Starting the topic - be right back

Karen – I hope you completed your mission of 10 glasses. I’ve found that I tend to drink a little less water during the week in my new career. That’s not surprising since as a teacher, you can’t leave the room to go to the bathroom any time you need to and I’m “practicing”. I try to catch up once I leave school (work) though. Yup, I’m trying to steel myself for the holiday season. It’s always tough and while I love baking (and I love baking cookies and this time of year gives me an excuse to do it) I’m going to have to watch it this year – I don’t want to fall down the sugar slope again!

Carla – I hope you are feeling a little better today. I’m glad that your weekend went better than it has been – mine too. I’m right with you on being so much more conscious on the amount of processed food we used to eat and agree that we would ALL be better off without so much of it. I like the idea of trying one new recipe a week. Since I got the new WW Turnaround cookbook, we’ve tried more new recipes than we have in a while – and they’ve all been good. LOL about your coming to NY for Tony’s footballs. No begging necessary, I promise. You know, we looked for whole wheat breadcrumbs at a number of supermarkets and didn’t find them. I have to check Trader Joe’s.

Shaun – congratulations on that great loss! I’m glad flex is working for you. I think you are being very smart in thinking about losing the weight in small increments. It gets too daunting to think of the total amount. When is your birthday?

I had a pretty good weekend. I ate basically core, with just a few points each day on the breadcrumb stuffing for the meatballs. Tony made way too much of it, so we decided to get some lean ground turkey and make a turkey meatloaf. We had it last night and it turned out yummy and we have at least a couple of more meals for the week. I also gave myself a treat and had a couple of slices of Country Kitchen Cinnamon Raisin toast (total 1 point). I’m pleased with getting the sugar out so far although I did eat a bit too much (felt a little too full) both nights at dinner. Continuing with core foods and trying to stop when I’m satisfied and not full is my goal for the week.

Have a great one!
Judy

Hi all.

Shaun - Congrats on a great loss! I agree with thinking about the weight loss in terms of increments. Far less daunting that way.

Judy - I am indeed feeling better, today. I'm glad to hear that your weekend went better as well. I'm going to have to get my hands on that WW cookbook. I have a couple of other WW cookbooks and find their recipes to be tasty and fairly quick and easy. I realized that in addition to eating too many processed foods we've been falling into the trap of getting take-out more and more, which is just as unhealthy for our pocketbook as it is for our bodies, so we made a family pact yesterday that we'd do no more take-out/eating out (unless we're meeting friends, family) through the end of the year. That should help a lot. I'm going to Trader Joe's later today and will check on whole wheat bread crumbs.

We had our follow-up meeting today with the special services team at the public school to go over the results of Ana's literacy evaluation and D.I.B.L.E.S. No surprise - they show she's at significant risk for early reading difficulties. I'm glad we had this done because now that the school team has quantifiable evidence in front of them, they recommended that we begin a formal case study to evaluate what Ana's special needs, if any, will be. I'm so relieved. It will be a longish process, but at least we can move forward with all the facts at hand. And Luigi is at the vet's so they can do a urine test and a whole body x-ray, so we should be getting an update on him soon too. And now off to pick Ana up from school.

Have a great evening.

Carla

Happy Monday to All!

Shaun - that's a great loss! And I completely concur about having small goals instead of one huge one. I'm beginning to have misgivings about target dates for losing, though. I'm looking for ways to avoid failure, and in the past have beat myself up over not reaching a goal of, say, 5 lbs in a month. My new strategy is to establish some kind of reward system for each 5 lbs gone. Haven't decided on what the rewards will be - definitely not a box of chocolates though

Carla - Glad you're feeling better. I'm loving Whole Foods too. Like you, it's quite a drive to get there. It opened a couple of months ago, only the second in Canada - first was in Toronto. I can proudly say that other than some breakfast cereal, some sf/ff jello and some whole wheat crackers, that we now have ZERO prepackaged convenience food in our home. I'm glad that the follow up for Ana's assessment went well, and that you can move forward with things. Hoping good things for Luigi.

Judy - the goals you've set for the week are great. I tend to eat more at dinner time than I need, and often eat to the point of full rather than satisfied. We need to relearn that satisfied doesn't feel the same as stuffed! I did indeed meet my water goal yesterday, and am all but floating today too. I developed a cast iron bladder in my early nursing years, but now that I have ready bathroom access (and I'm over 40) I spend half my life in the loo! For your whole wheat bread crumbs, why not leave a loaf of whole wheat bread to go dry and stale (or dry the slices in the oven) and make your own in the blender or food processor. They'll keep for ages in a sealed container if they're dry.

Today is uneventful. Nothing much to report at all. Great entry in the Skinny Daily Post today. Have a read if you get a moment. I'm starting week 3 of my walk/run program this week - this is Tues, Thurs and Sunday. After work I'm going to hurry home and get the dogs out for a romp before it gets too dark.

Hope the evening finds you relaxed and on track.

Karen

Good Morning Everyone;

Another day of promise begins.

Judy, I've never tried ground turkey before? I've seen it and also ground pork... can you subsitute these for beef?
I don't know if Fiber 1 ceral is on the core list but it is 110 calories per 2/3 cup with 15 grams of fiber and 0 fat... it has a bit of sweetness from aspartame.. I love it with Yogurt for breakfast and because of the high fiber it has 0 points!


Hang in there Carla, I can sense the the anxiety your having over Ana's reading difficulties, I think that having such a supportive parent standing beside her will definitely have an impact on her eventual outcomes....

Karen, I wish I had your discipline with exercise... I realize that if I am to overcome my weight issues I have to begin doing more exercise.

Anyhow... my DH took me out to dinner and a concert.. I tried to eat well but they screwed up the order and I ended up with fries... I ate them.. but kept my total points for the day at 29.5 I turned down the dessert.
My birthday was Saturday past and this was a delayed outing to celebrate...

Any how...

other than that, a good day...

looking forward to today...
one day at a time,
good Luck all...
shaun

Good Morning!

I'm very proud to say that I've lost 9.5 lbs now and doing well. For some reason the last few days have been harder than the last two.

Judy~ I totally understand about that sugar slope! We have avoid that way down at all costs. Getting all the water in is definitely a challenge. I do home health going house to house and that is really hard drinking alot, so that I go bathroom to bathroom, too.

Carla~ Hope everything goes well with Ana. And praying for a good report with Luigi. Hang in there, God is good.

Shaun~ CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR LOSS!!!!! WTG!!!

Well, gotta go, headed to the shower. Hope EVERYONE has a GREAT DAY!!!!!!

Sherry;
Good for you 1lb+1lb+1lb+1lb+1lb+1lb+1lb+1lb+1lb+.5lb= 9.5lbs
that's a lot of pounds... excellent!
I am looking forward to catching up with you...
shaun

Carla – While I’m not glad that Ana’s test shows that she is at significant risk for reading difficulties, I am glad that it shows what you suspected; as you said, the school team has quantifiable evidence. Just keep on top of them, as I know you will. Oh, and read, read, read with Ana –something I’m sure you are doing as well. I hope Luigi’s tests come back OK. I have to look to see if we have a Whole Foods around.

Karen – Thanks for the reminder about the Skinny Daily post. It was excellent. Yup, we’ve made our own whole wheat breadcrumbs before – and they were excellent but we were looking for a little more convenience. Way to go on week 3 of your run/walk program. Sounds like you have no need for the drill seargent.

Shaun – Happy Belated Birthday!! I think you can substitute ground pork, but just make sure it is from a lean cut. Way to go for turning down dessert. I love fries and find them hard to resist.

Sherry – what a colorful post! LOL about going from bathroom to bathroom. Fabulous loss so far! I hope you’ve given yourself lots of pats on the back.

I had a pretty good night last night. I left the dinner table a little less full (leftover chicken with some polenta and Tony’s homemade sauce – yum!) While I did snack, I had only fruit and popcorn. No exercise yesterday but that was planned. I did some freestyle weights when the kids had gym this morning so that’s done with. Tony’s yummy “footballs” again tonight – but I will not stuff!

Have a great one!
Judy

Hi All...

Shaun - Happy late Birthday! I've been working hard to convince myself to exercise. Every bone in my body knows I have to, but my mind keeps trying to persuade me otherwise. A little exercise builds momentum, and it gets easier after doing it for while. Good for you for pulling out a good day, even when it involved fries!

