4 the Birds #104

[Maple]

Time for a new thread girls. I could use some of that ZZZZZap too. I'm OP and walking and still the scales rebels. I have a sneaky feeing it's the walking causing me to retain fluid which I've read can happen to a "new exerciser". LOL I'm serious Patti! I could just hear you when you read that statement. "Excuses, excuses, now she dares to blame it on exercise!" All kidding aside, this has happened to me more than I care to admit but this time I'm not going to give up. I'll keep on doing what I'm doing and sooner or later I'll see a nice loss. 5#'s by the 15th? I'm not counting on it but I'll take whatever I get. Remember Sven? I'm thinking he wasn't so far off...........well, the food was a bit much, but the fluid retention thing was something I can believe.

Joy oh joy.....more company! When will they leave me alone? Our friends from France are coming for a visit this afternoon before they head back overseas. Fortunately their visit was short in our city so I don't have to have them for dinner. Tea and a bickie this afternoon will suffice. I have to find out how many points in lemon squares/bars are before I dare have a piece. I cut each bar into 3 very small pieces and think one piece won't be shattering. Any idea what the points might be for a 2" x 1 1/2" piece? I'll go looking and if I can't find the point value, I'll pull out my recipe and enter all the ingredients in my WW eTool recipe point calculator to get the answer.

I've been too busy to walk so far today. REALLY! Since it stays lighter longer now, I'm aiming for an after dinner walk. I really don't want to miss it because I'm liking how good I feel after I've walked. :exercise2

[PattiG]

Maple, I'll be perfectly honest. I was just discussing this with my family last night...I've been pretty good all week too and really pushing myself exercise-wise, but I also have not seen the scale budge even an ounce. Although I might retaining some water at this time, you'd think we'd both have sweated it out by now! I only have one suggestion and that's to just keep plugging away. At some point our efforts will pay off. That I know for sure. "When" is another question entirely.

[Maple]

Just a quick note to let you know I did everything I set out to do today. Tiny 1.5 point serving of that lemon bar (I found the info I was looking for) and I did go for a walk after dinner. :angel

How are you doing Sophie? See what good pals we are? We are sharing your weight stall with you! :buddysmoo As long as no one gives up we'll make it through this little challange and be glad we did. I was so excited to be back OP and so gung-ho that I never gave that 5# 2 week challange a second thought. Thinking about it now, I think that's a bit much to expect. Realisticlly, we should have shot for 3 weeks. Even that would require no messing around. Anyhow, the challange is on and on the 15th we will report our results. Maybe from the 15th to the end of the month we should consider a 3# challange. Sound good?

[sophiegoren]

Thank you, Patti! You zapped me out of my funk and I went out and walked TWO miles in the rain. Got home looking like a drowned rat but I felt wonderful. Walking really is a miracle.:exercise2

Didn't notice any validation on the scale this morning. At this point I will be thrilled to get a one pound loss by the 15th. You may be right Maple about our goal being unrealistic.

Last night I went to our local Oprah Book Club which included dinner. Lasagne, salad, rolls and much sugary temptation. I kept thinking about coming this far only to be done in by a cookie. I ate a little lasagne; a lot of salad and NO sugar. Glad I had that comment to hang on to.

Sophie

[Maple]

Sophie, congratulations on your NSV at your book club meeting last night. Those are just about the worst dinner assortments I can think of. Thanks goodness for the salad. Obviously, the hostess isn't on WW. LOL Since it's a Oprah Book Club group maybe you could figure out something Oprah would like to eat............she's looking really great these days. Of course, she might say fried chicken, mashed potatoes and sweet potato pie and suggest you all get on the treadmill for 4 hours after. I think here continued success at weight loss has a lot to do with the amount of exercise she says she HAS to do each day.

