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

@mswatson0777, wow you had a full day yesterday, but it all sounded so great!! Good for you for taking care of yourself!

@renaegry, OK tell us about the tattoos you and hubby are getting! I’ve talked about getting one over the years but don’t think I have enough courage to actually do it. I hope you post a pic!

@joannadavison, ugghhh that is so frustrating about the handles not being right. I remember coming home to see that the color I had picked for the bathroom was completely wrong. Yes, they paid to fix it but it was another day of work. Hang in there!

@theslightedgeforever, leave it to you to ask about my plan for Friday and how I plan to not overeat! My plan is to be very good this whole week with my food and workouts. The charcuterie board will be filled with lots of things I can eat and I’m going to focus mostly on that. I also had the other ladies bring the sweets so when the party is over they are to take their goodies home and not leave them with me! And since I’m hosting and running all the games that should keep me too busy to stand and nibble. *fingers crossed* Good idea about the Roomba fund. I’m pretty sure that my dog would lose her mind if I actually got one, but I might be willing to try anyway.

@trooworld, I do seem to be always doing something party-wise don’t I? The fact is that being the ministry assistant and in charge of our fellowship events has me constantly doing something. And then, of course, I decided to throw my own Christmas party, which I am looking forward to but I’m also ready for January and for life to settle down and for my house to be back to normal.

Good morning! I got in over 13,000 steps yesterday cleaning my house and doing my floors. I told hubby that he and the dog are to do their best or I will throw a fit. I'm off in just a minute to get my hair done and then to Trader Joes and Walmart for groceries and party food. Yesterday, I started a BOD workout program called 21-Day Fix Real-Time and it runs for 21 days straight. It was my first workout when I signed up for Beachbody but I didn't do 21 days in a row. This time I am going to do my best to complete the full 21 days. So, I got up at 7 am this morning and banged out my workout. I can already feel my muscles screaming and by this evening I probably won't be able to move. Have a great day!!

@TeresaW1020 unfortunately the supplier not taking responsibility & offered new doors at cost price instead of trade! I'm not happy. Now more is present they don't look as bad. Our project manager/tradesman going to help us complain to Head Office.
I notice you commented about mopping & cleaning. We have dust everywhere- dreading the big clean!

@mswatson0777 I get 2 weeks at Christmas. Had particularly challenging term since September- more to do with busy family life although also been busy at work. I really need that break!

@theslightedgeforever yup I stayed on plan. Pleased you asked as reminded me I need to track a little snack!

I know I've missed ppl- sorry. Hope you guys are doing OK.

Gutted I missed gym today but needed to be home to see workmen. Good thing too as MiL broke down in car on way to hospital to visit FiL- DH & his sisters at work so I drove out to stay with her & when sorted make sure she got home.
After handles, FiL, MiL, eldest so tired fell asleep before she did studying for tomorrow's exams while I was out on taxi duty for youngest- I got home to find DH's Christmas present from Amazon in full view & no box!! No surprises there then!

@trooworld How did your barley beef soup turn out? That sounds really good for a cold winter night. Good for you for doing well yesterday.

