I'll check back later to catch up on last week's thread. I'm on my way to the doctor to check my cholesterol - I'll also be stepping on the scale which, considering my eating yesterday, I'm not thrilled about.

I was down 0.8 pounds this week - not all I gained last week but I was still pleased. My eating was OK until Saturday night and then the PMS monster got me. I recovered Sunday morning and had the bar-b-que for my mom all figured out - I did well until later in the evening and then blew it a little.

No matter, I'm back on track. I've also decided to go back to tracking my day starting in the morning - I never saw the results I was hoping for by starting at dinner. When I switched, I felt relaxed about the evening 'cause even if I snacked too much, I could make it up with lunch and dinner (which is usually low point for me) - I think I got too relaxed. The upshot is, as I just said, it didn't help me get the results I wanted so I'm back to tracking "normally".

Off to the doctors,
Judy
163.6/156.0/135

Good Morning All!

I hope you had a nice weekend, mine was ok. Managed to stay OP pretty much except a few onion rings at dinner on Sat. I weigh in today and will hopefully make Lifetime. I think once that is over with and I see what the Dr. has to say tomorrow, I will concentrate on reaching personal goal. About 7 more pounds and then I will see how I feel. At 5'9" I am not sure how I will feel at 145, 152 is ok, but not enough for me personally anyway. I went to Cape Cod yest. to see my mother with my sisters. The ride down took 2 hours and 20 minutes, the ride home took over 4 hours We stopped at BK because now we were all starving and were not going to make it home for our planned family mothers day dinners. I got the chicken whopper with no mayo, no fries. Not too bad I think, I am going to Dotti's after this to check it out. Chugging water this morning just in case. My sister got the veggie burger which she said was very good, FYI.

Judy-Good Luck at Dr's. I think once all my appts are over I am going for a plain physical, it has been awhile.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day.

Have a great day

Michele - Good luck at weigh-in and good for you for basically staying OP this weekend - I think your choice at BK was great - somewhere on the order of 7 points without the mayo, I think - at least that's what a junior whopper with no mayo is. Where on the Cape does your mom live? We used to go to the Cape for 2 weeks every summer when we were kids - we were always in or around Dennisport.

Well, the doctor's appt went OK but not great. My cholesterol numbers were up a bit - not enough to up the meds though. The thing the doctor was not pleased with was my tryglicerides (sp?). In addition to losing more weight (gee, thanks for the suggestion) he wants me to try 2 days a week where I eat no/low carbs - no bread, white potatoes, pasta, candy, cake, etc. I'll give it a whirl - I work hard to eat right for my cholesterol and it probably won't hurt my weight loss either. The one thing I won't give up having on those days is one or two fruits - I can't believe a fruit or two will mke the difference - the pasta, bread, cookies, etc., are the real culprits, knowing how I eat. One thing he said was OK that I was glad about was yams - he said that wasn't in the same category as a white potato - I don't know if that's true or not (I don't have an Atkins-like book around) but I'll take it 'cause today is going to be my first low/no carb day - and I planned for a dinner or salmon, broccoli or cauliflower and a baked yam!

Good Mroning, Happy Monday!

Judy - nice loss! Hope the switch to tracking from morning til night works for you; also that the lo carb days make a difference to your triglycerides. Of course you have to keep your fruit! Yams and sweet potatoes are nutritional powerhouses. I love them, but unfortunately don't think to buy them very often!

Michele - good luck with your weighin! Your lunch choice yesterday was great! Sometimes we have to choose from the "best of the worst". Nice that you were able to get to see your mom and sisters!

I had a good day Saturday, but yesterday left a lot to be desired; lots of the residents' families brought treats in for all us poor moms who had to work on Mother's Day, and I indulged in cake, chocolate and you name it! Oh well, it's history and I'm so far so good today. Have a great one!

Karen B.

Hi everyone.

Judy - Congratulations on your loss - good going! Sorry to hear about your triglycerides being up. Good luck with your no/low carb days. I'm a carb freak, so I'd have a tough time with it, but you do what you have to do. What about complex carbs, like whole grains - no go on those too? Good idea to switch back to tracking in the morning - just to shake things up. You can always switch back. Sorry to hear that the PMS monster got to you.

Michele - Good for you for sticking to the Chicken Whopper at BK. Good luck at the Doctor tomorrow. You'll get those 7 pounds off in no time and once you get to 145 you can evaluate how you feel.

