Morning natamars: there is a blanket of snow outside, but it's not as bad for me in Indiana as it is for the folks who live eastward. The weather was the worst on Friday, but now they've cleared the roads and it's sunny out, so it's just a normal winter day.

I'm up to 129.6 again, which is kind of a bummer, but my waist did shrink a half inch (before breakfast, that is ) I'm surprised I've been able to stick to 1600 calories for an entire week--without feeling starved! I have no idea what changed my body's hunger cues, but I like it.

tmk256,
I am a lot less hungry then when I first started. I don't count calories but I do notice I am able to be satisfied with smaller portions.
I'm guessing that our body gets use to what we give it - and that helps us stay in control. I also notice that exercise really helps with the food issue. What do you think?

hi all

I'm feeling a little disappointed, i really felt like i turned it up this week, but I only lost a pound! i think i want to start cycling calories, because there were a few times this week when i felt like i was eating when I wasn't hungry in order to get up to 1500 cals, and then other days when I was still hungry after exhausting my cals for the day.

I'm not deterred, I'll still keep after my seemingly elusive goal weight. But I kind of feel like i'll neeeeeeeveeeeeer get there.

I love coming here and seeing new ideas!

RE: hunger cues - I am eating way less and not feeling hungry since I went back to South Beach a week ago. It's surprising to me, but it makes sense. If I am consuming so many bulky vegetables, beans, high-protein Greek yogurt, etc there isn't that empty gnawing feeling of needing more, more. I have had three days that I only ate 1000 calories - not intending to go that low (in general I aim for 1300/1400 each day). I am just thrilled to have my late-night grazing under control.

RE: calorie-cycling. I did it for a while and I guess I kind of inadvertently do it now... it makes sense to me but when I was doing it for "real" I found it was a lot of planning. And I kept moving my days around so I don't know if I defeated the point. Basically I aimed for a weekly average.

So - I am down another ****0.2**** pounds! I'm actually not even been sarcastic, this is great news for me as I seem to get stuck here for the last year (~145 lbs).

Super Bowl party later. I'm bringing ultra light beer - 64 cal - and while it's definitely not great, it tastes the same to me as every other wimpy domestic lager, so I figure one or two will be OK so I don't have to be completely out of the party.

Also, I made Hungry Girl's "Jalepeno Swappers" and "Lord of the Onion Rings". OMG - these are amazing! I was dubious but they far exceeded my expectations. My only suggestions would be to freeze the stuffed jalapenos first (the filling oozed out of most of them) and give the onion rings a spritz of the cooking spray on top so they don't dry out. Yum. Healthy junk food

Oh, I also tried making my own cheese yesterday with lf milk. It turned out really soft, so I added herbs, garlic and onion powder and made a delicious dip/spread. Like the Rondele garlic & herb spreadable cheese.

Have to squeeze in some gym time today so I can feel good about enjoying these treats!!

EmmaD
.2 may be a baby step, but it is a step. Keep hanging in there. One more thing that keeps me going is, "I hate the first week of the journey." The goal seems so far out of reach and everyone else has already started. I have only lost 10 pounds - but I will keep going-----because I don't mind getting back on track after a night off-----but I don't ever want to start over----ever again.

ugh. im very frustrated with myself the past couple days. ive gained like 4 pounds, and it scares me because i know that once my weight starts climbing, im afraid that i wont be able to get back in control.
i think im going to try some calorie counting. its been awhile since ive tried it so i think my body might be able to handle it a little bit better now (i have lots of health issues, and so calorie counting is really hard for me because there are days where im hungrier than my calorie limit and my body will fight back if i dont eat more). but ya i think im going to try it again because i really need to get this under control. i just feel so defeated right now. i was so close to getting into the 120's and now im freaking out about going back to the 140's. Why do a few days make so much difference? ugh. so ya, just figured id vent to you ladies because if i dont get this out then my friends are going to get an earful of it and they arent exactly the most understanding (dang naturally skinny ppl lol)
so ya, tomorrow. tomorrow im back on track so im just going to try not to worry about the past few days. moving forward right?

ugh where's tomorrow? week 2 of feb needs to start...

100%-- i know what you mean! i regained weight after my sister's wedding last summer, and i was kinda resigned to the fact that i was gaining it all back, as if i had no control. but for me it was like i had decided subconsciously that i would start dieting again eventually, but that i hadn't hit my high yet, so i was still ok--and then i hit and surpassed my high. for me a big part of this journey is mental. when the scale starts to show me numbers that are headed in the wrong direction, i have to stop weighing until i've had 3-4 good days in a row. and a good day for me is one with low (and good) carbs, lots of veggies, lots of lean protein, and some fruit, plus getting in a nice, long-ish sweat session. just a thought...

ha! i think i need to take my own advice...

100percentMe and Shasha,
We hear you -- you know what to do -- you want to do it -- we are with you every hungry and sweaty step of the way. Go on and have a great day and once again you will be on your way. Just keep coming back and reporting your progress - the good the bad and the beautiful.

I've been a little less active on here due to the craziness of settling in to our new house, but I love it and I'm so glad to be here. My eating has been off, so I'm happy to report that I'm having an OP day today. So far, so good with food and exercise. Time for me to stop the excuses and just make good choices....

Grr. After celebrating how well I did last week, I just had to go and bake some cheese danishes yesterday! The danishes themselves weren't that bad, since I used a sweet whole wheat yeast dough of my own design that excluded the pound of butter called for in proper puff pastries. The damage was caused by what I call The Snackwells Trap: just because they're 200 calories each doesn't mean I can eat two! And then, of course, the sugar made me hungry....

I didn't even weigh this morning, because I knew it would just stress me out. But though it may take a few days for the bloat to go down and I won't lose for a while, I really don't think I'll gain, either. Instead of focusing on the 2100 calories from yesterday, I'll think of it as an "1800 per day weekend average"

So I started off today with a banana/spinach/greek-yogurt smoothie and a hard-boiled egg, brought a lean turkey and hummus sandwich with fruit for lunch plus raw almonds and raisins for my snack, and I have an apple-chicken salad planned for dinner. That should clear my system of the pastry overload.

Hey Feathers.....

Not such a good weekend eating wise. I STILL have a chocolate chip cookie cake on my counter that keeps calling my name. I need to throw it out, but the kids want it to stay.

They are predicting more snow for our area, which means no outdoor exercise for me this week. I'm getting sick of it, and wanting it to be spring!

I weigh in tomorrow...we will see how much damage I created over the weekend with my poor eating.

Hey girls ... Was MIA this weekend I went to Montreal with a g/f to a fitness conference... What a great time we had... On Sunday I did a Kbell class, a yoga class and a Groove class, it was all so much fun... I ate extremely clean with some wine on the side and I didn't gain weight ...

Today was work and the gym tonight... food was good so far today

Sounds wonderful, Ilene!!!!! What a great weekend!

I just posted but don't see it. What happened?
Also after I sign in and then write a post - when I click submit it will tell me I am not signed in? Is that true for everyone - or am I doing something wrong?


Ok - I see this one showed up. I wonder where the first post went?

Scale went down .5 this morning. Now I have to work hard to make sure it does not go back up again. I will go to the gym this morning and then maybe to the store to buy a new pair of work out pants.

Ilene, that sounds like such a fun weekend.
Have a great day everyone.