I've been reading to catch up but unfortunately won't have time to respond to personals this morning. I just realized this morning that I will have to be in a bathing suit exactly 4 weeks from today...AH! I've decided that I really like the retro style suits. Some of them are absolutely adorable and I think they'll be relatively flattering. I'm debating on whether or not to just break down and buy it now or wait a couple of weeks. Since my weightloss has slowed I don't expect my size will change much, if at all, in the next 4 weeks. I won't be at my goal at that point but I'm still 15 pounds lighter today than I was at the beginning of December so that I'm calling it a success with room for improvement.

Hi Ladies! I've been seeing a lot of people/threads on the 3FC boards lately about worrying less about calories/obsessing/having to be 100% on plan and worrying more about health and ENJOYING life!! I'm loving it and definitely feeling more positive about myself this week. I'm still counting calories on MFP, and getting to the gym is still a struggle (it's hard for me to decide whether i should keep trying to get school work done or if i really have time to get to the gym), but i think i may be starting to develop a healthier mindset. I've been a binge/purger in the past, and the mental aspect is just so hard. I hope everyone's doing well and feeling good about their progress!!

bunnabear- I agree, the retro styles are adorable-I'm sure you're gonna rock that swimsuit!!

ive never been in 'bikini shape' before .. i hope this weekly weigh in helps motivate me!

im sure you will do great!

Hello all,

This has been the most stressful week of my life. I took my comprehensive exam for grad school today (I need to pass it in order to get my degree in May) and a whole bunch of other stuff that I wont bore you with the details of. UGH! I've been slowly burning out for awhile but now I am completely running on empty. My weight is creeping up even more and I just feel so fat. I just feel like an achy ball of stress. The end is in sight though. If getting a career going was easy there would be much fewer underemployed 20 somethings. Hopefully everything works out the way I want. If so, I am REALLY looking forward to relaxing and getting back in shape this summer. In any case May cannot get here soon enough!

Unfortunately I am also reporting a suuuper stressful week. I'm trying to keep it together until cheat day on Saturday even though I had crab fries and entirely too much alcohol for a weeknight last night.

My office just found out yesterday that we are being outsourced to Michigan and all of us are being laid off starting in September. This has been one of the most stable jobs I've ever seen. Most of the employees have been here for 10-35 years. The person who has been here the least has been here for almost 5 years.

Now that's stressful enough but my fiance no longer has a steady job. He runs his own online business and orders are coming in but not always for a good amout of money. He's also been denied from two health insurances. My car needs all new tires and a battery and probably brakes. His car just got a flat tire last night (Which I changed allll by myself because he's useless with cars) and the rim got bent.

There's just SO much going on. I barely know what to do with myself. If I wasn't on Zoloft I think I'd be a crying messy heap. Trying very hard to not do a lot of emotional eating, I seem to be doing okay with it. Not perfect but better than my usual reaction to this stuff. I was hoping to lose 10lbs this month but that isn't going to happen unless there is a miracle by Saturday lol. I'll be okay. Gotta breathe and just keep swimming.

Daki - I'm so sorry to hear about your job. I can't imagine the stress that you must be dealing with right now. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that an even better job comes along.

Scarlett-that sounds like a really rough semester! Is most of the stress over now that you've taken the exam? I hope you start feeling better!

Daki-I'm so sorry to hear about your job-I hope y'all will be able to figure something out soon!

I'm at the beginning of a 4 day weekend. The scale is looking pretty good for this week, but weekends are always SO hard for me. I might just have to say "no thank you" to eating out-I really want one single week where I don't gain back the majority of what I've lost on the weekend! So far, I've cook this morning for today. Now I just need to resist the urge to go out to dinner with DH or something tonight-food is one of our favorite ways to spend time together. Which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing, but I need to figure out a way to make it work for me. Still trying for that...

Gained 2 pounds on vacation!!!! That's awesome!!! Only 2 pounds after ice cream, delicious meals and desserts!!! I love not restricting myself and just enjoying life!!! And I'm totally not freaking out over the gain, cause I know things will return to normal soon enough, now that I'm back, and things will continue to progress in the right direction.

chickieboom-love that profile picture-you look gorgeous!!

1yr2mkovr-only two pounds on a vacation is pretty awesome!! hope you had lots of fun!!

I have been so remiss in posting. Like others, this has been an extremely stressful week with things flying at me from all directions. The good news is that I managed to stay on track and I reached a milestone. I'm in the 140s!!!!! My weight today is 148.9

Thanks so much summerkate83! It was the first time I've gotten dressed up in so long.

Good Morning Ladies!!

bunnabear-yay for the 140s!!! Hope things settle down soon!!

This morning I woke up to being down on the scale-it's been happening all week, and I want to be excited BUT for the last 7 or 8 weeks, I'll lose during the week only to gain it back on the weekends-I really don't want that to happen this weekend!! We're going out to dinner with friends tonight, and we may go out for Easter lunch or something (we don't have plans to go anywhere, and i'm not really planning to make a ham for just me and DH-although i'm sure he would like that). so really, there's no reason this weekend for me to get crazy-unless TOM just decides to throw me for a loop. So I have work to do this morning, and then we have to take a trip for one of my classes early afternoon. I'm not sure if i'll have time in there for lunch. And I've been craving pizza-I crave pizza ALOT. pizza and chocolate-my favs. I've heard some adults say that they used to love pizza and now that they're grown it's no big deal-WHAT?! maybe i'm just not an adult yet, but i LOVE the stuff!! always have. anyways, last night i picked up one of those frozen ones at the store. made it this morning. pepperoni with cheese stuffed crust. i started with 2 pieces and went back for more. had another 2 on my plate, and realized i was about to eat about 1000 calories just for BREAKFAST. at first i told myself that i probably wouldn't have any lunch and i've been wanting a pizza, but then i realized i wasn't hungry enough for 2 more and put one piece BACK. I am never able to do that with pizza! I was pretty proud of myself!!

Summerkate, I certainly don't feel like an adult but I'm 28 years old. I LOVE PIZZA. I'd rather have pizza than almost any sweet. Congrats on putting a piece back! I always go overboard. "Just one more... OH WHY DID I EAT THAT I'M SOOOO FUUUULLL."

Bunnabear, congrats on the 140s! That's so awesome!

I'm still super stressed but aside from my fries on Wednesday I was on plan this week. That's a pretty big victory for me. Big emotional eater. Though, it's easy to be on plan when you are obsessed with an on plan food. I made these cheesy spaghetti squash cups and I've been eating two a day all week, so good. My weight is hovering above last week's weigh in. I'm hoping that somehow my body is doing this because of stress. Though more likely it's probably from weight lifting. I did a back workout for the first time last night, I'm pretty sore overall but not TOO bad. And I think I'm getting sick, can your body hang on to weight if it's trying to fight something off?

so after doing the 30 day shred for 30 days with a couple days off here and there, i have just finished level 2. only lost about 7 lbs this month BUT in 30 days i am down a total of 11.6 inches! as disappointed as i am in 6 lbs i am super happy with the 11 inches im also weighing in few days early for next week as I'm gonna be out of town