Penpal match? Just turned 50, want to lose 75!

[razberry]

Originally Posted by Teresa3

Hi, All--
Greetings to Carolyn, Kayan, Pam, Raz and Mary. Hope you are blessed with the ability to cope with the difficult challenges of health, and healthcare, and manage to stay the low carb course! Take good care of yourselves, Teresa

Thanks Teresa. I'm just lurking a bit since I feel off the wagon over Halloween. Hope you are all doing well.

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Ladies:

The grand total for last week was 5 lbs. I had no loss over the weekend. I walked the 6 miles on the golf course trail Sat. and Sun. and worked in the yard Saturday to clear the driveway of all the maple leaves. I didn't get a chance to clean up the back yard and the oak leaves.

Sunday I was gone all day. I walked that morning, came home, rushed through the shower, took my mom to church, rushed home, grabbed a snack, then we headed off to Newberg which is an hour away to take my son to his performance with the conservatory orchestra. Their call time is an hour and a half before performance, so we had some time to kill. By the time the performance was over, we didn't get home until about 7:30. We had to take a friend home and the guys stopped and bought taco bell. I opted out. So my eating wasn't very good because I didn't get my water in saturday and sunday, nor did I get the appropriate amount of carbs, a great lack in veggies. I hope that attributes to my lack of loss for the weekend. I'm going to hit the green tea and water hard today, take it easy on the exercise front, and eat my salad and veggies.

Teresa: Hope you enjoy AZ.

Carolyn: Sorry you have such a hard work schedule. My DH gets upset when I have to work after hours even though I get paid for the time I put in. I hope things smooth out for you soon.

Sue: Oh my you are ambitious. Plaster no less. I'm having trouble just working toward getting my bathroom painted. I'm hoping when I do, it will be a motivator to paint the rest of the inside of the house.

Hi Kayan and Pam.

[Pcola Girl]

A five lb. lost lost Dream, thats great. I don't think I have lost much last week, because I just don't feel like I have. I do not weigh myself, I get my nurse to do that when I go to my doctors and I don't go back to my primary doc until next month. But I like only getting weighed every month or so because I get so discouraged when I was weighing everyday and seen I had not lost anything. Most times when I get weighed at the doctors I have lost a few pounds, that makes him happy for me and also makes me happy.

Its still so hot here, wish we could get some fall weather that I see alot of you are getting. I ordered me a red Christmas sweater from Woman Within (Lane Bryant) but I don't think I will get much wear from it. Maybe it will cool down enough at night so Ican wear it out some in December.

Are all of you just sticking to Atkins induction? I was but my doctor told me I needed more fiber because I was getting constipated so much so I have added whole wheat bread and brown rice to my diet but I still don't eat it too often though, just every now and then.
do like my bran muffins for breakfast though. I am still losing eating like this but just not as fast as I did on induction. I am eating healthier to.

[Suji]

Hello Peeps,
Well, BUMMER! I checked my weight after 2 weeks and it hasn't budged! Arrrgghh. It seems to me that right around this weight number I have a *set point* where it took me a month or so to move off it last year. I really can't see any reason in my eating habits to account for it, so I have hit that plateau already. The one difference this week past has been less water consumption, but I really don't know how big of a factor that is.

One more week of Club preparation! I have bird related thngs to talk about and making a bird feeder or feeders as the craft. Then I'll be done until spring.

So, what do you all think of the gas hike going on? I sometimes think that the talking heads that pronounce the trajectories in prices to expect are helping the oil companies manage expectations in their favor. I so wish this administration didn't have such close ties to that industry. Living out in the rural exurbs, those of us who commute 2 hours a day *Really* feel the pinch. There are no mass transit options for people who don't work in Baltimore or Washington DC. Our infrastructure here is very auto-dependant.

Mary, I have been sticking to induction. Raz, nice to see your attempt to post. I was certain you had dropped out of this group. Leslie, I am envious that you are losing and I am not budging yet! :-) Then again, you are doing a lot of exercise while I don't.

Hi to everyone else!

