OH MY GOSH, YOU GUYS!!!!!

Because of my two-day workout bootcamp (because there can be no other reason for it; even with stopping the holiday goodie snacking, I'm still not back to eating as clean as I was before Thanksgiving), I am now officially down to 130 lbs.!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I am now officially over halfway to my goal. And, as many of us have remarked, I may decide to adjust my goal, because honestly? I am starting to actually not hate how I look! I'm feeling really good and strong, which I've been noticing in daily life. On Sunday, DH and I were helping my dad paint a room in my folks' house, and short little me carried this giant full bucket of drywall patching compound all by myself. I should weigh that bucket, because while I could tell it was crazy heavy, it didn't cause me any strain at all. Hooray for lifting weights!

This tiny but momentous weight loss is very inspiring. I'm going out with friends to my favorite coffee place tonight, where I usually order some crazy calorie-laden latté, but I'm feeling so good about my success and am going to order mindfully, remembering that I'm there to hang out with my friends and have good conversation, not a mocha full of sugar and fat. Black coffee is still caffeine, after all!

Kat, congratulations!! That is such a great accomplishment, especially this time of year.

Rose, welcome! It's never too late to join a chat thread

Congrats to you too, fivestone!

Krampus, isn't fitting into tiny sizes fun?? I definitely consider 26 a tiny people size, don't change how you think!

Soooo I was like 128ish this morning...reaaaaally losing grip this week. Definitely going to get into high gear next week, as soon as Christmas is over. ASAP. I need it, especially if I want to get to 120 by early Feb!! Ugggggh this is terribly hard while being at home. It was a breeze at school!

You can do it LillyLover And even if it takes you as long as March or April, an extra month (or two) isn't horrible!

I come bearing good news and bad the bad is that my father and I went out for pizza, and I consumed 5 slices in one sitting. That's about 1650. This isn't HORRIBLE because I'm going to work off 350 at the gym... but it means I won't get to eat much the rest of the day. Oh well though; I don't regret my decision.

The good news is that my exercise pants have become too big. I was jogging the other day, and I had to keep pulling them up. I had to tuck my shirt into them to keep them from falling down! So today I picked up new jogging pants, and to my surprise... I got a size small (6/4)! WOW! I figured I might be a size 8ish by now, but 6?? 4??? A SMALL???? I think I'm going to faint.

I am progressing well my weight today was 148.2 so I feel that losing those 2/10 of a pound (I realize there are not 10 ounces in a pound but my scale measures weight this way) will not be an issue.

I had a really bad day today but I am planning on having two really good days in a row so we will see. Today was my work lunch at the mandarin I had two helpings from the buffet I tried to stay away from cream sauces and deep fried foods. I drank only water. I then got all the way to the streetcar to go to the gym and realized I had left my gym bag at work so I went home. I then decided it was a really good idea to make sugar cookies for my students and co-workers unfortunately I tend to test my product but accidentally ingesting icing is quickly making me nauseous.

Tomorrow I am seeing my training and am going to ask her to beat the crap out of me. I have also found that if I down lots of water in the evening I beat the after work out bloat. I will also do some high intensity cardio Friday morning and I think that will prepare me for Saturdays weigh in.

I am so close I can almost taste it!! I have decided that if I meet my goal I will allow myself one guilt free Christmas dinner one donut (they are my nemesis) and then go back to my regularly scheduled diet (I am attending three eeeek!!).

Thanks, Lillylover! Hope things go in a better direction for you!

Good job on the new size pants, Wild Vulpix! You are getting small!

Krampus -- They're saying to expect a white Christmas here. I can't speak for Berlin, but lately whenever we've gotten snow, Germany's gotten a ton and the airports and DB got all jammed. Hopefully everything works out OK for your flights... bring plenty of warm clothes! And if you drive while here in Europe and it's snowy, pleeeease be careful, 'cause bless the Germans' little hearts but most of them aren't the greatest at driving in snowy conditions.

kat - congrats!!!! very happy for you.

PetitePowerhouse It really is amazing how many calories you can cram into a small little thing. A lot of processed bread products here have 500+ and are less than 5 bites' worth of actual food. Disgusting!

hahahahah danke danke fivestone. Berlin is Brrrrlin lately. It's going to be such a shock considering today was 15 and sunny and I pranced around outside in a paper thin leather jacket over a t-shirt with a scarf. >_<

Veela You're awfully close! Even if you don't get there by Christmas you still will soon.

LillyLover A change in setting always mucks things up. Which is why I'm terrified of how it will be when I move back to the USA and am suddenly not fatter than most women my age...

WildVulpix Way to go on the pants! Pizza is like crack cocaine.

***

I hit 124.1 this morning. Total disbelief considering yesterday I ate 1800 or so including 5 Tim Tam cookies (I resisted an all out binge). Today's food was hardly healthy but I stayed within calories. I was out shopping and meeting a friend. I had yogurt and coffee for breakfast, a cheeseburger by itself (not fast food thankfully) for lunch, and a piece of apple pie with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream for after-lunch because tomorrow is my birthday. That means dinner is a mandarin orange, so I'm eating it veeerrrryyyy slowly.

Well, I lost 2 1/2 pounds in about 2 1/2 hours this morning...'nuff said. Definitely not a good way to lose weight. Hope I feel strong enough to do my scheduled weight-lifting session after work today.

From what I see of the postings on this board, I'm impressed. As a group, the Feathers seem to be doing very well through this holiday season. Sugar, sugar all around, and we are at least holding steady with weight management.

Krampus, happy almost-birthday. I really hope you packed something warmer than a leather jacket for Germany in December (if not, what were you thinking??? Oh wait, I know, you thought- what a perfect opportunity to pick up a high-quality down parka at post-Christmas sale prices. That's actually quite clever of you).

Petite Powerhouse, what cheesecake is 1400 calories? That's insane. Even Cheesecake Factory products are in the 700-900 calorie range per slice (with 60+ fat grams and/or 80+ carb grams; ridiculous). I have a sick curiousity about "America's Most Excessive Foods" (e.g. Hardee's Monster Thickburger), and would love to add it to my list. FYI- you're my role model in the diet department. I have noticed, thanks to your comments, that I too can get away with eating more calories/day and still lose weight when I eat high-protein and healthy fats, and stay away from added sugar and overprocessed carbohydrates. And that I enjoy lifting a lot more than I like cardio (a necessary evil in my book). I've really picked these ideas up mostly from your posts over the months, so thanks.

Same7 and Dianne, you two are AWOL. Hopefully enjoying time with your families, not staying away because the scale isn't cooperating.

Enjoy your vacation and family time everyone,
Andrea

Neurodoc, The Cheesecake Factory has slices in the 1,200 to 1,300+ range as well, and other single desserts go up to 1,700 there. It's crazy!!!

I'm so happy that you are finding my posts useful. I know I am inspired by your success, seriously.

Same here, neurodoc. High protein/healthy fats and limited sugar/carbs still leave you feeling satisfied without starving. And strength training FTW! Though I, too, have started to learn to like cardio, or at least tolerate it.

neurodoc Thanks for the birthday wishes! As for warm wear, I swear half my suitcase is filled with thick socks and thick tights and leggings. I don't own any pants that fit (true story!) so it's gonna be dresses and skirts. I packed a bunch of kairo (little heat packs that stay warm all day) designed to fit inside shoes and I have my thick wool coat. I'm from upstate NY so I think I'll be ok!

***

Well, my tens and ones weight is officially lower than my age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm 24 today and this morning I weighed in at 56.0 kg aka 123.5 lbs. I can hardly believe it and I'm really pleased.

Way to go, Krampus!
I just got back from visiting my grandparents for Christmas. Usually, being at their house is a diet disaster, but I did amazing today (yesterday, well, Papa pulled out the nut bread, and the poppy seed bread, and the pumpkin bread, and the apricot kiefle. . . oh well. Christmas happens once a year! . Today, I'm still under 1500 calories so far--plenty of wiggle room for our quickie egg-sandwich-and-fruit tradition for dinner that we do when running out the door to Christmas eve service.
Merry Christmas to you all!

Krampus, that's such a great accomplishment! Congrats! I think all the weight you're losing is making its way over to me...it is not a happy time in my weight loss realm right now.

Great job, oneoftwelve! PS I'm in northern VA right now, at home. We may even be close to each other!

So we had Christmas dinner with my family tonight, which we do every year. Diet disaster. I'm really buckling down starting tomorrow! I'm terrified at the weight I saw on the scale tonight when I got home from dinner. I know that my weight will go down in the morning slightly, but it was such a wakeup call to be back in thte 130s after working so hard to get into the 120s

Tonight, I found out that about a month and a half ago, someone asked my grandma if I got liposuction over the summer, resulting in my weight loss. I don't know whether to feel insulted or complimented by that comment...

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

When you start a new exercising routine, how long can you expect the scale to shoot up for before your weight loss starts to show again? I'm starting to get a bit scared that I'm not doing something right.

I'm 130lbs, 5'0", I eat 1,200 calories, plus any calories I burn through exercising. (So if I burn 350 cals at the gym, I'll eat 1,550 calories that day.) I make sure to eat at least 48 grams of protein. I'm taking a multivitamin every day, and omega-3s. How does this sound? I worry that at 130lbs, I can't lose on 1,200 calories.

You probably can, but why do you eat back your calories?

krampus Happy Birthday and congrats on reaching 123! Amazing! Hope you are enjoying Berlin.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm off work now until next year and have been eating so much junk! Amazingly have not seen the scale move at all...waiting for it to sneak up on me soon here one morning. I've seen 141.0 each day since Saturday which was at 140.6 I guess I have gained a half pound since I was pretty consistently weighing in at 140.X a few weeks ago. But I hardly want to count just a half pound gain (and it's TOM).

Ready to get back in a routine for sure though...we were out of groceries today and of course a lot here is closed for Christmas. We actually live in a predominately Jewish area, so I was thinking Christmas wouldn't matter as we could go over to one of the many Kosher grocery stores. Then my fiancee reminded me today is Saturday and they are closed for the sabbath! D'oh! lol, we ended up calling about 10 places until we found one open to deliver us a pizza for dinner.

Looking forward to being off work next week and hitting the gym...but of course so many friends are on vacation and want to get together for meals, etc. I hope to get a few runs in to balance that out.