Motivation, Success and Frustration Sharing!

SaffronMeadow

Hi, everyone! I am JoAnne and I want to lose 50 lbs. by this summer. I'd also like to transition to a vegetarian lifestyle in the process. I'd love to join -- I sure could use some help staying motivated.

ngolden3320

Hi Joanne welcome this is a great place to be. Please add me as a friend.

Rachel. Great job sticking to your food plan. Your profile picture is beautiful

@jdelaroy great NSV. Woohoo. Where do you live. We in Ohio had our first snow Saturday. Yuck it was 28 this morning on my way to work. Not ready for that.

Joy. Nice to hear from you. Hopefully this week won't be as hectic. Do you only work three days also.

Thank to everyone for the good thought and cyber hugs I am really taking them in. Happy Monday everyone. May these three days go fast.

PhedraJD

@rachel0778 I love the new picture, such a beautiful woman. I hope you had a great weekend. I imagine it was a blast.

@bluepoppies777 Does sound like a crazy week, and not being able to go to the gym when I wanted would make me grouchy. There was two days at work last week I didn't get to walk during my lunch. I really felt blah for the rest of the day afterwards. Hope this week mellows out for you.

@SaffronMeadow Welcome to the thread, just hop in whenever you want. Good luck on your journey. Also, there are some great vegetarian threads, and I believe a group or two here.

@ngolden3320 Hang tough, you can make it through this time.

I had a pretty good weekend. Saturday was awesome. I took the kids roller skating for the first time. They loved it, I was able to get out there, and not fall, and managed to stay out for the 2 hour session.

Sunday though I ate everything in sight. I think it is getting close to ToM, and that is a normal occurrence for me. I just go with it was needed. (Or at least I am telling myself.)

Hope everyone has a great day.

PhedraJD

Was a quiet day in this thread yesterday. Hope everyone is doing alright, hanging tough and taking the steps they need/want to.

I had a rough two days. I did fine with my calories at work, but I was starving when I got home and dinner took 3 hours to make. So while making dinner, I snacked on pretzels covered in almond bark. Then the BF asked me to make him blueberry muffins. He just bought, and set up a brand new dryer for us. How could I say no. I ate one of those too. Lets just say my scale said I was u almost 2 pounds. My fat is fighting eviction and that stupid thought of this was the lightest weight I will be is looming in the back of my mind. I need to step it back up, and call in the reinforcements. Stupid fat is not going to win.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

ngolden3320

@jdelaroy Great job on not falling roller skating. I'm with you ready for reinforcements to show up. Stay strong. You. (We) got this.

I'm going to go with HAPPY hump day since tomorrow is my last day of work. Hope it is the same for everyone else

ShyCush6

Wow… ladies.. I’ve been a slacker!

Nicole: Hope you are continuing the gym routine… way to go!! Thinking of you and your family… Holidays are heard with the loss of loved ones. =(

Gem: Way to keep busy… sounds like your yard is looking great!!

Janetay: Way to go on the 1.4 loss! Glad the birthday party was fun!! Sticky Toffee Pudding sounds yummy!

Rachel: Glad your feeling better! Love your profile pict too!! Good luck… all of our routines will be messed up this week! You are rocking the food choices girl!!

Jdelroy: I hate when something sounds so yummy and you are so disappointed in how good they taste and the wasted calories! I do that a lot! Have fun shopping… sounds like you’ve earned it! Snow… I know it’s late but I am still not ready!! I have that same problem… I do great and then get home and scarf everything in sight! I hate that!

Joy: I hear you Joy… I am in the same boat… work is crazy!

So I’ve been doing ok… Had a busy week last week and not so crazy besides work this week… I’ve been good getting the workouts in and down 1 pound since Friday! Yay! I was good all weekend! I was bad at lunch yesterday and managed to eat a very light dinner to cover it! Yay! Today is my long day at work and didn’t get a workout in this morning as I had to get my oil changed… but I hopefully will tonight! Eating good so far today! Tomorrow night will be a challenge as it Pre-Thanksgiving Drinks with friends! Thursday… I will eat ok… Besides the pie… one bad meal all day… won’t be bad. Friday I have to work and then I will do some black Friday shopping… Sat. I am throwing up Christmas all over my house!!! Yay!!! Plus wrapping some presents and getting ahead for Christmas! Sunday is my families Thanksgiving and once again, pretty good but the pie… I’m sure! Hope you all have a great week! I’m sure it will be light on the thread with the holiday! Happy Thanksgiving!! And watch those calories!

