Went to Red Lobster again last night, but still managed to lose ½ pound today. That makes me down 52.5 pounds! NS ROCKS!!! Wondering what I would have lost if I hadn’t eaten those delicious biscuits! To my credit, I didn’t eat all the scallops and saved the chicken for today. I did eat the shrimp kabob, salad and broccoli, though. Yum! 


Back to NS today and glad for it!


What a nice day today! It’s a little cool, (53 degrees at 10:00 a.m.) but is expected to warm up to 71. Our little town is packed with people who have come to sample the various kinds of BBQ that will be on sale today after a big BBQ cooking competition winds up. Classic cars are lined up on the street in front of my house with scores of people looking at them, even this early. Crafts are for sale, and for excitement, the occasional train comes rumbling through the middle of it all. Literally. The cars are on one side of the track and the crafts and BBQ on the other.


Good luck with your weight loss and have a good week. NS works, so stick with it!

Happy Veterans Day on Wednesday. 

It’s Halloween! Trick or Treat!
 

What a treat (no trick) to be here on the NS Web site this Halloween to celebrate the weight loss I have achieved through NS! I am rejoicing because I lost another 1/2 pound this week! That brings me down to an even 52-pound loss. I stayed the same last week, but that's fine. I needed the time for my body to adjust to the extra weight loss the week before. I am so excited about losing all this weight that I am telling everyone I know about NS. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again:  NS rocks!



Enjoy your Halloween, but eat apples and not candy. (Ouch, that's hard to do, isn't it? So look to NS which has delicious candy, to try instead of Snickers! I have a bar of chocolate every night to satisfy that BIG craving for sweets with which I am cursed! It works, too.)



Have a good week! ~~~Joan

I reached an interim goal last week - a weight loss of 51.5 pounds!  

I have said it before, and I say it again. NS ROCKS! I still find it unbelievable that I have actually lost that much weight! I couldn’t have done it without NS and the great support I have received from other NS participants in blogs, the boards, emails and comments to my page.

 

This week when I weighed in, I stayed the same, but since I had had a larger than usual loss the week before, I wasn’t surprised. Sometimes my body has to level off for a week or so. But I am sticking to NS. I want that last 15 pounds GONE!

 

If you are interested, my before and current pictures are on my page. The before is on the 3^rd page of my pictures top row. The current is my profile picture.

 

Good luck to all of you! Together we can lose it! ~~~Joan

I'M SO EXCITED! AS OF TODAY, I HAVE OFFICIALLY LOST 51.5 POUNDS
ON NS! YAY! I still have 15 pounds to lose, but I WILL DO IT! This is by
far the best program I have ever been on, and I've tried most of them.

NS ROCKS!!!!

How do I do it?  I eat NS foods and stay on the program most of the time.
I also exercise generous portions of WANT power and WILL power.

     I WANT to see my grandchildren grow up;
     I WANT to live a long, healthy life; and
     I WANT that life to be meaningful and not full of pain and misery.

     I WILL lose weight to accomplish my WANTS.
     I WILL remain on the NS program until I reach my goal.
     I WILL use the NS maintenance program to help me keep off the
     weight when I finally reach that goal.

Results of my weight loss to date?
    
     I have a bad hip, which no longer gives me the pain it did.
     I have (as does anyone who loses weight) made my load-bearing joints
     much happier and less painful.
     I'm 66 years old and feel and look younger than I have in years.

To those just starting the program, you, too, can lose if you just hang
in there and don't give up. Allow yourself to make mistakes (goodness
knows, I made my share of them) and as I said in an earlier blog, get back
on that horse and ride when you fall!! That's key. Hugs to all of you!

Joan

Good Saturday Morning to all! Yay, I lost another pound this week!
That makes 46 pounds total! Getting closer every day to the big 50.
I still have 20 to go, but I'll get there. I've been steadily losing
since I started. It takes two things at least to lose: (1) staying
faithful to NS and (2) not giving up when you slip. If that happens,
forgive yourself, pick yourself up, dust off your pants and get
back on that horse and ride. 

