Miki...it is always so nice to read your notes about your day. How was your call with Kaylen. My niece is about to turn 4 and I always love it when she calls. We have a special play date set up this evening...I can hardly wait. She's the light of my life.
Your airwalking sounds wonderful...although a bit cold with the 35 degrees F outside. What can I say...I'm a true Georgia girl. Give me LONG HOT Summers with lots of humidity and I'm perfectly happy!! This cold is not my thing. But I loved the image of the horses watching you.
CONGRATS on getting down to the 25 fat grams!! That is awesome...and I know that you must have worked hard to do that. Good luck with getting back on the water bandwagon and let me know how it goes.
Taiwan,
Your trip for the Chinese New Year sounds exciting. I look forward to hearing about it. And how terrifying to have the space heater catch on fire. Thank goodness the children were in the other room. I don't care much for Papaya's myself, but I may not have had the really good ones. And I hadn't heard about the not eating fruit after lunch but I will definitely check into that.
I'm so sorry to hear that you are having a hard time finding foods that are available to you and easy to fix. I will have to look for the site, but there was a site that I used when we lived in Ireland that had some excellent, really simple recipes that made good meals but didn't take a long time. I'll try to find that and send it your way. As far as the Pizza etc...goes yesterday. I know it must have been quite a shock to you to discover how many calories and fat were in yesterdays supper. But move forward...today is a new day...and start with a new focus. As I often ask my debaters and they frequently turn it around on me...so what are you going to do to keep that from happening again? ;-)
Cjunk...Hi...it's nice to meet you. And I'm so that you've come back to the board. Good luck with the down hill skiing. It's excellent exercise!! And I think that you will find that it definitely helps you maintain your weight loss.
Cyan....Hang in there....and focus on fitting the exercise into your changing schedule. I do know how difficult that can be at times. Maybe doing it in the morning before work...or blocking out time that you "know" you will be doing that only. As far as the eating goes....it's a new day! Plan ahead and you will do great!!
Reina...Congrats on the fat grams. It sounds like you are getting to where you need to be on those. How did the preventing the emotional eating go last night? Any luck? I personally LOVE herbal tea!! It's my treat to myself. There are so many different kinds to try...let me know what you end up thinking of it. I usually drink hot herbal tea in the AM rather than coffee or anything like that.
Deebee--What a wonderful habit to begin with the kids of doing the Yoga before bedtime. I know that they must love that...and it stretches you all to new levels!!! How cool!! I look forward to hearing more about those tapes.
Lisa--Let me know how the more water goes. As far as being frustrated with what you can and can't do right now goes. As hard as it is, let your body rest! Recovering from the surgery is the best thing you can do now. That was, what was hardest for me with my knee when it was recovering. I wanted it to be well...NOW! But those things take time...so sit back...don't push yourself too hard b/c you will end up taking longer to recover and focus on the calories and the fat grams instead for now...or at least that's what I would do if I were you. I know that you must be really excited about school coming up and can hardly wait to hear more about it.
Well...as far as how things are going for me. Yesterday I managed to stay on track again. And I was pleasantly surprised when it came to supper last night. We had mashed potatoes, salad and green beans (The church also had meatloaf, but being a vegetarian I didn't eat that). There was a desert and I passed it up...yay me...only to hear people talk about how they weren't sure if it was Lemon or Banana. That definitely made it easier to stay away from it...after I'd started my meal.And I had a dried peace and some dried apples after church to finish off the night.
So I ended up with 1117 calories for the day yesterday and 25 grams of fat. I lifted weights yesterday again...and will do Cardio again today. Things are going good here. No food after 8 worked...and is beginning to become routine
I also had something really cool happen last night too in the email from Kevin. I had told him all about the awesome machine I was using at the gym...it's called Lifetime fitness and has pedals or at places to put your feet. You are standing up...and handles that you pull as you walk or whatever it is called that you do on it. And it burns MEGA calories. And is fun and safe for joints. Well...Kev wrote back and said that he knew EXACTLY what machine I was talking about b/c it was the one he used on the ship. That was COOL! I'm not quite up to the level that he's doing on it...he was doing between 3-5 miles in 30 to 45 minutes. But I'll get there I know.
