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

[Dreamcometru]

Ugh! I'm back up to 181.4. Good by 170's. It was nice while it lasted. Sheesh. I think it was my diet coke consumption over the weekend, all three days. Anyway, gosh, off to a great start before the holidays. I was good all day yesterday too. Ate totally on plan. Walked 6 miles, etc. etc.

Pam: It's great to hear from you. Sounds like you again have your hands full over the holiday. Your menu sounds awesome. I'm going to try to keep LC goodies around to avoid the stuffing, potatoes, rolls and all the high carb stuff.

I hope the PT works for your sister. What a long haul for her, well and for you. Hang in there. You are such a good sister.

I didn't get to the PJ bottoms, but I did clean my fridge from top to bottom. Washed all the shelves, etc. It's so pretty now. My son said it looked like brand new. That's how bad it was.

Hi Sue, Raz, Carolyn, Mary.

[Suji]

Hi Leslie, Pam, Carolyn--

Now Pam, you have intruiged me. I'm going to try a similar turkey with the maple flavor--usually I don't add additional flavor to the turkey other than what gets put inside it. Thanks for sharing your menu. We always cook too much since holidays are when you get a chance to make things you normally wouldn't. Hopefully we won't have to cook for a few days afterwards.

Leslie, that is the one thing that really bothers me about the LC approach. Did we used to regain any lost pounds so quickly on alternative plans if we ate something that wasn't on it? Cuz I always assumed I had to be really consistently eating abnormally more than usual daily to cause the scales to rise.

Hi Carolyn--glad you're doing OK.

Today is my cleaning day and I ought to go out and get the rest of my T-G ingredients, but I'm kind of energy-less. Not enough sleep, I guess.

Well, ta!

Sue

[Pam in TX]

Morning all,

Up early at my parents house..... Sis and I are going to go finish our meal shopping today..... Things are going well, stressful but well.... The new therapy is going to be postponed for a couple more weeks.... She has to be more steady when standing to do the vestibular therapy.... I actually got to see alot of her therapy here at the house yesterday.... WOW!!! It is really eye opening... So many of the little things that we do every day and take for granted, she struggles with.... for instance, tracking with her eyes without moving her head, really tires her out...

Sue: for the maple flavor I am using SF maple syrup.... (it is used in part of the basting).... I love to cook so am always trying out new things....

Leslie: Sorry about the gain..... maybe it is temp from extra sodium or the sodas.....

Not much else to say.... Time for more coffee..... Have a good day.....

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue and Pam:

Yah Sue, It's kind of frustrating that the gains come back so quickly if you eat much at all off plan. I'm afraid I have destroyed what little metabolism I had for any carbs at all over the last year. Thats pretty scary because I know I don't want to eat this way for the rest of my life. Perhaps thats why Dr. A says to slowly add carbs back in and I haven't done that very well over the past year. Oh I did add carbs, but not in the right way. Maybe I will do it very very slow, like add a little in at a time over a four week period rather than one week at a time. I do know this is the ONLY plan that's ever worked for me though.

I've lost a little of what I gained. I weighed in at 180.6 this morning. But its frustrating to work so hard to lose it in the first place and afer one stinking weekend have to work to lose it again. I guess this is a good shake up for the holidays.

So do any of you shop the day after Thanksgiving? Good grief. The Kohl's here opens at 4:00 a.m.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I'm not that ambitious. I did see a couple of things I want to purchase there though after scanning their online ad. The deals are only good on Friday, so I have to brave the crowds.

Pam, I'm glad your sister can be there with you during the holiday. I hope she can start the new therapy soon.

Have a great day.

[Suji]

Just a quick check in. Hi Leslie!
I never ever want to shop with the crowds--I can't think of much more annoying than standing in long lines waiting for a cashier. Besides, no one has told me what they want for Christmas yet.

I think I am going to start upping my carbs a bit (in vegetables mostly) so that my system gets used to dealing with them more. No, I haven't weighed in or anything, but like you I don't want to be stuck eating mostly pricey protein to avoid gaining weight back. I can see a no white sugar, very low starch future much more easily. And I can see the necessity of disallowing more than moderate portions at meals. My husband really piles the food onto his plate and it has started to bug me since he needs to lose more than I need to lose--for his health. He has a lot of stress.

I found almost everything I had on my shop list. The hardest to find thing was chipotle chilis in adobo sauce. I had to go to a Mexican food store on Main Street for that one. I still need to pick up everyone's favorite dinner rolls at the local bakery/greens-grocer but that can wait until tomorrow. Lots of prep is going to be happening tomorrow.
There should be 10-11 of us. Our vegan friend won't tell us until last minute whether he's coming or not-every year the same wishy-washy thing. Being vegan *alone* is very hard around the holidays since so much revolves around food.

Talk to you later,

Sue
Where is Kayan?

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue:

I have a couple of last minute things to pick up at the store too. Ugh, I'm not looking forward to that. Tonight is pie night. I have no shortening in the house for crust since we don't eat pie anymore, so I need to pick some up. I have also been informed that DS wants to make pecan pie. Ewww. Don't like it, never have, so that's fine with me because I won't eat any. So I need to get pecans. I also need to get some regular cream cheese to stuff my celery with so I get the fats between meals to keep me full so as not to binge on goodies and some marshmallow cream for a fruit dish that has been requested by the family members I make that I can't eat.

I made flourless chocolate cake last night. It's really good if you eat it with whipped cream or cool whip. Otherwise, bleh. The texture is really weird. I did add some half and half this time to keep it more moist and pulled it from the oven 10 minutes earlier than it calls for. I think I will stick to pumpkin cheesecake though. So much better.

I plan to walk/jog after turkey is in the oven. Its supposed to be sunny, but really crisp outside tomorrow.

Hi Pam, Kayan, Raz, Teresa, Carolyn. Hope you all have a great day tomorrow. May none of us gain through this holiday!

[Pcola Girl]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.
GOD BLESS YA.

[kayan]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I know I have not been around much, But I think of you guys often. Just been real busy with In-laws, working and building the garage. Hopefully I can get caught up here this Sat.
Its hard to get ready for Thanksgiving when you work. I worked 9 on Mom and 14 on Tues (and there had beeen an accident thank goodness no one was hurt but I had to detour a half hour out of my way on back roads that I had never been on and it was snowing to get home) and 14 yesterday. Thank goodness DD2 came home to help/ and made the pies for me.

Everyone enjoy the day and the company and may peace & love be with you
Kayan

[Suji]

Just popping in to wish all of my LC friends on our thread a happy Thanksgiving! May you have the minimum of political arguing around the table!!
(Hi Kayan and welcome back!)

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Happy Thanksgiving Ladies.

[Suji]

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

Well, I couldn't resist my first homemade pecan pie! I felt like I had to fess up! I didn't overeat, but I had a serving of everything. I figured since I'm holding on to that same weight number for weeks now, I might as well kick it and see if going immediately back to the LC makes a difference. I feel fine today and it doesn't seem like my clothes fit indicates a bunch of water weight gain or anything-which I did expect, frankly. Anyhoo-lots of turkey and plenty of small servings of veggie stuff that is OK to eat are available as leftovers.

We had a nice day although it was very blustery and my sis had work today so they left about 8:30.

DS3 has track practice today. DH is going to take a bunch of stuff to the landfill. I may work on crossstitch or knit-who knows Still no news on music lessons yet. No one is available to teach viola da gamba so it will maybe be guitar depending on my right hand.

TTFN!
Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Ladies:

Sue, sounds like you had a great day after thanksgiving. I did make some Christmas purchases on Friday, but didn't get up to go until I was ready.

I'm up, down, up, down, up. Yes, I left off with up. I was down to a straight 178, but today am back up to 180. So, I hope this week will prove to be a good one loss wise. Again, I'm faced with a weigh in in two weeks and I definitely don't want to show a gain.

I had some stuffing on Thursday and Friday with a little bit of giblet gravy, and some fruit salad that had some marshmallow cream in it on Thursday, but other than that, I didn't waiver from LC. I made the pumpkin pie with splenda and ate LC pumpkin cheesecake. The kids have pretty much finished everything off.

On to new projects. I've got to start some major cleaning projects to get ready for the big family Christmas Eve gathering I'm hosting this year.

Have a great day everyone.

[Pcola Girl]

HOPE YOU HAD A NICE THANKSGIVING?

Well we have one holiday over with now we have Christmas to tend with.
I just want to rest now, I am worn out.......[/b]

[Suji]

Hullo Leslie and Mary,

Back to the regular LCing--I think I've worked all the carbs out of my system by now.

On the unfortunate side of T_G holiday home, my DS2 went ice skating with his GF, fell into a wall and broke his two front teeth 1/3 off. So now he has to go in for one root canal and 2 crowns. Poor kid! He's taking it well, but he sounds very lispy right now. Anyway, he's driving back to VT tonight and has the dental work scehduled in Blacksburg tomorrow morning as well as attending 5 classes~!

I don't have much else to report--just clean up and laundry day! I have to start thinking about Christmas now, I guess! Each year it gets harder to drum up the same enthusiasm I had in years past--guess the economy has me too concerned for one thing. I guess I'm also tired of all the materialism even though I'm engaging in it each Christmas.

