Hey girls,

It is late and I am exhausted, but just wanted to pop in and say hi. I've actually had internet access the past couple of days because I'm staying at a friend's house, but tomorrow the rest of the staff is coming and I'll be moving into camp, where there isn't any access, at least not where I'd be comfortable messing around on unofficial business.

One of the staff members came up yesterday and it turns out she started WW in Jan and lost 40 lbs, so we're going to try to stick OP together during the summer. WI days on Fridays, so tomorrow I'll be weighing in on the scale in the nurse's office. Who knows what to expect -- new scale and I've been way off plan. BUT, I have managed to wake up the past two mornings and go jogging first thing. Today my knee started to act up, so tomorrow I may scale down to a wog, but I would love to continue that habit. Now, to quit smoking!

Hope I can check in again -- I did read all your posts but I am too tired to write back. One thing, though -- yeah Beach!! I'm so happy you finally got that scale to move! I'm thinking I might try Core, it may be simpler for the summer. I'll look into that, since I'm still not really sure I understand how that plan works.

S

Morning everyone!
I am tired, so might try to take a nap in a bit, but wanted to get on and say hi first since I was unable to yesterday. Note to self: never talk on the phone while getting out of your car or you might lock your keys in the car as I did yesterday. Luckily a friend of ours was able to come pick us up to come get the spare key, so only took an extra hour for my husband to get home yesterday. We will pick her up something nice as a thank you. That was my excitement for the day. Didn't exercise, as I thought we were going to go swimming, but by the time we got home from the whole key thing we were both too tired to do much of anything and just wanted to eat dinner.
I had an interview for another job in the dept (Parks, Recreation and Tourism), this time for a full time job with benefits as the Secretary of the Athletics dept. I'm really not sure how to say how the interview went. I always think they go well and then I don't get a call back or chosen. It didn't help that two of the most inexpressive people in the dept were interviewing me, so I couldn't read them at all and the other person just looked bored. This is the third interview I've had with the dept (not counting my own for my current position) so I guess my confidence is a little shot by this point. But I'll try to think positively and keep my fingers crossed.

Paint: Sorry to hear about your whiplash. Hopefully you do feel better.

Heather: Congrats on your 6lb loss! That is amazing!

Freedom: Where in England are you from? My husband is from Lincolnshire, from around Boston. Where in Germany/Spain did you go? I love traveling to Germany but never been to Spain (always wanted to go). Where are you at uni? Just curious, I spent a year at Uni of St. Andrews. Congrats on getting published!

Sunshower: Your food sounds amazing. I do pretty good at improvisational cooking, some times better than others. I will say that being on WW has made me cook more, which I (and my hubby) think is a good thing.

BB: Congrats on the 2.4lb loss!

Shelley: Welcome back to 3FC and the Flex group! Congrats on losing the lb!

Lizzy: Sorry you won't have internet access. I know I go crazy when I don't have it right there. It's good that you found a WW buddy at camp, and even better that you can keep up the exercise.

Good morning ladies!

BB - Congrats on your loss!! You're stronger than me if you can stay on Core.

Shelly - Welcome! I just joined the group, too, but everyone has been very welcoming. Good for you for getting back on track.

Lizzy - Good luck with WI day. I hope you do well over the summer.

Rachel - Good luck with the job interview! I hate interviewing. I'm a naturally confident and well spoken person but it seems like I always say the dumbest stuff when I'm in an interview. I might as well wear a sign that says, "I can do the job very well but the next 30 minutes is going to be uncomfortable for the both of us."

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If I can have a moment to complain, I would like to. I spoke with a guy at the office yesterday who is 2 weeks away from taking his certification to be a personal trainer. He and I spoke a little about my long term and short term health and fitness goals. I told him about what I do in the gym now, my big 'complaint points' and various other things. I explained that the thing that bothers me the most is the excess skin on my arms from losing over 100 pounds. I would like it if my arms would stop waving when my hand does, you know? He was very kind and sat with me over lunch break and worked out a good workout for me. He demonstrated all of the different exercises, told me how to maximize my cardio workout and showed me a website of animations of all the different exercises he wanted me to do. He then gave me a schedule and a routine to follow so that day 1 is weight training, day 2 is abs and cardio, day 3 is weights again (all different exercises) and day 4 is abs and cardio.

