#249 Bale of Turtles Keeping Track!
 

:carrot: :welcome3: We are the Turtle Group here at www.3fatchicks.com. We welcome you to join us as we work toward good health and fitness in a persistent manner. As our inspiration, we use the race between the turtle and the hare where the turtle was the victor because he didn't give up. We believe in keepin' on by using the skills and techniques we have learned from experience to keep us on track. We believe in giving each other support. Good luck to us all!
Judy
Itryharder
(for Lin and Lauren)

Treats/Snacks
 

I've been having dark chocolate, red wine, pizza and still loosing. Our WW leader says they are an important part of the day/week. As long as they are counted then they are ok. Before I would just deprive myself of everything, and a week or two would be back to the old habits. The points plus program is made for me it is easy!! I can do this, I feel different about this plan. I'm in for the long haul! Have to stop the guilt! Before I would have eaten way more when I got off track. I feel this is a lifestyle I can do, it is realistic.



TGIF Turtles Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Terri :)

Morning, turtles:

Judy - nice job on the weight loss this week and you will be back down to your pre-Christmas weight in no time.

Terri - glad the programme is working for you. I agree that we cannot deprive ourselves of what we enjoy since we all know we will overindulge when we give in & we eventually do, so great you are planning in your treats along the way.

At my weigh in I "turtled" which means I stayed the same. I was alittle disappointed since I thought I would be down some. I think maybe reason I wasn't down at all was I didn't get in my walks and I did have a few extras last weekend. So I want to do better this week and will be starting off
by getting in a walk today & doing hot yoga in the a.m. so that should help.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Terri, wow, you have a great WW attitude. My leader would say you are a weight watcher, not on the weight watcher diet. :bravo:

For me, I know the treats I would feel deprived without. The hard part for me is the flexible restraint idea, but like you----I find if I eat it and write it down I can make room in my eating plan for treats. Good reminder!

Sounds like a lot of us are doing that----Aunt Loopy and Life4evr with the candy, Bandit and Terri and me with an occasional glass of wine---it's all good. I am so happy to have so many Turtles offering suggestions.

Bandit, I'm sorry the scale wasn't more cooperative. I know the weight will come off next week and you'll be so happy. Have fun at your hot yoga class. I'm just about ready to try one of my DVD's here at home. I've been walking on my :tread: and I'm sure that has helped shake up my weight----also, I am really tracking carefully and that helps too.

Good luck to all of us this upcoming weekend.
We're attending a baptism on Sunday, then the reception is at a famous Chinese restaurant. Egads. Well, I hope they let us order off the menu because I know a few things that work for me.

Gotta run. :bravo: and :carrot: to all of us!
Judy
234.6/190.2/170's and thinner :cool:

Hello everyone and happy Friday to you all... so glad this is the last day of work. I am still very sore but I think it is getting better and will give it the weekend, if no better on Monday then I will call the doctor. Work is very busy today so I only have a minute. They cancelled our TOPS meeting last night due to the ice and I will not be going to WW tomorrow since I have a bunch of conflicts but will get on the scale to see how I am doing.

Congrats to Judy and Bandit and everyone else that lost or stayed the same - have a great weekend everyone!

Keeping Track/Slow and steady!!!

Weigh in yesterday lost 2 more lbs. Yeah Me!

Bandit2 How is the hot yoga ? I have heard we have a place here now. Have done yoga at the Y a few times my wrists aren,t that strong, and I giggle too much.
Judy Think veggie dishes at the buffet!
Princess1122 Hope the weather and your pains improve.
I am off to the WW meeting (only weighed in yesterday) then to the Y for some cardio, must do some house cleaning too! Trying to avoid that.

Have a great Saturday.
Terri

Princess, I hope your back heals up over the weekend. :goodvibes:

Terri, I just looked at your tracker and you broke into onederland!!!!!! Weigh to go! Fabulous. When I did that, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. And :bravo: :goodscale: :balloons: :carrot: :dancer: :dance: for your next 2# down weight loss. You're rippin'! Good for you. Nothing like success to keep you going.

I've had such nice days lately. The food is better and although I don't like to exercise, I've gotten on the :tread: 4 out of 5 days. That's big for me.
The struggle to eat is still there, but now if I know that I'm hungry, I'll eat fruit. I bought lots of fresh berries----strawberries and blueberries and even some raspberries. Yum My dh is counting calories and I'm trying to help him.

Nothing much to write about. All my nice groups like my writing group, book club have been cancelled because of the snow. Hopefully the snow coming in today won't amount to much and we can still attend the baptism tomorrow.

Okay everybody, have a great weekend and keep on keepin' on!
Judy
234.6/190.2/170's and thinner :cool:

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday to you all. I got on the scale yesterday morning and it was ugly, just plain ugly, no one to blame except myself... so I am back on track, I do not feel up to going to cycle class today, still having a lot of pain in my shoulder and back and now my neck is joining in the fun - will just take it easy and concentrate on the eating part of it... control what I can and the rest will come I guess.

We have a mexican themed super bowl party to go to this evening... ugh, really just don't even want to go but DH does so I will. Was asked to bring something sweet so will purchase something at Sam's Club and not make it, that will help, and then just leave it at the party and not bring anything home.

Have a great day everyone and stay safe and warm!

So weigh in was today. I gained a tiny amount of weight. So it could have been worse. I guess I did a little too much nibbling on snacks. I am trying to really track everything and actually exercise this week.

Morning all and happy Monday! Real quick post as I need to get my nose to the grind-stone here... My eating was terrible over the weekend and my exercise just plain did not happen... will keep trying... Have a great day all.

Morning turtles

Hope everyone enjoyed Super Bowl & did overdo it too much.

I had Mexican food Fri night with my ladies group & it was good, but very
heavy & rich. I brought home 1 of the enchaladas & had for lunch on Sat
after my hot yoga which was exactly what I needed, felt so good.

My weekend was basically spent mostly eating - was at my cousins Sat night for a bbq & I tood a broccoli/cauliflower dish but still too much food overall.

So back at it today but I do feel bloated. Planning on a big walk tonight

Hope you all recover from the weekend goodies.

I meant to say "didn't overdo it" sorry!

Hi Turtles,
Weird day yesterday. Went to a baptism for a baby in the family. Very nice. Then to a posh restaurant for the reception. Too much food, too slow service, too much to eat, too much salt. Whine , whine, whine!!!! I am staying off the scale today, will get on :tread:, will eat right. This is the best I can do. :bravo: for all of us. We're the greatest.

This weight loss journey is so tricky, but we all know we need to try every day and all of a sudden we get that "click" that motivates us to try baby steps and apply the things we have learned that work for us in the past.

The weather will change. The snow will go away. The pounds will come off . Yay!

Princess, hang in there. The click will happen sooner than later.

Bandit, you had an eating weekend, but you seemed to handle it well.

I knew the reception would be tricky, but I ate "before" the fact again. I've got to give myself the positive self talk so I won't do that again.

Best to everyone.
Lizzie, how are you?
Life4evr, keep on keepin' on.
Peanutt, any news?
Aunt Loopy, I know you usually check in tomorrow. Looking forward to what you discovered.
To all the Turtles, I've gotta run, but make today the best day you can!
:goodvibes:
Judy
234.6/190.2/170's and thinner :cool:

Hi all! Whew, what a Sunday!

My church has agreed to provide monthly chaplaincy services to a local nursing home. This is in addition to my fulltime work as a chaplain at a different facility, which is overseen directly by my bishop as a separate self-contained congregational unit. So technically I'm the pastor of the nursing home's "church", and also a member of another congregation individually with participation on the pulpit ministry team there also.

Methodist circuit riding -- it didn't die out in the 1700s after all! :)

The funny thing is that I walked right into the new place, and felt perfectly at home. The same authority structure, the same challenges and tasks to fulfill, some of the residents had personalities which matched exactly to "my" parishioners, etc. They are so grateful to have one Sunday service per month, while my own parishioners have learned to take it for granted that I'll be there three days a week, visit them in the hospital, etc. But then again, I'm not there to be appreciated, I'm there to serve God's people.

I have chapel envy, too. This facility has a dedicated chapel which is quite lovely, with icons, fake stained glass, an altar table with gorgeous paraments, and lots of other nice stuff. My "chapel" is a dining room, and on Sundays I have to move all the furniture after breakfast and have it back together before lunch. I carry my communion supplies in a Rubbermaid satchel from home. My office is a closet which I share with three other people! But as the activities director at the new place said, they'd gladly trade the chapel for a chaplain.

Anyways, between my busy Sunday and the fact that we had a Youth Group movie night this weekend (with me providing significant mileage in transportation to and from the event), I am just about exhausted.

