Featherweights Planning for Mar 19-26
 

Well, what's the twist this week? I know some of you are planning on stringing together several on plan days.
I'm going to check out real stomach hunger and continue with my 'kilometers in March' ticker.
I'm floundering a bit with decent weights days. I should try for two really good ones.

Accountability
 

Hi SusanB,
Accountability is the word for me this week!
I am promising myself that no matter how stressed I get, I will try to recognize it and stop myself for reaching for food to cope with my emotions. I had a lovely weekend, which was totally stress-free and guess what? I didn't overeat or even want to overeat. Food is a way for me to cope with feelings of insecurity and I read that this happens because when under stress our bodies release a hormone called cortisol which actually increases our appetites! When I get stressed, I feel ravenous sometimes. Its all I can do to not put something in my mouth. But this article actually pointed me to the fact that there is also a physical reason and it is not all in my head. Its how I deal with this situation that is my challenge and my choice. So, this week, I want to be accountable to everyone who wants to make the right choices. Does anyone have the same problem as I do? It would be interesting to hear others' stories.

Stress I hate it!! Even when I don't over eat when I am stressed I gain weight, or is it because I don't notice that I put food in my mouth when I am stressed... I strongly believe in that cortisol hormone...

This week I want to stay OP all week till at least Saturday night when we are having Chineese with friends...

article in Chatelaine magazine
 

There's a great article this month in Chatelaine magazine called 'Face your toughest pounds' that really explains the hormone connection well.

:wave:

Hello! Things for this week are

1) Eating when I'm hungry, stopping when I'm satisfied
2) Getting my @r$e to the gym to do some weights and some running
3) Concentrating on being balanced and healthy and loving life :)

Morning everyone.
I've packed my lunch and am just about ready for work. I'm very happy that I switch to evenings tomorrow and can sleep in. I don't like the alarm waking me.

Ohmygoodness!

I just signed up for a marathon :faint:

This is my first week joining you ladies in planning! I've been posting on these boards recently, but I'm ready to get more involved -- and become more accountable to myself!

Exercise has been working out really well for me lately, though I'm still fine tuning my routine and constantly adding new things. My diet, on the other hand, is a mess.

Let's talk about where I am coming from . . .

I was really bad with some Easter candy last week, so I'm just not buying anymore of the giant bags. It was my idea to buy it in the first place, thinking I could just portion out servings, but I do not have that kind of control. (I'm just not sure how many times it'll take before I realize I am not able to control myself in that way!!)

I think that I am going to buy some of the single-serve portions because not only do they help me control my portion size, but I also tend to relish them more. I'll save a single-serve bag for several days until I'm in just the right mood, as I don't want to waste the treat on mindless snacking and really want to savor and enjoy it. Why I can't have this same control with larger bags, I'm not sure. But if I've found something that works, I ought to stick to it, no matter how strange it sounds!

My weekend was horrible eating-wise, as we spent the weekend with my in-laws and spent an entire day car shopping (for me, yay!!). There were two huge dinners out, a trip to Coldstone Creamery (talk about a weakness -- I love this place!!), a big bagel breakfast sandwich, munchies in the car dealership showrooms, and -- later, on our way home -- a trip to Panera Bread, where I had a bowl of turkey chili, but also a scone and a gigantic cookie for no particular reason.

Now that I have it all in writing, I'm trying to think of how I could have improved this weekend: I could have stopped filling my plate at the Thai restaurant, could have ordered the smaller size at Coldstone, could have ordered a less fattening entree during our second dinner out, and could have skipped either the scone or the cookie at Panera. I don't want to eliminate all of the treats from my diet -- because I do enjoy certain things immensely. I just need to find a way to integrate them in a practical and healthy way!!

---------

So here's my plan:

(1) Always think about portion sizes.
(2) Make the healthiest choice that will also satisfy me (because if I'm not satisfied, I'll just be snacking later).
(3) Set specific times to eat, and do not snack at other times. If I am truly hungry, eat only a piece of fruit.
(4) Journal what, when, and why I eat.

DH is going away this weekend, so I'll have full control of my diet from Friday - Sunday. If I have any bad meals, it will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday night while commuting during the week. If a meal is not as healthy as I would like, I will cut my portion size and supplement with fruit.

I may not have to worry about bad meals my mouth is starting to hurt again i could only eat have my salad last night and it was half the size I usually have. I do not want to go on a liqiud diet but I may have to until I get to the dentist after easter. I just wish my mouth would make up it's mind if it is gonna hurt or get better.

Good morning everyone!

I do have my menu planned out for the week starting with salad tonight, dinner out tomorrow night, turkey enchiladas Wednesday. I'm not sure what I planned for the rest of the week, though!

I had such a good night sleep last night! I feel energized! I'm 100% certain that it is because I took it easy on the wine last night. My in-laws took us for an early dinner and we were home by 7:00 PM (when we usually eat dinner) and at that time I started drinking water. I wasn't particularly sleepy when we finally went to bed, but I slept so well. So, for this, my plan is no more than 1 glass of wine per night. I don't care if it is before, during or after dinner, but I will stop at 1 glass. Trying to stay away 100% is just too difficult but I'm certain I can stop at 1 (especially after that good night sleep). I'll check back daily and let you know how I'm doing!

Carolyn~planning for a week isn't too difficult. I've been having a blast checking out the Cooking Light web site and printing new recipes to try. After I choose 5 or 6 to try, I list all the ingredients I need and go to the store. I don't have a lot of time to run to the store during the week, so this works well for me.

Jen~a MARATHON? Wow! When is it? How's the training for it going? Good luck with that!

Welcome, poppins3!~Isn't it so much easier to plan when you don't have to worry about another person?! I have to plan for our family of 4--with all their likes and dislikes. Thankfully the kids are past the stubborn phase and are willing to at least try something new (and a lot of the time they LIKE it!).

Susan~have fun working the evening shift. I am actually a morning person and usually don't mind that alarm going off.

Whittlin~it is hard to stay away from those snacky carbs. I actually bought a box of crackers yesterday. I don't know what moved me to do it, but I think if I dole them out to myself in small amounts I'll be okay. It is all about control.

suerose~is there a website for that magazine? I agree stress is not a fun thing to have around when you're trying to diet.

Ilene~stay away from the egg rolls!!! Actually, have a fun time with your friends.

I had something else I was going to say, but now I can't remember......hate getting old!

Hi All

Well, I 'fessed up in another thread that I didn't have the best week last week (birthday), so my plan this week is just to get back on track this week and undo (some of) the damage. "Plan" is simple - 3 reasonable meals plus a healthy afternoon snack, no eating after supper, working out 5 days/week. I got up this a.m. and worked out, so I'm off to a good start! No major events (book club, dinners out, parties, etc.) this week so it should be OK. Will likely have people over for dinner on the weekend, but I can control the menu, and make a dessert that's reasonable, because everyone needs a little treat once a week, I think!

2 Frustrated - congrats on signing up for the marathon. I don't run, but have buddies who do - they tell me that the high when you cross the finish line is like nothing else!

As for stress causing poor eating - I'm not sure if that's my problem. If it is, I'm not very conscious of it, I guess. But I do know that when I'm not eating well, nothing else in my life seems to be very "together", and since I'm a bit of a control freak, THAT causes me stress (perhaps making me eat even more?)

Alli - I think I read somewhere about the effects of alcohol causing a poor night's sleep. I think you do right to cut down. Especially when you think about the poor night's sleep making you more susceptible to snack-eating type things!

