Welcome starrchaser!! Congrats on your weight loss so far. Never fear, we are all here for each other through our temporary weaknesses...

Hi starrchaser: Welcome! I dont know if you read through our whole thread but here is the run down of what weve been doing. On Thurdays we are weighing in. Also on Thursday we will write ourselves some objective goals for the week (like, I will exercise 4 times this week or I will drink 64 ounces of water daily etc) You will also report on your previous weeks goal. We thought it might make us more accountable. So we tried NO CHEAT Wednesdays, but I think we all cheated a little . We will try again. Motivational Mondays! Regroup after challenging weekend feasts. And of couse stop by any day for tips, motivation, support! We can do it!

Have any of you done/heard of, the Good Mood Diet? I read an article on MSN about it yesterday. There was a blurp from the author who said something along the lines of, I don't care if you eat a big slab of chocolate cake, so long as you eat all your feel good foods for the day. The theory is if you eat the foods on the feel good list your body chemistry and brain functions change, fighting depression and cravings. The basic list included air popped popcorn, dark chocolate (yay), Coffee/Soda, turkey, milk, eggs and hot cocoa.

I just bought a copy of the book to put under the tree for myself, from Santa. Looked interesting enough and I love to collect knowledge on this stuff. Some day I'm going to compile a list of all the tidbits that actually worked from all the different diets I've tried and make my own diet book. LOL look out Susan Powter (yep I read that one too) Anyway just wanted to see if any of you knew anything about it?

O.K Ladies it's weigh in Thursday!!!!! I got onto the scale and it says 123. That is a 4 lb. loss in a week?!
But now the REAL pressure comes.....saturday night dinner I am hosting, christmas eve dinner and treats and then the BIG WHAMMY Christmas day meals!!
But just knowing you all are strugglin right along with me will deff help. It has been a tremendous help this week with encouragement and stamina.

So with no more adu, goals for next week:

1. drink all my water EVERYDAY!
2. eat healthily at these dinners and brunches I can't help but be at!
3. Portion control, portion control, portion control. No I don't have to have secounds on everything and a dessert!

This has been a big help to me this last week Ladies. Let's keep it rollin on!

YAY!!!!!!!! Merissa!!!!!!!!!
I think only about 1 lb. was fat!!!! I honestly think the rest was water weight I had stored up by not drinking enough water and eating alot of salt for about 2 weeks before we started!
But I deff think we are killing those fat cells!!!! Keep going girls, we got em on the run now!!!!!

Great job Tuesday and Merissa!! Well, I have lost one lb this week, which is encouraging because I have cheated quite a bit with cookies. I met almost all my goals, I drank all water and coffee this week, I stayed away from the salty snacks. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep up with my workouts because of my back problems. I really think I set myself an unrealistic goal there. So let's try again...

1. Drink all water 6 of 7 days (Christmas eve break)
2. No more evening snacks unless they are healthy! (no sweets or chips, etc)
3. Work out at least three days
4. Do not get a second helping of anything until I have waited at least 5 minutes

Not bad for our first week...but I DEFINITELY had room for improvement.

ALL OF US IN THE "PUTTING DOWN THE CAKE CLUB" SO RULE THOSE FAT CELLS!!!!!!!!!!!
And don't let those little boogers lie to ya.....everyone one of them lost is a total victory in a long line of victories we are sure to have!!!!!!

CHARGE!!!!!!!!

Hey all!!

Well, I weighed myself this morning and it's a miracle! I lost a pound! I don't know how, I've been cheating like crazy! (the holidays always do it to me)

No cheat Wednesdays went straight out the window! I am officially a batter licker. I had to try yesterday's chocolate frosting to make sure it was good. I mean it looked like chocolate, why did I have to have three tablespoons? I don't know!! I need help!

As for my goals - I did not have a Snickers this week or a hershey bar, so those goals were met. However, my yoga mat is still dusty.

So my new goals for this week are:

1. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!
2. Portion control, portion control, portion control. Did I mention portion control?
3. Remove all unhealthy snacks from my pantry!
4. Give myself constant positive reinforcement.

I weighed this morning and was pleasantly optimistic prior to stepping on the scale. I lost a half pound. I'm good with that though, it's headed in the right direction. I drank all my water (I almost always do so I don't have water weight to lose) and exercised. I could have done better with the pop but now when I'm getting one I mix half diet and half regular so at least that's a step.

Goals for next week:

1. Exercise at LEAST 4 days
2. No seconds and portion control at Christmas
3. No absent minded snacking, think about what I put in my mouth

Unofficially, goal #4 is lose two pounds by next weigh in. If I can do that over the holidays, I'll jump in the air and give MYSELF a high five!

Hey if we can actually LOOSE weight during the holidays, that is real accomplishment. I just hope I dont gain this next week...I am going for maintain weight.

