Hey feathers..Just a quick check-in on my lunch.

I weighed 115.4 today...TOM week so this should be interesting. I felt I broke the 115 this weekend but we'll see how the week goes. I'm not going to weigh-in till the end of the week because it will just make me crankier than I've already been. lol!

I overindulged on wine on Saturday, but Friday was ok. I don't feel this is under control yet, and I feel it is certainly hindering my progress.

My goal for the week is to not give in to my TOM cravings and drink less wine this weekend. We're hosting another get together on Saturday, so I don't know if I will be able to do that.

Back for personals later!

Alright, Chipper Jossfit is not in the chat today. :mad:

I spent yesterday with 80 million children trashing my house (and you all know how fond of numerous children I am) because my roommates had a play date/friend date with TWO sets of our friends and their children for a combined total of SIX girls under the age of 7 running around. Ugh.

Aside from that my husband is getting really stressed with work/training and all of our plans to see each other are falling apart. That part is hard enough, but he's not great about telling me ALL the details, so I'll offer an alternative solution such as "Well, we can try to see eachother on (such and such) date and I can stay for xx days..." and then he gets mad at me for trying to make plans that don't work. I don't know that the other suggestion won't work if he doesn't tell me what's going on! How am I supposed to know that he'll be in Germany or wherever, or that his leave might be cancelled, or that they might send them out early IF HE DOESN'T TELL ME?

So, marriage is falling apart... awesome.

Then for some reason this morning I'm up 1.2 pounds and I have no idea why... which isn't super important but it makes me feel like NOTHING IS HAPPENING with this program. I sought out this coach because he's the best in the business and I know I need to have faith in him, but I'm so impatient right now. I'm pissed at myself for getting so fu*king fat to begin with, and even more so for expecting some miracle coach would help me get it off. 12 weeks isn't going to cut it, and I'm cranky and miss my apples and cottage cheese and creamer in my ******* coffee.

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Dorian - I'm so glad you and your BF are back on track and better than ever! It sounds like you had a nice weekend enjoying each other's company. ;) It can be hard to be in weight loss mode when snuggling up with some wine, comfort foods and your hunny is on one shoulder and chicken breast after the gym is on the other.

Hmm, is it any coincidence I saw my husband A LOT over the holidays and put on A LOT of weight? LOL probably not.

Aidanqm - The only thing that I hate about prepping my food ahead of time is how quickly I go through it lately, especially chicken! I baked up a big batch yesterday afternoon and it will be gone this evening so I'll have to cook more tonight to make it through the next 2 days!

The coach I am working with is arguably the best in the business; he's the coach of Amanda Latona, Nicole Wlikins, Ava Cowan, etc. (If you follow pro bikini/figure competitors at all) so I trust what he tells me and do exactly what he says. No cottage cheese? Got it coach! :) If he can work a miracle and get me back to where I was a few months ago in the next 10.5 weeks I'm fine without dairy for a while.

Olehcat - Forgive me for asking, but if you're already bored of doing the 17DD, is another plan the answer?

It seems as though no matter what program you try you don't really feel like sticking to it. Perhaps you need something to really motivate you OUTSIDE of the program itself; an event with a deadline perhaps?

I'm an outsider of course, and I only see what you post, but from THIS vantage point it looks like you're having an issue that most of us have at least once in a while; lack of motivation. WHY are you REALLY trying to lose weight? What is the payoff at the end of it? Everyone's resolve wanes from time to time but if someone is really motivated they can make themselves do anything (LOL some people take it to an unhealthy place of course, but you get what I'm saying).

I don't think a new way of eating is going to be the answer, and I'm worried that you'll start to feel like some sort of failure if you attempt all these new programs and then toss them aside after a few days.

Take it with a grain of salt, of course.

I actually DON'T think I'll see a big whoosh at any point during this program; that's not the point. I think his design is slow and steady FAT loss over the next 12 weeks in a very controlled manner. He was happy with my progress so far (which has been averaging about .2 pounds per day aside from today's crap weigh in) so that's why he didn't change anything.

LOL My roommates made BLTs on Garlic Texas Toast the other night and the smells of it cooking made me want to eat my arm off. The whole house smelled like bacon and garlic bread. I'm glad you said it didn't taste very good, because I've never had that (I assume we're both talking about the frozen Texas Toast brand of garlic bread slices) and from the way it smelled I felt like I was missing out big time!

Wildflower - The marinated pretzels make more sense now... more like a spiced pretzel! They sound awesome to me. I'll take my pretzels chocolate covered 99% of the time though. :D

So would you say that yoga is your priority? Finding time to lift weights and do cardio in addition to that is a lot to take on! Ideally we would all be able to get in an even mix of everything but I think that any regular exercise that someone enjoys is great. Getting all of it is ideal but definitely not realistic for most of us!

Are you feeling better yet? You mentioned you were nauseated the other day.

Turbo - What was the deal with the women at the gym giving you dirty looks? I hope they just had mean looking faces or something and weren't meaning to direct that at you for no reason. Things like that can make people really uncomfortable at the gym and make them not want to go!

Is it warming up there at all for you yet?

Nice job on the weigh in! I love that you can still have all that great food (bacon, blueberry pancakes, enchiladas, smoked meat sandwiches and fries...) and only be up a tiny bit, which was most likely water from the sandwich anyway. Its so great to see people make it to their goals or even maintain their progress without totally depriving themselves of everything.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty content with my diet right now, but it's not including french fries and blueberry pancakes! :)

Krampus - Sounds like you had a great weekend overall, and I'm happy to see you're feeling better!

I had no idea about the Quest bars on FB... I'm TOTALLY doing that tonight (even though I shouldn't because I can't eat them right now...)
What did you think of the Coconut Cashew one?

I saw your super low Weigh-in... that's great! I know you're back up today because of that Cracker Barrel meal but I'm sure it'll balance out tomorrow and you'll find yourself in the 122-somethings.

IDK... my progress is seemingly non-existent at this point. Everything looks horrible and the scale is creeping (apparently UP today... grrrr) so I'm very pissy about the whole situation today.



**I'll be back for some better personals later this evening... I'm in a crappy mood right now!**

Joss ~ *big hugs to YOU* It's tough enough to communicate with someone who's sitting right in front of you, but sounds like it's ten thousand times more difficult to connect with someone whose so far away... literally. Remember those qualities that attracted you to your hubby in the first place. Make a list of all those reasons you love him and TELL him. He's probably feeling at least as frustrated as you are at the situation, maybe even moreso. Hang in there. Just sounds like a sucky moment.

A hug or a smack... I'll take one of each, please. :o I think the crap eating is mostly due to bounce-back from being too strict with my eating earlier in the month. It's tough for me to hit that balance between being too strict vs. too lenient... I've also read those studies on "willpower" and how we only have a certain amount of it. I would so love to get to a place where food doesn't involve "willpower" and I just naturally gravitate toward healthy choices. I feel like I'm close to that space now, it's just a matter of getting into good, healthy, sustainable habits.

For me, just being here and being accountable is being on track.

Turbo ~ Brave girl, facing the cold outside to go for a run! Those chicken avocado enchiladas sound fantastic. My sis has been talking about "pitch perfect", too, so I might have to give it a look.

Thanks also for the love on my profile pic! It's from about a winter beach trip from about a year ago. I love the beach, especially during the winter because there are no crowds.

Krampus ~ Dang, girl! Look at you with your new lows!!! Sounds like a good time at the gym. :D I never feel like I've eaten anything when I leave Cracker Barrel. So strange! Especially for a restaurant that prides themselves on being "home cooking" I feel like the portions would be a bit bigger, at least.

Ohlecat ~ I feel like I'm kind of in the same place as you with the 17DD. I'm keeping the bit about fruit in the AM and 2 servings of probiotics, protein and veg, but scrapping the "diet" part.

Bayzee ~ Good goals! Sometimes just holding steady is a victory.

Dorian5 ~ So glad you're back in a good place with the bf! Oh, the "make-up fooding"... Glad that you're back in here. :D

aidan ~ Your weekend sounds fantastic: good friends, good (fancy!) food, and good work outs. Living the dream. :-)

