I'm starting a new week since no one else did yet. The past couple of days have been nicely weird with my eating. On Saturday I started the day eating low calories since I thought I was going to a party that night which I passed on. I couldn't believe how many calories I had left to eat for the rest of the day. It was like having an allowed binge (eating good foods) but still staying within the plan and my daily calories.

The next day I had planned on feeling a little less happy since I figured I'd be a little hungry (or it wouldn't be as much fun as the day before). However, for some reason I must have been eating light because I had extra calories to eat again. I even double checked my food journal to make sure I didn't make a mistake or didn't miss something.

I guess I've just been choosing lighter meals which leaves more for the rest of the day. It's been nice not having to think "what can I eat that will taste good but with very few calories". I hope this continues through the week for me. I'm still at 1400 daily calories & don't want to lower them unless I really have to.

Dh & I actually purchased some furniture yesterday for our family room that got damaged during a storm. We were actually just looking (I wanted to show him the furniture I had found) and we ended up buying it. It's getting exciting & I can't wait to have my new & improved office area back. The hardwood floor guy is here again today but I don't know if he will have to come back another day to finish up or whether this will be the last day.

Sarah - I'm a comfort eater, stress eater, emotional eater (happy - I want to eat)! FS has been keeping that in check 95% or more of the time for me. I only work out at home (besides walking outdoors) which I am sure is not easy with 3 little ones. Sometimes my granddaughter likes to join me and I have to be careful not to step on her or push her down when I'm doing an aerobics tape. Congrats on your loss - you & I are getting close to goal!

Sherry - Glad you're back! I find it easier dieting at home (as a Realtor I work out of my home office unless I have appointments or need to go to my main office for something specific, like a meeting). At home I don't have the temptations that are at the office (sweets like pastries & candy, esp. during the holidays). I can prepare my meals instead of having to make something to take with me or stop at a fast food place. I can also time everything better.

Hello Judy, Girfriend you had a plan and stucked to it!!
proud of you. lol Congrats on the new furniture!! It waS so nice of your dh to
go a head and buy it. lol Judy keep it up and it will pay off. Have agreat day.

Hello fellow smashers, I have had a hard time the past two days!! but i have
picked and dusted my self off!! It started with sugar!! I do know better!! ha!!
but I had to give in!! but you know iam not going to beat myself up over it.
it is gone and cant change it back. But iam like a alcoholic , but iam called
a sugar alcholic. Iam ok, with sf stuff!! I try to remember how i feel when i
eat hight sugar things. I just gave in , should i say more. lol Iam on the
ban wagon all day today and plan staying on it. lol I gained 1lb this week.
Iam realy thankful it wasnt more!!I know eveyone knows when i say 1lb
feels like several. So i did the tredmill this morning and off to curves this
evening , as soon as my dd getts off of work. She wants us to workout
together.

Ladean- hope you are having a great day and had loads of fun shooting this
weekene.

Sherry- how is it going ? Are you getting ready for exmas? HOpe to see
you late. have agreat night

welcome to all the newbies. and hello to all of you lovely smashers .
have a great night

Hey Y'all!

I have had a great day today! I feel so good! I love this time of year. The air is cold and crisp and It smells so good outside. Of course it is in the 20's... so I am not spending a lot of time out there. lol.

Judy~ New furniture! Cool! That was great to be able to get it when you just went to look at it. I got a new computer desk and we put an office chair and a recliner on layaway. We are gonna get them out before Christmas. They were on sale and we didn't have all of the money for them at the time. I just love layaway. lol.

Linda~ Hey Lady! I have sugar cravings every so often. But... my biggest challenge is carbs. I have to be very careful around them. Have a great night, too!

Joshua and I are not seeing eye to eye on his sleeping. I have started making him fall asleep by himself. I sit just inside the bedroom door, though. I have always either rocked him to sleep or laid down with him and patted his back until he fell asleep. I know that it is past time for him to be going to sleep on his own... I have to admit that I enjoyed holding him and rocking him to sleep. The mother in me wants to keep him a baby as long as I can. But, I know that it is in his best interest to start to loosen the apron strings. He does pretty good some nights... but last night and today for nap was pretty bad. Dh left yesterday and Joshua has a hard time adjusting. He thinks every little noise he hears is "daddy coming home". It is so sad. He just doesn't understand.

I will talk to you all tomorrow,
Sherry

Joshua and I are not seeing eye to eye on his sleeping. I have started making him fall asleep by himself. I sit just inside the bedroom door, though. I have always either rocked him to sleep or laid down with him and patted his back until he fell asleep. I know that it is past time for him to be going to sleep on his own... I have to admit that I enjoyed holding him and rocking him to sleep. The mother in me wants to keep him a baby as long as I can. But, I know that it is in his best interest to start to loosen the apron strings. He does pretty good some nights... but last night and today for nap was pretty bad. Dh left yesterday and Joshua has a hard time adjusting. He thinks every little noise he hears is "daddy coming home". It is so sad. He just doesn't understand.

