Had a piece of lemon pound cake and some popcorn for lunch. Ay yai yai.

Today was a glorious day! Unbelievable for mid-January in Oregon. It was 60 degrees and sunny! Plus, it's Friday and I can look forward to a couple days of my husband being home. He's been working long hours all week, so I know he needs a break.

This morning I started out with about 10 minutes of yoga stretches, a quick breakfast of yogurt, granola and raspberries, then off to the pool. I did 60 minutes of aquasize, swam a few laps and a bit more stretching in the pool. When I got home I just couldn't stay in the house, it was so pretty outside! I took the dogs out and we puttered around in the yard for a couple hours. I trimmed a few bushes, then decided to weed my garden boxes. I have a dozen raised beds of various shapes and sizes, so I weeded most of them and then planted kale and cilantro. It may still freeze in Feb or Mar, but the kale at least should make it through. It felt great to get my hands in the dirt and feel the sun on my face.

Tomorrow I am going to a historical society meeting in our town. I've never been before, but a lady I met at the swimming pool told me about it and it sounded interesting. There's going to be a lecture about a house/cabin that was recently discovered in the hills above our town. They think it's one of the oldest still-intact buildings in the state, so I'm really curious to hear about it and what they may have planned for it. There's a house designed by Frank Lloyd Write that was moved to our botanical garden in Silverton a few years ago. Perhaps they'll try to move the newest find somewhere in the garden, as well.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow (a record rain year here), but possibly sunny again on Sunday. Hubby and I are planning to play disc golf, so I'm really looking forward to that. It's so fun! Great exercise, too!

Have a wonderful weekend ladies!

Hi Everyone, sorry to be MIA for nearly the entire month. I've went back to work after 4 week off at Christmas, (that was slow going!) . . . then got hit with bronchitis (thankfully it didn't turn into pneumonia like it has before). Good news is that I joined a gym this month and was killing it, exercise wise . . . I'm talking 30-60 minutes of cardio a day with bike/treadmill.

And then. .. bronchitis . . . bleah! So I backed off exercise since it was hard to breathe and just when I started feeling better, this week my state (Tennessee) got hit with a huge ice/snow storm, which we typically don't see. Everything has been closed since last Thursday, but it looks like we'll finally warm up and I can drive to the gym today. Needless to say, I kept eating and gained some of my weight back and got to feeling pretty down about it. I'll be 53 this year and I really, really want to be 30 lbs lighter and have more energy. Health-wise, I'm very thankful not to have any chronic conditions or be on any meds, so this shouldn't be so hard to do, right? Then why does it feel like an uphill struggle? . . .. <sigh>

O.K., so I've been reading up on the posts I've missed and it's just great to "see" everyone again! Aliza, your trip to India sounds so amazing. Take lots of pics and maybe you can share them here! Rae, I love hearing about your water aerobics classes -- I may have to investigate and see if something like that is in my area. I'm not a good swimmer, but I think getting into that warm water would feel so good on my joints (Aliza, you mentioning your hair makes me think of my younger daughter when she took swimming lessons several years back; she had hair all the way down her back but wouldn't let me braid it until after her first swim lesson and she ended up with a tangled mess! After that, braiding it happened with no discussion ;-)

And it's so nice to meet you, Joanne! I think you're doing a wonderful job of caring for yourself after such a close call (I have a dr. misdiagnosis story as well, with my 2001 back surgery, but nothing as dramatic as yours). It's really up to each of us and our families to care for ourselves, isn't it? And I think yoga sounds wonderful! I have several Rodney Yee DVDs which I like b/c I can pause them whenever I need an extra few minutes to get a block or blanket.

Finally, Rae, your mom is an inspiration-- 77 and swims or does elliptical! I want to be her when I grow up!

Take care,
~Marla

Hey, Maria, glad you're back. Sry to hear that you haven't been well, though.

When I give in to eating fried foods (and let's face it - EVERYTHING tastes better fried, right?), I generally get a queasy stomach. It's enough to get me back on track even though that fried food tastes so good. Haven't had fried chicken in donkey years and, actually, it doesn't even sound all that good anymore but biscuits? Bring 'em on.

Carbs in general are my downfall. But I love meat, too. Funny that I was vegan for almost a year recently and it didn't particularly bother me not to be eating meat. Growing up in Texas, I often had steak and eggs for breakfast and meat at every other meal. Meat and carbs - lots of calories there.

I've been feeling happy not to be gaining weight. Still hovering between 155.5 and 157.5 most of the time. 156 this morning. But it dawned on me today that the point is to be going DOWN, not happy to stay in the same place. (duh) I started this round of MFP at 167.6 so I'm happy to have lost almost 12 pounds (in 4 months!) - yay! - but it may be time to get strict again and lose another 10. It's so hard in winter (but then I hit spring and think - it's so hard in spring )

We had some snow overnight. Only a few inches. We were hoping for more. We usually have one good snow a year. All the kids in our community are probably very sad this morning to be trudging off to school when they expected a snow day. I know my husband is disappointed to be off to work. (funny, since he's self-employed )

How was the historical meeting, Rae? Interesting? Think you'll keep going?

Did you find a yoga class you like, Joanne?

Time for breakfast. I entertained the notion of oatmeal (which I love) but am having my usual egg white and whole wheat toast after my epiphany about needing to actually LOSE weight instead of maintain....a fat weight. lol.

Ciao

Joanne, way to go on your blood sugar numbers -- that is exciting!! And don't be hard on yourself re: your resolution not to eat out for a month . . . it's nearly the end of January, right?

Let us know how the swimming and yoga go, too. There's a community center about 20 miles away with an indoor pool; I may have to check it out when all the ice/snow finally melts here. I can't wait for spring!

Hope everyone has a lovely Thursday,
~Marla

Aliza, don't be so hard on yourself. It sounds like you enjoyed the meals yesterday (well, except for the queasy part). We all need recalibration sometimes -- I've even dug out my digital kitchen scales again so I can spot check my portion sizes.

But I do understand what you mean -- I thought January was going to be great for me, weight loss-wise, but I can't let it get me down or further stall my progress forward. We have a brand new month coming up with February and new opportunities, right?!

Hang in there,
~Marla

Two days of being really strict and sticking to the program and I'm down to 155.2. That's with an hour on the elliptical machine at a pretty high level (250 calories as opposed to my usual 200) and at least half an hour of energetic yoga every day.

Think I can lose 3.2 pounds in two weeks? Then I'll be down (before I leave for India) to the weight I was when I first thought "Uh oh. I've gotten really fat" about 10 years ago. That was the first time I joined MFP.

Remember the question about cravings? Here's another question for you guys -

What's your "go to" option for when you want to overeat but don't want to overeat?

Hey everybody! I know I haven't checked in for awhile. I joined a bunch of fitness challenges right after the first of the year and I've been having a hard time keeping up with everything. I had to drop out of a couple of them, but still doing 3 big ones. It is keeping me stellar on my exercise, but my weight is still the same as before Christmas. I eat really well about 95% of the time, but I can't seem to stay away from the wine. I know the empty calories are keeping me from losing. It's just something I really enjoy. Oh bother!

I try to keep my wine intake to 2 glasses over the weekend (sometimes 3) and only in the middle of the week if we're out somewhere special for dinner. Popcorn is my "go to" munchie food. Sometimes nothing will do but crunchy and salty.

Two meals out yesterday. OMG! Two desserts to die for. I ate 1/4 of one and almost 1/2 of the other. One was worth every single calorie (and there were undoubtedly LOT of em) and the other one not so much (the 1/4). A big bowl of pasta, which I almost never eat, and wouldn't have ordered if there had been anything else on the menu. I didn't choose the place and it was a fresh pasta place with nothing else available. (except pizza )

Oh well. Back to basics today.

Maybe I'll join a challenge when I get back. Which ones do you do, Rae?

Joanne's been MIA for almost 2 weeks. I've IMed her but...no response. I hope she's okay. She was having some health issues. Joanne - if you're reading this - how about a sign of life?

Bought some new jeans yesterday (size 29!) and it was amazing to have just about every pair I put on in a 30 or 29 fit me well. All skinny jeans. Admittedly, they were all the kind that have some stretchy material in them and the ones that didn't weren't a good fit but, hey, I'm still ecstatic. Sure made my day...week.

You never mentioned how that historical meeting went. Curious what it's like.

And what's up with your family? Daughter? Father-in-law? Did I miss something?

About to teach a class.

Cheers!

Hi all! I'm brand new BACK at MFP for about the 5th time. The biggest change now is that I'm active, specifically started daily yoga. Taking off weight is SOOOO hard now that i've hit menopause so I'm going to have to go hard core fit -- there apparently is no in between. I didn't get to read all your stories but looks like a great supportive and nice and small group. I can definitely relate to out of control eating and cravings!