Monday, February 22nd

Happy New Week !

     131.2 today. Lots of activity yesterday. I swam my mile, and walked another couple with Sadie. Somehow, every particle of mud from the park adhered to her legs and belly, and I had to wrestle her into the tub for an unplanned bath upon our return. I usually don't add back my exercise calories, but I did have two glasses of red wine after cleaning up that mess ! (Devon... several times, I thought longingly about the dog tub set up I'm figuring you have !)

     This will be a busy week with afternoon and evening meetings. I'll be thinking of everyone resuming a "normal schedule" today.

     Here's to starting off the week with actions and intentions aligned !

Diane

Good morning all,

Diane you make me laugh with your Sadie stories. I have a little bichon who is 17 years old and she still manages to get herself all muddy and loves it. LOL

Well the scale was not kind to me today up 2.6 lb (151.4) I have been on track staying under 900 calories a day most days under 800 and protein first; carbs under 40 and only fruit and veggie carbs. So this has to be water and maybe the fact that I have not had a BM for a few days. Also working out hard makes those muscles retain fluid. My breakfast was rather salty yesterday to and I didn't get enough actual water in I think. It could be this old body just does not want to give up on the 150's. Whatever it is it will settle out, it has no choice as long as I stay the course. I got my report yesterday from Map My Run and I exercised 6.75 hours last week and burned just over 3000 calories. Hmm rather generous calorie burn, I don't eat them back so it is more just a way of measuring something and giving me a number. However, it is nice to see that I am moving and active. 

Have a great day everyone!  Hugs Lorna

125.4 today. I got 45 minutes in on the treadmill yesterday, still a fairly easy workout. Off to work for the first time in 2 weeks!

Have a good first day back Paula!

158.4 today.  Holding pattern.

Wow I can't believe you guys are eating below 1000.  How do you do it?!  Even with splitting my meals in half, and sometimes smaller, I easily hit 1200, and 1400-1500 is about where I would naturally be eating now.  How do you get in your protein?  Do you eat snacks?  I have eaten snacks under the idea that A) it's easier to get higher protein, and B) I'm less likely to overeat, thus stretching out my sleeve, if I know food is available in a couple hours.  But dividing 1200 between 3 meals and 2 snacks is very hard to do unless I'm perfect with my food choices.  I think my strategy has been working decently well for maintenance, but if I want to lose more weight I can finally admit that something has to change.  I'm just so scared to feel like I'm dieting.  Years of trying to diet and failing and actually gaining weight the more I focused on losing weight has worn me down.  If that's going to be how it is again, I'd rather skip the head games and the weight gain and just accept the weight I'm at.  But I don't want to accept it.  So that leaves me trying to figure out how to diet without knowing I'm on a diet.

Not sure on food today.  I wasn't very hungry for breakfast and didn't like my half english muffin so I took a bite and...that was it!

Today is turning  back to more February-weather.  My husband has been begging me for spaghetti with meatsauce.  Not the best meal for me, but one meal can't hurt.  I would like to do meatloaf tonight, though, so we'll see.

Brown

I don't really know if I am dieting or not. It does not feel like it. Once I got the carbs out of my system I feel more in control and it is no problem (most days) staying under 1000 calories. I think I look at it as in or out of control. For me carbs are deadly and I have to watch, because I get really bad carb cravings and I would live on chocolate if I could. :-).

You will figure it out, you are doing so awesome. You have been maintaining for a long time, so you know what works for you. That is fantastic.

I am still trying to figure it out. I knew what was working for me and then I let old habits creep back in and it slipped away on me. At least only 8lbs slip but still 8 lbs that could have easily become more. I lied to myself about the first 5 lbs for months; Maybe my body wants to settle there etc et****il I realized my body settled once at 353 lbs; so there is no trusting myself when it comes to food.

Like I said I am so much more in control when I cut the carbs. I feel human again and almost free of this compulsion.

Lorna

I usually eat 1000 cals when I'm trying to lose weight but after I get used to that mentally I end up eating only 900 many days. For me, it's merely about keeping the carbs low when I'm losing - typically under 80 grams and often significantly less. 

I respect that the diet word can be a trigger, but for me I have learned to use that word very effectively during maintenance. I think for me it was a scary word when I had a lot of weight to lose, but because I never try to lose more than 6 pounds now (generally a six week commitment) the word doesn't frighten me any more. Instead it keeps me focused on why I'm restricting so I don't tend to 'fall off the wagon' very often when I have a few pounds to lose. 

But with that said, even when I'm just maintaining my weight, I still follow the basic rules to keep me in line. There is no free for all, even when I'm not actively tracking what I'm eating. 

Hi guys!

125.2 today with arm wrap.  I feel good today and plan on a vinyasa yoga this evening.

Some day soon (next weekend?) I am going to do a separate post of my pet pictures.  Get ready!  I feel like I personally know some of yours so I hope you will join me.

Off and running!

Shel

Ooooooh I love pet pics!  Looking forward to seeing yours!

Good morning maintenance family and happy Monday to you!  I'm up but moving leisurely after a long day of travel. I feel very fortunate to do that when DH had to get right back to work this morning. 

Decided to weigh, just to collect early data and discovered I'm only up a pound to 113, which is still well within range for me. I'm reflecting on that but am not putting much meaning around it until I see where the number settles after a few days back on my normal routine. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant surprise this morning. 

Other than a couple of days where I ate candy (which is really the only thing that is a no no for me due to complete lack of control with it), I felt largely in control with my food. Yes there were weird choices I would never eat at home, but I was relaxed with it and not feeling worried. I drank a fair amount of wine though, but wasn't struggling with overeating while I was enjoying the libations. I suspect that was a result of the wonderful company and fun mood of the entire trip. 

I really think this trip has helped me feel better and I hope I'm turning the corner mentally.