WISH Away The Pounds - Marvelous March Challenge ~~ All are WELCOME!

[goofyfigment]

I have been so off this month. I've been working 12 hour days and my entire regimen is totally out of whack. I haven't been to the gym all month ( just too tired) and my eating is not even something you can consider healthly. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

 

[50sjayne]

Hey!
We are having the best time in Portland! Yesterday I worked out and then we left. Got to PDX and ate at Whole Foods--I had a mixed green, cranberry feta and walnut salad and husband got too much from the hot food buffet so I ate some of his stuff--chicken, rice, some corned beef. Went by Kells but there was a $25 charge until 9pm due to the boxing match so we went back to the room. Got to watch Grimm in Portland yay. (It's filmed there) Drank too much rum my husband brought, at some point we went out and visited a baby boomer convention lol at a nearby hotel and ended up getting some rosemary fries at Burgerville...Today we went to Pine State Biscuits and had the most marvelous breakfast (it was featured on Diners Drive in and Dives) I had a biscuit breakfast sandwich umm. Then made it to Kell's for the Pipers. It was so awesome, then a really good Irish band played for 3 hours and we had fun kind of jiggling around to the music for awhile then went to a good will outlet here. My goodness-- talk about exercise....that is a competitive sport. I don't know if you've ever been to one but they have all the stuff in bins and you just plow through them. It's somewhat separated. You keep hearing the guys say "TABLE" and they are either hauling one off or bringing one in. People are all lined up on taped lines waiting for the bins to be brought out. All I know is I ended up with 25 #'s of stuff plus the book Wicked for $23. Husband got some stuff too. Poor guy, it was pretty much torture for him although he diddled around and found stuff. Got back in time for the happy hour at the Red Lion which was up the street from our hotel (gosh i love that place) and got nachos which I could only eat 1/2 of and they gave me a take home container-- not all happy hour places will do that--. Now I'm at the hotel across the street from us-- had an awesome workout and soak in the most wonderful jacuzzi ever and decided to check the boards quick. We keep checking on Misty with son-- still no kittens lol. She's just going to be a big round ball we roll around when we get back I'm afraid.
We really got a great deal with our hotel-- it's a Shiloh really close to the light rail and it's very nice only $64 with free parking which is gold anywhere close to DT Portland--I think this will be our new place. They also let guests use the crown plaza's facilities across the street-- so awesome...
Hopefully I can control myself the rest of the night...dubious...Have a great weekend!

 

[Flossbolna]

Good Morning everyone!! We are having sunshine again even though the forecast for today was more snow - I can't believe how much snow we had this winter and that it is still coming down in March!! Very uncommon for my area!

Besides being sunny, today started with a great surprise on the scale, I moved down another 1.3 pounds form yesterday. And that puts me at a BMI of 25.1!! I can't wait for the BMI field on my Iphone app where I track my weight to turn from yellow to green. I am soooo close now!!!

It is funny that me restarting to drop weight coincides with me starting level 3 on the 30DS (I have completed day 4 now - less than a week before I am done and move on to Ripped in 30). Jillian talks in level 3 again and again about the jump training that level includes and how it boosts the metabolism and will help to melt the pounds away. I kind of tend to not really believe that one type of exercise is better than another - but maybe there is some truth in it?? Or it could just be that I am burning more calories with these new moves?

Am very excited that next Saturday I will report back with the results of the 30 DS (which will have taken me 47 days to complete as I was sick for a week, then went back a few days and missed a day here and there).

I just found this thread and I'm in for sure for April! .

For now I'll just follow along and root for everyone!

Welcome! Great to see new posters here!! And if you would want to, it is never to late to join. Just weigh in now, set yourself a two week goal and you are in and can work towards it!

Thanks for sharing!! I've been sick all month and am experiencing the same thing. Can't break the plateau. Guess we need to stick it out till our body levels? Hoping someone has an answer.

Sorry to hear that you are sick! It's not surprising that you are not losing weight. Your body is far to concerned with healing than to be willing to easily give up any reserve it has built in for hard times. My advice would be to not try to eat less at the moment, but rather eat at a level which would be good for maintaining your weight, but still focus on healthy food. Give your body time to get rid of that sickness. Once you feel better, go back to reducing your calories.

I have been so off this month. I've been working 12 hour days and my entire regimen is totally out of whack. I haven't been to the gym all month ( just too tired) and my eating is not even something you can consider healthly. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

My week was similar to yours. It is so hard to have energy for finding healthy foods and for exercise if work is draining all your energy away from you. Two things that I have found that help me through these times are these:

1) trying to find convenient and healthy snacks. So that I have something to eat at work or when I get home late in the evening before I start finding some dinner. What works best for me are granola bars. I did take some time to really look at the ingredients and the nutritional information and I now have identified three that work for me as they have between 100-150 calories, are high in finer, one has quite a bit of nuts, so also has protein and all of them are only natural ingredients. Whenever I am at the grocery store, I just throw a package into the cart and every morning one granola bar comes with me to work. Sometimes I don't eat it, but having the healthy emergency fuel with me has helped me out quite a few times!

2) try to do some exercise at home. I have written about that before how much I love my new 30 Day Shred DVD. But even if you don't do a whole DVD session, there are actually many short fitness videos available to be found on the web for free. I know that Sparkpeople has a number of short 10 minutes workouts. That would be easy to fit in, much easier than going to the gym and I am sure you will feel better afterwards for having done at least something!

Hang in there, I hope work will be better soon and things will get easier for you again!

