Featherweights Planning & Chat Nov.5-11
 

Good morning everyone! Another new month.

New diet, same old diet with new motivation, new menus? Trying to lose a couple of lbs. for the Christmas season?

What will we all be doing this month?

Have a great week!

Dagmar :spin:

If it ain't broke . . .
 

I'm continuing with the calorie counting but I'm not writing stuff down. I know what I have to eat every day to lose/maintain and I'm sticking to that.

I am down to 133.4 - a loss of 1 lb. from last week :D. Slow and steady seems to be what works for me.

I was just looking at a beautiful vista when driving down the Rosedale Valley yesterday - the fall colours are a little late this year but they're coming along.
It made me appreciate being back in Toronto and being where I am at this point in my life :D.

My year of being 50 has been a good one and I have 4 months left. I'm detemined to lose the last 4 lbs and start year 51 at a maintenance weight of under 130 lbs.

Have a great week everyone!

Dagmar :cool:

Well, I'm still struggling desperately to control my eating. Whoa, what a surprise. I seem to be back in the "I'm getting serious" THIS WEEK pattern again and it scares me to death. I'm down nothing from last week...in fact up a couple lbs, though I'm starting TOM so hopefully that's why. Hopefully it's not b/c of the 23 lbs of Halloween candy I ate last week. *sigh* Yes, I gave away the rest of the Halloween candy after spending an entire day binging on it! Yesterday I threw out half a lemon meringue pie that my MIL baked (I swear she's trying to make me gain weight). I simply can't have stuff in the house. She also sent up chocolate cheesecake the day after the pie, luckily I don't like that stuff or it would have ended up in the trash too.

I'm so jealous by the way that you're so close to goal!! CONGRATS!!! Can you send me some of your willpower?? *grin*

Not sure which thread for this week we're supposed to be posting in, but this thread seems to have more replies so I'll go with this one. However, to pull over from the other thread about too many restaurant meals...


I think that is really my downfall. When I cook for myself, I do a great job eating healthy. However, when I'm in a group situation where we have catered food at the office or go out to dinner, I have so much trouble getting myself to eat healthy. I know all the tricks - ask for your meats dry, ask for salad dressing on the side and then dip your fork into it, etc - but it's hard to do in practice. I seem to be the only one at my office who's really concerned about being healthy (in fact, my coworkers always remark how impressed they are with my workout schedule and the healthy lunches I bring), which makes it tough. Also, I'm new in my job and at the very bottom of the totem pole, so I don't want to commit the faux pas of being a picky eater or causing problems by asking for my food to be specially-prepared. Anyone have any suggestions? My current way of managing it is just to try to eat extra healthy the day before and after I have to go out to eat with people from the office, and limit how many times I eat out, but that can be a bit tough in NYC with all the yummy restaurants to try!

As for my goals, I'd like to get down to 125 by December 1. This is doable IF it turns out that my gain last week was water retention. Otherwise, I'll prob be a pound over. I'll still take that though!

Good morning ladies :wave:

Well after my little speech last week, I didn't do so well over the weekend :o.

But, I am determined to stay on that wagon this time, so this morning I packed myself a healthy lunch (rare for me, I usually eat out) and I plan on going to the mall on my lunch hour and walking before I eat. I hope this sets up a pattern for the rest of the week :crossed:

Oh, by the way, my goal is to hit that 140 mark by Christmas. I'm pretty sure I can do it if I just keep working at it.

Hope everyone has a great OP Day!

Good morning,

New week = new start.
I made a huge mistake of asking DH to bring the leftover box of Halloween candy to work. He just wanted some tout sweet. So there it was a box of my favorite assorted mini bars......and sadly many (10+??) slid down my gullet. Sigh:o
This does not bode well for the season ahead - there are temptations at every turn, and I am not even capable of avoiding cheap chocolate.

Pardon the ramble - I needed to indulge in a public self rant!
Happy Monday all.

