Joss- I've been wanting to try Miracle Noodles. I haven't seen them offhand, but I also haven't searched for them very hard. I'll have to put that on my list. I can totally relate to finding manly men über-attractive. My guy is very handy in a lot of areas, and as weird as it sounds, it can be such a turn on! When he is working on a project, like now, I just want to jump him. Ha, ha.

Philana - how do you determine how much to eat each day? Your workouts are so intense. I've always wondered how people do that. Is it easy to make up the cals? I don't have very much endurance, so I max out at about an 800 cal burn if I go apesh!t at Zumba.

Krampus- yummy...BBQ food. sounds like your boyfriend is really moving up the ladder! That is awesome. I am a poitical junkie, but probably on the other side of the spectrum. I love talking politics, and I honestly can see each side, and support each side's view...as long as the view holder has even the slightest reason to support one side or the other. As long as you know WHY you like one candidate over the other, works for me! I proudly sported my 2012 Presidential tank top today...like a total dork. Ha ha!

Leila- lololol "Olives are delicious, puppies are adorable, BBQs are fun, giraffe chicken sounds hilarious." awesome.

Still in renovation mode around here. Since my hubby does every-single-thing himself, my job is to pretend like he doesn't exist and keep the kids and dogs away. And feed him. I also do any painting, cleaning, tiling...when those jobs spring up. I bought some gorgeous natural stone 1x1 backsplash tile for my kitchen. We've lived here three years and renovated almost the whole house, but I had a hard time deciding on the backsplash. We are country, but not Americana-country. More like rustic, cabin-esque, cozy style. Very warm with dark wood, buttery walls and natural stone work, especially all around our wood burning stove. So I am thrilled to have found matching stone tiles that will work in the kitchen, and tie it in. I had to pledge an oath to hubby not to tile until he finishes the mudroom, otherwise we'd both be busy and the kids would drive us insane. Doing much better with my eating, especially now that I feel myself again, and have been doing well at not going over the top.



My own food porn! I busted my hump yesterday and made thirty-eight jars of jam! Three flavors: 1.) Cranberry Almond Peach 2.) Blueberry Citrus 3.) Apple Plum Pecan . These flavors take soooooooo long, because they have so many ingredients, and it takes forever to cut up all the fruit. I make plain strawberry (ridiculously easy) for my boys, but I love the speciality flavors to add variety to my plain Greek yogurt, and occasional slice of toast and jam. I also make Raspberry Mango and Spiced Cherry. yum! I give almost all of them away as gifts, so I'm almost stocked up for the next year.

And here it is, August 20, 2012 and I am BACK to where I was. I have been sort of following all of my old featherweight friends the past year. So many of you have been doing so well and it really helps with motivation.

I have been trying to get back on the wagon for over a year now. I just cant seem to do it. I dont know what to do. Getting in shape is something I want SO bad but for some reason just cant stick to it.

The last time I lost weight (Fall 2010) I was at a desk job and I weighed myself every day. So watching the scale go down is what kept me motivated. But now, I am not at a desk job anymore so I retain a lot of water and have a lot of weight fluctuations every day. So I can no longer use the scale going down every day as a source of motivation.

Ladies, how do I do this again!? I know how to eat clean. I know how to exercise and I know what I have to do. Its just SO hard at the end of a long day to not indulge and/or have drinks and kick back. I dont know how i stuck with it so long last time (not even that long; but long for me)

I have my sisters bachelorette Nov. 3 and I really wanted to be in the best shape ever by then. Now its just too soon and I am freaking out. My worst fear is not being able to enjoy myself fo rmy sisters bachelorette because of my body. AND THAT WILL HAPPEN if I dont lose weight. Unfortunately

I am sitting here as I type this binging on cheezits and peanutbutter crackers.

Please ladies. Tell me how you stay motivated.

Also, is it possible the first few weeks I wont lose any inches or weight?? Thats what ive noticed the past few attempts Ive tried losing again. When I dont see any progress I give up. Is it possible my body is "fed up" with me and not letting me lose the weight now?

Sorry for such a negative post. Just in a down mood :/

Chickie, Well, I burned at least 2000 calories just READING about your house projects, not to mention the canning. Those jars look so pretty!

Dianne, you've done it before, you can do it again!!!

