Posts by theluckiest

That's a great idea, I think I'll do that. Thanks MerylWhite!

Wow, Hooray! Thanks everyone, I love all these tips, keep them coming!!! Oh, and Bhmoore, I am staying at a Hilton, so that information is most helpful!

I have to figure out how to stop the hoarding mentality of wanting to grab everything in sight since it's free and extremely high quality. That's a problem I have in general anyway. At the end of these things, you're given these massive to go containers piled with fillet mignon and amazing desserts to take home! EEK!

Lauren
http://approachingthefinish.blogspot.com/

Amethystgirl, that is the PERFECT response. Great advice!

Lauren
http://approachingthefinish.blogspot.com/

Stukay- according to most BMI charts you're already below your ideal weight. Why so set on another 10 pounds?

Karen- I'm like you, I always budget my calories a little bit under because I know I'll have a bit of this or that throughout the day, and just in case the calorie count on an item or two is a bit off.

Karagus- I know weekends like that are so hard to resist. The weekends in general are hard when it comes to calorie counting. But now, it's time to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and recover. Your weight is probably up a bit because you ate so much more sodium and carbs than your body is used to. Drink more than 8 glasses of water a day this week, watch your sodium levels, and I promise the scale will fall back to where it was in no time. Good for you for getting right back on track. Many folks out there fall off the wagon, and then throw in the towel. Keep up the great work.

I know we can get rid of the last 10. I personally can't wait for the MAINTENANCE phase of life, how great will that be!?!?!?! Hooray!

-Lauren
http://approachingthefinish.blogspot.com/

I've struggled with binge eating and have come pretty close to beating it. I think it will always be with me. I've lost 71 pounds since I made a real effort to "quit". Now I only have about 10 more to lose, so I've rededicated, set a goal, and I'm working hard to combat bingeing and lose these last 10 pounds. I want to get to my maintenace phase so bad I can taste it! Follow my blog about these last 10 pounds and bingeing at http://approachingthefinish.blogspot.com/

I'd love your comments and feedback on there!

Lauren

A few things:

1. Food is fuel for your body, NOT entertainment. Don't look at eating as an activity. Food is meant to fuel your body, not be a fun activity you engage in like going out with firends. Start fueling your body with good foods, and your body will love you back by dropping the weight, and you'll feel worlds better.

2. No food tastes as good as being healthy feels. And no food tastes as good as you remember it tasting. When we're restricting, we seem to remember everything with rose colored glasses. "OH I remember how mom's brownies used to taste, they were amazing, I want one so bad..." but when you acutally have one, they aren't as great as we remember, and they're just as bad for you. Instead of thinking how good that brownie will taste, think how good you will look once you're done with your weight loss!

3. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! What are you doing hanging around the house? When a craving strikes, do something else! Go for a run, drink some water, go to the gym, call a friend and meet for a movie, read a book in the park, surf the web at Starbucks (over a skinny latte), ANYTHING besides sitting at home with the kitchen calling your name.

Those are my thoughts. I have lots of experience with binge eating, feel free to let me know what I can do for you, I totally understand what you're going through.

It really still blows my mind too. Thanks so much for your support!

I did it and it was so much fun. To be honest, it was much easier than anticipated! I had trained on hilly terrain, and the course was really pretty flat. My time was just over 54 minutes, nothing to be ashamed of.

The whole experience was just awesome. There is no better feeling that running with that many other people, all with the same goal in mind. I liked today so much that I'm planing to sign up for the half marathon training team. So there's my next challenge!

Now I just need to get these last few pounds off. Maybe about 5. Now that I'm not training so heavily, I can focus more on cutting calories. I'm ready for this whole weight loss thing to be over so I can focus on maintenance!!!

Anyway, thank you for all the amazing advice, support, and encouragement. I am now officially a runner, and I love it. Here's a link to a couple race day photos. Forgive my sweaty-ness. :-) http://i43.tinypic.com/ek2fra.jpg

Lauren

I can't thank you all enough for your kind words of support and encouragement. I keep reminding myself I've already run 7 miles before, so 6.2 miles (10k) tomorrow should be fine, right?

I still have the jitters, but hopefully those will go away tomorrow. I really appreciate the advice from you runners out there! Keep it coming!

It's supposed to be horribly humid tomorrow, and I've never run in 90% humidity, another point that's making me nervous. EEEk.

I will DEFINITELY post a follow up to this post to let everyone know how the race went. Hopefully I'll have a picture or two to share as well. Thank you thank you thank you for all the encouragement you've already given and I'm sure will continue to give. You are all wonderful and I couldn't have done any of this without such awesome people supporting me!

-Lauren

Congratulations! What an amazing feeling that is. I had a similar experience this week!

After being on Calorie Count for nearly two years and totally changing my life, my health, and the way I eat, I was at Target and spotted a pair of jeans on the sale rack. I rarely wear jeans due to my profession so I don't have many at home. $13 seemed like a steal for these, but they were a size 6. No way they'd fit me, right? Wrong. They fit, and I bought them immediately, after a mini-celebration in the fitting room.

You have to understand. I'm not a size 6 girl. I can't be. In my mind, I'm still the size 20 girl I used to be. Lately my size 10's have been way too loose so I've been buying size 8's. They fit right now. But the fact that there's a size 6 out there that fits me... I still feel like it was a mistake on the label. I'm 2.9 pounds away from the goal I've been shooting for after about 2 years. I've been overweight my entire life. This has to be a dream.

So I'm wearing my size 6 jeans to work today. And I'm loving every second of it. 

Your weight fluctuates from week to week due to water weight and other factors. Have you eaten something high in sodium in the past few days? That can cause you to retain water, making it seem like you're up four pounds. Have you been doing weight lifting or strength training? That can also cause your muscles to retain water. In reality, gaining 4 pounds in a week is nearly impossible. You'd have to be eating 3,500 calories on top of the calories you're burning almost every day of the week to gain that kind of weight.

I suggest weighing yourself one day each week, preferrably in the morning right when you wake up after you've used the restroom. Then track your progress each month. I'm guessing after a few months, you'll notice your body is in a pattern or cycle, and that during week 1 or 2 of each month you're always up a few pounds.

Don't worry about this. Just keep eating right, be sure you're measuring and accurately counting calories, and you'll see that weight drop back to where it should be in no time. :-)

Lauren

Aww... I think we're all secretly wishing this week were going faster than it actually is. I don't know about where everyone else lives, but brrrrr! I'm cold! I just want to stay in my fleece pj's on my couch with a blanket, a book, and some coffee!

tammy_180- My advice? I've been eating very close to my calories, measuring everything. That plus intense cardio 3 times a week. When you get this close to the end, you start to generalize and guestimate your daily calories. Don't do that. Be realistic and be honest with yourself. If you've eaten some extra little things here and there throughout the day, log it! Even a bite of a muffin, and even if it means you'll be over your daily limit by a little, or a lot, sometimes you need to see that large number. If you're truly honest with yourself, you can probably think of some things you ate this week that you didn't log or didn't measure. If you really want to keep losing, you have to be diligent. I learned this the hard way after a miserable plateau at 160.

Plus, and I can't emphasize this enough, don't weigh yourself too often! It will make you feel like your weight is out of control because day to day, your weight changes. Only weigh once a week, and even that may be too often.

You can do this! If this were easy, everyone would be at their ideal weight! This is HARD, but WORTH IT! When you're at a low point like this, think of your motivation, whatever that may be. I think of my bridesmaids dress I have to get into soon and stand in a line with a bunch of size 2's. I think of this 10K I'm going to have to run in 5 weeks. YOU CAN DO THIS. You just need to remember why losing is important to you, and refocus yourself.

Keep at it even when it doesn't seem to be working, because on some level, it IS working. This is no easy thing you're doing. Kudos to you on sticking with it.

HOORAY!!!! What a BIG MILESTONE to accomplish!!!! It sounds like all you need to do now is tone up! Congratulations on getting healthy and being in the "normal" range. Doesn't it feel great???? Yay!

Congratulations to everyone on your weight loss this week. From 0.5 pounds to 4 pounds lost... no matter what the number is all that matter is a loss is a loss!!! Good luck in improving the things you need to work on this week, and keep up the AWESOME work! You are all inspirations to me.

Smiles21- So glad you're back! Way to stay motivated, and good job for hopping right back in!

Valerieeee- Welcome to CC and to this forum! There are so many UNHEALTHY ways to lose the weight. We are all familiar with them, because we've all tried it with unsatisfying results. But congratulations for choosing to do your body a favor and get healthy! The last 20 pounds will be hard, but counting calories and exercising is the only way to lose the weight. Even if it comes off slow, you're still working towards your goal the healthy way! We're all here for you!

Well, I'm off to my weekend of indulgent junk food and alcohol. I am prepared with healthy snacks and plan to be very good. I really want to stick to this, so wish me luck!

Have a wonderful weekend, and keep up the great work everyone! This is NO easy thing we're doing, but remember, no food tastes as good as being healthy feels!

<3 Lauren