Like Bunny says, One day at a time.
One hour at a time, if need be.
I think I'm back OP but it hasn't been easy these last few weeks. I'd been puting things into my mouth that 6 weeks ago I would not have touched, much less ate in multiples. (Can you read Milky Ways, cookies and even my #1 trigger food, the dreaded greasy as you can buy 'em, potato chips, into that last sentence?) I'm on my third totally OP day. It's still hour by hour and my journal is in my back pocket but I think I've got "it" beat and I'm back on track.
You can be too. DON'T GIVE UP and don't come down too hard on yourself. We're all human and those of us in this group have loads of weight to lose. We will all fall prey to stuff occassionally. And when we do we have to put it behind us and move forward from that point. Nobody said it'll be easy. It isn't. I know sometimes I just wish I could stop eating forever (like giving up alcohol or drugs) but, hey, food is an essential of life so we have to learn to feed ourselves in moderation if we want to go on living.
You're on the right track. You've been exercising, that hasn't stopped. Maybe spend an extra 15 minutes in the pool on each visit. That's what I've been trying to do. Class is 7:30-8:30 PM so I try to grab a lane at 7 and either warm up or, if I'm really ambitious, swim a few laps.
If you purposely skipped your meeting. Write it off. The world won't stop turning. Just commit NOW to being there next week, whether you've lost or not, and maybe offering suggestions when you get there. Who knows? Someone there may bring along an idea that may help you.
Remember: ONE DAY AT A TIME. We're here for you.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox. I feel better just having said all of this. (I think putting thoughts down on paper (???) helps me see WW in perspective.) Think I'll go for a walk on this gorgeous day. Off to fill my water bottle.
Thanks for the encouragement. I have to confess I haven't even been exercising lately though. Haven't been to the pool in over a week. Our weather turned very cool and the ladies I go with didn't want to go. I confess I was feeling lazy too.
No more excuses though. I am determined to turn this slump around.
If any of you successful dieters would be so kind as to post some of your daily menus, that might be a big help for me.
Thanks again.
LindaBC
Sorry I have not posted this week until today. It has been really busy around my house. DHs' sister is getting married next Saturday and I've been shopping for a dress and a gift for them. It is going to be very small and informal. My husband needed a new suit since his old ones no longer fit. We found one but I will have to do the alteration on the pants since the store did not have anyone to do it. I can sew pretty well, but I do not care to hem pants. OH Well!
I've have stayed OP for two days now. Last week was really bad. It was PMS time and I wanted to eat everything in sight. I did manage to drop 5#'s once it passed.
LindaBC - Hang in there girl. We all have bad days. Look at how I did last week. It got to the point I would just write Blew It! in my journal. You can do this. I like what Bunny & J-Ann said "One Day at a Time!" I am going to really try this week to stay OP let's help each other okay? Even small amounts of weight add up. My sister in law told me to think of the weight like sticks of butter. When I think of even a 1/4 # of butter leaving my body I feel better. I guess the visualization helps.
Bunny - You really are an inspiration. I admire that you can go exercise when you feel the need to binge. I really want to work toward getting to that point.
J-Ann - Way to go getting back OP. I use my journal faithfully even if I have a bad day. I try to write it all down if possible on bad days too, if not I'll just write blew it and try to write how I'm feeling. I figure eventually it will show me a pattern of when or why I want to overeat. I do know that PMS time is bad for me. It's like I can't get enough food to eat and NOTHING satisfies me. I also agree that we have to forgive our mistakes and just keep trying. Eventually we'll all make our goals.
Lilac - Sorry about your post
Determined - I am terrified of strange dogs. I got chased down an alley by two huge german shepards when I was a little girl. Ever since then I've been very wary of strange dogs. I do love dogs, we have a chocolate lab (@ 140 lbs.) He walks me.... when I take him with me, which isn't very often. Great going on staying OP. I had the hormonal thing going last week. When it was over the scale showed 5 lbs gone. I'm not real excited since it was probably mostly water weight.
