Uber: Hmm. That's a tough one with your knee. It is so beneficial to run for fitness, but you would hate to risk a big injury that might take you out of the game completely. Having anything sore makes it hard to continue with workouts at all. Oh, and I hope you see your 20 pounds soon. You deserve it!

Laurie: I don't get people's comments sometimes. Why say anything at all if that's the best you can do? Anyway, I think it is great to have the extra energy to get stuff done. That's definitely a good thing. Looks like you are getting closer and closer to your new maintenance goal.

For me, I am having trouble with my scale. It is fluctuating like crazy, so I think it might need a new battery or something. I thought that it put "LO" on the display when it is low on battery, but maybe not. It might be wearing out, too. Who knows.

I didn't go to spin this morning as I overslept. Not sure why that happened, but oh well!!

Diane Sorry you overslept. It happens! And doubly sorry about the scale jumping up and down. Mine definitely starts to give me inconsistent weights for quite a while before it actually shows up as "low". Trying changing it. It plays with me head to see weird numbers on the scale-- I'm sure it does you too. Re the knee, I ended up taking two days off as I was very busy over the weekend, and on the last run, my knee didn't bother me at all. I've noticed for whatever reason, and weirdly enough, that the running gait tends to bother my old-agey aches and pains less than a brisk walk. So I'm going to keep going, but I'll watch it and if it starts to hurt again, maybe I should get it looked at by a professional.

Laurie Jeez. People are just awful, aren't they? I know that when people are jealous they will let you know in strange ways, but Im sure you look healthy and beautiful at your weight and if you run around doing stuff all the time that makes you sound dynamic, amazing, and energetic-- not like a tweaker. Jeez. And a big WOOT WOOT to you for sticking at 153! Clearly your body is not done shedding.

So, as for me. I FINALLY HIT THE 20 LB mark!!!! Hooray!!! Going to do C25K week 3 day one today. Generally feeling pretty good and doing well sticking with my very loose plan. As always I do find that minimizing carbs by sticking to one piece of fruit a day and avoiding bread and starchy stuff most of the time does seem to help me. I think I was just so good and terrified by the doctors and the health issue that I'm really not struggling with craving bad stuff at all. Last night, I didn't eat very much dinner because my son came home unexpectedly and we had to stretch out the food-- and after dinner I was really still hungry-- and then again this morning-- so hungry!!!! Sometimes that means I'm going to see more loss. I HOPE SO.

Good morning!

Diane - Sometimes sleep is more crucial to loss than cardio. Glad you got some in. The scale fluctuations also make me insane. I hope that a new battery fixes it for good. We have to contend with so much stuff that naturally messes with our heads. It would be nice if the scale would just do what it's supposed to do. Hope you feel well-rested, and that you crush it for the rest of the week!

Uber - WOOT! 20 pounds down! That's such a huge milestone. Sounds like you have a better tolerance for hunger at night than I do. I'm impressed that you just accepted the hunger and didn't seek out other food. Sometimes, I need to remind myself that hunger doesn't kill, and I am not at risk for starvation. =) So glad, though, that you've found your stride and are not white-knuckling the food right now. Relieved that your knee issue has subsided. Can't wait to hear how Week 3 of C25K goes! And thank you for substituting some positive descriptors for me. I have been too focused on "tweaker looks." I'm going to try to embrace "dynamic, amazing, and energetic."

I have had too much drama around my runs lately. I ran about 5.5 miles last Saturday, but it took forever to force myself to get dressed, then to drive to the track, then to get out the car, etc. Yesterday, I got out of work a bit later than I planned, but I vowed to get changed as soon as I hit the door. I changed, checked in with the hubby, then hit the street running. 4.4 miles later (end of my route), I stopped. There was some self-talk in there - "This is hard, but I excel at hard." "I can conquer this hill. After that, it will get much easier." - but I did it without drama, and I conquered an outside (not on the track) route with a very steep hill at an average pace of 5.7 mph. I just want to fold the exercise into my day without even thinking about it. Yesterday felt like a step on the right path.

I stopped myself from snacking last night, after a very on-plan day with food. I dreamed of food, and woke up at 3 a.m. starving. I am going to try to do some chicken or beef broth with protein powder tonight to avoid that happening again. But I was hoping to be rewarded on the scale. Not so much. I am 154.0. Down from 154.6 yesterday morning, but still up a full pound from the day before. Nonetheless, I am staying below the 155 mark, and slowly making my way a wee bit lower.

Dynamic. Amazing. Energetic. These will be my new watchwords.

Hi guys. Quickly checking in to say hi. I'm busy at work, so I'll write more later. Just wanted to keep in touch!!

Laurie I just have so much respect for runners. I don't run. I've never run. Even as a child my parent's told me that I didn't run...even if I tried, I would just, "squat down and go fast". Apparently, my body doesn't understand how to run. LOL Really...that bothers me a lot to this day and I was likely 9 or 10 when my mom and dad said that to me. I know they didn't mean to be cruel - it was just true. And really....I don't WANT to run. I'm a lazy person by nature. If someone sees me running they better run too...something is chasing me.

