Hi all! That's us back from Rome - we had a really lovely time, but oh my goodness, my feet were on fire by the end of it! We started off visiting the colosseum and Roman Forum. The ruins were amazing, and I just love the history! The only problem was our lack of fitness, we walked for 8+ hours, and our legs and feet were so sore by the end of the day, we couldn't walk right for the rest of the trip! We visited all the main tourist attractions though: Vatican city & the Sisteen chapel, Trevi fountain etc. Afraid my OH kept trying to take photos of me at top spots, but I hated every single one and made him delete them all Italian ladies are so thin, and I felt like a whale before we went, but felt so jealous at how lovely everyone looked! The food was great though, and portions weren't as big as we get in Restaurants in the UK, so I only gained 2lbs, which isn't a lot for a holiday!

I felt so disappointed at how my feet and legs let me down out there, we've resolved to go for more long walks here to make sure our legs are up for next time. Only problem is how much it rains here! It is true what they say about Scotland - especially the West

Anyway, I'll respond to you all in a separate post - won't risk losing a massive one!

Holly - I work as a Civil Engineer, mostly dealing with water stuff - it's a fairly steady job, keeps me busy!

Sorry your tablet broke - I'm so glad you got your photos back though!

I'd have been so fuming at the cake thing too! OH has eaten my food before, and usually doesn't hear the end of it for a full month

Hope you're still getting the odd trip on your motorbike, and everything is going alright with the r@t!

Lisa - any luck with arranging your contractor?

I'm so proud you lost 10lbs! That is the right amount of weight I think - I'm very jealous! You'll lose weight faster when you add in exercise

I think it's ok if you're having a little bit of pop - try cutting out a little more each day though, it sounds like you're being hit with withdrawal (probably from caffeine in the pop). I went through it before, so know what you feel like! Once I cut it out, my head was a lot clearer, and I rarely drink anything but water these days.

If you find the water boring though, try making up a jug with slices of lemon or lime & mint leaves or raspberries - it gives a touch of flavour. Lemon's good for the liver, and some say it helps weight loss.

Are you drinking 5 16oz glasses by the way? I try to drink 4-5 16oz size glasses of water a day, when I do, my weight usually goes down (but I do have to pee a lot!!)

kathleen - it's good to see you post - hope you're getting on alright!

I took a break from running while away, we were taking 20,000+ steps a day just getting around! I'm letting my feet recover this weekend, so I'll start running next week again. I'm aiming to be able to run 30mins in time for Christmas though - very scary!

Hi to our newbies!

helianthus welcome to the thread! I know it can be difficult moving back home after so long away - my sister did it for a while while she was establishing herself.

Graduate jobs are so frustrating to get into. Do you know anyone who currently works as an ecologist? It could be worth asking them for tips! You might benefit from volunteering with a conservation charity for a while? It also doesn't harm to submit speculative CVs - I once interviewed with a company who said they didn't even bother advertising graduate jobs because they received so many speculative CVs, they'd save themselves the expense!

I don't know if e-cigarettes are big in the states, but I know a lot of people who have quit by using them! I'd highly recommend

Welcome abbeyroad! Beatles fan by any chance?

Well done for fasting - I am in awe of anyone that manages it! I hope it goes well for you. My aunt had a lot of success doing 5:2, it does work!

Where are you moving to?

Coop27 I'm moving to Germany in four weeks!

Today is a fasting day and it's going pretty well but I never have much trouble until evening. I overdid it yesterday and felt too full all day & the scale reflected that. I need to adjust to the fact that my appetite has shrunk and eating a lot on feasting days makes me feel really uncomfortable.

You'll get there! It does take time to learn new habits.

German's have quite a healthy diet, so I'm sure you'll lose a lot while you're out there too! My German housemate always told me their bread was better, and they never eat sad sandwiches at their desk for lunch. I hope you like quark though!

Hope everyone is well today! Sorry for the mammoth post-athon yesterday.

