I'm not sure when I'll get to go online tomorrow so I figured I'd jump the gun a bit.

I've had a pretty good 2 days of eating - a few pretzels last night that I could have done without but otherwise I've been doing OK. I've been good about getting the fruits, veggies and milk in too (water is never a problem). As I think I posted, Tony and I ended up not going to AC this weekend and I spent it in bed. I didn't even go weigh in yesterday - I let myself sleep late. The progress bar below is a guess of what the official WW scale would have said based on this morning's trip to my scale (too bad it doesn't register 1/10's) because in the past, the official WW scale has been about 1 pound more than mine. I'm officially going to try to stay off my scale for the next few days (hopefully week but being a scale addict, I figure I'll just try to stay off for 2 or 3 days first).

I'm glad I got in a bunch of exercise for most of January because the cold definitely took a turn into bronchitis and that means no workouts for at least the next few days. My back was achy yesterday (from staying in bed for 2 days, I think) so I did some *very* gentle back care yoga and I while my back feels better, I think it was a mistake. A feel a bit worse today and I'm going back to work tomorrow (and classes Tues & Wed night). I had about 5 minutes thought of doing a little yoga again today and stopped myself (thankfully) when I thought that yesterday's trip to the basement may be why I feel a little worse today (as in "Judy, you numbskull, you know you shouldn't do anything when you have bronchitis or it's never going to get better" (insert heel of hand giving me a gently smack on the head). BUT please don't let my forced inactivity stop you all!!!!

Time to go do a little advance reading for my classes (I figure that's the only way I'll manage the 3 courses).

Have a great one,
Judy

Good morning all - drumrol please........ I did not weigh myself this morning! Nope, I skipped the scale. I think the idea of doing that gave me some extra ooomph to stick with just healthy snacking and stopping when I was full. It will be tough tomorrow, but I'm determined not to step on the scale then either.

I'm back at work today - so far, so good. I'm feeling better than last weekbut I'm not there yet. I also had a tough time getting to sleep last night. My goal is to get to bed earlier than usual tonight because my Tuesdays and Wednesdays are tough.

Back to work - have a great one!
Judy

Hi,

Joe and Joanne here - Joe lost 3, me 2.5. I'm happy, sure wished it came off faster!

Got to run and get ready for work tomorrow! Been off almost a week and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Really, Judy, you need to pay attention to your body with the bronchitis. I'm prone to that also and I know its no fun. Me, I overdid housecleaning today and strained my back! I Stopped had Joe rub some lotion for me, took some muscle relaxants and hope it will be better tomorrow. I do anesthesia free teeth cleaning for dogs and cats and my work is very physical, so I do have to be careful.

Take care of yourself!

Joanne

OMG - someone please tell me where January went???

Judy - you daring thing! A day without the scale? I couldn't do that when it was in view. No problems now though. If you have trouble staying off it, ask Tony to stash it somewhere out of sight for you! Sorry to hear how rotten you've been feeling; look after yourself, or I'll have to come to NY and give you a stern dose of my best Nurse Ratchet!

Joe & Joanne - You're both doing great! Patience, guys...losing too quickly isn't healthy. I hope your back feels better. Tell me, just how do you clean the teeth of dogs and cats who don't know you? You must have a great way with animals.

TXMom - that's a great loss - congratulations!

I spent the entire day yesterday shredding old bills and other assorted mail. Hardly counts as exercise, does it. Mike and I just got home from taking the dogs for a run by the river in the dark. I didn't get home from work til 6 and was too bagged to think about the tm. A nice walk outside seemed much better. I'm in grocery shopping avoidance mode...I think we can piece together meals for about 2 more days, then I'll have no choice. It's good to use stuff up anyway. Food has been pretty good, although I chomped on more almonds yesterday than I probably ought to have. Oh well.

Talk to you soon...

Karen

Joanne – congratulations to both you and your husband – those are great losses! Yeah, I wish it would come off faster too but when I’ve been on crazy diets in the past and the weight came off really fast, it always came back really fast too! Yup, I know I have to listen to my body – most times I do – sometimes it takes a mistake like Saturday to bring it home. I’m with Karen – how do you do anesthesia free teeth cleaning for dogs and cats???

