I've always wondered how do you cook Spaghetti sqush? Does it look like spaghetti? Is it good, How do you eat it? Dingy blonds wanna know! LOL!

good morning ladies! Well school cancelled here again! At this rate it'll be July before they get summer vacation.
Well for the question of the day: I try a new recipe at least 4-5 times a week.

Yeah, dingy blondes do want to know! There's so many veggies I haven't tried because I don't know how to cook them or what they'll be like. I have texture issues and don't like surprises! ;)

Well I've made spaghetti squash before but didnt really like it, perhaps I just need the right recipe. I love squash but tried to use it as a pasta substitude. Its not very tasty with spaghetti sauce IMO! Its super easy to cook. You just cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and bake it in the oven with the flesh side down. Or you can microwave it too.

The texture is stringy like spaghetti would be, but its firmer and has a very slight "crunch" to it.

Good morning! I hope all is doing good today!

Question of the day

I got a You Can Do Yoga and Pilate's videos with Leslie Sansone. Never really tried either of them before. I enjoyed both of them. Going to incorporate them a couple of times a week each into my exercise routine.

ksk
I have a few of Leslie's firming videos I also have a group of upper body exercises I do with light weight dumbbells. Someone here at this site, as a matter of fact, posted the site that gave the instructions for the exercises. Little by little I have added exercises to that group. Takes me about 40 to 60 min to do that group of upper body workout. Diet.com has some great videos.

OH MY GOSH!!! I can barely breathe!

I took my freebie week for the second weigh-in b/c I was afraid to weight myself because I only worked out 4 days last week due to sever migraines and I just knew I was still in the 220's. I have been stuck in the 220's since Nov./Dec. and it seemed as if something was working against me to keep me there but something told me to get on the scale a few moments ago and I weigh 219.2 (I'm hoping the .2 and then some is from breakfast and water i've been drinking all day)!!! I'm so excited, I swear I did some kind of weird shuffle dance and screamed aloud. This is certainly something good!

I tried the spaghetti squash after a friend told me that she could not tell the difference between it and real spaghetti. Well....there is DEFINATELY a difference, but it is one that you can live with. I figured that we would do it every other time we made spaghetti. I did cook it in the microwave. I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and put in cut side down in a dish with water. I then covered it with clear wrap. She told me to cook 8-10 minutes but I had to cook it much longer. I just kept checking it. When I could easily scrape out the inside I figured it was done. It did have a little crunch compared to normal spaghetti. I thought it was better the next day reheated. I definately prefer ww pasta over it, but for the calories I am willing to alternate.

Optimist K - Yea! :cb::cb::cb:

I love spaghetti squash. We use it with spaghetti sauce and hardly ever use regular spaghetti noodles. It's really good plain with a little salt and pepper too.

Melissa - a limo lunch date sounds fantastic! Just watch out for that all you can eat lunch deal that Pizza Hut has... I've been to that once or twice (before I was dieting), and I always remember eating a TON!

Andi - thanks for sharing! I wish my gym had one of those. Maybe I can bug management till they get one!

Question of the day:
I try a new recipe every day or so. Today I made miso soup with some shiritaki noodles - had never had them before, but they were great, and only 20 cals for a huge serving! (Regular pasta would probably be about 200). I am SO going to be buying them in bulk. I still haven't tried spaghetti squash, but that's another pasta substitute that's on my list to try. It sounds like tomato sauce with it has mixed reviews, so what are other topping recommendations?

I really like spaghetti squash too- with meat sauce. But I also like green beans or broccoli with meat sauce too when I am watching my carbs. I just puncture it with a pretty good sized knife and microwave it for 10-15 minutes, then slice and pull out all the stringy stuff.

Well, I ran my day2/week4 of C25K- those 5 minute runs are challenging, but the 3 minute ones feel great so I guess I'm getting there. Haven't looked yet at what I'm up against next week-- yikes!

I bought new running shoes today! They feel soooo wonderful. The lady watched me walk and looked at my feet and I tried on 3-4 pair. These are just so cushy and comfortable. I ended up getting the Adidas Adistar-I've always gone with New Balance in the past so found it interesting that these felt so much better. I almost can't wait for my run on Friday :p

Yay, K!! Hopefully I'll be joining you there in a couple weeks!! :D

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Hi there ladies! It looks like we had another great week! I started excercising last week and then I was sooo sore I could barely move. Well I am back to being able to move again. I am going to try to start again tonight. I am sorry I really don't have time to go back and read this thread! But I am soooo proud of all of us who are sticking with it! Keep up the great work!
PS. It is -20 here today! Brrrrrrr!

