Don - what a tough time for Diana and you too. My thoughts will be with you and the family on 6/26 for the service.

Thanks Cyndi. We really appreciate everybody's kind support. Diana is doing great. We see the cardiologist again next Tuesday, just to make sure that there are no other issues, but he says that she will recover 100%.


Our next cruise should be a lot more relaxing and uneventful this fall. So, I guess it is time to get serious about losing again. My next goal is to go scuba diving when we are on our Caribbean cruise. Not worrying about the tux this time, just the wet suit!!! So I've got 162 days to lose the weight and get certified. At least I know that I am certifiable, at least that is what my family says!!! LOL

That is really scary to be out of the country, Don, and to be having cardiac isssues. I am just delighted to hear that Diana will recover completely.

Trish

So, now I join the post-pip weight recovery program! I have not weighed myself yet, but David reports that he gained 8 pounds. That means probably 10 or 12 for me. 16 days, but still...

No more pina coladas, desserts, french bread, croissants, butter.

I did *no* exercise on this cruise except swimming. That helped my back alot, but now it's back to Pilates, weights, Tai Chi and my machine. It's going to be tough to do all that again. And I may look for an aquafit class, since the water seemed to be so good for me.

Wendy that might actually be a better plan doing the aquafit class first. I know that it is a lot easier on the joints. Diana seems to like the pool workouts better because of that.

I have been working out, but really need to get serious again. I have been finding myself saying, OK I can do a burger today and fries and still get back on program tomorrow. We have so much up going on right now that I am not focused.

SOMEBODY KICK ME IN THE PANTS!!! PLEASE!!!

Greetings,

I am new to LCT and have been lurking for the last few weeks after booking a PG cruise for December. This thread caught my eye and what a great support group you have! I have been really working on improving my overall health and losing weight over the last 6 months. Sticking mostly with the good stuff - lean protein, nonfat dairy, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains - plus faithful exercise - has really made a difference for me. Plus of course the occasional indulgence to keep my sanity! I still have a ways to go to reach the goals I have set, but now I have a great motivator - wanting to look good in a swimsuit and to try some new activities like water skiing on that trip to French Polynesia in 6 months. That just might be enough to keep me motivated over the next few months.

Looking forward to sharing the journeys of both weight loss and travel adventures with you!

Dena

Welcome to LCT Dena. Tustin huh? One of our group, Denise lives there also. Though we live in the Dallas area now, we used to live in OC. I graduated from Saddleback HS in Santa Ana and my wife graduated from Pacifica in Garden Grove.

This is a great group and again, welcome!

Don't forget me :eek: ....Fullerton is also very near by! I've lost 8 lbs. since returning from the WC. All I can say is dieting really sucks!

I didn't forget you Marcie!!! Just mentioning her immediate neighbor. BTW, great job on losing those pounds. :app: And ditto on the dieting comment!!! I take it that you didn't completely dump your "hunk" trainer? :D

Well, while we are on the subject of Orange County, Don and Diana are free for lunch on the last Saturday in June and they will be in Garden Grove. If I can, I would love to get a small group together and meet them somewhere nearby.


Too bad Skinny Haven is long gone in Santa Ana by SCP. Marcie, Denise, Dena - are you free. A lettuce restaurant would be good - we can all cry in our Balsamic together. Cyndi - can you drive up, if we can drive down?

Don, this is the best I could do on short notice for a good kick in the pants for you :D :D


Wendy - With your love of water, the aquafit class sounds perfect for you.

Marcie - Good Girl!!! 8 lbs already!!!!! You're doing great. And yes, I second Don's agreement of your take on dieting.

Dena - WELCOME to this support thread!!! It is such a big help to me. I know you're going to enjoy it too. Any tips you have, please feel free to pass on!!!

Kathy - Yes, I am available and more that happy to drive up to Garden Grove area (or wherever) to meet for lunch with Don & Diana and anyone else that can come. Great idea!!!

I started yesterday getting back on track. I didn't stay strictly low carb, but did count my calories. Lots of back tracking to do on my pre-PIP diet. Oh well. . . .

Good morning,

Thanks for the warm welcome! In the short time I've been lurking, I've found the LCT group to be very friendly and generous with information and opinions. I've picked up tons of "insider tips" for our trip that I would have had no clue about otherwise!

Don - Denise has already been in touch with me since she noticed that I am from Tustin. We discovered that we actually live pretty close to each other - small world! Of course I know Saddleback and Pacifica - I went to Troy HS in Fullerton.

Marcie - yes, I grew up in Fullerton! My parents still live there, in the house we grew up in, on the east side near Rosary High School and CSUF. It was a great place to grow up, but Tustin is closer to our jobs in Costa Mesa and Irvine.

Kathy - I would love to meet some of the So Cal LCT'ers and am available on the 25th. I'll watch for details.

Dena

Hey, that looks like a Texas boot. I think I feel that pointy end!!! LOL

Cyndi and Dena, glad you are going to meet us for lunch on the 25th. We are really looking forward to it. I know that Denise and Alan are coming and Frank and Kathy if Daisy doesn't have rehearsals that day. It also looks like Tom and Marcie are planning on it as well. Should be lots of fun. Really looking forward to seeing everybody.

Has anybody heard from Liz?

Hi Everyone,

Would you mind a new thread member who doesn't have a cruise planned anytime soon, but really needs to "get it together" and get about 20 pounds off? :)

Kathy

Kathy (Kathleen) - I am sooooo sorry I took so long to respond to you. OF COURSE you are MORE than welcome to join us!!!! The more there are of us the better support we have :) :) I no longer have a cruise on my horizon (or any other trip for that matter) but I still need to lose what I put back on during PIP and at least 20 more. So I'll be very active here. Together, we can make every day count and meet our goals!!!! I'd love to hear any tips you have to share.

Don - I am really looking forward to meeting you & Diana. Another good group of LCT people for another day of fun!!!

Dena - it will be so nice to meet you, too!!!

Liz - ditto what Don said. We miss you :( :(

I "talked" to Liz. She's working on healing her broken heart and she's canceled her cruise so she is taking a vacation from us.

Everyone is welcome here. This is a group effort. No cruise bookings required.

Kathy - thanks for the update on Liz. I feel so bad for her. Make sure she knows we are all here for her whenever she is ready.

Back from my pig-out drinkathon in Toronto. (I actually attended some meetings & learned a lot about new websties - will share as I try them out)

The diet now gets serious for the rest of the summer. My newest toy, that was a vendor give away, is a pedometer - or whatever that thing is that counts steps. Goal - 10,000 per day. I think that is about 4 miles. Only problem with it is to remember to wear it all day. One day in Toronto I did 12,000. No wonder my knees are still sore. I really do like the fact it shows how lazy I can be on certain days. I am finding it to be a real motivator.

Thanks for the update Kathy. I miss Liz!!

Trish

Betty,

My former trainer made me wear a Pedometer. Some days I could barely do 3500 and other days I did reach goal of 10,000. Then I found out that they really vary depending on WHERE you put them on your wasteband.

I've been under the weather since we're back from PIP with a very bad case of Bronchitis. Cough is still present, but, much better. I've been watching it, but, not exercising yet. Nothing ventured, nothing gained (or lost!)

Thanks for the welcome! I do wish I had a cruise planned soon, to be honest. It's so much easier to lose when I have a goal in front of me. Funny how the thought of shorts and a bathing suit really motivates us, isn't it? :)

I'm trying to decide whether to stick with South Beach or just go back to regular WW with points counting. I've lost a few pounds with SB, but I can't seem to drop below a certain point. That, combined with the fact that I really miss my starches, is making me think about heading back to WW.

I haven't read all fifteen pages of posts yet, so I apologize if this was already mentioned, but have any of you tried the Philly Swirl ice cream pops? The sugar free ones are just 10 calores. And they're so good that I actually went back to look at the package after I had it, thinking it just HAD to be more than 10 calories.

