Actually, Echo, "Making the Cut" is a book she put out for those who want to lose "the last 10 pounds." Well, I actually have more like 30 lbs to lose, but I thought that I would try it anyhow. It basically tells you how to eat and how much to eat, and then has different circuits for every day that you are on the plan, which is 30 days. She wants you to eat to your BMR, which, in my case, is 1,400. Also, no alchohol!

Well, as you can probably tell by my posts, I haven't been too strict about eating and not drinking part, seeing as I have had wine on two occasions last week, and had trouble keeping to my BMR in eating. I have been faithful with the circuits, though, and they are really tough.

I start a new routine tomorrow (her routines are made up of five circuits, and each routine repeats once, then you go on to a new one). I am actually kinda looking forward to it, trying new exercises!

I figure that I will start over when I get to the end of the thirty days, and just keep going on the plan until I hit goal.

You should check it out, Echo. I kinda lurked around my Barnes and Noble for a few weeks, reading the book to see if it was something I wanted to do, then finally just decided to go for it.

And Cape, let me know how the water retention cocktail turns out. I was thinking about doing that myself, if I am still looking like a water balloon at the end of this week! Good to see another Jillianphile!

My confessions for today:

B: 1/2 cup plain oatmeal

L: 1 piece whole wheat toast with 1 tbsp reduced fat peanut butter, 1 apple, 1 can (5.5 oz) low sodium v-8, 1/2 serving of unsalted mixed nuts, 1 100 calorie gingerbread cookie

D: 1.5 cups green beans, lean cuisine vegetable egg roll (I was craving Chinese!)

S: 1 WW cookies and cream ice cream bar

E: 10 minutes stationary bike, 30 minutes treadmill, and free weights

My confessions:

B: Cocktail made with 6 oz Knudsen Just Cranberry, one scoop of Colonix powder, one scoop of Greens Nutrition; 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt mixed in with 1/2 cup Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal.

L: One chicken enchilada, 1 tbsp. lite sour cream, 1 oz blue corn chips, 1 tbsp. guacamole.

S: 1 packet Biggest Loser protein 2 go.

D: 1/2 whole wheat pita filled with 4 oz deli turkey breast, 2 tbsp. Newman's Own lite honey mustard dressing, dandelion greens, red bell pepper, broccoli sprouts; one orange. One square of dark chocolate.

S: 1 cup greek yogurt mixed with no sugar cherry preserves and tsp. Xylitol.

E: Walking, 90 minutes.

Total calories: 1,225

I'm here! Thanks for the shoutout, Echo! I feel loved.

Ang - I've been wondering how you have been doing. Did you get tested and find out what the problem was? Poor you! Glad to know you're doing better now. Yeah, um I blew Monday's challenge. Le sigh. I can't do the POP challenges for some reason. I mean, I know I CAN do it but mentally it seems like a huge hurdle. Nothing like exercising, which I can always squeeze in at some point during the day, you know? Oh well, we need 5 out of 7 days so I'm really hoping to get this challenge under my belt as well. Hee hee.

Echo - good job on the 2.2 lbs!! Woohoo!!! I JUST lost 0.2 pounds from last week. I don't care that it's only 0.2 lbs. I was so happy to break 155...um just barely...but I feel like I've broken through the "plateau" and now I can get refocused on getting to 150. I doubt I'll be able to make it by Thanksgiving. It seemed SO long ago when I made that mini-goal and the weight was dropping quickly earlier on so I figured it wouldn't be difficult to get there. Now I think I'll take it out of my siggy and just focus on getting there, regardless of the time it takes.

Jillianfan - good job on all that exercise, wow!! I'm a fan of walking too. I walked 4.7 miles yesterday, which is the longest I've ever walked around here. Go fellow walker!!

Thanks Sunngummi! Walking is the only exercise that I have done consistently these past few years, and the Bodybugg really helps keep me on track with that. I feel that I have to get at least 10,000 steps in a day, but usually I get more than that.

You and I about weigh the same. I am trying to bust a plateau, but it really isn't a plateau, because I haven't been strict about dieting and exercising until October 19. So I guess it is more like a weight loss delay than a plateau. That said, my short term goal is to be below 150 by my next weigh-in, which is Saturday.

Today I am going to shoot for an intake of 1,400 calories, 45 minutes of "Making the Cut," and four miles on the elliptical at a decent incline.

Good luck!

Just wanted to check in and say I weighed in this morning at 266.2, down 3.9 pounds from last week! I've now lost 23 pounds overall and am getting close to reaching my first mini goal of losing 10% (29 pounds).

I'll check back in later with my confessions.

Yowza! Almost 4 lbs in one week. Good for you!

Thanks, jillianfan!

Today's confessions:

B: 2 kashi go lean waffles with 1/2 tbsp reduced fat jif and a drizzle of honey

L: smart ones four pizza bites (kind of like pizza bagels), 5.5 oz can of v8 low sodium, 1/8 cup cinnamon almonds

S: 1 weight watchers cookies and cream ice cream bar

D: romaine and spring mix salad with 1/2 cup mandarin oranges, 1/8 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup croutons, and 1 tbsp raspberry vinaigrette

E: 10 minutes stationary bike, 30 minutes elliptical (the longest I've gone on it so far!)

My confessions:

B: One ezekiel english muffin, 1 tbsp. almond butter, 1 tbsp. low sugar cherry spread.

S: 1 packet Biggest Loser protein 2 go.

L: Amy's Spinach and Feta in a Pocket; one banana.

D: 1/2 cup low fat refried beans, chicken enchilada suiza, 1 1/2 glasses of wine, chocolate covered ginger cookie.

Exercise: 45 minutes on the elliptical for four miles, 45 minutes circuit training. Calorie burn according to bodybugg: 2,200

Food calories consumed: 1,850.

