Another super UNproductive day here in the office. We're having some nasty weather rolling in and they're closing a lot of the local schools early before the roads get bad so I'm HOPING they tell us to go home too.

Turbo - Awesome weigh-in lady! I wouldn't stress putting some weight back on with your meal tonight... after all, you were going to go regardless so at least this way you are kind of going with a clean slate. You might have felt a bit guilty if you hadn't had a very good weigh in this morning, right?

Mmmm, damn, I forgot about bacon in my excitement over this program. LOL, thats a good sign I suppose! I'm not really thinking about foods I'm not eating so I must be doing alright.
I do love to add bacon to my meals and really I see nothing unhealthy about it considering a little goes a LONG way. You don't need a ton to get all that great bacon flavor.

Bayzee - We definitely know our own bodies best! Sometimes people balk at me when I say it will take XX days to get XX vacation pounds back off, but I'm usually pretty spot-on. I also have a pretty decent estimate of where I think I will be scale-wise at the end of this program, so I'm curious to see how that will go (My official guess is 118 pounds... keep that in your pocket and we'll see when I am done!)

I think the fact that you are in the 115-116 range AND regularly have wine and little treats is wonderful... really. I think it's much more important in the long term than being smaller and unhappy. That being said, I don't have any problem cutting things out temporarily to reach a goal (obviously) but if I could NEVER have ice cream or caramel popcorn again? Forget it. Periods without things I'm OK with, FOREVER is unfathomable and not worth it!

I'm sorry about your dog... I lost my kitty last summer and it was so hard on me even though I know it sounds dumb. I've honestly NEVER thought about pet insurance but I think when I get the puppy I'll get some! That might really come in handy!

Krampus - Good thing you're feeling better... just in time for the weekend! I have to ask; your brisket sammich... did it have coleslaw on it? I don't know what it is but here in NC especially, BBQ isn't BBQ without coleslaw and it grosses me out. If I order a pulled pork sammich (my personal favorite) I make sure there isn't any slaw on it. Just not my thing!

Damn, I miss my Quest bars too! LOL I tell you what though, the probiotics and digestive enzymes I'm taking do a much better job getting things moving... I actually had to pause this post to go AGAIN, and that's after a 4-star like 8 hours ago! (Holy ****, I've been up 8 hours already? It's only 12:30!)
Anyway, I hope you love them... I certainly do. Normally I keep a supply in the cupboard for when I travel, will be out running errands all day and might miss a meal, or go to the movies. Admittedly though I sometimes replace other meals with them because they're too darn tasty.

WTF is wrong with your BF that he would show you a kitties getting cancer video?! LOL that's wrong!

Joss...I hear you! But after really examining why I gained back so much weight so quickly, I realized that I can't maintain once I start adding those goodies back. I'm not a binge eater, but I start saying it's ok to have a little of this, and a little of that. I tell myself that it's ok to skip my workout today because my weight isn't up. I need to break that cycle. I know I'm not there yet because of how I behaved on my trip. I promised myself I would continue to work out...and I did not. There was no excuse not to...I had the time and the gym facilities.

Right now I am not having any food treats. But I'm still having wine. This weekend I really need to tone it down. I had way too much last weekend!

EDIT:


Turbo...Way to go girl! Awesome work this week! Oh and sorry, I should have typed Montréal BTW...it's beef!

((((Joss, Turbo, Krampus, Wildflower, Bayzee, Olehcat, JessicaB, Aiden, Dorian, Sontaikle))))

I've been a bit busier at work today (filling up those call sheets!) but wanted to check in here to keep accountable. I hope to return with personals very soon! We're expecting some snow (1"-3" so not much) but they're already cancelling school activities in advance.

Am wiped out today and feeling bloated from some crap eating last night... (come on, self...)

Planning to help a friend move house tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to spending time with her (and am also kind of fascinated by the stuff that other people keep around... I can be a pack rat, but am trying to reform my ways.

No idea what's for dinner... My mind wants snowday food, but my body is begging for something healthy. Ha - Grilled zucchini? Happy medium.

Quest Chocolate Brownie review: 11/10 for flavor. Texture - so dense it took me half an hour to eat. Fullness - 30/10. I never want to eat again.

I was 144.2 this morning, so another .6 pound drop, and that was with not even full compliance on the 17DD yesterday.

Today even less compliance, so I don't expect a drop tomorrow at all, especially because it's Friday and I'm going to enjoy some wine tonight. And non-compliance food which is still healthy and probably compliant on other stages of 17DD, just not this one. I'm going to make dal tonight, yum! See? Better than ordering pizza or Chinese, both of which are completely on my mind tonight.

One might say I'm over being in full compliance of anything, *sigh* Need to get my head back in the game. Something about Friday for me, and things just fall apart in my head. It's like I feel entitled to some kind of excitement or reward for getting through the week. I need to work on this, obviously, or I will never be my goal weight, which seems so far away as it is and so elusive for me. Shoot, even the 120s feels really far away.

ALSO! Okay, heavy lifting. I know I said I wasn't going to worry about it until I got closer to goal weight, but I am seeing over and over all these people who are around my goal weight who have been heavy lifting and I don't know, maybe this IS something I should be doing even right now. Here's the deal. I have a weight bench upstairs, I have 8.5 pound weights and 5-pound weights. I have a stability ball. I even have a dumb bell program I can follow.

What I don't have confidence in, is my ability to do correct form, be consistent in my workouts, and how will I know if I'm doing enough to "heavy lift" or to change my body? I feel SO LOST. But I really can't afford to hire a trainer right now. I'm on a very strict budget because I'm taking all these grad level classes until the end of summer. So...yeah, I am a member of a gym, too. But as I've said in an earlier post, I'm super intimidated by the free weight area, and I am painfully shy about talking to strangers at the gym. Also I worry about squats and lunges and their effect on my awful knees.

So if you were me, those of you who are experienced at this stuff, would you just start with simple things at home, like my dumb bell routine, or a link that Krampus showed me earlier which was just a few simple but effective exercises or just using my own body as weight (like push-ups)? Surely something is better than nothing, although heavy lifting seems so out of my reach right now. I also have the book New Rules of Lifting For Women, but it seems already too advanced for me, and I do not have a bar for weights at all (just dumb bells) and some of the exercises involve that and again, don't understand how to use the ones at the gym (YES, I acknowledge that a HUGE barrier to all this right now is my ignorance of lifting and how to use the machines and my extreme embarrassment about that!). Another question, what is wrong with using the machines as a beginner? Is it that they are not as effective? Could they not build up some basic strength before you move on to free weights, or is there a reason why people who "heavy lift" do not seem to hold the machines in as high esteem? Sorry, lots of questions, but I am trying to figure this all out!

@Turbo Congrats, congrats on your 140!!!! That has to feel great! Luckily my cat is a LITTLE less needy now that I have a second cat. But not much. Actually they're both kind of needy, lol!

@Bayzee - Yeah, I, too, don't usually have binging issues, but it's something that actually recently developed in me. I have never had a very serious binging issue, like where I down 2000 calories in one sitting or eat a whole carton of ice-cream or whole bag of cookies. For me a binge would be a little of this and a little of that and ordering something from fast food or Chinese takeout all in one day and just eating because it's exciting or because I can't seem to fill some sort of emptiness. But it doesn't happen very often. It started flaring up for me more and more last spring right before my divorce happened (no surprise) and now that all that is settled and behind me, it has definitely faded to almost never happening now. And wine. Wine is one pleasure I can't give up right now either! I can have a few wine-free days a week, but in general, it's the one pleasure I'm not willing to give up (yep, have given up chocolate, sugar, cookies, cake, most carbs....)

@Alex - eep, hate snow! I hope you all stay safe and warm. We had a dusting overnight, but it was enough to make the roads slick just in time to drive to work. Of course.

@Krampus - yum, brownie. *wants* Luckily I don't have one of those at home. I'm glad you're feeling much better! I'm definitely feeling a lot better at least during the day. At night I'm coughing half the night, argh. Which means I'm living on limited sleep. Which makes me cranky and more likely to make poor food choices! And Krampus! omg, the cat video! I would have been a MESS.

@Jossfit - Yep, celibacy is definitely the life of a newly divorcee who doesn't have time or energy to date for awhile, LOL! And as for the chicken/turkey, it's hard. I've never had a handle on how to cook breasts very well. I was a mostly vegetarian (the fish version, can't think of the spelling for pesca.) for several years (and to answer your curiosity directed at wildflower, it was partially the ethics issue and partially because I've never been wild about meat overall, still can't stomach most beef or pork). Anyway, I have been sauteing it in olive oil spray until lightly browned and then I add some water and cover the pain and let it simmer until it's cooked through. I thought that would make it tender and juicy but that doesn't always work. Still tastes dry and bland to me. I will try it your way next time and see if I can do it better!

