fitmom - I'm so not looking forward to TOM - I've read so many posts of people saying they see the scale move up during that time. I've not been weighing myself before around TOM - so it's gonna be a firsttimer for me. Whaaa. hehe.

krampus - good job on only a slight gain! and allow yourself some of that during this busy time I'd say! i'm alo the type of person that nevers gets stressed - its nice but also frusterating for others to witness sometimes. Haha. If you ever visit and want to see more I'll show you around!

claire - GOODLUCK! Awesome! Hope it goes well and please enjoy the bakery extra for all us Ladies that haven't such a great reason to treat ourselves just yet! haha

dianne - I don't know if you could. You could try and find an online dutch expat store to see of they have the cookies! but they're not super typically dutch. However - if you really badly want them I could always send you a pack! haha. Just let me know! My plan is sorta simple:

- between 1200-1500 calories a day intake - which seems to be quite easy on me. I eat small portions of stuff and stay away from bread and pasta's because they eat up the calories superfast. I drink only water. And I eat 6 times a day.
- 4 to 5 times a week gym - which is way more than I ever did before, I'm not doing it super hard, so no muscle aches mostly. About 25mins of cardio each time and strength for 25mins 3 times, and the other 2 times core-stuff
- 3 times a week to work by bike (about half an hour each way, so 3hrs a week total)
- once or twice a week some "extra" in there like a long walk or a youtube-workout-thing

dorian - i hope you mainly just ENJOY time with your friends and maybe you can take them to places for dinner that have lowcal foods? Or you can suggest a homecooked meal and go all out on a very nice recipe? And drinks aint hard if you allow yourself 1 glass of wine to 3 glasses of water

Well, where I live we are on high alert for the heat index until Friday at 10 p.m. I'm gonna try to sneak in my running tomorrow morning around like 4:45 a.m. (it's sounds crazy, I know) before it gets too hot. They said it will be like 70s when we wake up so that's good. We'll see how that goes. And of course, HIIT with my son is cancelled until the weather cools down, obviously.

Also, question for all you muscular Feathers: how long will it take me to see some sort of visible definition in my quads? When I flex, I see a definite muscle but if I'm not flexing, my thigh just looks toned. Which isn't bad, in and of itself but I'm starting to get discouraged b/c I've been hitting the weights and running pretty much hard-core for the last 8 weeks and I thought I'd be further along by now. I mean, I know it's not gonna happen overnight and all but I just want to see that I'm not doing this in vain. I don't want like super bulky thighs (I just bought some size 2 pants/shorts, lol) but something resembling a quad would be most appreciated.

philana: You are the Goddess of Discipline! What an inspiration.

LOL fitmon, let me not kid you... I just had 3 days off of gym and have a REALLY hard time convincing myself I must go now or else I wont make the 4times a week.

Update: LOL! I finally dragged my butt to the gym, where they announced they'd close earlier because of the summer holiday-period. So that was a super fast series of weights and skipped the cardio.

I got on the electric scale there, and I weigh 3kilo/6.6lbs heavier on that thing than I do at home. The last time I got on a gym scale was another one that looked to be broken. But this one looks to be accurate. I so don't know what to make of this! According to that scale I'm currently 156.5lbs and I was 163lbs. Which really seems just impossible. ARGH. I'm a pear and my old pants size was between 10/12 and right now I'm at a size 10. What do you guys think? I don't care what it is - but I need to know what I'm working with here! haha. Here is a before pic, where appearantly I weigh 163lbs? http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8969/foto98t.jpg

Oh well. Maybe I'll just buy a new scale at home. An electric one.

Update2: I just found this website: http://www.mybodygallery.com/ , and if I compare how I looked with a few of the woman on there my height and starting weight then my conclusion is that I appearantly was probably at 163lbs. And right now am at 156.5lbs. Which sets me way back again. But I'll stick to my own scale for the time being and when I'm at goal I'll deal with the scale issue and figure out my REAL emperical weight. LOL. :P

Please forgive my obsessive rant about this. I'm a bit weird sometimes.

fitmom At the peak of my half marathon training I could see my quads, but only when I tensed them. I figured you could only ever see them if you tensed them. Either I have to drop a lot of body fat, or go back to 2 1/2 hr runs. I'm too lazy to do either, but good luck!

philana: You don't look 163 lbs. in that photo. I'd estimate you to be around 140 or so. You obviously have a lot of muscle mass. Talk about a quick workout, lol.

claire0412: Not what I wanted to hear but thanks for letting me know it's not just me, lol. I wish I had 2.5 hours to run. I'm lucky I'm doing what I'm doing with two kids. Oh well. *shrugs*

Philana I don't think you look like 163lbs either. Scales are weird, but as long as you pick one and stick with it, it doesn't matter! My mum's scale in England tends to say I'm about 5lbs lighter than my one (yay, can use it on Monday!) but use my one because it's more convenient!

Fitmom I didn't mean that you can't get that definition, because lots of people have it, just I am too lazy to put in the work required. However, you are about 7% lower body fat than me, and much more motivated for exercise!

Scale is back down to 67.6kg this morning. I think it is weight training that shoots it up by 0.5/1kg for the few days afterwards. I didn't feel any fatter so I knew it was something like that! That basically means I've stayed the same since my operation 4 weeks ago, maybe I've lost a bit of fat and replaced it with muscle. Anywho, staying the same is a good achievement for me seeing as though most people would pack on the pounds if they couldn't walk for more than 15mins at a time for 4 weeks.

I've got a busy day of cleaning and baking before the boy comes back. He has been at a conference for the whole of this week and has been eating 3 course meals every night, but he was not a fan of everything smothered in butter, loads of carbs and no vegetables. Sooo, I will be making the chicken and raspberry salad again and maybe baking black bean brownies!

I am also going to clean my entire flat, including inside the fridge and cupboards, because it is the last chance I'll get. I've got a busy weekend and I'm flying back to England for the week on Monday. I'll get back to Vienna next Sunday, have Monday to get my last xray on my foot and do my Master's exam and then we're off to backpack around Turkey on the Tuesday. Phew! I better get cracking, have a good Friday/weekend!

claire0412: Phew! I'm tired just reading your post, lol. Seriously though, your life sounds sooo exciting compared to mine which is at best ho-hum.

Anyway, this is probably my last post on this thread since I will be going away in two days. I ran at 4:45 a.m. this morning and it was 85 fun-loving degrees. I was seriously the only nutjob um, I mean jogger out at that hour with that heat index. Anyhow, didn't beat my personal best of 26 minutes. Clocked 3K at 28 minutes. The last leg of my run is a small hill before I turn off into my street, so I was really feeling it this morning. A neighbor of mine was watering his roses when he saw me slowly chugging up the hill and cocked an eyebrow as if to say, 'are you crazy?' I just gave a half-shrug as I rounded the corner as if to say, 'uh, yeah!' LOL.

Spent last night doing my kettlebells and core work. The bicycles used to leave me breathless but not so anymore. I'm also able to do the bent-elbow plank (my most hated exercise - grrr!) for three 30 second sets with minimal effort. They are supposedly better for your core than regular crunches b/c they are isometric in nature. Also spent like an hour perusing pictures of before and after transformations on Bodybuilding.com. What an inspiration these folks are! They even have an over 40 section which shows men and women - regular people - who buckled down, lost the weight and look amazing. I'm starting to rethink my whole 'scale is it' philsophy. I saw photos of women who were my height at 130 lbs. who wore the same size as me (U.S. size 2) but were like 13% body fat. That's crazy! I am giving myself a range to stay in now: from 117 lbs. to 119 lbs. depending on the time of the month with the hormonal ebbs and flows. It seems to me to be all about body fat from what I'm reading.

I have to go to the store for some toiletries with my sons before the trip and just planning to stay cool b/c it's supposed to reach 100 degrees today! Then tonight is my Pilates with a focus on thighs and early to bed. Tomorrow is another early morning run and that's it! Have a nice weekend everyone and I'll see you in August!!

This is just a confession about how I ate 2300+ calories yesterday.

So, my mother wanted to go to Outback last night. There is NO way I wouldn't have gone, she suffers from depression and never leaves the house, she just sits at home alone and drinks and cries a lot. She managed to be in a really good mood yesterday and asked to go out to dinner, there was nothing on this planet that would have made me be like "SORRY I'm on a diet so, no." I had eaten about 700 calories that day so far, so I decided to just eat really healthy there -- you know, 6oz sirloin, no croutons or cheese on my salad, asparagus on the side... We get there and she says she wants a Bloomin' Onion. I don't know if all of you know what that is, but it's a whole onion deep fried with dipping sauce. The whole thing is about 2210 calories. I sh*t you not. I knew this already. But, like I said, I have been so worried about her, I would have eaten 5 of them if she had a good time. In the end she said they make her stomach hurt and she wanted fried chicken wings instead (I had 3 -- about 500 calories. I am not crazy about chicken wings, and these weren't even good ones, but I'm not gonna be like "Sorry I'm on a diet" cause then she wouldn't have even had an appetizer, and she really wanted one.) Luckily she wasn't in the mood to drink so we both just had water. I still got my lean steak (9 oz, cut it in half and have some today for lunch) and asparagus and salad with no cheese or croutons... the only other thing is, I ate practically a whole loaf of that bread with butter, because it is just SO good.

/confession

I somehow weigh 123.2lbs today. Last night after we got back from Outback I jumped on the treadmill and ran 4 miles. It made me feel better, even though I knew it was obsessive. It put me a little under maintenance calories so it set my mind at ease a little.

