Hi Bluesers!

Thank goodness for fresh starts! I totally blew my plan this weekend and I have a two pound gain as my reward. My emotions are getting the best of me. One of my good friends...who lives right across the street...is moving back to Florida on Sunday. I've been feeling very down and using food to try to make myself feel better. Unfortunately, it does help temporarily, but it comes with a big price. Today, I feel sluggish from too much sugar and carbs and I'm now fighting the lousy emotions from having a gain on the scales.

So, Fran...I'm joining you! As of today, I begin with calorie counting. My Southbeach plan has been very good to me...30 pounds worth of good!..and, it helped me to reverse my insulin resistance. I'm not giving up on eating Southbeach approved foods as the eating plan is extremely healthy. But, I'm getting stalled on the weight loss and need to start tracking my consumption of calories and making this a priority. I have my handy-dandy spreadsheet ready to go and I'll track every single calorie that goes in my mouth! Also, I'll be getting on that treadmill for an intense workout for an hour a day. Hopefully, I'll kick butt on the next weigh-in!

Hope everyone has a great on-plan week!

Today is a new day to restart. I haven't really followed my plan, journaled or kept up with points. I'm going to try hard this week to do that. Even if journalling won't help, maybe I will try the quick point tracker. That's better than nothing! I haven't had huge losses in my opinion in the last few months. I started to exercise again with the new firms. I hope this will help me get bigger, better losses. If not, I'll know that my lack of losses isn't my fault but my body's fault. Either way, because I'll be trying 100%, I'll feel soooo good. Like even when I was lossing way off plan and got back on plan and lost only 1 pound, I danced. ^_^

Also, I want to try harder so the new clothes I got will be even looser. It's nice to know that the clothes you buy now won't be that tight if all goes well! I really want to be in normal sizes across the plain by summer. I'm in XL normal sizes at Cato's and XL at Dots(they size smaller too) in their plus. My bottoms are currently 18. ^_^

Fran -- as counterintuitive as it may seem, you might want to think about adding calories if you're working out extra hard. Oddly enough, I lost most of my weight eating about 1300-1500 calories per day and working out at a moderately intense level. But, when I hit around 170, I stalled out. I worked and worked and the scale never budged. I upped the intensity of my cardio workouts, but still no change. I stalled out for about a full year.

Then, a friend (who is a doctor) suggested adding about 150-250 calories of extra protein and fruits/veggies and see what happened. Lo and behold, the scale started going down again. Now, I eat about 1600-1800 calories per day, work out at the same high intensity level (cardio and weights), and I'm losing about a pound a week.

Morning team! I hate it, but I'm going to have to post a gain this week. I'm back up the one pound I lost last week, thanks to TOM. Oddly enough, I took a couple of measurements this weekend and I seem to still be losing inches, if not weight.

I took Friday off sick, so I'm already behind here at work, so if I don't post a lot today you know it's because I'm buried under a pile of paperwork.

Thanks, SCGirl. My doc had suggested 1500, but I"m going to start with 1800 like you said. I'm still at a pretty high weight, plus, I want somewhere to go from here, kwim? I want to start at 1800, and be able to drop to 1500-1600 if I begin to stall. THanks for your suggestion, I appreciate it!

Hi all - just wanted to say I posted a 1lb gain this week. I was successful in getting rid of that other pesky pound that had been making appearances earlier in the week, so I guess that's a positive!

More later - it's been a crazy weekend.

Hey everyone!

Seems to be lots of gain and stalls - hang in there ladies!!!! Inches, feeling good and staying positive will get you through it.

I have a 4 lb weight loss this week! I am so excited. I don't think I could have done it without being sick, but I will take pounds where I can get them! I'm just hoping not to have a gain next week.

Cheers, Ginger

I did get to post a 2 pound loss for this week but I am still up 1 pound for the challenge. The good news is I have done some form of exercise 9 out of the last 10 days. That is something right?

Hi everyone. I went to the gym this morning. I did 30 min of cardio and then my friend and I did some weight lifting machines. i'm also down for this week. Yay. On the way home from the store after going to the gym they had Jillian from TBL on Greg and the Morning Buzz morning show I listen to. Unfortunately I didn't have a long enough drive to the babysitters so I only heard half. I just thought that was cool.

Afternoon Ladies,

Well, I kind of disappeared last week, because I was stressed and off plan and generally having a negative outlook. Funny how when we need the support the most we run away from it, eh? I posted a 1.4 lb gain since last week, which means a .4 gain for the challenge so far, and my damn pants are tight.

Today is a new day, a new week, and I'm going to push through and get this runaway train back on the tracks. Good luck to all you other chicks who are doing the same thing today! I didn't make it to my planned 6:30 am strength training session at the gym, but I worked out hard the last 2 days so I think I'm going to just do my weights tomorrow and squeeze in a quick couple of miles running as well. I think tonight I'll try and do some yoga to stretch out and soothe my sore leg muscles.

Week three is going to be the best one yet, I just know it.

Hey, everyone!

Chelle--sorry about your respiratory system, chick. That blows.

I have an appointment with the miracle doc next week. Blood tests, hair analysis, the whole thing. Very excited to see what is said about my diet, since I have a year of food journals to share!

I talked to the woman who has gone to him, and our stories were crazy similar. She had been stalled for 6 months, and then started running. She still was stuck at 155 (hmmmm....freakishly familiar). They found she had a slight hormone issue and some liver and kidney issues. Nothing that would ever make you feel sick or anything, but enough to have your body working on those things and not on weight loss. Anyway, in four months, she was down to 135.

For YOU: Ona Diet fans, the other thing he monitors closely is the c-reactive protein to watch for inflammatory response.

I am very interested to see what happens!

Fran - I am better with workouts than food also - and it should be the other way around if anything. I LOVE working out and pushing my body - and I feel smaller and am losing inches. Why do I care soooo much what the scale says? I know, because I'm morbidly obese! Oh well... I took a day off on Saturday - I'd worked out hard for 13 days. I'm playing around with ratios and numbers now. I aim for 1800cal/day and don't really want to do much lower for now since I'm already counting on only being able to eat 1200/day in maintenance. Eating more carbs this past week didn't cause me to lose faster, but 1 week is a short time to tell.

Rhonda - Weekends are such a challenge for me too! I think we all know how to maintain perfectly! Careful during the week and crazy on the weekends. It's crazy how a day or two off plan takes the next 5+ days to come off.

I'll be exciting to see the numbers tomorrow!

GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's SLOW at work today - so I'll probably be on here all day! The roads were to icy this morning and then it snowed on top of it all - so no one is bringing their kids in. It's supposed to snow again tonight. Seattle is not a nice city to be in when it's icy and snowy - so many hills...

Lots of plateaus and gains this week...but chins up ladies (and gent) we will all get through this Blue team is going to rock next week when we drop the added lb. plus more...right? Right!

I had a bad day eating wise yesterday. I just kinda got the "who cares" attitude, then that turned to anger at myself and a good workout before bed. I woke up today refocused and ready to go. My final weigh in for the month is Thursday and I'm hoping to come in at 10 lb. this month I have to stay OP to get there.

I posted 3 lb. loss for this week, hope it can help carry us to WINNERS this week Even if not though, I have faith in this team. Back on track now!

Hello everyone.

I have been out of the loop for a couple days. I see we have some pluses and minuses on the scale this week, but remember that you are still here and that counts for something to me.

I do though have to say for all of you who said corn and potatos (sweet or otherwise) that I hate to burst your bubble, but if you are counting those as a veggie, you are putting it in the wrong catagory. They are starches (which means sugars). I too though love them, I just have to love them in moderation now.

Have a POP Day!