Hi Turtles,
Lin, lots of good advice in your post-----and yes, I do miss your erudite information and reminders, so keep up the good posts! I caught in your post that you're working from home so you can make meals for your Mom. You're a good daughter (and it looks like your mom hasn't always been a good mom), but :cheer: to you for doing the right thing. Way to go!

Lauren, here's :grouphug: handling the stressors you're facing right now. Every once in a while I try and get philosophical and wonder about the stresses in my life, the small and the big, and how sometimes I'm able to handle them well and other times I'd just as soon chuck in the towel! But somehow, because we're all strong women, we do get through and live to face another dawn. We're entering spring and the long, cold, snowy winter is almost over. Yes, I know spring means a lot of rain and some pretty dreary days, but the thought of the sun being warm is pretty good and I'm hopeful for longer days and shorter nights. Wow----what got me on this track?

In any case, I know we can keep on working on developing good habits and take care of ourselves.
Here's some cute guys to help us out:::::::bravo: :cool: :goodscale:
:cheers: :balloons: :cloud9: :beach: :swim: :tread: :strong:
JUdy
234.6/191.8/189 and closer to goal :cool:

Hi!

I've been reading your posts when I can, but the first three weeks of March have been totally crazy because I've had three concerts to prep for and then I work at the concerts. My dh has been saying that I should think about quitting one job because I get so frustrated trying to get it all done. But when things aren't in "everything's a crisis" mode, I love what I do. So, the challenge for me is to make sure my multiple bosses give me realistic deadlines on the work I need to do. Sometimes things that seem like a crisis end up not being a big deal if it doesn't get done immediately. Not giving me deadlines makes everything seem like I have to do it now, so I need to make sure to ask when it needs to be done when they send me stuff via mail without a deadline.

Judy, I hope you had a wonderful St. Patrick's day party. Keep on going and keep up the cheerleading. You don't know how much it helps us all!

:hug::hug::hug:, Lauren! You're dealing with a lot right now. And stress is always one of our biggest triggers. I hope your plan for the weekend went well.

I've been kind of off and on this week. I haven't been eating mindlessly, but I haven't been tracking as carefully as I need to. And last night I eyeballed the food, which doesn't work for me, as you know. I was feeling resentful about how much time tracking, weighing, measuring, figuring out points, etc. takes and I just didn't want to do it. I'm sure it's partly because I was so super tired. Daylight Savings Time is a nightmare for me. It takes me forever to get to the point where I can tolerate it, but I never really adjust and I'm always sleepy and tired in the spring.

But I had an insight about the tracking, etc. this morning. I was thinking about it and realized that every time I do track my points, weigh my food, etc., it keeps me focused. Even if I don't do it perfectly or always make the best food choices, each time I track it keeps me thinking about what I want to do. It helps me make better choices throughout the day, especially if I track breakfast. I think that's partly why I've been able to maintain within a pound or two lately. And because this month is so super crazy, I'm happy with not regaining a significant portion of what I lost up to now.

I'm taking everything one day at a time. I get so frustrated with making plans and having to watch them disappear, not completed, because my life changes so much every day that I'm just figuring out what I need to do today and doing that. Tomorrow I'll do what I can then. I'm dealing with long-term goals by simply asking, "What can I do toward that goal today?" and doing the things I come up with. That should keep me turtlin' toward where I want to end up. We'll see.

Keep on turtlin'! :balloons:
:chef: :coffee: :comp: :write: :book2: :corn:

Hi Turtles,
You are all the best! :cheer: :bravo: :dancer: and :balloons:

Lin, your post is so thoughtful. It's good to read about how well you know yourself and that you're not packing on that lost weight. Weigh to go! Keeping your head clear may help you to track more and keep on keepin' on.

I saw a little saying that I want to share with everyone. "If you want to be a butterfly, you've got to want to fly more than you want to remain a caterpiller." I think about this every time when my WW leader asks what being overweight has going for us that is positive. In other words what do we get out of it. Truthfully, except when I have to get dressed up to see a large crowd of people (like a wedding or work reunion) I have been much too comfortable being overweight. I now know why I want to be fit and healthy and that means I need to lose weight. Okay----enough.

Good news. Here's a tale about .2# at my WW WI. Today I LOST .2# and I'm fine with that. Remember a couple of weeks ago I got very angry with a gain of .2#? Well, it's better to go down than up. My St. Pat's party was a lot of fun----I counted all the points, etc., but Sunday I had more points than I should have. Also, I dipped into my 35 points on Thursday which I shouldn't have. So, all in all I was very lucky to have lost that tiny bit. And again, I'm in virgin weight for the first time in over 15 years. Yay! I am going to work harder this week and aim to get off about 1 1/2# since I haven't had a good weight loss in a bit.