Laura I've had those Shirataki noodles...really good! Plus i cant have a whole lot of them because after awhile the texture kinda grosses me out but such a great alternative to regular pasta.

So, here is how my day has gone. After my shower I bent my fingernail back the wrong way and it hurts so bad to type!!!

and then I went to Pizza hut in the limo, kids thought that was just so fantastic. I started off with a nice big salad and used oil and vinegar because they had no light dressing and 1 slice of pizza. Had I stopped there I'd have deserved a reward. I went and had another slice, a little bit of this pasta salad and a cinnamon breadstick. Now this is WAAAYY better than I would have ever done before but it was still way over my points allowance for lunch. I'm sure i can still come in within points today but no idea what I'll have for dinner! Live and learn!

Still gotta get my run in tonight! Okay finger throbbin..gotta stop typin! LOL!

I am going to have to try those noodles now. Can you find them in a normal grocery store?

Melissa - OUCH! That is painful and unfortunately those seem to take a while to heal. I think you did good for a day at Pizza Hut. My problem with that is that when I blow lunch I have a hard time bouncing back and that is one of the key things with my goals. Don't beat yourself up and just jump right back on the wagon again.

Kari - I am going to have to try the spaghetti squash with just salt and pepper.

Cecil - WOW -20!! I cannot imagine. I don't know if I would want to get out of bed in that kind of weather. I sure don't have to worry about that in Texas.

Emily - I really am thinking about trying that program. I need to look it up to learn more about it. Is there a specific website that you can get it from? I have never been much of a runner, but I would love to be able to jog a mile again. New shoes is such a great motivation to work out!

I hope everyone else is having a good day. My eating has been good today. I am going to get the kids to bed tonight and get a good workout in on the treadmill.

I'm beat ladies! This whole baby thing is wearing me out:) He is a good little guy, it's just I'm not used to having to do all the little extras that come along with babies. My eating was been really bad today, I feel like it's starting to slip, and I want to gain control of it before it goes totally insane. It's so cold out that the thought of going out to the gym does not sound fun at all!!! I think I'm going to have to do another home workout. I'm missing my gym, but with the baby here it's just too hard this week. I'll muster up some motivation to get a workout in tonight though;) I wish I understood my deal with food. It's like I can do so good for a few days and then it's like a dam opens and I want everything I know I shouldn't have. Seriously I'm starting to think that I know what an addict feels like. It's like food consumes my mind...I'm always thinking about it, and some days I can make good choices and some days I can't! I just want to have a normal relationship with food...eat my meals and then not think about what's next, or was that enough, am I full? I just have really bizarre thoughts when it comes to food. I hate that I let something like this control my life, it is slowly driving me insane. On my mom's side I'm the thinnest female, and I always hear comments like "oh your so skinny now" and " you need to eat more" I feel like saying if I ate how my brain wants me to eat I'd be 500 lbs!! I just don't know what to do anymore...everytime I think I have it under control it always comes sneaking back up on me to bite me in the arse!! I'm sick of it!!! I've tried talking to Kev about it, but he just doesn't get it. I don't think most people get food addiction. They think just don't eat, well that's like saying just don't shoot up with herion, ya know? If it were that easy nobody would be addicted to anything. I've talked to my obgyn also, and she doesn't seem to get it either. It's always getting linked with PMS, and true enough it's worse before TOM comes that is not the only time. I don't mean to unload this all on you guys, I mean I know that is what this is for, but still I know nobody can fix this but me. It just feels good to write it down, and maybe if any of you are going through, or have gone through this you could give me some advice. I don't want to live the rest of my life for food. I'm only 28 yrs. old, so I hope I can come to grips with this before my children start getting effected by my strange relationship with food. I don't want to pass this down to any of them, and dangit I've lost close to 65 lbs I should be proud of myself, but when I look in the mirror all I see is oh this looks too big, or this looks too flabby! I'm sick to death of comparing myself to every women who passes me by. Am I as big as her, is my butt smaller then that, how about my legs are they bigger....you all get the jist of it....I just want to be healthy! I want to look in the mirror and like what I see, I want to open the fridge to cook dinner without having a panic attack. I can't do this anymore. Okay again sorry for the ramble. After all that I'm going to start dinner, and get my workout in before I crash and burn for the night. Sorry about not getting to personals today, it's been a crazy one;) Have a great night ladies~

DK...I got the noodles at the Good Food Store. I would think any type of store you've got in your area that is considered "health food" or has alot of tofu products. I found them in the refrigerated section. Make sure when/if you get them that you rinse them very well! REALLY well. Cuz they stink if you dont.

