Happy Friday Eve!

So I did bad again last night. My calories were probably up to around 2600. Although the eating wasnt that bad, it was just A LOT and I also drank a whole bottle of wine (4 big glasses of wine at dinner). This morning I am motivated more than ever. Last night my bf asked how much I weighed. WTF was my reaction lol So he "guessed" and then I told him. He asked if I was lighter at my birthday (March) becuase I looked skinner then. I know he wasnt trying to be rude. But it still sparked something in me. Because I remember back then I was like what the ****, I dont even look that much different. But I guess to everyone else I did. So I WILL get back to where I was by August 10th! Then from there, I WILL get to my ultimate goal of 119.8 by Halloween!!!!!!

Aimee The first two days back on plan are always teh hardest for me too. I just cant seem to find the motivation. Its when I start feeling "skinny" again that I start feeling better and more motivated!

Claire hah I totally understand. Both my sisters are teachers. At least its keeping you on track and on plan!

Fitmom HOw long did it take you to get to goal? Has weight training made a big difference? How many days a week are you working out. Sorry for all the questions. Just curious. Also, that is so exciting that you are actually seeing the results with your stomach. Keep up the good work!!!

Wait, 110/70 is considered low blood pressure!? I have always been below normal then. My blood pressure is always below 120/80. What is accompanied with low blood pressure? If it is normal for you to have low blood pressure than can it really be considered low blood pressure?

Sumire lol yes 1200-1300 calories is hard to do. How many calories do you normally stick with a day?

Philana Your avatar is sexxxxxyyyy lol Also, about the cookies, can I order them here in Florida? Congrats on the 2 pound loss! At what rate are you losing?? What is your "diet and exercise" plan?

Krampus That is too funny. It is most noticeable in my face too. I have the exact same thing happen to me. Whenever I am having a few good "skinny" days and the bloat in my face goes down, I get the "have you lost weight" question. It is SO noticeable in pictures to the point where I want to cry. Just ONE night of drinking can bloat my face. I actually have a joke with my friends. I nicknamed it and Ill say oh no blowfish is out. Oh gosh. How pathetic lol

Wow Dianne, I would smack my boyfriend around the head if he commented on my weight like that! Did you trick him into it (I do that sometimes) or did he come up with that gem all on his own? It would be almost acceptable to broach the subject if you were overweight (which you aren't), but he must know saying something like that will affect you?! Good for you for using it as motivation, I'd be tempted to get fat to spite him (helpful!) :) Your way is better! Good luck!

Dianne042425: I'm sort of at goal but not really, lol. My weight is where I want it to be, my body fat I'd like it to a little less, if possible. When all is said and done, it took me four years to get from there to here BUT that's only because I didn't go full-throttle with it. It went in dribs and drabs. Once I started hardcore at the start of this summer, the rest of the weight all but flew off me. The body fat and soft layer of belly fat was what was still hanging around. It took like 6 weeks to really see a viable difference. My stomach is like 90% there, I'm still chugging along.

Weight training made a difference combined with all the running I've been doing. I work out 6 days a week, morning and night (most days) with Sundays off.

About the BP: 120/80 is considered ideal or normal. 110/70 is considered low but that's normal for me and always has been. I don't feel light-headed or faint. I just think IMO that some people have lower pressure for whatever reason. My doctor did tell me that low BP runs in families and my late mom had it too so that's where I got it from. It's normal for me to have lower than normal BP but I don't really consider it low pressure, you catch my drift, lol. I think the 120/80 rule came from the medical community needing some sort of barometer to go by when checking BP IMO. But I'm not a doctor, obviously.

