Saef.... Easy for us to say, but the scale isn't the entire picture. You and I know that. Our brains? Not so much...

Yesterday was the baby shower I co-hosted so my food was high. We had it at a tea room and I partook in the high tea experience! I went to bikram yoga in the morning and then debated going back to the late class. I never do the late class because it ends at 8 pm, then you have to shower and have dinner which throws off my routine. I knew if I didn't do it my weight would be up and I only have a few days before my trip.... So I dragged myself there. They had switched instructors and I'm glad I didn't know beforehand as I don't care for the instructor and I'd already had him in the morning. If I'd known, I would have used it as an excuse not to go. Very hard class.... I was so tired after I didn't even want dinner but I was starving. My weight was down a bit though!

My back, neck and hamstrings have been bothering me forever so I made an appt for a deep tissue massage today. After that, I'll do yoga and run errands. Fun day!

No sodium.

Diet Ginger Ale

Flower: a very belated hello! Yes, work stress stinks - and having zero time for anything healthy makes it harder to cope with the stress.

ICU/Becky: I hope you're right, and I make it through this period with some amount of pride for having survived it. At the moment I feel constant shame at how imperfectly we are doing the work. But you're right, the world won't end (despite what some of our researcher clients think). I forgot to mention that I loved your term for wasps (arse daggers I think?).

Saef: You were happy with how your body looked last night - then the scale changed how you felt. If you had to choose, would you have preferred a lower number and a less-satisfying appearance? Or does it only feel good to have both the "right" number and the satisfying body? Just curious - I would like to say that I couldn't care less what my scale says, but I'm not there just yet.

ETA: I'm afraid I didn't say that well above and that it sounds "judgy". If so, I'm sorry, I am trying to understand other people in order to understand myself. I am wrestling with the fact that I only started calorie counting and weighing weekly to lose the "last 5 pounds", and now I can't seem to stop either one. I lost the first 25 pounds in what I realize now was almost an intuitive eating approach. I'd like to get back to that behavior and I'm recognizing that some of my new habits are not so great for my mental state.

First week loss, 1.5#. I did very well with the counting/logging and would say my track record was 6/7. Yesterday's party included a lot of unusual meat - walleye, venison tenderloin, lamb ... and I definitely went over my caloric boundaries. No regrets, and have made plans to eliminate the overage over the course of this week.

We will be leaving Saturday for a week of camping in the Upper Peninsula; that's going to be more of a challenge food-wise. I am trying REALLY hard to adopt a positive mindset about this trip. If it were just me, DH and DS - no problem. It's the BIL's family that is the great unknown (and history is not that good). BIL would be fine, but his DS6 and DD4 who are, um, shall we say, "undisciplined" ... combined with a wife who is NOT an experienced (or enthusiastic) camper ... and a very rustic site with pit toilets and without showers ... plenty of bugs, risk of bears ... please, please send up your good thoughts and prayers for flawless weather, great fishing, strong breezes, and contented fat bears who want to mind their own business.

Becky I wish the very best outcome for your camping trip. I no longer camp. I was so tired, bloated, and sore from the last camping "vacation" DH and I took years ago that I vowed no more. I'm willing to go out for a day but I want a toilet and a shower and a real bed at the end. DH is starting to feel the same way but he insists on keeping all the camping gear "just in case".

Dagmar

Thanks, Dagmar! I'm not quite ready to give up the overnight outdoorsy pursuits yet, but it is getting more and more difficult to achieve comfortable sleeping accommodations on the ground. And one of the things I treasure about the outdoors is the subdued noises of nature - very little of which I expect to experience with a six and four-year old. If this weren't my only vacation week this summer, I'd be less glum about it.

Becky, I hope your outdoor noises are a great comfort to you on your trip. Coming to you from San Francisco where, outside my hotel room, it seemed that every vehicle with a back-up beeper decided to back up whilst driving around the hotel. At 2 AM. That, coupled with the noise of the AC which was cold when we went to bed, didn't keep up and we didn't sleep well due to the heat in the room (but no one wanted to get up and mess with the temperature gauge) made sleep not so good. Let's hope the inn in Napa is more restful for me. Also, I'm not guaranteeing anything with my diet on this trip.

oooh, Allison, are you by chance going to stay at the Napa River Inn? We stayed there for a wedding a few years back - what an absolutely lovely spot! Bummer about the AC - I don't think I'd sleep well either. I hope it gets better for you!

We've stayed at many Napa hotels, and this is one of our faves!

