I saw the photos that Michele posted from tough Mudder, but I don't think she said how she did in it. Guess we'll have to wait for her!

I, too, am at a low Monday weight. Not entirely "blipless" for the weekend, but a half-pound blip is nothing! I'm happy where I'm starting.

I'm alive! I'm here! Busy at work-- but I'll post more later.

I did it! It was amazing! More to come....

I love this today, Saef. I have paralyzed myself lately with high and lofty goals, only to accomplish nothing. If I'm behind or don't have enough time or energy for perfect, I do nothing.

I'm back. I haven't been fearless myself this fall, but I'm trying to get back that way. The last few weeks have been hard.

So the Tough Mudder was amazing! It was hard, long, tough, and fun! I highly recommend it to anyone that wants a challenge. They are done all over the world and they benefit the Wounded Warriors program.

We went up Friday after school and got stuck in bad traffic. We stopped for dinner along the way and got there about 8:30 pm. We had wanted to jog around to get used to the altitude (very high in Tahoe), but it was dark and no where that we could see to jog (plus we were wiped out). So, dh and I walked around the hotel for 20 minutes or so and prayed that we'd adjust to the altitude.

Saturday morning we woke up, ate at the hotel and went to the venue (Northstar Ski resort). I was nervous! And not feeling 100% but not too badly. We checked in, got numbers written on our foreheads and legs, bib numbers, etc., and got ready to start. It was very emotional as there were wounded warriors (soldiers with prosthetics) there participating, we sang the Star Spangled Banner, prayed, etc. and then we were off! There were 15,000 participants between the two days with the majority on Saturday, so we had staggered start times. We started about 10 am. There were a total of 20 obstacles plus lots of running in between (up hills, through rugged trails, rocky areas). Each obstacle was hard in its own way. Our goal (my team of 5) was to stick together and at least try each obstacle. That is what we did. Some obstacles I pretty much knew I wouldn't be able to do like the rings over the water-- I tried but was in the water pretty quickly. There were giant (12 foot?) walls to get over and because it isn't a race, people help each other. Luckily we had dh and one other guy in our group and they helped shove me up the wall until I could grab the top-- then I had to hoist myself over and supposedly gracefully land on the other side-- but I pretty much fell on my a** each time-- I am very bruised and scraped all over-- especially my butt! I am afraid of heights (though not so much anymore-- I'm TOUGH!) so some of the obstacles were a little intimidating for me-- one of the first was to climb up a wall and jump off into cold water and swim out. Some people were afraid of the water but I was afraid of jumping. But you just kept going and cheering each other on. Lots of muddy obstacles so we were wet and muddy like I couldn't imagine. There were two obstacles with electric shocks and I did get shocked. The shocks hurt! You can skip any obstacles if you want to but we didn't skip any. However, I think I would skip the electric shocks next time as I know there were MANY injuries. Many people got knocked down by the shock (or passed out) and hit their heads or other parts needing stitches!

Towards the end, one of our members went face first into the mud and got mud in her contacts. She was dying-- she finally ended up taking them out and abandoning them-- but then couldn't see well. One of our other members finished but then her ankle started hurting so bad she couldn't walk. So the medics took her to urgent care and she spent several hours there.

We all went to dinner after and reveled in our toughness. We are wearing our Tough Mudder shirts today and are ready for next year!

Our friend that was hurt couldn't drive home so I had to drive her and her car back, while my dh drove our car back. We are all quite sore but happy to have done it!

Congratulations, Michele. I googled Tough Mudder Tahoe and saw how tough it really is. It is for a good cause. I am proud of you for going the whole way !

Wow Michele. That sounds really challenging and fun. We have friends that are avid runners and do the "Dances with Dirt" events. My knees prevent me from running very fast for long. So I mostly stick to hiking. But if it wasn't a race, maybe I could hack it.

I have been at 113 pounds two days in a row, I don't hate it but am looking for the sweet spot. How do I stop losing and how do I not regain? Inquiring minds want to know.

Bargoo-- what do you think caused the sudden whoosh after you had been working so hard with slow results? If I were you I wouldn't worry unless you go below a number that you deem just too low.

I was almost too low at one point and I'd love to be closer to that spot again. It seems like a distant memory.

