Ilene: I was trying to stay around 1500 calories, but because I was tired, I upped it to about 1900 calories. Not so tired, but the scale is not budging at all. I think that maybe I'll try to stick around 1500 calories and take the training down a notch and maybe the scale will get a little lower. Trial and error..
danni: I certainly tend to binge at night and sometimes it is uncontrollable. I too find solace in the fact that during the day, I hit my nutrition and eating. Some days it is easier than others. Some days, I get home and I am fine with dinner, others....I think where is that bag of chips :) The great thing is that you are not beating yourself up about it and sabotaging. Keep it up!
Ms. Perception: YEAH!!! You are so close to your goal and it is only the 9th! I think that it is reasonable that you are allowing yourself a dessert, it will help you from bingeing and it is a special treat. I wish that I did not think of food as a reward or treat. But, sometimes a cookie at the end of the week keeps me going.
tmk256 and Ms: WOW! Way to go!

I am down to 122.4 as of this morning. Holding steady for a few days now. I had about a month + plateau. I actually increased my calories a bit, and it really worked. I was amazed! I also let my body recover a bit between workouts (doing "only" 30 Day Shred instead of 1 hour p90x plyometrics), and that worked, too.

I was started to get dizzy when I stood up, and this is because I wasn't eating enough. Now I am eating a little bit more, and it's working!

I only want to get down to 120. It may actually take 3 more months, seriously. It's tough. It took almost 4 months to lose 6+ pounds.

Hi ladies,
My head is in a bad place right now. I've been really good all week at work... then I go home and I can't be bothered to do the right thing. Four days of eating out, no gym and a two lb gain later, I'm still feeling very down and out.

This weekend we're taking a vacation to Nashville, I'm not too worried about what I'm going to eat since we walk, walk, walk when we're on vacation. I'm hoping I'll come back re-energized and ready to hit the ground running.

I'm in a similar place now - except I am already away from home until Monday... just trying to make the best of it, like you said - walking a lot. Then starting fresh on plan on Monday. Good attitude :)

I started where you did and got down to 113 in just under three months. It definitely helped to up my calories. I had them too low at first and that slowed me down as well.

I'm looking to lose the last 5 in the next month (I'm 5' 3 1/2"). After upping my calories I started losing 1.5 to 2 lbs. a week, so I think I can do it. I have a lot of muscle, which I think helps me lose fast despite being short and having only a little to lose. But, if it takes longer, so be it. I like to eat, so the more I can eat the better, whatever the speed at which I lose. And now that I am eating quite a bit more, I feel confident about moving into maintenance whenever that happens.

Silver - enjoy your vacation. I'll hold the fort downwhile your away. LOL

Emma - This has been the roughest week for me since I started back in Jan. But there is always Monday. I'm still trying to get back on track - but I am feeling much better about my chances today. :)

hi ladies :)
sooo today the scale went up a little bit, but it was expected due to the stuff i ate last night lol
im exhausted right now and not really feeling well, and thus i havent been eating well at all lol. Ive always been an emotional eater and since my issues with my friend are continuing, along with new issues of needing another roommate for next year, the only appealing food has been chocolate. so yes, ive eaten a bunch today lol
but no worries, im going to go eat something healthy and then start out again tomorrow.
work is my enemy right now because there is always food at my work. always. ive definitly gotten better with my emotional eating, but its still a work in progress. slowly but surely im getting there.

as always, i enjoy reading all your posts. hope everyone is doing fabulous, im headed to bed, gotta get up early in the morning.
good night.

Finally I was able to stop the Nightly Snack Monster.

That was a scary ride. I didn't see it coming and I couldn't seem to stop it.

Now I feel like the "good ole me" and back in control.

I had worked so hard to get to 127 and move my Little Chicken. Now I'm back up to 129.5. I will leave the little guy there as a reminder and work my way back down to 127. It was hard to post everyday - but it helped to keep me honest and gave me the motivation to get up and try again each day.

Hang in there everyone and thanks for the support.

Congratulations Danni! I'm so happy you're back on track :) I noticed you are in SC--that's "home" for me too, even though I've been in St. Louis for a few years now. We'll actually be down there next weekend to visit family and for my first 5K!

I'm doing fairly well--keeping 100% on plan (as always, it seems), but still not seeing the losses that I really want to see. Hanging around 165, with a few days at 166. I did finally drop down to 39-29-39 (and I'm only holding the tape a little tight, hehe). This was exciting for me--I started at 41-35-44. I'd like to eventually hit 36-26-36, and I think that's a reasonable expectation at my (true) goal weight of 145.

Hi Stella - I live in Chapin (20 miles from Columbia) - where is your family? This is my 3rd time living in SC.

