I weighed in today at 139.6, which is my lowest weight since the beginning of December! What a relief. I am down 1lb from last week and 2lbs from two weeks ago. If I can keep this up I'll be back to goal in 9 weeks. I guess cutting the junk really helped. I am now on my 11th day of no sweets.
A neighborhood kid came by selling girl scout cookies and we couldn't say no, but we didn't open the box. We hid it in the broom closet, along with all the other sweets in the house! It's easier to avoid sweets when I don't see any if I look in the pantry!
I've been having trouble getting motivated to go to the gym though. I've only been twice this week so far. It's supposed to be warmer this weekend though so I'm hoping we can go for a hike!
Allison - Welcome back! I'm glad to hear that your mother is getting better, and will be back home soon.
Lisa - Thank you.
4rabbit, Megan - Actually, I sent the teacher an e-mail about that, and I've just got the answer. He agreed to let me speak on the 10 instead of the 3, which gives me one more week to finish. It feels like I can go on breathing for the time being. I just hope that next week will be better health-wise. And that I finally manage to learn that overworking will kill me and that I don't have to feel guilty if I don't precisely do that. ^^;
It's been another good week though I definitely can relate to those that discussed their TOM--that scale is awful this week! Finally, I think it's beginning to return to normal. I don't slack off on watching what I eat during my TOM, but I do back off on worrying about the scale. I just watch what I eat and know that the scale isn't always accurate for several days in a row.
This week has been another busy one. I finally have finished one class project and am looking forward to spring break though it's still a couple weeks away. I continue to journal what I eat and my exercise. It works, so I'll keep doing it for sure!
As for my weight, I'm still within a couple lbs of where I'd like to be. Like others, I keep varying back and forth about 3-5 lbs. I've learned to live with that. I am about 1/2 way through my 6 month maintenance time with my weight loss program. They keep encouraging me to lose more weight, but I'm good with where I'm at. It's just staying there that makes me stay vigilant. I've missed a few days of exercising over the past couple weeks, so I'm trying to be ultra aware of excuses I make to not go to the gym. Sometimes I just can't get there, but I know the results of my workouts are great, so I need to just push myself out the door. I've found that if I do it first thing in the morning, it works so much better. Need to pack some workout stuff for next week when I'm away for classes without an exercise room/gym.
I'm thrilled that some of you have started sharing recipes. I'll try to get some posted too. I have a great cream soup I make that doesn't make my weight increase as canned soups do, so I'll get that posted for those of you who might like it. Hope others will get some recipes up there. I like the idea of lots of variety.
Speaking of variety, what do you do for salads? I'm in a rut. I eat lettuce shreds with 1 oz of shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese and 1 T of almonds along with RF dressing. I need to do something different. What do you enjoy? I'm guessing that many of you, too, eat salads. I'd love some ideas!
goalsuccess - I eat salad for dinner almost every night. I try to vary the lettuce part (romaine, red leaf, green leaf, spring mix) and always add sliced cucumber, thin sliced onion, herbs (parsley, mint or cilantro), sometimes shredded carrots, and then top with small chunks of broiled protein like beef, shrimp, or chicken (pre-marinated) (or you could buy the precooked flavored breast like Tyson). My dressing is always homemade. I like a mix of malt vinegar, Dijon mustard, hoisin sauce, garlic, grated ginger, fish sauce and a little olive oil. There are tons of great homemade dressing recipes on the web. I also like a little avocado to provide some luxury and some healthy fat. I put the cooked protein on when it is lukewarm so as not to wilt the greens but still be warmish. I actually crave this dinner!
Goal - I eat almost any greens except iceberg.... Tommy has good ideas. Other things I add are red pepper, celery, hard boiled egg, tomato when they're in season, any kind of canned beans, peas (either fresh or thawed frozen), slices of cooked beets, mushrooms. I really like to make a sort-of-taco salad. I use any kind of lettuce/greens (spinach is good) and if I have it I fine slice some cabbage. Then I heat up 1/2 cup of black beans (or any kind), and put them on top, add some tomato, avocado and shredded cheese and top with a mixture of lf/ff sour cream and salsa. I like to stir it up as the warm beans make the sour cream and salsa warm and they coat the greens better. I have this for lunch a lot, and usually just take all the stuff to work and assemble it there.
