pinupgirl - loving the avatar, and your tat sounds awesome too!

I tend to use sunflower seeds as a happy alternative to croutons in a salad - or even crunchy dry anchovies (but I suspect that's more of a Thailand thing, right?).

Thanks Broadabroad!

Hmm... I think the dried anchovies are maybe an acquired taste? :):)

Sometimes at the grocery store I see these crunchy won-ton strips that have different flavors to them... they are in bags near the fancy salad dressings and bags of lettuce. They are pretty good (imho, nothing beats delicious croutons but you can come close!)

So I did a lot of thinking last night about what to do to be PROACTIVE about my plateau... I've read a lot about just switching something up in your diet/exercise regime so over the next couple of weeks I decided to up my water intake (something I definitely needed to do) and try to eat six smaller meals during the day instead of my usual eating little bits and pieces then eating a big meal at night.

Hopefully this can push me out of this rut!!

Good luck pin. Be sure to share with us how the water plan and more smaller meals works in dealing with the plateau. I am too new to have plateau issues, but a big part of my new lifestyle is thinking about how to handle plateaus...gosh, I love this site, otherwise, I would not have considered much of what I learn here!

Also, Pin, I have to tell you that the first (and only) girl I met with wings on her back was a bar owner here in my town. She showed me and I thought to myself that I had never seen a more beautiful tatoo. That is so cool that you have that!

Eny, his number is #155, but I am going to PM you as well, to make sure that you read my thanks of such a generous offering to give me tips on how to design it. You certainly did not have to offer something so generous.

Good luck to everyone in meeting goals. You all rock!!!!!!!

hi all --
More water would probably be good for all of us.

I just came from working out (and drinking a bottle of water) and weighing myself. After about two weeks of carefully eating low-fat, walking the dog lots, etc etc.... I had gained a pound! When I got to the car I called my girlfriend from college and we just laughed about it. I really do FEEL good, so I'm sure it was time of day/water weight/time of month/ or something. (I'm sorta menopausal, but still "alterna.") Anyway, I wanted to share my Plus One Pound story with you guys too and let you know that I'm not discouraged -- I'm still committed (and should be, my friends say!).

Good luck with YOUR goals, and hope the scales go DOWN soon!
anita

I LOVE that you said you laughed at your gain, guynna. It's hard when you've been working so hard and you have a "set back" (which of course, isn't a set back it's just a circumstantial happenstance). But really, you have to have a sense of humor about it or you'll go crazy!!

I love my tattoo but sometimes people say, "what goes in the middle?" because there's just two wings... they don't understand that they are MY wings!!

We go to music festivals every summer, and I've seen some wing tattoos there; maybe a tattoo will be my reward for reaching goal! I do get at least one henna one every summer, and I love those. What color are your wings??
anita

You guys all rock! Thanks you for staying here! A few months back it ended up being just me for like a week :(

Anyhow - moto - I had an inspiration on your idea - I'm PMing you back right now. BTW - I LOVE IT!!!

Guynna, great attitude!! I am too new to have experienced a gain while eating better and exercising, but it helps volumes to hear tales of it being dealt with by others like yourself in a positive way! All of you wonderful people inspire me in that I feel I am really setting myself up for everything in this journey, including the lows.

Tonight we had terrible wind, and my walk/jog was a real work out. I felt so proud!

One rant I have this week is that the family (son especially) is in mourning over mom no longer eating in front of the television. I despise this. He is a great kid who loves his mom, and he feels like I am punishing myself when I am at the table eating alone. Ultimately, when I am farther along in my journey, I am going to break my son in this habit. I am ashamed that I have passed down this trait to him.

Growing up, I never had issues with weight. But my parents have always had a television in the kitchen, so I grew up eating in front of the tv. When I began to gain weight, eating in front of the tv was huge for me.

It is so embarrassing to admit that eating something yummy was a waste if I did not have a good show to share it with. How backwards is that?

Our household is really off target when it comes to eating together. We don't eat together all that often. So, it will be interesting to see what happens when we are all eating dinner at the same time. I am on day #7 and so far, it was only Sunday that I sat at the table upon finishing breakfast cooking. My son did join me. I think he is going to be great about it. (though he approaches it as though he is visiting me in prison!) Jer? Not sure if he will come around right away, but I think he will when he realizes that he is not privy to our conversations, and feels he is missing out.