It's just a few days from TOM over here and my body is rebelling. UGH! Scale said 201 today and I almost fainted - are you kidding me? I decided every day before my trainer I will be doing 2 miles - 1/2 mile warm up, 1 mile run 1/2 mile cooldown. It tires me out but I am sure it will get easier. I just need something more apparently. Sometimes this whole weight loss journey is frustrating!

Want you all to know I thought of each and every one of you last night. All that you say. All the problems you have with food and how you have over come them. Last night was one of those horrible nights. I wanted to eat. I had no idea what I wanted. I wanted everything, I wanted nothing. There was a time I would have eaten a bite or two or three of everything trying to find out what I wanted. NOT last night ( THANKS SO MUCH ). I looked everything over dozens of times I think lol. NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS THIN FEELS, IF HUNGER ISN'T THE QUESTION, FOOD ISN'T THE ANSWER. Oh I thought of each thing you have all said. I settled for an apple cut into thin slices. It was so hard, I haven't had that happen for months. You all have no idea how much help you were.

DK, I found them with the tofu products in the refrigerated part of the produce section at my regular grocery store. Had no idea that's where they would be (I was planning on going to a specialty Asian market), but I just happened to stumble across them! And I'm thrilled that I did.

Rennie, way to go! You are doing an awesome job.

My willpower story? I had a serving of that Cheesecake Diva ice cream I was talking about... and did NOT get seconds. EVEN THOUGH I have more than enough calories for another bowl. YAY! I'm really proud of myself. That's several days in a row that I've been under on my calories - I know it's not good to be under all the time, but I'm trying to "bank" a few extra because I'm going to be at a conference tomorrow/Friday and I know I won't get many healthy food choices or much time to exercise.

Hope everyone had a great day/night!

Try this link:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I was afraid of this. I only did a weigh in every two weeks since I stared to lose weight. There is a reason for this. Doc said weigh fluctuates to much, in her opinion, for people to weigh more than this. I have found I can lose the weight I am going to lose in that amount of time in the first week or in the second or through out. I am only going to, in general lose 2lbs every two weeks. Anyway, I lost my two lbs last week. I was excited, I was going to lose more. Did my weigh in today and nope no more weigh loss. I was depressed lol. I had to go to the doc today anyway and mentioned this. I heard about it. What was I told. Stop getting on the scale more than once every couple of weeks. On and on. She was on my side don't get me wrong. Then I heard it from the hubby. He didn't want a darn scale in the house to begin with. He was afraid I would get upset about the weigh fluctuation and see it by getting on the scale more than once every two weeks lol. I know I know, weight does fluctuate and it shouldn't matter. It still bothered me. It made me feel good to see a loss EVERY two weeks at my weigh in. This was depressing to me.

He has been supportive every step of the way. He is my biggest cheering squad. He said if I get upset about this just one more time he is going to toss the scale out the window.

Hey KSK - I'm here :)

Sorry, I spend 50% of my time on craigslist and the other 50% on the phone or at work. Still trying to find a 1 bedroom apartment to rent with bad credit :(

I have great rental history people!!!! Come oooooon!! But yea sorry I am here lol. Hitting the gym tonight actually. Must get back on track!

Good morning everyone,


How are you all? I dont have time to do personals but I did read every post. Congrats on the workouts and the weightlosses. I totally forgot that BL was on Tuesday cause my hubby and I were fighting and I went to bed at 8. Oh well. I did see the ending and saw who went home. The weather here is crazy. We got this major snow storm on Monday and then yesterday it was in the pluses with rain and now its in the minuses and so everything froze. I think I am starting a cold as well. Feeling a little crappy. I hope your all having a good day. Take care. :)

teKillya....your a rip girl:) I'm going to steal that from you!!

Sorry Red team I gotta do a flyby! I've got a quiz this morning and I need to memorize the auditing standards...I hate memorization!!

Finger feels better this morning! But, I'm hungry LOL! Just goes to show ya what happens when you eat all over the board like that.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day and I'll be back in this afternoon to check on ya!! Be strong and take control! You deserve the best!

Good morning RED team!

Emily – New running shoes are awesome! I really need to get a new pair, but I have a really hard time finding ones that are comfortable. I have terrible feet. They hurt me most of the time.

