Posts by chris1208

Happy Monday!

Daisy, I did really well last year during the holidays. I just used a "have I had this before" mentatality and was really able to enjoy the few things I tried but skip the mindless face-stuffing. My lowest weight for several years was in early January. THEN I went to pot in February! Go figure...

Olivia, Christmas birthday? Cool. My brother's is the 27th and mine's the 12th. Just promise me you'll never, ever give him combined birthday/Christmas presents. That's just getting screwed no matter how you cut it! lol.

I drove a couple of hours to Pittsburgh on Saturday to help my daughter get out of a slump. She fights anxiety issues and I think the change in season/time it getting to her. We got her place sorted out and talked quite a bit. I'm hoping she can build on the good feelings and keep making things better for herself. She picked a sort of stupid major in college (i.e. she's got a non-descript poor paying job), didn't really apply herself all that well (can't just hop into grad school), and has wasted 3 yrs on a boyfriend in France who she only likes very well when they're apart. To quote O: "Oi." I know she feels stuck but in truth, she's only as stuck as she allows herself to be.

The weekend was alright otherwise. I kinda went a little over the top on chips (baked!) and salsa last night. Tummy is talking to me today! :(

Olivia, My goodness, when does she have time to craft with that schedule? Sounds to me like you might as well accept that you are doing the packing, or at least 90% of it. From her reaction to your cleaning when you first got there, she may be a bit territorial about it. Hope not cause it'll be difficult to get it done if you have to wait for her. If it were me, I wouldn't try and cull the junk. I'd just sort it and pack it and leave it to her to figure out what to do with it when you land in your totally awesome 3 bedroom place. Odds are most of it will remain in the boxes.

I compromised on Halloween Trick-or-Treat. I handed out candy to the first few kids who came around and then left the bowl on the step with a note. I don't know whether some creepy ghoul eventually emptied the whole thing at once or not but I figure it was better than just leaving the lights out and ignoring it. I had been cold all day and couldn't face waiting outside for the constant stream of kids. We live right in town so there are a lot. My kids went out when they were little so I feel I 'owe' it to karma to cooperate at least a little.

I made stuffed yellow peppers with jack-o-lantern faces cut into them for dinner. I stuffed them with quinoa, mushrooms, black beans and other veggies so they were healthy AND cute. I'm not doing very well with exercise, though. The cold weather and rain just have me wanting to stay under my covers til the last moment lately. Gotta get my buns up and moving!

Olivia, hope the move went well and at least you got all your stuff & got outta there. I'm sure you got oodles of exercise.

Today will be my 'moving day'. We're winterizing and getting our house in order for the possible Frankenstorm brewing. There are quite a few things I want to put into the attic but it will take some rearranging to fit them. Hopefully I'll take a bunch of it to the Goodwill, as well. The basement also has junk piled around and it leaks quite a bit with heavy rains. So with multiple trips over 3 levels, I should get my exercise too!

Olivia, good job holding your tongue with your sister. No point in letting things get out of hand. If she's a b***, arguing won't change that. Good luck finding a new place for your little growing and extended family. And great job staying active. I'm sure your mom's dog appreciates it too.

Ring, eeps! That gunman scare had to be...well, scarey! Running around a pumpkin maze has to be about the coolest way to get exercise.

Daisy, I don't actually get a lot of bench time either. I do a little cell culture through part of the year, run a SEM, and do a little pinch hitting with the microscopy module from time to time. I also do most of the purchasing for the department. They've just added being the biology server manager to my plate so much of my time is spent getting up to speed with IT speak. Oi! :\ Great for the resume but hard on the brain!

I spent a good piece of my weekend either cleaning or doing renovation work on the house. It's an ongoing thing since I bought this place 7 years ago. Right now I'm using textured paint to do a faux stucco effect on the top half of my stairwell and upstairs hall. I was surprised at how sore my thighs got from it. The one is still talking to me a bit. Oh, I managed to skip any snacks last night. Amazing. lol.

daizymae, nope, you're not the old lady. I get that title, thank you very much. I'm 53 and I can highly recommend getting as much health and weight stuff sorted out BEFORE hitting the big five-o as possible! Sounds like you're doing great though. Congrats on losing 17 lbs! What kind of advice does you're nutritionist give you? Evidently it's pretty good advice. ;)

usetobethin, I should clarify that I wasn't implying that it's your job to get your hubby to lose wt. I NEVER suggested that to my DH either. I knew from my lifetime of trying to control my own wt that no one else can make that choice for you. Maybe if you can resist following his lead for seconds & snacks long enough, you'll start to feel good about it when the pounds melt away. I don't think there's really anything all that magical about the Mediterranean diet in and of itself. It's just fresh veggy heavy and few simple carbs but with enough good fats to keep the cravings away. If you're careful, you should be able to adapt things you like to that style of eating. But portion control is always important, whatever we eat. Too much is just no good, like it or not. Sigh...

murrill, 60 lbs is great! Do you feel healthier? I'm sure you are and that's what is really important. I have a relative who is VERY thin but her bones are in such bad shape from poor eating that she can't do much of anything. She looks great...sitting in a corner watching the action. That's not for me!

nlyoussef, you sound very discouraged and I'm sorry. I'm sure there's an answer for you if you keep looking. You've got to feel good about it though or you won't be able to stick with it. I'm not sure what you mean by "haven't we already done enough?" I think we deserve to be healthy and active and feel good about ourselves. MOST of us (not necessarily YOU) have gotten this way by moving too little and especially eating too much. Plain and simple. 

Biscuits (homemade)

yellow squash or zucchini?

So, how's everyone doing?

My exercise has been up but my cals are a bit too. Weekdays are easier for me, it seems. I generally give up logging on the weekends so I just feel kind of lost...and the scale generally agrees. :(

So far this week has been decent, so Yay! :D

Donna, I feel your pain.  Is this the first time you've weighed since you re-started? I know people have different philosophies about the ol' scale, but I prefer to weigh more often and see the trend.  I get some insane water weight shifts and if that's all I ever saw, I'd be really bummed.

My DH gets on the scale about 4 times a day (wth?) and goes to bed angry too often. I think it's silly since we often have to eat our dinner late & then he's drinking a lot of water. Of COURSE he weighs more after that! lol.

Carmen, I've been maintaining too. Too bad I want to lose 10 lbs, eh? Grrr.

dshaw400, read any magazine you want...just do it on the treadmill! lol. And then lift some weights afterwards. THAT's a recipe for success! Seriously though, I enjoy Cooking Light recipes but generally just look them up on the 'net.

We've talked about it on this thread before, but I think it bears repeating: it's often mentioned that we gain weight when we eat like "normal people". In America, normal people generally eat TOO MUCH. Even young people are heavier than they were (on average) 20 years ago.

And I think we often make assumptions about how people eat all the time, based on how we see them eat at a special meal or occasion. Thinner people can overdo it at a dinner out, but then eat less the rest of the time. They have an OFF switch that many overweight people either lose or never have.

Most importantly, what's it matter what other people can eat or how much they exercise? We have to live in our own bodies and are beneficiaries of how we treat it. We have to work with the hand we've been dealt. Whether we have bad backs, arthritis, or thyroid malfunctions (which by the way, is no "easy" fix --ask all the women taking thyroid hormone therapy), we will be healthier if we keep our cals down and exercise more. With the emphasis in that order, if we're looking to lose weight.