I suggest that instead of concentrating on how nice you'll look when
you reach your goal weight (and you will), think of attaining and
maintaining a healthy weight as your overriding goal, with the added
natural side benefit of looking great. How wonderful! Good health
and good looks! Who could ask for anything more? THANK YOU, NS!!

~~~Joan

What a wonderful weekend! Saturday was an absolutely great day, and today has been pretty good, too. I went to church by myself this morning, which meant I didn’t have to go out to eat afterwards and could come home and eat a NS meal. (No more Red Lobster sins, for today anyway!) I lost ½ pound this week, which made me happy considering I had eaten out three times! Losing is so much fun!!

For the newbies that might be reading this, NS is the best program I’ve tried in my 66 years on this earth, and believe me, I’ve tried most of them. Portion control is key, as are peer support and especially the food. Admittedly, it’s not all to my taste, but most of it is great, and it sure beats cooking, which I could live without the rest of my life! (As the mother of five children, I did a lot of cooking for many years, and it is nice not to have to now. Well, I do cook for my husband, but he’s easy to please and doesn’t mind leftovers, thank goodness.) A word of advice, if you get discouraged and want to quit, GO ONLINE and talk to another NS weight-loser or a counselor. We’ve all been where you are and can offer support, encouragement and advice.

Have a good NS week! 

~~~Joan

Happy Labor Day to all!


Yesterday was the second Sunday in a row that I have eaten at Red Lobster. NOT GOOD. Although the food is great, nothing on the lunch menu suited me except that evil shrimp scampi. Yum. Even the broccoli and salad were evil since I dipped the broccoli into the scampi butter and put ranch dressing on my salad. And those biscuits! 'Nuff said on THAT topic! I have already told my husband, no more! I'll stay faithful to NS the rest of this week except for my weekly visit with my best friend tomorrow. There's another diet sabotoge. The problem is that the little town she lives in has so few restaurants that we always struggle to find something different (and suitable) to eat. (I'm not bashing her small town. Mine is even smaller and has almost no place to eat. ) Today my town had a barbecue festival, though. Needless to say, I kept my door shut and refused to venture anywhere near those lovely-smelling booths.

I know some of you have heard me say it before, but I'll say it again for anyone new reading my blog: NS ROCKS! I have lost 44.5 pounds, and you can, too, if you stick with it! The good food, the built-in portion control (key), the utter convenience in preparing the food, the counselors and the support of other NS members all combine to make this program as successful as it is!! If you have weight-loss problems, ask the counselors and your peers for ideas on how to deal with them. You will not find a more receptive and helpful group.

Good luck to all of you! ~~~Joan

Hi, NSers. This week has turned out to be a success in that I managed to lose
½ pound after belatedly celebrating my birthday at Red Lobster and going out for my weekly visit with my best friend. (Down now 44.5 pounds and counting!) We skipped the Mexican restaurant this week and went to Subway. Better choice weight-wise. I had a flatbread veggie sandwich, although I did spring for a "little" mayo. They put more than a little on it, though. Not good. I also missed two days riding my bike! Also not good. However, in spite of myself, I lost that weight! I was super-good the rest of the time, so maybe that damage control offset my slackness on those two occasions. Moral of the story: after being thrown, get back on that horse and ride!

I came home one night this week, put some broccoli in a bowl, turned on my microwave and received quite a surprise. Not only was it making a loud funny noise, it smelled like it was burning. Needless to say, I jerked the plug in a heartbeat. I hadn’t planned to buy a new microwave at this point in time, but I went straight to town and bought a new one. Since I nuke just about everything
that has to be cooked, I probably would have starved to death if
I hadn’t. Word of warning: when buying a new microwave pay attention to the higher wattage. My old one was old and had a very low wattage. The new one goes like lightening and has threatened to burn my broccoli and everything else I’ve put into it. Today I finally decided to read the instructions that came with it and learned all kinds of handy-dandy things about it. It can do everything but iron my clothes. Shoot, I’m surprised it doesn’t whistle “Dixie” while it cooks!

Have a great weight-loss week coming up, friends. Don’t forget to
use this fantastic support system when you need it and make time
for some fun. ~~~Joan

(Sorry about the erratic margins. I've tried to fix them, but I can't. It looks good on the screen, but not when I post.)

My youngest son and his daughter came to my house yesterday to visit South Carolina’s Railroad Museum located nearby. Neither had ever been on a train, so it was a treat for them. I love trains and have ridden quite a few times, so it was a double treat for me to get to ride the train again and to watch them enjoy it so much! When I was barely old enough to remember (way before Amtrak), my mother and siblings and I traveled by train across country, so I have a lot of nostalgia for the big iron horses. I can remember being in the busy train stations, with the steam from the engines hissing and rising, having fun being just a little scared riding through the tunnels, sleeping in a rocking berth for the night and eating in the (to me) elegant dining car. Great memories. If you haven’t ridden a train lately, you should. 

 

I lost another 1.5 pounds yesterday, making me down 44 pounds! Yay! NS Rocks! My son was totally floored at the weight loss. He had seen me during the process, of course, but hadn’t really noticed the difference until yesterday. It felt good to have him notice. Thank you NS!!

 

~~~Joan

Hi, NS Friends,

 

After all the talk last week about going to Cracker Barrel to give my GD her keyboard,

the trip got postponed to an undetermined date in the future. She is so busy being in the

color guard at school, getting started in a new school year and having a mother too busy

right now to accommodate me by meeting halfway, the keyboard will have to wait. I may

yet take it up there, but her whole family is so busy, I’d probably just be in the way, so

I’ll wait until they settle into the new school routine before I do.

 

I went to Cracker Barrel anyway, only about a week later. We have friends who wanted

to meet us there for supper last evening (Friday), so I went straight from work. The food

was good, but I wasn’t. I ate a fried egg sandwich with a couple slices of tomato – no

mayo – and one pancake with real syrup – no butter. I jumped on my bike when I got

home and pedaled like crazy for 30 minutes, but it didn’t work. Although

I had been pretty good all week, I still didn’t lose, but stayed the same when I weighed

in this morning. Fingers were crossed on this one. One thing about it, if I had

gained, it would not have been NS’s fault. It’s still the best program going 

and has much better food than Jenny Craig. Believe me, I tried them a number of years

ago. Never again. Personal opinion, of course.

 

Wow, my days were hopping this week! On my job, I introduced a new

web-based case management system, and the phones and emails were hot for days!

Everyone was happy with the system, but there were a few glitches I had to get the

software developers to fix, plus I had to walk quite a number of paralegals and

lawyers through the steps necessary to use it. All in all, it was really fun. I love

computers and love putting something like this into place and helping others

understand the process. I had to deal with some other non-related issues too

having to do with a list serve and a forum I moderate. No biggies, just time-

consuming and not quite as positive as the other major task of the week.

 

I wish everyone the best this weekend and the coming week with your eating and

exercising programs. Stay with NS faithfully and you’ll lose. (Do as I say, not as

I did last night. TTYL ~~~Joan

Today was weigh-in day, and I lost another two pounds! Yay!

Down now 42.5 pounds. I know I am getting redundant, but NS

rocks! I was happy with the one-half pound losses, but this is super!

Once I got off my plateau, things started moving again, and faster!

All of you newbies, pay attention: NS WORKS! Portion control is

the key. You know exactly what you can eat and it is, thankfully,

prepared for you. I used to cook a lot since I had children to feed,

but never really liked doing it, so NS food is a blessing. All I have to

do is buy fruit, vegetables, cheese sticks and milk and I’m set to go!

Can’t be beat!

 

My 17-year-old granddaughter keeps in touch with me by texting.

(Keep that in mind if you have a teenaged child or grandchild. Much

better than the computer or the telephone.) Anyway, she texted me

Saturday evening to tell me her boyfriend was playing the piano for her.

I bought her a NICE keyboard when she was eight or nine, and she took

keyboarding lessons for a couple of years. She hated practicing as many

kids do, and eventually gave it back to me. I have kept it in safekeeping

for her hoping someday she’d come back to it. Well, thanks to boyfriend’s

influence, she wants to play again. That means a trip to North Carolina from

South Carolina to get it back to her unless her mother will meet me halfway.

It is almost three hours away, so I’m hoping for the halfway meeting. However,

since my granddaughter has me wrapped around her little finger and knows it,

I will probably end up making the whole drive if my daughter can’t meet me

soon enough to satisfy the little chickadee. (I would never have been so lenient

with my daughter, which peeves her to no end.)

 

We meet and eat at Cracker Barrel when we do the halfway thing, so my

willpower will be tested once again. I ALWAYS eat not-good-for-me-but-

good-tasting food there. To meet this challenge, I should go to their Web site

to see if they have their menus posted so I can pick out something ahead of

time and stay away from the pancakes. Yep, that’s what I’ll do and see if it helps.

I hope you are successful in all you endeavor to do this week, especially in

your weight-loss program. Take care. ~~~Joan