Casey... I was going to suggest the same as everyone else... veggie tray, baked chips, etc... ALSO... in college, when I was successfully watching my weight I was a big fan of bacardi razz and diet sprite or diet coke. Less cal than beer and SOOOO GOOD...NOTE OF CAUTION: it is so good that it is very easy to make it through half a bottle before you realize it, which wouldn't be the best situation at a football game (or anytime, really) but I had fun!!! Amstel light is a little better if you go the beer route... honestly, I think one of the reasons I'm doing well losing right now is b/c I stopped drinking beer for the most part (and I LOVE beer!)---but it can be evil.

Ollie and Remember: I definitely went empty handed this past weekend. However, I'm going to try and bring my own stuff this weekend. I think I will look into the veggie dogs, or even turkey dogs. The problem is resisting all of the other yummy food , I am determined this weekend, I will not have a repeat of the past weekend, it was horrible!

oh annd many of my friends mixed their lower cal alcoholic beverages in a nalgene bottle before parties so that they were ready to go... wow, I'm starting to realize I was friends with a buncha drunks in college... hmmmm

Hope2Lose: I'm not a beer drinker, but I definitely love my wine. I was thinking of switching though, and I think your bicardi drink will be the first thing I try, it sounds really good and I need something lower calorie. And like you said, I gotta be careful about it! Thanks for the advice, I'm going to try it out this weekend!

Casey: Veggie burgers and (better yet) veggie corn dogs are pretty much all that kept me on track my first year of college. Whenever the guys and I would go tailgating, I'd always be sure to bring a box. Had to guard those corndogs, though...they had a tendency to disappear if I didn't keep an eye on 'em...

Another quick food that was a standby was corn. Doesn't sound too exciting, but I'd grab a couple ears, wrap 'em in tinfoil and toss them on the grill with the guys burgers. Fairly tasty, and low-cal. Baby carrots and salsa are also pretty good. Although speaking as a former vegan, my opinions are probably a little biased.

I also used to cut my wine with sparkling water...not the greatest thing in the world, but it was better than no wine. After a while, I just switched to rum and diet coke. But like the bacardi, you've gotta watch your amounts...it's way easy to drink waaaaaaaay more than you mean to

Also, Hope2Lose: I totally feel you on realizing you were friends with a buncha drunks in college. Sometimes I just have to stop and shake my head.... :-)

i havent exactly been working out since i started and got almost half way to my goal but i all the made up for it last night. now i know why my thighs are getting thinner i use them more now lol.
i've been working on a couple of orders today and even tho i'm sitting in a chair i'm listening to music and moving my upper body. i'd ask my dh to find my hand weights but i discovered one had been getting tossed around the front yard and the vinyl was getting tore up and my balance ball is in the shed since theres no room for it in our room. i'll get there eventually

Good Morning Ladies!

Last night ended okay. Eating was perfect but there were other things that didn't go as I wanted them to. All in all it was an okay day.

Hope to have better luck today. TOM showed up this morning so my attitude is not something to be proud of but it will pass.

Today is my 6th day of maintaining!!!

Have a Great Day Ladies!

Same old same old here. Yesterday was good eating. I stuck to my plan, I’ve gotten my calories to where I want them to be (after my vacation I had to eat higher calories for a few days and work my way back down because my body was use to the higher days). The scale was still at 179 today, so I’m saying all in all I gained 3 pounds on my vacation (the rest I’m chalking up to water weight because I lost it all too fast for it to be real weight). I say that isn’t too bad for a 4 day drinking/food binge in Vegas. It amazes me how easy it is to gain weight and how hard to lose weight.
Cat – I’m sorry your life is really stressful right now. I know how hard life can get but hang in there and we are here if you need to vent.

Casey – If you are a big wine fan then you could make wine spritzers by add soda water to it. That way you are having less win in each drink. Also a favorite of mine (if you are going out side of the wine realm) is mix coconut malbu with diet coke. Very fruity.

Hope – Who isn’t a drunk when they are in college. Oh some stories I could tell . . .

Lissa – Hang in there, sorry to hear about your weights.

Jana – Good job on hitting 6 days. I just realized how close to your goal you are. Keep up the good work.

