Good morning everyone. Let's have a great week this first week of May.

My weekend was better than last weekend but not as good as the weekdays. I ate well Fri night, but we ended up at a party on Saturday and I ate more than I needed, though less than I would have a month ago. Progress, I suppose. I also forgot my vitamins for a couple of days. Back to that.

I am ready for a good week. The weather report looks good for outside walking which is my favorite. And I have lots of veggies ready for good eats for this week.

Happy Monday!

Good morning, slroth. I am waiting for my coffee...eek! Hope to have a fairly quiet week around here. Guests Tuesday-Saturday morning, but everything that needs to be done is pretty much ready for them. And I get to cook breakfast, which I enjoy doing, And cookies, which I enjoy doing, but it's more difficult now not to eat any. Well...it was difficult before and I just went ahead and ate them. Now I can eat a cookie or I can eat a piece of fruit and some yogurt. Same calories...have to choose nutrition and bulk over yummy junk. Oh well.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Barb

Good morning. My weekend was merely so-so. Last week I got a fair amount of exercise in, but this week, my exercise partner is gone, so I need to be extra conscientious about getting to the gym.

Not doing so well on the calorie counting, but I'm going to work on that this week.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Well I must be doing something right. I went to buy a new pair of khaki pants yesterday because the pair I have is getting way too big and I fit in 16 petities-on the regular side of the store-not the women's side. And they fit perfectly. So I must be losing inches or things must be shifting around even if the scale isn't moving.

Barb: I'm not making choices between apples and brownies or apples and cookies......I'm making choices between healthy food and healthy food. That's just plain crazy to me. I should be able to eat healthy food and feel satisfied. Depriving myself of healthy food and going around feeling hungry and miserable and deprived is just plain crazy. It defeats the purpose of this process I think. If I want to eat a piece of fruit, or some veggies and hummus I should be able to do that without freaking that it is going to put me over my calorie budget for the day. I think this mindset is what makes me give up. Who wants to be miserable for the rest of their life?

ICUWishing – I really like that quote, “Weight loss and better health should never make us miserable - it really defeats the purpose!” That’s really great, and you are totally right!! There is no way I can join you in your scale-free challenge, but I’ll be rooting for you! Yes, it’s an amazing feeling to know that I got to my ovaries before they got me! I hope your looming showdown dissipates and your personal life gets the shake-up it needs.

PeanutsMom – thanks re: the well wishes! Bummer about the appetite returning… I’m enjoying eating like a bird, “oh, no, I couldn’t possibly have more…”

Petra – you are so right, the wine and the apple, those should be AND choices not OR choices… Both is definitely not gluttonous. Maybe you can smidge on portions a little? For instance, supermarket apples are HUGE, I find, but when I buy them at the local orchard, they are much smaller, more snack sized.

AngelsKeep – good advice!

SukieRD – I’m sure there’s water retention after Chili’s with all the salt restaurants use. Drink lots of water and you’ll see it come off again… Thanks for your well wishes.

SLRoth – I have a harder time on weekends than weekdays, too. For some reason all my self-control wavers. Definitely an area for me to improve upon.

KittehMomma – you can do this without the partner, although it will be harder. What is your plan to make getting to the gym happen?

Here, the scale is down. It must be that bird-like appetite of mine that I am so enjoying! Either that or it’s me losing muscle mass, a side effect of menopause. I am amazed by how quickly my body is changing with my ovaries gone for just a week. My breasts have completely morphed into something new. Probably a change that I wouldn’t even notice if I went into menopause naturally since it would be slowly over time, but in one week I’ve gone from firm, dense breasts to soft, fluffy breasts. Weird. Not bad, but weird.

I lost my motivation for weight loss this weekend. It was amazing how it evaporated through a couple of frustrating interactions. I think my motivations are too externally based and truly not coming from within. I'm trying to forgive myself for overeating & not running this weekend. The scale is up, which is no surprise, but I am recommitting myself. And coming up with reasons to lose weight that are about ME, not getting the attention from other people.

MotivatedChickie sounds like you're on track to finding your motivation again... You have come so far on your journey; wow. Hang in there!!

Hello ladies!! I did get caught up on reading the threads, but don't have the time to do personals for everyone, sorry.

Heidi-Glad you are feeling better and accepting the changes to your body that are happening as a result. I've noticed an even more southward descent of my chest after losing over the last few months. Not happy about that, but not letting it worry me either.

Petra-Yay! for new pants size! What a boost!!

Had a good weekend, but didn't do a darn thing! Hate it when I feel my weekend just went to waste. Foodwise, I did a mediocre job of staying healthy. Friday I had 2 slices of taco pizza (delicious, it was worth the stray from the path) and some lite beer. Saturday I had a serving of grilled sirloin, small baked potato (w/ margarine) and small salad. I also had 2 homemade white wine spritzers (used diet Sierra Mist and non-diet grenadine syrup-sm. amt.). Sunday was disappointing. We went to Chili's and after much agonizing over the menu, I decided that I wanted a hamburger and went ahead and ordered it. It was terrible!! Just blah and no flavor....a little over-done, too. The fries were not very good, either. Was so angry I had wasted all of those calories after all the fretting over the decision. I barely ate half, but still felt cheated. Oh well, lesson learned. I am not a huge fan of Chili's anyway. Wonder if my palate is changing.

My goals for the week are really not diet related. I want to get a few planters filled outside and get my porch cleaned up. I also want to find some good, healthy dinner ideas for my sons. They have enjoyed what I have been making lately, but I don't want them to get tired of having the same things all of the time.

You all are doing great and are an inspiration to me daily. I am so thankful to have this board to share in this journey with others who have similar goals. It's helped to change my life!

Happy Monday everyone!! Not thrilled to be back to work but at least it's a bright and shiny day out there - even stuck inside, it's still nice to see that out my window.

Had a great on-plan day yesterday and I'm looking forward to a full month of those!

Hi Gang,

Petra - Yeah for the pants size Down! WOOT!

Sounds like everyone is starting the week off right!

I'm still fatigued but it is better. My uncle passed away on Sunday so my Mom is coming to NC today for the funeral this week. He was a GREAT guy and his passing was too soon but he was in terrible pain so I'm glad his suffering is over.

I'll check in when I can. This is a really crazy week.

P.S. Just wanted to thank everyone for the congrats for my son.

Petra - I know I've mentioned before that I failed at WW because low-fat food made me miserable (hungry, crabby, dry skin, shattering fingernails, brain fog, fatigue). I started to crave fat in all its weird forms, and since I didn't want to go the route of ramping up saturated fat (OK, I make exceptions with free-range, natural-diet meats), I got myself into a pattern of always having at least a little good fat with every meal and snack. Veggies sauteed in chicken broth are incredibly delicious, but all that fiber and vitamins won't satisfy me. Neither will the brown rice under it. A pound of turkey breast won't make me happy either. I figured out, after almost three years of trial and error, that I am happily satisfied on less overall calories as long as I'm adding nuts, avocados, flax, and get this - even a fish oil pill, to everything I eat. All the weird low-fat symptoms go away too.

There are a few of us on this board that must have some Eskimo heritage, or something, because our diets are generally pushing 35% fat. I remember JulieJ08 is one. It's such a bear to figure out what works - but once it clicks, the misery goes away. I do my darndest to avoid refined sugar, and I attempt low-glycemic load meals and snacks. The fat helps - and it seems to let me lose weight at a higher calorie level. I keep an eye on my calories, but it really is secondary to how I arrange them. I lost 25# by ballparking 1700 calories, with essentially zero exercise (before swimming started this fall), by adding cheese to the apple, and having the wine with dinner. I keep a massive bag of pistachios and walnuts in my desk - it still amazes me what 100 calories of nuts does for me. The part that absolutely sucks is that what works for me generally doesn't work for a lot of people, and all anybody can do is keep trying. The formula for you is out there somewhere! And in the meantime - "pantsometers" are more reliable than the "random number generator" scale.

annie - late congrats to your son! That's really exciting! I know exactly how you feel about wasting a weekend. I did the same thing.

heidi - what's it like to not have an appetite? Was the fluffiness evaluated properly by DH? They love to participate in those types of studies!

barb - hope you have a great week too!

slroth - it's Monday and a fresh start. I struggle more on weekends - almost a relief to get back to work. No, wait - that's not true.

PM - Nothing feels as good as a full month on plan. And boy, nothing moves the scale as well, either!

kitteh - GO TO THE GYM! Did that help?

motivated - yup, me too. Much better so far today. Fridge is full of good stuff, and the serious "landmine" food went out with the trash today. Let's keep it up!

Whew. TGIM. I needed some sunshine!

Pantsometer...roflmao!

Becky-you may be onto something. Every single time I try to lose weight (except maybe the time I was lowcarbing, I can't recall that for sure) I crave peanutbutter. It only happens when I'm trying to lose weight-otherwise a jar of peanut butter can sit in my pantry for months but when I'm on a "diet" I go through a jar every 2 weeks. (not the big ones obviously). But I eat peanutbutter on something almost every day. I also like the "pantsometer". I wouldn't say my diet is terribly low in fat-probably moderate-around 30%. I just looked at my journal, I ate less fat than usual over the weekend-maybe that had something to do with my misery. I'm also on track for a low fat day today. something I should pay attention to.

Wizzie-sorry to hear about your uncle. I lost an uncle recently too. He was 92 though.

Heidi-glad you are feeling better. I buy organic apples whenever I can. They are one fruit that tend to have a lot of pesticide residue so they are definately worth the extra price. They tend to be smaller.

Thanks for all the support everyone. I'll work my way through this.

I'm another one who finds having enough fat to be crucial to staying with my diet. I'm not doing low carb but I try to get 90-100 gr of protein a day, and it's really, really hard to get there without eating meat (at least for me, I'm not a fan of beans). And it's pretty hard to get meat-based protein without a certain amount of fat. Plus I eat a fair amount of other - healthy - fat, like 1/2 avocado every day, salmon once or twice a week, cook with olive oil sometimes, etc.

I just checked my fitday - for the past 2 months, I've averaged 31% fat, 25% protein and 44% carbs, with 1404 calories. (I am going to confess that I did not log a few days in April, though!) I definitely would not be happy with what I eat or feel satisfied and full on it if I tried to cut the fat too much lower.

That's one of the reasons I like to log everything I'm going to eat for the day into Fitday in the morning - I can see my percentages and if I'm too low, I'll eat some nuts to make sure I'm not going too low on fat, because I know I don't like the results if I do!