Awww, that's really sweet of you to think about finding a hat for your husband kat999! I'm glad you had a good time hiking and enjoying dessert out. I went to the Cheesecake Factory last summer with a couple friends and we were literally the only people seated on the patio who weren't overweight or obese...

lackadaisy, sugar high is an awful feeling - the headache is the worst! I hope you don't let this morning's weigh-in dictate your mood for the whole next week; like you said you'll be back to business, which is not a demoralizing thing at all!

***

Today I blew about 400 calories on empty carbs at work, but lunch and dinner were fairly clean and healthy - I wound up starting and finishing a big bag of broccoli. Legs were screaming at me just walking home from work so I did a Tae Bo cardio DVD, pushups, crunches and situps when I got home instead of running. Total food calories are around 1350, and I am absolutely loading myself up with water and noncaffeinated tea to try and flush out the salt bloat from last night's feast.

I have my health check at work tomorrow and I am really, really afraid of what my weigh-in will be. I know there's no possible way I am going to be heavier than I was last July, but I feel like an absolute manatee!

Everyone is making me want to take a hike! :lol:

Up about .8 lbs today since the boyfriend insisted on cooking dinner for me last night. He was so excited to pull out the grill and show me that he thoughtfully picked out turkey bratwurst at the store for me instead of regular bratwurst because he knows I'm trying to be healthy. I didn't point out that they were still *PEPPERJACK CHEESE FILLED* *SALTY* *STILL HIGH CALORIE* turkey bratwurst. I just smiled and kissed him hard and told him he was wonderful for thinking of me and ate 2 of them loaded with relish, onions, and mustard. ;)

Determined to make good choices today!! I'm averaging .4lbs of weight loss a week lately, would definitely like to see a little bit higher number.

krampas I know for a fact you couldn't possibly LOOK like a manatee! I know what you mean about those kind of weigh ins, I swear that my doctor's office scale always weighs me heavier, it sucks. I hope you see a great number! Also, I like your new avatar as well.

kat999 I always notice things like that now! I take note of what each person orders when I go out to restaurants and calculate the nutrition in my head, then see if it jives with their weight. Not in a judgmental way, just in a oh-my-gosh-why-are-we-even-given-the-option-to-eat-that-kind-of-stuff kind of way.

indiblue happy soon-to-be birthday!!

lackadaisy, like indiblue already mentioned, I also see a significant gain after a high calorie day, I hope it doesn't bring you down: I'm sure you'll be back down in no time. I always make sure to drink lots and lots of water the day after a high calorie day.

Good luck everyone, hope your Mondays aren't too hectic. :)

Krampus, if you had said something like that in real life, I would have glared at you and said something to the effect of, "STFU BIOTCH YOU SOME HOT STUFF." :P

Super stressed out about oral exam tomorrow. I think that had something to do with my overeating yesterday, to be honest. I would be really tempted to do the same today but the memory of how crappy that made me feel is still strong in my mind, so instead I've been eating like clockwork, 350 calories at mealtimes, 200 calorie snacks, in my go-to meals and meal replacement bars, hardly tasting my food at all.

TMI: While I usually have lots of constipation problems, I've also been BM-ing like a champ today -- too much so -- three times already. So this is actually horrifying. I wonder if it's related to eating about twice as much yesterday as I usually do -- could I be having problems absorbing nutrients? I just don't know.

krampus - 100% agree on the sugar/fat/salt/carb combo = crack. It wreaks havoc on your insulin levels too. And eek they weigh you at work, Id be sooo unhappy about that as a ritual. Im sure you will be fine though. Can you not look? hehe

indiblue - so glad to hear your mystery weight disappeared. and best of luck with the interviews. the job market in general seems to be steadily improving, im sure something will work out for you. here's to hoping you get 126 and an interview for your bday :)

lackadaisy - I empathize with the scale demoralizing you, but dont forget you just had major, major workout session via that hike and it is likely causing a false high reading! And dont worry about the frequent BMs either, it would be abnormal for a daily thing, but for one day Im sure its not causing absorption issues. And just remember to breathe, exams will be fine. Deep, even breaths, you will do great.

