SATURDAY: Today is thoughts Saturday. Share with us a funny story or joke or give us some words of encouragement to take with us this week!

Good morning my funsters! Now why the heck am I up at 5:30 am on a Saturday when I have no children or job you might ask? Well, I do sort of have children in the form of two rather pesky animals and the yellow one with the long tail insists on waking me up around 5 by walking on me, biting me and if I don't get up, scratching the heck out of me (he hasn't been declawed yet). So here I sit and there aren't even any jobs in the paper today that I can work on and haven't applied for!

Amanda: You know, even the worst of foods can be tackled weight wise. Now, if you have a lot of junk food in the house like chips, cookies, ice cream and such that is one thing, but if what you have is lots of pasta stuff, hamburger, or fattier cuts of meat, you can help yourself out there, honestly! Carbs in my opinion have gotten a really bad rap. I take in a lot of carbs and I am losing (when I stay op! ) For example, you can take 4 of of pork chop and cute into cubes, brown in pam with some onion, add 2 cups of cooked rice, chopped up carrot if you have it, egg beaters if you have it or even an egg, some soy sauce and you have a whole pan of fried rice and it isn't high in fat. If you are making spaghetti for the family, try and get the lowest fat sauce available to you then set asice 1/2 serving for you and make the rest for family. Use 2 oz hamb instead of four, add a little garlic and some tomato sauce to yours and you have a much lower version of sauce, just lay off the cheese! You can also have some really inexpensive and variety of lunches or even dinner buying SOUP! I can eat a whole can of tomato soup with a grilled cheese made with low fat sliced cheese and lower fat margarine and it will fill me right up and has not a lot of fat. Start buying I can't believe it's not butter light, it does NOT taste any different, still melts well and is no more expensive than the regular stuff and I think you cut about 30 fat and reg cal out per tablespoon. Buy lower fat cheese slices for the whole family and they won't notice the difference, I guarentee. There are lot of things you can do on a restricted budget and still lose weight, honest! A peanut butter sandwich is not bad at all even with the fat. Most of the fat is not sat fat so it is not bad for you. Buy a bag of pretzel sticks instead of potato chips for a snack. They are fairly inexpensive and will last quite awhile. I am proud of you for trying to stick with this even though you can't spend a lot of money on "diet type" food. You should go to www.dietitian.com and use her little calculator to figure out how many cal and fat you can take in to lose either 1 or 2 lbs a weeks. Being the weight you are right now, you would be surprised how much you can take in!

I think I am going to take the dog downstairs and let him out and finish my book so I will check in later!

Faye

Good morning. I can't believe I beat Faye here. I can't remember what Saturday is for a day on the thread, so I will have to check back later to see, I could go back and look, but that would be too much work you know .

I get no points yesterday either. I have been off plan for a few days now and know today and tomorrow will be no better, we have 2 parties to go to over the weekend and well thats just the way it is. I will be back on plan first thing Monday morning. I'm getting ready to go grocery shopping in a bit before the store gets so busy and I am buying lots off good yummy OP food for me to start this journey again. Maybe once the food is in the house and I see it I will be good again.

Okay you girls have tempted me to try another brand of veggie burgers, like I said I have always bought the flame broiled flavor Boca burger and loved it, so maybe I will like the others, I will give it a try.

My son leaves for camp tomorrow for a week, Im looking forward to the break of the kids fighting constantly, but I will miss him. This will be his 3rd year he has gone to camp. The first year I bawled like a baby when we left him and especially when he looked at me and said "ok, you and dad can leave now mom" I guess we hung out too long . Then when we went to get him the tears were just rolling down my face and they were his too, so I know he was glad to see me again.

Amanda: Glad to see you hanging around. Please pull up that computer chair and stick around. You will be such an addition to us I know, cause you have such good ideas.

Faye: Wow, a nice little family reunion that you are looking forward too. That will be so nice. Hope all goes well, I'm sure it will, and you will knock your sisters shoes off with all the weight you have lost.

