Finally got to this week's goal, 188, although a few days late.

Onestar - way to fight the munchies!
kpme - sounds like you've found what works for you which is the most important thing. one pound a week is a lot!
takingcharge - there's lots of interesting posts out there on calorie cycling. It seems to happen for me without a ton of planning - I'm shooting for about 1400/day and in the last week few weeks I've fluctuated between 1300 and 1600 (one day at 1900, starving to death all day, don't know why), averaging around 1400/day.

On the question of the scale's ups and downs, I totally agree with KP that things totally vary. The scale might be up after a 1300 calorie day, and down after a 1700 calorie day based on the amount of humidity (if it's drier, you become more dehydrated overnight and weight is less) or water retention or a bunch of different things. In my experience, at least, there is not always or even often a direct correlation between how I did yesterday and what the scale says today. Plus, with my scale, there can be a change of 1/2 pound or 1 pound depending on how I stand on it. I've found what is best for my sanity is to just work towards an overall downward trend and worry less about day to day weigh-ins, although I do do daily weigh-ins because I feel like it creates more accountability.

In other news, had a great day yesterday - I did 45 minutes of morning yoga and in the afternoon went for an hour walk and then lifted weights at the gym. Also, my appetite was a bit diminished yesterday and today which means that I'm not as hungry at meals so it's a lot easier to eat reasonable portions and not reach for seconds. Not sure why my appetite has decreased, but, hey, I'm not complaining, and I hope it lasts!!!

I just got the 30 day shred in the mail from Netflix and I'm going to try it out tomorrow. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a DVD w/ Jillian Michaels (from the biggest loser) that has you do a 30 minute work out each day and apparently is great for strength, endurance, weight loss, etc. Thought it might jolt me out of the plateau I've been at for the last 2 1/2 weeks.

I don't know if I feel optimistic yet or not about Monday's weigh-in - too soon to say. I don't have any parties or anything this weekend that could be tempting, so that's good. I really want to make my first mini-goal of 10% soon. Have a great, OP weekend everybody - look forward to hearing everyone's good news on Monday!

One more piece of news...I just got a call from my endocrinologist saying that my thyroid was low so they want to increase my levoxyl. I'll pick up the new prescription Sunday. Hopefully this will be helpful in terms of weight loss. If my thyroid is underproducing and my metabolism slows down, it makes things that much harder, so I am hopeful a bit more support in that department will move things along towards my goal.

Truer words never spoken, blueridgegirl! One thing that has really been eye opening for me is accepting that this isn't a linear process. There have been times that I binge, and no gain the next day... but it does show up eventually. There have also been weeks that I have been perfectly on plan, exercising every day, and the scale won't budge or will even go up slightly. I have seen weeks where I barely lose anything, and weeks where I will suddenly drop 3 lbs (like this one!) all following the same formula of eating less, moving more. It's nice when it happens, but I agree...we tend to tie our motivation or frustration to the scale. I keep a graph of all my weigh ins because it really helps to see the overall picture. When I get discouraged by the scale, I can go back and see "well, a month ago, I weighed 4 lbs more" or even just looking at how much weight I've lost overall can be highly motivating.

I mean, my husband and I have been doing 3-3.5 hour hikes on the weekends. According to my heart rate monitor, I burn almost 2,000 calories sometimes... but guess what? For a few days after, I won't show a loss at all! I may even gain a bit, but eventually, it DOES work itself out. You just have to trust the process. It may not be logical, it may not be linear, but sticking with it for continued amounts of time will reap benefits. And this is coming from someone who claimed she could NOT LOSE WEIGHT!

I'm weighing in a day early because I'll be on my way to Steamboat Springs for the weekend early tomorrow morning. Gonna get in a good 5-mile hike on Sunday, and I'm excited to spend some time with my hubby!

SW: 185
CW: 178.8 (halfway point!!! Only 35 more lbs to go!)
GW: 165

i have a job interview on monday, and i'm really excited about it. it came at a perfect time b/c i was starting to get really stressed and worried and all that. also, i kept my 6 month old niece most of the day and my 2 year old wasn't really fond of the situation. she was ok at first, but as the day went on she was getting jealous. my baby is used to all of the attention. ate OP and got my exercise in.

Hanging in there!I can't wait to get weighed on Mon. : I have to be less!

pants- i envy you. i would love to be a runner. i tried. my knee started hurting me so bad and my dr. told me not to run. and now most time i wear a brace to walk. exercise walk, not everyday walking. i still jog a couple minutes during my workouts though. it's fun.

Morning all,
I might be the first to check in with this week's number. I'm thrilled to report 170.2, which is down 1.2 lb from last week.

Two other non-numeric exciting news:
1. Did my first "long run" since getting back into the swing of running. 4 miles felt almost easy -- I probably could have eeked out another one if I needed to!

2. Went to a wedding this weekend and definitely noticed that my arms looked way less flabby than before in my sleeveless dress!

Hope everyone had a great week. I definitely busted my butt in the gym so I'm psyched to see some results. I like this slow and steady pace -- seems sustainable for the long term and that's the goal, right?

