Just finished writing a nice long post and somehow deleted it!!! Hate when that happens!

Amy- we just finished SOA season 2 last night....and holy cliff hanger!!! Thankfullyy I don't have to wait a whole season to see what happens next!

Jen- that is soooo exciting!!!

Beeps- I hear ya on the struggling! I switched up my workouts quite a bit in the last month, since I joined that gym so I am hoping that is what is throwing the scale out of whack!

I did a TRX suspension class last night which was pretty neat, it was my first time. And then I did the mat Pilates class. I am thinking next Monday I will do cycling instead of Pilates though. It all seemed like a bit much last night.

Hey ladies. I'd love to respond to each of you, but I have been out of the loop since Thursday and so much has happened!! Here's a tip for you all though. If you write a long post, before hitting "Post Reply" do a select all and copy (control C) and then if it dissapears, you can paste (control v) and viola! There is you post. I learned this after losing several long posts and many minutes of writing.

So I have been doing relatively well. My drinking has been in check. I have been drinking more days maybe, but less amount which is my goal for February. Maybe next month I'll go for less days too....

I've been keeping on track with my running schedule. I knocked out my long run (5 miles) yesterday for the week, 25 pound stroller, 22 pound baby and all. The weather was nicish here and I was off (sick kid recovering = no day care) so I figured I'd take advantage. Saturday is supposed to snow. I like running in the sunshine more than running in the snow. My race went well Saturday. I was a little slow, but that's fine. I got to run with friends and work on some hills. And even saw a guy taking a poop in the woods during the race! Really dude? It's a 4 mile race. Walk it off! Or at least hike a little further into the woods to do your business.

I did not do any food prep on Sunday. I painted instead. So last night I rallied (after 3 glasses of wine) and cooked chicken and greens at 9:30. Yay me. So I plan on eating healthy lunches (protein and veggies) for lunch through Friday. I'll be cooking in every night. I will probably even make V-Day dinner in. I've got a 3-4 mile run to get done tomorrow. I may do it at lunch if it's not snowing and/or raining. I may try some calesthenics tonight if I beat my family home, which is doubtful as Eric has a dr. appointment that should put them home early. I hope to see a better number on the scale on Thursday. I took a peek and was down 1.5 Friday, but I am feeling a bit pufffy and TOM is on the way so we'll see. This weekend we probably will go out to dinner at least once, but I'll keep the workout momentum going and hopefully make good food choices!

I hope you all have a great week!

Just decided officially I am giving up sweets for lent.....so No cookies, cakes, ice cream, chocolate, etc for 40 days. The only thing I will allow is a little honey with my fruit and yogurt (which tends to be my dessert). This could be a very good thing. It will get me through V-Day, a few birthdays and a baby shower with no sweets. I need to tell my husband to make sure he doesn't by me candy for Valentines day.

We are eating in for v-day dinner, too, Ashley. I have these itty bitty bacon-wrapped filets (110 cals each) and a crab-cake (170 cals each) serving with salad and either sweet potato or rice. So, should be able to have wine and cookies, then we go to a concert, where I will probably have a couple of beers. that's funny about the race, I have heard that running has that effect on some people, and I know friends who will take an immodium before, like, a half-marathon! 4 miles, though, really, I kinda feel for him, when you gotta go...

Yum! Yeah, I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go... Poor dude.

Well, good luck to all you Lent-giver-uppers....I'm totally against the "giving up" thing (yep, I was raised staunch Roman Catholic) and am trying to teach my kids to "add" things into their lives, instead. Do something nice for someone else. Do a chore that someone else usually does. Whatever - it's the OPPOSITE of Lent - it's TNEL, lol!

Abigail - I have always told people "I'm just under 5'9"....and, I used 5'8.5" to figure out my BMR, RMR, TDEE, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I took the time, yesterday, to figure all of it out at 5'8". It will now take me until mid-April, or maybe even BEGINNING OF MAY, to see my full fat loss. Frankly, if I had known that in late September, I'd have probably never even TRIED this. But, now that I'm kind of over the half-way mark, I'm going to see it through and, with luck and effort, I'll have my Venus body this spring!

PS - maybe that dude was just squatting to pee....maybe it wasn't anything else?? I don't know. In any event, it makes "racing" even LESS attractive to me (and, for me, it wasn't very attractive to begin with)!

