Hello All!! On another board I've seen a thread like this called the streakers so I thought that would be an awesome name for us!! Since everyone seems to be on an OP STREAK!!!

Sorry I haven't been around much. I have teaching off-site with very little internet access. This will be the case until next Thursday, so I am afraid you won't see much of me until after next week.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Everyone is doing awesome!! Keep up the good work. At the moment, I do not have a streak going. But soon!!

GO STREAKERS!!!

Sundrop - about your feeling uneasy....I experience that, too. I think it has to do with the idea that change = loss of control. One of the hardest things for me to overcome is the "I blew it" mentality. I have spent so many dieting years saying, "Well, I ate a Hershey's Kiss - guess I screwed up so I may as well eat everything in the house now!" I guarantee that you are not the only person who struggles with this feeling!

Maybe instead of structuring so rigidly (i.e., planning everything you are going to eat down to the morsel), try just having a "rough" plan. When I wake up in the morning, I know what's available in my fridge and I know I want to spend 8 or less WW points. I also know in the morning what we're having for supper, so I can block out those points. With the points for those two meals blocked out, I have a rough idea of how many points I can have for lunch. Unless I know I am going out for dinner, I rarely plan my food to the morsel.

Above all, don't give up. Don't beat yourself up when you slip, but don't let it be an excuse to totally fly off course, either.

Hope it helps....

Jennelle
242.5/227/140

Next-Mini Goal: 217 by July 4

I do not know how many I have in a row but I can say that for several days I have been in Ketosis!! I would say that it has been about 2 weeks!

Well, I fell off for 2 days, back on today... I have come to the conclusion that I'm never going to make my birthday goal, not without starving myself half to death... sigh maybe if I stay totally OP til then... (yeah right... and I'm not going to have to yell at even one kid for the rest of the month...) OK, so back on today...

PNG i had goaled to be at goal by my anniversary which is in 2 weeks but aI know tat is not possible unless I have lipo suction! LOL this is a journey with some flat tires and running out of gas and well car problems so just take iton the chin and deep on driving!

Hey, everybody! I'm still around! I've had some problems this week getting online. So, I'd better type fast before I get lost in cyberspace again!

On Plan???...what's that? I thought I was doing well this week and peeked at the scale this morning and it doesn't look good! Looks like I gained a few. Oh, well, up and down!!

Love, Gayle

Well, day one, back on was a success, even though I didn't eat vegetarian, we went to the casino, and they were having seafood, so of course I had to have some, good thing about buffetts though, is everything is bite size, so if you only have one piece of everythin you want, you're good to go...lol I did fill up on a huge green salad with beans before starting on the seafood, so, I came away pretty good, had a few cals left over, didn't use them, lol, need to use as little of them as possible these days. Today is looking strong too, got up, had some kix for breakfast, GOT SOME EXERCISE!!! Walked to have coffee with huby, who is pulling a 12 today, and felt like enjoying the beautiful sunny day with Ravyn, so we walked and explored all over the place, finally ending up at the Seahorse Aquarium, to look at all the fish and lizards and stuff... then walked home, she was all walked out, so I caried her on my shoulders for the last 3 or so blocks, can I count that as weight training??

Thanks Sue for the wise words, it's just since I've been here, 2 years next month, I have not met a moini goal yet, and as a matter of fact, I'm still pretty much at the same spot I was then... so this time, when I really have been trying, I thought I was going to make it, maybe I still will, who knows, stranger things have happened, and I'm NOT giving up this time, just because the deadline is drawing neear, like I always do...

RUNS THROUGH ROOM NAKED oops wait not that kind of streaking huh? Ok I haven't been on the wagon but I'm trying to haul my fat hiney onto it today. Good luck guys!!!


Kim
336/???/170

I ended up OP yesterday, but I was very tempted and almost blew it. I was bored yesterday. I had things to do but just did not feel like doing them and nothing was urgent.

My sisters made M&M chocolate chip cookies and I had one for dessert. Then I went back to my old way of doing things. I walked back in the kitchen to take a nibble, which would lead to another and another and another. I realized that I didn't really want the cookies though. I was just bored. After three compulsive nibbles, I put some aluminum foil on top of the cookies, put them in the cupboard, and walked away. 1/2 hour later the cookies were back on the table uncovered. It wasn't me. I have alot of siblings. I put the aluminum foil back and put them in the cupboard and walked away. 1/2 hour later I walked back in the kitchen and not only were the cookies out, but three open bags of candy were out on the table too. I ate nothing, but put the candy back in the pantry, and the cookies back in the cupboard and walked away. 1/2 hour later, same thing. I put them cookies and candy away. 1/2 hour later - yep. Everything was out on the table again. I put them all away. It wouldn't have been so bad having the cookies around, but you see how many times I walked into the kitchen. If I didn't put the cookies away, I'd have eaten them. Too much temptation. I have a cookie monster that's hard to resist.