Is anyone else in the Northeast and trapped in this miserable rainy stretch? It's been raining forever and it seems that no relief is in sight! My veggie garden has got to be suffering....

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm so happy I lost another pound! I think I may have actually lost 2, but my scale is not to be trusted, so I'm only going to put one down and hope the other one "sticks". Black is goal, red is actual. It would make me feel so good to get to my 249 mini-goal by my class reunion. I don't know what it would make such a difference, but mentally it would. Thanks everyone for their support.

June 1:....260....260
June 8:....259....257
June 15:..257... 256
June 22:..255... 255
June 29:..254
July 6:....253
July 13:..251
July 20:..250
July 27:..249 (class reunion July 31st goal)
Aug 3:....248
Aug 10:..246
Aug 17:..245
Aug 24:..243
Aug 31:..241

LABOR DAY Sept 7:....239

May25-294
May30-OFF
June1-OFF
June8-293.2
June15-290.6
June22-282.2

Good morning! Seems like it's been a good week for everyone, which is great news! Overall, not too bad for me. If you remember, I was a little freaked out about gaining almost a pound after my low of 140.8, but after a whole week of 141.2-141.6, I saw a drop on the scale this morning! Could be due to: TOM bloat going away, my attempt at calorie cycling, or a combo of all my weird body dynamics! Thanks for all of your input and getting me through the minor freak-out

Kpme and CJ- congrats on the losses!
Dancer - way to get to your goal for last week! better late than never!
Onestar - good luck on the job interview today! you're gonna kick some butt
Tracy - yowzah!!!8 pounds?!? Share the wealth! Congrats!

Ok, as for me...
5/21/09(SW): 147.4
5/25/09: 145.8
5/31/09: 144.6
6/8/09: 143.6
6/15/09: 140.8
6/22/09: 140.4 (just thankful I didn't see 141.6 on the scale!)

Here's to a great food/exercise/mental health week!

Wow - so great to see all the good news!!
Takingcharge - so glad the scale came back around and behaved : )
Tracy - a big giant woo-hoo in your direction - that's awesome progress!!!!
CJZee - you are doing great! And I think a goal is a huge motivator and a very positive thing, just as long as you won't be too down if you don't hit it exactly.
Kpme - way to go!! And I love your NSVs - those are huge!!!
onestar - good luck in your interview today and come back and tell us how it
goes.

I'm holding steady at 188 but am on target after hosting two dinner parties this weekend and going out to dinner once. I'm visiting an old friend this upcoming weekend and am a bit nervous about staying on plan while at her house as her husband runs a bakery out of their home (yikes!!!). Since both of us will be out of town at different times, I most likely won't see my bf again until the weekend of the 4th so I'm hoping to be down a few more pounds by then. Thanks, ladies, for keeping me motivated!!!

June 8:190: 190
June 15:188: 189
June 22:188: 188
June 29:186
July 6:184
July 13:182
July 20:182
July 27:180
Aug 3:178
Aug 10:176
Aug 17:176
Aug 24:174
Aug 31:172

LABOR DAY Sept 7: 170

Hi Ladies!

Hope everyone is having a great start to the new week! I'm happy to report a loss this week of 2.2lbs- I weighed in at 134.4 this morning. Jenny Craig is working for me, but I think my blood sugar is adjusting to the reduced amount of calories I'm taking in. Im just trying to remind myself that it is not a race, it is a marathon!

Best of luck on the weigh ins for all the ladies today!

Hello all,

Great to hear everyone's good news and hear that folks are staying on plan. I am down one pound from last week, at 214. That's only a one pound loss for the whole month of June so far, and part of me is bummed, but I also agree that this is a marathon not a sprint, and that slow and steady wins the race. With all the craziness of changing around my metformin and my levoxyl, I'm just glad to see the scale go down at all. Hey, a loss is a loss, and I'm edging my way closer to my first mini-goal of 10% loss. Just one more pound to go!

I do have some good non-scale news. I had my blood sugar tested when I went to the endocrinologist last week and it's 87 which is GREAT and is totally normal. So it seems like the weight loss is helping with my insulin resistance. Plus this weekend I saw an acquaintance who I hadn't seen since the beginning of April, and she told me that I looked like I had lost weight and asked me what I was doing, so that was encouraging. I found a great little secondhand clothing store near where I live and it will be fun to get clothes there as I continue to wear smaller sizes.

I started the 30 day shred Saturday and I did it Saturday and today (at 8 am before a 9 am meeting). I went out to eat for father's day to a mexican restaurant but ordered a smaller portion (even though I was tempted to get a burrito the size of a newborn baby...) so I didn't feel overfull when I was done, and I had water to drink with it. So those are some successes.

Thanks for the motivation ladies. We are all staying on track and we are all going to see a real difference by that first weekend of September!

Madison - way to go! That's a big loss this week - what do you think of Jenny Craig? Are you hungry all the time?
Blueridge - congrats on the NSVs and losing a pound while adjusting to difficult meds is a huge accomplishment - good job!