Hi, everyone - I hope you don't mind me coming in late to the party! I read up on all the questions, and I didn't want to write a full page ... so I'll just start with the last ones:
1) Vacation plans? Spouse, 9-yr old son, and girlfriend pal and me are going "rustic-backpacking" on Isle Royale (Michigan's UP) in July. We went to Alaska last summer - the Denali wilderness made such an impression on us, that we decided we want to become backpackers. :)
2) Books? "Empire of Debt" by Bonner/Wiggins. Funny, readable, but very sobering. Will change the way I prepare for the future, for sure.
3) Low-cal snack? It's absolutely got to have protein or I'm going to be on a major binge within twenty minutes. I've grown to like 4 original Triscuits with an ounce of really, really good cheddar. I can bring that in around 200 calories, which might be the upper limit. If I need to lowball it - a hardboiled egg with Tabasco sauce!

Cruisecat - your dogs ROCK!!! We just put our at-least-16 years old German Shorthair to sleep last month. She was a rescue case ... and a lovely being. We'll be dogless for a year, at least. Considering a few chickens ... reasearch in progress.

ICU - Welcome to the group. I too am big on protein; the more I eat the better I feel and I have fewer cravings.

Today was my weigh-in/picture day and I could hardly believe my eyes, I am down 4.4 lbs. for the week. In addition to running M-W-F I did lower my calories from 1500 to between 1300-1400.

My plan/goal has been to lose @ 2lbs per week but I was only reaching that goal every other week so I decided it was time to lower my calories and bam, a 4+lb. loss. Now I'm torn; should I increase my calories back to the 1500 or wait a couple weeks and see what happens?

Here is a new question.... what is your basic "plan" and how many calories are you eating a day?

I count calories (1300-1400) and try to eat a lean protein with EVERY meal/snack. In addition I TRY to keep my numbers at 30% fat, 35% carbs, & 35% protein.

edited to add:
After looking at my numbers since starting the BL challenge I decided to go back to the 1500. Although I may not be losing 2 lbs. per week it has been averaging out.

ICUWishing - I'm into hiking, too. What is "rustic backpacking"? And what did you do in Denali? We're going on an Alaska cruise next summer and I'm looking for ideas! My boys will be 9 and 11 when we go. I did a backpacking trip in Peru a couple summers ago (4 days, high altitude trek) but it wasn't rustic -- there was a team of people who moved and set up the tents each day, along with cooking all of the meals. Although I guess the amenities themselves would be considered rustic.

Wow, CruiseCAT -- WTG!!

I don't have any set plan other than to eat healthy food, watch portion control, and exercise; I don't count calories, but I also don't eat junk (cookies, candy, chips, baked goods, ice cream, etc) or really much prepackaged food (although I've been enjoying a bottle of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and served on whole wheat crackers).

Today marked 4 weeks on plan and I've lost 5.8 lbs, which averages to 1.45lbs per week. I'm satisfied with that.

Newleaf - "rustic" is just the word we use to distinguish it from "car camping", where you can keep all sorts of backup gear and coolers of food. We'll be out in the backcountry for at least a week, and will carry everything we need (hopefully!) in and out.

Alaska is beyond magnificent - we did a 7-day cruise north from Vancouver, and went inland to Anchorage/Denali for 4 days, and then took the railroad to Fairbanks to fly home. In Denali, we rafted the Nenana (not too terrifying), and my husband and son hiked up Mt. Healy on a day hike. They have some splendid pictures. :) There's a restaurant called the Salmon Bake - truly amazing fresh salmon dishes.

Regarding my plan - it's all about portion control and big-time journaling. I have logged every bite I've eaten since Feb. 9, with only one day off. I'm very fortunate to live with a guy who's so obsessed with quality cooking, that he grows most of our veggies and a lot of the fruit, and cooks for us most nights. So processed foods are not much of an issue. I'm only targeting a pound a week, and 1700 calories works very nicely for that. I don't want to suffer with this, or I'll quit like I've done a hundred times before! I loved the book "Ultrametabolism" by Mark Hyman - have taken many, many nutritional cues from that. For exercise, I'm back to my competitive swimming roots ... great for distance and endurance, but I will be adding in my NordicTrak ski machine for interval training in the next two weeks. I want to try some of the things I learned from Al Sears' PACE program.

CruiseCAT - congratulations! That's a heck of a big drop! Woohoo!!!

Wow ICUwishing -- that's definitely rustic! I can't imagine doing a full week having to carry the tent, bags, and everything else! Great exercise...

Your cruise sounds like ours; we're also doing the one-direction. I don't know all the details because my father-in-law's wife is planning it. But now you've gotten me excited -- I'll have to look into that hike and rafting!

What a wonderful setup you've got, with all the fresh fruits and veggies, and the cook to go with it! I can't wait for spring to come; we have some wonderful farms nearby, and I discovered last spring that one of them has an incredible asparagus crop!

newleaf - my husband started the tomato seeds last night! I'm so excited - I dearly love tomatoes and I just refuse to eat the store-bought ones. I swear they're baseballs just painted red - and they taste the way they look. Bleagh! Now that we've put up our big ugly fence and won't be sharing the garden with the deer this year ... should be plenty of 'maters for canning this fall! I'm with you on the asparagus, too! And snow peas - crunchy and sweet, radishes, spring lettuces - it's salad season, baby!!!