Wildflower ~ Hurray for NSVs!!! And they do say that water pushes water, so the more you drink, the more you lose (or so they say...)

~~~

This sounds so lame, but Saturday was "Clean Sheet Day" and that made me ridiculously excited. :D I dusted off my desk and bed area, so now at least that part of my space feels manageable. Now to tackle the mountains of paperwork, etc. that have piled up in my room... Ugh.

The friend move went smoothly (she was moving to a house two blocks away so it didn't really make sense to hire movers, but most of the heavy lifting was done by the time I got there anyway... I just helped lug bags, etc. down/up stairs) She treated us to Italian to say thanks. Sunday was Korean food (giant mandoo and chapchae (glass noodles+veg) and kimchi) so I'm on a spicy food hang-over this morning.

I started taking a financial education class at a local church and that's making me feel a bit more in control of my life/finances. I'm a chronic underearner (I know this about myself!) and hopefully I can learn from the other people in the class, too.

Have also been looking at the Leonie Dawson "Creating Your Incredible 2013" workbook (http://leoniedawson.com/shop/kits/in...book-calendar/) I found it via youtube planner/filofax reviews and it seems a little bit "hippy" but very structured and insightful.

There's a "Closing 2012" section (what are you thankful for from 2012? What did you learn? What do you need to share/express to feel complete about 2012?) and then an "Invoking 2013" section, where you write down what you want to experience in 2013. ("100 things to do in 2013", "2013 Will be the Year that I...", "I want to feel.... in 2013")

I'm the kind of person who likes to do a year review (still January, so it still counts!) and this workbook gave a great structured, thought-provoking prompts that are helping me clarify where I want to go in 2013.

One question I'm working on answering is: "How does my body feel now vs. how I WANT my body to feel..." because I feel like this deals with the ultimate goal of all my food talk/thoughts. I've never really thought about how I want my body to FEEL....

(*I haven't actually bought the workbook. Issues with international debit cards... So I'm just cribbing questions from what other youtubers have said about it...)

JossFit I'm gonna throw you a million hugs and words of encouragement from up here - how unfortunate to wind down the weekend not being able to relax in your own house, not to mention the frustration of communication problems from your husband - is he a stereotypical "I shut down and get mad when I can't do anything to fix problems that have arisen" man? Coconut Cashew was good, I am not allergic to stevia but my BF is - good to know I suppose.

Does your diet plan change at all from week to week? Maybe some magic will happen and results will start popping out of holes in the ground. I've BEEN THERE (regained to 150+ and then regained to almost 140) and gotten so mad at myself for it - but (going on assumptions here) you are still as strong as you've been, you can still do 4578953485034875349 pushups and pullups, don't forget all that - I don't think many women at all are that strong! :D

Alexistrophic The best part of helping people move is when someone else does the heaviest bit of the work before you get there :P and getting food after is always nice, too. Funny you mentioned it, I think of Cracker Barrel as one of the easiest restaurants to take it easy at for that same reason! A non-gravied non-fried meat and 3 vegetable sides? Barely a dent. Chapchae is THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD, with mandu at a close second...

I'm glad to hear you are getting structure, clarity and food for thought through the financial ed class and that workbook. Perspective on what your tendencies are, where you came from, where you're going - all of it helps realize life is just a constant work of progress. :)

olehcat : New plan sounds nice! It would probably be harder to stick to a plan you have no more interest in. Hope your new plan works well for you! I have tried the wine and bubbly water a few weeks ago, and jeez it did not work for me! Lucky if it works for you! ;)

Aidanqm : Arrrgh, I hate ice tooo. Luckily it melted a bit last year before getting the -8000 degrees. It was so cool running on some dry path last weekend.

You seemed to had a nice time dining out this weekend! That was even more nice that you did not to worry much about cutting the portions, if they were already reasonnable! Win win situation!

Dorian : Awww, I'm so glad everything is okay with your boy once again! Have fun at the games! (Go destroy the Bruins!) ;)

krampus : God! That was an awesome WI! And it's glad to know that you were able to have your workout without having to deal with some random idiot people at the gym!

Woah, 160-180 calories per bar? That is aweme. I'll definitely order some in a near future.

Bayzee : Congrats on breaking the 115's! Go resist that TOM craving though! ;)

Joss : Aww, sorry you're feeling down :( First, WOAH MULTIPLE PLAYDATES. Enough to drive even a friend-to-kids person! I'm sorry to hear things are a bit rough with the husband right now :( It is probably frustrating to him not knowing what is going on concerning his job schedule and things.. And it is just me but guys freak out when you ask them something that they don't know the answer (for exemple : ''when will be the next time we'll see each other'' here).

I don't know what was the thing about the dirty looks at the gym :( I came by, they stopped talking and they stared at me. Oh well. It's not like I'll stop going at the gym because some slutty (because they were slutty, come on it's a GYM) girls looking at me. I just did not know what it was coming from... :?:

Alexis : I love the idea on workout on this thing to get a get a full closure of 2012 and setting up goals for 2012.

Figuring it out how you want your body to feel is haaard. When I decided I was going to lose weight at 185 lbs, I picked my first goal weight at 140 lbs because I thought it would probably be ok at that weight. The thing is, 140 lbs would be a great healthy weight for me, but it was not feeling right. I lost until 133 lbs and it was not feelign quite right altogether. At some point it got me thinking, we'll it ever feel totally right?

Oh well, you got me thinking with you Creating your incredible 2013'' thing ;)

***

Hi Feathers! I feel I overate today. I did not binge, but I could have control everything a bit better. I also had a 1 star poop, which is annoying, I've been feeling bloaty for the past 3-4 days. I want a good 4-5 start poop, pleeease.

I tried some ''300 abs'' workout I found out on Pinterest and it was MEEEH. I was okay and got me moving a bit but I was not totally excited and challenged by it. I'll try to find another different one for next week.

Going to see my goddaughter in Montreal tomorrow and I'm dining over there. I'll go to the gym and have a nice workout before heading there. :)

Take care ladies!

hi, all,

I'm so excited because I actually finally ran again this evening, DESPITE it being my class day. Well, the reason for it was that it's balmy and warm (weird for January) and there was dense fog, and I LOVE running in balmy, foggy weather -- it's my favorite running weather. So it was motivation to get off my lazy butt and get outside. :) I feel really good that I did it.

I'm thinking really hard about how to eat to lose weight but still keep my sanity and not go crazy. Eating what I want doesn't work. That's how I got so heavy. Dieting doesn't work. That just causes binges and "last supper meals" where I plan something new for the next day but decide to have all the forbidden things that day because of course the next day and forever after I'm going to be perfect, right? :-p *eyeroll* I'm so tired of my usual patterns. All that has caused is a 10 pound weight gain over the past year. Wow, when I was 137 pounds, I was still trying to get down to 110. Sad, right? And instead of going DOWN (I would make it to about 133 and then bounce right back up to 139 or so), I went UP. SO now my "norm" has shifted from between 137-142 to more like 144-147 (!!). And all because of constant "dieting" and then taking a break from it to eat whatever I wanted and eat/drink like the food was going out of style.

@Turbo - ha, already wine plan a fail. But I am having a VERY small glass of real wine, way smaller than the norm that has been way too much. Have a great time in Montreal!

@Alex - exactly! I had some fruit and the Greek yogurt today, and I did have a big salad at lunch, just like I was before. Not much changes, actually, except I am adding about 1/4 avocado for fat, fattier parts of the chicken (yum, legs!). I hear you about being an underearner. I can't do much about it in my field (I am a teacher, therefore I will never make the big bucks), and I wish I had more of a natural knack for finances. I'm not a big spender at all (hate shopping), but I do tend to be careless with money sometimes, spending too much on things that should have been researched better, etc.

@Jossfit - you have a very good point and you are very insightful. The whole reason I have not lost weight since I've wanted to in 2010 when I decided to get to 110 pounds and never even got close is just this. I am indecisive and not at all disciplined. I'm highly motivated to lose weight, I obsess about it all the time, but sometimes I get caught up in being more motivated by the moment rather than the long term. Or maybe I lack faith that whatever I've picked will work. I think sometimes reading so many weight loss forums can be harmful. I see SO many posts by women complaining about not being able to lose weight even while doing everything in whatever diet just right for weeks/months on end. That scares me to death, that even performing everything perfectly and our bodies can completely rebel and refuse to let go of the weight. So I think I have a secret fear that no matter what I choose to do, whether it's counting calories or doing the 17DD or low carb or whatever, that even if I did it perfectly and stuck to it, that I will fail at it and still be miserable by depriving myself. Huh, I never quite put that into words! And the lack of true motivation? It is true in SO many elements of my life. The weight loss issue is just one piece of it all. So if I solve that motivation issue, I bet I solve a lot of others, too! *nods* Thank you for your honesty and perception, by the way!

And by the way, I am SO sorry about your stuff with your husband. It's such a misery, I know. It's so frustrating to not be able to make definite plans to see each other! And then lots of screaming kids, eep. That sounds like my niece's birthday party a few months ago! Horrifying!

And *hugs* about the weight. That has to feel SO frustrating with all the work you're putting in! And I really admire your determination to stick to something 100 percent like that. It's *points up to my ramblings* something I am very weak at!

@Bayzee - good luck on reducing the wine! :)

@krampus - wow, that's an awesome weigh - in!!!! Oh, and you sound like me on the internet. I can spend HOURS reading about things that have NOTHING to do with me or my life. And good point about the lifting. I'm going to start something just to get my strength up. I think I might just do a few simple exercises and not worry about more until later.

@Dorian - I have had dreams where I look in the mirror and I'm way bigger than I am in reality and it's just awful. And I realize that in reality, I DO feel huge compared to the way I know I used to look/feel.

@Aidanqm - your advice is sound. I did have a few bites of a brownie today. Deprivation leads to eventual binge-fest. I feel SO far away from goal weight that I wish I could enjoy the process more, that I could find that magical balance of eating JUST the right amount to lose the weight, including some indulgences. I'm in constant search of that! I also have found that if I am in a pattern of heavy-duty running, then I can get away with a lot more as far as indulgences. It's been a long time since I had consistent running (like for months on end) at a high enough rate to do that.

Hi Feathers,

I'm still feeling blah. Don't have the nauseous feeling anymore, so thank god I don't think i have the stomach flu, but still feel feverish and now with an ear ache. Probably getting the respiratory flu going around.

I weighed in this morning after having a little bit of my smoothie and was 1.8 lbs up from yesterday. Super bummed, as I've eaten very lightly all weekend and my old jeans are fitting again and starting to feel loose. Still have swollen fingers, not sure what is going on, maybe from this stupid virus I'm fighting.

I feel fat and gross as I missed my run yesterday and probably will tomorrow and I'm just overall bleh. I've been so motivated but like usual - whenever I start feeling good and like I'm in a routine I get freakin sick and it all falls apart. I'm fully expecting to be up even more tomorrow, or at least still at 133, which I was at last Tuesday so it will mean no loss for the week.

Joss Fit Hugs to you, I am in the same boat. I suppose I should take whatever advice I can think of for you! I would say just focus on the big picture and your healthy eating and trust that the plan will work. Women are weird in our water retaining capabilities so we can't get hung up on a few water weight pounds, especially if we we know we are eating healthy and putting in the work. This guy I used to know would always say, "If you work the plan it'll work for you" I think he learned it in AA, but I guess it applies to life.

Hang in their about your husband...things are hard from a distance. Do you ever write each other emails? Sometimes it can be good for getting things out and it is easier when you are long distance. I've done long distance stuff in the past, it has it's pros and cons. I'm fairly independent so I like being able to do whatever I want and not have to worry about coming home to someone. But it's hard, hard, hard not to have the person you love there when you need them most. I think it can be hard to remember to tell the other person all those little details (or big details) about your life too because when you do have time to talk you try to focus on the highlights and the other person's day and some times things just get forgotten. I remember when I was in a LD relationship my ex forgot to tell me he was going on a trip across the country. I was so mad at him! He was sure he told me. Anyway...hang in there...relationships are hard for sure.

Oh and with my fitness priorities. Yoga and running at both up there, lifting is a distant third for now. I enjoy yoga the most but also like the running and doing races. It's hard to be motivated to run with the cold weather, but I know I have to put in the work now if I want to be able to run well this summer. Plus, it's a good calorie burn.

Olehcat - Totally can relate with the diet stuff. In 2009, I went from 134 - 152 that fall. The next fall I decided I needed to calorie count to get the weight down. I got down to 137 and celebrated by eating deep dish pizza and nachos! I went back to 145, back to 136, back to 140, back to 137 and then my scale batter died. When I finally replaced it last fall I was at 140 but I am pretty sure I went a little above that a few times and didn't know.

I have a hard time of thinking of diet in terms of a beginning and an end, so this time I am just focusing on healthy eating and eating "clean" no oils, sugar, flours, limited grains. Mainly just fruits/vegs/nuts/seeds/lentils/beans. In the past I calorie counted which left me hungry a lot of the time. I clearly should have been focusing on eating vegetables mainly, but I wasn't. I was just portion controlling whatever - pizza, grilled cheese, mac and cheese.

Anyway...I don't have stellar advice, just wanted to tell you I can completely relate. I don't know if the healthy eating thing is the answer for me but so far it is and I don't feel deprived because I am eating plenty of healthy fats and filling up on fruits/veggies. Also, my tastes have changed and I've learned to love all the new foods I am exploring.

Turbo - Hope you enjoy your trip to see your god daughter. I have some workouts saved from Pinterest too, but haven't seen the 300 abs one you mentioned.

Dorian Glad you and the BF worked things out. Sounds like you've had a fun off plan couple of days nesting together. :)

Alex That book sounds interesting. I've read it is helpful to conduct annual reviews but I've never really done it outside of work. Once years ago I made a list of big time goals and i've met a few of them, but never stopped to look back at my life and see how I am doing outside of those big goals. Hope the financial class goes well for you, sounds interesting!

Krampus Glad you are feeling better and got back to the gym! I'm hanging in there trying to fight off whatever yuck I've caught. I hate missing workouts but I know I need to rest or I'll just get sicker.

Congrats on the scale drops - that's so awesome! You seem to be down more every time I check in on the thread. Go you!

That's awesome your HS jeans fit without even unzipping them at all! Wow! That's a great NSV right there! :)

Oh and your "Faces of Cat Death" comment cracked me up. Sounds like an indie film for sure...:P

Today is stupid. STILL up on the scale for no damn reason. It shouldn't be that big of a deal but I'm having that hissy fit moment where I'm like "C'mon, if I am going to NOT lose weight I'd rather be doing the workouts I like and eating with a bit more freedom!" I'm getting frustrated with this crap.

I just feel like at this rate I will not get where I want to be and will have paid a ******ed amount of money for this coach.

Not only was the scale still up but I just felt like a rhino running around in the gym today. Everything looked huge and while I was running I had muffin top jiggling up out of my workout pants. Great. I have to do 'progress' (HA! Progress??) photos for my coach tonight and get to speak with him tomorrow, so hopefully he'll have some words of wisdom and will make some adjustments to my program to get things moving in the right direction.

Sorry, pissy mood today.

Wildflower - Here I am *****ing and moaning about what I did to MYSELF, and you're over there legitimately sick. :( I hope that you're feeling better today!

I definitely feel you on the shitty weigh-ins (obviously) but you're right, if you are sick your body is very likely trying to fight off the sickness and that usually comes with at least a little bit of bloating, considering it's essentially inflammation. After all, any infection is going to be met by your body with swelling and inflammation as the antibodies in your blood rush out to meet it and keep it at bay... so that's happening all over your whole body!

I know it's frustrating though, especially if you've been eating well and KNOW you shouldn't have gained any real weight. It's hard to keep going and going without feeling like you're making any progress!

Its funny that you brought up emails; my husband and I met online and so emails were how we first started chatting and getting to know each other. Then of course I have deployed several times and so we would email quite a lot during those periods as well... it seems like we communicate really well that way.
He actually emailed me after I had gone to bed Sunday night and I think that gave him a forum to express how he was feeling about a lot of things. He emailed me again Monday night just to tell me some story about a new guy on his team at work so it wasn't really an IMPORTANT email per say, but I love when he takes the time to write. I will have to make sure to give him feedback and let him know that I like it when he takes the time to sit down and just dish about whatever is on his mind. I think it shows me that he cares and wants to share things with me, and it gives him a chance to say whatever he needs to say even if it's just casual chatter.

I just want to copy and paste this part of your reply for emphasis; "Sometimes it can be good for getting things out and it is easier when you are long distance. I've done long distance stuff in the past, it has it's pros and cons. I'm fairly independent so I like being able to do whatever I want and not have to worry about coming home to someone. But it's hard, hard, hard not to have the person you love there when you need them most. I think it can be hard to remember to tell the other person all those little details (or big details) about your life too because when you do have time to talk you try to focus on the highlights and the other person's day and some times things just get forgotten."

Yes, exactly that. I am fairly independent too but I need him right now and am scared about a lot of the transitional things I'm facing with my separation. It's not easy for either of us right now and we're at opposing ends; he needs me to not be up his @ss about seeing each other, and I need him to be more attentive.

WRT workouts; yeah, it would be great if we could all run 10 miles, lift small cars and twist ourselves into pretzels with the greatest of ease, but who has the time for all that training?! I think a person should focus on whatever they derive the most enjoyment from and sprinkle in the rest of it as they can.

Olehcat - I'm glad you didn't take any offense and think I was picking at you or your struggles to find a good plan lately... just offering you the outside perspective.

You bring up a good point about dieting and how essentially, you've been doing the classic "yo yo" dieting and getting the classic results; slow creep up over time! I have been doing the same over the past few months (which I NEVER have done before) and thats why, even though I'm crazy frustrated right now, I hired a coach to take me through this process SLOW and STEADY and without any crazy fad things. I know in the end I will be better off for it, and need to retrain myself out of these stupid habits I've gotten into and do what I know; eat simple and healthy food, workout hard, and do those things consistently.

The more I think about it, the more obvious it is when you take a step back. I've been chatting in here for a little while now, and you know whos' not ever done the yo-yo thing? Krampus and Turbo (just off the top of my head) and I've never once seen either of those ladies mention starting a new plan/program/routine unless it applied to small changes in their fitness programs. They just eat how they eat, have small ups and downs due to holidays and such, and keep on keeping on. The proof is in the pudding. :)

Have you ever given much thought to visualization or positive thinking for reaching your goals? I know it sounds cheezy, but I think you might benefit from trying to re-train your brain. If you keep thinking that you'll fail, you will. You aren't giving yourself a chance. Here's the thing; you KNOW what to do. You do. That's no secret. It's not rocket science to figure out how to lose weight but you lack committment. You KNOW that in order to see some changes you need to pick any approach (ANY approach) and stick with it for a while. That's it.
I am struggling with my program right now because I am not seeing results... YET. I know it would be insane of me to throw away this chance to work with my coach because I feel frustrated in this moment. What if I gave up and said 'nevermind, I'll just go back to 1200 calories and never take a day off from the gym..'? -- I'd end up losing a few pounds, mostly muscle, eating my face off for a few days and then gaining MORE weight because I've now slowed my metabolism again. Then I'll freak out, look for a new miracle motivation pill and repeat.
I do NOT want that for myself, or any of us.

So... commit. Commit to something you can stick to and just do it. Give it 12 weeks (****, give it six!) and give it everything you have. You can stop this yo-yo cycle now but you have to BELIVE you can do it.

Krampus - Your question; ""I shut down and get mad when I can't do anything to fix problems that have arisen" man?" OMG yes! I never realized that was such a typical man thing to do, but my BFF says her husband does the same thing. He just wants to hate the world and she is on the other hand, trying to find solutions (She and him are also LD right now and she's leaving for a year long deployment). When he was saying how crappy everything was she was finding ways to spend bits and pieces of time together and make the best of it.
That's exactly where my hubby and I are right now.

And thanks for the awesome E-hugs... you (and everyone else) really do make such a difference for me when I'm feeling out of sorts and don't know who to vent to about it!

"Does your diet plan change at all from week to week? Maybe some magic will happen and results will start popping out of holes in the ground." - It does in theory, but my coach didn't change anything when we exchanged emails on Thursday of last week because he was pleased with things so far... but now my weight is doing crazy things and I'm sure after he sees the photos he'll change a thing or two up. It's all based on how things go at each check-in so I have no idea what the overall 'plan' is, and neither does he... which makes sense because you can't predict how someone is going to progress.

"I've BEEN THERE (regained to 150+ and then regained to almost 140) and gotten so mad at myself for it - but (going on assumptions here) you are still as strong as you've been, you can still do 4578953485034875349 pushups and pullups, don't forget all that - I don't think many women at all are that strong!"

You're right... I think most of us have had some regain (I had 25 pounds... LOL but again, my fault) so it's normal but I'm also doing what I can to stop it NOW, and to do it the right way so I don't end up as a perpetual Yo-yo dieter. I actually WISH I could do pullups like I used to but with a 25 pound gain in 4 weeks my body can't support that anymore. Now I can do about, 5 per set. :( I actually don't even have them in my workout program but I've been sneaking in a random set or two here and there. ;) I'm hoping once I get down to a lighter weight it will be easier to pull myself up again.

Your BF is allergic to Stevia? Wow, good to know for sure! That's the only sweetener I use right now and so if I were cooking for someone who had an allergy to it and didn't know that would be bad! (Well, I guess I only add it to my coffee and oatmeal but still...)

OH! Someone just told me they are releasing a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Quest bar on Thursday. :D

Alex - Consider this your combination HUG/SMACK! It hurts so good... hahaha :hug::frypan:

Are you a bit more on plan today? I do know what you mean about the bounce back and for me it's relative to the amount of time I have been really on-point with my diet, although not in the way you would think; the longer I go eating on plan and hitting my workouts, the better results I see and the less I want to cheat and mess it up! I might go a long period of time on plan and am looking great and then have one night off plan and get right back to it.
Sometimes though I will only be back on plan a few days and then its almost as though I 'might as well' because I don't look great now anyway so what's one more day? :rolleyes: Makes sense right? Yeah...

I've also heard the same things regarding the amount of willpower a person has. I think it helps me greatly that I set myself up for success by not having those temptations around me or by putting myself in tempting situations because I have willpower to spare most times! haha It's a good point though, and I think that reducing the amount of willpower stressors would be helpful to everyone, if it were manageable. Some people have to work in grocery stores and stare at food all day long whereas people like me don't have to look at any. I think it makes a difference.

I like your question about how we want our bodies to FEEL. I know you didn't ask for replies because the question was for you, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway; I want my body to feel strong, powerful, graceful, lithe and energetic. I want it to feel lean, healthy and muscular and like I can do anything with it. I want myself to feel sexy in it.
Have you come up with a good answer for yourself yet?

Krampus ~ It WAS pretty nice that the "morning crew" had already done all the heavy lifting at my friend's place. I was part of the "afternoon relief crew" (since all of the morning people had afternoon commitments). It actually worked out pretty well b.c my friend was going through some emotional stuff (moving out of her parents' duplex -- not the best of situations) and I was glad that she had people around her for most of the day.


Turbo ~ Chalk those "big eat" days up to a metabolism booster, eh? And is that "300 Abs Challenge" based on the movie "300"? I just googled and that's what I came up with. Holy wow!
I just officially bought the Incredible 2013 workbook yesterday, so am hoping to get it printed off today and be able to have it filled in by the end of the month. I give myself fully until the end of January to set my resolutions/intentions for the upcoming year (although really, it's never too late to set a new 'resolution') Have a wonderful time with your goddaughter! ;)

Ohlecat ~ I am feeling ya on those "revelations" girl. "Dieting" doesn't work (at least for me, either...) I always read about those 'success' stories and think 'now why can't that be me?' and the thing is that it CAN, but it won't be through any kind of depravation mindset. That might work for some people. It doesn't for me. What DOES work is moderate amounts and a reasonable cut off time. That's how I do... What's worked for YOU in the past? And WELL DONE with getting outside for a ruN!!!

Wildflower ~ Yuck for your sickness, but glad that it's not a stomach flu (small blessings) Calorie counting never really worked for me, either. I found that I was concentrating more on the numbers than on what I was eating. Sorry if I missed it, but are you a veggie? You seem to have such a varied and colorful diet!

Joss ~ Thanks for the hug/smack. I return the *hugs* and I KICK this stupid day for you. I'm sure you know this already, but today will pass. It's gonna end in like.... 12 hours, give or take. Hang in there!
To answer your question, I was "on plan" last night, even though my food was kind of big. I'm returning to what has always worked for me in the past: keeping my cut off time. Simple as.
And I have been working on answering the "how I want my body to feel". Right now, the answer is 'long and lithe, focused and sharp'. I'm a "reed" body shape that tends toward "tree trunk" when I'm not being smart about what I eat. Don't want no "tree trunks" up in here, yo...