Sue

[sleepysue07]

Hi Girls!
ACK!!! I went to the scale this morning to survey the damage, and it's worse than I even thought it might be. I am back up to 220! No wonder I feel awful. That's what I get for working too many hours, and then crashing as soon as I get home. I've been surviving on fast food, and pre-packaged foods for about two weeks now. I think posting here also contributed to my gain, because it is hard for me to stay motivated without accountability.

Well, I'm finally getting to take my normally scheduled day off. (My job is actually supposed to be part-time, but I have been putting in full-time hours plus.) Anyway, the weather here today is cool! The high isn't suppposed to rise above the low 60's, but it's windy so it feels cooler. Yesterday it was 90 degrees here.

I am trying to get the nerve to go to the gym. I told you a couple of days ago that I won a free gym membership at Friday night's football game. I am just so self conscious about working out at this size, in front of other people!

DH told me last night that he wants to do weight watchers, and he wants me to join him. So I guess I am going to be starting that now. I'm planning to begin it on Sunday.

Well, I am going to clean house now, and do the wash.

Have a great day everybody!

Carolyn

[Dreamcometru]

Okay, something weird happened and part of my post appeared twice, so I deleted it.

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Ladies: Good to hear from everyone.

Raz: Just jump back in. It's okay to fall off. Everyone does. It bites though to have to lose AGAIN, what you lost once before. I always find posting theraputic. While I'm writing I try to analyze where I go wrong or what I can do and by putting it in words, sometimes ideas come to me on what I might do to change what I'm doing.

Sue: Hang in there. I have no loss to report today either. That's no loss since Saturday. HMMM. It may be time to tweek it up a bit, but I would think I would need to stay on very low carbs for at least two weeks. I'm going to wait until after the 13th when I have my "official" weigh in with the group. Then I may eat something TOTALLY off plan to jumpstart my metabolism again. I have experienced an almost complete loss of appetite which I'm afraid is resulting in my caloric consumption being too low which I hope hasn't affected my metabolism adversely.

So the gas price hike, ummm I don't want to get into politics, but DH and I remember when Bush was elected. We said their goes the economy, there goes the gas prices, there goes inflation, taxes and everything else and sure enough. Somebody's pockets are getting lined while mine are as empty as can be. Fortunately we have a wonderful mass transit system in Portland. My firm will also pay for my transit pass, so if gas jumps to $4 a gallon, I'm riding mass transit with a LOT of walking to work. The stop is kinda far from the office so I will get my exercise in twice a day without even trying. Another girl in the office does it already. Oh well, that's a ways off.

Carolyn: Sorry about your gain. I think its wonderful DH wants to do WW with you. My SIL is on WW and has lost about 40 lbs since about June. And she gets to eat good food too! We went out to eat and she ate bread, wonderful nice fluffy bread. I was so jealous. So its a great plan. I hope your work situation irons itself out soon so as not to be so stressful. As for the gym, I was totally skeptical. Then I went and saw who was working out. People just like me, old and overweight. So I fit right in. Oh sure, there was the younger thinner set who don't need to lose an ounce and the buff gym fanatics, but still, lots of people just like me trying to get healthy, so go for it. I enjoy going by myself because it gives me time to thought process and veg for a while, albeit actively. I just now saw your kitty. So beautiful. Gotta love em.

Hi Pam. Have a great day everyone.

[Dreamcometru]

Where is everybody? Its lonely all by myself.

Anyway, another 1.2 down this morning. Whoo Hoo. Had to celebrate somewhere. I'm at my lowest yet. Now lets hope I don't have to lose this 1.2 lbs three times before it finally stays off.

Have a great day.

[sleepysue07]

Yay Leslie! You are really doing great! I want to be you when I grow up.

Congratulations,

Carolyn

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Ladies:

I had a dr appt today. Their scale said I'm down another .5 from yesterday. Hopefully I will hear how bad my choleserol, etc. is or isn't because of this low carb woe. I read an article yesterday slamming LC. This is the only woe that's EVER worked for me, so what gives. Anyway, enough of my rant.

Hope everyone is well. Hi Carolyn: Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

Losing again for me took dropping my carbs way back. Although I'm following protein power, after reading the book more I find I haven't been doing it right. I've really been closer to atkins induction. Protein power allows more carbs and they must be eaten with each meal. I haven't done that, but induction seems to be working for the moment, so I'm going to stick with it for a while. I'm going to try to be careful over the holidays, but after missing them last year, I told myself I would enjoy them this year. Last year at this time we had just gotten started and were so restricted. I didn't dare fall off plan back then.

Have a great day. I hear there's snow in Michigan? We still have beautiful sunny weather here. Extremly dry for November.

[Suji]

Hello!
I can't believe I forgot to post! And hello to you Carolyn. :-)
I can hardly remember yesterday, but I do recall spending a bunch of time on line preparing for the last kid class on Monday. Oh yeah, Garden Club. Mostly a discussion about what not to do when building/planting garden structures and a slide show illustrating good and bad examples. I had to leave shortly after to get home in time to schlep the kid to volunteer.

Went to Meadowbrook today, cleared out the downstairs bedroom of all the tools, samples. etc. and pulled the wallpaper off the walls and ceiling. Not nearly so bad as I had been expecting--some cracks but most of the bad ones are on one wall so that's good. I started to chip the old paint coatings off and that took all the rest of the afternoon. I rediscovered the tedium of that task. (rolls eyes)

We are supposed to have flurrries that don't stick tomorrow night, Leslie.
I have got to shop tomorrow-the 2 frigs look like Mother Hubbards Cupboard. But I hate going to the store these days since the prices are getting so much higher.

Gas in PA was $3.09 and $2.93 where I live for the lowest grade.

I got busy and drank hardly any water today, so I have to make up for it. Other than that, eggs, tuna salad, hamburger and more cooked veg than I have been eating of late. I wonder if I need to add more fat to my diet since the only source is usually butter that I cook eggs in and mayo, Hamburgers tonight had more of course, but often we eat lean cuts. I think I wil start taking oils just in case.

Carolyn, darn those scales! Hey, I'm struggling too in my own way. Has anyone tried the 5 *small* LC meals approach yet? I would have to be way more organized though.

TTFN,

Sue

[Suji]

Hi all,

It's the last day for my volunteer sessions at the Garden Club, so I'll be feeling a bit of relief over the amount of prep time. Yay!

Lots of wall scraping yesterday at the farm--pretty much all I did but then it will be all that faster that I get to plaster (which rhymes, doesn't it??). :-)

I haven't eaten anything not allowed since Oct 1--so far so good. Am I losing? Dunno but even if the scales don't change I was pleased to note the extra room in a red coat that I couldn't even close last winter. Now I can actually zip it up and fit a hand plus more inside. Maybe my weight distribution is changing while the scales aren't. Definitely not the result of exercise other than upper body work on those walls twice a week!

I have returned a bit to the needle arts--been working on cross stitch. I should start looking at my knitting and lace making again soon. I have also contacted the music store about taking lessons--I figure it will either be guitar or viola da gamba. Guitar would be cheaper since we already own several.

I have book club on Thursday--got to review for that as well.

So, what is everyone up to while you aren't online here?

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue:

I bet you are glad to have the kiddie projects done. When I taught bible class, the planning took so much time. I was already pressed for time and would bring the books with me wherever I went to study up and come up with ideas. It is a big chore.

So glad you are able to plaster faster.

I think I may try to sew a bit. My friend is trying to get me into quilting. I have no idea where to even begin. So I think I need to start with something simpler. In the meantime, to occupy my time, I'm going through old records and papers and shredding them to clean out junk out of the house. I want to paint desparately so I'm trying to eliminate stuff first. I also want to tackle my DD1's bedroom so I can use it as a place for me to go and do whatever. Lots of household things to do before I feel I can settle into a hobby type thing. As for the sewing, I want to make some wild PJ pants for the kids. They always love them and they only take me about a day to make and I can get some of the most awesome material.

Yesterday I tackled the leaves in the backyard. Our trees have matured so much that the leaves were inches deep. Nine bags later. Ugh. They were wet from the rains the night before and muddy. I was a mess by the time I got done with NO help. My DH and DS took them with them hunting today. They are going to empty the bags in the forest and bring the bags back with them for future use.

I have to work today while everyone else is off. Go figure. No loss to report over the weekend. I have stuck with the plan though, so it may be time to tweek it up a bit. Have a great day.

