So I will be on here tomorrow, but then you probably won't see much of me until Friday. Tomorrow night I'm going up to my brother's house, then heading over to my parents' in the morning for Father's Day and going into Boston at night for a show. Then Monday I fly to West Palm Beach for work and I fly back on Thursday afternoon. PHEW!

I sat outside and ate lunch and it is gorgeous out! But now I'm back in my way-too-air-conditioned office where it is freezing and we cannot control the thermostat. Boo!

BB - Have fun at the celebration!

paint - For me, an OP day is when I either 1) plan and don't stick somewhat closely to the plan or 2) don't plan at all and don't track. Of course "don't stick somewhat closely to the plan" usually means I planned a healthy 6-7 point dinner and then ordered Chinese or something. A different healthy dinner, even if a few points more, would have still been considered OP.

lizzy - I like your non-OP day there. Sounds yummy! My husband "convinces" me to get pizza or Chinese sometimes.

sunshower - Of course you are welcome to join us! Congratulations on all your hard work so far. A great accomplishment!

lizzy - i basically provide structure and parenting skills in homes that are out of control. we used to have much more developmentally disabled kids (MR, autism, a slew of other disorders) now it's primarily ADHD, mood disorder HELLIANS that are completely out of control. that's insurance comapanies and what they'll actually approve these days. ahhh i dunno. i love my job and hate it equally. haha. i've been in home-based treatment too long though. i'm burning out and looking for something new. and OMG about your "non-OP" day. that was seriously my life to a T. HAHA. start off awesome, then i get bingey and have like 3 cheese doodles here, a bite of pie there, a chip or 2 there, one gummy candy. then i'm like oh whatever i give up and boyfriend says "what do you want for dinner"... secretly i want to go out. we go out i plan to do ok and get the worst thing on the menu haha then at the end of the day i'm like ugh why'd we have to go out and now i feel crappy. ahhhh very funny.

mod - thank god for overtime!! haha. they took ours away... didn't think we did enough to work overtime... BULL. but whatever. i hate working, HAHA.

paint - gosh i wish i did awesome every day like you!! what an inspiration you are. if i continued to do awesome i'd be at goal by now i'm sure of it. 2 months ago i only had 10 pounds more to lose. oh boy. haha. keep up the awesome work!!

well as for me.. still OP. yay. nothing really to report just checking in. off to work again, WAH.

Kim - WOW, less than 5lbs to goal! You are one awesome chickie!! Don't sweat a gain next week if it's TOM-related, just stick to it and you'll be extra-pleasantly surprised the week after. Hope you get some peace over your DH's fishing trip. Time apart can be very good. As for what counts as OP, I think it's very individual. Not binging is a big one for me. Not overdoing any one food during the day is another (if I have a treat, only have 1 serving or 2 if it really fits in my day). I still count days as OP even if I don't get all my healthy guidelines in. I'm focusing on getting back in my points range, and once I get to be a pro at that, I'll look at counting guidelines as part of being OP. I've just been so outside of my points lately that I need the encouragement to keep within them.

Faerie - You're totally on a plane right now! I hope you have a great time!

Sonja - I love that a lot of us are counting down days OP. It's great to focus on it. Once my number got past 2 I reallly didn't want to do anything to screw it up. Accontability on a grand scale! Jealous of your produce market. Don't you just love how being OP makes you feel fantastic the next day?

Tarah - wow, I admire your patience to be able to have that kind of job! Other people wasting other people's time is really frustrating. I hope you don't have to deal with that often. WTG being OP!

BB - I thought the Core forum here had a tracking thread? Maybe if not you could start one up, I bet people would participate! I saw one there a while back so maybe it just temporarily fell out of use.

Jet - Oooh, fried chicken. Gotta keep that little smilie in my mind, it's easy to overdo KFC. I had a similar experience with Cracker Barrel once (not sure if you have that where you are, I think it's just the south), found points for everything I ate and it was reasonable, then I got to the biscuits and they were like 10 points each, AFTER I had eaten 2! bleh! those biscuits, just gotta stay away! Don't stress too much if you think your gain will be a TOM gain. Drink your water, stay the course... Give it your all one week and you'll be highly motivated to continue. Best of luck.

librarygirl - that's great about your mother, WW certainly is pretty awesome if she's just coming off a low-carb plan she might find she doesn't lose well at first as her body adjusts to the carbs - but you say she's gained everything back so maybe she's been off long enough for that to not be an issue. I hope so. Good luck getting exercise in, it truly is important to find something you LOVE so you don't have to think of it as a chore! I personally LOVE TurboJam. I just love the woman leading it and the workouts are really fun and push you. They are very effective too, you sure can feel it the day after.

Manick - WTG being OP! Awesome!!

