Good afternoon. Not a good week for me, exercise-wise, but still doing well on the eating. I think I've been fighting off a little bug, just enough to make me sleep a lot. Doing better today, so I hope to get back to exercising.

Annie--Yay for goggie feeling better; sorry to hear you're still not doing so well.

Ashley--I'm so sorry for you family troubles. I hope it works out as well as possible.

PPenguin--Beautiful shawls. I crochet; never could catch on to knitting.

FL-- glad to hear you're feeling better.

Angelskeep--keep up the good work.

Gotta run, break's over.

I'm really struggling to get back on track here today ... stopped and got cinn rolls and coffee cake for a coworker's bday and HAD to test the cinn roll - just ate the icing becuase that's what I wanted, but that's not a freebie. Then after folks were raving about the apple coffee cake, I tried a sliver of that. And then another slightly bigger sliver, making a full serving of it between the two. Lunch out at his choice was bbq. I aimed for a serving of turkey, no bun. Only sandwiches. Oh, so instead of LEAVING the bun, like any sane person would do, I just ate it. And french fries. So a 19-point lunch and I'm into my weekly bonus points now (for non-ww folks, just means i've gone over calories and into my cushion) and now will end up with a healthy salad and baked chicken tonight because if I don't add protein I'll be noshing all night. This is after a night last night at a nice restaurant where I ALSO went thru my daily points and into that cushion, but I planned to there... So with that in mind, I'll go healthy as I can tonight, get in a walk on the trail if I can (SHOULD be able to) and tomorrow night ... and hopefully get back on track for the weekend in Florida. Usually not too tempted there as it's a busy time and I tend to relax with a cup of tea fairly often. But GRR on my snacky attitude and "gimme bread" mentality.

Annie - Glad to hear you might be on the mend - and a hearty belated Happy Birthday to you ... I think in my rush to try and get caught up with folks here last week, I missed it...

Ashley - hang in there - how are things today up there for you? Sounds like it's an extremely stressful time for you with the issues... our thoughts are winging north to you.

PP - you do fine work! NICE!

Hope everyone has a great evening (or day, Ange and Mirj!) - speaking of which, where are you, Mirj??

Checking in quick before I start dinner.

LOVE the shawls. I have crocheted since I was a child. G'ma taught me, but no time for it right now. Never did learn to knit.

Ash-sorry about the family stuff and hope it gets smoother for you.

Nationalp-PUT DOWN THE JUNK FOOD and get back on track.

I will never get caught up, so I guess I won't even try. Tonight's dinner is ground boneless skinless chicken breast burgers with mango salsa from the co-op basket foods and baked sweet potatoes from the same. I have been on a wicked popcorn binge for days, but at least it isn't chocolate. Air popped corn with butter flavored cooking spray, and lemon pepper salt of all things. Low cal as far as junk. I haven't been walking hardly at all. It's been way too cold and windy and I just can't seem to get motivated to WATP inside. The good news is that I have a lot of hope of being able to eat junk occasionally after I lose the next lotsa pounds and still maintain. I will be really glad when the weather cooperates again. I swear this is the coldest/windiest/snowiest it's been since I moved here 9 1/2 years ago. ARRRRGH!

Barb

I had a terrible night last night, i had to go to the hospital. Had stomach & back cramps along with discomfort in my chest & bloating. It was scary, thought I was having a heart attack. All my heart tests were ok, but they kept me over night, I just wanted to go home. Dr. thought it was gall bladder related, but tests were fine on that too. Today they wanted to do a cat scan of my stomach & pancreas. I refused & demanded to go home, I felt much better after the meds they gave me last night. All my blood work was good except for my sodium levels were low, my blood pressure was only 59 over 45.( low sodium can do that) they didn't say much about it though. I know i eat a low sodium diet cause I don't eat much processed food, about 800g. a day. I do exercise & drink alot of fluids, so I'm probably losing alot of sodium also. So, no cat scan, I discharged myself against the doctor's orders. I know my body, these symptoms were either from low sodium or low fat. I knew I needed both, because I didn't over eat or have junk food in 9 days. I just kinda forgot to add more of them to my diet. My fat intake is normally about 7g. a day, I know it's not enough. Everything I eat is low in fat or fat free, if I forget to eat nuts for more fat, then i am low. Sodium is hard for me to get too, but I'm gonna eat more from now on. I don't ever want to feel that way again, I didn't get even 1 hr. of sleep last night in that emergency room. I'm pooped! I rode the bike tonight for 17min at least, after I ate sodium & fat packed peanut butter & ice cream I felt energized. It tasted so good after that horrible hospital food I had to eat.