Definitely worth trying.

Kathy

Kathy (ChatKat)- please let Liz know that we're all thinking of her.

Kathy (Kathleen) - welcome to the thread!

Betty - I love the pedometer - so simple and yet so easy to monitor your progress. It's important to make sure that you place the pedometer on your side (not on the front) so that it accurately captures your steps. I find that in a typical day of work, I walk about 6500 steps or so ... need to go for a walk when I get home to try to get up to 10000!

Masaki

Kathy (Kathleen),

I too tried SB for a few months last summer. Like you, I could lose for awhile but stalled also. (I think it was because I ended up eating too much cheese, nuts, and dark chocolate!) Do you know about the new WW no-counting plan? I've been doing it for several months and have lost much better than on SB. It's similar to SB in that you have a list of foods from which you can eat "freely" until satisfied. Foods not on the list are not off-limits but you count points for them with a weekly maximum. The WW "core" foods are quite similar to the SB list but not so limited on the whole grains and fruits. On the other hand, the cheese, nuts, and dark chocolate mentioned above are not "core" on WW but I find that having to count points for them helps me keep my eating of them in moderation.

This may be more info than you wanted but I personally find the new WW plan very livable.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Dena

Thanks, Dena.

I've been reading a bit about the Core plan. I've always lost well on WW (point plan), but haven't tried Core.

I do so much better when I weigh in, too. Somehow, knowing I'm going to be getting on that scale at the WW meeting, really did help to keep me from gorging too much over the weekend.

I think I'll see if there are any special deals running now. Maybe rejoin WW.

Kathy, I'll be looking forward to reading your reviews of Curves. I keep looking at them as I drive by - several pretty convenient ones near us now.

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone.

Kathy

Kathy, for obvious reasons I am concerned about your cough and the brochitis hanging on because it sounds exactly like what Diana was going through. Please, if it persists, make sure that you get it checked out.

Kathy, hope you feel better soon! As for me...totally fell off the wagon (again!) Tortilini's for dinner tonight, a delicious dinner with Denise & Alan last night (pasta) and tacos and tortias for lunch on Friday! I'm afraid I'm back to square one! DANG....no willpower! (I'm happier when I eat what I want, when I want it :banana: ....how's that for justification!) Dr. Masaki, I'm probably hopeless huh??

Hi Don,

Thank you for the concern. Actually, because of Diana's experience, and because I'd just come off a long flight, I got sick on Tues, had a fever on Wed and I was at the MD on Thurs. Full blood panel and chest xray. He asked what was wrong when I went in and I said I have bronchitis. He said he didn't want a diagnosis but what are your symptoms. After all the tests, he joked - what'd you need me for? You already knew you had bronchitis. My response was yes, and now I am $400. poored and I still have bronchitis.

I am 95% better. Those new antibiotics are a miracle cure. The cough is all gone. Still going to wait a few days to hit the gym. But 100% back on the diet tomorrow.

Had a good week - down 1 pound. This week will be challenging as I have work functions 4 out of 5 days. Those are always tough! The hardest thing for me, though, is keeping my hands out of the candy dishes at work. I can get through the day without chocolate just fine on the weekend, (mainly because I usually don't have any in the house) but when I'm at work, and I know there's a bowl full of mini Reeses cups a few offices away, I can't resist!

Hope everyone has a great week.
Dena

Glad to know that you're doing better, Kathy!

Marcie - the important thing is to get back on the wagon! If things cause you to fall off your diet, then get back on the diet as soon as you can. It's OK to give yourself a diet vacation every now and then. :)

Masaki

Marcie, we'll get back on the wagon together. I have been dieting in my mind only. It's so hard getting back on track whether it's eating or exercising.

Kathy, glad to hear you are feeling better. Nothing worse than getting sick immediately after a long trip.

Kathy, I am glad to hear that you are doing better. I guess I am now just a worrier. Glad you had it checked.

