All!

rennie fingers crossed for continued and more good nights of sleep!

Well done Mary! Congrats on the down lbs & an impressive day OP! That sounds like epic heat! On my longest busiest days, or even when I go for a real walk, I do not get 12k steps! I hope you are feeling great!!! I agree w Jacqui, the gorillas have a carefully planned diet. If only i could munch greens all day and be satisfied. They know something we don't know.

chickadeee omg I could just smell those brownies. I'm an all or nothing gal. I can't imagine putting any back, and if I did, they would call out to me! You are a rock.

Bewildered Yayyy YOU on 1.4lbs down! Same here re Officer & a Gentleman!!! I LOVE that movie. Enjoy your Windows 10. How did it go at TJs? Tillamook anything is so wonderful. I read about it once, it's a coop dairy that goes back a long time.

Carol Sue I think I could eat a whole serving of that recipe, lol. It's going on the Carb Day bucket list....

Jacqui Thank-you for leading us through another month! It must be something to grow up in a Marine environment! I joined the Naval Reserve Nurse Corps a while back and got to work with the Marines. They are truly amazing.

I'm thinking of Carb Day already, and not even carbs. What I really would like is a roasted chicken, skin and all, maybe the whole thing. I need a Lipid Day, lol.

Mars, you did it! I had no doubt that you would.
ETA: I am going to TJs today...dun dunn dunnn, it is Carb Day.

Thanks for the brownie ingredients Chickadee. It looks and sounds delish.

Rennie, hoping good numbers for you, too! I have been around off and on since 3FC first came online, mostly lurking sporadically.

Jacqui, you have great willpower with hubby wanting to share. He would probably be really shocked if you ever said yes.

Great day Mary and look at that huge loss. Woohoo!

Thank-you Bewildered!!! Last words of so-called wisdom for TJ is just make sure whatever you eat is CarbDay worthy of YOU! A lot of goodies at TJs sound yummier than they actually are.

Okay, I've been stewing about this since I made my vacation reservations several weeks ago.....I'm going to birder's paradise (Arizona summer monsoon). One lodging is very popular & advertises full breakfast & mouth-watering home made pastry every afternoon A wildlife preserve is nearby--my reason for stretching my budget a bit. I booked 5 nights there, the other 9 days are no problem with food.

Here's the question.....based on your own experiences and issues, what is the bigger risk? Not having any treats and bingeing when I get home because I felt deprived? Or having a little each day, if they look good, and re-awakening all sorts of craving issues, that could lead to bingeing when I get home? If I can wrap my head around it, I might be able to forego the goodies without feeling deprived--that would be the ideal.

Just typing this out really helps--I might try to just take myself away during the afternoon treats, or provide an alternate reward. There is a famous, fabulous pizza place nearby, and I'd rather enjoy that for Carb Day...decisions decisions I need to keep my weight going down for another trip in early Nov. No more bigger sizes!

Thanks for listening!

Jacqui, from what I've heard, the Marines are the toughest branch of the armed forces. This makes me understand you so much better. LOL LOL

I'm just hanging around, doing nothing noteworthy. We are probably going to the casino today so that means...buffet. My plan was to not eat anything until we got there, but DH made a run for McDonalds so I have already had eggs and sausage. All protein, but food, either way. I wanted all my calories to come from that buffet, even though there will be no carbs, it is still calories. I can't be as good there as you were, Jacqui.

Good afternoon!

Carol Sue- have fun and I hope you win lots of money!

Mars- what is the naval reserve corps for nurses about? Are there age/weight requirements?

I'm on day 2 of no artificial sweeteners (except stevia) and I went and bought some white tea and watermelon tea to try to give me a little variety in the cold drink department. I also got some soy creamer with no sugar that is helping me out. I missed my coffee worse than the soda!

I ticked back up 1/2 a lb but I'm trying to chill out about it. Hopefully giving my liver a break from the aspartame will give it more time to burn my fat LOL

Mars, I would love to give you advice for your vacation, but you are so much smarter about health and have so much stronger willpower than I do. I always have good intentions, but they rarely turn out. Will there be alcohol involved? That is usually my down fall. I can keep my willpower in check until the booze comes out. I guess it really depends on your triggers. I know that you have worked so hard to get to where you are that you'll make good decisions that are right for you. If this is a place that only has a certain thing that you can't get where you live, then I would say, enjoy it while you can...in moderation?

I done good! TJs was a mad house since I got there 2 hours after they had opened. They crammed the store in the middle of the busiest business area around and the traffic engineer needs to go back to school. I will make this my first stop next time and get in there really early.
Anyway, I stayed away from the middle aisles like I do at most stores. If the EVOO and OVCO had not been glass, I might have stayed longer juggling them and the organic peanut butter. I could spend so much money in there, but the things I purchased were actually really good prices compared to what I had been buying online and supposedly good quality as they were TJ brands. I haven't investigated what organic valencia peanuts are, but at first taste, it made my mouth look like a fish so I added the OVCO as someone suggested and that actually really helped. I'll probably be sick, tasting my pb brick that I was mixing up, drinking lemon water and sipping on my SUGARed Toffee Nut Latte. I can't wait to go back next week...the end caps and check out lines had my mouth watering. Do they charge for bags in CA?

