Turtle Club #89
 

Hi, Turtles,

Here's my "official" version of Aesop's fable:

The Hare and the Tortoise

A hare met a tortoise one day and made fun of him for the slow and clumsy way in which he walked.

The tortoise laughed and said, "I will run a race with you any time that you choose."

"Very well," replied the hare, "we will start at once."

The tortoise immediately set off in his slow and steady way without waiting a moment or looking back. The hare, on the other hand, treated the matter as a joke and decided to take a little nap before starting, for she thought that it would be an easy matter to overtake her rival.

The tortoise plodded on, and meanwhile the hare overslept herself, with the result that she arrived at the winning-post only to see that the tortoise had got in before her.

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

This comes from a book handed down from my grandmother to my mother to me. The book is so old it doesn't have a copyright date or an author/editor's credit.

That fable has been the motivation for us turtles for several years. Someone on the ancient WW forum mentioned the fable and I discovered it was very motivational for me. I talked about it in posts and other people said that the tortoise philosophy worked for them, too. So, I started a thread for us turtle types.

We work toward accepting that our bodies have a natural speed of weight loss when we choose to live a healthy life, instead of "going on a diet". Many of us have experienced "the diets" as go on/lose weight-- go off/ gain the weight plus more back.

We choose to perservere with each choice we make throughout the day. We believe that choosing to be slow, steady turtles helps us to learn the skills we need to in order to lose and keep off the weight. Our main focus is to become the healthiest people we can be.

So, welcome to all who realize that losing and maintaining a weight loss is a lifestyle change. And who want support as we all learn the skills we need to successfully make the changes that will allow us to reach our goals.

Lin
:chef:

Hi,

This will be very quick. My monitor is dying. If it goes completely, I will be offline without notice until I can borrow one or save enough money for a new one. So, if it seems like I've disappeared, just carry on. I'll be here when I can.

Lin
:chef:

Hi, Turtles,

The holiday season is always long when Christmas and New Year's are on Wednesday. Today is New Year's Eve. I wanted to wish you all the best as 2003 begins. I hope you reach your 2003 goals, whether weight loss or other goals in your life. I also hope you balance all of that goal setting we tend to do this time of year with some fun. Seek joy in all that you do. Happy New Year!!

:balloons: :hat:

Lin
:chef:

Hi, turtles. I hope your holidays have been enjoyable.

Lin, I'm glad to see you still online. You certainly have had ups and downs in that area lately. Good for you on recommitting yourself, too. Glad your Christmas went well.

I'm thinking of not renewing my WW membership when it runs out in January, taking a break from the weekly meetings, and working at it on my own again. I appreciate the meetings, but for some reason I'm just thinking I need a change again. I am in a major rut in terms of weight loss; there's something about the 181-183 area that is like a magnet to me. If I get above that, I get serious and lose the weight; if I get below it, I get complacent. So I need to break through this and move on. Not sure what tact I'll take yet; I guess it somewhat depends on why I'm doing this. Which I don't yet understand.

The time with my family (who left yesterday) was both good and very stressful. We all took our blood pressure (long story), and mine was way up. Fortunately, it went back down right after everyone left! I'm not sure why this year was more frustrating and stressful for me, maybe in part because of my brother's diagnosis. I do find it difficult to feel like I'm the one in charge of everyone, making everyone happy, making everything work.

Anyway, tonight is New Year's Eve, and as soon as DH gets home from work, we're going to head out to a monastery for the night. They're having what they call a thanksgiving service tonight at 11:30 p.m.; we'll spend the night, go to liturgy tomorrow morning, then head home. It's a wonderful, peaceful place, and I'm looking forward to starting 2003 there.

A very happy New Year to all the turtles and their loved ones. Here's to a healthy, peaceful, wonderful new year.

--Lauren

Hi, Turtles,

I was thinking about New Year's Resolutions. So many people try to make changes they "should" make starting on January 1. I was thinking about how important it is to make changes that we want to make because we're more likely to stick with them.

I also was thinking about how we see this time as a clean slate, one we can use to start over, as if whatever we've done in the past was wiped out. If we can learn to draw on that feeling, we can use it to learn to keep going and start over anytime we get off track.

Lauren, I know that in my case I noticed that after going to the meetings for months, I got tired of them because the topics started to be repetitious and I wasn't getting any new information that was helpful. I also noticed that when I rejoined after a break I found them helpful again.

My husband has wise advice for me when I get in the mode of feeling responsible for everyone else, a problem that is especially strong when they are at my house. He reminds me that they are adults who can, and should, take care of themselves. It's fine for me to help when they want it, but I need to step back and let go. It hasn't stopped me completely, but it has helped me to keep it in perspective so my blood pressure doesn't get out of hand due to stressing over things I can't help.

