Starting the topic for the week - be back in a little bit.

As of right now I'm at 170. Goal is to lose two more pounds by the end of the week.

paw - keep up the good work! Are you in the military or the spouse of someone in the military? Just curious.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. Graduation was good - long and a bit chilly (it was outside in a tent) but well worth it. I stuck to my plan and used a whole bunch of flex points but that's what they are for, right? I found that having had what I wanted, I was satisfied and only had a few veggies with "WW guacamole" dip in the evening. Today has been a good day so far. Just stretching since I went to the chiropractor after work. Time to the watch the Yankee game and make some lf popcorn!

Have a great one!
Judy

Judy,

My husband is in the military. PAW stands for Proud Army Wife. .. I'm glad to hear graduation went good. Thats the thing with me. I eat whatever I crave to eat.Instead of eating the whole thing i would just eat half but hey i go to eat what i wanted to eat. Last night we went to the drive in. and I swear i blew it. But i did really good I had alot of water and 10 jelly beans. Tonight for dinner is another thing Dh is making steak and rice for dinner. Thats about 50 points. Jk.Well anyways your doing really good. Keep it up!!

My diet has been shocking this week. I've been pretty stressed with one thing and another. I went to the Gynae last week and he agreed wholeheartedly that a hysterectomy is my best option given my endo and AF issues and the best news is that is should reduce my severe PMS (which neither of my other doctors thought it would). Now I need to decide whether to wait to have it done free through the public health system which will mean I will be waiting at least a year or I could choose to spend $10-$12K to have it done privately which is a tough decision with building a house. The Gynae has given me some meds which should switch off AF but can have a negative effect on mood which I really don't need. If it works and I can manage I think I'll be waiting to have it done through public. I've also redone our house budget and we've exceeded that considerably more than we anticipated so we'll need to cut back on some things. Plus I'm PMSing so watching my diet seems too hard right now. On the plus side, the framing is up and the roof trusses should be on by the end of the week.

Paw ~ Welcome and WTG on your loss thus far.

Darcy ~ Welcome and congrats on your 3lb loss and getting back on programme.

Kris ~ Wow less than 7 weeks to your wedding - I bet it feels like it's coming around so fast. WTG on the 1.5lb loss.

Judy ~ What a great idea checking out the restaurant's menu on-line before going. Definitely a great way to manage your points. Glad to hear Anthony's communion and the graduation went well. Sounds like you're doing really well keeping a handle on your points.

SlimKim ~ Congrats on your great start and positive, realisitic attitude.

Nikki ~ You definitely have some great advice there on working out where my downfall is. Those WW treats sound great - we have such a limited variety here so don't have much selection in the way of lite delectables.

Get well soon, Carla!!
Sorry to hear you couldn't have the surgery laproscopically. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Sorry this is such a quick catch-up. I'm meeting Gary down at the house soon to do some measurements and get some photos.

WooHoo!!! Two more pounds this week. All of a sudden, I'm looking forward to summer.

Good luck with the renovations, Silverfern.
Paw- I think half the battle is recognizing what's not good for your diet.
Judy- I'm glad graduation went well. Sorry to hear you're a Yankee lover.

PAW - just 10 jellybeans at the drive-in? I'd call that a victory! I think it's a great idea to eat what you want but just eat half - the problem with me is that I have a hard time stopping at half ;-) I'm with you on your goal of changing eating habits, especially portion control. As for dinner, I hope you enjoyed the steak and rice!

Tanya - sorry to hear about all the stress you are under. I will keep my fingers crossed that the meds don't affect your mood too much so you can get the hysterectomy done through the public health system. As far as the diet, I have a suggestion if you don't mind. Pick one of the "good health habits" to work on. Try to do better on that one thing than you did last week. I've found there are times when if I can give myself a pat on the back for taking a small step, I feel better about myself and that feeling of having controlled something in my life (when there are things I can't control) really helps. How about just getting the water in, or the veggies, or milk or any of the others)? Anyway, just a suggestion. That's so exciting that the framing is up!

ivynikki - congratulations on the great loss! I'm starting to look forward to summer myself. Yup, my husband and I (both native New Yorkers) are Yankee lovers. I see you're from Georgia, hmmmm... We're a mixed baseball family...my parents are Mets fans! ;-)

I've had good day so far. My back is a little ouchy but not bad. The next few days should be interesting though. I'm in Kindergarten tomorrow and then on a field trip (lots of walking) on Thursday with the 3rd grade class with which I student taught. It should be fun - it's an 19th century restoration village. I just hope the weather holds up - it's been very wet around here lately.

