Bigdog, I know you can get your motivation back. I bet if you saw a little success it would spur you on to go for more. Can you find a brief time period in which you could seriously shock your system into giving up some water weight? Like maybe 3 days where you just do salads, protein, and tons of water? It's only gonna get harder over the next weeks, so I would love to see you blast a few pounds off now. I really wasn't sure I could do it, but I am, so I know you can.

I had an uncamaswa experience at a party last weekend- I didn't drink! And I didn't eat, either. It was too weird. I had a martini and a nice dinner at home and I just didn't want anything else. They were only serving margaritas and beer, plus they had a big thing filled with icy cold lemon water. I kept having hot flashes (ha). And so I just kept guzzling the water. At a party you just need to keep something in your hand, so I was so grateful for the water.

I'm motivated! thanks for the suggestions. my new bosses took me out to lunch today and i ordered a salad w/ blue cheese w/ light dressing and ice water w/ lemon. those skinny wenches ordered half chicken dinner w/ fries and split an appetizer! (slap, slap, slap!) i am not used to eating out that much and this staff eats out daily! anyway, i can make good choices and will start doing that again.
(blue cheese wasnt prob that good of a choice but this restaurant was not MRC friendly!)
Drank so much water today, had to find pit stops along the way between sales calls :) Told my DH not to bring home any more sweets or pies- if he wanted to bring food home, it had to be salads or protein!
for the parties, i'm making sure i'll take some diet tonic water and club soda ...if i do have vodka, i'll have good mixers. i had gotten back to drinking beer so know that puts the lbs on.
and Menopause is really kicking in this month! i've been taking Menopause Complete (over the counter herbs) and i ran out of the PM pill so havent been sleeping that well. hot, Cold, hot, cold and anxiety. yikes! will have to get some more pills tomorrow and make that a priority! maybe i'll take a benadryl tonight :) and conk out....right after NCIS though of course.

Bigdog- yay you! And I suppose those skinny wenches are YOUNGER, too. Look up the menus online ahead of time you can, have a game plan. Stock up on diet mixers, remember your friend Roadside Lemonade, and step away from the beer.

I'm in the same boat with the menopause...I might look into those pills. I get SO hot it is really making me crabby. Then I cool down and am freezing cold. Yuck.

i get them over the counter from Walgreens. im also going to get some Melotonin - everyone swears it helps them sleep. the menopause pills i take have a little of that in the PM red pill but i could use a little more :)
I've lost one pound! im going to have to weigh every am because of course as soon as i stepped away from the scales, the pounds creeped up.
i just read this funniest book...Hot Flash Holidays by Nancy Thayer...it's so funny...the ladies are ripping off their clothes when they get hot! i'm like hot, cold, hot, cold... breathing helps me too w/ the anxiety...10 deep breaths especially when im stressed...
i've been drinking the Syntrax chocolate truffle shakes and really love the Vanilla Bean Torte (i mix that w/ my coffee in the am) sometimes add a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon for a pumpkin latte. The Vanilla Bean Torte mixed w/ pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon is also excellent and taste like dessert.
the celery is great w/ some super strong cheddar cheese...i get my crunch in and protein.
i have the Protidiet Pink Lemonade (the Roadside has a weird bubbly taste) that i drink too.
ok, another pound will be lost by tomorrow - i can feel it melting away!

just went to Walmart and found Spring Valley Black Cohosh Menopause Complex 60 tabs.. $9.99 (the Nature's Bounty Complete Menopause Support Complex 60 tab was $16 at Walgreens)

what i like about is is that it has a Morning pill that helps w/ hot flashes, mild mood changes. The Night time pill helps w/ occasional sleeplessness, hot flashes and night sweats

Ok, here we go! :)

back on board
 

lost another 2 pounds! yippee yay!! thanks for the motivation, ladies!! Woo hoo! was so excited, i doubled my walk schedule w/ the dogs today - they loved it!

Okay, so I have to get on the weight loss band wagon here.......got on the scale this morning and am up 3 pounds. I have developed a bad chocolate habit in the evenings that is growing (went from 2 squares to 4+ now!). I just have to stop eating sugar. I eat great during the day but blow it with the chocolate in the evening. So......I have ordered some protien treats from diet direct for the evening (hot chocolate, lemon and butterscotch pudding). I'll still have a sweet treat just not one that is loaded with fat & sugar! Oh and I need to make sure not to go down the candy isle when I do my grocery shopping (I am a chocolate snob so the stuff by the cash register doesn't appeal to me ;)). Also need to jump on the menopause band wagon too! My biggest complaint is poor sleep/night sweats. I'll have to give the melatonin another try - has anyone tried 5htp for sleep? It's getting real old waking up every night at 3 and staying awake for a couple of hours :(

Hi ladies,
It's been a while since I've had a chance to come in and read this thread.

Anyway, I'm on the "need to get myself under control" bandwagon right now, too. I've only gained about 2 or 3 lbs, but life's been a bit of a rollercoaster, so it's been tough.

