Good morning! Does anyone have the day off for Columbus Day? DH theoretically does, but is going to the office as usual because the insanity continues in the financial world. Wonder what this week will bring?

I'm off to the gym in a few minutes for some cardio and shoulders. Physical therapy has been bumped up to three times a week since I'm having some back issues as well as knee, so it's a bit challenging to figure out a weekly workout plan. I'm going to sit down with my PT today and try to put together a day-by-day schedule that covers everything.

My eating's been OK (maintenance calories) but could be better. All my joint problems can only be improved with less weight on me, so I want to buckle down and see if I can get back into the losing mode. But it's hard to give up calories!

How is everyone doing today? What's happening this week?

Canadians have the day off as it's our Thanksgiving today . I wanted to start the week off fresh on Monday so we had our big chow down yesterday.

I am going back to the Featherweights forum until I'm really ready to do maintenance. I kept making excuses for myself the last 6 weeks and I've gained 5 lbs . Not very mindful of me now is it?

I have approximately 9 weeks til Christmas to lose the 5. That is the goal. I will do it. Period.

Good luck to you all with holiday season and see you all in the new year!

Dagmar

Good morning everyone.

Meg, I'm sorry to hear of your back issues. I hope they will be resolved shortly and you can get back to some sort of "normal" routine and concentrate on your knees.

Well, my big weekend has come and gone. I had such a fabulous time getting all dressed up and being with all different people. Yesterdays party was waaaay over the top. I think I danced for 4 hours straight. Had soooo much fun. But I ate way too much. And not just at yesterdays' party. The one before that and the one before that and the one before that. Yup, I ate too much at each and every one of the 4 parties I was at this weekend. It started out okay. A tad over at the first and then it got increasingly worse with each one. Yuck. And then since I was in "eat too much mode", I continued when I got home. NOT pretty. And my stomach is enormous today.

To make matters worse, I now have to contend with the holiday of Succos. Which starts tonight and lasts till next Wednesday night.

My head is spinning now, as I am in panic mode to deal with all of this. All right - breathe Robin, breathe. I'll deal. What choice do I have?

Got lots to do and I think for now I will be a bit scarce around here as I try to get a grip on things and get ready for the holidays.

Dagmar, I'm glad you've recognized your "excuse" making and nipped it in the bud and now only have to deal with a 5 lb gain. Maybe I should join you over at the Featherweights as I know I need to deal with a loss myself right now.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week.

Meg, I hope you get your PT issues figured out, and your back feeling better.

Dagmar, if everyone who gained 5 pounds left here, this place would be empty. Go back to featherweights for sure, but don't leave us.

Hi Robin. I'm not familiar with Succos. Is feasting a part of it, or is it more somber?

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. I'm just trying to keep up. We're in the stock market for the long term, so I just keep trying not to watch the news and remind myself that stocks just went on sale. It is so scary though. I'm pretty confident in our fundamental strategy though, and wait it out.

The kids are more or less back to healthy now, I caught the baby's cold, but have almost licked it. I did my triathlon yesterday, and pretty much met my modest goals. I'm so sore today though, and I'm really going to have to figure out how to get my training going.

I'll say a quick hi to everyone else. This week is pretty intense at work, so I'm not sure I'll get to check back in.

Thank goodness for coffee.

Anne

I'm up having my first cup of coffee only because my dogs insisted on being walked early this morning. I had insomnia last night and I wanted to sleep in for a while.

Meg, hope you get your PT schedule worked out. Sorry about the back problems.

Mudpie, I'm right there with you on the gain. Only I'm trying to take off 10 lbs. by Jan. 1st. It may not be possible for me cause I'm on increased prednisone right now and constantly feel hungry.

robin, sounds like a lot of fun at all those parties. It is so hard not to eat too much though in those type situations. I know you'll pull it together though.

Anne, the news on TV on the stocks is so depressing that I am now just changing the channel. I'm gonna just hide my head and hope for the best.

My weekend was spent remodeling more. I put new tile down in the foyer and yesterday I completely repainted another bedroom, took up the carpet and tackboard and it's now ready to lay the new floor today. My legs are sore again from getting up and down off the chair so much. This time only 1 injury, I hit my pinkie with the hammer, ouch. BTW< I'm to the point of hating painting and wishing I had a smaller house!

My son will be home next week and I wanted to have his bedroom completely redone by the time he gets here. DH should be able to finish it today while I'm over babysitting my neighbors 1 yr. old while she goes to get a root canal.

Friday I picked up literally thousands of walnuts from my yard. We have 4 walnut trees. I'm letting them dry now and will make use of them this coming holiday season. I also have a huge pecan tree that is now starting to drop pecans, so gonna pick those up too and use them. Can you believe that in previous years, I was always too sick and too tired to ever pick them up and let others have them just for picking them up. (Um, basically I was too Fat to bend down and pick them up!)

