Good Morning!
 

Good morning everyone. Yes it is about 7:02 am and I am in the process of checking the weather and getting dressed for work. I wanted to share that I actually feel great this morning. I used to remember those mornings when I used to wake up after sleeping a good 8 hours and still feeling like I didn't sleep at all. I would love to wake up feeling like this every morning. I am not sure if it is because the sun is really up at this time, or maybe because I hear the birds singing outside, it is quite chilly though so I had to put the heat on so I can get dressed. But maybe I was thinking it might actually be the dun dun dun dun dun MY DIET/WEIGHTLOSS. Well I woke up this morning early enough to actually have my breakfast at the kitchen table and not in the car driving to car for once. Hopefully, I can eat on schedule throughout the day. We'll see.

I hope everyone has a wonderful POPing day today and I will chat with all of you later. Wishing everyone the best

Hope everyone has a great and on plan day!!! I am so excited for a few days of sunshine and warmth. I am hoping to get in some walking. it has been about 3 weeks since I have walked outside and I have been doing cardio and body sculpt inside.. so with that I am hoping that I can walk faster and further than ever. We will see.

Kennedy- that is wonderful that you are feeling so great. I know that if you have a good morning the rest of the day will also be great. I hope so anyway. My goal is to get up before work every morning and get my exercises done. Keep up the good wrok.
I have never made the following recipe but I got it from the Biggest Looser website and thought I would share
Thin and Crispy Gourmet Hula Pizza
1 (about 8”)
low-fat, whole wheat flour tortilla or pita
2 tablespoons
traditional barbecue sauce (7 grams carbohydrates or less per 2 tablespoons)
¾ ounce
(about 3 tablespoons) goat cheese crumbles
3 tablespoons
drained canned diced pineapple in juice, or drained pineapple in juice, or drained pineapple rings in juice chopped into bite-sized pieces
1½ teaspoons
finely chopped cilantro, or more to taste

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Place the tortilla on a medium nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 2 to 4 minutes per side, or until crisp. If air bubbles form while baking, poke them with a fork, then use a spatula or oven mitt to carefully press the air out.

Remove from the oven and top evenly with the sauce, then the cheese, pineapple, and cilantro. Bake the pizza for 2 to 4 minutes longer, or until the cheese is completely melted. Slice into 8 wedges and serve.

Hi ladies!

Kennedy nice to see you in such a cheery mood! Feels good doesn't it!

I am nervous to WI tomorrow. I hope it goes well. I was up 1 lb on Wed. which kind of discouraged me. Especially since I am not drinking and everything ya know. I drove past some people the other day and they were both smoking in their car and I thought to myself I should start smoking again. HA! I just feel so deprived right now. It sucks! HA! I am sure it will get better the longer I do it. Hopefully!

You guys are always giving me such good suggestions I just wanted to mention what we had for dinner last night! It was soo good!

We had Morningstar Mushroom Lovers Veggie Burgers.
With Light buns, and then tomatoes and of course ketchup and mustard. YUM! We also grilled asparagus.
So it was 1ST 1PR 1VEG. And soo delish!!!!

Cecil- you will do great tomorrow you have been doing so well. When you weigh 3 times a week you are bound to see the fluctuation more than once a week. Just remember how hard it was to get back on plan and how great it feels to be on plan.

Ok ladies I have a couple good recipes that I just tried out.

4 Tilapia fillets (about 4-6oz per fillet)
3 Tbsp Lite Ranch Dressing
4 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese
Lemon Juice
Lite Salt

Lay fillets out on a cookie sheet and lightly salt each piece. Spread lite ranch dressing over each fillet. It doesn't have to be thick or opaque, so you may not use all of the dressing. Sprinkle each fillet with parmesan cheese. Squirt with a little lemon juice. Bake for 12 minutes for each of thickness at 375 degrees uncovered.

Also serve with a lemon slice on each plate for those who want a little more lemon flavor. The fish bakes up so nice and the parmesan cheese begins to brown a little and have a little crunch to it, TIP...cover the pan in foil before you bake and you won't have to worry about clean up..just pick up the four corners of the foil and fold into a pouch, discard and take the garbage
A friend gave me this recipe and it is very good!

Cupboard Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (I use reduced fat and they come out great)
1 cup Splenda for Baking
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Combine all ingredients well.
Roll into balls about the size of a walnut. Press down slightly with
a fork.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes (check after @ 8 minutes tho, ovens vary)


Makes 24 cookies.
Serving size: 2 cookies
LA Exchange: 1/2 protein

Also pita cut up like pizza style spray ICBNB spray on it then sprinkle cinnamon and splenda on top and bake for 5-10 min. You can top this with FF whip cream and strawberries. YUM!

Hope these are something you guys would use the cookies are amazing. If you make them have some where to bring some of them. HA!

