Welcome back to me! Man, I can't believe how much weight I've gained back. Well, I can believe it. The scale and the fact that the only clothes that fit me have an elastic waist tells me so. I tried to start back in on the weight loss effort last fall but it was just the wrong time of year for me to get my motivation rolling I guess. I think I stayed on plan for like a week something or then. Well... I'm in my late 20s now! I turned 26 last month! Ack! I'm so upset with myself that I haven't gotten control on this yet.

I have been counting calories again. This is the only way for me. I've tried a whole bunch of other things but it is the only way I have lost/maintained in the past, and it's what I'm going to have to do again. This should be the easy part. The difficult part is that I need to start walking/running again. Walking first, because I would kill my knees running at this weight. I used to walk a LOT, lot, lot. I lived in the city and walked everywhere, ran on the bike trails and at the gym, any time of day I felt like it... I was working and going to school but I still had more time than I do now. Now I am the mom of a toddler... and I live in the country. Country life is great, we have chickens and ducks and I am working on a big vegetable garden this year... but... the toddler. She hates the stroller for more than short jaunts. And even then she wants me to be singing songs the whole time she is in it to keep her appeased. I can only sing "row row row your boat" so well when I'm trying to power walk. Anyway, calorie counting and walking (and eventually running again) is the plan here. I've been eating about 1400 calories a day now for the past week. I'm down 10 lb in the last couple of weeks, and I would like to lose 15 more before my trip down to visit the inlaws in July. I weighed about 240 last time I saw them and I would at least like to be back in the same range again so they don't need to see that I gained MORE weight.

Look at my avatar. Yeah, I used that one here in the past before, like 4 years ago. I think I weighed around 180 there. It needs to be my inspiration, I want my face to look like that again; thinnish, fewer chins... Ultimately I would like to get out of the "overweight" category all together and push to get below 160... maybe in the 150s range, but right now that is a ways to go... I feel like I have motivation right now.

The blueberry/banana/spinach smoothie has empowered me!

... to do an old Leslie Sansone VHS tape as soon as my little one goes down for her nap... I love VHS tapes. I can get tons of them at Goodwill for like 25 cents! Last time I was there I got a Richard Simmons one... who knows... maybe I would get really into it. I haven't been brave enough to pull it out. I think we'll stick with Leslie today.

Hi again everyone! I am glad to be back. I don't know if anyone is still here from when I was active in the past... I mean, I've popped on a few times in the past couple of years, but really I was mostly active in 2009-2010. Actually I hope there is nobody here from that time frame anymore because hopefully everyone else has stuck to it and doesn't need the support of this site anymore! Who knows. ;)

Everlasting - Hello fellow Michigander, and welcome! It sounds like we have a lot in common! I'll be turning 27 this summer and am the proud mom of a (nearly) one year old. I'm also a calorie counter, and when I stick with it it works like a charm! (The trouble is staying within my calorie "budget"). As for exercise, like you, I've moved from walking to running (doing C25K and loving it!). Whereabouts in MI are you? I've been from rural (up north) to city (A2/Ypsi) to rural (Big Rapids) back to city (A2). Country life is nice, but I've had my fill for the time being and love the hustle and bustle of the urban atmosphere!

I did my workout video, Leslie Sansone 3 miles super fat burning, lol. Did the hand weights and all. I looked at the Richard Simmons tape. The cover is hilarious. Maybe I will get it out in a bit when little girl is awake and see if she will go along with me for crazy dance time and not get mad that I'm not reading her books.

Aaaand the little one is still sleeping. Enjoyed a nice omelet afterward for lunch! Yum! I think I will do alright with the calorie counting. That should be easier this time around as last time I lost weight I was busy, busy, busy always away from home so everything had to be toted along with me, and often I was ending up eating cold oatmeal or lentils or something. Let me tell you, I love both those things but cold is YUCK, just the same that lukewarm salads and veggies are yuck to me, and I couldn't make smoothies then! It was more tempting to grab a fast food... however, this time I'm around the fridge more as well... but I've been doing okay so far. I've gone a bit over a few days due to not thinking, but never over my "maintenance". I have one of these new-fangled andriod phones now and figured out how to put an "app" on it to track calories, so I've had that handy and have been putting in my recipes and meals BEFORE eating them so I can make different plans if I want to and know what I'm getting in to.

I love Michigan. I grew up in what is known as "mid-Michigan"... flat farm fields. Then moved to Marquette in the UP for college, and now I live right between, about 30 minutes south of Mighty Mac. So I guess I'm in "Northern Michigan", but not as up north as I could be. Love being near Lake Michigan but I really miss Lake Superior! I miss the city (though I'm not sure how city-ish Marquette really is, as that is my only city living experience)... it was nice to be able to walk everywhere. Now I can walk, but there isn't really anywhere in particular to walk "to", so there isn't as much motivation. I also am too far out of town to make it worthwhile to have a gym pass, on our income at least, between the price and time it takes to drive back and forth. And with the toddles, if the weather isn't good, I just can't have her outside... so... looks like a lot of workout videos for me if I want to keep up with my exercise. I know diet is a lot more important than exercise and all, and the "diet" is what makes me lose the weight in my case. But the exercise makes me feel so much better. I can't wait to be able to run again. I know I can't now, because I have a knee issue that I don't want to make worse. Need to get some of the weight down before I can experience the freedom of running again!

Quick check in: Yesterday's calories went a little over. Today's WI was 133.2. This morning I got my run done before 9am! I have now completed week 5 day 3, and feel great. I ran 20 minutes straight, holy crap! I looked it up on map pedometer and after mapping my route I can see that I ran for 2 mi (3.3) km straight, hooray! I'm so excited for my race next month.

I ate 1106 calories yesterday and did Leslie Sansone 3 mile walk so I was on target. Calories were a bit under yesterday, but I was a bit over a couple days earlier in the week so it will average out. Getting lots of protein in my diet along with lots of green veggies. I have yet to finish my exercise today... I started a video shortly after eating and taking my antibiotic but the antibiotic is making me nauseous, so I'm going to have to wait a bit to finish. I also plan to do a walk with my daughter. Will update later with more. I do so much better when I am being accountable on here.

Missy Krissy- Wow! You are going to do great at your race! I'm so excited to run again. I am going to be walk, walk, walking every day so that I can get to the point where I feel fit enough to run again, hopefully by the end of this summer and all through the fall. Fall running is my favorite!

Just checking in really quickly to say I'm back! I haven't read the personals and don't have time to do a real update but I will soon! I'm still here!

So I'm back up to 158.7 lbs. A 0.6 lb gain since my last weigh in, BUT an overall 0.7 lb loss this week. I am approaching the ever dreaded time of the month so I think my weight will be a little higher next week. This week I was sick, my co-worker got sick so she inevitably passed it on to me. We call ourselves sick twins since we always get each others illnesses. I've pushed myself to be at work all week and I succeeded, which I was happy with. We're a small team and as a native English teacher I'm integral to the work we do, so if I'm off then it puts a lot of pressure on everyone, especially my native co-worker. But now that it's the weekend my body is like UNLEASH THE KRAKEN and I feel really blurgh.

Last night I dined at a Thai restaurant. We ordered 3 dishes to share, but I ended up only liking 2 of them so it was a blessing in disguise. I just love going out to eat, it's my biggest downfall! But the food was delicious. There was a point where I think one of the chefs had accidentally burned a chilli or something, because the whole restaurant was coughing. We were all laughing though because it was quite funny.

Today my boyfriend is going to his schools sports day, so I'm on my own until 5pm. Since I feel sick I might just rest, do some laundry for him, maybe tidy up a little bit (I have an OCD for tidiness) then if I'm feeling ok go for a wander. There are like 4 huge department stores here and I've been to 2 so far. Might try another! I finish up in 1 of them and I think "DONE!" I do like shopping but I've not got the kind of stamina to shop all day!

