Wow PRincess, : and with all your challenges you're doing great! It's a cliche, but I do believe there is a reason for everything that happens. I know a door is opening for you --it's a matter of figuring out which door. : you are a strong person who is handling lots of stuff right now. You can do this!!!!! Good luck! Thanks for chiming in because I know how busy you are.

Bandit, Happy Thanksgiving and keep up the good work. You've got me thinking I can do this!

Lauren and Chrily and Cherry and Nessa and all the gals/Turtles--
and to get through these days of uncertain times and to keep our priorities straight.

I'm off to the and I'll chime in when I get back.
Judy

Morning all and happy Saturday to everyone! It is supposed to be a warm and sunny weekend here so that is something to look forward to. I did my "official" W/I this morning... Down 5.4 lbs. I am sure that most of that was water weight from gaining so much over the last few weeks but I have been trying hard with the food so hopefully this is a sign that I am back on track.

It is a nice weekend to get out and enjoy myself in the yard so I am going to go and get ready for the day... have a great weekend everyone.

Judy: Best wishes for a wonderful holiday with your family!

Princess

Morning, turtles:

Princess - WOW what a fabulous weight loss! Good for you. Silver lining for you. I am so sorry to hear about your family issues. Financial stress is so hard on your nerves & spirit, but you will find your way.
When things are tough just try & remember the saying "and this too shall pass" - that has gotten me through some really bad times.

Judy & all you other turtles -hope you are staying on track.

I went to dance & only had 1 cooler, then drank water and skipped the buffet, but had a snack when I got home - which isn't too bad for a Sat night. Having our turkey dinner today early so my daughter can get back to TOronto early.

Keep hearing on the news how bad the housing & job situation is for you guys. Things are getting scarey up here as well - they keep talking about a recession/depression and we are having election next week. So everything lately has been very political. Would be nice for things to get back to being more sensible with housing & gas prices. Costing a fortune just to use my car.

Anyway, have a great OP weekend and hope everything works out for all of us. Try & keep your spirits up!

Morning all and Happy Sunday to everyone, another beautiful day here in the mid-west. Got some yard work down yesterday along with DS getting the gutters cleaned out... We have a couple of oak trees in the yard and every few years we have "the year of the acorn" ugh! There are tons of acorns and they all have to be raked up so I usually dread when this happens but this time around I am looking at it as an exercise opportunity

Did some doggie grooming yesterday, no more trips to the beauty parlor for them, we are doing the at home version and will work on the oldest one today, she is the grumpiest of the four so she takes more time to work on her with all the growling and snarling going on... LOL. She is literally the grumpy old women!

Bandit: Have a wonderful holiday with your daughter! Thanks for the kind words, this too shall pass - has gotten me through a lot also. Things are very scary here but I fear that the USA is not the only place that is suffering and I pray that things get back to normal soon.

Have a great day all!

Hi Ladies,

I am sorry that i have not been much of a buddy lately Sometimes i feel it better not to post when i am feeling down or negative or not doing well at all and so i have just sort of stopped posting. I still try to keep up with what is going on with all of you though.

Hugs to everyone that is facing some struggles. And great job for those who have lost that weight. I have lost no weight and currently weigh around 238. I scare myself but i can't seem to get started. I am still here though and will not give up.

Keep on Keepin On.

Hey Cherry - nice to see you posting & hope you are doing better.
One day at a time, thats all we can do.

I have my w/i tonight & afraid I overdid this past Thanksgiving holiday.
Hopefully not too bad, but my spider could be in jeopardy this evening.

Hope everyone else is doing great! Take care!

Morning, turtles:

Well, I was right. I was up 1/2# at last nights w/i and my spider lost one of his legs. I think only 3 people showed losses out of 20 weigh ins. But, still it is disappointing to have gains.

But I have been on track this week & hopefully will knock of my gain plus some extra for next week. There is a Tops rally this weekend, so will interesting to see what happens on those.

Anyway, hope you are all staying OP and having a great week!

Hi Turtles,
I'm grabbing a chance to chime in--lots of turmoil here, but I'm trying to be a rock without adding to my weight. Had a ridiculous gain after being at the , but a bit of it is off already. Went to WW's , but didn't WI. It would have been counterproductive. I think I have insight on how to handle my eating better when away from home and I need to apply it better. I made a m illion good choices, but the less good choices in food still add up pretty darn fast. Okay--enough about that. Yesterday was good and today will be good.

Princess, down 5.4# : when you're under such stress? Fantastic!!!! I think this shows that Weight Watcher habits get intrenched and help us out. I'm so glad you're back on track and am thrilled to hear that you got such good results.

Bandit, I'm sorry you lost a spider leg, but honestly .5# after a Thanksgiving celebration and a dance seems like something you can lose right away and keep on losing. TOPS has been good for you so far and I am happy to hear about your news. Our gas prices are coming down now. Whoever thought I'd be happy to see gasoline at $3.29? Egads! Hopefully the financial advisors will put their brilliant heads together and help us out of this mess.

Cherry, don't worry about not chiming in. We can offer you all the advice in the world, and you know we send you : and our , but I'm wondering if it might help you to stop and think yourself about one thing you can do today that will get you started on the path you want to take. Sending and to make you smile. You're great and we all know you can do this!

