Vacation damage=4.5 pound gain. Extra vigilance this week to erase that. DH gained 6!!

Lost luggage is now down to two bags--my DS's bag and the bag containing all our shoes any my toiletries. Just about to check their whereabouts now.

Becky many hugs. I'm sure bunny's time with you was wonderful and he was very well loved and cared for :hug:

Dagmar I don't eat breakfast let alone eat candy for breakfast...I imagine it would be even worse than the sugar spikes and crashes from bagels!

bargoo You're right, "a" brownie is something made up by diet magazines and the same people who chew food and spit it out! XD

michele Oh my gosh!!!!! Cats are always the highlights of my vacations too. I have pictures of random cats from every trip I've taken.

alinnell Sorry your luggage got lost and your body got bloated toward the end of the trip - planes will do that to you!

Kittycat40 Hi! Glad to hear things are balanced and stable, life-equilibrium is good.

Lightest I've been in almost a month today. Pushed back my "eating window" to 3 PM - I find myself choking down 1400 calories in a day.

michele, allison, krampus (and kitty, who I missed earlier) and everyone else - thank you for the kind support, re the bunny. And Dagmar, for reminding me that prey animals especially do not like to show weakness. The vet completed her study and told me that Patches had a highly abnormal hindgut, which was most likely congenital. Given what she saw, she implied that our good care may have kept him alive quite a lot longer than he may have lived otherwise. She also said he did not suffer a rupture; instead he may likely have scared himself to death by the way things were moving and bubbling due to the medications he was taking. (Lord, what a way to go, huh?) She had never seen anything like it, nor had the other rabbit-savvy vet she called in. So that's some closure, at least.

allison, I think you can wash most of that extra water out in the next couple days. Flying is notorious for water retention, and we all know about Mexican food ... Sending you positive thoughts on all of your luggage eventually making it back; I had one occasion where a single piece of my luggage went to the far side of the continent before it finally came home!

krampus, you sound like you're truly in the groove. Your posts read like the smile in your picture. :) Keep the good times rolling!

I heard back from the bunny shelter - they think we'd be a good home and we are working on finding a time to get down there and visit. They have a bunch (herd?) of dwarf-sized rabbits, including a big litter of young siblings. I'm hoping that there is, or can be made, a friendly pair who can be adopted together.

In the meantime, I got out and played some badminton with DS13 last night, and have been able to stay on plan without much effort. It remains to be seen if my calorie target of 12K per week is too high. I think if I am successful with my activity targets, there shouldn't be an issue; I'll know more by the end of July. I think water aerobics starts back up tonight, too - :D

Lowest weigh-in of my life today. Dunno how to feel about that!

Congratulations !

Krampus, great job! Enjoy!

DS13 and I are going to the bunny shelter Friday evening to meet the bunnies. :D. I'm happy, and still sad - it's a little weird. And feeling a little guilty about looking forward to new rabbits, so soon.

I should tell you that's something to be joyous about and to live for the day that you're in -- which is pretty wonderful.

And that you may be in a great period in your life (only you won't realize that it's great till it's past) so don't deliberately look for any problems right now.

But I think I get it. Any time I've gotten to a low weight, or achieved a certain state of fitness, I've always had a nagging voice that spoils it for me. "Yeah, but can you sustain it? What if this is the best that it ever gets, and it's all downhill from here?" It's like I'm afraid to be too happy or too triumphant, because that may draw down wrath from above. "Don't get too cocky, kid."

Don't be like me. Don't complicate something uncomplicated. Be happy.

So many of your posts sound like you're in a good time in your life. You're healthy, you're working on your fitness, you know what works, you've got someone in your life whom you like, and you're spending time with friends in NY, Montreal, wherever. Unless there's something else nagging at you (in my lifetime, it's sometimes been my job or letting creative achievement fall by the wayside), you go, girl. Or, you keep on going, girl, as I said to someone else on the forum the other day.

krampus YEAH! what saef said. :yay: :bravo: :dance: :hat:

Mudpie :D

I'm the opposite of krampus. I'm glad there's no scale here - I'd hate the number and I'm going to have to flush my system with a lot of water for the rest of the dog sit. The isolation is getting to me. This is the end two weeks of what has been the most lonely period in my life for the last 16 years. DH can exasperate me and I worry about his health but at least I have one friend and person to talk to in him. With him gone I'm really alone.

And I have been comfort eating. Not celery and carrots either. :o

Dagmar :(

saef, your post back to krampus - a lot of wisdom in a little space. Thanks for the reminder!

Dagmar, :hug: It's almost over, and you'll be back with your home, DH, food, and routine. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, truly, for all the little things we take for granted, yes?

I'm finding life in the 1600-1700 cal range to be very reasonable. The scale seems to agree, at least this week. Facing a pig roast and home brewer's guild meeting on Saturday - that's going to be a challenge. Fortunately, the theme is meads, very few of which I enjoy drinking. Plus, it being summer, I'm getting kinda tired of pork. Saturday is my weekly calorie reset day, so as long as I know what I had, I can compensate for it over the next 6 days.

I noticed we're almost at the 500-post mark again - is it already time to try to make a clever reference to Labor Day? ;)

One pound of vacation weight has gone.

Looking back on vacation, I'm certain that it was my lunches that caused the weight gain. We did the buffet each day and although I had salad with fat free dressing that often took up half my plate, I loaded the other half with carb laden choices. Breakfasts were actually delicious and not too horrible. I had cottage cheese with fruit each day (reminds me how much I love cottage cheese) and then one eggs benedict (if it were a regular restaurant, ordering this you'd get two) and a very small portion of hash browns. Dinners were gourmet and not huge portions, so I'm certain the choices I made there were good ones.

Becky, I think 1600-1700 is where I come in most days and I agree it is most reasonable. 1200 is just too restrictive. Even 1400 is hard to get for me.

Dagmar, hang in there!

saef, good words of wisdom.

Krampus, I wish it were me saying that I was at my lowest, but then my lowest wasn't too healthy for me, so now I just want to say that I am at goal, which I cannot do just yet.

Lose It By Labor !
Lbs off by Labor Day !
Let's Maintain by Labor

Thanks all for the encouraging words. I remember the last time I had a lowest-weigh-in-ever I ate myself sick for 11 days straight immediately following, and never recovered. I am just going to keep reminding myself that eating and exercising are things I do every day and should not be treated as punishment, reward or anything other than "sustainable routine."

alinnell Cottage cheese is wonderful. Relaxing and enjoying vacation is also wonderful. You'll be back to goal soon enough - and I agree, < 1400 can only last so long...

ICUwishing 1600-1700 is a pretty great range to be in. I don't know what this "tired of pork" business you're talking about is, or "not enjoying meads," but that sounds like a great weekend ahead! Don't feel guilty about looking for new bunnies - you're not replacing old ones so much as adding new personalities to the hutch :D

Mudpie Hang in there - this too shall pass. Loneliness and isolation is the toughest to cope with. We're all here for you in the meantime!

saef Not complicating something uncomplicated is what I'm aiming to do. It's taken almost a year since getting back in the USA, but you are correct - I'm in a comfortable and good place in life. All the things I want to improve are simply for self-betterment, not because I'm dissatisfied or unhappy.

bargoo, I like the "Lose it by Labor Day". We could go back to the "Maintainers looking to lose 5-10" theme too. Shoot, it doesn't matter what the title is, as long as we all know where to find it! ;)

krampus, the event on Saturday is a pig roast, and will run from 1pm to ... who knows. It's a summer meeting for local home beer brewers; they have themes for the meetings, like pilsners, ales, lagers, stouts, kolsches, etc - this one happens to be meads. Since the only ones I can stomach are the difficult-to-make dry meads, I think I'll be okay. Not having a big sweet tooth works in my favor on this one!

Today's the last day of my first week of working to a weekly average. I'm going into today with a 700 calorie deficit, so I expect to add my first purple star to my calendar (I am a highlighter addict) to denote a successful completion of a 12,000 calorie week. Orange stars for exercise, and yellow for days under 1714 cal.

DH took up beekeeping this spring to a) help the declining honeybee population and b) to increase the output of our fruit trees and garden. He brought home the smaller "nucleus" hive last night, so when DS13 and I got back from his vocal lesson, the driveway and garage had some pissed-off stragglers. I hope things have settled down today.

Tonight we have to make a quick trip to Ann Arbor so DS can "re-audition" for his choir section, and then we're going to the bunny shelter. :D We won't be coming home with new pets tonight - I still have a bit of set-up to do since we're planning on getting two.

Becky, are you going to start the new thread ?
Like your idea of highlighters, I am somewhat like that, my big thing is numbers I have list of numbers , for various reasons, or sometimes no reason at all. I am a little OCD ! I have a calendar that I keep on my desk that I post my weight daily. That is just boring black or blue depending on the pen I use, but if I have appointments, birthdays or other dates I need to remember then the highlighter comes out. I have a computer game I play, on my desk is a pad with a long (Pages and pages , actually ) list of numbers, green highlighter is involved on this one. I do smile to myself when I add to my scores, there is no indication of what it is for. I often wonder that when I die what my heirs will think of this list, what is it ? what does it mean ? It is in the billions, now. I hope they don't think it is a bank balance, they will be disappointed, if so.
Good luck with your bunny search. Years ago when my kids were little we had bunnies.
Re: the bees, my brother's BIL who is a teacher has a sideline business of beekkeeping, had it for many years he even has a Government Contract to sell his honey.

The thread continues

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/livi...ml#post4404050