I really noticed this weekend how activity affects my hunger levels. I'm not one of those people who is less hungry after they've been moving around for awhile. I have been ravenous since Movie Night on Friday (where I successfully avoided pizza and fresh-baked cookies made in the church's toaster oven, in favor of my planned meal at home), and my meals haven't been putting a dent in the hunger levels at all. I'm hesitant about starting to use activity points, because I never really get up to the aerobic level except when moving the dining hall furniture and wheeling patients into the church service and back to their rooms. But I can definitely see that exercise really does matter. Last week, when I lost 6 pounds, I had been shoveling snow day after day, plus my regular work. Oddly enough, I didn't get overly hungry then, as I did this weekend. Being a chaplain = shoveling two feet of snow? Seems unlikely. But then again, perhaps I'm selling myself short.

Oh yay, more snow is predicted for tomorrow. So I'm on my way to markt for a bread/milk/produce run, and downtown for some hospital visitation. It's really interesting to recognize that now I get worried if I'm running out of bananas when snow is predicted (it used to be chocolate candy). Trying to decide whether to stop in to W/I today, since Wednesday is supposed to be really tough weather-wise. Either way, it's all good. Onward and downward!

Happy Tuesday/Welcome back cold weather!

Itryharder -Onederland! Didn't feel the welcome. Wasn't over for too long gained about 8 lbs ? between Nov-Jan. Biggest I've ever been, never weighed over 200. So as glad as I was,to cross back over, I still was thinking I can't believe that I weighed over 200. Moving on!!!!
Auntloopy I can relate to the banana thing! I panick when I get down to 2, regardless of the weather.
Did pretty good at Superbowl, I don't really like shrimp and this was in most of the dishes. Still feel all salted up. On a good note I won the pool! Don't even really know much about football! New a guy that was a Greenbay Packer back in the 70's so figured I go Greenbay!.

Hope everyone has a good day, Y tonight for deepwater aquafit.
Lots of veggies and water today. Weigh in Wed!

Terri

Morning everyone and happy Tuesday to you all. Another very busy day here for me so just a quick hello and best wishes for everyone to stay on track. Yesterday food was not too bad just need to work on the water and the exercise.

Have a great day everyone!

Morning, turtles:

Had a good day yesterday, stayed on track & got in a 3 mile walk then
hot-tub and nooooooo late night snacks. So completely OP day for a change.

It is very cold up here, brought rest of my cauliflower soup for lunch along
with egg salad wrap so will be good lunch.

Have a busy weekend coming up so really trying to stay focussed until then
Doing another walk tonight & hot yoga tomorrow, which all should help.

Anyway, have a great Tuesday and stay warm.

Aunt Loopy,
Your work is so rewarding. Glad you're bringing the spirit to a new nursing home facility. Way to go! :idea:

Terri, when I first crossed over into 200# I was horrified. Unfortunately because of a variety of circumstances I lived there much too long. Soooo when I crossed back into onederland it was an amazing feeling of accomplishment. :goodscale: Now I'd like to apply that same feeling to crossing into 180's. Glad you won the pool. What fun!

Princess, glad your food is better. You'll make the rest fall in place. I know you! :bravo:

Bandit, :bravo: :dancer: :carrot: for a completely OP day. Weigh to go!

I had a great Monday with dd and grandson. Today I'm going to my writing group. Rained last night so some of the snow is slowly disappearing. I have my food planned out for today. Yay.

Judy
234.6/190.2/170's and thinner :cool:

Happy Tuesday Turtles! Sorry I have been out of touch for a while. :(

I haven't been following plan at all and trying to get back to it! I don't know why I am fighting it so much as I know it is a fantastic plan and I know it works. I can't blame anyone but myself - so I am working on getting back on track this afternoon. :shrug:

I have still been getting to the gym and to my Zumba classes. This has at least helped me to maintain:^:

Tomorrow I plan on heading out and hitting the store for a few staples & get back to writing everything down. :comp:

I did get a Vitamix and have been putting together a great protein shake with lots of fruit.:yes:

Reading through the thread - I see lots of inspiration and I know I need to check it often to help with my motivation:cp:

Thanks for all of the positivity and great info in this thread!:dancer:

Lizzie

Wed. Weigh In! Hoping to at least stay the same, but I think the scale will move in the right direction.

Itryharder Yes the 180's will feel great! I will be very glad to get there! That will mean 14 lbs lost for me! I'm sure it will feel wonderful.

