Laura G - Welcome! I also don't have a WL goal for this challenge. I am in another Halloween challenge, and my goal for that one is to break out of the 160s by the time I rock my costume...but for this challenge I just wanted to make sure I track accurately every single day.

My favorite tip: using veggies to increase volume. Like tuna salad? chop in generous amounts celery, red onion, green peppers, and cucumbers. Suddenly your one can of tuna has produced four servings of tuna salad for minimal calories.

Sneak veggies in wherever you can: Want that slice of pizza? Load it up with mushrooms, onions, olives, broccoli (whatever you enjoy). Thinking about a burrito? Try it with refried beans instead of meat. Or maybe skip the tortilla and enjoy the ingredients in a bowl. (yum)

Also, greek yogurt is a godsend. It is really versatile and relatively low in calories. I can't stand the stuff plain (though many people swear by it), but for substitutions in recipes its glorious!

Goals:

Get an exercise regimen down.
Lose 10 lbs.
Get acquainted with calorie counting.

Wish I could use my signature! 'doh too bad I'm just a newb

Welcome Laura and Fuzed!

The biggest tip for calorie counting: get a good food scale!!

So, I'm staying on track with exercising and eating (jogged: 6.5km and ate: 1745 cal.). I'm going to be weighing in soon - it will be interesting to see! It has been a solid month OP. I am hoping to be closer to 160. My jeans are starting to feel better- hopefully that is a good sign (not just a sign that I need to wash my jeans).

Hello all. I'm just checking in, reading a few posts back. Just wanted to root root root for us all.

I’ve having a good week so far, although my TOM is here. This is always the hardest part of the month for me, so I have to keep reminding myself to stay on plan and not give in to my cravings. At least it’s the beginning of the month, so hopefully everything will get better from here on out.

Unna: lol at the jean comment. Whenever mine start to feel lose, I always wonder if I’m losing weight or if they’re just stretching and need to be thrown in the dryer.
Fused: Welcome! Last month, I was a newbie - soon you won’t be a new and you’ll have your signature
Tinner: Good idea to use greek yogurt in recipes… I’ve never thought of doing that.
Laura: Welcome! For me, counting + writing down what I eat (and actually making myself write down everything I eat, whether or not I stayed on plan) was my most important step. It can be hard on those days when I’m not perfect, but that way I feel like I can’t ignore my mistakes and instead can try to figure out why I went off plan and hopefully prevent it next time.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Hey, I weighed in this morning at 163!

Here is a little background: I visited my parents August 2011 in America. They have a digital scale in their bathroom, I hopped on one morning and found the number 170. I vowed to start making changes immediately.

I started 'unofficially' dieting just by cutting back on portion sizes and putting in more exercise time.

I planned to officially start calorie counting on September 1st, once I returned home. My plan was 1700 cal. a day, with exercise. I weighed in on September 15 at 165. Today, a week after my period, I weighed in at 163.

I will weigh again after TOM in early November. The thing I want to change is:

Decreasing to 1600 calories a day.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy for now - the scale is at least slowly moving in the right direction and 163 is looking much better than 170. I can't weight myself daily because I start to doubt and question my rational methods.

Today: planning on jogging another 6.5k on the canal. Hopefully staying within/under 1600.

One thing that I am doing differently this time: If I do go over my calorie limit for the day, I carry the extra calories over to the next day. This helps keep me more accountable.

Thank you for the welcome.

I've adopted the trick of starting my calorie count at 6pm - just before supper I have a whole new day of calories - I find that this way I don't feel deprived - I still stick to my calorie allotment, but I find it easier to eat lighter at breakfast and lunch, and eat til I'm satisfied at supper. I hate having to come in under a goal at my fav meal, so by making my tighter calorie budgets brekkie and lunch I think I may be able to stick to this WOE. For my first day, I am a little under budget, and I have religiously tracked and recorded every calorie consumed! I feel great _ I still have room for a small snack this afternoon if I am hungry, and if not, well - good for me!

Day one - officially OP!

Laura G: 1800 calories is nothing to sneeze at! I'm pretty sure I ate more than that when I was your weight and I lost like 3 lbs/week for the first several months. If you're losing at a comfortable pace, I say eat as many calories as you can! The bad part about getting smaller is you don't get as many cals (But of course it's all worth it in the end!)

So I had a pretty good day yesterday. I gave into a roll at work in the morning, but I could "afford" it since I had a low-cal fish dinner planned. Ended up at the higher end of my caloreis instead of the lower...but at least I was still in my budget. Got about a 20 minute walk with the dog in (with some pretty steep hills...tried to make the best use of my time.) Wish I had had 30 minutes or more, but we've just been so busy lately, I literally have no time some nights.

I DO have time for my 60 mintue zumba class after work today, so at least that's one "good" workout I'll get this week! I'm on track for about a 1560 calorie day, so it's all good there.

I will be interested in what happens Friday for WI. If I'm not down at least a lb, I will have to tweak my plan. Other than adding in more exercise (which I need to do anyway) I'm really hoping I don't have to cut my cals too much. I'm pretty satisfied with what I'm eating now...but we gotta do what we gotta do, I guess!

