Just rolling in after the weekend...
Did not make the best food choices ever and it wasn't even due to social pressure (it rarely ever is... )

I had a giant hot dog at Costco yesterday and feel like I'm all bloated today as a result. Yech. Note to self: You no do that no more. Their chicken caesar salad is fantastic. Just get that next time.

Busy week ahead. Will try to be back for personals!

Ahahaha that was hilarious! I think my favorite scene was when they realized the pony were gone, their face of ''sh*tthorinisgonnakillus'' were perfect LOL

I found a meme online expressing exactly my reaction when we saw the dwarves for the first time :



I was saying to the boyfriend back in the car on our way home from the movie something like ''hey some of the dwarves were HAWT'' and he asked ''Which one?''. ... jeez, the chubby one that does not say a word in the whole 3 hours.

Joss : I was an 5% alcohol cider. We saw that while picking stuff at the grocery, I think it's something you. I got totally interested because there was a dog on the advertising board and the boyfriend wanted it because they were said to give a winter hat if were getting a pack of four. There was no hat in the box, but the cider were really good LOL It was not suuuper sweet and just enough crisp!

I had more than one or two beers LOL The beer at the place we were is sooo good, they have their one brewery and their Scotch Ale is just out of this world

Alexis : I never ate at Costco, the size of the portion always scared me LOL Did you get nice stuff there?

A little bit of this guy lives in all of us, c'mon!

Alexistrophic OMG Costco food - sorry you are feeling a bit pickled after the hot dog!

Happy Monday Feathers...I am so behind it's not even funny. I won't even attempt personals right now but I wll follow along this week

I weighed in at 114.6 today after serious drinking on Saturday and my hangover fries on Sunday. No major damage so far, but things like this tend to sneak up on me a couple days later....I still feel dehydrated!

Hope everyone has a good week with their goals!

Krampus ~ hahahaha ... "pickled". That is it, exactly. I am trying to dry out as I type this.

Turbo ~ I got "party food" (veggie tray for my mom and a SLAMMIN' 7 layer dip). It was yum-tastic.

Bayzee ~ Dang girl! You did excellent over the weekend. Good job!

Remember the wing burger?





The "cabin"





Ice freezies

oh gosh, guys, I've hit a really low point. I weighed myself today and it's back up to 147. I can't stand this jumping back and forth between numbers I shouldn't even be in in the first place, and up and down between about 144 and 147.

So apparently not worrying too much about "dieting" doesn't work for me either and I need to crack down. *sigh* And I'm super sick on top of all this. Just came down with a bad cold. And this alwasy happens at the beginning of the week when there's no rest in sight for me (mandatory classes, meetings, etc.). Gosh, I'm so bummed. I know I just need to eat so much less of things, I need to cut out the wine, I need to cut out the sugar, blah blah blah, I know what I have to do and I feel like I don't have the strength to do it right now (these classes on top of working full time are killing me and I have 3 months of it to go before a brief break). I'm sorry to be a whiny pants. I just had to vent for moment.

@Turbo - fish and chips, *LOVE* Haven't had that in ages. But a 6K run sounds great! And Thorin - holy crap, yes, that man (dwarf? ) is hot!

@Krampus - oh your weekend of eating sounds wonderful! I feel like that's the kind of thing I do all the time, but I feel like I shouldn't until I'm in your position, where I want to be as far as my weight (maintaining). But that's so far away. Did you have weekends like that when you were in active losing mode? Oh, man, Krampus, I would have been mortified about the car accident thing. And that's just the kind of thing that would have happened to me, too! That place you stayed at looks awesome, too.

@Jossfit - oh ugh, I FEEL like such a fail at this, though. No will power. And I noticed that it's so much easier for myself to be stern and firm about doing workouts on a schedule than it is to control my eating. Like if I say I'm going to run 4 miles on a particular day, I do it, no matter what, and there's no question that I will do it unless I'm injured or sick. And with eating? I can tell myself that I'm going to eat a particular menu all day, and by the end of the day I'm throwing it in the towel. I do not understand! I'm glad you've seen some dip in the scale, though, that's really good. I bet you'll see more and more as your body adjusts to this new life of eating and working out.