Honeyrose: Sorry about the hysterectomy. A few years ago I had to have one of my ovaries removed due to such bad cysts on it. They thought they could do it laproscopicly but I ended up having the big cut in my belly again. (I had 2 c-sections) They had to cut because the cysts were so big they said. I was having my tubes cut and tied at the same time, but they ended up taking the ovary out and the tube on that side, so they tied up the other one. But what a recovery, it seemed worse than the 2 c-sections I had, maybe because there was no baby to occupy my attention. Glad all went well with yours and life is good and back to normal, and hope that you are no longer in pain or whatever it was that bothered your system. {{{{Hugs}}}}

Satine: Good luck hunting down the skinny cows....they are soooooo goooooooddddddd. Be careful. Today is a new day, so yesterday is all erased, start anew....

Bella: Is your name Isabella? Is that what it is short for?

Well gotta run now to the store and I will be back later to check in, if I don't I get so far behind.

Hugs,
PEEK

Morning Ladies What a beautiful Saturday here in Ohio. I am going to go flea marketing today. Its been since last summer since I have been and Im anxious to get going!

Amanda.. thanks for the tip on the veggie burgers! Toasting them. I would have never thought! I'll try that for sure.

Faye: Thanks for the extra diet tips.. I can always use a new idea

Peek: Hang in there with camp time. I wish mine were going!! Thanks for the kind words about my surgery. Actually it wasnt bad at all since I didnt have an abdominal incision. I felt great within a few days.. sore but great. And now Im 150% better!

I got 2 pts for OP, 1 for water and 1 for exercise yesterday. I am so proud. Hey Im proud if I do it for one day!

I'll have to think more for a sunny thought to share for today and post when I get back!

have a beautiful day

Here we go. Points time.

Debbie: YOU GET A: for doing such a great job with your points.

Peek and Amanda: Just let it go. You are going to have periods in your life where dieting issues just are not working for the moment. I want you both to succeed badly, but I DON'T want you to get discouraged. We put this on over a long period of time and it is going to take time to get it off.

I GET A: for points, but should get a kick in the butt for this morning. I ate Pillsbury cinnamon rolls! Stupid move on my part to get so hungry. Have to make it up later in the day I guess.

I need to get out and walk today again as I am sure the pool is still not open for whatever the reason (I am about to call the associaton VP and ask her when they are going to open it again) but as for walking, yesterday's work really made my back hurt last night. It was so bad I could hardly get out of my computer chair last night and it is still sore, so I may or may not walk depending how I feel, but am definitely heading to the mall as it is too hot to walk outside today. I think I may check out our local community center which is free I guess. One of the ladies here says they have a pool.

Well girlies, better skedaddle. BTW finished my book this morning. Very compelling story of the old BLack Dahlia murder case in LA in the late 40's. The author, who is a retired lapd homicide detective and private investigator now, was given a small photo album by his step mother when his father passed in 1999. Inside were pictures of women he did not know including 2 that nagged at him because he thought he had seen her before. Long story short, through 2 years of investigation, he has solid proof that his father was a serial killer, killed Elizabeth Short the Black Dahlia and probably as many as 15-20 other women in the LA are in the late 40's and through the 50's with a long time friend of his that was a psychopath too. I cannot imagine finding evidence that your parent committed these heinous crimes. Elizabeth Short was a particular gruesome killing. she was surgically cut in half, posed, mutiliated and left in a prominent area so she was sure to be found. There is a last passage in the book that he included Dec 2002 wherein he says the manuscript is complete and sent to the publishers but that he had recently found more evidence of his father's guilt.


HERE ARE SOME AND DIETING THOUGHTS! Diet Facts

A diet is a weigh of life.

It's not the minutes spent at the table that put on weight, it's the seconds.

It's something most of us do religiously: We eat what we want and pray we don't gain weight.

The problem with curbing our appetites is that most of us do it at the drive in window of McDonalds.

The most fattening thing you can put in an ice cream sundae is a spoon.

The biggest drawback to fasting for seven days is that it makes one weak.

Sweets are the destiny that shapes our ends.

Diets are for people who are thick and tired of it.

The toughest part of a diet isn't watching what you eat. It's watching what other people eat.

Diets are for women who not only kept their girlish figure bit doubled it.

A diet is when you have to go to some length to change your width.

Many women reduce and reduce, yet still never manage to become a bargain.

The best way to lose weight is by skipping ... snacks and desert.

Most people gain weight by having intimate dinners for two...alone.

People go to Weight Watchers to learn their lessens.

