Allison, clearly you need to take the day off work and go shopping to find your perfect LBD!

I am having trouble with evening munchies. I got totally relaxed yesterday at yoga and then went home, started thinking about "stuff" I've gotta do, and got all stressed out again. I got as far as prepping some healthy foods last night as I was out of healthy lunch options, but it took longer than I thought it would so I didn't get anything else done... yet I had time to eat two bowls of cereal.

Today I have to run an errand after work that sort of throws my after work driving route off (where I drive when), but I am determined to get my workout in, a dog walk in, and I packed healthy foods and extra healthy snacks in case I don't get home until later. No need to get stressed about that. As Nike says, Just do it.

Allison, how did the dinner go? Did you find something yummy?

Megan, it sounds like you have a great plan for your evening that should short-circuit the cereal munchies. Git 'er done! My to-do lists have gotten so long that just making them wigs me out, let alone contemplating which one to tackle first. Allison knows that I am a terrible Bejeweled Blitz addict - we are constantly vying for first place with a past Maintainer, Wardhog, each week. And that has to be something I cut way back on. I need to make playing a few games a reward for getting something "real" done, like tackling the catalog pile, or sewing a button on, or ...

Y'all have made me think about shopping. I have awesome jewelry, but I don't have a LBD and the one dress I have is worn to death. Sheath dresses are hard for me to fit with my long torso; I have to find a Tall so that it hits my waist correctly, and then get it shortened to compensate for my short legs. Perhaps when I get into the 140's. I think the treadmill stuff is narrowing my fanny a bit (yay).

2.5 of the weekend 3.5 is off. Was a weekend with my girlpals worth an extra week of weight loss? Yup. No regrets. And tonight is water aerobics again!

Becky, good job for the weekend. I see that you are within shouting distance of your goal !

Thanks, bargoo - it's amazing how much of a difference the 7 pounds made. A couple more, and I'll be halfway to place I haven't been in 15-20 years!

Dinner went well. Clearly, what I had worn to work would have sufficed for dress (I had worn my "7" jeans and a white button down shirt to work). The couple we met were casual--he in black skinny jeans and a linen shirt she in a basic pair of slacks, button down shirt and jacket. Most of the people there were wearing considerably less dressy attire.

One interesting thing that happened, our waitress happened to be a waitress we had had regularly at another restaurant where we used to go to for our Friday lunches. It closed down several months back. You always wonder what happens to people when businesses shut down. She recognized us as well and we were all happy to see each other.

Another good thing was that the woman in the couple we met is on a diet (I think she's going gluten free) and the waitress said we could really choose anything and have steamed veggies on the side, so that's what we did. I had salmon with steamed broccoli (they served a sauce for the salmon, but had it in a cute little pitcher on the plate--I had just two morsels dipped in it, the rest plain). DH had salmon with mixed steamed veggies. The woman had scallops with steamed broccoli and asparagus and the man had chicken stir fry.

So it was a very nice evening. We talked and talked and had a great time. But what was amazing is that they must have some internal "speaker" system in place there. We got up, walked to the front door and before we were completely out the door, the valets had already brought up our host's car! The valet did have to ask us which car was ours, though.

I totally dropped out the last couple of days. I wasn't feeling well yesterday, and let myself get rolled up in a lot of stress. Resulting snack binge has left me feeling a nice carb hangover today. I kept my calories at 1930 for the day, but only 750 of those were real food. Not a wonder I feel kind if ick today.

Allison - I'm glad that the dinner went well!

KC - half marathon in May, hmm? You can do it. There are a lot of great training programs out there. I never specifically followed one, I don't tend to run two days in a row and all of the plans have that in there somewhere. I did three runs each week, 2 during the week that were shorter, 1 long on a weekend day. I've used a lot of intervals to try to build up a good base. I made sure to run at least one training run at the full length the first year. The last two I never made it past 12 miles in training. I made sure to put my last 10+ mile run two weeks out from the race, and was very strict about a taper week. So far none of the halfs have killed me.

Saef - I'm glad that you enjoyed the facial. I also have a hard time with the 'it's okay to stop and lie down' message as well.

I've got to run now, but will be back.

That loud groan you heard this morning was me stepping on my scale....up two pounds.

Bargoo, really, that sound set Emma off barking very early. I was trying to sleep. Today is a new day and a new opportunity to eat right and drink lots of lemon water.

Allison, your dinner sounds nice, and so great it was customizable!

Shannon, this withdrawal is tough. Just know that if you avoid the junk, in about 2 days it won't be so hard to say "no", at least, that is how my junk hangovers are. You can get over the hump!

Yesterday I stayed OP, just did what I needed to do one thing at a time, work, gym, food, errands. The one thing I didn't accomplish was take the dog for a long walk. She did get to hang out w BF in the backyard a lot of the day while he worked on his boat, so at least she wasn't cooped up all day, and I got up early and walked her 2 miles already today. I'm a very sequential person so having gotten through 1 day makes me feel more prepared about going through the next.

BF is going out of town for the weekend. The trick is to enjoy not having the sometimes "bad" influence (he does like his Friday happy hour), get some of these long-term chores done (carpet steamer, do my taxes!), finish season 4 of dexter and watch some chick flicks, and not feel lonely and decide wine and chocolate would make me feel better.

Have a good weekend all

I really, really needed to hear that. The scale this morning got a half-pound away from 150.

Now, granted, I'm getting through my time of month and my upper body is sore from lifting yesterday morning. But there's been a definite creep in my weight.

This has happened despite my obsessiveness about getting to the gym every day. And despite my turning down and averting my face from the stuff my mother eats all day. (Breyer's maple walnut ice cream, Trader Joe's Belgium chocolate bars, Jelly Bellies, Panera baked goods, barbeque chicken, fried scallops and French fries, etc.) I can only imagine how much I would have gained if I didn't exert some vigilance. But still, too many handfuls of nuts, of trail mix, and cheese in my wrap at lunchtime. Too much stress.

I need to stop angst-ing, make a plan and follow it.

I am, too, Megan, with an added unfortunate tendency to think that if I don't do something at the right point in the sequence, all is lost, and I may as well not do it at all. For example, if I don't get to the gym by 5:30 AM, anything later is too late and it's not worth going -- and forget about going at 7 PM at night. At least part of me recognizes my craziness, but then the sane part of me has to talk the other half of me out of my craziness. You know how you say Fat Megan is locked away but gets out occasionally? Crazy, all-or-nothing-thinking, rigidly obsessive-compulsive, bingeing Saef is locked away but always has potential to make a jailbreak, or at least pokes her head through the window now & then and makes a lot of noise in public.

allison, sounds like a fun night! I'm always curious about sauces - would love to know what sort of flavors it had. DH does a parmesan/cream/caper/lemon thing for grilled salmon that he could make a fortune on if he could bottle it.

shannon, hope you're back at full strength today. Winter seems to be trying hard to get everybody sick one last time.

bargoo, sorry to hear the random-number generator gave you a rough morning. I'm guessing it just motivates you to keep on keepin' on. Still, it's not a great way to kick off a weekend.

Megan, I like weekends alone too, with the same caveats. I don't get lonely ... but I can get "undisciplined". Carpet steaming is on my list too. I think I need to turn it over to a pro - there's just too darn much to do. Do you rent one? I'm thinking I'd like to buy one, if I can find a model with enough good reviews.

saef, given your situation with work, Mom, and the flood, I am in total awe of how well you've held up. I think of myself as a pretty sturdy individual, but you've raised the bar by a full magnitude! I had to laugh at the "makes a lot of noise in public". I've been told many times that I need to make more. The only times I can remember being absolutely relaxed are a) after yoga class and b) after the recent massages. It was such a foreign sensation it was almost uncomfortable - much like being out-of-control drunk, which I only did once back in college. Methinks I would be better off if I were to experience this more often!

3 of the 3.5 are now off. I went to water aerobics last night, and finished up with about 10 slow lengths of the pool. My shoulder aches but I have full range except for some clunking. I'm feeling optimistic that I can be in a good place by May, and renewed my Masters swimming membership.

Becky, you are making great progress.
I have shoulder problems, too. I broke mine a few years ago.The bone knit nicely but the muscle was torn away from the bone. I have tried through physical therapy to get other muscles to take over so far it hasn't happened. My problem is not pain, the shoulder just plain doesn't work. Until you have shoulder problems you have no idea how much you use your shoulder. Getting in and out of clothes and doing my hair are my biggest problems.

Saef, are you a member of the national weight control registry? When they send me my annual surveys there is always a box on there to mark if you have had some kind of major life event in the past year. Everyone knows that a major life event often leads to weight gain, and you have certainly had one. Cut yourself some slack, you're doing great!

Megan, a weekend alone sounds like a great opportunity for some long walks with Emma to me!

Becky, renewing your master's swim membership sounds like a good way to ensure that you actually make it to the pool.

I am back to my Tuesday weight today (136.8). Last night I succumbed to post-dinner snacking. I resisted having seconds at dinner, but I was hungry and probably ended up eating calories equivalent to having had seconds. It's good for me to not get into the habit of having two servings of dinner every night though.

Today is bagel day at work again. We'll see if I manage to escape the day unscathed. At least I already did my run this morning!

It was a cream sauce of some sort. I couldn't detect any cheese or really any distinctive flavor at all.

DH just informed me he needs to go shopping for new pants as his are getting baggy. Wish I could say the same (just to go shopping!) but mine are fitting fine as before they were just too tight.

bargoo, sympathies on the shoulder. Nay, make that empathies. I suffered from what they thought was tendonitis for 7 years. Well, to be charitable, it WAS tendonitis, but no one went far enough to find the root cause of why I had it. I did the steriod shots (omg, never again), a round of physical therapy, lots of NSAIDs, and could never get it past 90% functional. An orthopedic surgeon said he could go in and shave bone out of it, but he didn't have a lot of confidence in the outcome. A local chiro was having a free exam/Xray promotion, and I went in on a desperate whim. When he put the Xray of my neck up, we both said at the same time, "oh, sh*t!" I had a twist/kink at C7/T1 that was so graphic, he uses it in his advertisements. Once that was fixed, I had years of pain-free movement. It started to hurt again last fall, in a different way. The chiro said all was still in line with my neck, and had I tried a massage therapist? I hadn't. Two sessions of myofascial release this winter restored about 80%. I think it's just sensitive to my being horribly out of shape, and the more I do with upper-body conditioning, the better it will get. I can relate to the functional difficulties you have - DH helped me get dressed many times, and the hair issue was a big part of why I cut it all off. Do you have no hope, even with surgery, of fixing yours? Must have been one heck of a break to shear off the muscle!

allison, it sounds like two tastes would be enough. Cream for the sake of cream is ... uninspired when you get past addictions to fatty mouthfeel.

jessica - I think having seconds were responsible for the majority of my climb to my high weight. Not a good habit, agreed!

silver - Hope you are doing well! Miss you and look forward to your posts.