The next few days are going to kill me, first christmas staff pary and i want to barf.

Its interesting I'm just seeing this thread because in a roundabout way I'd asked the same thing recently on the calorie counting board. Basically, I've been a little more relaxed over the weekends and wanted to stop obsessing over every.little.thing. For what it is worth, I still calculated stuff in my head to either a "ballpark" tally, or went back and logged it at calorie count anyhow.

While I may not have obsessed and been exact, still, I wound up "doing the math" and making good choices and if I had chance to over eat, I didn't really OVER EAT so much. The result, however, is that the 170 pounds I weighed in at on Thanksgiving morning, I'm weighing that today. So I stayed the same because I wasn't ferociously attacking the weight in a loss mode. I was taking each day in a maintenance mode.

How do I feel about this? Actually, I am ok with it. There are 2 more weeks to get through with lots of temptation around. That I'm taking the dieting a little less strenuously or seriously...it hasn't hurt me.

Back at 198, I was miserable and couldn't get the weight to drop quick enough. When I got into the 180s I was thrilled. 170s even better. I knew I would be less crazed. However, come the new year (I know some people hate to hear that procrastination) I WILL get back to a more serious diet and concentrate on losing the next ten pounds.

So, yea, I must have needed a break from the crazy obsessiveness that I had been doing for the past 4 months and I'm gearing up for the next bit of crazed obsession with losing it BUT, even when I act like I'm not realllllly paying attention to getting the weight loss done....in the back of my mind, its still there. So, I've learned something this time around....that this IS forever, even if sometimes I tread slowly and easily, or maniacally and hard!

I know a lot of people who change their goal from weight loss to weight maintenance over the holidays and are successful with it. You still have to be careful because weight gain is not an option

Scale-weight gain is almost guaranteed, to be honest. I've got PMS, plus 2 hours of jet-lag, plus a 4 hour evening direct flight. I'd be unsurprised to be up five pounds when I step on the scale nine hours after we get home. As long as it all comes whooshing back off, I'll be pretty happy.

I'm really not looking at this as an opportunity to stuff my face for two weeks, just as a way to mitigate the stress inherent in having family visiting and traveling myself. I guess we'll see after I get back if it was a sensible strategy, or a plan for disaster.

I never was able to get back to you but I hope your trip went/is going well. I just got back from my last business trip of the year and I was pretty surprised that stepping on the scale today I was only 171lbs (GREAT because TOM started today so being up 2lbs is just about right), plus I even am finally down another 1" on my waist so it can be done. Mostly I tried ot get veggies when possible and really listen to my body in terms of fullness when I wasn't.

Oh, and I made an exercise routine (just about 20 min) that I did in the hotel room that avoided using my knee (if you're interested in it let me know). I also tried to make sure to walk/take the stairs when possible. I know those things don't make a huge difference but they help.

In terms of dieting, I think it's a pretty wise idea to plan on maintaining over business trips. Then if you do lose weight it'S GREAT but if not you're not stressing out over the extra sodium etc. Plus it's normally a great way to practice for the future.

Anyways, good luck with everything!

Thanks, runningfromfat. So far it's going pretty well, and I'm very glad to have chosen to take a short break.

Yesterday was my first full day with my family here, and it was chaos. Breakfast out (I had coffee). Lunch out (I split an entree). My daughter came down with stomach flu. Dinner plans changed about 12 times, as people came up with new objections. I ate more for dinner than I usually would, but I chose the lean roast beef and the steamed broccoli, and left the pastas and salad dressings behind. I ate a small square of chocolate and a single cookie for dessert, but evaded all the chances to nibble on sweets through the day.

I've got no idea what the plan for today is, but I'm putting yesterday behind me and taking it one meal at a time.

In case anyone searches this up and is curious...

The diet break went fine. I lost 2lb of trend weight the first week (which was mostly the trend catching up to my earlier losses). I don't have trend data for the second week, but the day after I flew home, I was up 2lb of scale weight from leaving. That's about right for TOM, and I can tell that my fingers are still swollen from retaining water. This is only my second day back, and the first pound of water weight is already off.

I feel pretty good about being able to maintain without a lot of trouble, in circumstances where I didn't have access to the kinds of foods I really prefer to eat. Moreover, I missed my usual eating habits, and dove back into them gleefully.

Onward and downward!

I'm glad everything worked out! Keep up the good work!

I have been on a diet with exercise since the end of November 2016 and have lost 35 pounds! Pretty happy with myself. However, it has been 6 months of thinking really hard about what I eat and I am exhausted. Not only that I have kicked up the restriction a bit because I think of myself in phase 2... 15 more to go! I noticed that I am extra hungry all the time and actually getting really brain foggy and can't concentrate at work, which isn't great. So, I've decided to take a 1-2 week diet break without going crazy but just eating until I'm full at my regular meal times without counting. It is hard. I have also already noticed a 5 pound gain which I KNOW is just water etc but a little hard to see.

Trying to not get discouraged as I do feel better right now but looking forward to getting back at it to start seeing results again.