Hellau!

Yesterday evening DH and I decided to go out, get some junk and watch some movies at home. I was at around 900 calories and thought - fcuk it! So I had garlic knots, 1 king-size Milky Way bar (omg to die for, I freaking love those!), 3 Healthy Choice vanilla bean Greek frozen yogurts and 4 Pillsbury Cinnamon buns. We watched "Society" (1989) and let me tell ya - what a weird movie that was! And we saw "Jacob's Ladder" (1990) but got too tired and stopped halfway through.
When I woke up this morning I just knew that my BM would be heavenly. I've also FINALLY been peeing like crazy today Anywho, I need to start lowering my calories a little. I've been eating around 1700-2000 for the past few days but that's not gonna cut it if I want to get rid of a couple more pounds.
With that being said - I'm gonna try to stay low today and I also plan on working out HARD at the gym.

batmomm - Hello! Wow, you've done some serious stuff! I'm impressed!

novangel - Gotcha! It totally makes sense. Holy cow, a size 10 though you're a 6 Still wanna see a picture

xiaobaicai - Looking forward to the recipes! If it works for you then hey, I'll definitely give it a shot

olehcat - Oh trust me - you don't wanna know what those are It was a huuuuuge bag too so we HAD to finish them all I'm from Germany and DH is from New York which puts us in a very difficult situation. I had lived in NY for a year a couple of years ago, then we both moved to Germany and stayed there for about a year and now we've been back in NY for a year. It's just not working out here. Don't get me wrong - everything is fine between DH and I but I can't stand being away from my family. Also, living in Germany is much easier and better as far as insurances, apartments, jobs and such things go. We'll see what's gonna happen. Where have you lived so far? It kinda helps me to know that someone understands how I feel

TurboMammoth - Bahahaha, slap him for pressuring you! DH does it with me all the time and I lose every. singe. time. Oh well, I'm sure it was good Have fun tomorrow!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Omg, guys I have been baaaad. In the past few days: Panda Express, Applebee's sizzling fajitas platter, home baked spicy chicken w/ rice, and then today bacon with a mound of french toast with syrup. O_O I had to go to Portillo's today for my neice's b-day but opted for an light asian salad. Monday is BBQ ribs and pulled pork at BF's Dads. Lord help my midsection. I didn't have time for the gym today so I'm going to have to make time tomorrow after work for sure. I haven't indulged this much in a very long time. Weigh in should be interesting.

I love Portillo's...for those that don't know what that place is you're better off.

The VS jeans pic is gonna have to wait. Besides sodium overdose I haven't had an acceptable poop in a few days. :/ I'm ready to break up with my bowels.

ha, hi!

Yesterday was my blow out eating day for the weekend. I ate a normal breakfast, but for lunch I was hanging out with my family and my brother-in-law wanted barbecue, and at that place I always get the fried shrimp. So I ate every bit of it. Then I ended up snacking in the afternoon, little snacks, but still..>I don't usually do that. An m&m here, a pretzel stick here, etc. For dinner we went to my sister's in-laws, and there was lasagna, copious amounts of wine, and garlic bread, as well as dessert (delicious brownies and I even had a scoop of ice-cream, which I NEVER have because I'm lactose intolerant, and oh my gosh, my stomach was fit to burst.

I have to admit (DEEP THOUGHTS HERE ) that there was something deeply satisfying about it, a freedom of just not caring in that moment. It's obviously the problem behind my weight gain over the years, so yes, it is problematic, but I think I realize now the mindset, WHY I have gained the weight. It's when it's a "special day" and I know I'm not going to be on plan anyway, this giddiness comes over me that I can eat ANYTHING on a particular day, there is no food forbidden, there are no restrictions, no counting, no measuring, no deprivation. It feels like Christmas to me! I suspect that people who are around my ideal weight either don't get that type of giddiness around food or they have fought it big time and are more often than not able to override/resist that.

On the other side of the coin, since I'm back on my generalized healthy choices today, I made up a nice alternative to pizza. Okay, not really, but I made a pizza omelet! Just need eggs, 1/4 cup pizza sauce, 1/4 cup mozarella cheese, and any veggies you'd put on pizza (I used onions and hot peppers). It was so tasty. For lunch I plan a salad and Asian soup again. For dinner, not sure yet.