I tried a fish recipe from the Simply the Best WW cookbook. It was fantastic & I don't really care for fish. I'll try to post it later.
Hello to any I missed & hope everyone has a great weekend.
The week didn't go quite as I had planned. It wasn't a good week for me exercise wise and I had an okay week going with the food until last night's absolute blowout with pizza. DH has been sickly with a cold and he didn't feel like cooking. So I said I'd do what we rarely do and that's go get pizza. I parked him in the bedroom with lots of blankies and meds while I chowed down on breadsticks and pizza. How stupid was that? It was like a bottomless pit. My only weak defense is that I've been hormonal for a week or two.
Today I have been trying to redeem myself with lots of activity. I have been doing a lot of housework. Vacuuming stairs, mopping, shampooing the rug downstairs etc. I've also been working on stripping the border in the bathroom. A gal at work loaned me her steamer and its been working great. I've been perched on the bathtub side, tiptoe trying to scrape the border. Very strenous on the upper body.
I better get scootin' We're having dinner with friends we haven't seen in a long time. I'm not sure I'm going to worry about being OP tonight. If they have blackened prime rib on the menu, I doubt it.
Everyone, hang in there and be strong. It truly is one meal at a time. Lots of us are struggling with getting it all together for more than a few days at a time. But in the long run, we are doing so many more right things for ourselves than we used to. Keep up all the great work.
Linda - I'll try to work up a weekly menu plan for DH and I and post it tomorrow.
Tomorrow, my women's group is having our Spring Workshop. It's more of an informal get-together of the six groups that comprise our region, of which I'm president. The workshop part of it is where we share craft ideas. We also have a competition and for tomorrow we were supposed to have made a tote bag, any materials, any method. Of course, I left it until the last minute so most of today was spent trying to fashion a tote out of some lovely tapestry fabric I found. It has a pattern of jungle animals. I got it finished but not sure if I'm happy with it. I also had to make a dish for our pot luck luncheon. I threw together a salad using a recipe from Simply the Best with a few minor alterations. It called for cauliflower and brocolli and shredde carrots. I just used a bag of frozen mixture. I also added cooked pasta and drained the hot water over the frozen veggies and drained everything well. Then I had to make something for our bake auction, so I used my bread machine to mix up a batch of Hot Cross Buns, later baked in the oven. They turned out pretty good (of course I had two of them.) There's just no holding back my appetite this week.
Tomorrow will be a lost cause as far as being OP goes. We will be greeted by the hosting group with coffee, tea, muffins, scones, etc. and then our pot luck luncheons are always fantastic. Trying to find OP foods amonst all the pasta, rice and potato based casseroles is like picking your way through a mine field.
I have made up my mind though. After tomorrow's luncheon, I am going to get myself back on track. No more dithering about.
You folks are so inspiring. It really helps to hear about your successes and even your failures. Nice to know you're all human.
Bye for now.
LindaBC
oh Linda so sorry things have been tough for you - me too! I have been eating everything in sight. I have been pre menstrual which sometimes makes things hard for me. I had this overwhelming craving for chocolate, so in the end I just had some, and then chips and then half a bottle of wine....and so it went on for several days. I even put a piece of choc cheesecake in my bag to take to work today, but i am going to put it back in the fridge. I dont really want it, what I really want is to reduce my weight some more.
This time of the year is horrible for me, every year. But it is nearly spring, and so it will pass.
Strange how we are all (or most of us) finding it a bit uphill at the moment. I wonder why? Are we telling each other it is hard instead of 'it is easy'? Dont know.....but it is worth us looking at. Or are we getting in to comparisons with each other and being sneakily competitive? I dont think we do that, but what do we think?
Hmmm......food for thought. Anyway, love to everyone and lets be all that we can be for ourselves and for each other.
love
Lilac
While my folks were here we did some walking. This is a photo of my father and me standing in front of a truly large tree which arcs over a part of a stream near the NC entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We'd just come from Harrah's casino in Cherokee and were airing out (gads but I hate smoky rooms) before heading home for some very low point soup and some (sadly) high point bread. My favourite bakery in Florida is something I've missed since moving here two years ago and my folks kindly brought two loaves of my all-time favourite bread -- rosemary bread -- with them. *yum*
I actually stayed on program mostly while they were here; but I was at the upper end of my points which means I probably won't have lost anything.
It's been a month since I weighed-in officially (though I keep weighing-in at home). Frankly our funds are very tight right now (only have money for shopping and shipping LOL!) and Friday mornings, my weigh-in morning, are the hardest for finding that extra $11. Yeah, its a pathetic excuse, but its what I'm using right now. I plan to weigh-in officially on Friday but who knows?
I'm off in a moment to meet a friend for breakfast and some consulting on the state of her business. She's in online sales (like us); she and her partner primarily sell items which overlap with what we sell (though they do have some other things they sell that we don't). This makes the friendship a little more complex as it can be hard to share with a friend when you realize you're also sharing with a direct competitor. I want her to succeed -- but I really don't want it to be at my cost (any more than she'd want me to succeed at her cost, I assume). We've talked before about "partnering" -- each of us choosing a market and staying out of the others marketplace, however our spouses aren't really gonna do that so ... we're just competing and trying to figure out the friendship thing at the same time.
Breakfast
porridge with soy milk and a banana (4.5pts)
mid morning
Marks and Spencer range 'count on us' cereal bar 1.5pts
later
another one 1.5pts
lunch
cold left over pasta from last night 4pts
a banana 1.5pts
dinner
grilled chicken breast 2.5pts
steamed leeks 0pts
with bacon (lean)1pt
cheese sauce made with one ouce flour 2 teaspoons butter, and soymilk and matchbox size piece of cheese (8.5pts the lot, I will have half)
zero point veggies whatever
which comes to 23 points, and I will have a large glass of wine as I cook (2pts).
Tonight I will make a big pot of zero point soup, as follows (but check butternut is zero point, as it IS zero point here but last time I posted this someone said that in the usa it is has points, which did not make sense to me, so check your materials and do what is right for you. This is nought point here........)
Take a butternut squash, and slice it in half. scoop out the seeds and place it face down on a baking tray. Bake it in a hot oven for about 45 mins until the flesh is soft. Leave it to cool if you want to do that bit in advance.
Chop up an onion and some garlic and soften them in a pan, using a splash of veg stock, or water, rather than any oil. When soft add a teaspoon each of cumin, coriander and cinnamon. Also half a teaspoon of cloves and some grated ginger if you want. Then add the scooped out flesh of the butternut and about a pint of veg stock (made with a good powder or cube). Heat it up and simmer for 10 minutes. You can liquidise it if you like smooth soup, or not if you dont mind 'bits'. Yum.
TOTAL POINTS: 24 pts
Total exercise points: 4 points
From there, I'll snack as needed, with an emphasis on low point snacks like sliced apples, air popped popcorn, and sugar free jello. If my elliptical trainer really tires me out and leaves me craving eats, I'll go for a 2 point Slim Fast bar 'cause it feeds my chocolate craving nicely.
Thanks for sharing your menus, Bunny and Lilac. I really appreciate your taking the trouble.
I see you both have cereal, fruit and milk (or soy milk) for breakfast. I've tried that and it just doesn't work for me. My blood sugar goes through the ceiling and then does a crash within an hour leaving me shaking. (hypoglycemia). I try to have some protein every morning, either an egg or light cream cheese on multi-grain toast. My points range is 29-34 so I can eat more than you do.
Today was really blown due to the pot luck lunch I went to. As I predicted there was nothing even remotely OP to choose from so I just enjoyed a bit of several kinds of things and hoped for the best. I noticed that I got full a lot quicker than I used to so I guess that's a good thing.
Thanks again, my friends. If you don't mind, could you post a couple more days of menus?