-S

Hi all -- I'm new here and hope you don't mind my jumping in. I can totally relate to the temptation of cheap chocolate! I spent the weekend at my BFs (who lives in another state) and he had seriously overbought for Halloween. He doesn't have a sweet tooth, so his candy stash will probably last him a year. But for me...ugh...I couldn't stop! And when I got home last night, I found that he had hidden some king sized candy bars in my bag. I know he's not trying to undermine me, but really!

As for my goals this month, I did a half marathon a few weeks ago and am determined to keep on training and improve my time. Daylight savings isn't going to help too much, but there's always the treadmill...

Hope you all have a great day!

:welcome2: veerie

Welcome Veerie :wel3fc:

I'm not really fond of Day Light Savings Time. I live in Indiana where we have only been switching time for a year. It really stinks. I'm originally from Ohio and had switched time my whole life so I was happy to move here where we didn't have to. Gotta love that Government :rolleyes:.

I had a really good day today. Did my walking at lunch and actually am pretty low on calories for the day (under 1100) so maybe I can have a little treat later ;).

Hope everyone stayed on plan today :high:

Gonna jump in here before the thread gets too long.

Whoa, what a day. Not much happened really. I'm just super tired. I just wanted to get on 3FC before I head off to dream land...

What am I doing this month? Ugh... I don't know. I'm not recording stuff like I have been and I have to admit the fact that my scale is moving (slowly) downward despite the horrible food that enters my mouth makes me unmotivated to "diet". That said I know what I'm doing differently this fall compared to last fall (not binging. My eating disorder isn't here right now. :) ).
Still I want to get in some serious exercise and try to keep my sugar intake to a bare minimum.

mudpie - wow. You are so close to goal. Awesome. You know you can be a maintainer for next year.

This might sound weird but for Jan 2008 I'm looking forward to taking some more full body pics. Last year as a motivator I took some "Before Pics"... And let's just say I've been noticing a difference this month in my body and I can't wait to see the difference a whole year will have made.

abbyin - one weekend does not a diet end. :) And as for daylight savings time... meh. I do like having the sun up when I get up in the morning. But i hate how everything later is then done in the dark...

scenestealer - eating out is such a huge hurtle for weightloss. It's so easy for me to just say, meh I'll buy myself some lunch today.... And there's always a chocolate bar or something to go along with that lunch. ;)

sznn - I love chocolate. expensive and cheap. Halloween chocolate = bad idea for my house.

Veerie - WELCOME!!!!!!

Alright night all. I'll probably be back on tomorrow... avoiding my chem studying (I have a big midterm friday. AHHH!!!). :)

I'm gonna continue calorie counting. I like it :)
I'm gonna continue with my cardio. I also like it :)
I didnt work out this past weekend and felt awful about it. Luckily (since I work as a wedding singer) I have wedding this Friday which means, 5 hours of nonstop cardio. AND todays rehearsal was really tough, way too much dancing for my feet, though. Or maybe too high a-heels? lol... anyway, this week is starting to look pretty wonderful. :) hope you all have a good one, too!!

Good morning!
I'm not sure if it's the time change or sneaky bad habits or what ... but I'm tired too.
I got a good nights sleep so today I'm going to try to remember to take my vitamins and eat cleaner. Can't be walkin' around dragging all the time!

Whoa, I hear you on the Halloween candy! I spent an entire day eating nothing but...I started at 7:30 in the morning!! Man, I felt sick! I ended up giving all of the rest of it to my friend the next day.

I had a great day yesterday...my eating was really good, that's two days in a row! Yay, I pray I'm back on track!!

I also biked for 6 miles, ran for 3 miles, then did my strength training DVD for 40 minutes and then tried a new exotic dance DVD I got. Admittedly, I'm a little stiff today. LOL

That cheap chocolate calls too loudly!
 

I did the mini chocolate bars down the gullet and then put the leftover ones in the food bank donation box the next day. That felt right.