Today I'm getting a new hot water heater. Plus, plus, plus. Apparently everything was broken, not up to code, installed illegally, blah blah blah. Going to cost an arm and a leg. I'm just hoping he's almost done by the time I get home from work so I don't miss the gym again. I didn't go Sunday because it was after Tough Mudder, then I missed yesterday because the plumber was at the house plus I was still sore. No excuses today hopefully. I probably won't make tomorrow due to a dinner-- unless I can make it a quick trip before dinner-- so I want to make sure I go today.

So disappointed in the scale this morning--up half a pound despite being OP yesterday and getting in a little exercise. Going to have to ramp it up a bit today.

Mchele, I was at 114.8 just one day , next day and today 113, I just think it is part of the weight loss I have been trying for since Jan 1. I am not alarmed by it but as much as I want to lose excess weight at some time I want it to stop so I can relax and move on and not gain .
This is a problem dieters face all the time, I know there is no going back to eating as I did before which brought me to over 200 pounds.

Michele, congratulations! You are one tough chick, all right! Are you going to do another one? It sounds like a few of your teammates might not want to do it again in the very near future. I hear ya on having to bring things up to code - we fight that battle on darn near everything we touch in our house. A water heater is a good thing to spend money on getting right, though - the failure modes are often pretty spectacular.

bargoo, way to go on that whoosh. Agreed, you have earned it with your patience and persistence. Never having been "too low", I can't offer anything on how to stop a loss, beyond give it just a few more days and see if things level off. This might be where weekly averaging has a big advantage in that it's easier to see a trend when the daily ups and downs are factored out.

saef, you nailed me precisely. You are absolutely right - I have a problem with starting anything that might result in failure. I have left a lot of money on the table, figuratively, by waiting until "the perfect time". I need to modify Nike's logo to "just do ... SOMETHING!"

allison, scales do what scales do. Stay on plan!! The news could be completely different tomorrow. In my twisted little world, you teased the universe when you mentioned you wanted to get to a certain number by the end of the month.

shannon, welcome back. I pledge to "not be perfect" this week, too. I made a little clip of saef's post and taped it to the pagefinder in my planner.

I was looking back since I started my 12K/week experiment in early July (after failing to hit a "4th of July" goal). I've lost 2.7 since then. Little number ... but this is working for me, in an understated, flying-below-the-radar sort of way. It's like I'm sneaking my way down. I'm getting curious about what the end of the year could look like, in spite of the holiday hurdles looming.

Becky, whether you get in your exercise or not, you're doing really well with your little experiment. But I am such a zealous convert -- I've gone from a high school gym class klutz to someone who never misses her workout -- that I believe in moving one's body just for the sake of it, to keep it in working order. It's a view I've had to assume, since my own weight has nudged upward. And also I have had to think that way to combat the demons of the eating disorder, which would have me exercising to burn calories and to punish myself for binges. Some people swim just because it's a pleasurable, sensuous experience, and I can't say that for many things that are exercise-related. You could do that, too. Turn duty into pleasure with low expectations. Really. It's allowed.

Michele, I am in awe of your making it through the Tough Mudder but not one bit surprised. Though you worry about not getting in enough days of exercise, you are actually burning it hard. And if there is a Zombie Apocalypse, I want to meet up with you, as that would give me a better chance of survival, because you'd know how to climb over walls and crawl through mud with a knife clenched between your teeth, if we had to.

Shannon, I feel for you and your challenge of regaining your feet and some sense of mundane normal life after being with someone who was dying. After I witnessed my father's losing struggle, it tilted my perspective offbalance for several weeks afterward: "Ha! You call THIS important?" Probably I went back to work too soon afterward. There is a kind of re-entry that doubtless you're experiencing.

Allison, for all you know, you could have a half-pound of fiber working its way through your system (to be blunt about it), so I would not fret just yet. I reiterate the advice to stay on plan.

Bargoo, I need to borrow a cup of your dedication. And to remind myself any stress I'm experiencing just now is really small potatoes. See, Shannon is not the only one experiencing a kind of re-entry. I consider myself still re-entering my regular life.

Becky and Saef-- I totally want to do another tough mudder. I'm ready to sign up now. I didn't think I was that tough, but I do have the bruises to prove it. I know where my weaknesses were and I'm going to work on those-- primarily upper body strength-- while I do lift weights, I need to work a little differently to try to improve. Dh says he will do it again too so I'm ready to jump back in!

