Where is everybody?! T___T

I had an indulgent Easter at my parents' house. Found Girl Scout cookies at the mall and an Easter basket full of candy (mostly disposable stuff like Hersheys miniatures and jelly beans) and a few unexpected gifts - my mom got me a huge mug, earrings and a magnetic notepad all in peacock print, along with a $20 bill and a pair of really cute bunny socks that prooooobably wouldn't fit anyone over the age of eight. Before dinner my dad and I went to see "Jack the Giant Slayer," which gave me motion sickness and started off with zero promise but ultimately wound up being a fun action flick with sh!tty character development. Dinner was the usual turkey, stuffing, candied yams and green beans + apple crisp and vanilla ice cream. Sooooo salty - I always forget that turkey is sodiumtastic. My dad got all down on himself about his health which is really terrible but perhaps not entirely out of his hands to fix and I wound up blurting out "So what are you doing to improve things?" and it got awkward real fast.

Leaving my parents' house always makes me feel really guilty for some reason - I came home and bonded with my roommate about how our families drive us nuts sometimes, and ate a bunch of chocolate and cookies before bed. Had vivid "late for work" dreams and woke up before dawn in a panic thinking it was 1:53 PM and I had just woken up. I didn't make it to the gym but I did 100 burpees before work. Tonight will be upper body lifts and Pilates. I'm super sore after my 7 mile run on Saturday and this morning's burpees, wahhhh.

Hope everyone is doing okay! It's lonely in here!

Hiiiiiiiiiiii!

OH JESUS I FEEL BAAAAAD.

I really TRIED not to over eat at the inlaws chalet, but when the breakfast is crescent rolls covered with butter and maple syrup poached egg, a girl does not have many option.

I'm like LETHARGIC after all this sugar. I pushed back my scheduled run to tomorrow because it is a speed workout and it is raining and cold outside, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna die/barf if I head out to run. I think I'll just take a nap for now :P

Hope everyone had a nice Easter day!

Thanks Krampus for getting us started... That Easter basket sounds ah-DOR-able. SO cute when parents take care of you like that. Of course, it sounds like it goes both ways (ie your dad and his health) So frustrating when people don't do what's best for them, but alas, what else can you do?

My mom and I are now at the stage where I'm getting HER gifts. I bought her the Adidas Adidassage slippers with the little nubs on the bottom-- she freaking loves them. So cute. And of course, it wouldn't be Easter without some chooocolate (Lindt truffles - dark for her; white for me). Some quality indulgence right there. :thup:

Turbo ~ That sounds delishus! And you're totally not alone in the overindulgence... Urrrrgh. I couldn't even face the scale this morning. It was more the quantity than anything. I ate way more than any human being should...

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Feelin' bloated like a mo-fo today. Supposed to have a candidate in the office, too, but he pulled a no-show. Wish I could just go home and veg, but have a meeting later tonight for the orchestra which means I have to stay in my "dress up clothes". Ah, well.

At least we have miles of turkey in the fridge. No need to sweat the protein this week. May try to cram in some yoga tonight after the meeting. The class on Friday really got my juices up.

Can almost wish this Monday good riddance!

Welcome, April! Bring it on!!!!

Turbo! I want those croissants!!! OMG! Yumm-O!

I'm here, but I'm not weighing everyday...I don't think. I had my Jesus moment yesterday. I don't know what you all believe, but I believe in Jesus, so I was chatting with Him yesterday & just really wanted a clear answer about when enough was enough here. I could easily be super addicted (& have been) to the weight loss, but I don't want to be that way. So, I'm putting my make-up on yesterday & smiled, & tons of lines show up. LINES! I'm 29!! So, I got my a-ha moment. If I can't be proud & confident at 131 pounds & in size 4s & 6s, then I need therapy. I don't want to look older than I am in the name of seeing the 120s on the scale. I'd rather have a better looking face than a better looking butt. So, after a splurge day yesterday, I didn't bother stepping on the scale. I ate well all day & I'll continue to do what I know is right & healthy without being obsessive compulsive for some random number. WOOHOO! Breakthrough!! And I'll totally check the scale a few times a week to be sure I'm maintaining

Hope y'all's Monday was fabulous!

