Hi Coaches:

Was surfing looking for a recipe that would help deal with the green tomatoes in my backyard. Have had no red ones as of yet and the frost is going to be here any night. Need to do something with them. This looks very promising.


green tomato soup
Gourmet | September 2004

We love the flavor of Black Forest ham in this soup, but you can use any variety of ham, or even kielbasa, smoked turkey, or bacon. A dollop of sour cream rounds out the acidity of the tomatoes.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz thinly sliced Black Forest ham, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions (from 1 bunch)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (2 cloves)
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
2 lb green unripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Garnish: sour cream (optional)


Heat oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook ham, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add scallions, garlic, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are tender and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add tomatoes, broth, water, salt, and pepper and simmer, partially covered, until tomatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf and season soup with salt and pepper.

Diet Coaches – It's easy to eat on plan when you don't feel like eating at all; took the day off to sit at home and mope about with my cold. I only ate two tomatoes all day. Now that would normally be a lot, except that I started with some 25 pounds. Giving some away - wish I could capture the faces of the people I ask, "Could you use a couple of heirloom tomatoes?" For my walk I made it to the end of my street where some construction is going on. CREDIT moi for a tiny walk.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Ouch for el nino's rought night; BTDT. Big Kudos for keeping your attitude straight about the other 23,000 people without power; yep, it's easy to adopt a victim attitude which is such a good set up for eating everything in sight. Wishing you some sleep.

onebyone – Congrats on that whopping weight loss. hmmm... green tomato soup sounds good. Now that's being creative with tomatoes that refuse to grow up, LOL.

Robin (RobinW) - LOL at the snow in Buffalo. We know all about it because the Boston Globe always reports the HUGE snowfalls in Buffalo - sorta keep the natives happy where they are kind of thing. I hadn't heard of whole wheat pastry flour, that's encouraging that there's a big enough market for it to be sold.

angelmomma210 - My warmest sympathy thinking about your DD. I have friends who lost their DS at 9 months - some 30 years ago. One of the roles I play in their life is that I'm one of the few people they're comfortable with mentioning him. They, of course, think of him every day, but can't really mention him to those people in their current life who never met him.

Congrats for outgrowing your midday nap, LOL. I remember when my kids did that; was a rough transition.


shrinkin - Yep, Kudos for needing those Zoomer fins for workouts. Your evening eating does sound like hunger - good choices in response. If you'd just check the box on your personal preferences titled "Allow Heritage Tomato Enclosures" I'll email you a couple forthwith, LOL.

tera (twilit tera) – Neat results from day 12: learning to tolerate hunger. That's got to be the best exercise in Beck's book to demonstrate to us that "Hunger is NOT an emergency." And neat insight there, "it's the loss of control." Ouch for the hurt back preventing a good night's sleep. Kudos for marching forward with your Beck days. Enjoy reading your progress.


Readers – "… However, each time you give in and eat something you shouldn’t, you’re strengthening your tendency to give in. …" Beck, pg 29.

Hello coaches

Just here getting ready for the day, thankfully a half day.

I have to only pack my snack, an apple. Yay!

Just one class this morning and a favour for a friend wearing my ceramic technician's hat and then a walk down the street to take pictures of graffitti and other marks made by human hands on surfaces. We have an assignment to show "the marks humans beings have left on the environment"... I thought graffitti could do it... I also wanted to do, brace yourself, roadkill. I have a visceral reaction just writing that let alone doing it and not sure if I could find enough roadkill in one day for 8 images.... hmmm.... but if I come across one I'll do it. Just take a deep breath and do it.

Nothing major going on. Will check in with my brother today see if my mother had her chemo yet or not. See if she's at his house or not.

That's it.

Gotta run, already getting late and it's only 7:11am. I think that's just not right.... too early.

Bye.

