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Last10lbs 10/28/09
Trying to do the once a week check in. How is everyone doing? My weight was down slightly - maybe a pound. I am VERY happy with that as I had a fairly indulgent weekend and would not have been surprised to see a weight gain... I think the big thing I've conquered the last few days is not really eating anything after dinner - unless specifically calculated to do so based on my total calories for the day. Halloween is coming up - going to be REALLY hard with all that candy around!!

Tlaich 10/30/09
Hi :)

I was surprised after a week vacation and not tracking my foods to have lost weight!

As for the Halloween candy, I agree. Something I've done in the past couple of years is allow my son to pick out 10-20 pieces he REALLY wants, and then the rest get brought to work and deposited in someone else's candy jar.

Last10lbs 10/30/09 replied to Tlaich
That's great - did you walk a lot on vacation? Good plan on the candy - I could send the extra to my husband's work, or else save the extra for a future reward (for the kids, not me!!)

Tlaich 10/30/09
We walked, but not really for exercise, just to enjoy Florida and the beaches! :) We did a lot of swimming in the Gulf and the pools though, so perhaps I did burn more calories than I thought originally.

Oooh! Future rewards would be a good idea too, as long as you don't break into it yourself.

For me, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" applies. If it's in the house, I know it's there and the temptation on high stress days is bigger.

Dannah19 10/31/09
Hi, I'm a bit new to MND, and looking for some support buddies. This seems like a more active group than some others? I started MND two weeks ago, at the beginning of a business trip. My goal is 1 pound a week, for 40pounds/weeks. I did well during my 2-week trip: 6 pounds total loss. But I was able to take 5 days off during my business trip and hike around the olympic peninsula in WA, so I know I burned a lot more calories than I would in a normal week with all the hiking. It's a good motivational start, though.

As for candy ... my boyfriend (we live together) loves chocolate (and apparently can eat as much as he wants without any adverse effects on his weight), so our chocolate rule is that he has to hide it very well and not eat it in front of me :) Our halloween candy is hidden in such a manner for this evening, and he is in charge of handling it when we get trick-or-treaters. I feel like a drug addict sometimes (the lengths I go to, to avoid the temptation), but otherwise it's a slippery slope of indulgence.

Last10lbs 11/01/09 replied to Dannah19
Awesome - I'm so glad to see more people checking this area and writing about day to day struggles as well as successes! That is AWESOME you lost weight on vacation - that seems to be the thing that always throws me off - I do a lot a work up until a vacation (especially if it's to a beach) and then act like it's a free for all that week, and even though I finally have the time, I skip the excercise - to "reward" myself, but then I lose that momentum of the routine - and fall off the wagon entirely when I get back home... Anyway, hope to keep seeing you here as well as others who have started to write a little bit!

Dannah19 11/02/09 replied to Last10lbs
Last10lbs - I know what you mean about losing momentum. That is one of the challenges of my job. I crave and thrive in routine (as far as diet & exercise go) - and my weekly business trips in the fall often throw me off and I lose momentum. I try to book hotels that have fitness rooms, but some of the more rural places I go that can be hard ... I also try to go to places like Subway where I can control calories, but again, I often don't have control over business dinner locations, and it takes quite a bit of will-power to skip on desserts every day when everyone around me is indulging. But I'm getting through that this fall ... being accountable to myself by tracking foods on this website helps. I find real vacations to be extremely motivating for weight loss, but in the past, when I have lost weight for a vacation, I then tend to do exactly as you say and fall off the wagon, just to find myself re-gaining weight in the months that follow. The biggest challenge for me isn't losing weight (although that is certainly challenging!); it's the maintenance phase after I do lose weight. Its so daunting that I have been putting off trying to lose weight again because I get discouraged thinking about all the times the weight has just come right back on.

Last10lbs 11/02/09
AGREED! Which I guess is why we're here on MND - I need something holding me more accountable and really changing the way I eat FOREVER...I can get in stretches where I do really well with the exercise, and as you said, I CAN lose the weight, just never that last 10 pounds and never to look REALLY good...I think that comes down to diet. Seems like somewhere I read that changing your body composition is 80% what you eat, 20% exercise...I usually go for the exercise to make a change because in some ways it's easier - it's time challenging for me, but not mentally challenging (like passing on enchiladas...and getting the fajitas and not eating the tortilla, cheese, or sour cream - I have never been able to actually do that!).

your trips do sound challenging - I stay home with my kids now, so it is definitely easier not being at restaurants so much like when I was working...plus I want to set a good example for them - although I don't want them "dieting" - they're skinny little kids who need calories, so even though I hate it, I often make 2 meals - one for them, one for me and my husband. I can't see serving them salmon (at 4 and 2)... I'm doing pretty well today - good luck with the rest of yours!

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