Managed to stay under my calorie goal last night even with a piece of cheesecake and my own mac and cheese - SO fattening. Well, probably managed...it's so hard to judge your portions when eating other people's cooking. They already laugh when I whip out my phone and snap the UPC codes for My Fitness Pal. Wonder what they'd do if I pulled out a scale and measuring cup?

I have to chime in on the doctor thing...but I have only ONE thing to say:

Any doctor who told me I could NOT lose weight and keep it off and I HAD to have surgery to be successful, would NOT be my doctor anymore.

Frances Retaining water is my issue too, and drinking lots of water is what helps me the most, but it doesn't help me that much, sometimes. I like salt, and when I eat salty stuff it gets worse. It's just scale evil, but it is nice when it goes away and you have a whoosh. Nice to know there is a fellow binger here-- sometimes I feel like our issues are kind of different from non-bingers. My basic eating habits are pretty healthy-- which is why no one else in my family is obese-- but when I binge it's like I'm force-feeding myself on purpose to gain, and then I have to deal with the aftermath. Fortunately, I have pretty long periods of remission, but I've never managed to stop doing it forever. That is my next step!

Lillion Really really try not to worry about those off meals! It is hard, but also, at least for me, I've learned that my best bet is to really stick with a small number of foods that I eat all the time and then when I'm out at a food event, I just eat normally. And it doesn't make any difference in the long run. And I feel much less deprived. I think we should probably be calculating calories per week instead of calories per day. And it's totally worth eyeballing the portions and guessing how much you're eating-- in my own case, I've weighed and measured for so long that I can guesstimate dead-on what a portion size is. At home, I'm inclined to stick with simple foods so that I know how much I'm getting, but when I'm out, I just take a guess.

Pacifica Thank you for letting me know that you also had a pre diabetes scare. I'm assuming that you were able to reverse it? I felt so much better after I talked to my doctor as she was totally confident I could reverse it. I really like your attitude. I also feel as if I can beat the odds on this. I always figure that you wouldn't know what your specific odds for success were unless you were being compared to a cohort that was actually similar to yourself, right? In my case, I am smart enough to keep up-to-date on good information, I'm well-off enough that I can easily access high-quality food and know how to prepare it, and I have a track record of succeeding at other hard things where the odds were against me. I'm guessing you are a lot like me! So, my fellow unicorn, let's get this done!

Diane Stiff, sore, and a little over your calorie goal? I say we put that in the "win" category. That tells me that you had a good workout, and then were pretty much under control with food. You are doing great! Just keep getting one day after another like that one and you will start to feel really great about your progress.

Lillion: Ugh with the rain!! I'm sure you're ready for some dry weather. Hope it stops soon!

Uber: Thanks for taking the time to explain what you've learned. That's interesting! At least now I understand it a little more. There is so much to consider, that's for sure. Oh, and I like what you said about the one day at a time. I have to do that! I think it is discouraging and overwhelming to look too far ahead!! Ha!

Frances: Oh, ok. I've seen TRX before, but I didn't know what it was called. That's cool!!

Pacifica: Yay! Good job on staying on your plan! Hawaii sounds like a good motivational tool!!

For me, I went to Body Pump this morning. I felt kind of sore, but I also think it probably helped out. Now, I have to make myself go to Body Flow tomorrow. I do think I need to work on flexibility!! Stayed on plan with food yesterday, so that was good. I am feeling much better this week, even though I'm sore. It is good to be getting back on track.

man I am having such a depressing day. One of my brother's dogs died in her sleep last night for no particular reason. She wasn't ill, or old, or displaying any sort of behavior that indicated she was uncomfortable. There was no vomiting or any kind of indication of anything. They went to bed, and woke up in the morning to find her curled up outside, head on paws, over the rainbow bridge. She didn't normally sleep outside; I believe she knew she was going to go and so let herself out in the night to not die inside as a final gift to his family. Bah now I'm crying again.

Anyway, it is hitting me hard (all doggie deaths do whether I know them or not) and usually this sort of emotion drives me to the refrigerator but so far I am staying strong and not really feeling that pull. My determination to stay on plan is going to trump my emotions for once.

Frances - I have looked into swimming, but around these parts - despite the fact that I live in a beach town- the pickings are slim. There are several 24 hour fitness around here with pools and I think there is a YMCA but they are pricey enough to turn me off, and the adult free swim hours don't work with my schedule. Although, who am I trying to kid? I am probably just making excuses because I don't want to be seen in a suit.