This was a high calorie day, as I made dinner for my friend's birthday and wanted to try out this new recipe. It was absolutely delicious, but I kinda paid for it in the calories. So, the rest of the week, I have to be meticulous about sticking with 1,200 calories, so that I can have the daily average of 1,300 calories.

Hi Everyone,
Can I join in? I *think* I am wanting to get a little more serious about my diet again. I workout on a regular basis, so I've got that covered. I eat pretty well, but I think portion control is the biggie for me. I did some measuring this morning while making my breakfast and I see where I can make some changes. My big problem is with dinner. We eat out 5 days a week for dinner. We are self employed and it just works out a lot better for us to eat out. I need to make some minor adjustments to my breakfast and lunch and pay very close attention to dinner. According to medical guidelines, I need to lose a lot of weight. I will be happy if I can just live the rest of my life under 200 pounds since I have lived the majority of it well over 200. I am hoping a check in like this will make me more accountable in my choices.

Welcome, Diana! I am glad that you found this site. I am pretty new myself, but the people here are really great!

Since I am restricting myself to 1,200 calories per day, with one "high calorie" day of 1,800, I have come up with a strategy that might help you, since you eat out a lot. Basically, you have to find a way to get the most bang for your buck in breakfast and lunch. So, with me, if I know that I am going out to dinner, then I need to make sure that breakfast and lunch are super low calorie, yet filling enough to get me through.

To that end, I discovered something, through the "Hungry Girl" called shirataki noodles. They taste just like pasta, you get a generous portion, its high in protein, and they are only 40 calories for the whole bag - and it makes like a cup and a half of pasta. So, my plan is, on days when I think that I might eat more for dinner or whatever, to have that for lunch. You could melt Laughing Cow cheese on it, and still only be out 80 calories, or put marinara sauce on it. Throw some roasted veggies on it for added nutrition. Whatever.

So, the trick is to find something, like the shirataki noodles, that is super low in calories and filling, that way you can get a bit more for dinner and worry less about it.

Hi jillianfan,
Thanks for the Welcome! I just googled shirataki noodles to find more info. Are they all made w/tofu? I am Hypothyroid and I have heard of people w/this having issues with soy so I have always tried to avoid it in large doses. If my thyroid gets out of whack I can gain a lot of weight very quickly.

Yeah, they are. I guess that is just one example of something that is really filling and not a lot of calories. I am planning that for my dinner, with two wedges of Laughing Cow cheese and 4 oz of chicken, and it only comes to like 200 calories, so I find myself having to plan how to get more calories into my day! LOL.

I wish I had a better alternative for pasta-like stuff. Spaghetti squash is pretty good, too, with marinara and turkey meatballs.

Maybe I will start a new thread getting suggestions from the other chicks about super low calories meals that fill you up.

Anyhow, the best of luck to you! I am just starting out, too, and it has been slow and a lot of backsliding, but I am determined to just forge ahead and not backslide anymore!

I've been good Angela! nice to hear from you

been focusing on my calorie control. and cycling calories from day to day - trying to keep my body guessing ! sometimes it was unintentional hehe

totally agree about Jillian! she really motivates me too!

glad to hear you're feeling abit better, how is your tummy now ? what did the docs say?

what a coincidence i drank dandelion tea today too. although without honey, so i only managed to drink half a mug, as i didnt like the bitter taste, but i hear its a great liver cleanse. my tummy been abit upset lately so thought id give it a go.

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Thanks for telling me about what the book is about . is the book the 30 day shred that she mentions in her podcast, ahh i get it.

yah i basically learned from her podcast that if you have 10-20lbs to lose, that you have to eat your BMR calories and then create a calorie deficient through exercise. so thats what i've been doing lately.

i bought her other 2 books, winning by losing and the one about metabolism and hormones. i cant afford her 30day shred book at the moment, but will keep it in mind to get for later!

thanks for the info though! mightly helpful

my BMR calories is 1500. so i try to stay at that range.

i did my walk yesterday to the grocery store and back! took me just over an hour to walk 3.6 miles. i'm glad i did it ! and i listened to the podcast there and back and time went by thanks again for motivating me and inspiring and encouraging me to do it. wouldnt have been able to do it without your support, really appreciate it!!

aww bless you're so cute!! you're welcome

aww thank you so much!! I thought i would be stuck in the 160s for ever and i was over a month! finally hit through the 160 wall! its good to be in the 150s! now i just gotta keep it up!

awsome on breaking through the 155!! and thats great you've also broken through the plateau!
thats a really good idea about getting there,and not worrying about a deadline as you dont want to unduly stress yourself out!

wow 4.7 miles! very impressive Sunni!!

CONGRATULATIONS Emilly! you're a total rockstar! well done !! 3.9 lbs is so impressive !! wow 23 lbs thats brilliant

Diana!! lovely to have you onboard!!! good luck with your goal and you most certainly can do it!! we're all here to help and support each other!

Aww you're so sweet JF! nice of you to say!

thats really great advice!!!

also if i may add Diana, maybe do some reading and researching to find out healthier versions of stuff you can order when you eat out for dinner. i know jillian michaels talks alot about it , i have her book "winning by losing" and there's a section about how to eat healthier at restaurants. tommorow i will read through it and summarise the main points for you, if you like?

and also i believe theres a book about making healthier choices when you go out to eat its called something like "eat this not that"

i found the website for you. it can give you some pointers

http://eatthis.womenshealthmag.com/home


the key thing that jillian michaels always talks about is arming yourself with knowledge so when you're at a restaurant you can make healthier choices. and she talks about taking along a small pocket book called the calorieking counter i think?? and that way you can figure out what would be healthy.