Bikes are essential in SEAsia! I mean yeah you always run a risk, but my moneybelt (including passport, debit card, etc) was stolen from my bag sitting on my lap (no joke) when I was at a restaurant in Thailand a few years ago. Things happen and the independence and mobility that having a bike happens is critical if you are going to be living somewhere for a while outweighs the risk, IMO.

I totally agree with you IndiBlue. I was feeling so alone before I got my own bike. Even though I don't drive it everyday, just knowing that it's there is really important for me. I need my freedom! You just have to be smart and NEVER carry anything with you. It was only my work bag (school books and papers), but it was of course the ONE day that i had my wallet with me because I was going shopping after work. The wallet was cheap and had about $40 in it, an ATM card and an ID card.

O_o Looks like I'll be staying in the cushy world of Northeast Asia for a while here. I'm a notoriously bad purse-dangler, it's only due to luck that I haven't been pickpocketed or anything.

Today I ate a little more than I wanted to, but it was all GOOD food except for a negligible (less than 20 calories most likely) piece of chocolate. Calories about 1550.

A question for you, feathers, do you ever just have miserable fat days where you look down and pinch an inch and are convinced you're every bit as fat as when you weighed more than 25 lbs over your current weight? I was doing an exercise DVD in my underwear as I always do and I suddenly felt like my thighs had expanded massively overnight and was super self conscious about jiggle. It was so bad I almost cried mid-workout but I chalk that up to it being Day 1 of TOM.

Ah, I have fat days ALL THE TIME. As in, right now. My ankle hurts worse than last night -- I optimistically fell asleep without my brace -- and it appears my adjusted plan (I ate 1450 yesterday) put me at a 0.2 gain. Now every bit of me wants to cry from pain and I am just feeling fat all over.

When I squeeze my belly together in the front, it makes an ugly sponge face! ... yeah, fat days absolutely stink. I know I look marginally better in my workout clothes than I did five pounds ago, but it's definitely not worlds of difference yet. Motivating myself is hard for such incremental changes.

I have this a lot too Krampus. Even though I have lost 14 lbs, I have barely lost any inches - I saw an initial 2 inch drop in my waist measurement right after I began dieting, and when I measured the other night I think my hips are finally down 1 inch. But because I've hardly seen those numbers change it really makes me wonder if my weight loss is "real" or not. I mean, it has to be because the scale changes but I don't know where it is coming off of...

One the plus side, I've had some classmates/coworkers comment on my weight loss. But nothing from my friends/family. I suppose it's easier from the people who see my every day (coworkers/classmates)?

Wildflower, my problem this week is the opposite... my waist went down another 1/2 inch to 26.5 (for me, this was super exciting) but my weight, as I've mentioned, is still plateaued at mid-TOM weight of 125.3. It's so funny how all of this works.

I called my mom today to clear up some paperwork issues and was complaining a little about weight loss. She told me she'd just lost 5 lbs from completely cutting out carbs for a week. "It wasn't that hard," she said. I asked her how much I should be eating and she said 1000-1100... ahhhhh. "I put my patients on 800 a day sometimes," she told me. She's a doctor and so no-nonsense ("stop eating cookies, I always see you eating cookies," she'll say, because she saw me eating cookies when I was at home a month ago, before I started trying to lose).

I'm just so frustrated. Granted my mom's about 10 lbs more than me, but I kind of resent the matter-of-fact way she just says "yeah, you're gonna be hungry, deal with it." I guess my unhappiness is compounded by the fat that my ankle hurts something awful today -- I think I jarred it -- and the running shoes I ordered hours before falling are coming in the mail tomorrow.

On-plan today, & headed for lower calories than either yesterday or the day before... I'm less hungry due to not really exercising and eating so much (1450) yesterday. I guess that's a good thing.

Hope everyone else is doing a bit better than I am, lol. Almost the weekend!

Funny that you mentioned that Krampus, I have a fat day EVERYDAY as of late. I honestly LOOK fatter than I ever have before, even when I actually weighed more a few years back. Nearly daily I have a pinch myself freak out, and want to cry about it. I've been pretty down on myself lately.

The other day I told my husband that I really wanted to stay on track, so i need his support to get back to where I was last spring and summer. He got a confused look on his face, and said I look just the same now as I did then. WHAT???? I was 120-122, and fit into a size 4 wedding dress, which probably wouldn't even get over my hips these days, let alone zip! Men, what can you do!

I am constantly having fat days. It doesn't help that I gained back like 5lbs of weight I had already lost before Christmas. Every time I step on the scale I can't help beating myself up about it and it just makes me feel fat. On the bright side I have stopped "dieting" meaning actively limiting my food and exercising. I am currently eating as I please within reason and have managed to lose 2-3lbs which is pretty exiting.

I have had a couple of really busy weeks and haven't made it to the gym at all this week but will start up again with that next week along with making slow healthy changes to my diet again to try and get back on track. I really want to focus on the positive strides I am making rather than focusing on the negative because the last thing I need right now is more negative.

lackadaisy that is frustrating about your mom. Not that this is sage advise or anything, but it's just one of those situations where you have to say "ok, cutting carbs worked for her, and eating on 800 calories a day (!?) works for her patients. But it doesn't work for me. I know I need 1400-1600 a day to make my loss sustainable and to not go crazy." It may take a little longer than your mom's strategy did (although she may gain every ounce back once she starts eating bread, which seems like that usually happens) but it's the one that is going to get YOU where you want to be.

