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

@TeresaW1020 Prayers for you & DH…I, too, hope they can get all the cancer with the surgery & that his colonoscopy will be OK. That is so nice that you did the shopping for the angel tree.

I don’t have time for personals right now. I am having a hard time sticking to my calories & exercise, so giving myself some grace until after Christmas. GD is doing good after surgery, but keeping me busy helping with her therapy since DD is back at work. Ice machine & leg movement machine multiple times a day. She went back to school Monday, but could only do 1/2 day, so helping get her to & from school, too. I think she will just do half days all week. We did take Bella (the granddog) back home.

Hope everyone has a good & less stressful week.

Hi all..I have a little more time this morning, so thought I would get on here right away.

@trooworld Your sliders sound yummy, hope you have the party. We never had Christmas parties at work. Miss Daisy is so cute..I love the smooshed faces..most of my grand dogs have been Shitzus (not sure how to spell, lol). So same face, but more hair, lol. Daisy was the name of our poodle when the girls were growing up. Hope Miss Daisy doesn't have too many health issues.

@theslightedgeforever Hope your foot is doing better. I had heel spurs & plantar fasciaitis & what helped was shoes with very good arches & then later got orthotics. Used to wear them all day & it finally went away. I probably still have the spurs, but they don't bother me anymore. Stress fracture sounds painful. Yay on being down 4#!

@cbabie Glad you are better from the Covid. They say sometimes the fatigue lasts quite a while. Ooooh pumpkin bars..I love them! They would not be safe around me, lol. I know what you mean about eating the "old" food rather than throwing it out, I do the same thing. Hope your ear is better.

I am still tracking everything & getting on treadmill when I can.

Dh was out in the timber yesterday, slipped & fell (didn't get hurt, just muddy) but when he was coming home, he realized he didn't have his phone. So he got up at 5 am to get back out there & try to find it. Figured it should be light by the time he got there & took mine to try to ping his, lol. Anyway, I could not go back to sleep, so got up at 6 & started doing wash & get on here. Hope he finds it, but thankful it was a pretty cheap one, lol. Supposed to be very windy (up to 70mph winds) & maybe stormy later, so he wanted to get back before then. He just called, found his phone, but now lost his glasses. Tripped over something & they went flying. Good thing he really doesn't need them after his cataract surgery a few years ago, & they were a pretty cheap pair, lol. Men!!

I have to get Gd from school at lunch time. I am glad she isn't pushing too hard & trying to go all day. Dd will take her to PT this afternoon. Gd is hoping she will be down to one crutch, but don't think that will happen yet. She is not putting full weight on that leg yet, but I'm not sure if she is supposed to either. She said "It's not fair...I decorated my room for Christmas & I can't even see it!" Her bedroom is on 2nd floor & she is not allowed to do stairs yet. Over all I think she is getting along very well. I had to laugh yesterday, she had to put mascara, etc, on before going to school...priorities of a teen girl, lol.

I think we are having Christmas with them (dd & fam here) this weekend, then are going to OK sometime next week. Dd & kids here have school thru Wed next week, so we might have to wait until Thurs to go. It was our turn to have Christmas in OK last year & it didn't happen, so we are doing it this year. Guess I better figure out what we are going to eat. Might be a pretty simple meal, lol.

Hope everyone has a good week.

@teresaw1020 I know it's hard not to want to do everything to take care of others but we still need to take care of ourselves too. I'm so glad you are doing that. The foot is getting better since I'm not doing alot of walking for exercise. When I add it back in, I'm going to do it a little at a time. That way I'll know how much is too much.

@gemwolf110 How has your week been?

@trooworld My foot: see my answer to TeresaW

@retiredandlovingit I'm glad your gd is doing well. Just two weeks left in the year and you can concentrate more on yourself in Jan. Thanks for the info on the plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. I'm sorry about dh but he really was having the worst luck.

@cbabie Sounds like you got in some good exercise. Little changes each day will add up.

98/100 Red
64 min cardio, weights, stretching

@trooworld What ever happened with your dr appt about your migraines? Did they figure something out so you can exercise? Some people would like that kind of party where people bring food but you don't have to talk to your coworkers. lol I could talk more than eat.

I had bookclub yesterday. Nice book. Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare Next month I'm the hostess and we are reading 1984.

