Hi I'll like to be exempted from this week’s weigh in. I'm down with a little cold xx

@lauren_989 can I skip weigh in this week? I was away for a course and didn't get to weigh until this morning and I am sooooooo bloated that it's completely skewed the scale. My fingers are like sausage links.

November steps:

1 November – 17184

2 November – 11017

3 November – 19198

4 November – 17827

5 November – 23631

6 November – 17371

7 November – 12680

8 November – 12352

9 November – 7084

10 November – 13393

11 November – 14611

12 November – 14722

13 November – 11793

14 November – 15161

15 November - 14715

Happy Sunday, Friends! I'm having an indulgent moment right now as hubby has just brought me coffee in bed! We're celebrating his recent birthday with a family bash in Pershore.

As @TheMrWobbly says, it's still rather soggy in the UK at the moment, but I'm looking forward to celebrating Ben with family and friends later. His siblings were all sharing such wonderful family memories around the dinner table last night.

@ashleycarole86 so sorry you're going through depression at the moment. I know that you will be able to work through it with Brad.

@Gidgitgoescrzy congratulations on quitting. That's epic!

I'll be back with my weigh-in and steps.

Looking forward to seeing those of you joining us on Wednesday, November 19, at 7:30 PM to discuss Great Big Beautiful Life! Here is the link to the Zoom meeting. I will also be sending this via email.

Nancy Bright-Kaufman is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87005331143?pwd=N1hQvj21J37ZbjVwb3yM6sB9sKQlZP.1Error

Meeting ID: 870 0533 1143 Passcode: 541786

So the weekend wasn't nearly as bad as I was dreading, I didn't even think about it too much honestly, there was a point where the husband and I got into a little argument, where typically, I would have went and smoked, but I said to myself " Self, what is a cigarette going to change? Is it going to help you not be frustrated or irritated? Not it isn't, the only thing it will do, is going to make you remorseful, and mad at yourself" So I did not smoke, and I was fine. I told my husband all about it the next day after he apologized 😉 , and he was like well maybe you could, and he offered suggestions, and I was like, but I don't need them, I managed it without substitutions. In the book I read, that is an important part, you have to do it without substitutions, you can't replace one crutch with another. I was very proud of myself for that, along with the fact that, that has been the only real moment since quitting where I thought, egh I wanna go smoke.

Anyway, apparently, I don't own any elves. I moved every single Christmas box to the spare bedroom so I could sort everything, I have not sorted the rest of the attic, but I did find the other stuff I thought I misplaced, so maybe I imagined these elves. I talked to my sister because I thought we had the same set and she was like no I don't think so, so maybe I was just thinking about her elves. Who knows. Anyway, I ordered me some even creepier ones from ebay and they will be delivered this week, so I am excited about that. I made a pretty Christmas forest centerpiece, I will share it when I get it finished, I just have to do the ribbon around the box, and redo the lights. I have another project too I am thinking about making too, it would be fairly easy.

I did 10k steps on both Saturday and Sunday, both were fairly easy, Saturday was Christmas moving, so that was at least 40 trips, which also included a flight of steps. I don't like walking down steps with my arms overloaded, so it was easier to do more trips, plus I needed the steps. Sunday, we went on shopping errands, then I did my strength training and I upped that to 3 rounds. I did the rest marching in place while watching the football game.

This week is much of the same as last week.

Have a great day !

ashleycarole86 sounds like a wonderful weekend.

Gidgitgoescrzy I'm so proud of you this weekend. It takes a strong person to resist going back to old habits. You've done so much great work on yourself. I feel like the question you ask your self about smoking can relate with my habit of eating something sweet at night. What benefit will it bring me and will I feel better about myself if I have that snack or piece of chocolate.

I had a heavy week of being out of town and eating what I want as well as stress eating. It's something I've been able to keep at bay for a while but pops up when I don't feel comfortable in certain situations and i know it's not a productive habit as I move to a new job knowing there will be more stressors. My weight reflects that. Didn't let Monday get away. Was up early for a morning workout and got some adulting work out of the way.

For this week I have some time off and hoping to possibly get some Christmas prep done but I'm no way at the point of pulling my decorations out - Gidgitgoescrzy Can't wait to see your centerpiece.

PW 161.2

CW 162.2

@Gidgitgoescrzy You are doing so Awesome! Keep it up girl. I love your mindset, it's so positive but matter of fact. I can relate to needing to talk myself through habit changes.

@TheMrWobbly have a great trip

@jguldi11 I love the idea of marching around the bathroom for extra steps with the kids in the tub!

My maintenance break is going really well. My coach just increased my calories by 100. I was able to keep my body fat and muscle mass stable for the past 2 weeks. So happy with my results. I think my body is using carbs more efficiently. We had an amazing weekend and got to see the northern lights! We are in the mountains on 100 acres so we had a great view.

PW 248.3 lbs

CW 246.4 lbs

@Gidgitgoescrzy you're doing amazing! I love that mindset.

@conleywoods thank you for sharing the beautiful photos! It must be beautiful in the mountains. I was able to see the northern lights as well, I took some pictures but I don't have a tripod and I was shivering so they're a bit blurry unfortunately.

@TheMrWobbly enjoy yourself! And I agree, it's perfectly ok if people have weigh ins in the red sometimes, that's real life. I'm never disappointed or feel like the team is let down if someone has an off week, we all do at one point or another.

I had my first therapy appointment today and it was great, I'm so excited. She has a different theoretical approach and skillset than I do so there's plenty for me to learn and grow.

Another big thing that happened today is that my son intentionally waved bye to the babysitter when she was leaving. This is a huuuge deal, I'm so proud of all the progress he's been making 🥹💙 (he's autistic and non-verbal for anyone that is unaware of our story).

My husband and I went out for dinner tonight, I did eat a little more bread than I probably should have but I did great at keeping the rest of my portions reasonable. I had a steak, brusselsprouts and potatoes au gratin. It was so good and relatively healthy.

It's time for me to get some sleep now. I hope everyone has a great night/day tomorrow!