Ward, great job!!! :high:

ICU, today is definitely going better. I'm totally on track with healthy food and staying under my limit. The only trick is going to be keeping up my motivation to go run when I get home even though it will be getting dark!

I fancied something else after tea BUT I flossed and cleaned my teeth instead. Oh yes!

Pantsometers in the morning.

I'll say good night now.

Paperclippy -- I'm not sure whether that the lack of PM caffeine is helping my sleep yet or not. I've been alternating between too little and enough. I don't have trouble falling asleep, just have trouble staying asleep long enough. Good job getting back on the wagon after TOM!

ICU -- green tea also has caffeine. I drink decaf coffee, black and green tea in the afternoon. I've also dug out my HappyLite. That is supposed to be able to help too.

Yesterday my food was POP for the first time in several days (finally!!!). I had a huge pan of broccoli to pick at instead of my usual tea.

Ward -- Wow! Congrats on 25 days! Good luck dealing with the in-laws.

Silver-- Good job with the dental hygiene to ward off munchies! I usually don't even think of tryig that Iand even if I did...).

Have a POP weekend everyone!

I am about to leave for the spin-a-thon! Wish me luck! :carrot:

I'm having a hard time getting up and running in the dark too, Jessica. I've managed to scratch out some runs in the daylight but I have not been very consistent.

Yesterday was my birthday. Did some on plan things, ate some pizza & cake. Back on plan today! Water weight, water weight, go away!

Good luck with the spinathon, Ward!!! :cheer:

Thanks, midwife! I'm back and I survived. :lol: Over 1100 calories burned. :carrot:

Fantastic, Ward! :carrot: How many calories??? Let the endorphins float you through the IL visit.

Yoyoma - I just found myself stopping, thinking and then doing my teeth. I'm working quite hard on awareness (it helps that the house is getting tidy and organised again after months of builder chaos). And if something goes skew-wiff I ask myself how I could improve things for next time and do it. Thanks, midwife, you've set me off on an interesting path! It's improvement not perfection we're interested in.

:wave: to all. Will try a fuller post tomorrow. It's not so straightforward on the BB.

Happy belated Birthday, midwife!

Ward - 3 hours of spinning???? Yow!

yoyoma - hope your sleeping is improved! I know green tea has the caffeine, but it's a vaguely different molecule that doesn't induce jitters the same way or make the heart race. What I don't know is whether that action is any different for sleeping.

Maintained over the weekend - I guess I did enough yardwork to offset some misbehavior on Friday night. On the positive side, that same Friday night, I was introduced to an absolutely fabulous chicken/white bean/garlic/jalapeno chili that was heavenly! If numb-lips-spicy is your "thang" like it is mine, I'll get the recipe up.

Hope everyone's week is taking off in the right direction!

Great photo ICU! I'm with you on the spicy - I'll be looking for the recipe. :)

Ward - great job on the spinning. Hope you didn't think I was out-of-line with my :drill: last week? Hang in there with the ILs. :hug:

yoyoma - is this sleep thing catching. The last few nights I've laid awake for an hour to hour and a half, and then last night added in an hour or so awake at 3 am! Grrrrr. Consequently I was 1/2 hour late for work....

Very belated birthday wishes, midwife!

Lovely picture, ICU. Thanks for putting it up.

Yoyoma and Pat - wishing you both a good night's sleep.

Ward - not so long now.

I'm just edging downward, helped by a cold and a poorly, off-school boy (thinks: this combo can send me searching for food but isn't this time ... Interesting). I'm trying to focus on the goal in hand but I'm getting another uncelebrated-by-me day lined up for a January focus. I shouldn't really run ahead of myself. But another 5lbs by Burns Night (25 January) sounds do-able, don't you think??

And then Lady Day (25 March) but that is my name-day.

And then 19 May but that is DB's birthday.

Yes, running too far ahead. I should watch where I'm putting my feet today and tomorrow (but with half an eye on the distant horizon).

Megan? Jessica? How are you doing, team members??

Hello gang!

ICU, that recipe is right up my alley-- post, post!
Ward, sounds like you are rocking the IL visit
Silver, I am still in it until I hit my 122 goal
Jessica, I am going to follow in your op footsteps today
Yoyo and Pat, I will send you sleep vibes.... I cannot sit on the couch for any time without falling asleep!
Midwife, you are such a beautiful person. Happy 37th and many more to come :):):)

gooooooooo team!

Hi all, I'm back from a weekend out in the country with no internet/tv/etc. I ate off plan. Not counting last week's official weigh-in because it was TOM so it was off as usual, but hopefully this week will be better. Now I have to complain about the off plan eating, because while it was 100% my fault, it was also totally not my fault! (I'll just keep telling myself that...)

MIL knows I'm trying to watch my weight. DH's grandmother was my worst critic when I was heavy (although not to my face) and my biggest supporter for being thin. FIL has to watch his diet because he has kidney disease. MIL is also trying to drop a few pounds. Their vacation home we were at Sat-Sun is in the middle of nowhere so you need to bring all of your own food and water. MIL told us "don't bring any food, I will take care of it." I packed oat bran and raisins for breakfast just in case (good thinking on my part!).

However, despite all of this, MIL shows up with the ingredients to make persimmon pudding, and DH's grandmother shows up with a huge batch of homemade cinnamon rolls. Both of them brought them specifically for DH, who is also trying to watch his weight. They didn't bring much else in the way of food. Can I refuse homemade cinnamon rolls when there are 20 of them sitting in front of me, everyone else is eating them, I'm hungry, and there's nothing else to eat? Of course not, I don't have the willpower. Ugh.

In any case I had two cinnamon rolls and some persimmon pudding. I volunteered to make dinner and made my healthy low-cal veggie soup that can be made entirely from pantry ingredients, so that was a win at least. The next morning I ate my oat bran and raisins before MIL started making breakfast, which was a good idea because she made blueberry pancakes and bacon.

However, probably my biggest failure was after we got home Sunday afternoon. I ate some raisin challah, the two leftover bat-shaped cheeseballs from Halloween, two glasses of wine, then made meatloaf with ground round instead of ground sirloin (it was cheaper) and scalloped potatoes (american heart association recipe, but still) for dinner.

In all of those mishaps though, I do have a success to report! I went to the supermarket Sunday afternoon and it was chock full of holiday goodies. I DID NOT BUY ANY. :cheer: Boy am I glad that places like 3FC exist, because otherwise people would be like, big deal, you went to the store with your list and only bought stuff on your list. But you guys understand the immense effort of willpower that was required to walk past the sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, cranberry bread, stollen, pannetone, moose munch, holiday blend trail mix, hot cocoa, and on and on and on.

Enough about me, how about you all? Let's be 100% OP this week! Go team!

:hug: Jessica, you're right. We understand. And you did the best you could in the circs. Well done! :hug:

(Nightmare set-up at the country house. Very, very good thinking to take your breakfast. That is a Top Tip for the rest of us.)

Jessica - :high: on making it through that weekend! The shopping trip IS a huge deal too - I wouldn't have "got it" at all last year ... but this year? It's almost like being on an acid trip (forgive the drug reference - I'm 42 and I did misbehave at college for a brief period) - hyper-aware of all the forces working against health. My last shopping trip was basically an eyes-on-list-only scurry around the perimeter! I am reserving room at Christmas for one small McDonald's eggnog milkshake, heavily doctored with dark rum and cinnamon, however. :drool: This year, just one ... instead of two a week all the way through December. :rolleyes:

Successfully battled off the negative thinking and "deals" with the voice in my head last night, and swam 2300 yds. Had to swim with a couple of high-school guys getting ready for their competitive season - that was motivating! I did waver off plan and had a 1x2 inch piece of cashew brittle - but otherwise I've been very well behaved this month. It paid off the morning. :D