I have found that when I am really, really craving something I might as well eat it. I will just eat tons more calories trying to replace the craving for a bad food. If I "NEED" chocolate I have a small piece. I consume far less calories than if I didn't eat the chocolate. The less I eat the less I need. Carbs are my major downfall. I love pretzels. Can't have them in the house. I bought a big container of pretzels and took them to school. I put them in the cabinet for snacks for the kids. When we serve them to the kids I eat a few. If they were here they would have been gone weeks ago. So far it is working.

I also have learned that I might a well eat whatever I am craving. I can eat a ton of calories trying to quench the craving with other things.
I am back in Texas, supposedly getting ready to move. I found 2 boxes and filled those. We have 2 men and a truck coming in the morning to pack and then load the rental truck. Fun times.
Time to head to the airport to pick up hubby.

Irish - I like your way of thinking. And I think that way as well. I watch what I eat, portion control, all that stuff. But if I want something I might as well have a little bit of it or I'll go nuts substituting. I visited a friend a couple months ago and she had this container of candy. It was dark chocolate (really dark) with almonds and cherries. It was wonderful. She came to visit a couple weekends ago and brought me a container. I hid it, in my sewing room. But I know where it is. It is my "go to" snack. That little something that takes the edge off. But, I don't live in it. The container is still almost full. Just every once-in-a-while I need a little something, and that's it!! Then I'm good. Actually, I'm good for a few days or so, which is great!!

Looking into a doc now that can take out my gallbladder. Should have had it out about 4 yrs ago but couldn't due to medicines and things. Now it's starting to annoy (not really hurting so much) me. Think it's time before things get worse.

Get your gall bladder out before it becomes an emergency. I had a bunch of trouble with mine during my 4th pregnancy, I was in and out of the hospital several times during the pregnancy. It was a lot better afterwards so I left it alone. I was ok as long as I behaved myself. 4 years later it was bothering me any time I ate anything so I decided to take care of it. The doctor said I was really close to it being emergency surgery. Just don't delay too long. The surgery wasn't too bad.

i hear all you sane normal people. :o i just don't buy it. that's the only way i can leave choc, ice cream alone. i'm allergic to eggs, so that helps limit my baked goods. if i buy a box of sugar free ice cream bars, i eat the whole box at once. if i buy a 4 pack of yogurt, i eat 4 the lst day. so i buy one of anything, if possible. or, just go out for it, when i decide i can have something. learned to make choc cake in a mug, so that's a treat occ. and sugar free hard candy i keep on hand. for some reason i can leave that alone, till the craving hits. don't seem to o.d. on that. see you at wt in sunday morn? good luck to all. i'm doing good so far. happy about the success so far.

We surely are all different. I can eat a carton of ice cream in one sitting, though I make myself eat only 1/3 each day for three days, but if I buy single serve ice cream bars, I eat only one. One yogurt a day, too, thought the one I had this morning bears repeating. Yoplait's new Simple blackberry. Dannon's Oikos Greek yogurt is good, too. BTW, the reason a person eats the whole box of sugar free anything is because his/her body doesn't recognize the chemicals as food and is looking for real food, sugar included. Same with fat-free. We need some fat. My youngest daughter was allergic to eggs when she was little, but outgrew it though I don't think she gets a flu shot. I'm getting mine sometime after the first of the month.

I earned last week's gold star - no artificail sweeteners here, I will earn the second part of this week's I'm not a salter and because I'm not eating snacks until my weight is down, I won't get any there, but the first part - no negative thoughts - YIKES! I will have to work on that one. I think I'm okay so far.

There's a yard sale today and tomorrow with three 'antique' sewing machines. Luckily, I won't have time to go. I don't need any more vintage machines. I gave away my antique one - the only one over 100 years old. The next oldest I have is from 1918, so she's not an antique yet.

Speaking of chocolate, has anyone tried Diamond Natural dark chocolate almonds. They aren't candy coated - just dusted with chocolate and stevia (a good low calorie sweetener). The are quite good.

I am off to put groceries away. I just checked in here to see how everyone is doing. It's been a long day and I needed a break.

