Featherweights Planning & Chat for May 7th- 13th
 

The last few pounds are different, don't you think?
You get the hang of eating less and moving more and fat loss happens. You're prit darned near at goal. Or at least slimmer. Or, as Carolyn has said, almost a maintainer.
It's now that you become aware that there is 'something else' afoot here.
You could be a bit faster or stronger.
Your tummy could be a bit flatter, your shoulders a bit more shapely, your booty a bit more firm.
You, altogether, could be tighter, fitter, hotter

There's a nebulous 'something' out there. Eat less and move more become two headings with several points involved.

A new week is beginning. Take time to think it over. What can we do this week to achieve that little leap from good to better?

I missed all last week. I was at a business conference for the start of the week and then work got crazy and I couldn't catch up with the chat thread. I'm at a business conference again this week, so I may not be able to keep up again.

My SO and I have babies! Well, baby birds (house finches). A pair of house finches built a nest in our pink jasmine and the eggs hatched last week (or at least that's when we first noticed them). We saw one of the little fledglings out on the patio yesterday morning. He/she was so cute!

For the first two days this week, I'm at a business conference where I have little control over what I eat and will be exposed to tempting foods all day, so I'm just trying to maintain. But when I am home, I've been going back to what I did to lose the first 20 pounds, which is eating 1200-1300 calories per day and cutting my Tues/Thurs cardio back to only 30 min (rather than the hour I was up to before). It does seem to be working. I'm definitely down a few pounds and my clothes seem to fit a little better. I'm feeling really good that 1) I have been able to successfully drop my calories and 2) that it's working. It makes me feel like maybe I am in control after all.

Good morning!
I woke up bright and early so I went for a walk/jog. I meant to try that as soon as I got full-time (you know, new start, new habits) but haven't yet. So when I was fairly alert at 4:30 ... I got up and did it.

Almost at mini goal
 

Good morning!
:sunny: Another beautiful day today. I am going to give up alcohol until I reach my goal weight. I'm not a drinker anyway - just a beer or glass of wine on the weekend - but that lite beer Saturday did in my dieting for that day.

I weigh in on Tuesdays - give myself a chance to undo any weekend slips. The plan for this week, while I'm still dog sitting, is to have an apple in my car for the afternoon slump and no TV/snacking at night except for one small thing at around 9 p.m. Then walk the dog and read until I fall asleep.

:cool: Dagmar

Morning everyone :wave:

I had a really rubbishy end to the week - especially given that it's a holiday weekend here. I was in bed with a migraine since late Saturday morning until this morning. I have no idea what brought it on and I haven't had one in years it was a bit of a shock. I managed to weigh myself immediately I got up though :o and was 145! It won't last, I'm probably three pounds heavier already from the pints of water I've just downed as I was totally dehydrated. That didn't help the headache but i simply couldn't move to get myself any water.

Susan I hope your headache is better because you have my every sympathy.

Barbara - baby finches how cute! I love baby anythings, except humans I'm afraid.

Dagmar - I weigh in tomorrow too. I've no idea what to expect as this week went so spectacularly pear shaped.

Well, having lost the two days of my weekend I now have to go fit in all the chores in one which means getting off the computer.

My Eating/Exercise Commitment for this Week
 

4x workouts: Did treadmill/elliptical and a cool virtual bike ride yesterday
Tonight: Boot Camp
Tuesday: Light cardio
Wed: Turbo kick
Thurs: Rest
Friday: Yoga

Food:
Stay on the Core plan (WW plan that involves whole grains, emphasis on fruits/veg/lean protein, no bread or crackers)

The exercise will be key for me. I want to build up endurance so I can finally beat my husband at tennis!:strong: I take lessons every year; my form is pretty good but my stamina could be better....

Hey all! We are back from the beach & it was a lovely time with perfect weather the entire week. I was sad to leave it :) but happy just that we were able to go. We were at a beach in South Walton County in FL & we met so many people from all over the country & even Canada! It was a perfect vacation.

HOWEVER, I only followed my eating plan ~~loosley~~ & that's being kind of generous & I only intentionally exercised a couple of the days. The rest of the time I ate easy beachy foods, sandwiches & stuff, but we did bike everywhere, so that's helpful. We caught small blue crabs in the surf & grilled them & DH & I ate 3 dozen crabs one night! geesh!