Coahces,

An OP day for calories, but it was not easy. DH was supposed to bring lunch to office, but forgot. Left me with just some deli chicken in frig, so had about 3 oz. Hungry all afternoon, but decided to tough it out. Made it to dinner, but then practically inhaled corn, tomatoes and chicken breast. Not Beckian Eating slowly and mindfully. Stilll hungry 20 min later, went for grapes. After 2 cups of grapes ingested about an hour apart, hunger finally settled down.

Did solid 45 min workout in pool, but HR not in zone. Just cant seem to work hard enough to do it any more. Good news and bad news I guess. Used birthday present money to order fins and inexpensive waterproof watch on line. Will be a bit daunting to try the fins as I hear it is easy to overdo it....lookout quads.

A bit weary of watching the eating and planning the exercise today. Feel "ripe" for a backslide. Need to get out the ARC and pick a Beck chapter to read. Not sure why I feel discouraged today, but I do.

onebyone-Wondering if it is movie day today or whether working on assignment will take your afternoon. Graffiti idea neat, but EEW for roadkill idea...would not be something I would enjoy. Not sure how industrialized your area is, but methinks marks of human beings likely to be everywhere from power plants to skyscrapers to traffic jams with pollution to just big commercial developments.

BBE-Extra credit for any walk when feeling bad! Yup, you can put me down for several pounds of heirlooms. LOL at the reactions of folks gladly accepting free heirloom tomatoes. Picture of you giving out free samples crosses my brain! LOL.

angelmomma210- Proud that you are coping with loss of DD, that is one of the hardest life experiences. Ouch for menopause sleep interruption. We both need to get our Beck books out. I have been intermittently reading chapters of interest, rather than following thru on initial plan to read straight thru for second time.

twilittera-Way to go on the hunger challenge! Kudos for not reaching for food for comfort for back problems. High five for planning your breakfast sit down.

kuhljeanie-Ouch for the unplanned eating, but big credit for reporting to your coaches and in your log. Yup, the guilt level often exceeds the reality. Kudos for recognizing that and for getting back to your healthy choices. Hope you made it to the treadmill. Sounds like el nino is tired of not being back to routine too. Proud of you for recognizing that your troubles will pass and for your compassion for others. My OH WELL yesterday was because I keep telling self that I will get in unplanned exercise on my nonscheduled exercise days. I have several exercise goals that have not had much progress...yet, but they will, they will.

RobinW-Thanks for the rays of sunshine yesterday! Do any of your baking recipes have calorie counts attached? Just the sound of whole wheat muffins and loaves has me drooling. Now that BBE has figured out how to email me some heirlooms, can I get on your list of bread handouts? Just got to find the "allow bulky attachments" box. LOL Sounds like you like cross country. Any suggestions for success at this? One of my secret thoughts (dont dare say goal) is to cross country this year at the Lake. However, I tried this many years ago and spent most of my time on my fanny. DH loves to cross country but does not want to go without me. If I get my core and my legs strong enough would stop the falling backward? DH says I have to work on my balance. It is on my list of things to discuss with PT when my arms recover enough. According to her, cross country is the single largest calorie burner.

Hoping for an OP day for all!

good morning my coaches!

i did indeed make it to the gym yesterday, and busted out a small number of getting-back-into-it miles. starting back up slowly so as not to kill my shins or attitude. legs are a little sore today, but it's the good sore, and i'll be back in there this afternoon for a more extended vigorous walk. MIL and FIL offered to have el nino sleep upstairs with them so DH and i could have a quiet night. slept fantastically - almost 9 straight hours. i am so, so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws. DP&L plans on starting work on individual outages (such as the ones on my street) tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have power by the weekend. i'm still shy of a day or two worth of work clothes. a fabulous oppty to SHOP.

did much better last night, eating-wise. still into the M&Ms but measured them out beforehand and worked them into calories for the day. feeling pretty good about that! lasagna is all gone but put some white chicken chili on the crockpot for tonight. i LOVE that stuff.

angelmomma, my heart goes out to you. the idea of a child suffering makes me feel ill. thank you for reminding me how extraordinarily lucky i am, and i am so sorry for your terrible loss. so glad to hear that you're less tired during the day! here's how i make my faux lasagna:

carbonara sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 pkg 99% lean ground turkey (like jennie o)
1 jar low fat, sodium spaghetti sauce
about a dozen garlic cloves, diced chunky
1 can artichoke hearts, also diced chunky
saute onion, cook ground turkey with onion, and mix everything else together
in a bowl

cheese filling
1 pkg fat-free cottage cheese
1 pkg fat-free ricotta
about 4 egg whites
beat all together

veggie layers
1 pkg portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 pkg baby spinach, lightly sauteed (i used the pan after cooking the turkey so i don't have to add extra oil
1 each small green and yellow zucchini, diced or sliced

topping
hormel turkey pepperoni
part-skim shredded mozzarella

spray a casserole dish with something like Pam, and start with the carbonara on the bottom. put on a veggie layer next, and the a cheese layer, veggie, meat, etc. finishing with pepperoni. you can also add pepperoni and mozzarella inside the casserole too (not just on top.) bake the whole thing, covered, at 350 for about an hour, and then top with the mozzarella cheese and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes. let it sit for a while before serving. feel free to mix it up with other things - sometimes i just use the toppings i like on pizza with it (artichokes, green olives, diced tomato, pepperoni.) you can also use other stuff (chicken breast with basil pesto, etc.) it's pretty flexible, and even at 8 generous portions the way i describe it above it's only about 300 calories per serving, since most of the bulk comes from veggies.

onebyone, what a brave undertaking! (no need for process shots there. J) are you feeling any more at peace with the family thing? shrinkin, CONGRATULATIONS on being in such good shape that you need the fins! tremendous! and excellent work with dinner. i didn’t get enough during the day yesterday, and it was all i could do to keep from stuffing my face with the cookies and doughnuts on the counter while i made dinner (thanks, MIL) really wonderful. tera, that’s such a great insight about losing control! also sounds like really helpful information that it takes you a while to get that hungry. i really struggled with day 12, and when i finally did it, i really overdid it. sorry to hear about your back! is it a chronic thing? bill, sorry to hear you're under the weather! nice that you can spread some tomato-ey joy in the midst of it, though.

cheers, all! off to the gym.

Ok, I have a planned food/drink thing tonight!! (or tomorrow...it depends) Sex in the City is suppose to come today (we have netflix) So, its me on the couch, hubby hiding upstairs far away a bottle of my favourite pinot grigio and a very lovely bar of lindt chocolate! Yes Ive been planning this ever since I didnt make it to the actual theatre to see it.

The big test is to see how easy/hard it will be to get right back to it once the movie is over.

Things have slowed a bit here at the shop, sort of at the beginning stages of alot of stuff, but no deposits yet. Im sure when it all happens, it will all happen at the same time and I'll be swamped. Oh well......it still pays the rent

We are having our roof replaced today Another money gobbler!! I hate spending big chunks of money like that. Im much better with constant dribbles of money going out equalling the same amount....go figure

Im onplan and doing good.....walked to work and I have a walk planned for this evening (to get my wine)

onebyone~ what pefect timing for that green tomato recipe. I just picked the last of my green tomatoes......I was afraid they would get squashed by the roofers tossing stuff off the roof. I have them all sitting on my front sunny window. I'll make soup! Thankyou!

Bill~ feel better soon!

shrinkin~ I dont have the calorie count, I have the number of points per serving. Would that help? Or, I could just give you the recipe. I usually just use any ole recipe and sub the fats for either nf yogurt/sourcream or cut the fat in half and add water to make up the total measurement. I'll also cut the sugar in 1/2 and add the difference in splenda if the measure is over 3/4cups sugar. Do you have a fitday.com account? I use that to plug in recipes to get calorie counts and what not. That works pretty good.

