Had reunion band practice last night and the third member (who couldn't make a veggie side dish because he went to the supermarket and could not identify vegetables, I'm not joking about this) had made pizza. I had just a little, and some Smartfood popcorn, and feel really oversalted. Still at an artificially low but not artificial at all weight.

Sorry honey. It stresses me out some, too. The exercise does make a huge difference in the shape though.

They currently have two peanut butter cup flavors - the traditional with peanut butter ice cream and peanut butter cups and a limited batch chocolate peanut butter cup with chocolate ice cream, peanut butter swirl and peanut butter cups. Not that I also fell face first into ice cream and saw these at the store while picking out mine this weekend, not at all.

I can ignore cheese and crackers for weeks or months or sometimes forever, but I can't ignore ice cream in the freezer. It is always there whispering in the back of my head, reminding me of its presence.

I'm trying to get back on track today after shower food all weekend and dinner out Monday night. Just in time for hospital food and road food and lunch out for Father's Day all weekend. Whew.

Just curious, what do you mean? For me, if I've been eating at a deficit but eating my regular proportion of foods, any weight loss seems "real". But if my deficit consists of almost-complete carb removal from my diet, I generally know that there's some "artificial" (water) loss in there too - and if I so much as make eye contact with a scone, I'll gain that part right back.

Good grief, PB cup ice cream. I am actually pretty grateful for my severe lactose intolerance, it keeps me out of my boyfriend's ice cream. Last night he bought two B and J flavors, vanilla and red velvet cake (!), mashed both pints together in a big bowl and went to town. Curse him and his BMI of 20.

Ice cream is EVIL. Peanut butter ice cream? Evil squared! (Bargoo, I believe we have the same PB addiction.) I can't keep ice cream in the house or it will be gone that day. I had a roommate once who would eat one or two spoonfuls after dinner a few nights a week. A pint of B&J's lasted her for weeks. I always thought she must be part alien.

Jen - Sorry for this, too, but we're the same height and I've never been able to go by what the calculators say I should be able to eat. You're more active than I am, I believe, but I'm not sedentary by any means and still can't go much over 1400/day. It does stink.

I've been meaning to share - I've gotten a couple of new exercise DVDs that I've been enjoying. The instructor is Kelly Coffey Meyers, and she has a series called "30 Minutes to Fitness." I've tried the Weights DVD and the Bootcamp DVD and both are good. She's straightforward and not too perky (which is a bonus for me) and encourages heavy weights. So far, so good.

Speaking of . . . time to go work out!

No more ICE CREAM PORN!!! DH and I have faithfully been eating our semi-frozen unsweetened fruit with a dollop of low fat vanilla yogurt. Now I am craving ice cream, particularly with PB cups in it.

But you know what? If I run out and get some I'll bet I'm only able to eat one bowl, rather than the litre I used to put away every second night or so.

My ice cream treats now involve a 2K walk to the ice cream store and the purchase of a single scoop waffle sugar cone of Kawartha Lakes. Then it's 2K back home while I eat my treat. I can do this once a week and during the summer I do.

Dagmar

I don't eat ice cream. I've cut it out of my life. Instead, I freeze Jell-O sugarfree pudding cups, take one out, nuke it for 15 seconds in the microwave (with the tinfoil lid off, when I remember), then eat it with nearly pornographic relish. And then look around for more, and so have to distract myself immediately with some other past-time and get out of the kitchen. I'm not saying I'm satisfied, just that this is one of those things that I do to keep myself from remembering former indulgences and feeling attracted to them again.

If I did eat ice cream, I'm certain I'd be battling a 30-lb weight regain rather than about 15 lbs.

Dagmar, Your friend, Cesar Millan is in the news: http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/...-the-pack?lite

[Running away as fast as I can before I go buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's.]

Bill Maybe the fast running will burn off some of the Ben & Jerry's cals?

This was all mentioned in a documentary about Cesar's life, which I saw on TV months ago. He now has a new girlfriend who is bubbly and bouncy - DH refers to her as the "giggly hooterbabe" - and is back on track with his business and personal lives.

I wish he WAS my friend - I could probably have consulted him and poor Lucy would not be condemned to walk on leash for the rest of her life. And there are a bunch of other dogs with behavioural problems that I had to give up who Cesar probably could have helped.

I still really respect Cesar Millan for his ability to read dogs and to train their owners. But I really do NOT like his new show. I have tried watching it 4 times now and come away each time feeling like I've just seen some cheap game show. The assessment of the dog is still interesting but I really don't like the rest.

Dagmar

Mudpie apparently didn't get the memo about cats being carnivores . She just spent 10 minutes shamelessly begging while I made the side for dinner. Its main ingredients are some of her all time faves - black beans, fresh corn kernels, orange sweet peppers, and avocado. Had I garnished it with tortilla chips she would have been over the moon.

Dagmar

LOVE LOVE LOVE peanut butter and ice cream! I tried that Artic Ice about a month ago - chocolate peanut butter flavor. I actually liked it. 150 calories for a WHOLE PINT. It's not anywhere close to ice cream, but as a faux ice cream....

Jen - Kelly Coffey Meyer has a kickboxing video that I LOVE.

I also am a HUGE Cesar Milan fan - DH bought me the "pack leader" bracelet for my birthday! http://www.cesarsway.com/shop/gifts/...eader-bracelet

Jen

Well, I told myself that I would stop reading this thread, and even unsubscribed myself from it (oh the irony, considering I started it), but then tonight I realized that I consider many of you on here my friends now, and I missed you. I had thought I'd "see" you all on the Maintainers weekly chat thread, but actually quite a few of you don't seem to "hang out" there.

Now I'm not sure what to do, because as long as I keep reading this thread, it will keep me feeling sad that I'm not losing weight, but if I don't, I feel like I'm missing part of my social support system. I had deferred buying a bathing suit for vacation to the last possible minute (I'm leaving for Greece on Friday morning) so I could buy one for my anticipated new weight, and I felt some real self-disgust tonight in the fitting room, seeing the jiggly bits along my sides and bottom, knowing they weren't there back in the winter.

Dagmar, I selected my ideal weight partly based on BMI (5'2, 120 pounds = BMI of 22, the highest I felt was reasonable) and partly on appearance - the weight where the jiggle is gone when I also engage in regular weight training.

For once, the food conversation isn't tempting me: oddly, I'm not a big fan of ice cream. The only appeal for me is when it's full of stuff like chocolate pieces or crunchy things, and at that point, I might as well just eat the chocolate directly and save the ice-cream calories. I have to say though, that since I've been a maintainer, PB (and nuts in general) have become HUGELY tempting, extremely satisfying and one of my favorite foods to overeat. I suspect because it's one of the few foods I eat that remains full-fat (or nearly so - I drain the excess oil off the PB), and the mouthfeel is heavenly even when it sticks to the roof of my mouth.

So, anyway, I don't know what I'm going to do about this thread, and this site. Since I'll be in Greece through the end of June, I suspect I"ll have far less time and ability to access the internet anyway. And I'll have far less control over what food I eat as well, making this a double challenge since I maintain based on calorie-counting and daily weighing. I guess that, like you Saef, I'm about to have a semi-involuntary exercise in relaxing some of my control mechanisms. It feels a little like jumping off the high diving board.

Andrea thanks for the info on how you selected your ideal weight. I hope you can enjoy your vacation in Greece. Such a beautiful place!

You are a part of the Maintainers and I hope you continue to post somewhere in the forum. Some of us have taken breaks from the forum and then come back. Please feel welcome whatever you decide to do.

A lot of us DO hang out in the Maintainers Chat thread - it's just kinda slowing down for summer. I think most of us from the north are out and about more in summer and not posting as much.

But beware - there is a LOT of pet stuff there. But you have a dog now, yes? And kids? A lot of us posting in Chat talk about our families and pets and gardens and other such stuff and sometimes even relate the posts to food!

Dagmar

Andrea, you are a maintainer and can post anywhere you like. I, in particular like this one because it goes until 500 posts so it is easier for me to look back and see something that may have been posted several day ago. The weekly chat is good, too but concerns itself more with day to day living including all the things Dagmar mentioned.
PS regarding ice cream, it isn't just the ice cream it is the combination of ice cream and peanut butter that is so hard to resist. If I could sit down with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, I for sure could easily scarf down a pint of B&J's. This is a good reminder that if I must pass the frozen food section, I must not even slow down. Keep walking and don't look left or right.

Andrea, I consider this thread to be the only one in which I can talk strictly about stresses and beliefs that I know have an impact on my ability to stay at a healthy weight & it is where I can raise those serious questions that I know I've got to answer if I'm going to be able to get by in this life. It's about that, rather than just about a goal of mathematical subtraction.

Today, with another three to five inches of rain in the forecast, I'm back from the gym & looking forward to a busy day prepping for midyear evaluations for my team and having a long conversation with my manager. I'm trying to praise my body today for the deadlifts that I just finished, rather than for the slack skin around my midriff.

This is exactly how I feel.

Andrea~Have a wonderful time in Greece! Walk a lot. You'll burn tons of calories. Things will look up once you're back.