Good morning, all!!

Took yesterday off plan, but am back on full-force today. Lost a total of 2 lbs last week, and am trying for 2-3 this week. Carefully monitoring calories, and have lots of exercise planned. Decided not to step on the scale this morning, but will again tomorrow.

Have started thinking about getting to do some shopping in the upcoming months as my body gets smaller. Something to look forward to, since i have been living in nothing but huge, baggy clothes for way too long. i know by the time i hit final goal winter will be here, but that's ok. Still determined to be able to wear whatever i want ( and look good in it ) by New Years.

Mini goal: 149

BMI: 24.7

Good morning! And good start to the new week!
It's a holiday here ... so Happy Civic Holiday too!
My weekend was indescribably awful.
However ... the coffee pot is empty and I'm going for a walk.
I'm on evenings this week so I wll get my exercise in before work and I should be able to keep my feed bag full of good things for work.
The nice thing about having a horrible weekend is the fact that I can't possibly be that bad all week. Things can only get better!

Well, go figure! I felt like I was on a slippery slope for most of the week last week, ending it off yesterday with 2 pieces of cake, only to do my weekly w/i and discover I am down 2 more pounds!!! And my measurements show a reduction as well, moving me from 40% BF to 35% BF!! Boy, it really goes to show that reducing weight is like the stock market. As long as you stick with your original plan as much as possible through the ups and downs, in the long range forecast, you will see results.

My celebratory Chai Latte will feel so extra special today!!

Good job Carolyn!

I already posted this in the other daily chat forum, but since we've started a new week, I might as well post here too. I'm down about half a pound, which is better than expected since I didn't really pay enough attention to my food intake last week (especially last night!!!!)...I'm now at the my lowest weight in almost two years. I'm going to be back on plan this week, and hopefully be down another pound next monday.

Carolyn~WTG!!!! I wish I could say the same.

kaw~(from last week's thread)~I know just what you're going through! I've been on my new plan for 2 weeks and I expected to see results and it's not happening. No weight change and I actually feel a bit flabbier in the mid-section. I'm not giving up, though.

So, I'll fess up to what my new plan is: I started the c25k program with the help of some podcasts I found online. Who knew that I'd actually look forward to running? Okay, so I'm still on week 1 for another day, but week 2 is a whole lot easier than week 1 was. Thursday I'll start week 3. I did week 1 for 4 days rather than 3 because I was not certain that I'd be able to run for a longer interval. Well, running for a longer interval was so much easier than running 8 separate intervals!!! Anyway, that's part 1 of my plan. Part 2 is planning (as usual), part 3 is cutting out wine and part 4 is recording everything in fitday (again). I've been really good most days, with only 1 day per week over 1600 calories. Usually I'm right there at 1200.

Anyway, you might wonder why I didn't tell you before what I was planning. Well, it's because I felt like if I talked about it, I'd jinx myself. It's the same way when I started dieting 1 1/2 years ago. I didn't tell anyone other than DH until after I'd lost 15 or so pounds. I guess I'm just superstitious!!

It sounds like everyone is doing well.

thinnythighs, Carolyn, & stiebena - Congratulations on your losses!

SusanB - It sounds like you have a good plan for keeping up your maintenance. I knew about the holiday when I heard about the traffic on the bridges here.

Allison – Good luck with your new plan!

I went grocery shopping last night and bought fresh fruit and soup for lunch. Last week I bought lunch a few times, but I'll bring my lunch to work every day this week.

After work I'll go to the gym and get on the treadmill or elliptical. I'll make sure to use the weights, too.

Week three of the chocolate covered espresso bean embargo. My weight seems to be slowing trending downwards so it must be working, which is good because I didn't want to have to cut anything else out. And their call is getting much weaker; I hardly hear it anymore . Soon, they will have lost all their power over me and I will be able to open the cupboard and look right past them; it will be like they don't exist.

I am the same way, alinnell. When I started my diet, I didn't tell a soul (except for my SO, because he would have wondered where I was disappearing to every day when I went to the gym and it also would have been hard to hide all the food measuring, logging, calculating, etc.) for several months. Same thing when I quit smoking. I quit cold turkey and didn't tell anyone, not even my SO (we weren't living together at the time). It took him a month or so to notice (he just thought I wasn't smoking around him for a while). I am always so afraid of failure and I especially hate for anyone to know I've failed, that I prefer to keep any new ventures private until I know for sure I can succeed at them. Good luck with your c25k training!

Well done Thinny, Clykk and Stiebena. I'm also down this week, down 1.6 but I'm still 3 lbs heavier than I was when I went on holiday. Looks like it's going to take me all of August to undo the harm i did in a couple of weeks in July.

