Hi folks... I'm up a tad over 130 this morning. My power was out for days (Snowtober) and my family camped out in my brother's basement. I did pretty decently eating despite the conditions, but not perfect. Last night was a long pre-planned celebratory meal for work, and I did not try to eat on plan. So, I am up about 3 or 4 lbs since the power went out.

Hopefully today will be back to normal and I will be able to get back completely on plan and back out of the 130's soon. I can't allow any backsliding with the holidays just around the corner!

Good luck with your goal Amarantha!

yoyoma- I feel your pain! I need to get back on plan, too. Sorry about the electricity..we have hurrican seasons here. Ugh!

Yesterday was my 30th birthday, and it capped off a week of eating not-so-great and not writing down in my food journal. I've written down everything since May 15th, but it started to feel like I was obsessed, so I tried not writing it down. Sigh. I'm sure I could maintain like that, if I was careful, but I just don't think it is for me. Tomorrow I am starting 1400/day average calorie cycle until the end of the month. I need a new Challenge that I can force myself to stick to.
I feel so good and love my new clothes, etc, but if I want to lose these last pounds, I need to buckle down again. I need to focus more on what I'm eating, and less on working out like crazy.

132 this morning! Soooo close.

Ugh. I had a mostly on-plan day yesterday, but blew it last night after we got home from a late movie (ate a bowl of kashi cereal) and as a result, I am up to 131.0. Sheesh, it seems like if I give the scale any excuse to go up it takes it. Well, of course it doesn't even need an excuse. So, my goal for today is to get back perfectly on plan. I can't force the scale to cooperate, but I can control my actions.

Congrats, Shrinking! You may be out of the 130s before I get back out again.

Chichi, happy birthday!!! My birthday was near the end of October, and that marked the start of some sloppy eating on my part (although it also coincided with my meeting my goal, so that wasn't a big surprise). I guess the scale uppage means that I do need to try to build up a bigger buffer so that a few days of weirdness don't throw me out of range. No surprise, but a little reinforcement.

At least I have my treadmill back, so that is a relief!

yoyoma - you're so close to your goal!! What are your plans for maintenance? Do you have a top weight that you want to stay underneath from now on? Do you want to lose more so that your current weight will be your top weight in future, or are you done really and you're top weight will be early 30's?

Great work shrInk - you'll be in the 120's in no time.

Good luck with the new calorie challenge Chickiechicks. How's Day 1 been? What calories were you on before?

I was 123lb this morning, so i really should be clearing out of this thread!! (Although i think the scales are flattering me and i'm a bit dehydrated so i'm not moving the ticker just yet!).

Back on the wagon!!

ange- I was doing 1200-1400 all summer. The last 15 pounds I lost (over almost 3 months) was doing 1400-1700 cals. I'm going to try calorie cycling for the rest of this month, hoping to average 1400 cals again.

yoyoma- I want to see 129 badly, but I know if/when I hit that, I'll still be going up and down to the low 130s. That is why I really want 125 to be my goal weight, so that I have more of a buffer, like you said. I don't want to see the 130s at ALL once I'm there.

So I got a late start....gained 2 pounds since the last weigh in, but began an exercise routine this morning, right after I fed the kids. This worked out okay, so I'm going to try to keep this up.

Day 1 of the 30 day shred!
Weight: 137

Here goes

Had a good day yesterday, down to 130.2 this morning.

Ange, I don't yet have a successful strategy for maintaining. When I first got to goal (again) I tried to eat more of the healthy foods the rest of my family was eating. That didn't seem to be working well (unknown calorie counts, higher carbs from legumes and grains). So, I will have to be very careful if I try that again. Alternatively, I suppose I could continue to eat separate foods during the week and then eat out more often with the family on weekends (I've been a wet blanket for a long time). But that might also backfire and I certainly can't do both (been there, failed at that).

Congrats on reaching 123! You are *so* in the 120's that you are almost out of them!

Chichi, good job getting back on the wagon! It's funny what a huge difference a single pound (from 130->129) makes in my mindset.

Just joining you all! I was 151 in January 1, 2011. It was such a struggle. You can see it here:

1/28/11: 152.0
2/05/11: 150.5
2/12/11: 153.5
2/17/11: 151.5
2/28/11: 151.0
3/07/11: 152.0
3/14/11: 151.0
3/24/11: 150.0
4/04/11: 151.5
4/11/11: 151.5
4/18/11: 154.5
4/25/11: 156.5
5/02/11: 154.0
5/09/11: 155.0
5/16/11: 156.0
5/23/11: 156.0
5/30/11: 155.0
6/06/11: 155.0
6/13/11: 155.0
6/20/11: 153.5
6/26/11: 155.5
6/30/11: 153.5
7/07/11: 152.5
7/14/11: 151.0
7/21/11: 149.5
7/28/11: 149.0
8/04/11: 148.5
8/11/11: 150.0
8/18/11: 152.0
8/25/11: 147.5
8/31/11: 145.5
9/08/11: 145.0
9/16/11: 144.0
10/18/11: 141.0
10/28/11: 140.0
11/4/11: 140.0
11/8/11: 137.5

Now I am happy to be in the 130's, but would LOVE to be 125!
Get me outta here!

Talk soon!

Welcome, Beila! Great job with your weight loss.

I had an almost-on-plan yesterday (except for a handful of unplanned mellowcreme pumpkins = 150 calories at work. When I looked up the calorie count, I was mad that I had eaten them and of course they are about as unhealthy as it gets).

Despite that, I was down to 128.4 this morning! I know that I'm going to pop back up into the 130s unless I make a concerted effort to move into the lower/mid 120s (and very possibly even if I do). So, I'm planning to go there.

I'm not ready to change the goal on my ticker yet. I'm so enjoying feeling like I've reached goal. Maybe I won't update until I reach it!

this sounds like a reasonable idea since you're already used to that routine. I know what you mean about not being able to eat normally though, as eating the main meal of the day at 6 in the evening doesn't work for me either.

CONGRATULATIONS on getting to your target!!!! (Even though you haven't officially moved your ticker yet). Are you going allow yourself any sort of reward for that? Are you feeling really good? How long have you been losing weight for ?

Ditto - I slept on the floor of my brother's one bedroom apartment with my daughter until my friend's power came back and we slept in her guest room for the last three days of my ten day outage. I weighed in at 3lbs less than last weigh in (almost two weeks ago from loss of power) at 127.4. I think it was from not being extra diligent and upping my calories slightly for those days that made the scale finally move again!

I'm probably going to modify my goal when I get there, but the lowest post pregnancy adult weight I've had was 120. The lowest semi-adult weight (college) was 112, so I think 115 will be perfect. I can't wait!

I have never worked out for 30 days continuous in my entire life, so I don't know how much weight I can lose with exercise, so this will be interesting. I usually lose the pounds with calorie counting alone.

30 day shred video:

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