Mod - Look at all of us OP chickies! You have a busy week ahead of you, I hope you have fun with the fam and at the show and...well, don't know if you'll have fun at work but I hope the weather's nice for you. My office is freezing as well, not sure why they do that in offices. To keep people awake?

LeeAnne - Welcome! Congrats on your success so far!


Not much to report here... finally managed to finish a report that's been hanging over my head for a full month... which is kind of unheard of in this company. I blame multiple distractions, Memorial Day weekend, and... my ADD. Now I'm on a new one, which is nice... I like change.

Headed to my father's house tonight. I love hanging out in the country with him. Too bad I have to come back Sunday to work.

I wogged for 2.7 miles last night! I'm getting ever-closer to that 5k mark!

And, of course, a nice little loss this week on the scale, taking me to 197 even. I love round numbers.

So literally next door to our office is the Charlottesville Pavilion (outdoor amphitheater). I think I've mentioned before that during the summer there's this free concert series called Fridays After Five. Well... guess what happens to our office around 4pm... We basically start to feel like we're on stage as they do sound checks and the crowds increase down on this end of downtown. It gets REALLY difficult to work. Now I'm extra-happy I already finished that terrible other report, I can sort of coast through the next hour and a half on this new one......

Well, that's it for me, I probably won't make it back til Sunday, so have a great Saturday everyone!!

Kim - Congrats on being so close to goal! You can do it! I know I'm new but I needed to give you a shoutout and some props, girl.

mod - Thanks for the welcome. Being OP for 6 days is awesome! I'm at 4 right now. We'll see how things go tomorrow at this BBQ I'm hosting. I'm in control of all the food I serve, which is nice, but it's the things other people will bring that could do me in. I saved my Flex Points, though!

Jaime - Thanks to you for the welcome as well. If I can ask, what is "wogged"?

I'm off with my WW points calculator to Trader Joe's. The boy and I decided to do something 'new' for dinner (I love love love to cook) and I don't want to sabotage my OP day by getting whatever looks like it might be okay. Seems like I have expensive tastes. I like high priced bags and shoes and high point food! Oye.

Lizzy, that wasn't too long. That was perfect! Just what I was wondering. I was afraid that if I didn't get all my fruits/veggies/milk in, I wasn't OP. Whew! I consider myself OP as long as I stay within my pts.

Sunshower- Sure! We have plenty of room. Jump on in!

"wogging" is a funny little word to differentiate the actual joggers from those who do a combo of walking/jogging. I hope one day to be a jogger, but for now, I wog

Ugh, my stomach is starting to hurt for some reason... Every time I've eaten something today is starts cramping. Weird. I guess I should stop eating my snack. It's no good if it makes me feel ill...

Hey Chicks! I have READ all, hopefully back to comment later, I only have a brief moment currently. But...the OP day description is me too! I usually go over on stuff like Olive oil (could be healthy...till I add 3-4 T to something! EEK!) and rarely a pizza, but going out to eat KILLS me! I am such a foodie! Anyway, Paint, you are doing fantastic! Will power sister!

Sunshower LOVE your little dog avatar...is that yours? Very cute!

OK power to the people...the FLEX people! We are all doing GREAT! Keep it UP folks! Day 5 starting strong for me...I was jumping up and down after I got on the scale this AM

Suite, 197! Way to go! You are motivating me too! Good job on the wog...3.1 miles is RIGHT around the corner for you! You can do it!

Mod expecting to hear great things when you come back! Have a good trip.

Shrink, Hope, BB, Library, Luv, more to say to you...back later--keep on keeping on!!

Thanks for all the encouragement! It really is helpful

Holy Cow, I missed a whole page of posts! Oops!

I shouldn't have read about being off plan, LOL! I hope I don't let myself get laxed. Please don't take this as my being a braggart, but I haven't been off plan then since I started in January. I seriously thought that was the way that everyone did it. Don't get me wrong, I've had some high point meals/days, but they've always fallen within my daily/FPs/APs.

Now I'm getting paranoid. Do you think I'm setting myself up for unrealistic lifetime eating issues? I guess my mind has always been set that if I end up having a bad meal, I get right back on track the next meal.

I hope this simply means that I have been learning to make these necessary changes for the rest of my life.

I'm naive, I know it. I always have been...

Faerie- I hope you have a safe trip!

Thanks for all of the kudos you guys!

paint - i think if you could have done it CONSISTENTLY since january without ever "falling off the wagon" as they say you are setting yourself for a lifetime of AWESOME eating habits. definitely not bad ones. you are definitely on the track i'd want to be on!! congrats!

