I've got a big day today with TWO gatherings to go to. Oh please help me, I will not over eat, I will not over eat, I will not over eat.

Anyway today was my weigh in and I lost two pounds!!! I am so psyched and I don't want to put it back on in one day!

Yesterday had a 1200 calorie day and 1 hour of exercise. Going to go exercise now and get some christmas shopping done. I'll let you know how these parties go.

good morning everyone i was wondering if anyone heard that low calorie or llow/no sugar is better than low fat? what are you guys thoughts on that because i have been getting reduced fat and low fat items but now to find out it can loaded with sugar kind of makes me wonder

Hi all. Congrats to all who have lost! Sorry I'm kinda rushed so I can't make personal replies right now. TTYL!

Mia - I dont do particularly low fat, you are right most "lowfat" products are just replaced with sugar, (except for lowfat dairy). SOME fat is essential to function properly and some fats are better for you than others. Nuts, avocado and olive oil are good for your heart. Fat is filling to a point and satisfying, it slows the rate of digestion so you feel full longer. I'm not saying HIGH fat, but moderate fat of the healthy varieties. (limit saturated and trans-fat)

The less prepackaged convenience foods the better. Healthy fat doesnt have a good shelf life.

L&L - Fat - well again..what kind.. avoid saturated and trans fats which means most convenience foods. I aim for 25-35% of calories from fat in a day, but try to limit saturated fat to <10% (lower if possible) and trans fat to occasional.

mia ~ I agree with what Ennay just said. EVeryone needs healthy fats. Extra virgin olive oil , avocados, nuts...here is a link for nuts:

Nuts

Your body needs some fats to process the foods in your body. Some of us follow a 30 fat/50 carbs/20 protein % balance. Sometimes I do 25/50/25. Try to make sure you have alot of the healthy fats. The sat. fats are what is known to cause heart disease.

What I try to do is lowfat, not nonfat. Yes some times they stick more sugar in it which is why you need to be careful. Like Ennay said the dairy should be okay they have more natural sugars like fruit, or so i am told.

If I had to choose between sugar and fat I would choose fat AND KEEP TO MY PERCENTAGES. Like my slimfast, I have the choice between 6 grams of fat and 13 sugars, or 9 grams of fat and 1 gram of sugar. I will take the more fat!

I get lowfat yogurt, I stick with lowfat mozzarella most of the time, they even have a lowfat "I cant believe its not butter now",(it also has no cholesterol!), just try to find a happy balance between the two. That is what I do. Lean meats is another great find.

I think what also makes people fat is things we have already discussed like processed foods, enriched flour bread, bad carbs, etc.

Stopeating. You may want to give yourself permission to enjoy some of the food instead of completely withholding. Try to fill up on better foods! If I completely restrict myself that is when I tend to binge. If I tell myself I can have a few things I am alright! Good luck!

Oh and Mia I forgot to adress your low cal thing. It depends on how many cals you alot yourself for the day and what you want to fill those things with! There are days where I have plenty left over and need to fill it up. Beans and rice and nuts are great healthy ways to fill up that cal room. A cup of beans or rice is generally about 220 cals per cup. Nuts about 170 cals per 1/4 cup. Nuts also have alot of great fat in them so make room for the fat grams!

Anyhow like for instance when I was doing my bagels, it had 270 cals in it for just one! But I did not mind as they were really good! I gave them up though cause of the hfcs. My new ezekiel bread is 160 cals for 2 slices so is almost half what my bagel was! So that does free me up to eat something else which is kind of nice. SO it all depends on what you want to spend your cals on!

Morning jasonslea!

ennay

Thanx for posting your menu. What is laughing cow light?

SOunds good. I am the same way though! I save most of my cals for dinner!
Breakfast is usually fruit or yogurt for me. Lunch is ezekiel bread and peanut butter, 1 tbs, a slimfast a few hours later, of course my coffee.

But when I was doing my chicken veggie rice, I would have like 7-8 oz of breast and 1 cup of rice and broccoli and carrots. haha I am doing better now and might have maybe 6 oz when I do it next. But I love dinner most so I will save alot of cals for that myself!

Nikaia:

Congrats on being done with the school! I do not have the patience for school work! haha I am sure your friend will be happy to get a home cooked meal!

miafluker:

When i get the money there are quite a few books I want to. I have a weight watchers one that has some pics in it and that really helps me to want to make something. Next week I am going to try rosemary chicken in a cherry tomato and olive sauce! Also they have a recipe for sweet potato baked wedges!!!! I LOVE potatoes and it took me a year of eating better before I could get to the point to force myself to stop having them often! That is why sunday nites now and occasionally fries when I go out to eat. Sweet potatoes are supposed to be healthy for you though so if this recipe comes out awesome and they taste like fries it is on!!! hahahah I should scan and post the pics and recipes. I wish they had pics for all the recipes!

loveandlaughalways:

Everyone is different depending on cals intake. For me I like to try to stick to 35-45 a day. But there are many times I was over and my average is alot higher. That is something I have been working on lately, trying to stick to like 44 a day or so. Like I told mia about the percentages, that is what I go by too.

Okay so I got a few more personals done:

jcatron243:

Your welcome!!

Exactly. I think the broccoli out here is a bit more. I need to get to smart n final and see if some stuff is any cheaper buying in bulk!)

That is great sweetie!!! I am so proud of you!!!

You, and anyone else are welcome to check out this link I was reading yesterday.
The guy is a bit extreme, but that is cool. I really do think people are way to dependent on the govt and society to have the food when we go to the store. If there was no food in the stores for whatever reason, how many of us would not have anything soon enough?

Esepcially wehn we get to Mt I had told Joe even two years ago that I want to get back to a more basic way of living. You know, have a few chicken,s he hunts for deer when he is up there, grow a garden, go fishing, stuff like that.

I am also going to be incorporating beans a whole lot more espoecially since they are a super food! That and brown rice which I have already been doing but not so much lately cause of dentist.

Anyhow. I don't remember exactly what a pound of ppinto beans cost but .40 cents a pound sounds about right. That makes 3 pounds cooked! So basically .13 centsa lb vs. 1.50 a lb at the store for canned!!! My family COULD eat two cans a nite. (Like if we had burritos) So double both those numbers. IF we ate them every nite and had two pounds each nite , that would be $90.00 a month canned at the store! vs. $7.80 boiling them yourself! That is crazy! That is a savings of $82.80 cents a month! That is money I could spend on something else!!!

Now I do not want beans every day. I talked to dh and the kids and they said they would not mind chili beans twice a week. They are all loving it! Another day we are going to do bean and cheese burritos w/ spanish rice, and another day a week HAS to be tacos! I love my tacos! Or enchiladas. So beans and spanish rice with that. Voila! SO that is 4 nites covered. 1 day is red meat and potatoes. That always leaves two nites open for chicken veggie rice or to try new healthy recipes like the one I mentioned above.

Does anyone know WHY corn was mentioned as a sidekick superfood? I have been saving corn as a "treat" and not making it part of my staples. Now I read the superfood thread and it is supposed to be a superfood. What is wrong with corn tortillas again? uugghhhhh

CORN AND BEANS, THE WONDER FOODS

HUNGER IN AMERICA

my ivy:

You can do it sweetie!!!! I have been doing good with my walking still and trying to do my 8 minute abs. I am doing water as well! Keep reminding us!!

Jasmine - Lauging cow light is a very soft cheese (made extraordinarily popular by the south beach diet). It comes in a round cardboard box and is individually wrapped wedges. Each wedge has 35 calories and I get the garlic and herb variety. They look like small wedges at first, but when you put them in a celery stick (or 1/4 bell pepper) it seems almost decadently large. I cant say where to look for it, my store didnt have it until a few months ago. They put it in the same area as brie and rondele and stuff like that now.

Link: http://www.thelaughingcow.com/lc/lc....edges?openpage

The food coop is such a blessing. I just started it, I spend anywhere from 2-4 hours one day a month making 15 packages of a single meal (each serves 4) and then we get together and swap and I have 11 different meals (some girls do all the shopping, planning and dividing of ingredients so they dont have to "cook"). In my house those 11 meals actually are closer to about 22+ as dd doesnt eat enough for a flea and most of those 4 servings are pretty big. Most of the time I eat about 2/3 of a serving. So by the time you throw in my yoga night where we just scrounge dinner individually and our once a week restaurant treat, dinner is taken care of and some lunches as well. Plus at $60/month on average you cant beat it. It frees up my budget to get organic veggies for the sides.

Wow ennay! That is awesome!!!

Ooooh speaking of comfort foods - meatloaf. I never liked meatloaf as a kid, but I LOVE meatloaf now. Made with lowfat ground turkey, a serving is ENORMOUS. When you just feel the need to feel REALLY full - that is a great entree. Instead of covering the top with catsup I do a mix of no-sugar spaghetti sauce, catsup, and a little hot sauce and mmmmmmmmmm.....

That sounds yummy. With meatloaf I am the type where once every few months I get a craving for it. I normally would prefer a burger. haha We also really try to limit red meat now. But a few months ago a neighbour picked up a package of gr. turkey italian flavored(I guess her hubby picked up a brand she didn't like or something) and we used it in sphgetti and it was really good!

Dh and I were just talking the other nite about getting some this month and maybe even doing a meatloaf! I was craving it the other day! haha How many ounces do you eat?

I tried ground turkey once and didn't like it. I don't know if it was a bad batch or what. I now steer away from it. I did try the turkey burgers recently of course my husband was the first ginea pig and he loved it. I did too. So maybe I will attempt ground turkey again in a meatloaf (mmmmmmm meatloaf my favorite!!).

Hi ladies just a quick hello!! I have to start cleaning (yet again. I hate cleaning!! DH is already doing dishes.) I had a great shopping trip yesterday!! spent more than I wanted to, but I got some great deals on what I did get. I ate very light throughout the day because I was afraid I would over eat at dinner, but I didn't I ate at a buffet, but I did really good, I had 4 oz of salmon 1/4 cup of deep fried clams, and a cup of california mixed veggies!!! I did have a desert but I shared it with my son. I got in 60 minutes of exercise yesterday too.