I had my weigh in this morning, I am down 8/10th of a lb. I'm happy about it because I was not very careful last week.

Yesterday, DH took me to a movie I can't tell you how long it's been since we went to a movie. We saw Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. It was a great movie.

nikki, you really are doing fantastic You really do exercise a lot, and that has a lot to do with how well you are coming along. I have put some good carbs back into my diet and I find that if I occasionally have a little brown rice with dinner it makes me feel fuller. I also avoid sugar as if it were poison. Keep up the good work!

ANNE, yes, I'm still going to WW and I really love it. I get so motivated by the meetings. I won't eat any of their food though, as it's loaded with sugar, and I don't do fat-free anything. I don't count carbs because it's too much work for me to keep track of 2 things, counting points and journaling is enough for me, so I just watch my carb intake. I like things easy.

Hope you have a great evening.
Aleka

Thanks you guys, your both doing great too. I think we've learned alot this past year and it's so nice to be able to share what we've learned with each other. We might not all do the same thing, but then, I've noticed most people start a diet program and then modify it and make it more to their own liking. I forgot, I also eat a little rice once in awhile. Jasimine, it's white, but I just love the smell of it so. I make soup like chicken and noodles, but add jasmine rice instead of the noodles, with some celery, onions and a few minced carrots. It is so good. Just an occasional highly proccessed food.
Have a good night, Nikki

nikki, you are right about modifying a diet to one's liking. You have to or otherwise you'd feel deprived and would not stick to it. That is one of the things I like about WW. You can eat whatever foods you like. I learned a lot from SSzing and I carry that knowledge into WW.

ANNE, is it still frigid where you live? We have wind chill today and it feels like -12 deg. They say we may see 20's by the weekend. That will feel like a heatwave!

Enjoy the rest of the day.

Aleka

I had my weigh in tonight, up 1 pound. I think I will try to eat ww, LC
Love Tazcat

It's still frigid and blustery. I'm hoping the weatherpeople are right and it will be warmer by the weekend. It's supposed to feel colder today than yesterday, but I don't know how that could be possible.

tazcat, gaining a lb. isn't bad. How often do you weigh in? I have had people tell me that sometimes you do gain while you're trying to lose weight. So, please don't be discouraged. This time around I'm being a little more patient in losing weight, and that is working for me. I know I will get there someday. One thing our WW leader said that hit home, it's better to be a turtle at losing weight than a hare, as you are more apt to keep it off. Hang in there. Let me know how WW LC is going for you.

Hello everyone! Have a great day and keep warm

Aleka

HI Everybody,
COLD, it is so cold. The wind chill is -28 today. Got down to -9 in real temperature, but the wind was strong too.

I found a new cat a couple of days ago. Did I tell you about her? She is the ugliest cat I've ever seen, gray with some brown markings. Kind of a calico with no white. She was freezing to death and starving, so I had to take her in. She ate and ate and has slept for 2 days next to the wood stove. She's a little thing, looks like she's 6 months old. So sweet and grateful for everything, makes me want to cry. I don't see how anyone can dump a cat out in this weather. She is obviously a housecat and is use to people. We have lots of ferrel cats around here, and you can sure tell the difference. I wasn't sure what DH would say, but he said we have plenty of room and lots of food for her. He likes her too.

Tazcat, I hate when that happens. Are you retaining water? I gain a few pounds every month from that, then lose it. Plus, I can weigh up to 2 lbs. more at the end of the day, which is why I weigh in the morning only. You may feel better going to ww. It helps to have the support of a group too.

Aleka, I can say that losing weight slowly is much healthier and better for the skin. I'm losing rather rapidly now (or I was, I've stayed the same for the past week) and my skin is getting so loose. At my age, I'm afraid it won't snap back into place either. It's not too bad, but I still have to lose 70 lbs and I don't want to look like a skinny bulldog when I'm done. I am investing heavily into facial creams and doing facial exercises to try to tighten it up some. Don't know what to do about the upper arms. P. Neuman said that his Dr. told him it could take a year for his skin to shrink up and he was 18 or 19 then. Guess I'll just have to see.

Take care, Nikki

OOOH, that poor kitty. That's wonderful you took her in. What have you named her? Anybody who would abandon any animal makes me soooo mad especially in this type of weather. She is very lucky to have found you, and you're lucky to have found her. We had cats for years then DH became allergic to them. One very hot July many years ago this kitten came to our door, about the same age as your kitty. I was at work and DH gave her some water. When I came home I saw her and gave her some water and a little food. DH worked afternoons, and when he came home that night, the kitty was in bed with me, and I had already named her. She was the most affectionate cat we ever owned. She acted more like a dog does than a cat. We do have our suspicions on how she got to our house. I still miss her. I wish you the best of luck with your new kitty.

Aleka

Aleka,
I'll bet you do miss your kitty. My husband is probably allergic to them too. He has had a sinus infection for several months and the Dr. has tried different medications on him. Now he's using a new nasal spray and Zyprexa and it is helping him some. He is scheduled to go to an allergist and an ear, nose and throat guy. The Dr. says he probably has several allergies and I'm cleaning like a mad woman everyday, trying to get rid of all the dust and mold. DH figures as long as the cats aren't in the bedroom with him he doesn't mind and it's just one more thing he's allergic to.
I know he's allergic to pollen and we live in the middle of a clover field. Poor guy, it's everywhere. The cats keep down our mice and rat population, so they are just necessary. You wouldn't believe how many rats were around here before the cats. They sat in the front yard like squirrels, in the middle of the day. Just aweful. I haven't seen any for over a year now. LOVE my cats.

We haven't named her yet. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Everytime we think of a name, it doesn't seem right. So far, we are calling her little kitty. We are not very creative when it comes to names. I've thought of calling her Cozy, because she looks so cozy next to the wood stove. Any help would be apprecitated.

Nikki

I'm not very clever with names myself. If you log onto ivillage.com, they used to have a page with different pet names for males & females. I don't know if they still have it, as I haven't been in that site for a long time. That's where I found our dog's name, Lacy (we spell it Lacee..DH's idea). Maybe you might find something there. Good luck. We named our stray, Mindy. DH used to get asthma attacks when we had our kitties and had to use an inhaler. They used to sleep with us, then when he became allergic, they had to stay out of our bedroom. It used to break my heart listening to them crying outside our bedroom door. I was almost tempted to tell DH to live out in the garage!

Aleka

Thanks, I'll look it up and see what there is. We have 2 cats in the garage now. DH use to say he was going to move a couch out there and live when the girls were at home. He never felt like he could go anywhere and be safe from teenage girl attitudes.
If he had asthma attacks, the cats would have to go too. He just has sinus problems and can't breathe through his nose. He has a deviated septum, which is why he has to go to the ENT Dr. Our Dr. says that this would make it so that his sinus infection never cleared up. But, the new meds he's taking seem to be helping a lot. Also, I have an air cleaner and a humidifier in the bedroom for him and I vacuum a lot. I've even thought of getting that little Roomba that runs automatically and just run it around everyday. Have you seen it on HSN or the infomercial? I don't know if it would do a good job. I'll have to watch for comments on the BB over there about it. Nikki

Nikki - there is a "gadget" guy who writes reviews for our local newspaper..... he said that the robot is "okay" - not spectacular or anything, it does an "adequate" job - whatever that means!

Hey, thanks. Adequate is probably better than what my vacuum does now. I figure, if the little thing goes over the carpet each day, it would be better than not.

Hi chicks,
Aleka- I go to tops and I know what my problem is I eat too much Thank you for the encouragement. I don't know how to get a handle on having things on hand to eat I work all day and try to have something made on my day off to have ready for the next weeks lunches eg. pizza soup. I find LC way of eating very demanding, as you are always thinking of what you are going to eat next or you are making it. There is no opening a bag, box or can to help you with meals.
So today I am going to plan my meals for the week with WW in mind and LCing. Hopefully this will kick start me into taking a few more pounds off???
Nikki-I love the name Cozy, what a Lucky{another nice name] girl she is to have found you.
Well chicks I must go and get some new recipes off of WW with lc in mind.
Love to you all,
I am so cold I think I could spit an icecube. I just made a strawberry smoothie. Must put another piece of wood on!
Oh, and still trying to get pork puffs!

Hi everyone,
Tazcat, that is the thing about LC'ing, you have to make everything. If you want to buy already made stuff, it is so expensive. I finally just started to do really simple things, like grilling chicken breasts and steaming vegetables. After awhile, I realized, I was not just LC I was also LF.

Hey, I found celery root at Walmart today. It was $2.28 a lb. I thought about you Aleka. I didn't buy it, cause our budget is pretty tight right now, but at least I can get it now. They also had fennel. I've heard it's good, has anyone tried it?

We decided to name the kitty Cocoa. She is the color of cocoa powder, only a little grayer. Such a sweet little girl. The other cats (we have 2 more) do not seem to like her much. The old female, who was also a stray and has been here for 15 years, is treating her better than our male. He just wants her to go away. We've been keeping him in the house, but he gets so rowdy at night and starts to tear the house apart. He does stuff like that to wake me up and let him outside. We are trying to get him use to her a little at a time and we're always with them.

Bye for now, Nikki

Same old..same old with the weather. It is getting a bit warmer. It was -16 deg this morning and it's now +17 deg.

nikki, Cocoa, what a cute name for your new kitty. I like it! Your male cat will come around sooner or later, it takes some cats longer than others to accept somebody new in their house. About 13 yrs. ago we had 2 cats when we brought a new Boston Terrier puppy home. When the puppy was real small, smaller than the grown up cats, they both tormented her, sometimes cornering her and she'd start squealing, then it was Mommy to the rescue After awhile they stopped, probably because she was almost their size and were afraid to torment her. I haven't found celery root at our Super Walmart. I believe when I found it in the grocery store it was around $1.99 a lb., but some of those roots weighed about 3 lb. Does fennel smell like licorice?
Sometimes I add butter or salad dressing to my veggies, just to get some fat into me.

tazcat, I also noticed that about LC, you practically have to make stuff from scratch. Sometimes it's so much easier opening up a pkg. to make something. You know it's funny, when I was SSzing we could not have green peas, which are one of my favorite veggies. Now that I'm doing WW, I can eat peas and I'm eating them constantly. Even doing WW you have to think of what you're going to eat next. I have to count up my points from breakfast & lunch, then figure out what I can have for dinner so that I won't go over my point range. Then sometimes when you're hungry and would like a snack you have to see how many points you'll be using, and whether or not if it's worth it. How will you combine WW & LC together? Are you just going to watch your carb intake? It's just to much work for me to keep track of points and carbs. Let me know how it's working for you. Hope that you warm up soon. It's supposed to be warmer within the next few days. I hope they're right.

ANNE, mauvaisroux, Sue, Jennifer, haven't heard from you in awhile. Hope you are all doing ok.

Take care and have a great weekend.
Aleka