A diet is the modern-day meal in which a family counts its calories instead of its blessings.

A diet is what you go on when not only can't you fit into the store's dresses, you can't fit into the dressing room.

One guideline applies to fat and thin people alike: If you're thin, don't eat fast. If you're fat, don't eat - FAST.

Above all, dieters are advised to avoid Pepsi, "the pause that refleshes."


Faye

Good morning all! I'm new and I hope I'm doing this computer stuff right. I've been spending alot of time online reading weight loss websites and contemplating my own situation. Most of them just made me more depressed, but you gals rock! I like a positive attitude and love having fun! So, here I am...hope you're ready for me! (Guess I should put a smiley here, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet!)

I'm a stay-at-home mom of three awesome kids (9, 8 and 4). I tend to get a bit lonely while hubby's away....somedays I'd kill for an intelligent *adult* conversation. I live in midcoast Maine. I have waaaayyyy too many hobbies, but my primary ones include a bizarre martial art (medieval sword fighting....SCA for those in the know) and belly dancing--how's that for serious fun? (hi, beledigirl.....bet you thought noone would figure out your username!)

I spent most of my 20's at a normal weight (for me, normal is 155-160) but then did the marriage/pregnant thing and ended up at 260! Right now I'm at about 245. Oddly, I'm in fairly good shape for being so heavy. I teach dance once a week and fight fairly regularly. I'm very muscular. But my joints are starting to complain at me, and I'm sore more often...and I know I'm sooo much happier when my body can keep up with my activities! I'm also tired of having to wear one piece dance costumes instead of all the super pretty two piece ones. I design and make the costumes for my troupe, so I really want to be able to make some like that for me.

I just went to a belly dance show in Boston on Thursday, and I'm determined now more than ever to get rid of all this extra weight so I can shimmy with the best of them! I'm hoping that having friends along the way will help.

So, I'm off to get in some exercise now to earn some of those points I'm reading about. Anyone know if your lower abdominal muscles can ever be the same after 3 c-sections?

Later,
Mirabelly

Welcome Mirabelly to our fun little group! This is a TOTALLY positive website so come join us! Oh just double click on the smiley and it will place it at your cursor (though it does have a bad habit of dumping it on the next line so just hit delete until it is where you want it to be!

THE POOL IS OPEN YAHOOOOOOOOO! I went and did an hours workout and hurt my bad knee, but it is ok now. Man, I thought for sure when that horrible pain went through it that I was A) not going to be able to get my fat butt out of the pool and B) not be able to get across the courtyard if I did to get home. I contemplated it all and continued to workout and the knee quit hurting thank goodness. I am so jazzed I didn't have to go and walk today!

Well, I came to check and see if we had anyone who needed their smileys given out, but I am caught up so I am going to go and search out some BBQ sauce recipes for some boneless loin chops I have for dinner.

SEE YOU!

Faye

Mirabelly:

I'm in midcoast Maine too, OMG this is just too weird. What town are you in? I am close to Damariscotta, very close. Chances are we know each other. You know this is a small area and people know everyone, or have at least heard of them.

you can PM me if you want....its the button here under my post that says PM that means you will be sending me a personal message.

To use the smileys just click on them and it will put it in your post. and if you want to see the rest of them just hit where it says [Get More] and there are lots of them to use.

Talk to you soon,

Peek

Well, I better go fill the water bottle if I want to make my goals today. So far, nothing is going on. Once hubby is gone I'm going to do my WATP tape. Meanwhile I'm catching up here.

Mirabelly-Welcome! I am new to this thread as well. Just a thought but perhaps you aren't seeing the smileys because you are using quick reply. Try hitting the post reply button on the bottom right, it will take you to a different screen where you have more options.

That is all for now-talk to all of you later!!!

Good Saturday Evening Girls!

There is nooooooo way I could respond to all the posts, Haven't been on since Yesterday am-my phone was dead from around mid afternoon till around 11 this morning. ( I didnt get home from wrk till 7 though, just a few mins ago, so I have only barely had enough time to scan your posts,

All of you have been busy!!! and sounds like you have been working hard...I was having major withdrawals from having to be away for so long, talk about separation anxiety! I think all of you are fabulous!!!!

I will get back on track with my posts tomorrow and will try and catch up....pts yesterday: 1 pt water 2 pts program, and 1pt exercise.