Good morning Sherry, Smart mother you are!! lol make sure he is safe and
content! but letting go with the apron strings is not a easy thing. Sounds
like you have a good head on our shoulder. like us habits are hard to break
give Joshua some time , he will be ok. lol My dd did the same thing
and realy had a hard time breaking the habit , afterall it was bonding.
Have agreat day friend.

Good morning Beautiful smashers. I had a great day off yesterday.
on program and did 2mile on the t readmill and went to curves
yesterday afternoon after work. I hope all are having a great
day and remembere we are all strong women. we have a mission
to get rid of our fat and will!! so go smashers lets make this a
great smashing day. Hope to see all of you later.
Hugs LInda

Hi everyone. I've come to a very comfortable point with FS. I can't remember the last time I had a bad urge (OK, it was a couple of Sunday's ago) and I feel really good about everything to do with the plan. I'm feeling healthy and I'm not hungry.

In fact, if I have to drop my calories I think I can handle it fine. I do have a little challenge this week with a dinner out but I'm not going to worry about it. I'll eat light during the day and try to figure my calories for the dinner. Then I'll make up the following days either with a detox day or less calories, like I did the last planned cheat meal. Normally, this is the time of year where I'm out of control and gaining. This is great!

My hardwood floors look beautiful & I can't wait to finish things up. They're still a little wet today so we can't step on them or anything. Makes it difficult with the dogs. I have two little guys (Pekingese & Japanese Chin) & my daughter's dalmation, Gypsy.

Normally we can just let them out the back door off the family room but they can't go on the wet floor so we have to walk them to the backyard from the front of the house. No biggie for the little ones although they have to be leashed or they'll run for it. But the dalmation "walks" me! She's wild until she settles down so when dh & I take the dogs for a walk he has to hold the dalmation.

So this morning I had the little ones under control but Gypsy made a run for it. She's friendly with people & comes back home but I'm always afraid she'll fight with a strange dog. To make matters worse, our next door neighbors just got a pit bull and they don't have a fence so they either tie her up or they let her loose when they're around. Not a good combo for Gypsy. Luckily, the pit bull wasn't outside this morning.

Hopefully, the floors will be dry enough tonight to put some paper down to let the dogs out the easy way. I can never imagine people living in highrises or apartments with dogs. No way would I be getting dressed early in the morning or late at night to take my dogs out.

Linda - it's funny how some things I used to like don't even taste good to me anymore. Some stuff tastes too sweet for me, although I can't say I'll never eat a piece of candy again. The good thing is a little goes much further with me now.

Sherry - You have to keep your resolve to get Joshua to sleep on his own - been there, done that - LOL! My granddaughter is 4 & is going through a stage where she's scared to go to bed and needs to leave the door open. That's no big deal & I close it when I know she's asleep but this is something that started recently.

We also are getting a new desk and it will be a corner set-up this time since we got rid of a franklin stove that took up so much room. I think we'll be even more organized than before so I'm really excited. I do my work there and dh does his music (he has a lot of recording stuff). The new desk set will be much better than the old one that got ruined from the storm. It was a beautiful desk & wasn't that old but we grew out of it quickly. Just a few more days - I'm getting antsy.

Linda - it's funny how some things I used to like don't even taste good to me anymore. Some stuff tastes too sweet for me, although I can't say I'll never eat a piece of candy again. The good thing is a little goes much further with me now.
Hi Judy, That is what i used to say girfriend.There are to sweet!! but if my
mind is not in the right place , i dont care , i guess that is the only way to
put in!! lol I hate the way it makes me feel.I am on a mission to stay away
from the sugar. It just trigers me wanting more sugar. Thank you sweetie
I hope you dont ever change your thinking like me. Just have to leave it
along. Have a great day and keep in a smashing.

Hey Guys,

I am having a good day. I have started logging my food again. That helps so much. I HAVE to count calories or I don't lose. I have problems with portion size. SO.. telling me that I can eat as much fruit and beans as I want to.. is NOT a good thing. lol. I tend to go overboard.

Linda~ I am not to the point where I don't have cravings. I still want pizza and I still want chocolate! lol! I know my weaknessess. So I just stay away from them.

Judy~ I bet your new floors are beautiful. Our new desk helps keep us a lot more organized than our other one did. It also has a cabinet with a door to hide the CPU. Joshua thinks the buttons are cool.. so he has a tendency to want to push them. lol. Joshua is doing better with sleeping. He fell asleep for nap in just a few minutes. YEA! lol. He seems to do better without DH here. To Joshua.. "daddy" means playtime. So... if he hears dh moving around in the house while he is trying to fall asleep.. he sits up in bed and wants to go see daddy. But.. he is getting used to it all.