@Aidanqm - wow, so that is a real binge. I was explaining above to bayzee my idea of a binge, which is definitely subdued compared to a real binge, although it did get worse for me right before my divorce and it started to get into real binge territory only because I got to the point where I wasn't really tasting the food, just wanting to eat it. That's how I put on about 7-10 pounds since December 2011. Anyway, I am endlessly fascinated to hear how people who are around my height and my goal weight end up getting there and maintaining. It seems it's not easy to maintain, and that worries me because even losing isn't easy for me, lol. I feel like I really am going to have to change my life in a major way to get myself to goal weight. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be around 110 pounds. I have been there before as a teenager and briefly in my early 20s and I LOVED how light I felt and how great I looked in pictures. *sigh* But it seems so far away right now and I wonder if it's even possible at this point in my life...

@Wildflower - wow, good point about the nasty mcdonald's smells!!!! I actually LOVE the smell of curry, but it can be very strong. It makes my sister sick, for example, so I imagine it would a lot of people who don't necessarily care for it. And I LOVE salmon and love fish, but whenever someone else heats up fish or salmon in the microwave, I feel a bit ill for some reason! :-) Oh, coconut lentil curry sounds delish!

wow, I'm a complete chatty cathy lately, but I will have to stay off line the rest of today to do homework for my classes, so am just popping in now. Am about to take my cat to the vet for his annual rabies shots. How much do I love getting him in the carrier and listening to him yowl like he's being murdered all the way to the vet? Not very much.

So I weighed in at 146.4, about 2.2 pounds heavier than yesterday. NO surprises, and I know it's all water weight so I'm not upset. I ate some stuff with very high sodium yesterday and had about 2 big glasses of wine. And I had about half an order of fries at lunch yesterday - so MORE salt and fried food, yay. Okay, today, back in the game. Lots of water, lots of healthy food.

Have a great day, all!

Good morning feathers! I'm on my tablet so personals will be hard but wanted to check in.

Weighed in at 133.4 this morning. Super disappointed as I ate pretty light yesterday and even resisted wine and had tea instead. Oh well, my fingers are still feeling swollen so maybe water weight from something.

On the nsv side, I can fit into all my old jeans and pants now! The stuff I wore pre grad school back in 2009. For some reason I gained almost 20 lbs that fall. The odd thing is, I thought I only weighed 134 then, and am pretty sure I wore all of the pants right up to about 140. However, now they just started to fit at 133, and one pair is still tight.

Maybe I am losing from different areas? Maybe I weighed less than I knew back then' I didn't own a scale so I would weigh at friends houses.

Heading out to yoga but will check back in tonight! Have a great Saturday!

Joss : YESSS, bacon is LIFE. And as you say, it is such a powerful flavor that you don't need to throw TONS of it to have tha flavor. I actually sprinkles 3 slices on the whole meatloaf, which was a total of about 100-115 cal of bacon, spread on about 56-8 portions of the meatloaf. So.. really few calories added for the bacon, and totally worth it in term of flavor

Okay, I just googled those Quest Bars you've been talking about with Krampus and OH GOD they look fabulous. I might order some on a next all day intense hike. The best bar protein bar I've ever tasted was like ''Brownies Salted Caramel'', but I don't remember the brand.

Bayzee : Montréal.. Montreal... Don't worry, I'm not a French accent freak And yeah, it's beef bwhahaha. The boyfriend and I made a few research after realizing we were not really knowing what we've been eating all these years LOL

Alexis : Did you resist the snowday comfort food? Grilled zucchini, yumm!

Krampus : God, this Quest Bar really worth it! How many calories is there in a bar (just curious). Booh I just google and I don't think they sell it in Canada. But it is cool that you can order them online. yay!

olehcat : I just started doing to muscles/lifting workout like this week, so I'm probably the LEASSSST person in here to be able to help you LOL But good luck bringing your cat to the vet, they can be so dramatic when it comes to getting into their little cage!

