Oh, I've been seeing them all week -- skipping workouts, eating things I shouldn't because I'm out, not journaling a darn thing...now for the getting back on track part -- I have given myself a fresh start today, with a goal of losing 7 lbs before my birthday in June. Ambitious, but doable if I work hard. This week I'm giving myself daily mini-rewards for working out 90 minutes and eating within my points. I've never done it before, but I am totally motivated. I need to lose 3.6 lbs to make my goal for this Challenge, and it's completely because I dilly dallied around in April and May. So, that will be tough for me, but I am going to give it my best shot. Tomorrow's reward is a facial and mani/pedi. I'm giving it to myself, but taking the time to do it is definitely the reward. I ran 9M in 101 minutes this morning to kick things off, and I had yogurt and cantaloupe for breakfast. I'm throwing out the leftover Chinese food from last night (yep, I think I'm probably a bit up from that so I may actually have about 3 lbs to lose), and I'll have hummus and veggies for lunch. I'll round things out with a nice salad for dinner, and when I finish here I'm headed over to WW online to record my food and exercise. Another thing -- I notice I stop posting when I stop doing what I should! I'm going to be annoying this week as I keep track of every little thing and give you TMI -- fair warning!
Maria
Never TMI! I love to read EVERYTHING that you post here... both your challenges and your successes. Feel free to share whatever you want! I started a food journal over on the journal board a while ago and it was really an eye opener to know that EVERYTHING I ate I had to post in public... it really keeps you thinking before you eat!
Happy Sat. all.
Question for those of you who cook fresh veggies. We are trying to start this habit ourselves(me and DH) so we went out to a framers' market today and bought some fresh brocolli, green beans, and red potatoes. There is enough of everything to last us through at least 2 meals with each veggie. Possibly 3 with the green beans. For us this would mean about 2 weeks.
So how do you store them(potatoes are properly stored already) and is it possible to get to last 2 weeks without blanching/freezing? Which is what the community board is telling me. I don't have blanching baskets.
We bought the smallest quantities possible of each but unless we want whole dinner of JUST green beans we gotta store them somehow
Short of blanching and freezing, I'm not sure how you can keep those things fresh long enough. Could you just plan to hit the farmer's market once a week instead of every other week?
BTW, if you do decide to blanch and freeze, don't forget the icewater bath after the blanch to stop the cooking process....otherwise you will end up with COOKED veggies instead of just blanched beggies. It's not hard, just a bit time consuming.
Octoberbride_ you can just throw the beans in some simmeringg water for a couple minutes and drain them and their blanched. Then you can freeze them if you want. Try keeping whole non cooked beans wrapped in a paper towel in a baggie. Also I heard that those "green bags" work really well though I haven't tried them.
I am in the same boat with my girls needing to lose a little weight. I talked to their doc and he is pretty against low fat stuff. He said some low fat dairy and milk is good, but most other stuff that is low fat or no fat is very high in sugar and additives. Its kinda freaky when you read about it all. Thats why most trainers and nutritionists reccommend "whole" foods, which most of us don't get nearly enough of (I know I sure don't). Its a touchy subject though. I don't want my girls thinking they are fat or anything, but I want them to maintain a healthy weight for their bodies. Its a fine line thats for sure. When they want junk I try adn remind them they are helping me by eating good foods, and that they want to grow up healthy. Healthy is our new word in this house!
I have a cold and have felt soooo tired the whole day. My DD1 had double ear infections and had to go to the Little Clinic last night. DD3 is cutting teeth and I need a VACATION!!!
I hope you are all having a great weekend!
I agree with the "reduced fat" items having some scary ingredients. I was thinking mainly of naturally lower fat items... most low fat dairy just has the fat removed and nothing else added, so there is nothing really scary there. But many "low fat" or "reduced fat" grocery items do have fillers in place of the fat. I think that skim milk (or even 1% milk) would still be considered a "whole food".
I'm sure you already do this, but just a reminder to read food labels. It you look around you can make plenty of healthy swaps and let your DD still have "normal" food. I was looking for some frozen french fries for DS (for a birthday party... not something I normally buy) and I was HORRIFIED at the fat level and the ingredients on many of the packages. But I kept looking and found a brand (that I had used for other things before) that was MUCH lower in fat and the only ingredients were potatoes, salt, oil and citric acid (presumably to keep the potatoe from discoloring). Alexia certified organic Yukon Gold julienne fries with sea salt.
Most of the frozen french fries I looked at had anywhere from 11 to 18 grams of fat per serving. Waaaaay too many for me to be comfortable serving. The Alexia brand only had 3.5 grams of fat per serving and 130 calories! Very reasonable. And they were delicious! Just yummy french fries... and fairly guilt free!
That is just an example of a healthy swap. Keep looking and you will find other things. DD won't need to know that you are making these swaps for any reason other than to be HEALTHIER!! Good luck.
Greetings! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!
QOTD - I'll have to say my problems come with leaving home--travel has killed me during this challenge--I know I should prepare - but I just don't (YET!!!). And all of the good habits I've been able to do while at home just seem to evaporate--I don't get enough water, I don't eat enough fruits/veggies and I don't exercise. I also don't have my computer on and with me to remind me to track everything in sparkpeople and to read the inspiration that I get here. And once I am not doing those things - it's just that much easier for me to just eat what the heck ever I want to... not a good thing - but it has been a definite pattern here.
What do I do to get back on? Well - I just do it... usually the day after I get home--though a couple of times I have waited til the magical Monday to start anew... but because of this challenge and the marvelous support here and from my sister (we email each other multi times each day to report on progress and non-successful times as well) this is the first time when I have been able to fall and get right back up. In spark yesterday I read a japanese proverb that fits well - "Fall down 7 times, Get up 8" What a great thought!
Well - in addition to the QOTD I wanted to report on my first day of 'half marathon prep'... I began the day with 3 miles WATP and then went to DH's school to help him with some computer stuff - and I timed myself on his indoor track (1/16 mile track). I walk slowly - so I just wanted to know where I am starting--since I know for Disney halfs I have to be close to 15 min/mile...
The bad news is currently I am at about 20 minutes per mile!
The absolutely fabulously super news is - after I had walked 1/2 mile I decided to try to 'jog' (with as little stress to my knees and ankles as I could muster) for a bit and ended up 'jogging' for 2 laps or 1/8 mile!!! Don't know when the last time I did that was... I realize that this is incredibly small compared with all of you who are running tons and pulling down times of 9 min miles--but this was HUGE for me--so I wanted to share it here
Have a great evening and fabulously happy Sunday
Liz
GREAT job on the jog! We all started somewhere with our exercise. Keep up the good work!
Okay, so I have been reading this thread, but not posting or doing weigh ins... I got off track awhile back but I am really back on now... Way on. I have been working out twice a day (20 min. in the morning and about an hour after work), 6 days a week, and watching what I eat. I eat about half of what I used to (so actually correct portions), and much healthier. I notice that I am stronger during workouts too. And yet... no change on the scale. Or at least, very, very little. Like, 1 lb in 2.5 weeks. I can tell that I am starting to get frustrated, like what is the point? I just wanted to vent, and I am hoping someone out there has some fabulous words of advice or something for me... Maybe an idea as to why this is happening or what else I can do? I am pretty close to eating even less, but I worry that it may be unhealthy... Any ideas?
I know that you got a few good answers already, so I am probably just repeating here... but I suggest that if you are not already doing so that you track your food carefully for a few weeks. It is possible that you are either not eating ENOUGH or eating more than you think. Tracking your food is the only way to know for sure.
I have a tween!!!!!AHHHH!!!!!!
Gave her her gifts this morning! She got a Perfect Pet bulldog who she named Spike! No need to feed (except batteries when they die) and sleeps ALL THE TIME! Doing a Wizards of Waverly Place fashion notebook Color Explosion Kit. Also gave her another pookaloo, Minnie.
Woke up to the sweetest thing ever. DH and I thought the girls were in the living room watching tv. I got up and looked in DD1s room and they were lying in bed and DD1 was reading A Little Princess to DD2! It was sooooo sweet I wanted to cry! I got photos!
DD1 and I have to go out at 11 to get recital tickets and then go pick up our Chinese food. My Payless version of Shape-Ups are in at my local store so maybe I will go get them later today as week.
We're going to do Walk it Out later today and watch some movies and probably play games.
Have a great day!
