Good Thursday afternoon ladies, just returned to the office from a nice lunch out at an Italian restaurant. I ordered the shrimp with broccoli over pasta shells in an olive oil-based sauce. It was so delicious. Believe me, I usually don't eat this type of food for lunch but, today, we had a goodbye luncheon for a colleague. I'm not sure of the points on this one so will have to look everything up in my points book. It seemed to be the lightest thing on the menu because it was the one dish that was not encrusted in cheese. My aunt continues to keep me hopping, but I know that things are coming together with her arrangements. I'm getting much better at not reacting too drastically when she gets out of control and starts with the screaming and insults. If I keep my voice strong and positive and smile a lot, she behaves much better. I think that she responds well to positive/happy energy, even if she can't logically understand everything that is said. I'll be at her place again tonight, but that will be it for this week. Hooray! If I am lucky, I will be able to enjoy a nice, peaceful Labor Day holiday weekend. Hopefully, I can borrow the dog over the weekend and take some nice walks. I owe him, big-time, in the walk department. Well ladies, here's hoping that you are having a great OP day. Be well. Cindy

Melissa, happy birthday! What a lovely present--a loss of a half pound. Good job. You are one busy lady so be sure to take a moment to breathe.

Geri, thanks so much for your explanation on why we should think positive thoughts about ourselves. It helped me see the reason why positive thoughts can work. It is darn hard to do, though. I am annoyed at how loud the negative thoughts are in my head! I will make an effort to accentuate the positive. You, lady, are doing a fantastic job, OP. I am so proud of you!! Sometimes you struggle, but you are making tremedous progress in modifying old habits, as well as losing weight. Go Geri go!

Lilacglitter, loved your message about the false nature of our negative thoughts. You're right. If I can think logically, instead of reacting with a negative thought, I might be able to break the chain of negativity. I'll give it a try. I know that you were feeling a little down for awhile, but please know that I think you are doing a wonderful job, OP. You are cooking wonderful tasty meals, getting your exercise and, are enjoying life. Not too shabby, by my way of thinking! Hang in there, kiddo. You're looking good!

Linda, nice going on the swimming. You are working so hard and are sure to be rewarded with a healthy, slimmer body by the time you are ready to travel for Scotland.

j-ann, congratulations on losing 35 pounds so far. What an outstanding job you have done. You are so in control and it shows! Keep up the great work.

To all of my other friends out there, hope that you are having a fun OP summer day. Take care.

HEY MELISSA......

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y

I hope this one's slimmer than the last and that the next one brings you either to or closer to goal!

Judy

Well you guys, I did it again and I just had to come tell you because these are BIG hurdles for me. I was actually IN the Dairy Queen parking lot today really wanting a peanut buster parfait. And I sat there, and sat there a little more. And finally......I said 'I want to be skinny more that I want that darn ice cream!' (thanks, Frank) Sooooooo, I drove off without my peanut buster parfait! WoooooHoooooo!!!!!

Gotta run. My youngest is having a Fraternity Brother over as a house guest and my house is definitely NOT ready for guests!

WELL DONE GERI!!!!
Franks Law worked for you and you won the battle with the Peanut Butter Parfait Monster!!!!!!! That is so fantastic!

Well, I am all set up for another Friday (yippee). I am just out of the shower and sitting here at my desk in my towel with wet hair thinking 'what will the weather be like' wondering what to wear. It is pretty grey and overcast, and there was an autumn nip in the air yesterday. We usually have a bit of sun in mid september, but it seems that we are definitely on for the seasons changing now. Good. Big jumpers and lots of soup. I wonder if thin people greet summer with the glee with which I greet autumn and winter .... well, in a few seasons we will all find out

Thanks for your encouragement Cindy - I could do with taking some of my own medicine about true and false thoughts! I have done walking (about 15 mins) for two days now and will try and get some more in today somehow, so I am pleased with myself.

Mel, I hope you had a good birthday and congrats on the .5!

Geri - I am going to try the chicken parmesan next week - I do a chicken breast thing with goats cheese, which is really nice but a bit higher in points (can go up to 6 or 7 per breast, depending on how much goat cheese you use). Yours sounds like a good sub. I love mozerella....I love it when you can make the 'string' stretch about 15 inches...... My table manners.........

