Mezzo Minx

I LOVE WINE. I'm not ashamed of this. It makes me happy on the inside and I love the warm-fuzzy-sweater feeling that red wine gives me. I think as long as you're accounting for calories there's no reason why not. I try to keep to a 2 glass maximum if I'm out somewhere, and to be honest, 1 glass is usually more than enough. Drink away, my dear!

Try not to let it stress you out Anima - I know exactly how you feel. I used to feel like somehow the entire world was against my fitness/eating goals when a friend would order dessert "for us to share" without my consent. It's a sucky feeling. But it'll go away. Especially when you realize that one bad choice is not going to undo a TON of good ones! Here's what I do after I eat something really shitty and start feeling the guilt - consider it extra motivation to eat only the good stuff after it! I know that sounds like hollow advice, but it really does work to feel like you turn the bread-guilt into healthy motivation. Don't beat yourself up!

Alright, it's a new day, and we didn't explode last night, so it's a good day so far. It's also my weigh-in day, and I'm extremely proud to say that even with all of that going out at night and not being particular active during the day, I'm now happily sitting at 55.5kg (which is about 122.4 pounds!) I was about 57.5kg the day I got back from my wedding, which means I've lost just a little over 4lbs since the beginning of the month. Hurray! I really do think I've already succeeded at this point, but just to make sure I'm not letting myself off easy, I want to see that last pound go, so I can really say I'm back to my pre-wedding weight before leaving for home. I can't really tell if my BF% has moved at all, although I imagine if so, then not much, since my food choices have been so completely all over the place. I'm not disappointed though - that'll be easy to clean up once we're back at home and I'm buying my own groceries again. So, to sum up, two good things about today - the house is still in one piece, and I lost 4lbs since starting at NF. Woohoo! Breakfast: - lame ol' toast and peanut butter

Total fail-post yesterday, jeez. I don't even know why, I wasn't really that busy! Oh well, I'll make up for it now. Here's how yesterday went: Breakfast: - same old, no coffee Did back at the gym - got a little frustrated, useless girl was back texting on her bench. Some meat head tried to hit on me in Hebrew. Oy. Snack: - small green pear Lunch: - Arabic dish consisting of zucchini stuffed with meat, eaten with leban over rice. Had a minimal amount of rice and filled up on zucchini - Raw cucumber, green olives Snack: - apple - 2 figs - 2 dates Dinner: - 2 scrambled eggs (wasn't really hungry) Alright! And now for today! Breakfast: - whole grain toast and peanut butter Went to the gym - shoulders today! Felt like a beefcake afterwards with my poofy arms. Snack: Bio 1.5% yogurt with some random cereal thrown in Went and visited my husband's piano teacher today - then we took her out for coffee at the nearby mall (she's like 80). Mall coffee: - OH SWEET JESUS FILTERED COFFEE. I died of happiness a little. - Half of a piece of some sort of whole grain pumpkin cake with walnuts. Was pretty good - around 150 calories. Late lunch: - Leftover shawarma meat over a salad of cucumber, red pepper and tomato - Had a quarter of a Carlsberg... if that. Thought I wanted it but really didn't, so meh. Probably won't be eating much else today. My stomach is still not feeling quite right for some reason, but I'm sure it'll sort itself out. I did eat more, and to be honest, I'm currently having a glass of wine. Life just got a little bizarro here. Rockets were fired at a city that's less than 20 minutes away from here. When your husband gives you the "Here's what you do if you hear sirens" talk, you suddenly don't care about logging food. So yes, wine for me. If there were ever a good reason to cheat a bit, this might be it.

You've gotta do what's best for you dude! And it sounds like the weight you can lift is creeping up too - awesome! I always try to go up in 5lb increments - I work out alone about half the time and I don't want to injure myself. Plus, it feels more measurable for me congrats on being straightedge for so long too! I have a lot of friends who are but I never had the willpower

Rest day hurray! We also went out and did a bit of sight-seeing today, so we got some walking around in too. Breakfast: - usual, had coffee + almond milk this time, decided I wanted the caffeine Lunch: - OMG FALAFEL Snack: - green grapes - 2 figs (gotta enjoy them while they last - no good figs to be found in Canada!) We're going out with an old friend of hubby's and his wife tonight, plan is to stick to soda water and split some sort of salad. Dinner: - veggie salad - probably about 1/3 of the restaurant's portion, we shared with our dinner company a bit too - 2 glasses of white wine - 3 limoncello UGH. Not pleased with how that went. I went in with the best of intentions and then totally failed. I don't feel bad about my choice of salad, and I don't really drink often, but that was excessive. Trying not to beat myself up over it but man that was shitty.

Yeah I know what you mean - 4lbs seems like a lot. Mind you, if you've been eating much cleaner, it could just be that your body has kicked out sons leftover crap (as it were) all at once. Still, keep an eye out in case it keeps dropping that way, maybe too few calories?

They are not, but there's still a lot of really great food as it follows a basically Mediterranean diet. Moderation seems to be working so far - I want to enjoy my experience as much as possible, just trying to make sure I don't have to buy two tickets in order to fit into my seat on the plane lol. I've actually been doing that a little bit! I'm finding it a bit challenging since the food/ingredients here are a little different than at home, but the simple things are good. Chicken is the same everywhere, after all!

Dude, great work! A "1 drop from your waist is awesome progress, let alone 4lbs!! I miss jalapeño poppers sooooooo baaaaad.

Hahah Ravnos and Errah - you're not kidding its bizarre. But this barely counts as our honeymoon at this point, we are staying in his hometown after all. He and the ex have been good friends for a very long time, so I don't mind too much. She's very nice and it's nothing sinister, but still. Total AWKS. Awkward enough for me to say AWKS. Haha.

Alright, stomach problems seem to be okay today, so it's been a much more pleasant day thusfar. Breakfast: - toast and peanut butter - ditched the coffee for fear that my stomach might still be messed up Today we did chest, and it felt GOOD. Got really annoyed at some chick hogging a bench because all she was doing was sitting there texting. Like, c'mon man. Lunch: - spaghetti with lean ground beef - raw cucumbers and radishes ** Not thrilled about the spaghetti, but it was what my mother-in-law made... She's been extremely good about us only making chicken and salads and very clean food for a long time, so it wasn't worth my fussiness Went for a walk around the mall and had an americano with raw sugar - stomach seemed better. Snack: - fresh green grapes (they're so good right now I can't even tell you) - nectarine - 1 fig We're going out tonight with hubby's high school girlfriend and her husband... Yay. I can't even describe the joy and excitement I feel. Dinner: - Variety of grilled veggies - soda water - couple spoonfuls of Arabic dessert Dinner wasn't as bad as expected. The ex was very pleasant and her husband seems like a nice guy. Still, glad that's over! Is it horrible that I'm glad they live on another continent? Might have a little glass of wine - there's a wedding party taking place across the street and the music is totally fun. Going to be a late night!

Errah, I totally get you - mine at home has a timer too. Which is super useful when I have the foresight to actually USE THE DAMN THING. lol. Haha that's a good point. For some reason I always find I have that problem at my parents house because there is perpetually a freshly brewed pot of coffee since my dad often works from home (he's a programmer). Then I end up going home after a few days with a MAJOR caffeine withdrawal problem.

Alright, so aside from the hilarious weight drop (and this is why you shouldn't ever consistently use a scale lol), I'm feeling actually pretty good today. Thought I would feel cruddy after all the eating last night, but I don't actually think it was as much food as it felt like in my mind. Breakfast: - toast and peanut butter - no coffee *GASP!* because it is just TOO DAMN HOT - the idea of drinking hot liquid is just not nice right now Today was legs day at the gym - happy to see myself adding a little weight to my squats again. Did a couple of loops around the mall with hubby afterwards so we could both un-stiffen a little. I'm just glad we both did legs today - working out with him is always much more fun, plus then we'll both be wobbly together tomorrow/day after. Post-gym snack (running around again) - Bio 1.5% yogurt - small apple Lunch: - Large salad with lettuce, tomato, red and green pepper, little cubes of Arabic cheese, cabbage, green onion, and lemon juice and dried mint for taste - boneless, skinless chicken breast Unfortunately, I didn't realize the volume of green onion that was in the salad until MUCH too late, and I'm now suffering the stomach-painy consequences. Usually green onion treats me okay, but I think that was pushing it. Mid-afternoon Snack: - 2 figs - 1 date (apparently it's supposed to help your stomach? I don't buy it) - instant and almond milk (the A/C is on now so I can do warm liquid!) Dinner: - a piece of toast with some lebane on it... my stomach is just not happy about the onion incident - let's hope the lebane helps, I think I'm done for food for the day at this rate.

Hahaha I totally do that too. Especially because my husband loves going out and it's the absolute best way to shake him from a funk. Especially if I say, "I'm buying!" Which is hilarious, because we're married.

