Merry Christmas all!

Had a BIG homemade Christmas Eve dinner (shrimp risotto, stuffing, curried cauliflower, double chocolate cake). Went for a run Christmas morning which felt nice, then went off for a very expensive all-you-can-eat hotel brunch Christmas brunch/lunch with friends. We normally don't do that kind of stuff but we're away from family in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas and it was fun to do something festive and nice on the holidays.

Anyway I did well- two big plates of various raw, steamed, and sauteed vegetables, then one small plate with a small piece of pasta, two baby potatoes, a bit of bean salad, and two pieces of veg sushi. Had only coffee (when unlimited alcohol was included in the brunch!), and a few sips of my fiance's wine. A little too much dessert but overall quite pleased. We didn't really eat dinner that evening.

I've continued to be up 2-3 lbs this week, which makes me a bit nervous. I'm eating lots of carbs I don't normally (rice, dessert) and started my new lifting program a week ago. Hoping the next few weeks bring a bit of a drop... or at least that things hold steady.

My last official WW weigh in of the year this morning -- 131 pounds. Not too bad considering this last week of near gorging and indulging.

A year ago I was pretty close to 170. After years of gaining between 5 and 8 pounds a year and thinking it was not a big deal, I decided THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!! I was able to lose a few pounds on my own before walking in that door to Weight Watchers for my first official weigh in and on my way to making my GOAL!! For the first time ever I stuck to my New Year's Resolution which was to lose 20 pounds. At the beginning of the year I could not imagine that I would not only lose those 20 pounds, but even more!

Feeling pretty good about what 2012 holds!! Happy New Year all!

kidjng- 131 isn't bad at all! Congrats! Ditto about feeling so different last year...I was at my lifetime high last Christmas. Amazng what a difference a year can make! I was actually bummed to take a few days off working out. I have an awesome treadmill at home, but I was really forcing myself to take a break and enjoy the holiday.

All of our social holiday events were early this year, so I had zero temptaion over the weekend. It was so nice! I ate regularly and went a bit high last night, eating a KitKat bar at the movies. That was my Christmas present. LOL I'm averaging 1800 cals, sometimes up to 2100, and I'm down to 126.5. I don't want to eat more!!! The change from 1400 to 1800 has been really awful for me so far. That extra 400 cals is almost always "not so great food". Not horrible, but not clean eating, either. I'm afraid to keep upping my cals, b/c I don't want my body to get used to 2000 cals, and then some day I won't be as active, but I'll still be eating/wanting 2000 calories. And I frankly don't know what else to add! Blah, blah, blah...LOL...it's a whiny kind of day!

ChickieChicks I am having SO MUCH trouble upping my calories too!! I've jumped to 1800 and I keep ending up at 1600 by the end of the day. I've added more snacks in since I can't eat all that much at meal time, but sometimes I forget to eat them.

It's this reason I didn't really eat all that much over Christmas (I definitely ate MORE, just not as much as I did last year) because I just can't stomach the extra food.

I fit into girl's jeans today. Definitely time to stop losing, LOL!

LOL S...you're getting so small you are actually reversing the aging process! Ha, ha! My "toight 2s" are now my daily jeans, so I don't need to lose anymore, either. But my stomach is the size of a walnut, I swear! Yesterday I wasn't feeling great, TOM, and i barely forced myself to eat 1800 cals. But I worked out hard yesterday, too, so I knew it wasn't going to be enough. Fell asleep early nd then woke up ravenous at midnight. UGH! Cereal and yogurt did the trick, but I feel like it is messing with my sleep more than ever. But I dodn't go to bed hungry....WTH?

Weighed in just 1.8 lbs over my range. Phew. I'm getting back down closer to where I want to be after all the holiday madness.

It definitely has to do with my going back to calorie counting. I am seriously impressed with those of you who don't CC and just eat intuitively. I have to see the numbers written down to tell myself to stop eating!

