Alexis - My husband doesn't say much about me physically, so when he DOES compliment me or say anything with regard to my body, or a hairstyle, or outfit, I take it to heart. Sometimes I wish he said nice things more often but knowing the type of person he is makes it so when he does compliment me I know it's genuine.
I take the good with the bad, I suppose.

Krampus - Yeah, I mentioned it in my reply to one of the other ladies but there were DEFINITELY some gastrointestinal issues after all that AZ over the weekend. LESSON LEARNED. hahaha

I can't see the picture you posted from here (work) but I'm assuming it was one of those white chocolate peppermint Oreos? Something similar? I've never had one, honestly I'm not much of a chocolate + mint fan unless we're talking Thin Mint cookies or Andes mints. mmmmm

I was at TJ's the other day though and I wanted to buy the whole store. They sell chocolate covered potato chips, among other things. Sinful.

I just finished my last bite of broccoli, tomatos, mushrooms and Trader Joe's Turkey Meatballs though... win! They're pretty tasty, so I recommend them.

JessicaB - I think a lot of ladies feel overwhelmed and like they need to type a reply to everyone, but don't! I have a desk job and I'm not busy right now, so I have that kind of time at the moment. I'm not always great about keeping up, especially when traveling. I am really trying to be better about it because I think with all the stuff I'll be doing soon it helps to keep me accountable.

Speaking of traveling, I just booked a trip for 12-14 January to see friends in Phoenix. Hopefully knowing that I'll be going out the night of the 12th and probably missing a workout that weekend will give me even more incentive to keep to my plan of MODERATION during my Holiday vacation to Colorado. After all, I only have 10 days between the end of the Colorado trip and the beginning of the Phoenix one! Eeek! Just enough time to get back and bust my butt to work off any holiday bloat (hopefully nothing too hard to rid myself of...)

LMAO, sorry, but that's too funny.

I'll second that sentiment; I'm of the mindset that the old "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" addage isn't for me. If I'm not totally enamored of a man, he's not worth my time and attention.

Joss : Oh, when I say your profile picture I was sure it was a marshmellow snowman... but it also make sense that it is cottage cheese in a soup LOL what a nice idea!!

Bacon PANCAKES. OMG. I love bacon. I think one of the reason I love big breakfast on the weekend is because of bacon LOL

I laughed about your sushi and carrot thing, because when we make sushi at home, I love making some with shredded carrots and cream cheese. LOL

Kakers : Oh jeez, that SUCKS for the fraud thing on your husband card! I don't know how it works in the States, but with my bank in Canada, you can declare it and you only have to pay like 50$ instead of all the fraud they did.

Bayzee : You seem to hold steady at 116... which I get that it can be frustrating when you want to get lower, but at least it's not going up!

TheBunneh : Black dye would a be a change for sure. Let us know if you dare! You remind me that I have to take an appointment for mine, my bang is so long I look like one of those dog that have constantly the fur in their eyes. Charming.

krampus : Love love love LOVE the kitty in the Christmas hat! I'm a dork for animals pictures and a dork for Christmas, so I squeeled when I saw this!

So the cookies are basically Christmasy Oreos? You diserve some kind of medals or something for only getting 2!! On the pee thing, I pee also pee like 10 times a day too usually, and yesterday it was around 3-4. I bought a bottle while we were walking but that was it... The worst is that we had to stop for toilet time many times, my cousin is very pregnant and always needed to go LOL

Mottaini : Yay for the sauna, yay for the assigment and oh yeah for the 15 pull ups! To be honest, I can't do one, so you're my hero of the day!!

ALexis : Long time no see!! Glad to see you back!

On the compliment question, hmmm, I don't really know. I think at the beginning of something, the significant other tend to throw more compliments at you, which is nice, but I never got really overwhelmed by them (''hmm thanx'' - ''okay, he wants to score real bad'' what was going on in my head :P) I think with times, they become more sparse, but more thoughtful.

LeilaJey : Hugggh, funerals.. hope you had an okay day nevertheless. I have something of that sort to attend to this weekend, I won't be able to make it to the funeral on saturday but I have to go to the... I don,t know how you call that in english, but to the place before the funeral when you SEE the dead person (which I find totally creep btw) and say ''so sorry for your loss''? Anyway, I have to go there. Not looking forward to that.