Cecil -those are great recipes. i am so proud of you for venturing out and cooking. i have made the cupboard cookies and they are very good. Just watch them real close as for some reason they tend to burn quickly. The first batch I made burnt a little so the second batch I watched and they were perfect. I also used the egg substitute and it worked great. I will definately try the Tilipa recipe I love fish so I will be trying that soon.
i have not tried it yet but i read on a recipie on here to take the pita and cut into triangles spray with I can't believe its not butter and some garlic salt bake until they are crisp and eat with salsa. I am guessing they turn out sort of like tortilla chips.

Hope everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend. It is suppose to be warm for 2 days and I hope to take advantage of the sun. I weigh in on Saturday and am a little nervous. As I feel like I have gained. i know for sure I am retaining water, this week I have not been able to get to 64 oz a day and I have been so hungry the last 2 days. I hope all that is attributed to exercising for 4 days striaght. Last night i took off as I had to get some household chores done and time got away from me. I have felt so guilty about not exercising and wish I would have just stopped cleaning and exercised. Tonight I am going for a long walk no matter what. ( well if it is thunderstorming that might keep me in).

Amy M Good luck at your WI!

Mine did not go as planned and I am pretty bummed. UGH! So unfair. I was up .2 from wed. I hate WI! It is so tough to see the scale go up when you are working so hard.

I am going to have the tortilla chips recipe! I bought all the stuff for the enchiladas and I am excited to make them.... probably tomorrow! Thanks for the support! Have a great weekend if I don't get back in here to check on you!

Kennedy and Amy I love this thread! I look forward to checking it to hear from you two!

Cecil:) you are so sweet and you will love the enchilada recipe and it does seem like cheating but you are not it is all on plan...so that makes it taste even better. I think I might make the chips this weekend, One time for my sons birthday I made homemade tortilla chips in bat shapes and everyone loved them. they were so easy so I know the wheat pitas will make good chips too.

Tip for the day to help me exercise!!!:carrot:
Keep the Faith!
If you feel awkward doing exercises remember that your strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance will come together with practice. Have faith in yourself (and that includes your body)! Another thing you can try is to imagine yourself executing perfect exercises just before you actually do them. You'll be surprised at how your imagination can transform your results!

Don't you just love Jillian Michaels!

Ok I am pretty bummed today I really wanted to be down today. I have been working so hard and I was sure it was going to pay off. Of course this am I was up .2! How frustrating! I know I just need to keep with it but it is to hard when you don't see results!

True, it is so hard when you don't see results, we have all been there!
But keep in mind, you lost 7 lbs quite fast and it'll take a bit for your body to accept that and start going down again.

I do like Jillian. I subscribe to the emails and always try to share her inspiration and weight loss tips. I really need to read the email about hormones and weight loss/gain. That seemed to apply to my situation the most. I would like to read her new book but have not been able to yet. I did purchase one of her exercise DVDs so far the results have been good.

Cecil- KristinX is right you have done so well. I know how frustrating it is to see the scale creep up, but you are doing so well.:dizzy:

Hello Everyone!
 

Wow Cecil and Mommyofsix, it smells good in this forum :hun: with all this cooking and delicious food ideas going back and forth. I thought I walked right into a restaurant (ha, ha, ha) You guys are great. I guess I am kind of lazy because I have not tried any of the fine recipes. I need to though. When I get a moment I am going to print out these threads and put them in my LAWL cookbook.

Cecil: I think you are ready for your own cooking show now. Are you serious tell me it ain't so! I can have cookies?!?? Wow I feel myself smiling already.

Mommyofsix: Keep up the good work. You are doing fine. You are excercising and getting your health in order. Your body is thanking you for not only staying on plan but giving it some life with excercise. Like I said before you will be down 2 more sizes before you know it.

Cecil: Just like KristinX said you lost the first 7 lbs. pretty quick and yes I truly believe that the body goes into a confusion mode "like what are you trying to do to me". I consider my weightloss not a battle but a war. A war that I stratgically know I will win. My weight is an issue but my will power and persistence supercedes all of the that. Cecil I remember when I first accepted the Summer Slim Down challenge I went on Take Off and after the three days I weighed myself and I was upset because I was under the impression because it was Take Off I would lose more. I was mad let me tell you. But I stopped weighing myself (I know you can't do that because you go to a center) and before you know it I peeked again at the scale about a week or two later and my I was shocked to see the weight I lost. So I got happy again. I didn't report it on this thread because I promised to myself that I was only going to post 3 times (but I couldn't help myself I had a little evil-kineval cheating moment) ha, ha, ha, You'll drop again don't worry.

A big hello to KristenX and Krjpy :wave:

Hey JerseyMadchen I have been thinking about ya :crazy:

As for me I have not been excersing as I would like to. Tommorow I am determined to either walk to the park or ride my bike there. Hopefully that will jump start my exercise back up. I wanted to go walking during my lunch hour but of course before you know it I go swapped and I had to cut my lunch hour in half. Also, I have been worrying about a few things lately about work they have me going to so many meetings that I want to pull my hair out. So I am some what feeling the heat so I trying so hard to stay in control. But I know exercise is going to be the key for more.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. For those who are going to experience the great warm weather like me enjoy.

Signing off for know and blowing :dust: to everyone here.