It is Sunday, the day of rest. And a good day to think and reevaluate.
How'd last week go? Is there something on which you can improve?
Well? What'll it be this week? A little more intense cardio? a little more protein? an extra day of weigh lifting? What small change can you make this week to keep you on a straighter path to slim fitness?

Hi all you featherweights, I am hoping to join you. I had made it to my goal late last spring, but I allowed myself to gain back 15 of those dreaded pounds. Then the holidays hit and I hit 151 and sirens went off. I have gotten rid of the "holiday" pounds and am pretty motivated to once again get down to goal. Hopefully this time I will do a better job at maintaining.

Anyways, I've been lurking on your threads for quite some time because I always find such wonderful cheer and questions that really make me think, and help me on my journey. I'm tired of lurking and I'm looking for more direct support from all of you.

At the moment I'm waiting for some medical test results and am having a very hard time emotionally. This is effecting my appetite in that I'm not hungry and I have literally had to MAKE myself eat everyday. I have a week and a half left before I get the test results and then another week before a follow up on a problem they have already discovered. Needless to say I need to be more diligent on getting in enough calories even though I'm not hungry, yet still make them HEALTHY calories. (Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated)

My exercise has been on as far as cardio goes (walk/run/cardio kickbox) but I'm trying to incorporate more weights into my program. (I've really slacked off on them in the past 6 months). The exercise always helps me deal with stress better so I usually look forward to my workouts.

I'm sorry this is so long, I just wanted to introduce a little about me, and where I am. Hope its ok to just jump into your thread. Thanks.

Hi Artsy. Waiting for medical results is really tough so I wish you the best of luck.

I'm struggling a bit at the moment although i've miraculously managed to largely stay on plan. My other half is away on business until the end of February . In one way it's an opportunity to work really hard and have a mini goal but on the other hand I really miss him already and boredom sets in sometimes which is a danger period for me.

So my aims for this week are to stay completely on plan and to drink more water. And to try and cheer up

Hi everyone, and welcome ArtsyGirl!

I did really well all week--eating clean, exercising daily. Then Saturday happened. I spent all day at a charity rummage sale and managed to eat 2 brownies and half a banana all day. I did come home and fix a nutritious dinner, though, but then ate 2 more brownies (bake sale leftovers!). Usually Sunday is our 5 mile walk morning, but we slept in late (I was SO tired!) and then I had errands to run. I conked out just after lunch, but couldn't sleep. I have no energy at all.

So, what can I do to improve? I think just making sure I get back on the exercise track first thing in the morning. It looks like I've only lost half a pound of the 8 holiday pounds so far. I still can't figure out why I'm hanging onto these pounds. Kind of exasperating, but I'm sure if I keep at it they will be gone in no time. I do know my clothes are fitting better, so perhaps my exercising is displacing a little fat with a little muscle.

I must remember that I am what I eat. Is it jenfrus who says ... eat crap, feel like crap?
And I must remember that if I'm not wearing my hrm, I'm probably not trying hard enough.

stay away from sweets. and french fries. continue to resist the alcohol...it never helps anything dietwise

That was it girls. That was my day off, from Saturday at 11 until this morning at seven. Ick. I had a good day but it was waaay too short. I can hardly wait for the new gal to start. We senior part-timers need help!

Yes, indeedy. I'm up but not at'em. I did make cabbage soup last night so my lunch is kinda ready but I think someone has been eating my crackers.

Sweet talker, Sweets and alcohol are my killers too. I sat in a bar for about 10 hours Sunday, watching football, and managed to keep my intake down to two beers, a salad, and a few fries I snagged off other peoples' plates. But let's not talk about the rest of the weekend where I wasn't so disciplined.

Nonetheless, I seem to have "lost" weight this week, though I think it was because I had plateaued for a long time and and my body was just playing catch up. Still, it's nice to see a drop, but I won't be recording it until it sticks around for a few days. I don't want it to just be because I'm dehydrated from all the drinking/yelling at the tv/inhaling other peoples' smoke.

I really need to cut out the alcohol. It's a ridiculous number of added calories (even a vodka soda is 100 cal/drink), and I don't ever want to cut back on eating for the days when I drink because it isn't adding any nutrients either. Also, it makes it hard to exercise the next day. It's tough being a student and not drinking, I've found, but I'll try it this weekend.

Doughnut: sorry you're down! Usually, when I'm bored, I'll walk around my neighborhood and go window shopping. This gets me moving, out of the house, and I get to try on clothes that I used to not be able to fit. It works well where I live now, in Chicago, but doesn't work as well in the burbs.

Artsy: when I'm low on calories for the day (rarely), I usually try to eat some nuts. If they're not a trigger food for you, they're a great way to get protein and good fats.

Good morning featherweights!

I thought I was finally going to see a loss....alas, the half pound that I seemed to have lost last week is back on with a friend....

This has to be part of my problem. I know it is, but I've actually gone most of the month without drinking, yet my weight has not changed since Christmas day (I checked my log this morning). Its getting discouraging. I'm eating on plan 98% of the time and I'm exercising daily (which is more than I was doing this fall when I managed to get almost to goal). I'm almost thinking of stopping the exercise (but I know I shouldn't).

