Sigh, at 210 this morning. And I didn't even stop at Kernels while I was shopping. I love their carmel popcorn. Oh well, back on track and I have noticed a much healthier attitude towards food. I don't NEED to eat something just because it is there anymore. I also don't usually buy munchies for myself. I am quite proud of myself. Now if I could just get into an exercise routine I really think I could lose weight this time around.

Snow - don't give up yet. Just remember everything you don't eat counts just as much as what you do eat. It is the difference between a 3 pound holiday gain and the twelve pounds I gained with my little "I hate winter and my kids are driving me nuts 2 week binge". I know 10 pounds doesn't seem like a lot on its own but if you lose 10 pounds a few more times you will be thin. I'll be thinking of you and sending positive thoughts your way all day. Big hugs too. We all need them. And I can love the holidays now that I am ready. Until I have almost everything done I just stress my way through them. I hope you have a wonderful day.

40 - great work on the will power. I hope you make it into the 60s.

Well HI HO HI HO it's off to work I go. Hope you all have a great day.

Well chickies didn't make it into the 160's but lost 1 pound last week and I'm sitting bang on 170 so will try really hard not to have any bad days and hopefully will get there in the next couple of days. I start baking over the next couple of evenings and will need will power on full to be good. So goal for this week will be to do 40 mins. of pilates daily, eat well and absolutely no sampling because after years of baking it always turns out. I do not need to taste test, I do not need to taste test, I do not ned to taste test, will be my mantra.

Have a great day,

Nina

Good Morning Ladies,

I am dragging tail this morning, I just can't wake up. I felt like a robot on the elliptical machine today, but that is done with. Went shopping with my g-ma over the weekend and let's just say that I have reached sainthood because Saturday was a long day. She has all her shopping done and now I just have to wrap everything for her, she just writes the cards. I got most of mine done too, just a few more gifts here and there. I did go with my Mom to get her a dog this weekend too and it is so cute. Half minature poodle and have miniature schnauzer. My mom is so excited, I am hoping this will help her with her loneliness after the divorce. I have even volunteered to stop by her house on my lunch break everyday for the next two weeks to let the dog out as she potty trains it. At a baby shower on Sunday I ate strawberries and few almonds and passed on the small eclairs and cheesecake bites. That was an accomplishments because I love eclairs. Afterwards I went to a Christmas choir concert at our church and it was so wonderful. It put me in the Christmas spirit for sure. They sang all the traditional Christmas songs and had some narration. Absolutely beautiful! I just feel like a need a weekend to relax from my busy weekend!

Weighed in and lost 0.4lbs so I am not changing my ticker. Maybe I can lose 0.6lbs this week and it will be one pound for next Monday!

card: All your shopping done I am so jealous! And way to go on passing up Kernels. Here is something funny...every Sunday for dinner I have popcorn w/ parm cheese for dinner. It is my special treat and look forward to it. DH has grown accustomed to it and just oh it's popcorn night again and he order pizza. I never even want the pizza just my popocorn. I have started to use the 94% fat free kind and it is just as good to me.

40: Don't worry by next week you will be in the 160s and what a wonderful Christmas present you have given yourself. Okay I am with you with your baking, I am doing all of mine on Saturday and I don't need taste test, I don't need to taste test.

Sno: Great job on keeping up with those workouts! I agree with card, a three pound gain is better than a twelve pound gain. Remember just to be conscious of what you are putting in your mouth.

monday 3 weeks to go!
 

Hi all:

thanks for the encouragement--I know I can keep this up--I just get distracted sometimes!

Last night was not so good--went to a party and it was all down hill The good news is that my stomach was shrunk so I did not eat quite as much as I might have. I am up one pound today which is not too bad.

My goal this week is to keep on plan and exercise every day. My birthday is Sat night and I will probably have a nice dinner. I want to go right back on plan the next day and keep it up till xmas. I think with that kind of program I will be able to at least maintain until xmas. Then on the week after xmas power down and lose a few more lbs--maybe make my goal to be 239 for new years seems do-able.

nina--great job with the workouts--its powering thru the hard ones that make it a habit! Glad you are up for the next challenge--I am too!

Card--thanks for the support--my desire to party and my desire to be thinner are conflicting right now and I hope to figure out a way to do both--as you say not gaining too much is better than just letting it all go for several weeks and gaining all the weight back! that is good advice

dolly--keep it up .4 is down--way to go!

