Hold on to your hats - it's the Countdown to Christmas, for those who celebrate it! Time to kick it into high gear and make lists of our lists.

From a diet point of view, this is definitely Crunch Time. We're all so busy and stressed - it's way too easy to grab something here and pick at something there and forget about real meals. Let's all do our best to take care of ourselves with healthy food and to find some time for exercise. I hate that 'food hangover' feeling anyway and can't afford to end up in a carb coma this week!

It's ONE degree out (don't you love that little snowman?!) and I'm about to head out for cardio - that way it will be DONE and nothing else that happens today will get in its way.

Have a great week and for those of you traveling, stay safe.

and my wrinkle on this is: and for those of you EATING, stay safe! I think Jennifer3FC's signature says "practice safe eating: always use condiments!"

I've actually been too busy and stressed to eat. I never thought in all my life I'd say that since my reaction for most of my life has been to eat under those circomstances, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth! I've been working on making sure I do eat my 5 healthy meals, because I'm so paranoid about gaining weight over the holidays that my initial reaction has been to eat less and not touch any goodies. It helps that we are not having Christmas here, but at my brother's and I'm responsible for salad and a vegie. Yay! I know there will be something there I'll want to eat Their meals tend to be on the heavy side. I'll probably bring some sort of light dessert- if I'm the only one who eats it, that's fine. SIL's sister who had WLS last spring will also be there, so she should be eating lightly.

Until then, I've a fairly sparse client load this week, so it's time for me to get serious about figuring out what gifts I do and don't have. I got the tree up finally last night. I envision putting it or the decorations back up many times. We have a cat that we've never been through Christmas with before, and she's about 1 1/2 and still quite playful. The minute the tree went up, and especially the glass balls, she went into overdrive. I've hauled her out of the middle of the tree several times. We just gave her the biggest, baddest toy she's ever seen I ended up taking the few really good ornaments off the tree in case the whole thing goes crashing down, or she figures out how to sit in it and bat at individual ornaments. See Meg, I HAVE a kitten!

Off to the gym for me, too. 1 client, then LEGS, baby! 1 client later in the day.

Mel

I've got another Christmas party under my belt (pardon the pun). I crawled into bed at 0730 and hauled back out at 1100. I nibbled a power bar while I had coffee and got ready and was on a bus at noon. We went to a play, where I continued to nibble my power bar and then off to dinner. At a lovely Amish food type place, I left a little of everything on my plate and brought some chicken home. (I've never done that before in my life!) Two wee glasses of red wine. Then I came home and slept for almost 11 hours!
Today we're cleaning the last of the plaster dust, finally getting a tree and I go back for a night shift tonight. Legs might fit in there somewhere
For the first time in 16 years, we don't have a cat this Christmas. I kinda miss her

Long time lurker deciding to post a bunch today.
In regards the stress, etc., at this time of year or due to ANYTHING at any time:
I can not control what happens TO me, but I can control how I react.
I do not have to eat just because some one brought extra special goodies, etc.
If you keep that in mind, it is most helpful. Coping with those dithering twits who try to push food after you have already declined, a wide eyed smile and a ' why on earth are you trying to feed me?' does wonders.

Welcome, Fearless! We're glad you decided to de-lurk and would love it if you stick around and post with us! Congratulations on your 92# gone. I can not control what happens TO me, but I can control how I react - a very good thing to remember.

Mel, our tree goes up today - can't wait to see how the kitten reacts.

I shudder to think what would happen if we DID have a tree - Chalupa Boy would be all over it before you could say SCAT!

The most "Christmas cheer" we have at our place is from the scented votives I've been lighting (I LOVE the Votivo candles..."Gingersnap" and "Joie de Noel" are my favorite scents - sis turned me on to them).

Well this weekend for some nutty reason I bought a loaf of sourdough french bread - I was having a yen for it dipped in some good virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (Except for rye bread - which I can't stand personally, but Jim likes okay - I don't generally have bread in the house as it's a BIG red light food for this gal!) This was on Saturday night - we ate WAY too much of it and what was left, Jim put back in its paper sack and on the kitchen counter...by the next morning it was COVERED in ants (yup, we're having another invasion here ) so it got tossed, thank goodness! It's going to be QUITE awhile before we have sourdough bread in the house again...

Fortunately I don't have to bake or prepare anything for Saturday - we're going to sis' house down the street for dinner!

Other than that, same old same old around these parts...fortunately the Christmas Eats Brigade passed through work last week - all the bakers apparently have this week off so I don't have to worry about the Demon Cookies...

Hi,

I am working this week. Nobody is here, it is quiet and i even made my trip to the gym today during lunch hour. I also walked the dog in the morning, and i will have my yoga class today - i guess it is enough exercise for today.

The week will be not eventful, I have big plans on what I want to achieve work-wise. I also plan to figure out what to make for Christmas lunch when my friends come over. last year I did tons of low fat recipes and they all enjoyed it. Hopefully I will be able to find something nice for this year.

Cheers, Sandy.

Hi everybody,

I survived my trip to my parent's house. My mom blew our deal and cooked all weekend long, instead of the one special meal we agreed to. It was actually kind of sad to me-I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I wanted because she was always cooking and then cleaning up after. The goal for the weekend seemed to be to feed us (me & sister's family) as much as humanly possible. And I was not so gracious about it, so I'm now feeling some guilt.

I feel so conflicted about it. On the one hand she is trying her darnedest to take care of me and make me feel welcome the way she feels most comfortable with, but on the other hand, I just find it so damaging to my goals and my health even after we've discussed, negotiated, and agreed to doing it differently. And there's a part of me that says to just get over it--I'm a grown-up after all and can eat what I want, and I don't have to eat it just because it's there. But even doing that, I upset her by having a bowl of cereal and a banana instead of the egg/cheese/sausage/potato nightmare on the last morning. I suppose I should remember that she's a grown-up too.

Well, it's over for another year at least.

So, pets and trees. They are very interesting, aren't they? We had to switch to an artificial tree a few years back, as we had a dog who got sort of confused about inside vs outside after bringing a real tree into the house.

Waded through last week's thread, and just wanted to give a big congrats to Jan on entering the 1's! What a fabulous milestone!

Susan: what is Amish food like?? Never heard of an Amish restaurant.

Sandy: work is quiet for me too this week. I think it's making it a lot easier for me. No one to bring in work food! We have Christmas music playing in the labs and I'm really kind of enjoying it. Usually not so much into that.

I'm off work till January 5th, Yay, for that... We went to a party on Saturday night, I ate too much, so much that my stomach hurt. But the party supper was only my second meal of the day because I had been so busy the rest of the day, and I did get some exercise in on Saturday. The nice thing about the meal was that it was very portion controlled, KWIM? Like half a cup of a potatoe cream soup, small salad, with I'm sure just a tablespoon of dressing on it. Then 5oz chicken 2 very small potatoes and veggies. Then this italian desert, can't remember the name, with fruits on it. Sugared fruits tho, but that was it... So it wasn't all that bad an evening...

I didn't make it to the gym on Sunday or today too unfortunatly... Sunday I just was too tired, today I waited all afternoon for a call from my Dad's doctor... Yes Meg, I am certainly feeling like a sandwich these days... Oh well, c'est la vie!! My kids will probably do the same for me... I remember my parents doing it for their parents when I was a teenager... It's quite the cycle isn't it?

Tomorrow I'm at the gym ASAP then I'll get the errands done and stuff... Gotta make a new list now!! TT ...

Well, there are always people in the world who want to control what we do. Sometimes especially Moms. This sounds like one of those no-win situations - someone was bound to feel bad. You eat and make yourself unhappy, or dont, and make your Mom unhappy. In the end you did what was correct for yourself especially after trying to negotiate the meals. Your Mom made her decision and so did you. But guilt can be part of the territory it seems, no matter how old you get. Accept the feeling state instead of resisting it, and then move on.

As Katharine Hepburn said - 'If you always do what pleases you, at least one person is satisfied.'

Today I was expecting to have some sort of cookie withdrawal after enjoying them yesterday instead of meals, but didnt. ??? I kept mostly eating good filling Soup and my newly devised low fat potato salad and felt both satisfied as well as eating not all that many cals. What was esp pleasing was that the scale did reflect a one pound net loss from this past week on 'official weigh-in Monday' this morning. Not bad after participating fully though moderately in 4 parties in 5 days, and eating lean in between, mostly. Is this really me?

I spent a peaceful day working in the veggie garden weeding and digging and planting. I put in cauliflower, celery, and lettuce. I have two flats of peas, sugar snaps and snow peas, almost ready to go in, and some onions and herbs. I dont have a Christmas tree this year, but my two cats helped in the yard.

Jan

Cats and trees are a risky mix for sure. After much battle, my 2 year old cat Baxter (adopted by me last spring) is leaving the branches on the tree. I've redecorated it I don't know how many times now and he's getting in the spirit too, taking his toys over and dropping them on the lower branches. Of course, a few minutes later he's swatting them off and chasing them around the house but at least it's his toys and not my ornaments. We will have just negotiated an agreement about the tree when it will be time to take it down and he can go after the plants again instead!

I'm expecting both my daughters and their significant others along with my Mom for Christmas eve when I'm cooking the whole turkey dinner thing. I've got goodies stacked up everywhere but thankfully, they're not calling to me too loudly. Hopefully everyone will either eat them or take them home when they leave! I've been dragging myself to the gym faithfully so hopefully there won't be a gain to deal with although actually, I'm still having a problem with this maintenance thing and am showing small losses still every week. Probably all that turkey will take care of that problem because I've gone about as low as I want to go with a BMI of about 21 now.

I'm making the family favourite dessert for christmas eve (and we'll probably fight over the leftovers Christmas morning ). Luckily it is almost guilt free: a sort of triffle with angelfood cake, light jello with fruit, fat free pudding and topped with fat free whipped cream. MMMmmm.

Now that I'm all ready, I just wish it would get here!

Good morning from the chilly South! 20 degrees on the back porch at sunrise today, 17 degrees yesterday. Cold enough over the last two days that the little shallow pond that the landlord maintains in front of our house was completely frozen over except for one little corner this morning. The Mallards (a tame flock of eighteen) were really working to keep that one corner open. I think (given the poor light) that I even saw one drake trying to "icebreak" his way out a bit farther into the water. He wasn't too successful.

And the weatherfolks have even dropped the "s word" into the forecast for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day around here. A White Christmas is almost unheard of down here.

I am glad to see I am not the only one who slacked up a bit on exercise the last few days. I skipped yesterday. My "excuse" is that I walked for seven hours on Sunday and was a bit sore. Sunday was the second of two Christmas Bird Counts I participated in this weekend. A birding friend and I covered about four miles (eight miles round trip) of a trail at Congaree Swamp National Park for our part of the count on Sunday. We found some neat birds (Purple Finch who are winter resident only down here, Black-and-white Warbler who are year-round but fun to find). Oh, well, yoga class today. That'll help me catch up, I'm sure. I've got a feeling that the instructor will have us working off Christmas dinner before we even consume it!

I realized Sunday night as I wrapped a couple of presents I am prepared for Christmas. Yahoo! The only Christmas duty still pending for me is my assignment for what food item to take over to my sister's house on Saturday. Since high cholesterol runs in the family, we have a mix of low-fat and traditional dishes so I don't sweat family dinners too much. I think my sister is serving ham, which will please Mr. Donna (aka Mr. Pork the Other White Meat), and turkey, which will please me.

We do have a Christmas tree this year. The cat has never displayed any interest in it other than to decide it's a nice "hidey hole" to sleep under and he can be found curled up way back against the wall under the tree. The dog, who is going blind but still has some sight, spent a few minutes figuring out how to negotiate around the tree. Beyond that, the animals ignore the tree, I am glad to say.

We still have a few folks here this week and I've gotten my share of Christmas baked goodies. I sent some of the Christmas goodies with Mr. Donna to his work this morning. Mr. Donna is a welder and I figure some of those guys need the sugar and fat more than I do. At least they have a chance to work it off doing their jobs! It's next week that work will be a "ghost town".

If I don't get another chance to post this week, Merry Christmas everyone!

Hi all, I know its probably abit early, but I was thinking what sort of things I want to put down on my list to do or change for 2005. I dont believe in resolutions, but I do want a plan to follow. I love the fresh feeling of starting a new year.

I really want to have a wonderful veg garden this coming year. I have almost finished weeding my main beds the past few days. Last night I went thru my seeds and there are so many things I want to grow. I can also plant more peas and lettuce, and some kohl rabi. I do prefer the greater varity of summer vegetables , but its too early for those, even here.

Another thing is to try a new veggie each week. Or to eat one I havent eaten in more than a month since there are a finite number of veggies out there. And some I just dont like - okra comes to mind.

I guess I would also like to try one new recipe every couple weeks to broaden my range of low fat alternatives.

I also want to get my bike tuned up so I can ride it again. We have some wonderful totally separate bike trails along the ocean and the salt marshes.

Jan :merry:

My only Christmas task left is to find a whistle for my 2 year old's stocking. All she asked Santa for is a whistle. Actually, she told him that she NEEDS a whistle. How can he not deliver that simple request?

We're going to have breakfast at my ds's schol with his kindergarten class thid am. There should be enough healthy options though since I've seen the list of things parents are bringing.

We're having a couple of ds's friends over tomorrow for a gift exchange and tobagganing. Christmas Eve will be a quiet one with just the 5 of us. We're eating dinner out at a restaurant, so I won't worry about that one meal food wise. I can't pick at the leftovers for days at least.

I went running yesterday am in -26C temps. I think that when those temps don't get in the way of my exercise, it must be a sign of addiction.

The gymn is closed until 4th January ... Here are my plans until then: go for walks (brisk ones), run on beaches with anyone else who wants to (this is for fun rather than serious training), look out my set of dumbbells, and … use my Christmas present of a rebounder. The rebounder is for cardio work and for getting the circulation going (very important in our sometimes cold, draughty and damp house). Keep reading motivational books. On the 4th, be the first in the door!

And now, some very good news. I am so proud of myself. I went to the doctor first thing this morning. My blood pressure is stark, staring normal. It’s been up, very slightly, for a few years now. My weight is down 11lbs since January 2004. My BMI is an amazing 26, down from 28 in January.

No-one other than me (and you, of course) knows how much I weigh. I certainly don’t know what my bp is unless the doc does it. I think I’m delighted because these figures (and I usually treat them with a pinch of salt) seem so objective. I’d never met this doc before and she was all smiles. Very nice. And a terrific boost to keep on going doing the Right Thing at this time of year!

Thanks, Maintainers all, for being here this year. Your positive approaches have given me the final push I need. 2005 will be the year I join you, properly. I’ve got my copy of Thin for Life (all the way from Mericay) and am looking forward to the discussion. And I’m thinking of posting short reviews of other motivational books I’ve read (time permitting). I’ll try to get a short introduction about myself written too. That could take some time and thought.