If this works out, it should be a massive rambling reply!
Today was my last day of work at current (well I guess now no longer current) job. I'm surprisingly much sadder than I thought I would be. It's been a good place to work, I'm going to miss my work friends, and I'm starting to be a bit apprehensive about the change. But it will all be fine! I've got a few weeks to finish holiday prep, visit family, and cram in some more bar exam study before starting at my new organization in January! Yay!!
Best wishes on the new endeavor!!
The hardest thing for me has been that I'm a stress snacker. The past few months have been really stressful and I haven't been so great at resisting my sometimes really, really specific cravings. It's probably a little backwards (and the explanation why I've been holding steady for the past two months now) but for me I keep going by just holding a baseline where I'm not gaining. I track. I make sure to eat my produce. I get in my steps. I'm very, very slowly getting better at telling myself no but in the interim I would much rather keep the 20 pound loss I've got until I'm really ready to start on the next set then have to start from scratch again.
Good thinking!
I'm so glad you're enjoying having your daughter home! I'm sure you've got lots of fun activities planned before she has to go back to school.
Too many activities.... we've been right out straight every single day....hence the reason I am SO behind with the chatter here!
I'm definitely committed to giving the WW new program a fair shot and will stick with it at least through the end of February when my current membership expires. I hope your members try as well. It may not work for everyone (nothing does) but it seems like it might be great. I just wish they had waited a few weeks to release since they clearly weren't quite ready to go. There is a GREAT leader on Tuesday mornings who I just love. The meeting just unfortunately starts at 7:00 a.m. and is an hour away from my house. I was hoping the evening at the downtown center would be as good as the morning but it was just terrible. So I'm back to deciding whether I need to suck it up and go to the Saturday meeting five minutes from my house with a mostly OK leader but a group I just don't click with at all or get up at 5:00 a.m. once a week.
Hmmmm..... tough choice. Maybe give the Saturday meeting another try?? Leaders change periodically, the make-up of the group tends to change. Maybe find a friend to bring along? Thanks for continuing to give it a fair shot!
Seriously? Old paper napkins for $25. I worry more about the people buying them then the people hoarding them. But I shouldn't talk. I've bought some seriously weird stuff on eBay when I wanted something very specific and I wanted it cheap.
I think that Ebay brings out the crazy in people!!
I also really want one of each of the CoP t-shirts. But I swear DH will kill me if the UPS guy delivers another package this week or next. And a few more are already scheduled for delivery.
DH works for UPS so he doesn't mind the deliveries..... as long as they arrive on time!
Thank you for the warm welcome and words of encouragement. As for moving I am 99% certain I will be moving. Something off the wall would have to happen to stop it. I currently live in Florida, no going farther down south not a big move. Just have to get new place to live and job LOL that's challenging part. My son and my mom will be moving with my daughter and me at same time, so have to arrange things for everybody. The heat factor during the summer is daunting, but is hot everywhere in summer. It is the lack of cold winters that I like. So three months a year I spend more on air conditioning. I never really thought of dehydration making a person bloat. I never drink enough water. Also I rarely get enough sleep, I average about five and a half hours a night, less on weekends. As for stress LOL I am beyond stressed, so it is just the norm for me. Seems I do everything wrong when it comes to trying to help my body lose weight. I would love more sleep and less stress, yet nothing I can really do about it. With school (both for me and kids), working full time, and just being a mom I have very little time to spare. If I want to exercise I have to get up around 4:30 am. Being a grown up not fun at all. I need a genie to come gran me a few wishes LOL. I'm glad to hear that about Disney. It hasn't been issue yet, and I have no desire for it to become one. Lil princess and I don't go for the roller coasters, we like the rides where you can see stuff. Our favorite is the Donald Duck ride in the Mexico Pavillion at Epcot. Soarin has also struck her fancy now that she is tall enough to ride on it.
Anybody else up this late? This is my danger time at work. Nothing to keep me busy so I eat to stay awake
not good idea. I am trying to avoid the sweets and stick with coffee or crystal light. My favorite is peach mango green tea.
Night time eating can be a problem for me as well..... some months I seem to have a better grip on it than other months. Cold winter months seem especially vulnerable to evening snacking.
Good luck with the move. I have always said the moving south is my goal and I honestly don't mind warm/hot weather..... but I suppose it is easy to say that because I've never been subjected to it long term (months).
Weigh in today - I lost 1 pound which is 50% of my goal. Quite happy with that considering that I weighed myself on Thursday. I'm starting the new WW plan today and I'm actually pretty excited! I like that it's trying to shift me away from sugar and preprocessed foods. Granted I looked at my tracker for today early so I know that I'm only losing 1 daily point and 7 weeklies which isn't bad. And I know that lean proteins are going down in points which I eat anyway so I think it'll balance out just fine.
QOTD - My favorite Christmas movie is Christmas Vacation! I watch it at least once during the holiday system and sometimes I watch it during the rest of the year too
Glad you are finding the new SmartPoints system working for you! I am not a big meat eater, so I am trying hard to reprogram myself to taking LARGER meat portions when I do eat meat!
Weigh-in Week 2
Pounds Loss: 3.5/3
Percentage: 117%
My goal this month was to finish at 152 because I knew that Disney World would screw it up... so I'm setting myself up fairly good to enjoy a great vacation next week. I'm officially 1.5 pounds from goal and I sincerely hope that I don't make goal weight next week and then go up 3 pounds. LOL.
My company's holiday party was amazing last night and I did really good at the buffet. I'm learning portion control and how to eat well with my plate. I even passed on dessert!
I'm off to
Disneyland to do our weekly walk and pick up some treats for the trip next week. We love traveling with Disney-themed snacks. It's cheaper to buy them here and fly over with them than to pick them up at the hotel or park.
Super jealous of your Disneyland walk! Great job on the buffet!!! Those can be killer hard!
Yet another starting/doing weight watchers...what is the big draw to it? I really am curious, no sarcasm while typing.
While using the WW SmartPoints system is similar to counting calories, it takes other factors into account and "rewards" you for making the healthier choices by making them LOWER Points (or even 0 SmartPoints in the case of fruits and veggies). Plus I find it easier to keep track of 30 SP versus trying to keep track of 12-1500 calories..... I'm not a numbers person!
REPORT : 1lb/ 1.3 75%
I was pleasantly surprised that I lost 1 pound after my week at Disney. I ate as planned, but I had several drinks I hadn't counted on, both at Epcot and Jellyrolls ( dueling piano bar at the Boardwalk). Of course, we walked miles - my daughter's Fitbit logged us at 7 to 14 miles each day. It was a wonderful week; just loved all the Christmasy sights!
I tried to upload my pic in front of the CoP, but it won't upload from my IPhone. This is a pic in MK before
MVMCP.
QOTD A family favorite is Scrooge, the musical version of A Christmas Carol. I originally saw it on a class trip back in the 70s. We had the VHS tape and now the DVD and watch it as a family every year. Love the songs from this!
Welcome, jaelless! I work the night shift as a peds home care nurse. Since starting WW, I bring sliced red peppers, fruit, and a spinach/zucchini/banana Nutriblast shake to work - and a carafe of coffee. I've lost 17 pounds since mid August. It's slow but steady progress for me. I made Lifetime on WW 18 years ago. Getting back to my goal wt is much tougher now that I'm 54!
Love the picture!! Glad you made it through the week without bringing a souvenir in the form of POUNDS!
Happy Sunday everyone!
I did not find the time to come on here yesterday despite having a fantastic reason to post:
I am no longer overweight!!! Well, at least yesterday I was not. I did not step on the scale today after a birthday party for my BFF yesterday, so I am officially still at yesterday's weight. It was such a great feeling when my one weight tracking app turned all green in the background from yellow!
Of course that should have been an incentive to not be crazy at the birthday party, but my downfall is always sitting at a table with plenty of snacks in front of me. I tried to track it all. Not pretty. But the day before I has a really good deficit, so between the two days, the average is not looking totally disastrous. And today I am on a good track as well, already went for a nice 5k run.
WOOHOOO!!
I have been doing WW a number of times, but currently am not on the program. Is it worth it? Yes. Is it the only thing I would recommend? No.
WW is definitely one of the best organized weight loss programs out there in my opinion. I think it is really great in not only helping you lose weight, but also in teaching you how to eat healthy, so it will be easier to maintain a healthy weight after the weight loss. But it is not cheap and not everyone can afford the fees for it.
However, I think depending on your personal preferences, there are other ways to lose weight as well. After all, the main point is to eat less calories than your body burns during the day. There are many different ways to do that. Crazy diets, like the cabbage soup diet do this, but they are not really good to help you to not put on the weight again after you lost it. But today there are a number of websites and apps that help you to monitor what you eat and how much calories you need during the day. I once used Sparkpeople during a break from WW, many people really like My Fitness Pal. I currently used the fitbit app to not only track my steps with my fitbit, but also to monitor my calorie intake.
The one thing that I figured out though is that whatever program I used, the best weight loss results have always been when I was tracking my food. It is so amazing how easy it is to misjudge which foods have lots of calories and which don't.
Hope this helps!
ALL great suggestions!!
I volunteer regularly for an exchange organization that sends high school students abroad for one year. Through them I spent a year in Denmark when I was young. I do all kind of things, from interviewing applicants to being a counselor for students who are here in Germany.
I am also currently looking into a way to make myself useful with the current refugee situation here in Germany. I really don't know what I can do just yet, but I think with my experience of helping young people find their way around in Germany when they are exchange students, I should find a way to do something similar with helping the refugees during their first steps in German society.
Good idea!
That's really interesting that water effects your figers so much! And it's funny you mention that because one of the things I HATE about my weight gain is my wedding rings are so snug.
Haven't wanted to resize because (positive thinking here) they will be perfect again here in a few months!
GOOD POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!
I think I've mentioned on here that I am a crazy cat lady volunteer for a local shelter. They rotate their kitties on display at our local Petsmart to get them adopted. They have someone go in 3 times a day to check on them, but my shift is once a week to feed, clean, and play! I love it-- even though it can be sad for ones that I adore who still haven't been adopted. I did try to foster last year, but got too attached and sobbed when I gave him back to go to his new forever home. I still give DH grief for not adopting him ourselves haha!
So we have MULTIPLE crazy cat ladies here!! 
My Mom fostered a pregnant Siamese a few years ago...... not hard to NOT get attached because she cried endlessly! Sweet kitty but the constant meowing was nuts! Sorry you still miss your foster kitty!
What a wonderful memory!
Staying in seasonal theme, whenever I smell bacon cooking mixed with the aroma of coffee it takes me immediately back waking up Christmas morning! I guess we never prepared that simultaneously unless there was company because that scent is definitely tied to the holidays for me even though it seems like it could apply to any season! haha!
Also my mom used to boil orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves in water on the stove for hours to help the house smell like Christmas. I loved it and do it at my house now. It's just the smell of the season to me!
I boil stuff on the stove too (mostly just in the winter).... cinnamon, vanilla, a few orange and/or apple peels..... just simmer for a few hours! But it smells like I am baking and then there is nothing yummy to go with the smell!
The new weight watchers program is taking time to adjust to. My 2 point ice cream bars are now 5 points each and my 2 point sweet treats are now 4 points!
I now have 30 daily points and seem to earn exercise points much faster -- so I'm not sure how this all translates into the old system. I'm a bit perplexed.
Right now I'm just trying to shift my food and meals around so that I'm staying within this new daily total.
So glad you are taking the time to adjust yourself! It is a bit of a change.... I remember resisting the change from Points to PointsPlus.... but once I got to the FREE fruits and veggies, I was sold! Hopefully something will just click with the new SmartPoints system for you (and everyone!).
Ahhhh I missed the update. This is really the worst time of year for me to do anything but work and sleep. I'm sitting pretty at 50% though. Hopefully I can keep going on full steam ahead.
WOOHOO at 50%!
I am very proud of myself: went on a 30 minute run this morning before work. The more often I do this, the easier it gets. I still did not move very fast, mornings just aren't my fastest times. I guess that is a reason why I should never run a Disney race, they all seem to be at ungodly hours!
Yesterday was a really good eating day and today so far has been good, too. I feel like I am getting back into my healthy routine. Of course soon DBF arrives and who knows what kind of havoc this will cause. However, he wants to lose weight as well and we have the best intentions to go out to exercise together and to eat healthy. I am really hoping that if I feed him the same diet I am eating and get him to move that he will drop pounds quickly in order to get him motivated to stick with the plan.
I am a bit sad that my weight fluctuated up half a pound and I am overweight again. But I also know that this is just a number on the scale. And that if all goes well (and it has been going well for three months now), it will only be a matter of time until I will never see a number again that means that I am overweight! This really helps me to focus my mind now during the Christmas season! I am determined to make a proper meal plan for over the holidays. In Germany we kind of have four days this year. The 24th is only half a business day as we celebrate Christmas already on Christmas Eve. And then the 25th (Christmas Day) and the 26th (Boxing Day) are public holidays. And the 27th is a Sunday. So, we really need to be prepared and stock up on healthy foods to last us through those 4 days and to ensure that we don't end up eating cookies and chocolate and then go out to get some pizza or so!!!
Good idea! And maybe you could even have a soup or stew ready to simmer on those days so you don't have to spend much time in the kitchen! I am planning to make our pre and post holiday meals this weekend and pop them in the freezer.... that is the only way I feel like I get an actual break from cooking!
@courtneybeth Good luck with the finals! We will throw you a huge celebration here on the thread when you finally are a MBA!!!
Yes we will!!!
this is a good question.. a short term goal... I am going to commit to tracking - this has fallen to wayside since I was on vacation at the end of Nov. I don't mind tracking at all I just let it slip.. Back at it starting today!
ME TOOOOOO!!!! And that is unusual for me. Tracking has been the ONE THING that has been consistent for me for ALL the years of my losing and maintaining.... but the last few weeks I've tracked less and less! Time just seems to keep getting away from me!
Morning losers!
Magdalene -- cyber high five on seeing the green background! I'm sure it's frustrating to bounce back and forth bc you are right on the line but I have no doubts after the holidays the green background will be your everyday look!!
Surviving my super busy week, we baked tons of cookies sun-mon. I need be strong and really choose wisely when to have a cookie and just one. Thankfully I've lost a lot of my sweet cravings, but we made some of my favs which will be tempting. Balance and moderation!
For volunteering, I had to step back on a lot of the volunteering I was doing when I got sick. Now I make food for our church's funeral meals as much as I'm able too, am trying to be active in our Emmaus community again, and our life group from church does volunteer occasionally as a group. I shop through amazonsmile.com to a foundation that has the goal of lobbying each state to change the laws of what medications are required on ambulances to include the life saving steroids that folks with adrenal gland diseases. It's a cheap medications, but it's not required as the need for it is rare. But hey, we count too!
Gotta get a WO in today to keep on track for my holiday challenge......have a great day!
Good luck with the lure of the cookies! I am usually okay with the actual cookies... it's the dough that I have trouble with!
I agree, it's definitely an adjustment. I'm actually really liking a lot of the changes though. I don't tend to cook with red meat so the only meat that I eat typically is turkey, chicken and fish. So this new system definitely rewards that. The workout points are interesting. My theory, based on what I've read, is that they're trying to encourage people to workout more as a lifestyle choice and not just a means to eat. So I think they're just "throwing" workout points at people to motivate them to workout more because it's more encouraging to see that you've earned 3 points instead of 1 or 2. That's just my theory! But when I took the assessment it gave me a daily goal of 1 and a weekly goal of 7. I must not have answered accurately because I'm already at 21 points for the week? But I'm also at -15 weeklies because either a) the new plan is starving me or b) it's that TOM.
NO STARVING allowed! Grab those 0 SP fruits and veggies and munch away!!
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Okay friends! Calling myself CAUGHT UP! SO very sorry I've been so absent. Real life is kicking my a**! DS's winter concert was last night. I figured it for about 60-75 minutes.... it was 2 1/2 hours long!!!! I thought it would never end!! Great music, enjoyed watching/hearing the kiddos, but YIKES! Too long, especially for a school night! So I did NOT make it on here to catch up the PROGRESS.... but I will today since I have some computer access here at school!
One more student to see before I have lunch!................P