Wildflower : Ahh, water weight CLINGING to our body can be so annoying. Hope you see a drop soon And yeah, with the yoga, maybe you are actually losing from different areas! It can totally be a possiblity

***

Hi ladies! I had an AWESOMEEEE workout yesterday. I'm some kind of a mood like ''okay, I paid those 20 sessions of gym quite a high price, so when I'll get there, I'll WORK IT''. So I did about 30 minutes of running (which was really better than earlier this week, I had no feeling of wanting to kill myself yay) a bit of walking to warm up and coold down, some muscles stuff with light dumbbell and the stability ball, and than 30 minutes on the elliptical watching a tennis game on TV.

It made me feel so much better going on and eating junk food when I knew that I had a great workout earlier that day. I think I really did enjoy my meal even more because of that.

SOOOOO. Which bring us to my cheat meal of the week. WATCH OUT LADIES, PICTURE OF JUNK FOOD COMING UP.

The smoked meat was AMAZEEEEBALLS. The pictures doesn't really show, but at the center of the sandwich, the meat was like 1.5'' high. The fries were actually also really good, not salty at all but I did not eat them all because there was so many of them. And I had a bottle of water, I was so proud to say no to soda bwhahah.

On the left top corner, you can see the boyfriend got a Poutine in extra. The guy was really hungry. LOL



The thing is, that night I decided to wear my skinny jeans that I had ditched for the past weeks because I was so bloated, but being down a bit I decided to give them a try. They are still a bit tight but they felt so much better. After the huge plate of Smoked Meat though, they because tight again LOL. We finished the evening watching Pitch Perfect sipping tea in loose pants at home (I told you when we are going on a date, we are doing it CLASSY STYLE).

Nothing much plan today, eating chicken/avocado enchiladas tonight. Taking a day off working out, my abs hurt when I laugh. I think that is a sign :P

Morning Feathers

Not a lot to report here today... I got an email back from my coach and he's happy with my progress thusfar so he's not changing anything this week. On Tuesday I have to send him photos and then we have a phone consultation on Wednesday, so he might change some things up after that.

Ironically... no change on the scale today. Hahaha

I am again just reminding myself to trust him and trust he'll get me the results I want, but it's a bit hard. This is just to easy right now and I was expecting SOME sort of change for the coming week!

Personals are going to be a bit short for now because my computer is acting up and it's taking forever to type!

Turbo - Thanks for the food porn! I'm not a huge fan of those big deli style sandwiches unless it's turkey (I just don't like corned beef, roast beef, etc.) but the fries look awesome. I love me some fries, and often base my entree decision at restraunts on whether or not it comes with them.

Glad you had a good workout! Were you a little less bored on the treadmill today?

The chocolate brownie Quest Bar does have a slighly salty note to it, so you would probably love it. It's not super sweet and fake chocolate tasting... it's like sprinkling a bit of sea salt on brownie.

Olehcat - At least you know it's just a bit of bloat! What is the plan for the rest of the weekend food-wise?

Bayzee - You bring up a very good point, as usual. Some people can add in some treats more frequently than others. Surely your already very small body can't resist showing the evidence of extra goodies as well as someone larger's body can. Its the pitts sometimes.

Wildflower - Yeah, that's an AWESOME NSV! Just curious, do you do other forms of exercise in addition to yoga?

Alex - What's with the 'crap' eating? Do you need a smack or a hug? Let me know... I have one of each at the ready. Did you get back on track?

Krampus - Hells yeah! I'm happy you liked it... it makes me happy when people like the things I like to eat. Next; Apple pie. Do it.

Today was an okay day eating wise. I've been nauseous on and off all day so I really, really hope I'm not getting the stomach flu or something - it seems to be going around, lots of friends are saying they are sick with it on Facebook. Ugh. My fingers are still looking swollen for some reason, and I drank a liter of sparkling water tonight.

Got in a 90 minute yoga class this morning.

Eats were: B: green smoothie, L: enchiladas with guacamole, S: more green smoothie, a spoonful of pb, D: whole foods bar - tofu, mushrooms and sweet potatoes plus 3 veggie dumplings (a cheat!).

Aidangm Sounds like you had a great day! Hope you had a fun time with your friend at the movies -what did you guys see?

Jossfit You are doing so great! I bet you are at your goal in no time! That's too bad your hubby's watch was returned...but I'm sure he'll still love the new one you got him.

Marinated pretzels are evil. The are bagged pretzels, marinated in a mix of butter flavored popcorn oil, garlic powder, dill powder and (dry) ranch dressing mix. It sounds disgusting and makes me cringe to think of eating it but they taste awesome!

