I am sorry you and your family were sick Lauriedawn. Scary that your son was in the hospital. The flu was bad this year.

I am starting to get back on track. That seems like a broken record the last few months. I have been bad about exercising. So my weight loss has slowed. I am still going down but not as fast. I am really ok with this. I am eating more and enjoying that. I was hopeful to be in onederland before my trip in April and I don't think that is going to happen. I would like to be more comfortable in my size 16 shorts. So another 5lbs would help.

Thanks! I really value how supportive everyone here is; just the level of understanding here can be so hard to find elsewhere.

I'm four days in on my commitment and, though my scale still refuses to change, I've lost at least an inch on various body parts since last week! Woohoo!

Laurie - Good to see you back, I was worried! Very sorry to hear you all were sick, especially your son being hospitalized. I imagine that has to be seriously scary. Wishing you all back to 100% health very soon.

Lishar - Being as close as you are to onderland is amazing enough in it's own right. I know it sucks not making those 'deadlines' we can't help but set for ourselves, but you've seriously rocked a major loss. Enjo your trip!

Keep Moving - Nice job on the inches! Glad you're keeping track of those so that you can see the progress even when the scale isn't budging.

Pink - Congrats on your loss this week!

Day 23 of 30
Man did we eat good this weekend. Acorn squash stuffed with apple chicken sausage, eggs on top of rutabaga, conecuh/beef and pineapple meatloaf, salmon...good lord. Makes me salivate just thinking about it. I hit my goal of 233 on saturday. We walked several miles on Saturday in these gorgeous gardens nearby...Saturday was absolutely lovely. There was even a wedding going on at the gardens and we lurked close by and watched (it was on the 'great lawn' which is open to the gardens...we're not that creepy) and of course I cried. Not only did I spot the Dad wiping away tears before he and the bride walked, but there was the cutest little boy pulling a wagon full of flowers and an adorable baby! Too freakin cute!
We cleaned house hardcore yesterday and walked in the afternoon. Really nice to have the energy to get back into exercising again. Gained .6 this morning, but not only do I always gain on mondays but it's TOM so it was expected. That'll be gone soon. Still on track for onderland by my birthday!!

Hope everyone has a lovely day today...

^^^ Aw, weddings make me teary-eyed, too. Especially when dads are crying!


I'm happy to report that my scale moved!!! From 290.8 to 290.6, which is hardly anything but I'm still excited! Even though I'm currently TOM'ing, I didn't work out a lot last week (but was still pretty active), I ate brownies yesterday, and I just weighed after having breakfast, coffee & water, while wearing clothes, my scale still moved down! It's a monday miracle!

205.0. I hope it's a stabilized post-flu weight, cuz it's a new low. Truly, though, I have really just been maintaining since January. I won't pretend this was a conscious decision, but evenin my most out-of-control moments, I was thinking, 'WTH? This is not how I eat.' So, counting this as a win. But I have a milestone birthday in May. I really need to be down to 195 by May 13 so I will never see a '2' at the beginning of my weight after that milestone. :-)

I have caught up on some posts, but am still behind. So proud of our whole group sticking to our commitments. It's never perfect, but it's awesome.

Well here I sit in the Orlando airport waiting to fly back to eighteen degrees and snow flurries. It was a wonderful vacation but I'm ready to get home and get back in my groove. Ate pretty well and ran every morning with Phillip except one so hopefully the scale won't be too hard on me in the morning. Vacation highlights were crossword puzzle on the flight down with my husband, walking on the beach looking for shells, and oysters, conch, and grouper all in one meal. Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

I'm doing pretty well on all my commitments except for water!

I am going to improve on that and I hope to add some exercise soon.

^^^ I'm with you on the water. I've slacked off with getting at least 64oz/day a lot lately, but I made sure to drink it all today. I didn't officially commit to drinking at least 64oz a day, but I think I will now. I need between 64 & 100oz/day from now until next March.

In other news: My scale moved down again! It now says 289.5! So excited to finally see the scale acknowledge my weight loss, along with the inches. Really motivates me to keep doing well.

Congratuations, Rachel! Those scale achievements can be so motivating! And Rodeogirl - way to commit to a goal. That's so often the hardest part.

I ate well yesterday and ran two miles. The run was not pretty. But it got done. And today is another lifting day. I lovd lifting days. :-) It feels GREAT to be refocused. Hopefully, the scale will reward me.

Day 25 of 30
Back to 233.6 this morning, losing that TOM bloat. Partner and I have been walking a track at a local college on our lunch break lately and have recently started incorporating some intermittent jogging. This is HUGE for me because I have a crappy knee and have just never really ran/jogged. Ever. I'm more for kickboxing or a machine. It felt really good, I gotta say. Hard, but good. Very proud of us.
We've decided to extend our experience with Paleo indefinitely, possibly make it a full lifestyle change. I just have never had this much energy, and felt this good/positive while still losing weight. Losing weight always comes with a sacrifice of one of those things for me it seems, but not with this. And dear lord do we make good food...have I mentioned that?

Glad to hear that everyone is plugging away! Have a good hump day you guys

Back on plan and ready to run this morning. Gained less than a pound on vacation and I'm sure most of that is water from eating out so much. Florida is awesome and I really think it's in our not too distant future to relocate.

Leben- could you tell me more about how and what you're eating? I've read a little bit about paleo but it sounded very limiting. You make it sound exciting. Maybe I've misunderstood the plan.

LebenAlles - so glad you found a way of eating that works and that you love. RFL is kind of a mixed bag. But it sounds like paleo is right for you. That's awesome.

I was going over to my bf's house at 8:00 last night. I offered to bring dinner, with thr caveat that I would not be eating because I prefer not to eat that late. He shared that he was thinking he also needed to do something about his weight. Don't know how serious he is about it, but I appreciate that his impulse is to support me. I need that!

Gonna wait to weigh until Monday at least. TOM is here, messing with my hormones and the scale. Had a great lifting session and totally stayed on top of the food. Onederland ,I am moving in to stay!

Laurie - Thanks! It's been pretty awesome to finally be happy with an eating plan. I'm getting to the point where I don't even miss the grains...only the cupcakes And that's great about the bf's support. That really is key, in my opinion, to complete success with weight loss...a good support system.

Traci - I thought the same thing when I first started researching Paleo...and it took me a lonnng time to get to where I was ready for it. But what I've found is that it's NOT limiting. Yes, it's a change to get used to no grains..but when I saw how poofy my stomach got when eating them, it ended up being worth the sacrifice. But the cool thing is that if you can cook, you can be really creative and most every meal can be a treat. It doesn't hurt that you're getting to eat some of the past 'forbidden' things like butter and bacon and full eggs. But yeah, I've had acorn squash stuffed with Apple Chicken Sausage and topped with an egg...(amazing)...chorizo, beef, and pineapple meatloaf topped with an avocado puree (double amazing)...pumpkin pancakes, vanilla bean pancakes, coconut thai shrimp, skirt steak stir fry, crockpot BBQ roast...and I've got some great things planned for the next week like crockpot brazilian curry chicken, garlic chicken 'pasta', artichoke lemon pesto chicken, steak hash with red pepper avocado spread, cinnamon chipotle sliders and mango + plantain beef. Whew! Exciting!
You DO have to be prepared to cook. Everything. And adjust to eating more meaty things for breakfast. And you have to like meat. Definitely not a vegetarian thing. Check out paleomg.com (where I got all of the above recipes) primalpalate.com, and nomnompaleo.com. Soooo many recipes. Soooo much tastiness.

Day 27 of 30
I didn't lose a lb this week. Not a single lb. But I'm not as bummed as I would be normally because I know I did really well and it's more than likely due to the fact that I majorally upped my exercise routine. I'm fitting in things better than ever, so I must have lost inches. I lost my tape measurer or I'd know for sure. Need to buy another. I think the cat hid it.
Yesterday was my first day back at the gym in a LONG time and it was AMAZING. Good lord. I felt like dynamite. I'm a very dramatic person. But still, it was awesome and I'm so glad I rejoined. Working out at home and walking has its merits, but sometimes you just need more.

Love the gym victories, Leben! I am motivated to be smaller, and I like fitting into 'normal' clothes, but it's being in the gym and totally in tune with how strong and fit my body is becoming that means the most to me.

Blueberry muffins in the breakroom this morning. A nightmare! If they are not gone by the next time I need to make my herbal tea, I will be throwing them away.

Decided to take a break from weighing. I know that what I am doing now will result in weight loss over the long term, and both great scale feedback and lousy scale feedback can send me really off course. Not sure when I will weigh again. Not doing a no-scale challenge again. Just holding off until it feels like it will be helpful.

Lifting day today. Need to string some productive work days together.

Mostly on plan here. Today we were on a field trip and a few of us ducked out and hit a Russian grocery store. I was with a colleague from Ukraine and tried a lot of things, including a giant greasy delicious....I forget what it's called. It looks like an elephant ear and has meat and cheese inside. It was ridiculous. But one thing that's important to me is to enjoy life - it's not every day that I get a tour of Russian foods from a native. I have no idea how many calories I consumed but I think I'm pretty much done for the day.