Biggest Loser--Fall 2011 Challenge for Losers & Maintainers!!

[buzz5985]

I'd like to join as a loser

Welcome!!!

Bellebookworm9 - best of luck on your application! UF is a big school, but it never really felt like 50,000 students to me except on football game days. I did enjoy summers there though, when it was really empty.



1. Low fat yogurt! I try to eat some every day.
2. I do stay away from fried foods and alcohol most of the time because I don't like how both make me feel afterwards. Blah! Now that I'm watching my diet, I'll try to cut down on all of the foods mentioned.
3. I didn't know too much about steel cut or rolled oats. I've seen it mentioned also on health blogs, but never looked into it. I'm off to find some more about it now.

We cook our steel cut oats overnight in the crock pot. It will feed DH and I for about 4 days. We add apples, or bananas, nuts, raisons, craisons, pears, etc. Very filling - really "sticks to your ribs". Here is the WW recipe we use.

http://www.weightwatchers.pl/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=225391

Just a side note - I do not add the dried cranberries to the crockpot, I found they became too mushy.

Good evening everyone. I just got home about an hour ago. I was helping distribute Boy Scout popcorn. I left before it was all gone since my knee was bothering me. After 4 1/2 hours on concrete I had enough.This on top of school all day including a full evacuation drill during my prep period. It has been a long day.

Bye

I was a Popcorn Kernal about 5 years ago, for a couple of years. From now till Thanksgiving I had stacks of popcorn lining my front hallway - close to $8,000 worth!!! All you could smell was the butter popcorn.

I hope they still have the popping corn this year - it was FANTASTIC. I ordered some powdered cheddar from King Arthur Flour, and we would sprinkle some of that on the popcorn and it was very yummy.

QOTD:

1. Water! - I drink at least 8 glasses a day, if not more.

2. Green Tea! - I have never had it. I stopped drinking tea. The only way I like it is the way my Grandmother made it - ton's of sugar and milk.

3. Soup! We like gazepacho in the summer, I made the old WW Zero points soup last week. I also like a turkey meatball soup, that I should post when I find it. It's very good, and extremely easy to make.

4. Grapefruit! I like them - but it seems to me whenever I buy them, I end up throwing them out because I am too lazy to cut them.

5. Apples and Pears! I love pears. But such a short season that I can get tasty ones in the NE. Going apple picking this weekend.

6. Broccoli! DS favorite veggie, so we eat it a lot.

7. Low-Fat Yogurt! - We made the switch to Chobani yogurt, much more satisfying.

8. Lean Turkey! I cooked a hotel style breast last weekend for our lunches this week. I have replaced ground 99% FF turkey in meatloaf recipes, chili, hamburgers and really enjoy it a lot.

9. Oatmeal! We have started to eat more steel cut oats.

10. Hot Peppers! The hottest I have gone is jalapeno and I will not admit that every time I cut them, now mind you I wear gloves, will manage to rub my eye and I start running around with burning eyes!!!

METABOLISM SLOWERS

1) SUGAR:- I drink one coffee a day. It has 2 sugars and light cream. I also bake my own bread and a lot of the recipes call for some sugar to help the yeast work.

2) WHITE BREAD:- I make my own bread - yes I use white flour. It's very difficult to make whole wheat bread that tastes good without adding a lot of additives. But one thing I can guarantee - a couple of slices of white bread a day did not make me obese.

3) FRIED FOODS:- Occasionaly - I can say only about once a month at the most. We rarely eat out, if we have fries at home we purchase the frozen Alexia Sweet Potato fries.

4) PROCESSED FOODS:- We buy pasta, some cereal, rice pilaf, canned tomatoes, condiments, ice cream, DS snacks for school. but I bake cookies etc from scratch. I do most cooking from scratch.

5) ALCOHOL:- Love it, oh this is the not good for you column, drat.


Steps to Boost your Metabolism

1. Build up on lean, mean body mass - trying to.

2. Eat breakfast - does coffee count??

3. Avoid refined sugar - work in progress.

4. Consume spicy foods - I have Irish roots - is black pepper spicy enough??

5. Sleep more - I try

6. Increase your water consumption - I drink plenty already

7. Eat little and more often! - I do well at work. When I am at home, I tend to keep putting it off until I am overly hungry and just eat blindly.

8. Eat lean protein no problem with this

9. Plan meals in detail. - I do, I plan our weekly menu's according to the sales at the local grocery store.

10. Get rid of the stress! - Now if I didn't work, didn't have a DF with dementia, there would be little stress in my life.

10. Go hot or cold - My family calls me the Ice Princess. LOL Thermostat in the winter is at 62, we put it up to 64 for company. But . . . the A/C are also set at 62. LOL Like I said Ice Princess. My DS loves it cold too.

11. Drink more green tea. - Can't do it.

12. Include a lot of energy foods in the diet, such as fruits and veggies, beans and whole grains - working on it.

I think I've got this covered!

We're camping. It's cold, really cold. I'm glad I brought my parka. Thankfully we have heat in the camper so we're hanging out inside tonight. Chris and I did take a walk around the campground then my mother and I walked to and from the haunted trail as well as walking the trail in the dark complete with rocks, roots, uneven ground, mud etc.

Thanks for the kudos on the costumes. It's kind of funny that several of the costumes I made over the years are now commercially produced. The disney ones were not available when those were made neither was the bumble bee. I have made many more, but don't have them in the digital album yet.

I bet its cold, I thought I heard it was going down to 38 in the Boston suburbs this weekend, so I can't imagine what it is where you are. But it will make the fall folliage brilliant!!!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hey everyone!!! I hope everyone had a really successful first week. Even if you - pick yourself up, dust yourself off and Jump back on the Hayride to Success!!! We have over 100 people signed up for this challenge. I would love for some of you lurkers to join in (I know your there )

Have a nice weekend - we plan on apple picking at our favorite place Applecrest in Epping NH. They have stuff your own scarecrow, pumpkin picking, DH and DS love the apple cider donuts, grampy loves the pie and ice cream, and I love the live bluegrass music.

Try to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend.

My Mantra for the current HH Week 2 - it's on my coffee cup - If you can dream it, you can do it.

Janis

 

[jaelless]

buzz5985 I never thought of making steel cut oats in crockpot. I am totally going to try that tomorrow when I get off work.

 

[cclovesdis]

Morning All!

I am running a few minutes behind. I woke up when the alarm went off, but I wasn't alert for another 20 minutes. That's okay though, I'll just reschedule my day accordingly. I kind of thought I might anyway.

Just a quick Healthy Habits update. I PMed everyone back who sent in scores. So, if you didn't receive a response from me, I haven't received your scores. I don't want anyone missed.

Thanks!

 

[tigger813]

Saturday QOTD: This article is on Optimal Eating Pattern. Go to www.weightlosschallenge.com Choose Course 3 Week 3 Username wlc (all lowercase) password: eatwell (lower case and no spaces)

Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat? And what did you learn new from this article if anything?

Almost forgot to post a QOTD! I'm out of practice being a coach!

I'll answer before I run off to Izzie's freezing cold soccer game! It's 37 degrees here! Brian and Ash are going to stay home and warm this morning so they don't get chilled before Ash's game. After Ash's game I'm off to work at a festival for the rest of the day!

QOTD: YES! I do eat breakfast everyday. I have a Healthy Meal Replacement shake that's by Herbalife. I also have water and now that it's getting cold I have a green tea! I didn't always eat breakfast. I make a point to do it now!

Time to finish bundling up! Have a great day wherever you are and make it a healthy one or as close to healthy as you can!

TTFN

 

[AUdisneyDad]

After reading, answer the following questions:
1) What things do you eat already that can help you speed up your metabolism?
2) Do you limit the foods/drinks that slow down your metabolism?
3) What new things did you learn from this article?


1) Water (Drink), Apples, broccoli, low fat yogurt, lean turkey
2) For the most part yes, we deviate one time a week. No fried food, bread, or sugar at the house. We drink mostly water and milk.
3) The benifits of green tea and about your basal metabolic rate (bmr)

Thanks for the article! It was very informational,

Tim

 

[dvccruiser76]

Morning everyone,
I've posted everyone that has sent me a pm so far, so please keep those weigh-ins coming.

As a reminder, you have until 8:00 Monday night to pm me and I will try my best each week to have the results posted by Tuesday evening.

It's been really nice and falllike this weekend so far. Got my hair done yesterday and went darker for the fall. No more light highlights.

No real plans for today except maybe dinner with an old friend and her kids.

Tomorrow DH, DS and I are doing the Jimmy Fund walk, so let's hope for nice weather. It might just be DS's first T ride in Boston too.

Enjoy your Saturday everyone

:Sue-Thank you for being our weightkeeper. Sounds like you needed a good nights sleep. I went to bed by 9 a few nights this week too.

You're welcome I may have to get a few more of those in this week DH is going to Philly for a couple of days for work, so maybe Dylan and I will both go to bed at 7:00.

I'd like to join as a loser

Welcome! You're info has been entered and you're ready to go

Exactly 3 weeks until Disney! [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Have a wonderful time

Sunday I am doing a local half marathon. I'm feeling good and I'm ready! I'm past the drive yourself crazy before the race stage and am at the introspective part of the pre-race festivities. I will be doing 20 second/40 second run/walk intervals to the half way point and then 30/30 intervals back. I just want to finish in under four hours and I am confident that I can do that. I had a disappointment earlier this year when I was swept at the Princess a bit after 8 miles but I've done two races since then. And I swear this is the last half marathon that I am doing outside of ONE-derland. Then it is on to training for the Tinker Bell Half at Disneyland in January.