So I asked my dad about running the 5k with me, but he has a blood clot in his leg, so it's looking like I'll just be doing it myself. I went for my first run last night, and had used map my run to try to figure out a 5k route. Well, I had a figured out a loop around the area where I live that was like half that, and planned on going around twice. I know I don't need to be running 5k right off the bat, but was hoping my elliptical training would translate well to running. For the most part it did, I didn't feel overly tired, and I didn't have any muscle fatigue and my joints felt great. But my breathing was getting more laborious, so I guess the running seems to be harder on my lunges, or else, I'm coming down with a cold. The elliptical makes me sweat more, but is a lot easier on the breathing, so it wasn't totally what I expected. I expected more muscle and joint fatigue for muscles that don't get used on the elliptical. In any case, I ran the loop once, and probably could have kept going, but the thought of only being half way seemed a bit overwhelming, so instead, I just went for a walk to the mail box to cool down. But I'm pretty confident that I should have no problems running a 5k in 7 weeks. I think next time I'll plan a longer route, and just walk part of it if I get tired. Looping past my house makes it too tempting to just stop!

LeilaJey : I was wondering where you have been lately! Glad to see you back lady!!!

Jossfit : God, the animals chicken nuggets = LOL. They were coming from the store, and they were sooo full of unnatural stuff in them, it hurts my eyes looking at the nutritional information. Plus the shape were so-so, there was one of the animal who clearly looked like a d*ck. Oh well! The boyfriend was thrilled because it was so like when he was a child, he was eating chicken nuggets and a ninja turtles movie was on tv. Lovely evening! That's kinda a bummer for you for Artic Zero You'll find something else, I'm sure!

Chickie : Your marmelade LOOK YUMMY! And such original flavors, they looks really cool! Specially the Apple Plum Pecan. I bought 2 packages of rhubarb yesterday at the market before they're no more of them, I might try to do a bit of marmelade with them too!

Dianne : everybody gets a bad mood once in a while. you have many weeks before your sister bachelorette party, you can make this happen!!!

JessicaB : How sad that your dad can't join you on the race! But it is still an awesome goal to work through though, even by yourself. I don't worry about you being able to run the 5k at aaaaall! you seem in a good shape! Oh and everything I have to pass in front of my house to finish my run, I have to FIGHT with myself for not calling it quit then hehe! don't give up, you're doing amazing!

***

Up to 140.6 this morning, helloooo, not going the righhhht waaaay! It was a poop-free day yesterday though, so it probably did not help.

I ate a chicken enchiladas with avocado sauce last night (all home made) with a salad and after dinner I was watching the Biggest Loser and all of a sudden I started feeling super guilty about my dinner. Like I kept focusing on how many spoon of sauce I had before actually eating (this thing is so freacking creamy annd good I could eat a entire bowl) and I freacked out. So I skipped desert and headed on my deck with my yoga mat, my skipping rope and an elastic cable and worked out for an intense 25 minutes. I was feeling a bit better with myself after that.

Why can't I just be back under 135 and be done with those ''just on the edge of almost eating disorder'' behavior...! god.

Gotta love typing out a long reply only to have your computer dump it when you try to insert a drool-face smiley. Grrr

Chickie - The shiritake noodles come in two types that I have used; House Foods makes some that are Tofu and Konjac root, so they have 20 calories per serving (2 servings per bag) due to the Tofu. They also have a few grams of protein in them because of that so it's a bonus. The Miracle Noodles and Miracle Rice are pure Konjac root, so they are 100% fiber and have 0 calories. The former are a bit heartier and more akin to Italian-style pasta, whereas the latter are clear and more of an asian style noodle.
Regardless of which type you eventually get your hands on, keep in mind that for best results you need to rinse the noodles first and then dry them either by tossing them in a hot pan or microwaving them for a minute. After that, just use them as you would any other noodle.

Your jams sound fantastic, especially the Cranberry Almond Peach one. Wow. I'm impressed! I can bake from recipes and can toss anything in a pan and come up with a meal, but I've never tried making any sort of jam or canning anything. If have some extra lying around... haha Between that and your home improvement projects you're a regular renaissance woman.

I'm glad you seem to be feeling better the past few days! Hopefully it keeps up.