Well, I weighed this morning, & I am up (141.8) a bit, but I'm back on plan now that I'm home! It's nice to be back on the wagon!

I'll talk to y'all a little later, Liz

Felt so good about my running on Thurs, but haven't been able to fit it in all weekend. I just can't seem to get up early enough to do it before DH goes to work, and I can't do it with my 3 yo during the day. AF is coming on again this week and I'm feeling a bit sick to my stomach as usual, but I'm about to do 30 mins on the stepper and hope that I'll be able to run tonight after my son's baseball game.

Good luck this week everyone!!

Okay...so my ticker went up again for my Monday morning weigh in !!! I have a plan, but would like some advice. I have a really difficult time staying within my calorie goals. I can have a 200-300 cal breakfast...no problem. The rest of the day is the issue. Do you guys think it matters WHEN you eat your calories. What if I do a light breakfast, light lunch (like a fruit smoothie or slimfast) and a regular dinner. I could stay within my calorie limit of 1400 if I forgo the late night snack and sweetened drinks. Do you think is is productive to eat the vast majority of my cals at one meal? I would feel less deprived!

Michelin - I would say whatever works for you. There's all sorts of articles written about how you shouldn't eat at one particular time or another and you must exercise at one particular time or another blah-de-blah-de-blah. IMHO it's mostly rubbish. Calories in, calories out. The reason we're so fat and our ancestors weren't is because we're lazy and we eat too much. It's all about balance and if you want to eat one big meal and several smaller ones than go for it. It's what I do and when I'm staying on plan it works fine.

Michelin ~ You have to do a plan that you can stick to, everyone is different. i only eat about 200 cals at breakfast. i usually hace a bowl of bran flakes(100 cals) with fruit (either strawberries or banana) and that does me for my workout then I have a snack.

Hi gals! I'm having one of those "Calgon, take me away" days (am I dating myself?). First off, I got to the office and DH says to start calling all the recycling places--we had been broken into during the weekend and about $10,000 of extruded aluminum was stolen. We were hoping that the thieves had turned it into a recycling center and we could just buy it back. I called places for a hundred mile radius and nothing. So now I have to deal with a police report and insurance claim. This is our 3rd break-in in as many months.

Then, I had a meeting for a big party we're throwing at the end of the month. It was to go over little details here and there for the party. The group we are throwing the party FOR was included in the meeting and gosh, they're getting more and more nit-picky. I don't know why people can't just be agreeable!

So I'm back to my office, it's half past noon and I'm so stressed my appetite is gone. I seriously doubt that I'll be forgoing the wine tonight!

Oh Allison, I'm sorry. I suppose nowadays we'd use aromatherapy to de-stress. Hmmm ... I like the smell of wine!

Yeah, me, too! But I do aroma therapy, too! I have candle jar on a heater in my kitchen so it always smells like gardenia. Ooooh, so smoothing!

Hi there everyone,

Allison -- that stinks about getting robbed! I'm so sorry to hear it, and I wish you luck on dealing with all the red tape of insurance claims. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember reading one of your posts from a month or two ago where your business had been broken into -- if that's the case, what rotten luck!!

Barbara -- How exciting that you have baby finches! They are such gorgeous birds. We get quite a few every year (golden and house finches, which are the reddish ones), but I have never had babies. BTW, I don't know how you lose weight going to conferences... I have such a hard time sticking to my plan when I'm out of control of preparing my food (measuring, etc.). I also have a VERY hard time saying no to tempting food -- buffets, desserts, etc. More power to you!

I believe I mentioned last week that I was going to the beach (that was my first post on featherweights). Well, like Liz, I ate lots of beachy foods and only loosely stuck to my plan. Today will be the first day since last Wednesday that I'm entering anything on fitday! Man, the seafood and cocktails were so yummy ... it was a nice treat and break, but it's definitely back to reality. I had a good healthy day of eating and am having a big salad with grilled chicken for dinner. Also did an hour at the gym (weights and cardio), so I'm getting back on track.

Michelin - I'm 100% in agreement with Doughnut about calories in and calories out. I think if you stay in your range, you can lose weight even if you're having some of your calories at 2am. I'm like you, though with late night snacking. It's a trigger time for me to overeat, so I really have to consciously limit my night eating, or things can get ugly! My husband and I have been eating dinner quite late the last few months, and actually that is helping me. When I eat dinner too early , I get terribly hungry later. Eat later, feel full, go to bed. It works for me... most of the time anyway. ;) Also, you mentioned sweetened drinks... are these with alcohol or just juice or soda? If so, can you sub diet soda or Crystal Light in place of sweetened drinks?

Alright gals... it's time to enter fitday and do a few chores. I have papers to grade tonight!

P.S. To Midearth -- What's AF??

michelinwoman, I don't think it matters when you eat. I agree with Doughnut--calories in, calories out. My meals get progressively larger as the day goes on, with my dinner being the largest. I also save calories so that I can have two midafternoon snacks because I know the time between lunch and dinner is the hardest to get through. But I definitely recommend giving up sweetened drinks. I never drink beverages with calories (unless they also have alcohol). It frees up so many calories.

walking2lose, I definitely don't lose any weight while I'm at conferences. My goal is to just maintain and most of the time it's a miracle if I can do that. Even if I bring energy bars and fruit for breakfast, avoid all the breakfast pastries, skip the afternoon cookies, skip dessert with lunch and dinner, and limit my alcohol...I still have to eat lunch and dinner and often there are limited choices. So I try to exercise every day, make the best choices I can, and hope I don't gain too much. Then I get back on plan when I get home (cross my fingers, thank goodness for SusanB's 21 day challenge--with that I'm sure I can get back on plan). Luckily I have only a few conferences per year.

Mamajones, wow, freshly caught grilled blue crabs sound awesome! You have to make exceptions to your diet for rare treats like that. And the good news is the grilled crabs are pretty low in calories.

Sorry about the break-in, alinnell. That's really a bummer and you must be feeling pretty frustrated about it. And what would someone do with $10,000 of extruded aluminum anyway (heck, I don't even know what extruded aluminum is).

I hope you are feeling better Doughnut; that headache sounds really miserable.

Hey, a time for some education!!! Extruded aluminum is used as fenestration. Fenestration is the framework for windows. We own a glass company and this aluminum had been custom ordered (special enameling process to color it to match the client's house). It was to build a huge sliding glass door.

Since this 3rd break-in, we've contacted a fencing company to give us an estimate for installing razor wire around our yard (where the break-in occurred).

Oh, and what do they do with $10,000 of custom aluminum? They sell it for about 25 to 50 cents a pound (about 250 pounds) so they can buy drugs. Tweakers, the cops called them. Meth addicts (we have a lot around here). If we could have found the salvage yard that got it (I called 2 dozen of them) we would have gladly paid the for the material to get it back. It would be so much easier, cheaper and more timely to go and repay a couple hundred dollars to get back the thousands of dollars worth of material.

Can you tell I'm more than a little bummed about this?

The day from hell
 

That would be what you had Allison. :devil: And I guess the people who did the break-in get away with it?

I think, if you smell the glass(es?) of wine for awhile tonite before you drink them, that would qualify as aromatherapy.;)

Hope all goes smoothly with the insurance claim and that your client doesn't get on your case. My DH works for a contractor and some clients can be quite unreasonable if their job is delayed.

Dagmar

:wave: Hey girls, back from a nice vacation in Chicago the Windy City!! And boy is it windy!!! DH and I went to Chicago we left last wednesday and came back last night... We had a great time, we at more than usual but we walked sooooo much that I'm sure the scale hasn't gone up that much, I hope :crossed:

Sorry to hear about the break-in Allison Such a PITA to get things together after something like that...

Michelin what works for me is to eat every 2-4 hours, a portion of carb and a protein, 5-6 meals/day... Since I've been eating this way I never get ravenous and eat everything in sight... We are an experiment of one, so experiment and do what works for you...

I'm back on track today, ran to and from the gym, did back and bis, and biked 19k tonight, in the wind, again!

