Good morning, all you lovely maintainers! I so missed being here last week and reading about everyone's Thanksgivings and shopping extravaganzas (anyone go shopping on Friday?)

The wedding was wonderful and it went about as smoothly as it possibly could have gone. Photos to follow, as soon as we get them. I even had a piece of cake! (white with raspberry filling and it was worth the calories)

I was in the dressing room with DD, waiting for our cue to walk down the aisle (she wanted both DH and me to do the honors) and the thought popped into my mind about how glad I was that I had lost the weight. Here it was, five minutes before the wedding and I was thinking about weight loss. I know that I would have been extremely uncomfortable walking down the aisle at 257 pounds and, in fact, may have declined because of self-consciousness about my size. And I would have missed out on one of the most touching moments of my life.

It was an amazing experience to be able to walk down the aisle with self-confidence and not worrying about holding in my stomach or do I look fat in this dress? It was one of those "it's totally worth it" moments, when everything that I've done to get to this point was totally worth whatever effort it took to get here. I hesitate to say sacrifices, because weight loss is more about gaining a life than giving up anything. And it's given me so very, very much and I'm so very thankful.

The funniest moment of the night for me was weight-loss related too, because the shoes I wore with my dress were pre-weight loss shoes. They are a beautiful navy blue satin with bows and went perfectly with my dress. So even though I knew my feet had gone from a wide to regular and down a half size, I though I could get away with wearing them with insoles. Really, it seemed OK at home when I tried them on! The problem is, when I was walking over to the chapel, my feet kept slipping out. I looked like a little girl playing dress up in her mother's shoes. So I got to the dressing room and stuffed handfuls of tissues in the toes of each shoe and went down the aisle that way. Once we got to the reception, I just took them off and danced in my stocking feet.

Anyway, we're home and I weigh just about what I did when we left, so no damage done despite no exercise and way too much restaurant food. It's back to the gym this morning and then piles of laundry. And onward to Christmas!!

How is everyone else on this cold and rainy Monday morning?

Morning Maintainers!

Sounds like the wedding was absolutely fantastic, Meg. I'm so glad it went without a hitch (well, only the right kind of hitch), and also that you were able to appreciate your "aha" moment. Kudos to you!

No shopping for me this weekend. We try to keep Christmas low key and to avoid the consumerism as much as possible. Besides, this year we're gearing up financially to buy a car to replace Rattle-Bang.

Just a normal day ahead of me. Coffee, bus stop, gym, shower, work. Bowling tonight (so that TB can demonstrate his prowess to his grandpa). Undoubtedly leftover turkey will be involved in the day as well.

Happy Monday, everyone!
Kim

Good morning everyone. It sure was busy, busy, busy in here last week. I was busy, busy, busy too and confess - I just couldn't keep up.

Meg, I'm so happy that everything went so well. I'm sure you're a big reason that that occured. Congratulations to you and the family.

I can relate to you so much on how you felt about walking down the aisle and being thankful that you lost the weight, even at that moment. My daughters' weddings weighed heavily on my mind and was one of the reasons why I *finally* made the commitment to lose the weight. We also have the tradition to walk our girls down the aisle. I not only wondered how I would walk them down the aisle so heavy, but how I would get through the entire affair and all the work PRIOR to the wedding at such a high weight. My girls are no where near ready to get married, but it really is a HUGE weight off of my mind that I don't need to worry about how I will have the strength and stamina to get through a wedding. Oh and that I can wear anything in the world I desire. That's very, VERY funny about the shoes Meg. I can just see you slipping in those tissues now. That cakes sounds scrumptious. It's amazing to me how you are away for a week, with a birthday, Thanksgiving, a wedding and all the hoopla and you are the same weight. You really are a maintenance powerhouse.

Nothing too interesting going on here either. Same old, same old. Work, shopping, errands, cooking, cleaning, work, shopping, errands, cooking, cleaning, work.

Hello to the whole entire gang. I hope you all have a fantastic week ahead of you.

Good morning, everyone!

Meg, I'm so glad you had a good time at the wedding, and I love that you got to experience one of those great moments where you really feel the difference in your life after weight loss. What a special moment, and I'm so glad you got to enjoy it unfettered by any concerns about your weight!

