Friday
 

Peace, good luck, happy week end and thank you, to all who post here. I couldn't fight this fight without you PIC Divas. :grouphug: You all are wonderful in my book. :grouphug:

I took another day off for today. I have the time to take, but I just feel guilty taking it, knowing an officer has to be put on the desk in my place. But Squeak (my cat) is pretty bad sick and I have to take her back to the vet (yes, again). I could only get an early afternoon appointment, (which interferes with my shift) so I originally asked my nephew to meet me there and then I'd go on to work (and he could take Squeak home). But with gas prices as they are, and his HUGE truck, I decided I'd just take the day off and go by myself. No sense dragging us both out.

I had gained three (of seven lost) pounds back since my week end went to pot and I took two days off (four total) and mostly pouted, ate and played on the computer Tuesday and Wednesday. But mysteriously (and "freakily") those pounds dropped off and this morning there's even an extra one gone! I was 228 this morning. The lowest I've ever seen in years. TOM came too, I think. Which is almost a week early by my estimates. The meds I was on, must have messed my cycle up. So I suppose this could be a "whoosh" and may come right back on. But since I've nothing else to do today but wait until it's time to take Squeak to the vet, I'll go ahead and change my tracker for now. Maybe it will help to keep me motivated. :^:

Congrats Turtle. Somehow, I managed to lose a pound this week as well. My eating has certainly not been perfect and I haven't been to the gym since last weekend. I'm on call this weekend as well although the day is getting off to a slow start. I just got my first consult so I guess it is time to get my butt in gear. I will talk to you all later.

I really need to get back to my regular life. There is unfortunately not much I can personally do about what is going on in the Gulf regardless of how upset I am about it. I called the airline again today and believe it or not, they will still not refund my money. I have to call again on Monday or Tues. before my scheduled departure time despite the fact that EVERYONE knows there will be no commercial flights going into that airport for weeks or months. They are playing a ridiculous game with us. I think they are hoping people will just get frustrated and give up and they won't have to refund their money.

Yeah Turtle! just jump back on the beach... You can do it!!

I need to stop staying up all night watching the news.. cuz i end up falling alseep on the sofa and now i cant turn my head cuz i have a big kink in my neck!

yesterday when i went to exercise my arms felt like they had lead in them... i am wondering.. if i am having a lactic acid build up in my body from the metformin.. but i read up and they say only one in 30,000 have this side effect... so maybe im just tired..

Curly-go to bed, get some rest. I doubt you have lactic acid build up. I was talking to one of our social workers today and she was saying she is starting to have bad dreams from watching the news. I just get myself so upset I start crying. Yesterday, there were scenes in New Orleans of places I have actually been. I recognized the buildings. They even showed a hotel I stayed in. I think someone was trying to break into one of the windows of the hotel.

Somebody sent this to me..It is a good read...even if you are not doing WW.
Lisa

50 Ways to Make Weight Watchers Work for You.
Mar 11 '03

The Bottom Line Weight Watchers works but it requires focus and commitment, but so does everything that you really want in life, right?

Since this is my 50th review here on Epinions, I thought I'd write about one of my favorite topics.... Weight Watchers. Since I've been on again/off again on Weight Watchers for the last 12 years, I thought maybe I can share a thing or two with you guys about Weight Watchers.

Here are my 50 Thoughts on Weight Watchers and how I Have Succeeded Thus Far! I wouldn't say that all of these tips are Weight Watchers related but combine all the tips and tricks with the program and you can SUCCEED on Weight Watchers too!!

1. Journal journal journal. You absolutely cannot keep track mentally of what you consume on a daily basis. You are bound to forget that handful of pretzels or that snickerdoodle. Write it down and own up to eating it. BITE IT WRITE IT!

2. Drink drink drink. Sip water all day. Eventually it adds up to the required 6 glasses you need. Not only will you feel more full at mealtime, your body will be happy because it is hydrated.

3. Have a glass of soda when hunger strikes. This is a personal tip I use to curb hunger. A diet Pepsi is sweet enough to curb my longing for a treat and the carbonation will help you feel satisfied.

4. Buy precut, pre-bagged finger veggies like carrots and peppers. Then when you feel a need to gorge on food, you can gorge on these for crunch and for a satisfying VOLUME of food. This only works if you need massive quantities of food, not if you have a chocolate attack.

5. Buy bagged salads. They are infinitely better than a head of iceberg lettuce. It adds a touch of gourmet flair to your meal and gives you more vitamins and nutrition than plain old varieties of lettuce. And they are delicious. Shoot for baby greens and arrugula blends.

6. Buy grape tomatoes instead of large beefsteak ones. They look better tossed in salad, they are sweeter and they don’t need to be cut. Also, they are good snacking foods!

7. Buy I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter butter spray. It is very low in calories and provides the same great taste as regular margarine.

8. Use Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone for point values of tons of popular restaurants and for snack ideas. Her website is www.dwlz.com

9. Air pop your popcorn instead of buying microwave popcorn. Then add the butter spray and you get TONS more popcorn for less points.

10. Buy Skinny Cow flying saucers when you want flavor variety for your dessert. Weight Watchers, I’ve found, only come in vanilla and chocolate. Skinny Cow brand comes in those two flavors AND coffee, strawberry, and strawberry cheesecake. And all for just 2 points!

11. Use the Weight Watchers Just 2 Points bars for your treats! They are delicious and they are packed with fiber.
12. Buy the Weight Watchers Fruities treats. A whole pack is 2 points. And they are the perfect treat for the movies.

13. Cook with fat free chicken broth. It adds flavor and is no points.

14. Don’t deprive yourself. Don’t switch to skim milk in your coffee. Simply pour yourself a cup of coffee instead of a mug of coffee and then measure 1 points’ worth of creamer!

15. Buy a scale. I genuinely recommend the Weight Watchers scale. It weighs in grams and in ounces (and I have used both settings). Nothing is more of a reality check than actually seeing what 4 ounces of chicken really looks like!

16. Measure everything! Measure your creamer. Measure your margarine. Measure your rice! Going overboard just a little on things adds up in the end.

17. Don’t cut up all your food at once when eating. Cut each piece as you go along. This seems simple but sometimes it is easier to cut up your entire piece of chicken at one shot but don’t do it! Cut as you eat!

18. Make cauliflower your friend!! When cooked until soft, you can mash it and add lots of fun stuff like reduced fat cheese, garlic, broccoli… and then you can bake it!! It has the same consistency as mashed potatoes!

19. Handle buffets better by only eating things that are special for instance, instead of gorging on the sausage and peppers (ordinary) or the baked ziti (also just ordinary), help yourself to the dishes you wouldn’t normally prepare yourself! This way it is more of a treat to be at the buffet and not just another meal. Have picatta, marsala, any fish, the filet mignon…. Whatever is unique to you so that your indulgence is not wasted on the ordinary.

20. Eat more shellfish! Shrimp is unbelievably low in points especially for the volume you get! And it’s good for you! Enjoy scallops too! These are low fat high protein and LOW POINT alternatives for dinner.

21. Don’t deprive yourself of indulgence. If you really want that dessert (cheesecake, carrot cake, etc) order it to share with someone. Then take the FIRST bite and while you are appreciating that, let the other person eat the rest and save the LAST bite for you! In essence, you really only taste the first initial bite of something and you really only remember the last so save yourself all those calories and fat in between!

22. Find a friend you can share your successes and setbacks with. This person does not have to be on program, they just need to be there for you when you need someone to talk to and bounce things off of. I found that the friends I made at my meetings were the best to talk to!