Susan - I saw a post from you a few days ago where you said you had planned for 1300 calories that day. Is that a figure you're generally eating for maintenance or were you cutting back for some reason? It's freaked me out a bit - I can barely stick to 1300 cals and I'm still trying to lose!

Carolyn: WTG!!

Susan: My daughter is thinking of going into nursing (she is only 15 though!). She wants to work in pediatric nursing.

My DD birthday celebration was very fattening yesterday! My fridge is stocked with pizza, cheesecake and I have about 20 cupcakes leftover....yikes! I haven't even stepped on the scale. Ignorance just may be bliss at this point! I'm gonna loosen up for a few days on the diet and then start back gung-ho Thursday when school is in. Sounds like a plan! Lots of stress around here this week anyway. My DD's kitten was killed by the neighbor dog today to top it off! She was hysterical (poor baby).

I have been reading a lot of ads that say "I worked out less and ate more on ....... plan (can't remember) and lost weight!. Anyone know if there is any truth to any of this? I think it is the volumentrics plan maybe. I'll try to find the ad again.

Hey ladies!
I look forward to getting to know all of you...

I'm trying to eat on plan (that's the easy part for me) but it's the exercise that's really lacking lately. I am just in a cardio slump lately. But I have recommitted to doing at least my yoga everyday and alternating weights and crunches.

I would ideally like to be 115 by the time I have to attend a wedding on the 18th of August....

My tummy's rumbling so off I go to eat my lunch. Asian salad with black eyed peas!

Just got back from the 4 day road trip. A couple of OP days and a couple of ALC days. Lots of corn and meat. Hiking, swimming, kayaking, and chasing Canada geese with the dog.

Will weigh-in tomorrow morning. Am afraid, very, very afraid that the fat fairy zapped me - she's a sneaky one

Congrats to all those who lost and to those who maintained and to those who went to the gym and that's probably everybody, right?

Cheers,
Dagmar

Evening everyone! First off congrats to everyone who lost. That's great!

Now, I'm not even going to talk about my progress or should I say lack of. But that's nothing new for me. *grins* And if anyone wants to apply to be my motivator or otherwise known as offical butt kicker I am taking applications. The pay's losy and there aren't any medical or retirement benefits, but you would have the joy of telling me to get off my duff and move it.

Although, there's no progress in the area that has brought us all together I would like to update you on my cardiologist visit. I took a stress test and the good news is is that my legs gave out before my heart did. So I'm happy about that. However, I'd like to have been able to go for a little bit longer than 7 minutes. But I'll take all the good news that I can get. I'll get the results on Friday when I go for my follow up appointment.

I'm still figuring it out ... maintenance that is .... My goal is to stay under 125. One day that was 124.7 and I didn't like it much. I haven't been very good at all for several days. In an effort to get my average down, I was going to try a few lowish days. Did not succeed.

Please keep in mind that we are very different people. It wouldn't take much for you to be more active than I am. I'm older. I'm shorter. I have itsy bitsy bones ... you know the drill.

Ever have those days where it feels like you are hungry all day? That was today for me. I ate my normal amount of food but it just never quite seemed like enough. I never have this problem on the weekend, so I'm sure it is boredom. My brain is casting about for ways to avoid work and it thinks "I know, eating would be way more fun than doing this job!"

Despite the feeling of wanting to eat, I managed to keep it on plan (and was actually pretty productive at work, too), except for maybe a little extra fruit. And still no chocolate covered espresso beans.

Michelin--I am usually pretty dismissive of ads that make those claims, but I do know that you do eat more on a volumetrics plan (and that it is a legitimate diet, not a fad diet, with proven success). The idea is to eat foods that are high in volume but low in calories, like vegetables and lean proteins. I don't follow a strict volumetrics plan, but it's definitely a big influence on my diet. I don't eat very many foods that are low volume, high calorie, even if they are otherwise nutritious (like nuts, avocado, cottage cheese, or salmon, for example). And I eat a lot of vegetables, chicken, and lean pork. I eat a gigantic salad (seriously, like 9 or 10 oz of lettuce and veggies--I eat it out of a serving bowl it is so big) almost every night. And I almost always double the veggies in anything I make.

Road trip gave me back 2 of the 4 lbs I lost. I'm still under 140 though and will get back OP completely today. Am hoping the 2 lbs. are partially bloat from all of the protein/carbs. Am going to eat a lot of salad and fruit the next few days . Good to be in control of the food supply again.

Hot and humid here again today . But I have a new dog to walk - a big old black lab (11 labs now every day) named Duke. I'm going to enjoy getting to know him and introducing him to my sweetie girls group. They have needed a "boy" dog for balance for some time and I think they'll all be pretty happy with Duke.

Cheers!
Dagmar