Hi, Turtles,

Here's the fable that started it all:

The Hare and the Tortoise

A hare met a tortoise one day and made fun of him for the slow and clumsy way in which he walked.

The tortoise laughed and said, "I will run a race with you any time that you choose."

"Very well," replied the hare, "we will start at once."

The tortoise immediately set off in his slow and steady way without waiting a moment or looking back. The hare, on the other hand, treated the matter as a joke and decided to take a little nap before starting, for she thought that it would be an easy matter to overtake her rival.

The tortoise plodded on, and meanwhile the hare overslept herself, with the result that she arrived at the winning-post only to see that the tortoise had got in before her.

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

This comes from a book handed down from my grandmother to my mother to me. The book is so old it doesn't have a copyright date or an author/editor's credit.

That fable has been the motivation for us turtles for several years. Someone on the ancient WW forum mentioned the fable and I discovered it was very motivational for me. I talked about it in posts and other people said that the tortoise philosophy worked for them, too. So, I started a thread for us turtle types.

We've been reflecting on what the turtle philosophy means as we start our second hundred posts. The turtle philosophy was a difficult one for people to accept. People want the weight off--NOW!! But reality is that it took time to put it on and it will take time to take it off. People want it to be easy to take off the weight. But reality is that it's not easy. You can have a program that's easy to follow, but following it steadily--that's hard. People don't want to exercise much, if at all. But reality is that our bodies were designed to move. So, we're setting realistic goals that take the weight off at a healthy pace. We're setting goals that will keep us moving steadily toward the healthy weight we want to be. And we're just plain moving. We're setting realistic exercise goals that will move our bodies the way they were meant to be moved.

We've also noticed that our turtle philosophy has affected the rest of our lives. I've started writing fiction again. I realize that I can finish a novel, or two, or ten. All I have to do is to set realistic daily goals, work steadily toward achieving them, and they will build up into finished books. Turtle Power at work in my everyday life.

Anyone who wants to join us in steadily moving toward all of our goals is welcome. I've met some wonderful people on this thread. I hope to meet many more. I know the battle with our weight is a difficult one. Having such supportive people come and post regularly keeps it from getting overwhelming. I hope to see many more people join us as we move forward on our journey.

Let's Get Moving!!

Hi, Turtles,

It's so great to hear from you, Choosewell. I hope your husband and teammates do well on their senior projects. You'll get past this. Just keep some healthier food around and eat mainly that. Use some flex points to allow yourself a little of their food, if you want some. Good luck.

I'm glad you found a quiet place to do some writing. Zette's class has given me a boost. She's one of the ultimate planners and planning is not my strong suit. I'm usually a sit down and write person. So, I'm learning a lot. I'll probably end up being somewhere in-between "plan every detail" and "sit down with an idea and see where it goes". Of course, the biggest boost is that I love all of the projects I'm working on. Being passionate about the stories is always motivating.

Bandit-your commitment to Curves is wonderful. Have you lost inches since you started going? Your weight loss is going great.

Judy, I'm glad your retirement days are busy. I think that's one of the hardest times in some people's lives. I think it's hilarious that you're too busy to make a list of what you'd like to do. But I also think this is a good time to reflect on what you wish you were doing and do some of it. That can help your weight loss, BTW. Doing a few things that you want to do can be a real stress reliever and then you don't tend to overeat as much. Good luck with your weighin.

It doesn't look like I'm going to conquer that 10% yet. I think I had better forget about that--it's just numbers anyway--and go back to eating properly, exercising a lot, and taking the numbers as they come!

Great attitude, Judy. I think I'm saving that one in my file of great quotes. Thanks for posting it. The numbers get to all of us at times. You've given us a great perspective on it.

Lauren, way to go on your workout. You'll get back into the 180s. I'm sure you will. Your determination and persistence has gotten you through tough weight-loss walls before. It will this time, too.

