Thanks for the Birthday wishes!
My 14 y/o dd didn't even tell me Happy Birthday this morning! Teenagers (some) are so self-absorbed. She was much more worried about her hair and her outfit to remember it was my birthday. Oh well.

I have a friend bringing me a fairly OP lunch to school which will be a real treat for me as I never leave work for lunch. She is a new friend to me and I feel so lucky to have found a new friend at this point in my life. I don't know about the rest of you but as I've aged, I've kept my few great friends but haven't had too many new ones into my life.

Megan-- I hear you. Loud and clear. I wish I had an answer for you. I have been incredibly munchy too. I was really hoping to be OP today and feel in control but I know it isn't likely today either. Do you keep a food log? Are you making yourself write EVERYTHING in it? Sometimes that helps me. What can you do when you feel munchy in the evening? Can you take a walk, have a tea, take a bath, read a book? I try to remember back to what worked for me successfully when I was losing and repeat. I need to heed my own advice though!! Last night I had two helpings of dinner. I told myself it was healthy and I had taken a small portion to start. True, maybe...but I was not hungry. Grrrr.....

My family came home late and I couldn't get to my Boxing Boot Camp class without major family disruption. I was pleased with myself though. Rather than be grumpy that I couldn't exercise, I took out our Wii and did the Outdoor Fitness Challenge for 45 minutes. I did the hardest and most endurance related exercises (including running) and I was dripping sweat. Today I will go to Latin Dance and hopefully then I will feel more on track. I was exercising every day but I keep skipping a day here and a day there (or two). I don't want to get back to where I was when I wasn't exercising.

Cold and wet in Northern California, supposed to rain all week. We need the rain but it does get tiresome. Meg, I envy you your shopping trip. I have a few things to retire in my closet, still good but too big. So they must be replaced. Can't allow too much space in my closet, that just wouldn't feel right.

So easy to gain it back
 

I have put on 5 lbs. in the last three weeks :(. I knew I was doing it but avoided the scale and the pants-o-meter (my winter stuff is bigger to accomodate a tights layer underneath).

It's just a combination of acute stress in 3 major areas of my life, winter battle fatigue, and my ongoing battle with DH's weight (he keeps bringing junk home every single day).

The stress is gone from two sources now, winter is getting to an end point, and there's nothing I can do about DH except tell him I have to leave the room when he pulls out the cookies.

This seems silly :dizzy: but do I now switch back to Featherweights to lose the damn stuff again or can I continue to post here without being tiresome?

Dagmar (feel like :sumo:)

Dagmar, don't you dare go anywhere else! You belong here, regardless of gaining a few pounds. Heavens, the Maintainers forum would be empty and echoing if people left after gaining back some weight! In other words, it happens to all of us and it's just another part of the maintenance journey.

The good news is that stress is gone from two out of the three of your stressors. And you can handle DH and his temptations. Can you tell HIM to leave the room when he pulls out his cookies?

Dagmar~5 pounds? Seriously, don't leave! I'm here with an extra 20 and am still sticking around. Like they say, if you've lost ONE pound and kept it off, you are a maintainer!

(But I do go back to Featherweights from time to time to check in--I just find this forum more to my liking.)

Dagmar - you just stay right here! With two of your stressors winding down you will be able to get back on top of things. One thing I've learned in the last six months is that maintenance isn't perfect and isn't one flat number. I believe that once you have lost the majority of your weight, even if you regain a little and are working down from that, you have a different outlook than when you are in the initial active weight loss. I have totally different questions and issues to discuss when I go up five pounds now than I did when I was in the last five pounds to get down to goal. I imagine as I maintain longer that will be even more true. You just keep right on posting here! :) :hug:

Ha! If 5 lbs meant leaving time, I would have been gone long ago. I can bounce up/down 5 lbs in the blink of an eye. :) Dagmar, don't you be going anywhere!

My life is also very stressful lately, and I'm working hard to grab an apple instead of cookies (darn those Girl Scouts) and water or tea instead of wine (at home, natch). And now I find that I'm to be the acting city manager for 2 days - argghhhhh. Way too much responsibility/stress......

Hello maintainers! :) (And long catch-up post ahoy.)

Meg - I hope that things at work will go the way you wish them to go. And that's pretty good news regarding those pants. ;)

Dagmar - Oh the joy of multiple layers. My mother always complains that she's too hot and opens all the windows, and then I enter the room and close everything and put the heater on. (And why would you have to leave the forum for some time? Look, I've been posting here for ages, and I've never even been at 'goal weight'. :rolleyes:)

Shannon - I hope things will look up soon for your MIL and uncle.

Megan - Such days suck. Right now I'm okay regarding that, but there were times it was just the same for days on end... wanting to eat everything in sight, without hunger, with no particular reason. The only thing I can do in such cases is to deliberately tone down my groceries shopping; if there isn't anything sugary-etc to eat, at least, I know I won't go out at 9 pm just to buy some (I'm lazy like that).

I'm supposed to be revising, but gee, I'm so tired in the evenings that I just can't do it anymore. Not tonight, at least. Actually, I can't even answer a PM here properly without having to do it three times, so I guess this means "go to bed Kery"? (The only good thing about being physically tired is that it's one heck of an appetite suppressant. Don't ask me why. o_O)

I still don't know about the iPod thing, I won't see my colleague for the next two weeks. But I haven't forgotten about it. I still hope it works.

I'm definitely an alien. I was trying on clothes last Saturday in the store where my sister works (permanent 30% off and special VIP cash desk for me, yayh!), and I realized that I actually *like* their 3-way mirrors. Perhaps because I'm still used to seeing the old me, so the current me doesn't look like such a catastrophe? :lol: And I finally bought a full-length mirror for my apartment, too. I blame the hidden Narcissus in me. And IKEA. IKEA is evil made furniture.

Also, revising sucks so much that I actually prefer to go *running* rather than do it. No kidding. The way our minds work is weird, sometimes.

Oh well. Headed to bed, I think, otherwise I'll just go on blabbering mindlessly.

Let's face it Pat, when Alaska needs a new governor we'll know who to nominate. As city manager do you actually run the whole town? That would be waaayy cool. I would pass legislation to make the last Friday in every month "chocolate" day :devil:.

Dagmar :sunny:

Just looked at my revised signature :o. Good thing I never got down to goal or those numbers would be too depressing.

I'm probably going to be under 136 tomorrow so the scale is not such a good indicator of what's going on with me. I got the (excruciatingly) tight :mad: size 8 pants out of the closet and on to the wall hanger in the bedroom. I will put the darn things on whenever the cookies :devil: call me.

Cripes! The computer just talked to me. I hate it when DH leaves the volume on after he's done. It always startles me!

Have a good evening all! I'm off to watch America's next top model (god only knows why).

Dagmar :sunny: but :tired:

Sadly no. And it's actually only 2 days - whew! Whenever this happens I spend the whole time worrying that something is going to happen. And really - we have a police and fire department, as well a water department and people to plow the roads - how bad could it be? (wringing my hands here)

Hi, just a quick drop by to let everyone know that I'm still kickin, just not very high.

Only good thing about seeing my doctors so frequently lately is I realize that I haven't gained a single ounce.

My NSV today, we had dinner at a restaurant and they brought my plate with twice as much food as I would now normally eat. It actually grossed me out (where before weight loss I would have done my darnedest to try to eat it all).

Still counting the days til my son leaves Baghdad, just 5 more days. Yeah!

Thanks everyone for the warm thoughts, support and prayers from my post last week. We did get some good news. DH's biopsies came back negative for cancer and he was put on Lamisil to clear up what they think is a fungal rash. This was a relief to me. One of us being sick is hard enough!

Good news on your husband (and son) Lily!
I hope you have good news yourself soon.

Hi Lily,

Great news about Shane and your husband!
Just keep on kicking, we don't mind that it's not very high.
Thinking of you,

Rabbit

Great to hear that your husband is ok Lily and that your son will be back in less than a week! And :bravo: to you for the NSV with the dinner.

Dagmar