Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

@mara—great job getting right back to losing! I’ve been “stuck” for quite a while—fluctuating within a 5 lbs range for the past 2 years. However, at least right now I’m at the low end of that range and am really working at getting the scale to move below my lowest weight.

@rozie—we all have those days. My husband is a big fan of taco bell. Fortunately, he prefers the crunchy beef tacos, so when he goes he gets a box of them. They are only 170 calories each, so I can easily have a couple for dinner and stay within my calorie goal (albeit not in the healthiest way though). I’m also fortunate that I don’t care for Chipotle. Actually, I should rephrase that—Chipotle tastes delicious, but always, always gives me a terrible stomach-ache.

@amy (mrs morgori)—hi stranger, good to see you! Please post some of those fun holiday pics of you and tom!

@tom—no Christmas cards for this girl!

@niki—sometimes sleep trumps all else.

@barbara (montmary)—I also credit this group with helping me stick with it. If not, I suspect I would’ve gained back all I lost and then some.

@lois—I also never used to be a Grinch—and honestly still don’t really consider myself one. I love Christmas; I just choose not to feel obligated b/c that ruins it for me. I agree family issues can cause a lot of stress as well. I don’t know how much of my MIL drama you’ve been around for, but not having to worry about accommodating her (b/c my DH no longer speaks to her) actually makes the holidays so much more enjoyable. There’s still a bit of finagling b/c we want to spend time with the rest of his family, but it definitely lowers the stress level knowing we don’t have to work her into the schedule.

@L2T—I hope you get a break from the craziness at work soon.

@robin—you crack me up!!

@kaye—yes, I always knew vanity sizing existed and that sizes have gotten bigger as evidenced when I’ve tried on vintage items at resale shops. And we all hear stories about how Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield were size 14s. However, I was shocked that they are apparently still increasing at a rapid rate. I have size 12s purchased 5 or 6 years ago (by my sister who has since lost weight) that now fit me perfectly, but the 12s I tried on at Loft were very loose. I was just floored that sizes have changed so much in just the past few years.

@laurie—I’m sorry that your break is so short. My last day is next Friday 12/18 and we also return on 1/5, so at least we get a full 2 weeks.

Tuesday Goals:
My first goal is to make sure I get to the gym tomorrow now that my meeting is canceled.

Second goal is to get more grading done throughout the school day tomorrow. Today and yesterday I was doing a lot of odds and ends, but feel like I've made no real progress on my list below.

Third goal is to continue to stay within my calories despite all of the meetings and social gatherings. My first real test will be this weekend. I'm going downtown with a friend for some holiday cheer which will include eating dinner out and some cocktails. Then on Saturday it is our holiday faculty party. Both days I plan to eat light earlier in the day and make the best choices I can given what's available.

No more meetings this week. Yay!!!!

December All-In:
Under calorie goal: 9/9 days (goal is 28/31 days)
Workout: 1/9 (goal is as much as possible)
8k over Winter Break (not sure what day) in 56 minutes (Thanksgiving 8k was 56:49)

Grading Goals:
1. 62/66 AP essays
2. 21/66 AP Journals
3. 30/60 SL Tests HALF DONE!
4. x/66 Tone tests

Exercise Goals:
Sun--walk gunner DONE
Mon--meeting
Tues--meeting
Wed--walk gunner + gym
Thurs--walk gunner + gym
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym

@Lois, I'm with you about "Grinchyness" ... the only think I leave out of my holiday is the house trimming.

Gosh, I remember the days when there were little kids about instead of kittens. I'd trim the windows with lights and plug them into the sterio receiver so that's go on and off in time with the beat of the music ... and that would be up all of Advent. The kids and I would use spray snow and plastic cutouts to decorate the windows. As cards came in, they'd find themselves strung up on a garland that drapped it's way around the tops of the wall, and I'd hand special Christmas ornaments to keep the swag in them. There'd be long evenings of cookie and fruit breads baking and ripening. Flurried trips to the stores and pouring over of advertising magazines. Lots of late nights to wrap those purchases before anyone could get into the boxes and bags. There would be a Tree Trim and we'd gather for a party .... but that was then.

