Wow - sure is quiet today. Starting the topic - be right back

I know Carla is on vacation - where is everyone else?

It's another crazy day for me at work. If I get through this month without having a nervous breakdown, it will be a miracle! We are expecting thunderstorms here late this afternoon and I'm going to use the forced time off the computer to exercise - I can already feel some muscle problems in my bakc and neck that I KNOW are from stress.

I had a great weigh in on Saturday - 0.6 down - not bad for a post-vacation weigh in. I am 1.4 pounds away from my first 10 pounds and I am going to get there this month - it's totally doable. I did OK over the weekend - not as good as I could have but definitely better than I've done in the past. The key for this week will be to be sure the stress doesn't translate into eating. That, and getting in the exercise/yoga that I need to help manage this stress - I'm feeling it physically and that is not a good thing.

I hope everyone is well - Angie, Pat, Karen C, Jennifa - we haven't heard from you in a while - I hope all is well.

Judy
163.6/155/135

Good Morning!

Judy-Congrats on the loss, that is great coming off of a vacation. You will make that 10 pound mark this month no problem. I hope things ease up for you at work. This week should be a little stressfull at work for me, my part time girl is on vacation and I spent all day yest. fixing her mistakes. I have got to let her go I think but I hate having to fire people.

Well I braved the scale yest. morning and I am hanging onto the 150 decade by the skin of my teeth. I really have to find my motivation again. I have been so bad this summer! It is almost like in my head I said I made GOAL, now I can screw up. I have worked too hard to get here and I am not going back. I can't wait until the summer is over and life feels like it is back to normal. I am going to the lake this weekend and then to Montreal the following weekend, then down to Cape Cod to visit my parents for a few days of my vacation. I have to buckle down, I guess if I can just not gain anything and then as soon as I get back from all my trips really get back on the wagon full force I will call that a truce with myself.

Karen-I hope all is well with you.

Carla-I hope you are having a wonderful vacation.

The rest of you, please post and just let us know how you are doing.

Have a great day

Hi Ladies. I've been lurking for awhile and reading your thread and would like to know if I can join? I've been coming here to 3fc's for some time now, but it seems that over the course of time some of the threads dry up.....so now I find myself without a thread to call home and come for support.

Let me tell you abit about myself......I am 41 yrs old and recently a SAHM. Last November my family moved from Ont,Canada to North Carolina. The move was great but found that in Jan I had to definitely lose some weight. (you know the A-HA moment?) I joined ww's for the first time and although I got results, found that they were slow....(11 lbs in 16 wks....and yes I was following the program EXACTLY) Well, with frustration I stopped going and now I feel even more out of control with many bad days in a row. I know all the right things to do but yet ??? am I doing them, no.

A couple of years ago I lost almost 35 lbs and now I've gained that back plus a few extra. January was a strong effort on my part but I felt disscouraged to only have lost that much when others who joined the same time lost 25-30 lbs. Which lead me to believe that it just had to be me!! Anyway, with feelings of failure I've let things slid.

I know this must make sense and sound familiar, because we've all been there right? I am trying to get motivated but it is such a struggle. I am happily married with a great and supportive husband (who has truly seen me +/- lbs) have 2 great children. Coming here is a way to hold myself accountable for my actions and miss it dearly . I know tommorow is another day and hopefully, today will break the cycle. Good luck with your day and looking forward to meeting you all. bye

WELCOME Angel Eyes!!!!!!!!!

This is a great group of women and we would love to have 1 more! I am out the door going to Jazzercise right now but will be back in the morning and will post more.

Have a great night

Hi Everyone -

Angel-Eyes - Welcome!!! There's always room for one more, and we can all use the extra support! You'll find these ladies to be a wonderful source of inspiration and motivation. I'm 41 too, married 2 years ago to a former chef - I'm sure I need say no more! My daughter is 21, and we have a houseful of dogs and cats. I have lost about 30 lbs since last summer, and although I get impatient at times with slow progress, I know that it's less likely to reappear if it comes off slowly.

Judy - way to go on your loss, and you must be almost able to taste that first 10 lbs gone...it's soooo close now! Sorry to hear that work is stressing you out so much these days - you absolutely are not allowed to have a nervous breakdown because of work. It's just a job. The real stuff happens at home and in your family. Are you still thinking about other career options?

Michele - Yikes! Time to jump back on the bandwagon and make some egg drop soup!! You're right, it is tough to eat right during the summer. It seems to be a much less structured time of year; I think we get lazy about planning when there's so much else going on. You'll be about 3000 miles east of me when you're in Montreal; I'm just about as far west as you can get i.e. north of Seattle. Stop by if you get a minute!