Don't let last night get you down. At least it sounds like you had fun, right? :D Ooo, men can be so lovely with their comments, can't they? LOL. Today's a new day!

claire0412: I don't think low BP is much of a concern unless you feel faint. Also, mine's always been low and it runs in my family so it's not much of a surprise to the doctor's when they see that on my chart. Not much of a 'red flag', so to speak. I've been dying to see Harry Potter cause my nine-year old has been begging me mercilessly, lol. Maybe when I get back from vacation. Have fun!

philana: Congratulations!!! That's so awesome. I want a ticker too, lol. Your willpower is motivating me, that's for sure. :)

More laundry today, gave myself a manicure and pedicure, started to pack a little bit. Last night, I did some Pilates core work. Went to bed around 10 p.m. and woke up feeling refreshed. Tonight it's my kettlebells and core work. Is it possible to not be losing weight but still lean out? My stomach and legs look more toned but the scale hasn't really moved in a few weeks. I don't really know b/c I've never gotten this far before, lol.

I've been MIA from the boards, but I've been really good with eating! I'm back at 123.8lbs, which was my weigh in last Friday, hopefully tomorrow I can manage a good weigh in! Glad that I managed to pry off last weekend's weight, hope I can manage to be good this weekend so I can have a LOSS next week -- might be difficult since I have a LOT of friends coming into town to visit and we will surely have some dinners out and drinking... yikes! I will try to keep in mind how guilty I felt after last weekend, haha.

krampus - YUM at your food! Promise not to throw out any HP spoilers! Glad you're not getting too stressed out over moving and whatnot, sounds like you're keeping everything under control. :)

philana - CONGRATS, it's always nice to see hard work pay off on the scale. :) Can you not get a ticker yet?

Dianne042425 - Ah, boys say stupid sh*t. They can't help it, they usually mean well. I think they just lack brain-to-mouth filters. Sorry to hear about your bad day, but glad it motivated you this morning! That's the way to do it! :D

claire0412 - I would love to eat at a bakery called Sugar and Fat, haha. Lots of good things coming your way! YAY HARRY POTTER ZOMG. Haha. /nerd

fitmom - You sound so FIT with all of your different workouts! Sorry to hear about TOM, that is ALWAYS frustrating! I definitely think that it's possible to lose some mass without the scale reflecting it! Have you still been tracking your measurements?

Have a great day everyone!

Dorian5: Your comment made me chuckle. I've been tracking my measurements. I wanted to wait until my TOM was gone (hopefully tomorrow) to see if anything's different b/c visually I see a slight difference when I look in the mirror. But we'll see. Have fun with your friends this weekend. It sounds like you'll have a blast.

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 :D 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 :D 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 :p 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. :dizzy: 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. :D 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! :lol: 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 :D

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! :D 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 :D

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. :gift:

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! :lol:

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! :D

My boyfriend and I grill EVERY weekend, because A) we love cooking/preparing food together and B) we like eating. :lol: 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. :T

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. :dizzy: 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. :rolleyes: 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! :D

krampus - :hug: 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! :D

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

Hi Ladies! I havent posted in a while but Im hanging in there. Had another somewhat off plan weekend where I enjoyed some foods I havent in a while. I took a "break" from dieting so to speak, no calorie counting, and let my cravings guide me. It felt good but of course time to get back to work now ;).

Dorian5 That was extremely sweet and selfless of you. Totally worth the sacrifice and calories :hug:

krampus 134lbs is hardly obese no matter how tall you are! Hope the move goes smoothly from here on out and you are able to get back to a place where you feel comfortable and are moving forward.

ann71 I agree with Dorian5 hes probably more interested than you think but doesnt want to show it just yet. If not... its his loss!

Have a great Monday chickies!

Woohoo! After one week of tweaking my plan, I'm seeing results! The last couple of days I was at 127.5, which I hadn't seen in a while, and this morning I saw 127, which was something I only saw once several weeks ago. Moved my ticker back down! I have been cycling my calories for a week (still eating an average of about 1500), added in an extra ~60 min of sweaty cardio last week, and seem to be having my first post-pill period. Don't know which one of those did it, but I'm grateful. Pics & monthly measurements in a couple of days, but I'm feeling slimmer than I have been for a while.
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skinnyelle: I'm a big believer in breaks! Hope it did you well.

