What's on your (PHOTO) Friday Menu, RNYers?

All right guys - back to it! I'm up 4 lbs since I weighed in on Wednesday. Most of i****er, I'm sure, but still.... I will be going to Aqua Zumba this morning, pushing fluids all day, and really watching my intake these next few days!!

My calorie level for yesterday was about the same as yours, JB. I honestly didn't eat a like a pig like I would have pre-surgery, but a "normal" Thanksgiving dinner with stuffing, sweet potato casserole, buttery mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream adds up fast. Plus I was in charge of making the turkey and stuffing, so there was stuffing- and gravy-tasting while cooking, too. ENOUGH!!

other than Aqua Zumba, the only other thing on the agenda is going to MIL's this evening. I'll take some of these Thanksgiving leftovers there (and we'll probably eat some of it for dinner while we're there tonight, but I'll focus on the turkey and vegetables this time!)

btw - the unorganized dinner turned out fine. Other than the fact there were five pies (good Lord...), things just kind of worked out. Whew. My niece's boyfriend's family was very nice.

QOTD: first of all, JB, being thankful that you aren't in that job anymore does NOT sound terrible. I'm thankful you're not in it, too! I was in a similar situation several years ago. Having a bad work environment is miserable and affects your whole life! I guess I am most thankful that my MIL is now living close by and that DH and I have the financial means for me to be retired, because I LOVE being retired!! (having him still working full-time helps - if it weren't for that, I would have had to have waited another 2-3 years)

4+ years out:

B: Greek yogurt with some kind of fruit, coffee with half & half. I may have one of those Slimfast "fat bombs", too, since I won't be eating again until lunch (I'll be at the gym most of the morning)

L: salad with diced turkey and light dressing. Or vegetarian chili.

AS: L&F yogurt and/or raw veggies with ranch Greek yogurt dip

D: turkey, gravy, vegetables. Maybe 1/4 C of sweet potato casserole or stuffing, but not both.

have a great day, all!

Good Friday morning.

let me tell ya, my body hurts. It feels like I've been hit by a mack truck. Mostly my leg, it had me in tears last night. Sleep was rubbish but I'm getting used to that being the case. Will be glad to see my doctor and hopefully get onto the road of recovery...whatever that looks like.

yesterday was good! I only gained a pound and a half. The biggest splurge was I had a few bites of pecan pie. Yes it made me feel gross but not horribly gross. I made my own cranberry sauce & dressing. Very small portions but I didn't measure. I'm pretty proud of how I handled it all. Oh I did have some fried okra!

I got a call from my friend that's in the hospital. Not a great call. She is VERY confused and hard to understand. She thinks the staff there is conspiring against her. I think she must have renal issues. She didn't know what day it was or her own birthday. It made my heart very heavy. But it's another reason I'm proud of the way I handled yesterday.

qotd:I am most thankful for my mom. She is just a kick ass person. A good heart. She is my best friend and it hasn't always been that way but we've earned it now!

b:small amount of ham, turkey and a touch of cranberry sauce.

l:turkey, cauliflower dressing

d:??? Prob leftovers

s:???

Morning all! I really wanted to stop in and say Hi and also to try to start a better habit of checking in more regularly. I've been really struggling and isolating and I KNOW that that is not a good place for me, but.... Really tried to find things to be grateful for yesterday but was really low. Today I woke up and decided to try to add back in some better habits that have worked for me before, better eating and back to regular exercise. Life has been so stressful and I let it overwhelm me mentally, physically and emotionally. Makes sense but going to try to get back on track one step at a time.

I really love the way I feel when I run and/or do hard cardio, so I decided to start with that. Took some time to explore the great paths in my new neighborhood. Took it easy and did run-walk cycles since my body isn't used to long runs at the moment and it felt great and went well.

