Good Morning All

Just a very quick check in. Sorry I didn't make it back all week. I'll read everybody's posts tonight and hopefully be able to contribute as well. The weekend wasn't great - will tell you about the Valentine's day dinner from **** later.

Have a great one,
Karen

Grrrr, I just had most of a reply typed out and lost it!

Karen - sorry to hear you had a Valentine's Day dinner from ****. I join you in having a less than stellar weekend. Well, at least the weekend is behind us!

Jess - thanks for the ditefacts website. I'm going to check it out.

I could have done better and could have done worse this weekend. The yoga workout I did on Sat helped my hip so much that I managed to do a run/walk workout on the treadmill yesterday before we went to my mom's. Even so, between dinner out Sat and last night at my mom's I managed to eat 22 FP's - which doesn't leave me much for the week. Still, since I'm off from work (yay!) I can workout every day. I made a light chili this morning (it originates from an old WW recipe for veal chili) that we can have twice this week. I have a lot of veggies in the house for snacking. The only challenge I have is that on Wed we are going out to dinner with my fil at Red Lobster. If I can stay away from the biscuits, I'm usually OK there.

I was going to do some school work today but decided to give myself another day off and use the day to relax and catch up on some things like balancing checkbooks, etc. I haven't decided what workout to do today but I'd like to try to earn 2 AP's - I need them!

Have a great one!
Judy

Karen- sorry to hear about the not so great weekend!

Judy- way to go with your workout! Red Lobster chedder/garlic biscuits are it... I could live off of those and Olive Garden bread sticks and salad!

I should be at work today but my babysitter ended up with the flu yesterday so I had to take the day off... gee, shucks. A whole extra day home with my son... I guess I'll be able to handle it (note the sarcasm..) I wish I could stay home everyday but reality won't allow it! We're trying to get rid of an ear infection and a nasty cough... along with teething so he's been sleeping a lot this weeked... He slept until 1015 this morning, went back down about 1230 for a nap and he's still asleep.. it might be the scream fest he had last night... I really wish they could talk and tell you what they're screaming about... He ended up finally falling asleep with us and then was moved to his bed when daddy got up for work!

Oh well.. I hope everyone's Monday has been as good as a Monday can be!

Hi all.

I was here yesterday, but my PC froze while I was typing my reply. Sigh.

Karen - Good to hear from you. I'm sorry that your Valentine's Day dinner was from ****.

Judy - Well, you ate 22 FPs this weekend, but you did have challenges and you did count points and walked away with some FPs left. So I think you should be proud of yourself. I'm glad to hear that your yoga workout helped your hip. You'll be able to earn some APs to tide you over. Is your school on winter break this week? I'll be sending you positive vibes on Wednesday so that you stay away from the biscuits at Red Lobster. (One of the benefits of not my not liking seafood is that we never eat at Red Lobster, so I'm never confronted by those biscuits that I hear so much about.)

Jess - Sorry to hear that your little guy has been sick. I hope that he's feeling better and that you were able to rest some yesterday while he was napping. Teething on top of being sick - what a double whammy.

My weekend was ok. I used 11 FPs on Saturday (and could have remained at target if I didn't have the second glass of wine or the cookies, but it was Valentine's Day, after all). Sunday we ended up going to an Italian restaurant with my mom and between the sausage and peppers and the nibbles of chocolate and cookies, I obliterated the rest of my FPs. But boy was that sausage and peppers good! Yesterday I had a bad program day. All the chocolate and cookies and stuff that came into this house got to me. I either got a bit cocky or a bit freaked out or both because of my sneek peak on Sunday which showed a huge water weight loss. It's stablized now, which is good, although it was nice being in the 240s for a few hours. :-) Unfortunately, I haven't gotten in any workouts this week. I didn't plan one for yesterday because Ana was home and I frankly didn't want to get up early to get it in before she got up. What I didn't plan on was her being home again today. She's picked up this weird virus going around her school that's given her a cough and a fever, but the fever only really appears at night. I DID plan on getting up early today to ride the bike. But Ana woke up at 3:30 and never went back to sleep. I'm hoping that she conks out this afternoon (although she's going strong right now) so I can get a bike ride in. (If I don't collapse from exhaustion first).

Have a great day/evening.

Carla

Carla- Attack of the winter bugs! Isn't it wonderful.. My babysitter for yesterday ended up calling me Sunday night running a fever of 102.3 and throwing up... so I got a day with my son. Now my mom's sick with some crud... I just hope I don't get it! I hope you had a chance to get a workout in...

Hopefully I will get to do something today.. yesterday afternoon Jackson and I walked to the park and swang a little.. It was SOO cold but he had his hat and mittens and winter coat on and we only stayed a few minutes.. but at least we got outside and I walked a little... I keep praying it gets warmer... its supposed to be 47 today!! WooHoo!!

Hi all.

Jess - Yep, there are some nasty bugs circulating out there. Quite a few kids in Ana's school have had/do have what Ana's got. And now John is couging too. I think it's good to get kids outside for fresh air. I may try to get Ana out today for a bit.

I'm pleased to report a three pound loss today, especially since TOM started yesterday. It was nice not to have to deal with the bloat and water retention. No workout yesterday and unfortunately none today either. I kept Ana home again today. Her fever is gone, but the cough is still there, although it's better, but I wanted her to have one more day of recuperating. I did set my alarm to get up early, but had cramps and just bagged the exercise. Ah well, I knew there would be weeks like this and that's why I set my workout target where I did. Tomorrow I'll be back on the bike for sure.

Have a great day/evening.

Carla
279.6/254.4/145
22/208 workouts

Jess - I hope your fson is feeling better. Ear infections are just awful. It's amazing that kids can get through them. I had one as an adult and I thought I was going to climb the walls! I hope you got some rest.

Carla - Congratulations on the fabulous loss. You know it's even more since you have TOM. Hey, if you can't use FP's for sausage and peppers than what the heck are they for? Sorry to hear that you had a rough day earlier in the week. I've used a few more FP's on the chocolate that's been around the house. I'm sorry to hear that Ana is still sick but I'm very glad that her fever is gone. Yes, we all have weeks where we can barely exercise. I had one of those last week although I'm pleased to say that I'm back this week. Yes, we are on winter break at school although grad school is on and I have a ton of stuff to do - so it's been more like 1/2 vacation although I'm not complaining!

Sorry I haven't gotton on much. I spent the whole day Tues online doing research and my wrist was achy yesterday so I stayed off the computer. I still have a few FP's left - we decided postponing dinner with my fil until Saturday so I have a few more days before I battle the cheese biscuits! My exercise has been consistent this week - not killer workouts and usually not more than 1/2 hour but at least I'm back to being consistent and various body parts are doing OK instead of aching. My sneak peeks have been good and I'm going to do as much as I can to keep them that way. One thing that has really helped is this big bag of sugar snap peas I got at Costco. They are sweet and crunchy and yummy and have helped in the evenings. I'm off to the library now where I hope to gather everything I still need for this research paper. I have school tonight - I won't get home until about 9 - I may try to do a yoga workout - we'll see. Tomorrow I'm going to mom's to help her make hummantashen - I'd like to have a couple of FP's left for a couple of those.

Karen - how are you doing??

Have a great one!
Judy

Hi all,

Judy - I'm glad to hear you've been able to get your workouts in this week without anything hurting you! I'm sure it was a relief to be able to hang on to those flex points instead of using them yesterday. They're kind of like a security blanket, aren't they. And now you'll have a fresh supply on Saturday and won't feel badly about spending a few on a cheese biscuit! Ah research papers - I remember them well. I wish we would have had the internet back in the day when I was writing them. But hey, I was still typing my papers on a typewriter back then. Have fun making hummantashen. What are they?

I ate like garbage yesterday - too much nibbling on cookies and candy, but I did manage to keep my flex point consumption to 5, so that was good. I'm aiming for much better eating today. Ana is back in school and feeling better (although last night when she went to bed she was coughing so hard she threw up). And I got back on the bike. I really didn't want to (it's amazing how quickly our good new habits can disappear and be replaced by our old bad habits) but I did, for 30 minutes. And I'm glad I did. Next week I'll starting working to get back to 40 minutes sessions. Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend, but it should be ok. I'm thankful that I don't have any particular challenges this weekend, other than it's a weekend. Of course the big and constant challenge for the next several weeks: Easter candy. Halloween and Valentine's day candy - tempting yes, but it's all stuff you can get any time. But Easter... oh, the Robin's eggs, oh the candy coated marshmellow things.... you can only get them one time of year. Wish me strength. :-)

Have a great afternoon/evening.

Carla

Carla- Glad to hear Ana's feeling better... poor baby with the cough.. We finished up our antibiotic last night so hopefully we're over the ear infection. I agree with Easter candy... peanut butter chocolate eggs... Peeps... yum yum...

Judy- I love sugar snap peas.. the only problem I find is that when you get them at the grocery store they are so limp and non appetizing... I love them fresh though. ALl veggies taste better fresh.

Yesterday was a good day for me.. it was warm enough to go outside so me, my DH and son went for a walk. We walked 3 laps/30 minutes around a community park... so itwas about 2 miles. Jackson LOVES to be outside... so that makes me want to be. It's supposed to be near 65 today and tomorrow is supposed to be 70 so there's some good walking days! I've done good on my water today.. I've been slacking on that lately.. I'm almost done with my 3rd 34 oz bottle.. plus I had 2 diet cokes... so my fluid consumption is going well today.I didn't weigh in this past week due to being out of town so I'm trying to do extra good so it looks good Sunday morning when I finally do. I'm getting somewhat frustrated though.. I'm the kind of person who wants results immediately and so far I've had to be very patient. I've looked at the fast track program but I don't like being tied into certain things... but we'll se how Sunday goes and I'll decided for this next week. I hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

I need a new scale -- this one is jumping all over the place. It's a Helth-o-meter digital but not the one with half pounds on it. Anyone know of a really good accurate scale for less than $50?

I am guessing my weight is hovering around 180 somewhere. UGh. I had been on WW before and I am doing the At Home thing but it just isn't as good as going to meetings. I think the new Flex Points system is a bit confusing for me -- the previous plan was really simple.

Hi all.

Jess - That sounds like a really nice walk that you had with DH and Jackson. Sixty five degrees sounds heavenly. We're getting really excited about 40 here. :-) I understand how you feel about wanting immediate results. I get like that too. You just have to look at this as a process, one that is getting you healthier and, at the end, you have the bonus of having lost weight. But that's easy for me to say and hard for me to do. Just keeping looking at the small things that have changed for the better with each pound you take off.

Dazzled - Hmm - I don't remember the brand name of my scale but I know it had the words Science and Thinner in it. You can find them most anywhere - I got mine at Bed Bath and Beyond. It measures in 2/10s of a pound, which is really nice. If you're finding you don't care for Flex Points and think that Winning Points worked better for you, then by all means go back to what worked. No sense frustrating yourself.

I had a pretty good day yesteray. Still snacked too much and used 7 flex points (but part of that was due to having spaghetti for dinner - one helping is never enough). I got up and rode the bike first thing this morning. It felt really good to get it out of the way. I'm going to try to make that a habit. Today is lunch out and then nacho bake for dinner. I may use a few more flex points. It all depends upon where we go for lunch. I'll try to get back here again over the weekend. That helped last weekend for sure.

Have a great day and a terrific weekend.

Carla

Quick replies during my lunch break from the research paper. Sorry I hvaen't been on the last couple of days.

Carla - I hope Ana's cough has improved - poor baby! Way to go on getting back on the bike. I think you'll find that even if you start to slip, after you've gotten that good habit ingrained, it's easier to get back to it. I agree with you on the 40's - we're in the mid 40's today and it almost feels like spring! Yup, I typed many a paper on a typewriter - remember white out and those white-out paper things? Hammentashen are pastries that we bake for the holiday of Purim. It is cookie dough that is shaped like a triangle (the shape of the hat of the bad guy) and filled with either apricot, prune or poppyseed. My mom and I have been making them together for years. They are yummy but at 1.5 points each, I have to be careful.

Jess - that sounds like a fabulous walk. I definitely have temperature envy! I'll admit I didn't love the FastTrack program - it took a lot more planning than usual (and I do plenty of that) and I was tied to things more. It did help me with my bad evening snacking habits (altho I've slipped back plenty) but I don't want to repeat it anytime soon.

Dazzled - the scale I've used for a while is called Thinner. It measures in 1/2 pounds only (I would love the 2/10 like Carla has) but it is very consistent - I can step on it five times and get the same reading - the last scale I had gave me a different number every time.

I have been pretty good foodwise and exercise-wise. I never got to do my yoga workout on Thursday night but I did a great step workout on Friday. It felt so good - I have been off step for a while because of my hip. Nothing yesterday but I did OK at Red Lobsters. I had two garlic cheese biscuits but I ordered grilled trout with a plain step workout later but I'll be careful and do either some yoga or pilates. I want my hip to continue to improve. I'll post my weigh in results on the new week's thread - in the meantime, it's back to the research paper. I want to do a little more before I call it quits (it's not due until 3/4 but I want to finish it by next weekene) and enjoy the rest of the last day of my vacation.

Have a great one!
Judy

P.S. Karen - I miss you!