I bought my popcorn at Publix. Do you have a Publix by your house?

Have fun today,

Zimmy

SUNSHYNE! Congrats on the loss! That is an amazing number and so inspiring!

YOU are an inspiration and motivation in this thread. I am thankful for YOU! <3

I havent been to the gym all week cause of somanythings going on ,but I definately feel diffrent cause my energy isnt what it was and my artritis is acting up some.The only diffrents is me not working out,I must take time for this somehow.

I went to my doctor this week for my quarterly checkup. I was expecting not that great of news, actually, about my cholesterol because the absolute hardest thing for me to give up when it comes to eating is cheese. I also love a good steak a couple of times a month. I had been given this quarter by my doctor to get my cholesterol in line, so imagine my surprise when he said it dropped 75 points in the last three months! Even he was shocked. I am well within the normal range. For now. I say that because I am likely fighting a losing battle with heredity on this one. My dad has cholesterol problems and hypertension, and I already have inherited the hypertension. And there are heart problems on both sides of the family. :/

The other good news is that my sugar is back to normal and I have lost 22 pounds since February. I'm sticking with what I am doing...low carb, no sugar, no salt, low fat. I encourage everyone to avoid the high fructose corn syrup, or poison, as I call it. It really is a silent killer, I think.

We can all do this! It's great that this thread contains a lot of cool people who are supportive. :)

Jake

Breakfast is a hard one for me!

I was on a smoothie kick for a while and found lots of yummy smoothie combos (well, except that pumpkin one that had no sugar :|). I also did a yogurt with granola kick. Some days I have to work really hard to find something for breakfast that doesn't make me feel icky. (which means I generally don't eat anything eggy, greasy, etc. first thing in the morning).

My latest love is oatmeal. I found a few different kinds of oatmeal that I LOVE. They are high in fiber, great for lowering cholesterol, and can be served lots of ways.

One of my faves is regular oatmeal with cinnamon, raisins, and a tiny bit of splenda. :)

Ezee or Apretty posted a great oatmeal recipe a few pages back that even I want to try, and I always have a hard time choking down oatmeal. lol

I like eggs in the morning, but rarely have the time to make them. When I do, I scramble two egg whites with one whole egg and sprinkle a little low-fat cheese (damn cheese!) and some salsa on them. Sometimes I wrap it in a whole wheat tortilla. I rarely eat lunch so I feel ok bulking up a bit in the morning on food. My "lunch" usually consists of two small snacks -- a Kashi granola bar (just the ones really low in sugar) and a piece of fruit.

Protein is the key in the morning for me. If I don't eat something protein in the morning, I feel like crap the rest of the day.

Jake

I have been on a smoothie/shake kick myself. Latest combination is chocolate, banana, strawberries, and raspberries! Yummola! Gets me going every morning!

Tonite I was over at my sister's and she wanted ti order some takeout. Now remember my sister is my foodie buddy. I said I couldnt. She said she was proud of me. Felt good, but was so hard!

Thank you for always offering encouragement :)

My steady when I first started WW was Fiber One Complete pancake mix. One "serving" yielded two good-sized pancakes. I dropped blueberries on the uncooked side while on the griddle and then added a sliced banana once they were done. A little bit of sugar-free syrup, and it totaled 6 points.

It was a VERY filling breakfast, so it might be a good choice for those who don't get much opportunity to eat again until dinner.

The pancake mix is an easy one.......just add water......but I would imagine you'll need to give yourself an extra ten minutes or so in the morning.

I don't have any wonderful weight loss news to share, but wanted to pop in and say congratulations and thank you to all of you for posting your great ideas and successes....it really makes a difference to hear all this positivity.

Right now I'm going through mega-crap, so my success (and I almost put that in quotes....then thought....heck NO, it is a success!)....is that, despite all this, I'm not gaining. I had a few bad evenings that resulted in a bowl of ice cream....but I haven't given in to any major emotional eating binges.

My blood sugar this morning was 102, and the scale is holding steady. That means I'm holding my own, even in an incredibly difficult time.

I'm proud of that. :)

GAME ON!!!!!!! Found out last night I WILL be fighting in October, but..... I have to drop 15lbs. I am taking you all on this journey with me, I will be needing your support and encouragement. So let the ride begin! Oh and I have a new fight song for this time around.

As you should be!

I hope this bumpy section passes soon for you, JustJo.

Best wishes...

Good Morning Everyone,

I receive health related newsletters from WebMD and these two topics intrigued me this morning and I wanted to share them:

1. http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercis...wnl_wlw_073011

2. http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercis...wnl_wlw_073011

I find that iVillage and WebMD are healthy sites to get information from.

Have a great day,

Zimmy

Good Morning Jake,

You can beat heart disease! When I lost my dad nine years ago to heart and respiratory failure at the age of 47, I made a promise to myself; that I would not be dead by that age. I have always walked everywhere near my home in Daytona Beach or I rode a bicycle. When I went to the dr's to get my checkup, he was asking me about my family medical history. I explained to him that my grandfather on my mother's side of the family had heart disease and that my bio dad also had heart disease. He gave me a clean bill of health and told me to keep up what I was doing to beat it. Don't give up hope!

Zimmy

Points Plus-Grilled Steak Salad
 

Hey folks - We used to have a once-a-week chat night for folks doing healthy weight loss as a lifestyle. Would there be any interest in that sort of thing again?
Maybe a 30-minute chat to do a live sharing of ideas and celebrating successes? If interested, what night would be best for folks? Times?

Pudget on a Budget
 

Blog share:

http://pudget1.blogspot.com/

Weigh-in day today revealed a total of 3.6 pounds gone forever since last Sunday.

I am SUPER happy with that because I had 2 meals out this week and both of them were buffets. (which can be super scary for a foodie like me).

Some tricks I employed at the buffet dinners we had this week:

1. Ordered unsweet tea and water and drank almost 1/3 glass before I ever began eating. I have read multiple articles about water being essential for digestion and it also helps you feel more full!

2. Started with a salad. A BIG one of mostly greens and carrots. When I say big, I mean BIG. Green roughage is great for digestion and lettuce is virtually calorie-free.

3. I was reasonable about what I wanted to eat. i.e. One of our meals was Chinese and I LOVE me some crab rangoons. They are pretty hefty on points and also fried (which I stridently try to avoid) but I'm sorry, going to a Chinese meal without at least one crab rangoon would leave me feeling deprived. So I ate one! It was GREAT and I felt super-satisfied with it.

4. Load up on veggies: I had green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, boiled cabbage, spinach, and brown rice at the country-cooking buffet before chowing down on a couple of bites of steak, grilled chicken, and a wonderful sliver of meatloaf.

5. Have dessert. Or don't. But don't obsess about it. The country cooking buffet had homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing. That's a huge weakness for me. HUGE.
I sat for a minute thinking that I was going to skip dessert but then asked myself, "Is it reasonable?" The answer was yes after thinking of the good workouts this week and all the meals within strict point range.
I ate some carrot cake! Not a lot, but enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. It was delicious and wonderful and I did not feel deprived!

Anyone else have tips, I'd love to hear them!