Hi LunchLady and all...I was watching for your post...keeps me motivated talking to you all....I am 5'2" tall and I (at the moment) weigh 154....down from 171....I was committed to losing the weight but just played around with it for way to long...Now I am doing some serious changes and the weight is coming off pretty fast...the problem was that I was losing and gaining back 15 pounds and losing it again...not being serious about the weight loss I guess...I mean I wanted to lose it and I would but then pizza or whatever would get me started...I had a really rude awakening just a short while ago because I was fussing to myself about the fact that I was back again at gaining weight and I said to myself...It's John's fault because he always wants Pizza or burgers or chicken fried steak and all of a sudden I had this bolt of lightening type thing hit me and I said...what a cry baby...no one is to blame but you....you don't have to eat anything that you don't want to eat ..and to blame someone for gaining weight...get serious...and that's all it took...now I'm owning my own weakness and my own fat and holding myself accountable...
John and I went today and joined the SilverSneakers group at Ultrafit and we have sessions scheduled for tomorrow at 3 with trainers. I have been exercising everyday and that is something new to me also...Oh I walked occasionally but never did take it seriously...now I'm busting my buns to get it done and I look forward to it now...I can't wait to do the gym thing...I'm signed for a warm-up flex and stretch class tomorrow am and am going to do a pilates class too...

I'm fat because I ate too much when I quite smoking and substituted food for cigarettes...now I am rid of the cigarettes for over two years so it's time to get rid of the excess food and weight...I'm lucky cause I love veggies and fruit...I'm not a big meat eater but do manage to get in the lean protein...

It's exciting and fun...I hope you all are as pumped as I am about doing this....

I'll let you all know how the first session goes tomorrow...I think it will be fun with the two of us doing it together...although he is much stronger than I am...

Today I have had good food and am on plan for the day...I am cooking grilled salmon for dinner with a salad and asparagus....doesn't that sound healthy and good...Later...eat good Ladies!

I had a good food day also and went to CURVES.

Ruthie good for you!!!! I am so jealous about your new exercise plan. And it will be fun doing it with your husband:)

I am as pumped as you are about losing the weight and taking on a new life style of eating!! It has been easy and I find that when I do mess up and eat something I should not that I do not use that as an excuse to over eat. I just start right back on the program at my next meal.

I plan on adding the yoga to my exercise in July, I think that will be perfect for me and maybe some walking in the fall. Now it is just way too hot:(

Keep it up you are doing great!!!

Thanks a lot and we have our first session with trainers today so it will be fun...As Dr.Phil says...I want you to get serious about your life...well I am and as Oprah says...You can't do anything about it until you own/acknowledge it...I'm doing both...

YeeeeeeHawww I was down again this am....I'm moving on own ...remember that song...I'm moving on up...to the East Side I'd loved that show...and I keep humming I'm moving on downnnnnn...of the least side....LOL,,ok I'll stop getting silly...

Ruthie be silly all you want:)

WildChild where are you?? How are you doing today??

Another hot day here in Southern Cali, I am still in my PJ's:( I am way too lazy in this heat lately~~~I need to get up earlier to get my chores done.

I had a good food day ALL day yesterday and am working on one today~~I may have trouble tonight the gals I go to quilting with are meeting at my pals house (they are all SIL's) and they say it is too hot to quilt so we may just go out for dinner:( DANGER DANGER!! That is usually my down fall, but I will try hard:)

I'm here. Went and got my peek-a-boo hi-lights done today. I went more reddish brown for the winter and now I wanted to lighten up for summer.

The weather is cooler but more humid and a bit overcast. I had a change of weather headache the last couple days and my appetite is wonky. I'm pretty much staying on program but not eating as balanced as I'd like to.

Oh yeah. I'm really proud of myself. I was at our once a month Bunco with the Red Hatters yesterday. The hostess has not one but two different Baker's Square lemon pies, lemon pound cake,sugar cookies,brownies and candies out. This was all for only 16 people. I did not put one thing into my mouth other than a water and a diet soda. This is really big for me since lemon sweets are one thing I will overindulge in. I normally will go out for a slice of pie when on program. I am in too much danger of eating the whole pie if I bring it home. It felt sooo good to be able to turn away from all that food yesterday. I was afraid one thing would lead to another. I just kept reminding myself that all those things will still be available for when I want them in a more controled situation.