WELL. I did Day 1 last night. I have been working out for a pretty long time now (all things considered) and I've never felt as sore as I do today. He had me doing 3 sets of 15 Swiss ball squats where the ball supports me against the wall as I squat 15 times. I don't think I've ever done a squat in my life. The rest of the exercises kicked my butt but the squats really killed me. It just went to show how out of shape I really am. Honestly, my legs are like jello today. I normally take the stairs up to my desk but today I had to take the elevator. I feel like I've taken all these great steps forward in the past 18 months only to wake up today feeling like the lazy fat kid all over again! Huff! I say some of this jokingly but, seriously, I feel like crap...and slightly ashamed that, at 26, I can't handle squats.

In happier news, I went to WI yesterday before lunch and I'm down 1.2 pounds this week! Yay!

No time for personals. I'm so busy with work lately. I've already planned on working overtime this month, and now I'm going to have to put in for even more. I'm just sad that you can't tell from reading my message how "excited" I am about that. The money will be nice but I'm already so stressed with this new position!

I was OP for my WHOLE travel time, including my exercise! Still OP today. Haven't really weighed yet. I'm trying to wait until the week is up. Hope you are all doing well, and I will try to write more soon!

Quick note - last day of vacation and I have so much to do yet!

There are homemade cookies in my kitchen. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I blame my 14 year old 99 lb daughter. She is trying to overthrow the ruling party (me) and all of the health food around here. At least there is oatmeal in them. The other day she came home with chips. She said she was being considerate of me and got the baked ones.. lol Gotta love her.

We had beer brats for supper last night. I grilled them for my family and grilled a baco burger for me. I couldn't resist and had a half a brat - no bun. 3.5 points of heaven!

Today is DH's birthday. He wants to go out to dinner - at the beginning of the week he said he didn't, so I didn't plan an out to dinner meal into my points. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

I will catch up later with everyone!

Rachel - two days in a row for exercise is awesome, I don't blame you for being tired after! My every other day schedule is working out great for me atm! Ooh, sucks about locking your keys in your car... Glad it worked out ok. I'll send positive vibes your way about the job interview, hopefully you hear good news back.

Kim - thanks for sharing your camping menu. I think I will make some fiber one muffins that are on the board somewhere so i make sure to get my fiber, and I think they are 1 pt each too! We will be doing foil veggie packets a couple times, so we should do okay on the veg... It's the chips and hotdogs in the afternoon that I need to be careful around!! Sorry to hear about your gain, but you're getting good at being patient, huh?

Heather - CONGRATS on the loss!!

Free - Good to see you again!! If you have any photos to share from your trip I'd love to see a few, live vicariously through you. Sorry to hear aboutyour horse, must be tough to think he hasn't been cared for as well as he should have. Hope he recovers quickly.

Mod - WTG on continuing with the OPedness!

LeeAnne - you made me want tuna salad with dill pickles I had mine for lunch today over a bed of spinach. Yum! Good luck with the WI! Squats are TOUGH, they always without fail make me sore. There's this one TurboJam workout I do sometimes that involves a lot of squats and BOY do I feel it after. It's a good sore, though!

BB - YES! CONGRATS!
That's fantastic news about your loss. I've been over here cheering for you, I am so happy you FINALLY found a method that will help you see a loss! Keep us posted!

Shelly - Hi! Welcome back, feel free to jump in at any time!

Sonja - Good to hear from you! That's great news about there being another WWer in your leader group, that will hopefully be a real help to you. I'm sure she doesn't want to put her weight back on, and neither do you!

Chey - Your daughter has the best intentions! Homemade cookies would be tough to resist. And 1/2 a brat sounds totally worth it, good for you not depriving yourself and keeping it reasonable. Hope you find something reasonable at dinner.



Well last night turned into a bit more than I hoped at dinner. I worked late and was too hungry/fuzzy headed to cook last night, so we went out to eat. DH and I got into a meaningless little tiff on the way there, which affected what I ended up eating. Now, believe me, if this had happened 6 months ago it woulda been a different story, I would have eaten a week's worth of points in one go (probably), so me going over by 10-15 is not such a bad thing. Except that WI is tomorrow, and the scale was unhappy today. I'm drinking lots of water and will see what happens. Oh well.

