Saef - add S to health care worker and what d'you get? Correct. Shannon is right.

A: health scare worker.

You are fab. You are conscious of your journey. You are alert. You work hard at this. And it's very good to have you here.

My mojo is stirring. It was just a bump on its head.

Saef, I am so irritated reading about that. What you have done is just phenomenal re: your health. 5# at this point is neither here nor there. Your exercise and consistently healthy food choices are building your body to be healthy, not the number on the scale. That being said, go for the 5lbs if that is what you want, but try to not look at it like your goal just got moved. 5# can be like moving the world for someone who is already whirring along with careful, thoughtful, restricted food and lots of exercise. Fie on that recommendation.

Blah.

It annoys me that people throw out lifestyle "advice" - exercise more, lost 5 lbs, eat/don't eat this or that - when they have just encountered you in this setting and know nothing about your lifestyle, exercise routines, weight loss history, yada yada. I'm reminded of an encounter that Sheila53 had one time with a new doctor who told her she could stand to lose 10 lbs or so. Sheila's response, "Oh, in addition to the 130 I've already lost?" That shut the doctor up until she had gotten a more complete history.

Amen

Eff that saef. You're likely much healthier than most people who weigh five lbs less than you. Don't sweat it.

128 today, tied with myself for the lightest I've been as an adult! Decided to change my goal weight from 120 to 115 and then who knows.

I'm sort of driving myself nuts not knowing what clothing size I wear in US sizing. Not that it really matters, but vain people like knowing these things.

Saef, I wouldn't trust the cholesterol tests they do at those screenings. If you are concerned about it get it tested for reals by your doctor.

Down another 0.8lbs today. This water weight is crazy. I'm down 3.8 from Monday, and it's not like I haven't been eating. First yoga class of the six weeks I signed up for is today! The only problem with the lunchtime workout is that I like to do lunchtime workouts from 11:30-12:30 so I'm not starving by the end. This class is 12:15-1:00, and I don't want to eat right before yoga, so I will be super hungry afterwards. Oh well.

Thanks all, I've re-read your responses several times & they really have helped. I was actually quite unhappy yesterday, and angry & frustrated, and that strong reaction surprised me. It shouldn't have. Nothing in the world gets to me quite like the perception of complete futility of effort.

I mean, it made me want to skip exercise, because what was the point, if getting in at least 60 minutes & often 2 hours daily does so little? But I convinced myself that skipping exercise would define insanity. And was rewarded by an unusually great spin class, with movie music, mostly from the 80s, and everyone on our bikes going: "Yow!" and "Yee-ha!" and "Whoa!" And pulling our t-shirts off one shoulder. (Check: "Flashdance" reference.)

JessicaClippy, one of the reasons that yesterday took me by surprise is that my doctor, a real hard&#$$, does bloodwork on me every three months or so, and my HDL levels have been exemplary. (The thing he hasn't liked is my Vitamin D levels, so we've been upping my vitamin supplements to raise it.) But that is real bloodwork, at least as I've been told it ought to work. I mean, I go into the doctor's office those mornings having fasted properly before the blood draw. And the blood gets sent to a lab. And the lab report comes back with a solid column of figures listing about 10 different things they seem to be looking at.

As opposed to the Health Fair, where everyone at work just showed up around lunchtime. Not knowing I'd have blood drawn, I'd had a regular morning, for me: Breakfast at 5:15 AM (blueberries w/ cinnamon & one Splenda packet, plain nonfat Yoplait Greek yogurt, plain unsalted crunchy Trader Joe's almond butter on toasted Ezekiel bread, coffee) and snack at 10:30 AM: a Macoun apple & low-salt string cheese piece. What was so bad there that would affect my HDL? But apparently it makes a difference between that & fasting. Or maybe it's the proper lab rather than whatever kind of gizmo they fed the pipette of blood into at the Health Fair.

saef - I am belatedly incensed after reading this!!! Everyone has already said everything I would, but just...outraged. More and more I feel like I have to shop around for the best medical advice, there is just so much crap being spewed by "professionals".

midwife - glad to see your mojo stuck around

krampus - congrats on your weigh in today, so excited to see your mini-goal post. and for US sizing...was just looking at JCrew and they have the measurement conversion for hip/waist/etc. Not precise, but better than nothing?

silverbirch and Jess - congrats, looks like you both are kicking butt on the weight loss

I just got back from a week in Philly/NYC. I ate out most meals and did my best to estimate cals, but maybe targeted total cal intake just a bit lower than usual due to my guessing. Had 4-5 "treats": brioche, mac n cheese, and ate most meals out. No sweets and not much booze though, didnt want them. Worked out my usual 3-4 times, though that was an achievement for being away. Also walked a ton just enjoying the cities.

Weighed in for the first time in a week, almost fainted. Then considered whether scale was broken. 122.2lbs That's down 4 lbs in a week. Wasnt trying to lose more, just maintain. Never in my life had the thought that I shouldnt lose more weight, but did this am. Emailed trainer and asked him to review my full food log tonight + suggest changes. Will see my dr too, just to be sure. I probably sound crazy, but 4lbs seems like a lot. I had felt a bit smaller, and did have to size down in jeans...thought it was just the body fat moving around a bit after my recent 20lbs drop.

