Morning from here too...I am feeling a little punk this morning so I haven't even exercised yet...Gotta get that done though...I'ts a mite chilly and cool so going to make some soup...got pasta sauce cooking in the crockpot...Hope to get some good food and low cal points in for the week...I feel the need for things like chili, soup, stew etc etc...Eat good Ladies...watch those points.

Long tiring weekend. DD had a horse show and I think it's harder on me than her LOL so I'm feeling much better today, not dragging so much.

I think until I get the weight off, I will bring prepackaged foods for all my meals, even when going to someone's house. I just have no willpower, and no discipline to eat right. And I find that if I'm not 100% on program I do not lose - I maintain but don't lose.

CORE QUESTION: For those on core, I didn't try it because I'm always on the run.
What prepackaged convenience foods do you find handy?
What do you eat when you need portable, on the run food to eat in the car?

Thanks!

For my DH and I, we find that we eat far fewer prepackaged foods. There are very few that are core. We make a monthly car trip to visit friends, and are on the road for 3-4 hours each way. Before we leave the house I pop a bag of 94% fat-free popcorn (Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet). I always make a large fresh fruit salad and put it in a tupperware-type container. We take a small ice chest with us. Along with the fruit salad, we put in several containers of fat-free yogurt and a few diet sodas or iced tea. I also put a couple of apples and bananas into a plastic bag to take along. I only work half a day on the days we make this trip. DH picks me up at my office and the fruit salad is our lunch on the road and the yogurt, popcorn, apples and bananas are available if we feel like we want a bit extra.

Our friends are not dieting, but don't mind a bit that we offer to make some of the meals while we are there. I make meals that are tasty and still on our plan. I try to stay on plan for breakfast and lunch so that we can splurge on dinner out.

As for your question about prepackaging, I know this sounds hilarious, but I try to most often eat things that are not packaged in paper and plastic, but in their "organic" packaging, i.e., fruits and vegetables.

On the flex side, all those fruits would add up to a lot of points. How can core work if you eat foods that can add up to a lot of calories? Just asking, since I'm used to flex, and want to understand core. The yogurts from Dannon are usually 1 point for the nonfat, and the popcorn is about 1 point. I did the popcorn thing for my days at the pool during the summer. I could munch all afternoon while the kids played, and be completely satisfied. I also did cinnamon on it when I was in the mood for sweet instead of salty.

I agree about a strategy of only eating foods in its 'original form' :-)

I just can't get control of my weekly schedule to the point that I can prep and have fresh food available.

It does take some planning (or staying up late at night to cut up enough fruit for a couple of days) to do CORE, but I think it's been worth it. I don't know why it works, but it does. Maybe all that fiber offsets the calories?

One of my coworkers is doing Jenny Craig's plan and just can't believe that we don't count calories or points or SOMETHING and yet we still lose weight. When I tell her I had a baked potato or rice, she just shakes her head and says it's wrong. And yet we continue to lose weight. Think how we'd do if we could actually get our butts in gear and do some exercise. On CORE we have 5 points a day to play with. In the beginning we were very strict about making sure we only used 5. Now, we kind of know how many points our snacks are worth and just guess. And it's still working. And we really haven't downsized our meal portions (you SHOULD pay attention to portion size). As long as it's a core food you can eat until you're satisfied.

My new favorite dessert is chocolate pudding with couscous in place of tapioca. The best part is that it's CORE.

I do understand about hectic schedules, believe me. I work full time and have a lengthy commute. It's all about doing this for ME, and I'm worth it. That doesn't mean that I don't grumble when I'm cutting up fruits or vegetables at 10:00 p.m.

Sometimes I will make or prep something for the following night's dinner before I sit down to tonight's dinner. DH made a ground beef and chicken meatloaf for dinner on Monday. I boiled one artichoke for an idea I had that I wanted to make later in the week. On Tuesday, the plan was to just reheat leftovers for dinner. So, before I did that, I chopped and diced and sauteed and put together a yummy ham, potato, artichoke fritatta, cooked it on top of the stove for a bit, then put it in the oven and went about heating up the leftovers for dinner. Today's lunch is fritatta. Maybe even dinner if it's as good as it smells!

Stress eatng here:( My MIL died yesterday she was 87 and had been failing fast this last week. My DH and I have never had much contact with her for various hurt related reasons:( The rosary is tomorrow night in Missouri, we did not find out the details til late last night and now are feeling guilty as hell because we do not feel like going. We have not seen her in 14 yrs, and now it seems like a rush to get there and I think my DH is just not wanting too. But feeling GUILTY about feeling that way:(

We had planned on going but with it all going so fast not sure how to pull it off~~my DH is still sleeping he gets home and into bed about 1am. We have never been there, do not like flying, have to be drugged to do so~~have to rent a car when we get there and drive we do not know how many hours to get to a hotel then on to his sisters house:(

SHEESH!!! I need my comfort foods right now :(

May or may not be posting for a few days:(

Well even though it's been a very rough week, I maintained at WI last night! That's great! I set a goal to strive for the rest of the year to at least lose something each week, even if it's only a little bit.

With that goal in mind, I hope to get more consistent with my eating, and really focus!

LL sorry to hear about your MIL. I faced a dilemma like that in August when my grandmother passed away after being near death for a long time.

We were in Puerto Rico on vacation. So I ended up paying a fortune to fly from PR to Raleigh for the service, missing two days of a very expensive already paid-for hotel, plus the wear and tear emotionally. Like you said, guilt is rough, and you always worry you'll regret not going.

I'm glad I went, though. And I'm sure up in heaven, my grandma got a kick out of me trying to find funeral wear in my vacation suitcase :-) She really loved to travel so she would have found the whole thing appropriate :-)

We ended up not going~~~his sister was fine with that. She was the one he worried about, he told her we would not be coming but would come in the spring when I have a week off. That will be better for all, he has not seen his sis in over 20 years was not close to his mom and would have felt stressed being there it being such a rush and all. This is better and LunchLady gets another vacation:)

I was so stressed about it all I took two days off:) I was shocked at how stressed out I got am wondering if I am getting wonky in my old age:) His mom always made me edgy she was so negative with us none of the others just us:(

OH!! Well it is all done and I am going up the hill to my granddaughters high school football game to watch her play in the band:) It is homecoming and those are the best field shows:)

Gotta get back on track with my eating WOW stress really makes me eat none stop!

Sorry I haven't been around and offering support for all that ails you all but I am getting ready for cataract surgery and one of the office assistants measuring for my new lense, scratched my cornea so I have been suffering with that for days...Hope all of your lives have mellowed a bit by now...my eye is better but may have to have the surgery postponed...I weighed in at 147 again this am so I am still bouncing around at 146 to 149...

Did anyone see the Oprah show with Dr. OZ....

Ruthie hope you are feeling better.

Hello Ladies, I came across this site looking for ways to lose weight. I must say that this is what I need, a support system. Its great to see that on here!!! A quick question can whey protein be used as a meal replacement?

Hi erinette, Welcome to the group....As long as you count the points you can probably use it.....but one thing that I didn't realize was whey is very high in cholesterol...so keep all the counts in mind..

I had a pork roast for dinner tonight (slow roasted in the oven all day) and it was so good...I made roasted potatoes, just sprayed a little pam on them and roasted with the meat during the last hour or so...greenbeans that I cooked with a bit of sauteed garlic and a salad that I added avacado into....it was soooooooooooooo good...Oh and SF and FF jello for dessert...

I talked to my Beloved DH today about buying me my own treadmill...yipee...I don't have to go to the gym....that would be so nice...Have a good week everyone...