Dianne - Welcome back! Im newish to this forum but not new to the fitness game. As far as motivation goes, that's a hard one to answer... It just comes from within, you know? Sometimes you just have to make yourself stick to the plan for a few days and ride out the tough spots and temptations, but it always kicks right back in after a bit. It's my life... I'm a personal trainer, aspiring fitness model, and sports nutritionist... so I don't know any other way to be. It's just my passion.

Just come up with a plan and make yourself stick to it for a few days until it becomes your routine. I promise you'll start to feel better and hopefully it just gets easier by the day. Keep coming here and checking in... that helps so much! Best of luck to you!

Jessica - Thats disappointing your father can't join you on your journey. Is there anyone else who can run and train for the 5K with you? Regardless, I know you can do it, and 7 weeks is plenty of time to prepare. Are you doing any specific program or just winging it?

Turbo - I'm not too worried about the AZ. Honestly I prefer to whip up my own homemade treats these days, but I do usually eat a pint a week. Even if it is like 250 calories versus 150, that is NOTHING, especially over the average of a week. I'll just annotate it as 250 to be safe and keep enjoying my weekly pint!
Your dinner last night sounds fantastic! There is something about that cilantro sauce isn't there? The Avocado Cilantro dressing I made for my salads is amazing, and tomorrow I'm going to try putting it on my tilapia and veggies that I make for dinner. Oh yes, there will be pictures.
It does sound like it might have been a bit of a heavy dinner though, so I wouldn't stress the scale too much. I don't think you have near eating disorder behavior... we all get frustrated sometimes and want to see results NOW. You know if you just tighten things up you can get a few pounds off relatively quickly with how active you are. It's just a matter of deciding whether or not it's worth it for that week or so.

Speaking of pictures... BOOM! Tonight's dinner! I roasted some zuchinni and asparagus, and then tossed them into a pan with some jumbo shrimp and tossed in garlic, sriracha chili sauce and soy sauce. It was garlicy and spicy and the most delicious nom nom nom-ness... so I made a double batch and packed the rest for my lunch tomorrow.



Now I'm going to go enjoy my dark chocolate bar and green tea for dessert. *sigh* It's so hard to eat healthy isn't it?

Hey everyone,
I'm slowly getting back to steady losing. August has been a tough month, but I'm glad that I haven't gained. I was 129 this morning which, while not my lowest, is my lowest on a day I haven't just done bikram yoga. I always see a 1-2lb weight drop after that (water) so it was nice to see that number just on its own. Tomorrow's crazy with a HUGE client meeting. I can't blow it - there is literally enough budget in this project to keep everyone in my company paid for/busy for at least 6 months. And most of this pitch is on me. I'm not a sales person by any means, but I have to sell the work we do. Small company so we don't have a business development/sales person. I'm stressing hard - mainly because my two bosses didn't agree with how I wanted our pitch deck structured, and then yesterday they changed their minds. So today is going to be nuts.

JossFit - even thought I don't eat meat I'm enjoying all your food photos, would be so easy to substitute the meat or just leave it out. Garlic and Sriracha? YUM!

TurboMammoth - I love watching the Biggest Loser but I feel like that shows puts the crazy in me. A few years ago when they kept showcasing the gum I bought a mega pack from Costco and seriously all I did between lunch and dinner was chew gum like mad. The scale may not be saying what you want, but how does your body feel? Have you had your body fat tested lately? Perhaps you're gaining a lot of muscle and therefore things haven't balanced themselves out. I know you're active.

Dianne042425 - Welcome back. I've only been here a few months but have found this forum so helpful. Everyone will motivate you to keep going and to stop habits that are unhealthy. For me, tracking overall calories with an app (Lose It) on my iPhone helps keep me in check. When I started I measured EVERYTHING so I knew exactly what a tbsp of peanut butter really looked like. Was it annoying, yes! But it is so easy to misjudge. I still measure things that are on the 'fatty' side (like perhaps a salad dressing or nuts) but not things like my veggies, fruits, etc. I also like to weigh in daily and post it here. That lets me see daily fluctuations and what I may have done that affected my weight - is it water, did I over eat, etc. Some days you go up, some days you go down, but overall the trend will be down if you're sticking with it. Good luck!

ChickieChicks - Yum, those jams sound amazing! I'm so jealous of your renovations. We have been dreaming of doing things to our house. It's so outdated (built in 1948 and still has the original bathrooms!) which have a bit of charm but boy do I want to knock some walls down and get a bigger closet!

Sorry to anyone I've missed, got to get cranking on work! Have a wonderful day!

Hi all, gonna be quick for now. In an hour I'm picking up my friend from the airport - she's visiting from Japan and is like a sister to me and loves my family and knows my roommate (who I met in Japan), so it's gonna be a happy reunion! Last time she visited was amazing and this time will be even better, I'm sure of it. Look at her with my parents!


Guess her age!!! No really, guess!

Ran 4 miles on the bike path with the bf last night. I was not properly fueled so I got really hangry and weak toward the end. Culminated in me being so hangry I yelled at him after he did something I asked him to do. Lucky for me he's prone to getting hangry too so he understood, and we had Arctic char, baked sweet potato and lemon garlic kale for dinner. Afterward we met up with friends at "The Rusty Anchor," a bar/restaurant on a boat, for trivia night and won a $25 gift certificate as well as some ugly XL size beer t-shirts. I kept it classy with Diet Pepsi and just celery/carrot sticks with bleu cheese.

DottieMae Inching toward goal! You're doing great; looking at your daily weigh-in threads that's incredible!

JossFit Ohhhhhhhh maaaaaan that dinner looks so, so good. Are you finding your clean way of eating makes it easier to resist going off the deep end? Shame about Arctic Zero but eh! What's 100 calories? How many calories do you eat per day on average?

TurboMammoth Enchiladas, while possibly my #3 or #4 favorite food in the world, are super heavy. Don't sweat it - I hope you aren't feeling borderline disordered; exercise is not punishment for eating good food!!!!

JessicaB You sound very well prepared for the 5K. Honestly even if you do walk for a little bit it doesn't affect time that much, and there will probably be a lot of walkers at the race. Sorry to hear your dad won't be joining you though.

Dianne It really does just have to come "from within" as corny as that sounds. The difference between 135 and 125 for me has been WEIGHTLIFTING and taking my focus off of the scale. While I avoid things that I know for sure will spike it (eating 10 wings with bleu cheese after 5 beers), I still have a couple liquor drinks and 3-5 wings a couple times a month and go out and socialize. I try not to eat much bread/crackers/cereal (you mentioned disliking veggies - still the case?) because it controls my blood sugar/hunger, and basically try to eat a ton of protein. Quitting binging was a mental thing - I made some changes to my life and the behavior just kinda stopped. Good luck finding out what works for you!

ChickieChicks Wow, nice jams! I'm impressed by folks who jar and can their own stuff - are there local food swaps or anything you could go to and bring jars of jam to exchange? Around here we have a monthly "From Scratch Club" meeting where you bring X number of things to trade with other people. My roommate went on Sunday and came back with a lot of neat and tasty stuff ranging from cucumber sake (bleh) to bleu cheese biscuits (yum!).

LeilaJey Once the chats get going it's HARD to keep up. Glad you're doing well losing and eating delicious food in the process!

Jossfit : Hmm, I do agree with you that I'm probably not as near of an eating disorder that I was thinking. It's probably more frustration of knowing that I let go of my weight loss goal that I had acheived months ago. I think trying to get to a point where you know you have already been is the worst than actually trying to reach a goal for the first time! Your dinner looks amazing I love sauteed zucchinis! May I say that I liked your ''I'm not washing more dishes, I'm using paper towels to put my chocolate on''?

DottieMae : I think The Biggest Loser can bring the worst of a person LOL I watch them and I feel like sh*t because I'm not training 4 hours a day like they do! I haven't had my fat body pourcentage tasted for a while, but I should take my mesurements. But I don't think it's a muscles thing, I really did gain during vacations LOL Best of luck at your meeting, keep us updated!

krampus : omg, your friend looks so young with the most perfect skin ever! I know she's probably in a mid 20 but I'd say like 18 years old if I did not know! Great run! I feel you on the love of the enchiladas. I could eat those every single day for the rest of my life. and WOAH, bleu cheese cookies? WOW.

***

Hi ladies! 139.2 this morning, which is not 140's anymore, which is totally fine with me. Not in the 137's of last week (but I honestly think it was just a fluke, I saw it one day only...) but if I am back in the 138's for friday, I'm gonna be the most happy woman in the world.