Just about on top of our hoisework today but one of our rabbit's is sick. He has a gut blockage, which is quite serious for rabbits. Hoping so much that he pulls through, we really can't take more loss...

We're house bound while we watch him, I'm feeling a bit bored - we did so much a few days ago, now we're on the couch watching Netflix! If anyone is around, please entertain me!

I was feeling good about the few pounds I dropped but today my self esteem took a hit. Four weeks ago my brother got married and I was a bridesmaid. Today we got the professional photos back. They are beautiful and full of people I love but all I can think is how fat I look in them

Today my husband's coworkers threw a going away party and I overdid it of course, Thanksgiving will probably be worse! Oy vey. I wish you all a lot of will power.

Hi everyone! Working this weekend. Which is good and bad. Good because that means I get Thanksgiving off and I get more steps in because we are busy. Bad because...well...we are busy. I work Night Audit at a hotel and busy nights can be super stressful. Plus we had some snow and that always seems to bring the worst out in drivers here.

Lisa: I'm with you on the gym hate. I joined the Y and went maybe 10 times but paid for 2 years. sigh. I just couldn't force myself to be in there with all those motivated people. It was depressing.

Coop: Im glad you have fun on your trip! I did Paris to Rome for my senior trip and Rome was for sure my favorite place. I ruines made me cry (silly i know) because I had done so much reading about it and to actually see it was incredible. We were actually at the Vatican when everyone thought the Pope died, lots of crying people. My only wish was that we could have taken a trip down to Pompeii.

Abbeyrd84: Pictures are my enemy. I refused to be in pictures for years because of course I'm the largest of my friends/family. Then I realized that I wasn't in any the pictures (aka memories) ... which upset me even more. When I had my daughter I decided screw it. I want everyone to remember I was there. I want my daughter to know i was there. Plus it reminds me what I'm fighting for.

Best of luck to everyone celebrating Thanksgiving. I'm already on MFP trying to figure out how much I can actually eat and what i have to give up to get the really good stuff (mmm deviled eggs).

Abbeyrd - I hate photos of myself right now too. I just keep telling myself it will make a great 'before' photo, but now I need the motivation to get to 'after'. All the harder with so much chocolate, cheese and pringles on offer in the supermarket right now! We'll do it though!

Ruby - I really did like Rome, I think I slightly preferred it to Paris too, but only because I loved the history of the Roman Empire - we studied it in School. I do really want to visit Pompeii too, but we just didn't have time. What a shame, we'll have to go back another time...


Rabbit is a little better today, he's eating again.

Hi all. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Lisaloveshearts... did I see that you despise gyms? Me too! I have a little mini stepper I got at Target for 60 bucks and it is a life saver. Gets my heart rate up and when it's too ugly outside to walk around, the old mini stepper saves the day.

I often get on it even if it's only for 10 minutes after a meal. While I watch Netflix

abbeyrd and ruby! it is always good to have new friends here.

Coop, so glad you had a wonderful time in Rome but sorry about the sore feet!! oh and I hope the rabbit is better?? Hey I loved reading your long post and totally get the separate ones to everyone, that is so much better than losing a long post!

Hi Lisa, I hope you heard back from the contractor? and had a nice hot bath.

Hi snapple, Helianthus, Kathleen, Monica!

We got our first snowfall yesterday, about 4" of fluffy crap it is easy to shovel though. And I got my snow tires on a month ago so am feeling virtuous, lol.

I am keeping up with doing a workout about 5X a week, I think I'm feeling the benefits already as it's been a month. Just feeling a bit more fit. And when I get up in the morning, I'm just groggy, not sore anywhere.

I took a sample of my meringue mushrooms to a store yesterday but haven't heard back yet. I have to take the plunge and order a case of cute wooden pint boxes, they are a good price, $100 for 500 of the suckers but I expect to use about 200 of them, and any extras I can sell to local people next year for produce.

Yes I am feeling better have a good day, today is my Friday!!