Hello, ladies! I'm new around here (to posting on this forum section) and I'd love to join in your chatter so I can keep myself accountable. I'm really trying to stay on board and lose about 15 pounds but I'm in the go strong for a few days and then waver mode. Does weight loss really happen? Can it be done? I need to burst my negative thoughts as they pop up.

I guess what I'm really afraid of is the numbers changing and my body staying the same. That's a weird fear, right?

Happy to have found a home here

It's been so quiet in here! We used to be a chatty bunch; now I could hear crickets!

After going to see the trainer with the metabolic breath machine, I have stayed on plan since Friday (13th), with the exception of Saturday. I can't tell if I have lost weight because it is too soon and too many factors can influence the scale to go up or down. But I think I might have lost a little! Woo! Ill keep you all updated when I am further into it!

Not much is new around here. Still at my boring, mind-numbing desk job that Ive been at for over 3 years but nonetheless, grateful to have a job. I'm about to start school again at the end of the month and I am excited to start the Sonography program in two years! Dad's still driving my mom nuts and I am still on that oh so fun never ending quest for a good man Are they extinct??

But so grateful for all of the blessings I DO have! Hope everyone has a great day; its almost Friday!!!

Oh and welcome ohmaniloveGod!!!! You seem to have the same mindset as I did. Although I am not proof, I know weightloss CAN happen at our low weights. I have had friends, relatives, and 3fc friends that have lost the weight! It IS possible and you CAN do it. I promise! Good luck!

It has been quiet around here. I've been working long, long hours myself, so I haven't had a chance to catch up. I haven't had a chance to do much of anything in fact, but today I am going to the gym no matter how many deadlines I have.

ainsleymom, I live in/above Salt Lake City, Utah, though I did live in Colorado once upon a time.

thesame7lbs, my race is the day before yours. Good luck to you!

Have a great day, everyone!

Hellloooo fellow feathers! I've been away on yet another vacation. Spent a week with an athletic 17-year-old, ~125 lb @ 5'7" who spent most of her time in a bikini. Nothing like looking at that body for a week to make you want to ramp up your diet/exercise plan. Not that I'm ever going to look like I'm 17 again, but still... it was torture.

My head is spinning from diet book overload. I figured I'd read as much as I can and see what resonates. Some of it is kooky, but for the most part everything comes to the same central issues. I think I pretty much know what is a healthy diet by now. What makes the most sense to me is the SuperFoods Rx (Pratt) combined with the principles of South Beach (aim for 4.5 cups veggies/day, 3 meals and 3 snacks, only whole grains and not much of them, low saturated fat) BUT mostly veggie with occasional fish and focusing on whole foods and minimizing artificial sweeteners. Sounds complicated when I write it all down.

Still working on the behavioral part. The Beck book is awesome, so straightforward. But of course I fell off the wagon when I was traveling. Some really basic things that stick with me are:

1. Eat slowly while sitting down - MAN, I never realized that I eat all the time standing up, grazing
2. Weigh daily - that has been enlightening to see the constant up and down and to know exactly how much a day/days of terrible food overload affect the scale
3. Plan, plan, plan - I've gotten good at the planning (but not so great on the follow-through)
4. Hunger is not an emergency - Don't have to rush to cram whatever in at the first twinge of hunger. Wait to eat what is on the PLAN

So my issues for now are all behavioral. How to follow through on my great plans, how not to go completely off the deep end after one transgression, how to make exercise a regular part of my life, how to basically make all my knowledge translate into ACTION.

Yeah, that's it. Easy, right? I hope at some point to sort this all out, to stop READING and THINKING so much and form some good, healthy habits. I have some really bad habits to break from my skinny days.

On a lighter note, I saw 139.4 on the scale today, which is a huge victory if I can still be in the 130s tomorrow. I haven't had two consecutive days in the 130s in TWO YEARS. Ugh.

And... All of you runners are inspiring me to run again! Update about that later...

TTFN -

Hey Feathers! My kids are back in school, which was actually pretty sad for me this week! I miss them when they are gone, and I'm not really a big fan of having to rush them out the door in the morning and deal with homework after school. But we will survive.

I keep doing well, then caving in to food over and over again! I don't know why. This week, it was stress, but let's face it....there is stress most weeks. Then my running has been pretty weak. I just don't feel like getting out there, and when I do, I end up talking too many walk breaks or not running as far as I intended. I don't know what is up with me lately. I want these pesky pounds off for good, but my appetite is not cooperating. Some of the zippers on my skinny pants aren't cooperating either, so I had better straighten this out ASAP!