~~~
Ha. So my resolution for the rest of this year is ABSOLUTELY NO DIETS. No matter what. And really, did it take me this long to learn that? Well... I'm not normally one for the latest fad or whatever, but consider this my one ill-advised craze for the year. I am firmly on what has always worked for me: keeping my cut off. I feel like that automatically shrinks my stomach and refocuses me on the right kinds of foods and eating for hunger, rather than entertainment.

Work is work and I'm feeling blah. It's time to make a change, and I'm almost there, but I feel like it's just getting over the initial "lack of inertia" challenge. No time like the present! Get on that!

I feel SO bloated today! TOM is killing me. I'm so hungry and so, so jiggly. Even my stretchy pants even feel tight :) I've already eaten all of my meals and snacks for the whole day. I will have drink herbal tea all afternoon to keep me from buying a big bag of chips!

This is not a good day so far...sorry for the rant :(

Hi feathers,

things are going well for me. I've been feeling motivated, and been on plan long enough that it's starting to get easier again. Last week I had nearly a 5 pound drop, which is attributed to getting back on plan FINALLY and the end of TOM combined. I've now taken the lead in my weight loss competition, though I do feel slightly guilty, as I intentionally made sure I had water weight to drop when I started, and it almost feels like cheating, seeing that no one else had the same sort of drop.

Truth be told, I almost gave in last week, and ordered Chinese food, but I decided to leave it up to fate, and to call my husband to see if he'd be home from work when I got home, so that if I was getting take out, at least he'd be able to eat it warm as well. He never returned my call, so I left it at that, and stayed on plan. I'm not tempted by it this week, because my husband's birthday is on Sunday, so I know I'll be indulging then anyways. We will be going to a steakhouse, so there shouldn't be any issues eating reasonably there. Though my husband did request I make this cake for his birthday, and I'm sure it has a bazillion calories in it. I made it for him on father's day, and I think I used 2 packages of oreos in the thing, not to mention the cream cheese, etc, so it is definitely a rich cake (but very very yummy). I've told myself that I will have a slice, and then let him finish the rest on his own throughout the week (which he'll be happy to do).

My workout this morning really sucked, my daughter kept interrupting, despite me waking up at 5:30 am to do it. And I just gave up trying after she kept coming down to the basement to ask for things (breakfast, a drink, for me to hug her while she pooped, etc). I'm going to make up for it after dinner by taking her to an indoor playground tonight. She's a very clingy kid, so whenever I take her there, I'm always crawling around with her, climbing and going down the slides, rather than observing like most parents do. She is looking forward to it, I'm not really, because there is no room for a full grown person to stand, and crouching for so long is hard on the back, but at least it will burn a few calories.

I've decided I'm going to join the daily weigh in thread for February, and raise my weight stats back up to where they actually are then too.

I'll come back for personals later.

Good morning...

122.8 today! Not to fear, I'm going out with my eating buddies for deep fried buffalo wing burgers tonight (you read that right). My "sensible choice" voice is saying "get a regular burger and don't eat the bun, not worth it" and my "peer pressure" voice is saying "just get a wing burger, you've been talking about this place for over a year." But I'm in such a good, in-control head space! We'll see.

Got in like...16 minutes on the arc trainer this morning and then had to go to work. It was a little hard, I coughed a lot and felt like when I started running after a long hiatus and was still a smoker. Will go back for more after work before wing burger. :)

I ended up just rolling around on a yoga mat doing crunches and planks and googling random yoga poses last night. My roommate made her famous black bean/eggplant/beet salad and I cooked up a bunch of chicken. Leftovers for lunch today. I have the HUNGER still - last night the BF and I celebrated our "we finally banged after almost a WEEK" victory by frying up slices of deli cheese in cooking spray until they were crispy. Hooooooly moly. I recommend it!

Hoping everyone's days turn around and improve...

Alexistrophic "No diets" is something that I think most people have to remind themselves over and over throughout the years! Do you think the 17DD was what pushed you into bad eating and losing control the past few days? I feel you on "lack of inertia" at work. It's tough when there is no emergency.

JossFit Arghhhh I'm sorry today's no better than yesterday - have you had access to "reviews" of your trainer where other clients mentioned a frustrating stall in the first stages or anything like that? I'd be worried about it too - but hopefully your trainer will be prepared for this possibility and have a fast-acting action plan for you. As for rhinoceroses and pullups, I'm sorry you felt gross at the gym today and your pullups are struggling - but you'll get 'em back up.

I totally saw the Cookie Dough Quest bars - I'm sitting here on their website drooling on myself. I had the Apple Pie last night and I warmed it up a bit and it was FUUUUUCCCCCKKKIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG amazing. Definitely a great mouthfeel too, but since I know Quest Bars aren't on your register uhh I mean they were gross.

Wildflower While it's good that you aren't feeling nauseous I'm sorry your symptoms have turned flu-y. Missing workouts really is the worst thing ever, even worse than random scale blips in the wrong direction for no apparent reason. Being sick happens at the worst times - it always ends up feeling like punishment for trying to be healthy. Get well ASAP!

olehcat WOOT for feeling perky enough to go out for a run! I'd love to do that but (A) we had an ice storm so everything's covered in ice/horrendously unsafe to run on and (B) I still can't shake this cough, and temperature changes trigger coughing fits. One thing you might be able to do for strength is try some balance/core-centric yoga poses - being able to support your own weight is a good start!

TurboMammoth What is the 300 abs workout? Sorry you only had a 1-star. I had a 1.5-2 star this morning and it was just not what I wanted!

Krampus - haha, Oh I KNOW how great the apple pie is... you can't fool me! Honestly at this point in this program I'm still not having any cravings or anything, so no worries. Would I like a Quest bar? Sure? But I'm not having any issues eating my meals and thoroughly enjoying them.

I mentioned the other day that I have had some passing thoughts of delicious foods but generally only if I'm cued by a commercial or something; Hmm, who would have thought, advertising works?! haha I wanted to destroy some Honey Nut Cheerios the other day after seeing them on TV but it was fleeting. No issues. :)

LOL what RANDOM reason did you guys have for deciding on pan fried cheese after sex? hahaha that's awesome, but totally out of left field! I'm an ice cream kinda gal... it's my go to. :) I have been blending my protein powder with lots of ice )and either flax, almonds, almond butter or peanut butter) and sometimes an extract or flavoring to kill that ice cream craving. I know its not the same, but a soft serve style chocolate protein shake with peanut butter or a vanilla shake with coconut extract and flax seeds? Delicious. Total win.