PhedraJD

Good morning and Happy early Thanksgiving for my American friends. To the rest I hope you have a great week/weekend.

@ngolden3320 Today is my last day too, unless I decide to come in on Saturday.

@ShyCush6 Sounds like you are going to have a great few days. I do not know how I am going to survive this week.

I had another day of over eating. I am not sure why I am eating so much. I thought it was because of ToM coming, but that usually only lasts a day. I think the problem is I love the taste of food. If I could eat food without swallowing it, I would be okay with that. Just chew until the flavor is gone and then spit it out. Unfortunately, that is gross and you still get a bunch of calories. I need to remember my whys and find my discipline.

janetay01

Shy - sounds like you are really making it work . have fun at Thanksgiving and enjoy the pie!!

Nicole - yay for happy hump day, sadly I still have two more to go after today - boohiss! Hope you are doing ok at this tough time - first holidays after the loss of someone special are so hard. Make sure you look after yourself.

Jen - I hate those days when you are hungry and food takes so long. I think I would have succumbed to the muffin as well. You are doing so well though - you will not let the fat win out!

Joy - sticky toffee pudding (at least over here) is steamed sponge pudding with treacle in it and then a liberal dose of treacle sauce poured all over it. And then you really should be adding either cream or custard to it - it is lethal, delicious and so not conducive to a calorie counting and weight loss regime

So I had a morning to forget - missed the alarm and overslept so missed my normal train to the office. Got breakfast sorted for all of us and helped hubby get Alistair up and dressed for nursery. Drove to the station to discover no bag - so no train ticket, purse, phone, house keys - nothing! Thankfully hubby had not left for work so was able to get back to the house and pick everything up but missed another train in the process. The day could only improve!!

Hope the day treats you all well and happy thanksgiving to you all!

wishfuljune

Hello everyone! I feel like it's been a while since I checked in, so I quickly looked through everyone's posts. Everyone is doing so well!

@jdelaroy - congrats on your clothes feeling looser! We all have those days of over-eating, especially around this time of year. You'll find your why's and discipline soon, I just know it! Just think of all the new clothes you're going to get with your BF when you go shopping.

@janetay1 - Sticky toffee sounds amazing! I'm sorry to hear you missed your train, but at least you were able to get your husband to get everything for you! Stay positive for today!

@ShyCush6 - Congratulations on the loss! Sounds like you have a very busy week ahead as well! I also can't resist a good piece of pie on Thanksgiving, but like you said, it's one day.

I'm sure it'll be pretty low-key the rest of this week on this thread, so Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who is celebrating; stay strong, work hard, eat right, and we've got this!

bluepoppies777

Hi friends! Happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow from Canada! Hugs all around! Hope everyone has a wonderful day with their friends and families.

Jane: Thanks for telling me what sticky toffee pudding is... sounds delicious! I had to google what treacle was, and it is molasses! Yum. Then I googled pics of sticky toffee pudding... shouldn't have done that! LOL! Sounds like you are having 'one of those days', hope it turns around!

Shy: your thanksgiving sounds great! Is that usually what americans do? put up their christmas decorations right after thanksgiving? Since our Thanksgiving is in the beginning of October, we aren't even thinking about Christmas at that time of year. Makes sense though, take one holiday deco's down, and put the next up? Might as well! Have fun at all your dinners and enjoy decorating!

Jen: that made me laugh! Wishing to chew the food and spit it out! haha! I have felt the same way, that's for sure! I've definitely been struggling with the portion sizes, eating times (clock) and eating times (too many times!) over the past while. It's a daily struggle!

I woke up and weighed myself and I'm down a pound, so that was a nice surprise today. I've been so busy still, barely time to exercise. I have to get myself sorted, plan some meals, plan some gym times and plan some time for just being at home. I'm out again tonight for the SIXTH night in a row. Let's just say I was dragging my knuckles to work today - too old for this! No solid plans for the weekend, we have to work all week this week, no days off here sadly. I'll do some black Friday shopping I'm sure, been trying to work through my Christmas list and get some presents checked off!