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philana - definitely pick ONE scale to weigh on. I refuse to even look at a scale other than the digital one in my bathroom. I think it would be worth the investment to get yourself a scale, YOUR scale, and ignore all others. I would lose it if I used different scales. There will always be a scale somewhere that will weigh you heavier, and another scale elsewhere that will weigh you lighter. Just track progress with one. I don't think you look 163lbs, you look lighter than that.

claire0412 - PHEW! You sure do sound busy! Glad to hear the scale is back down today, you seem to be doing great! Chicken and raspberry salad and black bean brownies sound AMAZING.

fitmom - I am of no help when it comes to muscle talk, as mine are all covered in pudding (fat) at the moment. But like claire said, with your low body fat and hardcore runs, I can't imagine that you would have a hard time getting the definition you're looking for! And holy CRAP at running at 4:45am, I can barely get my arse out of bed for work at 7:30am! Nice work! HAVE FUN ON VACATION, SO EXCITED FOR YOU!

Keep it up everyone!

Happy Friday!

So I havent weighed in awhile. I keep messing up and after messups I wait about 3 days to weigh in, and then I mess up again lol So its been awhile. I was originally going to weigh in this morning but since I did AWFUL (3Kish calories) on Wednesday, I decided to just wait until Monday morning. I am doing NO drinking this weekend and keeping my calories at 1300 every day this weekend. I am getting baptised this Sunday with my sisters, mom, sister's bf and a friend of ours. Im really excited!

Dorian I really, really, want to give you recognition for what a great thing you did for your mother. I think that kind of selfless love is absolutley beautiful. I dont know you that well but I am just SO proud of you for not only putting her needs in front of your own, but for still trying to consciously eat healthy AND exercise afterwards. I LOVE Outback, and honey, there is NO way you can resist their bread and butter! I think only eat one loaf isnt half bad. I would have ate 3! hah I'll never forget when I was in high school with some friends eating there. I ate only God knows how many LOAVES of their bread and the waitress was so shocked all my friends said "she doesnt get out much". Which wasnt true, they just know how bad I used to eat. My friends used to call me an alien becuase of how much and how bad I used to eat and never really gained much. Oh to have a 16 year olds metabolism again

Fitmom Oh how quiet it will be when youre gone!! You are so lively on these threads. I love it! Have a great time!! Regarding your BP, I completely understand because thats how Ive been all my life. I have always had lower blood pressure. Ive even had a slower heart beat than normal. My gyno not too long ago was really impressed by it. He asked if I was an athlete because of how slow my heartbeat was. Last time I took it though, it was dangerously low in my opinion. I think I clocked it in the 40's per minute..

Claire I literally laughed out loud to your "smacking the boyfriend" comment. I seriously feel like I "will on" those comments on myself from people because subconsciously I am so insecure about it and worrying about it all the time. It is so hard for me to shut my brain off sometimes! Do you take measurements? Im sure you lost fat and just gained muscle!

Philana What a GREAT plan. You have so much exercise and variety in your plan and your calories are perfect. You will be at goal in no time. Do you stay on plan most of the time? How long have you been at this?

Have a great day feathers!!

Oh dear. I have a date on Sunday. My first in months and months. I like to go on a short hike on the first date, because it's interesting, and it gives you lots to talk about.
But it's supposed to be 85-90 on Sunday. I know for all you people on the east coast, that's nothing, but I'm in the NW and it's been a cool summer, and I'm afraid I'll sweat up a storm. Sexy!

Ooh just saw this and had to say ann GOOD LUCK! How exciting, and what a good idea to do a hike Men love it when women get all sweaty, don't worry!

Dorian What a nice thing you did for your mum. You are completely right, some things are more important than dieting And, omg, who thought up that onion thing?!! Mental!

fitmom Nah my life isn't that exciting, don't worry! I would secretly like to settle down and stay in one place, but it isn't likely to happen. I need to do teacher training, and my boyfriend's job requires moving around every few years. He wants to go the US after he is done with his PhD. I'd secretly prefer to stay in Vienna, get a cute little (but bigger than this one) flat, a stable job and put down some roots! I envy you!

Dianne You can do it! 2 days of 1,300 and no drinking and you'll be right on track. By the way, how is your tiredness problem these days?

So, I'm sitting in my nice, clean flat with a carrot cake muffin (not a black bean brownie, forgot to soak the beans). Awesome low cal recipe btw:
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup wholegrain flour
1 egg
Baking powder
Sugar (I used 3 tbsp honey)
plus whatever flavouring you fancy (this time carrot and cinammon, last time blueberry, and time before that orange zest and chocolate). My go to muffin recipe!