I'm enjoying music from MNSSHP on d-cot radio today -- gives you that Fall feeling.

Good luck on Sunday!

Oh, let me jump on and listen

We're camping. It's cold, really cold. I'm glad I brought my parka. Thankfully we have heat in the camper so we're hanging out inside tonight.

It's definitely cold here at night and first thing in the morning and you're ever further north so I just imagine. Brrr.... Stay warm

 

[AUdisneyDad]

Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat? And what did you learn new from this article if anything?

Yes, I usually have a Carnation Essential Breakfast drink and a piece of fruit. On the weekends I'll cook eggs, turkey sausage and oatmeal.

I know it is important to take in fiber throughout the day but the article helped me understand the reasoning.

 

[lisah0711]

Good morning all!

It's a cool, beautiful Fall morning in my neck of the woods, too!

Linda, enjoy that new bathroom this week-end!

Connie96, no worries! So nice to see you and don't be a stranger!

I faced the scale, and went down .2. At first, I was disappointed but remembered the rich dessert I shared with DH at our restaurant meal this week (sponge toffee cake with ice cream ) , the Chinese food and wedding cake last Saturday at my friend's wedding and the pizza buffet blow out on Wednesday. That, coupled with my training not yet up to speed - lucky I lost at all!

Lucky I didn't gain.

And, besides, I did a lot of positive things this week:

a) wrote in my blog every day
b) charted my food every day
c) Followed training plan every day but one
d) Did most of Healthy Habits and am sending a score for the first time
e) Have been on this page everyday and did the QOTD

So - onward and upward

Great list of positives for the week, Linda! And around here we sometimes say "onward and downward"

CC, enjoy your reunion tonight!

Gretchen, congrats on getting the grad school apps completed!

We're camping. It's cold, really cold. I'm glad I brought my parka. Thankfully we have heat in the camper so we're hanging out inside tonight. Chris and I did take a walk around the campground then my mother and I walked to and from the haunted trail as well as walking the trail in the dark complete with rocks, roots, uneven ground, mud etc.

Thanks for the kudos on the costumes. It's kind of funny that several of the costumes I made over the years are now commercially produced. The disney ones were not available when those were made neither was the bumble bee. I have made many more, but don't have them in the digital album yet.

Brrrr! Stay warm! Nice job on the walk.

ACK I totally flaked on my week for Clean Up The Clutter

So here we go:

Clean Up The Clutter Week 2

Daily:
Dishes
make your bed
New process mail (including finding a place to sort mail near a recycle bin and shredder). Mail can get overwhelming pretty quickly especially junk mail.
Don't throw it on the counter. Process, shred, file, and recycle every day.

weekly:
Sheets and towels
New dust

Great article about shredding and processing mail
http://unclutterer.com/2007/05/07/paper-clutter-begone-part-4/

Thanks, Buffy! I'm catching up on dusting today and the mail monster is already tamed. Electronic bill paying and storage helps a lotwith that!

I am very lucky to live in a neighborhood with good cheap produce though... gotta love living in a Latin/Indian neighborhood... these women know how to COOK. Bulk onions, potatoes, mangos, peppers, whatever produce you need, it's generally cheap, and there's a LOT of it. I had the GREATEST experience once checking out dandelion greens at my supermarket and a Latina senior citizen couldn't get over them, and kept asking the check-out girl to translate while she told me how HEALTHY they were, and how good they were for my cholesterol... and she asked what I was making with them (a Leeky Broth with Ravioli soup) and asked for directions on how to make it... it was an awesome cross-generational moment... Here I thought that healthy food with obscure produce was MY generation's foodie fad, but apparently not!

This is a great story, Samantha!

Hey everyone!!! I hope everyone had a really successful first week. Even if you - pick yourself up, dust yourself off and Jump back on the Hayride to Success!!! We have over 100 people signed up for this challenge. I would love for some of you lurkers to join in (I know your there )

Have a nice weekend - we plan on apple picking at our favorite place Applecrest in Epping NH. They have stuff your own scarecrow, pumpkin picking, DH and DS love the apple cider donuts, grampy loves the pie and ice cream, and I love the live bluegrass music.

Try to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend.

My Mantra for the current HH Week 2 - it's on my coffee cup - If you can dream it, you can do it.

Janis

It's pretty nice here on the Hayride to success!

Saturday QOTD: This article is on Optimal Eating Pattern. Go to www.weightlosschallenge.com Choose Course 3 Week 3 Username wlc (all lowercase) password: eatwell (lower case and no spaces)

Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat? And what did you learn new from this article if anything?