Your New Year's Eve at the monastary sounds absolutely wonderful. I slept the New Year in. My husband and I didn't even try to stay awake. It's been a tiring holiday season for us.

I've started my annual journal. I always start a new notebook on New Year's for my health and weight loss information. It's going well, but the beginning always does. I'm determined to do my journal every day this year. If I don't, I won't stay OP.

Happy turtlin'! :cool:

Lin
:chef:

Hi, Turtles,

I've been doing some thinking about WW and how it's worked and not worked for me in the past. I noticed that I seem to eventually reach a point where the amount of points that's supposed to make me lose weight actually maintains my weight at more than 100 pounds too much.

I know that my lack of a real commitment to exercise is part of the problem. I need to start at the level I am at, which I don't have trouble with. Where I have trouble is in pushing myself to work harder. I really hate being sweaty, especially when it runs down my face and gets into my eyes. It's uncomfortable and, like most people, I avoid things that are uncomfortable. I'm working on making the attitude change that will get me past that.

But I also think that the standard point settings may be wrong for my body. I'm going to do an experiment. I've maintained my current weight for several months. I'm going to eat the foods I've been eating and count up the points for a week. Then take an average to see what the daily average number of points I'm eating that maintains this weight. Then I'm going to subtract the equivalent of 500 calories and use that as my maximum points. That, according to the numbers, should result in an average of one pound per week loss.

I'm thinking that perhaps, for my body, the WW numbers take too many calories away all at once. Then I go into starvation mode and start to maintain at what should be weight loss levels of food. But until I have some data to go on, I can't know if that's true. I'm just trying to figure out why I don't lose weight when I'm eating the amount of calories that's supposed to be maintenance for someone who weighs more than 100 pounds less than I do. I'll keep you posted on how the numbers turn out.

I feel a little as though my life is on hold because I have jury duty next week. I really hated when you had to go every day and sit and wait, but it really makes it hard to plan your time when you don't know if or when you might have to go to the courthouse. You check the weekend before for Monday, but after that you have to call every two hours to see if they need you. Maybe I'll get lucky and things will be slow after the holiday and I won't have to go. I wouldn't mind except that I've never been picked for a jury, so it's a total waste of time for me to sit at the courhouse. Plus, the first days' expenses come out of my pocket. They only cover your mileage, etc. if you have to come a second day.

I hope you all are having a great start with your new year. I hope you will find time to post soon. I miss all of your insights and support. :)

Happy turtlin'! :D

:chef: Lin

Lauren, you sound peaceful in your post. I don't know quite what it is, but I just get the impression of a calm and mellow person. Possibly it's the description of the monastery (which sounds wonderful).

Lin, I have often wondered about that same question. It is repeated over and over that the way weight loss works is calories in < calories out. For calories out, you're supposed to use the Harris-Benedict formula or some other similar forumla. Whenever I do them, I get my maintenance calories up around 3,000! I would explode if I ate that many calories! And yet when I eat lower calories (like around 1500-1800), my energy flags and weight loss stops. I don't know. I don't think there are any answers, honestly. You just have to keep tweaking things to see what works.

I am doing okay. In-laws leave today and I will finally get a break, after my long semester and holidays, family, that sort. I have found time to get to the gym, though. I also renewed my membership at WW and will find out on saturday if it's working again! :) I went to the mall and got myself an italian charm bracelet with a turtle charm. It's on my left wrist, and reminds me both "slow and steady wins the race" and "keep trying". I get a new charm every 5 pounds lost...hopefully will get one saturday! :)

Bye turtles, must get people to the airport.

Hi, Turtles,

Well, I like to start my week on Sunday, so I took my average points and weight. I'm cutting 10 points from my average, which using the rule of thumb of 50 calories average per point, should give me an average 1 pourd per week loss. I'm also using an average weekly weight, rather than a weekly snapshot. Weighing myself daily in order to collect data to average has shown me that our weight fluctuates so much that any day is not really accurate.

I'm walking on the dry days. We're going to have dry days for a while, so that will help. I plan to use my videotapes after my son goes back to college. He sleeps late and the TV is on the other side of the wall from his bed. I don't want to wake him.

I'm unsure about what will happen with jury duty. I have to call at 11:15 and see if I have to go to the courthouse at 1. It's a pain. But it's only for 4 days, unless I get picked to be on a jury.

Everything else is going pretty well. I hope you all are doing fine.

Happy turtlin'! :D

:chef: Lin

Hi, tortoisean ones.

Mousie, good to see you checking in. Glad you survived all the craziness over your holidays, and good for you recommitting to WW. Funny, I'm thinking of leaving just as you're joining. But the turtles go on!

Lin, having dry days in which to walk is a good thing. How's that going? How many points are you aiming for these days?

Our visit to the monastery was wonderfully peaceful and relaxing. I could just feel the tension leaving me, and I so appreciated the renewal of my mind and spirit. These are the holiest people I've ever met; some day I'll have to tell you about them. Oh, they had some fireworks at midnight. That was a hoot. The fireworks were wet and about 10 years old, and I laughed harder than I have in a long while.

I still haven't gotten my eating and exercising where I want them to be, but I'm plugging away. Shoveled and snowblew the driveway and sidewalk yesterday, which definitely counted.

DH's mother arrives this afternoon (can you say "revolving door"?), but she's much lower maintenance than my own mom. I love them both. She'll be here a week.


Lauren

Hi, Turtles,

Lauren, I knew someone was going to ask me how many points I'm eating. It's a lot. 45-50. I don't intend to stay here for a super long time. What I intend is to step the points down gradually. I also am not banking points. This is plenty of points for reasonable servings of anything I want to eat. The thing is that if I stay the same for a month at this point level, I'll move down to a lower level. I need to give each level at least a month because of PMS water retention. So, we'll see how it goes. The main thing is that I'm paying attention, journaling, and making thoughtful choices. That's my baby step in the right direction.

The walking will be sort of weird this week. If I have to go to the courthouse, I will get some walking in because I have to take the bus. (Yay for the unseasonably dry, warm weather.) If not, then I will be taking two walks because I need to run an errand before I find out whether I have to go down for jury duty, but that won't be a long enough walk.

Then, I don't know what my schedule will be for the rest of the week because they don't tell you when or if they need you until the night before or two hours before they want you. That makes food planning really fun. I have no idea what we're having for dinner because I have no idea if I'm going anywhere or when I will get home. It's a nutsy system. I think that uncertainty is part of why people hate jury duty so much. That and the fact that many people don't get paid by their employer if they are out for jury duty.

Your monastery experience sounds wonderful. I'd really love to do something like that. But I'd be willing to bet my dh would hate it. ;)

I'ms sure you will get your eating and exercise where you want them soon. You always get back there. Sometimes it seems like you're taking those little baby steps, but it's such a habit that you don't see them for what they are. Have faith in yourself. You're doing great.

Have a great day, everyone. I hope the rest of you will check in with us soon. I keep hoping to see posts from you all because I've been wondering about you and how you're doing.

Happy turtlin'! :twirly:

:chef: Lin

Hello Turtles!!!

Just dropped by to say hi, and hope you all have a great new Year. I have decided not to do WW at all and do the sugar busters..Oh my gosh I am so glad I did. I feel so much better..Oh it took about 2 days to get my body use to it but now..I am like in heaven. I feel so good. I am not thinking about food unless I get hungry. I am just totally excited. Now you are wondering If I have lost anything??? Well I don't know..today was my 4th day on it. I just kinda ate what I wanted during the Christmas season, and although I was planning to start on the 1st..I think I started on the 2nd. But I have been totally true to it.

Still going to Curves, but plan on doing to changes now that the new year has come ... I am going to sign up for a fitness lab class at the college so that on the days I don't do Curves, I will do only Aeorbic machines which I miss. Lin you make me laugh..I am the oppesite of you...I totally love sweat going down my face, and I miss that..I sweat at curves but not like that..So I will enjoy doing the class 2 or 3 days a week. I am also going to sign up for a fabric dye ing class which I have been wanting to do for years.

Mousie you did exactly what I was going to do once I saw thoes little braceletts and found out how they worked. I haven't done it yet, but I will do it soon.

Hi Lauren!!! I went to a Monestary once during one Christmas Eve..It was a kinda like a Russian orthadox and I really enjoyed it..I love they way thoes monk sing. We went out there one day and Dawn told them about how Kiev was doing and before they left, they sang a prayer for us. Oh my gosh It was the most wonderful prayer in the world and they sang it like angels..I will never forget it.

Quilting going good, made the 1St baby of the new year quilt..it came out good. I am sure the mom liked it..I will make up anothyer for the first girl. The father of the first girl is a guy who works in er and he was sad they didn't get the 1st baby,but he did get the frist girl so i will work up an easy girl quilt for his little baby girl. My quilt retreat is coming up in Feb, so I am excited.

Well better get to bed, got lots of things todo tomorrow..

Kathy/Miata

Hi, turtles. Looks like we're starting to pick up some steam again.

I'm on my second day without sugar. I also avoided refined flour yesterday, though that's less of a priority for me (since I rarely eat it anyway). What a day to start doing this -- last night I had a work-related dinner to attend, which was submarine sandwiches, chips, ice cream bars, and candy! Bleah! I ate the sub's innards and left the bread (which I don't like anyway), and managed to find some pistachios and an orange on the premises. But it was a challenge!

I'm psyching myself up for another push to lose weight rather than maintain. I'm picturing getting below 174 on the scale. That's a number that really motivates me, since it'll be my 100-pound mark as well as push me into the no-longer-obese category. I feel a bit like I did when I was facing the 199 number: if I don't do this, I'll really regret it. To be so close and not go the distance just isn't an acceptable option.

Kathy, I'm interested in hearing about Sugar Busters. What do you do, exactly? Or should I just go check out the groups on this forum? I'm so glad you're feeling better already. It's amazing the effect sugar can have, isn't it?

I still plan to follow WW points and journaling, but I want to avoid sugar for the next few months. It has obviously become a red-light food for me again, so going cold turkey seems to be a good option for me right now.

I love the fact that you enjoy having sweat pour down your face! I've come to not mind the sensation because I realize it means I'm doing something healthy for myself, but I can't say I love the feeling.

Lin, thanks for the kind words about my baby steps. I do sometimes lose perspective. I can choose to get ticked or to pat myself on the back when I think about maintaining my weight since summer. As you've reminded me, it's far more productive to pat ourselves on the back. So ... good for me that I haven't gained more than 5 pounds back for a very long time now; that's the sign of incorporating the tools necessary to maintain my weight for a lifetime.

Good luck with the jury duty craziness. I hope that goes OK for you. DH was on the jury recently in a rape trial; that was tough.

I actually think aiming for the point range you mentioned is a fine idea; it's a smart way to use baby steps to get going again. You're journaling, and you're aiming for a particular point amount. That's great!

Well, I'd better go run my errands.

Judy, don't forget to check in!

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/183.5/179 by Feb.

Hi, Turtles,

I'm glad that Sugar Busters is going well for you, Kathy. Like Lauren, I'm curious about what's different in the Sugar Busters plan over other plans.

I think it's great that you are taking some classes that interest you. I miss that. But I haven't found any at the local community college that I haven't already taken because they seem to offer only the beginning level of things like photography. They are filling general ed requirements only.

Lauren, it sounds like you had a real challenge and that you met it well. Congratulations!!

I still don't know if I'm going to be on this jury. Yesterday they had us fill out a questionnaire. We're supposed to check next Monday and see if we're supposed to report on Tuesday. I do not want to be on this jury. It's a rape trial and I don't want to have to handle it. I could, but I really don't want to. They asked that and I said so, but I don't know if that will keep me off. They had almost twice as many prospective jurors as they had expected. I suspect someone messed up when they made the tape and web page about which groups were to report yesterday. So, with that large of a pool to select from, I doubt they will force someone who is uncomfortable with this to serve. Here's hoping!!

My journaling is going fine. I haven't skipped any days, not even yesterday. Yesterday was a real challenge and I didn't make the best choices. I've noticed that when my blood sugar gets too low, I inevitably eat high point foods and usually too much of them. That's one reason I really dislike doing things where I have no control over my schedule. Too often I get stuck in situations where I cannot eat when I need to and it gets awful. Yesterday it was 6 hours between breakfast and lunch, which is way too long.

I made two changes in how I'm journaling. A new thing I'm trying this year is to write notes about how it's going in the food journal. I split the page in half and do the points on one side and my notes on the other side. It's helping more than just writing in my regular journal. The other change is to go back to something that has always worked for me. I started counting the day's points with dinner last night instead of with breakfast.

I've been getting some walks in almost every day. As long as the weather holds up, I'll continue that. The weather report was really funny. The weatherman said that we shouldn't put away our winter gear because it might rain. Then he said that we should keep our shorts out, too, because it may stay warm. I guess we have to use the old-fashioned way of deciding how to dress--look out the window! :lol:

Have a great day everyone!

Happy turtlin'! Since they don't have a turtle, here's a close relative: :snail: ;)

:chef: Lin

Hi Turtles...Sugar Busters is really quite simple..You eat no sugar, no white flour, no white rice, no high carb (cookies, candy, etc and then no beets, no watermellon, no potatoes, no corn, and although carrots use to be on the list, in the latest sb book, they had decided carrots don't have such a high gmx or what ever that gi word is, arn't as bad so it is considered a mod..So, you eat protein, 2 or 3 fruits, lots vegies, and then you can add in 2 carbs...like sweet potatoes, ww bread, brown rice, brown noodles..(i don't like WW noodles.!!!) This is the funny thing, during the time when you are trying to get of sugar and anytime after that, you can have Triscuits..Yes triscuits...They are made from WW and they are baked and they don't have any added sugar..When looking at labels, you eat anything under 3. I think the food plan is very easy and the neat thing is that I am not hungry between meals...

Lauren please feel free to check out the SB on the 3fc..the funny thing is..is it is BIG...They start posting every monday and go till Sun...There are 11 pages so far, and it is only Thursday. There are lots of people doing this, and believe you me,...they have been losing weight. Many of them have lost big amounts of weight and it has been the only way they have been able to keep it off. There must be at least 25 people who post regularly and more come either becuase they are new, or they just dropped when they can...
Lin: hope you don't get the jury...it doen't sound like a pleasant one to do. I think the court system are getting a lot more strict. They don't let you off with ..I don't want to!!!

I forgot to tell you I have a new place to weigh in every Tuesday...Tops..isn't that funny??? I have a friend who I never get to spend time with who goes...It only cost 20.00 to join, and 3.00 a month. She has lost 20 lbs and really likes it, so I decided to do it for the fact there are real people..But the funny thing is..they are all old..They are all over 65 for sure...I did meet 3 quilters from my quilting group so that is cool. Anything they do stupid silly things, but that is ok, I like silly things and I am sure I am going to have good weigh in;s...Once thing I decided not to do is do that false thing where you don't drink water, you don't eat breakfast or drink coffee so you can get that last .5 lbs off before you weigh in..No I decided I was going to eat my breakfast, drink my coffee and just relax...My starting weight as of Tues ...199.5. Now I weighed at curves unofficialy last week but I don't remember what day...it was 201, but of course it was a different scale.

I have been doing great..Yesterday I didn't have any sugar or anything off plan, I just happend to get up late, played on the computer (which i need to stop doing so much) and end up having only two meals..Jim made pink beans with some kind of sausage. it was great, I need to get more organized though..

Well better get my dh cereal made..He loves this 7 grain hot cereal..I can't eat it..it has ground up corn..it is ok..i don't like it much anyway..Either I eat eggs, or I have shredded wheat with bran..

See you all later

Miata

Kathy, thanks for that SB update. That sounds quite healthy. I think I'd have a lot of trouble giving up the watermelon and the potatoes, though. :) And I'll bet grapes and dried fruit aren't on there, either. In the summer, I do eat corn on the cob (and watermelon), though I rarely eat corn otherwise.

I'll have to check out the SB group, see what that's like. Hey, good for you, going to TOPS. I did that as a teenager. I went there again a couple of years ago when I wanted a change from WW meetings; the people were all over 65, as you mention, and they certainly did silly things! I think there was a captain or something, and they had minutes from the previous meeting ... then there was some kind of contest ... but they obviously had fun together and enjoyed it. I realized I wouldn't fit in, but maybe if I had a friend that went, as you do, I'd feel differently.

That's so cool that you're doing Curves regularly!

And Lin, WTG on the walking and journaling. Woo-hoo! :cb:

I hope you get off the rape trial for your sake, but I think you'd make an outstanding juror, so for the sake of justice I hope you're there. I can certainly understand how tough it would be to sit through such a trial. About the low blood sugar ... can you bring snacks and eat them discreetly? Like healthy snack bars or fruit and nuts?

I'm like you; if my blood sugar gets too low, I hog down. That somewhat happened today after my walk. I took a walk with MIL; that was enjoyable, in spite of the fact that it started to really blow and sleet on our way home. (I can't IMAGINE wearing shorts right now, Lin!) But I was starving when I walked in the door, and I ate too much (banana and cottage cheese, but it was a lot of cottage cheese). I'm also PMSing, which never helps. :dz:

There are a lot of clothing sales going on right now. I have purposely bought a few clothing items in a smaller size than I currently wear. The latest: a pair of size 14 "slim-fit" pants from J. Jill. Amazingly, I got them zipped -- but forget about buttoning them! (And never mind how they looked, either. :fr: ) I have them hanging where I can see them in my closet as motivation. The last time I did this, it was with a pair of brown size 18 jeans from Lands' End (not plus size). I remember when I got them, I couldn't even pull them up over my butt. Now they fit! So I figured this will be my next big clothing milestone.

Hey, Lin, have you heard anything from Lori? I wonder sometimes how she's doing. I miss her.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/183.5/170s in February