Starting the thread - I'll be back later to reply and post.
Judy

Hi all,

Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm sitting here drinking coffee and avoiding housework and errands on what is now the only day of the week that I don't have to work. One of those errands is getting to the grocery store to stock up, which I badly need today. It's a hectic week this week: Ana's after school activities start and I have meetings tonight and tomorrow. Yikes. I best get off this computer and get my butt in gear.

Have a great day.

Well, TOM finally came! So, I weighed in today (on my normal weigh in day- Mondays).... the BLOAT is gone and the scales were in my favor.... 215!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, in the last 3 weeks, I've lost 10 pounds!!!!!!!! So, I was able to update all my tickers and graduate to my Halloween goal....ONEDERLAND HERE I COME!

The last time I weighed 215 pounds was before I got pregnant with our first son, Jacob (3 years ago).... even then, I weighed 232 pounds.... The last time I was in Onederland was when I was 18.... nearly 10 years go!!!! YAY!

Hi All...

Back to the boards after a long absence. I've been feeling totally and completely unmotivated to address my steadily increasing weight and waistline, but here I are again. My goal for the week is to drink my water and check in daily. Judy and Carla...

Julz - Congrats on a terrific job!

Karen - So good to see you again! Hugs right back at ya'. I was away from the boards for quite a spell also. I'm joining you in trying to get in that water. I haven't been doing a great job of that. Heck, I haven't been doing a great job of anything.

I did have a much saner day, food-wise today. And I did do some basic grocery shopping yesterday, so I have quick and easy things to grab for my lunches for this week and enough dinner options to keep going for awhile. Next week I'm hitting my cookbooks, planning some meals, and doing some more extensive grocery shopping. I've promised myself I'll exercise tomorrow morning - we'll see when the alarm goes off. And now off to chug some water!

Ruthannie - congratulations on the 1/2 pound down. I hope your week this week has been less munchy.

Carla - I'm sorry you've been in a funk lately. I'm a bit concerned about carbs and sugar levels (well, I'm concerned about it all but I *really* want you to be careful about the diabetes!!!) I guess it seems as if the extra hours at work are a mixed blessing but I'm with you in that any additional monies (for me it will be just if I can pick up some tutoring) would be great. I think it's great that you'll be able to plan your schedule around Ana's and be a reading buddy in her class - there's something to be said for flexibility (of course it would be great to have flexibility and a good salary!) I know what you mean about routines - or the lack of them. The new schedule is something I have to get used to. I do plan on using some of the "down time" during the day to do some of the planning Ruthannie speaks of. There's tons of it (just part of teaching) and I hope to get a lot of it done during the day so I don't have to take it home (or at least not as much.) Still, my routines are just starting to form so I know the feeling of not having a handle on the day-to-day things. Good for you for getting to the grocery store - it's so much easier when you have low-point, healthy food in the house. I'm hoping for a saner day food-wise as well. As for the exercise, see my challenge to you below ;-)

Sammie Congrats on the 2 lbs!

starlet - that's a fabulous start - congratulations!

LondonJulz - congratulations on a great weigh-in and a great total for the last 3 weeks!

Karen - welcome back!!!!! I think you have a great goal set and I look forward to "seeing" you here often! You know, I was sort of in your neck of the woods this summer. Tony and I were in Vancouver before we set sail on our cruise. We were only there one day but we loved the city and have vowed to visit again some day.

It's been a rough week. Last week at school was a mess. To make a long story short, the other two reading teachers and I found out that we had to pack up our whole (new) room in a couple of hours last Tuesday to make room for a poor teacher who had a day and a half to move her WHOLE room downstairs before students began last Thursday. So that's what we did (and of course for me it was unpaid.) After packing on Tuesday and unpacking on Wednesday my back was atrocious. The two other reading teachers went back to their old (small) room while I moved into the (upstairs) room of the teacher who had to move. I had a district meeting on Thursday for half a day (got paid) and then was told that the part-time reading teachers didn't start until yesterday. I ended up going to my parent's pool on Friday but to say the least, it was a snacky week, even on core. My activity for most of last week consisted of stretching my back although it's somewhat better now and I've been trying to bump up the activity.

