mhartwig: You definitely weren't the only one who struggled this wkend!  I was at the coast all wkend visiting my DH and I ate crab cakes and razor clams and even KFC one day.    I too have tried and failed so many times, so a "bad" wkend really makes me consciously think about making sure I don't fall off the horse.  Good for you for looking at all of the great choices you have made up to this point!  That's what we should be focusing on!  Thanks for the reminder!

watchmeshine: I agree with Ali that dancing works different muscles.  Also, the dance studio I go to keeps the rooms cooler...maybe it's the same at your place?  Yay for feeling sore...it means you worked it!

I treat myself to a 90 minute, full body massage every 2 weeks.  I started seeing a massage therapist a few years ago to help deal with some of my side affects from stress (my stomach gets really irritated and I wind up throwing up everything I eat) but I kept going because it was just so fabulous.  Now that I work out so often, it really helps those muscles feel better!  The best therapists I've found have been at wellness centers and I currently see a lady who is part of a pregnancy massage business but also sees non pregnant clients...she even does some stretching with me.  The cost is generally less at these places and they are generally more specialized in clinical massage.  I definitely suggest getting a massage during your weight loss journey!  Your muscles will thank you!

Hope you all have a great night! 

that's really sad ali.  sounds like a good cause!

pc, yeah, i am still sore this morning.  have salsa and ballroom tonight so not as intense of a work out.  your pic is definitely adorable; you and your hubby look so cute together!  :)

where is everyone else?  serious drop off here!

*~*HI!~*~

  Just checking in!  I haven't posted in about two weeks, but everything has been going great!  Today marks 27 pounds lost...so I am very pleased....moving at a steady 1-2 pounds per week.   I have to read up on all the posts I have missed!! 

Good to see that everyone is doing well! 

watchmesine82- You are very welcome for the "pep talk" I so do hope it helps some.... : )

pinkcobra- Yes, I know sometimes how hard it is to only want to "focus" on a horrible day, weekend, month etc....That is how I get sucked right back into my old self...I start off eating badly then turn around and feel bad and then I figure what the heck I have already "screwed" up what stop....but that is bad, bad, bad!! So I am trying this new whole positive outlook thing...lol....to say nice things to myself...Lord knows I have said a lot of nasty things to myself and that is just not any good...So let's keep on fighting the good fight for ourselves and within ourselves...Have a great day ladies....

mhartwig: I'm a firm believer in positive affirmations!  I say them to myself regularly throughout the day... it just makes me feel good!  I also make a point to laugh- a lot.  Some people prolly think i'm crazy, but laughing and smiling just makes you feel so great.  Sometimes I laugh at nothing... and I really mean nothing.  I'll be sitting there and suddenly laugh, and that makes me laugh even more.  hehe.

liz: Congrats on the weight loss!!!  27 pounds is so awesome!

watchme: Some chicken shawarma sounds soooo good right now.  mmmmmmm!  Just remember to get some protein in before dance class or you'll get tired more quickly.

ali: that's really horrible about Will.  Thanks for the links, I'm going to check them out.

Hope you're all having a great day!  I have to finish packing and clean my house and then I'm off to IN/IL for 10 days.  I'll have internet at least part of the time though, so I should be around here and there.  This will be a good test to see if I can stay on track when gone for more than 2 days!

Hi girls! I know I have been slacking since Sat! I am so sorry! I don't have a lot of time to catch up today (right now) but I definitly will put in a good post tonight! I just wanted to tell everyone to stick with it! Come on girls we can do this!