Well frankly I am quite bewildered, but I am actually down 1.5 pounds to 165.5 this week. And I must confess this has been a bad week where I didn't track most days AND was light on exercise AND went out to eat several times. I think on the positive side my eating choices are so much better and I am certainly not pigging out at all... the calories in versus calories burn is obviously still in my favor. If I can just make it through until Jan 1 I know there is a light at the end of this long tunnel. I am still hoping to hit my goal of 164 by Jan 1, which is only another 1.5 pounds.

I am still at 210 this morning and feeling a little bummed about it. I am eating much less, making much healthier choices, I walk for at least a half hour 5 days a week and still I don't lose. I just don't understand how I can change all of my eating habits and not lose. I hate my scale. I know I need to exercise more but shouldn't eating alone allow me lose some weight. Today I am going to be very careful with what I eat because I know I am in a bad place today. And I most certainly do not want to do what I did a few weeks ago.

40 - nice going, another pound down. You have more will power than me. I have opted not to bake this year. I really don't need the temptation.

dolly - great job on the will power. It sounds like your weekend was pretty good for the most part.

Snow - You gotta love shrinking stomachs. I am with you. Every thing I eat turns into a pound. Every single small slip from my plan and I am up a pound. I know what you are going through. Keep it up and just hang those pants you want to get into in your kitchen or take a picture of them and put them on your key chain. Anything so that you can look at them and say, I can do this. The food tastes great while you are eating it, but the clothes look great the whole day that you are wearing them. You can do it.

sojo - I am very jealous. I will exercise, I will exercise, I will exercise. I am so happy you are still losing, you will be down to 164 for sure.

Ok, off to work, and probably no exercise tonight, the girls at work are trying to talk me into the Christmas party tonight. It is just such a hassle, of the 8 other people going I don't like 2 of them, 3 of them it depends on my mood, if I am not in a mood for fools then they just bug me, but if I am tolerant then I can get along with them okay. I really only like 3 other people going, but one of them is a lady who retired recently due to health problems. I haven't seen her recently and it would be really nice. Then again dh gets a little ticked off that he can't come too. Oh well, we'll see. I don't have to decide for another 9 hours or so. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Okay I had a major set back yesterday and am still a bit frazzled. I don't even know what set is off. I think it was because DH and I had a bit of an argument, but everything is okay now. Also I had the worst cravings and did not want to cook dinner. It started when I came home and had a few M&Ms and then it turned into more. From there it is no use going into detail. I felt so sick to my stomach going to bed last night and did not sleep well. I felt horrible this morning, but still went to the gym for a walk on the treadmill. My goal today is to eat healthy eat healthy eat healthy and cook dinner.

Can I Play Too?
 

:tree: Good morning girls :tree:

I would love to join you in charting progress against the Weight Monster, if I may. I am trying not to gain anymore weight during these holidays, then really hit the ground running after January 1. As you can see by my tracker, I need to lose close to 70 lbs. to be at ideal weight, but mainly I want to feel good. This is such a lively thread, with someone to talk to everyday about whether I've stuck with my 1500 calorie limit and whether I've exercised, and it feels good to offer encouragement to others, as well.

I am now over 60, and it's true that it gets harder as one gets older, but I WILL DO IT! I have lost, then re-gained, yadda yadda, over the last couple of years. I only want to see that scale go DOWN now!

I will stick to 1500 calories and exercise at least every other day. This is my second day on program. Look forward to chatting with all you ladies, and hope you are having a great day! :ginger:

Maggie

Welcome Maggie!

This is a great group to get us through the tough times! Your plan sounds great. What kind of exercise are you planning on doing?

:welcome3: Maggie. This is an awesome thread. I joined about a month ago and these great chickies have helped keep me on track and I've lost 7 :carrot: pounds so far. I'm hoping for a few more before New Years but if all I do is maintain until 2007 I will be way ahead of this time last year.
Well Dolly I'm with you as far as yesterday goes. It seems the day I weigh in I relax a little after the weigh in and a little lead to far to much but I'm doing well today. I hit the chocolate yesterday and went ot bed not feeling to well but after last nights lousy sleep I know I'll stay away from it tonight.
Good for you making it to the gym. You burned alot of those extra calories even though you were feeling YUCK.
I wish my metabolism would rev up like yours Sojo. Congrats on the lose. you'll make your goal and some.
Have a fun :xcheer: and festive time if you decide to go Card.,

Take care all:hug:

Nina

Thank you for the welcome, Nina and Dolly. For now, I will walk (long) several times a week, and then get to water aerobics and weight-lifting in the new year. With Christmas, New Year's and company coming, I'm sure most of us are not sitting too much these days, anyway! :D

Nina, that chocolate can really beckon you, then one bite too many and you feel so YUK! I know, I know ...:( but we all do it now and then!

