I'm a little out of the loop and not very caught up with threads, but I just wanted to pop by to report my I'm-still-alive-and-on-plan-ness. I had a migraine this week so I took 2 days off exercise, but back at it today and weighed in at 117!!!! Woo!

Hope everybody is doing awesomely.

Well, I must say I am intrigued about the IF. Mainly because this seems to have been the way I ate naturally for many of the years I was thin (115-120). It was before I worked 9-5 and I would sleep in and start the day with lunch, have dinner at a normal time and then not eat after that until the next day. I still watched what I ate, I was hungry before bed, but it was doable and i was thin.

But then, until my fiancee and I moved in together (and I started gaining weight for a number of reasons) I would skip dinner a lot because I spent nights at yoga or the gym. It didn't bother me because I would have a giant lunch and a decent breakfast. I don't know that I lost any weight, but I was more in the 134-140 range through out this time in my life.

Interesting about what you do, I understand being paranoid about sharing. I was guessing it was something engineering related since well, math is the universal language right? :P

kwinkle - enjoy the honeymoon!

Kat999 - you are doing so great, way to go on 117!!!

kwinkle YAY! 121! What a sweet number. I hope you have an amazing time on your honeymoon!!

kat glad you are still alive Congratulations on your drop and keeping us updated!

Wildflower so funny you mention engineering, I'm *terrible* with math and science. Absolutely terrible. Went to a liberal arts school, I'm a politics/international relations person through and through haha. Have you mentioned yet what your field of work is? How's wedding planning going?

LOL, Math is definitely not my forte either - undergrad from a liberal arts school here as well, and then business school. I work in finance - I'm a consultant at a financial services firm. Wedding planning is coming a long, looking forward to the honeymoon and being married more than anything at this point.

So, this IF - do you still eat at 1200 calories a day with it? What is your fasting / eating window? Do you sleep in late? I would have no trouble waiting until the afternoon to eat if I could sleep in late, but at this point I feel like eating light in the afternoon and then stopping would be easiest for me. Not sure if I'll be able to meet and acceptable "fasting window" though. I read through the whole ESE thread and am still getting through the IF one. Definitely intrigued!

After a week of being on the go and eating out every day and waaaay overdoing it on sweets and probably gaining 5 lbs of fat, I am finally back in my hometown at my house. Mom is still here. I don't even recognize the hot air balloon staring back at me in the mirror aka my face. Went grocery shopping tonight and loaded up on fresh fruit and veggies, but of course mom wants cereal and bread and so that is sitting there taunting me.

I probably haven't, but I feel like I have undone half of the weight loss progress I made in the past year in the past month. The voice in my head screaming "I DON'T CARE" is being quieted down and I am back to work and IF-style eating from tomorrow, but just...eugh.

Yes, I'm still on 1200 a day. I've been typically eating from 4:30 PM- 9:30 PM, though it's not always exact. The other day I was super hungry and ate at 1:30, then went out with friends to a late dinner at 8, so my window was much wider. I imagine the ideal set-up is the same window every day, though for practical purposes that's not always possible.

I also thought I could *never* do it- I am usually pretty hungry in the morning and I hate working out on an empty stomach. It's however been much easier than I thought. True I'm usually hungry from 8:30- 9ish (I wake up at 8), but with water and a cup of tea wih 1/2 tsp of sugar it's fine. I tend to drink 2-4 c of tea throughout my fasting window. I have tended to work out from 1-2 each day, mix of cardio and strength training, and I don't think IF has impacted my workout that much. If I really don't feel like working out, I'll just wait until I have some food on my body and hit up the gym in the evening. Even after the workout as long as I drink ample water I'm not as "starving" as I thought I would be. It's pretty interesting, I thought I would be crawling on the floor with hunger pains by 3 PM every day and that simply is not what happens.

My breaking-of-the-fast meal around 4 or 4:30 (sometimes closer to 3) is my biggest. I don't tend to stuff myself- I crave really nutritious foods and eat until I am full- around 500-600. I am usually not hungry at all in the late afternoon/early evening which is crazy since I've always been the world's biggest grazer. Dinner has tended to be fairly small- 400-600 calories usually. I just haven't had the desire to eat more. Sometimes just because I can I'll have a small, somewhat decent dessert (dark chocolate, a brownie), but I haven't felt the urge to overeat on sweets since doing IF. It feels like it's a normal diet without too many restrictions, which is the awesome part.

Plus because I am sooo sedentary outside of my 30 min-1 hr of exercise (i don't walk to work or the metro, not taking stairs usually, I am not doing housework, etc), I think my TDEE is super low, which is why I gained weight when I moved here in the first place. Some days on IF I don't even eat 1200 because I'm full with 1000, and I think given my very very low activity level the slightly reduced diet has been appropriate. That said, yesterday I went out to eat and also stopped by a friend's house and ate around 1600-1700, so it all balances out.

krampus You seem to have a good attitude about having to go off-plan for a bit due to company (your mom's mobility, eating preferences, etc). Good for you. Look forward to having you back around once things calm down

After over a month of nearly complete inactivity I managed to go to the gym today. I am very proud of myself I think getting back on the wagon after falling off is much harder than getting on the wagon to begin with. I also have had an exceptionally healthy day of eating but still plan on doing better tomorrow.

Although today was stressful and I have a high stress week ahead of me I feel really optimistic about it and am planing on going to the gym everyday!

Greetings people! After a week in Jamaica, I am so happy that I didn't gain weight. But that leaves me with a what the heck? Why am I not losing weight faster if I can relax and eat without gaining even a little teensy weight without working out......

But then I remember, I work out so I can feel good, and powerful and strong! Ok...back at it.

Veela congrats on the gym outing! Did you feel super sore the next day? That's the best part of returning to the gym after a hiatus- delicious soreness

ju5tdoit WOW way to go!! I would be thrilled if I went on a vacation and didn't gain weight. No idea why the phenomenon is that way, though as I just posted in the 120 forum seems like the idea of a diet break is useful sometimes for resetting the metabolism. So maybe you'll see more rapid loss now?

ARGH! I am bouncing up toward 118 today (hovering between 117 and 118, whereas yesterday I was solidly 117) and am really angry about it. I was a little too liberal with my food intake on Sunday, but even though I was below calories I probably was having too many little "treat" foods, in addition to too much diet soda, and so this is probably a little water/sugar/sodium bloat. I'm only having coffee and water today beverage-wise (no soda) and am way under my calories so far (nice lean lunch). I'm also going to take the evening off working out, because for some reason sometimes that helps me get off a little uptick. I did a tough session of strength training last night, and I suspect maybe a little extra water retention is muscle-based. The bod needs time to recover. Hopefully all these efforts combined will see me plop back down more fully to 117 tomorrow.

For now I've decided to stop counting calories and weighing myself and just making an effort to eat healthy, NORMAL amounts of REAL food while getting in exercise because I feel gross without it and I prefer myself with more muscles.

Yesterday I did that, and it was pretty cool. I feel pretty today for the first time in weeks because I was kind and not harsh on myself yesterday. I know I'm bigger, my European H&M size 34 dresses are tight around the middle, but instead of getting mopey about it I'm just going to focus on achieving balance.

kat I'm bouncing too! Yesterday and today was back up at 127 Curses! I really can be much more strict on CC'ing, and I should be. Today both meals are at home so I'll be very careful about what I eat and how carefully I count it.

I like your new philosophy, krampus. You're right, getting the mental/emotional right first is crucial before trying to get the straight-up physical/technical. I too prefer myself with real muscle! Good you'll be nourishing and building your body into something strong and healthy. Keep us posted on how it goes!

How funny. I started eating my lunch (lean chicken with veggies), got about halfway through, decided I was full for now, and put it away. This is the first time I can remember that ever happening.

I've truly bounced back up to 118, despite my experiment yesterday. *sigh* I'm starting to think my calorie counts were wrong on my whole-grain bread I've been inhaling lately, and that is likely the culprit (that plus the recent diet soda addiction, which I successfully avoided yesterday).

New plan back in force: lowering my allotted calories per day by about 300 will give me a better cushion if I do indeed underestimate a particular food. No more skipping workouts. Stay away from bread for a few days (but don't avoid carbs; I just think bread itself is my downfall at present). Still avoid soda, diet or otherwise, and drink lots of water, tea, and black coffee with no sweetener/creamers. If this is just bloat still and not true fat gain, then all of the above should push me into a better little "bootcamp" mode and help nudge me back to 117.

I hate moving my ticker back UP, but that's today's reality.

Good morning feathers! Its so interesting to me how about a year ago I was just a lurker around here not expecting to actually post. Now, here I am a year later and it feels like a group of friends I am talking to; its become routine

Anywhoo! Just wanted to check in! Its been a crazy week or so with my birthday. Ive celebrated it 3 different days now, so I am pooped! I am getting the p90x cd's this weekend so I think I will be starting it next week! I am excited. NOt doing their program but I am using their cd's to incorporate into a regular routine that I can do consistently!

I havent read all the posts from the last time I posted but Ive read a few and will comment on those..

Krampus I am so glad you have decided to take a break from calorie counting. Thats what I have done and boy do I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. Just goes to show us how hard on ourselves we can be. Ive been doing the intuitively healthy eating for a few weeks now and feel great. From the days I try to count in my head, I think I feel most satisfied around 1700 calories. I feel like its been working out thus far. I havent weighed but my size 4's still fit

Indiblue This ESE program youre on sounds so interesting. But I cant help but wonder how it is on your metabolism? Do they explain the effects on it? Can you tell me a little more about it. Sorry if this question has been asked a million times; ive been out of the loop

Justdoit WOW! How on earth did you pull that off?! NO gain at all on vacation? Not even water weigt? I think you might be an alien..

Kat Could it be a temporary water gain from the whole grains if you say you are eating a lot of them? Anytime you eat more carbs than normal your body will bloat and retain water..