Grrr. I just went the the gym, had a decent workout, came home and made myself a healthy lunch (glass of water, veggie burger -no bun, cottage cheese and broccoli) then I topped it off with a cupcake. Why did I DO THAT? If I hadnt gotten one out for my kids, I wouldnt have had one. I was feeling guilty the whole time I was eating it, but it didnt stop me. It wasnt worth it. Boo. I wish I could take it back.

good point, merissa. I have been steadily gaining for quite a while, so even maintaining is an accomplishment. I feel like we should throw a party for ourselves for losing...who's bringing the cake??LOL

i am still at the same weight!!!!! i was good this week!!!!!!

Okay. I decided for my cupcake consequence: I have to go to the gym one extra day this week (so now my goal has increased to 4 days)

You know Merissa, I do the same thing. I can eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner but I always top it off with something sweet and unhealthy. I wonder why that is??

We must have some little gremlins inside of us that want to be fed! Maybe if we starve them of the unhealthy stuff then they will die and cravings will subside. I really want to do this! Okay so this sounds silly but I keep telling myself that I want to look hot for awhile before I get too old! HE HE HE! About 3 years ago I lost some weight (I was about 20 or more pounds lighter than I am now) I did it with healthy eating and exercise. Anyway a lot of people noticed and I got a lot of compliments. I miss that! I am not someone who needs of likes a lot of attention, but it felt good for a change. I wish i had kept it up, I looked so cute!

Ok I'm checking in for the big weigh in. I lost 3 pounds. I'm down to 232. I was conscience of what I was putting in my mouth I know I didn't meet my goal for last week. HOnestly I just signed up for Jenny online this morning.


Goals for the week
1. WALK!
2. Don't over indulge for the holidays
3. Dink my crystal light
4. Plan my meals


I don't know if anyone already said this or not but maybe we should put our immediate goal and reward for the next week. plus our ultimate goal and reward for meeting the ultimate goal. How does that sound?

Jelligirl...don't get discouraged!! It sometimes takes a little while for the weight to drop off. I'm convinced my one little pound was just fluid. I went from drinking all sodas to drinking all water.

I hate the gremlins! I'm going to make them sick! I'm going to feed them green beans and broccolli!

I didn't appreciate my body when I had it. I thought I looked cute and didn't need to take care of myself. Plus I've been working in an office for the past four years. So sitting on my tush has not helped at all.

I'm one of those women that needs to look good before i get too old too! I want to look good till I reach menopause! Till I need dentures! Till I need a wheelchair!

I have to say for all of you worried about one cupcake after a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner, look at it this way. It was one cupcake, not three and you could have had it and a Big Mac and supersized fries. Moderation works, if you can stick with it (my biggest problem)

Anyway My DH is officially home for Christmas vacation which means I will hve to fight for my share of computer time so this may be my last weigh in for the next week or so.

I weighed in at 223 this morning. That's 2lbs this week and I honestly didn't do anything consciencely(sp? hate spelling that one).

Have a great Holiday, I'll check in from time to time, or try at least.

Oooops. I forgot to say Congrats to you all for such a great effort. To Maintain thru all this temptation is a feat in it's own.

If I can add correctly: I think as a group for everyone who weighed in so far today it is a 13 pound loss. Yea!

YAY FOR US!! WE ROCK!!

Yay!!!! Brings our total up to 14.5 pounds!!!! That's a 6 month old's weight. That is alot of weight to loose guys. Keep it up!!!!!!

That is WONDERFUL news, am so glad we are doing so well.
I weighed in this morning and found I lost 3 lbs. Not sure how, as I am sure I cheated at least once, LOL...

Sorry to change topic, but I mentioned earlier that I will be away for sometime - am leaving in a couple weeks so have a little time left. My trip is unplanned - that is it is unexpected and I need some help.
I posted a thread in the general forum, but thought it isn't getting seen as too much other stuff going on here today - if you are reading this thread and won't mind my picking your brain on another urgent topic, please check out this thread as well:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-56326.html
Thanks so much to everyone and major kudos to us all for dropping the cake this week!

good luck on your travels LadyofCake! I hope you can get your supplies there to show off your skills to your family! Are you from India originally?

Anyway ladies...so I was thinking. I think we should allow ourselves without guilt to sample our cakes, cookies, icings and fillings. I mean how can we not make sure it tastes right? I dont think we should consider that "cheating" as long as it is not like a tablespoon of icing or a whole cupcake. I think as long as it is a reasonable amount like a small bite, there should be no guilt, right? Okay I am saying this as I ate like 3 spoonfuls of ganache (so yummy) I really only needed like a small taste to make sure it was right. I am saying this because I (as well as someone else who mentioned this earlier) feel like once I eat something I think I shouldnt, I might as well just have another because I already messed up for the day. Maybe this would help us to feel like a small taste is allowed and not feel any guilt, not spiral out of control for the rest of the day.