Cookiemonster – The cruise sounds like fun. Make sure that if you are faced with temptation it’s okay to eat a little. Just don’t go overboard.

Megan – That is the dog that my BF wanted to get. He was so adamant about getting that dog, but I didn’t want to. So we settled on a Jack Russell which I love to death. However, your puppy is sooooo adorable. I just want to snuggle with him under the covers

Trnsfrmnreplace – I definitely have cravings after the gym. I make sure I drink a yummy healthy smoothie. It feels me up and it tastes great!

Jillybean – Hmmmm…”calorie cycling.” I’ve never heard of that, but it makes sense! It is the same thing with exercise. Work extra extra hard one day and then the next day work out a little less harder.

Lockitup – Congrats on the loss!!!

Tracy - I also am a sugar addict!!! I still have chocolate almost every day though, I just need to make sure I don’t go overboard!!

So after three weeks of doing Latin Dance, I realize that I can’t take that class anymore. It hurts my knee too much. But I’m not too sad because I tried Pilates last night and I loved it. Boy was it a great ab and leg workout!! So now I’ll go to pilates on Monday and Wednesday and I still go to the fun cardio seduction class on Thursdays. The other days I do cardio (usually elliptical) and then I alternate strength and stretching. I’m starting to get addicted to working out! Oh my gosh did I just say that?!?!? But it’s true. I love going to gym. Even when I know I should take a day off I always feel like “Maybe I’ll just go for 30 minutes.” I think it is because I like the gym that I go to. It’s big and has lots of machines and great group exercise classes. People there are every different size you can imagine and I don’t feel self conscious. Also, all of my best friends are members of the gym so we give great support to each other. I never thought I would enjoy going to the gym. I used to despise it. Boy, do things change in such a short amount of time.

Oh and after the scale flip flopping from 182 to 181 to 182 to 180 to 182 and so on for 8 days it finally read 178.8 And I know I’m a scale addict and I shouldn’t weigh myself everyday, but I do anyways and it actually helps me. I’m just so excited to see that number!!! 178 was how much I weighed in 8th grade!!! I’m not trying to be too excited though because I know weight fluctuates each day. However, the scale has been mocking me for like 2 weeks now since it just wouldn’t budge to get into the 170’s. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum and keep dropping the weight I refuse to change my ticker though until I see that number a few more times.

Well hope you ladies have a great OP day today. Eat right, exercise and drink lots of water!!!

Hey everybody,

Hope you're all having a good week.

Mocha, congrats on the loss!

Jenn, that puppy's adorable. I never thought I was a dog person but then I met an awesome one last summer (he came attached to an old friend) and he totally converted me.

ncola, sounds like you're making good choices, even if it doesn't feel like it. I'd probably have gone with the two .

I gave in and weighed myself on wednesday. I weigh what I thought I did at the beginning so I've either not gotten anywhere or I was deluding myself . Not sure which is better...

I did a taebo video yesterday though so feeling more positive (although kind of achy). I'll do another one tomorrow. It'll be better :.

Megan: here's a link to the pic: http://content.answers.com/main/cont..._inu_puppy.jpg. Keep up the exercise and healthy eating!

Stephanie: Yeah, gotta love the brown haze. I live in the East Valley and we haven't had rain since late August. It is very overcast today, though, and when I was out earlier on my walk I thought I felt a sprinkle (maybe it was wishful thinking? ). The wind is picking up, too. So, who knows? Maybe those clouds will burst today. We need everybody to do a rain dance for us! The air quality was pretty bad this weekend when we hiked South Mountain, and I could actually see the brown haze over Phoenix from the mountains. I don't really see it where I live, but I'm sure that's just because I'm inside of it.

You're going to be a beautiful bride. Make sure and post pics of the dresses you're thinking about wearing! And woohoo for finally being able to wear shorts and a bathing suit in the summer! It'll happen!

Tracy: Welcome!

Ncola: You are doing just fine! One little candy bar is okay once in a while, especially if the rest of your food choices are healthy for the day. And yes, dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate...it has more antioxidant flavanoids due to the higher cocoa content and absence of milk (which some studies suggest prevents the absorption of flavanoids from the cocoa). I think that it also has less sugar, although I've never actually compared the nutrition facts of dark & milk chocolate.

Adventure: You'll see a loss sooner or later! Taebo sounds like a lot of fun.

Everybody else...keep on going!