Hi Allison, sorry about the break in. Your break in made me think about something that happened at a company I worked for many, many, many years ago. I worked for a poured concrete wall company. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a company that builds your foundation or basement to your house. Well in order to build a basement, you had to have panels made of aluminum to form the basement and then pour concrete in them. Well our small company decided to take inventory of the "Aluminum Panels" and there were a lot missing. We called around scrap yards, as you did Allison, and we actually found that one of our top guys had loaded up a truck on a couple of Saturdays and took a lot of the panels to the scrap yard. He was married and had 2 young children and did I mention a cocaine habit that no one knew about? It was pretty bad and cost the company (or should I say the insurance) a lot of money. I don't know your guys . . . but something to think about.

Anyway, hope everything works out :)

hi everyone, hopefully I can be more active in 3FC this week -- have been quite busy the past few weeks, and as noted before, been working on regularizing my sleep schedule -- so I maintained over the last few weeks rather than working on loss - but now I'm ready to get back on slimming those last pounds!

This week I'm going to look into buying some new running shoes (my current pairs is an appalling 4 years -and gosh knows how many miles- old). I may even spring a little extra to get ones that fit really well.

For some reason my hamstrings feel pulled today, so gonna go easy on the lower body exercises for the next few days and more time on stretches.

Hope everyone else is doing well :)

First mini goal met!
 

:carrot: :cb:


140 lbs.


:dancer: :cool:

Good Morning!
Hooray for Mudpie! Now inch it down to even 139.7 ... it'll feel sooo good to get rid of the 4 altogether!

Thanks for the advice everyone. As for the sweet drinks, I try to substitute crystal light or unsweet tea. I have never been a big fan of diet soda (I think it tastes too DIET--except for Diet Dr. Pepper, which I can handle). My problem is sweet tea (yes, I live in the South).

I ate raisin bran for breakfast yesterday, slimfast for lunch, V8 for a snack and was able to stay pretty well on track with a grilled ckn pita (just a few fries) for dinner. There were 2 glasses of sweet tea involved throughout the day also :)

Allison: Sorry to hear about the break in. Go breathe in the Gardenia candle--or maybe the wine suggestion would work better :) I love scented candles, but have to be careful not to get vanilla or the kind that smells like frosting (it just makes me crave a treat all day!) My DH is a plumbing contractor...hope your customers understand the situation and doesn't make matters worse.

Barbara: I love finches. I had 2 canaries a few years ago, but had to get rid of them when I moved. My daughter has a Cockatiel now (he is really comical!) named Fred. She made the cutest pic of him --I'll include it in this post. It always makes me laugh!

Mudpie: CONGRATS....you have the same mini-goal as me. I would LOVE to see 140 again! SusanB is right...those .3 lbs would make a big mental difference :)


http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2...fredie0.th.jpg

Sorry, that little picture didn't do it justice. Here's a bigger, brighter one....

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1...fredml3.th.jpg

Good morning everyone! Today will be a much better day than yesterday (work-wise!). Actually, with all the stress going on, I had little to no appetite and it shows! I'm back to 141--only 1 pound to ticker weight. I think having my berries in the morning is what does it for me--they're filling and satisfying and I feel more in control when I start with something that I know is good for me. I actually didn't open a bottle of wine last night (yay for me!!) but did have a martini (but just one).

Dagmar congratulations!!!! Wowie! 140!!!

Ilene glad you didn't get blown away!

Abby I really don't think that any of our guys were involved in this break-in. We treat our guys well and pay them well and they look up to us, so I just can't think it could be any of them, but I guess it's always a possibility.

Warlock welcome back! You HAVE been absent a lot lately!

Micheline I like my tea also, but handle the sweet stuff any longer. I did like it when I was younger. Now I prefer it plain or with a little lemon (much fewer calories that way, too!).

Well, I guess I ought to get some work done. Leaving work early due to DS and I have dentist appointments this afternoon.

Have a great day everyone!!!

instead of the usual gazelle this morning after doing my leg workout i strapped the little ones in the jogging stroller and headed to the grocerie store to get fruit and milk we also had stop at the dollar store 9I think I like this store as much as the kids if not more lol) So I killed 2 birds with one stone instead of taking the bus I used this nice weather as a chance to get out.

