Honestly, I don't want my SO to make dinner for me. I prefer in control the food that I eat. It's not that I can't trust him (when he cooks, he's very exact about ingredients), but his specialties tend to be a little higher in calories than mine. He's on his own for breakfast and lunch; I don't mind letting him share whatever I make for my dinner.

Gary: If the calories aren't good on the carnitas, they are off the table for me. I can't see any reason for the food I make myself to not fit within my calorie limit, even the quick and easy stuff. That just seems crazy :crazy:. I have lots of great, quick and easy options that are also low calorie. Plus, whenever I cook, I always make enough for two nights, so there's usually always leftovers in the fridge if we want quick and easy.

mandalinn82: Those sound like reasonable rules. That's how I try to attack business conferences, etc. Just make the best choices I can given the circumstances and do at least 30 min of exercise per day. I also allow myself unlimited fruit and decaf coffee (whereas when I'm home, even that stuff is strictly rationed) in exchange for sticking to my rules.

The other thing I do is pack all my meals and snacks for the flight out. If I don't have to eat dinner with colleagues or friends when I arrive, I'll back both lunch and dinner (usually sandwiches since they are the easiest thing to pack), plus snacks. So that's one more day that I am fully on plan. Last time I traveled, I had to check my suitcase because I was packing so much food I needed an extra carry-on for it. :D

Here's the Tamale Pie recipe:

Tamale Pie

• 1 lb 95% lean ground beef
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced red pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup frozen corn (or 1/2 can cream-style corn) (I've allotted 150 calories for this ingredient which according to my notes is 6 oz of the frozen corn I get from Trader Joe's. Depending on the corn product you are using, you might need to adjust the quantity of corn you are adding accordingly.)
• 1-2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tube pre-cooked polenta
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat cheese (I've alotted 70 calories per ounce for this ingredient--if your cheese is 80 calories per ounce, which is common for reduced-fat cheese, the end result will be around 370 calories per serving.)

Brown the ground beef in a medium-sized skillet with the onion, red pepper, and garlic. Drain fat if necessary. Add tomato sauce, salsa, corn, cumin, and chili powder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until most of the liquid is cooked out.

In the meantime, thinly slice the polenta. You want to get about 36 slices out of it. If you have a wire cheese slicer, it works really well for this task.

Coat a 8 or 9-in square casserole dish (with 3-in high sides) with cooking spray. Spoon in 1/4th of the meat mixture and top with 1/3 of the polenta. Continue layering until you used all of the polenta and meat (finish with the meat mixture, so you'll have four layers of meat and 3 layers of polenta).

Cover and bake at 350 for 35 or 40 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese and pop back in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Makes six generous servings at 265 calories each. Seriously, the first time I made it, we divided it into only four servings and neither my SO or I could finish our portions (and I tend to eat large portions). In addition to giving a really tamale feel, the polenta really bulks it up. I suspect that this would also be good with 99% lean ground turkey, which would drop the calories to 245 per serving (not that the calories really need to be any lower, it's hard to beat 265 calories for a meal).

I fly out Monday morning - I'll pack something for breakfast day of and then the rules begin. I'm hoping I can get to the store on the way in, before our meetings start...all depends on the lovely LA traffic.

My company DOES reimburse alcohol, and its a drinking-favorable business culture (to say the least!) so it does become an issue pretty easily.

Barbara- That looks good! I've never had it, and may try it.

Another good day in the bag. Calories came in at just under 1350 and I'm full from my last snack of yogurt and strawberries. Ratios were real close to where I want them at 46P/28C/26F (and most of that from salmon and olive oil). 45 minutes of cardio this morning and half and hour of arm and core workout.

Next week I will commit through Tuesday. Wednesday we drive all day and I'll pack food, but once I get to Columbus, I'll be lucky to see a gym once and food will be "best choices" with one or two real treat meals :drool: Sunday, we drive again. Then back POP!

Mel

Ugh...well, arrived at my work conference yesterday afternoon and I have been offplan dinner, breakfast and lunch. I'm so weird, I still stick to my "absolute no's" no chips no pastries, for example, but I have a lot of wiggle room with stuff like bagels with date cream cheese and dark chocolate covered nut clusters.

I guess it's just one bad day and I am trying to recommit for tomorrow. I'm ordering a seared ahi salad from room service for dinner. I can do this! Only 6 more days. :\

Glory - good luck for tomorrow!

My plan for tomorrow -

B - Alternative bagel w/ laughing cow
S - Greek yogurt w/ strawberries
L - Leftovers - London broil, sweet potato spears, brussels sprouts
S - Ry-Krisp crackers, laughing cow
S - Popcorn
D - Pork tenderloin stirfry over brown and wild rice
S - NSA Vanilla Ice Cream, strawberries

E - I plan to run 5 miles - might be a bit short, since my knee is a little tentative tonight. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Glory, you can do it!! Take it one meal at a time. Don't break all the dishes. :)

Barbara - I'm :drool: over the tamale pie here at 10 pm - I'm not even hungry!! Thanks.

I made it through today completely on plan. I did swap out my leftover chicken stir fry for leftover chili, as there was only enough chicken for one of us and DH prefers it to the chili. No sweat as the calories are close enough. Had exactly NOTHING to eat at the party. :D Drank lots of water, danced and visited. On to the weekend.

Tonight got a little out of hand. =/

Tomorrow's a new day though. And at least I got a work out in.

Gotta hang in there...

Hope you're all doing well :hug:

Well, I was hungry all day today but still managed to come pretty much on plan. I think the extra ginger cookies yesterday screwed with my blood sugar because it was that shakey sort of hunger.

Here's how the day worked out:
B: FF plain Greek yogurt with High Fiber Cereal and raspberries
S: Decaf coffee with FF half and half and SF Torani
L: Pork and tofu stir fry, pickles, pickled mushrooms
S: egg beater omelet with Alouette lite spreadable cheese and spinach
S: Oat bran with NF cream cheese and SF Torani
S: La Tortilla Factory wrap, spicy ranchero egg white salad, spinach, Fiber One muffin, FF cream cheese, small apricot
S: Fiber One cereal
D: Light pasta in a sauce of FF cream cheese, Alouette lite garlic and herb spreadable cheese, and lemon juice, mixed with spinach, chard, and scallions, and topped with broiled apricots and smoked salmon; green salad with low cal dressing
S: pumpkin pudding with ginger cookies

Exercise: 1 hour with trainer

The whole day came in at about 1650 calories.

Glory: Cream cheese with dates and dark chocolate nut clusters would be pretty hard to resist! At least you stuck to your "absolute no's"; that's something.

just popping in... haven't read all the posts since my last visit...

yesterday wasn't perfectly OP, went over my points but had saved ones in my 'bank', didn't exercise. Not feeling it at the moment either, but hanging in there...

Glory, will be thinking of you. Hang tough.

Velveteen, today is a new day and it sounds as if the old one wasn't so bad really.

Barbara, pumpking pudding with ginger cookies? That sounds really good.

nineteen, yes dear, DO hang in there. Today most certainly IS a new day.

Yesterday turned out excellent for me. I was a bit concerned. Friday night is one on the rare nights I'm actually home at a normal hour and the family all eats dinner together. I make the same thing every single Friday night. Roasted chicken. I make it in a black enamel covered pan with tons of spices and onions and I cook it to death and it is the tastiest, moistest thing you can imagine. It just falls right off the bone. Well, I make a whole chicken and lots of thighs. I am the only one who eats the breast. I eat one 1/2 Friday night and the other on Saturday. No problem there. No overeating. BUT, and it's a biggie, lately, Friday night after Friday night I've been shoving upwards of 2 EXTRA, UNPLANNED for thighs in my mouth. But not last night!!! It felt great.

Still haven't been on the scale. Boy do I miss that. But I can absolutely see a difference.

I do have a challenge this morning that I completely forgot about. One of my very good friends is making a buffet brunch today at about 11:30. She is a splendid cook and I know she will have a H U G E spread out there. Great foods, salads, fruits and incredible desserts. *sigh* Well, it's something I only have to stay a 1/2 hour or so for. Hmmm.... what to do? what to do? Well, I don't want to give up my planned lunch, the 1/2 chicken breast. I think I will just have me some diet soda or seltzer and a few pieces of fruit. Not even sure if I should have ANY fruit as that may get me out of control mode. We shall see. I will report back later.

Have a great on plan/no excuses day everyone.

Robin, it's 3 week no scale for me. I'm kind of curious, but it usually derails me whether it's high or low.

My jeans are loose again :carrot:

Mel

Loose jeans?? :bravo::woohoo::bravo:

Ahhh, I remember the days when my jeans were loose, not there yet, but they sure do look a heck of a lot better then they did on Monday. Monday I looked like a stuffed sausage in my pants. Actually I looked like several stuffed sausages. SCARY where my "fat/water/fat" goes to.

In fact, THAT is when I want to weigh myself again - when my jeans are loose again. I'm thinking/hoping that that could be in 2 or 3 more weeks. Don't know if I can hold out that long. Heck, I don't know if I can get them loose or baggy in 2 - 3 weeks either for that matter ;) .

I must tell you, it amazes me how much we all umm, fluctuate here. I mean I've been up and down 5 lbs so many times already since I hit maintenance. Well actually since December. That's when I think I ran into my first maintenance "blip". How many times can a person actually keep on losing those 5 lbs. I mean will there be a time when I/we just can't do it anymore?

Will there be a time where my body says, "sorry lady, you blew it, no can do anymore. You've done this one time too many. You're just gonna have to stay where you are."? I'm serious, is this a possibility? I'm thinking it just may be.

I really don't think so. My personal experience is there may be a time when your MIND says that, but not your body in the foreseeable future. It just takes more effort. I've been doing this for almost 7 years now. Along the way, I went through menopause, many life crises, illness, injury, etc. Each time I derailed, I knew what I was doing and what it would take to get back "there". I know I'll probably never get back to my lowest, because I was in the midst of a thyroid cascade (hyper) at the time. But with a lot of work...super clean eating and lots of the right kind of exercise for me...my body still responds in my fifties.

Will I get to a point when my mind won't go there? Maybe. But not for a long time.

Mel

Thanks Mel. I was actually hoping one of our longterm maintainers WOULD indeed answer this question for me.

I am fully aware of the mind aspect (I certainly hear you loud & clear), but I was really questioning the BODY. Can it really and truly keep on losing and gaining and losing those 5 lbs? I'm thrilled to hear that after almost 7 years, your body does respond to your efforts. What a relief!!! Thanks.

Gosh those same five pounds, that's the train ride I am on for like 3 months and it's really only been 3 months of maintenance. I find myself struggling with nuts at snack time. I can't stop at a few and I just can't seem to cut them out. I bought big costco things cause I've never had problems with them. Now that I am in maintenance and feel like I need to add a few more calories, I can't seem to control them. I am trying different things to just say no but it's so difficult and I don't understand why. My meals are great, same as always. It's those snacks and the extra nuts that i eat on top of my snacks that I worry about.

Still, I am going down right now probably losing my monthly water, but unfortunately today, I found myself in the situation where I had to eat out twice. Unfortunately, that is usually worse eating than I would do at home and i am sad because I am pretty sure tomorrow would have been a good weight day. I am trying not to obsess about it, because I know if I can cut the nuts I will go back to my goal weight during my lowest point of the month.

I will not be buying nuts in bulk as soon as what I have is over. Ugh.