Ok, had a little "lightbulb" moment I thought I'd share last night. My son was tired and I was trying to get him to go take his bath when all he wanted to do was for me to play Parcheesi with him. Needless to say, he started having a little meltdown/whining moment and I could feel myself losing my cool inside a little. ( he was told we could play the game after the bath). Anyway, finally got him to get in the tub and as I'm walking back down the hallway, my immediate thought was to "have some powedered doughnuts and milk" to feel better!! WOW. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I always "guessed" I must be an emotional eater, but it had never really registered before. Certainly, not like that. I didn't eat them, and my feelings subsided, but it made me think of how many times do I get upset and eat stuff like that without even thinking!
Anyway, my point for myself and everyone is that next time you start heading to the kitchen for something "bad", think what is driving you there. Maybe you spouse just ticked you off, bad day at work, whatever, and realize that the junk food isn't going to make you feel better. Maybe for all of 30 seconds and then your going to feel guilty and be fatter, so IT"S NOT WORTH IT!!
Thanks for listening!!!

HawaiiBound....I feel the same way about my emotional eating. There is a girl in our office that keeps a big jar of candy full of Snickers, Reese Cups, Almond Joy, etc......there have been a few times that I have had the Freudian slip of walking over to that candy jar when I get stressed about something on the job. It is amazing the habits that we realize we have. You are not alone. (by the way I did leave the candy in the jar!! Ha!)

The good news and the bad news:
Bad news first: I have stayed between 173-172 the last four weeks of WI. I know this is because of my weekend cheats.
Good news: I lost 7.5 inches this month. I also lost 4 pounds since last measurment (5.5 weeks ago) and I am down on the tanita as losing 5 pounds of pure fat! I am retaining a bit they think. So, I am still one happy camper!

NSV: One of my 14 year old students told me I looked skinny today. Must be the rockin' black Mizzou t-shirt I have on. Go Tigers!
Have a great weekend everyone! I know the next month I will probably maintain weight, but this gives me hope hat I can still lose inches!

Okay, I asked my counselor yesterday if seltzer (flavored) water counted and of course she said "NO". I said "why not, it's jut flavored and has air in it?". She then laughed and said "if that's how you rationalize it!" .

So, what do you all think. I know it doesn't count per MRC rules, but WHY? I really like the Poland Springs (from NYC) sparkling water and even though I have to buy a different brand down here @ home, I like it better than plain water. Wal-Mart has some (can't remember what they call it) that's a Sam's Brand. I love the mandarin orange and the lime. I would probably get my water in if I could drink mostly sparkling water and not plain water. Is it b/c it's just not PURE water? Some of them have flavors and some have aspertame.

Just wondering. I'm pretty sure I'm down another pound (maybe 2) today. I'll be WI tomorrow AM. My goal is to be @ 125 by Monday. That will be 7.5 lbs in 6 days, but I think b/c of the water retention from the trip and being back OP it's not unreasonable. If I get there I will only have 10 lbs left to lose during stabilization/maintenance and 115 is really my "long-term" goal. I never wanted to put it in writing because I really didn't think it was achievable. Now that I'm only 10 lbs away I think it's a valid goal.

Rosemary, it's odd that they only gave you 5 weeks - I'm on the 17-week program & I'm actually trying to lose less than you. You should talk with them, but probably what will happen is if you're close enough to goal they'll probably let you keep going, and you'll just have less time in maintenance (i.e. they'll just subtract the extra time it takes you to get to stabilization from your year of maintenance). But definitely talk with them so you'll know what your options are.

Rocki, honestly I don't know why. I know the MRC answer (from my re-enrollment class) - "If you add something to water your body treats it like food." But that just doesn't pass the logic test - once "pure" water hits your mouth it's getting things "added" to it - saliva, all the food that's in your stomach, and even if your stomach is technically "empty" (which is when water makes me kinda nauseous) there's stomach acid there. So the "pure" water thing just doesn't pass my logic test. But that's their answer.

If you're going to drink the flavored waters (and I love club soda myself), get the ones with the least additives & sodium. Maybe alternate between the plain & the fizzy water. Most importantly watch what happens with your body when you drink the fizzy stuff - I do know that sometimes it makes me crave something salty to go with it, but that's a personal problem

I've been told the same thing. The only thing I could see was that the one's I've looked at, all had sodium in them.... That's the only thing I see that would be an issue. I don't drink it daily, but periodically I do.... sometimes, you just do what you need to. I sometimes have just had enough of plain water.

On the water topic. The stuff I got at Wal-Mart is sodium free, so at least I'm good there.

Then, I don't get it....

I am more of the punishment mentality. Unless you are going to be REALLY hard on yourself, you are going to have some bad choice (yummy) meals around the holidays.

I, myself, would do the stabilization throught he holidays, and then punish myself good in Jan with bootcamp. At least that way, you have the goal of succeeding as best as possible on stabilization, and KNOWING that after all the holidays, you got that boot camp buzz saw waiting for you!


Been taking those the past week, hoping they would help, to no avail.

Thats awesome! Congrats!

Losing weight is a good number to go by, cause it is easy... BUT, losing the SIZE is what matters most! Great job! Particularly important on a calorie restricted diet to maintain that muscle mass!

Wow, guess alcohol does make you retain water! Was down 4lbs at WI today, after being even Wed. Got to sign the 50lb board!

I added another ticker to reflect my new goal weight of 220. They are going to let me use the tanita weekly so I can watch my lean mass, as I am using the next 6 weeks of the plan to try and get my BF% to a nice level.

Anyone have any TRUST issues with the tanita? Just wondering how reliable it is when it comes to bf% based on impedence.

For about the first time since starting MRC, I weighed myself at the Gym before going to WI, and on my home scale as soon as I got back:

Gym:225
MRC: 227
Home: 233

Now, the gym and MRC both claim that calibrate their scales to keep them accurate. I always thought our home scale (Taylor, $59) was accurate.

My wife was VERY happy to hear our home scale could be about 5-7lbs high!

I am loving the loss of inches and the looser clothing too! I am not losing a thing below my waist. Very strange. I have never been a pear shape. Maybe hitting 40 changed my body type. As for the liquid minerals, they didn't do a darn thing for me either. I never even bought the second bottle. I did notice I wasn't sleeping very well recently, so I quit my water about an hour before bed and that helped me sleep through the night (no potty breaks!) That did help. Unfortunately, I noticed that it took me a few days to recover from 5-6 drinks on the weekend and I didn't sleep well those days either. I guess when you take care of your body, it makes it more efficient! I think I should have known that!

How do I add a second ticker?

Wow - 136 lbs is awesome!

I'm jealous of the Barack rally - I got to see him back in April in my town on a campaign stop - amazing!