Re. losing inches- aren't there huge benefits to not just losing in "one" place- i.e. inches around the waist? As fun as NSVs like waist measurements are in being motivators, isn't it great to lose throughout the body so that everything becomes leaner at generally the same rate? Like wildflower said, that's what people tend to notice. Not that it isn't awesome to drop noticeably in the waist, but both types of losses seem to have huge benefits

maenad I know what you mean- I used to be 125ish and my boyfriend can't tell a difference between that and my recent high of 134. I'm short so it's a pretty obvious difference, especially for someone who sees you generally... er... less dressed than most people! As frustrating as it is when he can't tell my recent 4 lb drop (which again, is pretty noticeable to me), I guess it's better than him noticing and commenting on every pound I gain! Still, funny how guys are like that...

Haha argh fat days! If I overeat consistently for a day or more, I get what I call "chronic fatface" and I swear my face doubles in size and it shows in pictures/in the mirror. Sometimes fatface happens on on-plan days and that's just the worse.

I know I could be doing a lot more to combat it but I am just overwhelmed by how much fat hangs out on my body in various places. One way I've found to calm myself down is to hold a hand held mirror in front of my torso and pinch an inch. It's times like those when I realize I really am only pinching about an inch or maybe a couple inches.

Made the mistake of measuring my waist yesterday. I really have let myself go, I'm up 3 cm from my smallest waist measurement which was 65-66 cm, or just barely 26 inches. It's funny how much bigger the same weight feels when you know you've been smaller recently.

All that aside, I've lost every day this week and made sensible choices and stopped binging, so it can't all be piss and vinegar. Going to hang out with my boyfriend and eat a bit more than I should over the weekend, but I'm not going to binge. I'm just not! It's not OK to do so I won't do it.

Today is going much better, I am always better when I am working. Although I enjoy having such a light schedule right now, it's pretty tough only working on weekends and one night a week...

How do your work schedules effect your eating schedules?

I also have been preparing meals ahead of time for busy days recently, so I grab a homemade Veggie burger before running errands rather than going out to eat.

Sounds tasty... what is in your homemade veggie burgers? Do you eat them with a bun?

P.S. - Sorry about the troubles you've been having lately with the muggings... hope that things are going better for you and that you'll stay safe! While there are some awesome people in the world, sometimes people can be really underhanded and disappointing.

Work is terrible for my eating schedule. I'm a student so I can usually plan my meals pretty well, but when working (like this weekend) I'm surrounded by temptations (free muffins!) and people eating... ALL THE TIME.

My work tends to be sedentary, so that doesn't help, either. The one thing it does help me is having a low-cal beverage all the time -- coffee or tea, basically -- and keeping myself occupied so I'm not thinking about food. Then I can go four or five hours without intrusive cravings and I stay well on plan.

I'm still not quite used to this diet thing... it takes more brain capacity than I'd like.

On the plus side, despite a few, ahem, regularity issues, I weighed in at 123.8 today! Probably because my muscles are losing their retained water from my exercise regimen slacking off during ankle healing, but here's hoping the carb-slashing has helped, too.

Fivestone: Thanks your your well wishes. I have been feeling alot better about everything the past few days, so all is good and on the mend!

my burgers are super easy to make.
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed. smash in a bowl with a fork
add 1/2 cup corn
add 1/2 cup red bell pepper, and 2 cloves garlic (both finely chopped)
add seasoning (some times I stick to curry powder and a bit of salt, or go for cumin and paprika)
add either 2 table spoons of flour or coarsely ground rolled oats (these work as the binder to hold everything together)

I make them onion free because I don't like them, but you can add those in if you wish, and subtract some corn and red peppers.

mix everything together and separate into patties with your hands. Store in refrigerated if you plan to eat them in the next few days, or freeze them if it might be longer. Cook patties in oil for a few minutes on each side until browned.

Sometimes I add a little cheese on top, but usually not. I make these all the time and crumble one on top of a salad. Sometimes I make sandwiches with one on Whole Wheat bread, tomatoes, avocado, and lettuce with some mustard and light mayo. They are super easy if you are cooking for two, I make my husband one on a bun with all the toppings and chips on the side and mine over a salad.

Hope that makes sense and helps!

maenad Those burgers sound amazing! I've got to try that sometime.

lackadaisy AHHH look at you go! You're keeping me in check. I hit 123.5 on Christmas Eve and I'm dying to get back.

***

I always, ALWAYS overeat/indulge on the weekends, but this weekend was probably the least damage I've done in over a month. Only up a pound or so after a lot of crap, and today I'm armed with a small arsenal of healthy on-plan foods. I had an overwhelming urge to binge on chocolate yesterday, talked myself out of a big box of whatever in favor of a small Valentine heart with peanuts in it, and didn't wind up eating it. I may work it in as dessert for lunch or dinner today, or not. There's no rule anywhere saying you have to eat chocolate within 24 hours of buying it!

The "fat" paranoia of feeling my thighs rubbing together/touching a lot has fled the scene for the time being. I'm going to run tonight which will make me feel better about it all. Looking forward to seeing a net loss on the scale by Friday. I know I will if I eat right.