TOM came - I knew it was imminent at dinner last night when my parents said something to the effect of "you should pay your insurance premium on time" and I got so annoyed that I spent the rest of the evening sulking, not going to the gym, and describing to my roommate all the horrible violent things I would do to her b@stard preschoolers if I were their teacher. Then I went to my BF's and took a bath and had an ice cream sandwich.

Despite keeping calories far lower than normal (350 before dinner, dinner was chicken/veggies without rice, a little clear soup I'd picked noodles out of, an iceberg salad with no croutons/cheese, and a couple nibbles of chicken soup - and 140 calorie ice cream sandwich) I was up in weight this morning. Stepped on, saw 126.6 and felt disappointed, stepped off, stepped back on, 127.4 and it stayed there. I barely recognize my own face in the mirror I feel so bloated. I hope this is a whole bunch of hormonal TOM BS. My roommate and I have plans to go shopping tonight for outfits for our upcoming trips (I leave Thursday night...) and I'm having the dumbest thoughts like "I'm too fat to deserve new clothes" - yeah, sure krampus.

olehcat Active losing mode has never included weekends. It was glacially slow, I think I went from 130 in March to 125 in June and then kind of stayed there, occasionally dipping down to 124. There was some considerable recomp happening during that process so I feel totally transformed from virginal pre-strength-training krampus. Sorry you're feeling down and discouraged and sick again

Krampus - I'm sorry you're having a crappy, bloaty, heavy day... but maybe getting out and shopping with your friend will actually make you feel better, especially if you find something super cute to wear! 5-ish pounds is a decent amount of bloating for sure. Does that always happen to you around TOM or is it made worse by eating the pizza and cookies and such this weekend?

Either way, you know the drill; water weight, blah blah, back to normal in a few days... that whole deal. You ARE NOT too fat or bloated or any such thing, so go out, have fun, and buy something pretty!

I loved the pictures from the cabin. It looked really nice! LOL the buffalo burger also looked really nice.

Olehcat - I can't have both you and Krampus down about your weigh-ins today... don't you know yet that us Feather's always have this stuff happen at the same time?! If you two start having a hard time, next it will be the rest of us jumping on board! Turn that frown upside down!

Now that you are undoubtedly smiling and in a better mood, what do you think will help your situation? You said that workouts aren't an issue for you so that's in your favor. Even in spite of your busy schedule you can still get workouts in so that's pretty impressive!

With the diet, it's not much more complicated, is it? You HAVE to eat, so make better choices. If you are going to eat out, choose the best thing you can rather than whatever looks tastiest in the moment. Yes, it's not fun all the time but it takes 10 seconds to order something healthy and then it's done... no more decision to make.
If you are at home and cooking for yourself anyway, just cook healthier things!

I hate to oversimplify the situation because everyone has their own struggles, but it's time to put on your big girl pants and just commit. If you literally just take things one meal at a time and commit to making just that ONE meal healthy and good food to fuel you up, you've succeeded. Don't get overwhelmed and think about what you can't have because you're 'dieting'; it's irrelevant. Focus on that ONE meal and before you know it you've gone a full day and soon those days add up.

If I had to sit there and think about all the days I have left on this program before I can have some different foods it would make it so much worse. I don't do that... I focus on one day, one meal, one workout at a time, and so far it's added up to a good chunk without me really noticing! Tomorrow night will be the end of 3 full weeks; 25% completed. Seems like only a blink of an eye.

Decided to get a cookie with your lunch or go out for a drink with your girlfriends? Fine, no harm done! Get back to your plan the VERY NEXT MEAL. You had such a great outlook Friday morning after the breakfast Oreos, so what happened to that?

Turbo - Yay for alcoholic cider! Whoot, that's my girl... not letting me down! hahaha

How have things been since? Not feeling as puffy I hope?