@novangel - yep, weigh in will probably be scary if you do it right after the indulgence. You might wait a few days afterwards of cleaner eating and then you may be surprised that all the water weight goes away. At least that's been my experience, although sometimes it takes a good three days or so for all the extra water weight to go away. I went a bit crazy with the food yesterday and did NOT weigh in this morning because I knew it would be bad.

@Hoopty - ooh, that sounds like a nice stress-relief night. Now maybe you got all that out of your system and you can focus more on the healthier, lower calorie side and lose what you want to lose. I lived in Trinidad and Scotland at different times. I'm divorced at the moment, but back then, it was where my husband was teaching at various universities. My ex still lives in Trinidad, and is in fact coming here for a visit in a few days! I've begged him to bring me spices and a bottle of hot sauce. I have visited Germany, a long time ago. I used to be almost fluent in the language, although I'm soooo rusty now.

@turbo - THANK YOU!! And good luck to you in the race!!! I'm cheering for you!

hoopty- Sorry you're feeling so bleh, sounds like you had a good evening the other night though! Good luck with your workouts!

batmomm-Welcome! And wow, those are some sporty feats to your name! Hope you manage to get back on track to where you want to be

novangel- ahh, sounds heavenly, though I'll take your advice and not look up Portillo's.. haha.

turbo- Good luck with the race! Let us know how you get on

oleh- that omelette sounds delicious! And at least you had a laid back day and then got back straight on plan, good work!

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I'm feeling really lousy right now, I'm back at my parents looking after the cat while they're away. I was so planning to have a healthy soup and a yoghurt this evening but I've just eaten a load of crisps and cheesy snacks, bread and a cake, now I'm feeling so guilty and awful It's a lovely evening, so maybe I'll go for a run later. So annoyed with myself for getting a record low weigh in and probably having blown it now. Gah!!

This is my first time posting in this group. I have been steadily losing and doing really great with my diet and exercise up until a few weeks ago (I've lost almost 24 pounds since Christmas). I had some health issues come up and I had to stop exercising for several weeks until all of the test results came back. I found that while I wasn't exercising I kept up my diet for the most part but would cheat more frequently. I stopped logging my food and moved to intuitive eating a couple of months ago. I decided yesterday that I am officially back on track (no more cheating except on designated cheat day) and on Friday I was cleared to exercise again. I'm getting close to my original goal but I'm debating on whether or not to reset my goal to 135. I exercised today for over an hour and it felt good (fast walking, weights, and yoga).

Have any of you reset your goal as you got close? What made up your mind in terms of your goal change (or non-change depending on which you chose)?

What's up, feathers?

I only managed to stay close to maintenance calories yesterday, though I got a good workout and lots of cardio in. My arms are SO sore! I did well with my food until dinner. That's when DH came home from work and we decided to go to the grocery store where I picked up one bag of organic light popcorn and dark chocolate roasted almonds (on top of having 1 can of Healthy Choice Split Pea soup). We finished "Jacob's Ladder" and went to sleep pretty late.
So far I'm up to 870 calories. I gotta wait for my poop to make it's way down and then I'm gonna head to the gym, only for some cardio though. The gym closes at 7pm anyways so I wouldn't have enough time to do weights. To avoid a nightly binge I'm gonna stop by the store after the gym and pick up things for dinner. Yay on pre-planning, lol!

novangel - Lord help my midsection - I know how you feel! There's no Portillo's anywhere where we live, thank God

olehcat - I swear, I get that giddiness too! About once a week, usually on Thursdays or Fridays since Wednesdays are my weigh-ins, DH and I have our cheat-day and we have whatever type of food we want. I get so excited thinking about it right now! As soon as I wake up I feel such joy and freedom. I can pick out whatever I'm in the mood for in that moment and it feels AMAZING to know that I don't have to be worried about the calories. --- Trinidad, wow! Sounds very interesting! Which cities have you been to in Germany?

Leaves - We all have those unplanned days where it just overcomes us :/ Did you get to go out for a run?

bunnabear - Hello! Congrats on getting cleared for exercise! That must be a great feeling, especially after such a long time of not working out I'm not very close to my goal yet so all I've been thinking about is simply getting there. What makes you wanna change your goal weight?

Laterrrrrs!

saturday was a disaster! Novangel-not sure what Portillo's is but if anyone is familiar with Chuy's, my dh is in charge of their kitchen. I think all I ate was fat a$$ mexican and ice cream all day long.

Today was better up to the bbq we went too and I ate my bodyweight in tortilla chips and this avocado/mango/tomato salsa.