Pixellate : your PT seasonal retail/interviews is still something, I'm getting NOOOO call back for jobs. I'm so feeling like trash right now ahah. I never thought it would be this hard, honestly. I'm so bombed about adult life! But it will get better.. can't get worse anyways!

donlacha : your study field seems really interesting! I considered going in nursing when I was younger but I lack patience LOL If you lifted weight, it might explained the 2 pounds. Don't lose hope!

Ohtheplace : Good job on the 134! If the dress already fits, 9 days could be enough to just feel a bit more confortable in it Good luck!

Jessica : Good job on the buffet! The use of the small plate was an excellent idea. I should keep that in mind for the next time I hit a buffet.

***

Hi ladies! Was back down this morning, but I don't really get it, my stomach felt so huuuuge. I always pooped after weighing in, which was releiving, after not being able to go there and eating a lot of beans since saturday...

I have to work on my thesis this afternoon, it's already 2PM and the house is a mess. I also want to take a 15-20 minutes to do my indoor workout routine at some point... BleeehI feel bad for sleeping in now.

I'm going to post this before my computer freaks out and erase this 45 minutes long personnals post and post pictures of my Christmas stuff after!

God, I was so slow posting, Joss had the time to post twice while I was writing!

***

This is my ''no no, there is no 3 year old living in here, I made this craft myself, why?'' fridge



The front door that is linked to our living room.



Throwing-lazer-with-its-eyes-GodziCat hiding under the Christmas tree and the bookshelf with my sparkly deer on top!!



Calendar 'till Christmas day-Gingerbread-Cookie-Cook (after describing it, I realized I never really knew what this thing was...) and myfluffy snowman.

Morning all!

I slept in this morning for the first day in a while....since classes are over! Yay.

Gosh, I really don't want this to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm just very excited. I love that I can have a day of eating whatever the heck I want right up until I go to bed and still wake up and see the body in the mirror that I do now. I love that doing pull-ups doesn't feel difficult, and running a mile to get somewhere feels like a method of transportation rather than a workout. It has just been so long, guys..... I've been working at getting a handle over my binge eating and trying to lose the extra weight for so many years, and THIS YEAR I finally have done it. I can't get over it, haha.

I'm going totally 100% this week. I don't have much to do but take exams (well, and study for them, but if you know me, you know that doesn't really happen, haha), so I'm gonna hit the gym every day and probably sauna too for my skin, and stick to moderate eating only, even at the Christmas party we have next weekend (which I why I asked if I could bring my own food to eat lol).

OK, there are soooooo many wonderful people on here, I'm gonna do personals for just this last page. xD
Sorry if I missed anyone, I love you all, really!!

Alexistrophic - Compliments are nice for sure, but just to give you my experience, my husband is not one of outwardly spoken compliments, due I'm sure to a combination of English being a second language, his culture, and his personality as I know him. At first I really wished he would compliment me more often, but I've gotten used to it, and I can really appreciate that he's just more about showing love through his actions rather than words, and I just try to remember that. (: Are you a football fan? I'm from Oklahoma, and as you probably know or can guess everyone was ALLL about football there. Just not me- my family is from California, haha. But I followed in college, just becuase everyone else did!

Krampus - Those cookies look cute! Refeed was the usual: about four half-gallons of ice cream, and then also had 5 apples after dinner, plus my regular meals. I felt it was binge-y just because I had SOME reticence about whether or not I should do it, if I was doing it just out of habit overriding my better judgement of not doing it when I kinda planned not to this week....but in the end I feel good about it!

JessicaB - GREAT job surviving the buffet!! Desserts at buffets are a killer for me, lol, so you did awesome. It's great to hear you're doing well!

Jossfit - Thanks for your compliments! Hope you can get your pull-up strength back soon. (; At the gym I go to at my university, the population is a whooole lot of Asians, and most of the guys are using the assisted pull-up machine, and I had to admit, I kinda love going in there and showing off, haha!

OhThePlaces - Congrats on your loss! What does your dress look like? I really want to stick to my plan this week and de-bloat too...we can do it!

Domlacha - That is SO cool you are going into midwiery, really! Yes, this group is getting very difficult to keep up with, isn't it?? Good job on doing some lifting! Personally I love sore muscles, lol.

Turbo - Ooh, Montreal, sounds fun!! Great great job not overspending. (; I want to visit Montreal someday..... I slept in today too! Good luck working on your thesis!!
edit: We posted at the same time!!! haha. I love your decorations so much! Especially the fridge, TOO CUTE.