Hmmm... I vote for the wing burger. :D You ARE in a good head space and your weight is perfect so there is no real reason NOT to, right? You aren't going to suddenly binge eat your face off and you aren't trying to lose weight because you're already there! Perfect!

I'm sorry your lungs still arent' feeling better. Man, it's that time isn't it? Everyone is sick! I'm taking a crap ton of Vitamins and immunity boosters so *fingers crossed* I'll make it through without getting sick this season. I certainly don't want to feel like I'm being punished for trying to lose weight either!

I haven't been able to find any reviews on my Coach other than "OMG he's amazing... blah blah blah" so I'm keeping that in mind. I KNOW I'm moving along at a decent rate but the scale just is being weird and he doesn't know that yet since it's only been the past couple of days. LOL I'm sure during the next 10 weeks you guys will see me say;

- "I hate his guts I want him to die... this diet is killing me!"
- "Wow I feel great and I'm seeing results!"
- "I'm NEVER going to get there!"
- "I can just stop now..."
- "NO, I'll never quit, I love this!"
- "I'm so full..."
- "I'm starving to death!"
- "The workouts are kicking my @ss"
- I'm so BORED with these workouts!"

hahahaha I just have to be patient, I know that. It doesn't make me any less frustrated and shitty today but I can't do anything but stick to it.

Jessica - Nevermind what I said to Krampus about not having food cravings... and F you for posting the link to that cake! LOL seriously though, it looks delicious AND super simple to make! I emailed the recipe to myself to use at a later date. I LOVE cookies and cream anything, and I think this cake will be a huge hit for whatever I end up making it for. I found a few other pretty easy looking recipes on the site too, so thanks!

I'm glad you're doing well in your competition! I know what you mean about the initial water drop. It looks like I've lost like 7 pounds in the last 2 weeks but really it's only like 1-2 because it was all water the first few days. It does feel a bit like cheating, but who cares?! You're still doing all the hard work in the kitchen and the gym and in the end, win or lose, you did that... nobody else.

You said you're going to join the weigh-in thread for February... do you normally weigh each day? I never did but since I started this program I have been so I can report it to my coach, and it's really interesting to me. Frustrating, for sure, but also interesting. It really is amazing how I saw a full pound drop overnight for no reason, and then a few days later a pound and a half GAIN for no apparent reason. It's crazy!

Bayzee - Ugh, good luck today! I hope you feel better as the day goes on and are able to stay out of the chips (and wine!). :hug:

Alex - Yeah, kick it twice while you're at it!

I think "no dieting" is a great way to go. :) I've never been a 'dieter' either per say until I tried RFL and then now... uh... yeah, I wish I never did it! Sure, what I am doing right now is definitely a diet but I suppose I see it a bit differently if that makes sense. Working with someone and getting feedback and adjustments based on me specifically is different to me than picking up a program and following it.

I like your reply about how you want your body to feel. I feel like an Oak right now. I don't necessarily want to feel like a willow, but maybe more like a Fir tree? LOL somewhere in the middle... nice and strong, not too big or too small, and always green year round! :)

When you talk about a diet cut off, do you mean a time of day to stop eating? Does that ever become an issue socially?

Bayzee ~ Sorry for the rough day... It'll be over in less than *checks watch* 9 hours...

JessicaB ~ I just googled to see if we have any indoor playgrounds in our area and it doesn't look like we do. Lucky you, having one so close. That oreo cake looks increeeeeeedible. (I'm a big oreo junkie, too.) Yummmmmmers. I'm always kind of secretly envious of people who can just 'enjoy something throughout the week' rather than 'scarfing it all down in one sitting'... (*looks around guiltily*) Not like I would ever do that... or anything...

Krampus ~ HeeeHeee... Fried cheese celebration food. :D I actually feel like it was my desire to see a quick drop and be "on a perscribed plan" that made me go off the rails and rebound eat. I just have to accept that any sustainable loss is going to be slow and steady. Get over it!
At my work, it's less a lack of "emergency" than it is just not really feeling a cause behind what I do. We're pretty much 100% profit motivated, which would be fine... if I was making profit. But we're heavily commissioned (like real estate) and I just don't seem to have a knack. Now it's more of an admin type position and I'm thinking, well gee, if I'm going to be "just an admin" I might as well be getting paid better or doing it for a company I believed in... or something like that. Meh. It's defo time for a revamp.

Joss ~ The 8PM cutoff does sometimes become an issue socially, but I'm kind of used to it with my food allergies. It's not the first time I've sat at a table and just drank a diet coke, or sparkling water, or something like that. I try not to be too "fussy" about it, either. Usually something like: "I can't eat here b.c of the cross-contamination, but I want to spend time with you guys." And most of my friends have all seen me chow down at other places, so it's not like I don't eat. :rolleyes:

And as far as trees go, I think I'd want to be a Birch- slender, yet strong. And this shall be my spirit motivation...

Good afternoon feathers! I way underate yesterday during the day, and then overate/drank at night. I'm struggling! I always feel like I have to choose whether I am going to enjoy my life/relationship/love of cooking, or if I'm going to be the shape I want. Bleh. I guess if it was easy, no one would gain weight. :lol:

Still waiting on TOM, which is unsettling... even though I take BC, I worry about that little percentage of times it could possibly not work. :dizzy: So here's to hoping that pops up soon, hahaha.

I ate light breakfast and lunch today, making shrimp scampi for dinner. Hopefully I can keep it to a small portion, not much wine, etc.

I drank a lot last night because I found out from the boyfriend that his job might have him relocating in San Diego. We are waiting to see how much they will offer (as the cost of living there is 3x as much as here, and we live pretty comfortably here) -- so we will find out some time this week if we need to start looking for places in San Diego and packing. Stressful/exciting/upsetting/thrilling all in one package. I think this could be great for us, but I worry about my mother here, she's all alone. Honestly, if she had someone looking out for her here it wouldn't be so bittersweet. And plus I think I'd have to drive my dog to California; there is NO FREAKING WAY I'm letting some jackass on a tarmac throw him in with cargo.

----

JossFit : I'm so, so sorry to hear you're struggling lovely. You've been having a rough couple of days!! But I am 147% positive that you in no way resembled a rhino at the gym. I hope you can get this day turned around. Do you want me to come smack your trainer and make sure he's giving you all he's got? The offer's on the table! I hate to hear about the disagreements with your husband as well. I can come smack him too! :D I really do hope you can get back into a routine and start having some good days again. :hug:

krampus : I'm gonna go ahead and have to vote WING BURGER too! Oh man, it sounds sexual. I'm impressed with the yoga; I've tried to do yoga but I always feel like I look ridiculous, haha. I bought Carmen Electra's strip tease video a few years ago and trying to do that felt almost as ridiculous as yoga. Post-coital fried cheese, eh? I'll put that on the list :D

JessicaB : Don't forget to enjoy your little victories, not ordering chinese food and eating on plan is awesome and you rock for sticking through it even though you wanted chinese. It's all these little victories that will add up to the big one. :carrot: I would eat the absolute PANTS off of that cake. :T Hats off again to trying to be a mom and taking care of yourself too. :hug:

Bayzee : I'm sorry you're having sad TOM time! I'll take it, I'm worried about not having mine, haha. Nice work avoiding the chips, I hope your bloating goes down soon. :hug:

Alexistrophic : NO MORE DIETS! :carrot: I've never really thought about how I want my body to FEEL. Hmm, food for thought. I'm always just thinking about how I FEEL about my body, haha. Hope your "blah" feeling goes away!

Wildflower : I would imagine you're up on the scale from feeling under the weather; I always end up retaining fluids. I hope you are feeling better soon!! Glad it's not a stomach flu! Hoping you can get back in your routine soon and start feeling good. :hug:

Hope I got everyone, you are a CHATTY bunch! :) Love you feathers!

Hi, guys!

I'm so very busy right now -- I was in work/at class for 12 hours straight today and my brain is absolutely fried. It's only 8:40 or so and I'm ready to go to bed. Wow, I'm sort of overwhelmed by the whole weight loss thing right now. I actually know what I should do. Count calories. And I know I should stick with it, as Jossfit said, at least 6-12 weeks. I know that counting calories is really the only thing that matters, although eating clean and all that is nice for feeling good and being healthy, etc. So counting calories stresses me out after a few days, usually, it becomes a full time job, so I wonder, hmmm, and this is just a wondering thought -- I wonder if I should just get frozen meals JUST for the weight loss part, at least during the week when I'm too tired to think so much for counting every bit of vegetable I put in my salad? I don't know. But then what to do about eating at my parents' house or going out to eat with friends to a restaurant where calorie counts are not available...How do hardcore calorie counters do that? (This is the source of past failure for calorie counting) And what do I do? 1200? (I'm short and over 40). That seems so little and asking for me to just end up binging later. 1500 sounds like a good number, especially if I'm running/exercising. I could probably get away with more, especially if I'm exercising. But not much more for weight loss. Sorry, guys, I'm thinking out loud!

@Dorian - wow, San Diego! THat's hardcore! I love San Diego, but yeah, very expensive. It's so beautiful, though. I MISS living by the ocean.

@krampus - 122 is still awesome! Go you! Also, forgive me if you mentioned this a hundred times before, but what's your weight loss story? I know you started at 160 or so. Did you count calories the whole way down? How long did it take?

@Jessica - oh that cake looks INSANELY delicious!

@Bayzee - oh I have had days like that, for sure! Before I went on the hormone medications that took my period away, I had HORRIFIC periods and I just remember about a third of every month being one big nightmare for any dieting. So yeah, I sympathize! I hope you feel better soon!

@Alex - you and I are twins right now on the diet revelations stuff! Oh my word, I'm trying to think through this all (out loud here, babbling! :)) and it's overwhelming! I want to just LIVE - you know? I'm tired of thinking about losing weight or thinking of the next thing I'm going to try. What worked in the past? Hmm...I don't know if I've mentioned this here ever before, but the first year I was married, I ballooned up to 185 (I was 23, newly married, and both of us were crazy foolish about eating - I didn't even drink alcohol then at all, but I had LOTS of soda). I was horrified when I stepped on the scale and saw 185. I think I thought I was somewhere around 150! Anyway, it took me awhile to get started, but what I did was run 5 times a week (about 3 miles) and watch what I ate very carefully during the week (wish I could remember exactly what I ate, but I sure don't remember), had some treats on the weekend. I went from 185 to 150 in a few months.Another time when I lost weight (from about 145 to 125) a few years ago, I can't remember what I did either, but I know I was very stressed at the time and had little appetite. I remember eating turkey sausages for breakfast, a big salad with some kind of protein for lunch, and I don't know what for dinner (don't remember), but I also remember partaking in treats on the teacher's lounge almost every day. I always thought that was the most natural weight loss since I wasn't on a "diet," I was just not eating as much, naturally. I LOVED how I looked when I got down in the 120s...*WANTS AGAIN* :) What about you? What are you thinking now about your own plans?

@Jossfit - are you the most inspiring person in the world or what? Seriously. Everything you said is inspiring. Also, I read in another thread that article you posted about weight loss being really simple (calories in and out) and it really made me pause and think about how ridiculous I've been being overall about this. I absolutely want to get off this merry-go-round of strict random diets, "last supper" binging, and going crazy with food and steady weight gain. I just am not happy with myself when I don't commit like this. I will commit. I need to think of a plan. It's relatively easy to come up with a number (1500 calories sounds reasonable to me?) and then stick to that, but I need help for many things that come up that are out of my control, like going to my parents for dinner or going out to a restaurant where you can't count the exact number of calories or going to a friend's house for dinner. I suspect what happens is that people in weight loss mode who don't sequester themselves away from all social events just get really good at estimating or knowing to just order a salad at a restaurant so you know your calories won't go over, even if you don't know the exact amount. But I need to give myself a set of rules. I also need to streamline everything so it doesn't take forever to count calories. I literally don't have the time for it, between my two classes and work and other stuff! :) But you and the other ladies here are so inspiring. I'm going to try this -- NO. I'm going to commit to this, although I need to figure out the rules of the game and not change them for at least six weeks. ;)

And as for your long distance situation, I hesitate to say much, ONLY because my long distance situation ended in divorce and I don't want those of you in long distance situations to think that's the inevitable outcome (it's certainly not!), and I don't equate my situation to anyone else's because I had a VERY unique situation. I was a violent crime victim five years ago, and that's really what ended my marriage in the end, not the long distance part alone, so again, hesitate to make any kind of parallels, but I will say that toward the end, it was the communication break-down that really did things in (the ironic thing is that we talk a LOT more now that we're not married any more and the pressure's off). And let me just say again that I admire your determination to stick with this thing you're doing with the trainer, even when you're not seeing the loss yet. I really do think you will see it and soon.

Wildflower - as you can see, hehe, I'm REALLY thinking through all this diet stuff. I think you seem to be one of the very wise ones -- with healthy eating and consistent weight loss.

Holy crap, I babbled a lot! Apparently that's what a LONG day at work and then class will do! :)

Happy hump day feathers!

OK...I am so hungry again today. Still feel like I'm 5 mnths pregnant :(
I had to really dig to to workout. I stayed within calories yesterday, but had 2 cookies after dinner. They weren't bad for calories and fat, but it was certainly a cave for me. I would never usually choose cookies.
I'm not weighting in until Friday, there's no point!

