OMG, this week it will be October. That's it folks, summer is over and we're well into fall now. Before we know it Canadian thanksgiving will be here, then Hallow'een, then American thanksgiving, then Christmas and then a whole NEW YEAR. Time's a flying but there's still plenty of it left for us to meet big or mini goals or become entrenched in a new lifestyle or make the decision to end the old year determined to start the new one living healthier. Good luck to whatever applies to YOU!

I suppose I can't start off this week by neglecting to post my "weekend" eats, so here's a quick accountability. The hardest thing about weekends for me is I easily lose my eating "structure" and I'm going to concentrate on that from now on.

Saturday
Mid-day
Tim Hortons cinnamon-raisin bagel with light cream cheese
Tim Hortons coffee with double cream
Early Evening
Two Piller's "turkey brats" (done on bbq)
Creamy coleslaw
Macaroni salad
Evening
Baked Doritos (too many)
Beverages
Several cans of calorie-free diet lemonade (sparkling soda)
Water
No doubt I went over on "points"

Sunday
Points
Morning
1 - 2 slices Weight Watchers 60% whole wheat bread, toasted with
2 - 1 tbsp. peanut butter
0 - tea
Afternoon
0 - diet lemonade
0 - water
3 - Tim Hortons Iced Cappacino (made with 2% milk)
Evening
6 - pork roast
2 - new potatoes
1 - baby carrots
0 - diet lemonade
0 - water
15 total (too many under target)

By the way, Beth, I'm looking forward to hearing more (much more) about your "friendship" with Mr. PT in the weeks to come!

Yes Jill?? Actually, I just went down to see him, I missed him, what can I say??? He has such an infectious personality, he used to be an athlete in school, sigh, anyway... he's so supportive and he always just says the right things. He seems to have this calming effect on me...

For a while, we had this horrible time because I couldn't relax while he was stretching me out, here's this incredibly attractive man, basically on top of me w/my leg up over my head. He kept telling me to relax, and I couldn't! Imagine that! Well, anyway, I finally realized that part of the reason that I was having trouble relaxing because I wanted to help him hold my leg, so he wouldn't feel how heavy my leg was/is. So one day I tell him this, while we're paying tug of war w/my leg, and his response, was something like, ok... now let it go! And I did! We still stretch, and I don't fight him anymore.

So I went down to tell him that I did the Race for the Cure in Central Park yesterday, it's a 5K, (3.1 miles) AND I was able to run about a mile of it! My knee is ok, my IT band and my SO-AZ muscule hurt, but not awful. He was very happy for me...we've talked about my injury and not being able to exercise before and this is a huge step for me!

That's pretty much it, PT and I are friends, but I still say there's something else there, I've seen him with other people, he doesn't talk, smile, or engage them like he does with me... I try not to focus on that, right now he's doing wonders for me the way he is!

I can't believe it's almost October, Jilly. I'm sure time has speeded up since I was a kid!
Congratulations on the race, Beth! I really admire the runners here.

I was over on my kcals yesterday, but it was all pretty healthy stuff so I don't mind. I could have had the cheese or ham for lunch instead of both, and I really didn't need quite so much lamb at dinner. It was good though.

Sun 25/09:

Breakfast: 1 cup Optimum Slim cereal, ½ cup 0% milk, 1 oz seedless raisins.
Lunch: 4 oz lean roast ham, 1 oz gouda, 8 raincoast crisps.
Dinner: 6 oz lean grilled lamb, Jilly's Autumn Roasted veggies. Talk about tasty!
Snacks: Shake (6¾ oz banana, crushed ice, ¼ cup 0% milk, ½ cup 2% yogurt, vanilla extract).
Drinks: 1½ litres coffee, 1½ litres water.

Total kcals: 1731 (plus free veggies)

Exercise: 3 miles WATP.

B: English muffin
2 egg whites and 1/2 yolk
1/2 slice swiss cheese
1 slice turkey
.5 banana

S: 2 tbsp. soy nuts

L: yogurt
carrots
apple
whole wheat roll

D at 3:00: salad
2 english muffins
1/4 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup shreded low fat mozz

D at 7:00:
2 slices lowcal bread
dab of pizza sauce
1/4 cup shreaded mozz
2 truffles

total: ~1500

That's sweet, Beth ~ yep, friends first, that's the way to go!

Yoo Hoo! I don't know why people are avoiding my thread, Boiaby made it pretty clear there was a new one started yet Omega-Laura and Apryl seem to have missed it! I wonder if Jillybean and Alpha-Laura will make their way over here anytime soon, they've been MIA for a few days.

