Not much time for anything today except to say that I've busted through my plateau - I ran 3.2 miles this morning in exactly 24 minutes!! Woo hoo!! I beat my time by two whole minutes. I'm so darn proud of myself now.

Have a great weekend. I'll say more on Monday. Bye!

Hey Ladies! Just weighed myself at work ( random I know). After a week of not so great eating and hardly any working out the result ( surprise, surprise) was not good. I started this month off with sooooo much motivation and two weeks in its seems to have died. Ugh! Indulged in not one but two slices of a co-workers birthday cake yesterday, AND had wendys for dinner last night. Bagels have been breakfast for the past two mornings. Im slippin...lol

Must get back on track but it seems the lazies have hit me. Been purposely avoiding the scale but I jumped on today because sometimes thats the only thing that snaps me out of my ho-hum attitude towards my weight loss. Mission accomplished but for how long? a few days? 1 week?

I have no idea what maintenance will be like for me bc my weight doesnt seem to stabilize. If Im eating immaculately and working my butt off, I lose. But if I eat "normally" or not so great and miss a few workouts the scale shoots up. There's no middle ground. Im never able to just "coast" sometimes without a gain and its frustrating. I worked HARD at getting 25-30 lbs off for a good 5-6 months and its sooo daunting to think that just 2 weeks of not giving this 100% can result in a weight gain of 5-7 lbs. I read about how some of you veer off track for a week or two and come back to find out that you only gained 1 or 2 lbs and thats NEVER the case with me lol. I don't plan to diet forever to maintain my goal weight once I get there but its looking like that's the only way it will stick.

Done venting!

fitmom congrats on the awesome run! I told you that you would be improving in no time.
Please share your secret of consistency! I can recall most of the ladies on here struggling with atleast ONE bad week, binge, or slip up at some point. But it seems like you are steadily trucking along.You always seem to have such a great attitude about getting your workouts done, a ton of energy, and have truly made healthy eating a lifestyle and not just a phase you are going through to reach a goal. How do you stay so levelheaded and in control? Im beyond impressed! And yes TOM will be gone before you know it so dont sweat it

lackadaisy Welcome back and congrats on that weigh in! Also I hope you are feeling better mentally about where you are image-wise and that you are taking care of yourself. I know that it hasnt been easy for you and you have worked to get where you are but I am secretly sooo jealous lol. Especially because I feel so out of whack right now. Great job :-)

mamamorgan breaks ups are rough. But Im happy you are using exercise as a way to get blow off steam instead of turning to food which would be my first thought. Just keep in mind that " this too shall pass." And in my experience everything always always always happens for a reason

Dorian5 Lucky you for only being up 1lb or so also. Goodluck with the rest of the month and I hope the BF's birthday is great!

skinnyelle39: You will back get on track - repeat that fifty times, lol. Don't beat yourself up over it. You're doing great. Look at what you've done so far, no small feat in my eyes. Tomorrow is always another day. What's my secret? It sounds crazy but when I want to throw in the towel (and yes, there are days, believe it or not), I just think of my mom dying at the young age of 65 and that snaps me right back into reality (sorry to be so morbid). I don't want to die of cancer - plain and simple. Plus, I have two sets of eyes (my sons) that constantly look to me for guidance in this life so I have to stay motivated to be a good role model so they'll grow into two great men. My point is that you need to find some motivating factor that you can go to when you start to feel lazy, that's what works for me. I'm sending you good thoughts. I know you can do it. P.S. The last ten pounds are always the hardest to lose, you're not alone in feeling that way.

fitmom I truly appreciate your support. Im just having a moment and this is probably the first time since I began losing that Im starting to feel defeated and like giving up.
But you are right I must find some non- superficial, non-vain reason to keep up with my healthy lifestyle to focus on when cupcakes and french fries start to sound a whole lot better than salads and sweat, lol.

I have come a long way. I was looking at pics of myself 25-30 lbs ago last night and the change is apparent. But when you haven't met your goal and can feel yourself backsliding and on the brink of losing control its hard to focus on how far you have come, ya know? Because at any moment it feels like you could turn right back into that person and it would all be for nothing. Anyway I truly thank you for the motivation and positivity!

