Kat999, I had NO idea how hard it would be to diet in an office setting. I'm back at my internship while I'm on break from school, and there are treats all over the place! I can really only focus on resisting one treat at a time. I get defeated and overwhelmed when I think about the food minefield I have to avoid over the next two months while I'm here.

Petite Powerhouse, please send some of that energy my way! I'll be going to Australia about the same time that you're going on your cruise, and I want to be at or below goal by then. It's pretty realistic at this point, but I need to get out of the maintenance rut I'm in right now. I don't want to maintain at 125!!

Krampus, I've given up on my Christmas goal as well, which was 120. It was completely realistic until I started to slowly slip about two weeks ago. At least I've been maintaining, I guess? Your vacation sounds so exciting! Where in Germany will you be going? On the plane, I think the best thing for you to do would be to guzzle water. Maybe you can ask for the vegetarian option or something? That may be healthier.

Veela, you are so close to 147! You will definitely be there in no time. Your goof is no big deal--it could have been a lot worse, right?

So I'm at my internship/work all day today, but I'm basically useless because I don't have computer access yet. I'll probably be all over 3FC today catching up haha. Thank goodness I got an iPad, it's saving my sanity right now! I do feel bad for looking like a slacker though.

Oh, Lilly, offices are the WORST for staying on plan, but fortunately if yours is anything like mine, the treats only get tempting around the winter holidays. By January, everyone feels so guilty so there's only carrot sticks in the communal fridge! ;)

Fortunately, my boss is a workout fiend. He goes to the gym all the time and eats really clean, so most of the year he's good to have around. He just went nuts with his own baking this week, which he only does around the holidays, and killed us all with cookies and cake. The main supervisor has a retired wife who bakes, and so HE brought in a bunch of other stuff yesterday, too. Ugh. I should've stayed home yesterday.

Kat, apparently my boss' boyfriend is a baking fiend too! Luckily my boss is out this week, so he won't be bringing treats in from home. We're having some kind of happy hour later today though, so who knows what's going to be there. There's also some banana bread in the room right next to mine and it smells sooo good. Well, such is life! I just keep drinking water. 7 more hours of resisting!!

Veela You can do it!!! Do cardio (not right before bed) on Christmas Eve and make sure eating is 100% that day.

LillyLover OMG 7 hours of resistance, you're in for a fun day. Offices are the worst. At my old job I couldn't believe how very obese almost everyone was but there was always cake, BBQ, etc. As for Germany I'm hanging out from the 26-30th in Mannheim and Karlsruhe (southwest) because I have friends there, then heading to Berlin for New Years Eve and flying back to Japan Jan. 5th. I can't wait! My birthday (Friday) goal is anything under 126.0. So much for 124.

My neighbor is having me over for dinner tomorrow. BACON AND EGGS ON WHITE RICE. Whaaaaat?

The sad thing about junk food is that it's so much easier to max out your calories if that's what you eat. I can eat healthy food all day and not go over my calorie intake for maintenance, but one piece of cheesecake can have 1,400 calories. When I go on vacation, I tend to still eat healthy, but that's when I also tend to let my vigilance with sugar slip. And thus the calories add up fast.

I hear you on the water weight. It's amazing how much you can lose in a day if you follow a day or two off plan with a day fully on plan.

LONG FLIGHT!! Wow. I've never flown that far. As for food, I'd suggest healthy snacks: carrots, nuts, cheerios, etc. You have to be careful with nuts because of the calories, but they are good for you and have a decent amount of protein. And veggies you can of course eat a ton of without worrying about calories too much. And, if you don't let yourself get too hungry it will be easier to eat the healthiest parts of the meals they serve you on the plane.

As for work, my office is connected to the kitchen. Yes, that's right: of all the employees here, I am the closest to the Christmas goodies.

Since I so often post when feeling frustrated, down and discouraged, I thought I would give a positive report for a change.

First a HUGE NSV for me: I did not one, but 2 unassisted pullups this morning at the gym. I have had this as a goal for at least 4 months, and hadn't checked to see if I could finally get all the way up since before my surgery (when I still couldn't). Imagine my shock this morning when I finally did it. I've always admired those women who could move their entire body weight against gravity like that- now I've joined the club.

The other happy note is that I'm finally back down to 125 (saw 124.6 on the scale this morning). I know I'll be up again tomorrow due to a heavy weight-lifting bout at the gym this am, but still, it's a good sign, especially during the Christmas sugar season.

Congrats, neurdoc! I'm definitely very proud that I can do unassisted pull-ups. It's a great feeling, nay? :)

RESIST THOSE GOODIES, PEOPLE!

