Good Morning Smashers!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend... And is now ready for a new week.

I am looking forward to the holidays. We are starting a new tradition in our home. Starting with this Thanksgiving.... HOLIDAYS ARE *NOT* GOING TO BE ALL ABOUT **FOOD**!!!

Ever since I can remember... all of our holidays have revolved around food. Don't get me wrong.... I LOVE FOOD! lol. But, I feel like food may have over- shadowed the real meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was raised with a lot of food at every holiday. My Mom would slave in the kitchen for days. Each year it seemed like there was a bigger spread. My Mom is a great cook. But, she missed out on a lot of things because she was in the kitchen. She didn't get to relax and enjoy the family. To me.. family is more important than lots of food. OKay... that is my 2 cents. lol

Have a great day, smashers!

Sherry

I agree Sherry...food is still a big part of our holiday. Since I go to my aunts, they begin eating in the morning with snacks and then everyone snacks their way through until we eat a late lunch and then there is dessert and all the leftovers. Just thinking about it makes me tired! I hate having to explain to everyone why I am not eating dumplings or stuffing or dessert or pretty much anything on the table. This is why I have avoided most big family get togethers in recent months. I am going to have to take my own corn & broccoli just so I will have something to eat other than turkey. I would rather have a bite or two of dessert rather than a small spoon of potatoes, stuffing, dumplings or mac & cheese. I just hope I can stop myself. How is your detox going? Have you stepped on the scales yet? I was going to wait until I am finished this week but I couldn't stand it - I lost 3 lbs!! WOO HOO! Down to 148! I am not going to officially weigh in for the week until Wednesday & I will post my results on that thread & update my ticker. I hope yours is going well. I am really looking forward to some fish & chicken this week though. I am getting bored w/ the fruits & veggies. I hope you have a super week!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and I hope you are all losing big!
Lem

I am doing a detox day today since I still can't seem to shake the .2 lbs. gained last week. I have noticed that my nails are growing since starting FS. I did start taking my vitamins & minterals since starting so it's probably a combo of both. Nice side benefit.

Sherry & Lem - I am planning my Thanksgiving dinner at my son & dil's. I will be bringing a fruit or veggie tray as an appetizer and it will cover one of my mini-meals. I'll make a yogurt dip for the fruit or a low-fat dip for the veggies. Although I will be on Phase III this will still be a planned "cheat" meal for me, although I will do the best I can.

I'm going to try to make a cranberry dish using Splenda & I always make the sweet potatoes. I'd make a separate stuffing using whole wheat bread but last year there were 2 stuffings & I'll just have a little. I won't worry about what veggies are served, I'll have a little or none if they're not made with good stuff.

I'm also trying to figure a good dessert to bring. Since being on Phase II I've had pumpkin pie every day (the recipe listed here plus I just made the filling from a regular pumpkin pie recipe using FS approved items). I usually look forward to the pie but I'm getting pumpkin pied out! So I'm going to try to make something different with pumpkin in it. Maybe a pumpkin bread pudding with whole wheat bread (think anyone will notice) or pumpkin cookies made with Splenda or something along those lines. Maybe even a lowfat pumpkin cheesecake.

As I've mentioned before, I still need to count calories (this week is 1500 or less), so I'll be keeping that in mind on Thanksgiving. I'll have a very light breakfast & the rest of my eating day will be at my son's since we stay after dinner and play games.

Morning Ladies. AMEN to Thanksgiving. It seems like it means so much more to the adults than the kids anyway. They probably won't even miss the gorging! haha.
* i posted this in the weigh-in. OOPS! I just needed to post the weigh in, not all the other stuff. That goes here. Sorry

Afternoon smashers!

Well, i lost 1 lb. this week. Was hoping for 2, but will take the 1. I cheated here and there a little. Funny story-i thought i cheated with a chocolate chip cookie and was beating myself up for it, and realized it was on plan! On Phase III. I woke up at night and sat up. "Hey, i can have 2 small cookies!" Funny huh!

I have been exercising 6 days a week since i started. Up to 45 minutes now. Going from 30-45 is a big mental hurdle. I wouldn't have thought 15 minutes made that much of a deal. So i keep on chugn' along. I did run/walk for an hour yesterday. Thinking of doing the Indianapolis mini-marathon in May. I've always wanted to do a Mini-Triothalon, so i'll start here. It wasn't bad, but definately no records were broke!! haha.

Some of my favorites to eat:
*Turkey patty w/ italian seasonings & pepper. Add scrambled eggs, mushrooms and 1 slice cheese. YUM!
*Chili staple. Add whole wheat noodles, onion & cheese. Kinda like a Skyline Chili.
*Smoothie. LOVE THEM!! All kinds. Sometimes with yogurt and sometimes without.
*Grilled Cheese on the George Foreman (no butter) with tomatoes. YUM!

*Stir-fry. rice made with Chicken broth (low sodium & fat free). I add pineapple when i need a sweet kick. It's amazing how great the veggies taste with no salt and extra sauces. I LOVE their flavor so much now.

Have a GREAT week everyone. Wish me luck on losing my last 3 pounds to make my Thanksgiving goal/Onderland goal!!

Dorrene

I LOVE THANKSGIVING... I love ALL THE FOOD, my favorite is stuffing, which I load with sausage and sausage grease.. OH GOD.. I am starving.. LOL.. okay sorry about that, but I am really not looking forward to thanksgiving.. I love to eat and I know I am going to stuff myself.. Well maybe if I lose a little more BEFORE thanksgiving, I could stuff myself that day and then go back to phase I... hmm..

Anyway, I started Phase 2 today, I am very excited, but I am really going to miss Phase I.. I think I might stay on it for a couple more days.. OR maybe i will just eat my meat during lunch and keep my vegtable soups and stuff at night.. I dont want to eat a lot of meat, when I first started I never thought I would make it, but now I find I can realy live without it.. well not exactly, but I can do without A LOT of it..

Judy - the dessert thing really bothers me because it is tough to come up w/ the lowfat and semi-approved things. Maybe some of you out therehave some ideas? The best part about the desserts for me is that they disappear really quickly so they usually aren't sitting around for me to continue eating throughout the day and night. I guess I could make a huge fresh fruit salad...that sounds good to me right now! What yogurt dip do you make? Good idea on the breakfast - instead of my usual 200-300 calorie breakfast, I think I will eat a small amount fo fruit instead. I think I can keep my calories down if everything else I eat in the day is a fruit or veggie - that means no oatmeal, grits or smoothies I can give all that up for a few bites of real food!

Dollface - you have adopted the same idea as I have for P2(when I start Wed). I will probably only eat meat once per day and stick w/ veggies & fruit at night. I never really ate meat twice a day before I dieted so I probably won't do it now. I have definitely decided to detox the day before and after Tgiving too so that should help.

Dorrene - Do you make these turkey patties yourself w/ ground turkey or can you buy them? I haven't seen them in the store. Congrats on upping your cardio and considering a mini marathon. I am considering one myself for next year but not until it warms up so I can train outdoors. I HATE the treadmill.

2 days til I officially end my 2nd detox & can weigh in YAY!!!! Goodnight everyone.
Lem

For directing me to the new thread...I missed everyone over the weekend..Need to read back posts...Hope everone is hanging in there, and working the program, it really works.

Hugs
Ladean

You are so welcome buddie, Hope you had a good monday. Fixing dinner
but say your post. Have agood night and hope to see you soon.

Good evening smashers Hope all had a great
weekend and monday. Wanted to pop in and say hello. Havent read all the
post yet. It has been a very tiring monday at work. So need to finish dinner nd do my ie . Have a great night eveyone. See all tomorrow.lets keep on smahing

Good Morning Smashers!

Happy Tuesday!

Not much going on here this morning. Joshua and I are just hanging out and watching cartoons. Gotta get breakfast started soon. I miss dh so badly.. but he has only been gone since Sunday afternoon. Still 8 more days to go. ):

I hope you all have a great day!

Sherry

I'll tell 'ya, when I'm doing detox it seems like I get such a good night's sleep. I'm up early today (for me). Feel great.

I ate better on my detox day yesterday than I think I did when I was doing the full 9 days on detox. It makes me happy since if I have to keep adding detox days in to get my metabolism moving I now know I can do it and still eat well and not feel bad about it.

Dorrene - I'm losing ounces so be happy for that 1 pound! I can't imagine being able to cheat & still lose! But I am getting closer to goal so I have to expect it to be more difficult at this point.

Dollface - I took a planned "cheat" meal over a week ago for a fancy wedding shower. I did not pig out at all and didn't feel like I was dieting. It was nice not to feel sickly stuffed after a nice meal like that. I am hoping my Thanksgiving goes the same way. I know I've stuffed myself in the past out of habit. I think I'm getting out of the mentality that "this is a cheat meal so eat all you can". It's a good feeling and I hope you can get there, too.

Lem - a fruit salad sounds like a really good idea. I was going to check out the Splenda site or WW recipes for some sugar-free (Splenda), low-fat desserts, esp. something with pumpkin in it but not pumpkin pie. I don't have a yogurt dip but I've seen them around so if I bring fruit I'll try to find a good yogurt dip recipe.

Sherry - I guess missing dh makes it all the more nicer when he's around!

Hey Judy - speaking of yogurt dip I was thinking maybe something like Splenda brown sugar, lemon juice & a splash of vanilla might work. I used to make this same dip w/ sour cream and brown sugar & I loved it. Or if the yogurt doesn't work, maybe I could try fat free sour cream. I might try it out this week before I decide to test it on my family. I think the detox days will really help keep me on track in P2. I plan to do 1 or 2 a week depending on how I feel.

I have to confess that with 1 day left of detox # 2, I had salmon last night. We went to Chilis and I just couldn't help it. I knew the corn on the cob & broccoli wasn't going to fill me up but I was still well within my calorie range for the day so hopefully it didn't totally sabotage me for tomorrows weigh in. I start P2 tomorrow anyway and boy was that salmon good. I can't wait to eat my seafood again!

Any thoughts on exercise for P2? I know we are supposed to up the cardio but I go to group cardio classes 5-7 days per week now. In a group setting I can't really add an extra few minutes & I really don't want to have to go to the gym and get on the treadmill. Do you think I should keep with what I am doing or do I really need that extra workout a few days per week? I am going to trade out one of my classes for something more intense like step class one day per week but I was just wondering what everyone else was doing for cardio in P2 compared to P1?

Thanks everyone and have a super Tuesday. Lem

Good morning fellow smashers, I had a little bit of the wrong foods yesterday, went out for chinese food with DH, I enjoyed every bite, but I feel bloated this morning, so decided to do a day of detox, I always feel better after doing detox...I'm also increasing my water today, to help flush out all that sodium....Hope everyone is staying strong.

Have a great day
Ladean

Let me just say, Fellow Fat Smashers, I just wrote this long post just venting and letting all my frustrations out and I deleted it by accident .

Well let me tell you the shortened version. I have been cheating my off!!! First on Sunday I went to a Buffet. It was soooo good and then yesterday I had 3 large cookies with a sandwich from Quiznos on white bread .

I am noticing a trend. Everytime I start seeing results and weight loss, I sabatoge myself and go back to my bad habits. Why is that? I wish I knew so I could stop doing it. Going to Lunch with the girls today and will not be eating on Plan. This is a planned cheat. Is that OK? Anyway will workout and regain some control of myself today.

to Everyone on their losses and successes. Wish I could take you guys with me in my pocket so you can talk me out of my weak moments!!!!


Keep on Smashing!!!!

Lem - Since I didn't exercise at all during detox I upped my exercise during Phase II just by doing some. I kind of like how that worked out!

Although I was an exercise fanatic a few years back, my bod just can't take it anymore. My 1st week on phase II I did 30-45 minutes low impact aerobics every other day (although I have a huge collection of workout videos/cd's, I actually dvr'd a couple shows from FitTV & have been following them).

This week & on I'll be doing 3 days of cardio (mostly low impact) & 2-3 days of toning for abs & glutes. I really don't see increasing this at all since I know I won't be able to stick with it.

In fact, after doing a little bit of high impact the other day I really felt it in my knees the next morning. Not good. So instead of upping the exercise (I don't want to get burned out like I have in the past, either), I will have to decrease calories or add more detox days to my week.

We just have to figure out our own bodies and our lifestyle and do what we can best fit in.

Oh, as far as the yogurt dip, I cannot stand ff sour cream so if I used that I'd have to use the lite. Might as well use the lite pre-sweetened (lite) yogurt but I know I'd want to do something else to it, I think. I'll have to check out some recipes.

Ladean - Thank goodness for a detox day and water. Although I try, I just can't seem to get all of my water in! OK, your post is going to make me try starting now. I'm going to get a nice big glass of cold water to drink. I need to take my vitamins anyway.

I cooked a fried rice dish last night that was so good I can't believe I made it myself and it was a detox day. I added bean sprouts, red and orange peppers, onion, portabella mushrooms, french green beans, red pepper flakes, a couple drops of sesame seed oil & spices along with the brown rice and some egg substitute and a little lite soy sauce and I, too, had "chinese" last night. I used leftover meat that I cut in strips & sauteed a bit for dh to add to the rice mixture. No msg or bloating yet it filled me up. Even lost 4 oz. today.