Good Morning!
Dean I so need an on track weekend. They are my downfall.
Silent you are so close to being under 300! Angela aka Vortex said her doc had her eat protein (Like a cheese stick) before exercising so she would not get so hungry after. It works for me. I used to exercise 100 calories off and then eat 800 extra. Try to use the people noticing pressure in a positive way.
Erin buffalo cauliflower sounds good what is in it? Good luck on your sleeping schedule. I hope we can all sleep in on Sunday!
Terra so is it safe to assume you have a treadmill? I saw you had a big salad the other day that should have been good for flushing out some water. How are your feet looking?
Sam so true about needing to make a transition to succeed in weightloss. I too had to clear out the clutter (people, things, ideas...) before I could move forward on this journey. So happy for you!!!
Betsy Spring must be in the air with that list of projects. If I remember you are a very busy gal as the weather improves. How is the co-op? How is Toby?
Jane sorry to disagree with you... I think inner peace is not vain but vital. I think it helps us to find our true reason for our existence.
Anyhow, I am feeling a little meh today.

Besty - sadly balance is still far away the scale is up AGAIn and thats not a sign of balance.

Sam - Good for you, even when I've low carbed it for a while I still always want them!

Terra - Hope you have a great day at home

Erin - Oh wow, I'd be exhausted good on you having all that energy to make it through a very long day.

Dean - Yeah I overindulged in the sushi it was our own home version which isn't as good as professional sushi with sashimi grade fish but it was made with love lol and I was hungry post workout :-| (which is a recurring problem this week!)

Jne - sorry you're feeling too sore, my abs are still hurtin from tuesday but I know it means I worked hard. I'm taking today "off" for totally non health related reasons. I have plans tonight that I need to get ready for and I slept in this AM.

So yeah up another 2 lbs. I want to blame the soya sauce? Well and the rice, and I had a muffin in the A.M. My eating habits left a LOT to be desired yesterday and the results are obvious on the scale I'm moving way in the wrong direction. Definitely not making the less than 300 before Cuba dream. I'm back up above ticker weight. I hate that working out makes me hungrier... I'm lucky to maintain my weight when working out regularily the hunger gets so bad, that its only be sheer force of will that I don't eat a ton. Yesterday was bad, I had way more sushi than I should have. I had the equivalent of 3.5 rolls probably, and shoudl have kept it at 2. Thats a LOT of carbs. I guess my apetite is finally back, I blame the workouts. :-| It's even worse when other people then place a TON of really yummy food infront of me.


Sorry end vent. I just need to get back on track today. Even though I have plans later, maybe I'll be a nerd and bring a bunch of celery to the gathering I'm going to so I can mindlessly snack on that. :-\

Ubee - doesn't seem to work for me, eating before working out only stops me from physically feeling shakey and week. Not from wanting to eat afterwards. Frustrating. I've tried turkey. Cheese, yoghurt, peanutbutter... you name it. I still am hungry for about 24 hours after working out. :-\

Good morning all. Sounds like a lot of us are struggling with end-of-winter blahs that translate into overeating. I am determined to not gain back the weight I lost from being sick......especially since I still have 10 pounds to go to get back to what my ticker says!

SilentArctic -- Don't know what to suggest about curbing the exercise hungers -- don't have that problem. I'm with you on the portion control problem. I swear I want one of those little devil figures that show up in movies to appear over my shoulder and ask me if I really need to eat such and such! We'll whip this.

Ubee -- Not sure meh is a word and yet I knew exactly what you meant. Hope you're feeling un-meh soon! Yes, spring is in the air and I've started my project list. This year I'm paying someone to do about half of them so I can focus on the never ending yard and garden work. The co-op remains nuts and Toby remains adorable if the size of a calf. He is going to be a very LARGE dog.

Jane -- I'm with Ubee on the inner peace. There's nothing vain about it. I honestly believe we won't succeed at this journey until we come to grips with what got us here in the first place and find some self acceptance and peace with our lives. It's ok to focus on yourself. You still have time to feel compassion for family and friends and even help them if possible. Sorry you're sore from the swimming.

Dean -- You're such a positive guy. On track for the weekend it is!

Edo -- Buffalo cauliflower sounds interesting -- can you share the recipe?

Terra -- Do you wear an ipod when walking inside? Maybe a soothing mix of nature sounds? I'm assuming you must be walking on a treadmill if you're walking inside.

Sam -- You've got us thinking about finding balance in our lives -- in all aspects of the word.

Lately I've been realizing that a lot of my eating habits where I get in trouble focus on eating way too much of one item. For instance, last night I made up the remainder of a container of chocolate chip cookies that I'd bought for the grands. Now if I'd had one cookie it would have been an acceptable treat. Of course, I ate 6-7 of them. It dawned on me that I didn't enjoy cookies 2-7 any more than number 1. So while I will continue to count calories and carbs, I'm going to put more focus on portion control and finding substitutes for foods so that I don't just go nuts. One example -- I really miss pasta. Saw a recipe for mac and cheese cauliflower. Miss spaghetti, but want to try using spaghetti squash. I'm going to try having a lot more of my protein from my vegetarian cookbook -- maybe go meatless for 2-3 days a week. Hope everyone has a great day. Time to start the runs to the gym and the doctor!

Betsey Portion control is a huge issue for me too. Even with broccoli I can over do it.

Ubee Why so gluM?

Silent that really stinks. Have you tried taking many cinnamon capsules. It is supposed to really balance out your blood sugar. They are not that expensive and might be worth a try.
All right so now I can not stop thinking about what Jane and Sam were talking about. I think this is an area I need to work on. If I am not getting good energy, I can not give good energy. Time for some personnal and physical house keeping.
Thanks girls!

Jane we cross posted. I think I am still in a slump from my hysterectomy. It was way more emotional then it should have been. I feel so much better everyday of the month. It is just so weird. Plus winter blahs. We do not have it as bad as you but still...
Betsy thanks for the laugh about Toby being calf size! Please let me know how the spaghetti squash goes. I am thinking of buying a spiralizer to make veggie noodles.
Portion control seems to be a problem for many. What are some tricks you can share? Do smaller plates and bowls really work? I try to portion out the servings for my family and put the leftovers in the fridge before we eat. That way I may be too lazy to get them out if I want more. Plus during clean up my mouth is thought of as a storage container!

Ubee - its okay I was just venting its really only a problem when my friends want to hang out post workout...(which they did last night)... because then I'm around food and have a harder time saying portion controlling... when I am solo I am to tired to bother getting food...

And just try and ignore the nauseated feeling in the mornings... Coffee is a somewhat decent appetite suppressant in the short term.

As for portion control, in general I have to MEASURE. I have a bunch of pyrex measuring cups and even if i'm not calorie counting being concious of the volume of food I'm consuming can at sometimes keep me in check.

Also sticking to 1 serving size at a time helps (but again i don't always do it) ex if I'm going to indulge and have doritos, counting out exactly 12 or however many I decide is onplan.

I'm trying using a smaller bown than the usual midsized dishes I use (they're not plates and not bowls. But usually I just go get second helpings if I'm still hungry it doesn't really deter me.

Measuring is key for me... I have prep bowls that also show "3/4 of a cup" or whatever on the side, sometimes I use them to serve food too... it works better when I'm eating alone not sure how a family would feel about eating out of measuring cups. Personally I'm okay with it... don't know if you want to pass that kind of neuroticism onto children though.

Ubee I'm sorry - in one of my absences, I must have missed that. A hysterectomy is a huge thing emotionally. I can't imagine the strength you have! I feel like an *** now. I'm glad with time you're getting better and I hope spring finds you soon!

Jane no need to feel like an ***. Actually you helped me today. I sat in my rocker by the wood stove and gave your question some more thought. Yes, it is the reasons I said plus a few more. Acknowledging them was huge! I went on the treadmill and got some good endorphins going. I feel much better. Thank You!
Silent if we can not vent about that stuff here where can we? There is no way I could eat just 12 Doritos. I have empty plate/container syndrome. My kids know I am screwed up. They kind of watch my husband for how to behave/act in life.
So glad for the support today. Thanks! (Well everyday too...)

Sorry I haven't been around, y'all. I am reading your postings & thinking about you. I'm just really busy, because I'm fired up for writing in French to all my new French correspondents, some in Canada and some in France. Plus it's time for me to work up the gumption to write my first long handwritten letter to my Belgian friend, Robine: I really want to make sure I protect myself, and say the things that would be most helpful to her as well. I think I'll be ready to tackle that tomorrow. Sunday we're having our niece and her son over again—probably gonna make that a weekly thing. I've been "cheating" a bit by eating some sugar-free muesli, and I occasionally miss a day of doing my leg exercises, but other than that, it's the same old stuff in my weight loss efforts. My moods have been so stable lately—it's marvelous!

Best wishes to all for a weekend of what you want to do, for your health, not what you feel like doing, which may be wrong for your longterm plans. Want can win out over feel!

Ubee ~ We have a treadmill but I dont use it, I walk to and from the kitchen to the front room and back to the kitchen again and I do that for 45 mins while listening to my cd player or my playlist on youtube. Its quite a distance and my feet are looking okay at the moment.

silent ~ Thanks, I am having a great day at home today, I wont go anywhere else until Tuesday

betsy2013 ~ Nope I dont have a ipod but I listen to my cd player or my youtube playlist.

I walked for 45 mins once today but I'll do better tomorrow and try to do at least 2 walks tomorrow if not 3.

Ubee mentioned portion control and asked for tips. Here's my strategy: small plates & bowls (I even use teacups for things like nuts) do work, but it helps if you combine them with eating far from the food source: if there's lasagna for dinner, for example, don't put the big dish of it on the table where you're eating. Instead, set up a kind of buffet in another room, like on the kitchen counter. Or do what Ubee does, and put the leftovers in the fridge before you sit down to eat. Then, make yourself sit at the table for at least 15-20 minutes after you finish your portion, before you get up and walk by the big pan of lasagna on the kitchen counter or wherever. Those 15-20 minutes give your stomach time to signal your brain that you've had enough to eat, so you're much less tempted to go for a second helping.

And even if you're only having two cookies, you should make yourself put those two cookies in a small cup and carry the cup far away from the package before you sit down and slowly enjoy them. Then, sit there with a smile on your face and wait a while before taking the cup back to the kitchen. That way, you're much less likely to get the package back out of the cabinet and dive into it again. And how about storing things like cookies up high, so you have to get a stepstool out to get to them? I do that, too: I store my macadamia nuts up high, to reduce the frequency of my eating them.

It also helps me a lot to use Brooke Castillo's hunger-fullness scale. The scale goes from -10 which is ravenously hungry, to 0 which is neither hungry nor full, to +10 which is so stuffed you're miserable. Castillo recommends that you check in with yourself frequently and give a number to what state of hunger or fullness you're in. In the beginning, when you don't know what your scale is, you should keep a little hunger-fullness diary where you write down the time of day and the -10 to +10 number. It doesn't matter if you're making wild guesses: you're learning to read your body, and to pay attention to its signals.

Once you can assign a number to your hunger or fullness, then you use it to tell you when to eat and when to stop eating. Castillo suggests that when you get down to -2, you should eat something: don't wait until you're much hungrier. Then, you should stop eating when you get to +2. In practice, I find myself eating more from -3 or even -4 of hunger to +3 of fullness. But I really notice now when I go over the limit and eat to +8 or more: it's a yukky feeling. How much better I feel when I stop at +3!

Good Morning!
There is a chance that the promise of Spring may be in the air. I am feeling much more human today. I am wearing a tight pair of jeans that I could not fit into until yesterday. I'm hoping it will give me a full feeling throughout the day. I do check in the mirror ever once in a while to make sure I am not turning blue!
Fi thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I will be looking into luncheon plates for my family. Would you mind sharing how long it took you to figure out your body and its hunger clues? I do teach my daughter that if she is going to have a cookie... to sit down and enjoy it. I think that is so important. So often I used to feel guilty about something that I would shove it down my throat and not even enjoy it. How messed up is that?
Terra I've got to give you credit. You do a great job getting that exercise in! Are you enjoying your little nephew?

Ubee ~ Thanks, My sister in law and I are gonna go to the mall here in a few mins and we'll be there for a couple of hours so I'll definitely get some walking in today but I'll be sure to walk again tonight also. Yes I've been enjoying my little nephew.