Ravenclaw Common Room

Happy Saturday Ravenclaw! Today is clothes shopping day - off to the local thrift store to see what I can find. I just did this about 3 months ago and now all of my clothes are hanging on me like sacks again! I have one pair of pants that I love that I can now pull down without unzipping!! :bigsmile:

Its kind of sad watching our original challenge thread slip farther and farther down in the list of my topics. Thanks everyone for wanting to continue on in Ravenclaw - I appreciate each and every one of you and would have missed you so much. :flowerforyou:

Good morning Ravenclaw! I'm weighing in today at 166 - down .5 from last week. For house points, I met the water challenge 6 days, did abs 4 days and posted 7 days - total of 17 points for me!

My August weight loss goal is 160 - that will be 6 pounds down. My personal challenge for July was to lose 10 but I only lost 5 - so I'm scaling it back this month.

I am so happy to have you guys to share my triumphs with. Yesterday when I went shopping, I was expecting to buy size 14 pants - but they were too big! I ended up with size 12's!! I think my husband is even starting to be happy for me!

I forgot that I did ab work twice this week too, so please add another 2 points for a total of 4 points

And I forgot that I shared my secret for making sure I drink enough water every day. So that's an extra point for me - total 18!

i weighed in at 186.4-no change for me, but with the week i had i'm happy for no gain. i had 2 really bad eating days. as for house points i got 12. 7 for posting daily and 5 for water. i was a major FAIL with the abs workouts-the most i got in per day was 5 minutes :frown: . i had to put a lot of thought into my august goal. i want to challenge myself but i also want to be realistic and not set myself up for failure. that being said and based on my average loss to this point i am going to shoot for 5 lbs which would put me at 181.4 by august 1st.

kudos to azsuzi for a great shopping nsv!! :drinker:

Thanks for the kudos :bigsmile:

I added another house point to yours because you also shared your water tips at the beginning of the week - for a total of 13 points . Good job!

As for weight, I'm really afraid to weigh. I had a massive bine on Monday and I spent all weekend in Wisconsin with some friends from highschool for a girls weekend. There was a ton of junk food and a ton of drinks, which all have a lot of calories.

I'm just so frustrated, because unless I go to the grocery store nearly every day and make my own food, I cannot control myself. I can't go out to eat, I can't eat at a friend's house, I can't go on vacation because I overeat. How am I supposed to make a lifestyle change if I can't figure out how to control myself? How do you guys make it? I need tips!

Hi Bethany. For me, I have made up my mind that this is what I'm going to do because I want to be in better health. But I also allow for the occasional binge without the guilt trip. We're all human and we all stumble. I think the most important breakthrough for me has been to let go of the denial I was in. My ticker shows my actual weight instead of how much weight I want to lose. I diary ALL of the food I put in my mouth each day because I tend to be a closet eater and I realized I'm only hurting me when I try to hide a binge. The simple step of admitting to myself and to the world exactly what I weigh and what I eat has been somehow liberating.

I make all of my own food too - I make breakfast and lunch to take to work and I cook dinner at home. We hardly ever eat out any more. Something just dawned on me: do you overeat on vacation and with friends because that's what you think they expect of you? I got tired of people asking me why I wasn't eating ("didn't you like it?", "are you feeling ok?", etc etc) and in the past would just keep eating so I wouldn't have to make up excuses. But I've finally realized that it's their problem if they feel uncomfortable when I don't eat as much as they think I should. And its ok for me to stop eating when I want to and just enjoy the company.

It all boils down to accepting yourself exactly where you are in your life journey. You are faced with choices every day and its the choices you make that determine your path through this life. As Albus Dumbledore said, "It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (thanks psb13 for the quote!)

Hang in there - you are worth the effort! :flowerforyou:

Last night, after I finished dinner well before my boyfriend, (I was hungry and he eats more than me.) I was thinking "I don't feel hungry, but the act of eating sure is a pleasurable activity." Later, I was reading various posts on MFP about how different people took 'free' days.

I don't think I'm ready for a free day. At least not yet. Maybe when my birthday rolls around in March. But it seems at odds with my current goal of getting to a maintenance weight. I think though, that once I get to a maintenance weight, I could have a completely unrestricted calorie day once a month. I'd still track my food, primarily to observe how my body responds.

Funny thing is, now that I think about it, I haven't wanted a free day for several months now! I started tracking my calories in February 2011 and would have a 1600 or more calorie day every now and then with no exercise to burn off the extra (I'm at the 1200 calorie level). But I always seemed to average it out over the week by eating less than 1200 on other days. The days I binge now, its not nearly that high (and its usually when my son gets pizza - I just can't resist a slice of pizza). But I've learned that I feel bad now after I eat the foods I used to crave and binge on. Its SO not worth feeling rotten the whole day for a donut (or two!). Eating is pleasurable, but for me its more of a pacifying activity to counteract boredom or stress. I think that I'm slowly breaking that habit - until the next pizza shows up!