Janie - chill out man! :smoking: I think being a little more relaxed about eating sometimes does amazing things. I'm a firm believer in Intuitive Eating and really getting down to the reasons that I eat when I'm not hungry. I also believe in giving in to cravings in a small way. F'rinstance, on Friday I was really REALLY wanting digetive biscuits with nutella spread on them (don't ask me why, I really have NO idea!), and I did think about going down to the shop to get some nutella. However I didn't and I had some chocolate ice cream with digestive biscuits instead. That didn't do the trick! Then yesterday I still wanted digestive biscuits with nutella on them and I didn't have any nutella, so I whipped up some chocolate icing! :barf: well that was too sickly sweet! And in the end when we went to the shop last night, I bought nutella, and I had 2 biscuits with nutella before bed. I have one or two biscuits left in the packet, which I'll probably eat tonight and then the wierd craving for nutella on biscuits will be gone! Vamoose! So I think that if I'd just gone out and bought the jar of nutella on Friday I probably wouldn't have had ice cream, or had to stop reading my book and make chocolate icing yesterday :lol: :crazy: So yeah, relax and try listening to your body :)

As for the marathon training - well I ran/walked a mile on the treadmill today! :lol3: and it's not until October 21st, so I am building up gradually and just seeing what happens for the next couple of months :)

As for the finish line high - last year I cried all the way round the athletic track that was the finishing line! :lol: And I was only doing the half-marathon! So lawd-knows what I'll be like this year! :rofl: The men in white coats might have to carry me off! :lol:

2frustrated - I have heard of the Intuitive Eating plan, and am quite intrigued. I think that ideally, we would all eat intuitively (though I'm not sure if it's possible for everyone). Problem is, I can't seem to find the book. Do you know who the author is?

Good morning everyone.

I think this week my goal is to lift HARD and run FAST. This is all relative of course. But I am determined to gain some real muscle and loose some of this ridiculous fat that I have accumulated over the years. What was I thinking. Kids. They really distract me and I get into "feed me" mode. I don't do hormones well. But I am free from pregnancy and nursing (knocking on wood repeatedly) and so I am now going to reclaim this silly old body for me.

Susan I love the way you start these threads with a positive question. You are a real motivator. Great plans all. We can do it!

Plan for this week:
I am going to make a cheesecake (gasp!) from a South Beach recipe that my mother sent me. For those familiar with South Beach, the cake is apparently Phase 1. It may turn out terrible, haha (sugar free AND low fat?). We’ll see! But I'm going to try making it ... and I will not eat any other sweets except for that this week. If it's big enough it will last me into next week, too.
If it’s delicious and anybody’s interested I’ll post the recipe. Anybody else here obsessed with cheesecake, also?
My other plan is to study for my midterm on Thursday, and NOT gorge myself on snacks while I'm nervously studying away. I have an idea: I'll buy some gum to chew while studying to keep my mouth busy.
I'm going out dancing with my boyfriend on Friday and I want to feel great about myself in the dress I want to wear ... if I eat well all week, I'll feel beautiful. Oh, and I won’t gorge myself on snacks that night to “celebrate,” either!
Maybe lose half a pound by Friday or some other healthy increment of weight, but I’m not going to pressure myself about numbers. Just going to keep on trucking.

I plan to go to karate class on Tuesday and Saturday and do my cardio three times this week. I will up cardio to 45 min. on Wednesday and see if it is too much for my knees or not. Might have to do the elliptical instead of the treadmill.

Janie I don't know about any books, I'm just eating when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm satisfied. If you google, there's plenty of stuff around to help you get started. I do agree it doesn't work for everyone, but personally I think it's the healthiest way forward. :)

Good Monday to everyone!

Well I thought I had better plan this week a little better as last week was a disaster :o and I seem to be stuck at this same weight now for 3 weeks :tantrum: .

This week my plan is to not eat out as much and to exercise a little more. I should say exercise at all :no: ! Even if it's just 20 minutes a day, I need to at least do something. DH is going out of town on Wednesday for 10 days so I will be getting a little "ME" time :dancer: and I plan to really work on "me". Wish me luck!

Hope everyone has a great week!

I had two off-plan days last week (not meals...days! :devil:), so my goal this week is to stay on plan every day (except Wednesday, when I am going out to dinner with some friends at a restaurant where I know there won't be any on-plan choices). This is going to be quite a trick on Thursday because I am at a conference all day with no control over my food.

