Keep it up chick!

The last few evenings I have went for a walk. Our family room, which usually has the recumbent bike and treadmill, is in the midst of a makeover so the exercise equipment is in storage. It was nice to get outside and enjoy some fresh air even if the weather was on the cool side. The husband and daughter joined me last night -- my daughter is 5 years old so she does drop the pace down but her company is worth it.

I have a quick business trip coming up -- I leave tomorrow and return Monday evening. I have a food plan -- bringing travel Jenny food with me, my hotel has a microwave and small refrigerator, I will bring some veggies with me and stop by a grocery store and pick up some 'salad in a bag', yogurt and milk. When I travel on business I enjoy room service so this will be a big switch for me.

Tonight is a family bday party -- we always have family functions I emailed the host and asked her if I could use her microwave to prepare my own meal since I am on a strict food regime -- she was fine with it. What's on the party menu: pizza, cheesecake and cupcakes! It amazes me that my inlaws manage to maintain a healthy weight the way they eat -- must be their metabolisms. I will be having chicken fettuccine w/ broccoli, Jenny cheesecake and milk

well good! its good to see that you will still stick to the jenny food, i find it gets a whole lost easier with time... i used to drool over the food at work. i of course would still like to have it, but... really i just know i cant. and it doesnt bother me. I am also going out of town next weekend, im going to canada for a girls weekend. ive already planned to bring jenny breakfast and lunch but we're going to be going out to dinner and for drinks.. soooo that will probably stop any weight loss i would have had. ill have to make healthy choices and drink light beer i guess. i cant stop living life all together... after my victory of 6 pounds in one week, i deserve to have a few drinks, right?

Sheesh, Stacy, you and are a lot alike. I had a family birthday party on Saturday. I brought the chicken fettuccine and a triple chocolate cheesecake. I didn't feel deprived at all. This is a huge NSV for me. I didn't bring cooked veggies but we brought a bag of baby carrots and some Marzett's FF dill dip. My DH brought his NS meal and dessert. We had free veggie soup when we came home and some homemade applesauce. The food didn't even look that good at the party.

Congratulations on going for your walk and not using the remodeling as an excuse. Good luck on your business trip. I do NOT miss those at all. At the end of my career, I was in DC more than in Chicago.

Nicole, you do have to enjoy life. Just try to make better choices than you used to. And when you come home, get right back on program. That was always my problem. I couldn't get back on. Good luck to you.

Off to the treadmill.

i think i feel a plateau coming on. uh oh. not cool.

Why do you think that?

i weigh myself every other day just to check my progress but i only record it every tuesday. and ive been pretty much the same as my last weigh in, plus - last week i lost 6 pounds.. and im at a total of about 15 so i just feel like its gona be a while before i lose a good amount again.

So you're a scale addict. Me too. My scale never shows a loss until Monday. I didn't even get on yesterday. I'm expecting a small loss or a gain today.

I gained .6 and I'm more bummed than you can imagine. I followed the program to the letter. JC Counselor was not much help. She wanted me to go to the planned menu. It doesn't make any sense to me and she couldn't explain it. What difference does it make if I follow the 1700 calorie preplanned menu or follow the 1700 pick my own. 1700 calories is 1700 calories. Actually, they have me on 1700 calories plus a starch so I decided to cut the starch this week. I don't know what else to do. We already cut the serving sizes of the fruit down from one cup to 1/2 cup. I'm so frustrated.

Stacy, are you on 1700 calories?

i was suppose to be on 1700 but i kinda refused because i didnt think id lose any weight so im on 1500.

I am back from my quick trip and managed to loose 3 lbs. although I did go off plan...

I am on the 1700 preplanned meal plan. One thing Debbie H. said was that she had to eat a lot of veggies to loose weight -- if she cut them back, she would not loose. IIRC, she mentioned it was the fiber of the veggies that is instrumental in taking off the pounds. Do you eat a lot of veggies? Debbie H. suggested washing up a bunch at one time and putting them in the fridge so they are easy to eat. I have been washing up a head of lettuce, a stalk of celery, slicing a cucumber, clean several bunches of radishes, slice up purple onion and always have baby carrots and broccoli on hand. At night I can make a quick salad and for lunch I pack a handful of celery, baby carrots and some radishes. Oh, I like baby tomatoes too -- they are more expensive but they are so much more flavorful.

Yesterday I decided, after nuking my lunch in the hotel room, that I wanted to do something else for dinner. One of my first stops after landing was to swing by a store and buy fruit, yogurt, milk and a salad in a bag. For dinner I went to a nicer place and got take out -- I got 2 skewers of salmon with a side salad. I brought it back to my room and broke open the bag salad and made my own salmon salad -- I even used the croutons! For dessert I had a yogurt and grapes -- not very exciting nor tasty since I did not have any cinnamon but I was thinking 'this is a good choice.' I did the JC oatmeal bar, yogurt and fruit for breakfast at the hotel. Worked until 12:30 and raced to the airport while eating a banana...at 2pm I still had not had lunch so I bought a salad and ONE slice of pizza -- in the past I would have bought at least 2 slices of pizza and skipped the salad. Sadly, the salad was nasty and after a few bites tossed it but I did relish the pizza slice! The bottom line is I am making conscience choice to eat better

well thats good! Congrats on your healthy choices, im hoping i do just as well this weekend considering ill be drinking... ehhhh. i know im only gona lose one or two pounds at my weigh in tomorrow since i lost 6 last week...which worries me because i know i wont lose hardly any IF i dont gain, NEXT week from my weekend off plan. ive only been at this for five weeks (lost 15 official pounds) but im extremely anxious to get under 200. (im about 206-207) everytime i get on the scale i pray for a miracle. nothing yet.

I have been gaining and loosing this 15 lbs. for years. Until I drop into the 270s the victories don't seem that great. As a matter of fact, when I joined JC I had never seen the scale so high

I feel I am still off the rails from the trip but I just packed some veggies for lunch tomorrow. I will pack some fruit in the am -- my fav choices are strawberries, blueberries, bananas and oranges with an occasional apple for good measure. And I am going to check my JC menu before going to bed so I can mentally prep for getting back on the straight and arrow tomorrow.

I think it is important when your routine changes -- a trip out of town for a day or two -- that you keep JC in mind but strike a healthy balance. I know one reason I am really enjoying JC is I don't feel deprived. Sure, the yogurt/fruit desserts four times a week don't compare to the three JC desserts but I look really forward to those three JC desserts which make them all the more satisfying.

The battle of the bulge continues...

yeah i plan to make sure i stick with it. i did some shopping today for cooler food, Im going to bring jenny cereals with me, and snacks of course, i bought stuff to make delicious salads for lunches and ill bring them in tupperware and put the dressing on later, i bought yogurt and reaspberrys, blueberries, pineapple, and apples. and i will be saving all my calories for beer. lol