Things are better between my bf and I. Not great, but better. I will say that although I binged a lot for a few days on chocolate and other treats, I did have at least one awesome workout. Hey, I was pissed!

I am currently in Orlando this week for work. I find that my exercise goes way up when I'm out here. This is partly because the hotel I stay at has an agreement with L.A. Fitness that allows guests to use the gym for free. Without the long commute to work (5 minutes vs. 30 at home), I find myself at the gym a lot so I don't end up feeling trapped in the hotel. This is a good thing.

The bad part is that I have to eat all my meals out and my ability to pick the good food over the very tempting bad food is less than ideal. I already had a problem with McDonald's yeseterday at the airport... Today I am feeling good and on track though. I have kept within my calorie intake (for the first time in a week!) and exercised for an hour at the gym. I hope this will continue for the rest of the week. I at least want to meet my goals for the last week of January!

Welcome Georgette... I am new here too but am finding it very helpful to post what I am feeling and the support here has been great.

How is everyone else doing?

Hello everyone! You have now commanded a spot on my "To Do" list. "Post on Forums" - Check!

I have been very busy, very stressed, very unhappy, and unfortunately, eating very poorly. Of course, the definition of "poorly" keeps getting better. I have even managed to lose a ½ pound during all this.

But last week all my exercise went out the window as well. I have been fighting a wrist injury and tried to skip some of my strength training in order to rest it. I don't know if that just started the downhill trend or what. I also have been working some horrible hours (15 hour day last Thursday!) which drains me. I made a promise to myself that I would never bike or exercise after 7-8 p.m. since it can interfere with your sleep schedule. That meant I only biked once last week. I did manage to get in all my walks, although some were more like 15-20 minutes than 30.

I think I am back on track this week. I over slept yesterday, but then did my strength training when I got home, plus the bike. I also ate right, got my walk, water and vitamin. Today was the same thing, except I got up on time.

One thing that I have slipped back into this month is feeling "bad" when I eat outside of my usual calorie range. Which is ridiculous since I allow myself 2 meals a week "off". I really need to refocus myself to structure my week so that I have some meals where I'm enjoying something special.

I'm still not feeling the same push to lose weight that I felt at the beginning of November. I just have too many things going on in my life right now. Part of me wonders if I will feel really down on myself if I haven't lost the weight by my birthday. But part of me also feels confident that if I just continue to maintain, I can focus on losing again when I'm really ready for it.

Welcome to all the newcomers...

Georgette - I am looking forward to Feb as well - I am going to add Yoga to my weekly routines!

laica - you're pretty close to my right now...do you live in FL as well? And give yourself a pat on the back for exercising while on the road - it's so hard!

Monique, Betty, Jenn, Tanya - I wish I was posting here more often!

Monique - you're doing the right thing after a binge, just get back up on the horse! (assuming you didn't eat it, hehe!) I know it's frustrating, I really wish I could figure out all the reasons I binge. I will be telling myself, "Don't eat that" as I stuff "that" down my throat. But I truly realize after I've been overeating and feeling horrible a binge today means nothing compared the binges I used to have. Baby steps, I guess...

Muzilla - are you still around, and food moving? I made fahitas tonight and doubled up the veggies so they added up to one serving. I love cheese, and I've found that if I grate it with the second to smallest grate-hole (OK, what else do you call it?) I get this wonderful fluffy mound that looks like a ton for just 1 oz! Have you found any favorites yet?

I will try my best to get back here Feb 1st to round out the month and put my Feb goals up. Feb 3rd is our anniversary (2 years)...not sure what we'll do yet. But I promise myself right now that I will let myself enjoy the night guilt-free over calories!

Take care everyone!

Thanks lacia and Monique for welcoming me to the site. I was actually feeling pretty good when I wrote that last post. I have been hovering, checking posts a couple times a day. but don't have much to say as of yet. I realised I had not counted a drink I had today, and so I am over my limit, despite my good intentions. Does anyone know the caloric value of hard liquor (rum)? Well, I just have to chin up and know that tomorrow is a new day and that is just one thing I can keep my eye out for.

Today was a **** day in some ways, OK in others. I think this Oregon weather is getting me down.

Good job to everyone who is sticking it out, learning to be healthier in their bodies and in their heads.

Till next time
-G

Oops, Friscosmom, hi to you too, thanks for being a supportive influence!

I've still been doing okay here in Orlando. I tried to go swimming yesterday morning but the pool I usually frequent was closed due to bad weather! I called them and apparently they can't open the pool if the outside air temp. is < 40 degrees... I didn't think it was that cold here! I asked if there was any kind of advanced notice but they told me I need to call them at 5:30 am to see if they'll be open at 6 am. I just hope they'll be open so I won't have gotten up early for nothing (like yesterday!).

Since I didn't swim yesterday, I went back to the gym and got on an elliptical machine. I also tried my first ever gym class in pilates. It was interesting... I am not very flexible (I can't even touch my toes!) so it was kind of embarrassing when my body seemed to be shaking doing some of the poses! Anyone else do pilates? What do you think of it?

Frisco'sMom - I am from southern California but tend to go to Orlando a lot on business trips. Sorry to hear that you are going through a hard time but glad to hear that you are back on track. It is hard (at least for me) to feel pushed or that weight-loss is a priority when everything else in your life might not seem to be working out. I try to tell myself that I shouldn't let it all go to waste and at least the weight-loss thing is something I CAN control and CAN be happy about.

