Looks like I'm here first today, so I'll get this week's thread started.

Good morning and happy Monday. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

I was not good about my exercise this weekend, so I need to rethink my plan. Weekdays are easy--I have to leave the house anyway--but on the weekend, I don't even like to get out of my jammies until I have to (I've occasionally spent all day in my jammies; housework doesn't care how I'm dressed and neither do the cats). So, if going (or not going) to the gym on the weekend isn't working for me, I need to bring the gym to me and workout at home.

I also had a cheeseburger yesterday, but I checked the calories on the web, then adjusted the remainder of my other food for the day. I went over my desired count, but not by much. I thought I was doing well.

However, the scale is slightly up this morning, and I have no one but myself to blame. Back to the gym this morning. I've measured out my breakfast, snacks and lunch, and I know what I'm having for dinner, so today should go well. It will go well.

'Nuff of that. Time to get a move on.

Kittehmomma, Thanks for starting us off! I hear you about staying in jammies all day! One of my favorite things about Saturday! Sounds like you did the right thing with the cheeseburger. You compensated for it as best you could. Time to move on!

Last week of school for me. I'm actually happy it's Monday! Ready for summer. Had hoped to see a small drop this am but I'm holding steady. Maybe tomorrow! Have a great day everyone!

I'm glad to report I had a good weekend with good eating and plenty of exercise. I was backsliding for the past 3 weeks and went back to basics. And the scale reported a new low - 131.

I feel like such a beginner in this journey and I learn new things every day. I struggle with ridding myself of the concept of "bad" foods and "wrong" ways of eating. For example, on Saturday, I ate one meal at a BBQ. I ate a huge burger (8 oz) with cheese, a lot of potato chips, and a big salad. I checked the calories online and it was about 1250 calories. I was anxious and wondered if it's okay to eat one big meal for a day, but it was nice to eat BIG for a change.

On to other news... I had something nice happen on Friday night. A friend of mine I have a crush on kissed me in the park. It was fun making out in public like a teen ager. As for us dating, I don't think it's possible. He isn't ready for a relationship with anyone & also I think the age difference puts us in different places in our lives (he's 25). I hope we remain friends because he's an amazing guy- artistic, sensitive, sweet, and kind.

My plan today is to try to get out of work early so I can prepare for my vacation. I leave for Chicago via Amtrak tomorrow & there's a lot to do. This vacation is a huge deal b/c I haven't traveled in several years and I used to live in Chicago. I will see my ex, who I refer to as the "great love of my life." It won't be romantic, but I will be nostalgic. After Chicago, I go to Detroit for a music festival over Memorial Day weekend. I plan to be dancing for 4 days straight and then crash during the 16 hour trip back.

MC- WOOT! for making out! Sounds like you had fun!

OMW - Yeah for the last week of school! My son doesn't get out until June 10.

Kitteh - Just remember no food is evil. You can have a cheeseburger if you do what you did and align the rest of your day around it.

Ange- Just singing Bali Hai in my head thinking of your vacation. I'm jealous!

Petra - How was New Orleans. Sounds like you had a good time.

WLW - I love the farmer's market. Sounds like you had fun!

Barb - The way I combat my favorite foods is eat them away from home. Want a cookie. Get ONE from somewhere. Don't bake a whole batch at home. I's easier to control portions if you go somewhere, get exactly what you've alloted yourself to have and leave.

Good news! I have cross over the 40 pounds lost line this weekend. I was excited. Ya'll have a good day!

Ack! I don't know how anyone expects me to get caught up on my threads with all these patients to deal with! Just now getting a moment to check in, I wasn't online all weekend. Did a little bit of un-healthy eating, my tummy seems to be paying for it today. But....onward!!! We'll see if the scale is kind to me later in the week.

Ange-I am so jealous of your trip to Bali. I have always wanted to go somewhere like that, probably never will.

Sounds like everyone is doing well, keeping tabs on themselves. Hugs to all.

I had to take my car in this morning to have the A/C fixed. Should only be about $700-$800! Oh, and my lawn mower stopped working AGAIN. I can see my vacation fund quickly going down the drain. I've been pretty bummed the last few days. Oh well....things could always be worse. I have my health and my family.

Hugs to all.

Bali is the closest, cheapest, place to go for us if we want to get out of Australia, so not as exotic to us as it probably sounds to you! It is lovely though. I don't normally like to go back to somewhere i've been before because there's so much else to explore, but Bali is the exception.

I've been off the diet the last couple of days. I got fed up of trying so hard and going absolutely nowhere. We had meals out with friends and all sorts over the weekend.

Tonight i'm away with work again, eating at a French retauraunt and staying in a hotel with our regional technical group. All next week i'm at a hotel on the other side of the country (Perth) for work. The week after i'm in Melbourn for 3 nights work (more flying) and I get back from Melbourne, pack my bag, and set off on this Bali holiday the same day. So basically routine is stuffed for the forseeable future.