Dorian5 - wow you are a good gf for providing positive feedback. Hope they were at least tasty!

Well yesterday was going so, so well. I made a new smoothie recipe (1 slice silken tofu, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1tbs apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/3 bunch mint, truvia) and it was delicious! I made a sensible dinner and post-dinner snack that rounded out my daily eating well.

And then…about 1am I ate a bunch of crap I should not have eaten. I wouldnt quite call it a binge. Only because when I got really full, I stopped eating and there was still quite a bit of binge worthy food in the house. Usually with a binge I literally cant stop if anything remotely desirable is around. However, my cal intake for the day was ~2000cals, carbs were barely under 100g, and sodium was…*gasp* almost 3000mg!!

Weighed in this morning well over my redline of 130lbs at 131.4lbs. Oddly I am not that upset. It at least makes sense. Middle of the night eating 1000cals and insane sodium is not so bright. But Im looking on the upside…my overeating didnt turn into a binge AND I didnt overeat carbs by very much at all….it was almost all protein actually. Which means today I dont feel hung over or cracked out. Just a little bloated. So Im doing very low carbs again today and drinking tons of water and I think tomorrow and the day after should stabilize.

btw - I cant remember which of you was asking for a review of the spa treatment I had last Friday…it was phenomenal and I wrote an entire blog post (linked from my footer). Already want to go back, haha.

Today I feel like more of a gazelle than a manatee. It's amazing what one day of on-focus eating and exercising will do for your ego. I woke up and relished the "thin" feeling and then stepped on the scale and saw a 1.2 kg drop from yesterday's abominable weigh-in. Did 100 pushups before coming to work - I can't remember the last day I did 100! I have to do them in sets of 15 or so and my form is probably god-awful but that's OK.

We had health check today at work - apparently my blood pressure is quite low at 86/54 and the doctor suggested I eat more salt. I got a weird thrill from seeing that I had the lowest BP of all my coworkers. The best part though was having my height taken and seeing that I "grew" 0.9 cm in the past year, which puts me 1/4 inch away from my dream height of 5'5!!!

***

xty Good to hear you didn't wind up in a carb binge and stopped eating when you were really full. I know how hard it is to stop once you've started so that's a victory in itself!

lackadaisy Hahaha thanks for the mental health check ;) Sorry to hear you're stressing, but it'll be over before you know it! I don't really go #2 unless I've binged or overeaten either; after the Hard Rock Cafe I went 3 times in 24 hours - I know how you feel.

MiniFluffy Thank you *blush*

Dorian5 MMM turkey bratwurst! Isn't it sweet when our menfolk try to do "healthy" things for us? My boyfriend got me individually wrapped/small sized packages of cookies for Valentine's Day because he thought I wouldn't eat as many if they were in smaller packages. Hope you can take a hike soon!

Dorian that is really, really sweet of your boyfriend! Mine did that too- on Valentine's Day he wanted to cook dinner and did a shrimp tossed in a light sauce with a fruit salad and bruschetta on the side. I was so happy. It's really thoughtful when they want to be supportive, even though their idea of healthy and low-fat my not correspond exactly with ours ;)

lackadaisy I went twice yesterday too, it was weird. I've never heard of a correlation between number of times to the bathroom and nutrient absorption, but let me know if you find out. I have however always heard that more nutrient-rich food is heavier/more dense, so even though we're eating less of it we have more mass to pass, so to speak. Maybe that's it? No idea.

xty thanks for the kind thoughts :) Glad you were able to keep the overeating from turning into a binge. Sorry that the weigh-in was higher than you want it, but at least it's attributable to something.

krampus Nice job on the pushups. Good grief- 100? Doesn't matter if you do them in sets of 15 or sets of 2, that's still a lot and it's impressive.