On a good note, I'm finally going to give away all the clothes I have that are too big for me. I have a lot more than I realized. It's all pants and skirts. I'm wearing a skirt today that I am afraid will fall off if I get up too fast. At some point I realized, there is no reason for me to be doing this. I don't need to keep my bigger clothes, I won't be going back. It's not flattering, I don't feel OR look good in them. So out they go, there's a woman coming this evening to pick it all up. Also got rid of my too-big belts. Now I only have 1 belt that fits.

DH is a sweetie and bought me a gift certificate to New York & Co for our anniversary so I could feel less bad about giving away half my clothing I get to go shopping! It's funny, I'm not in a smaller size yet, but I am having my current size just fall off me sometimes. I guess I'm at the bottom of the 14s and all my old 14s are kind of stretched out from when I denied the fact that I should have been a 16

Anyway, enough rambling, got TONS of work to get done before I leave Thursday for my vacation. Have a wonderful weekend everyone if I don't come back

Hello! I introduced myself yesterday. I wanted to pop back in and share some good news. I weighed in officially today and I was down 2.6 pounds. I am so short so that is HUGE for me! I can't wait until I can get to the point where I can wear clothes that fall of me! That will be a nice feeling for sure.

Now to face the weekend... I ate a piece of cake today for a co-workers going away party. I had to estimate that it was about 11 points. I may be high... I should check it out further. Then I always struggle with wanting to have a few (dozen) beers on the weekend. My husband and I are still very much in the college party mode which is bad because he is WAY out of college and I graduated 2 years ago. I am going to be the driver tonight so I will only have one or two small glasses if we do drink since we are going to a street dance for a small town's festival.

Wow. It is easy to ramble away on here! I haven't really talked to all of you but good luck on your Friday nights if you suffer from the alcohol cravings or out to eat cravings like I do!

Well I'm upset with myself for gaining weight this week, I think it's about 2lbs (my scale is off a bit at home). This week I know I was eating way too much candy, from the amount that we had won from our poker game the week before. I have heard that when you first start exercising that you gain weight, but that might be a load of crap. Does anyone know? In any case, I will try to drink more water and get in more veggies and whole grains. I need to go back to making a menu and planning out what I'm gonna make, as the last couple of times we've been to the store it was rushed and I didn't have time to make up a grocery list. I think that helps me stay on task. OMG I was tallying up the points from my dinner last night which I thought I didn't do too bad on, until I was counting the calories and fat and holy crap, I'm seriously not allowed to have those burgers again. I didn't realize they were like 28g of fat per pattie!?! Eek! Seriously only allowed to make our own burgers with lower calorie bread next time!

Sunshower: I hate interviewing too. You would think I would be quite a pro at it, over the number of times I have done it in the past 4 yrs, lol. I didn't really want to do it, but it was for my dept, so I figured what the heck! It was just uncomfortable for me b/c I knew everyone and couldn't read anyone. Sounds like your new personal trainer gave you a quite literally "kick butt" workout! Congrats on the 1.2lb loss!

Chey: Mmm cookies sound yummy. I love the oatmeal butterscotch ones personally, though haven't had those in ages. I understand what you mean about the beer brats. We used to eat pork sausages all the time at our house before I started WW, but now we mostly eat turkey sausage as they're lower in points. So I love a good sausage, esp brats!

Suite: Congrats on getting rid of all the big clothes!! That is such a good feeling. I will be happy to do that once another 10lbs or so. Even better b/c you got that gift certificate for your anniversary, so you can get new better fitting clothes.

Shelly: Congrats on your 2.6lb weight loss! That is amazing! I understand what you mean about the college drinking days. I have friends who are younger than me and just graduated college and they want to drink all the time and I've been graduated for about 4 yrs and am just not that interested anymore. But when we're all out together, I tend to drink more.

Hello everyone, just thought I'd quickly pop in before hitting the hay. I've got big weekend plans so I thought I'd touch base now since I probably won't be back until Monday.

Jaime: I know what you mean about the clothes dropping off. Isn't it the coolest feeling in the world? I love it! It was nice of DH to buy you a gift certificate. Good man!