Today is one of those days where I think "eff everything, this is good enough." It's not really and I am not satisfied with how I look. But to be honest I think having a poo will make everything better.

Thanks xty! I'm hoping I'll break through and re-find my mojo over the weekend. 4 lbs is a lot - keep us posted on what the doctor/trainer says. (Man, I wish I could lose 4 lbs in a week without trying!)

Yeah, some mornings, one really good s&%$#t can mean a two-pound loss.

Which doesn't explain Xty's amazing weigh-in. But I believe it, as in my own experience, I've been so careful on my last two vacations that I've probably overrestricted & actually lost, mostly because of the incidental movement, which is considerable, compared to my usual glued-to-my-Aeron-at-the-laptop weekday routine.

Hello, guys.

Maybe I should play with you. I've been lurking for weeks. Let me introduce myself as briefly as I can. I've been a member since 2006, I think, but I've never posted much. I lost 37 pounds in 1995/1996, maintained for 5 years, regained 10-14, maintained for 9 years. Now I'm working on losing those 10-14. For the billionth time. I just settled at that higher weight for so long because I wasn't technically overweight (even though I wasn't happy). But for the last few months I seem to have found some motivation again. Ha. Who would have thought that? I've lost 7 already. I'm not sure what calorie level to work at. I'm shooting for 1300 today. We'll see.

Anyway, hope to get to know you guys better soon and thanks for the
inspiration!

Edited because I don't know what I was thinking, I can't eat less than 1600 calories. But that's ok, I can lose at that level.

Down .7 pounds from last week.

Which works out well, because last week I was up .6 pounds from the previous week.

This is whacked. I'm about two pounds from where I'd prefer to be. Two freakin' pounds. I guess I just don't want it enough. Because if I did, I'd be stricter about portion control. (I eat very well, just don't weigh or measure the portions.) It's happening, but more slowly my way.

And I'm a little over two pounds less than what I weighed at the damned Health Fair, on their scale, at lunchtime, with my clothes on (except for no shoes). Actually, not a bad discrepancy for not being naked & on my own scale first thing in the morning.

I have to go off & think about how badly I want this vs. being comfortable. And convince myself it's not eating-disorderish to push for those last few pounds. My whole journey this time, I've been extremely cautious about getting into disordered behavior. Too cautious? Or rightly self-aware? I'll be thinking about that for a couple days.

Saef, a non-fasting cholesterol test is basically totally useless. Even fasting, those instant-read tests they do at health fairs are not very accurate. I would trust in your real lab results from your doc. DH had a similar thing -- his health fair told him his triglycerides were way high, but his regular blood tests always showed everything as normal. I'm sure if the nurse had known that you exercise 2+ hours per day she would not have recommended more exercise!

Clara!

xty, good idea to check with your doctor. DH had a family friend who was losing weight intentionally, but then when she hit her goal the weight loss just kept going. Turned out she was hyperthyroid. Definitely keep an eye on it!

Krampus (can I call you Kramp? .), I often feel that way. Like, I get up in the morning, and the scale is high, and I think, "if I poo it will go down 2lbs."

Down again this morning. 4lbs since Monday. Magic magic water weight. Pizza for lunch today at work so we'll see if it goes up again tomorrow, but it's also TOM and my weight usually plummets right about this point after being up prior to TOM.

Happy Friday all!

krampus - feeling like its good enough is kinda awesome, actually. I remember many days feeling like I was sooo far away from good enough.

Jess - you are on a roll! nice

I had the revelation in the shower this am that my metabolism might be working properly for the first time ever and that is probably as the answer to the loss!

At all higher weights, eating about 1200-1400 cals a day I was maybe losing .5 to 1lb a week (with 3-5 workouts). The math on the cal in vs out doesnt add up, but It was my norm for a decade and I never thought much about it since I couldnt change it (and it seems fairly common and no dr ever thought it meant I had a problem).

For that reason, after my recent drop from 140 to 120 I had been eating 1200-1400 for my new maintenance plan in the 120s. While on vaca Id been eating closer to 1100 as I was eating out and thought I was probably forgetting 100-200 a day at least!

Trainer pointed out that since my metabolism seems to be working just fine, I really need to be eating ~1500 a day min to maintain! And if I workout he told me to eat back the cals. Well on vaca I was probably walking hours a day, did normal workouts too, and was eating 1100-1200.

Feels insane to think that to maintain in the 120s I can now eat much more...but here I go. New goal is 1500 a day (with no eating back to start, its burdensome to eat so much food, sheesh). Will think about eating back workout cals after a week of 1500 intake.

Some good news and some bad news.

The good news first. Some of you will remember my winter pantsometers: a pair of lined outdoor trousers. Last year, I battled to zip them up and sit down. I never really made it. Today, I put them on, zipped them up and sat down. Yes!

Now, the bad news. My hips are still big compared with my waist. When I sat down, the waistband slipped down and exposed lots of my lower back. OK, these trousers are a few years old so styles may have changed but in winter I like to keep my kidneys warm. Call me old-fashioned if you like but that's how it is.

Anyway, I'll take this as a partial success and buy a belt. I'll lose a bit more and then try to find a pair of warm trousers which fit.