Hi there, well WI was good, 2# down, but of course that's the 2#gained last week so I feel back on track at last. My Mum was chuffed too. She was positive she had not lost a thing and is now 3.5 down. Of course, Its only her first week, but its a bonus to lose when you don't expect to.

Our snow is still falling. Its years since we've had any that's lasted any longer than half a day. We still only have a couple of inches, maybe slightly more, but we have more to come. Most of the schools in the area are closed, AJ's nursery is open - thank goodness as I have a much needed hair appointment later. I feel in need of a funky new look, and I only hope the hairdresser can make it through the snow and the traffic as I know she has a way to come!

I am so determined this week to be 'good'. I have no nights out planned this week, so no excuse not to be good. Even last night after WI I didn't go over points and indulge like I often would, so wish me luck - goal is back in sight!

Linda, when we get to goal and become lifetime members we only have to weigh in 5 or 6 times a year and they are all free. You don't pay for any more meetings at all unless you go over your goal weight by about 5 pounds. I will still go quite regularly I think when the time comes as its the only way I will keep at the right weight.

Melanie, good luck with getting back into the groove with the exercise. It's hard to motivate yourself when you are so tired. Maybe one thing will help the other, meaning that if you do start to exercise more again, then you will be able to sleep better also.

Ok, gotta go and see if the hairdressers can sort me out a new image! Back later.

Hey, Melanie, are those metal things REALLY for files? I should try that too! In fact, we have to get started on our taxes and going through all those horrid piles of paper is part of that "wonderful" experience. I guess we should all vow to get our act together and take care of necessary paperwork in our lives. Not quite the NSV I was looking for, but it's still got to get done.
Melanie, you really and truly will get used to the new schedule. Your body will learn to readjust and sleep through the interruptions of your husband's comings and goings, etc. You will also adjust and learn that you need to take responsibility, even if you are home alone, for making sure you get to bed early enough. To quote Benjamin Franklin (not sure if Dawny would know him?) "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man (woman!) happpy, healthy and wise!"
I like the idea of your inner diva coming out the whip you into shape in terms of exercise. Maybe you could use some mental imaging to have your diva a personal trainer who "comes" to work out alongside you and motivates you to "keep up"!
I might ask my inner diva, Frisky, to do something like that as well.
I've been so "down" this past week with this cold/virus that I've not been working out either, I'm barely getting through the day. In fact, rather than do my normal household responsibilities yesterday, I took a 2 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon, I just HAD to crash.
Today, I am maybe feeling a tiny bit better? Hard to tell. I really hope to be back on track with my life and get these germs out of my body! This virus thing is in it's third week now and I keep thinking it's getting better, and then it has kind of this boomerang effect on me. But, last night was the first night in ages I went to bed, and slept through, without waking up coughing and I didn't take cold meds before bedtime, so maybe finally I am getting better? Everyone else in this house is sick as well.
To answer your question, Melanie, Jamie has not been to WW meetings for the last two weeks. We are just in big trouble here with DH leaving the job and not having another job to go to right away. She's doing ok and pretty much still sticking to her goals, but won't let me weigh her in at home. Once he finds a job, I'll get her right back in. The only reason I can still go is that I am a Lifetime member, one of the great things WW does for those who can reach goal, even if I am not presently at goal. But, thankfully, I am finally getting a bit closer!
So, gang, what's up? What healthy things are we cooking this week?
Linda

Dawny, you and I posted at the exact same time - yet again! I think you are 5 hours ahead of me here, so it's about 9:15 am there when it's 5:15 am here! I get up early to have coffee, wake up and then get the kids off to school. The bus comes at 6:30 am, pretty early for the high school kids!
Congrats on taking off that extra 2 pounds! Good girl! You are truly in sight of your goal. It's funny how ww does so many different things in your country vs. ours, isn't it?
As a Lifetime member, I must weigh in once a month, but I can weigh in weekly. I pay if I am 2 pounds over my goal. I am truly in sight of that goal now, and can feel a huge difference in how my jeans are fitting in this last week, especially.
I think I finally got over my plateau! I really do think that giving up chocolate has done it for me. I am not experiencing wild cravings for sweets of any kind and seem to be getting through the day without some emotional highs and lows that seemed to make me want to eat all the time.
Maybe I can finally reach goal!
Take care, hope you get your hair done and that you drive safely!
Linda

Linda, sorry, didn't notice we had posted together, again! Yep, I have heard of Benjamin Franklin, and the saying. It's amazing really that alot of Americans, American ways, sayings, foods(not sure if that's a good thing or not!) and other things are all known over here, yet alot of our people, history etc are complete unknowns in the US. Many of us as part of history lessons at school do a long project at some point about American history, so I guess that's where some of the knowledge comes from. Have your kids ever done any studies in English history - there's quite alot of it and many people find it hard to see past the numerous kings and queens. In fact, less than 1 minutes walk from my house is a very old property called the Revolution house which is hundreds of years old. (something to do with the Revolution in the 1600's), although I am ashamed to say I've never actually been in. For someone who loves history I can't believe I will admit to that, but there you go.

