Maryblu, what a beautiful garden! How creative to differ the heights and colors the way you've done! Gardening is one of my non-food passions, and I can't wait to dig in next spring. I was hoping to plant some bulbs this fall but, until the fence gets put in I can't even put pencil to paper and make a design. So we'll see. If I have a fence by October 1, I may be asking your advice.

I hope everyone's day has gone well. It's 2 days in a row on plan for me. Wow, like a Cubs winning streak: 2 in a row.

Happy Tuesday,
L

Hello everyone,

Maryblu- loved the garden- When I was kid there seem to be snow on the ground from Oct to MId June- we grew nothing. You place looks beautiful!
hope you have fun and support in your new group-pass on your wisdom to us.

Liannie-Yeah on 2 good days-that comfort food eating is the tough one for me. Either crave the food itself or the easy of preparation or purchase. Just open a bag and there it is-some wonderful tasty high carb, high cal treat. Versus cleaning, peeling, cutting, cooking and measuring some low cal healthy meal-add being tired and/or emotional - what a battle for me.

Girly so glad WW is the one for you and your doing great!

Veronica-thinking of you

I am really struggling with getting my diet mojo working. Went on the WW site and still rather fumbling around. It is a bit of pain to go from cal counting to now doing the points. whine, whine, The real problem is that I am acting like a fat person and just dam* well don't care to think like a thin one. After all the months of weighing, measuring, limiting foods and counting and recording everything, I am just rebelling about going back. I have the Last Meal of the Condemned attitude( for days)-went shopping "over the hill" and ate both at a Thai and Mexician resturante along with having an Ice Cream cone from B&R-if one treat was good, 6 are better.

I have been recording pnts today and am sure that I''ll finish today on target. I am finding there is an amazing amounts of points due to large starting weight. I do wonder if I was eating too little earlier as ww has me eat about 3500 cal a week more than I was.-Plus I swim for an reduction of another 1500 cal a week. The scary part to WW is dealing with wider range of food-I understand using some points for a treat but I am scared that I can't handle it. Kind of like offering the one drink to someone who has been sober for months. what will happen? Yet so bored with the older strict regime. Sure hope I will continue to be on target.

I have to do something-do not want to regain the Weight-I want to weight LESS.

sue

Hey everyone, we made it half-way through the week! Nothing exciting going on here, hope you all are good. I'm sooo annoyed at my SO for not cleaning anything in the house. He's been promising for 3 days to do the dishes. I've not been doing them because I think he should do at least one chore around the house. (He stays home all day with our daughter. I know being a stay-at-home parent isn't easy, but I watch her all weekend and still manage to clean the whole place, do laundry, and grocery shopping and everything else). I think I'm going to go for a walk and leave them for him. If I stay here, the filth will get to me! Can you tell this is a sore spot for me?! He's lucky I love him, haha!

In thoughts actually related to weight loss, I've been trying to pay attention to my hunger a lot more so I can actually learn when my body needs more food. I've noticed that I seem to get stomach hunger, which only gets worse until I eat, and sort of a throat hunger, which is a tingling feeling in the back of my throat that feels like I'm hungry, but if I can ignore it or pay attention to something else it goes away. I swear, our bodies are nuts! Does anyone else get this? I'm totally perplexed. I never thought that my body would be against me, only my mind.

I also got a copy of "The Thin Books," which have neat daily meditations/thoughts/mental exercises for compulsive eaters for every day for a year. Today's is trying not to take your problems tooo seriously all the time and learning to laugh at yourself. In that spirit, I'm going to go laugh at my pigsty of a house!

coastalsue - Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts! I hope you finish out the day okay with your WW points. I can see how the transition from calories to points could be hard, a whole new set of numbers to memorize. bleg!

Hey All,

Sue, I'm right there with you on that comfort food thing. A momentary pleasure trip at the end of a spoonful of something creamy and fatty seems like it's the answer to everything sometimes, doesn't it? And you are SO right about all the chopping, cooking, etc. That's why I eat fast food salads and Subway subs sometimes---just for a break from the kitchen.

And Veronica, I ate cake this afternoon that a friend brought in from her daughter's birthday party and the sugar really sparked my cravings. I wasn't able to eat dinner because I wanted to stay under 1600 calories today, so I left work hungry tonight. I can tolerate the "empty stomach" feeling but the cravings were pretty intense. How I wanted to just hit a drive through and chow down! For me it's an unsettled, edgy feeling that seems to eminate from my throat and stomach. I really WANT the food, whether I'm physically hungry or not. Tonight I resisted because I didn't want to hate myself in the morning.

Girly, I hope you're out there kickin butt on those fat cells.

Maryblu, let us know how your group goes.

Gotta go now. Bedtime calls.

L

Dear All,

First a quick clarification.......what you saw was two of my MANY gardens....I have two more that size, one huge shade garden and an entire bank that has been naturalized with ferns and daylilies, and then my BIG flower garden....BIG..the backbone of it is Garden Phlox, with lilies, Monarda, Rudbeckia, Shasta Daisies, hostas, and hmmm..lots more besides. And I have a brand new one all prepped and ready to plant, and the garden hose laid out for a third garden beyond the two you saw in the picture. Never let it be said I can't be obsessive...lol....

On to the discussion at hand.....my Beck support group and a big surprise today...I see a pyschologist, just a good "check up from the neck" as Zig Ziegler loves to say........hadn't seen him since May..walked in today......and BANGO.....he was the incredible shrinking shrink! He has lost over 60 #s!! Wow. Since we spend so much time discussing my wt. I thought it only fair to discuss his.....It was great to see, and just goes to show, all of us have our demons and our struggles, no matter how smart or successful, and he has chosen to take one of his on and win!!

Sue, I have seen so many people be successful with WW. It is the one diet that seems to help everyone who follows it.....and I know that when I lost my wt. initially, I didn't cut back too much at all.....just ate less, felt less full, and lost 5 #s a month......it is such a mistake for people with a lot to lose to be too drastic in the beginning. I think the point thing with WW is ingenious.....not only does it absolutely make sense to base the pts. on how much you weigh, but the way the pts. are calculated is ingenious.....calories, fat, fiber.......period........lol.....you don't have any wiggle room.....fried chicken has its calories from fat and there is NO fiber........eat it and pay the points penalty! Ingenious.....lol......I hope you trust it and do it, cuz the people I know who do it are very methodical, but very sure of themselves, and not all shook up....they just count the points day after day......if you eat the points you should for your wt. you might stall for a little while, but you will start to go down if you follow the program. I think it is a great plan for you long term.

And above all.........be sure to do as I say and not as I do!!!!

Ha ha! That's a good one! So what plan did the shrinking shrink use to lose the weight? And what does he think of TBDS?

I'm still waiting for The 4 Day Win to come from Amazon. They say they shipped it today, but I got the free shipping because I ordered something else as well, so it's coming by snail mail and may not get here for another week. I'm anxious to do some reading in that one.

I hope everybody is doing well.

L

hey friends,
i'm completely, completely wiped, but still wanted to read your posts and say a quick hello.

maryblu, your garden is like a dream~

I still feel in control. I'm 1.5 weeks, and 4.5 down. I don't weigh in officially for the 2nd week till Monday, and this is remarkable weight loss for me. I feel like even saying it will jinx it. I'm having some obsessiveness return today. Just wanting to stuff my face, but I haven't done it. I think it's purely from stress. I need to slow down, prep better meals b/c I get better and more food when I cook it myself, and go back to doing the watcher exercise of Beck's that's really effective for me.

I feel really grateful today.

~girly

HI everyone,

I think I am liking WW-I have done day 2-I am enjoying the increased amount of foods and greater variety. I have been doing a type of yoyo dieting-super strict and rigid and then short bouts of binging and back to being strict. Maybe a bit more food and variety each day will work.

Congrads to you Girly for success. Sorry that demon of exhaustion is trying to get you to overeat- Sound like you have some plans for tools to fight cravings also.

L-I have the 4 day book on hold at the library so i'll get it one day. Hope all is well for you

Maryblu-keeping sending more pics of handiwork. I don't know how to do those tricks yet with the computer. Thanks for WW support. Hope the TBDS group was good stuff.

Just finshed a one day workshop on mediatation and practising compassion. I actually use some of the techniques to stop focusing on cravings. All part of the powerful stuff that the mind can.

Veronica-never felt hunger in my throat-much more in my stomach along with increase tension and irritability. Hope the dishes are done, housekeeping tasks which are undone for long times drive me crazy. I was wished we could afford a maid. -basically it was been me-I couldn't wait until messy drove my partner crazy enough to do them.

You all take care-Tommarrow we are off to Oakland and see our new grand daughter and visit her parents for 3 days. I will not post again until Sunday night.

Get thinner you all
sue

Wow, Sue and Girly! Good for you two getting in control! Girly, I am SO IMPRESSED AT THAT WEIGHT LOSS! And SO happy for you. You and Sue both deserve the success. If wishing made it so, you'd both be slim as whippets right about now, and I've been wishing for you as hard as you've been wishing yourselves.

Just a quickie post for me too. I have tons to do and another early rising day tomorow. I have to go work out of town at a health fair. It will be fun though.

Yo Maryblu! What up Veronica?

More tomorrow,
L

Hi, all.......to answer the burning question, since our sisterhood is based on TBDS........sometimes I forget that as I just get caught up in "us" ..and I have to say, I have come to cherish "us" more than Beck...now, don't misundertake me...lol.......I thought Beck rang true with me more than anything else ever had........and I do look forward to getting back into that "in control" feeling.....just to answer quicky the question ...my shrink just took control, stopped eating red meat, bread, cut out all sugar and limits portions..........and he said it is "No fun"...as for what he thinks of Beck....more than a year ago, the book he gave me to read about wt. control was on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.........and it was by ............Judith Beck's father........so, my shrink is a "true believer"....now, let's all commit and JUST DO IT!! Think of how great that will be!

to all!

Thanks I'm so happy that it's feeling a LOT easier than before.

Im looking forward to discussing the 4 day win book when you guys get it and start to read it.

I'm so happy to basically be eating 3 meals a day and not eating or snacking or hungry allllllll the time.

Sue, have you tried the meal ideas on the website? They are great. And the recipes are so cool, too--you just pop them into your file, and you can pop them right in to your tracker. Today I had a smart ones chicken enchilada dinner, a cup of those progresso soups that have 0 points, and 3/4 cup blueberries with a few tablespoons of the fat free whip cream, all for 6 or 7 points.

Sue, hope you are having fun traveling!
Liannie, hope your out of town trip was fun.
Veronica, what's up?
Maryblu, interesting about your psychologist...maybe the cognitive therapy techniques are just ingrained with him? By any standard, it's impressive.


Today is a great day....It's the perfect, perfect day outside and I have a whole day to myself.

girly~

Thanks all for the open discussion about Judith Beck's book. I'm off the get it in my next Amazon order (perhaps clicking thru 3FC).

maryblu - Is the Italian name you're looking for "Insalata Caprese"?
Here's one beautiful picture of a Basil, tomato mozzarella salad titled "Insalata Caprese":
whatscookingamerica.net/Salad/InsalataCaprese [dot] htm

Yes, BB, that is the name! I can't even pronounce it, let alone remember it, but I sure can eat it! Thanks for looking it up..I am going to try to remember at least the last half of the name.....Italian doesn't come easy for a Minnesoda Swede! uffda.

Am in the process now of freezing basil in olive oil and will be bringing in chives in a pot for winter. Sue is right..in Mn. winter starts early...although, we dodged the freeze bullet last night....there was hard frost on the car windows, but nothing froze....so we still have tomatoes, greens, raspberries, peppers, cukes....and most importantly ALL my flowers! Life is good. Spent the day NON-stop gardening....YES!!!

Waiting for a little cooler temps before I pick the apples..then stashing them in the downstairs fridge.....Honeycrisps are the best!!

Fall color is beginning.....the maples are about half way colored up.

Had a fire in the fireplace last night; it certainly is fall.

Enjoy the weekend, all.

Hi!
I just ordered the book and workbook yesterday. It is suppose to come in by Oct. Looking forward to reading it and starting the program.

How have you all done following the advice?