Well, as many of you may already know from my posts, I'm the QUEEN of huge weight gains in short amounts of time. I've had a few weekends where I put on 9 or 11 pounds. And yep, I did it again. Went to my mom's for Thanksgiving, ate WAY too much, did a fair amount of running (but that never actually seems to make a difference in my weight anymore, I'm sorry to tell you - burning calories hasn't been my reason for running in a loooooong time now), and I put on 6 pounds. Could've been worse, certainly, but I swear I really do seem to put on more than other people in a short span of time. I imagine most of it will be gone by the end of the week. I hate that I got to 160 only to turn around and head back up toward 170 again! Oh well, my fault -- a direct result of the choices I made. I actually feel ok about it because I know I can take it right back off. And with that, I'd better go see how tight my pants are going to fit today and head on into work!

Have a good day, everyone!!

Meg, welcome back. glad the wedding went so well. looking forward to pictures. The shoe story is great, I don't think most of us expect our feet size to change , but they do . I wear a shoe one and a half sizes smaller than at my highest weight of 206.

Good Morning Friends:

Meg: So glad the wedding was so beautiful and bravo to you on the maintenance. I'm sure your ironclad metabolism is to blame for being able to keep it all off despite the restaurant food and the lack of time to exercise. Good for you.

I had a great 4 day weekend. Thursday, if you read my post last week you'll know that we celebrated turkey day 2 Sunday's ago, was an extra day. I woke up Thursday morning and bagged some great deals at the stores. We put up all the Christmas decor and made a ham dinner. It was wonderful. I eat a few treats this weekend and didn't really get the chance to exercise although I was quite active all weekend with putting up the Christmas stuff and cleaning and shopping, so I am glad to say that I was 117.2lbs this am! This weeks goals, get back to working out regularly. I enjoyed my brief hyatus, but now it's time to get back in gear.

Hope you all have a DELIGHTFUL week!

Morning everyone!

Meg, I'm so glad that the wedding was wonderful! And I'm extra glad that you were able to walk down the aisle and dance at the wedding without all the extra physical and emotional baggage. It must have been a very rewarding experience and you should be really, really proud.

I am feeling very fat. I have been eating like an out-of-control food fiend for the last few days. I was good on Thanksgiving, but every day since has been a bit of a disaster. I'm avoiding the scale because I have my period and so the weight will not be accurate, but I'm definitely feeling fat and a bit out of control. I'm going running in a few minutes and I plan to have a perfectly on-plan day.

And then work, work, work. Only 2 weeks left of classes! Hooray!

Happy Monday everyone.

Good morning!! I love Mondays because I don't have to go to work. I ALSO love Mondays because I Love New York is on - does anyone else watch that show?

Yesterday, the GF and I went to Texas Roadhouse. I'm proud of myself because I made healthy choices at one of the most challenging places. When there's ribs, smothered chicken, fried things, and the CACTUS BLOSSOM (which I admit to eating some of - the GF LOVES it and I had a few bites), it's difficult to stay "on plan" there. But I did it. And the waitress assumed I needed to lose weight and decided to assure me that I had a "great figure"

Meg - amazing story!
"Here it was, five minutes before the wedding and I was thinking about weight loss. " -- you know, I think it's something ex fat chicks understand that those who have never been fat will never "get" - the fact that losing weight takes so much passion and dedication that our healthy choices and determination to keep it off will ALWAYS be somewhere on our minds.

Congrats, Libby (and you, too, Meg) for not gaining any holiday weight! Count me in with the bunch

Hi all,

I had a very nice Thanksgiving with my friends. My friend hosting is from New Hampshire, and I spent many years in Connecticut before moving to PA as a child, and we are both lobster-heads and took advantage of a lobster sale at the store here and had lobster instead of turkey. It was delicious. Having a 4-day, paid holiday weekend was very relaxing. But I ate terribly all weekend and feel so sad about it. It was more boredom than anything, I guess. I felt bad/depressed that the lump on my foot is swelling and I've been very scared to stress it with exercise. I'm really, REALLY looking forward to the healthy lunch I packed today, and only 3 more days until my surgery, and soon I can really exercise again. I haven't gotten on the scale b/c I'm scared (yes - I fully admit to being a big baby about the scale) but my ticker's definitely wrong. I'm struggling to keep my head in the maintenance game.

I also couldn't keep up last week, since I have no internet at home. I'm happy that everyone had such a great Turkey Day, and hello to those outside the US who didn't have turkey day. Since I live in such a rural place, I think I'll be online shopping this year. I need to get on that. But I have all the lights and decorations up already, a list of presents to buy, a plane ticket bought to visit my parents in PA, and that's pretty good for me!

Meg, the wedding sounds WONDERFUL! Congratulations to your DD and I'm glad everyone had such a great time. And what a wonderful "it's totally worth it" moment to have!

LisaMarie, I don't know, I think I could give you a run for the crown. Right now I don't know though, since as I mentioned I'm being a wimp and hiding from the scale. I'm sure some of it's water weight and getting back on your routine will make it vanish in no time!

Hi everyone else! I can't believe it's almost December.

Meg, I'm not a maintainer but your wedding story could spur anyone on. Thanks for posting it because it is a great boost to people who still need to lose weight.

Hi all!

Meg - glad the wedding went well! I can tell you too, that as a bride, I sure was glad I had lost the weight!

Shane - great job at the restaurant!

I have been yo-yo-ing lately. I'll eat really well most of the day, then have two slices of leftover pie after dinner. Better than eating poorly ALL day I suppose. Plus I was really bad and snuck a cupcake that didn't even belong to me, when I knew I would end up eating pie later.

My weight pattern the last few days looks ridiculous, so it must be water weight. Thanksgiving morning I weighed in at 137.4. The subsequent days I've been 139, 138, 140, 139. Friday DH and I went for a great 6 mile walk though, which I felt really good about. Exercise is still going good. Of the past 14 days, I exercised on 11 of them.

Jessica - it's interesting that you think that pattern looks ridiculous, because I would call that somewhat stable! I'm figuring out that my body must be really odd, because I fluctuate pretty wildly all the time. Oh well. I just hope I can get this new extra 6 pounds off! It's pretty insane to think that I would've actually put on that much weight in just 3 or 4 days, but since I've gained 11 in just as short a time, I'm not surprised. It's interesting, though, that people all over the country can get through Thanksgiving with a 1-2 pound gain and they're not even exercising, while I'm running a whole bunch of miles and yes, overindulging. Can you tell I'm getting a little bitter? Well, this is the body I've been blessed with, I suppose!

In other news, my students are driving me insane today. I may pull out my hair before sundown.

Good morning maintainers! I have no time!!! 5 days off of work and I'm buried in work!! So it's just a quick note:

rabbit~WTG on the exercise!

Meg~the wedding sounded wonderful, but I keep visualizing the little girl in dress-up shoes! Can't wait for photos.

Gary~despite no longer being 169 you're still doing great. Just think--I'm 4 inches shorter and I used to weight 173. Yikes.

I did very well on Thanksgiving. I had a little of everything and never felt stuffed. Saturday was different--we went to my cousin's for a rib BBQ and the ribs were so good! I ended up having 4 ribs (pork--so they weren't huge) as well as baked beans and salad and a roll. I kind of over ate. Last night we celebrated DD's 17th BD and she ordered cheeseburgers, corn on the cob, salad and chips. I stayed away from the chips but my FIL wanted a chili cheese burger so I also made homemade chili. Wow, was that overkill! I think I ate more last night than on T'Day!

My sister is in the hospital for an overnight stay after her angiogram today. Hopefully she'll have good news for us tomorrow, but yesterday she mentioned that despite the mega doses of antibiotics, her incision is still very red as if it isn't responding.

Lisa - My weight usually stays within 1lb day to day, so this is pretty wacky for me!

I just finished doing my nutritional analysis on the food I've been eating from 10/24 to 11/24. I averaged 1769 calories/day, with exercise most days. And yet, in that time period I have gained a reliable 1-2 lbs, plus 2 more lbs that I think is water weight the past weekend. I'm comfortably wearing my "big" jeans (size 10p, I usually wear a 6). What on earth is going on? Is my body in "pack away all this fat because it's winter" mode? TOM is coming this weekend, maybe some water weight will go with it. I sure hope so because this is really stressing me out.

Jessica, you've been exercising quite a bit the last two weeks, but I know you said that you were having trouble making yourself exercise at all for at least a few weeks before that. How long did that period go on, and how much exercise were you doing then? Is it possible that your body is building back some muscle it lost during a few weeks+ of inactivity, making you gain a small amount of weight (of course that muscle will soon help you burn that metabolism up!)?

Sounds like you are eating well and exercising well too. Stick with it! Don't be discouraged by the scale!