Good morning feathers! All right, I am at 123lbs, I was 122.2 last Friday so it was about a pound of gain across those 4 days of crazy eating. Sheesh!

I WILL keep up my good eating habits this weekend! I will NOT sabotage myself! I'm determined!

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mamamorgan - I am so sorry to hear that you're having a rough time. Glad to hear that you're still putting your health and happiness first! It's most important!

philana - Exactly, it's a lifestyle change and I will DEFINITELY be going out to eat again. It's a journey, not a race! A scale sounds like an excellent idea, I need to weigh my food as well, I always end up heaping the tablespoons and such.

lackadaisy - I definitely have to check myself like that sometimes and recall what I did the day before instead of freaking out about the number on the scale. You are doing excellent!

ann71 - I hope things become unstressful for you soon, I am glad you've kept your eating manageable! When I get stressed I get acquainted with a big bottle of liquor or a case of beer (liquid calories suck!) Feel better soon!

fitmom - Wicked, I love little victories like that! That's an impressive run! Keep it up!

skinnyelle - Don't you normally do low carb? Could that be why your weight fluctuates so much? I shoot up a few pounds too and then it stabilizes because of the salt, but I think because I always have eaten carbs it doesn't shoot up more than a few pounds -- my goal weight is actually 120, but I want to get to 115 so my "fed" weight is 118-120. I hope you get things straightened out soon and find your motivation again, I know it's hard! Keep at it girl! You're so close!

dorian5 I started out low-carb and it worked great for me. But 2 months or so ago I started remembering how much I love fruit and bread products, lol. So since then Ive been heavily relying on calorie counting for my weight loss. Its worked fine up until now. I don't think Ill ever go back to completely omitting carbs from my diet because I really just did it to help me take off a significant amount in beginning. Plus I found that keeping up with my workouts helped to negate water retention from eating carbs. So as long as Im working out, I can usually have up to 150g per day and still see consistent loss. The problem arises when I have that many and dont exercise, lol. So yea, your point makes sense.

The goal was to eventually just eat healthily, count calories, and incorporate all food groups. But I am going to go back to staying under 100g per day and avoiding junk. Thanks for the good vibes. I am very close, just gotta keep it together!

skinnyelle! it's good to see you posting again, 'evne' if it is a rant. Ya know, it's perfectly fine to have a bit of an "UHG" moment. I would get frusterated if the weight went up that fast too. Do you keep tracking your calories when you go off plan or to what you think is about maintenance? Because it's so easy to just not do it and the reason you might shoot up is because you think you are doin gonly so-so in the calories, but in truth are maybe doing way more than so-so? Just a thought - but I don't know either!

dorian - omg, only a pound after all the goodstuff you mentioned you were gonna have? the pound will be gone before the weekend is over if you stick to your mantra! how nice.

fitmom - YOU ROCK. OMG, I can't ever dream of running that fast. Seriously. I should start by saying I can't ever dream of running that far - but if I didn't then I should just quit C25K hihi.

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I feel better than ever today girls! I just did an extra long workout at the gym. It was amazing! I think it's really the low-carb I have today. I am gonna try to low-carb for a while, in my case meaning eating between 70g and 90g a day. And get my protein up to 70g (it's SO hard for me somehow to eat lots of protein! mostly because I spent my calories on fruits I think).

I did the coolest thing, I was on the stationary bike and I always get bored, even if it's just 15 mins, but now I did the last 8 mins like 'interval'. I'd go at 110rpm for 30 seconds and then 80rpm for 30sec and then back to 110. It's easy, silly and I have no clue if I am suppose to do it like that, but it had me sweating a bit more and time went way faster. I think when I get back from my trip I need to ask my intructor to change my routine up a bit, it's becoming too easy. My heartrate didn't even go above 150 when I did the interval on the bike (I started at 170 with only 70rpm.. haha) and my heartrate at the step-thing wasn't above 170 either, while in the beginning it spiked like crazy. I notice the change since I started running with the c25k but I can barely imagine it having such an impact?! I'm only at week 2...

philana: I probably won't talk to you before you leave so have a wonderful holiday in France and a safe time too. And try not to worry too much about the scale when you're away, vacations are meant to be enjoyed. You'll be missed.

