December Feathers Let's Chat!
 

:wreath:Thanks to my dear friend Amy reminding me, we have officially started our December feathers thread!! :wreath:

I first want to give each and every one of us feathers kudos for trying to lose weight during the Holidays. Losing is hard enough, during the Holidays just makes it that much more challenging. So let's finish the year with a big WOOSH!

Happy Holidays feathers and cheers to an on plan successful month! :stardav::clause::newyear:

Hi Dianne and Feathers!

I totally agree--losing weight around this time of year is HARD. Especially when you feel like you're being rude by refusing to eat some baked goodies that someone has made you as a gift!

I'm hoping to reach goal by Christmas. I would love that as a gift :)

I saw a photo of myself taken on Thanksgiving (pre-feast haha) and...I'm not really sure how to say this without sounding conceited...but I actually think I look good in the photo! I haven't felt that way about myself in photos in a loooong, long long time. But it's weird because other days I still feel flabby. Hopefully the mental and the physical sides of me will reconcile eventually.

Okay okay, here is the photo:
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/d...x3/photo-2.jpg

Ok now that I've been staring at this for a while, I think I look bigger than I thought...guhhh.

Oh, LillyLover, I think you look very good. Give yourself credit where credit is due. I know it's hard, though - my body looks the same to me as it did when I was carrying around an extra 50 lbs, though I can see that I've lost weight in my face. You really do look good.

Woo! December!

Advent Calendar - it's nice having one treat which I know won't mean I'm craving the rest of the pack.

I weighed in at 121.6 this morning. So. Painfully. Close. I hope I don't mess it up at the last hurdle, like I did last time.

If you were around here in August you may remember me reaching 121.4. My lowest ever weight. But a day after I reached that I went away for my friend's long birthday weekend and came back 6 pounds heavier. Then I started a new job and bad eating habits meant I climbed another 5 pounds.

4 months later I'm worried that I might do it again, so I am going to be aggressively on plan until I can come back and say

GOAL

Hi! I'm trying to lose 8 pounds and tone. I am currently trying a new meal plan for 2 weeks to see how things go and I am also alternating Cardioke and No More Trouble Zones once a day.

Ahh Dora you're so close! I'm excited for you!

Yesterday I was all bells and whistles about hitting 125.2 and this morning I weighed in at...126.3. I ate about 1400 yesterday and did cardio, pushups and crunches. There are so many explanations about why my weight is up but it's still frustrating. Today I will try to eat under 1300 and run.

Lillylover -

You look fantastic! Thin and healthy with big boobs! We are the same height, I can't wait to get down to 130. I actually was at about 134 a year and a half ago and I thought i looked pretty good when I saw pictures too. In fact, I might just stop at 130...still not sure. The last time I was 125 was maybe in 2004? It's been awhile...I was 112-119 all though college and 3 years beyond and I honestly remember feeling too thin at that weight. I remember going to the Gap and having a size zero skirt fall right off me! And that was before vanity sizing got really bad!

But anyway...you look fantastic,way to go!

Lillylover, you look great! And it is not conceited at all to think or say so -- you should be proud of what you've worked to achieve! And hey, I'm just "up the street" from you, in Rockville. :)

Dora, ooooooooohhhhhh so close! Time to knuckle down and see that 120 on the scale!

I have discovered how to tell water weight from true weight. With water weight, if I have a nice on-plan day, not too many carbs, and a good run, bam! a pound or more gone the next day. When it's true weight, well, there it still is, the next day. Because now I actually have to earn it. :(

Happy Hanukkah to everyone out there celebrating -- and lay off the latkes! (a friend of mine was making baked latkes last night -- sounded delicious, wonder how they came out?)

Amy, that's how I tell water weight from true weight too!

LillyLover, you look fabulous. Enviable figure. You're 100% right in thinking you look good! ;)

LillyLover you do look AbFab (as we say over here).

O. M. G. This morning I weighed in at 121 dead on. Which means if all goes well today (I'm just about to head off for lunch so I must bear this in mind) I might see 120.x

Aaaah, I am so excited. It can't come soon enough. In fact it's about 7 months overdue.

Feathers!!! Morning!!

Lillylover - Go ahead and glorify in your success!! I am an extremely modest person so I understand fully not feeling comfortable admitting to liking a picture, but girl you have WORKED hard for it and I feel you have all the rights to relish in it! You GO GIRL! You look amazing!! I like that outfit too :D

Dora - I remember back in August! You are SO close. Anytime you think of messing up, just remember over and over how close you are and that YOU DO have control of what you eat. Instead of slowing down or losing steam at the finish line, push yourself and give it that extra umph!!

