Just a quick pop in. Today me and a large group of friends were going to see The Lion King theater show and ate at a Thai restaurant before period I would normally eat the appetizer and meal all to myself, but today my mom and I split one appetizer and one meal. I'm sure it is still more calories than I needed but an improvement on my previous habits.

Mandy - LOVE the mirror as prop idea! Great pics as well. And, of course, super adorbs baby boy.

Kate - Congratulations on being able to enjoy your experience and consume fewer calories than you would have otherwise. That's fantastic!

I ran yesterday. C25K Day 2. And it was easy. I always have this problem where I think to myself, "This is too easy. I am not getting the most out of my work-out. I should increase the speed or try to go an extra fifteen seconds on this run." And then, I end up wiping myself out and not being able to finish the run. So I resisted, and while it was challenging, I didn't struggle excessively. Then, for the last 30 seconds of the last run, I bumped my running speed from 5.1 mph to 6 mph. (I run very, very slowly, but faster than I used to.) Then, I did a bonus run at the end. I think I am committed to running now? My food is terrible the last few days, though. I do very well until late, then screw it up. Last night was not as bad as the night before. I am going on a cruise this weekend, too. "Free" food that is constantly available and someone else prepares. SIGH. But. Last time we went on a cruise (this is my second), I ate so much at a meal or two that I was unable to enjoy other activities. I am going to try to relax and enjoy myself, but I am also going to resist eating so much that I can't enjoy the things that I want to do.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

Mandy: Aw! He's so cute and I love the mirror in the pictures, too. What a cutie!!! He has such a sweet face.

Kate: Nice! Good choices there!

Laurie: Sometimes, we just can't be reasonable and we slip up. But then, rather than giving up, we need to get back on track the next day. And that's exactly what you are doing!!! Way to go!!! I know what you mean about thinking the first part of C25K isn't much of a workout. It is easy to want to push past it, but trusting the system is necessary! That's kind of how I feel about a lot of the group workouts I do at the gym. There are some people who go off doing their own thing during the class. I just follow what the instructors say to do. There is a reason they are designed the way they are and I have to trust that! If I think it is too easy, then I can use a heavier weight or more resistance on the spin bikes.

For me, the scale still looked good this morning. Happy to see that. We didn't get to go hiking yesterday because it was raining, and it will probably do that for the next couple of afternoons. I was sad, but we'll go when we can. I'll probably go running tonight.

I'm doing fairly well with staying on track with food. I overslept some this morning, so I wasn't able to put my lunch together. I need to be careful with what I get for lunch. It is so easy to make bad choices when you don't have your lunch with you!

Laurie-Have fun on your cruise. Way to keep working out even if your diet is not want you want it to be right now. Have fun on your cruise!

Slashnl-Yay for a happy scale! I hate when you are pumped to go and the weather rains (literally) on your parade.

Not much of a change for me. I am keeping a pretty tight lock on my food and have exercised (mostly walking) each day.

So a couple of hours after my first post yesterday I caved and had an Asian prepackaged meal. It put me about 700 calories over my daily limit. I was bored and my husband was at school. Oh well, hopping back on the wagon!!

Kate: Oh well! Good attitude about getting back on track after a brief slip up. Way to go!

For me, the scale bumped up a little bit this morning. That's ok, gotta deal with fluctuations when you weigh every day. I just need to keep weighing every day to keep myself focused. I ended up going hiking with my son yesterday. We just made it before the rain came in. So, in theory, I need to go run today. But... it is Friday... and I get off a little early today. I'm still planning to go running, but my resolve is slipping. I think that if I do it, I'll feel really good about myself, so I need to do it.

Have a great weekend!!!

Oh lord....

It's starting. This kid is gonna be walking before I know it.

http://i65.tinypic.com/24bsvg4.jpg

He did a great job when we went shopping today!

I also did a good job staying on (mostly) the outside edges of the store where the meat, dairy, and produce are and stayed away from the "junk" aisles. I did get some diet cherry pepsi though, because it helps when I have a sweets craving. :) Gotta start somewhere, and eating things that don't come out of a frozen dinner package is where I'm at, heh.