Sherry - way to go on your cumulative loss! That's great!

Judy - hooray for incorporating free weights into your day - stealth exercise! Nice to have it out of the way and done with! I'll keep the drill sargeant firmly in mind if my motivation starts to slide...but I'm feeling pretty good and motivated these days.

My unauthorized sneek peek this morning was less than encouraging (I know: so stay off the scale), so I decided to do some body measurements to look for a glimmer of encouragement. I did a set of measurements on Oct 20 and hadn't intended to remeasure for 3 months, but I've lost everywhere but my neck! Yay! No unusual challenges today - I'll get my tm session in before dinner, and then I can have a relaxing evening.

Talk with you tomorrow!

Karen

Hi all.

Karen - Whole Foods has a lovely cheese selection as well as wine, at least the store here does. Of course, I try to stay away from those sections. The bakery always looks great, as does their prepared foods. I love their house tomato sauce and paste - it has a very bright flavor. You're doing so great with your run/walk program. And what headways you've made in getting processed food out of your house. I don't think we'll ever get to that point, but we can definitely make strides.

Shaun - Thank you for your kind words and belated Happy Birthday! Sounds like you did great at dinner. What concert did you go to? I used to Fiber One many, many moons ago and should really pick it up again. I remember liking it. As for ground turkey - you can subsitute it for ground beef, but be careful. Ground turkey can be higher in fat and calories than lean ground beef. Make sure you read the nutrition info.

Sherry - Thank you for your kind words as well. You are making terrific progress!

Judy - Yep, we read with Ana all the time. By law the special services team has to begin the case study within 60 days of our meeting. Since there is only one other child besides Ana in the queue, they're confident it will get rolling sooner. In fact, I have a meeting with the school psychologist to go over her social development on December 9th. They seem like a really committed team and they've worked with Montessori kids before, so I'm feeling comfortable. In the meantime, the reading tutor is helping Ana immensely. Something seems to have clicked a couple of weeks ago and she is sounding out words much better.

I started my period today, so hopefully some of this bloat will be gone by tomorrow's weigh-in. I spent a lot of time on my feet today walking between the REP office and our workroom in the school and a lot of going up and down the stairs too. So I got a bit of exercise in. And I'll be heading out soon to do some shopping. I have to buy a birthday gift, so I"ll try to get some extra walking in at the shopping center as well.

Have a great evening.

Carla

Hi everyone;
I have to say right off, I find the support on this site amazing. It is so helpful to have someone to fess up to when I've strayed and to get the pats on the back when I have done well.

Yesterday was another challenge. I went out to lunch with a friend at a Greek place. I had a greek salad with the sovalaki (sic) (Chicken) and then we shared a small slice of turtle cheesecake. I only ate a few spoonfulls but I wish I hadn't.

By dinner I was still full and since hubby is away, I made chicken noodle for the baby. By 9:30 I was hungry and ended up eating snacks all evening. I stuck to WW things... veggie soup, veggies and hummus, apple, ww bar... I just can't believe how much I ate.

It seemed I could not get full. I went to bed at 11:30 and awoke this morning with a terrible food hangover....

Anyhow...
hoping today will be better...

By the way, I was looking at the WW points book and saw Cheese Pot at 1 point... does anyone know what that is?
is it that cheese in the red plastic contatiner that looks like a spread but is very hard to spread...

If anyone can tell me a brand that I might get up here in Canada I would appreciate it...

take care all
Have a great day
shaun

Good Morning...

Carla - mmmm cheese. We drooled over the selections - my personal favorite name was Stinking Bishop! We bought several small pieces of European cheeses. I could go on and on. Thanks for the tomato sauce/paste tips. Hope you're feeling a little less bloated today. BTW...have you seen how much sorryeverybody has grown in the past week??

Shaun - can't help you with the Cheese Pot thing...the red plastic package stuff is McLaren's sharp cheddar, I think; definitely not low point fare. But delicious nonetheless. Put last night behind you and carry on. Many times I've found myself heading for the fridge when dh is away; I guess it's a reaction to change in routine or something. Now I try to use times he's not around to do "girly" self-pampering stuff. Where in Canada are you?