Indiblue- I have to count, too. Some days I count as i go, adding things in my head, and some days I add it all up at the end, just out of curiosity, to see if I am in the right range. Like today, was just winging it. Then I went to a late Zumba class and was starving afterwards. I hadn't kept track at all, so I felt stressed, like I needed to "know where I was" before i could eat. I was just fine, of course, and am now enjoying a PB sandwich and yogurt, but I don't like feeling intense hunger if I dont' think my numbers add up. That probably sounds weird. LOL

Sontaikle- I love your ever-changing avatars!!! My son got a new game for his Didj (a learning system-version of a DS handheld). It is Sonic the hedgehog, and it is modeled EXACTLY after the orginal game. I had so much fun watching over his shoulder, going, "yeah..I remember that!" I was awful at video games growing up, but I beat the SEGA Sonic game. Loved it!

Hey everyone.

Today I read that the Lap Band Surgery requirements were changed. It used to be you needed a BMI of 40 to get the surgery...they changed it to a BMI of 35.

That's sort of a wake up call even though I lost the weight. My BMI before I began was 36 and I think the rules were changed BEFORE I lost the weight. I could have qualified for surgery.

I wouldn't have done it because of my own beliefs, but it's still a wake up call. It also shows me that I don't need the surgery and that I could do it on my own.

Indiblue - I have to count too. My intuitive eating radar is forever borked because I'm never hungry. I have to schedule meals or I'll forget to eat (like today, I almost forgot to eat lunch) and I have to ignore that feeling of "ooo I should eat something" when I know I shouldn't. Ah well.

ChickieChicks - LOL you are right about reversing the age process! When I first began I couldn't wear juniors sizes. Now they fit me better than women's sizes! And now I can apparently fit into girl's sizes! I actually don't mind because girl's clothes are usually cheaper and the larger girl's sizes seem to have the inseam I need. I have a 31" inseam which makes shopping a pain. Petite is often too short, regular is too long..but the girl's clothes I've tried on seem to have just the right inseam for me. No hemming AND the clothes are cheaper? I'm there!

And thanks about the avatars, haha. I know I change them a lot but I get bored of them quickly That sounds like a cute game for your son too! I love that they're bringing Sonic back for the kids My students are into all of the Sonic the Hedgehog games and they love the fact that I know all about them.

You guys are teeny! My body is proportioned so that I'm thick in the places that prevent me from wearing junior sizes: chest, upper arms, and rear/thighs. Definitely size 6s and above for me

Down again .6 ish today. PHEW. PHEW. PHEW. It's just water weight right now. I'm eating very on plan (it's always easy for me to stay on plan in the few days after my period) and keeping carbs in check. I haven't been back in my range of 124-122 for a few weeks. Most importantly, I FEEL better, smaller and less bloated/fluffy.

I hope I remember how nice this feels the next time I want to go off plan and not calorie count for a few weeks ^_^

It's amazing how easy it is to feel like you've been falling off the wagon. I'm stressing because I was hungrier today, so I had a small, 50cal snack on top of the other snack I had after lunch.

I'm at 900 cals for the day. RELAX SONTAIKLE. I'm still not used to eating more, so I guess this is the problem. I need to probably have AT LEAST 800 cals before the end of the day, but I'm not quite used to that level yet.

I guess I'm still afraid that I'm going to start regaining and all of my hard work will go down the drain. I should relax. I weighed in at 134 today, but it's TOM and I guess it's just messing with me. I feel bloated and gross right now. Bleh.

indiblue - I feel for you. I never thought that a little extra weight meant anything, but I guess for us shorter folks it makes a difference. I can always feel when I'm heavier and it drives me batty! I wasn't this in tune before, so it's a new experience for me.

I'm not really that teeny, haha. I'm busty and I have broad shoulders so I always have to get a large in junior's tops. Bottoms are where I can shop in the kids and junior's department.

I've fallen in love with belts. I have a 37" bust and a 26" waist. A nice belt cinches my tops in and lets me show it off.

S- YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes to your entire post! Most days now I feel overly stressed about my number. I never used to feel this way! Ugh. For lunch today I treated myself to Spinach and Goat Cheese pizza. So yummy, but a portion for me is 550 cals. When i added up for the day, i forgot about a bar I had on the way to the gym. I was only at 1350, but that is where I like to be heading into dinner, not right after lunch. I mean...why does it matter???

For me, it does come down to that fear of regaining. Like if I go over by 300 cals one day, it will automatically mean that I will go over the next day, and the next, etc...until I gain weight, stop caring, and revert back to how I was a year ago.

Do you have any "checkpoints" besides the scale? I have a pair of size 4 American Eagle jeans that are probably closer to a size 6, since they have stretched a bit. But I'm using these as my new "big girl jeans". If those get tight, something is VERY wrong. Right now they are baggy on me, so i wear them as my comfy jeans. I'm hoping that by having a scale number AND a pant size/shape to go by, it will be more difficult for things to slip up.

Seems like we all have the lovely TOM. I'm on my way out, thank goodness, b/c it was a rough emotional week. Stupid hormones!!!

Stupid hormones indeed! I can't remember ever having such painful breasts before, and even worse, I caught myself just about to moan about them to a friend while we were discussing bras. Normally that would be fine, but her sister has breast cancer. Eep.

I've raised my calories by about 150, which should still result in loss as I was losing 1lb/week before. Nope. My weight bounced up about a pound and has been staying there. Oh well, I'll see how it settles down. Right now I'm not too well and I could use the extra calories, plus the painkillers will be causing water retention, and maybe this will be my first ever cycle where I actually get premenstrual water retention showing on the scales.

Two pairs of underwear and a pair of workout shorts that just fit at 124ish and start to get uncomfortably snug around the hips/rear above that

Yes, sontaikle it's crazy how just a few pounds can make a difference!

Esofia So sorry to hear about a rough week with hormones. Hope you feel better quite soon.

Hi ladies! Nothing too new and exciting here. Hanging out in the same weight range 126.5-128.5, so i am a very happy lady!

Christmas and New year's wasn't that hard this year, since we didn't go home, and the parties we went to were mostly friends who eat healthy, so that rocked. My goal this year is to MAINTAIN (#1), but I also want to continue to add variety to my workouts. I got stuck in a Zumba rut for December, which is so dang fun, but I prefer to also do running, cycling, weights, etc. So today I biked around the neighborhood for the first time in quite a while and it was so peaceful. I remember why I loved it so much...passing the big , open fields, farms, etc. So pretty and it was 60 degrees here today.

Happy New Year, hot chicas! 2011 saw us reach our goal weights..let's see 2012 keeping it up!

I never had much of a sweet tooth but I did enjoy my chocolate. Today I decided to indulge on a dark chocolate peanut butter cup from trader joe's. So good! I also had some frosting (honestly I just licked my fingers once so I had very little) when my brother, dad and I were making a gingerbread house.

I feel completely and utterly sick. I don't know if it's the chocolate or the frosting (I'm betting it's the frosting) but I'm thinking I just can't handle sugary things anymore. I don't even crave it anymore. There's tons of candy around me every day and I just don't want it. I'd rather have a piece of fruit instead (and my house is now stocked with bananas, my favorite snack!).

That'll teach me to have sugar I guess. Still within the calories for the day so I'm not concerned.

Esofia -First off, feel better! I noticed my weight bounced up for a while when I increased my calories even before I hit maintenance. It went back down eventually, so I wonder what's up with that.

ChickieChicks - I just bought some size 5 skinny jeans from JCPenney that have very little stretch in them. While I could have gotten a size 3, I plan to use them as my "warning jeans" should they get too tight to button. Other jeans I have are far too stretchy for that.