Diane...I hope your body feels better. I took a nice hot bath yesterday as I did legs and today still feeling it! Not to mention my house has stairs that is really hard when sore! I hope you are better today!

Uber...you will and can do this! If you stick with it it will come off! Sometimes slower (which is horrid)! Have you ever joined one of those challenges? I know it helps me see that I lose even though I feel as if I don't sometimes...if that makes sense!

Laurie...you are still rocking it! I notice sometimes I have slower periods after a quick loss I think our body needs to catch up...but look at you you are rocking that trainer boy!

Sore today....and my chest hurts again!!!! I hope I am not catching anything This time of year is yucky for the sickness! Nervous on hearing if I get an interview should find out tomorrow!

Hey everyone, so I missed posting yesterday but I was super on plan which was good because Tuesday ended up being an eating train wreck. I don't even know why. It started with post-dinner homemade yoghurt, then the idea: "I'm already only 150 calories below maintenance, I might as well just hit maintenance and call it a day" and then it escalated from there, people! EEEK! But, it's fine. Yesterday, I reigned it in and worked out and ate right. Today is a fast day and I woke up and worked out and I'm doing alright.

I've read everyone's posts and had actually just started to respond but I just got some blegh work-related news for this weekend (basically that I have to cancel my plans last minute and spend it travelling for work- not that I have any specific plans, but still!!!!) and so now I'm in a funk and feeling negative and so anything positive I try to write feel disingenuous to me, even though I mean it, so I'll leave it today. Fortunately, it's a fast day, so I know I won't turn to food for comfort. Maybe if I get home in time I'll go for a walk, LaurieDawn-stylee... Or something. I need to get out of the feeling sorry for myself mode. Gahhhh, I can be sooo petty. I need to just breathe, stop whining and appreciate that I have work that I mostly like and accept the situation for what it is.

Good afternoon, everyone!

Pink Hurricane - I know how you feel about your tussle with the 280s. When you've made it through before, it's just not as exciting to make it through again. I did it 3 years ago, and then again over the last couple months, then bounced back up after birthday and celebratory festivities, and now I'm just *almost* completely out of them. Again.

Diane - I hope you were able to "workout" the soreness... Is that like the hair-of-the-dog remedy for hangovers? Working out made you sore, so you workout to feel better. I like it.

Laurie - Do you chart your weight? I use weightgrapher.com for it, and it gives you a nice view of the trend of your weight, as well as predictions, and shows you the line from your last cycle over your current weight so you can see where the fluctuations might be. As long as you're below the line, you're still losing. It's saved my sanity a few times.

Uber - I do that with my rings, too... I wake up and try to spin them then take them off to see how easy it happens, and I can almost guess how the scale is gonna be that day.

Jenni - I hope you feel better, and that you get the phone call you're hoping for!

Toasted - Boo working on the weekend. Good job reigning in your binge. And a good long walk always helps clear my head of cobwebs.

As for me, TOM is on the way out, and the scale is starting to drop, 279.4 today, so not *much* of a drop, and I didn't weigh yesterday because I woke up with dust or something in my throat and chugged a bunch of water as soon as I got out of bed. Hoping for my post-TOM whoosh to show up.. annny day now. I have been drinking water like crazy. I commented to my husband that if all the water bottles scattered around (there are 10, and I refill and reuse them several times before recycling them) were beer bottles I'd be considered an alcoholic. He said something about his group in camp way back named themselves the aquaholics, and I thought that was pretty fitting. I've drank 5L of water both of the last two days!

I haven't been insanely thirsty, but I've been playing my game that hubby got me, and I set a timer for 30 minutes and then I get up and walk around. Usually to go upstairs and refill my water, because I've done everything else that needs doing, really. So my water consumption and my stairs climbed have both gone up drastically over the last couple days. I think FitBit said I went up the stairs 25 times yesterday!

And I've talked the hubby into getting an elliptical before it gets super cold outside... AND I picked out my 'reward' for, when I hit it in 10 pounds, no longer being morbidly obese. A tripod for my camera, and a couple photography books. I think I'm going to start nurturing this budding hobby and see what I can do with it. My 100lb reward is a nice new camera, to replace my point and shoot.

