to get back into the gym routine.

I did an aerobics class last night for the first time since before last Thanksgiving. It was hard--I sweated alot--I thought I would die a few times (squats are the KILLER), but I survived. I sweated out alot of pent up stress and frustration. I slept like a baby.

My gym is starting "spring training" this week. I get weighed and measured on Friday, and then I have to work out 14 times during the following the next 28 days to earn the stars to get my t-shirt prize.

Wish me luck to keep up with this, inspite of the additional stress I'll be enduring the next few weeks.

To everyone else: Great job on keeping true to your diet and exercise plans. You are all beautiful! :)

Today when I stepped on the scales I was happy to see that I have now lost 50 pounds since the first of the year. When I think of it in terms of bags of sugar or gallons of milk or even the fact that this is more than my 7 year old son weighs, I am amazed. I can't imagine carrying Wesley around all day, but that is what I was doing basically.

I'm at the aclu as I eat my lunch (salad- AGAIN) and the lady down the hall brought chocolate pound cake for everyone. GRRRR. I am writing in here to remind myself that its just not worth it. It will taste good now but tomorrow I will feel worse about it. I've worked too hard these past three weeks, I've sacrificed too many things I enjoy to waste it now.

****three hours later: I walked all the way up to the TCBY stand and this is my thought process which helepd me walk away. I thought of how it would taste. How my craving would be gone. I thought of the cup which would inevitably grow empty. I thought of the bread I passed up at the Turkish restaurant, and the baklava I didnt partake of. I thought o the running as I was out of breath and though it was hard as hell I didn't give in and I walked away, got my low carb protein bar for dinner and went to class. It was hard. But hopefully it makes me stronger****

Is it just me or when I'm PMS'ing I want to eat. It's like an almost uncontrollable urge like my body and mind are seperate and my body looks at raisonettes, and rice, and pasta and just wants to pounce and pulverise! WHY? I kicked my cravings about two weeks ago but today I'm getting them and yetserday also. Yesterday instead of the baked chicken (or rather, in addition) I had some of the chicken leu mein pasta i made for Kashif. :(. I'm trying not to beat myself up about it, and I did run 4 miles afterwards... I normally just run 2. But serioulsy is it everyone or just me who has uncontrollable food cravings when they're PMS'ing?

Two weeks later I stepped on the scale and lost 7.5 pounds on South Beach. I know it's not much and I still have 22.5 more to go but this is the first time in years that I saw the scale take me down more than just down two pounds and then up two pounds again. Bigger than the weight loss is the fact that I learned that I can do it. If you were reading my postings from a few months ago I explicitly stated that I doubt I'd lose any since years of trying left me exhausted and with little faith in myself. These past two weeks I was freed from food controlling me, I fought through the cravings and I came out of it. It's funny because my reward for completing two successful weeks was going to be a nice frozen yogurt from TCBY today the end of my two weeks. Today came, and I dont want it! I seriously just dont want it. My cravings have gone away, my wooziness for being without sugar are gone. It's gone. I feel like an alcoholic finally recovering. I still have 22 more pounds to go and I'm not sure now that phase I is over what exactly I do now.... guess I'll be hitting the bookstore tonight... but yeah finally some changes :)

in a bad way.

Sorry I haven't been around. I'm not in a good place eating/exercise wise.

I'm proud of the rest of you.

Seacrest out. ;)

i'm still hanging on with nutrisystem though i have started adapting alot of my own meals based on their food and guidelines, calorie content, etc. just for the variety really. i'm making progress on the the treadmill- i have actually started running about half of the time now and it's paying off. i really don't need to lose any weight in my legs, but it has firmed them up considerably. so i would say now i have been on this for 3 months total and have exercised about 2/3 of that time bc i had the falling down the stairs thing. i have lost over 40 pounds now and could have lost even more if i had been exercising the whole time. now that my ankle is back to 100% and the weather is getting warmer i am about to kick it up a notch and add a weight arm workout and some biking too.

i do give in occasionally and have like a piece of cake at a bday party etc., but i don't feel guilty- i just try harder the next day. i have to keep reminding myself not to be so hard on myself and that there is progress being made. today i ate a sick quantity of m&m's that the easter bunny was supposed to deliver. yikes!

another plus i would say is that people are starting to notice and make positive comments about the weight loss too. finally!

i definitely continue to recommend nutrisystem if u can afford it. i have started spacing out my shipments to save money and it's working great.

-k8

Update, so nothing was working. Sparkspeople wasn't helping. Just plain old watching it wasn't working. Weight watchers wasn't working. Finally about 1.5 weeks ago I was sharing my frustration with the hubbz and he suggested I try South Beach. I was very skeptical because I have tried it in the past and I can't really handle being without sugar like that but I thought its worth trying. So in 10 days I have lost SIX pounds. Wow. The thing I appreciate the most is getting rid of the sugar itch. I really don't have shakes anymore for sugar or anyting like that. I admit I do have a teaspoon in the morning in my tea but that's it. The key is to keep losing though and to not quickly gain it back once I get off the intense phase.

I also decided to along with a few of my classmates run for the Brast Cancer race for the cure 5K which is motivating me to run every day for reasons other than a slimmer waistline. That is really helping the motivation of working out. To have an end result to shoot for.

So finally something good to share :)

I have gained 5-7 pounds since getting my treadmill. I am not seeing any results. My husband is and has apparently mentioned it to his sister. At least I have that to pull motivation from eh?

How frustrated I am right now!

As of March 29, down 2.5% body fat from February 4, though I didn't lose any poundage. Holding off on measures until next check in on April 24. Happy to be maintaining--which is better than gaining.

Played tennis yesterday--and I hurt. My back from the waist to the shoulders, and the fronts of my thighs are sore. I'm also sunburned. Had alot of fun, and hope to do it again. It was a great workout. Hoping this will serve to kick me off of this plateau I've been riding on for while.