I'm realizing that recommitting is one of the best tools we have. We think we decide to lose weight, choose the WW program, and away we go. But we don't. We decide whether or not we want to lose weight and follow the WW program every time we eat--or don't eat--something; exercise--or don't exercise--that day; write it down--or don't write it down. It's a different way of looking at the process.

That's what I need to do. I'm not doing well with Weight Watchers. I need to recommit to my baby steps. TOM is done and I'm much better able to cope. So, I'm recommitting, first to exercise. I miss my tapes, but it's hard to do them since someone is using the TV most of the time. So, I'm kicking them off when they're just channel surfing because they're bored. They can read a book for an hour while I work out.

I hope you're all moving, too.

Good morning turtles:

Judy - I think bf just likes to shop. Always buying something. I told him that carrot cake is not a veggie and he only needs one dessert on the go at one time. I was also thinking maybe I should gather up all the unopened treats and give them back to him for Valentines :-)

Lin - The 1st month at Curves I was down 9" overall but up the 2nd month (Christmas
indulgences) Also before 2nd weigh & measure they got a new scale and adjusted our records by 6#. I knew when we joined their scales were off since I was weighed at ww same day. So on my curves records it showed a gain, but really was a scale adjustment. Now both places are the same.
Good for you taking control of the TV & your weight loss journey.

Hope everyone else is doing well. Keep up the good work.

Hi Turtles,
Just have a minute, but thought you'd like to know that I was down a tiny bit this official WI. I was down .6# to continue me in virgin WW territory. I've lost 4.6# since January 6th. I was hoping to lose more quickly with my great attitude and all, but sometimes I have to come to grips with the turtle way and be accepting. As long as I don't fool myself by "forgetting" to count something or exercising 3 x a week when I do much better when it's 5 times a week.

Lin,
Good for you for sending the browsers to literature. You need your tapes for many reasons right now.

Bandit2,
I love your idea of your present to your dear boyfriend. Very funny. Glad you're putting so much thought and effort into your weight loss. And very smart to realize Curves scale was off and to not let it through you!

Gotta run! Everyone do well and have fun.
Love,
Judy
234/211.8/thinner onward and downnnnnnnnward

Hi, turtles.

GACK, I'm having a tough time right now. Eating has not been awful but also not great. I keep "forgetting" to journal. And we all know where *that* leads. Wouldn't you think after nearly 6 years I'd have learned THAT lesson at least??

Well. On the bright side, I am consistently exercising. Amazing how much better I feel when I do.

Tomorrow we go out for dinner, so I'll need to eat light earlier in the day. I always find that really tough, since it's early in the day that I want to eat the most! Maybe I should just stop having a social life. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Also, Lent is nearly upon us again. (Orthodox Easter falls on the same day as Western Easter this year, so our Lent seasons coincide.) I'm still trying to figure out how I'll observe that this year. Those of you who have been in this group for a while know that Orthodox traditionally fast from all animal products, including meat, poultry, fish, and dairy during the entire Lenten season. This Sunday is our last day to eat meat. Next Sunday we give up everything else.

My problem is that each time I give up a food, I want to eat it that much more. Which is why I do Weight Watchers, because it teaches me how to eat all foods in moderation. Also, I don't tend to do well when I eat a lot of carbs, which is mostly what one eats during Lent (even the proteins are carb-based). So each year I try to figure out how to observe Lent without gaining weight and without going hog-wild at the end of it. Right now I'm toying with the idea that I might not observe it with food at all but rather through giving up other things -- i.e., the Catholic approach. I don't think this will be smiled upon by our priest, however. Well, we'll see.

Anyway. Judy, WAY TO GO on losing that weight again!!!!!!!! You are doing so great and are really inspiring me. How wonderful!

Bandit, loved the part about carrot cake not being a vegetable. Someody should've told me that last week ...

Lin, thanks for the wise reminder about re-committing. It's heartening to remember that, because recommitting happens moment by moment. I don't have to wait until some magic time in the future; I can recommit now.

And now.

And now.

Have a great V-day, everyone. I'll be walking with WW buddies in the morning (in the mall), then going out to dinner and to a concert (Canadian Brass) with DH and another couple tomorrow night. Hope yours is lovely.

Onward and downward,

Lauren

Hi, Turtles,

You all are doing really well. You're making small changes, one bit at a time. And you're seeing results. Even if the weight loss is slow or you've plateaued for now, no one is gaining. That's wonderful.

I'm doing really horrible with food. I'm eating properly, but the portions are too large. I've been walking a lot this weekend, though. So that's my success.

I've been writing a lot more than I was last year at this time, but not as much as I'd planned. I've been spending a lot of time sending my husband's resumes out. I do that part of the job hunt because I'm more organized. My husband doesn't keep track of where he sent them, so he misses opportunities or sends them to the same companies. It's really odd. He can keep track of the details when he's on the job, but not when he's doing anything at home.

Anyway, things are going as well as they can right now. I hope you're all doing well and are moving.

Hi Turtles,
Lin,
Good for you for lending dh a helping hand with organization, etc. in his job search.
This has got to be emotionally challenging (to say the least) for both of you. Good luck. You're in my prayers.

Lauren,
As far as Lent and food goes, here's my take: As a Roman Catholic, most of my Fridays in childhood were spent meatless which meant that we ate fish. Only problem is some of my family liked fish and I hated it. So for me, it was distasteful while for others it was pleasant. Now, is the giving up of protein during lent supposed to be a
sacrifice or a matter of discipline or is there something here that I don't understand?
I love doing something that I ordinarily wouldn't do during lent to improve my relations with others and God. Since the protein abstinence hits you so very hard and you are admirable in your quest to have a more fit body, I hope that you'll be able to do something like this as well.

I've been extremely sociable and I'm afraid to get on the scale which is always a bad sign. We've gone out or had people in millions of times this week. Top that with dh's change in his work schedule because of President's Day and Valentine's Day and I'm not doing that hot. Have to get back to it all. Am going out tonight, but my Flexpoints are gone for the week. There's a lobster special, so I'll have that and watch all the points. I feel I'm too busy again and have to slow down a bit.

Love and good vibes to you all,
Judy
234/?/thinner

Well, we do seem to be going through one of our rockier periods foodwise. I know I certainly have.

Lin, good for you with the walking. Are there any other baby steps you could take right now? If not, I think the exercise is the key anyway and the most important thing in keeping healthy. I hope DH gets some responses soon.

Judy, socializing really is a monkey wrench, isn't it? DH was just saying that the other day. We both do much better when we just stay in our little routines.

As for Lent, the abstaining from all animal products was the earliest Christian practice (Catholics did it too, when both the Orthodox and Catholic churches were united during the first millennium.) Over time, Western Christian churches have lightened the fast -- limiting it to just eating fish on Fridays, for example, or in the case of many Protestant churches, not observing it at all. The Orthodox church still does everything the way it was done more than 1000 years ago. (Lightbulb joke: Q: How many Orthodox does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: "Change?" What is this, "change"?)

As to why animal products in particular were singled out, I believe it was because they were considered luxury foods. For example, shellfish were allowed, because the early Christians considered them to be a form of insect.

I'd like to see our fasting standards change, but I also see the wisdom of the ages here. So ... right now I'm thinking I'll keep eating eggbeaters and also add in protein drinks of various kinds. I really would like to observe the Lenten fast, and I do think it helps me grow in self discipline. (In fact, it was my first Lenten fast 6 years ago that finally inspired me to start losing weight.) So I'll observe it to the best of my ability this year, and we'll see what happens.

At this point, I just need to get my eating back under control, period.

Have I mentioned how hard it is to type when a cat's tail is draped over the keyboard???

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/194.5/down

Hi Turtles,
Lauren,
Thanks for such a great lenten synopsis. I didn't know any of that information. Eggbeaters are a great idea and the discipline from doing something right is extremely important. That's one of the reasons I was able to lose more than 60 pounds in less than 10 months on OA when I was 36 years old. Now I don't have the discipline to eat three meals a day and avoid all sugar products, etc.

