Friday, Dec 25. And Christmas is here.

To everyone thank you!!!!  Your support and honesty means a great deal!

for those of us who are/ will be dealing with difficult family situations I wish you peace and safety.  For those travelling a safe journey to and fro.  

and for all of us on the food front,  wisdom to make our own choices.

santa is on his way.  Just checked with Google and am assured that he will arrive here on the west coast of Canada in about 7 hours.  He is presently in Oklahoma dishing out gifts as fast as he can.

may we all rejoice in the glow of our loved ones.  

Positive thoughts and energy to everyone in successfully navigating the challenges today may bring. May we all be insulated from the full force of unwanted outside influences, because we have worked hard to hone skills and plan anticipate / plan for them.

Merry Christmas all. I appreciate each and every one of you !!

Diane

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Carbon, such an early bird!  But then I see that you hadn't just gone to bed, yet.  Do you mind if I ask where in Western Canada you are?  I'm in Seattle.  Don't worry, I don't stalk, much. ;)

Diane, thank you (and to the whole group) for the positive thoughts and energy. I am truly enjoying the time with family, especially the younger generation that I don't see often.  Yesterday, I broke away from the crowd at the table (and apple pie on the table) to hang out with my 15 year old nephew. That interaction still makes me feel good this morning and I am still glad that I passed on the apple pie.  

126.5 this morning which makes me happy.  I have worked really hard to be non-plussed when the scale stays the same or goes up for no reason.  I am still irrationally happy when it goes down.  That reminds me that I plan to start Intuitive Eating this weekend.  

Yes, lets rejoice!  

-Shel

Good morning

i live 7-8 hours north of Vanvouver

seattle is a lovely city but the rate of exchange precludes any visits right now.  Sigh.  

Merry Christmas!!

Merry, Merry Christmas everyone!

Hope everyone is enjoying their time celebrating the season! We don't have local family at all, so we always just spend Holidays with our little family of five. Sometimes I miss the extended family at Holiday time but usually am happy to not have to run around to a million different places or deal with any family drama (other then what is dished out by my own teens)!

123.6 today, yet another new low and again below my lower red line. I guess I won't feel guilty about the unplanned for 1/2 C of Gardettos or the small piece of chocolate that I had last night. I actually think I didn't drink enough yesterday, so may be a bit dehydrated today. I'll work on that!

I did go on the treadmill yesterday and my legs didn't swell up like crazy - so exercise is back on! Yay! I'm still going a little easier, but that is okay since I had almost 3 weeks off. We had just a dusting of snow last night so we have a partial white Christmas - some green grass still peeking through!

Merry Christmas! Last night's Christmas Eve services were beautiful; always  a time of reflection.  

My scale has been consistant this week!  I'm happy with that.

We're spending the day with my parents.  I'm really looking forward to that.  I love that they are close now.  We can pop in and out often.

Home tonight to pack.  We're leaving at 3:45am in hopes of missing the snow storm that's coming; more than a foot where we're going!  I have my snow boots ready to go! I'm going to practice mindful eating while there whi*****ludes wine and Bloody Mary's.  Heh!!  No scale.  Since I won't be able to walk outside for the first few days, I'll move my body to a YouTube exercise video.  I do notice I get ansy if I don't move my body.  I'm also going to delve into the Intuative Eating book!  Hope it helps!  My plan is to do the best I can and enjoy living.  

Merry Christmas, My Peeps!!!! Enjoy family, friends, and the food!!!!  Thankful all of of you!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Scale was the same today as yesterday. I can't complain about that now, can I? 

I did make it to the gym and was very happy to get a good workout in yesterday morning. I spent the entire day cooking! I had to force myself to stop and eat a quest bar. 

We were 11 people last night. It was the first time my 91 year old uncle (he'll be 92 on 1/25/16) was here with us. He's very quiet and has some cognitive difficulty, but clearly enjoyed being with the family and his eyes lit up like a little one when he got presents. He's been alone and reclusive for so long, it made me really happy to see him smile so genuinely! 

My food intake was as planned yesterday with a few exceptions: I was hungry so I allowed myself a few appetizers - 4 prawns w/****tail sauce, a couple of slices of calabrese, and literally, about 2 tsp of cheese; I also had an extra chocolate (3 instead of 2) - I will live with that; and damn, in the spirit of full disclosure, I was gifted a pint of "homemade" gourmet Butter Brickle ice cream - an all time fave from my childhood - I indulged in about 1/3 cup. It was heaven! Had I known, I would have skipped the chocolate (which wasn't at all worth the anticipation)! 

Today is a regular old day. I'll make the muffin tin doughnuts for for Ron, but other than that, I anticipate no bumps in the road. 

Paula and Diane and Shel, your posts this morning took me back to my first Christmas post VSG and how wonderful it was to still have such reduced capacity and drive and commitment to honor my weight loss efforts. Thank you for bringing a smile to my face and a wonderful memory to the forefront! 

Linda, if you pop by today, please know I am thinking of you and sending positive and good thoughts your way. 

Lesa, safe journey. Enjoy your time in New Mexico. Where will you be? I have wanted to visit Las Cruces and Taos, but have never had the time (or the funds - too many dogs!)

To us all, I hope everyone enjoys the day - however you may celebrate! From me, many thanks for the online friendship, support, and camaraderie. 

Merry Christmas,

Devon

Merry Christmas everyone.  I am so grateful for all the help and thoughtfulness that exudes from my computer screen when I visit this group. Thankful for our new participants too. Makes for lively and fun discussion.

I am not grateful for the extra pound today.  Yesterday I just wanted to eat and eat.  None of it was bad stuff especially but a little too much cheese and peanut butter and red wine.  But for the first time in days the sun is out and its not raining and we don't have to be at our friends until 2 so we can get a walk in.  

Spent christmas eve at the gallery counting up cash and then doing bank deposit. All these desperate shoppers come in so sales are big. Hubby came with me as I had to take $ to the bank night deposit after dark.  

Ok, here is a question. How many of you eat lentils or beans?  Lately I have craved them in soups and such - I guess due to cold rainy weather.  They were off limits during weight loss phase but now are a comfort food.  Probably too much comfort. (read: carbs).  Just curious.

Well I guess I will use today's holiday dinner with friends as my big chance to prove I am still a loyal maintainer by making good food choices and keeping quantities reasonable.   Have a great day all.     diane

I eat beans - sure they have more carbs then chicken but good protein and fiber too. I do eat more carbs then most on these boards though.

Hi Diane, 

As you know, I am still in weight loss mode.

Starting at about 6 months, on occasion I have 2 oz of some sort of Mexican/hot/spicy canned white bean.  I mix it in with my slow cooked chipotle pork tenderloin. I loves this! I was very mindful of the carb and calorie load but it was workable even with my personal low carb plan.  It didn't seem to affect my weight loss at all. 

From work, I know that the diabetic care managers consider legumes to be generally diabetic friendly (although anything can be abused) so I feel like there isn't much of a problem with blood sugar spiking if that is concern.

I'm interested in hearing other's thoughts.  When I begin to inch out of weight loss mode, I will be looking to gradually move out of ketosis earlier rather than later because it may be worsening a weirdo non-urgent medical thing.   I do like legumes and they seem like an obvious category to consider including.  

Enjoy your walk!  I should get out, too, while there is a break in the action.