Pixellate - I too have found that being more relaxed about eating and exercise, counterintuitively, is really great for weight-loss too!! It really sounds like you're doing awesome. Don't feel nervous about admitting to what you ate, no one's gonna judge you here! Especially me- once a week I eat more treat food than most people eat in like a year!

I started writing these personals and all of you have posted in that time so if I've missed anything I'm sorry... aaaaghhh desserts.


Alexistrophic Hey welcome back! To be honest I think that if you're still reconsidering it's a bad sign. If it was a simple case of looks being the issue and you were looking past that at his awesome, fun personality then great but if you're also not that attracted to his personality then maybe it's not so great. If you're feeling this unsure at the beginning I'd wonder what things would be like after the honey moon phase wears off?

I think compliments both ways are important.

krampus Where is the real krampus? Only 2? Blasphemy! I would eat the crap out of them right now if Trader Joes existed over here. Aaaand I literally just read something about their butter chicken being reclaimed because of listeria. I guess the cookies are fine though, cookies can do no wrong.
There seems to be a lot of cookie related activity in your life this week. I approve with envy.

Jessica A smaller plate makes a big difference I find, I use a slightly smaller one generally for my dinner than my boyfriend does because if my plate looks empty (I still eat a lot) it makes me want to eat more.

Well done on choosing the smaller plate, I know that's not always easy especially when you used to use the bigger one. It's hard to feel like you're missing out somehow.

Jossfit Carrot cake makes everything better, man I love carrot cake. And is it obvious at all that I'm craving everything like crazy right now? I'm pretty sure I've mostly talked about desserts to everyone so far. Just wait until I get to Turbo's personal haha
I'm also totally jealous about Arctic Zero as they don't sell it over here. I'm stuck with Ben & Jerrys and 6 pints of that is a (delicious) bad idea.

I'm so glad you didn't poop yourself! Holy crap I've been so close too, a few weeks ago when I first when to this new dentist I was about half way there and I very suddenly turned around and drove home to speed poop, jumped back in the car and raced to the dentist. I didn't know what their bathroom situation would be. I'm glad I went home too as if I had made it there in time I would have raced into their bathroom through the waiting room, and when somebody's in there you can hear everything very loudly. Very loudly.

I'm really happy that your new shoes are helping too, that must be such a relief!

OhThePlaces Yay 134! Way to go. New clothes are always a good feeling, I'm sure you'll look amazing in your dress.

Domlacha Hey! Great to see you posting here. I know it can be tough to keep up sometimes, I love the support here though - these ladies are amazing.

Turbo Holy crap, why were the tyres so expensive? Snow tyres? We don't have to do that here as the weather is usually just wet but the Winters 2 & 3 years ago were crazy cold for us and the whole country basically shut down for a few weeks. Good times!

I hope you're feeling better! Added: hahaha, I looooooove your fridge.

Well over here we call that a 'wake', where you go to their house and look at the body. It's really strange to be honest, and I find it really uncomfortable generally if I don't really know any of the people. Over here these are big occassions, I swear we're weirdos about death. Good luck with it though, maybe there'll be some nice food. And sorry to hear that somebody you know died. It's a hard time of year.

pixelllate Yeah sudden bloating really changes your figure! It really makes me feel like a blob and like I look much worse than I did when I saw that number initially. It's hard to tell though.

I'm so sorry to hear about what you're going through right now, it all sounds really crappy. It's good that you're volunteering and getting out of the house though, that's important to keep up for now. It sounds like your old job was really messed up, so I'm sure it's still better to be out of it even though your current situation isn't the best. Lots of cyber hugs to you


mottainai I'm happy for you and envious haha, how's that? I swear these days if I eat a few extra biscuits I'm all bloaty. Oh well, we're all different.. yadda yadda Don't worry I'm mostly happy for you, it's always encouraging to see other people doing well. Especially at this time of the year because now I know it's possible.

kakers Yikes, that's a lot of money.. I would also be mad. I really hate fighting with people over money but it's just so unfair when you have to pick up the pieces of somebody elses irresponsibility. Lots of hugs to you, this is an especially horrible time of the year for this to happen. I hope the bank are helpful though, I think over here they generally sort that stuff out and refund the money.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry if I missed anybody!

First off I'm so sorry for falling behind constantly and being crappy, I really appreciate all of you so much so I hate feeling like I'm taking more than I'm giving. You're all amazing! Thank you!

