Chats, Challenges & Laughs 2nd home

[Cele21]

For all my Chats, Challenges & Laughs peeps! Since we can't get on the threads I thought I would start a discussion area for us. We may not be able to keep track of points standings easily but we can still talk.

I miss you!

[MargaretG139]

5 for Saturday

[CJ_Here]

Sat & Sun - 0 points; Mon - 1 point / posting

Eating, not tracking, not enough water, kind of binging.  Was going to re-start today, but we went to the store after our eye appointments and I got treats for us that so far I've eaten most of.  

[ElaineJ27]

Friday: 5

Saturday and Sunday: 1 (water)

I watched Grandson’s baseball tournament and hung out with kids and grandkids this past weekend. 

This week I am playing golf at 7 am. It was gorgeous this morning. I did three loads of laundry and spent time in my sewing room, both in the basement. I have over 14K steps and 15 flights of stairs!

After the weekend indulgences, I got back on track today. 

[MargaretG139]

Sunday = 2 (posting, tracking)

Sounds like a fun weekend @ElaineJ27  and good for you for getting back on track today. Your step counts are quite impressive.

DD got her cap, gown and lawn sign today. Tomorrow is the parade of graduates - something that was done for last year's class since they didn't get a traditional graduation ceremony. It was such a big hit, the school has decided to turn it into a new tradition. Hubby will be driving her and I'll be hanging out with the moms of her friend group to watch. Best of all, it looks like we'll finally be done with the daily rain storms and showers.

[ElaineJ27]

5 points for Monday 

I spent most of Monday in my sewing room working on a quilt that I started two years ago and cut out a pair of shorts. 

This morning I again played golf at 7, then showered and got to Bible study at 9. I ate two egg”muffins” (eggs and chopped vegetables baked in a muffin tin) on the way to golf but that wasn’t substantial enough until 11, when I picked up a taco salad. Trying to wean off my stomach medicine isn’t going well as I‘ve had heartburn and bloating since lunch. I’m at the point where healthy eating isn’t quite satisfying, but the junk I usually eat is making me feel bad. 

[ElaineJ27]

4 points for Tuesday. I didn’t make my step goal. 

LW: 265.8

CW: 265.4

Down .2 is a loss. Even though I stayed within my recommended calories 6 of 7 days, we’ve all been on this journey long enough to know that all calories are not equal. If I want to be healthier, I can’t eat a Blizzard and then skip dinner. 

Back to my planned eating. But the Blizzard really hit the spot and I don’t regret it. I just can’t make it a habit. 

[CJ_Here]

Tues - 0

I'm guessing your laundry is on the main floor, Elaine, since you were in the basement sewing and you had 15 flights of stairs?  It must feel good to get daily exercise and steps playing golf.  Could the stomach medicine be used long-term safely?

This must be an emotional time for you, @MargaretG139 .  I'm thinking this is your youngest graduating?  Are you having a party?  Enjoy this special time.

I'm not getting my water in; I'm still eating / craving carbs; not tracking at all.  As a result, bloated.  Crazy what I do to myself.  For what?  Why?  To not have clothes to wear?  We'll be celebrating our 19th anniversary on the 19th by staying overnight at a casino.  Our favorite place to eat isn't open but I'm sure we'll find something.!.  Then I'm telling myself to get back to eating healthy (at least start by Monday).

[ElaineJ27]

@CJ_Here , my laundry is also in the basement so when I’m in my craft room, I can hear it shut off and carry it upstairs. Also, there is no bathroom in the basement!

Your mention of water reminded me that I had washed my favorite thermal cup but sat down without filling it. I promptly did that. Thanks. 

@MargaretG139 , when my youngest graduated from high school, I was in the midst of depression and although I went through the motions, I didn’t feel anything (sometimes worse than feeling bad). I have always wished that had been different. So really enjoy. From your posts, I know this is important to you and you will savor every detail!