LG12: Uh oh on the burgers. We all understand though. We've been there. I use to get the kid's meal at Culvers (sm. cheeseburger, sm. fries, scoop of custard and a diet drink) I thought I was doing well (this was pre-WW) but nope. It turned out that the total points in that one meal was more than I should've had all day! I've heard Dairy Queen Blizzards are the same way and I use to love those as well - especially if you add whipped cream and nuts to the top

BB8406: Welcome! Your cake points sound high, but then again I don't know what kind of cake it was. Alcohol cravings? I actually had one tonite and I'm a wimp when it comes to alcohol! I was filling my flask with Captain Morgan. I drink a Captain and Diet Coke at night when I camp. It smelled so good, I wanted one! I decided not to waste the points tonite. I'll have it around the campfire tomorrow night.

SS: Good luck on the job. I hate interviewing as well. It's so hard to know if your answers are the ones the interviewers are looking for.

Chey: those cookies sound yummy! You're making me drool!

Shelly: Congrats on the loss!!!

Freedom: How are your horses doing?

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I had a big day today. I haven't bought many new clothes - especially not summer clothes, so I decided to go to Kohl's today. I use to hate shopping. I had a blast today!!! And I bought a skort in a size 8!!!! I know the sizing has to be a bit off, but still it was a single digit! The other stuff I bought was 10-12. I was pretty tickled! A lot of the women I line dance with wear them, so I finally bit the bullet and bought one!

I'm suppose to go camping in the morning. I'm taking DH's horse, Griz, this time. I am praying he's a good boy and we do well together. I haven't ridden him much this year, but I did ride him quite a bit last year.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hi Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to stop in The internet connection is a little mediocre... blargh. Might not be able to stop in with the frequency I wished, but I do want to type and try to keep up to date as much as possible.

But, I'm doing "alright". Trying to choose healthier options, trying to only eat a little, there's a gym downstairs & a working scale, so I can at least work on keeping on top of those things. I've also been writing down what I've eaten. Again, even though I can't know points for all my meals, I'm going to be accountable for what I put in my mouth.

What is very different is my sleeping schedule and eating times. I'm only really able to eat two to three times a day. Snacking all day long is just not possible. I can drink enough water... so that helps. The good thing is I'm busy so I don't notice until my stomach is growling... but still. The change in diet is a little abrupt. Hopefully, for six more weeks I'll be able to handle it.

Hope everyone is well!

Hi Ladies


Thanks for the congrats.& Thanks Ladies for all your support and motivation, in the last 11 weeks that I have been coming here.

I can't believe the the Core is helping me more than the flex plan. It shows you we're all different and I'm glad that WW has two plans to choose from not like the other WOE plans out there.

But if I'm getting bored of the Core plan I can always come back to the flex.

I will post now & than and let you know how I doing.

Hugs BB

SHelly - WTG on the loss! Did you post it in our weigh in thread? We keep a running group total of how much we've lost, the numbers get big and it's very motivating! As for weekend beer/wine cravings, I just plan em in... as long as I have the points I have no problem having a beer or a glass of wine (or three).

Rachel - From what I've heard, you DO generally gain weight when you first start exercising, because your muscles are not as efficient at repairing themselves as they eventually become. So they tend to swell and hold water. This goes away when you settle into a routine, and can reappear when you up your intensity again. Also, a pound of muscle is smaller than a pound of fat, so it may be that while you're not losing, you are getting smaller - so it's important to take those measurements!!

Kim - WOW! Size 8!! Love those sizing anomolies, I just bought a pair of shorts in a 12. Um, yeah, it's the same size across as my regular 14's, but some silly person in the factory labeled it a 12 so I'd find it and it would make my day! How'd your ride on DH's horse go? He play nice?

