Greetings from blustery Michigan,

Temperatures are dropping like a rock.

I did my 5.5 mile Nordic Walk this morning, and my a.k.a. the love of my life, challenged me into backwards lunges, 5 sets of 30. One set for each mile. Girls, I am going to have the most awesome looking legs ever ~ so far, during the past 7 days we have done; front lunges, side step lunges, front lunges and now reversed lunges. I like walking with my husband. He definitely is upping the ante for me.

I am really looking forward to my weekly weigh-in. I have not been this exited about in a long time. I am in a territory of numbers that I have not seen in many, many moons. Getting under 150 was incredibly difficult and I wanted to give up, like I had many times, now that I think I am safely below it, I am truly cherishing it.

guacamole planned Off Plan days are the best. No guilt. I am glad you enjoyed it. Life is too short, need to indulge every now and then.

fyreflie24 I used to do yoga, maybe I should start again. I really liked it.

cldwv You are so sweet!

sum38 - great job on the exercise!!! You sure will be in shape for the summer wardrobe season!

I have been struggling to stay OP because of family in town and lots of big family meals and outings. I am enjoying myself overall, but I hate that I don't look forward to things that I used to look forward to - family gatherings, holidays, BBQs - basically things that revolve around food as most family/friend gatherings do. I don't mind having one off plan day, but when it spills over into an entire weekend or more (like a vacation) I really start panicking that I am going to go off track and my weight gain will just snowball back to my high weight and beyond. I don't like that I can't fully enjoy myself anymore around lots of food. It's going to be a tough weekend, and I know that if I weigh myself on Monday, I will be upset!

Happy Saturday!

Another beautiful day here in Michigan. I will definitely go and do my daily walk; I was planning on taking a day off since I already walked over 30 miles this week, but I can't resist the sun outside. I may try taking it a bit easier today and actually enjoy the nature (yeah right says my husband...he knows how I push myself )

I have been doing well with my march madness challenge. My water intake has been superb (I switched to green tea and herbal teas; very diluted). I did a 23 hour fast yesterday; I am trying IF. I have kept up my walking and lunges....the only thing; vitamins. I seem to forget them each day

Scale is at all time low...well not all time, because I was super skinny until my mid 30's but all time low in 4+ years. 146.5. another 1.5 pounds and I have lost 20 pounds and that is my 1/2 way point. I feel good and optimistic that I can do this!

Guacamole try not to worry about it and enjoy your family. I know it is hard! I slip quite easy! Plus we are here for you to keep you on track after your weekend.

Wishing everyone F A B day!

Kristina-- what is IF? Why did you fast? Wasn't that hard?

I turned 45 last Saturday, and celebrated (??) yesterday with my annual mammogram. Good times.

Michelle, Happy Birthday!

mammogram is a good way of celebrating. Save those tatas

IF is short for intermittent fast. I accidentally stumbled on it a few weeks ago. I was having terrible month with PMS that stated almost 10 days before my period and my eating was totally out of control, I "gained" 5 pounds in a week and I was packing 2500 calories in daily and I could not stop. So I decided to fast from dinner to dinner, out of desperation. I did and it stopped my s
Downward spiral and I actually felt really good. So I started researching about fasting and found IF. It really intriqued me because I was a natural IF eater my entire life.....without knowing it. I HATE breakfast, sometimes I have eaten it and gagged. But I was following the 3 meal 2/3 snack route....because everyone says it is the healthiest way.....so now I found IF.... I don't feel guilty skipping my bfast...I do 19 fast each day and 5 hour eating window. I eat my first meal around 12:30 - 1 pm. Nice snack at 3 pm, BIG dinner around 6 and then nothing else until the following day. I do it because it suits me. It is not definitely for everyone....my daughter is the opposite....she loves breakfast and packs in 800 calories each morning....she hates lunch and eats very light and usually has a decent dinner....so eating is very individual for all. I think I found my natural way of eating.

Some IF followers do 1-2 24 hour fasts per week. That is where you eat dinner and nothing until next dinner. I liked my fasts I have done, makes me feel less bloated etc....

It is not calorie restricted diet.

I never follow any diet 100%.... I a, little bit sout beach, little bit calorie counting, and now little bit IF. I am just trying to find the way of eating for me.

I am using my iPad so sorry of typos etc

Quick check-in. Weekend eating was not great so far, but could have been worse. I am going to have to be extra good this week to compensate! I hate going into a week already having to compensate for a bad weekend - I like going in strong and on plan. However, I have to realize that this is life - my lifestyle has to accommodate off plan times and I need to relax a bit!

Hope you are all doing well.

Good morning ladies. I had a totally off plan weekend which blew all of last week's hard work & will probably require a lot of hard work this week to get back on track. Ugh! Lesson learned.

But I had a pretty wonderful weekend. I think it was the couple of cocktails I had that did me in this weekend. Why can't I like something that is low calorie instead of the super sweet fruity concotions? I'm not a huge drinker, but occassionally I like something besides just water.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Kim

Kim - I hear ya! I guess we both will be playing catch up this week. Not a great feeling. I was offered alcohol on numerous occasions this weekend, and turned it down. I wish I had also turned down the cinnamon rolls, breads, pizza, potato skins, french fries, wraps, and other carbs I ingested! I am a true carb addict, and I don't think that will ever change. I can't stop at just one portion or even one type.

A slight NSV in the middle of my eating frenzy - I put on a skirt today that fit me just fine about two months ago, and today is sliding down almost past my hips. I actually am afraid that it is going to fall down on me in public (there are no belt loops to wear a belt with it)! I'm not buying any more every day clothes until I am firmly in a size 10 (probably another 15-20 pounds down). However, it is nice to see progress in the way my clothes are fitting. I am going to have to make time to purge more clothing from my closet that I can no longer comfortably wear because they are too big. That feels good!

Another NSV - I buy a Dunkin Donuts medium plain coffee with skim milk between 2-3 times per week. Today, a poster tempted me into buying a Caramel Turtle medium coffee with skim milk. It tasted so sickeningly sweet! I didn't even add any sugar or Splenda. I looked up the calories and fat and they were much higher than the plain coffee I usually drink. I took a few sips and threw the rest away. I can't believe that things are actually tasting too sweet for me now! I think that cutting back on sugar has had an effect on my taste buds and I couldn't be happier!

Day two of recovery from the weekend. I saw a pretty big drop in the scale this morning from yesterday, but I'm not sure if I will be able to get back to where I was last week. I so do not want to gain. I don't quite understand how two off plan days can make my weight bounce up that much. (I wasn't THAT off plan)

Yesterday I was pretty strict with my food & I will be again today, trying to get back to last week's weight. I will be much better behaved this weekend, I promise!

Hope ya'll have a great OP day.

Kim

Hello, all! Good job staying on plan, Kim! I am staying on plan and had physical therapy this morning. My back is feeling a bit better, although I think it's due to time more than the therapy. I find the sessions pretty annoying for some reason. Part of it is a comfort factor, as all the massage tables are in a communal area, and as my trouble spot is my lower back, sometimes half my tush is exposed as the therapist is working on it! Even if I were at my goal weight, I still wouldn't appreciate having it all hanging out for the other clients and therapists to see. I'm not sure how long I will continue, at least at this facility.

Sum38 - I love your positivity! Wow, I didn't realize gluten could have such a big impact. I don't know much about gluten intolerance, but it's good that you see a pattern and know what to avoid.

I am feeling pretty good about myself because I cleared out a large (39 gallon) garbage bag full of clothes from my closet. They range in size from 2X (I didn't even realize I had 2Xs!), 1X, 16W, and 16. I will donate these to charity tomorrow. Even with all those things gone, my closet is still stuffed. I am keeping some XLs and even one size 16 dress that is loose, but not ridiculous looking. Now my closet is mainly 14s, Larges, and a few 12s. I will reassess at the end of the summer/beginning of fall, when hopefully I will be down in size even more!

To update my stats:

Starting Weight: 184.4
Goal Weight: 175

Weigh ins, the week of:
February 20: 184.0
February 27: 183.4
March 5: 183.0
March 12: 182.6
March 19:
March 26:
April 2:
April 8/Final:

Woohoo even with my overindulgence this weekend I still lost!

It's nice to see that I'm definitely on a downward trend, but I would like to see a little bit bigger numbers. Ha! I'm going to need some huge numbers to reach my goal. Huge for me is 2 lbs. btw!

Have a great day ladies.

Sum38 - I am so sorry about your health issues! You are correct though, sometimes having to make/bring your own food can be a blessing in disguise healthwise!

kandd416 - Woo hoo on losing 2 lbs! That's terrific. The way I see a challenge is that if I make my goal, great! If not, I am no worse off because I have been trying to stay on plan - even if I lose something or at a minimum maintain instead of gain - it's a good thing!

Well....I donated a bunch of big clothes to charity...and I hadn't planned on replacing things so soon...but...I stopped off at a thrift store (I have no will power when it comes to shopping) and came away with a bunch of size 12s that fit! I spent about $35 for 11 items (bought 3 pairs of pants for my son also). I am so psyched to be able to wear size 12! I still have a bunch of 14s and even a 16 dress in my closet, but now I have a bunch of 12s to go with them! At the end of the summer/fall maybe I will be able to weed out the larger sizes again. Another incentive to stay on plan!