Good morning, all!

So here was my big thing that happened. I was hanging out with the family, enjoying the he** out of my nieces, eating a lot of food, when I got really severe stomach pains and nausea. I had to lie down and I was all shaky. I basically spent most of the last few hours my nieces were here lying on the couch, feeling awful. I started to think, was it all the dairy that I ate this weekend? Was it just eating poorly in general? So all the sudden I realized that I had been feeling super, super anxious for a good long while, especially the last few months. Eep, I realized that I was having a major anxiety attack! As soon as I really realized that, I knew that things had to change in my diet.

I need to remove sugar, most grains, most alcohol, most caffeine from 90% or so of my diet. This time it is for health.

And it doesn't hurt for motivation that I stepped on the scale this morning for the first time since once last week and saw.... 151(!!!!!) I just don't feel well overall and don't feel right. Major change needed.

Now I just need the TIME to spend at the gym or even outside running! I have fantasies about going there right after work and spending hours just taking care of myself. But this week is horrendous. Two days of three-hour class after work, then something Wednesday evening, a dentist appointment after work Thursday (ick), then something Friday, and a big project due next week so my weekend, which is actually supposed to be lovely weather-wise, will be spent working, too.

So yeah, that's my life right now. I think I needed a big call out from the universe to get this under control. Yesterday, my instructor for my class brought fresh brownies. I wanted one so badly. If had been doing this JUST for my weight I might have given in, but I kept telling myself, "It's for your health." And remembering how BAD I felt on Sunday, lying on the couch, shaking with stomach pains. And now? Just seeing the scale inch right back up to the 150's (NOoooo!) was another big deal that whatever I've been screwing around trying to do for the last few years ISN'T WORKING. I am nowhere near to my goal weight or even my maybe goal weight. I want to be 110-115, but it might be that I'll be really happy at 120. I'm short, but I'm muscular and if I'm 120, I will likely LOOK 110. As it is, right now, nobody would guess that I'm 150, which can be pretty chubby on a short person. They might think I'm 135-140.

Okay, ladies, thank you for letting me babble!

@Maddie - I'm not at all religious, but I love what you experienced and the answer and comfort you derived from it. That sounds like a completely healthy answer, especially given that you want to become pregnant. You have the tools, so that if you start gaining, you know what to do.

@Alex - that's so sweet you give your mom gifts for Easter. And ugh, I hear you on feeling bloated. Even though I pooped like 4 times on Sunday, I was more bloated than ever! So glad there are NO MORE holidays for a good long time!

@Turbo - oh, man, I can't imagine how I would turn down crescent rolls...yum! Ah, well, holiday is over, we can all get back in the game!

@Krampus - I hear you on the guilt feeling. I always end up feeling super guilty every time I leave my parents' house, too. Your Easter loot sounds really adorable!

So! It's been probably a year since I've used this account, but I've always been a bit of a lurker around these forums. In the year since I made my last post here, I've gotten really into using Reddit, but their fitness channel just doesn't have the same warmth that this place does. It's also nice to talk about this kinda stuff with a (nearly) all-female group.

I'm still in China working as an English teacher, but I'm getting ready to head back home for a month or two in the summer. Then my guy and I are gonna take a long trip before seeking work again in the western part of the country. I know being back at home's probably gonna be a face-stuffing bonanza, but I feel a push to lose weight before I return. Don't even know why, really, I just do.

Last time I posted here, I think I was complaining about being stuck at 118. Oh, how I'd love to be complaining about 118 again! Maybe a month after posting that, I had one of those lightbulb moments where I got sick of obsessing and decided to just eat "normally", which is to say, without strict management or limitation. Thought that if I could just eat when hungry and stop when full, I could maintain. I also decided, given that I'm in a country known for its food, that I'd been depriving myself of the full experience by cooking everything I ate at home. Well. I biked constantly and also kept up with running, but my eating habits gradually turned into crap. And that only-when-hungry thing? Guess I can eat a **** of a lot before I'm truly full, especially when I'm in a restaurant and being tempted by all sorts of insanely delicious Chinese food.