Me and the girls are gonna make big ribbons to hang all over our trees for Shane's home-coming. Also gonna make a big Welcome Home Banner.

Good Monday Morning Maintainers.
Let's pray it's a better week in the stock market. I thought the markets were closed here today but I was wrong.

Lilly-- those walnuts sound delicious! That is so exciting that Shane will be home. How long does he get to stay home?

Anne-- glad you are feeling better. Hopefully no more "bugs" for awhile.

Robin-- wow-- your parties do sound over the top. Glad you had fun dancing! They are over..... breathe.....it's Monday.......start over....you can do it!!

Dagmar-- I agree-- post on featherweights, but don't leave us! We all gain a few pounds and we don't leave maintenance.

Meg-- hope you can work out a good PT plan to get all of your exercising in. So sorry you are still having issues.

Though my week is busy this week, it seems calm after my book fair week last week. Trying to put the library back together, wrap up the financials and start seeing classes again. My dh is out of the country, so dd and I are on our own. I'm going to try to get to the gym each day and practice running for my 5K this weekend. I was doing really well exercising 6-7 days a week, but lately it has been 4-5 times and I don't want to start lapsing!

I am excited to go see older dd in 2 weeks for parent's weekend. I miss her greatly and know she is excited to see us too.

I will hopefully find out something soon about the WW position. Part of me wonders why I would add more work and chaos to my already busy schedule, but I am very excited about the opportunity. I am one of those people who operate better when I'm busy and I have so much more energy now!

I bought two new pairs of jeans yesterday. I hated spending the money but my size 4s were falling off! Never thought I'd say that in my lifetime.

Anne I think I was still in a "pie-induced fog" when I posted this morning. Too dramatic !

Featherweights has completely changed, as all things in life do. I will check in there but I don't really belong with them any more. I will stay here in Maintainers because I belong here now. My friends are here .

lily Walnuts and pecans - too tempting ! I would be very, very fat with those trees in my yard.

I'm sure your son will love and appreciate all the hard work you're putting into welcoming him home!

Robin That "snowball" effect starts so easily, deosn't it? And when everyone around you is eating and drinking it's hard to not join in at one party, never mind four! I'm sure most of the "party bloat" will come off for you in the next couple of days.

Meg Sorry to hear you have back problems. Some biomechanical problem (?) that I hope you and your PT can solve quickly. And it's so hard to give up those extra calories!

As for me, I have started writing everything down again and have a schedule drawn up to lose those 5 lbs. I will also investigate some more threads on this site and maybe some books about maintaining. I was so excited to get to Maintainers that I didn't do a lot of lurking/searching in the forum before joining.

Have a great week everyone!

Dagmar (soon to be svelte again)

Yay for sticking around, Dagmar! We don't want to lose you!

Dagmar, maintenance has its ups and downs---but I think the point of maintenance is to be aware of those ups and downs and screech the brakes on before the ups get too far up. But then, I am still a newbie at this myself.


Good morning, Meg! I'll bet your PT is delighted to work with someone as knowledgeable and motivated as you are!

Hey Robin, dancing for 4 hours probably burns some serious calories. I admire your efforts in the face of temptation.

Congrats on the tri, Anne. I posted some thoughts on soreness and training in the keep tri-ing thread. The more I try to figure out this parenting/work/exercise/relationship thing, the more I realize, I can't figure it out!!! It is like riding waves in the ocean. Sometimes I can get in the groove and go along with the waves, and sometimes either my life or myself gets out of sync with the waves and it is all I can do to keep my head above water. But there are always always waves to deal with.

Good morning, Lily! I'm so glad Shane will be home soon. Did I ever tell you that my DH's family is from Northeastern OK? The Miami area? Is that close to you? Whenever you describe your house, I picture his aunt's house. I really like Oklahoma.

Michele, I'm glad you'll be seeing your daughter soon. My oldest is a junior in HS and I am already dreading her taking off for college....

As for me, I've gotta to-do list 12 miles long.....I need to learn to say "No!" more often.....

Good morning all,

My weekend was sort of blah. Saturday I thought some friends would stop by to see my new house since there was a big festival near me (they had talked about coming out the previous weekend), but they didn't, so I cleaned up and had made bruschetta for no one. We didn't have firm plans but it was still a let down. BF was off having a guys weekend until Saturday night. I was bored and didn't have much to do, so I ate the leftovers that had been given to me from the serving/catering gig Friday night. I should have just thrown out that loaf of garlic bread... it was not pretty. I think that if garlic bread had never been invented I would be 20 lbs. lighter. It's always my downfall, and I eat huge quantities of it (and did). And then I just... lost control over other food too. Today is Monday, and I can always be POP on Mondays.

On the upside of being given a bunch of food, I was also given a bunch of very moist BBQ chicken and picked it off the bone/took off the skin for easy wraps and salads all week. I was also given a bunch of romaine lettuce, so I've got lots of salad material. I cut up a bunch of veggies, yesterday, so I've got tasty healthy food planned for the week, and am determined to work out 6 days this week.

