I had a yummy dinner last night.

Saute some garlic and pine nuts in olive oil, add in some roasted bell peppers of mixed colors (I did my own in the oven, I don't like the jarred kind much) and olives (green & black). Then stir in rice (I made a brown basmati & wild rice mix, and the recipe called for dried orange peel - I just peeled slices of orange peel and threw them in the pot when cooking the rice) and chopped fresh basil. S&P to taste. I thought the olives added plenty of salt.

It was really, really good. And really pretty too. Would be a great dish for company, and was really easy. If you had rice on hand, it would be fast too. I just made 2 servings worth, so it's great for singles too.

Oh, I should give credit :) The recipe came from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen," by Donna Klein. I mostly followed the recipe except I use less oil, olives and nuts (but not skimpy). And I use the brown basmati and wild rice.

Ohh my goodnesssss!!!!!

I haven't been on here in like...a WEEK

*dies a little*

I've missed so much it seems!!!!

I saw 324 on the scale!! :o

Soooo I'm changing it since I didn't weigh in on weigh in day. We shall see :)

Sorry for the short update, have a great day all!

I have returned...tis me... JADE :D anyone...anyone?
Ive decided to try and go raw as ive heard so many good things about it and it makes weight fall off apparantly. So goes my attempt at 30 days of this.
How is everyone in general?
:)
Missed you alll
mwah mwah mwah

Jade! You're braver than I am!!! I don't know how I feel about the raw food thing o_0


Missed you!! :D

Let us know how it goes. Sound interesting!

Is it weigh in day? *counts..thurs...fri..* ok i think it is.
Got on my scales today and am 162 1/2 lbs (yes the half counts.lol)
AS for the raw thing, im drinking soooooo much more water as i did before. Im still looking up new recipes as i dont wanna be stuck living on bananas or anything.. if anyones interested in having a look
www.goneraw.com ive found has been a great site, and theres like no fat in anything, yay :D
I am getting those detox headaches tho. ive read peoples stories online and they look so darn healthy. Im pretty sure i will eat another cooked meal again tho. i miss beans on toast already. In regards to cutting out soy i couldnt stop sneezing the first 4 days and nose wouldnt stop running, could be psychological i dont know. I feel better now.
Anywho il delv deeper into my research for y'all but so far all i can say is drink loadsa water and develop an addiction to cucumbers :)
hope everyones doing well
:D

Hey ladies :)
I went and got a massage yesterday, and I'm VERY disappointed. I've never disliked a massage. I went in for a 'Deep Tissue Massage', and the lady talked to me into getting the 'Sports Massage'
Well I kept telling her what I LIKE, and letting her know I LOVE Deep Tissue massages... she still insisted
on me getting the 'Sports MAssage' saying thats what she specializes in and that I'd like this better. Well
I hated it! It was different than a massage.. more like therapy type thing. Then I only got a 30 minute
"massage" and she charged me for an hour!! Now I dont feel like they cared about me as a customer they just wanted to
get as much money as possible. SO RUDE!



Julie... Sounds good :)

THEHeather... Glad to see you back :)

Jade... Let us know how you like it. With raw make sure you get enough calories! :)



P.S. Since our MINI GOAL is Sept 30th which is TUESDAY, I decided our weigh in can just be on TUESDAY =]
Unless you feel you can't weigh in Tuesday that you can give it to me before.

Oh and when I left Colorado I was 176 and now on my scale I'm 177, not sure if it's just the scale difference but GRRR still 177.
3 weeks into challenge hmmm obviously no gain is a victory in itself but loss feels so great. Before starting challenge Sept1- I was 187 and as of starting challenge 177. SO I'm happy those 10 are gone.. but why's the first 10 the only weight that wants to come off! lol :)

I guess being healthy is a slow thing ;) Oh well I'm in this for the long run! I decided to change my signature tho.... also got to put me back to 177.

Woot! I wasn't going to weigh in today as PMS, not smoking and mental battles with myself have not been friendly to me this week! I"m hoping to get back on track but will not make my mini-goal. Hopefully will catch it up by October.

Jade - go you on the raw! I've thought about doing it for a day or two each week but haven't put forth the effort :) I did notice at our health food store last night they had several pre-made raw foods in the deli. Maybe I could do it the lazy way.... :)

Well, I'm not weighing in today either; TOM starts Monday, and I went on a rampage yesterday!

I am going on a walk before it gets too hot. I'm going to do a 5.5 mile walk. I'll be bringing water this time!

Jade-I definitely want to know how the raw thing goes for you. How much time do you actually spend preparing food?

jillnicole-I'm so sorry your massage was bad. Was the massage therapist working for herself or for a spa or clinic? If she was working for somebody else you can call and complain and hopefully they'll make it right. I've worked at spas before and they usually really want to make their clients happy.

Heather-sounds like you have the perfect storm going on there! Good luck and hang in there.

Have a great day, everyone, and a great weekend!!

Oh yes I'm a ray of sunshine today ;)

Sounds like we're all having a rough go this week! Here's to an awesome week starting NOW.

That's a good idea. I;m not sure I want to do it every week, but it might be nice to have a plan for days you want to eat lighter and get back on track.

I do eat my lunches raw (generally) although I can't personally make a lifestyle out of it. But for those who do, good for you!!!

I do have to say, I have been veggie for a few months now (some of you may remember my posts from the great crash of June) and all of the weight I've lost, have been from switching. Now, I'm making more of an effort because I've become more conscious of what I'm eating.

I'm really proud of myself, and proud of all of you!!

Heather, I'm sorry that this week has havocked you. Good week IS starting now. 1, 2, 3..........GO!


Everyone else...GOOD LUCK ON YOUR WI! Just a few more days for our mini goal! Remember, it's not over yet...there's still another month. So if you're not doing as well as you'd like, there is time to get it together and step it up.

Good luck ladies!

Oh! And Happy International Hug A Vegetarian Day :hug:

The HEather... Good motivation!! Thanks girlie :) Oh and :hug:

I read this article on the cnn website about a raw food vegan. I thought it might be interesting in light of our recent conversation.

Darby,
Funny that you just posted that because I JUST read it...it's very interesting indeed!

international hug a vegetarian day?? awesome!

Thats a great story. I love reading about others success!

Thanks for posting that! Very interesting! :)

I am in an incredible cooking mood. I have a feeling this week will be full of experiments!!! If I come across anything good, I'll post them.

I'm such an experimenter...it gets me in trouble :x lol

theheather... definitely let us know =] hope they turn out good

SW: 158/158.5
CW: 154
GW: 154 (Sept. 30)

I had given up on reaching my September 30th goal, and I got here 2 days early! No guarantees I still be there on September 30th though :o

You're doing great Julie!! I'm so PROUD of you!!! WAY TO GO!! Way to kick it in the butt. :cheer2:

OK mini update on my raw progress.
Being the poor student that i am and was on my feet ALL day at work yesterday i grabbed a vegan pastry type thing!
It was that feeling when you reeeeaaaalllly didnt wanna eat it and you would regret it after but my blood sugar was low and i didnt care :)
Up til then my scales have been going doooown :D
Literally i couldnt believe i was seeing my hips/waist again. I feel like crap physically today cos of the pastry and it had soya in it which i now know makes me ill, but up until then the raw thing was fantastic. Im going back into it today which means i have to go through the detox stage again.grrr other than that its fantastic! When i get paid tomorow im gonna start creating more dishes but im shocked at how many things you can make, and they take LESS time cos your not waiting for them to cook!

http://superchargeme.com/

http://www.shazzie.com/

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=raw+vegan+&meta=

I typed in the google search so you can pick the ones you want but i promise you you will lose weight on it. Im starting to feel more positive about getting to my target for halloween woop woop :D

Julie...well done on your weight loss :)

Heather...did you blow anything up? ;)

Go Jade :cheer2:

Hmm not sure if you're talking about me or theHeather cooking :D
I'm stepping out of my funk today hopefully! The not smoking is finally over being painful and on top of my mind ever second. Not that it won't continue to be a battle but it's easing up. Food - getting back in control as of today and exercise to follow. We have a kickball game tonight and then I'll be back in the gym. I have no real plans for next weekend (thank god - too busy lately) and I plan on reading up on the raw foods and planning at least one raw day for the following week.

I hope everyone has a marvelous day :)

I don't know how I missed that you quit smoking - but how exciting! It's never easy, so I'm impressed. :carrot: :carrot: :carrot:

You can do it Heather!!!

