Tuesday:

Breakfast—high fiber cereal with skim milk and one tsp honey
Snack—three whole-grain crackers with peanut butter
Lunch—tea, one scone with cream and jam, one samosa, one chicken empanada, half a slice of chocolate cake
Dinner—salmon, asparagus, eggplant

Wednesday:

Breakfast—fiber bar
Lunch—cauliflower and chickpea curry, blueberries, light yoghurt, tangerine
Snack—90-calorie Special K bar
Snack—100-calorie wheat crackers
Dinner—Lean Cuisine dinner (310 calories)
Snack—one cup coffee with fat-free half-and-half and sugar, one banana
Snack—baba ganouj with crackers

I have to confess that I didn't exercise either of these days. One of my ankles was hurting very badly on Tuesday so that I couldn't even go down stairs, so I knew the elliptical was a bad, bad idea. I'm going to try a short workout today, though.

Rach, thanks for stopping in. This week has felt even worse, probably, than it actually has been. I'm so tired and frustrated and annoyed with myself.

Natalie Jo, I'm glad we're both back! I think coming to these forums, even on bad days, may be the best thing we can do.

Carrie, you're such a dear! I would be frightfully bad at cooking commercially since most of my effort has been expended on pleasing an audience of one! But cooking makes me happy and relaxes me. I must confess, though, that last night I very much wished that there were some delivery place that would just bring me a healthy dinner!

Yep Sophie!! We are back...
I am happy to see you back as well ...

Cooking does make one relax .. it would be so AWESOME if there was such a place that had healthy take out. I wish some company would get on the bandwagon and do something about that lol

well ttylater hun
and dont worry about not exercising for a couple days, my ankles have been cracking .. I had to walk extremely slow today it hurt so bad ...

love yas
always
natalie jo

Breakfast—one cup coffee with sugar and fat-free half-and-half, one slice whole-grain toast, half a grapefruit, one Morningstar veggie cake
Snack—fiber bar
Lunch—low-fat, low-carb tortilla; romaine lettuce; baba ganouj
Snack—light vanilla yoghurt with one tbsp lemon curd and fresh blueberries
Dinner—whole-grain pasta and black beans with fire-roasted tomatoes and onions, topped with an ounce of reduced-fat cheddar; one square dark chocolate

Did twenty minutes on the elliptical today. My ankle hurt a bit after, but not so badly as it did on Tuesday, so I'm going to try and do the same tomorrow and hope it's healing up.

Natalie Jo, I can't wait till both of us have extremities that don't have quite so much weight to make them hurt!

I know, the weight always makes things more difficult!
But we can do it Sophie!!

Keep up the good work hun
Your doing awesome

always
love yas
your friend
natalie jo

Breakfast—one cup coffee with three tsp sugar and fat-free half-and-half, fiber bar
Lunch—black bean burrito with light sour cream and salsa
Snack—90-calorie bag of sweet oaty snack
Dinner—hamburger, small portion potato salad, some kind of vegetable tempura, light caramel frappuccino
Snack—100-calorie bag of popcorn
Miserable emotional eating—one bowl macaroni and cheese, one cup hot cocoa (fat-free) with half a marshmallow

Wow. Had a really, really bad fit of the crazies tonight. It seems to have passed now, though. I suppose the end-of-semester stress is just kind of getting on top of me. Tomorrow I'll get my stuff done and not be crazy, hopefully.

Natalie Jo, thanks as always for your wonderful support.

I totally understand you here. School is a big stressor for me. I usually eat up a storm ..don't exercise lol but this year I have tried to keep up with it all ...it was hard to do, but it will be difficult come September, but I must stay strong ..

but hun if you mess up ...don't beat yourself up...you will be back on the band wagon again... no worries ....

best wishes
love yas
always
your friend
natalie jo

Hey Sophie. Sorry to hear that things are still nutty for you. Makes me remember what undergrad was like towards the end of the semester! No fun!! It's all that stress that makes me wonder whether or not I'll ever go back to school. . . .who knows! But you're doing a great job at keeping with what you want to eat and exercising!! It'll be over soon!

Special weigh-in morning update! I'm down to 267.6!! Despite having had the worst week since I began! I feel so grateful and so determined to do better this week. I can't wait to hit 260--you all need to help me think of a good reward. I was thinking of some really good makeup. Expensive makeup is a sort of secret passion of mine, despite the fact that I don't wear it all that often. I can spend hours at Sephora looking through the lovely BeneFit and Bourjois and so forth. But I'm entirely open to other lovely rewards. Can't believe I'm halfway there!

Breakfast—one cup coffee with skim milk and one tsp sugar, one and a half servings oatmeal cooked in milk with raisins
Lunch—half a whole-grain veggie sandwich, fresh fruit, half a bowl macaroni and cheese
Snack—1/4 cup dried fruit, 90-calorie bag of wheat crackers
Dinner—shepherd's pie with peas, carrots, lamb, mashed potatoes

ACK! CONGRATUATIONS!!!!!! A new low, that's completely fabulous!
Sephora is just HEAVENLY. I can spend hours in there and come out looking like Bozo the Clown from trying on so much makeup! I adore the fragrance part too...ahhh, just thinking of being surrounded by Chanel bottles makes me happy.

Have you ever tried Origins products? They have makeup too, but my favorite is the face scrubs and body mousse. There is NOTHING more luxurious to me than a new treasure from there. My favorites are "modern friction" and "everything nice" body mousse.

Keep up the great job!!!!

Breakfast—oatmeal cooked with skim milk and ¼ cup raisins, two cups coffee with sugar and fat-free half-and-half
Lunch—one apple, steamed artichoke with one tbsp light mayonnaise, one slice whole-grain toast, one cup skim milk
Snack—fiber bar
Dinner—whole grain pasta with tomatoes, black beans, and half an ounce reduced-fat cheddar; one sweet potato
Snack—one cup coffee with skim milk and two tsp sugar, one cranberry oatmeal cookie

Did 25 minutes on the elliptical today.

Carrie, I used to shop at Origins, but haven't in ages. I used to like their ginger body souffle, though. Boots has had to be good enough for me of late, though. Graduate school doesn't lend itself to lavish spending—unless there's an important weight-loss milestone to reward, of course!

Hey Sophie! I absolutely LOVE your idea for a weight-loss reward. I might take myself on a shopping trip if I can get 20lbs lost and buy some new work clothes as all of my work clothes are no good/old/too big/too small. I think I have 4 or 5 different sizes in my closet. A complete closet makeover shall occur as my progress keeps going. But I LOVE the idea of expensive makeup as a reward. That's great!!

Hope things are calming down or at least at a level of controlled chaos.

Monday:

Breakfast—fat-free raspberry mocha smoothie
Lunch—shepherd's pie
Snack—cookie and coffee
Dinner—three slices pizza, salad

Tuesday:

Breakfast—oatmeal with slivered almonds and mango sauce
Lunch—shepherd's pie
Snack—fiber bar
Snack—packaged cheese and crackers
Dinner—Lean Cuisine, coffee, caramels and chocolate

Heather, a shopping trip sounds wonderful. I'm afraid I'm going to look like an absolute bum pretty soon as I refuse to spend a lot of money on new clothes that I intend to lose my way out of in a few months.

And to all of you, I'm so, so sorry I've been so scatty and barely here lately. Because I haven't had time to exercise, I haven't had any energy, and things have been pretty miserable on my end. But…today is better. So that's something.

Hey Sophie
What the temperature where you are? We are in the eighties and its affecting my energy level, I took a nap mid day... I am going to walk in the morning from now on ..
I hope you get some energy soon. I know how weather can affect you? is that what is going on?

I hope you feel better soon hun
ttylater
love yas
natalie jo

Hi Sophie!!!! I'm sorry you've not been feeling very energetic lately. Your food intake still sounds delicious, LOL Feeling better today is great! Don't get too discouraged, we all have our off days. Just get right back up when you start feeling better. Nataliejo has a point about the weather, the heat just sucks it right out of you.

Thanks again for your great post on my diary. It's so encouraging to hear from you. I am very new at this so I really do appreciate your advice. Do you think a multivitamin will suffice for the lack of healthy fats? I take one daily as well as a capsule of flax oil...