Karen – good luck on cobbling together a few more meals without food shopping. I’m so lucky – since I started grad school, Tony has done more of the shopping than I have. How nice to go for a walk outside – we still have way too much snow on the ground to even attempt that. Guess what – I ignored the scale today too – I really think it helps me watch what I snack on at night. Tonight will be the real test – I have a late class and tend to snack more when I get home.

I had a pretty good day yesterday – no exercise as planned. I’m feeling about the same as yesterday – not totally well but I’m hanging in there. Have to go – I’ll try to get on later but will probably not get a chance until tomorrow.

Judy

Hi all.

ChristinaMaire and ~P, welcome and congratulations on your losses.

Judy - I'm sorry to hear that you had to miss your trip to AC this weekend. I know you were looking forward to it. I hope you feel 100% better soon. And resist that urge to exercise until you're feeling better! Good for you for ignoring the scale. I've tried to cut back to every other day and have been mostly successful at it.

Joanne - Congrats to you and Joe for some great losses this week. It would be nice if it came off faster, but it's far healthier this way. I hope your back is feeling better.

Karen - A walk outside sounds lovely, but like Judy, we have snow still on the ground and icy sidewalks here and there. And we're suffering from a lack of sunshine as well. I wish I knew where January went. I can't wrap my head around the fact that it's February already. I'm a week behind the calendar in my mind. Sometimes it's good to cobble together meals and clear out the pantry and fridge. I've got my freezer mostly emptied out, but I have a ways to go with the pantry.

I'm starting to lose the battle with the cold that's been threatening me. Sunday and yesterday I barely had the energy to put one foot in front of the other. In fact on Sunday I stayed home while Ana and John went to my MIL's for dinner. Today I'm still tired and my head is congested and my nose is dripping. I just hope it stops here and doesn't get worse. My eating hasn't been so great the last few days. I guess I'm feeding my cold. I'm going to really buckle down this week. No real challenges other than lunch out on Friday. And now I have to go tackle the dirty dishes I've been ignoring. It appears that they're not going to wash themselves....

Have a great evening.

Carla

Hi Judy and Karen,

Love my job cleaning dog and cats teeth w/o anesthetic! Its really a matter of patience and love. I sit on the floor and hold them in my lap. Not great for the back though! Now, the Veterinary Medical Board of California is threatening to close us down saying we are practicing veterinary medicine w/o a license! Go figure!
They are all about the money. I have been trained to recognize problems and frequently refer folks to their own veterinarian.

I'm 57 and this is the best job I ever had, and now its being threatened! Oh well! Hope everyone has a good week.

Joanne

Hi all.

Joanne - It's so great that you love your job. I'm sorry to hear it's in jeopardy. I hope you can fight the state board. I'm not sure how they can say you're practicing vetinary medicine. You're providing a service, just like dog groomers (only obviously one that's more important to the health of the animal). Anyway, fight the good fight and best of luck.

I'm reporting a well-deserved gain this week (2.4 pounds). I think I'm going to have to try to incorporate core foods into my diet while sticking to flex points. I seem to let a bad day throw me much more when I'm on core than on flex points. I also can incorporate eating out into flex points much better than into core, so, since I have both a lunch and dinner out this week, back to flex for me. Maybe when I've had some solid success core will come more easily. At any rate, sticking to core foods as much as possible will certainly only help me keep within my points. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather today. I'm certainly not looking forward to going to work this afternoon and spending time outside working curbside drop off and pick-up. Thankfully it's a bit warmer this week. And I have the next two Wednesdays off. Ah well, I'll have some hot soup when I get home from work and all will be well.

Have a great evening.

Carla
278.2/276.2/145

Joanne – I agree with Carla. I hope you can fight the state board. I would love to get Sam’s teeth cleaned but she’s 11 and I don’t want her to have anesthesia if she doesn’t have to! Good luck on your fight.