This post is kind of a downer, isn't it? Sorry guys! I have such good intentions each day, but I keep giving in when things get tough. I'm glad I have 3FC to express my stumbles along this weight loss journey!

Happy day!
I nannied all day today (had to work into the dinner hour), so I planned all my own meals--and, while being totally full after each meal, ended up in only the 1500s in calories for the day! While I won't be able to have two tomatoes and one whole zucchini and a cup of cottage cheese for lunch at school, I now know that the foods I'm now attracted to are the healthy kind!
Plus, I got plenty of sleep last night and exercised this morning (gosh, I sound like I'm bragging--but I'm not! I just had an amazing day!)

Hey everyone!

Feeling a little discouraged the past few days. It is that time of the month so.. I guess that is why. :/ Sucks though, I am just now starting to crave things... It has been two full weeks on my diet and I have not yet given myself a cheat day or even ate anything remotely unhealthy.. But believe me yesterday I wanted just about everything that exists. (luckily I told myself no and made some low calorie homemade soup)

Well, I don't want to ramble. But I REALLY am feeling discouraged .. when should I weigh myself again. I don't want to see the scale go up even if it is due to the bloating... ughhhhh

Hope everyone is doing well.. :]

Ohman, to the Featherweights forum! It's good to have you here. Can weight loss happen -- yes, ma'am! I can confirm that. Can maintenance happen? Well, I'm working on it! Re: bursting negative thoughts, I've found that positive self-talk and using an active voice rather than a passive voice with myself have both been really helpful.

Chelsey, whoa! Two years of school before sonography school? Do you have to do a bunch of bio prereq's?

EmmaD, I had a similar experience in June. The week we went to the beach happened to be Senior Week, so the whole town was flooded with 18-year-old girls. And you know what the problem is with teenage girls? Even when they're bigger than I am, they are FIRM. I'm never getting that back! (and to any teenage girls here, I am only kidding when I say "the problem with". You know I love you!) I love the Beck Diet Solution. Really good ways to change your thinking in order to change your actions and your outcomes. I have to bring mine back to the library tomorrow so I will probably break down and buy it. I, too, especially love the concept that "hunger is not an emergency." So many times people say, "Oh, I just HAD to go to McD's" or "I had NO CHOICE but to stop at 7-Eleven." Well, of course you [usually] have a choice. Just be hungry for another couple hours. You won't die.

Kellost, I know you are frustrated right now but look how far you have come! That's a good realization -- "There is stress most weeks." So true. Maybe by acknowledging that it will always be there, we can accept it and plan for it rather than let it become an excuse. I bet once you are back in the school routine you will be able to re-establish your plan.

Oneoftwelve, not bragging at all! Thank you for sharing your success -- it inspires the rest of us!

LMP, TOM is hard! Re: bloating, etc, I weigh every day, no matter what. It turns out I don't gain much around TOM, maybe a pound at most. I have more trouble when I ovulate, strangely enough. Are you counting calories? While I was losing, I allowed myself little treats within my calorie goal, and also had one higher day to allow for dinner out, a bigger treat, etc. I've found that the "all or nothing" approach is not sustainable (for me) and I end up throwing in the towel.

We leave for the beach early Saturday so tomorrow will be crazy. Hoping to fit in a good run since I will be in the car much of Saturday. It's hard work packing up a family of 5 for a week! I am toying with the idea of starting a blog... I've actually been thinking about it for years, but yesterday I got that saying in my head, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" and thinking about how fear of failure has so often held me back in my life. I may spend some of my vacation thinking about how this blog thing might work. If I do start one, will you all read it at least once? Pretty please?

I heart blogs! So yes I would read it, and I don't have many diet and exercise blogs I follow so that would be different. Is that what yours would focus on?

I think I need to get that Beck Diet Solutions book. Some of the principals really resonate with me. I especially love the "you're not going to die" if you don't eat for a bit. Also the 'response' cards sound like a good idea.

Anyway I'm having my first TOM since having my baby (she's 13 months - yay Breastfeeding!) and it's not fun. I'm not even bothering to weigh myself until my weigh in day because I just feel so icky.