I do eat breakfast everyday. I sometimes feel like I am in a breakfast rut because on work days it is the same, minibagels, hard boiled egg. I try to keep it less than 400 calories. Less than that I will not make it to lunch. I'm sure I need to switch some of the bagel carbs for whole grain and fruit. Part of my problem is that I eat way too much at my desk. This is an area I need some improvement in so I will be interested to see what I learn from reading the article later today.

Tomorrow DH, DS and I are doing the Jimmy Fund walk, so let's hope for nice weather. It might just be DS's first T ride in Boston too.

Hope it's nice weather for your walk tomorrow, Sue! I have to confess my western ignorance and admit I don't know what the T is.

Have a great day all!

 

[jillbur]

QOTD Saturday
Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat? And what did you learn new from this article if anything?


I eat breakfast everyday. I don't understand how people don't. My sister never eats breakfast and then wonders why she can't lose weight? I keep telling her, but she apparently knows better lol.

My go to breakfasts are: 1. hard boiled egg and a bowl of high fiber cereal, 2. whole wheat bagel thin with peanut butter, 3. whole wheat English muffin with a turkey sausage patty. If I feel like I need more, I add a piece of fruit (usually banana, apple, or pear) or a yogurt.


I try to make sure I have protein and fiber and the article reinforced information I have read in other articles/magazines. I notice a difference when I eat 5-6 smaller meals than 3 bigger meals. I used to crave sweets immediately after dinner (chocolate mainly) and would pig out on a dessert-like item, but when I eat smaller balanced meals, I don't feel that craving. In fact. this week has been great. No feeling that sugar craving at all! Yay! And, I don't miss it (nor does my thighs lol).

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

DS15 ran JV cross country today, placed 79 out of 275 time was 20:23 which is a 6:32 minutes per mile!!!

Last year, same course but shorter he ran a 7:38 minute mile.

He looked amazing!!!!!!! Will throw some pics up later, we are having a picnic/team meeting at 1 so I need to book it to the park.

 

[mackeysmom]

Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat?

I LOVE breakfast . More specifically, I LOVE breakfast foods. Hot breakfast foods only - cold breakfast (cereal, etc.) does absolutely nothing for me.

I have about 5 stand-by breakfasts that I alternate throughout the week:

1) Reduced-fat Boar's Head American cheese melted (open-faced) on a high-fiber english muffin,
2) Same as #1, but with 2 oz. of Boar's Head ham under the cheese (I "crisp" the ham up first in a non-stick frying pan),
3) Same as #2, but with a "fried" (non-stick w/a little butter-flavored Pam) egg on top of each english muffin half,
4) French Toast (two slices of whole grain Weight Watchers bread, eggbeaters, cinnamon, and a speck of real syrup),
5) Egg-white omlette with 1/4 cup of feta cheese - served with either an english muffin or WW bread (with a little ICBINB spray.)

Occasionally, I will tweak #2 and make a traditional grilled-cheese and ham sandwich on the Foreman grill.

I follow Weight Watchers, and most of these breakfasts are pretty point friendly. #3 cost the most points because of the two eggs, but I'll usually have that on a Saturday or Sunday when it is a combo of breakfast and lunch.

I have always been a bacon lover, and while lean, center-cut bacon is pretty points friendly - having just one or two slices leaves me wanting more. I have come to really enjoy the Boar's Head ham, and when I crisp it up - yummy.

- Laura

 

[mackeysmom]

Quick Question for those of you that count calories ...

Have you ever heard of the Alternate Day Diet (or the Up Day/Down Day Diet)? My local news station did a story on this yesterday and I found it interesting.

Supposedly it works well because psychologically you only have to be "strict" for one day, and it keeps your metabolism from becoming stagnate.

I found it online and plugged in my stats. My "up day" would be 2306 calories, and my "down day" would be 807 calories.

Here's the tough part, though - for the first 14 days, my "down day" would be only 461 calories. That is the "jump start" part of the program. They recommend using shakes (like Slimfast, etc) on the first two weeks of "down days" just to make it easier for tracking purposes.

It sounds interesting - I think 807 would be almost do-able on an every-other day basis. Not sure how I would handle the 461 for those first two weeks (albeit only every-other day).

The news story didn't go into any details about exercising - for instance, can you "eat" the calories that you are burning through exercise, etc.

Have any of you ever heard of this? Or tried it?

- Laura

 

[pjlla]

Good evening everyone. I just got home about an hour ago. I was helping distribute Boy Scout popcorn. I left before it was all gone since my knee was bothering me. After 4 1/2 hours on concrete I had enough.This on top of school all day including a full evacuation drill during my prep period. It has been a long day.

I would love to see Lion King on the big screen again but I don't know. A few years after it came out we got a new principal. Nathan Lane's brother. He was there for about three years. His voice was just like his brother's. It was a very hard three years. He caused a lot of hard feeling among people. I can still remember his voice on the all call talking to the students. It is not a happy thought. And I can't listen to the Lion King without thinking about him.
We shal see.