Omigosh FeraFilia I haven't checked out this thread but just saw you & your beautiful baby awwww, congratulations! I'm here because I've regained 25+ lbs. (about 26.3?) from my lowest, I constantly want to eat, like I am making up for lost times, it is a serious issue. Sometimes I feel so lost, and other times I feel like "I've got this" and I think the latter has prevented my 20-something weight gain from being more, but obviously it's not enough, and it's hard on the morale when you find yourself losing, gaining, losing, gaining the same handful of pounds. I remember when my weight gain was like 10 lbs. and I felt like such a failure...Oh I'm envious of those days now. The only thing I know for sure is that change starts with me, as much as I wish someone else could lose this weight for me...Ok enough bellyaching, on with the show! lol

Candidcamster - Welcome! Hope you decide to join us! Congratulations on keeping your weight gain to around 25 pounds. Less than two years ago, I was posting on this forum at 189. I am around 250 now, and had to lose 12ish pounds to be here. Gaining and losing those same 25 pounds means that you are successfully maintaining a roughly 80 pound weight loss, if your stats are accurate. From what I can tell, maintaining successfully is doing exactly that. On the maintainers forum, it seems like many of them have a 5 to 10 pound window, and they are constantly gaining and losing within that window. I recognize the "constantly want to eat" feeling, like I'm making up for the times that I have restricted and will restrict. I haven't figured out the solution to that one yet, but want to follow in your footsteps when you figure out your way around it!

Mandy - Your plan sounds like a fantastic one! And that baby boy of yours is impossibly adorable. When he's walking, you'll be chasing him. =)

Diane - So glad you're having good scale progress! Hope you did decide to go running ,and that the scale is continuing to be kind after the Fourth weekend! And thank you for your encouragement and words of wisdom.

Kate - Bad days and good days. Have not met a successful loser who did not have some of each. Hope you're back in your groove and getting some good scale feedback on it.

I actually had a pretty great weekend. We flew out on Friday, and I spent a lot of time in airports, so I was just dying to work out when I got on the ship. So, I hopped on the treadmill and did my next C25K day, and it was fairly easy. I again added a bonus run at the end. (Running on a treadmill on a ship moving through the ocean is a unique experience!) I hit the gym again on Saturday morning before we docked, did an extended running warm-up, and lifted weights. Then, we went onshore and explored and did some snorkeling. Finally, we joined the dance party. My Fitbit registered 30K steps. (Most days, I find getting my 10K pretty challenging.) And I ate sparingly, as I did not want to risk not being able to enjoy my activities. On Sunday, we went for a kayak tour and did some snorkeling, which was also a good workout. After taking a nap, though, I found myself super energetic. Unfortunately, the gym was closed, but I ran on deck. I am officially a person who craved running so much that I ran on deck! I have not weighed since I left, and am not sure I want to. I ate too much yesterday after not enough rest and spending all day at the airport, but I really only overate at dinner.

Lots of energy. No real desire to eat an entire ocean's worth of food. I may be in a honeymoon period again!

Hope everyone else had a fantastic holiday, and looking forward to reading everyone's posts this week.

Mandy: Oh boy, he is starting that early! He's ready to move and keep you on your toes for sure! So cute!!!

Candidcamster: Welcome! I know how you feel! It is just so frustrating to be dealing with having to lose the same weight... again. I'm currently re-losing about 25 pounds. It is hard to see that lower weight that I was at, and know that if I had just stopped the madness sooner, it would have been so much easier. For me, I had hit an 80 pound loss, and felt so good and so confident that I started getting lax in watching calories and weighing myself. So, here I go again. Anyway, you're not alone and we all totally get it!!

Laurie: Wow, what a fun time for you! How nice that you were able to feel so strong and energetic! That's awesome! It is amazing to me that we know we feel so good and strong when we lose weight and have good exercise, and yet sometimes lose our way. Congrats on getting it back!

For me, I had a good weekend. I made my weekly goal, after missing it last week, so that was good. It probably could have been a bigger loss, but had a few indulgences over the weekend and didn't do much for activity yesterday at all. But, I set a new weekly goal, and will be working hard to meet it. I didn't go to body pump this morning, so not a great start to the working out week, but I will go running tonight. I will make myself get up and go to Spin class tomorrow morning, so that I don't lose my momentum on morning workouts. I'd like a really big loss and get back to the 220's, but that would be a pretty aggressive goal. I'm sticking with trying to lose 2 pounds a week until I get back into the 220's at least. I want the goal to be attainable, so as I get back down in my scale numbers, I might reduce that to 1 1/2 or 1 pound per week.

Arg, that moment you realize you can't brag and show anyone your 'old fat pic' on your drivers license since you look exactly the same again...

Hi all!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and a lovely extended weekend if you're in the US and had Monday off!

My munchkin was dressed for the occasion. I caught him laughing in the 2nd pic. :D

http://i67.tinypic.com/zvv5hi.jpg http://i64.tinypic.com/2eapajd.jpg

Regaining and relosing suuuuuuuuucks so much. I've kicked myself in the butt so many times. I've lost 50+ three times in my life, and if I hadn't gained it all back (and then some) in between, I'd be at my goal weight right now, instead of back where I started.

But, I can't undo the past and can only move forward, so here I am *again* and hoping to lose that same 50 pounds *again* and then keep it going!

I'm hoping by changing up what I eat a little at a time, and getting active again a little at a time, will prevent my milk supply from dropping drastically. My little giant is starting to eat more food and depend less on breast milk, so I'm hoping the slow change will match his slow wean from the boob.

My first change started today. I found a protein powder that is safe to use while nursing, because it doesn't have the energy boosting supplements in it, and will be trading my poptarts and fiber bar for the protein shake and fruit. Soon, like in a month or so once I get myself into the routine of having the protein shake for breakfast, I will be changing my lunch to hearts of romaine salad "tacos"... which is basically a walking salad. 2 hearts of romaine lettuce leaves stacked so they make a boat, filled with the salad fixins other than lettuce. Veggies, chicken or ham, some cheese, sunflower seeds, some dressing.

I can't promise no more frozen dinners though, so I'm hoping to limit those to once a week. I've started buying those big flats of chicken boobies, marinating the whole pack over night, then sticking them in the crock pot with the marinade and topped off with water so they braise, then shredding it and keeping it in the fridge for dinners. Stir frys, fajitas, pasta dishes, soups, bbq, etc. I made some yummy chicken and dumplings with veggies the other night. Probably not very healthy, but it sure was tasty!

So, I have a plan at least. I hope I can stick to it!

AARRGGHH! Lost my whole post! The site was getting glitchy, then the browser just closed when I was almost done.

No idea what happened, and can't really retype the post now, since I came in early to work to try to meet a deadline.

Just quickly, then...

Mandy - So excited to see your fantastic new plan! Hope it proceeds smoothly. Love the baby pics.
Diane - So excited to watch you kick butt on your goals!
Vex - So glad you've joined us! I had met a woman in the gym about two years ago, and showed her my "before" picture. When I saw her there last week, I'd become my "before" picture. I feel ya!

Gonna try to pound out my brief and head out to run at noonish. It's the only gap I have before the onslaught of afternoon meetings, so I am determined to make it work.

Have a great day, everyone!

Vex: Welcome! Yep, I know that feeling. But, we just have to keep pressing onward!

Mandy: Love the giggles!! He is so cute. I think your plan of slow change is a good one! You have a little different issue to work with than we do, with nursing, so I admire your careful planning!

Laurie: Hate that when you put effort into posting, just to lose it all! Maybe next time! Good plan on running at noon! Good luck on your busy day!

For me: Had some scale love this morning. It was nice to see a big drop. But looking at my weight recordings, Wednesday seems to be a good weigh in day for me. (Should change my official weigh in day to Wednesday, I guess) But I think it comes from running on Tuesdays, and then being back on track for a day or two after the collapse of most weekends. UGH! Getting closer to going back into the 220's at least, I guess.

Running was good last night. It really is getting better and better. Tonight I'm going hiking with my son. I love that! Looking forward to it already.

Im here because after losing over 80 pounds i regained it all plus more back. Im ready to get this weight off and keep it off