This is confusing. I got on the scale this morning cringing with anticipation. I was certain I had gained a couple of pounds and was preparing to come join this thread to relose them and recommit. The last few weeks have been *terrible* with food. We've had social obligations almost every night and I snack like a fiend (usually on bread and french cheeses) on the nights that I wait tables. Anyway, the long and short of it is that I have lost a little weight. Down 1.5lb from last week and 1lb from the week before. For the first time in my life I hit 142.9! What the devil is up with that???

that's awesome, baffled

I ate really well yesterday and drank a lot of water.

Down to 145

Nice going, Nineteen!

Baffled, I've given up trying to make sense out of weight loss. Sometimes it seems like it takes days or even weeks for good (or bad) eating to show up on the scales, sometimes we can get away with murder, and then sometimes we can do everything right for weeks and weeks with no results. I'd take the 2.5# pound loss, count yourself lucky, and just move on. The important thing to remember is that we can't get away with bad eating for very long -- sooner or later it will bite you in the butt.

Were you been exercising consistently even while your eating was off-track? Sometimes that makes a big difference!

LOL baffled, I understand the feeling -- I hit my goal weight right after Thanksgiving (not last year, the year before) and continued to lose through the holidays despite eating crap. Sometimes I think a crazy day will jump start your body a little bit, or maybe that's just wishful thinking!

Thursday food:
B - 1.25 C multigrain cheerios w/blueberries and .75C skim milk
S - cherries
L - leftover mac & cheese (cooking light)
S - nectarine, banana, slice of challah
D - .75C basmati rice w/.5C steamed broccoli, .25C peas, and about 1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce, plus a few bisquick lite "zucchini appetizers"
S - "rice soup" - .25C rice w/.5C milk, and a little brown sugar and cinnamon, plus a couple swigs of OJ

Total:
Exercise: 30-min stroll around a park


Friday so far:
Official weigh in -- 132/133 (hard to tell on my scale, it's not digital)
B - 1.25C multigrain cheerios w/blueberries and .75C skim milk
L - salad w/sprouts and a little bit of goat cheese, w/lite balsamic dressing
S - 2 apples, three "zucchini appetizers"

Dinner will probably be pasta tonight. This weekend will be a disaster again as I'm committed to three meals that are not at home.

Hi!

I went and rejoined WW on Wed night. Much nicer now that they have no registration fee, automatic cc payments and new online tracker. I'm halfway through my second day, and doing well so far. Of course, it's not that I couldn't have done this before, but something about the stupid little rewards, etc. is keeping me in line. whatever works! Since I've been counting calories, I also know that I came in right around 1400, so I'm happy.

Today:
B - 1/3 cup dry oatmeal (cooked with 2/3 cup water), 1/2 banana, 1/8 cup raisins, 7 walnuts halves, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 TBSP brown sugar
S - ff latte
L - spinach salad with 1/4 avocado, 1/2 cup fake crab, tomato, peas, peapods dressed with salsa and lf sour cream mixed
S - 1/2 cup ff cottage cheese, with blackberries and blueberries
D - leftover grilled salmon, veggies, and ? for a starch.

Never did get around to posting the rest of my food from yesterday but I came in at 2018 vs. target of 2000 so

Today is going to be a little rougher as I would guess I am high already. I find that I need to be in a very tight range at 4pm to make it for the day.

Took a Nia class yesterday - yowza!!!!!! SO much fun and I was sweating like a piggy. Great workout and great X-training.

Boy, I'm really envious of you ladies who are surprised to find that you've lost weight even though you haven't been eating perfectly. I have to say that that has NEVER happened to me. I always weight more than I think I deserve for how I'm eating, and only see a loss when I've been really, really, painfully good. Congrats, though. I'm happy for you!
Pam

Friday meals:
BF: mini wheat cereal with skim milk and 2 cups of coffee

lunch: grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato

snack: LF cinnamon grahams (I'm addicted to them, I sent DH to get me a box of them, He bought a whole case - 12 boxes). I didn't need that many and gave half the case to my neighbor. Plus a banana

dinner: skinless baked chicken, 1 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup green beans, dinner salad with LF ranch drsg.

snack: I made home-made Salsa, had a few bites of it, to just test the recipe

I'm back up to 145.5....maybe even 146.

Yesterday was not a good day, eating-wise. I ate all day long.

I feel kind of out of control and that really, really scares me.

Ladies do you know what I should do? I know I need to "just do it"....just make better choices...but any advice/wisdom you may have would be really helpful right now. I feel like I'm slipping off track in a very bad way.

Thanks.

-- I completely understand what you mean about feeling scared about being out of control. It's a terrible, terrible feeling.

When that happens to me, what helps is going back to basics ... that is, back to the things that worked to lose the weight in the first place. For me that means planning all my day's food in advance, having it prepared and ready to eat, writing it all down, weighing and measuring portions, and sticking to it. Usually everything just falls into place for me when I do those things.

Try to avoid cutting your calories back too far in an effort to get rid of the extra weight because that usually bites you in the butt by making you too hungry and triggering a binge. Just plan out a day of delicious, healthy foods in your calorie range and have it all ready to eat.

I've also found that starting my day off with exercise -- for whatever reason -- keeps me focused and on track. I think it's the endorphins? I feel good and don't want to undo all my hard work.

Would it be helpful to you to post a plan for tomorrow? Sometimes I feel accountable when I've actually committed to something in writing.

No matter what works (or doesn't work) for you, be sure to keep coming back and we'll help you through it.

Meg, I sure agree that cutting the cal's back too far doesn't help. Each time I had a gain, I'd drop down to 1100-1200 cal's. After about 3 days of feeling like I was starving, I'd go nuts and eat everything in site. It just doesn't work for me. Better to eat 1400-1600, get regular exercise and slowly drop a couple lbs. Also, when all else fails, measuring everybite and logging everybite works for me.

Unfortunately, I'm still an evening exerciser. Too many yrs. working night shift. I just can't force myself to get much done early of the day. But, late evening I feel guilty about being so lazy and jump on the treadmill or take off on my long walk.

nineteen, I agree with Meg, that planning is the key. Know in advance what you are going to eat each day. Schedule some time for exercise. It really is scary to see ANY gain at all. Believe me, I've done it many times. Have faith in yourself that you can overcome it and will. Post often and come here for support. We're here for you.

OK, let's see what I can remember of the weekend . . .

Friday dinner was pasta. I think it was pasta w/sauce and parmesan, and I ate too much of it. I also snuck a bag of baked Lay's at work.
Exercise: 15 mins elliptical, 15 mins jogging

Saturday:
B - multigrain cheerios w/skim milk & blueberries
L - Noodles & Company small japanese pan noodles w/chicken (only 350 cals, not bad)
S - ... I know I ate something. I think it was a vitamin and some OJ.
D - (wedding) one mixed drink (with half and half, ugh, what a mistake!), one fried ravioli appetizer and one stuffed mushroom cap, bowl of beef mushroom soup, salad w/vinaigrette, white bread with butter, chicken with some kind of creamy sauce, green beans, potatoes, and a slice of wedding cake.

Exercise: walk around our neighborhood, 30-45 mins, I didn't time it

Sunday:
B - multigrain cheerios w/skim milk & blueberries
B/L (brunch) - half a bagel, with half of the half having about half a tbsp cream cheese (lots of halves!), three strawberries, a tiny bit of egg strata with mushrooms, one cinnamon pecan sticky bun and one brownie plus some pink lemonade
D - cha shao bao (just one, 150 cals), 1/2 C rice with salmon/seaweed seasoning, and a plate full of green beans. And three rice candies.

Exercise: shopping? I walked around malls for about four hours.

Monday so far (including food I brought to work):
B - multigrain cheerios (135) w/skim milk (85) and blueberries (8)
L - rice w/seasoning (400?), pile of greenbeans (44)
S - banana (105), apple (150), peach (70)

Dinner is planned to be cooking light sloppy joes, exercise plan is jogging tonight.

Ah, the weekend was good foodwise. Stayed in the 1400-1500 range, though Sunday lunch was a Luna bar and a cup of tea, eaten between two telephone interviews for pastoral candidates for our church. Dinner fortunately was grilled shimp and veggies, and a glass of wine.

Weekdays are definitely easier, though I'm sitting here at work working hard to ignore a BOWL of Good & Plenty (easily my favorite candy) sitting in the lunch room (which is right across from my office). Sigh. A serving - 33 - is 130 calories! I so do not need them. I'm not hungry, and I have a nice blueberry yogurt to eat in about 15 minutes. (Just myself here)

Breakfast:
cheerios with 1/2 cup 1% milk, blueberries and strawberries, slice of toast (homemade bread) with 1 TBSP whipped cream cheese and a smear of apricot jam

Lunch:
Large spinach salad with red peppers, 1/4 avocado and 1/2 c chili beans. Dressing of ff sour cream and salsa, 1 WW tortilla

Dinner:
Not sure yet. Probably grilled pork and veggies.

Snack:
cottage cheese with pears; blueberry yogurt

DH has disconnected our gas stove because we're getting a new one on Friday! Our old one was new in 1983! Anyway, he has to reroute the gas line so I'm without a stove for a few days. Sears will install the new one when they deliver it, but until then I have a microwave, crockpot and gas grill. Time to get inventive!

meg and lilybelle, thank you!

I was so tempted to cut calories super low yesterday, but after reading your post, Meg, I decided it would be better not to. I counted my calories and I think I stayed in range, so thats good. I switched from fitday to thedailyplate.com because I think I need a change; fitday is getting really boring for me. Today the scale was still 145.5, but I know I can do this. I just have to stay in my calorie range, and I know what that is. (btw, you nailed it, Meg)

Lilybelle, I agree planning is key and hearing it from someone else is the extra nudge I need to actually do it. Thanks.

Thank you both for your support and encouragement, it really does mean so much to me. I'll be checking back in soon.