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had a good long weekend! :)

Have any of you watched the new TLC show "I can make you thing" with Paul McKenna? The first episode talked about conscious eating and that you were to sit down to eat without t.v., music or reading material to distract you. You are supposed to focus only on your food and chew slowly - this apparently is supposed to make you taste your food and be more aware of the signals your body is giving you - i.e. when you are full.

I guess I knew this but also have fallen victim to eating in front of the t.v. :rolleyes:

My resolution for this week is to set the table in the kitchen and try to get hubby on board to eat dinner there and forego the tv.

yeah, the tv thing is a killer. I agree that eating is definitely better if you eat "mindfully" and really enjoy the food. Paying attention to taste and to the way your feel when you eat is a big thing in Dr. Ornish's advice (I'm doing his low-fat way of eating), and it's also part of Buddhism. I think of myself as kinda quasi-buddhist -- got my hubby a great laughing Buddha statue for the front yard a couple of Christmases ago!! I am lucky to have a husband who likes to cook, and we don't have kids, so it's pretty easy to eat at the table.

Moto, maybe you will start your son on a whole new way of eating, that actually includes conversation! : ) Good luck!
anita

Thanks Anita! I hope that we can be better regarding that as a family!

Mauv, good luck with your goal to not eat in front of the boob tube. I am going to look for that TLC show. It sounds like it could be helpful. Do they focus on different weight loss topics each time?

So far, I am doing great with the eating in front of the TV issue. I have eaten so much less in the 8 days I have been committed to this! Yeah, I would like to know when I will be down more than a pound, but I have to get in tune with my body to understand best times to weigh and such. All I know is that no matter what the scale says, I am so much better off than I was 8 days ago!

God reminded me of His sense of humor this week...Monday, I developed this huge pimple smack dab in the center of my cheek. It has been years since I have had one so blatant and unsighly. So, I guess even though I am feeling great about myself, there will be bumps (and pimples) along the way!

moto - I'm totally on line with the unsightly blemishes! I have a nice one right next to my mouth - and yesterday i got a Beautiful mountain of one RIGHT BETWEEN MY EYES!!! yea - I get them generally when stressed of close to TOM's visit - but right now isn't either!

Oh well - such is life right?

I snuck onto the scale this morning. I was happy to see a #1.4 drop! It's been about 1 1/2 weeks since I started the IE way instead of counting calories. It's nice to know that I'm still On Plan.

So far so good for day 3 as well... Sticking to it to get over the mid-week hump!

You go, Enygirl!! Wow, I guess one good thing about middle age is that I don't have to worry about the pimple thing much any more. . . . . Of course there's the grey hair thing and the wrinkle thing. . . . : O : )
Hope everyone is having a good day --- I am trying to get out of the office and scoot to Curves for a workout!
anita

Hi again! I just came from working out (my second visit to the gym this week, I'm so proud! and it feels so good!). That extra pound is still with me, but my chiropractor this morning told me he thinks I've lost weight (or at least rearranged some of it : )

Hope you guys are having a good day too!
anita

morning chicas!

motomom: props to you for making meals the main event and not a side show, i agree with the other ladies that it really does make a difference to focus on enjoying food and each others company. it is difficult to break the habit and establish a new one, tho. but sooo worth it. ;)

as to blemishes : have a nasty monstrous zit on my neck and TOM is here. bleargh.

bloatedness and ickyness prevail . i cannot seem to shlep myself to the gym today..oh, well! enough of the negativity! hope all y'all have a great thursday ;)

Hee! See, in Thailand an awful lot of the crunchy snackfood type things are protein-based - crunchy pork, crunchy cuttlefish, flossy pork, crunchy fish snacks, broad beans - all kinds of things! (even fried crickets - which, even though I know that this is only like prawns, really, I just can't bring myself to try.) It's been a bit of an adjustment, but actually it's pretty damned handy since I'm doing Atkins, and the wee crunchy fish are a great alternative to croutons on a caesar salad (since caesar sauce is supposed to contain anchovies anyway...)

Let me chime in on the blemish and tattoo discussion - I have a whopping great mosquito bite on my tattoo at the moment! Located underneath my bra strap, damn it! But no way am I going to risk scratching the bugger!

Been away from the computer a few days...

Guynna~ The wings are a lot of different colors... I got the outline done first and then went in again with a book by Brian Froud (who is an artist... he does a lot of fantasy/faery type things) and showed the tattoo artist a pic of some faery wings... and he just went to town!!

mauvaisroux~ I watched the "I can make you thin" show... I watched the one where he talks about the pressure points. What did you think? It was a little weird how it almost came off as an infomercial... I thought even if the pressure points don't work, I think it's kind of psychosomatic- where if you THINK it's working, then it is...?

kudos to those not eating in front of the TV... that's TOUGH!! I get to the point where if I'm not doing anything but eating I almost feel uncomfortable and bored... but give me a bag of chips and a cheesy reality show, and before you know it I'm grasping for those last few greasy pieces at the bottom of the bag!

