Afternoon, all.
I could only wish I were as good as Summer. Okay, I ate the hamburger and hot dog without the bun, which is actually rather typical of me. But I fear I fell prey to some fresh cut not deep fried potatoes. The place does something different to them, so they look and taste like fries... not sure what. And they cut them in front of you.
Okay... that was AFTER 2 hours at the gym (I was there for 3 hours, but I spent 40 minutes of the 3 hours talking to another lifeguard on duty about teaching swimming... he's a music teacher year-round, and works Sundays at the gym). Maybe that isn't too bad. The hot dogs were all beef and low fat (I checked... some of the hot dogs use chicken in them), and the burgers were 93% lean beef... All told, I'm still negative calories (if I finish the french fries, which is doubtful, I'm stuffed)... the stuff I ate was 745 calories; I burned over 1000 calories at the gym. :shrug:
I'm going to go hide now, because I really do feel guilty over those potatoes. I shouldn't, because its not like I gorged or binged... or even that I do this often. But I do. Oh well.
And Robyn: I think I'm just going to put the sausage and the kraut in the pot with some water and seasoning... salt and pepper, really...and go to town. I normally cook this sausage by boiling it, so I can't see the point of browning it first. I don't like this kind of sausage browned or broiled... I only like it boiled.
Hope things are calming a little for your family, and things continue in a better fashion!
:mouse:

Robyn: Oh I feel so sorry for you and your family. Suicide is always so difficult because the person made the choice to die. People are not only grieving but feel angry and guilt (thinking they should have known and been able to do something). My best friend's husband committed suicide eight years ago and it is still hard to deal with. I will be sending good vibes to give you strenth to get through this.

Ginny - So glad your test came out well. I haven't experienced that joy yet but I am sure it is just a matter of time!

Mouse: Do you think you are not losing because you aren't eating enough food? You are so limited, I can't imagin that you get enough of what you need. Maybe your body is going into starvation mode and trying to convert everything to fat to substain you. I don't do the no carb thing but I think when they figure out the carbs in something they take the amount of sugar and subtract the amount of fiber in it. That is why low carb bread and pasta has so much fiber. I think as far as the sugar buzz, you need to worry about the glycemic index. I don't know what prunes are but raisins are 64 and I would think they were similar. I think that is pretty middle of the road.

Summer - It is funny that you use to wake up hungry and now you don't. I never use to be able to eat food in the morning. The thought of it would just about gag me. Then I read that if you wanted to lose weight you should eat within one hour of waking to kick start your matabalism. It about killed me at first but now I am starving if I don't eat breakfast fairly soon after waking. I can't believe your dm had to deal with that when she was 10! That is the age of my dd and it breaks my heart to think of her discovering one person hurt let alone two dead. That was a terrible thing for her to have to deal with.

Sue

Evening Ladies,
Not much to report here. Just other Sunday that my dumb dh decided to pick a fight with me over my weight and working out. All of this before I went to church this morning. He has since said he was sorry, but the wounds have been opened again and probably wouldn't close for a couple days about his comments to me. So Summer I am glad that your dh is being supportive and eating the same foods as you are and helping you lose your weight. Give me a hug for me, I wish my dh would be a little more supportive. Congrats on not giving in to the pizza and birthday cake yesterday. Hope you enjoyed your family cookout today!
Robyn, hugs and loving thoughts and prayers are being sent your way. It is always hard when you lose a loved one. But it is harder when there is a lot of unanswered questions surrounding their passing. I know what you mean about the lack of $$$$'s. We are feeling it this summer too. I think that is what was wrong with my dh this morning, so he lashed out at me. Hope your boys and dh aren't driving you too crazy today.
Mouse, don't beat yourself up over the potatoes. You need to splurge a little bit every once in awhile. You have been doing so good watching your food intake, that little bit of potatoes isn't going to hurt you, is it?
Sue, how was the campground you checked out? My stepkids want to start going camping. But with little extra cash, this is not the summer we are going to be able to buy the gear to take them. Since I didn't work the summer school, there went my little bit of extra cash.
Ginny, glad that your test went fine. I bet that makes you feel better. I will have to go through that in 8 more years, thanks to my dear old dad. I have to confess here lately I haven't been doing my walking videos since the vcr/dvd player in the living room is broke at the moment. But I have been taking walks around town. My dh seems to think that those don't really count as excerise like my walking videos.
Well I better go and either take a bike ride or go for a long walk.
By the way, I think my dh earned the loser award for the day. After listening to him moan and hollar about my weight this morning, were does he take me for lunch today? He took me to Taco Bell. I got two spicy chicken soft tacos and a bowl of pinto beans to eat. Needless to say, I got a spoon and just eat what was inside the tacos and left the soft taco shell. Then he had the nerve to ask me why I wasn't eating much today. Men are such friggin' idiots.
Hope you all have a safe 4th of July!
Take care,
Kerry

