A hare met a tortoise one day and made fun of him for the slow and clumsy way in which he walked.
The tortoise laughed and said, "I will run a race with you any time that you choose."
"Very well," replied the hare, "we will start at once."
The tortoise immediately set off in his slow and steady way without waiting a moment or looking back. The hare, on the other hand, treated the matter as a joke and decided to take a little nap before starting, for she thought that it would be an easy matter to overtake her rival.
The tortoise plodded on, and meanwhile the hare overslept herself, with the result that she arrived at the winning-post only to see that the tortoise had got in before her.
Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.
This comes from a book handed down from my grandmother to my mother to me. The book is so old it doesn't have a copyright date or an author/editor's credit.
That fable has been the motivation for us turtles for several years. Someone on the ancient WW forum mentioned the fable and I discovered it was very motivational for me. I talked about it in posts and other people said that the tortoise philosophy worked for them, too. So, I started a thread for us turtle types.
We work toward accepting that our bodies have a natural speed of weight loss when we choose to live a healthy life, instead of "going on a diet". Many of us have experienced "the diets" as go on/lose weight-- go off/ gain the weight plus more back.
We choose to perservere with each choice we make throughout the day. We believe that choosing to be slow, steady turtles helps us to learn the skills we need to in order to lose and keep off the weight. Our main focus is to become the healthiest people we can be.
So, welcome to all who realize that losing and maintaining a weight loss is a lifestyle change. And who want support as we all learn the skills we need to successfully make the changes that will allow us to reach our goals.
Well, despite PMS meltdowns, my average was the same as last week's. But today's number was 4 pounds less than yesterday's. That was PMS water going away and it won't show up in the average until next week. That's why I like the average. For me, I can see how my overall weight is affected by water retention and I don't freak over larger fluctuations. Plus, if Friday was my weighin day, were I using a weekly weighin, I would have 4 pounds more for the week than if Saturday were my weighin day. That's crazy. I think I like this system.
Well, the right chocolate actually is healthy (but I forget what it has in it that's good for you), in the right amounts, but I can see how it can wreck a food plan if it's too much temptation. However, my point is that if a person wants to eat that quality of chocolate and can't go to Belgium, it's now possible to get it here. I don't have a problem with eating chocolate in proper-sized servings, if it's the really good stuff, so I'm glad it's available. It just goes back to choosing the best ingredients you can get when you cook. I love good chocolate, but a little goes a long way.
Kathy, I love the way you use your talent to bring a bright spot to people's lives. You have great ideas about how to use your quilts to help other people.
Things are going pretty well for me right now. I'm OP and feeling good about it. I learned that there is a pattern to my PMS food issues. If I can make sure to eat enough protein and veggies, I don't have as much of a problem. Plus, of course, getting in the supplements. It's all a process of figuring out what's happening and doing what you can to fix the problem areas.
I'm just checking in this morning. Things are going really well. PMS symptoms have gone away and I'm actually eating a couple of points under the point range I picked most days. (It's higher than WW's range, so I'm not worried about eating too little.) Last night I ate 1/2 of my hamburger because I wasn't hungry enough to eat it all and I had no trouble limiting myself to 1 oz. of the potato chips.
I learned something this past year, particularly at the end. I need to count points. If I count, I don't get as out of control. I can maintain my weight or lose, depending on my current goal, as long as I count the points and write them down. Otherwise, eventually I start gaining again. I don't like that because I feel like I'm micromanaging my food. I'd rather be able to listen to my body and eat the right amount. But I think that my body's natural regulation system got too messed up, especailly since I was not allowed to decide for myself how much to eat unitl I grew up and moved out of the house. It tells me when to stop, but at levels that maintain my current weight. So, I need to deal with the idea that I will always have to have some system of keeping track of the food I eat. (Sigh!) I've known it before, but I think I've held out hope that someday I could manage without all of that paperwork and measuring and planning.
I have to go. My son and his girlfriend have the day off and they're coming to visit us. Isn't it that they chose to visit us on their day off? I have a bit of cleaning to finish and some cooking to do. We watched football instead of doing all of the housework yesterday. It was cool to watch the Raiders get into the Super Bowl again. Wish the Niners had been able to do it. It would be so cool to have both Bay Area teams duke it out at least once.
