Hey ladies! Finally sitting down after a busy day. Have a project that is going to take alot of my spare time at work for a while, so not as much computer play-time while there.

Still hot as Hades here. We were at 108 or so in the early afternoon, then a freak storm blew through and it went down to 93 within an hour or so. Now it is back up to 98 at 8:20 p.m. Back up to about 108 tomorrow.

Food has been pretty good today. I snuck a few pieces of bite size candy bars from one of the bosses candy bowls today, but otherwise on plan. I had a thin whole wheat bagel w/ turkey, sm. amt. of olive oil mayo and lettuce with some steamed green beans for supper. Made an awesome drink! I put a dab of orange juice over ice, poured in some cold club soda and a squirt of Fruit Punch MiO. It was delicious! I've been sticking to only one diet soda a day for the most part. Got in my 3 Mile Boot Camp video this morning. Going for 5 in the morning!

Got my living room cleaned this evening, some clothes washed and dishwasher unloaded and few dishes put in. Wiped down the kitchen. Going to do my bathrooms tomorrow night. Watching some TV now.

Guac-I'm sorry the woman didn't follow the anonymity rules of OA. I know enough about 12 Step programs to know that is the first thing that all teach.

FruitLady-I'd like to see your recipe for the sweet potatoes. Sounds good!

Haggis-How is the carb counting going?

BoiseShan-Corn dogs and breakfast sausage? I may have to rethink the Morningstar products. The breakfast sandwich sounds really good!

PP-Good job on logging all your food! Hope your allergies have calmed down.

Ashley-I'm sorry you have issues eating in front of others. Since I started eating healthier I'm a little more self conscious myself. People are always commenting. Most of the time it's praising how good my food looks, but sometimes slightly snide remarks. I don't like to feel uncomfortable about what I'm eating. Sometimes, if I AM eating something off-plan, I feel like I need to make a big show of it so people will see I'm "normal". Weird.

Carrisah-Welcome!!! I'm glad you are enjoying WW. I hear the program is pretty good now. I know what you mean about being surrounded by men. I have two teenage boys and a fiance who is a meat-and-potatoes type. They've all been pretty open to the healthier things I've been making for the last year and a half, though, so I'm thankful for that.

Not sure if I am going to weigh in this week or not. TOM seemed to be starting, but not normally. It was 2 weeks late, but just weird this time. I suppose menopause draws even closer. So I may be retaining fluid. I may cautiously step on the scale Friday morning. I hope I'm not horrified.

Wow Annie - sounds like a lot of cleaning for one night. The carb counting is going well. I know that I will need to cut down on some of the low carb foods, but for the first week I am just letting my body adjust. A dear friend today said I must be crazy to start a diet 3 weeks before a major move. However, the move and the diet are both empowering. the many months while the house sat on the market and we kept lowering the price were much more stressful, not knowing which school the children were going to in September, trying to second guess the macro and micro economic trends in my neighborhood, keeping the house perfectly clean at all times (can you tell cleaning does not come naturally to me?!). The uncertanty contained much more stress. Now there is a lot to do, and I have my work cut out, but I can control it (by staying up half the night to pack). I don't think this in itself would normally have been enough to get me to start a diet, but refinding this web site, combined with the opportunity for change, was enough.

Hey Ann,
Thanks for the warm welcome. Meat and potatoes is a staple at my house. Nothing like a steak on the grill, burgers, chili. ok. im done now.
lol but i know exactly what you mean.
Good luck- Friday Morning.

Ashley- I know what it feels like to be self conscience. I take a book or magazine to read at lunch time. I read and eat my lunch. Pretend others are not even there. Just remember that you a winner because your doing something about reaching your goals. And if no one else gets it, then too bad for them. The only one you have to please is you, and you just need to start to feel good about yourself.
Do something for yourself just because your you and you can.
Reward yourself- and not with food.
Having confidence is all about how you feel about yourself. Get rid of those negative feelings and you have to start changing the way you think.
Tell youself your worth it!.
I am sure it is a lot easier for me to say all this then it has been for you or for you to do these things. If ya ever need to vent, I'd be happy to listen.

