Carol - Don't worry about your little "splurge" it's good to go off plan now and then. You're doing great with your food choices and exercise so it will soon pay off on the scale. It must be very gratifying in your line of work to see your clients happy. They must have had a great time at college staying overnight in the dorms. What age range are your clients? I often wonder what kind of situations they may be in and how you help them out. Bear must have given you a bit of a scare again. He's getting quite adventurous - must be the "teenage years" for him! We can't let our kitties out for the same reason - those darned coyotes. One of our kitties is so small a big crow could probably carry him off!

Judy - That must have been such a pain having alarm drills all day - talk about torture! I hope they don't do it too often. Good for you sticking to your diet log. It's really sad that New Orleans still is in such bad shape, I guess they must have concentrated on fixing up the "tourist" areas and not the surrounding suburbs. I wonder if they will ever rebuild some of those places - especially the ones where they are prone to flooding.

Marie - Sorry to hear you have all that DOE stuff to do. Seems like the education system is bogged down in paperwork these days. When I went to school the Head Mistress did any necessary clerical work. There weren't any clerical staff at all and it was quite a big school. But this was back in the prehistoric times before lawsuits, etc. Here's some more willpower dust in case you need it: Don't backslide like me - it's so disheartening. No food is worth beating yourself up over.

Emma - I hope you get an energy boost today . How did your Tae Bo tape go?

Nikki - Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you and hoping you're feeling better.

I weighed in at 188 today! Yay! I had actually gone up to 190 and didn't want to see that number on my tracker, so I've really lost 2 lbs. as I was showing 189 on my tracker. The only things I'm doing different is having dried apricots and peanuts for snacks instead of a biscotti or piece of chocolate (same calories) and I've cut out having a glass of wine or a cocktail every couple of days. I'm going to look for some other kinds of dried, unsulphured fruits as I like the chewiness better than fresh fruit sometimes. It's a bit harder to find the unsulphured kind so I'm going to check out Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) Have a great weekend everyone!

Janelle - We just posted at the same time! I'm glad to hear everything is going so well for you - congratulations on the loss! The gain on the scale today must be water weight as it's hard to actually gain that much so quickly without eating about 7,000 extra calories! Here's some willpower dust to keep the cookie monster at bay

I can't wait to head home today! I got a lot of work done at the office, but it was primarily tedious work with lists and I thought it would never end. But it did...at least for now. I am in a mood to see a movie, but I'm also in the mood to much (TOM has officially started) so I will just head home where I don't have nacho chips, giant boxes or candy or hot buttered popcorn around to tempt me. I may still go to the theater over the weekend--prepared with my own safe snacks .

Janelle, congrats on seeing a new, low number on the scale. Does "liking" someone a lot help burn calories? But no wonder you ate too many cookies. Are you sure that you weren't hungry? You were probably starving by the end of the day.

Hey, Penny, hooray for you, too! . I like dried fruits, too, but I will go overboard on them, so I can't have them in the house. I just bought a little bag of trail mix for a special treat, then noticed that the little bag is seven servings! I could easily down half the bag without thinking twice, so I poured out 1/4 cup and put the rest away. I'll be at Whole Paycheck and/or Trader Joe's this weekend, too, getting some of my favorite frozen foods.

Carol, it sounds like you have been having some fun! Enjoy your walks, it will be winter again before you know it...

I'm on program today (except for the trail mix treat), and will do a cardio workout when I get home. So far no progress on the scale, so maybe I will borrow Penny's or Janelle's. One of my coworkers mentioned how great I'm looking lately, so maybe I'm just tightening up. That's okay, too, but I want it all!

judy

Penny, thanks so much for the encouragement and the will power dust ...

They must've done the trick 'cuz I've done really good today, the last 3 cookies are still here and I'm giving them to Frank when he comes down tonight.

Way to go with weighing in at 188, I've got a ways to go before I see that number but at least I'm on my way, right?

Judy, thanks for the congrats!

Hmmm, not sure about whether liking someone a lot burns calories or not but it's sure working out really well for me anyways.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I was not hungry 'cuz I didn't feel hungry at all when for some silly reason, I thought it was a good idea to eat them [which of course, it wasn't! *lol*]


It sounds like you've done really good today with staying on plan and don't need the dust but if you need some of mine - I'm more than willing to share.

I'm sitting here darned near half asleep and have no idea why ... I'm much more of a high-energy person usually,

I have to be up and moving and getting things done and for the past 3-4 days, it's been about totally the opposite and I hate it.

The only thing I can think to attribute it to and this could be way off base but since the 27th of July until this past Sunday,

I've had 4 people who I was very close to ... die [and one of them was one of the love's of my life and even though we weren't together yet, I still loved him.]

Well, I guess I've blabbed enough for now but I'll try to keep up with you all and the posts here,

At first, it's kind of hard I think because everyone knows everyone here and I really don't [yet] but will get to know you all and keep up as best as I can.

Love,

Jennelle

Jennelle - I just realized I've been spelling your name wrong - so sorry, my bad! I'm sorry to hear of your recent losses - it must be very tough for you losing 4 people you were close to. I'm glad you've been staying on plan, that number WILL go down on that darned scale. Keep up the good work!


Whadda ya know - I just realized we've both lost 37 lbs.!

Jennelle, welcome back. I was glad to see your post. I know it's hard to join an established group but know that WE ALL love to have you here. You'll get to know us and we'll get to know you. Congrats on the lowest weight in 7 years. You are so close to ONEderland. It's awesome when you hit that milestone.

Penny, way to go on the loss. I have an upward 10 number from vacation. I still hate looking at the scale. I want the 160's back again.

Carol, you know, you enjoyed the buffet and you didn't go for seconds. If that isn't a major accomplishment, I don't know what is. You rock lady!!!

Judy, wholy moley, I would have so much have gone home with the alarm testing. Why didn't they test it after hours??? Good job on staying with coach and you measured the trail mix so that's a success. Very excellent.

Nikki, I sure hope you're feeling better.

Well, my message might be a bit shorter. I crashed on my bike this morning. Definitely I'm hurt - typing with one hand type of thing - the left one is in a splint. I went over the handle bars and caught with my left boob and wrists on the pavement. I was bad - no helmet so I protected my head as I went. I'd sworn years ago to always wear a helmet rollerblading and now it's extended to biking and I'm going to add it to skiing. I'm just accident prone. So the left ribs and boob are very painful. I just sneezed and then I swore right after. I feel every day of my 46 years at the moment.

Yesterday's stats: 1540 cals (yeah, it's about time) and 1.5 miles walking. Today DH brought me to DQ to nurse my wounds and I had a small blizzard for lunch. So far then I'm up to 800 cals for the day, so I should be fine. And I biked 10 miles before crashing. Walked .6 miles with the doggies early this morning. Tomorrow I'm thinking exercise might be hard, but DH said he'd go for a slow walk with me. He's a sweetie. And boy he pedalled fast to get the Jeep to retrieve me. And the couple that stayed with me I happen to know - they'd retired from the district about 4 years ago. So that was cool.

Marie

Jennelle ~ I'm sorry for your losses, its really hard to cope with these things and then watch your food and exercise, but you're doing an excellent job and soon you'll see onederland so hang in there. I'm new to this thread too but the ladies have been very nice and welcoming, I'm sure it won't take long for us to get to know everyone better

Judy ~ I ditched a movie date with friends yesterday too because the first thing that came into my head when they were talking about the movies was the nachos!. I really wanted to watch that movie but I knew for sure that if I did go I would've got nachos and scarfed down the whole thing! I'm wondering what snacks do you usually take with you to the movies? all I can think of is ff popcorn.

Marie ~ Ouch, that must've hurt! Its good that you had someone with you, paddling back home with your injuries would've been very painful. I hope you're feeling better. You are hurt but you seem to be doing okay exercise and food wise which is great. Go easy on yourself for a few days

The gym I go to had power problems for the last 2 days, and although I do have a treadmill at home (which is old and makes squeaky sounds -but still works) I took it as an excuse not to exercise.. ugh!
The first thing I'll do when I get home is get 1 hour of cardio!
Food was not so bad, I went off course and had a bite or two of chocolate cake, it wasn't worth it. I regained control and went right back on track, I'm doing good today had bran flakes for bfast, apricots for a snack, have a salad packed for lunch will plan dinner when I get home.
My birthday is exactly 1 month from today (19 Sept) I'm setting a little goal for myself: I want to be down 6 (or more!) pounds before then, will add it to my signature, try to stay on course and see what happens

I hope everyone else is doing okay!

