Hi guys, I've been gone again because I've been stuffing my face since Thursday and I'm getting frustrated. It was my mom's and brothers Name Day, if you guys even know what that is, on Thursday and everything's gone to **** since. Then today it's my birthday and all I can think about are my dad and my brother... Anyway, luckily, we didn't have any leftover cake, but I am going out to eat again now... I hope I can get back on track tomorrow. Ι'm even signing up to a gym, provided that I can find the time to get some sleep first...

Not much new with me! Just insanely sore from the run yesterday. Feeling it in my dodgy knee, my legs and my abs! Strangely my shoulders too. Took today off from exercising since I'm listening to my body.

The boyfriends parents are really sick right now...trying my best to avoid them so I don't get it!! But I'm gonna have to head up soon and make dinner. Eep!

In other news, it's kind of strange/unrelated, but I'm starting to get a bit scared of my boyfriends dog. He has 2 Malamutes, one of which (Nala) is really skittish. She's jumped on me and grabbed my arm in her mouth once and she went to grab my leg the other day but BF was there to stop her. This has all happened after 1 month of her being ok with me. I'm finding myself getting worried around her, always watching her. She didn't hurt me the first time, if she wanted to she could have drawn blood and bit me HARD, but it was just a grab (I had a dog that did this when members of the family would play fight). When I get spooked by her, say if she runs over to me or she jumps up if I stand up, I get really shaken and start feeling really upset. I can't explain why I get upset, it's just been really bugging me. BF's parents were away over the weekend so we were left to look after Nala (they took their other dog to a dog show) so she was really unsettled, but now they're back things seem to be ok again. But every time she grumbles or gets up around me I feel a little "uh oh" in my gut. I hate it! I love dogs, I don't want to be scared of them, makes me feel like a kid again since I used to be scared of big dogs. I had to get over it when we got a Great Dane, so I feel like old fears are coming back. I'm trying to just be normal around her, because I know dogs pick up on feelings, so far so good I just hope it keeps up. Though I'm finding myself not wanting to go upstairs because I worry she'll be there and she'll go for me...it's a bit of a mess!


atmos - I know exactly how you feel, I find if I pressure myself to be perfect all the time I just cave and end up becoming a food eating hermit. It's good to take things one step at a time, choose what you want to focus on and then when you feel you've got it covered move on to your next priority, which you seem to be doing. Lack of sunshine and all this rain isn't helping! Even I'm getting fed up of the weather and I'm from England! So I can only imagine how people who live here must feel!! Even though this is a weight loss forum/a weight loss challenge ultimately we're all here to change our lives. So you should never stick with doing something you can't keep up with for the rest of your life.

NNS - You're right, it was EXTREMELY rude to put that hill at the end!! I couldn't help but say "I'm dying" when I went up that hill even though I knew I was so close to it being over! Definitely the toughest 10K yet. I think if you find yourself in a stall, then changing things up is a good thing to try. If you're happy with maintaining then there's no problem in that! Sometimes it's good to focus on other things in life and not let weight loss get the better of you.

nonameslob - I keep trying to decide if I prefer the flooding or wildfires. At least this flooding was not as bad as 2013. I think I started a couple months ago but I just finished W4D1 and am hoping to do day 2 tomorrow morning if I can make it out of bed before work. In the past I've gotten as far as week 7, so I'd really like to finish this time. I've never been much of a runner, but I really like being out on the trail, how convenient of an activity it is, and I think it would help with my dance endurance. I like your mindset of being good with either maintenance or weight loss. Takes some pressure off without totally losing your focus.

Marniadec - I'm sorry the name days stirred such emotions. Hopefully the gym will give you a good way to deal with the emotions and stress.

Riestrella - I hadn't thought of it that way, but "food eating hermit" is exactly what happens to me, too. Good luck dealing with the dog, I hope you're able to figure out how to feel safe around her.