Maybe there is something to this theory about stress making you eat more. I had several days last week where I felt like I couldn't get enough to eat. I was also very stressed about work stuff. :stress: This week I feel like I am getting the work stuff under control, so hopefully it will be better.

I dropped $15 on a watch with a stopwatch last week, so I now know that I did my 6-mile run on Sunday in exactly 59 min and 38 seconds! :woohoo:

Oh Poppins, I've made that mistake so many times. :frypan: When I'm standing there in the store, I think, sure I can buy this big bag o' chocolate, I'll just eat it in small portions. Then I get home and it's a whole 'nother story.

Canadian_mom, sorry your mouth is hurting. Is it a toothache or something else? Maybe Ibuprofen would help--that always works for my toothaches and pain related to clenching my jaw.

2Frus - I love Nutella. And the calories are about the same as for peanut butter. I've considered having a Nutella sandwich.

Whoa that's so awesome.

:high:

If I could get my 3 mile runs down to 30 minutes I would be happy but 6 in under an hour is realy fab. It took me an hour and 5 to do 5 miles yesterday. But hey its the first time I have done 5 miles. I am such a beginner that just getting out of bed and putting on my running shoes impresses me some days.

Day two of planning going well. Got on the scales this morning and am down 2.4lbs since last Monday so am 148 :carrot: I'm so pleased. I think my Easter mini goal of 145 is no longer attainable but if I make 147 I'll be down to 10 1/2 stone which is a big deal to me. I love being English. We get to have the 10lb and 5lb barriers too but also weighing in stones and pounds (I convert it when I come on here) we get to claim a milestone every 7 and 14 pounds too :D

I do not have enough room in my mouth for my teeth and when I was 21 I didn't have the 1000$+ it was going to cost to pull my wisdom teeth (I was a single mom of 2). So now they are all grown in and shouln't cost that much (about 300 to pull 3 that are bothering me and if I decide to pull all 5 it will still be about 400) Anyways because of these teeth I have TMJ so I think it is time to have them pull before I have to have my jaw broke and wired shut. Although that would be an easy but painfull and expensive way to reach goal. lol

Happy Monday Ladies!
 

Today starts my 4th week of daily accountability posting to this forum. I'm really happy with myself for sticking to my goal of doing an 'activity' every single day. I'm the type of person who if I skip one day of exercise, it immediately becomes several in a row and I don't get back in the groove.

The last few days I've actually noticed feeling better after my walk or low impact in front of the TV. Usually, I feel no different and sometimes worse.

On Wednesday, DH and I leave in the afternoon to fly down to Florida and visit my parents until Sunday night. That's 4.5 days where what we eat is out of my control.

My Mom will be all over me about not eating breakfast (which is something I stopped doing 30 years ago, but she still wants to mother me.) I'm a two meal a day person and since the switch in meds 14 months ago, rarely have snacks or desserts.

Now a days when I mentally feel like eating something outside of meal time, (such as a thought that XYZ would taste good) I ask myself if I'm truly hungery and the answer is usually no. It's really been a helpful question in my weight loss.

Plus, the fridge is mostly stocked with fruits and vegetables and the cupboards with whole grains. There's not a lot of 'off plan' eating opportunities in this house. DH has become more interested in going food shopping with me so he can get some of his treats into the house. Thank goodness I don't like oatmeal raison cookies and gummy worms.

Boo!! I was good all day, but TOTM cravings killed me at dinner/after dinner.

For dinner, I had two mini-burritos: whole wheat tortilla, brown rice, grilled chicken, mango chutney. They were rolled on taco-sized tortillas, so really were mini. I guess two (instead of the planned one) was really that bad.

Then I had a banana. Okay.

Then PMS struck and I broke out the Ben & Jerry's low-fat yogurt, and probably had 1.5 - 2 servings (at least it was yogurt instead of ice cream!).

And then a few Saltines -- yes, so weird, but I was craving salt.