No loss this week. I'm considering it a small plateau due to building muscle. Did my tm thing this morning instead of last night. Weights this evening after work.

Have a good day!

Karen

Karen - good idea about taking measurements and congratulations on those great results. Measurements are a much better gauge of how we are doing. Of course, I still step on the darn scale all the time! I tend to think about it, take my measurements, and then lose them so the next time I don't have anything to compare them too! Yup, I sneak in those weights in gym whenever I can. It's a real help especially on Tuesdays. Since I have class in the evening, I know I'm not going to get any exercise in after work and on those days when I don't get up early..... Oh, and congrats on building muscle - I'm glad to hear you are picking up those weights again.

Carla - girlfriend, we are on the same schedule. TOM started for me yesterday! I'm sooooo glad that something has clicked with Ana and the tutor and I'm glad to hear that it seems as if the team will get things rollling soon. What are some of Ana's favorite books? I'll be talking a survey of children's literature course next semester - I can't wait. I hope you enjoyed the shopping and walking.

Shaun - sorry to hear about the snacky evening. If you could see us all now, you'd see us nodding our heads, raising our hands and saying, yup, I've done that, more times than I care to remember. Actually, I had a very snacky night last night - my problem was peanuts butter. I counted the points and there were more than I wanted to eat and more than I care to admit but there it is - it's done and the important thing is not letting it turn into a reason (read excuse) to do it again. I have a suggestion for the next time you can't get full - try some protein, maybe a hard boiled egg or a little low fat or fat free cheese or some milk. I find that protein really fills me up so much more than other things and it doesn't take as much either. I don't have a clue what Cheese Pot in unless it's pot cheese which I sort of remember being something like cottage cheese. I don't remember seeing it anywhere but I'll look for it next time I'm at the supermarket.

Well, as I just 'fessed up, I dove into a jar of peanut butter last night - don't know why but that's over and done with. I came home tonight and knowing that we were having the turkey meatloaf tonight (which costs a few points) I made sure to come home and do a 50 minute cardio/total body strength workout. I got my water in today but I still need my milks. I think I'm going to have a glass now. Tomorrow evening I have that 2 hour seminar so unless I get up early for some yoga, no workout tomorrow. I'm going to try to get to bed early, which I've been pretty good about the last few nights BUT I've woken up at 4:00 am for no apparent reason. While I sort of go back to sleep again, I usually end up waking up another time before I finally have to get up - very frustrating!

Judy

Good Morning Everyone;

Hang in there Karen... you have done wonderful already.. 21.6lbs is a lot of weight... keep the faith. I was reading something the other day that talked about plateaus and about juggling the time and content of meals.. it was all about our bodies getting used to the same food and over time becoming acustom to it.
It said to change the pattern... ie.. if you eat cereal and milk for breakfast and protein and veggies for lunch, start eating breakfast of protien and save the cereal for lunch.
Also change the way you eat for a few days.. we have all heard of breakfast as a king, lunch as a prince and dinner as a paulper... most of us usually eat in the reverse of this... change it around for a few days.
Good Luck...


Judy, I hear ya on the peanut butter thing... last night I found myself face and eyes into a can of mussels. I know.. mussels?
I was hungry and it sound good with vinegar... and it was.

Anyhow.. I really need to hit the sheets a little earlier until the hubby comes home, I find I am snacking at night more now that I am alone.

Well.. I have stayed within my point range each day but I really would like to keep it to day eating only...

Today is the first day to the rest of our life...

I am really am beginning to see things more and more in terms of one day at a time...
will talk soon
shaun

I had a good night yesterday - a couple of glasses of milk and that's it. And that's with Tony having brought home a bag of Goobers - actually, even though they are chocolate, they are not my favorite candy. Now, if he had brought home Raisinettes and left them in the den, I would have had a harder time. I got up early this morning (after originally going back to bed and then having a conversation with myself) and did a little yoga. I have that seminar from 5 - 7 tonight so that was my only shot at getting *something* in. I was rewarded with a nice sneak peek this morning and plan on trying to keep that (or less) for the rest of the week.

Have a great one,
Judy