Time to walk *the walk!*

Maggie :hohoho:

:santa: The big, bad walk is done! First time in a few weeks ... Patting back here!:hohoho:

Still 210, I am starting to hate that number as much as I hate 209. I went to the Christmas party last night, I had a club, with the fries and gravy which I didn't need but it tasted so good. We go out for dinner for our party. So for the gift exchange one of the ladies I am not so fond of got my name and gave me a huge bag of cheesies, she knows I am on a diet and that is my biggest weakness and a huge tin of shortbread cookies, which is my favorite cookie. So I gave the cookies to my teeny tiny son and told him eat them all. I took about 5 cheesies and told the kids, here you go, eat them all. So hopefully by the time I get home from work today they will have disappeared. It's not bad enough I am sabatoging myself at this time of year I have other people to do it for me.

dolly - you made it to the gym. That is what counts. No point in beating yourself up for a little slip, if we did that I would be black and blue all the time. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and hop back on the wagon with us. Remember every thing you don't eat counts as well. And I am sure you did not eat everything last night.

maggie - welcome!!!! Sounds like you have a good plan for getting into shape. And walking actually feels good, I walk a lot and find I feel pretty terrible when I miss it for a few days. My legs start to hurt and I get cranky.

40 - Only 3 more weeks and the baking, chocolate, feasting season will be over, we can be strong until then.

Well off to get ready for work, man the days just aren't long enough anymore. For Christmas I want a clock with say 6 extra hours in it. Then maybe I could accomplish everything. Everyone have a great day.

Wednesday
 

Hi all:

Firstly--welcome to magnolia--what a pretty name! Yes we are pretty active and we have all kinds of different goals and plans for the holidays--always glad to have someone new!:welcome3:

I am working on the intuitive eating for the holidays--trying to follow a real diet is not working so I just want to not overeat and eat what I really want. so yesterday I had crepes for lunch but then a very light dinner and am down to 244 again so I guess it worked. My goal is to keep this up and just not overeat :dust: but try to eat as lightly as possible and enjoy the food I do have. then back on plan after the big day. And of course exercise everyday.

I realized my new shoes hurt my right foot so I have to get rid of them. I cant have anything interfere with walking cause it makes me feel good.

I was kinda mad at my hubby because he wants to stop by at a friends house to rehearse on the way back from my parents on xmas. we were going to do it on the way up and I could go shopping while they rehearse but on xmas day there will be nothing open so I will just have to sit around while they rehearse. I know it doesnt sound so bad but it is kinda boring--the other guys girlfriend just sits there like it is all so fabulous--and it is really good but I hear my hubby rehearse every day and I like to do something else while he is doing that. I told him I am going gor a walk while they rehearse--we'll see how that works. The guy and his girlfriend act like I am weird because I dont want to sit around and watch a rehearsal. Oh well--just needed to vent.

Sojo: great job--you are just losing without even thinking about it!

Card: sounds like you are making some great changes and ultimately it will pay off--I know my body really fights losing weight and will adapt to changes without actual weight loss. Keep it up and it will pay off! Also--you might try counting your calories for one day and seeing if there is hidden cals in something you are eating--or sometimes things like diet sodas etc can get in the way of weight loss.

Dolly; sorry you had a bad day--you have been doing so great! but just remember that one slip is all it was--I know you will get right back on plan!

Take care ladies and dont put too much pressure on yourselves--it is a stressful time for all of us!

Morning ladies,

Well I've hit overdrive and I'm feeling the time crunch but feeling pretty good and not stressing to much. The big test will be Saturday as there will be loads of yummy extra food in the house. I'm definately counting on my teenagers to help out with getting it all eaten up. Contained my over indulgence to Monday only and I'm up one pound to 171. Haven't been able to find the time or energy to workout but hope to get back at it after Saturdays party. Take care ladies and I'm with you Sno about skipping the pressure and Stress of the season.

Have a great day!!!

Nina