Also, today is exactly 90 days until I turn 40 - EEEEEEEEEEKS!!!!! I just wanna...puke. Not really but why do I feel like an ax is about to come down on my head?

philana Thanks for your insight and you might be right. I put all of the junk ive consumed into my weight loss calorie counter today and it shows that my overages equal about 2500 which is not even enough to have put on 1 true lb of fat. So I know what Im seeing on the scale is mostly water but I just feel puffy and heavier and I know my jeans are tighter also. But most of the time when I go OP i do not keep track... its to depressing lol. But I should just to stay consistent and it may even help keep me in check. Enjoy your trip!

Intervals make everything more interesting IMO, glad you are enjoying them. Im loving all of your positivity too!

fitmom there will be no ax and you will surely be one hot mama at 40... and im sure no one will think you are your age anyway. You have nothing to worry about!

I've been bad. Very very bad. I had a really important exam for med school applications, and when I sit and revise I just eat, and I didn't exercise either. And then I did really bad on that exam, so I ate some more, for two more days. *sigh* And I'm meeting up with my friends from uni next week, and I had wanted to look noticeably slimmer for then but that's DEFINITELY not going to have happened. And two of my housemates have lost weight this summer (one has dropped a couple of dress sizes too!! And she didn't really need to!) Argh. Oh well, hopefully it'll be motivation.

I'm getting back to it tomorrow. I'll wake up and do my exercise video, and maybe even start my C25K. Maybe. :P But most importantly I'll eat healthy for the next week at least. I'm starting my work experience and care work next week so hopefully being on the move all day + diet will = WEIGHT LOSS! :P

philana - have fun on holiday!
fitmom - age is literally a number when it comes to you I imagine. You're probably as fit as a 20 year old! (Or fitter, if you compare yourself with this 20 year old. :P)

I am happy to report that those darn bent-elbow planks which I loathe with a passion are actually getting easier. I challenged myself last night to do them three times for 45 seconds each instead of 30 seconds. Well, I was sweating like crazy but I did it. And you what? I'm beginning to, dare I say, like doing them, lol. Also, there's only like a 2 inch section of loose skin which hangs down below my navel (courtesy of my two pregnancies) when performing them now as opposed to a 4 inch section like a few months ago which is so exciting to me. So these blasted planks do work my abs! Who knew?!? I'm off to do my Pilates. Have a wonderful weekend ladies!

Oh hay guys, I just wanted to report that I bleached my hair to go blonde and now it's an attractive (not!) banana yellow. So now I feel fat AND I have bad hair. Hopefully I can fix it with this toner. Sheesh, it's always something!

Yesterday was a complete and utter DISASTER. I planned to have 2-3 drinks at a work happy hour. Ended up staying out for 8 hours and had 5 large glasses of wine and no dinner. Felt less than 100% this morning and probably gained (didn't weigh myself - no need to add insult to injury!). I think I was 1200 cals over my target. My skin looks like **** and I'm a bloated mess. Thankfully I could work from home today.

I'll hit the gym in the AM before taking a mini road trip to visit my best friend. I'm very excited - we don't see each other often enough and it's time to catch up. I just hope the eating/drinking doesn't get out of control!

Dorian: LOL at your hair situation -- don't worry, you can fix it with another batch of hair color!

I bought a cropped top. THAT'S ALL I NEED TO SAY. <3

YAY! 2 days of completely back on track and the scale finally moved. Was stuck at 143/142 for 2 weeks now. But am at a low 141 (allllmost 140 actually)

* does a happy dance *

Sticking to plan really drops the lbs off me so I am so gonna stick to it for the next month!

Just wondering when the legs are gonna get smaller. The last 15lbs have gone mostly from my upperbody, which wasn't so bad to begin with, but now I have a nice waiste again. Still a puffy belly though. So when the last scraps of belly are gone I think my legs will finally loose some fat. So annoying, it's the danged legs that people know are fat and why nobody sees a real change yet.