23. Recognize that each moment stands alone and that no one binge or one gorged meal wrecks anything! It is part of living and learning and that a bad eating decision doesn’t have to snowball into a weeks long or months long setback. It’s like riding a bike, when you fall down, you get right back up!! You don’t walk the bike 10 miles up the road and THEN get back on! You get back on right away! Consider each moment as just that and know that you never really go OFF program. Weight Watchers allows you to incorporate setbacks into your lifestyle without punishment and guilt.

24. Make informed decisions. Use the points calculator to figure out exactly how much something is valued at. Don’t guess. Knowing exactly how many points a food item is allows you to fit it into your daily intake without sacrificing it and without overdoing it.

25. EXERCISE! Exercise works to benefit you in many ways. It helps you to lose weight, build muscle, burn fat, AND it enables you to eat more if you choose to! Activity points can be added onto your daily intake so the more you exercise, the more you can eat (but seriously, make it a heathly intake so that you can truly benefit).

26. Build more activity into your lifestyle. Walk more, climb the stairs more, stretch your legs more. MOVE MORE! Any movement is better than no movement.

27. Experiment with new recipes. Be creative in the kitchen (like I said with the cauliflower!). Try root vegetables, try different squashes, try different potatoes, try flatbreads instead of chips.

28. Buy reduced calorie light bread.

29. Drink flavored hot tea as an afternoon indulgence. It is no points!

30. Order your Chinese food steamed with your sauce on the side. You will be able to eat much more and you will feel so much less bloated from the MSG and salt.

31. For a sweet treat, try to find Barry’s Bakery French Twists. They are one point each and are a true sweet treat!

32. Treat yourself to frozen yogurt (there is a Weight Watchers brand that you may be able to find at a shoppe). It is fabulous and treat yourself to the chocolate sprinkles!

33. Switch from skim milk to Skim Plus if it is available in your area. It tastes great and it packs more nutrition.

34. Buy Fat Free, Sugar Free Jello chocolate pudding to satisfy your nighttime chocolate cravings. It needs NO time to set when mixed!

35. Weight in at meetings. Don’t skip a weigh in if you think you gained weight. You must own it!

36. Prepay for the 10 weeks. It makes a mental difference on your commitment level.

37. Don’t hang out in your kitchen. You will only hear the pantry calling for you. Move to the den!

38. Avoid buying the junk food if possible. You truly can NOT eat it if it isn’t in the house. Save your indulgences for when you eat out. Make them special instead of the norm.

39. Eat a small protein within half an hour of exercising. This helps your body’s metabolism work better.

40. Avoid those quick energy bars as snacks. Eat them only if you plan on using that energy for activity! If not, it is nothing more than an empty carb that you could probably have better enjoyed somehow else.

41. READ LABELS when shopping! Make sure you check the fat content and the carbohydrate content. You don’t want to eat TOO much sugar! Bring your points finder with you to help you make the right choices for you.

42. Understand serving sizes. If the label says that a serving is 40 grams, then measure those 40 grams out so you familiarize yourself with what 40 grams actually looks like.

43. Do NOT punish yourself for a weight gain one week. That sets off a snowball effect that could take you YEARS to get under control. Instead, try to change one thing in the next week to counteract your gain.

44. STAY FOCUSED. Your goal is to lose weight and get healthy! The occasional trip to McDonalds is ok and the occasional chocolate bar is fine but IN MODERATION. Keep focused on the end result and the good choices will counter balance the poorer or weaker ones in the long run.

45. Don’t think of yourself as constantly “on a diet”. This is a setup to failure because it categorizes you and if you decide to have something not considered “dietary”, then you feel like you cheated. You NEVER cheat! You DECIDE! Weight Watchers is built in such a way that it incorporates every food into a point value and YOU get to DECIDE how to spend those points. But trust me, using your points daily for McDonald’s is going to be a slower weight loss than grilled chicken points.

46. You cannot eat unlimited amounts of zero point foods. 0 + 0 + 0 does not necessarily equal 0. Every food has calories and if you eat unmeasured unlimited amounts of zero point foods, they ultimately total up to a calorie count that warrants a point. Just be careful.