Alex - I've never been to a Costo, but I imagine it to be a huge wearhouse filled with 5 gallon tubs of mayo and people giving out samples... but, then they have TVs and stuff? LOL Maybe I need a membership so I can go check it out. I should wait til I'm not on this program though so I can eat all the samples!

Bayzee : Ahh, alcohol and dehydratation.. they sometimes helps to drop a pound!

Alexis : Awww Costco party food! I love Costco. I just can't drive their card without hitting tons of people :P

Krampus : Okay, first, this wing burger looks FABULOUS. And the cabin (do we even still call that a cabin at this point :P) is huge and awesome! The frozen waterfall is so nice, phenomenal picture!

You're probably up from TOM.. Hope your hormins will give you some slack and will let your weight drop!

olehcat : Even if we know what you gotta do, knowing it and doing it are such different things.. Hold on

Joss : The only time I drank non-alcohol cider, it was YUCK. Every time I took some with alcohol, it was amazing. Does not take much to my brain to see a trend here and always go with alcohol beverage

I'm still bloated as h*ll, but I'm living okay with it. I wasnt going to drop 5 pounds overnight after drinking my life away on Sunday :P What happened happened, now I'm trying to move forward

***

Hola ladies! Haven't stepped on the scale in a few days, I'm still trying this weekly WI thing and having misbehaved on the food side this weekend and feeling bloated, I'm not really super excited to step on the scale anyway :P

Yesterday was okay in term of food, but I ''tasted', way too much while baking a cake, so we can use a leftover of mascarpone and not lose this freakin 13$ cheese. Dinner was healthy though, it was a lentils coconut milk and sweet potato stew. I probably had a bit too much... It's weird like after indulging during the weekend, going back to ''okay I'm losing weight portions'' is so hard. I think I can also blame the hangover situation and having to take the ''oops we forgot protection'' pill that got me nauseous for most of the afternoon.

Just got back from a great workout, I ran 4.5 km on the threadmill, I did some muscles workout (which KILLED me today) and than 10.2 km on the bike. I'm deeeead. I can't wait to eat dinner, we are having grilled sausages with the remaining of the lentils stew.. yummm

have a good day ladies!

Mottainai ~ Welcome back! The Japan trip sounds like an awesome experience on so many levels. So glad to hear that you and your hubby are planning on moving over, if only to give you a fresh perspective and change of scene. I've been having a few revelations in the whole "unhealthy eating behaviors" field myself, namely - I am not able to just "diet" like a normal person. For me, every period of "restriction" is followed by an equal and opposite (in some cases widely disproportionate) period of "wild indulgence". For me, it's about breaking the unhealthy cycle.

Dom ~ Good to see you again. That egg dish sounds delicious. I watch TV on my laptop while running on the treadmill, too. Call it multitasking.

Kakers ~ Oh, thrift shopping! It's like an adventure. And absolutely right that now you have the dress, it'd be silly not to find a ball to go with it. Your soda stockpile sounds impressive, also.

Ohlecat ~ Hang in there, chick! I'm feeling you on the whole reassessing of eating behaviors. It's a process to be sure, but there must be a line to walk between being super strict and not caring at all. It's so difficult to be moderate, but still enjoy life.

Krampus ~ SUCH beautiful scenery! Looks like an awesome weekend. And re: the car tap - SO annoying. I feel like some people just like to make sure they cause the maximum amount of aggrivation, even if it doesn't accomplish anything. Here's hoping that the whole thing is smoothed out soon. Back to sweet holy *picspam*!!! What a life you do lead!

Turbo ~ My friend felt the same way about dwarves in The Hobbit. Go figure. And here's hoping that you can enjoy time with your boyfriend without participating in the competitive dynamic.

Joss ~ Ha. My favorite Costco samples are the ones of multivitamins. As in: "Here, try this vitamin. And have a glass of water to wash it down with." Really? Sheesh!

~~~

Kept cut off last night, but MAN was the food big. As in ENORMOUS and full of refined starches (yuck). I was careful to hydrate, though (good choice), so the come down wasn't as painful this morning.

Starting out right today, breakfast was a pear and oatmeal. How have I forgotten about oatmeal?!?! So delicious.

Have orch tonight, then possibly hoping for an evening treadmill run because I'm starting to miss it and the AM workout sessions aren't happening so much...

Fitness Goal for this Week:
Actually make an AM work out session(s).

Life Goal for the week:
Explore alternate income streams

Oh my god. I cannot keep up with this thread! Haha. Sorry I've been MIA, gals. I've been super busy. Walking the walk... I'm happy to report I'm back down to 110 finally, whoo...

Been hitting the gym hard with my best friend and staying around a 1,400 calorie mark a day. Full body lifts and hours of spin biking... lol. Feels good to be at a normal weight again. Would like to be 105 by the end of March. We'll see! I'd rather maintain 110 than try to push 105 and end up binge eating. Maintenance is a hugely important skill that I'm still learning. My best friend is dieting as well so we've been supporting each other.

Not much else to report. My Dad will be in town tonight and tomorrow. He'll be taking me out to dinner at a fine dining seafood restaurant tonight. Now that I've reached 110, I'm going to relax a bit and not stress about dinner or lunch tomorrow. Maybe I'll even have pancakes for brunch on Thursday, e'gads! I haven't had pancakes in years, literally YEARS! Lol. Food avoidance at its most extreme... Either way, I'm planning to eat at a normal calorie range (maybe around 1,600) for a few days and keep doing my cardio. I'd love to just maintain 110 for a while.

Alrighty, hope you gals have been doing well. I can't promise I'll be able to respond to everyone and keep up with the thread. But I'll try to at least drop in and post~

hi, all,

Am almost down 2 pounds again today, so that high weight yesterday was mostly water weight, although I'm still at about the same place I was last week, so unless I"m under 144 by Friday, that's not progress. I don't feel quite as whiny today, just continually frustrated with myself. I actually did pretty well yesterday. Had a healthy breakfast, healthy lunch, and then I had my three-hour class, so I had a few small snacks and then didn't actually eat dinner because I wasn't hungry by the time I got home. My cold isn't quite as bad today, and I was able to run last night (about 2 miles).

@Krampus - on one hand, the glacially slow thing makes me groan, but on the other hand, I know it's the healthiest way ever. But I get impatient with really slow for another reason -- I know that one weekend and you can gain it all back (or at least appear to), and that looks so discouraging on the scale. I'm just waiting for my bad post-weekend weights to start looking like my week weights so I can call progress of any kind, lol. I'm not going slow, I'm spinning my wheels. As for your bloating, omg, TOM plus a big eating weekend is such a deadly combination, but it WILL come off and fast once that TOM goes away and you keep up the cleaner eating and exercise!

@jossfit - you are like my conscience speaking (and this is a good thing, hahaha). No, seriously, I know this is exactly what i need to hear. You're right. Working out, once I get my running going on a regular basis, I don't WANT to miss workouts because they make me feel so good, especially with a race to train for. So I will bend time to make sure I can get my running/workouts in. One meal at a time is possibly the only way I can go. I am going to try that. For breakfast, I'm having turkey chili. I know that sounds weird, but I don't like most traditional breakfast foods.

@turbo - yep, it's hard. I know what you mean about the "oh, I'm losing weight portions" after an indulgent weekend!

@Alex - yep, this moderation thing is harrrrd for me. But following too many rules also doesn't work for me. So I'm trying to pick the battles... I wish I liked oatmeal, and I do when someone else makes it. I can't seem to get the hang of making it right where it's not too watery or too salty or too mushy...lol!

@aidanqm - wow, congrats to you on getting back down to 110. I bow to you. 1400 sounds reasonable, although when you say hours of spin, do you literally mean hours in one session?

Aidenqm ~ Wowza, girl! That is a super low weight for maintenance and you're so right that it's a difficult skill to learn. Hope that you and your dad are able to have some quality time together. Does he live far away?

Ohlecat ~ Turkey chili for breakfast actually sounds delicious. Yummmm for protein. One meal at a time it is... How are you feeling after your run?

~~~
Good, productive night last night.

Went for a run after orch (around 11:30PM) so it was late, but felt sooo good to just knock it out (3.1 mi).

Creative Goal for the Week:
At least 5 hours of practice between now and next Tuesday...

Woke up a bit on the later side this morning, but am hoping for an early night tonight and early call time tomorrow.

Food is calming down, which is a relief. I feel like I do so much better when I'm occupied with things other than food/weight/body.

For me, it tends to follow the same dumb sequence: want to drop a few pounds, become obsessed, cut calories too low, get frustrated, binge, end up 10 lbs heavier than when I started.

The sequence I would LIKE to follow (and I realize that I must follow if I'm serious about changing my body/life is...)
decide I want to live in a different body,
decide to make healthier choices in food items AND behavior
decide (again) to exercise at least 3-5x per week.

Under these decisions, get out of the way of my weight and allow my body to do what it will. My reasoning is that if I'm making consistent healthy choices, the weight will drop naturally. The trouble comes when I make weight my business. It's not. All I'm responsible for is my choices and my body will take care of itself. Eat what I eat, exercise, and let my weight take care of itself. Easier said than done, I know...

Gooooood morning Feathers,

I'm finally headed in the "right" direction. 126.2 this morning - I had Taco Bell for dinner last night at the mall but it was just 1 1/2 soft tacos so nothing crazy. Kept my shopping to a minimum, I hate all the clothes out right now and felt too bloaty to bother trying on any mini dresses. I got a simple tshirt ish top and a pair of capri length gym sweatpants on clearance from Forever 21 and that's enough - I have a million little dresses and outfits that are suitable for 75-80 F Florida weather...eeeeeee!

Had a kind of disappointing couple of days in the weight room, I think TOM + caloric deficit + not eating enough STEAK and SPINACH to get my iron levels back up were the contributors. I got all shaky yesterday after 20 minutes of treadmill intervals, lat pulldown and KB swings and squats (cause some PUNKASS KIDS were sitting on the leg press). This morning I hit it, 10 minutes jogging to warm up, DB bench press, leg press w/200 lbs in plates, and some shoulder presses that were so bad I just kind of left. Maybe I'll go again tonight for cardio, but I need some time to PACK (ok, I only REALLY need 10 minutes for that) and I'm meeting friends out for dinner. What would you get if you went here? I'm strongly leaning toward the "black and blue" salad with no croutons.

olehcat Very glad to hear your weight is down and you're feeling human enough to run - I really hate the feeling of having too much gunk in my lungs and chest to do cardio! I have vacation coming so no real expectations on the weight loss front, but f&@k it! I really need to be more lenient and nice to myself about this all, it's kind of dumb to beat myself up for staying within a pretty small range (122-127 is only 5 pounds!).

Aidangm Mmm seafood! I am glad to see you're back to your happy range and NOT BINGING which is awesome - pancakes are an "almost never ever" food for me too, I hope you thoroughly enjoy them and are able to relax without gaining weight or getting too stressed about food

Alexistrophic AM workouts are tough. I've made 2 this week and I have to make another tomorrow somehow - it's only marginally easier in warm weather, too. Glad you kept your cutoff and started today out right - oatmeal is good but I tend to overeat it. No cereals/grains for me until I can control myself around them.

TurboMammoth Yuuuuuuck that pill sucks, I've taken it a couple times and it made me just lie on the couch and feel sick for hours. Glad you had such an awesome workout though, that sounds like it tired you out really well! You always have such great sounding meals.

JossFit I'm peeping the Daily WI thread and am happy to see you're finally moving. All that cardio must be doing something! Are you continuing Crossfit training at all? I found this girl's blog yesterday and feel a bizarre combination of inspiration and "that's impossible" jealousy: http://hellyeahyougotthis.tumblr.com/