Girl - it is Friday and you are slacking! I know you are busy but I need my Friday check in. I was thinking about you this morning - we are at the 10 week beach countdown starting tomorrow and I think we need to burn off a few pounds for old times sake. Remember this time last year - we were dropping 1.5 pounds a week.

Come on - let's shake off winter and get our cardio going. I want to lose 3 pounds and get rid of the jiggles on my legs in the next 10 weeks. What do you want to do? I'm going to commit to 5 days of cardio and 2 hours of strength training a week for the next 10 weeks. I have been pitiful with my cardio this winter and have only done a couple of hours a week total, so I have to step that up.

Anyone else trying to do some fine tuning before summer? Tell us what you are doing.

I miss her too. I think she has a LOT going on right now. Hopefully she will check in again real soon!

I cannot believe summer is almost here -- seems like so far away since i have snow again on the ground.

I am just trying to figure out how many stupid calories I need in a day to lose weight -- I think I'm not eating enough with all the exercising I am doing in a week. So I'm trying to find this happy medium balance -- and it is not easy. I would like to lose 3-5 more pounds and just continue to tone the jiggles!

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Check out my weight loss journey ~ sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=MAMAOF3KIDDIES

Hopefully she will see her name and check in with us. Jen - WHERE ARE YOU? YOOHOO!!!

Mamaof3: it is hard to find that perfect calorie number. I often think I have kind of screwed myself with my weight loss because I am down to such a low weight that I really can't eat much and if I do go over 1600 cal. a day I see it immediately on the scale. It is a stressful way to live. Like this week I ate some candy - not gorging but just a few little chocolate eggs and jelly beans here and there as I passed through the kitchen - and today I was up 2 pounds. Now logically I know that I didn't eat 7,000 extra calories this week so I can't really have gained 2 pounds, yet the scale says I did. When this happens it makes me very grouchy until I get the weight back off. I have been hovering between 115 and 120 for a while now and I would like to stay at 115 but boy is my body fighting me on that. It seems like ever since I got below 130 I can't eat very much.

How many calories do you typically eat in a day?

I average anywhere between 1100 - 1400 calories in one day. I hate that there are so many variables to the pounds and the scale flucuating but still drives me nuts. Plus I work out so much that I'm wondering if my body needs more each day. I wish it was all easy to figure out!

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Check out my weight loss journey ~ sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=MAMAOF3KIDDIES

My goodness, girl, you are lower than I am! I think you DO need to eat more. Your body isn't getting enough fuel for your workouts. Your body has gotten used to running on such a low amount of calories. What did the nutritionist tell you at the Y last month?

Not sure what I'm thinking about this nutritionist -- she is not really telling me much -- but then again I'm not paying her either!
I am going to try this week to make my cardio days as my lower end of calories and my 2 ST days as higher days. And watch my "treats".
How often are you working out? Do you find that you go up & down with your calories based upon your day?

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Check out my weight loss journey ~ sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=MAMAOF3KIDDIES

I generally work out 5 days a week, with 2 of those days being tougher than the others. I can maintain at 1600 a day. I try to stay there every day except once a week (maybe go a few hundred over). I round off my calories too - I don't count every last one - so I could be a little off, but it is close. I am getting ready to try to lose the last 5 pounds once and for all, and I am going to drop down to 1300 and see if that will do it. I am starting today and I am aiming for a half pound a week for the next 10 weeks. Mathmatically that should do it, but we both know the scale doesn't always represent straightforward numbers, so we shall see....