linda, enjoy your popcorn. i haven't had any in a couple of weeks or so because of dental work. that's behind me now. i may have popcorn, too, but not tonight cuz of wi in the am. let us know what day you choose for your wi.

lindanh, you're a smart gal. what a great idea letting dd get her pampering. let us know what you come up with in the dessert department. i have my fork in hand.

angela, congratulations on losing that lb. now be careful not to get too low. isn't that a wonderful problem?

kathy, you'll probably find more lucy stuff coming from me. i have a neverending supply of goofiness. your soup sounds yummy. have fun today. congratulations on being down 2 lbs. that's awesome!

Hi all,

Linda, you asked people why they WI on weekdays. I WI on Tuesday only because it happened to be the day they have a WW meeting near my home at a convenient time. I don't have a sense of eating more on the weekend -- just different 'cuz usually there's social events and such - so WI earlier in the week verus later doesn't seem to matter. I definitely eat lighter on Monday and during the day on Tuesday, but that's just me freaking out over the prospect of being weighed and it would happen regardless of the day I WI. I have a whole ritual involving what I wear, my cutoff for drinking water, drinking coffee (for the diuretic), etc, that I do on Tuesdays.

LindaNH - you go girl with those recipes. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the cake you're considering works. BTW, I'm considering making my own Doritos. I got the idea when toasting a 0 point tortilla in the oven for tostadas. Spray the tortilla on both sides with Pam, cut it up into chips, season it, pop it in the oven til it's crispy. If it works, I'm thinking that several of these tortillas would only be a few points and I can have chips and guacamole. I've already made oven fries that were amazing (I seriously like them better than mcD's) and someone at my WW meeting told me to make oven chips out of baking potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets and other root vegetables. You just need a kitchen gizmo that will slice thin enough. She says her family loves them too. I haven't tried yet 'cuz I'm not a big chip person, but they sound good.

I agree with you about needing to feel excited about food. I absolutely love the core, partially because you can eat til your full, but also because the food I'm eating now is better than what I was eating before. However, I spend WAY MORE time shopping and cooking than I ever have. I've amassed a huge collection of core recipes and in all the time I've been doing WW I have never repeated a recipe. I go back into my recipe file and rate them, so someday when I run out of new recipes, I can repeat the very best of what I've tried. I talk to people at my WW meetings and am amazed that they eat basically the same thing most of the time. Outside of breakfast, I don't think I could do that. Certainly not long term.

Frouf, you can get to 40 by Labor Day. You're making good choices and hopefully your weather will break so you can go back to walking. I was at one of those management classes where they tell you that you have to write down your goals or they are just wishes. Well girlfriend, you did it. Now make it so.

Angela, you are such a fun mom. You come up with all these cool things to do. I would have never thought about making sand.

Vickie - I heard your sigh of relief all the way here. I'm glad your Jim is back home. And this is for you-know-what.

Kathy - how wonderful that your DS is getting the job. And too bad for your dh. Funny how married people seem to share everything, even the sleep troubles.

Melissa, thanks for the kudos. I hope a brace helps your knees. Some people think that a gazelle or an elliptical is different enough from running that you don't need to take the same precautions as when you walk or run. I think anytime you are bearing weight on your knees, you need to take care. Wow, I'm feeling so middle-aged right now!

Everyone else, thank you for your support. Have a thoroughly core Thursday.

Peace.

I want to go live at Angela's house and get prizes for reading and shake pebbles in cans, visit the zoo, see concerts and make paint - I promise I won't fight or argue or be contrary in any way???

Kaputo - that soup stuff sounds great - I hope you do well at your lunch and congrats to your ds on getting that job! He must be so relieved. Cpngrats on the 2 lbs down - and I don't think one COKE will do too much damage.

As for Melissa's 7 yr old brother - I know that sometimes people probably think I am the grandma to the 6 yr old and not his mom (how insulting is that!). Just love those school meetings when all the sweet young moms are there and then I show up! (hopefully the gray roots have been successfully covered and the wrinkle creams are working!).

I have never made my own tortilla chips - but I know you can make pita chips that way - but I am too lazy so I usually keep some ready made garlic pita chips in house - for those moments when I need something to salsa dip.

LindaNH - my dd is 13 1/2 (going on 20) and I did offer some other "suggestions" as to hair - but she is bound and determined to get it done black - or even black w/red streaks (and I mean real red as in apples, not red as in red/orangey hair) - seems she prefers non-traditional hair colors go figure! I think I agree that this is not a battle I want to continue - so I did say I would bring her with me to my hairdresser for a cut ($$$) and I know her intent is to dye the hair a couple of days later in advance of the big grad dance on the 28th.