And, being so close to goal after Halloween and before Christmas (the next big eating hurdle), I then decided to help out the Girl Guides and buy a box of their cookies. That got hidden in my filing cabinet drawer :devil:.

I knew I was gonna eat the darn things - they're chocolate and not very good but I had them stashed. So I ate them all :o (probably about 36) last night. 3 of them are 190 calories and I really don't want to know what the total was. I felt sick all night long and am just dragging my (probably bigger) butt today.

Now I have to figure out WHY? WHY? why did I do this stupid thing. I'm really annoyed by my behaviour now. I know better but I keep doing this. I'm not even beating myself up or feeling like a failure. I'm just annoyed :mad:.

I quit smoking. I quit drinking. Why the heck can't I give this stuff up?

Dagmar :p

Black November
 

Thought you guys might enjoy this poem someone sent me. Maybe we should all be on the turkey's plan this year ;):

Black November

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;
His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of..... Black November;
"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three,
"And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin;
"And then one morning, when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head;
"Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald 'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink;
"And then comes the worst part!" he said not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing".
Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked;
I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes;
I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;
But 'twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;
And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;
So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap;
I haven't a worry! , so I eat and I nap;
She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said: "Christmas is coming..."

Dagmar - not sure what your exercise routine is, but the calories from the cookies are about 24 miles of walking/running. If you can do 4 miles/day (that's about an hour/day, assuming a power walk of 15 mins/mile), you'll have made up for it in less than a week. An extra hour of cardio a day sounds (like a pain but at least) somewhat manageable, especially if you break it up and just do four 15-minute walks throughout the day.

I usually have a big (24 oz or so) smoothie as part of my breakfast (which consists of that plus some form of grain, either cereal or a whole wheat English muffin), but this morning I decided to skip it. It's not THAT unhealthy: a bunch of frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, mango, all unsweetened), maybe a banana, 1/2 cup of juice, 1 scoop protein powder. However, I know all that sugar in the morning probably isn't the best idea, even if most of it is natural sugar. So today I just had cereal with a bit of almond milk (mmm makes my raisin bran SO delicious), and then an Asian pear just now when I got to work.

Okay, I just got curious and did the nutrition analysis for the smoothie, and it's not as bad as I thought. 325 cals, 1g fat, and 39g sugar... BUT it also has 9g fiber, 20g protein, 179% of my vitamin C for the day, and smaller amounts of other vitamins/minerals. Maybe I should go back to having that after all!

Okay, the poem made me laugh! Thanks!!!

I'm doing okay. I've felt like I was getting a cold for the past few days but it never really "stuck." I think I'm pretty much over it, but DD, who started it all, is still sick with it (and feeling pretty bad today). I've been eating okay--not too much in the way of candy, everything pretty low fat and all, but my weight is inching up. I got in a good run this morning, so I hope to see a drop soon.

Have a great day everyone!

I walk dogs for a living. I'm out there from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. It's not continuous though nor is it at the pace you suggested.

I know I can burn off the calories. That's not what's bothering me. It's figuring out how to not eat the whole package of cookies at once :mad:. I know there are people out there who can keep a package of cookies in the house for weeks and have just one or two a day (my dad is one of those people).

I have to figure out how to do that. :D Other wise I'll be gaining and losing the same 5-10 lbs. for the rest of my life and that's just not healthy.

Dagmar :p

Have to say that I am jealous of you walking dogs every day... my job consists of sitting in the office from 9 AM usually till 8 PM or so (though on my last project, it was 8 AM to midnight most days). Hard to get exercise in!