Way to go Ruthie. It is so easy to blame others for our woes when all we have to do is look in the mirror. Keep up the good work on your maintanence Lunchlady.

Are there only 3 of us here? What happened to the rest of the WW gang?

Hi! I'm here, but have to admit that I fell off the wagon. I'm hoping that reading your posts will help to motivate me.

Maryann~~~post anyway if you fall off the wagon we all do it from time to time we can celebrate each others good days and mourn our bad ones~~~we are all in the same boat!!

I had a greeeat day........I loved the gym time and ended up the day with one full hour of cardio...30 in the morning and 30 in the afternoon....I have a doctors appt this am to have my blood Pressure checked...I have never had a BP problem so don't know why it was high last time seems all is well though....

I was down 4 tenths of a pound this morning...I just love the fact that my scale shows those little increments...It keeps me going to see that little bit everyday...

It is so nice and cool here...It has really been hot ...Lordy I live in Kerrville, TX and it's like Hades this time of year usually but this am it's barely 65....I love it...hope my tomatoes are setting lots of fruit.

Gotta go and start my day Ladies but hope you guys have a great day ...MaryAnn ...hang in there and just keep on keeping on cause that's the name of the game....

Challenge time for me! Last night was a dinner out with the quilting SIL's they love to have Mexican food and that is one of the hardest types of food to stay on program:( I asked if we please could go where I can have a salad, so we went to COCO's, I had a nice salad lowfat dressing on the side. But as usual these gals always want desserts we share so that helps~~~we had fattening pie but my slice was itty bitty~~~I guess on maintence I should be able to handle that.

This morning I met another pal for breakfast it was her b-day last month and we finally went out today to celebrate.
It seems that it is popular in resturants to have 'Lite Fare' food items? Are you seeing that in your areas??? I ordered a breakfast from the Lite menu 2scrambled eggs, 2turkey sausage, tomatoes and choice of bread. I always get a muffin, I have them pack it to go for someone at my house to eat. This cost $7.49~~my pal gets the weekday special, it is 2eggs, 2bacon or sausage, hash browns and choice of bread this is $3.49~~~~~~~~~~well~~~~~~I did the math fast and call the waitress back over and say HEY??? This does not make sense it is the same breakfast, the gal says no yours is lighter LOL!! I say well I can just have the same as her and sub tomatoes for hash browns and turkey sausage for the reg sausage right?? She , stares at the menu and say yes you can, she also says that is not right is it:) I said nope!! I was going to pay $4 more for my 'Lite 'breakfast???? This happened when my DD and I went for lunch last week, they had a chicken and fruit meal on the regular menu and the lite menu and the only difference was the muffin, but both the same price!!! HMP I am going to be watching that from now on!!! Do they think we are stupid LOL!!! Trying to make money off us dieters!!!

Tomorrow I am meeting another pal at Nordies for lunch~~~~~why does everything revolve around food. Food is so social!!

WC~~ I used to belong to a Bunko group we had 12 gals and we had to do a full dinner and desserts only once a year tho. I quit, it was so boring and I never won, I guess I am a sore loser~~~except for when it come to weight :)

Have a great day everyone! Ruthie it is HELL hot here in Southern Cali, yesterday we were lucky it was only 95 with 70% humitity!!

I had to post and tell you all that my previous dr.'s appointment was May 12 and I had a return checkup today and my doctor said..Great Job ....His scales show I have lost 10 pounds and my blood pressure is super...I'm feeling better than I have in a long time...actually feeling a little sore from the 1 hr I did yesterday...I am setting a new Mini goal for myself today of 10 more pounds....I am going to even make it easy on myself and set it for Sept 1....that's 2 months to lose 10 pounds.....Think I can do it...

