Starting the topic for tomorrow.

Sabrina - your once a week "fat" meal out sounds very yummy - good for your for taking 1/2 of it home. I'll have to try strawberry bar - 3 points is too much for me to want to spend on a snack and I'm with you on needing the portion control.

Well, I chickened out from the scale and took a no weigh week. It turns out that it wasn't such a good idea because I have been OUT OF CONTROL this weekend - very PMS'y - lots of salty snacks (mostly pickels and sauerkraut!) and those darned mini-chocolate chips that my DH demolished - I finished off what little was left (which was still a good 6-8 points worth). Anyway today hasn't been much better - we took down the tree today and after being on my feet for almost 3 hours, I decided to save the treadmill for tomorrow. I have snacked way too much tonight but I just had a conversation in myself about how I wanted to be in the 140's by the time I went to Philly (next weekend) and how again, I'm NOT there. I have made a few low point snacks (chocolate chip meringue cookies and the Duncan Hines All Bran muffins - only 1 point if you make some substitutions on ingredients) and have a lot of salad and veggies in the house so I am ready for a recommitment week - there's no way I am going to be at my 10% by the end of March if I don't buckle down and start working the program that I KNOW works - if I WORK it (I know that sounds very 12 step but it still happens to be true ).

I'm off tomorrow so I plan on getting up and getting on the treadmill before breakfast. Tony and I are going to try to see "Catch Me if You Can" and I will be taking a bad of Smart Pop (2 points) and a bottle of water with me. That's it - I won't be 10 pounds lighter this coming weekend but I will stop messing around.

Have a good night - see you in the morning,
Judy

163.6/156/135 (last week's numbers) and 14/240 workouts

Good Morning!

Carla - Hope things have warmed up for you a little this weekend. We're into fog and drizzle this week. Blech! Have your side effects from your med subsided yet? If not, you could try taking them at bedtime.

Tahoe - I've landed on my pride at the gym more than once!

Sabrina - your dinner out sounds like it was to die for. Can't find any of those treats up here - the ones I can get aren't worth buying.

Judy - sorry you had such a rough weekend. Me too. Friday night I slipped, Saturday wasn't pretty, and Sunday I just crashed and burned. I had one of those I'lleatanythingthatisn'tnailedtothefloor days yesterday and then went to bed early in despair

After a horrific weekend, I'm feeling back in control again...lacking last week's enthusiasm but I'm determined to put a good day behind me by this evening. Have to go get my eyes checked this morning - I need a new Rx for my contacts/glasses. Going to the gym this afternoon, and have to get the dogs out too.

Here's to a good day for all.

Karen

Hi all -

Sabrina - You're right about 1/2 cup of ice cream just being a taste. I hope you enjoyed your tasting lunch at the potential caterer.

Judy - Well, it sounds like you, Karen and I all had the same weekend. Sounds like you're well stocked for the coming week. You're right, the program does work if we work the program. Here's to a great week for all of us.

Karen - It's still cold here - the highest it's been has been in the 20s. I'm tolerating the Toprol much better, thank you. I was a little woozy on Saturday but was fine yesterday and so far today. It's hard to muster that enthusiasm after a couple of bad days, isn't it.

Well, as I mentioned, the weekend wasn't pretty. Friday I didn't feel like cooking, so I had John pick up Mexican food on the way home. Saturday wasn't much better. I had a big old muffin at Panera Bread while Ana was in Spanish class and then I picked up chicken strips and potato wedges at the grocery store deli for dinner. Yesterday was better, but not great. I'm back on track today - kicking and screaming, but back on track. No exercise at all this weekend either. Saturday my knee was still a bit stiff and then Saturday night I woke up a few times because it was really hurting me. It hurt quite a bit yesterday too. It's still a bit sore today, but tomorrow I should be back on the bike. I'm not looking forward to weigh-in on Wednesday, but next week I swear I'm going to have a good weigh-in.

Have a great OP day.

Carla

Hi gals,

Well, I have a whopping 1 pound loss to report. At least I
broke my plateau, but at this rate it is going to take FOREVER to get below the 150 mark--my first major milestone.

The lunch at the caterer was great -- I had just tastes of everything -- chicken satay with peanut sauce, spanakopita,
salmon with citrus salsa, antipasto, fruits, cheeses, tortas, mmmmm. We decided to go with this guy -- he's really good and
willing to go the extra mile -- so that's one more item to cross off
my list!

Although I have been very good about exercising (5 times at the gym last week!) I haven't been so great about tracking my food.
While I haven't been pigging out, I haven't been counting POINTS/calories either. So, it's back to strict portion control and
counting again, maybe I'm consuming some "hidden" calories and
that is why my loss is slow.

