Had my cake (literally) and now it's time to get back to work!
I really want to lose about 7-8 pounds by December 19 to put me at about 125, which is admittedly a *lot* for my body size and the time frame, but it would put me at a nice weight for the holidays. The trick at that point will be continuing to lose while I'm surrounded by good food at the holidays. And the trick to *that* is continuing to count cals diligently while I'm at home, so I'm not as tempted for seconds at Christmas brunch and dinner (which is always hard--we get bagels and lox in the morning, and a traditional Christmas dinner at night, plus food gifts like chocolates through the day).
Here's to the goal! If I make it I'll have 10 more pounds to lose at that point, which I think I can do in about 2-2.5 months with hard work.
The tough part is that I find losing weight gets harder the lower weight I actually am. The last time I was 125 it was really really difficult getting down to 120, and I've *never* been below that in my adult life.
I don't think I can do it without both cutting calories *and* incorporating more exercise. That's been harder these last several weeks because of my work hours. But I'm going to try to make it happen.