It is darn hard to stay on program when you are travelling! I have never eaten so many salads in such a short period of time!

Welcome Chantal! I hope that you are able to have all of your many questions answered. Congrats on your loss!

Michele, keep us posted on your successfully shopping for non-herbal magic items that fit the bill for our programs! Let us know the scoop when your centre looks them over. I am finding more and more that the girls who work at my centre are simply girls who have done or are on program and work there too. They don't mind when you look elsewhere for supplements as long as you keep on getting the basics from them ie. chroms, and WMs

RE: CLAs... I don't know much except that I lost 4 inches from my mid section in just a couple of weeks of starting CLAs! THat is just crazy! I would LOVE to lose that off my thighs and hips



2dogs lady... I love your enthusiasm for peanut butter bars... and in general

now I had the hardest time finding this thread! I had to go through search because my link wouldnt open it!! GRRRR

anyways..did you know toxins slow metabolism...and toxins are stored in our fat ...which melts as we lose it, so ...drink your water and get rid of those toxins!!!

thanks Meme...I admit..right now I am struggling a bit.. I need a kick in the azz this week....*sigh*

Chantal..
Cooking: can we use Corn Starch, Flour, Baking Power, Baking Soda, Cocoa? Stay away from most of those starch products... Cocoa now..corn starch, doubtful as well. Your centre can tell you..if it isnt in your book you most likely shouldnt be having it..
- In the book it states "Hamburger Buns - low cal"... so if I would take the Weight Watchers ones... do I eat just one of the 2 buns or are we allowed both buns for 1 starch? I think one bun set =1 starch

-Bagel Mini - are those the ones from Weight Watchers or the really really mini ones? Cause the calories from a WW bagel is the almost the same a regular piece of bread... Bagels are a bad way to use your starch...go with english muffins instead
-Cheese - are we allowed any Ricotta/Feta cheese? NOPE.. too fattening-Egg - can I put hard boiled eggs in vinegar? Nope..vinegar is a no-no

-Chili Sauce - can we use this? NOPE...too much sugar *use cayenne and peppers instead)
Thanks!!!

Good job on the one day weight loss Chantal! That beat my loss for the first whole week!

Lady: I know all about the issues with eating out... for that very reason I decided to stay home from the city yesterday. It's just too hard to plan for and rather than be stuck with salads I'd rather just be stuck at home! Did manage to get about half of my cross stitch done though (I'm not 80, I swear!)

I'll have to ask about getting the CLAs elsewhere... haven't had to buy a bottle of those yet.

one of the girls from my centre recommended superstore as a great place to pick up CLAs. So if ever that becomes relevent to you Michele and Chantal try Superstore!

MORNING!


well the scale was cery friendly to me this am!!! Doing something right I guess! but I think I will only go in Sat am for my w.i

have a great day all!

Thanks Meme, Lady & Michele! My next WI is on Fri or Saturday...I'm thinking I'll go Friday to set the tone for the weekend...and it'll be more exact with my weightloss too.

About all my questions... I got them answered last night... BUT, one thing is off from what you said Lady... The vinegar is permitted...therefore they didn't see a problem if I did them myself and added no salt?!?

I often found that they weren't too sure at times... Like when I asked for the Worcesthire sauce... I looked on it and has like no sodium, almost no sugar... So i decided to cook my meat with it anyways. They said it was ok.

Anyhow, I'll play around with my food and see what's best and not, etc.

I'm having a hard time with veggies...but I'm open and I'm trying new recipes to find a way to LIKE them... Maybe not LOVE...but at least like! haha

So I asked them yesterday what they thought of exercise, etc.
My councellor told me that the program is made so that you lose 2 pounds/week withouth any exercise.

But if I do add some exercise, she's seen some people lose well over 2 pounds.

A friend of mine, never cheated, was exercising and she lost 3-4 sometimes 5 pounds per week.

I figured that if I lose 2.5 pounds per week, i'd be at my goal by end of September which would be 2 months before the actual planned date.

Go ME Go!

Hey Ladies!

Lady: I was also curious about the vinegar because I was under the impression it was ok as well. So I asked at my centre, she said that Vinigar is fine and she uses it all the time. Except Balsamic Vinegar, it is considered a free exchange. I buy cucumbers cut them up and put them in a jar in the fridge with vinegar, its my own 'legal' attempt at pickles, lol i LOVE pickles.

