Hi everyone.

Fi, I'm glad you're feeling somewhat better. I hope the issue with the insurance gets resolved quickly.

Teena, sorry you're feeling discouraged today. Sometimes our bodies refuse to give up weight even when we do everything right. You just have to stick with it and it will come off eventually.

Betsy, I'm really looking forward to having a garden this summer too, albeit a small one. I spent a lot of money at the farmstand last year. I'm looking forward to that opening too because I won't be able to grow everything. I think that's usually around Memorial Day.

Tootsie, you aren't gaining, so that's a good thing.

Caldawg, glad you're feeling better and despite the food poisoning I hope you enjoyed your time away. Gains tend to happen when we're on vacation and eat things we normally wouldn't. It will come off again.

My salmon patties didn't turn out like they should have. They ended up being very wet so I had to add some breadcrumbs after all, but not much, maybe 1/4 cup. The recipe called for two eggs and a Tbsp of mayo. They tasted good, but I think next time I'll only use 1 egg and leave out the mayo and see if that works any better.

It's another beautiful day here and DH and I are going to go fishing this afternoon. Yesterday when he got home we both ended up taking a nap so we really didn't get outside. The rest of the week is supposed to be a little cooler but still nice so I want to get out and enjoy the warm day today.

I hope you all enjoy your day too!

Add me to the discouraged this morning. I woke up all gung-ho. this was going to be a great day. I had a plan. I had my food for breakfast and lunch. I was going to log into my computer weight loss program that I've used for the last 10 or more years and get going. Well... I had to get on the scale... Bummer...
I am at the highest I've been in a long time.. 2 years to be exact... almost to my all time high ever...
Okay lick my tears, pull up my big girl panties, redo my ticker and get going...

HELP okay, I can't find how to edit the weight ticker. Will someone give me the link or the directions?

Today helps all of us who live in the Pacific Northwest to remember why we live here -- crystal clear day, warm, and Mt. Rainier in all her glory. Now, if only I could move after having done yard work for a couple of hours yesterday!

Tootsie -- Maintaining is just fine. Sometimes I think we need a week (or two or six) of just maintaining. I'm assuming the images are from 2 different computers? Sounds like it could be a long frustrating analysis. Good luck.

Teena -- Glad you are feeling better and it sounds like you've gotten a lot of things done over the weekend. Sometimes there's no logical reason for a weight gain. One pound could be so many things including just standing differently on the scale! You're doing great!

Fi -- This one (collage) didn't move me, but when you're having to create to a theme that someone else picked.....well, I can only say that I wouldn't have been able to come up with anything!

Calda -- It's always hard when we come back from vacation and have had a weight gain -- especially when you spent 3 days in close contact with the porcelain goddess. But the body fat % going down is great news. Hope you had a good time on vacation and that you're feeling a lot better.

Cindy -- Sorry the salmon patties needed the cracker crumbs after all. I don't think 1/4 cup will hurt. Have fun fishing -- sounds like it's a great day to be out on the water there.

Ageoldie -- That's the spirit. Sometimes it takes these shocks to our systems (known as weighing ourselves) to get us back on plan. In terms of changing your signature and profile, click on the Quick Links on the tool bar. There are links to edit signature and your profile. Just read through the code and you'll see where the weight is given and you just go in there and make the changes.

In reading the posts today, it hit me that a lot of us are stressing over 1-2 pound. Back when I first joined this site, I read lots of different threads, and one thing that I remember is that people set a point beyond which they wouldn't go. For most people, it seemed to be a 5 pound gain. Of course, that was mainly for people on maintenance, but what hit me is that it could be used when dieting. I am firmly convinced that staying on the same eating plan for week and week eventually leads to a) boredom and b) cessation of weight loss. So, if things don't seem to be working, I try to shake them up. I'll do low carb for a week, or 5:2, or WW or any of the options. The idea is just to shake things up both for my body and for me mentally. After the week (or however long), I'll go back to what works best for me. Don't know if this is what anyone else has found, but thought I'd throw it out there.

It's supposed to be another sunny day today so I'm going to do weed management -- they haven't gotten out of control yet, and I want to make sure that they don't. I pulled the geraniums out of the garage yesterday to start them growing again after wintering them over. All of the raised beds have been weeded and I just need to continue working on the spring clean up stuff with the yard and house.

Time for coffee and the crossword. Hope everyone has a great day.

Thanks Ladies, I am not as discouraged as I was this morning. Why is that when you try to give yourself the same encouragement or pep talk that you give others, it doesn't seem as convincing. I will just keep doing what I need to do and pray a lot. I didn't eat my salad. I brought for lunch because I just wasn't hungry. I will eat it for dinner.

Ageoldie: Sorry to hear the scale was not kind to you. You are definitely headed in the right direction. You have got a plan and you are in good company. You have done it before and you can do it again.

Cindy: Fishing!!! I have not gone in such a long time. I hope you have a great time. What are you fishing for?

Betsy: Thanks for the ideas about switching it up. I am always nervous of going off in another direction and not getting back on plan.

Calda: Welcome back! you were definitely missed. It is always so good to get away. Those extra lbs will come off.

Let me see if I can dip my toes in the water here, and write just a little bit. I'm sitting with my knees elevated and an ice pack on each one—what I'm supposed to do every night after my knee exercises.

Betsy— I appreciated what you said about the titles of my collages. I was a writer for decades, so it's impossible to resist putting a little twist of some kind in the title—as well as in what I write below the collage. It is a little weird making collages to weekly themes, but after being on the Kollage Kit for a few years, I've come to rely on it to keep me moving, making new collages. And I get to pick the themes myself, a couple months out of every year.

Everyone else— Be persistent, and be hopeful. Those are my two watchwords for my rehab: persistence and hope.

Thanks everyone. I have been so tired from work so I haven't been able to dwell on my gain. It will come off I guess. I have been barely hanging in there with work, my extra studies and my diet and exercise regimen. Desperately looking forward to the weekend! I hope everyone has regained their motivation!

I'm here. Sorry I haven't checked in. Just feeling down all the way around. I went to the doctor on Thursday. She thinks my muscle had a spasm that tighten but never released. There's a medical term for it but I didn't write it down. I wasn't given anything for pain. No surprise there, but I did get muscle relaxers I can take at night to help me sleep. So I'm having to continue taking ibuprofen or naproxen to help with the pain. Luckily it feels like it's almost all better. Just a slight burning feeling.

As far as my eating goes I have no followed any type of plan. I watched what I ate in the beginning but then I got to where it didn't matter what I ate as long as it was convenient. I got on the scale today although I didn't want to see the number...211.4. So close to 10 pounds in a month I've gained I'm not surprised though by how I've been eating but today I have chosen to stop doing that and go back to basics and do it the best way I know how. It may take me the rest of the year to get it off but I'll do it. I don't know how exercise is going to do me once I can get back at it 100%, probably won't be able to lift heavy weights for awhile. But that's ok I've been focusing mainly on cardio as of late. I plan to go on a walk today and try to get DH to go with me. He's been complaining about him not doing what he needs to. Sounds like we both need to reboot together.

Thanks guys for being here. I'm ready to do this.

Sam: I hope that you feel better soon.

Fi: Your collages are lovely. I think that the gothic angel is my favorite so far.

Betsy: It appears to be the same machine. I think that the first image may have been taken before it was infected. The second image was taken after it was infected. Whatever the malware is, the malicious process stuck out like a sore thumb. It's a Windows machine. The PID was huge. The name of the process was weird, it had unicode characters. The process would not be seen if the machine was running. (I'm analyzing the memory, not a live running machine) When it was installed on the system, it was adding registry keys on a date that was obviously forged. Malware tries to hide it's true creation date to try and hide. Imagine looking through thousands of files-and you think that you have an idea when the machine was infected, so logically, you might look for that date. Some malware writers have figured that out, so they have it modify the creation date. It hooked itself into several valid Windows processes to do it's dirty work. I'm looking at the mutants right now, and researching them.

Yesterday I got to test the new AC that I had installed over the winter months. It got up to 88 here -- that's hot for the summer and set several new records here. We don't do heat in the Pacific NW, but last summer and this summer may make us learn to handle it better!

Teena -- You made me chuckle as I, too, am much better at giving advice than following my own. Glad you're doing better and aren't so discouraged.

Fi -- So glad you posted. You definitely have that creative streak in you -- in several areas and it's enjoyable to be on the receiving end of it. I agree that being part of a group where a finished project is expected in a set time frame helps to stay focused. But you are much better at adapting to the theme than I would ever be. Persistent and hopeful -- good motto!

Calda -- You sound as though you are in the throes of first week back from vacation. I loved taking vacations when I worked, but dreaded the first week back as it was always a killer. Hang in there.

Sam -- So glad you posted as I was about to send out a search team for you. The muscle spasm sounds awful (doesn't release? yikes!), but I'm glad that it's not a herniated disk or something that would result in chronic pain or even surgery. Now as for the weight gain. It happens. I swear that 5 minutes after I posted that I was back down to my signature weight (3-4 weeks ago), I promptly put on over 20 pounds. Just ridiculous, isn't it!? One of the hardest things for me to accept is that mentally I know that eating "normally" has to mean eating protein, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and plant fats but that emotionally it seems to mean chips, ice cream, chocolate, pizza, etc. But we are both determined and I know you will get it off. I have complete faith in you, Sam. You are our role model and we just need to stabilize the pedestal we've placed you on! Love you and your spirit.

Tootsie -- I actually understood everything you wrote! This amazes me since it's been over 10 years since I retired and I've done nothing to remain current from a technology perspective. I hope you enjoy doing this kind of work. Whenever there is malware or a virus or a hacking going on I always wonder why they couldn't put all of that energy into something productive.

I didn't get any yard work done yesterday as the RV service guy called for me to come pick up Dream Boat (that's the name of my RV). I stopped to fill her up with gas and get propane so that now I just need to give her a good cleaning inside and out and we're ready for another season. I'll get the weed control done today as it's supposed to cool off and begin raining a little.

On the diet front, I'm beginning to see results. I still have 9 pounds to go to get back down to my signature weight, but at least things are finally going in the right direction. I am looking forward to summer with all the fresh fruits and veggies -- yum!

Time for the usual. Hope everyone has a great day.

Hi everyone.

Ageoldie, good job getting back on track. Those numbers on the scale can be scary when we haven't weighed for awhile. I hope you were able to update your tracker per Betsy's instructions.

Betsy, I try not to stress over a pound or two but it's still disappointing seeing a gain when doing everything right. My idea of shaking things up is eating too much or something I shouldn't eat and not gaining from it. I don't recommend that because it often backfires and I gain instead. I'm trying to eat the way I can eat for a lifetime, with modifications in portion size and calories as I lose.

Teena, I love fishing and DH and I go as often as we can when the weather gets nice here. Every Spring Stripers swim up the Hudson river to spawn. We decided that this year we are going to be part of the excitement that ensues among anglers. (We know nothing about fishing for BIG fish). Our favorite park on the river was crowded so we were not able to fish from the fishing platform set up there. Where we ended up it was rocky and typical for me I got caught on the rocks, so I ended up watching everyone else fish. No one caught anything but it was still a beautiful day to be outside.

Fi, glad to see that despite the pain you are still able to do your leg exercises.

Caldawg, the weight will come off. Thin people gain weight on vacation too and don't stress about it the way we do. They just get back on track and know it will come off. This journey that we're on isn't going to be all downhill (weightwise). Part of it I think is learning how to handle the ups and downs and accepting that there will be ups and downs along the way.

Sam, I've missed you. I'm glad the pain in your neck is getting better. It's very hard to focus on weight loss or making healthy choices when you're in such pain. Good job deciding to get back to basics. Take it easy with the exercise until you know it isn't going to cause more pain.

Tootsie, I have no clue what you're working on but it sounds challenging and interesting. I hope you're able to figure it out.

Like so many of you I've been dealing with some fluctuations on the scale. After being so happy to change my tracker Saturday I was up a pound Sunday and another one yesterday. Today I'm back to my tracker weight. There was no reason I could see for either gain because I was sticking to plan, so I knew it would come off. I've stayed on plan for a week now and lost 6 pounds, so I have nothing to complain about.

It's a little cooler and cloudy today. DH's nephew is replacing brake pads on our vehicle for a case of beer today, so I'm enjoying a quiet morning home alone. I do have dishes to do and the dusting I didn't do over the weekend, so I better get to it.

I hope you all have a great day!

Afternoon all. I am sitting here in the shade enjoying this warm weather. The bees and bugs are happy as clams. There is a squirrel who uses the telephone wires as a super highway and a dove somewhere cooing. I thought it was an owl for the longest time. Life has just gotten so much brighter. I think back that only 5 months ago I was so miserable and angry at the world. I went to work, came home, locked myself in my room, ate and watched TV. Very sad. It is amazing how a little bit of hope can make a difference. Anyway, Life is good and I appreciate every day.

Yesterday I drank a lot of water and stepped on the scale today. I was down 3 lbs since yesterdays weighing. I believe it too. I had to make several bathroom trips in the middle of the night. I should have just took my pillow in there and propped myself up on the counter. I did look at some of the things I had eaten over the weekend that you wouldn't think would be so full of salt. Rotisserie chicken from walmart=660 mg sodium/serving. I also had a couple pieces of summer sausage and some Deli sliced turkey. Salt, salt, salt. It is everywhere.

NSV: Someone at work noticed I have lost some weight. Especially around my face. It made my day.

Cindy: We get salmon up here to spawn. I have never caught one here though. By the time they get this far, they are pretty beat up and about ready to die. I do like to fish for pike. The first time I caught one, I was scared to death to take it off the hook... all those teeth. I had to hit it a few times with a rock because he had really swallow my hook. The next time I brought bigger pliers and gloves.

Betsy: hasn't the weather been unreal? My friends there in Burien were talking about how warm it is there. They are not acclimated. They like it much better then the rain though.

Tootsie: Those malware programs are nasty for sure. One totally ruined my computer several years ago. When I downloaded the upgrade for windows 10, i got some nasty stuff on my tablet. It took hours to get it off. Good luck. If nothing else a good hammer always works.

Sam! Good to see you! You can fix the gain and be well on your way to accomplishing your goal. It is hard enough to lose weight when you don't hurt. When you hurt, easy options always win over "smart" choices.

Calda: The weekend is coming. But I agree, It cannot come soon enough. Hang in there.

Fiona: I like your watch words. I am going to post them someplace where I can see them on a regular basis.

Well Toodles, I have to get some chores done.

Doin' pretty good today! Had a wonderful session with Mike: lots of standing-up exercises. I don't know why I don't feel like writing much. Please know that I'm reading all your posts and rooting for all of y'all...

Definitely feeling like I am having post holiday blues. I was at work, feeling tired, sore, frustrated and a bit overwhelmed, when I realise the only thing keeping me sane and more importantly, in control physically/mentally/emotionally is my meal plan. My eating pattern is no longer the straw that breaks this camels back; it is not the path of least resistance that I fall back on when everything is piling up, I am struggling to cope and that something has to give. It is now a saving grace; I still don't need to think about it because everything is organised prior to my bad day, and it is always a good choice, I don't have to fall back on take away to make me feel better. I get satisfaction, comfort and enjoyment out of knowing I am sticking to my plan, that I am making progress however slow, and that I am in control of myself. It has made this week so much easier to bear. I have been thinking about how I used to be, and as someone above me posted, I was a really unhappy person; always living a sedentary lifestyle, using food as comfort and as a security blanket, always acting like the loud and proud fat girl, when really, I was miserable as anything, and not really fooling anyone. It is amazing how small changes to your diet and gradually introducing exercise has improved my life. I feel so lucky.

Calda— I just want to say that I am moved by what you wrote. Way to go!