Ack! Typing out the date for this week's thread made me realize that this is the last full week and weekend before Christmas! We're going to visit MIL this weekend, so I don't even have that to get things done. It needs to be a productive week!

Shannon, how are DH and your MIL? And Michele, how's the leg? It was a rough week for a lot of maintainers! Let's hope it's a better one this week.

Saturday was DS's birthday and he wanted to go out for sushi, so I'm still bloated up from sodium. It's amazing -- minimum three instant pounds every time I eat sushi! But I know from past experience that it will be gone soon. He requested a marble cake with buttercream icing, which he fortunately took home. All that's left here is Christmas cookies in the freezer and they're not calling my name. Or else I'm not listening.

I know that Hungry Girl talks about using butternut squash all the time in recipes but I haven't done a lot with it. But last week I roasted two, cubed them up and have been eating it with homemade marinara sauce. Kind of a pasta substitute and very filling! Next up is trying butternut squash oven fries. I also made a ginormous pot of bean soup, which is mega filling because of all the fiber. Wild flounder is on sale at our grocery store and I hadn't realized how different it tastes from farm-raised (much bigger fillets, better flavor), but it's delicious so I'll stock up today.

So it's off to the gym and grocery store. Today is legs and cardio -- I'll steal a squat rack while all the guys are bench pressing this morning, since Mondays are National Chest Day. I have to get some scar tissue cleaned out of one of my new knees in a few weeks, so really want to focus on strengthening my quads.

How was your weekend? No parties for us this week (whew!) -- how about you?

I'm right OP and under my red line again. Still buzzing from seeing The Nutcracker - kind of a holiday season starter for me. Had one really good gingerbread cookie there during intermission.

DH is depressed (no surprises there ) so any holiday cheer I have will be produced by myself. I have the house all decorated and am getting the tree next weekend.

We have no parties or get togethers this week. We are going to see "Avatar" next Saturday so that will be the "treat of the week". I'm taking my baggie of pretzels

I have no Christmas goodies in the house so, unless I start eating decorations , I should be in good shape for next week.

Anyone know a really good recording of Handel's Messiah?

Have a great week all!

Dagmar

Good morning. It was another lost week-end for me. Parties Friday and Saturday, and now I have the kids' cold. Ugh.

Hi all,

It's been eerily foggy here all weekend. I'm very proud of myself b/c I ate very well at the Christmas party Sat. night. I had a few glasses of wine that I had planned for. I ate one plate of only a few foods, mostly shrimp and turkey, and the other things just didn't look that good so I skipped them. Dessert was one small cookie and one small brownie. I was just full enough and enjoyed myself. That is my biggest "food event" until the holidays themselves (I do have a few "holidayS", between BF's family and my own). Meg, my fridge sounds sort of like yours. Yesterday I made a big pot of lean ground beef & black bean chili, roasted up a bunch of chicken breasts, sweet potato chunks, cut up a bunch of raw veggies, made a lowfat dip to go with them... I've got another week of leaving the house around 6 am and getting home around 8, so I'm prepared with my tupperwares of food!

I realized yesterday if I'm going to buy presents online I need to do it today!

Iris, Dagmar, Handel's Messiah really is popular this time of year! My chorus performed the Christmas portions for our concert yesterday. I've never sung it before, but it was great. The audience stood and joined us (er, sort of) for the final "Halleluia Chorus". I'd like to get a copy myself, actually, b/c besides liking the music we're doing the Easter portions for our spring concert in March.

Speaking of which, Iris, how was the concert? And how was the guy who took you to the concert?

Meg, I thought everyday was National Chest Day at any gym where guys work out. Why do you need to train anything else? I mean, maybe throw a few bicep curls in there between benchpresses... Oops, am I stereotyping?

Dagmar, my BF has never been very into Christmas either and I'm on my own for the cheer part. He had a crummy childhood and unlike me, doesn't have lots of happy holiday memories. I put up my lights, tree, and we celebrate, but it's no use trying to force much more. It's sort of a bummer but I'm learned to accept it and try to do more "celebrating" on my own or with friends, admire the lights out loud to myself, etc. to keep myself cheery.

ETA: Ward, we posted at the same time. Sorry you're sick, I hope you mend quickly!

Have a great week all!

Good morning all... Dreary day today... rainy, foggy, cold, tired.... My MIL is still in the hospital, and DH is has an appointment with our regular doctor this afternoon at 3. Hope to have more info on both of them soon. I slept right through my alarm this morning, so didn't get up and exercise. I'm going to make it happen this afternoon no matter what.

Meg - that squash in pasta sauce sounds fantastic...