Hope all is well for everyone this evening. Things here are great. I did my walking last night with a small hand weight. That was great, but a tad embarrassing. It is such a good additive to my walking, but I will only end up doing the weight a few times per week.

I got a great incentive to keep going on my plan last night, as a friend got married in Mexico (big surprise) and is having a reception at the end of May. He hangs with a lot of 20 something hotties, so I am glad that I am on track to attend and possibly not feel inferrior.

Guynna, congrats on the positivity from your chiropractor. Every word of encouragement goes a long way.

Hope everyone had a great day!

hi all --
moto: that's cool that you have the wedding celebration to look forward to; weddings are a great excuse for a party! (and I bet you could justify buying and outfit too : )

folks with tattoo: really... how much does it hurt??? I don't want to sound like a weenie here, but....

Hope everyone is having a great day. I had a big day at work (did a guest lecture, chaired a meeting), went out w/hubby for dinner and ate a really fab, healthy meal. He ordered a gooey chocolate dessert and I had TWO bites and really didn't want more. I even got a to-go box for half of my entree & veggies and felt really satisfied and yummy.

I feel so good! : ) And I'm so glad I stumbled on to this site so that I can share the good and bad days with you -- thanks a LOT.
anita

guynna - do you have children? Tattoos hurt less then child birth.. and the adrenaline rush is better then an epidural. ;)

HA! No, I have dogs & cats but don't do primates. I have had a few rushes too, but never an epidural : )

Tattoo pain: Honestly? For me it felt like someone taking an exacto knife to my back. My other friends swear it doesn't really hurt. I will say this: after about 20 minutes of it, I kind of just zoned out- not that it didn't still hurt, but it wasn't too bad. The bottom line is, if you really want one, you'll do it and gloat about how much of a trooper you are getting through the pain!

Going for a walk to get some exercise in this morning. Snowing, but if I keep using the weather as anexcuse I will never leave. I live in the Maritimes where the weather is very unpredictable so I need to get a move on. Hugs to everyone. To those keeping track, still smoke free and loving it.Two months, two weeks, six days, 19 hours, 54 minutes and 20 seconds. 808 cigarettes not smoked, saving $323.32. Life saved: 2 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes.

Dear wantto -- (love your name) -- BIG congrats on giving up smoking!! My older sister smokes, and since our parents and our brother died a few years ago she has become even more precious to me. I so wish that she would quit, but I hear it's reeeeaaally hard. You go!! Props for braving the weather too : )
anita

apropos..
 

... serious pain

hi chicas

woke up this morning doubled over with the same--turns out i've got a v nasty UTI and will be on antiobiotics for the next 2 weeks.:mad:
suppose that might wreak havoc w/my diet becuase i feel way too :faint:and loopy to prepare and cook. ugh

tgif to the rest of u, enjoy ur weekends!

Yuck! I'm sending good thoughts your way, Jandaman. Hope you feel better soon. Liquids and rest, liquids and rest....

Jada - :hug" get better hon!!!!

Jandaman - feel better!

Well, it does hurt. But if you're REALLY bad with pain, you can get skin-numbing cream stuff to help you. I'm a bit of a wuss myself, and since my tattoo was my first tattoo the artist recommended I buy some of the stuff, and she slathered it onto my back to numb it. Worked a treat.

For the first hour.

The other five hours, though? Not so much with the numbness. (It was a six hour sitting with a 5 minute break in the middle.) But you know, it was fine. Sure, it's not madly comfortable, but pain is always much less painful/scary when you know what it is and why it is, you know? And as soon as the needle moves on, the place that was uncomfortable feels fine - like getting your ears pierced.

But I think it's a YMMV thing too - before I got mine done I was always asking people how much their tattoos had hurt, trying to gauge it, and answers ranged from 'not at all' to 'worse than childbirth'. !!!

But the discomfort is short-lived, and then you have a lovely tattoo!

I'm havign a BLAH day.. I didn't sleep well - so I'm going to try to catch a nap here in a little bit. I'm waiting for Jor (BF) to get up so that DD and I can take one together - otherwise she won't let me sleep.

