Ladies: Good afternoon. How is everyone? I'm okay -- very, very tired. And frustrated. I could points, and gained 0.4. Which is basically maintenance. And Mom and I talked about this, and I have to maintain perspective -- I've lost less than 1 pound <b>a month</b>, so 2.5 pounds last week + gaining .4 this week means -- still ahead of the game. It's just frustrating, you know what I mean? But I am taking it as a blip, and I am going to keep on keeping on, as you always say, Judy. I am actually thinking about adding 2 or 3 points a day to my base points. I know it doesn't fit in with my weight and WW's calculations, but here is my thought process -- on Monday, I was too tired to work out. Tuesday I managed to work out, but I felt weaker and more dizzy than usual. Wednesday I had to work until 9 pm, and although I had an apple at 5, when I cracked my back at 7 pm (which I do by putting my arms behind my back, leaning over and bringing up my arms above my head), and I stood back up, there were silver specks everywhere, and my head buzzed, and I had to sit down and grab a chair before for a few seconds before the feeling passed. That never happens to me. And then Thursday, I did spinning, and I had to duck out after 20 minutes because I was light-headed -- I spent some quality time lying down on the locker-room bench, and it took several tries before I could get up and go very far. I ate a small piece of an energy bar and rested, and then I felt well enough to drive home, but still a little weird. That is also very unusual for me. Spinning often makes me a little light headed, but I ease back, and it passes. I'm wondering if maybe I'm not eating enough for my activity level, even though I eat my AP's. Or it's possible that I'm not eating enough before, but I'm eating enough after -- which doesn't explain the problem Wednesday, when I didn't work out at all. So I'm upping my daily points base points by 4 when I go to SF, so we'll see if that helps. I don't know. I hope so. If not, my next step is to cut off those 4 points again and reduce my dinner points in order to eat a bigger snack before working out -- that's hard to do -- my dinner is usually 6 points of a main meal, plus 2 pts for a cup of milk and 1 point for a serving of fruit (plus free veggies) -- I can cut back on that, but I would hate to do so, I am usually SO hungry after working out. Anyway, I just wanted to vent and share my thoughts with my fellow turtles.
Judy -- Re: small weight gain: I think you have an excellent attitude. It's important to understand that (and physician heal thyself, I know!), four steps forward and one step back is STILL three steps forward net. So not gaining as much as you ordinarily would on vacation is a definite success. Congrats!
We are all making major behavioral changes in our lives, and part of making change is taking things slowly. What is the pass program? Is that how you and princess get free e-tools? I have to pay $15 a month if I want that.
Mostly I just want the recipe calculator. Re trip tips: Thank you, Judy. Those are good tips, and I think they'll help. <crosses fingers> Re Jail Food: I love it. That's exactly how i feel about the healthy food I have to eat when others around me are not eating healthily. My new mantra is -- "it's about the trip, it's not about the food, it's about the trip, it's not about the food." Let's see if I can convince myself of that.
Re support and posting -- I will keep posting as much as I can. We are all here to help each other.
Re tracking: thank you! I'm surprised I made it this far, honestly -- maybe it's because I genuinely believe it will work in the long run, even at a gut level. I guess that's the difference. Also, carrying my tracker in my purse means I have it everywhere I go, there's never an excuse not to track. That may not have stopped me before. We'll see. Re meetings: maybe that's why you need. It's worth a shot, right?
Princess: Sounds like you have a fun weekend planned out!
Thank you for the tips, I will try some of those things. I love the WW candies, but I never eat more than one or two every few hours -- if I eat a whole pack of them -- well, let's just say that they upset my gastrointestinal system. You know what I mean?
But they're great in small doses, I substitute one after lunch or dinner instead of the piece of chocolate that I used to eat. I am rather fond of my all-bran bars, which are fairly tasteless, but high in fiber and about 1.5 points -- I call them Sawdust bars, but they're a good snack for when you're really hungry... Re WI: good luck!!! Re my trip: Thank you, I'm looking forward to it!
Well, ladies, have a good weekend! I'm going out with J tonight to a movie and ice cream. Tomorrow night I'm also going to another movie and out to dinner with a friend. Enjoy yourselves, and write when you get a chance.
(As an FYI, Monday is probably the last day you'll hear from me for a while. I leave home at noon on Tuesday, and I return to the town where I live (I have to drive 2.5 hours just to get to my parent's house and the airport we're flying out of), on June 25. So you'll probably hear from me June 26, after Monday. Take care!
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Yay! It's working for you because you're working for it! 
: Weigh to go! That is a phenomenol weight loss. I think it's great that you worked through your slight gain in the week you upped your exercise and kept on going rather than letting discouragement get you down (and off program). Look at the results. It's so good we have the Turtles to remind us of what has happened in the past and the good results if we keep on doing the right thing. Glad you had such a fun weekend and the horse was a good one! Yay.