hi, guys!, Finally rehit my minigoal after an embarrassingly long time over 150. I might have this thing now. I'm trying my best to exercise almost every day, including running, walking, and doing Body Pump at the Y. My calorie count has changed up a bit.

@krampus - *waves*

@Dianne - to answer your question about the calories, yes, I do lose if I eat 1400-1600, BUT only if I don't blow it on the weekends, which has been a big problem the last few weeks. SO my solution is to start eating 1200 during the week or any day when I don't have anything special going on and then that will allow wiggle room for those other days, especially with the holidays, my niece's birthday , a few Halloween parties coming up, etc.! Man, it's HARD to eat 1200 calories, though. I can't believe so many people eat that amount day in and day out for months on end! It's not the hunger at all, but there's absolutely no room for mistakes or extras!

@Mottain - wow, a typhoon! No fun. I used to live in Florida and remember those days of ack! hurricane! And I am so envying your moving to Japan life!

@thesame7 - wow, there's no WAY I would weigh in anything good after a weekend in New Orleans, lol, all that delicious food! Good job!

@Leaves - oh, man, my stomach does that to me when I overindulge in crap, especially when it involves frozen pizza! Yeah, fully agreed on the vegetables. Bleach, maybe I'll just make a blended veggie soup with them or something!

Hi everyone!!

I've been totally out of my normal routine, which includes coming on here, so sorry for the lack of posts. I don't have a scale here so I have no idea what my weight is but I've been struggling with some overeating and other bad behaviours since I've been here. My family is very chaotic and stressful and they are terrible for my mental health. I'm going to be staying with friends this weekend so that will be lovely!! I had my convocation for my MA yesterday so it was nice to walk across the stage and get my diploma after all my hard work!!

I'll try and come back for personals later. Hope everyone is well!!

Hi all, hope your week is going well. Sounds like lots of exciting changes happening for some. I'm quite boring in comparison so I really enjoy reading about your adventures!

Been having a rough week, stupid arthritis flaring up, making me miserable and unable to exercise. So I've been trying to occupy myself with distractions, mainly helping my youngest DS get set up for a new pet lizard. I think my body's calming down now, thankfully. Felt good to get out for some walking today.

On a more positive note, the scale has been showing me 119 the past several days - woot, I'm a teen again!

Take care, feathers, and have a terrific weekend.

olehcat - Congrats on meeting your mini goal!!

Krampus - Do you still work for that non-profit?

Dianne - I find 1300 calories impossible. I bet you'll still lose at 1500 and probably enjoy yourself more!

Mottainaii - A typhoon!! That's crazy!!! Congrats on the job interview, let us know how it goes

thesame7lbs - that is AMAZING! Maybe you walked a lot on your trip or something??? Good for you, I'm really hoping for the same result when I get home next week.

Leaves - Yay for fixed laptop!! Hope you feel better soon.

Hoopty - I can't imagine being isolated and living with my in laws!!! Glad you got the UTI diagnosed and you're starting to feel better.

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

So I'm currently in a weird place, my fiance's tech start up got 10 million in venture capital and he got a gigantic raise and stocks (whatever that means) so our future is looking pretty good. But...his success is making me feel even worse about not being able to find a job, which I know is stupid! We're getting married, we're a team..but I'm finding it hard. AND I don't have a scale so I'm feeling really unsure of where my weight is at. ANYWAYS! My wedding shower is tomorrow, I will update you all as to how it goes!!

Happy Sunday!

Krampus Do you weight lift still? Are you still doing intermittent fasting? Whats been your strategy? You seem to be very successful!

Lisa Yes 1300 is VERY hard!

Olehcat Thats the plan I used to do when I lost weight two years ago. It worked well for me. But now I just cant seem to get back on it :/

Hi Feathers,

Had a crazy weekend. The high point was eating four slices of pizza at a bonfire Friday night, the low point was getting extremely p!ssed off at BF for getting too drunk on Saturday and sleeping on my own couch that night, and somewhere in between we made up and raked leaves for my parents on Sunday. I also watched UFC fights at Hooters in anger Saturday night with friends. The main event (Velasquez v Dos Santos) was BLOOOOODY!

Somehow all this overeating/stress has resulted in a scale drop. Seems illogical...

Dianne Happy MONDAY (yuck). I still IF and lift weights! Try to eat a lot of protein and vegetables and not too much bread/pasta/rice though that hasn't really been the case this past week.

LisaTcan It's hard to watch someone close to you get showered with opportunity while your own situation remains unknown without getting jealous/feeling weird. *hugs* How was the shower?! I am still at the same nonprofit org.

Cattails I'm really sorry the arthritis is making exercise impossible. It's the stupidest cycle - being injured makes you sad, exercise relieves sadness and some cases of depression, not being able to exercise = pent up energy. Glad you're a teen and finding distractions, though!

olehcat Very happy to see you're managing a routine and not feeling overwhelmed!

mottainai Are you and yours OK after the typhoon?

thesame7lbs Not gaining on vacation to beignet, gumbo and hush puppy land is a pretty MAJOR win!

Leaves Hope you feel better now! Conference went quite well actually. I feel good about it.

hey, feathers!

So some non-scale victories for me: It's been a month since around my birthday when I restarted my weight loss journey for real. In that month I have lost 5 pounds (gotten back to my minigoal), lost 3 inches, and feel a LOT more fit. I took some pictures this morning and they show a noticeable difference between last month and today! Also, a woman at the Y yesterday told me she thought I looked very fit. As for exercising, I am doing running/walking, some zumba, and some body pump (strength class). I do take a few rest days. I'm trying to eat very light Monday through THursday so that I can enjoy the weekends more. This does slow down my loss (the fact that I enjoy my weekends). But if I could have a five pound loss every month, then I would still make goal by some time in the spring.

@krampus - eating pizza by a bonfire sounds absolutely divine, actually!

@dianne - I think I'm finally really back into my plan, but oh my gosh, it took MONTHS to get back into it for real. I don't know why it's so hard!

@lisa - thanks! Good luck with the job hunting. That WOULD feel weird. For me it's felt really weird when my ex-husband got this huge promotion this past year. I felt a bit weird about it, especially since we're no longer married and I won't benefit much from it.

@cattails - 119!!? Wow, how great! I will die of happiness if I ever get to the teens.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Hi Feathers,

So there was some drama but overall my shower went really well. The decor was beautiful and I got some really lovely gifts, the highlight was a beautiful wool blanket my friend knit for us. I'm excited to fly back to DC on Sunday to my finace, my cat, and warmer weather (it's freezing in Toronto!!). I'm also looking forward to weighing in and seeing where I'm at after two weeks on vacation. I went dress shopping yesterday with my mom and fit into all size 6's!! That was a pretty great NSV.

olehcat - great job on all those NSVs! I feel like dropping 5 lbs a month is manageable and a good rate for us with not a ton to lose. Nice to hear you understand about the job thing..although I guess I should feel happy because I will benefit from his success.

Krampus - sorry about the fight with your BF but the pizza and bon fire sounds fun!!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Hello Feathers,

I've been doing pretty well with food and calories - exercise not so much. When I work I'm on my feet all day plus riding my bike there and back but that's pretty much it. I worked out one time this week but I'm gonna attempt to lift some weights in a little while before I shower.

We celebrated my Mom's birthday last Saturday and I ate tons of cake and chocolate (both Sat + Sun). So my weight went up but it has slowly been going down again. TOM got here yesterday and I have a slight feeling that my weight will be up tomorrow morning, hopefully I'm wrong.

---

olehcat - Wow, I'm so glad to hear that you're doing well! Congrats on finally getting back on the right track

krampus - DH watched the Velasquez fight and couldn't get over how crazy it was. In fact, he showed me the highlights about a gazillion times, lol.

LisaTcan - Size 6? That's awesome! You gotta be soooo curious about your weight, heck I would be too. Do you think you gained anything?

Cattails - Having a pet lizard must be so cool, I've never even really seen one before. Congrats on being in the teens!

thesame7lbs - I hope that, despite of your gain, you're feeling well. Sending you a

Hi Feathers,

I haven't been posting much because 1) it's been a busy couple of weeks, and 2) because I am being a great big featherweight loser, and not in the good weight-loss kind of way. Two weeks ago I was firmly at 127, which is a happy weight for me, and knew that just another week or two would on plan would give me a couple of pounds buffer. But did I do that? No. I stopped tracking my food (mistake #1) and had too much wine and beer (mistake #2) and watched the scale creep up, up, up without an ounce of gumption to get back on plan (mistake #3). Today I'm at 130.4 and why? I wish someone could explain to me why I let this happen. And then fix me. I won't even go into the whole issue of why 3 pounds seems like such a huge life-or-death ordeal for me. Because that's clearly ridiculous, too.

/frustrated rant

Cattails, I'm sorry to hear about the arthritis. What kind of lizard is your son getting? I like critters.

Olehcat, way to go! It seems like everything clicked into place and you're on the right track!

LisaT, I'm so glad your shower went well. That knitted blanket sounds lovely -- personal gifts like that, things that can't be bought, are always so special.

Hoopty, when you're on your feet and biking back and forth to work, you're giving your body plenty of exercise. It seems like getting a handle on food is paying off -- congrats!

Feeling much better now, thank you everyone for your sympathy. This arthritis thing sucks but it could be much, much worse so I'm glad for what I can do most of the time. And you're right, krampus, exercise helps in so many ways; it usually warms me up and makes my joints feel better as well as my mind/mood, so having to miss out hurts doubly.

Our family went to visit my folks yesterday in NV. It was really good to see them, especially my mom, who is not in good health right now despite a lifetime of relatively clean living. She worries me. Anyway, I was so concerned with not overeating on the roadtrip there and back that somehow I ended up not eating enough - and lost another pound. This has me feeling really weird, like this is going too easy and karma is bound to step in soon and really mess me up. I don't want to be helplessly watching the pounds pile on despite everything I'm doing, you know? I'm trying to tell myself to relax and stop worrying about what I can't control (the future) and just enjoy what life is now! Does anybody else have these conflicting emotions from dropping weight?

@thesame7lbs - The lizard is a mountain horned dragon - he looks like a juvenile iguana but he'll only get about 12" long. He's really neat. Being a 'dragon,' my DS named him Smaug. LOL

I only wish that figuring out this weightloss/happy weight stuff was easy; if it was, life would be so much easier for a lot of us! I spent almost 20 years overweight; it never really clicked for me until this time - which is probably why I'm kind of anxious about losing focus and falling back into my old ways. All I can really offer you is treat yourself with kindness, like you would your best friend. Remind yourself that those 3 pounds on the scale aren't nearly as important as how you feel.

@Hoopty - Hi there! I agree that it sounds like you're getting lots of exercise in, that's awesome. Your boy Rodgers was looking pretty good last week. Hope Finley recovers, that was a nasty injury.

@LisaT - I'm so glad you enjoyed your shower! Good job on the nice dress sizes - you're going to look beautiful.

@olehcat - Great job on your restart - you've got this now! And please don't die if you get into the teens; that would be such a tragedy to not get to enjoy it at all!

Hope everybody's weekend is a good one.

Hi ladies,

So I flew home last night, I had a nice trip but I am really glad to be home. Good news! I only gain 1.5 pounds while I was away, I was 141 this morning. I'm hoping to lose it this week and then see if I can hit 134 by the end of November.

thesame7lbs - I'm so sorry you're having such a hard time! I've totally been there. But it's only 3lbs, you're not back where you started, it's really a small set back. I bet you could lose that in 2 weeks if you get back on track.

Cattails - I'm glad to here your arthritis is getting better! I'm just developing it and I can only image how painful it must be. I do have those conflicting emotions..like worrying that I'm so stressed out about calories that I don't enjoy just living life. I find having a more balanced attitude, like eating what everyone else is eating in moderation, or just having one glass of wine helps me keep these feelings in check.

Hoopty - I think that sounds like plenty of exercise!! I bet your burning a lot of calories throughout the day so maybe you could just do 2 weight lifting sessions a week or something?

Hi Feathers!

It seems like everyone is doing pretty well around here! I got my period unexpectedly yesterday after watching "Carrie" the night before (......!) and had AWFUL cramps in the afternoon that were so bad I nearly went home - but they subsided, and I ended up running SEVEN MILES after work which is basically something that never happens.

The other day I went shopping and was looking at a display of patterned tights and these two women in their early-mid thirties walked by and said "THAT MUST BE WHERE THE WHORES GET THEIR STOCKINGS" really loudly. I giggled a lot - who says that? Kohl's is not exactly that kind of store, either.

Halloween was celebrated this weekend. I was a baby and it really creeped people out!

LisaTcan I am so glad the shower went well and you had a good trip! What was the best gift you got?

Cattails Good news that you are feeling better - it is hard to see parents' health declining despite their best efforts. Sometimes maintaining featherweight status really does feel like "cheating" but really it isn't - being mindful of food/exercise totally counts.

thesame7lbs According to the daily weigh-in thread you have already bounced most of the way back down from that high - but it really is disheartening when that happens!

Hoopty Mmm cake. I can only imagine how delicious it must have been

olehcat I'm SO HAPPY to hear you are finally seeing benefits of all the effort you've been putting in - and I think moderation really is more likely to be a sustainable method vs losing it all really quickly and then not even knowing how to not diet!

LOL -- crazy! A little embarrassed about my woe-is-me temper tantrum. Also wondering what kind of magic I worked to come down so quickly. I'm wondering if it's because I've barely had any meat since Sunday? A vegetarian friend told me meat takes a long time to process through your digestive system. So maybe I'm just "less full?" Either way, I'll take it.

LisaT, welcome home!

to everyone else reading or lurking!

Holy gazoly, October is over already Well, just wanted to give you guys a quick update.

thesame7lbs - Thanks for your comment in the Daily Weigh-In Thread Let me tell you though...I have no idea what's going on! I never EVER lose that much that fast. It's really nice to see the numbers go down but I'm not gonna lie, this morning I thought I'm kind of not...really...liking this.....DID I REALLY JUST THINK THAT?. Sounds crazy but I'm just too scared that most of it is just gonna come right back OR that my scale is off or something? I don't know. I told myself I would just wait it out and see what happens... Have you been able to get back into your routine of tracking food and such? I totally understand your frustration about the stupid 3 pounds

LisaTcan - Oh wow, 1.5 lbs is pretty much nothing considering the fact that you were on vacation! I was actually thinking about aiming for 2 weight lifting sessions a week, if I feel like it then I'll do more, but 2 should be good. I realized that I probably do burn a lot more than I thought throughout the day.

krampus - Ew, how immature of them. Maybe they were just jealous, lol.

Cattails - Eek...Finley, Cobb...not cool. But they're doing really well with Lacy so I'm happy about that! The Niners are doing really well with Gore, too. DH is super thrilled. We were gonna go to the Jacksonville game in London but money didn't allow us... I swear, I totally understand why you felt like it was going too easy with the weight loss. I felt like that this morning. But hey, just try to go with it, do your best and do it right. I think that's all we can do.

--

So like I've mentioned, I was super surprised this morning. I weighed 142.2lbs out of NOWHERE. I didn't expect to weigh anywhere near 142lbs until maybe next week or so. So yes, I'm scared it's gonna come right back or that it's not gonna go any lower since I've already dropped so many pounds in such a short amount of time (for me anyways..).
BUT, I'll take it, keep doing what I'm doing and just see what happens. I gotta weigh myself really early tomorrow because I gotta get ready for work at 4am. I am expecting a gain, simply because I usually weigh-in much, much later, but again - we'll see.

So, HAPPY HALLOWEEN, and see you guys in the November thread