Dagmar - I'm fond of Robert Shaw & the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, so I like this one. Shaw Messiah. This chat thread I found online also suggested it, but had a few other suggestions as well.

Ward - sorry you don't feel well.

Megan - good job at your party this weekend!

Good day all.

Shannon, I'm sending good thoughts toward your MIL and DH. I hope they both feel better soon!

Meg, I love winter squash! I like to take acorn or buttercup squash, cut them in half, roast them, then fill the cavity with apple sauce. Most of my uses for butternut involve pasta or rice though and I know you usually do lower-carb. When is the knee clean-out?

Dagmar, good luck with the holiday cheer. I know the feeling, DH has been having wild mood swings about the whole turning 30 business. He was really happy most of his birthday, and loved the worm compost bin I gave him, but then when we got home he was depressed again. He went running this morning and seemed to be okay so I'll cross my fingers.

Ward, get well soon!

Megan, good job at the party! I'm laughing about National Chest Day. Whenever I go to the big gym (instead of my tiny work gym) the guys are always doing bicep curls, bench presses, and rows, and the squat racks are always empty!

My laptop here at work is making an awful buzzing noise that comes and goes (I think it's the fan). I should take it to IT, but taking it to IT is more of a pain in the butt than listening to the buzzing. I put on my headphones and drowned it out with music. Maybe if my computer totally dies they'll give me a new one.

Hooray! Glad I got on before the thread was too busy to catch up. Downside is I'm at work and need to rush!

Meg-- do you use soy sauce with your sushi? I've been eating sushi lately and don't notice a gain but I don't use any soy sauce. I have miso soup and then usually asparagus sushi, shrimp and asparagus sushi, and some sort of spicy fish sushi.

Thanks for asking about my leg. It was very sore Friday and Saturday so I skipped the gym. Yesterday I went and walked on the treadmill and did upper body. Boy, is it ever boring walking on the treadmill for 45 min! I will be so happy when I can get back to normal workouts. I feel like I have pent up energy and can't use it!

Dagmar-- glad you enjoyed the Nutcracker. I have wonderful memories of going to the Nutcracker as a little girl. Sorry your dh is still depressed but glad you have a good attitude. Keep your chin up!

Ward-- feel better! Bad time of year to feel yucky!

Megan-- sounds like you did great at your party! Better get online shopping girl! I did most of my shopping online again. Love it!

Shannon-- hope you find out more about your dh and MIL and that they both feel better soon.

Jessica-- hope your laptop feels better or dies if you can get a new one! I have one computer in my library that won't shut down and whirs loudly but I've been told there is no money to fix it so I just ignore it.

My weekend was spent shopping and wrapping and working....
And I finished my class I was taking! Crossing my fingers that my final project grades will be good so I can keep my A. I hated the class so I'm thrilled to be done.

This week will be challenging with little to no exercise and at least two parties. One is tomorrow and is a HUGE potluck for my school staff. I will try to be as good as you Megan!! The other is Friday night and it is a Latke party. We were invited and we don't know the people too well so I don't want to ask how she makes her latkes, but I'm sure they are fried in oil. I will probably just eat one and limit my other stuff there. We have been assigned a "green salad" so I'll probably bring two that I know are healthy.

Dd is coming home from college Friday too so I can't wait to get through this week!!

Interestingly enough I didn't gain weight over Thanksgiving, but I did gain the following week. It's starting to come off, so that's all good. I put in a 2.2 mile walk/jog this morning and will do the same Wed/Fri.

A friend of mine passed on a great recipe, but I'm going to have to evaluate it before I post it here. I do reduce the olive oil by over half, but the rest seems pretty healthy. I made it last night and also over Thanksgiving and everyone who has had it likes it a lot.

I think I have all my Christmas shopping done. I have to take DS out to have him find something for his sister. I placed the last online order this morning, so I'm confident I'm done or at least very, very close. Except for the last minute arrivals, everything is wrapped as well.

Meg~I hope your knee "cleaning" goes well. That sounds rather icky.

Shannon~wishing everyone to be well soon.

Ward~take care of yourself! Who's next? DH? That's the way it usually goes at our house.

Dagmar~congrats at being under your redline.

Megan~I used to date a body builder and even he made fun of the guys competing for National Chest Day!!

Michele~good luck at all your parties!

Jessica~I'm sure that buzzing will go away at the end of the day! LOL

Everyone have a great day and week!