Hey!
We are having the best time in Portland! Yesterday I worked out and then we left. Got to PDX and ate at Whole Foods--I had a mixed green, cranberry feta and walnut salad and husband got too much from the hot food buffet so I ate some of his stuff--chicken, rice, some corned beef. Went by Kells but there was a $25 charge until 9pm due to the boxing match so we went back to the room. Got to watch Grimm in Portland yay. (It's filmed there) Drank too much rum my husband brought, at some point we went out and visited a baby boomer convention lol at a nearby hotel and ended up getting some rosemary fries at Burgerville...Today we went to Pine State Biscuits and had the most marvelous breakfast (it was featured on Diners Drive in and Dives) I had a biscuit breakfast sandwich umm. Then made it to Kell's for the Pipers. It was so awesome, then a really good Irish band played for 3 hours and we had fun kind of jiggling around to the music for awhile then went to a good will outlet here. My goodness-- talk about exercise....that is a competitive sport. I don't know if you've ever been to one but they have all the stuff in bins and you just plow through them. It's somewhat separated. You keep hearing the guys say "TABLE" and they are either hauling one off or bringing one in. People are all lined up on taped lines waiting for the bins to be brought out. All I know is I ended up with 25 #'s of stuff plus the book Wicked for $23. Husband got some stuff too. Poor guy, it was pretty much torture for him although he diddled around and found stuff. Got back in time for the happy hour at the Red Lion which was up the street from our hotel (gosh i love that place) and got nachos which I could only eat 1/2 of and they gave me a take home container-- not all happy hour places will do that--. Now I'm at the hotel across the street from us-- had an awesome workout and soak in the most wonderful jacuzzi ever and decided to check the boards quick. We keep checking on Misty with son-- still no kittens lol. She's just going to be a big round ball we roll around when we get back I'm afraid.
We really got a great deal with our hotel-- it's a Shiloh really close to the light rail and it's very nice only $64 with free parking which is gold anywhere close to DT Portland--I think this will be our new place. They also let guests use the crown plaza's facilities across the street-- so awesome...
Hopefully I can control myself the rest of the night...dubious...Have a great weekend!

Sounds like you are having a great break in Portland!

 

[pjlla]

Morning all!! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

Hope your weekends are going well. I tried to post from the swim meet yesterday, but kept losing the wi-fi signal so I finally gave up. It was a long day, but not too bad..... 5 hours of driving for a 3 hour meet! But it was DD's final YMCA New Englands meet. Normally it would be a 3 day event, but it overlapped NHSA championships, so the coach asked each child to represent the Y team at least one day and attend the NHSA meet the other day.

NHSA Scholarship winner is announced today and DD has an essay entered. I don't have ANY idea how many have entered and I've never read any past entries, so I am not sure how she stacks up, but I will say that her essay made me CRY! Fingers crossed for today please!!

It is also SENIOR DAY at today's event..... all of the high school seniors get to do a funny costumed swim across the pool. Not sure if DD is going for the costume idea, but I know she will participate.

DS's theater festival competition apparently went well yesterday, as I saw on FB this morning several of the kids were talking about being excited to take it to States! I really didn't see DS yesterday (other than dropping him at the bus at 5:45 am) and he was pretty non-communicato on his cell until late in the evening. And he got home really late, as there was some mix-up with the bus that was supposed to bring them back. They were over an hour late returning to the school! I think he came in to kiss me goodnight about 12:30 am!! Interested to see what he has to say about the day when he gets up.

Okay, enough rambling!!

Friday night's dinner went okay. It started with really light apps.... fresh fruit, raw veggies, some cheese and crackers.... just right!! I filled my plate with veggies and fruit to take the edge off my hunger.

Dinner was served family style.... salad (predressed pretty heavily), turkey (already topped with gravy ), stuffing, mashed potato, and carrots (glazed with sugar I presume by the taste), cranberry sauce. After two small servings of salad, I skipped the potatoes, had one bite of stuffing, filled about half of my plate with carrots, and had about 1/3 of my plate filled with turkey.... which I scraped the gravy off of the best I could. I am NOT a fan of gravy and certainly didn't need the extra calories.

I stuck with water to drink, but did enjoy the small glass of champagne that was provided for the toast. Dessert was "wedding" cake and a scoop of ice cream with chocolate sauce.... I took one bite of cake (not really a big cake fan) and 2 small bites of the ice cream and that was it. I really wasn't go to have ANY dessert but once it was in front of me, I wanted to taste it.

It was a LOVELY party with a DJ and a dance floor..... very reminiscent of a traditional wedding reception. The couple (DH's brother and his wife) are really wonderful people and they seemed truly surprised (party was put together by their daughters). And the "bride" started WW earlier last year and looked WONDERFUL.... and announced to me on a side note that she made her WW goal a few weeks ago!! I'm sure it was worth EVERY STRUGGLE to be able to attend that party looking FABULOUS and SLIM! She is more than 10 years older than I am and you would NEVER have known it watching her on the dance floor!

Off to do read and replies before the family demands breakfast. Out the door today by 11 am for a drive to VT for DD's final regular season swim meet! ....................P

 

[Lindaland]

Quote:
Originally Posted by goofyfigment
I have been so off this month. I've been working 12 hour days and my entire regimen is totally out of whack. I haven't been to the gym all month ( just too tired) and my eating is not even something you can consider healthly. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

My week was similar to yours. It is so hard to have energy for finding healthy foods and for exercise if work is draining all your energy away from you. Two things that I have found that help me through these times are these:

1) trying to find convenient and healthy snacks. So that I have something to eat at work or when I get home late in the evening before I start finding some dinner. What works best for me are granola bars. I did take some time to really look at the ingredients and the nutritional information and I now have identified three that work for me as they have between 100-150 calories, are high in finer, one has quite a bit of nuts, so also has protein and all of them are only natural ingredients. Whenever I am at the grocery store, I just throw a package into the cart and every morning one granola bar comes with me to work. Sometimes I don't eat it, but having the healthy emergency fuel with me has helped me out quite a few times!

2) try to do some exercise at home. I have written about that before how much I love my new 30 Day Shred DVD. But even if you don't do a whole DVD session, there are actually many short fitness videos available to be found on the web for free. I know that Sparkpeople has a number of short 10 minutes workouts. That would be easy to fit in, much easier than going to the gym and I am sure you will feel better afterwards for having done at least something!

Hang in there, I hope work will be better soon and things will get easier for you again!

This is so true!!! I always work 12 hour nights and my schedule is 3 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, then I get 7 days off. So I end up working 72 hours in 7 days!! Its pretty exhausting the week I work, but I love having every other week off!! What helps me the most is that I have to plan ahead for the work week and have lots of snacks ready. I make up bundles of veggies all cut & cleaned in the fridge that I just have to add some dip to. I take pre-made protein drinks that I have on my way home which cuts down on the urge to binge when I get home or stop by & get fast food. And I keep a few of those 100 calorie packs of natural almonds in the glove box, for those crunchy urges! Just having a healthy option premade can make all the difference!!

As for working out, I never go to the gym, I have spent far too much money on memberships only to get home and not want to go back out again, lol. I like the home workouts better anyway. Get a good piece of equipment, or dvd's and on busy nights its a great time saver. I also do a modified workout on work weeks. I will ride the bike for 20 min instead of 30, alternate hips & thigh work with arms & shoulder exercises, etc.. I always feel better if I just do something. I save my "big" workouts for my week off where I have more time.

Hope these little tidbits help!!

 

[Lindaland]

Friday night's dinner went okay. It started with really light apps.... fresh fruit, raw veggies, some cheese and crackers.... just right!! I filled my plate with veggies and fruit to take the edge off my hunger.

Dinner was served family style.... salad (predressed pretty heavily), turkey (already topped with gravy ), stuffing, mashed potato, and carrots (glazed with sugar I presume by the taste), cranberry sauce. After two small servings of salad, I skipped the potatoes, had one bite of stuffing, filled about half of my plate with carrots, and had about 1/3 of my plate filled with turkey.... which I scraped the gravy off of the best I could. I am NOT a fan of gravy and certainly didn't need the extra calories.

I stuck with water to drink, but did enjoy the small glass of champagne that was provided for the toast. Dessert was "wedding" cake and a scoop of ice cream with chocolate sauce.... I took one bite of cake (not really a big cake fan) and 2 small bites of the ice cream and that was it. I really wasn't go to have ANY dessert but once it was in front of me, I wanted to taste it.

It was a LOVELY party with a DJ and a dance floor..... very reminiscent of a traditional wedding reception. The couple (DH's brother and his wife) are really wonderful people and they seemed truly surprised (party was put together by their daughters). And the "bride" started WW earlier last year and looked WONDERFUL.... and announced to me on a side note that she made her WW goal a few weeks ago!! I'm sure it was worth EVERY STRUGGLE to be able to attend that party looking FABULOUS and SLIM! She is more than 10 years older than I am and you would NEVER have known it watching her on the dance floor!

Total awesomeness!! You did a great job with that menu!!!

 

[pjlla]

Good Morning everyone!! We are having sunshine again even though the forecast for today was more snow - I can't believe how much snow we had this winter and that it is still coming down in March!! Very uncommon for my area!

We have a storm coming up Monday night (if you believe the weathermen). I am SO over winter!! We had better at least get a good SNOW DAY from this one!!

Besides being sunny, today started with a great surprise on the scale, I moved down another 1.3 pounds form yesterday. And that puts me at a BMI of 25.1!! I can't wait for the BMI field on my Iphone app where I track my weight to turn from yellow to green. I am soooo close now!!!

THAT IS WONDERFUL!!

It is funny that me restarting to drop weight coincides with me starting level 3 on the 30DS (I have completed day 4 now - less than a week before I am done and move on to Ripped in 30). Jillian talks in level 3 again and again about the jump training that level includes and how it boosts the metabolism and will help to melt the pounds away. I kind of tend to not really believe that one type of exercise is better than another - but maybe there is some truth in it?? Or it could just be that I am burning more calories with these new moves?

Am very excited that next Saturday I will report back with the results of the 30 DS (which will have taken me 47 days to complete as I was sick for a week, then went back a few days and missed a day here and there).

Glad you are seeing the results of your hard work! Makes me want to pull out my 30 DS video!!


My week was similar to yours. It is so hard to have energy for finding healthy foods and for exercise if work is draining all your energy away from you. Two things that I have found that help me through these times are these:

1) trying to find convenient and healthy snacks. So that I have something to eat at work or when I get home late in the evening before I start finding some dinner. What works best for me are granola bars. I did take some time to really look at the ingredients and the nutritional information and I now have identified three that work for me as they have between 100-150 calories, are high in finer, one has quite a bit of nuts, so also has protein and all of them are only natural ingredients. Whenever I am at the grocery store, I just throw a package into the cart and every morning one granola bar comes with me to work. Sometimes I don't eat it, but having the healthy emergency fuel with me has helped me out quite a few times!

That is one the KEYS to success is having a HEALTHY snack available/with you all the time!!

2) try to do some exercise at home. I have written about that before how much I love my new 30 Day Shred DVD. But even if you don't do a whole DVD session, there are actually many short fitness videos available to be found on the web for free. I know that Sparkpeople has a number of short 10 minutes workouts. That would be easy to fit in, much easier than going to the gym and I am sure you will feel better afterwards for having done at least something!

Great advice!!

Hey!
We are having the best time in Portland! Yesterday I worked out and then we left. Got to PDX and ate at Whole Foods--I had a mixed green, cranberry feta and walnut salad and husband got too much from the hot food buffet so I ate some of his stuff--chicken, rice, some corned beef. Went by Kells but there was a $25 charge until 9pm due to the boxing match so we went back to the room. Got to watch Grimm in Portland yay. (It's filmed there) Drank too much rum my husband brought, at some point we went out and visited a baby boomer convention lol at a nearby hotel and ended up getting some rosemary fries at Burgerville...Today we went to Pine State Biscuits and had the most marvelous breakfast (it was featured on Diners Drive in and Dives) I had a biscuit breakfast sandwich umm. Then made it to Kell's for the Pipers. It was so awesome, then a really good Irish band played for 3 hours and we had fun kind of jiggling around to the music for awhile then went to a good will outlet here. My goodness-- talk about exercise....that is a competitive sport. I don't know if you've ever been to one but they have all the stuff in bins and you just plow through them. It's somewhat separated. You keep hearing the guys say "TABLE" and they are either hauling one off or bringing one in. People are all lined up on taped lines waiting for the bins to be brought out. All I know is I ended up with 25 #'s of stuff plus the book Wicked for $23. Husband got some stuff too. Poor guy, it was pretty much torture for him although he diddled around and found stuff. Got back in time for the happy hour at the Red Lion which was up the street from our hotel (gosh i love that place) and got nachos which I could only eat 1/2 of and they gave me a take home container-- not all happy hour places will do that--. Now I'm at the hotel across the street from us-- had an awesome workout and soak in the most wonderful jacuzzi ever and decided to check the boards quick. We keep checking on Misty with son-- still no kittens lol. She's just going to be a big round ball we roll around when we get back I'm afraid.
We really got a great deal with our hotel-- it's a Shiloh really close to the light rail and it's very nice only $64 with free parking which is gold anywhere close to DT Portland--I think this will be our new place. They also let guests use the crown plaza's facilities across the street-- so awesome...
Hopefully I can control myself the rest of the night...dubious...Have a great weekend!

Sounds like you are having SO MUCH FUN!!! Glad Misty is holding off for now!

I have been so off this month. I've been working 12 hour days and my entire regimen is totally out of whack. I haven't been to the gym all month ( just too tired) and my eating is not even something you can consider healthly. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

Will your work schedule be changing soon or is it like this long-term? If this is a long-term schedule then you are going to have to find a way to work with it and still get in some exercise and healthy eating. If it is just a short-term thing for a few days/weeks, then cut yourself some slack. And next time you are at the grocery store, be SURE to pick up lots of HEALTHY foods for the fridge and pantry. IT is harder to eat lousy if the stuff isn't available!!

Pack your lunch/dinner/snacks instead of buying from the cafeteria/vending machine/fast food places. Only pack foods that you have journaled and/or accounted for in your calorie allowance. When the lunch sack is empty, you are done eating!

With 12 hour work days it would be really tough, if not impossible, to fit in much exercise time, but maybe a 20 minute walk each day??

Good luck getting past this tough time.

I just found this thread and I'm in for sure for April! .

For now I'll just follow along and root for everyone!

Welcome aboard!! Please be sure to send me a PM if you haven't already (didn't check my box yet today) with your goal for the month!! Feel free to tell us a bit about yourself!

just wanted to add that since it's 90 degrees outside today, I took the kids swimming I swam for 30 mins with them and they continued to swim for another 45 minutes... ahh to have boundless energy Think I will treat the family to In N Out burgers after this (mine protein style of course)

Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

Seriously???? 90 degrees?? SO JEALOUS!!

I think flossbolna said it best--weight loss is just not linear. Hang in there. If you don't see movement in a week or so, then maybe look at changing things up a bit. Sometimes (as strange as this sounds) when you are being so vigilant with your calories, it takes a day of higher calories to shake things up a bit.

EXACTLY what I was going to say!!!!

We had a beautiful day here. It was supposed to be rainy, but it ended up being mostly cloudy and 70! So awesome. We did a run this morning at the park (9 miles plus 1 walking) and then went to a different park and went hiking about another 4 miles. My legs are not very happy with me--I think I over did it a bit. I did not take salt along this morning so I ended up with a lovely calf cramp. Tomorrow's mile could be a little painful.

I'm sure that the run and walk and hike were lovely.... but you need to NOT overdo it!! Hope you aren't too sore this morning.

Sorry I've been MIA for a week or so. Been sticking to the diet really well, think I've lost 5 out of the 7 pounds I set myself for March, so really happy with that. TBH, I'm not really worrying about food any more, just seem to automatically make healthy choices.

See.... it has just become a normal part of your life!!

Going camping tomorrow, just for 1 night, with some friends (about 12 of us, 7 tents in total) so need some comfort food as it will be cold......and probably raining!!! I've got lean stewed steak with peas, carrots and potatoes for the evening meal, and some porridge (oatmeal???) for breakfast, along with a few healthyish snacks. Also got the electric heater all lined up ready to go, and thermal underwear!!!! Wish me luck, I'll report back on Sunday if I survive!!!!

Yikes! Winter camping! Well... keep in mind that when your body is cold, you are burning more calories trying to keep it warm!! Hope the night went well!

Well its been a crazy work week at the hospital and I have had little time to visit the boards.

I am behind by a couple pages and have been skimming through a bit, you all are so inspiring with how you cope with unplanned diet changes!!

Don't worry too much about keeping up. Just pop in whenever you get a chance! This isn't supposed to add to your stress level!

Today is my "free-day" so I get to indulge a bit, however after a big bfast, I kind of want just a salad for lunch!! lol Its great having a "free-day" but since I have been so diligent on my diet & exercise the rest of the week, I am beginning to miss it when Friday rolls around. I guess that means that I am actually changing my lifestyle for the better!! I might just have to make my "free-day" every other week instead of weekly!!

WOW! Your mind is really in the right place!! Great job!

When we are strapped for time, we go to the standby of the big salad!! Lots of veggies and usually a chicken breast diced up and cooked with some kind of seasoning. Sometimes for "meatless monday" we use a couple of the Morningstar Farms Grillers Prime patties which only have 4 carbs each and cook those with taco seasoning!! There are lots of ways to change up a salad so it can be different each time!!

I love the idea of the veggie burgers with taco seasoning!

Well I am off to do some cleaning and burn off some of the vast number of calories I just had and hopefully get rid of this boggy feeling I have now..... ugh...

Hope the cleaning went well.

I am feeling a bit flustered at a plateau. I have been up and down the same 1/2 pound for almost a week and it does not seem to be budging even with more exercise, more water, less salt...I don't want to further restrict my calories, and I try to mix up my diet. Any ideas or tips are appreciated!

If it is truly just one week, don't stress about it. You aren't really considered at a plateau until about the 4 week mark (according to most things I've heard/read). It could be fluid retention, lack of fiber, TOM.... lots of variables.

Seems like you have tried lots of good things. If this continues for another week or two, my suggestions would be to cut out more carbs and really, truly, track EVERY SINGLE CALORIE for at least a week.

QOTD Saturday April 16, 2013
What are you doing this weekend that is both fun and healthy?

Hope everyone is having a good Saturday. I will bbl with replies.

Well.... healthy eating, as usual. Not a lot of time for workouts, but I paced around the building at the swim meet yesterday between events. If the weather cooperates I will probably walk around the parking lot today between events, but it is a BIG day with lots of crowds and lots of stuff I can't miss, so I won't leave my seat much. Fun? Well... I enjoy watching DD enjoy herself swimming!

How do you guys get past the "I don't wanna exercise today" feeling.

I haven't felt like exercising the last two days and I know I'm gonna pay for it. Today, I don't wanna go to Zumba, but I know I have to.

Any tips to get out of the funk?

I TOTALLY agree with what Rose said. I tell myself that I MUST get out there and at least WALK for 15 minutes. If I still want to quit at that point, then okay. But I almost never, ever quit. It is that "body in motion stays in motion" theory!

I did a bad thing. Actually it is kind of a good thing. I have been trying to bake a little more g-f stuff lately. To kind of normalize my life. I love to bake. And even though I didn't do much when I was actively losing weight, I did make stuff occasionally and send it to work with Mike or for DS when he was home.

So anyhow, I have been wanting to make g-f cookies with this all-purpose gf flour using the tollhouse recipe. I made them this morning. I have already sent most of them to work with Mike but the rest are like a sirens call. It is pretty cool to make something from scratch again.

Next I am going to try pizza crust. I have just not been able to replicate or find pizza crust that I like and I really, really miss pizza.

So for now I just need to step away from the cookies!

Glad you found an enjoyable treat.... enjoyable to make and eat!! Love to hear how the pizza crust turns out!

Can you find out from the people who invited you as to what the menu will be?

I would have done that if DS were coming along, because he has so many food allergies. For myself I didn't really worry too much about it. I knew I could manage, somehow. But asking ahead isn't a bad idea! I actually thought about it and thought about requesting a vegetarian meal.... but I figured that would end up being a big plate of white pasta with creamy sauce or something like that I think in the long run I did better with the offered choices.


********************

Ok friends!! I have to leave here in about an hour and a half and so I had better get my butt moving! DD isn't even up yet, so that will be first thing.... then eating breakfast, packing lunches and snacks and water.

TTYL.............................P

 

[Rose&Mike]

QOTD Sunday March 17, 2013

Inspired by Pamela's night out discussion.

How do you handle food/eating situations where you have no idea what will be served? Do you plan ahead? Do you go with the flow and not worry about it? Do you eat whatever, count it, and move on? Does it stress you out and cause you to avoid certain situations?

I think how we handle these situations goes a long way toward being able to successfully maintain. AND I do not think there is any one right way.

BBL with replies.

 

[Flossbolna]

QOTD Sunday March 17, 2013

Inspired by Pamela's night out discussion.

How do you handle food/eating situations where you have no idea what will be served? Do you plan ahead? Do you go with the flow and not worry about it? Do you eat whatever, count it, and move on? Does it stress you out and cause you to avoid certain situations?

I think how we handle these situations goes a long way toward being able to successfully maintain. AND I do not think there is any one right way.

BBL with replies.

Interesting question. I think I am more the type who goes with the flow. I just eat whatever feels good. However still with a sense of portion control and trying to make sensible choices - for example if I have the option between two dishes that both sound appealing and one comes with a heavy cream and cheese sauce, I would pick the other dish. I have also noted that if I have a high calorie meal I can go for quite a while before i am hungry again. When I was in college I was always so amazed how my slim friends would say things like "I had a pizza yesterday evening, so I am really not that hungry today" - now this happens to me. The other day I could not resist ordering a cheese pasta dish for lunch and then ended up just having a joghurt and some fruit for the rest of the day.

The biggest difficulty for me however is alcohol. Not because of the calories it has, but because it makes me hungry and less disciplined. I am much more likely to overeat when I am drinking.

To be honest, at the moment I am indeed trying to avoid certain situations which I know would put me into temptation. But not at the cost of being totally unsociable. I am also lucky in that a number of my friends know about my struggles and are very supportive. So with them I know that they won't be offended if I decline a second helping or so.

 

[pjlla]

QOTD Sunday March 17, 2013

Inspired by Pamela's night out discussion.

How do you handle food/eating situations where you have no idea what will be served? Do you plan ahead? Do you go with the flow and not worry about it? Do you eat whatever, count it, and move on? Does it stress you out and cause you to avoid certain situations?

I think how we handle these situations goes a long way toward being able to successfully maintain. AND I do not think there is any one right way.

BBL with replies.

Well....the situation like Friday is rare for me. But we are often eating at folks homes for holidays and such and in those situations I will often offer to bring a salad and a dessert or fruit tray, so that I can be sure that there's is something I can fill up on. I was very thankful for the fruit and veggie starters Friday night, but was wishing that the fruit was brought back out at dessert time.

If the food is totally out of my control I will make the best choice I can given the options, watch my portions, count it, and move on!........P

 

[Rose&Mike]

QOTD Sunday March 17, 2013

Inspired by Pamela's night out discussion.

How do you handle food/eating situations where you have no idea what will be served? Do you plan ahead? Do you go with the flow and not worry about it? Do you eat whatever, count it, and move on? Does it stress you out and cause you to avoid certain situations?

I think how we handle these situations goes a long way toward being able to successfully maintain. AND I do not think there is any one right way.

BBL with replies.

In the past, I would take small portions, eat slowly and do the best I could and enjoy myself.

With the whole g-f thing, to be honest eating away from home is just a pain in the butt sometimes. And for a while I have just avoided it. Not all g-f foods are safe to eat (cross contamination) and a lot of places just don't understand that. So it has been easier and less stressful to just avoid those situations. But I have been trying to be a little more social.

Thursday we had a dinner at a restaurant for someone from our work who was leaving, and I went along--and then just drank hot tea. I was perfectly ok with that. Didn't bother me at all. I think everyone else might have felt bad, but I feel like if it doesn't bother me, then they should be ok with it. I think I could have gotten a safe meal at this restaurant, but it was more relaxing to me to just drink tea and hang out than to deal with food and the million questions I would have had to ask to feel confident I was really getting a g-f dinner.

So that is going to be my new plan of action. Eat before and just have something to drink. It will probably make some people uncomfortable, but I think the people who care about me will understand.

 

[Flossbolna]

So that is going to be my new plan of action. Eat before and just have something to drink. It will probably make some people uncomfortable, but I think the people who care about me will understand.

I think this sounds like a great plan! And I am sure that the more often you do it, people will just get used to it and not be uncomfortable.

 

[pjlla]

Guess what?! DD just won an NHSA scholarship! Woohooo! What an exciting day! Just wanted to share that! TTYL......P

 

[Rose&Mike]

Guess what?! DD just won an NHSA scholarship! Woohooo! What an exciting day! Just wanted to share that! TTYL......P

Awesome!

 

[Flossbolna]

Guess what?! DD just won an NHSA scholarship! Woohooo! What an exciting day! Just wanted to share that! TTYL......P

That's fantastic!!! Congratulations!!!

 

[araes2102]

QOTD Sunday March 17, 2013

Inspired by Pamela's night out discussion.

How do you handle food/eating situations where you have no idea what will be served? Do you plan ahead? Do you go with the flow and not worry about it? Do you eat whatever, count it, and move on? Does it stress you out and cause you to avoid certain situations?

I think how we handle these situations goes a long way toward being able to successfully maintain. AND I do not think there is any one right way.

BBL with replies.

I know what I can eat, so I go and eat what I can, or modify (like Pam scrapping off the gravy) what is there. Usually there is something I can eat. Or if there is something that I really want and think it will be worth the extra calories and/or carbs, I eat it, enjoy and move on

 

[Rose&Mike]

just wanted to add that since it's 90 degrees outside today, I took the kids swimming I swam for 30 mins with them and they continued to swim for another 45 minutes... ahh to have boundless energy Think I will treat the family to In N Out burgers after this (mine protein style of course)

Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

So very jealous! Sounds like you had lots of fun!

I just found this thread and I'm in for sure for April! .

For now I'll just follow along and root for everyone!

Welcome!

I have been so off this month. I've been working 12 hour days and my entire regimen is totally out of whack. I haven't been to the gym all month ( just too tired) and my eating is not even something you can consider healthly. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.

I am sorry it has been such an off month. I hope you are getting some movement in just to help with dealing with such a tough schedule.

Thanks for sharing!! I've been sick all month and am experiencing the same thing. Can't break the plateau. Guess we need to stick it out till our body levels? Hoping someone has an answer.

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Hey!
We are having the best time in Portland! Yesterday I worked out and then we left. Got to PDX and ate at Whole Foods--I had a mixed green, cranberry feta and walnut salad and husband got too much from the hot food buffet so I ate some of his stuff--chicken, rice, some corned beef. Went by Kells but there was a $25 charge until 9pm due to the boxing match so we went back to the room. Got to watch Grimm in Portland yay. (It's filmed there) Drank too much rum my husband brought, at some point we went out and visited a baby boomer convention lol at a nearby hotel and ended up getting some rosemary fries at Burgerville...Today we went to Pine State Biscuits and had the most marvelous breakfast (it was featured on Diners Drive in and Dives) I had a biscuit breakfast sandwich umm. Then made it to Kell's for the Pipers. It was so awesome, then a really good Irish band played for 3 hours and we had fun kind of jiggling around to the music for awhile then went to a good will outlet here. My goodness-- talk about exercise....that is a competitive sport. I don't know if you've ever been to one but they have all the stuff in bins and you just plow through them. It's somewhat separated. You keep hearing the guys say "TABLE" and they are either hauling one off or bringing one in. People are all lined up on taped lines waiting for the bins to be brought out. All I know is I ended up with 25 #'s of stuff plus the book Wicked for $23. Husband got some stuff too. Poor guy, it was pretty much torture for him although he diddled around and found stuff. Got back in time for the happy hour at the Red Lion which was up the street from our hotel (gosh i love that place) and got nachos which I could only eat 1/2 of and they gave me a take home container-- not all happy hour places will do that--. Now I'm at the hotel across the street from us-- had an awesome workout and soak in the most wonderful jacuzzi ever and decided to check the boards quick. We keep checking on Misty with son-- still no kittens lol. She's just going to be a big round ball we roll around when we get back I'm afraid.
We really got a great deal with our hotel-- it's a Shiloh really close to the light rail and it's very nice only $64 with free parking which is gold anywhere close to DT Portland--I think this will be our new place. They also let guests use the crown plaza's facilities across the street-- so awesome...
Hopefully I can control myself the rest of the night...dubious...Have a great weekend!

Glad you are having such a good time Susan.

Good Morning everyone!! We are having sunshine again even though the forecast for today was more snow - I can't believe how much snow we had this winter and that it is still coming down in March!! Very uncommon for my area!

Besides being sunny, today started with a great surprise on the scale, I moved down another 1.3 pounds form yesterday. And that puts me at a BMI of 25.1!! I can't wait for the BMI field on my Iphone app where I track my weight to turn from yellow to green. I am soooo close now!!!

It is funny that me restarting to drop weight coincides with me starting level 3 on the 30DS (I have completed day 4 now - less than a week before I am done and move on to Ripped in 30). Jillian talks in level 3 again and again about the jump training that level includes and how it boosts the metabolism and will help to melt the pounds away. I kind of tend to not really believe that one type of exercise is better than another - but maybe there is some truth in it?? Or it could just be that I am burning more calories with these new moves?

Am very excited that next Saturday I will report back with the results of the 30 DS (which will have taken me 47 days to complete as I was sick for a week, then went back a few days and missed a day here and there).

That's awesome! I know for me being in the healthy bmi range was a huge deal, so I am very excited for you! And congrats on your success with the 30DS.

Morning all!! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

Hope your weekends are going well. I tried to post from the swim meet yesterday, but kept losing the wi-fi signal so I finally gave up. It was a long day, but not too bad..... 5 hours of driving for a 3 hour meet! But it was DD's final YMCA New Englands meet. Normally it would be a 3 day event, but it overlapped NHSA championships, so the coach asked each child to represent the Y team at least one day and attend the NHSA meet the other day.

NHSA Scholarship winner is announced today and DD has an essay entered. I don't have ANY idea how many have entered and I've never read any past entries, so I am not sure how she stacks up, but I will say that her essay made me CRY! Fingers crossed for today please!!

It is also SENIOR DAY at today's event..... all of the high school seniors get to do a funny costumed swim across the pool. Not sure if DD is going for the costume idea, but I know she will participate.

DS's theater festival competition apparently went well yesterday, as I saw on FB this morning several of the kids were talking about being excited to take it to States! I really didn't see DS yesterday (other than dropping him at the bus at 5:45 am) and he was pretty non-communicato on his cell until late in the evening. And he got home really late, as there was some mix-up with the bus that was supposed to bring them back. They were over an hour late returning to the school! I think he came in to kiss me goodnight about 12:30 am!! Interested to see what he has to say about the day when he gets up.

Okay, enough rambling!!

Friday night's dinner went okay. It started with really light apps.... fresh fruit, raw veggies, some cheese and crackers.... just right!! I filled my plate with veggies and fruit to take the edge off my hunger.

Dinner was served family style.... salad (predressed pretty heavily), turkey (already topped with gravy ), stuffing, mashed potato, and carrots (glazed with sugar I presume by the taste), cranberry sauce. After two small servings of salad, I skipped the potatoes, had one bite of stuffing, filled about half of my plate with carrots, and had about 1/3 of my plate filled with turkey.... which I scraped the gravy off of the best I could. I am NOT a fan of gravy and certainly didn't need the extra calories.

I stuck with water to drink, but did enjoy the small glass of champagne that was provided for the toast. Dessert was "wedding" cake and a scoop of ice cream with chocolate sauce.... I took one bite of cake (not really a big cake fan) and 2 small bites of the ice cream and that was it. I really wasn't go to have ANY dessert but once it was in front of me, I wanted to taste it.

It was a LOVELY party with a DJ and a dance floor..... very reminiscent of a traditional wedding reception. The couple (DH's brother and his wife) are really wonderful people and they seemed truly surprised (party was put together by their daughters). And the "bride" started WW earlier last year and looked WONDERFUL.... and announced to me on a side note that she made her WW goal a few weeks ago!! I'm sure it was worth EVERY STRUGGLE to be able to attend that party looking FABULOUS and SLIM! She is more than 10 years older than I am and you would NEVER have known it watching her on the dance floor!

Off to do read and replies before the family demands breakfast. Out the door today by 11 am for a drive to VT for DD's final regular season swim meet! ....................P

Sounds like a great time Pamela! I am not a big gravy person either. You found things that would work for you and had a good time.

Hope all the swim stuff went well today. And congrats again to your DD. Senior year stuff is so emotional. And we had an only, so it was all first and last for us.

Quote:


This is so true!!! I always work 12 hour nights and my schedule is 3 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, then I get 7 days off. So I end up working 72 hours in 7 days!! Its pretty exhausting the week I work, but I love having every other week off!! What helps me the most is that I have to plan ahead for the work week and have lots of snacks ready. I make up bundles of veggies all cut & cleaned in the fridge that I just have to add some dip to. I take pre-made protein drinks that I have on my way home which cuts down on the urge to binge when I get home or stop by & get fast food. And I keep a few of those 100 calorie packs of natural almonds in the glove box, for those crunchy urges! Just having a healthy option premade can make all the difference!!

As for working out, I never go to the gym, I have spent far too much money on memberships only to get home and not want to go back out again, lol. I like the home workouts better anyway. Get a good piece of equipment, or dvd's and on busy nights its a great time saver. I also do a modified workout on work weeks. I will ride the bike for 20 min instead of 30, alternate hips & thigh work with arms & shoulder exercises, etc.. I always feel better if I just do something. I save my "big" workouts for my week off where I have more time.

Hope these little tidbits help!!

Sounds like you have a plan to work around your schedule.

Interesting question. I think I am more the type who goes with the flow. I just eat whatever feels good. However still with a sense of portion control and trying to make sensible choices - for example if I have the option between two dishes that both sound appealing and one comes with a heavy cream and cheese sauce, I would pick the other dish. I have also noted that if I have a high calorie meal I can go for quite a while before i am hungry again. When I was in college I was always so amazed how my slim friends would say things like "I had a pizza yesterday evening, so I am really not that hungry today" - now this happens to me. The other day I could not resist ordering a cheese pasta dish for lunch and then ended up just having a joghurt and some fruit for the rest of the day.

The biggest difficulty for me however is alcohol. Not because of the calories it has, but because it makes me hungry and less disciplined. I am much more likely to overeat when I am drinking.

To be honest, at the moment I am indeed trying to avoid certain situations which I know would put me into temptation. But not at the cost of being totally unsociable. I am also lucky in that a number of my friends know about my struggles and are very supportive. So with them I know that they won't be offended if I decline a second helping or so.

Good, thought out response.
I find people want to find something that I can eat, when really most of the time I don't care. Great that you have supportive friends! And isn't it great when smaller servings fill you up?

Well....the situation like Friday is rare for me. But we are often eating at folks homes for holidays and such and in those situations I will often offer to bring a salad and a dessert or fruit tray, so that I can be sure that there's is something I can fill up on. I was very thankful for the fruit and veggie starters Friday night, but was wishing that the fruit was brought back out at dessert time.

If the food is totally out of my control I will make the best choice I can given the options, watch my portions, count it, and move on!........P

Good response!

I know what I can eat, so I go and eat what I can, or modify (like Pam scrapping off the gravy) what is there. Usually there is something I can eat. Or if there is something that I really want and think it will be worth the extra calories and/or carbs, I eat it, enjoy and move on

Another good response.

****
I think most of the time the best thing to do is watch your portions, enjoy, count and move on.

We had a discombobulated day here.

Yesterday it was beautiful. High of 73. Today it snowed. Showers on and off for a couple of hours. Seriously. The weather is so crazy. Tomorrow there is a chance of tornadoes....

I really have weather burnout this winter. I just keep thinking...the sun will come out tomorrow...got that Annie song stuck in my head.

 

[Rose&Mike]

QOTD Monday, March 18, 2013
Share your nsv (non-scale victories) since you started your healthy journey.

Might not be on in the morning and depending on whether I get my workout in before or after work, might miss the afternoon too. Monday's have been hard for me lately. But I am still here and will try to check in at some point tomorrow.

Have a great Monday.

 

[araes2102]

Guess what?! DD just won an NHSA scholarship! Woohooo! What an exciting day! Just wanted to share that! TTYL......P

Woohoo!! Congrats!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

QOTD Sunday March 17, 2013

Inspired by Pamela's night out discussion.

How do you handle food/eating situations where you have no idea what will be served? Do you plan ahead? Do you go with the flow and not worry about it? Do you eat whatever, count it, and move on? Does it stress you out and cause you to avoid certain situations?

BBL with replies.

I usually wing it. But once I get there I'll do a once over of the food seeing what I can and cannot eat. then I'll go back and get 1/2 plate of fruits and veggies, a little protein and a little carb.
If I know it's a place that will have really bad for you foods, I'll eat something before I go and drink a bottle of water on the way there. Then I can get something light to eat but not draw attention to the fact that I'm not eating.

In the past, I would take small portions, eat slowly and do the best I could and enjoy myself.

With the whole g-f thing, to be honest eating away from home is just a pain in the butt sometimes. And for a while I have just avoided it. Not all g-f foods are safe to eat (cross contamination) and a lot of places just don't understand that. So it has been easier and less stressful to just avoid those situations. But I have been trying to be a little more social.

Thursday we had a dinner at a restaurant for someone from our work who was leaving, and I went along--and then just drank hot tea. I was perfectly ok with that. Didn't bother me at all. I think everyone else might have felt bad, but I feel like if it doesn't bother me, then they should be ok with it. I think I could have gotten a safe meal at this restaurant, but it was more relaxing to me to just drink tea and hang out than to deal with food and the million questions I would have had to ask to feel confident I was really getting a g-f dinner.

So that is going to be my new plan of action. Eat before and just have something to drink. It will probably make some people uncomfortable, but I think the people who care about me will understand.

Mom did this yesterday at the tea we went to. She knew there would be lots of stuff with dairy in it so she had lunch before we left. Then she had tea and the fruit and veggie platter. Luckily DS16 helped prep a lot of the food in gourmet class so he knew what had dairy and what didn't but she pretty much stuck to just the fruits and veggies with no dip to be safe because DS knew there would be cross contamination.

Guess what?! DD just won an NHSA scholarship! Woohooo! What an exciting day! Just wanted to share that! TTYL......P

Woohoo!!!!!

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