I lost 22 lbs last year, and I am down 5 over vacation. If I can manage to keep that off -- I have exactly 30 to go before I am a VERY happy (and svelte) woman!

I have NO damn idea how I lost weight on vacation. I ate 3 squares a day, including all my desserts. We ate out every meal - and I had some BIG meals (Israelis like to eat). I also drank sugar in my tea and coffee and ate a couple of chocolate bars.

We were scheduled every day - and we barely did any walking! Lots of sitting around and did I mention the eating?!?

This loss makes me wonder -- Do I really need to live a life of dessert and food deprivation? Go to bed hungry every night? Work out 5 days a week? :yikes: Maybe I should move to Israel.

I know some of it is the lack of processed foods. We ate more fruits and veggies...although there was a lot of bread, cheese, and potatoes too. Who knows? One thing I am certain of is that stress is a BIG factor in my propensity to gain weight. Argues for a more relaxed lifestyle, perhaps. :)

Okay, as of today I've joined two challenges to try and keep me motivated and working toward a "mini" goal.

The first challenge is at my gym and lasts 8 weeks. I set my goal as losing 10-15 lbs during that time through exercise and diet.

The second challenge is online through WW. The challenge lasts to the first day of spring, so just slightly longer and I've set my goal to 19 lbs for that challenge.

The second of these two will set me below my low point for 2006. I'm ready.

I don't know where I read it, but somewhere I read that the image in the mirror takes some time to catch up with the scale. I truly believe that. My image in the mirror is truly reflecting my increase and I'm less than impressed with myself. I'm not sure why the positive image I saw wasn't enough to keep me going or at least to maintain - crazy how I have the ability to sabotage myself.

Anywho - I ate right on target today and just did 1.5 miles on the treadmill. I stopped because I dropped my iPod - poor excuse I know.

((((maddy)))) - Good job!

I'm going to start back at the gym tomorrow, and I plan on taking a walk tonight. Despite being sick, I managed to walk for about 40 min last night...which is better than nothing.

I'm down 2 more lbs, but I think it's the sickness and I'll gain that back. From this point forward I need to lose it the "honest" way. :p

I'm down 8 lbs. from just a couple of days ago. That's usually not a good sign for me. :(

Oh well, bounce back and fight a bit more IowaMan. Just fight a little harder I guess.

I gave the early morning workout that gets the metabolism running for the day, a try today. The gym was more busy than I expected. Beyond actually getting up my only worry was being woozy from not eating first. I had a quick eat ... string cheese and apple sauce and I seemed to be fine. I worked the elliptical good today, 4 miles, 45 minutes, 700 calories if the elliptical is accurate. Which reminds me, I really want a Polar heart rate monitor.

I'm testing myself with food. I picked up a jar of peanut butter and told myself it is for toast only - if I can't stick to that, in the garbage it goes. I LOVE PB!!!

I recently read that people who ate peanut butter, nuts and the like were more likely to lose belly fat and stayed on their eating plans longer. Do you eat celery? Peanut butter on celery, carrots or apples is even better for you than on bread.

Well, I mostly like my peanut butter on a spoon, preferably one spoon after another after another... you get the idea. I got some low calorie/high fiber multi grain bread - comes out to be about the same as an apple per slice of bread. I know fruit is still better than carbs, but i'm trying it for portion control mostly. I'll use much less PB on a slice of toast than on an apple.

I was also thinking it would be a quick on the run bite to eat when I go to the gym first thing in the morning. I'm really nervous about getting dizzy and light headed at the gym early in the morning. I know, I could get up earlier but that's like asking me to cut off a finger.

Now I feel like I'm making excuses or justifying - I really do appreciate the suggestion. I never thought about carrots. And I hadn't heard the belly fat thing... maybe I should keep eating spoonfuls :)

I should mayhaps bathe in it :D

I didn't get my FitDay program loaded on the 1st like I wanted to. I finally got it installed last Saturday, the 6th. Started recording everything, and even using the diary function. One really good thing is that Mr. Sprinkles also wants to be more careful in what he eats, so I don't have to deal with cooking 2 separate meals. We went shopping Saturday and bought some grapefruit, oranges, and grapes along with the usual shopping. So that's what we've been having for dessert and snacking on. Once the last can of soda is gone today, I'm not replacing it. We're going back to drinking water, except for juice and coffee in the morning.
I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and when I got weighed I was down 4 pounds!! My home scale and the one at her office have always been in real close sync, so I'm fairly confident in the accuracy.
I'm hoping that losing the weight will help with my back pain. And once I get the back pain under control, and I get the doctor's permission, I plan on starting back at Curves. I don't get enough excercise and that's got to change as soon as it's safe for me to be more active.

Awesome SS. Pounds lost all help!!

The light lowfat and high fiber bread isn't the tastiest toast around... but with a bit of PB, anything is edible.

Got to the gym again this morning, I was tired and sore so I only did 2.2 miles and 25 minutes. I followed it up with some arm weights and ab work.

Eating was good again today.

I didn't start back at the gym yesterday, because I still didn't feel well enough. But I did skip dinner in favor of going to bed at 8 pm. :D

I'm going to give the gym a whirl today....I'll be gone Friday - Sunday at a retreat for school so I won't see much exercise then.

I also plan to go to the grocery store today...we need some green stuff to supplement our diets of frozen food. :D :p

I did both of the above ^^...went to the gym and burned 420 calories in 35 minutes on the elliptical and did 200 situps, and I also bought lots of green healthy stuff at the grocery store.


Hope everyone else had productive days too! :)

I'm exhausted. If I'm going to keep doing this gym in the am thing, I need to revise my bedtime. Got on the elliptical again this morning 30 minutes, 500 calories 2.something miles - maybe 2.85, I forget. I did crunches afterward, I do not like them one bit, but I do believe I did about 60.

I ate okay again today, didn't get as many fruits and veggies as I should have but there's always tomorrow.

Of course tomorrow involves one of my favorite take-out lunches...

I peeked at the scale tonight, and I was very excited about what I saw. I weigh in the morning normally so I know whatever tonights number was ... it was high. What mostly surprised me though was the fat and water % that came up. My water was about 4 points higher than normal and my fat was about 5 points lower than normal.

Have you ever seen a picture of yourself and thought, "Oh my god, that can't be what I look like, can it?" That happened to me today. It was just so odd. I mean, I see myself every day in the mirror and I know that I need to add a few pounds but for some reason when I saw an actual photo of myself I was absolutely mortified.

The 15 lbs that I had hoped to gain is now being pushed to 25. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to put on that much but I have to simply bust my ass and bust my ass over and over until I get there. I simply don't feel like the person I saw in the picture and I don't want to look like that person either. This disease has pissed me off and pissed me off good. Time for me to take over total control again.