I bought the Payless "tone-up" shoes a few weeks ago. They are comfortable and light... but I can't say that they are doing much of anything for me. I definitely am not FEELING any changes. But maybe they are helping without my realizing it. I wore them two of the four days we were at Disney. I loved the light weight of the shoes and the mesh was very breathable. I wore my slightly worn-out New Balance cross trainers the other two days with no noticeable change in foot or leg fatigue or anything like that.
The warning signs for me getting off track is that I start thinking I
deserve something that I shouldn't have. Thoughts like "I had a hard day, I
deserve a treat," or "I worked so hard today, I
deserve to skip my walk" start showing up in my head. Or somedays I just totally give up and do whatever I want. It is not pretty. I don't even particularly enjoy it while it is happening. I have literally
years of experience picking myself up, dusting off my pants and running back to the wagon so that part is not so hard. The hard part for me is not giving myself a pass again later and undoing all my hard work.
I am very excited because I got my official admissions letter to start back to school for my nutrition degree. Looks like I will be able to be a R.D. in 2012! That is with keeping my day job and going part time. I'm going to start saying I am not available for trials in 2012.
It will be so nice to start counseling people who will be happy when they are done instead of disillusioned with the legal system.
Have a great day all!
I am excited to hear about your new educational journey! I wish I had the "push" to go back to school to do something like that. I'm so impressed that you already have a GREAT education and now you are going for more!
Well... Happy Sunday friends! Sorry to be hopping on so late today! DD and I got home from yesterday's swim meet around midnight! It was a long day, but DD got four best times, so it was worth the trip.
I was hungry ALL DAY and it was really hard to stay on plan. I packed dinner and snacks (but not lunch) and ate most of what I brought, but it was hard to not keep eating all day (so boring to sit at these pools for hours). But I added up my points this morning and I did well... I only went over by 1.5 points and that was because I had a handful of DD's fries. So I was pleased that I was able to keep my control.... it would have been SO easy to spend a long, boring, uncomfortable (those bleachers are SO HARD) day just eating and reading.
I slept in a bit this morning and then lounged in bed with DS watching MythBusters before I made a late breakfast for the family.... so I haven't done my exercise yet. It is nice out and I should head outside to walk/run, but I know I would be bored so I think I'll hit the TM instead and watch a movie.
Tonight is the Survivor finale.... and that traditionally means chinese food night for us. But I'd like to avoid the expense and the calories tonight. Plus my wedding anniversary is tomorrow and I figure we will probably go out (as a family) tomorrow, so I need to save my calories. I'll try to make a special meal for the family that is still a "treat" but won't send me over the edge, calorically.
I took a sneak peek at the scale yesterday and it showed me down quite a bit from the Friday weigh-in! I am excited and would LOVE to keep that number until next Friday, so I am feeling motivated to stay on track this week.
Sunday's QOTD: My love of the "bad" chinese foods (dumplings, lo mein, crab rangoon) prompts this question...
What is your favorite healthy ethnic food?
I tried a couscous salad at the Moroccan counter service restaurant in Epcot last week and it was DELICIOUS. I am going to try to duplicate it here at home. I am not much of a cook and I don't have a great "palate" to tell me what was in that salad, but I definitely detected nutmeg. And it wasn't at all oily or greasy, so I know that the dressing was very light. I'll share the recipe if I get any kind of decent results. It had green pepper, chick peas, and couscous (I'll use whole wheat).
When we do get chinese food, I try to stick with steamed dumplings and things like steamed veggies and shrimp.
Not a food, but I like the taste of curry, so I would probably like Indian food if I ever had a chance to try it.
Well... the TM is waiting for me. I'll hop on later..................P
, making lunches for tomorrow, cleaning my scary upstairs bathroom 
, it all needs to be done! 
We'll check out in about an hour and half, she has to be there at noon!
It's so hard to walk the tight rope of keeping your kids healthy, wanting them to enjoy themselves, and not get hung up on food issues. DS got a little chunky this winter. We stopped the fast food, except on rare occassions, replaced some electronics time with games, and increased his activity level. He is back to where he has always been weight wise -- in the 95th percentile of height and weight. We really give our kids the gift of a lifetime when we help them to develop lifelong healthy habits. 
I think it's right up there with the gift of reading! 
Darn that RL getting in the way of our DIS lives! 
I love Wilderness Lodge! 
And, even if we were, it wouldn't be the end of the world. We could just get to Epcot to have some after race drink that much faster and plot our strategy for next time! 
Back on track today!! We can finish this challenge strong!!