Enjoy Thanksgiving, friends! xo

Rachel0778

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA. I just spent the first part of the week in Iowa with my Grandma and now I'm headed to North Dakota with the in-laws.

I'm super hungover and my food choices have been atrocious. I'm still tracking and haven't binged...but yikes! Grandmas chocolate chip cookies are my cryptonite. I'm still keeping active too but it's sub par compared to my normal workouts. I'm just going to enjoy the rest of the week, try to make decent choices, and reset Sunday. I'm going to run a solo turkey trot tomorrow before I enjoy the celebratory food.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, I look forward to catching up with all of you Monday!

ngolden3320

janetay01

Thank heavens it's friday is all I can say right now - it's been a long week and I'm so ready for my christmas break. Hope you all had/are having good thanksgiving weekends

melaniedscott

Okay, I almost never post (because I'm lazy and it's more fun reading what other people have to say.

Rachel, your skating is so inspiring. Makes me want to go find the one skate rink I know of w/in 50 miles of where I live. If I do, I'm likely to break an ankle.

jdelroy, I totally agree about the spitting, if I thought it would work, I'd try it. You think spitting it out would work with infused vodka? (more on that later)... And I can think of a lot foods that I remember fondly that I go back and try and am disappointed (I wasted 740 calories on THAT?)
ngolden, LOVE the image.

All of you just amaze me. You're SO active. I'm totally a slug. Well, I have been lately. Caught something a few weeks ago, just before Halloween, missed Rocky Horror because of it. Went to the doctor after feeling horrible for 4 days, and sounding worse. People would call me at work and think they dialed the wrong number. Lots of meds. Went back a week later, more meds and "Oh, yeah, the cough, it'll probably stick around another 4-6 weeks." This is three weeks of coughing since he said that. Grr. Wonder if it 4-6 weeks since he said it or since the cough started? Sometimes I can walk but sometimes I can't. Have done a lot of nothing since.

I'm thankful Thanksgiving is over. My plan, have T-day lunch with my sis in law, drop in at the end of my cousin's dinner, deliver dessert (ie: remove it from MY house, put it somewhere that dervishes will devour it...did I say dervishes, sorry, my bad, should have said children), chat a bit, have a dessert go home after a couple hours. My sis in law and I are both on here, so I figured we would both be reasonable (and, we were, generally).

Lunch was nice. Hubby has no brakes where there's dessert, but hey, I almost never make dessert. I head to my cousin's. They've finished eating. We say no thanks to more food (but it all looks amazing). We hang out. Hubby watches football with her hubby and oldest kid, I hang with my aunt and cousin in the kitchen. And then she breaks out a bottle of Kinky Pink. So tasty. I think, hey I can handle this...one drink. No big. And I stick with one. We have dessert. I stick with a nice, healthy piece of apple cobbler (who am I kidding? I made the cobbler, I know how much sugar and butter went into it!). I was still okay on the calories. I was GOOD. Well, not bad. But then it's, hey, I made mulled cider. MMMM. It's terrible hanging out with people like yourself (you know, good cooks who go overboard and are food pushers). 600+ (totally worth it) calories and 4 1/2 hours later, we're heading home.

By this time I've offloaded 1.5 of the loaves of evil-wonderful cranberry bread (recipe makes 3 loaves! usually I only make half of the recipe), a jar of Cranberry-Blueberry Chutney, a jar of Cranberry-Pear-Orange Chutney, half a huge apple cobbler, a Mississippi Mud pie and a pumpkin pie. Mississippi Mud for those of you unfamiliar with the dessert has nothing to do with Mississippi or with mud and everything to do with Oreo cookies and chocolate. Understanding of the name eludes me. My version, and there are many, of this particular evil: Oreo cookie crust, layer of white chocolate pudding blended with cream cheese, layer of real whipped cream, layer of crushed Oreo cookies, layer of chocolate pudding blended with cream cheese, layer of crushed Oreos (usually there is another layer of whipped cream between the chocolate layer and the last layer of cookie but there wasn't space). See, told you I was a food pusher.

If you missed the subtext: I totally went overboard...on dessert and on the all things cranberry. Reason I don't generally make dessert or bake? This.

