Be back after I catch up.
Judy

Good morning all - nothing to catch up on. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

I had a great weigh in - I lost 2.2 pounds! The funny thing is that I can't really pinpoint why I was successful except that a couple of nights we ate dinner a little later than usual and so I didn't snack as much afterwards (although I did snack before dinner). Anyway, Tony and I went to the Chinese restaurant on Sat and watched "61*" which we both enjoyed. Oh and Saturday I went for a run/walk. Yesterday, we played some tennis in the morning before a yummy Natural Ovens pancake brunch. I probably should have figured on a lower point breakfast because I have a real challenge the next couple of days. Tony left last night for a 3 night business off-site and tomorrow is my meeting with my new user/client - the one who was snippy last week. I started snacking last night when I was waiting for Tony to call to say he had arrived (it was a 3 hour drive for him) but managed to stop with only 4 points over max. So, that's my deficit but I plan on a low point lunch & dinner and I hope to get some kind of workout in later.

Have a great Motivated Monday,
Judy
163.6/157/135

Hi everyone -

Judy - Congrats on the great loss. Hmmm - I'd guess you were successful because you worked the program! Did your late dinners end earlier than your usual snack time? Sorry to hear that you have to deal with a snippy user/client on top of Tony being out of town. But you can get through it without snacking - I know you can.

I did not weigh in this morning. My ring finger looked like a stuffed sausage around my rings and I felt so bloated. I just didn't want to deal with whatever number came up on the scale when it wouldn't be valid anyway, so I decided to pass. I think seeing that number would have done damage instead of motivating me. I was feeling really disgusted with myself and depressed about how much weight I've put back on and my seeming inability to get serious about being OP. Another summer going by and I can't fit into most of the clothes in my closest let alone all the cute sleeveless shirts and sundresses I'd like to by. But I'm not going to mope around and dwell on it. I bought a pair of capri pants yesterday that need about 10 - 12 pounds off or some inches off before I can wear them, so my short-term goal is to fit into them on the first Monday of June. Next, to encourage me to start lifting weights again, I'm going to buy a sleeveless shirt with the goal that I'll feel comfortable wearing it by the time we go on vacation in August. Finally, I want to be able to wear a couple of skirts and a dress that I have hanging in my closet already by July or so. Why all clothes goals? Because it's going to encourage exercise and that's where I want to channel my motivation right now. Usually when I exercise regularly, I feel so pumped that staying OP follows naturally. So we'll see what happens. Judy - I'd love it if you could be my exercise "nag". First up - I have a dinner meeting at church tonight and I'll be walking home from that.

Have a great day everyone.

Carla

Hi group! I am back from North Carolina, and had a great time :-) I didn't actually look at *any* weight watcher materials while on vacation :-(, but I wasn't horrible. A lot of the time I bypassed eating thinking I'd be having a bigger meal later, and a lot of the time that meal didn't happen! I think I officially "lost it" at the airport going home when I found myself eating an egg mcmuffin sort of thing chased with a giant blueberry muffin :-Z I used the hotel gym 1 morning, and did a fair amount of walking around in general. I guess I'll have to wait and see the damage at Tues weigh-in. I didn't go to a meeting last week.

As for today - firmly back on the program and looking forward to getting back on track :-).

Judy - You go girl! 2.2! What a great start for this crunch time ... June will be here in 1 month...4 weekly weigh-ins before we are firmly in Summer Time!

Have a great day! Holly

Holly - We were posting at the same time. Glad to hear you had a good time in NC. Sounds like you were successful in keeping your eating in control. Welcome back!
Carla

Lyontamer, I went to a wedding too. And yes, I ended up going over. The thing that did it? there wasn't much to eat for me, there was meat on everything, so I ended up filling up on champagne and wedding cake, my favorite. urp. I did manage to have a perfect OP day yesterday AND I went for a walk and caught up on a lot of desperately needed sleep.

Monday morning weigh-in: 199. I know it sounds defeatist but I gain and lose so much every month, I won't know if this WOE is working for me until I get into the 180s. THEN I will know FOR SURE like totally if the points are working for me. If they aren't, I don't know what I'll do. So I have 10 pounds before I'll really know. Bummer, huh. Well, I'll keep at it, at the very least, it's healthy, right?

Judy, I envy your exercise time. Will you work out for me, too? :-)

Work is crazed, must dash (though I DID bring my lunch today!) I ended up cooking a whole bunch of goodies for the week and I followed a suggestion of pre-counting snacks. I am going to have to get some of those snack-sized storage bags, the nuts and seeds barely show up in the sandwich size.

Jennifa
207/199/170

Carla - I think it was a good idea to skip the scale yesterday - if it was going to do damage to your motivation it can wait a week. Did you walk home from the church dinner last night? See, I'm starting to nag already. So when are you planning to lift some weights? Do want to do those solo (do you know what constitutes good form?) or would you like some video suggestions? (You may be sorry you asked me to be your nag!)

Holly - it sounds like you did great on vacation both from the food and exercise standpoint. Congratulations! That can be tough to do (and I know you didn't weigh in but it still sounds like success to me).

Jennifa - yes, keep at it because a healthy lifestyle isn't determined by a number on the scale alone.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I did a run/walk, leg strength tape and a little yoga. I was pretty controlled snacking wise and managed to get my deficit down to -1. I hope to eat on the low end today since I think my knees need a rest. Work is pretty busy - better get going.

Judy

Hi everyone.

It's a sunny, warm day here in Chicago-land.

Jennifa - The results on the scale may be disappointing, but the healthy lifestyle will only do your body good. Keep plugging away.

Judy - Yep, I walked home from the dinner. And, since I was early, I took about a 10 minute walk before dinner too! I believe I'll start with weights tonight. Right now I'm using Strong Women Stay Slim, but would love some video suggestions. Yay for you for getting your deficit down!

All and all I had a good day yesterday. Dinner was very light, had to eat a bit at home to fill up. Got in my walking. So I'm pleased with how the day went. Now on to day two. So far it's been a really bad day here at work and I'm working hard to convince myself that food isn't going to make it any better.

Talk to you all later.

Carla

Carla - Good for you for getting wakks in before and after dinner! I'm gathering some opinions from some fellow vf'ers on a good strength tape or tape series to begin with. I hope to have an answer or two for you by the end of the day. I hope you were able to convince yourself that food wasn't the answer to the bad day at work. If not, forget about it - today is a new day.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. My meeting went well (her bark is worse than her bite so far) and I had a long walk to the train station from the meeting so even though I was planning a rest day, I did manage to earn an acitivity point. I did OK food wise although ended up with one more snack in the evening than I really needed so my deficit is still a -1. My sneak peek was frightening this morning but I'm sure it was the 2 ff hotdogs last night - my rings are tight today. Lost of water guzzling today. I hope to get in a cardio workout after work - TOM is any day now and I could use the boost. I'm so glad that Tony is coming home today!

Judy

Judy - I was pretty much able to keep food under control yesterday. I'm gearing up for another stressful day today. Thanks for gathering video suggestions for me! I didn't lift weights last night, although I did have a partial walk home. But I got up this morning to do my strength work. I'm still feeling it - but it's a great feeling!

So far I'm doing much better this week, although getting my water in has been a problem for some reason. Usually it's not an issue, at least during the week. Tomorrow I have to be to work early, so I'll get a walk to the train in and will try to take the long way, time permitting.

Pat, Jan - Where are you?

Everyone have a great day.

Carla

Carla - Way to go on getting up to do your strength work! It does feel great afterwards, doesn't it? Just try to remember - don't try to do too much too soon. You don't want to get so sore that you don't wan't to continue. Also, always try to stretch the muscles you've worked afterwards - easy to forget to do but it's really important. You need to retain flexibility and it helps to cut down on soreness.

When you say you have "Strong Women Stay Slim", do you mean the book? A good friend of mine said that there is a companion video that's very good for beginners. If you're interested, she thinks you can get it from the www.strongwomen.com web site. As for other recommendations, I've gotten a lot for Kathy Smith's Secrets to a Great Upper Body and Secrets to a Great Lower Body tapes. Although they are two separate tapes, I think they are available pretty cheaply at K-Mart and maybe at equivalent stores in your area. "Lift Weights to Lose Weight" by Kathy Smith is also supposed to be good but the consensus is that she must have overdosed on caffeine or something because she was a "a raving banshee lunatic of an instructor" on this one. Another good tape, if you can deal with her personality is Susan Powter's Building Strength. She's supposed to be more low-key on this video than she is on her infomercials. Have you ever heard of the FIRM? They are an outfit that puts out videos that combine aerobics and strength training (you get short, aerobic segments interspersed with the weight work.) They have a basic series and the "Sculpting with Weights" tape is the one most recommended. I hesitate recommending them because they seem to be one of those where you click with them or you don't. Some people love the fact that the tapes are scripted and use beautiful sets. Other people say the instructors are Stepford-wife-like. If you have a library that carries some fitness videos, you might want to see if any of these are available to borrow - then you can see if you like them before buying them.

Let me know what you decide!
Judy

Judy - Thanks so much for all these suggestions. I may try to see what my library or Blockbluster has so I can "test drive" some of them. As for Strong Women... I have the book. And yes, I did stretch!

You are a wonderful exercise nag!