I checked out the stats on Optimum Slim cereal, Ali, and have decided to definitely give it a try once my stash of American cereal is gone!

Back to my regular routine today, but didn't eat quite enough points (did get my major food groups all in, though).

Monday
Points
Morning
2 – Weight Watchers Cinnamon Crunch cereal, with
1 - 1/2c 1% milk
0 – large mug of tea
Mid Morning
0 – large glass of water
1 - Clementine orange
Early Afternoon
0 – salad of mixed greens and carrots
1 – light balsamic vinaigrette
2 – flaked tuna (tossed in salad)
0 – Perrier water
Late Afternoon
1 – seedless grapes
2 – Twizzlers (2)
0 – large glass of water
Early Evening
4 – chicken breast (skin removed) baked
1 – stewed tomatoes with basil
0 – broccoli
0 - water
Late Evening
2 – Rice cakes (3)
2 – 1c 1% milk
19 total (3 under target)

Exercise: Walked the dog in pouring rain (didn't bother her) this morning and evening. It was a nice cool rain and I rather enjoyed sploshing around.

Had a pretty tough day food wise. Too many sweets and calories. Not enough "real" food or water. Definitelystres/emotional eating. The good news:I have a plan to deal with the things that were stressing me out, I exercised and I looked at bicycles to buy. I am planning this as a spring time reward for staying on track over the winter one day at a time.

DishyFishy, loved your vegetable tangine. Thanks for the recipe. DCM

HELLLLLLLLLLO! I'm here! Sorry I've been MIA - I didn't track my food this weekend. Saturday was my birthday and I thought that maybe ONE day a year I could not obsess. Sunday, I planned to track it but then we went to dinner at BIL/SIL house and they had ice cream cake for me - and, of course, since the cake was FOR me I had to be sociable and have a piece. I know I went way over - I had a salad when I got home b/c I was feeling hungry, then I had a little more cake...ack. Anyway - 2 days won't kill me - back at it today (though over my calories ).

Oh and Beth ~ My best friend hired a trainer a year ago b/c she was gaining weight and not feeling good about herself and felt like she was working out wrong, yada, yada, yada... Well...3 months ago they started DATING and it is VERY serious!

Monday - the 2nd day in my new 36 year old body :

Breakfast:
McD's Egg McMuffin
Hash Brown

Lunch:
Salad (arugula, mushrooms, salami, provonlone, onion, oil & vinegar)
granola bar

Snack:
10 oz cola
Potato chips

Dinner:
Breaded fish
popcorn shrimp
Ravioli
Carrots & mushrooms

Snacks/Desert:
1/2 pc ice cream cake
pickles
sunflower seeds

Drinks:
(cola above) plus 3 oz cola tonight
water

Calories: 2077

Monday

Porridge, banana, coffee
2 apples
Roast turkey slices, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes
6 ryvitas plus small amount peanut butter

I just noticed there are 2 weekly threads. Posted on one last night now today? Had a tough day yesterday. Stress eating. Hope to deal with the source(s) of my stress today. Making progress and really enjoying my Lazy Man's Triathalon.

DishyFishy, Hope things are going well for you. Loved!!!!! your vegetable Tangine. DCM

Hi everyone,

After my long post about PT yesterday, I don't have anything interesting to add...

Here's my food from yesterday:

2 - coffee
1 - egg whites
3 - luna bar
5 - zone bar
3 - tuna
2 - lt mayo
3 - ww bread
3 - ww mousse
22 points (out of 26)

Have a great day everyone!

MONDAY


Breakfast:(IHOP)
a pancake w/syrup
scrambled eggs
coffee w/milk
ham slice

Lunch:
mozzarella cheese stick
snickers Popables

Afternoon snack to keep the Beast at bay:
banana bread w/butter

Dinner:
Popeye's fried chicken breast
biscuit
onion rings
a beer

Snacks throughout the day:
roasted pumpkin seeds

Drinks:
coffee
water

Calories:
about 1900

Exercise:
gardening

Yeah, yeah, I'm here. I'm a bit backwards this week--my weekend was okay food-wise, but then Monday was a disaster!

