Awesome Mbn!!

Hey Maintainers,
I recently reached my goal weight of 140, but I want to get down to 135 just so that my "red line" weight is still 140 and water weight or what have you doesn't send me back over. Also I've discovered at 140 I'm still kind of in between an 8 and a 10 and would like to be more comfortably an 8. So this seems like a good place to kick me into shedding those last 5. Thanks!

Aw, fudge, ok, accountability time.

I was at... cough165cough at the beginning of September. This morning I was at cough164coughcough (probably still taking water weight off from last weekend, but I'm not using that as an excuse). Smilie faces can't convey how embarrassed I am at how far I've fallen. I think this is much harder than losing weight in the first place ever was. Even when I'm POP nothing wants to budge, then I fall off and up up up it goes. Of course I'm going to keep trying...though like Allison said at this rate I'll get to goal in...yeah...

Great job MBN!

Bravo to those who are doing so well!!!

Welcome forestroad! Glad you joined us.

I'm starting to wish that 3FC had the ability to "like" a post like Facebook has! Megan--I like you post! As much as you wish it weren't true. I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling like this!!! And, to top it off, you're not alone!!!!

Ahh, accountability. Well I started this thread at 132 and the ticker currently says 129... BUT last weigh-in was back up to 132 - had a few bad days. Time to get back on track! I've been 125 before and I'm not 100% sure if it will be too hard to maintain, but i KNOW I was at 128 for a long time and had no problem - so I want to at least be 128!

MBN - congrats!!!! AWESOME job last month!

Me - good month - still in my "zone". I'm down a lb - but that was planned since we leave on vacation in the morning.

New month - new goals - new determination.

We ARE the MIGHTY Maintainers!



Let's this month and be ready for the holidays!

Megan, I can so relate to how you are feeling, because that's where I was in August. I did SO well during my hiking vacation in July - I hiked crazy mileage and ate everything in sight, came back, and weighed in at 113. No weight gain at all. The problem was, I got a little TOO used to eating more and had trouble reining myself in. Then, I went to vist my family in early August, didn't work out all that much, and ate way more than I care to admit to, and came back at -- 125!

OMG, how was that even possible?! (it was) I tried to get back on the wagon, but struggled terribly with carb cravings and the weight simply wouldn't come back off like it usually did. I would be good all week, then fall hugely off the wagon on the weekends, undoing any progress I made. It was a vicious cycle and I was very discouraged.

Finally, I just mentally got back into a "do or die" mode. It was a combination of things, I guess -- I couldn't stand seeing daily weigh-ins in the 120's; my clothes were getting tighter and I didn't like the way the bloat looked; and probably the biggest reason is that race season is coming up and the extra weight was making my runs slow and tortuous. It was significantly affecting my running performance --it was awful. I had to get into the mindset that I had to go on plan and stay on plan until I was back down to where I wanted to be. Period.

So, that's where I am. I've made working out and staying on plan one of my top priorities and was able to finally detox from those carb cravings. And it's worked. But I had to get back into that "nothing is going to stop me" mental mode. And nothing worked until I did. I'm still not "there" yet, but I'm getting there. I wish it were easier, but it's just not.

Megan, .
And MBN, if this is NOT my experience in a nutshell, I don't know what is. I'm still having more "slips" than I like or than I should, but I'm at the point where I am irritated enough by the extra pounds that I'm almost 100% in the "nothing is going to stop me" zone.

Go, Megan, go!!!

Thank you all SO MUCH for the support, as always. I've been struggling to recapture that "do or die" mentality that led me to get to my goal weight in the first place. When I originally lost weight, I never drank alcohol, never had a piece of cake, etc. (figuring I could have one occasionally once I got to where I wanted to be). Then I just got used to "occasional" treats too often and it snowballed... My muscle composition has changed a lot and I'm not sure if my maintenance weight will fall back to the exact place as before, but I've got to get there (or close to it) to figure that out. Where I am isn't a healthy place. However the gain has stopped over the last 6 months b/c I'm at the absolute end of my waistbands! I'm hoping that's enough to get the "do or die" into my head!

MBN, thanks for your insights. I'm honestly not quite sure what exactly triggers me to "fall off" like your carb cravings were getting you. As I said, I go 2-3 weeks, then bam. I've been thinking about it nonstop. Part of it is making sure I don't get too hungry. I'm going to try giving myself a higher cal day of healthy stuff every week or two, rather than letting my occasional high-cal day fall where it may "b/c I ended up at a social gathering and drank a beer, ate some french fries, [fill in other not healthy thing here]". I think another big component is boredom. If I feel myself slipping I need to get out and do something, anything, not stay at home!

The scale was down to 161 this morning - definitely shedding water weight too. I'm still going to try to get 5 lbs off by Thanksgiving! Who's with me?

I'm going camping this weekend with a bunch of friends. We're going to scuba dive a spring and there is a place to swim, kayak, and tube, so I think I can stay pretty active. Food is BYO, so I'll BMO healthy stuff. I'm going to make my own white wine spritzer with some no-cal mixer. Alcohol is my biggest worry. I think I'll just try to chant "do or die" to myself if I want to drink too much or eat bad things!

Sunday I've got theater tickets and I get to go to the big city, which means a real grocery store! Time to stock up on some staples for healthy eating.

Anyone facing any particular challenges this weekend?

Megan, you are gorgeous! My challenge this weekend is tonight. It's not a big one. I've decided I'm going to get my favorite soup at Pacific Rim tonight, which is vegetarian lemongrass soup, and it's healthy, but it's a big serving and I don't know how many calories are in it. So I'm going to try to listen to my body telling me when it's full, and hope I get the right amt of calories that won't throw me off for the weekend.
B: coffee (16 cals); english muffin with bacon egg and cheese (380 cals)
L: Amy's organic spinach and cheese sandwich pocket (280 cals); Stonyfield organic blueberry yogurt (120 cals);
S: Apple (100 cals)
D: Lemongrass Soup (??? cals)
That leaves about 500 calories for the soup, which should be plenty. I'm a little worried about all the fat today; I have a rather high fat diet (36%) but it hasn't seemed to hurt my health or my WL. I take the Michael Pollan view that it's hardly a direct line from dietary fat to coronary fat, and I get a pretty organic and varied diet otherwise. More processed than I'd like, but it's so hard for me to avoid with my time/cooking skillz.

Do or Die! I'll be chanting that (in my head) to get through the week-end! We have 55 days until Thanksgiving so I am still hoping for a 10-pound loss. That won't get me to my goal weight, but no matter what, I'll be closer to it than I am now.

Welcome Forest!

Congrats, MBN, that's terrific! And congrats to CD and Iris -- even a single pound is a huge achievement.

Megan -- those pounds near our goal are very very hard to shed/reshed. It seems like a "do or die" attitude is needed to make them budge. It took a year of coasting for me to gear up for this battle. Great news about your recent scale victory! Hopefully you can build on that. Good luck with your T-Day goal! I am hoping to clock in reliably at or under 135 by then.

Since I last posted, I had a few very stressful days Please read my thread:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/gene...ortant-do.html

Usually, I'm a stress nibbler, but those past few days I was barely able to eat. I focused on my higher calorie choices (nuts, chicken,etc) but I was still logging under 1000 cals/day. Because I wasn't eating my usual volume of veggies, my weight dropped.

After the followup yesterday, I ate normally and some of the scale weight is back today. I am hoping that after the scale stabilizes again, I will still be down a pound from where I started. I have moved my ticker to reflect that optimism. I do think it's time for a little progress on the scale!

Does that mean I should start defrosting the turkey yet?

Is it really, really cold in your house?

I just always, always. always start defrosting late and sweat about it! This year shall be different!!