[Phoinix]

Carla, good job on the maintain, loss should show up next time.

Pat, congrats on resisting the cookies and getting the snacking under control. Sweets are the worst for me, I just can't seem to resist.

Judy, looking forward to hearing all about your trip and how the new way of counting points is working for you.

Another good day here. Got in my exercise yesterday and today, and staying OP. I had my therapeutic massage this morning, a weekly event. Forget the word massage, it's way too painful to think of as that. I'll be really sore tonight, but should be back at it tomorrow. It's the only day I get my exercise in early in the day because I know I won't be able to do anything afterwards. Hope you all have a great day!

[cece]

Hi everyone.

Busy day today. Had to work through lunch. The nerve!

Pat - Yay for you for not getting into the cookies and in getting snacking under control in general. Don't worry about those few points; you'll work them off.

Judy - Glad to hear you had a good time. Can't wait to hear about it.

Karen - Glad to hear you're still stringing those good days together.

I had a good day again yesterday. Yep - cooked dinner again too. Can't believe it myself. Tonight is family story time at the library, so it will be fast and east - soup. And then Ana wants to go for ice cream and I haven't taken her in awhile, so I'll work some Baskin Robbins into my day as well. The knees a bit better, but not 100% yet. At least I'm mobile.

Have a great evening.

Carla

[JudySP]

Pls. excuse me if my posts to each of you are short.

Carla - way to go on "managing the weekend" and planning out the week. TOM is here for me - I think we're on the same schedule! Way to go on planning around the KK donut! I miss Lloyd's - I haven't been able to find it lately.

Holly - way to go on your attitude of not giving up.

Karen - LOL about the scale and "lo"! I'm so sorry you were in pain this weekend. I went through a very similar problem at the end of July. My chiropractor really helped. I hope you feel better soon. Glad to hear that you are feeling a bit better. Yes, those therapeutic massages can be a little rough at the beginning but they are so good for you!

Jennifa - LOL about the antique scale! You are so right about clothes being a more reliable gauge of our success.

Pat - sorry to hear about the PMS monster. He was stomping around in D.C. this weekend too. Way to go on making good eating choices. Way to go on staying away from the cookies!

Tony and I had a really good time in D.C. The trip down was awful - it took 7.5 hours (instead of 5 on the way back). We didn't get there until 1:30 in the morning and D.C. is not exactly an easy city to negotiate by car - you should have heard us trying to figure out how to get to the hotel! We went to the Museum of Natural History, the Lincoln Memorial, The Museum of Natural History and the Holocaust Museum. We took the metro everywhere and walked a ton. Saturday we met friends for drinks and dinner in Georgetown. We had way too many beers, lots of laughs and good food. It was really great to be in our nation's capitol, especially after the events of the 11th. It made me feel very proud and very lucky to be an American. The security was fairly tight - no tours at the White House and barely any at the Captol. Security was tightest at the Holocaust Museum - especially since we went there on Sunday, a couple of hours before the bombing started in Afghanistan. I will say that while that museum was "tough", it really resonated with me as members of my family both escaped and were lost in the Holocaust. The exhibit was incredibly thorough and well done. It was also very meaningful to see my grandmother's town listed amongst those that were in essence detroyed by the Holocaust. We had planned to go to the Jefferson Memorial later that day but we were at the Holocaust Museum for a long time and decided to go back to the hotel for a little rest - that's when we found out that the war had started - we had dinner and then went back to watch the news.

The toughest part of the food on vacation was that while the room (suite) with the kitchen was a great way to keep points down for breakfast (and cost down) it also meant we went food shopping and Tony got some very high point snacks that really appealed to the PMS monster. For the most part I made good choices for lunch (we were in museums mostly at lunch time) and made good choices for dinner about 50% of the time.

Since we've been back, I've whittled down my weekend deficit until it's almost gone now. I'm finding that starting to count points with dinner has been very helpful in managing my evening snacking. Since I've been home, I've banked points every day - I think this might be the way for me to go. I went for a 30 minute run/walk interval session yesterday - first time since July - it was tough but it felt good. Wow, were my legs sore today! I did some upper body weight work on my left side. The PT has not helped my right side - I have another appt with the orthopedist a week from Monday for the next step.

I'd better stop rambling now or I might never get to bed!

Judy

[Pepper]

Judy - Welcome back. Sounds like you had a great time in D.C. and got to see a lot. I think I'll start trying starting my day at dinner next week. I always want a snack in the evening and a lot of times I just don't have any points left (but, of course, I still eat). Great job getting out for the run/walk.

Karen - Way to go getting in your exercise and staying OP. Sweets are my downfall too.

Carla - Sounds like you are on a roll. Keep it up and you'll have a great weigh in next week.

Well, I haven't floated away yet, but I sure wish it would quit raining. No walk for me since it has rained ALL day. I did have a good day foodwise though.

Have a great weekend everybody.
Pat

[JudySP]

Pat - Sorry to hear about all that rain. Do you have a mall in which you can walk? I really like counting points starting from dinner. Last night, I had a snack or two too many so now I have to be really careful during the day - but that's not a problem for me - breakfast & lunch are easy low point meals for me.

TOM is here with a vengeance. Between that and the pretzels I had last night, my sneak peek was not very good this morning. I'll probably see a gain tomorrow morning but I still think counting from dinner is going to prove to be successful for me.

I hope to get in a step tape today to burn off the rest of my deficit. My thighs are really sore from the run on Wednesday so it's going to be tough going.

Have a great one!
Judy

[cece]

Hi everyone.

Judy - It sounds like you had a great time in DC. I remember very well several years ago when John and I tried to navigate our way around the city. It wasn't pretty. Couldn't imagine doing it at 1:30 am when you're tired and have already been in the car for several hours. I didn't make it to the Holocaust Museum when I was in DC last, but it's definitely on my list of places to visit. Wihle I have no family history tied to the concentration camps, both of my in-laws were in forced labor camps (Poles being low on Hitler's list of desirable people) and my FIL fought with the Polish Resistance. When I spent a semester in Italy, we took a weekend trip to Munich and while there visited Dachau. There are no words to describe how it felt being there.

I'm so glad to hear that counting points starting with dinner is working so well for you! Don't let the scale throw you tomorrow - if you show a gain, you'll know the cause.

Pat - Well, it's raining here today, so hopefully the rain has left you to move north. Now if we can get rid of it quickly, that will be great. Keep up those good food days! Yep, I'm on one of my rolls and trying very hard to find a way to keep up the momentum so it lasts longer than a week. Hopefully a good trip to the scale on Wednesday will help. Plus I have to remember how much better, physically, I feel when I eat correctly.

Had some late night snacking issues last night, so I dipped into my banked points again. Still have some left, so I'm not worried. And yes, I got dinner on the table again last night - 4 nights in a row. Must be some kind of record. Tonight, though, we'll have our usual Friday dinner out and I know we're going for Mexican food at our favorite place in town. So I have a good low-point day planned. I'm going to enjoy every bite of my bean burrito and every swig of my beer with no guilt. (Guilt doesn't make for a good side dish, I've found.) No particular plans for the weekend. It's the high school's homecoming, so we'll go to the parade tomorrow. And we have to buy a new dryer. Sunday we pick my mom up at the airport (she's been visiting cousins in Italy) and that's right at dinner time, so I'll have to plan my day carefully.

Have a great day and a terrific weekend.

Carla