Great job everyone!

i got 4.5 miles in today on the treadmill then just .5 with Angie as she walked the dogs home from the vet. My brother and I had a little side job, we caught her before she got home.

Breakfast was Total and OJ again ~ Lunch was homemade soup and turky sandwich...again ~ no snack ~ on 2nd beer ~ I am cooking tonight...whole wheat pasta ~ spinach marinara ~ salad and sourdough bread....I will be easy on the bread!

No snacking last night after dinner

MEGAN...KASHI PIZZA?....give that poor guy a break!

Wow everyone is doing so well! I was really hungry this morning an hour after breakfast. Since I was home I was going a little stir crazy and was close to making some really bad choices. I decided to move my mid morning snack up and eat that instead. Wise choice considering the alternatives. By the time lunch came I wasn't hungry and decided to skip it until the next meal time. Overall it seemed that my eating was just moved up an hour or two and then skewed the rest of the day but the choices were okay.

B Oatmeal/cottage cheese/protein powder
S Smoothie mixed with cottage cheese and frozen banana, slice of whole wheat toast
L skipped
S Cottage cheese/yogurt/blueberries/sliced almonds
D LF Turkey sausage with red peppers, berries, oranges, grapes

Today was on plan and I'm off to bed!

Plan, plan, plan for tomorrow, in the meanwhile.

B - Pizza Bagel (alternative bagel, pizza sauce, part skim mozzarella)
S - Apple
L - Leftovers - grilled lemon-thyme chicken, roasted veggie couscous, salad
S - Ry-Krisp Sesame Crackers w/ Laughing Cow
S - Popcorn
D - London Broil, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts
S - NSA Vanilla Ice Cream and Strawberries

E - 55 min elliptical

WaterRat: The multigrain cereal is a hot cereal; it's pretty close to oatmeal except that it has barley and rye in it too. I stir 1 tbsp non-fat cream cheese into it and it makes the cereal nice and creamy. It's really yummy, second only to stirring peanut butter into the cereal (and the cream cheese adds only 15 calories, whereas the PB adds 80 calories). I wasn't sure if you figured out that it was hot cereal or if you thought I was somehow eating cold cereal with cream cheese (which, I'm sure if I could think of a way to do that, I would consider it). Cream cheese is also really good stirred into oat bran.

Robin: You're welcome for the recipe! I had the salad again tonight; it was fabulous. I suspect cabbage won't be around at the farmers market for much longer, so I've got to eat it now, while it's available.

Today was pretty much on plan, but I did have a few extra ginger cookies at the end of the day. It's okay though, they're pretty low calorie and I've got room for a few extra calories right now.

Here is how my day shaped up:

B: FF plain yogurt with High Fiber Cereal and raspberries
S: High Fiber Cereal and decaf coffee with FF half and half and SF Torani
L: Pork and Tofu stir fry, pickles and pickled mushrooms, four sesame coated walnut pieces
S: Oat bran with FF cream cheese and SF Torani
S: Yogurt chickpea salad, Fiber One muffin with FF cream cheese, small apricot
D: Chinese cabbage salad with tofu and chicken
S: Pumpkin pudding with ginger cookies (and a few extra cookies), tea with FF half and half and SF Torani

Exercise: 20 minutes of intervals with 3 min warm up and 10 min walking cool down, 1 hour circuit training class

Lydia, when I'm really hungry, I'll do what you did -- move up a planned meal or sometimes even combine two into one. It's so much better than trying to white-knuckle it for two or three hours! Then often I can slide right through to the next scheduled meal, like you did. I've learned that I have to avoid that starving feeling at all costs or else I make very bad choices.

Yesterday was great food-wise but I didn't do any intentional exercise. I'm debating whether this counts as an excuse or not, but my toe was bleeding whenever I walked on it and my doctor told me not to exercise if it bled. Excuse or legit reason?

Regardless, I'm definitely headed out to the gym this morning!

Robin, we can't wait to hear about your plans for the weekend.

Hi ya'll. (I think I would have been a good southerner. Maybe)

Barbara, I'm shocked to hear that you don't have cabbage all year round.

Meg, LEGITIMATE REASON. Ya hear. Give thyself a break.

Anyway, yesterday was day 4 for me. Great food wise & great exercise wise. Woohoo!!!! Feels good.

Today I have an early day at work. I'm leaving shortly, so I don't have much time to post. I'll post my weekend menus later.

I have no social plans as of yet, that's what messes me up. All right no excuses. But really, many times it's last minute that my friends will popover (AFTER I've eaten my entire calorie allotment) and we wind up going out to eat. Either to a fancy, shmancy place or a diner. Horrible choices there. Even at the diner, for goodness sakes. BUT, this is a NO EXCUSES week and no matter what is thrown at me, I'll handle it. I am completely determined and commited. I want to see my goal weight again. I am looking to lose this week, not maintain. So therefore there will be no spluges whatsoever. Period.

Keep up the great work oh dear teammates. I'll check in - but much, much later.

Meg- Blood all over is not good gym etiquette! That is not an excuse, but sound judgment. You and I have to learn to take the advice that we'd give to out clients or ex-clients. Kudos on keeping the food clean.

Lydia- I do the same thing. Starving=stupidity around food for me.

