I don't think mine is a not eating enough thing...I wonder if it could be a low carb thing???? I tend to be colder on the low carb days. so Mon, tues, Thur, Friday are low carb and the other 3 are high carb...never thought of that before ...interesting!

And LAURIE....I HAVE BEEN HUNGRY FOR 2 DAYS NOW NONSTOP!!!!! I think your stomach and mine are ganging up! These days are HARD!

Toasted...Rant away that is what we are here for silly

Mandy...You can do this and will you show your strength continuously!!!!

BTW....I need to stop pressing the refresh trying to find out about the interview...LOL

And has any watched, "How to get away with Murder?" This show is addicting!!!

Mandy - You ninja'd me! Yay on plans so that fun weekends can be fun without sabotaging long-term, important efforts -- like having babies.

And I LOVE that this site changed the name of the band I posted to kitty cat dolls! I am considered G-rated by the people in my office, so it's kinda cool to get censored from time to time. =)

Hi Everybody,

Wow, lots going on today!

Toasted Oh my, I completely understand where you are coming from and I just want to ditto Laurie that it seems like the minor flip-out at the intern was really just your inner Toasted telling you that you are tackling a lot of new things and you are under stress. FYI, a couple of weeks ago during my binge week, I was at a gas station and this guy cut me off, and I FLIPPED OUT at him, actually engaging in an argument with him-- which is completely and totally out-of-character for me (normally I always take the high road and remove myself from conflict.) I was completely shaken up by it. My therapist basically said "you flipped out at this one random stranger in the gas station because everyone else is demanding things of you all the time, and you remain calm, and finally some stranger cutting you off was just the last straw. So (((((hugs))))) from me. I have been there--stressed and overwhelmed and wanting to (or actually) bingeing my way out of it. Sounds like you need to take really good care of yourself for a few days-- maybe it's time to buy yourself a whole bunch of MAKE-UP! :-)

Jenni Hungry days are the worst, but I think that maybe hungry days are days when we are about to WHOOSH. I have days when I'm really not super hungry and days when I'm super hungry-- but usually hunger and weight loss go hand in hand. I normally shy away from challenges because I'm too competitive. Back when I was losing the first time around, I started to get discouraged if other people were losing faster than me. I set myself a challenge to get to 230 by New Year, but since then, I've only lost five then I started bouncing around, so I may need to back off that. Right now, I'm trying to get to 245 as a teeny step. I hate losing slow, but such is my fate. Unless I suddenly discover that I have an under active thyroid or something I think I'm stuck with it.

Laurie Hooray for I could weigh 200 forever! You know that I'm a big proponent of celebrating fat-normal! It is such a good idea to spend a lot of time appreciating how you feel from here on down and worrying less about getting to thin-normal. You WILL get there, and sooner than you think, and hopefully, you will get there in such a way that you never have to live as FAT NOT NORMAL ever again. Because fat-normal is WAY better than just plain MORBIDLY OBESE.

Mandy Put me in the camp who admires how much time you spend around delicious food. Your domesticity definitely puts me to shame! I can't tell you how many times I've thought of you and reminded myself that it is okay to enjoy delicious food! But I still have not reached the point where I would want to bake sweets. Even if I didn't take a slice out of the finished cake, I would drive myself crazy licking spoons and bowls. Beautiful photos, and great idea to develop a new hobby.

Diane Glad the soreness is better. Hope you have an excellent weekend.

Martini UGH UGH UGH on drama being the new normal for you. UGH UGH UGH. I went through a HORRIBLE period at work a few years ago with a colleague problem and it was so stressful. Being off plan feels awful, but don't go away-- please. I look forward to your posts and want you to hang around for purely selfish reasons. I struggled for 2 straight weeks and now it's Friday of a completely on plan week for me AND I'm actually down .2 from my low weight of pre-binge. It is just so hard when we go off plan and I alway worry that I'm never going to pull it together again, but just as it gets hard sometimes, it also gets easier again if you can just hold onto your desire to succeed, the ABILITY to succeed will return to you.

Pink Hurricane Can't wait to hear that you have posted a big loss!

