Hey miracles do happen sometimes hehe but with all the hard work you put in, I'm sure it'll happen! for you!!

I've only been losing the weight fast because I took a 7 month "maintenance" break -- okay it started off as a plateau and i just took a break instead of panicking , and I think a lot of it was water weight, but
I'm not one to complain. We'll see though I think it's slowing down xo

Hey guys! I would like to welcome all the new additions to the challenge. I would like to wish you all well. I am so happy for all of you who are losing your weight so fast.

I'm pulling myself back together after weighing in at the same number for three days in a row and then jumping back up 1.1lbs. Today I had a chocolate croissant at work for the first time in three weeks. I had the strongest urge to eat one and could not stop myself. I'm going to attribute the urge and the weight issues to the fact that my TOM is very near.

On the plus side I've discovered a bunch of fitness and health videos on Netflix and have been adding them to my daily exercise routines. My favorite so far is the Kickbox Bootcamp.

Hope you all have wonderful days.

Welcome to all the new people ValRock, Hawaii sounds AMAZING! I've never even left my province! Can't wait to graduate and go somewhere~ lol

Today my TOM arrived... actually it was yesterday, but this is the first real day and it is ALWAYS the worst. It was actually so horrible, I couldn't move most of the day. I barely ate and the hot water bottle did much of nothing. And then I tried some Advil, and I choked on the pill which made me throw up afterwards. I tried to sleep it off and that didn't work. The pain finally subsided for maybe an hour. Then my sweet boyfriend came over and hung out with me and rubbed my back and belly, because as soon as he came over of course it started up again. I hate TOM. My periods haven't been this bad in a while, but I usually have a prescription I use but I ran out of it. Needless to say I didn't exercise. As for food I had a coconut bun before the pain started... 2 slices of toast at probably 3pm, and then just before my bf left I had maybe 5 french fries (home made) and then I finally had energy to go down to the kitchen and say bye to him, I had a banana. That was around 11pm, so I didn't eat much at all. Ugh and as I write this I can feel the pain coming back. These advil just don't work with me. And I never take medicine OTHER than for cramps, and even then I only use it on the first and second days. It is Naproxen (Aleve, but higher strength and something that makes it work faster according to the pharmacist), but do you guys have any suggestions for pain management? I really don't want to take another day off

Ugh, I'm so sorry . Have you tried Ibuprofen? That's the only thing that even remotely helps my cramps. OH... and Moon Cycle Tea from Yogi (I think?) helps a lot. It has Evening Primrose, which is really helpful for cramps. Even so, I'll be joining you, moaning in pain, in a couple days . Sometimes being a girl is just plain rotten!!!!!

Gosh! It sounds like you really suffer during your TOM. I'd say I suffer but you seem much more worse. I've always heard that exercising does help. I had my TOM over the weekend and did have bad cramps. One of the evenings I decided to go for my walk anyway even though I was in pain. I did feel like it helped! I don't know if you would be able to push yourself to do some exercising when you are in that much pain but even if you could try something and see if it helps. I would say only if you can now! Like I said, you seem to suffer bad with cramps.

Another thing I have heard helps is banana's. I don't eat them myself but you mentioned you had one so I'm curious did that do anything for the pain?

Also, with them sounding so severe would you go to your doctor and see if there is anything they can do for you?

I hope you feel better

Hi everyone I just wanted to say I weighed in this morning with one pound down! I know everyone fluctuates and everything but it felt like a small goal since I've worked hard this week. While I have been running a LOT, I think I've also been counteracting it with my eating habits.. I went to two graduation parties this week and alcohol really spikes a daily calorie count..

Is anyone else doing a 5k training program? I'm on the second week of mine and I really like it so far!

spiritualflow: Sorry about your horror TOMs. Maybe you should see someone about that. Surely it can't be normal to suffer that much EVERY month. A hot water bottle (along with a couple of tylenol) usually helps me though through my worst cramps.

I've been worried about going on vacation but I've been doing pretty well, one week in. Some of the weightloss whoosh dust going around on this thread has rubbed off on me a little, I think. Plus, I've been doing pretty well with diet even if not with exercise (I've only exercised twice in the past week). I'm now more than halfway to my September 1st goal for this challenge which is pretty amazing considering I only lost 1 lb in May and haven't lost more than 4 lbs in a month since maybe last year. Anyway I'll happily take it.
Yesterday I binged on a whole sugar-free angel food cake. It wasn't that bad calorie-wise, 350 cals for the whole cake, and I was still well within my calorie allowance for the day BUT I suffered for it all night. My stomach hasn't been the same since and the very idea of cake, makes me feel sick. I'm recovering from intestinal surgery and this is just a wake up call that I have an extra reason to be mindful about what I eat.

spiritualflow oh man, your TOM sounds horrible. is it that painful every time?

man, my weight has been all over the place since vacation. it used to be fairly consistent, but lately my daily fluctuations have been crazy! i can't exercise as much / as intense as before either because i've been having a lot of pain in my knee, which i'll prob get checked out if it doesn't get any better. and the gym i go to (it's actually the gym for our apartment complex) refuses to turn on the AC, and so we have some puny fans & open windows which is not helping in this ridiculously humid weather.