Im going to get some canned pumpkin this weekend, and make a pumpkin loaf. I like the loaves because they stay moister longer than muffins do. Anyway, its from the canadian heart association cookbook "The Lighthearted Cookbook"....its awesome, and doesnt have all that gunky oil in it. I'll post it when I get home tonight.

kuhlejeannie~ Oh I love the look of that lasagna!! Lots of veggies that would get mixed in so nicely with the other flavours. Hmmm, I think Im going to have to try this one too! Kudos for getting to the gym!!

I know there are others, but they are posted a page back and I cant switch without loosing my post, so I'll to you all!!

Have a great day everyone!

Hi coaches

Had a small attack of exhaustion and ate to comfort my tiredness: 2 porkshops instead of one. Oh Well. I stopped after that.

I am so so so tired. Finally I am resting a bit. I had the one class this morning and then went for a walk to get my photography assignment for tomorrow completed/started we'll see what the teacher says tomorrow! Anyway, I mentioned the roadkill but that's not something you find in the heart of the city so I looked for the graffitti and instead got caught up in the marks the construction workers make to locate buried wires and piplelines. I found myself seeing them like minimalist works of art and started to photograph them in this way...the bright neon colours against the pavement or the sewer grate or the sidewalk. I think onlookers were wondering what the heck I was taking a picture of but I became engrossed in them. We'll see if I am on target or off by this. At least she'll know I tried. And I used the manual setting so I hope there aren't too many images under or over exposed.

So I came home satisfied I have no homework looming for tomorrow but downloading my pictures so I started to relax and got very sleepy. Almost slept on the couch then went up to bed and could not sleep at all. Came downstairs and am now very sleepy and relishing the idea that I have the weekend off from going to the market. A WHOLE weekend. And then DH said "maybe we should go to Toronto this weekend and visit my mother". sigh. I'm torn. Would love to go. he promised we would make it to some museums and galleries... and there's a litereary festival going on this Sunday...and...and...but...but I am TIRED and want to just relax and do my homework and get my ideas together and not feel pressured to get caught up next weekend. I'm too tired to feel that pressure. So I reserved the car just in case. I love trips and car rides and going somewhere but do I want to go this weekend, my first one off since mid May?

Anyway that's my update. have not made it to the gym this week as my week pass has expired and I can't do the payment plan just yet. I have to get my next tuition payment through and see the end of the month through too and then I can commit to monthly payments. to mkae sure I do this I will schedule a meeting with Nadine to refresh myself with my program and get a re-start-kick-start.

Going to go now. have a good evening.

onebyone~ I know how you feel about finally getting a full weekend to yourself. Just think about what you need, and what you will gain by visiting your mom. For me, when I need a weekend to recoup, I take it....completely relax and recharge my marbles so to say. But when Im feeling stressed out and needing mom...I go visit....and come back recharged and feeling great. Decide what will be best for you after 4 months of no free weekends.

Diet Coaches – Spent another day at home wrestling with this cold thing. Couldn't go to the gym in this state - you know, spreading the germs and misery. Out of the blue I remembered that I owned a set of "portable dumbbells" from a yard sale purchase some three years ago. So, I dug them out, put together two 45# dumbbells, used my bed as a bench and did my chest press exercise. It worked. CREDIT moi.

Spent my day eating tomatoes. Almost feel guilty having such good heirloom tomatoes in abundance. Heirloom tomatoes for morning snack, for lunch, for afternoon snack, and for dinner. DW got into it also, having a fat heirloom tomato sandwich for lunch. Was lovely, lovely, lovely.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Yeah for nine hours of sleep. Seems that this board follows the principle of conservation of exhaustion, LOL, - you finally get some rest and onebyone gets tired. Kudos for keeping a string of on-plan food coming - first the faux lasagna then the chili chicken.

onebyone – Ouch for feeling so tired; it's hard to do anything rational when that tired. Congrats for taking the pictures for your assignments. I, too, have been a bit mesmerized by the neon colors of the markings on the sidewalks noting where not to dig. Hope you got some closure about your mothers chemo therapy - that's an additional thing for your brain to handle for which food will appear to be a solution. Good luck finding a solution to your delimna about the upcoming weekend.

