I should really set some little goals for myself. 18 pounds is a daunting number at this point. I should look at 2. 2 pounds is my goal. By my birthday. There. I did it. I set a goal.

Becky, Kitty, hugs to you both. Sometimes it is just hard, you know? I'm glad you can share with us.

Maybe it's something in the air. DH and I (and DD) got into an arguement about whether or not she should take the AP Physics exam yesterday. Her school won't give her credit even if she gets a 5 on it, so she would spend the money with no possible college credit. However, if you pay for 3 AP tests, the 4th one is "free" (you pay for it and then submit to get the $$ back) and she is taking 3 others, so she would get the money back. He thinks it is a waste of time and money. She wants to take it as a personal challenge and said she will front her own money to pay for it (~$71). I have to laugh a little---our biggest teenage problem is that she wants to take the AP Physics test??? But then he said we were stubborn and I said, "Ok, Pot."

Anyway....

Yup, 5, 10, 15, 20, it's all good here. I shall be en pointe today!!!

Oh, gosh, I missed some posts. My goal is to be en pointe today. Small goal. Achievable. Measurable. And my other goal is to weigh myself tomorrow morning. Funny how I just don't get on the scale some days.....hmmm.....wonder why? It's all fun and games until you have to pay the piper, ain't it?

Bumpity, bump bump (sang to the tune of the Frosty song "thumpity thump thump over the hills of snow"...).

POP food yesterday. I only raw two miles and walked some at the gym, then did my abs. Running was just really hard yesterday, not sure why. Today I need to do my back, deadlift, and cardio. Maybe some HIIT on the stairmaster.

Midwife, why is it that it's not real until we see it on the scale? I don't get how my brain works, obviously it is, scale or not... how did your goals for yesterday/this morning go? Funny you're fighting w/ your kid to take the AP exam. That's not how it went when I was in HS! I was forced into taking AP Physics, I shouldn't have, but my other AP classes were all good.

Jessica, your body does burn a few more cals (I believe ~100 cals) during TOM, eating a little more is ok.

Allison, way to set a goal! When is your birthday?

Have a great and OP Thursday everyone!

Sssh. I went to the gymn yesterday and today and did not have a coughing fit. I think I might be getting better. The antibiotics took me some of the way and I'll take myself the rest of the way now.

Scales also down a little. I'll have to be careful not to eat too much, now I'm getting back into exercising.

Yes, Allison, when is your birthday? :cool:

Hello, all! We can really do this. We are really doing this.

St. Patrick's day--March 17th. Can I do it? YES!!!! I HAVE to!

I have managed to eat trail mix two days this week, measuring out careful servings and eating no more. Yesterday was a little off track with DH & the eye surgery - I got a little nutty with the snacks while DSS was in the bathtub... Today is off to a better start. Weight looks better. Batteries died in my at work scale, so will stick to things I can measure in a cup or are prepackaged today. :)

Allison - good goal! You can make it!

Silver - glad you made it through the workout yesterday! Hopefully that means the tide is turning and you are heading back to healthy.

Megan - great workout yesteday! :high: on the POP!

Midwife - Funny about you and DH arguing over the AP exam for DD. I don't even want to think about what my parents argued about me doing when I was a kid... I did take the AP Pysics exam even though I really wasn't ready for it. I did much better on the English & the Chemisty.

Becky & Kitty - how are you guys doing today?

Good day everyone!

Hey guys. Allison, I really like the idea of breaking it down into very small goals. For now my focus is on one pound at a time. I will lose this pound, no matter how long it takes, and then I will lose another one. No end date, no pressure.

Glad you are feeling better, silver.

Good job, Megan!

Shannon, you are going to freeze running outside today. It looks pretty, but it is wicked out there.

Hi midwife & kitty!

Becky, every time I go swimming I think of you. :) Went this morning.

Hey Ward, I don't remember, did you sign up for a triathlon yet? Our triathlon chat thread in the Exercise forum is pretty dead right now (probably because it's winter). I'm still kind of slacking on training and blaming it on the weather.

Allison, you can do it!

So after eating extra because I was so hungry the past two days, my weight was down today. :?: Darn TOM! I've decided to take a few days off from calorie counting. Not from food logging, or making good decisions, but just from actually determining the numbers. The numbers are driving me nuts. I'm thinking I'll take a break for the rest of this week and get back to in on Monday, once TOM is over with.

I haven't actually signed up yet. I need to check with my friends to see if they are still planning to do it. They both turn 50 this year and want to celebrate the occasion with a tri! I am just along for the ride. :)

So I just set up my training plan for stage 5 of NRLW. I am so happy to see that the body weight matrix is back! NOT! That's workout brutality! Now I need to roll my butt off of this swiss ball and go get 'er done.

LOL Ward, I hated the body weight matrix too! I'll tell you a secret, I only actually did it twice once. Every other time I only did it once and called it a day. :lol:

Hi all, I've been feeling sort of frustrated all week and am finally giving into it today ("giving in" to negative feelings, not poor eating or not exercising). TOM has left and the TOM weight hasn't! Why is the scale up? I've been eating at what usually are "losing" calorie levels with this amount of activity. I have been strength training hard but not enough to gain several pounds of muscle. Strength training doesn't usually cause this much water retention in me.

Sat. night I'm headed out of town w/ 3 girlfriends to go outlet shopping and go out to some "real clubs" (since all we have here are a few bars that are boring and no dancing). It's supposed to be fun but I'm so stressed out about trying to lose weight, or at least not gain any, the thought of the calories involved in eating out at restaurants and drinking alcohol, that I'm not even looking forward to it. Let alone buying new clothes at this weight.

I know, I need to give it time, wait it out, blech.

What are everyone else weekend plans/challenges?

Jessica, well, glad the scale's down, even if you don't know why!

I remember the body weight matrix as being brutal. Made my quads scream in pain and my legs shake every single time. I believe I skipped the second set a few times, too. (Maybe I should do that now?)

I had a victory!!!

Yesterday is DH's and my weekly lunch out. I had salad. Well, it probably wasn't the best salad, but it was much better than a burger and fried. Then we also went out to dinner and again I had salad! We did split a slice of cheesecake, but my scald DID go down !!!

3 miles on the elliptical this morning and I feel great! It's days like these that put me back into the losing mood. Yes. I can do it!!!

Great job on the salad, Allison! Yes, you can do it! ;)

Megan - It took a few days for the TOM water to fall off of me this time, too. Try to have a good time tonight. :hug:

Jessica - I've toyed with taking a calorie counting break, but I don't know that I trust myself to not overeat that way. It scares me more than I like to think about.

Ward - I did get out for a run on Thursday night. By the time I got back in the car my butt felt like a block of ice. Oddly, I didn't feel cold as I ran, but when I sat down in the car I realized how cold I really was. I need something to cover my face during those runs. I have a stocking cap, gloves and a scuba shirt with hood, but my cheeks, nose & chin were red and cold...

I'm hanging in so far. My last weeks crazy has tapered down and I'm looking to see what my goals are. I'm okay with my weight at 126, though I don't love it. Where I freak out is when water retention or other factors throw it up to 130-131. If my base is 126ish then the 130s are inevitable with my tendency to hold large amounts of water. If I can't handle that then I need to lower my base. Thinking about that.

So how does your body know it is in 'maintenance mode'? I exercise a lot and burn a pretty high calorie number. I know I have high calorie days and weeks, but I have low calorie weeks too. Why do I not lose on those weeks, when I'm eating at maintenance (for a sedentary lifestyle no less) and exercising a lot? Running particularly?