I made it- whew! Feels good to be on to Day 3. Feels great to be drinking water again...what a difference. I don't know why I go Off Plan so often.
My tip of the day is to listen to your body. I'm actually a bit hungry today. I've stuffed myself so much this past month I've almost forgotten what that felt like. I'm hoping to really concentrate on those body cues. Eat when hungry...stop at that satisfied level and never get stuffed.

Made it through to Day 4, but again still high in calories for the early part of today, so plan on eating "light" the rest of the time. But if I need to eat more, will eat more and balance calories out tomorrow, hopefully. Following Jelynn's Tip of the Day and trying to listen to my body. Exercise this a.m. was a wimpy 25-minute walk but it'll do. I'm off to do surveys.

My Tip of the Day reflects my conversion from vegetarianism to eating meat: When bopping around the world and in need of a very low calorie meal to eat in car, stop at a grocery store and (bypassing all junky stuff) buy a package of those chicken breasts that are pre-roasted and vacuum sealed (not the sliced chicken breast, but whole pieces, two to a package, 130 calories each piece, brand is Tyson here). Buy a bottle of water or diet soda and some wet tissues for hands. Eat the meat by itself or buy some cherry tomatoes or something with carbs. Filling, low cal.

Onward and downward!

Which means that there are forty days left of this particular streak. And so far I am doing OK with my pledge:

1. I promise to stick to my exchange program.
2. I promise to keep my "binges" to a minimum.
3. I promise to not eat anything much after suppertime.
4. I promise to drink water often, often, often.
5. I promise to exercise for 20 minutes, at least 4 times a week.

And right now, at this particular moment, I feel very confident that I can pretty much continue to stick to my pledge.

Consistency is what I am trying to strive for, just plain consistency. I know exactly what I should be doing, it is the "doing" that is tough.

The weather here is cold, and there is snow on the ground. The fire is toasty tonight. I think I will drink a cup of Swiss Miss Diet Chocolate, raising the cup in a toast to Crone who is quite possibly sipping the same drink at the same time.

Cheers, everyone -

Finished ok with 1795 calories. Might get more exercise in, but doubt it. Very tired. Everything is picking up career-wise so need to get back in the swing of sleeping at the right time.

As you say, JoJoJo2, consistency is key in everything we do, not only weight management.

I toast you, too, JJJ2, and did indeed have my Swiss Miss tonight. Need to get a new package tomorrow. The hot chocolate season in Arizona is fast drawing to a close. I suppose there are people who might drink it in the heat, but not me!

On to Day 5.

another one bites the dust...
Great... I'll probably have that song in my head all night now.
I'll admit that I'm being really easy on myself this week to consider it a sucessful day...that I'm not eating cookies or fudge or cheese and crackers and drinking water and just eating normal meals and grabbing and apple or pear now and again is success enough at this point. I feel myself "getting into it" again. Next week I will get back to the gym and start sweating. I hope to be down 10 lbs for St. V-day

Onward to day 4!

Hey Gal Pals.....So good to find you here...I am streaking with you. My plan is to be good....I know what I have to do....I am going to cut the eating between meals....I am going to guzzle water, and I am going to exercise daily....I am going to start with walking. Hope you all had wonderful holidays....we did! It was great to have the family all here....you may recall that I moved my parents here from NY this past summer. Have a great 2002! Be strong! Jh

Today is Day One again! Had an over-the-top splurge at about 11 p.m. yesterday and my spreadsheet tells me I reached 2795 calories, which is too many to achieve a five-day balance of 1700-1800 (unless I starve today, which would be counter-productive and not in keeping with my weight management philosophy). So I'm calling today Day One instead of waiting for my weigh-in Sunday.

I clearly started desiring donuts at about 8 p.m. when I realized I'd decided to move to the northwest. No more than that ... not packing up just yet or anything, just came to grips with things. Anxiety hit immediately after the relief of knowing what I will do. Anxiety equals food; it was written in the stars that I would splurge.

Still a pretty good control level as many of my binges reach 4000 calories and beyond. I'm happy and only bought a FEW donuts, so they are gone! Need to run off now to do errands.

HELLO, JONI!!

Dinner over and calories at 1570. Finished my exercise week with 1000 calories burned for the seven days, which was my goal. Tonight's exercise was a 40-minute fitness walk.

Finished week with an average of 2190 calories for the seven days. This is not bad; the streak helped.

Onward! If I don't think of anything stressful or in the least anxiety-producing tonight, I may make it to Day 2!

My Tip O' the Day: Journal everything having to do with your weight management plan (or diet, if you call it that) even when you don't like the numbers. This could be a written journal, online, software, spreadsheet, whatever. It makes the thing a game. When you see how far you have come and how the numbers really stack up, things get easier.

That means I did well last night and weighed in today with a 2.5-pound loss, so eight more to go to my St. V's goal.

I've got three posts in a row here, so will get off pronto!

IT'S ON TO ST. V. FOR ME!

Excelsior.

I have 6 days done with now, and 38 to go on the Valentine Streak. So far, so good. I am almost through the weekend, and weekends are tough for me. It is a household equipment problem. On Friday night without fail, our kitchen stove quitsworking. The only solution is for us to "eat out" or "snack" over the weekend. Then fortutiously on Sunday evening the silly stove regains it's health and I resume cooking. Crazy, isn't it?

But this noon at the restaurant I had broiled chicken breast with sliced tomato and fruit. Don't think I did too much damage.

Oh, well, we all have our problems, don't we? Does anyone else have a kitchen stove that doesn't work over the weekend?

Keep smiling -

Finished with 1770 calories, 25-minute fitness walk. My goal this week is to burn 1200 calories in workouts, so am on my way ... or weigh!

Dinner was only 250 calories but filling in the extreme: baked fish, broccoli, Diet Swiss Miss. So again, most of my calories were earlier in the day, which is not optimal for me, but there it is.

JoJoJo2: How strange that your stove likes to rest over the weekend!

Onward, downward!

I fell off the bandwagon this weekend. But every day is a new one and today is so far so good. I know I can do this if I just keep coming here and keep looking at my goals.

Nice to hear from you Joanie!

HI girls.

I just wanted to stop in and say that I'm streaking away with all of you. I've had some bad days but they're all behind me know and I'm ready to move on.
I lost my baby on December 20th at 3:20 PM. The baby was nine weeks, so still very tiny. It was very painful though, but at least the physical pain was short-lived. It's the emotional pain that left a lasting impression. I did not have to have a D&C so that means we will probably be able to conceive again much sooner. Good news! But Wally is just so very hurt, and I keep trying to blame myself even though everyone says it's not my fault. I just have to put the blame somewhere I guess. Wally is just now becoming himself again, but I'm retreating further in. I just need time.
When I lost the baby I decided I needed a complete return to normalcy until we conceive again. So that's why I'm going back to Weight Watchers tonight. It's not going to be pretty. I gained too much while pregnant, that's for sure. Plus I think my body is still in recovery. We shall see. I ended yesterday at 25.5 Points and the day before at 35 and today will be around 27 so I think I'm doing really well. I just want things to start over again.

CroneI was sorry to hear about your mom. I'm glad you're doing well. I enjoy reading your posts everyday while lurking.

Joanie Good to see you!

Morrigan We can do this! I keep reminding myself that it's not what I do during one day that counts, but what I do on a continuous basis. That means it doesn't matter if I was OP yesterday, if I binge today then I'm only backtracking. It's being OP everyday that counts. This also works backwards too. If I binged yesterday, that doesn't mean today can't be Perfectly On Program. Thank goodness every day starts fresh, with no mistakes in it.

Hi everyone!
It's good to see so many of us taking on the challenge yet again this year. I've decided that I just don't want to be a fat mommy! I have to lose this weight.

See you all later.
Love, Lisa
Streak Day 4

hello all! I just read a whole bunch of entries in this thread and feel like I'm in a room with a great bunch of people! I was reading what you were all saying and shaking my head up and down to agree with it all!
I have been doing my own thing (low-fat/high fiber) since 1/1/01 and happy to say I've lost 84 lbs! I've got about another 10 or so to go, but I know that this is one journey that has no destination! So, I will join you on your streak to Valentine's day! My goals are to drink more water (any suggestions? I'm a diet-soda-drinker!) and continue to average 1200-1400 calories a day and walk every day.
Thank you all for your posts and I look forward to "talking" with you!

Lisa-- I've been thinking about you and wondering how you're doing. I'm so very sorry about your miscarriage. I think you're right to get back to "normal" and good for you for going back to WW.

I'm on day 6 today! So far so good. Need to step up the exercise this week, but I was down 5 lbs this week-- lots of water and junk weight from the holidays. Still up about 7 from US Thanksgiving Feel more on track right now though than I have for awhile.

Tryin'hard- I'm a diet coke drinker myself adn the only way I get around the water thing is to "make" myself do it. Right now I'm enjoying a can, but I've already had 48 oz of water. Maybe use it as your reward??

Glad to see so many posting! We can do this!!