I have been experiencing something weird with onions lately. I made a simple salsa (basically just chopped up tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and parsley) to go with an egg, and I felt really sick to my stomach after I ate it. It seemed like it was just too much onion, and I felt... the best way I can describe it is "too acidic." It got better when I ate bread, drank milk, etc. So today, I made a salad for lunch, and put just a FEW onions on, but the same thing happened, and I ended up sneaking a teeny bit of potato salad from the office catering to make it better (I wiped the mayonnaise/sauce off as best as I could though)! I used to absolutely love onions - is it possible to all of a sudden develop some kind of intolerance for them? Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Dagmar :hug:

I guess I'm a little like your dad. I too buy snack size candy bars and hide them from DH (cause he eats anything sweet in the house and leaves nothing for me). Now I don't eat a lot of sweets, but every now and then I get a craving, so a bag of snack size candy bars can last me a couple of months.

I wonder if it might be emotional. I tend to over eat (regular and junk food) when I am feeling down. I just don't care :shrug:. I read some of your post in the last few weeks and it seems like maybe you are just feeling a little down right now (DH and dog walking laws). You can shake this thing. I know it's hard but you have to give yourself a little attitude adjustment every now and then. I know I do :dizzy:. Try to think of things in a different way. Sometimes we forget about our fortunes (or blessings). It helps me sometimes to not think about what I don't have (or am not happy about) and try to think about what I do have (and am happy about). I think you'll find that we all have more blessings than we realize :yes:.

Anyway, enough of that. So what, you ate a box of cookies :p. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. Live and learn. It's not the end of the world and you are doing so well.

Keep up the good work :high:

Hi girls,

I've been back from San Fran for a week, but i've had a hard time getting out of the vacation mindset. I gained 3-4 lbs, and I feel quite huge. We had a GREAT time, but I've got to get back on track.

Just wanted to say hi and check in. I'll catch up on reading here later. See ya!

What a day! At school from 8:30 until 5:30. Lots of studying to be done!!!

Dagmar - I understand the not being able to just "have one". I'm definitely not the type who can have cookies or anything sweet just hanging around. Or at least I wasn't. I'm finding that's changing a bit as my eating style changes for the better. Hopefully it'll stick anyway, so I have healthier eating for the rest of my life.
Oh! And I'm so jealous of your job. How long have you been doing it for? Is it fun?

scenestealer - some foods are considered "acidic" and some are considered "alkanine". I'm not sure what an onion falls under, but if you look it up online you can find the foods that are good to eat for a less acidic environment in your stomach.

abbyin - I agree with what your saying. At least for me I think eating is very emotional. Especially the over eating; when I'm feeling down I just want that comfort of food. I hate those times when I can't feel full no matter how much I eat... That's when I know it's my feelings of sadness/loneliness.

Alright. I'm off... I'm going to either study or go outside for a walk/run thing because I'm getting antsy and I'm not sure I'll be able to focus.

Thanks, I needed that
 

I'm glad you're back abbyin. Thanks :hug:! Your analysis and advice are dead-on.

My DH and I had the "will you leave Toronto?" argument the morning before I bought the cookies. The evening I ate them we had revisited that same subject. I was angry at him all day and took it out on myself - DUMB!

Back on track now and luring myself to the Christmas goal with a killer red satin dress and black satin pumps outfit that I will buy the very second my scale hits 130 :D

Dagmar

Raw onions = stomach upset
 

Scenestealer I have the same problem with the onions and I have a theory that explains why it happens.

I used to eat raw onions just on full fat burgers and I was fine. Then restaurants started putting raw red onions into salads and I got several severe cases of heartburn :barf: from salads before I figured out what ingredient was causing this :?:.

Now I have always (since I was a kid) preferred to eat my salad "naked" - no dressing (it's a Canadian thing - no, just kidding! ;)). I haven't tried the onions with dressing with fat in it.

Maybe the fat in our food "buffers" the acid in the onions. When we switch to a lower fat diet (as most of us losing weight do) we lose that buffer and the onions upset our stomachs.

It's not science but Hey! it makes sense for my own personal situation.

Dagmar :cool: (raw onion and cookie free)

Red satin! Vavoom! I think we need pictures.

