Firm, Fit, & Fabulous: Maintenance-Minded Fat Loss *CLOSED*

 We approach our goals with a healthy mindset. Here is our philosophy in a nutshell....

• we do NOT restrict our caloriesby large amounts
• we do NOT subscribe to any particular diet trends
• we take the holistic approachthat the body should be nourished, strengthened, and appreciated for LIFE.
• we will NOT beat our bodies into submission by attempting a program that is impossible to maintain.

Strong, healthy, and sexy beats skinny any day of the week!

THE BEST PART.....

**We are a community of FRIENDS and we are inviting you along for the ride. A few of us became close friends while supporting each other in this weight loss thread and that support and friendship became such an important part of our lives that we crossed over to this endeavor together. So this is a group where we really focus on getting to know each other closely, not only as weight loss buddies, but as individuals.We will offer each other daily support about anything and everything. 

*12 Cycles To Bikini Bliss*

Weigh In Schedule

1. Feb 1st

• Stevie: 148.4
• Christina:115

2. Feb 11th

• Stevie: (Falsely high Wednesday weigh in of 150.8)
• Christina: 114 (113.8--Friday)

3. Feb 21st

• Stevie: 147.8
• Christina: 112.6

4. March 3rd

• Stevie:
• Christina:111.8 (day early--progesterone started today)

5. March 13th

• Stevie:
• Christina: 113 

6. March 23rd

• Stevie:
• Christina: 111.4 (March 26th) 

7. April 2nd 

• Stevie:
• Christina: ?

8. April 12th

• Stevie:
• Christina: ?

9. April 22nd

• Stevie:
• Christina: 110.4

10. May 2nd

• Stevie:
• Christina:

11. May 12th

• Stevie:
• Christina:

12. May 22nd 

• Stevie:
• Christina:

75% compliance  = 9 pounds down

 

Jodi--just having sonething in your stomach was my point and I know you drink coffee in the morning do I said that instead of breakfast.

Well, today might be a day to step on the scale. I spent yesterday running around, I had under 2000 healthy calories, and I spent a good part of my day dealing with the negative results of my IBS. :) I SHOULD be pretty much cleaned out at this point. 

My plan today.... again, stay away from the treats. Eat healthy, but plenty. Work out, clean house, and hopefully feel better about myself. 

How are you busy ladies doing? Any time for an update?

my update is rather bad. feeling awful about myself. HUGE HUGE HUGE exam tomorrow. 4 hours of torture. closed book. ((sigh)). tried on a pair of jeans. didn't fit. screamed. cried. now I'm sitting in the law school "studying" but not. uuugh. #frustratedtothemax

Oh, NO, Chrissy. I'm sorry. Those days are terrible. 

I guess if you're not successful in putting on your jeans, then focus really hard on what you can be successful in today. (Like actually studying, I guess?) 

I was going to go all out and do 90 minutes on the elliptical today, but I pooped out early. I'm taking a break now, and I will maybe try and do some more in a bit. 90 minutes at a pop is something that I can do on the bike, but the elliptical is much more difficult. I'm just not there. Or maybe I won't go back and do more today -- maybe I'll call it a day on the exercise and just do some housework to get more activity in. Lord knows my house could use a good cleaning. 

I'm sorry for your extreme frustration. End of school year blahs and stress is so not a fun thing. 

Hey ladies,

As I was reading your updates I was sitting unwrapping and eating way too many hershey's kisses. Damn. Hate when I do mindless stupid things like that and then feel like crap afterwards. It seems like we've all had a good dose of that these days.

Jodi, I bet if you throw 2 'lighter' days in there the scale will be back where it should be. Aside from the number, do you see any signs in your body that you've gained weight legitimately? I would focus on those things, especially since you might still be gaining muscle mass. Either way, I hope it goes down for you soon. I am convinced the scale is a medieval torture device. :-/ If you can figure out how to stay away from yours, let me know the trick, because I have that same compulsion.

Chrissy, I so know how you feel. Exactly. My jeans are super tight, my clothes are not flattering right now at all. It's really disheartening. The scale is up as high as it's been in a while. I'm guessing the 'real' weight is probably 142.6ish. I think I legitimately gained back those darn 2-3 lbs I had to work so hard to make headway on. And some extra water weight to boot. No fun. It's really hard when life stresses compound things, but I suppose learning how to push through those things in a healthy way and stay on track is part of the learning process, and I haven't learned it quite yet.

