That’s one thing I don’t have to deal with anymore until Christmas! Wednesday was the last day for leftovers, anything left got thrown out Wednedsday nite. Wednesday I made a batch of soup with the turkey soup I had made after Thanksgiving, thru in what was left of the stuffing, some sweet potatoes,  the end of the mashed potatoes (great thickener) the last litte bit of the turkey, pepper and that was that. It was good for lunch and then easy to dump what was left. Believe it or not, all that stuff together does really make a great tasting soup. I don’t usually add the sweet potatoes, but sparingly, they add a nice addition to the flavor.

So, I walked some today. Played around in the message boards yesterday at Weightwatchers.com and am trying to be better about taking my vitamins. All in all, things are going well. Also back to being better about journaling. I am determined next weeks WI will be missing a bit.

If you’d like to free up some time this holiday season, check out my site at http://www.lbeamish.ordermygift.com. Get those gifts for the people on your list that are so hard to shop for.

I went. I weighed in. I’m up .6 lbs. I’m okay with that. I’m glad I went. For that amount, it could be my clothes. With it being colder now, I’m weighing in in sweats. I didn’t gain as much as I could have. I stayed for the meeting. I am so glad I did. They’re talking strategies for not gaining wait over Christmas. I forget how motivating the meetings can be. I don’t care how you are choosing to lose weight. We all have different bodies, and we all have different things that work for us. Whatever your choice, it truly does help to have company along the way. While the blogging helps and I’ve ’sort of met’ some new friends here, it’s nice to have a real live person to share things with that understands. If you belong to Weight Watchers, keep going to the meetings. It’s one of the things that makes WW work.  If you don’t belong to WW find commrades on the internet or where ever you can that can support you on your journey. We all get tired, frustrated and a little down. It’s nice to have someone to help lift you up.

Yesterday I said I was going to ‘drink my points’ last nite, but no such thing. My day went to hell and everytime I turned around there was something else I had to do. The final straw was when I checked on the crockpot to make sure everything was ok, leave my BF instructions on how to finish up, and make my escape.  As I peered at the crockpot it looked just a little suspicious. Yes, this time I remembered to turn it on, but never plugged it in! I ended up getting KFC and calling it a nite. I ate 2 thighs (without the skin) and an ear of corn. As for going out, I just didn’t have any energy left. All in all, that’s probably a good thing since I plan on weighing in tomarrow. lol

I didn’t gain any weight over the weekend (Thurs-Sun) but I haven’t lost either. I’ve been playing around with this one pound. What that says to me is I am not paying as much attention to my point-count as I should be. It’s very easy to slide back into old habits. Being an ‘older woman’ who’s natural inclination is to gain weight by osmosis, I have to be especially vigilant about watching how many points are in what, and making myself move, as in exercise. I have been also sloppy about my water intake, which we all know how important that is. I am making a point of filling my WW mug now when I go out (instead of drinking a small bottle of water) hoping that will help. I’ve done real well on not drinking sodas, but it’s like I went from sodas to some water to nothing.

One way I plan on getting my water tonite is by adding it to vodka. I know, I know, alcohol doesn’t help lose weight. It’s approx. 2pts. a cocktail so I will be drinking approx. 10 of my points tonite to avoid the terrible pain associated with my Dolphins getting anialated by the Pittsburg Steelers on Monday Nite football. Have a good day all. LOL

and lost my blogroll etc. Am trying to get it back. All my links are still here, but they don’t appear on my site. same with categories etc. As soon as I figure it out, they’ll be back. LOL

My whole life Sundays were different. If we went to church as a family when I was young, then after church we went to breakfast. When I was a little older and I was going to church with my friends (my parents had quit going) we would go to early service or mass and walk to breakfast afterward. In our house, now that I’m grown up and have kids of my own, if we go to church, we go for breakfast. (Unfortunately, in some ways that doesn’t happen enough) but if we didn’t go to church, a lot of times I would still go get fresh donuts before the kids got up. Now the kids are young adults, the daughters and I don’t do that so much anymore, but some habits die hard. For the last 2 yrs. my BF gets donuts on Sunday morning to take into work and every once in awhile, the desire to go get some for us here at the house comes back.

This morning was such a case. The first thing I did was go to my handy little “Dining Out Guide” to look up cinnamon rolls. Not pretty, and it would have to replace a whole meal. Not a good choice for me, but while I was in there I decided to have a look around. After looking thru it from back to front, this is what I learned:

1) It’s no wonder I’m over weight. The stuff I like to eat at most of these food places, they don’t even put in the book because it’s so bad!

2) If I want to go out to dinner, don’t. The only stuff on the menu without a lot of points are the condiments.

3) I will probably never go out for Mexican food again without feeling guilty unless I only order ‘pintos & cheese’. LOL.

4) If I’m going to have Coldstone Ice Cream, have it instead of a meal,  where I would be using those points anyway.

5) As they come out with the new “Dining Out Guides” don’t throw your old ones away. While they add new restaurants, sometimes they take out old ones.

and last but not least,

6) I’m glad a lot of these restaurants aren’t close to where I live!

Now, obviously some of this is a slight exaggeration, but “in every jest is a barb of truth”. It does do something for your awareness to walk thru that little book every once in awhile and I keep mine very handy. Luckily I don’t get in the mood to eat out very often, (if I’m going out I usually drink my points) and I can make a lower calorie-lower fat version at home. As for my cinnamon roll, I think I’ll probably just have a couple pieces of toast with cinnamon and sugar on my 1pt bread.

I hope everyone had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving filled with food, friends and family! I myself had a wonderful day! As usual, I was not ready on time still cleaning & setting the table right up to the time to take the turkey out of the oven. Once again, if it wasn’t for my absolutely wonderful boyfriend (whose an absolute great cook), I could have never pulled it off. He has also been retrained to cook lowfat and doesn’t seem to mind at all. Maybe that’s because before we got together his favorite saying was “there ain’t no fat chicks sleeping in my bed”. LOL. How disgusting! Maybe I just persued him to shut him up! Sorry. Got off track there for a minute. My point was, it’s to his advantage to cook lower fat and healthier if he doesn’t want me to gain more than I have.

I did good with my eating on Thanksgiving. My daughter made the pies with my lowfat changes, (any body have an idea on how to substitute the sugar? They used to have ’sugartwin’ that was supposed to be used like real sugar, but I remember the couple of times I tried it, it was really sweet) they came out terrific! I only ate a spoonful of each thing, made fresh asparagus instead of greenbean casserole, and instead of “candied” yams, I just added brown sugar and cinnamon. I was still plenty full and was happy with a tablespoon vs. a cup or half cup of everything.

To me, the real test comes the day after Thanksgiving with the leftovers. While before the big day, I was glad to be having Thanksgiving dinner at our house so I could control the ingredients. After Thanksgiving the leftovers pose a constant threat. Even tho I gave food for company to take home, it was not enough! How much willpower can 1 fat girl have anyway? I made Turkey soup for dinner last nite, and that helps a little. I actually took the time to make an actual stock and everything this time. Pointswise it comes out at 2 for a cup, if that, and was so nice and warm as the nites are getting cooler.

So, while I wait to weigh in, I am still working on making it a “down” Thanksgiving instead of “up”. On this side of the Turkey day, I am thinking that it might have been nice to go somewhere else for Thanksgiving so there weren’t still 2 pies and a dutch oven full of stuffing sitting in my fridge!

This time of year we get so busy we have a tendancy to put off eating until we’re starving. This is a definate ‘no, no’. Yesterday I kept saying to myself that I was just going to do ‘one more thing’ and then I’ll eat. I finally got to the kitchen around 1pm. I was hungry and I knew exactly what I wanted. We were out of bread. Had to go to the store.  I’ll do that after I do ‘one more thing’. By the time I got my shower, went to the store and finally fixed my soup and sandwich it was 4pm and I was famished. My old way would be to grab whatever was fastest and easiest, no matter what the points. Because I have been committed to being good, I just starved myself. (I should have grabbed a piece of fruit, but that still isn’t the first thing to come to mind).

We need to remember how important it is to keep fueling our body, especially with all the added chores during this time of year. It also doesn’t do your metabolism any good, as your body starts to hoard the fat it has. The latest research says that ideally we should be eating every three hours, at least. Now it’s a matter of putting it into practice. Ever been around those really skinny people that eat all the time? Now you get it!

The one aspect of changing my lifestyle that I haven’t conquered is exercise, and I’m looking into a revolutionary new idea from 2 different sources that moves exercise into 10 min. and gives the benefits that “Curves” is supposed to give you by “circuit training”. In the meantime Thanksgiving is approaching and I’m trying to clean years of dust and clutter in a matter of a couple of days.

I hope everything they say aabout how you burn calories while you clean is true. If that’s the case, I did quite well yesterday. I half worked (moving during commercials) during “Judge Judy” but then worked in hernest from about 4pm to 8pm. I was vacuming high and low, I was climbing up and down the stepladder to put cans away on the top shelf, and I was walking back and forth to the trashcans outside as I got rid of recyclables and trash. (Our compactor broke. Nothing like timing!). After I had finished for the nite and had sat down for a few minutes, I stood up and went to walk to the kitchen for some dinner, and I was already getting stiff! Definately a reminder of how ‘out of shape’ I really am and how important it is that I get back to doing something that will get me moving. I have been exceptionally good about parking farther and farther away from the store, so I have to walk some.

The other nite while I was fixing dinner, a program came on ION TV. It was along the lines of “The Biggest Loser”. Everyone chose their own diet (the lady on WW did quite well after they introduced ‘flexpoints’) and everyone had to do some form of exercise. One of the ladies was a 40-something mother of 7 who had never done anything athletic in her life. She chose running and ended up training for the NY marathon. While I admire her ambition, I don’t think my goals are quite that lofty. LOL. She ended up with a problem with one of her knees, she thought she was going to get sick and pass out on mile 16, but I have to give her credit. She finished in just over 5 hrs. When they handed out awards, they didn’t hand them out for losing the most weight, but for those who had come the farthest. She was now down to a darling size 8 and took 1st place. I cried (I’m sloppy that way).

I think it’s time I started remembering my own reward for moving my fat a**. I can remember, not all that many years ago when I got up to walking 10mi. a day. It was beautiful, the feeling of accomplishment I felt. Even when I traveled, I walked. What happened to that person? I know she’s in there somewhere. I’ve gone thru two walking partners and can’t seem to find another, but I’m working on my middle daughter. If I could just get her moving before noon! LOL.

I’m still doing really well and very happy with myself for some of the choices I have made, but as Thanksgiving draws closer, there’s more desserts, more things to entice me off my proven path. So as I was wondering thru the grocery store, I had a snack attack. Not in the usual way, but I could tell I was starting to weaken. I really had to remind myself anything they had there in the bakery I could do at home, and it wouldn’t cost me my body and my feeling of wellbeing. Immediately I headed for the baking section.  I bought lowfat graham cracker piecrust. I bought fatfree, sugarfree instant pudding. (Which by the way, they have a new ‘cheesecake’ flavor, so I may satisfy my need for cheesecake with 3 little points). I love chocolate cream pie, banana cream pie, all can be done with fatfree, sugarfree instant pudding. Yeah! I bought brownie mixes where I use sheddspread for the oil and eggbeaters for the eggs, and I know how to shave a lot of points off of the usual pumkin pie using canned skim milk and eggbeaters. I Am Prepared!! Thanksgiving? Bring it on!!

I know all these things have points and I count them, but now a moment of weakness doesn’t have to destroy me!