I didn't want to get stuck starving like yesterday without healthy food so I packed a good lunch today.
So far I have eaten:
-5 egg whites with a ww wrap
-n/f greek yogurt with blueberries
I still have:
-grilled chicken with spinach, strawberries and balsamic vinegar
-talapia with aspargus
-cut-up veggies (no dip)
-an apple (emergency only)

Tonight it will be some kind of meat with a sweet potatoe and veggies.

Sad that my day is revolving around if I have "enough" food!

Dorian ~ Why does it seem like spending time with people we love usually involves unhealthy food??? Sounds like there's a lot of change going on in your life. When will the bf know about San Diego? What field of work is he in? And I completely hear you on not wanting to put your pup on a plane... I've heard the horror stories... Do you watch Pitbulls and Parolees? The two daughters took a 31 hour roadtrip with four pups for the exact same reason (they don't fly their dogs, either).


ohlecat ~ Wowza! Busy lady, you are. I'm feeling ya on the weight revelations. It does help to revisit past habits to figure out what works. So my story in short: natural set point is between 150-160. Anything below 150 is low. I'm naturally of "sturdy" build and have never really been overweight,but never been the lithe, slender sprite that I've longed to be. The first time I ever thought about weight was Sr. year in high school when a friend lost 40 lbs over summer vacation by cutting out sugar/carbs. I basically followed her example, ate low carb and lost weight for the first time in my life.

When I taught overseas, I was able to maintain in the 140s, but was not engaging in healthy eating behaviors. My lowest adult weight is 129, which I hit when I was having food allergy issues (reacting to everything in sight). Stayed there for about 2 seconds, but loved how I felt: clear, sharp, focused. When I'm paying attnMy eating patterns have always pretty much been the same: protein with veg. When I binge, I binge on sweets with some unhealthy chips/savory stuff thrown in.

I know what works best for me is cutting out the sugar/refined junk, sticking to lean protein and veg (duh). my cut off, yoga, and NOT dieting. My dangers are the crash diets and wanting to see results sooner. For me, there's a "thin" feeling that comes from "willpower" and cutting out food groups from my diet... that feels "victorious" like "yeah, I did this." and almost "smug" (because I'm basically a jerk) but from personal experience, I KNOW this is not sustainable and I will eventually end up rebounding. Then there's a "thin" feeling that comes from just reducing over all intake and exercising. It's just "yeah, I'm living my life." It doesn't feel like as much of a victory, but I know that this is so much more sustainable in the long run. So I guess my revelation is that I am much more apt to keep the weight off when there's no longer a fight.
Hmmmm....