It looks like a nice day so I'll be going for one of my longer walks today. I'll take Porsha and leave Charlie at home since he can't walk too far or too quickly yet. I had him out for 40 minutes last night and I think it was a bit too much for him because he's stiff this morning. My walking schedule is falling into place now and I'm prioritizing it as #1 on my to do list. Because of my committment to rehabing Charlie, I must walk him at least 30 minutes once a day and 10 minutes 2 times a day 7 days a week. These are what I call my short walks. My long walks are at lease 60 minutes twice a week. By the end of April I want to be walking 60 minutes 3 times a week plus whatever I have to do with Charlie on daily basis. :work_out:

If I sit her all morning, I'll never get the day rolling so I'm off to begin my beautiful sunny day.

[Maple]

Good Saturday morning and what a beautiful one it is. I watched the sunrise over the water with my morning coffee on the patio. It's still a bit nippy at that time of the morning but it was too pretty to miss. I'm phsyced for another successful day. Yesterday I carefully distributed my points so I'd have points available for "movie night". I was able to have popcorn and even 5 sticks of licorice before using up my daily points.

Today will be my long walk since it didn't work out yesterday. I did a short walk though. At the moment I'm torn between getting out in the garden and planting up my flower urns or walking right away. Common sense tells me it should be the latter..........I'll have the rest of the day to play in the dirt. :jumprope:

[PattiG]

Hi All,
I'm watching my 12 yr old niece today, so no time to write now. I have to tell you about the chickadees that ate from my hand yesterday. It made my day!! I'll post again tonight after dinner.

Maple, are you around for IM tonight?

[sophiegoren]

Birds!

Maple, my accomplice at the Oprah Club WAS a WW until recently. That is when she joined LA Weight Loss which is the biggest rip off in the history of dieting. How do I know? Because I belonged for a short time several years ago. It was a disaster!

I am facing another struggle tonight. Going to a party and oh, my, it will be a challenge. I have eaten nothing but raw vegetables so far today. Lord, have mercy. I will need it tonight.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Sophie

[Maple]

Another good day..........so far. We are renting the movie "Sideways" and I'm hoping it won't give me the urge to pop the cork on a bottle of Merlot. Have either of you seen it? I hear it's funny. That said, I'll probably not be on IM tonight but Sunday night is doable. Will that work for you Patti?

Sophie I hope you will have some protein points before you go out. Just veggies might not be enough to keep you out of trouble. In any case, let us know how it went and how you avoided the food bullets.......I know you will because you are our hero.........remember??? :angel

I did my 60 minute walk this morning. There are trail markers so I know how far I walked in that time.....3.78 miles= 3.78 MPH. Good thing Porsha is a girl because a male doggy would stop far too many time for me to do that well. I feel goooood! :exercise2 :D :exercise2 :D After lunch I even took Charlie out for his trail walk but that was only 10 minutes. After dinner I have to take him out for 30 minutes for his leg physio. Now if only the scale would reflect all this hard work. LOL, actually I've been enjoying the walking so I'm not feeling like it's a lot of work and I know sooner or later I will be rewarded.

Chickadees eating out of your hand. You lucky dog! How did you go about doing that? I've hand fed several birds, even a chickadee, but that was when I was in the process of reviving them and setting them free. I'd love a chickadee to eat out of my hand. I have had a couple of Hummingbirds sitting on my arm though.

[PattiG]

OK Birds, here's our exercise plan for next week. I'm thinking this may be more enjoyable than what we've been putting ourselves through thus far:

Monday
Beat around the bush
Jump to conclusions
Climb the walls
Wade through the morning paper

Tuesday
Drag my heels
Push my luck
Make mountains out of mole hills
Hit the nail on the head

Wednesday
Bend over backwards
Jump on the Band Wagon
Run around in circles

Thursday
Toot my own horn
Pull out all the stops
Add fuel to the fire

Friday
Open a can of worms
Put my foot in my mouth
Start the ball rolling
Go over the edge

Saturday
Pick up the pieces!!

Sunday
Kneel in prayer
Bow my head in thanksgiving
Uplift my hands in praise
Hug someone and encourage them.

Whew! What a workout! NOW, we should get on the scale and WI!

