We all have bulges, it seems, and we'd all like to eliminate them. Let’s see how far we get in the six weeks to 25 January. Everyone is welcome, whether you post a little or a lot.


(Historical note. The Battle of the Bulge, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, was a battle during the Second World War. Its name was coined by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps. The Allies eventually won the battle, eliminating the bulge, after much effort and great loss of life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge )

Present! Yes, I am here.

As a child, the adults sometimes used to say 'she's fighting the battle of the bulge'. I knew it meant that someone was slightly chubby and probably didn't eat biscuits. I didn't realise that the Second World War battle was so close in their memories.

So here I am, fighting the battle of the bulge. I am slightly chubby and I don't eat biscuits. Funny how the world goes round.

Present! I am here, also.

It's useful to hear frequent mention of 'biscuits' both because cookies (biscuits in U.S. speak) are a challenge for me and because the fluffy biscuits baked from lard and flour that accompany Kentucky Fried Chicken and Red Lobster meals are a huge draw for me.

Fortunately, it's easy to avoid those two restaurants - haven't been to either in years. But occasionally biscuits show up unexpectedly, often with gravy that is mostly fat.

I suppose it's useful to think of this just to remind myself that I can plan to avoid them when they appear.

I'm here too - slightly chubby from eating TOO MANY of the biscuits. Thanks for starting the thread Birchie.

I am 136.6 lbs. this morning. My body has wanted to weigh 136 most of my adult life and I'm quite happy with this now. What I want to accomplish is to have that be the high number in my winter maintenance range. So my weight will go from 133-136 instead of 136-138.

This is purely a vanity goal and I'm not going to twist myself into knots in the weeks I don't meet it. I will weigh Monday and Thursday and report in the numbers, instead of keeping them to myself.

Accountability IS important in my "Battle of the Bulge".

Dagmar :

As a child, history felt so far away. I remember learning about the MLK assassination in elementary school. It was history. Except... Disadvantaged city kids were bussed to my school, and the year was probably 1972 -- only 4 years after the assassination. I think about that with the Civil war, too. It really wasn't that long ago, historically speaking. Only a hundred or so years before my birth. That's a blink of an eye.

I am back in the battling category for this round; I saw my "flashing" red line of 155 this morning. I need to put on my big girl panties now, before I have to buy bigger girl panties.

Silver - thank you for the history summary! I wish I'd found history as interesting during school as I do now; it is fascinating how many mistakes we are knowingly repeating.

Bill, we've messed around with the Red Lobster cheese biscuit recipe in an attempt to make them a bit less deadly. No luck so far. On the lighter side (literally), DH tried so many iterations that we both got sick of them and it's now been years since he made any.

Present! And love the title of the thread.

Also battling. Last week far a bad one for me, I didn't win any of the skirmishes that presented themselves. Hoping to do better this week. I'm eating yogurt and drinking black coffee right now, so there is progress.

Last week I ate a biscuit, as a matter of fact. And it was terrible, and so not worth it. Cold and dry and icky, and I ate all of it even so. I don't understand myself sometimes.

Just because I'm not making the ginger marmalade (run out of time) I don't have to eat all the crystallised ginger. Or even half of it. I'll stop now.

Shannon For me, when my emotional state is not good, it's not about enjoying the food. It's the act of eating it. I could be eating cornstarch packing peanuts (yes, Mudpie enjoyed one of those on the weekend though I didn't try one ) or nuggets of sawdust. It's getting as much food into my mouth as fast as I can, without tasting much.

I don't do it often now and I eat waaay less than I used to during a binge but sometimes I am still triggered. Always when I am emotionally disturbed in a negative way - anxiety, anger, boredom, etc.

And sometimes it's not a binge at all but merely an item of food that is THERE. I don't really want it or enjoy it but I eat it anyway. I still haven't puzzled this behaviour out.

Dagmar

I could have wrote this post. I'm 5'3.5 and 136-138 trying for 133-136 .....it seems though that I'm always trying to go slightly lower.....

While I have not had to resort to buying bigger clothes, I do feel a LOT more comfortable in clothes that are not form fitting. Loose, flowing shirts to hide all those bulges are my mainstay at the moment.

For the past week I have made some changes in my lifestyle--all for the better--and a step closer to more positive changes that should hopefully help me win this battle (again).

The biggest challenge is DS being home and looking forward to my cooking. He's chosen a few menu items that are not favorable to dieting so I'll have to watch my portions.

For the first time in several days, I got up within a few minutes of my alarm going off, at about 4:20 AM. The ice from yesterday's thaw was only scary in a few patches on the sidewalk. I ran on the treadmill at the gym, which is a new thing for me and therefore harder to make myself do, instead of heading downstairs to the spin class, as is my habit. I think my gait was somewhat improved, though still inconsistent.

I'm at the office, with brilliant sun pouring in my window, and aside from a disciplinary conversation about an hour ago with a new hire who blew off going into the office when she had a meeting scheduled with an analyst, the morning has gone well.

This day may also go well, if I treat it carefully.

I'd like to weigh a little less in a few months, but without redoubling in exercise fanaticism and intake restriction. Equally as important, I do not want this winter to take me down. I want to struggle for better balance and I don't want to wait till the New Year to make these resolutions.

I'm here and battling as well. I had a depressing moment this weekend when I looked back at last year's weights. I had in my mind that I'd been hovering around 130 all year. I knew I weighed 130 on January 1. But when I looked back to this time last year I was 124. I gained 6 pounds over the holidays and it has more or less stuck all year. I was 131.6 this morning (hopefully some sodium bloat from an Italian meal out last night). I need to be very careful that I don't gain another 6 pounds this holiday season.

Some of you are complaining about food treats? I think alcohol will be quite problematic for me during the holidays this year. I have already received 4 bottles of wine (really good wine from the look of it) as gifts and have been invited to "have a drink" by 3 separate clients/neighbours. I can take along a bottle to two of these. But I can't quite bring myself to pour out the others - and I think more are coming.

Funny how my clients seem to gift in cycles. I used to get a lot of soap and bath products (a hint maybe? ), then one year money , and this seems to be the "Year of Wine".

I find I drink a glass of wine and then suddenly want to eat everything in sight. I can usually ride this out but it's harder when there's shortbread and chips and crackers and stuff being snuck into the house. DH is such a BAD hider - .

Dagmar

Mudpie - I'm like you - my preference would be to have plenty of food with my wine. So now, I drink a lot less anyways (had peptic ulcers a few years back from taking ibuprofen over a long period. Had no alcohol for a long while, and it is infrequent now, but I drank plenty of it prior to that).

But, because I like to eat and drink, I really schedule that wine night. And, on that wine night, I will knowingly forego good healthy food and calories to have wine. I know it's caloric and I'm going to want to have a few glasses, so I just eat very lightly, and then really enjoy myself with the wine, and go to bed hungry. (But after all the wine - I don't realize I am that hungry haha) Drink lots of water at bedtime to avoid heartburn. Take an antacid preventively.

If I literally 'book the date', I can avoid the food.
There's just something about scheduling wine, like a big meeting, that helps me not overeat. Maybe if you pencil it in, like a special event, it will make it easier?!