I think my highest weight over the summer was like 135, although it may've been even higher, like 138-140. It was such a delight to have my Chinese friends and students comment on my weight gain! I've since gotten myself back down to 125 since then, having lost the weight at a painfully slow pace. I'd like to see 115 well before I leave in mid-July.

Anyway, just wanted to re-introduce myself. It's great to hear that everyone else packed face on Easter, too. I know I did. I was really good about staying on plan throughout the month of March, and so I feasted with no regrets.

Hey Feathers,

I'm down a bit from yesterday and got up early for a quickie at the gym. I did 10 minutes of stairs, 3 x 8 DB bench press and 3 x 6 deadlift with 90 lbs up from 70 - I could probably lift more than that if I wanted to, but I need to grow a pair and use the barbells.

Last night was pullups/dips/lat raises and I tried Bulgarian split squats - ouch! Pilates mat class after all that was painful. I generally felt like it was a weak and lame workout but that's probably to be expected after all that sugar Sunday night. -__-

My BF comes back tomorrow night from his epic trip. He has SUCH a long journey home - overnight ferry from Prince Rupert BC to Ketchikan Alaska, flight from Ketchikan to Seattle, long layover in Seattle, flight from Seattle to Newark, then two trains to get back up here. We're having band practice at our apartment tonight to prepare for the open mic Thursday that we intended to do last week - I always look forward to that!

It snowed here - LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. Just Saturday I was running outside in a t-shirt and shorts!!!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

xiaobaicai Glad to see you posting again - sorry you've had to lose weight again, but I do feel like if you live somewhere and don't put on a few lbs from delicious local cuisine you're missing out on the experience. It's a LOT easier IMO to lose weight in the US than in Asia; since I got home from Japan I lost 10+ pounds. Do you ever go on /r/xxfitness? It's all-female and 50% about lifting. I was perusing Body Fat Fridays on /r/fitness yesterday and wanted to give up on life!

olehcat Are you sure it's sugar and grains that caused the anxiety attack? Not that there's anything wrong with taking it easy on those things of course - but are you sure that the anxiety isn't from weight loss stress rather than specific food groups? Either way I'm sorry you had such a health scare - looks like it's early morning exercise for you :\

Maddie That sounds like a perfectly healthy outlook on things - live your life and live it well, no need to OBSESS over arbitrary scale numbers as long as you are eating good food and feeling great!

Alex Woof, bloated days are the worst. Hope today is better! Did you have a good Easter? Tuesday is my personal least favorite weekday - always a struggle to smile and keep a positive outlook, and the weekend seems so far away.

Turbo I saw your post in the WI thread, that's barely a gain at all! That breakfast sounds spectacular and diabetes-inducing! You Canadians and your maple syrup...

Maddie ~ Sounds like a great revelation. You've gotten to where you want to be, now LIVE there!

Oleh ~ What a great perspective shift. This isn't just about looking good, this is about your life. Think how much better you would feel if you didn't have the weight of bad/compulsive eating around your neck.

Krampus ~ Love the sound of your band! What do you guys play, again? (Forget if you've mentioned...) And my Easter was FANTASTIC, thanks for asking! I felt a bit lame b.c it was just me and my mom... but it was so darn relaxing... no stress, no fights, no tears and I got to make things we wanted to eat.

Xiao ~ Welcome back! A few of us ladies have taught abroad and speaking for myself, the coming home part was always a challenge. All those foods I'd been missing... yummmy. You're ahead of the game in assessing the danger ahead.

Turbo ~ What's up for you this week? Did you get that paper analysis done? *forgets from the last thread*

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Had a good night last night. The board meeting was short and sweet, then came home, had a mug of tea and went to bed. Ended up watching a bunch of vids on youtube, but there are worse ways to spend an evening. Am trying to focus on getting more sleep (ie unplugging sooner), but that's discipline of a whole different order.

