November Feathers Chat!
 

Well, I have been MIA for a few weeks now. Decided to finally get back on here since I needed a little support -- but there was no November thread! So I'm making one. :)

I am kind of in maintenance. I am not 100% happy with my body, even when I'm at the low end of my 5 pound maintenance range, so I may decide to lose a little more. But it's dawning on me that I am probably NEVER going to be 100% happy!

At any rate, I had a bad weekend and I'm up to 124, whereas I'm trying to maintain 118-122. So I'm being careful this week!

How are all of the other feathers doing? What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Is it a cheat day, everything in moderation, or will you be having salad? (I, personally, am going to eat too much of everything and then lament for the next week! :lol: )

Thansgiving , everything in moderation and yes I do plan on pumpkin pie.

I am not a feather, but I wanted to chat!

Thanksgiving will be a planned cheat day. I'm just not stressing over one day. Then right back on plan the next day.

hi dorian your target weight is the same as mine really, and we're both the same height. Understand where you're coming from.
I'm feeling good at 123lb for my latest weigh-in but that's because it's been a year or two since i've been this low.
Historically i've tried to stay at around 119 (although to be honest, we're going back a few years here!!!) and 119 to 125 range is my target for all next year - hopefully starting off at the lower end of that range after current efforts.
There is a fair bit of difference between 124 and 118 at our heights though, so good luck with getting back to mid-range as you'll feel much more pleased with yourself!

Dorian, congrats on reaching maintenance! I saw your goal post, you look amazing!

I've already planned for Thanksgiving, is that sad? :joker:

My family always eats pretty early, around 2 or 3. I can probably get away with a 100 calorie breakfast to tide me over and down water until the big meal. Knowing me I'll get full pretty early on in the meal anyway...

Which saves room for the PUMPKIN PIE. There is NO WAY I'm missing that! Especially since my mother and I are making it and I love the way it comes out :D

Hey all!
Congrats on maintenance Dorian and thanks for starting the November chat.

I'm in Canada..so thanksgiving already passed, but good luck to you all!

I've been feeling great until I stepped on the scale.. it said I gained 5 pounds in one week. I think it might be water from salty food because I exercised and tried to go as hard as possible each day (my birthday just past so maybe it was the birthday food).. I'm hoping I can drop the weight soon. If I weigh in on Monday at the same weight I'm going to be really upset. I am now working out even harder than I did last week and I brought dumbells to work with me today. I really want to feel the burn! Thanksgiving is not on my priorities right now.. if I really eat with family I'm packing some ground flaxseeds to sprinkle into all of my food, and bringing some steamed vegetables to put on the side of my plate. I'm now thinking about bringing some healthy desserts along too.... hmmm.

Dorian i need to look at your goal post!

liliesinmycereal - I bet it's water weight and if you eat well this weekend you'll be back down my monday :)
ps - your picture is hot!

Hi everyone,
I've been in maintenance 6 months as of Saturday, with a goal of 135. I am not 100% happy with my range of around 134-136, and would really like to be 130-133, but with all the stress the last couple of months (I applied to veterinary school), it just wasn't happening. Hopefully a bit of company will do me good.

Hi feathers. Thanks for starting a thread, dorian!
Not much to report for me. I think I'm a little in "hibernation eating mode" which is never good.

I'm on a 5 day vacation, so I should be able to get some good exercise in, but eating may not be great. I also just had a birthday, and ended up with three different birthday meals. Hmmm.

fromthebox - how exciting that you're trying for veterinary school!! Good luck!! I reckon that would be really tough - both to learn everything and also to treat sick animals, i reckon i'd be in floods of tears every day (i'm not so sympathetic with humans but i have a much softer spot for animal suffering!!)
I've also now only got 3-4lb to lose, but of course those are the most difficult ones and certainly don't disappear by accident (for me anyway). So good luck with that too!!

After a week of good eating, I am sitting back at 120.2lbs. Hopefully I dont eat so much again this weekend! I have a my niece's birthday party to go to, but I will be face painting, so maybe that will keep me away from the food!

rachaelm - I completely agree, I'm on plan up until then, then going to enjoy my family's food and company, and get right back on plan (while avoiding the scale from water bloat! :lol: )

ange82much - exactly, while 124 feels a little squishy but "acceptable", 119 feels hot! Hopefully I can stay more towards the latter. :lol: The best thing I ever did for myself was pick a RANGE though, aiming to stay within 1 pound was stressing me out! Glad to see you have a good range too! :)

sontaikle - Thank you! That's GREAT that you already have Thanksgiving planned! We also do a lunch-ish Thanksgiving around 2 or 3, so I will have to do a light breakfast too! By the way, I always like your avatars, I'm a bit of a video game/anime nerd. :o

LisaTcan - Thanks! What did you end up doing for Thanksgiving? I actually didn't know that you had it at a different time up there! I learned something. :)

liliesinmycereal - I'm sure it's water, I just managed to work off 4 pounds of water this week. I HATE that salty food does that! Healthy desserts would be a GREAT idea, there are tons of recipes online for stuff that seems decadent without packing in fat and calories!

fromthebox - how cool you're applying for veterinary school! I am an animal lover myself, but I don't think I have the stomach to be a vet. It's funny how a few pounds make such a difference, isn't it? I hope the next few months aren't too stressful and you can focus on finding a weight you're really happy with!

ann71 - What is it about birthdays? They drag on and on... I understand about hibernation mode, as soon as the temperature drops I want hot soup and warm bread and heavy pasta.