How long have you been working on your plan. I seem to have reached a plateau which I know is normal - but some people have mentioned that they stay at a certain weight for months. Yes the inches lost are just as important as the scale numbers.

Good Luck on the 5K.

Hi all. I pretty much have been out of it this past week, what with the holiday and kids off school. I'm still not 'strong' enough to maintain plan when I'm SO off schedule, constantly handling snacks and food for other people, and there's tons of candy around. Looking forward to everything being back to normal next week. Cheers~

Nice job. I think I may want to go to 118, but I haven't been that small since I was in college! It sounds like such a small scary number to me. I don't know why, LOL. I would honestly look skeletal at 115 or lower (I think). Usually I just diet my way to weight loss, which I think looks totally different than exercising and eating well to achieve the same goal. I feel so strong and energetic, as opposed to skinny and malnourished.

Good luck!

Congrats, Danni!!!!

Stella......I live in STL also!

thanks Kellost - I am doing ok so far today. How about you? :)

I'm doing really well today! My eating is on track, I ran this morning, and I just got done making a grocery list for the week with many healthy meals planned. I also cleaned out the closet, getting rid of clothes that are too big on me. It's weird how some days seem easy, and other days really difficult to stay on plan. I've been drinking cups of decaf herbal tea tonight, but no snack monster visiting me! Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

How many calories are you eating that you are losing weight? Upping calories to what from what?

Great surprise this morning - the scale is back to 128. :broc:

My Little Weight Tracker Chicken is much happier. :)

I'm eating a lot of fruits and veggies to get myself back on track.

Have a good day. :cool:

Kellost, that's cool! I'm actually doing the APA 5K here on the 25th :) How far are you in C25K?

ugh, so the scale jumped back up over the past couple days. ive gotta take a day to recover and get my eating back in order and stuff. i was up to 129 again, ugh thats toeing the line to the 130's.
Busy day today so that should keep me from snacking; snacking is my main problem. cuz "ill just have one more" turns into 20 lol
lots of school work to do this week, and i also had to pick up another shift at work, cuz another girl quit, so that will keep me super busy, but im feeling tongs better this morning.
anyway, im just kind of rambling. hope you ladies are doing good, im trying to get back into the habit of posting since this is back to being my main accountability.
hope everyone has a fantastic sunday :)

I am starting week 9 of the C25K program this week (the final week of training!). Can't believe I did it! I'm going to come up with a way to maintain my ability to run the 5K in the rest of the weeks til the race. I started the training early, just in case I had to repeat a week, but so far I did okay each week and didn't have to repeat. Now I just have to figure out how to keep at this level until May. I think I'll just keep repeating week 9, but I'm going to talk to a few of my runner friends and see what they think.

I'm doing the STL Girls On the Run 5K in Forest Park on May 16th!

Good luck in your upcoming races!

Spring Break is over and it is back to babysitting the grandkids.

I worked everyday in my garden or spring cleaning my house, so I didn't get to the gym. Getting over tired is what set off the night snacking I think.

My stepson is on his way home for a 2 week visit from Afganistan (army). So he and his Mom will be here for a while then he will visit his sister in VA and then return here to fly out again. It will be very hard to see him leave again. I know I will be off plan while he is here and we treat him to all his favorite food, but it will be worth it. But I will be checking in and try to make good choices as often as I can. Have plans to get back to the gym on Thursday.

Here's to the start of good week!

Hi all! The weekend kept me hoppin', so I couldn't check in here. I am pleased to report that I feel I handled all my food "challenges" well. I did have dessert Friday night, but it was chocolate fondue with fruit mostly. So a couple choc-covered strawberries and bananas plus a few bite sized pieces of other things on a small plate made up my dessert.
My only other real indulgence was having my first ever sweet potato pie at our friends yesterday with homemade whipped cream (YUM!). I took a small (I think the smallest) piece and enjoyed it very much. To recover, I ran my longest run ever...7 miles yesterday afternoon and felt pretty great afterwards, so then I did some yardwork. I'm pretty sure I worked off the calories, but I'm not sure if I got enough water in the evening. I woke up a little puffy in the fingers. I did use some sports cream on my legs last night (just in case). I don't know it that also has anything to do with it, but I am up to 136.0 today. I'm sure it'll be gone tomorrow since I tend to lose the morning after my days off exercise. Weird, huh?