I've decided to make a plan. An easy one, so I can ease back into things and I not set myself up for failure. I'm going to focus on losing at a rate of a half a lb a week. It's slow and will take forever to reach my goals, but at least I'll be going in the right direction and can feel good about that again. So the MINIMUM is a deficit of 250 a day. I will be happy with that. I'll be thrilled with hitting higher deficits too, but I want to set the bar low.

If I stick with this, then by the time I start my psych residency in Salt Lake I should be at a happy, healthy weight in the upper 130s. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

As for eats planned (and some unplanned, ahem, I'm looking at you, chocolate)...

B: Total Raisin Bran with organic soy and a banana = 300

S: Overindulgence of Hershey's Kisses = 335

L: Broiled sirloin (3 ounces) with side salad and potatoes = 475

Planned afternoon snacks: Chai latte, Greek Yogurt w/ kashi thrown in= 260

D: Open for 500 cals

That should end the day having eaten 1875ish calories, and I will do some exercise to burn at least 250. Haven't decided on what yet, but it will be done! :-)

 

 

So yesterday was decent, but I had too many snacks. Meals were fine though, just gotta keep the snacking under control.

Today I have an evil headache and mega-cramps, but I'm in a good mood and looking forward to either salsa dancing or seeing a movie with J tonight for our date night... we'll see which one we're up for. I'm hoping it's dancing because that could be my exercise for today.

Breakfast was a ton of coffee (Three 10 oz cups, with hazelnut creamer) and a banana for a total of 325 calories. Lunch will be leftover turkey tacos with a dessert of fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries) for a total of 475.  Need to focus on getting lots of water in as I've had none so far!

That exam is over and it's like a weight has been lifted. I ate 4k cals yesterday. No exercise at all either. Oh well.

I do feel disgusting and I have about 8 pounds to lose--hopefully by the end of may ill be back to normal. Heading to CA on Sunday. Woo hoo.

Stevie--great plan!! Slow and steady!

Jodi--how are you today??

Stevie, that's amazing -- you can feel ill and still look forward to salsa dancing?? I'm impressed. 

Chrissy - I'm sure that once all the end of school stress is over you'll get back to the track you want. 

I'm doing pretty well. Ran three miles today, did some shopping (do I really need to do that almost every day? Apparently...), volunteered at the school, and now I'm at home to work on some laundry, watch some TV (very important activity), and possibly do some light cleaning. Been hitting the veggies pretty hard, but I'm craving something real. So I'm going to go get something real to eat now. :) Like CHICKEN. 

Dinner is going to be boring -- husband not coming home. :( The kids enjoy breakfast food, so it's either that or baked potatoes. Maybe both. Who knows?

jodi---lol. something REAL. love it.

Tests are over. Now I've just got papers. Whew--that's a relief! did my other final this afternoon.

Eats are in check today--not much in terms of activity though.

Aha!! Now that exams are over and the majority of the stress is gone, eats are in check. :) Sounds appropriate.

I did eat something real. I ate some chicken. Then I had a bowl of granola. AAaaaaannnd then another bowl. After that, I was very very full. And am just now starting to think about the eggs I plan to eat in a bit. (Yes, Chrissy -- whole eggs. Just for you.) After that, I'm done for today. Eats totally in check, no crazy sweets - just some crazy granola. But since the rest of my diet today consisted of veggies and chicken, the granola actually is a +. I needed the calories anyway. And it... just... tasted... so... good. 

Now I want an excuse to go watch some TV again, so I will get on the elliptical and do a leisurely pace movement so I can watch. :) Vacuuming is done, floors swiffered, dishes done, toilet cleaned (yuck) -- so TV, here I come. Catch up on some more episodes of the shows I'm currently into. 

 

Jodi--sounds like a great day!!! What shows do you watch?

Right now -- I'm buzzing through "Life." I sometimes switch over to "The Guardian." And occasionally I'm watching an episode of "Jane- by Design," which is just silly. When a new season of Psych becomes available I will be all over that. I think that show is hilarious. 

jodi--never heard ofthose shows but i don't have t.v. so that would explain it.

 

2 more days and I'll be in CA! Cannot wait! I take off here at 3pm and arrive at 9pm in Ca--so 9 hours of travel. I hope to get some writing done so that I'm not stressed out when I'm at the BF's. I'll be staying with him for 2 weeks! YAY! I am sooo thrilled! I just want this belly to go away though. Not fun. hopefully by next weekend I'll be swimsuit ready!

Question: do either of you get ingrown hairs? if so, what helps?

I don't have tv, either. I stream off Netflix, so what I have access to is limited. But those are the shows I've found to enjoy right now. 

Ingrown hairs... well, probably the best thing I've figured out for it so far is to lightly puncture the skin (like with a safety pin that's been sterilized), glob on some Neosporin, cover with a band-aid, and repeat. It should bring the hair to the surface after a day or two and then I remove it with a tweezer, then repeat the Neosporin to heal up the infection quickly. Those hurt. Sorry you're dealing with that right now, too. Yuck. 

2 weeks... have fun! It sounds like you might be a little hyper critical of yourself when it comes to your body -- you must be a woman. Ha! I think that if your "belly" is something that you can get rid of in a week, there must not be much belly there to speak of. I work pretty hard on my belly, and even with that -- there's the excess skin from giving birth (okay, and I'll be honest... some of the skin is just from being overweight for a long stretch of time, too), and there is still a thin layer of fat that DOES NOT GO AWAY. Not for anything. I keep that thin layer like it's a lifeline. No matter what, there it is. I have some killer muscles underneath it, though... and the layer of fat is thin enough where you can make out some muscle definition when I flex... it's just -- still there. I'm afraid that after childbirth and fatness, this body will never be bikini appropriate again. But since I am often inappropriate in lots of other ways, I wear a bikini sometimes, too. :) If people don't like it, they don't have to look.

I saw 144 again on the scale this morning. I'm pleased. 

jodi--i meant to prevent them in the first place. i get them bad from shaving. not cute or fun. lol.

my belly is just from this past week--it's usually flat and toned, nice definition. so yeah, it's a FALSE belly (or it better be at least because a week shouldn't undo months and months of hard work).

Ah... prevention of ingrowns... waxing. :) Moments of torture, but big dividends. 

False belly. I love it. Mine isn't false. But it isn't big, either. Just a bit unsightly. Seeing as its a big improvement, I'm keeping what I've got. No point in whining about what I look like just because I had kids and was fat for a while. :) Besides, there's only one person in the world I really care to impress and he's impressed. My job's done. :)

I'm afraid I've gotten carried away with the smiley faces this time...

jodi..I love smiley faces too and exclamation points :) Aaaaw that's so cute about impressing your hubby!! Love it! I feel okay right now..thinking tomorrow I might be back to "normal" and if I'm not then so be it...there are worse things in the world! So, what was for dinner? Waxing prevents ingrowns for you?

I have never gotten an ingrown when I've been waxed. Shaving will give them to me. But I'm not really comfortable going OUT to get waxed, so I have to do it myself at home. And I gotta tell ya -- pulling that paper is not easy. I generally wax a few times each summer. And in the winter I stop. It does hurt, you know. :)

Dinner last night was stuffed peppers. YUM. 

I broke my coffee carafe yesterday. So all I have for my coffee fix is my espresso machine. I got my breakfast calories through milk this morning -- latte x 2. 250 calories in coffee alone. But I'm not hungry now, so I guess it will all work out. :)

144.8 this morning on the scale. And I had a pretty hefty eating day yesterday with 2500 calories in it. It's all good. 

Glad you're feeling better -- and almost back to normal. 

Jodi--awesome weigh in!! That's great!! Still scared to weigh :/

Hey ladies,

Jodi... you crack me up. Inappropriate in many ways so you might just wear a bikini too? Haha! Congrats on seeing good numbers on the scale again. See, no need to worry!

Chrissy, how fun that you'll stay with F for a couple weeks. Will you have those weeks "off" as far as work/school? Waxing does help prevent ingrowns, but depending what kind of waxing your talking about it's expensive and painful. I kept up with doing brazillian bikini waxing for awhile, which was great. I got only mild irritation that went away quickly, and no ingrowns. But holy cow it was expensive and dear lord was it painful. So I tried to do it at home and that was just funny. I realized how much of a chicken I am on that day. Lol.

So I've been so-so with eating and exercise. Not great, but not too terrible either. Probably closer to maintenance than loss. But this ToM has been a killer. Every day has brought cramps and migraines, when typically it's just day one and two that are rough. Water weight has come down though. Seems that my 'real' weight right now is 141.4. Which isn't too terrible. About 5 lbs more than ideal, which I could get off in 10 weeks or less if I really started working at it. Which I seriously need to do because my body is soft all over right now. Not flattering.

I am working on a client report today and J is at work too, but when he gets 'home' (we're living in a hotel right now, lol) we'll do something active like hit the gym or take a walk. We're both feeling pudgy these days.

Breakfast was lots of coffee with creamer and an apple for 250 cals. Lunch #1 is a salad (greens, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberry walnut vinaigrette) and a half turkey sandwich and a small cup of skim for 380.  I'll have an afternoon meal too, and then a late dinner. Trying to reel today in calorie-wise.