I really enjoyed my dance class tonight. I'm far from perfect, or even good, but I have noticed that I am improving over the past few months. It feels very nice. Unfortunately for my next feis there aren't enough people in any of my beginner dances for it to "count" if I score a first or second to move on to the next level. I'm getting frustrated with the low numbers for beginners lately and my teacher may have to just move me up at this rate. I really want to get out of beginner so I can have a solo dress!

Rie it's just like you said. She picks up on your fear and your being on edge and it scares her, too. And since she's skittish that makes it worse. Try to be calm and confident around her, if you see she's getting scared or aggressive at the slightest don't talk to her in that cute, soft, high-pitched voice we all use when talking to pets, that will reinforce the behavior. Here's a website I know of that can help and I'm sure there are more out there: http://fearfuldogs.com/

atmos I really hope the gym will help, too. It'll totally count if you move on to the next level, are you kidding? You're progressing and getting better at what you love, that's what counts. Maybe there aren't many people you can compete with, but you can compete against yourself. When is your next feis?

So, my trainers are dead. I only wore them to walk a dog, so my middle cat would pee on them in an act of protest. She finally managed to get them to rot. I need to get new trainers now and I'm thinking about ordering from a store in the UK because I can't afford to get them from a store in my city. I saw one brand, Karrimor, which caters to high arches, which I have. Has anyone heard of them? Do you know if they make good-fitting shoes?

I've been doing very well today because I haven't eaten anything. Ι don't know why it's so hard to get myself to want to diet... I went from losing 99 lbs in 14 months to losing a total of 66 lbs in 3 years. I keep saying that I'll reach goal before my birthday but I just never feel like actually doing it... It's getting old.

Hello everyone!

Ries- I hope your bf's parents get better! Stay healthy and wash your hands! Don't want you to get sick...Good luck with the dogs...that's not a fun situation to be in...any idea why she's so skittish?

atmos- I'm glad you're enjoying your class! That was really important for me too. I've seen Irish dance before but am not wholly familiar with the technical side. Does it bear any similarity to tap?

Marniadec- You are not alone. I go through bouts of motivation where I'm all about dieting and exercising and then even [longer] bouts of like, meh. I don't really feel like doing this. Hopefully a purchase of new shoes will help!

Doing pretty well, weighed in this morning at 136.0! That's only three pounds to my goal!?? Granted, I haven't eaten anything today, so that'll surely change. Going to do a Turbo Fire DVD tonight I think rather than go to the gym. Good luck today, friends!

Nonameslob Thank you so much for the congrats!! I'm super relieved to be done and proud of myself. My weigh in went okay, only gained 1 pound, I thought it would have been way worse than that. But I'm working on getting myself together and starting to exercise again. Thank you for all of your positie comments!

Penny105 Thank you for sharing! I'm glad to know I'm not alone in reverting back to old habits when feeling down. I'm trying not to dwell on anything this week and focus on the positive

I hope everyone else is doing well. I want to go through and catch up on some other's experiences once I have a minute

Marniadec - I forgot some vital information. In order to move up to the next level, one must achieve a minimum placing out of at least 5 people. My three remaining beginner dances have less than 5 each, so technically my placements don't count to move up. My teacher may decide to advance me due to chronic lack of new adult dancers in the last several months, though. My next feis is on June 12. My two novice dances do have at least 5 though, so if I achieve a first in either of those I can move up a level.

charbreaker - There are two types of shoes, hard and soft. The hard shoe dances have some similarity to tap. We do some similar moves like shuffles (trebles) and I think tap calls it flap (tip step for us). There are some additional moves like bangs, where we hit the tip and heel hard on the ground in a stomp, toe stands (like pointe in ballet - outside of my skill set still!), and banging the toe on the ground. One major difference is the tip and heel of the shoe are made from fiberglass rather than metal for making the sound and we must always, with rare exception, have our feet turned out and crossed, making an x with our legs and a triangle of space visible below the knee. An example of the hard shoes is seen in my avatar. There are 4 dance types in hard shoe. The treble jig, hornpipe, and set dances are all competition dances. The treble reel is typically outside normal competition but we use it a lot in our performances.

The soft shoes are called ghillies and look more like ballet shoes. Soft shoes for men look more like jazz shoes and have a hard heel as they make clicking sounds that the women do not make. The same concept of turn out and cross applies but movements are quite different as we are not trying to make sounds. This would be more similar to ballet I think, but the movements are typically sharper/quicker and we do not use our arms. Reel, light jig, slip jig, and single jig are the soft shoe dances, with only reel and slip jig danced at the highest levels of competition.

There are also ceili dances and figure dances, which are done in soft shoes. These are choreographed group dances. The ceili dances are the social dances of Ireland (Scotland has them too, ceilidh, though slightly different choreography from what I could tell when I was there). The ceili dances are written down from the traveling master teachers in the early 1900s in Ireland and performed the same around the world. My favorite is the Fairy Reel. The figure dances are choreographed by each school and do not need to follow tradition. My school usually places very high (or wins!) the figures competitions at the world championships. I started to late too ever be part of that, though!

There, more than you even wanted to know!

atmos I thought that you were doing that competitive thing I often do. In that case, it seems wrong for you to get held back simply because your instructor can't get enough new students... Also, can I ask you a question? What does your name mean? Because atmos is the Greek word for steam.

So, I've been doing well for the past few days but I've also been retaining horrendous amounts of water. I've even bought some pills that are supposed to help. I've seen good reviews and the employee at the drugstore who also has Hashimoto's told me that they help her (but I think that she also takes more than she should) but they've done nothing for me so far... I'm getting pretty frustrated. Not only have I not seen a loss in like a month, I'm also tired of waking up so swollen. My stomach, thighs, arms, even my face. I wake up with a headache every day...

Also, I might take the day off today because my favorite burger joint is opening again. They've renovated and they're having a grand opening and I don't think I'll be able to stay away.

Also, I just found some information on Hashimoto's and retention again and, apparently, the woman was told to drink 16 oz of Pedialyte. I can't get it here, I drink Almora instead and the difference is that Almora contains a little extra Potassium and Sodium. But it seems like too much for a day? I will try it, though, as I'm fed up.

Reistrella: Heavier girls ABSOLUTELY can be stylish (equally if not more than slimmer girls, based on my friends). I'm just saying that the exact same clothes/looks on me when I'm heavier do not get compliments unless I'm thinner (and I'm putting more effort into my appearance at a higher weight, too). I could also dress way down and still get hit on and complimented at the store at my lowest weight - not so much now. It seems (at least to me) that being slimmer makes people think other things look better (clothes, shoes, makeup), and encourages more compliments. I definitely don't mean only thin girls can look good (not even close). I just think it might be much easier.
Also, congrats on your 10K! Wow!

I am officially at the point where people are starting to notice my weight loss. I still have a bit of a hard time seeing it, but people who haven't seen me in a few weeks are noticing! I gotta say...even though I am mostly doing this for me...it feels good to have some recognition!

Week 5 Charts!!



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Hey everyone!

Random thought of the day - the other week we had a gathering at the house while the BF's parents were away. We played adult Jenga i.e. we wrote on each block something the person who pulls it out has to do. One of the guys drew a block that said "give a piggy back ride to the person to your right." I was that person on the right, my heart sank a little. I was in a room with 5 thin and fit people, I was the only overweight person there and I was the one he was supposed to carry. I said "no, no, no! I'm too heavy!" and continued drawing a unicorn (lol!) since that was something I had to do on my turn! But when I finished he said "time for your piggy back ride!" and I said again "no, really, I'm too heavy I'd crush you!" but instead of going quiet and making me feel badly everyone was encouraging and said I would be fine. It was a really nice moment...and I don't know why. I did get the piggy back and I didn't crush him, though I did feel bad that it was me he had to carry and not one of the other 125-130 lb girls in the room!

So since the 10K I've been AWFUL. That 162 lbs I saw has disappeared for what seems to be for good. Why oh why is it so HARD to lose weight but in the matter of 6 days EASY to gain back 2 lbs. It took me WEEKS of work to lose those 2-3 lbs and in DAYS I regain them. It goes to show that this weight loss thing is about being consistent 99% of the time. I know why I've gained, I've not been drinking enough water, I've been eating crap/salt/sugar and I only worked out twice last week instead of my usual 3-4 times. I did a strength workout on Wednesday, then yesterday (Sunday) I did a 2 mile run which I SUCKED at!! Couldn't believe that just 6 days prior I was running 6.2 miles but I couldn't even manage 2 miles. My legs just weren't working and my brain was a big part of it I reckon. My heart wasn't in it and my legs just didn't co-operate because of this. I came back feeling very sweaty (it got super hot here all the sudden!) and defeated. Thankfully the BF was at hand to provide an additional workout - a kickboxing 101 session. I really want to learn how to defend myself in case I'm attacked (and as a woman I'm more of a target), so he was teaching me how to throw an effective punch. He started teaching me how to kick too, it really worked my hips which is something that will benefit my walking therefore helping with my knee pain.

I also have made the decision that I'm going to come off the pill...it's a pretty big decision to make but my boyfriend is supportive. We're still going to use protection, it's not because I want to get pregnant!! It's because I've been feeling really moody/down whenever I'm on it. I'm going to give it a month or 2 to see how it goes and let my hormones re-adjust and see if it helps my moods and also my weight!

BUT back on topic. This week my weight was 164 lbs which sucks after last weeks 162 lbs. I know exactly why I re-gained. So this week I'm going to follow this master plan:
- Drink water until my pee is clear/my bladder can hold no more!
- Eat the correct portion size of everything I eat
- Eat more protein
- Eat more fruit/vegetables for snacks instead of chips and junk food
- Eat no processed sugar/drink no soda
- Workout every other day

I'm hoping to kick this stall in the butt. I feel like losing weight has been much more difficult the older I'm getting. 3 years ago it seems like I blasted through the 160's and into the 150's. However, I was doing Insanity...so perhaps I'll include that into my training and really push myself to work out hard when I do work out.

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atmos - Seems bizarre that they can't move you up a level until there are more people!! Hope you get moved up soon regardless because of your dedication. I bet it's a wonderful feeling to know you're improving. I know my boyfriend, who goes to kickboxing, comes back from his classes and gets all pumped when he's perfected a certain technique.

Marnia - Yeah, you're definitely right and that's a good point about tone of voice. Thanks for the link, it didn't apply directly to Nala since she's not overly skittish - just quite odd. Apparently the whole litter got some sort of odd personality defect! She can be perfectly calm and then something will spook her and she'll go into fight/warning mode rather than being constantly skittish. But when everyone is in the house, especially her pal (and other Malamute) Radar, she's at ease.
I have high arches too, I injured my arch when coming to a stop so I invested in a good pair of ASICS. I also bought additional high arch sport support insoles (look kinda like this http://www.amazon.com/RunPro-Insoles.../dp/B00FX0JUOY) for additional support. I never had problems again with the insoles.
Personally, I think that weight loss is a lifestyle change and figuring out what works for your body. I wouldn't want to be taking a pill for the rest of my life so it's not something I'd do. Is this a short term solution for you? I can understand your frustration though, it's a pain in the behind to not lose in a long time. Do you have a meal plan that you follow? Do you drink loads of water? Do you exercise a lot? Bizarrely I found I lose water weight by drinking more water. But there might be a reason to your discomfort in your diet, or it could be a medical issue. The swelling and headaches sound like something to get check out at your doctor.

charbreaker - They're doing a lot better and so far so good on avoiding catching their germs! I think Nala is skittish naturally, apparently when she was a puppy she would get startled at new objects on walks...such as a rock or a tree stump - she'd instinctively be cautious. So if I, the new person, do something that doesn't look right she gets this same weird reaction. Congrats on your loss so far! So great that you're do close to your goal with plenty of time to spare! Keep up the excellent work.

Penny - I totally understand what you're saying and I agree. I rarely get complimented on my looks/clothes but I do have a feeling if I was skinny it would happen more. For me when I wear clothes it's more of a way for me to try and hide all the imperfections, but it's impossible to hide sometimes because it's apart of me! So if someone sees me and sees that my belly is protruding a little they're less likely to think of positive thoughts about my looks/my style because being overweight isn't seen in a positive way in society today. We're a culture of people who are, more than ever, focused on eating well and staying fit. It's all around us, whether we choose to participate or not. Anyway, I'm getting into a new topic altogether! It's a shame that people don't see overweight people as "people" who SHOULD be complimented and made to feel just as beautiful as a slim person - because we are!

Marniadec and Riestrella - The rules set down by An Coimisiun (the regulating body under which I compete) state that a competition must have a minimum of 5 people to move up. So there's really no choice! They do this because you must demonstrate you are ready for the next level by competing against more than just a small number of dancers. Unfortunately, they also decided Adults were their own special category rather than having higher age grades like 30&over, so we don't always have enough adult dancers because adults at some schools are discouraged from competing or adults who do compete "drop down" to levels like 13&over age in order to advance. Adults cannot advance past prizewinner level (no champ) and cannot participate in solo dance in majors like the regional oireachtas or in the World Championships without having dropped down. It's very frustrating! But due to the low numbers my teacher will move me up to novice if needed. Next weekend will be the one year anniversary of competitions for me.

And "atmos" is short for atmosphere, as I am an atmospheric scientist. I believe the English word atmosphere was derived from the Greek atmos as well.


I think my boyfriend gave me another cold. Boooooo.

atmos- that's fascinating! I'm glad I asked. I definitely looked up some videos of Irish dance and WOW! It's mesmerizing to watch. It's considerably more nuanced than I expected as well, but I suppose that goes for lots of things. I tap danced for nine years; it's interesting to watch and see similar steps and patterns, but it looks tremendously more complex! You go! Sorry to hear about the cold, hope it heals up soon!

Had Zumba today and went for a run afterwards. Will be weighing in tomorrow...it's been four days and I had a bridal shower over the weekend where I ate too many goodies. Though, interestingly enough, I am now gluten-free, in hopes of remedying my acne (luckily am not gluten-intolerant). I've been reading about the connection between systemic acne and gluten and after trying nearly everything I hope this helps! I'm hoping it helps with the weightloss too, but I'm not sure yet. Fingers crossed!

Hope you all are having a fantastic week and are working hard!

Hey guys, thought I'd update since it's been a while. I'm at 165 right now, about 15 lbs away from my goal for this challenge. I'm beginning to think I'm just going to have to change my goal to 159 instead of 150. I'm working at a job where I stand all day which makes me really not want to walk/exercise when I get home. My boot camp class starts mid June so I'm hoping the weight will start melting off then. Also realizing I need to drink way more water. Going to the store today to find a water bottle that I can refill throughout the day and keep track of how much I'm drinking. Anyways that's where I'm at in my weight loss journey right now! Really praying I'm out of the 160s by the end of the month!

ketobride - Best of luck to you! I have a bottle (32 oz) and fill it 3x a day. It's helped me a lot, and after doing it for two weeks, it's become habit. I hope you meet your goal!

I woke up late this morning so I didn't eat anything before going to Zumba, and while I normally run afterwards, I was completed gassed today. Feeling kind of all-around down about my weight and appearance. Not everyday can be a good day, I guess. It's frustrating; it still feels like my appearance hasn't changed much since I've started. I know it has by the way my clothes fit and from what others say, but I still feel like I don't look that different. Anyway, enough rambling. Happy weekend everyone!