I love where I am and finding pretty things to photograph is so easy. Here's a couple of my favorites from yesterday's venture outside. I wandered across the street and around the graveyard. No filters on these or fancy settings, it really is this colorful.

Diane~ How do you like BodyPump? I really need to start lifting, I am sorry about the soreness! Definitely hanging in there!

Uber~ I agree on us having a realistic idea on what it takes to keep the weight off. Your dinner sounded amazing! Sorry to hear about the unfriendly scale, I know how that retaining can be. If I don't take in my minimum of fluids, my body will retain up to 5lbs no questions asked!

Laurie~ Agreed that is a hazard of weighing daily, as I do the same. But I am right there with you and will stick to my plan hardcore over the weekend, which is the hardest time for me as well. I love your mentality too!

Mandy~ I didn't realize we were within the same range, that's great! And yay for getting in the 270s!! Also, those pictures are absolutely beautiful, please tell me you have a blog of pictures that you take! Also, what game are you playing?


This morning showed 289.2, so I am pretty content with that. Our veggies should arrive soon so there will not be any excuses for me to go off plan this weekend! I have chili cooking in the crockpot at home for hubby and I, it is cold here today so some yummy chili was requested by him and I happily agreed! Chili and cuddles are the best on cold days! My last day at work is tomorrow and I am so ready to start this new chapter! Staying on plan hardcore all weekend, I even managed to work in a glass of wine for the weekend as part of a celebration! ;-)

I don't have a photo blog... I don't even know where to make a photo blog!

And I'm a Sims addict. I've decided against getting Sims 4 until they work the bugs out of it and they make some expansion packs for it... But I do have Sims 3, and hubby got me a couple expansion packs recently so I've been messing around with those.

I'm spending all day tomorrow cooking/baking in preparation for my family coming to visit on Saturday! I'm slow roasting a boston pork butt with a brown sugar rub to make pulled pork bbq... I'm making home made sesame seed buns to serve it on... and coleslaw from scratch to go with it! So... after all of that, we're probably making use of our Pizza Hut gift certificate and having pizza for dinner tomorrow. Then Saturday after they leave I'm baking apple peanut butter cookies for the teenage kiddos doing the haunted woods walk at the trunk or treat on Sunday.

Busy busy!

I make it a point not to leave the office until my boss is gone, and he usually leaves at 5:15. It is now 5:41, I just finished my last project and don't want to start a new one, and he's still here. So, it seems like a quick update is in order. If he's still here by that point, he will close it down himself today. =)

Mandy - Yay for developing new skills! And for being a gamer girl. Your idea of tracking trends is an excellent one. I do have a daily log of my weigh-ins, and I started listing the bleeding days on that, but I've never specifically tracked trends. I will probably transfer numbers and see what that gives me. Cuz this constant frustration with the scale is just downright goofy.

Pink Hurricane - For some reason, I was under the impression that you had already started working from home. My bad. I am excited for this new chapter. Being in a house with all the food options is great and not so great. It makes healthy food preparation / availability awesome, but especially if your hubby likes to store snack food there, that could be the worst. So many opportunities. So many challenges. And only a few related to food. Exciting new chapter!

Toasted - I didn't get a chance to sneak out for my afternoon gym date, so I am all about a walk tonight! Only I'll call mine "Toasted style." Sorry about work wrecking your unplanned weekend plans. Work is a mixed blessing, fo sho. Maybe your schedule will make it easier to stay on plan? (Not that I wish a working weekend to you. Just trying to find silver linings.)

Jenni - I can't wait to hear about your interview news! Keeping some positive thoughts for you. The waiting is the worst. And you know what? I decree that you have endured sufficient physical suffering for the next six months. That oughtta take care of any potential issues, yes?

Uber - ARGH. Stupid scales. Do you think mine is plotting with yours? I would not put it past mine, I'll tell you that. Glad that you are aware when you're retaining water, though. I imagine recognizing that makes the scale news a little less painful. Here's to getting below 245 so that you know that 250 is forever in the rearview mirror!

The boss has left the building! The boss has left the building! Home for a reasonable dinner, then hopefully, a lovely walk. Have a fantastic evening, everyone!