Karen - I'm thinking of you!

Carla - I hope you are feeling better today than yesterday!

Time to stretch - have a great one!
Judy

Hi all,

Thanks for all the well wishes. Welcome to all the new members; congrats to all who lost; hang in there to all that didn't.

Judy - Congrats on your graduation!

Tanya - Here's hoping the meds do the trick for you so you can wait for the hysterectomy.

I'm doing ok. Right now the worst thing is the staples that are pinching me and the pulling sensation around the incisions (I also had a hernia repair) when I stand or walk. I'm still pretty tired as it's an effort to get up and move around. But, since I'm just spending my days in a chair, I'm getting a lot of rest. I go to the surgeon tomorrow, so hopefully he'll remove the staples then.

Talk to you all later

Carla

Well, the news was not so great for me this week, I am up 2 lbs. I am sure it is just water weight though, so I am not going to stress about it just yet. I will stay off the scale until Sunday too~that should give me a chance to straighten up!

Judy~Glad that graduation went well, sounds like you thought well ahead with points! I find that if I let myself have a little bit of what I may be craving, I tend to eat less than if I wait and try to fight the craving. Then I want to binge on it.

Tanya~I hope that the meds help so that you can wait to go through public. Congrats on the house coming along, that must be exciting!

ivynikki~Congrats on the 2 lbs!!!

Carla~hope you are feeling much better soon, it will definately help once the staples are out. Good luck!

Have a great day!
Darcy

Judy ~ Of course you may make a suggestion. I'm open to any ideas and the one you proposed is a great one. PMS is pretty much gone so I'll get back into exercise at the start of next week and try and get my eating under control. Hope your field trip went well today and the weather was kind to you. I love looking at historial villages. We have one here but of course it's not quite as old since our history doesn't date back quite that far. It always interests me how people lived in those days and the hardships they faced through lack of technology.

Carla ~ The staples sound sore, espcially having the double-whammy of a hernia repair as well. Hope you're feeling a little better and more comfortable now that they're out.

Darcy ~ Sorry to hear about the gain. Water weight is so frustrating. I forgot to get on the scales on Wednesday morning as I was in a hurry to get out the door. Goes to show how strong my convictions are about losing weight right now.

Hope you all have a good weekend. We have sports all day Saturday. Bradley (No. 3) has a bye which will make the transport co-orindation much simpler this week and we're watching the rugby at the local pub/restaurant with some friends that evening. Sunday will be a day for catching up, although Taylor (my eldest) has asked if he and a friend can go to the movies to see Mission Impossible. Gary and I saw it last weekend when his dad was here and thought it was pretty good.

Hi everyone!
Carla, keep on recovering! I bet you'll have a nice loss (albeit hard-earned) when you are strong enough to get back on the scale.

Tanya--I can't imagine how stressful building a house is. For the last 2 weeks we have been painting and rearranging and getting new furniture, and I have been stressed beyond belief!! We also changed all the ceiling fans (a necessity in FL) and ceiling lighting in the house. I still have a small amount of painting and a large amount of organizing to do, plus more shopping. But today I am taking it easy in that dept.

I went back to the gym today for the first time in about 2 weeks! It felt so good to go! Today is day one of the week for me, so I am once again re-committing myself to points counting and exercise, water and fruits/vegs. Hawaii is almost here and I really want to at least lose 10 lbs. We have been eating out a lot lately while working on the house, not good. But I am reporting a maintain this week, probably from housework activity!!

Judy--I pray for you about the field trip!! I go as a chaperone whenever I can, then I ask myself WHY??? But I know the girls will always remember that I was there.

Welcome to all the newbies and good luck! This is a great forum!
Kelly Jo, where are you???

Okay I guess all of you are having a good weekend since you are not posting here! I got cancelled from work today, so I have been cleaning out the closet in my daughter's new room--it used to be my office so I have all kinds of stuff in there. Tonight my girls have a dance performance that I was going to have to miss, so I am happy they didn't need me to work today!
Yesterday I went over my points a bit, but hey, that's why I start my week on Friday because I know the weekends are so hard for me, and I have all my flexpoints available. The girls and I went shopping for Hawaii clothes/summer clothes for them so we got dinner at the mall. I got the salad bar and a baked potato.
Tonight we are going out to dinner before the show, so I needed to eat a light lunch. I had a salad with 1 points worth of dressing (Ken's light blue cheese is sooo good. I like all the Ken's light's I have tried actually.....)
Anyway, I wanted something sweet so here's what I had:
1.5 cups of strawberries for 1 point
2 tbsp fat free half and half zero points
Splenda zero points.
It was good! Strawberries and cream! And 1.5 cups of strawberries is a LOT!
So 2 points for my whole lunch. I am proud!
I got all my water in yesterday, and all my fruits/vegs---- and I'm hoping for a repeat today.

Hope all of you are doing great! Keep it up!

Carla - I hope the surgeon removed the staples and you are feeling more comfortable! Hey, you have a lot of healing to do - take it easy, take it slowly. You'll be back to yourself (only better) soon enough.

Darcy - sorry about the gain but I have to compliment you on your attitude! I totally agree with you about having what you are craving being better than denying yourself totally.

Tanya - it sounds like you have busy, sprots-filled weekend. I hope the weather is good for your activities. We really lucked out on the weather for the field trip. It was the ONLY day the whole week that was sunny the whole day through and since it was in the lower 70's, it was comfortably warmed. I know what you mean about the hardships people back then faced. I have always appreciated when I was born in terms of what it would be like to have been a woman at any other time!

Rachel - congratulations on getting back to the gym and congratulations on the maintain!! It is harder when you eat out a lot, isn't it? I have found a couple of things other things that have helped recently: try to get a menu before you go (lots are online) and see what are the lower point (but still satisfying) options, never go hungry - have a little something before you go; ask them to either remove the bread basket, or keep in on the other side of the table from you; see if you can split meals/appetizers - they usually give you anywhere from 2-3 servings on a plate. When is the Hawaii trip? That strawberries and cream recipe sounds delicious! I am off to make myself a salad as we are going out to dinner tonight with my parents.

I had a good week - I had a 1.4 loss at the scale which puts me at my monthly goal of 3-4 pounds for the month. Also, although the WW scale is a pound higher so it doesn't show up that way, for the first time in 3 years, my at home scale showed me under 150! Of course, I'll wait for the officical WW scale to register that before I lower my daily points target! Tonight will be a bit of a challenge. We are taking my parents to Peter Luger's, a - famous steak restaurant in Brooklyn. They serve fabulous steak but it is not lean! The side dishes aren't the lowest points either - does any know how to count creamed spinach? Anyway, my plan is to have something light for lunch (I had a light breakfast) and to just watch the portions (I would rather have a smaller portion of a tastier steak), to drink a lot of water, avoid the bread basket and use my flex points.

Have a great rest of the weekend!
Judy

Hi all, hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Rachel~Congrats on maintaining and for getting back to the gym, I know how hard it can be to get back into it. Keep going! Your strawberries and cream sounds heavenly, I will have to try that soon!

Judy~Congrats on the loss and meeting your monthly goal!! Enjoy every bite of that steak tonight, it sounds like a very nice restaurant.

I am happy to report a loss myself tonight. I knew that if I did not sress over it that 2 pounds of water weight would go away, but I was very excited to see another pound gone too. I have been working out each day this week and I feel much better for it, so I will have to keep it up.

Well, hope everyone has a great day!
Darcy

Darcy - congratulations on the loss! It's great to get rid of the water weight PLUS another pound! I always feel better when I work out each day - I hope to get back to working out the way I did before the accident soon. In the meantime, I am trying to stretch my back everyday.

Dinner was fabulous and I did OK. I did have a roll - they have great, very "NY" selections in the breadbasket like an onion roll but I didn't stuff and I had delicious, fresh strawberries (they were huge) for dessert while Tony and my parents had more point-heavy selections. Yes, I did take a taste of each but that's it.

There were two things I forgot to post about this afternoon. The first is to say:

Happy Birthday, Ana

and the second is to report that when I was figuring out what to wear tonight, I happened upon size 12, (semi) skinny black jeans in the back of my closet. I don't remember the last time I wore them. Well, they fit and I wore them tonight! It's nice to see the numbers on the scale go down but it's also great to fit into clothes that have been too small for too long.

Have a great Sunday evening,
Judy