NON WW & WW NEWBIES, OUR NEW LIFE, THE START OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL

trooworld

@fabgeekmom I hope the weather for the next two weeks is good for you. That's good your daughter is better. I hope you enjoy the steaks, we are having steaks tonight, too!

Hi all. Yesterday was a beautiful day, mid-70s. It is supposed to get up to 79F here on Sunday! I didn't get to enjoy the weather yesterday but I sure will today and tomorrow. The only commitments I have are a Spanish lesson this morning and then I am going to a musical with some coworkers at 2 pm. Tomorrow, absolutely nothing! Maybe I'll see if my husband wants to go to the zoo tomorrow. I got a new pair of shoes. They look like pancake flippers (see photos) but they are so comfortable. They are Hoka Bondi 8s. I got custom insoles to go with them, those cost a lot, too. But they made such a difference. They don't take the plantar fasciitis away but it helps.

Water yesterday: 25 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

theslightedgeforever

@fabgeekmom I'm with your husband on Asian spices. Maybe I've not tried the right ones. It's nice to have so many cooks in your house.

@trooworld Chili sounds good. I keep saying I'm going to make some but then for some reason keep putting it off. Wow on the temps. Spring is on the way. Pancake flippers. lol

My sil is here now with me. She got in last night and will be here til Thursday. So I'll do my best to get here.

fabgeekmom

@theslightedgeforever Enjoy your time with your SIL. @trooworld I love the shoes! Comfort is important. The insoles should help. Enjoy the warmer weather and hopefully the zoo. I’m sure your steaks will be good. Ours was good. I prepared them in a frying pan, using the technique from ATK. It’s too cold and dark to grill anything. Hi, all. We slept late this morning. We had nowhere to go which was nice. I did a good workout on my recumbent bike. I don’t know where we are eating tonight. My granddaughter is choosing the restaurant. I told DH if we go somewhere that he doesn’t like, to suck it up and eat a snack when we get home. He’s worse than a child.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom It was good. Yeah, today it is supposed to get up to 79F! I am looking forward to it. Enjoy your time with your SIL.

@fabgeekmom Thank you! Yes, I agree. The insoles only help so much. The steaks were good, I fried them in a cast iron skillet in butter. I seasoned them with a special rub. Yum. Good job with the bike! I hope your granddaughter picked somewhere you guys liked.

Hi all. My Spanish lesson that I had scheduled for yesterday morning got canceled so we spontaneously decided to go to the zoo. It was a nice trip. My foot was hurting very badly, even with the new insoles and shoes. It hurt terribly for the rest of the day. We came home from the zoo and I left for the musical I was going to see. That was really good. I'm a theatre crier so it was a bit embarrassing getting teared up in front of my coworkers lol. Came home and made dinner which came out really well. I had bought fresh asparagus from Sam's Club and just threw that in a frying pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Today, I have to go to the pet store and make my breakfast for the week (caprese frittata). I am making Chicken Caesar Wraps for dinner.

Water yesterday: 30 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld I love the pictures! Too bad about your feet. Is it possible that you may need to gradually get used to the inserts? Your meals and recipes sound good. I’m making One Pot Chicken sausage pasta from ST Simple. I found turkey sausage. My daughter and her family are coming over. She usually cooks on Sunday and I am giving her a break. Hi, all. I prepared protein waffles and bacon for breakfast. I was going to do grocery shopping after breakfast but my cousin called me. So I rode the bike and talked to her. I did my shopping before lunch. So now I can relax a bit.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom Thanks! No, the inserts are fine and I've had inserts for years now thanks to having plantar fasciitis before. It's just a lot of pain from the condition. That recipe sounds good. I hope you liked it. Is your daughter feeling better? I'm glad you got to relax a bit.