Thank you Laurie...I declare that too! I have been so lazy today well as lazy as I can with kids running everywhere.

And what is with feeling cold when losing weight????? I mean I still have plenty of fat to keep me warm...so why do I always feel cold?

Hi everyone!

It's been now two weeks completely off plan and I'm slowly making my way back on. I'm doing my food planning and then going grocery shopping this evening. I don't want to weigh in for a few more days, though, so that update will wait until Monday.

I've missed you all so much!!

Laurie - YAY for the boss leaving so you can go home! Enjoy your walk.

Jenni - that happened to me before, it's usually a sign that you're not eating enough (at least, that's what I was told by multiple people when it happened). The first time (way back before I met my husband) I tried to lose weight, I was losing pretty quickly, but I was only eating like 700 - 1000 calories per day. After a month or two, I was freezing all the time because I wasn't eating enough for my body to do all the things it needed to do to function, all the things I was telling it to do (going to work, cleaning house, etc), as well as keeping my temperature where it needed to be. Then, when I was trying to lose weight the first time with 3FC, I had the same issue until I started tracking my calories on MFP and staying near my target calories for the day. If you're severely restricting calories, try adding a couple hundred calories to your average intake per day and see what happens, it won't subtract all that much from your weekly loss and it might help you warm up. It could also be a sign of anemia... are you getting enough iron? If you're eating enough food for your size and age, it might be something you want to talk to your doctor about.

Martini - welcome back! I'm sorry things are awful, but at least the awful is now predictable so easier to manage... I guess that's a plus. Don't be a stranger!

Hi all.
Made it to Body Pump today. It was a little difficult with the soreness, but at least it was doable. I feel somewhat better today, but still pretty sore. I'll go to spin tomorrow and then we'll see how it goes. Thanks for all of the support! I appreciate it.

I had someone new notice that I've lost weight... asked how I did it. I told her that I counted calories and worked out a lot. Sure enough, I got the "you should try going low carb... it would really help". Oh shut up. I think I'm doing ok. Why ask what I am doing if you already know so darn much?? Whatever.

Martini: Good to see you again. You've been missed!!

Pink Hurricane: I normally really like Body Pump. I think it has made a huge difference. It works every muscle group, so you can really see overall strength improve. Even the awful shoulder lifting has really improved my strength and even how I look! Love it!

Mandy: Oh my! Would I like to be at your house for the pulled pork!! Yum! Oh, and yes, the working out to help with soreness from working out. Now that you put it that way, it sounds a little crazy, but it does work!

Toasted: You're still doing great even with the unexpected work problems. Hang in there!

Uber: Yum, turkey! Love it! Hope the scale moves downward really soon for you!

Laurie: Like the mature attitude about the scale!! You can do it, just hang in there!

Jenni: Oh I hope you aren't getting sick. This time of year is tough.

Martini! - It's delightful to have you pop by. I am guessing that the awfulness has to do with the work bullying issue you were addressing? I hope that the situation, whatever it is, improves soon. But I know exactly how you mean. Sustained, patterned awfulness is easier to deal with than unpredictable awfulness. But it's still awfulness, and I hope that it's temporary.

Diane - Getting back into the swing of things! I love vacation, but I also love getting back to routine. And that's CRAZY to me that someone would notice that your plan and hard work have paid off, then say, "Oh, but I know a better way." Really? Are you one of the few who has been able to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off? Probably not. But even if you are, you do not know more than me about my body, my habits, my inclinations--all the things that matter when trying to maintain a huge loss. I might be feeling a little aggressive, because I kinda want to pop that woman for you.

Jenni - I have a weird temperature thing too, and I don't know if it's what Mandy described or not. When I get back from a work-out, I'll be really hot, then suddenly, my temperature will drop precipitously before leveling out again. I really, really want you not to be sick, though. Anxiously awaiting word about your interview!

Mandy - Your ability to control yourself around delicious food will never cease to amaze me. I don't like to be jealous of people, so I rarely allow my mind to go in that direction, but I admit to a slight bit of jealousy there. Especially with work food on my least-controlled days.

