Unna, the answer you know is....its all about the volume. Remember that old riddle: what weighs more a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?

When I'm feeling snacky, I go for high volume low calorie. Even a big salad eaten before a slice of pizza can make me feel like I ate the whole pizza! By the time I savor that last bite of one slice, I'm full and satisfied. Top that off with a good flavored coffee, and I'm a happy girl!

Counting calories is teaching me a lot about food. I wish I had this information at my fingertips years ago. The internet rocks! You ladies rock!

k15 - congrats on reaching your goal. Way to go.
Jiggle - 4 more pounds....easy peasy, hug and squeezy! You can do it.
fruitlady - you got this! You've done it, you can do it!

All, continued wishes for success and for strength to get over the hurdles.

Hugs, Donna

124chicksinger: I do believe in volume - in eating a big salad or an apple before a meal.

However, my stomach/body is starting to catch on to my 'volume' trick. Sometimes it realizes that the volume is mostly water and fiber!

Oh well, no one said this would be easy!

Anyway, am desperately hanging on - but still made my 1600 cal. day on Saturday! I hope everyone is hanging on with me - some days are just hungrier than others.

CONGRATULATIONS! Yippee!

Great job! :carrot:

Just a quick check in today. I stayed OP yesterday, and hopefully I’ll be able to do the same today. I ended up eating in the higher end of my calorie range yesterday when I’d planned on sticking to the lower end, but I made same low-cal brownies for Thanksgiving dinner tonight and just had to try one (or 2). Thankfully, they were only 50 cals. Despite that, I woke up and weighed in at 169 lbs today, which means I’m finally in the overweight BMI range! I’m so excited! And it’s the perfect motivation for to stay OP today and not overindulge at dinner.

I have totally been stinking at this! I have enlisted the help of my iphone app "mynetdiary" so that I can keep up with everything. I have had one day OP and 2 days off plan so far, today was a little off, but not bad. I hope to continue to be CLOSE to the mark.

todays: 2232 cals; 211 net carbs; 85g protein.

I added ideal sweetener to my diet to cut a few calories. Today wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't eat too much dark chocolate.

I stayed on plan calorie-wise all weekend (not going over 1600), but my exercise plans backfired terribly!

We had chosen two new jogging trails, but the weather here was super cold and raining hard. On Sunday we got the umbrellas out and walked to the city center and back, 1 hr. 30 minutes. But no sweat was broken this weekend!

The weather is still dark, but no heavy droplets - so I'm going to try and get back on cardio track today (Monday). I'm not feeling any skinnier today than last week, jeans still feeling the same - oh..... weight loss can be so anti-climactic!

I'm hoping to reach 159 by Halloween - but according to the way I feel right now, I don't know if that is going to happen.

This may be TMI, but I think I'm ovulating right now. Any thoughts on ovulation and weight loss????

SparkleBE: Congrats! That is a huge NSV!

jendiet: chocolate is a calorie restriction killer. Get it out of the house!

Phat: good to see you again! Sorry to hear about your miserable TOM. Glad that's over for you!

Sparkle: congrats on the overweight BMI! I remember when I hit that milestone, I was like "Now I'm just plain old fat!" LOL. Still sounds so much better than "obese", doesn't it??

Jen: I use an iphone app too (Lose It). Wouldn't be able to do this without it!

Everyone I missed: hope you had a great weekend!

I did OK over the weekend. Friday cals were right on point at about 1600. Rest day from exercise. I didn't log Saturday and didn't do "formal" exercise, but we were super busy all day winterizing the RV, cleaning, etc. Had my planned weekly "cheat" meal...fajitas! Yum :) Sunday I was a little high (1750), but still acceptable. Again, no formal exercise, but very busy running around getting things done.

Today I should come in around 1600 cals if I stick to my plan. Will take a hike with the dog if the weather's nice, otherwise I think I might start back into my weight training. (Took a break from weights over the summer.)

Have a great Monday!

