I was gonna say, maybe next time you get a craving for McNuggets, just get the nuggets. I do that a lot when I crave fast food -- I just get the burger or the main entree and forget the sides.

SoMuch I LOVE hosting parties. It's SO fun!

Nina Thanks for the advice! I'll just have to stick with weighing myself every day... even if I do consume 49304930 calories the night before.

Atarimae Good luck with your first day of school! I know the start to semesters can be stressful. But I love fresh semesters - they let you set up so many goals When it's my TOM, I've noticed my body go up in weight (water retention), and then the scale will drop off like crazy when it's done. Try not to binge during your period or freak out when you see high numbers! My whoosh comes in about 2 days after.

jmko Thanks for the advice! Ugh.. it stinks to hear about your boyfriend. When I get into disagreements with mine, I just tell him I NEED to sleep on it before I resolve/act out on anything. I've always felt that when people are in the heat of the moment, things escalate quickly. I hope you two have resolved things! And congrats on your past few days

PinkHurricane Congrats on staying OP! I need to do this in the next few days Ab Ripper sounds funnn

cutecutecat Welcome! You'll find a lot of support and amazing people on this site Ugh... I know what you mean about fast food. Taco Bell is my weakness. I haven't excluded it from my diet, however, I looked up and listed a bunch of low calorie items I can get and stuck the list in my purse. McDonald's offers a selection of low cal meals. When I go there, I usually get 1 Grilled Chipotle snack wrap (250cals) and a small fry (250cals). It usually fills me for awhile, and only for 500 cals!

Mimsyborogoves That's happened to me the past few days! I don't eat anything until 3pm and then I literally inhale everything in sight. I went from 221 to 225 in ~4 days from binging. So frustrating!

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Today was WAY better for me. I stayed OP, and hopefully my weigh in reflects that tomorrow. The past days have been horrible and I've gained 4lbs (hoping most of that is water).

I didn't get as much exercise in today as I wanted to. My boyfriend stopped over and we jogged my puppy at the dog park.

I've been feeling gross all day, and TMI, but I've gone #2 about 5 times (wtf?! hopefully getting rid of my binged food), and I've had a migrane. I wonder if it is due to all the gross foods I've been consuming these past few days.

Also, this is my first month of a new BC (much higher estrogen than the Nuvaring.. but I can't afford that anymore). I've been crampy all day and I just noticed a bunch of spotting. I don't take placebo pills until next week. Have any of you had this problem when switching BC before? I feel so bloated and grossss

Yep, I've had the exact same problem!! Sometimes I get it if I run a couple of packs together too. Your body is just adjusting to the different hormones. If you're still having issues in a couple of months maybe go and see your GP, but I wouldn't worry about it!

hurricane: p90x just sounds so...intense! I guess I'm just lazy. I'll stick to turbojam. I am hoping to get turbofire soon, though! Unfortunately, my diet restricts me from intense workouts for the first few weeks. I've got to stick to walking around the neighborhood

cutecat: welcome! I get those mcdonald's cravings ALL the time, too! I was in a food court last night and the french fries were calling my name. I was good and stuck to grilled chicken and veggies from another place, though. I think every little bit counts and it all adds up! Depending on what you're craving maybe just get a cheeseburger or just the fries, or even a mighty kids meal. Skip the soda and have water. I'd look at their website, too for nutrition information! There's a whole list of stuff under 400 calories!

mimsy: whenever I feel like I'm starving I drink water. That reminds me of "Devil Wears Prada." "I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese." I love that movie!

breakingup: Hopefully you're body is cleaning itself out and detoxing after your binge. It may not feel like it when you're in the bathroom, but it's a good thing! I cannot take BCP for the life of me. I have the weakest stomach and get so sick. And that's if I can even remember to take them. I was on the nuvaring then switched to implanon because it was so much cheaper in the long run. The device itself was like $60 after my insurance then the in office cost to put it in was like $120. And it lasts for 3 years.

So the BF and I are a little better, but not much. This whole ordeal has left me exhausted! I finally did some grocery shopping yesterday, though and got to plan my meal for the rest of this week and next week. I'm excited to be cooking again (we've been eating out a lot) and try some new healthy recipes. Today I'm utilizing my crockpot and going to make buffalo chicken. Hooray! Hopefully it turns out okay. What's everyone eating for dinner tonight?

Wow! y'all keep a girl busy. Time to catch up...

pinksparkles good luck with thanksgiving! a friend of mine had people over for "thanksgiving" dinner in August. so this year I'm not sure I'll do anything for an actual thanksgiving. Maybe just cook a little of my favorite things.

katbot onederland is a great goal!

Breakingup take it one day at a time.
Yes, spotting is definitely normal when you switch to a new BC. For me, it takes at least 2 months before the pills really kick in properly. And yes, your body is trying to get rid of all the junk food; that's probably why you're going so much.

SoMuch Oh man. can I come to your party? Sounds delicious!

Atarimae good luck with classes! you'll be great.
Can't help you on TOM issues. The pill I'm on sometimes causes me to miss my TOM entirely (ugh. Can I just say I freaked out like crazy the first time that happened?) so I don't have the typical gain/whoosh.

jmko eek. doesn't sound like a fun time with the boyfriend. how are things going? did he cool down some?

cutecutecat Welcome! You could try to tackle your McDonald's fix a couple of ways. Either get a smaller amount (I'd drop it down to a kid's meal and have a salad or some veggies from my own place) or pick a day where you can have it. Like....let's say you wanted it today, but your 'cheat day' is Saturday. You'd have to wait until Saturday to see if you still wanted it.
mimsy gave a good suggestion too. Just get the part you crave.

jmko asked what everyone is having for dinner.....and I have no idea. So far I've been good today. peanut butter & banana for breakfast. slice of bread with laughing cow cheese for snack, spinach/strawberry/feta cheese salad for lunch, banana for snack.....my smoothie is defrosting.

I think I'll probably have some soup for dinner. I also have a bunch of veggies that I want to throw into the crockpot with some soup, but that might have to wait until tomorrow.

....wish the cool weather would come back so it makes sense to eat soup. We're at 80 right now. Yuck.

Mimsy- Yes, I agree about not letting yourself get to starving point. I have found that to be a HUGE pitfall for me, so I try to make sure I feel satisfied throughout the day. I am currently on the hunt still for making sure what I am eating keeps me feeling full and satisfied.

Breakingup90s- Ab Ripper is fun but EXTREMELY intense for me. I have a problem getting every rep done so I set little goals for myself, like knock out 15-20 if I can't make it to 25. Also, congrats for staying OP! That's cute that you and your BF jogged with the puppy. As far as the BC switch, I am pretty sure that is common and should resolve itself soon, especially since you are getting more estrogen than what you are used to. But if it doesn't start adjusting I would get back in touch with your doctor to make sure your body is agreeing with the new BC.

jmko- You are not lazy at all! P90X is a lot of work, and I have to push myself haha. Glad that you got to go grocery shopping for some healthy meals! I am searching for healthy dinners to make as well, and that buffalo chicken sounds so good! Tonight we are planning on grilling a couple of rib eye steaks and I'm going to make us some baked fries on the side.


Staying very much OP today, feeling motivated as well. I did Kenpo X this morning and I am definitely feeling the burn in my arms, core, and thighs today from the bit of strength training I did yesterday. I am continuing daily weigh ins but I am so excited for my official weigh in because I am hoping I lost the extra 5 lbs I put on last week due to TOM. I guess we will see, but I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday!!

I had a salad for dinner and it was DELICIOUS. Hooray for rotisserie chicken!

BreakingUp ~ TOM is here. So I hope my body pulls what yours does! Haha, would love to see a drop. Glad your body is cleansing itself, even if as a result you don't feel too great. Hopefully the new BC is just acting like that because your body isn't used to it!

jmko ~ Mmm buffalo chicken sounds delish! The past two days I've made a healthy chicken parm, but all the leftovers are gone! Also, glad you and your BF are better!

Ballerina ~ Aw well thank you anyway! I'm not familiar enough with weight loss with TOM yet, but I do hope to see the woosh. It'd be nice knowing some weight making me heavier was water. Oh man do I miss peanut butter...and bananas. Lol, hopefully I can find a looow sugar pb when I go grocery shopping next!