Bayzee ~ Food looks yummy! And forget about those cookies in life, just torch 'em out in the gym. ;)

~~~
Moooooove over, ladies. Giant blob checking in here. Smells like a hangover .. from eating rum raisin ice cream last night. Lightweight alert much?

I packed a spinach salad and some yogurt for lunch.

Dinner is thin crust pizza and some kind of salad-y vegetable (bought 3 bags of spinach last night). Gots to get back to running, if only for my sanity. I haven't seriously exercised in close to two months! Whaaaa? I remember a time when I couldn't have imagined not running/going to yoga at least 3-5 times a week and yet.

I usually take January as a "reassess/take stock/take it easy" month after the holidays and I feel like now is the time to get a move on and start putting down what I want in the new year. Am feverishly working on the Incredible 2013 planner (got a printed copy yesterday) as I would like to have it all done by the end of this monty (AKA Friday).

Bring on Feb!

Hey you know what? F*ck today. UP another half pound so that brings my grand total losses so far to, um, 1 pound. Awesome.

I'm too pissed to do any awesome personals right now, but I'm going to try to get something out there at least!

Alex - *ugh* don't get me started on being a giant blob. I didn't even get ice cream for it either!

Yes, definitely get back into working out regularly! I am willing to bet it helps to control your cravings/swings a bit, and of course it's so good for your overall health, not just weight loss.

Your pizza sounds good! What do you normally top it with? I sometimes like to do different pizzas at home, and one of my favorites is to use cream cheese or laughing cow cheese (something spreadable) with lots of garlic as the base and top it with lots of wilted spinach and chicken. Simple and nom nom nommy.

Now is definitely the time to get back to it... heck, it's the 30TH ALREADY! January is almost over! Where did it go! This is like the first time I want to slow things down. I feel like 2 weeks of this program has already been wasted and aint sh*t going to happen in the next 10 that will get me to where I had hoped to be. I want to rewind time and start over again.

Bayzee - I like to use balsamic vinegar as a salad dressing too. I don't really see the point in using a balsamic vinegar/oil combination... just adds extra calories that I don't really need. I would rather add avocado or nuts or some other source of fat for that aspect.

Can I have your emergency apple? :^: I miss my green apples so much... hahaha

I think that all things considered, your couple of cookies wasnt' too bad at all! I usually don't have those little extras either, so I know what you mean about it being a 'cave in' for you. I do PLAN things like that into my meals normally but if it isnt' on the plan, it doesn't go in my face (LOL, huge stupid holiday binge/special occasions notwithstanding of course :) )

Good on you for digging deep and working out today too! I was so frustrated this morning after my abismal weigh-in and horrific 'progress' photos last night that I did an extra 10 minutes of cardio just to blow off some steam I guess. I know it didn't do ANYTHING and it's not going to suddenly make me drop 3 pounds but it made me feel like I was doing something to try and gain some traction.

I get to talk to K.O. this afternoon so hopefully he'll have some words of wisdom. I vented to him a bit in my email this morning about how I'm so frustrated right now and he needs to fix this **** for me! LOL I didn't say it like that of course, but I did say that I trusted him and I know he's the best, so I can handle whatever he throws at me if it will get those results.

Olehcat - I would actually advise against the frozen meals, at least the store bought kind. If you are talking about stashing a couple for emergencies that's one thing, but your post made it sound as if you want to live off of them. I wonder if those would do more harm than good; the portions are tiny, they're LOADED with sodium, you need a microwave to eat them, they're generally lacking in protein and healthy fats... just, ick. No.

Having some on hand isn't a bad idea but you can just as easily keep stashes of less processed items and/or more nutritous items on hand; Quest Bars, apples, veggies, pre-cut salads, pouches of tuna fish, raw nuts and seeds, hard boiled eggs, packages of plain or low sugar oatmeal, protein powder, etc.
You can even make your own 'microwave meal' by buying the steamable bags of vegetables and adding a protein source to it. MUCH more filling, much less sodium and preservatives, just as convenient, and it still has the nutrition facts on the package so you don't have to weigh and measure it all out. An entire bag of Green Giant Broccoli Florets, for example, is only 70 calories. They have asparagus, cauliflower, blends of veggies, veggies with light sauces if you like that, edamame, broccoli, corn, family size bags, single servings and everything in between!

Do you have time on Sunday or another day of the week to make your own 'frozen meals'? Cook a big batch of chicken and veggies (or whatever you like) and portion them into tupperware containers. Put a couple in the fridge and a couple in the freezer, and then you'll know ahead of time how many calories they are and that they're fresh and healthy!

Veggies/chicken/black beans/cheeses/spices/potatos/fruits/fish/steak/etc. all freeze really well! Heck you can even portion out greek yogurt with fruit and freeze that for a great snack. It really does only take a LITTLE bit of preparation, but it will save you junk calories and MONEY by doing a bit of the work yourself.

Yes, it IS calories in versus calories out but you should also enjoy your food and it should provide you nutrients. I just don't think you'll get that from frozen meals.

As far as your calorie needs, I think 1500 might be a good place for you to start! The best way to get a good jumping off point is to find an online calculator to determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and then use the calculators to determine you Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Once you know the number of calories your body requires in a typical day you can either subtract 20% of that or just take 500 calories off the top to get a good deficit. Of course you'd need to be patient, tweak things and adjust after a few weeks, but it's a good place to start. Don't start out eating too little... no good can come of that!

Dorian - OMG San Diego would be so exciting! When will your BF know for sure what the situation is? This week? Wow! LOL were you drinking out of excitement or out of stress? haha maybe a bit of both?

Holy **** with my hubby. He's amazing, seriously, and in no way acting like a jackass. We are both just under a good bit of stress right now and need different things from each other. I am doing my best to communicate my needs, and so is he so we're getting there. It might get worse before it gets better but I find that when I tell him something he might seem unreceptive at first but soon comes around so I just need more patience.

Case in point; he's been going through his place rearranging things and throwing out furniture and clutter he doesn't need in order to make room for me and my things. It was something we sort of got into a 'discussion' about and couldn't quite agree on a few weeks ago, but now he's taken the lead and started doing that stuff all on his own without me bringing it up again.

I also said I needed more reminders that he's thinking of me right now, and he's taken to sending me emails every night the past few nights just to chat/vent/whatever.

He's really amazing and I don't take that for granted.

Yay, woke up to TOM! But I am hurting, which is strange for me; I literally have had cramps maybe 3 times in my whole life? If that? (I am fortunate, I have friends that are incapacitated completely for a few days once a month) So I am not used to being in pain. Hope it's gone soon! (It's always a happy thing to first see TOM, then after the first hour I'm over it, haha. :dizzy:)

I swear I'm gaining, I'm drinking too much and drinking makes me overeat. I haven't been utilizing MyFitnessPal, today I made a point to preplan my food. SEEING in NUMBERS that I have already planned out all of my calories will hopefully make me less likely to add in more wine/dinner/dessert.

We haven't heard anything about San Diego yet, still waiting to see what his boss offers as far as a salary increase. It's really going to need to be a big bump in order for us to enjoy the same quality of living in both places, plus we'll have to break our lease, which we have until December. I'm hoping I can keep my job, we have a California office but it's not in San Diego, hopefully I can work from home. I think we'll know by the end of the week! If we end up going, I think we'll have 30-60 days to get packed/moved/etc. :dizzy:

----

olehcat: Yes, beau last night told me his office would be right by the ocean. WOW. You and I are in the same boat, if I'm counting calories I feel like that's ALL I freakin' do. When my mind is consumed with something else, calories are hard to keep in the forefront. I also cook a lot, which means sitting down and figuring out all of my ingredients, plugging in all of my calories, dividing by the number of servings. The frozen meals might help with calories; the only thing is, you'll still have to eventually learn how to eat to maintain once you stop the meals. Hope you can figure out a way to count your calories and make it easier! 1500 sounds much better, I have a WAY hard time with 1200 and try to just hit between 1200-1500, usually find myself at 1350 or so.

Bayzee: I'm sorry that you are still feeling fluffy. DAMN TOM! I wouldn't sweat the cookies, it sounds like your food is WAY healthy otherwise! I'm impressed that you still managed a workout even though you weren't feeling great; that's the way to do it! I'm sure you're just holding on to water, hope it's gone for you soon. :hug:

Alexistrophic: Oh man I know, and he and I are both such foodies anyway, we both love to cook, love to drink, etc. :dizzy: We should know this week sometime! We won't have long to pack/break the lease/etc. I really like Pitbulls and Parolees! There really needs to be some kind of service to get pets transported safely. I think you can buy a seat for cats/really small dogs, but Dorian is 100lbs. I've heard of dogs getting killed, getting loose on the tarmas, no ventilation, etc. I wouldn't put a CHILD in the cargo space, and my puppy is like my son, there's no freaking way. A drive from NC to CA will be pretty awful, but I would rather keep him SAFE. I'm sorry about your ice cream hangover! I haven't exercised in a VERY long time, save the 1 mile walk I do with the pup in the morning. My heart rate doesn't get up or anything. Your lunch and dinner sounds great; I agree about January being a time to reassess, when I lost all my weight the first time I tried to just get my sh!t together in January and come February I got started and lost 30lbs. I'm hoping I can do that again this year. READY FOR FEBRUARY!! We can do this. :hug:

Jossfit: ALMOST missed you! The drinking was DEFINITELY both celebratory and stress induced. Also just because I like drinking while watching hockey. :lol: I have a hard time communicating what I need as well, and then get frustrated when the boyfriend can't READ MY MIND. :lol: Good for you for letting him know what you need; and he sounds wonderful for sitting down and taking the time to provide it. I am SO sorry you're up on the scale, do you think it's from the workouts? The math just doesn't add up that you would be burning so much and eating so clean and be going up. I'm thinking about you and hoping that you see a big drop back down. :hug:

Oh, I do have ONE sort of neat thing to share today; A friend of mine from work has a bit of land with some animals, and he's started selling his chicken's eggs. They're all 'free-range' and 'organic' and stuff without the hefty price tag! I love the idea of them coming from my friend's yard. :)

Anyway, he brought me in a dozen for $3, which is less than I pay at the store (like $3.90) and they're beautiful! All different sizes and colors and stuff. I'll have to take a picture to share later.

Hi Feathers,

I OBVIOUSLY went with the deep fried buffalo burger last night (side was Caesar salad), and had a chocolate stout beer with dinner and an ice cream sandwich afterward. The burger was a solid 9.5 out of 10, greasy and sodium-laden as all heck, perfect bun to dressings to burger ratio, my only grievance was that there wasn't more fried coating but I think I'll live. I ordered it with bleu cheese crumbles on top without knowing it came with a side of bleu cheese dressing - heaven. Today I feel gross and bloaty but my WI was only up 0.4 from yesterday. I did double cardio before and after work yesterday - stupid lungs are gonna need MORE time to build back up to sprints or even sustaining 7.0+ mph on a flat incline for more than 5 minutes :\

Hoping the extra calories will push a decent weights workout tonight - I think the bf and I are going to have shrimp cocktail with a giant eggplant/mushroom/onion caramelized pile of goodness. Tomorrow night is "PIZZA WARS" which is the pizza equivalent of Wing Wars - I agreed months ago to go with my roommate's brother, because he has terrible social anxiety and no other friends to go with, and also it will be funny listening to his running commentary on the pizza and surroundings. I had forgotten about it until yesterday and now I'm just like "eugh do not want pizza." I may opt for "moral support" or just pick off the cheese or something.

JossFit Beautiful colorful eggs are pretty amazing. I read a piece about the Top Farmers Market Eggs in NYC a while back and saw some photos. Dude f-king what the sh!t re: your weight continuing to climb - that was never part of the plan was it?! I hope that sorts itself out and we get the pleasure of seeing the kinds of statements you listed soon :D The ummmmmmm green man in the sky is probably responsible for the cheese idea - also it seemed fairly harmless and several times more delicious compared to a bag of chips or flavored pretzels or something. Great idea on the "ice cream" - I will have to try that sometime!

Dorian5 OMG WHAT EXCITE, San Diego is my favorite place ever, I went every year from infancy through high school. That's a huge change that would come on really quickly though, and the question of leaving your mom in NC would weigh heavily on any caring daughter! Is there ANY WAY you could help her move out there? I know warm locales are popular for older adults and therefore $$$$$...mmm scampi, I don't know how people balance stuff either, for me I just eat almost nothing during the day if I know I'm going out/eating big later. I guess on a normal day it's pretty rare for me to break 700 calories before 5 PM anyway. Happy TOM - sorry it's a symptomy month for you, I don't get cramps and the like either - just horrible pizzaface.

Alexistrophic Rum raisin ice cream? Are you my grandma? ;) I hope you feel better soon, I've got a food hangover from wingburger and I was late to work today because I just didn't want to get out of bed. Regular exercise really is a joy, it regulates and moderates everything else in my life too since I have to work around it. February is gonna be a month of improvement and fresh changes for you!

Bayzee The HUNGER is such a huge hurdle - the cookies will just disappear into the void, the same place the wine goes. Maybe you need a day off from workouts - you've been hitting it hard every single day for a couple weeks now haven't you?

olehcat Calorie counting doesn't have to be so scary. With 1500 you have a lot of flexibility and if you really make sure you eat a lot of protein you'll probably be satisfied/full on that! For going out you can just guess and if you find yourself gaining or not losing long term you just scale back. My weight loss story is pretty run of the mill. I was a fat happy teenager and then I got all distraught over a boy I liked (who just moved to Syracuse with his BOYFRIEND, hurhurhur) and stopped eating and lost 30ish lbs in a few months. I got a ton of attention all of a sudden and was suddenly really aware of my weight. Then I went to college and regained up to 155 or so, moved to Japan and stayed there until 2010 when I decided "ew I'm back to starting weight!" and started losing weight by cutting back on portions, did Couch to 5K, eventually figured out through 3FC and other research how to eat a balanced diet and cook veggies, started buying chicken and fish to cook, it was all gradual. I lost down to 124 and then got too strict and started binging and regained some, moved back to the US, gained a little MORE, and finally lost it after I got my sh!t together and joined a gym and exercised MODERATION. Yeeeep.

JessicaB Crappy workout aside, I'm really glad to read you are feeling on top of things. It should never feel like a STRUGGLE just to live healthily day to day and yet so often it does!

Wildflower : Are you feeling any better? :( I really wish you'll see a drop like you want to!

Joss : Did you ended up speaking to your trainer? Hope a conversation with him will clear up the issues with the situation :( It might be frustrating not getting the results you want when you hired a professional for that. But weight loss can be full of surprise, as we all know...!

Awww! I love fresh farm eggssss! We have chicken at my dad's place and he sells his eggs to our family around us :) (we sell it 3$ too, so I think that is the usual rate ;))

Alexis : Yes, it is the 300 abs workout based on the movie 300! I think they call it that way because when you sum up all the reps, it makes 300 :P It was okay but did not get me sore, weirdly! I was expecting some soreness feeling!

Bayzee : Aww, TOM craving monster! Hope you'll win the fight, but you seem arms with good and healthy lunches to make it trough the day! :)

Jessica : Woah, that CAKE. It looks amazing. Congrats on the drop of last week :)

You are totally right, burning a few calories while running after you kid at the playground is better than no burned calories at all!

Krampus : Deep fried buffalo wing burgers? ... I'm even having difficulties to figure out how that works LOL Like, the buffalo wings are taking the place of the meat? And you deep fry the thing? Woooooah.

OMG frying up cheese on spraaay. The only place I tasted that was in a rodeo festival we go to with cousins and last year, we looked for the place making those in despair for 1 hour LOL It is so good (and such a good ''we banged yay'' celebration food!

Dorian : Woah San Diego! I never been there but it looks like a beautiful place. When will you found out for sure if the move will happen or not? (I saw you wrote earlier and you answered the question LOL)

You are never having any cramps when you get TOM? Jeez, I frequently end up laying down on the bed, moaning my life away in pain lol

olehcat : I always found it super hard finding a good calories budget. Maybe start at 1500 and go down if the results obtain are not what you are looking for?

***

Hi feathers!

I ate a bit too much yesterday at my cousin place, but it was still okay. I had brought my lunch but she insisted on sharing pasta with her for lunch, but luckily it was a small portion in which I threw chickpeas that I had brought with me.

My workout yesterday was not the best ever, I was pretty late in the morning and had to skip the elliptical I am usually doing after the muscles section... At least I ran 4k on the threadmill and and did some muscles toning things that left my arms a bit sore today :D I also had a 4 stars poop for the first time in a week. IT FEELS SO GOOOOOD.