Leslie

[Pcola Girl]

Hi everyone. I don't have all the leaves in our yard but I do have all my fruit trees ready for picking. I always make lemon and lime pies for for all my sisters and friends for the Holidays. I use my oranges for cooking and juice. The tangerine are our grandkids favorite and they like to pick them and just eat them like thye are.
I use all my different fruits rind and juices in my cooking also.
Wish you all were here to take some of this fruit. I make fruit baskets with them to and give out.

[sleepysue07]

Good afternoon everybody,

I am so happy today because I only had to work part-time, which is what I am supposed to do every day. I was actually off by 12:00 today, and I love it!

I have so many things that I want to do that I don't know where to start. I guess I'll start with the laundry like always. I don't look forward to having an empty nest, but I do look forward to the reduction in laundry.

I too am going to be sewing. I am making clothes for myself, and throw pillows for my new guest/sewing room (DS#1 has flown the coop,) and tote bags for my girlfriends, and I need to make new curtains for my Sunday School room as well. Leslie, making the pajama pants yourself is a brilliant idea! I don't know why I never thought of doing that myself. My family loves to wear them, myself included, on cold winter evenings. I have seen so many cute fleece designs at the store recently too. So I think that I may steal your idea.

I've been cross-stitching bookmarks and Christmas ornaments all year, but I am thinking of starting a more ambitious project. I bought a large binder of cross-stitch patterns at a tag sale recently, and there is the most gorgeous Woodland Santa that I've seen. The woman who sold the binder had written a note at the bottom saying that it had taken her 6 mos. to complete, but that it is beautiful. I was making the sequined ornaments as well, but it requires pushing tiny pins into styrene forms, and my finger tips were becoming so sore that I had to stop.

DH and I have begun Weight Watchers, and it's going alright. I am happy to be enjoying the fruits and whole grains. Mary, I wish I were close enough to partake of your citrus crop! I have no losses to report yet, but I am not going to weigh for at least a week.

Well have a lovely day everybody,

Carolyn

[Suji]

Good morning everyone!
WIth a sigh of relief I can report that the last session went really well--the kids got to put their hands in suet goop and stuffed pinecones then made jug birdhouses and painted them. I think they left happy. :-) SO, that's it for that activity until spring which is great. I need a breather after all these weeks!

I think I may have overdone it on the macadamia nuts yesterday. I bought some for occasional snacks, but they are as bad as potato chips! Hard to stop once you've had one! I will have to be more strict on allowing myself any since they are 5 carbs per serving.

I'm pretty tired this morning. We have a device that measures the current and it kept going off and beeping last night--maybe the city draws down electric use at night, who knows. Finally DH got up and unplugged the thing (in our BR) but unfortunately the clock radio was blacked out and I kept waking up sure that I had overslept. So, I've basically been awake since about 4:50 am. Arghhh. Ran into my eldest son in the kitchen who is feeling ill (VERY unusual for him) and is going to stay home from work today. He's been running very long hours working and at school, then had a weekend gig and didn't get in until 4:30 am Monday morning from the job. Geesh. Normally he has an iron constitution, but he's "all in" this morning.

I think today is the best day for me to go up to the farm to continue working on the bedroom walls. That way I can plaster this weekend. Plus, my new light fixtures arrived and I want to take them up.

Mary--the fruit stuff sounds so good and I look forward to the day when I can eat it again! Permanently removing fruit would be a horrendous thing, imho!

Carolyn-you are a busy bee with the fingers! Would you believe I have been working on just one part of a crossstitch pattern FOREVER?! It's a large red heart that is an essential part of this cat picture (Says "I 'heart' cats") which has lots of felines. This heart is SO tedious and I look forward to the day I finish the darn thing!

As for sewing, I always have to take a bunch of time to alter the patterns for length. I find that process so slow. I would like to make some kitchen curtains and chair covers--just haven't found THE fabrics yet.

Must check on DS3--sounds like he's stumbling around in the kitchen!

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Ladies:

My scale says I'm down this morning to 179.6. Yay, but I want to weigh in at my group meeting this afternoon to confirm. I was excited to see the loss. It's been a few days, well five.

Carolyn: Sounds like you have lots of projects in the works. I'm like you though. When I find a free moment, the first thing I do is throw in a load of laundry. So is your son's football season over yet? DS's high school is in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in years. It's been a fun ride. Also, DS made All State honor band which takes auditions from kids all over the state. For trombones they select the top 16, 3 for orchestra, 4 for jazz and 9 for band. We were really excited for him. He was shocked. His private teacher had no faith in him and told him it was good practice for next year. Umm we have some issues with that teacher right now.

Mary: I would love to have your fruit trees. The citrus crops must be in full swing, because we have tangerines all over the place here at our local grocery stores at really good prices, so that tells me it's been a good year down in Florida. Now that they have a seedless tangerine, I've really been enjoying them. I treat myself to at least one a day.

Sue: Your projects for the kids sound so fun. So you are doing this again in the spring? Sorry your son isn't feeling well. It was the last weekend of hunting and DH and DS came home early on Sunday because DS was sick. I think his busy schedule caught up with him because he slept for like 17 hours straight. Got up for a while and then went back to bed again. I'm glad though because he really needed to catch up for school today.

Have a great day everyone.

[Pcola Girl]

The fresh fruit is tasting great. I love my fresh squeezed juice in the mornings. Adding fruit to my low carb diet has not hurt me losing any. I eat it in moderation though and don't over eat it. I think you have to do that with any food though in order to lose weight and keep it off.

All else is fine with me, even the old knees are feeling better after the three injections I had in them. I had the ostovisc injections done in them for the arthritis.

Have a great day everyone.l

[Dreamcometru]

Good Morning:

So the scale at my group did confirm I'm down. In fact it matched my scale at home. That said, my scale at home said I was down even more today. Yahoo! I stopped to take a look at my weight loss "progress" so to speak last night. We record it on a chart. On April 10, 2007 I was 208.9 lbs., May, 204.6, June 194.9, July 192.2, August 190.9, Sept. 189.7, Oct. 185.2 and Nov. 179.7. So this is for everyone. Just stick with it no matter how SLOW it comes off. It will come off. I have to pound this into my head and get my chart out everytime I start beating myself up for not losing.

Mary: I'm still loving the tangerines. I can't wait for oranges to come in season. I'm sure they are in Florida. It takes them a while to get good ones in the stores out here on the west coast. Usually around Christmas time or January they are at their peak.

Have a great day ladies.

[Suji]

Girl,

I'm so proud of you! :-) You only have 40 pounds or so to goal and can soon get to be in the 100 Club. Woot!

I wish my own scale would move!

THanksgiving plans are a bit snafu'd this year as my FIL is having more off days and there are no plans of bringing him elsewhere. So we are invited to "stop by" some time during the holidays to say hello. So, I think either I will host and invite my sister up or vice versa--which is fine for a change.

I like clementines when they are in season and get them for my family by the box. What I am missing are apples since they are in force at the farm stands now. A good crunchy fresh apple! YUM.

Well, today is housework day since I was busy Monday and at the farm yesterday. I'm also watching them work on our hill--earthmovers are back in force and are making a steep slope in front of our property which will be ceded to us eventually. Oh joy--I'd better figure out what to plant since no one will want to mow that.

TTFN!

Sue

[Pcola Girl]

All our fruit is ripe, the oranges to.
I just picked me a lemon off the tree at lunch and made me a glass of lemon ade to drink.

[razberry]

Originally Posted by Dreamcometru

Hi Ladies: Good to hear from everyone.

Raz: Just jump back in. It's okay to fall off. Everyone does. It bites though to have to lose AGAIN, what you lost once before. I always find posting theraputic. While I'm writing I try to analyze where I go wrong or what I can do and by putting it in words, sometimes ideas come to me on what I might do to change what I'm doing.

Thanks: It does bite. I just had a birthday, so this is a new year. I hope that this year I can get into Onederland. I'm doing okay, but not losing much. I guess when you get older the loss comes a little harder. I really need to get back to the gym and work out. I feel so much better when I do, and actually start liking it.

I haven't had a chance to go and read everyone's postings in awhile, but I'll get to it. Hope everyone is having a great day.