Lyria- I hope all of the ex-BF stuff settles down for you and that you are staying safe....

I am very proud of myself for not eating over my calorie limit yesterday even though I wanted to eat a LOT more. It is so hard distracting myself from food but luckily I was so tired from work that I opted to go to sleep instead. What's triggering my hunger is the whole "moving out on Friday" thing. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I didn't have at least 5 other things to do this week. Thank goodness I only work tomorrow and thursday, but it doesn't leave me much time to pack...so that will have to wait until the day of the move. On saturday I am going on an 8-mile hike that one of the cities is sponsoring for National Trails Day, then 2 hours after that I am going camping that night. *taking deep breath* So today I am super munchy and that is not a good thing with today's caloric goal of 1300. Although I am considering to kick it up to 1550 just in case :/ We'll see...Just waiting for my workout clothes to get outta the dryer so I can go to the gym..

Hope everyone's Tuesday is going well!

Hey everyone...hope I can join you! I'm also in the featherweight category... I'm 5'3" and currently at 137lbs. About a year ago, I was at 140 and then dropped my weight to 125 (through calorie counting). Unfortunately, it has crept back on over the past six months (stress, started a new job, etc) and my clothes aren't fitting and I'm not getting those "wow, you look great!" compliments anymore, either Time to do something about it. I do work out (about 3x a week, usually jogging on the treadmill 2-3 miles or doing the elliptical) and I live in downtown Chicago and don't own a car so I also do a lot of walking as my method of transportation (often walk to work). My initial goal weight is to get back to 125, and then see how I feel at that point. I was happy before at 125 (wearing size 4), although I felt that I could still stand to either tone up or shed another 3-5 lbs. I am a calorie counter but I do try to eat non-junk calories when I can. When I initially lost weight last year, I relied heavily on Lean Cuisine, 100-calorie snacks, etc etc...not that those are bad, it certainly works, but now I would rather have a cup of cottage cheese as my 100-calorie snack. I think my tastes in food have just changed. I try to eat fruit & veggies every day and eat whole grain whenever possible.
Well, enough about me...looking forward to getting to know all of you and sharing weight loss tips!

Welcome Valerie1027! You are so lucky to be able to walk to work. I'd LOVE to do that even though my job requires walking anyways. I know how you feel about when people don't give those "wow, you look great" compliments, I think I miss those the most. As for the food- it's always good to mix things up, that way, you don't get bored with what you eat and aren't tempted to over your calorie limit.

You can count me in. I'm working on getting back on track this week after I ate like crazy over the holiday weekend. I was at 126.5 on Friday, and I'm dreading having to see what the scale will say when I go to the gym after work. Hopefully, I haven't gained 3.5 pounds; I don't want to go above 130 ever again.

I'm a calorie counter and I try to work out at least a couple times a day. Currently, I am at my lowest adult weight, so it's hard to say what the "ideal" weight for my frame will be (I'm 5'4"). Once I get to 120, I'll reevaluate how I look and determine whether it's time to maintain or lose a little more.

Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well and hopefully, you didn't overdo it with the eating over the weekend like I did. Take care.

Okay, so for those counting calories (seems like most of us are), what is your daily goal? I'm trying to do 1200-1300, which I have heard many people say isn't enough...but I'm short (not quite 5'3") and I feel like for my body size, it should be enough. I don't feel like I could lose by eating more.
I thought it'd be fun if we could all share some tips, too...one thing I just bought is a digital food scale, and that's been awesome. I made whole wheat pasta tonight and measured out exactly 2 oz (which, surprisingly, was somewhat filling...although about 1/2 as much as I'd normally make for myself at home, and about 1/8 as much as what I could eat in an Italian restaurant!!). I also have no idea how to portion out chicken and things like that, so the scale is nice.
Another thing I did today...I wanted to put some fresh baby spinach in my pasta sauce tonight (Trader Joe's organic vodka sauce...highly recommend, only 90 cals per 1/2 cup) and I also wanted some celery and onion for the slimmed-down egg salad I'm making to take to lunch tomorrow. Problem is, I live alone and didn't want to buy a whole bag of celery and a whole bag of spinach...so I utilized the salad bar at my grocery store! Just filled up a small plastic salad container with spinach, celery, onion, and some green onion...came out to $1.15 in total. If I had bought full packages of all those items...eek.
Well it's a pretty warm night here in Chicago, so I'm going to take advantage of my #1 summertime tactic for not overeating at night...a walk by Lake Michigan
Mdust -- noticed you said you were moving this weekend and had other things going on, and that was triggering you to want to eat. Sounds very familiar. Any time my life isn't "on routine", I totally slip up w/the eating and sabotage my diet efforts. I guess it's stress/emotional eating, but I get it pretty badly and pretty often. How do you cope?

Hey girls

Mdust: Yup, the ex stuff has finally settled down...hopefully today was the last mediation and he'll abide by the Undertaking. I live with two guys so I doubt he'll be silly enough to try anything. My house mates aren't little blokes...one advantage of living with males!

Valerie: Welcome! My daily goal for calories is usually between 1400-1600 but at the moment I am usually making it to about 1200-1300. Some weeks I just eat more than others...you know how some weeks you can be starving hungry and others not much tempted at all? I decided to follow my hunger patterns instead of trying to force myself to eat lots or restrict myself when I was hungry.

Hey Goodbye Chubby Congrats on getting down to 126! I'm 5'6 and have found about 128-130 suits my frame so 120 sounds like a pretty fair goal.

I got head hunted for a job yesterday! How cool is that? They rang me up out of the blue to as me to come in for an interview. Its with a bigger law firm than the one I am with now and seems to be doing mostly what I am doing in my current Admin role. Pay would be at least a $5k increase...the thing is I LIKE wear I am now - they took me on with very little experience and within three months I already have other people wanting to poach me :P I think I will stick here and use this as a bargaining chip come pay review time Its the end of this month. Muhaha...

Anyway...food has been good the last couple days and I have starting taking the stairs instead of the lift. My office is in the top floor (level 8) so thats a lot of stairs! I think I legs will like me for it though

Hope you're all well and ttyl!

Livi

mdust, wow a doctorate of pharmacy, good for you! That's awesome, but I can imagine how much work as well. It sounds like fun to be moving out with a BF but yes stressful too! You will get through all that stuff you got goin' on, just take it day by day, and task by task. It sounds like you are doing great as far as eating and exercising so keep it up

Lyria, I'm sorry to hear of your ex-boyfriend problems. I know we all go through it sometimes, I've never had any experiences with restraining orders but at least it seems more settled now for you. And definitely review that salary with your boss!!! haha

Hey Valerie! We have identical stats - almost 5'3 and 137. I have been around 140 for the longest time and never managed to lose any significant amount of weight, but I am so ready and motivated now. I really hope this support group will help keep me in check. Sometimes I eat around 1300 but seriously I usually eat more. I think because I took a break from any restrictive dieting for a long time that I boosted my metabolism back to normal (after severe dieting in high school) because I can actually lose, as crazy as this sounds, on 1800 calories. I try to eat less than that, but I don't freak out if I go that high. Eating that much has brought me down from 145 to 137 now. I know as I lose more I will decrease the cals eventually to 1200-1300. Yesterday was a really good day eating-wise at 1400 calories. I also try to eat non-junk calories, it makes a huge difference when it comes to feeling fuller and not stimulating your tastebuds with sugars etc.

It's great to have you join us, Goodbye Chubby! You have done a great job so far and congrats on that. I would imagine 120-125 lbs would be a good weight for you, but its always hard to say because everyone is so different and how our bodies are - whether more muscular, small framed etc.

I need to do some exercise finally today and I think it's going to rain here which is good because its been so darn hot. On the news last night it was saying how emergency services were busy with all the people passing out from the heat. Tonight I'm helping a friend move which should keep my eating in check. If anything, that's my weight loss tip - keep busy in the evenings - nothing causes me to eat more than watching TV.

Hi. I'm Amber and I'm very new.
I have to vent somewhere because no one else takes my weight loss concerns seriously. I'm 22, 5'10, 185 and I want to lose 15 pounds, which I dont think is unreasonable.

I've been watching what I eat since January sort of on the Zone, protien and carbs all balanced and exercising sparatically. As of March I hadn't lost anything! So I amped up the exercise. I hired a personal trainer (not cheap, let me tell you!) and I've signed up to run a marathon! So I'm doing a sort of cardio interval twice a week with the trainer (Lifting weights, with spurts of cardio to 'spike' my heart rate in between). Plus, I'm running 60 minutes twice a week. And on Saturday mornings I run with my pace group for the Marathon (this week will be 7 miles) I am still watching what I eat, which is around 1800 calories, and it's mostly fruits and whole grains and protien.

And still, a month later, with all the working out and all the watching what I eat. I still haven't budged a single pound.

No one at home wants to hear me complain, cause they say I'm really not that big and isn't that necessary to lose the weight in the first place. But I'm trying really, really hard. I haven't moved at all. And it's not just weight, it's inches too! My whole family is overweight, and I'd really like to get healthy NOW while my body is still kind of working with me, but... I'm losing faith.

I feel better and more energetic from the exercise and the healthy eating, and that's the most important thing, but it's so frustrating not to be able to have any VISIBLE, TANGIBLE results.

I know it's only 15 pounds, but it's important to me. And it's good to have a place to vent about 15 pounds and nobody calls it vanity weight

Hi Amber! Welcome You've come to the right place. I completely understand the frustration you are feeling. My first thought would have been that with heavy training and dieting at the same time you just put too much stress on your body and it went into starvation mode, hoarding the calories it gets. But you are eating 1800 which seems very reasonable. Are you tracking them carefully, writing it down etc? Do you ever feel starved or pretty much feel all around good?

You are definitely building muscle with the exercise you're doing. I would say either increase the calories by 100-200 if you are feeling very hungry constantly - because at your height, current weight and exercise level you may need the extra food. OR, the other opposite possibility is decrease the cals a bit if you think you've been cheating a bit or underestimating calories etc.

Sometimes it takes a bit of tweaking to figure out the problem and what works for you. Keep going at it, you sound like you're doing fantastic and I think 15 lbs is a reasonable goal.

Good luck

Oh girls, today was a bust. I know exactly why it happened, too. I was home alone and it was such a hot day that I didn't feel up to doing much. Plus, I had to wait around the house for a phone call. Boredom = eating. That's pretty much it. And then I had cookies after dinner! Geez, why did I have to make it worse. Well, I have to say it's not nearly as bad as some of the binges I used to go on. So today's total is 2380. I really need to find a job to occupy more of my time. Or something. Depressing day...

Boredom and eating are my down fall too! Can't have sweets in the house or they are gone in a matter of hours.

Don't be too hard on yourself Cyndy! We all have off days, and 2380 really isn't that bad at all. Just be extra good today and it'll work out!

On a slightly side note, and not to encourage binging, but I actually read that having a day or two a week of a higher calorie intake than normal, kind of shocks your body and throws your metabolism into overdrive the following day.

Thanks for the encouragement, Amber! You're right, it isn't the end of the world and may have even been somewhat beneficial. Today seems to have started on a really good note and I actually did some strength exercises which I never do! I am really weak but I didn't let that stop me and just said to myself "do your best, it's way better than nothing at all." Eventually I hope to gain some muscle, I don't want to be a weakling!! lol

Cyndy,

I agree with AmberD; I wouldn't worry too much about going overboard a bit one day. Over the holiday weekend, I ate well over 2,000 calories all three days. It's those consecutive binge days that you have to worry about. But really, you probably did just mix up your metabolism, which, as you know, can be a very good thing.

I also try not to keep unhealthy sweets in the house (because I'll devour them in a heartbeat), but I do get healthier substitutes: yogurt, low-cal peanut butter and jelly, fruit, etc. and they satisfy my cravings with less of the guilt.

Anyway, yesterday's gone and today is a new day.

For not being able to write all day yesterday, I missed A LOT! lol. Anyways, Cyndy and AmberD, I am the queen of boredom/stress eating. Anytime my routine is shaken up, I don't feel committed to eating right. Tuesday totalled out to about 3500cals....I've just been feeling so hungry lately. So I finally just upped my calories instead of trying to stick around 1300..which is nothing when I'm working out 6 days a week for about and hour and a half each day :P I finally found a decent (and cheap) comforter set on Tuesday (I was running around all day buying apartment stuff)..it only took me going to 4 different stores to find one I liked without it costing a boatload of money.

Anyways, increasing my calories was a good idea (even if I don't even reach the limit) and it's eased my mind. AmberD, maybe you should consider cycling your calories, that might help you get out of the plateau..But I think at your height, that 15lbs is a completely reasonable goal. Don't give up on your goals just because some people might not agree with them.

I am moving all day tomorrow and then Saturday morning I have an 8 mile hike to do...I'm glad I told my friend that my BF and I decided not to go camping, it just free's up the weekend SO much. But thank goodness I get out of my parents house, I am sick of all the junk food lying around and whatnot (it's way, way, way too tempting). Next week is my birthday and already my mom is like "What cake do you want? Where do you want to go for dinner?" Which is not necessarily a big deal, considering one piece of cake and dinner won't kill me in the long run, but I HATE how everything revolves around food in my family. I'm glad that my BF and I's soon-to-be-roomate and his GF (who goes to school with me) don't have a problem with the way I eat like my family seems to have..and there won't be any unneccessary junkfood lying around. *phew*

Okay, enough yappin' for now hope everyone's Thursday is going well

What's cycling calories exactly?

Moving out is a pain! I'm glad you found a comfort set that you like mdust. Not so easy to do on a budget!


My Thursday is good. Bored at work. Found out I have a job interview tomorrow *merp*