Hi Rennie! Nice to see you too!

Guac, I guess the loss of appetite is a silver lining, but ouch! (((hug)))

Veggiedawg, my daughter said something similar, once. "I knew it was you bacause you're big and blue!" (I was wearing a blue shirt that day.) *sigh* out of the mouths of babes...

Snarkles, I always tell my DH that as long as I'm still cracking jokes, he doesn't really need to worry...

Hey Rennie! Good to see you, too!

Guac-- you're allowed to be stressed, and get pissed, and even wallow. Some days really do suck! Just also know you are strong enough to come out the other side of all of it!

Veggiedawg -- if DH's personal trainer friend has lost alot of weight himself, well, you know he can definitely relate to the struggle and is unlikely to be judging you! Because he knows. And if he is judging inside his head, eff him, that kind of hypocrisy wouldn't deserve any respect. But let's go with he's NOT judging at all -- we'll give him the benefit of the doubt because we are super nice, non-judgy people ourselves. Mostly. So no judging yourself, either!

MagicalS -- Yeah, same here. I'm sure the last thing I ever say, EVER, will be sarcastic. You can put money on it.

Anyone watch Fit to Fat to Fit? Trainers gain a huge amount of weight to relate to their clients and then they lose the weight together? Interesting show...

guac- Yes, I watched 2 episodes today! I'd never seen it before. Pretty horrible, having those trainers gain--definitely not healthy. Watching them eat the junk though...some of it looked yummy! LOL In the one episode, I hated the trainer being so hard on the guy during his first workout. And, they still didn't seem to get it, that the dieters needed constant motivation, not just "ya, now you can do it on your own and stick with it". Makes me realize that I need to find people to workout with if I'm going to do it.

Mrs. Snark- I know, you are right. It's so hard to get out of the "what do people think of me?" mindset. I'll have to work on that--it stops me from doing a lot of things. (and I know he spends hours a day at the gym, so it's not easy for him to keep fit)

MagicSusan- what are we to do with these girls! :)

Thinking of you today, Guac! HANG IN THERE!

Veggiedawg, I think tv shows (and our general culture today, with instragam photos etc.) way over-emphasize the role of exercise and under-emphasize the role of food management for weight loss and weight maintenance. I understand that's for the drama, because it is more exciting to film/photograph people pushing weights and sweating and grunting and being screamed at to do "JUST ONE MORE!!!!" than it is to film people quietly making a large salad with tons of vegetables and chickpeas for lunch (*yawn*).

But I find weight management it is almost ENTIRELY about food management -- and if you can exercise, too, well hey, that's GREAT for overall health and the mental/emotional bonuses you get from those cute little endorphins.

I used to exercise like a beast (or my version of a beast, at least, which was frequent double-digit runs plus gym time), and would be gaining weight. Easily gaining weight SO FAST. Truth: I worked out harder when I was heavier than I ever do now. It wasn't until I learned that all my hard work and effort needed to go into making good food choices over and over and over and over again, and then over again, every day, that I was able to get my act together.

It was so tedious at first, and so uncelebrated, all those daily little choices that added up to a day in a calorie deficit. Nobody cheers when you choose a reasonable lunch, so it isn't immediately as rewarding as coming home and bragging about how much time I'd spent running incline sprints. Plus you also have to choose a good breakfast, and will have to choose a decent dinner, too. I wanted a MEDAL and an award ceremony every time I made a good meal choice. I still do, lol. There is that need for constant motivation you mentioned, Veggiedawg, lol!

But I tell you, those minute-by-minute meal choices are what works for me. My favorite recommendation (not that anyone asked me) is to focus all the intensity that usually goes into exercising on food management, and then exercise just for fun. Particularly right at the beginning when a person is just starting to make the changes that will become a long-term lifestyle. And make your exercise more of an enjoyable hobby than a torture session with angry Mistress SweatSock. Choose something you like. It doesn't have to be extreme to be effective at making you feel good.

