'Tis the last week of August!

I had to work on Saturday and a one-day weekend just doesn't feel like enough! Yesterday was bulk cooking day, so at least I have provisions for the week. Along with clean laundry and groceries. But I didn't catch up with sleep at all, so am feeling pretty tired to start off another week.

For years I've been doing a traditional five-day split in the gym of back, chest, legs, shoulders, and arms. Just because it got to be a habit. This week I've decided to alternate upper and lower body every day, just because I really want to emphasis legs more. I'm still rebuilding strength from my knee replacements and though I'll never squat over 200 pounds again, there's still a way I can go. And having issues with scar tissue in one knee means that I need to work my legs separately so that the good knee doesn't pick up the slack for the one that hurts (it's getting scoped out in October). So today is leg day.

Despite having an abbreviated weekend, I didn't lose all sense of my priorities so made it to the end of summer sale at Macys. My oh my, bargains galore with my 20% off coupon! It's interesting that so many clothes seem seasonless now, in terms of both color and fabric, so there are "summer" things that I bought that I can wear all winter. Maybe it's because everyone works in AC now, so there really aren't "seasons" in offices?

DH and I leave for NM in a week and a half. Yikes, I better give that some thought!!

Grab your mug of coffee or tea and tell us about your weekend! What's going on this week? Are the kids (and our teachers) back to school yet?

Weighed in at 134 this a.m. Finally back in the black zone!

I'm kinda sad that summer's drawing to an end (can you tell I don't have kids ) but I've got a vacation/staycation coming up in two weeks which I'm stoked about!

My dad's coming back from Estonia this Friday and I've been in a really anxious state. I've had to take his car keys (driving without insurance) so we're gonna have a big to do. I did some anxiety eating/drinking (bad, bad mistake - my body no longer tolerates alcohol at all) but I'm over it now and ready to rock some of my fall clothes on vacation!

Have a great week all!

Dagmar

Good morning, guys!

No gym for me today as we are taking my car in this morning and then going to see our financial planner. What a joy - especially now!

My daughter is turning 7 on Thursday so I am in the party prep frenzy. Then next week we're going to Hilton Head for a few days. I just need to remember to enjoy these things and not stress over them. Exercise when I can fit it in and try to eat normally.

Have a great week, everyone!

I'm with Dagmar (Mudpie) - no kids in the house so I'm already missing the bountiful harvest of summer. My last two ears of corn from the farmer's market had the little worms on the tips that usually suggest the end of the growing season. Hope it isn't so; I could still eat dozens of ears. But I did have my first Honeycrisp Apple - a good reminder that apples arrive after the passing of the summer crops.

Not much exercise in the heat, but did get out in the woods to muck about, although doing so with long sleeved shirt and long pants for bug protection. It's so worth it to spend some time with no visible sign of human existence.

Good morning everyone.
Last week of August. Hard to imagine. It has gone way too quickly!

Looks like many of you have upcoming trips to plan for. Sounds like fun.

School starts here tomorrow. We have a staff development day today. Dh is picking up older dd from her camp she worked at all summer (14 hours of driving) and then she'll leave first thing Wed. to go back to college. So I will barely see her.

Younger dd got in trouble last night for lying so it should be fun around here. One daughter grounded and the other one sounds like she is going to be deeply depressed about leaving her friends and first boyfriend at camp. The joys of parenting teenagers.

I probably won't get to the gym until Wednesday because I work both of my jobs today and tomorrow and if there are any spare minutes I need to help dd pack for college, cook a special meal, etc.

Off to work!

It has somehow magically turned into fall here, even though it's still August. What's up with that? Yesterday I had to wear a sweatshirt to take Carter to the dog park. It was only 62 degrees! The high today is 81 though so maybe we'll get a little more summer. I admit, I'm starting to get excited about fall. Winter I could definitely do without, but fall is nice!

Bill, our corn from the farmer's market had a worm in it this week too. Yuck! At least DH shucked it outside and found and tossed the worm, so I didn't have to see it. We've eaten so much corn and so many melons and tomatoes that it will be good to move on to apples, squash, and brussels sprouts.

Meg, you'll have to let us know how the new training plan goes! Does this mean that you used to work each muscle group one day a week, and now you'll be working them two days a week?

Dagmar, congrats on the 134! I hope things work out okay with your dad.

Ward, DH is my financial planner! Actually we don't really do any complicated investing. We both contribute the max allowed to our 401k's, which are invested in automatically adjusted funds with names like "Retirement 2045 Fund" and stuff like that, then our additional savings just goes to total stock market index funds. I have some stock in the company I work for via the employee stock purchase program, but I admit I don't really keep track of it. (Probably because I only have about $200 in there!)

We had a good weekend. Went Saturday night to see Rockapella in concert with the family -- they were the guys who sang the "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" theme song. I bet they're sick of having to end every single show with that song! Kind of like being a one-hit wonder, but a one-theme-song wonder. (Not totally true, I remember their Folgers commercial very well.) A little too much dessert, but not too bad. Overall my plan of cutting down on my daytime snacking seems to be working.