226/238 Green
54 min cardio and stretching

@RetiredAndLovingIt Ohhh your poor DH! What an ordeal to first lose his phone and then his glasses. Did you have a good laugh about it? I’m glad that your Gd is doing better and yes mascara is a VERY important thing for a teenage girl. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

@cbabie I can picture the 3-year-old wanting to help carry the firewood. Diabetes runs heavily on my mom’s side of the family and is one of the reasons I want to be at a healthy weight.

@trooworld The furniture store I worked at often had those kids of break room parties too. I hope you are feeling better with your stomach issues.

@theslightedgeforever 1984 should be an interesting book to read and discuss in light of the times we are currently living in.


Hello! We got some good news that hubby’s brain MRI is clean. We are thankful that we can rule that out of the equation. This evening we have a Christmas party with the people that are in hubby’s Sunday school class. I’m not really looking forward to another party but I love all these people so it will be fun. We are taking mom along and she is excited. I made a bacon ranch cheeseball that is very tasty if I do say so myself!

@gemwolf110 So sorry that you had such a stressful week at work. Maybe over your Christmas break, you can give that new career some serious thought so it can be put into action.

@trooworld This is the recipe I used, but I used sharp cheddar instead of pepper Jack and I used at least a cup of cheese. https://www.thechunkychef.com/bacon-ranch-cheese-ball-recipe/
That is cold for you! I’m so glad that you will get to adopt Daisy. The nice thing about the magnets is that they will always be a nice gift idea throughout the year. Mmm air fryer fajitas are one of my favorites too!

@cbabie Sorry for the drama you had to deal with. I’m ready for a better New Year too. Although, I do admit to feeling rather pessimistic that we will get one. However, I do know we serve a good God and that is where true joy lies, so let’s cling to that knowledge. HaHa yes, lots of salad is on the horizon for sure but also lots of lean protein will be in the New Year diet. Just NO more sweets!

@theslightedgeforever the cheeseball and a huge hit. Even my pastor loved it and he has the palette of a five-year-old, which I admit is one of the reasons I choose it. I also love a fiery discussion and 1984 could definitely do it if you have book club members on different political camps. What fun!


Hello! It’s unseasonably warm and rainy here today, but that is OK because I’m not going anywhere. DH went up to Walmart this morning and said it was a nightmare already. Our Christmas party last evening was a lot of fun, but I’m glad the parties are over. Other than my Sunday school party tomorrow morning but that is just cookies and juice. I’m working on my 2022 plan to get back on the weight-loss wagon. For sure going the high protein route. I also signed up for a new challenge that Marty Kendall is doing starting January 8th that will help me target my macros. So yeah, I’ll be tracking those pesky calories and macros for at least a month.

mrytckr wrote: »

Hi, can you say more about the Marty Kendall challenge you referred to please? I’m new and macros with low carb, high protein is the plan I’m working on. Thanks!

Marty Kendall has an incredible amount of knowledge and I can't recommend him enough! You can start by looking over his website https://optimisingnutrition.com/ To read about the Macro challenge and how to join (there is a cost) you can read about it here. https://optimisingnutrition.com/ddmacros/ Marty was doing his challenge on Facebook but has recently moved to his own platform. I hope to see you over there!

@teresaw1020 Sounds like you have a good plan for 2022. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have the palate of a 5 year old too. lol In my bookclub we took a personality quiz and I was a "protagonist". One of the characteristics was likes watching people argue and fight.

@mrytckr Welcome to the group.

@trooworld So reframe this: if I were smarter, I would have made dinner prior to picking him up but I was being dumb. Sounds like you are beating yourself up there. Which restaurant did you go to? Let's figure out what you can choose from there to minimize the damage next time. There will be times when we are tired and rushed and get fast food. Your magnets are so cute. I love the vase. You are so creative.

223/238 Green
35 min cardio and stretching

@trooworld I love Carl's Jr. I'm trying to teach myself at these kind of places to order a sandwich I like with no bun and then a side salad. Then cut up the sandwich and throw it onto the salad. Then grab a couple of fries from hubby. So I get the taste of everything but not all the calories and carbs. I think they have a low carb menu item but I don't think that would help you on WW. Hm. Blueberry iced tea. I've had blueberry hot tea once. It was good. I'm currently drinking iced sage tea. It's a part of my new water plan. chicken pot pie sounds really good. I wonder which one would have more points/calories. Pie crust or puff pastry?