Night Ladies!

Pam: YOU GET A: for you saturday's points.

SUNDAY: Today is poll Sunday. We are going to play let's pretend so here goes!

CONGRATULATIONS! You have won the Chubby Bubby Diet Food Sweepstakes! You have won $50 million dollars (paid in a lump sum). What would you do with your winnings?

First off, I would grudgingly give my least favorite uncle, Sam, half the money, put $10 million into safe investments to live off of, then would pay off all my debts, give $100,000 apiece to dh's and I's four siblings, 1/2 million in trust for grandson, 1/2 million each for each of my 2 kids, pay for a cruise for the whole family, our kids, our siblings, their kids and their families(approx 45 people) (though I am not sure I could stand all of them for a whole week ). Then just for dh and I, would completely update our condo with new carpet, flooring etc, put in a hot tub on the deck (so our ds can get the commission on it), take a trip to Vegas, buy me a Mercedes 500 in a metallic midnight blue with gray interior, dh would get a Lincoln Navigator, which is his dream suv, then just settle back down to living.

I GOT A: for points. I need to go grocery shopping again and get stuff back in here as I have kind of run out of fruits, diet frozen meals etc which keep me on the straight and narrow. I did get a ton of water in me yesterday and did an hour in the pool.

No jobs in the paper today, boohoo so will have to just check next week I guess.

Talk to everyone when they get up this morning!

Faye

Good Early Sunday Morning Ladies!

Faye: you are always up and at 'em!! pts for yesterday: 2pts for program, 1 pt for water, 1pt for exercise.....I am trudging along!!!

50 mil uh??? wow!! like you said Faye, first IRS would get theirs, but I would gladly share!! I would take my cut and be out of there so fast their heads would I would get a new house, something small and quaint, maybe on a beach, which coast?? probably the gulf coast, I am a Southern girl first and foremost as you all know! I think I refer to it often enough, don't I??? you all probably think oh no, there she goes again talking about the South! but I love it here and am proud to call it my home, I feel most blessed.....anyway, back to the millions!!! I would pay for my two neices (Nikki and Angie) to finish their education, I would pay off their cars, and buy my sister a home of her own and pay off all her credit card debt......give her a clean slate, I would take my mom somewhere, just the two of us, maybe a trip up into Gatlinburg, beautiful nearby Smoky Mountains~ and we would talk and JUST BE!! then, lets see I still have $ left over, so I would buy that R.V I was talking about in an earlier post, and head across the country. I would go into Barnes & Noble Booksellers and get everything I wanted!! I would be in absolute heaven if I could do that. I would go back to school and get my Masters Degree in Counseling Psy., not to work though...heck no!! I would do it just for me...I loooove school! Would need to do some brain though, I graduated from college in 1985!! have a few gazillion less brain cells now! I wouldnt mind taking that new found knowledge and hitting the road, doing motivational speaking for audiences of primarily women, would love to share with them my experiences...when my journey to my goal weight is complete, I know that this will be something that I will do for the rest of my life, so I would share with them from which I came, and hopefully impart something upon them that they could use.....of course if I did that I would need new clothes! so this list could be verrry long. Faye see what you started??!! I would most of all want to give back! I spent too much of my life wallowing in my own "stuff" and isolating, it is time to turn that around though and get out there and live...50 million dollar winnings or not....but we can dream, cant we???

toodles girls, oh! welcome Mirabelly..you will adore these gals, as I do!!

So what would I do? First like both Pam and Faye I would have to share with Uncle Sam.....then I would send on of my really good friends some major $ to help her and her family out. Then I have a friend here that is a single mom with 3 kids, and I would pay her house off and give her like 100,000. to get by on. I love to help my friends. Then I would start a trust fund for both my kids and probably my neices and nephews too. I would pay off my familys houses, and I would build a big house up back here adn put in an inground pool, with hottub and sauna. I would have everything I ever dreamed of having. I would go on trips and cruises and come and see all of you, or better yet fly you all to one location!!! And we would party!!! How much fun would that be? I'm sure there is more I would do, like help my parents out and my inlaws and all, but thats just ordinary stuff...expected of you if you got such a windfall of money.


