Good morning and welcome to a brand new week.

I'm having a terrible time getting motivated enough to clean the snow off my car and go to the gym this morning. Coffee, work your magic! I know I'll feel 1000% better when I'm done ... so I'm accountable to all of you and will report back once I get home.

Pat, how cold is it these days? Our weatherman said we're going to be getting some of your Alaska air this week and it's going to be really cold (by our standards, not yours!) I am so darn tired of being cold!

Today is going to be a cooking day: chili, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash and sauce, salmon, burgers, roasted veggies -- all for the freezer. I just can't eat cold food in this weather so my staple protein shakes and salads are off the menu. Anyone try anything good lately and want to share the recipe?

to all and hope you'll say hi and let us know what's going on in your world!

I hear you about the cold weather/cold food Meg. Most of my snacks are cold and I'm not finding them appealing at all.

The weather's going to be darn cold for about half my work week. I'm not looking forward to being out all day in -21 with 30 kph winds. I tend to eat more in the extreme cold so my weight will probably be a little higher until this all passes. By this I mean winter

Dagmar

Good morning all.

This cold weather is awful. They're calling for real frigid temps for the middle to the end of the week. Nothing like Pat or Dagmar's experiencing, but pretty darn cold never the less. I''m not looking forward to it. I don't get in my walks then. Call it an excuse, but I get painfully cold. Actual [pain. I did buy thermal pants and a shirt yesterday and a pair of leg warmers.

Meg, do you really freeze all those things? The spaghetti squash and roasted veggies too. If you do, that's good to know that that "works."

As far as new recipes, I'm loving Kaplods turnip fries.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158952

I cut them into the shape of shoe string potatoes, lay them on a roasting pan which is sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and spice them heavily. I've been using garlic and onion powder, some sea salt and Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb. Roast them in the oven on 400 degrees, turning once, till they get soft and a little crispy on the edges. Maybe 20 minutes or so. Really, really good. Easy. And LOW calorie.

Oh and I got a great new salmon recipe. I haven't had it yet, but my girls made it and they loved it, the BF too.

Roasted Pecan Salmon

Ingredients:

· 4 salmon filets (4-6 oz. each)
· Salt and pepper to taste
· 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
· 1 tablespoon honey
· 2 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs
· 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
· 1 teaspoon parsley
· Wedges of fresh lemon

Preparation:
1. Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper. Place skin side down on baking sheet.
2. Combine mustard and honey, brush on top of salmon.
3. Mix topping of breadcrumbs, nuts, and parsley and sprinkle over salmon.
4. Bake at 400°F 15-20 minutes or until flaky. Serve with wedges of fresh lemon.

4 servings at appox 265 calories each, 29 gms protein

I was mentioning my DD's boyfriend on yesterday's thread and how he was brought up in a totally healthy home environment, food and exercise wise. We were talking about it last night. He said something to me which I thought was great. He said something like, "He doesn't understand why everyone doesn't live like this. Why wouldn't everyone want to eat healthy?" A real keeper, no?

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Not looking forward to it, except for one thing. Ooooh, I'm so bad. They haven't seen me since I lost all the weight, and they're a pretty friendly office. I'm actually looking forward to their reaction when they see me. I'm actually contemplating what I should wear - to go to the dentist. Told you I was bad.

Have a great day and week everyone.

Good morning! It's really cold here, too (by Atlanta standards). I am tired of running on the treadmill. Maybe I'll make a big pot of soup. Hmmm ...

Have a great day!

Good morning Madam Secretary, and all the other maintainers.

Only had to dust off an inch of power this morning. Life is good.

But come Friday, we're in for the Artic air. Could be our first below zero degrees for the season.

Morning everyone.I don't post in this thread often, but my maintaining rear could use a kick in the direction of accountability. This whole weekend was a great big festival of drinks, home made meatballs, and Christmas cookies people are STILL sending. Guilt isn't too bad, but on top of no workouts and the sugar, im up 6 pounds since Friday. Anyway, did a 5 mile run this morning and upper body/abs will be after work. Eating will be on plan whether I like it or not, and A LOT of water. Have a great day everyone!

I am also sick of the COLD. Can't wait for spring. I decided to train for my first triathlon but NO WAY will I run in this cold.

Cold here too, but my definition of cold is 33F. I can hear Pat laughing from here.

Made a big pot of lentil soup. Sauteed some onion, carrots, celery, red bell & garlic in some olive oil, added in about a pound of washed and picked over lentils. Topped with a can of tomatoes and about 2 quarts of chicken broth and just let the whole thing stew for a while until lentils start breaking down and thickening up the soup. I mix up the spices but this time used salt, pepper, bay leaf and some cumin and a touch of chili powder (since I accidentally used the hot pepper tomatoes, I made it sort of chili-like). Worked out to be about a 2000 calorie pot of goo, now portioned into 240ish calorie lunches/snacks, chilling in the freezer. I had a bowl for a snack of course too. DH hates the stuff so it's all mine.

DS has been sick but seems to be better today and is back in school. DH has a training session all week so I'll be without the usual dinner-time help, and need to figure out how to manage my stress levels.