@teresaw1020 I'm one of your support coaches. That's what we're here for. lol Besides, in my 100 day book one of the examples was a guy going to a party and he had no plan. So he overate. So here was the response card I had to write for my assignment. I need a plan before I go. Not having a plan never works. My body doesn't know or care what everyone around me is eating. No matter what, If I overeat I will gain. So I have my own plan to make for tomorrow night. It's a green day so at least I can have a few more carbs. I'm taking a charcuterie board so I will choose some cheese and pepperoni, baby carrots, 10 almonds, then I'll look for some meat that someone brought. It's potluck so.....I'll choose 1-2 spoonfuls of 2 things that look extraordinary and I won't get for a long time. Hopefully someone will be bringing that. lol Then I'm planning on one of my cookies I'm bringing and one dessert equivalent. That might mean 1/4 of 4 desserts or 1/3 of 3 three desserts, etc. Depends on what's there. Someone is bringing pecan pie which I hate so its not going to be that. I'm going to have an omelet and bacon for breakfast to save carbs. Plus yogurt and cheese for lunch. That's my plan. Oh and no liquid drinks with the exception of tea. As I type this I'm thinking but they'll probably have that yummy holiday punch there. lol I'll have to enter in all my food first and see can I afford a glass of punch. Probably not. That will have so many carbs I could give up my dessert in exchange. Noooooooo. I have to do this all again on Friday. Maybe I'll go for the punch then. See why it's good to have a plan. Otherwise I would go around putting everything on my plate and having 2-3 cups of punch. Sounds like you have a plan. I'm pretty good when I host an event as I'm busy and don't eat much. The problem becomes when everyone goes home and I'm like WHEW! Then the thoughts of I'm pooped, I deserve to eat something. That's my most dangerous time. Yaaay on getting up at 7 and doing your workout.

@mswatson0777 Our bookclub was talking about your book. We might put it on the list for next year. I had said I was born in KY and I like books so right up my alley. lol You had a great lunch with co-workers. Dec. goals- I still struggle with water but I'm working on that. You impress me. I know how busy my kids were getting their degrees and they didn't have all the rest of the stuff that you have to deal with.

@joannadavison Hooray for staying on plan. That's all we have to do each day is stay OP and the weight loss will take care of itself. The hard part is thinking we have to do this forever. That's why Just for today is my motto. I can do one day versus the rest of my life. Plus I plan yummy snacks and such each week to keep me going so I won't feel deprived.

@renaegry Love the tattoo. My leg hurt when I was looking at it. lol

Red Day-Stayed OP 100/100 carbs Exercise was 35+20 min walking.

I stepped on my son's scale and since I started my carb cycling in August and 16.1 lbs gone and 2.7% body fat gone. Plus increased muscle mass 0.6% So now to continue and do this Just For Today.

December goals: Step class and strength training 2 times a week. 4.5 glasses of water.

@renaergy beautiful but ouch!

@theslightedgeforever I am patting myself on back. Had to eat out tonight as fridge-freezer totally emptied by DH ready to go tomorrow (we have milk for breakfast & that's it!). I did have ""crispy southern fries " - which I actually think are oven baked as they are dry not oily (about 270cal) and 2 cups of soup(100ish each) I avoided the cheese sandwiches, bagettes & savoury pastries. No doughnuts either.
Well done on your change since Aug the change in body fat & muscle mass really good swing as well as weight loss of course.

@trooworld yes he saw present! I can relate to stress eating. Been doung that for about 3 weeks. I just had to reset because I felt awful. Not eating that great now (because of lack of facilities) but making way better choices and feel so much better for it.

@mswatson0777 yesterday was awful!
Thankfully today loads better.
I made sure I left work promptly, even when student came to see me for help- I only spent a few mins (normally I would sit down for half an hour to help), I got to gym did most of my current routine, showered & then went to the new beauty/aesthetics clinic. Got eyebrows waxed & tinted with lash tint too. Then healthy banana & small soya latte in coffee shop before school run.

Tonight I'm preping stuff for Church Christmas Fair/Coffee morning on Sat & "Nativity" on Sunday. Kids are too old for dress up so we're having an "Escape Room"- Escape from Herod- doing a Cafe Church - tables out, groups, coffee/tea, mince pies, stollen & biscuits. Clues are all bible based in 3 sections- for 3 lock boxes containing -gold, frankincense & myrrh. The 4 Mums who've supported the kids in this plus the kids have learned loads about the 'Wise Men' from scripture & studies on internet so should be good for all ages- totally fun games but some new ideas that we've never really looked into before.

@trooworld Sounds like you just made a mistake with the cookies and moved on. Good thing you didn't say well I blew it for the day and went hog wild. Myself I don't see anything wrong with having a cookie here and there as long as I plan ahead for it. It's the eating while stressed is what we need to figure out. Next time what could you do instead?