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Missy - I think it's got to the point in GoT now after the Red Wedding that I think ANYONE could die. I'm so happy the fans of the books kept it quiet!! Usually the internet would have spoiled everything for us who haven't read the books. Resting is definitely a MUST. Sometimes it can help with weight loss to rest your body. Well done on signing up for a race! You'll be hooked I hope! My first race was a 10K, my Mum was like "Don't do a 5, do a 10!!" so I took her advice and don't regret it. She's done marathons though so that's why she said it ;p. The point being I hope this will open up the world of running for you and the high you'll experience finishing a race.
Personally I used to work with the formula of 500 calorie meals with 100 calorie snacks. But that's just me, I think breakfast is really important not to skimp out on! Each to their own though, experiment with your formula to find what suits you.
I know right?! I looked at the calories for my favourite place in America and it was around that amount. I was shocked and appalled! Think if I ever eat there again I'm going to take a run, eat, then drink water for the rest of the day!!
Well done on the run time! 10 minute mile is impressive!! I remember when I first pushed myself to run without stopping, I was actually laughing as I was running because I felt so full of energy! So proud of you and happy that you pushed yourself and achieved amazing results.

rainbow - Haha, so strange you experience seasons different all the way down there! I love winter clothes shopping though, probably more than summer! Yeah, I was the exact same - the silent credits. SO powerful! I literally screamed and shouted "WHAT THE F#CKKKKK!!" over and over. My boyfriend had his hands over mouth in shock too! What an amazing moment in TV. Yeah, they will have calories. I'm surprised New Zealand doesn't! Well, I'm pretty sure they will... I think you should make your goal maintaining once you arrive. You will want to explore and feel at home. I saw this picture yesterday and thought of us:
http://shechive.files.wordpress.com/...pg?w=500&h=667
So true, right?! Where you weigh makes a huge difference! Where were you weighing before? Never weigh on carpet, that's for sure! How did the dress code thing go?? Congrats on getting your weight down!
Edit: Just saw this, thought of you again!
http://shechive.files.wordpress.com/...pg?w=500&h=304

Everlasting - Welcome back! I remember your beautiful face! I think your avatar is a great inspirational tool, it's not some random skinny girl it's YOU. YOU worked hard and you achieved that weight. If you're back to where you were now then something you were doing before wasn't working for you. Weight loss is a lifestyle change, if you can't stick to it every day for the rest of your life then the weight will pour back on. How did you gain back the weight? What was it that you gave up on? Counting calories is a great way to lose weight, but a lot of people can get their daily allowance really wrong! How many calories are you aiming to eat in a day? As for exercise, push yourself to your limits and the weight will fly off you! Keeping in a comfortable range will not achieve results. I always look to The Biggest Loser for inspiration, even at 250+ lbs they can run if the trainers make them! I think you can too if you slowly build your strength. There should be a guide somewhere on the internet for people who are starting to run and have trouble with knees.

jmko - Can't wait to hear about your trip!!

Everlasting – Good job keeping calories in check! You’re right, things will probably even out, just so long as you don’t keep your calories consistently low. Were you able to get that walk with your daughter in?

Jmko – Glad you checked in, I hope you’re having fun on your vacation! Can’t wait to hear about it.

Riestrella – Oh boy, I love to go out to eat too! As a matter of fact, DH and I are planning on going on a “date” tonight and eating out… If we go to the restaurant we talked about I’ll be ordering a chicken curry cous cous salad, so it’s *somewhat* healthy right? Wow, you mom ran marathons? That’s so cool! I really admire the strength and stamina that that type of running takes. I’m so not ready to start off at a 10K, but I hope to get there! Have you done any more races recently?

Good morning everyone! Yesterday’s calories were 1980. So, a little higher than my usual 1700, but I decided to eat back the calories I burned from my run, and you know what, I don’t regret it. I told myself that I could have more, but not to go over 2000. I’ve really been struggling with hunger lately, and have been overeating/bingeing more at night, so I consider my controlled caloric overage a success. This morning’s WI was 133.2, so it stayed the same.

So you know what they say about running and exercising being addictive? They’re right! I’ve got the urge to go running today, but am going to stick with C25K’s plan and rest today. Well, I’ll probably go walking, maybe even ride my bike a little, but I’m going to rest from running. On Wednesday DH and I took an impromptu trip to the batting cages, and I’m still sore from it! My arms, hands, and chest muscles all still hurt! Today is farmer’s market day, so DH, DS and I will be walking around downtown for a while today. We recently got a backpack style baby carrier (the Beco, similar to the Ergo) so we will be able to wear DS around instead of pushing him in the stroller. That’ll be nice because the market is always really crowded so we won’t have difficulty maneuvering through the people.