For my workouts, no I don't just do yoga. I run 3 times per week, yoga twice per week and planks/pushups daily. I also take public transportation to work, which causes me to walk several miles every day. I was following New Rules of Weightlifting for Women, but I haven't been making it to it to the gym as much lately as I've been so busy and the other stuff takes priority as I love yoga and I am signed up for races already for Spring/Summer/Fall so need to keep my running up. I was lifting 3 times per week also, but it really was starting to impact my running as my legs were tired a lot from it. I need to figure out a way to work it all in together.

Krampus - Glad you are feeling better and your appetite is back. WTF kind of video shows a cat dying at the end? That sucks you'll be having your period when you are on vacation. Fortunately, I'm on the pill so I generally just take packets back to back to manipulate all that. I guess that's not an option for you?

Thanks for the info on your arm routine. I just bought some dumb bells for home use, so I need to get back into a lifting routine. My arms are my least favorite area, ugh. I'm an hour glass and I feel like my arms are just HUGE, especially since almost everyone is a pear and all pictures are taken from the waist up. My small waist and legs are never seen and I look bigger than everyone!

Bayzee Congrats on getting back down to 115. That's my goal weight too. Yeah, I'm trying to stay motivated this time around. I gained most of this weight when I started grad school in 2009 but then every time I started to lose it would just not stick below 140. I hope now that I'm done with school and less stressed this will work for me now.

So sorry about your dog. I had a dog for 10 years and it was so hard when she passed away. We was like my child. She was a bigger dog but my sister just got a chug (chihuahua / pug) and its adorable. Sort of like a puggle but smaller. I wouldn't mind having one of those some day.

Turbo Yumm those fries look so good! Sounds like you had an awesome work out. I had to laugh about your comment about taking off the skinny jeans and watching a movie in loose pants. Sounds like me and my hubby. :P We do go out quite a lot, but I love a good movie night on the couch in yoga pants!

Olehcat - hope you got all your school work done! Doesn't water weight suck? My fingers are swollen again today, arrghh! But at least we know its not "real" weight.

Glad you understood what I meant about the McDonald's smells. I felt kinda *****y for saying that as I know a lot of people love eating there. LOL. A friend I have who works from another location actually had to request people stop heating up curry when she was pregnant because it made her sick. I know it bothers people. I suppose I don't care since I'm trying to eat healthy plus I purchased our office microwave using my corp card, so I feel I have rights to it! Hahaa! Oh and the fish thing, for some reason I think fish smells really good. How weird is that, I don't even eat it. I guess people really vary in their preferences, or maybe I'm just weird.

Alex Hope your friend's move went well, moving is always quite a work out for sure! How nice of you to help out!

Quiet weekend in Featherland! Hope everyone is having a great one!

Joss : I actually don't like huge sandwich neither, usually. Being honest, I think I could eat some single-slice-of-ham/mayo sandwich every single day of my life and be happy about it LOL I don't like the juicy meat like roastbeef in sandwich, for exemple. Smoked meat is the only thick-style sandwich I enjoy, it's not really juicy but has a great flavor. And YES the fries were SO SO good. And, I was really surprised about it, they were not salty at all, which was even more awesome.

Yes, I was less bored on the threadmill friday I brought my Ipod and listened music while watching the tennis game.

I was kinda weird though, I had weird look from 2 girls when I came back to do some elliptical. They looked at me with some really *****y face and I admit I was a bit taken aback by that. I picked a elliptical machine in front of them so i would not see them LOL

As you said, it must be hard to be told that were would be not change to your routine with your coach when you were expecting something. It will probably come soon enough Did you coach gave you some kind of outlineplan of your program, to know around when you should expect some changes in your routine? Or you are really in the dark?

wildflower : Oh, I really hope you have not caught a stomach bug or something! And LOL, yoga pants/movie are a regular at our place too We are really everything EXCEPT a glamorous couple

***

Hi ladies! Nothing much to report, I decided to brave the cold (it's really the warmest day in foreveeeer today, but still cold) and try a run outside. I had a little sneek peak on the scale today and I was glad to see 140.8! After what I ate friday night, a fairly heavy dinner of enchiladas yesterday and a 1 star poop yesterday morning, this +0.8 lbs compared to friday is a really releiving sight.

We had a Bacon/blueberries pancakes breakfast this morning, but I was so full I only ate 1/3 of the enchiladas leftover. The boyfriend is cooking lamb and some mushroom polenta tonight but if I stick with a reasonable portion, I think everything could be okay.

