This thread is for those of us who might find the holiday weekend a challenge. This is just a checkin to share how the weekend is going. All are invited to share or vent on weightloss journey or whatever might be on your mind.

If you are traveling, share how that challenge is going- if you are entertaining- please let us know how you are doing - if you are working, how is that going? -- if you have no plans ( which for me can be the hardest because that means, no shedule), how is that going?

PS-- this is also a GUILT FREE THREAD- no matter what happens, all you are allowed to do is learn from the experience--

That's the only rule-- NO GUILT ALLOWED.



Many of us have to work today, just as many don't - The thread is open!!!!!!!!!

Can we do this???? YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!!!

No guilt!!? Hooray!! That's for me. Okay. I'm so here!!! Actually, I'm there ... have to TRAVEL, CALL WASHINGTON FOR THE 70TH TIME AND GET NO ANSWER SO I CAN'T FINISH STORY, BUT WILL FINISH STORY ANYWAY!!! This weekend is very stressful for me and it won't end until Monday! I HAVE ALREADY HAD A SLIMFAST AND CINNAMON ROLL WITH ICING ... how crazy is that? As I told you, Kaylets, my nutrition is terrible but DO I FEEL GUILTY ABOUT THAT? NO!!! NOT A CHANCE!!!

Ok, that's the vent! Here's my plan for today!! I am on FOODWATCH and will post everything I eat or drink here and stick to under 1799 calories and exercise at least 60 minutes each of the three days!! I'll also continue to post on the 5-pound challenge as I'M MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER, even if I have to change my date!!! THIS CAN WORK!!!

Food so far: Cinnamon Bun (240)
Slimfast (220)

Exercise so far: Leslie Sansone (25 minutes)

YES WE CAN DO THIS!!! YOU BET!!! THE WEEKEND IS HERE AND WE ARE DEDICATED TO STAYING FIT JUST AS MUCH AS EVER!! HECK, WE ARE MORE DEDICATED! RIGHT?!

Thanks for posting this Kaylets!

I'm in!

Tomarrow will be a challenge... so far I know a good portion of the menu:
BBQ ribs, greek salad (feta on the side), hummus w/ pita, garlic dip (made with cottage cheese), and peach blueberry gallete (I'm making, from a lite recipe). I plan on eating a bit sparingly for breakfast and lunch, then enjoying dinner - not with wild abandon, but focusing on spending time with my friends!

Sunday's Rim Rock Festival - usually have kettle korn, but it's not a trigger food and very well may go stale before I eat it all. My Mom's horse riding club are the only food vendors so far and all they're having is ice cream and sodas. Easy for me to avoid.

Monday - my weigh in day. I have no idea, but it's typically a chip n' dip kinda day for our family, probably grill something. I'm going to get some safe alternatives today at the store (hummus, lite crackers, ect...) and make sure we grill some veggies too!

Enjoy the holiday everyone!

Terri

I wasn't going to post here until the weekend, but I'm inspired by Terri's post to take an overview of the weekend right now and see where the potential trouble spots will be. (Great idea, Terry!)

Here goes.... I'm working today so it's just a typical day with no real obstacles (other than the 24/7 ones). We'll have a simple "weekday type" dinner.

Saturday: the toughest part of this day will be dinner. My husband is an excellent cook (good news/bad news ) and loves to cook on the weekends. He usually starts out with appetizers.

Sunday: this day is the real challenge. We're having a BBQ with a group of friends. There will be LOTS of food and wine .

Monday: weigh-in day . Holiday. This will be back-on-track day.

Okay, this is a good starting point - AWARENESS

See ya'll this weekend

... and counting!!! I knew this day would be a pain and it was BUT I kept this challenge and the Power o' Five Team in mind and am happy to say my calories are ok and I feel I can stop eating at 1600 calories. My menu was not healthy, as I said it wouldn't be ... don't try this at home, kiddies, so here's the afternoon and evening menus:

Single serving LF cottage cheese (140)
Two large cherry tomatoes (20)

LF Frappacino (sp? ... 200)

Sport Shake (340)
White Choc. Kit Kat (220)

3 Crystal Light bottles for evening (30)

Exercise after returning from trip was 15 minutes of aerobics, later a 20 minute pole walk ... it's very hot ... was also extremely active on trip, walking a lot but I don't know how much so didn't write it down!

Tomorrow's challenge is going to be actually writing this story from *** that I still don't know anything about and that is going to stress me out, but I will be home all day working. I have some Good Friends Cinnamon Crunch from Kashi to try out. It has raisins ... I used to put the raisins in Good Friends and loved eating it dry ... so this is a new thing I will try. I also have frozen fruit and plan on making fruit only smoothies.

KEEP GOING ALL!!! IT'S ONLY THREE DAYS!!! NO GUILT, NO GUILT, NO GUILT!!! WHO'S BETTER THAN US? (Answer: NO ONE!)

Well, I don't think I'll have guilt no matter what. I wasn't particularly good yesterday but not outrageously binging. Had some bad news so ate more for lunch than normal but don't feel I went off the deep end.

I started out this morning with a muffin (it was delicious but obviously not the most OP way to go). Later today I will probably go to Mom's (it's her bd). I won't go for lunch with everyone else - my family are EATERS. I will have a SMALL piece of cake. So to offset some of this abundance of calories, I will just have a Slimfast Meal Bar at lunch. Maybe apple slices for a snack upon return. Dinner not planned yet but it too will be moderate. I'll be up on carbs, low on veggies for the day. Will drink water, water, water.

Sunday we'll be picnicing with friends. But the menu will be one with which I can manage moderation. I usually take a few liberties on weekends anyway so won't be far out of line with normal (I hope).

I plan for Monday to be sort of a regular Monday, which is often started off with liquid Slimfast (cappucino flavor is the only one I drink - I miss coffee). We will probably go to local festival but I'm not too tempted by the goodies there.

I hadn't planned to post here, just read. But I do think it has helped me to get an overall handle on the temptations I might run into. I know I'm not going to lose any weight this weekend (or maybe even for the week) but my loose "plan" allows for some succumbing to temptation to keep me willing to keep at it. I know from past experiences that if I strive to be perfect on any one plan, I'll do well at first but then totally blow and quit. The muffin this am was a long planned for extravagance. And with desserts, I still eat them but tiny proportions compared with what I considered "small" or "normal' before.

Amarantha's Foodwatch for Saturday a.m. (no guilt, no guilt, no guilt). Fiber is my focus today to calm my stress and regulateth blood sugar:

Three slimfasts ... at different times (660/fiber=15 grams)
One cup Kashi Good Friends Crunch ... snack for all a.m. (150/fiber=10 grams)

Exercise plan for a.m. is to get outside w/poles before the sun comes up, which will be extremely soon!

Happy Long Weekend, Challengers!!!

I'd like to join this challenge. I don't have any special Labor Day plans, per se, but I am hosting a birthday party for my 9 year old daughter tonight. I have to make a big chocolate cake with homemade buttercream icing. Now normally cakes are not a huge temptation to me, but it's my TOM, so who knows! The goal I want to set for myself here is to not eat any cake (not even batter!) and no ice cream. I want to keep my journal all weekend and get in 2-3 days of walking. Good luck to everyone!

Wowser, chocolate - you have set yourself one heck of a challenge. But I guess you have not lost 73.75 lbs by being a slacker. Encouraging vibes to you.

Encouraging vibes also to our Empress as she battles the story from **** and wrests victory from her day!

No guilt, no guilt, no guilt -

Sounds good to me. Actually when you are retired, as my DH and I are, every day is a holiday which presents its own challenges. There is absolutely no way to totally escape from food, we need it to survive. I had less trouble quitting smoking (which I did in 1969) than I have "maintaining." It continues to be difficult, but I am continuing to "maintain."

Friday morning my DH and I did our weekly volunteer work at the old pioneer fort that sits on the Oregon Trail. We met tourists from England, plus many from various parts of the United States. It is fun to chat with the tourists. The terrorist attacks has certainly affected the tourist industry, it is way down this summer.

Today a group of individuals are coming to visit DH's model railroad which sits in our basement. We always enjoy that.

No picnics, no parties, no reunions, nothing is planned for the rest of the weekend, so I will probably be able to stick on my program. Church on Sunday presents no problem, ever, regarding eating. And our son is on call all weekend, so I know we won't see him or his family.

Summer is winding down, school is starting, the weather is cooler, there is a touch of fall in the air, the world is beautiful, and let's all keep smiling. And, Kaylets, thanks for starting this thread.