Have a great day everybody!

Missy Wow on the calories at Chili's! That is crazy! Also doesn't it feel awesome when you get a run in first thing in the morning? I don't get to do it on weekdays because of work but on Saturday mornings I feel awesome if I get a run in haha. That's cool that you're finding it addicting!! It's good that your weight is steady, I have to remind myself that staying the same is at least better than a gain!

Everlasting Hey, welcome back. I do remember you, I think we were posting around the same time. Unfortunately I'm still here, but I love chatting to everyone and I am still trying to lose a bit more weight so that's ok. Plus it keeps me accountable. Seems like you're doing good with your new start - I am sure you will do well! Calorie counting worked wonders for me, maybe you will really enjoy it :)

Rie I think that we must be similar in the whole going out to eat thing, I am also just not great at remembering what I'm doing and trying to choose my meal accordingly! I do also love winter clothes shopping, so I'm sad I can't really buy buying anything right now - but I also figure that in 3 months when I hit Canada, I will need to stock up on warm stuff so I'll get my fix then. Those pictures are so relevant to me. I have let this weekend derail me a bit, but I did manage to dress up last night and feel like I was wearing the right type of outfit. It's weird that even in a group of your peers you can worry about wearing the right thing! Or maybe that's just me and my anxiety talking haha. Congrats on your loss for the week, 0.7lb is good, any amount is good!! Hope you had a good relaxed day. Wow, 4 department stores! Did you do any shopping??

~So I'm going to preface the bad with the good, which is that it's Sunday and another two weekend evenings have passed with me being really good about alcohol - ie not drinking too much, actually being sober driver both nights - sober in that I had 4 drinks over 7 hours, which is fine. So I'm really happy about that, getting my alcohol intake in control was important to me and I think I'm finally getting it. The bad is that I haven't eaten well this weekend. A big noodle dish on Friday night, a few sweet things at the baby shower yesterday afternoon and then a pepperoni wheel after that, followed by pizza for dinner and a LARGE piece of chocolate cake and four, yes four, custard puff things. Oops. An engagement party with a dessert bar was definitely too much temptation for me.

The other side of that is that I've really enjoyed the weekend so far. The baby shower was nice though I wasn't there for long and then afterwards my boyfriend and I met up with my sister's friend who lives in Vancouver. I swamped her with questions and she probably thinks I'm a little crazy, but it was nice to hear opinions and tips from someone who lives there, and she's offered to help us out in any way she can, picking us up at the airport, giving us a couch for a few nights if we have nowhere to stay. So I'm feeling a little bit of relief.

The engagement party was also really nice, and yes, the boyfriend did manage to dress up a bit, which is good! Grey dress pants, a nice shirt, suspenders (!), a tie and jacket. I was glad, because most of the boys had really made an effort!

I also got a run in yesterday morning, just over 5k so I was happy about that too! I felt great afterwards. Today is just going to be about relaxing, watching Hannibal (anyone else watch that? I love it...) and catching up with some friends for dinner.

This next week will be hard foodwise because there are so many social engagements going on. My boyfriend leaves NZ on the 18th so there are lots of people to catch up with. I've kind of resigned myself to doing my best, and just basically maintaining where I am now (hovering between 62 - 63kg) until he leaves - and then I can make a real focus on losing.

While I've been committed to calorie counting for so long, someone last night was talking about the Dukan diet. I've never been that much into diets, I see it as a lifestyle change I have to make, but I'm curious about maybe trying something like that for a couple of weeks or a month to kick start things a bit more... I will do some research I think.

Hope you're all having good weekends!

How I gained the weight back... YES, this is what happened. I don't think it was truly what I was doing before that didn't work, but the other lifestyle change that happened to me... I went from an independent full time working, full time college student, who lived in town and had a gym pass, gym buddies, and female roommates who lived a similar lifestyle to me.

In December 2010 I graduated, quit my jobs, and got married in January. I moved away from all my college companions, moved away from the nearity of a gym, and we were extremely poor so we had no second vehicle or extra money for me to go into town and use a gym anyway. It was northern Michigan winter, so there also wasn't much to do outside. I got married to a man who likes to eat... loooves to eat... and especially loves to eat everything cooked in oil or filled with sugar. As a newly wed I took great joy in pleasing my new husband by cooking him meals that he raved about. Then I got pregnant with a honeymoon baby a week after getting married... hah. I stopped trying to lose weight when I got pregnant because I was afraid of hurting the baby, and I was extremely tired and sick all the time. It was much easier to just eat whatever I could scrounge then think about the nutrition, and we were poor... I mean really poor. We got the bare minimum of cheap stuff, no fresh veggies, whatever the people at church donated to us in cans... and lots of bread from the discount bread store where it is only 80 cents a loaf basically. I do not do well on carbs. Eating a lot makes me feel sick and it takes a LOT to fill me up, so lots of calories. Husband was trying to get his own business up off the ground. We had no money for anything, doctors appointments, rent, child support for my stepkids. It was a rough time. Eventually I got state aid for my pregnancy, but then I ended up with a c-section which made any exercise for me impossible for about 6 months... I think the weight I had already gained was pulling on the incision and making the healing process much slower than it should have been. I started to feel better last fall and started exercising again, though still eating too much. Found out I was pregnant again with baby number 2 this past November and determined to have a healthier pregnancy. I was walking daily, doing a little cardio, and thinking about how to maintain my weight. Super excited for another little one. I applied for health insurance and was accepted, I made a doctors appointment and when I got there they did an ultrasound and they told me the baby had died a few days earlier. I miscarried the baby right before Christmas and became very depressed (I still am very very sad about it and tear up everytime I think about that baby... supposed to be due June 21st, coming up soon!) I feel like I went absolutely crazy after that and didn't feel like I could do anything. Husband started cooking a lot of his greasy meals and bringing home ice cream and chocolate to try and cheer me up. We were shopping at GFS buying bulk food (which is actually a great place to buy the "basic" ingredients for all sorts of good healthy stuff) and he started bringing home "easy" stuff for me to make for us and the toddler like precooked lasagna, chicken nuggets, hotdogs etc. I gained about 30 pounds between December to May.

Now we are getting on our feet money wise. We actually completely own and have paid off our home and land over the past two years, and are about to own a second home and rent it. Husband's business is beginning to do really great. He doesn't even really advertise anymore because so many customers just tell their friends through word of mouth that he always gets new people and return customers. We still don't make a lot, but it is enough, and I have started my own business this past fall selling handmade dolls and natural toys at a local artist market and on etsy. So there is some money now.

When we made the last payment on our house in May I re-evaluated our shopping list (which I was up to that point basically still doing bare minimum cheap beans, rice, cheese, ground beef, bread... some of it is actually not all that unhealthy, but I was still eating too much). We can spend a bit more per week now so I am making sure we have lots of vegetables and fruits, and I am cutting out a lot of the carbs. I think I have a real issue with gluten because I can eat carby fruit and beans no problem, but things like wheat bread make me feel kind of sick if I eat more than a small serving. I have also made the choice to cut out the emotional eating. I can't just go and stuff myself when I'm feeling stressed. I can't make a plate the same size as my husband's for supper, and I don't need to eat that much to fill me up. It was like I slowly learned to eat more and more and put more and more on my plate and expanded my stomach or something, because I was eating huge servings. And recently when we had a bit more money to splurge, hubby would bring home a gallon of ice cream or something and we would just eat a ton after having a full supper. Like 2 huge bowls of ice cream. Just gluttony. Not a good way to live. I know I was stress eating. It just had to stop.

Right now I'm aiming to eat around 1400-1600 calories. I am feeling pretty full on that. I will see where it takes me. In the past when I was loosing weight during the phase where I wasn't exercising (though I was at a lower weight then) I would need to eat about 1200 calories a day to lose, and I had to up that to about 1800 a day when I was doing a lot of running. I imagine as I get smaller and up the exercise, I will likely need to stay I told my husband to stop bringing home sugary stuff for me, and that I will not be binging on ice cream or oily fried stuff with him anymore. I don't even feel good after eating ice cream.