Have a lovely weekend!

thanks y'all for saying I didn't look like 163lbs in that pic. We'll see what happens when I get on an official scale at the end of my weightloss journey! for now im sticking to the home-scale. even if it might feel like it tells me i'm less heavy than i actually am. lol.

dorian - so proud of you for just being there for your mom and not 'worrying' over the calories. Life is definately more than calorie counting. And there's no way everything goes before 'the plan'. As long as you get back on track and stay healthy!

ann - hope your date was great! let us know please

claire - that muffin recipe sounds good, i'm definately trying it once i've finally found wholegrain flour!

So, i've gone off plan a bit. But I still kept it within certain boundaries. Appearantly TOM was on it's way a bit early which explains why I wasn't up for the gym the past few days (did eat within calories and rode bike to work). And also why I was hungry/craving for days. I gave in to that today by eating like 1400calories worth of cookies and chips. But then, I only ate fruits the rest of the day. So my total hasn't gone over 1700. Which would be my maintenance calories. So... I'm not too bummed. But, the fatigue I had going on is finally gone so I'm going to the gym tomorrow morning (yes, early sunday morning) to make up for these few days. I'm pretty sure I've not gained any so if I just work hard I can still loose 2 to 3 lbs before my birthday on friday.

Hi everyone, just checking in.

I saw some candid pictures of myself from Saturday night and I look OBESE. Weighed in at 134.5 this morning after hitting up the buffet (for the last time) last night with my eating buddies and drinking Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

I feel kind of powerless to do anything about it until I get home to America, where I will put myself on a strict diet and exercise routine. But maaaan this sucks.

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Dorian5, my dad is similarly depressed and I would eat 5 Bloomin' Onions for him too. It was really moving to read about your dinner with your mom.

aww, krampus, I'm confident that you did not look obese! I think it would be nearly impossible to stay with a strict diet and exercise plan in your situation, so don't sweat it!

My date was actually pretty good, until the end where he seemed distinctly uninterested in a second one. So maybe it wasn't that good after all. I dunno...

Thank you guys so much for all of your kind words, I was feeling kind of guilty about Outback, especially after going WAY over my calories on the 7/16-17/11 weekend. I feel much better now getting some affirmation that I did the right thing. My momma has been a huge rock for me growing up, the least I can do is go eat a ridiculous deep-fried onion for her!

I DID go out with friends all weekend, but managed to stay at/just below maintenance calories. I didn't drink much because I purposely volunteered to be the designated driver so I couldn't. One beer, one gin and tonic, and one lemon drop shot over the course of 3 hours.

Something totally awesome that happened to me over the weekend -- a girl at my sister's work gave a bunch of old clothes that she can't wear anymore to my sister to give to me. When my sister told me I was like "I don't want someone's old crappy good-will clothes" -- uhm, I was mistaken, most all of the clothes she brought are size 2 and 4 with the tags on them, all from Old Navy, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Charlotte Russe. And most of them fit, some of them are small though -- goal clothes! JACKPOT!

My boyfriend and I grill EVERY weekend, because A) we love cooking/preparing food together and B) we like eating. Yesterday I was FIENDING for a burger, so we made some lean turkey burgers with jalapenos and pepperjack cheese and onion and tomatoes and lettuce and hot sauce... mmmm, oh my gosh, so delicious. And about 200 calories for each quarter pound patty since we used 93/7 ground turkey, 350 calories for each whole, giant burger.

I'm up 2 pounds this morning from eating a little below maintenance calories all weekend. HOW FRUSTRATING! Lots of salt from the burgers and didn't use the bathroom, I will blame that. But it makes me think that if I want to maintain 115lbs I will have to get under it to eat salt at all.

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Dianne042425 - I'm glad it's not just me about their bread -- holy wow, it is just SO good! Yummm yum yum. I also have a hard time when I order at Panera, I get my super-healthy salad order and then they ask me if I want that big hunk of bread as a side -- of COURSE I do! But I'll take an apple. How did your baptism go?

ann71 - I'm excited about your date! I think guys try to seem disinterested after the first date, my boyfriend didn't act like he wanted to go on another and didn't call or text after our first date for days! I asked him why a few months ago (we've been together a year+) and he said he read that advice in Maxim. I'm sure you'll hear from him again!

claire0412 - I cannot WAIT to try your muffin recipe, the orange/chocolate muffins sound OUT of this WORLD!

philana - I love birthday goals, it's like giving a present to yourself! Sorry to hear about TOM, but at least you're getting it out of the way before your birthday! I generally see a big WHOOSH after mine, hopefully you're way low when it finally leaves!

krampus - It's hard sometimes when the child has to support a parent emotionally, I'm sorry to hear about your father. I'm sorry your pictures got you down, but I'm SURE you don't actually look obese! Not too much longer until the move now, right? I'm really glad you're going out and enjoying your time there before you leave, life is about ENJOYMENT!

I love you ladies an awful lot, keep at it!