Speaking of that, anybody know any good ways to manage stress when two small children are whining/crying/screaming at you? And they are 3y and 7m so they sort of really need a lot of hands on--the 3y old is also not a low maintenance kid, and the 7 m old is pretty mellow, but he's 7 months. I've been counting to ten before I start screaming, but that's not the kind of mother I really want to be. Sure, I know it happens to the best of us on occasion, but I'm getting to be a screamer. DD's little backside is starting to be shaped like the tile I make her sit on for her time-outs.

Hit a 5 lb mini-goal on my postpartum loss, so I'm buying myself a CD.

Anne

I'm not a parent, but I work with kids, and sometimes when the screaming gets to me the best thing to do is just walk away and let them scream for a few minutes. It sounds mean, but once I'm calmed down I can handle the situation a lot better. I also use the count to 10 method, but rarely make it past 7 :-)

Well, Anne, sometimes all I could do was just sit down and cuddle them. Read, hug, kiss, cry (yeah, I would cry along on occasion). I remember that I couldn't get a lot of stuff done, but I don't remember what I thought I had to get done. I do remember lots of time spent just being there, sitting and cuddling.

It's a tough time, but it is also a beautiful time, as you know.

Good morning all! It's cold here too. Anne, 33F is COLD no matter where you live! IMO anything under 70 is "cold," anything under 50 is "way cold," anything under 35 is "freezing," and anything under 20 is "super-freezing." Let's not talk about when it gets into negative temperatures. I generally avoid leaving my house when it gets that cold!

I have one victory and one semi-victory to report for the weekend. My victory is that I went to the gym Saturday and did a practice triathlon (half the distances of the sprint/mini/beginner's triathlon that I'm signed up for in April) and did the whole thing, no stopping, no resting! It was great!

My semi-victory is also a semi-failing. I really was craving Indian food, so I talked DH into taking me to an Indian buffet for lunch yesterday. Okay, I should probably not have insisted on going out, but hey, I've always had one splurge meal a week. The victory part though is that I succeeded with Operation: No Seconds! I took one plate of food from the buffet and one cup of desserts, no more. No seconds. Woohoo! I'm still up 1lb this morning because of it, but I'm sure it's just water weight since the food was salty. Now my craving for palak paneer and tandoori chicken has been satisfied.

Catching up on last week's thread . . .

Meg - I second the nomination for Secretary of Maintenance!

Shannon - I have one word of warning for you about the implants if you go for a large size -- look out for doorframes! You'd be amazed how many things you can whack your boobs on if you're not careful. I was cursed (some would say blessed but I'd have to argue that) with big breasts since I was very young -- I was wearing DD cups when I was 12 -- and right now I wear a 30FF. If I ever do get a reduction I'm thinking full C/small D is about where I'd like to be, so I guess it is a pretty desirable size!

About the parenting and kids thing . . . I will admit, I have a certain amount of resentment towards my parents for not teaching me healthy eating and exercise. I've been trying to let go of it, and it's getting easier with my mom since she's lost and maintained and I know she feels some guilt about it too. It's harder with my dad because he still makes fun of the way I eat and thinks I'm crazy for exercising, yet at the same time nitpicks me about my weight. In any case I am thankful that I learned these things at a young enough age that I feel confident I can pass it along to any children I might have in the future.

Gee, I'm so sorry you all are so cold...we've been sleeping with the sliding door cracked open a few inches just to cool off the bedroom. Yeah, I still run the furnace once I'm up, but I prefer it to be cold when I sleep. Current outside temp is 55, which is way higher than usual. I believe it got up to 80 yesterday.

I decided I'm only going to change my stats on Mondays. I think I should have chosen Saturdays, though, because my weight was 151 Saturday morning and I'm back up to 154 this morning. It is a loss, however, and I'll keep it. One pound per week will see me at goal in 20 weeks which is around my anniversary in May.

Anne~I really can't remember my kids both crying/whining for my attention at the same time, but I do remember when they needed me, I'd sit and cuddle with them for a few minutes. That's all it usually took to make them feel better and then I could get back to whatever I needed to do. I do have to confess that my DD would drive me absolutely crazy when she was 4 and I was pregnant. I remember locking myself in my bedroom and then slipping out the sliding glass door and then sliding into the living room sliding glass door while DD threw a tantrum outside my bedroom door (kicking and screaming and crying). I read the paper for about 20 minutes while I listened to her, and then I reversed my steps. She had finally calmed down and she couldn't remember what she was mad about by the time I let her in my bedroom.

Oh, I have a recipe for tomato lentil soup that is so wonderful and low cal/low fat. I should make that tonight. I was going to make a packaged soup, but those aren't really the best choice.

Good morning everyone!

33 is cold to me, too... It was 31 according to my car thermometer this morning and I was freezing. It is supposed to be 48ish this afternoon so I'm still planning an outside run after work. I don't have a treadmill, so I have to run outside even if it is colder than I would like.

Meg - I've tried freezing and reheating roasted veggies but they always dry out. Do you add water when you freeze them?