We are supposed to eat a veggie omelette tonight because the boyfriend asked for it. While I was away yesterday, he ran on the threadmill at the gym and did his best time ever and decided to celebrate with a buffalo chicken pizza from Domino, a garlic and cheese breadstick and a cinnamon thingy breadstick. When I asked him if he ate it ALL, it ended up with his ashamed puppy look LOL. Poor guy hehe.

krampus I like the idea of not eating much if you know are having a big meal later on. I know a lot of people say not to do that, don't go into the meal feeling deprived, but my willpower in those situations doesn't change much if I feel deprived or not, and I usually end up giving in either way. I'm starting to accept that I should allow myself those treats, and not to beat myself up over it too much. Glad you enjoyed your wing burger, it sounds good.

Joss I do normally weigh in each day, but I just haven't been posting it online. The last time I did a daily weigh in thread was in August, and I was fine during September, but totally flopped and fell off the wagon in October, so maybe it's what I need to keep myself a bit motivated.

Sorry to hear your weight is creeping up, but since you are talking to your trainer today, I'm sure he'll have some adjustments for you. I feel your pain though, since my weigh in Sunday, I dropped a lb the following day, and then slowly crept up back to where I was on Sunday. I'm not sweating it, because I know I can't gain real weight with what I've been eating lately. I understand your concern though, because you're constantly eating to be full, and that can be a little more worrying when you don't really feel like you are dieting, but are trying to trust the process.

Alexistrophic My husband is really good at enjoying things in moderation. He's always eating crap food, but when I eat junk, I eat way more of it than he does. I'm sure that cake will be taunting me all week sitting in my fridge, but I've learnt to deal with these temptations, since he always asked me to keep the house stocked with goodies.

Dorian San Diego sounds like it could be an interesting change. Sometimes I like the idea of picking up and moving somewhere totally new. But we own our house, and I don't really want to move out of it, so we stay where we are.

I am also usually relatively symptomless when it comes to TOM. But I'm also insanely irregular, so some mild symptoms might be better to keep it from being a surprise. All in all though, I'm glad I don't have intense cramps like some other women do.

olehcat This may sound odd, but I've never really calorie counted, despite having a daily calorie goal. I'm a calorie guestimator, and it works well enough for me. I usually don't really count the calories in my veggies, and whenever I have fruit, I just count it as 100 calories (if it's something like berries, I'll be over, something small like kiwi or clementines and I'll have 2 as my serving, anything else, just the usual serving). Of course, I occasionally look up calories so I have a rough idea in the back of my head, but I never record it. I just try to keep my 3 main meals between 300-400 calories and add in a couple 100 calorie snacks, and I think I usually end up around 1200 calories but honestly I have no idea. If calorie counting seems overwhelming, maybe an approach like that could work for you?

Bayzee It sucks when you just don't feel like you're eating enough, I know the feeling. Just keep doing what your doing. Even if you eat over what your aiming for, you're doing good, as long as you keep your focus on eating healthy, which you seem to be.

Turbo A veggie omelet for dinner sounds good. My husband hates the idea of breakfast food for dinner, but every so often I get away with serving him quiche. I do have omelets for breakfast fairly often though.

-----------------

My weight is up a bit today, but I'm not stressing it since I know I've been on plan. I've been having a bit of a mental argument with myself about what I'm going to eat on Sunday at the steakhouse for the hubby's birthday. I looked up the menu and I really think I want a rack of lamb, but it's 14oz and somehow that seems like maybe it's too much? Or maybe not because that would include the bone weight? Honestly I'm sure it's not that much worse than a steak anyhow, but I'm still fighting with myself over whether I should just have a pig out day. I actually really like days of just eating crap (so long as I keep them spaced out), and I think I would take that day off if it weren't for the weight loss competition and wanting to stay in the lead. I've worked it out, and I have some kind of food related event roughly every 2 weeks until the competition is over. I'm just still struggling to figure out what that means for me... I know even if I eat everything I want to 1 day every 2 weeks I'll still lose weight, but I don't know if I'll win the competition like that. So far, no one seems to be really buckling down, but I'm not sure if that will change. I guess I don't really have to decide now. I can adjust based on how I'm doing in the competition.

My legs are bruised today from crawling around the play structure last night. I almost feel a bit embarrassed going there, because it seems like I'm the only parent climbing around and going down slides. It even seem kids younger than mine climbing around by themselves, but my kiddo just wouldn't enjoy herself if I'm not there with her. I'm trying to tell myself that I'm just being less lazy than the other parents who probably bring their kids there for a break, but sometimes I feel like it's inappropriate or something. But aside from that, I guess one of my brother's friends was there with her kids, though I didn't notice, because she asked my brother how I lost all that weight. Apparently he said, "Oh you know, the boring way... diet and exercise".

JessicaB I'm glad I am not alone in the willpower thing. "People" say just about everything - because I know me I think it's really counterintuitive and frankly stupid for me personally to eat a protein snack before going to a dinner out but hey. 14 oz is a lot of meat - it must include the bone too. There's nothing inherently unhealthy about meat, I always go for steak or prime rib or whatever given the options at a steakhouse and get veggie sides. As for the play structure...it sounds like you had fun and you were obviously there to keep your peanut company, not to look up other kids' skirts or anything! Nothing to be embarrassed about :D

TurboMammoth 4 stars?! I'm so jealous. That's great news - the way the wing burger works is that the hamburger meat is battered and fried, then "Buffalo" sauce is added. There is no actual chicken or wings, sorry if that was confusing! I'll put up a photo soon. I can't say I'm not jealous of your BF being able to eat like that and look the way he does.

Hi Feathers!

I'm feeling better today, but missed both my Sunday and Tuesday runs. I hope to get up early tomorrow and drag myself to the gym for a treadmill run early. Usually I run outside, but I am not a fan of doing it in the early mornings of winter when it is still dark and even colder, so I think I'll try for the treadmill maybe. We'll see.

Haven't lost anything this week and my rings are still feeling tight, so not sure what is going on. I am thinking of getting a coffee today as it's diuretic properties should help flush out all this excess water!

I'm bummed about no losses...I am thinking I've been doing pretty well. Sunday we went to a party where I did have some wine and maybe like 15 tortilla chips, and then I had a salad with some miso dressing that probably had oil. But other than that I've been eating pretty clean and not huge portions so not sure. My clothes are feeling loose so maybe a drop is in my future.

Today I've gotten in 3.25 miles of walking around the city so far, with another 1/2 mile tonight if my hubby doesn't pick me up from the train. I also have my 90 minute yoga class.

________________

Turbo Your story of your boyfriend celebrating his run with pizza take out cracked me up. Sounds like something I would do... Last summer my hubby and I were doing pretty long (for us) runs of around 10 miles each Sunday. It's hard not to celebrate great work outs with food because you are so hungry!

JessicaB that cake looks amazing!!! I used to make a cookies and cream cupcake recipe but it was chocolate cake, I bet white cake works better with the cookies. OMG, so good! Congrats on the drop on the scale. That's so cool you have indoor playgrounds where you live. We need more stuff like that here!

Dorian San Diego sounds amazing, I am so jealous! I've been there a few times, the last was a trip to La Jolla for work in 2009. I told my boss that if I ever request a transfer that's where it's going to be! He wished me good luck living there on my current salary. :( Yeah, it's expensive for sure, so I hope your boyfriend gets a package that is comparable to the cost of living out there. That's certainly exciting but such a sudden change if you would be moving in a few months. Wow! it's understandable there is lots to think of, including your mom. Maybe she has plans of moving somewhere else some day her self, or your move wouldn't be forever? The dog thing is tough...I have a friend who just drove from NC to San Diego with her hubby and toddler. I don't even know why they drove, I think they stopped a lot of places to see people and sights on the way out. It probably isn't the worst drive, just would take quite a while (maybe 5 days or a week?) especially if you were doing it alone. Maybe a friend could go with you and then fly back to NC, or the BF could drive with you?

Feel better with TOM!

Krampus - Pizza wars sounds awesome to me, but pizza is pretty much my favorite junk food meal. :) I am having trouble with this wing burger too, I keep picturing chicken wings with bones on a bun. LOL. is it s chicken breast or ground chicken or is it just beef seasoned like wings? You must elaborate on this! The fried cheese sounds good too (OMG, I love cheese!). Have you ever had bread cheese? They sell it at the farmer's markets here. It's sort of a mild white cheese but the texture is different so that it doesn't melt. You are meant to grill it or fry it and it gets all brown and crispy and bubbly but holds together. OMG SO GOOD. I think it is Finnish or something.

Jossfit - Glad things worked out with your hubby and he's clearing his stuff out. Did you talk with your trainer yet? I'd trust in him the most you can, I'm sure he'll adjust it if he doesn't think you are losing as much as you should. His reputation is on the line and it's in his best interest to get you in the best shape ever so it speaks to his abilities as a trainer. That all said, on the flip side, this guy works for YOU and YOU are the boss, so if you don't like how it's working I would definitely ask him about alternative plans. Maybe you need to lose more aggressively to feel like you are making progress? he should be able to at least somewhat adjust things to keep you feeling happy I would think.

Alex Good luck with the return to fitness. Did you say previously that you are taking a break because you were injured? Yoga and running is my routine too, love them both even through it's hard to stay motivated to run through the winter.

Bayzee - Looks like a healthy day, I hope you are able to get through without any extra food and not feel too hungry. When I used to calorie count it was always a struggle. Since I've been following this new diet / lifestyle, I just try to remind myself that I won't die from hunger, but if I really am super hungry and my next meal isn't for hours, I should eat something. I have something healthy like veggie sticks and that tides me over. Maybe your body just needs more from TOM?

olehcat Probably some of the other calorie counters could better speak to how they do this, but what I did was try to stick to 1500. I could do 1200 for maybe one day, but then the next day I'd be extra hungry and wouldn't be able to. I came in around 1350 a lot, like Dorian said. However, after losing 10 lbs or so doing this, I started to plateau and loose really, really slowly. I just couldn't eat less than 1200, I could barely stick to 1200 as it was. I did it all wrong as I didn't fill up on raw fruits and veggies as much as I should have.

Also, yeah, for me it was hard to add it all up and it did become all consuming. Some things you will always just remember the counts for, and if you eat around the same things it was always be about the same. Lettuce, veggies, etc I would just mark as like 10 calories each if they were small amounts. Carrots I counted as 4 per stick. You can google most of it and see calorie counts, although websites tend to be different. I was never good with recipes either, but there is software that will do that, or like you said just adding the ingredients from the recipe and dividing it by the number of cups / portions it makes.

Calories aren't exact as what is listed on packaged foods are estimates, and in addition to that, how our bodies digest food varies. One person may get a lot more calories from their food than someone else. So it's not an exact science. Some things like beans and nuts they think are highly overestimated in terms of their calories due to this. the beans are also because of the resistant starch, which the body can't break down so it is technically "calorie free." I read a super interesting study about how our gut bacteria influences how we digest food and how we get calories. It can even very by where you live in the world and the type of bacteria you have in your gut. LOL. I guess I am a nerd, but thought this was all so fascinating.

Anyway, the point is, the packages are estimates and all, so not really an advantage to trying to live on packaged foods to know how many you are getting?

There was someone in this forum years ago who did a diet like that though. Have you ever had Amy's Kitchen vegetarian frozen dinners? Amy's has a diet plan using their frozen meals and incorporating some other foods (fruits/veggies). I can't remember who did the plan, but she lost all the weight she wanted. http://www.amyskitchen.com/health/diet-plan If you search the forums you may find the threads, or perhaps Krampus or Dorian remember her screen name. It was a few years ago, but I believe they were posting then.

I agree with Jossfit in that it probably isn't the healthiest to eat so much processed food (especially for the sodium), but their meals are organic and without preservatives so I suppose it is way better than Lean Cuisine.

** Just got off the phone with my coach and $hit just got real **

Wow. I'm a little scared! haha

Yikes, I take it he put together a more aggressive plan for you? Can't wait to hear the details!

He increased my cardio and decreased my calories... I expected as much, but I didn't know that he'd do both at once. It's quite an agressive change in both areas, and so I'm up to 45 minutes of HARD cardio 7 days a week and he cut out about 175 calories from my meals... fun stuff like carbs. :(

Oh well, I'm up to the challenge!


Back to catch up on personals in a bit!

Jessica : I do agree with you, a quiche is a nice alternative and do not sound as much as a breakfast! I used to make quiche all the time before we started dieting, and not my omelette are pretty much my quiche recipe but without the flaky dough LOL

That is such a nice comment from your friend's brother! Your brother answer's cracked me up though with the ''The boring way'' lol.

Krampus : OH NOW I get the deep fry burger thing. I was so confused trying to figure out how it was done. I have to admit that I'm pretty lost in most of the deep fry conversation we ever had in here and I always end up ''but how the h*ll do they deep fry this or that''. The burger sounds phenomenal though. Blueeee cheese.

Oh, I just got used to the boyfriend eating stuff like that (overload of take out pizza like that is pretty rare though). It was frustrating at first because he get better at everything I ended up starting (dieting, running, etc). Oh well. I guess it's because he's a freaking man :P In is defense though, he does Crossfit 3 times a week and has now started to run, so I guess he can indulge more on food like that (but if I even just LOOK at the food I gain like 3 pounds LOL)

Wildflower : I'm glad to know you are feeling better! This is weird about your swollen finger. Once when I wanted to get rid of the water weight quickly, I put like a tablespoon of apple vinegar in a tea (because this stuff taste nasty by itself, eww) and it really did help. I went to pee like 10 times or more.

And I do get you on the treats on the long run days! When I was training for my half marathons, the Sundays dinner were always such a feast, there was no way I could just eat a normal 1500 cal a day after burning like 1200 calories... I think this is a reason why I'm so excited about starting running again LOL

Joss : Oh jeez! Massive changes! But I know you'll be up to the challenge :)

Krampus – Ohhh, I was under the impression it was like a buffalo CHICKEN burger… those are my FAVORITE. I’m slightly less jealous now…but I’m sure it was greasy and delish and everything you wanted. I’m not much of a beer drinker either, but on the rare occasion I do have one the chocolate stouts are what I head for. Good choice!
Pizza wars sounds like a beast! I’m sure they won’t be serving full slices,r ight? A ton of wings seems less intimidating than a ton of pizza. That’s really great of you to agree to go with your friend’s socially awkward brother. Is anyone else joining you two?
Yeah, WTF with my weight indeed?! I did express my concerns and he made some changes in short order… *eek!* Now I get to start seriously complaining about the amount of cardio.
Its going to take a bit of time to get your groove back after being sick, but you will… and you’re a rock star for even doing the damn thing… so many people make excuses and skip out on it.

My ‘ice cream’ for tonight is vanilla whey protein, lots ofice, a bit of glucomannan to thicken it up even more, cinnamon, ground flaxseeds and coconut extract. The texture of the ground flax seeds and slight nuttiness with the coconut extract make it feel seem like it’s actually shredded coconut in there.

Dorian – I do think the increase is partly due to muscle soreness and partly due to sodium because that’s all it COULD be! LOL even my coach was like yeah… I don’t know what that’s all about… haha
I hope you’re feeling better! I had always been relatively symptom-free when it comes to TOM, but I haven’t had one in a long time. Hmm, I wonder if this increase might actually be a sign that I’m going to get it back soon?! I have been eating a lot more calories consistently for the past couple of weeks and obviously a LOT of extra calories over the holidays. Maybe I am due for a period soon… weird… I just thought of that.
I drove from CA to NC when I moved here and it wasn’t too bad. I drove from Northern CA to San Diego on the first day and picked up my cousin who lives there, and then he drove with me the rest of the way. We stopped at my parent’s place in Texas for a day but it was mostly driving. For going with me and helping me drive, I paid for his plane ticket home. Can you make a little road trip out of it? Plan out a route and see a friend or two along the way? Having Dorian with you will make you have to stop more often anyway. The only issue might be finding pet-friendly hotels if you need to do that.

Yes, MFP is awesome! I still use it constantly to make sure that when I use my ‘exchanges’ the calories and macros are where my trainer wants them to be. I’m also a weirdo and just like logging. J

Turbo – I did speak with him… details below. J And yes, look at my chickie eggs! I’m going to eat them all up! LOL I love the variety of colors and they feel so heavy and sturdy. My friend who has the chickens said the yolks are so vividly orange. I can’t eat egg yolks right now but I’m sure they’re still great (the whites) and they’re cheaper than the stuff I get from the store.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...80775698_n.jpg