I've gotta get going, but I plan on making today a very good day. Here's a to us all.
Judy

Hello, tortoise ones. We're back from vacation in the Adirondacks, which was wonderful. Peak colors, great friends, and we saw a bald eagle! Up close! It was sitting at the top of a balsam tree by the road, so I pulled over and zoomed in on it with my camera. Got some great shots, too! I'll try to include one here. (Can we post pictures here? Hm. Just looked and can't figure out how.)

I did pretty well with the eating, especially at our friends' house where we stayed. I watched my portions, didn't snack, etc. Toward the end of our stay, we went out to eat a few times and I also had a couple of ice cream cones. That made my weight go up about 4 pounds overall when I weighed in back at home! But it's already gone after just 3 days back in the saddle, so I'm feeling pretty good about things. I hope to finally hit onederland this month!

Judy, happy belated birthday! And good for you, getting a handle on the eating. I know that excursions and events often present special challenges for you; I'm rooting for you in that area.

Bandit, a half pound after Thanksgiving??? Color me VERY impressed.

Cherry, ((HUGS))

Princess, ((HUGS)) to you, too, on your being between jobs. I love the idea of your looking at new horizons and possibilities. I hope you can follow your dreams and find something you love.

Ah, let's try this ...

Here's another picture from our trip. This is the lake outside our friends' house.

Lauren, I was just thinking of you and ,sure enough, there was your post! Congrats on doing so well on vacation and knocking off the pounds. I am soooo ready to cheer you into onederland. Love the photos--really good shots.

All goes well here. Met my friend for a short walk on the boardwalk at the beach and then headed to my local Macy's to pick up some clothes on sale for my grandkids. Both were very successful and I'm feeling good about it.
Lost more weight yesterday even though we headed out to dinner. Who knew that an entree salad with shrimp and scallops (very few of each) might be a good dinner? Yes, I was hungry later, but there was a high fiber piece of bread that did the trick and let me get to sleep without being too hungry.

Okay--I'm wishing you all well. Here's a and : for all of us as we go into the weekend.
Judy

Lauren - what gorgeous pictures, the lake one should be on a postcard - absolutely beautiful! Nice job on getting off those "holiday pounds".
You are sooooooooooo close to onderland - you must be excited!
Keep up the good work.

Judy - good choice for your dinner, sounds yummy!

Starting to get cooler up here - actually had to scrap the car windows yesterday. But then it was sunny and all the leaves are crispy. Time to get raking!

I have my daughters graduation ceremony this afternoon, then off to dinner with a group. So hoping there will be some OK choices for me on the menu.
THen tomorrow I have my first Tops rally - so looking forward to that.
Maybe I'll get us some new tips for weight loss.

Anyway, have a great OP weekend!

Princess -- I am so sorry to hear about your job. ::hugs:: But you are more than on top of it in terms of your WL and staying on track, which shows that you have learned well from WW, so it becomes a lifestyle, not a habit. That is incredible. I think you have an excellent attitude, and that will get you far. It's true, "this too shall pass".

It sounds like everyone else is either doing well or calmly and effectively dealing with small setbacks. That's the spirit!

I weighed-in Wednesday after what I have been thinking of as "the month of h*ll" (one long month of outrageous hours, including a last week of 60 hours, and a family vacation.) I am up 1.5. Considering that I wasn't really able to workout for a month, I had all that work stress and THEN I went on a family vacation, I think I'm doing pretty well. That puts me at close to my max for lifetime (142), but I'll take it back off again. Did a lite workout this week, just to get back into the swing of things, 30 minutes on the elliptical Tuesday, again Thursday and 30 minutes of spin class on Friday. Working on counting points better.

Going house hunting today with a friend, and then dinner with a friend and her extended family. I'm not sure anymore if now is the right time to buy a house, but we'll see. I could get an extraordinary deal. Especially with a new build. But the house could also lose value in the next year. And my co-workers are making noises again about the company folding if we don't get a grant extension for our current project (they have been saying this for two years, but still, it makes me nervous.)

If I do get a house, I probably won't sign a contract until mid to late December, so I can have a better idea how things will go with work and the market. My parents can't help me anymore, they can't take the money out of their retirement with the market as it is, so it's just me, myself and I. Thank god for FHA loans.

ANYWAY, time to get dressed. Take care and have a good day!

Hi turtles:

Hope you all had a great weekend and stayed OP

Did my Tops rally Sunday & that was fun. Lots of awards given out & a few skits & my chapter put on the lunch so I helped with that. Overall, a nice day spent with ladies who have the same weight issues.

How about everyone else? Did you all behave over the weekend?

I was pretty good & hoping for a nice loss this week.

Bandit, congratulations to you daughter on her graduation. That's great. Also sounds like you had a nice time with your new TOPS friends. Good for you.

Ariana, nice to see you posting again. You've got a big decision about whether to buy a house or not. You're thoughtful and smart and I'm sure you'll make a good decision. You are doing great with keeping off your weight. You had a tough month and you did just fine.

I'm doing fine. I'm keeping busy, watching what I eat, and planning for the rest of the week. Dh and I had lunch out and I approximated what I think the points were for my lunch. All goes well and I'm looking forward to our big Halloween party this Saturday. It should be lots of fun. We have a few more people attending this year. I'm going as "static cling". I'm going to wear all black and then pin tiny socks and clothes and those fabric softener sheets to my clothes. I'm also going to try to make my hair static-y and then spray it up. Not sure how that's going to work, but I've got a headband I can use as a back up plan. Should be fun and couldn't be an easier costume.
Okay==gotta run. Hope you're all continuing to do well. See you tomorrow.
Judy