Also looking forward to any core cake recipes you come up with! (or even muffins or ??)

Almost time for the lunchtime bbq - I am planning to eat a banana soon to try and avoid eating anything "unfriendly".

Vickie - hope the MRI and WI went well - waiting to hear good news from you!

Froufie

I found this on the web and had to post it.

If you eat a live toad first thing in the morning,
nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day. -- (Unknown)

Hi everyone:

I'm trying to swim up out of a funk I've been in since I got up this morning. Usually some coffee and a walk will bring me out of most things, but I felt like I was dragging a concrete block along with me today. I didn't know it was possible to feel sleepy and anxious at the same time, but I do. I'm pretty sure it's mostly hormonal, but there's not much I can do about that.

It didn't help that my dh got really uptight with ds this morning and then with me for not being bright and cheerful about it. He's blaming everyone but himself about being late for work the last couple of days, but it really is his own fault. He can't stand around for an hour and micromanage the kids and me and still get through the bathroom on time. Now he wants to wake ds up at 5:30 every morning, which was basically the only time I had to myself all day. Hopefully things will get back to something like normal when we get used to our new camp schedule and money issues subside a little.


I liked your post, Linda, it really does pay to sit down and think in the long term about eating once in a while. I've been feeling kind of deprived and envious here and there lately, too. I haven't really gotten out of comfort eating mode. It used to be a regular thing that I would battle anxiety with a bag of chips or a trip to a fast food place, and I just have to fight that urge now. You're doing great.

I'm learning a lot from everyone's kid experiences, too. I think it's wonderful the way you all work to find some way of keeping on and compromising without backing down on the important stuff.

I'm going to just try and shake this mood swing off. There's no point in wallowing. Anybody know where I can get a toad? We just have lizards here and they're too hard to catch.

Good thing it's lunchtime -- this one looks nice and juicy! Bon appetit!!!

Now, I just knew you guys would come through for me.

This is going to take a lot of ketchup. Good thing it's Core. The ketchup I mean. The CFC is strangely silent on the subject of Toad.

!!!!!

Angela

terry, what a hoot!!!! i'll have to remember that and tell dh.

frouf, i'm like you and need some cakes.


cher and kathy, ya'll are toooooo funny! thank you for the laugh. i needed it.

i had my am at the spa and my nails are radiant. life is goood. i just finished icing a bday cake for a party tonight--and i didn't lick my finger once. aren't you shocked?

have a good day.

Okay, okay, I'll be good. I'll put away the goodies. Boy, you guys aren't even doing this at me, and I can feel it already. I had to make bar cookies for a church thing tonight, and I was eating up the ugly ones while surfing online, but I'll stop. They're like chewy gingersnaps (yum!), but I'll be good and put them away.

Angela

angela, boink boink--hug hug. i'm glad you put them away. did you put them far enough away, though. that's the question.

Well, I'm baaaacccckkkk! And...I'm grinning from ear to ear and have chuckled my way through many posts. MRI is over and with the valium I managed to make it through. It really hurt though because they had to strap my elbow and fingers down palm up. Even straight hurts but palm up hurts alot. So by the end of the 45 minutes my elbow was in real pain and my hand was numb. But....it's over and I have heaved several deep sighs of relief. I can't tell you how much you all mean to me. Really virtual strangers but in many ways some of the most supportive friends that I have. On top of everything, I'm taking my hormones and am in the throes of PMS so I'm sure that the sleep disturbances and worry were worsened by my hormones. It so hard to be a girlie!

Now I am SO behind on my posts but I have to at least hit all the high points. First of all......

Congratulations Terry!!!!!!!

5.6 pounds in one week after you have been on program so long is just absolutely amazing! You are an inspiration to me. I used to love Taste of Chicago when I worked downtown but I'm going to avoid that and the rest of them for a while. You must be a North side girl since most of them are up that way.

Angela, you give me great hope that I too will be able to maintain some day as well as you are. Congratulations on yet another pound down. You are a great Mom and a great friend to all of us.

Kathy, I am so happy for DS. He's a pepper, drink Dr. Pepper! So you were down 2 pounds overnight?! Share the secret girlfriend! Woo Hoo! So what's up with the regular Coke? I thought there was a diet Coke you liked? Still not as good as the sugar kind?