I'm feeling bad about $ right now - it's stressing me out. I'm BROKE - I mean I get paid on Monday, but I haven't been like this in over a year! I know the reason - I just bought a new car, and all the little expenses to go with it cleaned me out :( Sorry - just frustrated...

Diet wise - everything's good... I actually made it on plan 5 days - and I'm working on today being the 6th.

I need a nap - I'm grumpy! :(

enygirl- I hear everything you're saying! I've managed to come down with bronchitis, and made my usual remedy last night which is a fatty vegetable and dumpling soup. Mistake. I had 3 big bowls and went to bed bloated. Today I'm so congested and coughing that I've barely eaten anything, so I'm going to try again and make another pot of much healthier stuff with loads more garlic and cayenne (I'm trying not to reach for over-the-counter meds to combat this, see if folk remedied work at all). Don't worry all, I get bronchitis like a dog gets fleas. Its over in a few days, and I'm exercising unless I start having breathing issues.

Is anyone else experiencing lottery fever? I've been picking up scratch-offs and lottery tickets for like 2 weeks for the first time since I became legal, and its fun! I have 4 draws by fluke, I asked the girl for one $3 ticket, and somehow got 3 $1 tickets. I got the one I wanted and just kept the others, couldn't hurt. But I've been feeling like something big is going to happen to me, big in a good way, so I started playing the lottery, lol.

broadabroad- I didn't use numbing cream, but after the first half hour or so I zoned out, too. Mainly, I was counting how many little drawn on hairs the giant cardboard scorpion had on its claw (I'm getting a cutesy butterfly done, and I lay down and look up and scream- big blue cardboard scorpion. WHY?!). The needle didn't hurt as much as having him stop periodically and wipe it off- felt like he rubbed all my nerves. I can't say anything about comparison to childbirth, but it wasn't the worse pain I'd ever felt.

I've had the BUSIEST week. Dear lord! :stress:

Its been a HORRIFIC diet week, and the one day I tried to cook healthy, I put salmon in the oven to bake for like 10 minutes and went to sit on the sofa and catch a break. Then I woke up to a nice smell of FLAMING salmon.

Aren't I the :chef:?

I had to use a fire extinguisher again, and I was hoping I wouldn't have any accidents this year! But I guess I was to blame. I should've picked up Subway or something, but it was like 11, so they were closed. This week won't be busy at all. I have it off! :woohoo:

I tried to catch up with the posts, so please bare with me!!

I LOVE sunflower seed kernals. IDK why I didn't think of that! :)

I know exactly what your talking about. Those are YUMMMMMMMMY.

I know what you mean! However, being a teenager, I still get them anytime, it doesn't matter if it's close to TOM.

WOW! :cheers:

:hug: Get better!!

I :love: scratchers. I almost had an... erm... addiction. I was spending like $100 a day! :o

howdy chicas!

just a quickie, thanx for the well-wishes..pain has gone but the meds have left me durrrrr and super-loopy. hafta figure out how to teach in this mental state:) lotsa quiet/group work.

hope ur week starts out great! skim mocha lattes for everyone!

Hi All,

This is my intro to the Alternachicks and didn't want to start a new thread...

I am an expat living in Asia (Tokyo for 3 years and now Beijing - been here for 8 months). I am hoping to find some like-minded people on this forum to chat with occasionally...want to lose around 15 lbs.; but more importantly, want to make the gym a regular thing rather than a sporadic thing! I think I need someone to hash out neurotic issues with...I seem to have a disconnect between knowing what I should do and what I actually do.

Biggest obstacles I am facing here are food safety issues and air pollution! In Tokyo, I walked to do my errands, but here I would choke on smog - so I have to rely on the gym for ALL of my activity.

Looking forward to getting to know you all! :wave:

hi belleinasia, and welcome --
Boy, that disconnect b/t "should do" and "actually do" is true around the world!

okay, i had to come in for an early mtg and so didn't go to the gym (or even walk my dog) this morning, so i WILL go this evening -- so if i go, you go, okay?

Now that I've "said it" to someone I feel more committed!
take care of you and have a great day,
anita

Wantto, You deserve the biggest hug in the world for your commitment to quit smoking. That is so very hard, and you are kicking a*s at quitting smoking. I bet it feels so good to not smell like smoke and think about it all the time.

I hope you have a lot of supportive people around you telling you how great your life change is.

Bell, welcome. You will find so many supportive people on this site! Sorry to hear that the smog is making working out more difficult for you to incorporate into your routine.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Hi, Belle!