Now I am DONE. Even though these after-dinner snacks weren't on plan, I'm glad I was able to make myself stop without overdoing it too badly. :(

Wow, clvquilts, you look pretty smoking in your bikini (or maybe technically it's a skirtini or something) ... if anything can keep you honest on your Florida trip, it's a 2-piece bathing suit! Good luck!

Hikerchick, it wasn't that long ago that I was running only 5 miles in a hour. I think it was really only a couple of months, if that, to go from 5 miles in an hour to 6 miles in an hour. And I only run distance like this one day a week and there were some setbacks in there (weeks where I couldn't exercise normally or at all due to illness, vacation, etc.) So you may be up to six miles before you know it. It sounds like you are doing fabulous with your running program. I started my exercise program back in Aug 05, so it's taken me a year and a half to get to this point. :running:

Canadian_Mom, I had the same problem when I was kid. I'm actually missing 25% of my teeth--they had to pull four of my regular teeth in addition to my four wisdom teeth. When they pulled the two regulars on the bottom, there wasn't even a gap; you could not tell where they had pulled them from. Luckily, all this work was done when I was a kid (junior high for the regular teeth, college for the wisdom teeth) so I didn't have to experience the pain you have now. Having my wisdom teeth removed was a breeze--I was eating popcorn the next day. The regular teeth were more of a problem, but I think that had more to do with the dentist not knowing what he was doing. Then, of course, there were all those years of braces...come to think of it, those were pretty painful. :( I hope you get some relief soon.

Carolyn, I agree with Janie, you look smokin in that bikini! :beach: But I don't know how you survive on two meals a day and no snacks. :eek: I swear, I eat every two to three hours. But you'd never catch me in a two-piece bathing suit either. Tried one on at Old Navy this weekend and it was downright ugly :yikes: .

Yikes, I just entered my foods into FitDay for the first time, and it's scary!! I had no idea I was eating so much. I'm going to have to start making better choices and cutting back!!

Hello girls :wave: ...

just poking my head in 'cause i haven't been around. hope y'all are doin' well.

Good Morning!
I'm going to take poppins3 with me the next time I see someone post who thinks they don't eat much or thinks they can't be bothered using fitday. Enlightening, isn't it. Stick with us poppins3 we'll help you.

I know it's hard to believe but I just don't have much to say. Ya gotta know I think about you all and read read read!

Hi everyone!

The end of this week si going to be much more difficult for me than the beginning. Because of that, I'm going almost all fruits/veggies yesterday, today and most of tomorrow.

My boyfriend's mother is coming to town Wed-Sunday. She's a wonderful woman and is going to be my future MIL. The problem is that she is a food pusher. I've actually heard her say out loud "I confuse love with food". And she thinks this is okay. I tried to stand up for myself while we were there, and make a joke out of it, but she was still hard core about trying to get me to eat more. It was difficult, because she doesn't know I've lost over 100 pounds. She thinks I've always been like this - a size 6/8 - and can't imagine why I won't eat so darn much.

The situation is this: I'm only going to eat what I want to eat and that's that. I'm not going to be eating things to make her happy - and it's going to be a very difficult thing. Plus, everythign the woman makes is heavy cream, heavy fat - you get the picture. As it is she's freaked out that I don't eat meat.

Tomorrow I get to pick her up from the airport and we're going to dinner at a private club that I like a lot - they have awesome salads and fresh fish there, so that will be easy f or me.

Thursday I'm purposely working and she will cook for him alone.

Friday night we're going out to eat at an upscale southern place - and there really aren't wonderful healthy choices on that menu. Even the salad has fried green tomatos. So I'm basically going to use slim fasts during the day on Friday for breakfast and lunch so that I'll have the calories saved up for this dinner.

Saturday we'll be out again with her in another part of the city.

Sunday I'll be going to Charlotte to have brunch with my brother , his fiance, and her extended family, whom I've never met. I need to save up some calories for that as well.