I put myself in charge of the grocery for this weekend camping trip and I'm making sure we will have healthy stuff to eat. Obvisouly, we are gonna have smores and chips too. But I'm gonna bring my granola and yogourt for breakfast (I'll leave them the nutella) and I'm cooking a huge batch of carrot soup for lunch on saturday. I'm gonna indulge a bit (of course) but I think I can make it works

I feel I haven't talk about poop for a long time (and everyone know how much I love to talk about it). I'm fairly regular these days, and weirdly, I became more regular since I got back to my routine of doing my crunches and abs workout everyday. I red online and many sources indicate that doing regular abs workout helps the bowel movments. Could it be the answer to all my problems? Fingers crossed.

I'm also starting to do some muscles training seriously. I'm planning to do one session of bodyweight stuff every week for a while, and eventually join a gym. The boyfriend and I decided to join a Spartan race next year and I'm sooo weak. (oh, the boyfriend came for my 6k run last night with me. First time we were running together. He was able to follow me without any problem, even if I AM the one who is running for more than a year now. I hate him LOL)

TurboMammoth Actually in American English "biscuit" is not the dessert but the bread type thing like this:

Good luck with strength training! It makes a huge difference in your shape and when you're getting started your improvements happen QUICKLY and it is very encouraging. My bf is the same way, he never does any cardio and I was dragging behind him on yesterday's run!



My friend got here safely! We went to Denny's for lunch. I had a chicken spinach salad with minimal dressing - lower calorie than my normal lunches!

I ALWAYS forget this! In french, a ''biscuit'' is a cookie... Sometimes I get confused!

I was trying to figure out how someone to manage the blue cheese flavor in some salt/sweet cookies..! LOL

ChickieChicks: Your jam looks amazing. I've been trying to make more and more things from scratch since I started living more healthy, but jams / canning seems a bit intimidating. Is it really time consuming / hard to do?

TurboMammoth: My run tonight I've planned a longer route. Map my run says 4.77 km, so I'll do my best to run it but walk if I have to. I totally think my downfall was planning the route to loop back in front of my house. I have a bit of a hard time figuring out a good 5k route, because I live in a very small town (although it is very close to a decent size city). Because of this, the residential areas are a bit more limited, and I don't want to go running in the rural areas because of the highway traffic. There are basically 2 different builder building new houses in the area, and I ran around the area for my builder last time. This time, I'm going to go loop around the new houses of the other builder. I think that area is a bit smaller, but it's also further away, so I was able to make a longer run out of it. There are a bit more hills though, so we'll see how it goes.

And I can totally relate to you on the exercise / bowel movement thing. For me, I think it's usually my cardio that gets things moving, but if I'm not exercising, I definitely get backed up more easily.

JossFit: I'll be seeing a friend of mine this weekend whom I know does running for her fitness regime, so I'm going to ask her about it to see if she has any interest in running the 5k with me.

I am totally winging the running, just run as much as I can, and walk when I have to. I considered doing something like c25k, but I don't have a stop watch, or an ipod or a mobile phone or a treadmill, or anything to time the intervals. In any case, just running seems to be going okay for me, since I'm not new at fitness, and am in pretty good shape from my normal elliptical routine.

Krampus: I'm not going to sweat it at all if I have to walk a bit of it, but my goal is to run the entire thing. I think it should be doable, and am feeling more confident about it now that I've gotten in a run and can judge how hard it is for me versus what I was doing on the elliptical.

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Last night I took my daughter to the park and decided to try a chin up on the monkey bars, and I DID IT! It had probably been a month since I tried last, but could never get back the part where my elbows are at a 90 degree angle. It actually felt so easy, I think I could have done more. I'm curious as to how many I could do, or if I could manage a pull up, but I didn't bother trying, as there were a lot of parents at the park and I felt like a bit of a tool.

But I am very excited about this, since I've never been able to do one my entire life. I remember being in army cadets as a teenager, and having to do them as part of the PT tests, but I only ever did 1, and that's because I jumped into it, and cheated (as all the girls did). I was sooo naive back then, because I thought I could be reasonably fit without putting any training or effort into things. I wasn't fit, I was just thin, now I know the difference, and I love feeling strong.

I've also been working on upping my weights to do 5-8 reps, instead of the 15 I've been doing, and because of that, I'm starting to max out on weight on my bowflex. I know free weights are better, but my husband bought the thing a couple years ago, and prior to when I started using it, it just sat in our basement untouched. Anyways, I'm starting to think about getting a rod upgrade for it, but at the same time I almost feel like if I'm going to be spending money, I should spend it on free weights. I am on a budget though, and the rod upgrade would be cheaper.

