It's Monday here, a new fresh week! Chat away my lovelies =)

Yay new week! boo monday. But at least my monday is over! W00t! Tomorrow i have to present my thesis and i have kinda slapped some slides together and thats about it. Could either be okish...or a giant disaster. I made an awesome dinner tonight though of home made piri piri chicken, with spicy kumara and salad

Rainbow- yeah it kinda stops that snowballing effect of omg im over calories, better eat myself to ****. Oh you should go on holiday! Do you have any leave? Cooked chickens are awesome, have lunch for at least 2 days and someone else cooked it for me win.

fatpants- yeah brr! had my heat pump cranked up today at work xD Thesis stuff is going smoothly, as i kinda gave up. its hard to care much about a presentation that isnt marked. And you dont want to do.

munster- yeah leftovers for lunch ftw!! Yeah i really dont want to be a person picked up by the bus. Must run faster!!

amelissa- aw food anxiety?? Thats really hard stuff and it probably will backfire on you if you keep going like that Maybe try increasing your calories gradually, like by 100 a week or something. Your meals might be the same size but at around 700 cals you are probably missing out on nutrients and healthy fats too. Having friends like that is probably not helpful. Perhaps you could say something to them, like "i know you care, but at this point in my weight loss my battle is more emotional and i need to work through this in my own pace and time"? I dunno, you know your friends better than us.

Icon New job means no leave until I've been there a year -_- so all I have is a day off for my birthday in October and whatever long weekend is also in October...and potentially another day off if we meet our budget for the quarter at work... Would love a holiday but it just can't happen!

Bed time for meeeeee. Just watched True Blood...hate to say it but I'm not enjoying this season as much as the previous ones.

Dinner is confirmed for spanish tapas on Wednesday, so I'll have to make sure whatever I have for lunch is low cal, but that shouldn't be too difficult. Had minestrone for dinner tonight, and finished off the day just under 1400 calories which is pretty much what I'm aiming for so I'm happy!

In exactly one week I'll be traveling to Greece, to seaside.
And it seems like no deficit for me this Monday. I've been having this weird pattern, I'll do great for a week, and than I'll ruin the next one.
I am just not feeling in a diet mood today, I'm all nervous and just want to sit down and munch on something salty. But I'm not going to fall of the wagon. I'll hit maintenance in the worst case.
I will get my workout in, I'm feeling up for it luckily
But I'm not feeling like preparing my meals.

BTW it is so interesting how we are in different time zones... For Rainbow and Icon the day is already over, for me and Riestrella the day is on, the American ladies are probably still sleeping (well, Munster might already be kickin' Shaun T's a** :P)...It makes this place always active

Well, when you posted this morning, HH4L, I was up and going as it was a little after 8am my time. I had to get groceries this morning after dropping DS off at school. I love going first thing in the morning. The parking lot is so empty and the store is too. I've been trying to think of good lunch and snack ideas for when I get back into school. My classes start tomorrow and I'll be there all day so I have to think of something or I'll be tackling the vending machine which is never a good thing. I bought some tuna stuff, strawberries, grapes, bananas, lunch meat. I made some rice and black beans stuff today that's a good taco filler. I could take some of that with me tomorrow. Anyway, I'm getting to that point to where I'm so tired of thinking about what I'm going to eat and what's healthy and what's not. I mean, I'm already making better choices and I'm drinking my water still...but I can definitely tell my motivation is going downhill. Ugh...but I'm gonna keep checking the forum and keeping people updated because I think it helps keep me accountable. Okay, I'm rambling now.

Icon - What is piri piri chicken??

Good Afternoon Ladies!

Well the official school year started today here, and man was the gym empty this morning when I got there lol! All the mommies had to drop off kids so the 8am crowd now moves back to 8:30 lol! I like having the pick of cardio machines though! So this week the plan is to lose AT LEAST 1.5 lbs, to put me at 154._. Don't care what it is as long as I see the 154 part! GRrrrrrrr haha! I will just have to stop having a snack after dinner I think (I was hitting DSs Lucky Charms ). Doh! Oh well, a new week and a new chance to get closer to goal! I love the fact that we are all in different places too, I log on a couple times a day and it makes it fun to see new things! I hope we all have a good week, and pray for the scales to be nice and happy for everyone!!!!!

sgregg-Haha! The life of the young mommy lol! I swear I do things so much sooner than I did when hubby and I were married with no kids. It's like the day stretched out to include about 4 more hours than it used to (which also means that sleep at night is shorter haha!). I love an empty store, especially with baby and preschooler in tow! Makes life so much easier without having to navigate through other carts, people, and kids! DON'T get down about not wanting to think about all of that, the school year is starting and added stress makes things seem a lot tougher! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Just stick with it one meal at a time, if you think about it globally you might get overwhelmed. That way too, if you have one "bad" meal then you just say to yourself "okay next one will be good" and you will do great!

