Also, I just went over to the super boring maintenance board & read through what people have to do to maintain & I was intrigued by the responses. A lot of them said they have to stay pretty low cal to maintain, some even said 1200. One lady said 1050 but she's dumb. I'll just have to find the sweet spot for me, but it's doable. It's important to me, so I'll figure it out. I was maintaining at about 1400, & that's plenty of good food & snacks & my yummy chai tea in the mornings
I had a pretty classic "lost weekend," went to outer space/the 1970s and back in and around our huge cabin in the snowy woods, subsisted on gross camping food, and now I'm getting back into the swing of things. Upper Body A last night and Lower Body B this morning - I think I am just going to switch them up to different days at this point so I can stay somewhat closeish to the schedule. 124.6 Friday, yesterday, and this morning. I think it will go down this week.
Last night was the "Taste of New York" reception at the capitol AND "Brooklyn Night" - I met my BF and friends who work for the legislature and we sampled everything from 15+ different kinds of cheese to Long Island duckling on fresh salad, apple pie with ice cream, free Chobani yogurt cups (I snagged the latest addition - pear), honey and maple syrup and pulled pork sandwiches, all kinds of stuff. Brooklyn Night featured Korean mandu (fried dumplings), bialys (Polish Ashkenaz! Jewish bagel-muffin-rolls), pita & hummus, Ikea Swedish meatballs, and other stuff I didn't bother to try because I got full. My whole workout last night I was burping.
MaddieB Maintenance IS pretty boring when you think about it. Most of the posters on the Maintainers subforum are 40+ so they just can't eat as much as we can being in our 20s - and I think the "dumb" lady who eats 1050 is 60+ and really short and formerly super obese. I maintain 122-125 eating probably 1800-2000 a day but prior to lifting weights I definitely couldn't have done that. The spike in scale weight is probably water weight from carbs like Joss said. What do you normally eat? Also SWEET DRESSES.
JessicaB OMG that puppy is so cute!!! The training sounds like a good idea, if you can afford the equipment maybe you can afford the time - or maybe not - but once your daughter is older you can probably take more time for practice down the road.
Bayzee Sorry the scale is being a pain in the butt. I'm really glad your recomp is going well though - lifting weights is SO EASY compared to doing tons of time with cardio and other stuff.
Aidangm Snowstorm? ewww. I am SICK of winter too - doing stuff outside feels like a faint memory. I'm all PMS-y and short-tempered so I'm sure I'll be joining you on the rag train soon.
JossFit I love the photos you posted - your hair looks lovely! For some reason I'd imagined it being darker but that must have been color effects on your old avatar. Sorry to hear your neck is feeling weird and the scale is still up. I wonder what the deal is with that?
olehcat Yesssssss whoosh. Glad the mouse is history - cats are so great to have around! As for having a social life, I haven't successfully LOST WEIGHT since the summer really aside from getting sick, so I dunno. I know it's all about picking and choosing - I eat wings and ice cream and stuff regularly but I also eat the same exact lunch day after day. What are your friends' eating and drinking habits like?
TurboMammoth Sorry to hear you had such a bad run - I won't even go near the path if it's raining or icy, so you win at determination and resolve. Sometimes crappy runs just happen for no reason, even if you've fueled properly and slept like a baby and been training. The next one will be better! Better luck pooping next time!
Alex At least you KNOW the culprit (dairy) - can you handle Greek yogurt and hard cheeses? 5 miles two days in a row is pretty fantastic mileage, and Irish soda bread is crack. What running sneakers do you use? I have these New Balances and I LOVE them.
Sorry no personals today, guys. Suuuuuper tired. Finally managed to wake up early enough to get in a workout before work. Trouble is, I'm a night owl too, so I went to bed around 2AM and woke up at 5:56AM. Totally worth it, but I'm smashed at work right now. Feel like a zombie with all my guts sucked out.
Already clocked in 6/20 miles for the week, so that's a plus.
Wondering whether or not I can nip out to grab a Subway. Krampus, I thought of you a few weeks ago when I ate an entire veggie footlong. You were talking about "stress eating" a foot long and I'm thinking, man, that is a healthy lunch option for me. It clocks in at 460 cals, so it's not too terrible and gosh darn if the veggies don't make me happy.
And Joss + Krampus re the hard cheeses - they probably wouldn't bother me as much, but really, go Brie or go home. I just have to plan to eat it over the weekend and well before I have to be out in public anywhere, as it takes a good 24 hours to clear my system. Not sure about the yogurt. Haven't challenged it yet, but I'm suspecting it won't be as much trouble.
Also, I just went over to the super boring maintenance board & read through what people have to do to maintain & I was intrigued by the responses. A lot of them said they have to stay pretty low cal to maintain, some even said 1200. One lady said 1050 but she's dumb. I'll just have to find the sweet spot for me, but it's doable. It's important to me, so I'll figure it out. I was maintaining at about 1400, & that's plenty of good food & snacks & my yummy chai tea in the mornings
Just wanted to pop in and say I've been maintaining on 2000-2500 cals a day depending on the intensity of my workouts!
olehcat : How is your training going? that is so cool to have someone training at the same time lol I feel less FOREVER ALONE. Last year I did a training that was suppose to get me between 2h15-2h30.. now I am trying the 2h00-2h15 training program, but that is gonna be hard.. the running pace are significantly faster :S
Joss : I'll have to look for the stores you are mentioning for the Quest bars, but neither of them rings a bell to me just like that. The boyfriend and I tried to order the bars online but for an order of 30$, the shipping was something like... 30$. H*ll no LOL
Yay for your weight back down to 129! I hope you'll be able to squeeze in a massage appointment, neck pains suck so much!
Aidan : I hope the bloat will go away soon!
Bayzee : I did a really quick research for the Quest Bars and I found the website Vitamart.ca who is selling them (only a few flavor though, and some of them are out of stock right now) and they have a free shipping policy for an order above 49$ (which is better than the out of the range shipping price of the official quest bar website)
Jessica : Your daughter and the puppy are so cute She must be thrilled to have this little thing to play with!!
Maddie : Maintaining is such a blurry world to me. I'm with Joss though, maybe the upper calories intake will cause a bump on the scale but will eventually go off, after the body gets used to it?
''One lady said 1050 but she's dumb.'' BWHAHAHAHA. Seriously, maintaining at 1050, she must be 4'2'' or something..
Hope you enjoyed your Dr Pepper
krampus : It looks like you had a great time this weekend! and to come back and still be under 125, that rocks! Woah, all the food you described sounds delicious.
I heard so much good about those chobani yogurt, I did not find them yet in the groceries around here ARHG. Their flavours looks so amazing.
Alexis : You're already at 6/20 mi, that is awesome! Get some good rest tonight!!
Lockitup : Hi!
***
Still 140 this morning. I'd be happier back to 139, but as long as it does continu to go up, I'm not panicking... yet :P
I am heading to the gym in a few minutes to get an hour of cardio done and some weight training. I'm feeling kinda sluggish today, we'll see how it goes. Because I ran yesterday, I might swap the threadmill for some elliptical (*snoring*)
I've been home since noon & I want to eat everything in sight!!! I'm slamming water to make myself feel fuller, but I still want to EAT!! I'm going to have a bowl of oatmeal with apples at 7pm, but the minutes seem longer tonight. Grrr!!
Well, I went down again, to 145.6, which is nice, yes, but that's exactly what happened last week, I hovered around the same numbers, blah blah blah. Am not impressed unless there's an actual loss between my low number from last week (145) and tomorrow. The problem is, Saturday I'm invited to this dinner and I have something going on tomorrow evening, too. All of it involves food and wine. I'm going to try SO HARD not to overeat/overdo it, but in a social situation I get so distracted and giddy with just being around people and I just don't think, suddenly I've eaten way too much.
My day yesterday was CRAP, it's a wonder I didn't go to town and binge. Seriously. Long, stressful day at work followed by getting to my 3-hour class in a snowstorm, followed by severe anxiety attack the whole evening about what driving home in the snowstorm was going to be like after dark with more snow accumulation, followed by the actual drive home, which wasn't horrible, but not a picnic either (yes, I'm phobic about driving in snow -- you Canadians can laugh at me! ). Anyway, when I got home I had a glass of wine and my turkey chili and a half of a brownie. So I'm actually pleased because old me would want at least TWO glasses of wine, something starchy/carby for dinner, and about 2 full brownies!