Have a good Sunday Feathers!

Hi, feathers, this was a strange weekend overall, and my eating patterns, failures, and successes sort of followed suite in weirdness. Well, I can safely say I haven't done the 17DD since Thursday, LOL. Bored already. I guess I'm not a very-specific-diet person at all. And not only that, I suspect that the lower-fat aspect of it really affected my mood, which plunged this past weekend. Part of that was other life stuffs, like not feeling good about having to take these classes that I have to take, aging parents issues, feeling bad body image issues, weather that kept me completely inside yesterday (ice event, no way to run outside and no way I was driving to the gym even), etc.

So, anyway, I'm going back to the one thing that I think I can stick to with some extra determination. A mostly paleo/primal style with higher fat, NO carbs outside of fruit and vegetables, very little dairy. So mostly proteins (not necessarily lean) and vegetables with some fruit, nuts, etc. And I HAVE to cut back on my wine. 1 little glass per night? Totally okay. 2 big, generous glasses that are probably more like 3 glasses? Not so good for the health!

New plan is to have a half glass of wine mixed with seltzer water any night that isn't Friday night.

Also, I have to get my exercising going! I realized that due to time constraints and being sick last week, I didn't exercise at ALL last week. Not even a walk (eh, weather was not conducive for walks). So today must get my head back in the game. I didn't bother weighing in this morning. I knew it was bad after a weekend of too much wine, hogging out on carbs, having a big cinnamon roll yesterday morning, etc.

@Turbo - yay, you are sitting pretty at 140! Your food sounds so yummy! And omg, those fries look AMAZING! My cat is a big baby in the carrier, but at the vet he was pretty cooperative.

@wildflower - oh wow, a 90-minute yoga class sounds so refreshing. Sounds like something I need for being as stressed out as I am right now! And heh, I'd say since you bought the microwave, you can heat up whatever you want in it!

@jossfit - as you can see, my plan for weekend eating was crazy. I ate all kinds of random stuff I didn't plan to eat, although no big binges or takeout meals at least! (Yes, I daydreamed about ordering pizza or Chinese or Thai food, but I did not). But I did have some gross frozen Texas toast garlic butter things that I heated in the oven. Ick. Never again. As for your workouts, I bet you'll see a big whoosh soon!

Wow! It’s hard to keep up with ya’ll. I’ve been busy this weekend, forgive me for not checking in sooner.

@JossFit; Yep. I’m back on track and feeling great. Still weigh 113 but I’ll bring it back down by the end of this week. I’m focusing more on my habits this week than the number on the scale (which is how it should be anyway). … I’m totally with you on food prep days. I really enjoy cooking up a bunch of healthy food at once. It’s reassuring and makes me feel good. I love sweet potatoes as well. And what bodybuilder or fitness chic isn’t without tons of boneless, skinless chicken breast in the fridge? Haha. People must think we are a bit crazy. … Good luck with the bikini diet. I don’t envy you! Why no cottage cheese? It’s a “clean” food. … I did see “Hansel and Gretel.” It was alright. I enjoyed the makeup effects on the witches more than the actual movie. … I had an awesome time at the restaurant and will post pics from dinner later today if I remember.

Did you get an ice storm in your state? We got an ice storm here… I’m looking forward to spring.

@krampus; Dinner was really nice! Glad to hear that you are feeling better. Hit the gym hard again when you are recovered. I tried Quest bars when they only had two flavors on the market. They were too addicting and too expensive so I haven’t ever bought them again.

@Bayzee; I find that the best way to maintain anything below 110 is to do a ridiculous amount of cardio. It sucks but it allows you to eat with some level of normalcy/moderation. When I was 104-ish, I was running at least five miles a day most days. Losing is so much easier than maintaining. If you really want to hit 105, go for it! It’s always possible.

@TurboMammoth; I’m sick of the ice. We’ve had a lot more ice than snow this year…which is more dangerous. My favorite sports are weight lifting, running, and outdoor cycling. I like ice skating in the winter but I don’t often go.

And Oh. My. God. Girl. Why did you post pictures of that yummy junk food? Ahaha. It looks so good. I’m from Wisconsin so we’re totally famous for our big portions, delicious fatty burgers, onion rings, brats, beer, deep fried everything, smothered in cheese. Haha. I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself and had a good workout though. Moderation is key and it looks like you are doing it up well.

