Starting the topic - be right back

Congratulations on the maintain (especially since it's like a loss from the weekend!) I hope you had a wonderful anniversary dinner and Happy Belated Anniversary!

I have to report a 1.4 pound gain for last week but I guess the post-vacation weigh in could have been a lot worse. I still don't have TOM so the PMS cravings continue. However, I did manage to pull off one totally OP day - Saturday I exercised, was within range, and got in all my water, veggies and milks. I was doing very well yesterday too but blew my points range in the late evening.

Well, I have two more weeks before I'm going, with my sister, to a camp reunion - yup, it's a reunion of lots of people who used to go to the same camp 30 or so years ago. It's being held at a resort in the Catskill Mtns so even if the reunion part of it is a bust (and it could be that or it could be a blast), it will be a weekend away at a place where there is a lot to do (fitness spoa, horseback riding, swimming, hiking, etc). I had hoped to be at a lower weight by then than I am now so the next two weeks are going to be OP all the way - I'm comitted to it. I plan on using this great, fun, tool my leader gave out on Saturday. It's called Plat-o - it's like bingo but each square that you try to cross off, is something that will help you get off a plateau. I'll try to construct a copy of it and can send it to anyone who's interested. The squares have things in them like: take your points finder shopping with you, string together 3 days where you are in your points range, etc.

Anyway, Happy Monday (8 days to go, not including my last day)
Judy

163.6/153.6/135 and 147/240 workouts

Hi all.

Anne - Congrats on the maintain and especially on getting those 3 pounds off. Belated Happy Anniversary wishes. I hope you enjoyed your dinner. You're right not to fret about those special meals that only come along once a year.

Judy - Sorry to hear about the gain, but for post-vacation, that's not bad. Congrats on meeting the weekend challenge - that's terrific! The camp reunion sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and you're right, if it's not, at least you're in a great place for the weekend. I know you'll be dedicated over these next two weeks and will have a few less pounds of you to show for it. This week and next and that's it, huh? I can see your ear-to-ear grin from here. Just wait until next week - you'll be positively giddy!

I failed to meet the weekend challenge, although yesterday really wasn't that bad. We ended up picking up Chinese food on the way to the music park on Saturday. Not a great idea. Yesterday was just a tough day, although not that bad food-wise. My major appliances had an uprising this weekend. The dryer, which has just been limping along and needing a break in between each load, finally gave it up. After 50 some years, who could blame it. Then yesterday the oven stopped working. I think it has something to do with the manual/automatic cook controls. Thank goodness the burners still work, so I still have plenty I can cook. I just hate messing with this stuff. Ah well, at least the laundermat, which I'll be spending lot's of time at over the next few days drying my clothes - because after all luandry doesn't just stop because it's inconvenient to do it - doesn't have a snack machine.

Have a great day all.

Carla

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I didn't make it here during the last part of last week - I was going nuts at work trying to get all done that needed doing before I started my vacation. I finally got finished at work at 7 pm Friday night, and am now officially for for three weeks.

Anne - congratulations on your anniversary and on the maintain. Hope you had a great dinner. Thanks for the lowdown on the SBD. Combining it with WW points sounds like a great idea.

Judy - that's tough about the gain, but considering you were on vacation the week before, and PMS is raging, I'd say you're doing okay. Your camp reunion sounds like it'll be a blast - how long will you be there?? And not long now till you're done at work. It's gone pretty quickly. I'll see if they do the Plat-o thing at my meeting tomorrow - if not, I'd love a copy.

Carla - sounds like an expensive weekend appliance-wise! Ouch. At least you did okay in the food department. I wish I'd gotten to the boards on Friday to get in on the weekend challenge - I could've used some incentive to keep me on track.

It's been a rough few days - not that I've been struggling; I just haven't even been trying to stay OP. I can't say I've really pigged out in a big way or anything, but I haven't counted or considedered points, journalled or kept up on water for about 4 or 5 days. For Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll stay strictly OP and as we go away on Thursday, after that I'll have to do the best I can to stay OP as we'll be doing lots of eating out.

Lots of chores and errands to get done in the next couple of days, so I shouldn't have any difficulty with snacking between meals.

Have a great day...

Carla - Sorry to hear about your appliance woes! When we bought our house, we had the original dryer which lasted about a year (but took 3 hours to dry towels!). When we finally went to replace it, I couldn't believe all the buttons, knobs and features dryers have (growing up in an apartment, I'd always used commercial models). Our old one said "Automatic dryer" across the front and one button! Sorry to hear about the Chinese food but I'm glad things have gotten better food wise.

Karen - Happy 3 week vacation! Sorry to hear that you'd had a rough few days. I can't say I've been stellar but the number on the scale sort of jolted me (as well as the prospect of seeing people I haven't seen in 30 years). I'm with you on staying strictly OP today (Tues) as well as tomorrow and Thursday. One of my Plat-O squares is to be within my points range for 3 days straight. I used exercise points last night (which is legal) but I want to go with just the food points - I want a good loss on Saturday! I think the Plat-O things is something my leader just made up - send me your email address (mine is [email protected]) and I'll send it. We'll be at the camp reunion on Friday night, Saturday and will leave Sunday after we tour the old camp. There is a fitness center and they say they have yoga classes so I'm hoping that will help me stay OP.

I had a so-so day yesterday. Tony and I had a tiff which of course isn't helped by my eating but I did it anyway. I ate some activity points so technically I was OP but I want to stick to just eating food points for the next few days. Still no TOM and raging PMS (I was craving spicy stuff yesterday). I'm in the office today (I had a dentist appt this morning) so I don't know if I'll get any exercise in today. No high point meals in the plan for today so if I can watch myself this evening I should come up with a fairly low point day.

Have a great one!
Judy

Hi all.

Karen - Happy vacation! The pre-vacation rush at work is the pits, but at least you get to relax after it, ar at least you will once you get your chores and errands done. That ambivalent attitude about the program is what I've been fighting. I track points in my mind, but am hard pressed to do the journal, etc. I know that if I want to stop treading water, I have got to start being better about that.

Judy - My dryer was taking forever to dry things to. I'm very pleased to be getting a new one. Our new one doesn't have all the cycles and heat settings that the more expensive models do, but I doubt I'd use them all anyway. Sorry to hear that you're still in the throes of PMS. It's starting to get it's grip on me now. I'm craving chocolate so bad, I think I'd hurt someone to get a candy bar. Fortunately, I have nothing at all chocolate in the house. The salty/crunchy cravings are starting too. Specially, I'm yearning for some potato chips in a major way. I'm trying very hard to avoid going to the grocery store, because I'm afraid of what I might come home with.

Good news on the appliance front - the oven started working again. I guess the moon and the stars, or at least the start and stop buttons, have to be aligned just right. But at any rate I tried turning it on last night just to see, and it worked. Yesterday was good food-wise too. I made Mrs T,'s pierogis for dinner - always a low-point, filling treat. Tonight will either be mac and cheese or the chicken soup that John made the other night.

Have a great day everyone.

Carla

Carla - that's good news about the oven. I haven't tried Mrs T,'s pierogis (although my grandmother used to make yummy ones). How many points are they? We didn't get the most expensive model dryer, believe me, but we went from only one button to a copy of knobs - it was like going from a horse and buggy to an SUV! I think you are right about the journalling - I think it really is one of the foundations on which success on the program is built.

I had an OK day yesterday. I did end up eating to my max but didn't go over. I have gotten into a bad habit of eating while I'm reading right before I go to bed. I have to figure out a way to stop that. Still no TOM although I think there are rumblings. I am still pretty PMS'y - I satisfied my salty cravings last night with picketls - needless to say, my rings are tight today and my sneak peek was atrocious but it's better than other salty snacks I could have had. Tomorrow shouldn't be much better since we are having ff hotdogs tonight but it's a nice low point dinner and I still have a few days to wash the sodium out of my system.

I'm taking the afternoon off (my last sick day) and haven't decided what I'm going to do. I really need to do some straightening up - I have a lot of clutter and need to make some room for school stuff, etc. It's pretty humid out and will probably rain again this afternoon (it's been such a rainy summer!) so I don't know if we'll bother going to the pool - I'd like to get some tennis in but it might be too hot. I may just take a nice loing walk on my treadmill!

Have a great one!
Judy

Good Morning...

Yesterday slipped away without me getting here again!

Carla - who needs a top of the line dryer anyway??? Real women chuck stuff in there, turn it on without thought to temperature etc, and haul the stuff out when it's dry - and if it gets too wrinkled from sitting in the dryer for a couple of days, they turn the darned thing back on for a few minutes. My dryer has lots of different cycles, and I've never even considered figuring them out. That's great that the oven is working again. I love perogies too, but I also like sour cream, bacon and fried mushrooms with them, which takes them from being point friendly to point nightmare for me.

Judy - I'm in the same hormonal boat as you. My cycle was really regular for months after all the hormones & fertility drugs, but its gone out of whack again, so I'm just waiting...and waiting. The munchies have been killing me! Good for you for taking the afternoon off. How excited you must be about launching your new career!

I did well till late afternoon yesterday, then got the major munchies. Mike and I went out for burger & fries last night. Over points big time. Darn. Won't be around after today as we're heading out first thing tommorow. I have laundry, packing, errands, banking etc. etc. etc. to do today, so better get at it. I'll miss you guys so much, and talk to you next Thursday.

Hi all.

Judy - Mrs. T's potato and onion pierogis are one point per. I sautee up some onions in either a little olive oil or chicken broth and top them with that and maybe a bit of light or ff sour cream. Yum. Horse and buggy to SUV is a good analogy for trading in the antique dryer for the new one. Sorry to hear you're still waiting for TOM and experiencing PMS. Good for you for sticking to pickles for your salt cravings. As for reading and eating - that's a long standing habit of mine and it always feels like if I'm reading I should be eating. I try to curb it with tea or coffee. Since you're reading right before bed, how about if you brush your teeth, floss etc. right before reading? Who wants to do all that again when you're done reading and ready to go to sleep?

Karen - Sounds like you do laundry like I do. One nice feature of the new dryer, which Consumer Reports recommended spending extra money on, is the moisture sensor. The dryer can detect if the clothes are dry before the cycle is over and turns itself off. The model with the moisture sensor cost less than $40.00 more than the model without, and for that I got two more heat settlings and four more cycles. Such a deal. A burger and fries happened to me last Friday. Don't fret it, with all the running around you'll be doing today, you'll work it off. Have a terrific vacation. Enjoy the lake, the fruit, and the relaxation. We'll miss you.

I am happy to report a one pound loss today. It's not all of the gain from last week, but the scale at least went in the right direction. I hauled out the journal today and am heading in the right direction for a good OP day today. Just a couple of challenges this week. I asked John to grill steaks - filets to be exact - for my birthday on Friday. I'll enjoy mine with a nice baked potato and salad. And I should be able to work in the points just fine, or at least a lot better than the BBQ place I was thinking off. I'll be celebrating again on Saturday with my mom and cake will be involved, but I'll just take it easy the rest of the weekend. I'm going to work hard to see another loss next week.

Have a great day.

Carla

Karen - One of the squares on the Plat-O is if you mess up, forgive yourself and get back OP - sounds like that applies to the burger and fries. LOL about real women and dryers! Yes, it is exciting about changing careers but right now everything seems, well, weird! Boring 'cause I've pretty much turned into a non-entity at work and a little sad (for some colleagues, not the work) and well, just weird from the size of the change. It's good though. I know I'm doing the right thing for me. Sorry to hear you're in hormonal outer space like me - it su**s, doesn't it? I know there's a ton of stuff to do today but it will all get done. Have a wonderful, fun and relaxing vacation. We'll miss you tons!

Carla - congratulations on the pound gone - and forever too! It might now be all of what you gained last week, but hey, it's in the right direction! Way to go on getting that journal out!!!!! I *know* that will help. Double way to go for requesting a delicious but point friendly birthday dinner - much better than the BBQ place for sure! Is this birthday #44? (I hope I calculated right and you don't mind the number being "out" there - I don't - I'm sort of proud that I'm 46 and doing good things for my health). Mmm, those Mrs. T's at only one point each sound great. I'm going to check them out at the supermarket this week. Good strategy for the cake this weekend. I like your idea about the reading and eating. I'll try that - I also thought of something I could try tonight ('cause while I was still under max points last night I did the same reading & snacking before bed) and that's to take the diet chocolate soda I bought and add a little milk to eat - sort of an OP version of a good ol' NY egg cream.

Well, TOM *finally* came last night. Predictably, between ff hotdogs last night and TOM my sneak peek is absolutely awful, 2.5 pounds over last week's weigh in. As I said above, I did eat right before bed although I did eat under my max points. I'm planning a low point day, already did a good 50 minute aerobic & weights workout, and plan on not having anything other than maybe that soda while reading right before bed. This weekend shouldn't be too bad - we're taking my parents up to my cousin's in Connecticut. She's on WW and has been having a rough couple of days and is looking to me for "inspiration". While we are bringing NY bagels for brunch (a must whenever we go to CT), our dinner will be pretty good point-wise. We don't have plans on Sunday so that should be an easy day.

Have a great one!
Judy

Hi all.

Judy - Yep, you calculated right and no I don't mind the number being out there. I own each one of those years proudly. I don't see the point to frettying about age. You can't stop the process and why waste precious time getting wigged out about getting older when you could be enjoying your life? Glad to hear that TOM finally came for you. Don't fret the 2.5 pounds, just keep guzzling the water and they'll be gone by Saturday. Good idea for the egg cream - should be staisfying and a great way to get in some milk too! I know what you mean about it being weird at work. I spent three months being a lame duck and it wasn't easy. I had to show up every day but felt as if I didn't belong anymore. Very strange. And hey, when you're indentity has been partly tied to your work for so many years, as our's has, it's strange to not have that anymore. But soon instead of being Judy the V.P., you'll be Judy the most fantastic educator. Far better, in my book.

I had a good day yesterday. Made the low-fat mac and cheese - yum. I just have a bit of cabin fever as I've been stuck in the house yesterday and today waiting for different concrete firms to come give me estimates on some repair work we need. It's been hard enough getting people to return my calls, but one of the guys I was able to reach completely blew me off yesterday. I waited all day for him to come and nothing. I hope the guy comes today. Problem is, I need to get the work done and I want other estimates besides the one we got, but I'm running out of places to call. And I don't want to call these guys back because if they can't keep an appointment for an estimate, how can I trust them to do the work. Being a homeowner just bites sometimes.

Have a great day.

Carla

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARLA!!!!!!!!

I hope today is the happiest birthday ever! I know you're going to have a yummy dinner tonight (but one the coutable!) I hope it's a special day (and weekend for you)! Sorry to hear about the hassle with the concrete companies. Yup, sometimes being a homeowner bites! Thanks for your kind words - you know, you're right. For 19 years my identity has been tied up with being at the bank and now that's changing. I told Tony what you said and he said it was the same for him when he took the retirement package. Yup, I'm planning on being a great educator!

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I had that diet chocolate soda a couple of times in the evening and it helped me from grabbing other snacks. I did end up with a TB of PB before bed but I didn't sit there and snack the whole time I ate. Ah well, I stayed within points and I'm going to try again tonight to have absolutely nothing. The thing is, when I went for the PB, it wasn't mindless snacking - I was really feeling hungry. Still, I remember the Oprah show where she was saying one of the biggest things you can do to lost weight is to *not* give in to that hungry feeling right before bed - that that is where the losing is. So, another try tonight.

Have a great weekend and Carla, Happy, Happy Birthday!

Judy - Thank you for your birthday wishes! I'm certainly looking forward to that steak tonight. I don't have red meat all that often, but I have such a taste for a steak. Of course I'll have to enjoy it with a nice red wine! Good job on staying within points yesterday. Hey, if you're really hungry, there's no sin in grabbing a snack and PB was certainly a wise choice. I often remember that Oprah show too and have to remember to not snack at night. Unfortunately, I ahd the sweet and salty cravings yesterday, especially salty, and my evening included some potato chips. Ah well, I still didn't do too badly all in all.

Enjoy your weekend knowing it's the last time you'll have to wake up on Monday morning going to a job you can't stand. (Side benefit of moving on from a bad work situation: Sunday evenings are much nicer.)

Carla