Penny- I really love the flavored mix-ins...right now I'm drinking cranberry-apple (wal-mart brand...very yummy!). They really help me get all my water in.

Shopping last night went well; I used my "Kick start your success" book from WW as a guide for the essentials. Very good ideas! Breakfast this morning was a Vanilla yogurt & granola parfait w/ fresh blueberries- what a great start to the day!

I need to get ready for work; I'll probably be back later...have a wonderful day & *SMILE*

Anne – That is really exciting that you are about to cross into virgin fat territory. Setbacks suck, but as long as we keep moving forward that is what counts.

M'Chelle – I hope you are able to get some down time this weekend and reconnect with sanity. It’s a nice thing to have around.

Annie – Sorry to hear that you aren’t having the luck you would want on the job front. I seriously need to move on from my current job but am scared about the market right now.

Debi – I am keeping those prayers going for your friend’s baby. Eating can be very calming to the nerves, which makes so many of us want to eat. I always wished I was one of those people who couldn’t eat when they were upset or nervous, but no such luck.

Rat – Congrats on the good news on the job. That is really exciting!!!

Catherine – Splitting up with someone after 5 years was hard enough. I can’t imagine it after 45.

Penny – Thanks for the smashing offer! I think I am ready to get back to my routine come Monday, but if not I will definitely let you know! It is good to have a vegging out day every once and awhile – don’t be too hard on yourself!

Carol – I am far too good at wasting time. I hope you were able to enjoy your relaxing day and not beat yourself up about it. It can be crazy how we cannot allow ourselves to enjoy our time off sometimes.

Monica – I agree with Anne that you should try and eat your points. One of the tricks of staying on plan long term is to keep yourself as satisfied as possible with what you are eating, and if you are cutting out too much it could really backfire.

Miz M – It is amazing how differently the feel of a company can be with a different person at the helm. My company just experienced this, but unfortunately not in a good way! I hope your hours do calm down a bit next week, but if you get overtime I am sure that is nice as well.

Julee – I am also at 33 points to start with. I was actually right on the money yesterday. It works out a bit differently than calorie counting so I will need to get used to which items are better choices on the plan. Do you eat bars at all (eg Luna bars). If so, do you know one that is a good points option? I like to have bars as a backup when I don’t know what my options are but was surprised to find Luna bars to be 4 points.

Luan – Another soda I like in that vein is the cherry Fresca. Is it really tasty.

Well, so far so good on day two of WW. Their online tracker is pretty good. I came in at exactly my points total yesterday and was surprised to see how many points certain things were compared to others. The fact that certain foods come out to 0 points (such as one slice of low calorie bread) could allow someone to try and cheat the system, but then of course you are only trying to cheat yourself and that is not possible.

I am spending the weekend at my BF’s place. He has his stepson for the weekend and we will be totally geeking out. We are doing a double feature of Batman and Hellboy movies and also going to a local ren faire. One of the reasons I chose WW was that he is doing it too so it will make it a lot easier to stay on track working together.

Hi all,

Debi: I will continue to pray for the babies, all of them. Hugs.

Catherine: Glad your new potty is in.

Rat: I hope you get the job you are wanting.

Peny: Today will be a better day. hugs.

Carol: sometimes we just need a lazy day. I hope you get to swim today.

Monica: Hang in there at the WW meetings. I was always the biggest person in the room but everyone treated me very nicely. It is such a great supportive place.

Mizm: I will have to check out "Body Clutter" now for sure.

Julee: Glad hubby is home.

Nancy: Have a great weekend. Enjoy the movies.

House is sparkling clean, Yards are nicely trim and watered. Time for a looooong Bike ride. I am geared up and ready to go where the bike takes me.

Blessings all,
Annie

Nancy: Have you tried out any of the WW bars? Some are quite tasty and only 2 points. I love the Luna bars but yeah they are high in points. I like the Pria 100 bars though..especially the Mint Chocolate flavor. We tend to keep our WW bars in the fridge so they get cold and a little chewier...takes longer to eat them and for some of the chocolate ones they get richer.

Today was a much more productive day and it feels so good. I even found time to swim - funny how I couldn't find the time yesterday.

Hugs,
Carol

Nancy - maybe its the cherry... lol

Brought a granola bar and some peach yogurt for lunch today and wound up being hungry an hour afterwards...I'll have to plan to bring a snack like pretzels or a banana so I won't be tempted by the vending machine with its 2 different varieties of Cheez-Its and oh-so-many yummy-looking snack cakes!

Nancy- I played around with the food tracker for what I think turned out to be hours the other day! I was a little ashamed when I saw how many points were in the food I used to grab on the go every day. I think a big thing for me doing the WW plan is becoming AWARE of what I put in my mouth.

Annie- Thanks for the encouragement! For the first time in my life I'm really not feeling very self-conscious in front of others...the women at this meeting are so kind and supportive, which really helps!

MizM- Where do you shop? I'd like to find out if my regular grocery store has those dicount cards, as well

Julee- Great idea about having non-water drinks as your reward for drinking your 64 oz! That's a good way to not let yourself feel restricted.

Luan- Can't wait to try the Diet Cherry 7Up; it sounds good...I think you're right- adding cherry flavor to anything just makes it seem like more of a treat.

Penny- thanks so much for the positive thoughts; I really can use all the help I can get! Congrats to your hubby too!