81/100 Red
Exercise rest day

I lost another lb. That makes 6 since I got back home.

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Morning all. Need to be more consistent on here. Way to much to catch up on. My weight is up about 4 lbs. water weight from all the nuts and bolts I’m eating. Switching things up with working out. Miss my treadmill. Was doing the LIIFT4 program. So starting in the new year going to do 3 days of treadmill and 2 -3 days of LIIFT4. Will continue with the program just not there time line.

Not totally throwing the towel in till new year but pulling back. Still going to try to get in the treadmill. And will try to eat not bad. But have a huge bowl of nuts and bolts to eat and many family gatherings to go to where there will be plenty of drinks. lol

Kids are off from school already so hard to stick to a schedule. Sleeping in etc. so 10am and still sitting around drinking my coffee playing on phone. Need to get some book work done today. Treadmill. And that’s about it. My son got his license last week 😬so don’t have to worry about getting him to hockey practice anymore. So can sit and enjoy the hot tub tonight.

@teresaw1020 You could practice being a moderator. We can do anything we put our minds too. My reasons for not being an abstainer is that when I finally hit goal I know I would add those back in and gain my weight back. I want to lose weight like I'm going to maintain it so it sticks. I've already experienced gaining back 23 lbs in 2020. Good news on your hubby. My dh's colonoscopy came back normal except some infection in his duodenum.

@trooworld I can't really tell you what sage tastes like. Kind of menthol-minty. Post the recipe for the cheese soup ole. Sounds yummy on a winter night.

@renaegry 10 days to go til the new year so make the best of it whatever you choose. Some people like to try and maintain, others just wait until the new year. I had my gain in the fall so I'm trying to lose even if it's a little bit. Yaaay on your son's license. It was so nice when my last child could drive and I didn't have to play chauffeur.

@cbabie How exciting to have family for Christmas. Take a pic of your plate when you start eating so you can track it later. Go out for family walks.

68/100 Red
67 min cardio, weights, stretching

@renaegry Your exercise plan sounds like a nice balance between cardio and weights. That's great your son got his license. Congrats! Enjoy the hot tub.

@cbabie Oh dear, it doesn't sound like you are getting much sleep. Don't get run down and have a COVID relapse. Congrats on the loss. Thank you. Yes, that would take the fun out of it to charge for it lol. And never would I do commissions, not my jam! I hope today is a better day for you and you can enjoy the time with your family.

@theslightedgeforever Maybe I'll try to find some sage tea and try it. I'll post the recipe for Cheese Soup Ole below. It's not the healthiest but oh well.

@TeresaW1020 Oh that sounds tasty! I will have to try Chic-Fil-A the next time I'm in that neighborhood. They did love the gifts! I'm so glad you love your new rings. That's good your husband will get the surgery over with. As you say, that will be the quicker you can put it behind you and move on.

Hi all. Not much going on here. It doesn't really feel like Christmas for us since my BIL is still in the hospital and then he's going into a skilled nursing facility for a while after that. We aren't going to gather or celebrate. I'm making ham loaf on Christmas eve, that's about as festive as we are getting. We do have our decorations up, so there's that. But overall, it's a very sad and stressful time for our family. Below is my recipe for Cheese Soup Ole, a recipe I made up years ago. We really like it. Enjoy!

Cheese Soup Ole (makes 8 servings)

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1⁄2 cup diced onion
4 cloves garlic minced
4 cups chicken broth
30 ounces canned pinto beans rinsed and drained
3 cups water divided
10 fluid ounces enchilada sauce
3⁄4 pound Velveeta Light cubed
1⁄2 tablespoon chili powder
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup salsa
3 tablespoons flour

In large pot, boil chicken breasts in water until cooked through. Shred and set aside.

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; saute until onions are translucent. Pour in chicken broth, enchilada sauce, pinto beans, cheese, chili powder and cumin. Simmer until cheese is melted.

After cheese is melted, carefully blend 1/2 of the soup in a blender until smooth. Pour back into the pot. Add salsa and shredded chicken.

In a small bowl, combine flour with a little water, whisk until smooth. Add to soup mixture.

Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until thickened.

My phrase for the year: CHANGE HAPPENS