@mswatson0777 Good for you for getting in your workout early. Plus sounds like you got in some good rest. That's so important too. When I'm tired, I make poor choices.

@joannadavison woohoo on your good choices. You deserve credit for that. I keep a list every night of all things that I deserve credit for. Big ones and little ones. If I had one piece of chocolate and stopped myself from having two, that goes on the list. My mind tends to only think and dwell about what I did wrong so I'm training it to catch all the things I do right for the day. Yaaay on your gym workout. I love that Escape from Herod idea. Very creative.

@renaegry You are making me cold just looking at your pic. lol BRrrrrrr. -17 BRrrrrrrrr. Plus you walked in that weather? You get the prize for the day. Good for you. And with a sore leg.

While originally a green day was planned as it's Thursday, I'm switching it to a red day because I did SUPER WELL at the dinner and only ate 87/100 carbs for the day. I followed my plan except for one piece of Lindt chocolate. For dessert I looked over them all and nothing was worth the carbs/calories so I had 1/2 c fruit salad. Now onto tomorrow night where I have a party to get through. Oh and I turned down the punch three times. Since I didn't get dessert I thought about it but then decided be thinner is way better than punch. It might not even taste as good as it does in my head.

I'll put up a pic of my charcuterie board I took. That helped so much in my food choices.

December goals: Step class and strength training 2 times a week. 4.5 glasses of water.

@joannadavison, oh no did your DH see his gift? Hope he liked it! The escape room idea sounds like a lot of fun!! I’m going to have a Christmas party for my Sunday school kids next week and I’m teaching in children’s church that day on joy so I plan to make a whole morning of Christmas fun while teaching them the true meaning of the season.

@renaegry, love the tattoo!! If I were to get one it would be a butterfly too. I have this quote that I love that says, “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a beautiful butterfly.” I also thought that would be cool to do when I reached my goal weight. Girl, your frosty eyelashes are making me shiver!!

@theslightedgeforever, I hope you know how much I appreciate and need you to be one of my support coaches!! Yes, to everything you wrote, and I agree. We have talked before about having a planned indulgence vs. eating all the things and ending up with a huge gain and worse the guilt for losing control. I am truly going to try to stick to the plan and not lose control. *fingers crossed* Love the look of your charcuterie board. I can’t wait to put mine together tonight. I will try to remember to take a pic to show you.

@mswatson0777, isn’t it crazy how we look forward to the holidays and then we can’t wait for them to be over because we are so exhausted from doing so much? I put my Christmas decorations up wayyy to soon and now I can’t wait to take them down and have my house back to in order. We just need to embrace the chaos.

@trooworld, I hope the stress you are under eases soon.

Good morning! I took the day off from work today to get ready for my party tonight. I feel good about it all. The house is about 90% clean, I have all the party games ready to go, and will start prepping the food later this afternoon. It should be a great time! I'm heading in now to do Day 4 of the 21-Day Fix. It's pilates day and I won't have to lift any weights which is a good thing because my triceps aren't very pleased with me right now.

@cbabie, I was wondering where you went off too and I'm so sorry to read that you have been so sick and had bad family news. I pray that you will start to feel better very soon and be able to enjoy the holidays.

@joannadavison, so sorry for your loss in your family. My Sunday school class is 3rd to 5th grade. I'm also a teacher in children's church for 5 to 10-year-olds. I love it but as you know those age groups can be challenging at times.

Well, the party last night was a huge success. They had a great time and enjoyed the food and games that we played. I adore these people and it was a blessing to be able to host a party for them all. Everyone loved my charcuterie board (see pic below ). I started out doing pretty well with the food but after four hours of nibbling on this and that, I woke up feeling terrible and my weight way up. On top of it, all my back is killing me! I'm not sure if it was the planks that I attempted to push myself to do yesterday or getting in over 13, 000 steps and probably bending over to pick something up that I shouldn't have. Anyway, I'm taking it easy today and plan to drink a ton of water and get myself back on plan.