I love all of this advice guys!! I definitly have a few ideas that I'm going to try out this weekend! What would I do without you guys?!?

I stepped on the scale a few minutes ago, I was too afraid yesterday, I wanted to see what kind of damage I did this weekend. I was back up to 158. It's amazing to me how it takes me 2 weeks to lose 2 pounds but it takes me a couple of days to gain 2 pounds. That's ok, I"m going to try my damnedest to get it off by Friday!!

Happy Tuesday Girls!

Remember: I feel ya girl ... It's sooo easy to gain it, but you have to work your but off to get even 1 pound of it off .
TheSarahFish: did you put the corndogs on the grill??

Oh ladies, I've been gone for a week and it was terrible. I got completely off track. It was so bad, I ate all but one slice of a medium deep dish pizza from Pizza Hut. Yes, that bad. And that was only the tip of it. I did nachos bell grande AND a soft shell taco supreme. I did McDonald's large fries and fish sandwich - two days in a row. I was BAD. I was exactly how I was when I was gaining this weight. And, I went up two pounds because of it.

My mother called me a week ago and informed me that her and my dad were having martial problems. It turns out that during their 35 marriage my dad has had multiple affairs - and she had a one night stand - and they just kept trucking along for the sake of the kids. Well, the $hit hit the fan finally. Dad told her he doesn't know if he loves her anymore. And then my mom attempted suicide twice. And then she finally had the balls to kick him out of the house. But, that meant that there was no one with her to keep an eye on her. So, in comes Amber. I took a week off of work and stayed with her. It was depressing, it lacked exercise except for a couple 30 minute walks to get her out of the house. . . and my mom refuses to eat. REFUSES. So, I ate instead. I ate and I ate and I ate. If I can't keep on plan during a stressful situation I'll never lose weight. We all face stressful situations every day. I need to practice what I preach!

So, here I am. I feel like I'm back at square one. I'm back on track with my food now that I'm back home, but I have to learn to stay on track even when I'm out of my routine. That's key. I'm so mad at myself for letting myself go. Bah.

Good Morning ladies,
so yesterday I started back with my weight management and I am so happy I made it through the whole day. I drank LOTS of water (which is a big issue for me because I NEVER drink water unless it comes as part of the drink), I didn't eat any fast food (my problem #2), and I didn't eat any 'bad' junk food. I snacked on fruit and crackers and I went to the gym last night! Yaaay for me. I havent been to the gym in a year. I didn't do much but I did 20 mins on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the elliptical... but hey thats 40 more minutes than what I usually do

AMBER: HUGS :hugs: I am so sorry to hear about your family situation! Sounds like you were the only one acting like an adult :-/ DOn't worry about the over eating - sounds like you had an emotional roller coaster! Just think how GOOD your habits are now that when you made poor choices you were eating at a level that used to be normal for you but you recognized it and are getting back to the good choices. That's what lifestyle change is all about. I for one, think you are doing fabulous! So, don't get too down on yourself and know we are here for you if you want to talk/vent about the fam situation.

Amber --- That's crazy... you deserve kudos for helping your mom. You'll get back on track... the best way to deal with this is to tell yourself, it's in the past and you can learn from it!

Well, I hopped on the scale this morning and I was back down to 213.4 - just about where I was before I went down to my parents' for the weekend. I figured it was mostly water weight, since 4 pounds in 2 days was a little extreme, even for me. So it's good to feel like I'm back on track.

Amber: I can only imagine the stress you're going through with your parents. Given the situation, I think you managed your stress eating as best you could. Just take it one day at a time, and you'll be through before you know it.

Casey: I'd usually nuke the corndogs pre-game so they were thawed out. Once we got there, I'd wrap them in tinfoil and set them on the grill to warm/crisp the rest of the way up. Depending on how hot the grill was, it'd usually only take a couple minutes.

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. I've put my mom in touch with a lot of professionals and she's starting to reach out to a handful of friends. That's nice, because I could certainly use some help in getting all of the weight off my shoulders.

I do know that it's just one week and I'll get back on track. But, I have my best friend's wedding next month and I wanted to be down to 145 by then. I doubt I'll make that goal now. I think that's what I'm most upset about. But, the ultimate goal is 130 and getting there matters far more than a few pounds in a friend's wedding photo.