Hey kids!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I was out of town for my brother's wedding which was a MAGNIFICENT party. I didn't overeat at all, I'm delighted to say. I might have had some wine here and there . I'm hoping that all the Caribbean dancing worked that off though - my lovely delightful loveable delicious new sister-in-law is Trinidadian, and you better believe her family didn't let me stop moving as long as there was music playing.

I've got to run and get my week started - wishing everyone good luck and good strength.

Happy Belated Easter, All!

Good job to everyone who stayed OP through this holiday and I hope everyone had a great time.


I, unfortunately, was thrown completely off the wagon and I've no idea when it happened - Friday night I think? My TOM is coming and that always makes me very...apathetic? I am trying to be good and get back on my plan today but I am still in the very "meh" mood. I didn't get to the gym this morning since I work until 1030pm tonight but I am trying to convince myself to get there tomorrow morning.

Since it is getting nice out, I am trying very hard to convince myself to do stuff at home after work - even if "stuff" is just a brisk walk around the block.

Hey everyone! Sounds like it was a pretty good weekend for everyone. Mine was good, too. Indulged a little, but too crazy. It was a busy, busy weekend with Easter and my daughter's birthday on Friday.

I managed to eek out a 1.4 pound loss. I was kind of hoping for more, but that's ok. I went to spin this morning, which was good. I had gone to spin on Saturday and the one instructor I really don't like was there. I stayed, but she really drives me crazy. She was all into Easter, and she put a plastic flower and a piece of CANDY on each bike. Seriously??? Candy???? I didn't take it. She doesn't seem to get that we're not there to be entertained, we're there to workout. Constantly talks about the music she chose, she sings along, she tells you that if you don't want to push yourself, it is ok. UGH. She said she's going to be there next Saturday too, so I'll have to decide if I want to go. I usually can get a good workout in, by just tuning her out and pushing myself, but that's irritating. Maybe I'll just do something else.

Well, have a good week!

Hi folks. Still managing to string together days more or less on plan (this is good enough for me, really, if I can avoid the all-out binges I am content). It will be a while before that translates into scale results but I'm trying to stay focused on the behaviors.

Passover ends tonight. It's been helpful to me, and I need to find a way to carry that discipline forward. In case you don't know, the Passover restrictions forbid me to eat anything made out of any grains at all, except for a flat, cracker-like bread called matzah that is prepared in a particular way. If it's a grain product, and it isn't made out of matzah, I can't eat it. So that means the muffins and bagels set out at work yesterday for people to grab on their way over to watching the marathon were off limits to me. It means that no matter how much I might want cookies after lunch, a higher authority compels me to resist them. (I am not a terribly religious person as far as my beliefs go but adherence to religious traditions seems to matter to me - if I'm going to bother doing it at all, I'm going to do it properly.)

Anyway blah blah Passover is ending but I still need to treat the muffins and bagels and cookies and candy and pretzels as off-limits. I'm going to have the house to myself for the next two weeks and that is an especially tough time to stay focused. It's just too easy to binge under those circumstances.

So, here goes.

This is why it's so important to find an eating plan you can live with the rest of your life instead of a diet. I finally faced the fact that low-carb is the plan for me. I have increased my vegetable intake and lowered the carbs. On Easter, I decided to relax a bit and I ate a ham sandwich (2 slices of light bread) and potato salad. After the pat 6 weeks of faithfully following low carb, eating this food made me feel bloated and terrible the rest of the day. It was such a noticeable difference after focusing on vegetables all this time. I had no interest in eating leftovers the next day. The potato salad went down the garbage disposal. I'm sure I am not going to eat low carb 100%, but it is my main food plan from here on it. I realize it is not for everyone.

I completely understand where you are coming from. I limit my starchy carbs to only twice a week, while the rest of the week is fruits, veggies, healthy fats, meats, herbs & spices. It creates a good balance where you don't have to cut them out completely, but you monitor how often you eat them

Carter: Glad it is working for you. You sound happier, and that's good news! Keep going one day at a time!

WannaBe: It is definitely a plus for everyone to find what works for them. If low carb is good for you, then it is great for you to stick with that plan!!

I'm doing good with keeping on plan. While I wish the numbers on the scale would plummet, I've been keeping a good overall loss. Must be patient! Went to Body Pump today. It was insanely hot in the gym for some reason. Sweaty! But, good workout.

Have a good one!

Wannabehealthy's post made me stop and think for a bit. She says that regains are the reason one needs to find a plan one can stick with for the rest of one's life. But I do not consider my regain a failing in my plan. I regained because I stopped sticking to my plan as assiduously as maintenance requires.

I suppose it's arguable that this is evidence that my plan isn't sustainable, but since I lost 120 pounds over three years on that plan, I think it's pretty sustainable. Moreover, you can flip around my regain, and say, I maintained 100 pounds of my weight loss for nearly two additional years, despite not always sticking to my plan. Not too many people have an achievement like that under their belts (so to speak).

"For the rest of your life" is popular diet wisdom. But (speaking only for myself) I find it somewhat daunting and counterproductive: If I have the rest of my life, why should I bother sticking to my plan today? The procrastinator in me needs to think more immediately than that. I need a plan I can stick to today, right now. That doesn't mean I give no thought to sustainability at all; I guess there is a balance to strike, between the laser-like focus on the choice in front of me that propels me forward right now, and the long-term sustainability that I needed to lose over 100 pounds and keep it off.

Maybe "for the time being" or "indefinitely" is a better formulation of that, for me, than "for the rest of your life." If there is one thing I have learned in 42 years of life, three careers, and many relationships, it is that nothing in my life is immutable. I will stick to my plan for the time being, and if it needs adjusting down the line, I will adjust.

Is the regain I am currently struggling with evidence that my plan needs adjusting? I don't think so, but it is a question worth thinking about nonetheless.

Carter I'm with you, it's not my plan but my lack of adherence to it, and it isn't the composition of the plan but sheer laziness on my part and too much justifying of too many treats. Then not buckling down immediately to get the bounce of weight back off.

The solitoon is white knuckling it a few days and getting back to what I know works, not tweaking. Tweaking rarely works for me these days, because I've already tweaked enough years to know what works and what doesn't. My body didn't magically change, even if my determination and discipline temporarily did

Oh I don't know if they're liars, some of us just don't struggle with maintaining as much as others for a variety of reasons. I've never regained more than ten pounds since I began losing weight except right now, where I'm up about 13 (starch on Resurrection Sunday and sick) and working back down. And this is a very abnormal freak out I've been in for a few weeks. Generally speaking maintenance is very doable if you're diligent, and regains are not guaranteed, but that means it takes work every day to keep it that way.

When you pout and indulge like I did and then decide to be lazy about the work to fix it, a regain is expected. But that doesn't mean it wasn't preventable to begin with

Hey there,

I ate some salty ham on Easter and am still trying to slough off the sodium bounce. Makes me grumpy, even if I know I didn't gain 3 lbs between one day and the next.

Headed out of town this weekend to take #1 son to a junior olympics swim meet. Will have to be careful, but I think we'll be ok.

That sodium will get you every time! Me too, btw. You're not alone in suffering at the alter of yummy pork

Several weeks back, I ate a whole 9 oz bag of Herr's Jalapeno Popper Cheese Puffs (3,150mg of sodium) and then the next day went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ate 7 carribbean jerk wings, a small order of beer batter onion rings for lunch AND then went to Red Robins for dinner and ate a tavern burger with fries. Can I say sodium overload? Over the course of the next couple days, I had become so swollen in my legs and gained at least 3-5 pounds of water weight. My bra was tighter and I was visibly swollen. It was crazy. When I pressed my legs near my ankles, they left these HUGE indentations. Excess sodium is no joke!

Oh my gosh, Olivia...you are almost to the 180's! What the heck are you doing? You have lost weight so fast! It's incredible! You go Girl! You sure left me in your tracks! Jodoto

Hi jodoto! Where have you been? lol The reason my weight loss goes fast at least one week out of the month is because I juice for 7 days out of the month. It is part of my weight loss / detoxification plan I posted to you in the 2'teens thread. Nice to have you back!!