& I hear what you're all saying, it makes sense. I'm just really scared to up my calorie intake now & then find that I've put on weight next Friday.

Popcorn is still OK... it's the loads of butter and salt thats bad... if you can handle it... have popcorn with a sprinkle of pasta cheese topping... gives it flavor without the fat.

To scared to weigh myself this morning but I will after I have my shower in about an hour......
So glad to have a laptop back again with internet....

Hey Kim, we are at the same weight!

2.5 lbs down, to 251! I'm ok with that! A little disappointed because I did see the scales tip down to 249 earlier this week, but I just overall did not do that well this week with diet or exercise. So I will take 2.5 with a smle! :D

OK I did it... I stepped on the scale...... still says 261 lbs........ I dunno what todo now.... getting frustrated now.

It really sucks when the scale won't budge. Happened to me last week. All we can do is keep pressing on. As slow as my losses may be, I will not give up. The way I look at it is, even if I never lose another pound, I can at least maintain the weight I have already lost. Of course my goal is to lose more but I will never put back on what I have already lost, and that is exactly what will happen if I give up!
LW - I totally understand your fear. I think it is worth trying to up your calories for a week. :) The worst case you`re not going to gain 8 lbs in a week eating 1400 calories or so.

Does anyone else feel they are obsessed with this journey. I feel like all I think about is food and exercise and the scale. Good and bad I guess.

I feel the same way jen, always thinking about what i have eaten and what i am going to eat and when to go to the gym, how many calories have i burned but I am thinking of it in a positive way. I am going to the beach this summer for my birthday and I think of what I am going to look like.

Jen, over the Christmas period I was so geared up for 2012. I was more determined than ever that this would be the year that I would reach my goal weight. It wasn't a false motivation, it really felt different, I felt different. At the moment I'm on a downer because of no loss in a fortnight BUT I lost 8lbs in January & I'm trying not to forget that. I will give upping the calorie intake a go this week and hope against hope for movement on the scales (in the right direction! :)) I love this forum for having somewhere to go & just talk about it all, or just talk about mundane things. Its great!

stlrsgrl... we are the same weight... and had very similar starting points... and the exact same goal... except you're taller...

oh well :)

I am extremely obsessed with logging food, thinking about food, counting calories, checking labels, etc. What I NEED to get obsessed about is exercising! :)

Jessica - Wonderful loss!

Have any of you seen the thread for butternut squash "fries"? Lordy!

LW12, I just checked that out and it looks so good, I am def going to try it. I am sooootired today for some reason but I am going to force myself to the gym. Maybe it will make me feel better.

Morning Ladies! So the movie last night was great - Big Miracle - kids loved it. I love family movies :)

I ended up popping two bags of SmartPop popcorn (100 cals each), spraying butter flavored Pam (16 cals) and 4 tsp of white cheddar (60 cals) for a total of 276 cals. I saved up my morning snack and voila - I got popcorn on my diet :corn: It didn't even bother me that the rest of the family was eating "real" movie popcorn.

I also joined Pinterest and starting searching on healthy recipes and found an AMAZING blog with low cal foods (she even counts calories and WW points for those on WW). Here it is: http://www.skinnytaste.com/ I can't wait to cook some of these dishes.

What I'm eventually hoping for is that I can eat WITH the family everyday. Right now we eat together on chicken and fish nights, but there are still nights where they have tacos and I have salad or they have pasta and I have (more) chicken.

Anyway....that was alot of rambling!

Jamie - Did you get to the gym? I can't believe how HORRIBLE I've been about working out this time....usually I'm a workout/gym rat. My life is just so different now I guess. Did I mention my Onederland goal is a gym membership?? Maybe I should do that sooner rather than later though...

LW - I have not read that thread - but I shall go and check it out now! I have a butternut squash w/ Jalapeno soup on my list of "want to trys", the fries sound good too!

Good luck with your Superbowl eating today!

Yes I did make it to the gym and I felt so much better afterwards except my nephew locked my keys in my vehicle, lol.I was going to take today off from the gym but I think I will go and get my cardio in, we r ordering pizza for the game tonight so I better. Pizza hut has a fit & delicious pizza thats only 150 calories a slice, 4 grams of fat and 24 grams of carbs so I am going to save calories for that.

OK, I guess I shouldn't do this but it seems that I have reached a plateau so I decided that for today I am going to increase my calories and then tomorrow a cleanse.... water only....... I am hoping that this will help break the cycle and start the loss again.

Kinda sucks that today everyone is at my house for Super Bowl and everyone brought potluck with no low calorie stuff anywhere.....
Oh well tomorrow is another day as so long as it only lasts thsi one day and they all take their leftovers home I should be OK.

Thank goodness no weigh in til friday I have 5 days to wear it all off..lol