I am tired and have some things to do before I go to bed.

Bye

SOrry that you have some bad feeling associated with the LK (or at least, a voice). And it is such a distinctive voice, it would be hard to "forget" about it. But maybe if you had a new positive experience associated with that voice, you could forget the bad stuff? Just a thought.

Saturday QOTD: This article is on Optimal Eating Pattern. Go to www.weightlosschallenge.com Choose Course 3 Week 3 Username wlc (all lowercase) password: eatwell (lower case and no spaces)

Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat? And what did you learn new from this article if anything?

No time to read the article right now, so I will just answer the first two parts of the question..

Yes, I absolutely eat breakfast every single day. I have a few "standard" breakfasts that I work through right now. Three egg white omelet with something inside.... usually a veggie of some sort such as spinach, tomato, leftover broccoli, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and 1 points worth of cheese... either shredded cheddar or goat cheese, is my "usual". I will add a piece of fruit if I think I will need it.

Another stand-by is hot cooked oat bran cereal.... very quick and easy, loaded with fiber, and a different texture than slow cooking oats or steel cut oats (for those of you who might not care for the texture of those two items).... more like the texture of cream of wheat. I top it with a tsp. of brown sugar and a splash of almond milk. Will often add a light babybel cheese or light string cheese stick with this. Sometimes a handful of berries or an apple too.

Another "usual" for me is unsweetened non-fat greek yogurt....throw in a bit of splenda and some vanilla, and chopped fruit if I have it handy.

My last basic for breakfast is lowfat cottage cheese. I really love it and would eat it nearly every day. Plain with some fruit or a handful of salted nuts, or the toasted onion and chive flavor.... both are delicious, super fast, and don't require any preplanning or cooking.

I do always have a cup of coffee, decaf or regular, doesn't matter much to me. I gave up coffee and all caffeine for many, many years, but have read studies recently about how a little caffeine is actually good for you and can stimulate your metabolism, so I have at least a cup a day.... usually regular, but I just like the hot drink in the morning so decaf is okay with me too. I only need a splash of skim or a splash of non-fat creamer and I am good to go. I will often pour another cup to sip on the ride to work or wherever I am going, but I try to NOT drink more than 2 a DAY. After cup #2 I try to switch to tea... decaf green or herbal.

My favorite "morning hot drink" that I concocted a few years ago is still handy in the cupboard and I will often make myself a cup in the evening to enjoy (it is caffeine-free and a little sweet) as a treat.

I suppose this is all waaaaay more than I needed to say about breakfast!

I'll read the article later when I have more time.

DS15 ran JV cross country today, placed 79 out of 275 time was 20:23 which is a 6:32 minutes per mile!!!

Last year, same course but shorter he ran a 7:38 minute mile.

He looked amazing!!!!!!! Will throw some pics up later, we are having a picnic/team meeting at 1 so I need to book it to the park.

Tell DS "Great Job" from his NH friends!!

I LOVE breakfast . More specifically, I LOVE breakfast foods. Hot breakfast foods only - cold breakfast (cereal, etc.) does absolutely nothing for me.

I have about 5 stand-by breakfasts that I alternate throughout the week:

1) Reduced-fat Boar's Head American cheese melted (open-faced) on a high-fiber english muffin,
2) Same as #1, but with 2 oz. of Boar's Head ham under the cheese (I "crisp" the ham up first in a non-stick frying pan),
3) Same as #2, but with a "fried" (non-stick w/a little butter-flavored Pam) egg on top of each english muffin half,
4) French Toast (two slices of whole grain Weight Watchers bread, eggbeaters, cinnamon, and a speck of real syrup),
5) Egg-white omlette with 1/4 cup of feta cheese - served with either an english muffin or WW bread (with a little ICBINB spray.)

Occasionally, I will tweak #2 and make a traditional grilled-cheese and ham sandwich on the Foreman grill.

I follow Weight Watchers, and most of these breakfasts are pretty point friendly. #3 cost the most points because of the two eggs, but I'll usually have that on a Saturday or Sunday when it is a combo of breakfast and lunch.

I have always been a bacon lover, and while lean, center-cut bacon is pretty points friendly - having just one or two slices leaves me wanting more. I have come to really enjoy the Boar's Head ham, and when I crisp it up - yummy.

- Laura

Your breakfasts sound delicious! I do miss having an english muffin at breakfast. It was my standard "go-to" breakfast before I started trying to reduce my carbs. I do occasionally splurge on a toasted low carb pita these days, with a bit of natural peanut butter though.

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

Happy Saturday friends! We are going to see Lion King tonight (in 2-D for us old folks! ). I know there is popcorn in my future, but I will have a piece of fruit before we go and drink just plain seltzer with it.... and as unhealthy as it sounds, the popcorn will end up being dinner for me, so I won't worry too much about it.

I hit the TM this morning after morning swim practice (Y wasn't open yet) and DS's soccer game, but after 20 minutes I was having some foot pain, so I cooled down and got off, but left the TM open. Foot feels fine now, so I'm gonna hit it again for another 20 minutes and see how it feels.

After I FINALLY got off the Dis yesterday, I managed to get a boatload of stuff done around the house in a short time, so I feel good about having some relaxing time this weekend. I managed to pick up both kids' rooms, make all three beds, vacuum upstairs, dust most flat surfaces in my bedroom, clean both upstair bathrooms (well, at least a swish and wipe), fold and put away 3 loads of wash, and hang a few pictures I've been meaning to get up in DS's room.... plus make a healthy dinner! Wish I could get that much done in 2.5 hours every day!!

Speaking of housework, looks like I lost my multi-quote from Buffy about cleaning up the clutter! Gotta go find it and see what I need to do!! TTYL..............P

 

[pjlla]

Quick Question for those of you that count calories ...

Have you ever heard of the Alternate Day Diet (or the Up Day/Down Day Diet)? My local news station did a story on this yesterday and I found it interesting.

Supposedly it works well because psychologically you only have to be "strict" for one day, and it keeps your metabolism from becoming stagnate.

I found it online and plugged in my stats. My "up day" would be 2306 calories, and my "down day" would be 807 calories.

Here's the tough part, though - for the first 14 days, my "down day" would be only 461 calories. That is the "jump start" part of the program. They recommend using shakes (like Slimfast, etc) on the first two weeks of "down days" just to make it easier for tracking purposes.

It sounds interesting - I think 807 would be almost do-able on an every-other day basis. Not sure how I would handle the 461 for those first two weeks (albeit only every-other day).

The news story didn't go into any details about exercising - for instance, can you "eat" the calories that you are burning through exercise, etc.

Have any of you ever heard of this? Or tried it?

- Laura

Someone came up with a similar idea to go with WW points a few years ago. Google "wendie plan" and see what you find. It basically tells you to REALLY fluctuate the number of points you eat each day to keep you metabolism working hard. I've been doing it for a year or so to some degree. MOre a mental thing really than anything written. My "daily points" on the old system was 18 per day with 35 flex points.... Friday is an average day (about 18-20 points, depending on if I exercise), Saturday is a high point (22 or more if I am having a splurge, like today's popcorn), Sunday is average (17-19), Monday is a bit higher (20-22-ish), Tuesday is low (15-16), Wednesday is high again (19-22) and Thursday is super low (since it is the day before weigh-in, I try to keep it under 16 points). I do think it works to some degree, but nothing I could "calculate" for you.

I would guess that most nutritionists and dieticians would tell you that 400+ calories a day is far too few for ANY length of time. Do you realize that would probably be two SlimFast shakes and NOTHING ELSE? I would have a really hard time with that. I KNOW I would be VERY hungry. Not saying it isn't possible, but sounds a bit difficult. And I'm afraid it would make me prone to a binge on the "up" days.

I'm afraid your body/metabolism might go into "starvation" mode from not eating enough and you would end up at a plateau in your weight loss. Just thinking out loud here.

Let me know what you decide to do.........................P

 

[pjlla]

ACK I totally flaked on my week for Clean Up The Clutter

So here we go:

Clean Up The Clutter Week 2

Daily:
Dishes
make your bed
New process mail (including finding a place to sort mail near a recycle bin and shredder). Mail can get overwhelming pretty quickly especially junk mail.
Don't throw it on the counter. Process, shred, file, and recycle every day.

weekly:
Sheets and towels
New dust

Great article about shredding and processing mail
http://unclutterer.com/2007/05/07/paper-clutter-begone-part-4/

Okie-dokie, I can definitely handle the mail part of things. I usually toss junk mail into the paper recycling bin in the garage before I bring it in (catalogs, fliers, etc). THen I drop the credit card offers and other "shreddables" on top of the shredder that I recently moved to the mudroom (I stop and shred a bunch at once when I have a minute or two). The rest is either bills that go into my "paper station" in the kitchen, or mail for DH that goes in his mail drawer in the buffet.

But ewwww... dusting? I hate it! I did my bi-annual dusting of the master bedroom yesterday though! Took a Clorox wipe to most surfaces (we don't have much in the way of "fine furniture" so the wipe is NBD). Took the vacuum with brush attachment to the cobwebs and corners. Not exactly a "white glove" job, but a definite improvement! And the kids' rooms, dining room, and living room all got dusted last week before my parents came to visit, so I'm gonna call it good and move on!

Got all three beds made yesterday.... I do mine every day, but the kids don't do theirs as they should be.... but I did them yesterday and again today. It is such a relaxing feeling to glance in their rooms and see them picked up with made up beds!

Thanks for keeping us on our toes!.....................P

 

[Worfiedoodles]

QOTD Thursday, September 15, 2011: Do you commit to healthy habits on weekends?
* Yes
* No
* Not always
* Other [/B]

Not always. This varies greatly with the weekend plan, and how rough my week was. I am trying to do a better job with consistency, but it is definitely a work in progress!

How was the store? DH works with LLB a lot through his job, but I'm just not a big fan. I have two outlet stores around here (Manchester and Concord) and have gotten some absolutely UNBELIEVABLE deals, but it is really hit or miss.

Pamela -- I like L.L. Bean for very specific things -- pretty much outerwear I expect to use for years to come. DH got a new pair of boots. He'd had his last boots 20 years and they stopped being waterproof. I have a down coat I bought there last year, and I expect to use it for the foreseeable future.

So I'm kind of a Halloween nut. I've made most of my kids costumes over the years. I've got some of them in an online photo album if anyone cares to look.

Deb -- I just had to compliment you -- these are adorable! I'm in love with Mr. Potatohead -- so very clever!

It has been a heck of a week -- good on some accounts (my dad and smom flew in for a few days before their cruise left today), and crazy on others (my latest project at work hit a major ITS glitch yesterday and barely got in a couple of hours before the deadline). I ran this morning for 3M, and it felt great. My exercise was severely lacking this week. I feel like all I did was work or entertain the folks. Now after dh gets the oil changed in the car we have to take ds to the mall for more school clothes, and then I can finally relax -- but not too much because we have church and then company coming over. I feel like I'm not getting any "me" time this weekend. I've already decided I'm taking Monday as a mental health day, even though it means I have to go in to work for a couple of hours early tomorrow morning. My next project needs to get started, so I have to go in so other people can take their tasks and run with them on Monday.

On the bright side, I've been doing my HH and it has helped tremendously! So glad to see everyone working hard on their goals. This is my busy time of year at work, so unfortunately I can't post much -- but I do read, and that is such a great support!

Maria

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

QOTD Saturday 9/17/11 Breakfast....

I always try and eat something within the first hour. I'll eat but today it wasn't until aout 2 hrs after waking.

Breakfast has become usually egg beaters with a little low fat cheese on a piece of Anoln Healthful bread, toasted. I like it because it's cal and has 5 grams of fiber in it. This takes a minute to make.

Also, Fiber one cereals with the ff milk. Maybe a banana and a Fiber one yogurt.

Obviously I like the Fiberone products -easy and quick. There is greek yogurt and oatmeals,...but the egg on tst and cereal is the 2 I eat most.

I like the articles suggestions about diff ways to get more protein and fiber in for breakfast. I find it always a challenge, especially with feeding two teenage boys.

 

[kollerbear]

So DBF and I decided to sleep in this morning until "whenever we felt like it" since we both have colds and took days off of work this week... AND woke up at 1:45 PM to Panther biting our feet. (Poor hungry kitties!!!) I hate that terrible feeling when you sleep too long, and that it's almost 6:00 and I haven't felt like eating lunch yet.... But I guess we really needed that sleep. So .

We're camping. It's cold, really cold. I'm glad I brought my parka. Thankfully we have heat in the camper so we're hanging out inside tonight. Chris and I did take a walk around the campground then my mother and I walked to and from the haunted trail as well as walking the trail in the dark complete with rocks, roots, uneven ground, mud etc.

I hope you have a good time and are able to keep warm tonight!!! The Halloween themed stuff sounds like blast.

DS15 ran JV cross country today, placed 79 out of 275 time was 20:23 which is a 6:32 minutes per mile!!!

Last year, same course but shorter he ran a 7:38 minute mile.

Today did not go well today, I don't think I over ate but I didn't eat on plan. I got sucked into school drama that I don't want to be a part of. I need to figure out how to get out of it. And it's really bad, like people may lose their jobs bad.

Congrats to your son, that is a huge accomplishment! I hope that everything works out with school-- I hate getting sucked into stuff like that. It's so easy to get sucked into drama/scandal/sensationalism and getting involved in that stuff always seems to take over my emotional energy.

This weekend, I am meeting friends at Olive Garden. I have looked up items and calculated points, but I will go over my points for the day. But I have been careful all week to enjoy this splurge. But after the meal, back on track... I am planning much more carefully - controlled splurges.

I was so impressed to read how you were planning for Olive Garden and Panera... great job! It's funny, when friends ask me out for something spontaneous these days, I have such a hard time because I kind of want to have it all planned out!!! I feel guilty to be a downer when I say no (and I don't always say no), but I know how any splurge can be fit in to my plan, but I do have to be prepared.

This weekend, I am committing. Other than football on sunday, it's a low key weekend, maybe apple picking saturday, it looks like a beautiful fall weekend here. Next saturday I have a b-day party for my nephew, and a half marathon that I haven't trained much for.