People are noticing my 5 lbs, I think it is the excercise I can feel the belly fat starting to tone up. Nice when someone comments!

Water !!!! Must drink more, too busy during the day can't seem to remember to grab a glass! Must work it in to a routine at work. We have a water cooler, so it is there.

Bandit2 Tell us about hotyoga! I have heard it mentioned but have no clue what it is??

Have a great Wed.

Terri

Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday to you all... Super cold here, walking in from the parking lot this morning my face was so cold it hurt... I need to dig out a bigger scarf!

Eating yesterday was fairly good again, I need to get to the grocery store this week/weekend to restock on some fruits and veggies so that I have more variety for lunches, the frozen entrees have been very nice to grab for lunch also so will get more of them.

Sounds like we all have our struggles these days, heres to us all getting thru them!

Sorry for the short posts but I have been super busy at work and am hoping for an extension so need to keep at it.

Have a great day!

Morning, turtles:

Judy - good you have your food planned out, I find that really helps when putting my meals together.

Lizzie - glad to see you back here posting & hope you get back on track and stay foccused.

Princess - I hear you about the cold. Last night my cheeks were frozen from walking from the centre to my car & I could hardly breathe. That is just too
cold! Hope your job works out for you.

Terri - Awesome people are noticing your weight loss, that makes a difference when we are all trying hard. I really enjoy the hot yoga, basically it is a yoga
class in room heated between 100 & 105 degrees. The instructor does all the postures & you follow along & do what you are capable of. When you start, they say to try & stay in room for the full 90 minutes & that is somewhat of a challenge for some, but I have managed to do that. I have a bad knee & some of the positions are difficult but I do what I can. It really makes everyone sweat lots & you feel great afterwards. I recommend this for all to try at least once. It gets abit easier each time.

For me, I got in another 3 mile walk last night and doing hot yoga tonight.
Brought a big salad with tuna on top for my lunch, so that will be good for a change since I haven't had many salads lately. With it being so cold, we all crave something hot.

Have a good Wednesday, everyone!
a

Terri,
Yay for people noticing. That always spurs me on!

Lizzie, one of the reasons we call ourselves turtles is because we keep with it. You are keepin' with it by posting. Here's :goodvibes: to get what you want.

Princess, I know you're an awesome worker, so I am hoping for a job extension for you! Also, :bravo: on good eating and preparing. WEigh to go!

Bandit, thanks for the hot yoga explanation. I love yoga but I'm so noisy (deep breaths and exhales) when I do yoga that I get embarassed. Right now the :tread: is good, but something just happened with a toe and I've got to get back to my podiatrist. Ugh. I may just have to face up to the fact that :swim: is my best exercise.

Was up a bit at my WI. I'm not beating myself up and I know I can lose a pound this week. I've got a Valentine's Day dinner planned. marinated steak, barley soup, baked potato, and banana ice cream for dessert.

Have I mentioned banana ice cream?
BANANA ICE CREAM

Slice a banana into coin shapes. Place in freezer for about 2 hours. Grind up in a mini processor. It will look like rice crystals and then it goes to a creamier blend. Try it. It's delicious!

Gotta run.
Love and :goodvibes: to all,
Judy
234.6/190.8/180's and thinner :cool:

Just popping in. My eating has been good today. The other days not so much. So I went to the gym today becuase I thought there was a Zumba class but nope. So I just did 30 minutes on the treadmill and called it a day. Well we are suppose to get a small amount of snow tonight. Hope everyone has a goodnight.

I am sorry I havent posted in so long. I guess i dont think about it much when i am not really focusing on my weight and health when i should be. It is getting down to -5 tonight and we got over 12" of snow which is not normal for my part of the states. I will try to check back in more.

Happy Thursday Turtles!

Wed weigh in lost .5 lbs, quite happy with that.
One of the ladies at he meeting was saying she stays on track by planning her whole week in advance (meals)! I don't think I could be that organised. I make sure there are losts of veggies, fruits and good things to eat so I don't stray. But we are human. Find myself not wanting to eat the junk. I'm on the sugar week where I want sweet stuff, the rest of the month it is salt! I keep my dark choc. bar handy and now a couple of squares are enouguh. Sure there will be times when that isn't but count it and move on. Thats my new moto.

So going to try to be really good! Food and exercise. Mini goal total of 10 lbs loss by March 1. thats only 4.5 lbs I think it is very do able!!

Hope every one is weathering well! Warmer here, I think it will be so warm on the weekend it might rain!