So, I sneaked onto the scale right before lunch (which tends to be the lightest moment of the day for me) and I saw 247.8. This is .2 lower than my previous low of 248.0, I've been bouncing around above that due to my off-plan eating last week. Yesterday, I actually came in a little bit below target for calories, and instead of eating more, I just went to bed. Luckily, staying on plan isn't such a struggle bus for me right now,and I feel like I'm likely to post a loss by the end of the weekend as long as I stay on course. I'm gunning for 245 right now. I'm sick of the 248-249-250 bounce that I've been stranded at for the last few weeks.

Uber, and Laurie - To me, food isn't worth eating if it isn't pleasing to my palate. If I don't like the way something tastes, I won't eat it. Having all of the health benefits of eating say, asparagus, isn't going to make me choke it down. It's pretty much the only green veggie I won't eat.

I really enjoy cooking and figuring out ways to make food taste good without adding a bunch of salt. I've learned to savor my food through this process.

From McDonald's fries and all of their horribleness for you, to greasy pizza, to new flavor experiments with Greek yogurt, and fresh, crisp salads, I make sure I enjoy every bite of food. If it's a small portion, and all I get? I try to take the time to describe the flavor in detail to myself so I can focus on enjoying what I'm eating in the moment I'm eating it. I absolutely refuse to waste calories on something I'm not enjoying.

I look at my calories as currency, and I can use then to "buy" different kinds of food during the day. I can get more if I exercise, but I can't save them and use them later. So, I'm learning to use them wisely. And sometimes using them wisely means using them for comfort, not just "healthy" food.

I advanced to the second phase and its a 30 min interview!!!!!! If I make it past that the next phase is a skills assessment and a second interview ......

HOORAY!!!!

Thank you Uber!

Also, I made it to the two teens train!!!! 219.8....I know I will be here for a good 3 months but such a wonderful thing that it is closer to ONDERLAND!

Jenni You're in the teens! That is SO GREAT!!

I'm just doing a quick check in this morning.

Yesterday at my 11:00 am weigh in, I was 247.8, but this morning I was back up to 248.8. I'm completely on plan. Monday marks a week back on plan-- the two weeks before that I had some off days. I think I should see the scale move by Tuesday. Meanwhile, I'm trying to be patient!! But it's hard. I'm really sick of seeing 248 and 249. I hate the 240s anyway... it's kind of a no man's land, weight-wise. I'm down almost 40 lbs, but not enough to drop sizes or have anyone notice a difference. Sigh. But the good news is that even after teetering and struggling for the better part of two weeks, I did move past it and get back on track. HOORAY! I feel like the scale owes me a whoosh sometime soon.

Jenni - Congrats to you, both on 2-teens and the job interview process!

Uber - I can definitely relate. That was me, what, 3 weeks ago? Have you read the article "Of Whooshes and Squishy Fat?" it helped me by explaining the thought that fat cells, which are filled with adipose, as the fat is used, the cells fill with water, meaning not much change in the scale and not much change in the size and shape of your body... and then eventually the water is released and a bunch of them deflate at once, resulting in a "whoosh"... It's not proven science, but it makes a lot of sense (because obviously we don't lose 2 pounds of fat over night on whoosh days!) and it helps (at least it helped me) realize that I can be losing fat, but not weight, because of the water replacing the adipose tissue in the cells. The laws of physics will not be denied, and if you are burning more calories in your day than you are consuming, you are burning fat, and the weight will eventually disappear. Just keep swimming, even if the scale is being a hooker and lying to you.

Today, for me, was a wonderful time with my family. Usually so critical of me in so many ways, this time they had nothing but positive to say. Compliments on my hair, compliments on my weight loss, compliments on my house and how I have it decorated, compliments on the food... I'm not used to so many nice things being said to me that I didn't know how to handle it!

I think my aunt called me beautiful about 10 times in the 5 hours they were here, including once to my husband saying "look how beautiful your wife is" and he was like "I know it, I see it every day" and gave me a smooch. He's a doll.

Foodwise, I stuck to my lunch plan. 1 sandwich (at the risk of tooting my own horn here, I outdid myself - the pork was fall apart tender and the buns were amazing), 1 scoop of potato salad, 1 scoop of coleslaw, 1 small piece of carrot cake. And a handful of crackers with cheese. Now I need to eat something for dinner, and it will probably be small because I don't want to overdo, especially with festivities tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!

Mandy - Well-deserved compliments are the best! Congratulations on a successful plan. It's great to be able to do what you need to do for yourself while simultaneously enjoying yourself.

