Wow - I'm starting the December thread...haha. Hello people....let the December madness begin. I finally got some Christmas decorations up.....for whatever reason I decided to do things totally different this year...I think it's a 'getting older' thing.....in the end, though, seems like I have more decorations in boxes than scattered around the house. Oh well, it works for me.

Been doing WW new program for a couple days. So far so good, but it's always easy during the honeymoon phase.

Joni - The decorating. I love it when it is done, and I kind of like the feeling when putting it up, but the THOUGHT of doing it? Ugh. We put our outside lights up last weekend, but DH has engineered them to be painless. Next up: the village under the tree and the mantel. I have so much Christmas stuff - but I feel terrible getting rid of it.

Morning...

I haven't been on the scale...trying to stay off it and just check in once a week. One of the reasons I wanted to redo LAWL was that the exchange aspect of the portions keeps me from having to count calories. The last 3 years of weight loss (and slight regain) had me going a little nuts with counting calories, wearing my Bodybugg, etc. Right now, with an aggravated injury and energy loss, I'm just trying to focus my energy on my nutrition.

I had been a 6x a week, 2 hours a day workout person. Then a year ago my energy plummeted, I struggled with 3-4x a week for 90 minutes. Then I injured my knee, developed plantar fasciatis as well, then I got a second dog, a puppy, and with all that, I don't sleep enough and don't feel well enough to work out. So, I've decided to take a few months on the low end of activity, work my way up in a more moderate and comfortable routine, instead of being hardcore. So my focus needs to be on my food. And it's about time. I need to combat this issue once and for all. I'm tired of spending 40 years consumed by being overweight, always thinking about food, and never feeling like I get it right.

My greatest challenges are boredom and stress eating. Work is a big temptation for me. I try to hide out in my cube and wear earbuds so I don't hear there are donuts in the breakroom, but there's always a platter of something somewhere. I don't know what's wrong with me, but when I hear food, I want it, whether or not I need it. And then if I stress too badly (and my industry is stress-driven), I tend to head to the vending machine. I am 100% aware that I am medicating with food--looking for the energy lift because I'm tired, looking for the mood lift if I'm blue, looking for the seratonin effect if I'm stressed.... The above, along with healing from an injury and reduced exercise efforts, resulted in me going from 268 to 290 in the last 8 months.

I KNOW what I need to do (stick to the diet and appropriate calories, get some good activity in)...doing it is another. I can't quit my job and quit the stress. Most alternatives for the stress aren't doable (like go walk around the building...yeah, can't break for that). And it's just an area where I'm reallllly weak.

I bought some lites, but I tend to be the type that if you give me a taste of sugar, I want a boatload. I could eat four or even 6 lites just like that. However, I'd like to think that so far, I am already cutting calories. I just need to find my way to sticking 100% to plan. Once I do, I believe I will see results.

And I need to! I hate the 280s. I hate that I regained. I hate that I'm not the gymrat I was. I hate how I feel physically right now. AND I just gave away all my fat clothes, so I have to lose some inches to stay in the clothes I do have. Argh.

That's where I am at this early December day....

Hey Laura,

I totally understand how you must feel.And...quitting job to relieve stress, well, it often adds more stress.You need to focus on the real reason behind the emotional eating.

Is any job that important that you have to damage your heath, stressing about it? What happens if you just let go...give it a rest?

Why are you bored?Are you in vicious cycle of being overweight, feeling depressed about it, bored with life , over-eating and not reaching your weight loss goals?

Only you can answer these questions. I can give you a few tips from my own WL journey.

1) Read the book "Master your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels. It gives you the science behind WL and VERY VERY EDUCATING. That book changed my perspective completely.Once you read it you'll think twice before sugar-loading and eating store- bought food.

2)Snack on things that make you work for it...like unsalted shelled peanuts. That will slow you down. Or...snack on protein instead of sugar...like grapes and cheese. They are lot healthier than "LITES" loaded with HFCS.

3)Get cooking/baking. Once you know exactly what/how much you putting in your food, that will slow you down.

4) Avoid storing coins/changes in your purse, that will stop THE VENDING MACHINE runs.

5) Get a WL partner. It motivated me having my husband beside me through my journey. I pack his lunch everyday, no matter what. He has colleagues/buddies who buy lunch everyday and often ask him to share coupons with them. He says NO to them . To my husband, buying lunch is like cheating on his wife because I take time to prepare pack his lunch everyday and i expect him to be faithful to our commitment to a healthy disease free life.

hope this helps you a little.

Thanks, MJ.

The real reasons behind my emotional eating are indeed stress, blues, and energy. I thoroughly believe that there's a science to emotional eating, that it's not just a bad habit or will power. It's looking for energy (sugar) or looking for contentment and easing stress(seratonin).

It's not that the job is important, in fact I otherwise have a relaxed attitude toward it. I just have a physiological response to deadlines and pressure. The impact of that stress sends my body chemistry out of whack, making me look to salve it with food. That's what I mean about the science to emotional eating. I don't think it's only about choices.

Why am I bored? Hmmm, that's a biggee. I'm in a good job that pays well that is easy as **** for me, minus the stress deadlines. It's also a job that is hurry up and wait and I have a lot of freetime. I also live alone with my dogs, so I don't have anyone but them at home. It's not that I have a ton of free time in general (home life is pretty busy), but mentally, I'm still looking for something to keep my brain occupied.

"Are you in vicious cycle of being overweight, feeling depressed about it, bored with life , over-eating and not reaching your weight loss goals?" Um, heck yeah.

1)Read the book "Master your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels[/B]. Read it, believe in some of it (she's off on some of the science, though). Doesn't make me adjust my behavior though, knowing what I know.

2)Snacks. It's like I have an unsatiable appetite! I can eat 3,000 calories and not blink!

3)Get cooking/baking. 100% do this. When I'm good, I only eat what I cook. I avoid fast food, packaged food, etc. But during the depression after the injury, I overloaded on all of the above.

4) Avoid storing coins/changes in your purse, tried that. They still take dollar bills. I'm about to attempt to leave my wallet in my glove compartment! I am down however, from 3-4 visits a day to 1-2 a couple times a week.

5) Get a WL partner. A friend and I are both restarting and we talk a little bit about it.

Mostly I'm trying to rely on my "I hate that I hit 290 again" as motivation. And I'm trying to rethink every moment. When the urge comes, I remind myself about the clothes, my appearance, my embarrassment over the gain. And if it's bad, I drink tea instead. I'm making some progress, more to come....

Joni, I am interested to hear what the new WW program is about. My husband absolutely hated doing points. If we cannot lose weight on LAWL by ourselves using my past materials, then we are going to pay to go somewhere. It's a pact we have. We just wanted to lose what we could before paying some place because we have a lot to lose and that's a lot of money to shell out without even trying trustly LAWL again...it has worked for us in the past. I didn't like flex either. I started starving myself so I could eat choclate after supper. I like how LAWL makes eating the fruits/veggies a requirement. I feel so much better when I eat them.

I second the not-keeping change or cash on hand! I will find a dollar and dive through a McDonalds or somewhere. I hate cash on hand. I won't go through for something silly like a $1 item on my debit card, but cash...another story.

Laura, I eat emotionally too. I had lost all this weight with LAWL and then I must have been a little too healthy b/c I got pregnant with twins. I am one of those folks who puts on weight very easily when pregnant but this time the weight did not mainly come off with nursing like it did with my first pregnancy. I was so stressed having twins I emotionally ate ALL I could whenever I could. You'd think I wouldn't have time but I set myself up for failure with quick unhealthy snacks. I have worked in an office before and it is so hard, especially when people bring things by because they like you/your coworkers. The maintainance guys used to bring us kolaches and donuts when they came b/c our office (almost all women) were their favorites and it just seemed rude not to partake! I have started drinking hot drinks like coffee when I feel the need to eat knowing I don't have to. Sometimes I forget to drink it after I fix it which shows me just how passing my need to eat really was. If I am still thinking about it, it's warm and it fills my tummy.

Day 3 of Unlimited takeoff. It's not really bothering me too much. I think seeing my highest weight ever was a huge wake up call!

Nicole, I am a baseball widow. I don't even get free meat out of the deal!

checking in this AM b/c this forum kept me on track last time. I lost 4 lbs on unlimited TO...not great, but I'm happy to be moving in the right direction at least. I'm not feeling hungry or missing anything yet.