ICU - thanks for the reminder it's time to plant seeds! Last year we did a bunch, but kind of got worn out by the whole process. I think this year we'll just do snap peas and then buy the seedlings later. We just do a small garden on the deck. Too many critters, otherwise. But the boys love going onto the deck and snapping off their peas and tomatoes! I agree with you on the styrofoam tomatoes at the store... I *do* buy them year round but can't wait until the farm markets are overrun with them... Yum!

Hello to Everyone!

I thought this would be the perfect forum to join because I'm 40 something years old and have 40 something pounds to lose!

And all this talk of gardens has me eager to start my spring pottings for my patio garden. I am going to try for tomatoes this year.

I have already pruned my raspberry bush.

Have a wonderful day!

Mikki

Welcome, Mikki! Me, I'm more into flowers than veggies, and I had very little luck growing flowers from seeds last year. But I can't wait to begin planting annuals and filling the deck and yard with flowers!

Wow! I have been away a few days at a rabbit convention and show and you all have been quite busy and active. Welcome to the newbies!! It is always good to see new people on here trying to get healthy with us!

I love the pics of your dogs CAT!! They are hilarious! You must be quite busy with them. I have 3 and plan on only ever having 2 at once after one is gone. You are right that it is hard to go away with that many.

ICUWishing-I went rustic camping once with a junior high group at church growing up. They took us way up into Canada on a train and dropped us off in the middle of nowhere with all of our gear. We had to hike, white water raft and rappel back. They called it a wilderness trip but I always called it a survival trip, LOL! That is tough on a girl in junior high not being able to take a shower or curl your hair for a week especially when there were cute boys on the trip too, LOL!! It was a trip I will never forget though. One of my poor friends got her period on the trip and did not bring a thing for it. That stunk!

My plan is calorie counting between 1200-1400 since I am hypothyroid. It would be up to 1600 if I wasn't. I also run 3 miles 5 days a week and recumbent bike 12 miles a day 5 days a week.

Congrats on your ticker newleaf!! They are fun!

Any vacation plans chicks? Just got back from a rabbit show and will be doing some more of those. My husband and I will be going somewhere exotic soon. He just had his 20 year anniversary at work and is next in line for a trip. The last one that somebody got was to Jamaica. Can't wait to see where we are going!

Read any good books? Just got done with Thin After 40. Pretty good book and is how I got my start.

Favorite low cal snack? I don't do snacks and never really have. I eat my food at meals. I do like to have a cup of green tea in the afternoon.

Hi everyone, I haven't had much time to visit here because we've had some terrible rains and our basement flooded Saturday night, but I wanted to stop by and say hello. I have gotten plenty of exercise running up and down the basement stairs so I am trying to look on the bright side! Hope everyone is doing well. I hope to have a little time this evening to answer the latest round of questions. See you all soon:)!

Good Morning everyone!


New Leaf... I cannot grow flowers from seeds either... so I just buy them from one of the greenhouses around here and plant.

Beemer.. A Bunny Convention!! I love it.. I had the most amazing little Dwarf Rex... he was orange and black tigerstripes.. I took him to a local bunny breeder and he said he'd never seen a Rex that color.

As for dogs.. I agree...it's hard to go away with even one or two. I have two elderly dogs.. the JRT will be 11 this Friday, and the Dobie will be 12 on the 26th of this month. I won't be getting anymore after they go. At least not for a few years. The cat and the horses will keep me busy enough.

Lesso... You are not alone... my basement flooded on Sunday. At least it didn't reach my tack boxes and saddles! Hope you dry out soon!!

Beemer - your camping trip sounds like an episode of Survivorman! Holy cow. I'm not ready for that yet! Isle Royale is a big island with lots of moose and some wolves. It has some planned camping areas with latrines and pump wells, but we're going to avoid them unless we absolutely can't. No bears allowed, so from a death and dismemberment potential, it's very low. I can relate to the period thing - what a nightmare. I'm already checking calendars and looking ahead to July -that is the LAST thing I want to have to worry about!

Sending hugs to the floodies - even a little leak is a big problem. You've got my best wishes for low damage and minimal cleanup!

Yes, bears were on my mind while we were there as I am sure there were some around. Fortunately we never ran into any! I see you are from Michigan too. What area are you in? I am near Grand Rapids. Isle Royale is in Michigan too right? I have heard of it but never been. What mainland city is it near? Sounds like fun to camp there. We plan on getting something to tow this summer so we can go to rabbit shows without staying at hotels.

Hotsplashes-we raise and show Mini Rex. I think they have the best fur of all the rabbits. It is so plush and like velvet. I have never heard of one with stripes either unless it was a Harlequin one. They are quite striking but can't be shown. They have tons of rules and regulations about being shown. It can be a pain but you know you have something good when they win. We recently finished a Grand Champion for the first time and are working on a couple more. It is a fun hobby for the kids and I to do together.

That stinks about the flooding basements!! Mine is actually flooded most of the time. Fortunately it is just a 4 foot tall cement crawl space. We live right next to a lake so our water table is extremely high. I wish we could store things down there but we can't even up high as it smells musty. Hope you both can get a handle on the basements soon. That would be no fun!