Well, yesterday went well for me, but right after dinner everything came right out of me (put as delicately as possible). I was SO hungry again after that, that I ate again and think that I went over my calorie amount. Didn't lose on the scale and am up a pound. Not going to worry about it as it could just be daily fluctuation. But it is frustrating.

idara: I am so very sorry for your situation. My mother is fighting decline, but is not yet elderly. It is so hard to see the parent that you relied on as the strong one become in need of caring themselves. I'm glad you had the chance to visit and had some highs as well. *hugs

Heather: What a great post! You really revved me up with it! This is how I feel too.

Joan: We're all in the same posse hun.

I have really been slacking on exercise, these stomach issues & now it's so humid outside that I don't even want to go out to walk. Tomorrow is the last humid day, so Tuesday I am walking! TOM appeared yesterday, it's so unpredictable. I'm up 3 lbs from the water retention & the craving for sweets I had yesterday, that I gave into. I'm way over my personal red line, as long as i stay away from bad food, it will be gone soon I hope.

iaradajnos- sorry about your dad. It has to be hard watching him decline when there is nothing you can do about it. I hope your family stays safe, and offers warning before entering the house!

Heatherangel- you have a great attitude. Loved your post! Sorry you gained, but the way you wrote... LOL!

Joan- I hope it comes off quick! It's hard to resist, sometimes, but life is for the living, and goal or no goal, sometimes you have to let go!

Archy- I hope you're feeling better. I'm sure that pound will leave as quickly as it came.

Fruitlady- did I read you're in maintenance? Cool!

Well, that 2 pounds I was complaining about went away. I guess it wasn't worth getting all upset over, afterall, as others pointed out. I hope the scale keeps moving down.... I'm just so anxious to get these pounds off of me!

Well, ladies, I'm exhausted. I have an early start tomorrow morning, so I think I'll go crawl in to bed. I seem to really run down by the end of the day and I wish I could figure out how to keep the energy up. I often feel like I need a nap, and sometimes I have to lie down and sleep for 20 minutes or so. I've worked nights for so long, and this is my first actual full time job in a long time too. I was always part time. Now I'm losing weight and exercising too... I suppose I need to give my body time.

Hi all -

I had a great start to my new (second-time-around) journey yesterday - ate well and didn't obsess. Hahaha Yay for Day 1! I thought I might be down MAYBE three pounds this morning, with all the water I drank and all the sodium and garbage I was flushing through, but this morning I was almost SIX pounds down! I know, I know... it's not really like I lost six pounds of fat overnight, but it's probably some stuff leaving my body, so I'm happy with it. It won't be too surprising if I'm up a little bit again tomorrow, but for today - woohoo! Isn't the first week great?

It got me to thinking again (never safe!) - isn't the human body an amazing thing? I often forget this. It took me two years of terrible eating and not enough exercise to regain more than 70lbs of the 127lbs I had lost... and yet it probably won't take two years to lose it again. Our bodies are incredible - and very forgiving. Amazing. Either way, I'm enamoured with the JOURNEY again, rather than the usual 'race' of "If I don't lose 8-10 pounds this month I'll just give up 'cause obviously I am destined to be fat"... yeah, that's worked SO well for me before!

Have a great day!!

A six-pound whoosh! How fun is that?

Well, my thought for the day is, alcohol sucks! Anything more than one glass of wine--and hey, it's a holiday weekend and we had guests--and my diet is completely ruined. My food inhibitions run wild, sleep is poor. The next day, naturally the scale is up three-four pounds. Then I feel so rotten that I have to eat and drink more to comfort myself. UGH!! So not worth it. But unfortunately it's hard for me to get through a long party without a few drinks.

So today, at least I just had a good sleep. Let's try this one more time.

ETA: I dislike holidays in general when it comes to dieting, because holidays mean a break from routine. And for me, routine is CRITICAL to staying on track.

I'm 39, but soon to be 40 and I feel 60 somedays so figured this was a good thread for me. I'm just starting (again) my weight loss journey so I'll be in and out for support as I go. Thanks for letting me join in!

Well at least I ate healthy this weekend, not enough exercise though. Lost 2 lbs of water from TOM, hopefully more tomorrow.

Went to Ross to get clothes, I'm still in a small top. But pants, I went from being a size 0-1 to 5-6. How depressing is that? But on the other hand, at this weight I have alot more food choices and can enjoy sweets a couple times a week. That's worth the extra 10-15lbs I weigh now.

I am having such a hard time getting on Chicks these days! its driving me nuts. I did see a post about others having trouble so at least its not just me and our computer, but I'm not having this same trouble with other forums.

I pratically needed a sweater to take the dog outside this morning. Hubby came home early from work to surprise me; he brought me flowers and took me out to lunch and shopping! Its still very cool and we have the windows open to air the house out, but are also getting yummy smells from the neighbor's cookout! No workout so far and probably none tomorrow unless its walking around the hospital.

Dad's heart surgery is tomorrow around 11am. I would appreciate any thoughts or prayers for him and the rest of the family.

ThinkinThin and Joan, welcome, glad to have you join us.

I think this is great - I have a friend who is maintaining after a 60lb loss, and she allows herself NOTHING extra. If she loved that, great; instead, she often tells me that eating so little and so restrictively is painfully hard, but she loves her size... I asked her if one dress size would make much difference to her mental health, if it allowed her to have room for extras but she says she'd rather work this hard. It's a balance for sure; your post made me wonder where I'll be, eventually.

Early start for me here - have a great day, all!

It's been an on/off weekend/week. Went to a party and did really well, although I drank a bit more than I had anticipated. So, yesterday I nursed a small hangover and although I didn't go over my calories, I didn't eat as well as I should have. My new party plan is to keep a glass of water in my hands at all times between drinks. This way my host/ess will feel that I'm taken care of, I'm hydrated and I limit my alcohol intake. I am also not getting enough exercise since school started for me, my son and a lot of other things going on in the past two weeks. Not gaining, but not progressing.

Onward tomorrow --------------->

B: Coffee
L: Water
D: Potatoes, over-easy eggs, salad
Cal: ~800

E: Practicing bellydance routine 30 min.

Dad's surgery was scheduled for 11:30 but they didn't come get him until closer to 5pm. That was a long wait for all of us. We haven't heard anything yet.

We came home to feed the poor dog and Mom is coming to spend the night with us so we're doing a quick cleanup of the house , although she actually knows what slobs we really are, LOL.

Patchwork- looking forward to an update. Not long ago, I was waiting in the waiting room, waiting for my dad to come out of bypass surgery. It's nerve wracking. I hope you have a lot of family support there. I watched infomercials for P90X and juicers in the waiting room. I can't imagine cool weather! It's still blazing hot here. I'm looking forward to some cooler evenings. I'd like to walk the canal with my dogs.

Archy, your party plan sounds like a good one. It slows it down, less calories and less likelihood of getting a buzz.

Fruitlady...I know what you mean. I feel pretty good in an 8, but I was in a 16 when I started this last year. Blech!

I've been doing pretty good. My body let go of that extra weight, and then I lost a little more. I was feeling good and then there were cream puffs! Oh, there are things I simply have no control around! At this point, I have to remind myself that nothing tastes as good as thin feels, and I had a cream puff (um, two) and that's a pretty decent treat. I don't need more. I will still finish off the day with a deficit if I lay off the puffs.

'Night all!

Patchwork - good news, I hope??

I think I might be getting a cold; didn't sleep well and woke up several times... feeling groggy this morning. Thank goodness I have the meals planned out for the day - these are the kind of days I'd usually reach for easy/comfort food!

Scale still moving downwards. Have a good day, everyone!

I'm also hoping for good news about PP's dad.

Not much happening besides everyone starting school, understanding my 12 yr olds hectic travels to/fro school without texting me!, organizing the 10 yr old's pre-/post-school travel and babysitting plans, and fitting in lots of "me" time.

I'm hopeful to get in a 3-day weekend for myself 3 times over the next nine months. In Dec, we're also traveling abroad to my husband's country which will hopefully have equal parts hair raising stress and enjoyment of kids on their first huge trip of their lives. Thanks to Greyhound they already know 48 hours of non-stop travel, cramped quarters, no food options, and exhaustion. Amtrak travel has shown us 48 hours of more enjoyable but still limited movement travels. So, the plane across the world for 72 hours should be another page in their travel diary (if they actual kept one).

They got Dad in surgery around 6pm but he didn't get to ICU until 10pm. Really long day for Mom, she'd been up since 4am. They couldn't go in through the back ribs so they ended up splitting his chest anyway, not sure why, but Dr says he's doing great. He's going to a regular room tomorrow morning, he's still groggy and not feeling well, and we can only see him during certain times.

Be back for personals later.