Oh and I did get some grass fed Irish? butter at another store and looked at the grass fed rib-eyes, but couldn't just paying $20 lb! I know the Tillamook isn't organic, but I just wanted to try the local flavors and from what I am seeing with these prices...um, I might have to get a job before I take that road. The dairy (cream and milk) that I was recommended was another local farm (Lockmead) that is supposed to be good. Not grass fed, but there are no added hormones and they grow the crops that is given to the herd. Gotta be a little better than the regular, right? I never made it to the meat market and just got some hamburger on sale as I ran out of steam.

Have fun Carol Sue!

Mary, great job on avoiding the artificial sweeteners (except Stevia)! Yay for being chill. I'm sure any uptick is just water retention from the heat.

Have a wonderful afternoon/evening everyone!


Week 1 - High 238.6 - Low 234.0 - Avg Daily 236.0

Week 2 - High 237.0 - Low 232.6 - Avg Daily 234.6

7/25 - 235.6 Sodium!
7/26 - 237.0
7/27 - 235.4
7/28 - 235.0
7/29 - 234.0
7/30 - 232.6 New #! Woot!
7/31 - 232.6 Carb Day

Today’s Exercise - Walked 2.75 miles at a brisk pace

Ysd’s Menu
B: Egg Salad, turkey breast
Coffee with 1 C whole milk and 1 serving of SF Hazel Nut syrup
L: Steamed cabbage in EVOO and chicken breast
D: Romaine, tomato, onion, cauliflower, turkey breast, blue cheese dressing and 33g Tillamook sharp cheddar

Carol Sue, lol! Yes, the Marines are very tough. There is no doubt my personality has been affected by it. I grew up in the South, so I have the whole Southern hospitality thing going on, but by the same token, I was raised in a loving but very no-nonsense, no-excuses, do-your-best Marine Corps household. I'm positive that's why I have an "all or nothing" personality, and why I tend to "tell it like I see it," which is NOT always the best way outside of the Marines! Oh, I know that casino buffet is very tempting! Good luck with that, lol!

Mars, woohoo! You made the bottom half of the 160's! That is SO cool that you joined the Naval Reserve Nurse Corps! I was actually born in a Naval hospital on a Marine Corps base. The Navy and Marines of course are so very interconnected and probably always will be. That is awesome! MUCH RESPECT! As for vacation, all you can do is be realistic with yourself. If you KNOW you can eat a treat and go right back to being on plan, then do it! It's vacation and you should be able to enjoy all aspects of it! However, that's within reason. If that treat is going to take you over the edge and you won't jump right back on plan, forget it! It's not worth it for a temporary pleasure. That treat is not like winning the lottery. It's no big prize. It's just food. If you don't think you can handle a treat each day, then wait for Carb Day and have a treat then. But you really do have to be honest with yourself when you come face-to-face with those temptations in order to make good decisions. If you're uncertain and find yourself faced with the question, "Is it worth it," then the answer to that is no. That's a defeatist question. That's a question we ask ourselves when we are planning on giving in and rationalizing why we gave in. If you don't KNOW that you won't binge, then don't risk it. That's my 2 cents, lol!

Bewildered, yay on a successful TJ's trip and on all that wonderful exercise! And thank you for the willpower compliment. Oh, I've been down that path with DH before, lol! When I got away from 3FC last time, that was the first brick in my path to falling off the wagon: DH offering a bite of this and a bite of that. Nope, not this time! He really isn't trying to sabotage me. It's just that he can eat like that and he doesn't fully understand that I can't. He thinks it won't hurt and he's just trying to be nice. I appreciate his thoughtfulness, but still no.

Mary, don't worry about the little ups and downs in weight. If you are eating like you know you should, those are just natural daily water weight fluctuations and they are going to occur no matter what you do. Just stay on plan and it will all work out! Great job on avoiding the artificial sweeteners!

Hiya Chickadeee and Rennie!

I woke up with my RA bothering me this morning. The finger and wrist joints in my right hand, especially, were visibly red and swollen. I knew I wouldn't be down on the scale today, but the great news is I wasn't up either!

Week 9: High 199.5, Low 198.5
6/28--199.5
6/29--199
6/30--199
7/1--198.5
7/2--198.5
7/3--198.5
7/4--199.5 Carb Day
Week 10: High 200.5, Low 196.5
7/5--200.5
7/6--200
7/7--198.5
7/8--197
7/9--196.5
7/10--197
7/11--197 Carb Day
Week 11: High 198.5, Low 195
7/12--198.5
7/13--198
7/14--198
7/15--196.5
7/16--196
7/17--195
7/18--195 Carb Day
Week 12: High 195.5, Low 194
7/19--195.5
7/20--195
7/21--194.5
7/22--194
7/23--194
7/24--194
7/25--194.5 Carb Day
Week 13:
7/26--194
7/27--193.5
7/28--193
7/29--192.5
7/30--192
7/31--192
8/1--

Today's Meals:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
2 slices of bacon
Greek yogurt with Mio
Mio water

Lunch:
Field greens and veggies salad, topped with turkey, walnuts, and ranch dressing
Mio water

Snack:

Dinner: @ Rooster's with friends
Garden salad with ranch dressing
Chicken fingers with ranch dressing. (Ugh, this is not going to be good tomorrow on the scale! I ordered skinless grilled chicken fingers, but the waitress said she accidentally hit the wrong button on the computer, and so when I got my order, it was fried breaded chicken fingers. We had already waited an hour since the restaurant was super busy on a Friday night, so I just said I'd eat that and I did my best to try to peel off some of the breading, I wasn't very successful. I was already down on exercise because of my RA flaring, and I didn't drink as much water as usual because of going out, so yeah, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's weigh-in. But hey, it's water! It will come back off after Carb Day! )
Water with lemon

Today's Exercise:
Just 2 laps of walking around the gym track (warm-up and cool down), 30 minutes on the elliptical, no weight machines because of my RA acting up

Jacqui, ETA: So sorry about your RA flaring, but congrats on the maintain! I'm sure your body needs to rest from the constant downward motion.
Glad you read through my typo. I had sent that on my cell phone and the print is so small that I rarely catch the mistakes. I meant to say that hubby would be shocked if you EVER said yes, not NEVER. Duh! Anyway, I know he is wanting to share outta love. My husbands were that way. I knew they wanted me to lose weight (I am/have always been bigger than you), but they still had that one bite won't hurt mentality. When I was dating my last husband, I never even ate in front of him. Then, I would go home and pig out.

I have done very well today carb-wise. At the casino, I had chicken, salmon and turkey. The only carbs I had were a couple olives, some artichoke hearts and some hearts of palm. I usually eat a lot more at the other casino because they also have steak and shrimp.

We came home with nary a penny.

Something is wrong with my cell phone. I tried to charge it before we went to the casino and it wouldn't charge. I tried it in the wall and also using my USB port on the computer. We used different cords, and DH tried plugging it into the car charger. Nothing. On the way home we stopped at Target and DH showed it to the guy there who he has become friends with. He plugged it into a charger and it started to charge. We tried again in the car, and also at home with about 5 different charging cords. I have no idea what to do next.

Carol Sue, I don't know if this is the issue with your phone but sometimes it's almost like the battery needs to be reset. You might want to try this: Turn the phone off, remove the battery, wait 10 seconds, plug in the charger, insert the battery, and then turn on the phone. It's worth a try!

Great job at the casino buffet!

Thanks Bewildered! Yes, I knew what you meant, lol!

Hey all- I kind of had an oopsie with my steps. I sat down to play cards with the boys and I guess since I was dealing I got a ton of extra steps for free on my fitbit. Even with the freebies taken out, I still average 10k a day b/c I've done over 10k every day, so I am gonna ignore the mistake LOL

No artificial sweeteners, day 2. My sisters say stopping them cured their knee pain. I don't have knee pain but they creak. I hope that stops...and I'm sure my excess weight coming off will help. Jacqui have you considered that it might flare your RA? My sister had JRA but she does not complain about it at all...either it was something she outgrew or she was misdiagnosed. I feel for you because Join pain is really unpleasant and it definitely puts a kink in the plan to exercise.

Carol Sue...sorry you didn't win a million but glad you did well

My husband is gone and while I miss him, it's nice to eat whatever I want to eat...I'm being "good" but I just will be happy to eat the same things over and over and when I am cooking for him I try to not repeat things too close together. He has a hate/hate relationship with leftovers LOL

Jacqui, we have had the phone completely apart twice. No change. If it hadn't started charging right away for the guy at Target I would think the phone needs replaced. He suggested a new charging cord, but mine will charge DH's phone, and we also tried the car charger with no luck. It's almost as if it's our house! Maybe we could pull the car out of the garage and try the car charger again. Other than that, I'm clueless!!

Mary, great job with the steps! It's a possibility that artificial sweeteners could be the cause of or a contributing factor to my RA. What I eat definitely affects it and I've certainly been consuming artificial sweeteners for many years. By the same token, I consume artificial sweetener every day and my RA doesn't flare every day, so I don't know. Let's just say I'm not willing to give it up just yet. If I would have the discipline to drink plain water as much as I drink Mio water, it would be no problem, but I have not convinced myself yet that I must do that.

Carol Sue, wow, that is weird. I hope you find a solution soon! It drives me crazy now to be without my phone. Funny how something I lived so many years without quickly became an absolute necessity!