Heather, Heather is right. lol....sorry I could not resist that. But seriously, she is right. The weight will fluctuate and though I totally get your frustration as I've been at the point in wanting to chuck the darn scale out the window, I still try to remember that my weight fluctuates daily. Anything can make it a low or a high including sodium, getting too much or too little sleep, what I ate the day before...etc. The list goes on and on.

What I do is use the scale more as a tool. If I see a weight increase that I am worried about, I then weigh myself for a week to see if that is a "true weight" meaning I know how much my daily fluctuations can be, so if it is not dipping down where it should then I know I've gained something. Does that make sense? That is how I do it. I give myself time and make adjustments etc.

*hugs*

HB: Yes - even if your diet was rock solid, TOM will cause you to retain water, as will anything with sodium.. And water weighs ALOT! I know this is totally stupid to remind you - but make sure you weigh at the same time every day - after going potty and before eating or drinking anything. An 8 oz glass of water in the morning will show a gain of 1/2 a lb!

Posted a few pictures in the picture page, not the best pictures, but there ya go. lol. I don't have proper before pictures on hand. I think I know where to get some, but we'll see. You can see my face at 340+ pounds and some of my figure in a few of the later photos.

I'm about to go make some oatmeal for breakfast. I'm thinking raw honey and spiced or mango spiced oatmeal. I'll see...

Jacquie - congrats on the new clothes and getting down to a 2x! How is your hip? Take it easy on yourself! ALso - re: halloween costumes.. What is up with all the "sexy" costumes?! "sexy" witch, "sexy" nurse, "sexy" kitty.... Part of me is horrified. Part of me wants to fit in one and make it look good. Ha!

Brandnewme - How is your knee and ankle?

Tracy: Losing inches is good! What types of exercises are you doing? Post a pic of you in that dress! Congrats on your SV and your NSV!

Mady: Welcome! How are you doing with cooking at home? Have you got any good recipes to share?

Kayley: You unburied from homework yet? No more skipping class!! (mom voice)

Dani: Delurk more often! It's so encouraging to see that you are keeping up your weight loss even during the stressful stuff!

HB: It's too bad you're not in Kansas City - my company does database marketing and we have a call center AND a data entry center. My husband is/was a service manager for GM dealerships. We rode through all the GM restructuring and the dealership decided to cut costs after all that. Not a good industry for him to be job searching, but he's been doing this for 20 years and has LOTS of contacts. Hopefully something will open up more sooner than later.

DMPLS: Welcome back! Having daily buddies helps so much!

Cyn: Glad to hear you're getting settled in. Hopefully you'll get your cable straightened out soon! The surgery date seems far off to me too, but hopefully you'll have some luck getting it moved up, if not - hang in there, once you make it through, you'll feel LOADS better. Congrats on your new baby granddaughter - very exciting!!

Emily: Congrats on your new job! ANd congrats on the 2lb loss!

Voodoo: Congrats on your 2 lb loss - HRT can really muck it up, but eventually I think you'll get used to it!? I hope!

Catherine: HOpe you find your groove soon. What's currently throwing you off?

Ok a little update from me and then I need to get to work!

So my husband has cooled off a bit from being ticked about the layoff, and so things are much less stressful at home.. I wish I could say that MY Work was easing up the stress levels too, but no such luck. My workload is out of control and there is no end in sight. I was supposed to be off today to volunteer at a children's shelter - painting the children's rooms and doing a deep clean on the entire place, but I had to cancel becuase of the growing mound of to-dos that I need to complete before the weekend. *grrr* Otherwise, all the stress has left me particularly low-energy. I strayed a tiny bit on Wednesday and ate 2100 calories for the day, but jumped back on track yesterday and I should be right in range today, even with going out to dinner tonight (my inlaws take us out about once a month) for my very favorite (Mexican!) I'm going to have the shrimp fajitas and I've got enough cals in the "budget" that I can eat 15 tortilla chips and 1/2 cup of salsa. This is absolutely my favorite meal on the planet, y'all, so I couldn't be looking more forward to it!

Anyway - with the low energy, I've still made it to the gym, but i've not given it my full dedication. Yesterday I clipped my "run" short (still did my strength training) by about 10 minutes so I could make sure I was at work on time for an early meeting. This morning I skipped the strength training (today was supposed to be an off day anyway, so no big deal), but instead of doing the couch to 5k program I SHOULD be doing, I just mostly walked the 35 minutes. I did put it at a higher speed than usual, but I definitely didn't push it - I don't think my heart rate got above 145 at all. Bah.