Carla - Sorry to hear about your knee problems. Are you recuperating from knee surgery? I ask only because I've had
two of them myself (1994) and know how difficult it is. I still
get twinges of pain from time to time.

Karen and Judy: Sounds like you both had tough weekends.
It happens. But I like the way you are dusting yourselves off and getting back on program immediately. After all, these mis-steps only turn into falls if we let them ... get yourself back on the bicycle, and all that.

Well, tonight we are having grilled teriyaki chicken (yes, we use our barbeque all year long), salad, and fresh pineapple. Then off
to the gym for weights and cardio.

Have a good one and I'll check in later.

Sabrina

165.5/161.5/135???

Sabrina - a one pound loss amidst all that exercise is awesome! You're building muscle with all your working out, and as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat, and thankfully takes up less space too. So celebrate that loss - you're doing great! Nice that you settled on the caterer...one thing to cross off your mile long list. We barbecue year round too.

Carla - how nice of you to join us in our weekend straying! And kicking & screaming or not, welcome back on track too. I was down and out about my completely blown weekend, my trainer cheered me right back up...he said if you ate terribly all week and well only on the weekend, would you get much benefit from it? Probably not. If you turn that around, and eat well all week and blow it on the weekend, would it do much harm? Probably not.

I've had a pretty good day so far, doing pork tenderloin with roasted apples for dinner. Exercised at the gym, jogged a bit with the dogs, and vacuumed the whole house (3500 sq ft), so I'd say I've earned my dinner. I ordered my new glasses today, and have to lay off my contacts for a few weeks due to a small corneal abrasion. They have the clip on sunglasses

Hope you're all doing well...

Karen

Karen, Carla and Judy, I have to say I am glad to see I was not alone on the bad weekend (misery loves company).

I hadn't done to well on the points most of the last week and then last night we had some friends over for a game night. Lots of wine was consumed ( and I seemed to have had more than my fair share), popcorn and finally cream puffs. Needless to say I didn't weigh in today. I can't even pretend today was good, whenever I drink I seem to need McDonald's Well tomorrow is a new day. A nice fresh page in my journal

Sabrina, I am extemely impressed. How you only had small tastes of those tasty sounding things. I could never have done it. Karen is right you are adding muscle

Carla I'm glad you are feeling better with the new meds. Hopefully your body is adjusting and you can get back to your lod pedalling machine.

Take care and hopefully everyone got to take advantage of the holiday.

Good Morning!

Tahoe - Wine happens! At Christmastime I was trying to figure out the calories/points in a glass of wine, and my SIL pointed out I should be calculating for the whole bottle. Take advantage of that nice fresh journal page and record everything.

I'm happy to say that I held it together all day yesterday! My trainer's little pep talk helped a lot, and I've quit beating myself up for the weekend. I had a good workout at the gym, and did a few minutes of jogging while I was out with the dogs. I'm off work till next Monday, I'm planning a very self-indulgent week.

Have a great day, everyone!

Karen

Hi all,

Sabrina - Sounds like you tasted some fantastic food. How nice that you can cross finding a caterer off your to-do list. No, I've never had knee surgery - just bad knees. But this last episode is likely to finally send me to an orthopedist, so who knows what's in store.

Karen - I'm glad your trainer's pep talk helped you. I'll have to keep it in mind next time I'm berating myself for a slip. Your dinner sounds great - we had a similarly themed dinner. I made breaded baked pork chops and served applesauce with it. I'd say vacuuming your house sincerely earns you the right to your pork roast. I was lol at figuring out the points for a bottle of wine. That would work for me. I actually someone posted on the ww message boards that they were trying to do the same thing and the consensus was 13 points for the bottle.

Tahoemom - Wine, popcorn, and cream puffs sounds yummy to me. Sorry to hear you had a rough day. Just hop back on the wagon with us. Take our hands and we'll pull you back up.

I managed to stay OP yesterday and save 4 points. Just as one bad eating day can breed another, one good OP day breeds another, so I'm on track for today. No exercise yet, though. My knee is better, but it's still achy, so I'm still going to take it easy. I'm feeling really tired today (I think a cold might be coming on), so I think I'll take a nice, long nap later. Yum.

Talk to you all later.

Carla

Not much time to respond to everyone individually - work is nuts today. Sabrina - great news on the loss! Karen - I LOVE what you trainer said - it cheered me up too! Tahoemom - hmmm, having a couple of glasses of wine over the weekend didn't help me either. Carla - sorry to hear you had a weekend like I did!