As far as water goes...I did get my 64 ozs in again yesterday. My plan for today is to grab a veggie blimpie for lunch. But it's another wonderful day....and I'm excited about Friday's weigh in...I just know it's going to show good results.
I spent about 2 or 3 hours yesterday reading through everyone's past posts and you all sound so determined and have such focus that I want to say that it is wonderful that you can support each other on this journey to change.
Lobacal, it is so nice to meet you and you as well Debee!
Lobocal, congratulations on staying on track and that exercise machine that you have been using sounds really neat!
Debee, I think it is a lot of fun that you can exercise with your kids and do yoga with them. I wish that my mom had introduced me to yoga at a young age. I really enjoy it as an adult. However, my mom did take us hiking a lot and camping which is why I have a passion for the outdoors.
Taiwan---I think I have a bit of a solution to your problem. Let me investigate it first though. I know that a woman that I volunteer with gets treats shipped here to her from England every now and again by mail or courier. I am not sure what the policies are around what foods that can be sent, but I would be happy to try and ship you some flavoured rice cakes etc. If you are interested, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I have access to a reduced cost shipping rate as my mom works for a big company that has a shippng warehouse. Would that perk up your day??? They would be Canadian treats, but we are pretty Americanized here.
Lisa and Reina-mia, I would love to come to Chicago. Is there anything I need to do in order for me to organize a way to join you??? I would love to meet everyone!! Where did Annie go?? Did she disappear around the same time I did from this site??? I miss her too!
Cyan, my sister just moved to Montreal recently and lives in a flat downtown. She has been bugging me to come down and see her for a weekend this winter sometime. I would love to meet you if you are interested in connecting. Maybe we can arrange the details further once I know when I can come down and when you might be free. That would be so neat!!! I find it challenging sometimes to incorporate regular exercise too, but sometimes if you tell more people you are going to do something, what time and what you are going to do, it makes it harder to avoid doing it. In other words, you become committed to it. That is my procrastination strategy. So here it is for me: I want to use my exercise ball and take a long walk today (light exercise as I have been sick with the flu).
Miki--Way to go on resisting temptations for Cake and Homemade Bread!!! Congratulations I figure that if you can resist homemade bread with honey butter, you can resist pretty much anything!! That would be a hard one for me!!!
LadyRider, glad to read all of your postings. As always you are an inspiration and a dedication to hard work and focus on challenges in a positive way!
Hi Everyone! I wrote a really long post yesterday and addressed everyone seperately. I hit the Submit button and thought no more about it until today when I looked to see who had posted after me and ...My post isn't there! It took so long to write and I'm so frusterated! Don't know what happened, but next time I will save it before I submit, just in case. Anyway, I don't have the energy to write it all over again, so here's a quickie version:
Cyan, you are right, you need to make exercise a priority. But I sure understand how hard it is to get into a new routine with getting back to work and all.
Taiwan, I'm so glad you and your family weren't hurt in the fire. Do walk the stairs and Good Luck on your long bus ride!
Cjunk, I sure hope you can make it in October! We are trying to get tickets to Oprah and we're talking about sharing 1 or 2 rooms so we can stay up all night and talk and giggle.
Reina, how's that emotional roller coster going? It's really tough, but you might try telling yourself "I will just wait 15 minutes, then if I still want it I can have it." Works for me, cause in that 15 minutes I get distracted or think up something healthier to snack on.
Debee, you sure sound as if you are on track. The yoga with your kids is an excellent idea. Good quality time together and starting good habits too.
Miki, Wow! I am so impressed. You passed up yummy food twice! I could smell that bread from here. You go girl!
Betty, Isn't it great you and Kevin can email each other? We didn't have that option when Bryan was in the navy and waiting for those letters by snail mail was tough! I loved you both using the same exercise machine! Talk about being in sync!
Lisa, I sympathize with your inability to exercise. Are you going to wait and see if your bump goes away? I can't wait to hear about your orientation night! Setting up your own study area is just plain smart.
I've been doing good for the past 4 days. I did Taebo yesterday and had such a good work out I've decided to alternate running and taebo every other day. I haven't eaten after 8 for the last 3 days. I work from 4:30 - 9:30 tonight, so I'm not sure how I'll handle that. My calories have been below 1200 and fat has been in the 25 range. Yesterday I was down another pound! Weight Commander has you log your weight in pounds and ounces daily, then gives you kudos or warnings if you have started a down or up trend. I really like it. Yesterday it told me to be very careful because my history shows I usually over eat on Wensdays. it helped me to keep an extra watch out.
It was great finding you all on MSN yesterday! Cjunk, it would be great if you could join us too.
Ladyrider, thanks for the invite--I would love to join you all in October. How do I go about getting connected on MSN and chatting with everyone? My boyfriend has MSN but I really don't know how to use it. Any quick lessons on how to find you guys???
I had my seaweed wrap and salt scrub today at the spa. It was really not that relaxing and my legs broke out in a rash. My gift certificate is done and I think I will just do spa treatments at home from now on.
I went to Target and bought more Yoga tapes. The kids and I are really enjoying it. My 7 year old son had a friend over this afternoon and they were even doing some of the poses. My husband even tried a few.
I have an idea about trying to drink more water. Yesterday, I put a bottle in my car and now when I drive around doing errands I drink some. I also have a bottle next to me when I am watching TV and on the computer. I hope it becomes just another habit.
Today I had an apple for breakfast, rice cake for snack, tuna sandwich with italian dressing no mayo on whole wheat bread for lunch, about 10 peanuts in the shell (lots of calories and fat but my son was eating them and I could not help it).
Miki, I can relate to you passing up the treats...on Tuesday when my son had a playdate one of the moms brought a pan of chewy brownies with m&m's I knew if they were in the house I would eat them so the next morning I gave the whole pan to my son Jimmy to bring to his class. He was the most popular kid in 2nd grade and I got the brownies out of the house. I felt great.
Taiwan, are there any special low-fat treats from the Philly area that you want...pretzels, sorry no cheesesteaks too fattening!I'll send them to you.
Exercise wise besides the yoga I have also been walking to the school bus every morning and afternoon...just a little change but every bit helps.
I am very excited about Friday I have been very determined and for once in my life I am getting results.....thank you all for your support.
Cjunk! Welcome back...so nice to hear from you and so glad that you are well and back with us....Yes! I would love to hook up with you when you visit Montreal...it would be so much fun...I live on the plateau which is next to downtown Montreal so your sister lives very close to me. And of course, next October some time, we are planning a trip to Chicago and I would love for you to be part of this trip!...what fun...cant wait to meet everyone.
Debee its nice to read your posts..so determined and positive! I like yoga a lot..I do ashtanga yoga..or power yoga....What kind do you do?
Hi Lady...How do you keep such a low calorie count? under 1200 cals and 25 grams of fat...I would be doubled over from hunger pain. And you lost another pound? Wow...you go girl...what are you down to now?
Lobacal...I ask the same question I asked LadyRider... 1117 cals and 25 grams of fat!!! What do you eat on an average day..what food choices are you making...just curious...maybe I can adopt some of those food choices for myself...I struggle to stay at 1500 cals and 50 grams of fat
Taiwan...hang in there...reach out for my hand and I will help you get over your food slump...did you read Cjunk's post...she might be able to help you.
Hi Lisathemommy soon to be lisathemommyandnurse How is that lump on your belly...is it getting smaller? How did you do food wise today? Did you stay away from those horrible frozen or prepared dinners?
Miki yay on getting your fat grams down to 25 grams...you rock...so what food choices have you made to bring it down so low?
Hi Reina...always enjoy chatting with you...hope you had a good day calorie wise...let us know how you did.
As for me...my grand total for today without the exercise..which I will do next after this post..tonight ..I cycle ...feel like it..anyway
I ate 1489 cals and 44 grams of fat.
Okay girls...it feels great to know you and to be part of this group..I send you all a big hug and lots of good energy
I only have about 5 min so this will be short and sweet. Calories today were 1370 with 43 fat grams. Only did 5 min on the AirWalker tonite but did a few exercises with my 3 lbs weights. LadyRider and Taiwan..sorry I didnt get to chat! Kept getting kicked offline for some reason. Maybe next time! I'm going to weigh first thing tomorrow morning but it will probably be Sat nite before Im able to get online again. Sorry I dont have more time but I'll make up for it in my next post.
I checked on fitday for the contents of fried tofu ( I finally figured out the English for it, maybe it was better I didn't know!!!). Though my hubby says it's baked, not fried. Anyway, it said "piece" but what makes a piece? I can get 300g container of white (not fried)tofu and each 100g only had 3g of fat. But the fried tofu, one piece has 23+grams of fat. Man, guess no more fried tofu for me. Here I thought I was doing good with my calorie intake, now I guess I need to focus alot more on my low fat intake.
Anyway, haven't exercised yet, but will do that later. Lady, sorry I had to get off in the middle of a chat, Joshua was not happy I was trying to teach him and be on the computer. He won't do his work alone. Miki, we'll get chat more next time.
Well, I have 2 loafs of banana bread in the oven, not for me, for friends. I won't eat it , I promise!!!!
I will write more at the end of my day. See ya girls.
I only have a few minutes..I have to teach a literature circle class this morning at Jimmy's school. I had to post because today is Friday weigh-in and I lost 4 pounds this week!!! I am so happy.
I gained 1% bodyfat but maybe it is only water weight.
WHAT I DID DIFFERENT THIS WEEK--
Did not eat after 8p.m., 4 out of 7, walked to the school bus every morning, started yoga-20 minutes anight, attitude about eating started kicking in, no butter, cream, whole milk, found flavoured rice cakes, less eating out, did not skip breakfast or lunch, got rid of fat pants and other fat clothes, gave away tray of brownies, seaweed wrap.
I'll check back later. Thank you girlfriends for all the support!!!!
Well ladies, my day went well I guess. Except for finding out about the fried tofu thing. I wasn't expecting that at all. Had noodles for lunch and rice for dinner, but that's ok I guess. I had planned on making a chicken salad for dinner, but hubby decided to go out. So far I've had 2000cc (2L) of water and will probably have some more before bed. Didn't eat anything after 8 pm again (though had a diet pepsi at 8pm). We will see if the scales show any change tomorrow. I will measure and weigh in tomorrow (it will be Sat. my time but still Friday your time:-) )
Cjunk and Debee, thanks for the offers of stuff but I can just ask my parents to send some stuff. They take care of us here. It's just been four years since I've been back and I am amazed to read about some of the stuff they have now to make it easier for eating actually. Hey, we just got diet sodas (well only coke and pepsi) here the past few years (pepsi the past year actually). But I guess that is good for me, means I'll spend less money!!!
Well ladies, I'll write more personalized message tomorrow. I am going to watch tv with hubby and go to bed. Have a great day.
What I did that worked:
1) Didn't eat after 8pm 5 days out of 7.
2) Calculated calories and fat Before I ate each meal. This is my secret weapon! If the count is too high, I change portions or what ever to keep each meal at approx. 350cal.
3) Exercised 5 days out of 7.
4) Drank lots of water. I don't measure it, but drink water or non sweet ice tea for each meal and as often as I can between meals. BTW, Tea is a diuretic.
5) Try to distract myself when I have the munchies (sometimes this just doesn't work)
6) Go to bed early if I have the munchies really bad. I find it impossible to sleep and eat at the same time.
7) Very Important! Check in with you all every day!
Cyan, Keep in mind I am shorter and post-menapausal and probably require fewer calories than you do. I eat a lot of home made soup. It's very filling and stays with me a long time. I also eat lots of stir fried veggies over rice. I don't eat beef, but will substitute soy crumbles or soy paddys for hamburger. I use Pam or a tiny bit of cannola oil to stir fry; also skim milk, low fat margerine, no fat mayo, etc. No deep fried foods, ever.
Debee! Way to go, girl! I think it's so important to find what works for you and then to BELIEVE you can do this!
Gotta go do Taebo, then meet Nancy for lunch. Will check in this evening.
This is a quick one, because I am behind on my work today, so I will catch up this weekend!
Sorry, I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, my little one was sick and I had no time to myself yesterday!
Well, it looks like everyone is on track and keeping a good eye on what they are eating!
I didn't do as good as last week in the eating department, and I think once again, that was due to my period coming this week! Actually she was 6 days late! It came yesterday afternoon, so I didn't eat that much yesterday. But I am not gonna weigh in today, because of my period. I have been known to weigh as much as 8lbs more than normal during my period!
I will weigh in on Sunday! I really don't want to discourage myself.
I didn't eat after 8pm, 6 out of the 7 days! NOT BAD! I did, however, have bad foods more than twice this week! Not a good thing. Pizza Hut is deadly, and my son loves that pizza! What is a mother to do???
I will check in later, I hope you all have a great day! and measure away!
Can I ask you all to do me a big favor, I am putting a chart together, in the event Oprah would like to see statitics on our weightloss, so I ask that you please email me, when you get a chance, your weight as of 10/02, your goal, and your current weight as of today! I have last weeks already. If you would like to put measurements, so we can have a TOTAL INCHES LOST section, that would be great too! you can email me at [email protected]
Hi...Cyan I wanted to answer your question really quickly. I am going to write a more detailed email this evening when I get home...and I'm not weighing or measuring until this evening either...but I did want to go ahead and respond.
When I was in college, I did debate and my Debate partner was a "Health nut." The men in his family had a history of heart attacks at an early age and he was convinced he was going to avoid having this happen to him and would constantly tell me how many fat grams something had. That was his focus. Anyway...during one of his rants about foods, he said that a person's goal should be 20 or fewer fat grams a day...and trust me over the years as I've tried to reach that goal, I've discovered how hard it is.
Another side note before I directly answer your question. I'm vegetarian...and I think, no, I know that make a huge difference, or can make a huge difference in what I consume, the number of fat grams etc....don't get me wrong. Vegetarians can eat just as fatty as non-veggies. But I think that it is easier for us to cut back on the fat etc...because of the types of foods we eat.
Now to address you question specifically. I try to keep a semi-current tally of how many fat grams I've eaten in mind...and focus my meals around that. In the AM I eat one of the follow, cereral, breakfast bar, or oatmeal. It all depends what is in the house at the given time. That usually keeps me going until lunch. Yes, I'm generally hungry by lunch, but that is okay. Then at lunch I honestly either eat, stir fry, pasta, or a sandwich. Yesterday I did Blimpie and also splurged with literally a cup of broccoli and cheese soup. So but I just try to eat a pretty normal lunch.
I'm not sure who mentioned the flavored rice cakes, but I tried them yesterday and WOW! It had been a while since I tried those and they are actually good now.
I go ahead and tally up my breakfast and lunch calories and fat grams. Focusing, honestly more on the fat grams than the calories. Because I'm usually pretty safe on the calories (My goal is 1100-1500) so long as I'm in that range I'm happy. And I wouldn't want to go 1500 too many days in a row. But I'm probably shorter than you are as well.
I've found that veggies (steamed), fresh and dried fruits, and things that are filling (without many fat grams) are what I am using most of the time for those "snack-y" hungry moments, but also what I supplement meals with.
I'm more carb heavy than most people are these days, but my body digests carbs better than it does protein...so I don't worry about that at all.
A basic dinner for me would be 2 or 3 vegetables, pasta, or rice or a starch of some kind. If meat is necessary and I had to laugh last night at my meal b/c it was so "traditionally" southern and yet not! What I mean by that is it was "chicken" (veggie chicken) instant mashed potatoes, steamed green peas and steamed carrots. "Meat and potatoes" right? But not...honestly most meals though for me aren't like that.
If I do Pasta for lunch my dinner will be mainly veggies...or vice versa. So that's my "trick" I guess. Oh and veggies have almost no fat...so I can fill up on them without having to worry. Well...most veggies do...there are the exceptions.
Also...in the evenings, I will admit this as well. I'm usually starving by the time I get off work...and that's when I grab my afternoon snack (rice cakes, fresh fruit etc...) Then dinner obviously is before 8. In the evening,I've gotten into the habit of drinking herbal tea (sometimes a couple of cups). And water intermixed. It keeps me "full" and I honestly love my herbal tea moments. I don't sweeten it...and so it's just "hot non-caffeinated" tea! Water with a flavor if you will. I love to find different flavors etc....
Okay...no magic tricks here...but hopefully those ideas helped a little. Last but not least I've been using something called "www.freetrainers.com" to input my food intake into the nutritional analysis thing. I'm not aiming to keep my calories as high as they suggest or my protein...but I don't want to go over the amount they suggest for fats, carbs etc....and after it is input it analyses the calories, carbs, proteins and fats. It also looks at what vitamins you got what you should have each day. And ranks them "check" target, satisfactory, or excellent. I aim to get most of those at least satisfactory or excellent each day.
Well I weighed myself today but I am still at 167 pounds...ah..I am about to get my period next week. Also I have to be more diligent about the food choices I make...So I am still trying.
I am hoping to have a good weigh in next week...I would like to see a pound or two come off. So instead of saying what I did this week to achieve a weight loss ...because I didnt lose any weight I will write what I will do for this weekend and week:
1. exercise nightly for a minimum of 20 minutes or more at heart target range.
2. Eat at or below 1500 cals and 50 grams of fat
3. Drink lots of water
4. no eating after 8pm
So pretty simple and straigth forward.
I would like to congratulate all you ladies who have lost weight...way to go...you are doing awesome and keep going...you inspire me to keep trying and to keep looking at things I can change to improve myself. Thanks very much. Its an ongoing journey and I will not give up...due in part to you guys, I feel your support and good will ...thank you very much
Reina...I have been keeping track of my stats...they are not very impressive I have only lost 6 pounds since October! Ahhhh! the realization...so I will hold on to them until I have a reason to brag about.
Lady, Just realized I didn't respond to this and I did want to.
Yes it is SO great that Kevin and I get to email each other!! I'm loving it!
He is a submariner, but this deployment he's on an Aircraft carrier. So I'm loving being able to email...send carepackages etc....and I think he's loving being able to stay in touch with everyone too.
Not to say he doesn't love doing the subs, he does and has expressed frustration over some differences between the surface community and the way he's used to things being done. But the emails are a definite perk!!
So the long and short of it is...I can definitely relate to the waiting for snail mail letters. Or no letters during the deployment. And I'm SO thankful that we've been able to stay as close as we have this deployment especially with it being extended.
Things are going good here. No food after 8 worked...and is beginning to become routine
I figure that if you can resist homemade bread with honey butter, you can resist pretty much anything!! That would be a hard one for me!!!
I wrote a really long post yesterday and addressed everyone seperately. I hit the Submit button and thought no more about it until today when I looked to see who had posted after me and ...My post isn't there! 
It took so long to write and I'm so frusterated! Don't know what happened, but next time I will save it before I submit, just in case. Anyway, I don't have the energy to write it all over again, so here's a quickie version: 
Good Evening Ladies
What do you eat on an average day..what food choices are you making...just curious...maybe I can adopt some of those food choices for myself...I struggle to stay at 1500 cals and 50 grams of fat
How is that lump on your belly...is it getting smaller? How did you do food wise today? Did you stay away from those horrible frozen or prepared dinners?
yay on getting your fat grams down to 25 grams...you rock...so what food choices have you made to bring it down so low?
Good Morning Ladies
I will write what I will do for this weekend and week:
