[Sheila53]

We have similar goals, losermom. We're planning to put our house on the market in March, too, so I've been slowly getting rid of stuff. Getting my DH on the same page is tough, though. I keep reminding him that he'll have to pack up the stuff he takes to the new place. We are either 1) downsizing to our rental townhome in another part of town, or 2) moving to wherever my DH gets a job (he took a buyout in August). The uncertainty causes some stress, which I've been handling in my usual way--overeating. Not as badly as when I was 100 lbs. heavier, however, so that's encouraging.

[Mudpie]

I too am putting a house on the market but probably in February (which my realtor says is the start of the "spring" market). Never done this before (or bought a house either) and its a challenge getting 50 years worth of stuff sorted, thrown out, given to charity, given away to family and friends, etc.
I have found it to be really stressful so far - thank goodness work was really slow in the fall and I could get most of this done then. Now work is starting to be frantic but the house is ready to go.

I haven't done much stress eating since September but I have been drinking more beer than is good for me.

We are lucky in that we do have a place to live when the house sells - our rental bungalow. My challenge is going to be to find a house to buy that is within my price range without it being a complete wreck. I don't want to live in a renovation for my entire life as a homeowner and can't really afford much reno anyway. I am determined to get a house though, however small, as I really, really want to have one more dog in my lifetime. Maybe two.

I'm hoping there is more of a range of properties on sale in spring.

And then there's DH and his stuff. He hasn't unpacked from our last move 6 years ago and he has, during our 6 years here, thrown out socks and underwear as they become unwearable. Nothing else.

I am setting the example by starting to cull everything I haven't touched for 2 years. That will be most of my stuff. I hope he starts to see that "stuff" is not what life is about. It's nice to have some, but not necessary to have heaps.

This probably belongs in the "Chat" thread but what the heck I'm here and it relates to some others' posts.

Dagmar

[ICUwishing]

Hooray, we made it to 2013! Happy New Year to everyone - wishing for all a year of achievement and serenity!

I confess to be relieved that tomorrow will be a full return to normal routine. As I've done for the past several years, I'll disregard the first scale number of the year; experience indicates it's a "flyer" and artificially high. Unofficially, and just to prove that I did check it, it was 151.0. I don't expect to see that again! EVER.

Regarding clutter and acquisitions, I have the same problem. It seems like the more I get rid of, the more DH acquires and stuffs into the space that I've freed up. About the only positive part of it is that he's doing it out of my sight, since the majority goes into the basement. This week I purged a massive bag of Christmas decorations, plus the cap and gown I had from my MS graduation in 2005. Next up - a biggie - my wedding dress.

[alinnell]

Oh, my. I don't know if it is because I got up 3 hours earlier today than I have all weekend long, or if it was the dinner last night (lasagna that for some reason was tasting rather salty) but my scale was way up this morning. WAY up. I don't even want to say the number, it's that bad.

It appears I did a poor job of maintaining over the holidays.

Back to the diet today.

[ICUwishing]

Allison, I feel your pain. Mine jumped up multiple pounds three days ago, and appears to be stuck there. Back to work! I look at it this way - if nothing else, it does kick off the new year with an invigorated sense of purpose, doesn't it?

[krampus]

I put on 2-3 holiday pounds. I hope it comes off as easily as it came on :P

[traveling michele]

I'm joining the club-- the club that was freaked out at the scale reading today. Probably shouldn't have even weighed-- I knew it would be bad. But I did. Haven't seen a number that high in a couple of years. I hope it scared me straight.

I'm home from Texas, but I pick up dh and older dd from the airport later today. We still have dd's birthday on Jan. 4, so that will be another challenge. Unfortunately I have been giving in to even non challenges. Yesterday was really bad.

Today I forced myself to wake up at 4:30 to go to early Bikram Yoga because I wasn't sure if I could fit the workout in otherwise. I've never gone to the 6 am class before-- there were only 8 of us there. But I'm happy I did it. I've also been to the dentist, the grocery store and paid bills and it's only 11:00 so I feel productive at least.

Younger dd has a friend coming today for a few days too. She is an Austrailian foreign student and wants to see San Francisco. I'm not sure if we will do anything with them or if they will be on their own. I'm kind of hoping to get back to my routine as much as possible. I don't go to work until Monday which is both good and bad.

[Shannon in ATL]

Poor job maintaining over the holidays here, too. All year really. I'm taking off my mnx ticker and putting a weight loss one in instead.

[ICUwishing]

Spike may have a partial explanation ... TOM apparently felt left out of the New Year celebrations and decided to show up a full week early, without warning. Lovely. Just lovely. It might also explain some of my weaknesses around the sweet stuff recently ...

It sure felt good to have a normal breakfast at the normal time, and a normal lunch at the normal time.

[traveling michele]

Not sure where to post this but I finally counted my exercise days for 2012. My goal was 310, and I ended up with 308 which is the same number as 2011. Not too shabby!

[neurodoc]

Originally Posted by krampus

I put on 2-3 holiday pounds. I hope it comes off as easily as it came on :P

HAH. Weight changes defy the laws of physics (or whatever says that things should change in the same way in both directions). I usually take 3x as long to lose weight as to gain it, pound for pound. And, thanks to a ridiculously indulgent New Year's Eve (chocolate, wine, champagne and tater tots? what was I thinking???) I was back up 2 pounds on January 2nd despite not having had a single off-plan day since leaving for NJ on Dec. 24th. I will never see my redline weight from the right side again at this rate.

Anyway, like most of you on this thread, I have finished with all holiday indulgences, purged the house of desserts (except the kids' candy, that I don't like), and sworn off my latest weakness - almonds and peanut butter - until I'm solidly back in maintenance mode. Unfortunately, I will be going in for (more) surgery next week, which will mean yet more time that I can't exercise. This time, to repair a torn shoulder labrum and cartilage, which I tore from, you guessed it, doing exercise (weight training) to help with weight maintenance.

Happy 2013 everyone.

[Mudpie]

Are the holidays over? Should we start another thread?

Dagmar

[bargoo]

Originally Posted by Mudpie

Are the holidays over? Should we start another thread?

Dagmar

Maybe we should be thinking of a Spring theme, but must of us are still trying to recover from Holiday indulgences .
Heres a thought for a new thread....
Maintainers staying lean in 2013.

[alinnell]

Today's scale reading was more in line with what I was seeing over the weekend. Still up a couple of pounds, but not ridiculous like it was yesterday! Even so, things need to go lower because I leave on my cruise a week from Saturday!

[saef]

I can't even imagine spring at this point. I just want to make it through the winter. In my experience, January is actually far less bleak than I think it's going to be. I power through, fighting the early dark, borne aloft by good intentions. Somewhere in February and then through March, it becomes a slog. I was chatting with the manager at my gym the other day, and she said that by the second week in March, attendance falls off as the New Years resolutions fade. I'd thought it was after Valentine's Day, but no, the momentum usually lasts through that.

I am just a maintainer taking it day by day through the darkest and most difficult part of a Northeastern winter.