gain goal regain How was your 5:2 day today?

[clk 3,519]

Today's a normal day again. I had friends over for dinner last night but kept it under control. scale says 142 today, so down 1.4 pounds from Monday (I didn't weigh yesterday) and I'm aiming for 135 pounds. Urg. So far away! I remember that brief spell two weeks ago when I touched the 130s for like, a day. I'm doing pretty good if I can keep it to 142 for the week though, because I'll be down a total of six pounds in four weeks.

That's hella fast for me.

Fast day tomorrow. Got a call last night from my father in law and surprise! They're coming to visit on Friday. Well, I'm glad we'll get to visit but I expected them in two weeks. Now I have two days to get the 72 boxes that are in my basement unpacked and put away. Thanks, Dad! I'm supposed to take my twins to Chuck-E-Cheese today. I truly hate that place. But the kids have a motivational chart and we've been working on their behavior and little chores for the past few weeks. I told them when we started that if they both got a perfect week they could pick an activity. I expected a day of trudging around the zoo, but they both want Chuck-E-Cheese. I'll indulge it because I'm amazed at the improvements in their attitudes, behavior and helpfulness lately. It's amazing, actually, how far a little positive reinforcement goes with young kids. I'm going to go early and get there as soon as they open, before it turns into an absolute madhouse.

I love my children, but other people's kids? They're cute and all but yeah...not so much. Especially when they're amped up on junk food, soda and video games!

Laura: You look awesome, lady! How far are you from goal? I'm in Virginia, NoVA actually - right by D.C. Three years in one place, it seems bizarre to me. We normally move every 18 months or so. Good luck on the thyroid issue - how will that affect maintenance for you if they remove it? I have a friend that had Graves' and once her thyroid was gone maintaining her weight or losing weight was very challenging (though she did both and has succeeded quite well for the past nine years). Just curious.

Swizzly: Don't beat yourself up. That's a high day but getting in a fast day will help. When I drink with dinner or have an unplanned treat I can easily find myself eating that many calories, too. Just hop on track again. It's hard. It never ceases to amaze me how much my attitude on loss/gains with the sleeve has changed. I once believed a person would have to work at gaining weight with this surgery, but time and experience show me that if we aren't tracking we can easily consume the same amount of calories as we did before surgery. Good job on tracking, and with your fast tomorrow. My calories were hard when we were living in Kyrgyzstan and had events several nights a week. Shots of vodka are pretty much a social requirement there and the calories between that and the meals add up fast.

Supersweeetums: I applaud the way you're being conscious of all this with your children. It's a challenge for me but we absolutely do our best with this. I have twins and one is super skinny and one is obese. It's really a tricky line - there have been times when we've wanted to kind of encourage him to eat but not her, but we can't do that. Instead we focus on healthy choices, staying active and we don't talk about good or bad when it comes to shape, size or weight. I worry so much that she'll be like me. It amazes me how much I worry about this - my husband thinks I'm obsessed with weight but that's not it. It's that I know exactly how it feels to be the big girl in class and I still remember how mean kids are to each other. I know how damaging it was for me to hear mean things from other kids and how that affected me into the teenage years and finally carried over into adulthood. i try not to add to that in any way by making her unhappy or insecure. She's built the way she's built and it's unfortunate for her that she inherited my traits on this instead of her daddy's!

UKCathy: That's not bad for a fast day. I'm sorry you're going through a rough time and I hope things will brighten for you soon.

Oregondaisy: Yes! This is really, truly how I maintained before when I was crowing about how easy maintenance was for me. I wasn't as structured (no tracking on my non-fast days and no conscious calorie limit on fast days) but I weighed daily and if the scale bounced close to the end of my maintenance window I pretty much fasted that day. It was easy. Something like 90% of the time I just ate whatever I wanted and so long as I kept that scale close and had one or two stricter days it was easy.

Ms Skinniness: Laura is right, no failures. I've had to postpone my fast day before, too. Good luck on your trip, safe travels!

Leann71: I'm an odd one. Years in counseling, grief support groups and just dealing with my demons have made me very open about things that many people would keep very close. I do have a great deal I just don't share with people but for me, I find talking about things beneficial. Do I make other people uncomfortable sometimes? Sure, I probably do. I'm not looking for answers or reassurance unless I ask a question. But I've found that I can talk to other people and that even if only one person in a group relates to what I have to say, they usually appreciate that I was able to articulate something that they'd also felt. You talk about as much as you want to, and never feel any pressure to open up. On the other hand, know that there's not much you can share that one of us here wouldn't be able to relate to.

Hope everyone has a good day!

~Cheri

[clk 3,519]

Oh, and FYE, I hope that fair didn't tempt you into indulging.

~Cheri

[Georgia 2,908]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

If he goes, he'll deploy to a combat zone, so nope, I'll be here with the kids while he's over there. It's part of the life. We'll manage. At least we're in the US now. Had this happened from Germany or Kyrgyzstan I would have a hard time seeing family and friends, but this way we're only nine hours from family. It may sound like a lot, but we used to be two days of travel away.

