I am back...I had my store's grand opening and my sub's surprise birthday party, all on the same day, so all the planning and work made my intentions so hard to fill. But i wasnt so bad. Seriously. I am actually quite proud of myself for not falling completely off track.

I am heading to the YM in a few minutes to get in the heated pull. I overdid the labor and stamina levels and now I need to find some relief.

i got a juicer and am going to start using it. I plan on doing one meal a day as juice, probably breakfast because I loath eating when i first get up but love to drink and this can replace my coffee intake. I am going to stop at the store on the way home from the pool and grab some veggies and fruits.

I dont weigh myself at all. Its not about my weight. Never want it to be. This is about my health. I am putting too much of the wrong things in my limited stumach and I am feeling the problem. (I also had a serious bulimia problem in my 20s and i am not going to start that up again. Weighing myself could bring up old triggers. And with the surgery I had, even the thought of self induced vomiting could kill me.)

I am back on my vitamins too...and Jo, you reminded me to ask about b12 shots again. I dont care if they are paid by insurance or not. I need my shot.

gosh i am tired and exhausted...see you all tomorrow...

OMG!!!!
 

Good Morning Everyone,

I am loving my little Chihuahua! She loves walking around the apartment complex and she walks fast :) I am still following the orthodontist's eating plan and I've found that I am not eating a lot of meat, chips or candy. I've found frozen yogurt from Publix to be good and filling.

Still no weight loss or weight gain, so I am happy!

Breakfast this morning was a two egg omelette with shredded cheese, black pepper, crushed red pepper and oregano.

Lunch will be tuna fish, shredded cheese, oregano, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.
Snacks will be: Spanish olives and chocolate.

Dinner will be open.


Zimmeh

in the next day or so I should hit my first goal of 10% of my weight lost. Looking forward to being able to put it on the books officially :D

I absolutely love planning my meals out and seeing what kind of exotic food I can prepare for a fraction of the calories you'd get it for at a restaurant.

Tonight I have planned pork loin chops with a sage & rosemary rub sauteed (no oil in nonstick skillet) and then topped with a sauce made from blackberries, honey, and cranberry juice (combined and reduced)... as a side, mashed cauliflower with butter and bacon on top.

About 400 calories total...


My mouth is already watering.

I have been sick for the past few days with a horrid stumach virus. I have not been able to eat. I must be careful now, as I eat over the next few days because I am hungry now and can tend to overeat.

thanks to the support I have been getting...it means alot!

Okay, so this is just weird...

I have finally completely and totally broken the 200 barrier and am never above it anymore....which is great.

I'm doing the new pilot weight loss program for work, working out at Curves, building in more movement whether it's walking on the beach or whatever....and the weight has been slowly creeping down.

In fact, it's been slowing creeping down even when I indulge in things like homemade from scratch blueberry whole wheat pancakes with real butter (a little) and real maple syrup (a little), dinners out at awesome Italian restaurants eating chicken picatta with tons of delicious zucchini and fresh artichokes....all kinds of real food, even when it isn't "diet" food.

Yesterday, I had an insane craving for Doritos (one of my deadly holdovers of previous bad eating habits). I caved, got a bag, and ate some. Not a ton, not the whole bag.....just some.

I got on the scale this morning, and had regained a pound.

A pound.

For a few handfuls of Doritos.

It leaves me wondering what in the heck is in all that processed crap that is so tied in with my weight gain, when even decadent "real" foods don't mess with me.

Bizarre.

my first thought was "aren't those salty?"

I can "gain" 3 pounds if I eat Chinese food for dinner until I flush the sodium out.

I think Tawse is right on the money--salt is the culprit.

If I drink too many diet cokes (sodium), I retain water.

Also, I gain about 1.5-2 pounds of water weight right before my period. It is not uncommon to gain up to five pounds during this time!

I just try to up my water intake and flush out the sodium.

Don't stress about it, Jo!

Diet drinks also increase cravings for sweet things, research shows.

Yeah, I think I read that too!

I'm pretty good about sweets, though.

I've been off sugar for weeks now (except for one scrummy dessert) including all the white stuff (bread, rice, potatoes) and have had hardly any cravings after the first week.

:)

Weight goes up, weight goes down, all throughout the day. I'm sure you already know this - but weighing yourself less frequently will keep your morale up during the process - this way you aren't paying attention to every little fluctuation and it will force you to concentrate on the end result.

Carbs are the enemy when it comes to losing weight - even just a little bit depending on how your body processes them, worse if combined with other carbs throughout the day. As long as you keep working out, you'll burn it off.

Taking a moderate amount of Lecithin while you are working out will help reduce cravings for sugar and carbs. It's also a fat burner.

Thanks for the Lecithin tip, NJ!

Now when we say Carbs.. are we referring to starches only - or veggies as well?

If veggies as well - I have to disagree about them being the enemy - but as long as what you're doing works for you. :) Keep on trucking.

This is such a awsome idea....... am ordering. 1 .. maybe 2 ..ha.
http://www.ezweightplate.com/

Veggie carbs are different than processed carbs. I was referring to things such as doritos, potato chips, etc... The only veggie I find being the enemy is okra - and oh yeah, brussel sprouts. Veggie carbs are processed differently in the body and don't have the same effect as the other carbs. BUT, they are carbs and there should be a daily intake of them as well.

If you're going to eat carbs, stay away from the whites - white bread, white rice, pasta ... yadda yadda. All that goes right to the stomach.

When I lost all that weight I put on many years ago, it was because I limited my bad carb intake. I also made sure that if I did eat bad carbs, I worked out and worked it off.

Ms MorningStar! Hello! Havent seen you for awhile!

I love these dishes! I sent an inquiry about selling these in my store. I have ALOT of customers following healthy diets, and these would be such a good sell! A local bariatric support group hands out my cards, and when people hit levels, they get a discount card to my store! I cant tell you how many people came in to show me how much weight they lost, by bringing photos in! I am so proud of all of them!

Some people say this is in conflict with my store. Why? Plus size women can have a good image of themselves AND want to live a better healthier life regarding food choices. We are not stuck over weight. We are stuck by hatred and fear and shame. Remove that, and its a choice, to be where we are, who we are, OR to make daily decisions to move to where we want to be.

when i have a yucky tumy problem ... which thank god .. its rare i do... when i get hungry , i tend to drink ginger ale, with real ginger in it and some good freshly made won ton soup. :) and maybe crackers.... it works for me. :)

I hear ya Unka Jo!!! I was off for a week, and my crossfit thursday about killed me. This morning was weights, so it was much better. Hooooorah!!!!

Well folks its been six days ince I got my back injected so im ging to give a good work out a go later today,I have less pain than I have had in years but now and then get some pain in an odd place.I was told bythe doc that did the injection there would be so residual things pop up but would go away...I hope she is right.

mmhmm when I lost 100 pounds I pretty much followed the same rules - which is why I was making sure when people were saying 'carbs are the enemy' they were referring to simple and not complex carbs. :)

Thanks for the verification!

my story
 

In Feb of 2011 I suffered a gall-stone attack. Being an overweight female under stress (breakdown of a 4 year relationship) I was a prime target. The episode in the ER is another story in itself lol.

The doc said to reduce your chances of another attack...switch to a low-fat diet. DONE DEAL as I never wanted to go through that kind of pain again! Within days the pounds started to melt off. Then I started to excersize daily and my life started to change. When I started I was 250 lbs & I'm proud to say that I'm now 170!!

I feel so much better now and I'm not afraid to try new things. I don't shy away from physical activities anymore so there's nothing holding me back!

It wasn't easy believe you me! But it is possible. You have to be disciplined, focused and always believing in yourself. Believe that you're worthy of a healthy life.

As far as excersize....I was doing bootcamp about 4 nights a week. At least once a week I was doing hot yoga. Yoga does help to build strength & stamina. In the city I live in we have these huge staircases in the river valley (like at least 100 stairs long). I'd sprint the stairs several times. It really gets the heart going and it builds up so much strength in the quads (which also comes in handy in boudoir activities....just saying)!

I don't eat a whole lot of red meat. Chicken and turkey tend to be lower in fat. Almost anything you buy you can get a low-fat or non-fat option....skim milk, non-fat yoghurt, low-fat cheese, turkey bites (instead of pepperoni sticks), etc. Safeway is good as they have the "Eating Right" brand for a lot of entrees (chicken breast, low-fat burgers, turkey burgers, low-fat meatballs, etc). For desserts I buy the Skinny Cow brand ice-cream. I know they're expensive but it's low in fat & calories.

A typical day.....

Breakfast: non-fat yoghurt, fibre1 bar
Morning snack: apple or nectarine
Lunch: turkey pita, with lettuce & low-fat cheese
Afternoon snack: carrot sticks or snap peas
Dinner: skinless boneless chicken breast, steamed veggies
Evening snack: bowl of cereal with skim milk

I hope this helps Leigh :)

I'm on Day Six of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred--wow, that is a great workout in a total of about 25 minutes. There are three levels and I am only on the first one but she kicks your arse! Maybe this week I'll venture into Level Two... :blink:

With this, I've been eating a low carb diet (think a combination of Primal Blueprint and Atkins). I hate eating low fat but actually don't mind (hard in the beginning, though!) abstaining from rice, bread, potatoes, sweets. When I do NEED a sweet, I grab a sugar free popsicle, pudding or a single piece of dark chocolate.

Anyway, I've been losing about 1 to 1.5 pounds a week (about seven pounds so far) since beginning this and FEEL better.

Best Wishes to All on their Journeys Toward Healthier Lives!

Anyone see the NutriBullet infomercial?

Considering I really miss having access to a juicer, this sounds even better to me, since it includes all the fiber goodness that is in my lovely veggies/fruits. The organic spinach, green apple, pineapple, banana, with some flax seed and raw almonds sounds damned good. And I really miss carrot juice, lovely stuff.

So I may try it out, see how I like it. Love getting rid of my blender in favor of something smaller. Less is more in my household these days of simplification and minimalism realized., slowly but surely. I really like that this one machine can replace two other machines. Blender and juicer... in one smaller, but more powerful package. Sounds good to me.

Also makes fresh nut butters, which would be lovely too.

Still primal here, though far from perfect. What is perfect these days, no? I am worried that food costs across the board are going to be going up, due to the severe drought hitting so many crops. Not sure how that would affect the grass fed livestock, if they are out there on the range eating, versus in some yard eating stuff that nature never intended for them to eat. Sort of like us, eh? lol

Hope everyone is being inspired by the Olympics. I know I sure am!

Hey healthies :)

I had a little slip up...not enough to make me gain, but still too much on the ice cream and hamburgers and other such stuff.

I'm back on track with my salads and healthier choices....

Today was:
Banana and water before my workout
Oatmeal with blueberries, black coffee after workout
Mid-morning glass of almond milk with my medicine
Giant salad for lunch (organic baby greens, carrot, celery, tomato, avocado and homemade olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing)
Mid-afternoon snack - handful of fritos....that time of the month and I'm craving salt and fat
Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs (baked meatballs, whole grain pasta) with steamed fresh green beans

Only bad news is that I'm having one of my "craving diet soda" episodes that tends to go with the salt/fat/sweet cravings of this time of the month.

The good news? I'm down to 196, absolutely in a size 16, and dropping again. :)

Wooooo Hooooooo! :cheer:

So, some of you healthies that have been in the thread a little longer may remember my nemisis....The Mobia (basically a treadclimber). I bought it about a year ago with the goal of myself and my (then) partner getting more of the exercise we both needed.

Basically, it rarely got used and gathered dust.

I tried several times but found that 5 minutes on that puppy just kicked my butt....and it started to feel like this impossible thing that I just couldn't do.

Well....fast forward through 6 months of going to Curves 3 times a week and losing about 30 pounds. Today, for the first time this year.....I got on it.

I took my Kindle, since reading is more distracting to me than TV is (and no more TV in the bedroom anyway)....and.....

*drum roll*

I just did 15 minutes without a pause.

OMG....I am freaked out....thrilled with myself....and also dripping sweat all over!

Heading for the shower....and soooooooo excited to know what better shape I'm in than I was a year ago.

New goal: 3 times a week on the Mobia....along with my 3 times a week at Curves.

Sweet!!!!!

Doing a HAPPY DANCE here !!!

so dang proud of you and definitely inspired

My dream machine, which I have not found yet here in my new locale is the NuStep. I am stopping myself from buying the thing, because it is so well made it is super heavy piece of equipment. But I look for rehab centers and gyms that have them, everywhere I find myself. And if not available I make myself a pest til someone invests in one of these awesome machines.

check out their website, it is fricken amazing

http://www.nustep.com/

on facebook too, simply amazing inspiring and phenomenal

no matter what your fitness level, from completely debilitated to elite athlete, it can push you to where you never thought you could go, seriously. Actually you are doing the pushing, not the other way around. ROM is increased, stamina, cardiac, strength... I can not say enough about this machine. And if and when I find my permanent home, I will then invest in this machine to have access to it thru out my day. I love it so much, I could not get enough of it when I had my knees replaced. Simply one amazing machine.

I now have a ginormous bowl of fruit on the counter. And for my next trick, I shall eat all of the fruit in the ginormous bowl, though not all at once.

Saw a quote the other day and to me.. it was deep.


"This time next year, you'll wish you started today."


Indeed... I want to look back and say "thank goodness I started a year ago" (plus a couple of months...)


I also have good news on the exercise front. When I started working out on my stationary bike back in the first of May I would do level 2 and hit a heart rate of 135 - 145. Monday - I was doing level 9 and had to really get going to hit an average of 137 for the heart rate.

Woot!