Kathy, I can understand your quitting the art quilt group. I like both styles of quilting. But I'm no vegetarian! (Wine, on the other hand ...)
Erin, I've had Belgian chocolate here in the U.S., though rarely. There was a shop in Philly that had only fresh Belgian chocolate. It cost the earth, but WOW. I didn't really care much for the British chocolate I had, but maybe because I only seemed to find the milk variety, which I don't like. (The darker the better for me.) Sadly, I'm not enough of a connoisseur to say no to M&Ms or Junior Mints, so I don't keep them around.
Lin, we don't have eye coverage either. It's the reason I've put this off for so long. Glad I finally got checked, though, in case this does turn out to be glaucoma. I so agree with you about counting points. When I stop, I gradually gain again. I've accepted this, most of the time. I'll always need to track my food. I noticed that a bunch of people in "Thin for Life" have to do it, too.
As for the "fake food" approach ... I've found some of the lower-calorie alternatives very helpful and mostly palatable. The ones I can't stand I don't eat. I don't have your sensitive taste buds, which no doubt helps. I prefer regular eggs but am grateful for eggbeaters. I prefer regular yogurt with sugar, but am now eating mostly the sugar-free variety. (Haven't quite developed a taste for plain yogurt by itself yet.) I love fatty popcorn but am mostly satisfied with Smart Pop. I adore full-fat cheese but opt for the fat-free or reduced-fat kind during most days. (Ditto for mayo and margarine.) That kind of thing.
Also, I'm finding that as I go to lower point levels, it is MUCH harder to work a "real" dessert (or "real" cheese or "real" mayo) into my day. It's not impossible, but it's tough. Unless I eat just a bite or two, which is usually what I do (from DH's plate). I truly can't imagine going down 2 more point levels from here.
Speaking of which, though, I'm about to go ahead and drop down to the next point level early. I think part of my plateau has been because I've been unwilling to do that. I usually have to go down early, and I suspect I'm going to have to do it again. This will put me in the 20-25 point range. I've decided there's no way I can do this without eating a LOT more vegetables and 0-point foods. So I'm going to have to get creative here. I'm also going to have to cut back on portions (again), which I've been loathe to do. Like, 1 piece of toast instead of 2, that kind of thing.
Still, I'm READY to lose this weight, and I believe I'm ready to do what's necessary. I will not wear this size jeans again next fall. I will not be obese this summer. I will do what I need to do to stay healthy and avoid the diabetes bullet.
Lauren, what you said about it being harder as you drop point levels makes a lot of sense. Actually, if you calculate the calorie count of 18 points using the 50 cal/point rule of thumb, it's a mere 900 calories. 23 points is 1150. I think they figure that we will use some foods that are higher in fiber, thus getting a few more calories in and use activity points, too. After all, the other rule of thumb is that for everyone, less than 1200 calories per day is too few.
I have one other issue with the lower-calorie alternatives besides how much I dislike the taste of most of them. They cost a lot more and my food budget gets tighter every month. There are things we love that I don't buy anymore because they cost more than I can spend. I may have to cut back further because we need to send money to our college kid or he'll have to drop out of school. So, smaller portions and balancing with a lot of 0 and very low-point, but filling foods will be the way I will have to deal with the lower point ranges.
This experiment of mine is turning out to be really interesting. It seems that I have hit on exactly the point range my body needs to stay at this weight. My weight has been within the same couple of pounds since I began. I'm going to cut 5 points and see what happens. My goal for the year is to lose about 50 pounds. A few less won't bother me, so I'm after about an average 1 pound a week loss.
I think that your comment about being ready to lose the weight and being willing to do what you have to do is what will make you successful. The main battle we all need to win is the one inside of our heads. When we win that one, it really doesn't seem to matter which program we follow, as long as it's a healthy one and is compatible with our bodies.
