I did take that bag of pretzels I'd gotten for the kids' snacks and portion it out - put the zip lock baggies back into the pretzel package tho, so they wouldnt' slip all over the counter! lol.

I have been fairly good with the eating (not ideal - need more veggies for instance, but around the lower calorie mark), SO hard to figure out how many calories I'm actually eating when we go out, though. We had pizza one night at a local pizza place, not a chain - do I use the 591 calori slice of Sbarro or the 245 calorie slice or some other pizza chain when I'm figuring out fat and calories?? I had two slices so I compromised and put on one of each, but - how do you tell? I have no idea how Frank's pizza compares to national brands...

So good on calories yesterday till dinner - husband cooked and served, and he uses lots of cooking oil (hard to even judge how much) and doles out a lot of pasta, etc. Can't say anything though, he'll take anything as a criticizm and refuse to cook for a month, and there are nights I'm just not home...so I just tried to put in the calories as accurately as I could. Good thing I was light till dinner at least.

Dear Friends,

Please, please, please, please, please do two things. 1- Weigh in in the morning after you go to the bathroom for consistency purposes. 2- Only weigh in after a rest day.

To illustrate my point, I decided to conduct my entirely fool proof, and scientific experiment (that's sarcasm, by the way). I currently weigh 142.7lbs, and have received this number in the morning following a rest day (I've consistently been in the 142s for 2 weeks following rest day, not one fluke low number).

For kicks and giggles I decided to weigh in this morning, following 3 days of working out (cardio and lifting) in a row. Due to all the microtears I created in my muscles recently, my body is retaining water to repair them. That is why, when I stepped on the scale today (clad in a light t-shirt and leggings - it's cold!) the scale read 145lbs. No I did not gain 2.3lbs of fat in one week. My body is just repairing and getting stronger

Thanks

PS - Lastly, please keep in mind the following if you are NEW to strength training. You, whom I greatly envy, are blessed by being in a magical time frame where your body is able to both build muscle and lose fat. It doesn't last too long, and you won't be able to build A LOT of muscle, but certainly some. Especially if you aren't obese, please put the scale away. There is far too much going on in your body and the scale isn't going to be very useful to do anything other than frustrate you. Pull out a tape measurer and a camera! And whatever you do, do not stop exercising to see if that makes the scale drop! If your eating is in check, you will be fine! The scale may show slow movement compared to those who diet alone. But when you only diet, you are losing both fat and lean muscle mass (which lean muscle mass helps you burn more calories a day by just living). It's better to lose weight slower if it's just fat loss and you can preserve that muscle!

Best!

Morning all, happy Monday, and Happy Chinese New Year! Weing-in at 191.5- down 0.5, not nearly as much as I'd like! Gah!