Went to lunch today and had the all you can eat salad buffet but only did one plate and they were all good things...no fattening stuff....going for a workout with DH at 6:00.....Eat Good...

Hi Maryann.Stick around. You'll catch the weight loss bug here.

Lunchlady I agree. Bunco has to be the most mindless game ever devised. Candyland is more exciting.LOL I just go because it gives me chance to get to know some of the ladies better. Our Red Hat group has well over 150 members.

You really have to watch those "lite" plates at restaurants. Not only do you paya higher price as you found but sometimes the calories exceed what you get off the regular menu by choosing wisely. Did you know that the "diet" plate with the burger patty,cottage cheese,fruit and muffin or crackers exceeds a burger on bun with a small ammount of fries in some places? Don't even go near the chef salad or some of the "healthy" salads either.

Ruthie you are really on a roll here. What an inspiration. May I ask you what kind of scale you have? I've bought so many and ended up returning them because they don't seem to perform any better than the one I have now.

Whooooooooooie let me tell you those trainers put it too us last night...I was ready to crash the minute I walked in the front door after we got home. I know this is good for us and I know that it is going to help me...There were several women who were in our group that were very obese and I felt bad for them and truthfully as bad as it sounds, it made me work harder to do all the exercises and the machines because I thought to myself...please don't let me get to that point...Age itself gives you lots of restrictions so I want to make sure that I am as healthy as possible and that includes losing some weight...

I had some blood drawn yesterday to check my levels on a few things and the only one I am concerned about is the sodium...I hope he doesn't tell me to cut out the sodium cause I do love salt...the other stuff I think will be fine...I should know by the end of the day ....

I weighed in yesterday at 153.2 and this morning at 154.4 ....dang it...so it is one of those days when I gained back some...I had a good eating day though yesterday...didn't cheat or eat anything bad ...I was perfectly on plan so I am confident that it will be gone tomorrow...

How are you doing MaryAnn?

Wildchild it is a Tanita...we have had it for several years but I bought it because everyone on one of the boards was talking about what a good scale it was.

Lunchlady thank you so much for keeping us all moving and inspired here....I am making myself accountable to this group and appreciate all your efforts here.

Going to try to get to the gym today for a stretch class and some cardio...haha do I sound like an old pro at the gym now...

Have a great eating day Ladies and try being POP.....(Perfectly on Plan)

YIKES!!! I need to get with it you all are doing so well!!!

Yesterday I ate out twice LOL in the same resturant,a Mexican place my worst nightmare:( I went shopping with a pal and that is her fav place~~I had a large taco salad with chicken picking off the bad stuff (hopefully). As soon as I got home my DD asked me to go do errands with her and she would buy me dinner and her fav place at the mall is that same resturant:( So I ate a small taco salad with beef this time and picking off the bad stuff~~~why did I not order it without the bad stuff the first place??

Weigh in is tonight~~so I am eating lite today and working my butt off at CURVES!!

I have a million things to do in the next few days so I may be hit and miss~~~my pal from Canada is going to be here on the 4th or 5th:) I have to clean house, plan meals and stress out LOL!!! She posted here for a few times VanIsleGirl:) Then she quit while she was stressing getting ready for her road trip:)

Her and I met here at the Diet Club about 5 years ago:)(maybe I told this before) I had advertised for a diet buddy on the west coast,someone around my age doing Sommer Sizing and she responded and we have been on-line pals ever since:) We met a few years ago at another on-line ladies house in Washington state. Now she and her husband are coming here for a couple of days, I am so excited!!!

Ruthie, the gym deal sounds perfect! Do not be too hard on yourself with your weight going up and down a bit, esp in the summer I think we retain water during the summer esp us in the hotter states. 105 here the last two days:(

WC, that is a very large Red Hatter group, do you all get together regularly?? YUP! I know lite is not always liter:)

Maryann keep posting:) What can we do to help motivate you??? I know I like to hear about what others fix for meals~~I hate to cook and am so boring about it. I usually eat the same stuff over and over~~I think that is what makes me go off program at times and all of the social eating is hard too.