Now, the Christmas music starts playing on the radio and Christmas advertising is aired starting before Halloween. Advent is unheard of except in certain Churches. The kids are grown and gone far and wide, the cats get into the tree, it's too much bother to trim to house when I'm the only one to see it, besides, it's too much work to put up and take down.

We still gather for Christmas as a family, on Christmas Eve so everyone can keep their other commitments on Christmas Day and have their own kids have the morning to open gifts. Even that has trimmed down ... so many of our kids and grandchildren are spread around the world. So many of us have passed on to glory and makes the occasion bitter-sweet as we remince and miss them. We don't exchange gifts any longer except with immediate family and some of us have stopped sending out Christmas cards. The greeting has turning into "Happy Hollidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".

It's still nice but in a metamorphised way. So I celebrate Christmas in my own special way without all the fanfare that I put on in the past. It's a quiet day of reflection in my home. It's the day I listen to Christmas Carols as I loll around.

Wow ... I got into a ramble ... but I won't delete it.

December Challenge ... days at or under calories 9/9 (goal is 28/31)
Got the shopping and errands done that I was going to do on Thursday. Today is back to schedule. Making roast chicken and vegetables and chicken dumpling soup because if that lovely bird I bought on sale yesterday.

Here's a quote from a trivit my son bought me when he was 10 years old ...
"Blessed are those who go around in circles, for they shall be called the Big Wheel"

Niki
PS ... sorry for all the typos, the dumb computer thinks it knows the word I want to use and I didn't catch it's mistakes. Get a laugh out of it, I did.

@Rozie~Yikes on the broken pipe, glad all is fixed though. I get frustrated with my boss too—most of the time he’s really easy going but when we are under the gun with deadlines he tends to micromanage, which drives me crazy.

@Lois~I’m sorry for the stress you’re enduring with regards to your partner’s Nan’s will, it amazes me sometimes how petty family members can get in those situations. It’s best to step aside like you’ve done. I hope things settle soon. The holidays are hard for me too sometimes. Luckily I don’t have too much family drama—but I do miss family members that are no longer with us and the huge gatherings we used to have a family. That’s what makes it hard for me. I try to remember the true meaning behind this holiday; it makes it a little easier to get through the stress of the season. I don’t put up a tree anymore since I have a cat that would think every ornament on there was meant for her to play with —but I do put up other decorations.

@Niki~Hooray for your loss! Great job, remember all those small losses add up in the end—slow and steady wins this race.

@Mara~Hooray for your loss too!

@Karen~Yay for no more meetings this week, I hope you are able to get to the gym and get gunner out for his walk (I’m sure he misses it).

AMF~I’ve been kind of emotional this week, really missing Pebbles for some reason (she went over the rainbow two years ago on Friday). She was such a special cat. But I do have my big furry Zoe, who makes me laugh (even when she wakes me at 2am like last night ). It’s been a busy week and easier to re-adapt myself to WW than I thought it would be. I do miss a few MFP things but I’m staying within my daily requirements (even trying some different meals). I’m still weighing every day as I don’t think that is something I can stop and the scale is being cooperative so far. I hope I have a decent loss on Saturday.

I didn’t make it to the gym for cardio on Monday, just wasn’t feeling well after so little sleep the night before. I went home Monday and crashed on the sofa, napped all evening. Did workout with my trainer yesterday. Cardio won’t happen today either, seeing chiro for more myofascial release therapy on my Achilles. I need to make up missed cardio somehow this week, hopefully Friday.

