silversword, thanks for keeping us "honest!" I, too, hope it's a great week for everyone.

I don't know about you all, but I still struggle with the weekends. Too much free time, television, being lazy. I was so happy to get out and walk this morning, after being a "slug" all weekend. My husband still works full-time, and he likes to have relaxing weekends (translation: do as little as possible!), and I allow myself to fall into the same mode. I really, really need to work on keeping myself occupied.

I don't know how much y'all are into self-help books and/or Oprah, but on Wednesday's show she will be featuring the book "Women, Food and God" by Geneen Roth. The book is receiving excellent reviews, so Oprah might be worth tuning into on Wednesday.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

I've heard of that book Wodka. Sounds good, thanks for the tip.

I struggle with the weekends too. I find that if I get up and do something in the mornings I'm more inclined to stay on track. If I stay in my jammies past 10 I'm in trouble!!!

Congrats to everybody for losing weight or at least staying even. That's what I'm doing again this week, staying even - 180. I did a little better on the calories this week, though, averaging 2204.

I hope everybody had a happy Mother's day, and didn't overdo the food. We all went to my mother's house and cooked out over an open wood fire, then went hunting morel mushrooms. We were a bit late, though. All the mushrooms we found were too old.

I had a great week-end and I'm afraid to weigh to-morrow.

I went to my daughters cottage from Friday to Sunday. Sunday morning they took me to a neighbourhood brunch and needless to say, I stuffed myself.

I seem to be finding it harder and harder to keep my urges under control. I missed my walking with the dog as well and no doubt didn't drink nearly as much as when I'm near the tap at home.

Oh well, I'll post to-morrow. Hopefuly I'll hold my own, at least but I'm not expecting that.

Have a geat week, everyone.

I know!! I made lasagna for dinner (yes, with garlic bread!) and ate a huge breakfast on Mother's day.

I did make myself a separate lasagna though, with only one layer of gluten free noodles, lots of spinach, spaghetti squash and tofu mixed in with the beef.

Went to the Gym Sunday, going again today. Will weigh in at the gym tonight.

Iva, what are you craving?

Wodka - On the weekends, me too. The fridge and the snacks are just too handy when I'm around the house all day.

Ivamae - I feel your pain. It does get harder the closer you get to your goal. You get hungrier, but can't eat as much and still lose weight.

Silversword - the lasagna sounds pretty good, except for the tofu. Can't handle that.

Can't even taste it Harold. It gets mashed up with the ricotta. :)

I'm weighing in at 142/136/125 (at the gym this afternoon). Drinking homemade peach vodka to celebrate.

Had quinoa, chicken and mixed frozen veggies for dinner with a half an avocado. The avo was my treat.

Well, I'm singing the blues this morning and I expected that. Went back up to 154. Have 2 birthday celebrations this week, too, so that isn't going to help next weeks weigh in but I'll try to behave the best I can.
ivamae

Ivamae, let's make it a duet (singing the blues!) I weighed this a.m. before walking and I was up - 159.8. These last pounds are without a doubt the hardest. Maybe Oprah's show today about emotional eating will encourage me to focus more on my goal.

My kitchen is entirely too close to the bedroom. I watched The Biggest Loser and nibbled through the entire show. That ain't right!

I'm sorry ladies!! I had to talk myself out of snacking last night and finally just got up, abandoned my drink and brushed my teeth. I have some nasty mouthwash that makes everything taste awful for about 1/2 hour after. That helps cause then I don't want to eat anything.

This morning I stumbled on a neat trick. I added some psyllium powder to my protein shake and then a tablespoon of chia seeds. When I got to work my drink was solid. Kind of like an airy pudding. The Chia seeds expand and solidify in liquid. So I "ate" my shake with a spoon. VERY SATISFYING! That was almost 4 hours ago and I'm just now starting to get hungry again. Usually a shake lasts me two hours.

If I had to do it over again I'd put more ice. And maybe some vanilla yogurt to make it creamier. But it tasted good and was so filling!!! And Chia has a lot of good nutrients.

1 frozen banana
6 ice cubes
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 tablespoon psyllium (fiber)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Water

From a website:

Our ancestors - for thousands of years, ate all day long. A bit of food here, a bit of food there. The last 400 years we decided to eat 1, then 2, then 3 big meals a day. The problem is our bodies are not "programmed" to eat 3 meals a day. You eat, then do not eat again for hours and the body responds by storing body fat because your body literally thinks you are starving!

Include the foods we eat daily - highly processed foods that we digest in less than 1 hour - we are hungry all the time! So we eat, and eat.

So how to eat now? Eat portion foods. A portion is a small hand-full of food. Every 2-3 hours, eat one portion. As you go along through the weeks, you will re-teach your body that your are not starving, so the portions will get smaller and smaller. You will never be hungry again.

What to eat; fruits, vegetables, nuts, and ONE protein serving. Again, our ancestors ate very little protein. A can of white chicken breast, small can, in water, will give you all the protein you need each day. Throw away the water. Try different foods to see what you like, and do not. Fast food? Get the kid-size burger, kid-size coke.

It is usually sweets that I crave.

Harold told us that he eats walnuts. I do find that helps as well. I'm glad he suggested that. I'm also trying to increase the fluids.

I have had polymyalgia for a little over 3 years so cannot walk the 10,000 steps but am doing so very much better with that than I was. I'm trying to walk between 5,000 and 6,000. I'm limited also in many exercises as I have 7 bad discs - four in the neck area and 3 in the lower back.

Have fun with the psyllium powder, silversword. You may be spending a lot of extra time in the reading room.

All the best everyone.

Silversword - I'm not so sure I agree with that web site. Did our ancestors eat all day long, or did they go hungry for long periods, maybe gorging themselves when they found a supply of food? Some people do pretty well with intermittent fasting.

As far as not eating much protein, they were hunter-gatherers. It would probably depend on the kind of food available. Eskimos ate mostly meat, not many veggies available. And, protein is known to satisfy your hunger better per calorie than carbs and fat. I wouldn't suggest skimping on the protein. If you are losing weight, eating plenty of protein will help you to hang onto the muscle while losing fat. If you are building muscle, you need more protein to gain muscle mass.

Ivamae - glad you liked my suggestion about eating nuts for a snack. It's healthy food, but unfortunately I eat too much of it.

Good morning!

Harold, I think you and I must be related - ha! I have to be careful about keeping walnuts in the house. I know they are very beneficial to your health, but I am like a squirrel around them!

I'm off to visit my mom. Might try to work in her yard to get some exercise.

Oprah was pretty good yesterday, mostly common sense about loving ourselves, treating ourselves more kindly. How we think if we self-loathe ourselves enough, we will lose the weight. I wish she would have let the author of the book talk more. That's one thing about Oprah that annoys me - she tends to take over too much, when the guests have so much to offer. There was a young mother in the audience who was in tears, because just the day before her 7 year old had come home from school and wanted to change clothes, because her thighs looked too big! 7 years old! The mom said she learned that from her, and the saddest part was her daughter is tiny, not overweight at all.

Oh well. Enough of the serious stuff. We here all seem to be aware of what to do and not to do. Good luck and have a great day.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Wodka, that's crazy. 7 years old??? I don't even think my 8 year old knows what she looks like other than if her bangs get too long. I meant to watch it and got sidetracked. Boo!

Harold, I didn't take it to mean starve and binge, or not to eat protein. But I can see how it could be interpreted that way too. I don't think canned chicken is the best source of protein either, usually it has a lot of salt. And who drinks the chicken water? ech!

I eat tons of protein but it's all lean. I love nuts too but they're dangerous for me. I can't eat just 10!!