So today, my body was all like, "Oh HEEEEEY GUUUUURL wake up!!!!!" at 6:30am, even though I was hoping to sleep until 8:30am. Saturdays are a pain in the ass because the gym doesn't open until 11am and it is just TOO DAMN HOT to go for a run outside. Gonna have to kick around the house and try not to eat too much before I go. Last week I ran for 30 minutes at 8.5 km/h, which is about 5.3mph. Gonna inch up by 1/10 of a km/h every week - I want to get to 9.7km/h, since that'll put me at 3 miles in 30 minutes. Breakfast: - same old same old, bleh. Did my run! Today I survived 8.6km/h for 30 minutes. It's a little depressing how slowly I feel like I'm working back up to my prime, but after a few months off I'm not too surprised. I'll be back in no time! Calorie burn was approximately 240 calories. Snack: - Bio 1.5% Yogurt (That's what it's called, as it turns out). It also turns out there's no added sugar in this brand, which is why it has less fat and is also a little watery Lunch: - Homemade beef shawarma - 1 piece of pita bread, sliced tomato, and a little mango curry sauce - halfsie of Limoncello (it's the weekend, I promised hubby I would) We're going off visiting AGAIN tonight, in a village that's about an hour away from here. My mum-in-law says she's told them we're just coming for coffee, but I'm too savvy to be fooled now - that probably means there'll be tabouleh, burekas, and desserts. Going to try and skip the burekas and the desserts if possible. It turns out I was totally correct. Although at first I though we were home-free, since it was about 9:30 and all that had been brought out were nuts, figs, grapes, and dates. So I ate a few more of those thinking that'd be it and I wouldn't make it back in time to eat anything else. WRONG. Full dinner served at 10pm. What the hell! Thankfully, no one seemed to be pushy about the food, so I skipped the burekas, had only a small helpin of the rice/meat dish, and ate mostly tabouleh. Skipped the Arabic coffee too since I'd had some with the figs and didn't want to be up all night. Dinner: - 6 small figs - walnuts - 3 dates - green grapes - Arabic coffee - Meat and rice dish - tabouleh My estimate for total calories is probably about 1650, which isn't the worst I could've done in the circumstances. Seriously though, who serves dinner at 10pm?!? Weighed myself out of curiosity this morning and was down to 56kg. HA. Maybe I just hadn't been eating quite enough last week. Who knows.

Thanks Errah! It's been a trial to say the least, but I know I'll be happier if I get back home and feel like myself. Believe it or not, I've been slashing portions like a fiend to try and stay in line. I'm just trying to be hopeful that I can get back to my normal weight by the time I go home!

Hey! Congrats on getting married! I just got married in June (and July... 2 weddings, long story). If there's one thing I can tell you, it's that if you're ordering from a dress store, most places will insist that you do it WAY ahead of time. I had to order mine 8 MONTHS in advance. This scared the crap out of me because when I ordered it I was in my best shape, and last year I was in graduate school doing a one year Masters degree. Thankfully, it all worked out fine and the dress was good motivation not to gain any University weight. Your shape changing won't be that big a deal - a seamstress will probably do a first fitting whenever your dress arrives, which might be a month before your wedding. That's when the length gets figured out (so have shoes ready by then!) and they do little nips and tucks wherever else you need it. The fitting the week before the wedding should just be for any last minute little wee changes. Whatever you do, don't order anything too much smaller than your current size! I had a friend who got measured at a 12, ordered an 8, and then had to do some SERIOUS alterations when it arrived because it didn't fit. As for workout, make sure you're taking good care of your upper body - I loved the way my back looked in my wedding dress and I was happy I'd put so much time into it! Congrats again!!

Nothing wrong with wanting a fresh start! It's great that you're back at it with full force. You sound very emotionally intelligent and it's good that you know yourself well enough to assess what's gone wrong in the past - being nice to yourself can be very hard to do without feeling like you're making excuses for yourself, but it is possible. I've always been EXTREMELY hard on myself about EVERYTHING, but I have noticed that since getting fitter/healthier, it's gotten a little easier. Relief will come, with time. Congratulations to you for having the courage to start fresh.

Alright! So it's been a week since I started logging my food/exercise, and I'm happy to say that I weighed myself this morning and I'm at 56.5kg, down half a kilo from before. In pounds, that's 124.5. A pound a week is a happy goal, so the real test will be if it continues to creep down, or stays put, because I remember that it was difficult getting down past 124 before. I suspect that I'm actually not eating enough on some days, such as yesterday, and I've been flirting with the idea of picking up using MyFitnessPal again. That being said, I might give it a shot, but it's going to be next to impossible. I won't find any of the products we have in the house, and although I can ask my husband to help with reading labels, that really won't help for the majority of things we eat. Mostly, I just can't really estimate how many calories are in the home-cooked dishes at home or at homes we visit. I think I'm going to give it a try anyway, just to see if it really is impossible. Today is rest day, although I'm sure we'll end up going out for at least a good walk somewhere. Breakfast: - Wanted eggs, but we're out, so toast and peanut butter it is - instant and almond milk Lunch: - leftovers from yesterday - Arabic yogurt thingy - raw peppers - green olives - Arabic (Turkish) coffee Had a good walk around the nice, air conditioned mall. Had fun looking at new running shoes - totally buying new ones when we get home, mine look like a disaster. Caved to the caffeine demon and had a long espresso. Snack: - green grapes - apple Went out with the in-laws for some salad. Decided I'd behaved well enough to allow myself a glass of white wine (plus it helped the homesickness go away a little...) Dinner: - a little bread with some sort of olive spread - 1/3 chicken salad with veggies - a taste of halumi salad - 1 glass white wine - espresso I'm guessing that I'm probably at about 1450 calories, which is not too bad all things considered. I should probably get down closer to the 1400-1350 mark but I'm happy enough with that.