Faerie - It's good to see you! That's awesome that you'll have access to a gym and scale, hopefully the scale can help keep you from sliding off into la-la land... you know, that place where you swear you're doing everything right but in reality there's a lot of stuff you're overlooking? I hope you're having a TON of fun, please check in when you can

BB -


Quiet around here this weekend! Hope everyone is out having fun. Well, my last pre-vacation WI has me at 196.4... SO close to 20lbs and 10%. I'm getting worried about gaining while on vacation. I might start out with good intentions but I'm worried about letting them fly out the window as soon as someone utters the word 'smore.' Last time I went camping with these people I came back 6 pounds heavier - which would put me back in 200-land, which CANNOT happen. I'll be happy if I can just maintain. I guess good thing is that I have almost a full week from when I come back until my next WI, so I should have some time to start shaking any weight I put on (here I am already, making allowances for myself to come back heavier). Anyway, this is something I really struggle with. I have until Thursday to strategize....

Hey everyone!

Suite - Not sure if you have these brands in stores around you, but I was so happy to find the Hot Dogs! They aren't too bad! Especially when grilled!

Hebrew National 97% FF Beef Hot Dogs = 1 pt each
Village Hearth Low Fat Wheat Buns - 1 pt each

I made pea salad with FF Mayo, mustard, hard boiled eggs & minced onions - It was the whole bag of frozen peas, 1/4 c mayo, 2 hard boiled eggs (minus the yolks), 1/4 cup minced onions, dill relish & sweet relish to taste. 1/2 cup serving is 1 point! Sometimes I will add 1/4 cup FF Ranch to make it creamier. If you use the FF Ranch, you can just mix it there - without worry of the mayo spoiling. Either way it is only 1 point per 1/2 cup serving. I make that when I grill, and my family can't tell it is fat free.. they love it.

I have also been making my own slaw with broccoli slaw and some red onions and FF ranch dressing. 1 pt for 1/2 cup serving there as well. Sometimes I will add some sunflower nuts to it for added crunch.. just enough to sprinkle throughout.

Grilled Turkey cutlets with grilled pineapple slices. Grilled skinless, boneless chicken marinated in Low Sodium Soy Sauce. All go good with the foil pack veggies drizzled with EVVO.

My family LOVES foil pack sliced potatoes, onions & carrots mixed together. Drizzled with EVOO and sprinkled garlic powder on them.. yum. If you slice them, you can see your portions easier. You can also use FF spicy Italian dressing drizzled on them too.. that is good.

Grilled ham cutlets with those potatoes without the dressing along with Low sodium FF cream of celery soup warmed up like a gravy drizzled over the top and you have pseudo scalloped potatoes & ham.

BacoBurgers with Turkey Bacon wrapped around the edge and held together with toothpicks is Po' Man's fillets. Put that on the 1 pt bun and you have an awesome burger!

Much of this is low point and people won't know that they are if you don't tell them.. they all taste so good.

Do you camp in tents, camper or cabin?? Not sure if you have access to a fridge, freezer or have to use a cooler.

Will you be fishing? Bring a long some fiber one cereal and spices to coat your fish prior to grilling.

Again, not sure how you will be camping or if you have access to fridge or have to go to the store... hope some of these ideas will help!

Thanks for the ideas, Chey! I love foil packets of veggies dressed up assorted ways. We are camping in tents, but will have coolers at our disposal. I like your pea salad idea, I may have to steal that one! I'm not sure I will be able to bring Boca burgers because they need to be kept frozen and the best I can guarantee is keeping things cold. Grilled pineapple sounds good too!

I think the biggest challenge will be that we have a vegetarian, one who is allergic to fish, and one who is allergic to beans/nuts/legumes with us. Talk about a camp full of dietary restrictions. Then two of us are on WW. There's one poor kid who has no restrictions at all, he'll be wondering what he got himself into It's gonna be a challenge to find things we can all eat.

Congrats on your loss this week btw!

Hello all, back from vacation!! I think I did ok, I did get in my activity and water except 2 days at the end because of car and airplane travel, not sure on the food. The first few days with the fam were a challenge with the chips and junk stuff but we walked or did something everyday, took a hike with my mom to a waterfall one day. Getting in the water helped keep my mind OP, on the second half of our trip with DH we did lots of hiking and he had had a good week before so he didn't want to screw that up (like you, Suite). Did a little peek WI, but we'll see what Tues. brings, doesn't look bad though.

Just wanted to say a quick Hi!

have fun on your camping trip Suite, we camped for 7 nights in tents all over Utah, Wyoming and Montana, it was great!!

best to all more later! have tons of catching up to do....