One good thing that has come about is that my oldest son tried (and loved) grilled chicken for the first time last night. My youngest has been requesting (err...demanding) raw carrots every night. I think it's rubbing off already. My oldest is extremely picky and gags a lot, so I am so relieved to have a food that he will eat that I can eat, as well. The middle one...he's like Mikey...he'll eat anything.

Mary, I'm doing the WW thing online right now. I needed the accountability of tracking all my food intake. I haven't been tracking my weight all that closely, as I just do tend to avoid that scale as it never tells me numbers that I want to hear, but I've dropped about 2 clothes sizes, so I think it is working. I need to get brave and get on the scale again, as I haven't for about a month, but between our anniversary trip and thanksgiving, it didn't seem likely to say anything positive.

The new plan does seem to be more in line with more modern thinking on weight loss. Higher protein foods have a slightly reduced points count. The new points don't have as many calories per point. The targets I do believe are lower calorie amounts, but you get to eat most produce with no points. So if you eat a decent amount of fruits and veggies you will not starve, but I think if you eat badly you will be hungry. Of course once you run out of points you can still eat as many strawberries as you want, so I think it will force even non produce eaters into digging out the apples and carrots. It is nice to not to have to worry about counting your carrots anymore. Doesn't matter, even 200 cups of them are 0 points (I entered it online just to be sure, ha!)

My office used to bring in free lunch at least 2 times a week, so there was almost always free food to be eaten... pizza's and chinese or thai or italian or hawaiian... all sorts of yummy stuff. They have cut way back with the economic downturn, but still the managers pull out the credit card and charge up the food whenever they want you to work extra hours... we don't get overtime, but apparently they think we will work for pizza.

shoot, that 4 lbs I lost popped right back on. 290. Oy.

Barbara...I think I could eat myself sick on fruit. I dunno if I would have the self control. I would have a produce and carb diet...then again, that could work. Finding protein is hard for me. I like Peanut butter, beans, beef, fish, and SOMETIMES chicken...it grosses me out to hold a raw chicken breast and eat it after it's cooked. I can eat other people's chicken just fine..I am probably a weirdo. I grilled up a bunch of chkn breasts for unlimited TO and we just ate the last of them last night for fajitas and I'm ok with that...Maybe I just don't cook chicken right unless I'm grilling.

Laura, obviously you didn't gain 4 lbs of fat...it's probably water. That kind of stuff happens on any diet. Try to remind yourself it's physically impossible to gain 4 lbs in one day (or lose!) so just chalk it up to your body and keep trucking. I kept a log of every day's weight last time and when I felt like I was on the same number for a long time I divided up my average weight loss over time and found I was doing great...for me it just comes off in spurts. Last time I did this I would go with no scale movement for weeks and then 5 lbs would come off and stay off. My periods affected me, too...sometimes things are out of your control but you are going to have to make up your mind to be rational and not get bummed out over water weight gains. This plan will work, I promise you that. It's the only thing I have ever been able to do. If you have eaten at a restaurant or had something salty then pop half a lemon in a mug of water, microwave for 1 min, add a little stevia or artificial sweetener and drink like tea. You'll be peeing like crazy but it will help you not have a huge water weight spike the next day.

Y'all I am down 6 lbs! I know it's that water weight that comes off initially but I am so happy about it still b/c I am moving in the right direction. I am loving the fresh healthy foods again. I prefer healthy foods but I am soooo lazy about preparation.

Question: since I don't love proteins that much I made up some homemade hummus with garbanzo beans (the organic store brand were cheaper and1/4 the sodium of the low sodium bush's), garlic, lemon juice, cilantro, and 1 tbsp light sour cream. I did the calculations on beans as protein and it ended up that 1/4cup of the hummus= 1/2 protein. I know hummus is listed as a starch, but since the beans are a protein and I measured it all up and everything else is negligible or unlimited, that should be ok, RIGHT? I know logically it is but...lemme know what you think. I'd much rather dip my veggies in hummus than eat a piece of chicken for a snack.

Barbara- great job losing 2 dress sizes....especially before holiday parties. i know this "pizza' for extra work thing...they did the same at my husband's work ....my husband used to fall for it every time. Once he started making lifestyle changes, he refused falling for that. Still there are times....like they had their CEO visiting or some meeting...free food ( read unhealthy junk)and pop for all.