Have a great day everyone !

Terri

Hi Cherry, good to see and hear from you. Baby steps gets us where we want to go! :grouphug:

Life4evr, glad you made the best of the day by getting on the :tread: and eating well. :chef:

Terri, I have, in the past, planned dinners for the week. It is oddly freeing, but I'm not in that mode right now. What I am doing is planning my meals and snacks for the day and e-mailing them to a buddy. It's working for both of us. I feel free to change food items if I want to, but it's very nice to have foods down and see what I had planned.
Congrats on your weight loss. :goodscale: :bravo: :balloons: :dancer:
Weigh to go! I like your goal for March and it sounds doable.

I had a good day yesterday, but staying off the :tread: affects my weight. I need to get back on. Have to call podiatrist today for an appointment. Everybody have a great day. I'm hoping for the snow to disappear soon since our weekend temps are supposed to get into the 40's. That would do it.

Take care and be well and happy.
Judy
234.6/190.8/into the 180's and thinner :cool:

Hi everyone! Another super cold day here, but like Judy said we are to warm up this weekend and that will be a wonderful thing!

Food was pretty good again yesterday and I stopped for a grilled chicken sandwich and a ice tea on my way to knitting class so I stayed on track - I did my home work before I went so that helped a lot!

Looks like everyone is doing really well - best wishes for fantastic W/I's!

Judy: Ouch! I sure hope you get to see the doctor and get to feeling better, exercise is key for me too and I need to get back at it ASAP - thinking about walking the halls at work and that will help.

Bandit: They cancelled our TOPS meeting tonight due to the ice that we have... just layers of it coating everything and the parking lot of the building that we meet at has not been cleared... good luck to you at your W/I though!

Loopy: You sure are one busy gal! Sounds like you prepare though so that will help you to keep on track, great job!

Lizzie: How is the Zumba coming along? Any plans for the weekend?

Cherry: Great to see you post!

Life: Great job on the eating and the treadmill! Fantastic job in this cold weather!

Terri: Great job and the very best wishes on your getting to your mini goal!

Have to run, take care everyone!

Hi all! It was good to catch up on your adventures so far this week. This is a long message; your executive summary is: scroll down to the end and get a great chicken recipe and some points values for party foods!

Wednesday was even weirder than usual - a real roller coaster. My husband has been waiting for news of whether he'd be laid off because his bank was bought out by a larger one. It was generally assumed that they would close the original office and consolidate in snowy Buffalo! But he got a job offer with the new bank today. They are keeping the trust and brokerage section (which is the reason why they bought our bank) in Delaware, and DH was offered a BETTER job at a HIGHER salary. So we were boggled to say the least. I think we're both in shock, because we'd made plans to keep body and soul together without his income until DH could officially retire in 2012. We'd been living frugally, preparing to liquidate investments, etc. We'd agreed that rather than moving, we'd just do without his salary for a year. Now we're suddenly back to normal, and we're both feeling exhausted and a bit confused. But happy, very happy.

Immediately after I got to work, I found myself counseling a suicidal and very Catholic Alzheimer's patient. On a day when I decided (due to a weigh-in at WW) to dress very lightly in civilian clothes. So she wasn't buying me as a clergy person at all. We don't have a Catholic chaplain right now, as our previous one passed away recently. So after making phone calls and finding no priests willing to help, I just went in there, talked about how weird it is to be a female minister, won her over to my side, and kept her reasonably calm until the tranquilizers kicked in and she fell asleep. It was a rough couple of hours.

Moreover, she's recently been moved into the same room as my best friend (not just at the nursing home but in the "real world" too), who gets confused and frightened when there's a lot of noises and turmoil. So another hour with her afterwards, just playing dominoes and getting her back to normal. Two Bible studies, some more personal visitations, a hospital visit to an Independent Living resident who just had hernia surgery, and it was off to Weight Watchers for a later-than-usual weigh-in!

I'd been on program all day, no matter what. But I expected my cortisol levels to be all out of whack, and assumed I'd be holding water (my shoes felt tight, but that was probably just because I was on my feet even more than usual). I'm hypersensitive to emotional stresses, always a real plus in my profession. :dizzy:

I came to a deeper understanding, while waiting to get on the scale: my job is to eat 33 points per day, and to tick all those boxes, and to stay active. The weight loss is up to God. I was really able to turn it over to Him yesterday.

I stepped onto the scale, the weigher asked me how my week had been, and I started laughing almost hysterically. She finally interrupted me to tell me that I'd lost another 0.8 pounds! So now I'm down a total of 9 pounds exactly, at the end of three weeks on the WW program. Amazing!

I'm working out the real points cost of my regional brand of diet popcorn right now. The book says 1 point for five cups for generic popcorn of this type; which is so different than similar items that I don't believe it. The box label suggests 6 points per bag (if everything pops, which is dubious considering that my microwave is from my college graduation in 1983.) Finally decided on 3 points per 5 cups popped, which is the same as a national brand with identical nutritionals. Yay! That's a lot of popcorn! I'll check it with my leader next week, but in the meanwhile I'll assume that if I've underestimated the points value, it'll be covered by the fact that I don't use the weekly points allowance or activity points; I just do the straight 33 points per day.

Today, I ended up taking the day off (I was only coming in for an hour, and I checked up on everybody by phone) because I'm just so tired. Sorta shell-shocked, I guess. But I'm on call for emergencies, so I'm ready to get out there if needed. Till then, I'm filling up on popcorn, leftover skinless stewed chicken from the crock pot, and fruit. Eagerly waiting for our Thursday evening frozen pizza (regional store brand, ultra thin crust, 14 points per half pizza, vs. 32 points per half pizza from a pizzeria).

Sorry that this is such a long message. It's been another week of learning how to work this program more effectively. Now I'm going to make it even longer by giving you my stewed chicken recipe, which my hubby adores. Skin and de-bone some chicken (we recently got a gift of an industrial-sized package of chicken parts from my mom, who was cleaning out the food pantry closet at her church and de-stocking stuff which is a month or less from expiration date, as the local Food Bank insists on this. We however, are not so picky in our personal lives!) Put the chicken in the crock pot with a tablespoon or more of the following spices: Celery powder, onion powder, parsley. Add two or three servings of non-fat, low-sodium bouillon, then water to cover the chicken pieces if needed. Cook till it's done (3 hours on high, or all day on low which tastes even better). This makes really amazing chicken for sandwiches, with lots of added flavor but no added points and very little sodium. It's as delicious as prepared lunch meat, but without the preservatives and salt.

Hope everyone had a good day. My eating has been okay so far. Probably a little too many chocolate chip cookies, but that i did some activities on the wii fit. So I am sure that is going to take care of the cookies that I counted. I am having turkey tacos for dinner. Which is like 9 pts for three when I plugged evertyhing in so I can live with. I am gonna have a salad with it also so I should be good to go. Hmm that's about it.

On another note I received my paperwork so I should be good to go start back nursing school in the summer thank goodness.

TGIF Turtles, day off today!

life4evr- good for you for going back to school, I am a nurse I went to nursing school when I was 34, I now have a great job working for a female lady doctor, in a large clinic, I do her reception and nursing, it is very busy but I love going to work everyday. You go girl!!!

Y today after I drop my son at school, then house cleaning, shopping, my older son will be 25 this weekend so having a bit of a party Sunday.

Feel like I ate like a pig yesterday. Thats what happens when you don't track, I will write it all down today, don't think I was too bad, just feels like it! Must keep mini goal in mind!!!and the bigger picture!

So have a great day/weekend gals!

Terri

Hello everyone and happy Friday to you all!

Another very cold day here but warm weather is on the way they say! Food has been pretty good for the last couple of days and I still need to work on exercising. The goods news for me is that I think that I have been approved for a three month extension, it is not official yet but I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

I am going to try and make it to W/I tomorrow but things have gotten mixed up with going to visit the kids and see the grandbaby... I need to get all of that worked out so that I can fit it all in - or move W/I to another day but with doing both TOPS and WW I am thinking that if I manage to catch one of them then I am doing ok.

Congrats to Loopy and her DH for the job and higher pay rate... I know how wonderful that is! I spent most of 2009 laid off from my long time job at the software company, it is no fun for anyone and put pressure on you that is hard to deal with so a huge congrats for your positive planning and outcome!

Congrats to Life for getting back into school! I only started college when I was like 38 years old and graduated in my 40's so I know it is hard but you are doing great and it will all be worth it in the end!


Terri: I have those days ugh... hate when I feel like that but it looks like you have a plan so the best of luck and great wishes for a fabulous W/I this week!

Judy, Bandit, Cherry, Lizzie: Have a great weekend guys!

Hi all! Today I am feeling pretty happy. I just realized that I've completed three whole weeks on WW without missing a day. Last night I was a hungry soul; we had a frozen pizza, and the only one that fit within my points range (because DH has 66 points per day, and I have 33) was EXTREMELY thin. Probably the thinnest crust pizza that I've ever seen. Delicious but not filling. We'll probably go back to our regional store brand (Essensia by Albertson's/Acme) when it's back in stock. It costs only one more point per half-pizza (15 vs. 14) but it seems more filling.

Anyway, I went to bed hungry despite all my usual evening tricks to fill the belly for bedtime: saving my smoothie for dinnertime, eating a huge bowl of cooked cauliflower with dinner, enjoying a cup of frozen orange store-brand juice for 2 points, even my daily Lindt truffle! (P.S. about the orange juice: check the cheap brands first because you can save a point per cup over the premium brands, which is great for making those late-night frozen snacks. I go to Wawa, a regional convenience store, for their store brand.)

So I was flipping and flopping around in bed for half the night. I tried eating more fruit, drinking more Propel Zero, the whole nine yards. I insisted that I wasn't going to eat even one more point, because I'd succeeded in doing an entire week of being on program without using any weekly allowance or activity points (my newest goal, since I can't make weight-loss goals happen often enough to encourage myself), and I wasn't letting it go so easily.

I got a couple hours sleep, and woke up ready for breakfast at the crack of dawn!!!

I realize that I always have the weekly allowance and activity points to fall back on (though I'm not allowed to exercise yet -- ten more pounds before my doctor will prescribe physical therapy, which I can receive free at work in our very nice exercise room, with unlimited use of the machines as long as I'm willing to get off them when the therapists need them for a resident). I do get aerobic a couple times a week while moving patients or furniture. If I'm feeling a bit breathless, I take a quick heart rate check, and sometimes I impress myself, LOL! :p It doesn't take much to wear me out, all things considered. Nonetheless, I don't count the activity points, I just note the amount of aerobic movement in my tracker for general purposes.

So I try not to use the allowance just because it would make me feel as if I were overeating; I know that I'd use it to really stuff my face once or twice per week (instead of spreading it out more evenly), and that would have two bad effects: it would stop my weight loss (I can barely lose weight even when I'm eating perfectly according to the program), and it would trigger the urge for more sugar and fat. I am learning that I have to be careful with the "three whites": sugar, flour, and fat. They're trigger-y for me. I don't have to do without them, but the less that I eat of these ingredients, the better I feel.

On a positive note: everybody in my WW group has been buying themselves jewelry and new clothes as rewards for weight loss. I was sad because my weight loss is so slow that it'll be forever till I need new clothes, and I don't wear jewelry except for my pectoral cross. So I finally decided that I was going to buy a couple of inexpensive preaching robes: a black one for the first four weeks on program, and a white one for the next four weeks on program. And I'm going to put aside my knitting for charity, just for a few weeks (I've donated literally hundreds of hats and scarves and mittens to various organizations) and make myself some vestment stoles to go with the robes. That's as close to bling as I can ever imagine buying!!!! :dizzy:

Life 4ever: I'm a second-career vocation myself (ordained in my mid-forties after working as a legal brief writer and an EMT), and my mom was ordained at 67 after retiring as a CPA. Good for you! The work that you were born to do is just waiting for you to reach it. You'll never be able to imagine how happy it will make you until you're living it day-by-day.

Happy Friday Turtles! Getting back on track bit by bit!

Getting to Zumba on a regular basis and still working with my trainer. I'm going to weigh in tomorrow morning as traveling left me unable to attend my regular meeting. :dizzy:

It is finally a bit warmer here - in the 30's instead of the minus temps!:dance:

Hope everyone has a great weekend! :goodvibes

Lizzie

Thanks for the congrats everyone. Believe it or not this is a second career change for me. I have spent the last 6 years off and on trying to get into and out of nursing school. There is a little bit of uncertainity about whether I need to take another placement test or not. But they sent me my paperwork So I don't know.