Lillion - the surgery thing was just the tip of the ice berg with this woman. I think that if I had higher self-esteem at the time, I would have had more to say to her. One of the first things she said to me after seeing her the first time and she looked at my chart, and I'm assuming saw my weight in number was, "oh I bet you are a mouth-breather, aren't you?". At the time, I didn't know how much of an insult that was. After I lost the 180 pounds, seeing her all along and making lists of things that didn't feel right to me, she diagnosed me as being depressed because I was - I kid you not - "too hyper-vigilant about your health". Oh well. She is not at my clinic anymore so I don't ever have to deal with her again.

Uber - Yes, I am out of the woods with the diabetes scare. I was out by the time I lost 10 pounds though. I lost my weight because I stopped eating sugar and flour and those are the 2 culprits for insulin spikes. I gained weight because I started eating flour again (and now I stopped again). Never went back to eating sugar though. I 100% believe - and will try to convince everyone I talk to - that sugar is a drug that is absolutely as addictive as cocaine or heroine. Just say no! Friends don't let friends eat fudge. Or something And I agree, we sound like two peas in a pod. Two unicorns in a magical forest? I dunno. I'm going loopy at the end of a long day at work by now...

Frustrated! Still holding firm at the same weight to the ounce. I had a heavy-duty course of antibiotics last year that decimated my system, and every once in a while I have a flare-up (bloated, no appetite, weight freeze). Just have to work through it.

PacificBee - I'm so sorry about the dog! I know how devastating that can be. And about your swim suit, just do what you're comfortable with. I've just had trouble with putting off things I love until the conditions are perfect, with less-than-perfect results. Example: I love to knit. Specifically, I love Scandinavian-style sweaters. But I didn't want to knit one for me "in this size," so instead I knitted hats, gloves, socks, etc. But I really wanted the sweater. Finally I started knitting sweaters, but in my goal size. Which I've been striving to reach since high school. So now I have a row of beautiful hand-knitted sweaters all lined up, mocking me - "Oh, we're here when you're ready for us...tee hee hee!" There's almost something masochistic about it, and it's definitely not being kind to myself. It's almost a form of punishment. If I would've just knitted an XL to a 1XL sweater, I could've worn it for years. I really have to fight this tendency in myself, and I'm trying to learn to enjoy myself in this size and not put things off until I get to goal. It's definitely a struggle.

Uber - yes, I've struggled with binge eating since elementary school, believe it or not. I used to be able to binge and lose it quickly, but now that I'm older the weight really sticks on. So I'm trying to minimize binges by being more permissive. It's working so far since I started this new plan about 2 weeks ago! Interesting stats on the WLS. I've been kind of envious that several friends and my sister in law had it and their weight just seemed to melt off in a matter of months, but I feel like this way is the right way for me, too.

Lillion - congrats for staying on track!!

Slashnl - sounds like a great workout! What other workouts do you do?

Pacifica Bee: So sorry about the dog. These animals are so precious to us all, that we really miss them when they are gone. But I think you're right, that he knew something was wrong.

Frances: Ugh on the stubborn scale. I am trying to build up to weighing on Monday. Not excited, but I need to see where I am. I pretty much do the same thing each week with workouts, so when I'm on my normal roll, I do spin Monday and Wednesday mornings, Body Pump on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Body Flow on Friday morning. Then, I run on Tuesday and Thursday at night. Now, with the weather getting better and the days being longer, I try to add a short hike at least on Wednesday and sometimes Monday, too, and then usually a longer hike one day of the weekend. That's when I'm up to speed on everything. Makes it easier at meal time, since I have the extra calorie burn, and the results are pretty good. But then, when I was injured, it took it back down a bit. Working on getting back to it.

But... saying all that about workouts... I didn't go to Body Flow this morning. I know it will help me with flexibility and balance, but I was pretty stiff and sore this morning. So, next week, I'll try again to make it there. I feel good about this week, so I'll do it again, and hopefully add back the running.

Have a good weekend all!

Good afternoon! Having a hard time being able to check in, and only a few days short of being out for surgery. Still thinking of y'all. Still trying to push forward. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Laurie

Can't believe you will have a flat tummy soon! So happy for you!

Diane Hooray for a good week! Looking forward to another good one.

Frances I hate the bloaty, disgusting, no weight loss phases!! Just did that this week. Ugh. And Yup, that's me too. Binge eater. And I maintained a normal or near normal weight until I was 30. My first pregnancy sent me into obesity, and then whenever I tried to lose it would trigger more bingeing... I wouldn't say I'm over the hump for life, but I have noticed that now I'll go months at a time binge free. The downside is that when I do lock into that destructive pattern, I can put on 30-40 pounds at a pop. I wish I had gotten diagnosed and treated when I was young-- but I'm so dang old that they hadn't even named it as a problem yet.

Pacifica Bee So sorry about the dog! I know how hard that is. And so great that you kicked the prediabetes in the can! I lose weight by avoiding sugar and limiting flour as I've found that I lose much faster on a relatively low carb plan.

So, for me. The most interesting thing is that my doctor put me on metformin, which is a diabetes drug. She said I did not need it as my pre-diabetes is just very marginal, but that she finds that it can also help with weight loss. So, I just started today, and I'm hoping that maybe this will be just one more thing to help speed me along. On the downside, I decided to log and add up my calories yesterday and today just to see if I was on track. Yesterday was fine at 1245, but I realized that I ate 1600 today-- so I'm not quite as good at informally figuring it out as a thought. But I'm really really really trying to make this about me not binge eating large amounts of very unhealthy foods, and not so much about sticking faithfully to 1200 calories every single day so that I can drop weight really fast-- because when I do that, I'm setting myself up for a binge. And maybe it's getting through to me, finally, after all these years. On the exercise front, I did C25K on Weds, and it was really hot in the garage where my treadmill is, and so toward the end I was really just feeling awful, just over-heated and gross, but, you know, I finished, and it's not like I was too out of breath, or had sore legs, I was just miserable and hot and tired. Ok, but then yesterday I skipped, day of rest, but then today I skipped too. So, I realized that I've got to make sure that I build some pleasure into my workouts because when I start associating my exercise with hot, tired, and miserable, it starts to make me not feel like doing it!

I'm just checking in to see when Laurie's surgery is. Monday? Good luck Laurie!!!

today was "Green Up Day" in Vermont. I always help at the town garage helping take in all the stuff. Not a lot of steps but lifting things like tires and TVs and fridges (tires by myself, fridges with help, TVs it depended on the TV). I'll probably be sore tomorrow but it was great to get my old fridge out of my driveway! And it's great to see the various bits of trash gone from all the roadsides.

My weigh in this week was down 2.8 pounds. That's twice as much as the whole month of April. I'll probably be up next week but I don't care, it made me feel good to see the scale down on Friday morning.

Happy weekend to you all. I'll do a longer check in from work Sunday night where the internet isn't horrible.

Good luck with your surgery, Laurie!!

Vladadog, our stats are so similar. It's crazy and unheard of for me, but I'm down 2.8 lbs this week too! Hooray for us!!

Ubergirl, I'm with you. When you're good you're good, but when you enter into that binge phase, it's all over. That's how I re-gained almost 50 pounds. I heavily restricted myself because I was only 5 lbs from goal, started bingeing, and never really got back on track. Ugh. At least we're working our plans now! I hope your new meds help, and also maybe give your weight loss a little boost!

Slashnl, I've wanted to try running, but I'm worried about my knees. Have you noticed any issues with yours? Anyway, your workouts sound great! I spin too, plus boot camp, TRX, and aqua tabata class...and hiking when I can! I love exercise! That's one of my reasons for wanting to lose weight...so I can advance in my workouts.

I have great news. When I tripled up on my probiotics and supplements, I finally broke my plateau and have steadily lost. 2.8 pounds this week, and I rarely lose over 1 lb a week. I'm excited that my new less restrictive, very permissive, nothing-off-limits, 1600 calorie, fairly HIGH carb plan is working for me! I want to hit ONEDERLAND by late July and I am on my way!

Vlada Woot! Woot! on the 2.8 pound week! That is awesome! Nice that you got a good workout in such a productive way!

Frances So great that you are losing on 1600 calories and relatively high carbs! And woo-hoo that you are 2.8 down I'm not losing very fast, but this is the first time in my life that I've tried to not track, restrict, and go very low on calories to push weight loss, and I do feel much less restricted than I used to! Let's hope it keeps going like this!

So, for me-- I have not exercised in 4 days, and I wasn't that great about food. Yesterday, I had (planned) 3 slices of pizza which put me at about 1500 cals for the day. Today, I ate the leftover two slices, but overall calories fine. Have been on the new med for two days, so I don't know how long it will take to see a result. I hit 270 yesterday, but then bounced up to 271 this am. There is no doubt that I've relaxed my calories over the past ten days and so I'm definitely not losing quite as well, but I'm trying to think of this as interval training. I'm not doing the intermittant fasting thing, but I am trying to have some days where I'm not as tight on calories to avoid the whole restriction/binge cycle.

Ubergirl, I just have to jump on here with a plug for Intermittent Fasting. I love it so much that even when my weight was stalled for months from my medical condition, I *still* did it. For me, it was kind of like the intuitive eating movement of listening to your body and eating when you're hungry. I am never hungry in the morning or after supper, so I chose my "eating time" to be 11:30 a.m. ish to around 5:30 p.m. This means that the breakfast I normally ate at 7, I got to eat in the afternoon. So it feels like lots of eating when I'm hungry and no forced eating when I'm not. Same amount of calories. It's even helped stop a binge. No matter how much I eat during the day, I stop at 5:30, period. It just works (for me). I have a friend that does some every other day thing, and another that eats from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It's really helped their weight loss (although not for me). Anyway, just another thing to consider!

Laurie: Looking forward to hearing from you post-surgery. Good luck!

Uber: Yeah, makes it hard to look forward to exercise when you're picturing hot, tired, and miserable! And, I hope the metformin works well for you!

Vladadog: Nice weight loss! Congrats!

Frances: I don't typically have trouble with my knees when running. I have trouble with my knees when I do lunges, mainly just that I can't get as low as I would like.

For me, I got on the scale. It isn't great, but hopefully, just a new starting point. I let myself feel bad about it for a while, but now I am just going forward with weighing more often (that seems to work best for me), keeping on with workouts, and logging calories. It worked before with lots of dedication, so I need to keep disciplined to start heading back down. I think that I should have a pretty good week of weight loss just because I'll be coming off of TOM. It really shouldn't be called TOM for me since I'm at that age..... It was 3 months since the last one! Just waiting for it to end.

Anyway, onward. Body Pump tomorrow and possibly going running.

Diane Yup, I'm post TOM and don't miss it ONE BIT. It's one of the biggest advantages of getting older! And it's true that I bounce up and down less than I used to weight-wise. Sorry that the scale isn't great-- but just remember (take it from Uber) it could always be worse, and it is a heck of a lot better than weighing your high weight!

FrancesHmm. I'm not sure exactly how intermittant fasting works, but I think it sounds like that may be actually what I already do. I get up in the morning and drink coffee with milk. Eat lunch at around 12:30 and dinner at 6:00-- and that's it. No snacks. The reason I like it is because even if I'm only eating 1200 cals, I can eat two large meals (plus one cup of steamed milk in the morning.) The whole tiny little meals and ever tinier snacks thing does not work for me. When I eat two large meals a day, I'm rarely hungry.

Laurie Thinking about you! Hope you're doing great!

So, the last two days have been decidedly so-so. Kind of pissed as I bounced back to 272 this morning. I'm really not losing right now, I'm just hovering in the low 270s and I know why. So, you guys were all talking about work stress, work stress, and now, honestly, it's work stress that's getting to me (and I always feel guilty saying that because I really love what I do and feel really lucky to be able to do it) but I have not exercised in 5 days and even though my eating has been okay-- and by that I mean sticking to my routine and not bingeing-- I've been doing this thing I do where I start eating big portions of low calorie foods, or adding a few things here or there-- for example, tonight, I had salmon, broccoli and pasta for dinner. Normally, I would skip the pasta. Then, I ate a piece of cheese. Then I ate an orange. Now granted, none of that is like sitting down and eating an entire package of Twizzlers, or topping my dinner off with 4 scoops of ice cream, or-- well you get the picture-- but still I have to say that I'm wavering a little bit after having done super well for the last few months. I need to stop skipping exercise and I need to rein in my calories just a little. I think if I can just get myself out of the 270s and into the 260s I'll feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Uber: I think I've been in the same place as you are now. Not really off track completely, but not totally on point either. The last two weeks I've been trying to be more disciplined and back in the groove. But work can really mess with not only your time, but also your focus. I've still been fighting that for a while. I wish I knew what the answer is, but I don't!

I have been making sure I'm staying within reasonable distance of fully disciplined though. Last week, I did very well with workouts and food. Lost it a little bit on the weekend, but not too bad. This week started off without workouts. Not a great excuse, but my husband is out of town for work, my daughter's rabbit died so she is upset, and I have to step up more to feed our animals and take care of things. Not really a problem, but it took me out of workouts yesterday and today. So, rather than getting discouraged, I'm just really watching calories, so that I don't do more damage. Yesterday was good, and the scale went down a little bit today. Tomorrow, I am planning to get it back together and go to spin class.

Always something!!