Thanks Nat & Zumba. I agree we have to indulge sometimes. Now I am back on the wagon for today... ha ha tomorrow not so much. Will be immediately when I come back from Vegas though. It's not as bad as I thought... I'm less than a pound up.

NEMom: Personally I'd say keep up with the tea. I think there is a great debate about artificial sweeteners. Many people say they sabotage the weight loss process by making you crave more sweets. Personally I feel they help me. I get to enjoy my diet soda/lemonade plus of course ice cream bars, pudding, etc. that I am choosing to skip. (Granted, I'm assuming you mean sweetened ice tea.) IMO do whatever you feel works for you!

Okee we are home, and scale jumped 5 pounds I hate TOM and flying, ugh!

Okay ladies:

I started a new thread with measurements...trying to reclaim the Power of The Scale ! In the last three weeks I've lost three pounds BUT: 3/4 inch off each: waist, belly and hips! Take that you selfish lying little scale.

SW: 191.8
CW: 188.2
GW: <185

I'm slowly going down, hoping for a little whoosh in next couple of days as I finish TOM, but I'm not holding my breath. I have to run errands, but I hope to have time for personals later! We have a little less than 3 weeks to reach our goals--together we can do this!!

For Zumba

This is a flatbelly chili and it is YUMM-O!

Crock Pot Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Turkey Chili
Submitted by: LERBICELLA

Introduction
A sweet little twist on the classic turkey chili...
Minutes to Prepare: 15
Minutes to Cook: 150
Number of Servings: 5

Ingredients

1 Package - 99% Fat Free Ground Turkey (I use Shday Brook Farms, which only comes in 1.23 lb, or about 3 lb pacakges. I use the 1.23 lb package for this recipe)
1 can - Kidney beans (do not drain liquid)
12 oz. - Any tomato sauce (homemade or jar)
1/2 jar - Old El Paso Fresh Mexican Style Smooth Pineapple Chile Salsa
5 oz. - Crushed Pineapple (I use Dole crushed pineapple in juice)
Chili Powder (as much or as little as suits your taste)
My personal add ons; onions and corn.


Directions
- Brown the turkey over medium heat until no longer pink.
- Drain any excess fat.
- Combine all ingredients in a crock pot.
- Cook on high for 2.5 hours.
- Top with low fat sharp cheddar or fat free sour cream, if it suits you.

Tip: This dish tends to have a little kick to it due to the Pineapple Chile Salsa, so if you prefer something a little less spicy, I recommend skipping the extra chili powder.

Makes approximately 5-6 servings.

Number of Servings: 5

Quick check-in - braved the scale after a bad long weekend of eating and I am up to 156. Ugh! When am I going to get serious about my goal? Eating has been so-so today.

Good luck, everyone!

This morning I weighed in at 155. I am wrestling with the same pound! Here's Hoping for a good day.

Tuesday: 1420 calories, 30 min stairclimbing, 30 min elliptical

TOM better freaking get here soon because I am EXHAUSTED. It took everything I had to drag my butt to the gym last night, and I barely managed 30 min on the elliptical without falling over. I had been planning to run, but no way was that happening. Hopefully I'll feel up to it tonight, but based on how I feel now, I don't know.

And I am so sick of this winter. This morning it was POURING rain and windy. Awful. Dreary. I don't remember the last time I saw sunlight. I think we had an hour or so of it yesterday, but I was stuck in the office.

I will stop b!tching now and get back to work. Check in w/ all later.

Hi ALL you Irish Eyes....

Well last day on the antibiotics, feeling a lot better and things are back on an upward swing... enjoying my new contract and 3 people said the 4 magic words this morning.....Have you lost weight???

Yes indeed I said ....thanks for asking....as I skipped my way through the kids school dropoff!!!

Its all about the food now for me as I won't be exercising until next week...couldn't deal with a relapse...I'd be away with the fairies...and even though this is a St Paddy's Day Challenge they are not known for their kindness....

I feel I might be up weight wise so I'll avoid the scales until Friday methinks....

I so miss my running Natamars.....I've got to get back out there!!!

Keep going everyone!!! Irish Eyes on the Prize!!!!

Well the scale was back down to 166 this morning. I am not jumping up and down because I don't quite understand why it was at 168 last week but at least I am not up again.

I am trying calorie cycling. Yesterday was suppose to be my low day, I was trying to keep them around 800 but ended up at 1010. Tomorrow I will add more protein to see if I can get them any lower on my low days.
Continuing with the C25K program. Ran (really jogged) for 20 minutes straight today, I feel very good about this.

Have a great day all!!!

Yup that scale in Whistler was off I am sad that I gained 2 pounds vacationing, but oh well. It was a vacation and eating was off....

SW 158.2
CW 159.6
GW 153.2

We got about 8 inches of snow last night, so walking won't be happening, but I think I will hop on my elliptical and sweat there for 30-45 min.

@natamars You mentioned being exhausted and not having seen the sunlight in forever...maybe your vitamin D is low? I live about 30 miles from Candian border and my sis lives on LI and up here we have even less sun than you guys! I have bloodwork every other month (thanks AS) so when mine dips, the doc gives me an Rx for it. If it's winter and I'm over-tired and listless/blah...that's my first suspect.

@NEMom Celebrate those 2 pounds!

@curleycarr Glad you feel better and WooHoo on folks noticing! A little validation never hurts, eh?

@Sum Lying selfish scales. Just think - instead of walking you can shovel snow! Way more calories! We had snow last night that turned to slush by 0900. What fun that was this am - shoveling/pushing that heavy wet mush. I just tell myself that the heavier the snow, the greater metabolic burn.

@Guac If only wrestling those pounds burned calories. *sigh*
Take that pound to the mat!

Have a Great Day All!

NEMom Good luck with the calorie cyclying. Just promise to listen to your body if you find that your restricted level is too low... As for the diet iced tea? Well, lots of raging debates on that, I'm sure. If you like it and it's not slowing you down, then I don't see a reason to change. So great that you ran for 20 min straight!!

Sum38 So sorry that your home scale and vacation scale disagree about the number. But it was still great that you kept weighing on vacation since it held you accountable and gave you directional data. 8" of snow, that's a lot!

2FatCats Love all the measurements! I only measure in 3 spots: waist, belly, hips, and then I only write down a new set of measurements when all 3 have dropped.

Jennifer Glad to read that your numbers are going down.

Guac I hope you're having a great day!

Natamars I hear you; I'm ready for spring already!! Daffodils are starting to poke up from the ground, which is always exhilerating to see.

CurleyCarr Glad to hear you're feeling better!! And it's a great feeling to have people take notice, eh?

Here, I'm doing a little "faking it until I make it". I feel like my interest in weightloss is waning, and I just can't let that be. Today I forced myself out for a walk (that little ticker of exercising 250 times is motivating) and as soon as I stepped outside, I noticed it was raining. Yeah, I could have gone back in and gotten a raincoat, but I felt like if I went back in, it would be too easy to just not go back out. So, I made a mental note that I should plan better for the weather and just went for my 49-min walk (whose counting??) regardless. My new avatar photo is from that walk.

Hello My Lassies.....what a day! Was swamped with a project that i needed so I could apply for the new job so I was in front of my computer all day.....finally figured it out...what an ordeal...

SUM: thank you for that recipe..I'm going to make it this weekend.

NEWLEAF: If I saw one drop of rain I would have high tailed it back into the house and had coffee ...LOL....good for you girl for taking that walk and you look cute as button in that picture!

Natamars: I hear ya on this weather girl. I take vitamin D but I don't think it works , not when the weather has been this dreary for this long...I wish I owned one of those light boxes but knowing me i"d never take the time to sit in front of it. They had it at BJ's but I was too cheap to buy it.

NEMOM: let me know how that cycling goes, I know people who have had success on that....I like to cycle carbs, but I have friends that cycle calories and it works for them. It only makes sense, keep that body guessing !!

CURLEYCAR; glad you are feeling better...

Hi All.....

Having a cup of coffee and trying to digest the sushi we had for dinner before I get ready to go to cross fit. I am so sore from doing it the other night, I literally feel like I pulled something in my abdominals....I'm almost afraid to go again tonight...

I had low carbs for most of the day , but the kids wanted sushi tonight and I was too lazy to cook..and they delivered....I'm feeling kind of guilty now, because I wonder what the carb count was on the white rice..and I know the soy sauce is going to bloat me but it's done.....

I have court tomorrow.....I hate every second of it. I just wish my husband would stop being ridiculous and we could end this thing and be on our way.....I have anxiety, but i'm not going to eat my feelings....I coiuld easily do that now....I was driving by Dunkin donuts yesterday and wanted to stop in there for a brownie batter donut so badly.....control, control control. I have to say the protein shake I had for lunch was really good.....it takes like a peanut butter cookie...

Well onward and upward...and hopefully the scale will go downward..trying to psych myself up for this cross fit madness...