So, here's :cheers: to us all. I know a lot of us are dealing with having to work too hard, struggling to avoid high calorie foods at work, dealing with ailing parents, and even struggling with social events that are such fun, but loaded with temptations! :grouphug: and thanks for your support.

Judy
234.6/191.6/189 and closer to goal. :cool:

Hi Turtles,
It's finally spring here in NY. Three days of sunshine and I'm beside myself. :balloons:
The weekend's coming up. Do something nice for yourself that doesn't involve food!!!!!

hey, my dh and I replaced my ten-year old car yesterday. I like driving the new car. It's fun!

Have a great day.
Judy
234.6/191.6/189 :cool:

Hi,

Checking in because that helps me.

Woohoo, Judy!! It's nice to see you're going back down. I love your quote about the butterfly and caterpillar. I much prefer being a butterfly! :carrot: :carrot: :carrot:

I changed my weigh in day to Saturday, partly because I forgot to do it yesterday and partly because I need to start the weekend with maximum points. Weekends are really hard for me because I often can't get home between activities. It's better during the summer because I can take picnic lunches to eat in the parks, but when it's cold and wet it's harder to find places you can go to eat food you brought from home, so I end up going to restaurants.

Anyway, I'm up one pound and I'm using it as motivation. I lost 37.5 of my 40 pounds before January. I've lost a total of 2.5 pounds since then. I'm not giving up, though. When I looked at the numbers on my WW chart and discovered my weight loss tanked starting in January, I realized what happened. January is when my mom got sick and that added a lot of stress and negative changes to my life. Not following through with WW won't help that situation, but the extra time dealing with my mother is taking is causing me to take time away from planning and tracking. I need to make planning and tracking a bigger priority in my life because I'm ready to move forward. I'm not willing to stay at this weight forever or, heaven forbid, go back up to where I was.

I'm researching new phones because my service is horrible. I need more reliable service. My dh, who doesn't use his phone very much is fine with what we have, so we're looking into me getting an iPhone and him either getting a cheaper phone and doing a family talk plan with ATT or keeping our Metro PCS for him, whichever is cheaper. He doesn't think he'll get his money's worth from a fancy phone, while I need the PDA and I want the WW app and I need more reliable coverage because I use it for work. Anyway, if I do that, it well help with WW because I can figure out and track points while I'm in a restaurant, rather than waiting until I get home. That will make it a lot easier to stay on track. We'll see how that goes.

I've gotten out of the habit of tracking my hunger signals. I did a lot better when I was tracking them, so that's another habit I'm going to be starting up again. And paying attention to eating more slowly. I did better when I was aware of how fast I was eating and just not taking a second bite until I'd swallowed the first one. It seems silly, but it does help me with portion control.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm working this weekend, my third in a row, then I have music commitments the next two weekends, plus hosting Tables for Eight the day before Easter. But, work is going to be a little less crazy because I won't have to work evenings or weekends until May. Still have a lot to do, but I can do it during work hours.

Keep on turtlin'! :balloons:
:chef: :coffee: :comp: :write: :book2: :corn:

Hi everyone - hope everyone is doing their best, really - thats all we can do.

Just chugging along up here & the weight is up/down once again. Just can't seem to get in a steady grove of losing & that is frustrating. No excuse, but I have had more than my usual share of dinners & outtings. But on positive side, one of those was 10 pin bowling which I hadn't done in ages & was lots of fun.

Tonight going for chicken wings with the girls then thats it for eating events until Sat night - have a 50th party. So will try and stay on track until then.
Also, have been getting in my walk/swim which I enjoy.

Calling for freezing rain up here tomorrow. Go figure - it is spring, now we are going to get the winter weather we missed I suppose.

Have a great OP day!

Hi Turtles,
Lin and Bandit, I loved reading your posts. Good luck to us all!
This week we have eaten out every day since my WI. It's been a crazy week, but I know I'm eating out better than I have in the past and that's a good thing. No time to exercise, but next week should be better.

:bravo: and :cool:
Judy
234.6/191.6/189 :cool:

Hang in there Judy, you are doing great!

Cold & rainey up here today, but at least didn't get the freezing rain they were call for. Am going for my walk/swim tonight then watching Biggest Loser - really like that show. Maybe it will give me some motivation for getting and staying back on track. That is still one of my biggest challenges, when I get off plan - it really takes me awhile to get back on and do so much damage in between. Have to work on that.

Hope you are having a sunny day wherever you are!

Hi Turtles,
Bandit, are you still going to TOPS? It's great that you're exercising as well as you are. You and I are really being weight loss twins right now. We're about the same height and we're at about the same weight with the desire to knock off about the same amount we lost again. Pretty much at the halfway point. We are also having mega social times out. My dh and I ate out at least six times this week only to be topped off by pizza delivered here to the house for dinner last night. A real pox on the scale primarily because of the huge amount of salt in the tomato sauce. I weighed myself just now and I'm up about two pounds. I'm going to go to WW because I love my leader and the gals I sit with, but I'm not weighing in. I will exercise today and get my food back on track. Enough of this yo-yoing! I will also read the WW pamphlets about plateaus in weight loss, shake myself up, and continue on this journey. It looks like we've got two events planned where we might eat out. ONe is going to my grandson's soccer game and the other is going to watch him in gymnastics now that he's been "promoted" to the "big gym".
I have an idea that will work. I'll order tea or a Diet Coke wherever we go and eat a Fiber One bar and apple before or after. There's no need for me to fill up on junk just because we're going out. I can also make a yummy sandwich and eat it in the car or figure other things out. If we're at a decent place, I can use the restaurant guidelines I've learned, but if we're at a ridiculous place I don't have to eat at all. I'll just enjoy the company.

Lin and Lauren and Cherry, I hope you're all taking care of yourselves and doing the best you can. I know we can all start to see weight losses again that sustain us and get us into the next group of numbers! Down with yo-yoing! Up with weight loss! Hmmmm, mixed ideas there, but I'm wishing everyone a :goodscale: this week!

:balloons: :bravo: :grouphug: :love: :goodvibes: :cheer: :carrot:
Judy
234.6/191.6/189 and this week I mean it! :cool:

Hi Judy - good advice and way to go with pre-planning, that is key.
By doing that and being prepared we just won't have any excuses to indulge in junk food.

One of my other problems, is that I hate throwing things out and if I buy stuff that I shouldn't have (with the excuse that my dd or company needs crap) then I will have to finish off that stuff instead of just getting rid of that.
That is part of what has been going on lately - and now there isn't much left to tempt me. Key is not to bring the stuff in the house in the first place.
So that is my goal for this weekend shopping - not to bring in what I can't have.

Weigh in tonight & it won't be pretty. But, I will go and face the "iron monster" and suck it up and stay for my meeting. I really need to be there

Have a good one!

Good luck on your WI, Bandit. Love your photo. You are adorable!
Love,
Judy

Hi Judy - well, thank you. I updated my picture on that silly dating site so thought I would add it here.

Hope you are staying OP this week.

Hi Turtles,
Well, I have cheerful :cheer: news of a non-scale nature. My pants have been hanging off me except for around my waist which is out of proportion bigger than the rest of me. I took a chance and ordered a pair of pants, a short sleeved jacket and a really pretty blouse from JC Penney on their clearance area online. All arrived today and I can get them all on. LOL. No telling when I will be really able to wear the clothes, but it felt wonderful going down a size. I ordered a large blouse and a pair of size 16 pants. This is coming from a W22 when I started. Most of the time I was able to wear a W20 or a size 1-2X but in any case, I've made great progress. I made myself get on the :tread: today and I did my toning and strenthening tape with 5# weights. I need to do that every day. My points have been fine for today and I have 9 points left for dinner which I can eat in two hours or so. If I back up dinner with 5cups of popcorn for 1 point and a cup of tea with a splash of ff milk and a smidge of Stevia, I should be okay. I'll make sure to get a bit of salad in there to help me out.

Anyway, good luck to us all. I'm hoping that your stresses lighten and you figure out brilliant ways to work around them. We're all really good people and we deserve to meet our goals!!!!!!! :grouphug: :carrot: :dance: and :dancer:

Judy
234.6/191.6/189 and closer to goal. we can do this!

Hi turtles:

Judy - that is wonderful about the clothing, very exciting to get into smaller clothes - that should help you stay on track!

Had my weigh in last night & was pleasantly surprised to be down exactly 1# after expecting a gain - go figure!
Hoping that will keep me motivated and stay on track, especially with upcoming weekend parties & now, I have movie night on Tues with the ladies(night before next weigh in).

But you know, we all have things going on no matter what they are that can cause us to make bad choices & for me, I have to find ways to lose weight & still socialize.

OK - where are all the other turtles these days? Some have not posted in ages.

Lets do it!

Bandit :goodscale: :bravo: :carrot: :dance: :cool: :cheer: :cheers:
what a wonderful surprise! I bet the exercise helped. Keep this going. You can do it.

I put a note on my fridge that reads, "Fight For It"! I really need to fight to break this plateau and number. I remember how long it took to break through 200#, and now I'm struggling again to break the 190#. Today has been a very good day and I can go to sleep in less than two hours. I'm not too hungry right now, so I should be able to do this.

Cherry and Lauren, I hope you're doing okay. You know we're thinking about you. How's it going, Lin? Still working so hard? You can do this. We all can!

Judy
234.6/191.6/189 and closer to goal :cool: