Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I woke up this morning to see 140 on the scale which just horrified me. I've gained 5 pounds in practically no time at all. I'm hoping some is water. I put myself back on MFP until I drop back down to 135. This has me somewhat bummed out because I really haven't had to calorie count in quite a while. I've already forgone half of a leftover apple fritter this morning and a cocktail that would have been nice tonight. I need to think about how good 135 will feel and how nicely my clothes will feel again.

Hi, MovingForward, and welcome! I'm sure some of that weight gain is temporary and you are doing the right thing to get on top of it.

I decided not to wait any longer and got on the scale his morning. It registered 140.4. I was quite surprised that the reading wasn't higher. Still, I really don't want to see numbers higher than 138.x (and preferably a little lower), so I will be diligent.

Despite feeling draggy yesterday, I got in a good amount of walking. I also got a reasonable amount of sleep last night, maybe due to the exercise, so I'm feeling a lot better overall. OTOH I seem to be catching a cold from DD & DH. Just a throat tickle right now, so I'm going to take echinacea and hope for the best.

I'm on my third day of the same weight which is up a bit from before Christmas. I think the lasagna is to blame. I have only one more meal of it, well, half a meal so I can pawn more off on DH! The rest of the leftovers are a brisket, some green beans and noodles. They will wait a couple more days as I feel like cooking something rather than just reheating.

I'm back to the ol' grind of getting up at 4 and doing my workout. Slept like a rock last night so that is good!

My weight is still up but I'm much lower than this time last year, so I'm taking that as a win.

No exercise yesterday as I had my doctor appointment, so I'll be back at it today and hopefully see a lower number tomorrow.

Hi Moving Forward! I also gained in the space of a few short months this fall (more than 5 pounds in my case, I'm sad to say). Over the holiday break, I was able to take control of the situation and get back on track.

Unfortunately, yesterday was not great. Back at work, dealing with the usual chaos and the pile of work that built up over the break, and then finding out the book chapter I thought was due Feb. 15th, is actually due Feb. 1st. Then being told that the lab room I teach in is not available due to last-minute water line repairs, so I'm switched to a new room that lacks most of the facilities I need, including the microscopes for half of the labs. I stayed up all night re-writing the first week's lecture and lab materials (it starts today). But the calorie count - ugh. About 3 am I found my husband's enormous cookie stash. I did track everything, and ended up around 2250. It's not terrible but it's a bad sign. First day back at work and I fell apart.

Well, here's to a new year of getting back to and staying at goal. I've been lurking on this thread (and the weekly conversation thread) for over a week; not sure exactly why but I just couldn't find it in me to post anything. Perhaps I'm feeling defeated: I hit 124 on 12/13/14 through assiduous application of carb cycling, enjoyed a stable weight for all of ~10 days, and since 12/24 I've had a series of both self-induced and out-of-my-control overeating days, leading me to my current post-New Year's weight of 127. Please don't tell me it's only 3 pounds: it took 5 weeks to lose that weight and only 2 weeks to regain it. I am planning to re-read the book tonight to get back on track.

Michele, I am struck that you're planning on 250 Bikram Yoga classes this year, despite your back trouble. By any chance, have you ever tried Pilates, or Pilates Reformer workouts? Like yoga, the Pilates philosophy also stresses flexibility and sustained postures, but has far fewer back extension moves and a greater emphasis on core strengthening (as well as far less sweating :>)

JZJ, my heart goes out to you: I have nothing more than discovering a writing deadline is sooner than I expected, and it's especially harsh to get that dumped on you when you're freshly back to work.

Andrea... My weight is also up a few pounds which is sizeable to me. I'm back to carb cycling but I'm laughing because dh cooks but can't figure out what day is what or what is high vs. low carb. Tonight he was going to put cheese on my veggies because it's a high carb day. Um...no....

My back is much better and I'm back to yoga. I'm doing my physical therapy diligently and am focusing on strength training and an assortment of workouts. If my back starts acting up again, I'll back off the yoga. I have done some Pilates and found it meh.

My MIL is still in the hospital and not doing great. Dh leaves for China on Sunday so I hope she's doing better by then.

This time, I am eating what I want to eat, but less of it. I'm not planning meals or counting calories. After so many years, I could probably tell you the number of calories in just about anything!

I'm sorry for folks who have that binge-eating problem. I haven't had trouble with that--except for a few times when I restricted too much and for too long. It's like my metabolism rebels.

I find it's a lot easier to stay on track by limiting or eliminating sugar. Not all carbs, just sugar.

I weighed 124 in college, and realistically, I'm never going to see that number again unless I get some sort of terrible illness. I'm OK with that. Just returning closer to my original goal weight than I am now would be great.

Someone on a group I'm in on FB posted an article from US News (I think) rating the best overall diets out there. It's quite interesting (I'll post a link). Best news is that the DASH diet is #1. That's basically what I've been trying to follow.

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/b...ets?int=a14709

The basics of what I eat are good and treat me well. It's the oversized portions and then the holiday sugar creep (including too much beer) that do me in. I am still feeling the pull of going beyond "satisfied" and also of the junk, but the noise is growing quieter. I will stick with the old familiar basics for January and see what happens. I also need to jack the swimming back up on top of the priority list . I am really good at finding excuses not to go.

Becky - you just described me with the sugar, beer/liquor, oversized portions and being beyond satisfied. This is what I need to stop. Now for example - I'm eating a very healthy half serving sized power chicken hummus bowl from Panera, and am full with some left. My head says "it is really good and already logged, should finish it", but why?

Andrea, I would NEVER say "it's only 3 pounds". I regained twice that and am dismayed, to say the least. The downside of being an experienced maintainer is that you can predict almost exactly what it will take to lose it again.

Shannon, my inner voice often says something along the lines of "this tastes so good, and isn't BAD for me, so I'll keep eating!" I need to exercise my willpower muscle more to deal with that, I often have the problem of eating beyond necessity/satiety with reasonably healthy food.

Becky - I stood up and put the rest in a container in the fridge for a little snack tomorrow. Probably only about 75 calories, but why waste them today if i really don't want them? Oh - I meant to tell you about my spiralizer. My mom apparently got me the pro, and the case it is in is AWESOME. I don't care so much about the extra blade, but am digging the little box it is in with a covered blade storage area. One of my friends got the 3 blade and hers doesn't have all that. The 3 blade does have spots to slide the blades in the bottom that are uncovered and I think the L collapses down for storage.

Oh, how I am relating to what a few of you are saying about the sugar creep, oversized portions and rationalizations. Over the holidays, more than once I found myself with junk in hand telling myself that it's OK to live a little. The problem was I lived too much! JayZeeJay, your comment about being an experienced maintainer and being able to predict almost exactly what it will take to lose it again just really struck me. Why didn't that cross my mind when the junk was calling my name?

Yay, Shannon - I was hoping you were going to get back to me on that with exactly that answer! I've been stalking you on Facebook with all the cool recipes ... I'm finding myself getting silly-excited about vegetables again! GREAT job on putting the extras back in the fridge! Something like that would be a perfect bridge nibble to shut up the tummy growlies.

I'm in that happy honeymoon between beating the cravings and being bored with behaving myself. For the moment, making good choices is relatively easy. We've been feasting on hearty soups and salads for dinner this week. I wish we could eat this way all winter, as it's so efficient to make a huge pot on the weekend and reheat during the week.