My favorite side salad at the moment is mixed greens, a chopped up medjool date, crumbled goat cheese and, if I'm feeling reckless, a chopped pecan or two. I usually do it with a balsamic vinaigrette. It's very, very yummy! Not a super giant mucho veggie salad, but a very nice salad to round out an otherwise complete meal.
I've just come down with the most recent viral strain to cross my path. It sucks. So I'm tired and cranky and sick and bf has gone out of town for the night, so I'm also alone. <sighs> The nice thing is that I have no plans and no one expecting me to do anything or go anywhere with them. I shall probably take a hot bath, drink a giant glass of wine and go to bed early.
Last edited by baffled111; 02-29-2008 at 08:42 PM.
WaterRat - I also do a taco salad. I shred cabbage and some onion and then put in a zip-lock bag with a little salt and lemon juice and white vinegar. That sits for an hour or two. Then I go to my local fish taco chain (Rubios) I get a carnitas street taco (small corn tortilla and maybe 2 ox. shredded pork), a small side of pinto beans, and pick up some containers of green and red salsa. At home I plate my slaw, scrape the filling out of the taco, spread over the beans, salsa it all up and eat away, taking some bites with bits of the tortilla.
A very satisfying and filling meal. (cheap too- the take out price is around $3)
My current favorite salad-huge mix of romaine, spinach, radichio, maybe some carrot, a chopped pear, 1oz crumbled blue cheese and maybe 7 walnut halves, chopped. I top it all with balsamic vinegar. Yummo!
Another good combo is greens w/ orange slices, strawberries and feta.
I go on salad kicks, where I'll eat the same thing for months and then change it up. I always have the same base - romaine, tomatoes, cukes, and onion. My latest add-in craze has been artichoke hearts. I was on a sunflower seeds thing for awhile. There was a feta cheese phase (fat-free pre-crumbled). I did craisins and Granny Smith apple chunks once. Pistachios and dried apricots were really yummy in the summer. I love salad! So fresh!
I was at my sister's house from about 8:00 this evening until midnight making her daughter's birthday cake for tomorrow's party. It's a princess castle and it's REALLY cute. I had NO scraps of cake and NO licks off the beaters! (I did lick some icing off my fingers, but it was already on there and I did not dip my fingers into the bowl to get any on them on purpose.) This is a humungous achievement for me because usually cake baking and decorating is an absolute disaster. I cannot remember a single time I didn't eat so much icing and cake scraps that I felt sick to my stomach! Tomorrow will be another big test, at the party. I'm working one piece of cake into my calories for the day, but other than that I am sticking to the veggie tray with NO DIP! That's it. I'm eating before I go and I have a meal planned for when I get home, so there will be no changing of the plan at the party. It's another happy, purple, jumping-up-and-down smiley face for me tomorrow!!!!!
Congratulations, Kara! That is a huge NSV! Woohoo on the scale, Jessica! I hope it means that something is helping.
All the salad ideas sound wonderful. I'm in a salad rut (along with everything else I eat) and you all gave me great ideas.
Happy March 1! We all survived February, I hope. It sure doesn't feel like spring is coming here, though I've noticed how much lighter it is when I leave the gym in the mornings. We had snow yesterday, then freezing rain, and then it was supposed to freeze solid last night. So I went out when the snow changed to freezing rain to shovel. Ack! It was like shoveling a snow cone! That was a workout all by itself.
The gym doesn't open until 8:00 on weekends, so I'm sitting here drumming my fingers and waiting. When I finish there, I need to stop at Borders and buy some New Mexico guidebooks to plan a trip there in May. DH and I are going to explore the southern part of the state on this trip, including Carlsbad Caverns. Anyone been there?
Happy Saturday everyone! Oh AND Happy March. March? Can't be. Where has this year flown?
Some very good salad ideas. YUMM. I eat lots of salads. One of my favorites is just the basic romaine hearts, red peppers, red onions, grape tomatoes and kirbys. I either put in a 3 oz can of tuna or I've been adventurous lately and I put in strips of deli turkey breast - dressed with balsamic vinegar. I eat an enormous salad, out of a serving bowl in fact.
Another favorite of mine - baby spinach leaves, romaine hearts, sliced red onion, sliced strawberries, cubed mango - with balsamic vinegar. You can add some poppy seeds and/or some roasted slivered almonds to it. VERY GOOD.
Kara - VERY IMPRESSIVE young lady. VERY. Great going!! Good luck today as well. I KNOW you're going to get through the party plan in tact.
Ah, Meg, the shoveling/ice picking workout - a good one indeed. You will certainly not be getting that kind of workout in New Mexico.
Baffled, I hope you feel better.
Well yesterday I stepped on the scale, though I said I was going to weight, ummm, I mean wait, til Monday . The phone was ringing from friends wanting to make plans for Saturday night. I didn't want me to think, even though I really knew, that I weighed less then I did. I NEEDED the accountability. I didn't want me to think that I could get away with yet another splurge meal, til I am below my red line. So, yup - I went on and sure enough I am at exactly 130. And that is surely ABOVE my red line. I can't imagine what the sucker would have said had I gone on Monday morning, what with the water weight from the weekend. But whatever. I went on and I felt better. From now on - I go on that scale every day. I did not like that little hiatus.
So, tonight we are going out somewhere, not sure exactly where, but it will involve alcohol and food. And my plan is, since I'm above the red line, to not indulge at all. It will be seltzer or diet soda and some kind of salad, maybe, just maybe grilled chicken. NO ALCOHOL. That will be the tough one. I will report back when the night is over.
Anyway, yesterday was very good. So, I got through 1/2 of my tough weekend. Friday night being harder for me then Sunday.
Hello to the rest of the gang. Hope you all have a fabulous day/weekend.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 03-01-2008 at 08:10 AM.
Whew! Got on the scale this morning and I feel like I got a great, big reward for being good last night as I'm a pound below my red line now! In all reality, it's probably just the redistribution of water from this being the last day of my period, but hey, it's under that line. And my goal is to not be over that line again, EVEN with fluctuations in water weight.
Kara - Nice job with the cake, and congratulations on getting under your "red line".
Meg - Thank you. Today at least is a better day. The tragedy of my existence, of course, is that I'm finally starting NOW to let some steam off, relax and not feel guilty of not working... yet I need to go back to school and work on Monday. Life is really imperfect, isn't it. (Hey, at least no binges so far. It looks like "intuitive eating" is indeed a better option for me at the moment.)
It's easier to avoid sweets when I don't see any if I look in the pantry!
for me, and anyone else who needs it!
Woohoo on the scale, Jessica! I hope it means that something is helping. 
I'm in a salad rut (along with everything else I eat) and you all gave me great ideas. 
It sure doesn't feel like spring is coming here, though I've noticed how much lighter it is when I leave the gym in the mornings. We had snow yesterday, then freezing rain, and then it was supposed to freeze solid last night. So I went out when the snow changed to freezing rain to shovel. Ack! It was like shoveling a snow cone! That was a workout all by itself.
When I finish there, I need to stop at Borders and buy some New Mexico guidebooks to plan a trip there in May. DH and I are going to explore the southern part of the state on this trip, including Carlsbad Caverns. Anyone been there?
. The phone was ringing from friends wanting to make plans for Saturday night. I didn't want me to think, even though I really knew, that I weighed less then I did. I NEEDED the accountability. I didn't want me to think that I could get away with yet another splurge meal, til I am below my red line. So, yup - I went on and sure enough I am at exactly 130. And that is surely ABOVE my red line. I can't imagine what the sucker would have said had I gone on Monday morning, what with the water weight from the weekend. But whatever. I went on and I felt better. From now on - I go on that scale every day. I did not like that little hiatus. 
(Hey, at least no binges so far. It looks like "intuitive eating" is indeed a better option for me at the moment.)