Dorian5: Hugs to you & your mom. SCORE on the clothes! That water weight will disappear in no time. Most of the maintainers here seem to have a range that they consider acceptable--maybe 115 might end up being sort of the low or middle end of your range?

ann71: Good luck with the dating! Like the other gals have said, he might be more interested than he seems, or otherwise he may just not deserve you. :D

krampus: :hug: Candids are brutal sometimes. I'm sure they were just unflattering photos.

philana: Hope you get through TOM unscathed! :)

claire: Yummy-looking recipe!

Dianne: Hope you had a sedate, alcohol-free weekend, and I hope your baptism was nice, too! :)

Why is the hardest thing always getting back on plan after having gone off? Argh! Somebody please kick me to the gym already. LOL.

Okay. I'm going. I am going. Now. Really. Now. Bye!

Update: yay, I went!

Attached is a picture of the muffins to help you imagine them. These are orange, cranberry and dark chocolate!

I am in England now so am enjoying the internet good enough to upload some pictures. Yesterday and today have been an absolute nightmare food wise but I will do my best to sort it out from tomorrow (a week till holiday time, eek!!!!). I weighed in at 67.6kg this morning, which I found out is the same weight as I was when my favourite picture of me (skinny wise) was taken. So bonus! I hope the bad food days haven't ruined it too much. It is soo hard to stay on plan at home with my mum. There is literally no fruit in the house, she bought me chocolate, cooked me roast dinner, offered me wine... On the plus side, I didn't take the wine and ate half the chocolate bar and put the rest in the fridge. I did get free Ben and Jerry's at the airport though (which is a bigger treat for me than you, I haven't ever seen it in Austria!).

Anyway, long speech but short meaning: back to plan tomorrow, borrowing my bro's weights and walking into town + low carb eating and no alcohol. The end.

Philana I feel your pain (or will do tomorrow) Good job!

SumireYay for you, feeling slim! Excellent!

Skinnyelle Welcome back :) I agree, breaks are important!

Dorian SCORE for the clothes! Awesome. Why doesn't anyone give me free clothes... :((( Enjoy them! Also, good idea about being the designated driver. Always good to have a legitimate reason for not indulging. I am thinking of telling everyone I am on low carb to "help my skin" instead of "to lose weight", because people don't argue with that!

ann Another one whose boyfriend seemed disinterested at the beginning... We spent about a month going on dates that didn't even end up in a kiss or anything. I let him see me in my tight running tights (this was when I was pudgy) because I didn't think it was going anywhere. Would never have done that if I thought he was interested...! Men are hard to read, especially the ones that are worth it!

Krampus Your name reminds me of Christmas every time I type it! I am sure you didn't look obese, but we all have those photos. I spotted a horrid one of me from two years ago in my iphoto today. Urgh! Proper fat, now I appreciate how far I've come ;)

Have a lovely week everyone. I'm off bikini shopping tomorrow, if I find a nice one I will post a goal picture with it when I get there, hehe. :)

CLAIRE! Your muffins look sooo goood.... I'm making muffins right now because you made me crave them so hard! I just use what I had on hand -- cherries, banana, and dark chocolate. ;) I cannot WAIT to get them out of the oven! And neither can the real Dorian (my pit bull) -- haha. I made him a safe peanut butter doggie-muffin with no chocolate. :D

skinnyelle: good luck getting back to work! I agree that sometimes you just need a little break.

great job, sumire!

philana: yay for you on the gym! I'm hoping to get inspired for a run one of these hours!

Oh goodness, Claire: If I had to spend time with my mom, I'd gain so much. She's ALWAYS got treats, multiple treats, hanging around. Good for you for doing so well with it!

dorian: cherry banana chocolate muffins! Yumm!

Thanks for the kind words about the date. It was a match.com date (I was going to come up with a cuter way to have met, but oh, well, I didn't). He looked a little older than I expected, but then throughout the date we had so many "really you think that, too? No one else ever agrees with me about that" moments, that I was sort of excited. Then at the end, he shook my hand, said nice to meet you, and just kind of walked away. I didn't even know where my train stop was. (which makes him sound like a jerk, which I'm pretty sure he's not). Anyway, who knows. There are other fish in the uh, internet. :)

Despite that, I had a fabulous weekend. It was in the 80s and gorgeous. On Saturday I hung out with friends and then went on a 25 mile bike ride.

You gals are killing me with the muffins! I guess I'll just HAVE to go buy wholegrain wheat today.

Dorian Ooh let me know how they were! I'm just finishing the last carrot and walnut one now! I worked out the calories for the orange and chocolate ones, and they were only 120 calories each. They are small, though and don't have butter or much sugar in them. I made them with agave syrup before too, which was nice!

Ann I met my boyfriend online too. I am not really one for clubs and wasn't interested in any of my friends or friends' friends. I had to date a fair few meh-men before I met a good one!

Philana If you can buy wholegrain flour in Vienna, you can definitely buy it in the Netherlands. Most normal supermarkets have it here.

The weights workout was a no go, my bro's weights were too heavy and I couldn't work out how to take some plates off them. I'm going to go and buy some resistance bands in a minute, so I can take them to Turkey with me too. I am going to a pub quiz with my mum and her friends this evening (haha the things we do to make our parents happy) and it is steak night. England being England, you can look up the calories online and every steak is over 1,000 calories so I'll go for the superfood salad instead. I am literally craving vegetables after two days of eating complete rubbish. Urgh! I'm tee-totalling it while I'm here too, it is too easy to sink a 1/2 bottle of wine while gossiping with my mum so I won't even start!

Have a good Tuesday :)

Hi Featherweights! I just wanted to introduce myself after lurking for a week or so.

My goal is to fit into my summer clothes (before it's over) and fit better into the clothes I'm wearing now. I think that will take about a 7 pound loss (down to 115). I have a hate-hate relationship with the scale, though. If I lose weight, I reward myself with food, and if I gain weight, I give up and eat whatever I want.

So, I've made my goals activity based rather than by external measures. So, 6-8 glasses of water, focus on eating adequate protein, eat 5 cups of fruit and vegetables combined each day and exercising at least 5 days a week-3 days heavy lifting and 2+ days cardio. If I stick to this, I think the weight loss will come.

Other important stuff: I have a 2 year old daughter (well, tomorrow she'll be 2) and I'm still trying to get off all the baby weight. I weigh as much now as I ever have except when pg and postpartum. I also have a pretty complete home gym. I'm trying to eat clean and soon will be getting New Rules of Weightlifting for Women from the library.

The only plan that ever worked for me was the Body Type Diet. While on it I also kept a food journal and counted calories. I still use some of the rules from that, but it is too restrictive and time consuming for me since dd was born.

Wow, that got really long! Thanks for reading.
Amy

Hi Amy!

Good plan, I think you have a sensible approach. I've never heard of the Body Type Diet but a home gym sounds amazing, 'd love that! Good luck and check back with us :)

Quick update: I went shopping for a new bikini and found a half decent one. I am not amused that my boobs have shrunk and my belly/hips have not. Hmm. I haven't bought it yet, but here is a picture of me sucking in my belly with it (excuse the stupid expression!). Do you think it is the right shape for me? I think it makes my boobs look even smaller, but meh I guess it is just working with what I gave it! I'll keep it up overnight and take it down in the morning, I don't want it staying online forever! I just don't know whether I should buy it or not and my friends are useless with fashion advice...

I like it claire! I think it's not the shape that makes it look like you describe, like your boobs are "small" but I think it's the color, there's not a heavy set distinction between your skin and the bikini! So, I don't know if you ever do brighter colors, but that's the only way to get the extra focus on your womany shapes I think :P - Either way, I think it looks great and you look great! Your tummy looks good, even though you say you are sucking it in. Haha.

I just weighed myself because I can't sleep - and I have lost another 2.2lbs (1kg - my scale sucks, so I only note the difference when it's dropped a whole KG, and otherwise I just don't make it count because I can't guess how many lbs it is.)

So - I've lost a little over 10lbs since I started (19 days ago)! I am so happy. It's my bday in 2 days, and I am gonna work SO hard to try and loose the other 2,2 so I am at my mini-goal of 65kg.

Just.. it seems like my body is way more.. fleshy or so? Like everything is sagging inside my skin and being soft. Even the parts that are still rather fat and haven't lost any weight. Am I imagining things or what?

Philana Yay go you! I need to learn from you! I don't know about the fleshy thing, maybe try heavy weights?

RE: BIkini - Good point, I'll try a more colourful one. I like bright purple, I'll see what I can find! Thanks :)

I haven't had my heart in my weight loss efforts this week. A guy at work told me to not lose ANYMORE weight. I was kind of shocked and had a few different feelings. Kind of excited at first like, oh wow you think I look ideal at this weight??! And then kind of pissed off, like, who the h*ll asked you?

I haven't been drinking my water or running or using my weights at all this week. I've been eating healthy and within my calorie range, but I've eaten a lot of salt, so my weight is up from retaining water.

I'm starting to feel comfortable with my weight, but not exactly happy. I still pick myself apart when I look in the mirror, so I know I'm not done.

I have my healthy lunch today and I'm going to make a conscious effort to drink my allotted amount of water and get a good run in after work.

By the way, those muffins I made were yummy, but they needed something else, a tartness or an acid or spice. I'm making more tonight (my recipe only makes 6 or 7 muffins, my mother and boyfriend and I made quick work of them!) I'm adding dried, unsweetened cranberries and apples to them, as well as some cinnamon and a little bit of oatmeal on top for texture. Yum!

claire0412 - I saw the bikini last night before you took the picture down, I just didn't have time to comment -- I thought it looked excellent! I liked the shape of the top a lot! You really do have a pretty figure. :)

philana - 10lbs is EXCELLENT! I think with exercise you'll find that everything will tighten up, I also notice that when I lost fat (especially in my abdomen) my skin started feeling like there were microwaved marshmallows underneath. Since then it has bounced back a little. You're also very young, right? In your 20's? You have a lot of elasticity in your cells, it will draw up shortly, I'm sure. Water helps too. :) Whatcha gonna do for your birthday, anything fun?

Amy3680 - Welcome! Keep us posted! Sounds like you've got some good goals! I think if you stick to that plan, you will be thrilled with your body in NO time!

ann71 - My mother is on match.com as well as my best friend, they've both had some really great dates! And some really awful ones, haha -- but the great ones outweigh the bad ones! Even if this guy doesn't work out, I'm sure you'll find someone soon! Do you find it difficult to stick to a diet going out to dinner on dates?

Claire,

I cant see the picture. Did you take it down?

Dorian I always take it as a compliment when people tell me not to lose any more weight! You seriously look good at the weight you are :) I don't think we'll ever get to the magical point where we're happy with everything but I know what you mean, I pick myself apart too (this week it is my stomach, last week my legs!). Your spin on the muffins sounds good! Mmm I'll have to make some more soon!

Dianne Yeah I took it down. I'm not body confident enough to have my bikini body on the internet!!

Sooo, I was flat hunting today and found a nice room in a cool flatshare with a vegetable garden. Fingers crossed! I was out of the house all day today so I ate really healthily. I really wanted the half a chocolate bar I left in the fridge a few days ago, but by the time I got in someone had eaten it. This family is what caused my 'quick, eat it before someone else does' mentality, tskkk! Still, stopped me from eating it.

I didn't end up getting that bikini, because I saw O'Neill bikinis for £10 each, bargain! I got this one:
http://www.bikinishack.co.uk/ONeill_...ue_Bikini.html (but in dark pink) and

http://www.bikinishack.co.uk/ONeill_...ed_Bikini.html (but the pattern is green, purple and black).

The last one is basically the same shape as the one I posted. 'm lucky I lterally have no boobs left from weight loss, least I can wear triangles without popping out ;) Wish my stomach looked like the model's in that photo. Grr!