Have the new episode of Game of Thrones waiting at home. My stupid bff got me into the show and now I have a new obsession to add to the list. Grrrrreat! Weather is chilly, but beautiful, so might try to go for a bit of a walk after I get home. Daylight savings time always makes me feel like a slacker if I don't at least try to do something after work...

Orch tonight. Dinner will probably be left over turkey + spinach + sweet potato. My "go to" combination this week. Delicious.

Alexis : Oh godddd Lindt Truffles; I love those! So you are another Game of Thrones addict? I red the first 3 books, I need to start on the 4th, the boyfriend just finished it (and we can't share a same book, we'd fight bwahaha). We tried to watch the first season and we did not even finished it, the overload of sex scenes without really any purposes were annoying us so bad (it's not even about being prude or anything, but because we red the books, we felt they could have make the story so much better by cutting to their ''Oh let's SHOW BOOBIES'' scenes). And yeah, this paper writing thing is not going as fast as I'd want to.. I need to get down with this!

Maddie : The crescents were good but with an estimated 500-600 calories each, I won't have to everyday I was nice reading at your breakthrough.. and I do agree with you, I'd rather have better face than butt! But I am in the same boat as you, last week I wanted to scream when I realized that my hands look like they belonged to someone 25 years older... Arrrrgh!

Olehcat : Aww, feeling bad and sluggish is noooot cool. Sorry to hear it happened to you! Glad to see you back in the game though!!

xiao : welcome back! I do agree with you, it is nice to come in here and see that you are not the only person in the wolrd who got destroyed with food during the Easter holidays LOL That is comforting!

krampus : Awww you must be so excited to see your boyfriend! That does sound like a sucky trip back though - Prince Rupert/Alaska/Seattle? Eww. Great workout!! And god, it was snowing this morning, I wanted to cry. Can it be HOT ALREADY. And maple syrup is AMAZING, thank you very much :P bwahaha

***

Hi ladies!

It stopped raining last night around 5PM and for some weird reason that got me out of my sugar-hangover, I headed outside to tackle my speed workout run. But it was so windy, it was like the apocalypse or something. The run was a success, thank to the wind that was pushing my back for a part of the loop (wanted to die when it was facing me though). At least the run made up for the indulging crescent breakfast of yesterday morning.

My weight is still up a bit to 134.8 but I had a good poop for the first time in days after the meeting with the scale. I was not feeling to bloated anyways, so it's all fine with me!

I'm back on track until tomorrow where we are having cheeses/pâtés with bread (gonna get crackers to for me) and a cake for the boyfriend's birthday. At least I have a 10k run planned and I might opt for a salad for lunch.

I am heading to the gym in a bit for cardio and a legs workout... let's do thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis

Have a good day Feathers!

turbo ~ lol at the GoT "sex-position". Some scenes are better than others, I'll admit. I haven't read the books yet, but I might just have to. We had a bout of "end of the world" weather, too. Strange. Now it's sunny and beautiful. Go figure. Sending you some "Plow through that Paper Power"!

The forum does not want to load for me most of the time lately. =/

krampus: I've poked my head in at r/xxfitness a couple times, but I think I'll become a subscriber today . And your weightlifting is awesome. I saw a progress pic of yours in the March chat and felt compelled to step it up a notch with my piddly little upper body routine.

Alexistrophic: What country did you teach in, if I can ask? There are only a few things I'm really missing badly about food from the US, and it can all basically be summed up as: "Whole Foods". I mean yeah, my dad's BBQ is gonna be great, and I found myself craving a chocolate malt the other day, but mostly what I want to eat is certifiably wholesome, pesticide-free, good food. I think a lot of people have probably caught wind of at least a few food scandals coming out of China, but that's just (A) what gets reported on in the Western press, and (B) what gets reported on at all. I don't go around super paranoid like some expats here, but yeah, pretty much first thing I'm gonna do when I get home is fill up a huge cup of water directly from the tap and chug it right down.