Oooh, Tokyo - colour me envious! I'm thinking that will likely be my next stop, after Bangkok - I'm signed on for another year here in The Big Mango, but Japan is calling to me. I have a strong suspicion that it will be JUST my cup of tea! My wee sister lived in Beijing for a year - I know she enjoyed herself there a lot too, but I'd think it's quite the culture shock after Tokyo, no?

Anyway, as to the gym - what kind of exercise are you thinking of? General workouts, or a particular program? I've started following the C25k program, which involves 3 sessions a week of walking/jogging - because it's an actual PROGRAM, rather than me nagging myself that I ought to go to the gym to meet my own targets, I'm finding that a bit more motivating so far. But YMMV.

(I've also decided to look into Bellydancing classes - have been vaguely thinking about that for months, but last night I hit Google, found a place, found a course starting on Saturday and I'm going! Think I may even have successfully lured a friend into accompanying me! I suspect I'm going to be all nostalgic for Cairo pretty damn soon!)

Wow, are you so worldly. You make this Midwestern gal feel very plain! I hope the belly dancing goes very well for you. It sounds like fun, but I don't think there are any such classes in my area. I am considering a membership to the Y, but family memberships are so high around here.

Hi and thanks to everyone for the welcome.

I am not familiar with C25k, will do a web search and see what I come up with...I usually (operative word) treadmill (walk on steep incline or jog) 4x a week. Although, I go through periods of skipping a couple of weeks and feeling fat, unmotivated, etc. and then drag myself back. I usually watch my iPOD - download movies and TV shows from i Tunes, so helps the time go by faster.

Was on holiday in Cambodia 10 days ago and took gym gear as I was DEFINITELY going to go, but didn't even unpack the gear in the end. And I haven't been since we got home, either! :headache:

The gym is in my complex and it is fantastic - our gym in Tokyo was pitiful and I blamed the facilities for my lack of motivation to go...now I have no excuse, but walking across the courtyard seems like a marathon some days.

I have my gym clothes on today though and have charged the iPOD, so am a few steps closer to getting there!

Thanks for the support!

Sorry, motomom - I hope I didn't come across as sounding like a jerk? I got a bit excited at happening across another expat-in-Asia, type of thing - so much of the conversations I have here/the products listed on Fitday/my online weightloss journey is embedded in American culture - and I'm neither American nor living in the West.

fwiw, the stuff that YOU take for granted is equally exotic to me. I mean, Jings, I have American friends who talk about cowboys like they're just a normal thing, whereas from my pov you might as well be talking about spacemen! And ditto, oh, cheerleaders and American football proms and iHoP and all that stuff - it's all foreign and infused with this strange glamour of through-the-looking-glass-ness, because it's all familiar through TV and movies, but it's no closer to my own reality than the deck of the Starship Enterprise is. So next time you visit Target or Walmart or see someone eating a breakfast burrito, think how it would look from my PoV!

;)

Belle - C25K is a running program that takes you from absolute beginner to being able to jog 5k straight. Theoretically it's 9 weeks, iirc, but being phenomenally unfit and horrifyingly overweight, I'm taking it VERY easy, and not trying to race through it - but I'm doing it 3 times a week.

If you pop over to the Exercise forum, you'll find more info there on the C25k thread. (Although if you've googled it, you likely know the whole thing already!) You can also download free C25k podcasts, if you like, rather than listening to your own music mix - the fella who put them together tells you when you need to shift to jogging, when you need to move back to a walk. I think that's probably more useful for those people who are jogging outdoors than for those using treadmills, though - perhaps in the summer I'll do that (if I do indeed go for a run in the early morning/evening, when it's cooled down enough to be viable). Right now, though, I'm happy with my wee iPod shuffle.

I've got my gym targets pinned up on my front door, and I cross it off each time I've been.

I also find (and this is just me), that if I sit down when I get home, or lie down, then it's very hard to motivate myself to turn around and go to the gym. I pretty much need to come in, get changed, and leave straight away.

hey chicas!

when last we had met i was suffering horribly--now the antibiotics have finally seemed to have kicked in and i can check in on ya'll;) what i'd like to know is why are we women subject to such debilitating stuff like monthly periods, UTI's, rupturing cysts etc. etc? unfair! *grump* men and their open plumbing seem to have it sooo easy!! okay, got a bit carried away there.

anyways: hope all you guapas have a great night.

belleinasia: always nice to meet fellow expats! even tho tokyo is so worlds more glam than mundane lil germany. good luck on ur weight loss journey