I'm here!!!!
Have been eating all sorts of naughty goodies this week, but the scales still say 162 (I jumped on 3 times to make sure!!) so my food and drink habits have not made a difference....yet!!! I've developed a Jim Beam Red Stag habit...but only one per evening!! (A measure that is, not a bottle!!)
Glad the naughty stuff isn't showing up on the scale!
My helping out at the homless project 2 evenings ago was a very humbling eperience. All of the peole that came to see us for hot drinks, food and clothing were so friendly and polite. It really made me grateful for what I've got. Listening to some of the circumstances of why these peole are on the streets made me realise that it really could happen to any one of us.
So proud of you for doing that!
Soooooo, NY resolutions....I don't really do them as it's just something to break, but this year I am really committing to carry on the running for as long as my body will let me. I have tentatively agreed to do the Great North Run (UK Half Marathon) in 2015......plenty of time to train!!! I have already identified 3 10K races to complete next year though. One in March, one in July and one in October. Got to add to my t-shirt collection. Did good in the 5K yesterday....not a PB, but my 3rd best time, which after a late night in the freezing cold didn't seem so bad!
You are so prepared for a GREAT HEALTHY 2014!!
My accomplishment for 2013....well I guess it has to be my 78lb weight loss!!! I felt fantastic going out in a size 16 dress last night to OH's Work 'do' when last year I was a size 26 (UK sizes).....lots of his colleagues, both male and female gave me really positive comments, so I guess I finally have to accept the difference!!! I can see the number on the scales, but still sometimes have a hard time seeing it when I look in the mirror.
WOOHOO on a dress 10 sizes smaller!! AMAZING!! Congrats!!
OH has been to IKEA today with a friend who has just bought their first home.....I really enjoyed the day to myself......finished off the little bits of shopping I needed for presents, did a bit of cooking (made some 3-2-1 soup....more of that later!) and generally chilled out. I logged onto my work email account to prepare for tomorrow and got some really good news....I have been trying to get our company registered with a national accredditation scheme for Health & Safety and it has been a hard slog........well at 21:15 last night the assessor sent me an email to say we've passed.......no small personal victory for me as I've done all of the work myself for it.
WTG!!
Anyway, enough of me waffling on!! I'll leave you with my 3-2-1 soup recipe......it sounds odd, but tastes lovely and is really cheap to make (well, at least it is in the UK!!)
Take 3 cans of tomatoes, 2 cans of baked beans and 1 can of carrots. Heat it all up in a pan then blitz with a stick blender. Add 5 pickled onions (do you guys have those??), 3 tbsp of red wine vinegar and a large handful of fresh basil. Blitz again and serve. This makes 6 generous portions and freezes really well for lunches or a quick dinner. I can get all 6 cans in Lidl for under £2 ($3ish)..someone else I know hs used balsamic vinegar intead of the red wine vinegar, but I've not tried that myself yet.
Will try to check in a bit more now the pressure is off a bit at work.
Take care everyone.
Need a bit of clarification. By "baked beans" do you mean like the type of beans cooked all day with molasses and salt pork? Or just cooked kidney beans? I've never seen pickled onions here, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist. Would it work with just some carmelized onions??
Hi everyone!
This thread has become really slow, but I am so grateful that it is still around. The weekend has been much better than last week and I feel like I am starting to get out of that mood of not being able to eat healthy. Thanks to all the support I got last week!
Glad your eating mood is changing for the better!!
Pam, you mentioned how groups are far more important when you are struggling than when everything is fine, but that those are the times when people start to disappear. I used to be that way, I guess it has to do with the feeling that you are a failure while everyone else is able to tackle their demons while oneself is struggling. And then there is a certain amount of jealousy over other's successes even if those are well earned. It's just easier to disappear. That's why I really love hosting when I know that a time is going to be difficult for me as I can't just disappear. And it also helps that by now, I feel like I belong to this group and know that people won't judge me if I have a horrible month.
Glad my comments gave you some "food for thought".
The weekend continued the busy theme. I managed to finish a photo book with scanned slides for my father. That was quite a huge project! I hope he will like the end result!
What a great gift!!
And congratulations to this weeks losers and maintainers!! I have just updated the first page. I hope the next week will be a successful one for all of us!!
I am here, just quite! I will be coaching starting tomorrow and hoping I can reach the bar that has been set so far! I am new to this, but have been lurking for awhile! I am sorry if I repeat any questions of the day. I have really tried to go back thru to avoid any repeats! I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! I am looking forward to the week ahead!
Looking forward to some "fresh thoughts" in the coaching chair!
Good Morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I ran a very rainy and flooded Ugly Sweater 5K on Saturday and PR'd! Super excited!
OH my! Other than the rain and flooding, an "Ugly Sweater" 5K sounds like so much fun!! COngrats on the PR!
Still can not believe just how close we are to Christmas and the end of another year! This year has been pretty amazing for me and I am really looking forward to the next and what it might hold for me! I work nights for the next couple days so I will respond tonight when I get back to work, but here is the
QOTD
So as our weight comes off or as we maintain those around us constantly ask "HOW DID/DO you do it?" The problem is most do not want to hear the truth- hard work, health eating, lots of exercise, etc... SO my question is do any of you wonderful people have a way to tell them so that they actually may possibly gain a little insight or is perhaps an answer that is user-friendly?
I tend to just say I run a LOT and then change the subject, but looking back I feel like I was being rude. I will say the times I have tried to explain my methods it is really not what they want to hear. I tend to go into to much detail and try an explain every aspect of my journey thus far. They want a quick fix, and mine was most definitely not a quick fix. I am trying to find a happy medium and an easy response to this question. I will preface this with I have lost a little over 70lbs in the last year. I still have 20 or so to go, but I did it with exercise, healthy eating, and portion/calorie control among other things.
I hope everyone has a wonderful MONDAY!
I AGREE that everyone is looking for a QUICK FIX! When people asked me they didn't want to hear the truth.... that I went to the gym on a regular basis and that I was (kind of) hungry a LOT! They don't want to know the fact that I didn't just buy a canister of SLIMFAST on a Monday, drank it for a week, and was instantly slim by Friday!
They don't want to compare my SUPER HEALTHY homemade lunch to their cafeteria tray. They want the MAGIC SHOT!
I tell them the truth.... that for me, the "magic" was TRACKING ALL OF MY FOOD and WEIGHING/MEASURE ALL OF MY PORTIONS (as I was taught/directed by WW)! The added "bonus secret" was running/walking/cross training/light weight training at least 5 days a week.
They didn't want to hear that I (at least temporarily) gave up all beer and wine, plenty of desserts (but not all), lots of carbs (most especially the refined type), and I almost NEVER eat out.
I'm NOT saying that is how EVERYONE has to do it.... but if you are asking how I did it, that is the long answer!
I guess the most "user friendly" or insightful answer is WEIGHT WATCHERS. If you really read everything you are given and follow the plan, then you don't really have to give up ANYTHING (to any real degree anyhow) and you WILL LOSE WEIGHT if you follow the plan... PERIOD! But if does take work and thinking and planning... it is NOT magic.
First of all a big thank you to Pam for coaching the last days and then a huge Welcome to our new coach huckleberrykate!!!
You are SO welcome! It was a very easy coaching week, since it was so VERY, VERY quiet! I feel like I cheated a bit! 
It is always great to see the people who are newer to these threads jump in and take on coaching!!
My answer to the QOTD:
I haven't really lost that much this year, so people don't ask!
But I have in the past. The last time I lost a lot of weight I was following Weight Watchers and that was an easy explanation. Even though you get looks from people who think you are crazy to pay money for that. The time before it was really just exercise and portion control and calorie counting. I tend to not be very general with my answers, but come up with little things that I have found helpful, for example make sure to have healthy snacks like a carrot before dinner.
Sometimes it is those little answers that help the most!
********************
Morning all! The Mythbusters show last night was very funny, but the ride home was not. DH was already in a pretty cranky mood (male PMS?????)... then we couldn't find the highway on-ramp immediately. Then about 60 minutes into the ride we got behind an accident and ended up sitting stock still for nearly TWO HOURS!!
I know, I know.... I'm just grateful that WE were not in the accident and it was really just an aggravation and inconvenience.... but we were already so tired and it was so late. DD and I tried to sleep, DS claimed he couldn't sleep in the car and played on my iPad until the battery died. We didn't get home until nearly 2 am!
Just grateful that we weren't involved and that the car had plenty of gas to keep us warm. I tend to drive around on EMPTY a lot and if it had been my car we might have been forced to keep it turned off to save fuel. THen when we finally got home we still had to make several trips in from the garage with all of DD's bags, armfuls of coats, etc. And of COURSE, this is a rare day when DS had to be to school 40 minutes early....
We'll make it through the day.
Stayed OP pretty well yesterday. We ended up eating dinner at DD's school dining hall. Families eat for free, so it was kind of a win-win... good food, no check, no tip, and no tax.... plus we didn't have to search for parking and wait for a table! DS loved it (it was the first time he had eaten there), but thought that the pizza was only so-so.... but the burger, meatballs, soup, fries, onion rings, cake, and hot chocolate were great!!
Oh.... to have a young male metabolism!
I tried the soup, but only a few spoonfuls since it tasted really decadent (cream of asparagus). Then I had a vegetarian option... sort of a veggie and cheese turnover. I'm sure that the pastry was fatty, but I only ate a portion of it. Then I loaded my plate with the veggies... roasted squash and sauteed broccoli rabe. I did splurge on truly the TINIEST portion of ice cream (probably less than 1/4 C). Even if I estimate HIGH on the Points for my dinner and assume I had 10 Points at dinner, I still stayed within 1 Point of my Daily target, so I consider that a win.
I am letting DD sleep in a bit, since we got home SO LATE, but I'm going to roust her up soon so we can have some time together! She isn't going to be able to stay home for the entire winter break. She heads back 1/1/14 to start working on a research project.... so I need to make the most of the two weeks that I have her here! I opted out of subbing for all of this week, so I only have my WW meeting tomorrow night on my schedule.
TTYL........................P
that we all need, especially now. 
and congratulations to you on your PR! 
I agree that most people don't really want to hear it and are secretly hoping you have some easy, magical answer. 
You should post your story on the WISH threads to inspire others to reach for the stars, Kate. We will be ready to cheer you on when you take on that Ironman. 
Hope that you get to enjoy some time just for yourself for the holidays. 