Karen C - It's stuff to stay away from all those goodies when they're staring you right in the face all day. But you're right - it's history and you've moved on. Stay on track and they won't do any damage at all.

Yesterday was a tough day. I did really well with the main meal at brunch - loaded up on lots of veggies. Fortunately, the entrees were having on seafood, which I don't eat, and the carving table had prime rib and lamb, neither of which I like. So that made eating reasonably very easy. Had a half-dollar size medallion of pork and that was it for meat. Of course, then we moved on to the dessert buffet. Yikes. But they were all miniature pastries. I just had a couple and I stayed away from the home made ice cream with all the toppings. Then on to my mom's. She didn't feel like going out, so we picked up some pizza. Had a couple of mini pastries that I had brought in from a local bakery. So - not a stellar day, but could have been worse. I did guzzle a lot of water and will continue doing so today. Tonight is my monthly dinner out with my friend. If the sunshine holds and the rain stays away (we had rain all weekend), I'll be able to get in a nice walk to the restaurant.

Have a great Motivated Monday.

Carla

Hi everybody. Don't have time to post to all of you, but wanted to catch up with what has been happening.

I had a small gain this week. I'm sure it had to do with the food I ate yesterday. I'm still keeping up with the exercise. The eating hasn't been going as well...too much stress. Darrell wrecked his car. No one was hurt, but we were afraid the car was totalled. Fortunately the insurance company agreed to fix it, but we don't know how long it will take. Sara finished school and moved her stuff back home. We are still working out where to put everything...her computer is still on my kitchen table!

Hope to be able to get on here more often, but with two teenage girls in the house it seems like the computer or phone is always in use.

Boss is on his way so I better get going.
Pat

Karen B - Sorry to hear that yesterday was a problem day eating-wise. I know I've been guilty in the past of bringing food to a hospital as a way of saying "Thank you". Your attidtude about it is great - it's history and that's that. I hope today is a good day so far. BTW, how is your fil? I find that yams are yummy - so sweet I just don't need to put anything on them.

Carla - I think you did really well all told yesterday. If you added up the points, it probably wouldn't be as bad as you think. In any case, it is over and done with. We had rain most of yesterday and all day today (and tonight). I hope it stays sunny so you can in that walk to the restaurant. I'm pretty much a carb addict myself and I have never thought much of the low/no carb diets. If he had suggested I do that every day I would have had an argument with him. Since he suggested 2 days a week (and talked about eating lean meats unlike diets like the Atkins diet) I figure I'll try it. He said no rice but I'm sure he meant white rice. I don't know about complex carbs - I didn't think to ask him. Maybe Karen B can help - are yams complex carbs? I think so and if they are, then he's OK with my eating complex carbs on those days. In any case, I can eat what I like (within WW of course) on the other 5 days so I'll see how it goes.

Pat - It's good to hear from you! Sorry about the car but thank goodness Darrell is OK. It sounds like things are a bit crazy - don't stress about the gain - it's probably water from what you ate yesterday.


Back to work - it's been a very crazy day! I hope to get some aerobics in after work - I need to exercise - I'm very stressed right now.

Happy Think Thin Tuesday everyone.

Judy- way to go at the scale! A loss is great regardless of the size. Hope the switching on your journaling works for you...I'm with Carla....it's a good thing to shake things up every once in a while. I haven't had a yam in a long time. I think ww emailed me a recipe yesterday which was baked yam chips. Guess it's a subtle hint to get them in to my day! It's so motivating to see you turn to exercise when you're stressed. Did you work in some aerobics?

Michele- I think you made a good choice at BK. The no mayo rule drops off a bunch of points. Hope you had a good weigh in last night and made lifetime.

KarenB- good idea to wipe the slate clean and move on. The quicker we pick ourselves up and move on the less damage can be done. A moving target is harder to hit

Carla - same thoughts to you, Carla. Don't dwell on yesterday and just move on with your journey. I hope the sun stayed out for you (it's rather scarce here too) so you could enjoy a stroll to your monthly dinner. What kind of place to you dine at last night?

Pat- so glad to see you! Sounds like you win the crazy-time-in-the-house award, hands down! Stop by when you can.

Well, I knew as soon as I mentioned my success last week I'd regret it. I had my first weigh in with a gain last night. Ugh. And it wasnt' a small one either...a whopping 1.4#. She always asks you if you followed plan and I did except for Mother's Day which happened to coincide with Anthony's birthday this year. So, I journalled but the pt total for Sunday was horrendous. I even got on the treadmill at 9 pm Sunday night to try and undo some of the days damage. No help. Gotta shake it off (which is easier said than done) and move on (gee, where have I heard that before?) I was back on the treadmill yesterday morning and I just finished this morning. Off to get ready for work. Make it a great one!
Angie

Good Morning!