I'm exhausted today, so forgive me for being short on personals.

Dottie - I'm tellin ya, garlic + sriracha = WIN! That would make a shoe taste fantastic, so I'm sure you can use the combo on anything you want.
Try not to stress the presentation tomorrow... you're the one doing it for a reason right? Your bosses must have faith in your abilities. Relax, enjoy the ride, and celebrate with a nice glass of wine afterward.

Krampus - Thats so fun that your friend is in town visiting, and you even managed to start off making good choices with your diet. Nice work. How long will she be around for? Any big plans?
I have found that eating "cleaner" or however you want to label it has alleviated my sweets cravings in the evenings by a good bit. I still want goodies here and there, but it's more of a passing thought as opposed to a real urge. Ironically today I was feeling really run down and was thinking that in addition to taking a rest day tomorrow (I'm bad about taking them to be honest) that a few hundred extra calories today might be a good idea... and then a treat started sounding good...
BUT, since I don't have any "naughty" foods in the house, I ended up just microwaving a vanilla almond protein bar (yep, natural ) for a few seconds and eating that. The warm, sweet, chewy texture ALMOST set me off in search of more goodies, but I actually stopped and said to myself "Meh, you're not hungry anymore and dinner is in like 2 hours." So, my near pig-out was EASILY avoided whereas before it would have been much much harder if not impossible given my tired state.

As far as my calories, it really does depend on the day. I use MFP and I do try to eat back my exercise calories to some extent. I aim for a "net" of 1500 calories per day to maintain, 1300 when I am trying to lose a bit of vacation goodies weight (which you know I end up having to do at least once a month... haha) so the actual number varies depending on my workout(s) for that day.

Turbo - LOL, well a paper towel seemed the easiest. It didn't require a plate but I didn't want to eat it right that second that I grabbed it so I had to put it somewhere besides just on the coffee table. Have you ever seen that brand before? It's called Enjoy Life. It's all natural dark chocolate and it's SUPER delicious. Not at all bitter like some dark chocolates can be, and the two squares in the picture was 1/2 of the bar. A full bar is a fairly large 4 squares, and the whole thing is only 170 calories. 1/2 of it is more than enough to satisfy me and was only 85 calories! Perfect little treat for next to nothing.
I'm glad the scale is moving back down for you and that you seem to have some help with your poo! haha
I'm also one who gets an assist from cardio... it keeps me pretty regular but I get enough fiber and drink enough water that it's normally not an issue for me. At least with ab exercises you get some added benefit huh?
Good for you for taking charge of the grocery shopping for the trip. Of course you have to have a few goodies, but not buying a ton of crap means that it's not there to eat and you're limiting the potential damage up front. A few tupperware containers can be used to store and marinate chicken breasts and you can even plan ahead and put a bunch of mushrooms, peppers, and squash on kabobs to toss on the grill. A little preparation makes a huge difference.

Jessica - Your first chin-up is so exciting! It seems like all of my girlfriends who can do them and/or pullups had the same thing happen; they just decided to try and were suprised when the did easily! I remember the first time I tried on a whim and did 5 pullups! Now I can do a ton. Just keep working on them.

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I had been out of my office doing an instructing gig, and today was the last day thank goodness! Tomorrow I go back to my office but then I get a 3-day weekend. Time for a manicure and pedicure, sleeping in, and some good workouts after I rest up tomorrow!

As mentioned yesterday, I used my avocado cilantro dressing for a sauce on a different dish tonight as opposed to just on a salad. I put it on some seared tilapia and asparagus. The tilapia was a bit spicy and the juxtaposition of the creamy sauce and the spicy rub was pretty darn delicious.

Now it's time for some tea and to sit on my ***! Goodnight Feathers! *EDIT: That totally reminds me; as I was packing up my meals for work tomorrow, I decided to add some matcha powder to my greek yogurt and tossed some slivered almonds in it. Depending on how that little flavor combo comes out (seems promising) there may be some green tea frozen greek yogurt in my near future!*

HI all!

