What a collection of individuals we are, each with our own obsessions. If I never drank wine again for the rest of my life, I'd be fine with that -- though indeed I'd be annoyed at not having any on hand to cook with, as there's nothing that substitutes for it adequately. I'm known for not partaking and instead drinking sparkling water with lime, so no one would ever think to give me a bottle of it. What I do on those rare occasions when someone gives me wine is re-gift it, and I wonder how many bottles you're getting have been regifted.

Present. 131.5 on the scale today, up from 122 at the beginning of the year. Personal weaknesses including smallish binges (that is clearly triggered by eating at a deficit- I don't binge when I'm eating maintenance calories, but then, of course I don't lose weight) and overeating of healthy but high calorie snacks like nuts and dried fruit, especially in the evenings. Goal weight has always been 120, though I'll settle for 122. Currently trying to walk a (very) fine line between restricting calories enough for gradual weight loss, but not dropping so low that it kicks in the binge/overeat cycle. Aiming for 1600-1700/ day, with some flex up to 1800 on days I get at least an hour of exercise. We shall see how it goes.

Here! Working on 'not gaining', as it were, and really I'd like to be down five pounds, back to my previous low, but that seems optimistic this close to my scheduled Christmas junk day.

162 last I checked, focusing on plan adherence and taking a scale break until January. 158 or lower would be nice.

I successfully talked myself into going to swim practice instead of finishing my Christmas shopping. Good grief, what a night. After getting 2600 yards into the practice, our coach hit us with 10x100 on a 10 second rest interval with the directive to a) keep all 10 100's within 3 seconds of each other and b) to swim as fast as possible without losing technique. I managed to hold them with 4 seconds, all between 1:26 and 1:30. Kinda feeling it today! Between that and only diverging from plan by 2 Hershey's Kisses and a mini Snickers (I abandoned the other 10 at the coffee machine), I'm down 1.0 today.

My wine night coincides with a decadent dinner. Well, not so decadent because the serving sizes are very small in most cases, but it is several courses. Once a month I attend a small fund-raising event with a local group called Wine Women Palm Springs. It's really quite fun and I've met a lot of interesting people--some of whom have become quite good friends.

That said, I've taken great strides to limit my alcohol intake. I have had in my mind (for ages) that I need to cut down and for the past several months have been planning for this reduction--mainly in hopes that it will help me lose weight. I have allowed myself one drink each weekend night and none during the rest of the week. That means three per week, which is a heck of a lot less than the usual three per night that I used to do! Unfortunately, so far, it has not contributed to any weight loss (but I'm blaming that on DS who came home with a list of favorite meals he wants me to cook because he's tired of cafeteria food at the university).

Re alcohol, the holiday increase is costing me on the scale. I avoid the vast majority of mixed drinks due to the colors, but I do love wine, craft beers, and in this weather, single malts. And I too tend to lose my food inhibitions on the second drink, so I attempt to manage that. I am also aware that I lean on it to grease the social skids - I am much less likely to respond inappropriately to certain relatives' ignorant views.

As a substance abuse counselor, I don't drink at all. I count myself lucky that this is not one of my MANY MANY temptations!!

Agreed-- I don't drink either. I will once or twice a year and it unleashes the food beast in me!!

I don't drink either.

Travelling today. A slightly odd meal out. I started with soup. When the others' main course came I decided to have the cheese plate which was lovely but more cheese than I'd normally eat. Then I had a hot chocolate - too much caffeine for someone who doesn't have coffee after 12 noon. But anyway, not too bad really. I have learnt that I shouldn't have the cheese plate when out, nor should I have hot chocolate out. They are for home consumption, in small amounts. I've relearnt that I can't be bothered with three course meals.

Met with the nutritionist. As part of the consult, he did a body fat measurement (using an electrical impedance device). It claims I'm currently at 17% body fat. WTF? My thighs jiggle and I can't fit into half my jeans because of the outer thigh bulges that strain the fabric.

I had no intention of getting my BF measured - I was going for the dietary advice only, having learned that my RMR was dead average for my height and weight. Now this information is going to drive me crazy. I just know I will obsess over getting it remeasured using a different (more accurate) method because that value strikes me as so off. And I don't want to go there. I don't want this whole diet thing to consume me like this. I just want to eat until I'm full, exercise to make myself feel good, and still FIT INTO MY D*MN CLOTHES.

For the record, after that measurement, the dietician strongly advised me against eating at a deficit, instead targeting 1900 cal/day on average, suggested I up my protein intake to >=100 g/day because I "lift heavy" and want to gain strength, spread out my calories to include a planned evening snack (when I told him how hard it was for me to resist eating after dinner, and that all of my binge behavior took place at that hour), and try to decrease my nuts and dried fruit habits, since I often overdo those, thereby exceeding calories. He also encouraged me to eat a snack right before exercising; he is clearly a firm believer in the 5-6 mini meals theory of eating :>)

I'll have to mull these over. Terrified to go as high as 1900 cal/day since I have been steadily gaining on <1800, and on many days I don't have enough of a break in my schedule to eat snacks between meals, and don't plan ahead to bring things from home anyway. I'll have to experiment with a few strategies for having snacky things around that I won't immediately overeat, and won't go bad if I leave them out.

How much protein are you currently getting every day, Andrea? I will tell you that when I upped my protein I was able to eat a higher calorie level along with it and started losing. Nuts and dried fruits don't do anything for me, they are just calorie fluff most of the time in my belly. I've wandered back into the carbs lately and that has thrown a wrench back into my works. I can't maintain or lose with lots of carbs, and I do find that a high protein snack right before workout helps a lot. I have a good string of 1600 or less days that were too carb heavy and I gained, followed by a string of 1800-1900 calorie days where I upped the protein significantly and started to lose again.

ETA - I've found that 100g is the bare minimum amount of protein I can get in a day and lift the way I do and still feel good. I think you lift heavier than me more often.

Same with me. I ate all the nuts I wanted. In fact, about 4 months ago, Scientific American had an article about how the "delivered" calories of nuts is believed to now be incorrect as stated on most packaging. Turns out, our guts cannot "squeeze" out that many calories because of the denser/harder nature of nuts. So, until the final numbers are out, eat them and see how they do for you.

Brazil nuts, in particular, are something I eat a LOT of.

Here's a synopsis on nuts from Scientific American
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...bout-calories/

I recently read that the best snack, pre or post workout, is milk. Specifically chocolate milk, but if it were me, I'd do fat free milk. Not sure of the protein content in a glass of milk, however. But if it were too low, you could add protein powder to boost the protein content.

I eat cottage cheese a lot to get in the protein. Also yoghurt (plain, obviously). Tinned oily fish.

Interesting, Shannon. That's been my experience too.

Andrea-- did you question him on the low BF? i had mine done when I was at my lowest weight and it was supposedly 12%. I wonder what it is now that I've gained weight.

Interesting info about the nuts. I have been eating more than I used to but still not a lot because they are so calorie dense-- or so I thought...