Anyway, ramblings over for now, I'm glad you are near your goal now Linda, I hadn't realised actually just how close you are - the end is in sight at last!

Back later.

Hi there!
In our schools, they study "World History", not specifically the UK, but the entire world, at least it was that way when I was in school. We do cover lots of your country's history, but also other countries. I think the US history is probably given lots of time in other counties purely because we are so large a country? England probably could fit, entirely, into one of our medium sized states, I think? That is not taking away from the importance of your country or others, in any way, but there are lots of places to cover.
I love history as well.
Well, I'm not as close to goal as you are, Dawny. I think my next weigh in will put me lots closer, though. I think I've lost another pound, at least, this past week? I'm getting really excited and it's increasing my motivation to be so close, though. I think at the beginning you go through a surge in willpower and then in the middle of your weight loss, it gets hard and frustration, but I think near the very end the adrenaline maybe kicks in again as you can see a light at the end of the tunnel!
Abirdee, how are you doing? We can help you get close to goal too! Keep posting!
Linda

Hi, oooh, not busy on here again. Hopefully we're not losing some of the faithful.

Linda, Hi, glad you are feeling motivated again. It does help when the end is in sight doesn't it? We all know, to our cost, that the last few pounds are usually the hardest to lose, but if we stay focused we know we can do it. I am really going for it now, totally on track, no cheating allowed. I have been good today with enough points left for a chinese later (my friday treat, available points permitting). You are being very committed with the chocolate. I don't have any very often, it's only when I have a tiny piece that the problem kicks in with the cravings. The rest of the time I find it easy to say no. Cheese on the other hand..... although the laughing cow triangles suit me fine too, also extra light philadelphia is good too.

My mum is managing to stick to the programme nicely. She's a terrible cook, with no incentive to learn so it's a bit harder for her to come with tasty meals, but hopefully she'll come up with a few easy options to help her on her way.

Back to the history lessons, we studied world history also, as well as specifically British and American history. My favourite is Egyptian history. So fascinating. DH and I went to Egypt a few years ago and I have to say its my ideal place anywhere I've ever visited. I'd be back there tomorrow, but at the moment those countries have to be visited with more caution as they are so near the troubles in Iraq. Even so, I love the place.

Sorry for the divertion of subject, you know me, when I start I just can't stop!

I'm going now, back tomorrow, have a good weekend everyone.

Well ladies, I can't talk long but today was my weigh in and I'm down 6.5lbs.....

Thank you all for your support and not letting me give up! If you were here with me I would give you a big ole' !!!!!!

Have a BLESSED DAY!

Just popped in quickly, Abirdee, fantastic loss this week, I knew you could do it, keep up the good work. Hopefully you will feel firmly back on track now.

Back later.

Yeah! Abirdee, I knew you could do it. Look what happened, you were so close to giving up and now this great loss! I am so pleased for you! Way to go!
I hope this gain/loss time period was a good teaching tool for you. I've had these experiences too, and in the long run you WILL lose if you don't give and up stick with it. For all of us, there are going to be times where we indulge or even think we're doing well and have a temporarily back-slide, or a plateau, but perseverence pays off. As we've talked about before, this is a lifetime journey.
Speaking of not giving up, just want to share that I am pretty down in the dumps. DH will have his last day at work on Friday and I am SO worried about our family and how things will turn out. We are not rich and I figure we have enough to keep us going for about 2 months before we are really in trouble. Like most common folk, we kind of live paycheck to paycheck. Of course, we could dip into our kid's college accounts, and retirement pittance (that's about it, sadly) but I condsider that money off limits totally.
So, now what? We shall see.
On a positive note, though, this has not affected my weight loss motivation, at least so far. I hope that part continues. I still want very much to be at my goal and to stay there for the rest of my life. But, I was so down yesterday that I felt like someone had to scrape me off the floor or something. I guess there are bound to be times like this.
Anyone want to buy a slightly used 2004 Toyota Sienna mini van to bail me out of my car loan? Only kidding, of course, but I am truly contemplating sellling my car and getting a very inexpensive one with no car loan to help keep our expenditures low. I can get by with just about anything!
By the way, I enjoy the off topic stuff as much as our regular chats, Dawny. I am fascinated by archeology and would love to go on a "dig" one time. I am not good at remembering what I learned in school, so long ago, about ancient history, but I like it all. Would love to, one day, tour the pyramids and see ancient ruins. I would imagine in Greece, where Nat lives, that people drive by the Parthenon and kind of take it for granted after awhile, but I would just marvel at seeing it for myself. Maybe one day? The Colleseum in Rome must be the coolest place too. Here in this country, we really don't have the ancient architecture, our stuff is more "current". Not taking anything away for our history, but I just love the connection to the past other continents seem to have!
Linda

Hi there,
Linda, oh dear, you do sound down in the dumps. I can understand why too. It's a scary prospect having the main earner in the household out of work. Are you still looking for a job for yourself? That can be scary too. But if DH is good at his type of work, or is prepared to do anything, even for a short period, then he will soon be bringing home the 'bacon' again. (just don't eat it all at once!) Be brave, dear Linda, sometimes things aren't as bad as we expect them to be.
I love the idea of Archeology too. In fact it was something I did consider as a career when I was at school, but unfortunately, I wasn't brainy enough. You need loads of qualifications to become a fully fledged archeologist. But I live in hope. Maybe one day, when AJ is older, I will take the step and do a very long, drawn out, at home course and learn about it more. We'll see. I love hearing about native American history too. My mum is really into it, and has been around lots of places in the US where they are, she loves it all.
Glad you are on track foodwise. That's something to be proud of with everything else thats going on at the moment. Keep that up and it will at least be something you feel in control of, even when all else around you seems to be falling around your feet.

Talking of food, I pigged out last night, AJ has some fantastic large cookies with chocolate candy in (we call this kind of candy Smarties, little round beans of chocolate covered in different coloured shell, do you have them, very tasty...too tasty) I was just going to have one cookie, I had the points for it, but, confession time now, I had three. I told DH I only had one, and only journalled as if I'd had the one. Put me quite a bit over my points limit for the day. So gotta be extra careful today now. I did enjoy them though!!!

Where's Melanie, not heard from you for a few days, are you ok? I'm worrying a bit now.

See ya later.

Now, now, Dawny, you've got to come clean with yourself and write those two cookies in your own journal! I have learned the hard way to be true to myself and to really write down what I eat! Not yelling at you, here, but reminding you that no one is really looking (at least I hope not!) at your journal but yourself, and even if you are way over on points, write it down. It truly helps you, sounds silly but it does.
My scale (pre-clothing and breakfast) clicked down to 142 this morning for a brief second, then went up to 143.... unheard of numbers here! These are not official WW weigh in numbers, but very encouraging numbers to say the least! My clothes are getting baggy all of a sudden and my rings are twisting around on my fingers, I might have to get them resized soon! Wow, but losing almost 20 pounds will do that to a person, so cool!
One thing that is helping me, not that I'd have it this way if I could do otherwise, is that we've stopped eating out completely to save money. Plus, giving up chocolate (and I've been SO good!) really has gotten me on track. I wish I could weigh in tomorrow at my ww meeting so badly, but I will go and I will wait - the numbers will be even better when I do weigh in, just think! Maybe NOT weighing in is causing me to be a bit better as well as I am scared that I won't have that moment of direct awareness in front of another human being to help me with my mindset each week? Hard to explain, but you guys probably understand better than anyone else!
And yes, I will be looking for a job still, but I was sick with this horrid cold/cough and decided no one would ever hire me when I was like that. I've waited to get better. I'll be calling a temp agency today, as I think that might be a good idea for now.
I don't think I'd ever persue an archeology career, but I would certain love to watch more documentaries on this subject and maybe do a bit of reading on it. I don't think it's too late at age 50 to consider a new career and interest, mind you (I've even heard of people in their 80s and 90s going back to college!) but I just don't have the inclination to do something like this at this point in my life. But, I can still persue an interest.
Dawny, we have something called Smarties here but they are tiny candies that are pastel colored and come in a tiny strip of cellophane wrapping and are almost like what are called Sweetarts, but not as tart in taste. Not the same thing as you describe at all, I guess. The little round beans of chocolate covered in a candy shell over here are M&Ms, maybe you have those as well and these are different? But, people frequently bake M&Ms into cookies here so those are probably the same thing?
Well, I have to drive to Portsmouth NH this morning to get an allergy shot, not looking forward to this, but necessary. It's nearly an hour's ride, but I am racing against time here to get over there and back as we are expecting 12" more snow that will start later today... not more please!!!!!! Oh well.
My kids are on school vacation this week, so they will pleasantly sleep their week away, I am sure, something teenagers do with great zest! I'm a bit envious of that!
Well, take care, I do hope some of our absentee members post.
I will be starting up a new thread tomorrow, fair warning! This one is getting too long again. I will post a link here when I do this.
Take care and hope to hear from some of you soon.
Linda

