The storms up here were fairly terrifying, saef. Be glad you weren't flying through them!

I've been to the Whole Foods prepared food buffet twice in the past two weeks. It's so wonderful. Not cheap, but wonderful, and NOT SALTY.

115.6 after the gym this morning. I haven't been very hungry lately, and my lifts are staying strong. I've been very anxious lately and doing a lot of rooting around my psyche into dark corners.

Saef - we had some pretty solid storms here in Georgia yesterday, too - don't know which ones cancelled you, but I wouldn't want to be flying in them.

Flower - welcome. I know you've been here a while, but I've only been lurking and reading and not posting. Your sentence about not letting those three pounds control you talked to me just now when I read it, so I decided to pop back in.

I've been tired, busy and overwhelmed lately. I've been active in a challenge on another forum so I've been talking there, but I've backed off most everywhere else. I need to stop that habit - it isn't good for me. I need to interact to keep myself up and out of my head.

Just checking in... due to unforeseen circumstances, I ended up eating out 3(!) times in the last week. Despite that, I've still been bouncing in the same range: 138.0 this morning. Not bad, but I wanted to have a buffer for vacation, and with it being only a week away, one pound is not a buffer. I plan on packing my scale, sticking with my eating window and walking, but I expect to have some excess poundage on the flip side.

Hello from the other side of the pond! Doing well so far with jet lag. We got passes to a great gym and I just did a power yoga class. Food is challenging as we are eating most meals out. Krampus... I also had soup and salad from whole foods for lunch. Niece and nephew are sick and contagious. I will be a miracle if we don't all catch it.

Michele - I can't believe that you are taking a yoga class in London. That is awesome.

Yoyoma - vacation coming up! Woo!

Krampus - sorry you have been anxious lately. I understand that, I have been as well. I pretty much know where mine is coming from, and hope it settles soon.

I feel way better today. I suspect "not being lazy" and "taking a proactive approach toward making things happen I want to happen" would cure a lot of what ails me.

Hang in there and don't get sick, michele! Envious of your location I have a friend who's a pretty expert Ashtanga yogi (person who does yoga?) in London, maybe she'll have some recommendations!

Shannon, hope whatever's causing your anxiety calms down.

yoyoma this has been a crazy eating out week for me too.

to this side, Michele! Which part of London are you in?

Just a fly by to say hi, work is busy and I was in all-day training the last three days. My weight was down to 166 this morning though!

Flower, yes, I have twins!

Oh, guy, this is not pretty. Not one bit. I'm up 9 pounds from my trip last week. I ate so much bread--more in one week than I usually eat in two months. Now, instead of needing to lose 20, I need to lose 30. I'm close to that all-time high I haven't seen in about 10 years. This sucks. But, I did go to the grocery store yesterday and got berries and cottage cheese for my breakfasts and salads for lunch and dinner. I can make this work.

I'm another one who went up the wrong way. Yes, up to 156. And that's also really high for me.

I was eating lots of cherries yesterday, mostly in a sort of unconscious compensation to myself for having to work on my laptop all afternoon on a document.

But no, it's more than that -- I'm just eating a lot. I had one of those moments standing outside of myself when I was at the buffet at the hotel last week, which is how every meal was served, and saw how I'd heaped my plate. "Oh, I need lots of protein. And vegetables, for fiber." Yeah, I was just eating huge amounts of food.

My portion creep has been insane.

That is the answer to the "mystery" of why, when I'm in the gym working so hard, I'm getting heavier. Only a bit of it is muscle. The rest is simply over-eating at meal times.

It's a different behavior from what made me fat before, which was eating junk constantly. It's masked a little because it is happening at meal times, and I am eating "good" things, "whole foods," "eating cleanly."

Not looking forward to today's doctor appointment and the official weigh-in. Knowing his scale, at that time of day, I'll be close to 160 by then.

I have a business trip W-F this week, so calorie counting is on hold until next week. That doesn't mean that I can slack off though and I need to remind myself of that. Hopefully I will have some appropriate food choices and I will still get my workouts in.

I'm on week 6 of my 12-week program starting today. I've been really good at keeping up on everything. In the whole 6 weeks, I missed my outdoor walk one day and that's pretty much it. Core exercises done every single morning, walk outdoors nearly every single day except that one, and two weeks down of 4 intensive workouts per week. Plus the workout of hauling my kids around every weekend. I think I'm making some gains in muscle tone because I was able to fairly easily pick up and carry both girls at once this week, and it was very difficult to do a couple weeks ago (they are a bit over 20lbs I think).

Exercise of the day: put two babies in a box. Sit on the floor and push the box back and forth over and over so they think they're in some kind of ride. It's good exercise because while you push the box around they giggle hysterically and are adorable, but if you stop pushing the box they scream, so you have to keep doing it for like 20 minutes straight until you can distract them with something else.

I'm sure I'll be joining those of you needing to lose a regain when I return from my trip. I've managed to workout each day so far but I've indulged a bit each day.

Paperclippy: it does sound like you're making significant progress - happy "halfway through the workout program" week!

Saef: Sending you positive vibes on the weigh in, that you'll let whatever number appears just roll off of your shoulders instead of settling in your mind.

Alinnell: Of course you can make this work. Vacations happen and that's a good thing, whatever the scale says afterward. Was your trip good?

Michelle: hope you're having a great time!

I realized that I need more of my self esteem to come from non-work and non-scale sources (since those aren't providing much). So, I'm getting back into distance races. I ran a hilly 17 miles yesterday and it felt ok so I'm going to try for a trail marathon in a few weeks.

Portion creep. Yes, saef, I know.

OMG, yes, the vacation was amazing. The Wine Country Inn was decadent in all ways, shapes and forms. The wedding was perfect as was the reception in Sequim, WA. I couldn't have asked for more (except perhaps knowing that I could have reserved a Tesla to drive to Napa!!!).