Hi all. I had a lot to do yesterday and only got about 30% of it done. The most important thing I had to do was fold my clothes but I was overwhelmed by that task and didn't get it done. I didn't make my breakfast either so now I'll have to have yogurt and berries again this week. I did make dinner and it came out well (Chicken Caesar Salad wraps). I'm not feeling well this morning, I am having tummy troubles and chills, so I don't know if I will go to work but I hope to.

Water yesterday: 20 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld Sorry about the feet problems and not feeling good. I hope you feel better soon. Hi, all. Everyone liked the pasta. DH ate some for lunch today. It’s nice outside so we are going for a walk. I’m also going to ride my bike. I’m late exercising as we had things to do this morning. Tonight is an easy meal: salad, burgers and fries.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom Thanks. I'm glad you have good weather. That's good after a busy day, you are having an easy meal. Good job with the walk and bike.

Hi all. Still not feeling well. I'll keep this short. I'm going to lie down.

Water yesterday: 20 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld Sorry you are still feeling bad. Hi, all. DH and I went to the recreation center and worked out on the ellipticals. I listened to Barbra Streisand’s memoir. It’s really long and I listen to a little bit occasionally. Tonight we are having NC Eastern barbecue, Brunswick stew, coleslaw and banana pudding. I have a Boston butt simmering in the crockpot with vinegar, hot pepper flakes and salt. My son made the pudding yesterday. He’s making the stew with corn, butter beans, canned tomatoes and potatoes. The slaw is low-fat, an adaptation of an ATK recipe. Tonight is family dinner.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom Thanks. I'm feeling a little better today. That's great you did the elliptical. I find that really hard to do. I've never had Brunswick stew but have heard of it. I hope you enjoyed family dinner.

Hi all. I felt better yesterday but still had some stomach pains. We were supposed to have a tofu dish last night but I didn't have the energy so I just took frozen tortellini out of the freezer and made a simple marinara sauce and ate that with the tortellini. We'll have the Bang Bang Tofu tonight (it's called that because it is a little spicy). It's made in the air fryer. Have a good day.

Water yesterday: 30 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld I’m glad you are feeling better. I work out on the recumbent elliptical which is easier than the stand up one. The tortellini dish sounded good. I hope you enjoy the tofu recipe. Hi, all. Despite the windy conditions this morning, DH and I went on a short walk. I did a 45 minute Peloton workout on my bike. Dinner tonight is leftovers from last night.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom Thanks. That's good. The tortellini dish was okay, nothing too special. Good job with the bike and walk.

@cbabie You out there? You doing okay?

Hi all. I will say goodbye to my director today, they are retiring tomorrow and today is the last day I am in the office. We are having a party for him in the afternoon today. There will be goodies. My husband decided to make a fish fajita bowl last night with tilapia, mixed peppers, refried black beans, avocado and quinoa. It was really good. Tonight, I hope we will finally have the Bang Bang tofu.

Water yesterday: 50 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

cbabie

Morning all, I am so sorry I have not been on this week. Still fighting this darn cold thing. DH is starting to sound better, but me and the 2 kids...enough already. I am ready for good health and good weather. LOL. I am on another challenge that I always gain instead of lose when I am on..LOL I have 3 days left to at least get back down where I was..The scale today showed I am there, but too close for me. So really going to try to eat better the next 3 days. I have been walking in the evening, so there is that.

@trooworld I am sorry you were sick and now your director is leaving. Glad you at least are able to say goodbye at work today. I love how you and DH just spontaneously change your plans when it's required. LOL.

@fabgeekmom Good job on taking the walk in spite of the wind...that's why I didn't walk last night the wind kicked up and it was COLD.. LOL

Cbabie

fabgeekmom

@cbabie I’m glad to hear from you. Sorry about the cold. Good luck with your challenge. I’m also ready for good weather. @trooworld It’s good that your husband cooks. As you know, my husband doesn’t. My son says we don’t want him to. Hi, all. It’s cold today but DH and I were able to walk this morning while it was sunny. I did the bike, too. My hairdresser came and cut our hair. Tonight we are having ATK air fried salmon with orange marmalade and grainy mustard glaze. Also salad and rice.

trooworld

@cbabie That stinks that you guys are still sick. I am ready for good health and good weather, too lol. That's good you've been walking. Oh don't be sorry about the director lol: he never saw my abilities/skill set and he undervalued me. I am glad to see him go! I do not love to change the plans but sometimes it is necessary.