JML what a woman!!!! way to go with the temptation. I can say that I proudly did a similar thing but did have a drop only of frosting. I got home from exercise and found DD had made frosting for the cake and mixed 5 different colors in bowls and left it all over the counter!!! OMG not only did I have to finish frosting the cake but had to pick up and empty and wash all those delicious frosting bowls!!! and did have less than a tsp total more like 1/2 tsp. I did great!!!!

PNG I know how deflating it can be to not make any fgoals I do not think that I have made a single one. but if you look back at your health 2 years ago would you have been taking wresteling??? are you more active??/ are you sort of watching what you eat. and are you lighter than when you started?? If so that is the primary goal of all of this. to get heathier, and you have done that. If you did nothing then you would have gotten heavier than you were 2 years ago. so you have been a success!!!!

As for me with tons of prayers I will do minimal damage today. I have a cheese cake inthe fridge and the cake DD made ready to go to MIL who said bring an appetite to her house today. OMG I hope things go well. i have been doing so good I do not want to fall!!! I will be happy if I come away with my dignity intact!!!

My husband (bless his pointy little head!) bought me a box of pecan turtles for my birthday. They are 3 WW points EACH! I managed to eat only one yesterday, and properly account for it in my journal, but I'm afraid the rest of the box is gonna have to go! I might send it with my DD to band camp today. She and her roommates can finish the box.

So, JML, don't be so modest about your temptation success! You're a stronger woman than I am! You should be proud of yourself.

Jennelle
242.5/226.5/140
16 lbs. lost

Next Mini-Goal: 217 by July 4

But I'm not strong. If I were strong, I could sit in the same room with cookies uncovered and not eat them. I can't do that. If I sit in front of them and look at them, I can't not eat them. When I asked my family if they would make them less often, they told me it's my problem that I am weak and that I should have will power. Not that they have willpower either. I leave when temptation is too much. They don't. I'm the only one losing weight. They're complaining that they are either not losing or are gaining.

I have to stop telling my family that I am losing weight. They don't like to hear it. I probably talk about it too much, and that is something I can change. I am going to try not to tell them anymore - or as much as I can keep my mouth shut. But when things are going well, it helps to share them, so I will probably post more here.

Nasus40, just do your best today. You will be tempted. I like your tag line that it's not perfection we're after, it's perseverence.

Jeanne

---and great job with the frosting Nasus40. I'm not sure I could have done that!!!!! That was some challenge. I'm sure we'll have lots of goodies around today, being Father's day, so we will both have to battle our cookie monsters together.

I found an article that helps to explain why I cannot sit in front of tempting food and not eat it.

Researchers have found that the dopamine system in very overweight people is deficient. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical substance that allows neurons to communicate with one another. There are alot of different neurotransmitters in the brain with apparently different functions, but dopamine is specifically connected with motivation and drive and also with the sense of reward we get when we act.

The brain requires a certain amount stimulation in the areas that register rewards, and if there isn't enough, stimulates us to do something rewarding. In overweight people, the levels in our reward centers rise much higher from eating food than from other pleasures, so that when our brain stimulates us to do something rewarding, we register that as EAT.

Worse yet, when food is displayed, the dopamine levels in our brains surge - in normal weight and overweight people alike - but they don't surge in the part of the dopamine system that registers pleasure in food, they surge in the part of the system that urges us to just consume calories, the drive to eat.

That's why, when we binge, we can be eating anything, even something we don't really like, even eat past the point where we're comfortable, or to the point of sickness, when we're no longer enjoying a previously enjoyable food.

And that's why it's hard to resist eating food when it's placed in front of us, especially for the overweight.

Am I saying that willpower has no place and that we are the slaves of our drives? No. But, I don't think it hurts to know how the body works, and try to work with it instead of against it. There really ARE such things as drives! That's why I avoid being in temptation when I can. I can't always of course, but I try to make reasonable choices so that I'm not in CONTINUAL temptation. That's a way I can exercise my free will, my will power. Am I saying that I can't say no if someone offers me food that's not on my plan because of some brain chemicals that make me act? No. It's possible to say no thank you and walk away, but it would be foolish to sit down and stare at the stinkin' plate and assume I won't give in. Who is that strong? I'm not and I know it. That's why it's so hard at family gatherings that are centered on food. We're being continually stimulated to eat. And being overweight means that we're MORE stimulated than other people to eat, not that we have less willpower.

I've learned when eating dinner with the family to keep my eyes on my own plate. I used to always be looking at the serving dish, instead of seeing and enjoying the food I had on my own plate. This seems to help. If tempted to get a second serving, I don't look at the extra food. I look at my own plate or concentrate on the conversation.

What do you guys think?

Doing ok today. I didn't count calories as I usually do. I'm winging it, but I think I've got about the right amount. It feels right.

Jeanne