When I was working on my M.Sc research at the research lab, there was always some sort meeting going on and we, the students world get the excess ordered. So there was always food in the kitchen...or cookies and dessert squares. Now at my current workplace, there is always someone bringing some baked stuff. I think FREE FOOD AT WORK in every form- colleagues buying/baking, manager's treat,food fest, pot luck, meetings, food sale for charity, vending machines are the biggest challenge to someone trying to lose weight.

Mary- 6lbs loss definitely calls for celebration.I remember how wonderful I felt during those early days of WL losing 4-5 lbs a week.

Home made hummus is a protein, as compared to the store bought one.Same as, canned soup is always starch while home-made soup can be V, P or S depending on what you put in. The lemon water thing is a neat trick- thanks for sharing.

My mother had that same phobia towards raw meat/chicken...she couldn't eat what she cleaned and cooked.There if you consider yourself " weirdo" you are definitely not alone.
Good sources of lean protein...tofu ( soft) , eggs or egg substitute,organic soy and low-fat cheese like ricotta.
Just a word of caution- Peanut butter is considered as a Fat, not a Protein in the new LAWL plan.

did TOJ (Take Off juice) this weekend. Flubbed it last night when I met up with a friend and she'd already ordered food for us...but I hate well...venison burgers, sweet potato baked chips, eggplant dip with cheese crackers. Still lost.
Friday 290.4
Monday 286.7

And with TOM, perhaps the loss is better than I realize? Let's see what the week will bring.

I'm on a workout sabbatical this month. I want to rest my body before I restart. I went way over the top in my exercise (very influenced by the folks I met who worked out a ton, 2-3 hours a day). I want to recoup, focus on nutrition, and then make a modified, realistic plan to start in the new year.

LOL-about the chicken in it's raw meat stage. A few years ago DH was into a show on Discovery Health - where they showed surgeries. I told him we could watch that show and never eat chicken again, or stop watching it and keep the chicken. It all looked too similar. We kept the chicken.

I usually don't tell anyone that I am dieting, but this time when a bunch of my co-workers noticed I told them that I broke up with carbs. It has worked for me to avoid the lunchroom stuff. I wish I had figured out a way to NOT want to have the stuff, I've been relying on sheer willpower.

Laura-TOM can definitely hide your weight loss. Last week after I gloated about losing a pound over Thanksgiving weekend-the next day I was up 2 lbs. The following day? Up another lb. Same thing for the next day. I was freaking out until I went to the bathroom and realized TOM had come a little early. Then 2 days later I spent the whole day in the bathroom and lost all 4 lbs of water in one day! (sorry-TMI!)

Your metabolism is increased during TOM so hang in there and you'll be rewarded with weight loss (most likely!)

So-I'm down several more pounds. Only about 3 to go to meet my required 5% weight loss for surgery. He wants me to lose 5-10lbs more (which I think I can do) but at least I don't think he'll refuse to do the surgery in January . . . My pre-op appt is on the 20th. I just gotta hang in there.

JulieMarie...I am glad you are still posting here and I hope you keep it up after surgery. Don't wanna lose you to the surgery boards completely!

MJ- thanks for that info about peanut butter. If I hit a stall I am going to have to cut it out. It was my protein staple before so I know it worked in the past and I hope it will work again b/c protein in the morning is kind of YUCK to me.

Ok, I've been doing really well...I forgot to weigh the last couple of days, though. It's cold and I don't like taking clothes off and we're in a mad dash for school once the alarm goes off. I haven't been cheating or anything...I could be chugging more water. ihav ebeen waiting until the last part of the day and paying for that at night with peeing 3 times a night!

This is TOTALLY unrelated to weight loss but since my last time on this board I became a quilter. I have a quilt blog and I've done some work for a fabric company with patterns...sold some patterns independently. Well today I got notice that my first submission to a magazine was accepted!!! They are going to pay me and put my pattern in their magazine! This is a big deal! Now to decide on 2 colorways for a baby quilt for a January magazine (any suggestions more than welcome!). The fabric company wanted my pic or a pic of my work for their press but I sent in a pic my quilt b/c I didn't want to send in a picture of myself b/c I'm overweight. I guess that's a wake up call that I should take as much pride in MY looks as I do my quilt's looks. Anyway, Woohoo.