Good Day Ladies!!!
My husband and I are going to start P90X today. I'm rather nervous because I was looking at portions of the workout and am a little nervous. It looks like it will be something and if I stick with it I will be in my size 10 by the New Year. I may need some prayer for this one!!! LOL

I'm going to have to increase my calories looking at what it's going to take to get me where I'm trying to go and continue with the rest of my life.

Glad to see everyone doing pretty well still. 21 more days to go!! Make them count. I learned if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit so let's make this last 21 days a habit forming time.

Monday is looking up! I got my 45 min. jog in, ate 1450 cal. (below my limit), and made substantial progress on my research project.

jigglefree: why do you have to increase your calories?

Unna - They suggest that I eat 2500 for living and the intense workouts. I try to stay below 1300.

Jiggle, wow, that's quite a discrepancy! I don't think I could live on >1300 for any length of time, and I only do moderate exercise. Hope you find a good balance for yourself.

Tonight, I'm happy to say I walked the dog AND did 20 minutes of weights. Slowly working my way up to more intense exercise. Feeling good :)

Hi all! It sounds like everyone is doing very well and moving forward.
Phat: I'm sorry you have not been feeling very well :( :hug:
Jendiet: Keep at it. This takes time and practice! I definitely have days and weeks where I eat WAY too much. Keep counting and keep at it and making small changes!
Unna: Awesome work with your jogging!!
Northern: Awesome work staying OP, or close to it! Also, great job increasing your exercise times and intensity! That definitely is a gradual process I'm finally learning!!

I had an AWESOME backpacking weekend. It was grueling, exhausting but somehow so beautiful! I had points where I just wanted to cry, and even did. The one friend that went said, "I learned the difference between walking and hiking this weekend." I TOTALLY agree! Before this I thought I was a great hiker! MAN I WAS WRONG! LOL.
We hiked a total of 14miles over 2 days. We hiked up 3200 feet (hubby and I didn't do the peak which was another 600 feet up and a mile further). So we covered a mile just in going up and down. It was pretty brutal for us!
The points I did notice:
-My joints didn't bother me like they would've in the past. That makes me happy, because I have been trying to strengthen them
-I like uphill better than downhill, so I need to focus on strengthening different leg muscles. Lunges anyone?
-It helped hubby to see that he needs to get back in shape!! (I've been trying to help him see it, but this I'm thinking really helped him!)
-I realized that my 4 months of exercising did help. I know I need a TON more work, but I did make some progress. When I started working out in June, I don't think I could've accomplished what I did this weekend.
-Creation is absolutely beautiful!
-Another point, we had dinner at a local restaurant there before getting on the road to home and it was my first meal in 4 months that I did not worry about calories at all. I enjoyed my meal and was 100% satisfied. I definitely over indulged, but I didn't care. I get so stressed out when I eat something I really shouldn't. I will see eat my treat or whatever, but I stress out as I'm doing it. It felt so relieving to have a meal and not care one bit that it was probably about 1,500-2,000 calories, which included a Guiness that so hit the spot after that hike!

This was a really awesome learning experience for me. Not just for learning how to backpack and really "rough it", but also on how far I've come, what I can do and what I can keep working on! It was well worth it!
Oh, and I did pinch my hand when I was clipping my backpack to my hips. A very small tiny cut, but I can actually say that I put my "blood, sweat and tears" into this trip! So awesome.
I will try to post a couple picture's too!

jigglefree: I suppose 1300 is possible, but eating 200/300 more calories is still going to allow you to lose weight and feel more satisfied.

tdiprincess: I'm so jealous. I love hiking!

For me everything is still OP. Let me just say again that I am OP because of two new additions to my calorie counting:

1. Counting from 6pm - 6pm.
2. Adding a low-cal natural protein drink.

I'm not feeling any 'skinnier'. But I guess maybe that feeling just happens to most during the first month???

I just realized that I haven't updated my miles in a while. I did decrease my goal from 250 to 150 in hopes that I may be able to meet that one.
Last week I got in 7 during the week, 15 over this weekend and 1 mile the other weekend. So that gave me a total of 23down.

89.35 down, 60.65 to go