i stuck completely to plan yesterday and i didn't even finish my baked potato!!! here's my plan for today:

am - 2 white bread, turkey, mustard
mid am - popcorn and caramel popcorn cakes
afternoon - 2 medium celery stalks, chicken lunch meat, 2 tblsp ranch
pm - baked potato, 2oz diced ham, 2/3 cup cheese, 4 tbls ranch

i did not work out this morning so i will have to get my 30 min in this evening!! i did it yesterday and i'm so proud of myself!!!

I would starve on that menu Jus. Please please don't take offense, but it seems awfully low in calories and not really too nutritious. Without fiber and protein, you may get REALLY hungry and with the lack of food, its possible you'll slow your metabolism (as the literature claims anyway). Jill really seems to have the meals down and she posts them on here a lot so maybe you can get some ideas. For example, I would replace the white bread with 2 slices of diet high fiber whole wheat bread (like Arnold's/40 calories per slice but has lots of fiber and protein) and add an 80 calorie protein hot cocoa (15 grams of protein); in the afternoon perhaps a piece of real chicken breast (you can bake a few chicken breasts on the bone/with skin the night before, remove and throw away the skin and even cut all the nice white meet off so its like, but better than, the processed lunch meat with all those chemicals and additives, served with say a whole carton of frozen vegetables or more whole wheat/whole grain bread. I would replace the snack with a protein bar, protein chips or my protein hot cocoa (they sell a lot of good/healthy snacks on the internet). Not trying to tell anyone what to do and again, given that I've been on this same 156 pounds for the past 2 or 3 weeks, I'm definitely no expert!

Good job Jus on the exercising!

On to me...

B - 1 apple
1 cup skim milk
Leftover orange juice (mmm...about 8 oz. Don't worry, I drank it a full hour after drinking the milk so no tummy ache here )

L - 1 8 oz container plain ff yogie
1/4 cup brown rice + veggies in gravy (onions, tomatoes/paste, garlic, ginger etc)

S/D - I keep about 1 hour between my snack and dinner so it feels like a huge meal hehe. I'm planning on having some spaghetti, my last breakstones double and some spinach salad.

Exercise: 4 miles walking briskly this morning. Done! YAY!

Yesterday, I was Op until I got home. Had the grossest fast food ever. Hopefully it turned me off of fast food for awhile.

B - kashi and milk

s - lf yogurt

l - turkey wrap, cup of soup

s - apple

s - oreo thin crisps

d - pork chop w/ broccoli, mashed potatoes

Gonna have to add more things as the above only comes out to 1080 calories. It'll probably be a quarter of a muffin for dessert.

Yesterday was very good and I did my 90min in the evening on my bike.

B- lemon lime protien juice, banana with some PB, scrambled egg whites
S- coffee and 1 cup dry froot loops
L- soup of some sort, two crispbreads with sliced deli meat and maybe some cheese, pickles
S- beef jerkey
D- there is left over chicken and veggies in the fridge
W- 5L
E- did 30min this am and hope to do another 60min this pm

Yesterday's lunch was super good, even though I burned the pita, so I'm having it again today (hopefully minus the burned pita).

Here's today's plan:
B - Go Lean cereal with soy milk and raspberries
S - coffee with splenda and milk; maybe some fruit
L - turkey, lite chevre, and cranberry chutney on a pita; tomato, cucumber, and raspberry salad with balsamic vinegar
S - blueberry fiber cake
S - NF yogurt with raspberries and blackberries
D - halibut stew with fennel and lemon; green salad
S - low cal pudding

Exercise: on my own - wah, I'm so lonely! one hour cardio (combo of step machine, elliptical, and treadmill) and 15 min abs.

B - 2 whole grain waffles, one with strawberry rhubarb jam, one with natural peanut butter

S - organic low fat maple yogurt

L - small cup of soup, 1/2 turkey sandwich on whole grain, dijon mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion

S - tall non fat sugar free latte

S - package of raspberries

S - baby carrots, red pepper strips

D - veggie tacos - 3 whole wheat tortillas, 2 morning star farm veggie burgers, spinach, lots of salsa, a little low fat cheese

Big congrats for working out at night! I know how hard it is to stay motivated to work out after working all day - I just want to go home and sit on the couch! I hope your big date with your boyfriend went well

Weight loss is pretty big, lots of big areas to tackle - you are doing a good job with eating less and portion control, but you need to concentrate on eating BETTER. Your daily menu is lacking in some important areas of nutrition. You don't have any whole grains, you don't have any healthy fat, you have very limited protein and no fruit and no vegetables (2 celery sticks doesn't cut it!). You eat a lot of stuff that has caloric value but has very limited nutritional benefit - ranch dressing, rice cakes, white potatoes, celery, processed chicken lunch meat.

You definitely don't have to do everything overnight, but maybe think about how you can make some little changes to the food you like eating, so it's better for you. A sandwich for breakfast is a good idea! I'm not wild about breakfast food either, but switch to whole grain bread and throw on some vegetables. A better snack would be low fat yogurt or low fat cheese string with a handful of almonds. Your lunch idea is a good start, but maybe use sliced chicken breast over greens with some grape tomatoes. Keep the celery and the ranch if you love it (but keep the ranch on the side). Get a yummy afternoon snack (maybe a sliced apple with a tbs of peanut butter?) so you aren't starving by dinner and pump up the dinner a bit with a good protein source. Instead of a white potato, try a baked sweet potato - they get so sweet when they are baked.

I know I'm all "gloom and doom" but I really don't think the way you are eating now is setting you up for long term success. I say that because it looks like the way I used to "diet." I know it's probably working for you right now, so you don't want to hear this advice. If you're like how I used to be, you're thinking "I'm not hungry, I'm losing weight, this is working for me, what do you know." I only say this stuff because of my own experience, when I ate like that I *DID* lose weight...for awhile. I bought a bunch of cute smaller clothes. I told my mom I was never going to be fat again. All the while, big handfuls of my hair in my hands in the shower and secret binge episodes where I ate entire packages of cookies. Eventually, I quit eating like that because I just couldn't stick to it - who can live on 2 sticks of celery and some chicken for lunch every day? I gained all the weight back, every time.

I post because I care! Weight loss is a lot to tackle, now that you have mindful eating down (food journaling) and calorie counting, try to expand into healthier eating. Make your goal loooong term. Not to be at your goal weight by next year, but at your goal weight in 10 years, or 20 years. What can you do that you can stick to forever.

That was very well said Glory. Jus I'm sorry if I sounded negative about your food choices without pointing out the most important and obvious factor, that you're working to bring your weight down and that is excellent! I was really worried about you though, getting through the day on your meals and being able to keep this up (plus have the energy to work out). I thought Glory's post was exactly on point. Anyway, my best to all the calorie counters!

WOW thanks for that amazing post Glory! Makes me really think about what I am eating...