Now I need to read the chapter that my friend and I will discuss via FaceTime at 1:00, then I take my MIL to her cardiologist to discuss results of a recent test. 

[MargaretG139]

Monday = 4 (exercise, water, tracking and posting)

Tuesday = 3 (exercise, steps and tracking)

With all the excitement about the parade, I completely forgot to post. @CJ_Here yes it is a very emotional time. In addition to it being my "baby" graduating and the prospect of her leaving for college in the fall, my mom came to my oldest's high school graduation and that was the last time my girls saw her before she passed away somewhat unexpectedly 6 weeks later. The sense of loss at not getting to celebrate my oldest's graduation from college last year is weighing heavy on me too. We are having a party but not until August when my SIL and her hubby come north from Florida.

@ElaineJ27 you are so right about the Blizzard - we don't help ourselves by not having an occasional treat. The challenge is only indulging once in a while. I'm glad that you have no regrets. 

After verging on becoming a human vacuum AGAIN, I managed to have a blue dot day yesterday and even stay within my points budget! Let's see if I can make that the start of a new streak.

[MargaretG139]

Wednesdy = either 4 or 5. I can't remember if I got enough water. I don't think I did but can't be sure.

I had to go for an echocardiogram yesterday. My blood pressure was phenominal even after going to the wrong building and then, when I got to the hospital, finding out that the construction they have going on had eliminated all the close parking. So instead of getting to patient registration 15 minutes prior to my appointment as requested, I barely got there by my scheduled appointment time. My doctor ordered it after my visit in April because I was still experiencing shortness of breath after having had the worst cold I ever had at the end of February... although I hadn't gotten tested for COVID at the time, I did get an antibody test after the April visit and that was negative. Of course since their appointments were so far out, I'm no longer experiencing shortness of breath - I'm thinking the 8 lbs I dropped since March and the daily two mile walks are contributing to that as well. Given my family history, I decided to keep the appointment. I forgot to ask how soon I would get the results.

Weather here is perfect, temps in the mid 70's during the day and mid to low 50's overnight. One more day of this and then it's supposed to warm up for the weekend into the mid 80s.

Looking forward to seeing my oldest - she'll be coming for her sister's graduation and we don't even have to go and pick her up. My sister offered to do that.

[Glenda]

Margaret, You have a priceless sense of humor.,   I love it.  Are you in Australia where winter is beginning?  I keep forgetting who is where.   It is 95 degrees here, South of Houston Texas.   So hot! 😞

           If a person drinks LOTS of coffee and cola would they have water colored urine?  Is that silly?   I'm trying to drink 60 ounces today (1/2 your body weight in ounces.  I'm working on 48 when I finish my current glass, and it is only 3 PM.  Glad I don't weigh too much.

[Jan2512]

We are finally out of lockdown after two weeks and would you believe it the weather is awful and to top it off I am sick.  We still have to wear masks in indoor venues but we can freely move around the state and most places are open or will open soon.  The cinemas opened last week with strict density quotas.  So, we went Gold Class to see "A Quiet Place II".  The Gold Class cinema can normally seat 32 people but due to the covid restrictions it was sold out with just 16 people.  We enjoyed it and I thought it was better than the first.  The next day we went to a Vmax session of "The Conjuring - The Devil Made Me Do It".  I liked it but I thought others in the series were better.

We are heading for a cold and wet winter.  We had a really bad storm recently.  We lost power for a few hours but some people still don't have power and have been told that it could be weeks before it is back on.

I am slowly getting back on track.  I lost 0.3 of a kilo this week, about 0.6 of a pound.  Since joining WW on February 10 I have lost 10.6 kg or just over 23 lbs.  A couple of weeks ago I put on a couple of kilos so I'm hoping to lose a little more in the next couple of weeks to get back to my lowest weight on WW.

@MargaretG139 - Fingers crossed your echocardiogram results are good.

- Your daughters parade of graduates sounds like good idea.

- you asked about our vaccination programme.  It is a shambles.  Although the Prime Minister and other officials deny it they said earlier this year that everyone would eventually if they wanted it be vaccinated by the end of the year, stating it was not a race or a competition.  That was before the big out break in India.  Due to Australian residents who flew back from India (most of whom flew out during the pandemic) we get many people bringing back the virus.  They were put into hotel quarantine but we are having so many breaches of hotel quarantine that the virus keeps escaping.  My state is the worse, we currently have 54 active, there is 123 cases Australia wide.  Now we are having another set back with the vax programme.  People aged 50 onwards were able to book in for Astra Zeneca jabs (which I did back in May), now data shows that there is more of a risk for people in the 50 to 59 age bracket getting blood clots so people in this age group have to join the people in there 40's (younger people aren't being offered the jab unless their health or job requires it) and get Pfizer, only problem we doin't have enough Pfizer.  So, it is all going to be delayed.  As I have had my first AZ jab I am alright to have my second as there has been no incidents of people getting blood clots after the second jab.

@CJ_Here - I probably wouldn't have thought to watch "Mare of Eastown" if it wasn't for Kate Winslet staring and one of the support actors was Guy Pearce.  My Mum got confused and fortunately it is being rerun as she kept getting the characters mixed up.

@ElaineJ27 - Firstly, what is a Blizzard?

- Oh! If only fat would melt in hot weather, I'd have a reason to enjoy the heat.

@Glenda - I'm the one from Australia, also Purple Vacuum is from Oz.  

@Purple Vacuum - Welcome to the group.  We have been going for many years.  There used to be over 100 of us, but Fitbit changed the way the forums were done and we lost everyone.  So, gradually we put together this group.  There is myself Jan from Victoria, Australia and the others Margaret, Elaine, CJ, Glenda, Celeste and Catherine, and Steve comes back occasionally are from America.  We speak about weight and health concerns but also just about what is going on in our lives.  There is no judgement here, we are supportive and encouraging.  We offer constructive advice if it is asked for or seems warranted.  Some of us don't post as often as we should - I am guilty of this but I still read everyones posts.  I don't post very often as I only like to type of my laptop as I like to use a proper keyboard.  It takes so long for me to type on my tablet (worse still on the phone) as I keep hitting the wrong key.  My laptop is getting on in years and takes awhile to start up so I only put it on when I am going to be using it for a while.  I keep saying it but I will try to post more in future.

Stay safe everyone.

[Glenda]

I googled, "Where is Oz?"  I don't think anyone can be from there.

[ElaineJ27]

2 points for Wednesday (water and posting)

3 points for Thursday (water, exercise, and step goal)

Hubby played golf with me this morning at 7! He plays better once a year than I do playing a few times a week. He is off every other Friday, but now today is a state holiday - Juneteenth.  He got an email late yesterday afternoon about the holiday. 

I am planning a day in my basement craft room. Dangerously hot temperatures are predicted for today, followed by storms. We can use rain but I don’t want severe storms. 

@Jan2512 , a Blizzard is a Dairy Queen (national chain ice cream restaurant) treat of about two cups of ice cream blended with candy bits, cookies, fruit, or just about anything. Mine was actually called a “concrete” as it was from a local ice cream place and I had vanilla ice cream with Reese’s peanut butter cup pieces.  Do you have peanut butter? I love peanut butter on almost everything, especially ice cream. 

@purple_vacuum , where are you from? I live in Central Illinois, not far from Springfield. I live just outside a small city surrounded by corn and soybean fields. 

[MargaretG139]

5 for Thursday

@GlendaI live in southeastern Pennsylvania - when @ElaineJ27 talks about the weather she is having I know we'll be getting the same thing within a couple days.

I just finished my virtual WW meeing and am now waiting for my sister to get here with my oldest and hubby's brother to get here too. My graduate decided that she wanted them to be here early so we could all go out for an early lunch.

[Katrin]

Lol @MargaretG139 I think the same thing when we get weather updates from @ElaineJ27 ! @Glenda I live in a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington DC but I live so far west that I'm actually in wine/horse country and get beautiful sunsets over the mountains. If you remember your history, I live a few minutes away from Bull Run - home of the famous Battle of Bull Run. Most of my region is absolutely crazy with cicadas right now but for some reason, my particular county isn't getting them and it's not just because our homes are in this community are newer than the last emergence so they dug up our ground. I'm not sure exactly why - maybe because we are at a higher elevation? Last time we had them I lived in Reston, VA and they were everywhere! Reston is only about 20 minutes away in DC traffic but it's evidently far enough to make the difference!

So we had violent storms early in the week and since then it's been lovely - cooler and way less humidity. Washington DC was actually built on a swamp with land no one really wanted and it does get really muggy around here but most of this week has been really nice!

Tomorrow I'm actually going to a Juneteenth BBQ with my boyfriends friends. I've never met any of them or their wives/girlfriends so it should be interesting to see that side of him. I'm looking forward to it and to having a rare Saturday night with him since he's picked up more shifts over the weekend.

Also really nice is my sister is in town this week. We haven't seen her in about 2 years since she didn't make it home for Christmas from Oregon before the pandemic and then couldn't come. She's staying with Mom and Dad but they are all coming for dinner here at my place tonight and then we are going out to a nice restaurant specializing in "low country" cuisine for Father's Day on Sunday. Mmmm Shrimp & Grits mmmmmm. The best part is I'm not doing much work for tonight - we will do carry out or delivery of something everyone can agree on. I may try to get a little cake since it's my sister's birthday tomorrow and I need to hit the liquor store to get some inexpensive bourbon for my dad. My sister is bringing a NICE bottle for me to thank me for my patience dealing with mom and dad's issues of late but it would be wasted on my dad. I also added a bottle of Chardonnay to my fridge for my mom.

I've been fairly busy and feeling stronger at my job than I have in a while but I'm still not making any money and that's causing me some major anxiety. At this point, I won't go to print or get paid until September because I missed my mark for August earlier this week. Something needs to change and my boyfriend is starting to get angry with the job and telling me it's a scam and a pyramid scheme, etc. I need to start making some bonuses, no matter how small, or it's going to start damaging my relationship as well as my ego and definitely my credit score. I feel like I have a really nice sale brewing for next week but I've had a lot of disappointments lately and just can't take another. Unfortunately, my doc upped my dose of blood pressure meds when my hope had been to decrease or even discontinue them but we aren't there yet.

The ironic thing is, I'm still happier than I was at the end with my last job and I feel like I'm still less stressed. I've had weird dreams about other jobs but overall, this has been a productive week and my hope/willpower is stronger now than it was a few weeks ago so I plan to continue a while longer but also take a look at whose hiring just in case.

Finally, I'm going to ask another question for us to consider this week coming up in a moment.

Welcome to the group @purple_vacuum - it's a wonderful network of people who are pursuing their health and fitness but honest about our struggles and over time, we've gotten to know one another and become friends! I think it's more the friends aspect than the wellness aspect that keeps me coming back!

[Katrin]

Hi Everyone, here is our thought for the week: When it comes to treats or junk food, how far are you willing to go for it? Are you determined to have regardless of whether you need to make a special trip for it or is it only when it's a matter of convenience and if it's out of sight it's out of mind?

[Katrin]

So maybe it's a bit of a trick question because my answer is "both" depending on the situation. There are plenty of times when junk would be easy that I bypass it entirely. Just yesterday I was running around a "town center" concept with retail, dining, office space and residential meeting with various clients. I passed, among others, a smoothie bar, a milkshake bar, a gourmet ice cream place and more all while I was on foot. I didn't look at the dessert menu at lunch and I didn't even slow my stride to read the menus at any of the treat places although it would have been so easy. I even looked at the chocolate fudge cakepop as I purchased my water but decided to skip it.

But, earlier in the week, I somewhat mindlessly grabbed a handful of potato chips from an open bag of snacks my boyfriend brought over. Also, I was going to order pho and spring rolls for dinner last night to carry home on my from the store after closing last night but the kitchen had closed a bit early and so I simply had a lean cuisine when I got home. To get those spring rolls, I was going to have drive out of my way. But, because it's somewhat on my way home from where I was and it's a direction I rarely go anymore, I had it in mind for a while - like the treat of the spring rolls was somewhat planned for.

I guess I regret less the treats I "save up" for and don't mind investing the time/energy/expense when I just know I have to have it. I do regret the mindless eating - and strangely, I mindlessly snacked on some baby carrots the other day and still felt a little bad about when I realized how much of the bag I'd eaten without even really noticing. Thankfully it was carrots and not something else!

[ElaineJ27]

@Katrin , your question comes as I am baking cookies on the hottest day so far. Actual temperature is 91, feels like 99 F. 

I was raised about a 20-minute drive from Jacksonville, which is where the closest stores were. We went to town on Friday night for groceries and Sunday for church. Incidentally, those were the only times I put on shoes in the summer. 

In the early 1970s, there was a gas shortage. You could buy gas on alternating days depending on whether the last number of your license plate was odd or even. I was in junior high school and spent the night with a friend. Her dad asked if we wanted ice cream and I thought he would get some out of the freezer, but we all got in the car and drove to town just for ice cream! I thought they must be the richest people I knew. 

Even though I have brownie mixes in my cabinet, I wouldn’t dream of baking some just for myself. Today’s cookies are for our dads and I made a package for the staff at the golf course for watering around my round of golf yesterday. Even though I only live a mile from town now, it wouldn’t feel right to even drive to the gas station for a treat. Maybe some of what we felt were hardships engrained some helpful habits. 

[MargaretG139]

Friday = 4 - I don't think I got all my water, but again can't be sure. I am now on a four day streak of hitting my step goal. It may very well end there, but I'll do what I can to get the remaining 1500 steps I need today to get it, but my girls decided they wanted to go out without me despite my reminding them that if I came along and they did any clothes shopping that I would pay - I can't believe they turned me down!

CW 196.6

I'm going to try to remember to post my weekly weigh in results to help me remain accountable.

@Jan2512I hope you are feeling better soon and am so glad to hear your power came back relatively quickly and that you won't have to wait weeks for it to come back. Hearing about Austailia's vacination issues shows me just how uneven the distribution is around the world. It really angers me that due to the level of hesitency here we have an abundance of vaccine available when there are so many places around the world where the demand is far exceeding the supply. I also worry about what's going to happen in the fall and winter if we don't have actual herd immunity here by then.

@Katrinthe area I live in was also once swampland. We have some pockets of cicadas in the area but not near enough to our house for us to hear them. There are a couple of small areas along my normal walking route. Driving home on the highway from my test earlier in the week was kind of a surreal experience - I could hear them over the sound of the radio and the road noise. The volume fluctuated quite a bit over the two to three mile stretch.

I'm glad to hear that you are feeling better about your job situation. Sending prayers and positive vibes your way that that translates into financial success for you as well.

Regarding your question. If I'm not craving something in particular, I can usually pass on the treats similar to you walking by all those sweets stores. I also rarely succumb to peer preasure in those situations. If I don't know/forget treats are there it's a little more of a mixed bag because I will certainly go looking to see "what can I snack on", but would never leave the house to get something.

Like you@ElaineJ27 I wouldn't go to the trouble of baking somethig for myself. If it's not "grab and go" I'm not having it... unless others at home expressed the desire to have [insert unhealthy homemade baked good here].

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.