@fabgeekmom Yes, I really appreciate that he does cook. LOL about what your son said. Good job with the walk and bike. I hope dinner was good.

Hi all. I lost a little weight this week, -0.4 lbs, but that's not very impressive. We gave up on the tofu recipe: I had been standing on my feet for 2+ hours at the retirement party so I didn't feel like making a slightly complicated recipe when I got home. We stopped at the store and got stuff for a taco salad instead. Tonight, we are having bratwurst and sauerkraut with apples and onion. I may make beer bread with it. I have a fabulous recipe for beer bread that a dear friend gave me that we just love.

Water yesterday: 40 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld Taco salad is always good! The brats sound good, too.Good job on the weight loss. Hi, all. I rode my recumbent bike this morning. We had errands after lunch and now I am relaxing with a protein bar and hot tea. Tonight is steak night.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom Yes! I love a good taco salad. The brats were good. Thank you. Good job with the bike. I hope you enjoyed the steak dinner.

Hi all. I think we need to plant our tomatoes soon. That means I have to go to the store and get the seeds and soil. I'll probably do it next weekend. I've got stuff to do this weekend. Today, I have to get groceries and then at 8 am, I have a Spanish lesson. After that, I am going to a folk art museum with my old boss (not my director, my manager who retired a few years ago). That should be fun. I put a temporary color on my gray bangs yesterday (fuschia). I also made this floating teacup with book covers for work.

Water yesterday: 20 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld I love the pictures of your bangs and the tea cups. Very nice! We don’t plant anything until after April 15th, the frost date. I’m looking forward to some homegrown tomatoes with basil. The museum should be fun. It’s good that you can connect with your previous boss. Hi, all. It was raining today so I worked out on the bike. I had planned to go walking after lunch when the rain stopped but I am pooped. I made roasted red pepper and tomato soup this morning. I have a lot of it and I’m going to freeze most of it. I still have vegetable soup in the freezer that I made several weeks ago. The recipe for today’s soup called for jarred red peppers so it was easy to make. Tonight we are eating at the Italian restaurant my DH wanted to eat at last week.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom Thank you! Yeah, I *think* we should be okay as far as the frost date here goes. It rained here yesterday, too. Good job with the bike. Your soup sounds good. When you freeze your soup, do you put it in a ziplock and freeze it or do you put it in a container? I hope you enjoyed your night out.

Hi all. Yesterday was fun: we went out for breakfast to read and drink coffee and I had a breakfast panini with a side salad. Met my old boss at the museum and my husband eventually joined us where we had more coffee and went to a second museum. When we came home, my foot with the plantar fasciitis was hurting so badly, I couldn't make dinner so I had leftover tortellini. I was going to go to the zoo today for member's early hours day (which is only once a month), but my foot is still hurting a little and I don't want to not be able to do anything today. I think I'll let my husband go by himself. I have things I need to do...go back to the grocery store, fold clothes, cook, and more.

Water yesterday: 20 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

fabgeekmom

@trooworld Your day sounded like fun. Too bad about your foot. You were wise not to go to the zoo and take care of yourself. I hope you got your stuff done with minimal pain. Hi, all. I had a fun day. My daughter, her husband, my granddaughter, my son and husband went to see The Six: The Musical. It was about the wives of Henry VIII. Instead of history it was herstory. My daughter and her husband treated us to the performance. My son is making chili and cornbread for all of us tonight.

fabgeekmom

@trooworld I forgot to answer your question. We use containers to freeze our soup. The 2 cup containers are convenient as that is one serving. We have used ziplock bags to freeze homemade broth when we ran out of containers.

trooworld

@fabgeekmom It was fun. Thanks, yeah, my foot is really bothering me. I didn't get it all done but I made progress. I wanted to see The Six. I hope you enjoyed it. Yummy dinner. Ah okay thanks for the information.