It's snowing! Beautiful big flakes falling straight down. Very pretty. It's been sooo windy for a few days I was a bit afraid of the forecast flurries but this is nice. I'll enjoy walking my errands today.

I've got a little more energy today. I guess I was just tired and I forgot I had a flu shot on Monday. A little extra sleep has helped.
I also need to remember to eat (which sounds funny coming from me). But if I feel awful, I just go schlump in a corner somewhere. I should eat something nutritious ... and then go nap :)

Ah! I'm kind of in a rut. I haven't been working out regularly, but I still do watch what I eat. I'm kind of staying status quo.. I need motivation!!!

Status quo is better than gaining. I've been gaining. I've got to get back with the plan.

I agree with Susan. Dagmar, we want pictures!

I'm not having such a great day today. I started out over sleeping and so I stopped to grab breakfast at :mcd:. Bad idea. Now the egg mcmuffin and a lowfat milk aren't too bad calorie wise but this always sets me up for a bad day, foodwise. I don't even want to say what I had for lunch :tantrum:.

Anyway, I better get this day back on track and quick :o. Low cal dinner for me tonight.

Hope everyone else is having a better day than me :rolleyes:

My team and I just went out for lunch to Delmonico's, this really nice steakhouse near work. Situations like this are SO problematic, because it's rude to pull any of the tricks like getting salad dressing on the side and dipping your fork, or asking for only half of a meal and getting the rest boxed (or even not getting it at all). I was able to skip the wine and get sparkling water, and I opted for fish instead of steak (but it was with a fried potato patty on top, and came smothered in black truffle sauce). So really not that healthy at all. According to DailyPlate, I ate 1088 calories, and I would guess that's less than I actually ate just because of how rich everything tasted and all the oils and butter I'm sure it was cooked in that I didn't account for.

Tonight my dinner is definitely going to be salad/veggies with no dressing, and I'm going to have to hit the gym for a LONG time. Now I see why people say there is the "Consulting 15," meaning the 15 pounds you put on in your first year! I WILL eat healthy for the rest of the week and avoid it.

Anyone have advice for dealing with these kinds of situations and not being rude when you want something healthier?

Well Laura ... I'm of two minds here.
One says "It is not rude to look after your health." You can indeed ask for a simple salad with dressing on the side. You can indeed leave food on your plate. That's not rude and in todays enlightened society, not rare either.
The other says "Cut yourself some slack." One restaurant meal will not ruin all your efforts. Enjoy! Occassionally ;)

Laura, I see no reason to make excuses or apologies on what I eat at a restaurant. I don't think the rest of the party is concerned at what I think about what they order.I order what I want whether it be healthy or otherwise. If anybody asks me about what I order I just say "I don't feel like fried chicken ( or whatever ) today. I say as little as possible and you know what ? They really don't care.

Order what you like and don't explain
 

I rarely eat out with groups. We did have some "dogwalker's breakfasts" last year, which I organized. We ate at local restaurants that had breakfast specials and we all basically ate the bacon, eggs, toast thing.

I just had my eggs scrambled instead of fried, back bacon rather than the other kind, and ate one half piece of toast :p. And usually I was full enough that I only had a piece of fruit for lunch.

One of the other walkers is a vegetarian so she also tailored the breakfast to suit her diet. No one asked any questions except
"If you don't want the rest of your toast can I have it?" and "Jen, order bacon on a separate plate and I'll eat it" :D.

I don't think people will judge you if you eat healthily. I rather think they might be impressed by your desire to maintain your body's fitness.

Dagmar

It's really kinda classic - has a black net overlay thingie (don't I describe things well?) on top of a basic A-line shift with no sleeves. And there's a black long-sleeved velvet jacket that comes with it.

I don't do blatantly sexy well at all - always feel like a dork in low-cut tight stuff :dizzy:.

