Ever Been the Seventh Wheel?

I've third-wheeled many a date in my lifetime as the token single friend. Now, I'm never sure how the happy couple feels when I tag along, but personally, I'm a huge fan of said wheeling. You get to enjoy a movie without the anxiety of deciding where to strategically place your hand on the armrest. You can go to town on a plate of spaghetti, while your friend is stuck cutting her salad. And you can wear sweatpants. Need I say more? I didn't think so.

But since coming back to school, I am no longer a third wheel, but rather, the seventh. When I left for New York, the Fourtress (the name of our apartment) had a majority of single ladies -- three of the four of us, in fact. Our nights were spent attempting to fit on one bike, keeping up with the Kardashians and partaking in random shenanigans around campus. That's what I thought was going to be the kickoff to my last quarter as a senior, but as soon as I touched down in Chi-town, two of my roomies had updates for me; they had met guys late in the game, making the Fourtress an apartment of committed, monogamous women. Oh, with one exception -- me.

The first time I felt the full force as the seventh wheel was on apartment game night. The respective couples paired up around our table for a little Pictionary action, and, like the uncoordinated kid last picked for dodgeball, I was left standing alone, wondering if I was supposed to both draw and guess my own clues. Then again, I'd win, so I wasn't entirely opposed to the idea. Either way, you get my drift.

Sometimes when I'm lying on the couch in pajamas and all three roommates are out to dinner with their boys, I'm all whiney, like, "Seventh wheeling is the pits!"

But most times, I'm like, "Nah. NBD."

The dating world would require wearing real pants (see first paragraph), and I'm two months away from graduating college with too many friends to hang out with and too many adventures to still partake in. Real pants would be a hassle. I just need to organize Pictionary on my terms next time. Thinking I'll recruit an art major as my partner.

Anyone else the only single one in a group of friends? I wanna hear from you. Tweet me @hmils and @SELFMagazine!

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42 hour binge

totally gave up and have been binging for the past 48 hours. massive amounts of ice cream, cake, cookies, cheese, chips, granola bars, etc... so gross. so full. so bloated. i just want my normal body back asap and to never repeat this mistake but in the back of my mind i know i will. i know how to eat right. i know i can eat right. and then after a few weeks i just find myself making the conscious decision to say "screw it." 

this is my worst binge yet. some words of encouragement, advice, motivation to never repeat this, etc. would be much appreciated. 

Edited Jun 18 2013 02:13 by coach_k
Reason: Moved to Health and Support as more appropriate

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Tackling Diet, Exercise Together Produces Best Results: Study

If you have to choose one at a time, hit the gym first, researchers add

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- If you're trying to get healthy, tackling both diet and exercise is better than trying to improve one lifestyle habit at a time, new research suggests.

The researchers did add that if you need to start with just one lifestyle change, choose exercise. They found that changing diet first may interfere with attempts to establish a regular exercise routine.

The study included 200 people, aged 45 and older, who were inactive and had poor diets. They were split into four groups: new diet and exercise habits at the same time; diet changes first and starting exercise a few months later; starting exercise first and making diet changes a few months later; and no diet or exercise changes.

The groups received telephone coaching and were tracked for a year. Those who made diet and exercise changes at the same time were most likely to meet U.S. guidelines for exercise (150 minutes per week) and nutrition (5 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables per day), and to keep calories from saturated fat at less than 10 percent of their total intake of calories.

The people who started with exercise first and diet changes a few months later also did a good job of meeting both the exercise and diet goals, but not quite as good as those who made exercise and diet changes at the same time, the Stanford University School of Medicine researchers said in a news release from Stanford.

The participants who made diet changes first and started exercise later did a good job of meeting the dietary goals but didn't meet their exercise targets. This may be because each type of change has unique characteristics, explained study author Abby King, a professor of health research and policy and of medicine.

"With dietary habits, you have no choice; you have to eat. You don't have to find extra time to eat because it's already in your schedule. So the focus is more on substituting the right kinds of food to eat," she said in the news release.

However, people with busy schedules may have difficulty finding time for exercise. King noted that even the people in the most successful group (diet and exercise changes at the same time) initially had trouble meeting their exercise goal, but did achieve it by the end of the study.

The study was published online April 21 in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

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Injury question

So on Sunday I semed to pull a muscle in my right inner thigh (this happened when carrying my 40lb son about 1/2 mile). I took it easy the rest of that day and it felt fine by Monday morning. I went for a run that morning and it felt fine during the run, but later started to hurt again. Icing helps. I still feel it a bit today and am taking the day completely off exercise.

My question is- I was planning to start NROLFW tomorrow. I'm really excited to get started. Is this slight injury something I can work through, or would you suggest I hold off on starting this program until it is totally healed? TIA.

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Kimberly Walsh at the All Stars premiere

DON'T think you're ready for spring's white trend? Kimberly Walsh is making a case for the LWD (little white dress) in this figure-hugging number by Maria Grachvogel, with sheer side panels.  

H&M's New Partywear Collection

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Kris Jenner V Kim Kardashian

...Hmmm, easy work indeed, when your daughter is a) Kim Kardashian and b) she wore it first. Yes, yes. It would appear that for an appearance in New York, Kris borrowed the Valentino number from her daughter Kim - who was first spotted wearing it on a trip to London in September 2012. A whole seven months earlier.

WINNER: While we hate to pit mum and daughter against each other and while Kris Jenner does actually look pretty amazing, we're just ever so slightly thrown by KJ's matchy-matchy red courts. Compared to Kim's sleek styling teamed with va-va-voom lacey heels, Kim just, just edges this one. Kim wins!

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carb nite solution

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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