So i've been going to the gym everyday .... but for some odd reason i've gained about 7 pounds in the last week in my tummy area, which is VERY unusual. I don't go up and down like that. I've stayed the same for the past 3 months in weight. It is getting me down because i'm actually working hard here.

=sighs=

transfmnr: it may be possilbe water weight, maybe your about to start? also do you keep track of what you eat? sometimes things with high sodium can cause us to retain water...sometimes things that are supposed to be healthy have tons of sodium, like cans of soups/frozen meals/packaged deli meats...
Stay on track! don't lose your determination...Keep going, a loss will show up!

I'm still trying to break my plateau of a year now it seems! I might just be at my ideal weight...have you ever heard of that? I think I remember Oprah talking about it at one time. Anways, I'm still going to keep on working out and trying to eat right....no sense in gaining weight...

TGIt's almost Friday!

Hahaha....... okay, did anyone else catch this? it has me rolling......

Trns - (You aren't preggo are you???) I am sure it's just some freak thing. You are eating enough for as much as you're working out right? Maybe your scale is freaking out? I too tend to gain a couple here and there, but 7 is kind of odd, especially since you've been working out and not like pigging out and stuff. Keep us updated. That would freak me out too!

Cookie - Ha, I just caught that, That's hilarious!

Cookiemonster....you are going to have soo much fun on the cruise, my husband and I went on one about a year ago for our honeymoon (my picture to the left is from the cruise).....I hope you have a lot of fun!!!

The only thing missing from my awesome day yesterday was a nice strength training session. I was mostly OP, under my calorie goal and drank a ton of water. Too bad I did not even get home from work until 11 pm otherwise I would have nailed that strength training. I knew I had to get up at 6 this morning and would be in uber trouble if I was late so I bagged the workout for some ZZZ's. Busy day today, work at home plus probably a shoot tonight. I am determined to get that strength training done even if I need to break it up into smaller sessions to do so.

Have a great day girls, here is to being OP, getting in a good workout and drinking plenty of water!

jenn - your puppy must be co sute, I bet he is soft!

Lockitup - From the short time that I have been posting in this forum I can tell you are a very motivatd person. When you want something you figure out the best plan of attack and go get it. I am sure you will have no trouble making your 5 lb a month goal. Keep up the good work girly.

chicagoposter - I am having the same type of trouble with my shin...

chaimberbell - Welcome to the forum...these girls are great. I understand what you mean about men getting tired of hearing about weight loss lol. My hubby is so glad I found this forum.

ncola - although you did cheat - great job on doing damage control...could have been 2 bars, could have been something way worse than semi sweet dark as well. Sometimes we have to give into cravings a tiny bit to get rid of them. Maybe next time go one step further and before you start to eat it, throw half of the bar away.

Megan - OMG that is a huge spike in rent! Great job being OP and working out.

Mocha - I get addicted to the gym too. Its like when you go a lot it is so much easier to find the motivation to keep going. That sucks about your knee and the latin class, but I hear pilates is a blast and a lot of the girls have had some real success with it. COngrats on your loss.

trnsfrm - could it be TOM weight?

Last night I went to the gym an I was pleasantly surprised. I think i mentioend here a few days ago that I went at night and I hated it bc it was so crowded... well, I found the solution, and that is: go later! Last time I went at 6, but yesterday I waited till 8 and it was much better. My problem now is that I only seem to go with my bf, but he's going on a weird work schedule so I'm going to have to motivate myself to go alone. Eh, I have to stop being such a wuss. What sucked though is when I got home from the gym last night, I got all tired and dizzy and cranky. Poor bf got yelled at a lot But then I laid down and had a sf fudgesicle and I started feeling better. I think next time I should eat a little snack right before I go to the gym or something...

So we've been having really nice mild weather here in the Northeast for the last few months. But the last few days have turned cold, and the weather forecast has us getting 6 inches of snow over the weekend! Grrrr I hate snow! I'm a fairly new driver (got my license in August) so snow still really freaks me out. The last time I drove in it I spun out a little and ended up sitting in a parking lot crying afterwards. So everyone cross their fingers and hope that the weathermen are wrong!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Stephie - Thanks, that's a huge compliment!!! I really appreciate it. You also seem like a very driven person! It's so wonderful to be surrounded by strong women on here, working towards the same goals, dealing with a lot of the same struggles!

