Celebrating staying on plan today other than a small square of dark chocolate. When I was heavier, I used to always use sickness as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted and however much I wanted of it. Mostly carbs--I would eat a box of mac and cheese or a sleeve of saltines as a snack.
So I'm proud. Keep on keepin' on...

WTG heather!

Hi relosers - I am four weeks past my surgeries and one week home from visiting my family in another state. I got on the scale and it appears that I have gained three pounds from my lowest presurgery weight. I am at peace with it and am finally ready to do the 'work' that comes with healthful eating and losing weight again. I am three pounds above my ticker weight - I'll give myself a couple of weeks to get this off. If I don't by then... I'll change my ticker.

As always, thanks for all of your support.

Thanks SMSDreamer!

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone is having a good day!

I am going to play with my calories a bit, maybe bump them up, right now I'm eating about 1300 a day, but think I want to try 1500 or 1600. I'm upping my exercise a bit at a time and think I will be fine. If not, I guess I bring them back down. I have lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks, so I'm pretty sure it won't hurt to raise them a bit.

Welcome SMSDREAMER2007!

heathermichigan, I'm happy to hear you're feeling better. Congrats on breaking that old habit of feeding the blahs. I can certainly relate to that behavior! (see my post yesterday re: mashed poatoes and gravy)

Beverlyjoy, I think you're going at this the right way. Little steps for now, your body has beenthrough a lot recently.

thistoo, I'm sorry we suck all your cheerleading efforts from your IRL world, but it sure makes this a nice place to be

konfyoozed, I'll have a pity party with you any day. I'll bring extra whine

Justwant2Bhealthy, My walk yesterday really helped get my head in a better place. It was a bad day all around and cranking music and marching hills helped a lot.

Muggles, Take it slow with that neck injury - that's serious stuff!

findingfawn and Slashnl, it's nice to see you, however briefly. I find that even when I don't have time to post a quick read here keeps me on the right track.

It's raining again today so my lunchtime walk is in jeapoardy. I hope it clears up in time for me to get out and pound some pavement. I AM DETERMINED TO SEE THAT SCALE MOVE THIS WEEK.

Sue, no one would know what to do if I suddenly turned into a cheerleader in my everyday life, so it's just as well I confine it to weight loss circles. Really this is the only thing I ever feel like giving pep talks about, anyway. Speaking of which, you'll see the scale move this week! Attitude is half the battle, so I know you can do it.

Heather, glad you're feeling a little better! All I want to eat when I'm sick is bread, so I understand.

Beverly, it's really been 4 weeks already? Wow, time flies. I have no idea where the winter went. This early spring is really messing with my perceptions, I think. At any rate, I'm glad you're at peace with your current weight and ready to work on moving that number down again. It's a process, as we all know.

Today is a fasting day for me, so I will spend my lunch hour on the elliptical. I'm looking forward to it. Tonight after I break my fast I'll probably do some yoga. I meant to do it this morning before work, but I have been useless at getting out of bed to work out lately.

My weight is still bouncing around just above 200 (201.2 this morning) but I am not letting it frustrate me. It'll come down whenever it comes down. It's just a number, after all.

Next week I will probably have scale-related withdrawal symptoms, because I'll be on vacation. We leave Saturday and come back the following Saturday. I'll try to check in while I'm in Florida, but I imagine I won't be around to wave the pom-poms a whole lot. Though my entire family is addicted to their electronics, so maybe you won't even notice a difference!

(Oh, wow, this one is especially annoying! MY NEW FAVORITE.)

I did 50min of cardio yesterday. Its warmed up around here, Hubby made sure the AC is working; its supposed to be in the 80s all week. My purple iris are blooming already! This is spring break for Bible study but my parents are taking me to Olive Garden for lunch. Cardio/LB planned for later. Now that its spring I'm looking around at the house and yard and planning improvements or just plain spring cleaning.

It's ironic that IRL I'm the cheerleader. I spend about 50% of my work day training sales teams (rah, rah!) and with 4 kids someone always needs a pep talk of some sort. I think that's one of the things I like best about this group - I don't always need to be "on" or upbeat. I can fess up to having a bad day without everyone around me thinking the sky must be falling.

Day 3 of being on plan. I went to spin again today. It was so stinking hard today. Oh the joys of getting used to spin bikes after being away for so long. My arms are killing me too, from body pump yesterday. I guess stupidity must be painful. I am grateful to have my desk job today!

Mahtha - I agree that just hearing from others is helpful too. It helps me keep my focus and ignore those nasty mini muffins that are in our breakroom right now.

Penguin - Wow, iris's already. Hard to believe how warm it has been.

Caroline - You'll get there. I think you're patience is admirable!!

Findingfawn - I think it would be good to up your calories. It seems like 1300 is really low. Let us know how it works out!

Gotta go!!!

Heather - Your welcome!

Beaverlyjoy- Only 3 lbs! that's great! You will get that off in NO time.

Findingfrawn- I would bump up to 1500 first and see how you do, I find if I add too many calories in at once even if I am upping the exercise then I plateau...go figure!

Mahtha - Thank you for the welcome! Here in oregon, we walk whether its rain or not Its the oregonian way! hehe GL on seeing a loss this week!

thistoo- Wow fasting....I would never be able to survive a whole day without food. More power to you! Ive always wanted to try it but by night I am soooo hungry I binge :\

Penguin - 80?? wow *jealous* We've had rain/wind storms all this month :/ Its supposed to be spring here but NOPE. Even had a little snow yesterday :/

Slashni- Yay! wtg for day 3 OP! you can keep it up!

Scale today said 244 which means all the water weight from my beach trip and 2 binges is gone! Now to get these last 5 lbs of the 240's off me and get into the 230's WAHOOO I hope I make it this month! Ive been in the 240's since september :\ Even made it back into the 250's and saw 260 once in jan YIKES! Thankfully that was all water weight and disappeared pretty quickly. I NEVER want to see 250 or 260 EVER again!

SMSDreamer, I do 24 hour fasts, but I go from dinner to dinner, so I never go a whole day without eating. For instance, I ate dinner last night, and tonight when I get home from work I will break my fast with dinner. I'm not saying it's always easy, but for me it's easier to not go an entire day without food. I have a friend who does that, but I'm not sure I could handle it.

I can't say it's helping my weight loss (I think it's the reason I keep bouncing, actually) but it helps me with some digestive issues I have (IBS-type symptoms) so it's worth it for that alone. I just started three weeks ago, but I'm doing two 24-hour fasts a week and so far so good.

Sue, a little role reversal is probably good for both of us! I can't imagine what it must be like to be the one to prop everyone up all the time, so I'm happy to pitch in and help do it here so you don't feel like you have to.

Diane, claiming I have patience is another thing that would make everyone I know fall out of their chair! Thanks, though. I am trying a lot harder to have patience with myself this time around. I think that was my downfall last time, so it's a battle I have to win.

Okay, back to work. All this spring weather is making it hard to focus on my job, but I only have one and a half more work days before vacation, so I better try.

thistoo- Jealous! Its rainy and dreary here!

okay ya'll. today was supposed to be my weigh in day, and i forgot to do it then ate breakfast and chugged a bottle of water.

meh. just as well. it's TOM and he had his way with me yesterday, dragging me to the fridge every 5 minutes to see if there was something new, and when there wasn't grabbing whatever was available. i snacked on carrots, and green pepper strips, and string cheese, and my husband's doritos, and the dark chocolate kisses we keep on the coffee table (normally easy to resist because i only like dark chocolate when i'm craving chocolate). i made scrambled egg whites at midnight because i was absolutely starving... my meals were mostly low cal or healthy choices BUT I ATE SO MUCH... i didn't even log cause it was so mindless i couldn't remember what i ate after i ate it.

so probably good that i missed the scale today.

gah. one more day of TOM and then i can be normal again! hopefully we can get to the gym tonight. the last two nights i've just been miserable and exhausted.

still need to get some lifting gloves....

have a good day all. i'll try to stop being a downer soon!

Another day, another bounce up in weight. 1.2 pounds. Boooo. But I will not be frustrated. I should just skip weighing myself until I'm better and back to working out, but I want to keep the schedule so that it becomes a habit. I am never going to avoid the scale again--good or bad, I want to be aware of my weight forever. Otherwise...that's how the regain happens me thinks!