No thread yet? What have ya'll been up to??

I'm EXHAUSTED. This past weekend was Relay for Life, which we walked in honor of my Aunt Pat who passed away in April. My shoulder was hurting so I couldn't really sleep in the tent, so I ended up representing the team through the night and walked 1:30 to 6:30 am straight through...not to mention a bunch of shifts during the day. Anyway, I added it all up and I walked, this weekend, over a marathon (27 miles!) over the 24 hr period. On no sleep! So I crashed out yesterday, and am still recovering today.

Food for the weekend was heavy, considering the walking and being at the campsite, but still not bad with the amount of exercise I got. The scale is WAY up but I'm guessing its the no sleep/sodium/swollen legs/etc. from being off schedule.

Saturday:
B - Luna Bar
L - Chicken sausage on a hot dog bun, apple, 1 small chocolate chip cookie
S - Homemade ice cream bar from a stand (they looked soooo good...but they weren't too terribly big, in any case)
D - 4 oz hamburger on bun, 1 cup fruit salad, 1/2 cup non-mayo-based potato salad (I made it...it had 2 tbsp of oil in the whole thing, then vinegar and mustard for the rest of the dressing), 1/3 cup baked beans, 10 garlic fries
S - (at 4 am...is this breakfast, or is it dessert???) - 2 cups fruit salad, 1 small chocolate chip cookie

Sunday -
B - Trader Joes Fruit and Nut bar
S - 2 Babybel Light cheeses, crackers
L - 4 oz hamburger on bun, 1 cup fruit salad
D - Went out to Mexican, got fajitas. Made "better" choices (picked chicken and shrimp, got a salad to start, got corn tortillas) but was STARVING from walking so I ate more than I might otherwise.

Exercise between the two - 9 hours of walking, for a total of 27 miles.

Today:

B - Greek yogurt, strawberries, 2 tbsp lowfat granola
S - Frozen Grapes
L - Tuna on toasted sourdough, broccoli with hummus
S - Popcorn
D - Grilled chicken skewers, lentil and brown rice pilaf, roasted asparagus
S - NSA Ice Cream, Strawberries

E - 60 min on step

Wow Amanda! You go!

I've been totally non-accountable since I believe Thursday... Quick recap, Friday was great, OP calorie wise, exercised, great. Saturday - drove to Columbus, got pulled in by mini-turkey burgers at Ruby Tuesdays that were worse for me the fried shrimp appetizer I almost ordered as my entree would have been, pulled calories mostly in line for the day, planned off day from exercise. Sunday - cut the grass & did some edging for exercise, went out for Mexican food and had popcorn at the movies. Not too far above calories, but bloated again today. I should learn not to do this to myself in the summer!

Today:
No exercise yet, more yardwork and possible closet repair planned for tonight, will try to get in some yoga before bed.
B: smoothie, coffee
S; string cheese
L: McDonald's Southwest grilled chicken salad
S: 3 oz. can of chuck white chicken, gnu chocolate brownie fruit 'n fiber bar
D: hamburger helper with skim milk & ground white turkey
S: peanut butter graham cracker or mayfield orange yogurt bar

Hey chicks,

Amanda, I hope you are up and about today and feeling well. I woke up this am before my guys at 5.40a (woohoo!, lately it's been 5a) and told hubbie what a comfy and restful night I had. Nice change.

This Sunday I cooked food for most of the week. I made a big pot of turkey chili and 2 very large sirloin steaks which I found on sale Sun am. Cukes were sliced and romaine was chopped and grape tomatoes are readily available a la Costco.

So that's good

I have been indulging in wine and cheese almost nightly. Not so great necessarily but I measure out the cheese and then put it away. And the same for the wine. Except maybe I'll have a teeny bit more

Shannon once you get your closets done, can you come up to nj and tackle mine?

Sorry so chatty girls, I missed ya!

Sigh.

I have been exercising, every day, despite having to pin down my shoulder and the elliptical breaking. Heck, I even walked a marathon. And before the shoulder thing, I was doing at least an hour of cardio per day, plus something extra on top (yoga, strength, extra cardio), 5-6 days a week.