So yesterday DH was out gardening and had the gate to the yard open, and two lost dogs wandered into our back yard! One was a little Westie and the other appeared to be a lab mix. They were very friendly. Luckily they had collars on so we called the phone number on their tags and left a message. Of course right after we did that they got out of the yard and wandered off. We followed them and tempted them out of a neighbor's yard with some treats, then decided to lock them in our back yard until the owner came to get them. The lab mix wouldn't come with me when I put my hand on her collar, but when DH picked up the Westie the lab mix followed along. I think the little Westie was the alpha dog!

In any case we got them safely in our back yard. Carter meanwhile was freaking out barking at them from inside the house. We brought him out on his leash for an introduction and he was actually quite calm, so we had all three dogs running around our yard for a while playing. The owner's son came to pick them up about an hour and a half later (I guess they must have not been home when we left the message). Turns out they lived about a mile down the road and apparently they get out and wander off pretty frequently. It was pretty adorable though -- these two dogs going off on an adventure, but as soon as the guy came to pick them up they ran straight to the back of his car and were ready to go home.

Since I'm like those people who always talk about their kids, but I always talk about my dog instead, I have another dog story. We finally bought a real dremel to take care of Carter's nails, since the PediPaws wasn't strong enough. We also bought a rotisserie chicken to tempt him with, and a muzzle in case the chicken didn't work. In the past we've had to knock him out or drug him to be able to do his nails. He's a smart dog -- he's not afraid of the dremel, until you try to touch his paw while you're holding it, at which point he runs off. We spent a while trying to introduce him to it with the chicken, then finally decided to do one paw.

Of course, once we were actually touching his nails with the dremel, he was ready to bite our hands off even if we had chicken. Sigh. But he let us put the muzzle on him (very easily actually, he went into the muzzle easier than into his Gentle Leader harness). Amazingly, once he had the muzzle on he relaxed! Maybe he realized he couldn't bite us so he had to give up? But DH only had to hold him down for a couple minutes, then he just laid back and stayed put on his own. He did decide he'd had enough and get up when I was only halfway done, but we got him calmed down again and I managed to one one of his back paws.

His nails are so overgrown that even after I cut back as far as I could without nicking the quick they are still ridiculously long. Our plan is to do one paw per day until they are nice and short. How long does it take the quick to recede? If we take three days to do his other three paws, will his first one be ready to be trimmed back further?

Paperclippy, it takes longer than 3 days--more like 3 weeks. Here's something to read:

http://www.petgroomer.com/grooming10...ng-revised.htm

It says you should file them every few days in the meantime. But read the whole thing.

Jay

Hello, hello! How is it the end of August? Is this a good time to point out there are only 4 shopping months until Christmas? I was picking up some school supplies at Walgreens and they are putting up their Halloween displays. Too fast, too fast.

So, here we are at the end of August and that means I have been in Maintenance for 1 year. I started this last weight loss journey 9/2007 and reached the mid-150s last August. I've fought for the 140s to no avail. I gained 10 lbs in France, and I'm still working on getting that off. So I am really in the upper 150s right now. But I have kept 40+ lbs off for a year. Through holidays, birthdays, stress, joy, reunions, back to school, family crises, etc.

Cool.

Jay, thanks for the link! Using the dremel is more like filing than like clipping so I guess we'll be okay, I'll just only do it for a couple seconds on each nail (which would be like filing). If we can just manage to get him to let us touch his feet by doing this regularly it would be a huge improvement.

Midwife, congrats on your maintenance anniversary!!!

Good...morning...WAIT, it's afternoon! Still, I am at my desk with an energy drink. Exercise woke me up this morning, but with all the work in front of me, I need a little extra bit of legal drugs to stay focused.

So, I was at an ice cream social for two hours yesterday and I behaved! Sure, I had three bowls of ice cream in that time span, but they were very small bowls with one half-scoop sized scoop each. I left 500 calories in my plan yesterday for this event, and I know I only used about half of them. I instinctively knew when to stop getting more ice cream, which made me incredibly happy because I have not been this in tune with my body in awhile.

I came to a conclusion recently that made so much sense in my mind:
Junk food is, or should be, a social thing, kind of like alcohol. I drink sometimes, but never by myself -- there's just no point in it for me. While I've been drunk many times, I've decided getting shtfaced is not a good idea, and therefore, I stop drinking once I've reached the happy/tipsy point. Any more than that is mindless and not good for my body. Junk food is the same way. Why should I eat it by myself? It tastes good and brings pleasure in small amounts, but has no nutrition. Binge eating will give me an even worse "hangover" than alcohol (actually, I've only been hung over three times in my life -- I usually escape it ) It is unavoidable in some social situations, and enjoying a small bit in positive company is really quite harmless, but that doesn't mean I'm going to spend money buying it when I could be buying produce and lean meats, instead. Junk food should be reserved for the parties.

Meg - your once former workout sounds pretty similar to mine With all your determination and perseverance, I'm sure you will get your legs stronger in no time. I had to smile at the statement about how there are no "seasons" in offices, especially because my boss cranks up the A/C so much that I have worn sweatshirts, jackets, and sometimes even LAYERS to stop shivering.

Dagmar - WAHOO, ba-a-ack in bla-ack! Sorry, couldn't resist. The energy drink is kicking in now and I'm getting a bit hyper We've all been there, done that with anxiety eating... and I've definitely been there, done that with the drinking, too... it's okay... you're back in black to get back on track Have fun on your "staycation"!

Michele - isn't it amazing how teenagers are able to blow every situation out of proportion? They're ruled by emotions instead of logic and can be quite dramatic. I know I was so irrational at that age and gave my parents h-e-double-toothpicks to the point of where I am so thankful they didn't kick me out and disown me! I always said, "I'm an EMOTIONAL PERSON! It's just WHO I AM!" Now, I can't help but laugh, as I've been told I'm the most easy going person you'll ever meet.
More recently, I volunteered at a community service camp for teens where I stayed in a cabin with them for a week. I started to remember high school again and laughed at how at that age, you truly think trivial matters are life and death situations.

Jessica - Fall IS nice. The leaves fall all year down here in Florida, so we don't have much of a fall per se, but there are a couple weeks out of the year with weather similar. I have a huge "fall fashion" wardrobe from, uh, five years ago or so, as I LOVED fall back up in VA and enjoyed the styles. I still WEAR clothes from five years ago sometimes... heck, I'm so stoked that I CAN!
Rockapella. Wow. You learn something new every day. I had no idea who sang that theme song.

Midwife - CONGRATS on one year of maintenance! That is certainly something to be proud of!
I'm with you on the re-gaining a little weight... I kept off 50 pounds for a year and... 3 months? ish? Then, I intentionally bulked up a bit for the bodybuilding contest, cut down, and after the contest, I went CRAZY and ate EVERYTHING. I did this for about a month and gained 17 pounds, 5 which came off as soon as I stopped treating my body like a trash compactor/downtown dive/dumpster/garbage disposal. I'll get rid of these next 10-15 with no problem -- by the time December rolls around (two years for me), they'll be allllll off. And you'll get rid of yours, too. I have faith in you!

Good morning all!

I am still showing under 150!!! Only another 10-15 to go!!

My neck is on the mend. Sleeping on rock-hard beds with pillows the thickness of a blanket caused me a horrible neck ache on the 2nd day of my trip. Yesterday hot packs and Aleve seem to have helped, but no hot packs while at work today. I hope the Aleve keeps on working.

I'm back at exercise again, too. I woke up 15 minutes before the alarm and decided to hit the treadmill. It really felt great, but I figure with all the walking I did in Italy I'm in pretty good shape!

My DS (youngest child) is at high school orientation today. DD (oldest child) is starting her 2nd year of college today. I can't really be that old, can I?

As for dremeling the dog's nails--I use the dremel on Chico every week. I cut Buddy's nails and usually only do his every 2-3 weeks. I can't cut Chico's nails--they're black and I often cut into the quick. The dremel is so much safer! Buddy, because he's old and fidgety, can't stand the dremel and the clippers work faster for him.

Oh, Bill, apples? Have you tried a Jazz apple? I found them this year and they are superb! Not too sweet, not sour, very juicy! Yum.

OK, question for you guys. A friend of mine recently decided that he wants to lose some weight. What he is doing so far is taking a photo of everything he eats and blogging about it, in addition to blogging his daily weigh-ins.

He hasn't clearly said whether he's actively trying to lose weight or whether he's just trying to get an idea of how much he's eating, but I can clearly see from the food he's been eating that he is not going to lose a pound unless he changes his eating habits. He posts things like "I had a moderate portion of X, then a second moderate portion" but it will be something extremely high-calorie.

The question is this: do I tell him, "You know, blogging won't make you lose weight if you keep eating like that," do I ask him whether he's actively trying to lose or just trying to get an idea of his calorie intake, or do I just take a hands-off approach and not say anything?

Edit: I get the impression from his blog posts that he's not actually aware of how unhealthy the food he's been eating is.

Jessica, would it be an invasion to his privacy if you showed me a link to his blog? I would hope not, since he IS publicly stating his food intake!

If I were you, I'd ask him if what his goals were. I know if I was doing something wrong in weight loss, I would want to know. Your opinion is better than most in that category, since you HAVE lost weight and kept it off.

Let him know that MOST people don't have a CLUE about the nutritional value or caloric content in their food; re-assure him that you're trying to help him and if he feels stupid because of it, tell him he is not.

Any time a friend has stated a desire for weight loss, I will always give him or her some feedback if I believe he or she really wants to put forth the effort. I've always been thanked for it -- as long as you deliver the words in a tactful, friendly manner, you will most likely be fine. Plus... it's not like you're someone commenting who knows nothing about weight loss or the challenges it poses; you've been there, done that, and would like to help him!

Shane, I PMed you the URL of his blog. I think I might just post and ask him what the goal of his blogging project is. If he says "I just wanted to see what I'm actually eating," then no advice is necessary. I know for a lot of people the best first step in weight loss is to figure out how much you actually really eat.