Hi, Turtle Buddies,

Here it is - my "official" version of the fable:

The Hare and the Tortoise

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 about two 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 learn in order to not only lose the weight, but keep it off and 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.

Happy turtlin', everyone!

Lin

Hi, Turtles,

Judy, it's great that you checked in. Looking forward to reading your next post updating us on how things are going.

Mousie, your dh and you have all of the positive vibes I can send you. Hoping to hear great news about the job this week. Even though you can't just stay home in bed, try to get some extra rest. I know it's hard with midterms but you'll do much better on your tests if you're rested. Drink extra water. Eat healthy meals. All that stuff you know you need to do, but the mother hen in me just has to say it anyway. Hope you feel better soon.

Lauren, I'm glad the pound is "official". Congratulations!

I'm not expecting problems with my oldest son moving back. I won't be sorry to have some company at least part of the day. He said that once he learns to drive and gets a car, he'll drive us to Foothill for photography classes so we don't have to go at 4 am when my dh goes to work. That may not be until next fall, but it's the thought that he's willing to let his ma tag along that's great. Especially since he complained and worried about us taking a class together. It cracked me up that no one knew we were mother and son until a few weeks into the course when someone overheard him call me "Mom". So, we took another class together. And they didn't guess we were mother and son, either. It was fun.

He told me that he expects to be doing chores and paying us money for groceries, etc. As for the other rules, we never have been a family with a lot of rules. We tried to focus on the important ones. Neither of our boys would have done well in a super controlling family because David had to push every rule to its limits. That meant either choosing our battles carefully or having constant battles. Chris just has a mind like a seive. He can't remember long lists of stuff. So, if we wanted his cooperation, the rules had to be kept simple or he's forget what we expected of him. We always got compliments on how well-behaved they were, so we must have chosen well. Parenting is really an exercise in trial and error living because until you try, you don't know what works with a particular child.

For the most part, both of them have outgrown the need for rules except for the things like calling if you're going to be late or not going to San Jose for three days without telling us you're going to be gone. Of course, they expect us to treat them the same way, which we consider a reasonable request because that's just common courtesy. He once said that we made it really hard for him and his brother to rebel because our rules are so reasonable that they had no problem following them. We considered that a compliment.

I'm planning to do the leek and mushroom soup tonight. I'm pretty sure this recipe will work, but since I haven't tested it, I'm not sharing it yet. However, I will. This is the time of year for that soup because chanterelle mushrooms are half price. ($15 instead of $30 a pound!) I use a quarter pound and fill in with a quarter pound of cremini mushrooms. They're the little brown ones that are really baby Portabellas and they're really good. Of course, you can use any mushroom you can get at your store. I just love chanterelles and try to use them at least once in the fall when they're in season.

I went for a long walk this morning. And I'm easily staying within my point range. Even though I'm not tracking individual food groups like how many veggie servings and so on, I'm noticing that I'm choosing the right amounts of those things even though I'm not making little tally marks on my tracking sheet. Since I get really tired of complicated record-keeping, that observation is a relief because it means that I don't have to go back to doing all of that extra stuff. I simplified my record keeping by writing down the food and points, but using my electronic point calculator to total it all up.

Hope all of you turtles are doing well. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin
272/244/135 or so

Turtles!!!!! HE GOT IT!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!

I'm dancing in my seat as I write this, he got it! YAY! Marie called this morning and made the offer, and he starts Oct 22! YAY! We have to go buy him clothes...he's got bum-around stuff, but he wants to "dress the part" and needs new stuff. HE GOT IT!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for hoping/praying/pulling for us, I'm sure SOMEONE was listening, everything has come together so well. My mom always has said that if you hang on long enough, something's gotta give. We did it!

We're going out for a celebratory dinner, to Olive Garden, I'm planning on salad&bruschetta. Nothing more...the urge to eat to comfort myself has gone, and I'm perfectly content with the thought of a salad.

It's been a looooooooooooooooooooooooong year. He wasn't able to work until we got married because of immigration issues, and the industry bombed in that time. He's spent the last 7 months looking, and it's been a hard, hard time. But we did the hard stuff at the beginning, right, when we were still in the "newlywed" mindset, and now we've got the strength built up for later.

We're planning to "run away" to Julian (a small, pretty town up in the mountains) for the weekend, and just relax and enjoy each other NON-stressed. Because he has a job now! And we don't have to move and I don't have to leave school and he won't get kicked out by INS...oh, Turtles. This is such a relief!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything. And thank you for being patient with me, and offering encouraging words!

Now, to train for that marathon...if I can do THIS, I can do a marathon!

Mousie,
This is the greatest news!!!! Congrats about your husband and his job. I am so thrilled for you.

Guys--I'm much too beat to write right now, but will catch up soon. In the meantime I'm sending everyone good vibes.

Judy
234/thinner

Woo-hoo, Mousie! Terrific news! I'm so happy for you both. Have a great time on your mini-vacation this weekend -- you deserve it!

Judy -- always nice to see your pixels.

Lin -- you're funny. I mention "rules," and you suddenly picture long lists of restrictions. I sense a rebel in there. Actually, the only ground rules my parents had once I was an adult were similar to the ones you mentioned, except that I did pay rent. I'm glad you're looking forward to your son's return.

My cat Snickers keeps walking in front of my monitor. Makes it hard to type. She's kind of velcro-ish when we get back from vacation.

I'm going to sell a bunch of my clothes on Ebay. I've finally undergrown a lot of them -- they just don't look good anymore. I gave the majority to a thrift store, but there are some that I think I can get money for -- and that'll help pay the bills while I'm unemployed. So I'm waiting for the rain to stop so I can go out and photograph them.

Well, better get at it ... got to go do my workout.

Onward an downward,

Lauren
279/213/199 by Christmas (WW scales)

Hi, Turtles,

Mousie--We're all so happy for you. Tell your dh that the turtles all congratulate him, as well as you, on that great news! Having a job takes such a burden off of your mind.

Enjoy your celebration and your little getaway. Sounds like you both deserve some time to just play a bit.

Lauren, if you had grown up with my parents, you'd think of long lists of restrictions, too. Even after we grew up. Heck, my mother is still trying to "raise" me! As in tell me what to do so I turn out the way she thinks I "should". Of course I'm a rebel!

Wow! That's great about being able to sell your clothes on Ebay and give some to a thrift shop. Mine, well they're only going to be worthy of the rag bag, if anyone has a rag bag anymore.

Cats are like that. Smokie has been driving me crazy since the boys moved out. She sits herself directly in front of me, preferably on top of the paper I'm trying to write on. Blackie just meows after Paul leaves in the morning until I say her name. Then she remembers there's still another human around, comes in and goes to sleep on the end of the bed.

Today has been another good day. I learned about a food court restaurant at the mall not to eat at again. But, I didn't go over points, so I'm chalking it up to a lesson learned. But, I did get in a nice long walk.

The farther I go on this journey, the more I realize how important those few pages I write every morning are. Since I just let my mind wander and write down whatever it's thinking, I get a lot of interesting revelations. Sometimes they're not exactly what I want to hear, but rather what I need to hear. Other times, they're both.

The thing that makes it significant to write about is that what I've learned recently has helped me to make changes in many areas of my life. Some of them I've been trying to make for years, but couldn't figure out how to do them or stay motivated long enough to make them a habit. My journaling has helped me to come to a place where I'm learning which of the things I've been trying to change are truly important to me. And then doing them. Without rebelling ( ) or fighting with myself. I feel so peaceful and see that I'm making progress instead of anxious or guilty because I wasn't doing what I wanted to do.

Glad to hear from you all. Hope those of you who haven't been able to post will check in soon. Hope some of you lurkers will write something sometime.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin
272/244/135 or so

hi Turtles!

It's so amazing, sometimes you just change one thing and suddenly life just falls together. I was walking around campus this morning with the silliest grin on my face. I had just finished a Kinesiology test and gotten the results (80%) and realized that in most of my classes (save one, Organic Chemistry)(so, in 5 other classes) I've got an ~80% average. So I was relatively satisfied with that, and then I thought "I can do better now that Nick is working...NICK IS WORKING NOW!" and hence the silly grinning.

I'm also completely relaxed about eating, exercise, whathaveyou. I realize that it's the first day and this giddiness will fade, but for right now what I eat, and when, and how much, and what I eat next, and how many vegetables I need, and all those issues aren't issues. I'm feeling tremendously mellow.

I've had 15 points so far today, 4 vegetables, and half my protein. Through process of trial and error I've discovered that I'm sensitive to lactose (not intolerant, it takes about 2 cups of milk or milk products to cause cramping and intestinal issues, and then not for about 8 hours)(lactose intolerance kicks in between 1/2 hour and 2 hours after consumption) so I've had my calcium and vitamin pills, and the diuretic I'm on for my blood pressure. I'm hoping my blood pressure goes down on its own now, and I can stop taking anything.

Life is much improved!

Lin, I have kept a journal since I was 8 years old. I have, on one of my bookshelves, all my old journals. I can trace a path through my life by re-reading them. After the car accident, I lost a fair amount of memories from the previous year. I went back to my journals and found them again. I couldn't exist without journalling. In class I have two pages going always--one of notes, one a continuous journal entry. I even have multiple journals--one for health/fitness/body issues, one for DH/marriage issues, and one "regular" journal. I just couldn't exist without writing. It's a part of certain people, I think--we just can't NOT do it.

Anyway! Must clear the phone line.

Hi, Turtles,

Great going on your GPA, Mousie. I really admire your ability to keep your life on track while you waited for your DH to find a job in his field.

You know, you're absolutely right about some people just having to write. I wish I had all of my old journals, but some of them have been lost between various houses and apartments when we've moved. That happens, though.

It's interesting that as I looked at my tracker I thought I was really eating a lot today, but the points are right on track. I went for a long walk today, too. Out of all of the times I've ever tried to lose weight, right now is the easiest effort ever. It's as if something clicked inside that told me exactly how to use the program to fit my body and my life. I'm so grateful for whatever that particular click is.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin
272/244/135 or so

Hi Guys,
Could you send me a word of support? I'm on track, but fighting it every step of the way. I want to eat, eat, eat. I could use a helping word right now. I went to my WW WI and I'm up again. So, you're all losing weight and I'm going the other way. Help, please.
Love,
Judy
234/thinner/199# by Christmas

Judy, first, you're on track. WAY TO GO. You've been posting here regularly. You've been going to Weight Watchers. You definitely want to be thinner, and you're demonstrating that you have the commitment to do that. YOU CAN DO THIS.

Have you stopped and spent some time just thinking about why you want to eat, eat, eat? Those feelings don't ever come out of a vacuum. Have you tried writing some thoughts down? Is it stress with what's been going on, with the beginning of a new school year, with family stuff, with something else? Is it rebellion? What is food doing for you? Is it calming you down? Filling a void? Leveling out your mood? Helping you procrastinate? Keeping you from being bored? We use food for all kinds of reasons. Once we start figuring out what some of them are, maybe we can find healthier substitutes.

Sometimes we can't figure out why we have the urge to eat, eat, eat. That's when we grit our teeth and hold on for dear life. That's when we try behavior modification, like getting out of the parts of the house that trigger those urges (like getting away from the TV or staying out of the kitchen), or like chewing gum, or like getting out of the house and walking around the block for 10 minutes until the urge passes, or calling a friend, or coming to the Turtles!

The thing is, Judy, that all this pain and grief is worth it. It really is. YOU'RE worth it. Instead of trying not to imagine what it would be like to eat some food you crave, imagine yourself at 190 pounds. At 160 pounds. At 140 pounds. What do you look like? What clothes are you wearing? How do you feel? What activities are you doing? I find that when I spend a few minutes in the evening before falling asleep just imagining myself thinner, that really helps me. I picture myself walking into any clothing store and being able to find clothes that fit and look great. (One of my big weaknesses is clothing, in case you couldn't tell.) I picture myself being able to do high-impact or mixed-impact aerobics, including all those cool dance moves that involve both feet leaving the ground. I picture myself having more energy and low cholesterol. I picture myself living many healthy and active years.

Hang on, Judy. Don't ever give up. YOU CAN DO THIS.