Oh my. So much to catch up on! It is so interesting to go back and read all of my previous posts/ ya'lls posts from years ago! So weird. It was interesting to read the posts about me saying how nervous I am about getting into Sonography school. Now, here I am, graduated and in my first job! So crazy. It just goes to show, if you put your mind to something, you CAN do it. Now, why can't I do that with fitness and my body? Oh one will always wonder

Anyways, just a quick catch up on life. Like I said, I just graduated and landed my first job that I LOVE. I feel SO blessed and humbled by it. So riding the bumpy train of weight loss. I feel like I am always playing "catch up". Ill do good for 2 days then have a bad binge and "catch up" the next 2 days so I dont gain. I did however gain back almost, if not all, the weight I had previously lost I dont know why, but it seems so much harder this time. Before, the weight flew off. Not this time.. I think?

Well enough of that..

Mountain Mama Hi, and thanks for the confidence!

Jessica I used to run! How long have you been running for?

Turbo Major kudos for choosing exercise over food. I dont know how you did that but I give you major props! That is whats going to bring you to success!!

Jossfit Problem is, ive made up 89734 different plans in the past. I just cant seem to stick to it. Im not sure why. I honestly am so motivated and KNOW I can do it. Its something I want so bad. I guess I feel like I need someone to be like, HERE this is EXACTLY what needs to be done and you will have the body you want. Not, eat healthy, exercise and the body youre supposed to have is where youll end up. Sounds stupid I know. But I dont want to do all the work to end up with a body I dont want. Oh that sounds bad lol Youre a personal trainer? Maybe you can answer some of my questions!!

Dottie Hi! I love yoga!!

Thanks for the advice. I actually do track my calories very accurately. I have a calculator for a brain and know just about every calorie and serving size for everything. I guess Ive become obsessed over the years. I know what to eat, I just dont know how to do it for a long period of time. Its especially hard counting calories when you want to go out with friends for drinks! Thats usually where it all goes down hill....

Krampus OH krampus!! I have so many questions for you! You are actually one of the girls ive been sort of following on here every now and then just to see how you are doing Not to sound creepy lol And you seem to be doing FANTASTIC! Are you still counting calories or just being "smart"? So you stopped drinking regularly and just have a night out 1-2 times a month? I will tap on the weightlifting subject below after all my personals. Would love for your input...And yes PS I still HATE veggies unless they are the dried kind at Publix. OMG I have eaten an entire carton of those in one sitting many times. Those are so good lol But just plain veggies steamed. Yuk!

Ok so I have a few questions..

Ive been hearing from everyone about weight lifting. I know this lady who is 42 with 5 kids and decided to turn her life around health wise. Well its become a big thing for her now. She is making mucho money becuase of her success and now shes coaching. Basically she has the PERFECT body and her motto is EAT CLEAN LIFT HARD. I keep hearing it over and over. I know about eating clean. Ive done it. And it works. BUT I get so nervous about weight lifting for a few reasons. For 2 weeks I tried it. Not only did scale go up (I know this is normal) but my clothes got TIGHTER. I kept hearing how the scale would go up but inches would be lost. Nope, not me! And I was eating ON POINT! So I stopped weight lifting. It scared me that I was putting on muscle. I am an ex athlete so I already have a good amount of muscle. I really dont want to put anymore on. I just want to maintain what I have whilst losing FAT.

With that being said Ive heard a million things about calories and muscle. Cant gain muscle on a calorie deficit. But you also dont want to eat too little calories (1200) because then youll burn muscle. So where the happy medium? I have exactly 10 weeks to get in shape for my sisters Bachlorette and not only can I not gain an inch of muscle (my dress then wouldnt fit) I want to get smaller!

So how do I do this? I really am afraid I put on muscle easily. Plus, I eat a good 130g of protein a day..

I am thinking of joining crossfit and doing that 3 days a week and running the other 3 days (for only 25 minutes - not long distance running).

Oh sorry for such a long post. I havent been able to get on in awhile being so busy so I just now got the chance to say everything I needed/wanted!

Oh I want this so bad ladies but its hard to stay motivated when you dont see any improvements on the scale, measuring tape, clothes OR mirror. When I gained back all of the weight I lost, I really realized how great I looked before and if I had just stuck with it, I could be where I wanted. Now, Im worse off than before

One last question..how come I am seeing all the time that people lose inches with weight lifting within the first few weeks and then when I did it, nothing??

Ok, Im done! lol Congrats if you made it to the end of this longggggggggg post

Alive. Renovating. Tiiiiiiired.