Tasty Tuesday
Today we are talking about eating - as any weight loss is always also a question of what we put into out mouths. And one thing I figured out over the years that often the reason for weight gain or the reason for why we have trouble losing weight is not only WHAT we eat, but also HOW we eat. Many people have developed habits that are not good, be it midnight snacking, putting ten cubes of sugar in your coffee, using lots of butter on your sandwich etc. Since we are all creatures of habit, those are often difficult to break and a lot of them just happen automatically without us even thinking about it.
What is one of your bad eating habits?
Are you already trying to get out of it? Do you have any ideas of how to tackle it? Do you already have it under control and if so how did you manage it? Do you need ideas on how to work against your specific habit?
My worst eating habit is my evening snacking. Even though I leave myself Points to use, I usually leave too many Points and shouldn't be eating that much, that late. I have set a new goal of no food after 8pm and am working on pushing that back to 7pm and hopefully eventually 6:30 pm.... although sometimes we don't even have dinner until then.... and on my work nights I don't eat until at least 8pm.... but usually more like 8:30!
I do pretty well most of the day staying within my Points budget, so if I don't have them to use, I don't eat at night!
Good morning all!
It's
Training Thursday today and just in time is some new research about exercise and weight loss courtesy of sparkpeople.com.
How Much Exercise Do You REALLY Need To Lose Weight?
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has revised its guidelines for the amount of exercise a person needs to lose weight. In 2001, ACSM recommended that overweight and obese adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week to improve their health. 200 to 300 minutes per week was recommended for long-term weight loss. But will this amount of exercise really help you lose weight and keep it off?
New research shows that "between 150 and 250 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity is effective in preventing weight gain greater than 3% in most adults but will provide "only modest" weight loss." So ACSM has published new physical activity recommendations in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Overweight and obese individuals are more likely to lose weight and keep it off if they exercise for least 250 minutes per week. Exercising for more than 250 minutes per week has resulted in "significant" weight loss for these individuals.
So what does this mean? If you're trying to lose weight, 50 minutes of cardio exercise along with regular strength training might be what it takes to see the results you're hoping for.
Here is a link to the entire article if you are interested:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=how_much_exercise_you_really_need_to_lose_weight
What do you think? Does 50 minutes of exercise, 5 days a week seem like a lot to you? Or is that in line with what you're already doing? What amount of daily exercise has given you the best results?
One word from the exercise-hating girl.... YUCK!
(although I KNOW it must be done and I get better/best results when I am exercising regularly).
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Well.... I guess I must have been feeling some internet deprivation after my wi-fi free vacation because I have spent FAR TOO MUCH time today sitting on my butt staring at this screen!!
So nice to see some new faces and hugs to my old friends! Magdalena, I really love the new format! Thanks so much for taking care of us and getting us moving in a new direction! And Lisa, thanks for offering to help with the MUSINGS for this month~!!
Just had a short FB message conversation with DD and she is eating dinner in one of Dublin's oldest pubs.... beef and Guiness stew! She's tired, but that is to be expected. Hopefully she will sleep well tonight at the hostel. She tried to call home (she has a VOIP app on her phone and was able to call this morning when she arrived), but the call wasn't getting through properly. It rang here, but she wasn't hearing anything on her end. She said she might try again later, but the wi-fi is down at the hostel.
But that's okay... she is there and safe and having fun, so if I don't hear from her, at least I'm not worrying. .....OH my.... as I was typing that she tried again with no luck... oh well.
Well.... confession time. Eating on vacation was all over the board. Try as I might to stick with my healthy OP eating, sometimes I did some self-sabotaging (aka s'mores three times!!). FIRST... the good things..... I had lowfat veggie burgers on a flaxseed Sandwich Thin when the family had beef burgers and hot dogs (and I had just a 1/4 C of my Mom's homemade potato salad), I had spaghetti squash with meatless marinara the night they all had spaghetti and meatballs (thankfully my nephew grew a beautiful squash and brought it along) and skipped the garlic bread, I had taco salad on taco night, salad and some leftover chicken on pizza night, filled my plate with veggies and/or salad most nights BEFORE taking a serving of the main dish. I stayed OP for ALL of my breakfasts and most of my lunches. I had fruit for snack nearly every afternoon. No beer or wine at all. I did have some birthday cake, but just one serving when we celebrated DD's birthday (not that big a sacrifice, as I am not a big cake/frosting fan). I skipped my Mom's homemade cookies except for two halves of a molasses lumberjack (one half one day and the other half another day).
Of course, then there was the BAD.... s'more three different nights (although I only had one s'more each night.... but we had those jumbo marshmallows!), and ice cream twice.... with hot fudge!!!!!!
But I stayed busy and active. I did NOT kayak, as we only had access to the kind without backs and those are just too tough on me. I did do some canoeing with DD and a bit of walking (although not as much as planned). And I was in the kitchen cleaning and cooking.... a lot! There were some family dynamic issues and some work issues that made the week not quite as relaxing as usual, which was disappointing, but overall it was a good week, the kids had fun, and they got to spend time with cousins that they don't see often enough. Plus DD got asked to be a bride's maid in her cousin's wedding!
She really didn't think she would be asked, since this cousin has a sister plus two female cousins she is closer to.... plus this girl seems to have a TON of friends, judging by the number of weddings she has been/is going to be in!! But DD was tickled and excited.... but now we wait, since the wedding won't happen until summer of 2016 (the bride-to-be is young, just turned 21, and this is a stipulation that her Dad made before he would give his blessing to the engagement).
Off to start dinner..... I'm going to have to be super tricky this week, since we had a few big unexpected expenses (such as yet ANOTHER car repair bill for DH's car that was nearly $900) and the grocery budget for the month is gone (and yes, I know we still have 20 days left!!). Guess I'm going to be pulling lots of rabbits out of hats this month!! We will find some cash somewhere to buy produce a few times, but I have enough meat in the freezer to get us through if we are careful and creative! Thank heavens that the days and nights are cooling down earlier than usual.... we can reseed our lettuce bed and hopefully have some homegrown greens before month's end!
Off to be productive...................P
But so stinkin' cute!!! 
If I get this office job I will miss working with them like crazy.
I'm hoping that we are getting ready to see the last of the hot, hot weather here, too. 
Kim! Please send in your first WI and goal to our lovely hostess, Flossbolna, if you haven't already. 
I'm in the same boat ... my mom buys junk food for the rest of the family, and if it's there, I eat it. If it wasn't there, I wouldn't go out and get most of this stuff, but ... the rest of my family wants it, so I'm stuck.
.
) but it has been causing some real headaches/head pain. I was supposed to see him Monday, but HE threw his back out and had to cancel.... so I was rescheduled to today. My jaw is so stiff and restricted right now that I had to cut my morning fruit up small to get it in without pain. But I'll live!
for a loss this week, Michelle! Nice to see you! 
Do you think it makes a difference for you?
Congratulations to everyone! 