Ooh, my fiance made a shrimp stir-fry tonight (w/ Napa cabbage, snow peas, broccoli, red bell peppers and mushrooms) that was SO delicious! I do love living with a chef...

Good Morning Peeps - here it is 4 am and I am up, drinking coffee and doing laundry. I am in one of my not sleeping periods so I might as well be productive.

Debbie - if you're lurking I hope you are having great time with you brother.

Nancy - how is WW going? I'm glad Annie's vibes reached out to you. You are one of the people who inspired me when I first started and have always admired your strength. Are you still dancing? Your comment about the gym hit home a bit - I'm not going back until after Labor Day - it was becoming something I truly hated doing. Summer activities keep me moving more. Once I made the decision to take some time off - it will end up being about 7 weeks - it felt better. Give yourself time to get used to being OP - remember my friend - baby steps. The gym will come when you're ready.

Annie - my house and yard are done too - you and DH wanna come hang out with us by/in the pool?

Battle - if you are lurking - HUGS!

Penny - water anyone?

Debi - how's the garden? My tomatoes are going gangbusters right now along with peppers and zucchini. The flowers though win the prize - it's looking like a tropical paradise. Good luck on the baby shower.

Grilled sweet potatoes are on the menu tonight - one of my favorites. let's see I got up at 3 am - hope I'm still awake for dinner.

Move your bodies, drink your water and SMILE.

Hugs,
Carol

Good Morning.
well the little guy is now 48 hours old. that would be a big threshold they said. He is really a little fighter. His mom goes home today and that will be hard on the family.
the other girl had her twins yesterday and both babies came in over 4lbs and are doing GREAT!!
I only lost.6 this week but its my fault...i didnt exercise at all. I dont even know where the week went.
Guess i better finish my coffee and get moving again.
sorry for no personals the last few days.
hugs to everyone and thanks for all the prayers
debi

Hello my sweet Chickies,

My FIOS is down.. that means no phone, no tv and no internet. I stole my sister's cell card for the weekend so I can have internet, but she has to have it back by Monday for her work. Ugh! The repair guy is coming between 1-5p today. I hate waiting for them. I feel totally unproductive waiting.

I need to do the lawn and have no motivation to do any of it!

I have a stack of books to read and finished one already last evening (thanks Catherine!!).

Hugs and Luv to all,
Ratkity

Yesterday was a nice day.........DH had the day off....we had to do some shopping so we drove over to the base grocery store....

DH is making his "famous" meatballs (they are the size of softballs) and spaghetti as well as his baked Ziti.....all of which he needs to make to feed 50+ people! On sunday the church is having a donation dinner for a couple of homeschooled kids who are going to a national competition for sign language.........they have been working towards raising the money for the cost of hotel & travel etc.... So Dh volunteered to cook for the dinner!

We had a few hours of alone time which was really nice.......and then picked up DD from her job........went to Ruby Tuesdays (kinda late in the evening) I tried their veggie burger it was fabulous! There salad bar was awesome too! DH bit into a cherry/grape tomato and almost lost his dinner.........he said it tasted like cleaner......the tomato itself looked good .........his mouth started to swell by the time we got home so I gave him some benadryl and he went on to bed.....this morning he was feeling fine.

Monica-I usually take 3 or 4 things that aren't high in calories but filling to snack on........like carrot sticks....apple.....I also usually always have unsalted sunflower seeds (shelled) I get these from the health food store......they work for my snacking mode at work.......sometimes I will add raisins & marshmellows LOL (just a few of those) no fat content but curves that sweet snacky tooth that sometimes will haunt me all day when I see the vending machine LOL

Carol-how do you grill your sweet potatos?

Grilled sweet potatoes?! I wanna know too

DMPLS, I would encourage you to call Ruby's and tell the manager about your grape tomato incident if you haven't already. If he gives you a hard time about not believing you, I'd also encourage you to call the health dept to make a surprise inspection. Normally, the managers are afraid of lawsuits, but I'm more concerned with the human safety part of it (I work for USDA).

I am praying this is an isolated incident!

Luv,
Ratkitten

Rat-We told our server and she went to take them off the bar.....I told DH we should of taken the tomato home with us just in case....he spit it out but it almost made him throw up.....I ate at least 7 or 8 of them and didn't have any problems.

I think I will call them though as well as the health dept.
thanks for the tip.

Good Morning!

Carol- I have to know about grilled sweet potatoes too! WOW, you woke up early, I hope you have everything done so you can relax the rest of the day. It sounds like you have quite a few tomatoes! Enjoy them!

DMPLS- I would call too!

Ratkitten- Did you get the lawn done?

Monica-You doing o.k. today?

Well, I gotta refill the water bottle, I'll check in later, Penny

Just called the restaurant and spoke the manager.....explained what happened and what the server said she would do.....I also informed her about my husbands reactions from it. She took his name and said she would turn it in to corporate and that if he felt he had to go to the hospital later today that all he would have to do is call into corporate and they would take care of it. She also said she would speak to all employees about the cleaning regs for the salad bar.......also she would check their tomatoes to make sure they are ok. Since today is saturday I can't get ahold of the health dept....but if DH is still feeling poorlyI will make him go to the ER and they will get ahold of the health dept for us.

thanks for the advice!