Robin (RobinW) - That is such a funny image - you on the couch with Sex in the City, lindt chocolate, and pinot grigrio with DH hiding upstairs. Yep, that's where I'd be, LOL. Ouch for the cost of replacing a roof. I know that feeling; I just suggested to DW that when our driveways, walk, and patio are all completed we deserve a big celebratory dinner on our new patio - a can of beans using the money left in our account, LOL.

shrinkin - Kudos for staying on plan despite being abandoned by your lunch delivery service. And Kudos for continued exercise. How do you measure your heart rate while swimming? Doesn't that require a third hand or something?


Readers – "Eating Begins with a Trigger

Just checking in before I head out the door. I've packed my lunch and two snacks and an extra two helpings of cheese (2oz vs 1oz) because I will be active today using the printing presses Will want that extra oz of cheese energy. decision about going to Toronto on hold until I wake up tomorrow morning and see how I feel. I scheduled rental car pickup for 4pm. Will attempot to get homework out of the way during the monring and early afternoon and then see how feel about going. We'd arrive there around 9 or 10pm Friday night were we to go.... ew...just writing that makes me feel exhausted. Hmmmm.

Sent an email off to my brother to let me know how mum is and he wrote back saying she's back at home and fine. Fine? Egad she's a tough old bird! I can only hope for the same...! Will call her when I get home this evening. As far as I can tell my brother and I are okay relationship-wise as he asked me about the book press I want to make with his guidance so making plans to do that is a good sign things are normal. Yikes getting late must go would rather stay.

BillBlueEyes Sorry to hear you are still under the weather...those tomatoes have a lot of vitamin C in them! Guess you didn't know you were stocking up on medicine for you cold did you? Bottle and sell it as such and you'll be a quadrillionaire! Could afford many and varied cans of beans

RobinW
Well one of the reasons DH is suggesting to go (it's his mom not mine) is that we heard she wasn't feeling well AND he missed her birthday (unheard of!) in early Sept. If we go it may not be such a relaxing time, which is why I made him promise we'd get downtown to see some tourist sights as we never do that but that may be just a pipedream... very torn about what to do.

kuhljeanieI'm not sure you can say I am at peace with the family thing. I just have to make myself call and I feel so guilty for not calling and keeping contact and then I switch and say to myself that I can be away what is wrong with that? Can't figure myself out on this one and never have been able to. I know I felt I had nothing to talk about as I was working all the time... ? Anyway, I'll figure it out. Thanks for asking and good going on getting back into the gym!

shrinkin' Those fins you talked about have intrigued me! have you used the foam dumb bells? They are great for working hard in the water. We had one instructor who was a master at using the foam noodle! There must be online exercises for water aerobics, aka aquatics, aka aquabics! I noticced you are now several units of weight below 200!!!! BIG KUDOS on this and your persistence in victory...

Morning coaches,

Today was weigh in: down 2 pounds. Four week average: 1.5 pounds per week.

Yesterday had severe chocolate craving which combined with many sabotaging thoughts. "I don't want to do this any more. It's not fair. I feel deprived. I should be able to have some. It probably wont matter."

Everyone gone from office when this starated, but I know where we keep the chocolate candy after hours. Went there and had the bag in hand, when thought "If I am going to have some, it should be good and the last time I had some of these, they were not that good, too waxy." Next thought..."OK, hit the vending machines for something good." Alas, no change available forced thinking of whether I really wanted vending machine items. Would have had to walk somewhere to find change and then gone back to vending machines. Next thought.."OK lets go have some chocolate ice cream at an ice cream shop that would limit my amount...double treat but in control." Looked on line to see if I could find any ice cream shop calorie counts that I could justify in day's total...NOPE. Next thought..."OK, lets go to grocery store and get half gallon of reasonable ice cream." Well, even with reasonable, my calorie count would only have allowed one half cup. Thought: "How sure am I that I will only have half cup. Can I throw away the rest?" Started driving home with equivocal thoughts of stopping at grocery. Called DD who said..."Oh, Mom, you don't want to do THAT." OK, so drove past the grocery store still craving choclate and still wanting ice cream.

At home, decided to indulge in blueberries until craving under control. Had two bowls back to back. After that, craving seemed to pass...or maybe I had finally convinced myself I was not having chocolate.

Never got to point that I said NO CHOICE. Probably would have made it easier. Stunned by these events as it has been a while since I had a serious craving.

Unplanned exercise yesterday: parked at far end of parking lot. Added some single leg lifts and stands to my shoulder exercises. Able to do a 2 minute single leg stand on each leg. WooHoo and Credit for that! I have to be able to do those well before starting on balance board work.

Have to run to make the pool before PT, will send some personal messages later today!

Good morning, all!

Wednesday
Beck day what? 17? The one about not overeating when you have no control over what's on your plate...

For dinner I loaded my plate up with a (home made) half-pound hamburger sandwich, a HUGE baked potato and a cup and a half of green beans.

I ate half the green beans, half the sandwich and a quarter of the potato when I realized I was no longer hungry. I put the rest in the fridge for today.

OP food
OP supplements
not a scheduled exercise day
Spontaneous exercise: parked all the way out at the edge of the parking lot at campus and carried my computer from there to K building and back - about 20 mins altogether.

My back is feeling much much better. I was able to take my music assignment into the professor's office and she said that I could make up the test I missed next Monday.

onebyone: Good luck on that assignment. I'm a little disappointed that you didn't find roadkill, but I understand about the neon paint. I think what really matters is that you are looking for a-typical subjects for your assignment instead of leaping on the obvious. I know that you'll be fine with this weekend. Trust your gut.

I haven't really been prone to back problems, then I got two bad backaches in two months. I think the second might actually be a 'reinjuring' of the first, and the first I believed happened when I was waking up. I tried to sit up by pulling from the back instead of pushing myself up with my arms. I know better, but I was mostly still asleep and not thinking clearly at the time. Hopefully this time I'll get completely over it and never do that again.

Robin: I'm certain you're fine after SitC. Think of it this way - you did not go "offplan," you have planned very carefully for this treat. It was controlled eating, not a binge. So you have no need to feel guilty and can enjoy treating yourself then enjoy keeping in control by continuing with your normally scheduled good eating habits! go you!

Bill: Kudos for finding a way to work out at home, even though you were sick. I hope you're feeling better soon.

everyone: Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. My aunt has started reading the Beck book she bought after looking at the one I was reading! She's had a long history of self- (and other-) sabotage. She said she thinks Beck might be a lifesaver!

Good Morning

Bill~ LOL @ your can of beans on your new patio. Thats about the size of it isnt it?!?! The house is still crawling with men, scrambling up and down the ladders and scooting across the roof. Its an amazing site. I was watching them this morning, and even tho its many thousands to get the roof fixed, I can at least see where the money is going.....besides on the actual product being put on my roof. Makes the pill a bit easier to take. I think hubby and I will join you on your patio.....we'll bring our own beans

onebyone~ hmmmm, its his mom. Unfortunately I have no words of wisdom there. If my dh was going to his mom's even if I was exhausted, Id have to go with him. Have you ever watched 2 1/2 men? Charlie and Alan's mom? Add triple the nastyness of her.....thats my mil.(Im not exadgerating!) I'd have to be there to run interferance and keep hubby from imploding. Sorry I couldnt be more help.

shrinkin~ WTG!! Kudos on your lbs gone!! I have a chocolate cottage cheese thing I'll use once in a while when I "need" chocolate. If you want the recipe let me know.

Tera~ Kudos to you!! Sounds like you are doing great! Thanks for the kudos.....mind you I did run out of wine before the movie ended

Yes I thoroughly enjoyed my movie last night. Im not a big chick-flic movie watcher, but I loved the series, and I loved the movie! As I was watching the movie last night, I was thinking to myself.....I should get the series dvd's, and play those while Im on the treadmill. Who wouldnt want arms and legs like SJP ????? Might keep me motivated?

I had a chat with hubby today, and Ive talked him into doing this with me. I find it sooooooo hard to cook seperate stuff for each of us. It wouldnt hurt him to eat a vegetable or 2 either!! I asked him when he wanted to start, and said monday.....so that gives him a few days to eat his popcorn and jolly ranchers. He's pretty good at it, alot better than I am.

Thats all thats new with me......Im back on plan today, walked to work, and I'll walk back home to check the roof later this afternoon. No issues with food today

Have a great day everyone!

Kuhlejeannie: [/I][/B]excited about trying that receipe. It looks so good. Thank you for giving it to us.

Robin: I am glad that you enjoyed your movie...glad that you took some me time too. Glad that dh was open to your suggestions.

shrinkin: Way to go on the WI....that is such an inspiration.

Tera: Kudos from me too.

Onebyone: Know what you mean...last weekend dh went and say his dad up in Oak harbor while I just stayed home. It was nice to have that time for me.

Bill: you made me laugh.

Well now for me...dh is having a real hard time at work...hope that all will go well with him. He has a supervisor who may be trying to get him fired. I sure hope not. It has been an emotional roller coaster for us. I have been trying not to eat emotionally....that is working so far. Last night I told dh that it was a pizza night...now that is the ultimate for me...but we did not have pizza. Kudos for me..we has chicken strips and jo jos...I did not eat that many as I was just too upset. Please keep dh and I in your thoughts. Thanks.

Ok, Coaches,

Sorry I had to run to get pool and physical therapy done this am.
Back for some brief personal chat...

angelmomma210: Ouch for your DH and your worries. Kudos for resistance muscle working overtime to keep from emot eating. Will be sending positive vibes for you during this tough time. Will hope to hear that things get better quickly.

RobinW-Thanks for the chocolate cottage cheese recipe offer...does it really taste like chocolate? Now that my chocolate intake is limited, I have gotten picky. You are totally on your game...walking and planning! WTG at getting DH's buy-in for eating heatlhy. My DH has gotten in the act too, and I am lucky that he likes to cook. Only challenge with dealing with him dieting is that he drops weight almost without seeming to try. Have to watch out that "comparisonitis" does not set in.

twilit tera- that your back is better. Methinks little pesky things sneak up on us and get us in trouble when we are not aware. WooHoo for working in spontaneous exercise!

onebyone-I am still on restricted arm activity because of elbow tendonitis. Problem perists since July, but therapist says this is not unusual. So, water dumb bells are off limits right now; maybe in my future! Have used foam noodle on occasion when I am being easy on myself. Yup, I am trying to keep the faith and get out of the 190s. Glad to hear that you are reflecting on your weekend choice and also that your family troubles are better. Hope DMIL is not too sick and that if you go for visit, you get to go to at least one "special place".

BBE-Not sure that you would ever tire of tomatoes. New ad for heirlooms, "the BBE cure for whatever ails you". LOL Kudos for doing the chest press while miserable. That is inspiring! You asked about my HR monitoring. Unfortunately, I do minimal swimming (limited to 4 laps by PT) I guess swimming is particularly bad on elbows (who would have thought that?). I typically do deep water walking/running/cross country ski motion using a flotation belt to help with buoyancy (think of continual flutter kicks or similar while vertical in water). Occasionally go to bike "spinning" action for variety, but that excursion is so small, I really have to pick up the pace. Main restriction is that elbows stay bent, wrists stay locked in neutral, and not too much water resistance on arms. With a hearty leg pace (which gets hammered in my head via the headphones) and big leg motions, it is a pretty good core (the back is generally straight vertical which takes effort to control) and leg workout. Taking arms out of action for a six second count does not change HR much, nor does it alter my calorie burn much. Without arms being fully engaged, very hard to get HR to 120 which is the bottom end of my range.

kuhljeanie-hope your power is back or that you have a BIG shopping budget. WooHoo for that sleep and for inlaws that you can count on!

Gorgeous day here! to all for sticking with your plans!