Of course, when we get home, there's the extras from my sis-in-law's house and my cousin added stuff to my cooler, too. So, while I came home with less, not as much less as I'd hoped. Glad we planned to have leftovers the next several days! Thus endeth Melanie's food porn.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

melaniedscott

And here I am, posting twice, in 2 days! I have to do a happy dance. Even with all the crap eating (and booze, and cider) this week, I'm showing a loss! Woot!

I had a goal to lose 10% by Xmas, started early Sept & I've hit it a month early. Unbelievable!

PhedraJD

@janetay01 Yikes, what a day. I sure hope the rest of the week was better.

@wishfuljune Thanks, I am trying to remember. I think I did alright the rest of the week. How is your writing going? The new trainer?

@ngolden3320 Hope you are doing okay. Loved the Meme.

@melaniedscott Congrats on your loss and reaching your goal early! Good job. I also loved your post of your week so far.

I did great on Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the time with my family, won at spoons, and did not overeat. I was very proud of myself. Getting dressed for Thanksgiving was difficult. I couldn't find anything that fit right, or didn't show off my beautiful muffin top. (I swear I am not losing from this spot at all) Finally, found a shirt that looked pretty good on me. It used to be one of my least favorite shirts to wear. I also did pretty good the rest of the weekend. I challenged the BF to see who could lose the most weight by the end of the year. We are both competitive, so hopefully this will keep me motivated. I also did a Fitbit Challenge with my sister, BF and a few of her friends. I kicked butt, with over 30K steps. Woot.

I believe tonight the BF and I are finally going to join the gym. That will be awesome sauce. I love my walking, but it is starting to get really cold, and I can't seem to get my heart beat up high enough for it to be cardio.

I checked out the scale and it said I was down 1.5 lbs. I hope it stays that way for tomorrow's weigh in. If so, I will be down a total of 39.4 Pounds!

Have a good Monday everyone!

wishfuljune

@melaniedscott - Congratulations on the loss and hitting your goal early! That just means you can do even better leading up to Christmas and keep up the good work!

@gemwolf110 - Oh, nice deal on the Ninja Coffee Bar! I've been eyeing that for a while. I have a french press, which I love, but I think I might need something else. I also want a coffee grinder so I can grind my own beans before I make every cup. Pre-ground coffee is OK, but it tends to go stale pretty quick. Glad to hear you had a good Thanksgiving too!

@jdelaroy - My writing has slacked; I'm not going to finish NaNoWriMo this year, but I'll probably continue my story on my own time. The new trainer is great. He's figured out ways to cram in 6+ exercises, and core in 35 minutes in each session!

Well, I only gained 0.5 lb this past week, which I'll count it as a victory. I wasn't very diligent with tracking last week, and ate back more of my exercise calories than I intended to. I've got about 6 pounds to lose until I'm in the 160s, and I think I can still do it before the end of the year!

Rachel0778

@melaniedscott Congrats on the loss! Great job keeping things in check, I loved your food porn lol

@wishfuljune .5lbs in a huge victory!!! I'm here to cheer you on into the 160s

@jdelaroy Amazing loss over the holiday! It is funny how clothes fit entirely different as our body shifts with weight loss

@gemwolf110 Gorgeous pie and coffee machine! Glad you had a wonderful holiday

I'm finally back and back on track. I seriously ate my way through the holiday week and I'm staying far, far away from the scale until the sodium bloat goes down. I stayed active, but it wasn't nearly as intense as I normally do. I have no control when it comes to my MIL's homecooked food or my Grandma's chocolate chip cookies. A week does not define my journey and I am committed to staying on track so that I can enter Dec. 24th in a good headspace. On the flip side, I had an absolute blast and I didn't binge eat so I'm counting those as victories.

PhedraJD

@wishfuljune Half pound gain isn't bad at all. Great job, keeping it close. I am glad you are going to continue to write your story. It sounded like such a great idea. I would read it.

@rachel0778 I know what you mean about home cooked cookies and goodies. My mom baked before Thanksgiving and had it all out for snacking on. I did good, I only had 2 the whole day.

I ate more than I had planned yesterday. I was hungry after lunch and debated on whether I wanted to eat a snack or not. I put it off. When I got home I was still hungry and ended up eating very salty pretzels and cookies. Then we had apple pie a la mode for dessert. Guess who barely stayed under calories yesterday? That's right, me. oooh it was so yummy though. Lesson learned. Next time eat the darn snack at lunch at least it is a healthy option.

Rachel0778

@jdelaroy Avoiding treats is so hard when you're hungry! Great job still staying under calories

@gemwolf110 Great NSV on the elliptical. I bet the upswing is largely sodium from the holidays. Way to go on the early holiday shopping. For Christmas, I've starting doing experience presents which has made my holiday shopping way easier. I already found a play to take my Mom to for her Christmas present and my SO and I are planning our vacation in lieu of gifts this year.

I hit my 1 year mark yesterday! While I'm not at my "ideal" weight, I am darned close and feeling great at the weight that I am at. I feel so much more comfortable in my skin than a year ago. I knew after Thanksgiving last year that I needed to make a change and I did it!

wishfuljune

@jdelaroy - At least you stayed under your calories for yesterday! I find that if I put off eating a snack, I end up craving more toward the end of the day as well.

@gemwolf110 - great NSV on the elliptical!! That's always a great feeling when levels start to feel too easy for you. I agree with @Rachel0778 - it's probably sodium from the food you ate, so just drink plenty of water and you'll hopefully see a drop on the scale (that's my hope too!). And great job on getting your Christmas shopping out of the way!

@Rachel0778 - Congratulations on your 1 year mark!! That's great dedication!

Last night, the boyfriend and I went to spin class and it was TOUGH. We did reverse climbs and started at level 22. I thought I was going to throw up during last night's workout. Today, I plan on getting all my MFP challenge workouts out of the way at the gym, and then we have personal training on Wednesday night. I've set a goal to lose 4 lbs in December, but I think I can beat that if I keep pushing forward and accurately tracking.

bluepoppies777

Sounds like everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving! Lots of time with family, lots of yummy food, and good memories. Those pecan pies looked awesome!!! I love pie!! LOL

Gem and June - those spin classes are awesome, they are my absolute fav at my gym. Gem, you should try one! I'm signed up for one at 4:30 today after work. My instructors always say to the new people to just keep pedalling, if you can't go at the level we are at, put it lower and just keep moving your feet. So don't be nervous, just grab a friend and try it!

Rachel - Congrats on your one year anniversary. That is so funny, because Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, and I signed up for MFP right at Thanksgiving last year! Needed to make a change too. I lost me streak (more than a few times over the year+), but it feels good to look back on a year and see the changes. I am about half way there, still have a long ways to go, but I'm hanging in there.

Jen - good job on the loss! I like your competitiveness, we are very competitive in my family too. Especially with games! We were playing Dutch Blitz (card game) on the weekend and I kept winning, so everyone was getting their knickers in a twist accusing me of cheating! LOL!

I'm almost done the Christmas shopping... did some ordering online on Black Friday. We don't have as many sales here in Canada for Black Friday, but pretty much everything is free shipping and there were up to 60% off deals in some stuff, so it was good. We don't go too crazy on Christmas gifts (I'm a minimalist!). I told my hubs last night that I really want to enjoy December, have time to work out, read and relax etc. I want to visit with friends and go ice skating and stuff like that. Not be spending all my time wrapping gifts and running around shopping!

ShyCush6

Jdelaroy: I love the taste of food too!! I wish I was a horrible cook! Discipline is so hard especially over the holidays! Way to go with the fitbit challenge!! You are doing amazing!!! Almost 40 lbs!! You rock!! Apple pie a la mode… who can resist!

Janetay: Hope your holidays went better than Wednesday!! =(

WishfulJune: Hope you had a great holiday weekend! .5 lb over Thanksgiving is a good feat! Love spinning!! But ugh that sounds rough!

Joy: I’m weird Joy and love Christmas so I put mine up every year right around Thanksgiving… I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving, so I say lets skip right over it and jump into Christmas!! Way to go on the pound down!! Yay!! I was dragging my knuckles on Friday at work… Ugh! So I know how you feel!! Another one year girl! Way to go!!

Rachel: Sounds like traveling over the holiday was great!!! Sometimes we just need to splurge a little… sounds like you kept active too… Way to go!! Home cooked goodness can be amazing! So proud of you!! Doing amazing!! One year!!! Yay!!

Nicole: Love the meme!

