Wow Ghost that sounds awesome! What will you do once you get into the class?

I am heading to spin class for the first time in 2 months. I think that my diet is
stable now (under control) I am eating about 1500 cal. a day and now it's time to hit the gym.... wish me luck!!!
I'll check in later and let you know if I am still able to move, and breathe.
Spoz, Caligirl- I am thinking about increasing my calories for a day to see if that shakes this mini plateau?

Good luck with the gym, I am still trying!

Once I get my internship stablized I'm going to see about using the gym at a rec center near my house. I was going to drop by today to see what their hours were (hopefully they're open until at least 8 or so, but I fear they might not be) but I'm insanely sore from my workout yesterday, so I think I'll wait until tomorrow. So for today I'm just trying to hobble around as best I can and not move whenever possible.

Although I did still force myself to go for a 30 minute walk, and I might again later. The walking isn't so bad, it's just getting up and down stairs or sitting down or getting up. Now I know what it's going to be like when I'm 80.

Today has been another successful day at staying within my calories. I only made it to 1,200 (My goal is 1,500) and I workout tonight with my trainer so that means I still have 300 left...hmmm...what to do...

stilltrying Good luck with the gym! I have always wanted to try a spinning class! Adding calories just might get you to loose weight again. I lost 2 pounds the week I added 150 calories to my plan. But just make sure they aren't "empty" calories...try an fruit, veg, or even a little extra protein with dinner.

ghost I am also a calorie counter and I love it. I had about 100 left over yesterday so I ate a piece of chocolate....I love being able to eat chocolate and loose weight!

steph Have you ever tried frozen berries in yogurt? I love to freeze berries and then put a handful in some yogurt...it kinda tastes like ice cream if I close my eyes and hold my nose!

Cookie I am bad with my calorie counting in the weekends too. I just loathe seeing what I eat on the weekends! I guess it keeps me accountable, though.

Tam I use calorie counting with the help of dailyplate.com....that website makes such a difference! 99% of the foods I eat are on their database

heidelne I try and watch my sodium, too. But what usually gets in the trouble is the salt shaker. I bought some fake salt (AlsoSalt) and that helps a lot!

i dunno either, i lost 1.4kg in a week when i was sick (about 3 pounds? it was about 4 times my usual loss anyway). Maybe our immune system just goes mad and uses heaps of calories making nice white blood cells to kill bugs and create lovely mucus

I love being able to eat bits of chocolate now and again too! And yesterday i was back down to within my limits back on track, yay!

Hi Girls, I'm back from Spinning and it really wasn't that bad
Except for the instructor asking me where I've been for the past two months...

The good thing about Spin Class is, for those who want to give it a try but are a little scared, you adjust the tension of your own bike. So when the instructor yells at you to TURN IT UP, you can simply place your hand on the dial I had to do this a few times today but I am still breathing- and alive.

So I was really hungry when I got home from my workout so I made myself a turkey sandwich on a 100 calorie english muffin with some laughing cow which means I only have 100 calories left for today.....perhaps I will a 100 calorie pop-secret if I am still hungry after dinner.

Today was my first day of REAL classes (I only have one Tues/Thurs) and holy moly I need to plan stuff more. I had a yogurt before I left, but I was so scared of the food places at school (and of the money they charge, eek!) that I didn't eat AT ALL during the day! When I got home I was ravenous, but luckily I was able to take control and keep within healthy limits.

Any ideas of stuff I can bring to school with me?? For those of you who don't know, I'm a little veggie-challenged...I DEFINITELY don't eat raw veggies (I eat some cooked, but they need to be IN things), so salads and stuff like that's out of the picture. I'm really committed to staying on track during the school year, so I need to figure out ways I can eat, still!!

I'm off to the gym, now (I can't believe I'm getting up the motivation after carrying around my HUUUUGE bag of books all day!), but hopefully htere will be some wisdom from you lovely ladies (and GRIFF! :P) when I come back!

HA! That's excellent advice. Maybe I will try a spin class one of these days...
(stupid spin question- do you alternate between sitting on the bike seat and standing up on the pedals? and going different speeds/tensions? is that the jist of it?)

Trail mix type things with dried fruit and nuts pack well and provide lots of nutrients. They just always bum me out cos usually a serving size is very small... nuts are good for you but they can pack a calorie punch and i like volume when i eat. I also like raw almonds.... again you have to watch portion size, though.

Pretzels are good to munch on, if you get the thin pretzel sticks you can usually have a fair amount of them for 100-200 calories.

I'll be interested to hear other people's ideas on this, too. Lots of the foods i like aren't very "packable" and I'm struggling with the same thing.

Tonight I'm (maybe) going to my college's running club meeting... I really want to get back into running and was all set but I got locked out of the building my clothes were in so I had to come back home. Now I'm having second thoughts about going. I really just jog and I know I'm going to be by far the slowest one. The girl organizing it said "all levels welcome," but I had a really bad experience going running with some girls about 2 years ago and just thinking about it really upsets me and makes me fear any sort of group running thing.

Art: I like granola bars and applies...not at the same times, but they are good grab and go food...things I can eat in the car, at my desk and just walking around somewhere. I leave granola bars in the trunk with bottles of water when I know I'm going to be away from home.

Taylor: calorie counting made me realize how much my 'little' snacks were costing me, like two receess cups are 210 cals. I can have a whole bowl of cereal instead and it will be more filling. So I've really cut back on my candy (it was another grab and go thing...started when I took accounting 1 a couple of years ago and I could eat those while I spent 7 hours working on those darn spread sheets)

Icon: and I think what annoys me the most about losing weight when I was sick was that I couldn't work out at all. I was just sitting around like a lump for nearly 2 weeks eating and laying down. Does that make any gosh darn sense?!?! I think not! LOL! Weight loss is soooo backwards.

So it is day five of me not even bothering to work out. Now I feel guilty. We are in the middle of a heat wave and I'm using that as an excuse. I was going to work out when I got off, but then I get home and my fan just stopped working...yep, in the middle of a freaking heat wave. So I did my homework first and then I had to sit down with a screwdriver and take it apart to fix it and that took an hour. And now I don't feel like doing any thing save getting ready for bed and watching Top Model. I'm doing great on food...have at least 350 cals left for the day, but I just can't get the umph to work out. If anyone knows where I can pick up a nice hefty dose of motivation, let me know.

I am thinking of ordering a work out video but there are soooooo many out there. I need something that doesn't bore me. My B-day is next month and I'm telling every one I want a wii fit. Maybe they'll get together and get me one. I have my fingers crossed.

cali I agree with the "little" snacks. But hey! You can eat a lot for 210 calories - like today for a snack I had a 100 calorie english muffin, 1/2 a laughing cow light (18 calories) and some turkey (40)! I toasted the english muffin to make it crunchy and it was really filling.

Taylor -- that turkey sandwich sounds really really good!! I might have to try that!

I think maybe I'll start doing LC Cheeses again..I really liked them before and I'm not really sure why I stopped getting them.......?

I heart both babybel light and laughing cow...soo goooood. I need to start buying light rye crackers made by wasa...you can eat 2 for 60 calories and they are so yummy with LC!

I am out of calories for the day but am sitting around watching TV and reaaally want to snack on something. So far I have won the battle by drinking 2 big mug-fulls of hot tea. I'm just posting here so that shame will keep me from giving in.