@Jossfit - thank you for your input. Heh, yes, dieting would be way easier for me if I lived in a bubble! I don't have as huge a social life as it may sound like, actually, it's just that I go to my parents' house a lot for dinner at least once on the weekend, I do have a few local friends who LOVE to show off their very good baking/cooking skills with invited dinners, and I am a member of a meet-up group called ladies night out that sometimes has meetups at various local restaurants. And I would offer to cook dinner at my parents' house and I know my mom would like that, but my dad is the pickiest eater on the entire planet and is rude about it. So there is nothing healthy that I like that I could cook that he would enjoy. If I were smart, I'd control at least the restaurant part of it, but it's really hard for me to get a salad at a place that is known for a certain type of food. I'm such a foodie, I guess, which is definitely detrimental to losing weight! Anyway, that's just my frustration about the whole weekend thing. So easy to control my eating during the week or on weekend days I don't have plans.
@Aidanqm - I absolutely hate PMS. I used to get it so horrifically badly I was a monster to be around! We had a bit of a snowstorm here yesterday, too! Hope yours wasn't too bad!
@Bayzee - I'm sure you'll get that whoosh! It may just take a few days of being perfect and working out. Then sometimes, at least for me, the whoosh comes when you're not working out for a few days!
@Jessica - I agree on the jossfit calorie superpower. Oh, man, more than once, I have LONGED to have some pill I could swallow that would render anything I ate that day to "not count" . CUTE PUPPY!!!! Hard to believe how HUGE he'll get. Very interesting about the roller derby stuff! I think the idea of injuries scares me, actually, lol. And actually you make a good point about not reaching goal maybe because of other bad choices you make. I complain about these events that I have no control over, but there are other things I do have control over and I don't always clean that up completely, either!
@Maddie - very helpful info!!!! I need to get some of your discipline and determination. I really like how you gave calorie counts for the various weights you were at. Do you count all veggies, too? Everything? Or just the things that would be denser in calories (anything from fruit upward). I feel like I would want to eat as much as I can get away with and drop because I don't want to be one of those people who has to only eat 1200 to maintain. Eep. No fun. I'd rather up my running, I think! ;D Anyway, thanks for that information, it was helpful!
@Krampus - holy crap, your weekend is making me drool with all the food mentioned! And while you're not losing, do you want to? I get the impression you're mostly maintaining, or trying to maintain at that just above 120 point? At any rate, you do a great job of it. Yeah, my lunches are usually pretty much the same every day! A salad with romaine lettuce, other veggies, some protein (like 1 ounce of cheese, some chicken, or a hard-boiled egg), my own homemade dressing, and then a yogurt or piece of fruit for dessert!
@Lockitup - good to know! I'm pretty sure I could get away with maintaining at around 1500-2000, actually, with all my running I do, and I'm older than my 20s! But the times when my weight has crept up, I'm eating a LOT more than 2000.
@Turbo - my training is going GREAT. Granted, I can't wait till this winter goes away so I can do some of it outside, I'm too much of a wimp to try to run outside in snow or ice. But I'm able to follow my schedule of when to run what distance just fine, and I feel myself getting in better and better shape!
Wednesday is here, which is my last day of work for the week! Yay! I'll do a half day and then start my vacation time. I have to go home and do some laundry, pack, blah blah blah.
I had a good workout today;
superset pull-ups and dips
superset barbell squat clean into overhead squats with jumping knee-ins
5 minute hard run
superset machine tricep presses with machine chest presses
5 minute hard run
superset single arm DB chest presses with dual bent over DB rows
5 minute hard run
superset leg extensions and leg curls
5 minute hard run
superset standing calve raises and scaptions
10 minutes on the elliptical
Hopefully that burned a couple of calories.
Just thinking, isn't it nutty that I've been back on plan, eating roughly 1250 calories and working out hard every day and I'm STILL up 3 pounds? My weight was down a tiny bit today at 128.4 pounds, but it was at 125.4 pounds last week before my massive eating fest.
If it were water it would have gone by now. Thats so depressing! I'm going into this vacation to see my husband having basically lost nothing, and the idea of gaining MORE scares the **** out of me. I've never put weight on like that before... normally if I have a huge 'EAT THE WORLD' day I gain a solid pound from it. 2 days = 2 pounds, etc. $hit, am I starting to get old?!
A man at my gym that I've chatted with very briefly before approached me today and said, "Holy crap, I saw you on bodybuilding.com! Um, was that a long time ago?" Ouch. Yeah, it was less than a year ago, and I had actuall lost more weight since the feature photos were taken. I'm up about 12 pounds from this time last year. I do recognize that some of it is muscle, but to be at a comparable level of body fat I would have to be at about 120 pounds, whereas then I was at 116-117. It was motivating to have him mention it, but it also hit me like a ton of bricks that I don't look like I used to, and it's noticeable.
Anyway. Blah.
Olehcat - That's fantastic that your weight is continuing to drop! I'm sure that has to be motivating to see. Fantastic NSV staying on plan and not giving in to stress eating in the evening!
Maddie - Ugh, wanting to EAT like that is the worst! Did you manage to overcome the cravings last night? I find that I don't get evening cravings like most people do, but maybe that's because my days start so early? I find that I get that HUNGER in the early afternoon... generally between 1230-1430 is when it hits and I'm white-knuckling it.
Turbo - Holy crap woman, $30 for shipping on a $30 order?! I do NOT blame you for that one... man, what a rip off.
How did your workout go yesterday? I hope well, even though you were feeling sluggish. I do the same thing as you; If I run one day I switch things up and do some other cardio the next day. I just get so paranoid about overuse injuries!
Alexis - I have a weird thing with Subway; if I go there I'm either going super healthy and getting a salad with lettuce, spinach, banana peppers, chicken or turkey, a few black olives, cucumber, onion, tomato and fat free italian dressing OR I'm getting a huge cheesy saucy fatty sammich of deliciousness with chips. I don't have a middle ground at Subway. If I'm going to eat bread, I'm going to stuff it with all sorts of crap.
BTW, I've really been craving a sandwich the past couple of days; a huge fatty one with potato chips on it. Om nom nom nom.
Way to go sticking to your workout resolutions! Did you manage to relax and unwind after your busy day yesterday?
110.5 lb this morning. Still ragging and bloated. Didn't do anything yesterday (other than work) due to the snow storm. Just walked for over 70 minutes but no real cardio or weights. I plan to do a full body lift today and maybe cardio in the evening with my best friend. We'll see how bad the roads are.
I forgot to mention that I work at a gym. Lol. I got to join this morning's bootcamp class in the "Harlem shuffle." I have way too much fun.
Joss - You look amazing. You kick our a$$es everyday in being a boss at the gym. So, tell that guy to fud himself. That's a rude a$$ comment. Are you competing in a bodybuilding championship or are you taking everyday to make healthy, good choices for your life & body? If you are at a stalemate, do what I suggested to lovedancelive - switch up your calories for a few days & see what happens. That's usually the fix. But don't get discouraged! You have nothing to be discouraged about.
And no, I did not give in!! And the scale rewarded me! I think it's because AF will be here on Friday, so I'm getting PMS cravings. I ate a sh it ton of carrots in between meals yesterday & drank my weight in water trying to make myself believe I was full. I'm 1lb from my goal, so I'm going to suck up the cravings because seeing 132 is more important than one more anything. But I told my hubby, as soon as I see 132 & my period starts, we're going to Five Guys & I'm stuffing my face with a cheeseburger & fries, dammit!
Aidanqm - I had to Google the Harlem Shuffle the other day. I'm getting old
Down again to 133.6!! I danced on the scale! lol! Goal is 132, but I have a curiosity about seeing 129 on that scale for the first time EVER in my life. But I wonder if that's a slippery slope. I don't know that I'd try & maintain that anyway. And I'm worried about my boobs. They are smaller than they once were & I feel like they are getting smaller. Still a D, but a saggy D (thanks to baby girl). I always said I wanted to be a C, but now I'm not so sure...I miss my hooker boobs. :{ BUT 3lbs won't come off my teets, right?
Krampus ~ Your "lost weekend" of eating sounds delightful and you even made it back to check in OK. Thanks for the sneaker rec. I usually just buy my sneakers for cheap at TJ Maxx, but I hope they have some decent ones to choose from.
Joss ~ Usually, I also think bread=bad, but for some reason at Subway when stuffed with veggies, it's fine and doesn't lead to any other cravings. You must be excited with vacation trip to see hubby coming up! So glad that you guys will be getting some time together soon!!!
Olehcat ~ Driving in snow can be stressful at anytime, let alone at night! And not stress overeating to deal with a tough day is definitely a victory.
Maddie ~ Ugh for that feeling of wanting to eat. Glad you were able to hold off though. Look at you, so close to goal!!!
LockitUp ~ Hurray to your de-lurking. Those are fantastic cals for maintenance. Gives me hope.
Jessica ~ Welcome back! What a cute puppy and even better if he/she (?) gets you out of bed in the morning! That roller derby sounds like a great "extracurricular" activity for ya and really, $100 for 10 weeks of sanity doesn't sound too bad at all.
Turbo ~ How'd your workout go? The Running Room locations in the US are either in the midwest or waaaayyyy up north. Even though I love running, fancy sneakers just aren't in the budget right now. My limit is like 40 bucks.
Aiden - Hi!
~~~~
Food has been calming down, interestingly, as my playing season has ramped up. I feel like once I have something else to hold my attention, the food cravings start to calm down. After the mini-debacle of this January (Rule #1 - No matter what, I do not "diet") I feel like I'm finally getting to a place of calm.
In orchestra news, a clarinet player quit, and there was some upheval in the cello section (people leapfrogging to the first stand, other people being demoted, ugh) It's like flipping Days of Our Lives up in here. Lol. Right now, I am amused, mostly because it doesn't really affect me other than making me want to play better. My stand partner was officially named principal, which is great and as it should be (she has senority AND is on the board) but damn if a tiny part of me didn't want to be asked. She's a slightly better player, I just WORK my BEHIND off.
Also got offered a gig with another orchestra that might PAY (magic!) but not sure if it'll work with the schedule. Would be nice just for the possibility, though!
We're expecting some snow tonight and tomorrow. (Tail end of the storm that's in the midwest now...) Tonight is BritSoap night w. momma, so there are usually snacks involved in that also, so double danger.
Trying to make a plan so I don't sit and "eat".
Plan is:
Go for a HARD run after work.
Lots of water
Tea
Pens and paper (helps to have something to keep my hands occupied)
Maddie - I don't think he intended it to be rude, but was just genuinely asking how old the feature was. He seems to be a very nice man in the bit of interaction we've had, and he did go on to say that it was 'very inspirational'. Regardless, it still hit me hard and was pretty apparent that I have let myself go and I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Thank you for the compliment though, I do appreciate it.
Huge congrats on your scale dance of happiness today!! If we're weighing in on it (LOL, get it, weighing in? See what I did there? I'm a comedic genius. ) I think that unless you plan to maintain 129 or lower it's best NOT to flirt with it. I can only speak from my own personal experience, but I feel like I looked my absolute best at about 120-122. However, I saw 113 for a bit and hovered around 115 for a while and that has messed with my head a bit. I didn't do it intentionally, but knowing that I have been lower and leaner makes me feel like even shooting for 120 again, EVEN THOUGH I have gained a good bit of muscle, is somehow 'settling' and still not good enough. It's almost like a compromise weight to me.
Did I look good at 113? No. I looked like friggin bobble head! I was so lean that I had no *** anymore and my boobs were disappearing. My face looked gaunt and my whole body looked stringy. I had visible striations on my glutes and hamstrings for heaven's sake! In a bikini or naked I looked fantastic, but in clothing I just looked tiny and swallowed up by my outfits.
I know that's not the level you are aiming for, but I guess I am trying to say that I do think it's a slippery slope. If 132 is your goal, wouldn't you rather stay and live at your best ever awesomest goal weight than diet down to 129 only to maintain a bit higher? In that respect you'll always feel like you've gained and aren't at your best anymore. Well, thats a big assumption that you would feel that way but it's possible.
And yeah, you can lose it from your knockers.
Alexis - I don't think that bread = bad, but to me it's a bit indulgent. I love nothing in the world so much as GOOD, hot, crusty french bread with a simple pat of butter on it! (but I digress) I tend to go through phases with my meals and what I like, and occasionally I'll get on a french toast kick and make that fairly often and don't feel bad about it.
For some reason when dining out though, bread just isn't something I even consider when I am looking for healthy options. I LOVE bread, and when I have it I want it loaded with other things I love.
Does that make any sense? Probably not. I'm a weirdo.
Anyhoo - Um, AWESOME about the paying orchestra gig! Are you at least considering it? Perhaps the schedule would be okay once you got used to it.
Be careful with that snow! I'm flying out of NC into TX and then onto CO tomorrow so I *should* be alright but I'm really hoping the weather doesn't effect my travel plans! Eeek! I really hope it doens't effect your plans to stick to good food choices and get a run done too. Weather can be a b*tch for that.
Heck, I just looked at the forecast for this weekend in CO and it's supposed to snow Saturday and Sunday. Great. That means inactivity, food temptations out of boredom, and too much time spent indulging in drinks and goodies on the couch with my handsome man! Why can't it be hot and sunny so we can hike and camp?!
Aiden - I can't hardly wait for the days when I work in a gym or am doing something related! I just have to keep my eye on the ball until then, get through school and get a job! LOL
Nice job holding steady with your weight! I know TOM can be a MOFO but you seem to still be doing well! Hopefully you can get your workout and extra cardio done today and feel less icky.
olehcat : Seems like the snow hit you hard yesterday! Are the road a bit better today? And seriously, my boyfriend lived all his life in Canada and still loaaaathes drive in the snow Glad to hear your training is going fine!!
Joss : Woah, that is some serious training! I would like to give you some awesome reasons that would explain why you are still up, but I am currently looking for some of those reasons for myself and I'm so lost I do understand your feeling.. like, crap, I'm on plan, control the eating, train a lot, and I'm not losing? What is there to understand in this?
But anyways, know that I'm super proud of you girl, after ditching that crazy @ss coach and deciding to do all this in your own healthy way! You'll get there, I'm sure of this
Aidan : Harlem Shuffle Bootcamp? It seems fun!!!
Maddie : Down again! Send me some of your magic, girl!!! ''I miss my hooker boobs.'' lol!!! Finding the sweet spot of where to stop and go maintaining is always hard... I think we'll probably be never like 100% totally okay with our bodies, whatever we do lose or not... Maybe try to maintain a few weeks at 132 and than if you still feel like it, go for 129?
Alexis : The workout was really good, thanx for asking! I always thought that there was running room all over the States and that they just got in Canada a few years ago, don't know why! I like your plan of not sitting and eating. Pen and paper is a great idea! At night now, I always write on a little book, planning my next workout and stuff while sipping on a tea... Helps pass the cravings
***
Up to 140.6 this morning. My stomach is bloated. WTHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I just keep repeating myself, after I saw the 140 ''okay, it will go away, just do what you gotta do and keep pushing'' but it just keep going in the wrong direction.
It is even more frustrating because I did very good in term of food yesterday. I guess I'm just looking for reasons... Lack of pooping? TOM due in about a week? The bit of salt I added to the orzo last night? Water retention after my workout yesterday? Pffffff.
At least I had a really good workout yesterday. The elleptical was boring (as expected) but I increased most of my weight or repetition in the weights section. I even tried for the first time the assisted chin up machine. I also tried for the first time my squat with a barbell instead of some dumbbell overpress.. I wanted to had more weight to my squat, but I did not want that my arms with the overpress become the limiting factor. I was really intimidated by the barbell squat at first, but it was fun. I started a 20 pounds this week, I'll increase it up next time.
There was also this guy who gave me an advice for the squat, but the poor guy, he wanted to show me how to do my move better, but his arms were so big that he was not able to place his arms correctly. He was like ''yeah sorry, I'm not really flexible...'' DUDE, YOUR BICEPS ARE TOO BIG and your arms can't touch your waist anymore. At least he was nice and did not have a douchy attitude :P
Joss: I would like to give you some awesome reasons that would explain why you are still up, but I am currently looking for some of those reasons for myself and I'm so lost I do understand your feeling.. like, crap, I'm on plan, control the eating, train a lot, and I'm not losing? What is there to understand in this?
***
Up to 140.6 this morning. My stomach is bloated. WTHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I just keep repeating myself, after I saw the 140 ''okay, it will go away, just do what you gotta do and keep pushing'' but it just keep going in the wrong direction.
It is even more frustrating because I did very good in term of food yesterday. I guess I'm just looking for reasons... Lack of pooping? TOM due in about a week? The bit of salt I added to the orzo last night? Water retention after my workout yesterday? Pffffff.
Yep, we're in the same place! I just have to tell you the same thing you told me; you're doing it all the right way, so hang in there and it WILL pay off! At least in the meantime you can enjoy all the NSVs you're having at the gym!