Take Care all
Carissah

Aug 3
B= 2 c milk, vits
L= Acre's Chicken Gallentine, 1/2 piece bread with smear butter
S= peach
D= homemade baked pork chops, Ger Pot Salad, green beans
S= 2 PB cookies, 3 c milk
E= 10 min cardio. I started a DVD but it was just too stinking hot!

Sis leaves tomorrow so we are going out to eat before we go to the airport.

Carissah, welcome, glad to have you join us.

Ashley, I've never understood why some people need to make nasty comments about other's behavior. Do they have nothing better to think about than picking on others??? Feel sorry for them! And do what makes you happy!

Annie - 108 gross. I dont miss the hot summers where i use to live, well I do miss the boat that went with them though. It is odd how people comment on what people are eating. I have my own office and when I am on plan I totally don't care about that but if there is an occasion at the office and there is cake it stresses me out. Hope friday goes well for you.

Carissah- welcome and thanks for the encouragment. I am in a house with two men right now. I dont think I have ever had that till now. I have a daughter as well and a stepdaughter and have lived with them too, but they are grown now. My son pretty much eats nothing but protein, but then binge eats too. He works oil drilling and it is like an insane 12 hour workout so he is very in shape. I get to sit at a desk most of the day so my workout is at lunch.

My hubby just went off a medication and lost like 2 sizes. He is already small to begin with but when he went on the medication 3 years ago or so he gained alot of weight and was a 36 now his 34's are too big. It was all in his tummy mostly, mine is all over my body.... lol. So that is awesome here i work so hard and stay the same and he just goes off some meds and loses it.
Have my turkey spinach open faced sandwhich ready for lunch and some cherries.

Men do tend to lose weight much quicker than women. Wonder why? Do they retain more water? Do they have more muscle mass, and, as they say, it's easier to lose muscle weight than fat? In either case, water weight is not "true weight" and losing muscle mass isn't the goal, so perhaps a quick weight drop for a man isn't the healthiest thing - although it seems preferable to not being able to lose anything.

I so badly want to weigh myself, yet don't want to weigh myself. I want to see if I am any closer to my 179lb mini-goal. I am right in the middle of TOM, but the bloating is mostly gone by now. I think I will wait until Sunday to weigh-in (my normal weigh-in day). However, I am worried that if I don't eat well on Saturday (which happens often) that I will be disappointed with the results.

Does anyone else have this love/hate thing going on with the scale?

guac- I heard men have faster metabolisms, that's why can lose so quickly. not fair!
Annie- you sound like me, I do that cleaning every night, I'm a clean freak. I'll post that recipe when I have more time, you'll love it.
Ashley- Men can just cut back a little on eating for a day or two and lose weight. Not fair at all!

Walked 50min. temp was down to 75 degrees today, but drizzling on & off.
Felt good. I went over calories again, by 300! Made another recipe I found on the back of a Kraft Fat Free mozzarella cheese bag, it was good and i ate 2 servings! Still losing weight, I think the water weight is finally gone. Now I just have to get through the weekend without overeating, and maybe I'll get closer to my goal.

Fruitlady....getting through the weekend without overeating is my problem too. Why are the weekends so hard? Went to another OA meeting tonight. I think I am getting more comfortable with the format. Got one of the books in the mail today called, "Beyond Our Wildest Dreams." It's about the history of how Overeaters Anonymous began. Hopefully, I will start to read it over the weekend.

Aug 4
B= 2 c milk, vits
L= 1/2 slice buttered bread, 1/2 Orchetta Pasta w chicken
D= Salad, 2 slices sausage pizza
S= handful choc chips
S= apple w PB
E= too hot!

I'm having my second eye surgery tomorrow! I'm excited to be able to see better. I didn't realize how bad my vision had gotten again since my cataract surgery until the blurry film was removed!