Amy - I dont understand what you are saying about water weight (not enough coffee yet :dizzy:). How do I tell if what I am losing is really water weight or true weight?

So now I am really wondering if I have lost true weight these past few days or water weight. I say this because yesterday I jumped up to 129.8 and today had a total woosh down to 128.4! Does this mean I was retaining water the past few days and the loss is finally showing or does this mean my scale is being funky? Regardless, I am super excited to see this number!

Hope everyone has a great day. Tomorrow is Friday! :carrot:

You all are so sweet. Seriously!! The encouragement I've gotten here is priceless. :)

Pageta, thanks :) My face is probably the one place where I can actually see a difference myself.

Wildflower, the boobs are not all they're cracked up to be--I think they make me look big regardless of my size!! But I've grown to love them, haha.

Thesame7lbs, I used to live in Hyattsville--but that was a really long time ago. I also lived in Germantown for a few years. I'm away at school right now, but I really really can't wait to get back to the DC area! I love it so much more now that I'm not there all the time.

Krampus, nobody has EVER told me they envy my figure!! I'm Asian, so the figures I'm used to seeing are the super stick thin effortlessly skinny types. I wish I was a little taller, about your height! I am slowly learning to love my curves more, though. Based on your profile pic (and I think I've seen pics of you in the 20s forum, not to be a stalker haha) you look SO tiny. I'm jealous!

Dora, love the AbFab--that's definitely going to become a staple in my vocab!

Thanks, Dianne! It's an H&M dress. I have it in black too, it's so comfy! AND it's a size XS (crazy right?!). I'm going to ignore that it's probably vanity sizing. And congrats on the loss! Try not to read too much into it--any loss is good loss, right?

I'm at 128 flat again today, here's hoping for a little scale budge tomorrow! I do feel a little bad for my mom though, because she's starting to get worried about me, saying that I really don't need to lose anymore weight. But at the same time that kind of frustrates me because she's always told me that I could stand to lose a few pounds...hmm.

Have a great day, everyone! The week is almost over!

I don't think there's really any way to tell. I think when you see the scale go down, but then it bounces right back up (in spite of being on plan), maybe that's a sign you were a little dehydrated that one day. Or maybe your hormones are doing their thing. Or maybe you ate something high in sodium without realizing it. For me, I have to be at a weight for a few days and know I'm doing well with hydration to feel like I'm "really" that weight.

Likewise, when the scale bounces up, sometimes by sticking to plan and getting a good workout, I can make it go right back down again. That makes me think it was water. I mean, if I can lose 1.5 lbs in a day, I know that wasn't all fat. But now, I've been pretty on-plan for a few days and not budging, well, that's not just some extra water. I've put on some real pounds and it's going to take a few weeks on plan to really get rid of those.

Does that make any more sense?

Although, really, it's all a big unknown, isn't it? There are so many variables at work each and every day. My husband would think we are crazy :crazy: discussing the possible causes of a blip on the scale.

Up to 57.6 this morning. With binge, constipation and whatnot, how could I not be? Sigh.

LillyLover, I totally thought you were Latina or Mediterranean or Israeli or something. Oops! We have been brainwashed with Angela Zhangs and So Nyeo Shi Daes and Koda Kumis so I think it can be much harder for us than for women of other races. I still think I'm "pudgy" because while I take up less physical space than a lot of white/brown/black women my height, I still have a lot of fluffiness. I wish I had cool curves like you sometimes, because I don't think I'll be satisfied until I'm a willowy bag of bones (zero hips, zero boobs here). Thanks for the compliment - let's do this. :)

DoraUK: Way to go! You're so close!

LillyLover: You look great in that photo! I just discovered the joys of H&M myself -- I really like their clothes. I don't think that they vanity size, at least not where I live!

Everybody else: :wave:

When I checked this morning, I was down to 131.4. Hopefully the losing trend will continue! My husband and I were in Vienna earlier this week and I went shopping for a few things... Got some jeans in European size 26... and I have some clothes I got from America a few years ago (before rampant vanity sizing) that are in size 2/3/4. Fitting back into size 0 and the Euro equivalent are my next goal, methinks.

I'm curious as to what my end goal will be. I suspect that I'll at least aim for 119.

I have yet to figure this out. Sometimes I gain 2 pounds overnight from a good weight-lifting session (retained water in the muscles from the inflammatory response), drop one of the two pounds the next day, and the day after that I'm down 2 more, only to gain one of those back the following day. Net change over a 4 day cycle - 0 pounds. Except that maybe it'll be 0.2 pounds down from the initial session. Then repeat with the next weight session. Add in ups and downs of a pound due to "waste products" not being eliminated, and I can't tell ANY DAMN THING about my weight at less than 1-week intervals. :mad:

Glad to see all of my fellow Feathers plugging away in December.
Are any of you doing any other diet program besides calorie counting? It seems like pretty much everyone on this site is using that system, as have I for the last 6 months. But I used to be on Weight Watchers, and just went to a meeting that introduced their new system. It's still based on points, but the points are calculated somewhat differently now. It seems to emphasize a higher protein/lower carb ratio than their previous method, and still emphasizes fiber/fruits/vegetables. I'm considering going to it for awhile, to see if it gets me any further than my current method.

neurodoc, I'm doing WW. I think everyone is going to be eating more eggs, cheese and meat on the new program since those point values stayed the same and everything else went up. I've done it for three days now and am still figuring it out. Apparently I eat a lot of carbs, and I'm not sure if I want to change that or if I want to just fit my way of eating into the new point system. We'll see.

I did have a sort of ah-ha moment today: I was struggling with hunger and my points were all used up after lunch. Then looking over what I'd eaten, it occurred to me that I hadn't sat down and had a formal meal - I'd just been eating things to try to make hunger go away. I think I do much better when I sit down and eat a formal meal rather than grazing, even if I'm counting my points. I ate a formal meal for supper this evening (with the family, as usual) and I feel so much better. I had all sorts of formula meals I'd figured out on the old plan, but now they're really breaking the budget on the new plan so that's part of why I was grazing (trying to eat things that fit better with the new plan though they working for getting rid of hunger like I thought they should be). I think the grazing thing does not work for me. Nor does eating to my hunger. From now on I shall stick to eating formal meals.

Tomorrow evening is the one and only holiday party involving food that I will be attending. DH works for a small company and they go out for dinner as their "Christmas party." Tomorrow night is the night. My husband is planning on ordering the most expensive items on the menu, whatever they may be. He's gonna have wine, and prime rib (or equivalent) and dessert and the works. His boss is really cheap. Like they'll go to a meeting four hours away and leave at 6 a.m. in the morning and get back at 8p.m. and they'll get lunch only all day because the boss is too cheap to stop for supper and feed anybody on the company dime. So I understand why my husband (and everyone else) is indulging. And we rarely go out to eat, and if we do, never at a nice restaurant like we'll be at tomorrow evening. So on one hand I want to indulge and enjoy the experience, and on the other hand, I really don't want to overeat and have to pay for it later. Saving up calories (or points) doesn't work for me as it only leaves me famished and I really pay for that. So it will be interesting once I see the menu what choices appeal to me. I'm thinking I will indulge a little, but not to excess.

Because of my bad eating habits and lack of self-control, I gained 1 pound yesterday. :(

I was only tenths down - weighed in at 141.2 this morning. The scale hardly moves at all for me anymore...i don't really even feel like I am losing weight. I mean it's moved from 143 to 142 to 141 in the past month, but it's soooo slow, I don't even feel like I should be posting here.

I keep my calories at 1500 and I know I need to go lower but find it so hard. I had a few 1300 days this week. This week sucked because I got sick so while I made it to the gym Monday, the other days I was pretty much sleeping a lot and working from home in my pajamas.

Next week I am travelling for work 2 days and in all day meetings 2 other days, which means no working out at lunch and eating weird food for lunch 4 of the days. I can't work out after work because I have school Tuesday/Thursday so lunch is my only time.

Sigh. I really just feel like giving up today. I don't even know why I am keeping my calories at 1500, I am pretty sure I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain anything, it's just how my body works. I don't know how others on here stay to 1200, espcecially people who say they do the eliptical for 90 minutes a day and weigh so much more than me. How do they do it? How can I be so much hungrier than them?

I guess this should have gone in the Whine and Cheese thread. :(

I know, I feel like that sometimes. I've been on a plateau for over 2 months now, but since I still want to lose I hate to go over and start participating on the maintenance board because I'm not really in that frame of mind.

Hang in there! Sometimes we loose in steps rather than a a gradual slope.

thanks pageta. This stalling is soooo frusterating, especially since my first month dieting I was losing pounds a week. Wish I could "start over" at this weight and see the same loses. I had high hopes of that this week after eating extra for Thanksgiving weekend, but Monday I was still at 141 and have stayed there all week...

I think I need to do some research on all this plateau stuff. :(

There is a thread over under WW called Platea busting ideas and the 2nd post is loaded with information. I'd start there...

Thanks! I read through that thread just now, lots of intersting info. Still researching online too. I think the key for me is going to be cutting calories down even more, exercising more and maybe calorie cycling. I tried the calorie cycling before when I first started dieting and found the low days way too hard...maybe now I can do the low days without as much problem, since my appetite has decreased a lot.

I have been at 121 exactly for last 3 days. I know... this is better than going up but I am getting impatient now! I really want to see 120.x on the scale.

Also because I have been so on plan I am really craving a pizza or something. I don't want a binge per se, but some melted cheese would be just luverly.

How are we all? Have you over the pond recovered from Thanksgiving yet?

Hi ladies,

Just checking in -- a little NSV -- 24:28 in a 5K this morning -- and I won a prize! I was 3rd place for women age 35-39.

And now begins a one-week break from exercise. I've been talking about taking a break for months, and finally decided (after a discussion on the exercise forum) that it was time to do it. I'm starting a half-marathon training program January 5 so I wanted to get it in before then. It might end up being a 6-day break, because I really want to go to Athletic Yoga on Friday. I went yesterday and it was great!

Happy Weekend, everyone!

I overate on the weekend AS ALWAYS and I'm pretty sure I will spend all this week yoyo-ing. Like last week, and the week before that, and the week before that. This is just embarrassing.

I bought a backless dress for New Years Eve (it's kind of frontless too, good thing I don't need to wear a bra). I want my back and shoulders to look good. Going to step up the pushups action. 122 (my birthday/Christmas goal) is so, so far away, but maybe I can at least get to 124. Sighhhhhh.

hey ladies! jumping right in.. this weekend has not been good. i felt the need to bake strawberry cupcakes, & then ate the majority of them myself! not to mention arby's curly fries yesterday..i'm not even weighing myself this morning. i'm going straight to the gym to try to do some damage control! hope everyone's doing well! :)

ciao - congrats on maintaining during Thanksgiving. Luckily (?) I don't celebrate Thanksgiving, even though my gran is from the US, I don't think I could take two big holidays so close together.

thesame7 - congrats on the NSV. I think taking a break would be good, if only for the fact that your regime makes me feel so inferior... lol

krampus - I have every faith that you can reach 122 - you just need to be really militant. Drink loads of water, that is my current cheat.

:woop: I saw 120.8 on the scale this morning. Finally. This is the week. I can feel it in my bones!

Wow, so much good stuff going on around here!

:yay: I can imagine you are ecstatic!

That sounds AWESOME. And it seems like back muscles respond the most quickly to resistance training so you will rock this dress.

:congrat: I remember being so proud when I ran/walked a 5K in 42 minutes last year... that is so cool that you won a PRIZE.

I laughed when I saw that - this is EXACTLY why you SHOULD be posting here! I had those same numbers for something like 6 months earlier this year (Feb-Aug). Coming here and checking in kept me from giving up and helped me to completely revamp some things to get moving again... now I'm hovering again about 7 lbs lower. Time to RE-revamp.

This is something I have realized as well! When I read the Beck Diet Solution in August, this is something she requires - that you sit down and eat a proper meal when you eat. I struggle with this, but it really does make a difference.

I do South Beach and I love it because when I am really ON plan, I feel like I am making really good choices. If I manage to get the 4.5 cups of veggies/day, it's hard to really be hungry for much else... I do limit grain servings as well (from personal experience; no way can I lose weight with 3 servings per day) and I avoid artificial sweeteners. Plus I often add calorie-counting as well, mostly to see the macronutrient breakdowns and to ensure I am not being extreme in any direction.

I was reading through the WW section - seems like the changes are really good ones! One of the complaints had always been that you could manage to eat not that well even staying within your allotted points. Seems like the empty calories are being assigned more points now so that will be harder to do.

As for myself... well, that Elvis song is running through my head: "A little less conversation, a little more action." Yep, that about sums it up. I need to follow through on all my great plans and get going on my own version of boot camp. I want to end this year on a high note. Laaaaaaaa! :encore:

This is my first time posting here. Congratulations DoraUK I can't believe how close you are it just has to happen soon!

I personally am no where near my finally goal but I am hoping to have lost at least 10lbs for Christmas. I have a really hard time knowing how much I weight at any given time. I try to weigh myself in the morning before eating since I figure that would be when my weight is the most accurate. But I also tend to weigh myself before I work out (6pm) and sometimes at the end of the day before I go to bed (12am).

I am not sure if this is a good idea some days I am impressed when I have only gained 3lbs over the whole day and it allows me to decide which numbers are accurate and which are not. It can also be a bit frustrating because my weight can shift up to 5lbs in a day which I think is just crazy. I have had stomach issues in the past and bloat very easily so I think this may have something to do with it.

I have seen 150lbs on the scale in the morning for the last 3 days which makes me think that this is my current weight if so it mean I have 3 more pounds to lose before Christmas. On the other hand the highest number I have seen recently is 154 lbs which would mean I have 7 lbs to lose. 3 is obviously easier to achieve than 7 in 3 weeks but we will see what happens.

So when do you usually weigh yourself?

I only "count" my first-thing-in-the-morning-after-peeing weights but I like my "just ran" weights just fine too, depending. ;)

DoraUK - SO CLOSE! You're practically there!

EmmaD - Thanks for the vote of confidence, hehe.

Update: Today was a good day. Under 1400 calories for the day. I ran about 4 miles and came home and did 105 pushups. Some of them were pretty weak but I still count them. Arms are sore and I keep thinking about the stupid dress. I'm hoping results will happen - and that in the week of my birthday/Christmas with my dessert-enabling boyfriend, muscle atrophy from a 20 hour air transit journey, käsespätzle (cheesy egg noodles) and delicious German beer precluding NYE, I don't undo them all.

DoraUK, I am eagerly awaiting your announcement of GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

EmmaD, thank you thank you thank you for reminding me about Beck. It is sitting in my nightstand. I will begin rereading PRONTO because I am going in the wrong direction!

Welcome, diornotwar!

Veela, welcome! I only count my first-thing-in-the-morning weight. The rest of the day reflects the weight of you've eaten and drank. Think about it -- you could do nothing but drink water all day and your weight would go up. A half-pound of veggies weighs more than a quarter-pound of chocolate, but in the long run, which will make you weigh more?

It is soooooo cold here, and looks like it will be all week. Yesterday and today are mercilessly windy as well. This is when my NEAT (non-exercise activity) really decreases, because I will avoid going outside at all costs when it is like this. I will try to make up for it by attacking the giant pile of laundry in the basement (lots of trips up and down the stairs). I keep reminding myself, this is the last winter I ever have to live through this kind of cold. Southern California is so much more my temperature!

I'm in class right now so I can't do individual responses right at the moment, but I have been reading everyone's and we all seem to be doing GREAT!! You're all so inspirational. Sorry to sound so corny haha.

I weighed in at 126.4 this morning, my lowest ever! I'm sooo so excited. So excited that I almost cheated and went to Chipotle today, but thank goodness it doesn't open until next week, when I leave campus and go back home. I really need to get out of the mentality that weight loss = treat reward (in food form). I'm getting a little too relaxed because I'm so close to goal. How weird, you would think that would be a great motivator!

To those who read Beck, I haven't been keeping up with it--I really need to, especially with the holidays going on!

My gifts to myself this year will be: The Beck book (I keep checking it out of the library and dang it, they keep requesting it back), The New Rules of Lifting for Women (same problem), maybe Power Factor Training: A Scientific Approach to Building Lean Muscle Mass (my library doesn't have it) and an air-popper for popcorn. Oh and gourmet popcorn!

Not very glamorous or exciting... well, actually I am excited about these choices! Everything revolves around being fit. And happy :)

Anyone else focusing on healthy choices for the gift-giving season? I'm still deciding about what to get the others in my life.
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image...192551059_.gif

EmmaD, I LOVE popcorn. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I've never heard of this company, but their site looks really good!

As for healthy gifts...I'm asking for jewelry, which is *technically* healthy, right? ;)

Wow! There has been so much good happening in this thread! YAY for everyone!!!

I've lost 3lbs in 5 or so days. Being sick helped a lot because I didn't eat much. We will see what happens as I start feeling better.