Lol! Dorian, i ended up sneakin' cheestrings and cookies in. Cheestrings for 69 cal a piece and the cinnamon cookies are 20cal a cookie, zo all in all I had only 170cal, and enjoyed it for almost an hour. You can tear those strings up in a million pieces, love it!!

Re: HP, NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS PLEASE! I'm waiting until I can go see it with my dad when I get back to NY.

Diet-wise I'm ok, exercised (tae bo cardio DVD) for the first time in like a week yesterday and kept calories low. Today has been a BUSY day and my appetite is low/nearly nonexistent so I think I'll be fine. Weight went down about 3 lbs overnight (phew).

Today the school I teach at held a farewell ceremony for me. Somehow I had no problem holding it together through my speech (6 minutes of sappy yet heartfelt "be a good person" talk, all in Japanese, which I NAILED, who knew I had it in me!) and flower reception and hokey set-to-sad-music send-off. The lunch ladies gave me a really nice gift - bags of hot pepper powder (I always emptied them out when I used to buy school lunch!) and some adorable Klingon symbol-shaped fortune cookies!



Dorian5 That's a good strategy for the movies! It's pretty cool you've cleansed your body to the point where it rejects crap restaurant food, but choking down a meal sounds unpleasant. Nerd fist pump!

philana Your self control is really admirable, I can never keep calories below 1300 no matter what. HP > gym. Are English-language movies Dutch-subtitled in the Netherlands or is everyone proficient enough where it's not needed?

claire That salad sounds gooooood. Well done on peach instead of the world. If it's any consolation my rock and roll lifestyle will end soon; transitioning from "living on my own in a rice paddy" to "living in my parents' house" and downgrading on the independence front.

fitmom I love your positive attitude and all the threads you're making. You may be the key to reviving Featherweights! I'm glad you feel better.

Dianne I can't believe you counted 80 crackers, doesn't that take all the enjoyment out of guilt-ridden overeating? Booze has a similar effect on me, the next day is carbs ahoy without fail. You'll be on track and wearing looser pants soon though!

aimeebell Definitely relate to what you're saying about eating becoming sloppy and getting annoyed with how easy it is to regain. I've been struggling with that since...uh, Christmas. You're looking to maintain give or take a couple pounds, right?

bakersdozen: welcome, this is a great thread, hope you stay with us.

claire: haha on your rock and roll lifestyle!

krampus: good luck with all your meals out! I'm not good with "special" stuff. Mostly have to eat very little the rest of the day and hope it all balances out. It's not an ideal system.

Today I ran for 5 miles! It felt surprisingly good, so that's exciting. In not as good news, I think I ate 2800 calories. I bought chocolate chips to make cookies for a potluck, but then didn't have time to make the cookies. I will not make that mistake again. These chips are SO good. On the plus side, they are mostly gone now.

My clothes are fitting noticeably looser, but too many 2800 calorie days will turn that right around!

krampus - it's so much easier when I'm at work all day. I'm busy and we have a private kitchen with a fridge and I am basically the boss of the groceries here - so it's all healthy foods. Hahaha. We even have a little party tonight at the office and I'm making sure that next to fried snacks there is also some veggies and fruits with a nice fage-dip and hummus.

I just came back from my 3 mile run and I feel fantastic! LOL. I told my older son he can come with me when I do my HIIT cardio on Friday. He's interested in running and told me when he gets to middle school that he thinks he may want to join the track team. I'm so darn proud of him.

@krampus: Ah, that's so nice of you to say. I get my inspiration from all of you ladies. Let the revival continue!! Thanks, I'm glad I feel better too.

And I'm getting set to leave for my vacation this weekend so many loads of laundry are calling my name. *waves goodbye*

Happy humpday !!

Feeling a little better about things. Yesterdy was the first day back "on plan". Well sort of. I didnt eat all clean. Finished off the cheese and crackers but kept my calories at 1300. My friend is doing the fasting where you eat 2 meals a day and fast for the remaining 18 hours or so. I decided I am going to try and do that 2 days a week. Eat until about 3 and then not eat again until 9am the next day. I tried that yesterday and it wasnt too bad. Has anyone tried this? Apparently a coworker of hers lost like 30 pounds doing it and still drank her wine every night!

Fitmom Have so much fun on your vacation! You know whats good about being a little obsessed with dieting? I actually look forward to house work like laundry because I know I am burning more calories than if I were sitting down

Philana UGH! You AMAZE me with your calories. It is SUCH a struggle for me to keep mine at 1300. I need to learn from yoU! Also, what cookies are only 20 calories each!?!? What is the brand?

Claire Girl, Im right there with you. That night you just explained sounds ideal to me! And were close in age (24 here).

My bra size went down a lot too. I cant believe it. I used to have nice firm full C's. I used to get comments on them all the time asking if they were fake. And now they are barely a b. Its pathetic lol Oh well, you win some, lose some. Literally haha

Krampus I think our bodies are similar in the fact that we gain water weight easily. But the good thing with that is, it comes off just as fast (as you saw with the 3 pound loss overnight). And yes I am that pathetic; I counted how many crackers were left in the box to find out how many crackers I ended up consuming lol

Ann Isnt that SUCH motivation to feel your clothes looser!? I cant wait to feel that again. Congrats!! Dont beat yourself up over the 2800 either!

Philana Good job on the movie snacks! The only reason I go to the movies is for the popcorn, so needless to say, I can't remember the last time I went to the theatre.

Krampus For struggling since Christmas, you have managed to keep your weight in check. I know you are often up 5 or 6 lbs after a bad week, but you always manage to lose it just as quickly as you gain! And yes, the goal is to maintain 130ish give or take a couple pounds, but a few more vanity pounds would be awesome. It's just that when I feel myself slipping, I panic a bit. I'm 35; I've lost and regained this same 35 pounds at least 6 times since I was 16 years old.

fitmom Good run! Once in awhile, I will take one of my boys along for a run. It is easier if I take them to the high school track because I outrun them (which I love LOL), not in speed but in distance. They have all been begging to run a 5K race with me, so I took them to a local free 5K run. They have all since decided that running is not for them LOL

Dianne I have considered intermittent fasting for maintenance, but for the morning hours instead of the evening. Let us know how it goes.

Well....I have two days on plan under my belt and am feeling better. The first two days are always the hardest for me.

Hi everyone!

Another day, another book to read during this, the most boring week ever!

krampus Yay for nailing the speech in Japanese! I gave a brief goodbye speech in German when I left my job here, but didn't plan it so I ended up being annoyed with myself for making grammar mistakes I wouldn't normally Ahhh I don't wanna leave, do you? I'm looking for a flat at the moment and the whole of the area I am meant to move to is either a) lovely but out of my price range b) a complete slum. I wanna stay here!

ann Yay 5 miles Well done! I wouldn't worry about 2,800 calories. It is probably less than 800 over maintenance, and you burned that on your run!

Philana Haha boss of the groceries, I'm that here too (in our little family of two) Good job, because yesterday I was too lazy to buy junk and there was none in the flat, score! I second the question about TV in the Netherlands, do they dub? Every Dutch person I know can speak amazing English and amazing German, I am jealous! I swear when I have children I want them to grow up on mainland Europe (probably here) so they can learn a few different languages.

Fitmom Yay for your son following in your footsteps. My bf has already got dibs on our future children doing decathlons/athletics so he can coach them (poor imaginary children!)

Dianne I've got a great evening planned tonight, more human rights reading and then Breakfast at Tiffany's. This is what happens when your entire friendship group is made up of teachers. School holidays come, and poof, everyone is on holiday for weeks on end and nobody wants to play


On my side, scale was up yesterday and this morning, I have no idea why. The lowest I saw it last week was 67.4kg, yesterday it was 68.2kg and today it was 67.8kg. To be honest, after weeks of clean eating and weight training, I would like to see 66.something thank you please. Hmph!

amie didn't see you there. Well done for getting over the worst, it's all plain sailing from here

Dianne042425: It's so nice to hear that I'm not the only one who went down from a C cup to a B cup. I'm not alone, lol. I used to hear the same thing from people, they wondered if I had gotten implants, lol. I'm not as upset as I was a few days ago when I discovered that my bras were loose though. I'd much rather be fit and a B cup then frumpy with a C cup. I forgot that housework does burn a certain amount of calories. Luckily, I have my two sons to help me so it takes me no time at all.

Aimeebell: The high school track is near my house. I will definitely do that. I have a funny feeling that I might outrun him too, lol. He's built like a runner - really tall (as tall as my 12-year old nephew) and lean. Two days? That's great. Keep going.

Claire0412: Dibs on future children, that's so sweet. I remember when my hubby and I used to talk like that...a few eons ago, lol. But all kidding aside, I do feel a sense of accomplishment that he sees me being active and wants to try running. Children's eyes are always on you 24/7, that's for sure. My six-year old son cries that he wants to come with me too but I tell him that his legs have to get a little bit longer. Don't worry about the scale, sometimes the hormonal surges we have throughout the month can cause that. I weigh myself weekly - every Monday morning. I'm sure you will even out.

I'm back to calorie cycling and I have a new appreciation for those of you who stick to 1200-1300 every day. My lowest day of the cycle is supposed to be around 1225, so I did it Sunday, my off day from exercise... ARGH! I felt like gnawing on my own hand all day and was so tired--though the fatigue was probably due to my sudden drastic cut in caffeine (which I have seriously been overdoing lately, since I bought some tasty cold brew tea). Today is my high day, woohoo!, corresponding with pushup/pullup day.
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krampus: Well done on the speech, and holy cow, those cookies crack me up! Hubby & I have been rewatching TNG episodes for the 5000th time lately.

ann71: Five miles, well done! I'm amazed at all you gals who bake desserts. I'm sure that dipping into the chocolate chips (or eating half the batch) would happen way too often for me if I ever tried baking.

Dianne: Good luck with IF. Seems there are a lot of people on these boards doing it these days--I think there is even a support thread or two somewhere.

aimeebell: Good job on the two days! Keep that momentum going.

claire: Isn't the scale obnoxious? Just gotta throw your hands up and say, whatever...

fitmom: Sounds like you & your son are going to have fun Friday, so cute.

Ann71: Hoow long did it take you to work up to 5 miles? Have you been running a long time? I can't even imagine running 5 miles at this point, lol. I thought I was doing okay with 3. I need to step it up. Haha I'm impressed. That's awesome. Sorry for all the questions but I'm a newbie when it comes to running.


Oh, and I forgot to mention (I have so much to say today, lol) that I did my 'cheat meal' yesterday so I'll have to let you know if that did rev up my metabolism or not. But I used lowfat mac and cheese and turkey chili, lol. I just couldn't allow myself to go full-fat. And last night I did my kettlebells and core work and I was sweating like crazy. I can tell my endurance is getting better b/c I did some jumping jacks between the kettlebell sets and I wasn't huffing and puffing, as per usual.

Then I discovered as I was doing my bent-elbow planks (my most hated exercise, ugh!) that only a small flap of skin on my stomach slightly below the navel hangs down now when I'm in that position. A few months ago, my entire abdomen would fall forward then when I stood up, it snapped back into place. You ladies know what I mean, particularly those who've given birth. It used to really annoy me. I'm so excited that most of it is now tight. I never thought I'd see that - ever. But there's always room for improvement. Tonight is my Pilates night. It's such a destressor once the kids are in bed. I'm focusing on the core today. Okay, back to folding laundry now.

Just got home from work - just want to answer 2 questions

Are english movies dubbed or subtitled? Well subtitled ofcourse! In france and germany they dub everything, it's horrible. And you also notice how they don't speak english so well. A lot of dutch are good at english because of several factors:
- it's a mandatory subject in school for 4 to 8 years (as are 1 or 2 other languages such as french of german
- a LOT of our tv shows are American/English because we are such a small country we don't have a big movie industry of our own
- we have quite an international focus, always have had (in the old days mostly being a country that traded a lot of goods and sailed all the seas looking for land to conquer -we had Manhattan for a while you know

Oh, and on the cookies that are only 20 cal - it's these: http://www.appiehein.com/184-1028-th.../langetjes.jpg "Verkade - langetje" it's a dutch brand I think!

So, I read a lot of you don't manage to get around 1200 calories a day.
Just to see if I can inspire some of you I'll post a 1100/1200 calorie day here for y'all!

Breakfast: (total 112 calories)
1/4 of a fuji apple in tiny pieces - 18 calories
1 teaspoon of regular sugar - 16 calories
25grams of full fat Greek Yoghurt - 78 calories
(I eat this with a small spoon and just relish in the fatty yoghurt before I hurry out the door)

11am: (total 132)
A fiber cracker - 38 calories
1 tablespoon peanutbutter - 94 calories

Lunch: (total 274 calories)
80 gram huttekase (cottage cheese 'light') - 72 calories
1 bowl of watercress (with the huttekase and some pepper and salt) - 15 calories
1 slice of whole wheat bread devided in 4 pieces - 70 calories
1/2 a serving of philadelphia light cream stuff - 23 calories
1 tablespoon of peanutbutter - 94

Dinner: (total 542 calories)
1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oilt - 179 calories
1 cup of arugula - 5 calories
125gram ricotta spinach tortelloni - 358 calories

Snack: (total 109 calories)
1 stringcheese - 69 calories
2 cinnamon cookies - 40 calories

Total for the whole day: 1169 calories

This is on a day that I ride my bike to work for about an hour total. And if I go to the gym late in the evening and then hop into bed with just one egg or something I'm perfectly fine. When I go to the gym earlier - I need atleast 200 calories extra to feel good. One of the things that helps for me is just small portions of things and enjoy the taste of it and eat it slowly. I also don't drink anything other than water. Sometimes half a glass of apple juice. Hope it inspires any of you guys!

Wow, I'm amazed that you ladies have energy to do stuff with only 1200 calories. Gosh, if I ate only that amount of calories I couldn't keep up with my kids. I estimate I eat b/t 1400-1600 calories a day. I find when I cut my calories down, I felt so light-headed particularly when I went to stand up. Not a good thing. My concentration was also affected. Maybe I'm just odd but I need slightly more to make me feel okay. But everyone's different. I'm envious b/c that's just not me, lol. I also drink mostly water too and two cups of green tea.

fitmom - I couldn't do this a lot of days - but once or twice a week I'm fine, i notice no difference, if the other days are about 1400 calories. And also I am not as muscular as you probably are because I only started the gym about 2 months ago at a slow pace which I kicked up about 10 days ago - so I'm sure your body just uses it all up way faster than mine!

I'm also convinced the peanutbutter helps me with cravings! It's so yummy and it makes me feel all filled up and energetic!