I haven’t posted in a few days, but I’m still hanging in there.  It’s been up and down…both figuratively and literally.  I had my normal weekend dinner out (which has been the bane of my diet).  However, despite that calorie setback, the scale has gone down.  I dropped around 3 lbs. overnight, and it stayed there even after my calorie fest on Saturday.  Today at WI I had lost 2.5 lbs. since Friday– go figure.  I think it has something to do with TOM, though.  Oh well– I’ll take it.  That puts me at a total loss of 63.5 lbs.

Also, I’m setting a new goal.  I think my lack of goal has been part of my problem.  Once I realized I wouldn’t make it to my magic 145 number before I go through stabilization/go off this diet, I sort of lost my momentum.  The weekend dinners out haven’t helped, either, but that’s more of a symptom than a cause, I think.  Anyhow, my new goal is to be below 160 by the stabilization party, which occurs on Thursday February 26.  That is a week and a half away, so I think that goal is very doable as long as I stick to plan and don’t go crazy eating.  Maybe that will help give me the extra push I need.

A potential roadblock I see is going home for the weekend.  Even though my mom is on the diet as well, I always end up eating off program stuff when I’m at home because we eat out more and because my dad has all his snacky stuff laying around.  One good thing, though, is that it won’t cause me to miss any workouts because those happen during the week.

I’m starting to get my stabilization info, and it’s exciting because I get to start adding foods back in, and I’ve been getting so bored with my options.  I think once I’m off stabilization, I’m going to basically do WW on my own.  I still have all my old program info, and at that point I’ll only have about 10-15 lbs. to lose, so hopefully I can take it off with exercise and counting calories.  At least by calorie counting I’ll have a lot more options (like adding more fruit or carbs, etc.).  I still plan to eat healthfully (not a lot of fat, baked meats, etc.), but it will be nice to have some carbs back or food I really miss like peanut butter or even unsweetened cereal with skim milk.

I’ll be on maintenance with MRC for a year, and at first I plan to go in once a week to weigh just to keep myself honest.  You only have to go in once a month, but I think I need more than that, especially if I’m trying to lose weight still.  While their program worked very well, I am glad that I can go off it now because I’m really tired of my food limitations.  While I’m nervous about maintenance, I’m sort of excited, too.  This is the first time I’ve “ended” a diet with an action plan instead of ending it because I’ve fallen off the wagon and just can’t take it anymore.  I have never really maintained my weight, so I’m really taking this seriously and am being very careful about it.  One positive aspect is that I am still working out and still motivated/going strong, and I don’t even have the slightest inclination of quitting.  Most of this I attribute to my trainer– he keeps me honest, and I have to go because I have a standing appointment.  Still, if I keep this up for six months or a year with him, hopefully by that time it will be a habit and I wouldn’t need him to still keep going.  We’ll see!

weight at home:  158.5

weight at MRC:  163.5

calories in:  1100 (I had a minor altercation with some Valentine chocolates that a friend brought to class,)

calories burned:  630 (elliptical, arms, abs)

net calories:  470