Alright everyone. My mom and I are going to look at 2 places for the wedding today. I actually have high hopes for one of them. We really are on a tight budget and these are the first places we've looked at in our price range and also that weren't an obvious holes in the wall. They are both country clubs actually, and surprisingly the least expensive places we've looked at. I am nervous, but I have to say, seeing 158 was a really blessing this morning. After having a 2 month plateau, and gaining a couple pounds, this is the lowest number I have seen since I gained all the weight. So I am thinking like 2 years or something. I now am only 5 pounds away from the lowest weight I have seen since before high school, and really I never remember weighing under 153, but I am sure I did at some point. Alright I am off!

yesterday was on target. i drank all my water, have been working out hard, and consistantly, i've been eating well (got it back on track after a tough monday), but my strength training has been pretty much non-existant. it's my own fault. i go to the gym, do about 60-90 minutes of cardio, then i'm all sweaty, and the gym is getting crowded, so i leave and tell myself i'll do it at home. well, when i get home, i'm starving (i can't have much in my stomach before i work out), and so i eat, instead of doing weights right away. then, when i'm about to do them, my bf gets home and i don't want to do them in front of him, so i don't.

aghhhh. i know what i need to do, now i just have to do it.

this morning i did sit-ups already, i will start going to the gym at 2 instead of 3 (this gives me more time, and our gym is getting busy by 4, and definitely by 5 when i leave).

lockitup-it sounds like you're on target. i'm glad you posted on your update with not counting calories. i told you how when i first started working out, i would only workout, not count calories, and i lost about 30lbs. (this was 6 yrs. ago). i think so many people focus on diet, diet, diet, that all they think about all day is food. i admit i'm working on that too.

chaimberbell- welcome. you'll find great support here, and it's easier to vent to us than your hubby!

ncola- congrats on the workout, i always try to eat one carb and one protein before the gym (my fave is WW english muffin, lean ham, and 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese, i toast it, and it's about 3 WW points or 210 calories) to give me energy at the gym so my blood sugar doesn't get too low. also, make sure you eat some protein when you get home.

megan- great job!

mocha- that stinks about your knee, i was having shin issues this week, so i decided to do the elliptical and bike and stay away from running for a bit (which isn't going to help with my race in april!)

stephie-i'm right there with you on the strength training. it's always the first thing to go. i'm working on it. it sounds like your schedule has been jam packed!

everyone- keep up the good work!!!

Friday is here! Hooray! Oh how I love the weekend. I was really good yesterday. I had a few munchies but kept the food to 1550 cals and 90% OP, a good day for me. After the gym I was super tired so I went home, showered, did a few chores and just vegged out in front of the TV and got to bed early. I think a couple of nights of good sleep have helped me tame my crankiness. Someone brought in Krispy Kremes & scones this morning to work! I had one, I'll admit it. I just need to be OP the rest of the day. My show opens tonight so I'll be too busy to pig out anyway, and after work I'll be busy playing w/ the puppy!!! (Oh right, and seeing BF too.)

Jenn2005, the picture of the puppy came up today (I spent some time maintaining my computer yesterday) and s/he is super cute! Awwwww!

Mocha, congrats on the loss!

trnsfrmnreplace, I think everyone's already suggested my thought on the tummy area. Sodium, water, preggo, freak weirdness that will go away. You haven't recently upped your ab exercises have you? Maybe you've just built a lot of muscle in that area and your body hasn't shifted itself around yet. Hang in there!

stephiewilliams, great job yesterday! Sounds like you are being very disciplined.

ncola, glad you've worked out your gym scheduling problem. I always eat a small snack (usually fruit) about an hour before the gym, and a post-gym snack of milk, cheese, or yogurt (something w/ protein) before dinner. If I don't eat within an hour or two max after gym I am starving and get all crazy.

LockItUp, good luck! Let us know how the planning is coming. You're lucky your mom is helping. My sis is so overwhelmed w/ hers and it's still 11 months away (but she is planning long-distance - she lives in NY, wedding in Florida). I love weddings!

Hehe, overboard, I love bad puns.

I'm going to be more OP this weekend than last for sure. I already have salads & veggies cut up in the fridge. Have a FANTASTIC weekend everyone!

Woo Hoo It's Friday!

26 days til spring break for me~! Yikes!

I'm hitting the gym hard tonight and this weekend.

You all have a great Friday & enjoy your weekend, but be sure and try and keep it OP

Thank you so much everyone.
I don't think i'm preggo, but i am late... ??? I never get bloated or anything before my TOM. This is just weird. I didn't go into the gym last night and i have lost 2 of the 7 pounds. We'll see what happens within the next few days.