Yesterday was great. I had a surprise dentist appointment at noon so I couldn't lift (duh- if I looked a week ahead in my appointment book, it wouldn't have been a surprise), but I did a good back and chest workout when I got home.

Food was on, the peanut butter is buried deep in my fridge so I don't see it.

My new goal is pure vanity- to fit into a dress in 7 weeks that is obscenely tight right now Hahaha...how trite! My previous goals were all health or fitness related. I feel like posting "how can I lose 10 pounds in 6 days?" Cut off an arm! Unfortunately it's inches I need to lose, not necessarily pounds and my arms fit into it just fine.

Another day!

Mel

I want to apologize to all of you, I didn't keep my promise of working out 3 days. I guess I should've known better than make promises I can't keep.

I'm not even going to try to justify it. If I had wanted it bad enough I could've found the time to work out, but I didn't, and I'm sorry.

I've been OP for 5 days now. I've been tempted with a lot of food lately, but I'm sticking to my plan.

Congrats to everyone for doing a great job!

Gary, he is 32 years old. If he wants pizza, HE CAN GO GET SOME HIMSELF. If he depends on me to feed him, he gets whatever I put on the table. And he'd better not complain (for the record, he doesn't, he says thank you).

Geez Mel, I always clean up after myself! How about people who puke into the trash can when they're doing legs? Ewww ..... (I've seen that more than once)

Back from the gym ... got in 20 minutes of elliptical intervals before my toe started to bleed, so I went and did back, then 20 more minutes of bike.

Three or four sets:

Assisted pullups
FreeMotion rows
DB pullovers
Seated cable rows
Bent over BB rows (underhand)
Weighted hyperextensions

Today's chow:

M1: Oatmeal and turkey sausage
M2: Protein shake w/ blueberries
M3: 12-bean soup
M4: Fage yogurt w/ cinnamon and dried cranberries
M5: Apple w/ natural PB
M6: Salmon and roasted asparagus

Robin, may I suggest that you become a little more assertive about your needs? Could you say to your friends: how about if we stay here instead? And maybe you could have a veggie tray or bowl of fresh fruit as a backup? Could you talk to DH and explain how these spontaneous extra meals throw you completely off-track? He's seen you lose all this weight and I know that he has to be proud and want to support you, right? So don't be shy about letting him know that you need help! I know we all want to be Super Heroes, be tough, and do it all on our own, but sometimes we can't. If you tell everyone that this is important to you and you need their help, I bet you'll get it.

Just a quick check in before I head out on a walk with the dogs ~ off work today.

Wanted to post my 1 pound loss ...down to a solid 177.0! instead of that high 178.

Plus I am pretty sure I just lost another 1/2 pound from being YELLED AT by MEGAN!

Oh, Gary, I wasn't yelling! Merely pointing out facts.

But if it really helps you lose weight, I could yell for real.

Great job on the 1 lb. loss!

I did pretty good yesterday--I didn't get in a full hour of walking as prescribed, but 40-50 minutes. Food was really good, in fact I was so full most of the day I didn't have my afternoon snack (not that a few carrots would have done me in!). Weight is down 1/2 a pound.

I did get my resistance training done yesterday after I got home from work, I kept repeating out loud in the kitchen while I got some veggie soup going, “I can’t let myself sit down, I have to get my workout done.” My husband chuckled and understood my motivation. I think he would rather see me chanting to myself then beating myself up when I don’t follow through. It worked and I completed my resistance training but from now on that is going to be my morning workout because I worked as hard as I could and can feel the muscles this morning but think it could have been a better workout if I wasn’t already feeling tired.

I’ve been spot on with my eating, traded my apple and string cheese last night for 2 more ounces of the roasted elk, it came out so good so I’m pleased as can be.

Now for no excuses, as of yesterday we decided to make a quick trip to California over the weekend. DH’s son is an over the road trucker and he is going to be in CA for a few days, just 30 miles from DH’s daughter. So we are going to go visit and have a little family reunion type day at a Lake. It should be great fun. Sooooo, this morning I jumped out of bed, packed for the trip while chanting “How can I fit in my exercise today” so I could come to work early and justify cutting out a little early. DH has a suv so when we travel we typically rent a smaller vehicle for the trip so during lunch I’m going to pick up the car and walk to the airport to get it, if I take the long way it will give me a 2 mile walk. Soooo, there you have it, I may not get the whole 3 miles I typically would strive for but I’ll also not have just skipped. My plan was for just cardio today so I’ll be on plan and still be able to hit the road right after work and if I walk back from the airport on Monday I’ll actually end up a little ahead of the game.

Food, I’m packing it. The hotel has a refrig & microwave so when we go out to eat I’ll stick to salads, fruits & veggies, etc. at restaurants and supplement my meals with what I’ve packed. With us being at a lake all day Saturday it will be a snap to get in plenty of walking for exercise and I’ll schedule my resistance training for M/W/F next week.

Now, I’m very good at sticking to my plans when I’m on a trip like this, I plan things out and follow my plan. I ALWAYS fall down when I get back and the “event” is over with, it is like my guard slips to far down so fortunately for me to make 7 days with no excuses I will need to keep going until Wednesday thank goodness.

I may not get to check back in until Monday but now that I've documented my plans it will just be a matter of thumbs up when I get back.

Have a good weekend everyone.