--Lauren

Hi, Turtles,

Judy, your phrasing makes me think of a few things. One, perhaps something is causing you to want to eat instead of dealing with it. My best method of dealing with it, as you can probably guess, is to journal until the reason comes out and makes me face it. Another method is to walk and let my mind wander around the problem. Or think about it right before I go to sleep. Let my subconscious work on it. Don't discount the possibility that the current events are part of the problem. I know that I've been really struggling, off and on, with this lately and so have a lot of other people who are posting on various forums.

Or, perhaps you're just feeling a little rebellious about having to do this at all. That's one of my biggies. As I said in an earlier post, I sometimes resent that I have to do this just to be able to maintain a healthy body. I don't feel that way anymore, at least not at the moment. I've discovered that sometimes I think you've dealt with something, but it pops back up in my journal because I've only dealt with part of it and I need to go deeper. That's what happened this past few weeks. I went deeper and was surprised at what I found and how learning it helped me with my WW, even though what I was doing it for was to help me with my writing. It did that, too.

Also, you mentioned that you're on track, but gaining. Maybe you need to tweak the program a little bit. More exercise, eating at a different place in your range, mixing it up by eating at different points on different days. Make sure you get all of your milks, veggies, etc. The problem may be simply a practical issue, not all that psychological stuff at all.

I don't know if hormones are an issue, but since I started taking the calcium, mulitvitamin, and (especially) the magnesium, I don't get those food cravings like I used to. I get hungrier, in general, but don't crave potato chips and chocolate.

Lauren gave you so much great advice that I don't really know what else I can add to help you. But, I do know that you are motivated and want this badly enough to work it out. You will be seeing losses again. We've found that sometimes we go through times when we have some small gains, but we come out the other end with more consistent losses and are able to follow the program better because of what we had to do to get past those times.

I hope some of our ramblings helps. I know you will get there. Keep posting. It's been an observation of mine that when people stop posting, they gain more weight than if they keep posting, even if they're not really following WW right then. What I've observed is that when people stop posting and disappear, when they come back, they've gained a lot of weight. I think that, at least for me, when I post regularly it keeps me focused enough to deal with whatever is going on without getting totally out of control. When I stop posting, I don't even think about WW and I gain a lot of weight between concentrated efforts. Also, when I keep posting, the time between concentrated efforts is much shorter.

However, I think I've finally managed, with the help of Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way", to get deep enough to come to the point where I am willing to do this long enough to reach goal and stay there. I recommend her book a lot. Despite it's title, it's not specifically for artists only. It's for anyone who wants to get in touch with their creative self. A lot of people use "Simple Abundance" to try to find their real self, but I found the exercises in "Simple Abundance" to directed, so I never found what I needed, just what worked for Sara Ban Breathnach. Julia Cameron's exercises are much more open-ended so you really explore yourself.

Well, I have to go. My son and I are going to go for a walk to the mall. I'm doing really well. this week. On track and getting a walk in each day. (Was that me--actually walking without complaining about exercising?) Let's see if I can maintain that for a while.

So, all I can say is we turtles are doing what we need to do--moving forward and being there for each other.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin
272/244/135 or so

Thanks guys,
It's a huge help to see so many good ideas. I'm going to print them out to look at and paste them in my WW spiral notebook to refer to when I feel like eating. You're both a big help.
Judy
234/thinner

Hi, Fellow Tortoises,

Your welcome, Judy. I'm glad we could help.

Lauren, I've saved your letter, too. It's chock full of wonderful suggestions.

Today is weigh-in day for me. I'm down another pound. Yay!

What's made me feel more successful than losing the pound is that I've gone for a walk of between 1 and 2 hours every day for the past 3 days. It's not a long streak, but it's a start. I don't push hard. I usually go at a pace that's between light and moderate, which is where I set the slider when I figure out my activity points. I'm discovering that long, slower, rambling walks suit me. I used to do them when I was younger for no reason. Even after I got my own car, I often walked a couple of miles to the mall or the store. What's hard for me is to think of it as a "workout" and feel as if I have to push the pace, etc. I think as I get into better shape, I will probably walk faster naturally. That's been my experience in the past. I'd just forgotten it.