Monday's eats:

• cheese pizza (despite the fact that I dabbed off the grease with napkins before I ate it, it was a HUGE piece--probably more like 2 normal slices together)
• reduced-fat chocolate milk
• instant oatmeal (banana bread flavor, Weight Control, made with water)
• reduced-fat peanut butter (a little more than the 2-tablespoon serving size--more like almost half a jar )
• 2 servings of whole wheat pasta with my own sauce (sauce is tomato paste, no-salt-added tomato sauce, turkey sausage, and seasonings)

All together: more than 3200 calories plus not enough water and no real exercise

The problem was that I got to work and was busy from the second I walked in until the second I left. I had to stay late for a conference call, so I was at work for 12 hours (6am-6pm). Now, there is a reason I normally work 6am-2pm...TRAFFIC! It normally takes me about 20 minutes to get home at 2pm (about 12 miles). At 6pm, it took me over an hour and a half So by the time I got home, I was both hungry and frustrated (enter jar of peanut butter and too much pasta). I hadn't had a chance to eat my breakfast--I was up at 4:30am, but the first thing I got a chance to eat was the pizza and chocolate milk at noon!

But enough excuses...time to fix it. So far today:

• instant oatmeal (peaches 'n cream flavor, reduced-sugar, made with water)

I'll probably just have banana bread flavored oatmeal for lunch. I've already had 3 servings of water and a can of Coke Zero (and am working on my second 3-serving bottle of water). The good news is, I don't have any peanut butter or pasta left in my house, so none of that nonsense will be recurring tonight! I have turkey sausage or some thin-sliced frozen chicken I can cook for dinner. I'll update my menu later or tomorrow.

Good morning! I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in here. I've been on a maintainence break and decided last week to really buckle down and knock off these last 20 pounds. Since I've been saying that for about a month now a little accountability is probably in order.

So, yesterday I ended at about 1970 calories.

Breakfast: 1 cup grits with 1 t. margarine, 1 slice wheat toast with 1 t. grape jelly, 2 slices regular bacon.

Snack: 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

Lunch: Leftover chicken parmesan, 3 oz chicken breast, 1 T. bread crumbs, 1/4 oz mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup Prego, 3/4 cups thin spaghetti

Snack: 1 slice wheat bread, 2 t. reduced fat peanut butter, 1/2 t. honey, 1/2 cup skim milk

Dinner: Homemade veggie pizza (1/4 of recipe), a few slices of the kids' homeade pepperoni pizza.

Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.
Note to self: it isn't a good idea to eat a high carb, low protein breakfast, don't eat all of the leftover pasta just because you think the little extra portion is too much to throw away, and for goodness sakes keep your hands off the kids' pizza! Oh, and stop putting off going to the grocery store so that you'll have some fruit and vegetables in the house.

I don't want to make an excuse for myself but I did skip my usual weekend grocery trip because we had two days of nasty, rainy weather that was just perfect for putting off any chores. Yesterday's menu is what we've been reduced to. I've made my list, though, and I will get the grocery shopping done this morning and the rest of the week should be much, much better. At least my exercise in right on track.

Welcome back, Omega-Laura. Now stay here!! Belated birthday wishes to you.

Just a note in case you didn't spot it in the nutritional info, Jilly, the Optimum Slim cereal is a bit sweeter than the Kashi.

I hope your stress eases up, activeadventurer. I'm doing better thanks. I have to make sure I keep working on my mind as well as my body. This holistic "living right" thing takes some flippin' effort!
Glad you liked the tagine. Try Jilly's Autumn veggies--delicious!

Welcome jawsmom. Good to have you join us. You've done such an amazing job I'm sure those 20 lbs will follow the the other 75.

That's a tough day you had, jillybean. When I go for long periods without food, I often make poor choices too. Glad to hear it's behind you and I hope today is better for you.

Mon 26/09:

Breakfast: Shake (6 oz banana, crushed ice, ¼ cup 0% milk, ½ cup 2% yogurt, vanilla extract), All-Bran bar.
Lunch: 540 ml tin President's Choice LF Black Bean Soup.
Dinner: More of Jilly's Autumn Roasted veggies, 2 oz whole-grain bread with Marmite.
Snacks: 1 oz w-g bread with Marmite, LF granola bar.
Drinks: 1½ litres coffee, 2 litres water, 500 ml green tea, 500 ml cocoa (made with water and ½ cup 2% milk), 250 ml reduced salt Oxo.

Total kcals: 1476

Exercise: 4 miles WATP.

whooops! sorry jilly!

Tuesday 9/27

B: 1 cup veggie chili
1 dinner roll
S: 2 tbsp soy nuts
L: yougurt
carrots
apple
dinner roll
S: peanut brittle
1oz turkey breast
D: 2 cup veggie chili
1 dinner roll
some other veggie yet to be decided

Total: ~1400