Casey, Catfish Hole sounds AMAZING. It's gotta be 1000 times harder to lose weight surrounded by delicious Southern food. Whenever I visit my family in TN I always gain weight because of biscuits and gravy and SWEET TEA and all that good stuff. Hope you feel better and more "on plan" (and no more puking) soon!

Jenn - Peanut butter and chocolate are meant to be together! Sounds tasty. I bet that is just bloating for TOM.

LindsB - good luck with all that water. It really helps! What is NZ food like (this goes for rainbowstripe too obviously) and how is it different to US food?

rainbowstripe - good luck at Zumba! I bet you'll do great. Remember, the thing with exercise classes is that everyone is just there for themselves and no one judges their classmates!

Kawaii - good job on the prunes and carrots. I had all these f#%king shortbread cookies because they were being given out at my eikaiwa/English convo class. >_<

*******

Yesterday I stayed within an OK calorie range (under 1600) but seriously half of that was junk. The world is out to fatten me up with sweets. A coworker gave me homemade apple pie, there were the cookies at English conversation class, and since I didn't know the cookies were going to happen I bought a 100 calorie candy bar before class thinking it would be the last thing I ate that day.

Still, down 0.6 kg from yesterday. Today I'm going to see if I can't go a day without dessert. Considering I have like 600 yen to my name until payday it shouldn't be hard.

Also, a little bragging, my legs are ROCK HARD and I almost have space between my thighs if I sit a certain way.

so I didn't do the BEST with food today. I had a few snacks that were def. not on plan, but I probably stayed between 1600-1800 cals. I walked an extra 3 miles at lunc today, jogged my fastest 5k to date at the gym, and did upper body this evening so that makes me feel a little better! I do hate how badly I beat myself up for having maybe 200 cals off plan...200 cals is not the end of the world!

Hope everyone had a good monday!

krampus- everything in NZ just tasted different from the Mcdonalds to the Subway. Ketsup was SO different. I felt like they ate lamb like we eat chicken here in the US. That could be wrong. I just found that everything was flavored differently and I am such a picky eater that I didn't like it! I prob dropped 5lbs while I was there lol! It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever laid eyes on though...and the people there are very friendly and laid-back.

krampus I guess we have definitely less fast food options and I have heard they taste different as well. I know that our McDonald's seems to be healthier in some ways than in the US but I haven't done comparisons.

I'm not sure about eating lamb like chicken as Linds said, but we do eat it fairly regularly - though I'm not sure how often others eat it! I think our lamb is also leaner than US lamb? I don't know.

I think it's easy to eat unhealthy food anywhere you are really! Right now I'm craving french fries like crazy. And I want some silly Starbuck's drink too. Might have to cave on that last one haha.

OH oh and congrats krampuson the loss and the hard legs haha. That sounds pretty awesome.

Linds I know what you mean with beating yourself up over a couple hundred calories. We shouldn't but we do. Don't worry too much about it!

rainbow- I feel like a lot of the food in NZ is healthier than in the US, my tastebuds were just not taking to the taste differences. I'm trying not to worry too much about the extra calories I ate today since I did get some extra miles in!

linds I guess we do have far fewer processed options in our supermarkets...things like those Hostess mini cakes just don't exist haha (the only reason I mention those is because I really wanted my mum to bring me some of those 100 cal packs of cakes oh dear). And a lot less in the way of fast food. But it's still there.

Extra miles make up for extra calories, LindsB ;)

McDonalds is McDonalds. Though I noticed American McDonalds is its own special brand of "fvkking foul" with a soapy aftertaste in the buns and sloppy presentation. German and Japanese McDonalds are less soapy and the burgers actually look like the adverts.

I love how in Europe and Asia Mickey D's strives for a bit of class with the cafes etc. Japanese McDonalds plays classical music and serves shrimp and teriyaki pork burgers.

Lamb isn't terribly common in the US. It's not hard to find, but in my experience I tend to associate it with ethnic restaurants (Mediterranean, French, Middle Eastern, Indian).

Funny you mention the cafe style b/c so many of the McDonalds in the US are being remodled recently to reflect a more "cafe-like" setting....it's silly to me.

OH so wait.. is McCafe not a US thing then? A lot of our McDonalds have McCafe's attached that have coffee machines and pastries, muffins etc... It is pretty ridiculous.

With lamb, yeah, I guess it is a lot more common than that. We eat it like we'd eat a steak. I think I prefer lamb steak actually, it's a little less...meaty..if that makes sense? I dunno. It's a nice meat and pretty lean too.

It would be cool if it worked though. The cakes in Germany "McCafes" are to die for. Not like we really need extra excuses to be eating cake, but yeah.

My body doesn't recognize McDonalds meals as food any more, at least not the french fries. Just makes me feel ill and constipated and retain water.

rainbowstripe, McCafes are a European/Oceanic thing I think - haven't seen them in the US or Japan. I am not a big meat person and I feel guilty eating lamb but it does have a really nice flavor!

I can honestly say I've never eaten lamb! I am really weird/picky about meat!

I don't need ANY excuses to eat cake lol! I did really well staying away from the halloween cupcakes at work today! I opted for my OP fiber bar instead ;)

I couldn't tell you the last time I ate McDonalds other than a breakfast sandwich...I do like an egg and cheese muffin from there, but i say NO to McDonalds and make my healthy version at home. :carrot:

Im out for the night ladies! XoXo

My boyfriend brought home McDonalds the other night. I ate one of the fries and it tasted so funny to me. I used to love their fries. Watch the documentary Supersize Me and you will never want to eat that crap again!

Our McDonalds have a lot of the McCafe products and they are trying to make it seem "healthier" it cracks me up because the commercials show pictures of delicious fresh cut veggies. Ridiculous! False advertisement! lol

Oh man... watching Supersize Me actually made me crave fries and a cheeseburger, how sick does that make me!

I know it's not good food but every so often I want it. In the last 13 weeks I've included it in my calorie count for 2 separate days, 2 separate meals. Neither one was that great and I know I could have eaten better food.

Now I'm trying to remember who actually makes tasty fries!

-Burger Fuel, kumara fries *dies*:drool: