Hey all -

This is my first post in this thread. I'm getting to a point where I think I can and will lose a maximum of 10 lbs before it will become too difficult to maintain, so this thread seems like a good place to be.

A little information about me...I'm 23, 5'4.5 inches tall, and after this weekend of eating nonsense and beer I weigh somewhere between 130 and 131 pounds. The lowest weight I've ever been was 128 when I graduated high school in 2004, and that was a short-lived victory. I was quite overweight for most of middle and high school, topping out at almost 170 pounds. From 2004 to 2010 I slowly packed on the pounds thanks to mindless midnight pastas in college, bagels for breakfast at my summer internships, and most recently from an overabundance of white rice with meals and bakery snacks in Japan.

I have gone from almost 158 to 129.4 last Friday through calorie approximation and the inclusion of cardio and some minor strength training (pushups). My boyfriend carries the gene for alcoholism and so has an almost inhuman sweet tooth, and my friends (none of whom have weight problems) love all you can eat buffets (they are quite gourmet in Japan but still all you can eat!) and desserts.

I am sometimes tempted to call "maintenance" but part of me knows I'm not quite "there" yet, wherever "there" is. I am giving myself until August (when I move back to the U.S.) to lose the last 10 lbs because I know I'll have slipups galore.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

krampus - welcome aboard! I'm in just about the same place as you - sorta the last 10 pounds, but waiting to see what happens during that ride. I've become really good at either maintaining where I'm at (almost a year now), or this is a very, very long plateau.

waterrat - thanks for the explanation. I hope you can work it out with your doc! Constipation or nausea - good grief, what a choice! Empathize with you on the energy costs - we're on LP, and it shot up 20% this year.

Survived Halloween without getting into any candy, and I'm quite pleased with that. On the not-so-good side, I have a cold trying to "get" me. Zicam, please don't fail me now! Work is about to explode into a major stressor again too, for another few weeks. So ... there are challenges. There's no point in wallowing in it ... and the refrigerator can't fix it. Onward. Forward. I am sure I will look back at November 2010 in a few years and laugh.

Welcome Krampus!

Back at red line today after too much junk this weekend. Sigh. TOM is this week too so hopefully it is just bumped up extra from that. Back on track now. Plan is to be POP until Thanksgiving to try to get me firmly at 136. My 5 year maintenance anniversary is coming up and it would be nice if I was still right around goal weight.

Krampus!

I am in losing mode. My secret? Eating less and chewing more. Well, that's part of it. I think I may get under 11 stone (154 lbs) soon. That would be a wonderful achievement. It's in sight.

Midwife and Kittycat? Catch those babies and then just pop in and see us!

I'm glad I had my gym bag packed today "just in case" I had time to get to the gym, thinking I wouldn't. I ended up getting in an hour workout. I'm actually quite sore from my past several days workout - sore is good!

TOM is here, so I'm trying to stay away from the scale. Even though I know it will be up, I still let myself get upset by it.

Silver, keep up that momentum and I know you'll reach your goal!

Jessica, I know you'll get right back on track. Mondays are such good days for getting back on track, don't you think?

Pat, I hope your medicine troubles resolve themselves soon.

saef, congrats on getting those boots on! Take this from someone whose calves never fit into boots, even at my skinniest. Lots of people here talk about dreading needing extenders for plane seats? I needed extenders to close my rental ski boots. What does it feel like to fit in boots? And enjoy it.

Hi Krampus, welcome!

Bedtime because we all know how important lots of sleep is for me.

krampus - so nice to see you in this thread

silverbirch - love the note about chewing, when Im rushing I can just inhale food - no good at all.

ICUwishing - I havent had any candy either, and resisted fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies yesterday (told myself to enjoy just the smell, it was likely better than the taste, hehe)

I decided to extend my stay in Philly for another 2 nights. And I have eaten carbs - gasp! Calories seem to be tracking a tad low, but I may be slightly underestimating my restaurant intake.

In "how is this my life" news...I bought 2 pairs of size 27s skinny jeans at Jcrew last week, wore one and realized they are too big. Exchanged the other for 26s yesterday..which is a size 0. Size 0 skinny jeans. What the heck. Gosh I wish I had my scale! Killing me its been since last Wed...Im guessing no scale change and just the fat moving around a little?

Hi girls
Little babies taken care of, for now. I have a very big professional opportunity this Friday, so I have a nice, extremely short term goal to stay on the straight and narrow for. Then my family heads to a beach in December to visit Grandma! More incentive.

Love the action here. Sounds like MOJO is at high function!

Welcome Krampus. I get a kick out of your screen name

Yesterday was POP. Goal for today: repeat that's often a bit tricky these days. But I think hormone flux is down for a while and I can focus on good behaviors w/o getting distracted by crazy cravings and mean-a$$ moodiness.....(well, maybe )

Scalewise--- I am at 129.5 and have been bouncing from 129.5 to 131.5, maybe hitting a low of 128 here and there (mostly there.) So, not crazy, but it's amazing how a 5-7 pound difference at these lower weights can make such a huge change in the way clothing fits!

Again, ONWARD. FORWARD. GOOOOOOOO TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, weight is down 2lbs this morning from yesterday even though last night's dinner had hoisin sauce and soy sauce. I think we can safely call yesterday's weight an outlier.

Still higher than where I want to be, but not at freak out level.

Down 1 more lb today to 137.8. Crisis averted.

I need to use up some leftover burrito-sized flour tortillas. I made burritos last night for dinner, but each tortilla is 210 cals. Now sure how I'm going to use up the rest of these. I bought them to make tortilla chips for our Halloween party but bought way too many tortillas. Does anyone know if I can freeze them?

In other news, I am a total weakling. I did bicep curls with 8# dumbbells yesterday and my arms are super-sore today! Meanwhile the men in there are doing curls with the 35# dumbbells . . .

Jessica, I freeze my tortillas. They are fine.

Stayed OP yesterday except for a fun size skittles and one starburst. Calories alone qualified as POP.

OHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
goal: REPEAT!

My mojo was killed by a falling twix bar.

Not killed, rendered unconscious for some hours. It's now coming round. Nurture it!

I am below 11 stone (154)! Thrilling news. Now to ease on downward. I'm a bit jumpy as I've lost the plot twice in the upper 10 stones (lower 150s). Focus.

And I need some focus, too.

Along with the news that my company's healthcare provider is changing its three plans, charging more & covering less, came the announcement that our cafeteria would host a Health Fair afternoon.
I went.

And after an on-site blood test & blood pressure test & weighing & measuring, was told my HDL was slightly low, so I need to exercise more to raise it (ummmm ... okay...) and that I could stand to lose five more pounds. Thereby offering medical confirmation that I need to be in this forum.

The only thing that left me feeling good: My blood sugar level was fine and the person giving me my flu shot said, "Nice bicep."

Said bicep is sore as heck from the shot. I need to sit here working at the laptop for another five hours, otherwise I'd be playing with some weights to try to get whatever they put inside my muscle to move around a little bit more & hurt me less.

My pride has been stung a little.

Then again, the Health Fair folks have no idea how much weight I've lost. They're just strangers in our cafeteria today.

Still ... ouch ... ouch.

Well Saef, that's bullshirt and you know it. Are you gonna let some random health-care worker burst your bubble? You shoulda said, "Hey, good idea. Meet me later in spin class..." You would probably leave them, shall we say, breathless?

Jay

ETA: I have never had a flu shot and do not intend to.

Saef - my flu shot hurt like heck as well. And don't let that health care worker get you down, she just had to tell you something to justify why she was there.

You rock.