Hurricane ~ I'm wayyy too out of shape to do P90X as a whole, so props to you! But Kenpo X is my favorite in the selection; so much so, that I bring it from house to house only to lose it! Great job staying OP!

mimsy ~ Ah another one who can eat salad for dinner. I really envy you guys for that. Salads just don't fill me. Rotisserie chicken sounds delish though!

Yay, so first day of class was a success - thanks for the motivation guys! The only problem is the bookstore messed up my professor's textbooks! I already opened mine, and because they're good tools for teaching in the classroom, I will keep them as reference. But seriously, $185 for books not needed for a class?! CRAZY.

But I did get approval to miss class next week. The banquet for my bowling league is next week and my teammate said we'll be getting our pot money as well as raffle prizes - all for a ticket that would have cost $40 if we didn't bowl enough games. So excited. Paid to get free food and prizes? I'm in!

Tonight, after work (probably in about an hour or two), my family is gonna have dinner at my grandma's for my cousin's birthday. (Lucky kids, on October break!!) I was told it's a pizza night, so I'm worried about staying OP and also worried about seeing a gain. I will update on how this goes!

I usually keep salad as a lunch deal, but tonight was one of those nights where my mom didn't feel like cooking so she went and bought the chicken and the salad fixin's and threw it together. It really was filling, though! You gotta learn how to doctor it up to make it do right. Since I was eating it for dinner, I put in a full 3oz serving of chicken, reduced fat cheese, and bacon bits so it would have a lot of protein. Protein is the key to making salads filling.

About the only thing I don't miss about college was buying textbooks; although, since I was an English major, my textbook cost went down every year because I mostly only had to buy novels. I didn't even spend $100 on books during my last semester. I heard it from everyone else, though. Science majors had it the worst!

Atarimae: you can easily eat 1 or 2 slices of pizza as long as you account for it earlier in the day, so don't worry too much.

Mimsy: Science majors do have it bad (I paid $400 for this semester's books) but in Canada at least Business school students have it the worst. My fiance spent $700 just for this semester's books. All required.

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SO I'm FINALLY back to 209, my body reaaaalllly didn't like me skipping my period this month and got all water retain-y. I also have the whole weekend off of work so I can attend thanksgiving at my future FIL's (on Saturday) and my future MIL's (on Sunday). Hopefully I can manage to balance all that food and stay OP.

I have quite a few $200 paperweights from my first couple years of my (science) degree. I'm finding the upper-year texts more helpful so it's not quite so bad, but those older ones..argh.

My midterm today went well, but I've definitely been stress eating this week. I decided to up my calories from 'losing 1.5 a week' to 'losing 1.0 a week' on MyFitnessPal, so at least I've been staying within that limit. Planning to maintain over the weekend too!

Happy Friday everyone!

ballerina: the bf has cooled down some, but things are still rocky. I think I'm having a hard time getting over our fight. Things just don't feel the same. How cold does it get in Virginia? It stays about 80 here. Our soup weather is pretty much when it rains or drops to the low 70s, haha!

hurricane: that buffalo chicken was so easy and sooo yummy! I still have my doubts it was on plan because it tasted so good! Basically just cook your chicken (bake or crockpot) and on the stove, mix 1/4 cup franks buffalo sauce, 1/4 cup fat free ranch dressing, 2 tbsp low fat cream cheese. mix until smooth. Pour over chicken, top with low fat cheddar cheese and bake until melted. OMG I was licking my plate, haha!

mimsy: Rotisserie chicken is always so tasty and easy!

atarimae: glad your classes went well! Books are always so expensive here! UGH. I always wanted to keep mine as reference after the semester was over but ended up selling them back because I needed the money for books the next semester. What kind of pizza did you have? By the way, your new profile picture is so cute!

katbot: woohoo! Back to 209! Congrats!

pinksparkles: Glad your midterm went well!