[PattiG]

I was going to continue my post on the last one, but that got way too long. You ladies sound as if you're doing soooo well. The last three days have been such food disasters that I don't even know where to begin. Five poinds by the 15th? I can honestly say that that won't be possible. I'd settle for 1 lb. On the positive side (if there is one), I will be front and center at the WW meeting tomorrow come h_ll or high water. Enough is Enough (haven't I said that before?)

As for the chickadees, it was amazing. I went out to fill my feeder at work and there were two chickadees pecking at a tiny piece of suet left in the cage. I was just about to put some seed in the feeder when a little downy woodpecker claimed his spot at the suet and moved the others aside. I put a little seed in my hand and held it out. The chickadees had no choice. If the wanted to eat, there was only 1 place to get it. I swear, I was standing there less than a minute when the first one boldly approached and was just about 2" from my fingertip when he had second thoughts and flew off. The other one then flew over, perched on my middle finger and took a seed, and then flew back the tree. I guess the first chickadee saw it was safe and decided to land this time. The both went back and forth about 3 times until I moved to go back into work. That made my day! I know it usually takes weeks of patient standing for the birds to become confident enough to land but these two were either extremely gutsy or very hungry. Either way, it floored me!

[PattiG]

LOL Three posts in a role, that's probably some new record for me. Does this mean I don't have to post all week?

I went to WI this morning. It wasn't a pretty sight. Let's just say I'm a little further away from my goal than I was last week. I don't even want to talk about it. I don't know what to say. But that being said, I've journaled my breakfast this morning and I'm going to head out to the beach for my first rollerblading afternoon of the season. It'll be a nice change of pace from the treadmill and it will lift my spirits for sure and get my head back in the right place.

I'll check back later today.

Me

4:00 pm: I feel great! I rollerbladed 9 miles under a beautiful blue sky, ate a perfect OP lunch, and washed two cars. I have absolutely no energy left but I feel positive and back on track. lol If I worked like this every day maybe I could lose 5 lbs by the 15th.

[Maple]

Where did my post go? It was a long one too. Since I can't remember all of it I'll just wing it now.

First thing. Remember what I said about not opening a bottle of Merlot last night? I didn't! It was a bottle of Pinot Noir! That's what the jist of the movie "Sideways" was about. If you haven't seen it yet, don't bother. I fell asleep half way through. I rate this move 2 thumbs down.

Sorry to hear about your disappointing weigh-in Patti. The good thing is that you've started journaling again so not all is lost. Or should I say gained? SLAP! Bad Maple! LOL If it makes you feel any better, I had ice cream last night before bed........about 1 1/2 cups worth. That put me over my dailiy points so I had to dip into my weekly bonus points........again. Not all is lost (gained?) though, I still have 22 bonus points remaining. It should be interesting what my weigh in tomorrow will bring because I never used to use any bonus points.............I think. To clarify; eTools doesn't let you forget or miscalculate and I've winged it for so long, I'm sure I've been letting a point here and a point there sneak in without noticing. I guess they were right after all........journal, journal, journal is the way to go. Bummer huh?

Sophie I've been wondering how you dinner party went. Since you've not posted since I'm a bit concerned things didn't go well. Never mind, you can pick up right this minute and carry on. We still have 5 days left of our challange. I'm sure all of us can lose 1# by then if we really work hard and stay strong. Soooooo, I'm suggesting a challange within a challange.


One pound lost by the 15th


Are we all in? I am!

[sophiegoren]

Birds:

Patti, let me say how sorry I also am about your about your dreary weigh in. Isn't it just awful?

Maple, I did see Sideways and understand why you wouldn't crack a bottle of Merlot after watching it. I came away from the theater wishing someone had told me it wasn't a side-splitting comedy. I was expecting that from the promos and ended up feeling let down because I would call it a "dark" comedy if it's to be called a comedy at all. Certainly, I did learn a lot about pinot noir and would never make the faux paus by drinking Merlot.

And then about last night . . . well, the WW gods were with me. First, the smorgasbord wasn't as outrageous as I expected. And I guess all the deprivation of the week (since indulging at Steak n Shake on Monday) paid off because I actually weighed in 10 1/2 lbs total loss this morning. That is the first I have hit 10 in about two weeks. So now I am feeling better and thinking I just may get our one pound in by the 15th.