I didn't go to my meeting on Saturday. Tony and I were going to my parent's pool in the morning and it was a choice between that and doing a workout and I chose the workout. OK, part of it was because I didn't think I'd see a loss on the scale but I did want to get some activity in because we were going out to dinner that evening. My week has been a bit better so far although I did have a snacky night a couple of days ago which used up more weekly points that I wanted to use (I'm doing another core week this week.) The eating challenge is that Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow evening and that means 2 dinners at my mom's this week. Most of what she's making is core - of course the plum torte and the honey cake aren't - so I hope to stay as OP as possible. Having snacked away some of the weekly points though, I figure I need to get some activity in every day, and since I won't have time tomorrow between when I get home from work and when we leave for my parents, it has to be before work. I did get my butt out of bed this morning at 5:15 and did a 1/2 hour strength workout. I want to do a 1/2 hour workout tomorrow morning before work too. So Carla, here's the challenge - we get up however much earlier we need to tomorrow to work out before our days begin and do some kind of activity. Are you game?

Have a great one,
Judy

Judy - You probably won't read this tonight, but I'm game. Of course, I'll be cursing all the way tomorrow, but I'll get it done. Happy Rosh Hashanah! Latkes, right?

I had my first weigh-in this morning after my first week. I'm down 6.5 pounds, so needless to say I'm happy. Gotta keep working hard though

Starlet!

I weighed this morning, no change. I think my recent snackiness is caught up with me. TOM is still looming too, thought it would be here by now.

Oh well. I need to find some other tangible changes to focus on besides numbers on the scale. On the plus side, I have exercised every day this week and despite snacking have also written everything down.

I think I am revising my Halloween goal, given my slow pace. I'll wait, though, and see how this next week goes. If I put too high a bar, I will be disappointed I don't reach it. At the moment, seeing a number below 260 would be great!

Carla - so, how did you do on our challenge? I ended up getting up early but my back was barking so I did some yoga. Nope, latkes are on Hanukkah. Rosh Hashanah doesn't really have one particular dish, but always has something sweet (with honey) for a sweet New Year. At my mom's that's some apple dipped in honey and my mom's honey cake. Yum!

Starlet - that's a great first week. Congratulations!

Ruthannie - Congratulations on exercising and journalling everything! Good for you for trying to focus on things other than that darned number on the scale! I think it's a good idea to see if you want to adjust your goal. Your mentioning it just sent me to the calendar to think about mine.

I did get to my meeting on Saturday although I didn't get on the scale. It was a tough week with the holidays and I just didn't want to see the number. I can tell from my clothes that I gained more. The good thing is that I felt better after the meeting and have decided to go back to points. In the past, the Core program helped me with snackiness and I always felt better eating the whole-type foods. I really didn't stick to it and so it just made me feel more out of control. I had a pretty good day yesterday even though we had Chinese food for dinner. I had hot & sour soup, 1/2 and egg roll and chicken and broccoli which is fairly low point. My rings were really tight this morning but I've been trying to drink a lot of water. I'm concentrating on staying within my points (using as few flex points as possible), getting in all my milks (water and fruits & veggies aren't problems), and getting in a bit more activity than usual. I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow morning for some yoga (Tony and I took a walk this morning and I did a weights workout in the afternoon) and may do something when I get home, depending on how much work I have to do.

This week poses a couple of challenges. We're going out to dinner with my parents on Tuesday but we're going to a seafood restaurant so as long as I can stay out of the bread basket, I'll be fine. Friday evening is dinner at my mom's before Yom Kippur starts. To break the fast on Saturday evening, we have bagels and "appetizing" - salty but not too bad. I won't be able to officially weigh in because I usually go on Saturday mornings but I may check on it unofficially, or see about going Thursday after work.

Have a great week!
Judy