Wowowowowowow, I never cared much about Valentine's Day but now I think I'm converted. Dude had a nice candlelit dinner ready for me when I went over to his apartment. George Dickel No. 8 with whiskey stones, all-red salad w/homemade vinaigrette and generous amount of feta, sesame soy tuna steak, sriracha roasted veggies, and double dessert (huge piece of cake and a double chocolate cannoli) at midnight. He also gave me a really nice pillow and 400-thread sheet set (I need those things) from Macy's which I'd never spend that kind of money on myself. Best part of all, SOMEHOW I AM 130.0 ON MY SCALE AND 128 ON HIS SCALE. I must have a tapeworm. Also I should say my scale only goes in increments of 0.5 lbs.

TurboMammoth Hey, as long as you enjoy your time together who cares? Good luck gearing up for the race!

LoveSweetsCA That sounds delicious. 8 miles definitely burns off a quarter of a pie!

alexistrophic The flight attendant thing didn't work out so for now I am a supervisor/secretary for a local branch of a huge soulless corporation...oy.

Dorian5 NICE, I'm down after a big meal too. Yours sounds absolutely delicious and rich and everything that is good. Eating in > eating out on Valentine's Day, in my opinion!

pinkrunner Thanks, I turned out to have a wonderful V-Day. Shoveling?! Where do you live? We haven't had any snow in upstate NY all winter.

Dianne These things happen - sugary desserts and snacks are engineered to be addictive. Please don't beat yourself up too much over it - I find that will more often than not perpetuate a cycle of binging-restricting that can last a long time. It's just one day!

Krampus omg that would convert me too! Congrats on the lovely V-day :D

Alexistrophic - Welcome back!! Oh shucks, that is so sweet, I'm glad you liked my pictures. :hug: It's funny you mentioned low carb, I was telling the beau last night that even though we were each practically eating a half stick of butter... our meal is low carb! :lol: The sea scallops were from whole foods and the size of freakin' base balls, only FIVE of them was half a pound!

krampus - Try not to be alarmed, but... I think this guy might be in love with you. :lol: I absolutely LOVE high thread count, quality sheets. They just feel so sexy. What a badass gift! Your dinner sounds great, and I love my fellow ladies that drink whiskey/bourbon on the rocks/neat, and I know guys do too. Hooray for being down on the scale after gorging! Haha.

Hahaha, thanks, we are suckers for each other and it's been known for a while. I've never had nice sheets before so I can't wait! I didn't really gorge too bad aside from the obvious "eating a huge piece of cake and falling asleep directly after."

jahowhy: welcome to the feathers! :D

Turbo: Goodluck on your race then, sounds exciting. My first one is in a month. Scared already.

Sikshin: welcome to you too!

krampus: sounds like you had a great valentines and like you two are a perfect match. You surprising him with whiskey and he you with the linens. Those sound like the best presents ever. Haha. Congrats on the loss! Hope it sticks and you can be down to the 120s like you want to!

Aww Dianne: hope you aren't sad anymore! We all slip up. But you know, every day you don't eat crappy is just another win compared to lifestyle where no attention is paid to such things. - Though it's kinda hard, low-carb is also super easy in that you don't crave binge food and when you bindge you get so physically ill you won't again anytime soon. Maybe if you have such a hard time with the cravings you could try it? Or just try to eliminate sugar. It really helps me to be able to tell myself "if I am really hungry, I can eat whatever I want, as many calories as I'd like, but it can't be carby/sugary stuff. You offer yourself an honest choice.

Alexis: welcome back to you too!

Dorian: your dinner sounds amazing and healthy! Way to go :D

JoJo: I seriously admire your resolve, being able to bake and not eat yourself silly. Though, I admit since low-carbing I've had pie, cookies, muffins and whatnot infront of me and NOT touch them with ease. However - fresh cookie dough or pie filling right infront of me would be the end of me. Hihi. Also congrats on the compliments!

--
I have to admit I'm doing this shallow thing these past few days. Everytime I am in the bathroom there's a mirror there, and I pull up my shirt to see my belly/waistline. Hihi. It's really getting back to how it used to be. I've always had a skinny upperbody. When the fat started moving upwards is when I got worried. I almost pushed it all back down to my legs again.
I can't quite imagine what skinny legs on me would look like though. Or wether it is ever gonna happen. I don't remember having skinny legs ever since I hit puberty. So maybe I should'nt get my hopes up.

I've settled back into low carb again, though a little bit higher at 60/70g of carbs a day because I was getting head rushes and was so weak on my exercise. I just really really gotta work on eating more than 1200 calories. It's so hard cus I am not hungry at all!!

After that ltitle binging fiasco and being SO SICK from it, I am pretty ertain it will take atleast a month before I go overboard again. Or however long it takes for that memory to fade somewhat so I a able to tell myself "ah, it won't be so bad.. just a few bites.. or the whole bag, just this once, it does not matter."

Thanks everyone for caring! I really appreciate it. It was a good wake up call. My body just hates sugar!

PHILANA - I have done low carb. My body HATED IT! I tried it for 5 months and had ZERO energy, was unhappy and felt dizzy. BUT you are right; my body doesnt like sugar. So as long as I eat carbs that have no sugar, like whole grains, I am good :) And I dont think thats shallow of you at all (looking in the mirror at your stomach). YOu are working hard and you are proud of it!

KRAMPUS - That is such a sweet Valentine's day! Props to your man! And I am SO excited and inspired you are at 130! Way to go!

DORIAN - awessssssomeeeeee that the scale lowered after your day!! I LOVEEEEE it when that happens lol Oh and I hear you on the two bottles of Cab. I am a huge wine person but my body hates it. I could easily put down a bottle. IN reality, it really is only 4.5 glasses of wine lol

Philana - I do that too, and I'm in the habit of grabbing for bulges all day. The bulge isn't nearly as big as it used to be, but it still sticks out some and it makes me cry sometimes. I feel like such a big baby for that.

--

I've kept under my calorie count today (despite having a doughnut for breakfast, and a chocolate chip cookie) and that makes me super happy. I was even able to stay under my designated grams of fat, even though I sucked yesterday when I had the Long John Silvers.

Just baked some walnut-raisin whole-wheat muffins ^^ The cake flour and yogurt makes them really tender (it's an America's Test Kitchen recipe, so of COURSE it turned out great)! My parents like them =)

dorian: mmm, that sounds so yummy! I love scallops. I heard that the people that maintain their weight loss are the ones that will weigh regularly no matter what they eat.. congrats on the 123!

lovesweetsCA: i totally identify with the lower number you are the harder you are on yourself! i'm totally like that, like i'm more careful the more i lose.

turbomammoth: vanilla yogurt with blueberries sounds so good. I've totally done that to my husband, I have him finish things!

jojo: wow, only recently has my mom told me i actually look okay, for the first time in my life! its a great feeling.

krampus: aww, that sounds like a great meal. Maybe next year i need to convince my husband to cook for me. ;)

philana: thanks! whenever i go to the large restroom at work and no ones around, I look at my side view to see what size i am now, so i totally identify with you looking in mirrors too. good job on the low carb, i lost my first 60 lbs on low carb, but it was hard for me to continue. more power to you!


~ * ~

I've become fixated on staying in the 130s, since i've never been here before! yesterday, my husband surprised me with some flowers and asked me out to dinner. I convinced him to stay home since I already had some ribs cooking for him in the slow cooker. I didn't have any since I had had a splurge lunch the day before.

Tonight, I made chili and made the effort to enter the recipe in my tracker instead of just not eating any as I've been doing as of late. I had a little for dinner and it was nice and filling at 180 cals a serving with tomatoes, corn, beans and beef. I also prepackaged some portions to put in the fridge to take to work in the coming days.

I'm so nervous about gaining weight back, especially because I am enjoying being smaller. :]

Hi all! You gals all sound like you had a nice V-day. I hate when the holiday falls on a school night as it kind of puts a damper on our plans so our "date" is postponed until this weekend...the joys of motherhood. ;)

I had a really nice Valentine's Day, even though it's not that big a deal for me. My boyfriend met me at work with a dozen white roses (cheesy I know) and we went out for ribs and cheesecake. He also told me he's planning to take me to New York to see a broadway show this spring, I worked in musical theatre for 5 years and I've never been so this is pretty exciting!! We seem to be doing a lot better relationship wise..after our heart to heart he really toned down his partying which I'm happy about.

Krampus - Your man sounds amazing!!! That would turn be into a believer ;)

Dorian - maybe 122-124 is where you want to be? You said you're feeling happy with your body lately?

Jay - welcome if I didn't say so already.

Alexis - Aww, thank you that is really nice to hear :) It's been rough changing careers but I really think it will be worth it in the end. It's important for me to be challenged by what I do. I think if you want to be in the health sciences you should do it, in this economy it's a great time to be in school. If you took a few extra undergrad courses you could apply next fall for a Master's program. People change careers all the time these days and you'll probably been in the work force for 30 - 40 more years you should be doing something you love.

Lovesweets and Jojo - those are impressive diets, I really have to start low carb but im draggin my feet...because I love eating carbs!!! You're inspiring me :)

Diane - glad to hear you're feeling a little better, cutting out sugar is probably a good idea. I did it a few years ago when I went on the Candida Cleanse for 6 months and after the initial detox I felt amazing!!

Jay - congrats on turning down a dinner date...I wouldn't have been able to!

Dorian ~ Those scallops sound amazing! Low carb was the first plan I was ever successful on, but I've heard people say that you only get one big shot with it. I still feel like my body functions best on high protein with fewer processed, refined carbs, only now I feel like I can eat more healthy-ish carbs and still lose.

Krampus ~ Your VDay sounds loverly. You may just have to get used to this guy spoiling you rotten. ;-) Bummer about the flight attendant thing not working out. What other jobs are you applying for?

philana ~ I do that "grabbing for rolls" maneuver, too. I go back and forth over whether that's obsessive or just accurate self-knowledge...

Lisa ~ Your VDay sounds sweet, too! Did the man mention which show he was thinking about taking you to see? I live just outside the city, but haven't been in in more than a year. May have to rectify that soon. I may also be sending you a pm. I'm really interested in your career change.

~~~
I had a huge food day but haven't strayed outside my bottom line "losing guidelines" (No eating after 8PM.) Was a little high on cals for breakfast and lunch, then completely sabotaged it with dinner. Still, I'm not going to scrap the whole day and have just been drinking crazy amounts of water.

Here's hoping for maintenance, even in the face of massive cals...

krampus : what a sweetheart! and what an amazing gift idea! you might be a keeper for him, but it seems he IS a keeper for you too! ;)

philana : nothing wrong about loving to look at your own body! that's actually a really nice thing to love yourself! :)

shikskin : nice job keeping your calories low even with the chocolat chip cookie and other stuff!

Jojo : your muffins sounds delish :)

jayo : I'm glad to knwo I'm not the only one to use the bf/husband as a ''eat that, I don,t want to see it anymore'' LOL

fitmom : I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time this weekend :)

Lisa : I'm so glad for you your relationship feels better right now. And Broadway! That is so sweet! Lucky you!

Alexis : don't be too hard on yourself, one day of high cal doesn't always end up as a gain. I hope it will end up okay for you!

***

Hi all!

I'M like SUUUUUPER happy, a paper of my lab that I'm second author on just GOT ACCEPTED! it's been a year that it was dragging itselft around, and now it's DONE! Way to make a crappy day a bit brighter ;) It is also the first time I got my name on a paper.. I'm super excited !

I'm planning to bake cupcake for my lab tomorrow so when can celebrate at a meeting. Chocolat for everyonnnne! LOL

131.0 this morning, Japanese food last night, I'm not worried! The restaurant I went to was really close to Japanese food like I could get in Japan, and the owners are really nice. Chased my mini udon and cold tofu with some TCBY frozen yogurt with blueberries and crushed Butterfingers...I can't stay away!

I got a call back for a second interview for a position I applied for w/a tiny nonprofit. My heart just isn't in business at all and I cannot make myself care about commercial profit and sales figures, so this is exciting. I'm meeting the guy at Starbucks today after work...wish I didn't feel so bloated and gross :(

More personals coming soon!

I would love to join your group of featherweights. I am a stay at home mom - that is getting ready to start working in a bakery for a friend. I figure that if I have been unable to lose the last 25 or so pounds that I need to I will need extra help when I start working with food all the time.

I am currently counting calories and trying to exercise. I have trouble fitting exercise into my day with my 15 month old daughter hanging on my leg all day. I hope that I can use this forum as an accountability tool.

I don't know how to do the weight tracker thing but I hope that I can find out. I will post a picture later.