Hi there,
Hi Linda, looks like its just you and me for the time being. We have m&m's here, smarties are very similar, just a bit bigger. Good luck with the temp agency. It's probably a good way to go to get you back in the swing of things.
I agree with you about the journalling, I did add the cookies later, and actually, I won't be close to my point limit today ( I don't think) so that will help me catch up a little! Well done you on the baggy clothes. My rings are huge now too. I've had to change a couple to different fingers to stop them falling off. My wedding ring is being held on by the skin of its teeth by my engagement ring. That, too, sometimes falls off if my hands are cold, so some resizing here soon too I think.
I hope you beat the snow fall on your journey. Its been snowing here all morning too. However, although it hasn't stopped, it isn't settling. Our temperatures are too high I think for it to do much. The other day it snowed for over 8 hours solid and we had less snow by the end of the day than at the start. Today we are at about 0'celcius, (32'f I think), and the snow just melts when it hits the ground.
It still feels very cold though, and when you hear about the awful morning I've had you'll know why it feels probably worse than it is. I had been to town this morning and was on my way home and the car decided to break down. I had AJ in the back and had just got to the busiest roundabout in town, got to the front of the queue to pull out and the car died on me. How awful did I feel? And how embarrassed? One person offered to help me, but by this time I had called the breakdown people to come out, and didn't want to move in case they couldn't find me, also, my cell phone then decided I had used all my credit, so I could make no more calls. It took nearly 30 minutes for the 'rescue' man to come and get me, the queue of traffic behind me was horrendous and I was freezing, AJ was upset and I just wanted to get home. Eventually though, he did come, got my car started and followed me home. I was not a happy bunny! We only got the car back friday from a week in the garage for an oil leak, so I blame them, it was fine before. They can have it back tomorrow, and hopefully I can make it in one piece to the garage so he can fix it - again.
What a day. I'll stay in the rest of the day I think.

Anyway, after all of that, I still need to thaw out, so I'll come back later.

Hello! I’m back! Sorry to concern you, Dawny, but I was away from my computer since Thursday. Life lesson for all: If you put a skillet in a 375 deg oven, it will come out 375 deg; therefore, it is not wise to grab the handle. Yes, in a moment of brain shut down Thursday night, I was checking my dinner and, not being used to putting this skillet in the oven, I grabbed the handle to tilt the pan. Then, proceeded to drop it very quickly!! OUCH! So, my left hand was pretty badly burned. I finally dulled the pain with several tablets and 2 glasses of wine (slept like a , and cried like one too) and stayed home from work on Friday to recuperate and get some prescription ointment. It is already MUCH better. I have a couple of little blisters and some hard skin, but it is mostly usable now.

As for my WW, I’m doing fairly well with the eating, but exercise is still difficult. I kicked DH out of the living room Thursday night and worked out before the cooking incident. Friday, however, it seemed my battered body just wanted to sleep, and I was feeling quite sorry for myself. Saturday and Sunday, I hardly had time to blink. Today, I will start again. I am planning to be OP and will exercise when DH leaves for work at 6:30p. Dinner will be an easy chicken/rice/broccoli dish in the crockpot (and I will use an oven mit when touching it!).

Linda – Good luck with the temp agency and this weather. I usually watch the days forecast before getting ready for work and thought of you when I saw the snow they are reporting for you! That certainly will not make the job hunt any easier. The car idea sounds like it might be a good one. I don’t know if you already use one, but a written budget is a great thing when funds are tight. Cash can slip away very quickly, $2 or $1 at a time. I am a firm believer in Dave Ramsey’s financial plan, you have to tell your money where to go, or it will tell you. I’ll be praying for you and the family.

Eek – still having some trouble typing w/ that hand. I think I will have to cut this short now. Have a great Monday, Everyone!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...491#post788491
Here is our new thread, guys! See you there!
Linda