Oregondaisy, I am going in for my crown tomorrow. My root canal was fine - no pain whatsoever. In fact, I fell asleep while the dentist was working! Then I went in a few weeks later to get a cast done and a temporary crown put in, and I'll finally have the finished one put in tomorrow. The worst part? Paying my share of the insurance. Yikes! My share was $1,600 for this one tooth!

Laura, great reminder. I, too, have had my share of therapy and I often forget to just stop, focus and BREATHE. I'm a crazy planner - I have to have everything down on paper, I schedule and make lists for every task or goal...I just try to be on top of everything. It helps me feel more in control if I'm, well, a crazy control freak. But life can't be planned or predicted and I find myself at a total loss and completely off kilter whenever something unexpected crops up.

So tonight, I'll try to just focus on breathing. Actually, DH and I have discussed a lot of our plans and how we'll handle things and I'm feeling a lot better. It's that control thing - I just need to feel like I'm okay with something and that I have all the bases covered.

Is anyone else losing hair? It could be that I just spawned a little person, because I think I vaguely remember something about losing hair after pregnancy. It's been nearly four months, though. I am losing wookie sized hairballs each time I brush my hair or shower. I'm back on Nioxin and hoping it slows down, and fast. My hair never fully recovered from all those years overseas in countries with crummy Water, or the original weight loss. It's way thinner than it was when I was large and I'm a bit worried that I'll have bald Patches soon.

Yeah, I'd rather be thin than have gorgeous hair, but I'd also rather not look like I'm suffering from an illness. I think it's almost thin enough that it's time to cut it and boy, won't that make the husband grumpy!

Hope everyone is well. I have a few PMs to answer and then I'm off to bed. That little cutie still likes to wake me at a random time between 3:30-5:30 in the morning. I wish she'd pick a time and stick to it. While I'm wishing, couldn't she make that time seven am?

~Cheri

I lost scads of hair after surgery which followed Hair loss after hysterectomy and then loss of hormone replacement. Need I say, hair has never recovered! Yours will, though. I lost hair after both pregnancies and it came back. Alas, I am one of the only women I know with "male patterned baldness" on the top of my head!!!!! sigh.

[No game 14,437]

hair? I lost a bunch and I'm still waiting for it to come back its really noticeable when I'm outside and the sun shines on my exposed scalp.

Ok normal day today, fasted yesterday and will fast tomorrow. I messed up a little yesterday but I plan on not having any issues tomorrow, we will see how that works out

Cheri, chucky cheese? Welcome back to America I'm glad my chucky cheese days are over. Good question about the weight and thyroid.. I'm hoping that it won't make things even harder. I still have 28 pound I want to lose.

Leeann,

I'm glad we found you too! It does help to talk about it, I don't know, but when you put it out there ( the shitty stuff) it loses its power

FYE

how was the fair?? And haha! I didn't realize you guys thought that blind lady was me!

Skinniness,

hope you having fun today, I didn't fast while on vacation, it was to hard.

Ukcathy,

Not to bad for all the stuff going on, I hope things are better soon.

Sweetums,

Ugh kids and diet! It's really hard for me now that my daughter is seventeen, she eats crap sometimes and talks crap if I say anything! She is very athletic and likes being stronger than other girls, so I need to back off some I guess,

I just worry because she has my genes..

But they both are healthy and appreciate "good" food too.

[swizzly 901]

Hehehe....

Here's me just now excuse my husbands messy bathroom mirror and my wet hair!

Oh. DUDE. You look HOT!!!

[No game 14,437]

Oh. DUDE. You look HOT!!!

You do have your glasses on, right?

Thanks I can use that after having that doctor tell me I have a sub-sternal thyroid which essentially to me says big goiter 0_o

[swizzly 901]

Non-fasting day today, but much better than the last one. Still ended up with 1752 cals, a lot of which were wine. My friend got the sack at work unexpectedly. Tomorrow is a fasting day...here's to new starts... xo

[swizzly 901]

You do have your glasses on, right?

Thanks I can use that after having that doctor tell me I have a sub-sternal thyroid which essentially to me says big goiter 0_o

DO have glasses on LOL!! You look mahvelous dahlink...

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

You guys will love being grand parents. I would love to take my grand kids to chucky cheese. We don't have that here. There is one 4 hours away, in Portland, but it's still pretty far from my son's house. I love not having them full time and just taking them out to play!!

I don't know how to count today's lunch. I am going out with a friend for a Greek salad. I'm 100% Greek and I love Greek food. This guy's salad is better than my grandmother's. It's a Mediterranean restaurant so this is the only Greek thing on the menu.

Anyway, can look up Greek olives , and guess how much feta he puts in there, but the oil and vinegar, I have no clue how much oil he puts in there.

Counting calories is HARD. It's so much easier to count carbs. But that's what let me gain back 15 lbs. thousands of low carb calories.

[No game 14,437]

I would imagine his Greek salad is better than panera breads but here's an idea...

Here's a different one..

It sounds more homemade.