Well today has been a pretty good day, managed to run all my errands this morning (not to mention half my paycheck gone already) and get my hair trimmed shorter again (thank goodness b/c my sideburns were getting ridiculously long and pointy--very vampirish, but not in a good way!). If I could just get some sleep, all would be well with the world. TOM is in town and in addition to the lower back pain and cramps, I am totally unable to fall asleep besides being tired. I think I went to bed sometime after 2:30am last night, luckily I don't work till late afternoon but it's making me zombie-ish right about now. I've been staying OP pretty well today. Went to Souper Salad for lunch, where they had this amazing "Adobe soup" with chicken, spanish rice, tomatoes and peppers in a chicken broth I think. It was so simple but so addictive. Yay for soup! Might try to make something like it at home, been wanting to make a Chicken Tortilla lighter soup for awhile now. It was all good until I decided to take some mini 3 musketeers to work with me and ate a ton of them. Now my stomach is all upset. So I've learned my lesson on that one. Am trying to find some fitness videos that I'd be interested in, so have found tai chi/qijong, hip hop abs and a leslie sansone "walk away the pounds" dvd. See how those work out.
On to personals:

BeachBum: Congrats to your daughter on her wedding anniversary! Good luck with Core, hope that works better for you.

Kim: Congrats on being so close to goal!
As for IHOP, it is possible to eat there, though I usually splurge on points when I do (which is mostly why I try to avoid it like the plague, even though I love going there). They have a healthier menu on the back you can eat now. The annoying thing for me was learning, via Hungrygirl, that my favorite omelette was like 1000 calories, and it was the veggie and cheese one.

Shrinkinglizzy: Your non-OP day was so hilarious and I know exactly what you mean. Esp with the pizza and beer days with the bf (hubby for me). Those are definitely days that I stop counting points and try to start again new the next day, back OP.

LeeAnne: Welcome to the group! I've only been here a couple of days myself and it is a very good supportive group.

AAAK, I just wrote this huge, detailed reply and somehow my computer ate it!

Anyway, Paint, for me it is a kind of switch that turns on in my brain that keeps me OP. If I knew the exact dynamics that made it happen I'd have "control" and I'd be 100% OP, 100% of the time! I am an emotional eater, I eat for celebration, I eat when I need comfort, I eat to de-stress, I eat to avoid, I eat to relax, I eat to reward myself…etc. I am LEARNING how and why I do these things, this is part of my task in this weight loss journey. If I COULD have stopped doing these behaviors in the 3 years I stopped caring about my weight I probably would not have gained it back. But I couldn't, so I did. Now, a lot of wonderful things happened in my life over those 3 years but I just was not able to stay on top of it all. My life seemed crazy complicated and this area was too easy to ignore and it was too pleasant to just eat what I wanted when I wanted. Well...so, I gained weight.

All of my past dieting and exercise experience is great, but it's not especially relevant to where I am now in my life and what my life looks like now…meaning I have LOADS of experience and knowledge but that alone did not keep me from re-gaining the weight. What is keeping me from re-gaining weight now is what I am doing TODAY. The choices I am making TODAY based on that knowledge and experience. I struggle with it almost every day. It is not easy for me; it is not easy for a lot of people. It is work, but it's good work and the alternative is giving up and going right back to where I started.

It really is as "simple" and yet as "hard" as this…you must continue to do what you are doing NOW. You must continue to be mindful of what you are eating, what portions you are eating, and how much you are moving your body. If you continue to do these things you will NOT gain the weight back. Set a rule for yourself, be it no more than 3 lbs up on the scale, or 4 days without exercise or whatever level is comfortable for you and don't let yourself go beyond that point before you take DRASTIC action to get back OP. If you treat every instance of that unacceptable level as simply unacceptable for you, it will be and you will be fine. It is wonderful that you've been in the mindset since you started and just DID it! Last time I did WW I was able to do that too. I know what changed for me…only YOU know what it takes for YOU. I know many people who HAVE lost it and KEPT it off. They are fit, they are healthy, they exercise, they look great. This is encouraging to me! The great thing about getting fitter is that once you are THERE at a higher fitness level then you have a bit more wiggle room with what you can eat IF you keep diligently exercising. But you can probably never go back to just not thinking about it once you've arrived at your goal. I am rooting for you! I think you have what it takes! Hopefully you understand what I am trying to say and this is not way to serious... I've been pretty serious lately as I am really trying to get to the root of stuff.

Editing again to say, just keep doing what you're doing Paint and you'll be fine! Naive is good, but don't be so naive as to think it is impossible for you to gain it back. It is possible, but you have the tools to keep that from ever happening! So use 'em!

Good morning ladies. I'm having trouble thinking about tomorrow. I can't really plan too much because I don't know what food will be available. I can make an "educated guess" though. I will be waking up at my brother's house. He usually has yogurt and fruit. Maybe some oatmeal. I can bring that with me actually! Then I'm going to my parents' for lunch. I can probably make a salad. Then dinner with a friend in Boston .... ???? Well if I have a good enough morning and afternoon I suppose I will be OK for dinner. I totally want to try to plan my days on travel BEFORE I go. I know what restaurants are around there, so that shouldn't be a problem. I really want to stay OP for the next 5 days!