Hi all! Just a quick check-in... Monday went pretty good. I did eat around 1550 in calories, but I circuit trained pretty hard and I was quite hungry when I got to 1400 calories.
Yesterday was craziness. We took a 5 hour (each way) roadtrip unexpectedly. I ate quite badly...and did not get to exercise.
Today I've walked 2 miles according to the pedometer. I want to exercise, but need a snooze. I'm debating on 30DS or circuit. I think I'll circuit and do 30DS tomorrow. Eating is going good today. Healthy and on target thusfar.

Seems like everyone is doing pretty good!
Laura and fused!!

So, Wednesday I was tired! I hadn't slept well and was just feeling totally lethargic, working on my research paper on and off. I managed a 25 minute run in the drizzling rain and walked 30 - 40 minutes, light grocery shopping and mailed a few letters (I don't own a car, I walk or bike everywhere).

My calories still magically reached 1700, even though I was shooting for 1600 - oh well. I'll try again today!

SparkleBE: I think most of us experience a swoosh on the scale after TOM - just keep thinking about that! And sometime I like to suck on a frozen square of dark chocolate for 25 cal.

Laura G: I've heard of others starting their calorie count at 6pm - I'm going to start this too, change it up! We can compare our progress together!

NorthernExposure: If you've already lost so much doing what you are doing, I'd stick with it and be patient. Not continually tweaking.... sometimes it just takes time. I would also look to do more exercise / not eating less.

Ekicna: you have a ball to attend? Let us know about your process and progress!

tdiprincess: road trips make eating within a calorie budget SO hard! Last time I did that I wracked up 2000 calories in no time.

The weather here is SO great - meaning it is dark and drizzly (sort of like Seattle or Paris, it rains often). I love dark days - you can cozy up in big sweaters and work with a mug of tea.

Today will be my first official day of not snacking between meals. Mainly because I snack not because I am really hungry, but because I am procrastinating or somewhat bored with my work. If I cut unnecessary snacking, I think it will make my healthy transformation easier. We'll see!

I am in love with starting my count at 6pm. It makes everything a no-brainer. I measure out my supper, and then when I am done, I measure out my lunch for the next day from the leftovers (I previously had NO experience with having leftovers - I always ate it all). So, two meals taken care of with minimal effort, and breakfast is easy - usually some cereal and yogourt, or a protein shake ( I have a hard time getting enough protein in, especially since I am allegeric to eggs...) The point of this is that I'm halfway thru day 2, still OP, and coming in on target for calories every day so far. I mean, although I still have a few hours left until the end of my day, everything is prepared and waiting, and I brought it all with me, so there is no cheating! Yahoo! I can already count day 2 as done successfully!

Unna: cutting out snacks - that's ambitious! Good for you! Just keep your hands and mind occupied, and you will do it no problems!

Northern: I agree with Unna - increase calories out, don't decrease calories in. Decreasing cal's in slows you r metabolism, thus requiring even fewer calories, whereas as exercise ups your metabolism, giving you more freedom, or at least lets you stay with the amount of calories you are satisfied with! (none of this is new, I'm sure )

Ekicna: What kind of a ball? Firemans? Are you wearing a fancy dress? WIll you post pics afterwards? (I'm a touch envious - can you tell?)

tdiprincess: good for you for not letting your less than stellar day get you off track! Way to go getting right back on the wagon - I hope the unexpected road trip was for a good and happy cause, not something sad.

Hello to everyone else I missed, and thanks for the support!

Laura G: I just completed my calorie counting day from 6pm - 6pm. It worked amazingly! I hit my 1600 cal. goal for the first time! Thank you for mentioning the 6pm to 6pm thing again... I had heard of it but never tried it.

There is something psychological about starting your new calorie day at 6pm that is wonderful! I'm sold. I think because it is only a few hours before you hit 6pm and can eat again.

That is MUCH better than thinking you will have to 12 - 14 hours before eating again. That sort of freaks me out.

Anyway, besides hitting my 1600 target more comfortably and feeling accomplished for it, I also did a 6.5 km (45 min) jog. The weather here is still amazing: drizzly and dark and slightly windy all day. I love this weather.

Happy Thursday!

Unna & Laura: Thanks for the encouragement/advice. I'm just getting a bit frustrated as I've been "back on the wagon" for about a month (I maintained my weight over the summer...needed a break) and I'm just not seeing the progress I want. I'm OK with a slow, steady loss (i.e., 1/lb week) but less than that is really just too excruciatingly slow for me to stay motivated...so I feel like I have to change *something* if I want to see different results.

But you guys might be right about trying to add more exercise vs. cutting cals. I definitely haven't been meeting my exercise goals every week lately. Hopefully after we wrap up some of the home projects we've been doing, I can get back to a more normal routine and see how that goes for a while before I cut cals.

Well, today looks like another beautiful one. I will actually have some time after work today and am thinking of walking one of the x-country ski loops by my house with the dog. The colors & smells of autumn are just so beautiful this time of year

Keeping my fingers crossed for a decent WI tomorrow!!

Hopefully this works...I'm attempting to upload a few pics from our camping trip last weekend...