I didn't get up and do the elliptical today - I was BEAT. With the hiking both days of the weekend plus the gym plus not getting to bed at a reasonable hour...I just didn't have the energy. I did do my mile at work, and I'm parked almost 1/2 mile from the office...so there's that.

Sunday showed me a tiny bit down on the scale at the gym. We'll see what mine has to say tomorrow. Wish I could remember if I was dressed at all last time.

Diane - Glad you're checking in even when work is crazy. One of these days, we'll find out what your mystery job is, since you often reference it generally but never specifically. =) Hope all is well on the fitness and food fronts, and that work calms down soon.

Lilion - Squat down and go fast? LOL. Not even sure what that means, but I understand why it is a comment that would stick with you. I am not sure, honestly, that running is for me either. I am actively fighting against it in my head right now, even though this is the time I should be the most committed, as I have a half-marathon coming up on 4/29. My first and probably only. Sounds like you are getting lots of great fitness activities in, though. I love hiking! Hope you got better sleep last night and that the elliptical got owned today. Yay for some movement on a scale, even if it wasn't the right scale at the right time of day. Those usually weigh higher than my home scale. Hope your home scale shows an even better loss!

I had a completely off day. Not even going to get into the how or why. I just know that I felt awful and I got the food shakes and I ate too much and I felt miserable. Then, of course, had a 1.6 pound gain on the scale this morning.

I wanted to skip weighing this morning and eat the rest of my chosen binge food before work. (There wasn't much left.) I wanted to skip 3FC. I wanted to stop and get my [preferred binge food] on the way into work this morning, reasoning that soon enough, I would be on the straight and narrow again and wouldn't be able to eat the [chosen binge food]. And then I saw Carter's words in my head. I can stop any day I want to get that food. I can stop multiple times a day for it if I would like it. I also thought of you and your sheet cake moment, Uber. I don't want yesterday's moment to be the one that lives in infamy in my head as the day that I abandoned maintenance after only tasting it for a few months. (I am still amazed that you were so successful for as long as you were, Uber.)

I feel gross right now, and I know that the only thing that will make me feel more normal again is water and walking. So I will save the treats for a special occasion and I will get feeling right so that I can have a successful, drama-free run this afternoon. I still have prepped food at work, and have a couple of protein shakes and bars available for emergencies.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Diane Waving! Hope work calms down soon!

Lillion I just wanted to say that I really get where you're coming from saying that you don't run. I never felt like a good runner as a kid. I was slow. But when I hit adulthood and put on weight I stopped running-- ever. The most I ever did was run across the yard for a few steps to grab a kid. Then back in 2010, I was working on fitness through swimming, and somebody told me about running, and I explained how I did not run and could not run-- ever-- and she said, I bet you could if you tried. So I started on the C25K running app, which starts you out with 60 secs of running and lots of walking and then slowly builds up. Don't get me wrong-- I'm not saying you should run, but when I was able to run 30 minutes straight through (run is an exaggeration, it's more like a fast shuffle) I was so proud of myself. It was one of life's biggest accomplishments! Sadly, I regained my weight and gave up running, and was afraid to restart because I'm a good forty pounds heavier than I was last time I started, but I'm on week three of C25K now and even at 275 pounds, I am running again, and it makes me feel really proud! My point is-- never say never. You may not like running, and you may not want to run-- fair enough, but if I can run, then I promise you, you could run too!

Laurie THE DREADED SHEET CAKE!!!!!! I'm so sorry that you are having recurring white-knuckle/binge issues. That is so hard! I'm happy that I'm not struggling with that right now, but I'm so familiar with that. Regarding my own experience with maintaining a lower weight, it wasn't actually that hard for me when it was working. The biggest problem was that I never accepted that I was maintaining, so my maintenance was "trying to lose" sort of, so I pretty much stayed on the plan I'd been on all along. When it got hard, and when I eventually went sheet cake mad, was when a whole lot of stress started piling on-- I mean I was going through so many things at the same time-- family illness, career breakthrough, moving (twice)-- I remember that I used to feel my stomach churning, I was just so exhausted and wound up, and the one thing that would make me feel "better" was bingeing. Ugh. In a nutshell, the cycle for me was overwork and overstress, followed by skipping exercise because I was too tired to do it, followed by managing my stress worse because I wasn't exercising, followed by bingeing to relieve stress. The point in the cycle I should have intervened was in the over-stressed part, but what can you do? Sometimes there are just a lot of people depending on you and there is no exit. So, I'm still going to push to to make sure that you are planning indulgences into your life, because what I hear from you a lot is that you are an amazing, perfectionistic high achiever-- which is awesome, but everyone needs a bubble bath and a day binge watching TV from time to time!

Uber is over here doing pretty well. I thought I was on Week 3 Day 1 of C25k, but either I wasn't there yet or I accidentally chose the wrong day, so I found myself doing day 3 of week 2. I had taken 2 days in a row off and was well-rested, so I was pretty much amazed at how it was NOT HARD! Go UBER! Kind of dreading Week 3 where the run times get longer, but I am really noticing how the interval running really does pick up my fitness faster than the steady walking. Weight wise, I had to go to a fancy schmancy dinner thing where I was the guest speaker on Monday night. Because of that, I barely ate. (I hate to eat at events for fear I'll have green stuck in my teeth or spill on my shirt) Yesterday morning, I dropped a pound for the second straight day, clocking in a 275, but yesterday, I was so hungry that I ate a bit more than usual (still very much on-plan) and this morning, I bounced back up, but I'm still sticking at the 20 lb down mark. Hooray!

Lillion - Yeah, I always say it is a love/hate relationship I have with running. It typically is not something I look forward to doing like the other workouts I have. (I absolutely LOVE hiking.) But I do love what it does for feeling fit, toning legs, and losing weight. I don't think it is something that you have to do! Life is short, enjoy workouts!! ha!

Laurie: Ha, ha! Yeah, I guess I have never mentioned what I do. That could be because it isn't a glam job at all! If I could say I'm an author, I might talk about it more. But, I work in commercial insurance sales/service, and bonding. (and not James Bond type bonding... ) It's still so busy right now.... Sorry you had a not so great day, but I know you'll rebound. I'm glad you posted.

Uber: Sounds like you're still having good progress. That's great! C25K is such a good program, I'm glad you're finding success. I can't remember what week it was, but there was one that just took me forever to break through. It's always ok to repeat!

For me, I'm struggling somewhat. It will be fine, but work has been leaving me exhausted and overwhelmed. So hard to be excited about getting up early and working out.

Just checking in to say that I did finish C25K Week 3 Day 1. It was a bit hard but not unmanageable. (Diane I remember that I had to repeat week 5 3 times before I could move on, and I was thinner and fitter when I started. I'm glad to know that others do too!) I'm also in a horrible mood, and feeling the way I feel when I start binging. I was walking through the kitchen where there is a half empty bag of gummy bears lying on the counter, and I literally had the gummy bears IN MY HAND before I realized what I was doing (I didn't put the candy there-- it was a gramma/kid situation) As soon as I realized it, I put them back. It was completely unconcious. Had two bowls of soup for dinner and I think the danger zone is past. Hope you all are having a good day!

Uber: Sorry you had a bad mood. I'm taking over for that today.... But you made it through C25K!! Way to go!

I'm alive! Just checking in to say hi to everyone. Been sick for a few days. Never got to formally weigh in, so not sure where I stand on my weight loss lol. Be back on here later.

Amanda Glad you're alive! Sorry you've been sick and hope you're feeling better.

Diane Oh no! Not a bad mood day! Sorry! Hope it's going better now.

Laurie Waving! Hope you are doing well.

Last night before bed, I ate almond butter, flax seeds and a cut up apple. The downside was that I wasn't actually planning on eating anything else, and I was feeling cranky, stressed and binge-y . The good news is that I discovered that if you have to binge, almond butter is a good choice. It's so dense that you reach a natural stopping point pretty quick! Today is going fine. Feeling a bit lazy and not totally into the idea of a workout. I think I may just go for a little walk outside. No loss or gain after my almond better adventure. Basically, hanging in there! Cheers to all!

Uber: Hey! Sorry you had a bad-mood day yesterday, glad today is going better. I never could get into peanut butter or almond butter. Really wish I could, because it's such easy protein and so filling! Glad you're hanging in there. Congrats on making it to Week 3 of C25k!!!

Diane: Hope work lays off of you a bit soon and the struggle gets easier!

Laurie: Super glad that while you're still white-knuckling it a bit, you're managing to *manage* it and push through it. You can do it! I'm so proud of you for doing it!



Okay so, updates. I didn't manage to make my weigh-in last week due to early morning shifts and weird scheduling things. I ate some not-quite healthy foods over the weekend and again two days ago. Got sick from something (who knows what) and started running a fever and was just EXHAUSTED for the last two days. Haven't worked out except one time this week.

Weighed myself just now to see what the damage was and to sort of reboot myself...aaaannnd it turns out I'm at my lowest weight yet (259.4) and that's at the end of the day with all my clothes on and all my meals in my belly! I'm curious as to what my weight will be in a few days in the morning once I've been slightly more on track. Guess being good to yourself includes rest and relaxation, huh?

In other news, I'm probably going to join a kickboxing studio! My best friends went to a class last night (that I couldn't go to because: sick), and they LOVED it. One of them is close with the owner and got us a special rate if we join. I'm gonna go to my first class maybe Saturday or Monday and probably join then if I love it (which I'm sure I will, I loved kickboxing the last time I did it and lost 40lbs at that point).

Good morning! I really, really need to read through everything carefully and write out some thoughts about my two-day not-so-on-plan eating and exercise. But things are beyond insane right now. I am going to try to get back here this afternoon, but wanted to make sure to check in because I didn't make it to a check-in yesterday.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm just trying to get things done before the end of the day, so not posting much today!