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

@trooworld That’s good that you’re feeling better. Fantastic weight loss! I love falafel. Cucumber sauce sounds good. Hi, all. The sun is out today and temperatures are a little bit above freezing. There is some melting and the roads are better. DS decided to go to work because of that. I spend my days inside and I’m getting cabin fever. But the area near our vehicles is still frozen. So I’ll stay home again tomorrow. Tonight is steak night.

@trooworld That was good that you could walk without pain. I bet losing weight also helps. The meal sounded good. I imagine that 1/2 teaspoon sriracha isn’t too spicy. I hope you enjoyed the nature walk. @its_cleo That’s too bad about work and stress. Is there anything you can do to relieve stress? @cbabie Getting rid of tempting food is the first step. I hope you get to relax outside tomorrow. @theslightedgeforever Be patient with yourself. It’s hard to commit to good habits and also recuperate from surgery. Small steps, not perfection. I remember after my hip surgery it took me a long time to get back that healthy mindset. Hi, all. We left the house today for the first time since last Tuesday! We went swimming. I cooked dinner tonight and my daughter and her husband came over. I made an America’s Test Kitchen recipe for sausage and bean soup. I added elbow macaroni to it. We have leftovers next week.

@trooworld Good job on all that walking! You were smart to cut your walk short before you got too hot. I love the picture. That’s my idea of a peaceful walk. That’s wonderful that your knee was okay. @its_cleo That’s a good idea to make a plan. I hope you had a restful day. Hi, all. The weather was in the 40’s and sunny so I went for a walk. I’m getting bored riding my bike. It was a bit chilly when I started but I was warm the rest of the time. Tonight we celebrated our granddaughter’s 13th birthday. My cousin and her cousin came over. DS made homemade pizza, and my cousin brought us salad. DS also made a chocolate cake from his King Arthur Cookbook. We also had ice cream. I actually ate a reasonable amount and am not stuffed. Although I did go over calories just a bit. But I don’t feel bad about it.

@fabgeekmom Sausage and bean soup sounds really good. I think I might make me some. I'm glad you got to swim.

@trooworld I went for a walk with hubby for an hour. Should have stopped about the 45 min mark. Your hike looked fun

@its_cleo Its so easy to get discouraged. The trick is to just not quit. Then we never win. So is your current plan too big of a jump from where you are to where you want to be? Portion control is always a good thing. I've been working on eating 75% of the foods I like and then leaving some on my plate. Also another plan is to just serve yourself like you normally would, cut off the 25% and put it back in the serving dish away from you and then add a fruit or some veggies. So you still get to eat more food but not as caloric. Works with cheesecake too. You also after a hard week deserve to have a healthy body so it can take you through the next hard week that comes up. Then think up some alternatives to relieve your stress.

@cbabie So what exercises have you been doing this week? Perfection: Then we had kids and transferred that mess to them. Indian food is always spicy to me. Even when they say oh it's mild. Nope don't believe the lie.

As of today I was cleared for weight lifting. So I did 15 min of treadmill and then half of my normal routine for weights. Boy was I winded. So that's my baseline. I can only go up from there. I've tracked all my food so far. Back to making that a habit again.

@fabgeekmom Funny joke. Yaaay on your walk.

@trooworld I just walked around the neighborhood. Funny I never thought about a hike including hills. I always think about it "in nature". If you are in the city then it's a walk.

Today I feel lightheaded and just tired. Don't really feel like doing much of anything. This too shall pass.

I was thinking of you guys all day lol. The struggle is real. I really wanted takeout or binge on junk food but I didn’t, just kept to my calorie limit.
@fabgeekmom yeah it has been mild here, too. Yesterday I got out for a very short bike ride. Today was nice.

There are winter birds here called buffleheads. They come in the winter and then go further north in the spring (they like the cold). They are still here. I always know when spring is here bc the buffleheads all disappear at once.

@theslightedgeforever definitely take a rest if you need to. …

I don't know how to quote this- You also after a hard week deserve to have a healthy body so it can take you through the next hard week that comes up

This is so true. When my trainer used to ask me to do something, he would say- your body will thank you. I miss him lol.

@trooworld a lot of protein bar stuff is gross to me. You can buy protein powder and throw it in yogur or something though. I used to do that. They have flavoured protein powder.

@cbabie at least you tried the food! It’s good to be open and then if you don’t like it, ok. Brave to try different things. I admit there are some seafood dishes I will not eat.

Well I am ok, just trying not to give up, it’s definitely emotion/stress based. But I did better today at least.