That is something I'm struggling with right now. It's obvious to me that I don't want to say, "The heck with it. I'm not doing this anymore." Because it doesn't feel right in my gut when I contemplate doing that. Yet, I can't manage to regain the determination to do what it takes to get it off, either. So, I decided just to keep going. It's the action that gets the results. So, as long as I'm not willing to give up completely, I will follow my plan.
Miata,
I am so glad I know you. Aren't you wonderful to give away your quilts. Talk about making people happy! Also, thrilled to hear that you've lost a nice chunk of weight. Good news.
Erin/Mousie,
Way to go. Imagine losing weight of 40 points a day. I am so glad for you. That's all that exercise working for you in the right way.
Lauren,
Way to go dropping some points. Isn't this interesting? Some of us have to add points, some drop, some keep in the same range but vary widely over the course of a week. How weird. All I know is that we're all learning about ourselves and the best way to knock off some weight.
Good luck, Lauren, with the new point range. Here's to you for writing down your foods. I know that's when I do my very best.
It seems to be the thing that is number one priority for me.
Lin,
I love to read your e-mails. You always have something new going on. Who would have thought about averaging out your weight over several days? Lin--that's who! Especially with the PMS factor, I can see where this would be very valuable. I agree with you about not deleting any specific food group as I have done that in the past--on OA--deleting white bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. I lost 62 pounds, looked terrific, and was clueless as to how to maintain. Gained back 20 pounds in two months and it was downhill from there.
Now I use some low fat products because I wouldn't be able to
stop from binging if I kept the regular products in the house. Like Lauren, my palate just isn't that fancy and I can be satisfied with the near-products every once in awhile.
Having some good days and am very grateful. My husband always says to keep on keepin' on even when you don't want to because you never know when it will click and you'll not mind eating properly, etc. I agree with him. Just two weeks ago I was so forlorn and thought I'd never lose another pound. Now I've lost about 3 altogether and I'm doing okay.
Good luck to everyone. Take care and smile!
Love,
Judy
Hey, Judy, I can't take credit for the idea of averging my weight. That came from the people who wrote the Carbodydrate Addict's Diet. I only claim credit for noticing how useful a tool it is for me and being willing to use it, even if it's different from what WW does.
Got to the bottom of your post. WOW! You lost 3 pounds. Way to go. Let's celebrate!
What your husband says is pretty important. If we rely on how we feel about our weight loss programs, we're setting ourselves up to do the yo-yo thing because our feelings go in cycles. Sometimes we're really enthusiastic and sometimes we're not. The key is to set motivation apart from emotion. To learn that even when we don't particularly want to follow the program, we must do so anyway because we want the results. Wanting the results is where our motivation comes from, which is something Lauren has said recently, too.
A writer friend of mine gave some advice in a workshop she was teaching. She works a killer schedule to support her two kids with her writing, but she worked that same schedule (unpaid) for 10 years before she sold anything because she knew what results she wanted. She said, "Serious effort=serious results, hobby effort=hobby results."
I think that fits our weight loss efforts, too. If we take it seriously enough to follow our program every day, according to our plan, we will get serious results. It may take a while, depending on our bodies' willingness to let go of the pounds, but we will succeed. But if we approach it like a hobby, something we do occasionally, when we feel like it, we will get those discouraging occasional results.
I don't think that's a major revelation. We all know it. But every once in a while, I need a reminder and I'll bet you do, too. The hard part is hanging onto that determination every day, no matter what. That's true for anything we want in life because everything worthwhile has it's hard parts that we prefer not to do, but we do them anyway because we want the results.
The thing is that it's harder when the whole thing has to come from within ourselves because humans seem to be programmed to take the path of least resistance. We do it at work because we don't want to get fired, and that's an external consequence. WW meetings can be external, but they don't quite have the force that losing our paycheck does on our motivation. It has to come from within and that's the hardest path. We all know people who have found the will to stick with the hardest path. We can do it, too. We just have to want the results badly enough to overcome the immediate desire that crops up every so often to stop following our program. Or, when faced with a difficult situation, to choose to "start again tomorrow" instead of making the best choice we can in the situation. Or to get discouraged because it's not going the way we'd like and give up for a while. Or. . (.insert you own issues here). That's what I've been thinking about the last couple of days.