Robin, you're not the only one! I'm sure you burned some calories dancing for 4 hours. We're just going to dust ourselves off, stock our fridges with healthy foods, and try to stay OP this week. Because you're right, what else are we going to do? Back OP.

Dagmar, I hate those pie-induced (or garlic-bread-induced?) fogs. Most of us may have started posting when we were at goal, but we're not necessarily there right now. S'ok, they won't kick us out. You can't leave us, anyway, we'd miss you!

Michele, wow, congrats on those new skinny jeans!

Lily, you must be itching for Shane to get there! Mmm all the walnuts and pecans sound yummy.

Anne, congrats on completing your triathlon! TGFC = thank goodness for coffee, I think that could be the forum's motto, lol.

Meg, sorry you're having trouble with your back too. I hope it feels better soon.

Have a great week all!

Good morning Maintainers

Dagmar, like you, I had my thanksgiving feast last night.
I was really doing well - avoided the pre-dinner apps (chips, cheese etc.)
Really practiced portion control during dinner.....but you guessed it, lost it on the 11th hr.
Grazed down a goodly portion of DH bDay cake and pumpkin cheese cake (leftovers we were sent home with)
Ugh - O well new day.

Anne - congrats on your triathlon.

Have a great day everyone - I need plan my week to get back on track.

-S

Featherweights has totally changed since you left, Dagmar. I don't even hang out there at all anymore. All they do is have weekly challenges which I never enjoy.

My computer is back!!! And all the emails are intact!!! The only thing I really lost is the photo I had for my desktop--not a big loss. I will find another. As for getting a Mac, I would really really like one but can't decide on a laptop or desktop. I wish they had docks like Dell has so you can use your laptop like a desktop. Anyway, no need at this point to change. Meg~you said you still use Publisher on your Mac? I've heard there is a MUCH better desktop publishing thing for Mac. I can't remember the name--some strange sounding thing. If I remember it I'll let you know.

My in-laws returned on Thursday so we're back to our usual Sunday hang outs. They came over with lunch yesterday and we spent the day lounging, reading, watching football and catching up.

Hey everyone. Yay for mondays...

Weekend was good. Went to a party saturday night and had a lot of fun, although i paid for it sunday morning.

Meg- Yes after 3 hours at the mall i did find something to wear, unfortunatly there were so many people at this party i did not get much of a chance to talk to him. Oh well, I had fun anyway.

Glad to be back on plan today. Yesterday I just kind of nibbled all day, and then before bed i gave into a craving a had a nice big fat pb&j sandwich. Felt a little guilty this morning, but oh well, today is a new day.

Hope everyone has a good week!

I'm just going to post quickly to say hello--I missed all of last week (though I lurked a bit) because work was crazy and I don't expect it to be any less crazy this week. Our conference is next week in New Orleans. We are hoping to have close to 2,000 attendees and things always get really busy in the weeks leading up to it. And I'm at the point where I'm afraid to answer the phone or check email, for fear it will be a speaker canceling at the last minute, when it is now too late to replace them. Plus, it is the only time of the year when my staff, my boss, my advisory board, and all our chapter presidents are in one place. That means that in addition to all the conference stuff, I have to lead meetings with all of these folks as well. It's a lot to prepare for.

Last week I learned that a chipped tooth results in a moment of BLINDING pain but then isn't as big a deal as you'd think. I chipped a tooth at a party a week ago Saturday. It was really painful when it happened, but now it is fine (actually better than it was before--it must have been cracked because it's definitely hurt to eat on that side for a while). I thought I would have to get if fixed right away, but I'm not going to be able to get a crown put on it until I get back from the our conference and it turns out that's no big deal. It sure as heck hasn't stopped me from eating!

Halloween Candy Tip: On the subject of Halloween candy, which I think came up in last week's thread, I definitely recommend skipping the candy and handing out small toys instead. I ordered dinosaur eggs, spinning tops, glow-in-the-dark temporary tattoos, and Halloween stickers (I'm going to put together little goodie bags) from the Oriental Trading Company and that's what I'll be handing out. I did this last year too; it completely removes all the angst around Halloween candy. I don't have to worry about buying too much or not enough; I buy more than I think I'll need and if we don't hand it all out, the toys keep perfectly well until next year. And I don't spend the whole night staring down a bowl of candy!

Sorry I can't respond to everyone! I hope you all are doing well.

Hi y'all! I am struggling with a few pounds, too. My husband is out of town and I am just out of sorts. My eating was out of control yesterday and then I couldn't sleep last night. Today I am finding my thoughts drifting to things I could eat that aren't on my plan. Awful. Exercise is good, as always ... it is just this eating thing that I have trouble with. :sigh:

The kids won't allow me to shout out to everyone, but I did want to say Congratulations to Anne on the tri. That is something I dream of doing one day.

Let's all help each other stay on plan this week!