Well I am down to 180...I hope I break the 170 mark this week. But the chance of me hitting my easter goal is slim.. 7lbs in a week and a half. I hope to at least lose 4...well off to exercise I go!!!

Zenor: I LOVE going to Ikea for dinner they have an awesome chicken caesar and I love their berry juice.

Grammy: I love almond breeze vanilla its awesome in cereal, coffee and smoothies. My sister in law doesn't drink milk so when her mothe rin law came over she had to put almond breeze in her coffee she didn't want to tell her because her MIL gives her a hard time about being vegan...at the end of there visit MIL turns to her and says..what kind of coffee do you use it has such a rich nutty flavour I love it...LOL

Shy Moment ~ 16 inches, I would be sick. I am beginning to wonder if the snow is ever going to go away. LOL! I am sure you are also. I have to have this attitude about weight loss because I have been doing it forever. I am not sure what lesson I am really learning but I sure do keep going around the same mountain, slowly making progress.

We had a discussion yesterday about protein intake here at work. I have one vegetarian student, one who is like me and eats very little meat and one faculty member that raises cattle. LOL! You can just imagine how it went. It started because the student that is vegetarian is sickly but she has a sinus condition that developed when she was young and it will never go away. It has nothing to do with her protein intake. In the end my knowledge won the battle. Remember last week I wanted to see if I was getting enough protein and discovered that I was getting almost twice the amount I needed without eating meat. I put that in the conversation and he pointed out quickly you must be eating soy. I said yes, soy, dairy and beans but I don't need to eat an animal to get enough. I also added that there is protein in most everything we eat usually just traces but it all adds up. I even stated that I know that regular consumption of soy has had its fair share of good and bad reviews written about it but I will take my chances. He said I shouldn't worry about consuming it and that is where it all ended. I just think vegetarianism has gotten a bad rap over the years by people who really don't understand. I may never give up meat 100% but I have to give credit to those who do, I think its a wise choice.

Giovanni ~ Thank you so much. I have seen the GardenBurger brand before. I am going to buy some of the almond milk because it sounds like a winner.

Thanks for the advise on taking it slow, I have definitely been doing that. Not for me mentally because now that I have been eating the alternatives I could careless about eating the real thing but because of DH and I don't want to shock my system to much. DH is slowly wrapping his mind around it. LOL! Odd that I am not asking him to do it but yet he has to wrap his mind around it. I know it sounds odd but we do share a life together and this is a bit of a shock to our eating lifestyles.

Irish ~ That is to funny about he coffee. LOL! Why do people have such problems with people not eating meat? I think its and individuals choice and just because you choose not to eat meat doesn't make people bad.

Sorry about the weight but look at the bright side you are making progress.

Well I should really get going for now and talk to you all later.

Thought I would stop in and say hello. No, I love the snow. I wish it would stay around for awhile. Winter isn't winter without a nice layer of snow on the ground. It is so pretty out there. As long as the roads and my drive are clear, the snow is ok by me.

Grammy, you need to ditch your walking partner. I had to do that. She is an Eyore and you need to surround yourself with Tiggers! Tell her you want to walk alone, what's the worst thing that can happen?? Otherwise, you'll feel like you need to hide and you may not walk.

My DD is vegetarian but won't eat any faux meats, that is a problem. She eats way too many carbs and is almost vegan at this point. She wants to give up leather and go and fight for Greenpeace. I find that noble but not realistic! But, I am her mom. Now if I were 20 again I might be right there with her trying to save the baby seals!

I am keeping my calories between 1,200 and 1,600 logging everything and going on the elliptical and not losing a thing. Trying to shake things up by eating low fat protein today. It makes me feel gross but I can do it for a day or two.

Brookelizabeth ~ I love the Eyore and Tigger analogy. The odd part is I am a Tigger at heart but life keeps making me an Eyore and to be around Eyore doesn't help. I prefer being the Tigger and I think my GS and DH would agree I make a better Tigger.

Last night DH and came into town to take the dogs for a walk. Yes, weird. We live in the country and come into town to walk but the country roads are a mess. Anyway, they ice is melting off and there are like these little ice shelves along the path. DH had to laugh because I have to step on the ice shelves and break them off. He said your as bad as a kid or am I having as much fun as a kid. I do things like this all the time. I drag sticks when I am walking down the road, walk in the mud puddles, play in the rain, kick stones, walk in the leaves and and kick them, make snow angels, you know all the fun things kids do.

Today I was really good and I had a lot of energy. Tomorrow Im eating a little more than expected so I am doing a fruit detox the next day, I usually do that to cleanse the body after eating a lot. Good night everyone!

Giovanni and Tinky ~ Doesn't the fruit detox make your tummy upset and you spend a lot of time in the bathroom? I think it would just tear me up inside and my sugar go wako. I am not a diabetic as of now but I was prediabetic for a year and then diabetic for about 6 months before I took care of it with diet/exercise which lead to weight loss and its disappearance.

Yesterday I did great. I did have dessert which doesn't happen often but I wanted something last night for some reason. So I just made sure I had just one piece.

