lisa34t - I know! I make them in batches of 20 and freeze them for breakfast! I've eaten one almost every morning for 3 or 4 months. They've yet to get old.

Bea: My guy's in the Navy too...if he gets deployed in the next 4 months, there's no chance I'll get to see him until he gets back (8 months to another year) since my contract doesn't end until the first week of April. I keep telling him that he should keep his fingers crossed to stay in place because we'll both look a little crazy if I try swimming after an aircraft carrier...(I haven't gotten laid in 9 months at this point...that might actually happen ) As for the hyper mobility thingy...did the therapist say that there was anything that you could do other than not stretching? That sounds awful...

Everyone talking about soups: Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend... (too bad it's only Tuesday night for me now...)

Hotaruchan: Lol. That would suck. But you might be awarded some kind of world record if you could keep up with the carrier. Is there a way he could take leave to Japan for a week or two? What does he do in the Navy. My brother is a lab tech. He is pretty much useless on a ship/sub unless he were to go to school all over again.

As for the hyper mobile thing. I always thought I was just double jointed, no one ever said I shouldn't be doing this. (Well, the one doctor that I told didn't seem to care, but then again when I was gaining 20lbs a year all he did was put me on diets at 13 years old freaking dr.) I can bend my fingers so that most of them touch the back on my hand. And bring my arms from behind my back and over my head without letting go. She seemed more worried about my knees though. I was standing straight and she said both were pointing backwards? But she said I just need to watch the way I stand and walk. It hasn't always been painful but she said if I keep it up arthritis will start. I think I have had it for years though. My knuckles pretty much have hurt consistently since 9th grade. It is nice though. It explains why I have always had so many issues with keeping still in chairs. I change positions every 5 mins or I start to stiffen up. She said if I have more trouble that I can come down to the office and they'll see what they can do. I have a friend who is also hyper mobile but hers is kind of scary. She has 0 cartiledge in her ankles after having like 6? surgeries total. I hope mine doesn't get to that point. The last time she broke it she was just standing there and her ankle just couldn't take it and down she went. But I think she has a worse form of it than I do.

Hotaruchan!!! I'm so glad you're back. I was thinking about you recently. Love my fitbit. Congrats on the normal BMI! Fantastic. And yes, the move is exciting. Though I'm sure y'all are tired of hearing me yammer about it. :-D

SoMuch Ooooo house hunting!? Very fun. In theory. I love looking at house designs online. I can't decide if I love farm style houses because of the house in general...or because of the walking dead. Hmm...
Not sure about the scale. I know I fluctuate daily and it gets frustrating for me. Do you keep a food journal? that might be able to help with accountability.

lisa what are some of your go-to mason jar lunches? I'm tempted to try some of those out.

beahawkins No stretching at all?? I'm not much of a yoga fan, but I love a good stretch. that would make me so sad.

mmm....soup....maybe I'll have some tonight for dinner....
Week is creeping along for me. It's only Tuesday????
Oh! More good news for me. For those that remember, I'm studying to be a court reporter. Right now I'm in a 60-80 words per minute (wpm) speed class. The term (each term is 10 weeks) is almost ending, but in order to move into the next speed class, I have to pass an 80 wpm test at 99% accuracy. And I passed one Sunday night! So next week I will start my 80-100 wpm class.

Quiet- Yes the week is moving slowly!!!!!!!!!!!! I have only done salads and soups first. I just wanted to see how it went. Im thinking about making some spaghetti and some turkey chili beans topped with cornbread
....something a lil more hearty.

All is well, feeling bumish today gonna have a sandwich and soup for dinner. Gonna have to do some more walking to eat that. I dont have enough calories left.....i snacked because my lunch fell short......

Bea: Ugh...arthritis is not good. My mom has had hers since she was 19, so they were pretty worried about me when they realized that I had double jointed ankles, but so far so good...

Ballerina: Yay typing! I've never taken a class, but every speed test I've taken has put me in the 70 wpm range with high accuracy. Good luck with your test. When I went in to interview for an order entry job, I finished in about half the time all the other applicants did with 100% accuracy, then I just kinda sat alone in my testing room going "Hello? I finished..." for 5 minutes before someone noticed.