Hi, again.
Kerry: Thanks. You're probably right. I went back through the 6 weeks of food logs, and except for one day (I think it was my birthday, too... I got taken to lunch AND dinner that day, even though I was very good both times calorically, the carb count was high...about 170), I've been 110 or less. The RDA for carbs is 200, so I'm definitely under that. My average across the month is 70 carbs per day (my goal was 65, so that isn't bad). Like I said, definitely not Atkins, but some of the stuff is hard to figure because very few of the carbs are from sugar, refined grain (or any grain) products, potatoes, carrots, or other high glycemic foods.
And its weird, too: I can have tomato juice and low-fat dairy, both of which are verboten on Atkins.
Sue: I'm not sure. That was a theory that was floated in November and why I initially went to see a nutrionist. She was very nice, but not a whole lot of help... She told me to do more whole grains, more protein, less refined carbs. I did that... but it didn't help much with weight loss and my nausea really got bad again in January/February... by April I was having real issues with it again, which is why they put me on this diet.
I take a multi-vitamin daily. Strangely enough, its actually a pre-natal vitamin because the contraceptives I take to balance some of the hormones, plus the other medication remove some nutrients from your body, and these were the only pills that had enough to replace that...
Its also possible that some of the "lack of weight loss" is because I really do have more muscle. People are commenting on it, and I know clothing that I wouldn't typically wear is now fitting better... But I wish I could get the scale to move!!!!! Its not like I'm not working: I was really sweating upstairs today when I was lifting!!!
I hope there is a good person teaching the water aerobics class tomorrow morning. I'd like to go lift weights, do the class, and maybe swim a bit... I won't have time to lift on Tuesday because I have to get fitted for the orthotics.
All: Money is a definite issue. I'm working, but not as much as normal so the salary isn't there. By the same token, I would go stir crazy if I sat in the house all day long and did nothing. So, I go to the gym which uses gas... and the library or the bookstore, sometimes go out with friends for food... I can't NOT do these things or I'll be seriously depressed. I'm really watching what I spend though.
:mouse:

Rob, how is everything? I know it won't be easy for a long time. Just don't forget to take care of yourself in the midst of everything.

Robyn cont., My plan for the cheapest way to spend the summer is to park it in my backyard. DD has her 15 foot ring pool to swim in alone or with friends. I put out bubbles and sidewalk chalk. We've got a basketball hoop, wiffle ball, and croquet. The rest is up to her and her friends. I either garden or read a book. Some days we go to the beach which also has a playground, mini golf, basketball courts, and tennis courts. None of this costs a penny except to feed lunch to our guests. So far this summer, we've been in our backyard, someone else's backyard, or the movies. The days that cost me money are those nasty rainy days. They should be outlawed during summer vacation! When things do calm down for your family, you may want to consider visiting Southbeachdiet.com. I don't know if it is necessary to join. I did because I wanted access to recipes and other stuff. We also have South Beach threads right here with support and ideas that I use.

Mouse, I tend to agree with Sue. My DS needs to lose over 100 pounds, has been eating less calories than me for years, and exercises (not as much as you though). She makes very little progress, and I think her body has gone into starvation mode. Your food issues are so unique. You really can't compare yourself to anyone else. All you can do is your best to follow the plan recommended for you. After that, I don't know the answer.

Kerry, I'm sorry your DH isn't making things easier or more pleasant for you. My DH may be on this diet with me, but he can still be a jerk. Just this morning when I told him I had lost another pound, his answer was, "Yeh, so what?" I wanted to punch him in the stomach. I just keep telling myself that when I'm skinny and hot, he might want to think twice about treating me like crap. :p Sometimes I really hate men. As my DD says, "Girls rule, boys drool."

Sue, I have always craved breakfast. I have a variety of different stomach problems, and when my stomach is empty, all the acids churn away at it. It just plain hurts when it is empty. During my pregnancy, even though I puked for 5 months, I still gained 30 pounds because I couldn't stand to have an empty stomach. So I'd puke then eat lots of carbs to keep the acids at bay.

:) We did great at the cookout at the beach. I spent the majority of the afternoon in Long Island Sound floating on my shell raft while the kids went crabbing. When dragged back to the beach house to eat, I did as I said I would. I had a hot dog and cheeseburger without buns with my baked beans and diet 7up. My DH and I were elected to make s'mores for the kids by the family matriarch even though we wouldn't be able to eat them. This ranked #1 in difficulty compared with the pizza/birthday cake temptation because he had to toast the marshmallows, and I had to assemble the chocolate and graham crackers. I HANDLED CHOCOLATE IN MY HANDS FOR 30 MINUTES WITHOUT EATING ANY. Another first in my 40 years of life. :smug: We socialized with everyone while all the kids played and stayed for fireworks. Fairfield's fireworks are tonite. But last night we could see Bridgeport's, Stratford's, Long Island's, and Norwalk's. DH lit some small ones on the beach, but the jaded children were nonplussed. DD and I watched in amazement however. Today, DD is swimming at her friend's new pool, and they will all probably end up at our house later and tonite.

One small announcement: Instead of pigging out yesterday, I was a good girl and lost one pound!!!

:) HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! :)

Happy July 4th everyone!
My dh admitted that he was under a lot of pressure and stress with this home improvement loan and how it is dragging on through out the summer. That is why he lashed out at me bout what I eat on Saturday. I told him that if he does it again, I am going to pack a bag and walk out the door for a little seperation period. That got his attention, but it was immediately followed with a comment about if you want to seprate from me, that is fine but we will go straight for a divorce. God I hate being the second wife at times. Because that is all he ever says when we have a nasty fight. I went for my 2 mile bike ride last night. Than he begged me to go for a walk with him, so we went for a 2 mile walk around town. I am talking to him again, but just really got my guard up. I will probably have it up for a few days. Thanks for letting me vent yesterday.
Mouse, glad to see that you didn't beat yourself up too much about the potatoes. I bet with in the next couple of weeks the weight will start to come off after your body is done forming some muscle. I will keep my fingers crossed that it happens for you. :)
Summer congrats on making the smores and not eating any of them. I think that would have been a very hard task for me, not to eat atleast one. Congrats on being down a pound. I hope that on Tuesday evening, the scales show a loss for me. If not, I will really cry after watching my diet a lot closer since last week's gain. There were fireworks in my area on Saturday and last night. My dh asked me if I wanted to go see them and I told him no. I just didn't feel like watching fireworks after the day I had with him yesterday. I think I got more kisses from him yesterday than I have since we got married. Enjoy your day!
Hi to Robyn, Ginny, Pam and Sue. Hope you are all having a wonderful day!
Take care,
Kerry

Gee I disappear for a day or so and this goes nuts here!!!
Not enough time to give anyone any justice with a response, but I did want to send my most sincere sympathy and love Robyn's way. What a sad thing to happen to a family- and I am sure that getting over this will not be easy. Hugs and prayers your way....
hope to get here later with some more time.
Ginny