Hi all, hope you are having a great day!

I know the FIRM tapes are really a hard workout but I also know that you need to be careful with them. I know some people who have gone with them from being totally sedentary and they hurt themselves. I like the odd exercise videos like the bellydancing workout. They are fun and I don't feel like a big fat cow - there are some dancers that are by no means thin, but they are still exercising. The Bellydancing video is called that - Bellydance! It's an instructional video. I just need the finger cymbals and a room of exceptionally outstanding wonderful men who deserve to see me dance...

I brought my lunch again today, found that I really like almonds and raisins as a snack (even though it's kind of high points, it's almost like eating a candy bar only way more satisfying) and am staying on program today. I have been really good about bringing my lunch. I was counting pretzels into a bag while on a conference call!!! Pretty amazing now that I look at it - I'm dedicated!

Judy - you lost weight because you are an exercise fanatic. Keep it up and you'll be at goal!
Carla - watch those salty meats! Hope the water helps.
Holly - congratulations for hopping back OP. It takes strength, especially when you see so many other people splashing out with no apparent consequences. We are proud of you!

Somebody said something not long ago about staying closer to the program than she would have - even though she went over points she still counted the points and stuck with it. I hope she is losing weight. I am struggling to keep control here, and the old habits have their ways of tempting me! I've even varied my way to work to avoid those incredible croissanwiches that I love so much but are 11 points. I suppose it's these little victories that are the ones that work. I think I've lost some weight. My jeans are looser now. But I am still waiting for the 180something numbers to know for sure. And I'm swearing off the "sneak peek" weighings - Monday morning is IT for me (yeah, right - for the next 2 days!) I just want to look passably pretty come summer. I am good looking but it's that awful "you'd be so pretty if you just lost some weight" predicament. I hate it when people say that.

Golly I'm writing a book! Hope you all have a good rest-of-the-week!

Jennifa
207/199/170

Jennifa – You bet it’s the little victories that make you successful in this. Good for you for counting out pretzels and changing your route to work to avoid those croissanwiches!

Carla – I got a couple of more tape suggestions (hope you don’t mind so many choices). "Shaping Up with Weights for Dummies" was also suggested. Here’s what she said “Tracy York is the instructor and she shows many form pointers and modifications (also stretches-doesn't hold these long enough). She does 2 sets of 12 reps for each exercise. There is squats, lunge, plie squat, one-arm row, triceps one-arm overhead extensions, overhead press, biceps curl, shoulder raise, bentover fly, push-ups, crunch and oblique crunch. The tape is 45 minutes and there's enough time (during instructions) to do slower reps or add more reps. The tape is available in stores and was only $8”. Another tape mentioned was a Jane Fonda tape – I think the name is Jane Fonda's Total Body Sculpting. I’m double checking that. In any case, it was described as “two 25-minute workouts that you could alternate and lots of good instruction. Jane's style was very low-key, reassuring, and knowledgeable”. A lot of people at the beginner’s check-in at videofitness.com used it.

I had a so-so OP day yesterday. I managed to squeeze in a 30 minute aerobic tape (after welcoming Tony home) and was going to end the day with a few points in the bank but the snack attack got me and I managed to rack up a deficit of 5.5 points! Today is TOM and my sneak peek was awful (mostly TOM I’m sure). I have to get back to some of the good talking to myself tonight. A nailbiting Yankee game is NOT going to make me slip again tonight. I’ve got to keep the image of myself in a bathing suit NOT wanting to hide in the forefront of my mind. Today is going to be another scorcher. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do for a workout yet. I’m a bit crampy – maybe a walk later and some weights. Anyway, back to work.

Have a great one,
Judy

Hi everyone.

Jennifa - Thanks for the word of caution on the Firm tapes. A lot of people love them and I will give them a try, but I think I'll wait until I'm in a bit better shape. Good for you for counting out pretzels, finding a nutritious snack that satisfies you (the almonds and raisens) and taking yourself out of Croissandwich range! I think at one time or another, we've all noted that even when we aren't strictly on program we do the things that help us maintain some control - i.e. count points. It sure helps getting back on the wagon if you don't stray too far from it.

Judy - Oh what baseball season does to you. Remember what I told you last year - you're snacking is not going to help the Yankees win. Forget about that sneak peek - you know what it's TOM. Glad to hear Tony's made it home safe and sound. Of course I don't mind so many video choices. Thanks for passing them on!

It's a glorious day here in Chicago - sunny and mid-70s.
I walked to the train this morning and may sneak in another walk this afternoon. I plan on strength training tomorrow morning. I'm holding my own, more or less, with the food. We'll see what the scale says on Monday about that.

Have a great day everyone.

Carla