Happy Friday Feathers!! I am so glad the forum isn't sleeping anymore

Oneoftwelve This forum is for venting and bragging Sharing your victories and good days are just as important as the bad!!

lilmisspope Oh I like to call this the two week itch! It seems almost like clock work that people start feeling this way after two full weeks and beginning their 3rd week. I usually see the annoying feeling of hopelessness around this time go away after the 4th week! Don't worry, it will pass! If it makes you feel better, keep blaming TOM, and wait till after he is longggg gone and then see how you feel! I find if I have an excuse for my cravings or why my weight fluctuates, it makes me stay on longer. May just be me though. If you give up, you can be sure you won't lose weigh; so stay with it because you will lose

Amy You are such a positive person; I dont like hearing you say you won't get back to being "firm"! Of course you can!!! You have a metabolism of a 20 year old. I think you could if you really wanted to

As for Sonography, they only offer the program once a year (every fall). I already missed the deadline for the 2010 program and the deadline for applying for the 2011 program is May. I wont have the prereqs (diff bio classes) done in time AND it is very hard to get into. So I will more than likely be put on a waiting list. My guess is Ill be starting the program Fall of 2012. Waa!!

Have a great Friday everyone! I'll be lurking around here until we get to leave work, so keep the posts coming!!

We posted at the same time!

I first want to second that I love blogs and would read Amys!

Congrats on getting TOM! Mine is over two weeks late No, I am not pregnant, I think it's still messed up from when I did the crash diet in April!

Is it true you burn 500 calories breast feeding Ainsleymom?

Hi, all - haven't been on here in months and checking back in. SO many new people - looking forward to getting to know you all.

Took a bit of a break from the weight loss over the summer. Put back on 2-3 lbs. - I kept up with teh exercise and didn't go crazy with food so not too much damage. The reaosn I got so frustrated was that I just could not seem to get below 130, so then I would get sloppy and it would become a vicious cycle. I'm at 133 now, with my first goal being to get below 130 before my wedding anniversary(9/20), I've cut out sugar and processed foods and will go back to Fat Smash detox in the next few days. Lots of fruit, veggies, beans, brown rice, oatmeal, yogurt, etc. Keeping calories between 1000-1200/day, which sounds low but it's what I need to do. I've been able to pretty much maintain at what I'm estimating to be 1800/day or so. I usually go to the gym 5X/week but don't get enough activity outside of that - we drive everywhere here - so one thing I'm adding is an extra 10-15 minutes of activity during the day - walking, stairs, etc.

I'll be on here a lot - this place keeps me honest!

Amy: Thanks for the feedback. I don't feel so bad today, just felt like I had gained 10lbs yesterday.. I weigh in tomorrow, so I guess I will still do that no matter what. Also, I am counting calories and I do plan on giving myself a cheat meal; my husband and I are supposed to eat out tomorrow. I just wanted to wait until I had been dieting for 2 weeks before cheating, I didn't want to cheat too early and then quit.

Dianne: I will be sticking with my diet, I really is not much of an issue for me.. I will keep blaming TOM because... I'm pretty sure thats why I feel this way. I have not yet experienced a weight gain, I just felt nasty the past couple of days. Luckily, today is a new day and I feel back to normal.

Thanks :]

Hello Feathers!

Just a quick check-in... we're all packed (even the car is mostly packed) and so I'm baking a loaf of banana bread to bring to the beach. Because what else would you do at 10:30 at night? (I'm tempted to bake muffins too but that would be crazy I think).

Welcome back, Natamars! Sounds like you've got a solid plan to get to goal!

So glad I have two readers for my as-yet-unnamed-blog. Ainsleymom, I'm thinking that it's going to be about getting myself and my life organized -- but specifically, applying the lessons I've learned in weight loss to other areas of my life. For years I said, "I want to lose weight," but never had a concrete plan. And for years I've been saying, "I need to be more organized," but never had a concrete plan. Well, I'm making a plan. But I think there will be a section or some posts that relate to wellness, particularly diet and exercise, because that is a big part of my life.

I've heard all different numbers for how many calories breastfeeding burns. Early on it must be pretty good, when you're nursing every couple hours and it's baby's entire nourishment -- cause I know I lost baby weight like nobody's business.

PS -- Yep, I ended up making muffins. I up the whole wheat flour, decrease the white, and add 1/4 cup ground flaxseed. Yum!