I went to the track tonight and did 2 miles and then I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the bike. I think that until I lose more weight, I cant really run because I keep on hurting things especially my knees.

I think TOM is about to visit because today has been really hard with resisting food and tonight after I got back from working out I was reallllly hungry, so I probably just ate like 300 calories. I dont think I have gone over 1800 calories today, so I should still be good, but I hope this goes away soon.

Total miles: 7.5 miles

Breakfast: Zone Bar
Lunch: burrito with black beans, rice, lettuce, a little cheese, and salsa on a whole grain tortilla (140 calories), and a Kashi cookie-total approx. 450 calories

Its so hard to estimate calories since I am eating at the school cafeteria. If anyone thinks I might be underestimating these calories could you let me know?

Dinner: about once a month the cafeteria has a stir fry night for dinner. So I did that and I dont think I got anything with major calories, unless they were hidden. I got brown rice, teriyaki sauce, sugar snap peas, broccoli, and those little fried noodle things. I also got a big bowl of bean soup. I am guessing this was about 600 calories, which is a little much, but I have been craving food all day, so I am actually happy I didnt give in more and get something like cake!

Does anyone else have any experience with increased hunger and cravings right before TOM? I think I'm about to start and I am hoping that is why I have had such strong cravings for the last 2 days. It has been really hard and if it doesnt go away soon, I am scared I will start making some really poor choices with my food.

I went to the track last night and did 2 1/2 miles. so that puts my total at an even 10.0 miles.

Last night I had reallllly bad cravings. I ended up having a mini-binge, but im pretty sure I kept it under 300 calories. I'm really hoping this goes away once TOM finally gets here. it should be here anyday.

Personally, I think if you are craving food then you need to eat. Eat till you are satisfied. Then once you're satisfied your mind is free for other things. Its not just about calories, its about learning to eat normally. Like Steve said, its about being able to adhere to something over the long haul, and like QJay said, its not where we're at but the direction we're heading. This was too long. Hope you don't mind.

No that wasnt too long at all. Yes I did feel better once I ate a little bit of the things I was craving, but I am an overeater and if I start eating sweets, I will eat and eat and eat. Luckily that didnt happen too much last night, but I have to learn to resist my cravings for sweets most of the time because its really hard for me to limit myself with them.

OMG Yes!

I seriously don't "crave" anything...then about two days before my cycle, I want chocolate. Not just a little nibble. I want CHUNKS of chocolate.

And salty.

Saltine crackers smeared with butter. Ooooh Yeah...


Normally, I can drop weight about 3 days after my cycle, but if I give in to my cravings, I can remain the same (not counting the uppage of pounds in the beginning).

However today I started my cycle, and yesterday, I managed only two small bites of chocolate - if I keep going, I might just finish this round with a weight loss

Thanks! its good to know that other people experience this and that hopefully these awful cravings will pass. Last month I didnt experience this, but I did notice that I had my big drop in weight right after TOM (9lbs) probably because of bloating. So maybe (crossing fingers) this will happen again lol.

Breakfast: none (woke up at 10)
Lunch: baked beans (the only kind of beans they had today, stupid cafeteria), cooked broccoli, and salad with green olives and red wine vinegar, and an apple. approx. 350 calories

Eat now - it's never too late to break that fast!

lol I ate lunch like an hour after I woke up, so it wasnt too bad.

this week I am going to try to get back into what I was doing before with eating 3-4 fruits a day and mostly greens and beans. Thats what the book I am reading advises, and I was losing faster when I did that. Plus I dont like that heavy feeling in my stomach anymore. Like last night I ate stir fried brown rice with broccoli, sugar snap peas, and teriyaki sauce, (and just water, not oil to "fry") and my stomach had a heavy full feeling from the rice. I have learned to not hate the "hunger" feeling, which is really nice. But usually I am not "hungry", rather I am just not that heavy full. But I eat a snack every 2 hour or so when I do that. I'm horrible at explaining this lol, I just went back and re-read what I wrote and I'm not sure it makes any sense lol. I'm not very good at keeping this diary thing either. I want to get in the habit of writing how my day went and little witty things, but I usually just end up using this as more of a food tracker (but I did start using sparkpeople yesterday, which is a pretty amazing site).

So, I am going to set some goals for myself this week.

1. eat more fruit- maybe it will help stop these cravings for sweets and carbs
2. no more than 1300 calories a day
3. become more active in other people's journals on here.

I go home for Spring Break on Thursday, and it could go either way at home- I could do really well and it might be easier for me to work out everyday, OR it might go badly with all the eating out my friends do and the partying (I dont really party much at school, so I dont have to worry about calories from alcohol, but I do party some with my friends at home). Hopefully I will be able to exercise self control pretty well. My friends know that I am dieting and that I have had quite a bit of success with it, so I know they wont tempt me on purpose, but we do have a tendency (as girls do) to center our socializing around food.

good luck with everything while you are at home!!

those are very attainable goals you have set for yourself! i'm sure you'll be successful!!

1300 calories?
That seems low - do you cycle your calories?

what does cycling calories mean? sorry lol

Ugh im in a hungry mood today, so since lunch I have had an orange and a 100 calorie pack of cheetos. I know my calories are fine, im more just getting impatient that this snacky feeling wont go away.