KEEP IT UP, EVERYONE!

Good morning everyone!

I totally agree, thanksgiving isn't going to be worth worrying about for me - fortunately it has never been an eat until sickness day - generally just a high calorie one. It is a free day to enjoy with family and enjoy the food. Might just skip the scale the following day (mostly the salt). :)

Dorian, one of the things I was thinking about last night is that even when you are within your target weight it is stunning how much I can still pick apart. There is an entirely different process involved with that I think. I am still figuring it out myself. Anyway, it is great to hear some thoughts from someone trying to figure out maintenance.

the perfect description!!!

Thanks! So far it doesnt seem like the weight is coming off and I really am hating the TOM... I got my first cramp during Zumba on thursday. I was so embarrassed that I had to stop during the middle of a song to relieve the pain. The instructor told me I really have to start weight training or start doing jane fonda type exercises again if I want to keep dropping weight. I was lifting weights at work on friday. My boyfriend is letting me borrow his exercise band thing. Hopefully restarting weight training will work.

Hi guys,
I'm relatively new here and was wondering what a shred is? I'm pretty stuck at the moment in the high 130's and don't seem to be able to get it down despite eating right and exercising. I'm not happy with how things are going and would be thrilled to just lose 2 lbs.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

I was at my goal weight before and I can do it again! Some time this century...

Dorian - I had dinner with my friends and then my family the next day. It was fun, but it's really not as a nig a deal here as it is in the US. My boyfriend works for a US company and has 2 days off so I guess we're kinda going to celebrate by spending the day together and going out for dinner.

I went away with my mom and my sister to Buffalo to shop (very Canadian thing to do, our taxes are so high). I'm up two lbs but im hoping is just water weight from all the chain restaurants we ate at. Its my bf's 30th birthday in two weeks and I'm really hoping to be down to 138 by then. I have a dress id like to wear to his party :)

Keep up the good work everyone!

hi catgirl, sorry, can't help you with the 'shred' thing, not heard of it down here! Just wanted to say good luck with your weight loss though.
Get stuck in and get those 2lb off.

I've been where you are before, but in my case i think i wasn't as diligent as i thought i was being, and basically i was wishing the 2lb would drop off without making a huge effort!!! Problem is that 2lb isn't much, and so it sounds easy, but it's not! Exercise is good, i love it, but to be honest, if i want to drop weight i just have to eat less. Different things work for different people though, so carry on doing whatever you did to lose the 4.4lb and stick to plan and be patient!

Hey! There is the 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels that some people talk about. I've never done it before so I can't tell you much about it.

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm down to 153 as of this morning! Hoping to at least weight in at 152 tomorrow for the official week weigh in. Sigh. I was so freaked out. I need to make sure I drink water and weight lift more. I'm so close to the 140s... and waving at the 130s and dreaming for the 120s...

I'm in Canada and I still overate on American Thanksgiving!! My boyfriend had the day off as he works for a US company and wanted to go for wings and beer/football in celebration. I ate a whole lbs of wings!! Ugh.
And it's his 30th birthday on Saturday so there is brunch and a dinner party!
Oh well, back on track on Sunday I guess.
Happy Thanksgiving American friends!!

Haven't been here much, still holding steady but not losing.

Ate a lot today, but that was always going to happen.

Hope everyone in U.S. had a good Thanksgiving.

Funny about overeating on Thanksgiving in Canada, Lisa.

How have you done it?
 

Hi feathers,

I need some suggestions. About three years ago I lost 90 pounds using Medifast. I did well and didn't have a problem sticking with it. I have since gained 40 pounds back and have come to the conclusion I am headed down a very bad path. I purchased MF again and stuck with it for about 2 weeks but just couldn't do it any longer than that. I've gained back the weight I lost. I've come to the conclusion I need real food. Would you all be willing to share with me what you've done and how long it has taken to reach your goals?

Believe it or not I am a vegetarian. Kinda strange right? A heavy veg.?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Jen

Hi Jen!

I've lost 63 pounds by counting calories. I didn't focus on actual nutritional content of the food, but I find that I just generally eat a high protein, low carb diet. This isn't true for every day because I do indulge in "treats" if they fit into my calorie count for the day.

I was eating 1200 calories a day when in full weight loss mode and exercising 5 times a week doing a variety of cardio and strength training exercises. Now that I'm close to my goal I've been slowly upping my calories (right now I'm focusing on eating around 1400 a day) to get used to my expected maintenance level of 1600-1700 calories. All of this will be trial and error of course and I'll see what happens when I get there :)

Altogether to get here it's taken me about 8 months to drop these 63 pounds when you don't factor in the time I stopped and just maintained. If you do count that time then it's been almost a year.

I wish you success on your journey! :)

It's not weird to be a vegetarian and heavy... My professor and I were discussing the misconception of vegetarian=thin..... But I don't really count calories or anything. I just try to eat more fruits and vegetables than I used to, drink more water, and try to more lean meats. My "plan" is not really a short term thing- Hence the reasons for the slow weight loss (50 pounds in one year). I'm starting to pick up the whole not eating when I'm not hungry thing but it's still tricky to me.

I just saw your before and after pictures...you look like a completely different person. Congrats on your progress!

wow, sontaikle, you look great.

My sister and I have started a weightloss challenge for December- aiming for 5 pounds each. We've both seen some weight creep in the last year.