I am hovering right around my own red line but I'm keeping things mostly in check. I have to focus on the positive which is that the last few weeks is the first time in more than a year that I'm floating around 128-130, instead of 130-135.
Went to the gym today and thoroughly enjoyed my power yoga. I'm really liking it more and more each week. It's not easy but it makes me feel great and I absolutely feel like it's making me stronger.
Kara/Pat - Thanks for the recipes. I am always looking for a sweet treat and wouldn't mind making my own instead of all the processed junk I tend to gravitate toward. I know low fat doesn't mean healthy!
I actually have the ingredients for Pat's recipe in the house so maybe I'll try it. I'll keep you posted if I do but I'm afraid that if they're actually good, can I not eat too many? I think if I cut them up and put them in the freezer that might help.
baff - I hope you're feeling better soon! Everywhere I go people have been quite sick for most of the winter. I have no idea how I've managed (knock on wood) to avoid it! by the way, there are many days when I call myself Fatty Fatty Fat Fat, so I feel your pain Ms. Fatty McSnackickins.
Can you believe that we're supposed to get another dumping of snow tonight?? Sucks and I've had enough.
ETA -Pat - I took a quick look at the recipe you gave and calculated the calories online. It looked to me like it was about 75 calories a piece (with the sugar). Still good but I'm not sure if I did anything wrong. If anyone else has a recipe calculator and wants to try, let me know. And there's no eggs in the cake...is that weird?
I'm gonna fess up. I was a bit indulgent today. I didn't eat anything off plan; I was just generous with my measuring. Tomorrow I need to get back to level cups instead of heaping ones.
Kara- Thanks for posting the brownie recipe. I've seen a similar one, but lost it. Have you tried ground oatmeal instead of flour for baking? I can't use wheat, rye or barley and have lots of alternative recipes.
Hope all the sickies are feeling better soon.
Count me in on the staying active to keep moving crew. Although I sure have a lot of exercise induced aches and pains I'm sure I'm fitter and more active at 53 than I was at 40. Healthy food, less of it, and a lot of exercise has made that possible.
I'm hovering a half pound over my red line. Humph. I've been stress eating and I know why these pounds are sticking to me. I know better and am going to have a better week even though the stress is the same or worse. Peanut butter only adds to my stress- it's never solved a single problem that I can remember.
Kery- I'm glad you got some sleep! Since I've been taking cymbalta, I wake more frequently in the very early morning, but I'm usually able to get back to sleep until its cardio time at 5:20 am. Yay for sleep!
Thanks for the advice, Mel. I actually have a bit of experience in alternative-flour baking as my oldest had many, many food allergies that were diagnosed around ten months of age. Since he was still nursing, I cut all of it out of my diet as well, which meant no wheat, rice, soy, green beans, turnips, grapefruit, vinegar, cinnamon... He's weird. But I did a LOT of oat flour and potato starch baking. I actually found this recipe when I was doing the first phase of the South Beach Diet back in the summer and have been tinkering with it since then to try to come up with something I liked better. It was kind of a challenge for me to stay within those Phase 1 guidelines. We are huge fans of oat flour, though. I use it for pancakes, cakes, quick breads...pretty much everything I'd use regular flour for. My husband won't eat a "regular" carrot cake or oatmeal raisin cookie - has to be my allergy-adapted recipes for those goodies!
I'm off to bed to see if some sleep can tame the devil in my head trying to persuade me to eat all of the chocolate in the house. I wish I could kick that guy out. He's clogging up the works up there! I have better things to think about than chocolate.
Hmmm, I've been stress eating for a couple days - nothing awful, just more than I should. The event that was causing the stress - an annual evaluation of my most difficult employee (that I got dumped on me with the city's reorganization). Well, it's over. I feel better, though I know she's feeling like I am a total b**ch. Oh well, it's why I get the big bucks! if only..... Suprisingly though, peanut butter never entered the equation for a change. Red wine, now, that's a different story....
Tonight though I made a spinach chickpea pasta recipe that came with my CSA box (which included lovely fresh spinach). It was good, and I ate my measured portion along with 2 oz of salmon. DH drowned his in fresh-grated parmesean, and while it looked good, I didn't indulge. This was a non-cream dish, btw, only a little olive oil, some garlic, thyme and lemon juice. Very tasty and light.
Can oat flour really be subbed 1:1 for all-purpose flour?
Yep. Oats still have the gluten that wheat does so you don't have to add any xanthan gum or anything to it. I think the technical substitution is 7/8 cup of oat flour to a cup of wheat flour, but I sub 1:1 and never have a problem. Don't try to sift the oat flour, though. It's just not worth the trouble. You can also throw rolled oats in a food processor and pulse until they're powdery and that serves the same purpose. Just measure after turning it into flour!
Just call me McSnacky...I keep snacking all day long! Its like, I walk through the kitchen, grab some triscuits. Repeat w/string cheese. Repeat with(this is the bad one) Dark Chocolate Chex Mix. Ugh...I think it is b/c I hang out in the living room all day and it is right next to the kitchen. I'm thinking of shifting to the basement just so I don't walk through it all the time.
Man, I feel LAZY. I've gone to the gym everyday, but thats all I do each day! I'm moving next weekend, but we're buying furniture up there. I don't know what to do with myself.
Pat - I am with Kara, please share the recipe! It sounds super tasty!
Attention snackers and stress eaters! Step away from the pantry!!!
I felt accomplished last night. We didn't go to the gym since the roads were all covered in ice, but I made the healthy dinner I had planned (tofu noodle stir-fry), had only one bowl full, and when I was still hungry afterwards I reached for the strawberries instead of for the bread/cereal/leftovers. Woohoo!
The water weight from this weekend is still coming off at a rate of 1lb/day. I was at 140.2 this morning, so I feel confident that if I don't see a loss this week I will at least be back in the 139 range.
Just call me McSnacky...I keep snacking all day long! Its like, I walk through the kitchen, grab some triscuits. Repeat w/string cheese. Repeat with(this is the bad one) Dark Chocolate Chex Mix.
That is why I cannot keep chex mix in the house. I can't enjoy it in moderation. I only enjoy it in large quantities, and then I don't enjoy what it does to my waist. *sigh*
See, part of me still believes that peanut butter, chocolate, and wine can solve my problems, world hunger, and even promote world peace. Thankfully the other part of me is the part that lifts weights, and she squashes the little junk grubber down most of the time.
I'm feeling much better. I slept 15 hours Monday afternoon & night! And my gym visit yesterday (I'm way past contagious stage, and naturally I used all of the germ-x and antiseptic wipes) actually invigorated me more, I think. Tonight I'm finishing cleaning b/c tomorrow night my parents arrive for a 4-day visit. My food usually goes downhill when they visit, but my mom has re-joined weight watchers and wants to stick to plan during her trip, so that will help me. I actually feel quite confident. They also like to be very active.
I hope the other sickies are doing better too!
I second Jessica - step away from the snacks!
Pat, that does sound delicious!
I have some elderly friends who definitely didn't stay active, and it is quite hard for them to even walk around now. High blood pressure, cholesterol, early heart attacks, obesity, and some other unpleasant neurological diseases run rampant in my family. I am trying not to follow the path earlier generations have set... I worry about my parents, who are mid-50 and had gotten more active and lost weight in their early 40's, but have both gained back a lot of weight and are not as active now. They are on a health kick right now, and I hope this time it sticks.
And it is time for me to leave work and head to the gym for some of that activity. Have a good Wednesday everyone!
Hi everyone, I'm checking in after being gone for a week. My DD has been in the hospital since last Friday morning. She had the Flu. She was very sick with temps of 103-104 for several days and couldn't keep anything in her stomach. We got to bring her home today at noon. They went ahead and did her hydascan test for gallbladder disease and it was negative. They tried to do the barium swallow, but couldn't do it cause she kept vomiting. It will now be done on March 27th as previously scheduled. Lacy is still pale but without fever now and taking clear liquids and keeping them down. It was great news that she is now well enough to come home. Of course, now I am sick. Sore throat ,fever, cough and vomiting started for me yesterday. Lacy's Dr. gave me a script for Tamiflu which should make my course of Flu a little easier than hers was.
I haven't weighed myself lately so I'm probably still above my red line. But, I know I've lost some weight the last few days . The hospital food was horrrible and I've eaten very little. Right now it's broth, SF popsicles, and SF jello for me and Lacy both.
The first hospital I took Lacy to was on divert, so they transferred her to the hospital that I used to work at. None of my old co-workers had seen me since I lost the weight. Some of them were shocked and very happy for me. One in particular was a little rude and asked if my illness is what finally worked to get the weight off of me. It kinda struck me wrong and I said "No, being sick only made me fatter, it took eating less and exercising to lose the weight".
Anyway, I hope to be well soon so I can get back to my exercise routine and back to tiling my floors.
Okay, I posted the recipe in the sticky at the top of Living Maintenance. It has directions for cooking the chickpeas, but I used canned and they were fine. And as I mentioned, my DH added freshly grated parmesean to his and recommends it.
Elisa, I just took the cake recipe from my friend, but even 70 cals isn't too bad.... How was it?
Spent all morning in a meeting with city manager and a lawyer, plus 2 others, gads my brain is drained. Plus it's 40 with rain and high winds. I'd love to go home and take a nice long nap. I'll get over it, but right now it's the top choice! I was awake at 4 and 4:30, and 5, well you get the picture. I think it was the wind.
I'm going to the gym after work, then home to do maybe nothing!
and thoroughly enjoyed my power yoga. I'm really liking it more and more each week. It's not easy but it makes me feel great and I absolutely feel like it's making me stronger.
I'm sure I'm fitter and more active at 53 than I was at 40. Healthy food, less of it, and a lot of exercise has made that possible.
if only..... Suprisingly though, peanut butter never entered the equation for a change. Red wine, now, that's a different story....
This was a non-cream dish, btw, only a little olive oil, some garlic, thyme and lemon juice. Very tasty and light.
Attention snackers and stress eaters! Step away from the pantry!!! 