I got hollored at today from a passing car....man i feel like a teenager again...lol

Allison - yea, hopefully I have more time to be active on 3FC again :) and catching up on old threads and bummers about the break-in :(

Pulled a hamstring yesterday (was doing buttock lifts with 8 pound dumbbells when I found out) - eek! Thankfully after a few stretches it got better and I was able to finish my lower body exercises.

One thing I feel good about this week is that one of my networking meetings turned from a caloring raising (drinks / snacks / meal) into a calorie burning affair. Instead of chatting over a cocktail or some fatty finger foods, we are going to go hiking at a canyon in the morning. Woohoo!

Good afternoon everyone.

I've been so busy working and sleeping (or at least trying to) that I haven't been in lately. I tried to skim over the posts that I've missed.

My son came in 2nd in his league for tennis :broc: :cheer: He had to play a 3 hour set to get to 2nd place, he won the first game in a tie breaker and the second game he was down 2-5 and came back to win it 7-5. It was awesome but soooo long. Those 2 kids were so tired and it was 95 degrees out. He then had to play another guy to try to get first but I think he was just too tired out! He still gave it a great try but the other guy had a bye so he was pretty well rested (and plus he is an awesome tennis player anyway so it probably wouldn't have mattered if he was rested or not!!). My son now goes to CIF so that is what he really wanted to be able to do so we are happy for him.

Allison-sorry to hear about that burglary at your business. We have a big problem in SD with people stealing copper (and for exactly that same reason-to sell it to recycling places to get money for drugs :mad: ). I also meant to mention if you drive a Toyota watch out for your catalyctic converter! I have no idea what that is but people are stealing them alot (and you cant get smogged without one. I'm not even sure if people outside of California get their cars smogged!). I guess on most cars these things are welded on but on Toyotas they are just "taped" on (well, not really but you know what I mean). I don't know what they are made of but people take them apart & sell/recycle the contents :(

I changed shifts at work and now work 8pm-6am so I'm having a little trouble getting my eating & sleeping acclimated to the new hours. I've still been doing fine with eating & exercise (and I'm a great maintainer!!) but getting my sleeping fixed is another story. I actually am off work from 6 am this morning until 12:30 am on Thursday!! I think that is the most time off I've had in a long time (except when I'm on vacation).

I guess I better run and get some food into this house. Talk to you later. Jane

My diet got a little (well, a lot) off track yesterday. I'm still at this conference and they took us to see a rodeo last night. It involved a lot of food that was probably pretty unhealthy and a lot of wine. Enough that exercising this morning was out of the question. Other than skipping my cardio, I've done pretty well so far today, but I suspect that dinner is going to involve margaritas. Luckily this is the last day of the conference, so tomorrow I will be headed home and back on plan. And I don't have any more conferences until June, and that one I don't have to travel for, so I'll have more control over what I eat.

Allison--That really bites. I had no idea that aluminum (or copper, for that matter) was in demand by drug addicts. I suppose if you are addicted to expensive drugs, you'll pay for them however you can. When I lived in Chicago, someone would repeatedly steal our morning paper (actually walked up onto our porch to take it and would crumple up the notices from the Tribune telling them to stop stealing it). I remember being really annoyed about that (I even staked out the front porch once to try to catch them); I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be to have someone repeatedly stealing expensive aluminum that you need for clients from you. I hope that the razor wire works or that you find another solution that does.

Greatchoice, congrats to your son! Tennis is hard work.

AquaWarlock, welcome back. It's amazing how many social/networking events revolve around eating. I love it when I'm able to find things to do that don't involve food!

Michelin--Cute cockatiel!

Ilene, I love Chicago! What were you doing there? Did you get a chance to go running along Lake Michigan? I used to live on the northside, two blocks off the Lake, and my bus stop to get to work was on Lake Shore Drive. All the tall buildings along the lakefront create a wind tunnel; in the wintertime, those two blocks were a real bear. I would be all hunched over and tears would be literally streaming down my face from the wind.

