Hi Turtles,
Interesting tidbit~~my scale was wrong at home! Boy, this was good news because I went to my Wed. WI and lost 1.5# Yay!!!! I must have knocked the scale when I was cleaning, or somebody adjusted it incorrectly. Anyway, I am thrilled that I knocked off some fluffy weight. I figure if I did it last week staying on Core and counting in my track points I can lose weight again this week.

Members must be having tough times because my leader said that countless times at the scale members say to her, "Motivate me!" She had a chat with us all last night and reminded us that we are the ones who can motivate ourselves~~and we're the only ones. Then she had us turn to a member next to us, and had us recall what brought us to WW's the very first time. We shared that with the member, then thought ab out the one thing we haven't been doing that we will do this week. For both of us, that was exercise. We've promised to hop on the treadmill for 1/2hour many days this week. Sounds like a good start.
Love you all,
:grouphug: to us all
Swania, I would love to have us all reach goal weight this year (and appear on Oprah)
Judy

That's wonderful, Judy!! Hooray!! :cb: :balloons: I'm so glad!

I'm doing Flex; I've got one more day in my Flex week, and I've eaten almost all my Flex points! :o Last weekend I definitely overdid it, but I got right back on the wagon and will make it to the end of the week within my points. (I now start my week on Saturdays, since my weekends are my highest-point time.) I'm down a smidgen, so that's encouraging. I want to bust through the 215 barrier and get below that number again. I've also been walking regularly, which has felt great. I have so much more energy throughout the day when I do that first thing in the morning. Today I went out for breakfast with DH before he went to work (I work at home on Thursdays), and I walked back from the diner -- about 45 minutes. :) (I had oatmeal, by the way, with very little brown sugar.)

I'm really getting excited about the prospect of being back in some of my old clothes this spring. I'm determined to do it. So are you, I can tell!

Onward and downward,

Lauren

Lauren,
Great news! I hear the determination. Weigh to go.

I had all this determination and never once made time to get on the treadmill. Yes, the house has been in a whirlwind, but I am retired and still not putting myself even on the list, much less on top. Today is a new day. I will get on the treadmill before I do another thing. Too much to do, too little time. I'm getting silly and depressed. I can do this. Simply have to stop the overeating and do the right thing. Just do it! as my friends say.

You all take care, have fun, see th espring in your minds and let's all do this.
Love,
Judy :grouphug:

Judy - Congrats on that weigh-in loss!

Lauren - I'm happy to hear your renewed motivation.

I got busy with my neighborhood projects (I'm on the Board of Directors) and I haven't exercised in about the last 10 days. That's my pattern - as soon as something needs to be done, I put my priorities on hold. I recognize this and I am trying to get back on track sooner than I have in the past, where months/years have gone by before I even noticed.

I've blown the Valentine's Day challenge, but I'm back into the healthy living project.

Keep up the good work!

Hi Turtles,
Swania,
Why is it that the thing that should be most important keeps getting shoved aside when we can help others? I'm thrilled you're back on the healthy living project and that you're helping out your neighborhood by being on the board of directors. You and I and everyone else just have to remember to put ourselves on the *list*--I honestly don't think we can put ourselves first--never have, probably never will--but we sure can be second on that list!!!!!

I have gotten back on the treadmill a tiny bit, am on Core and have a good attitude. You all take care. I am going to make it a point to check in here at least every other day. I count on you for support and I need to offer support too.

Lauren, Swania, Bandit, Choosie, and Lin, best wishes to us all--next challenge for me is Easter--but more importantly to keep on keepin' on each day for progress.

Lots of love and :grouphug:
Judy

Happy Valentine's Day, turtles!

Hope everyone has been well - I have been very busy. Bf mother is in hospital & they think she may not be able to live alone again IF she gets out at all. She had pnuenomia which they cleared but has lung problems (she is a big smoker). So we have been busy visting her.

I have had some good & bad days with my eating. Up & down. Stay OP for a couple of days then end up falling off the wagon, overdoing it then getting back on track.

Anyway, just popped in for a quick HI & have a great day. Bye for now.

Just checking in -

Did anyone see Oprah today? She explained what she's been doing to keep her weight off. She looks better now at 50 than she did when her show started!

I have finally finished the project I was working on (8000+ pages). It was a tremendous stress and I didn't exercise. Also, having those pages around my house made clutter and I hate clutter!

Then my mom got sick. Today we had to have an MRI to see whether she has had a stroke or whether she has a mass around her brain. Please send prayers our way.

I will begin again for the umpteenth time. I must learn to handle stress without overeating. Until that bad habit is overcome, I will remain stuck.

I'll keep checking in.

We can do this!

Hi Turtles,
Bandit, here's good wishes for your bh's mom. And Swania, here's good wishes for you mom too. I'm sending prayers for these women and you two who are dealing with the unknown and the stress that signals. I love you guys. Here's a :grouphug: to help you out.

All well here and I've gotta run.
Love,
Judy

Hi Turtles,
I went to WW's WI tonight and gained more weight. This isn't funny. I'm not putting my weight in my signature, but this is the most I've weighed in 6 weeks. I ate more carbs this week and didn't stay completely Core. I had too much to do and I probably thought the exercising I did would help out. Talked to several gals at my meeting and I think they've got me back on track.
Leader talked about the difference between willpower and wantpower. Willpower implies being perfect and good and using our willpower no matter what--which can lead to a slip and then a binge. Wantpower reminds us to think of what we want--what we can get from staying OP and then figuring out how to do that.
Hope this helps. I'm sending a :grouphug: because I can see you are all busy and taking care of loved ones and grouphugs always help.
Love,
Judy

Hi, tortoise ones. Sounds like we're all going through a bit of a tough stretch.

Swania, I'm sorry to hear about your mom. :grouphug: Let us know how that goes, OK? I just said a prayer for you both. I hear you about needing to kick the old turn-to-food-when-stressed habit. One day at a time.

Bandit, sorry to hear about BF's mom, too. I hope you can find good care for her.

Judy, have you thought about switching to Flex for a few weeks? I couldn't lose weight on Core, either. I just can't handle unlimited amounts of anything. At any rate, {{{HUGS}}} to you. You're a trooper.

As for me, it has been a pretty tough week (though not in comparison with Swania's). First, on the same day, my brother ended up in the hospital and DH got six weeks' notice at the doctor's where he has worked for 10 years.

I'll take these one at a time. First, DH's job.

The doctor with whom DH works wants to hire someone who'll work full time, and DH has another job so he can't; she wants someone just out of school who will be much cheaper; etc. That's about 40 percent of our income. He still has his job at the VA hospital, but that only pays our mortgage and health insurance. That means my work will now need to cover everything else, including student loans and malpractice insurance. Quite simply, we won't be able to make it long term unless he can get another job.

The silver lining: DH feels as though a great load has lifted off his shoulders. He didn't realize how unhappy he has been there now for a couple of years. So his attitude is great. That's so important, and I'm very grateful. He's actively looking for work, and he still has his current job with this doctor until the end of March. She will pay his malpractice until the end of June. So if he gets another job by then, we should be OK.

Next, my brother. He went to the ER for the second time in as many months; they didn't know what the problem was and so kept him for observation. And kept him. And kept him. Turns out it's "just" his gall bladder. That's good. Unfortunately, it was severely inflamed, so they couldn't operate until the inflammation came down. So they kept him for an entire week without food until they were able to do surgery two days ago. Unfortunately, they had to open him up due to so much scarring of the gall bladder, so no laproscopic. Also unfortunately, he knows nobody in Houston (where he lives). So he has been alone all this time. :(

The silver lining: Today my dad is flying down to be with him for as long as it takes. They have a strained relationship, so I'm hoping this will be good for them. DH came through his surgery fine, though he's in lots of pain and won't be able to come home from the hospital for a while.

Finally, on Valentine's Day, I got the flu!! That means I wasn't able to work for a few days this week, which is serious given how much we now depend on my income (I'm self-employed and bill by the hour). Also, my latest customer went belly-up, so I'm now very concerned about finding enough billable work to support us.

The silver lining: I lost 5 pounds from the flu. :p I realize that's not "real" weight and have already gained 1 pound back. But it sure was fun to see 208.5 on the scales yesterday, however briefly! I haven't been below 210 in a while. I am feeling mostly better and am back at work.

Regarding the program, I have faithfully walked most days (except when I had the flu), and I have faithfully journaled. I tell ya, that journaling is what keeps me from going off the rails. As a result, I was slowly but steadily losing weight prior to the flu, and I'm proud of that. I also journaled while I had the flu -- my 1-point day, my 5-point day ... that's just a habit I don't want to break, even for the flu.

So that's my last 10 days or so. Yikes! Here's hoping to a MUCH improved and calmer rest of the month for all of us.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/209.5/down

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for the prayers. I truly appreciate and need them as does my mom. We are still awaiting the MRI results. I am most fearful of a possible brain mass. She has had brain surgery before. Her symptoms are better so I am hopeful and praying that this was a fluke.

Lauren - Thank you for the prayers. So sorry to hear about your recent challenges. I am happy that your brother's surgery was successful and am hoping that this unfortunate event will help heal the rift with your father. That would be a major blessing. I am happy to hear that DH has such a good attitude under the circumstances. I'm sure that he will find something else which will probably be better. What is his specialty? I'll say prayers for all of you.

Judy - Your group hugs are always appreciated so much. Thank you for the prayers and concern. You are to be commended for continuing to go to weigh-ins. I think it's far too easy to skip weigh-ins and then be in denial about our weight. Keep going and you'll get back on track.

Bandit - How are you, your bf, and his mother?

I am going to exercise tomorrow for the first time in weeks. I will also start tracking again.

Wishing everyone a good week (both weight wise and personally). :)

Time for a new thread. See you there!

-- Lauren