So this week will be a challenge! Basically, when I'm not eating out, I'm going to try to focus on fruits and veggies only. I'm not looking forward to the "eat more" food war with this lady. It's hard enough to do wh at I'm doing on my own, let alone to have to explain over and over.

She also doesn't know I'm trying to lose weight at all. I simply said that I'm focused and committed to eating clean, healthy foods so that I can be healthy. You'd think she couldn't argue with that... but you'd be wrong!


Today I weigh at the accupuncturist's and I'm excited!!! I bet I'm down at least a 1/2 pound (my weight loss has slowed down considerably in the past 10 pounds)

I'm so glad to have this place !

Try, "Sorry, I'm really full. I'm just not hungry at all. If I eat any more I think I might be sick :barf: "

It is getting better but by supper it hurts a bit. It definatly is not as bad as it was now if it can juststay this way until after eastr then they will be gone (I hope)

Yuppie Girlie ~ I'm sorry you have to deal with family like this. MY mom always jokes that I am starving my kids because they do not get much junk so when they get a treat they are sooooo excitted but she now realizes that she cannot say that cause they now say to me "you are starving me" when made to leave the table for their behavior.

Yes fitday is a gem. It really helps you stay within that magic zone. Like the three bears. Not too hot, not too cold... Just had a great run. Will do lbwo today.

SusanB: Thanks for the encouragement! I'm going to stick with FitDay for at least two weeks trying to teach my body how much to eat. If I love it, I'll go longer.

I was very careful when I packed my foods today for lunch, but then I spotted a candy table outside the library -- I'm in my last semester of grad school -- and I caved for a few small Easter candies -- luckily they are in fun-size portions!

Oh, and YuppieGirlie, where are you going in Charlotte? (I live there and am always looking for a good brunch place!)

Poppin's - I'm going to someone's home. My brother's fiance has an aunt and cousins that live in Charlotte. They're going to visit for the weekend. The Aunt is hosting the brunch. Which is also why it will be hard - no better choices from a menu.

I like the suggestion of saying I'm really very full. I have to say though, I just can't stand the commentary at all. If it's recurring this visit, I may need to simply say to her that it's important to me to have her support... and turn it around that way, to make her more responsible for her own commentary.

Canadian_Mom I inherited my dad's big teeth and my mom's small jaw. I've had 14 teeth surgically removed - some of them baby teeth, root and all because they didn't fall out and my adult teeth were growing in around them. You'll feel much better when their gone. My wisdom teeth were impacted and the lower jaw on one side had to be broken. I was out of work for a week because I couldn't talk - and I was in sales so I had to talk. But I didn't have much pain.

Blue To Blue thanks for posting the calculating required calories sites. I didn't know if I was eating enough or not. Like everyone, I feel I could still lose '5 pounds' so I'm going to stay with what I've been doing for the last 14 months and if it happens that will be great. If not, that's fine too.

:wave:

Hello all!

I feel happy! It's :sunny: but cold! Which means it's not too bad for biking, but pretty cold, even with heated handlebars :p

Yesterday I had a great 2 hours kickboxing, even if the second hour was rather slow, but at least it keeps me off the sofa and out of the biscuit tin! :lol: Then I got home and made the most delicious ricotta cheesefake :T I melted some olive marg and a bit of honey in a pan, added oats to make a flapjack type gooey base, pressed them into a bowl, plonked half a tub of ricotta on the top, then sprinkled with Green & Blacks cocoa. :drool: And that was dinner :D

Got some good plans for today - first of all gym at lunch, with leg weights and a little treadmill mooch, just to work all the hurts out. THEN I'm dragging DH to a Sweatshop running club run thing, because I promised Helen (YP1) that I'd go this week since I chickened out last week! :lol: Plus it's only cold, not snowing or hailing or anything, and I can just about cope with cold. I'll need my hat and gloves and a long sleeved running top and some thermal leggings, but I should be ok! :)

Well my big project at work should be coming to an end today :hyper: :dancer: WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm getting SO sick of it, but I'm proud of it too! :)