making assumptions....

Well I'm glad the weekend is over, had myself a nice pity party. It was a combination of alot of things, work stuff, personal and the weather, and I let all of it get to me big time. I told myself, stop this nonsense and get back to what you know works, so that's what I did. It is so easy to slip back into bad habits, when you let your guard down. I did stop by yesterday, just to get my head ready for a brand new week.

Glad to see all is well here, at least I can count on all of you for some great words of wisdom.

Faerie: You are doing so well, I so happy for you. Sounds like you are making great strides in the moving and get yourself organized, for the move. Good Luck with all your wedding plans and getting yourself ready for your trip.

Paintfancy: Sorry to hear of your little mishap, but I glad you were able to have a great walk and finding all those mushrooms, helped lift your spirits.

Lizzy: Good Luck with all your plans, You can do it!!

modkitten: I hate when TOM drops by, before you expect him.

Chey: Great Job, that in itself is a NSV, hope you did have a great dinner.

BB- Hope you are feeling better

luvmyfamily: to you, I also know how you feel, hope this week is much better for all that struggled this week.

vday: Hey that's great you turned that all around for you, and ended up doing some really great exercising. Good Luck on your plan this week, try not to be too strict with yourself.

keli: Funny that so many of us, had to deal with Tom this week, maybe we are all hanging out too much, got on the same cycle Hope this week is better for you.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Happy Monday Morning everyone!

Mod - Even if it wasn't as much as you had wanted, it still sounds like you got some stuff done, yesterday. And it's a heck of a lot more than I would've gotten done if I started watching TV! I'm actually moving back home with my parents for 5 months until the wedding. Won't be moving in with the fiancé until he's the hubby ^_^ Some people might think that's weird nowadays (not saying anyone here I know you guys all don't) but it's just something I've stuck to once I made the decision. And I didn't even make it for moral reasons or anything. But, since my roommate is moving out, and I can't afford to live on my own, I'll be living in my parent's basement (and yes, i play d&d games, so this is doubly hilarious) until then. It's actually going to be a good way to save a little cash (Mom & Dad aren't charging me as much as my apartment did) and I won't have to worry about anything strange happening while in India. Wow... that was a long answer for a simple question!

---

Can you guys believe my work had downtime again for a few hours today? :eyeroll: At least things are up & running now. I have a lot of overtime as I mentioned, but I don't feel as stressed out this week.

I'm trying to make it through this week without needing any more groceries. It's hard to plan menus & get my points in healthfully when I'm trying to use up most of the frozen/cold stuff in my fridge! I think I'll be okay, despite that. And I'm cutting myself a little slack this week due to the move on Saturday. Not that all I can eat is fast food or anything, but that I'm not going to kick myself if most of my meals are Lean Cuisines and canned soup. The one thing I think I'll continue to be strict about is making sure I get my water in. I'll need to stay hydrated and alert.

Eep. Back to work I go!

I hope you all have a great Monday!

Institches - Posted at the same time! Congratulations on moving out of the pity party area You are so right. It's scary how easy it is to slip back into old bad habits. Be proud that you're out of that woods and looking forward. Postive thoughts and a little will power your way to help keep you on track.

Mornin' girls!!!

Mod- yes, as I typed that sentence I thought, "Whoa, this sounds really bad!" Then I laughed it off and kept going!

Faerie- We wouldn't ding you if you were moving to your parents for moral reasons Glad you found a situation that will work well for you.

Institches- New week = new attitude. That always seems to work well for me also. I use to have a boss that would comment that I always started eating better on Mondays

Lizzy- Cutting the grass isn't much exercise when you do it with a riding lawnmower. The only calories I burned from that were the ones it took to be severely angry with myself over the barn incident! LOL. I know what you mean about the points for drinking. I'd be in bad shape if I liked alcohol. I enjoy Captain Morgan and Diet Coke once in a while though. For 2 pts per glass, I'm glad I'm a cheap date! It doesn't take much to get me loopy!

************************************************** *******

Yesterday was a very fun, busy day. I trailered my horse over to the local park (about 5 miles away) and rode for about 5 hrs. We did come in for lunch and to bring a bounty of mushrooms back. If you don't mind, I'll post a pic. This is me on my horse holding one of the big mushrooms we found. The plastic bag hanging off of my saddle is filled with mushrooms! We nicknamed the guy we were riding with "Mushroom Joe." He knows all of the hot spots for finding them!

We got home around 5:30. I choked down a salad with chicken on it then had to go back outside, do chores, clean out the trailer and sweep out the barn. I gave up on adding activity points and ended up just eating 1 pt over my daily allotment. I probably could've eaten something heavier for dinner as I was pretty darn hungry, but I was scared to eat extra since I didn't know how to count 5 hours of riding, getting ready, doing chores, helping a friend load her horse (which took a lot of energy!) etc.