So ladies... as of yesterday my throat has been sore and scratchy! So today I really wanted some hot soup... so since I don't have any I was using some lentils to make lentil soup. The dad of the house walked in and was like what are you doing, so I told him since I don't have any soup I'm making lentil soup. He said "We do have soup!! There is chicken noodle, cream of chicken, etc."
I said.. I do not eat any products from an animal, remember.
He said just pick out all the chicken before you eat it. It's not that hard.

I said... Well the broth is also chicken based and that is the same thing (disgusting!)

He was like.. You're being a baby.

Oh my! Men! Some people just don't understand, and thats fine as long as they don't put in there own input all the time. I don't care who eats what so why do they have to care about what I prefer.

He's getting a reaction from you. It won't go very far if he just stops getting any reaction from you other than "OK," and then proceeding to do what you want ;).

I'm sure my day with this with my family will come soon. :D

Jill! Oh my god good for you for not decking him - I would have! It never ceases to amaze me why people would 1 - prefer premade canned soup over homemade and 2 - why they care what I choose not to eat. I've been fairly lucky with my family and friends being supportive but my Dad is a bit annoying at times. He was annoyed that I wouldn't eat a salad dressing that had honey in it - "Heather, you're taking this too far". Finally I just broke it down to him that I am an adult and will make my own choices on this. I then rattled off a few health facts (just because I will likely always be a smart alec to my Dad!) for him about veganism and we've reached a cease fire.

On that note - I'm kinda dreading Thanksgiving already and planning my way out of it. Hmm.....

Thanks for your support!!! Both of you :) I understand people getting mad if you're personally attacking them about still eating meat, how dont they understand its the same when they do it to us?

Anyways my throat is so killing me, I went and got some soy "icecream" and forgot soup. Sheesh!

I wish I checked in here more often I would have definately joined this challenge! I will be cheering for all of you!

It's not too late, you still have a whole month! :)

The more the merrier! :)

I am stoked. I went to the gym today and i'm down 2 pounds since the last time I went. I said to my husband as we walked out, "I get to go home and change my ticker!". I know, I am such a dork! LOL

Have a happy day girls! :)

Yeah, we have a mini-goal date tomorrow, so why not just pick an October 31st goal, weigh in tomorrow, and start? :D

jillnicole, i was camping with a group about 2 years ago and we were all taking turns making dinners. There was one girl aside from myself who was a vegetarian. No one made any real effort to accommodate us, but no big deal - we could always have pb&j or veggies or whatever. But one night, one of the guys made this soup and was so proud because it didn't have any meat in it and we could eat it.... okay, it didn't have any meat in it as in chunks of meat, but you know what the base was? chicken broth. Your story reminded me of this. man I felt like a jerk after he was so proud to tell him that no, I wasn't going to eat his soup.

So mini-goal date - FAIL!!!
I'm at 206.2 as of this morning which is actually up from last weigh-in. It's okay, I'm breathing and moving on ;-)

Hope everyone else fairs better!

Oh and my free weekend somehow got full awful fast, I'm keeping Sunday all to myself though, I'm in serious need of some "Heather time"!

JASMINE.... Definitely feel free to still join. :) Just give us your starting weight and OCT 31st goal weight! :cheer2:

IRIS.. Yeah thats such a bummer. It's hard to 'hurt' peoples feelings, but we're not going to change to be as sweet as can be lol


OK LADIES TODAY IS MINI-GOAL WEIGH-IN!!! DON'T FEEL BAD IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE YOUR GOAL :) EVEN MAINTAINING YOUR WEIGHT IS A GREAT SUCCESS. IF YOU GAINED, EVEN MORE THE REASON TO TRY HARDER IN THE NEXT 3 WEEKS UNTIL HALLOWEEN! :woohoo:


Start: 177.5
Today: 175.5

Ok 2 lb loss, definitely wanted more but the best things we have to wait for right! :p

FATCHICKBGONE... YOU DID NOT FAIL! You did great! Don't be hard on yourself, a loss is a loss! :hug:


KIERR... Good job!! :cheer:

SW: 158.5 lbs
Sept 30th Mini-Goal: 154 lbs
Oct 31st HALLOWEEN VEGGIE CHALLENGE Goal: 146 lbs

Today (9/30), 154.5 I'm counting this a full win, because I was 154 Sunday and Monday, and TOM came yesterday ;). Yay!

But think I must have been high on somethin' when I made 146 my final goal. I'm not losing at 2 pounds a week all month anymore!