By the way down 1.8 lbs!

hi all!

i've been sick, but i've been behaving, for the most part. i've been craving some b&j like a mad woman, and a part of me was like, i'm sick, so i can have it. but then i told myself being sick doesn't put me in a weight gain-free zone. so i abstained. though i still might go pick up a little sweet nosh.

watchme- dancing totally kicks your butt! i took a dance class a while back and my muscles and bones were sore for weeks afterward. the class wasn't winding, i barely sweat, but it used parts of me i hadn't used most of my life.

my weight was up by 1 1/2 lbs this past weigh-in, but i think it was water or something. i didn't do anything to gain any weight, so i'm not stressing it.

also, i went to that lounge this weekend. it was okay, even though everyone i went with was literally a size 2 or smaller. and they were all under 5 foot 2. and there i was, at my weight, at 5'6"-ish, with 4 inch heels on. so i'm damn near 6 feet tall surrounded by bite-sized chicks. it looked like i was their nanny! it kinda bummed me out to stick out so much, especially since all the guys were all over them (most of the girls were foreign w/ sexy accents. the guys start talking to me, the normal american girl, and they immediately went back to the exotic girls).

i tried, and am still trying, not to let crap like that get to me.

btw, i found out the guy i was interested in is a total man-whore. he sleeps with like everybody. so, no go. oh well!

definitely avoid the man-whores.  the guy i like believes in true love and soul mates and hasn't even kissed a girl.... up until about 3 years ago he still had braces and tons of acne so he's always felt like an ugly duckling and was a nerd in high school..... he's pretty insecure but a total smartie and a total sweetie.  that actually makes me like him even more....  if only i felt secure enough to meet him!  *sigh*  (this is the guy i just talk to online/on the phone; our family friends tried to get us to "talk" for marital purposes.... south asian thing.)  anyway, he really wants to meet and was in the chicago area for just a day and i said no so things have been on hold for a while... not to mention he's a med student with no time and lives so far away (nyc).  at the end of the day, he's still a guy and i'm still a size 24.  ya know?  it also doesn't help that i know some of the size 2-6 girls who throw themselves at him and feel outta my league.  oh well.

dalma, what's b&j by the way?  hope you're feeling better!  congrats on being so good despite the sickness!  that shows a lot of strength and a DEFINITE behavior modification which is IMPRESSIVE!  i still emotionally eat from time to time (not BAD food, but lots of food even though i'm not hungry) and am trying to break that.

also, i know how you feel about hanging out with the skinny girls and not getting male attention.  i actually avoid going to lounges and parties with certain of my friends for that reason... no point in going out to supposedly have fun only to end up feeling bad about myself, ya know?  i feel like the fat girl in my class who most of the guys probably don't want to dance with.... then again, many are in their 30s and 40s (as are the women) and think i'm very "young" (probably cuz you can still see remnants of early 20s acne scars and my skin isn't wrinkled!!) and are there to meet prospects!!!

Speaking of the big girl at the dance....  At my senior prom I had a friend who wasn't going to go.  She's around 300 pounds and I knew she didn't want to go and just stand in the corner.  A few of us finally talked her into going and took her out of town to find a beautiful dress.  At the dance we all hung out as a group but I know she still felt really self conscious.  Then my boyfriend (whom I'm now married to) went over and asked her to dance, not b/c he had to, but b/c he wanted her to feel included and have a good time.  We'd only been dating for a couple months and that totally won me over :)

Down with man-whores! ;) 

So here's my story.  I'm 24 years old, and have been struggling with weight all my life.  I'm 5'10", maybe 5'11" so I'm tall.  I weighed over 200 pounds in high school, and I never got dates to dances etc.  Boys just used me instead.  Then I got tired of it, dieted, and got down to around 150.  Then I went to college, and you know the rest... after four years of school and then getting married to a man that can eat anything, I weighed just over 230 pounds.  I've really been working on a healthy lifestyle, not just a diet.  Diets, pills, fads don't work.  This does. 

So at my doctor's appointment Friday they weighed me and I'm at around 185 pounds now, and I am SO proud of that.  The BMI calculator on here says 153 pounds would be ideal for me, but honestly, I'm going to see how I look and feel at 170 and go from there. 

It's so hard to be in your 20's and see those girls who can eat whatever and don't have to think about it.  Weight is always on my mind, always.  I can't imagine living a life where I can just MAINTAIN my weight, without worrying about losing all the time.  I want to be able to go into Express (that only has sizes 0-12) and buy some pants.  I want to feel good about myself even when I'm around my new competitive sister in law, who's 100 pounds and perfect.  In the corporate world (I'm in marketing/advertising) I see interns all the time who get these incredible jobs not due to their intelligence or expertise, but because of how cute, petite, attractive they are.  I'm sick of it. 