Yikes! I'm glad you're home, and okay...but don't do that kind of thing anymore, please! Make sure you get enough of the things you NEED, including fat and sodium. I'm pretty sure that 7 g fat daily is waaay too low for anyone. Skinny and dead is NOT attractive!

Hugs to you, fruitlady. I worry sometimes. You are so strict with yourself, it's like the opposite extreme.

Barb

Hi there chickettes!

yeah-hey! Just got internet access after a few days without.

Eating far far too much here in China, every meal is a huge banquet that we sit in front of for hours with loads of dishes lined up.

So far this week i've eaten turtle, pidgeon, pigs kidney and chicken feet. And far too much of the more usual things too. Have to say it's all been really really tasty and so so much better than what passes as 'chinese food' in Australia or UK.

Have also been out for a run in the morning, just along the city streets in the dark, which isn't too exciting. Worried about forecast of a 20 degree temp drop tomorrow though so it will be well below freezing and windy. Not so good.

fruitlady - look after yourself, hope you're much better soon.

Good morning.

Down another half pound, but still not exercising, so I know I could have lost more if I'd been exercising like I usually do. Just really tired. Hope that will be over soon. Ate to plan yesterday, so that's good.

Snow here, so the Puget Sound is nearly closed down. Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want about our whopping 2 to 3 inches of snow, but we have hills. And more hills. And then some more hills. Plus we tend to hover around freezing, so we get ice build up on the roads. It's supposed to snow some more this afternoon--if so, I'm outta here early.

Fruitlady--maybe your junk food cravings are a sign. Eat more fat and don't sweat the sodium so much (no pun intended; keep up the exercise). If you can't bring yourself to eat full fat versions of food, then at least stop at low fat and stay away from the non-fat. Fat is good. Your good health is a treasure--protect it.

Getting off my soapbox, now. I hope everyone has a great day.

Hello, all!! Been a good day - worked, volunteered at the elementary school (Thursday activity) and got photos ordered from our trip to Italy for my mom to see tomorrow ... will just pick up at the Walgreens at home. They have a daily deal and today's was a free 8 x 10 collage of photos ... so what the heck, did one of those, too NICE. Free with no other purchase (so if anyone else is wanting one from xmas or something ... good deal and fast to do). Think it'd be fun to do at the end of a year to recap trips and events from that year, too - fun gift idea, so I'm keeping that in mind.

Subway for lunch - got the salad and no chips, so back on track. Thanks for the nudging! (or scolding!) ha ha... Need it!

Ange - there is no way I could eat those things; you're so brave. Hubby asked what I'd eat when we travel to places like that and I just say I'm bringing a suitcase of granola bars... he laughs, but I'm pretty darned serious.

Ange-I've been trying really hard to learn about (and eat) foods that I haven't always liked, but your items this week sound positively frightening! You are really brave!

Kitteh-the weather channel is calling for more snow in your corner of the world. UGH! It does make it hard to get out and exercise, huh? I'm almost at the point of doing the dvd in the house. Almost! I too would lose more if I'd move more!

nationap-back on track is AWESOME! And I love your deal n the collage thingy. I usually upload pics to walmart and then they get done really fast-even enlargements, but we have a walgreens here, about 6 blocks from my house, so I'll have to keep them in mind.