@Alexistrophic; I hope that you’ll be feeling better soon. I’m glad that you checked in to help keep yourself accountable. Every little bit helps! Even if you aren’t feeling so great, it’s nice to chat. We’re here to support you, girl. Keep up the hard work and I hope you had a good time with your friend over the weekend.

@olehcat; Take it from me girl, moderation is the key. A moderate calorie deficit (nothing too low), and also keeping variety in your diet. Allowing yourself to have little treats and especially a free meal once a week. I don’t mean a free-for-all binge meal but.. just allow yourself to eat some non-diet or “unclean” foods every week. Dieting is both physical and mental! If you feel deprive and unhappy all of the time, you won’t stick to your diet for long. Binge eating can set in very quickly if you feel deprived. Don’t rely on willpower. Set yourself up for success. Control your surrounding and habits to the best of your ability. Allow yourself some moderation, continue to spend time with friends and family, and remember that there is much more to life than dieting. It’s so … SO important to remember this. There isn’t any point in being a low weight on the scale if you are miserable. Dieting isn’t always fun but it doesn’t have to be torture.

@Wildflower; I’m glad that you found a non-scale victory to focus on. Numbers on a scale should never dictate your happiness. If the number on a scale meant everything, then chop off your arm and call it good. Of course you’d never do that. Because your overall health and happiness is so much more important. Smile and stay positive today! I hope that you feel better as well … I saw “Hansel and Gretel” with a friend.

~~~

Hey, gals. Super busy weekend. It was amazing, fun, and I stayed on track with diet and exercise despite all the running around. It feels great. On both Friday and Saturday evening, I took my best friends out to a swanky American contemporary fine dining restaurant. I went at 5:30pm on Friday and again at 6:30pm on Saturday, lol. We had a nice 3-course dinner both nights (with super tiny, fine-dining-appropriate portions). Hehe. Quality over quantity, right? On Friday for appetizers, we had sweet potato velouté, and pork belly. Main course was veal breast and game hen. For desert, white chocolate panna cotta and avocado cake. On Saturday, same appetizers but I got the salmon instead of game hen. And my friend got the aged cheese plate for dessert. The food, ambience, and company was wonderful. I had a great time, enjoyed myself, and got to indulge without overeating because the portion sizes were perfect.

On Friday evening after dinner, my friend and I saw “Hansel and Gretel.” The movie was alright. I enjoyed the makeup effects on the witches more than the actual movie. But I just enjoyed spending time with my friend.

Saturday before dinner, I did a heavy full body lift that really pushed my nervous system into the ground for the rest of the day. But it was so worth-it. Squats, leg press, deadlifts, standing press, … yeah! Nothing like heavy compound lifts to make a good day.

Sunday morning I did a 6 mile run outdoors with a running buddy. The weather was cold, windy, and grey. But at least it wasn’t icy. And we both had a great run.

I still weighed in at 113 this morning (I shot up after binge eating earlier last week) but I’m going to look past it and continue to focus on good habits this week. No point in putting a black cloud on an otherwise perfect weekend. I ate healthy, exercised, had fun, included moderation… it’s all good. Ready for great week!

Hi feathers! I've been WAY off plan this past week, but it's been okay. Boyfriend and I figured out our disagreements, we're back to the way we were before (better for it, actually) but that means I've spent the week making our favorite comfort foods and enjoying his company and going out to dinner/brunch/etc, plus bottles of wine and champagne.

Thrilled to be back to losing weight; I always know when it's time to get back to work when I have bad dreams about being fat. Has that ever happened to any of you? I dream I get on a scale and it says I have gained 50+lbs or I try to put on pants and they are way too tight but the numerical size inside is really large.

TOM at some point this week because I couldn't get my BC this weekend, planned parenthood closed Saturday even though the weather after the morning was fine.

Hockey tonight; going to the arena 2-3x a week for hockey is going to be the hardest part of my weight loss, but I will make it work.

There are so many posts I missed and my workload is a BEAST today. I promise to make it up to you lovely ladies next post.

Hi chatty Feathers!

