The weight went up today.
Buying a calorie counter book today (I usually record on a napkin and MyFitnessPal). I do better when I can see my calories on the kitchen counter at all times and also track my weekly progress
I think my goal will be to eat only what I can count until I get the weight off. I have been eating incredibly healthy and exercising though. The best in my life.
I secretly wish I had my own personal chef who would just hand me the food and say 'eat this' and I would lose weight

Oneten - Natural, beautiful, and healthy is inspiring Thanks for sharing your menu. I have looked at it, b/c although I'm eating healthy, I'm struggling with my own and getting results.

Have a great week everyone!

Hello all!

I took a bit of a break from 3FatChicks, but I'm feeling compelled to return. Looking through the last few posts it looks like a bit of a different group of people than I was with before, so I'll reintroduce myself.

I'm atmos...username chosen because I'm an atmospheric scientist by trade. I initially lost 20 lbs...160 down to 140, when I started graduate school in fall of 2007. Since then I've been yo yoing through the 130s. My lowest adult weight was about 127 following a long term relationship breakup in 2009 and my highest has been 145 on a couple occasions typically resulting from stress (preparing for a conference, defending my thesis).

Now I'm at about 139 and I haven't been 140 in a few years, so I'd like to keep it that way and get back down towards 130, and perhaps finally break that barrier. Mostly I want to be fit, healthy, and I don't want to buy new larger pants.

My goals are broadly to continue improvements with my Irish dancing, in which I just starting competing this year, cross train with weight lifting and running, and eat a better diet.

So hi to you all and thank you in advance for the support! I really need to finally get this all under control.

Oneten - Thank you for welcoming me back! I shan't lose anywhere near your rate as you are already down to 133, but I hope to be there in a couple months. Irish dance is a great calorie burn indeed. You're basically jumping up and down on your toes the entire time. In class we must take frequent breaks both in order to get through the entire two hours as well as taking time to improve technique. When I practice at home it's difficult to go beyond half an hour as it is very strenuous. But I would like to cross train and get a better diet in place to improve my dance as well as have my legs look nicer in the short dresses.

Yesterday I did not exercise and went way over my calories. I have a wonderful lack of discipline when it comes to sticking to my diet and exercise goals. I haven't been able to work it out yet (hence my years of bouncing back and forth through the 130s).

I did track my food though and it's obvious why I've been gaining so much the past few months. Baby steps back down.

Hope everyone is having/has had a wonderful day.

Atmos - Welcome

Oneten - Again, thank you for sharing your 'secrets' I'm going to incorporate them at some point in the near future, if my weight loss continues to stall.

oneten - Just knowing the way I terms to lose weight I'm not expecting so much. If I lose a pound this week I'll be super happy. I do enjoy yogurt in the morning. A favorite breakfast is skyr,which is Icelandic yogurt that is high in protein and fairly low on calories. Unfortunately black coffee upsets my stomach but I only put in a little milk, never cream or sugar. What protein powder do you like? I've been interested in protein shakes, especially on dance class days and because I rarely hour my protein goals but I'm not sure what powder to try.

kifli - Thank you!

I got in 45 min of dance practice today and I'm on track to hit my calorie goal. Feeling quite happy!

Well I've been learning how to eat again and not snack mindlessly or binge. Mostly successful. I wish I had weighed myself before today because it's moon week and I already feel the bloat. I won't get an accurate reading for another week! I guess that's all the more incentive to kick it up for the next week. I'm thinking of a little bit of a liquid feast (rather than fast, if you will), to help get me through this terrible week. I don't want to eat much the first 3 days anyway. Unfortuately I have a fridge full of food, am a recipe tester and cook for others, something like a personal chef, but not.

oneten - Nope, looks like the protein is Australia only. My search continues! I do enjoy tea and I really don't like when anything like milk or sugar is in it. During the work week I typically rotate between Irish breakfast tea (black), jasmine (green), and white tea. Japanese food sounds yum!

Amethyst - Not eating mindlessly or binging is definitely a struggle for me. I would be quite a healthy weight and healthy diet if I could overcome that.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US, which typically means all the food. I actually did quite well with not going overboard, though. I didn't track yesterday but did put it all in today and I was a bit over my 1500 calorie goal for the day but was well under 1900 (my TDEE), which is great for a food-centric holiday! If I had been home with my relatives I likely would've eaten more, but I was with my boyfriend's family and I was nervous plus most of their food wasn't that tasty.

Today is a bit of a struggle with snacking as I'm feeling lazy about it all, but I'm trying to at least keep under my TDEE so I don't have a calorie surplus.

Kifli, your grad school story could be mine, that is where all the weight came from. Summer last year I was a super fit 114 lbs. I can only dream of getting out of 130 now!

Oneten, I hate fitday. I used to use it but you are so right about it not having the foods you need. I now use caloriecount.com, but I wish I could share it. However you can support (i.e. friend/follow people) I think, so if anyone is on it, I'm the same user name

Atmos, good job on kind of "meeting in the middle" if you like on Thanksgiving ( I know on my thanksgiving I had 1200 calories of dessert alone, thankfully I was hosting and didn't eat really during the day and also passed on half of my dinner in order to eat desserts. It really helped to be hosting in that respect too because I knew I could eat my dinner leftovers whenever, which I never can if I eat at someone else's house and then I feel like I'm missing out if I don't eat something. Now I know I can eat less of something too and still feel satisfied as well).

Down a pound this morning's weigh in because I ate so little yesterday (yay!) Up almost 4 by this evening. The bloating is so bad! Hope it goes back down in the morning, because I've eaten enough for a loss again 1025. I know that is below my BMR, but it's not forever, just to kick start my stuck scale.

LOL try caloriecount.com it has a great analysis feature which lets you know your macros and whether you are getting all your vitamins. It has a mobile app, and I use both because they have features each that are appealing.

Check out an analysis (attached) not a great nutrition day but whatever lol

OMG I just looked at the emoticons and I'm loving this lol

oneten - If you're looking to switch, I've tried a variety of online calorie trackers and my favorite by far is MyFitnessPal. It has a very large food database and I believe there are many Australian members so it likely will have foods specific to Australia as well. I have an easy reference table for my calories and macros, and I also like to track my calcium and sodium intakes.

The micronutrient tracking is probably much less acurate than FitDay because foods are member-submitted and many people don't take the time to add in items like potassium that may be in the food but are not obviously labeled. Also because most foods are member-submitted, if you are picking an entry for the first time you need to be cautious that you're picking one that is correct (many have wrong/too few calories), but after you've done that it is easily accessible for the future.

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I went for a bit of a walk/jog this morning as I try to ease into running as cross training for dance. I live in a very fit, healthy, active city and it's a bit difficult for morale to have so many toned people speeding past me on the trail! The weather is lovely though, 60F/15C right now with a nice breeze and sunny, so it was a nice time to be out. I try not to compare myself to the running buffs by reminding myself that I'm out on the trail with them too, plus I could probably Irish dance rings around them as they can run rings around me.

atmos, yes you could dance circles around them, so don't worry about them running circles around you. Just enjoy what is probably a lovely trail and the lovely weather! Way to go! I would like to go and run right now but I'm in the middle of my schoolwork and supposed to be at an event right now with another event starting in 3.5 hours. Ugh I hate school right now. (and I used to love it).

Been hanging around 138, today dropped to 137.2

Draconic - That's great!

I attempted to make a Thai red curry last night. It turned out okay but not awesome. I will attempt again but plan on either making a few changes to the recipe or searching for a new one. I used light coconut milk and threw in a ton of veggies with it, and overall it was a filling and low calorie meal.

Off to lift weights now and remain a touch disappointed that I have to return to work tomorrow morning after a very nice 4 day weekend.

I ate a ton last night (1500 or more) at my friend's Mexican Fiesta, but I woke up to no change. On top of that, I actually went back to bed, and didn't eat for another 4 hours or so and weighed myself again and was down to 133.4 I didn't expect that after such a big dinner last night and TTOM. Bloating must be going down (the worst of the week is done). That makes me even more excited for my next weigh in though after this week is over.

133.4 today yippee! Ate a ton of lasgna for dinner 900 cals putting me at 1500 cals so I expect to not see a change or even go up tomorrow.