I hate those long flights, because I always get sick when I get back as well. I take Echinacea as well as Airborn and nothing seems to work for me. I really think it is just coming back to reality after a great vacation that makes me sick!!! LOL

Marcie, I know what you mean. We ordered pizza last night while we sat and watched the basketball game. Oh, and the champagne was pretty good too! LOl

So, like you said, back to square one today.

Kathy, good news. But take it easy, don't do too much too soon!

Kathy: I'm glad that you're better. Life sucks when you don't feel good. I'm sure you will feel 100% better this week.

Trish

Thanks to all of you for the good wishes. The last momento of a trip is two weeks worth of not feeling great. There's always a bunch of stress coming home with so much to do waiting for you. I figure the next few days will have me back to my old self. I had a great diet day today - so that is realy good! Exercise can wait, but not too long. Rome has a lot of hills to walk and I need to be in good shape to get up them!

I really thought I'd be back on track right away after this trip. So much for that plan! Actually, last week I did "watch" what I ate with no snacking and lost 3 of the 10 lbs (total put back on since leaving for PIP - 5 on cruise and 5 back at home - yikes!!!!). Yesterday was supposed to be the official start of the real diet. But a luncheon out with a group of friends blew that start!! So today is a new day. I WILL be good!!!!

Kathy (ChatKat), I'm glad you are feeling better. Getting back into the real world is hard enough if you are feeling good. Keep taking care of yourself.

Kathleen and Dena - I had been following the SB diet pretty much before my cruise. I really liked it. I didn't lose as quickly as some (probably since I didn't follow it exactly as the book says), but I did lose weight and enjoyed eating in a more healthy manner because of it. I'm going to try this week to get back on it. I still have to count calories at the same time, however, since it is the only way I can control how much I eat. I've never tried WW.

Marcie, Don & Donna - can I jump in your wagon? I've got to get back on track. My clothes are fitting tight again and I hate it!!

Masaki - I love the term "diet vacation". It is a healthy thing now and then. But you are so, so right about getting right back on the diet.

You know, I haven't even weighed myself yet!

Dealing with jetlag, work, and this horrific heat wave that we have been having (over tonight, they say!), has just been too much.

But we are eating pretty well, and moderately. Last night I decided to institute an evening plate of hors d'oeuvres, similar to those delivered to our cabin on the first week of Pip, for some mysterious reason. Those of you who had them will know, it's really just a smackerel, but a nice one. So, I'm working on a repertoire of little things like this that we can prepare easily. I've even thought of finding a cookie-cutter for cutting bread into little canape-sizes. The main issues are: style and quality, to replace quantity.

Tonight, if I can brave the eat on the way home, I will pick up little cubes of feta cheese soaked in olive oil and garlic, and team them with little strips of pita, and some sliced cucuber. Last night it was artichoke and assiago dip, with celery slivers, cherry tomatoes and pita sticks.

Of course, accompanied by cosmos, on the front porch, compliments of Kathy's Absolut! Thanks, Kathy!

Wendy, - stop!!!! You're making me hungry - LOL!!! Your idea about the nightly hors d'oeuvres sounds delicious. Now, if we can just get someone to serve them to us! :D :D

Cyndi,

Actually, they have to make them for us too!

Carrots make a great appetizer. So does a steamed Artichoke. I steam it with garlic cloves, anise seeds, peppercorns (about a teaspoon of each) and a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar in the water. No need for mayo or butter and you can do those ahead of time. No pain for those.

Wendy - glad to contribute to your nightly merriment. New cosmo recipe - add 1/2 0z of OJ and a splash of grenadine to your cosmo - South Beach Cosmo. Although it's a recipe retired by the Cheesecake Factory from last summer, I just got them to give it to me.

Sounds good to me!!!!

Trish

Is there any correlation between the fact that I had to search for this thread to bring it back to the top and that I've now gained back most of the weight I lost before PIP???????? Not good, not good.

Today was the first day of my NEW diet. I am now officially back on track. Or should I say back tracking :(

Anyone else up for starting again?