So, we went a day early and got our groceries, by car not on foot. It finally got to zero degrees a little while ago. And the rest of the week is looking just as bleak. One of hte cashiers grew up here and even he agrees that this is like the longest, coldest, snowiest winter in a while. No bicycling for sure. Not even much outside walking. The wind chill just makes it too dang cold. Oh, our local animal shelter just had some awful news. The lady who had been in charge since September had been stealing money and also using the company debit card for her personal shopping. Nearly 11K stolen and bills for power, and food and etc. for the animals weren't paid for 3-4 months. Makes me so sad and angry. All our pets have always been the neediest ones we could find at the time at the shelter wherever we lived. And I used to volunteer at the one here working with the dogs who needed extra attention. So, our b&b association will give them a check, but it's just so small compared to what they need. Robert & I went there this morning to see what else we could help with besides money. They are down to bare minimum staff, so we'll try to go a couple of mornings a week to clean cages and wash food dishes. We won't be able to go at all in the summe, but maybe it will help to get them thr0ugh if enough people each can do a little. I cannot even imagine what kind of person it takes to steal from poor animals who can't take care of themselves.

Tonight is oven baked chicken breast with more of the mango salsa. More baked sweet potatoes. Roasted yellow squash for Robert and shredded cabbage and avocado for me.

I wish I could spend more time gossiping with the chicks, but this will; have to do for now. Who knew my "off season" could be so dang busy!

Barb

angelskeep, ange82, kitteh - Thanks, everyone on this thread is wonderful, your advise is so true!

I'm recovering from the low sodium & fat problem. Feeling more energy now, but still need to catch up on the sleep I lost that night. I found out that I had some symptoms of low sodium for days & didn't realize it. Being tired, getting headaches(I never get headaches)& less severe stomach cramps all happened for days before it got real bad. The bloating & gas came from eating low fat so I will start buying yogurt with low fat instead of no fat & making sure I eat nuts everyday for that issue. Today I went a little crazy, i ate a half jar of reduced fat peanut butter, besides the fat, there is some sodium in it also, but not a huge amount. So I got the fat & sodium I needed today, but my calories are 2875! I have to tweek something here. I'll gain all the weight back in no time if I don't watch it. Maybe I'll just eat more yogurt for the extra sodium on most days. I'm so bloated up with water that my pants are tight.
I gained 3.5lbs of water, now if I keep eating a reasonable amount of sodium everyday, how am I going to lose the water weight? I rode the bike for 30min this morning, now I'm gonna start painting my sunroom ceiling a nice spring green color.

You live & you learn!

Hi gang! I didn't even sign in here yesterday. Was a weird day all around. I did get back to exercising yesterday and did 4 miles yesterday and 3 miles today with 1# weights, but reined in the arm movements to about half. I'm really worried what this week of eating birthday cake is going to do to my weight. Well, it is almost gone () and should be completely gone after the boys get home tonight. I'll be pushing it on them. I have had 2 pieces each evening since Tuesday.... It just tastes so good, I cannot resist it. Have been trying to cut calories elsewhere, but know I am way over what I should be. Onward.

I'm going in to see the doctor this afternoon. Although my neck/shoulder/upper back seem to be better (I am not having to sleep in the recliner any more), I still feel like I need to check it out. Just doesn't feel right to me....like an irritated nerve or something. After having my C5-6 and C6-7 fusion done in 1998, I am very careful about my neck and worry when anything even might be wrong. He will probably put me on steroids, but if that is what I need to do, I will do it. I'm also going to try to get my taxes dropped off at the accountant's.

Fruitlady-I hope I can say this in a way that sounds positive and supportive, because that is what we are all here for. I think you need to do alot more than "tweak" your diet. Is there any way you can consult with a dietician or someone? Maybe also address your issues with bingeing on certain types of foods? Allowing your body to get so out of whack that you need to go to the hospital and then coming home and making up for a lack of fat/sodium with peanut butter, ice cream, etc. is not a healthy way to be going about this. I am NOT AN EXPERT, but I am worried about your health. I hope you understand that I am only concerned for you or I wouldn't say anything at all.