Are we cheap or what? We start out with a five pound challenge and are now praying for one. Right now, I will gladly accept it. These past few weeks have really been difficult. I feel like I have hit a brick wall and I just can't get through it.

So, it's one by the 15th? And we're going to do what after that?

Sophie

[PattiG]

ROTFL We ARE a sad lot aren't we? Actually, Sophie you did better than me and Maple.

Ok Maple, 1 lb it is! Even I can squeek that out this week. As for how we follow up on that challenge, just think of the lyrics from the Beatles' song:


"one is the loneliest number"

Therefore, after next week's WI we'll need to get that one pound that was lost some company. We'll have to aim for at least "two!"

[Maple]

2#'s in the following week? How about 3#'s to the end of the month. That would be 1.5#s per week. Given our last performance I think that would be more realistic don't you? Remember we want to experience success not failure like we just did. Since we all weigh in on different days we will have to weigh in on our home scales on the 15th for our starting point for our second challenge (disregard what the ww scales said unless the 15th is your regular ww meeting) then on the 30th weigh again on our home scales. I'm all for a challenge within a challenge too; one week at a time if that's better for you. Have I confused you yet? LOL

[PattiG]

It's frightening, but yes I understood exactly what you just said. LOL

[Maple]

Da Da!

Surprise Surprise

DOWN .8#'s

It might not be much, but for someone that wasn't expecting anything, I'll take it.

OK Ladies, let's get to work..............1# by Friday, April 15th.


Can we do it!

YES WE CAN!

[PattiG]

Hey Maple! I wish we were still able to post those dancing letters cause they'd be kicklining "YES!!" right now. :D

Now go get that 0.8 lbs some company!

[PattiG]

Hi All,

So far so good today! I just finished eating a healthy OP dinner, and breakfast and lunch were right on target too. Today has been better than almost any day last week. Finally back on track. I'll get in some treadmilling tonight (although my entire body is still sore from yesterday) and all will be right with the world. :)

[sophiegoren]

Lost another post . . . this is getting tiresome! :headover:

If you hurry, you still have time to wish me happy birthday. Nature didn't deliver any gifts on the scale this morning but this has still been a lovely day. I had dinner out tonight and polished off a plate of fettucini without taking that first breath. I was so hungry. Only had a cucumber sandwich for lunch.

By the way, one "friend" gave me candy for my birthday!

Took Fred and George for an extra long walk today. They would keep going until my tongue was hanging down to my knees.

Glad Charlie is doing so well, Maple. Did you get the post I wrote once upon a time about my four schnauzers?

Four days, ladies . . .

Sophie

[Maple]

I started Spring cleaning today and have been on my feet all day except for a 20 minute lunch break. I'm pooped! I planned most of my meals for today, last night so I'd not be "too busy" to have good WW meals today. You know how that goes don't you? I've be caught in a rush, having to eat something in a hurry and choosing fast high point foods, vowing to make up for it later which I never seem to do.

I've not gone for a walk so far today. I have earned a whole lot of exercise points with all the cleaning etc. I've done but I still don't feel right about not going for a walk. I'll have another cup of tea and take the dogs out for walk tonight. BTW in case you were wondering........I don't ever eat any of my earned exercise points but I'm just wanting to see them add up over the week.....kind of a gauge of how I'm doing exercise wise.

Sophie.....4 schnauzers? All at the same time? Wow, tell me about them because you must have posted that while I was away. One thing I do know about schnauzers, once you have one you always want another......that's why I have two. If we were homebodies I'd have a house full of them. Can't you just see me with a basket full of schnauzer puppies? LOL, I make my husband very nervous any time I say that.

[sophiegoren]

Maple:

You missed my post on Uncle Ernie and the Wild Man, plus two other schnauzers? It's on Thread 101; post 23.

Today, I have two American dogs. But, of course, I still have my collection of more than 150 schnauzer figurines. I don't seek them out any more but if I run across one I can't resist, I still get it!

Sophie