Cristi - YAY for your NSVs!! Everything adds up to success! How's it going with the jump rope? My knees haven't hurt since I dropped about 40 or so pounds, but I think jumping rope would kill them, lol. And I know I'd have to restrain my boobs, lol. Good luck with weigh in tomorrow. :crossed:

Katy - could you adjust the points tracker to begin again on your weigh in day? Then you could remember it easier. Are you doing mostly Core? How was weigh in yesterday? I know it must have been good! You are doing just wonderful with the water and exercise, too!

Marti - YAY for you losing the 3 pounds!! OMG, a gym membership for 8 bucks a month is a steal! And working out with coworkers would be fun, I think. You get along so well with others, and have good ideas for personal challenges.

Pam - you haven't posted here for awhile... are you still with us? Hope so!

Well, I told you my treadmill was sounding funny. Unfortunately, it crashed yesterday. Neal got to where the guts are, and did some stuff to it, but said the motor is shot, he's almost certain. We bought that on Father's Day, June 20th, and I don't think it should have quit already! It came from Walmart, but wasn't nearly the cheapest one they had. But of course, it's no longer under warranty. With the expenses we've got coming up, we're not going to invest in another one quite yet. I've got some videos I can use in the meantime.

I've been holding steady within the same 2-3 pound range in maintenance. It will be up one day, and back down the next, lol. I still write down everything I eat every day, and am afraid to start tracking it in my head. I think that's where some maintainers get lost.

I love having this thread to come to for encouragement, don't you?

This thread is GREAT for encouragement - thanks for starting it, Jane! Sorry about your treadmill...if you are thinking about getting another one, I'd like to give a little plug for GIJOES online. Their prices are comparable to Walmart and they have much better quality and a MUCH better return policy. My only Walmart purchase was a really bad exerience...so I wouldn't ever buy a piece of equipment from them again...I'm sure you are checking out Epinions as I speak ;) so I know you'll get a good replacement....

I do plan on changing my renew date on my points tracker, just haven't gotten around to it yet, but thanks for reminding me Jane....Check out my siggy.. I lost 2 pounds Wahoo

Marti - $8 a month for a gym where you work..what are you waiting for? What a geat opportunity.. what a smart employer.....Congrats on your 3 lbs...it's amazing what a little water can do.....

Cristi - I like the jump rope idea..in fact I have one in the playroom along with all my other exercise stuff. Just never thought it was meant for MOI....I'll have to be careful not to smack my kids.

I kind of went OFF-P last night, but back on track today...am journalling everything meticulously which seems to help. I'm incorporating a Zone bar (4 pts) here and there for meal replacement. Doesn't work so well for breakfast, which I think started me on my downward spiral yesterday. I need something more substantial in the a.m. I have found that it works well for a lunch meal replacement if I follow up with a 2 point snack around 2 or 3 pm. Along with a 5 point breakfast, that puts me at 11 points heading into dinner, which is a meal that mysteriously gets larger on me - don't know how THAT happens - hee hee

I am going to make some split pea soup today and some more refrigerator bran muffins so I will have some healthy options around. The refrig bran mufin recipe is a family recipe for lo-fat bran muffin batter. You make a huge batch of batter (4 dozen)and it keeps in the fridge for up to 6 weeks, you just bake up a dozen at a time. They are so yummy!I can post the recipe if anyone is interested...
Have a great day everyone
K

Still here and have great news. I've lost another 10lbs. That makes 70 total. I started at 280. I am so proud of myself it's embarassing. I'll start bragging to complete strangers in the grocery line. I wasn't as strict with myself around x-mas and New Years and was greatful I hadn't gained anything. I didn't weigh last week because I worried and thought I'd get discouraged. I love my diet,it works and the scale and lose clothing is such a motivation.I still have 60 to go so when I make it it'll be like losing a whole other person, :lol: I won't be missing her at all.

WOW! CONGRAT'S Pam on the 10 pound loss! Nothing wrong with bragging at all missy. Keep up the good work! :bravo:

Katy~I would love to have the recipe. I know they say breakfast is or should be the biggest meal of the day but for the longest time I never ate breakfast. That is where I went wrong because then I would be starving later-not good. So a muffin and maybe a piece of fruit is a good breakfast for me.

Jane~good job maintaining! Sorry to hear your treadmill pooped out on ya. We also got ours from Wal-Mart a little over a year ago and have had three of us using it-so far, so good. :crossed: I have always loved to jump rope-it is actually fine. I have been going out in the garage to do it on the concrete. Kind of hard to do on the carpet.

Marti~like you I will take the loss anyway it comes! Yeah, I too don't have a problem at home or walking around the neighborhood myself-don't feel I need a partner. Just the times I have joined a gym when I went there was nothing but skinny people and that is what made me feel weird. So I was trying to hide in the back.

I agree that this is a great place for encouragement. I am rooting for all of us that this will be our year! :cheer:

Well lets see...what did I do today (yesterday) that I think helped in my new look on eating healthier????

Not much.

For breakfast I had french toast and bacon. (good...but not healthy good)

Lunch was a turkey sandwhich w/a little bit of chips. And the same for dinner. Drank 3-20oz bottles of water....not a lot of water.

Hmmm.....may have gained back those 3lbs.!!!

Tomorrow (today) I will be checking out how to join the gym at work. I'm not sure if I need to do it in person or if I can just get on the company intranet and sign up there. Which ever it is, I will be joining. Must make an effort to get more active.

I want to see the 130's again!!

My first goal is to at least lose close to 10lbs by summer. Plenty of time right? I hope so. It's going to take a real committment from me to make this happen.

Hiya ladies,

Doesn't it feel great to be taking our health into our own hands, and seeing an improvement daily?

Katy - with everything we've got coming up, I just can't afford another treadmill right now, because my next one will be a very good one. But I'll check out gijoes. Thanks for the tip. :bravo: Way to go on the 2 pounds down!!!! That's just great, Katy!! I also make those muffins! I think it's the same ones, using raisin bran cereal, and eggbeaters, etc. I keep the batter for a while, but usually end up sending muffins to Neal's office. The secretaries love them. Haven't made them for ages, and don't even know the points.

Pam - :cp: 10 pounds!!! Like 40 sticks of butter, gone forever!! That's a lot of oleo, lol. This is the first year since I was in my 20's that I didn't gain any weight at all over the holidays. Feels great, and I didn't suffer a bit, lol. I would usually gain some, take it off in January and then give up on all the "old" pounds. Once again, bravo!

Cristi - having some protein at breakfast too really helped me. About walking, like you, I don't need a partner, either. Then I can go when I want and am not influenced when they skip out, lol. Be sure and write down your measurements. It's helpful (and amazing!) to see those numbers go down every month. I measured my bust, waist, hips, each thigh - they aren't the same, each calf, and upper arms.

Marti - hope you get all your info about the gym today. The first of June is 4 and 2/3 months away, so losing 10 pounds by then is doable. To me, June 1st says summer is here, even though the calendar disagrees, lol. Anyway, like I mentioned to Cristi, you might want to write down your measurements, especially since you're going to be working out in the gym.

I'm going to make a big pot of WW zero point soup today. I've kept my munching under control, but it's nice to have that in the freezer for when I need it.

Have an OP day!!

Jane could you post the WW zero point soup...or just PM it to me at your leisure, please? I'm on a soup kick...and I'm the only one in my house that likes soup so I like the idea of making a bunch and freezing. I made a bunch of split pea soup with no ham yesterday. I figured the points were just 1 per cup, which seems very low. But really the only thing to count is the split peas...everything else is broth, veggies, and seasoning. If I had left the ham in it would have been 4 points for one measly cup!

I am going to do some calculations on the refrigerator bran muffins to try to figure out the points, then I'll post it. Sounds like the one you make, Jane

Todays menu
B - steel cuts oats, 1 tb soy nut butter, sprinkling of cinnamon sugar 5 pts
l - 2 c. split pea soup, 1 bran muffin - 4 pts ( need to check out pt on muffin 1st)
snack - popcorn ( 1)
D - working on this one - I have to take the car in for a Lube/Oil/filter which throws off dinner time. I think I'll have some leftover homemade pizza, which is about 5 points. I will probably also cook up some frozen carrot coins

So far that's 15 points...so I'll get some more in there..have some fruit in the fruit bowl that needs to get eaten

And we're off!

Have a great day I'll try to get back to do some individuals later

You know what Jane? It does! I am down 1 pound this week and it felt sooooo good to see it gone. I was hoping for more but I will take what I get. But it does feel really good because I know this time I will keep going. I don't have a time frame for losing all the weight or for my mini-goal and maybe that is what makes the difference. Before I mad goals but added a time frame and when I didn't make those I always was disappointed in myself which made it harder to keep going. So thanks to the tip about not being in a hurry. I think the Spiritual Weight Loss stuff really helped also. Now to think of what I want to reward myself with when I meet my first goal. Anyway...Also thanks for reminding me to measure...I always forget that and will do it as soon as I go back upstairs. I am starting the Leslie Sansone walking program if you will. It was in Womans Day I believe and I tore it out so will follow it for six weeks. Today I am to walk for just 15 minutes and I will do that to her video-easy enough. Then I think for weeks one and two it is to walk a mile each day except Sunday. I need to mix things up with the walking as the treadmill gets boring at times. Really need to get a tv in there. The weather is awful so can't go out to walk yet. I really prefer walking outdoors and I have probably said this a zillion times because once you get out and start you have to continue-there is no stopping because you can. If ya want to get back home ya gotta keep on truckin'...

Marti~hey, 3 bottles of water is better than no water at all. I am still doing good on the 2 bottles a day. Making it a habit before I move on to 3 so you are doing a lot better than me on the water. And yes, 10 pounds by summer is definitely doable! We are here for you to help ya ake your goal so just remember that.

On with the day and week ladies. Hope this is a good losing/maintaining week for all of us!

Refrigerator Bran Muffins
 

Cristi - Yay for the one pound gone...never to return

Here's the recipe for refrigerator bran muffins. It requires a BIG bowl. It is my Grandma-in-law Ella's recipe and I wrote it as she had it, but made some notes at the end. If made as is they are 4 points each. But I stretch the recipe out to 5 dozen and I use cupcake liners instead of greasing the cups, so I got them down to 3 pts each.

Refrigerator Bran Muffins
2 cups boiling water
2 cups All Bran
3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 qt. buttermilk
5 cups flour
5 tsp. soda
2 tsp. salt
4 cups Bran Buds

Pour boiling water over all-bran and let stand until cool. Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs and buttermilk alternately with bran buds and remaining dry ingredients. Then add the all-bran mixture. Can keep dough in the fridge for up to six weeks. Bake in muffin tins @ 400 for 15-20 minutes. Makes 48.

My Notes: I shop at Winco, so I bought bulk bran flakes instead of all-bran. I also bought bulk wheat bran in place of Bran buds... and they turned out great. I also used dry buttermilk which worked well, but I know you can also substitute sour milk (milk with a bit of lemon juice), or you can you use nonfat dry milk. With the dry milks, I put the dry amounts according to the package then added a quart of water to the batter.

As I mentioned, I make them a bit smaller, so my baking time is right at 15 minutes.

This was a big hit at our house!


Stayed OP yesterday...
Today's menue
B - steelcut oats, 1 Tb soy nutbutter - 5 points
L - Progresso soup (2), spinach salad with chicken (3)
snack - popcorn (1)
Dinner - leftovers...probably 1/2 cup pasta alfredo 3, pork loin 4, some more salad

My exercise is to do some weights and yoga - about 25 minutes, also about 20-25 minutes on the stepper

See youlater
K

Katy, there are several variations of the 0 points soup, but here's how I make mine:

Garden Vegetable Soup

Boil for 30 minutes (or until vegetables are tender) the following:[/B]
30 oz. fat free chicken broth
30 oz can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1/2 head chopped cabbage
1/2 chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced carrots

Then add:
1 can (no salt added) green beans, undrained
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Simmer til beans are hot.

Some people add zuchinni, and other "free" veggies such as cauliflower, broccoli, etc. I have been known to add corn or peas and add 1 point to each serving. Also an option is using tomato juice instead of whole tomatoes if you don't care for chunky ones.

Btw, Katy, when you have to be gone, like yesterday, you ought to try the crock pot Italian chicken. It is so good, and one of the easiest dishes to make.

Cristi - YAY :cp: for you losing the 1 pound!!! Have you thought of a reward for reaching your 1st goal? I've got a TV with no treadmill, and you've got a treadmill with no TV!! Too bad we aren't neighbors, lol. You'll be amazed at how fast the time goes when you have the tv on while walking. You could record Ellen and only watch it while walking.

Yesterday, I had a Tomato and Basil Pizza Burger, made by Morningstar. These are veggie burgers, and I used to eat them regularly, and sort of forgot about them. They are 2 points apiece and so good! Just wanted to share this!

Marti and Pam - how's it going?

Thanks, Jane....
I just bought some Carb-Option italian dressing so I could try your crock pot italian chicken recipe. How much dressing do I use?

I like veggie burgers...so thanks for the tip

Thanks for the recipes ladies, although I have the vegetable soup recipe in the WW little book I have. Completely forgot about it. Question tho...just wondering how good the soup is after it has been frozen. Does it still taste fresh like when you first make it? I am weird in that I don't like leftovers so to me making a batch of soup and then freezing it is the same as leftovers. I know some things kind of lose a little flavor so was wondering if the soup does.

Katy~I definitely will be making some muffins and I love that it can be refrigerated for so long.

Jane~no, haven't thought of a reward yet. I keep thinking what is something that I would really like to have and ya know? Can't come up with a thing.