The rest of the day has been good so far. I have been up all day and have to be up all night at work so here is my plan... I am going to have an extra packet of a drink tonight since I will be starving then I brought my regular protein dinner for 2am. I am trying the WF spaghetti sauce with baked chicken cut up in it and miracle noodles. So far I wwas not impressed with the sauce even after adding lots of spices so I brought a packet to have with my veggies instead or I can get two hard boiled eggs in the cafeteria. I can have water all night and we have tea bags there if I want something hot. So here is to a fantastic op night and a weigh in right after I get off shift. I am not expecting a loss so I will try to not get discouraged. Have a great night everyone!

YAY, I have also been 100% OP today. It is 9pm and off to bed, can't cheat when I'm sleeping. Have a great night

I said all I did because you are so like me twenty years ago. I can mult-task like nobody's business. Now that my kids are grown I look back and wonder how I did it but I'm glad I did. You won't regret it but you are right the hard part is fitting in all the work necessary to eat healthy into such a busy life.

Hi Bella!

I am just discovering that I lose better when I really make sure I get all the protein in.

Hubby makes me a splurge meal on the weekend too, BBq steak and a huge salad. I always feel like I am cheating but I always have a loss the next day. But not usually the rest of the week when I have a lot of chicken breat as my protein.
Sandra, I forgot about this before. HubbY and I always had about 3or 4 glasses of wine a week.When I started this plan in August of course I didn't buy wine anymore a and he couldn't be bothered to go for it so he hasn't had any alcohol either. Then he decided to give up sugar in his coffee because I have no need of buying sugar now. The other day I said to him, "your pants are falling off you."He went to weigh himself and he had gone from 180 to 167 without even noticing. That was because I started this plan and was monitoring every bite that went in my mouth. he wasn't even paying attention and lost 13 pounds because he doesn't like to shop.

Here I am at work and doing well! The WF spaghetti sauce turned my chicken bright pink! NOT RIGHT! I choked it down since I was hungry but will throw the rest at home away. Hope everyone is sleeping well and will wake strong and refreshed.

Wow. That'll teach me not to get on first thing in the morning. I'm so glad to have this little internal, and very positive, direction to go in. Need to go b'sit for a little while but I'll catch up as soon as I can.

I'm just checking in. I stayed totally OP yesterday and I'm feeling good about it. Everything is planned out to stay OP again today. Have a great day everyone!

You know yourself better than anyone but I'd say, given the hours you work, I'd try for more sleep rather than exercise. Seriously. I usually do better when I get a good solid 8 hours of sleep -- which is the reason why I should put the animals out of the bedroom.

I am really sorry about the Continental Divide Project. I know how much you enjoyed it last year and it always makes me sad when people can't come up with the money to support free labor.

So Friday it is, if you mean to start boot camp then. Or I'm on for starting ready tomorrow. I just can't start with the rest of you today since I took fish out of the freezer this morning and I don't want to waste it. But put some thought into the program and I really do think one should have a day, or part of a day to pamper oneself; to remind us that we're doing something for ourselves, maybe for the first time in a long time. But I can do that and stay in boot camp, too.

I'm glad this will work out for you, Sandra, and I'm so, so glad that there is more than one person doing this. It will be wonderful to have each other's company. Thanks LaLibE and Ms. Sweetie. Hope I haven't missed anyone?

Pat. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about the 13 pounds. I do agree with you about the protein. And oil.

That made me almost spit my morning coffee out because my husband is the exact same way!! I don't know what's with these men, but I would love some of that metabolism!!

Thanks, Linden... I'm looking into another organization, the Colorado Trail Foundation, so maybe I'll still get to do some trail work this year... when one door closes, God opens a window, you know...

I was planning to do Ready on Friday, Set on Sat., & Go on Sunday... is that what you meant?..

hugs

Linden, I have never actually done 'bootcamp'... can you give me a run down? I have read some posts, but everyone seems to have a different definition/method. Looks like NO animal protein to me - so how many non-restricted packages should I be consuming? And I assume that I will NOT be having a restricted item?

Thanks!!
Elissa

Oops, I meant to include this in my post a few minutes ago... oh, well, it'll work here...

From The Daily Motivator:
hugs

That's ideal. O lord, was that a pun? Gives me a chance to clean out the refrigerator and not feel guilty about left over zucchini meat loaf, etc. and a too small freezer. I looked up the Foundation. Wow, what vistas.

I hope things are going well for everyone and I hope the sun's out where you are. Cold here, but we did get some noon sun. Lovely.

I'll quote what I wrote for Mom of 3 LBs and she's using alternatives. But the principles are the same. And I never even gave restricted packages a thought because we weren't allowed to have them when I started. Still, if you keep the carbs to 30 or below you should be right on target. And you'll need 4 packets at least to get 80 plus grams of protein. I hope I'm telling you what is still the practice.

"I'll tell you what it was when I had a coach. I don't think it's changed, but I could be wrong.

4-5 packets a day, so long as you got at least 80, better 100, grams of isolate protein a day. One could be jello if it was #5 because the jello doesn't have all the essential amino acids.

4 cups of vegetables. [I use the USDA Nutritional Data information to determine what a cup means.]

2 smallish salads. Work on the balance between the vegetables and salad, and use Romaine, especially the outer leaves, where most of the nutrition is. Plus oil and cider vinegar. No lemon or lime -- too many carbs.

Total carbs 30 or under -- so one has to watch the carbs in both the packets and the vegetables.

I realize this is the IP standard but I think you can adjust it to what you're doing. Just watch the carbs in the vegetables really carefully. Spinach is good, but don't over do it. Endive is great, if you can find it? (And afford it. It is dirt cheap here. Hurrah!) And while you're at it, try to get red and green vegetables into the mix. Tough."