[Georgia 2,908]

You do have your glasses on' date=' right?

Thanks I can use that after having that doctor tell me I have a sub-sternal thyroid which essentially to me says big goiter 0_o

[/quote']

You DO look hot!!!!!!

[feedyoureye 3,087]

You guys will love being grand parents. I would love to take my grand kids to chucky cheese. We don't have that here. There is one 4 hours away, in Portland, but it's still pretty far from my son's house. I love not having them full time and just taking them out to play!!

I don't know how to count today's lunch. I am going out with a friend for a Greek salad. I'm 100% Greek and I love Greek food. This guy's salad is better than my grandmother's. It's a Mediterranean restaurant so this is the only Greek thing on the menu.

Anyway, can look up Greek olives , and guess how much feta he puts in there, but the oil and vinegar, I have no clue how much oil he puts in there.

Counting calories is HARD. It's so much easier to count carbs. But that's what let me gain back 15 lbs. thousands of low carb calories.

or ask him to put the dressing on the side and guess from there,,, rather than throw up my hands and give up, I just give it my best shot. Figure the dressing in half oil, and use your spoon to measure it out onto your salad. Close enough to keep in the game!

[Supersweetums 1,164]

You guys will love being grand parents. I would love to take my grand kids to chucky cheese. We don't have that here. There is one 4 hours away, in Portland, but it's still pretty far from my son's house. I love not having them full time and just taking them out to play!!

I don't know how to count today's lunch. I am going out with a friend for a Greek salad. I'm 100% Greek and I love Greek food. This guy's salad is better than my grandmother's. It's a Mediterranean restaurant so this is the only Greek thing on the menu.

Anyway, can look up Greek olives , and guess how much feta he puts in there, but the oil and vinegar, I have no clue how much oil he puts in there.

Counting calories is HARD. It's so much easier to count carbs. But that's what let me gain back 15 lbs. thousands of low carb calories.

I agree with FYE, get the dressing on the side and then just try your best to estimate. The salad part itself won't likely have that many calories because it is all veggies. Try not to get too upset about it and just flow with it. I still am not counting calories on my regular days, just on my fast days.

[Supersweetums 1,164]

Today's a normal day again. I had friends over for dinner last night but kept it under control. scale says 142 today, so down 1.4 pounds from Monday (I didn't weigh yesterday) and I'm aiming for 135 pounds. Urg. So far away! I remember that brief spell two weeks ago when I touched the 130s for like, a day. I'm doing pretty good if I can keep it to 142 for the week though, because I'll be down a total of six pounds in four weeks.

That's hella fast for me.

Supersweeetums: I applaud the way you're being conscious of all this with your children. It's a challenge for me but we absolutely do our best with this. I have twins and one is super skinny and one is obese. It's really a tricky line - there have been times when we've wanted to kind of encourage him to eat but not her, but we can't do that. Instead we focus on healthy choices, staying active and we don't talk about good or bad when it comes to shape, size or weight. I worry so much that she'll be like me. It amazes me how much I worry about this - my husband thinks I'm obsessed with weight but that's not it. It's that I know exactly how it feels to be the big girl in class and I still remember how mean kids are to each other. I know how damaging it was for me to hear mean things from other kids and how that affected me into the teenage years and finally carried over into adulthood. i try not to add to that in any way by making her unhappy or insecure. She's built the way she's built and it's unfortunate for her that she inherited my traits on this instead of her daddy's!

Hope everyone has a good day!

~Cheri

It is hard! My daughter is almost 4 a little on the heavier side. I always try to encourage her to make healthy choices, but I never say anything else about weight, size, etc. I worry a lot that she has inherited my genes as well and will struggle, and that is the last thing I want to see for her. And I also never say anything about myself in front of her. I grew up watching my mom criticize herself constantly (and she watched her mother). She always told me how beautiful and smart I was, but that is not what stuck. The only thing they ever see sometimes is me weighing myself, but that is it.

Laura, I can't imagine how much harder it will get when they are older. I know I would worry too, you see so many stories about athletic young people starting college, and letting the sports go but keeping the eating habits. But you can't force anyone to make better choices, even though we all wish we could!

[clk 3,519]

Agree, don't let it get you down, Oregondaisy! It's better to be in the right ballpark than to skip the counting completely.

Laura is looking good, isn't she? I can't believe you want to lose 28 more pounds, woman! But hey, goal is personal for everyone. I can say that from your picture, you certainly don't look like you need to, but then people are always telling me I don't need to lose more.

That just annoys me. I'm aiming low when I shoot for 135, anyway, so stopping here isn't a real option for me. So no judgement - but you do look amazing!

Sorry about the thyroid - will they remove it, then?

Georgia, thanks for the reassurance on my hair. I'm hoping some hair color doesn't make things worse but I'm starting to get those lovely grey hairs and really need to cover it up. When I combed my hair out this morning, I swear I lost half of what's on my head!

Good day, Swizzly. Little by little! I admit that I quite frequently drink several hundred of my calories in a day.

~Cheri