Well, the weekend wasn't a write off, but wasn't exactly stellar either. We camped with friends for a couple of days, too many snacks and munchies. PMS got the best of me yesterday - it was an all ithinki'lleateverythingthatisn'tnailedtothefloor kind of day from morning till night. TOM arrived today, and all food cravings are history. Not looking forward to weigh in tomorrow at all. Did go to the gym this afternoon for an hour, so I did do something right.

Have a great day,

Karen

Thank you both for such a warm welcome!!! It is a pleasure to meet the two of you. I had such a great day, and stayed within my pt range. When all was tallied, I still had room for a cup of grapes!!! YEAH.....!!!!! Its such a wonderful feeling to FINALLY have a good day under my belt!! Have a great day tommorow.

Hi Ladies. Here is day #2 on plan. I had a great breakfast and am gurggling the water back. I am hoping to continue. The first few days are always the hardest for me.....you know, getting back into the routine of journaling, meal planning etc. Thank goodness I have lots of 'legal, low pt foods' on hand in the fridge and cupboard. What is also helping me is the marking on the food labels as to how many pts are in a serving. I got out of the habit of doing it. So I have been a 'magic marking fiend' but in a good way!! My plan is that in 2-3 weeks when school starts for my boys; that I'll be able to not think about which foods to eat and for the first time EVER.......have 5 hours to myself to start an excercise program!!!! My biggest fear is that I won't be doing something for me, and then the weight will just pile on more. So here's to forward planning!!!! Enjoy the day. bye

Good Morning!

Didn't have a minute to come here yesterday...was super busy at work all day and the garden was desperate for some deadheading yesterday so I spent a few hours outside with the flowers.

angel-eyes: Good for you for getting back into the groove! It doesn't matter how many times you have to pick yourself back up, the fact that you do pick yourself up and start again is what counts! I LOVE your idea of marking packages with points. Won't you just love having a few hours to yourself every day!! I think your forward planning will pay off big time for you.

Yesterday was a 1 pound gain for me, I'm not too unhappy with it and was expecting worse after the weekend. I'm taking my stuff with me to work and will stop at the gym on my way home from work. The trainer screwed up and stood me up on Tuesday afternoon, so I get a freebie session tomorrow to make amends. I have dumped all the change out of my purse this morning so that darned vending machine at work can't tempt me; there are some chocolate bars in it that have been calling my name all week.

Hope you're all having a good week!

Karen

Hi Merrylegs. I really like your name. You made me have a laugh with your idea of dumping the change out of your person to lessen your temptation at work.....I used to do the same thing and then asked a few friends to NOT lend me any money,...(just in case ) lol.....
When we moved here to the States from Canada, I had to stop working. I miss my co-workers and my customers. I was a Store Manager/Buyer for a ladies boutique. Now that I am home though, it has given me more time to be with my two boys (ages 4.5 and 8) which I JUST LOVE!!! I had always worked fulltime and was only home with them for the length of my maternity leaves. ONe of the disadvatages of moving here though is your product selection in foods....WOW!!! I have never seen so many new products in all my life. (some good and some really really bad) It used to take me a long time to do grocery's as some of products that I recognize even had different labels and packaging. Took me forever to find what I was looking for. The first time I went ...it took me 2 hours!!! Dh was worried. I laughed....nope, just doing some shopping. A couple of the new products that I love are icecream skinny cows and Morningstar veggie burgers. LOVE THEM!!! On the downside, I have never seen so many delish-ious snackfoods and cake-y treats. I had my first "twinkie"and "Krispy Kreme" donut awhile ago and decided it should be my last!!! haha.

Today is day#3 and yesterday was less of a 'chore' and a relatively easy day. I hope I'm on my way. I have TOM right now, so ......will wait until Monday to see the dreaded scale. Do you weighin weekly? It sounds like a great idea to bring your stuff and head to the gym from work. Gives you that 'lift' at the end of the day. Have a great workout!

angel-eyes: How great that you're able to stay home and devote so much time to your boys. I would have loved your job; I love clothes - unfortunately in much smaller sizes than I currently wear! I hear you re the mindblowing selection of stuff south of the border...I think we get used to our familiar brands, and we get all the humungous companies' brands name stuff, but many US companies don't export to Canada so we miss out on a lot of stuff. Unfortunately those Skinny Cows haven't found their way north yet. I always like browsing the grocery stores when we go to Bellingham or Seattle. One thing great about the states is the labelling regulations, so you know exactly what you're eating. Canada seems to have slightly less junk food available; I find that US advertising is geared to huge portions.

On the news front, Mike and I are going out for dinner tomorrow for our anniversary - it's a posh place with little portions so I should be okay...I'll work out extra today and tomorrow and try to bank a few points.

to Judy and Michele and Angie. Thinking of Carla on vacation.

Karen

Michele - the fact that you are posting here means you WILL get your motivation back. I can "hear" it in your voice!