Jenni - Two HUGE accomplishments! Good luck on the interview. Can't wait to hear how it goes. And it's so GREAT that you finally hit the 2-teens. I know how hard you've worked and how patient you've been to get there.

Uber - Yay for a full week of being on plan! I have read the article Mandy refers to - the squishy fat one. I don't know if the science behind it is accurate, but like Mandy, it doesn't really matter to me if the science is accurate. It's at least something I can wrap my head around to make it work. I agree with you -- the whoosh is on the horizon. I hope it comes soon.

196.6 this morning. I didn't weigh in yesterday, and given the way the scale has gone lately, I braced myself to be above 200. I was delighted that it moved the other way. The scale is such an enigma sometimes.

I haven't run for a couple of days. I will lift today, then get back into running tomorrow probably. I like to run, and I think it does good things for the scale, but I am feeling a little paranoid about injury lately.

Uber your almost 50 down that is amazing. I hate periods of weigh in the same I get that every 10 pounds! I'm so proud your u stuck with it and can't wait to see scale success!

Mandy....I loved that article sometimes my weight comes off 2 times a week sometimes 1 but each time I know because I'm potting all day!!! I bet the compliments were amazing!!!

Laurie...thanks and 196 wow your gonna be in the 80s soon great job!!!! So glad to see how you stick with it on your way!!!!!

Mandy I am so glad that you received so many compliments, and I'm not surprised either. You ARE beautiful and you DO have a beautiful home.

Jenni I can't wait to hear how the second interview goes! Good luck!

Laurie196.6!!!!!!! Yay you! You have left 200 behind in the dust and are whizzing down the scale! I'm so excited for you. Take it easy on the running and avoid injury at all costs... better to take some off days then to get laid up and have to take a longer time off. That would be a real setback.

I'm having SUCH a hard time keeping my chin up this morning! I was hoping to see the scale move but it just won't budge. In spite of seeing 247.8 the other day, my morning weigh in this morning is still stubbornly 248.8. I committed to staying on plan all weekend to hope for a drop by Tuesday, but this morning I'm really depressed and stressed out due to a lot of family issues that are going on and from the scale not moving. I know staying on track today may be hard... but I'm going to make sure I get out for a long walk and hope that this down time will pass.

Hope ya'll are having a better day than I am.

Hi, All:

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! I am at work today (Sunday), which has been the norm for me the last few months, but I am hoping that soon (maybe in December), things will be a little less hectic and I can stay away from the office.

I have a cold AGAIN. It is so frustrating. I was just starting to feel normal again after the cold and sinus infection I had about a month ago. I have been taking some medications for an autoimmune disorder that I have (I started taking them in the spring/summer). I believe that they suppress my immune system, which has its benefits when it comes to my autoimmune disorder, but I think it is likely why I have been struggling with these colds.

I am glad to see that Martini is back. I am sorry that things have not been going well in your life. I hope that things resolve themselves.

Toasted--I am sorry about the intern. It is just maddening when you are working like crazy and you have someone that doesn't share your commitment and doesn't carry their load. It is almost harder than just doing things yourself. I think it is completely understandable why you lost it with her--sounds very stressful!

Mandy--loved the beautiful pictures you shared; I can't believe the colors! This is my favorite time of the year and I never tire of seeing autumn pictures. Also, congrats on your progress; you are doing so well!

Laurie--you are doing so great! 196!! You are a star!

Jenni--good luck!

Uber--your persistence will pay off, I know it. Hang in there!

As for me, I am still virtually stuck; haven't gained, haven't lost. I am not sure why I am feeling such inertia. I keep on coming here, though, because you all inspire me and because I know that sooner or later I will move forward.

Okay... back to work. It was nice to catch up!

Hi all. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Sounds like there are some successes showing!! Glad to hear it.

I think the scale won't be very good tomorrow for me. I have to admit to having a little trouble getting back on plan. I'm not totally off, but just not quite back yet. So, making my low calorie breakfast burritos today so that I have them during the week, and I'll commit fully again. I took a couple of days off from working out last week. Wednesday I was just so sore from Tuesday's workout, I couldn't do it. And then I skipped Saturday's workout for the same reason. I wanted to make sure that my legs weren't so fried this week going into workouts. It should be better this week, I think. Just have to get back on track. And, we'll see what the weigh in brings. It is what it is!!