:welcome: tracy. sounds like you have a goal and some plans to achieve it. i'm happy for you. yes, this is a great place for us to gather and share.

rosie and christine, congratulations to you both.

andrea, girl, you're doing great. and you're helping others at the same time. it doesn't get any better than that.

i'm doing all right. i go to my doctor tomorrow for a checkup. he's monitoring my weightloss journey. i think he'll be happy. i have been on a 6 week jaunt down south, had christmas, and had other get togethers since i last saw him just before halloween. oh! i had halloween, too. i think i still have a slight loss after all this. life is good.

Thursday night... day three of being back on target!
 

Thanks for the soup ideas, and it will be hard not to go to the meeting starving as it's kind of an all day thing. I might sneak one of the WW 2 points bars in my purse and eat it about a half hour before the lunch break? That might help to take the edge off my hunger so I don't go wild.
Nibs, sorry your meeting was cancelled due to bad weather, but in Newfoundland, what do you expect? : )
My grandparents were from Bonavista, I went there when I was a teenager to visit them. It was a sweet place and quite scenic. I loved that there were icebergs floating in the harbor (the bluest water I've ever seen) in July - that was awesome!
I lost my mom (and dad) in the last year and a half and I am pining away for family connections and have started to research my Newfoundland ancestry. I've not come across anyone yet, but I'm not giving up. I know I have tons of relatives up there.
Rose, I'm facing my demons as well :devil: :devil: :devil: , not necessarily the sweet monster, but the "I'm not feeling full enough" monster. I don't know which is worse, to be honest. Hang in, maybe it's that time of the month approaching?
As for me, sadly, TOM no longer comes so I don't have any excuses. I think after a few more days of CORE foods I will settle in and not be as hungry. Before "Christmas break" (sounds like college spring break, instead of co-eds in bikinis we had people wearing ever increasingly tight pants????) I was finding that the CORE foods were so much more satisfying and my cravings were not as bad. Maybe that will happen for us all again, now that the holidays are over? I sure hope so.
Buy a few WW desserts, even if you spend flex points on them, you'll feel as if you are getting something "special". I love the cookie dough ice cream sundae dessert that is 4 points, I feel like I'm getting much more than 4 points, it has the tastes and textures I crave.
Also, maybe your Valentines Day goal is causing you too much stress? I find really huge goals like that to be the cause of a "derailment" in my plan. If I feel as if I can't accomplish a certain goal, maybe my mind tells me to abandon it all? Maybe a more realistic goal for Valentines (don't forget Super Bowl weekend will fall in-between now and Valentines too if you get into that stuff) would give you a better number that truly can be realized?
Also, if you eat too many of those frozen meals, I wonder if they are just not enough of a portion to feel full with? I find those kind of meals leave me starving and I don't feel like I've truly eaten enough. I'd really be scared to have two of them in one day. Do you bring them to work or are you eating on the run? Maybe we can help you plan some easy to tote along meals?
Welcome Tracy, I love what you said: "Smile, sad cannot live where happiness dwells". It reminds me of the saying "Fake it until you make it". Believe it or not, that is said in my bereavement support group. They kind of tell you to put on a happy face and get out there, sometimes. I think if you put that smile on your face and keep trying, you eventually convince yourself that you are really doing ok! I try! ;)
Sandra, you do sound like you are really on a roll! I hope you are a good influence on me!
I'm double journaling this week to see how my week compares with CORE and Flex. I'm learning a great deal about how CORE does allow me to eat MORE food, but better food. I just hope that I have a loss this upcoming week. Emotionally, that would be very rewarding.
We'll be eating out this weekend and I'm going to try to look into what restaurants I might find some really yummy core foods.
Cheers to all!
Linda

linda, i wish there was something i could do to help you find your family. have you thought of going there and searching church records or something?

hi guys!

hey target! youre just sweet as candy! ty! im not really doing what im supposed to but the mental prep and some of the physical prep too is doin me good. we had pizza toinight cuz we were in a hurry to go out the door and lucky for me as sick as it sounds, was 2 hrsa aftrer a turkey on wheat so in the end i spared myself 1 sl. i still scarfed 3, but thats how the cookie crumbles. gotta start somewhere. no bday cake 4 m,e either just didnt temp me but theres junk here so im sure ill have a little something. good luck at your appt tomm target! let yus know ok? ill be goin in a few weeks too for meds renewals. i hate thatcuz i hate drs.

howdy to kim and chris and linda and everyone else. tty guys tomm..... thanks for the encouragement you guys it means so much:)

linda hang in there ok?

andrea, working on the mental part is about 99% of the battle. i'm still working on mine. i'll let ya'll know how wi goes tomorrow. right after i hop off the doctor's scales, i'll be jumping on ww's. oh, well.

