Featherweights Planning and Chat July 23 - 29
 

It's Sunday again. Tomorrow is the beginning of a bright and shining new week.

Toward the end of last weeks thread, I read some hints of increasing optimism. Are we ready to roll?

I, personally, kinda floundered toward the end of last week and am looking forward to being a little bit more of a ... captain of my own ship???

Last week was terrible for me. I had a bunch of off-plan days (yes, entire days, not just meals! :o) This week I start anew. I have no events scheduled which will require me to eat off-plan and I'm making the chocolate covered espresso beans off limits entirely.

If I can just manage to stick with this plan, I'll be feeling pretty good. Those espresso beans are evil :devil: and they just sit in the cupboard and call my name over and over again. I think I just need to treat them like the rest of my SO's food and make them off-limits. I was allowing myself two per day, but lately two keeps turning into six, which turns into a handful, which turns into another handful plus some chololate chips... :s: Well, you get the idea.

Hi Everybody!

Well I am back in gear, after a week or so of unhealthy choices. I chose not to weigh myself, because I think that seeing that I gained weight (I'm sure I must have gained a pound or so) would just depress me. In any case, I am ready to start anew. I've decided to do a two week challenge:

- no weighing myself...I get too obsessive about that
- OP every day! No cheating!
- get in gear with running again

I've decided to start training for a 10K (taking place October 13th). When I was running on a regular basis I could do about 5K at a time, so I figure 10K is not too much of a stretch.

I'm feeling kind of depressed tonight...I'm missing my Mom...still kind of worried about her. BUT, I'm going to go out for a run now (going to run to work to set up an experiment, and then run back), then have a healthy dinner...possibly do some work (or read Harry Potter!) and go to bed.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Hi all!

I had a good weekend -- always the toughest days for me -- and am looking forward to wrapping up week three. I'll weigh in on Tuesday, and post my progress.

In the mean time, happy Monday, everyone! Hope your weeks go well.

Kim

Hi all,

I finally got in gear today... had a great hour and 15 minute walk/run at the park with my friend. The weather has been gorgeous the last couple of days .. not the usually sweltering hot and humid. I also did very well with eating... FINALLY. I'm under 1,000 calories, so I'm going to have some berries and yogurt and call it a day. I really needed a good day to get back on track. Actually, yesterday was a good day too, so that's two in a row. I'm writing off the rest of last week... onward!

Nic - hope your mom's condition is improving. Is she actually still in the hospital? I didn't read back too far.

Barbara -- That's a really cute new avatar pic! You are so teeny and cute.

This past week went pretty well for me :D... Sorry to hear of the others who had such a tough week :grouphug: .. BUT this week will be GRRRREAT !!!! Right??

Have a fantabulous week everyone!!

No weighing in this week
 

Am dogsitting again so no scale. Funny how all of these skinny people I work for don't own a scale - is there a connection?

I do have the "goddess" mirror ( a full length large mirror in which I look just fabulous naked) so I will look at myself every morning as a reminder :o to not slack off.

Had my first really happy weekend of this summer. I now finally know what the government's doing to me so I can start to deal instead of anxiously obsessing/overeating.

And I have two cats here with the dogs. The new cat is 4 months old and I'm just loving him up like crazy. He's too cute!

have a great week everyone!

Dagmar :cool:

good morning!

Claire - my Mom is resting at home now :) She's feeling much better, although still weak and not quite up to her usual self. Thanks for asking!

Dagmar - don't you love those kinds of mirrors? :) I'm sorry to hear about all of the trouble with your business, but congrats on dealing with it in a non-foo d related way!

:hun: please post the recipe :^:

Whittlin -- :bravo: on the loss :carrot:

Very hot day here today and for the next few days... Just back from the gym, it was a SUPER lazy workout, I hate those days :(...

How did it get to be noon already? Having one day off is the pits!
I've got a load of laundry on the go. The kitchen looks better. I've made funeral sandwiches and delivered them. My protein pancakes are in the blender. I returned the excess porch materials. Quite disappointed that I couldn't lift a bundle of shingles. Slippery darned paper wrappers! If they had handles I coulda done it.
I'm starving and haven't done any food planning yet!

Hi all,

I'm having a good day so far. I'm biking this evening with a girl friend of mine who I don't get to see often, so I'm looking forward to that. It'll be fun and a good workout.

Calories came in last night under 1300... yea! I have healthy foods and am ready to have a good week. I need to have a loss here one of the days, and I know that it's fully in my power. I get so complacent, especially when I'm tired like I was last week.

Nic - so glad she's home now! Sounds like last week was pretty stressful

Have a great Monday everyone!

A Better Day
 

Hello y'all!

Whittlin I have to say, I felt better after I posted. I went back to eating just fruit and it was not a challenge anymore. Mind you, I was back on the emotional rollercoaster as I crawled into bed! But, I simply had a good cry and woke up ready to face the day. This support group is just so helpful! Thanks for being there, all of you!

As to the all fruit day...The Fit For Life book I have has a 28 day menu plan in it. I like to follow it as there are Main Course Salad Days every 3rd day which means you only eat fruit up until dinner time at which time you have a large salad with either 30% carbs or 30% protein to 70% salad. Twice a month, the Main Course Salad Days are substituted by an All Fruit Day. It's basically a system that keeps flushing toxins from the body on a regular basis. I was thinking that may be another reason for the mood swing yesterday. My body was doing its second serious detoxing in a very long time!

I weighed in today, (a weekly event), and I am still holding at 157 lbs. This is the 3rd week in a row now!! Thankfully, I took my measurements and they are reducing, so something is happening. I was quite shocked to see the scale at the same place because I doubled my exercise this week and increased my water intake.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience with measuring body fat. With one system, I have reduced from 41% to 37% in the past 3 weeks. But today, I did another similar test, but it had me measuring a whole lot more body parts and I came out at 20.7% body fat!!!! A big difference! Any thoughts?!

Sorry to be so long winded. A shout out to everyone!

I've never had my body fat % checked but I understand that you should get it done professionally by the same person all the time so that they measure with calipers at the same spots every time... And just stick to one type of measurement. The most accurate way is underwater but is extremely expensive.

slow down the eating
 

Was starving by the time I got back to dog sit. Walking mutts from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and one more walk to go later with these guys. :rolleyes:

Micro waved dinner tonite - too beat to cook. Discovered chopsticks came with this particular dinner. I'm quite spastic with the stix but decided to give them a whirl. Slowed me down to the point I actually felt kinda full by the time I was done.

Now I'm just trying to think of all the non-Asian food I can eat with chopsticks. Nothing springs immediately to mind - any suggestions?

Dagmar :tired:

Hello Everybody!

I'm having a pretty good day today I think! Day one of 14 day challenge down successfully. Tomorrow could be hard. I'm going to have dinner with a friend who recently got engaged, so it will be hard to stick with the plan. BUT I am determined!

Claire - thanks for all your thoughts! It was a stressful week, but its nice to be coming out on the other side now :) Good job staying OP! You sound like you're doing fantastic!

Whittlin - congrats on the weight loss!!!! And thanks for the encouragement for my 10K

Clykk - I'm glad you're feeling better :)

oooh, I got a food scale today...I've wanted one for a while, and finally splurged today. Hopefully it will really help me keep track of what I'm putting in my mouth!

Dagmar -- Spaghetti and meatballs? :lol:

Good morning!

I think I'd end up slurping my food off the edge of my plate!

I certainly hope that planning is key. I spent alot of my day off figuring and conniving .... I think I have some nice portions of protein all figured out and bagged up. Add in some veggies and fiber and I should be good to go for a few days.

I'm still not good at breakfast this early. I have allbran and a yogurt that I'll mix together and have a little later.

Boring but quick
 

I tend to go with planning that is simple. Everything in our fridge is low fat so that helps too. Whenever I'm away from home dogsitting I tend to eat the same breakfast and lunch each day - easy to buy the food and do the calorie counts that way. I do vary the breakfast a bit - this morning I had eggs, tomatoes and toast, which apparently all the animals here like. They all sat around me and stared while I ate.

Come to think of it my lunch is the same regardless - I have to be able to gobble it in 5 minutes with one hand while driving. I have one dog who I trust in the car with me while I'm eating - anyone else and I'd probably have an accident when they tackled me for my sandwich ;).

Pets are a joy in my life but eating around them can be tricky. :D

Dagmar (the still OP goddess :p)

All Backed Up This Morning
 

OK, it's not how it sounds. I am referring to my house! I didn't put the dishes in the dishwasher last night. I didn't get up this morning for my 6:30 AM swim. The result? A morning that feels all out of whack! It's amazing to me how important routines are to our sense of well being. Or maybe I should just speak for myself. Maybe others are OK with their schedules getting out of whack. I'm not. :dizzy:

With the undone dishes came some undone eating last night too. I wonder what got into me? I just didn't seem to care. I went from buttered, salted popcorn to a bowl of cereal to 2 chocolate chip chewy bars. :?:

Ah well, guess it's time to get back up on the horse and start a new day. I can do this. I'm worth it! Hoorah! Hoorah! :twirly::cheer2::cheer:

Good morning everyone. Hope everyone has a great OP week. I know I'm going to try!

I don't think I posted in here last week at all and for no reason at all except laziness! I do try to keep up with reading though.

I went with my son yesterday to a tennis tournament in Costa Mesa. He won his 2 sets so we have to go back today:crossed: I really need to go clean out my car. One of his friends is going with us and then we are going to stop by South Coast Plaza (a big mall) on the way home. Need to make room for purchases! :devil:

I've been doing good with eating and exercising but I've felt bloated for the last few days. Not sure why. I haven't started or stopped eating anything that I can think of. I guess I should keep my journals so I can be more sure. After I log them in to WW I throw the paper one away (that I carry with me all day in my lunch bag) and the WW one is only there for a week (the actual list of what you ate).

Hope everyone has a great week. Jane

Jane~I want to go to to South Coast Plaza!!!! I love that mall! I don't need to buy anything, but I could shop there for hours!

Dagmar~what an idea--chopsticks at every meal! DD just came home from China and brought home a really nice set. We could do that. It would certainly slow down my eating! But we had sandwiches last night, so it wouldn't have worked too well.

Carolyn~I know what you mean about routines. My newspaper didn't get delivered this morning and I feel all discombobulated because I didn't get to read my comics or do my crossword and sudoku! I actually read more news at work than I do in the paper LOL!

Nic~good luck on staying OP at dinner tonight!

Tuesday weigh-in
 

Good news and bad news.

First the bad news: the scale hasn't budged, even though I've been on plan in both calories and exercise. I have all sorts of rationalizations:

• I'm having my period
• I'm backed up in the other way (too much info, I'm sure)
• The spring in the scale is rusted
• Little aliens flew down from the sky in the middle of the night and injected my thighs with donuts

At any rate, I don't get to move my ticker this week.

The good news?

• I've lost inches in the past two weeks (I don't measure every week), including 1.5 on my waist, where I tend to see progress early.
• I'm getting more definition on my shoulders and arms.
• I can see the inkling of abs, if I tighten them and the light is right and the wind is from the southwest.

Overall, I'm reasonably happy with the results. I know I shouldn't care what the scale says, but I have to admit that I'm a disappointed in its obstinacy. Oh well, I can be obstinate, too!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Kim

Wow, one day of not checking this thread and I can barely keep up. Two days in and so far no chocolate covered espresso beans, but it's been a struggle. Hopefully the longer I go without eating them, the easier they'll get to ignore.

I am starting to get a nice crop of cherry tomatoes. Every day I go out and pick just enough for my dinner salad.

Dagmar--hmmm, I don't think chopsticks work with much food other than Chinese. I guess if you cut everything up really small. :lol:

kaw--having your period and being "backed up" would definitely cause havoc with the scale. I'm sure once those two issues resolve themselves, you'll see some movement, especially since you can tell by your measurements that you're making progress.

Alinnel and Jane--South Coast Plaza! I love that place! I used to travel around doing training for a software company and one of the hotels we used was across the street.

Claire and Whittlin--thanks on the new pic! It was taken this spring when my SO and I were hiking on McDowell Mountain outside of Phoenix and definitely the reason I like it is that I think I look sporty in it (such a change for a bookworm like myself)!

Clykk--I work from home full time so I have a pretty flexible schedule and it changes every day. Only my meals are consistent. No matter what else is going on, I pretty much eat at the same time every day, otherwise I get ridiculously hungry.

:lol::lol:


Must be a bit tired. I found that just hilarious!

I'm doing good again today. Gotta love the portions in baggies!

They always inject me in the butt. :p

Dagmar

Hi all. Sneaking back in after a 2 1/2 week holiday. I dedicated myself to the cause of good food and wine and have a whole extra 1/2 stone to vouch for it. 7 lbs - yikes! Anyway, I had no good reason to delay getting started again so it's back OP today.

Susan B- wow - how tiny are you!

Greatchoicetell me, tell me tell me about your son and tennis. How old is he - is he any good etc? I'm a massive tennis fan and am always happy to look out for future Federers.

Stiebena - you finished Harry Potter yet?

Doughnut~don't fret! I gained 3 pounds in a week while on vacation. It was gone within a week. Just get back on plan and the weight will come off (probably at about the same rate it went on). Just don't expect overnight miracles!

I'm just dying here......the humidity is horrible (I don't know for sure, but it has to be over 50%). The temperature says 91, but it's gotta be hotter! I went out this morning for a little exercise and it was hard to breathe because it was so hot and humid (and I thought it was supposed to get cooler at night!). And on top of all of it, I am bloated like you can't believe! I don't usually get this way. I feel and look just gross!

but my eating has been and will continue to be on plan!!

Feeling complacent
 

Baa humbug! I don't want to do this anymore.

What a strong pull this feeling has. It has me imagining all that I have worked for is lost. But when I review my day, I find I have stayed OP except for the tortilla chips and low-fat cheese tonight. Really pretty good considering I have this strong pull to jump ship. Maybe I'll go off to bed and regroup in the morning. My place is cleaned up, the dishwasher is loaded and I can stop eating now. I don't have to keep going.

kaw I know how you feel. I have been weighing in for the past 3 weeks with no movement on the scale, but my measurements have been steadily dropping. I am still so influenced by the scale!

Sweet dreams!

:hun: Thanks so much...

Welcome back Doughnut :wave: I know you'll get right back on track ;)

Allison, I am really bloated with this humid weather here too and I am NOT losing any weight :tantrum: it's driving me a little :crazy:

SusanB--Oops! Ha ha, I didn't even notice my little pun. ;)

Ilene and Whittlen--Sunset magazine featured a similar recipe for icebox salad (slightly different ingredients, but same concept) that called for a dressing made up of plain low-fat yogurt (I would use nonfat Greek yogurt), olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh dill, fresh mint, and fresh chives. They used two cups of yogurt and 3 tbsp of olive oil. Their recipe was for twelve servings (so the dressing works out to about 40 calories per serving if you use nonfat yogurt) but I think their serving size was smaller than your recipe. It does sound good; I'd even ripped out the page of the magazine thinking I'd have to try it.

Hi Guys!

Wow, so much activity since I last logged in!!

So...dinner with my friend last night was pretty good. I think I was reasonable. I had a cajun chicken wrap with a garden salad on the side. We did go out for dessert after walking around for about 2 hours, but we split a mixed berry crepe (okay it had chocolate sauce and whipped cream too!) but I don't think that will hurt my progress. Usually I can have one "splurge" a week and still lose.

Tonight I'll be going out for dinner again (ahhh) because its my boyfriend's Mom's birthday, but I think I will do fine.

Doughnut - welcome back! No, I haven't finished Harry Potter yet (I've been too busy!), but I'm loving every minute of it!!!!!!! Don't worry about the vacation weight gain...you'll get right back to it! I gained 4 pounds when I was away in the Dominican in April, and it was gone within a week.

Morning everyone! Hi Doughnut and thanks :D

Complacency ... the bain of featherweights! Can anyone remember a thread where we had a good talk about that? I was reading a post by Marlu this morning and am having trouble thinking up an encouraging response.


It's cuppajoe's birthday!!

Carolyn~don't let the complacency take over!!!! Stop now!!! I speak from experience. I was complacent from January through May (but managed to maintain my weight all that time). Then I started to gain. A little here, a little there and my complacent brain did NOTHING! I'm really struggling to get back with it (I've been eating just fine, but drinking too much wine and not exercising).

Well, I'm back with it now (and that darn scale went up instead of down!). I have formulated a plan for myself and will let all of you know how it goes in a few weeks. I don't want to tell you what I'm doing because I have this terrible fear that I'll jinx myself!

Hey everyone -- I'm trying hard to banish the complaceny from my life... the last couple of weeks have not been great, but this week I'm much more focused. I finished teaching summer school yesterday, so i have almost 3 weeks of freedom - I have no excuse.

I just got back from an hour bike ride (hilly) with 2 friends. Believe it or not, I have plans to ride with another friend - probably not a very intense ride, but that's ok. And, I found my pedometer under my bed when I deep cleaned over the weekend!!!! I have been missing it! I did almost 18,000 steps both yesterday and Monday.

That recipe is pretty tasty looking, and it reminds me I need to go eat. Have a great Wed. everyone,

The Deathly Hallows: I'm still waiting for my Harry Potter to arrive, hopefully it will be here by Friday and I can spend all weekend reading it. I did manage to finish re-reading the first six books again, so when the last book arrives, I'm ready for it!

Complancency: I'll do really well for a while and then have a week where it just seems like I have one off-plan day after another. I guess maybe it is that I get complacent, because it usually comes after I've reached some sort of goal that I've been focusing on. Luckily, so far, in most cases it hasn't lasted more than a week.

Whittlin :bravo: to you :woohoo: ...

I get complacent just when I lose 1-2 lbs... then I gain them back because of my complacency, it's a vicious circle, that I still haven't stopped doing. In my mind I guess I think that "I can eat more now that I've lost weight" but :doh: I can't... I have no idea when that mind set will go away... :rolleyes:

BTW I Stickied the "silly" thread :lol: and Whittlin's recipe I've added to the Recipe section...