Hi, Turtles,

Lauren, what you said about finding substitutes that you enjoy and continuing to eat what you love, too, is exactly what I've been trying to say seems to work best. I hope the lady in your meeting manages to figure out how to maintain before she starts regaining the weight. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I remember a woman from one of my meetings back when WW tolds you exactly what, when, and how much of each food to eat. She was the perfect WW and never once cheated. But when she got to maintenance, she started to gain the weight back because now she had to decide what to do and she hadn't learned how.

I guess what I've seen works best with the new point system is to experiment with new foods. And to experiment with new ways to prepare foods. Then keep the ones we like. For me, I discovered that I prefer to eat the way I do now over the way I used to eat. I hate it when I slip back into old ways because I don't feel as well when I eat that way.

The main difference is that when I slip, I don't pay attention to my hunger/satiety signals and I eat too much, even though that "too much" may actually be a normal sized portion for a lot of people. I just feel better when I eat really small portions and eat more often. That's my biggest struggle--to pay attention to when I'm full and to not "let my eyes get bigger than my stomach", as the old cliche from my childhood goes.

So, I keep experimenting. I found out this past week that I've been making my hamburgers too big. I don't like to spend 4-5 points on the bun. So, I bought some small rolls and made 2 ounce (cooked) burgers. Paul and I both discovered that one of those with the small bun was plenty of food. It's not enough for my teenage boys, but they can just eat two. The bonus was that I could spend a couple of points on oven-baked fries and a bit of real salad dressing.

Way to go on figuring out how to do the workout. I noticed that I have to make changes in how I do the videos sometimes because of working out on a carpeted floor. I wish they had a foldup wooden floor you could put over the carpet to do dance videos on. One of my fantasies is to have a place with a small room that has a really bouncy dance floor, mirrors and a barre. It doesn't have to be much bigger than a small walk-in closet, although having a window would be nice.

Congratulations on the short-term job! Hope it turns into something permanent that is in your favorite field.

I think your weight loss goal is a terrific one! Looking forward to cheering as you move toward that goal.

My life has been OP since the first of the year. Last year I just took the points away on the electronic calculator I have from WW. I didn't actually total the points I've been using for the day. I started jotting down the totals this year and have been very surprised to find that my extra hunger due to TOM has put me eating at the top of my range or using only two or three banked points. I thought I had been really going nuts during that time. So, it was a pleasant surprise to find that I've actually been eating a reasonable amount.

I've been really lucky that the weather has been pretty cooperative these days. It's cloudy, but with some sun today. So, I can go for a walk in a little while and be pretty sure I will stay dry. I can't use umbrellas and walk in the rain because it gets too windy here. The umbrellas just turn inside out and are useless.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Happy turtlin'! :cool:

Lin
272/235/225 (next goal)/ 135 or so (ultimate goal)

PS--This post went to a second page, so I'm going to start #48. See you all there.