I think that we need to keep in mind that we will lose weight provided we follow the program in essence if not with complete precision. For example... a tsp of chili powder every now and again will not deter weightloss. I would guarantee that if you are measuring all of your food, following your program's food allotment and not adding salt or prepackaged/prepared items that you will lose weight. Add the use of supplements and some physical activity and you will lose faster. Don't sweat the small stuff... but don't go overboard either. It is the salt that will kill you so watch that one. Spices are a great thing! Experiment and you will be surprised. See article below about chili powder:

Chili powder begins with the use of ground chilis. For the most part, the powdered chilis used for the mixture are red or cayenne peppers. However, there are some combinations that choose to use paprika or green ground chiles instead. A typical blend will also include garlic, oregano, and cumin. As is true with the chilis used, the other three ingredients are ground into a fine powder. Whatever the choice in chiles, they should be dried thoroughly before being ground into a powder.

Hello ladies!

I decided to drop in at HM since I was in the city today. Wasn't wearing my "wi outfit" but was still down 2 pounds and 2 inches. Yay!! Usually do my weigh ins on Sat. so a bit ahead of the game so long as I don't gain in the next 2 days!

My mistake earlier... had a dyslexic moment. I was thinking of my Cal 6 when I said they had started me on the CLAs at the beginning. Think I might try those in the coming weeks as my waist is only down 1/2 inch (this doesn't balance well with my hips and bust being down 1 1/2 inches!) Really wish there was a way to do this without losing my chest haha. Does anyone know what the ingredients and percentages are in the CLAs so I can shop around??

Brought a bunch of bars for them to look at. She said the closest match she has ever seen was the Slim Down Almond coconut bar which I have found at Walmart and Zellers for $2 each. Found another bar at Walmart today that was pretty well idnetical to it... also Almond flavoured and came in a green package (unfortunately I don't have the name handy at the moment!). There was another one as well that she said I could use "sparingly" since it was a little high in sugars... I think it's called Chocolate delight by Protolife (or something like that?? - pink and white box) Bought a box of 5 at Shopper's Drugmart for $10.

Hope everyone's week is going well!

Well, I'm starting my 4th day on HM... and I have to say that it's easy....?!!?
I have no cravings... I even bought those slim choc bars...in CASE I have a craving...for my daily free allowance... (under 100 cal)... I'm doing good!

I'm happy that I'm adjusting real well. They said I'm handling this as a pro.
I weighed myself at home last night... I'm thinking I might be close to 6 pounds tonight... "might"... is because I haven't been to the "washroom"... Hoping this won't become an issue.

Michele - Congrats for the 2 pounds - that's GRRRREAT!
Thanks for the info about the bars! I'm trying to stay away from the bars... I find that when I eat something like that...I might simply end up wanting more. So at this time... I'd rather stick to the basics... Vegg, Fruits, Starchs, Proteins, etc... FOR NOW

Meme - I agree. I asked her about Baking Soda, etc. I told her that I was doing this recipe before...it's a BK recipe and it's like eggs, Cream of wheat, wheat germ, milk I believe...and then you cook it up like pancakes...but you need the Baking Powder for it to rise a bit. Anyhow she said the following:
If you're using a tsp for like 6 portions... I don't think it would realllllly harm you in the end.

Chantal

Talking about food...I was thinking of something else.

I used to cook my meat (chicken, pork) in the Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup (less fat). I know that it isn't allowed...but then again, I'm not EATING it...I'm only cooking my meat... ?

I personnally think that I still might do this once in a while...
I'll wait to get a handle on things before though.

I really DON'T want to jeapordize my weightloss.

Good job on the weight loss so far Chantal! Apparently my body takes a while to figure out what's going on!!

Double checked those bars. The ones in the pink box are made by Protilife and the green ones are made by ISOfemme.

As far as not eating something but cooking it in it... I'm thinking of the cinammon french toast recipe. Although I don't use the entire mixture to dip my bread in, the totals read as though I have used all of it. I find if I soak the bread it doesn't cook properly. Anybody else find this? Do you count what the recipe says or approx. how much of the egg, cinammon, etc. mixture you use? I've been counting it as the whole but don't wanna mess up my portions.

Anybody else wi recently? I always love to hear about how successful everyone has been!