198.8 this morning. Up another 0.6 pounds, despite a low-calorie day that included some minor exercise. I really want some distance between that 200 threshold, but not getting it.

I am once again trying to focus on the "What if I was 200 pounds forever?" game. Right now, I am normal fat. And that's really a great place to be. And yesterday was a really hungry day, which happen occasionally, but most days on plan are more relaxed. I don't know if I could actually eat this way and be this weight forever, but for now, I can accept it. My joints have hurt the last few days, and I've taken it easy on the exercise, but for the most part, I feel really good physically. This is sustainable.

Even as I type that, I know I'm lying. I'm hungry right now, even though I uncharacteristically ate some turkey this morning to offset the hunger, and I can accept temporary hunger in exchange for weight loss because I feel confident that I can find a calorie level at maintenance that will eliminate most of the hunger most of the time. Now, I'm not always hungry during the day (which is why the intermittent fasting thing has been working), but I am on days like today. And when the scale's not moving, I deal with the guilt of eating enough for dinner that I eliminate the hunger for the rest of the evening, which is my personal "deal with the devil." I'm actually not trying to fix my plan. I know that I stall out for a while before losing, and generally losing fairly quickly, so I am just whining. And I didn't anticipate whining. I anticipated keeping my game face on. But right now, when the scale's not moving and I'm doing everything "right" and I'm facing real hunger, I get nervous that I will have to face a lifetime of hunger if I want to maintain any reasonable weight. Intellectually, I know that my "in versus out" has not caused the 2-pound weight gain over the last 3 days. But I am terrified of two things. 1 - The frustration will overwhelm me, and I'll lose control and go with the "nothing works, so why bother?" attitude that has torpedoed me in the past. Or 2 - I will continue to be on plan, and the scale will continue to go up. If I can prevent (1), I have been on plan and watched my weight trends long enough to know that (2) will not happen.

Okay. Apologies for the way too long rant. Actually, retract that. No apologies for it. Just appreciation for listening and understanding. I'm going to have an on-plan day today. And the next day. And the next. Maybe I'll even do two exercise sessions in one day on either Saturday or Sunday. And I am going to hope that I don't see a "2" in front of my weight again. But I will accept it and keep chugging even if I do. Cuz my other choice is giving up. And that choice, thankfully, has no appeal for me right now.

OMg guys, I'm such a raving beech!!! So, everything is super stressful at work and we have a lot of serious production issues on a production that is supposed to be starting tomorrow and I'm supposed to be traveling with our intern who leaves at 4pm today. So she comes into my office at 3.59pm I presume to ask when and where to meet and how things will go etc even though she's just been hanging out ALL DAY doing nothing and I'm on the phone discussing production issues. So I gesture to her to wait a minute and sit. Then like a few minutes in she cuts in and tells me "someone is waiting for me, I have to go" and guys I flipped out in a not very pretty way. Sure I didn't curse her out or anything, but I let her know how inappropriate she was and was raving about her general attitude to work and she was just staring at me like I was crazy and that made me even more mad and more rant-y. And maybe I'm stressed and overreacting and maybe I'm generally irritated by this intern because her whole attitude is "I'm just here because my university says I have to do a work experience thing" BUT guys it wasn't pretty and now I feel bad. And silly. And I'm just tired. And stressed. And exhausted. And just wanting to go home and eat. And spend the weekend in bed. Eating.

Good morning everyone!

Diane - I definitely get it. It feels like a back handed compliment. Oh, you're doing so well, but here's how you can do better! I've had people try to tell me to go low carb before, too. And I tell them what I'm doing is working just fine... If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Also, they wouldn't like me very much if I couldn't have bread, granola, rice, pasta, or carby produce like bananas, peas and corn. Ha. I'd be intolerable. Don't tell me how to do something I'm already doing, and obviously it's working just fine if you can tell a difference! Oy. Some people.