Oh, did I mention that I'm catering our office Christmas party on Christmas eve? I'm not going to try and do anything diet/low calorie because all the guys would complain. On the menu are chicken enchiladas (ok, they're from Cooking Light, so it's all good!), Chili's Black Beans, Spanish Rice (can you tell over 50% of our guys are Hispanic?), chips and salsa. I haven't decided if I should do a dessert or not. In the past we've had a guy with a taco cart (3 kinds of meat with all the fixings all freshly cooked). The guys often go back for 2nds and 3rds, so I'll have to prepare a lot and I don't remember ever having much in the way of desserts before. What do you think?

Oh, hey, one more thing.

A few years back Harry & David sold a trail mix that consisted of nuts, dried cranberries and tiny white chocolate chips. Does anyone have a recipe that is similar to it? My Mom wants to make up a bunch and give it away to the neighbors for Christmas. I can't remember what all went in it.

Dagmar - Interesting that you should ask about the Handel, and that I would read your post at the same moment my iPod Touch switched over to it. I am listenting to the Classical Masters' production from Smithsonian Concerto Grosso of the Messiah. It's a little "tiny" (not tinny) on an iPod, but it's incredible on a full stereo system - very well recorded and with the right system you can close your eyes and just about point to the different sections.

Hhmm, I had to log in--what's that all about?

Meg, I guess I never thought sushi had so much sodium. Is it the soy sauce eaten with it or something in the sushi itself? Do they put salt in the sticky rice? Will have to try the butternut squash, although DH doesn't like squash. Oh, well, it's good for him.

Dagmar, sounds like you had a nice time. Here's hoping the decorations don't become appealing to you.

WardHog, sorry about the cold--get better soon!

Megan, congrats on staying so on plan.

Shannon, I hope the docs can figure out what's wrong with DH. Sorry about all the health issues with your family, and hope everything gets resolved soon. Wishing you sunshine!

Michele, glad that your class is over. It's awful being in a class you hate. But maybe that makes the end of it even better.

Allison, sounds like you can skip the dessert. Guys don't seem as dessert oriented as women. Not true in all cases, of course, but I bet if you put big hunks of meat up against platters of cookies, guys would choose the meat. I bet you can google that recipe. Or just put in Harry & David's trail mix and see what comes up.

Thirty degrees seems pretty balmy after the below 0 temps and single digits we had here. Of course, it's good weather for staying inside and getting stuff done for Christmas. I'm trying to be environmentally friendly and make cloth bags instead of using wrapping paper, but it's getting just a little much sewing all these bags. So far in my quest for a Make It, Bake It, Read It or Eat it Christmas, I've made rice mixes (finding the cellophane bags was hard), spiced nuts, photo cards, calendars, trivets and picture tiles. The most expensive thing we've purchased was the resin stuff you cover the tiles with--it was $30, and we've screwed up about three of the tiles. The tiles were only ten cents each at the ReStore and the calendars and cards were free where my DH works. A frugal yet nice Christmas is a lot more labor intensive than I thought, especially when you have five kids and other assorted relatives and friends.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday!

Sheila Kudos to you for the effort you are making to have an environmentally friendly Christmas.

Mine is still environmentally but my family has all cut down on the overabundance of gifts (that no one likes or can use) that used to prevail. We are just about all adults now and it should be about getting together to renew our falimy ties, not about how much we can spend.

Weights day for me. DH can't fathom how I look forward to exercising. He has completely lost touch with his body. I have agreed to go for 2 walks with him each week starting in January. I hope that will give him some kind of idea of how good some exercise can feel, without totally killing me.

Have a great Tuesday all!

Dagmar

Us too, Dagmar. We have stopped doing adult gifts and just use the money we would have spent to stock a church food pantry. The kids still get stuff, but nothing too extravagant.

Random question for you folks . . . Last week since I had screwed up my wrist I didn't do my NRLW stage 6 week 2 workouts as scheduled. However, last Thursday I did most of workout A for the week except for the push-ups. The question is, do I just do week 2 again this week, or do I go ahead to week 3?

Jessica, my opinion is be to repeat the week, especially if you're able to do pushups now (how is your wrist?) NRLW is a progressive plan and each week builds on the one before it. If you weren't able to fully complete last week's program, think of last week as a maintenance week and do week 2 this week. That way, when it's time to progress to week 3, you can be confident that you've built a strong foundation. Otherwise, if you move on to week 3 now, you might not be fully prepared.

Coincidentally, I saw a college age woman in the gym this morning who was doing what I thought was NRLW. She was right beside my bench, so I asked her when we were both taking a break and she said yep. She said she struggles with nutrition (who doesn't?) but that she's noticed a big difference in inches lost. We chatted for a bit about the nutrition plan in NRLW and how we both thought it wasn't the best for someone who has a lot of weight to lose. But she's really thrilled with the results she's gotten so far. Very cool!