Second Quarter of 2016: April 3-June 30: Winners All at Losing Weight!

mdubbs1

A show like Extreme Weight loss has such a LONG lead time it must be harder to make renewal decisions. Same with My 600-pound life.

Did you see any of the articles on the long term effect on Biggest Loser contestants? Here's one: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0

Since today was our annual client seminar food has been quick and dirty - Smart Ones quesadilla for breakfast and protein bar for lunch so far.

PamS53

I saw my ortho Doctor this morning and got a good report. For now, I will continue on the antibiotic, all restrictions are lifted, and I will see him again in two months. We will schedule the surgery to remove the hardware at some point before the end of the year, but he wants to give the tissue under the incisions time to "mature" before cutting into it again. I will push to do it before the end of the year since we've already met my hefty deductible and out of pocket expenses for the year, but I'm happy to wait awhile.

I'm so looking forward to having a pedicure! I've always enjoyed them, but I think I will really enjoy it this time. I find it very difficult to do my own toes due to lack of flexibility and poor eyesight.

I am meeting my two friends from grad school tomorrow for a birthday lunch which is long delayed. Her birthday was actually January 10th, but I was obviously in no shape to celebrate with her then. We typically wait for warmer weather anyway to get together, but not this long, lol!

Helene610

I follow Chris Powell link and it said they are now casting season 6. So I guess that's the delay. I got my haircut today and I did something I've never done before. While I was waiting, a woman was getting a really nice haircut. I asked my hairdresser if she could give me the same cut. She said she could and I like the way it turned out. I asked her what it's called and she said it's a wedge. It's shorter in the back and on the sides than what I've been wearing for the last decade. I had dropped DH off at Walmart in the same plaza while I got my hair cut. I told her he wouldn't even notice it was different and he hasn't. My brother didn't seem to notice the difference either but I'm sure my sister will see the difference. We're headed to house house for dinner tonight.

KonaKat

Helene--It is so typical of men not to notice a difference in a hairstyle unless it is extreme. Now, students, however, notice every small thing and that includes male students so where does that ability go? Enjoy the new cut!!

Pam--Enjoy the outing with your friends. It is so great to be out and about again. Good news from the ortho!

Maryanne--I have no doubt that the contestants wrecked their metabolism. In fact, I remember Bob expressing a concern about that last year when talking about healthy eating habits for regular people. At the same time, those contestants exercised about 4 hours a day; I am sure that they didn't do that after the show, so combined with the metabolic drop, this made for a guarantee for weight gain.

I didn't work today so I noticed that I didn't have any stress eating urges during the day.

PamS53

Helene, you may remember the young figure skater from the 70's, I think, named Dorothy Hamill. Her haircut was called The Wedge, and was quite popular. Your haircut sounds similar. I think I even tried it for awhile. My DH is also very bad about noticing new haircuts and clothes. In fact, this morning I came out of the bedroom wearing a 4-5 year old T-shirt and he complimented me on my new shirt, lol! It's almost threadbare from being washed so many times, so maybe it does look different.

KonaKat

Work today. I'm down a pound. I'm having a Kellogg's breakfast sandwich to start the day.

mdubbs1

Pam - SO great to hear you got a great report from the ortho doc! I'm sure you're not looking forward to surgery but are looking forward to having it all in your rear view mirror!

Helene - too funny the males didn't notice your hair! I'm glad you are happy with it. Photo? I'm glad extreme weight loss is coming back. If they are just now casting it will be awhile. I wonder sometimes how they work it now. I think it was more interesting when they redid their house but it had to have been more work and expense for them. I'm also not crazy that they now have TWO sessions of revealing them to their "public". Uses up a lot of time.

Jean - congrats on the loss!!!!

Sometimes I get cutesy and make DH and I matching dinners. Last evening I made him Mrs. Paul's fillets with french fries (I still can't get over having a working oven) and I had the Smart Ones fish and chips. That and the chicken strips and fries are such a nice change from the usual diet dinners.

It's been raining here off an on all week. Again. Apparently all this recent rain is preventing us from the summer drought we were headed for so we can't complain. But I am tired of it. I need to do errands today so I'll bundle up in my raincoat.

KonaKat

I can't believe it; I see sunshine! The rain will continue, however, as thunderstorms are expected this afternoon. We may have a break tomorrow with rain in the forecast for each day next week beginning on Monday.

Maryanne--a break in the routine of diet dinners is always good. I bought some veggie burgers yesterday evening. I haven't had any of those for a long time.

mdubbs1

We're getting into the time of year in Maryland where the threat of afternoon thunderstorms begins to be pretty much a daily event. All the rain is wrecking havoc on gardening. I wonder if it's wreaking equal havoc on agriculture.

I had my eggs this morning. I'm planning to try to work on CROM paper work today. Such excitement!

KonaKat

Maryanne--There is such a thing as to much rain hen it comes to gardening as the seeds that are sprouting, or the roots of plants can start rotting from the excess moisture.

This is some info on various research into the issue of lowered metabolism from dieting can be misleading:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/05/why-the-weight-loss-study-everyone-has-been-sharing-is-kind-of-misleading/?tid=sm_fb

This link discusses why you should not eat back the calories burned in exercise:

http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

KonaKat

Two big flats of succulents I got at Lowes are now planted. They don't have the variety of the Cottage Farms flats in which the succulents are planted in soil and mesh to be cut to the desired shape and size but they were much cheaper. I had intended these to go into a specific area but I need to get the weeds out of there with grass and weed killer but the rain won't let up long enough for it to dry. In the meantime, the Lowes variety are in planters on the deck. I didn't take time to refresh the soil in the planters as I wanted to get this done before the rain started,

I'm heading for the bed to read with my Kindle. An hour and a half of work which includes climbing a big set of steps from the ground several times has met my exercise for the day.

Helene610

Still visiting my brother. I started watching Bosch on Amazon Prime while I'm here. They've done a nice job of casting Bosch and they've combined elements of several books into each series. It's much better casting than making Tom Cruise jack Reacher.

KonaKat

Helene--Enjoy your visit. I'm watching the series "Prison Break" on Netflix. I didn't catch it when it was on TV for four year, with a revival expected for next year. It is excellent.

I am off to the city today where I plan to see "Captain America: Civil War." The reviews are excellent. I've seen most of these movies and it is interesting to watch the character development.

Helene610

Boy, it's hot here today. My car thermometer was registering 91 degrees. I bought a quart of paint to do my brother's shutters but I'll wait until tomorrow and hope it's cooler. Most of them were very faded by the sun. as it turns out, I'll probably have to paint the door as well. The shade of green I selected is different from what's up there now. I didn't realize the door was the same color. Good thing I like to paint.

mdubbs1

We finally have sun!

I'm a big fan of the Bosch books but so far haven't watched the show. Actually I've never watched a show on my computer. Yes, I'm old!

I got a TON of paperwork done this weekend in spite of Tuffy being all clingy. He and Smokie both are. It's the only visible reaction to Sammy introduction and certainly a lot less of a big deal than most such reactions.

KonaKat

Maryanne--I don't like watching a show on a computer; I usually stream it to my TV if possible. While traveling, I will watch on a tablet.

Helene--Have "fun" painting. I just wish it would warm up here. It was in the upper 60s today according to the car as I came home around 3pm.

Helene610

I wish I could send you some of this heat. By the time we got home from shopping, it was in the low 90s...much to hot to be outdoors painting or anything else. Right now, the shutters are all in full sun so I'm going to start on the front door. It opens in so I can paint it while I'm in the cool house. When I decided to do the shutters, I didn't realize the door was the same color. It will look strange if don't paint that too. I have 3 long pair of shutters and one short pair which is on the front porch. So I should be able to get it all done in one day.

I watched Bosch mostly on a tablet. My brother and I watch a couple of episodes together streamed to the TV. I've got 3 episodes to go before we leave Wednesday.

mdubbs1

I took Jack to the vet this morning for his rabies shot. I asked the vet to look at his eye which the internist noticed is bulging. In one of those rare "what the heck" situations, the vet's first cat of the day had the exact same thing. She's going to research. I volunteered Jack and I to be the guinea pigs to go to the ophthalmologist if she wants. He was a very good boy but has been protesting loudly ever since we got home.

I lost a half pound last week. The right direction at least.

KonaKat

Maryanne--A half pound lost is definitely going in the right direction.

Today is Primary Election Day in our state. I have a mammogram scheduled since I am off for the day. Wow, it won't be long until school is out.

mdubbs1

More rain here. The gas/electric company is working on infrastructure in our neighborhood. They are supposed to be coming today to dig a trench in our yard and replace something. I don't know if that will happen. They do need to come in the house to relight the gas so I need to be here to watch the door. If they don't do it today I don't know when they'll be back. It's of course a subcontractor not the actual utility company and their communications have been horrible. Finding out what's going on and when has been a challenge.

I'm planning packet day today except for dinner I'm going to substitute NS beef stew for the packet spicy cheese and pasta. First of all that's out of stock at diet direct so I can't restock right now. Second I have all kinds of trouble microwaving it for some reason. I've tried a plate over the bowl, plastic wrap, wet paper towels, etc. No matter what I do I end up losing some (and making a mess) and it's a tiny serving to begin with. I'm looking forward to wonderslim pancakes for breakfast!

Helene610

I've used the wet paper towel method with oatmeal and soup with success. Try undercooking it a bit. Lift the towel and stir and then put the towel back on. Put a pepr plate under the container. If it boils over (it shouldn't if you stir), the overflow will be on the plate so you won't lose any. What's you're weather like for ThursdaY? Any rain? We'll be driving through from VA to NJ that day. I'm hoping for dry weather for the trip. And half a pound is great.

KonaKat

Helene--According to the Weather Channel, the Richmond VA area as well as the Baltimore area has a 20% chance of precipitation on Thursday. The Trenton area looks good also as of today.

Maryanne--I use the Quaker Oats Weight Control oatmeal and have never had a problem microwaving it or any of those other packets. Perhaps I use a bigger bowl than you. I also have been known to use those heavy paper bowls from WalMart.

KonaKat

Good morning! Nothing new. Rain as usual and the usual breakfast.

mdubbs1

It's supposed to rain here today as well! DH is upset as it's cutting into his fishing.

I think I'll have a mostly frozen NS day today. See if I like the french toast as much as I did the last time I had it (it surprised me I admit!)

The health care reform work has slowed down dramatically. I hope something picks up as I'm not a salaried employee! I've got my filing caught up. Now I'm going to see if I can identify some folks who haven't done their health care reform work yet and contact them.

I don't know what it is about that one diet direct entree that I have so much trouble microwaving it. A deeper bowl might help; I'll have to dig around the cupboards and see what I have. But the NS beef stew was a reasonable alternative - it's only 130 calories.

Helene610

We start the next leg of the trip home today. After we get packed up, We're driving as far as Northern VA. The next day will be at the Jersey Shore with a short stop in PA to look at kitchen cabinets. we're planning to redo the kitchen next year and there's a place called RTA Cabinets which I've seen on several HGTV shows. The cabinets are a lot less but we want to get a look at the quality. They look nice online and on the shows but we need to check it out in person.

We got a lot done visiting my brother. He really should live in a condo because he's not into home repair or maintenance. he cuts the grass but doesn't prune the shrubs. DH did that for him and I repainted his shutters. He did end up doing the last shutter while I went out to lunch with my sister.

mdubbs1

Helene - good luck on the rest of the trip home! Your brother is a man after my own heart. DH grew up in a DIY household I grew up in the opposite!

I'm doing miscellaneous frozen food today. I had the NS french toast for breakfast and LC roasted chicken for lunch. Dinner will be NS chicken fettucini. Snacks will be NS pretzel and stuffed apple pie. I've not yet had the latter!

KonaKat

Maryanne--A good menu as usual. The stuffed apple pie sounds good.

Helene--I hope the cabinets turn out to be high quality.

I spent most of the day in bed trying to get rid of the bug and headache. I am feeling better

Breakfast was a Vitatop muffin and Dannon Light Greek yogurt. Lunch was NS bean soup. Dinner will be the NS veggie lasagna and steamed veggies. I guess I'll have another greek yogurt for evening snack.

KonaKat

Off to work with a Vitatop muffin and Dannon Light Greek yogurt again for breakfast.

mdubbs1

Jean - I'm glad you are feeling better!

The printer called and said the newsletter is ready. He caught me by surprise. I'm still trying to get into a rhythm with the new printer. So I rearranged my day to do that this morning which means stopping by a volunteer's house on the way to drop off and pick up.

I'm going to try the new Jimmy D'Lights frittatas this morning.

Helene610

Waiting for a review of the frittas. I love the Jimmy D egg dishes for breakfast. A new variety would be great.