I AM losing weight and getting healthier.
Judy

Ooh, talk about a long day. I have been packing all day. Well, now I am cleaning. Hubby vacuumed the carpets and declared himself exhausted and he sat down to watch tv. That leaves me cleaning out all the cabinets (scary how dusty some of them were!) cleaning 3 bathrooms, cleaning the kitchens and cleaning all the hard floors. I say no fair! I'm tired too. I still don't know if we will get everything in the truck and car. Seems to me there is an awful lot of stuff left and not much space for it. I tried to talk him into a bigger truck but it cost twice as much as the one we got. We gave away some stuff: a kingsize mattress, box spring and frame, a couch, a weight bench, a push lawn mower and a box of encyclopedias. The 6 yr old neighbor was so excited about the encyclopedias. The weight bench took about 5 minutes sitting out on the sidewalk with a free sign before someone came and got it. The mower only took 2. The first car that came by took it. She was tickled. Ok, that's enough of a break. There is a toilet and bathroom floor waiting for me upstairs. Then I get to start on the downstairs. Plus I get the joy of sleeping on an air bed. Calgon, take me away!

Okay Judy now you really have to tell us the pea soup story, inquiring minds want to know!

If I am really craving something the two things I try are: first I tell myself I am allowed to have whatever, but I will do something else first. Sometimes that delaying tactic will do the trick. If I still find myself craving whatever 20 minutes or so later, I will allow myself I small portion of it. Very few foods are so unhealthy that they cannot be eaten, it is all in the portion and frequency. Whenever I make a statement like "I am giving up . . . it is all I can think about. All things in moderation is more successful for me.

Pam I don't envy you the moving, boy do I hate that. It does make you do a really deep cleaning though someone else gets to enjoy it!

I have been watching my salt intake, but I know I could do better. I will work on that this week. Working on positive thinking. Why is it negative thinking comes naturally, but we have to work at thinking positively?

when i am craving ice cream, or choc, i tell myself that i can have it. 'just not right now. later, tomorrow, or the next day or sunday.' that gets me thru most times.

Oh Irish I have a jar of those dark chocolate almonds in my car. I love them. That is my snack on the way home from work. I have those and some cinnamon almonds just like them, I don't know the brand name of the cinnamon almonds but they are delicious too. I have found if I eat a snack on the way home I'm not famished when I get home. I eat about 15 almonds. THey seem to mostly satisfy my sweet tooth and my need for crunchy food. MMMMMM!
I am not doing very well on the negative thoughts. I hate, hate my job right now. I told my DH that I will not make it thru the school year. I should not leave work every day near tears. I would quit now but we need the health insurance. I try to work thru my thoughts on the way home and leave it in the car. Not working very well. I am looking for a new job. MY search isn't going very well. There isn't much available. I don't care too much what it is but I need good insurance. I will continue to look and try to keep my mouth shut at work so I don't get into trouble. I was so upset yesterday I couldn't eat my lunch and I am a stress eater.
Weigh in is Sunday. Good luck everyone.

meanmom, what are your positives at work? Is there someone from another class you enjoy having lunch with? Is there no one who sees the teacher acting like that and will at least commiserate with you and not talk about it later? I went from being everyone's golden haired girl (red then, but you know what I mean) to having a principal and a teacher whose class I had to be for an hour a day who disliked me - the principal slightly and the teacher intensely. I could live with it because I had so many other friends on the staff and one or two I could blow off steam with. The principal moved, the teacher moved up away from the pre Ks and we all were happy. I used to go for an intense 20 minute walk at lunch, then eat quickly, plus I ate crunchy food after school - good for you for using almonds for your crunchy food. It takes a special person to teach Spec Ed. Apparently, she's not one. TGIF!!

My son came today to work on the roof, put bulbs in my kitchen lights and have his birthday lunch. I made him a crumb topped apple pie instead of a homemade German chocolate cake. He is a healthy eater and a GCC is overkill unless you are having a party and have a lot of help eating it. He agreed though we agreed that graduating to an apple pie makes him old because that's what his dad got when D was growing up.

Pam, when my neighborhood has their semi annual yard sales, I just put things out with a free sign. I can't sit out in the sun or run up and down the stairs, so it works for me. It's fun to watch how long things last -or what people will take. The longest ever was a patio table umbrella in need of repair, but disappeared. It may have gone faster at the Spring sale.

The pea soup story - when I very young after I was married, my mother had to go to Iowa because my grandfather was ill. My husband and I moved into the house to take care of my dad and the younger children. I had the bright idea to make split pea soup and dad worked second shift, so I needed it done quickly. I used the pressure cooker, the foam clogged the valve and blew it off spewing a thick green mess on my mother's freshly painted light blue kitchen. I ran out the door, my husband ran in to turn the burner off. He and my brother had to clean the ceiling because one of my heart defects is such that I can't work with my hands over my head. I do think they made me wash the walls, pregnant or not. I'm sure my hot headed, very clean mother found remnants of my misadventure for months. Later, when I had a pressure cooker, I made bean soup a lot. I think I did SP, too, because I had a bigger pressure cooker. I made some SP recently. It is so good this time of year. Now for some bean.