Melanie: Glad you checked in… Sorry you have been feeling icky… Your desserts sound delish!!! Yum!! Sounds like you had a great time with family!! WAY TO GO on the loss!! You are rocking it babe!!! YAY!

Gem: Your pies look awesome!! Hope you had an awesome holiday! Looks like you got a great early Christmas present too!! Way to rock the gym on Monday!! Sounds like you are getting ready for Christmas… I love shopping for others!!

Hey ladies! So my Thanksgiving was great!! I managed somehow to maintain… Seriously… WOW! I am impressed! I was scared to get on the scale… So since you are my peeps… I will be totally honest.. here is my story from the holidays! Wednesday night.. Friendsgiving… It was nice… nothing to exciting.. just a few drinks at the bar. Thursday, in-law Thanksgiving.. I ate ok… I did splurge on pumpkin pie cheesecake…YUM!! Who knew it was so good! I only ate the one meal, so food intake wasn’t bad… Alcohol… can you say yikes! Champagne with dinner, then switched to whiskey… Then once everyone left, my hubby, his two brothers and I decided to meet some friends that have a bowling tournament every year for those with no place to go… So keep the whiskey coming… yikes! Someone order yagger bombs too… ugh! I was planning on going Black Friday shopping before work… so at 5:29am I wake up, ready to shut the alarm I forgot to set off! Yes, how did I do that… Well, I was not feeling great but proceeded to go shopping… I was feeling awful and ended up home after an hour…. Back to bed and off to work at 9am… After some greasy hangover breakfast I was feeling much better… I did some shopping after work but then headed home to finish all my Christmas decorating and I even started wrapping my presents!! My list is almost wrapped up for the most part… a couple people to go and some neighbor gifts to make… Saturday, worked more on my Christmas stuff… I went for lunch and a couple drinks with friends, then shopping a little more.. then home to make pies and salad for Sunday. In the middle of pies, I was called out from a friend and proceeded to go across the street for a couple more drinks… the problem with a bar kitty corner from you house… YIKES… whenever anyone goes there they call us! So I managed two drinks and done… I really needed to finish the pies and get them in the oven. Sunday, I headed to my folks and had Thanksgiving with our family. I didn’t eat too bad and NO ALCOHOL! Damn if I didn’t maintain when I jumped on the scale yesterday.. Honestly… I ate pretty good… but that alcohol was BADDDDDD….

melaniedscott

ShyCush6...your post made me laugh...it's like reading Bridgit Jones again. Honestly...mfp is a lot like that generally...

Thanks for the well wishes! They seem to be working, I'm definately on the mend. My weekend was worse on eating than the holiday. Go fig...

janetay01

Shy - what a great sounding thanksgiving period - made me laugh reading how your weekend went! Great job on maintaining though girl - what a result. When it comes to christmas, I'm a big fan now although I never used to be - having Alistair has added a whole new dimension to it for us!

@melaniedscott - glad you are feeling better. Love your story of going totally overboard at Thanksgiving - and all the evil cranberry bread - sounds delicious!! Great work hitting your 10% goal early - that's such a good boost running into the holiday period.

@gemwolf110 - I know I'm a bit late - but tasty looking pies!

Jen - don't you just hate the way you can't lose from the key areas that you want to. I too have the muffin top look which just doesn't work for me - but can I shift it, not on any terms. So frustrating. Well done for hitting the gym and for your ongoing loss - you really are rocking this.

Rachel - great attitude and glad you had such a good holiday period. Well done on hitting the 1 year mark

@wishfuljune - I've never done spin classes but everyone tells me they are a serious workout. Maybe something to look into in the New Year when I've navigated the financial perils of December and know what I might be able to shell out at a gym!!

Joy - well done on the Christmas shopping. We've set ourselves a target of having all presents purchased and wrapped by the weekend before - we have the week before Christmas off work and don't want to spend it running round like mad sorting out last minute stuff. We shall see how that works!

Well, I'm back after a few mad days where I lost track of time. I'm on my own today and tomorrow as husband has gone to Rome for a work trip - all right for some He left for the airport very early this morning in my car and left it parked at the station in the town. So after dropping Alistair at nursery I walked up into town to bring the car back - nothing like a brisk 20 minute walk in -2 temperatures to get you started for the day! But it's good cos I'm working from home today and tomorrow so good to get some exercise in. Then it's our wedding anniversary on Friday (9 years ) so we've got the day off. We have a reservation at our local pub for lunch and we will be putting the christmas decorations up - nice and quiet and relaxed.

Hope you have a good day.

PhedraJD

@rachel0778 Congratulations on your 1 Year, can we see before and now pics? If not, I understand.

@wishfuljune I want to check out spin classes. I think we will have them at the new gym.

@gemwolf110 Great job on not over eating. Nothing wrong with indulging in some high calorie food. Love getting experiences for gifts. I am thinking about doing the UFC fights for our family gift. Kind of like the white elephant gift exchange, except they have to be nice gifts.

@bluepoppies777 I wish we could do the minimalist thing for Christmas. I have two younger kids, and all my sisters, and grandparents spoil them rotten. In a good way though. I am glad they are so loved. BTW I have been seeing all your exercise posts lately. You are rocking:) Keep up the great work.

@shycush6 I clearly couldn't resist the apple pie, had it again last night. Luckily that finished it up. Good job maintaining. Sounds like you had a great holiday weekend.

@melaniedscott Sometimes weekends get the best of us. Shake it off, and keep kicking butt. You have a new goal to reach.

@janetay01 I love your Christmas shopping goals. Money has been so tight for me for the last 4-5 years, I don't get my shopping done until Christmas eve. I would love to be able to get things done early this year. I have only bought a couple of little gifts so far. Happy anniversary. I was married for 13 years and not once did we celebrate an anniversary. We didn't have a ceremony, were just common law, so no day to celebrate. Always bummed me out.

I had a decent day yesterday, stayed under calories, ate pie and ice cream. Turns out I won't be able to use my shiny new gym membership until Friday. Tonight is Christmas tree night, tomorrow the BF has to get his sore tooth fixed (won't be up for gym) so looks like Friday.

So I weigh myself everyday, but only count Tuesday weight for my weekly weigh in. Monday I was down to 211.4 from 213 last week, Tuesday I was up to 212.2, today I was at 211.0. I had to laugh, because had today been my weigh in day I could say I was 2/10th of a pound from having lost 40 pounds. Instead, I am at 38 pounds. Was still exciting to think I have almost lost 40 pounds. My eviction process is slowly working. Add in evil laugh. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

My younger sister has convinced me to do a 10K mud run/challenge thing with her this coming summer. Eek! I have no idea how to even prepare for one of those. Any ideas?

Rachel0778

@wishfuljune That sounds like a rockstar class, great job pushing through!

@bluepoppies777 I like your philosophy for December, I feel the same way! It's funny we both joined after our Thanksgiving celebrations. Nothing like a feast to push us into action!

@ShyCush6 Great job maintaining, that is not easy to do with all that alcohol and tasty food!

@melaniedscott Weekends are so tough! I've got to start doing better on mine too

@janetay01 Happy Anniversary!! I hope you have a wonderful day relaxing. -2 degrees? Yikes!

@jdelaroy I'll add you as a friend so you can see them on my wall I don't post them here to try to reduce the amount of creeper male friend requests I get (my "after" is from my pole dancing class). Congrats on your upcoming mud run! My biggest recommendations for those is to join a bootcamp style class at the gym to build up your strength, practice the monkey bars at your local playground, and do a lot of hill running. If you can do 10K of hilly paved trails while training you can do 10K of hilly muddy trails on race day (Provided that you also did strength training)

I slept through my alarm again this morning. Grrr.... So no morning walk for me. I'll try to take the dog out after work, but it's currently freezing rain so that may not happen. I'm feeling groggy and sluggish.

I stayed up late last night watching the Gilmore Girls reboot. Summer was weird and the ending *kitten"ed me off!

Yesterday I didn't feel like working out so I did an intense online 20 minute workout. I'm starting to worry that I'm slacking too much in my workouts and losing fitness, but I just haven't had the will or the energy to kick my *kitten* back into high gear. Any tips now that we're losing daylight?

wishfuljune

@bluepoppies777 - I like that idea of being a gift minimalist and spending time with friends and family doing activities and just being together! That's such a good idea.

@ShyCush6 - Congratulations on maintaining! That's always nice to see after you've gone off the rails a bit around the holidays. Sounds like you had a great time though with your friends and family, and that's what matters. Also, whisky is a great choice.