I was hoping for some sort of magic pill in the form of that new Bob Greene diet book, so I bought it. Same old, same old....make little changes (all the changes he suggested I've already done and I continue to follow). Yikes. There has to be something that will make me start losing again!

Anyway, everyone have a great day!

That is the worst, isn't it - when all of the little "tweaks," you are already doing, so there seems no option left but to cut the overall calories down even more, so you do that and STILL nothing. . .

I ate crap all weekend and haven't gotten on the scale to see what it's done to me.

Now, half of me wants to continue eating crap, the other half of me wants to stop eating entirely. Either to give up and say it doesn't matter, or to FORCE something to happen.

Yeah, I think I've cut out just about everything there is!!! soda, non-healthy fats, non-fiber carbs, "white" foods, transfats, alcohol (well, to an extent!).

I had a couple brownies over the weekend, but it was for survival! I spent 7 1/2 hours at a charity rummage sale and they had a bake sale going on as well. I was working (I intended to be there for 2 hours and ended up staying all day) and I didn't bring any food. It was much easier to buy brownies when the hunger overtook me rather than feel guilty by taking a break and walking to the closest eatery (which was Starbucks, so it wouldn't have been much better!). Then I ended up buying a lot of the leftover brownies to take home because DS was going to a sleep over and I thought the boys would enjoy them (they did). Of course, before he left, we all indulged a little! But why would 2 brownies be all that bad? Those were the first sweets I'd eaten since Thanksgiving!

So now that I've had my morning snack (yogurt and 1/2 banana) I'm still starving and that salad I brought for lunch just doesn't sound like it's gonna cut it!

Thanks for this advice. I think I'll buy some cashews and almonds. These are such an easy snack I dot know why I never thought of them.

I'm down 1.5 for the week. I've done my 4 mile walk and an hour of turbokick. After restarting my weights I was happy to take a day off from them today as I'm a little sore.

Usually I have the same problem with the alchohol as some of you have said. I haven't had any since new years eve simply because one of the new medicines they have me on has some weird side effects I'd prefer to avoid.

Well, I'm having the same problems taking the holiday weight off that the rest of you are having, except that in my case I know what the problem is--chocolate covered espresso beans. I've been picking these up at Trader Joe's for my SO and normally I don't have any trouble staying out of his food (he has all sorts of junk around the house that I don't eat), but these espresso beans just keep calling my name. I finally weighed out a serving today so I could figure out the calories in one bean (11 - if I could just limit myself to one or two beans, they wouldn't be a problem). Hopefully knowing that will help me resist them.

This week I am going to get back on track with my workouts. Since I was sick, I backslid quite a bit and haven't been able to get through my usual workout. It was a struggle on Sunday but I managed my usual 5 miles, so I'm hoping that by Thursday I'll be back up to my usual level of cardio. Last Thursday I got the length of the workout back to my usual level, but the energy I exerted was still quite a bit lower than usual.

I have some really fabulous lunches planned this week, so I am excited about that. Finally made it to the farmers market after missing two weeks in a row due to being sick, so now I have tons of great food to eat again. They had these cute little baby cauliflowers, the perfect size for one person! I love cute food.

My, we all sound a little worse for wear this week, don't we? I saw a package of those "Sweet Hearts" (the ones with the sayings on them that I find so funny) and bought it and ate most of them without even thinking. They aren't even very good! Just amusing (one of them said "Just Say No" lol).

Anyway, I am going to resolve to be better this week. I'm going home to see my family in just under 2 weeks and I want to feel confident about my bodyyyy. Oh lorddd.

I'm also sick of putting in my best effort for little or no returns. My body really shouldn't be so stubborn, I'm trying my best!!

Brownies sound tasty, Allison, they were definitely a better choice than anything Starbucks serves. My friend used to work there and used to talk about the nutrition labels she would read -- scary stuff, girls, scary stuff. I would never eat a Starbucks pastry.

Also, ljd, I sooo agree. Being in college and avoiding alcohol is the pits. I'm always the odd one out if I opt out of drinking for the night. Oh welllllll...I'd rather be the slimmer odd one out, then the bigger odd one in....

Whew, I was all over the place on this post, sorry about that! Hope you are all having a good night.

Hello!

It is indeed in my signature - eat rubbish feel rubbish!

I have been feeling rubbish so have been eating rubbish I had a stupid infected knee at the weekend and am on antibiotics, got a tetanus injection and they drained the wound thingy on Saturday. Then it wasn't getting much better so I had to drain it again and it seems to be better today - at least I can bend my knee! So I am off to the gym.

I've been feeling too sorry for myself this weekend and my food shows it! Chinese, chocolate, pizza, scones (home made), chocolate, fig rolls (newtons), chocolate! But I'm back on track today - I've had trimmed bacon and a dry fried egg in a pitta for breakfast, I've got pineapple CC pancakes for meal #2, lunch is a chopped up chicken breast on 1 sl bread, meal #4 is BfL apple pie with cranberries then it's kickboxing and then whatever I can find in the fridge/freezer for dinner - it might be salmon if it's still ok.

I'm ready for a good rest of week.