LindaBC
breakfast
banana porridge with soy milk (as yesterday)
a lot of black coffee
4.5 pts
lunch
zero point soup as per yesterday's recipe
big slice of bread
spoon full fromage frais
4pts
dinner
Not sure as my oven has broken so it has to be something stove top, but I have a recipe for cauliflower curry which is 6.5 per portion, which I would have with rice (4 tablespoons for 3 points)
So that is 18 points, and I will make up the rest with two apples, two 1.5 point bars, and a slice of 'healthy' cake in starbucks which is 4 points.
Hope this is helpful. It is helpful to me as I am thinking it all through.
Running off for work now
lilac
Linda -- I have to eat regularly all day long or I end up with a migraine. My breakfast yesterday was actually pretty heavy for me because I went to breakfast with a friend at Cracker Barrel! Today's meals are more typical.
Breakfast: Toast, very light smearing of jam, water
Exercise: walking up, then down, 10 flights of stairs
Lunch: Roast beef with swiss sandwich (no mayo), Cheetos, Diet Coke
Exercise: 40 minutes on the elliptical trainer, 20 minutes lifting weights
And again I'll add sugar free Jellos (10 calories each) as needed to keep the migraines at bay.
I'm in desperate need of a grocery trip so we're down to eating what's left in the cupboards, ya know? Typically I'd add a piece of fruit in there somewhere (I don't like fruit - go figure) but we're out.
I really appreciate your menu input. I hope you don't think I'm criticizing if I just make some comments or question some choices. Heaven only knows, I sure don't choose very wisely much of the time. One thing I DO know about myself and my doctor concurrs is that I must have more protein, especially for breakfast which is why I have an egg in the morning at least three times a week and some kind of cheese on multigrain toast (usually light Philly with a touch of jam), or light cheddar melted under broiler. Bunny, I'm totally amazed that anybody could climb 10 flights of stairs (and then down again) on only toast and jam. I'd be passed out before reaching the first landing! BTW, nice picture of you and your Dad. Thanks for sharing. Terri, you seem to get a lot of use from your George Forman grill. What size do you have and are you completely satisfied with it? I've been thinking of getting one for myself but not sure how much I'd use it and do I really need more small appliances taking up space in my kitchen?
Lilac, what exactly is fromage frais? Is that like cottage cheese? Just wondering, I don't see any meat in your menu plan. Are you a vegetarian?
Today I went to see my doctor to get a referral for orthotics. WHile there I talked to him about my dieting woes. I had kept a journal of my early morning blood glucose test results and he feels they're a bit high. He wants to try me on Metformin to help metabolise blood sugar better. He also wants me to try Meridia for a while but he will keep a close watch on my blood pressure while I'm trying these things out. I haven't picked up the prescriptions yet but I just know they're going to blow my bank account all to ****. Plus the cost of the shoe orthotics which will probably be $350 to $400. But , if it will help me to walk a block or two without excrutiating pain in my feet, knees and hips, I'll be delighted to pay that much.
Anybody ever tried Meridia? Did it help you lose weight? I think it's supposed to help curb the appetite. We shall see. I'll let you know. Meanwhile, I'm all revved up about getting totally back OP. Your menus have inspired me. I think part of my problem is not having enough milk products. That's something I seem to find easy to ignore so I will make a special point of eating my yogurt this week and see if that helps.
LindaBC
Love the menu ideas. I just type in mine and POOF they disappeared just as I was getting to friday. No time to redo now. I'll try to get back later tonight when I get home from the pool.
I can sew pretty well, but I do not care to hem pants. OH Well!
You can do this. I like what Bunny & J-Ann said "One Day at a Time!" I am going to really try this week to stay OP let's help each other okay? Even small amounts of weight add up. My sister in law told me to think of the weight like sticks of butter. When I think of even a 1/4 # of butter leaving my body I feel better. I guess the visualization helps. 
Great going on staying OP. I had the hormonal thing going last week. When it was over the scale showed 5 lbs gone. I'm not real excited since it was probably mostly water weight.
