I think walking is a good way to lose weight. I agree that slowly lowering your calories really works. I know find it odd eating more than 1500 on days when I don't eat out. I just don't know where one finds these calories! It's become second nature. And I'm sure it will for you to.

Hmmm... De ja vu?

Dora, you sure are getting close to goal!

I'm back from my wanderings up the east coast. Had a nice visit with my inlaws and then a lovely day with almost my whole family (my parents, two brothers, one sister, one sister-in-law, and four nephews were there). Just missing one sister, two brothers-in-law and one nephew. We spent the afternoon at a lake in southern New Jersey, where we swam, built sand castles and went kayaking. I shared a kayak with my 17-yr-old and 12-yr-old nephews and we had a blast!

Monday was pretty bad calorie-wise but luckily I was well under on Sunday so it balances out. All I can say is, I hadn't had Fritos in years and I more than made up for it!

Today's project -- start painting a big piece of plywood to make a horse-themed bean-bag toss for my daughter's birthday party. She has been planning this party for ages, drawing little pictures of horses and taping them up all over the house (with masking tape no less. I am a patient mama sometimes). Also go to the gym and figure out something for dinner (kabobs?).

Dora Thats really funny that you two said the exact same thing. Interesting..Maybe you found your soul sister

Amy Sounds like a fun trip! I love to kayak; not to mention the good workout from it! Your daughter sounds like she has a cute personality, she will be a handful in the teenage years I wish I had more time for projects. I feel all I do is work, school, work, and worry about calories lol

So I am still trying to find a plan that works for me. I feel since July 12th when I "started" eating better, that I should have lost weight by now. Needless to say, I have NOT! I don't know if my body is still gaining weight back from when I did that crash no carb diet (that I ended on May 7th) and it is just gaining it back slowly and thats why the scale isnt going down, or if I am eating too many calories. I just dont see how thats possible. My weight has been the same since highschool and I eat 3000+ a day with not much exercise. So one would think by lowering that to even 2000 and adding exercise that some weight would be lost? I noticed one of my big problems lies within stress. I stress about work school and calories so it sends serotonin triggers to my brain craving foods with carbs carbs carbs! As someone posted earlier, 1500 seems like a lot. To me that seems so little. I feel so confined with 1500 calories. I also eat like 5 times a day ! One day, I will figure this neverending cycle.

Do you all think I could still be gaining the weight back slowly from that crash diet? It was a diet that seriously only consisted of broccoli, asparagus, protein shakes, cucumbers, olive oil, spinach, chicken, and pork chops. Or would I have already gained that weight back by now?

Sorry for the long Wednesday morning post!

How is everyone this morning? I'm at 124.6 this morning! Woot! I finally got back down from that upward spike a couple of weeks ago.

Dora, it's so exciting how close you are to goal! It looks like you aren't eternally 2 pounds away after all!

Dianne, I know what you mean about not having much time for anything. I get to start school back a week from today and I'm taking 5 really hard engineering classes. I'm determined not to let that get in the way of my health, though. Finding a plan is hard to do... I don't really even know how I got to where I am now other than eating only when I am physically hungry and making sure to try and do something physical every day. I have never done so well with structure... haha.

1500 calories is the number I was given for someone of my height and weight to lose a pound a week, sedentary... I don't know what your weight is, but 1500 might be a little low. Crash diets/extreme measures do crazy things to your body, and it can take a while to get things straightened out again. I know it's a slightly more extreme situation, but after going into recovery for anorexia, it took my body a couple of years to get back to "normal". Have you calculated your caloric needs? There are a lot online, or if you could get to a nutritionist, that would be helpful.

Sorry for the super long post! :P

Congras on getting back to your low weight!! How exciting Bama girl!

I have been to a nutritionist. He is the one who set me up on the crash diet. I didnt finish it the right way so that is why I gained it all back. You are supposed to eat that way until the weight comes off. Then you slowly add in good carbs in the mornings and eventually add good carbs back in the mornings and dinner time. I couldnt do it any longer so I just jumped off the wagon. I think it really messed with my body because I didnt get my period for 3 months after! I have a feeling it is still adjusting. My period is a week late (no not prego), so I think maybe now isnt the best time to monitor my weight. I am thinking I should just try eating healthier and not worrying too much about numbers. What I am afraid is that I messed up my metabolism and wont be able to get back to my old metabolism. I was blessed with a good one so I will be upset if thats the case. Do you think its possible for me to repair my metabolism back to where it was?

I didn't know you were anorexiz at one point Bama girl. What snapped you out of it? I feel like I get a little too obsessed at times with dieting. I feel like Im almost developing some kind of disorder. I let it affect my moods and I seem to not be able to be happy until I lose the weight. But I simply can't feel confined with my calories becuase then I stress and binge! How did you do it? And now you did it the right way!

I honestly didn't snap out of it until I was hospitalized at around 80 pounds. I realized that being skinny wasn't worth dying for. Then I gained all of it back, and through a lot of therapy and thinking, I realized that you don't have to endanger your life to be thin-- you just have to change your behaviors in a moderate way. I think it's really easy for a lot of us to be a little obsessed, but as long as you realize it, it's ok.

I thin it's possible to go back to the way your metabolism was. It just takes a little time for your body to even itself out. Just keep eating healthily and exercise in moderation, and your body figure out how much it needs to be burning. Your period is a very sure sign of when your body is functioning normally. And yeah, those times around it are pretty rough times to look at your weight because if you're like me, your weight will go EVERYWHERE for a week or so.

Just remember that the numbers are not as important as how you feel! Oh, and to add something that has really helped me to keep in mind... "Fat is not a feeling."

Dianne, I don't know.... I know I am different than most people, so my experience doesn't easily translate, but I eat 3,000+ a day to maintain my weight, and when I dropped by 1,000 and more calories a day to lose weight I lost nothing. It was simply too much of a deficit for my body. I had to eat more to lose.

An 1,000-calorie deficit is pretty extreme, especially for someone at a normal weight. And you added exercise, too, which means the deficit was likely greater than that.

It's very possible that your body is adjusting to eating carbs again, but I also think you may be restricting calories too much. I am no expert, though. That's just, as I say, what happened to me.

As for my experience lately, well, I need to reign in the exercise again. I tend to get carried away because I really enjoy working out. The last three times at the gym I ran 7 miles and followed that up with 5.5 miles on the StairMaster. Then I lifted weights for three hours. I burned an outrageous number of calories and my weight is down to 105 right now. It's time to back off the exercise. I don't have five hours to spend at the gym three times a week, as much as I love it, and there are other things in my life I need to focus on, like my novel. Add that to the fact that I can't eat enough to counter the calorie burn and everything points to the need to take it easier at the gym no matter how much I love to work out.

What an incredible story Bamagirl. You must be so much stronger after going through that. It's times when something serious happens to my health, that I too realize that being healthy is much more important than being skinny. I never had an eating disorder, but when I accidently overdosed on my pain meds when I got my wisdom teeth out, I was rushed to the hospital. During that time I realized I love my body too much to worry so much about calories and being skinny. But now here I am again; worrying lol

I really have been doing much better. Yes, I have def. messed up and ate over 3500 bad calories in a day these bast 4 weeks. Ive done it multiple times. But overall, my eating is better and I am trying to work out more. I just do not enjoy gyms. Running outside is okay, but I am usually bored with it after 30 minutes. Thats even a victory for me. I can continue to eat healthier but its times when I can't stand to look in the mirror is when I start to worry and my wheels in my brain starting turning and coming up with crazy plans to lose weight. Like only eating 1200 calories. That simply, is just not possible for me. Unfortunatley, the weight I gained back from the crash diet went to my face and that isnt something you can avoid looking at every day. Its just a constant reminder that I want to lose weight.

petite I honestly don't know how many calories I need to eat to lose weight. I have never stuck with eating healthy long enough. I have always ate whatever, drank whatever and my weight stayed the same. Now, I do think over the years I lost muscle and gained fat, but that is becuase I stopped cheerleading. I never thought that maybe I am cutting too much at once. The only thing that makes me think thats not the case is when I did the crash diet, I was only eating about 1200 calories and 50g of carbs, no exercise and the weight FELL off in 3 weeks. My body transformed. But then these past 4 weeks I have been eating probably on average of 2000 calories and working out around 4-5 days a week and gained 2 lbs! But again, before April of this year when I started the crash diet, I would eat well over 3,000 calories and not exercise and stay the same weight. What the heck? Lol through trial and error, I am still not getting a clear answer from my body! My body must be stubborn like my brain

Recomitting myself, recomitting myself, recomitting myself! This is my mantra lately. I've had a really rough time staying on track, basically since my kids got out of school in May! I don't know if it's watching them snack that gets me, or just having a "Woo Hoo, it's summer, we are celebrating!" type of mentality. It's been really, really tough! I'm about 10 pounds over where I was before they got out of school.

My kids go back to school next Wednesday. I'm sad about it, too, because I really like them being off. But one good thing is we will be back into a normal routine. Being home, cooking dinner, all of that stuff. I'm hoping the pounds will start dropping soon.

I have lot of plans for the fall, including a quick trip to Vegas with my hubby. There are several dates already where I know my eating will be questionable. I need to get it together, like NOW! I want to be feeling great and wearing some fun clothes at my upcoming events. I think the problem with being a "featherweight" is that I already feel pretty good about my weight. But I can't let the pounds creep back on, kwim?

I need to up the exercise too. I was supposed to run a 6K race at the end of August, but it fell through. I need to sign up for another race, just to keep myself motivated to run .

Come on feathers, let's pull together and win this battle! I want to finally be a maintainer!!!!!

NSV today! I went to the mall and bought some clothes. For the first time in my life I fit into a size 7!!! Not a 9, 11, 13, or 18....a size 7! And they were skinny jeans too!

Congrats, Samantha!

CONGRATS!!!

Hey Everyone. So I decided to weigh myself today and it seems as though I am down 2lbs! Im very excited. This has motivated me sooo much. I am just so glad that I have been eating good this week! Even having sitting in bed next to my husband while he mows down on chips and dibs ice cream. Ugh I am now happy for saying no and seeing results! :]

Dianne: Try going online and see what calories someone of your weight and height should eat in order to maintain your weight. then try figuring how much you could stand to lower your intake by. This will help you figure out where you need to be probably.

Samantha: Awesome! Your hard work has REALLY paid off!!!!

Petite: You REALLY ARE A POWERHOUSE. I wish I had even an ounce of the energy and desire to work out you have!!!

Samantha - US sizes really confuse me, but I'll assume it's good. lol. CONGRATS.

I have maintained a range of 121.2-121.4 for the past 5 days, and I have been ate out 4 of the 5 days which makes me feel pretty stoked. but now i have a THREE DAY 21st. sigh. So next week I will almost certainly be up. But hey, at least I know I can reach it. So I won't be around but I shall see u all on Monday xxxxxxxx