I had a pretty good day yesterday - went over max a little bit on food (1.5) but had run on the treadmill enough to earn me 4 activity points - given that I'm still mired in PMS, I'll call yesterday a pretty good day. As I said, work is nuts. Thankfully I'll have a nice break this evening. A friend from DC is up on business and Tony and I are meeting her for dinner. The main think I have to watch is how many "brewskies" I have - we are going very casual for dinner - pizza probably (1 slice only for me) but I've only had 6 point total so far today (including lunch) so I think I'll be OK. Tony is driving in which will make getting home a whole lot nicer. No exercise today - I hope to do something tomorrow even if it's just a little yoga.

Have a great one,
Judy

I have had a hectic week trying to prepare taxes YUCK so I haven't had anytime to get on the computer to see how everyone is doing.

Karen-I loved the advise of the trainer.

I was not good last weekend either and I am sure with our schedule this weekend isn't going to be any better. Have to spend a day at the college my DD is attending for meetings etc. Then DH and I are going to go out on the town for awhile when we get back.

Thanks for the advise about not eating so much ff food. I have been reaching the min. of my points atleast everyday. Sometimes the max.

The weather here is terrible only 3 degrees this morning so my DD bought us yet another set of videos . Walk off the Pounds for the abs...... Yeah right not only the abs I never knew I had musles in some of the places that are sore on this body. we do the 2 mile walk everyday awhile after dinner then I have so much energy I clean my house. My DH & DS even joined us last night
That made it quit interesting.

Since my last post I have had a loss of 2 lbs. for a total of 7.

I got a gift cert. for WW meetings and will start them feb 6.

Gotta run get ready for work.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Teresa

Good Morning from the rainy west coast!

Theresa - congratulations on your 2 lb. loss! And way to go on getting in all the exercise. That's great that the family are joining you!

Judy - too bad you're so frantic at work; but at least it makes the day go quickly. Good for you for treadmilling, I ought to get on mine for a while this morning. Hope the PMS monster is being kept at bay!

Carla - Hope your cold doesn't amount to anything. How's the knee today? Those banked 4 points will come in handy!

Reporting a .5 lb loss this morning. My sneak peak yesterday was to die for, but that's where the scale was this morning. After two weeks of big losses, I wasn't expecting anything spectacular. Spent an hour yesterday walking the dogs, today is leg day at the gym. I like upper body work so much more! Last night we tried our new batch of Merlot that we made in the summer. Not bad for $2 a bottle!

Hope you're all having a good day, if the weather doesn't improve, I'll be back later!

Karen

Hi all.

Judy - Sorry to hear it's so hectic at work, but like Karen said, it makes the day go by quickly. I hope you enjoyed your dinner out last night. Good for you for saving points for it.

Theresa - Congrats on a great loss. I have the WATP two mile walk video as well. I remember it giving me quite a workout. When my knee feels better, I plan on popping it in the VCR again.

Karen - Congrats on your loss. That to-die-for sneek peak probably bodes well for next week's weign-in. I've avoided the cold so far. My knee is a bit better, but still hurts. I have to get stuff done around the house and I'm sick of being a slug, so I do a bit and then get off of it. Glad to hear your Merlot turned out.

I'm reporting a .8 pound loss. Considering my weekend, I'm ecstatic with this! I hate that I'm losing ground with exercising, but plan on pulling out my weights today so I can get an upper body workout in at least. It's very cold here - single digits and it's supposed to dip below 0 tonight. But at least it's sunny.

Talk to you all later.

Carla

Hi,
I am new to this group, and glad I found you! I look forward to getting to know you. I need to take off my holiday weight and post-summer gain. Also, we adopted a new daughter this Fall and while it's been great, a new child can also bring a little stress, so I have indulged a bit more than I should have. We now have 4 kids - the oldest is 5 - so we have been very busy. Luckily I have found a great babysitter and am able to make it to the gym, which is helpful.

Weighed in today = 161.5. My goal is 150. Even though it's not that much weight to lose, it is very difficult to lose, which is why I am glad I joined this group. I laughed when I read about the post about a bottle of wine...I do love my wine at night and I need to try to curtail that for a while.
All the best,
Denise

Welcome Denise! Glad you found us...we'll do all we can to help you lose those few pounds. Sounds like you live in a very busy house!

Carla - congrats on your loss! Makes it even better that it came after your (our) weekend slippage! Yay for you for getting out the weights!

Just came back from getting my hair cut - shortest I've ever had it. Feeling a little lightheaded ...

Karen