What makes you gals go off program??? What are your Red Light Foods?? For me it is sweets and chips~~I love chips~~the less sugar I have the less I crave it but I always crave chips:(

Have a fun weekend!!!

Hey Ladies well put me down for 4/10's loss yesterday...152 is now insight...I love it...Going to the gym again today...I am going to try and go every day if I possibly can.

food isn't a problem for me cause I really like to cook and I like to prepare meals. My Beloved Husband loves to eat and after all these years he still loves my food and not a meal goies by that he doesn't tell me so....I am adding in a little more fish than I might normally do but I am also fortunate that we both like all those foods that are good for people who are trying to lose weight...we would be eating them anyway....things like lots of green veggies and cottage cheese and salads etc...He loves breakfast so for breakfast he gets lean protein like canadian bacon and three egg whites and 1 yolk scrambled...with a piece of toast and we quit drinking juice and now drink the Crystal Lite EarlyMorning Orange...and coffee no sugar for either of us...I put the tinest amount of butter on his toast...I eat different things for breakfast everyday...sometimes not even breakfast foods...I jst try to get a little protein and a little carb...Breakfast isn't a biggie with me, I would skip it if I didn't know it was bad to do that...

Beloved loves junk food so when he says lets order pizza its hard not to eat it ...or fried chicken or whatever...I used to eat it anyway and then blame him when I gained but now I just say sure lets have it and then I eat something else...I usually have a few of the prepared diet meals in the freezer and I find most of them OK tasting so I do that instead..

Gotta go as we are heading out to the gym...see you all later...try not to stray over the weekend...

Hi all. 2 lbs. down this week. I stayed the same last week so it's really a pound. Looks like I am averaging a pound per week so I am happy.

Lunchlady what bad stuff are you referring to on the taco salad? Most Mexican restaurants around here are beans,lettuce, your choice of meat,and cheese with salsa and guacamole on the side. I eat them all the time and just don't eat the shell. To me they are healthier than most restaurant salads in other places. Veggie, protein (meat), grain/protein (beans) and heathy fat (avocado). I consider taco salad my friend when I want to fill up and not out.

Our Red hat group has one large monthly dinner and the rest of the time things are put out through Evite that as few as 3 or as as many as 20 will attend.

I pretty much cook as I always have. I have never been one for heavy sauces or buttering everything. I love steamed veggies, salads and broiled meats. My problem isn't so much what I eat at home but all the meals out. I am a meat and potatoes girl. Love steak, prime rib and good burgers (not the fast food ones). DH loves pizza and fried chicken but it really doesn't bother me because I never really cared that much for either. The only fried food I can go overboard on are prawns. Love them and could eat them 3 times a week. I really don't care all that much for fat or greasey food. I abhor mayo.When I do weight watchers there are days when I have to put butter on something just to get the 3 serving of fat I should have.

Red light foods are pastries,donuts and breads with butter. I am ok around cakes and some cookies. I cannot have shortbread, plain sugar or vanilla wafers in the house. Ice cream used to be a red ight food but now I have learned to manage it. I eat it almost every day but it is part of my program. I have one Skinny Cow or 1/2 cupof real ice cream almost everyday.

Well today I am off to the county fair. Have a good week everyone.

Maryanne stick around and we'll bring you over to the light side.

Dang...Dang...Dang...up again this am...I am never going to get past the 150's....I so bad want to get into the 140's and it aint happening. I had a great workout last night so maybe I will get there soon. I was back up to 154.4 this am...Discouraging...I was so hoping for 152...Yesterday it was like 153....Urghhhhhhhh

Well I am not sure hubster wants to go to the gym today as he went last night but I am going regardless...I have my first cup of coffee for the day brewing so let me go have a cuppa...Have a good day all....eat well.

Ruthie quit being so hard on yourself~~you are doing great. We are all older now and it took awhile to gain it so it will take awhile to take it off:) Do I sound like a WW's leader???

WC I cook just like you no sauces, no butter very simple I always have, that is why everyone in my family is at a good weight:) I on the other hand am a junk food, stress, worrier eater:( My DH has always worked evenings so by the time I was done running kids around and fiddling with them I just vegged on the couch and ate:( I even hid candy bars in my purse, I did not want my kids eating the sweets LOL!!

OH, the bad in the taco salad was the sour cream and the guacamole a plain avacodo does not bother me, but you never know what resturants add to the guacamole to make it not turn dark. I would rather have it all on the side they just put too much on I took about 1/2 of it off. I eat taco salads alot at home too.

Last night was my weigh in, I lost 1.2 pounds last week~~~~I asked how can that be I am just trying to maintain??? And I keep losing??? I have even lost count of how many extra points I get now?? I will have to ask next week. I will be a lifer by next Friday:)I got another charm for the key chain they gave me~~~you get a key chain after you lose 10% of your body weight~~then a star charm with WW on it for getting to your goal, last night I got another charm of hands clapping, for being there 16 weeks (I got it two weeks late) I will get something else next week for being a lifer:) I keep my CURVES pass on the key chain too:) I like them all, they are very nice looking:)

LOL!! Last night I was so starved after WW's the time is before I usually have dinner so I do not eat before I go also thinking I will weigh less:) Usually I will get something fast food to take home, always racking my brain as to what would be OK. I got a bacon cheese burger at my fav hamburger place~~no cheese and no sauce GAWD it tasted so good! When I got it home I added my fav hot mustard and a bit of bar-b-que sauce:( YUMMERS That may be my extra points for the week once I sit and figure it out but it was worth it. I knew it was good when my cat tried to attack me to get it:)

I am off to clean my house~~it is a two story so that should count for alot of exercise today:)

You said.......GAWD it tasted so good..don't we all know that feeling....I know how sinfully good a few things taste...expecially when you can't have them often...The fun thing about this group is that we are such an imperfect group and still getting the job done....for dinner last night...we bought subs...after an hour workout at the gym, I wasn't about to poo poo that suggestion...They were regular sized so I cut mine in half and only ate half and for lunch today, I cut the last half in two pieces and ate only one of those pieces...gave the other to DH....Feeling good but a little tired today...Think I'll work out at home today instead of going to the gym....haven't decided for sure.......

Eating good tonight...going to grill fish...I am even going to grill extra so there is leftovers for salad or whatever...maybe for some fish tacos...See ya...Have a Great weekend folks...

154.4 again this morning....I just hate these days...I so need to see the scale move down just a bit with all the effort I put in ...very discouraging...maybe I'll do a day of overeating or of fasting to see if I can jog the scale...Anyway...I'm not going to allow myself to get discouraged with it...You just can't imagine haow bad I want to get below 150 and what a milestone that will be for me...Take a day of peace and quiet but POP...Por favor...

When I want to move the scale down a bit faster, I will do the Flex Plan and faithfully count my points and drink tons of water, a glass every hour:) It worked, I could not keep it up, I like Core better, I drink lots of water daily anyway, it was having a bit more that made the difference I think.

My pal from Canada just called they are just a bit over 200 miles from here and will get here tomorrow evening a day early YAHOOO!!!!

Now to try and not over eat while she and her DH are here LOL!!!

I have not done well these last few days, I think it is because I am not working and my kids are here alot more:( My schedule is all outta wack~~~just let me make it through my Friday weigh in. AND it is so hot 106 here yesterday, we had to get our dog a mister today she was panting so much and she hates to come indoors because of the cats, they scare her:( My son was a bit scared thought she might need to go to the vet, she was just hot:( I think I should have bought myself a mister:)

Well I was down 2/10's this am but it was the same 2/10's and that's not fun....I suspect that I'm adding some lean muscle at this time and that may be the problem. I have been exercising for awhile now and doing some good workouts for nearly a month so some of the muscle has to start coming in to play...This is about where I got really discouraged and dropped the ball last time so I just have to continue to plug away at it...I will tell you that I am down 5 inches in the waist so the belly is going away....

Eat well today and stay POP...

Got a busy day today but want to get in two workouts so I am going to be busting my buns...Hope you guys have a great day...