JayZeeJay - good luck for Saturday and beyond!

I am at work, deep in a rather complex bit of work. I've had my lunch (mountain of salad, tin of fish, 3 oatcakes). I have just moved the two oatcakes remaining in the packet from my desk to the other side of the room. I'd like to have something else to complete the meal but there's nothing much here. I could have a cup of cocoa, I suppose. That would probably do it, especially if I borrow some milk from a neighbouring office's bottle.

JayZee~you'll be a beautiful bride! Have a wonderful day.

Andrea~you're right, he is an adult and I shouldn't worry, but he is also my son so I'll always worry a bit. I told him about the apple with peanut butter and he said that sounded good, but he had ice cream last night.

Tonight will be a small challenge. DH and I are going to an open house where there will be wine, champagne and hors d'oeuvres. We're not going to stay long so hopefully it won't be bad for me.

I've been kind of hovering at a rather high weight for the past few weeks. I've quit eating frozen diet entrees for lunch and instead am eating leftovers from dinner and lots of salads. I've increased my veggie intake and lowered other stuff like breads and pastas. I thought this would help my weight but it has not. BUT my blood pressure seems to be going down. I've been monitoring it for about a month and I'm seeing progress. It's still high but not nearly as high as it was.

Sorry about the rain, Michele!

Good news about the blood pressure, Allison!

JayZee, best wishes for your wedding day and every day!

JZJ, congrats on your upcoming wedding!

Allison, great job on the BP.

Day 2 went well I think. I came in a little under 1800 calories, did my core workout, and did my walk. Today so far I did my core workout and walk, and am on track calorie-wise. I am reminding myself to embrace feeling hungry. That is to say, not that I'm starving myself or being hungry ALL the time, but accepting the fact that it is okay for me to feel hungry when a mealtime is approaching. Between eating all the time while pregnant and while breastfeeding, it's hard to lose the mentality of "if I'm hungry then I should eat so I can keep my babies healthy." So if it's 40 minutes until lunchtime and I am starting to get pretty hungry, that's okay.

Wow. This. http://thenewinquiry.com/blogs/the-b...idnt-eat-that/

Yup. And I'm not going there anymore.

Wow is right.

I am definitely a little obsessive with only 4 months of maintaining. Not quite that bad, but I'm just maintaining a size 8 (which I am thrilled about).

Thankful to be married to a man for 28 years who has seen me through all the ups and down in my weight and learned about 30 years ago not to mention it.

I'm sad that such a large percentage of the population is overweight. But I'm also sad that the food industry and modern life has made it so hard to lose and maintain. I know we are ultimately responsible for putting food in our mouths and not exercising, but most food is so full of sugar and addictive that it is just plain hard.

One day at a time.

Me either.

Dagmar but not skinny

Thank all for the kind wishes! We're leaving today to head to Tahoe, I will be back in a week.

That article made me sad.

That article made me think she's got anorexia. I could never be that obsessed. Besides, I like food too much and the promise of going out to eat will always outweigh going to the gym in my book.

Good luck to you, JZJ! You will be lovely.

Allison, I don't think she does, because she is not unhealthy (doesn't have low energy, suppressed thyroid function, hair loss etc). And JayEll and Dagmar, if you are a maintainer, then, in a way, you DO go there. Your reason for doing so may not be for vanity, but you are deliberately choosing to eat less than you would like, making calculated decisions about when/what you can eat and making accommodations for it at other times of day, and pushing yourself to exercise even if you don't feel like it. After some thought, this is what I posted in response to her post yesterday:

"Wow, what an amazing post. I have taken the liberty of posting the URL to a weight-loss-maintainer's forum I belong to. On that forum, I and many others have repeatedly discussed the question of where to draw the line between the necessary vigilance required to prevent weight regain and having an eating disorder. Our consensus is that, to be a successful weight loss maintainer you must develop habits that, based on textbook criteria, will be labelled disordered eating. Except - and this is crucial- without the "disordered" eating (and exercise vigilance) WE WOULD BE UNSUCCESSFUL WEIGHT MAINTAINERS. The way I see it, the only difference between you and me (or anyone of my "3 Fat Chicks" maintainers friends) is that your successful weight maintenance happened at a young-enough age, and to a low-enough weight, that you ended up "super hot" while our similarly obsessive efforts only get us (speaking for myself here) to "adequate" levels of attractiveness. So, to add an additional painful wrinkle to your already less-than-satisfying dilemma of having to expend a lot of effort without seeming to expend it in order to look great, we 40, 50 and 60-somethings (I'm 48) have to expend all that effort, also without admitting to doing it, and end up looking only average. Ouch. And, oh yeah, if we ease off the quasi-obsessive efforts to stay thin(ner), we end up, not average like you started out, but overweight again, with all the issues of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other negative health effects that the medical establishment informs us DAILY is what’s killing us as a society. What’s worse, an eating disorder, or dying young of heart disease and diabetes?"

JayZeeJay, breathe, and remind yourself that behind everything that is overwhelming logistically on that day is actually quite a simple intention: Two people who love each other, proclaiming that in a formal way in front of friends and family, and throwing a party to celebrate. That may calm the churn and what ascends at times to fear that you're not going to be able to pull it off, or that it won't be done right, or at least, not the way you'd hoped it would be. Again, breathe. The people want to see that you're happy, and that there is love there -- they want that more than aesthetic splendor.

Well, yes, of course, she has an eating disorder, even though the language looks ambivalent, and she admits and then denies. She's still rationalizing it: It's the pressure of dating, the desire to be loved and admired. It's not the men setting this requirement, though she feels that's how it goes. It's her. She's not quite gotten to the place where she sees that. Now she'll go through the phase where you know objectively that there's something wrong but you still can't or won't stop what you're doing. That can be a years-long phase, unfortunately. I wish I could give her a hug. I'd say: "Welcome to my world -- I wish you hadn't come, though, for your own sake."

And me, I'm looking at a scale that edged up two pounds over a week of reverting to dried apple chips, and so many things to do, I've already declared the coming month of July a complete washout, and will be surprised if I don't work through every weekend.