I hopped on the scale this morning and was only up a pound. My dd is coming out Thursday this week. We knew once her busy work schedule resumed our official WW's WI's might be erratic. I'm trying to do the best for me and will WI tomorrow or Thursday. Today has been very good. Been still busy looking for everything that needs to be done to redo our bathroom. Tiles, fixtures, faucets, egads! Too many details and I want them all to coordinate and look good.

I'm wishing us all well. I'm going to kick my program in gear and do the right thing for myself. Need to make sure I journal on paper and all baby steps to put myself first.

Love,
Judy

Well, nothing like losing one's entire post ... I'll try again.

Judy, good for you identifying upcoming obstacles and for hitting the baby steps. I'm with you on those. It has been a week since I wrote down what I was eating, so today that's what I'll do. My plan for today:

-- Write down and count what I eat
-- Exercise at least 30 minutes.

I've already done my workout, so that's good. Love doing that first thing in the morning; that's the only way I seem to get it done.

I'll aim for being within my points by the end of the week.

PMS is bad this month, much worse than normal. No doubt that's part of my problem with wanting to eat all stationary objects right now.

For Valentine's Day, DH gave me yet another gift certificate to my favorite local clothing store. I keep putting off using them until I hit that 100-pound mark. I've acquired quite a stack of them over the years, and yesterday I realized they've reached $450 worth!!!! Yikes! I don't know whether to be motivated or appalled that I've been trying to hit that 100-pound mark for so long already. At this point I'm 20 pounds away.

I WILL get there. As Lin (and Henry Ford) says, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. So ... I think I can. Therefore I will.

Onward and downward,

Lauren

Hi ladies - hope everyone is doing well & following programme.

Didn't have a good w/i this week - up 1.8# (hopefully some of that is water retention from the drinks, etc of valentines). Did my curves thing on Mon but will miss tonight since bf & I are staying in Tor for 2 nights while he has a court case. So will be eating out again for 2 days. Seems to never end all the social stuff - brought bathing suit so hopefully will get some swimming in.

Feel tired today - think some of it is from yo-yoing. Down 2 weeks, up 1 week, etc, etc. Need to get some of this weight off before Las Vegas April 1st for sure.

Anyway, enough whining for now - have a good day everyone & talk to you when I get back.

Hi, Turtles,

Judiy, I'm glad the scale showed only one pound up. It's really hard when you have an active social life that includes food. I envy you, though. I'd much rather have an active social life to deal with than be stuck in this apartment, hardly ever seeing anyone or doing anything fun. Count your blessings and do the best you can.

LOL, Lauren. My cat and I have worked this out. She sits with her tail curled in the space next to the keyboard. Or I touch it and she moves it. But what she really likes to do is to walk across it. She posts the strangest things when I'm in FM chat.

Good luck with PMS and getting your food under control. I understand that problem. Writing it down helps, so that's a good plan. Exercise is the best thing. It makes us healthier, no matter what happens with our weight. Plus, it helps with PMS symptoms.

Good luck to you, too, Bandit. You can stop the yo-yo. Get some rest, too, if you've been pushing yourself.

I hope the rest of you will post soon. I'd like to know how you're all doing.

I realized that one reason we have such a hard time is that we don't usually just stop doing the program. We slip out of our habits one at a time. It's sort of reverse baby steps. We just slip out of each habit until we're not OP at all. It seems like the best thing to do is to catch it when we've slipped out of one habit. It's a lot easier to add back exercise or to start journaling again than to redo the whole program from scratch.

My husband has gained a few pounds and he's tired of just sitting around. So we're going to walk every day. It's nice to have some company.

So, are the you all moving, too?

Hi, turtles.

I got a note from Swan; she's doing well. Nothing to post right now, though.

Bandit, yo-yoing does get disheartening, doesn't it? I really liked Lin's analysis of the situation, falling off the wagon one baby step at a time. Sometimes I do that, just quit exercising for example, then stop writing it down ... although I find when I quit writing it down, I crumble fast in a big way. Are you writing down what you eat? Good for you, sticking with Curves. Hope BF's court case goes well.

Lin, I'm so glad you and DH are walking together. Good for him, catching a gain before it becomes a lot. About cats ... one of mine knows not to walk on the keyboard anymore, though she lets me know her displeasure by draping that big, fat tail across it. The other cat hasn't yet learned keyboard etiquette, but fortunately she has reached an agreement to give up my desk to the first cat. So she rarely comes up here.

I did write down my points yesterday, and that helped. I was under 30 points, anyway, which is better than I've been doing. Today I worked out for 45 minutes, just dancing and boogying, doing my own thing to a Shape CD that's full of old '80s hits. It was fun to hear the tunes again, and they made for a good workout.

TOM arrived today, too, which should help.

I have a ton to do today! My other client workload has heated up, so Thursdays are no longer my own. I miss the free time, but I appreciate the money. So I'm back to writing and interviewing on Thursdays. I do wish the subject material were more interesting (I write for the engineering school of a local university), but hey. That's how it goes. And I can usually find something interesting in each piece.

Well, best get at it. Have a good turtle day, all.

Absent turtles, please check in! We miss you.

Onward and downward,

Lauren

Hi Turtles,
It seems like it's been rocky for all of us right now. Choosewell, how are you and the frat boys doing?

Lauren,
Glad your TOM is here and you'll break the PMS syndrome. Yes, you've still got 20 pounds to go, but upmost is the 80 pound loss. Getting back to exercise is great.

Bandit2,
Seems like a bunch of us are yo-yo-ing right now. It's easy to do. Success leads to reward leads to eating leads to gain leads to buckling down and doing it right leads to...... You all get the picture. Curves seems to be helping a lot.

Lin,
You are so right about my being blessed with interesting things to do and a dh and friends with which to do it. I know how lucky I am. However, with that luck and opportunity comes constant challenges of overeating. My metabolism isn't great and I know what I have to do to lose an average of a pound a week. Sometimes I don't do it, and then I gain megabigtime. I am determined to get this weight off and I realized I blew a lot of February. However, I'm journaling and yesterday was a great day.
I plan on weighing in on Tuesday for an official WI.
I hope you enjoy your walks with dh. It is fun to have company during exercise. Makes the time go by pleasantly.

All goes well here. Am busy planning and cooking and freezing for Grandkids baptism.
It'll be here and I'm really working on a menu everyone will like. Hey, I better put myself on that list.

You all take care and let's keep on doing what we know we have to do!
Lin, that analogy of falling off the wagon is right on. Then depression, etc. sets in and the weight comes back. I know the simplest thing for me is to do the right thing every single day. That's when I'm happiest.

Love and good vibes to all,
Judy
L

Judy, I hear you about metabolism. WOW, can I gain weight qiuckly these days.

My (unofficial) week of Orthodox Mardi Gras (ahem) is finally over, and I really packed on the pounds. Still under 200, but not by much. I can't believe how quickly this happened AGAIN. And I even exercised regularly, too.

TOM is winding down, and a small amount of this might be water retention, but I'll bet most of it isn't.

It amazes me that I still do the old "diet" behavior -- in this case, overeating a bunch of stuff I know I won't be able to eat anymore for a while. A typical case of the "week before the diet" mentality. BLEAH.

Well, today is the first day of Lent, so I've reined myself in again. All one can do is start again from where one happens to be. So that's what I'm doing. I plan to observe Lent in the traditional Orthodox way (with the addition of egg whites and occasional yogurt), and I plan to track my points in the typical Weight Watcher's way!

I'm not going to set weight-loss goals during Lent, since that's not my primary purpose with my eating right now.

I hope to hear from everyone soon ...

Onward,

Lauren
274/198.5/same or down during Lent