Bahahahaha, oh man that made me LOL for real!!!

Just remember that your back won't be so bad forever, probably not even for so very long. When it is better, you'll be ready to lose faster again, instead of having to play catch up with pounds you have to re-lose. And remember how much good healthy food is doing for you even apart from weight loss

Your enthusiasm and participation is a bright spot on these boards

seriously ace...your up to 3 pages of encouragment! you know i love reading what you have to say, and apparently everyone else does to! your the one person that if your little avatar pops up as im browsing through a post, i stop and read the whole thing because i can seriously relate to you, and what you have to say is always so interesting! i think i want you to succeed more than i want myself to succeed! please dont back out, i dont know what id do all day at work (clearly im a bludger) without reading what u have to say hehe!

awwww, ladies don't make me cry!!! You really know how to make a girl want to stick around huh? lol I'm doing good now, my attitude has completely changed (and if it wasn't for the posters in here I'm sure it wouldn't have for a little while). Thank you so much!!!!!!

Here is what I came up with for the week.... I duno.. it's really hard to find healthy recipes for a week lol.

Oh and the recipes

Simple baked apples
Ingrediants
* 6 apples - peeled, cored and sliced
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
* 1/2 cup whole milk
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 quart casserole dish, or coat with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place apples in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Stir spice mixture into apples until evenly distributed. Fold in raisins and walnuts. Spoon into prepared dish. Pour milk evenly over apple mixture.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, or until soft and bubbly. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Groovie smoothie
* 2 small bananas, broken into chunks
* 1 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries
* 1 (8 ounce) container vanilla low-fat yogurt
* 3/4 cup milk

Broccoli Cheese Casserole Recipe

2 10 ounce packages frozen chopped broccoli (or lightly steam an equal amount of fresh)
4 or 5 boneless chicken breasts
2 cans condensed cream soup (see tips)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp melted butter

Cut chicken into large chunks and cook (microwave or boil just until cooked through). Arrange frozen broccoli evenly in bottom of 13"x9" casserole dish. (If you are using fresh broccoli, steam or boil lightly, until just underdone). Arrange cooked chicken over broccoli.

The other ones are pretty straight forward and my mom has the recipe in her head so yeh

Atta girl! Keep those spirits up. You've got the whole 3FC crew behind you. There is nothing at all stopping you. NOTHING. You CAN do this!!!!! You can. You can. YOU CAN!

Down days are normal - we all have them. Push through it! Take some time to reflect on all the things you are doing right (or have mostly been doing).
You CAN do this! Really!

Thanks ladies. LOL I have my own cheerleader squad... I like

Yes, you've got your very own cheerleading squad.

So therefore I gotta tell you, that Broccoli Cheese Casserole is not all that healthy and is not so conducive to weight loss. Mayonaise, cheese, cream soup - sounds VERY caloric.

And those baked apples. They'd be just as good without the milk. Could probably cut way down on the sugar too. It'd be just as yummy.

The smoothie, make sure to use skim milk.

Don't worry, it takes time to get it all down pat. Your food choices will evolve. A great website is cookinglight.com. I also like safeway.com. Has all the calorie counts right there for you to see. Prevention.com has some good recipes too. Check em' out.

What about like, vanilla soy milk or something, that stuff tastes good!

don't be sad. you're one of the reasons i joined this site. when i read a few of your posts i thought to myself "theres real people here that i can relate to." cool. besides you've lost a lot of weight! just think about that! you are a better person today than a few months ago. you rock! oops i just read you're feeling better now. maybe you can help me out. i seen your menu for the week. do you ever get hungry in between those meals? thats my biggest problem right now.

Picking up my pom pons and joining the squad...



Hang in there, Ace!

In which recipe? Reallly, that broccoli casserole's gotta be ditched or revamped.

Skim milk is pretty good too. I remember thinking I could NEVER drink that stuff. And then I got used to it (rather quickly too) and anything BUT skim milk tastes horrible to me. Your tastes will change. I am certain of it. Give it some time.

Another good, low cal milk substitute is Almond Milk. I think it's got about 40 calories for 8 ozs. Though it doesn't have the same nutritional values as the skim milk.

Check out those websites I mentioned for some healthy recipes. Your mouth will be watering!!!

Wow - that's an amazing chart!! GO GO GO!

I agree with Robin though, that Broccoli Cheese Chicken casserole isn't..."diet" friendly. What about this from Cooking Light?

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
Yield
8 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)


Ingredients
3 quarts water
1 (12-ounce) package broccoli florets
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated fat-free milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of nutmeg
1 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (10.75-ounce) can condensed 30% reduced-sodium 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
Cooking spray
Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Bring water to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add broccoli, and cook 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Transfer broccoli to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. Add chicken to boiling water; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until done. Transfer chicken to a cutting board; cool slightly. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, and add chicken to bowl with broccoli.

Combine evaporated milk, flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a saucepan, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add mayonnaise, next 4 ingredients (through soup), and 1/2 cup cheese, stirring until well combined. Add mayonnaise mixture to broccoli mixture; stir gently until combined.

Spoon mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 50 minutes or until mixture bubbles at the edges and cheese begins to brown. Remove from oven; let cool on a wire rack 5 minutes.


Nutritional Information
Calories:276 (25% from fat)
Fat:7.8g (sat 3.5g,mono 1.8g,poly 1.1g)
Protein:31.1g
Carbohydrate:18.9g
Fiber:2.1g
Cholesterol:66mg
Iron:1.6mg
Sodium:696mg
Calcium:365mg