Sorry I just wrote a book on this topic. I have feels about it, so many feels. ;)

Mrs. Snark, I say AMEN to everything you just said. What you described about working out till you drop while simultaneously gaining weight? That's been me the past 2 years. I would come out of the gym dripping with sweat, limping to my car, proud as anything about all the calories I'd burned, and go home and blow it by eating an unhealthy lunch. I thought I had earned the calories, and even stopped counting calories, figuring that I intuitively at this point knew how much I was eating. Wrong!

I'd forgotten that the first leg of my initial weight loss journey, where I lost most of my weight (40-45lbs) I didn't exercise AT ALL! I just focused on changing my diet and counting calories and monitoring nutritional information (not too many carbs, sugars, sodium, fat). I've said before that you can't out exercise a bad diet - and oh how I've tried. So frustrating. But, work smarter not harder. I'm back to focusing on nutrition, and am spending less time killing myself on cardio and more time on splitting cardio and strength. I'm starting the strength slowly. I'm at the gym exercising now for about 45-50 minutes instead of 65, and I'm only on a cardio machine for 30. I leave not quite as sweaty, but my muscles are aching the next morning - in a good way. I also feel like I am getting firmer (maybe it's in my mind). But, the scale is moving again in the right direction - very slowly, but my food choices are paying off in a way that solely focusing on exercising never did.

I had one procedure this morning. Not fun at all, but its over. My instructions are to take it easy for the rest of the day, and I'm doing just that. Tomorrow a CT scan. Not fun stuff, but at least that test isn't painful (I'll need an IV though for contrast dye, but I can handle that).

Have a great day!

I am really shocked by how little food I need, once I've been choosing reasonable portions for a while, my stomach (and hunger) really shrinks. The availability of food has changed, exercise levels have changed, even plate sizes have changed. Most people just take in much more than they need, I think.

magicsusan - I cut out sugar and lowered salt 3 weeks ago, and I am shocked by how it has affected my appetite. I actually was starting to feel a little concerned about my lack of hunger, until I realized that it wasn't so much a total lack of hunger as a lack of cravings. I think that white flour, sugar, salt, and non-whole grain carbs really trigger craving in me - oh and joint pain! I have felt so much better in terms of joint pain and arthritis. Maybe these foods cause inflammation of joints?

That's great, that your diet has made such a difference in your hunger and cravings.
I find having junky carbs totally throws me into wanting more and more. I do feel a difference in my cravings since starting my diet again, but I have to watch because I get spacey if I don't eat at regular times.

Do you ladies pack snacks in your purse for emergencies? I totally needed one today. I went to a lecture which ended at noon, but I wanted to run to a store before heading home and I could really feel that I needed to eat. (not stomach grumbling, but it was hard to concentrate.)

I'm going to pack some nut in my bag now. ((sigh))

I do find it wise to have a few healthy, easy, fast options for both snacks and meals around. Making up several meals worth (like Snarkles did with her tabouleh) keeps me from reaching for dangerously fast food-like substances when I've left it too long.

Also, bananas. I'd make such a good minion.

That's interesting about the cravings, Guac. I find that extreme salt and sugar seem to play off each other. I've noticed it in my kids, too. If they eat a bunch of candy they are desperate for chips afterward and vice versa. Another good reason to cut out excessive sugar and salt, I guess.

I know it simply takes more calories to maintain a larger body, but I wonder how much I'll be eating to maintain when I've reached my ideal weight. Betcha I'll be like a camel and I can eat a spoonful of peanut butter once a week or so. :lol:

I made some white bean patties today (aka. veggie burgers). I have 4 left, waiting in the freezer, so one meal a day is planned. I had wanted to make them earlier in the week, but I need to be in the mood for cooking/baking.
I haven't had tabouleh in ages! Yummm! I like bananas too...especially with peanut butter. :) And, now I'm hungry! LOL

The kids are home because the school buses aren't running. (freezing rain warning) It's coming down pretty good at the moment, but I'm not sure how much is freezing. Oh well, the kids are enjoying the day at home.

Have a great day!

How are you doing Guacamole, now that you are into the better, back-half of the week! (yay!!!)

Vdawg - I eat alot of white beans, and always mean to make them into patties but never end up doing it, because: lazy. What was your recipe?

MagicalS - Salt, Fat, Sugar. If an item has all of those properties, it is like catnip for me, I can't stop. Like Kettlecorn, for instance. The eating of Kettlecorn would NEVER END.

Well, I looked at a bunch of recipes online and just put together the beans, an egg, garlic, onion, bread crumbs and cayenne pepper. The hardest part was getting them out of the patty mold. I needed breadcrumbs on top and bottom--of course, I was trying to go easy on the breadcrumbs. Oh well. I think next time I'll buy a jalapeno pepper, I wanted spicy!
Do you have a favorite bean recipe?

The kids are off yet again! It's just messy out there.

Doing ok Mrs. Snark. Still rattled by healthcare stuff, but moving forward day by day. I just made quinoa stuffed zucchini for Friday's dinner. Amazing, if I do say so myself! I'm learning and improvising new vegan recipes to incorporate in my diet. It's been good, because moving to a 70-80% vegan diet hasn't been that difficult since I'm making filling and tasty foods I really like.

Mmmmm! I will google that recipe, Guac. I love quinoa and also zukes, provided they aren't just steamed to the point of slime.
Going shopping in a couple minutes; I need to think of somthing I can buy to make tomorrow that I can eat all week...

Hope you all are having a good weekend!
I had a crappy dinner yesterday, but I'll be back on plan today.

On friday, I watched an episode of My 600 lb Life (where people go through weight loss surgery) and the woman had the surgery but simply would not work to lose weight! It blew my mind. She wouldn't walk, so they had to do a 2nd operation to prevent blood clots. She wouldn't go to physical therapy. She went back to lying in bed eating fast food. Arrrrgghhh! So frustrating to watch.
And here, I was looking for motivation!

I am obsessed with 600lb life! I seem to gravitate to a lot of weight related reality tv shows - not so much the weight loss competition shows, but people struggling to lose and being shown in their everyday environments. I suppose I relate all too well!

Happy today because despite some calorie heavy meals the scale went down another pound to 168. Also happy because I bought a dress for a function I am attending tonight on clearance from a designer that usually runs small on me and 1. I got the gown for $25 and 2. It's a size 12 with room to spare! Small victories!

Yay pretty dress, that's exciting Guac! I'm sure you looked great!

Veggiedawg : I don't do anything exciting with bean due to my general kitchen laziness. I mash chicpeas into hummus, so that it is more nutritious, I dump beans on salads, and I mash them for burritos. And that's about it. I need to find a good bean burger recipe that's vegan and takes little effort. I've been eating portabello (portobello? portobella?) mushrooms as my "burger" insert for a while, and that's good, but occasionally I'd like something with more texture!

There were toooo many empty-calorie snacks in my house this weekend. Snack creep, the struggle is real. I have sent them in with Mr. Snark to work, and am going for a junk-snack-free week.

Magicsusan - couldn't agree more! I find it so supportive to keep healthy snacks and fruits and vegetables with me wherever I go. I keep a big bowl of fruit on my desk at work, table at home, and always a banana in my purse! If I don't control my environment, I reach for sweets and unhealthy options. Plus, if I'm full from my healthy snacks I am less tempted by the sweets anyway.

Hi guys. Well, maybe TMI, but PMS is here with a vengeance and I want to eat everything in sight! I'm hanging on by my fingernails not eating cakes, cookies, ice cream, bagels, carbs, carbs! I want sugar and carbs!! Ugh. Forget everything I said before about cutting out sugar and salt and reducing cravings - that works 2-3 weeks out of the month, but certainly not 4. I didn't cave in at the dinner I went to yesterday on the dessert buffet - left before it was served - but I ate a huge dinner and 2 dinner rolls. I didn't weigh myself today! :(

And my medical saga continues...the CT scan I had last week incidentally found what they think are ovarian cysts, and tomorrow I go to my gyno for an ultrasound. I really can't take much more of this. Every test I take clears me for the thing they were worried about, but finds something else to worry about -and not small stuff, but things like cancer scares or heart disease or kidney disease! I am a wreck, but at least I'll have more answers tomorrow (do I want them?). 2016 has been 2000 crap for me so far.

Sorry to be a downer. I'm a horrible patient.

Hang in there, Guac. I bet you look totally adorable in all those paper gowns. ;-) But seriously, hang in there! 2016 has to start looking up sometime!!!

Jeepers Guacamole, I hope they figure out what's wrong so you can simply feel better. I remember going through that kind of crap when I was dealing with infertility. Now, I'm like that pinterest meme "Sick and need to make a doctor's appointment...No thanks, I'll just die."

Another bad eating day. Not sure I should even talk about it. LOL.
So, the kids were off yet again because of buses not running. However, I had to go to a meeting at the school, midday, so they came with me for the hour. After, they were hungry and I knew I didn't have much food at home, so we went to Wendy's for fries and Frosty's. (both small, but I checked and that was like 650 calories!!!)
Then, for supper, I made them homemade pizza and I ate about one slice. But hey, what to do with the rest of this dough?!!? How about I make cinnamon rolls?!!? And they turned out quite well. I had one muffin size roll. I was hoping to put some in the kids lunch tomorrow, but they ate them.

Calories add up too fast.

Tomorrow is grocery day so I should be set up for success after that...right???

I hope you all have better willpower!

veggie - don't beat yourself up! I am fighting the monster PMS cravings still. I had an ultrasound appointment to follow up on one of several "incidentalomas" found on my CT scan last week, and all is well! Of course, this past week waiting for the ultrasound I convinced myself I had end stage something or other. My BP, which has been low the last few weeks, was higher at the doc's office - no wonder, as a woman being read her last rites. However, my doctor assured me everything was fine - what the CT scan picked up was ovulation and not tumors. Such a relief! Next on the list is following up on a tiny nodule the CT scan found on my lung - too small to demand follow up - but I'm following up anyway. Did I mention that I REALLY HATE CT scans and all the unnecessary worry they cause?

Anyway, I made my hubby come with to the appointment in case they told me they suspected something serious, and in celebration of the good all clear news, we went for breakfast. There went my calories! BUT - I had water and a cheeseless egg white veggie omelet. BUT - I also had hash browns and a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese! Ahh well...scale will probably go up more tomorrow (was at 169 today), but yesterday was a ridiculously, unhealthily low calorie day - less than 500 - because I was worried sick over what the ultrasound would show today. So, it all balances out eventually.

Anyway, good luck today to us all! You ladies rock! Aside from my husband and 1 good friend, no one, not even my kids, know that I've been going through all this medical stuff. So, thanks for letting me vent.

I'm so glad the ultrasound gave you the all clear! :) OMG, they told you to bring your DH! Eek! Nothing like adding to the anxiety--not that you wouldn't want him there, but still... How long until your lung follow up?

The scale was suspiciously kind to me this morning. We'll see if it was a glitch tomorrow. I got my groceries and I'm back to eating healthy. I forgot my grocery list and it totally threw me off, but I did ok. Poor cat wont be happy that I forgot her food though. Meow!

Veggie - no I told my husband to come with me! :) I am just a nervous wreck with all of these tests and more tests - each test finds more for me to be worried about....but I'm almost home free. I'm not sure what follow-up the lung nodule will need. It's too small to medically warrant official follow up, but I am getting a copy of the CT scan from the hospital tomorrow, and sending it to another hospital where I just did an MRI, and having a radiologist compare the two to see if they can spot the nodule. The MRI was for my back, so it might not have gotten images of my lungs, so I might need a chest x-ray if it didn't show up there. Then I will have a more specific measurable view that I compare with a follow up in a year or so - but if the MRI can give me that, then no need for the x-ray. We shall see...an ongoing saga...

Good for you for going grocery shopping and buying healthy things! My list is usually messy text message I send to myself...and I usually forget to add things I need. Oh well!