Tomorrow I will be taken the boys ot the annual opening pool bbq but I really think I'm eated out and will be able to stay controlled

Welcome Bunnabear-I'm brand new to the board too. I would def adjust your goal if you don't feel like you'll be "finished" yet.

Hoopty-what kind of eating plan do you follow? just curious the poop connection

Turbo-hope the race was a blast!! pics?

Leaves-hope you got back on track. I have issues with blowing it after a great low weigh in too.

Hoopty : Ah I'm happy to know I'm not the only one who get pressure from husband/boyfriend to eat more! Last night, I decided to return the thing back to him : I was having one of the 2 cupcakes left and I told him ''eat the lat one, that will empty the box and we'll be done with it'' and he was all ''yes, yes yes later'' and he never ATE IT. Next time he puts some pressure on me, I'll remember what to say!

novangel : Despite the anxiety related to the food fest, you seem like having a fun weekend!! What is Portillo? I never heard of it, we don't have it around here! And by the way, I think I'll join my prayers for my midsection to yours :P

olehcat : Pizza omelette? Nice!!! That is a great idea!! I'm with you on the enjoying the freedom of not caring what you are eating at the moment. But for me, because of that feeling, I tend to just give in to gluttony instead and simply enjoying food I'm not having usually. The line is super thin there in my case.

Leaves : Don't feel to bad about an eventual set back.. It's okay to go down and go back a bit ; I find it is less depressing to look at the general trend over a week or two

bunnabear : Hi! Welcome! I did reset my goals as I lost weight. I was heavier than you when I started (I see we are the same weight). I was around 185 and I had set a goal of getting to 140, mostly because it was a nice round number and I thought losing 45 pounds would be pretty much enough. When I reached 140 though, I still not felt 100% comfy with my body and I decided to push to 135 and under. But even at 135, I was still feeling BLAAAH. I was mostly doing running, no weights. I gained about 10 pounds and in the next months, but I lost them back, but this time while adding weight training and at 133-134, pretty much the same weight I was the first time I hit goal, I feel much better.

batmomm : It is stupid, but everytime I overeat during this weekend and feel bad about it, coming on this thread and seeing I was not the only one screwing up makes me feel : AWWW I'M NO ALONE IN THIS WOOOOORLD!

It is a long weekend in the state, right? Memorial day is usually big on BBQ things?

***

Hi! My scale was cray-crazy this morning, giving me a bunch of random numbers. In the end, it showed me 134.0 twice so I took it. I was expecting SO MUCH MORE but thank to dehydration, I got this ''not so bad'' number. I finally poop last night and this morning after a 3 days of no-show, JESUS I FEEL LIGHT.

We headed to Montreal on Saturday, we ate out in a asian cuisine resto (tons of food. tons of sodium. AAAAAAHH) with friends on Saturday night. We had the race on Sunday, where I had a big breakfast (2 english muffin + PB + banana) because we were racing at 12:30, so no time to eat lunch. I had date/almons energy balls I had made up the day before and ended up eating a can of Pringles with the boyfriend in the car on the way back, a McDo salad for supper and a cupcake. Honestly, could have been worst.

The race was AWESOME. Much harder I though it would be, but awesome!! The race was held at a ski station and we thought ''ah, we'll probably run around it''. NOPE. Running in the SKI SLOPES. Well, not really. RUNNING IN THE ANKLE-DEEP MUD SKI SLOPES. It was really a nice challenge though, I was able to do much of the obstacles, there was really just one I was not able (lifting a weight using a slippery freaking rope), the other one I missed wre including hanging on some bars with muddy hands = I slipped and I had to do the burpees.

Honestly, I did much better I had expected, my running and the hills training I did last month probably helped a LOT. I'm super sore and full of scratch today (my knees hurt like ***%$%?&*&*).

Picture from the course are not all out yet, but here's of what we looked after the race, after drying a bit.



Some of the last obstacles :


People ''welcoming'' us to the finish line :

Hiya Feather friends! Sorry for the MIA! Just has to post in quick to keep accountable. Been busy at work and at home. Still seein' Mr. PhD. Food is off the wall, but I just started running again and that helps a ton.

Turbo ~ Great pics! That race looks like a force, to be sure!

Hope to be back for personals soon.

Happy Memorial Day anyone in the USA!!!

Turbo Love the pics! Congrats!!

batmomm Welcome to the group! (I'm new, too).

Hoopty Good work with planning ahead!

Bunnabear Welcome! I have hit "goal" and changed my mind about what goal should be several times....just takes some trial and error, I suppose. I have set my goal weight anywhere from 120-135. 120 was definitely too low for me. 135 (or possibly 130) seems to work better for me. Let us know how things progress for you.

Leaves Be gentle with yourself...it happens to all of us. I hope you're feeling better about things today.

I am still at 140, and perhaps overindulged a bit too much yesterday. (Sunday dinner is usually my "cheat" meal, but I also had a high cal snack). I did not weigh in today...waiting for sodium to leave my body. I am back on track today, though.

Just curious, is anyone in this group also in the "dieting with obstacles" group? I am thinking about checking it out....

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Hello from the girl eating Golden Oreos and Nutter Butters,

Mmmhmmm, yeah, I'm having a bunch right now. Shame on me! I'll be back on track tomorrow, I promise! PMS has kicked in and I can't stop thinking about crunchy, sweet stuff. My gym closed at 1pm today and DH and I slept until 12pm so no working out for me. We went for an hour walk though.
Guess what - I bought myself a measurement tape today and it's pink! Woohhoo! I would always use one from Germany but I'm too lazy to convert centimeters to inches all the time. The one I got was only $1,49 so I thought hey, why not?
Oh, and I signed up for My Fitness Pal today and I'm a little confused. According to that website I need to eat 1200 calories + exercise cals in order to lose 1.5 pounds a week. Huh? 1200? Isn't that a little low? All the other websites would tell me to eat around 1500-1700 calories a day in order to lose 1.5lbs. My BMR is 1400 (5'5", 141 lbs, 22 years, sedentary lifestyle, 3 x 90min at the gym). I don't know, weird. Maybe it's just me and I don't know anything about all this, but I always thought to eat at least your BMR calories.
Tomorrow, or maybe tonight, I wanna create my own calendar where I can keep track of on-plan and off-plan days (you know, on-days get a green happy smiley and off-days get a red, bad, unhappy mean face!) just so I can look at it and remind myself of how I've been doing. It's been really hard for me lately, due to all the drama that's going on with our situation AND now PMS, to stay fully on track.

Aaaaanywaaaysss.....

batmomm - LOL! Well, I've been trying out the vegetarian lifestyle for a couple of months now. Mostly fresh veggies + fruits, tofu, eggs and beans. I also avoid rice, bread, pasta and potatoes (which I don't eat anyways, but sweet potatoes for example) as much as I can. I don't remember the last time I had any? It causes huge cravings for me! About once a week I have a monster-cheat-day which I always look forward to And yeah, that's pretty much it. How was the annual opening pool bbq, did you manage to stay on plan?

TurboMammoth - Wow, looking great woman! Looks like you had a lot of fun but dang, that race looks tough! Who ended up eating the last cupcake? Please tell me it was you! Guess what: There were 2 Nutter Butter cookies left just now. I'm taking one and tell DH to have the last one (and I tried to sound really bossy lol) and what does he do? Takes a bite, about half, puts the other half back and says "eat!". Man, sometimes.....

Alexistrophic - Hello! Being busy like that sucks...I hope we can both get back on track food-wise

nineteen - I lurk around in that group a lot but never posted anything. Just curious: How long does it take until you feel like all the sodium has left? For me, I feel like takes forever

Hope you guys had a great Memorial Day!

ahhhh nope Hoopty! Not even a little bit on track. Well bbq wasn't bad but pizza tonight wasn't exactly budgeted for. Starting fresh tomorrow...hope this isn't a trend

my workout today was a classic crossfit one done on Memorial Day, “Murph”

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. Tough but rewarding.

Turbo super pic! And congrats a great race

Nineteen-thanks for the welcome. What kind of obstacles on that board? might check it out, sadly I'm my only obstacle :P

Turbo, great pics! Portillo's is a hot dog/burger/Italian beef/ribs/beer chain Illinois and it is freaking heavenly.

I went to the family BBQ today but I didn't go overboard. I am still so bloated from the previous damage that it's not even funny. My stomach feels like a waterbed. *sigh* I did go to the gym last night and ran for an hour though.

Hoopty, not sure why MFP gave you a 1,200 allowance but I'm 5'5" and was allowed 1,540 to lose but I only wanted to get to 140p. You could eat at 1,200 but that's not really sustainable for life. I would stay in the 1,300-1,500 range if you still want to lose but that's just my opinion seeing as we are about the same stats. I personally couldn't stick to 1,200.