That brings up a question for those of you who use apps to measure time and distance when exercising. I have a Fit*****arge 3 that I really love but as with so many gadgets, it only measures exercise that you do for 10 solid minutes. For instance if I walk for 5 minutes to warm up and then run for 30 minutes, OR if I do a mixture of run-walk, it doesn't always measure accurately. Steps yes, but time and distance no. What have you found useful to measure distance (gps?), total time, splits, etc. I want to do that Thanksgiving to New Year challenge although some of it may be on the dreadmill depending on the weather, and I want to have an accurate log.

Also going to try to be more consistent with logging food and fluid again. Too easy to cheat when I don't measure, count and log.

Menu:

B1: coffee w/ CarbMaster milk & Miralax

B2: Carbmaster yogurt

L: ? not sure since I'm going to do some consumer therapy today. I'd like to find some chicken kabob though or a salad with chicken

S: protein shake

D: beef tips (too depressed to make them yesterday) & salad

S: Lactaid cottage cheese w/ berries & slivered almonds

E: I did about 45 minutes of walk-run, about 3.2 miles

Thanks folks! You are the best and I am VERY grateful for all of you here. You've helped me change my life over the last (almost) 3 years!

Oh yeah and pics!

After a VERY depressing T-giving brunch with my family last Saturday, we treated ourselves to a trip to see the Holiday display at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA. It was wonderful!

You are in my thoughts and Prayer. You look like you made the best of your day. I love that picture of you together.

Happy to see you posting Janet. I have missed you!

So happy to see you here, my friend! Running and hard cardio in general sound wonderful for you. Often when life is at it's most challenging, we let go of those things which buoy us up the most, out of sheer exhaustion. I truly hope that somehow things will become much more easily manageable, and send you love. Please don't be a stranger.

Janet - I don't know if it will meet your needs but I believe Map my Run tracks distance from the first step. Its a free app if you want to see. Love the picture of you and DW and all the purple ornaments!

Happy Black Friday All,

JB I licked the screen and tasted that fig jam. Yum!

I had a wonderful thanksgiving. A friend brought thanksgiving dinner over so it only needed heated. We only had seven so it was not hectic at all. I started my day with breakfast out and had over easy eggs with sauteed onion and spinach and sprinkled with feta and a slice of ham. I went home and made an upside down apple pie for my SIL since she is not fond of pumpkin. You just put brown sugar butter and walnuts on the bottom of a deep dish pie pan them put crust apple pie filling (fresh apples flower cinnamon sugar) then put on another crust and seal it up. When its done cooking you flip it on the platter and caramel and walnuts ooze over the pie. So I licked a lot of knifes yesterday. I didn't want a full piece of anything so I did a lot of tasting. I am going to say I did well considering the scale is up only 4 oz and when I weighed yesterday morning I was the lowest since I started my journey.

QOTD: I am thankful that in 11 days my Hot Tub will be delivered. Yippie. Oh and I have a job that allows me to afford it.

Accountability. It was Thanksgiving.

TSS: 1 year 11 months 18 days 136.6 (lowest was 136.2)

CB: Dark roast coffee with and SF pumpkin spice creamer with miralax and fiber

MS Jimmie Dean Eggwich

L: Leftover pork medallions wrapped in bacon with gorgonzola and asparagus and ham(leftovers)

D: No plan yet

Exercise: None today maybe not till Monday since it is my Birthday weekend and I will be running up and down the attic steps getting my holiday decorations done.

Everybody have a great weekend.

Brightest Blessings,

Chrissy

Photo of my family and I at breakfast yesterday a photo of me wearing my 3x Levi jacket I refuse to give up and A photo of my brother my besty and me at Cabelas Thanksgiving 2004.

These are great pictures, Chrissy!

I looked at those charcuterie trays and thought, I could do that if I had complete directions. A shopping list and a diagram of where to put each item. So that thought sent me to Pinterest, Etsy, and YouTube and now I am excited about making them.

I am planning where to put them because I just don't want one of these pumpkin centerpieces to happen. My husband used to hate the week of creative things I did with leftover turkey. Years ago, I had the leftovers on the table the day after Thanksgiving and when we walked into the kitchen, the cat was on the table and having a turkey feast.

I was upset to have to throw away all that perfectly good meat, but my husband petted her and told her she was a good kitty.