47. Use Weight Watchers.com for help with recipes! They have wonderful ideas for low point recipes that I have used.

48. Try Weight Watchers.com etools to figure out the point values for your home recipes and for online journaling if you hate writing down your food and are married to your computer! Online journaling has a database of food point values so it makes it easy to figure out your daily points.

49. BUY THE FOOD COMPANION. This is priceless. I use it as my bible. You may also want the Dining Out Guide.

50. Live your life! It isn’t about what you eat and don’t eat, it’s about making food choices on your own and putting the power in your own hands. It’s CONTROL. You control what you eat, when you eat and how much you eat. Just account for everything and you will see where you can cut back, eliminate, and enhance and you WILL lose weight!


Well, I didn't think I'd really have 50 things to say but frankly, I could probably have gone on with a few more! I have lost 76 pounds to date and am shooting for 10 more but trust me, these last 10 ain't easy!

Good luck to you! Weight Watchers is there to help, not just as a business but as a support group. Find that great leader that inspires you and you will succeed.

Hi everyone.....

Lisa......My heart goes out to you and your sister and family. From your post and your sister's condition, it does sound as though her end might be near. I hope she is not suffering. Keep us updated, sending you big {{hugs}}.

Curly......The news is never ending with one tradegic story after another. My dh stayed up until gone 2am last night trying to make sense of it. It is so overwhelming and I cannot believe that the food and water is taking so long not to mention the 'promised aide'.

Hotcup......Early TOM? yuck. How did your appt go with Squeak? I had both of our pets into the vets yesterday. Our dog has a wild rash/staph infection causing lesions all over her tummy and legs. And my cat, needed her blood pressure meds renewed. What a day....just when I get over them shaving her paw for the blood pressure test....she throws up and pooh's in her cat carrier. She is definitely not a car rider!! :nono:

L2L......good for you to stay away from those nasty donuts!!! Not sure if you're doing ww's or not, but one glazed donut is 5 pts. AND WHO CAN ONLY HAVE ONE!!! STAY AWAY!!! :lol:

I made it to the gym again today....( :cp: yeah for me) and although I hated the instructor for the step class, I made it through 3/4 of the class and then did 45 min on the treadmill. :tread: I was totally getting mixed up with her routine and she was of no help to correct the class. grrrrr that darn Rebecca!! :flame: I'm off to a party tonight, so I will eat/supplement with good foods before I go....that way less temptation!!! Have a great friday, long weekend!!

lol im having breakfast for dinner....waffles made from whole wheat flour.. with a lil turkey bacon on the side!!

Good Morning!

I am going to WI in a few minutes and then to the gym to work out. I did make it last night and did the elipitcal for an hour last night and a few abs weight machines. We are going to sil's house to help build a fence. We are headed to the farmers market too. I am not sure if I lost this week or not. I only count my official WI but my scale at home seems stuck. LOL I know it weighs me more at home than it does at WW. Same with the scale at work. Ok, I admit..I am scale addicted. I really want out of the 220's and work toward my goal of onderland by Halloween. I journaled well this week and got in my exercise. I am hoping that is enough. I ate more heavy meat this week early...with all the left overs we had. Told dh..I can't do that anymore. So we will see if the scale is good to me this week.

Lisa
Wyoming

I made it to the gym last night for the first time in a week. Did my upper body weights, abs, and 35 minutes on the treadmill. I'm going to plan on getting back into that more regularly. It looks like things are getting a little better in the Gulf. People are starting to discuss the race issue. I can't believe that anyone really doesn't see this. Does anyone really believe we would let rich white people die in the streets like animals? The sad thing is, I'm sure this isn't even at a conscious level for many of our elected officials but it has been part of their cultural upbringing and they don't realize what they are doing.

Im at work... sigh i decided i cant deal with trying to get my mandatory 5 hours of overtime throughout the week... it just wears me out... So i will try to get the 5 today, and be done with it for the week...