Happy 4th, everybody. I spent the morning at the gym... did my workout upstairs, one of the machines was constantly in use, so I missed that one. Then I went downstairs and swam. There was a new member there trying to teach his wife to swim, and she got a charleyhorse, so I helped. I introduced myself and told htem I worked there... and got asked to help teach her to swim! I told her first thing: get rid of the noodle. If you use a noodle before you have balance, you'll go vertical. That's the point of float belts or any floatation device... if you stay vertical, your head is usually out of the water. About 10 minutes later she could do breast stroke about 2 feet... :) AND they're going to sign their son up for the parent-child class! :) Then I hung around because I promised the guard I'd keep her company for a little while... its tough to be the only guard for 6.5 hours... you can't leave to go to the bathroom or anything if there are people in the pool! You'd think that with the gorgerous weather (sunny, nice breeze, about 85) people wouldn't want to swim INDOORS. I do, because of all the medication that says to stay out of direct sunlight or tanning beds, but we all know I'm weird. :smug:
I guess I shouldn't get upset over the scale, but it IS hard, especially when people make nasty comments, which happens fairly often. Usually not quite as bad as the kid at the horticulture center, because adults are quieter, and less obvious. And of course, my friends at the gym or regular members at the gym always ask because they see me there ALL THE TIME... and I ALWAYS look the same.
I am also worried that if this doesn't work that my reproductive endo may decide the only thing that will work is gastric bypass surgery, and if SHE gives up, I'm not sure what I'll do. I see her next Tuesday. I know she wanted me to try this for 6 months and lose like 20 pounds. I've done almost 2 months and lost zero.
:mouse:

Evening Everyone,
I went to my MIL for lunch with two of my SIL's, one BIL, my MIL, two nephews and my crew. We had homemade green beans, potatoes and corn cooked together in a pot, cucumber salad, KFC chicken and raspberry cobbler. I was a good girl and ate two small pieces of chicken, a helping of the green beans with as little corn and potatoes as possible, some cucumber salad and a very small piece of cobbler. My MIL told me to cut myself a small piece, so I couldn't hurt her feelings. Then I came home and took a nap. My dh woke me up to ask me if I want to go up to his brother's to pick up the twins. I said no, I didn't feel like getting up yet. So I waited about 15 minutes after he left with my sdd and than got up. I just don't like going up to his house when it is so hot out. I can't hack the hot weather and their house is ten times hot than it is outside. All they do when we come to visit is watch tv, so I try to stay away because that bugs me.
Mouse sounds like you had a wonderful time working out and swimming this morning. That was so sweet of you to help that couple and teach the wife to swim. You are such a wonderful person. You go out of your way to help others. I done 15 minutes on my gazelle this morning and other 15 minutes using my dh's weight machine. I was going to squeeze 30 minutes on the excerise bike, but didn't get to it yet today. I might here in a little bit or go for a walk with my neighbor.
Ginny glad to see you popped in to visit us. So how did your weekend go for you?
Pam, where are you? We miss chatting with you. Hope all is well with you and your family.
Hello to Sue, Summer and Robyn.
Think I will wonder out to the kitchen and fix me something to eat for dinner. Talk to you all later.
Take care,
Kerry

Hi, all... I know, I know, two in one day again. I need to go back to work so I'm disappearing a bit more often. :)
Kerry: The green beans and corn dish sounds like something from my hometown in Lancaster. The Amish always make this green bean, potato and ham dish. Its pretty good, and if you used fresh corn, I bet it'd be even better. And I just LOVE fruit cobbler. I think I could eat it... I could make the filling with berries and splenda, afterall. I just have to come up with a substitute for the topping. Hmmm.
Maybe that peanut-butter "dough"? Any ideas?
I think I'll make the turkey sausage thing tomorrow... if I put it up to cook in the crock pot before I leave for the gym, it should be done by the time I come back from there and the appointment for the orthotics. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use the larger links or the small ones. The small ones are supposed to be "breakfast sausage", but they don't have as much seasoning as the larger links which are supposed to be "Italian"... but both taste good with just about anything, and since I really only like them boiled... I should have bought some smoked turkey or smoked turkey sausage to add for some flavor. Hmph. Oh well... this is good enough.
I'm going to put water, garlic, onion, and pepper for the stuff to cook in, and the juice from the sauerkraut. All the recipes said to drain the juice from the kraut and use chicken broth, but... :)
:mouse:

Robyn, I hope your family is coping with everything.

Mouse, You have 4 more months to make some progress...don't give up yet. And, to **** with anyone cruel enough to criticize your appearance. How dare they. Just ignore them knowing that they are ignorant jerks and don't deserve to have any control over your emotions.