We are off to a b-day party at 10:30 this morning for my nephew then we have to have Evan to camp by 2:30 today, and we don't pick him back up till Friday at 3:30...I will miss the boy as much as I am looking forward to the break of the two kids fighthing all the time and picking at one another.

Talk to you all later,
Peek

Good Golly you gals get up early! Phoenix, you were right, I was using the quick reply. Thanks for setting me straight, now I can see the smilies.

I'm proud to say that on my first day with you all invisibly looking over my shoulder, I made all 4 points! Even made dh go out and buy a water filter for the kitchen sink so I could tolerate the taste. Ever notice how it's easier to drink more water when it comes out of a squirt bottle? Seriously, if I try to drink out of a regular glass, it seems like so much more effort. I think it's because the nozzle on my 50cent walmart bottle is realllly wide, so more water goes in per squirt. ewww, that sounded gross

Exercise today should be easy, I have fighter practice. Which means I dress up in about 50 pounds of medieval armor and try to beat the **** out of a buncha guys with a sword. (Told you I have fun hobbies!) Always a great workout....but it was alot easier when I was 18 and 80 pounds lighter! Just have to keep myself from pigging out afterwards.

Here's a helpful hint I've discovered this summer... frozen grapes completely take care of my obsessive need for ice cream! I can't believe it because I don't really even like grapes ordinarily. Something about freezing them increases their sugary taste, and the fruit is frozen so it has the consistency (almost) of a frozen dessert. Plus, I can just pop 'em in my mouth anytime I want to reach into the fridge for no particular reason, and I don't do any damage to my eating plan for the day. Oh, but be sure to use the *red* ones....the green ones tend to go sour when you freeze them.

Oh, about the $50 mill.........well, after the obligatory taxes, paying off debts, helping family and friends with their debts, and traveling. I've always wanted to own a theatrical complex with a school, stages and studio space for dance and other types of theater. I'd want to make sure it was all paid for, though, so we could put on any kind of shows we wanted without worrying about making enough money to pay the mortgage. Guess I'd have to move, though, Maine is pretty hard up for culture!

Everyone keep up the great work!
Julie

I am just checking in real quick.. been really busy all weekend, and just taking it easy. I had 2 bad days in a row, I hope to do better today. Talk to you all tommorow, have a great day.

SHAME ON ALL OF US! WE FORGOT TO INCLUDE A BIG TRIP TO SEE EACH OTHER WHERE WE COULD SHOP AND PARTY FOR DAYS!

WE ARE SUCH GOOD CITIZENS THOUGH OR MAYBE AFRAID UNCLE SAM WILL THROW US IN THE HOOSEGOW (PAM IS THAT SPELLED RIGHT? I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THESE SOUTHERN TERMS )

Pam: YOU GET A: for your points. You are gonna need those new clothes!

Julie: YOU GET A: for your points too! Great job of keeping up! Oh and frozen grapes are a great way not to cheat and eat a ff snack that is good for you. I wonder what concord (deep purple) grapes would taste like frozen? They are hard to come by because I rarely see them anywhere.

I am glad you have shared the poll this morning. It is funny to see where our tastes lie.

I have to go as dh will be back in just a sec. He went to get stuff for breakfast. He fixes breakfast for us on the weekends (except for pancakes, french toast etc as he is not very good at that). I try not to disappoint him and I do eat even sausage etc. Afterall, he made the effort. I just rein it in and not pig out.

Oh, speaking of pigging out, I read Janet Evanovich's books and just finished her newest, To the Nines, and one of her characters is this big 300 lb black woman. Well Lula, does love to eat, but in this book has decided to become a supermodel and starts with a diet like WW and after one day gives it up because her points are in the stratosphere (her thoughts are that you can eat an egg mcmuffin and if you are planning on the bread part you don't have to count the other stuff!) anyway, she ends up with what would be the Atkins diet and eats meat all the time. She carries around meat in her purse and they were on a stakeout in Las Vegas (she and the other girl are bail bondsmen) and the other girl's car starts stinking and Lula has a leg of lamb in her purse. Get the book and read it, I guarantee you will hoot big time just from Lula's eating antics! (one time she has bbq pork chops in her purse and her partner's big dog attacks her for no reason and takes her purse. Guess Why?!!!

Have a great day, ladies!

Faye