I felt well enough to lift for the first time in a week yesterday. As an easy Zumba class on Friday had me in coughing fits, I'm still not pushing for cardio yet. I went to the Y with my roommate (my other gym is really drafty, broken windows and stuff LOL) and lifted while she swam. I didn't push it and used less weight than normal on all my lifts...but went through the usual circuit of DB bench press, DB OHP, plated leg press, KB goblet squats, weighted situps and lat pulldown. There are no corners at the Y to put barbells in (the one corner I'd consider has a PLANT there...) so I'll play around with that when I go back to other gym. Billy Blanks was nowhere to be seen, and it was just me and one big military guy - we stayed out of each other's way the whole time and it was nice, though I felt all eyes on me since I was turning red and probably looked like a total weights-n00b in my oversized white t-shirt with a cat on it and too-big sweatpants.

Hopped on the scale after the gym (I'd had breakfast and coffee prior) and saw 121.8 - !!!!!!!!! Lowest ever, I had one freak low 122.4 WI in the summer. After gym I had a brunch jam session (a waffle with PB2, a little maple syrup and eggs) with roomie and our friend - I got new strings on my violin Saturday and it was SO GREAT breaking them in. I'm working on learning a bunch of Waterboys songs, already figured out "Fisherman's Blues" which is their most famous song.

4:30 PM dinner at Cracker Barrel with my folks - I was HUNGRY and had a steak, green beans, carrots and mac & cheese. Ate most of it and still felt like I hadn't eaten at all - was that the deficit sustained over the past week coming to bite me in the butt? - ended up having a couple wings at the pub later, a pint of cider, drinking a bunch of chicken soup broth, and having a quesadilla an hour before bed. Put me at 124.2 this morning after a 3/5 star (getting better).

Now for some personals...

Dorian5 I'm SUPER HAPPY to hear things are better with your bf - sometimes having a SUPER SRS DISCUSSION really kickstarts romance and makes you guys appreciate each other more! I haven't had fat dreams but I had a very vivid dream about eating McDonalds french fries Saturday night for some reason. Good luck navigating PP's occasionally arbitrary schedule of hours...

Aidangm Your weekend sounds like a divine festival of good food and awesome workouts - they really do go together well. I love fine dining, tiny portions and the like - need more excuses to go, but I also like keeping it special and for worthwhile places, since everyone I hang out with is an amazing cook it really needs to be GOOD! I love the juxtaposition of workout then meal - the only thing I can think of that's better is sex then meal, ha! Quest bars ARE like crack but there's so much fiber in them that I don't think I could eat more than one in a sitting!

olehcat Re: the heavy lifting thing. No beginner can just walk into a gym and magically squat 200 lbs - you build up to it. For now the beginner programs are probably plenty - I am an advocate of the "doing something > doing nothing" mindset, as long as you aren't putting yourself in danger of getting badly injured (squatting or deadlifting with bad form, dropping dumbbells on your face...). "Heavy" is all relative, for now I would say just concentrate on building up what you can lift on a few exercises. If you can do 5 pushups try to do 10, stuff like that. I'm sorry you had such a weird weekend - Saturday was spent in a funk on my end, I spent like 4 hours reading really graphic accounts of how difficult it is to be a special needs sibling or parent (that has no relevance to my life at all, just felt like reading about others' struggles) and barely moved off the couch all day.

TurboMammoth Quest bars are like 160-180 calories per bar. Too good to be true........just like those smoked meat sandwiches. Those look fantastic and I want to devour them. Nice work on keeping around 140 and having such an awesome workout it made you sore! I am too much of a wiener to run outside...but it's snowing here today so I can use that as an excuse.

Wildflower Don't get sick! How are you feeling now? Fitting into all your old pants is a wicked NSV - I enjoyed pulling a pair of "skinny" pants from HS up and down without unzipping or unbuttoning the fly this weekend. Maybe I'll have my period a week earlier than Florida - I have THE HUNGER now but who knows, could be for any reason. My bf didn't know the cat was going to die at the end (it was a guy talking about his beloved cat, not an actual "Faces of Cat Death" clip of an actual death) and felt bad about showing it to me!

JossFit I had Coconut Cashew next, saving Apple Pie for last I think. If you go on FB and "like" Quest, they send you 2 free bars Sorry things aren't moving at the pace you hoped for - are you noticing non-scale results? Dino does NOT put cole slaw on pulled pork thankfully. That does sound like a real BBQ-ruiner.

Alexistrophic Be well!

Bayzee I think my appetite is bouncing back as I heal up some, but it is pre-TOM time too. Going to do my best to stuff myself with protein and fiber instead of garbage...but it's tough! How did your weekend go?