We're at Wine Country Inn and I couldn't be happier. We have a cottage that is impressive. DD and future SIL have a very nice suite (DS is staying with us--his twin bed is in a little alcove away from our bed). We have a wonderful patio on the east side? (hart to determine at the moment). Wine tasting from various wineries every day at 4:30 PM. Breakfast every morning. It is quiet, quiet, quiet and I cannot get over the softness of the towels! I'll take some photos (or you could Google Wine Country Inn--we're in the Vintner Cottage). Spectacular.

Last night at the Hampton Inn was less than spectacular. Noisy. Hot. Uncomfortable. I'm sure we'll sleep better tonight.

ICUwishing, yes it is an odd world as even Amazon finds a way to supersize books.

Saef, Muscle weighs more than fat. So I vote that you go with that buff reflection you saw in the mirror. And tell that scale that it is misleading. btw, i admire that you do pilates. Thats awesome.

paperclippy. you wrote about babies. wow and yikes. that's a plural? I bow to you

I have made a decision. No cheating for the next 6 days. Until next Monday when I have company coming for dinner. It will not be easy because I will have to start cooking on Sunday. But I have to get in gear and lose those 3 lbs I gained at the beginning of June. I am tired of it having control over me. i need to get back in control. So there will be low carbs and calories until Monday. Sadly, my friend will have not as good a meal on Monday. Because I will not be able to cook much that day due to other committments. And Sunday will still be a diet day. So she will not get the usual gourmet excellent fare. She is vegan. And my body cannot handle most foods. So its a bit tricky cooking for us both. All I know is that there will be no cheating for the next 6 days. Scary to get back to that place. But I must. I must go back to diet mode. Leave behind maintence mode for a couple of weeks. Considering it is only 3 lbs and i am not overweight now, I will stay posting here in the maintence area. Thanks for having me here I do appreciate it

I have given up any semblance of healthy eating until this week is over. I'm working like a maniac, DH is cooking, and we have to spend 6 hours driving to and from a wedding on Sunday.

August will be quiet. I will get back to the regular plan then with next week being the "easing in" phase.

Dagmar

You people who live in Florida, how do you do it? The air-conditioning everywhere is glacial but if you go outside, oh my, that humidity at 5 AM when I walk along an open loggia heading for the gym. And then when I escaped briefly from the meetings around lunch hour, to walk by the lake on the property and look for birds, I felt like I was being blasted by a space heater. But the reward was a white ibis, a wood stork, anhingas, common gallinules, coots (which we also have up north, but still ...), a great cormorant (we have double-cresteds up north) and most definitely some cruising alligators, further out in the water. So now I feel like I've really been in Florida, and not some hotel business conference that could've been anywhere. I also saw some joggers. I could NOT do that here.

Dagmar, I hope you can really enjoy the food you eat until you get back on the eating plan. I hope you get to eat delicious things. And that you can feel good or okay about eating it.

Saef, Glad you got to really expereince Fla. I could not jog in hot humid weather either. I come from a very cold climate. So I would actually prefer 110 degrees in the winter. But I would be in front of a huge fan. Or in near the a/c

Am reading Brain over binge, as Andrea suggested. I eventually skimmed through most of the biographical parts until I got to the stuff about RR. I have not read enough of the book to figure out how to impliment the instructions. I lost 100 lbs (from my highest) by having mastery over my thoughts and actions. But the thoughs did not go away. And it remains exhausting. So I will have to continue to read and find out how this differs from what I did, which managed but never removed the food monster, as I have called it. Good book though. Although the part I now am in pushes lots of buttons.

Today could have been worse for me. I did alright. But I do want to get control over this cocoa thing. I am proud of myself that I got through another day of urges and didnt give in to the worst of them. No popchips. The carbs came from cocoa and avocado. So I feel pretty good that I got myself through another day with this. I lost one of those lbs that I put on in June. 2 more to go.

Thanks people. I appreciate being here.

On the hotel scale, 154.4 this morning. So I lost two pounds since my last weigh-in, probably due to dehydration in the hotel atmosphere.

My flight out of Orlando was canceled yesterday due to thunderstorms somewhere along the way, and the agent couldn't book me until Thursday morning.

Back to the hotel, where fortunately, an events organizer for my company was able to get me a room for one more night. Some work alone in my room and then a nice expensed dinner with two colleagues similarly stranded. We had a good conversation.

I'm so ready to go home. I feel bloated with unaccustomed salt from all the meals at this place.