Have a great day!
Sherry

Hi Sherry, that is the smart thing to do !! lol Knowing your weakness,
which we both do. That is why i need to stay away from sugar when
exspecialy tired , bored are depressed , you get the picture. lol
I guess we have to be strong and just stay away from our problem
foods. Thanks sherry for sharing your problems foods. It is good
to know that iam not alone. Have a great night.
Hugs LInda

Good morning everyone! Another lb down and now 22% body fat!
I'm excited at the possibility that I will reach my goal by our vacation. I pretty much eat like phase 1 most of the time with a little bit of phase II thrown in here and there. Some lean meat occasionally and a bowl of cereal once in a while.
Hoep everyone has a great day today!
Sarah

Good morning Sarah, YOu go girl!! 1lb kicked to the curb!! I hope you will
make it by your vacation. When is your vacation? I bet you can feel the
differnce in your clothes. lol keep it up , because it sure is paying off for you
and the plan is sure working for you. Have a great day.
Hugs LInda

Good morning smashers, I hope all are well and smashing that fat off!! ha!! ha!!
I know iam giving it my best!! How about you??????It is a cold day here in
texas, or morning . it will be around 59 today. I had a great day yesterday.
did my ie and stuck to the plan. It is hard around the holidays. I think
we did pretty good on the last one. So we can do a repeat hu?lol I know
i will try to stay as close as i can on program . But will have a little
tablespoon of some extra and do more ie that morning and evening.
that is my plan. lol we are having our dinner on emas eve night.
Well need to get up and finish getting ready for work. All have a great
and very blessed one.

I started up a new weekly weigh-in thread as I weigh myself twice a week & was happy to have shown a big loss (for me) of 6 ounces - LOL! I'm happy with it.

It stinks gettin' old. I did my normal aerobics/toning combo tape last night & felt great. Felt good this morning & somehow hurt my left ankle (I think from sitting on my leg - bad habit - since I didn't do anything else). Now I'm limping around & have to go out & do some stuff so I'm going to have to take an ibuprofin if it doesn't get better.

Sherry - I just thought about your post about missing pizza. I'm in Phase III & my interpretation is that whole wheat bread "products" are allowed. I have been using whole wheat pita bread since the nutritionals are similar to whole wheat bread & I fit them into my calorie intake. Yesterday I found little ones (Thomas Sahara Pita Pockets made with 100% whole wheat). Each one is only 70 calories and has 2 grams of fiber, 1 g. fat.

I put 1/2 tblspn. of store bought pizza sauce on them & cover them with fresh minced garlic, some skim mozzarella (measure out how much you want to use) and you can use turkey pepperoni or any kind of veggie you'd want although I just have them w/cheese & garlic. I toast or bake the pita in my toaster oven before putting any toppings on as I like a crisp "crust."

I've actually been using the larger pitas (using a full tblspn. of pizza sauce w/1/4 cup of cheese). Even with the larger pita I get a great tasting pizza that's large enough to fill me up at around 280 calories total. Using the mini pitas it would be around 160 calories and even though it might not fill you up as much as the larger one you could have a fruit for dessert & still get your pizza taste, all Phase III FS approved. I'm not sure if you went back to detox to start over or what phase you're in but this might be something to look forward to.

I made these in the past while on WW but they didn't have any true 100% whole grain pitas back then that had any fiber in them. I really like these just as much as any frozen pizza I've tried, although I really do like the new brick oven (or whatever they're called) Lean Cuisine mushroom pizzas which are great for the calorie count (can't remember, although I think more than my pita pizzas & I'm not sure about fiber).

Sarah - you are doing great, as usual. I'm happy that I can still lose while doing Phase III. I need the variety to keep me going. I'd rather lose slower but be happier with my food choices and I'm able to add certain things back without abusing them. I realize that when some people add bread and other things back in they lose control. But since I have to stick to my calories and also make sure I get enough fiber, it has been working out without me feeling deprived or hungry. No other plan has done this for me.

Linda - although Thanksgiving caused a bump in the road for me I was able to get over it pretty quickly and hopefully Xmas will be the same, although I go out on Xmas eve and Xmas day. I'll just have to be careful with portions and bump up the exercise & compensate the rest of the days during that week or do some detox days. We can do it!

Hi,

Judy~ I am on phase 2. The pita pizzas sound great. I will give it a try. Thanks! I hope your ankle is better soon.

Linda~ Hey! It is cold here in Kentucky, too. LOL. How are ya?
I am going to stay within my calories limits (or as close as possible) for Christmas.

Sarah~ Great Job on the loss!

Talk to you all later,
Sherry