So, buffalo chicken was sooooooooooooo good! See above for the recipe. There's a party tonight for my co-worker who's moving away to california. I'm always hesitant to go to these things because it's always party food. Hopefully there will be at least one salad option there. I'm just glad it's friday

nina I think you're right.. after talking to my coworker who is a doctor, I think I'll have to wait another month or so for my TOM to regulate now

jmko Ohh maybe I'll look into implanon! I loveee my crockpot. I usually cook chicken in it every week. It's the bestt Tonight for dinner, I cooked cajun shrimp wraps. So tasty!

Pink Your workout routine sounds hardcore! I am envious of your motivation I've tried to do a few workout videos that have absolutely kicked my butt. I think I might retry them when I lose ~20-30lbs again Congrats on staying OP! It always feels good

atarimae Ahhh that's so cool you bowl! One of my coworkers asked me to bowl this last summer and I had never done it, so I did a 16 week league and it was super fun! I got a weighted ball for hooking, and I've been doing better and better.

katbot Congrats on getting back to 209! The number game sucksss.

pinksparkles Good to hear about your midterm! Test taking always gave me so much anxiety in undergrad haha.

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Today I stayed somewhat OP, and even factored 4 slices of Domino's pizza into my diet (gross, but carbs and cheese are my downfall!).

My TOM is now in full swing even though my new BCP placebos aren't until next week. So lame

The bf and I got into a lame fight tonight. We've been dating for 8 months and he's only spent the night at my place a few times. It means a lot to me and I've expressed that. He still doesn't think it's that big of a deal and complains about not getting enough sleep. I'm not sure if I should be hurt or understanding.

mimsy ~ Oh man, if my textbooks were $100 total, I'd be so happy! I can confidently say...mine is about 100 per text. Ah well, just need to think that in two years, this will all be over...

Katbot ~ Oh GOSH, water retain-y moments just plain suck! I can't imagine how it'd be if I skipped a period! Glad you're back at your starting point though.

pinksparkles ~ Great job on your midterm!

jmko ~ Oh wow, that sounds delish and pretty easy to make! Will have to try that one day. Eeeeek, party food! Well if it's potluck style, salad is an option, so that's great. Also, thank you on the compliment on my profile pic! One of my best friends is a florist, so she made me a rainbow flower cake for my birthday. Coincidentally, my birthday cake this year was a Dee Lite rainbow cake.

BreakingUp ~ Yes, leagues are so fun! I've been bowling for awhile, but now that my class interferes, boo. Oh well, school first. Great job on remaining OP, even with the pizza! Hopefully everything goes well with the bf! I'm in no place to offer any advice...it's been awhile.

Ah, so the results of my weigh-in two days ago = me being up about 1.5lbs. Oookay, so I kind of ate sodium-rich foods and TOM is here in full swing, but I feel like I stayed within my range of what's considered to be OP. As for the pizza, which we ended up having leftovers for, I had two pieces of the spinach and cheese artisan pizza from Domino's, so yep, that was OP at least!

I'm just waaaaaiting for the TOM-ster, yes like monster lol, to go away. That plus eating stadium foods was definitely not a great combo!

On the plus side though, I tried on a pair of 11s at Macy's yesterday, and they fit, even with the bloating too. Yaaay. I'm still sticking with the 13s that I have though...I'm cheap.

jmko: totally making that recipe. My fiance loves spicy things so he'll be pleased too.

BUW90: WITHHOLD SEX. He'll come crawling to your bed all by himself in a few days. **** he'll probably agree to stay over just to get frisky. Pavlovian conditioning at its finest.

Atarimae: yay for 11s fitting! And that pizza sounds good, I've been on low carb (50-100g a day) so eating pizza has become a rare luxury for me.

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I saw 208.6 today! So happy! But, with the FIL's thanksgiving dinner tonight I'm worried I won't see it tomorrow. I'll try to stick to white meat with no gravy and salad and eat SLOW so no one notices that I'm not eating HEAPS OF FOOD like they usually try to push on me. If there's pumpkin pie, I will have a -little- slice, because I can't say no to pumpkin pie. Also, on the TMI front, my body decided I don't know what's good for me and decided to have my period ANYWAY, even with the nuvaring still in. It's only a little but it still blows, especially because I have cramps, which usually don't happen with a planned period, so I forgot how much they suck. I dunno what I should do with the ring now...does it come out? keep it in anyway? I think I'll do some web surfing and see what I can dig up.