We had our first assisted fertility cycle in October and I found out at the start of November that I was pregnant. I stopped running as soon as there was even a chance I was pregnant, because I didn't want to take any chances (I still did yoga and ran on the ellipticals, though that's not the same). I also got a little lax on watching what I was eating--letting myself endulge a little more here and there. Unfortunately, my pregnancy was determined not to be viable--confirmed by ultrasound on 11/26 and I started my miscarriage this week--so it's been a stressful month (which made me just struggle even more with my eating). :(

Like I said, I've only gained about 2-3 lbs (I was up almost 4 lbs, but I've been more strict with myself this week, and I started running again the week before), so I'm hoping this won't be too painful to get back under control. I suppose it will be a little easier, too, once my hormones return to "normal" here in the next week or so.

Anyway, I'm back to checking this board to help me with the strength to turn all the holiday treats down this month! I went to a Pampered Chef party last night and burned the holy heck out of the roof of my mouth on the cheesy bruschetta dip they made... so that'll teach me, I guess, lol! ;)

This was a struggle for me, too, a few months ago. I started having a planned evening snack of protein hot cocoa, dannon lite & fit vanilla yogurt, and 2 squares of ghirardelli dark chocolate OR 1 package of the Cinna crunch & chocolate snack (from Wonderslim, I think). This combo also seems to help keep the protein/carb balance in check, and is super low-fat.

Totally keeps me from eating anything else after dinner! In fact, I'm even less likely to endulge during the day because I know how much I look forward to my "dessert" every night, and that I won't let myself have it still if, say, I eat some cookies or something that someone brought into work earlier in the day.

TeacherLady, I am SO Sorry to hear of your miscarriage. I went through that several times. Eventually my beautiful amazing daughter was born and everything I went through was worth it, but at the time it was stressful and sad. Just take good care of yourself.

I'm still weighing everyday and watching it bounce all around. Apparently if I want to see a consistent loss, I have to be super-strict on the carbs. Last night I had a dish with lentils and rice, then munched on some trail mix in the evening-this morning up over a pound. I'm still averaging 3 pounds down from my Stop the Madness moment, but i want to get 3 more off. I really hold fluids bad....

Hey Maintainers! I want to lose about 18 more pounds ...they want me to sign up for extra weeks...cant I just stay on the diet go into stabilization? Why pay again...almost broke from what I have already spent
The center gave me a goal of 142 ...I want to weight 128..because I have weighed this before.

cmarty: i'm doing stablization according to my MRC center but i'm still following the green menu, i lost another 1.5 lbs this week, so when i fill out my food sheets i just put what i would want to eat during the stabilization, shhhh, don't tell anyone LOL!!:hug:

I am having a hard time going back to the metabalance menu. Haven't lost any of the 3 pounds I have gained. Going to plan out my meals today for this week and see how that goes. I think part of my problem is lack of exercise - I started a new job in September and it's been very stressful, working 12 hour days :(

Teacherlady: thanks for the tips on the evening snacks - I think that will help. Got a tub of hot cocoa and some chocolate crisps from diet direct. I think I need to NOT eat chocolate for a while since I've gotten out of control with it.:o

Hello all-
Sounds like a lot of people are jumping back on the wagon...it's so easy to fall off anytime, but this time of year is extra difficult...I mean I can walk by sweets in the store anytime of year, but put it in some holiday wrapping and I'm drawn like a moth to a flame. But I want to keep fitting in my clothes so I don't buy them. And I'm like faery-a chocolate snob (most of the time). I can pass up the cheap stuff, but I love Lindt!

I've been maintaining...mainly through counting calories. But for the past week we've had respiratory influenza at our house...started with my 6 year old, then me, then my 4 year old. My symptoms are still pretty bad as are my 4 year old's. So it's all I can do to actually prepare food. I didn't even get in my computer to lurk on the message boards let alone post...which means I must be on the mend. And I had just started a great 90 day exercise program and refocused on clean eating. Now I just have to focus on getting healthy. My lungs burn just sitting here, nevermind trying to exercise. I'm just hoping none of us end up with a secondary infection like pneumonia:(

teacherlady-sorry for your loss.

camaswa, bigdog, and faery-here's to keeping back on track. Catch it early. Do not let it get out of control. We'll only regret that _________________ (chocolate, beer, pasta, etc.) in the long run.

Oh, and I know we all like to dwell on the mistakes we make, but I had a great moment a week ago while on a celebratory date with the hubs. We were celebrating the closing on the sale of our home and he wanted to go to Olive Garden (the man loves his alfredo pasta). So I ordered from the 575 calories and under menu...a veggie lasagne thing. It came and compared to my husband's massive dish of shrimp pasta it looked so tiny. But it was tasty and went great with ONE breadstick, salad, and some moscato. I finished satisfied but not bloated. In the bathroom afterwards there was a group of 4 gals having a girls night and they were all belly-aching "I'm so bloated, I feel like I'm going to bust..." etc. It felt so good to know that in my previous life, that totally would have been me "please just roll me out the door and ignore that I had to unbotton my pants..." But that night I'd had a yummy veggie dish with a small amount of pasta and felt satisfied. It was a treat, but I wasn't uncomfortable and had all kinds of energy to do a little shopping.

Keep fighting the good fight.