I have a knee injury from about 8 years ago when I was also around this weight and was working at a summer camp with disabled children. I was taking a group of 8 year old boys on a walk and of course the boys took off running ahead of me at one point right on the edge of a CLIFF. I screamed for them to stop and all of them were pretty good kids and did except for of course the DEAF boy. I know sign language but of course you can't sign to someone and expect them to see you when all you can see is the back of their head, so I ran faster and harder than I ever had and finally caught him right on the ledge, and of course I tripped and fell on the path as soon as I got him. Tore up my leg badly and twisted my knee terrible. I definitely cannot push this knee with running yet. This is one thing I have to lose some weight with and build up a lot of muscle with before being able to exert a running force on. Last time I started running, I had worked up to walking about 8 miles a day, on a daily basis for several months, as well as doing additional exercises for my knee. So I had a whole lot of leg strength. After that it wasn't difficult to start running, but still if I landed funny on that leg it would put me out for a couple weeks. Hah... my breaking point really came a few weeks ago when I was babysitting for a little boy who is autistic. We play outside and he never wanders from the yard, but all of a sudden he took off RUNNING down his driveway way ahead of me when I looked up from my 1 year old and realized what happened. I started running after him, but he got all the way down the seasonal road that he lives on, and about a quarter mile down the road. It's not a busy street out in the country, but he is autistic and has no concept of getting hit by a car. I probably ran about as fast as I did the day the deaf boy got away from me until I caught him and my lungs were burning with that half mile or so run. I was so out of shape and sore for a week after that. I ended up throwing up, and my throat was so sore from running that I got a cough and sinus infection that lasted for 2 weeks. I'm just now feeling like I'm over it. It was that bad. I'm that un-fit, and unfit people get sick easily.

Anyway, that is a very LONG answer to a short question. But I think the way I lost the weight before wasn't so much the problem. I was handling that "lifestyle" change very well and felt very good, was losing the weight, and also feeling very fit. The lifestyle change I could not figure out how to manage was leaving my college life to the stay at home mom/housewife life. The emotional eating does not work for me, and when I was in college and "figured things out" healthwise, my go to for when I was having a rough time was to go sweat it out at the gym or on the bike trail. It's just not the same with a toddler around. I am with her 24/7 and my husband still has to work a LOT to keep up so it's not like I can just go for a run after she is in bed because there is nobody here to watch her. My exercise now is going to have to come from primarily work out videos, and 30 minute max walks. I'm hoping she will get used to being in the stroller a little longer as time goes on so I can get longer walks in, and perhaps after a few months I will feel ready to start running again.

Whew, and yes, I did get that walk in yesterday, so I had a 1.5 mile outdoor walk plus 4 Lelsie Sansone miles. I haven't walked yet today as I spent half the day in town at a livestock swap, and the other half heavy duty housecleaning, but now my daughter is in bed.... and I've had a nice break to sit down and let my supper digest, I'm going to do LESLIE 5 really big miles, and I am going to use the weights, the stupid stretch band (hate that thing), and take a shower afterword, and make myself a good smoothie since I'm only at about 1000 calories for the day so far. It will be great. Whovever has read this, God bless you for your patience! Its good to write it down!

And here are a couple pictures of my adorable little girl!

This weekend was a huge failure. The sickness I felt during the week was just the calm before the storm, I got hit with a slight fever and full on cold/cough over the weekend. So I didn't feel like much movement and didn't get around to doing much of anything other than a walk today (Sunday).

The food I ate? Jebus...what was wrong with me? I'm sick, I should have been eating healthy food. What did I have instead?

Saturday: Oatmeal, about 15 ritz crackers and Dominos pizza.
Sunday: Oatmeal, PB sandwich, leftover pizza, ice cream, gummy candies.

SERIOUSLY, RIE!! What HAPPENED. I'm sat here back at my place and I'm dumbfounded. It's like when I visit my boyfriend I enter a bubble where anything goes. I need to be healthy all the frigging time for the weight to come off!! NO EFFING EXCUSES, EVER!

As you can tell I'm pretty p!ssed about this weekend. I need to get my act together and start taking this seriously and not cave in to stupid quick fixes.

I haven't weighed in but I expect to have gained weight. It's my TOM this week too so I could even hit the dreaded 160s again. We'll see.

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Missy - That doesn't sound bad at all actually! If there's an option to plan ahead then that's an amazing way to avoid ordering the bad food. My Mum is a bit of a running machine. She's ran 4 marathons, countless 10K's (she had a small medal cabinet) and did a half iron man. She originally went for a full iron man but her bike broke so she never completed it. I'm really impressed with her too, after doing a couple of 10K's I simply cannot fathom what doing a marathon would be like! But one day I do hope to do one, just to make Mum proud!! When you're ready for a 10K let me know. I used a great programme that was 8 weeks long and really prepared me for the race. I haven't done a race since May 2012, wouldn't mind doing one here but not sure how I'd go about it in Japan! Something to look into though.
Cross training is great for running, so if you feel like exercising do it! But it's wise to take a break from the high impact sport that is running!! I always like to live by one bad day isn't going to make you fat just like one good day isn't going to make you skinny. Any idea why you think you've been hungrier recently? I've always wanted to go to a batting cage!!

rainbow - Girl, I relate to you so much! We can be ON IT and then just go crazy on the weekend! But we need to get our heads in the game and be strong!! Sounds like you have some amazing weekends, despite the food frenzy! I would be the same though, it'd be so hard to resist it when it's right in front. I guess we've got to start saying "no" instead of "oh maybe just a little". "No" is so definite and a powerful word, it's something I'll work on. I, too, was tempted about the Dukan diet. After doing a bit of research I was put off by it though. I hear it does work but it preaches that it'll stay with you for life when most of the time it doesn't. I like it's philosophy and idea of phasing things out, but healthy eating is healthy eating at the end of the day. You just gotta do it, you know?

Everlasting - Wow, I'm not sure what to say to your post. You've faced many challenges, some that would cripple others, but you seem to be in control of your future and happy. I'm sorry about your losses, your hardships and your injuries; but I am sure that you will come out on top in the future. You've admitted that you were eating a bit too much and perhaps for comfort, so now that it's out there you can work on it. Calorie counting is, I think, a great way to maintain a healthy living. Your calorie limit seems a little too low to me, but if you do lose weight on it and feel like you're full and your workouts are going well then only change the limit when you don't see a change on the scale. If you need workouts, some modern ones!, then please let me know in a PM and I'll see what I can do. I have some Jillian Michaels that I could send and if there's anything else you have your eye on I can see about sending it to you online. Here's to the future!! Welcome back! Your little girl is adorable =)

Stripe – You’re absolutely right, not gaining is a victory in and of itself! I agree, it might be less stressful if you focus on maintaining until the BF leaves. Don’t give yourself complete free range though ;) Oh Lord, a dessert bar would be too much for me too! Do you mean “Hannibal” as in “Silence of the Lambs” and “Red Dragon” Hannibal? If so then yes, I love those movies!

Everlasting - :hug: I am so sorry to hear about your loss, and right before Christmas to boot! I can’t imagine how awful that must have been, but I can certainly understand how easy it would be to gain weight while grieving. Way to go on budgeting for more fresh produce! A tip, and you probably already know this, is to buy bulk frozen veggies (GFS has good frozen veggies). If I’m eating something “carby” for lunch or dinner, like mushroom ravioli or something, I’ll take out some frozen broccoli or cauliflower from the freezer to go with it. Great job on the walk. Your little girl is a cutie! I feel like I can relate to a lot of what you wrote (I’m currently staying at home with my 12 month old, but looking to go back to work, had a c-section, money has been tight, DH loves to eat garbage foods, etc).

Well, yesterday’s calories were WAY out of line. DH and I had a much needed date night, which included going out to a very good local steak house (I got the petit filet mignon, which wasn’t “bad,” calorie wise, but the sides I had with it were pretty high calorie), drinks, going out to a separate place for dessert, then going to the bar for more drinks and pool. We had a lot of fun together reconnecting, and I got all dolled up, and it was nice to have someone else taking care of DS for the night so that we could focus on each other. I decided to forgo my morning WI but will be sure to do so tomorrow.

Today is another C25K rest day, but running is scheduled for tomorrow. DS has his swim lesson today, so we’re going to go do that this afternoon. I’m considering going out for a bike ride this morning… I’m a little bored and am trying to avoid eating as I’ve already had breakfast. I’m feeling kind of “blah” and all around lazy today…

Anyway, have a good day everybody!

Rie - You were posting while I was typing out my response! Sorry you had a crap weekend. I can relate (see above). I think it would be so much easier to lose weight if we were just solitary hermits with no families, BFs, etc... But of course that's not how we live! I'm not sure why I've been so hungry, I think that it could be one of two things: A) DS could be going through a growth spurt meaning I need more calories to produce more milk, or B) The types of foods I'm eating aren't filling me up, I'm wondering if I'm eating too many carbs and not enough fat and protein. I'm going to go through my food journal and calculate how many grams of carbs I've been eating because I really have no idea.

Riestrella - Yes, it may be a little low, it may be a little high. I'm 1 week into the calorie counting now and feel fine so we'll see if I need to adjust it. I know if I start running again I will need to up it and that will be fine. It really depends on the type of food I eat. If I eat a lot of carbs, there is no way I will feel full enough or have enough energy for 1400 calories, and if I have a hungry day, I won't worry too much about going over. It's just a basis. I didn't strictly calorie count last time I lost weight either... I mean I did... for about 6 months off and on, and after that I'd kind of figured out about how much I could eat and what I could eat, and just coasted on taking smaller servings and if I was still hungry eating additional vegetables instead of fruits. Now, you see how much harder it is with a BF around. Just imagine living with someone like that and being with him all the time and making all his meals... yeah... not making any excuses! But that's just what happened. It's hard to live with a man! Thank you for the offer for workout videos, but I actually have a nice little stack. I don't mind the VHS tapes. Our VHS player works much better than the DVD anyhow, and then I have some Zumba DVDs as well, and some dance stuff, and a Jillian Micheals. I don't feel fit enough to get in on Jillian stuff just yet. I need to build up some endurance and get a better bra. Hah. I also have internet now for youtube AND as of last night, my hubby gave me a laptop! I've been going from having a computer sometimes to not having one... mostly he fixes laptops so he just lets me use whatever one he is fixing or restoring to "test it out" and make sure all the stuff is working properly, but then it goes away after a few days, so I finally have something I can save things on. I might get back to writing my story!

Missy - Are you teaching your 12 month old to swim? Or do you have another child. My daughter is terrified of any water larger than a toy bucket full, including the bath tub and the sink! She cries if I take her too near the lake. Hah.

Well, I've had a good day. Got my 5 mile workout in last night. Got up this morning... hubby was sleeping in and I let him because he worked all day on the fence yesterday and was TIRED. I did a 5 Mile workout again this morning and was sweating pretty good, and this afternoon little one and I went on a 1.5 mile stroll. So 6.5 miles today, which is 11.5 miles in the past 24 hours!! My feet are a little sore on the bottom because I have a blister on the back of my foot from a walk earlier this week in shoes that are good, but I'm just not used to wearing, so I wore slip ons today and now the bottom of my feet are sore. I have always enjoyed doing my indoor workouts shoeless... maybe that is bad, but I just hate shoes. Only wear them when I have to do so. Can't wait until I feel a little bit better and my belly gets a little smaller and I can start into my bellydancing again. It's not like I'm doing it in front of people so I don't really care what the workout looks like, but it just feels bad with the belly wiggling so much. Lol. Well... the pain will go away.

Everlasting - Yup, DS is my one and only (for now) and he's getting the lessons. Well, it's more like a "get acquainted with water and learn some safety skills" thing. We do things like underwater dips/glides, kicking legs, pulling arms, rolling onto back, grasping the edge of the pool. Plus lots of playing, it's tons of fun and DS loves it! It's really good exercise for him and he just starts kicking his little heart out as soon as his legs hit the water.

Well, yesterday's calories were 2065 and this morning's WI was 134.something (I actually don't remember, I looked away fast!). I'm going to go out for my run soon, despite it being a drizzly day.

So I think for this week I'm going to focus on maintaining instead of losing. I've really been struggling with myself and staying on plan, and the whole thing has just been causing me too much stress. I'm hoping that by taking a "break" when I start working to lose again my body will be ready to go.

Have a great day everyone!