I definitely know what you mean about feeling guilty about eating something "bad". I had a cookie and a small piece of cake yesterday. Although I actually adjusted my calorie intake for the rest of the day and was only 50 calories over my limit, I still felt bad/guilty for the remainder of the day.

Georgette - I look at a few websites for calorie information. Currently I've been going to http://www.calorieking.com. They should have info on hard liquor.

Weather sometimes gets me down too - it is nice to see the sun every once in a while!

Where is everyone else? Seems to be awfully quiet lately...

yay, staying on plan and doing all this exercising is getting me going in the right direction! lost another pound this week.. a pound i've ben trying to get off since christmas!

yay!

So all i need to do to achieve my january goals is to drink more water. :) As soon as i can do that, I'll have it made. :) My walking is going well and i've been doing fun little things throughout the day to keep my motivated and burning. 20 jumping jacks here, a few reps of curls with my dumbell, situps and pushups.

Ashley

Hello everyone!

Well our Jan. Challenge is coming to a close. I might not have time to post again before Feb., so I thought I would post my results now.

So my goals this month were to basically get back into exercising. I would say that I have been very successful. I am working out from 3-4 times a week. I've noticed an increase in strength, and muscle in just this short time. I'm starting to feel more fit, even though the scale has not budged. In fact, my weight has been all over the place and its hard to tell what I really weight right now.
Water intake is average. I did not increase it much at all, but it did not decrease.

So all in all, I am pretty happy with how this month went. I'm looking forward to next months challenge.

Work and school have been keeping me really busy. I am going to a conference in Miami this coming week. I am not too excited, as I wont have a car and I am not really going with people I hang out with on a regular basis. Plus, I have lots of work to do. So I might end up working on stuff in my hotel most of the time.

Its good to hear how everyone is doing and I look forward to hearing your results!

Congrats gonozostar for losing the pound!
Monique- You deserve a day off. I too am guilty of hitting the snooze button too often and then I have to rush to class :)

TONIC,

Was just doing a search for MIAMI (always trying to see if SOMEONE is from my area) and saw you will be in town. FYI, it's warm this weekend, not sure when you are coming, but it's in the upper 70's for a high. Depending on where you are staying around the Miami area, there may be places you can get to easily, without a car. E-mail me if you are looking for any place/thing in particular down here, maybe I can tell you were you could find it! [email protected]

Hope you enjoy your stay in SOFLA!

Debbie

THANK YOU SO MUCH LADIES!!
Lobacal, Monique and lacia-your words were great and you are right, I can't dwell on the past!

My goal was to work out 5 times a week, well I only worked out 2 1/2 weeks out of the whole month.

I tried a spreadsheet that Lobacal is doing and it's working out great!

I need to come to the boards more often!!!

I promised I'd be back!

Here's how the month of January rounded out for me:

1) Continue doing “16” minutes in the morning, 6x a week (too early to add more)
-- I missed a particularly bad week (3rd week) and did it maybe 2-3x. Other than that, on track.

2) Walk for 20-30 minutes a day, 5x a week
-- I think I might have missed one. We had some cold FL days!

3) Bicycle for 30 minutes a day, 3x a week
-- Again, that bad week I only did this once. Other than that, I biked 3-4 times every week.

4) Take my vitamin every day.
--I've got much better about this. I think I missed just two days.

5) Drink 8+ glasses (16oz.) water during the day, and at least 2 glasses (8+ oz.) at night.
-- A strong point for me, I love water! It's those 2 glasses BEFORE eating dinner that I need to watch for.

6) Move! Wiggle, tap my feet, etc.
-- I did not really concentrate on this, even though I know it can mean a lot. I'm making it more of a statement for February.

7) Follow my eating plan with 2 meals off a week (let’s face it, I was eating 2 meals off already, just being extremely liberal in my calculations!)
--I probably ended up following this 99% of the time, but unfortunately did not actually track my eating as carefully as I usually do.

I ended up at 137 again. (Lowest weight to date) So, I am VERY excited over the fact that it seems I shall be good at maintaining. But I am feeling the itch to see these last pounds creep off, and this body firm up! Wait till you see my February Goals!

Monique - I just wanted to say that I think you're decision to take Wednesday mornings off is a great one! That was a perfect example (in my mind) of how we need to listen to our bodies and be kind to them.

See everyone on the February thread!

Hi Everyone,

I had a slight car accident over the weekend (rear end collision) so I haven't been on the boards the last couple of days. I'm a little bit late but better late than never!

Here's how I made out for the month:

- Journal! This seems to be helpful for people but I am very bad at doing this.

I was okay at doing this but still had a difficult time on the weekends, when I tend to do a lot of eating out. I think I need to plan these meals out ahead of time or at least consider lower calorie alternatives before going in.

- Stick to 1200-1500 calories for at least 5 days a week

I was not too successful with this goal except for this past week and will need to work on this some more.

- Lose the excess weight I gained while on vacation (4 lbs)

I weighed myself today and only lost 2/4 pounds.

Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about the month. I don't consider it a complete success since I didn't really meet my goals but I don't consider it a failure either since I felt good about actually putting some effort into it. I was very good with exercising - just not so good with eating (as usual). Well, you'll definitely see me in the Feb. challenge!