Anyone dairy free for weight loss purposes? I keep trying, but man do I like cheese. I even tried the “skinny Mac no cheese” and after loading it with S&P I still couldn’t finish it. Is the dairy making that much of a difference in weight loss?

Looking for opinions on a cleanse from the group. I really want to blast past this plateau and I don't think my body is going to do it without a fight. Suggestions or previous experience with this would be great! TIA!!

Stupid question, but does anyone find that drinking water actually helps with weight loss? I think I am hitting a plateau with my current calorie counts and wondering if that might help. I have never been a water drinker and pretty sure I’ve been dehydrated my entire adult life. But every time I try to start I just end up having to pee constantly and feeling crazy bloated which is the opposite of what I’m trying to achieve?! Help!

The last five days have been super stressful, but measuring and tracking my food has become so ingrained, I was able to do that despite all the work demands. I’ve also kept up on my exercise which has helped me sleep despite the stress.

Tap class tonight!

I'm a little over a pound away from my "official" round two goal and three pounds away from my personal round two goal. I'm trying to lose 7% by the end of round two instead of the 6% minimum to win. I need to lose a total of 18% of my initial body weight to get my BMI into the top of the "normal" range. I dream of seeing that statistic! That's why I'm pushing myself to lose 3 to 3.5% each round. I want to feel really "transformed" by the end of this bet! Anybody else adjusting their goals? What are some things you are doing to keep moving forward?

As much as I am aware of how normal weight fluctuations are, they can really be annoying. I hit a new low yesterday, but I had to eat at maintenance because I was doing hard physical labor on a super hot day in the wilderness, and calorie restriction is NOT appropriate in such conditions. Of course eating more meant I retained some extra water, so the scale has me a pound above yesterday’s totally encouraging weight.
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I know it isn’t fat; I didn’t eat a surplus. I’m still on track; I’m still way better off than when I started, but that number yesterday was a big deal to me. It was the weight I reached in my early 30s after I got married that first made my clothes snug. I swore then I’d never let my weight get that high again, and until my recent health-related gains, I was pretty successful. If I hit that weight (as I did every few years, usually in winter around all the food-focused family gatherings), I cut back. Hitting that weight yesterday meant I was back in the realm of what is normal and manageable for me.
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I know I’ll hit it again, if not tomorrow, then sometime this week, and then I’ll pass it by. I still have this twinge of disappointment, though.

It’s been an active week: I’ve done ballet, tap, and a hill hike. This weekend I’m volunteering to do trail maintenance at a local National Park for about six hours. I did take Monday and Tuesday as rest days, but I’m going to say I’ve made up for that. 😊

I was able to squeeze some Phish Food into my calorie allotment for the day! 😋