I might get DH to take a shot of me in my Christmas finery though and post it. He is quite persnickety about taking photos and I generally look like I'm about to kill someone :mad: (DH of course) when he finally snaps the photo after 20 minutes of fiddling with the camera. And then half the time my eyes are shut!

Maybe Mudpie can learn to operate the camera - she's really keen on the computer mouse and the TV remote. Nothing like having the TV go on full blast at 2 :devil: in the a.m.

Dagmar

I don't eat out in groups very often, but when I did, I ordered what I wanted and didn't let anyone comment. Wait. That was back when I weighed 30 pounds more than I do now. Maybe no one commented because I wasn't dieting so my choices were pretty much like every one else's. I do eat out every Friday for lunch with DH and I have to say that a lot of the time the choices aren't the best. But after salads for lunch for 3 or 4 days I usually want something a little bit more "lively" so I go for it and then hold back a bit more at dinner. I think there has to be some give and take. I guess that's why I like calorie counting--if you plan it right you can fit in just about anything.

Isn't it funny how Dagmar is a dog walker by trade but has a cat for a pet? LOL

DD stayed home from school today with a bad cold. And I thought mine was all better yesterday, but this afternoon I'm all stuffed up. That doesn't look good for tomorrow's run.

Laura, I don't think you should worry about what you order when your out with friends. I really don't think people worry about what others eat (at least I don't). I order what ever I want and no one says anything about it. I think maybe when we're watching our weight, we think other people are watching too, but I really don't think they are.

Your doing great! Eat what you want and don't worry about what others think.

When I'm out with friends, I have no problems... it's when I'm out for business that I feel pressure to get what everyone else is getting. When a partner asks the table "what soup course is everyone getting?" it's difficult to decline. I also think part of the problem is that on my last project, I was made to feel bad by colleagues for trying to eat healthy, so now I'm a bit paranoid about it.

The good thing is, I had a salad for dinner (had more than enough protein earlier anyway), and also worked out a good amount, so I'm only 100 cals over for the day. Not terrible!

Wow - the planets must be lined up in low will power phase. Only reason I can think of why we are having a collective problem dealing with the daily food temptations.
If it will make anyone feel better - I may have trumped you all.
Just annihilated 3 slices of very greasy pizza and now I am indulging in a few more wee bars!!!:o
I did just return from a killer spin class - which maybe burned off 20% of what I just hovered down....sigh. I wish I could log on here and tout some success stories.
What's a girl to do? I planned on having some steam broccoli and shrimp - and there was the vile pizza staring up at me, taunting me. Anyone with iron clad resolve in these types of situations have any suggestions???

Hope for a better day for all of us who are floundering.
- S

Compost or garbage can?
 

sznn We have a great thing up here in Toronto Canada called the green bin program. All biodegradable materials (leftover food, peelings, apple cores, paper products, etc.) go into a special plastic green-coloured bin which is collected weekly.

If I have something left over that I think will be a problem :devil: I just chuck it in there. I'm helping the City reduce waste, providing material for clean fill and composting, and nothing is sticking to my hips! :)

I know it's hard to throw out food but you can do it. My whole brain screams out waste, waste when I throw out that sleeve of cookies, but my body cries waist, waist - YES! :D

Dagmar :D

Hey girls 'member moi?? :wave:

Man, I apologize for being MIA!! I have been buzy with work during the day and then at night because of no daytime hours for the gym I have been going at night, it's very very tiring... I rarely have time to post but I do lurk...

I was also OFF track BIG BIG time since our vacation in September...I'm FINALLY ok this week...

Laura -- don't let anyone intimidate you into eating junk and unhealthy foods :nono: ... You don't have to explain anything to anyone just eat the way YOU prefer, which is healthy :bravo:

I finally have a day off during the week and I am cleaning the oven, it's self cleaning but I still have to clean the racks :rolleyes: ... Cleaning the oven gets me going on cleaning the rest of the kitchen too, it needs it in a big bad way .... So I am off to clean ...

Later girls :hug: