Planning & Chat for Oct. 1 - 7
 

A Monday and a new month!

New goals? Old ones redefined? Some tinkering with the eating and exercise? How are the challenges going? Let's update!

Dagmar :yay:

I'm backtracking
 

I've been letting myself maintain the past week, just because of time restrictions (and some sulking, I'll admit :o).

So I'm still at 133 lbs. I'm going to take a real run at losing the last 3 lbs. before my vacation, which starts in exactly two weeks. Not because I feel fat or unattractive - I look great. Just because.

I'm going to write everything down again and count the calories up each day.
Same old, same old but it works for me.

Dagmar :yay:

i have been off plan for almost a month now, and scared to even approach the scale. i finally did this am and...i don't want to talk about it.

Needless to say today is the perfect day to begin again. Not only is it the first day of a new week, but a new month also.

i know i can do this. i KNOW i can. Just gotta want it bad enough.

SW: 250
CW: 162
GW: 155 ( starting with a smaller goal )

As for me, I was feeling quite good about myself on Friday (140.5) and somehow it went up to 142 on Saturday, 142.5 Sunday and finally 144 this morning. I didn't each (much) off plan, so I don't know what's going on. BUT I have had a great breakfast so far (egg whites and 1 Morning Star Farms sausage patty) and I have a great lunch (chicken Caesar salad with lite dressing). Dinner will be great as well--all OP. We'll see how long it takes to get back to 140.5 so I can finally get back into the 130's.

Operation Two Pounds is not going well. I was on plan all last week, except for one day where I was about 100 calories over. Over the weekend I was actually under plan. But this morning when I got on the scale, I was up one pound and it seems like my weight was trending upwards all last week. So I'm feeling very panicked and discouraged right now. :?: :fr:

On a more cheerful note, I do have two new suits to wear to my conference next week and a fab new dress to wear when I introduce Chicago at our opening reception--all in sizes that are much smaller than what I ever thought I'd be able to wear. :D

Barbara - stick with it! The scales don't always register the loss right away.

Allison - You'll get down again. You've been doing great.

As for me, well, I am having a very very HUNGRY day. I hate that. Enough said.

Hello from Nashville,

The food is already started on a bad note. Had McDonalds for dinner after having salty sweet trail mix. Of course, I am up 4 lbs from last week.

So here's the plan for this week. Journal everything I eat.
Staying away from the sweets and the salty.

Working out won't be a problem as we know.

Originally Posted by walking2lose:
As for me, well, I am having a very very HUNGRY day. I hate that. Enough said.

So am I! I was so hungry during my workout I was literally shaking. I kid you not! Yet I've eaten my normal amount of food--all stuff I eat pretty regularly and usually am quite satisfied with. It must be something going around.

:wave: hungry day here too and I really really hate that :tantrum:

I've had a good day and I plan to have a good month too... I hurt my knee squatting tonight :arg!!! I hope it gets better fast...

Hungry Monday!
 

ME TOO!!!

I guess because we're all so focused on starting again on Monday that we're all very consciously on plan? For me it's also undong whatever excess (:o I'm not telling) happened on the weekend.

Barbara I think your body is really, really fighting you on those last two lbs. Shaking during your workout is not good :(. Take it easy!

Geans After Mickey D's and trail mix you're probably retaining water. Good plan with the journalling. You're very motivating to those of us who don't like to exercise so much. :carrot:

Claire I've been trying to emulate you. Your posts always contain something positive. Hope today is less hungry!

Allison The weight will come off again. How is Buddy doing?

Hope we all feel fuller today :D

Dagmar :cheer: :yay:

Off to a good start this morning. Ran 4 miles on the treadmill in the sweat box fitness room at the hotel. It was so hot in there I thought I would pass out but then I thought why not slow down my pace and take advantage of the heat. I imagine I burned a ton of calories.

Anyhow, it sounds like everyone had a rough Monday but we are all back on track. Have a great day all.

Second day and going good. Will only weigh in once a week so i don't get discouraged.

SW:250
CW:162
GW:155 ( baby steps )

Originally Posted by Ilene:
:wave: hungry day here too and I really really hate that :tantrum:

I've had a good day and I plan to have a good month too... I hurt my knee squatting tonight :arg!!! I hope it gets better fast...

Hope your knee's feeling better soon!

Dagmar

I'm with Ilene today. I've been looking at the clock for the last half hour, wondered when in the world it's going to be lunch time. I'm having leftover marinated & grilled chicken breast, a Honeycrisp apple, and a huge bunch of raw cauliflower. Yummm!

Scale said 133.5 this morning, which must be the lightest I've ever weighed as an adult. I expect to bounce back up a bit, but it's nice to have a bit of fudge room to my goal weight of 135.

I'm back on track at the gym, too. I worked out while we were on our mini-vacation in Phillie, but it's so much easier and more efficient to lift on the home turf. At the Ballys near our hotel, none of the clients bothered to rack their weights in the right spots (if they racked them at all), so each new exercise required a game of hide and seek to find the right dumbbells. Ah well, it just makes me appreciate my "home" gym.

Hope everyone has a great afternoon!

Kim

I haven't had any hunger issues here--just those darn Tootsie Roll minis that keep floating around the office. Must.Stay.Away.

Dagmar~Buddy is doing just fine, thank you. He took about 2 weeks to heal and he hardly ate anything during that time. I was fixing him "satin balls" which are loaded with calories so he didn't have to eat much because of his tummy issues from the severe dizziness. He has just the slightest tilt of his head now (which the vet said would happen). His age is showing, though--he is losing some neurological control over his rear legs and often missteps and sometimes falls.

I went for my run this morning and that felt really good. I'm considering upping my running from 3 times per week to 4, although I don't relish having to get up early an extra morning each week! I can't wait for cooler weather so perhaps I can run after work.

Yesterday ended very badly. Somehow eating some extra carrots after dinner led to a chocolate covered espresso bean fiasco. I'm not sure how eating carrots leads to eating chocolate covered espresso beans, but I think I ate 500 calories worth. But I keep telling myself that is only 1/7th of a pound. It could have been worse. And now the container is low enough that it will noticeable if I eat more, so hopefully that will keep me out of them.

Today is not off to a great start. Just had breakfast and I'm still hungry. Starving really. I don't know why I can't satisfy my hunger but it's really not fun. I'm going to log all my food for the day in a minute and see if I can eat some more. I'm also thinking that I may just put Operation Two Pounds on hold until after my conference. I think maybe trying to lose two pounds and deal with all the last minute conference stress is too much. It is unfortunate though, because I'm going to have a lot more than two pounds to lose once the conference is over.

Barbara Maybe a bit of a gain at the conference will then help you "kick-start" a loss after it's over? Metabolism is a strange beast. You might be so adrenalized by the stress that your body is in overdrive and thus hungry all the time. :dunno:

Or maybe your body thinks it's starving and is not co-operating. Perhaps the addition of a bit of fat/protein to change the way your body is burning the food? :dunno:

Dagmar :yay:

Another hungry day
 

I'm thinking this must be partly psychological on my part. I've got less than two weeks to go til my vacation and my brain :devil: is now instructing my body to self-sabotage by telling it it's hungry.

Either that or the damn aliens got to me ;) and are reprogramming me to gain weight for their interspecies breeding program :p.

I'm starving and it's not nearly close enough to dinner time. I'll be up above my 1400 limit if I eat any snacks now but I don't think I can hold out for another hour. And there's the bedtime snack to factor in too.

I think I'll try a cup of soup thingie - 30 calories - and then I'll go for a walk to the mailbox and back. Hopefully this will hold me til 7 p.m. and dinner.

Dagmar (too chatty today)

Hey Guys,

Had a better day today. Probably a little high in the carb department but it's a start. For all of you having hunger trouble maybe you guys should add an extra protein. A good idea maybe to have a high protein breakfast. I find that this really starts my day off well.

That's all for now.

I eat a pretty high protein breakfast. Every day I eat 1 cup of nonfat yogurt (20g of protein) plus 1/2 cup of high fiber cereal (1.5g protein and 4.5g fiber). Today I also added 1/4 cup egg beaters (6g protein) and 2 slices of Canadian bacon (6g protein). All in, that's almost 34g protein all before lunch, yet I was still hungry. So I don't think protein for breakfast is the problem.

I think the problem might be white potatoes. We've been having this new recipe for dinner--Chicken with Potatoes and Rosemary. The recipe called for baking potatoes. Now, normally I sub sweet potatoes for the baking potatoes but I thought that Yukon Golds would taste really good in this recipe. And they do taste good. But I eat white potatoes so rarely these days that I think maybe they are throwing my blood sugar levels off, making me feel hungry. It also could be that TOM is coming up next week (that would certainly explain the weight gain). Plus the stress of the conference next week. Plus I am on a new medication that could be impacting my metabolism.

But I'm feeling much better now. I just got back from working out and it has changed my whole perspective. My eating was a little out of control during the afternoon but I feel like I am back in control now. I think I can bring everything in at 1450 calories for the day. Which is 150 calories higher than where I'd like them to be, but at least it's a maintenance level not a gaining level.

Hey Barbara,

You may also trying sipping on hot water with lemon. It really helps to flush the system. I find it very helpful with water weight during TOM. This is a trick my nutritionist recommended.

Geans--I've tried hot water with lemon and I just can't stomach it. I'm just not a water drinker. It's all I can do to choke down a glass of cold water with lemon every day. I force myself to drink it with lunch; it's sort of reminiscent of when I was a kid and forced to drink milk with dinner. But I drink a lot of fluids during the day, so my system is pretty well flushed and hydrated. I literally have to pee every time I stand up and it is not unusual for me to have to pee several times a night.

Originally Posted by BlueToBlue:

But I'm feeling much better now. I just got back from working out and it has changed my whole perspective. My eating was a little out of control during the afternoon but I feel like I am back in control now. I think I can bring everything in at 1450 calories for the day. Which is 150 calories higher than where I'd like them to be, but at least it's a maintenance level not a gaining level.

Barbara With everything happening in your life right now this sounds like an excellent plan. You are so good at figuring out what's going on with your diet. I hope to get to that point someday.

Dagmar :yay:

Even though its half way through the week already I thought I would add my little bit of planning up to the 7th :)

Aiming to be half a kilo (about 1 pound) down
Keeping calories to between 1200 and 1400 daily
Exercise at least 10 hours over the week

So far can't say with the weight as it has been stubbornly clinging to one number for about a week now...right down to the .whatever lol. My body fat percentage HAS been going down steadily though.

Food wise - average is about 1300 so thats been really good. No complaints there. I haven't been feeling hungry through the day which is great, except of course when I should like lunch and dinner time! I've switched to having an omelette with a piece of wholegrain toast for breakfast and I have noticed it keeps hunger at bay right through to lunch.

Exercise is also on target

I've really kicked myself into gear the last two weeks so I am really really hoping to see some movement on that scale (and NOT up :P) this friday (my weigh in morning)...fingers crossed!

Bleagh - ALC night last night
 

Tried all the tricks to keep away from the kitchen last night but it didn't work.
I'm surprised at all the stuff we have that can wreck a diet. I've been buying all healthy foods but there are still things (maple syrup, raisins, brown sugar, stale Halloween chips :o) left over from BD (before diet).

Back OP today (no way I'm going near the scale) and threw out all of the aforementioned stuff.

Somehow I thought I would get over the old habits with practice. As soon as I sat down in front of the TV (we have cable again) I started snacking. Part of it was that I was too tired to do anything else but I was bored and lonely too. How is it that with so much listed on TV it's still boring as heck?

Dagmar

Originally Posted by Mudpie:
How is it that with so much listed on TV it's still boring as heck?

I have a tendency to want to snack while watching TV too. It's not so much that it's boring--I like the shows that I watch, it's that it doesn't keep me occupied enough. My mind is still able to wander (and when it wanders, it likes to think about food). I also think the food ads and seeing people eat on my shows makes me want to snack. So I keep a stack of magazines and catalogs next to my chair and flip through them while I watch my shows. I look at the catalogs while the shows are on and read the magazines during commercials. If I have clean laundry I fold it while watching TV and I also sometimes pay bills. If I'm doing something else while I'm watching TV (especially something that keeps my hands busy) the urge to snack is much more easily controlled.

I also keep a couple bags of sugar-free candy around and allow myself to suck on up to four pieces while I watch TV (one after the other, not all at once :lol:). And I have one planned snack during TV time that I save calories for.

Hi girls,

I'm finally getting a chance to check in. Yesterday and today weren't nearly as bad for me as Monday as far as HUNGER goes. I am still slacking on the exercise, but I'm doing better with the eating. Today is the only day besides Friday this week where I don't have a gazillion things to do after school; things which have been putting me home around 8 with no exercise (bad, I know).

So, I am going for a walk/run here in a few minutes. I would really love to see the scale say 136.__ anything on my Friday morning weigh in. That will be the lowest I've weighed in a long time.

Kim - good job on hitting your low weight! That must feel so good. Sounds like it's time for you to go shopping (if you haven't already!!

Barbara - Glad to hear you have gotten a handle on your hunger. Interesting detective work about the potatoes and blood sugar levels; it makes very good sense! Are you ready for the conference? I hope it all goes well and that you can have some fun too.

Dagmar -- I do exactly what you are talking about with the self sabotage. If I am rolling along, doing well and feeling good, I have a weird tendency to then GAIN weight before a big event, especially one that I really want to look good for. I have not been able to pinpoint why I do this, but I have done it many times. Maybe you can just focus on maintaining the 133 instead of losing until your trip... like you said, you look great at 133!

Allison - Good for you planning another morning run! I HATE getting up early (I'm a hardcore night owl), and I don't think I could ever run before work (I have to be there at 7:25... ugh!). Maybe you'll get cooler weather soon.

Geans - Way to go sticking to your treadmill run. That would be a bonus if you burned more calories!

I wonder where Nic is? Maybe busy with school... And Susan - she's in Alabama, right?

And welcome to Lyria - you sound like you are really working hard. You look very fit in your avatar. I bet you'll be at goal soon!

Have a good evening, ladies!

Oh, I didn't tell you! I think I have finally convinced DH to run with me!!! I keep dropping hints about his health and well-being. His grandfather had a heart attack at about the age he is now (GF is now mid 80's) and I don't want DH to go the same way. He is so similar to his GF--they both are (were) owners of very successful albeit stressful companies. He keeps telling me about so-and-so who died of this or that or so-and-so who is in the hospital with this or that and I keep saying "that's why you need to exercise more so you get healthy and don't die young." Anyway, his new reasoning why he can't run--"I don't have an iPod." Well, I just told him that I'm no longer using the iPod for running (after about week 5 of the C25K podcast, you get very little verbal encouragement). Lately I've been running my usual 2 miles-ish so I know where to start and stop and I don't need the guy telling me anything. So I told DH that he can use my iPod! He says he'll start Tuesday with me!!

How awesome!!!! I am happy for you both, and I wish mine would do the same.

He is complaining that he is getting 'fat.' He is not at all; he's 6'4" and low 190s, but he is being very stubborn about exercise. He will go on these little spurts (very little... about 3x a year) where he'll go to the gym regularly, and in the summer he'll bike with me, but otherwise, he's pretty stubborn about it. He believes yard work and drumming are GREAT exercise and all he needs. NOT. I just wish I could convince him that walking a few nights a week with me, or going to the gym even 2x a week, would help him a lot. And, of course with his type 1 diabetes, he NEEDS TO EXERCISE! Rant over.

Originally Posted by walking2lose:
How awesome!!!! I am happy for you both, and I wish mine would do the same.

He is complaining that he is getting 'fat.' He is not at all; he's 6'4" and low 190s, but he is being very stubborn about exercise. He will go on these little spurts (very little... about 3x a year) where he'll go to the gym regularly, and in the summer he'll bike with me, but otherwise, he's pretty stubborn about it. He believes yard work and drumming are GREAT exercise and all he needs. NOT. I just wish I could convince him that walking a few nights a week with me, or going to the gym even 2x a week, would help him a lot. And, of course with his type 1 diabetes, he NEEDS TO EXERCISE! Rant over.

My DH is fat (calls himself the walrus) but I won't post his stats as he'll kill me. He won't even do the drumming and yard work right now. Keeps saying that, when he's out of his current job (end of Oct.), he'll start "to get serious". 4 different gym memberships over the last 5 years - never more than two months. I think he's going to need a serious health problem to actually do something about his body.

And you know what? I've stopped pushing and nagging and dragging myself out for a workout with him that I absolutely don't need. I do take him for a walk (no leash necessary :D) on the weekend and we kayak whenever we can. I can't save him - he has to do that himself. I am setting an example and that's all I can do. I have my own health/sanity to maintain.

Dagmar :yay:

Healthy fast food
 

Sounds like an oxymoron but I actually had a reasonably healthy fast food meal tonite.

We have a chain called Swiss Chalet up here that specializes in rotisserie chicken. I had a $10 gift card for this chain and used it tonite. Got a leg, small roll, and a big garden salad with cukes, celery, carrots, cabbage, tomato, and lettuce. Took the skin off, no dressing on the salad, and very little damage done.

Will have one Skinny Cow fudgsicle later and call it a night. Have a great evening everyone!

Dagmar :cheer2:

That sounds yummy, Dagmar. I had broccoli (steamed) and a little whole wheat pasta. I'm gearing up for a small snack and then bed.

Hey Guys,

Made it back home. My trip to Nashville was a pretty good one. This location is pretty conscientious about their work and willing to take direction. By the way, the site from last week has been reassigned. Yeah! The hilarious part is that they were re-assigned to someone who is more stern than I am. If they thought I was bad man they are in for a treat with her. She takes absolutely no BS.

So anyways, thought I would chime in on the DH talk. After 6 years of begging and pleading with DH to exercise he finally got the message. His mom died of a heart attack at age 46 and his gm had 2 HA and a stroke before dieing at 67. So what was the big wake call? Well it seems at the tender age of 36 DH has developed High BP. This is also coupled with high cholesterol. For the past 2 weeks he has made it his priority to get in the gym. He even goes running with me on the weekends.

It's unfortunate that he had to wait for this to happen but maybe he can prevent any worsening of his condition.

Dagmar - Swiss Chalet YUM.

BTW, do you canucks have big plans for Thanksgiving? If so what are your plans for staying on plan? I was hoping to go home for the weekend but it didn't work out.

Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend
 

My DH and I usually go to his sister's. Full blown dinner with 3-4 pies and ice cream after plus we get a container of home made fudge :devil: (sugar and butter) to take home.

This year his dad is parked in the sister's dining room, in a hospital bed. He's just had hip replacement surgery. His sister has been diagnosed with MS :( and is walking with a cane and on so many meds she doesn't know what's what.

We are staying home :cp:. I am in control of dinner (no bacon-wrapped broccoli) and we will have ham and roasted root vegetables, with a low fat pumpkin soup to start. I am bringing one pie and will have one piece. DH will devour the rest so no problem :p.

We are also going out to Brunch on the Sunday at a place that I know has some lower cal options and then going for a hike at a conservation area to see the fall colours. I am also determined :workout: to get in an afternoon of kayaking before the weather turns too cold.

Dagmar

Morning, featherweights!

I'm still waiting for my DH to get on the bandwagon. He's not overweight or even "fat," but he's got a noticeable belly and has more of a chest than I do. (Shhh... he'd kill me if he knew I posted this!) He constantly says he "should" eat better, and he's "trying to" cut back on regular colas, which is at least a start. As we all know, though, "should" and "trying to" aren't the same as doing!

Ah, well, men: what can you do? At least he eats a healthy dinner...

Kim

I do have to say that my DH eats relatively well. I suppose that is because I fix him 4 lunches and 7 dinners a week!!! He rarely eats breakfast, but at least he now eats a protein bar mid morning! It used to be he'd go all day without food and then really pack it away at dinner. We don't drink any colas, but he could cut down on the Scotch!

Ah, Thanksgiving! We have a few weeks to plan but everyone's coming to my house this year. Mom & Dad fly down on 11/17, my brother and his family arrive on the 22nd and my aunt, uncle and cousins will come in for the afternoon. We'll have the traditional fare and there's little I can do to control the ingredients because everyone brings a dish. I'll be in charge of the turkey, stuffing and pies and I'll "assign" other dishes as necessary. I'm sure one meal won't kill the diet!!!

We all went out to dinner last night to our favorite Southwestern/Mexican restaurant. Usually I have the shrimp, but it's been such a long time since I've been there that I broke down and got the seafood enchiladas. Lots and lots of seafood but with a very creamy sauce and just smothered with cheese. Decadent. No wonder my weight is up a bit today! I did my run this morning and I feel good about that. I'm thinking I'll do another run tomorrow and then another Saturday. Eventually, I'd like to get to 5 runs per week.

Well, despite momentarily getting things under control, I had another bad day yesterday. I was again super hungry during my workout--not quite shaking, but almost. Then I got stomach cramps, which happens sometimes when I get too hungry. The cramps probably wouldn't have driven me off track (usually if I lay down for a little while, they resolve themselves), but I went out to dinner and then when I got home I broke into the :devil: evil chocolate covered espresso beans again. So I'm fighting to get back in control this morning. I don't think I've had one on-plan day all week. What a disaster.

I have the opposite problem with my SO. He is almost underweight--5' 10" and 135 lbs. I don't care much about him doing cardio, but I wish he would do some strength training and work on his core muscles. He has back problems and shoulder problems and ankle problems and his wrist hurts--with all his aches and pains, you'd think he was at least 20 years older than he is. Improving his core would most certainly help with a lot of these issues. But he won't respond to nagging and, frankly, I don't like to nag, so I just let it go. His eating is okay. He definitely eats a lot of stuff that I can't fit into my diet, but he is great at portion control and he doesn't eat fast food or stuff that is really bad for you. And he eats a healthy, low calorie dinner almost every night because I cook for the both of us.

Beating the Hungries
 

I think I may have a solution for myself, provided I'm at home. I ate a small can of tuna (not my favourite item plain) that's flavoured with stuff and it seemed to do the trick. Also drank another 1/2 litre of water. It's 5 p.m. and I'm not starving. A bit hungry yes, but I can hold off until 7 p.m. dinner time.

Can't use this when away from home though - evil fish breath!!

Dagmar :yay:

Interesting stories about all the DH's and SO's. I'm holding out hope mine will one day see the light. I agree though that nagging ain't gonna help!

Dumb question - why is T-day so early in Canada? I hope you all have a wonderful one; the rest of us have to wait 6 more weeks or so for our pie, stuffing, mashed potato FEST! Yum...

Pretty good day today.

Ran 4 miles. Food was not too bad but could have been better. The good news is I am down 2.5 of the 4 I gained last week. Hopefully I will make it down a few more lbs by the end of Sunday.

Oh yeah I decided to go home to TO for Thanksgiving. It's been several years since I was home for this holiday. I am very excited. Of course I am going to have to really be on my p's and q's to make sure I don't over eat. My aunt is having a big family shindig on Monday.