Welcome Angel Eyes! Michele is right, this is a great group of women - I'm sure you'll find lots of support. Listen, everyone is different - don't beat yourself up because others might lose more than you - I'm in the same boat. The key is to keep going, try to be honest with yourself about how closely you are sticking to program (that's something I ALWAYS have to check with myself!) and you'll do fine. I promise I'll give you a little bio later today or tomorrow - it's been very, very busy for me at work.

Karen - Sorry to hear about gain, the snacking and the PMS but good for you for going to the gym. Hey, if it wasn't for TOM you probably wouldn't have gained anything at all! I've had the ithinki'lleateverythingthatisn'tnailedtothefloor kind of evenings because of PMS and stress - not a good combo. I join you on TOM today. Good for you for getting rid of the change! I haven't really had much time to think of other career options recently. The crazy thing is is that the stress before vacation was sort of exciting stress - I've been doing more of the things I like doing than earlier in the year. Right now, there's a big push for auditing systems and the boss's boss is being a jerk about the whole thing. In addition, while Tony took the retirement package he is still going to look for another job (he's taking the summer off) so I don't know the financial situation yet - oh well.

The stress + PMS has definitely made it tough in the evenings. I've got a 1.5 point deficit right now but since TOM is here now and today wasn't as bad as the last two, I'm hoping to wipe the deficit out today with the help of some exercise and knitting! I did a workout at lunch on the new Pilates reformer I bought on QVC (when I get bummed that I've been slacking off exercising I tend to buy fitness equipment or tapes!) and it was tough but fun. It will take me some time to get more coordinated on it but I'm looking forward to doing the tape again tomorrow. After work I'm going to the chiro and getting a 1/2 back massage. My back muscles started knotting/seizing up yesterday in the office and I think I'm just going to have to fork over the $$ to take care of myself this month so I don't end up worse. Anyway, back to work - Have a great one!

Judy

Good morning. I am in "recovery" mode today. I had a snack attack last night and ended up putting myself in a 10 point deficit! I'm back on track today. I did part of a step tape this morning and plan on guzzling water and eating on the low point side today. That should be easy because our tomatoes are ripening and Tony and I decided that we are having tomato sandwiches for dinner - home grown tomatoes and basil on Nat Ovens bread with some lf mayo and maybe a slice of 2% cheese - yum - and only 3 points each. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to weigh in tomorrow morning. We are going up to CT with my parents to see my uncle (he's in a nursing home) and we're planning on leaving early. There shouldn't be any big challenges over the weekend. The only thing to watch is that we are bringing (NYC) bagels to my cousin and we're going to have brunch with them first before we go see my uncle - NYC bagels are 6 points each - I think I'll have a yogurt before we leave so I'm not starving when we get there.

If I don't get back here, have a great (point friendly) weekend!
Judy

Hi. Well wonders never seace.....here I am back in the swing so to speak on day #4. I'm saying this because for so long I've been in a negative mode and sabotaging myself. Does that ever happen to you? Its been relatively easy to get re-focused and back on plan and seems stupid that I put it off for ever. Yesterday was a little challenging though....I thought hey? I'm going to use my crock pot for a nice roast, potatoes and carrot dinner. BIG MISTAKE.....after about 3 hours (with 6 to go...) ALL I COULD SMELL AND THINK ABOUT WAS EATING THAT DARN ROAST!!! I think next time I'll do that I'll not be spending the day at home.... lol But I managed, and it was well worth it....YUMMY and all legal within my pts!!!

Merrylegs- Where abouts near Vancouver do you live? A couple of years ago, dh surprized me and whisked me away for a "biggie" birthday sans children to a resort in Tofino. OMG.....so beautiful!!We had such a lovely time.....with some wonderful memories!!

JudySP-Nice to meet you. Have a good trip and I aggree with you about the bagels. Easy does it!! They are sooo good. You made my mouth water describing your tomatoe sandwichs.....TOASTED TOMATOE SANDWICHES ARE MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE TYPE!!!! I have several a week. LOVE THEM. I also read that you are a knitter. What are you working on now? I used to work in a store with yarn products and was an avid knitter but several years ago I had to stop due to carpal tunnel syndrom. I had the operation but now (only after 3 yrs) it is back and also starting in my other arm. I have 2 projects unfinished (with many other ones in my head) but am really bummed out that I can't do them.

Have a great day!!

Hi Everyone

Judy - darn that snack attack! But great that you've kept track and are tackling your deficit with a good plan. OMG those tomato sandwiches sound to die for. Hope your trip to CT is enjoyable.

Didn't get in a workout yesterday as I decided to grocery shop instead (any excuse). However it's my day off today (unfortunately my only day off as I traded shifts with a girl at work and have to work Saturday evening) so I'm just about to bung the dogs into the back of the SUV and take them for an outing by the river. Weights at the gym this afternoon.

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Karen