I really need to pick myself up and get very disciplined again to get through this, but i just don't feel to have the motivation right now.

The good thing is that i'm enjoing my exercise at least, and have happily been sticking to the daily gym visits.

Ange-We totally expect pics!! Sounds like you deserve a break.

Good morning.

I was good yesterday on both the eating and exercising fronts, and I was down a pound today. That would mean more to me if I wasn't just seesawing up and down with the same couple of pounds.

Real quick, because I'm running late this morning:

Ange--I hear you about how hard it is to stay motivated when you're working so hard at it but not seeing progress. That's how I'm feeling right now. At least you're enjoying your exercise.

I hope everyone's week is going well. I'm off to the gym now.

This is it everybody. I leave for Chicago & Detroit today and I am completely thrilled. I'm packed and almost everything is done. I leave in a few hours.

I can't thank you enough for inspiring me to restart my work towards healthy goals. Since February, I have quit smoking (again), started running, mostly ended my binge eating and lost 25 pounds. For some reason, I believed in myself this time and the weight loss journey has been different. I have been able to make significant behavioral changes that are sticking.

I consider the 40-somethings my home group... I love how we all are doing interesting things in our lives and enjoying our youthfulness. Being fit at 40 has been more fun than having low self-esteem at 25. I know I will be among the oldest people at the festival, but I don't care and frankly neither do they.

I will try to post while I'm away if I can figure out how to use my new smartphone...haha. I hope I'll get some nice pictures and post them up for you.

My plan of eating is essentially the same, but the foods may be vastly different. Exercise is covered since I will be dancing a lot. But I packed running clothes in case I get a chance to take a brief 30 minute run or two.

As for binge prevention, I must take care of my sleep and emotional life. If I'm feeling lonely, I hope to pick up the phone before I pick up a pizza. And if I start binge eating, I'll put my money away in the hotel and go for a walk and call somebody.

Hi guys! Saw a new # on the scale this morning, but going to wait until Thursday or Friday to see if it sticks.....looks like I might get by with that brownie and strawberry shortcake I had over the weekend?? I now have A/C in my car and dropped off the lawn mower this morning on the way to work. We'll see what breaks next, but I'm trying not to let it get me down. It's so hard to stay positive ALL of the time, but I feel so much better when I realize things could be much worse and that I hate feeling depressed and down. Sometimes I have to force myself to smile, and then it comes more easily.

I have a friend at work who is buying those HCG drops on the internet and is going to follow their 500 calorie diet plan. She tried to talk me into it! I tried to talk her out of it! Told her (in a nutshell) that I had tried many ways and times to lose wait and finally found the way that works for me.....doing the things we all know we need to be doing in the first place (tracking calories, lowering fat, increasing fiber, exercising, lots of water...). I hope I didn't hurt her feelings, but I hate to see people throw their money away on a possible few pounds lost only to be gained back again. Well, maybe my example will rub off on her at some time. I was thinking yesterday about so many people noting my weight loss....that now I am almost obligated to keep it off to show that I did it right this time. Weird. Another reason to work on maintenance ideas now and be ready when that time comes.


Kitteh-You're doing great! Hope you enjoyed the gym this morning.

Chickie-I know you are going to have a great time on your trip! Can't wait to hear about it. I also hope to hear about your food choices, as I am wondering how I can work my healthy eating into a possible trip this summer.

Have a great day everyone! Today is the last day of school and I'm almost as excited as my boys are!!

Can we say "Whoosh?!" I actually saw a 1.5lb drop this morning : ) Hoping it sticks! What changed? I've actually increased my calories, increased the fat in my diet as well as the fiber over the last 4 days. I didn't plan it that way but it's working so I'll go with it. Drinking raw, WHOLE milk, eating roast chicken with the skin and 2 slices of whole grain toast with peanut butter instead of just 1 for breakfast. The peached from the farmers market are awesome! The fruit crisp I made using mostly oats, crushed walnuts and some ground flax was super yummy, ate it all over a 2 day period (it was a small batch) I've been starving the last couple of days so I know my metabolism is kicking up again. And I did increase my walking as well, again not planned, but a matter of necessity. If I see the new number 3 times then I'll adjust my ticker. Nothing else is going well so I'm going to celebrate this little victory today : )

I just spent a little time getting caught up on you all.

MC-enjoy your trip to Chicago. I hope it turns out to be everything you are hoping.

Kim-congrats on your 40 lbs. Hope you get some answers at the gastroenterologist.

Annie-you seem to be having a run of bad luck lately but good for you for not using it as an excuse to eat badly. It won't help anything.

Ange-Bali? I guess maybe it is like Hawaii for us. Have a great time. We expect pictures.

OMW-isn't it about time for that vacation for you?

Kathi-yeah, moving sucks! I hope I stay in this house a long time too because I hate moving so much. Glad your scale is cooperating.

Heidi, Becky, anyone else who is hibernating, I hope you are doing well.

I love New Orleans but I am happy to be home and my doggies are very happy to be home. Yes, my scale is up today but I'm going to wait till the end of the week since I'm sure some of it is water retention from all that restaurant food. I also ate some things I wouldn't normally eat......can you say beignets? On the same line as funnel cake for all of you who haven't been to New Orleans. Whoever made the comment about not bringing trigger food into the house. I have the same rule-if I'm going to eat it, I will eat it out but I don't bring it home.

I went to a lecture on weight loss at the conference. The lecturer uses the Beck Diet Solution materials. I'm not really familiar with that so I may at least decide to read it. I found I probably knew as much about what it takes to successfully lose weight as the person giving the lecture and more than almost everyone else in the audience. Some of them were really clueless which almost horrified me cause this was a bunch of psychiatrists.

KittehMomma – weekends are hard for me, too. In my case, I feel guilty taking time away from the family to exercise. BUT, I talked about that with DH recently and he has told me never to feel guilty about exercising; good to know I have his support!

OnMyWay – great job maintaining the -10, I’m sure the rest will start soon…

MotivatedChickie – If you see this, have a great vacation!

Wizzie – I love your new avatar; you look great!! Great job on the 40 pounds!

AnnieDrews – sorry to see things conspiring against your vacation funds; hopefully things will cost less than you think… Another topic – wow, look at those 25 pounds you have dropped! I’m so glad your hard work is getting noticed and paying off!!

Ange82much – great job sticking with the gym. I’m sure the eating will follow course, soon. It’s a long road, both losing the weight and keeping it off, and it’s not going to be linear. Just work on not gaining, and I’m sure losing will kick back into gear soon.

WeightlossWanted – I’m so happy for your whoosh!

Petra – thanks for the shout out. Yes, I can say beignets!! It was 20 years ago that I had them but oooh, the memory lasts long… yum! We were young when we went there and New Orleans was so expensive, all we could afford for breakfast was beignets and coffee!! Happy memories…

Here, life chugs on. We joined a gym, which I’m really excited about. Too bad it is so darned competitive to get a spot in the spinning class! I have to call first thing tomorrow morning to get my name on the list for Saturday. Ugh. But we’re looking forward to an active summer. Lots of pool time for the boys, and we signed them up for tennis lessons, too. Me, I’m going to try to go to a class 3x a week, but we’ll see how that goes. Generally I don’t like group exercise, but I’ve heard how great spinning is so I want to give it a try.

My weight is stable. I wasn’t able to maintain that original whoosh from the surgery, but I’m sticking at 161 +/- So, my 4 weeks of recovery is up and I’m hoping that by increasing activity I’ll be able to start losing again. I’m feeling really great, which I’m really happy to report.

Hey everybody! I hope everyone is well and that your scale is being good to you. I have gained a pound, I am at 213. The meds I take are known weight gainers so I am happy I have not gained more. I plan to start walking more this weekend.

I am really looking forward to the weekend. 3 whole days off work! I plan to paint and have a few friends over for dinner.
What are your plans for Memorial Day weekend?

Good morning.

I am sticking to plan so far this week. Yesterday I jogged on the treadmill for twenty plus minutes and did better than I thought I would. This morning is the aerobics/strength training class again. Feeling good. I'm also taking more vitamin D, and I think that is helping me, too. I know, there's a big fusion ball in the sky for vit D, but here in the PNW, it's shy and tends to hide--a lot. (We'll start seeing the sun more often beginning July 5th.)

Hydra--that's hard, when you need to take meds that work against your weight loss. Sound like you're handling it.

Newleaf--yay on DH supporting your goals. I hope you enjoy your gym experience. I actually like doing group gym stuff part of the time--I find working out alone boring. Funny, since I'm a major introvert (my idea of heaven is to be alone with a good book and a comfy chair).

Petra--I've heard of beignets, but I've never tried one. They sound delicious. Glad you had a great time in New Orleans.

WLW--I've noticed a similar phenomenon on occasion, and I wish I knew the mechanism for it. Maybe eating too little made your metabolism slow way down? And now that you're eating more, your body feels like the famine time is over?

Annie--I have to confess, I was looking at HCG and wondering if it works. What stopped me from doing more than looking was the knowledge that most of these weight loss aids only work if you also eat right and exercise regularly. That's funny about feeling obligated to keep your weight down--but, hey, whatever works!

Chickie--have a great trip.

Okay, I'm off to gym. After that, I'm taking a class this morning, and sometimes they have treats, so I'm making sure I've got my snacks packed--don't want to backslide.

Oh, and I'm down a pound!