@TeresaW1020 wow, your food looks great. Rest up today, you probably just overdid a little, along with the stress of making sure everything perfect for your party.

@cbabie You'll figure out your new normal one of these days. Keep taking care of yourself. We miss you.

@joannadavison So sorry to hear about your fil. There is never a good time but around the holidays seem to make it harder I think. Thinking about you and your family.

@retiredandlovingit The most important daily habit for you is staying on your plan and exercising. Checking in with us is always just a bonus. Glad to hear you are getting over your cold.

@trooworld Sorry to hear of your moisture problems. I hope it gets resolved soon. Abstaining is no fun. But then neither is indulging. I always feel worse afterwards. There's always that fine line in between where we can find our balance. I just know I don't want to end up back at square one come Jan 1. I did that last year. This year will be different. I'm beginning to enjoy all the advantages of losing weight.


I did really well at both of my gatherings so I'm pleased as punch as they say. Although skipped the punch entirely. That was a tough one. Green day Friday: 166/238 and took an exercise rest day. then today Green day 195/238 and 59 min walk at the mall. I made terrible cookies for Thursday gathering but yummy cookies for Friday. I had two and stopped myself from having a third. Now back to red days so left over cookies will be going to my caregiver.

December goals: Step class and strength training 2 times a week. 4.5 glasses of water.

@trooworld The recipes look really yummy this week. Especially that bbq chicken one. I'll need to make a list of ingredients so I can add them to my grocery list for Wednesday. Thanks for posting these.

@joannadavison Good for you for checking in to make this a habit. Hopefully your kitchen will be back together soon. I had to look up Cafe Worship to see what it was. I can see both sides of this issue. I'm a traditionalist on some things and then a liberal on other. lol But you have to meet people where they are. Thinking about your mil. Yes this time must be very hard for her. My parents were married 56 1/2 years when my mom passed.

Red Day- Stayed OP 90/100 carbs 60 min of walking


December goals: Step class and strength training 2 times a week. 4.5 glasses of water.

@cbabie Holy buckets you got hit with a lot at once! Sending good vibes your way and hoping the rest of the holiday season goes better for you

@joannadavison I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad to hear your MIL is doing okay and that your SIL is able to be there to help support. And I'm glad your nativity event was a success, it seriously sounded like a lot of fun!

@TeresaW1020 That board looks amazing and it sounds like you had a fun event! I hope your back starts to feel better soon! That water weight will be off in no time!

@RetiredAndLovingIt Thank you for the great advice for the cruise! I've been stalking the online menus and I was truly amazed at how many yummy healthy options there are (and many unhealthy options...but that just comes down to self control!). I hope you had fun holiday decorating!

@trooworld Those enchiladas sound amazing! So sorry to hear about your windows. Our living room in our prior home flooded twice in two years so I totally relate to the frustration on having those loud machines take over your home! I hope everything goes smoothly for you this week

@theslightedgeforever Great self restraint on the cookies! I've been avoiding baking this year because fresh baked goodies are my kryptonite!

I'm back at it today after a weekend of not tracking (eek!). Saturday was the fundraising ball and we had a great time, although I definitely had too much wine and felt it the next day. I got lots of compliments on my dress but I did feel a little self conscious since I am pretty curvy compared to the average woman at these events. I know comparison is the thief of joy but it's hard to help it when you're surrounded by gorgeous people who got their hair and makeup done and wearing designer gowns from rent the runway and I pulled an 11 year old dress out of my closet and did my own hair and makeup because grad school tuition is expensive!

On the bright side, over the last two weeks I lost another 1.5lbs!!!! And that includes Thanksgiving! I'll totally take it. It was exactly the motivation I needed today to refocus on my goals and to keep me going over the next three weeks this holiday season. We've got this!

@joannadavison Glad to hear your kitchen is being slowly put back together so you can create some nice healthy meals. How's the exercise going?

@trooworld Did you get in some walks over the weekend? Did they give an estimate on how long those machines would be there? Yes, maintaining is better than gaining. Good news is we always have a new day to start losing.