@fabgeekmom Thanks for the wisdom on surgery. Mentally I'm still not where I was before. I left a candle burning the other day. :yikes: Hubby found it. 1/2 a protein bar. I might be able to get there one day but I don't know. I could eat 1/2 a candy bar though.

@its_cleo What a big NSV you had. Sticking to your calorie limit That is such a big deal. I have a mental block with protein powder. I think of it as the ultimate processed food pretending to be a health food.

@trooworld Woohoo on your promotion. I see your point on the yogurt. I have a problem with smoothies because I went through a period of doing the Shred diet.

@cbabie Yaaay on better choices of food. Just little tweaks here and there is what it takes. Sorry about another sick child. Think of all the immunity she is building up. There'll come a day when she won't always be sick.

I went to my cardiologist for my normal check up. Blood pressure was too high. I forgot my meds last night. Plus the highway was under construction and had to take a detour. That was backed up so long because of the stoplights. So I was 10 min late to my appointment. I'm sure that didn't help my bp. So I need to really get this exercise thing figured out. That will help alot. I've done it twice this week. While that is progress from not doing anything it is not enough to change my body.

@trooworld That was good that you were able to go on one walk. Good job on the weight loss! I’m glad Daisy is better. I understand how pets are part of the family. I adore my daughter’s cats. Hi, all. Today was a swim day. My cousin came over and gave me some split pea soup. I gave her some tomato soup. Dinner was salad, polenta in the instant pot and salmon in the air fryer. I made a glaze with orange marmalade, orange zest, a few tablespoons orange juice and a grainy Dijon mustard. It was really good!

Hey @gemwolf110 love that picture!

@fabgeekmom that’s great you can enjoy swimming so much, I wish I did. I tried to walk a little bit more one day this week to see if my hip had healed, but still had issues after.

@trooworld congrats on your promotion! I used to manage people and didn’t like it lol.

@cbabie I hope the medicine works. I hate buying new clothes. I was never big on shopping.

@theslightedgeforever my brain is gone most of the time, too. I have to doublecheck everything. Yesterday I left my electric blanket on all day (I was out and left it on when I left). It’s supposed to have an auto shut off feature, but I guess not lol.

Well I made it through yesterday without ordering takeout, I had left over spaghetti. I mostly stuck to calorie goals the last few days. I don’t know about this weekend. I got Hello Fresh this week, so I have a couple meals here, but I don’t know if I’m into it. Well one is chicken and chickpeas and I’m into that, the other is a salmon meal and I’m just not sure I’m into fish lol.

So we will see. It will be a while before I get it again, though sometimes I try the recipes myself.

I’m pretty wiped so I want to have a quiet weekend, though I have some chores and stuff to do, just puttering around though.

@trooworld – great pictures! Both at the restaurant and the zoo. And congrats on the pants. You do so much fun stuff. I’m a real hermit, which is kind of a problem tbh lol. But I was looking at gyms and gym classes that I might like to join. I just have to get my hip sorted out first.

I did have the salmon last night, it was a British recipe apparently, kind of like a salmon shepherd’s pie- with dill/lemon spices, carrots, celery, potatoes. It was ok.

I’m seeing a physio again this week, a new guy. So- I’m not very optimistic, but will see what he has to say.

@fabgeekmom – Hello Fresh- yes you can choose the meals, but they have a similar menu a lot. I did it a few years ago every week, and now I just do it once every couple months. A lot of the meals I can pretty much just copy the ingredients and make myself. They do have good spice mixes though, and they don’t tell you what’s in it. So I usually just try to guess based on the meal. They also have good soups usually.

Yesterday I did my taxes, today again just puttering around. About a week ago I tried to walk a bit further- an extra 0.5 km- but it aggravated my hip and still hasn’t recovered. So I’m a bit frustrated. As I said, seeing physio this week but I’m not super optimistic. Still waiting for a consult for an orthopedic surgeon, but probably wont happen til May.

At least I can bike a little bit, so I’m hanging on to that.

ETA one of the Hello Fresh soups I'm trying to make on my own is a halloumi soup w/ sweet potato. I've had it from them before and really liked it. I tried once on my own and it wasn't as good, but I don't think I had the ingredients right. So I'm going to try again today or tomorrow to make it for lunch this week

@fabgeekmom yeah the salmon- I get it lol. It was ok, but I wouldn't make it again.

@trooworld what kind of art work is it? Like painting?

I did ok with my calories yesterday. Saturday I splurged and had chips and dip. But I didn't have a drink, so I feel like it evened out lol.

I think my soup turned out great, I'm excited for lunch today.