I think I'm coming down with something, you know when you just can't warm up? I really got a chill at the burial as it was so cold in the graveyard. Probably around 4C, windy with rain/sleet. I came home, wrapped myself up with blankets, hot water bottles, a hat, tea and my stove and I was still shivering.

I currently look and feel like this.



The funeral was fine, I forgot to mention that the lady was 100 which is awesome. She was born the same year as Titanic! So it wasn't sad really, well not in the same way as somebody who died younger or from sickness.

137 this morning so that's a bit better than it has been. I'm not sure where I'm at really, still eating a bit too much but I'm trying not to stress and let myself eat extra as long as it's healthy food. TOM will be here in a week so I'm naturally getting hungrier. For a few weeks I was getting into a stupid cycle of over eating and then not really eating/trying to eat as little as possible to balance it out and it clearly wasn't working. Aaand this weekend I'll be away again. I suppose I'm going to have to admit defeat (well not really defeat) and try to maintain the 130s for the next few weeks because that seems a lot more manageable than trying to break into the 120s around Christmas.

LeilaJey : HEY why am I associated with desserts!? I haven't even baked in like... 5 dayyyyys! Bwahahah. Seriously I've been thinking of throwing away the working on the thesis today to bake my Gingerbread cookies. I have really good priorities.

Yes, the wake! That is the word I was looking for! I always found those so creepy. They are still huge things here, but only for old people, it seems. I don't know the person who died at all, it's one of my bestfriend grandmother and I wasn't even thinking about going until a fried asked me if I was going to just the wake or just the funeral. Ooops. Bring on the guilt lol

(By the way, I looooove Grumpy Cat. I just want to huuuug him everytimes I see it LOL)

Turbo pfff 5 days? Get back to work! :P You have the best priorities. I want some gingerbead cookies. I mean ginger's good when you're sick so um, yeah.. fill me up.

Lol, some people over here just love going to those things. Like they'll go if they don't know anybody and a lot of people like that people do that. I mean the families of the person who died like that random people come in to pay their respects. I would not like that at all! What a morbid hobby.

http://blog.catmoji.com/wp-content/u...okey-tard.jpeg

Aaand his sister.

edit: that picture was huge, I posted the link instead. Sorry for breaking the page temporarily!!

Having bad thoughts... bad bad bad dessert thoughts. Ugh, I just want SOOO badly to stay on plan this month and lose a few pounds!

Tea. I will have more tea.

Leila - I think that cat's name is Tardar Sauce. My husband actually put a picture of it on my Facebook page yesterday... I seem to be seeing that silly cat everywhere!

I miss my kitty... he was hit by a car in September and I've been really bummed about it. I think next fall my husband and I (well, me, because he'll be deployed) are going to get a Puggle puppy. Have you seen those? They are a mix between a beagle and a pug. Soooo cute!

I'll attach s photo.

I hope you aren't getting sick, that would be miserable! Drink some tea and warm up!

Turbo - Your decorations are so cute! LOL I wish I could totally deck out my place, but I sort of don't see the point because I'll be spending the holiday at my husband's place in Colorado. Yeah, I could just enjoy it up until then, but really I think I just don't feel like spending more money. It's bad enough I just bought ANOTHER set of plane tickets for the trip in January. I know where my tax return will be going... paying off all these tickets on my credit card! yeesh!

The bacon pancakes are super easy to make. I even put the bacon in my oatmeal sometimes... You can't really go wrong with a bit of bacon here and there. It's tons of flavor for really just a few calories. Win!

Oh, and your fridge is especially charming decked out in it's holiday finest. hahaha, too funny!

Mottainai - Random question, but what flavors of ice cream do you normally eat on your refeed days? Do you eat it all at once, or over the course of the day? I can put away a ton of food, but the idea of 4 half gallons sitting in my stomach just makes me feel like I would have a lot of really cold burps, awful gas, and then it would come back up!

It's really wonderful how good you feel lately! I was there in September, but it's been downhill since then. Boo. Honestly I was feeling good mentally up until about 15 minutes ago, but suddenly I'm struggling with some urges a bit. I could really really go for some of that cake thats sitting RIGHT OVER THERE and then probably do with some chocolate as well. Ugh.

Needless to say I'm a little jealous of you right now, in the best possible way.

I just hope to get back there soon.

OMG! I can't believe you just wrote this because...
Well...I just had a huge chunk of Buttercream chocolate chunk brownies! My first food "cheat" in over a month. It was soooo good. I hope I'm not starting to loosen my grip on my eating plan...I know what happens next.

Joss - Don't know if you want to read it while having bad dessert thoughts, lol, but I get a mix of flavours, whatever I feel like looks good, haha. Usually all with some kind of chocolate: coffee/cappucino mocha types, nanimo bar, chocolate cherry, pb chocolate, this one with banana-strawberry and choc brownies, mint choc, ectetcetc. And yes, I do eat it all at once, within several hours anyway....probably sounds gross, but considering I've got years of bingeing I guess it's not too weird for me? That's actually why I limit it to one "meal"- if I were bingeing, I can easily keep going and put away much much more over the couse of the whole day. /: It doesn't make me feel super awesome afterward obviously, but I just don't mind the uber-fullness somehow, just during this one time....I have ZERO eat like that the other 90%! Anyway, thanks as always for your encouragement. I KNOW KNOW KNOW you can get to this lovely place again as well. (:

Turbo - Sorry, but I totally associate you with desserts too. xD

Bayzee - I'm sure you will be just fine, and you have been so good that, while I hate to say the stereotypical "you earned it" remark, you've definitely done so! Don't feel guilty over a treat like that. My issue is that I wasn't feeling like, "Gee, I could go for a brownie" I was wanting to BINGE and eat like 10,000 calories. The urge has pretty much passed though. I came home, made my nice healthy dinner, and life has moved on. For me I have a definite late afternoon window when that craving is apt to strike but once I'm home I don't have the urge anymore.

Mottainai - I can read about stuff like that with no issues... nothing can MAKE me do anything I don't want to, and I really didn't want to.

I am just curious, as a huge ice cream lover! hahaha
I tend to favor vanilla or other light flavor bases. Its rare that I will ever choose a chocolate ice cream. Weirdly I don't think it's strange that you can eat that much, because I can too, and much much more. I just don't think I have ever had that much DAIRY at one time.

NOT that I'm taking that as some sort of personal challenge! haha

Between your ice cream selections and Turbo's baking, I have GOT to try this naniamo bar thing! It's entirely new to me and I'm intrigued. It must be a Canadian thing? It must be popular too if it's incorporated into ice cream flavors.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. I hope that wasn't weird to ask, but I love ice cream so much I was curious! haha

Joss I'm definitely enjoying pictures of that cat! I saw a picture of it in a Santa hat earlier and I was delighted!

I was so sorry about your cat losing a pet is so hard.

Aww, that dog is super cute. It'll be lovely for you and your husband to get a pet together. A nice little family for him to come home to anyway after his deployment.

I also drank a pot of tea. Unfortunately feeling like I'm coming down with something doesn't deter me from wanting to eat everything.. no fair.

Bayzee Hey, you enjoyed what you ate and that's that. Move on and continue with what you were doing. Having a nice treat sometimes doesn't have to interfere with your weight loss efforts at all, if anything they keep me sane.

And I don't think I've ever eaten them but they sound amazing.

mottainai Ok peanut butter chocolate ice cream sounds damn good! I usually go for chocolate flavours but recently when I wasn't chewing stuff I chose the only non chunky ice cream which was vanilla bourbon and it was really good but less rich which made it easy to eat the entire thing.

Once again: I like and will consume pretty much anything.

Also if I over eat ice cream and feel ill I generally start stuffing myself with bread. I'm not smart.

Also Turbo I somehow missed the cat under the Christmas tree the first time but that's hilarious!

Yeah, I think it's mainly Canadian... I red on Wikipedia (because YES, wikipedia has a page on Nanaimo bar!) that they are called based on the Nanaimo Island in BC!

Do you want me to send you some!? Don't know in what state they would arrive in the States, but it worths the try!

Vanilla bourbon sounds awesome. But oh my gosh, I love the chunky ones the best, haha.

Turbo, you should send Joss some, haha. I've actually never had a real one, just the ice cream version, lol.

Jossfit, no, not weird to ask, don't worry! I honestly am a little embarassed to talk about it a bit....I don't feel like I identify as someone who is obsessed with ice cream but obviously I am. The weird thing is that I only want it in half-gallon quantities. I never feel like I want to go to the shop and get a cup of it or something. Got to be the buckets. I only ever started eating it that way all those years ago when I was trying to gain weight, and that's how it's stayed!