Sounds like everyone is doing great! Great job guys!

I updated my weight spreadsheet now that April is over, and on average I weighed half a pound less in April than in March.

Friday, May 7: 149.4, down from 149.7.
Not much, but that's in the right direction, and further away from my red-line weight of 150.

Things I did well (or improved at) this past week:
* Getting to bed earlier. Making myself shut off the computer at 10 PM or even 9:30 PM.
* Mixing up my exercise schedule instead of being rigid about it. Leaving work & going to spin class near my home, rather than going to the gym at the office. This made me uneasy to leave the office without having worked out -- even though I knew I was driving to where I'd work out. That is crazy. (For me, changing my workout takes a great effort -- I am so afraid of doing less or losing the habit gradually. I'm less afraid of adding even more work than swapping out one exercise for another. I really need to get over this.)
* Trying dumbbells again, with just a 3-lb. dumbbell in my right hand.
* Less chain-sugarless gum-chewing. (Imagine it like chain smoking)

Things I need to improve or kick up a notch:
* Too much coffee, even though it's decaf, when I am at the office. One cup after another. Clearly I keep wanting to put something in my mouth & am using coffee. It should be water. Also I am up to two & a half packets of Splenda in each cup. This is insanely sweet.
* Overloading the plastic salad container at lunch at the office. My eyes are bigger than my appetite, or I am terrified of getting hungry in the afternoon. The food I'm choosing is healthy but it's the same old buffet problem, disguised somewhat by smarter choices. It's a joke with the cashier. My salad & soup routinely costs me $10-$11.
* Haven't been outside to take a brief, non-brisk walk, despite the gorgeous weather. This would be a better break than the coffee. But it looks better to my boss, who sits next to me, if I drink coffee at my laptop rather than leave the desk & go outside. The latter looks like shirking.

Less thanb 10#to go. I have a huge challenge a trip to FL for a week followed next weekend with a trip to steak house with old friends. We have a kitchen in the suite in FL and will use that. But I will not have that extra cushion of calories to offset steak house.

I think I will just go steak and veggies.

Day 3 in the 146 or 146.5 range - that's much better than the one-day teasers I'd been getting. I've taken advantage of opportunities to move this week and have been "deliberately aware" of the calorie accumulations over the course of the day. What's also been a bit different is that since I've had to go out for dinner several times this week, I tried looking ahead to the menus and picking what I wanted ahead of time - for instance, instead of the wet burrito that was bigger than my head, I chose a garlic/shrimp pizza on a crust so thin it was barely there. I can't even guess how many calories that saved!

Hey peeps! How was your weekend?

I'm setting some goals for this week:
1) run 3 times
2) lift weights 2 times
3) log my food in the no excuses thread. Even if it's ugly.

Hello chicks
I am back at work and, not surprisingly, needing your 3fc accountability support.

update: I do not really examine myself in mirrors so I am not able to tell you how the results of my surgery look. All judgement is being reserved until 2-3 months down the line. What I will mention after my first and only examination is that my body reminds me of a home renovation-- y'know the rooms adjacent the renovated area looks particularly run down, down, down thank goodness for bras

Scalewise, I was 119/120 and very pleased about it, until the last 5 days when I started eating d/t stress and the "well, I am thin, so I can eat" mentality. My lower numbers were a combination of some very very rough days following surgery and careful eating afterwards. Today, my scale said 123.5.

Goal: get back to 120 and do my darndest to stay there. I think some pop days will get me there. I have been eating garbage for the last 3ish days. ALso, in 1 month I'll be back to exercise, that will help also

Karen, wtg on the progress, I love the idea of vacation encouragement
Midwife, I may just follow you over to no excuses but I laways feel like my food is not healthy enought with the correct balance of nutrients and so on..., my kooky stuff, not anyone's at 3fc
Marie, hi I love hearing about your hikes and nature experiences. How far into the country are you?
Becky, just prior to my change of lifestyle I discovered calamari pizza, I ate it 2x/week for about 4 weeks. that's crazy good stuff
Saef, love reading your posts, now I can do so regularly
Jess, downward trends are awesome!!
Happy, sounds like you are in a great groove, you go!
FP, I watched your youtube running vids while in my recovery bed, thx
Megan, ward, allison, lurkers,

see you all soon!

another kick butt w/o today, even if it was 'just' core and stretching (my body is screaming at me that it needs a break so i took it 'easy' today!)

i think the scale is moving! i have cut back to 1800 cal from 2100 cal at christmas. i am not really craving a binge right now so i am comfortable here. if i start wanting to binge, i'll have to up the cal a touch... i dont have a scale at home so i only get a chance to weigh at the gym and try not to weigh every time i go... because i do go at different times of the day, my weight 'fluctuates'... it does look like i am down a couple pounds though!!!

maybe i can make my goal of 167 by July 15? (I think i am now about 170-172 when I was 175 just two weeks ago?!?!?)

we'll see... thanks for the continued support!

--total bust on pop or anything close to op. scale up as result.
today started well. Next, over to accountability tread, will take responsibility for yesterday.

I must acknowledge that if I want to stay at a certain weight I need to follow same food choices that I made during my loss!!!

still, at the start of this thread origin I was at 129 (I think) so the trend is down...

how is everyone else doing?

KC, I'm not doing well. A foray into primal eating really rocked the boat for me and I'm finding it hard to steer a WL course. The waters are choppy and the flotsam and jetsam are toxic. May as well call it junksam. Add to this that I'm cold much of the time. New snow on the mountains ...
Bit of moaning for you there.

My main focus is sleep, then exercise, then food. I know that food makes the difference but sleep and exercise prepare the soil, as it were.

kittycat, glad you liked the vids while recovering! I like this thought: "I must acknowledge that if I want to stay at a certain weight I need to follow same food choices that I made during my loss!!!"

Uhhh yeah... I need to remind myself of that as well. I'm going the wrong way on the scale!

Kitty, trust me, I'm no nutritional saint either. But I'm being accountable, even if it's ugly....it was very hard to come clean with my baklava and nutty bar last night....

SB, are you having the kind of, um, flotsam and jetsam that I had on my primal foray? I still like the concept, but my body rebelled. I've had a few grain free days since, but I still incorporated beans and/or sweet potatoes. Sleep is really important, that's for sure!

FP, I've always found it hard to drop pounds when actively training for a half. In fact, my lean mass goes down and my body fat % goes up, although the scale stays the same.

FP, I didn't lose weight training for my half either, didn't gain a lot but definitely didn't lose.

Thanks midwife and Shannon. I had a suspicion that this would happen. I bounce around a lot, not really gaining significantly but I'll get down to my low weight of 132 and bounce right back up. I'll be glad when the HM is over so I can make another push to get some pounds off. I just find it impossible to eat like I used to without starving.