I think they would also let poor white people die... I think its a money issue... it just so happens that the majority of the poor in NO are african american.. either way its just sickening!


Lisa: Ive noticed that when i eat more protein i tend to lose.. so maybe the meat wont hurt u..

Turtle: whats up there???? focus on your acheivements... and jump back on the beach... We are gonna make it to our goal !!!

haha dont know what my goal is but... i'm gonna keep pluggin away till i get there!

Hi everyone.....

Back from the gym with a good solid workout under my belt. I was there bright and early. It was a great body sculpting class and then I did a great walk on the treadmill. I can't believe I sweat so much during the class!! That makes 5 days in a row that I was at the gym for a class and treadmill. Next week the new schedule starts and I can't wait. The party was good last night. I made sure I ate a little snack before going so I wouldn't over eat and it worked!! I only ate 1 small pc of pizza and it sure tasted so good. I've never eaten anything so slowly and with such savour. Dh is out with the boys and I've had the afternoon to putz around and do whatever I want. LOVE THOSE DAYS!!! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their long weekend.

Curly......Hang in there girlfriend!! 5 hrs every week? that just sucks!! Hope the day goes FAST for you.

Petra......Good job on going to the gym. Sounds like a great workout.

Lisa...... I'm with you....I want out of the 220's....210's and the whole 200's!!!! We can do this!! You know it just dawned on me.....how much I love reading and watching tv specials on 'success stories'. I want to be my OWN success story!!!

ME 2!!! I wanna be 199 sooooooo bad!


this is rent week.. so not much left over for groceries, but i am gonna see what i can get that will s-t-r-et-ch lol maybe a good chili week! the last time i made it with an assortment of beans and it was pretty good and stretched out for @ 4 days .. lol

Checking in from work...
 

Hello. I had to leave Squeak at the hospital Friday and over night. But I picked her up this morning before work and she seems to be doing better. They said she had a soft tissue injury to her front leg from playing Psycho Cat/Mountain Lion on my head board (sticking her paws down in behind the bed trying to attack me when she was feeling better) and she has a systemic infection which they are treating her for. The systemic infection, which I guess they mean is everything is infected (she had a temp of 105) made the soft tissue injury worse. She does seem a lot better, but I nearly got sick when they told me the bill was $238.00. Holy Stretched Out Checkbook, Batman! At least I had it to spend. But I told the receptionist that Squeak better start laying golden eggs to earn her keep. This makes over four hundred dollars spent on this stray just since March! I took her home and she ate like a little piggy, drank some fresh water and was sleeping in the window, soaking up some afternoon sun, when I left for work.

My weight is down to an all new low. But sadly, it's from not eating well, or at all. I'm trying to settle my nerves and mood back into an even keel. And will probably need to stop for a few groceries tonight (which will hopefully get me back on track and program). I want to refocus and start South Beach over and try to get myself to exercise. I've NOT been able to add that back in successfully yet. :?:

Two day week end coming up. I only worked two days this week, but thankfully am paid for five. I'm glad I have the days to spend. Now if I can just find someone to invite me to watch the Mountaineer game tomorrow. My brother has a new house and a big screen TV. I hope he invites me. Anyone gonna watch it? I'll bring some diet pop and uhhh eggs (I've got lots of eggs) :^: :^: hint hint hint.

I hope everyone is doing great and has a spectacular week end. Jay can't afford to come and see me this week end. Gas is up to $3.38 here, so I guess I can't blame him. But it's going to be a lonely holiday. Check you all later. Hang in there! :wave: :grouphug: :wave: :grouphug:

uh.....
 

Okay....this might sound a little dumb, but what is ' the mountaineer game?' :?:

Sorry
 

WVU (West Virginia University) and thier mascot is the mighty Mountaineer. You know, Davy Crocket lookin' dude. Coon skin cap, wearing buck skins, musket? Sorry... :smug: Let's Gooooooooooooo Mountaineers! We're playing Syracuse (New York)

Oh, and that's a football game... btw