DH wanted goulash last night so I bought fire roasted tomatoes, some really cool ruff noodles for the dish to make it fun for Jose. Then DH and Jose had ground beef and I made myself a soy burger to put in mine. DH didn't give me any hassles about it. He just let me get mine out before he added the beef. Mine was absolutely wonderful and its a good thing he added the beef to the rest so I didn't take more. I could truly over eat on that.

Oddly enough, the 1000 ways to use ground beef queen here, I took one noodle from the pan that had the ground beef in it and I about gaged. It tasted like the beef was old or something. I used to buy 10 lb bags of the stuff and towards the end sometimes the meat would get a funky taste to it like it was going bad, that is what fresh beef now taste like to me. It was just to strong I wouldn't even dream of eating more. YUCK!

The scale moved for 2 days now towards where I was. Hopefully I will be all the way there by the end of the week. I am also starting to feel a little better physically. It is amazing how eating bad foods, like I used to all the time, makes you feel bad. No wonder I was always sick and tired.

Well I better get going, small emergency here at work but not much I can do about it other than try to connect with people to get it averted. Just found out I can't even do that because we have a small disaster on our hands. What a mess, my poor boss. He needs some flowers or something. Better go and be the good employee.

I LOVE the Ikea restaurant. I haven't looked at the nutritionals, but everything they serve seems very fresh and healthy, at least taste-wise (grilled fish, steamed vegetables, plain baked potatoes, etc). This summer I had to go to Ikea to get a new bedframe, and I was less excited about the furniture than I was about the food! It's served cafeteria style, but is just so tasty.

I too think the food at Ikea tastes good and appears healthy for you. I only eat there a few times a year though.

OK, I will be honest. I had never heard of Ikea so I had to look it up. The only one in Michigan is about a 3 hr drive from where I live. One of the people I work with has been there and she said they have fantastic food. She even recognized that I was looking at Ikea furniture.

Tinky ~ I don't think I could do it. I know its good for you but I go to the bathroom enough now. LOL! Talk about TMI. Doesn't bother me, I am a straight forward open person.

OH, I just saw a recipe that made my mouth water. Faux meatball sub. YUMMO! I am going shopping tonight and I am going to look for some meatballs so I can make one while DH is out of town.

DH was supposed to be laid off for a month and had planned on going to the doctor, dentist, you know all the fun stuff. Today he was told he is headed to New York for a week and then Pennsylvania for at least one more. Another operator was fired and DH is the only one available to go. Good operators are had to come by so when they fire one its hard to find another. DH has to be back when frost laws come off to run his own rig but it will be about month before those are lifted and he could end up out there that full time. Good money but I will miss our weekends together.

I am going to use the time he is gone wisely. I am going meatless during this time and stay on plan on the weekends. No junk in the house for anyone, including GS.

Zenor ~ I found, can't remember the name think it was called Kim Chi, in the store. You are right, its an acquired taste but that isn't to say it just wasn't the brand I bought. It tasted like pickled cabbage.

Well I better get going for now and I will talk to you all later.

Man am I exhausted! We got home from Seattle about 1:30 am and both DH and I had to get up and work today. I woke up so late that I had to bring my oatmeal to work. I've never done that!

Ikea was fun! I had the salmon with veggies and I got an order of meatballs togo for DH. I think the meatballs taste like mystery meat, so they aren't my favorite thing. But DH love them. I tried looking up nutritional info and have only found it on the meatballs. Even dietfacts doesn't have any info. I'm not too worried though, their portions are smaller then everywhere else.

Grammy~Technically kim chi is pickled cabbage, but old school salt pickled not with vinegar. I love it when it's hot and spicy, but then I'm a chili head! I think it's great that you are exploring vegetarian food! I've thought at different times of going back to being veg, but I love fish and I would miss it. Other then that though, I can take or leave meat.

brookelizabeth~Since it sounds like your DD is interested in making the world a better place, maybe she should look into the Peace Corps or Americorps. They offer great life experiences and aren't as militant as some factions of Greenpeace can be. Plus, if she were to do Americorps she would be closer to home. There are lots of ways of getting protein as a vegetarian without eating meat analogs (faux meat.) Vegetarian times has great recipes that are quick and simple (most without faux meat, some vegan.) It's a great magazine! I still have a subcription even though I'm no longer veg.

Tinky~You could so give those girls a run for the title! I think you should do it! Can you be married and enter though?


Irish~I know it's a bummer when you don't reach your goals, but you are going to be so close! You are doing so well! Keep up the good work!

Well, I should go get some work done.

Has anyone tried and liked any of the alternative cheeses? I tried one and I didn't like it at all. I was thinking it might just be the brand.

Zenor ~ There are a couple of things for me that will hold me up, eating out and cheese. That is why I asked if anyone found a good brand of alternative cheese. On the Kim Chi, they had a hot and spicy but I know when its of oriental natural when they say hot, they mean hot. Glad you had a good time and I wouldn't like not know what was in the meat balls either.

Well I better get going and I will talk to you all later.