I have cut my calories for the past month, down to 1300 a day, which is about as low as I can go without getting headaches from hunger. I did this after a 4 week trial of raising calories, in which I gained 4 lbs. I have been cooking at home and selecting the lighter dinners in my collection. I have been eating clean. I've cut starch portions and chose only whole grain, lower calorie options. I have cut out one of my afternoon snacks most days and have reduced the calories in my breakfast.

SO HOW ON EARTH HAS THE SCALE CONTINUED GOING UP??? At a very steady rate, I might add...4 lbs a month, regardless of what I eat or what exercise I do. I really, really don't understand but I'm sick of it. There are no more hours in the day I can exercise, and no more room for the calories to go down.

Planning another OP day regardless of the fact that it doesn't seem to change anything.

B - Greek yogurt, berries, 1 tbsp granola
S - Watermelon
L - Leftovers: Chicken breast, lentil and brown rice pilaf, roasted asparagus
S - Popcorn
D -
S - NSA Ice Cream, strawberries

E - 70 min Cardio (doing that "Extreme" video while trying to only move the one arm), 60 min LB strength

Okay, catching up. Apparently I never posted Friday.

Friday 5/29:
B - cheerios, strawberries, skim milk
L - chicken piccata w/summer veg pasta leftovers
D - tuna sandwich, tuna mixed with ff sour cream instead of mayo
S - watermelon, sorbet
E - I don't think I did any but I don't remember

Saturday 5/30:
B - cheerios, strawberries, blueberries, skim milk
S - banana
L - pasta, sauce, parmesan
D - @McCormick and Schmick's - cocktail (greyhound = vodka and grapefruit juice), sourdough, butter, seared ahi, picked veggies, salad, crab legs (with some butter sauce but not too much), sauteed veggies, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, twice baked apple pie a la mode (but it was so good!)
E - none

Sunday 5/31:
B - cheerios, strawberries, blueberries, skim milk
L - pasta, beef stir fry leftovers
D - red wine, chicken w/balsamic strawberries and rhubarb compote, roasted asparagus
S - shredded oats, skim milk
E - swimming in the morning

Monday 6/1:
B - raisin bran, blueberries, skim milk
S - banana
L - leftover chicken/rhubarb/strawberries/asparagus
S - sugar snap peas, yogurt/blueberries/granola
D - pasta, broccoli, sauce, parmesan
E - half hour jog

Tuesday 6/2:
B - kashi autumn wheat cereal, blueberries, skim milk
S - banana
L - pasta/broccoli/sauce
S - frozen mixed veggies, yogurt/blueberries/granola
D - rice, pinto bean skillet chilil
S - watermelon
E - NRLW 6A

Hey Amanda!

I think you won't like my suggestions, but I just wanted to say that if you are trying to recover from an injury and you walked a marathon on top of it, you really need nutrients to help you heal. IMO 1300 cals is not going to cut it, and working out like that every day may not be helping either.

If you're going to gain 4 pounds in a month no matter what you do, why not eat a little more, like 150 to 200 cals more per day? And why not give yourself a day or two per week where you don't exercise at all, but let your body recover? I think your will is stronger than your body is! And maybe that's not helping...

OK, end of suggestions.

Jay

For all my preparing, I had pizza, about 4 papa john slices for dinner.
and cookies.

earlier eating very op.

back to business tomorrow. no, right now. no more food tonight.

Amanda, that sucks. just sucks. Do the 4pounds come off and then back on or are you saying that you have put on 12 pounds in the past 3 months?

Of course I woke up with a rumbling tummy and 3 pounds. I'm in puffy insulin overload!

Today:
If my train ever gets here I will run 5 miles after arriving NYC

Balance bar
Sauteed mushrooms with turkey chili on top
have a south beach bar but would prefer to pick up an apple
Salad with sliced steak
Water, water, tea

Wednesday:
B - shredded wheat, blueberries, skim milk
S - frozen mixed veggies
L - rice, pinto bean skillet
S - yogurt, blueberries, granola, snack pack potato chips
D - small baked potato, salsa
S - cream of wheat made w/skim milk, some turbinado sugar
E - none

I'm not even going to try to catch up with my meals. I've been very busy this week and it looks like it will continue through today at least.

B~lf cottage cheese with fresh pineapple
S~hard boiled egg
L~Healthy Choice steamers orange chicken, small apple
S~yogurt
S~nothing
D~deli sandwiches (probably turkey)

I think I can, I think I can...

