Neesy- Welcome home!! Good for you maintaining. I understand the frustration of working hard and not losing but you will lose again. Rest and get better first!

Dance- Sorry about all of the snow. It is making national news! I miss it so much. I knew it was going to be a rough winter because of our spring. Last winter was nothing!! =( Making me home sick. Sorry about your bf. Might be a good weekend to go out with friends OR make a snow man =) Also... I will be home at Christmas so I would love it if we could have coffee or a drink!

Lindy- NO PEPSI!!!!:woohoo: That is huge. I love pepsi so much that if I could make it work I would drink 100% of my calories. I know how hard it is and how easy it is to reach for one so I am so impressed!!! And I am sure once halloween is over you will do better with sweets. Its so hard. Oh and I would love if Tiff would come back!

Stacie- Hope you are having fun with your family! Wish we could have seen the scare last night =)

As for me. I am still heavy on the scale because of TOM and my breakdown. I reversed all of my hard work. Now that I am really counting and not fudging I am hoping to see real results. French toast for breakfast =) Excited!!

Ok Burgundy, you cyberstalker!! You found me!! :)

Sorry I have been away, life has been so overwhelmingly busy. Let me give some details...

I was sick the endtire second week of October, remember I cancelled the session with Mr. Hott? Well, it took awhile to get over, and I was trying to force myself not to get sick and worked out, and then I crashed. Not sure what it was, but it was not good.

Last week, was ok. Didn't go to the gym as often as I would have liked, had my session with Mr. Hott and boy did he kick my but. One legged squats...are you kidding me?!?! Then sumo squats, rowing, and medicine ball squats. I was wrecked! Got to the gym here and there and began watching my eating. This week I have begun getting back into my groove, which is hard since I didn't hold myself to working out every other day. I'm working out yesterday, today, tomorrow, then off on Friday and Mr. Hott on Saturday.

Worked it out with my hubby and we decided that I will continue with my personal training until I reach my goal. With Mr. Hott, I have yet to plateau (knock on wood) and he really tries to vary my workouts. He said that his goal is for me to reach my goals, which is important to have a trainer on the same page. So, I'm commited to my journey, and I'm just about half way there, so that's exciting! I was 226 this morning, so, only 2 more pounds to reach 50 pounds lost!

I'll post more on everyone else, but wanted to check in with everyone. Hope you are all doing well.

Dance-about Biggest Loser. I am just a sucker for success stories. I know the weight loss is not attainable for me, I am not working out 6+ hours a day. It just keeps me motivated to stay with this. I have not had any halloween candy, even on Sunday with tons around for the kids, I didnt touch it. Oh I am not looking forward to the snow making its way here.

Lindy-I know too, if I werent part of this forum, I would have given up a long time ago. You are a great motivator to me, we started out around the same weight(well I was 16 lbs heavier than you) you have done so well through this. I know if I buckled down and did some of the things you do, I would see better results. I am not saying 31 lbs is bad, cos its great for. I have always seemed to lose slowly. I am so glad to have all you girls and cant wait to meet each and every one of you. Yay for not having a pepsi today.

Neesy-great job maintaining while on vacation, its hard. Rest up while you are sick. I was there last week and spent the majority of my time on the couch.

Aj-you will do great this week now that you have your head back on straight. How was your french toast, not a fan!!

Maddiesmom-lol, I am good at finding people. So glad you checked in, I was going to FB you but facebook hates me this week. Sounds like a good idea sticking with Hott trainer for a while. That should be exciting for you to reach 50 lbs soon. Glad you are feeling better.

I have my niece and nephews here now, they are all enjoying some video games. I pulled out the wii fit last night and I havent used it in 45 days, but I was down 9 lbs since I last used it. Gonna start using it more and more. I need to walk/run more too before it gets too cold. I am not like Dance, I am a wuss in the cold. I grew up in AL, not MI. I have been here almost 10 years but still not used to how cold it gets and all the snow.

Cant wait til 11/1. I dont think there will be much difference in my pics from 10/12 but still excited to see everyone else.

maddiesmom - welcome back and congrats on doing so well! Sorry you had to deal with being sick for so long! Wow on the one-legged squats- that's totally impressive.

aj - I've got plans to keep myself busy Thurs and Fri night - just need to figure out what I'm going to do on Halloween itself but that shouldn't be too hard. Are you getting to know people where you live at all? The adjustment must be hard. I have a strong feeling that you're going to see a whoosh week now that you're buckled down!

burgundy - you're one of the original members of this thread, right? Are you and Lindy the only original posters that are still around regularly? You are just cranking along and onederland is right around the corner - I bet you'll be there by Thanksgiving if not sooner. Are you planning any special rewards for reaching 199? Sure seems like you deserve it!

Hi ladies,

Well I made it yesterday without much delay. My body knew it was on vacation and I slept in the airport, on the plane, and then another 12 or so hours after! I feel like poop run over. I decided to give myself a break today and just sleep and chill out and going to make my sister MAKE me eat enough and go to the gym tomorrow. But today I am a lump.

I feel very icky, fat and unattractive and just gross. I have to figure out how to manage this better when I get back. By managing I mean the job, the hours and these stupid falling off the wagon things. I wonder how I can get this on my blackberry.

When I was reading through everyone's posts, I get a lot of inspiration here, I need to log on much more often, especially now. Everyone seems back on track and I need to get there too...sigh.

Sorry I am such a downer today. I just feel really exhausted. Maybe a bit of recreational exercise today wouldn't be a bad thing.

Be back tomorrow with a much better outlook!!!

Staccie - glad you got there and are getting some rest! Ok, here are my tips for when you have a hard time staying on track - you use dailyplate to track your food and exercise, right? If not - give it a shot. I enter in advance everything I plan on eating for the day (this is only when I know I need a push) and how much exercise I plan on doing and make sure I'm happy with the results. Then the rest of the day I keep checking on what I allotted myself for each meal and entering in my exercise. I'm optimistic in the mornings so I usually make myself a pretty good plan while I'm having coffee. Give it a shot for a few days and see how it goes. It seems to minimize the slips for me.

Maddiesmom- awesomet hat you get to stick it out with Mr. Hott! Your lucky your husband is so supportive with the whole thing, that was the issue with my ex, he wasnt- at all. But it seems like most of the girls in here do have supportive husbands, I was the exception. Anyway- kudos to you for keeping up with the loss, you are doing phenominal.

Stacie- your on vaca...your entitled to a couple of blah days. Lord knows I had several on the cruise! lol. Just try to be good and relax. Not being stressed is also a key part of weight loss, but you have been holding up pretty well lately, for the most part.

Ok, I wont have time to check in the rest of the day, so Ill catch you ladies tomorrow.

Vicky- Welcome back and we missed you! Great job staying on track. I know getting back into is hard.

Staccie- Relax! You really need this after last week. The last few weeks actually. I know you miss it there and every one there missed you. Just try to track what you eat so you know how hard you have to work later =)

Lindy- Have a good night. Hope this day was a million times easier than the last few.

Dance- Are you snowed in yet? It looks wet but not really white on the traffic cams. Maybe tonight. I am really trying and its not the usual but I did notice something...

I notices on my daily plate in just 1.5 days that I still eat WAY to many carbs. I mean WAY WAY to many. I use to eat 4 times this so you can only imagine. So I am rethinking my weekly menu and I will try to stay away from starch for the rest of the day!!! I am going to walk in the gym.

aj - totally hear you on carbs - they're the devil! what percentages are you shooting for?

I have no idea. All I know is that daily plate shows you a little graph and min is like 3/4. THATS TERRIBLE! is there a way to calculate what you should be taking in??

AJ- if you go on Nutimirror.com it can calculate the percentage for you. It will also break down good and bad carbs and tell you what are some affective methods to burn those carbs off. Just a suggestion. I dont really break down my food by fruits, veggies, carbs, protein, etc....I know I should though. For me, I just say, ok...Im going to have this much fruit today and this much veggie and maybe on carb item a day. I probably would see a bigger loss if I did though. I actually think I consume too much fruit. I can eat a whole pineapple which is equivelent to like 9 servings of fruit! plus a load of sugar.

So, despite staying up late to watch the World Series, which will behappening every night, lol...I made it to the gym today, had a pretty good workout too, I was there for an hour and 15 minutes. PLUS-tomorrow is my bodyworks class, yay!

So does anyone have any special plans this weekend?

aj - a buddy from another thread who's been super successful with her weight loss shoots for 30-30-40 (protein-fat-carbs) with the fats being healthy fats for the most part (olive oil, almonds, avocados) and keeps her calories around 1400ish. I try to shoot for 30% protein but sometimes it's hard. You might find it interesting to try for a few days.

lindy - woohoo! The workout queen is back!

My workout today is shoveling shoveling and more shoveling. We have maybe a foot and a half of snow in my area with more expected today. Looks like my girls' night tonight will be postponed.

Lindy - in answer to your question, nothing super exciting this weekend although we now have plenty of snow for snowshoeing! I'm going shopping with my mom after work on friday (got a discount card in the mail for Kohls) and then to my sis's to (this is weird) decorate plaster skulls for day of the dead. She's kind of artsy and likes doing stuff like that. Rest of the weekend has yet to be planned. Are you going to get to wear your sexy halloween costume again?

Dance - I was planning on wearing it again on Friday but my dad has decided to make a trip to visit me and since I only get to see him once a month, I decided to cancel my plans. Shoveling snow huh, lol...Id say thats a workout in its own. Not sure what Im doing for lunch, but what I need to do is drink some water, I have not had one glass of water today---going to do that now.

Catch ya girls later.

Dance-yea I have been around since late December/early January. I cant wait to see onederland, its so close I can taste it. Dont have any rewards planned for reaching 199 but may have to come up with something. I do not envy you having to shovel. I do get out as much as I can when it snows to shovel, its a good workout.

Staccie-your body is telling you something, hope you rested and are having a great time now.

AJ-I havent really been keeping track of carbs or anything but I probably should.

Lindy-great job getting back to the gym. We knew you would do it. I dont have any plans for the weekend, we already had the family fall festival. Have fun with your dad. I need to drink water too, havent had any yet.

I am down a lb today. I went ahead and changed my ticker, I really hope it sticks til Sunday. I am really wanting to make it to 202 before the end of the challenge, just dont know if it will happen in 3 days. You never know though.

Gotta get up and have some water and lunch. Have a great day everyone. I will check back later

burgundy - that is awesome - you are doing great!