Wow! First official day of fall this week. Vegetables and fruit being preserved, stews being made, and what about our friends in the warmer zones? Do you do anything different in fall?

And welcome to the new names I noticed in the "welcome" and "what's your story" threads. Please feel free to post here with any questions and thoughts, your plan, dieting tips etc.

Have a terrific week everyone!

Dagmar

Good morning!

I am a terrible planner this week. I'm not even sure when I work. I think I'm doing a favour for someone and my schedule is a bit mixed up.

I know I have to buy some groceries and household supplies and have a cleaning at the dentist at 1:30 today.

I should be able to walk 4 or 5 days. I should be vigilant because we have a dinner party on Saturday.

There ... thanks to Dagmar, I have a rough plan.

Good morning all!

I'm off to a good start - sorry for the typo in the thread heading. I keep hoping they'll put a spell check in here somewhere.

I made a couple of yummy "one pot" meals on the weekend which I'll be eating for the next couple of days. DH has "stuff" every night except Thursday so I'm dining avec les chats. One vegetarian stew with eggplant, peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes, and a turkey chili with all the regular chili stuff plus charred corn and ground turkey instead of beef.

I don't find salad appetizing when the cooler weather hits so I tend to eat my veggies cooked. I have a bag of green beans which I'm probably going to steam with herbs to go with the veggie stew tonite.

I'm getting really excited about New York! I'm trying on different outfits for the different events I'll be attending. I'm not a dress person so I'm doing upscale velvet pants and silk blouses things for the Broadway shows. Not sure what I'll wear to the Clowns Festival - probably a plastic poncho (my seat is in the 6th row front and centre)

Happy Monday everyone (my DH hates me on Mondays 'cause I'm so happy to be back with the dogs at work)

Dagmar

Good morning, featherweights!

It's fall-like around here this morning. Crisp, clean, and cold air. Tired leaves, some starting to turn. Stressed out students approaching their first set of "prelims," i.e., any exam taken in weeks 1-13 of the semester. Before too long the trip to the bus stop will be made in the dark.

Last night I went out for dinner at a new French restaurant in town for a work function. I made reasonably solid food choices: a green salad as appetizer, 2 oz. of herb-encrusted tuna steak (1/3 of a serving, and it seemed like plenty!), and nicoise salad for the main course. I passed on dessert and the bread. The off plan foods, then, were limited to the salad dressing, of which there was too much for my tastes, and ahem two ahem glasses of wine.

Curiously, I'm having leftover tuna for lunch today. Go figure.

I've already been to the gym this morning, for leg and ab day. Hit some new personal bests on squats. Paid for it on the three flights of stairs up to my office. I'm not looking forward to later in the day, when I start to stiffen up and try to walk home. Luckily, it's mostly down hill!

Have a great day, everyone!

Kim

Thanks for welcoming me back girls. I knew that you would, and I also knew that when my visits became less often that I was headed for a world of hurt by not being accountable to someone.

Allison, I revel in your joy of making it 20min!! That was a big milestone for me last summer, and by the end of the year I was doing consistent 3miles every other day - even doing my very first 10k last November - C25K rules.

I do get upset if I dwell too much on, not only gaining some weight back, but losing that achievement and love in my running. I was able to run/walk the Peachtree Road Race this past summer, but only because it was something that I had promised myself and I didn't won't to regret not doing it.

Well, here's to a new week with new determination

Good morning everyone. Welcome back softballmom. Yes, here's to a new week!

I am still struggling with the no smoking. It's been awfully stressful but I'm not giving in. Today is day 13. Tomorrow will be two weeks since I quit. I still crave them everyday. I am breathing much better during my workouts and that is a great feeling.

I continue to workout and eat well. I even lost a pound and am off the plateau, hopefully! These last pounds are the hardest. I sometimes want to give up but I know that I won't.

I had a gig on Sat. night (I sing in a band) and my bandmates complimented me on how "thin" I'm looking. I wore a size 6 dress that was very snug, but hey, I managed to get it on! lol. I was on cloud nine. We are a retro 60s band and sing girl group songs. We wear mini dresses and go-go boots. I've got some pretty cool vintage outfits. So this weekend, I tried on many of my costumes that haven't been pulled out of the closet in ages and most are starting to fit. I feel so close to my goal. This is when it gets so exciting!