Cecilia – good job on getting back to exercising! Try to stay warm!

Melissa – I’m glad the fingernail is feeling better. I hate fingernail injuries! Good luck on the quiz.

Tina – I’m sorry you’re having a rough time of it. I’m glad you have a place like the wonderful RED team to come and vent. I totally understand your thoughts on identifying with addicts. I definitely have those moments when food is the only thing I think about. My binges are certainly linked to anxiety. I get anxious about something and my heart starts racing, I can’t breathe and on comes the binge. I get out of control. I can only imagine that all of the emotions around PMS can cause you to lose all control. I don’t have any advice. Just :hug:

Cat – Hang in there. Sorry about your frustrating gains. TOM stinks!

Rennie – It’s great that you can draw on us for support. I had never heard “If hunger isn’t the question, food isn’t the answer.” I like it. That may have to go on my refrigerator. Hang in there on your scale issues. Sometimes I won’t lose for a little while and then I drop several pounds. And as Melissa says all of the time, scales are for fish! :D

Laura – Yea willpower! Have fun at your conference!

Nicoya – I hope you will find someplace to rent very soon.

Cathy – I hope you get to feeling better soon.

Roni – I hope you feel better. Did it feel like you pulled something or slept on your body in a funny way? Sometimes I get a place in my chest that feels like something (in my mind I tell myself it’s my lung but I don’t think that’s actually what it is) gets pinched between my ribs. I hope it doesn’t happen again. That does sound scary!

I’m managing to stay on track with my eating. I’m not exercising as much as I did last week, but I’m still doing at least 30 minutes a day.

Take care everyone!

Just a quick fly-in. No time for personals (I did read everyone's posts though) since I am at a tech conference through Friday.
I love reading everyone's success stories!

Good morning. Well I'm feeling a little better today. Sorry to unload all that on you guys yesterday, but I was having a really rough day. TOM finally came today, and for once in my life I'm thrilled it's here! I'm not really thinking I'll have a loss tomorrow, so I may wait until Monday and see where I'm at. I hate when I get on the scale though during TOM and it shows a 3-5 lbs gained. Even though I know what it's from it is still a huge mind trip for me. I'll be back in a bit for personals.

I am still here as well and I read all the post when I have a chance to get online. It sounds like for the most part everyone is doing well this week.

I am still working on the working out part of my plan. My diet is fine so far....there really isnt a whole lot of high calorie treats or meals I eat anyways I just dont work out at all and I dont take my thyroid meds...
Perhaps if I was to add those to elements back in I would be losing more weight. I am happy though so far I have lost 35lbs since signing up on this website. The weight loss hasnt been as fast as I had hoped but I am just pleased to be losing at all and feeling better on the inside. Take care everyone.
I am going to enter my weight as of today on the weigh in thread just in case I dont get back online this weekend.

Hello kids! Doing a quickie for now, but wanted to share my picture from TBL meet-up this past weekend! Look in the album portion of Melissa's and my page for the match-up.


Pic of Bill & Hollie

Hi Ladies! Just a little reminder for tomorrow!.....

National Wear Red Day—February 1, 2008— is a day when Americans nationwide will wear red to show their support for women's heart disease awareness. This observance promotes the Red Dress symbol and provides an opportunity for everyone to unite in this life-saving awareness movement by showing off a favorite red dress, shirt, or tie, or Red Dress Pin.

hello ladies! Well kids are home from school AGAIN today. I have a feeling they won't be going to school again tomorrow. Darn this snow! TOM is officially here, and I hate it! Just want to eat all sorts of crap and chocolate. Have a bad feeling about this week's WI. Hope everyone is doing better then me.

Hi all! Well, I had my first cheat in 30 days last night - a chicken sandwich and two donut holes. I was having an awful day and all the sudden I realized "I dont care if I go off plan." Scary stuff - especially since I weigh in on Saturday at the center. BUT, i still looked down on my own scale this morning so maybe not TOO much damage from my excess carb intake! We shall see....

Guess what?
It's -7 today! Brrrr! When will it warm up. I didn't excercise last night and I felt bad about it. But I was just so stressed out I couldn't so anything other then watch TV. When it's sooo cold I just want to cuddle up and not move. Ha! Anyway I am going to try and force my self to do it tonight. So wish me luck! And good luck to us all! We have a Weigh in coming up! Yeah!