Hi all. I had so many clothes to fold and of course, my husband did more laundry. I didn't get it all folded, my foot started bothering me. I'll work on it more on Friday. I don't have time during Mon-Thur. I didn't eat dinner last night: my foot kept me from cooking and I could have eaten leftovers but I wasn't that hungry. I did make tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch and that was really good.

Water yesterday: 20 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

cbabie

Morning all, sorry I am starting to recoup and catch up. Sorry I have not been here. Thank you to you both @fabgeekmom and @trooworld for keeping the thread going. Today is the WI for the challenge or I can do tomorrow...so guess what I am going to give me one more day. LOL. I finally had to call the DR and get some meds on Friday. I couldn't deal anymore. I fell flat running to get their call. Just a couple of yucky looking bruises but I am good..my DH says I need to learn to slow down...probably won't ever happen. LOL

@fabgeekmom Sounds like you are doing good and keeping on track with your exercises. How fun you can get your hair cut at home. Thanks for the reminder, I need to get my hair cut.

@trooworld Sorry your foot is bothering you, and glad you say no loss to the boss that is leaving. I love the pictures. You are so talented. Great job on the loss. you know a loss is a loss. I will take a 0.01 for this challenge if I can say I lost weight. LOL How do you grow tomatoes. I would love to grow something here, but not sure how to do it where I live. We get LOTS of sun in our yard.

Cbabie

theslightedgeforever

I'm back. After my sil left we went out of town. So now back to my goals. Back to my quiet life. I skimmed the posts. This is what I got out of it.

@trooworld Your boss left. You had some pics of your hair and cute tea cups.

@fabgeekmom You went to a play about Henry VI wives. I think I really would have enjoyed that.

@cbabie You and the family are still sick. But you've been walking at night. Trying to lose weight for your challenge.

fabgeekmom

@trooworld Sorry you are still having problems with your foot. @cbabie Too bad about your fall. I hope the meds help. @theslightedgeforever I love how you summed up the threads! Hi,all. It’s raining again. I worked out on the bike. I love the Peloton workouts. It was a good day for soup and a sandwich. I’m glad I doubled the recipe. Tonight we are having ATK fried chicken breasts with coleslaw and polenta. My granddaughter has some kind of respiratory illness. My daughter took her to Urgent Care. I’ll find out later what she has. Luckily we weren’t too close to her to get what she has. We probably won’t do family dinner tomorrow.

trooworld

@cbabie Oh gosh, I'm sorry you fell. I hope the medication is working. Thank you, the foot is a pain (literally!). Well, I don't know what I'm doing lol. This will be the first year I'm actually growing tomatoes (we tried last year but I didn't have enough drainage in the container so they died just when they were starting to bear tomatoes!). I get a lot of info on YouTube and at the site I get my seeds from: https://www.reneesgarden.com/blogs/gardening-resources/tagged/vegetables but here's an article about growing them in AZ: https://growinginthegarden.com/how-to-grow-tomatoes-in-arizona-10-tips-for-growing-tomatoes/

@theslightedgeforever Welcome back! Yes yes and yes.

@fabgeekmom Thanks. It will take a while to get better. Rainy days are perfect for soup and sandwiches. I hope your granddaughter is okay.

Hi all. It's good to see a couple of you back now. I had my 3rd appt with the dietician for my surgery. She said I am doing well but need to cut out the sweets and fries (although she said I don't do that every day, which I don't) because I won't be able to eat like that after surgery for the first year. After the first year, I can start re-introducing them on an occasional basis in small quantities. She said this is because you lose the most weight during the first year and they really want you to take full advantage of that. I have 2 more meeting with her and then they can submit all the documents to my insurance to try to qualify. Then, it will be another 7 months before they can put me on the schedule for surgery. I'm hoping for April 2025, as we are going to Mexico in March 2025 and I don't want to have just had surgery and go down to Mexico.

Water yesterday: 30 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"

cbabie

Morning all, I didn't exercise yesterday, however, when I got on the scale for the first time me ever doing this challenge ( I have done 3 of them) I didn't gain weight...I lost 1 lb. LOL. I took it with JOY. I am okay from the fall and the meds are working. So all is good. Just need to get the muscle strength back.

@trooworld thanks for the link for AZ. I hope yours grow well this time. It always takes practice to find the right process. You can send us pictures when you get your first green bud..LOL. It will encourage us and you will have something to look back on. LOL

@fabgeekmom Hope your GD gets well quickly. NO one likes to be sick, especially respiratory. Glad you can grow some things, show us when you get your first seedlings growing.

@theslightedgeforever glad you are back...miss your perspective on things.. and now back to your plan.

Cbabie

theslightedgeforever

@fabgeekmom Seems lots of people have respiratory viruses these days. Soup sounds good. I'm going to make some broccoli soup tomorrow I think. I found some broccoli stalks in my freezer. So I saw this and decided to make the soup. https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/8-ways-broccoli-stalks/

@trooworld Who knows..if you cut out sweets and fries you may not need surgery by 2025. It's good you are learning from your mistakes with the tomatoes. There are so many things with gardening. Correct location, drainage, amount of sun, etc.

@cbabie Yaaay on your lost lb. Don't find it again. You've been falling alot. Is your gait or balance off? I would hate to hear that one day you fell and broke a hip. Do you REALLY miss my perspective?

I walked 40 min on the treadmill awhile ago. So one part of my plan is back in motion. I will go eat an orange to include another part of the plan. Did anyone read this?

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10897432/and-the-tortoise-wins-the-race-10-years-2-months-130-pounds-20-sizes-lost

fabgeekmom

@trooworld Interesting info from the dietitian. If you must give up sweets and snacks, are there any substitutions that would satisfy you? Good luck with the tomato growing. My DH has been growing them for many years. We get a pretty good crop, depending on the weather. @cbabie Congrats on the 1 pound weight loss! @theslightedgeforever Good job on the treadmill. Hi, all. DH and I went for a short walk this morning. I did a Peloton workout on my bike. Tonight my son is making ATK salmon cakes but air frying them instead of using the oil in the recipe. I’m making more coleslaw and we’re boiling potatoes.

trooworld

@cbabie That's great you lost weight! I'm glad you are okay. Thank you, me too! I will proudly post pics when I get something growing lol.

@theslightedgeforever I really don't eat that stuff that often so I doubt it. But maybe? Yes, do you garden? I'm trying to pick easy-to-grow things. I got seeds for grape tomatoes, baby beets, and lettuce. The baby beets might be more tricky but all can be grown in a container. That's great you walked on the treadmill. Did you watch TV while doing it? No, I didn't see that but darn, that is inspiring. Thank you for that. Lots of good info.

@fabgeekmom That's a good question. Maybe fruit for the sweets and I'm not sure about the salty stuff. Hummus is always good but I am a little sick of it. Maybe some babaganoush with veggies, other dips. Oh that's great you grow tomatoes. How's the weather there? That's good you went for a walk and went on the bike.

Hi all. I let my pill containers run out and didn't refill them until Sunday so I'm having some mood and anxiety problems. Nothing too bad but enough to bother me. Nothing I can do about it but try not to let it happen again. I've been busy at work but I need to make more of an effort to get more water in. That's going to be my focus for today.

Water yesterday: 50 oz

My phrase for the year: "New year, new me!"