Congratulations, Gail - that shows great self-control! It's not easy with those favourite foods. Funny how it's so easy to not overeat cabbage, for instance.

Good idea about getting other people to hide things. Although I have myself to blame too - if I'm honest, I buy chips for myself, not my son, as he's more into sweet things.

Funny that the wholegrain version is less healthy! I've tried buying "healthy" versions, but the trouble for me is that if I think things are healthy I end up seeing it as a licence to eat more. I'm interested in your experiment of eating less more often, Snoozie. I've gone the other way compared to my former eating (i.e. I eat less frequently), but was reading something recently about more frequent eating being better. I'll see if I can dig it up. Here we go! The study found in favour of a protein-rich diet with 6 (rather than 3) meals a day. I've been thinking of trying it out. I'm nervous as I've got used to the three meals a day and works well for me - on the other hand, perhaps having an extra little meal to look forward to at the end of the day might help with staying on track.

Apparently YOGA was on the schedule down at the lake this morning; everyone got into the act; sun salutations, warrior pose, tree pose.... all I could manage was the corpse pose tho!!

What a lovely place to walk, Suzanne! I love your yoga buddies!

lol it just struck me as funny that everything I saw was doing some sort of yoga pose!!

Hi ladies I am back and caught up with reading, nice pics of your yoga buddies Snoozie.

It's always good to get away but I really ate a lot, but one consolation is that I was in a house that had four flights of stairs and I was the designated cook I offered and I was in between the third and fourth floor for two days. My gift to my niece for her graduation. The exercise was intense for my knees became swollen, but I assure you it did not offset my eating. I cooked a lot and I ate a lot. BTW I love to entertain, cook, eat and drink. So I was extremely happy.

Goals: I am back to counting carbs in my diary goal met last week and continuing this week. and my new goal is to increase my walking. I hit 16000 yesterday at work and I am already almost at 9000 today.

Ok, so can I come back in the group again?

thank you, Snooozie for the motivation! Sometimes, it gets so difficult to see the end. But, then, wait! There is no END because of the Effort Never Dies..... As long as we are on the upper side of the dirt, keep going. Every. Single. Day! Failure only comes from not trying at all. Today may not be our best "effort", but it is never a failure. My mantra in life is very Scarlett -- "After all, tomorrow is another day!" Yes, I know I'm old when one of my all time favorite movies was Gone With the Wind.

That's right OWR I am in for life, I might fall off or jump off, but I will climb back on with my achy bones and keep it moving. Nice to meet you Patrice, I'm Gwen.
Snoozie you are the motivator, that night shift working is so difficult glad you are done for a while.

LOL Vailara... I agree!!! somehow the "first attempt at learning" didn't quite cut it for me... or else I've failed that class miserably about 1000 times!!! but the NO = next opportunity is working for me right now; I'm a little frustrating that the scale hasn't moved in weeks... and yes, I realize it not going UP is a good thing and perspective wise, if I was at maintenance, i'd probably do far better at it now than I did the first time I got there but since I'm not, I am struggling with why i'm not losing.. I truly do NOT want to go back to logging; but I thin i'm going to have to for a few weeks at least to get a true view of what i'm taking in... otherwise I just seem to be floundering..... even tho I feel good about eating better and moving more, something ain't working obviously..

I think im not really sure WHERE to start right now.. as silly as that seems after all this time on here... you'd think i'd just decide ok back to CICO etc... but I'm not sure that's the simple answer anymore; I; dunno if it has to do with a combination of the hormones, cortisol, lack of sleep from the joy of menopause and shifts, or as simple as i am really just eating more than I think I am... but i'll have to figure it out because what I'm doing now isn't getting results LOL.. so something has to change... I have a week of dayshift coming up so maybe i'll suck it up and log for that week to at least get a baseline of how much Im eating... kinda weird but I don't really feel like setting any goals, or laying out a plan to get to my goal weight again... but without them, I think I will just continue to flounder... yes I am apparently just rambling some thoughts at the moment LOL.. so think i'll haul my ever widening *kitten* down to the lake and contemplate what im going to do with the ducks - maybe they'll have the answer!! HAAAAAAA... off to take my senior friend to the garden centre after, and suspect there will be some planting in my future hours.. lol hope everyone has a good day and wouldn't mind hearing where everyone else is at mentally and/or physically these days... maybe just so I know im not losing my mind I admit LOL.. unless I am.... in which case... if anyone finds it, please send it home!!

I plunked down on the bench at the lake with my coffee in hand and pulled out my phone to set the runkeeper app, and on a whim asked SIRI "how do I lose weight at 53 years old?".... this is what he told me LOLOL!! (and yes I have my SIRI set to a "he" voice !!

http://creativebioscience.com/blog/best-weight-loss-plan-for-a-decreasing-metabolism/

OWR... thanks for sharing that.... good to know i'm not alone in the frustration world... I regained 18 lbs on "maintenance"... and really want to lose it because I felt great at my GW.. and I can completely relate to the logging lol.. but you're doing it so kudos to you!!!

I feel your frustration too, Snoozie. I think it's difficult at this age because we're fighting against what would be a natural weight gain. And I'm sure your work hours don't help. I regained some a while back too - managed to lose it, but now kind of stuck in the overweight range - I wouldn't mind as I'm happy enough at this weight, but it just FEELS so much like I'm still dieting. Even though I know maintenance is constant dieting, it's kind of hard to accept.

I don't know about strength training helping weight loss, but I think it's a good thing to do anyway. I've been doing it all along and do feel some benefits from it. But it does make me hungry!

A lot of good advice - things we have heard before, just don't want to do all of them. My favorite line in the piece is:
As much as possible, avoid overeating. Ya think??? Oh well - like we keep saying, everyday on this side of the dirt is a good day!
Move it and groove it and don't overeat it!!!

and to send us all into the weekend with a great reminder..... I present...

Healthy Aging - 10 steps to stay young!

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them -- that is why you pay them.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county. Travel to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

And Always Remember...
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

And if you don't send this to at least 8 people, who cares? LOL