Hi, everyone!

Good job, Forest, for your on-the-spot replanning to allow a treat. Wish I could manage that myself!

Congrats on the scale papperclippy!!!

Silver, Thanksgiving in the US this year is November 26th. That's a day short of 8 weeks from today.

I notched my ticker down today to 135.0. That meets my original 2 pound goal, which was obviously very modest but the weight loss had been so slow that I didn't want to set myself up for failure. But at this point I am willing to try for an additional 3 lbs by T-Day so that I can total 5 pounds for the challenge.

Yesterday I was low on calories because I found a way to make shirataki noodles that I actually liked. I ended up eating two packs instead of a part of one pack, which is all I can usually stand. I had been planning on just quelling the afternoon cravings, but I ended up really not even wanting dinner so I had some walnuts and a piece of dark chocolate just to get my total up.

Sending strength to Iris and Kitty to resist TOM cravings. Hopefully you will see some nice progress afterwards!

Also sending strength to those facing challenging weekends. As far as I know, I shouldn't have one myself, but it's the unplanned challenges that give me the most difficulty.

Thank you very much, yoyoma.

5lbs in 8 weeks must be doable. Don't you think?

Ok, I've gone through a mental checklist and I can't figure out why I'm so !@#$% tired this week, but it's really really making me upset and frustrated at this point. I've been getting decent amounts of sleep (7-8 hours), but for me it seems anything less than 8 1/2 hours not only makes me "a little tired" it makes me exhausted. I can accept that I need to eat food differently than many other people but why the heck can't I sleep like other people?!

This was prompted by a 5:20 wake-up call (but I was asleep at 10!) to go to the gym before work, rather than after, b/c I thought I'd be busy later. I planned to do an hour of elliptical, abs, maybe arms. I did 50 minutes of elliptical and was dragging so much by the end that my rpm was under 100 (my normal is 135-160). I just couldn't make myself go faster! Skipped the rest. My muscles just wouldn't stay firm, they were too tired. WTF?

I came into work wanting to dive into that candy bowl, but I'm calming myself down somewhat right now and just trying to get through the day w/o doing any major damage to my healthful intentions...

I was thinking about my "weekend plan" last night, Jessica, and I'm going to try and stick to it despite being so tired right now! I don't have any plans in particular (this doesn't mean I can't get into trouble!), but BF and I haven't seen each other much lately so we're going to hang out tonight at his house, maybe have a bonfire, and try to spend the weekend together as much as possible. I think other than that I'm going to SLEEP, work out, and I've got to clear out the garden and house chores. I've got plenty of healthy food, so I just need to keep focused and keep the munchie gremlin that's been visiting all week at bay. Sleep is key for me right now.

Sorry, rant over.

kitty, Iris, how are your munchies? Surely we can stay strong together!

yoyo, silver, yes, we can do it! 5 lbs by November 26!

forest, way to be flexible. Keep it up everyone! What are everyone's challenges this weekend? What's your plan for dealing with them?

I've been floating around in the mid-upper teens for the last couple of weeks. I've been working out really hard and staying on plan, so it's a bit discouraging that I'm not seeing more progress on the scale. I'm seeing progress in other ways -- better muscle definition, improved running speed and stamina and my clothes are fitting as they should. I've definitely made progress in the last 5 weeks, but I'm just trying to get those last doggone 4 or 5 pounds off (again) ....

This Sunday will be a challenge. My church is having a Sr Hi soup and salad fundraiser and since DS#2 is part of the youth group, then I have to participate. I am bringing my usual chili and world famous peanut butter pie. The salad part is fine, and I can be judicious in the quantity and type of soup. But the dessert table is a huge potential pitfall. Sugary stuff is a binge trigger for me and I've worked too hard over the last few weeks to purge myself of the carb craving vicious cycles. I just Can't Go There. So, I'm just going to tell myself that that end of Fellowship hall simply doesn't exist. I'll wait for a nice (on-plan) treat after I get home.

Lots of challenges this weekend! Have fun at the game, Lori! Okay, Megan, you and me on plan this weekend, sister! MBN, forest, great planning ahead!

Kitty, some of your munchiness has been shared my way so you have less to deal with. All I wanna say is that goldfish crackers are evil. I know this. I've always known this!

8 weeks til Turkey day! Okay ladies, roll up your sleeves! Let's do this thing!!!

Shannon, I forgot to address the protein oatmeal.

I take 1/2 cup oats (the kind that can be microwaved in 2-3 minutes) and 1 scoop of protein powder (vanilla) and stir them together in a large bowl (2-3 cup size bowl). Then I add water to cover plus about an inch if that makes sense. Stir again. I add whatever else I want: blueberries, cinnamon, other fruit, yesterday about 1/4 cup canned pumpkin and a sprinkle of walnuts. Stir again. Microwave on high for one minute. Leave door closed. Microwave on high 1 minute. Leave door closed. Microwave on high 1 minute. Take out, stir, add a splash of skim milk to cool it down and viola! The 3 one minute intervals are essential. If I do 3 minutes altogether, it rises up and overflows the bowl. The volume of the oatmeal is quite a lot at the end of those 3 1-minute intervals.

Thanks for the support girls. Maybe I'll use it today. 'nuff said.
updating ticker-- 8 pounds heavier than 8 days ago.

Thanks, guys. It ended up working out; I had my soup for dinner and even was able to have a jack and coke at the bar with my friend after and come in under 1300 calories

My challenge this weekend is that I don't have a plan and I will be in ny the whole time with my bf, so I don't have much control On the upside, we are planning on climbing a high peak (Giant Mountain) which burns thousands of calories and should keep me honest. Good luck ladies!

Oh I forgot to mention, 135 at the gym this morning

Forest, have fun on your climb and congrats on 135!

My munchies have calmed a bit now that TOM is on his way out. We had a potluck at work today and I didn't do too badly except for going back for a second serving of the artichoke dip. But at least the girl who made it swore she used low fat cream cheese! =) I know that threw off my calories for the day but I'm just going to finish with a normal dinner - when I try to restrict to make up for things like this I just end up bingeing.

Kittycat, that much weight in that time can't be fat - I bet most of it will come off quickly!

to all.

Hope your weekend is going well without too many difficult challenges. Like off programme food, for example, to mention something at random.

My pantsometers still won't buttom up but look better than last week. I can do this. WE can do this.

CD checking in to cheer everyone on!
We CAN do this. The holidays are coming. Lets NOW, so we can enjoy the festivities guilt-free

And, on an accountability note: 117.6 this morning. Thus, no gain on vacation

I had prepared myself to come back from Paris/Greece with a gain. Not a big one, mind, but at least some residual water weight and maybe a pound or two.

As of this morning, I'm right where I was before I left. And I feel like I still have a bit of water weight going on. Meaning that I either maintained or (even less believeable) lost a bit on this vacation.

We were really active (which made me infinitely grateful that I was no longer nearly 300 lbs...I would have missed so many things, like the 5 mile hike from the hilltops of Crete to the sea, and the walk up the cliffside on a VERY steep set of steps in Santorini), and I tried to keep my eating moderate, but I guess I did better than I thought! And today I jumped right back in with a kickbutt workout and OP eating.

Onward to the holidays!

Welcome back, Amanda!!

Amanda AWESOME! Your trip sounds amazing
Welcome back!

Welcome back Amanda!! Sounds like an awesome trip! Sorry you got sick, I hope you feel better soon.

I'm down 0.4 for this week.

Today my splurge was lunch instead of dinner. I was craving boston market, in particular a chicken carver sandwich and the sweet potato casserole. I know the sweet potato side dish has about a million calories, but today is my high-cal day so I went with half a sandwich, and split the sweet potatoes and a side of mac and cheese with DH. Dinner (lasagna) is in the oven, and I should come in somewhere around 1800 for today, which is just fine.

I also slacked on my runs this week, but I went today!

Accountability for Friday:
Snacks: I snuck a hershey's nugget in addition to my apple
Workouts: no, I was a bum
HIIT: N/A
Calories: check, 1344

and for Saturday, even though it's not over yet:
Snacks: Check, I had a prune but that's all.
Workouts: Check, I ran for workout #4 of the week
HIIT: Check, did hill repeats
Calories: high-cal day today, probably around 1800