Wednesday's plan:
B - 1 cup multigrain cheerios + 1/2 cup fiber one, 1 cup skim milk, small banana, coffee
S - 3/4 oz. raw almonds
L - 1/2 oat bran pita bread, 2 oz. deli ham, medium cucumber
S - 6 oz. lowfat yogurt, mango
gym - walking & running, possibly back
post-gym snack - hm protein muffin
"Beer Club" - but I've sworn of alcohol once again so I won't be drinking. I'm bringing pineapple to grill for dessert, there will be salmon and salmon burgers, and I know someone is bringing salad, so there should be plenty of OP food for me.

I got the latest "Clean Eating" magazine last week and have planned out my next two weeks of food/recipes I will make. There are some very yummy looking ones in here!

Amanda, I would say that you're eating too little except that I know you tried to eat more (around ~1600 cals/day I think?) and that didn't help either. My only other possible suggestion would be to eat a lot more clean calories (like, maybe you're really suppressing your metabolism, and you need ~2200 calories a day or something). Also, have your measurements changed? Otherwise I'm suggestion-less. Can you afford to see a nutritionist? I completely agree that this is totally frustrating and baffling.

Wow - I totally missed yesterday, too. My accountability is going out the window.

Tuesday:
No formal exercise, but finished my closet so lots of climbing of stepladders, moving and carrying of stuff.
B: Smoothie, made coffee but never drank it
L: grilled chicken salad
S: kashi go lean crunch with lowfat vanilla yogurt
D: chicken breast with some BBQ seasonings in Foreman grill, broccoli, waffle fries
S: peanut butter chocolate south beach bar, 3 squares of a graham cracker, one with Nutella

Today:
E: going to do either strength training or treadmill, or a little of both, when I get home. No matter what.
B: smoothie, coffee
S: string cheese
L: grilled chicken salad
S: yogurt, kashi go lean
D: pasta most likely
S: mayfield orange yogurt bar or peanut butter graham cracker, protein powder chocolate milk

Amanda - I am totally out of suggestions, too. The only thing I could think of now would be raising the calories to closer to 2000, or exercising less. Which totally seems counter productive to me, but seems like you have tried everything else. Maybe a nutritionist wouldn't be a bad idea? Have you been tested for how many calories you are actually burning? Am I imagining that they can really test for that? Hang in there...

Kitty, how was your run? I have so slacked on the running... I've been all treadmill for the last few weeks - the heat outside and the pollen are killing me when I go out. I thought the pollen was supposed to be done by now!

The 4 lbs stay...I'm just not changing my profile info.

I just feel like I've tried EVERYTHING and have run out of options. The only time I felt this way before was during the 10 mo plateau I had toward the end of my loss, and in that case, the only thing that worked was just continuing to do what I'd done, and waiting for things to settle. So my goal is to just stay on plan at a slightly lower calorie level for a while and see.

Yesterday was POP. Moving onto today.

B - Smoothie w/ nonfat greek yogurt, frozen strawberries, almond milk
S - Watermelon
L - Leftover taco and veggie salad w/ FF sour cream dressing
S - Popcorn
D - Mediterranean braised skinless chicken thighs (chicken braised with wine, spices, shallot, carrot, tomatoes), served over jasmine saffron rice, side of broccoli
S - NSA Ice Cream, Berries

E - 60 min on step, walk to store

Wow, Amanda, that is totally frustrating. Your meals sound really good still, though.

Yesterday was so-so, mostly because I had lunch out.

B - oatmeal, skim milk, raisins, walnuts, 1/2 c cantalope, 1/2 eng muff
L - leftover chicken quesadilla (my sister's that she didn't want to take on plane)
D - small grilled steak, asparagus, rice
Ss - cottage cheese with strawberries, luna bar

Amanda, maybe seeing a dietician (one with an RD certification) would help. They are trained to help people with various medical conditions come up with a good diet, and I know you said before you think that PCOS might be interfering with your weight. It might be a good idea to get metabolic testing done to find out how many calories you're actually burning.


Thursday:
B - raisin bran, blueberries, skim milk
S - wasa cracker w/wedge laughing cow lite
L - tiny baked potato s/bbq sauce, mixed veggies, mex cheese blend
S - yogurt/blackberries/granola, frozen blackberries and cherries
D - rice, korean chicken thighs and cucumber salad
E - NRLW 6B