December “all-in” challenge:
Food: 8/9
Exercise: 7/9

Exercise Goals:

Sunday~Trainer DONE!
Monday~Cardio (rest day instead)
Tuesday~Trainer DONE!
Wednesday~Cardio (chiro instead)
Thursday~Trainer
Friday~Cardio(?)
Saturday~Rest Day (hair appt and party)

Hi everyone,

Greetings from this Santa’s workshop. All morning long I worked on finding photos and printing them for a year in photos book for my 92 year old mother for Christmas. Sounds easy enough, but I have had trouble finding photos of some family members and wind up scrounging through their FB pages for good ones. I sent out a plea for more just before lunch. Hopefully, I will get some help.

We decided to simplify gifts this year and drew names and are making the gifts. For my son, whose name I got, I am going to make a “Recipes from Mom’s Kitchen” notebook. Of course that is still far from done too. Lots of time at this computer is in my future.

Needless to say, I didn’t move much this morning; I didn’t snack though either as I just kept my head down.

…..then, it was lunch time and I was suddenly quite hungry and still not dressed. My rule is no lunch without being dressed, so I put some leftover chicken scraps in my 45+ year old pressure cooker and went to the bedroom to quickly get dressed for lunch. In 45 years I have NEVER blown the thing up. Well, you can guess what I did today! BANG and there was chicken broth all over the kitchen! I was able to recover enough for two smallish bowls of soup. I am sure DH will be very hungry at supper time.

It sounds like everyone is sort of getting their things done for their own style of holiday celebration. I note we all seem to have cut back a bit on what it is we do.

Like Niki I seem to be rambling today. Sorry. I will do some personals later or tomorrow. It is back to the workshop for me. HO! HO! HO!

AFM: Today was my weighing day and I lost 1.5# this past week. As always I would like more, but I will take it.

December Challenge:

Calories under goal: 8/31
Salad a day: 8/31
Exercise: Dismal

Thanks every one of you for being here.
Barbara
Mountmary84

mountmary84 wrote: »

tiny little picture above is me and my two sisters with Mom on her birthday in October.

Nice picture Barbara ...

Today I am eating light because for dinner it's burger king. My mom is having surgery today and I promised to stay the night with her in the hospital and bring her home tomorrow. (Which goes with my wed wish that her surgery goes well) She told me I better bring her burger king or she'll send me home. She's such a hoot! Also eating light because I wayyy over ate on Monday. Trying to balance things out. I went to the park near my moms, a 10 minute drive, and took a good brisk 30 minute walk. It felt great about 5 minutes after I finished. I have always had a problem with my ankle and used to have to wear an air cast when I went walking. I think I need to dig it out again just for a little while. Can't wait for the weekend so I can walk my puppy, technically he's still a puppy. He just turned 2 but he is a mix of large breeds and definitely still has at least 6 more months in the puppy phase. I don't think he'll ever grow out of his puppy face though!

Have a great day!
Rozie

Another long day at work and then a meeting after work so I am exhausted. I will be so happy when these long days end and of course the number of papers I have to deal with has doubled.

Wish-That I can stop rushing around and find the time to enjoy the holiday season.

@laurie--I feel the same way about just wanting to relax and enjoy the season. In fact, even though I knew it would be a long week, I made plans with my Lake Geneva friend to take the train downtown after work on Friday. We are going to the Chriskindlmart at Daley Plaza first, and then we will just make our way around to see all of the holiday decorations. Finally, we will meet some friends at Butch McGuire's which is a Chicago bar that decorates extensively for Christmas. I thought I might regret making the plans, but so far it's actually keeping me going by giving me something fun to look forward to during this long, tiring week.

@niki--I love macaroons, so I understand how tempting they can be. I agree that the holiday has changed over the years, and sometimes I'm nostalgic for the past. I do have to say though, the one change I actually like is the shift to "Happy Holidays" as a general greeting throughout the season. I know some people think it's wrong and the media has the whole "war on Christmas" campaign every year. However, I love that the season has become more inclusive of all cultures and religions. Of course I still say "Merry Christmas" on the 24th and 25th, but the rest of the season I love including everyone in my greeting.

