!This was just what I needed today! Yesterday, I faced a tremendously challenging life crisis, and there was nothing I wanted more than to indulge a sugar binge. I thought to myself, '' I can have ice cream and still lose weight.' And that is absolutely true. But I also knew that the way I was feeling emotionally, it would not stop with a single serving of ice cream. So I took a deep breath and avoided binges until I could get to the gym and alleviate stress that way. Unfortunately, I didn't make it there until 11:30, and I get up at 5:15. But I needed to lift more than I needed the sleep, and I am not being as tortured today by cravings. I also asked my friend to not bring snacks for our meeting tonight. As much as I hate to be a diva, I feel like staying on plan is pivotal for me today.

Enjoynlife, it sounds like your lifting plan is awesome. Moving sucks, though, so I hope you make it through that without too much pain. Thanks for all the continous support. It is so nice to be able to feel like you are in my corner!

Angie - thanks for your support, too, and the reassurance on the water weigh. I really needed to hear it.

Stargazer - I am so excited to hear about your triumphs and walk with you through your struggles. A year is a long time. It is amazing to have great companions on the way.

I realize I am almost three months late but I would love to join in on this commitment with you! I would love to be in the 180s or less by August of 2013.

And I'm glad you were able to avoid the urge to binge during that stress. I have a hard time with that myself and that is something I am working on currently. Trying my hardest to make this happen!

Hi ladies!! Enjoynlife - I am definitely back to normal LOL. It's like I've pushed a reset button and now I'm focusing on the next 100 days as if it were the first. I want these smaller jeans I have on to be as loose as my starting weight jeans by the time I weigh again. I started Chalean Extreme today and it was great! I LOVE lifting heavy!!! I can already tell I'm going to be sore in the morning lol. Oh and yes I'm doing intermittent fasting (IF) where I fast 20 hours daily and eat all my calories in a 4 hour window. It's been going great so far! Thanks for thinking of me!

Pink Hurricane - SSSOOO happy you made your way over to this thread. The one thing I dislike about the weight-specific threads is that you lose people. I love that you're doing the extreme fitness challenges with both P90X and now Insanity.

Angie - I too am looking to reset my brain to think of this as a new effort. I have lost 20 pounds more times than I cannot count. I can lose 20 pounds again, espresso because I have the habits already developed. Right
:-)

Yes! With the habits already developed and in place, all you have to do is keep pushing through! That's what I've been telling myself for this next phase too.

Today is Day 115 of 365. I'm still going strong. I like to mix things up every so often and this heavy lifting was the perfect thing to incorporate. I also incorporated some focused ab work and after Monday's ab work, I'm STILL sore lol. My eating is still spot on, but after my lift session yesterday, I got REALLY hungry. I'm thinking I may need to up my calories a couple hundred on those days. We'll see.

How is everyone doing?

This morning I did the first day of the 30 Day Shred and also did the Ab Ripper X. My husband wants to start Insanity this weekend, we are both going to do the fit test first, and then jump into the program. I'm trying to figure out a good way to incorporate the 30DS and P90X with Insanity. Maybe an every other day deal or something? I'm not sure yet, just depends on how things go with Insanity.

Thank Laurie! I agree with you about the other threads. I like having them there because there are other people who are in your similar position too, but I don't like that people leave them too haha.

Enjoynlife - My body adjusted quite well to the fasting hours. At first, trying to fit all my food in a 4 hour window was tough! The first 2 days, I was so full LOL! But now? After I eat my first meal at 11am, I kid you not, I am hungry by 12 noon so I eat again, and then HUNGRY by 2pm, so I eat again (which is my biggest meal). It's like..my body eats that food up so quick!

I am out of control and completely off plan. I am dealing with life crises. In some ways, my current issues are more serious and difficult than bar prep and divorce, but it is ridiculous for me to turn to food as a coping mechanism. Food has always failed me in that regard. Even now, I am bloated and nauseous from the double cheeseburger and cookie binge at lunch yesterday.

I am not stupid, though. I am not hopeless. I am just letting myself slip back into familiar habits at a time of crisis. It's a reasonable response, if not a well-advised one.

But as much as I have wanted to avoid 3FC, I have not done so. As much as I wanted to avoid the scale (because it represented accountability), I did not. I am still committed.

So, if y'all don't mind, I am going to post every morning this week. I haven't decided whether I will weigh daily or not.

Welcome to white-knuckle Sunday. My hunger in these past few days has not been the regular hunger I experience when on plan. That I can manage until I find a suitable food option. My hunger cycle when I am completely off-plan goes from slightly nauseous in the morning (like right now) to ravenous around 11ish. And it's not hunger that is easily ignored. But I do ignore it, until I eat until I finally feel 'full' - which occurs long after I have consumed too many calories. Plus, I eat any sugar within my grasp, which makes me hungry again, but it's yet a different kind of hunger. It's sugar-nausea, for lack of a better term, and it doesn't go away until I eat more substantive food, which in turn makes me overfed and bloated again.

So, for today, I will suffer through feeling hungry and underfed. I will eat small portions. I will not eat cookies, cake, donuts, or candy. Not even a bite, and not even if they are right next to me. I will acknowledge discomfort is a part of this process, but it is not painful, and it is a reasonable price to pay. I will also acknowledge that I am not where I was two weeks ago with eating and exercise, and in some ways, this is a new beginning. And beginnings can be hard, but they are lovely.

Day 1. I will lift weights at 10:00, even if my house isn't as clean as I would like. It's the only available time to do it. No sugar in any form (at least not anything with a large quantity of sugar), and deliberately small meals. (I typically eat large meals within a short period, sort of a modified IF, but that isn't working for me right now. I prefer eating that way, though, so I hope to resume it within the week.)

I have heard of refeedings. I don't know if I believe they are actually beneficial. And if they are, they should be done with much more deliberation and care. Nonetheless, I am calling this my refeeding period. Onward.

Haha! Totally NOT pregnant. Thanks for asking. I have lost 100 pounds before, so I am not new to this. I have tried MANY times to eat in a calorie ranges that is neither super low nor super high. I have never been successful. So I do not stress it or worry about unxereating. I also don't track calories precisely because that also plays havoc with my OCD tendencies. I don't know if I would have been within maintenance range. I am guessing I would have been slightly above yesterday. The biggest problem, though, was the way I felt. I experienced the 'gotta eat the whole package of not very good cookies until they're gone' phenomenon. Did not make me feel good about myself, my body, or my ability to maintain a sensible weight. Also made me feel too bloated and nauseous to work out. And the out-of-control feelings are always associated with eating off-plan, even when I haven't been on-plan for months. For me, I don't think it's a result of undereating.

I don't know why you are having issues with the psyllium. I started out with three, and I now take eight. I drink lots of water around it, though. But so do you, if I recall correctly. There are other fiber therapy options out there, though. Maybe you could experiment?

Laurie I love your attitude about everything. It really inspires me to keep going and try to better myself and learn from my mistakes. I gained this week, and I do the same as you, whenever I am under a lot of stress I always, always want to turn to eating. I have been working so hard on getting that under control this past year and I have gotten better about it, but it does happen.

As far as refeeding yourself, I have been calculating my BMR and TDEE to make sure I am eating enough, not too much and such. It's all kind of confusing but I believe if I continue to stick with what I know and make sure to mix up my workouts, then I will get the results I am looking for. I am about to start heavily on the 30 Day Shred and then I am going to do an Insanity and P90X hybrid after completely 30DS. I think my body is craving change, and I hope that will bring the whoosh, and at least make me stronger.

I almost binged this weekend, and even though I went over my daily caloric intake, I didn't go overboard. I went for a walk this morning to clear my head and try to get my balance back in order, and I feel ready to continue with what I have started. I keep reminding myself that this is now my lifestyle, it's not a temporary fix. I want to be as healthy as possible, making small changes along the way.

I'm a little late to the party but hoping I can add in my commitment!

My lightbulb moment was in May, but I struggled for a while and only made the serious commitment to get rid of this weight once and for all on August 14th.

I don't have a specific weight to be at for Aug. 14th 2013. I just want to stick with this. I don't want to gain back any of the weight I have lost. And I want to keep working at losing weight.

I've tried losing weight before, and always go strong for a few weeks, hit some kind of a bump in the road (PMS/TOM, life stress, scale doesn't change, get sick, etc) and fall off the wagon. That is not an option this time. I'm not on a diet, I am on a journey to be healthier and fit, and live a long and healthy life.

Pink Hurricane - Yay for not bingeing! So often, that's a victory in itself. I am half-convinced I should buy a Jillian video, too. Let us know how it goes.

Enjoynlife - I think figuring out how much you can eat and still lose is a much smarter approach than mine. I adopted mine just because of my OCD/ED issues. And not that it matters, but I am very old-fashioned about sex. I have been on six dates with four different guys in the last six weeks, and the farthest I went with any of them was a hug. :-) Not pregnant. :-P

Dougsgirl - so glad to have you! I have been struggling lately to stay on the Wagon, and it really helps to have this commitment and this support.

Day #1 successful! Didn't get in much cardio, but did lift yesterday morning. Stayed on plan. Decided yesterday to wait two weeks to weigh, but impulsively got on the scale this morning and was up a pound. Think I will hide the scale.

Day #2 - stay on plan. Stay away from sugar. Continue small meals. Concentrate on water intake. Get 3 miles in of HIIT on the treadmill today. Don't weigh tomorrow!

Have a fantastic day, everyone!

Hi everyone!

Yeeaaaah, sooooo....since I started heavy lifting at the beginning of last week, my hunger levels skyrocketed. So last night, my hunger got so extreme that I just had to eat something after my cut off (I'm doing IF). I ended up eating an extra 515 calories than planned so that took me over my daily limit by 106 calories which isn't so bad, but I had no exercise of any kind yesterday either lol. I've got to get more calories in on lift days. It's like my body explodes with hunger LOL. Well it's a new week and I'm ready to burn some fat!

Hello everyone. Am I able to join in here? I'd love to give a one year commitment.

I started on June 1st 2012 and today actually happens to mark day 150 for me. I have scrapped any goals per month to reach between now and January as my last year in college is proving to be stressful. I would like to, however, be able to continue to still be able to stick to healthy eating and add in exercise.

Hey all, I think I'll jump in here as well. I technically started my journey in december of last year, but I hit a speedbump for about six months (I never gave up, just struggled for a bit) and officially got my act together on August 27th 2012. So that will be my start date. On that day I weighed 271.8 and started calorie counting using MFP.
In one year I'd like to be at around 170 to 180 lbs. I'd like to have grown more active, taking on at least two new activities such as running, biking, hiking or all of the above. I'd like to go a year continuing to count calories, incorporate healthy whole foods into my diet, and become less dependent on treats. Based on the past, at that weight I'll be around a size 10 (which is inconceivable). Oh, and once I get under 200, I'd like to start lifting.

So there is my year commitment! I'm excited about what this year has to offer me...and what I have to offer it!