Sandra, there are lots of church records on line nowadays, it's tedious and time consuming work to go through records. I've found mention of anscestors in the later 1800s that I know are mine, but haven't traced anything to find current/living people that are my family. Not sure if they would care to hear from me anyway, our lives are so distant.
As far as going there and doing research personally, it would be expensive and the time involved would make it something that would be impossible, given my life right now. I do wish I could find some cousins that surely live up that way, I think in Labrodor and in St. Johns and a tiny place I can't remember the name of are "my people". I hope to find them one day.
Andrea, pizza could be my downfall, it's hard for me to shut off that eating switch when I have it. Glad you did ok.
I'm doing well, so far, on my goals for this month, but who knows what will happen today!
Linda

Linda - you are so right about those frozen entrees. I was STARVING when I got home last night and had the veggie soup in the fridge to help but I still faltered some. This is a true struggle right now. I don't think the Valentine Day goal is too far out of line right now but I may change it in another week if I don't find the ummppffff. I'm still thrilled that I'm 4 pounds from 10% and from my January goal. I'm looking to that goal first and if I have to alter the VD one, I will.

Andrea - great job on the pizza and cake. Good for you. The self talk is working!!YYEAAHHH!!!!

Sandra - let us know what the doctor says. I bet he'll be pleased too.

Kim - glad to have you back girl! How ya doin?

Good luck everybody! Post and let us know how today is going!

hi guys!
whats up? thanks for the all the supoport you guys. pizza is my dnfall too and since my app. has like doubled being off p if it hadnt been for lunch only a mere 2 hrs bf, i woulda def scarfed 4 not 3. the hard part will be gettin to two next weekend and doin it w/o the pop. thas gonna hurt! LOL.

rosie youll make your goal youre doin awesome!!

gl at your appt today target! let us know how it goes k?

whats up linda?

kim: you can do it girl i know youll be better now that you shopped thats what i need to do tomm and sun.

hi guys!
whats up? thanks for the all the supoport you guys. pizza is my dnfall too and since my app. has like doubled being off p if it hadnt been for lunch only a mere 2 hrs bf, i woulda def scarfed 4 not 3. the hard part will be gettin to two next weekend and doin it w/o the pop. thas gonna hurt! LOL.

rosie youll make your goal youre doin awesome!!

gl at your appt today target! let us know how it goes k?

whats up linda?

kim: you can do it girl i know youll be better now that you shopped thats what i need to do tomm and sun.

linda, i hope you find them, too. i think they'd like to hear from you.

i went to the doctor's and was down 6 lbs from when i saw him in late october. he's happy!! in that 2+ month i had lost, gained, lost and wound up losing weight during the holidays. i didn't get to ww cuz my doctor was running behind schedule. i'll go next fri.

rosie, i don't think these :val1: goals are set in stone. i may have to change mine, too. if i lose 8 more lbs, i'll be able to go to ww free again. i'm thinking that should have been my goal. i know i'd be happy to lose 8 or any other amount for that matter. as long as we're losing and getting healthier.....

andrea, have you ever ordered fat free pizzas off the net? go to pizzafreedotcom and check them out if you're interested. (i didn't type the url with the .com, but i know you can see that. i didn't know if it was "legal" or not to do that here.) those 7" pizzas are only 4 pts. i usually add veggies and sometimes browned burger (more pts) to mine. it's amazing how filling these little pizzas are.

Rose, I hope you find some filling foods to tide you over. Can we help?
I know you are working and having the time for meal preparations is just really tough.
One time, I tried one of those So. Beach (yes, they can also fit into WW plans as they have all the caloric info on the boxes) lunches and enjoyed it. There were two wraps with turkey, lite mayo and other stuff in there and a little sugar free jello cup for dessert. It was like the kid's Lunch ables that are so popular. I enjoyed it and it was more filling than some of the "Smart Ones" entrees. I do like some of them, but just find that my stomach feels as if they are only a "snack".
Do you have a microwave at work? I wonder if you tossed in a few baked potatoes at home when you are making other foods if you could bring a baked potato to work and microwave it. They are so satisfying. If you kept one of those I can't believe it's not butter sprays in the office refrigerator you could have a buttery baked potato and maybe bring some sliced deli turkey and a small salad to work. That would be a MEAL and make you feel as if you've truly eaten something? Just a few thoughts.
I'll try to think of a few more ideas for you.
Also, for those of you who like eggplant. If you slice eggplant and broil it til lightly browned, brushed with a bit of olive oil or use the spray you can use those as a pizza crust. The crust is what is the most fattening! I use crushed or diced canned tomatoes (no fat!) and the part skim mozzarella over top. I do sometimes add mushrooms a bit of oil and oregano over top.
They are really good and nowhere near the points. You have to use a knife and fork to eat them, but they are really pizza-like!
Linda

thanks for the tip, linda.

hey guys!
sandra im glad all was well at the dr. its funny how they run behind. mine does too and thats w 3 drs in there lol. wtg on the loss! thats awesome!!! ill chk that site out... thanks:)

i order from them a lot. the pizzas are about $4 each. that's doable.

yes it is:)

rosie: girl sometimes i dunno HOW,,, but you ALWAYS reach your goals!