Did someone mention ginger and chocolate??? I am so hanging on by a thread here with this sugar withdrawal. Yikes.
I know when I start crying about anything and everything that is what it is about.
I know all about addiction till it comes to my own. I am missing my seratonin high I guess. Need to get off my butt and focus on something else.
Feels like I have lead in my feet. Will go to the gym in the morning and that should help.
Hope no one says boo to me at work tomorrow. I have a very stressful job dealing with the public all day. Most of whom can barely speak English.
Looking to be a very long week. I do have the week of Remembrance day off so will have to just focus on that..
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Sorry for the whine but it is either whine or dine....!! Should get smoother sailing in about a week I hope. Jude

My day has been pretty boring compared to the weekend -- but I'm afraid I have done a little "over-dining"

Using my laptop at the moment and the slightly smaller than normal keyboard is driving me Everytime I try to type and "a", I hit the capslock instead.

Tomorrow is another day . . . hope it's a good one . . .

Well - I''m a bit jet-lagged - I really hate changing time zones by 3 hours. And leaving the house at 4 a.m. didn't help the situation much - but - I am home

We drove through snow showers to get here - which was majorly depressing. I'm missing California already!!!

I waded through the mail, paid bills online, and am in process of doing laundry. Yup - sounds like I'm back in the routine already.

And - I am thrilled to announce that all of the microbrewries and restaurants were balanced out by the 30+ miles of hiking/walking that we did - because I am still below 125 after 9 days in the bay area.

Last night was Ethiopian fare - a favorite of ours. There is just something about eating with my hands that makes me smile

In some ways, I may never grow up

Hope you all had a great day. I gotta go fold laundry and ...

CD who is in San Francisco? Your kids? Sound like you had a wonderful holiday. Next time we are all coming...

meowee, I sure hope you're feeling better and things are settling down!

Jude, are you getting past the sugar withdrawal?

CD, I'm sure the snow showers were not what you wanted as a welcome home from SF. But on the weight! Wow! Wish my trip to Mass. had been like that. I was up 4-1/2 pounds when I got home. Two of those are gone now, but I know the rest will take longer.

It just seems to be a fact of life that I can gain in 1 week of mindless eating what will take 3-4 weeks to take off again. I didn't walk any 30 miles in Mass., that's for sure!

The slim me, and hello to all the others who are reading... c'mon in and post with us!

I'm behind on work, as usual, only it's worse because of the trip to Mass.

Hope you all have a great day!

Jay

Hi there . . .

I was up way too early this morning and consequently I just got up . . . for the second time. Do feel that the whole day has been wasted though. No great loss from the weather angle -- still raining and very windy, but quite mild for this time of year. As much as I'd like to see some sun, I know it will come at the cost of

Oh well . . . see you all later.

Just a quickie here - we are back from Italy. Great trip, NINE hour time difference and we are having trouble readjusting.

Anyway...We climbed the leaning tower of Pisa!!!!!!! What a view from up there. I was so proud of myself for being able to do it at all. My legs were like jelly when I got back down and pretty sore the next day, but that was all.

Gail - glad you are back! And - congrats on the climb. I'm sure it feels great to challenge yourself like that - and know that you are older, but fitter NOW! I'm not gonna complain about 3 hrs difference - 9 hours!!!! - my body would be in total rebellion!

As much as I love traveling - you would think I would get used to this. I should have taken an extra day of work (like DH) but this is a busy and stressful time of year to be gone at all.

Linda - you are right - I'm already mourning the lack of sunshine. I think I would prefer cold and sun to gray and - well mid 30s isn't really warm - is it? We got more flakes today, but nothing lingered over a couple hours. I hope it warms up for the trick-or-treaters on Friday.

Jay - I'm betting that getting back on plan and to the gym will have those couple extra lbs gone soon. It was much harder for me when I went to TN. Taking DH with me and splitting entrees EVERY time really helps me keep the calories under control. I try to do a 1/3 - 2/3 split - where I eat about a third of whatever we order. I still don't have any kind of satiety sensor that stops my eating naturally. I eat until the plate is empty

And - since DH love microbrewery crawls, I either share his, order smaller glasses, or even order herbal tea and taste his beer.

I do wish that calorie counts on menu items were mandatory for all restaurants. I think there are many times where what sounds like a healthy choice ends up being way more caloric than we could have imagined.

Jude - my oldest son and his wife live in Oakland. She is a math teacher and he is in seminary in Berkeley and also works part time as a hospital chaplain in SF. He will graduate in May. We were surprised to hear the kids talk of staying there. Previous discussions were around relocating to the Pacific Northwest when he graduates.

Time will tell, I guess. DH and I pretty much keep our opinion to ourselves, though - when they mentioned they might like the Chicago area - we couldn't hide our delight. We LOVE to visit Chicago as well.

I'm bushed - getting up at 5:30 this morning was rough. My body said - WHAT - 2:30? Are you CRAZY? I am gonna enjoy a glass of wine and then try to get to bed early.

Hope you all had a wonderful Tuesday! Jay - send some warmth up here if you can! Brrr.

Hi everyone.
Nice to hear about your family CD. You look way to young to have a son that is married etc. Hope they end up in a place that you enjoy visiting and is not too far away.
Well Jay I am working on the sugar withdrawal. This is tough going. This food plan is sorta like AA in the sense there is just no sugar allowed and everything you eat is balanced with protien and so your food digests in balance.
Yesterday did not go well. I got into a mood and it lasted all day. I remembered this morning that when you push down one addiction another one will often raise up. That would be my addicition to my kids - Alanon. Man I could spend a lot of times in a lot of meetings. It makes it easier when you start to put all the pieces together.
Someone said to me to stop trying to go to the well when it is dry. Hence quit trying to get support from the family when they do not have it to give. I need to give them a break.
So I guess I will just work on my own stuff for now.
That should keep me busy.
But I have lowered my sugar level way down from what it was. I will be a lot better when Halloween is over. I can not turn a corner here without candy everywhere.
I have got my meals down great. Have all the portions under control. It seems like too much to eat sometime but though I am full there is this sense of something not what I wanted. Sneaky business this addiction.
I certainly will not starve to death between meals.

Hope everyone is doing well. Time change is so exhausting and I agree CD that you do need a day or so to recover. You sound like you have a very busy job.
I am at work so I best get back to mine.
Night all.....Jude

Good Morning . . .

Still pretty mild around here, but the forecast says the sun will be coming out this afternoon and (as expected) the temperatures will be falling. Can't decide if that's good news (the sun) or bad news (the cold).

Glad you had such a great vacation, GAIL, but glad to see you back, too.

For anybody that's interested, I just set up the ACCOUNTABILITY thread for NOVEMBER up in the sticky area.

See you later . . .

Well my buddy here at work just brought me a huge donut. Now she is not trying to sabatoge me as no one would know that I am trying given my daily enjoyment for sugar in the past.
I am just getting started but she has heard me say before I am trying to stay out of the sugar.

But the good thing is that after she left I was on the phone about a meeting in FA and I told her about this thing sitting on my desk. I made a commitment to throw it out and so after I got off the phone I took it to the kitchen and put it in the huge garbage can. No going back from that.
But you know I opened up the baggie she brought it in and was just going to break off a bite. Broke it off but stopped. Huge thing for me.
Did not take that bite. But I am still feeling it as the saying goes.
But I did not eat any....
That was a first in a very long time. Today I am doing it hour by hour. Place is littered with Halloween candy.

I hope to make it through the day. I am going to go at dinner time to Sears and buy my Clinque as they have their bonus gift on. That will be nice to do.
This taking control of ones life is very hard work.


ciao ....Jude

Jude - Thank you for your kind words.!

Hang in there with the sugar thing. It IS hard, but you can do it.

I make sure I keep healthy snacks (lots of raw veggies, Wasa & Laughing Cow, V8 Juice, nuts, LF crackers, herbal tea, coffee with SF syrups, even SF hard candy and the like around my office at all times.

I had to give up the "free food" at work, which I had never realized was a typical part of my day. I made it a rule that I follow, thus - I don't have to think about it - no free food at work - period - no exceptions.

I work at "Central Office" where we have meetings involving school administrators, board members or community members almost every morning and afternoon. So - left over cookies, bagels, muffins, and donuts are plentiful almost every day of the week.

Can you believe that I never really thought about how many calories were in those oversized bakery muffins! They were really hard for me to pass by the first few months, but - I promise - it does get easier. And again - having healthy alternatives really, really does help.

I'm too old to do suffering and deprivation - but healthier choices - that I CAN do

Happy hump day all!

Hey!

gailr42, what a great thing! Italy! Tower of Pisa! You'll have to tell us more once you recover... 9 hours... We missed you around here!

CD, your trip sounds wonderful to me. Someday I'll get back to SF Bay for a visit. I'm glad that I work out of an office in my home, because the snack situation is under control here. Can't eat what isn't here. Yeah, those big muffins... argh... and if you read the label, a serving size is 1/2 muffin on some of those! Tricky deal.

the slim me, where are youuuuu? I hope you're feeling better now.

flowingair... C'mon back!

meowee, what's going on with you other than the brrrrrr weather?

hijude, good for you in passing up that donut! I'm wishing I had passed up a few of those things on my trip a week ago. I didn't, and now I'm having to deal with it. Fortunately I do like the foods I eat. Baby carrots go a long way with me!

More work today... I'm making headway, and one project has kind of stalled (not on my end) so that gives me a little breathing room to catch up. I'm going to do a little political action Saturday (no, I will not say for whom!)--Florida is still in a dead heat, so everyone is hustling on both sides.

Have a good one day at a time!

Jay

Hi All, Just been terribly busy. Always glad to read the posts and find out how everyone is doing though.

Jude, Good work on dumping the donut!! it takes awhile, but I have little trouble now. It's just not worth it. But like Laurie said, have something there that you can eat. When I feel most deprived and most tempted is when I'm hungry anyway.

Linda, It's cold here but I think the sun was out yesterday. When I work I don't always see outside. And working 12 hours, I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. It is supposed to be nice this weekend though, in the 50's.

Gail, You climbed the tower! Way-to-go!!! Can you imagine being able to do that a year ago? Tell us about the trip.

Laurie, I'll cross my fingers that your son and DIl end up somewhere close. Chicago would be nice,huh? Great place to visit, not too far....I know what you mean about staying away from food at work. There is always something there. If I had just a "taste" of everything brought in it would a disaster! I do have something occasionally though. It has to be really special and i have a really small piece. I agree about eating in restaurants. You can try to find the best alternative on a menu but you never know what you are going to get. A piece of broiled fish will come swimming in butter.

Jay, I'm sure you will get rid of those unwanted pounds quickly!! Traveling can be a real challenge.

Make it a good day, Freda

Freda - hope things slow down for you soon. Hope you are enjoying our warm (er) weather

Jay - glad you got a bit of a respite from the work load. I'm betting that - now that you are back home - those vacation lbs. will be gone soon. I'm actually thankful that MI seems to be "settled" regarding the election. It makes life a bit more tolerable around here. We were getting so many survey calls that the phone was practically ringing off the hook. Once one of the candidates admitted that MI was a lost cause, things have quieted down considerably.

We have a couple hot topics in MI though, so there are still SOME of those pesky survey calls. Glad I have caller ID!

Jude - hope you had a great day - and that the scale rewards you for your perseverance - you are doing so well!

Linda - hope the snow is still far away!

Hi to everyone else - hope you had a fun and OP day!