LOL! Oh no ... I've ducked into the grocer ... but I bought tortilla chips. It seems to be about ... I'm not sure ... I grab something ... it would be just as quick to grab cottage cheese ... There are apples at work (with the danishes).

Nobody nails my butt to the easy chair in the living room.

Ya know that saying about 'what do you want more..." ... well apparently I just want something to eat.

I have awakened this morning in a much clearer state of mind.

I wish I could find some common ground between what goinforthegold has been experiencing lately and what I've been doing. Why can't we be reasonably mindful instead of either in it up to our eyeballs or soooo far gone?

I do admit that I feel better when I'm totally into it, than I do now. And goinforthegold is actually seeing results.

Instead of stopping calmly at the grocer with a list of good stuff, I roar home yawning and spend time fuming over the fact that I didn't.

I just have to fit it all in. Think of the time I spend sitting in a chair 'self talking' ... "I am sooo freakin' tired" .... "I can't believe I worked over-time again today" ... I could be doing isometrics or making a list or planning a 10 minute workout or making a pot of soup. I could ...

Alas ... it's a mind game ... and planning seems to be our lucky game piece.

What a difference a day can make huh!

Me, reasonably minded and food...three words that have no business being in a sentence together. I can honestly say that I truly have no idea how I'm doing it because I'm literally dreaming of binging every single second of every day. The only thing that's holding me accountable is the trainer. She has laid out my life for 21 days and so I'm doing as I'm told...I'm white knuckling every second of it, but I'm doing as I'm told. It's sort of nice to take the pressure off myself and have someone else making the decisions for me. She's laid out what I'm to eat and when, when I work out and what I do when I do workout. I'm just following directions and seeing what happens.

At least you're excuse is that you are busy and tired, mine is I'm apparently an emotional wreck. *rofl*

And I might be seeing some new results now, but I spent over three months spinning my wheels and not going anywhere.

Why does it have to be so darn hard!?!

Morning, ab-ers. Not much to report here, but wanted to shout out some support to everyone who's struggling with eating only "clean." I had a so-so week myself -- not so good beginning, OK ending -- but that's the way it goes. Get up, brush yourself off, go shopping (that's for you, Susan ), and go on.

Stay strong,
Kim

I am having a better day today. Grocery shopping was wonderful. I've been for a walk and I did about 50 minutes of dance type stuff with some legs thrown in. A little bit of housework, some laundry and a nap should round it right out.

That did turn out better. I still got into the evening eating but I didn't dive headlong into the peanutbutter jar.

And now ... after a very short respite ... the world's shortest day off ... I'm back to work. Six shifts then I have a three day weekend with two parties. Cardio is a must. If I throw in a couple of ten pounders for part of it ... I'll feel accomplished. But cardio is a must!

Goinforthegold? ... would you mind giving us a sample day of your menu?

Sure Susan. I'm eating about every two hours, starting around 9am.

M1: protein shake
~workout~
M2: 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg scrambled with 1/2 c oats
M3: protein bar
M4: 1c yogurt (low fat, low carb, no sugar), sm piece of fruit
M5: 5oz lean protein, 2 cups of veggies or large salad

That's a typical day. It works out to between 1200 and 1300 calories. I'm allowed a few things for dessert after supper, like berries and cool whip or sugar free jello...I can't remember what else...but I never have it. She also gave me a list of the lean proteins, veggies, fruits, and other stuff that I can use as replacements for each meal if I get bored.

Oh wow, goinforthegold, you are definitely eating very healthy. Thanks for the sample menu!
And even though you never eat it, berries and cool whip sounds reallyyyyy good right now

Susan, WTG on not diving into the peanut butter jar. I DID dive into it yesterday and couldn't get myself to stop eating it.

I ate crap yesterday and today but I have a legitimate excuse for today: I'm BROKE until Tuesday. There is no healthy food left in my house because I ate it all and I seriously cannot afford to go out and buy anything nutritious until Tuesday (when I get my direct deposit in my bank) because I paid rent. I live in a place that I moved into while doing well financially, thinking I could afford it, but now it's just costly.

Ah, I love the payday diet! Between having just bought a new car, mandatory holiday shopping, two trips to the doc to ID my cold and the requisite meds, the need for new snow boots... I'm living on what's been in my cabinets since last year at this time. On the plus side, it's all ingredients so I burn calories in the kitchen.

I did lose another pound so I hit 144. My tummy started swelling a few days ago and that has caused some lower back pain (I had major abdominal surgery 8/16/07) so I have been on what I like to call "ab-sabatical." I think it's the rotten antibiotics... warning: overshare... things are not moving as they should and it's been more than a week. Prune juice, anyone?

Good morning!

Lafayette ... this is my specialty. Ask my patients If you are passing flatus ... find some milk of magnesia. It's gentle. If you are not passing flatus or this doesn't resolve with a return to normal eating and health ... go see your doc. What abd surgery did you have?

Thanks goinforthegold, we could all take some very helpful tips from that menu.

After all my years on earth ... I'm very familiar with the payday eating plan. Not easy ... makes me grouchy. Exercise, water and portion control ... is my best guess.

Ya, it's weird because everyone thinks I'm crazy, that I'm not eating enough and that I'm depriving myself or that I'm eating bland, gross yucky stuff all day. But I'm not usually ever hungry (just sometimes at bedtime because my last meal is around 5 - but I can have another small meal if I want to) and I'm enjoying everything I'm eating. My biggest problem is that since I'm an emotional eater somedays I just really want to eat 4 grapefruits instead of half a one. KWIM? Not that I'm still hungry, just that I WANT to keep eating...plus, I miss candy and chocolate A LOT. One week left of no cheating though! hehe

Susan- I skipped the antibiotics last night and corrected the problem. I know, I shouldn't have done that but I take a handfull of pills everyday and just couldn't see my way to adding even more. I had a complete hysterectomy and a very large mass of endometriosis removed through a lateral incision (I think that's right- the scar runs from the belly button down about 6"). To give you an idea of the severity, I lost roughly 14 pounds surgically.

Goinforthegold- chocolate tastes bad. It's truly gotten totally awful since you stopped eating it. Really

Hello Everyone! This weekend I was ok, ate quite well actually but had a little more alcohol than necessary... I needed it though! Finals are this week so I just wanted to realx before the stress starts tomorrow. You know I think I'm going to try a version of your plan goinforthegold... maybe not so strict but quite close just for a week. Hopefully that will keep me on track so I don't do damage out of school stress this week and it will give me a jump start on my "vacation diet" during which I plan to get to my goal weight by the time next semester starts the end of January... TOTALLY DOABLE! And I'm going to do it, expect many progress posts from me during that time. After which I will still be around for the six pack motivation and accounatbility.

I had a wack of accountability this morning girls.

Now I do talk alot but it disappears into thin air and nobody remembers anyway but ... on the internet your words can catch up with you. While I'm moaning and nibbling and skipping cardio ... somebody popped thru my goal thread!
I'm supposed to be happy not a whining pudge belly!

OK then ... brushes selfpitying self off ...

Let's go girls ...
protein shakes
lean proteins
things that grow

Lafayette ... thanks for filling in the details. Nurses are morbidly curious about stuff like that. You're right, you should finish your antibiotics but it's also pretty important to keep your bowels moving. I have no doubt you'll be fine after your antibiotics are done.
Abdominal surgery is hard on all your innards. Continuing bowel problems need to be addressed with your doc. I'm glad yours turned out well.

I am prepared! I had a shake this morning. I made protein pancakes (DH came home for lunch and ate some!) My lunch bag is packed with salad, carrots, cottage cheese, turkey, chicken ...