Good morning...rushing to get ready....the 1st Xmas party is this noon. I found a recipe for the easiest snack. Roll out the premade tube cresent rolls and reshape into little squares. Got 12 per tube. Mixed feta cheese and scallions and splash of beaten egg. 1 Tsp per square, seal, egg wash and bake for 10 minutes. Has about 60 calories per coissant, but yummy. Love to bring different kinda stuff.

See down here in Retirement land we have everything at early bird special or time. At least it warmed back up.....off running.Karen3

Good Morning from 5 degree weather in MN.
I know what you mean Lynn, I think restaurants put extra salt, fats, sugars and other things in their foods. Of course it tastes good too.
This has got to be the hardest time of the year for most of us to maintain that weight we lost especially if we have traditionally done all of the cooking (except for maybe Karen3). :D Here in MN among the Scandinavians it's the land of white food. I mean cream sauce on everything even in the vegies. And the salads all have whipped cream, cream cheese, mayo, buttermilk dressing or some other sweet or fatty topping like marshmellows. Then they have foods like lefse (made from mashed potatoes, cream, butter and flour), Swedish meatballs in gravy, lutefisk with heavy rich cream sauce and butter (I'm sure it's to mask the taste). :^: My MIL expects it all at the holiday gathering at our home. I haven't acquired a taste for most of it over the years so I sneak in steamed vegies, green salad and a fruit salad to give the table some color and taste something other than cream or butter.
Have a good day everyone and for those in a northern climate, stay warm.

Lily

Good Morning Everyone,

I'm having a lot of trouble sticking to my goal of 1200 calories or less/day & the scale is showing it.

I know the problem - I'm eating more carbs each day & therefore, I get hungry. The best way to stop the hunger for me is to cut the carbs. But, for some reason, I allow them to creep back up & then the calories follow.

Today, I WILL keep the carbs down around 30%

Lynn

It's a snowy Minnesota morning here, very festive looking! I laughed when I read the following from Lily:
It reminds me of my DD's pastor who is from the South. Whenever the church got together for meals (very often) everyone brought just what Lily described plus all these hot dishes made with cream of mushoom soup. He hated casseroles with soup in them, he's Italian and not used to Scandinavian dishes. He wanted just once for people to bring a dish with no sauce in it! He said it in a kidding way and everyone laughed, then went right back to bringing casseroles with cr. of mushoom soup in it.
Lynn...How many grams of fiber are you eating? I'll get on my soap box again about fiber, the BIGGEST REASON I lost 36 pounds and very quickly is because of fiber and I was never hungry. I don't know how that would work with your carbs, but everyone that post on the accountability thread would be giving themselves a big boost if they would not only track their fiber but make sure it's 25 grams or more.:soap:
Karen3...I've been curious ever since you started posting all that yummy food you make, can you actually lose weight in your household?
I would have to be tied down, gagged and a close-pin attached to my nose so I couldn't eat, get up to eat or smell the aromas of cooking.
Anything I make for guest has to be tasted to make sure the recipe turned out correctly, enough salt, etc. and those little bites here and there would do me in unless I tasted it and promptly spit it out:rofl:
Isabella...When is your Christmas program? Once that's over you can relax a little. One year I was in charge of the whole kids Christmas program and I remember not breathing until it was all over. I bake up Christmas packages for the mailman, our local newspaper and Shopper, If I bake them and put them right into gift boxes and wrapped them, I don't get tempted.
YoYo...Glad to hear you're not smoking, good job! We'll start calling you Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz once you get to Kansas. :rofl:
Home depot finished up Thursday and we've been in a mess up until today, now I can finally dig out all my Christmas decorations, put up the tree, etc. (I usually put it up right after Thanksgiving) I better get busy, have a great week-end all.
P.S. Meowee... I wrapped a long green/red berry holly wreath around Charlie's neck and took a picture of him outside in a snow bank for our Christmas cards this year, he's adorable. Do you do anything with your cats?

Morning all....The boys went way out in the Gulf and brought home a bunch of grouper and we're gonna have a fish fry this weekend. It will be extra good cause I don't have to cook it.