I have barely touched any flex pts for the week and TOM showed up this morning, so it's anybody's guess what will happen on the scale this week.

It's funny in thinking about many of your comments about the amount of activity I get, it's all "play" activity to me. DH would prefer I sink that kind of energy into our house. I just can't stand being inside when it's nice outside! But I don't want to do real work. I want to play! I guess I'm not a very constructive person!

Howdy Flex Gals!

Paint I like the picture! You're looking great! And what a pretty horse and smile as you hold up your big shroom...um, oh MUSHROOM thanks for sharing that! Good thought on the exercise I am keeping up with it!

Thanks so much for the encouragement last week everybody! I really needed it and I really feel MUCH better this week. I was taking sudafed every morning for allergies and to prevent a sinus infection (this is my allergist's cure all for everyone...ugh) and I really think it was messing with my brain! I had so much anxiety last week. I stopped on Friday and as it has cleared out of my system over the weekend I have felt better and better. Good advice on the measuring myself AND measuring foods Chey and Mod. I did both since Thursday, and lo and behold...I AM getting smaller! A size 12 skirt that I bought on sale from Sierra Trading Post in winter to wear for Pascha (easter) which did not fit then, ALMOST fits now! It actually does fit it just doesn't lay as flat in the tummy area as I'd like so I will wait a few weeks to wear it. Anyway, that was very encouraging to me! I could not zip it at all back in February and now it totally zips and I can close the hook and eye and everything! I can take it on vacation in June and have a new flirty skirt to wear

Heather Liking the new avatar pic! Back to the question of Daily Plate and Fit Day...I actually use both. I use daily plate every day now because it loads stuff SOOOO much faster than the WW site (which I get annoyed with) and at least I have an accurate record there. Then most days if I have time I load it into the WW points tracker too. Fit day I use mainly for their weight goals chart..there is a cool goal page that is a little bit neater than the daily plate free stuff. It is a good thing for me to print off and carry around with me and I update it about once a week. Anything that helps me be more accountable and is easy and FAST is just one more tool in my book!
Here is my current little fitday goal:


Who knows if I'll make that, but it is my birthday and it seems a reasonable and sane goal. Not gonna beat myself up if I am not there tho, heck any progress toward that I will take as a huge victory!

Bella congrats on the loss!

Keli ditto to the above on the measure advice, you are right it does help!

Faerie glad all is continuing to progress for you with moving and wrapping up before your trip. I also did not live with my guy till he was my hubby, and I actually recommend it. The guy I sorta lived with back in the day...sorta did not work out and it was FUN to come home from our honeymoon and start out fresh together in OUR house as a couple! It was a simple thing but I don't underestimate the power of that kind of beginning, we had no residual mundane daily life intimate knowledge stuff from before the wedding hanging over us (ie--ugh, he never is going to shut the cupboard doors in the kitchen, and he leaves the milk out half the time.....and does not pick his socks up off the bathroom floor...forgets to take off his shoes sometimes when coming in from the garden and tracks mud in. but he's a great person and I love him to death so those things don't matter so much in the grand scheme of life). Before the wedding those things probably would have seemed a much bigger deal to me so it worked out for us that we were blissfully ignorant. Now, as for my faults that HE didn't know about......I think I'm practically perfect oh, well, maybe a touch overweight
As for the flying and airport behavior, just stay calm, cool and collected and you will be fine! Take a sweater, planes are sometimes cold, and shoes you can remove easily, you must take them off, and a quart size ziploc bag with any of your 3oz or smaller liquid stuff you plan to carry on and that's it. International planes often have different size rules, less weight on the luggage (some times 30 lbs and sometimes 40 lbs compared to the usual 50 lbs here) and SMALLER carry on allowances--check the size regulations if you can before you go. But always to be safe, really try to pare down your carry on needs. I always take at least one complete change of clothes with me in my carry on, and anything I'd need to spend a few nights should my luggage not make it. And of course, WW friendly snacks and I buy some water before I get on the plane! I never trust that I will have all the water I need while on the plane. You cannot bring water with you past the security check in, you must buy it on the other side, or bring an empty bottle to fill up at the drinking fountain. You will be fine! Business class is great, a little more room and little better area of the plane. How is it that you've never flown before? How exciting this will be for you!

Suite I still am insisting to myself (in my moments of clear thought) that this IS a life and a lifestyle and its gotta work for the long haul. I think we have periods of maintaining..both in weight and motivation...but it is the big picture we have to look at...totally understand the fears of change, staying the same is comfortable and a known quantity, but you WILL be ok when you get there, I am confident, and you WILL be able to find stuff to wear that you can afford and I bet you WILL be creative about that too! As your life goes on if you are committed you will just be healthier and healthier and all the rest will follow.

Shrink really good advice you gave on the other thread about being kind to yourself too! Boy, don't we all do that just a little bit too much? For so many of us no one can be as hard on us as we are on ourselves! Good luck with your upcoming move and new job and congrats on being done! And as for the olive oil...you and I could sit down together, girl! Bottle of wine, jug of oil and good bread...yowsa I am almost always over my points BECAUSE of olive oil!

Vday Good self realization! How was the party?

Instiches Sounds like you are back on track strength to you!

luvmyfam here's to an new week for you,too, Monday...a new day!

BB OW on the mouth bone thing, sounds like it might be tough to eat...not that that is a bad thing necessarily?
I hope it is healing up well! Tough to sing too! Really cool that you do that btw! Especially the Sr. sing, how great!

Mod That sounds like my normal weekend....that's not "alot of stuff?" Sounds like you needed some down time after your long work week!

Well, as for me...Friday-Sunday were filled with non stop eating opportunities, I hardly ever have a weekend like this, and it was fun, but tough trying to always be mindful of everything I chose to eat! I'm pretty sure I won't see much movement on the scale this week, but I am actually OK with that, and I consider that an NSV! I did the best I could and I know I made pretty healthy choices all in all (well, not so much Saturday night, but one meal out of 6 ain't bad).

Friday night, I had dinner with a friend and then went to a concert. We went to a Greek place and I made modest Greek food choices, Greek salad and 2 grilled chicken kabobs with veggies. Saturday I had a bridal shower luncheon and again, pretty good: 1 cup chicken salad and a green salad-- and one chocolate covered strawberry. Saturday night dinner with friends at a SWANKY restaurant DH splurged on..wellllllllllll,...not so good diet-wise, but VERY good gourmet food wise! I won't go into details so as not to be too tempting it was really, really good tho. And in a beautiful outdoor garden dining room down on the river!

Sunday, AGAIN 2 eating out experiences..had a company baby shower for my co-worker at the Spaghetti Factory. And here is the reason I like Daily Plate...they HAD everything I ate at the SF in there so I could figure out exactly what calories, fat and fiber I consumed! Pretty cool.
Normally we do not ever have that many festive eating experiences in a 3 day period. Whew, back to a normal work week and normal eating!

And, by the way, ladies if you want a nice community exercise event, go on over to the 3FC Memorial Day 5K coming up next weekend! You can do 3.1 miles in any fashion you choose on any day you choose and show some 3FC spirit! For more info go HERE there is still time to sign up and get counted!


Alrighty then...end of my book length post for the day! Have a great Monday all, and a great week!

PS--

A few wedding pictures (in total random, disorganized order) while I'm in such a positive frame of mind

Manick's Wedding, December 31, 2006

Hope you find a good photographer Faerie, I LOVE my wedding pictures and she did wonders making me look OK (IMO) even with the extra pounds. I actually discussed that with her and she tried to show off some positive points of my figure. And really, it didn't even matter, I was SO happy and it was a spectacular night! Worth every second of the wait

Mod
Ok, to me, that would be a busy day!

InStitches -- good luck getting back at it. It feels like a lot of us have been struggling. I just spent 2 weeks off plan, but finally feel like I'm back on. Sometimes it takes a while!

Faerie -- Oof, moving...I gotta get going on the packing/getting rid of stuff thing, too. Ugh. Good luck with the diet this week, but it sounds like you've got a realistic attitude! Nothing wrong with a few lean cuisines here and there.

Kim -- own your activity, girl! I think the fact that it's all "play" is what makes it so enviable -- you aren't doing it for the APs, you're doing it because you actually enjoy it! Don't apologize for that! It's really an inspiring thing, so thank you for the inspiration!

Manick -- ooh, girl, Sudafed is HARDCORE!!!! That stuff totally messes with me, and it would not surprise me at all if it increases anxiety, especially if you happen to be prone to that. I don't take it often, but I remember feeling really hyped up. I mean, they do use it to make meth, right? Or some illegal drug. Because it has that pseudoephedrine, I think that's what it's called, that is kind of speedy. As for all the eating opps this weekend, girl, it must be the time of year, because I am just a regular social butterfly lately! And it is not easy on the diet, but it is fun as long as I can drop the guilt for eating "bad" foods. You got my mouth watering for some good olive oil, by the way!

As for me, I biked to my volunteer gig this morrning, which is 4.5 miles, so all in all, 9 miles biking today. I'm feeling good with that! I have a dinner at a friend's place tonight, he really likes to cook so I don't know what to expect, but he's fairly health conscious so I think it'll be fine. Also, I'm driving not only myself but another couple, so I think it'll be easier to be mindful of my alcohol consumption bc they are NOT drinkers, so I wouldn't want to make them feel uncomfortable. Other than that, I was OP yesterday, and so far I'm not having any trouble today. I think I'll sit on the couch and watch old LOST episodes for a while, then head over. What a day!

S