I started at 1,300 to 1,500 a day, but I transitioned to 1,500 to 1,800, and now I eat about 1,750 to 2,000 a day. I lost another two pounds this week eating 1,750 to 2,000. But I think I am a special case in that I have been lifting weights for 20 years. I can lose weight very easily. The issue for me is just making sure I stick to eating the right way now that I am lighter. I think this time I have learned not to let myself go crazy on vacation. That is what happened to me the last time I dropped from 129 to 113. I ate more than I ought on a cruise, and when I came back home I was all out of the swing of things and couldn't get back to eating right. I got back up to 129 and stayed there for two years. This time, I have transitioned from thinking myself on a diet to considering myself eating right for life. I went to Vegas recently for the weekend and ate responsibly despite spending nearly every meal at a buffet. That's a really good sign, I think. I've come back from Vegas before 8 pounds heavier after only a weekend. It's mostly water weight, of course, but it still screams poor eating habits on vacation. This time I gained nothing.

It is amazing what a difference exercise makes. Even at 129 I was a size 2 or a 4P. When I was that weight before I started working out I was several sizes larger. Of course, sizing has changed in the past 20 years, too, but all the same I know I look appreciably thinner and more fit with muscle than without at the same weight. I also know, though, that at 129 my muscle isn't nearly as defined as I would like it to be.

I really enjoy reading the posts in this section of the forum!

I don't have much to add right now except that I am back on plan. Spent yesterday evening planning out the week for meals & exercise. I need to get back in a schedule for exercising as I have been waaay off for more than a month now.

And I am boycotting my scale until the end of the month. I had a bad eating day a few days ago (but still less than 2000 calories). Every other day has been great and I've been walking strenuously for ~ 1hr/day. The scale is up 3 lbs from April 1. Hmph.

Micro-rant: << it never ceases to amaze me how I can gain 3 lbs practically overnight, while it takes 6-12 WEEKS to lose that amount!!! >> I'm starting to re-think my weight goal... maybe I should call myself maintaining (but I'm not even doing that yet, hehe)

Oh well, my weight could be up for any number of reasons. That's why I am just going to stay away from the scale for a while. Focus on exercising and eating healthy & delicious foods and being happy with where I am :D

Hi Feathers!

Happy Monday! Well, to be honest, I was quite stressed out and grumpy this Monday morning (as my family could tell you), but I'm trying to turn it around and make the most of the day. It's beautiful weather around here!

Just some random thoughts/things that have been helping me lately:

Drinking hot tea and/or decaf coffee. Hardly any cals and pretty filling and satisfying.

Hungry Girl recipes. I had a few of her cookbooks already, but I picked up the latest one and it's great. I especially love any of her dessert ideas. One simple one I tried is stirring a little bit of peanut butter into a 60 calorie, sugar-free Jello chocolate pudding cup. Then top with a little fat free whipped cream. Yum! Tastes like a peanut butter cup and is a fun treat for me!

Cold Stone Creamery......yes, I said Cold Stone. I've been getting a small sinless cake batter or sinless sweet cream mixed with fresh raspberries while my kids get the good stuff. It's a fun family outing that I can participate in. Sometimes I get their frozen berry yogurt instead. We have another ice cream dairy near us with "guiltless" ice cream, so I go there sometimes also.

Grilled chicken at restaurants. I love dining out. So I go out and order grilled chicken. I'm getting out, enjoying the day, spending time with friends and family, but still eating healthfully. Thank you, grilled chicken! LOL.

Food journaling. About 2 months ago, I started really tracking everything I eat. It's been eye opening! I was keeping track before in my mind, but never writing it down. I like looking back on what I've been eating. I use the weekly food diary page from www.personal-nutrition-guide.com.

Running...I think it's actually changing my body inches-wise. It might not be my favorite form of exercise, but I think it's working, especially as I move toward the lower numbers.

New Spring Clothing! Woo Hoo! I'm amazed at what fits me in the stores lately. I'm getting seriously small. And I was a 2XL for many, many, years. This is so uplifting. It gets a bit expensive, but I think I deserve new clothes, and I've earned them!

Planning and preparing healthy dinners and freezing the leftovers. I like making extra soups, casseroles, etc and freezing them into individual portioned containers. Then I just pop them in the microwave for a quick, yummy and healthy meal. So much bettter than the pre-made frozen dinners.

Hope you guys are all doing well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of good vibes from fellow feathers. Way to go. ;)

I agree Danni, it's gonna be a good week :D

kellost-Thanks for the thoughts! I needed that reminder to inventory what's going right!

Another good OP day here, though the scale has slowed once again. I ate some good new foods. One I loved, the other I liked well enough to eat it, but wouldn't make it very often. Gotta try new things though. It keeps me on my toes! Okay well, those are my closing thoughts for the day. Here's to more OP days and the results we deserve!!

Good for you trying new things, Ms Perception! I've been trying to do that lately and it really can be a lot of fun.