My eating today was great till the evening came. I ended up waiting too long to eat again and I ate like half of a large pizza. Needless to say I am a little disappointment in myself. But I actually feel physically sick :(. So the lesson is learned. Hope everyone has a goodnight

Hey ! did anyone see Jennifer Hudson on Oprah? My husband and I have been dying to know how much weight she lost. Her WW leader was there in the audience and she didn't want Jennifer to tell the pounds, she kept saying oh for Jennifer it wasn't about the pounds it was how she feels, Oprah told her to get real it is all about the pounds, Jennifer was like why can't I tell how many? The WW leader who is coincidently Liz the one on the commercials with Jennifer, seemed angry when Jennifer finally said she had lost 80 lbs. Very wierd, of course everyone wanted to know, she is inspiring come on, whats the big secret. I always wondered why she didn't speak, only sang in the commercials, obviously WW wanted her just to look good not speak about her experience.
Any way weird!

Had a good Friday, 30 min eliptical, 20 treadmill, felt great after, little shopping, got my son new work out shoes, shorts, shirt, hope he isn't insulted! He is overweight he knows it! So think he'll be fine, I know he needs new gym shoes because he said so. He is very hard to buy a gift for

Must clean the house today! The dust is crazy! Going to a friends for dinner and xbox Kinects (Sp?) bowling tonight. Having the family over for son's birthday Sunday! So times up for procrastinating about cleaning.

Have a great Saturday, everyone.

Terri

I am here and reading. I don't have time to respond right now, but I wish everyone the best.
Keep well and happy and keep on keepin' on!
Love,
Judy

:D Hi to all of us, thought I would jump in on this thread if you dont mind I have just gotten back into doing ww almost three weeks again and down 4 lbs so far. I read all the post on this thread --wow what a great group--:carrot:
Anyway just a comment lol it seems many of us are fond of our pizza on friday nights and I am no exception. But here is my question. I bought a veggie delight pizza from papa murphys with 1/2 cheese and 1/2 the sauce onion, olives, green peppers and ate 1/2 but I can not figure out what the points would be. any ideas?

Hi Turtles,
I'll start by :welcome3: Nancy. You've had a great weight loss so far. Weigh to go! :bravo:

Aunt Loopy, I am so happy that your dh has been offered a better job at higher pay. This is incredible in our economic times. Yay! I love the counseling you do at the nursing home. It makes me feel good that someone I know can be so kind to elders. You have had a fabulous weight loss----so I'm glad you're figuring out a way to reward staying OP and learning this points plus program. Weigh to go! :goodscale: Also, thanks for the recipe. It sounds easy and just the thing for me to have on hand since I'm often at a loss for lean proteing. :chef:

Life4evr, Good luck with your nursing school papers. I would think it would be a difficult major, but there are jobs all over the country for nurses and it's a wonderful vocation. I'm sending you :goodvibes: that this all works out.

Terri, hey, I hear you. I could use some mini goals. Isn't that odd about Jennifer Hudson and WEight Watchers on Oprah. One of my fellow WW's mentioned to our leader that Hudson has never talked about the amt. of weight that she lost. My leader (who is ordinarily the kindest person on earth) said, "I'ts really nobody's business." Which I found to be the oddest response. There must be something going on here. I never found the celebrity role models all that much anyway-----so I am happy that Hudson lost weight.

Princess, :goodvibes: and yay and :dance: for your job. This is all good news.

Lizzie, glad to hear you're on track. :exercise: :chef:

Bandit, did you have a good weekend? :balloons:

I have been bingeing since Wed. night. Weird----my dh and I are having trouble with staying OP, not losing weight, and we finally gave in and had pizza-----that's what started the whole mess. So, here I am----I haven't stepped on the scale because I don't want to know. Today will be OP. I'm making soup and I'm thinking of puttin gAunt Loopy's chicken in my crockpot.

My short term goal:
Break into the 180's. How will I do that?
:tread: at least 5x week
:chef: stay OP and stay away from peanut butter and nuts (trigger foods for sure)
What are you guys up to?
Judy
234.6/190.8/170's and thinner

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Itryharder the pizza set me off also. Along with a couple of oreo cookies. I weighed today and it was a minor gain like 0.3# I think. Which I am pretty sure is water weight from the pizza. I keep on forgetting how salty pizza sauce is. The plan for this week is trying to track everything I have been slacking. The app on my blackberry is acting crazy so I am having a hard time remembering what I am eating. I may buy a journal so i can write it down and transfer it. Also trying to hit the gym before I go to work, when it is less crowded and after working I am not even trying to work out. I tend to get lazy when i get home. Also I think I need to drink more water.

On another note I took the placement test, that I am 99% sure that I didn't need. I did fine on it, so if I did need it I am covered. Just have to get a CPR card and a physical, and meet with my advisor and I should be set.