Kerry, my DH was married for 6 months and then went through a painful divorce years before I met him. His exwife cheated on him with a friend in his wedding party. Nice, huh?! He had many emotional scars as a result. The first year of our marriage, he kept waiting for me to leave him. He didn't believe that I wouldn't abandon him. He would purposely act like a jerk so that he could hurt me before I could hurt him. I actually took the birth of our DD four years later before he began to get comfortable with me. He still has his moments of what DD calls "temper tantrums" or being rude. Depending on my mood, sometimes I (verbally) fight back, but what gets his attention more is if I walk away and ignore him. A few days ago, as a matter of fact, I brought up our anniversary. He assumed that I wanted to go away and spend lots of money and started acting like a jerk. I just wanted to go out for dinner and a movie, but he didn't give me a chance to say that. I didn't like his attitude, so I went in the house and cursed him under my breath. He ended up not only apologizing, but came up with ideas for our anniversary. He is beginning to learn how to behave after almost 12 years of marriage. Maybe your DH just needs more time with you to feel more confident that you won't leave him. Good luck.

Ginny & Sue, how's it hangin'?

Yesterday, DD went swimming over her friend's house, and they all came over last night for s'mores and fireworks. It was fun.

I lost another 2 pounds on a holiday!!! We had to make more s'mores and didn't put any in our mouths. I love this diet!!!

Just a short hello-

Mouse- Summer stole my thunder - and exactly what my WW meeting was all about...plateaus and the sticking it out thru them. Hang in there it is only 2 months into it...... What a sweetie you are teaching that woman to swim....... a great lady you are!!

Summer-Awesome for you that you lost 2 more #!!!! I am so happy for you!
Thanks too for sharing about your marriage.....Dh hit me with what could have been a marital bombshell this weekend....I am not sure how to take it at all.....and of course he dances away from the subject. I found your story comforting....and reassuring.

Kerry- good job getting all that excercise in!!! Don't blame you about not wanting to go out in the heat. I can't stand it either. Sounds as thought you did a fine job with dammage control over food. That ought to show up at the scale!!!

Gotta go.....my house is a bomb out zone, and I have to get dinner on so that Dh can eat while I am at Ds's game/practice (long evening....gotta go find a Walmart to keep myself amused!) See ya later!
Ginny

Hi Ladies,
Just a quick stop to say hi. I have been busy today trying to figure out how to find some extra money to buy my one sds a new pair of shoes. He ruined his other ones yesterday and his mom was being a pain in the butt about buying him new shoes. She expected him to wear his brother's shoes and they were 3 sizes too big. Called my dh an @#$hole, because he told her that she needed to buy the shoes with his child support money. Her reply was that only is to be used to cover housing and food. I know for a fact that also is to be used to cover their clothing too. So my dh and I scraped $30 toward and he got a new pair of shoes. She didn't even say thank you. Considering that was money we were going to use to pay on a bill. So we are going to have a late fee for sure now. Now my other sds said that he needed new shoes and she said that he was just saying that because his brother got shoes. Well my dh measure his foot and shoe. They are exactly the same size, so the kid isn't lying. It just pisses me off how she doesn't care about her kids and plays the blame game with us all the time. Oh well, atleast one of them has a new pair of shoes. We told her she had to buy the other pair. Come on for someone who has the money to go on vacation with the kids next week, I think she could take $30 out of it and buy her son a pair of shoes. She claims that we don't spend any money on the kids. But we are the ones who babysit them for free, that's right for free during the school year and the summer, we take them to their doctor's appointments and to their sports practices and games. I think we do spend money on them for food, drinks and take them places. But I guess she just wants to live in her own little dream world that we are bad people. Let her think that because the kids already know who cares about them the most. They have already told us that they want to live with us once we get the upstairs remodeled. Sorry I had to vent on here. I can really vent to my dh with the kids still here. :) Thanks a bunch.
Well I am off to TOPS tonight. I hope the scales are my friend tonight. Talk to you all later.
Take care,
Kerry

I did it. I lost 3 3/4 pounds last week. I was so happy. So I really had been watching what I eat a lot better last week than I had first thought.
Thanks Summer for your words of advice. It really helped put a lot into perceptive. Thanks abunch.
Hello to everyone else.
Talk to you all later.
Kerry

OMG....what a horribly long and sad day this was... I'll try to come tomorrow and post.... This kid was 3 months post his 22nd birthday. There were young, tatooed, pierced crying kids everywhere......but the worst was listening to his mother's choking sobs for the entire service. I'm headed to bed. Thanks for the prayers and support! You guys are THE best!
take care,
Robyn