Starting weigh t/ Current Weight: 169
Height: 5'7 (I'm thankful I'm tall for the weight reason)
HW: 172
LW: 165 (I've always been overweight)

GW1: 150 by Feb 22 (birthday)
GW2: 139 by March 7
UGW: 130 by March 31

I was actually on a semi-diet, basically me just not eating candy. But sadly enough, my mother went shopping today and returned with almost $100 worth of clearance candy; temptation has never been so cruel.
So for the New Years' I really want to change all of that around, so I'm opting out of drinking diet sodas and also basically no bread from now on.

...Though I'll still have the occasional bagel, really like those. lol

Exercise wise...I'm getting NOWHERE. I have Wii Fit, Wii Active, and DDR, so you would think I'd be somewhere. But I just don't really have the inspiration to do those.
Machine wise, would you recommend a stationary bike or treadmill?

Anyways, any sort of advice and I'm willing to take it like a dry sponge. :)

When I posted here the first time (10/21/09), I was 173 lbs. That weight was the most I'd ever weighed. I posted again on the 11th of November, where I had lost 8 lbs and was at 165. My progress slowed a bit because of the holidays. I ended up not exercising as much as I had wanted to and I was prescribed a generic medication for my ADHD.

Since being on the generic, my portions have regulated themselves (I am not allowing myself to starve as appetite suppression is a side affect of the drug and I maintain at the very minimum 1200 calories a day -- despite having little to no appetite a lot) and I drink a lot of water.

I was dreading getting on the scale today despite receiving compliments on my appearance last Saturday. I was thinking about all the junk food I ate and the candy and how I've been ignoring Hector (the bike machine) and how the "Red Army has invaded" so I'm craving cheese and salt like nobody's business and haven't felt like fighting the urges... Well...

Due to working retail during the holidays, I've been exhausted, but I've been more active and that means that I am now weighing in at 155 lbs! Hoorah!

I realized that despite my not exercising... Dancing around my room in my underwear while doing heavy duty cleaning seems to work me out just as well!

I am 24, 5'5.5" tall
CW: 155 lb
1GW: 145 lb
2GW: 140 lb
FinalGW: 130 lb

Okay, here's the deal. I want to try something new for 2010. For the entire month of January I want to attempt to eat nothing but fruit. I may throw in some granola or something in there every other day or so, but for the most part, it's going to be ALL fruit.

Now here's my question. I'm sure i'll be starving my body of certain things it requires by doing this. What will it be missing and what can I do to make sure my body gets it?

For instance, if i'll be missing out on protein, i'd consider maybe eating some eggs once or twice a week.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Well, I've posted before that I stick to a diet calorie counter, but for the past two weeks I have not been following my cal intake because I've been ill. It's either strep throat or mono- I'm waiting for results. But the problem is my throat. I'm unable to eat any solid or hard foods, so for the past few weeks I've been downing ice cream and soup, plus tea and juice. I don't have the energy to exercise, and if I did I couldn't (if it's mono I run the risk of rupturing my spleen if I do exercise!). I need some ideas for more healthy foods that are easy to swallow and soft...I don't want to keep drinking all of my calories.

Thank you, and sorry for the novel!

First of all, Happy Holidays/Last Friday in December to you all! :)

With that train of thought, however, comes my question. 'Tis the season for traveling, which means that soon I'll be on the road and be held up in the house of some relative or another. I don't know the areas in which my family members live very well, and I'm not sure I would be comfortable doing my usual exercise routine of miles of running. Considering I'll be without any exercise equipment or gym membership, have any of you found any way to get some kind of exercise in or keep holiday weight-gain at bay in these situations? Any tips appreciated.

[01-06] Sopranos & cast.
[07-11] Steven Van Zandt.
[11-15] Bruce Springsteen.
[16-30] Californication episode 312.
[31-38] Elizabeth I HBO mini-series.


Click here for more.

Our kitchen smells heavenly. Anne's cooking onion soup from James Martin's recipe book....

You will need
25g (1oz) butter
6 white onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic
8g (1/3 oz) plain flour
175ml (6 fl oz, 3/4 cup) white wine
600 ml (1 UK pint, 2 1/2 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
200 ml (7 fl oz, just under a cup) double cream
110g (4oz) grated strong Cheddar (proper cheese, please, American readers)
20g (3/4 oz) chopped chives
salt and pepper

Melt butter, in large pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, sauté for 2 mins without brownng.
Stir in flour, pour in wine and stock. Bring to boil, stir, simmer for 6-8 mins.
Add cream, purée with hand held blender.
Return to pan, heat through gently. Season with salt and pepper, serve with cheese and chives sprinkled on top.

...or folks planning to be in the UK the week before Van der Filk:

Show of Hands, Live, 100 Club, Oxford Street - Tues 2nd Feb
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/68229

...is a thing you'll find me saying a lot.

Mine is Jon Haire, handily halfway between me and bardling on the way into Peterborough. He's being doing it for nearly two decades, and IIRC the first repair/setup he actually did for me or friends was the neck repair on demomeyes' classical after it fell over and broke.

Since then he's been my first port of call with any problem, as well as any new guitar - I pretty much budget an extra 50-80 quid on the price (depending on what it needs) for any instrument I buy.

Last week, he got my new (to me) 12 string. Very nice Fender smallish-bodied cutaway electro-acoustic, but I broke the first bridge pin trying to restring it, so I figured I may as well let Jon have it. Got it back on Saturday and... wow.

I didn't think a £210 12-string could HAVE an action that low and playable, or sound so rich (it's got a set of Elixir 12's on it, tuned down to D, and through Jon's (really rather tiny) rig in the workshop it just sounds IMMENSE. He's put well more than I paid him (£86 for full setup, fret dress, and some quite serious work on the bridge and saddle) on the value of the guitar to me - in fact, it plays and sounds better than the £600 Breedlove I tried a few months ago.

The man is amazing :D The things I particularly like - he's an engineer as well as a guitarist, so your problems are dealt with without bull and hearsay, but with common sense. He's always willing to natter (which is why he won't deal with customers Mon-Wed so he can get work done!), and he's a thoroughly nice guy who enjoys his work. It's been a pleasure watching him /improve/ too - he was never bad to start with, but lately the stuff he hands back to me is just masterful.

My Gazuki and the_magician's electric 'zouk are in with him now, and I can't wait till Jan 5th when I get 'em back :D I'm seriously tempted to blow another £200 quid on getting him to do my three LAG six string acoustics as well.

[As an aside, I have to say I'm rather spoilt, since if I lived nearer Northampton, I'd just take stuff into Paul Creedy instead :D]

You know what my problem is? I find it really hard to listen to my body. If I'm full, I'll eat regardless because it's "mealtime". When I was younger I didn't like eating but I was always made to eat my 3 meals a day because I had a condition that made me underweight (obviously not a problem now heh).

So I'm sort of stuck in that mindset. And if I'm not hungry, all I have to do is *think* about wanting to be hungry and VOILA, stomach rumbles start.

And if I'm hungry, I won't snack. I'll make myself wait till set "mealtimes" because I was always told 'snacks will ruin your appetite'. By the time lunch comes round I gobble loads because I'm so hungry.

Today I went out for lunch (more like 2:30pm) and what I thought would just be a sandwich, came as the t-rex of all sandwiches. I wasn't particularly hungry anyway but I ate THE LOT. And I'm now exceedingly and uncomfortably full. If I thought about being hungry enough though, my stomach would start rumbling. But I know that was enough food to keep me happily sustained through the night. I don't need my tea, I'm still stuffed.

If I'm peckish later, yeah, I'll have some fruit or something. But I'm determined to get out of this 'must eat at mealtimes regardless of current hunger rating'

Does anyone else find this?

Tonight I'm going to wrap all the presents and clean my room top to bottom just to take my mind off food. I'm not hungry, but I constantly think about it, which makes my stomach rumble and makes me think I'm hungry. And I end up mindlessly picking at stuff >_<

Edit
I cleaned. I wrapped. I slightly nibbled, but could have easily gone overboard and had a meal since there's loads of leftover carbonara. But I'm gonna put on a film now...and try not to think about food. Gah, this is SO FREAKING HARD!