Even skipping the elliptical that sounds like a great workout to me! No slacking off in my opinion! LOL @ your boyfriend… sometimes my hubby says out of nowhere “I’m going to be a fat kid and order a huge pizza and eat it all” (and he does… usually the kind with 34 million meats on it) or he also gets these burritos that I call “baby burritos” because they’re so huge they look like a baby all swaddled up. He sort of pretends like he feels guilty for eating it but he and I both know he couldn’t get fat if he tried. He’s the type who has to work hard to keep weight on. Jerk. Don’t you hate them sometimes?!

Jessica – yeah,right there with you… we KNOW we can’t really be gaining fat or whatever but that ******* scale! I’d ignore it all together but I learned that only allows me to gain very quickly, and my trainer wants tosee my progression during this program. Meh.
Meh, who gives a crap what the other parents thought? I bet you had more fun than them AND you burned those calories! LOL just more ‘boring’ exercise to go along with your totally boring SENSIBLE HEALTHY sustainable way of eating! People are dorks sometimes. J

Wildflower – Have you recently added anything new to your diet? Anything that you might be having a reaction to? It could explain some of the water retention if your body is trying to flush something out. Just a thought. It definitely sounds like you’re getting a lot of exercise in today… that should make up for some missed workouts!

Whats on the menu today? I’m always interested in your meals… they sound so colorful. J


OKAY – since all of you gorgeous ladies asked me here’s the basic wrap up of the check in with my coach; I definitely let him know that I am feeling discouraged at the recent upturn on the scale. I was okay with a slow-ish progression because it was averaging about .2 pounds per day, but that isn’t OK if it goes the other way! He did give me a explaination about my weight and said things that I already know (sodium, muscle soreness, etc.) but he has such a good way of talking to you its informative, but not at all condescending yet he doesn’t treat me like I don’t know anything. He was reassuring.

Anyway, he did say that from my photos my upperback/shoulders look “fuller” (which is good) and that “the area under my glutes” looks “cleaner” – basically “yay, you have less cottage cheese on the back of your thighs!” LOL so that’s a bit of positive. He agreed that from the front and sides there isn’t really any change, and I appreciate him not trying to blow sunshine up my @ss.

So, he increased my cardio from 35 minutes 6 days per week to 45 minutes 7 days per week! Yowza! I can do whatever kind of cardio I want but I have to keep my heart rate between 70-80% of my max, so it’s not walking… I gotta run, hit the elliptical hard, fast intervals on the stairs, etc. He also took some of my calories away mostly from carbs and a bit of fat, but I’m still going to be eating more than I would’ve if I were dieting on my own. There will be more subtractions later I’m sure.
So… as predicted… fewer carbs, more calories, scared JossFit. I’m excited to kick it up a bit because it hasn’t felt like a challenge yet and I am not really seeing results.
He assured me he’d get me where I want to go… yikes. LOL

Joss :

He assured me he’d get me where I want to go…

That is almost frightning LOL

Are you starting all that tomorrow?

And prettyyyyyyyyy eggs! :D

I know right?! LOL
I actually sort of started this evening. I went ahead and cut the starch from my dinner meal since I'll have to start doing that tomorrow anyway. Tomorrow I'll implement all the changes.

There is light this DEDICATION in the sentence that was use mixt with the sliiiiiiight thingy that sounds like ''we'll do whatever it takes to get you there. Like WHATEVER.'' LOL

You can do this!! :)

Good evening! Big news is that I signed up for a half marathon for the end of April!! Now I'm really stuck, LOL!

I did better today and counted most of my cals before dinner. Got fed up with exact counting just before dinner, but had what I think is a very healthy chili (and a small amount of it), with ground turkey, black beans, and tons of veggies, mixed with tomato soup. I made it super spicy and it was yummy.

I'm still grappling with all the issues I have with yo-yo dieting in the last five years or so (only with me, I was barely successful at even initially losing weight, in that I maybe would lose 5 pounds before I'd bounce back up). I'm leaning more and more toward needing to develop a whole different attitude and it feels a little insurmountable right now. I need to create a "me" diet, and it has to allow me to live and to enjoy treats and to enjoy life and not need to overeat followed by undereating over and over again. The closest I've come to that is what I was telling Alex about in my last post, where I just naturally ate less, mostly healthy foods, but some treats.

@bayzee - your meals sound beautifully healthy and delicious!

@Alex - thank you for sharing your story! Hmm...a lot of food for thought, so to speak! Seriously, I think there is an element of fail in the "fight" to lose weight sometimes. But I do want to revisit and re-find that "me" from about 10 years ago when I dropped about 15 pounds without even thinking about it or trying, by eating mostly healthy but not worrying about every single calorie or carb and enjoying some treats. Raisin Rum Ice-cream! That sounds wicked good!

@Jossfit - thanks for your input on the frozen meals! I do like to have a few on hand (I try to go for the healthier stuff like Amy's stuff with a lot fewer preservatives and extras, but those are expensive, too) Also, soups. I do like to take a can of lentil soup and add extra spinach and maybe a bit of feta cheese to it! Oooh, and I get real farm eggs from a friend at work on occasion! LOVE the different egg colors and sizes!!!!

Oh my gosh, I'm so eager to hear how your training will go now with the added stuff! I do hope it's just the boost your body needs!

@Dorian - yep, in the past when I've tried to go for 1200, I always end up closer to 1400! :) Gosh, an office with a view of the ocean, what could be better!

@Krampus - thank you for sharing your story, too! :) I love hearing success stories, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

@Turbo - LOL on your bf's celebration meal with that pizza! That actually sounds good, grrr, LOL!

I HAVE MORE PERSONALS TO ADD, but seriously, I need to go to bed right now, my eyes are burning! How is not the end of the week already? How? :) Night-night!

whoa, dropped 2 pounds overnight. Yay for water weight going away!

Whatever little rain dance you did, do that for me too! I'm glad to see it... I'm sure you feel a lot better.

I am EATING TOO MUCH. Beau came home with a stack of swiss chocolate bars from his boss (he goes on a ski trip every year and comes back in January with something for all the boys in the office) -- he isn't a sweets fiend like I am. Oh, and he had a box of miniature chocolate bottles filled with a vodka/red bull mixture. I had one; they weren't good, tasted like good chocolate filled with rubbing alcohol and maple syrup.

Anyway, I made homemade chicken noodle soup and boyfriend baked herb bread, so I had a healthy dinner planned. But I had too much bread, too much wine, too much beer, and too much chocolate. We stayed up late giggling at youtube videos and taking shots of southern comfort and building a new lego set he bought me together. :lol: TOM is still bothering me, and I am bloated from that and alcohol this morning. I need to stop drinking like a frat boy! :dizzy:

Some mornings I lift up my shirt, look at my tummy and think, hey, you know what, I still look pretty good. But I know I want to wear my drawer full of thin jeans, and I KNOW that what I'm doing right now isn't "maintaining" what I look like at the moment, I'm GAINING. And I get the feeling that if someone were to show me a picture of myself at the moment I'd be horrified. The mirror is tricking me.

Still no word on San Diego! I'm on pins and needles! Guess his boss is waiting until Friday so we have the weekend to think about it?

---

krampus: I haven't noticed my skin get worse with TOM, but I have noticed that it is MUCH WORSE in my 20's than it ever was in my teens! What gives? I would love to move Mom out there, and she would like the beach, but since my sister has children and my mother LOVES them to death, she wouldn't want to leave them. San Diego would be temporary anyway, and I told her I would fly her out there whenever she says the word (if we end up there) -- we wouldn't be buying a house or anything, just renting and probably ending up right back in Raleigh. That burger sounds so good! :T Good luck with pizza wars, I am violently craving pizza now and it's 9am. Sorry you were feeling bloaty, but NICE WORK on the cardio! You'll get up to par in no time. :carrot:

Jossfit: Your eggies! They are precious! My mom's friend has chickens and gives her eggs, one of them lays those greenish colored ones too. Maybe you are due for TOM. I can always make TOM appear by wearing my absolute cutest underwear. And then POOF! TOM. :rolleyes: Oh man, I am so glad to hear someone that has made the trip say it wasn't awful. They would give us 5k as moving expenses, I think let them move my car and just rent a van or something to take Dorian. That way I'm not putting the miles on my car, and Dorian would have more space than in my hatchback. I probably would need a pet-friendly hotel. YIKES, cutting your carbs and upping your cardio?! That would scare me too; but I have faith in Jossfit! You can do it! :carrot:

TurboMammoth: Nope, never have cramps, so I'm due. :lol: Nice workout! Congrats on your poop! (Yeah never something I thought I'd say) Your boyfriend ASKED for a veggie omelet? Awesome. Hahaha, your boyfriend's celebratory meal cracked me up. I LOVE those cinnamon breadsticks from Domino's. How are the Canadiens doing? Hurricanes whooped the Sabres @sses TWICE in back to back games (one home, one away) but we lost to the Bruins on Monday, dangit. We have a game tomorrow against the Senators, hope we win. :)

JessicaB: Yeah, it's never good when it's a surprise. Before birth control I was irregular, and even now on birth control it's happened where it started anyway (see above where I tell JossFit that I can get TOM by wearing my cutest panties, haha) Boyfriend and I are planning on buying a house soon, we were looking at December maybe but if we go to San Diego, we definitely won't be buying there, phew. YUM, I love steakhouses, happy birthday to your husband. You could always take home the lamb you don't eat, right? It sucks how so many celebrations are centered around food, I went a year once promising myself that after the NEXT holiday/birthday/anniversary I would start my weightloss. I gained 10lbs that year. You're such an awesome mom, how is your daughter doing with her anxiety?

Wildflower: I'm sorry you're feeling discouraged about the scale. :hug: I hope the coffee helps with the water bloat, and be sure to flush with lots of water too. That's a lot of walking/yoga! I remember the Amy's Kitchen person, but not the username... hm. That's gonna bug me. That Amy's stuff is really good, I LOVE the frozen pizzas (that's probably not in the diet plan though, haha) Yeah, the San Diego move would NOT be permanent, as neither of us wants to buy a house out there or anything. My mother works from home, so she can come stay with us for a while and bring her laptop and work. :) Yeah the boyfriend makes a pretty good salary now and we live comfortably, but it would NOT hold up in San Diego. They would need to at LEAST double it, but triple is kind of what we're holding out for (he would be getting a promotion/a lot more responsibilities) Mom offered to ride with me and fly back to NC, but I'm sure the boyfriend would come. SOMEONE would have to, I wouldn't want to do it alone!

Olehcat: Yep, I might have to try and get a job at his office! :lol: Congrats on signing up for a half marathon! Your chili sounds fantastic, I LOVE spicy food. Everything you say about figuring out how to make a diet that is about YOU is exactly how I'm feeling. Sure, I can conform to some diet specifications for a few months, but what happens after that? I would love to train myself to eat in a way that I enjoy, that helps me feel good about my body, is healthy, but lets me enjoy the things I love. Moderation. I do that overeat/undereat/overeat too, subconsciously now. It blows my mind that I can't stop myself from eating 2500+ calories one day, and the next I could skip every meal and just have water/diet soda. Not healthy. I hope we can BOTH find some balance! :hug:

I hope I got everyone -- have a WONDERFUL day feathers!

Good morning Feathers!

I saw a glimmer of hope on the scale this morning. It said 131.6 when I first stepped on it, which is 2 lbs down from yesterday and the first time I've seen 131 in a decade. Of course, I had to press my luck and step on the damn thing again, which then proceeded to read 132.6. GRRRR.

So, I have this fear my scale isn't quite accurate because I live in an almost 100 year old apartment and the wooden floors are all slanted. There is nowhere in the entire apartment I've found that the scale sits evenly. I know it's not crazy off (more than a few pounds or anything) because hubby weighs at the gym and at home. He says that he weighs more at home than the gym (just by a few pounds) which I find interesting, because he is at the gym during his lunch hour after he eats and drinks and stuff.

Anyway, the stupid floors might explain the change in weight i got because I stepped on it differently and it didn't tilt the first time (usually it tilts a little when I set my first foot down.) I don't know which is right and I am obsessing about it too much for one measly pound. However, there is this glimmer in the back of my mind that maybe I really weigh 2-3 lbs less than I think I am!

Anyway, I was still down at least a pound, if not 2, so I'll take it! :D

Got up and ran at the gym already this morning. My workout sucked, but hey at least I did something. I had the burning lung thing happening (maybe from whatever I was fighting off the last few days). I would run 5-8 minutes, then walk a few. Didn't feel like a great workout, but I guess it was better than staying home in bed.

Joss since you were asking about what I've been eating, here is my Wednesday:

B: tea and then a green smoothie (1 cup frozen berries, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 T peanut butter, 1 Banana, several handfuls of "power greens" which are baby kale, baby spinach and baby chard.

L: Lunch was an utter fail. I usually bring a lunch but was supposed to meet a friend who canceled. I decided to go ahead and walk up to the place we were going to go as it would be good exercise (.8 of a mile to get there) and the place is a raw vegan restaurant so fairly healthy. I left work, walked up there, got the food, look a longer way back so I got in about 2 miles of walking at lunch (I got in another 1.5 walking from the train to my office and back). Lunch was raw sushi made with some sort of sunflower seed pate, veggies, avocado. It was gross. The seed stuff tasted fatty and the nori was super chewy. Ugh. I ate 6 pieces and gave up, left the office again and went out and got a soy latte (a cheat due to the sugar in the milk) to finish the meal off.

D: dinner was light as I had yoga in the evening. so I had leftover stir fry veggies in a homemade peanut sauce (broccoli, peppers, pineapple, tofu, white onions, green onions, water chestnuts, garlic, ginger).

Still hungry after yoga so I had a 1/2 banana.

Yoga was a 90 minute iyengar class.

Today I'm working from home and I've had a green smoothie, just boiled a pot of chickpeas to make hummus for lunch and am planning to make a big pot of veggie soup for dinner.

Also, Joss you asked if I've been eating anything differently and I have been. I've been eating peanut butter every day for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to make this peanut sauce for stir fry, but also I usually have 1 T of sunflower seed butter for breakfast and Whole Foods was out of it this week! So I've been having the peanut butter instead, as I like to have some fat with breakfast to help with nutrient absorption from my fruit. I've also been blending my fruit with greens to get more greens in my diet. Not new foods, but maybe more liquids with the usual fruit I have for breakfast now being in smoothie form with milk.

I'll stop back later for personals, just wanted to check in this morning before I start working!

Ok...so I had a pretty bad eating day yesterday. I ate all of my healthy stuff by 1:00 p.m (including the emergency apple) and I went home starving. It is my first real failure in about 28 days so I guess I was due. We decided to go out for dinner so...pasta for dinner and wine afterwards with a couple handful of chips. Hubby was eating them, so what the heck! I'm sorry...but it was so worth it. BUT...I am back on track today. No problems with hunger so far today, so maybe I needed a refeed :) I'll know tomorrow about the damage because I plan to weigh-in if TOM hurries up and gets a movin'!

______________________________________________


Dorian...Glad things are settling down for you with your bf. Sounds like you have tons to think about right now. I'm almost 40 and I have three things I wish I would have done differently in my life so far...

1) Move to another country for a year or two to travel and work before committing to buying a house
2) Moved to another part of Canada
3) Been in better shape earlier

So...I think your move will enhance you as a person and you will have no regrets! In fact, you will say one day that your move was probably one of the best things you did...even if it doesn't work out. Because you will be a stronger person for it regardless.

I take prescription acne meds and again I'm almost 40. I didn't have any acne issues as a teen, but in my early 30's it went crazy. Hormonal obviously and I was getting cystic ance (the ones under the skin that don't pop) , not breakouts. Wait till you hit 30...spider veins, wider hips hormones out of control...NICE! lol!

Something you said really home with me...sacrificing social situations for the body we want. I am making a tough decision now. I have done well on my own up to now, but I am ready to change my body even more. I want to commit to a 12 or 16 week body transformation but it means cutting out alcohol. But what happens when I add it back??? Will I be right back where I started? sigh...

Joss...The change-up is great. You need to see results right now and I'm sure your coach has you on the right track. IMHO the faster you see some results, the more motivated a person is.
I buy farm fresh eggs too...$3/dozen. But I'm back to cartoned egg whites...Hubby eats the eggs. They taste so much better!

Turbo...You seem like your right back on track with your workouts. Keep up the great work. My only good poops are when I eat crap or drink alcohol! Now were talking...6/5 ones then! lol!


Wildflower...Yay on the loss! Take the 131! I would. If you moved the scale a hair you will have different readings. I actually put tape on the spot where I weigh in...hubby hates it but he has to stop moving the freakin scale around. I need to be consistent!

Krampus...I'm loving those food challenges. If I could pick any career and be paid well for it, it would be professional traveler who does restaurant reviews. I LOVE critiquing food. I am a good cook, so I hate when I get a crappy meal at a restaurant. And many of our "good" restaurants are overated and overpriced around here.

Olecat...Good loss! Slow and steady is great! Don't worry about a slip, get right back on track!

Jessica B...How are the French lessons going for your daughter?