I am going to follow saef's advice and lower my standards and actually post. I lurk from time to time and post occasionally, but I seldom seem to be in the "groove" enough to post. Today I'm posting anyway.

I weighed 157.8 this morning. I got down to 135 or so about 2 years ago and have gained 5 pounds every time I see my parents for a few days (otherwise I seem to be able to maintain whatever weight I'm at). My parents were here for here the week after Labor Day, and afterwards I weighed 162 something. My WW lifetime goal is 155, so I've been 2 pounds over for about six months (their last visit was in March). So the day that they left, I got an offer in my email from WW for a half price monthly pass and I bit.

I am now two weeks into this and at my weigh-in last weekend, I was up one pound (about ten pounds above my goal according to their scale). Now mind you, I had eaten and didn't shed any clothes before weighing in. I pay more attention to what the bathroom scale says, and it had returned down to the 157-159 I've been at for the last six months in that first week when I actually tracked what I ate and tried to stay on plan for all of about four days. Argh!

So I was tracking, and then my dh found out that a tooth that had been bothering him would have to be removed and replaced with an implant. Said tooth had already had two crowns and a root canal, but the root was fractured so it was time to give up. Our wonderful dental insurance will chip in $600 toward the procedure, leaving us with about $3600 to pay ourselves.

That happened on Thursday (the day I quit tracking). Then the next Monday, we took dh's truck in because it was leaking brake fluid. We found out that it needed rear brakes completely redone (the fluid had gotten on the pads, and the adjuster couldn't be tightened anymore). That was $400. Then we found out that the spring mounts were rusted out and needed to be replaced or the wheel would bust through the bed of the truck if dh hit a bump or tried to haul anything. That could be fixed for $600. Our mechanic said he would have to tow the truck back to us if we didn't fix the brakes, so we did. Now we're selling dh's truck and becoming a one-vehicle family because we don't want to fix the spring mounts. Ironically, his truck is worth about what his tooth is going to cost us, but we aren't selling the truck to pay for the tooth.

I am a WAHM with three kids, ages 9, 6 and 3, and we homeschool. DH has thought being a one-vehicle family would be a great way to save money, but the fact is, he would still go to work every day the same and nothing would really change for him. I only go to town on two days a week, but if I need the car, I have to spend an hour at the beg and again at the end of the day driving in crazy traffic in the craziest part of town to drop dh off and pick him up. Those extra four hours are going to come from what - sleep? exercise? work? household tasks? downtime? (what IS downtime anyway?) And since we homeschool, we are not accustomed to getting kids out of bed and into the car by a certain time. DH leaves at 7 and we generally start school at 9, so we are by no means ready to go anywhere at 7 in the morning. So I was completely stressed out about that.

So I was drinking chai tea every day - usually I don't drink caffeine every day but rather just when I need it, and I seemed to need it every day. But if I drink it every day, it loses its effectiveness and I am really grumpy. So not only was I stressed out, I had the caffeine grumpiness to go with it. And I didn't lose any weight.

I told myself I just needed to lose 4 pounds to get back to my WW goal (if I dress carefully and don't eat before I weigh in) and then I would be able to cancel the monthly pass and not have to pay $40 for another one. But I am now two weeks into this and have made NO PROGRESS whatsoever. I'm still stuck where I've been for the last six months.

I got off caffeine on Monday and Tuesday. This morning I feel very good (no headache or sluggishness) and am not feeling the urge to have any caffeine. And we have bananas again so I was able to have a banana with my oatmeal for breakfast (that seems to be my meal for success, and in WW, fruit is free). So that is good. It is much easier for me to stay OP when I am not grumpy and irritable.

The good news is that I made it through all that and didn't gain. But still, I haven't lost an ounce and I only have 2 weeks to get this done. I must confess, I am not ruling out drastic measures (though my version of "drastic measures" is probably quite innocent as I have never had the strength of character to be able to starve myself or binge and purge). If I can just weigh in under the line somehow, I will have another six weeks before I have to weigh in again, and in that time, I can get some cushion in there to get back to my WW goal. I'd really like to get back to 135, but right now I'm just worried about the WW goal.

My monthly pass expires on 10/9, and I am so tired of having these 2 pounds hanging over my head and not being able to go to meetings without paying.

So I by no means have my act together, but I am posting in hopes that participating rather than just lurking will help propel me to my goal.