Hi everyone,

Today started off good, but I didn't sleep well last night and was very TIRED all day at work. It is teacher appreciation week and at the end of the day I checked my mailbox to find a full sized Hershey bar and a mini 100,000 grand bar. I ATE THEM BOTH! I am pretty ticked with myself too, especially because I don't even really enjoy a Hershey milk chocolate bar!!! Argh. I know it had something to do with being off track the past few days at the beach AND being incredibly sleepy. I do not function well when tired, and my eating is usually at its worst when tired.

Anyway, I have to focus on tomorrow being a new day, but I still hate that I ate that... not what I needed after three days of being off plan at the beach.

Anyway -- Mudpie -- CONGRATS! You are my inspiration to do better tomorrow!

Greatchoice -- I just got a new (new- used) Toyota Matrix -- I'm really enjoying it, but now I wonder if I should be worried??! Anyone know more details on that? Please share!

I hope to report a better day tomorrow... hope everyone else has a happy and healthy day too!

It was a pleasure trip we just decided to take, don't ask why :lol: ... I can only imagine that "wind tunnel" in the winter time :lol:, holy moly, a couple of times we'd turn a corner and BAM there was that WIND :lol: ... I did meet up with a couple of gals from 3FC wyellen/Heather and Sandi... We had a nice supper and evening chatting, it was fun like meeting old friends :yes: .... Barbara sometimes, we just do the best we can, when circumstances like a business trip happen... I know you'll get back on track ASAP!

Jane -- Your son sure has some talent there, you must be so proud... Do you play tennis too ?

AquaWarlock -- Welcome back :wave: ... What a great idea to hike instead of eat and drink ...

Oooh, House just started gotta go ...

Midweek motivation
 

Good morning all!
We have yet another day of beautiful weather. I find I'm much more motivated to staying OP in sunny great weather - easier to eat lightly and have fruit, veggies, etc. instead of carbs.
Today is going to be :whoo: busy. I'll catch up with everyone individually tonite.

Dagmar:dizzy:

Claire-just Google "catalyctic converter thefts" I just read the first two hits. If I were you though I certainly wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure there's a far greater chance of just getting your car broken into or stolen (BOY! I sound like a ray of sunshine and good news :D ). It was just in the news of more instances of this happening and the reason was the precious metals that are in these and drug addicts were selling it for money. I gues they are just easier to get off of Toyotas than other cars.

Ilene-I am so proud of my so! I do not play tennis. I have no idea where he gets its. He just decided to start playing it 2 years ago. I don't even know anyone who plays tennis! It certainly would be good for me to play, it is great exercise. If I did play I'd have to play doubles though; too much room to cover on my own ;)

Whitlin -- Way to go for your husband!! My DH also brought down his cholesterol this year, without med... The doc was insistant that he take meds but he refused, we did it through nutrition and exercise, the doc was shocked :D ... I swear sometimes I think those docs get a cut on the meds they prescribe :rolleyes: ...

Well, just back from my run to and from the gym with a half a** lazy chest/tricep workout, I just wasn't in the mood to do weights this morning for some reason... and that's very unusual for me, I love my weight training :strong: ... Now I have to get ready for work :p ...
Tonight, if the weather keeps up I'll go biking :carrot: ...

Good morning everyone!

My scale rewarded me with my TICKER weight this morning!!! So far, my plan is perfect for the day, so things should be heading downward from here!

Had the appointment with the fencing company. $1700 to install the razor wire--not too bad considering we've lost close to $20,000 in the past 3 break-ins.

I've never been to Chicago myself, but that's where my Mom was born and raised. All her family has either died or moved away and we never visited there when I was young. I still can't figure out how my Mom came to Utah to meet my Dad....I think it must have been her uncle she was visiting and then she must have met my Dad in church as my aunt and uncle belonged to the same church as my Dad. Weird how things like that happen.

I'm feeling a bit undone today. DD blocked her blog and now I have no window into her life. That may sound weird, but she doesn't talk to me much so I never know what is going on. I doubt I'll ever know as much as have in the past few months. Oh, well.

Jane, DD is in school band with the boy who won DVL singles tennis here. He's the son of a friend of mine. She doesn't know where he got the tennis talent, either. I had asked my son to go to a tennis clinic a few months ago to see if he'd catch the fever. He didn't even pick up a racket (there were a lot of other activities going on and he chose rock climbing!).

Well, everyone have a great day.