All right, I've decided that doing four miles on the treadmill one night and three miles the next is not conducive if I want to do something crazy, like live the next 30-40 years. I've also figured out that, while losing weight is GREAT, getting less calories burned for the same amount of exercise you did before when you were heavier SUCKS.


You may now return to your regular program. :D

I've been kinda bad this week, and yesterday was the first time I ended under 1900 calories. :( But it's pre-Hut week, and I've had a lot of stress at work...so who knows? I'm not beating myself up about it, and the scale isn't either. Funny, but I haven't even gained the water weight this week....so unless I'm really down 5 lbs, it's been a funny week altogether.

This morning I woke up in major pain -- first flare up I've had since off of the arthritis meds. I'm hoping I can make it through the day on ibuprofen. Of course, I have no choice. The meds I used to take build up in your system over a 2 week period and thus there is no "safety net" prescription alternative for me. Hopefully if I can make it through today I will be better tomorrow.

As for the aha's, most of which I discovered about 2.5 years ago during my stint of losing 55 lbs:
* Your health really is worth working hard for -- and it's like another job. You gotta put in the time in order to get positive feedback. No shortcuts.
* I -- little mis un-athletic -- LIKE the endorphin rush from going to the gym...and my reflexes and balance have been MUCH better since going to the gym. Some people even call me graceful now. :D
* Prescription meds are a choice, not a necessity for me....at least not right now.
* Stop living to eat. Next week you won't be able to remember what you ate today...so quit being so fixated on eating the "perfect" food.

And my biggest revelation:
* Damn I'm sexy! And I look good too. :D You laugh, but it's nice getting the wolf whistles on the street I hadn't gotten since college. ;)

I first learned of "the aha hitting you" in Algebra Two class, in high school. The teacher was a very old man that talked like he had swallowed broken glass and had a crush on Vanna White.

He told us one day, early in the class, that he doesn't enjoy math. He doesn't like having his summers off because when school starts back up...it's hard for him to be enthusiastic about coming back to work. He teaches for one reason. "The aha moment". He said "There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a person's face the moment the aha hits them. And teaching Algebra, the most abstract concept to comprehend, affords me that opportunity." Ever since then, I've been interested in knowing what people's aha moment is. Sorry if it's a dumb or irrelevent question, but I thought it would prove interesting, and also do some good to reflect back on how far everyone has come.

I just watched the ABC PrimeTime on the theory of game therapy. The weightloss portion was very interesting. For those of you who did not see it they took 5 overweight people and photographed them in skimpy bathing suits and then told them to lose 15 pounds in 8 weeks or have the photos exposed on national television. 4/5 lost at least 15 some losing as much as 25. Amazing.

Wow it's almost Friday again ... another day completed "successfully" ... almost at the top of my calorie range, but somedays are like that! :)

Lil, that *is* fascinating, but not surprising, if you really think about it. I know it would motivate *me!*

fzzy, top of range or not, you're still where you want to be, right? And that's great!


As for me, it *is* Friday, which means it's weigh-in day. Now, I had that whole "Hut" thing in preparation last week, so I really don't think I lost it all in the last seven days, but this morning I'm down 4.5 lbs. from last Friday, 23.5 since 12-30, AND it puts me in a new "decade." I stood on the scale four consecutive times to make sure I really was seeing what I thought I was seeing--after I picked myself up off the floor, of course.

This puts me at basically the half-way mark of my ultimate goal, although, after figuring in my body type, I could get away with only losing 15 more. I can only figure that pushing myself at the gym this week and the extra activity I did was a huge, huge factor

I am truly so happy for you. You made a decision to do something about you weight and you can see it's paying off. Grats!

I am back in the game with a vengence. I should start my period sometime this weekend...and as of this morning I am down another 2 lbs. WTF? I work like heck for 2 months and go to the gym 5 days a week....then I lose weight after I get sick and go to the gym less often??? I don't get it, but I am going wo keep doing what I'm doing now and hope the trend continues.

So what's different sice I got sick?
* No more arthritis meds
* No weight lifting at the gym...only cardio and less intensive cardio at that! (focusing on keeping my heart rate in range, not pushing my self as hard as possible)
* I eat when I want, snack thru the day
* I stay around 1900-2000 calories
* I take a 15 min walk in the middle of the morning to get some tea and take the stairs at work
* I am drinking a LOT of green tea and have eliminated coffee permanently from my diet (as of 2 weeks ago)

In 2 weeks I've lost about 7 lbs....after I'd regained some of my 2 month weight loss...I'm down 10 lbs net.

Great job IAKG and osuche.

I'm in pain these days ... I went down an exceedingly high number of stairs in heels the other day for our impromptu firedrill. My thighs are still aching and letting me know they were not happy about that activity. Unless something drastic happens before Monday (and the weekends have been good to me in the past), I won't have a loss on Monday's weigh in. I'll be getting back to my daily treadmill routine soon as I'm not sure taking a break is doing me a lick of good.

Hopefully, maddy, your metabolism will still be kicking it from when you WERE on the treadmill last...and, regardless, a break while still watching your point intake won't be catastrophic.

osuche, sometimes it's best not to question but just accept. My zen of the day. :D

A local radio station actually did that here, and they threatened the people to lose the weight in a longer time span, I think, or else it would be posted on their website for everyone to see. It worked well even though some people quit it. Still, I think it's interesting too.

I lived in Texas when ^^^ said radio station ran that "contest" - I believe it was the morning show and one of the dj's was part of the "contest", right? And that same dj is now finally expecting a baby.

Ended last night in the 1600-1700 range ... today, I've not been feeling very well, hopefully it will pass quickly!

I hope you feel better soon, fzzy!

OK...I've been on the higher side of my calorie range for the past 2 days, but not doing *too* bad. I'm still drinking lots of green tea and doing the other stuff, in hopes that the new routine will continue to pay off. And I've felt better since the flare up on Wednesday -- I actually feel like a real person this morning, and the cold symptoms are reseding, too.

All of this, combined with a really beautiful sunny day today with NO RAIN (although it starts raining again tomorrow) give me hope. :)


fzzy, hope you feel better soon.....and maddy too!