Exercise for today:
P.E.:
5 min of cardio
1 min of push ups: 13
1 min of sit ups: 15
30 min of standing around talking to kendi. (lol)
Sigh, Its a start I suppose. I have to run a mile tomarrow, oh joy.

Sounds like you have some good recipes there! Care to share them??

I'll share one. I make what I call "skillet lasagna". It's more a homemade and healthier version of hamburger helper, actually.


- Pour 28 oz of diced tomatoes (and juice) into a 4 cup measure and fill to the 4 cup mark (amts of liquid are important)
- Brown one pound lean turkey and drain.

Using a 12 in skillet or even dutch oven:
- Saute some onions in a little olive oil over med heat with a pinch of salt.
- Add a bunch of green and red peppers. Cover and cook on low 7-10 minutes.
- add minced garlic to taste, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano and 1/2-1 tsp red pepper flakes. Heat till the garlic smells heavenly over med high heat (30 sec)
- Add the diced tomatoes, ground turkey AND
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 8 oz dried pasta (you can use lasagna noodles cut in half, but I don't bother).
- a bunch of fresh spinach (as much as you like -- it really cooks down!)

Stir that all up and cook, uncovered over med heat until noodles are cooked (usually at least 20 min).

Take off heat and add cheese! I use:
- 8 oz lowfat cottage cheese
- 1-2 oz grated parm
- 1-2 oz mozzerella
I add a lot less than I ever would have in the past, but it's yummy!

So, that's a quick and healthier version of lasagna for me... in fact, I just had it for lunch today! (I hope I remembered everything!)

I just want to second the information about eating too little or "dieting", and about lifestyle changes. Ever since the age of 20, I was on one diet after another. And for every pound I lost while starving myself, eating salad after salad, thinking a diet meant lettuce and diet soda and skipping breakfast...I gained back double. I started out at 160 shortly after I had my daughter, retained the baby weight and added a little on top of that. I went on a salad-for-all diet and dropped down to 140. I stopped dieting. My next salad diet, I was 180. I again dropped down close to 140. The next diet I went on, I was 200. The next time I checked I was 220 and told myself that I'd never diet again.

It wasn't until I realized that I need to change my LIFETIME eating habits and my LIFETIME exercise habits, my ENTIRE lifestyle, that I actually managed to lose, and keep off, over 100 pounds. None of my other diets lasted me a year. I've been doing this for almost 4.

Heh okay It's a little difficult for me to give you calorie advice because experience at age 35 is very different from your experience as a younger woman. You probably can and should eat more calories per day than I did.

Here are my thoughts on your posted menu:

• A lot of high saturated fat - butter, lots of cheese, caesar dressing.
• Needs more vegetables and more fruit and more healthy fat (nuts/nut butters, olive oil, avocado, salmon)
• Snacks throughout the day might be a good idea, to keep you from getting too hungry

For breakfast, I think you should ditch the butter. How about 1 tbs of peanut butter instead? Healthy fat, a little protein, will help you stay full longer. Try to make sure the bagel is whole grain, or pick whole grain toast.

Turkey sandwich, tomato soup, apple, chocolate milk - good work!
You have cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tough love time - I would only have chosen one of those cheese items (either cheese for breakfast OR lunch OR dinner), or I would pick a low fat cheese and/or greatly reduce the serving size.

Dinner is okay, I would definitely take an opportunity to add another vegetable.

Snack - salad is a good snack, but that is a lot of caesar dressing, probably 100 calories and 30 grams of fat, just for dressing. I know you said you don't like other dressings, but you should really try to experiment a little. If you still just only love ceasar, try to find a lower fat version. You can also put your dressing on the side, you use a lot less that way. I still put most of my dressings on the side, after all this time, I discovered I prefer my lettuce crunchy and not soggy with dressing.

You are so lucky to be young and learning healthy eating habits. When I was your age, my choices were so limited. For lettuce, there was iceberg. For apples, there were red delicious and golden delicious (granny smith were NEW and exciting). Whole wheat bread was for hippies and I don't think whole wheat pasta was available AT ALL.

Day 3!!! Yeah!! Whoa!!! ok so....

Breakfast: 1 cup of honeynut cherrios with 1/2 cup of fatfree milk.

Lunch: Okay so here is the story on lunch, once every like 3 months there is one school lunch I just have to have. Today was when they served it and I got it so dont chop my head off, almost everyday I get a sandwich.
1 bowl of turkey gravy & mashpotatos,
1 small dinner roll,
About 2 cups of salad and ranch dressing
1/2 pint of choclate milk
1 fudge pop (sorry guys)
Dinner: Large salad with 2 tbl spoons of ceasar dressing and 10 crutons (60 cal)
1 can of campbells veggitable soup
okay, today wasent quite as good as yesterday.

Yesterday night I did however go get groceries. I bought:
1 box of honey nut cherrios
1 half gallon of fat free milk
6 cans of campbells soups
Salad & Iceburg Lettuce
1 bag of crutons
2 loafs of whole wheat bread
1 bottle of ceasar dressing
1 bottle of ranch dressing
I did get a few other things that we used to make dinner last night, but oh well.
Exersize:

Ok so Ms. Berriman my gym teacher is a fricken saint she let me ride the stationary bike instead of running the mile *all prase Ms. B* I went 15 at about 70 rpm on average and got 2 and 1/2 miles. I also did basic streaches and such.

Note: Thanks so much for your support guys and to all that said to swich to wholewheat bread, If you didnt read my grocery list I got some. Sorry about my little cheat cuz its kind of like a tradition in our family when thats being served for school lunches even if we have gotten cold lunch our entire lives we get money to buy that on the day they are serving it. Sware to have Sandwich tomarrow. ttfn...

Hey thanks I might try that It sounds nummy. ok so I guess I could tell you my chicken stir fry. so...

Start out with a warm skillet and just enough oil to cover the bottom (It gives some good flavor) or if you prefer spray with pam.

Dice up about 2 large chicken breasts and throw it in.

Core and Cut 3 bell peppers of any color (I like to use all 3 colors cuz it makes it pretty lol) and throw them in with the chicken

Do the Same with 1 whole purple onion.

They add about 4 slices of diced pinapple

Saute until chicken is slightly browned and the veggitables are soft.

MMM yummy. And if you wanted to treat yourself make a little brown rice to go with. Awesome.

I think you did OK! Having mashed potatoes and gravy every now and again ISN'T going to blow your diet/way of eating out of the water. And you had ONE fudge pop and STOPPED. (Both of these would be tough for me -- I'd want the entire cafeteria tray of mashed potatoes and half a box of fudge pops.)

Besides, I find that if there's a food I love, love, love and I try to deny myself it completely when faced with it, I wind up pigging out on other stuff. It works better for me (YMMV) to have a little of whatever I'm craving instead of trying to pass up every single pleasure of life. Of course, I also have to recognize which foods are going to cause this and which ones just "sound good" at the time because I'm hungry/thirsty/tired/cranky.

You ate a sensible breakfast and dinner and had something you absolutely LOVE for lunch. Good.

Grocery list looks good, too, although I'd encourage you to eat more fruit. Because fruit is TASTY.

Recipe time:

Quick & Easy Roasted Veggies

1-2 zucchini, sliced into rounds
1 white onion, cut into 1/8ths
1/2 pound mushrooms, washed
1-2 bell peppers, cut into 2" slices
1 summer squash, sliced into rounds
(add/sub other veggies as in season)
2-4 tablespoons olive oil
various spices

Preheat oven to 350.

Dump veggies into a large, deep roasting pan or casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper, basil, or other spices. Cook in over for 15-20 minutes or until onions start to brown and mushrooms start to shrivel.

Serve with lean meat or other entree. Serves 4.

Hey! Sounds like you got a good teacher there in Ms. Berriman.

Glad to see how your plan is going! Looks like you're being conscious of what you're eating, even if now and then you eat something that's not on the plan. That's OK--just keep tracking things. You can do it!

Jay

mmmm... stir fried chicken (and I'm loving brown rice these days) and roasted veggies. yumm!

[QUOTE=PatheticallyCriminal;1603141]Day 3!!! Yeah!! Whoa!!! ok so....

[Lunch: Okay so here is the story on lunch, once every like 3 months there is one school lunch I just have to have. Today was when they served it and I got it so dont chop my head off, almost everyday I get a sandwich.
1 bowl of turkey gravy & mashpotatos,
1 small dinner roll,
About 2 cups of salad and ranch dressing
1/2 pint of choclate milk
1 fudge pop (sorry guys)
Dinner: Large salad with 2 tbl spoons of ceasar dressing and 10 crutons (60 cal)
1 can of campbells veggitable soup
okay, today wasent quite as good as yesterday.

---------------
You are doing a GREAT job. Don't feel guilty about enjoying a once-in-a-while treat like you did for lunch. The best thing to do is just enjoy it - don't over do it, and then do a little extra walking or something.

Something else that has helped me is to have smaller meals and do a little fruit snack between breakfast and lunch. And again between lunch and dinner.

I started my lifestye change (yeah - you're right it does sound corny! You're a hip young gal - you'll have to come up with something better we can use - ha) in January '06. As of this morning I've lost 49 lbs - yeeeeeeeppeee! . I just keep telling myself that I didn't "get big" over-night and I'm not going to loose it over-night either.

Hang in there! You are doing great!