Good morning, feathers! I haven't weighed in a few days because omg, wow, I really blew it the last few days! It started Sunday with a HUGE chocolate milkshake, which I hadn't had in years from my favorite place, but that wasn't enough, oh no. If I had just stopped there, it would be fine. But then I went and ordered Thai food for dinner and ate a HUGE amount of it. It was SO SO SO good. But holy crap, less than a week after I vowed no more Asian takeout for a good while. *shakes head* Then yesterday I just ate crap. Not a huge amount of food, just the choices I made were crappy. I just can't handle holiday weekends. Also did not exercise. The weather was awful.

But here we go again, no more holidays for awhile, so I can get strongly established and see some hardcore movement on the scale and that will probably motivate me to not lose it so much the next holiday. ;D

@Turbo - AWESOME pics!!! You look great, and that race looks...wow, that takes some major endurance, I think!

@novangel - good for you for not going overboard!

@batmomm - I'm so intrigued by this crossfit thing! I haven't delved into it because it seems expensive in my town, but it sounds like it's running combined with other random exercises?

@Hoopty - I'm sorry things have been so rough for you as far as staying on plan. I hear you, I hear you. I feel like the last few months have been one solid stress mess for me as well, and when you're stressed, it's so hard to think about diet, even if by eating well, you're actually doing yourself more favors. I think 1200 calories is WAY too low for what needs to be a lifetime. Sure, you can eat 1200 "just to lose some weight" but what's going to happen when you lost the weight? How will you maintain? This is why counting calories so extremely is just not for me. I can't do it because it has to be something I'm willing to do for the rest of my life, and if you must eat 1200 the rest of your life, you will have to count meticulously and to me, at least, that would be frustrating and triggering. As for cities in Germany, I've been to Munster (sorry I can't make the umlauts here) and Koln (again, sorry no umlauts) and some other cities when i was a young child traveling with my parents!

@nineteen - I hear you about needing to wait for the sodium to leave. So tiresome. I hope it leaves quickly for you!

@Alex - HI! Keep up the good running work! Glad you checked in!

@Leaves - I SO hear you! I do that all the time. I get a great weigh in and then I have this need to self-sabotage. I have no idea why! I hope you are feeling better today!

@Bunnabear - welcome! I haven't gotten close enough to goal, but I am keeping an open mind about my goal, depending on how difficult this process ends up being, lol. I have 120 as a goal, but I may think 115 is better or I might be really wowed by myself at 125. I'll have to see!

bunnabear- welcome! Hope you're recovered fully now I don't know if I really have a solid goal right now, as I've never been near my goal range so I don't know what I'm going to be happy at. I think the only way to know is to get there!

hoopty- aha, I did manage to get out, and I went out the next day too! I've never ran two days in a row before, my calves are sore today but I needed the exercise. I'd have gone again today but it's raining
My MFP target is 1220 calories a day (sedentary, 5'3, 1lb a week) which I thought was insanely low at first (my original figure was 1350, it keeps lowering it as I lose weight!) but as I've gotten better at eating I find that I'm not too hungry for most of the time. If my maintenance calories allow me another couple of hundred I'll think I'll be pretty content I guess it's really individual to your needs and exercise levels though, good luck with working yours out!

batmomm- sounds delicious! hope you can get yourself back on plan- mexican is a real downfall for me, so much delicious cheese! And that workout sounds insane, 200 pushups?! I can't even do 20

turbo-hey sexy lady! how do you look so good after all of that? haha, looks amazing fun though! I think you deserved the pringles

alex- nice to see you! and yay for the mr!

nineteen- I haven't posted I don't think, I read occasionally but I don't really have any major obstacles other than my laze!

nova- well done at the BBQ and lol at the waterbed comment, if I were you I would have lay there poking my tummy for the giggles! (totally do that sometimes anyway :P)

oleh- me too! gah, I think we've all been having a bit of an indulgent weekend and Thai food is so yummy...

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Bah, bit of a bad run for me too, and I'm meant to be going out for lunch with the BF when he comes to visit tomorrow. I should be ordering a salad with the amount that I've eaten recently, but I always feel like I can't order salad when I'm out because I can make that at home! Really need a good workout but it's raining and I'm not going to be at home to make my weekly swim. Hoping that I can move it to another day to make up. Bleurgh, glad I've left my scales at home!