Hahahah, I love how avoidant that sentence was about your race coming up.... I hope you enjoy your weekend and have a great week leading up to it... Not every race is is PB race, right?

I meant to comment on this before. THis is a GREAT attitude..... I'm frankly kind of tired of people commenting on "are you 'on' your diet this week/weekend?" or "are you going to stay 'on' your diet for vacation?"

I really enjoyed this post and really agree with you. I get worried sometimes that my metabolism will change as I eat less/healthier and that if I return to eating my old levels I'll gain even MORE weight, but I try to remind myself that this is a permanent change towards healthy eating, and that it's more important to lose the weight and be healthy with a slightly slower metabolism than to have a fast(er) metabolism (that will get slower, or so I've been told!) and be overweight!!!

I do wonder if I'm working at cross-purposes, however, by partially motivating myself with a DxDDP trip to Disney... Nahhhhh..... (This is a once in a 3/yr period kind of trip, so I know it's ok... but sometimes I admit I fall asleep thinking about the food I've read about, and DBF said that I was saying "Tohnvaa Toast" in my dreams once.... )

I love that Howard is willing to go with me even though it is of no interest to him.

Oh, what a sweetheart! I laughed b/c I'm thinking of the fact that now Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story are at the top of our Netflix queue... Yeah, we are REALLY lucky to have such great (tolerant? indulgent?) men in our lives! I hope you have a great date night!

Sunday I am doing a local half marathon. I'm feeling good and I'm ready! I'm past the drive yourself crazy before the race stage and am at the introspective part of the pre-race festivities. I will be doing 20 second/40 second run/walk intervals to the half way point and then 30/30 intervals back. I just want to finish in under four hours and I am confident that I can do that. I had a disappointment earlier this year when I was swept at the Princess a bit after 8 miles but I've done two races since then. And I swear this is the last half marathon that I am doing outside of ONE-derland. Then it is on to training for the Tinker Bell Half at Disneyland in January.

Good luck!!! I am so impressed with your determination. I can't wait to hear how it goes!

I think it would be awesome, but I also can't tolerate 3-D. Just thinking about "Can't Wait to Be King" and the wildebeest stampede in 3-D is simultaneously making me go "wow" and cringe...

Thanks! I submitted the application today, so now I just have to wait...and wait...and wait until March to hear back from them. And I'll be there 12 months a year for the next four years if I get in, so that will be nice to look forward too-I've been at school here during the summer and it's sooo different!

Wow! No wonder someone told me I look super skinny-I lost nearly 10& of myself!

Hahha I feel the same way about 3-D... I'm sure it's amazing, but AGH! Congrats on your results and your applications!

 

[jimmduck]

Saturday QOTD: This article is on Optimal Eating Pattern. Go to www.weightlosschallenge.com Choose Course 3 Week 3 Username wlc (all lowercase) password: eatwell (lower case and no spaces)

Question: Do you eat breakfast everyday? What do you eat? And what did you learn new from this article if anything?

TTFN

These articles are fabulous, although this one really didn't contain a lot of things I did not already know.

I used to skip breakfast growing up, but now I would not miss it.

As I think I shared yesterday - I eat oatmeal, a lot. I also eat toast with cheese or peanut butter and a few times a week, eggs. My husband likes eggs or French toast on the weekends.

I love breakfast - period, my brain does not function without it and my coffee.

I usually do not eat at night (although tonite DH is away and I am really craving toast and peanut butter - am going to try to leave that until the morning and just get some tea), so I can go 12 - 14 hours without food until I eat breakfast in the morning, that's probably why it is so important.

Another lovely fall day here.

Man, I love this season, just love it. Eating is a little off program today, but not out of control.

Missed a workout, so I am going tomorrow - weekends are one day train/one day rest so I will just flip about so as to not miss my HH points which are becoming important to me.

Have a magical evening folks.

Linda

 

[tigger813]

Good evening Fellow Losers!

Had a great day all around! Slept well last night! Got in a half mile at izzie's soccer game before it started this morning. Then went home showered, went to the ATM and Subway to pick up lunch for myself and my supervisor for Usborne and then headed to Ashleigh's game! They played awesome, won 5-0 and best of ALL : Ashleigh scored 2 goals! She was sooooo excited and we were so proud of her!

Then Ash and I went to the Fall festival! We had our best one day EVER! And tomorrow should be another great day! I'll be there all day tomorrow! I bought the girls each a headband that Ash picked out for her and her sister!

Came home and had leftover homemade mac and cheese! Brian is going to make us drinks when he figures out what he feels like tonight.

I'll post tomorrow's QOTD in a few minutes. I'm glad to see that you are enjoying the articles. I found them very informative when I did my weight loss challenge and extremely helpful. Read them when you have time. They are just something I wanted to share. I have shared them during other challenges and people really enjoyed them then as well.

have a great rest of your Saturday!

TTFN