@kaye--ditto on my post to niki regarding peanut brittle.

@rozie--thank goodness your pipes are fixed.

@laura--I remember moving from the 200s into Onederland. I had lost about 45 pounds at that point, but plateaued just above 199 for months! In the back of my mind I kept thinking maybe my body would just refuse to make that move, but I persevered and it was the best feeling ever to see 199 on the scale. I can't wait to celebrate with you when you reach that point!!

@barbara--sounds like a lovely gift for your mother.

@kelley--yes, gunner got his walk today and I made it to the gym. Hope you get that cardio session scheduled for later this week.

@tom--I watched Malala Yousafi's acceptance speech today. Such a remarkable young woman!

@lois--yes, I'm also struggling to resist all those little nibbles that add up.

@robin--I'm also sympathizing with those who are getting hit with storms. We have been fortunate that although we got some early snow and cold, it really hasn't been bad here in Chicago. In fact, we will be back up in the mid-40s this weekend.

AFM--today is one of those days that I really could've used one of those fitbits that tracks flights climbed! I had 3 of my 5 classes in the first floor library classroom working on research projects. Since my office and classroom are upstairs, I was up and down the stairs for that. In addition, my laptop got yet another virus, so I was up and down checking in with technology (on the 1st floor) to see when my computer would be cleaned. Despite all of the stairs, I walked gunner and ran a 5k at the gym.

Tomorrow and Friday my classes are still in the library classroom so it will be more of the same. I'm actually kind of thankful for the added movement.

Another silver lining--not having my laptop meant I got a lot more jpurnals graded. I had my ipad to take attendance and check email, but I couldn't work on any documents to lesson plan. Tomorrow will be a busy day getting all of my prep work done!

Wednesday Wish:
I don't really have anything for myself, so I'm going to hope for lessened stress moving into the holiday season, plus added strength and resolve to stick to our goals, for all of us.

December All-In:
Under calorie goal: 10/10 days (goal is 28/31 days)
Workout: 2/10 (goal is as much as possible)
8k over Winter Break (not sure what day) in 56 minutes (Thanksgiving 8k was 56:49)

Grading Goals:
1. 62/66 AP essays
2. 47/66 AP Journals
3. 30/60 SL Tests HALF DONE!
4. x/66 Tone tests

Exercise Goals:
Sun--walk gunner DONE
Mon--meeting
Tues--meeting
Wed--walk gunner DONE + gym DONE
Thurs--walk gunner + gym
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym

I survived the day and the party. It helps to be a good experienced cook. It was easy for me to look over the dessert tables and choose 3 samples that I knew would be the best. One wasn't as good as I expected, so didn't eat it.
In addition to the carrot pudding, I made vanilla fudge and almond toffee today. I got the candy that I made yesterday and Monday packaged up so it is less tempting. Saving some peanut brittle for later would be a good idea if I could be trusted, but I can't! Found out today that Anya loves it, too.
Barbara, I'm so sorry about the pressure cooker. I've never had that happen, but I can imagine how awful the clean up must have been.
December challenge: food 10/10, exercise 10/10, water 9/10
Onward and downward. Kaye

Hi everyone. So sorry it has been a while since I checked in and said hi.

Life has been a bit hectic for me. We had my shower in November and it was beautiful. We went with a Dr. Seuss theme. A friend of mine made me a custom Dr Seuss cake. Everything was perfect and everyone had a great time! Well, everyone except my MIL. But you all know how she is...

A few days prior to my shower I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. It just has been one whirl wind of doctor appointment after doctor appointment. I meet weekly with my endocrinologist and also have a dietitian assigned to me. Though honestly I didn't find the dietitian very helpful. Everything she explained to me I already knew. I attribute it to all I learned on MFP. When not in doctor appointments I have been on the phone with my insurance company fighting to get the necessary supplies I need to control my GD and ensure I have a healthy remainder of pregnancy. That is just a "joy" within itself. I test my blood 4 times a day. That was "fun" considering I have a fear of needles. I spent many hours with chest pains, crying and pretty much flipping out over it all from my anxiety over the needle. My numbers started out pretty good and my doctor thought we could control it through diet and exercise. Well, exercise "if" I can tolerate it. I have constant pubic bone pain from my uterus growing and pressing on the bone. Thankfully though my round ligament pain has subsided!!! As the weeks progressed my fasting numbers were out of control so my doctor decided to put me on insulin, once a day right before bed. That seemed to help. At my visit yesterday she decided now I take insulin 2x a day. Once before dinner and then another shot before bed. I was taken back by this because my numbers have been in the appropriate range. Though she feels my dinner numbers are higher than my numbers for the rest of the day and are on the higher end. As a precaution she wants me to do another shot right before I eat. But the fun doesn't stop there. They tested my urine for ketones yesterday and lucky me, they were present. That means she wants me to eat more carbs. OK, maybe not such a bad thing since I love carbs. But it is just frustrating because they limited my carbs, I do what I am told and now are telling me I need to eat more. ARGH. I feel like no matter what I do, how hard I try it just isn't good enough. It really is frustrating. I have a little less than 8 weeks to go and I am at the point I just want to be done with this GD nonsense already. It's hard. It's stressful. I am sick and frustrated with having to test 4x a day and now give myself 2 insulin shots a day. I am tired of having to be on such a strict time schedule of when I am allowed to eat. (Timing of meals for GD is a huge component of GD control) I can't wait until I feel normal again. I don't know how anyone with diabetes goes through life having to do all of this. I never realized how involved diabetes management was before and how much effort needs to be put into it. I certainly have a new respect and admiration for anyone with this disease.

On a happy note, I have been working in the nursery a little bit each day and it is coming along very nicely. I only have a few minor things left to do such as hang my window dressings, get a lamp and hang some art work. It feels really good to be ahead of schedule with that!

I hope everyone is doing well with your journey.

JNettie, so glad to hear from you. You've been on my mind a lot. I'm sorry you are having to go through so many health challenges, but she will be so worth it. Hang in there and keep us posted when you can.
Kaye

Hey guys!

@nettie--great to see you back! Sorry about the GD--that's stinky.

No other personals right now b/c I'm trying to grade, but I may have time later.

Thursday Truth:
I decided not to go to the gym today since I was able to go yesterday (meeting canceled). Instead I am at starbucks grading the rest of those SL tests.

December All-In:
Under calorie goal: 10/10 days (goal is 28/31 days)
Workout: 2/10 (goal is as much as possible)
8k over Winter Break (not sure what day) in 56 minutes (Thanksgiving 8k was 56:49)

Grading Goals:
1. 62/66 AP essays
2. 56/66 AP Journals
3. 30/60 SL Tests HALF DONE!
4. x/66 Tone tests

Exercise Goals:
Sun--walk gunner DONE
Mon--meeting
Tues--meeting
Wed--walk gunner DONE + gym DONE
Thurs--walk gunner NOT DONE + gym NOT DONE
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym

I got part of the goodies mailed today. I think that in some respects I am doing better with them, but let me just say that I will have to do a lot of pedaling this evening to come in under my calorie goal for today.
Mara, your comment made me think of 'Singin' in the Rain', one my favorite movies.
Well, I had best get pedaling.
Onward and downward. Kaye

Nettie- Sorry about the GD diagnosis but I am sure you will figure out a winning combination for food. A coworker dealt with the same thing this summer. Glad you dropped by and gave an update.

Another busy day so I am keeping this short. Tomorrow will nice all my students are testing. A quiet day I hope. We did have snow showers today and of course the kids acted liked they had never seen snow before, yes they were hyper about it.

Truth- I opted to take the day off from the gym tonight and started decorating the Christmas tree instead. Well worth it and I needed a night at home even through it was busy. Tomorrow will be back to climbing and this weekend will be busy with different things to do.

Have a great day.