Thanks ladies!! Right now we are just going to do a sample DVD and see how the retailers respond to it...fingers crossed!

Sounds like some of those things given up for lent can really help with the fitness/health goals. I'm with Beeps and Chloe on the adding instead of giving up. I REALLY need to add running into my regime 1. for something different and 2. because I am signed up for two 5ks,one in May called the Dashing Divas and Warrior Dash in June.

Ok, I have parent teacher conferences for 4 straight hours, gotta go!

You all are doing great!

My 2 week challenge will be to ween myself off of anything containing surgar. Started two days ago and the head pain was awful. I'm assuming it's sugar withdrawl.

I like "Girls", too, Amy....that head actress was at the Grammy's sitting in the same row with fun. Is she dating one of them? She's AWESOME!

ShmoozyQ - the scale is NOT my friend, right now, either. It's showing me up 0.4 lbs from last week...and that is AFTER my "mini-fast" from yesterday. Harumph.

But, because of the various contests/challenges I'm in, giving up the scale isn't allowed, just now. So, that means I have to be 100% accurate with my calories. Fine. I can do that. I think I might be at another "plateau"....because, really, I've only lost 2.4 lbs since january 1st....which isn't anything to write home about.

I've noticed that when I check the scale and see progress in the right direction, I immediately give myself permission to back off my goals and start justifying food choices that I wouldn't normally go for otherwise. I did good these last two weeks, and I am down a pound which is right what I expected to be - but then I just become really lax instead of focused. Not that having a little break sometimes isn't OK, but I should probably apply myself for longer than a few weeks before I relax. :laugh:

Chloe - I'm at 1,350 calories per day. I really try NOT to eat back my exercise calories (whatever they are)...although, tonight, I am going to give myself permission to include them in my alottment.

PS - I've been to the restaurant's website, have pre-determined what I will order, and calculated my supper at 1,100 calories. So, it's within my calorie allowance for today!

I'm still trying to figure my calories out..... I had a 0.5 pound gain this week. Granted it may be due to the fact that a) I've had a couple glasses of wine every night this week...oops b) I did Insanity yesterday and my muscles are sore (therefor potentially holding water right?) or c) TOM is on the way. Or a combination of all three. I was doing 1200 cals a day for a couple weeks, and have since bumped up to 1300 this last week. But it all is useless if I'm eating 2000 calories a day on Friday and Saturday. Which I probably am. So I am going to log weekends the rest of February, no matter what and get this thing figured out once and for all. I can't remain "in diet mode" forever during the week and eat and drink whatever on weekends. I'd say one cheat day a week is fair.

I did Insanity at lunch yesterday and like it though. I may start doing it with my coworker once a week at work. It sucks being sweaty the rest of the day, but it was so nice to not have to get my workout done when I got home.

Today is my Friday! Have a great weekend chicks!

It's all "trial-and-error" on the calories in v. calories out piece.

Husband and I did have a lovely supper out, last night. We shared appy's and then each had our own entree. The owner brought us out 2 desserts (which he paid for!), but I did NOT even taste either one! I really was "full" after my meal and I knew even ONE MORE BITE would toss me over and I'd have a sore tummy all night. So, husband ate BOTH desserts, lol.

I'm happy with my discipline!

Tonight, I have a hair appointment and then immediately off to an open house to try and figure out middle son's junior high school sitch. That means my supper will be a protein bar. I expect it will be a lower calorie day - good because I'd like to water-out all the salt from last night's meal AND get a lower scale weight tomorrow!

Beeps, I'm so impressed by you skipping even a bite of dessert!

Amy, Hangry! I use it all the time. And I get hangry a lot if I'm behind on a mealtime, haha. I can't do the IF thing. Maybe I could skip breakfast sometimes, and sometimes I won't eat lunch until 2 or later. When I miss meals it's cause I'm really busy - but I couldn't do it otherwise. I get ILL with low blood sugar when I don't eat. It's not pretty, haha.

Chloe - You and I are very similar. I'm trying to average 1500/day too. I find it fairly easy to hit that number and not be really hungry. For me it means three square meals a day, and little to no "treats" on any given day. So that's OK with me.