I am losing weigh and getting healthier.

IN the classroom where I work there is another aide full time. I really like her but she is really good friends with the teacher. They have vacationed together, that is part of the problem. I could not talk to her. The other aide is only in there part of the day and she is nearly as miserable as me. From what I have been told going to the principal would be a mistake. My lunch time has been changed to 1:00PM so no one else is in there then. They have moved all of the teachers around this year mixing up 2 schools. We never get out of our room, I don't know most of them. (I don't even know their names) The kids in the room are a mess and that is stressful but they aren't what bothers me. I pretty much can't say a word in the room because anything I say is instantly shot down. They talk to each other at night and discuss school things so I never have a clue what is going on. There was a discussion the other day with the school psychiatrist about one of the kids. They had apparently discussed it on the phone. The list just goes on and on. 4 of the kids are in diapers and somehow it is my job to change them all. She acts like it takes me too long to do it. 2 of them are in wheel chairs so they have to be removed, shoulder straps, seatbelt, ankle straps etc which takes a lot of time. I do 3 of them while the other aid takes the other 4 kids to the restroom and washes hands and brushes teeth. I think that is pretty fast. I got a dirty look the other day because I think I took too long to pee.(maybe I need diapers too) I have a lot of sick days built up I think I will start to take them.

Sorry Ladies, I forgot to post the new thread for October. I will be posting it here in a few moments. I need to take care of it before I go out on my dinner/movie date. And yes it is with the same man as last weekend. We are having a good time getting to know one another and enjoying each others company.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/general...ml#post5549683

Here is the link for the October weight loss adventure.

Start taking Fridays off. The long weekend will be relaxing and maybe she'll appreciate you more after having to train a variety of subs. I wouldn't take any days off, but I was in a different situation than you. I did pull out reading and math remediation of regular ed students. If I didn't teach my students to read their lives would be drastically altered and so many only needed to be taught in a different modality than a classroom can offer. I have at least two doctors and several teachers among my former students, which is a nice feeling. My near failure - severely dyslectic - is a long distance truck driver. He says he may never read a novel, but because of me, he can read road signs, directions from his company and do his log ins correctly. I subbed in all assistant capacities for 7 years after I retired. That was an experience.

All my apple peeling this week has caused a RA flare in my left hand. Ouchie! I have 3 more pies I want to make, but I can space them out. Why do men prefer pie over other desserts?

Lazy day today. I will clean the house a bit and sew on the bazaar quilt a bit. I should be further than I am on that. D left tar on the white carpet under his chair, so that's the first thing on my list.

I forgot to weigh myself this morning, but I'm not in the running. I'll be thrilled if I've lost the 8 pounds the antibiotics put on me. Who is September's winner??? Not me, but I don't ever expect to be.

I have leftover pork for dinner. D wanted goulash for lunch but I can't eat it so I cooked a pork recipe I like - he had both. Pork, salsa, taco seasoning, cream of chicken soup, extra cumin in the crockpot. When it's tender, you stir in a can of refried beans (I used seasoned). Yesterday I just had it with salad, but tonight I may put it on some rice. While I have the rice out, I need to make a new rice bag for my neck. Lily ate my old one. Moira destroys nothing and Lily very little, but the toasted rice must have smelled good and she is a dog, after all. Siberians seem to have a perchant for such things.

Cindy, have a lovely time this evening.

I am losing weight and getting healthier.

September's winner will not be me either. My son was home this week and that meant cooking and eating. He leaves on Sunday after a huge dinner of Beef Rib Roast. I am hoping that all my children will be here for dinner. It will be the first time they have all been together since May. Last weekend did not work out for two of my daughters. Hope this one does.
My son will be leaving in January for a 10 month deployment. He has been told that he needs to be pack and ready to be gone for 10 months starting on their next time at sea next week.... just in case.

Well I don't think I'll be September's winner either, oops negative thought lol. At my last weigh in I have lost 4 pounds this month, hopefully tomorrow will show another pound or two.

meanmom my heart goes out to you to have such a toxic workplace. I have worked in jobs nearly as bad and kept telling myself that it all evens out in the end. I really do believe in karma (or whatever you want to call it) and that we will all be "rewarded" according to how we have lived our lives.

Judy I love the pea soup story! The kitchen must have looked like the set of the Exorcist. And it's why I am such a goober about using a pressure cooker. I'm such a wuss about some things.

Cindy have fun on your date, but not too much fun LOL.

Oh a family dinner sounds wonderful Gayle, I sure do miss the days when my siblings would actually act like adults and could be in the same room. I am so very glad my son is still living at home and we can have dinner together, at least the nights he isn't working. Please tell your son how much I appreciate his service, I am so grateful to all the young men and women who serve.

I did get at least a short walk in nearly every day this week, the weather was wonderful. I love fall in Ohio, well at least early fall before the rains begin. Doing a little better on the water, portion control is still iffy. I am getting healthier, yes I am!

well, i have been good this month. i'm giving someone a run for their money. But i do allow myself l dessert a week. usually on sunday's. so would have been better if not for that. good luck at wt in tomorrow morning ladies.

Enjoyed my date, spending time with him. We were going to a steak house only to find out that they are moving locations, and closed until October 4th. So we ended up having Tex Mex at On the Border. then went to the movies.......and yesterday was a day of non stop pouring rain. So since the temps were down, I wore a sweater coz most movie theaters are always cold. This one had the heat on and I ended up getting overheated ........ugh that sucked. He was willing to leave if i wanted to. We saw End of Watch, neither one of use were pleased with the movie, I dont recommend spending your money on it.

Today I went to the Texas Rangers baseball game at noon against the LA Angels, rangers lost. But I had a great time. Temps were nice, had a nne wind blowing keeping it nice. Watching the second rangers game of the day since last nights game was postponed due to rain. right now the rangers are winning.

Remember you are in control of what you put in your mouth and what you do. Drink you water and get in your fruits and veggies.

Pam I do have another suggestion for Taboo Tuesday, it might make it easier. What if we change it to Try It Tuesday? That way instead of focusing on the negative, ie what we have to give up, we could focus on a positive change. It could be a mix of new things to try, and things to try to do without.

Cindy I don't think I've ever been to a movie theater that wasn't freezing cold! Gosh I can't remember the last time I went to a movie. When I look at the movie page and then the prices, I just stay home.

Well my date is eligible for the senior prices (i'm not) so he gets the 2 tickets for senior prices (3.50 instead of 7.00) Which is why I wouldn't let him leave. Due to the cost.

I like the idea of try it tuesday......Do you want to take it over LaurieJo? I saw that Pam was looking for someone to take it over due to health issues happening with her. Think about it.

Busy times for me. I flew to Texas last monday. We hired 2 men and a truck to pack our stuff and load into the rental truck. We were hoping to sign our closing papers on thurs or friday but that didn't happen. Hubby drove the truck and I drove our car. It was not fun. I did find a couple of things to help keep away the negative thoughts. Christian music, when I could find it on the radio, was/is very uplifting. The other things was the beautiful fall leaves. Oh my, I feel bad for the people in the south who don't get to experience this colorful change of the season. I am almost looking forward to my drive this afternoon. The final leg of my 1500 mile journey. We will sign the closing papers some time today. I was fearful that it might not happen when the buyer had emergency quadruple bypass surgery a week ago.
I am not going to win for Sept. I was down 6 lbs at 1 point but traveling is not good for me and I am not near a scale to find out what the actual damage was. My sister started a new diet that I am considering. You cut out all sugars and grains. It makes your body burn fat instead of sugar. After a while you start adding things back in and see how they affect you. She has not had a migraine in the 3 weeks she has been on it. I am willing to try it if it could take away my migraines.
Time to sign on to the October thread. Good luck, everyone!

Well, my September loss was not what I expected - but it wasn't a gain either. I'm on to the October thread for another go at it. Pam asked me to fill in for her on Taboo Tuesdays, so I'm game for a month or so of that.

Thank for taking over for Pam on the taboo Tuesday deals

The winner for September with an 11 lb weight loss is sewNso. Congrats. Keep up your hard work.

Wow sewnso! 11 lbs is awesome! Way to go!

Great job sewnso! Make yourself something fun with the FQs, you have earned them.

Congratulations Sewnso!! What a great loss!!!

Well congrats SewNso. I lost so I'm happy. I'll sign up for Oct so see ya all there.
hugs to all
Gail

SewNso, great job. Go Girl Go!