Megwini and Bright Angel - :wave: I'm new-ish to posting here also, although I lurked for months. :)

Megan - No horror tales! Even with one "pushed" gin and tonic, I still came in under 1550 for the day. Nobody paid attention to what I picked (I OWNED the tossed salad!), and they kept the appetizer/munchie stuff out in the kitchen where it was avoidable. I'm a happy camper today!

kitty - your soup sounds yummy! I'm usually up for anything with tomatoes and shrimp in it - the beans as a thickener would be fantastic!

Shannon and midwife - NO political discussions! A couple of cracks about health care reform, but my MIL shut it down really quick in an atypical show of force. I think the discussion occurred before we got there. :lol:

On to Christmas ... and the New Year!

Megan - you throw away your pie and I'll throw away mine. I have a slice of pumpkin and 2 slices of razzleberry. They are going to have to go, I can feel it.

Megan and Shannon - Step away from the pie! :drill: And toss it, then throw something yucky on top of it! :)

Thanks Pat! :)

My evening snack is vanilla 0% Oikos with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, arils (which I extracted from the pomegranate myself!) and a broken up Ghirardelli 72% dark chocolate square. Fantastic blend of flavor and so much better for me than the pie of yesterday...

I am going to Llandudno today. I wish to place it on record that I shall not be having a piece of Toscana cake in Waterstones bookshop cafe. It is not very nice and I have only started eating it since I've felt so tired and over-tasked. There is no need.

Thanks all! I'll report back.

141.2 today. Hoping that it's water that will go away now that I'm back at work. I drink way more water at work since I'm sitting in one place all day with a full water bottle in front of me.

I've been falling down on the job, folks. My 5x/week workouts has turned into 3x/week. :?: How did that happen without me noticing? Here is my official commitment -- I WILL exercise 5x/week. If it's raining outside, I will do an exercise video at home. If I'm sore, I will do some form of exercise that doesn't exacerbate it too much.

I'm going to sign up for adult swimming lessons at my local pool. It's through the parks department so it's a good price ($65 for 4 weeks of twice a week lessons). Hopefully this will get me a jump start on improving for next year's triathlon season. That starts in January, so in the meantime it is all about running and strength training. NRLW Stage 6 starts tomorrow (still not sure what to do about the fact that I don't have a chin-up bar, but I'll work something out).

Jessica, if the swimming "lessons" are anything like what our pool offers, it should really help. The instructor I had last year was very patient helping me improve my strokes. We had only 8 people so she was able to work with us one on one, or one on two, most of the time. Warm-up was about the only time we were all swimming together. I've signed up for a 3 week, 8 lesson session starting 12/15 and my NY resolve is to keep swimming in my cardio rotation 1-2x/week.

Third time trying to post ...

Jessica & Pat - swimming lessons sound very good. When I have more mental space I'll look into it.

Jessica - you will exercise!

Thanks, everyone, I did well today even though there was a mean NE wind coming off the sea. You could hear the waves crashing. But no fat & sugar mixture for me.

Checking in quickly cuz I'm at work late and I need to get to the gym -

Ahem, I ate the pie. But then our friends who had custody of the 2nd pie didn't eat any of it, gave it back Saturday night as they packed up to leave. Are you kidding? The whole pie? I froze it for my Mom at Christmas. I should have thrown it out, I need to work on that skill :p, but at least I won't eat touch it in its frozen state.

Walked 6 miles Thursday and a whopping ~10.5 miles Saturday. Just went grocery shopping and I'm stocked up on tons of fresh fruits and veggies. I'm going to hit the gym and get a jump-start on December! We can do it everyone!

Jessica, the swim lessons sound like a great idea. I start training in January as well. The trainer at the gym said he wants to start training for this year's benchpress competition (April) in January.

ICU, great job refusing the gin & tonics! Sometimes I water nearby plants with cocktails that are pushed on me. :p

Have a great day all!

Woohoo - swimmers! I logged in 2200 tonight, and discovered that the guy sharing my lane is our new Michigan Masters president. Before the workout was done I'd been recruited - looks like I've got a team! Yay!

Megan, I wish I had your discipline. If a drink gets in my hand - it's goin' down! Great job walking - can you recommend a pedometer? I'm curious to know how much a typical day at work does for me.

paperclippy - you won't hear me barking about workout slippage; I've only accomplished 2x week. I dunno - I have this irrational idea that if I put off the intense, long duration, every day type of exercise that y'all are doing until I actually get to maintenance, my old bod might not DEMAND it as the price for keeping the weight off. Stupid, I know!

Off to bed. I so wish I didn't need 9 hours of sleep a night - I could get so much more accomplished! (like exercise?)

ICU-- yay!
Jessica--uhh, no comment here either
Silver--does that mean food is op? if so, go you!
Megan--I think you get the prize :)

I did great durung the actual day, stayed the same at 125. Then cam,e rewards weekend with cheese crackers wine olives homemade pizza in an outside stone oven (worth every bite, actually) to a reuben and fries and 2 bowls of cereal for dinner last night.

BACK ON PLAN--so far, ham and mustard, cottage cheese :)
did I say BACK ON PLAN (scale at 131 :()

Woohoo, I went for my run last night even though it was freezing outside and I didn't want to! Only did 1.7 miles but at least it was something, and I ran intervals.

Going to go check out the pool website to sign up for lessons right now. The group size is limited to 4-6 people so there should be a good amount of one on one instruction.

Almost POP yesterday. I snuck a second snack in the evening. :p

Megan - that pie! You've really had to overthink it! You seem to have worked out a happy ever after solution though.

ICU - I'm impressed you were recruited for a team! Go you!

Kittycat - yes, Go Me! Two (2) almost POP days and the slips were tiny and will not kill me. Surely that weight gain of yours is water?

Jessica - good going on the run in the cold. Colder here and I need to fit into the winter trousers. I don't have the time or inclination to try to buy more.

Jessica, great job going for your run in the cold! I forgot to say a few days ago congrats on your 4-year maintenance anniversary!

Silver, yeah, I tend to waaaay overthink things. :faint: It's a weakness of mine, I know.

Kitty, I agree, surely that gain is water. I personally "lost" 5 lbs over the last 1 1/2 days. It was all water from some super salty black-eyed peas, I'm sure. You will flush it out in no time.

ICU, I hear you completely. My body is mad at me if I get anything less than 8 1/2 hours of sleep. I have to keep telling myself, sleep is really important, instead of trying to "get more done".

Hi everyone else out there!

As I mentioned I had major salt overload from the weekend. Yesterday my weight was 164 (!), this morning down to 159, so I'm working on continuing to get rid of this water weight and onto my Christmas goal. I had said 3 lbs when I was at 157, but I'm thinking 2 might be more realistic. 155 it is, and I'm leaving early Dec. 24 for a week of travels to BF's family and my own.

It will be a challenge to fit in 5-6 workouts a week w/ my schedule until Christmas, but I will do it! My feet have been bothering me a bit so I'm looking to tack on extra body weight and core workouts in particular, rather than more impact cardio.

Two POP days in a row... Resisted a Hershey's milk chocolate Santa for the second night in a row last night when DH had one for his evening snack... Had a peanut butter protein smoothie instead. Look at me go.

Megan - salt is a killer to me, too...

ICU - :high: on the swim team!

Silver - good job OP!

Jessica - way to go on getting the run in even though it was cold! I hit the treadmill last night myself.

I was at 127.8 yesterday, 124.7 today, would like to settle at the 122.5-123 range to give myself room to wiggle for Christmas. Though, since it won't be at our house I'll probably eat less than I did at Thanksgiving. Or at least that is what I'm telling myself. :dizzy: