Oh, by the way, Lin--
I'm NOT choosing food just because it's diet food! I buy and eat these things all the time, whether dieting or not. What I'm watching right now is portion size, and making painless swaps. I found a "lite" Italian dressing that is actually the flavor combination I've been looking for, of all the dressings I've tried, so I buy that one whether it's light or not. Skim milk for 2%, EggBeaters instead of whole eggs, that sort of thing. So I'm NOT eating foods I won't continue to eat once I'm at goal!

Overcoming Overeating was and is marvelous for helping me deal with the emotional issues, but pretty useless at teaching me healthy eating habits! :rolleyes: I realize the book wasn't written from the healthy eating perspective, though, so I'm creating my own combination of "dealing with emotional issues" and "practicing healthy eating habits".

Oh, and other good news: I can wear shoes again! YAY! I'll be Spinning tomorrow at 8am, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! :spin:

Hi, Turtles,

Judy, I'm so glad my post caused you to explain yourself further. You ought to think about saving that and reading it every time you feel discouraged! It was super!

I hope my post didn't offend you. If it did, I apologize. I realize after reading your explanation and rereading your post that I misunderstood this sentence: "Otherwise, I think I might just accept the weight I have, do well most of the time and binge just enough to maintain this weight." I thought you were saying that's what you were planning to do if your weight loss wasn't as good as you hoped, not what you were afraid that you might do, if you didn't do the other stuff you mentioned. Sorry! (Sometimes writing in cyberspace isn't the best way to communicate)

Thanks for your good wishes re: our weekend.

I hope your tummy feels better soon! :(

We're rooting for you to reach your new goal!

Lauren, your Thai sounds so good. I've never tried Thai food because my boys aren't thrilled with the ingredients they use. David, for example, hates coconut. I love it! Someday, my dh and I will go by ourselves. I envy you your symphony tickets. My dh and I had season tickets to the SJ symphony before David was born. Wish we could do that again!

Mousie, congratulations on making the best decision for you, even if it's not the decision the book says you're "supposed to" make. FYI, what happened to you is exatly what happend to me when I did that book. During the process, I learned not to be afraid of any foods. I learned that I crave veggies more than junk. That time in my life was when I decided not to ever diet again and to only try to lose weight if I found (or developed my own) program that allowed me to be friends with food. But that time didn't teach me what my body needs. And I gained weight. Then I stopped doing that and started to maintain that higher weight.

I suppose at this time in my life, I'm becoming a bit of a WW "fanatic". But that's because this program is the first one I could stay on for years. It's the first one I could fit my recipes into without going nuts trying to get the right number of exchanges or extra calories or whatever the "rules" were. And to really be able to choose what kind of celebration I want on a holiday. It's the first one to deal with exercise in a way I could handle. It's the first one that gave me some understanding (via their little extra booklets) into how my body works and what it really needs. It's the first time I never got hungry, not even the first week. And it's the first time I didn't get a cold the first month of doing it. The only complaint I have is that they hadn't come up with this when I was 19 and only had ten or twenty pounds to lose!! :p

That said, I believe that each person has to find what works best for them, and perhaps WW isn't it for everybody. But it's worth a try. Also, people have to take their own journey, which means not everyone is at the same place at the same time. Most of us have to learn a lot of skills before we're able to be successful. And a lot of people get impatient with the process because they're not ready for how long it can take to turn those skills into habits. It seems as if we turtles have all gotten to about the same place this year and are all moving forward, which I think is :cool:

I'm so sorry for your health problems, Mousie. But I remember that the pill can cause serious issues if migraines are a problem. They can actually cause them, in some people. You do need to get that checked out before you go back on the pill.

Yesterday was an interesting day. Food was a disaster, due to circumstances I had no control over. But I did the best I could and that's enough. San Francisco made me sad. It used to be a great city. But except for the tourist places and the rich people's neighborhoods, it's getting so run down. It looks like no one cares about it.

I'm a little dubious about sending Chris to live there for three years, but the school is perfect for him. Their style fits his hands-on, visual learning style. The hitch is that it's expensive--65K, plus almost $700 a month to share an apartment down the peninsula (the school rents apartments instead of having dorms), on the BART train route. Which means another $5.00 a day to get to school. Plus, he has to pay for his own food and phone and art supplies. (There is an initial art kit they get that is part of the tuition expenses, but art supplies are consumable.)

The good thing is that because they don't take summer vacations every year, they get done in three years and it's a little cheaper than the other art school in the city. Plus, once you apply, the tuition is locked in for the duration. It can't go up as long as you start the quarter you tell them you're starting and continue the program without taking time off. So, we'll cobble together a financial aid package and he'll work part time. With an average of 40 hours of class and homework time, plus the job, he's going to be way too busy to get into trouble!! ;) But, what makes that work is that everyone else is doing the same thing, so they help each other.

Because it's a private school with small classes, they can require class attendance and extra motivation for him is that he loves doing this, he's good at it, and can make a living at it. He's aiming for a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Animation. It's what he's wanted to do since he was about 4 years old and got an eyeful of his first video games, with their (by current standards) awful graphics.

