So I wound up having a very nice birthday... And the whole "cake" situation turned out fine... My plan was to have a 4oz slice (weighed of course... I know perhaps a little bit crazy, but I'm serious about getting to goal...lol...) and just estimate how many pts that would be... But when I cut a small slice for myself and weighed it, it was only 2.5 oz's so I decided I would just see if that would satisfy me... And to my surprise it did...

It was a very rich chocolate cake with some sort of cheesecake and some sort of chocolate mousse filling, so I figured it could have possibly been as much as 150 calories an oz, but probably not... So I just decided to call it a lucky 7 pts for my birthday and be happy with that...

Just feeling a bit discouraged today. I shouldn't be, because things have been going well and I have been losing consistently. But I just am frustrated by the slow pace. I think being on this new journey has made me tune into my body more, and have to take a look at what I had been doing to hide the situation from myself for so long. I have not bought anything new to wear, because I haven't had to. I have lost 22lbs and my clothes now *fit* - so how did I look for so long wearing clothes that really didn't fit? It's so frustrating to think about it. And of course it makes me so worried that if this doesn't work, I'm just going to go backward again. Sigh. Feeling a bit pitiful for myself today - sorry for the downer talk. I hope I can let go of it by typing it out.

I'm getting a little concerned about the "0" pt fruit with WW... I had a banana with my breakfast yesterday, 1 cup of grapes for a snack, and I went running, so I was probably a bit more hungry than usual and I decided to have another banana as a "treat" last night with some organic powdered peanut butter (like PB2) for 1pt... I'm just not sure I can lose weight like that, eating all that fruit...

I mean it is somehow very psychologically reassuring to know that I can just grab some fruit and not go over my pts, but I really can easily see myself overdoing it if I'm not careful... I guess we'll see, but at that rate, that's a few hundred extra calories a day and I just can't see that working.

TripSwitch- congrats on the birthday cake moderation! I find it takes much less to satisfy me now I've been dieting for almost six months and I've lost nearly 40lbs. I went out for my fiance's birthday on Friday night to one of our favourite restaurants and ate what I would usually eat pre-weight loss and I felt really overfull and regretted it.

elaineindc- I know what those bad days feel like! It can be confronting to realise how much denial you were in. I look at my body now and I know that what I look like now is what the old me thought I looked like 40lbs ago. I just had no idea what I really looked like. But hey, you're losing consistently and that's awesome!

I'm going OK. Haven't stepped on the scales all week because it's my TOM and that usually means a nightmare number on the scale. BUT I bought a new pair of jeans this week and they were size 11....I would not have worn size 11 jeans since I was at university and probably even before then!

Thanks!... Although, yesterday I decided to have some of the leftovers... Lol... But I did weigh out just a 4oz slice and had it with a small glass of skim milk... So I'm calling that a "victory" of sorts... AND I was still able to stay within my pts for the day too...

Congrats on the new jeans... That's great.... I always have such a hard time finding jeans that fit me right... I have a pair now that I really like, but they're getting a bit too "big" (it's about time...Lol...) I was hoping to buy the same exact pair 2 sizes smaller, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon... I know I should just buy them 1 size smaller and be happy BUT I just can't bring myself to do it just yet...

And tell me about it, as far as the scale goes... I'm up a few lbs the last couple of days... and even though I know it's just some water weight, it still drives me crazy...

Hi guys! I'm sorry.. I promise I didn't disappear but I sometimes can't check in here as often as I'd like! You know, life and all has to come first!

Elaine - I hope you're doing well and that typing your feelings out yesterday helped you let go of the feelings you had. I can totally understand where you are coming from..

The process is so slow and thats why in the past I haven't been able to stick with any dieting or weight loss efforts in the past. I so want fast results. Right now I am a little down, too, maybe it's because I am also - like you - bummed out about the slow progress. I joined on March 11th and am down 12lbs from my starting weight.. I did well doing weight watcher point system for 2 weeks and then slowly went down and was off it for a while until I restarted again last week so today was my first official weigh in since I first started back in March.. I mean losing 12lbs in a little over a month is FANTASTIC so I should be jumping for joy but I guess right now I'm just feeling "meh" about it all because the LAST time I tried losing weight (I was using MFP) and I saw 180 all the scale and thought THAT was crazy high and told myself I'd never be over 180 again... and here I am at 196! how ridiculous is that? So I feel like once I get past 180 I'll be feeling better about the weight loss, and I know I KNOW I will get past that point. 179 will hit me hard, I'll be so excited, but at this point I am just excited to hit 189! Being in the 160's is going to be almost a DREAM come true for me because I haven't seen the 160's in a very very long time...I can't even remember the last time I had seen that, I can't even wait. That right there is why I am pushing myself.

Yesterday I did 20k steps (per my fitbit) I went for a nice 2.5mile walk at lunch and then a 3mile walk with the dogs and my boyfriend last night, that made me happy. I also went for a 2.5mile walk at lunch today and am planning on taking a walk tonight, too, not sure how long of one, we'll see. I really enjoy walking if I have time and the weather isn't too bad but of course right now I am also feeling motivated.

Tomorrow is my birthday, I am just not a huge fan of birthdays in general but esp. this year, I honestly would rather sleep the whole entire day away, meaning not even wake up in the morning and just stay in bed all day and night until Friday but I do have to work and I do have to take care of my animals. My boyfriend invited my brother and sister in law out to dinner to Chilli's which is my favorite place in the world to eat, haha... of course I'll be eating "bad" which is another reason I am trying to make sure I do well with my stepping and of course eating.

The biggest thing for me is that after I go "off track" it's hard for me to get back on track, atleast that is how it was last few weeks ago as I had mentioned above so this time I am making sure I have something yummy but weight watcher friendly for lunch the next day so that I go right back to it.

I weighed myself the other day and I was 193.4 and was all excited (because of course that means I am getting close to 189!) but that's because I weigh myself everyday and as we know our weight fluctuates so much so it doesn't *really* count until your weigh-in day and that was this morning and I weighed in at 196.6 and so that leaves me at 12lbs lost.. which is still really good when you stand back and look at it but so disappointing that I was ALMOST at 15lbs... NEXT week will be my 15lbs loss day! *teeheee

I just read that WW founder Jean Nidetch has passed away. She was 91.

Happy almost birthday!

I felt kind of the same way... I actually called my friend to tell her I really wasn't up to "celebrating" and for her not to come over... Turned out she had already bought a cake for me.... So of course I felt guilty and had to just suck it up.... I mean she knows I'm trying to lose weight and I specifically told her NOT to get me a cake... I tried to be as gracious as possible... But I'm still sort of annoyed by it.... Even though I only ate a small slice... I swear next year I'm going to go scuba diving or something so people won't be able to push cake on me...lol...

And I hear you about this taking a long time... I've been at this current round of weight loss since last May! and sometimes I feel like I'm going to lose my mind! I'm trying to be patient, especially since it has been very slow going for me these last few weeks... But I know things are moving in the right direction...

I've been trying to tell myself just maintaining the weight I've lost this last year so far is a huge achievement... But boy, is it ever hard sometimes...

Savemykissesx - You don't have to eat bad on your birthday! You can choose to eat however you want. I eat at Chili's a lot and they have a lot of things that are very losing weight friendly. The grilled chicken salad, the salmon, the combo with salmon/shrimp or maybe the Margarita chicken.

You can choose to eat a bit more on your birthday. Mine was last Saturday. I went to Carrabba's and did eat a bit more. I had part of an appetizer which I don't usually do and I shared a dessert which I don't usually do. For my entree I ordered what I usually do and order grilled vegetables as the side instead of pasta. It was a great birthday and it was more points than normal, but I had them available in my weekly points and I feel certain I will still lose weight this week.

You have the control over how you choose to eat. It is fine to choose to indulge a bit more on your birthday. But, don't feel you have to eat bad just because it is your birthday.

So I had a bit of a "slip" last night... It was the first time in over six weeks... I did some "late night" eating... Ate some of the leftovers from my family's dinner, which quickly added up to 20 pts... So today is damage control... I decided this morning that it was probably better to not just sit around the house and feel sorry for myself... I went running, and between that and all the walking I did I managed to put on over 15,000 steps so far on my Fitbit... I even hopped on a TRAMPOLINE!!! to try and bounce off a few calories too... Not exactly sure if that works... But at least it's a lot of FUN! and I feel A LOT BETTER...

So between all my activity pts and if I stick to lots of fruit and veggies today I should be able to break even and not dip into my weekly's... So that's the plan...

Koshka - haha thanks for the words of encouragement. I definitely know that I do not have to eat bad on my birthday just because it's my birthday and that maybe I could just eat more, but honestly what I'm saying is that I AM going to eat bad because I am choosing to. I love Chili's and I have tried their lighter options and honestly I'd rather just make things at home, haha. But I love their honey chipotle chicken crispers, so I am going to treat myself to that along with the cookie skillet for dinner BUT I will be back on track tomorrow and I'll be just fine! I know I don't have to eat bad, but I want to have something bad aka delicious because it's my birthday

Trip - I understand completely about being annoyed about the cake and your friend, wish she just got you some fruit to share to be healthy and supportive of your weight loss journey and goals. The girls at my work usually get me a cake, too, but I asked them to not do that for me this year because I knew I'd be bad at dinner and so they made me a beautiful fruit platter and then we had a veggie platter for a snack in the afternoon. It was so awesome and so kind of them. I appreciated it and am happy and won't feel too guilty while eating my delicious meal tonight, haha. Maintaining the weight you had lost is definitely a huge achievement, congrats to you, great great job! I'm glad you chose the right decision today to do all that you did for exercise and working those calories off and burning those points! Good luck and YOU CAN DO IT!

I am bummed that I didn't wake up early like I wanted to this morning to get some exercise in and bummed that the doctor I was working for this morning didn't get done at the right time so I had to run into lunch time and so I didn't get to get as long of a walk as I have been the past few days, so my fitbit isn't reading as high as I'd like and then of course we're going out to dinner tonight so I won't be able to take as long of a walk as I wanted to tonight but I AM going to get my 10k goal and I WILL walk Stubbie when I get home. Just maybe for not that long unfortunately.
I am trying to talk myself into getting up early to do some stuff in the morning for exercise but I completely stink with that because I love my sleep!

Good Morning All!!!

Savemykissesx hope you had a nice birthday and enjoyed your dinner out...

So I have to say that I'm actually really enjoying do WW again... It's been a nice change of pace from the hardcore low carb thing I'd been doing and the low fat vegan thing I'd been doing before that...lol... I'm not sure I've actually lost any real weight so far, the scale seems to be bouncing around the same few pounds... But the good news there is that it's giving me a good idea of what it's going to take to just "maintain" my weight loss... And let me tell you, that has been a real eye-opening experience for me...

Anyway... I'm looking forward to the weekend... planning on doing some grocery shopping and I've already got some good ideas for my meal plan for next week to keep me on track... So I really think with a few "tweaks" I'll be able to dial things in a little bit better and really get the scale moving in the right direction again...

Oh, I just realized it's May... I guess that means we need to start a new "May Chat" thread.... Not exactly sure how that works... Do we ask one of the mods to close this one and just start a new one?

Hope everyone is having a great day and I'll look forward to seeing you all for some more May chat soon...