Frouf, 40 pounds by Labor Day is doable. I'm shooting for 52 pounds by the third week in September. Let's go for it together!

Cher, money worries are awful. I'm sure that's what's bothering your DH. He's just picking on DS and you because he doesn't want to think/deal with the money stuff. You guys will pull through this. I just came out a bad funk myself so I understand where you are. Actually, aside from all the amazing support that I got here, the thing that helped the most was the treadmill. I NEVER thought I would say it but exercise did relieve some of my stress. That and the fact that my Niece came over with my Great Niece and Nephew yesterday. Chasing and playing with them was lots of fun and distracting!

Linda, I weigh in on Thursdays because when I retired my Leader from downtown did a meeting on Thursday evenings near my house. She's left now and so I'm actually shopping for a new meeting. I'm thinking about doing a Friday at noon meeting because if I overeat a bit on the weekend, I'll have time to get rid of the bloat and have extra exercise before my next weigh in. I think the key for you may have to be that you find some other way to comfort yourself besides food. This is something that I still struggle with myself, that's why I can recognize it. Today I'm having pizza (cracker thin crust and veggies) which is something I've only done once before since being on Core. I've had a stressful week and I just want it really bad. Having said that though I've been largely successful at finding other Core foods to comfort me. For me, it's Farina with splenda and smart balance or roasted potatoes with garlic and olive oil. For you, it might be the couscous. Try to find some new healthier options if you can. Or maybe try exericize instead. Or a bubble bath. Or read a book. Go to a movie. Kiss Frank.......! You know we love you and wish we could help.

Melissa, my Sisters are 9 years older and 14 years older than me. People used to think my oldest Sister was my Mother. Of course, she though it was funny and played along.

Sandra, do you have sassy fingers AND toes?

NH Linda, count me in if you find a way to make any kind of apple cake. I so miss my Mom's apple spice cake. You mentioned missing crackers and crunch. I posted a recipe my Niece concocted from the Suzanne Somers program to make FF cheese into crackers using the microwave. I've actually eaten them and surprisingly they get crunchy and even more surprising they taste pretty good. I'll look for the link because they are on our board.

Ok, enough is enough. My post is HUGE so time to close.

Terry, your blinks are magic. I weighed in at noon and lost 1.2 for a total of 41.2. 10.8 to go by September 22nd (14 weeks).

Thanks everyone for all your support the last couple of days. You are all just the best!

Yeah Vickie!
Not only did you make it through a stressful week, but you managed to lose weight, too!!! That's amazing!!! Now enjoy your pizza and don't think a thing about it. Sounds tasty, and you deserve it!

Just a fast answer -- I was on my way to work, so stopped by a fast-food place to get a regular Coke. Can't get that Coke Zero in a fountain drink, which is a darn shame because it is really good. And no secret to the loss -- I'm sure it'll be back tomorrow morning!

Congrats on that loss!! You go! I might not go back -- you know at the place where I was going, they round the loss. I don't like that at all! I want to know the tenths! I'll be busy again Saturday morning, so Saturdays aren't going to work. Week nights don't work either, so maybe Sunday afternoon? Oh well.

NH Linda, how does this look to you? I thought it sounded pretty darn good and all Core! There were a bunch of other "cakes" on Barbos Diet kitchen. I tried to share the link of my search but it wouldn't take. You go to www.barbosdietkitchen.com and change the time period (I always click the furthest back option rather than typing in the date when Core started). Then below you chose select all words from the drop down menu. Then type Core cakes, or Core muffins, or Core chicken, etc. You get a list of links to recipes with Core and those titles or ingredients in the title. There were alot of muffins too. You have to be careful though. Some things came up from pre-Core (August 04) and I'm not sure why. Some are Core plus some points. It may be worth it though.

Core Banana Loaf
1 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup nonfat powdered milk
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. vanilla
5 tsp. Splenda
4 egg whites
1 pureed banana

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and divide into 3 small loaf pans (or one regular sized one). Spray the pan(s) with Pam first. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes if pans are dark or non-stick. Bake for 30 minutes if glass

This next recipe wasn't listed in conjunction with the banana loaf, but I spread it on and it was like having carrot cake with cream cheese icing (a girl can dream, can't she??). This is also good as a fruit dip.

"Cheesecake" Pudding
Mix a 16 oz container of fat free sour cream and add one package of FF SF white chocolate pudding mix to it until blended.