30 day shred video:
(level 1)

Day 1- weight 137
Day 2- weight 137
Day 3- weight 136
Day 4- weight 135.5

I finished the 30DS about a week back and finally got around to taking some 'after' pictures. I was dissapointed that I lost 1.2 lbs in the whole month while cutting calories, but was so excited to see the results in pictures. My stomach is a whole lot flatter (I think I lost 2 inches around my waist - 27", woohoo!).

I started a job that has me working 3PM-9PM most nights. It's really shaken up my eating habits, and I've found that I've only been eating 800-1000 calories a day. The weight is dropping now, but I'm worried about how permanent this will be. I guess I can always aim to eat more on my days off, with low days during the week, kind of like calorie cycling?

Scale was 133.8 this morning, but I feel very bloated and haven't "gone" in a while, so I'm hoping it's even lower. So close to a normal BMI!

I am back at 131.8 this morning, so I think I might finally be past my little hiccup and on my way back down. I suspect TOM is coming, which is unusual since I almost never have periods any more. But I think that's why I stalled, I always used to stall a little at mid-cycle. At least I hope that's the case, because that means that when TOM finally starts, I'll get a whoosh (which is how it always happens for me).

And then I can finally be out of this thread!

I am at 129.0 this morning. Reasonably good on the calories and eercise yesterday, but it was on the carby side. Not surprising, as it turns out TOM arrived today. I'm perimenopasal and so irregular that I don't bother tracking any more. My weight fluctuations tend to be smaller now too, so I'm not expecting a big whoosh.

Shrinking, congrats on making recent progress! Hope there is a good whoosh headed your way!

Fayve, that 30DS sounds awesome! I really hate intense workouts, but maybe I should go there. I spend a lot of time doing low intensity walking on my treadmill desk, but I don't do anything to really get my heart rate up which may be why I've still got more in the middle than I'd prefer. Kifli, good luck with it!

Munchy, big congrats on losing weight while camping in someone else's house! You may not have lost as fast as normal, but keeping in the right direction is awesome!

Well, I am really just getting back to goal. I've been losing again since about March, I think. Nasty winter weight. I got back to goal at first in mid-October.

This time round coincided with my 50th birthday and I've been very self-indulgent. I am trying to make sure it feels like all this effort is worth my while. I've bought lots of new pants and I just got a Brazilian Blowout (keratin hair treatment). The biggest thing is I am also getting Exilis on my tummy and inner thighs (spot fat reduction and skin tightening). It does seem to improve matters but I am not done with the treatments yet.

yoyoma - we've all got to be self-indulgent to succeed at this game, and of course it's all worth it!!! Good on you for getting stuck in and getting back down to target (this is what i'll have to do after a big holiday planned over christmas and i'm worried about getting the motivation back). And well done on planning all the 'extras' to go with your success - bet you feel fabulous now!!! And it gives you even more motivation to keep on maintaining.

30 day shred video:
(level 1)

Day 1- weight 137
Day 2- weight 137
Day 3- weight 136
Day 4- weight 135.5 (missed the workout today, due to a sick kitty)
Day 5- weight 135

130.0 again, still...

I have had a rough November so far. It's been so awful with trying to stan on plan, trying to figure out what PLAN that is and trying to have enough energy to work out as hardcore as I prefer. It took me a couple of weeks, but here is attempt #87 at figuring out this new phase:

I need to EAT. Like really eat. I'm simply not eating enough, which is why I feel faint working out and have no energy or motivation. I keep trying to remind myself that I need to eat enough to get the energy I need to LIVE MY LIFE. And right now, my life is lovin' working out and maintaining around 130.

No idea about how that translates to a majic calorie number, but I just keep eating healthy things all day until I don't feel ravenous. I pay special attention to before and after workouts.

It seems to be working so far, b/c I haven't gained any weight and I'm eating ~2000 cals/day. And I just finished a 5-day workout spree which I haven't done in so long, b/c my energy was so low.

I also signed up for a Nutrition/Counseling class at my Y and I hope to get some answers there.

can I join you guys?
I am so frustrated. I am losing nothing this November after a decent September and October. I don't know what I am doing differently (in fact, I'm exercising much more now than I was before). I have got to get out of the 130's.. slowly move through them...be accountable to someone...

30 day shred video:
(level 1)

Day 1- weight 137
Day 2- weight 137
Day 3- weight 136
Day 4- weight 135.5 (missed the workout today, due to a sick kitty)
Day 5- weight 135

So I got crazy busy the last two days, with a big birthday party last night for my little one (pizza and ice cream cake), followed by early Thanksgiving dinner with cousins tonight, then I have a restaurant dinner tomorrow Will be driving 4hrs out of town and staying overnight until Tuesday. So diet and exercise is terrible right now. Will try to get back with eating better tomorrow, but won't be able to do the shred until Wednesday.
I'm not giving up the fight!

Catgirl: welcome

I'd like to join in, too. I started at 145 in May, and by daily swimming and sensible eating (mostly Mediterranean diet) I got down to 129. But now it's too cold to swim, and my teaching job takes about 11 hours a day, and I was back up to 134 at the beginning of November.

I do not want to regain all that weight!

OK, today is my first "up" day of JUDDD and I am terrified. I am really stuck, stuck, stuck at 132 -131. I have lowered my calories again and again since July, until I am ridiculously limited in my choices and clearly eating an unsustainably low amount of food. I can't get ALL my nutrition from supplements! I was down to 350 - 400 calories a day (weighing food on a postal scale), and I still hit a plateau. That should not be possible, according to BMR calculations, if I still have a heartbeat!

So today I am increasing my calories to lose weight. Scary, for me. But I went so low I was clearly shutting down my metabolism. I am hoping JUDDD will help me re-set my metabolism to more sane/healthy level.

I plan to add more exercise - but this week I am remodeling my daughter's bedroom so I have no time at all for the gym. Just the remodel itself is more physical activity than I am used to, so that will help some. Plus I walk about an hour a day several times a week.

I haven't been wearing my Skechers Shape-Ups either; I think I will break them out of the closet. Every bit helps!

Shrinking- what is JUDD? I, too, get terrified of upping cals. It's been a roller-coaster emotionally. For the past 2 weeks, I've donw around 1900 and not gained, so I'm hanging here for a while and continuing to work out.

Today marks 6 months since I changed my life with counting calories and exercising! I've lost 24.8% of my starting weight since then and 30% since my highest weight last January.

JUDDD stands for Johnsons Up Day, Down Day Diet. It's a technique of calorie cycling which is supposed to activate a sluggish metabolism. For induction your DD calories should be 25% of your UD calories. Mine are 400/1600, respectively. My average is 1000 calories a day, but it is accomplished through a near-fast one day and a higher calorie day the next.

I just started two days ago, so we'll see how it goes. It is a HUGE increase in overall calories for me compared to what I have been doing, though, since I have been on a VLCD (very low calorie diet: <400 a day) for several months.

Now we will find out if it's true that increasing your calories can help you lose weight when you are in starvation mode.

I have learned that starvation mode is not a myth and calories in/calories out is BS, as a hard-and-fast rule, anyway. Because I am still at the high end of my healthy BMI range, I am moderately active, and I managed to hit a plateau at <400 calories a day. Which isn't even supposed to be possible unless I am 99 years old and bedbound, assuming I have a heartbeat. I mean, if you even HAVE a basal metabolic rate, you should be losing weight at <400 calories a day, if calories in/calories out was 100% true. Metabolism is EVERYTHING!

Which is why I stopped starving myself and switched to JUDDD. I still have 16 pounds to reach my goal, which is not an extreme goal at all; 115 pounds is right smack in the middle of my ideal weight range. VLCD worked for a while, and I was really, really careful to get enough protein and nutrients so I didn't lose muscle or get vitamin/mineral deficiencies, but even starvation eventually stops working. And then what do you do? Where do you go when you are already <400 calories a day?

Answer: you go UP. You build a metabolism.

And congrats on your amazing achievement!

Good eating and exercise the past couple days and I am down to 128.0 today.

I still need to lose a few more pounds to have a bit of a buffer. It's very easy for a fluctuation to push me back into the 130s.

Good luck everyone. We are starting to face a tough time of the year!

Congrats Yoyoma! I completely agree with the buffer. That's why 125 would work best for me, if/when I can get there. I want my "high days" to still be under 130.

I saw 129.0 today!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO! Doin' a dance! It really stinks losing 1/2 a pound every 2 weeks!