As we all know, Halloween marks the unofficial start of the holiday season! My Sunday paper was filled with store circulars covered in red, green, and snowflake motifs. Retailers are trying to get us in the holiday gift giving spirit even before we have reached Thanksgiving! I haven't been to a shopping mall lately, but I'd be willing to bet that the Pandora Christmas Radio channel is already being funneled into the ears of shoppers everywhere. When this time of year rolls around it can only mean one thing - food!

kelijpa, one of our 40-Something posters, shared this insight - "They say if you can maintain over this time of year it's like losing 7-10 lbs as that's the average gain." In my mind, if I can even maintain my current weight, I will be ahead! So, that's my main goal over the coming month - to maintain my current weight. If I lose, terrific. However, my main challenge will be staying within my weekly calorie range.

As for today, TOM snuck up on me. This keeps happening. I wasn't expecting it to come until 11/10-11/11, and here it is 11/4 and it's arrived! I didn't even have much in the way of PMS this time around, although I have been feeling bloated and the scale has been very stubborn. I hate getting my period every 3 weeks! This really sucks, and I'm sure it is affecting my weight loss since I am retaining water so often. Anyway, it explains my cravings for chocolate and sugar these past 2 days. Ah well....at least maybe I can look forward to scale finally cooperating in a few days? Here's hoping.

Good luck today and during the month of November!

Thanks guacamole!!

Sum38 - Nice to "see" you!

This will be my 1st "food season" that ill be conscious of calories n eating healthy! Ill admit im a bit nervous about it! I dont want to deprive myself of all the holiday goodies BUT i dont want to gain anything back either! This will definitely be the time to practice portion control n a test to how bad i want to succeed in my new healthy lifestyle change! Tabata class has gone from 2 days a week to 3 days a week at the Y n ive joined to help me keep going. Tabata is killer but the changes ive experienced this past month of starting is enough to keep me motivated to continue them! Heres wishing us all the best of luck, health n blessings thru this food season!

Oh the holidays! I posted a thread on this myself a few days ago. This is my first season trying to lose through the holidays too. I'm still formulating my game plan. I am absolutely committed to sticking to the plan--whatever I decide it will be. 2013 is going to see a skinny me, even if it kills me. Lol!

Guacamole-my body is doing the same thing with TOM. Lately, it is becoming every few weeks. I read somewhere that fat cells release estrogen during weight loss. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it could explain wonky hormones.

Hi everyone! I have been dreading the holidays bc it is the first Christmas I will spend without my children. Not looking forward to that at all.....also I know that I am already at the high end of my weight.....so add to that the seven holiday lbs I always gain......well.....it's not pretty......so I am determined to get in the groove this month before December rears its ugly head.....right now though I would be happy just to have electricity......still recovering from hurricane sandy

Hi everyone!

After Thursday being awful emotionally and foodwise I got my act back together and did much better for the last few days. I ended up on my official weigh day Sat. at 144.2 and this morning 143.8. Hoping I can keep it up and since I already binged all the Halloween candy away that temptation is gone anyway. The tension with DD has been a bit better but with her teen hormones on crack its only a matter of time. But my part is I have to just not let it get to me and stay calm. The difficulties she has gotten herself into won't be resolved completely for a while but we can only take it one day at a time. As for now I am continuing the calorie cycling. It overall seems to be working for me. I seem able to do a few low cal days knowing I can have a few mildly higher days. Its been a bit easier for me mentally to stick to.

Zumba I hope you get power again soon!!!

Hello all, birthday's over, back to the regular program, this is a challenging time. I, like Guac, am hoping to maintain over the holidays, I'm secretly hoping to lose a couple pounds, but really just managing through these times will be a success.

Yesterday I broke out the old step, I did step aerobics while DH was on the treadmill, it was fun, but I forgot how hard it was! It was a success, I was hoping to be able to do something while he was on the treadmill, instead of waiting around for him to finish, this was just for when we're both working out at the same time, normally he does his earlier and I do mine later in the day.

Zumba, sorry to hear you're still without power, my in-laws were excited today to see a new power pole coming down the street, they have been without power as well since monday, hopefully they'll be set up tomorrow or the next day. you're in our thoughts!

Best to all

I'm planning to maintain through these next couple of months as well. I wanted to reach my normal BMI (149) and coast through the holidays. I have since exceeded that, and hoping that once I resume a normal diet, I can stay somewhere between my low, wherever that will be, and 149.

Zumbachica! Sorry, it's hard! I remember my sister's first holiday alone. She decided it would be a much needed vacation. She went and got a few Blockbuster DVDs she wanted to see, some good food to eat, and did a movie marathon, essentially hiding from the holiday! My husband and I used to love doing this pre-kids when we had no other holiday plans. It doesn't have to suck, and everything doesn't have to be a reminder that your kids aren't home.

Dont think ill go near the scale for a few days cuz itll be TOM any moment now ugh! Cold weather has found VA sooner than usual, we have been having windchills in the 20s already n it truly sux! I have a hard time getting motivated once cold weather hits.
Zumba, hope u get power back soon, thats always my biggest worry during a storm of course for us that means we lose water too! Good luck sweety! Have a good day ladies.

Had my first "bad" day since being on maintenance ... I actually at a blooming onion at a steak house. Ugh! Felt sick afterwards which I guess is my body saying "What the **** was that??"

Back on IP P1 for a day or 2 to recover ....

Zumba - still no power? Feel for you guys. I'm in eastern PA and although everythings a mess, it could have been much worse ...

Hello, all. Weekend eating wasn't great, but could have been worse. I went for my annual mammogram screening this morning. I was a nervous wreck. Ever since my first screening two years ago, when they found a cyst and a small tumor (which both turned out benign) I have been terrified. Last year's 2011 mammogram was uneventful, thank goodness! However, I still remember the horror I felt in 2010 going back for more tests, needles, etc. The waiting for results was a killer. So, now I will be on pins and needles until I know that my mammogram is ok.

I went for a short walk after the mammogram to calm down and clear my head, which helped a lot. One thing that struck me is that before the exam, the tech asked if I still menstruated and then asked when my last period was. Now I am officially old. Before the question was always, "When was your last period?" The assumption being that I had it! Now, the assumption is that I don't! Ahhh...getting old is so much fun.

Have a good on plan day today!

Happy Monday all!
Did not have a great food weekend. We took a road trip to MN, which is 6 1/2 each way. We took my foster son to see his grandfather whose health is declining and has been moved to an assisted living center. Watching Matt and his grandpa together was so beautiful, just typing it out brings tears to my eyes. The love they have for one and other is tangible when they are together. Grandpa has some memory issues too, we were afraid he would not remember Matt but he did, took him a minute to recognize him but he did remember Matt and so many of the things he enjoys. Matt was so patient with his grandpa, helping him play bingo and answering the same questions over and over. The saddest thing is that Matt does not have much family, his grandpa and grandma raised him until he was 12 or so and to see how much love they have and how far apart they are just breaks my heart. All in all, it was a good trip even though food was not great.
I am back on track today and am going to do my best to resist weighing until Friday so I have time to get rid of some water weight. Don't want to get discouraged, and then down on myself too much.

Hello Ladies,
I hope you don't mind me joining your 40-Something group. I've just recently started the IP program and am loving the results. I travel a lot during the week for work, so at some times it can be challenging, but I've managed to lose 10lbs in my first two weeks.
I'm very proud of myself, I spent the day at California Adventure and Disneyland on Saturday and managed to stay on program. I just ate a salad for lunch and one for dinner..I did a lot of walking, so I'm sure that was good for me too :-) I look forward to getting to know all of you better!