As for my program, this week I'm doing well. I'm eating within my point range or a few points under. (Again, since the range I'm using is higher than WW, I don't worry about a few points under.) Tomorrow I will calculate my average for the week and let you know how it's going. I feel really good about it, though.
I have to get going. I have a deadline to meet. I'm one of the people who volunteered to give up a couple of days to help a writer friend proofread her manuscript before she sends it to her editor. I'd like to get it back to her today, but tomorrow is the absolute deadline.
I did my average and it's almost a pound lower than last week. So, at least for now, this point range seems to be the right one. It's interesting that I'm slowly losing weight at a point range that's so much higher than what WW says I should be using. I think that's why my body reacted to WW's point system the same way it used to with the older, overly restricted calorie diets--my body needed to reduce the calories more slowly. So, I'm sticking with this range for a while. If I hit a plateau, I'll go down a couple more.
One of the local teams is in the Super Bowl, so I have to get my grocery shopping, errands, and housecleaning done today. Nothing, absolutely nothing will happen tomorrow except the game. Which is funny because my husband is NOT a sports nut and I like football as much as he does. We watch the local teams and the Seattle team. (He's from the Seattle area.) If any of them do well, we watch. Otherwise, we don't care. Fickle, that's us.
Well, everyone must be exceptionally busy this week. I hope you all find a minute or two to post soon. I get bored talking to myself!
However, I have some interesting news to report. This business of doing an average weekly weight is quite interesting. I've never weighed myself daily for any length of time before. I'm starting to see a pattern that is helping me to better understand how my body works. At the beginning, I was staying within about a three-pound range. All of a sudden, the numbers dropped by four pounds and I'm now staying within a pound or so of that new number. I'm thinking that my body may lose weight in spurts, followed by a maintain. I'll see if that continues to be the pattern as time goes on. If it is, I won't get so easily discouraged by the mini-plateaus. I'll know that they're temporary as long as I stick to my plan.
Meanwhile, my average should be down by a few pounds this week, which is also interesting because I'm eating in a range that is a minimum of 12 points more than the range WW says I should be eating. So, I guess my experiment of figuring out how many points I was eating when I wasn't counting, then gradually cutting them until I found the highest level at which I lost weight worked well for me. Maybe I can reach my goal weight without feeling like I have to starve myself, but only time will tell what the lowest range I need will be.
Just a quick note, Turtles, it's 5:45 and I need to be at the gym at 6.
It's going to be another crazy semester. I'm on campus a minimum of 35 hours a week, and that's NOT counting time actually walking in to the classes! I'm in 7 classes right now, three of them lab classes. OUCH. But the good news is, if I can pull this off Iwill walk at graduation in May and finish my last class over the summer! YAY! I'm graduating! I've been in school so long, I don't know what I will do with my life...but I'd like to try!
SB is HARD, there's sugar everywhere! Again, I'm doing a mild version, just being careful with carbs and eliminating things I know I shouldn't have anyway (pastries, sweetbreads, etc). I'm feeling confident it will work, though. The stress of the first week of school threw me off, but I'm back!
Wow, Erin, you have a killer schedule this semester. But it will be worth it to finally have that degree and go through that ceremony!
I have a funny story to tell about sugar. Your comment, Erin, about how hard SB is for you reminded me of this tale. We were in line at Costco waiting to pay for our stuff. The woman in front of us was buying pasta. She was a little older than me and on a mission. She announced to me and my husband that Costco was the only place that sold pasta with no sugar added. I told her to check the ingredient list. They don't add sugar to pasta. She was having none of it. If the nutrition label had sugar listed, the food manufacturers added it. Then she proceeded to loudly thank the checkout guy for carrying pasta without added sugar. Actually, she was looking for a certain number of grams or less. What she didn't understand was that there are natural sugars in most foods except meat and fats.
So, there are two sides to the sugar coin, natural sugars that grow inside the foods and sugars added in processing. That's why something like Sugar Busters is so hard. You have to restrict the natural sugars, too. That limits your food selection quite a bit, more than I am willing to do. But I applaud those of you who can do it, if it helps.