--

126 again today, finally! Good grief, that was a long bumpy ride over the last week. Gotta hold on to this number and keep powering through. My eating yesterday was good until my boyfriend came home with chocolate ice cream. I only had about 1/4 c but it's a trigger for me, so I need to just forget that it's there...

indiblue I ate lots of un-nutrient-rich dense-with-calories food yesterday, though. Crepes! Salmon! Eggs! Chocolate!

Oh wait, now I remember... that was high-fiber chocolate. Okay. Things make sense now.


So anyway, I was very stressed out all day today (and still am... this exam is going to be a disaster), and thus didn't work out at all and ate about 1,500 calories with two extra pieces of toast late at night. It's not a binge -- only 150 over what I usually eat -- but 500 over my daily budget because of the skipped workout. I will have to do a long run tomorrow to make up for it, but that's okay. I am refusing to feel guilty for eating under maintenance calories on a rough day.

lackadaisy, good attitude! On a tough day, we have all GOT to be more forgiving of ourselves!

krampus & indiblue - boys can be so nice when they want to be. ;)

xty - I didn't want to make him feel bad cause he tried soooo hard! :lol: Next time I'll have to gently steer him in the direction of just grilled chicken breast for me when he wants to grill out. And YES they were AMAZINGLY tasty! I could have eaten 4!

lackadaisy Way to have a very healthy attitude towards food! You shouldn't feel guilty about it -- in all it sounds like you had an excellent day, food wise! My rough day would include doughnuts, ice cream, pizza with ranch sauce... hm, I gotta stop talking about what I would eat, haha. But you get the idea! No one should be chastised for salmon and eggs!

I was shocked to find myself on the scale this morning with it reading 131.4lbs! WOW! I guess eating more calories for the last week (or two, lol) kick started me a little. Stoked this morning, and looking damn good in my work clothes!

I've started bringing my lunch to work -- I was getting a salad at the Whole Foods salad bar each day, but at $8 a pound, I figured I should start watching my actual budget as well as my calorie budget. I went over the weekend and bought lots and lots of fresh, whole foods. Now I get excited when it's almost lunch time because I know I packed something totally awesome and healthy the night before.

Have an awesome day everyone!

lackadaisy Keep your head up and I hope you have a better week!

Dorian5 I think packing a healthy lunch is one of the most awesome things you can do for yourself. Ive done this 95% of the time over the past 2 months or so it really gets addicting and makes you aware of what you are eating. My lunches used to consist of a lot of fast foods and eating out and various restaurants with my coworkers. Now that Ive given that up Im almost appalled at the way I used to eat and think nothing of it. Good for you... it takes an effort and planning but well worth it.

krampus and dorian5 I agree men can be sweeties when they want to be.... and sometimes more supportive and encouraging than our female friends...


Case in point last night I hung out with some friends from college I havent seen in a while. The nite consisted of tacos, making smores, mixed drinks, and games. I had just come from a spinning class earlier so I didnt feel so bad indulging a little. I think the final calorie count was around 1800 by the end of the nite and about 89 grams of carbs. I was actually relieved I thought it would be much worse.

Anyway my girlfriends, despite being aware of my healthy eating and weight loss attempts ( and having some of their own), kept encouraging the fatty-food intake. And I, feeding into the peer pressure, indulged. But I guess comfort foods and drinks are common way that women bond when we get together.

Didnt weigh today, but didnt feel heavier or bloated this morning so I guess thats good.

A coworker stopped me and asked " what did you do to get so thin?!" Even though I know Im far from "thin" and certainly nowhere near my goal weight its good to know things are moving in the right direction. Hard work and consistency is not going unnoticed.... or being lost to the occasional late-nite, fatty get-together with the girls :0)

Have a lovely day feathers!

Ate too many carbs while studying from 2 am to 9 am today (I can't even call it "last night" because I slept 3 hours in between, so I'm just calling it "April 12th"). At 700 calories for the day already... YIKES.

Putting away the cereal now: I did amazingly well on my oral exams considering I was just making things up, and I am SO HAPPY to be done with them. SO HAPPY. No time for a big workout during the day today, but I've changed to running shoes and will try to run about an hour or so to and from classes & meetings. Fasting until a planned carb-free dinner so my calories work out under budget.

Hi, kind of new, but I've been lurking around the forums here :)

Lackadaisy, good job on your exams :carrot:


Yesterday was hard for me since I got a migrane...I couldnt work out and I was abnormally hungry, so I ate some veggies at like 9pm ish, and that hurt me. Got on the scale this morning to find that I am back at 130.4. So I am going to workout extra hard today, but I am pampering myself also...buying my 2 piece today, since I lost my 20 pounds, I still have more to go, but I figure my hips arent getting any smaller (bones :p ) so it should still fit when I get down to my gw, at least. And I am going to wear it on Friday :D

I feel amazing today. Down over a kg overnight, morning weigh-in was 60.0 kg exactly, or 132.3 lbs. I'm finally not embarrassed to post my weight on here! Started today off great with a 30 minute jog in the lovely crisp spring air through rice paddies and hills looking at cherry blossoms. And TMI NSV alert - I had my first "soft" BM in weeks, no more rabbit pellets for me.

Yesterday was perfectly on-plan with eating. I cooked sashimi grade salmon with sides of spinach and pumpkin, and it came out wonderfully considering it was the first time in my life that I ever cooked fish! I also think I have found the ultimate snack - dried seaweed. It's crunchy and salty (but not too salty) and you'd be hard pressed to eat more than 100 calories' worth of it in one sitting as it's not a "bingeable" snack.

Everyone seems like they are doing really well and are happy with their progress!! I'm so happy to see that

krampus I have been raving about nori on these boards for months... every time someone asks for a good snack I want to shout from the rooftops DRIED SEAWEED! It's so tasty, high in nutrients, and so low in calories. I'm such a fan.

lilmonstervictoria Welcome!! Congrats on your two-piece!

skinnyelle I hate turning down snacks when getting together with friends. I'm overseas right now so when someone serves wine, cheese, chocolate, etc I know they went to great lengths and expenses to get it. Even at home it's such a bonding thing and I know it's annoying to a host when someone refuses food that's provided. I always save calories for gatherings like this for that very reason. It's not worth disappointing a host or friends or appearing rude/ungrateful, as long as it's in moderation. I hope you had a good time!

dorian congrats on your scale and non-scale victories!! It feels amazing to look good in workout clothes ^_^

lackadaisy Wooho kudos on the orals! What a relief for you I'm sure that they are over. And I'm with dorian, when did salmon and eggs get to be considered non-nutrient dense?? Selenium! B12! Iron! Phosphorous! Nom nom nom. :D Hope you had a wonderful run this evening.

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I'm feeling great on this end too. 126.2 this morning. Had a wicked lifting workout yesterday and am feeling it today, which is always fun. I also learned how to use a pressure cooker this week and I feel like I've been given a new life... these things area amazing! I've been making beans galore and am going to try barley today. Anyone have any good barley recipes?

Finishing on-plan at ~1300 cal, 20 min running, and a power yoga class today, despite all the carbs in the AM -- but I already feel the bloat from carb crazy yesterday and today... I can feel my cellulite again! Gross. I want to do a (relative) low-carb cleanse to kickstart all the damage I did by going off-plan while stressing out about my exam this morning.

Just had awful email exchange with parents... I want to travel in June after graduation, but they strongly oppose (1) my being away (2) going to India. It's not my first time in a "non-Western" country and they go to China all the time, so this concern is absurd, but it seems to be just a load of passive-aggressive BS, to be honest... my mom just wants me to go home, and she is using any kind of argument (including "your dad is unemployed right now") to tell me I should travel. It's... I don't know. If this were a friend I would be able to understand and process and deal with the unreasonable passive-aggressive tone she uses, but with my mother, I am nearly crying with frustration.

Makes me proud that i'm not reaching for the cookies right about now. And concerned that if she wants me to spend the only six continuous weeks I'll have off in the next two years home in the suburbs with her, and is telling me I "don't have permission" to travel on my own, I can only look forward to a life of constant guilt-trips, manipulation, and passive-agressive ploys...