Sometimes I think I make this whole thing more difficult and stressful than it needs to be. I've been taking a relaxed approach and it's been easier. By "relaxed" I mean not stressing out over a half point or a change in plans that means eating more points than I planned. I've been just adjusting the rest of the day or the next day and moving forward. I'm not sure what has destroyed the perfectionism that has plagued me off and on during my journey, but I'm not complaining. (Now, if I could only get the art critic to shut up until I need her. . . )

I've been having trouble sticking to my writing schedule and this weekend I realized that I've been working on the wrong project. It's the teddy bears that really want my attention. Also the photo essay. Maybe my calling isn't straight writing. Maybe it's a combination of photography and words. I don't know. I just have to keep going and see where it all leads.

So, I hope you all are doing well. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Happy turtlin'!

Lin
272/243/135 or so

Lin,
It is wonderful that you are down another pound, and it is also amazing that you are walking and getting so many good benefits from that. I feel like I know you since we've been turtlin' along thanks to you starting this club and I am seeing so many changes in you in this last month or so. It's wonderful and I'm so happy for you.

I went to a baby shower in a restaurant yesterday. I guess I sound whiney, but I am very lucky--I live in a part of the country where food places *deliver*, for heaven's sake! I know a lot of people and my dh and I get invited a lot of places and we have friends and family in a lot. It seems as though I just get myself on track and something else wonderful or awful happens (I eat over both) and I'm off track and gaining weight again. So----to make a short story long, I went to the baby shower for my dear friend's daughter and selected the best I could with what was offered. I am down two pounds from my high this week and I am thankful and grateful to you guys for support. Yes, I thought the weight gain was temporary--but how many temporary gains can you have before they become permanent? In June I was down six pounds from where I am now. I am working on getting rid of this weight, but Lin--you're right. How can I be on track and gaining weight. Simple explanation that I didn't mention--I wasn't on track as I was gaining weight. I was off track, gained, didn't ask for help or e-mail, and *then* got myself back on track and continued on. So, another challenge today. We'll be meeting our daughter and her dh to look at a little house they found. Of course we'll be eating out afterward. I started the day right with a big breakfast of 5 points--lite English muffin, 2 Eggbeaters, and 3 Boca breakfast sausages. I'm full because of the protein and I have a plan for dinner with the kids.

Lin,
Interesting that different writing calls you at different times. You're doing so well following your instincts that it makes sense to go with your intuition as far as your writing as well. Good luck!

Lauren,
Thanks again for all the wonderful advice. It's great to hear these things so clearly. And yes, sometimes we do have to sacrifice and go against what we want for the moment to get what we want long term. Since I am always close to program, but just not enough to lose weight and since I gave up exercising again--a real stumbling block for me--my weight is not going where I want it to be.
Good luck to you and all your wonderful successes!!! Keep on turtlin--although lately your success has a sure footed rabbit element to it. Weigh to go!

Kimmers and Mousie,
It's so wonderful to hear good news and revelations that you've been able to find through self examination and doctor's help.
I'm so proud of all of us and wish us all well.

Judy
234/thinner/199# by Christmas!!!!!

Judy--
Here's a thought for dealing with all the "happy and sad" events that come your way and cause you to make bad choices. When I find myself in that situation, I ask myself exactly whose celebration it is. If we're out for someone's birthday, is it mine? If it IS, then yay me, I can have birthday cake and a splendid dinner. If it isn't, yes I'm glad the other person was born, but how does stuffing myself full of bad choices express my happiness? If it's to celebrate a job offer, is it my job? When my husband and I went out to celebrate his recent job offer, I had bruschetta and salad. So, nice food, but not nearly gorging myself. Just a trick that might help!

The change is amazing. My husband is acting like his old self again (THIS is why I married him!) and I'm acting like the Old Me too. Making good choices is no longer a struggle, and I even started my marathon training yesterday! That desperate, uncontrollable-but-definitely-controlling hunger has gone, and I feel so free.

Now, I don't know what my weight is doing. My obsession with the subject was getting really bad so my husband put the scale away (I agreed to it). He also suggested I NOT go to a meeting until I felt like I could cope with it, so I haven't been to a meeting in...2 weeks? Now, I realize that we're always told to just GO to the meetings, no matter what, but I was beating myself up so bad that they were doing far more harm than good. I'm right on track, though, tracking points and protein, and my blood pressure is WAY down, and I feel healthy. I'll worry about what my weight is doing later, for now I'm just enjoying not being obsessed.