@mswatson0777 Woohoo Doing the happy dance for you on the 1.5 lb loss. That's huge this time of year. Your ball sounds fun. I used to avoid baking because I like eating what I bake. But I really enjoy baking and missed it, so I added it back in and I'm learning to control myself. I plan exactly how much of it I'm going to eat. I talk myself out of more. I think the big lie we tell ourselves is that "once I get started, I can't stop". We use that as an excuse and permission to keep eating. Now I'm rewriting the script I use with myself. "I've planned two cookies today and that's all I'm having." If you hadn't noticed, I talk to myself alot. lol

@its_cleo Find your balance between work and health. Keep an eye on the scale. So if it starts trending back upwards, you know that estimating usually doesn't work in the long run. Soon you will have some free time to just lay back and enjoy yourself.

Yellow Day-Stayed OP 123/150 Did 23 min of step aerobics, 10 min weights, 5 min stretching, and then later 5 min walking to finish up my 300 burned calories for the day. Onto tomorrow......

December goals: Step class and strength training 2 times a week. 4.5 glasses of water.

@its_cleo I hope your work projects go smoothly for you!

@theslightedgeforever I love that reframing! I'm not quite there yet, but I plan on baking homemade dog treats to get the feeling of baking without the temptation (and they make great holiday gifts!)

@trooworld I'm wishing you the best that everything is dry today. That is so frustrating that it already happened and you've owned the place for less than a year!

@TeresaW1020 Thank you! And you're absolutely right, I need to accept the compliments at face value instead of listening to the mean girl in my head. I love yoga so I hope you like it too. I think it helps a lot with mobility and soreness

So I turned the wrong way during class last night and my elbow popped, and now I'm nursing a hyper-extended elbow. It's not too bad, but its just frustrating. It sounds like as long as I don't re-injure it it will be better by the new year, but ugh. And having to shovel show in single degree temperatures with a hyper-extended elbow this morning definitely did not add to my joy.

In better news, I finished my finals yesterday so I have a full month to relax before classes start up again. I'm looking forward to devouring lots of fiction books and watching cheesy netflix holiday shows. I'm also on countdown, 7 more workdays until holiday break! I took almost a full two weeks off and I can't wait! Happy Tuesday all!

@trooworld Somehow I missed the cause of all the moisture. Was it a leak or what happened? Ok so you have this weekend to get in those two days a week you want to exercise. Plan it into your schedule. How's the daily track of food goal coming along?

@teresaw1020 Yes, you too, get back to tracking. Otherwise how will you know if you are on plan each day? We played the saran wrap ball game at one of the parties too. I hate that game. I'm not good. lol I'm much better at things like Taboo and charades. My favorite game now has to be Mail Call. Kind of like musical chairs but no music. lol One person stands in the middle of a circle. The other guests sit in their chairs. The middle person says Mail Call for anyone who........(example)has had surgery........then anyone who has had surgery has to go find another chair while the middle person tries to grab an empty seat. The one left standing now has to come up with the next Mail Call example. You can burn alot of calories this way spreading out those chairs. lol Kind of like never have I ever. Glad your back is better. I'm still eating the leftovers of the charcuterie board. Although I have to say I like doing it. It might become a regular part of my lunch.

@mswatson0777 Yes, learn to accept compliments with no buts.....Just a Thank you. I've really been working hard at it. or Thank You. Nice of you to notice. Dog biscuit idea sounds good. Ouch on the elbow. That literally made me wince reading it. Your relaxation time reminded me of when my daughter would finish her finals. That's exactly how she spends the break. Reading fanfiction and catching up on Netflix. Now she's working full-time and misses these school breaks.

@renaegry Glad to hear from you. Make good choices today.

@gemwolf110 @Trishastime Come out come out wherever you are.

Red Day-Stayed OP 97/100 carbs Exercise Rest Day

December goals: Step class and strength training 2 times a week. 4.5 glasses of water.