Today, we're going to San Jose to visit my mother and brother and to play. We need a day off, even if it costs some money. We're going to the movies. I'm finally getting my Harry Potter birthday present. And we're going to see Lord of the Rings, too. Talk about movie overload, but it will be fun!

Gotta go get ready to go.

Have a great weekend!

Happy turtlin! :)

Lin
272/233/225/135 or so

Turtles, for some reason I am so hungry today! Have had cereal and milk, 1 cup of whole wheat pasta with veggies and sauce, and two very large bowls of salad involving three kinds of lettuce, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, tomato, and croutons, in the 4 hours since I woke up. I very likely need protein, though with everything considered I've had about 20 grams today (I need about 60, daily). Can't decide where this voracious hunger is coming from. I'm usually hungry in the mornings, this is very true, but I haven't been active on this particular morning--unless you count reading the paper as active! :dizzy:

Well anyway.

Lin, why does it not surprise me that you had the same experiences with O.O.? This is one more thing I will add to my list of proof that we were separated at birth. :lol:

My DH works for Sony Online Entertainment, and they own/bought out Verant Interactive. Verant writes/designs/whathaveyou the online multiplayer game EverQuest (a name I'm sure your son knows). DH actually manages the team that controls/writes the websites for all of Sony's online interests. Now, I don't know how long DH is planning to be with Sony or how long it will be til your DS is finished with school. Sony hires very heavily on the basis of referrals, though--DH was one of very few who didn't know someone working there already--so things may work out in the future that your DS has a foot in the door because of the DH of some woman you've never met but have written to for years on the internet! :lol:

I'm going to see about the migraine/Pill thing. Possibly it's because I switched to Orth-tri-cyclen recently (5 months ago). For years beforehand I had been on Demulen. So, I just go back to Demulen. Whatever. Just can't cope with a child right now! Not happening!

DH and I have seen Lord of the Rings, it's excellent. I was rapt throughout, and I didn't know the story. It's 3 hours long, though, be prepared!

Lauren and Judy, off playing for the weekend are we? Hope you're having fun!

Hi, turtles.

I've seen Lord of the Rings twice now and plan to go again. I can't remember the last time I did this with any movie. I just loved it. (Obviously.) I really didn't think I would, either. I just finished re-reading the trilogy with DH, and when I saw scenes from the movie I was appalled. Frodo, a teenage Winona Ryder lookalike???? Aragorn, a GQ heart-throb??? Say it isn't so! But once I got past that (and it took some doing), I ended up totally captured by the film. This one would be worth buying a DVD player for! (I hear the DVD will contain about 40 minutes of scenes that were cut from the film.)

Lin, I'd love to hear what your son thinks of it. I went to see it the second time with a friend who has worked in computer animation out in California, and she was absolutely blown away.

Why is San Francisco becoming so run down, do you think? That really surprises me.

Mousie, count me another one that had the same response to O.O. Took too much time, and I gained weight. It was helpful in finally getting rid of the whole "forbidden food" mentality, no question. I'll always be grateful for that. But it didn't work for me as a weight-loss program.

Diaphragms are a wonderful thing. :lol: I never felt quite right on the Pill -- it played havoc with my emotions, for one thing. I've been much happier with non-chemical birth control. Good luck finding one that works for you.

Judy, how's your tummy today? Better, I hope. I've been pondering getting the crockpot cookbook, too. That's such a handy way to cook when you're gone all day.

Well, today I'm going to clean the house and then reward myself by walking to the used book store. :) Like I really need more books.

Oh, this past weekend DH and I went to the clothing consignment shop, as we usually do on Sundays (it's on the way home from church, and they have very high turnover). I actually bought two size L shirts that FIT. One is by Tommy Halfinger, or however you spell that, so I removed the tag emblazoned on the back. Sorry, but I'm not into being a human billboard for designers. Anyway, I was surprised that they fit well. But the real shocker was a lovely cranberry dress that DH especially loved and wanted me to try on. It was a fitted size 12, so I told him there was no point. He insisted I try it, and would you believe it almost fit???? Another 10 pounds or so, and I'll be there. Amazing. Then, just in case I started to get a swelled head, I tried on another size L shirt -- and I looked like a kielbasa sausage! :lol: So you win some, you lose some. Sizing is nuts.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/197.5/189 by April 17

I just found this link over on Dotti's and had to share it with the Turtles. http://www.ivillage.com/diet/experts...404421,00.html

The author summarizes an approach I already see some Turtles taking, but I found it helpful to see it written out in this form. I think I may try it, since I've lately been struggling more again.

--Lauren

Hi Everyone,
Got myself to work today and am really dragging now. I'm reading you all faithfully. It is amazing to me how much changes in people's lives over the course of two or three days. I can't respond right now, but you're all in my thoughts and prayers. I am still OP!
Judy
234/206/199 soon:cool:

Hi, everyone,

This thread is getting really long. I think I'll start #51 and respond to your posts there.

Lin