Good morning ladies! Mind if I jump in here? I am trying to get back on the wagon with healthy eating and exercising. And I need some accountability and of course support!
I do great during the day but usually end up bingeing at night. (I know I spelled that wrong!) I will even get candy or something. How stupid is that? On the days I am good I feel so proud of myself!
Do any of you guys use myfitnesspal?
Patchwork - Hope the eye surgery was a success!
Guac - Is OA working for you? seems to be. hhmmm.....
Annie & FruitLade - you guys looks great in your pics! I can't wait til I have the confidence to put a pic on here!

Thanks for letting me jump in!

Wanted to update that the Dr fixed my eye. Its sore and dialated but doing good!

patch-I was reading what your meals were on the 4th, I eat way more than you. It would take me all day to post my food on here! LOL
RealMe- Welcome!

Here is the recipe for - Light & Spicy Scalloped sweet potatoes

3 lg. sweet potatoes, peeled
1 lg. onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1 Tbsp. ground cumin( can swap for rosemary)
1 Tsp. ground coriander( can swap for thyme)
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese( I used Parmesan)
1 tsp hot sauce( optional)

Preheat oven to 400, slice peeled sweet potatoes & onion as thinly as possible. Chop garlic. Spray 9x13 glass pan w/ cooking spray. Layer 1/2 of the sweet potatoes, sprinkle 1/3 of spices over it. Then layer the onions & garlic on top of it, sprinkle 1/3 of spices on it. Layer on the rest of potatoes & remaining spices. Pour on the milk, top w/ cheese. Bake 20min covered, remove cover & bake another 10min. Veggies should be tender & cheese golden brown. Enjoy!


Did good today, over calories again, but all good food. I'm ok with that!
walked 36 min. Tomorrow I go for my fruits and veggies, happy day!

Hey everyone! I have been an infrequent member here and I hope to be around more as time allows I have had such wonderful support here over the last two years!! :hug

I am almost at goal, Wow!! I feel great and I am so much healthier than I was a mere two years ago. I am proud of myself and I dare say, I look great too Does anyone know how I can make pics smaller, so I can upload an updated avatar? I have no clue on how to do that, I have an hp netbook using windows if that helps, thanks in advance on that one, haha.

Keep up the great work everyone and I hope to be at my goal within the next month or so. Have a great weekend!!!!!

I'm getting a haircut today. I've been letting the pixie grow out so now my hair is a tad past my shoulders, but its shaggy and unkept looking. I'm sure
Angie can fix me!

I've been walking around without my glasses for part of the morning and didn't realize I didn't have them on! I can't believe all the detail I can see and the bright colors that I thought were much dimmer!

Hydra, welcome back

FL, thanks for posting the recipe!

RealMe, welcome, glad to have you join us!

Hi gang!

PP-I'm glad the surgeries helped your eyes so much!!

FL-I'm going to try that recipe sometime. Thanks!

Hi Hydra! Nice to see you again. I think if you go to a photo storage site (I use Photobucket), you can resize your pics there. After you download the pic, use the edit function.

I am so disgusted with myself. I have eaten so many off-plan things in the last 24 hours (and not in a healthy way; I usually allow for them and cut in other areas) and I just feel horrible. I've had 2 fried chicken fingers w/ honey mustard yesterday afternoon, 2 scoops of ice cream at Braum's, several light beers last night and chinese food (egg roll, crab rangoon and a shrimp/chicken dish w/ fried rice) since yesterday afternoon. I still have a burger place to go to today. Fiance wants to go back to this local place we found. I guess I can get a grilled chicken sandwich, but know I won't be able to pass up their homemade onion rings. I'll get back on the wagon tomorrow, I guess. Bleh.

In other news.....my foundation work on my home is going to cost about $10,000. I don't know where I'm going to get the money. I'll start calling on that Monday morning. It looks like it's going to be another 20 years before I can get new furniture at this rate.