Sushi, if you can go to the library and borrow
Strong Women Stay Slim, (author: Nelson?)there is a 20-min weight program for beginners. It's extremely easy, but is a good place to start, and will give you an idea what size weight to start with. The weights you have should be fine - the 4kg shouldn't be too much for bicep curls, and the 2kg MAY be a little high for triceps, maybe not. The one problem is you get stronger very quickly, and might need to get bigger weights before too long. But the ugly ones (no nice coloured foam covers, just clunky metal) are fairly cheap.
Ees, if you're losing weight on the cal count you're on, why change anything? I'm sure Red would okay a bonus few calories for PMS, especially if you set that as part of your challenge. I looked at what you're eating, and it seems pretty good to me. One caution about the 10 grain bread: multigrains are often NOT whole grain, but white flour with fun stuff added. Even if they are all whole grain, they have a lot more calories than plain old whole wheat (sunflower seeds etc). So it's wise to check the label. And I was ecstatic years ago at WW to discover that cottage cheese (which I hate) is also often fairly hi in calories. I'm pretty sure if you do some research (internet or library) you can find advice on craving-busting food for PMS and TOM. Higher protein should help a little.
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I'll give a very abbreviated version of the diet I'm on: each day I'm supposed to eat 1200calories, which I don't have to "count" as calories. I'm allowed:
- 1 dairy (milk, yoghurt..., total equivalent of 170cal)
- 1 restricted veg (beets, carrots, peas, onions... equivalent about 40 cal)
- unlimited free veg (asparagus, lettuce, peppers,green beans... about 20cal)
- 4 fruit (apple, half banana,12 grapes, half mango... about 60 cal each)
- 3 bread etc (1 slice bread, half cup oatmeal, half cup rice, small potato... each serving about 70 cal)
No carbs after evening meal.
- 7 meat/protein (1 oz meat, 1.5oz fish, 1 oz cheese, yoghurt, 1 egg, 2 oz tofu,one third cup beans...75 cal)
Weigh meat after cooking, remove skin and bones. Recommended: 3 to 7 meals per week use legumes instead of meat).- 3 fats (one eighth avocado, itsp butter, 1 strip bacon, 2tsp PB, 1 tbsp salad dressing etc.... about 45cal each)
I'm supposed to drink 8 cups water, eat every 4 to 5 hours, NEVER SKIP A MEAL, avoid sugar, sweets, alcohol. If I really want a drink, one drink = 1 to 2 breads, depending on cal count.
The food lists are a lot longer, but this should give you an idea. And I've continued a daily FF DQ frozen fudge bar as a free treat. I'm allowed to count caffeine-free diet drinks as water.
And of course, exercise is recommended.
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Curly, your diet is already so restricted I don't know what you can do, especially since I know you exercise lots. Maybe if you try a week writing EVERYTHING down and working out the calorie count to make sure there's nothing amiss? Maybe you're already doing that. Could it be you need to eat more, or to see-saw between higher and lower calorie counts? And maybe you just need to grit your teeth and keep on keeping on until you leap off your plateau and lose a lot all at once. Your 50 pounds off pretty much prove you know how to lose!
This is too long already, so I'll save anything else for later. Maybe another salvo in the Toxic Relatives war...
Marble, I love your new avatar.