Have a nice day :)

claire, that flat sounds great, I hope you get it! I love growing food in the yard.

dorian, yeah it's weird when other people comment on weight. Just do what works for you.
Dinners out haven't been a problem- this was my first match date and we went for a walk. But today I met friends for lunch and it wasn't till after that I realized I hadn't even thought of calories, so that might be a problem in the future.

Welcome Amy!

Today I went out to the farm and picked raspberries and blueberries. Fun! The blueberries weren't at their peak yet, so I mostly picked raspberries. Now I need to figure a healthy thing to do with them. Black Forest Cake probably isn't it. :)

Hey Feathers,

I've not been doing well with eating the past couple days. There has definitely been emotional chocolate eating and barely any sleep. I finished my job yesterday and came home and had a nice cry about it, which felt incredibly cathartic, but I woke up this morning and felt sort of the same way you feel when you wake up after a breakup - takes a couple minutes and then the sadness sets in.

BUT I am going to celebrate Day 1 of my unemployment by RUNNING in the morning (haven't run in 2 1/2 weeks, agh!), which will hopefully set a good mood for the day and push me into my new lifestyle of "being healthy again dammit."

Dr. Abravanel's Body Type Diet and Lifetime Nutrition Plan. It's a good read if you like reading about diets. He says there are 4 main types for women based on metabolism that expresses itself as a certain body shape, certain cravings and even some temperament and personality traits. Each type also has its own eating plan, but they are all whole foods based, low-ish fat, low enough calories to lose weight.

I'm a T (thyroid) type: a focus on protein, eliminate white flour and sugar, eliminate caffeine (which I don't), weight lifting. Meals evenly spaced calorie-wise.
My SIL is an A (android) type: low fat, vegetarian if you want, dairy, some white flour/sugar is ok, cardio for exercise and small breakfast, large dinner distribution. She pretty much follows this and has lost and kept off a lot of weight.
It sort of explains why different diets work better for different people.

The only thing I wish I had in my gym is a squat cage or rack. ATM I'm doing goblet squats w/ plates so I don't need the rack, but something to work towards. I've only ever been able to lift a bar around 55 pounds over my head to do back squats-any more and I get nervous about dropping it.

So far, so good. I even gave my DD M&Ms last night and didn't eat any. I would have if I wanted to, but I just didn't want them (it was even a snack size pack of minis, so not that damaging). I'm amazed.

krampus I have sort of fell into a slump as well. 5 days of little to no exercise and having a hard time trying to find the motivation to get moving again. Although I know one good sweat session is all it takes to get those endorphins going again and get back into the groove.

Here's hoping we both find our way back and soon! Good luck with your run!

Hey everyone,
Have had some major emotional issues with personal life and troubles at work. I've been a mess, so I haven't been posting regularly. My apologies!

Ugh. Still fighting and struggling with eating to soothe, not for hunger. Have had incredible levels of stress lately, and as a result, the calories have suffered.

Taking it one day at a time.

Skinny & Krampus-- I'm slumping too. We'll get through it. And Krampus, hugs to you! That "Oh yea, I'm sad" feeling is the worst. I'm dealing with it as well. All we can do is breathe, do our exercise, and try not to eat away the feeling.

Amy-- That book sounds interesting! Has it been reliable so far?

Ann-- I <3 summer berries. SoOOo good! I am a fan of making Fiber One pancakes with them, myself.

Claire-- Apt sounds lovely! You've been inspiring me with your efforts at incorporating tasty/gourmet foods into a low calorie plan. You will rock your bikini!

philana-- I think I feel "fleshy" most days of my life. hahahaah. I think we're probably imagining some of it!

Dorian-- Wow, you have done so well with your loss! I admire your dedication. Very inspiring. The comment that your coworker made was a COMPLIMENT. Enjoy it, you earned it. :)


Time to go make up for many missed workouts....
chat soon!
-FPSJ