Well, talk to you later!

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue and Mary:

Yah, Sue I'm back to a more strict menu too. I want to shed a couple of lbs before going into Christmas. On the days I work, its not too difficult to eat the right thing. I made a wonderful dinner last night for me and DH of chicken tenders, not breaded, of course, broccoli, cauli mix and salad. It was really good. He enjoyed it too. I need to continue to make him LC dinners and pretty soon, it will be all he's used to. My scale put me back down to 179.6, so I hope this is the last time I have to lose the weight to stay in the 170's. Phew. I think I've lost and relost about 3 times now.

I finally purchased Christmas cards yesterday at the dollar store. They had some packages of really nice ones but only 5 to a pack, so I bought 5 packs, figuring I still saved money because if I had bought them at Hallmark, I would be out about $25. I hope to make some copies of the family wedding pics to put in the cards. I have a lot of addresses this year that I didn't last year from my 30-year high school reunion. I can't wait to touch base with my old friends. Hopefully a Christmas card will spark some reuiniting.

Project, project, project. I need to focus on one thing at a time.

Have a great day!
Leslie

[Dreamcometru]

Good morning ladies:

My scale rewarded me with another .4 loss. So I'm slowly getting back to where I was a couple of weeks ago.

I wore a skirt to work today that was too small when I bought it. I'm so excited to have another new thing to wear.

Hope you all have a great day!

Pam, Kayan, Carolyn, where are ya?

[Pcola Girl]

Leslie, I love to go to the dollar stores. I find all sorts of bargins there.
When I see cards or anything else I like, I buy them and save them until I need them. You are right about how much cheaper they are too in dollar stores.
I also like the outlet stores we have here to. I just went to Bealles outlet last week and got some nice clothes for myself and saved alot of money. I like Bealles because they carry name brands at discount prices.
Right now Sears is having a great sale to on clothing, I got me some sweat pants and a Xmas tee shirt and alot of other things in there to. I think everything in the store is on sale now, you all ought to check them out for some Xmas buys.
I'm not doing too much today, do need to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things but Iam waiting for my hubby because he wanted to come with me.
My knees are still sore some but not half as much as they were. Those injections really helped alot.
I am trying my best to get back on tract with my eating after that huge Thanksgiving meal we had. I think all my knowledge of low carb went out the window somewhere that day, but boy wasn't that pumpkin and lemon pie good..........Really I am doing ok, just blew it that one day thats all.

See ya all later, be good.

[Suji]

Hi Mary and Leslie,
OK where are the rest of youse???
THis will be short cuz it hurts to type!
I went to the farm yesterday to plaster and covered the doorway wall with skim. Then I mixed up some of my raw lime plaster mix with water to fill cracks and holes on the rest of the wall. I was forced to use my fingers to get down in the deeper cracks and unfortunately the sand abrades and the lime takes the skin right off! SO my finger tips on both hands are pretty sore this morning! Yeowch. At least this weekend, I will be skimming again which is totally smooth stuff and less caustic.

I am avoiding shopping still. I love to give the gifts, but it makes me very anxious when I realize how much I rack up each year! I am still dealing with the plateau level--no whooshes for weeks now.

Got to go check on my kiddo who is leaving for school within 15 minutes!

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi Sue and Mary:

Slowly but surely. My scale said I'm down to 178 today. But remember, I was there last Friday, so it's taken me a week to get back down there again. I thnk it may take our bodies that long to figure out what to do with those extra carbs we consume or something. Anyway, I hope to stay on plan so as to get past this point. I packed a salad with chicken yesterday, took one bite of the chicken to learn it was spoiled. I spit it out and rinsed out my mouth in hopes I wouldn't get sick. Had to throw out the salad. Good thing I brought LC yogert and SF peaches and a tomato or I wouldn't have had any lunch.

I'm really dumb. DS is in the pit (trombone) at the high school musical, Wizard of Oz. They are almost sold out and I didn't get there until last night to buy tickets for me and my mom. She's feeble and can't navigate the stairs so I was lucky to find seats she could get to. I left the box office happy with my purchase. Then about 45 minutes later DOH! I realized I bought them for the night of my office Christmas party. I ran back to the box office but they were closed. Good grief. So I'm hoping I can exchange them for another night tonight, but they may be sold out by now. If so, I will see if I can't get someone to take my mom on the tickets I bought and perhaps I can get a single seat on another night. How stupid. I lost sleep over that last night because my mom really wanted to go.

Sue: I hope your fingers recover. Ouch! You are always working so hard.

Mary: Yah, it was the stuffing that did me in. I made LC desserts, so I wouldn't eat the bad stuff. Good thing that's over with. For now anyway.

Have a great day.

[Pcola Girl]

Hi Sue and Leslie. Whats up with you two today?
I have just been resting up my bad knees today because I want to to feel better by Saturday so I can go to this big craft show that they are having here in our city.
Just me and the cat lazing around the house today.
Put a roast in the crock pot this morning and its already smelling good.

What are you all planning for the Xmas Holidays? We spend it with our daughter and two grand children every year. She is our only child so we don't have to split time between two kids like alot of you do.
I have not done any shopping yet except for a few things I ordered online for our daughter. I love QVC and order alot from them. Do you ever order from them? They are really a good place to order from and if you don't like something or it does not fit they are so good about taking things back. Try them sometimes.

See ya all later, be good.......

[sleepysue07]

Okay, so I was not good over Thanksgiving. It was my birthday Saturday, so I over indulged on birthday cake, and I'm up by 2.

I'm glad to see that everybody is doing well. Sue! You poor Dear, I'm so sorry for your sore fingers. I hope that they are feeling better.

Pam, you are so good to take such good care of your sister. I have a sister and while I do love her we are not that close. We have lived too far apart for many years.

I am having some pretty stressful things going on these days, which is why I haven't posted. I don't have much to say that is positive, but I know this will pass.

Have a great week girls!

Carolyn

[Suji]

Hi Carolyn,
Hugs to you and sending vibes to get through the "issues". And belated birthday wishes!
TGIF ya'll! I look forward to not having to get up at 6 on Saturdays at least.

Well, the crew began to work on our new driveway. OMG!!! It is going to be so steep it will be impossible to get up here without tire chains in the winter! And I thought it was bad before! THe change comes because there will now be a cul de sac where there once was a dead end road which ended in our parking area. They have formed the basic c-d-s now and brought our new driveway away from the area which will now belong to LOT 2's yard. All the pavement has been dug up.

I have been adding more varied veggies to my diet as I am concerned about possibly future gains if my body adjusts to being so low in carb foods that it won't handle reintroduction well. I am still intending to stay away from starches and sugars though! Last night I baked a very small kuri squash and split it between DH and me--finally some vitamin A laden food! I also had broccoli and green salad. The last 2 nights I have been getting charlie horse cramps in my calf muscles so I also took calcium/magesium and a multi-vitamin. Time to work on the vitamin issue again!

No plans for Christmas yet on account of no one knows what is going to happen with my FIL. WE usually have to go spend 1/2 of the day 2 hours drive south every Christmas in a gathering with that side of the family. We are the only "outliers" but we have been supposed to make an appearance for this anyway. It could be different this year.

Leslie-- spoiled chicken! Yuk ptooie! I have to admit that I sometimes get really really tired of looking at or buying meat. I would rather not eat it if I could go back to being a skinny vegetarian. Maybe once all the kids are off to college, we'll go that route. DH wouldn't mind!

TTFN!

Sue

[Dreamcometru]

Hi ladies: I must say, DS is a really good cook and baker. When I got home from work last night, he was making cookies to share with the pit orchestra. (oh, by the way, ticket fiasco resolved, phew!). I indulged and ate some. I'm rewarded with a 1 lb gain today. The funny thing is I told myself I would see a gain if I kept eating them, but they tasted so good. ARGH. Anyway, I made him take all of them to the pit so I wouldn't be tempted anymore.

Mary, my family takes turns hosting the family on Christmas Eve. Its my turn this year. Then on Christmas day, we do our own thing. We used to split between families and it was just too hard. Since we spend Christmas Eve with mine, usually some of his comes over on Christmas day, although we always go over and pick up my mom so she can spend the day with us. Our Christmas may be a bit mixed up this year because DD1 is married and may spend it with her DH's family. So who knows.

Sue, wow, they are doing some major renovation at your house to adjust for the new development. I wish my DH were there. He could make it work where you had a more level driveway. He's really good at tweeking plans, etc. to make people more happy. Oh and I know what you are saying about the carbs. I'm so afraid that my metabolism won't handle them any more. I will work back into them, but very slowly this time. I have been eating more fruit than I used to, following the PP plan.

Carolyn: It's good to hear from you. I'm sorry you have issues going on. I hope things get better. Happy belated birthday. I paid dearly for mine, indulging in birthday cake. It was sure good though. It sounds like you didnt do too badly if all you are up is 2. I was too after Thanksgiving.

Let's hope we can all manage through the holidays.

[Suji]

Hi guys,

I was just going through some photos to send to my parents and thought I'd change my avatar. This is our rough collie girl CaraBeana hanging out in the dining room with 2 sibs of our 4 cats: Mojo Jojo (white Himmie X) and Tundacious (SiaManx x Himmie).

Sue