Good morning ladies!

I guess I'll start the thread since no one's jumped in yet. How was the weekend for everyone? We stayed at home this weekend - the weather was kinda cooler & cloudy - got a few things done around the house - cleaned up two of the bathrooms in the house - DH tuned up both the vehicles on Saturday - gotta love a guy who is handy around the house.

Had the munchies over the weeked & ate more than usual - felt hungrier for some reason. Many schools around the Madison area go back to school this week sometime - the schools in our town don't start this year until after Labor Day because they built a new school & it won't be ready until then.

Good morning my friends. I'm back to work following two-and-a-half weeks off and just trying to catch up. Other than the 393 email messages, things don't look too bad!!

I had a relaxing holiday. Weather was great and we got to do most of what we wanted to. I don't know if I reported that DH hurt his back on his first day of vacation, so we really couldn't embark on the camping trip that we had planned. We did manage a few trips away though - three days in the Annapolis Valley at various B&Bs and another excursion to Cape Breton where we finally got to do some camping in the highlands. Beautiful scenery -- pods of pilot whales, bald eagles and two bull moose sitting about 25 feet away from the hiking trail we were on. Amazing!

A bit of damage has been done to my WOE but I am resolved to get back into the swing of things. I ran four or five times during vacation and did other things like swimming, hiking and some biking as well. All in all, I feel rested and ready for a busy fall.

I hope everyone is doing well. I tried to catch up a bit with last week's thread so I know there's been some activity in the canning/pickling dept. I bought blueberries with the idea of making pies; is there such a thing as a "lite" blueberry pie filling?

Back to the post-vacation clean-up. Later.

Good monday morning everyone.

Welcome back Seesaw! Sounds like you had a faboo couple of weeks off. Good for you for making it an active vacation. I hope DH is up and more active.

I haven't made a light pie filling. I would just freeze them and then use them in a light custard pie or something. I'm not a big fan of splenda or nutrasweet, so I don't know how you would process it. We just froze a flat of blueberries. We're still working on last years berries, but they hold better than anything.

kt: I have to hide the back to school ads from DP, it depresses her. Can you believe it?
I had to wear a jacket this am during my dog putter, I was not pleased.

Well ladies, I'm outta here tomorrow afternoon for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll run into Patch in Logan. I'm heading to central maine for a bit of work and then lobster eating, blueberry picking and reading. Should be fun.

Its the running around, locating the phantom dog sitter and packing that has the leaving town thing sort of a mixed blessing.

talk to youse laters,
lala

a new week. that has to be a good thing, right?

seasaw welcome back! I was just wondering about you. Glad you had such a good vacation. I made a peach-blueberry crisp a couple of weeks ago and didn't add any sugar or sweetening to the fruit. It was delicious. Now if I could only think up a low-point crisp topping recipe...

well, gals, i decided to try a lose another 3 - 8 pounds starting today and ending who knows when. i feel a need more leeway than I have at present, plus I have lots of fat deposits that I wouldn't miss. So will keep you posted.

Hi gals,

An update. I lost another whopping .4 lbs, so if this goes on exponentially (or is it geometrically?), I would be at goal sometime in october.
Laurel:
So, lf crisp topping. Try lf granola, nutmeg, cinnamon, a few almonds (chopped and toasted) and
apple juice to moisten. It'll be very lf and not very tasty. I would add abit of fat (butter) and it will taste better.

Alice has a nice crisp topping, but its a bit high fat.

sigh.

I made a lovely fig and raspberry tart that I did not partake of, but was quite lovely. Pie/tart shell, macerate some sliced fresh figs in cointreau and 1 T sugar, add some fresh raspberries and bake. looked good and took about
5 minutes.
You'll get the extra (or your perceived) extra weight off soon. You seem to have great success!


lala

I feel like I've lost some steam in my attempt to get to a dream goal of under 140 - I never hit that magic number, not even when I got to goal the first time in the late 1980s when I was in my late 20s. Now, inching ever so much closer toward the age of 41, I wonder if it is even possible - the closest I've been at either age is 140.4. I guess I was surprised I got back to my original goal weight this go around - so, should I be satisfied & concentrate on maintaining or continue to pursue the under 140 dream?? (I know, I should be deciding for myself.... )

LM - your goal to lose another 3-8 pounds has me re-thinking what I should do - maybe I just feel in a funk today because I feel I've had the munchies pretty bad for the past few days (not PMS-related, either).

Whaddya think, ladies????

Thanks for the welcome back. I missed our daily chats and the support. I would dearly love to invest in a laptop or something for home use but the next big ticket item for us is bedroom furniture, so everything else will have to wait...

kt: I understand your dream of being under 140. At 5'7", I've had 138 as my personal goal for quite some time. I purposely stopped trying to lose weight at around the 145 mark two years ago because I thought I would have to work too hard to maintain. Knowing what I know now, however, I am convinced that I could get there as long as I get regular exercise and stay away from high-calorie snacks. I believe I can do it, even at the ripe old age of 47.

lalala: Congrats on the loss. I admire your perseverance in the face of all of the travelling you do. Being out of my routine has always been a huge challenge for me. It can be done, but it's tough!!

Laurel: I can identify with your reasons for wanting to lose the extra weight. They match mine precisely. I am much too close to my WW goal weight at the moment (actually, probably over it as a result of vacation) and I really dislike the dread I feel stepping on those scales. A cushion of 10 lbs or so would feel much better, and as luck would have it, I have a pillow around my middle that I can sacrifice for the cause

Melissa: Hi!

Hi everyone!

Katie: Thanks for getting the thread going this morning! The weekend went pretty well--it was cool & rainy. I did manage to get some house work done that I've been putting off as well as getting caught up with some transcription work. The summer is a hard time for me to stay on track and really focus on weight loss, with the cooler weather coming, the picnics ending, etc. I'll be able to be more focused. Traditionally I've found I lose weight during the Fall/Winter and early Spring rather than during the summer weather.

Seasaw: Welcome back!

Lala: Congrats on the loss...heck I used to remind myself when I would have these types of losses that it was equivalent to 2 sticks of butter gone, lol. You're moving in the right direction

I've been really trying to keep my journal accurate and get my exercise in and so far I've been doing okay. This weekend was a little rough with my points being a littler higher than where I would really like but I'm not going to dwell on it. I feel rather sluggish but I know it's due in part to TOM starting next week and I usually feel this way so I'm trying to push the feeling off. My goal is to really focus on getting a little more cushion. I keep hovering right at goal to about 1# over and I don't like having to worry about weighing in.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good Monday!

Melissa

Whoa! Good stuff on the thread this week!

Katie - First of all major congrats on getting back to goal. And, especially maintaining. It's really hard, sometimes I find harder than losing. And if that's where you stay - at goal - it's a huge accomplishment. Now... that being said like Seasaw - age can be but doesn't have to be such a huge obstacle. - I'm 45 and on the pre-menapausal (sp?) bandwagon - 5'5" and my goal weight is 135, but the dream of getting to 129 is tugging at my heart strings.

Like LM has just said, I like a bit of a cushion, and that's really all it is. Cause I find when I got to my dream weight the last time... after a month or so, I just couldn't seem to keep it there. And that's OK. I just want a bit of maneuvering room.

Congrats Lala on the .4! just great news. I'll be thinking of you when I go to Logan this Sunday. And yes, I've eaten the lobster bisque, the lobster salad, and steamed lobster and want more!

Melissa I love your comparrison of that being equal to two sticks of butter. Uggh!

And guys those pies and filling suggestions are making hungry!!!

Hiyouse all,

trying to finish a proposal and find some lackey (er principal investigator) who will be happy with the results and lend his/her name to the cause of more salary for me. Such is the life of the soft money researcher. sigh.

anyways, our trip to london/paris is not happening , dp forgot she had a field trip that same weekend, so she is looking for alternate dates around said date, the ticket prices are quite high and well, its getting close to me leaving for four weeks. But, I'll take an eclair over a strudel anyday.

So, I'm off in a few hours and I'm dying to go to the gym before I leave, so if I'm super efficient (meaning, not reading 3fatchicks), I'll leave here early.

Patch: enjoy the rest of your vacation! Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm going to wi on tuesday, so who knows what will happen.

everyoneelse:I'm going to try and journal on line while in maine. Lets hope that I can keep up my moderate rate of success.

oh to be at goal! oh to be near goal, oh to be down .8 lbs!

sigh.

lala

Hi all. I'm heading out of town for a meeting and will return tomorrow night. This always wreaks havoc with my eating - either too much or too little. Have been doing well so far this week with all elements of the program - eating, water and exercise. And I'm happy to say I see results on my home scale. Weigh-in is this Saturday.

I think it might have been Melissa who mentioned the Breaking Through booklet from WW for people experiencing plateaus. I picked it up too and it's helped me to realize that I've been consuming far more points than I've been recording. Not rocket science, but sometimes it's hard to see these things for yourself.

lalala: I know you're already gone but have a great trip to Maine. I hope this rain we're experiencing in Nova Scotia doesn't impact on your activities.

patch: Likewise with your trip to Logan. How much longer are you on vacation?

Melissa: I too have an easier time with staying on track without all of the temptations of summer. I won't be sorry to see the hot weather go. It's rainy here this week after three solid weeks of high temps and humidity, and that's OK with me. My sister and I were out running in the rain last nite giving thanks for the glorious relief!

katie: Any more thoughts/decision on whether to maintain or lose more? I really tried to be satisfied with my current weight but it's still an issue, so I think losing a little more is the right thing for me.

Have a good day everyone. I'll check in again on Friday.

Seasaw: The Breaking Through Booklet really helped me. It's so easy to let portions get a little bigger, not calculate points, let your mind wander. This booklet helped me quite a bit. I'm totally enjoying the cooler weather myself! I'm looking forward to the fall with the crisp mornings--my kind of walking weather

Lala: You're gonna make that .8#--remember, journal, journal, journal!

Patch: Hope you're surviving your vacation!
It's really difficult for me to be out of my own surroundings and stay on program. The hardest part is not letting other people make me feel guilty for not eating.

Katie: Have you decided if you're going to try to lose a couple more pounds? I'm currently working on getting my weight back down to 140 or a little lower. I like to have a little "cushion" and feel good when I'm at 139.

I went to my meeting today at noon and lost the .4 I had gained last week...I'm happy with that!

Have a good day everyone!

Good morning, ladies!

Drove to work in some major fog this morning. Pretty humid here last night & today.

Well, I lost 1.2 at my meeting last night so that was great. I was at a seminar yesterday so I was nervous about what would be served for lunch - nothing like eating out on your weigh in day - but I really had no choice. Luckily, it was chicken & seemed pretty healthy, although I couldn't resist the warm, little french breads in the bread basket (I think they're called petit pain if my memory in French serves me right). I only had one piece of bread & didn't have any butter on it.

Melissa & Seasaw - I guess I am not ready to give up trying to get my weight under 140 (Melissa & I are shooting for the same personal goal weight). I just don't know if it is realistic since I've never reached it while doing WW. Melissa, you've been under 140 so you know you can do it. I guess I need to keep telling myself that I can, too.

Hello folks.

well I had an interesting experience on Tuesday night, being a weigher-in-training. I just stood there and watched the leader whip through a line of 105 people. She's fast, yet makes it a little personal. I think I can manage it. Then as I was filing cards, I was listening in on the receptionists talking amongst themselves, letting their hair down, if you know what I mean. "The dark side of WW"...

Not much else new, except that my mood has been poor and I'm hoping that will pass soon. Appetite's been just fine though. I never was one of those people who couldn't eat because they're under stress. Quite the opposite, if anything!

All of your summer vacations sound so nice. As a new employee, I don't get any vacation time til the new year and then only 9 days. waahhh...

Laurel: I'm curious. Just how dark is "the dark side of WW...?" I've often wondered what they do to keep sane what with folks jumping on the scales practically naked, quibbling over whether the scales are calibrated properly, etc. Any juicy inside stuff you can share?

kt: Good loss--congratulations. I guess we're all targeting more or less the same number. It will be good to have company on the journey, although you and Melissa are closer than I am.

Melissa: Congrats to you too. You've worked hard to get back there I know, and you're so close now. You have much to be proud of.

I've had a good week as far as staying on track is concerned - even with the business trip. It was especially hard at lunch yesterday. It was catered - a delicious looking seafood chowder (which I just know was made with cream), venison stew, lobster sandwiches, several different kinds of homemade bread, and your choice of blueberry pie or apple crisp for dessert. I had the venison stew which was absolutely delicious, a tea biscuit and 1/2 of a lobster sandwich (couldn't resist - mayo or not). Counted the points and had a lighter meal last nite. (It's starting to come back to me - how to work the program).

I'm hoping to see a loss at weigh-in tomorrow.