Love to all.

wow, lots going on here,

FL - I agree with Annie and out of concern hope you can do better and add whatever foods you need to add to be healthier and feel better. I hope you have a good weekend, your hospital stay sounded very scary and I was concerned for you. I will confess when i first saw you here and read your posts i thought gee you sound just like me and i had not seen what your weight was cause i never thought to look at that before. When I saw your weight was like a couple weeks later, dear lord half of mine, I thought it was sad to have lost your weight and still have the battle in your mind the way someone who is bigger does. it just goes to show me even more the battle is so much in our mind. You will do awesome once you can work some of that out and your mind and emotions will feel so much better!

Kittie - way to go on the half pound

NP way to go on the subway lunch thanks fo ryour thoughts .

Been busy at work, which is good but not much time for here.

Angels - I agree on it is hard to get caught up here right now.

Annie - hope you are feeling better and thanks for having the courage to say what you did for FL out of care. I believe that is what we are all here for at least I sure am.

I had a onplan day today so far, my mom is going away for the month of march so is having my birthday dinner tonight over 2 weeks early. I am a little stressed as she always has so much goodies but we are having turkey so i am happy about that. But still wondering how to handle not overeating tonight and the whole cake thing. Yesterday was baaaaddddd... ate lots and what I should not have, candy, brownies... sighh at least it was warm enough to walk today at lunch it warmed up to -18 when I went out but first thing in the morning it was -26 so I was afraid I would not be able to go and going always helps keep me on plan. I dont want to keep working this body of mine as hard as I do only to ruin it with eating to much.

The best thing we can sometimes do is not give up even when we have had a bad day foodwise and just keep going one day at a time.

Most of the big storm they predicted missed us, I'm happy to say, but its cold again. They did blow the sirens for a few hours last night.

I did my 31min treadmill intervals today. Although, I have a written time schedule taped to the side of the display I was always a minute off. I kept 'fixing' my mistake but then found I was off again! Maybe I need to get Hubby to look at it for me.

Barb + Kitteh, thanks for the compliment. I started with crochet then eventually moved to knitting. whatever I choose depends on the pattern I find.

Fruitlady, I'm sorry you had such a scary night. Be well.

Ange, sounds like an interestimg menu. I think?

Kitteh, Hubby was Navy and stationed in Oak Harbor WA. We lived there for about 2 years. We are both from Memphis. Once it snowed 15" while we were there, the most snow I'd every seen! We drove around in Hubby's old truck plowing through the snowbanks and generally just being crazy but we were just so amazed at all the snow!

Annie, hope you feel better soon.

Thanks Anni, Ashley & patchwork- Thanks for your concern & as always, your wisdom. I know coming home & pigging out on ice cream & peanut butter was crazy, but that's what I was hungry for. And after I ate it, I felt terrific physically cause I got the sodium & fat that I needed. Thanks so much

I've been adding sodium & fat to my diet everyday since I got out of the hospital. So far I feel good, don't have stomach problems or cramping. I've been trying to figure out what to eat since I don't eat processed food on an everyday basis. The only processed food I eat is junk food once a week, that's my treat. Natural foods don't have much sodium, that's how I got myself into this mess. I like the food I eat & don't want to change it. I found that I'm staying full longer & I can't eat as much since I added more fat & sodium, but I keep gaining weight from the sodium. How much will i gain? it's scary but worth it for my health. I'm eating 15g fat (instead of 7g.), which is fine for me, it's about 10 -15% of my calories, I've been having 1200g. sodium ( instead of 800g.) Everyday seems like a battle !

Well, i guess this is what i'm doing on this forum!!!

I like trying all sorts of different foods and different flavours.

If i go to a restauraunt i generally pick something that looks the most unusual.

And unfortunately i tend to like everything that i eat!!!

And i like eating. Sigh.......