Ugh, Petite, you're connected to the kitchen?!?!

I took today through Friday off, and I'm so glad I did. I'm doing a little workout bootcamp at home today, alternating short workout sprints (my goal was to make it to 120 minutes total exercise; I'm at 110 now and will probably go over a little) with some present wrapping. I feel way less guilty about all the snacks I ingested yesterday! ;)

I am! And, since I typed that, someone brought in a world of chocolates and chocolate-covered nuts, pretzels, and cinnamon bears, and someone else brought in cranberry bread and pumpkin chocolate-chip bread. It never ends!! My coworker came in to get some, saying he could smell it from across the building. Um, yeah. I don't need a super smeller: it's right there outside my office door. I can't not smell it.

I can't wait until next week. I have the whole week off. It's the first time I've had time off at Christmas—I usually work even on Christmas morning to meet a deadline—and it will be so nice to be away from the work kitchen and able to go to the gym whenever I want instead of late at night after work.

Well, I managed to resist for 6 of 7 hours. Oops. This is way harder than I thought it would be...

Honestly, at this point I'll be happy to maintain through the rest of this month. I've been successful with that so far, despite my cheatorama. Definitely wasn't my plan though :(

I've also come to learn that I'm somewhat of a binge eater. Once I cheat, it's way downhill until someone literally takes the food away from my reach. Bowls of snacks are my sworn enemy.

Oh god, cheesecake. I forget that all that stuff exists in such huge sizes. Most of the desserts in Japan are sold in Starbucks-esque portions of typically no more than 500 calories per piece.

As for the no sugar thing, does that also include fruit? I'm curious as to what a totally sugar free diet looks like.

Yeah, it is long but going from Japan to Europe feels a lot quicker than going from Japan to America. The worst ever was going from Japan to Taiwan to ALASKA and finally to New York from Alaska, talk about wasted time. Thanks for the suggestions, I think I'll pack my adorable lunchbox I got for Christmas with raw veggies and bran cereal. The airplane meals shouldn't be too bad, the long flight is between Seoul and Amsterdam so I think I'll eat the Korean meal minus the rice and sort all the potatoes out of the European meal.

***

Today I am back down to 125.2, which means my ticker and user stats are now telling the truth! My neighbor who I don't know terribly well but we are friends is having me over for dinner tonight...bacon and eggs on rice with edamame. Minefield, minefield. I know she likes her rice and I don't want to make her feel awkward about eating it, but I also don't want to eat it.

I went shopping last night for some essentials. I ended up buying a size SMALL turtleneck at Uniqlo (many times I'm squeezing into Mediums in Japan), a Medium (smallest size - M, L, LL) hoodie, and most gloriously, a pair of jeggings in a 26 inch waist. In my mind 26 is one of those "super small" sizes that only "skinny people" wore, but it looks like I'm gonna have to change my thinking. :D :D :D

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LillyLover Totally hear you on the snacks. The last time I binged it was about 15 minutes before leaving time at work and I went through half a bag of chocolate. I've learned my lesson - don't keep any food that's not vegetables in my house, and NO SNACKS AT MY DESK AT WORK.

neurodoc THAT'S AN AMAZING NSV. I am so happy to read that. I am nowhere near pullups yet but I'd like to work toward them. I have noticed results just from doing pushups and planks at home, and carrying heavy bags is easy breezy now.

127.6 today! Couldn't believe it, so double-checked the scale. Yesterday was definitely OP. Drove through this gorgeous mountain pass with a friend yesterday, and did a ton of walking around. I was so worn out this morning!

I'm a little nervous because my husband and I have dinner with friends in a few. The couple is thin, but the husband is half-Italian, so he makes some amazing food... some of it amazingly fattening! I'll try not to go overboard. Today was a pretty light day for me foodwise, so I should be fine. My husband took the car to work besides, so I'm taking the train into the city, so I will not complain at getting in some extra exercise. (20 minute walk to train station here in town, 20 minutes in the city to our friends' house. :) )

With dessert it often isn't even about portion size. Some relatively small pieces of cheesecake here have 1,400 calories. A rather small brownie I saw the other day had just as many calories. It's about what the stores put in them. It isn't necessary to make things that way, but they do it.

As for sugar, I'm good with the sugar in fruit. It's dessert and white bread and white pasta and the like that I avoid: the things that really have no value whatsoever as food and only serve to bring on more cravings for sugar.

Hey,

Too late to join in? I just discovered this section for featherweights! I am starting my get-sexy-back plan in late December.

Well lets leave this year with a BANG! (a fat blasting bang!)