I am about to start of month of regular living. I have never, in my whole life, had a "regular" job with "regular" hours. I used to bartend and wait tables, and for the last 30 years have worked as a nurse and/or a midwife. Shift work, on call work, lots of weekends, lots of nights. I don't blame pregnancies for my weight, its been work. Eating to stay awake, sugar binges for energy, and of course, wonderful clients who give me gifts of delicious home baking.
I have weaned myself off from eating this way. And I exercise more than ever.
But for the next month, I will be working some, but not on call. Not on weekends. I am planning to stick to induction very carefully, (no weird hours to throw me off) for weight loss, and exercise, several times a day, to get in shape and tone up, losing more inches. Even the days I work in the office, I am going to do at least a 45 minute walk and an hour of yoga or pilates each day.
I am really jazzed about it, and will have to plan how to manage that while at a conference for a few days. (for dietary, told them I am gluten intolerant).
I have no goal except to stick to plan and will let the weight loss and toning go where it may.
but in August when I went back to strict induction, I FINALLY got under the 170 mark, something I had been trying to do for ages.

Good on you for being dedicated! It's not easy.

What I love about having a plan to follow is I am determined to only eat what is allowed. And because I only have to do induction for two weeks and it constantly changes through OWL and the other phases I hope it will keep me interested.

But if your working odd hours I can see how it would be hard to plan ahead and stick to things. There are so many convenient carb and sugar laden foods around us at all times. Best of luck!

Best of luck to you fatmad!

Way to stick with it Fatmad! I am with you too. After awhile you just get tired of being tired. This is going to be one of those weekends where I stay on point. I'm not even drinking tonight and its my first girls nite out since having the baby in Feb. Good luck to you and all the rest of us!

one life, i have given up alcohol cause I just don't want the empty carbs and empty calories. I understand the urge to let loose and relax and enjoy a drink, but I would rather enjoy other things, the alcohol doesn't draw me much.
So for now anyhow, no drinking anything stonger than water or tea. Yes, Jersey girl, mostly water!
Did great today, went for the 45 min walk and an hour of hot yoga.
also did some outside work. I will weigh again on Monday am.

biggest problem so far is that my back is bothering me again. This happened on my vacation in August, and was quite bad, and affected my ability to exercise all month. THis time the pain is in a slightly different place. I am going to skip the yoga class today, just do some yoga at home without the back bends. Had a trail walk anyhow, and will go out walking again in a bit if the weather holds.
Otherwise eating to plan, and planning.

In the past I've used not being able to exercise as an excuse to eat bad as well (man, do we really self sabatoge ourselves this way?), so I'm glad that your staying on your eating plan at least

Back troubles can be horrible, I've had some issues in the past, even a time when I woke up and couldn't move once.

I hope your feeling better soon!

Good news: back is better, did yoga and walking today, and went to the chiropractor to try to keep it that way. In no pain at all tonight.

Bad news: haven't lost any weight. Did the weigh in this morning, no change. I am going to have to move the ticker back up if I can't get back under 170 by the end of the week.

grrr. I am going to up my fat and reduce carbs as much as possible. argh

At least you have a ticker. I'm still working on min and maybe than I can get it to go down. So do you have any idea whats stalling you?

You look like you are almost there Dandy, you only need 20 posts and 20 days as a registered member

update:
Haven't done a morning weigh in, but looks like I didn't gain while away at the conference. Didn't lose, and wasn't able to stick to strict induction, but did stick to about 30g carbs/day. Didn't get much exercise, but did some walking and yoga each day, and took the stairs when able.
Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving dinner, so will have the pumpkin cheesecake.
Will have some extra carbs with that and will have a couple of beets with my supper, a higher carb veggie that I haven't had in ages, tho its a fav for me. BUt will also enjoy Turkey and other veggies like green beans and brussels sprouts. And WONT eat the mashed potatoes, stuffing or gravy.
Will get back to walking ALOT more. Yes indeed. The back is pretty good still, so no excuses!

fatmad, happy Canadian thanksgiving! My dinner is tonight and I never know what my family will make.

I'm hoping to stay with turkey and veggies. I might have a tiny bit of potatoes because I've done so well. I told myself that one meal would be a cheat for me.

I'm actually thinking about going back on induction as well. Apparently OWL is maintenance for me haha. So I'll go back on induction Monday or Tuesday

Stephanie, owl is also maintenance for me. The pumpkin cheesecake was lovely, and certainly fulfilled my pumpkin needs. I am retaining water today, my weight was up 3 pounds from the day before, but I also noticed that for all the fluid I took in, I didn't go to the bathroom much, so will be cleansing myself with lots of water today. Back to induction, and in addition to my walk today, I will be stacking wood for exercise.