Laurie - My ability to hang tough around delicious food is a work in progress, for sure. I look at it as willpower is a muscle that needs to be exercised to stay strong and functional, too. I just put the pork butt in the oven, at 250, to cook low and slow all day so it pulls apart super easy (it's gotta get over 190 all the way through for at least 15 minutes for the connective tissues to dissolve). It's got a spicy brown sugar rub on it, so my house is going to smell amazing all day. I'm also going to be shredding cabbage and carrots to make coleslaw, and boiling potatoes and eggs to make potato salad. I'll be making buns tomorrow morning, and cookies tomorrow evening. And I'll have to figure out how to handle pizza tonight, because I doubt I'm going to want to make dinner after going through all the effort of preparing tomorrow's feast. Plus, we have a gift card so I don't feel too bad for spending the money on it.

Oh. And. Pink Hurricane after your comment I went and made a photoblog I have a few posts up of some of my favorite recent shots, so if you'd like to peruse: http://www.photoblog.com/mandyb83/ (Once I get a camera that's not a point-and-shoot I might even upgrade the account, because with an upgraded account, people can buy prints of your photos!)

And, as for me... Well, the scale was nice to me today, and I think this counts as my post-TOM whoosh. 278.2 this morning, down 1.2 from yesterday. Down 1.6 from my previously recorded low. And down 4.6 from last Friday when I weighed in after my nearly week-long binge-fest. So, YAY for the scale moving in the right direction!

I don't think I'll weigh again until Monday or Tuesday, because pizza tonight, family festivities tomorrow, and church festivities on Sunday will most likely lead to a small bounce. But I'll do my best to keep it under control! I'm limiting myself to 1 pork sandwich, a small scoop each of coleslaw and potato salad, a small piece of carrot cake, and 1 sample cookie tomorrow (along with unlimited trips to the veggie tray) and then 2 pieces of halloween candy and 2 cookies at the trunk or treat on Sunday, along with whatever I have for my meal.

Happy Friday!

Edit to add: Toasted - You ninja'd me! So sorry about your intern who is lacking a decent work ethic. I'm sure she needed to hear all you had to say, and if your delivery is still bothering you the next time you see her, maybe apologize for your perhaps less-than-tactful delivery because of the stress of the project, but let her know that when things are busy it's all hands on deck. And even though she's just there for a school thing, you presume that it's to get real world experience and in a paid position she'd be in danger of losing her job, so you'd like to see a little more effort on her part, lest bad comments go on her evaluation... which could be a problem upon graduation. To de-stress I recommend a long walk or a hard workout and a properly measured yummy treat that you can slowly savor. I've found that I can handle just 1 serving of gelato (one small 100g serving) without wanting more, by eating it in small bites that I let sit on my tongue to enjoy the flavor. It works well. Same thing for other sweet (and salty/savory) treats (like my pizza tonight). Small bites, chew slowly, and if it's not thoroughly enjoyable... toss it out and don't waste your calories on things that don't taste good!

Toasted - Yay for being ranty on inappropriate interns! Yesterday, I asked my assistant to do something slightly out of the routine. She's a fantastic assistant, but she freaks out when she has to figure things out. And she came in and said, "Well, this is noted this way in the file." And I said, "Okay, but I still need this other thing done." And she said, "I don't understand." And I explained to her why it needed to be done and told her, step-by-step, how to do it. And it went back and forth until I finally said, as she knew I would, "Fine. I'll do it." And it happens so rarely that I think it was probably okay for me to cave instead of continue to push the issue, but I didn't feel good about it. So, in my mind, when I read what had happened with you, I kept thinking, "Woo hoo! So glad you're sticking up for yourself and letting her know it was inappropriate."

Really, though, it sounds like the issue is not yelling at the intern in a way that you wish you hadn't, but the new job and the new pressure and the insane hours, and trying to tackle this weight thing along with all of the rest. You know you aren't spending the weekend in bed - cuz you have responsibilities. When I'm dealing with stress, it really, really helps me to get in some exercise, especially when I can pair it with singing inappropriately loudly, preferably with songs like Rihanna's S&M or the Pussy Cat Dolls Buttons. Kinda naughty, but not overly profane. What about you? Hours in bed probably doesn't work for your schedule. What can help restore your sanity a bit in the midst of all the chaos that your weekend has become because of your work? Exercise? A bubble bath? Calling your parents and venting? Make-up tutorials?

I hope you make it through your work weekend without too much more insanity.