I know I have been promising pictures of the patio and driveway. I'm working on them! BTW, the driveway guy agreed to come back and take that ugly piece of cement out of the driveway and fix it up.

Oh and I weighed myself this morning (last morning I will have a scale and I've been doing it on Tuesdays) and I was 163.4, so 0.8 down from Tuesday. I am almost half way back to 157!

hope - WTG for staying OP!

suite - I love wogging! I was supposed to wog last night but didn't get to it. DH and I are both working overtime lately. So I spent the night cleaning the house so that he didn't have to do it today along with working (he's working at home, I'm in the office).

sunshower - I love TJ's! There is supposed to be one opening up in my town in October and I can't WAIT. Right now I have to go to one on the way home from my parents house (TJ's is about an hour away, my parents an hour and a half).

Manick - I have a problem when I go out to eat and I don't plan on what I'm having before I leave my house

library - Your night doesn't sound like it was fun TOM should arrive for me today and I'm definitely feeling those cramps already. I hope it gets better today!

Paint - I am going to write a separate post for you because I have a lot to say on the OP/Not OP subject!

Paint,

When it comes to OP and not OP, I think my story is a lot like Manick's. I lost 80 pounds on WW once before (230 pounds down to 150). I did it being OP every single day. And then I hit maintenance. I was OP for a while on maintenance. Then I graduated college, moved away from my family, and started a job.

I totally lost my control over my emotional eating and started having non-OP days. In a year and 3 months, I gained back about 20 pounds of the weight I lost. Not too bad though, since after the gain I was at around 170. I was OK with this for the most part, thinking I would just buck up and lose what I had gained.

Then I started a new medication. It made me gain weight. Well what was the point of eating well when I was gaining anyway? What a horrible attitude to have! I gained back everything but 10 pounds. I was 220 and it was 3 years later before I started going back to WW and another 2 to lose the weight again.

During the last time of losing, I got my masters degree and was totally stressed out because I had no time aside from work and school. I was also diagnosed with leukemia. That was the most stressful time in my whole life. But this time around, I had a different approach to weight loss. Instead of having to be OP every day (that was my attitude the first time), I just needed to be OP most of the time. I can't tell you how much this helped me, especially when I was diagnosed. I also was fine with stopping the weight loss cycle and going into maintenance for 3-4 months at a time. This was also a saving grace for me.

I think it is really up to you how you are going to be in maintenance. For me, I could not have that attitude that I was going to be OP every single day. I don't like what I have been doing lately, which is being OP for a week, then not OP for a whole week, etc etc. I've been yo-yoing up and down with the same 6-7 pounds. That is the reason why, in the past week, I have been adamant about being OP. I know it is doable for me right now. I have no major stressors (like my health) around me except for work, and I've learned how to deal with that one.

I agree with Manick. Its all up to you. If, at some point, you find it hard being OP and losing then my suggestion would be to STOP the weight loss cycle and start maintenance. Do maintenance for a week, 2 weeks, a month, whatever it takes to be comfortable with your eating again. Stay comfortable for a while and then go back to losing.

Just because you aren't OP for losing weight doesn't mean you can't still be in control!

Good Morning Ladies

Had a great time at the Seniors singer party and II was GOOD not indulging into all the goodies that were there. I had 1 brownie & punch[5pts] added to my WPA's now I have 29 left for the week.

So far the Core is keeping me full and I'm not temped to sneak or cheat eat. Cross your fingers I see the scale go down at Thursdays meeting.

When I came home I was watching the US open for 3PM until 10 PM.TIGER is coming back to his own self again and hes climbing the charts. YIPPEE from +3 up to -1.



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MODKITTN-I had a great time,and it didn't involve desserts either,The only thing I had was a small brownie and that it. I sang with the group from the "Sing A Long Book" all old time favorites & than had time to talk with my friends.


SUITE-I looked all over the thread & I couldn't find it. I guess I asked the girls over there if they want me to start a thread,and then I hope they will put it in the sticky.


LIBRARYGIRL-We called her and left a happy anniversary message on the answering machine.Not answering my call I believe she and gang went away for the weekend. They were married on Friday the 13th. I'm hoping it works also,cause if it doesn't where else do I turn to.

Have to go,will post later

Hugs BB

Oh my gawd Aunt flo is ANGRY this month! What is ridiculous is I've been waiting for her, praying she's coming, finally shelled out the cash for a pregnancy test just last night! And this morning, I am slammed with pains in totally new places. I think I'm gonna go back to bed.
Personal responses later, just wanted to check in.
S