HH4L-OMG Greece will be so amazing! Just think of all the tanned beautiful men out there to keep you on track lol! Eating at maintanance and hitting the workout will be fine just keep it up! LOL 6am is what time I greet the day, Shaun T, and sweat lol! That's also when Shaun T greets me cursing and hating him, his ancestors, and any and all children he has or will one day have ! HAH!

Rainbow-Great job on staying OP with eating, that's great! Just keep it up, one day at a time, and you will get right back where you want to be. I know it has to be hard since you work so much, but you will make it work! I hope that you get a little time off to yourself . Keep plugging, I bet you will see a loss soon .

Icon-LOL I wouldn't want to be picked up either, I think that is what would motivate me over that hill lol! You will do great, I wouldn't stress about it! Your meal sounds super yummy, I just finished lunch otherwise it would make me hungry lol!

Rie-Hope you are doing well today, kick some running a** woman! Hope you see another 2 lber this week .

Ladies, I hope we all have had a great start to the week. Here is to loss, OP eating, and deeeeeeeeeeestressing our lives lol!

So today I was bored, and I forced myself away from the internet because I do spend too much time on here just idly looking at random crap. I thought to myself "How much did I weigh when I was a teenager?" So I dug up my old diaries that I kept from when I was 15 onwards. I've always had a diary, some periods of life I've been consistent with writing but now I don't write too much. I really should though.

Anyway, I've changed so much! I had so much anger, my views on the world and of people were so warped and frankly disturbing. I was seriously an intense dramatic kid, it was quite sickening to read sometimes - I felt like slapping my old self and saying "get a grip, life is ok!" But it made me thankful of who I am today and how far I've come.

The most shocking thing to me was how much I hated my body back then. Every other entry was "I feel so fat" or "I'm so huge, why can't I be thin?" I used to get paranoid of what people thought of me, I felt like an outcast when I really was putting myself in that position. I also used to rant about my now current boyfriend A LOT, it was hilarious - I wrote an entry saying "I wonder what will happen in 5 years? Future me, write here what's happening with him!" and I drew a dotted line. I laughed and sure enough, 5 years have passed and I got to write "It all worked out, you're together and in love."

I found what I was looking for, between the age of 17-18 my weight varied between 159 lbs - 164 lbs. It surprised me that I reached 193 lbs this January, considering how HUGE I used to feel back then, I really let myself go when I was in my final year at Uni. Sometimes I suspect I could have reached the 200 lb mark. I have a long way to go, but I'm going to make it this time. No more promises to myself of being healthy and failing, no more entries in a diary saying "it's time to sort yourself out" and then ignoring my own words - it's time to do it and make it happen!

Reading my own words from 7 years ago about how much I wanted to lose weight, and then seeing the same rant over and over again over the years just made me realise how this has been long overdue - and how much of a problem my weight has been. It's just given me even more strength to keep pushing forward and to finish what I should have sorted out a long time ago, but as they say, it's better late than never!

---

Iconised - Are you a student?

rainbowstripe - Definitely cut down on chocolate, and definitely take it away from your bed stand!! If you have chocolate around, put it in harder to reach places where you have to get up and get it. My Dad is like my Mum's butler sometimes, he tops up her wine constantly - I'm sure if he didn't she wouldn't drink as much.
I watch True Blood purely for Eric. But he's lost his edge since he got all nice. Still super hot though >_>

hotHealthy - Stick with it, losing weight isn't easy but it's worth it! And yeah, I love this thread, it's always so nice hearing about everyone all the time =)

sgregg - Are you exercising too? I don't diet, it doesn't work for me. I'm a chronic lazy person, luckily I don't over eat. But now that I'm working out - I actually want to eat healthy so I'll get the right fuel in my body. It's crazy, I actually want to eat salads - whiskey tango foxtrot. I can imagine being conscious of food ALL THE TIME is draining.

munster - You can do it! I'm rooting for you!!

Well, girls...I weighed this morning and apparently yesterday I got a lb and a half of that water weight off...yay! Now I have almost another lb of water to go and I'll be back where I started last week which is kinda annoying but since it's water hopefully i'll be down more at the end of this week. Must be positive....

Anyway I've had a pretty crappy day...stuff going on with a friend (guy friend). Part of me wants to start a fight and cause drama cause when I'm in a bad mood, I usually pick a fight. The other part of me is just sick of the same old song and dance that I don't even feel like it. I'll get over it...its just been a blah day. Didn't really wanna write on here today but I didn't yesterday and I've gotta make myself stay accountable.

Gotta get up and go exercise now...I'll come back for personals later.

Eee late reply, sorry everyone, I’ve heard the first month you move to japan you’re super busy >_< well I hope everyone is having a good start to the week so far!  so firstly personals…

Kawaii: Omg kawaii , you are amazing. This makeup is incredible! I’am absolutely in lovee with the gel eyeliner, it stays on all day and just looks so good! Also the eyeshadow, I bought a pink and orangey color and I normally only ever stick to browns, so it was a big step for me and they both look great! And the mascara, just basically everything <33

Ghost: good luck with your thesis! I’ve just started teaching and I had to make a presentation England etc, trust me most of my slides were slapped together.

Anddd I have to leave for work, sorry guys, more personals later!

It's almost 9pm here now. DS is getting his bath so he can get in the bed. I am so not feeling excited about tomorrow's weigh-in right now. Oh well, I'm not going to let it get me down. I had a lot of sodium today and only 64 oz. of water (which is still way better than what I used to drink), but now that my body is getting used to that much its holding on to it longer. My classes start tomorrow and I've got stuff ready to pack in my lunch box. Lots of healthy snacks to hopefully keep me away from that dern vending machine. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm not too tempted by unhealthy snacks anymore. (yay!) So, I just gotta figure out how I'm going to get all my water in. I have class from 9:30 to 5:45 with two 45 minute breaks. The other breaks in between classes are about 15 minutes. I'm thinking about taking my big thermos and just filling it up at the water fountain when I need more. I just don't want to lug that thing around along with everything else I'll be toting. Thankfully, my school is an off-campus facility so all my classes are located in one building. And I think I will probably walk around the building a few times for some exercise. I may have to start doing that when it cools down some because I don't want to be a sweaty mess going into class.

Bama - hope tomorrow is a better day for you!

Riestrella - I have mainly been focusing on my diet the last 2 weeks. I wanted to get it in "check" first before moving on to exercise since I tend to want to eat everything in the kitchen if I have a day of good intense exercise. So, I attempted 30 DS earlier today, but DD woke up from her nap right in the middle so I didn't get to finish. Anyway, I think once I start exercising on a regular basis my attitude will change. I have just had a blah week and I know everyone does. I just need to pick myself back up and move on. That's funny about the diary. I think I probably destroyed all my old diary's. I do remember being right under 200 lbs back in my junior and senior year because I told someone if I ever hit 200 lbs then I was going on a diet. And I always thought I was ugly and fat back then too when I was no where near as big as I am now. It's crazy how our perceptions of ourselves were when we were teenagers.

munster - Oh, I'm totally different now that I'm a mom and I HAVE to be up at a certain time. Children definitely change your life.

Can I join in? After starting my weight loss journey on June 12, 2011 I have exercised and ate healthy until today. I saw that 4 layer of decadent chocolate cake and lost total contol. I felt guilty about it and jogged for 2 miles. What is wrong with me?

Hey everyone!
Had an unexpected day off today, so I've been able to get a lot done.

I did make that grocery shopping trip on foot, and did not purchase bread/other foods I've been losing control with lately (even though they were healthy). So far, it's really helping! One cannot overeat when one has a limited amount of food. Novel idea. hahahaha

I stayed very close to my calories today as well, which is huge considering I haven't managed that in.... weeks?

I ended up doing 30Ds as my "strength" workout today, and got rather sweaty if I do say so myself. I just wasn't in the mood to face people at the gym, ya know? I was kind of feeling crabby and like I just wanted to be alone, so the DVD worked out well for me.

All in all, I'd say it was a solid day on plan, or as close to one as I've been in a while. Not bad!

Icon-- I'm also curious what piri piri chicken is!

Rainbow-- Tapas is great in my opinion because it's like built-in pacing, and the sharing really helps. Good job with your exercise, btw. Enjoy!

HotHealthy-- I love that we're all in different time zones, too! Your trip sounds lovely. Have fun! I hope the nervous feelings pass soon.

sgregg-- Have an awesome first day of classes! I've done the water fountain thing a lot, so I think the thermos will work no problem. Your healthy snacks sound great, too. Let us know how it goes

munstermommy-- That's another one of those foods I can't go near. Cereal kills me! I feel for ya. I also agree, we must de-stress. *Ommmmmmmm.....* Sending good-scale vibes your way.

Riestrella-- I can't even re-read my old journals, because I get so upset with/embarrassed by my old self! It's crazy how much we change.... but kind of cool, too. Glad you were able to get some perspective, and see patterns as well.

bamagirl-- Hope you got some great exercise in. That always makes me feel better when I'm crabby.

chantistars--Hope you get a chance to relax and unwind soon!

Ryler-- Welcome! We're all struggling with the food/exercise stuff too. Nothing is wrong with you! Just a learning process, is all. Remind yourself that tomorrow is a fresh chance to make good choices, and go from there.

I'll check in again tomorrow gals!

Sweet dreams,
FPSJ

hey my loves!

So I am back, and officially 30 today *cries* although I refuse to move to the other forum I’m not 30 in the head anyways, haha.

So anyways, yeah, my weekend… lol! Well, I enjoyed it, to say the least, but I think I’ll be quite content to not move at all for at least the next month or so. We went clubbing ALL 3 nights I was in Tokyo. I got back so late everyday and got so little sleep… the weird thing is that I think I actually lost weight while I was there, cuz on Monday morning when I left, my clothes felt so loose… it was really weird! I felt kinda like an alcoholic or junkie because I ate about one meal a day and then was out drinking and partying. lol. Oh, and my friend and I went to a host club. lol. If you don’t know what that is, look it up. It was hilarious… and yes, got plenty of male attention as well, so that was enjoyable too. lol. Met up with a bunch of friends who live in Tokyo as well, and had a generally good time. Oh, and my friend bought me a hello kitty kettle. lol.

Anyhow, I’m so tired and dead today. the funny thing though, is that I have this kinda muscle pain in my calves that I KNOW comes from dancing too much, haha… but yeah, anyways, I’m gonna be trying to start my new diet tomorrow. I couldn’t get to the grocery store yesterday so meh. Today I’m just gonna try to be good, and hopefully get my workout in.

Now here are some personals from last week!


Rie: thanks! oh and I still have to reply to your mail… haven’t had a chance cuz I was away, so please wait a bit more! oooh, 2 pound loss! that’s awesome!! haha, reading old diaries can be fun, weird, and enlightening!!

HH4L: hey, I’m a binge eater too. no one on this forum is gonna judge you for it hahaha, I’ve had dreams where I was eating cake too… lol. I only ever have those dreams when I diet though… evil!! and thanks for the advice and the birthday wishes! and yeah, I always notice the time zones thing… cuz usually no one is on when I’m on! although maybe that’ll change now that rainbow and icon are back

munster, haha…. you don’t wanna hear ALL the updates from my weekend… it would probably make you blush, hahaha… I did have a good time though. yeah, I’m looking forward to starting this new diet! although it’s gonna have to wait til tomorrow cuz I was too tired to go grocery shopping yesterday and I think it’s gonna take all my strength of will to make myself workout tonight! I’m so dead! lol.

FPSJ: yeah, I’m right there with you!! oh, I do love my kindle! and I’ll let you know about the diet too! maybe if I get good results, you could try it too! and I’m liking your new goals for the week!

bama: yeah, carbs are like men… can’t live with them, can’t live without them! lol.

rainbow, I LOVE my hellokitty pillow!!! it is seriously so soft and awesome, haha… aww well, it’s important that you feel good with your own body, so if you wanna lose a bit more, then do it! I think you look fabulous though oh and yeah… I’m all partied out now. I think I will be become a recluse for the next few weekends… lol. hmm… as for your weekends, if you think you’re going over too much, maybe you can tell yourself you can have one treat a day? not 5? lol, like if you’re gonna have a burger and fries, then no booze, or if you’re gonna have ice cream, just eat well for the rest of the day?

icon: hey! how’ve you been? good luck on your presentation!

Melissa: there’s a GLEE movie?!?! omg… but aww, don’t beat yourself up for a bit of popcorn! be careful with your calories though… 700cals a day is WAY not enough. I understand the fear of eating too much a bit, but if you are eating so little now, it’ll be worse when you get under the 200’s and it’s harder to lose weight, and you’re not gonna be able to lower your calories!

sgregg: noooo!! don’t let your motivation go down! you can do it! and yes, posting here keeps us accountable good luck with the beginning of classes, and yay for healthy snacks!

chanti: keep the praise coming! lol. I’m glad you like it oh and yeah, orange blush is awesome. you wouldn’t think so, but it is!!

Ryler, sure! welcome! aww, nothing is wrong with you! we all have our moments of failiure. just get back on track!

Oh and some birthday pictures. Look at my tiara!!! lol. (I’m the blonde one) and my nails… mweheh…

Do you people not have nandos?? Piri piri/peri peri is portugese for chilli i think, anyway piri piri chicken is like chicken with, well piri piri sauce! mine was made from red onions, garlic, chillis, basil, worcester sauce, white wine vinegar, water, smoked paprikka, capsicum.

rainbow- :O i thought you normally started to earn leave after 3 months? Actually, im pretty sure thats what happened at my old job because after 6 months i could take leave. That sucks

hh4life- yeah its what i like about it too! always new posts before and after work It gets a bit quiet during the day for us in NZ though, since most other people are asleep >.<

munster- i love it when the gym is empty after the holidays! I have to stop pre and post dinner snacking too >.< Its nuts! Im going to try distration. And allow myself 1 tsp of something when i get in from work, since im pretty sure im not starving, its just habit

bama- aw i hate those days, i hope it passes for you. At least you lost that water weight, thats gotta be a good thing right?

rie- your diary sounds awesome actually! Thats so cute that you could write back to yourself, and that it worked out so perfectly I love happy endings like that. I think just about all teenagers are really warped in the head. A fair bit of neurological stuff is going on though i think, so its probably not a bad thing in itself! I am a kinda-student, im doing my internship this year which means working 4 days a week for very very little, and going to uni one day a week. And trying to keep everything else together!

chanti- haha, good ol' copy paste, right? It went ok, i talked heaps and there was no time for questions xD

ryler- welcome! there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You did well for what, 2 months? 3 months? And then you had some cake. If you "totally lost control" it just means you have more learning to do. I've been here for what must be almost 4 years now, and im still learning about myself! So its not that there is anything wrong with you, its that you discovered something new.

fatpants- congrats on the good day! hope its one of many

kawaii- you can totally stay! I've been ok i think still here, cant complain that much xD

Okay, so here go personals take 2!

Hh4l: I once had a dream where I was eating sweets…salty snacks and sweet food, they’re a killer!

Spregg: you talking about all the fruit you’ve bought makes me miss cheap fruit back home :’( fruit and veg in japan is so expensive and it’s annoying because that was my healthy snacking food.

Riestrella: whenever I’m down I like reading my old diary entries too. I go back like a year, 2 years in my diary etc to the same date as when I’m looking to see what was going on at the same time back then (does that make sense?) it normally gives me happy memories or makes me see that things aren’t really that bad. Lol I liked to mope a lot as a teen. So reading some of the really old stuff (when I was 13-14) is pretty cringey.

Spregg: no longer tempted by unhealthy snacks? care to give me this ability?

Ryler: temptation is hard, at least you lacked the control to go jogging after, good luck!

Fatpants: I do all my grocery shopping on foot too. I pretty much walked everywhere in England and combined that with getting the bus. I think that was really useful as just daily light exercise, but I need to drive out here in japan and my car gets delivered tomorrow. So im sort of worried that will make it a bit harder to maintain, but we’ll see. And thanks! It sounds like things are going to start winding down fairly soon…

Kawaii: welcome back kawaii and cool pics! nooo don’t leave 20 somethings! :`( I like having someone here who’s in japan too, we won’t tell if you don’t and you went to a host club?? Jelly! I want to go to one sooo much. I’ll probably go when my best friend comes to visit next year, as long as I don’t chicken out lol. I really want to go but the whole prospect of having cute guys flirt with me all night makes me get ridiculously shy, even though they already do it out in my placement anyway lol. haha and what did you do..? ;p it was your birthday so I’m glad you had a good time!

And with that, personals are done! So my weight is pretty steady at my goal, it went up about a pound at the start of last week but I’ve gotten it back down again so alls good. The hardest part is just restraining myself at all the welcome parties and when I’m going out with people, but I’m doing okay. Jogging pretty much everyday has helped to, (oh the perks of living in the country) but I live in the coldest part of japan and it’s already starting to get cold…going to have to develop my workout at home routine for winter since I probably won’t want to go jogging in the snow!

And I started teaching out here, first school was the biggest and kinda fail. But I went through my talk too quickly and thought the kids were better at English than they were. Went home and made some changes to my powerpoint and todays teaching was much better. Lunch at the schools are nice too, but pretty unhealthy (lots of rice and fried things). They give us a small carton of full fat milk for every lunch too *sigh*