Quick post, boss is here and I have to leave at 10:30 to go to the Dr.

Made Lifetime, ended up at my actualy goal of 152 after jumping all around for the 6 weeks of maintenance.

Things at home are strange, Steve's b-day is tomorrow and he gets real weird around this time every year. Kind of like a mid life crisis every year. Next year should be brutal when he turns 40. He told me this morning he does not think I love him like I used to.

Sounds like you all enjoyed your mothers day and so what if you over indulged, today is a new day.

Have a great day, I will try and get back after Dr.

Hello everyone-
Although I am new to this thread, I am not new to these boards and certainly not new to WW. I became LT 27 years ago(!!!) and have had my ups and downs since then. However, this last time, I went back in Jan, 2000 with 95 lbs to lose. Last May, 2001, I received my 60 lb star and am struggling since then. My total lost now is around 52 lbs., so I have gained back some of the weight I worked so hard to lose. I usually go to meetings on Wed eve, but my schedule is so tight, I am feeling like it is just another thing I don't need to do every week. I am thinking about doing the WW thing at home, but am worried because it has never worked before when I did it by myself.
Any suggestions or words of wisdom? I also have a question about the scale-is there a particular scale you use for tracking your progress, or just a regular bathroom scale?
Please reply. I am thinking about doing my first official WI tomorrow morning, keeping with the Wed thing.
Thanks!!!

Angie - sorry to hear about the gain. I know it is disappointing but hey, if you *never* saw a gain in this process, I'll bet you'd be the first WW member who didn't! Generally, when our points are high on "occasions" such as this weekend, it also means we had more sodium than usual. I'm sure you will see that nasty 1.4 gone next week with some more to boot. You are right that you have to shake it off and I'm sure by now you have. Hey, if this process wasn't hard it wouldn't be as rewarding when we make our goals, would it? Yes, I did get an aerobic session in yesterday and abs too and it really helped the stress. Today is even crazier at work and since I'm in the office today I don't think I'll get a "formal" workout in after work but I'm going to try to bring some dumbbells upstairs and do some weights while I watch TV. I always feel better when I've done something.

Michele - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! I think you are our first "member" to make lifetime. Sorry to hear that things are a little weird at home. It definitely sounds like a little pre-birthday depression. My attitude about birthdays is that they are better than the alternative. Maybe there's a little something that you can do for him to make him feel special??

Donna - hi and welcome! When I started posting to this thread I was doing WW at home. I used my bathroom scale (once I found one that was fairly consistent) and decided on my "offical" weigh in day. I lost about a third of what I needed to and then started gaining it back. I've gone back to meetings but still post here 'cause I've found that there is a great group of supportive people. Most people here do WW at home but not all - so please feel free to stay here and post no matter what your decision about meetings.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I did a good 40 minute step tape and then did some abs. It really helped with the work stress. I did OK food wise too although after dinner I was really missing my usual (carb) snacks. As I told you yesterday, I have no plans to give up fruit on my 2 no-carb days a week and so I did have some watermelon (we have a ton left over from Sunday) but otherwise, the only snack I had was PB. I'll stick with this for a little while and see how it works - but I'm glad it's for 2 days a week only!

Have a great one!
Judy

CONGRATULATIONS, MICHELE!! What an achievement! How did you celebrate?

Donna- Welcome! We're a great set of friends who encourage each other when needed and cheer just as loud when congrats are in order. I returned to the ww mtgs in Feb after messing around too long on my own. I need the accountability of hopping on a scale for someone else who is going to jot my wt down. I wasn't motivated enough when I was weighing myself at home. Feel free to jump right in and join us!

Judy- thanks for the pep talk. I'm actually right back on track today. I was thinking of skipping the 'make the lunch' routine this morning and run out and find something, but stopped. No good. So, I sliced my strawberries and my celery and weighed out the pb for my sandwich and threw in a ff/sf jello cup for dessert. Pretty filling for 6.5 pts. Also have 120 oz of water down for the day so far so that darn salt better be gone by next Monday!

Have a great one!
Angie

Hi all.

Pat - Good to hear from you again. I'm sorry to hear about Darrell's car, but glad that no one was hurt. Tell those girls to give you some computer time!

Judy - Sorry to hear that work is hectic for you. I hope your stress level decreases soon. Good for you for sticking to your no carb snack plan yesterday. I think these couple of days a week of low/no carb might just help shake things up for you. I hope you're able to get some sort of workout in tonight, as I know how much better it makes you feel.

Angie - I'm sorry to hear about your gain, but we both know one day of overeating doesn't equate to a 1.4 gain. A lot of it is probably higher levels of sodium, as Judy said. At any rate, it sounds like you have shaken it off and moved on and are firmly back on track. Good for you for making your lunch today, even though you didn't feel like it.

Michele - Congratulations on making lifetime. Awesome achievement. Sorry to hear things are a bit tense at home. Give Steve some extra loving and he'll be back to himself.

Donna - Welcome. We're practically neighbors. (I'm in Barrington.) I've been doing weight watchers at home for the past 3.5 years. I had good success when I first started and lost about 40 pounds. Then we adopted our daughter and I started juggling working outside of the home full time with behing a mom and slowly the weight's come back on. I've been playing with the same few pounds for quite awhile now, but I know that if I weren't trying at least some of the time like I am, I would have put on much more weight. The friends I've made on this board have been invaluable to my journey. I started doing WW at home because there weren't any meetings convenient to my house that met my schedule and I didn't want to stay downtown after work. From past attempts at WW, I know that once getting to the meetings becomes a chore, then I stop the meetings and stop the program. However, since starting in July I'll be unemployed, at least temporarily, I may start going to meetings just to see if that helps me focus better.

Well, the sun didn't stay out yesterday, but the rain did stay away, so I had a nice, brisk, 45 minute walk to the restaurant. It felt good and I'm happy to report no ankle/knee problems today. Angie, I guess the restaurant we ate at was American. Very modern, very sleek - but without the hipper than thou attitude that sometimes happens at that type of restaurant. Had a fantastic salad of greens, oven dried tomatoes, artichokes and a lemony vinegarette. Also had the vegetable plate for dinner - all kinds of good veggies done up in a terrine, with some fingerling potatoes. We split a banana napoleon that was maybe 1.5 inches square, so not too much damage there. Had more bread than I should have, because that walk made me hungry and of course a couple of glasses of wine. Feeling pretty good about the whole thing. TOM is any day now and I'm retaining water like crazy (and guzzling it like crazy too). I can even feel it in my face and neck. Yuck. So I'm not holding out much hope for the scale tomorrow (although the sneek peaks haven't been bad), but I'll know what the culprit is.

Have a good day and keep thinking thin!

Carla

Thank you to all who replied. Unfortunately, it appears that without going to meetings, we don't really succeed. Darn! I'm going to take a break from the meetings for a couple of weeks anyway to give it a try. I'll try to lose some on my own before I go back. I will try to keep you all posted.

Good Morning!

Well I totally blew it last night and I don't care. I took Steve out to dinner for his b-day since he left this morning for a road trip for work. We went to Longhorns and I had bread and butter, ceasar salad, buffalo wings, filet mignon and rice pilaf and we all split a brownie fudge sundae after. Feel totaly bloated this morning and will be drinking extra water all day (more a subconcious thing, than effective). We enjoyed ourselves and Steve and I had a long talk last night and we are both going to work on not taking each other for granted.

Carla-your dinner sounded very nice and much better than mine . The rain thing must be everywhere, have not seen the sun for what seems forever, it is out this morning but not supposed to last long.

Donna-welcome! This is a wonderful group of friends that have helped me tremendously in my journey. I think the meetings and having to face the scale really helped me acheive Lifetime this week. I am still looking to lose more and will continue to go to meetings as often as I can, but coming here daily really helps keep me going. Good Luck!

Angie-Thanks for the congrats, I celebrated with Steve last night and a little too much, but like we have said many times one meal did not put the weight on before and it won't know. I am glad you are feeling back on track and packed your lunch, which sounded so good I just went to the fridge and grabbed some strawberries.

Judy-I think your plan to go back to journaling from breakfast is a good one, shake things up. I was actaully thinking of doing some low carbing to shake up my weight loss and hopefully get back into the losing mode instead of maintaining. Not Atkins type, but like you just lowering them. Maybe it is just what we need.

Pat-I am so glad your husband was not hurt, sorry about the car though. Will look forward to hearing from you when you get a minute to post.

Karen-all those treats, I would have been indulging too. Hope all is well.

Karen-I hope your visit with your mother is going well, looking forward to hearing about all those shoes.

Everyone have a great day.