I'm still doing fine. I had one difficult day due to an error in calculating the points of a couple of things I ate. But I got right back into my range. So far, my weight is staying at the lower level it's been at this week. If my weight stays where it is for the next two days, my average will be 4 pounds lower than last week and 6 pounds lower than a month ago, when I chose this point range.
I'm just glad that I'm seeing progress, writing down the points, and creating a program that I can live with. I feel a lot more motivated than I did a month ago when I started this. What's interesting is that I'm not getting hungry as often and I'm not tired all the time. So, I guess WW's range is too low for my body's needs.
I haven't been writing about other stuff because it's pretty much the same. Both of my sons are doing fine. My oldest and his girlfriend are talking about getting married, but not any time soon. I hope they wait at least a year, but I'm just mom and my opinion doesn't count for much. I'm still working on the book. Right now, I'm back doing worldbuilding because I need to have the religion and its rituals down before I can write the next scene. I'm still looking for work, but you all know how bad the economy is. I can't find anything to apply for right now because I'm not bilingual, I don't have a college degree, or the amount of experience they want. I'm willing to fudge the experience a bit and apply for jobs that require a year or two, but I can't say I have 5 years, which is what I've been seeing lately in the ads. I wish I knew someone who is hiring!!
Indeed, Lin. Sugar is in everything, and some of it is naturally occuring. It's not the naturally occuring sugars I'm concerned about. As I have said, I'm watching out for ADDED sugars. Fruits and other natural sugars are not a concern to me. I figure they're there for a reason, right?
I'm impressed that you've had such fantastic success with a higher point range! I hope it continues to give you such fabulous results.
I've gotten the last class I needed to graduate, so that's 8 classes. My tuesday is long--on campus at 8, a break of three hours in the morning, and then solid class from 12:30-7:00. I will be impressed with myself when I pull this off.
Erin, I knew that you were worrying about added sugars, not natural ones. I agree that the natural ones must be there for a reason. It's all part of the natural ecology and we humans tend to forget that we're a part of that because we try so hard to control it.
I told the story because I thought it was amusing that this woman, who was obviously on a mission to eliminate sugar, refused to become educated in the subject, so she was driving herself crazy looking for added sugars where there were none. And, like all people on a mission, she made a point to try to get whatever reaction she wanted from complete strangers, assuming that they would care as much as she did and that they would agree with her. It was one of those situations where we couldn't look at each other without cracking up and hurting this poor woman's feelings.
So, does this mean that you won't have to do summer school after all? That would be cool, if you don't stress yourself out too much, get sick, and miss a lot of school. I've known people who did that or took on so much in one semester that they were having trouble finishing all of those big projects profs love to pile on at the end of the semester, plus studying for finals. Personally, I liked it when the final was the project. I'd rather do a hands on activity than a useless test any day.
I hope the higher range continues to give me results, too. I really don't want to have to drop a large amount of points all at once. I think that is part of the problem I have had in the past. It's too much of a shock to my body to just drop a lot of calories. I think I've read that 100-200 calories a day is a good amount to cut back, but most people don't want to do that because they want to lose more than 20 pounds in a year, even if 20 is all they have to lose. They want it off--NOW. (or better yet, yesterday
I hope some of the rest of you get a chance to post soon. I've been wondering how you all are doing.
Well, it's official. I lost 6 pounds last month. 4 this past week. It's interesting to me because normally when I start a weight-loss program I lose a whole bunch the first week because I cut my calories so much. This time I'm losing weight, but the pattern of weight loss is very different. I'm happy with what's happening. And I'm going to continue this point range for a while longer.
Everything else is going the same in my life.
I hope to hear from some of you soon. Have a great weekend.
Turtle Club #91
Lin
that they chose to visit us on their day off? I have a bit of cleaning to finish and some cooking to do. We watched football instead of doing all of the housework yesterday. It was cool to watch the Raiders get into the Super Bowl again. Wish the Niners had been able to do it. It would be so cool to have both Bay Area teams duke it out at least once. 