Penny the ages are 22 and up I have on client 70. So quite a variety. Its an interesting job I ensure their medical appts are kept up with, desires, wants, safety and all services run smoothly. I oversee their needs being met etc. Good loss for you!!!
Jennelle sorry for your loss and its not easy to get through. But sounds like your doing better and that is good for you stay focused and make some changes your in control now!!!
Marie thanks for your kind words. I have been really good the last two days fitting in those back exercises a.m. and p.m. You have been so strong before in losing and I know you can do it again. Like me we both put a little back on but we are both aware of how to take control to get them dang lbs. off to so lets go. Of course its our wedding anniversary today so I am going out to dinner. Had a party for birthdays yesterday but didn't go too crazy. At some careabo spelling that wrong I am sure. I actually threw away a little sand. with meatballs as it just didn't taste all that great and wasn't worth the cals. A relaxing day with the family members though. Oh my I remember when my daughter was 16 and flipped over her handle bars going down a hill when she put the front brakes on her lip was so messed up etc. You poor thing trying to make good of some exercise time and down like that AWE I feel so bad hope your not feeling worse today but thats the norm. I wish it didn't happen so sorry feel better soon. Wow 10 miles is cool though don't think I could do that hope your back on that bike soon and show it who's boss.
Emma sounds like your doing well with your exercise thats the area I need to improve for sure. I don't go to the movies often but taking in your own popcorn is possible if you buy those small snack size ones and microwave it at home. For a drink try a white tea with raspberry take a big purse and have a good time don't stay home take control. You go girl !
*****Nice learning more about you newbies and remember we were all new at some pt. I am going to fill you in a little and maybe the other girls can follow so you know a bit about us.
I am a young 53 yr. old gram of 4 soon to be 5 grandkids. Have 3 adult children 1 boy whom lives in HI with his lovely wife, 2 locally only 5 min. away. I am married and have been forever 35 yrs. today. I am a very independent woman and like to do many things. I try to live everyday to its fullest fitting in as much as possible. My hubby is disabled from a disease and so sometimes I have a little added stress handling things. But he is great and does as much as possible. We live in the country and I work in the human service field with MR population adults. My hobbies are kayaking, knitting, quilting, cooking, baking, gardening, camping, going to the casino a bit, etc. You offer me something to do and I am there. I enjoy doing many different things and spending time with my family. We have many celebrations and its a laugh to all the spouses who's birthday is it now!!! My mom is 85 and I am pleased to still have her around she is an inspiration to me. Well thats it hope it helps to learn a bit about us we all enjoy this site and everyones support. I still have about 10lbs to lose. One wouldn't think thats much but its hard to get off but I will reach my goal someday.

Marie - I'm sorry to hear of your mishap on your bike. I hope you're not too sore today. Take it a bit easy with the exercise till you're up to it.

Emma - Good luck on your birthday goal! Way to go getting right back on track after being tempted by the chocolate monster You were very wise to avoid the movies if it involved nachos, etc. I usually find that I start craving those things if I fall off the wagon too often. I've gotten used to not having anything to snack on at the movies. There's no law that you HAVE to eat while watching! If you feel you have to eat something to fit in, you could sneak in some low cal popcorn in a big purse (they can be pretty snarky at some theaters about bringing in outside food).

Carol - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! .
You have quite an age range of your clients you are responsible for. I'm sure they would have really missed you if you had taken that other job. It would be hard not to get emotionally attached to your clients - so much different dealing with real people rather than just paperwork.

Judy, Nikki & Jennelle - I hope your weekend is going fine.

We celebrated my birthday yesterday by going out to a nice place for brunch. We had a light lunch and then to a good sushi place for dinner. I did ok on the calories except for a pastry from the best french bakery in town - a bit of a splurge but sooo worth it! I counted it as my "birthday cake". Better that than having a whole cake hanging around and calling my name! My DH gave me a nice silver necklace and some of my favorite Spanish perfume. I did tons of yard work so I probably burned off a lot of those calories. We had quite a rain storm last night and everything is lovely and fresh this morning. My garden is starting to look how I want it - an "English Cottage Garden". I don't see it as such a chore anymore as I can now sit back sometimes and just enjoy looking at it. Once we get the new retaining wall built I'm going to extend the flower bed all the way along the side of the house. We're going to get another wrought iron arbor and bench for that area. I can hardly wait to start my new garden project.

Morning all,

Happy Belated Birthday Penny! I forgot it was yours as I was obsessed with not forgetting it was my moms (and I didn't forget), Aug 18th is a good birthday. Sounds like you had a great day.

Carol, happy anniversary!!! That many years is awesome!!!

Emma, stopping on choc cake after just a couple bites us wonderful. Pat youself on the back for that one, Not sure I'd be so good.

I'll follow Carol's example... I'm 46 yo married mother of 2 adult sons and grandma to one adorable grandson. DS1 just moved 800 miles away with DGS so that's different. DS2 lives with DH and me and will be starting college in a month for mechanical engineering. He's in his 2nd year of the air natl guard. I'm a database manager and webmaster for a school district. I am mommy to the two most gorgeous (and naughty) huskies in the land. I am obsessed with them and make no apologies for that. In other words I'm an animal lover. I should have been a vetrinarian but hurting animals to heal them was the drawback. I'm also a stained glass artist, rollerblader, skier and I love to bicycle except yesterday... And walk - I do lots of that.

DH and I did take the doggies for a 1.5 mile stroll this am. I can't take deep breaths as the ribs and chest are too bruised. But we did the walk leisurely. I don't know about tomorrow as Kody pulls on his leash and I couldn't take that, For now, swimming is out as I can't lift my arm, so exercising will be day by day.

Last thing as typing one hand is too hard - I wanted to make M&M cookies. I kept making myself wait and the urge is gone. I kept telling myself I'd be screwing up the cals so I didn't do it. I'm pretty happy with that.

Yesterday's stats: 1512 cals (including the 630 cal blizzard) and 10 miles biking and .6 mile walking.

Marie

Penny, happy birthday . You had a lovely day, good meals and good choices.

Carol, happy anniversary! I hope that you have a romantic evening.

Marie, you are in much better spirits about your fall than I would have been, I'm quite the little whiner

Jennelle, I'm sorry that you've been feeling melancholoy around these dates. It takes a lot longer to grieve sometimes than we think. I am not looking forward to 9/11. I lived in NYC in 2001, and while each year the date seems more ordinary, it does bring up lots of memories of that day and the months just afterward.

Emma, good luck with your b-day goal! I have one too, to be under 200 by mid-December (hmm, I'd better get on the stick!). Re movies: I like to bring sliced veggies, a cheese stick, nuts or my own mini-popcorn. If you've got stuff tucked into a bag, I don't think you get a hassle from the movie ushers.

So about me: I'm single, a few months away from 50 years old, work the nonprofit sector. I enjoy working out and eating right, but I enjoy the opposite even more . I've been stuck in this decade of pounds all year, and trying to bust out (downward) by Labor Day.

I've been on program all weekend, and worked out yesterday (weights and cardio) and today (50 minutes of gym machines). I spent a lot time yesterday cleaning out my stash of articles about fitness, weight loss and success stories, and ran across past diet logs (or attempts at logging), going back to 2003. So I had a lot of mixed emotions...it's taken over three years to lose 30 pounds, but I'm still at it! I will celebrate two weeks of logging faithfully and sticking to the program by adding one serving of grain (oatmeal or qunioa) and one other starch to my day's plan. Maybe I've gone down too low. Today I'm having dinner at a friend's house, so I will make good choices.

See ya tomorrow!

judy

I like the introductions thing carol started so here is mine: I'm 25 years old (26 in September), single but would like to have kids someday. I'm in the IT outsourcing business, currently working as a helpdesk supervisor. My job is really stressful, trying to calm down angry customers, keeping the helpdesk agents motivated, running reports and metrics, making sure that we don't break any agreements with our clients (some of them want phones answered within 6 seconds!) while keeping everything up and running. I'm always running around between client sites, getting things done, meeting people, running projects on the side etc. So, yeah, all fun!
I've previously mentioned this, I'm diagnosed with PCOS (weight gain, hair loss, periods that never come on time etc) and have been on bcps which is one half of the cure, the other half is to lose/control my weight. its like a loop, pcos causes the weight, weight won't come down, have to lose weight to control pcos. But I'm getting there

Thanks for the ideas on snacks for the movies! I really like the veggies & cheese idea. Will remember to take my own snacks next time I go.

Carol ~ Happy anniversary - will try the snack thing, have a huge bag, so will use it when I go to the movies next.

Penny ~ Love english gardens! Good luck with that, maybe you can share pictures once its all done

Marie ~ I hope you're feeling better today, 10 miles is amazing you go girl! I'm always tempted to make my fav dishes but I try not to and it helps that I don't have all the ingredients at home

Judy ~ I too keep my old logs and articles from magazines and the web. I sometimes look back for inspiration and recipes etc. I also want to add before & during/after pics. Yay for staying on the program during the weekend & the workout!

Hope everyone else is doing okay! - Gotta get back to work, later!

Penny sounds like your b day was fun and enjoyable. Your garden sounds pretty. I need to take a few pictures so I remember where things are planted as the bloom at different times etc. But thats kind of fun seeing diff. stuff come up. I put in a few rose of sharons yesterday little ones, bleeding heart red. I wish you were closer we could share plants. Oh maybe we could send each other some? Just a thought.
Marie glad your on a mend sounds sore. Good job saying no to the cookies I know how hard it is. I am going to make some zucc. bread and need to look up a low cal recipe. I have done my back exercises for the a.m. trying to do them as soon as I put the coffee on. Bear is getting better about leaving me alone while I do them. Thank goodness. I am off to work today and am going to call Golds gym I hear that they are honoring my gym membership which is still closed. This gym is new and beautiful and all the higher folks can afford it not normally me. But it has a lovely pool and that would be nice and a great workout area and all the machines are fairly new and top of the line so working out could be enjoyable there. I am calling this a.m. and maybe going after work. If it works out for me.
Judy my romanic evening was going to dinner with our friends whom are in town from FL. But it was nice and we enjoyed there company. Wish my hubby was a bit more romanic but I can't say he is. At least I got a card and went for dinner.
Judy taking that long is okay as you can be proud that you have achieved keeping them off. Now thats the main thing not yo yo dieting so much. We all slip and fall but the main thing is knowing enough to pick ourselves up before it goes to far. We all enjoy a little cal. extra here and there at least I do but knowing that its monday and the weekend splurge is over is important. Next weekend no big bashes so I hope to accomplish staying on program for a whole week. That is this weeks goal. I too run through my old logs once in awhile at times there good as reminders of what I was doing during a loss. I have read a lot about logging and it seems to be a very important part of losing and keeping it off. I am not always faithful in logging all day everyday but I am trying to be better. Skipped the scale this a.m. but will do it on tues.
Judy I am proud of your accomplishments and your always so honest and thats a blessing in itself.
Jigglybits I was on the Sparks.com site and was reading up on some of the info. regarding PCOS as I wasn't to knowlegable on it. There are some folks on there too with some good ideas on dealing with wt. mtg. and that disease yah might want to ck. it out as a reference never know what you might pick up or learn. Just a thought in your direction. Just type in PCOS info. and you should get to it if your interested.
I picked up some dried fruit mixture for work. It has 120 cals. per serving 1/3 cup so I measured it out and will take it for my 10:00 snack. I read that eating 6 small meals is very good for you. I am not sure if I could do it all together daily but having a morning and afternoon snack seems to help keep me going and not straving when I walk in the door. I am also trying to drink 2 glasses of water in the a.m. before work. This will help get in my servings for the day. Good luck today on staying on plan and making a change in your lifestyle.

Hi everyone-

Jiggly welcome to the group.


I am so behind on the board that responding personaly to all of you would take forever. But, I will be posting regularly starting now. So I am sure I will catch up with all of you soon.

I have decided that I will go back to watching what I eat but not go low carb. At least for now I am going to just eat healthy.

Nikki

Good Morning, Friends!

Well, I just got up and weighed myself and am at 204 which I've been at for the past 3 days so ... that makes an even 40 pounds.

Thank you all for your condolences, it's been really tough ... especially since one of them was a close neighbor [she lived 3 doors down the hall from me.]

And, with my ex-boyfriend ... well, I still absolutely refuse to let myself think about it, or to believe it.

Penny, don't worry about having spelled my name wrong 'cuz people do it all the time.

It sounds like you've been doing a good job with losing too [it feels great, doesn't it?!]

By the way ... Happy Birthday [sorry I'm late with the wishes but that's me, I always seem to be running behind in things. ]

Marie, thanks so much for your nice welcome and also for the encouragement!

I can't wait to hit under 200! The past 2 days I haven't gone overboard but have eaten more than normal but it's back on track starting this a.m.

I am so sorry that you had a crash on your bike, when I read that - I could nearly feel your pain.

I hope you get feeling better soon and get over your soreness.

Jigglybits, staying on plan with eating wasn't all that hard even with losing so many in such a short time but exercise?

Uhmmm, well ... I've been off-track with that for a way long time and just can't seem to get myself started again.

I know I should start making myself walk but just haven't had the energy to do it, I guess.

I hate to ask this, especially since I'm new here but is there a way that you could put a space between your paragraphs?

I have severe ADD and it's nearly impossible for me to read text that is all run together without any breaks in it.

Please don't be upset with me for asking this but I'd hate to miss anything by not being able to read all of what you wrote.

It's embarrassing having to ask but I have to even skip over any type of web pages that don't have breaks [too much text so close just totally overwhelms me.]

Cacmsc ... Yes, I am doing better and am doing all I can to stay focused.

It's weird though 'cuz when I had like 15-20 pounds to lose, I could not wait to get to onederland but now when I'm so close - I don't feel as desperate to get there.

Is that weird or what? Maybe it's 'cuz I know that it's just a matter of time before I do 'cuz I'm so close ... not sure if that's why or not.

Happy Belated Anniversary!

Judy, that had to be so hard with living in NYC on 9/11 ... I mean, it was horrid for the entire country but I can imagine it was even worse living there at the time. How terrifying [and devastating!]

Guess I ought to get before this gets book-length. Have a good day everyone!

Love,

Jennelle