Dagmar - I eat more in winter, too. DH says I'm genetically programmed to stock up calories for the cold weather. My body must be anticipating a famine as munchy as I feel all the time!

Robin - nothing wrong with dressing to impress people you haven't seen in a while, even if they are the people at your dentist's office!

Anne - I have to walk away from DSSs screaming sometimes, too. He's almost 4 and just starting to pitch tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. He was a very mellow 2 year old and we thought we had gotten off easy... Nope. I walk off and leave him pitching his fit on the floor and eventually he calms down on his own. Congrats on the 5 pounds!

Jessica - I have thought about that, actually! I can bump into anything even now... I've also worried about running with larger breasts - I found a whole warning article about it on the internet, as a matter of fact. You run I know, do you have any problems? And, good job on the no seconds on the Indian food!

Alinnell - I have often dreamed of living in Southern California... Your current temperatures are exactly why!

This weekend was pretty noneventful for me. My MIL's procedure went well on Friday, we are just waiting on the biopsy results now. We spent most of the weekend just hanging around doing nothing. I did a lot of laundry, DH watched a lot of football. I could hear him pull the scale out this morning - it must not have gone well... He sent me a message when he got to work telling me it was time to stop goofing off and he has to workout on the Weider when he gets home from work today... I'm reservedly optimistic - don't want to push him too hard, so I'm going to wait and see what happens. He has spent a lot of time this morning making sure we can schedule my run with his workout with fixing dinner so I don't get inconvenienced. I can't get him to accept the fact that him getting healthy isn't an inconvenience to my time... If we eat a little later we eat a little later...

I've been reading all these great soup recipes on here today... I have to start trying some of those. I have a great Le Crueset stockpot that I never use that would be perfect for a big pot of soup...

Shannon - LOL, you wouldn't believe the number of times I've run into doorframes. The trick to running with big boobs is to spend the money to get a really good sports bra. There's one brand called the Shock Absorber which is good. Right now I have one that completely stops the bounce from Enell. Their sizing is interesting -- it's a scale starting from 00 rather than bra sizing. I wear a size 0. Never thought I'd wear a small size in bras! I think it might be different for augmented breasts and naturally large breasts though, because I get the impression that the material they use for augmentations is less dense than breast tissue. I guess what I mean is that I think augmented breasts don't weigh as much, so they might not be as uncomfortable or bounce as much, or need as much support to stay in the right place.

Allison - There are many days I wonder why I ever moved out of SoCal!

Actually I have a question for those who live in or have traveled to SoCal . . . we're going back to visit my folks in March, and I think DH and I are going to take a day to go to Channel Islands National Park. Has anyone been there? We're leaning towards just going hiking rather than doing a kayak tour or anything like that but i'd love to hear opinions from people who have gone.

Good morning all,

A cold front just came through here so it's cold(relatively). I'll actually have to bring my plants inside for a few nights this week. I'll be out on the boat most of the week so if I'm absent I'll be on the water shivering. I've got another busy week with rehearsals every night except one, which I have to go to/serve food at/present speaker at the research seminar I organized. Yesterday I roasted chicken breasts for sandwiches at lunch, cut up veggies, and cooked "Thai-Style Tofu & noodles" from the fall 08 issue of Clean Eating Magazine to be my dinner for the next 4 days. It looks quite yummy but I guess I'll have to wait to post the recipe until I actually try it.

I got a ton done around the house this weekend. I finally took all my Christmas decorations down, set up my new fishtank (hauling shells, sand, and water is surprisingly arduous), put up some new blinds, cleaned, put on my new slipcovers... I feel like the house is slightly less disheveled now.

Anne, I wish I could offer some words of advice but I don't have that much experience with kids. I like Allison's idea though, lol. No, hang in there. I can only imagine how tough it is having 2 young kids at home.

Shannon, that MIL's biopsy turns out fine.

Jessica, sounds like an awesome trip to the gym! WTG!

Jessisaokay, Was that good? Was there a special occasion over the weekend? Step away from the cookies and drinks!!!

Meg, I have no words of advice b/c my solution to dealing with cold was to move to Florida. Ok, ok, that's not why I moved, but it was a convenient benefit of moving. How about this: As the Secretary of Maintenance you should set the example for everyone. Get thee to the gym!

Gotta run!

Jessica~I've never been to the Channel Islands. You'll have to take some photos and let us know what it's like.

Living in SoCal is different from anything I'd ever known. Growing up in SLC, Utah gave us 4 seasons--each with their highs and lows. Here in the desert, it is so much different. Our desert trees have such teeny tiny leaves you never really notice when the tree drops them. But if a non-native species is brought in, they tend to change color and drop their leaves right about now (and it's done so quickly you are taken by surprise). It gets a lot colder here than it does on the coast. The past few days have been the Palm Springs International Film Festival and all the stars arrived for the Gala wearing what they'd normally wear in LA and all complained about how cold it was. Typically we get down near 32 at night which is bad for the farmers, but it warms up in the day anywhere from the high 50's to the high 70's. Usually, once the sun goes down, you move indoors pretty quickly around here.