@janetay01 - Happy Anniversary to you and your husband! That sounds like a nice relaxing anniversary treat for the both of you to share. I'm assuming when you say -2 degrees you mean Celsius right?! That's still cold, but if it was in Fahrenheit, that's REALLY cold and I would never walk outside in that!

@jdelaroy - Congratulations on the 38lb loss! That's an amazing achievement! I agree with @Rachel0778 on recommendations for mud runs. I also did a lot of bodyweight training too when I did mine, but mine was just over a 5K (I think it was 6 miles overall). Normally, the trails are so packed with people that it can be sometimes hard to run to the next obstacle, so I sometimes "briskly walked" between the obstacles because there were so many people. It was fun. I'd also suggest wearing leggings to cover your knees, and maybe some gloves for your hands. My hands and knees were pretty bruised up/scraped after my obstacle course mud run.

@Rachel0778 - It's always hard this time of year when the sun sets at like 4PM. My motivation is my boyfriend. It's easier to go when you have a friend and you don't want to disappoint them too. He holds me accountable. I also try and tell myself it's only an hour to work out, and then I can get into my PJs as soon as I get home. xD

I did all my MFP challenge workouts yesterday (yay!) and was really happy to see I could do 30 push-ups without stopping. We have personal training tonight, and then I have yoga tomorrow night, so that'll be a nice change of pace. Friday, we'll probably do some weightlifting, and then Saturday morning I have another yoga session planned.

ShyCush6

Janetay: I absolutely love Christmas!! I was kind of in the middle of not enjoying it until my daughter came around too… Kids really make it special.

Jdelaroy: You are doing amazing!! Keep yup the great work!! I loved the mud runs I did… If you can run the distance… the rest is easy! So just work on the stamina and you will be fine!

Rachel: It is so hard to get those workouts in when it’s dark so early! I feel tired and sluggish because it seems like 9pm…

WishfulJune: My choice of Whiskey is an easy one… Jack Daniels Fire… that stuff is amazeballs! Sounds like you have a great plan for workouts! Keep up the great work!

Yesterday, I ate awesome… very proud even when the hubby asked me if I wanted pie and ice cream or brandy slush… I declined both!! Yay! I also went down after a late night at work and did the elliptical and some situps… I was down .5 lb this morning so that made me happy!

PhedraJD

@rachel0778 Thanks for the tips. I can't even run for more than a minute. My goal is to run a 5k early in the spring summer. I had told myself once I reached 200 pounds I would start trying to run. I got sick of waiting and have started to slowly start running. Sad part is, I walk faster than I can run. I've worked up from about 15 seconds to a minute. I was having problems staying motivated, so I challenged my BF to a weight loss competition. This was motivating for a few days, but I get the feeling he isn't really trying. Maybe there is someone there you can make a challenge with. Or challenge yourself, and when you don't feel like you are doing what you are supposed to do you have to put money in a jar. The money can either be a reward for something down the road, or donated to a charity.

@wishfuljune Oh I like the idea of gloves! I will keep it in mind. 30 Push ups?! I am amazed. I can't even do 1 yet.

@gemwolf110 Great goals, and plans! Best of luck on reaching those goals. I would love to lose 10 more pounds before the end of the year. That would take me to just a hair over 200. I would love to be in the 190's by Valentine's day.

So, I made the mistake of buying Oreos covered in white fudge. So delicious, and addicting. I had 3 last night. Not too bad, except they are 100 calories each! I thought I had oatmeal at work for breakfast yesterday, turns out I ate the last pack the day before. I had no breakfast, so when I got home from work I was hungry and did lousy snacking on above mentioned cookies and pretzels. I barely made my minimum step goal, and didn't even try to go for my stretch goal. I really need to get focused on my eating if I want to get to 200 by the end of the year. Plus this morning I am feeling a little blue, and I just want to go back to bed. Sigh, instead I am going to try and find joy in the day, and to help here is a list of good things about the day so far: Woke up snuggling with the BF, who is like a furnace, I remembered to take stuff out for dinner, and grab more oatmeal, my car didn't overheat, and I was able to stay warm, I get to come see my friends on MFP. Well that helps a little. Thanks guys. Have a wonderful Thursday.