Good morning all. Sorry I was MIA this weekend, but it was a busy one.

We ended up with a foreign exchange student on Saturday who will be with us until June. It was a last minute thing since she was in an unfortunate situation with her original host family. Then, yesterday, we were invited to 2 parties. One was an open house type thing, the other was a sit down dinner with only 5 couples. I was able to avoid all food and drink at the first party, but it's hard to not eat when you are at a table with 9 other people. They kind of notice.

So...I did go off plan at the Dawali party (Indian Festival of Lights), but not too off the deep end. I only had about 2 TB of each of the dishes. And I spread it around my plate so it looked like I had more food. And I ate really slowly so it seemed I had as much as everyone else. Indian food is really hard to eat and stay on plan. I did stay away from the appetizers and the dessert AND, even better, the wine! I did it. A social situation and all I drank was water. Who knew it could be done? Our host was shocked and kept asking me if I was an imposter! I told him it was all good. I was just acting as our designated driver. He laughed, but didn't offer me wine again! SUCCESS!!!

Anyway...back OP today. Weigh in is tomorrow and I'm hoping the scale doesn't fight back. I need to donate some more pounds to the bank. Really working on that 20 by Christmas challenge.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. I'm going to enjoy the sun while we have it as I think today is the only day I will see it this week. We actually have a sunrise this morning. First one I've seen in a long time!

Woohoo! Weigh in Monday.....And the result is..... -6.8lbs! So excited right now

You're AWESOME!!!

So awesome!!!! Congrats on many decisions well done!!!!

Claustin...WAY TO GO!!!

I had my WI today, -2. Happy with the number considering stress and lack of sleep

Yay!! That rocks!!

Airportchick, congrats to you too!!

Good job on managing what you could during the dinner. Where is your exchange student from? We have not participated as the host family but are very close to two gals from Brazil who studied with our oldest daughter her senior year. She spent Christmas with their families two years ago. Life long frindships established between our families.

That's awesome. I'd be jumping for joy

Claustin- fantastic number!

Emsmom- it is tough to navigate social occasions, but no one wants to become a hermit either. Way to hang tough with the vino. May the scale be with you.

Airportchick- that is a great loss! Especially with all that is going on. How is your husband?

Wantanewme- sounds busy out your way. It is hard to put yourself first on the list. Nice of you to help out the exchange student. Where is she from?

Kawaii- nice to see you funny that the coaches never told me the WF limit. I just figured no food is free, so use moderation.

Kelsey, I am fighting a little weight stress too. Just going to wait it out. Bought the cutest little measuring cups (1 tsp, 1tbsp, 1 oz) to make sure that I am not going over the portions.

Stephascope- my clothes are loose too. Definitely losing inches in places that do not usually budge. Lisa often points out, that the scale is not the only measure.

Tingstar- great losses so far! I bought myself a silver bangle with a quote for my 20 pound celebration.

Ronilee- what type of salsa do you use? I haven't been able to find sugar free.

My mother has an amazing garden and cans salsa and spaghetti sauce for us. She adds pickled asparagus to the salsa and it is amazing I could drink the stuff. Only occasional but it is a terrific treat.

I made the chicken tortilla soup out of the cookbook this weekend. I didn't have any of the crepe mix for the tortillas since my clinic was out of it so I added extra chicken instead, which I broiled with a lot of cajun seasoning. It was actually pretty good. The recipe calls for like 5 tablespoons of garlic which I thought was a crazy amount. I only used about 1.5 tablespoons so it was plenty. It was also my first time trying leeks, which was a pleasant surprise to find a new tasty veggie. Tastes like a mild green onion. Would be good in salads and stir fry.

She is from Berlin, Germany. So far, so good. She is good friends with my daughter as they are the same age and go to the same school. It really works out well for all involved.

Thanks everyone

Congratulations to all of you on your SV & NSV. There has been some stress related posts this past week/end. Glad you all had something positive come out of it!

Hoping you have a less stressful week coming up

Just had my WI lost 5lbs!!!!

I surprised myself and I had TOM last week. I am down 22lbs since starting Oct 7th. This is the lowest weight I have been in years - maybe 5-10yrs for real. I never get lose more then 20lbs or go below 220. I am over the moon. I am excited cause I ate out at Korean, sushi, and Vietnamese Pho Soup place as well.

Update on my tongue/mouth. Waiting to get some blood results in case it is my thyroid but it has come down alot. I have not used any pickles since last week and I think that is one of the issues for me - not use to the vinegar and salt.

Congrats to all the LOSERs this week at WIs.

Happy Veterans Day to all.

Yay!!!!! Congratulations!! I can hear the excitement in your writing lol

Awesome!! I hope your blood test comes back ok.