Hey! joining a little late here.

I'm going on a trip starting Sept 6 and would love to be down about 15-20 pounds. I've been maintaining for 6 mos and not losing... time to hop back on the bandwagon and keep going!

Really excited, need to break the cycle of bad habits with drinking etc. Started today, so far so good!

Hey guys, thank you ALL for worrying

delyn - My TOM only started to do that in about Grade 12, I had had pains before for about a year, but in Grade 12 they got so bad that I fell down the stairs at school I talked to my doctor who prescribed the Naproxen, which REALLY helps. I just take 2 tablets and go sleep, and I wake up fine within 30 minutes. Even when I don't sleep they are fast working, because they have Sodium which I found out is the difference between my perscription and Aleve, Sodium just makes it work faster. And my cramps are only there on the first and maybe second day, then I'm fine. I was also on birth control for a while and it seemed to help, but I've been off of it for a few months now and this is the first time it's been this bad in a loooong time I also ran out of Naproxen, which didn't help.

toastedsmoke - Oh man, I love hot water bottles, I use them ALL the time. In high school, my friend taught me to just use an actual water bottle, nobody would really notice But I would often just go to the nurses office, and they knew me really well and would just let me sleep with a water bottle there.

Dreamer2012 - I went straight to bed after the banana, so the verdicts not out yet I know exercise does help, but only if I haven't gotten to the extremely painful cramps yet lol. I also like to take hot showers and sit in the tub with the shower falling on my stomach.

ValRock - Yea I used to use Ibuprofin, and I usually keep it as a backup, but we were all out apparently. But I switched from Ibuprofin to Naproxin. I will definitely try your tea advice, as I don't usually drink tea so it would probably work

So my doctor prescribed me Tylenol 2's yesterday for my cramps, because my Naproxin costs me money and is not covered and the tylenols are. So I tried one today. 1 pill. Barely any pain relief, but came with a nasty dose of "dizzyness/drowsyness" aka the worst feeling ever. I am pretty much going to refuse to take them, and will gladly pay for my own prescription lol. Apparently alot of medicine gives me this effect that scares me because I'm pretty sure I'm getting high off the pills. I also don't take cough syrup for that reason.

Cannot wait till tomorrow where I will get back to exercising!! Hope everybody had a good day~

Spritiualflow,

Have you gotten your thyroid checked? I started getting similar problems about a year and a half ago. I took painkillers, hot water bottle, did exercise- nothing helped except literally crying myself to sleep.

My gynecologist thought maybe it was something hormonal so he took my blood on the 5th and 21st day of my cycle to compare hormone levels. My hormones were totally out of whack, but so was my thyroid (under active). He suggested I try a supplemental medication and after a few weeks, I felt totally better- hardly any cramps after a couple periods.. About three months later, I got an IUD (notorious for causing menstrual cramping) but I don't have any cramps at all!

Anyway, it's worth a shot to get it checked out. It's just a simple blood test. I've heard it's very common for women to have an underactive thyroid but that most don't discover it because the symptoms (such as fatigue and menstrual problems) could be caused by so many other things. Now before you head to Dr. Google and get freaked about it, I can tell you from my own experience that hypothyroidism is not a big deal like some websites might make it out to be

I've had blood tests before, nothing ever comes up. I'll ask the doctor, but I'm pretty sure it's not that, these bad cramps DO go away with pain killers, I just had none on me, and it's only sometimes, like a few times a year. And again, only on the first and maybe second day. But I will keep that in mind.

One thing to consider is that they have a standard range of what is an acceptable level of TSH (thyroid hormone) but that some doctor's see the range bigger/smaller than others. I was within the medically acceptable range but for my body it was too low. Another doctor might not have recognized it.
OH I have another great tip! If you take Calcium supplements starting a week before your period starts, that also helps greatly with cramps. It was something I tried before my diagnosis and there was a huge difference in the months were I took Ca and in those where I did not. I believe there have been some studies on it too, so it's no snake oil

Hi! Sorry that I've been gone for the past several weeks-- I've gotten into a slump of sorts. I've been having a terrible time with food and I haven't been working out like I said I would, but I'm definitely going to make more of an effort starting today. My goal is for the moment is to try and log every day for a month, and to do some sort of exercise at least half an hour three times a week.

@spiritualflow
my mom tells me to drink some hot water with a few slices of ginger and some honey. for me, it helps with the cramps. this is probably an asian thing, but also try not to wash your hair when you have your period, and try to only eat/drink things that are warm, and do these things consistently every time your good friend comes.

My mom says the same thing!!! She also says to keep my feet warm. I don't know if there's a relation to it, but it works for me! lol


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Guys seriously, I'm freaking out, It's getting so hard to lose the last few pounds. I can't believe just a few months ago, I thought to myself "Only 30lb to go!" And now I'm here at 4lb to go..

I was contemplating changing my goal to 135, but I don't know at the rate that it's going, maybe 140 would suffice, I dunno, let's see how hard it is to get there