Okay folks! My sickness that I had is leaving, and TOM should be over soon (THANK GOD!) I am READY to get myself back on track and LOSE THIS WEIGHT. I have a goal to meet for this challenge, and I'm going to do it, come **** or high water. :lol:

I have been tracking my calories again, and my calories have been good the past couple of days. I haven't worked out in over a week, because I've been sick, but I am feeling strong enough that I believe I will be able to do so tomorrow.

HOWEVER. I have terrible migraines while I'm on my period..seriously terrible. Some mornings, all I can do is lay in bed with my eyes shut and cry because they are SO BAD. I've had migraines all my life, but only started having them regularly while on my period after my son was born almost 3 years ago. It's awful! I know a lot of women have this issue, but I think I'm going to see my doc and see if there is anything I can do. It really kills me to have a week out of every month where I am just miserable.

Anyways. I am here to state that I am BACK on TRACK, and that nothing will stop me. I've been in a rut ever since I got back from Las Vegas last month, and it's silly. This is my year, damn it. Time to get on it.
;)

i'm so bad about checking in - I feel like I have to go through and do personals and then I get intimidated by the huge numbers of posts, so I seem to never get around to posting!

I've been feeling crappy lately. I quit my job in December and have been having trouble finding the right one. I've walked away from two perfectly good offers, thinking that I'd get better offers from better positions, only to get beat out by more qualified candidates. The next person who makes an offer, I'm totally taking it! I'm tired of feeling so crappy about myself.

To those of you doing c25k - I've done the program SO MANY TIMES and I always slack off and don't keep it up! You have inspired me again. I'm starting the darn program today. Thank you for that. I have to take inspiration when it comes, so I'm taking this NOW. Will check in after the gym.

jaime

Cassie, I am so glad to see you back! You seem to have found your spark again, and I for one, could not be happier! Your weight loss so far is truly inspiring and yes, this is your year! I'm sorry to hear about the migraines, I tend to get them hit or miss when my TOM comes too, why is that? I know miserable it can be but I hope you are feeling better and stronger every day!

Jaime, you have nothing to feel bad about in regards to posting. Post when you can, personals are icing on the cake really. Sorry that the job hunting isn't going as you'd like, but I know you will find something really great when the time is right. Good luck as you begin the c25k again, I know you'll do great! One foot in front of the other and keep on truckin, you can do this!

cecil, hope you're stayin warm! Just think, all that exercise will keep you nice & toasty! ;)

MSTeacher, no worries about the food. It's done and overwith and today's a new day. I think you'll do great on weigh in!

ksk, thanks for the reminder! Hope you're day is going great!

jasmine, your weight loss so far is fantastic, you dont wanna let it get away from you now, right! Definitely start taking those thyroid meds, I think it will help you out alot. You can definitely get that exercise going, c'mon, we're all here to support you!

Tina, hope you're feeling good now that AF has found you. No worries about the extra lbs. you know it's not real. Hang tight kiddo, you're doing fab!

CountingDown, good to see you! :wave:

Guess I got some catching up to do around here eh!

Jaime...I'm the queen of starting something and not following through but this time I'm not going to let myself. Thats why I talk so much about C25K because then I know people are watching me and gonna hold me accountable. You should try again!! I hope the next job offer is exactly the one you were waiting for!

Cassie...yay!! I'm so glad you are getting better! I'm sorry about the migraines though, you definitely need to get in to see someone, there is no need for you to suffer like that every month.

cecil...oooh the frigid arctic air! We had our cold spell, the coldest we got was -4 without the windchill! I hope you are staying warm!! Cant wait to hear about that workout you are gonna do tonight!

MSTeacher....way to go for going 30 days with no cheats!! that is amazing!! Really something to be proud of. And now that you've got a little indulgence out of your system you are all set to go another 30 days!! You can do it!

skinny...I've had sick kids home the past 3 days myself. Keeping my fingers crossed I dont pick it up! Hope your house gets to feeling better very soon!

Karen..thanks for the reminder! I've got my red tshirt all ready to go! Excellent job on that exercise!

Danielle...love love love the pics!!! Its so weird to see you with TV people LOL! Cant wait to be showing off those pics when we meet bob and jillian! LOL!

Jasmine...I'm glad to hear that you are still doing good!! Way to go on that 35lbs!! Thats really impressive!

Tina...there is no need for apologies, this is what your support group is here for! To support you through the ups and downs. Stupid AF huh!! That darn scale i tell ya, we should all just chuck em!

Counting....:wave:

Diva...I dont watch wife swap but I did catch the very last part while waiting for Lost to start and OMG...that lady was kinda scary looked almost like she was in drag LOL!