Yowza, yowza, yowza!!! Amarantha is making it through this weekend in fine fettle with no guilt, no guilt, no guilt! Kaylets, thanks again for the thread! How are you doing? Inquiring minds ...

Hi, JoJoJo2, you are consistently an inspiration and I hear what you are saying about the difficulty of maintenance. But you always come through! Enjoy your weekend!

Anagram: Thanks for the vibes! The story from **** is still not done. How does Monday sound!?

Chocolate: Oh my! Homemade buttercream frosting on birthday cake? Thou art stalwart to brave this danger! But I feel in my bones you'll be a success and if a tiny SLIVER of should float your way, remember Kaylets' rule: NO GUILT!!!

Amarantha's Afternoon Food & Fiber Watch:

2 slimfast cans (440, 10 grams fiber)

2-egg omelet with teaspoon parmesan (150, 0 grams fiber)
1/2 bottle Crystal Lite (5, 0 grams fiber)

1/2 cup Good Friends Crunch (75, 5 grams fiber)

Imperial Spa Mixed Fruit Frappe* (60, 1 gram fiber)
*3/4 cup frozen mixed fruit, ice water, SF DaVinci vanilla syrup, frapped in blender

Dinner is likely to be more eggs; I rarely eat them but feel a craving and they are low calorie and I have good cholesterol, so NO GUILT, NO GUILT, NO GUILT!

Bye, weekenders!

Hello all!!

I am excited that we are doing this weekend together.!!

Last night at the candle party I knew I was in trouble when some of the candles I smelled actually started making my mouth water!!
I was SOOOOOO glad I had a full dinner before hand (DH made swordfish w/lemonpepper and snappeas w/portabellas and a swt potato) and chugged a bottle of water down on the way there. I wasnt hungry but was reminded again of how quickly a trigger can take over.

This am we went out for Eggbeaters veg omelots w/swiss cheese and shared the toast order. While we were eating we were reading the paper and found an auction that looked interesting so we took a ride. We killed the morning in Maryland and it was lunchtime by time we started heading back. Luckily, DH remembered a Chinese Buffet we were near and I filled a big plate w/ cocktail shrimp and lemon. This one actually offered tofu but it was in a very spicy garlic sauce- Tried sushi too but the ones I tried didnt do much for me. Seems like there's more rice than fish anyway. The canteloupe there must have been just cut because it was so nice and fresh.

Came home and took a nap. Been trying to do laundry and vacuuming in between commercials while dinner was cooking-
Spaghetti-- Morningside crumbles in Tom sauce w/ lots of mush and onions with a whole wheat spaghetti. DH says we each had 2oz dry b/4 it was cooked-- I don't know what that it is after its cooked. Had a couple SF popsicles inbtwn too.

I admit, the Chinese place had some tempting macaroons and creme puffs but I thought of our challenge and kept walking.
I am one of those people who cannot stop at one. And then crave sugar tomorrow, the next day- I do better the less I have and suffer cravings less too.

Didnt get much activity in- but like we said NO GUILT- and doesnt housework on the holiday count for something???


I'll be around- after all, I don't enjoy housework that much!!~

Kaylets: Housework DOES count as exercise! I swing mops around, march in place while dusting, dance around, etc., and try to get my heartrate up! It counts!

Amended menu: Instead of eggs had two EAS Advantage Carb Control drinks, 110 calories each, no fiber!

Bad internet connection ... have to go!

Yo! My NO GUILT decision for today is in honor of weigh-in, which is in a few hours, I will NOT post my menu here. It'll be more of the same and it just gets too lengthy. I'm still in the NO GUILT WEEKEND thing, though, and will focus, focus, focus on my commitments. One of my challenges is to work some on the story from **** ... which is just not a happening thing for some reason ... plus kind of enjoy Sunday and also go shopping for healthy food.

P.S. Kaylets, candles make me hungry, too!

Good morning all!! this is just a quick good morning post before I leave the house. So far, I have really enjoyed Laughing Cow cheese on Toast. Lots of flavor! Would make a perfect 3 pt snack also. DH was afraid I would get hungry so I had 2 veggie burgers on the side just to make sure I don't get too hungry.

Its 60 degrees and raining- SWEATSHIRT WEATHER!! We are happy for the rain- still in drought conditions but this weekend of slow rain is helping.

How's everyone doing? Anyone facing a challenge today??