TRUTH!

Also, I hope your kitty doesn't retaliate for the forgotten chow in your shoe or anything. ;)


Guac -- glad the ultrasound was clear! And if you can just hammer that lung into submission, you'll be hunkydory! *fingers crossed*

Oh, man, Guac! That's relentless. Veggie, I keep edamame in the freezer to avoid the wendy's problem. They're quite filling. Hard boiled eggs are good too. Good job getting back on track.

I was doing great (great weigh-in this morning) then had indian food for dinner. I think there was about the same amount of calories in it as I've eaten in the last three days. :halfempty:

Oh, the cat retaliates for simply not cleaning her litter box fast enough. She's old and grumpy.

I like soy beans too. Hard boiled eggs, are hit and miss with me.

No wonder they say to avoid restaurant food when dieting. Mmmmm...Indian food.

Do you ladies watch youtube video's/documentaries for motivation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJESSnW79j8 I thought this show was interesting.

Sorry! Didn't mean to throw you under a bus! To atone, Guac has inspired me and I shall attempt to make quinoa stuffed zukes tomorrow!

veggie - I have seen this. As I said, I am obsessed with weight related documentaries - well really documentaries in general - but when I am on a weight loss kick, I love weight loss docs - and BBC/UK docs are the bomb!

magicsusan - they are really good! I halve and scoop out the zucchinis and roast them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkles of sea salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I chop up the insides of the zucchini along with chopped onion, garlic, red pepper, portabella mushrooms, eggplant and saute with a bit of olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, zatar spice, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, black pepper, a dash of salt. I cook my quinoa in a rice cooker so it sprouts in the heat and gets soft - then I add it to the veggie saute. This all takes about 20-30 minutes, and I take the roasted zucchini out of the oven and fill it up with the stuffing and pop them back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes just to solidify and cook everything together.

I froze half of them last time, and am still eating from the batch I made last Thursday - I have 1 half left. There's not much to go bad, as long a they are refrigerated - no eggs, meat, or fish to worry about going bad. I'll see if the frozen ones get soggy upon defrosting and reheating when I am ready to eat them (probably next week).

I'm back too after a few years for support. It really helps me to see others suffering with me. As Sh*tty as that sounds. I put 19 pounds on over the last two years. I'm turning 40 on the 31st and I'll be damned if I'm going to let myself be a fat old lady. In my mind nothing ages you more than being fat. I was a fat kid and finally took of the weight when I went away to college. In stead of the freshmen 15 I lost 110 pounds.

I think I set myself up for success. I'm down 6 lbs in the first 3 days! Which I know is not all weight, but man is it encouraging. I'm doing a 1200 calorie diet. And, a count down of 60 days. Doing a 1200 for more than two months will drive me crazy.

Guacamole I recently decided to not used artificial sweeteners. Obviously there are a ton a reasons to not use them, but I have not had any cravings for sugar since stopping them. I use raw honey in my tea and coffee. Yeah there are calories, but if I'm dying for a piece of cake after my cup of joe, I'm really screwed.

Hello Lexi! Welcome! Sounds like your plan is working so far :)

Thanks for the tips, Guac. I've got them in the oven even as we speak. I don't have everything you mentioned (no Idea what zatar is so I'm using chipotle :D )

Anyway, all, I'll just start a March thread, okay?

Welcome Back RDLexi!! The kind of trade-off you make having the honey in your coffee versus dying for cake later if you don't have it, are the kind of trade-offs that make a plan sustainable long-term, so I totally get it. I have chocolate almond milk in my morning coffee for the same reason -- it is well-worth the minimal calories it adds for the enjoyment I get and for forestalling cravings for something far worse (like a whole bag of paul newman cookies).

Guac -- I really really want the stuffed zucchini now, but oh, the cooking involved. But oh, they sound sooo good. Maybe I can she go over to MagicalS's house after she's made them.

Veggiedawg -- love docs like that, particularly when the narrator has an accent. I'd listen to the narrator or the video you linked to describe how to clean out a refrigerator.