Mary - I think you are a fantastic shopper. I love value/savings myself and take advantage of it every chance that I get. It gives me a high when I find something new or used for a great price. Keep it up girlfriend and your bankroll will steadily increase. The reason that I can easily stay off work for at least two years without touching my retirement/investment funds is because I'm a value/frugal lifestyle person. I used to indulge in whatever I wanted but after a while I looked at all the money that I was throwing away and I stopped that crap. I love fine things, but I do those things for myself and not to impress the world either, when and if I want to.

Also, regarding the youth director, I had a similar situation growing up with the Lord of Deacons and his son from my church. I used to babysit for the granddaughter/daughter and they would take me home when I finished and try to make a move. As good looking as they both were, I always fought them off with words or fast moves away from them and the threat that my mother would blow their heads off. She was known for her markswomanship because my father taught her how to use a gun because we lived in a rural area. You never knew when a bear would greet you at the door when you opened it. I think that's also why I never had dates. I think the wife/mother knew of their antics, but knew that I was a good girl, and told me to continue being the way I was and not to let any man take advantage of me. She probably knew that I was the only girl in the neighborhood who wasn't messing with her husband and son.

Anyhu, I'm out

Hope everyone is well. I think I am the only person in history to GAIN on my personal success visit! I was so bummed yesterday. I missed 2 fruits and a veggie, but they told me to go drink lemon water. For protein, we had red meat each day....weighed & only recommended MrsDash....has strips for lunches too. Apparantly they forgot to inform me to only eat red meat everyother day??? (also forgot to give me my binder & info so I am flying with only 1 wing) Also my recent start in strength training apparantly had something to do with it....we will see how things go this week. I was so frustrated I wanted to quit, but after they told me my body is adjusting to the wt training and decreased calorie load and types of calories it should free up shortly and I will see a loss if I stick with it. I almost fainted on the bulk $ plans! I opted to just buy boxes 10 at a time and we will see how the future goes. The $ spent already are motivation enough to get back on plan.

I did buy a cute pair of earrings at the jewelry party. Oh well, back to square one I guess. BTW, what does POP stand for? (Probably really simple)

Hello Everyone,

This is my first week OP. Things are going well, don't seem too hungry although I feel a little spaced out with such a low carb intake. I appreciate all the hot tips in this forum....esp the luna bar one - saved me tons of $$$$.
Anyone tried any substitutes for the slimdown shake?
-S

Hello everyone,

Thanks Deets for the answer. Thought of another ? (told ya to be ready ) How many Luna bars are equal to the lite bars? Also, when I told them I would not be eating the lites, they put me on red which added another s and 1/2 p. So would 2 lites/lunas equal the amount of the increase?

POP = perfectly on plan/program

Hi all,
Kisha, that sucks. Hope you get feeling better soon!!

Tiffany- I don't do the lites either, and I am also on red. I don't think that you are supposed to do any bars if they have moved you to a higher plan.

Mary and Deets- This is one of those days when DH stands for dumb husband, or maybe even d@*m husband!!

So I have cheating all weekend. I don't know why, but I just do not feel like staying on plan. Yesterday at lunch my DH ordered the artichoke dip with corn chips. I could not leave it alone. Then we went to my sis's house for our weekly poker game. I missed two fruits, so I had 6 oz of white wine, then was coerced into a Yagger shot (yeah, like it took a lot of convincing!). My sis made these chocolate bar cookies. I pieced on them all night, also a slice of pineapple pizza. I did get over a gallon of H2O in, however, so maybe it will be okay. I am doing my best to stay OP today no matter what, but we are celebrating my littlest daughters 3rd birthday today, and again with the inlaws on Tuesday. If I was a hermit in my house, I would do great. Lately, though, anywhere I go there is major temptation. Good thing TOM is almost over.
Anyone have their tip cards handy? I need to know how to count a slice of birthday cake! Katie

Tiffany,
You replace each Lite bar with one Luna bar.

Although I can understand why some don't want to purchase the bars up front, I did buy mine. I'm still happy that I did. The convenience alone is worth the extra I spent on them. My program is completely paid for at this time so I don't have to hope I have the money to pay for the bars next week. If money is tight, my bars would be the first thing to go.

I go to the center 3 times a week, so I don't have to make a special trip to WalMart or Target to get bars. I figured it out once and I paid $1.29 per bar. I've checked the price at Target and WalMart and the Lunas and Prias were $1.00 each. I can't make a trip into either store without spending $100, so if I don't have to go there to get the bars I figure I'm saving money!

Good luck with the program!

Hi Tiffany,
Yes that is the thought, but you can tell them that you are doing lites and that you just aren't buying them from them. This way you will still be able to do your bars and not have to always fix and change you diary to lie about your servings.
For two weeks i did gold while i was still supposed to be on blue and it was so much work remebering to lie in my journal before i go there and add food i didn't eat. Plus, it will be hard for the counselors to help you without really seeing what you are eating.

Just use the lunas as lites (since that is what they are) and let them do the worring, while you focus on WL.

I think a couple of the chickies said they had purchased the Magic Bullet. I saw it advertised on TV this morning. It looked really cool. I expecially liked the fact that it had the small container. They had a special 2-for-1 and I'm thinking about getting it, even though I have a Vita-Mix and love it!

So, if you have this and are using it, tell me if it is worth the amount!

Thanks!

Birthday Cake, 1 slice
2 Starches, 1 Fat

Thanks Regina!!!

Well, it has been an awful week for DD in regards to LAWL. I am so upset I don't know what to do.

We have just passed our 5 week point and I have lost 6 pounds. I think that is horrible, considering that I had lost 12 pounds at this point on WW. I know ya'll are sick of hearing about WW - sorry!! It's just my only frame of reference when it comes to weight loss. I find the Red plan incredibly hard to stay on. I stay hungry and really miss carbs. I finally broke down this week, counted points (secretly, of course, didn't want to derail DD), and lost 2.6 at weigh in on Saturday - more than any week on LAWL.

DD has lost a total of 4 pounds in 5 weeks. I think some of her problem this week is TOM, but try explaining water retention to an impatient teenager. I provided really great meals this week that fit her program, but she "forgot" her lunch twice and then ate popcorn every night with my dad. I made a promise to myself when we joined that I would not be her food police. I did make one or two gentle "reminders" figuring that the weigh in on Saturday would be hard enough.

Well, everyone at our center has quit except for one girl. We do like her, but she is rather new and still thinks that the bars are a miracle cure. We spent an hour going over both of our programs (she moved me to Purple saying that I should never have been on Red to begin with) and moved DD back to Orange Plus. I watched my baby girl lean her head back against the wall and I could tell tears were not far off. Then, the counselor told DD that if she would "just try the bars one more time" and she gave her some more samples and told her to use the Orange plan for Monday and Tuesday with the bars.

DD took my car keys and went to the car while I made our next monthly (car) payment to the center. I thanked the counselor, I feel like she really is doing her best regardless of the results, and went to the car, where my baby was crying her little heart out.

The problem is that she believed that this would be easy. She believed the television commercials where the people said things like "you can eat foods you like" and "I was losing dress sizes left and right" and none of that has been true for her. Not to mention that she really dislikes the bars!

She and I sat down with our programs and have planned out a week that fits her Orange Plus plan perfectly. We used the Tip cards to allow for some "fun" foods for when she goes out with her friends. I have told her repeatedly that this will work if she will just follow it, but she doesn't really believe it anymore.

I know that the excitement will return when she sees some success, but I have my doubts about this program, too. What good is a plan that you have trouble staying on? I want this to be a true lifestyle change, but I am finding it incredibly difficult to manage. With the Purple plan, I have lost 1/2 protien and a starch and I can't even figure out what to eat for breakfast!

I think what I'm trying to say is HELP!!

Ya'll, I'm sorry for being such a downer! Forgive me!

Andi

Andi, my heart goes out to your DD (and you, too).

Truly, losing and then to KEEPING OFF weight is one of the hardest things to learn. If it was, we wouldn't be here, and have tried several diets in the meantime. We have to move out of our comfort zone - it was the comfort zone which put us here in the first place.

If I read your post right, there are two problems - first your DD is having problems keeping to the choices per the plan, and second - the change over in counselors, and having to 'retrain' them each time y'all go in, plus the commercials.

About the first - for each of us, there are things that stall the weight loss. Yes, it's all about cals in and cals out, but there are some foods that just don't work as well for some people. Maybe popcorn is one of these for your daughter?

Part of the process of learning to deal with weight is watching the scale and learning what affects our body. She's still young, and will learn that the scale can stall during TOM each month, and then it will pass and start moving again. She also may be a slow loser?

Truly, I do believe that if she learns to do this NOW at 14, she will be much better prepared to handle her weight for the rest of her life. However, if she's resentful against the program, and she thinks the counselors are the food police (and that IS part of their job) - she will have a much harder time of it. (This is a much better program than what I did when I was her age - a completely no carb diet, or hard boiled eggs for lunch for months!)

We all know it's much easier to eat whatever we want whenever we want, and are now facing the consequences. . .and at 14 she may be testing the limits a bit by forgetting her lunch and having popcorn?

Is she generally happy with the program even if she's not losing as much? Does it help her make better choices in her daily eating? Does she feel better physically, even if the scale isn't moving as fast as she'd like? Can she take heart with some of these non-scale victories?

About the LAWL organization - it is so true that commercials are made to SELL. And the counselors are trained with a minimum of what seems to be canned nutrional info - even though mine seem to be better than the last batch - but their paychecks are based on what they sell.

I have heard of people having things put in the front of their files something like "no sell" to stop the hard sales. Maybe you could try a talk with the area manager to get things straightened out?

About you moving to purple - did you remind them how much exercise you do? When you were counting points, where you using the LAWL portions, or just counting points? What are the points in a standard LAWL day and how does it compare? Just curious. . .

I know you wish you could wave a magic wand and take this away from you and your DD - but if there was such a wand, we'd all be waving it. . .

(this post may be a little disjointed - if I'm not clear about something, let me know). .

Hugs,
Julie

Very nicely said, Julie.

Andi- I really feel for you and your daughter. Dont let her give up

What a day....

My sister had a RIDICULOUSLY huge party for her daughter turning one today, it was held at an Italian restaurant, and I ate beforeharnd but had to sit there while everyone made total slobs of themselves (sorry! True!) and I picked on a salad that was WAY too drenched in dressing, so I literally had four bites.

It was a buffet, so I made sure to concentrate on helping my kids and then once they were done, helping them move on to the hired clown's little show... So it was only about 15 min of having to see all this crazy food in my face...IT WAS HARD THOUGH. I had literally a 1/4 tsp taste of the cannoli cake and belive it or not, FEEL GUILTY, HOW STUPID!

It was not a fun day, tomorrow is WI, I am NERVOUS about the new plan!