I also have all these cute clothes that I bought when I was bigger, and now none of them fit and I'm out of clothes.  It's getting expensive to buy just to have something not fit in a month.  Not that I'm complaining, I just wish there was a way around this. 

I guess I'm just in a mood today where I'm tired.  I've come a long way and I'm tired of being overweight, but tired of fighting so hard.  I honestly list "obesity prevention" as one of my hobbies when asked because of how much of my life it takes up.  I'm tired of being compared to prettier, more attractive people.  I'm tired of scales.  I'm tired of the gym.  I'm tired of light, low fat, low cal, low carb, 1 serving, protein, vitamins, hunger pains, chocolate temptation, 8 glasses of water a day, measuring, calorie counting. I'm tired of never feeling thin enough, good enough, pretty enough.  I'm just done.  I'm 24, and I want to live a long life.  But this whole deal is just killing me.  Wow could I use some help today.

welcome luckiest!  you look great in your pics!  Your height definitely helps you carry that weight well.  Congrats on 185!

ok...i'm leaving for real this time.  the laptop is going into my bag.  catch you ladies on the flip side! 

Ok....here I go.....prepare to read for days! Just kidding! Ok, so as to why I haven't been in the forums....Sat night Mike (my husband) and I went on a date. We did some shopping, had some dinner (I brought most of mine home for Sunday lunch) and went to see Spiderwick Chronicles, which by the way was a very cute movie. We got home around 1 am and slept  most of Sunday, then we watched Nanny Mcphee on demand, which was just ok. I am working till six all week so I am getting home later than usual this week. Yesterday, after dinner (wraps) we walked all the way to K-mart which took us about 25 minutes hustling it, and walked around in there and then walked back home. Yippee for an hour or so of excercise! Needless to say we were pooped when we got home around 9, so we cleaned up for sleep.

feddiechick: Maybe they called the book "Skinny Bitch" because they know fat girls like me mutter under my breath that they are skinny bitches. I agree completely that being thin doesn't give them the right to be bitches, but more often than not they are. Boo skinny bitches. I will be a skinny sweatheart when I get there! I love wraps too! Terryaki, ceaser, onion, breakfast, cheesesteak, I love it all in a wrap! I had wraps last night with chicken, lettuce, cucumbers and light sweet vidalia onion dressing. Yum! Your salad recipe sounds great by the way! I had a turkey sandwich for lunch, I love turkey. For dinner, I think we might have a hot dog and some salad.

luckangelou: Welcome to our group. Way to go on being in law school. I bet you have a great time in Oxford! Oh, and I agree that a woman shouldn't be all hard angles. We should be soft and flowy. I want to be Jessica Simpsons size before she went nuts and lost all of her curves!

mladdy: Yay you are back! You were very missed, and you will never have to find another forum because we all love you here! Anyhow, don't feel to guilty about how you ate in your time of loss, because what matters is that now you are back on the wagon, and I know you will stick it out. Good to have you back Melanie!

yessicazctcs: You are gorgeous! Don't let the such a pretty face thing bring you down! The people who say that are just jealous that you are so pretty, and they don't have it going on. Paris Hilton seems the type who would say that. I hate her. I think she looks like her chiwawa. Keep at it Jessica!

watchme: My grandma always says "if you lose weight you will be beautiful." Thanks grandma! Way to love me as I am! We will all be the size 12 brigade one day soon....that is until we get into 10s! I always feel so good when I can organize. I have the opposite problem...at work I always want to munch because I am so bored, but at home I actually forget to eat because I am so busy! Weird! I am so jealous of you by the way for getting to go to dance lessons! It's something I have always wanted to do, and something my budget has never allowed. I have to get on the workout train as well. It's seems like it's so hard because it is just so time consuming. Then I start thinking about all the ways I would rather spend my time. But I could totally stick to dance. I would definitely love that!

Allydan: you just made me hungry for chinese. Were the cocktails all with the guy??? Woo woo! Have some rodeo food but don't have a whole lot. Tomorrow, stick to it and mean it! I have total faith in you! Don't let this bring you down! Oh, and try to get some excercise in tomorrow too and tell yourself all day tomorrow that you can do this!

alibuch: Tell the drunken Korean my dads line...."I may be fat, but your ugly, I can always lose weight." He will shut up!

hilwe85: Welcome to our group! We are happy to have you here! I am sure you can reach your goals!

Sonini: Yay for losing weight while on vacation! That totally gives you bragging rights! That is something I don't think I can accomplish because I tend to think like vacay= time away from being responsible dieting= being responsible so vacay=no dieting. I know it's a totally bad way to think and I am trying to adjust that, but I am so proud of you for sticking to it on vacay!

 sroscoe: welcome to our forum! Way to go on the 11 pounds lost! One way to include weight training is to spend part of your walk lunging! That will only add another few minutes to your walk.

 janalmeida: hot soup on a cold day is always wonderful. I could go for some homemade veggie soup if you feel like sending any my way.

pinkcobra: you will be ok...you will feel that much better when next week the scale drops 7 lbs!

I will pick up at post 516 in a little while!

I am having a fabulous day!  I think it has to do with the hour of sunshine I just indulged myself in.   (Don't be hatin' though, because even though I live in Southern California, I would trade it for blustery, snowy Upper Michigan any day.  I am soooo not a California girl!)  I'm also making my killer lemon pepper grilled chicken for dinner, and I can't wait to eat it!  You know how shrimp and fish "cook" in lemon juice?  Try that with boneless skinless chicken, then slap it on the grill and damn, have you got yourself some awesome dinner!  My exercising has also probably flooded me with sexy endorphins.  That's right, I said sexy!  I know that I'm well overweight, but at this exact moment, I feel like I am the cat's meow!  So if anyone feels a little slumpish today, get outside, exercise, and eat some chicken; it's working for me!!!

theluckiest - I just have to tell you how gorgeous you are!  You are such a beautiful woman!  I can't imagine you any prettier, but I will cheer you on as you work towards reaching your weight goal. 

allydan - I think some whoopin' and holler'n should have probably burnt some calories!  LOL  I think that it's great that you let yourself have fun and do some uninhibited eating.  It would really be really unhealthy if you never let yourself do that every once in a while.  Way to go for having a good relationship with your body and food, and for knowing that this type of eating won't set you back or make you dislike yourself and your body.  You have such a cute, playful personality, and your body is going to accentuate and show off your little firecracker attitude even more at your goal weight!

pinkcobra - You are quite possibly the sweetest little thing!  I love reading your comments.  Oh how I wish I could have a massage!  Have one for me too!  Have a wonderful trip, and we look forward to seeing you on the thread!

watchmeshine82 - Stay positive and positive things will start happening!  I know; how cliche!  I just have a feeling that you are going to astonish yourself with your achievements.  Hopefully you can start to revil in the process of getting to your goal.  You are doing great things already!

dalmalama - I'm so glad to see that you're back!  Sorry to hear that you've been sick, but what an accomplishment to have kept to the program!  Maybe it's ok for you to get some Ben & Jerry's, just make sure you have about 3 or 4 people to share it with you!  Better yet, if there is an actual B&J store near you, forego the pint and get just 1 scoop of you fav!

mhartwig3 - It's so nice to have you on here!  Keep coming with the supportive words and positive attitude!

liz78 - It's amazing in and of itself that you read up everything that's been posted for 2 weeks!  It blows my mind how much I can miss in just a couple of days!  Keep popping in, and don't feel intimidated to get a little personal.  I feel so safe and welcomed by everyone here.

alibuch - Thank you for connecting us to the outside world.  I often get sucked into my own bubble and tune out things that are happening elsewhere.  I'm sorry to hear about the ESL teacher there.  I'll definately remember him in prayer if nothing else.

Last, but certainly not least, Suzanne.  You are an angel.  You probably don't know just how much you have and continue to impact our lives on this site.  I definately owe you big time for being such a supporter and uplifter.  You have a way of validating everyone here and for relating in a way that isn't intimidating or high-and-mighty.  Thanks for being so true and genuine.