Hey everyone! So I really fell off the wagon when I moved over to Japan. I made a thread a while ago, but I even dropped off then. I'm such a failure waaaah! Just kidding. I do feel guilt that I stopped working hard once I came here, but luckily I've stayed within a 5 lb range which isn't too bad. It's not like I'm coming back at 200 lbs.

I've joined a gym and I've been doing Zumba which I LOVE. I also run on the treadmill which is no where near as good as running outside but with my job I just don't have the energy when I get home to go outside and run around a city. I like my country running route back in England too much!

My problem is EATING. Argh! It seems like every week there's something at work to munch on. I work with kids so I'm constantly running around so that in itself is like a workout, but then I find myself porking on bad foods because I'm starving. I've started to say no to the candy and the crackers, but boy I start to run low on energy by the end of the day.
So I'm trying to figure out my diet. I'm in Japan, so the food is completely different than what I'm used to having in England. I also have a pathetic excuse for a kitchen, which makes it difficult to cook. I stumbled across a book that's in English called "The Japan Diet" written by a Japanese woman. She live in America and gained 25 lbs then when she returned to Japan she found she lost weight really fast, so wrote a diet plan based on healthy Japanese food. I figure I might need something like a food plan to keep me focused and motivated, but it's also handy because I have access to all kinds of Japanese food!

I also really regret not posting here as often as I should. Once I get in a groove this place really motivates me. So I'm hoping to get back and join the community again.

Thanks for listening!!

QB - Nice to still see you here! Congrats on your typing test! I think I can type 70wpm but I'm sure my accuracy rating is pretty terrible hah!
Hotaru - Yaay, I'm so glad you're back here too! And I saw on your Facebook page you were back on the bike and going to the gym, you rock.

Riestrella- welcome back

Not much going on...at the Dr. with my Lo, he has a,bad cough and a lot of congestion. Hopefully we aren't here forever as walk-ins. Brought a sandwich and grapes just in case. Scale was down some more this morning. I'm really looking foward to Sunday.

Rie: I definitely hear you on the tiny kitchen making all of those lovely katsu- and -tempura options at the conbini seem so attractive. Luckily food aside from the school lunches aren't allowed in the classrooms and no one really spends enough time in the staff room to bother with junk food there. I occasionally come in to senbei or little on my desk because someone went on a trip, but that doesn't happen especially often.

Lisa: Congrats on the scale going down!

...as for me, it'll probably be a while before I update my weight. I don't know if we had a little earthquake while I was at work or what, but I came home to realize that a can of hairspray had fallen off a shelf and shattered the glass on top of my scale. Funfunfun. Go figure...it holds my fat a** without complaint, but it can't deal with a can that maybe weighs a pound and a half >.< I kinda wanted to be on top of things for the last month of the year, but I won't be able to replace it until next month with needing to budget for Christmas. *Sigh*

I'm going to try to figure out how to work the crazy robot scale at my gym, but I'm not 100% convinced that I'd be able to get it to work if the menus were in English...which they most definitely aren't.

Fun story for the day: I stopped to get some fresh produce and decided to treat myself to a stick of yakitori (grilled chicken on a skewer...and in this case also leeks) from the stand in the grocery store parking lot. I've stopped there like twice before in the 8 months I've lived here. The guy that works the stand was very nice and chatted with me in Japanese then tried out a few phrases of broken English he'd picked up over the years after he asked what I did for work and I said I was an English teacher at the local elementary schools. When he handed me my skewer, he smiled and told me that I'd stopped there once before when he was there and that I looked skinnier. I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so I mumbled something about my jacket being cut well and he laughed and told me that I was very pretty. I've decided to take that as a sweet little compliment rather than be a little creeped out that he remembered the last time I stopped by (probably 3 months ago) and how much I weighed.

lisa Did I ever tell you I went to college in Natchitoches? Not too far from you!

Hotaruchan Thank you! I have 10 weeks to pass the 100wpm test, so I have time to prepare. Part of the difficulty is that I'm not on a normal keyboard. I type on one of these things:


Oh no! That stinks about your scale!
Hahahaha oh man. Too funny about the guy in the grocery store lot. I might be inclined to be a little creeped out, but it's sweet too.

Rie Welcome back!! Yep yep, I'm still around. Good luck with the new eating plan. I'm still trying to figure out what works best for me and how I can stay on plan the easiest.

Things are going well for me. Been slowly but surely moving things into my new place (thank goodness the new roommate isn't home. I've just been dumping bags and boxes into the living room for now. I'll organize soon!)
Tomorrow I'll be moving more things. It's kind of a pain to cram it all into the weekend, especially cause it's just me moving my stuff, but it gets dark so early that I don't want to move much after being at work all day.

So, one of my teachers told me that I should have my machine cleaned/serviced once a year. Lucky me (sarcasm) there is only ONE place anywhere close to me, and it's almost an hour away. I emailed the guy to see how much it would cost to clean my machine. $125!!!
That's so annoying. I mean, really? Why is it so expensive? And the cost of gas to drive there and back two times?
I'm going to have to put that off for now. Money is tight with all the moving costs and I just don't have that kind of cash to spend.

Hope everyone's doing well!

Quiet- No, you didnt!? Northwestern? Very close!

Hotaruchan- I dont know maybe it me, but that was a compliment in my book! That mean he noticed your hard work!

Not to activate lately, my LO has been in the hospital with RSV. So I have been on the low, amazingly I have still been eating well!!! Went home to get more clothes and the scale was down a little more! Really hoping the LO feels better son, I hate seeing him uncomfortable.

Hey guys!

I have been gone for awhile, and I apologize. For whatever reason, I just didn't feel like coming in. Mostly because I've been busy with school and other things. But I'm back for now.

My boyfriend of 1.6 years is no longer my boyfriend. But that's okay, cause he's now my fiancé! Yup, he proposed a week ago today, on a carriage ride through a Christmas light display. It was uber-romantic and both of us were very excited! And the ring is a big'un, it is so pretty and I love it!

One thing I don't particularly like that's currently also big is my body. I have kind of a superficial reason for wanting to lose weight for the wedding, I don't want to pay the extra $100 you have spend for sizing to plus on a fancy gown. Besides, gowns just look better without fat folds, lol.

Besides, I worry that I will be in poor health as my fiancé and I get older and I want to be in his presence for as often as I can! I see my mom and my sister stuffing themselves into oblivion and I don't want that to be me! I want to be the happy wife that is active and doesn't sit in front of the computer spending money and feeling sorry for herself. I've got a lot of energy as it is, but I would love to have more and not feel so awkward.

Got finals this next week. Will be so glad when class is over for the semester! After that is my fiancé's birthday, and my side of the family's Christmas. Then we'll visit with my relatives in Arkansas for a few days, and then go from Arkansas back to St Louis to spend Christmas Eve and Day with my fiancé's mom and dad, his mom on Christmas Eve and his dad on Christmas day. So it will be a fun Christmas!

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Rie- Glad you're back too. Sounds like you're having fun in Japan.

Lisa- Aww. Hope your LO feels better soon.

QB- That keyboard is wicked awesome. Good luck on your tests, I've got finals next week too.

Bea- I've missed you girly! Hope your knees and joints get to feeling more comfortable. I've known a few folks who were double-jointed, I always thought that trick where a double-jointed person moves their hands from back to front is awesome.

Hotaru- Good to see you again! You wouldn't think a hairspray can would destroy a scale; I hope you can get a new one soon.

Well, I gotta get to bed. I hope all of you have a fantastic day/evening.

-S

lisa - Sorry your LO (loved one? little one?!) is sick! But huge congratulations on staying on plan and losing weight. Just make sure you're still eating - I respect anyone who can keep it together when in a stressful situation.

Hotaru - It's awful at the moment what with Christmas around the corner, so many of the parents are buying us sweets! There's also candy and chocolate that we keep for the kids since they get one at the end of each lesson, and the teachers eat them too so I had a bad habit of eating them. But we also have prunes for the younger kids, so I've tried to eat those instead if I ever feel like I need a snack.
My kitchen is abysmal! I have to prepare food on top of my fridge! Weird how your hairspray managed to smash your scales! Did you feel the earthquake on Friday? I'm on the fifth floor so we felt it for a while.

QB - That machine is weird looking! I've no idea how it would work. Oh man, moving costs fudging SUCK. I spent all my savings moving into a place in Japan. Deposits, cleaning fees (for when I move out - Japan is weird), furniture...it sucked.

namaste - CONGRATULATIONS ON THE ENGAGEMENT! Wow, you must be so excited!! The wedding itself is definitely a good incentive to lose weight, but your long term reasons are what's important too! It's all about living longer and being able to do more in life!

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So I got the book I mentioned in my last post - The Japan Diet by Naomi Moriyama. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as packed with recipes as I had hoped, but it is an interesting read. She basically tries to push the Japanese mentality to food - that vegetables should be the "star" of your meal with meat and grains as your side dishes. There's also a section on mindful eating - basically to slow down when you eat and not to sit in front of the TV as you're eating. Eating slower will give your body time to let you know when it's full, which makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try my best to follow these ideals, because they do make sense to me, but I've just never been a huge fan of vegetables but I know they can be delicious! I also fall guilty to shoving my face with food too quickly and eating in front of the TV, it will be a hard habit to break.

Last week I didn't go to the gym that often. I went to Zumba but that was it. So I told my work friends if I don't go to the gym 3 times this week then I have to buy them all ice cream. So unless I want to fork out money I shouldn't spend on ice cream then I have to get my bum into gear and GO!

Eating hasn't been great recently. Friday I went to an izakaya with my boyfriend and we ate quite a bit. Saturday I had a 3 course meal at our friends apartment and Sunday I had a bit too much to snack on. Today I also couldn't be bothered cooking...so I bought 3 items from the bakery and ate those =(. The bakery at my supermarket sells things with curry in them and meat, but I just ate too much! I'm sadly sipping on a coke too. Epic fail, but I need to stay accountable.

I neeeeed to start getting more fulfilling lunches. I'm more active in my day now, so I need to eat more healthy foods that will give me energy. Right now I'm having a sandwich, banana, small yogurt and some senbei (rice crackers) which was fine for me in England when I had a part time job but not now I'm working from 10-6! I have a website that gives lots of recipes for Japanese style lunches, so I should start trying to make them. I need a rice cooker to make life easier too!

Christmas is just around the corner! Next week I'll be flying back to England. It's going to be SO HARD to not gorge over Christmas. I've been missing British junk like chocolate and proper bread and huge sandwiches! My Mum will also push lots of food on me since she likes cooking and seeing people enjoy her food.

I need to also get in the habit of weighing daily again. I'm around the 153-154 lbs mark - which is 4-5 lbs heavier than my lightest weight recorded (149 lbs) so I want to get back into the 140s!! The last 20 or so lbs are going to be so hard to shift, so I need to be dedicated and focused in doing so.

lisa yup yup! Northwestern. How's your little one doing? This winter seems rough for kids; I know quite a few who have been battling colds.

namaste Welcome back! And congratulations! You know we all want to see that ring. Please post a picture! Thank you, and good luck on your finals! Agree with Rie -- your long term and short term goals are all great reasons for losing weight!

Rie Yes! The costs really suck. I had to pay rent for Dec for my current place because of my lease, and in order to get the new place I had to pay rent for Dec there too. I mean, it's nice to have the entire month to slowly move my stuff, but man....so much money. And the movers I hired for just my heavy things will cost more money. (That's why I want to move everything else myself; I didn't want to pay any extra! They are only moving the big things I cannot move by myself and/or fit into my car.)

Eating in front of the TV/computer is a bad habit of mine too.
Good luck with your trip home!
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Today started out so miserable for me. Just super stressed and anxious. I was trying to get things done and there seemed to be a roadblock or bump everywhere I turned.
But I think things are looking up and I'm feeling a little more sane.

Thankfully me and my LO ( little one) are home. He was discharged from the hospital on yesterday! He is still feeling better but Im taking extra precuation so he his gonna stay with my grandma for a few days, away from other babies and away from the morning and night air!

Namaste- COngrats! I cant want for the big question to be popped!
Quiet- I hope the day got better for you!