Love to everyone
Lilac

Good morning ladies!!

Where has the week gone? Somehow I've managed to be AWOL again. It seems I have been so busy but wonder what I've gotten done. We've got all our campers (3) rented out and that took all last evening (in the rain no less ). Got my hair highlighted (blond job as DH says), cut and nails done. That was a whole other night. So, food hasn't been awful but not as good as I had hoped. I didn't even get to get to my WW meeting this week. But I think I'm kind of maintaining.

Today I'm off to my mom & dad's to see my horse. Taking the dog-horse with me so they can see how big he's getting and they can appreciate not having him anymore! My sis is coming up so we'll have a good visit. Then its back home for lots of work around the house. Maybe I'll get caught up again.

Geri - Good for you on driving away. That takes a lot of self-talk and you did it!! WooHOO. Thanks for the recipe; looks like something I'd really like.

Lilac - Thanks for your recipe too. Have you been doing any biking? I keep thinking I'm going to get mine out but..... Oh well, I will someday. I'm so ready for the autumn nip in the air. I love that time of year.

Well I need to run. Got to get DH up and off to work and load up for the 2 hour drive. Have a great day and hopefully I'll be back over the weekend.

Good morning everyone! My scale is looking good! I know, I know, don't jump on it everyday. But when I'm doing good, it helps me, soooooooo, admonish me all you want but I haven't been on this kind of roll in such a long time it feels good!

I guess driving out of the DQ had it's downside. I had the munchies BIG time when I got home. But I have to say, at least I waited until I got home and had some low point stuff to grab so I still stayed OP for the day....AND journalled it all, I might add!

Lilacglitter: I'm with you on the autumn season. I love to throw on a nice warm coat and cover up all this fat! I would much rather be cold and throw on extra clothes than be hot. Because once you're naked, there's not much more you can do! Besides, when you're naked you scare off all the little kids!!!!

Terri: I know you are going to have a great weekend. Are you going to be able to house the horse at your place eventually? That would really be great. You'll have your own little farm, how fun! Have a safe drive. See ya when you get back!

Well girls, it's off to the races (no, not really the races, just off to work)!!!! You all have a great day. Any great plans for the weekend? I have a steakhouse job to do tomorrow and honey and I have a hotel to do on Sunday night. But that's about it for us, other than the baby's Frat Brother coming in tonight from New York. Anyways, take care.

"It takes alot of courage to show your dreams to someone else." - Erma Bombeck

Hi, gals! Its been long week; next week promises to be longer. Today was weigh in and I gotta be honest -- I was very nervous about stepping on the scale. But the results surprised me so much I got on a second time just to be sure. I'm down another 6.5# -- for a total now of 20# during this journey. Very neat.

I've got to run -- more work and volunteer work and worrying to do but I hope to be able to post more completely this weekend.

Success to you all this week -- stay OP, get out and take a breath of fresh air, and enjoy life! That is, after all, the point, isn't it?

I've realized now that my day is more than half done that really, I need to take some time for myself. That's what I'm doing by coming here and posting -- declaring these few moments to belong incontravertably to me. This is my time. Thank you for being here to share it with me.

My real-world life is in turmoil right now; the crises at my volunteer position are worsening. I'm not clear that there IS a good answer at this time. I see litigation, arguments and an unremembering of what we're here to do. I'm not clear on what the solutions are -- but I expect it will include my resignation from my position (for a variety of reasons not the least of which being that I haven't the time or heart to dedicate myself properly to sorting out this mess). Its saddening in a way but liberating as well; I've spent too much of the past years working too hard on a cause and not hard enough on my family, my business, my life.

I'm pleased that I lost this week -- it was topsy turvy because, as I realized mid-morning today, my kids had been playing with my scale and moved it "off balance". So I've spent the last two days wondering how the heck I could have gained seven pounds + when in fact I'd lost! They've been told not to touch my scale again -- but I hope I remember that if I have a sudden large gain I should consider checking the balance.

Geri -- the munchies are so much less dangerous when you've prepared by having healthier choices on hand, eh? I keep my fridge well stocked with sugar free Jell-o and there are always Wheat Thin Crisps (23 for 4 points) in my cupboard. It helps when the munchies start up uncontrollably.

Determined to succeed -- Hope your weekend is beautiful -- as you must surely be feelin' with your nail and hair freshly done. I feel all exotic when I get my nails done -- which I haven't done recently enough. Hmmm... maybe that will be a treat when I make my 10% goal?

Lilacglitter -- I have a tiny tiny skinny friend whose sweat glands don't function -- so she's always waiting for the cooler seasons right along with me as her body doesn't cool itself well. Of course, she also has a hard time keep weight on (truly a difficult problem though one which I do sometimes have problems sympathising with). Me? I like the cooler seasons but I'm addicted to mini-skirts and so I'm always cold once the snow arrives. Silly, huh?

Lunacat -- I hope the dog gets a chance to walk ya this weekend. Or vice versa. We're planning some hiking tomorrow 'cause we had a sudden $ crunch which means no shopping this weekend. Yikes.

MELISSA -- happy BIRTHDAY!!

Darn, darn DARN!!!! I should really know better! Yesterday I went on a picnic with my neighbor and two old ladies she has visiting from New Zealand. I ate some sour cream and onion potato chips (allowed for them in my points). Then we went for a walk which nearly killed me. Even though it was level walking and only about 30 minutes, my face was as red as a ripe tomato, my back was killing me and I didn't stop perspiring for two hours. What really gets me is these two old ladies didn't even turn pink!!! How fair is that??
Anyhow, possibly because of all that sweating, and not having any water with me, when I got home late that afternoon, I was craving MORE salt so I chowed down on some low fat salted rice cakes....STILL within my points but pushing it for day before weigh-in. Then I guzzled about a gallon of water before going to bed. Normally, I'd be up several times in the night with that much water so late but the salt made me retain and I was UP 2.2 lb this morning. WAAAAHHHHHHH! And I'd been doing so well all week too. Well, I guess I've learned my lesson.
Today I've been busy canning peaches and also baked some buns to put in DH's lunches. General housework stuff and trying to keep my legs from stiffening up after yesterday's walk. I KNOW I have to start walking on a regular basis, especially if I want to climb up to Edinburgh's castle and explore it. So tomorrow I start with 20 minutes brisk walking and hopefully increase it every day until I leave. I've gotta get into better shape. I just can't get over those old ladies not even puffing a bit and one of them was a smoker! Sheesh!

Heya, Linda -- I had to pop back in when I heard you say, "Normally, I'd be up several times in the night with that much water so late but the salt made me retain and I was UP 2.2 lb this morning. WAAAAHHHHHHH! And I'd been doing so well all week too. " A couple weeks ago I was in the Waaaaaahhhhh boat myself. I know the feeling only too well. Wanna know the best part -- the good thing I got out of it all? An extra big weight loss the next week. So next time I have a wah-week I plan to focus on that instead of the wah. Oh -- and I had to say, the panting-when-no-one-else-is thing drives me nuts. I'm a big time red-faced gal -- always have been. Even when I was a wee slip of a girl (and I was a wee slip, darnitall) I turned beet red almost immediately after any kind of exertion. Now when I'm panting and huffing and sweatin' my butt off (literally!!) and my husband walks beside me cool as a cucumber, I just taunt him with the fact that I'm workin' harder than he is, the lazy bum.

Keep on keepin' on.

Good morning all!

I am hoping to have a productive day today. I have some major cleaning planned for today and I hope I can make a dent. The weather here is gorgeous so I think I will prolly go to the gym in a couple of hours to break up my cleaning routine. Or maybe I'll even go for a nice walk outside. I don't really know yet. Right now it is nice and cool and I hope it stays that way.

Linda - I understand how you feel. I hate it when I am winded and everyone around me isn't bothered by a thing. Sorry to hear about the gain, but at least you know it is prolly just water, so that will make next week better.

slutbunny - you really are doing a great job. Wow, a 6.5# loss. That is terrific. It just proves that we can do it and some weeks we do better than others.

I know this weekend is going to be a tough one for me, and many others. But I just hope to get through it and not be too over in my points. Good luck to all!

Melissa

This is getting long, I'm starting a new thread and a new month.

DO NOT POST HERE!

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