Tomorrow I'm playing in a KICKBALL tournament for a local charity. Hopefully I'll get some good sleep tonight and be ready for that tomorrow. Our first game is at 9:30 and the tournament goes all day until almost 7 pm. I don't want to lose becuase I'd like to see our charity win all the proceeds, but I'm not sure I'm up for ALL DAY. I need to brush up on my kickball - I haven't played since .. maybe 3rd grade!? LOL

Ok, back to work. Have a great day/weekend gals, Happy Friday!

susannahc - I went to the Halloween store last night, holy crap there are a lot of sexy costumes. NO WAY I could fit into them, but I was like "I want to be a witch...just not a stripper witch" lol. They even had like a sexy serial killer one...lol

By the way I used to live in Maryville Missouri, about two hours away from KC. LOVE the Plaza! I miss it! Used to love that place a lot and we used to eat at a place called Andres. Fond memories.

Jacquie: Andre's is awesome. They have such great "ladies who lunch" type lunches - quiches and delicate salads. Not to mention the chocolates! I work only a few blocks from the plaza, but I haven't been there in ages.

Good morning Ladies,

Cyn Grats on the new grand baby.

Berneice welcome back !

Emilymay good job on the two lbs gone and on the new job

Voodoo At least you lost and didn't gain.

Kayle- Good Morning

Catherine- You will get there, the plateaus are the worst

Hbieber- It is because of the TOM. It takes me two full weeks after TOM for the water weight to go away.

Jacquie- Congrats on the smaller size.

Annie_ I hope all is well with you

Susannah- My daughters friend, who is a detective, gave me the work out routine it's part of their workout. I tell you it works, I'll try and type them up and then post them on the boards if anyone is interested. I went from a 51 inch bust to 45 inch bust went from a waist size 48 inch waist to now a 40 inch waist. These won't bulk you up but help you loose inches.
I will post a pic of me in the dress when I can get it zipped up, almost there.
As for me the scale moved again and I did a full 35 min fast paced walk got my heart rate going.

I'm trying to think of a new way to destroy my scale. I've done the sledge hammer, and running it over with a car, but I feel the need for something more creative. I've been thinking about encasing it in cement and throwing it in the river, but I don't want to pollute the river. I'd love to take it out to Jasper and let a bear have at it, but then the bear might find me a tasty morsel to bulk up on before hibernating. I don't want to break my lawn mower blade on it either. I'm seriously considering a wet saw.

Well, I’ve caught up on a LOT of my homework, thankfully. Had my Litigation class yesterday, which is the one that had the ridiculous amount of homework in it. Anyhow, apparently he didn’t make the directions clear, as the 7 chapters of homework he assigned aren’t due for another FOUR WEEKS. Yeah. So I busted my behind to get them all done, and they aren’t even due yet! Ugh. I’m not the only one that did that, though, and on the bright side, now I have zero homework in that class until mid-October! Just have a bit more to finish for my Internship class, and then I have none until Wednesday. Woo! I’m kind of bummed, because I have yet to find an internship. Who would have thought it’d be so hard to work for FREE?!

I haven’t stepped on the scale since Monday…this is the longest I’ve gone without peeking. Hoping for good things on Monday, although I’ve been absolutely RAVENOUS the past few days. I haven’t gone over my calories, but I’ve eaten more than I had been. I keep getting these PMS-like symptoms, like the hunger, irritability, and whatnot, but then TOM never comes. I wish it would go ahead and regulate itself. It’s a bit unnerving that I haven’t had TOM in about 8 months….at least I know I’m not pregnant! Lol. (Andrew had a Vasectomy 3 years ago, so we’re good on that! No babies! Lol)

Well, I’m going to get to some personals, and then get my workout in! Have a fab day, ladies!

Dgramie – That means so much to me, thank you! *hugs*

Sharon – Woohoo on the -2 lbs! I know it can be frustrating when it doesn’t come off quickly, but slow and steady wins the race. (so cliché, I know…lol) Just keep at it!

Catherine – You going to change up your eating, or exercise, or what do you have in mind? You’re going to do awesomely well, I know it. You’ve already come so far!

Jacquie – I really wish that retail stores would have standard sizing for women, like they do for men…my boyfriend can buy online, or just go to a store, and pick the size, and not worry about it fitting. It’s so frustrating when I go to a store, and I’m able to wear a size 24 jeans, and then go to another store, and I have to wear a size 28! UGH!

Great new pics, btw! You can definitely tell the difference in your upper body & your face. Spectacular!

Heather hb – Don’t get down on yourself. The scale is evil, as Heather said. I know it can be a bummer when your weight goes up, but remember that your body retains water, and that it likes to fluctuate on a daily basis. I think you’re doing well not to get on the scale everyday…I really think that can actually be a deterrent, at least in my experience, because if I’d be up even .1 of a pound, I’d get depressed, and think I’m a failure. We are so much more than what the scale says, so please just keep your head up, and keep on truckin’!

Susannah – I’ve slightly unburied myself….and I’m on the downward slope of that mountain! lol

Yum! Enjoy the Mexican food! We have this great authentic place about 20 mins away, and it’s totally my weakness. Ooooh, kickball sounds fun. And it’ll be some great exercise. Good luck tomorrow!

Tracy – How are you this fine morning?

Susannah - what's your favorite KC Mexican - ours is Ponaks.

Jacquie - you are gorgeous - your pictures show such a change.

Bernice - great to see you back - where ya been?

Hey! GGG: I didn't know you were in Kansas City too! I'm not sure which I would call my favorite. I like different things at different places. I will agree that Ponak's is the best for margaritas :-) I used to really love this little dive over in Wyandotte county called "Jalisco" but it has declined over the last couple of years. I like Margarita's pretty well, but my husband isn't a fan. He likes Abuelo's best - which is where we are going tonight. I also like the chips and guacamole at Baja 600 (plaza) - but that's pretty much not on the diet anymore

I'm originally from Texas, so I might be a little more biased towards Tex-Mex style places.

Thank you ladies for all of your input i am feeling better now than i was earlier and im still on plan because the scale may be up 2 lbs but i know that when i look in the mirror my body image is different than it was and that reminds me that i have changed and that im not gonna let 2 lbs rule me! i have come to far for that and i know 100% that this website is a god send for me and all you ladies really help keep me positive on days like today which i am sure this will not be the only time that i will have a gain on the scale cause i know as i move down the scale that i will have more plateaus as i get closer to my goal weight so thank you ladies for everything today you have all helped me in a big way *hugs*

I have a question though...my sister said that maybe i should up my exercise but i am already doing 45-1.5hrs every day do you ladies think i need to do more? and i havent been doing anything with weights i have just been doing my walk away the pounds workouts but i have like 5 different ones that i rotate during the week so my body doesnt get use to the same workout but do you think i should start adding some strength training exercises with weights? im just afraid of building muscle on top of fat that is why i havent used them up until now but maybe that would help me? what do you ladies think?

Tracy - TY! Love being smaller sizes, though I do keep in mind sizing is subjective to the store hahaha. I just like being able to get like normal looking pants. The thing is NOW I see more variety of clothing available for us big girls! I remember like 5 years ago trying to find an outfit to wear and I swear it was like giant mumu looking things, fake stretchy jeans, and nautical wear. I could have been looking in the wrong places, but I don't remember seeing the fashion that is out there now. It is liberating to see that!

Kayleystar - I hate that too! I have noticed that the sizing at Target is running smaller than say at the Avenue. I think what they do is, at some places, they take say a size 8 and size that up. However, a place like like the Avenue or Lane Bryant (too expensive for me) cater to curvy women, so you are going to find a better fit anyhow. I'm still a size 24-26 jeans...It is hared as I have big hips, so if I can get it over my hips I'm good. By the way I LURVE your hair. You have a wonderful and fun look about you. I loved your pictures you put up from the wedding.

gggirls - TY I love your pictures too. I look at the picture thread from time to time and see who's who.

susannahc - Andres...lovely place. I also used to live in Texas, during some of my childhood, and lived in Wichita Falls and Dallas. Now I'm in New Jersey, it was hard to find a good tex mex place here, but did find one years ago...it had tex mex and cajun food. It was really good, almost like what you get in Texas. Though now I don't eat that stuff lol...don't eat dairy or meat.

There was a tex mex place in St. Joseph I believe, an hour from KC, called Barbados? Something like that...they had amazing cheese and onion enchiladas. I wonder if they are still around? Of course St. Joseph also had a cool restaurant run by a local cult. They kept trying to get me to be a member, but their food was awesome. haha

Honestly...that depends on you. Some people do oodles of exercise, some people don't. It also depends on the type of exercise you're doing. Some people focus on strength, others cardio, some a mixture. Are you doing a lot of cardio versus strength? Building muscle is great though, don't underestimate or fear that. You can even use 1 pound wrist weights, I just got a pair, when you go walking.

Personally, I don't believe my body gets used to a certain type of exercise. It just wants activity, i get bored, so I need variety, but I do want a mix of walking, cardio, and strength (including yoga). I'm not consistent is my problem, as I've been whining about for awhile haha. I personally, for me, think that 1-2 hours a day is enough. But I really think it is a personal choice in the end, so I don't believe in "what you should be doing" as that is subjective. That is just my two cents.

I mean I recently read about a guy who loves to take 5 hour walks, yet one of my books I have about raw food, the author does 1-2 hours of workout 5-6 days a week. So, it depends.