Bobbi...I actually do better when cooking up a storm. Apparently the smells cut off my appetite. I used DH as my personal taster. The poor guy has been in some nasty trials. He patiently says keeper or not. The party yesterday was fine. I have finally learned not to eat much. First couple of years I tasted everything and barely made it home with classic food poisoning symptoms......yuck....I do learn even if it is always the hard way. When tempted I try just a taste...everyone was saying the blueberry pudding dish was wonderful so I took a wee taste....and got all the berry seeds. I believe that the diet troll saw an opportunity to get me. (yeah witha name like Karen I'm Danish and believe in Trolls)

Lynn...Vegies Vegies Vegies....only thing to stop the carb creep. Can always tell if I went off OP because I crave crabs. I double up on vegies and it passes. You have put up my whine about vegies all year. They do work. I keep my tub of vegie soup in refrig and have at least one bowl aday. Have even heated a bowl late at night to fill the empty nooks in my belly.

Gotta get out and moving. They are closing the hwy thru town at 3pm for parade. Which anywhere else would be fine, but we have no side roads. You can't get anywhere. Town will look so funny. There are pickups backed up so whole families have their viewing spot reserved. 8 hours before the actually parade. The Southern way of holiday tailgating.

YoYo...aren't you a free spirit now. Enjoy this holiday. Which new suit are you gonna wear to your new job in Jan?

Sorry Linda...but I had such a giggle thinking of you chasing the Kats with wreaths of holly for decorating.

later...hugs, Karen3

Quick fly by....Thanks Bobbi for reminding me how much fun ebay is....I peeked yesterday and bid/won a scabab ring and then bracelet. It's my gift to me for 70lbs gone. Did you all have a scarab bracelet growing up? I loved mine.......karen3

OK, Bobbi & Karen,

I'll try it. I've changed my challenge thread to count protein and fiber as well as calories. I will re-focus from trying to limit carbs to trying to increase my protein and fiber.

Lynn

Yesterday, I ate 1127 calories; carbs 190 g (61%); protein 57 g (18%); fiber 28 g.

However, I didn't eat veggies. Today, I'm going to try to up the veggies and protein and lower the carbs. I'm worried about my blood sugar with 61% carbs.

Lynn

Morning all...Lynn my "vegie soup" recipe is so easy and be easier if I had electric can opener. Sautee onions and peppers in olive oil, add lg can of diced tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, beans(black),cabbage any vegie left over like broccoli cauliflower and lg container of chicken stock....then during the week I add more tomatoes. Must admit add a can of corn just because I love the stuff and figure stretched out over a week it is a few spoonfuls a day. Spice it with salt pepper and garlic. hmmmmmmmmm know what am havng for lunch.

I stuck in left over brown rice once but it sucked up all the juice and became paste. Yuck! DH likes okra in it. I added okra and shimp and called it Gumbo for company.

Just started a pot roast in the crock pot and will leave Dash in charge of dinner. He doesn't do oven well, by the time dinner is cooked he has herded both of us out to the kitchen 10 times. Then lays in doorway singing "feed me"! At 75lb he can herd anyone.

Stay warm everyone.....Karen3

Karen...I had a large question mark on my forehead when I read your post about Scarab jewelry so I check ebay. I don't think I've ever seen this type of jewelry before. DH major in college was biology and he said Scarab was a beetle. He said the ancient Egyptian used to put gold and chains on real beetles and wear them, probably where the fad came from.Lynn...Good Girl, I'm proud of you. 28 grams of fiber is a great start, just be sure to drink lots of water or you'll be constipated. Two foods I ate and still do every day is Fiber One cereal, 14 grams of fiber and only 60 calories per serving (carbs 25 g)and Flat Out wraps, 9 grams of fiber, 90 calories and 16g carbs. You can make great roll ups with these, spread 2 Tablespoons of PB2 (53 calories)
and lots of fresh lettuce, easy to eat and pack for lunches. I also like to substitue some crisp celery in place of the lettuce. After supper I eat any flavor sugar free pudding (I make 6 serving out of it instead of 4), top with sugar free cool whip and top with 1/2 serving of fiber one. It's yummy, makes it taste like upside down pie.
My 10 year old GS called this morning, his Christmas program is tomorrow morning, hope we can make it as we're suppose to have up to 10 inches of snow. How about you Lily? We're in opposite directions of the state, you probably won't get it.
Have a great week everyone, those of you on the accountability thread keep up the good work. We're all watching:gossip:

Good morning, good morning :wave:

Love the Monday morning funny Bobbi One of my fondest NSV memories was the day, after my workout, I just zipped my sports bra over my head without having to wiggle and contort :lol: I'm a little confused with tons of fiber and being constipated. I've sort of avoided trying Fiber One because I was concerned about the, um, opposite problem.

I'm an insatiable taste tester Karen3 - I'd never in a zillion years be able to do all the cooking you do and stay OP. I'd be at 2000 calories just from nibbles before I ever actually sat down to eat a meal :lol: You being able to spend whole days in the kitchen whipping up amazingly yummy stuff and continuing to lose borders on the heroic.

OMG Lilly I laughed so hard about the Scandinavians and their "white food". All the old memories of holidays at my Swedish grandmother's house just flooded back and you are so right! I don't think we even had sweet potatoes or green beans - we had white potatoes and rutabagas. Closest thing to color was the brown meatballs.

Today is my first day as a lady of leisure (for a month anyway). Had all kinds of grand plans for cleaning out closets, shampooing rugs, doing a Little crafting, organizing the garage, and so on and so on. So, woke up to a grey, rainy day and having "motivation issues" :lol: Sitting here working on my 3rd cup of tea instead. I have a sink full of the last pomegranates off my tree that need to be cleaned (or tossed - birds got to some of them so not sure if the seeds inside are still good). Kitchen floor could used a serious scrubbing instead of the quickie mopping it usually gets. So could the rest of the house for that matter. And, of course, there is the usual pile of laundry I could be doing instead of surfing the net and resisting the urge to turn on the fireplace (gas log) and retreat to the couch with a book and even more tea (gotta switch to herbal though - the green tea is about to caffeine me into fits). Got three weeks under my belt as a non-smoker so I'm kind of getting over myself on that front (still prepared to get the occasional craving but just doesn't seem to be that big a deal anymore). Time to get back on the exercise horse and be consistent about it! Got lots of time now so no excuses.

Have a spectacular day all :grouphug:

Love the Monday morning funny Bobbi One of my fondest NSV memories was the day, after my workout, I just zipped my sports bra over my head without having to wiggle and contort :lol: I'm a little confused with tons of fiber and being constipated. I've sort of avoided trying Fiber One because I was concerned about the, um, opposite problem.

Yoyo...a nutritionist was asking me about how much protein, fiber, fat grams, etc. and I told her I average over 50 grams a day. She said that was great but warned me about drinking plenty of water if I consumed that much. I get 8 glasses in a day and never had a problem of constipation or the 'trots'. I doubt anyone would get diarhea from one serving of Fiber One.
Check out the Coconut Meringue cookies I posted on the recipe thread.

Hi everyone..i had an exciting day.. the kind u dont want..i got up at 5 am to use the bathrm and smelled smoke..woke up the dh and he checked things out and couldnt find anything so went back to bed .sometimes when its windy we can smell the neighbors wood stove and it was windy .. once im awake tho im up for the day..about an hr later i noticed the furnace not running:( got the dh up again and we waited till 9 :(to call repair service..they came at 1pm and by that time i was freezing.. the brain box on the furnace fried itself and thats what i was smelling..thankgoodness i woke up and we didnot have a house fire..our smoke detector had a dead batterie so ladies check your smoke detecters. .it could have been so much worse than the expensive bill i was given..hope your day is going better (((hugs))) rosey :wave:

Just to let you know I still exist. My back has gone out again and this is the first day since last Friday that I've actually been able to sit upright long enough to type.