Jenn~come out, come out where ever you are!!! It's been over a week since your last post! Hopefully you're on holiday!

I've been having a problem with eating when I'm not hungry. I'm going to try really hard to curb that starting today. It's been like this, I wake up kind of hungry, but after my water and coffee, I'm not hungry. I wait an hour and eat my berries and English muffin with LC light cheese for breakfast even though I'm still not hungry. Then a couple hours later, I'm starving but didn't think to bring a snack. I have water instead. Then lunch rolls around and I'm not hungry. I eat anyway because it is lunch time and DH and I eat together. Then afternoon I'll have a snack (about the only time I'm eating when I'm hungry). Once dinner time rolls around, I'm not hungry, but because I've fixed dinner for the family, I eat anyway. I think this is part of the problem why I'm not losing. I don't eat huge portions when I'm not hungry, but I feel guilty about eating.

Anyway, today I skipped my berries and brought them to work for that 10:00 time when I usually am famished. I did eat my English muffin at home, though. We'll see what happens when lunch and dinner roll around today.

Weather here is cooler than normal. Yesterday it got to maybe 95. I think this weekend we'll be seeing temps in the low hundreds.

Everyone have a great day!

Hey everyone!

I too was wondering were 2Fru's is... I remember her posts.

Alinell : I find that eating when I'm not hungry is my biggest problem (And eating junky food when I'm not hungry...). I think you have a good plan though, good luck with it.

Ennay: Strawberries, yum, drool slurp. I love strawberries.

I'm doing well, my weigh in was great this morning: 149.2 lbs. Which means that since January I have lost 10 lbs!!!! I didn't really expect to have lost that much. And I've also lost about 7inches total from everywhere. So I'm pretty happy right now.

Now I just have to keep doing what I've been doing, because it's working.

Hi everyone!! My home scales said 135 this morning! WOW!! I am so happy! I won't count is as official until I weigh in on Saturday... but it's just nice to see. It helps keep me motivated!!

*had* to have a snack so I ate half a donut. Total waste of points, but yummy. Gotta remind babysitting kids to please not bring them anymore!

Saturday is my weigh in... and tomorrow starts June... I really want to be down to 130 by the end of June...

Cat's tongue~WTG on the 10 pounds!!! I haven't lost an ounce since January. Well, I've lost and regained the same 2-3 pounds since January!!! I guess that's what they call maintaining!

So, what HAVE you been doing that is working for you?

I second that yum, yum on the strawberries! But this week, I've been having a combination of fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. They're easier--you don't have to cut them up! LOL, lazy me!

I like strawberries, but I like raspberries better. I'm sure I've said this before, but I consider raspberries to be God's most perfect food. I am so excited to see them at my farmers' market again!

We did get a bumper crop of strawberries this year and I made the most fabulous strawberry jam (our strawberries are better for cooking than eating). 4 cups of quartered strawberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tbsp brandy. Put it all in a saucepan and simmer for about 45 minutes until it is a jam-like consistency, stirring occasionally. It can be a little watery, it will thicken a bit as it cools. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tbsp brandy and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

It makes about 1 and 1/2 cups, at about 30 calories per tbsp. You don't need to worry about canning it; it will last for at least two weeks in the fridge if you can go that long without eating it all. If you need to store it for more than two weeks, you could put it in the freezer.

It's funny that you should put it that way because I sort of have the same routine, except I eat a snack in the morning because I am hungry, then I'm not that hungry at lunch but I eat anyways because it's 2-3 hours later, because I know that if I don't eat I WILL be ravenous in the 4th hour and everything unhealthy in sight. As long as I stay within my calories for the day 1200-1400, I lose very slowly but steadily.... Evenyone is different I guess

Blue -- That jam sounds delish, I think I'll make some ....

Recovering from my crazy 13-hour work day yesterday (slept 9 hours last night AND still woke up groggy) - fortunately I stayed on plan with 1,400 calories yesterday and hopefully staying on plan today too - avoiding the lovely looking muffins the boss brought in.

Nonetheless, looking forward to my 90 minutes of tennis and 10 minutes of abs workout later today.

Barbara, that strawberry jam recipe sounds wonderful! I'll have to try it while strawberries are still in-season.

Hi all. Thanks for the words of encouragement. It is really an emotional blow to get to your ALL TIME highest weight! Luckily, I do think some of it was bloat. I have been eating about 700-900 cals for the past 3 days (I know...I know...too few cals). I need to just get a jump start on this. I am going to try to starve down to a more reasonable weight and then maintain. So far today: coffee, slimfast, cherries. Plan on a lean cuisine for dinner and some watermelon (no sweet drinks ). I plan on walking about 2.5 miles again tomorrow morning.

The scale rewarded me with some water weight loss.....back at 150! FROM 155.4....I know it's only water weight, but it is still a good motivator. I'll move my ticker today and then not weigh or touch it until Monday like usual. Did i mention that my hubby lost 10 lbs recently without really trying? More proof that we are meant to be fat

This is pretty gross, but I thought it may motivate us all to lose a few lbs (or keep them off). The picture below is of 5 lbs of "back fat" that was removed from someone.

I pretty much eat according to a schedule, whether I'm hungry or not. I know I'm going to be hungry at some point if I don't eat and I don't want to leave eating lunch to too late or it interferes with my workout (I try not to eat for at least an hour before working out but I also don't want to work out on an empty stomach--that's no fun). Sometimes I might eat less if I'm not hungry. For example, if I'm not hungry at dinner, I might skip the ginormous salad that I usually eat with it. Sometimes I'll skip or cut back on my after-dinner snack if I'm not hungry.

But, to be honest, it's pretty rare that I'm not hungry by the time its time to eat according to my schedule. Getting through the loonnng hours from lunch (noon) to dinner (7:00 PM, 8:00 PM or later) is a real struggle for me, even though I plan at least two snacks during that time.

I think I'm still losing, the scale was back down to 115.5 this morning. Unfortunately, yesterday I was off-plan for dinner and it will be a few days before I can assess the damage.

michelin - the problem with starving yourself to lose weight is that you usually can't maintain the loss. Once you start eating a healthy level of calories, your body puts the weight back on. This has certainly been my personal experience. I think you would be ahead to eat at more healthy calorie level, even it it means a slower loss.

I completely agree with Barb, Michelin... Perseverance, Persistance, Patience wins the game hands down...

Barb -- I made your jam, it's delicious!! Around here we call that a "compote" or good ole stewed fruit... These were not local strawberries though, so I can't wait for the locals to come out, which is usually around mid-lte June

not hungry..... what's that?

OMG I am so drained ...but so proud of myself. Took both kids to lunch to meet a friend. Indian buffet I had mostly tandoori chicken and they had some chickpeas that were stir-fried with spices and onions, but had NO SAUCE and salad and then just a small taste of the evil evil butter chicken and the saag panir. So then I ran ONE tiny errand before heading home and it is too late, meltdown has ensued. I have to feed the baby. Stop at the only place on the way home....the place that makes THE most delish icecream stuff and is of course now featuring the beautiful oregon hood strawberry in their icecream treats. Got dd a mini cone to keep her still and had a diet coke and got the heck out of there. Meltdown still ensuing from BOTH kids, frazzled beyond words, and still avoided the emotional ice-cream.

Anne, that's awesome You deserve a relaxing bath at least tonight for going through that... I remember when the kids were young, when I was at my biggest, that was the time I would bounce off the wagon... Those times were very very difficult... So good for you for staying on plan...

Thanks Alinell. I'm mostly just trying to eat healthy whole foods, and eat when I'm hungry. I used to binge eat as well, and I really haven't done anything like that for a good two-three months now. It just feels good to feel like food is the enemy anymore. I exercise too, I try to keep moving at least half an hour everyday.

Michelinwoman, that's a pretty gross photo. Definitly a motivator. But I have to agree about the starving yourself thing. In the end, you won't maintain the loss.
(Believe me, I've tried, and it always backfired.)

The three Ps that Ilene mentions are great. Thanks for sharing, I'd never actually heard of those before, but they're so true. That's one of the reasons I stopped weighing myself after January, that way I stopped feeling down just because I didn't lose any weight right away...

Ok, I succumbed to the muffin -- delicious blueberry but boy did I feel guilty afterwards (it was large, and I'm sure it's at least 500 calories); I didn't even have the good sense to just eat half the muffin.

So I'm a bit (or a lot) over plan today. Hopefully 90 minutes of tennis today can offset some of that damage, and I'll be thankful to just maintain when I weigh-in this Sunday.

oh Aqua, we've all been there! And who can eat just half a muffin? Not me...it's either all or nothing. Well, sometimes it's double (two muffins) or nothing... It sounds like you've been doing great lately, especially with all that running and tennis. Just put it behind you and move on.

Glad you like the jam, Ilene! The recipe is courtesy of Cooking Light--my go to source when I have something I need to use up. I couldn't believe how good it came out. Before I made it, I was worried that we wouldn't be able to go through it all quickly enough because my SO isn't big on jam and jelly and I, of course, have to eat it in in measured amounts. But we had no trouble going though it. In fact, my SO ate so much at first I thought it was evaporating or that I had cooked it down to far. Now I'm thinking I might have to buy some strawberries at the farmers' market to make another batch.

Ennay, great job on avoiding the ice cream. I can't imagine trying to run errands with childen in tow.