Good morning everyone!!!

Dagmar~have fun in New York!! Oh, and if you switch to Firefox rather than Internet Explorer you'll get spell check (it's built into that browser).

Susan~how is that salsa? I had to Google your phrase to see what on earth you were saying! Needless to say, I don't speak Spanish (but I love Mexican food!).

feelingroovy~wow, go go boots. You must have thin calves! I can't get into any boots myself.

softballmom~I agree--C25K rules! I'm still amazed at myself for running for that long! Now to increase...

Kim~we're actually getting fall weather here, too. No leaves changing, but it was below 70 this morning. I may have to start buying long sleeved running gear! (Oh, would DH hate that--any excuse I use to buy more clothes HE uses for buying more toys for his Jeep!)

Have a great day everyone!

Last week was a doozy so I hope this week goes better! I went swimming on Saturday morning and when I came out afterwards I discovered a flat tire. Upon taking a closer look, I realized that all four tires were almost bald. Alinnell, wasn't it you that had to replace a tire recently? I guess I should have taken a hint and checked my tires at the same time. But the good news is that the tire didn't go flat until AFTER I swam (otherwise I would have missed my only opportunity to swim--that would have been worse) and, given the sad state of the tire (just completely split open, metal thread showing and everything), I'm really lucky it didn't blow out on the freeway on the way to the pool.

So I spend Sat afternoon making an emergency purchase of new tires. I decided to do some errands while I was waiting for tires. When I handed over my credit card to pay for my purchases, it was denied! I was shocked. I pay the bill off every month and I have some ridiculously high credit limit (they keep raising it), so I knew I hadn't maxed it out. I called the credit card company, gave them my name and account number and they told me that it wasn't my name on the account. I looked down at the card and sure enough, they were right! I had someone else's credit card. We went out to dinner last Wednesday and the restaurant must have given me back the wrong card. Nothing to do but cancel the old card, which is a huge hassle because I have all sorts of automatic payments set up on it, etc. etc.

With the emergency tire purchase, my eating was all screwed up on Saturday. We went to a dinner party and, going into it, my calories were pretty low, but they sure weren't low coming out of it. Only two glasses of wine, but a lot of cheese, bread, crackers, and a big piece of cheesecake. Then when I got home, I got into the Chocolate Chex and some other chocolate that we had sitting around. The whole day ended up being pretty high in calories--I estimate that I gained 1/2 lb. So this week I am focusing on getting back on track after all the off plan meals last week.

The exciting news is that I have figs and I'm getting more on Thursday. A friend's neighbor has a fig tree with a branch that extends into her yard and apparently it is loaded with figs so she is pawning them off on anyone willing. yesterday for lunch I had a salad with spinach, chicken, roasted fennel, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, lite chevre, and figs. I dressed it balsamic vinegar mixed with a little dijon mustard and 1/2 tsp of olive oil. It was awesome. I'm going to have it again today.

What a cook our Barbara is! Delicious!

Allison ... my rosy mind picture of you is shattered. Tall, slender, sophisticated and she speaks Spanish ... alas ... she's a googler!

Where's Ilene? She can probably fix that "L", Dagmar.

I just had sooo much fun! Silly fun. My appt has been postponed until Oct. so I went bargain hunting instead. I took all my Canadian Tire money and a bag of change for that coin sorting machine. All told, I got about $26.00 worth of free stuff.

Barbara, after your day with the tire and the credit card I would have headed right to the grocery store freezer for the extra, extra chocolate ice cream with all the doodads in it. You did really well considering what a beast of a day you had. Your salad recipe sounds scrumptious . I can never figure out what to do with figs except eat them as is. Now I'll try that salad for dinner tomorrow.

feelingroovy your band sounds like a lot of fun. Quitting smoking is not but you'll find the cravings really start to diminish in the 3rd week, and you'll really start to get your senses of taste and smell back.

Kim I know what you mean about the stiffening of the legs. I used to do weights and found getting in and out of the car (which I do about 60 times per day) really painful the next day. Good choices for the restaurant - and wine doesn't have THAT many calories .

SusanB I do the Canadian Tire money thing too. And it's always something that I don't really need, like another doodad for the garden or kitchen.

I have to go and play with some sad, lonely little cats now - Mud just bit my foot to tell me they're bored and have had a long busy day napping and grooming and napping and . . .

Dagmar

Barbara - gosh, that sounds like a wonderful salad. DH's parents have fig trees, and they were thrilled that I like them. Apparently, most of their figs just go to rot. We don't live close by, so I only get them when we are visiting in season, but they are a sweet treat for me. I would LOVE to have a tree! Enjoy them for the rest of us! And don't worry about that one bad day of eating. I know you'll get that half lb. off in no time.

Groovy - I agree with Dagmar; your band sounds like a blast! I'm sure you're looking pretty smoking in your size 6 - good inspiration, I bet! DH is in a band (drummer), and I love when they have gigs. He quit smoking in the past year too (after many previous 'attempts'). Chantix has helped he quit for good... or at least we hope it's for good. Before Chantix, he had tried cold turkey, he had tried the patch, and he tried Zyban once. With each attempt he fell off the wagon... guess when? Yep, when playing with his band, especially on gig nights in bars. The other band members smoke, and after playing for over an hour, he would eventually cave on break after a beer or two. It sounds like you are doing great, but if you falter and don't mind getting some pharmaceutical help, Chantix was a tremendous help to him.

Glad to hear everyone else is enjoying the cooler weather. Looks like many of you are dropping the pounds steadily. You'll be looking great in your jeans this fall! Well, I'm going to do some 'homework' now (grading papers), so have a great night all... and a healthy day tomorrow.

I bought jars and dish soap ... so mundane!

The fig salad is awesome! I had it again for lunch and I swear it was even better today. It's huge too! I put in 2 oz of spinach, 2 oz broiled fennel (broiled after weighing), 3 oz red pepper (roasted after weighing), 2 oz fig, 1 oz light chevre, 2 cloves roasted garlic, 4 oz chicken (weighed raw then broiled), 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1-2 tsp dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp olive oil, and sea salt and pepper. That's a 14-oz salad yet the whole thing is less than 300 calories! I can't wait to get more figs when I see my friend on Thursday; I can't believe I've gone my whole life without eating them!

Mudpie--Luckily, stress doesn't really make me eat. If anything, it's the opposite--my inclination is to not eat when stressed. So I did great on Saturday, despite the tire and the credit card incidents--that is until I got to the party. But I suspect I would have done badly at the party even without the stress. They didn't even have a vegetable tray! And I offered to bring one and the host turned me down! Who doesn't have a vegetable tray at a party--for Pete's sake, you can buy them already prepared at any grocery store!

groovy--stick with it on the not smoking. When I quit, I remember the first two weeks were the hardest; after that it got easier. I hope you live in an area where smoking is banned in bars, otherwise I'm sure your band gigs (which sound way cool-BTW) are a struggle to get through.

SusanB and Mudpie--OK, I give up. Canadian Tire money--what is that? Does that mean that if I lived in Canada, I could have gotten money for my completely bald tires instead of having to pay the tire place to take them off my hands?

You crack me up Barbara!

I wish it were so re tires. Canadian Tire is a dry goods/automotive supplies chain that gives out paper "money" with each purchase. You can redeem the money for cash or use it in place of cash to purchase something. I think you get about one cent on every dollar or something.

It's a Canadian tradition (like wearing toques and eating maple syrup ) to save up the Canadian Tire money for awhile and then go cash it all in. Yes, we are a bit "different" up here

Dagmar

Good morning.
If Barbara had purchased her new tires at Canadian Tire, they would have given her Canadian Tire money and then she could have gotten cheap gas to drive home. It's kind of like air miles that clutter your purse. I think I got 20 new cents for the $20 I spent.
DH and DS#1 buy tools and car stuff so we often have a nice little bit.