Carla –sorry about the gain but I always feel the blow is softened when I know I deserve it. I think you have a good idea of incorporating core foods in the flex plan to start. That should help get some of the foods that might encourage bad habits out of your system. How are you feeling today? I know what you mean about curbside drop-off/door duty when you don’t feel well! I was going to weigh myself after 2 days but it’s gotten easier not to so I’m going to try to stay off it until Saturday morning. I’m resisting the urge to exercise but when I have to, I always worry that it will be hard for me to get into the habit again.

I had a good day yesterday until after I got home from class. I’m blaming the snacking on hearing parts of the State of the Union – Tony had it on in the den and I couldn’t help overhearing some of it – I started muttering and went into the bedroom! It wasn’t too bad – I’ve gone over my weekly points by 2 – not terrible, of course, I’m not back to exercising yet so I have to keep the deficit where it is. Still, tonight should be more relaxing – no class. I signed up for another 6 weeks of tutoring (I’ll have a week off from the tutoring after next week and then the new session starts). I wasn’t going to do it because getting here at 7:30 after a late class the night before and with the prospect of another one that day was just getting to be too much. I worked it out with the asst principal and the classroom teacher to start the new sessions at 8:25 instead of 8:00 – this way I won’t have to get in any earlier than I already do so I figured it should be OK. It’s not too much in prep time, it’s great for my resume and the extra $$ is nice.

Have a great one,
Judy

Hi all.

Judy - I'm feeling better today, thanks for asking. Being out in the cold last night really did a number on my sinuses by the end of the evening, but I woke up without any lingering effects. I'm still a bit congested, but at least I have most of my energy back. I'm sorry to hear that our president made you all snacky last night. That probably would have been my reaction too, but fortunately I was at work and missed it. Your deficit is low and I know you can keep it that way. Good work getting the tutoring schedule re-worked. It sounds much more managable that way. It's good that you'll still be able to do it as it really will benefit your resume (and your pocketbook). As for visiting the scale, I'm going to wean myself gradually. Right now I'm at every other day. In a week or so I'll go to every third day and then to once between weigh-ins and then to once a week.

I had a good day yesterday, including getting in my fruits and veggies and milks. I'm really going to focus on eating healthily and using my points to my advantage. Being back on flex helps because I can have my whole wheat bread, etc. Core is hard for me at breakfast and lunch. I'm glad though, that when I get sick of counting points, as I inevitably will, I'll have core to go to for a week or two.

Have a great day.

Carla

It's quiet in here. I hope that you're all having a great weekend. It's sunny and in the low 40s here, which is so nice. I'm having a good on program week so far. Yesterday I went to lunch with a friend and had an olive burger and fries. I was looking forward to that lunch all week and I enjoyed every bite of it. And I counted every bite of it. With a low point breakfast and a fairly low point dinner, I only used a handful of flex points. Tomorrow I'm having dinner with another friend at an Italian restaurant. I plan on having a low point breakfast and lunch and enjoying my dinner there as well. I should have plenty of flex points left to help with that. Last night's dinner was a very tasty lentil chili from WW's Simply the Best cookbook. Low in points and very filling, plus it made quite a bit. I think we'll be eating it for a couple more meals.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Carla

Hi Carla,

Yes, it is a bit quiet. I'm glad to hear that you are having a good program week. What is an olive burger?? Good for you for counting all the points. It was sunny and in the 40's here too. I didn't really get out in it much - I just went to my meeting and then stayed inside and did schoolwork. Still, it should help melt some of this snow!

I went to my meeting this morning and weighed in. I lost 0.4 from two weeks ago (the last "official" weigh in). I'm happy although I had been lower about a week ago. Nevertheless, it was good to go and except for when I'm away, one of the things I want to try to do is go every week- it does help me. One thing that helped today was talking to my leader after the weekend. I came up with the idea a few days ago of having Chinese for dinner tonight - we haven't had it in ages. I was wavering this morning about it so I decided to ask my leader (who has been following core recently) if she likes Chinese food and if so, what she eats. She told me that Black Bean sauce is core (and it is, it's in the book) and if I have it with chicken (which is chicken breast) it's core (if I tell them to make it without oil). Well, I haven't had any oil today and only ate some of the dish, so I figure it should work out to 2 tsp or so (daily allowance of oil). We also had steamed dumplings and hot and sour soup (which I counted points for) and I made myself brown rice. Even though it cost me some points, it was great. Now we can have Chinese food a little more often!

