Reporting in from last night's italian dinner.... I ordered napoletonia? pasta (tomato sauce pasta) - 1.5 for the tomato sauce and NORMALLY 5.0 for the pasta - lunch serving - I ATE THE WHOLE BOWL DINNER SIZE. Goodness me! I went over my points by 2.5 yesterday (Had a glass of beer too! Bad McPeg). Today I have been ensuring to have my fruit salad (breakfast), had a lovely bread with raisin sandwich with small amount olive oil marg and going to have a no point mixed veggie soup mid-afternoon before going over to our friends for movie and chinese tonight. WALKED to and back to the store for groceries - I have one of those pull carts on wheels because I LOVE WALKING - especially when it's sunny. So hopefully I recovered a few points round trip. Going out again for a walk to the garden centre and back. Try and recover a couple more points and soak up the sun. It is an actually crisp, cold sunny day in Scotland - our area has complete escaped the UK snow during the last week. I love walking in this weather - sheer delight! Planning to take a bottle of strawberry flavoured water because there will be beer and wine and after last night I need to watch today and tomorrow. I enjoyed myself last night - did not touch any cheese garlic bread that surrounded me, nursed my beer throughout the meal and ate like I have never seen food before (tee hee). Ah but I love a good challenge. So that was my adventure last night and today and I walking and stretching. Can't stay on too long - need ta get moving again. Hope everyone hangs in there. Beverly, you are still doing fine because you keep trying new things and you are not quitting on yourself. What a star you are! Yellowhair I am glad to see you recovering and getting back on track again. Fabulous. I agree with your comments on crockpot cooking. Slow cooking is great but so is pressure cooking if you have less time. MaryAnn - okay so ya had a donut. I will have a few when I visit home or maybe just one because I now know better. You can't deny yourself life's small pleasures but you are well armed with knowledge now to recover and not feel bad for enjoying that donut. I know there will always be donuts but it will taste so much better for me if I can achieve my goal by end summer and have one wearing size 12 pants. Then it will be worth it! Big Mama, I know you have had a tough time but you keep coming back. I have absolutely no idea what it's like for you I can only understand food. I admire you for taking care of yourself and still coming back to talk to us. Don't let go - I am reaching out to you and hanging onto your hand! You can do this. Forget yesterday if you had any bad ones and focus on taking care of yourself today. Take some time today to give yourself some pamper time - a nice walk or soak in the tub, get a nice haircut/curl, buy a new pair of funky socks/shirt or something...or simply turn off the phone, close the door and have some quiet time with a good book. Let's make today count - no matter what we do. Life is precious and so are we! Cheers, gotta stroll! McPeg

After 2-1/2 weeks, I've finally lost one pound off the weight I started with! (There was that bump there when it actually went up.) I've gradually been making progress on lowering my sodium intake, but it seems as sodium goes down, calories are going up. I'm continually having the dilemma of, do I choose the food with lower salt and higher calories, or vice versa. A good example is light Miracle Whip (fewer calories, more sodium) vs. real Hellman's mayo (more calories, less sodium). I guess it's going to take a few more weeks of juggling to get everything balanced out--but I'm gonna do it. Hi, Raybeck, welcome! I hate to tell you but something else happened in that 2-1/2 years besides "eating too much"--you got 2-1/2 years older! DH and I ate like pigs back in college--we used to *each* get a Burger King deal where we bought one Whopper and got one free. That's right, two Whoppers, an order of fries and a huge drink (not diet) for each of us. And we were thin! I read somewhere that your calorie need really does go down each decade, so you either have to eat a little less, exercise a little more, or else gain weight as you get older. Unfortunately I didn't read that till the damage was done. ;) So don't beat yourself up--you might have been eating the same as always, not realizing it was time to adjust. It's great you're taking charge of it now! TREKaren--I hear you on the Hershey kisses. One thing I'm not giving up is my daily piece of Dove dark chocolate--42 calories, and worth every one. :) DeeMarie--Take care of yourself. Thanks for the vote of confidence in the brownie mix. Can't wait to try it this weekend. Erica

I hear ya loud and clear barefoot babe - been there last 3 years and I am just S L O W L Y getting past my stall point where I always quit. Get MAD at yourself for quitting last time and stick with it. It's mathematics if ya talked to a dietician - eventually the weight will shift. Its true - keep the faith. I have been bouncing - since late Feb from 145 - 143. BAck and forth, back and forth. Do you notice while you are stalling/plateauing that your body is changing - clothes are a little more loose? Shape changing - even slightly? I found my weight sticking but body changing - a lot. Just peeked at the scales this morning for damage control and see if this week has been as bad and looks like my weight is snailing its way down again - like half a pound. My weigh day is Monday, I have a weekend away with LOTS of already paid for meals. I promise to enjoy myself but also pay attention to what I eat - I promise myself. My body changes has settled down again but my weight is trying to move. Its been a very, very slow process for me. I figure if I give up now I will be kicking myself by summer that I let myself down. Hang in there - I am walking beside you on this one. I am grabbing your arm and pulling you along with me! Let's stick with this. Don't give up. Even if ya have a bad day - let it go and get back on track. One bad day compared to a good, healthy week of taking care of yourself should not topple your goals. I will pull you along and you can pull me along. We are here for each other! Have a fabby day today. Get out and TREAT yourself with something else to take your mind off things. My treats have been fun earrings - you should see the collection I have since starting my diet! Get something new for yourself. You need a treat. Cheers, McPeg

Hi McPeg. You sticking around this time? Well I have fallen badly too. I had a change of BP meds and sat for a month and was sad and cried (definitely not the usual me!) and ate and put on weight. I kept waiting for the side effects to go away but they did not. Uck! I called and am on new meds but the weight wants to stay and many vacation days are not helping. Heading to the doc next month so I need to get busy. I'll join you for awhile. I have salad waiting too and bought some green beans someone grew and picked for 50 cents a bag at a yard sale - I was "doing" 6 big bags of green beans for hours yesterday. Shouldn't need to buy more for a long time. Oh one more thing I have Discovery Health channel now and there is a show about people who have lost a pile of weight. It's called Losing It and is on right before lunch here - great timing! Just curious did you see the movie - Supersize Me? Well worth watching. Kathy