Kellost, interesting thoughts--thank you for sharing :)

I had my weigh-in today and I'm excited because I lost another .6 lbs. After my 2.2 lbs. loss last week, I wasn't sure if I would lose anything this week! This is also a pre-exercise weigh-in, when last week was after a 2 mi. run. I know I would have hit 164 if I had weighed after a good run.

I'm a little scared because my 5K is this weekend and I hurt my heel running 4 mi. on Saturday. I'm icing it and resting it and hoping it will be back up to snuff, but it's kinda depressing that I can't run on my last week to train before my race! I also was looking forward to doing spin class again this week and I just know it would be a bad idea. I'm going to sub in swimming for elliptical this week and try to keep up my upper body strength training and my yoga/pilates class so I'm not too far off track.

Hello feather weights!!! I really enjoy reading this thread, but rarely ever add anything here! I wanted to pop in and say hi. I am feeling really good about being back on track after a holiday, a major flu and guests coming to town. I am back to running and getting into shape. I am still maintaining 121.

I got engaged last month and have been planning a quicky summer wedding for July. I am very excited, and it makes me want to meet my goal even more! I am hoping to be at least 115 by the big day, and would love to be down at 112. I am planning to wear a short sun dress, so i want my legs and arms to look toned and lean!

I hope everyone is is doing well!

Stella - I can't believe how hard you are working. Hope the heel feels better and :goodluck: on the 5k.

Today I am back down to 127.5. I also go to the dr. today and hope he has good stuff to say about the lab reports. It will be interesting to see if all this healthy eating has made a difference yet.

I have to eat downtown today - so I will pack some snacks so I won't get too hungry before lunch. Still hope to make it to the gym on Thursday.

We are in the 80's all week and I still have plants to get in the ground. That has been my exercise this pass week. Our ground is nothing but roots and rocks so at least my arms are getting a workout.

Smile - we care about you. :)

Hi everybody.....great, positive posts indeed.

I am back OP after a lost week, due to kids being home from school and Easter vacation, not that that should be a valid excuse, but there it is. It's a shame....wish I could have kept up that fabulous momentum I had going. It felt so great. Well, I want it back!

Kellost, your tiny spring clothes--swoon!

EmmaD--3 lbs gained overnight, vs lost in six weeks? Oh, have I wailed about that before! Unbelievable, isn't it? Right up there with bad food tasting good and vice versa. I swear, I can gain 5-6 pounds overnight if I put my mind to it.

I was bummed to see no change on the scale today after having a really wonderful OP day yesterday, but then I figured it's gotta come off eventually. Maybe I'll get paid back on the scale tomorrow. The point is that I'm doing very well with food and keeping right OP with my exercise. This is a great place to be! I've been saying no to temptations left and right and it gets easier every time. I'm not gonna lie...today I was almost day-dreaming about (or wishing I could) eat what/when I want with no negative effects. That's not my lot in life, so I'll be happy with eating healthily and staying fit the good ol' fashioned way!! It's worth it.

This week has been a binge week for me....last week I was doing great. I am hoping that the binge last night did not derail my progress.
I know that I eat when I am stressed out and yesterday was extremely stressful at work. So what did I do? Instead of trying to center myself, I went to my friend's house. She lives right by a doughnut shop. I ended up eating 6 doughbuts, a croissant, steak, bread...all the bad stuff.
Why are some weeks harder than others?

My scale moved down a little bit. Not at goal yet. (I was SO close to goal recently before I regained a little!)

Something I heard from the Ruby television show blog was that it's okay to progress slowly, as long as you do not quit. So, in other words, it's okay if the weight doesn't come off exactly as fast as you planned, just keep at it! Slow and steady wins the race!

kellost-Amen, sister! I'm the queen of slow and steady most of the time. ;)

I was not good last night so I am taking a day off of getting on the scale.

:( Hope today is better.

Danni, thanks for the encouragement. It's Wednesday and it's still really bothering me. I did do yoga last night, but I skipped my spin class today (just gonna hit the gym briefly for some upper body). I will be devestated if I can't do my 5K Saturday.

Ms Perception, you're sooooo close--just hang in there! You'll eventually see those results you deserve.

Kellost, you're doing awesome--I was so happy to see in the other post that you finished C25K! Grats again for that--it's such an achievement.

I'm down another pound today. I really hope it's not just because I haven't been working out as hard and my muscles are letting go of water weight!

I did it! I made my monthly weight goal of getting under 135!! This morning the scale showed the loss I was expecting yesterday: 134.4 YAY! To stay on track for the rest of the month, I'm just going to see how close I can get to my final (?) goal range of 125-129. At this rate I should be a maintainer by next month, but I realize the losses will change as I increase my calories in the next couple weeks to 1500. I'm just gonna ride this momentum for now and try not to screw it up!