I did a little bit of gentle yoga today - I'll see how I feel tomorrow and see if I can do it again. It wasn't strenuous and I'm feeling better than yesterday although I'm not 100%.

Have a great rest of the weekend,
Judy

Hi guys!

Judy - Hope you are feeling better! Where are you from that you have snow? I sure do miss that. I now live in Texas, but grew up on Long Island, New York.

Joe / Joeanne - congrats on the loss! That is great!

Carla - Thanks for the welcome. I hope that you are feeling better this weekend.

Karen - Hi there. I'm with you on wondering where January went all ready. Man, time sure does go by quickly!

I don't seem to have lost anything this week - which I am not going to beat myself up over. For the most part, I stayed on plan - but a few times I know I could have made some better choices. I am the type of person that has to learn how to overcome eating out of stress. While I did manage to leave some food behind at each meal and not overeat, I still did not do as well as I could have.

I am anxiously awaiting a doctor's appointment this Monday to find out if I will be having back surgery. I have a few bulging discs in my back as well as degenerative disc disease that I have been dealing with for the past 6 months now. Exercising is something that is very difficult for me at this time so I kind of steer clear of it. I can't wait to get all of this taken care of with my back so that I can begin to exercise regularly and really focus on getting this weight off. But, I figured for now - at least paying attention to what I am eating and why - would be a good way to get started.

Anyway - after a very painful discogram on Wednesday, I will be getting the results and talking to the surgeon on Monday. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I will finally be able to have something done to help me with this pain and to get on with my life - both going back to enjoying the things with my family and finally getting healthy!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a wonderful week ahead. I'll check in later during the week. I did go grocery shopping today and have my meals planned out for the week - so here is hoping it is a good one for all of us.

No Loss this week... still at 165. Thats OK because I totally went off plan saturday. Friday as well... but I made better choices... Like we went out to dinner and instead of my usual hamburger and fries, I had a chicken fajita salad, and I did not eat the tortilia shells. Actually, me being on WW kinds forces me to try new things that I wouldnt have if I was not on WW. Saturday was a different story, I wont go into details, but it involved steak, cheesey garlic bread, and beer.

Today starts a new week for me... and its superbowl time... but I have no desire to eat or drink or all that stuff. I also started Jazzercise and will try and go 5 times this week... I really don't think you can go wrong with 5 1-hour aerobics classes a week. I need to work on my water intake too... Its just that I am a receptionist and I CANNOT leave my area unless someone covers me and I HATE having to call someone up so I can go now, I dont even want to think about it when I have all that water sitting in me!

Good Morning!

ChristinaMarie - Nothing wrong with a maintain...I hear you about having to get up and leave for the washroom. I tend to drink tons during the day at work, but have to watch it on days that I have longish meetings; it's totally embarrassing getting up to use the washroom every twenty minutes. Superbowl's not a big deal in our house; Mike will have the game on, but there's no pending foodfest.

TXMom - I hope all goes well at your appointment on Monday. Your back problems sound awful; I hope if surgery is an option that it gives you the relief you need. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow.

Judy - congrats on your loss. Every bit helps. Cool that you've worked out how to have core chinese food. We brought home brown rice sushi from Whole Foods yesterday for lunch - it was great and totally 'legal'. Hope you're feeling better...you've had a tough few weeks.

Carla - your chili sounds great. I love having tons of leftovers; it makes those fright nights when nobody has the energy to cook so much nicer. I want to start incorporating more lentils and beans into our cooking. You're sounding as though you're working your way into a good headspace. Hope you enjoy your meal out tonight. Italian restaurants are the best!

As for me - I'm plodding along. Not feeling much motivation this week, but I'm not doing badly. I have so much stuff from work occupying my little brain right now that I'm thinking of little else; I know I have to shut off at the end of the workday, but it doesn't always happen that way. The weight workouts are going well, and I'm doing enough dog walking. The treadmill isn't calling my name much though - I need to climb on the darned thing.

Have a good day, all.