Turbo: Oh God, croissants. I can get some wankery attempts at croissants from some of the chain bakeries around here, but let me assure you, they are croissants in image alone. Also, I don't even bother weighing myself until I've had a good numba' 2. Why depress yourself with an inflated scale number?
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Just finished a breakfast of oatmeal and 3 little oranges, plus some instant coffee. After about six months of drinking this crap every morning, I've finally gotten used to it. That's one thing I'll be LOVING back in the states -- coffee, straight from the French press, where it'll have been steeping like hot, caffeinated, black tar. One cup of this junk'll cure your head of most anything!

I need to work on some writing today, and could probably also stand to review my Chinese characters. In terms of exercise, since I didn't do anything yesterday, I'm in a good place with glycogen stores to do speedwork in the park. But I hate speedwork. A couple days ago, I did a 7:40 mile and thought for sure I was having an asthma attack as I recovered myself on a bench afterward. I couldn't believe it, since I can run for distances of 15+ miles without too much trouble, but it's always at a moderate (~10-11.5 min/mile) pace. However, I guess that my body has grown too efficient with the long easy running, and what I really need to keep the weight loss/fitness gains going is to continue whipping my butt with those speed miles. Ugh.

bunneh ~ Ughhh. Frustrating computers...

Xaio ~ I taught English in South Korea for 2.5 years. It was a great experience, but I'm very happy to be home. The coffee shops were out of this world, but packets of instant coffee with fake cream and real sugar were everywhere. I ended up buying a french press and making my own every morning. I definitely missed the junk food (poptarts, twizzlers, etc) the most, but by the end of my time there, there wasn't much you couldn't get in supermarkets (they had a huge version of Tesco called Home Plus). I came back in October and with the holidays + general "happiness" bingeing, I gained an easy 10 lbs. Lost it over the summer, though. (and now am right back where I started, but that's my own sweet fault.)

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Urgh. Feeling a bit unfocused this morning. It's just a bunch of sloppy living. I know what to do, it's just a matter of doing it. Double argh.

I'm feeling better, health-wise (more energy, less exhausted, etc) but am trying to take it slow with the working out. I think the combination of excessive practicing, exercise, and the change in diet (carb restricted) was what caused me to get sick in the first place. Oh, whine whine whine. I could start by going for a walk in the morning. That might be a good beginning.

Hi ladies!
I've been looking around for the past few weeks and decided that April is as good as any other month to join the monthly chat

March has been full of ups and downs for me and I'm hoping to be more constant with my eating habits for April. I never have a hard time with working out, I love that part. it's all the yummy food that's hard to resist!

Good to hear I'm not the only one who had an all-you-can-eat-Easter-weekend. I weight in at 165 Easter Monday but it's TOM PLUS 2 family dinners over the weekend so I'm really hoping that number goes down by Friday! ( I try to weight myself once a week on Fridays because otherwise I just constantly obsess with the scale)

I've taught abroad as well! In Mexico. It's quite irronic actually because I was teaching English but I'm French Canadian. It was a great experience but yeah...mexican food is not the healthiest but sure is the yummiest!!

I'm finishing my last semester of law school (yay) and it's exam season now ( not so yay). Last semester I had made so much progress and then threw it all away during exams and Christmas season. Not this time! I'm hoping this forum will help me be more accountable and will keep me on track for the next few weeks which will be critical for me! I'm also trainning for a half marathon in May so I need to start running more regularly.

Today I'm going to focus on a mini goal to eat healthy all day and go to a body pump class this evening.

Happy hump-day ladies

Welcome to the club, Gen! And you're a fellow tall lady, too. Congrats on finishing your last semester of law school. Here's to buckling up for exam season. Those are great mini-goals and they sound like a great start to the next few weeks. Ima take a page out of your book, girl.

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Personally, I'm struggling with being higher on the scale than I was at this time last year. I can see the red warning lights going off, but I'm not quite sure the best mode of attack. I am definitely prone to "unhealthy food behaviors" so I know that anything too restrictive has the potential to send me off into the deep end. What's worked in the past is moderation, yoga, running, and BEING ACCOUNTABLE. So one point for the last part.

I suppose it's an ongoing process. Just trying not to beat myself up for being back here once again...

Nutrition Goal - Protein + Veg
Fitness Goal - At least one mile.