Motivational Thread - March 3 - March 9
 

Good morning, everyone!

We had freezing rain topped with 3 inches of snow overnight and it's sleeting again right now. When I woke up this morning schools were on a two hour delay, but as I suspected it would, that got changed to a school closing. My grandkids are not happy about that because they have exceeded their allowed snow days and have to make up the last two in June.

Aimee, sorry you felt so bad about yesterday's lunch of lasagna and bread that you skipped dinner. (I'd have loved to have a sip of your whiskey. LOL) Know that it happens to virtually all of us from time to time. I quote two wise people: our thread member Cassie who says "It's all about averages" and my doctor who says "You don't have to be perfect, just better than you USED to be." Maybe if that happens again, instead of skipping dinner, you could have a healthful salad, light on dressing or some other non-starchy veggies and low carb fruit such as cantaloupe or berries. Be proud of yourself for all you've accomplished to date. Big hug to ya!

My goals this week are still simple, but expanded:
Eat on plan, having small meal days as often as possible
Track food daily
Exercise daily--minimum of 30 minutes
Minimum 48 oz water daily

Today's small meal planned menu:

Flaxmeal pancake with sugar free, high fiber apricot preserves

Low carb veggie soup and fresh strawberries

Pizza using low carb tortilla as the crust--will try an adaption of Jedi's using Laughing Cow Mozzarella, Sun Dried Tomato and Basil cream cheese, additional tomatoes, and mushroom, peppers, and onions sauteed in butter substitute (low sat fat, no trans fat.) Jedi, thanks for that idea. My mouth is watering as I type this. LOL

Tuna salad with ranch dressing instead of mayo and celery stuffed with soy nut butter

Super lean crockpot pork, cooked spinach

Snacks: two protein shakes and choose from almonds, cold skinless chicken and a square of unsweetened baking chocolate. (I'm a true chocoholic-love chocolate, but don't always need it to be sweet.)

Good morning. Thanks for starting us Mern.

My goal are to cut out excess wasted calories such as coffeemate. I am also going for less dairy. I am trying to figure out what foods make my arthritis worse. I also want to increase my activity to average 2600 calories burnt each day.

Have a great week everyone. Lets get ready for spring!

Mary, nice goals for this week! :) Do you eat much cheese? I'm saving some dairy calories by choosing Laughing Cow brand flavored cream cheese wedges most of the time over regular sliced, shredded, or bar cheese. I don't know if you have those in Canada. Here they're in the dairy aisle with the cream cheese and come in a flat, round cardboard container. The 21g wedges go from only 35 to 50 calories depending on the variety chosen. I hope you can figure out what foods make your arthritis worse.

I'm down a net of 2.4 lbs. for the week on my restart and 5 lbs. since my last doctor visit, so I'll take it! I need to lose a little less than 2 lbs. per week to meet my mini-goal of 220 by March 28. Quite doable. :)

Goals will be the same as last week

1. Stay within carb limit (40 grams of carb per meal)
2. 4 servings of fruit and veggie
3. 6 glasses of water
4. Exercise 4X for 30 min

Personal goals
1. Clean out basement (as much as I can do myself)
2. Manage stress
3. Journal

Jenn

Good morning fitday buddies ;) I'm late to the game this morning....but already had a motivational quote ready to start off a new week.

~Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow". ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

I picked today's quote as a reminder to myself (and to anyone who is motivated by words) that we all have courage within us! It takes courage to do something you've been afraid to do, to keep trying even when the scale isn't exactly cooperating and it takes courage to change your path.

So here's the thing...I never set weekly goals because...honestly...I'm afraid of setting goals and failing. If I don't set weekly goals, I can't fail. However, I'm learning that if I don't set short term goals other than a weight goal, I may not keep moving forward on this journey. I'm extremely determined to hit my March goal by the 28th. I don't like to count calories and don't plan to count calories for the rest of my life. Once I'm maintaining, I hope that as long as I'm being honest with myself, then I won't need to count. This has been working for me so far, but in order to push forward and reach my weight goal, I feel I will need to count for the short term. Having said that, here are my goals for the coming week:

1. Track calories
2. Exercise 7x (scheduled morning interval workout)
3. Do doubles (second workout) 4x
3. Drink 3 litres of water daily
4. No alcohol

Mern - You're doing so well! So glad you came back to join us!

Mary - Is that a typo? 2600 calories burned through exercise is a lot of work! How do you track your calories burned? Do you go by the numbers here on fitday or do you use a heart rate monitor?

Jenn - Now that I took the leap into setting fitness/nutrition goals, maybe I'll join you setting personal goals...someday ;)

Have a great day all!

Jenn, nice goals on food and fitness as well as on your personal goals. How's your Mom?

Deb, thanks so much for your encouragement to me. Also, that's an encouraging quote for all of us. :) It's wonderful that we each have our own way of doing things and that whatever works for each of us is just fine as long as we eat healthful balanced meals and do sensible exercise. I mostly SHOULD log my food for a lifetime to manage my blood sugar and cholesterol which are normal through diet and no meds, but high normal. I very much dislike the work of logging, but my other option is to flub up and wind up on meds.

Jedi, using my low carb tortilla certainly is not the same as a bready, crunchy pizza crust you can enjoy, but it works for a substitute for my needs. My "pizza" was delicious, thanks to your idea. I loaded it with two servings of cooked mushrooms and one serving of sauteed peppers and onions and for the cheese used one wedge of Laughing Cow Light Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil cheese.

Mern, great job on your successes. I'm glad you enjoyed the pizza idea even though yours didn't get crispy like mine did.

Mary, do you mean a total of 2600 calories burned in a day, or 2600 burned in a day by exercising alone?

Jenn, what types of things do you do to manage your stress?

Debbie, welcome to the tracking club. ;) It's not so bad. For me, it really helps in keeping on track and to be honest and accountable with myself.

As for me, I'm going to keep my goal of 3x at the gym. I also need to figure out how to incorporate fruits and vegetables more into my daily diet. I don't particularly care for them. I'll eat them if they're on my plate, but I never know what to buy or how to make them tasty on my own. Which is crazy because I'm a really good cook. I didn't buy hardly any fruits or vegetables this week when I was shopping last night, so I'll probably have to make a trip to Sprouts. I'd also like to lose at least 2 lbs this week. ttotm is due this week, so I don't know how likely that is. We'll see.

Mern, I tried a different Hungry Girl bread with 8 net carbs if you are interested in a change up from a tortilla. It is the whole wheat with flax flatout foldit. 15 carbs with 7g fiber, 7g protein and 90 calories. I just had one and it has a wonderful wheat flavor. It's kind of reminds me of a pita in texture. It's thicker than a tortilla, but thinner than a bread. Very good though. I toasted mine, used garlic & herb laughing cow and added some thin sliced tomato. Yummy. Just thought I'd mention it.

I was 161 on my doctor's scale this morning, so I feel pretty good about that. I need to seriously flush out my system with LOTS of water though. Last night I indulged in Chinese food and when I looked at the report it was 4000mg sodium!!! :eek: That will make my scale go haywire for a few days at least.

Wishing everyone a great and successful week!

Debbie -- 2600 calorie goal is total burn for the 24 hours. Because I am heavier my starting rate is about 2200. I think that is high for my activity level however with the sauna it seems to work out about right. My calorie balance and weight loss since I started are very close to the ratio they should be. I figured it out the other day and was very impressed with how close the weight loss was to what should have been lost given the deficit. As you can tell I like numbers and graphs. That helps keep me journaling. Plus I don't do well if I don't keep track.

Mern your pizza sounds great. I may have to make one one of these days. I'm trying to avoid wheat so I would need a wheat free crust.

Just back from a noon hour walk to try for some extra calories gone. Curling tonight helps. I'll sweep extra hard. Somewhere I read that exercising in the cold helps burn brown fat. Don't know if it's true but I hope it is.

Goals (win, loss, draw):
Calories in
Calorie balance
Exercise

Mern - Whenever I look at your daily menus it makes me feel bad about what I eat, you've always got such tasty, healthy food planned.

Lildeb - That is a lot of working out you have planned, don't overdo it.

Kumochi - Numbers and graphs are the way to go, easier to analyse :)

Got room for one more? I keep trying to come back and not having the nerve to step back in. Last week though I was at my highest weight since I started this whole thing. I have regained 33lbs since I lost 102. :(

Mern...I'm so happy to see that you are still here and keeping it going.

Mary...no wheat pizza crust? Have you tried the cauliflower recipe? I keep meaning to try it but never get around to it.

The rest of you, you will get to know me if I manage to stick around. I am very talkative once I get going.

Simple goals for first week back
1. post on this thread at least once daily
2. workout daily and record in diary how I feel from it
3. do not eat anything that I didn't bring to work with me or plan unless it's fruit
4. at least three work cups of ice water daily

Off to update my signature to show how much I have regained. :(

Hi all. My goals for the week are:
6 glasses of water
1200 calorie limit
Exercise 3X
Lose 1 pound

Lets all have a good week.

Welcome back April. Glad you are putting a stop to regaining. Always room for one more

Hi all! Checking back in to report on how my first day with "goals" went. Pretty darn good if I do say so myself.....but it's only day 1! LOL!

1. Track calories - Mon - yes
2. Exercise 7x (scheduled morning interval workout) - Mon - yes
3. Do doubles (second workout) 4x -
5. Drink 3 litres of water daily - Mon - yes
6. No alcohol - Mon -yes

A good start to my week!

April - always room for another! Glad you're joining us! I once tried to make a cauliflower crust and it was a big flop! Let me know if you try it and find a recipe that's actually good.

Mary - I thought you meant you were going to try to burn that many calories just through exercise! That would be crazy! :D

Ian - that's the amount of exercise I've been doing sine October...I know it sounds like a lot and I guess it is but the exercise part is so much easier than tracking calories....at least for me that is.

Jedi - I love fruits and veggies! Lately I've been peeling and cubing sweet potato and acorn squash. I then steam them until they're soft....then comes the magic ;). Everything tastes better cooked in my cast iron pan! I drizzle in a little olive oil and toss in the steamed veg...a little salt and pepper and cook until the outsides start to brown. Soooo yummy!

Libby - I'm all for a good week! Let's make it happen!

Later buddies!

Doing good so far. I went to a one hour weightlifting class this a.m. and have been drinking lots of water.

Goals for the week:

1. Workout 5-6 x week
2. Drink 5 glasses water & 2-3 glasses green tea per day
3. protein shake after workouts
4. keep tracking food & journaling each day
5. lose 1-2 lbs this week

I've lost 1 lb already,and it would be awesome to lose another before Friday!

It's been a good start to the week.
6 glasses of water Yes
1200 calorie limit Yes
Exercise 3X Yes
Lose 1 pound

Tomorrow I am going for blood tests and next week my doctor will give me the results. My weight is up from the last time I saw him so I am worried that my
results won't be good. I need to get back on track.

Thanks all for the welcome! I'm feeling a little off today. Dealing with my son on an issue so hopefully I will make it back to update more but did want to track my goals.

Simple goals for first week back
1. post on this thread at least once daily M: Y,
2. workout daily and record in diary how I feel from it M: Y,
3. do not eat anything that I didn't bring to work with me or plan unless it's fruit M: Y,
4. at least three work cups of ice water daily M: Y,

Just being back on fitday is the first step. I was not sure I had enough motivation when I rejoined however my motivation has increased steadily. I find that just the act of being accountable makes me eat better.

I'm having a great week even though I'm finding it harder than I thought to increase my calorie burn. I prefer an active lifestyle to the gym and this winter has not been very good for that. Hopefully there will be some spring cross country skiing. After this week I have two weeks that will not be routine. I'm determined not to use them as an excuse to slack off. Luckily I start holidays April 1st and have a weight and fitness goal I want by then.

I made it to the gym last night for my circuit workout. My legs felt like dead weights during the cardio portion, but I managed to get through it and felt good after. I did not do so great on my fruits/veggies goal yesterday. I only had 2 oz of tomato and 2.5 oz (1/2) of banana. I'll have a salad today I think.

Last night for dinner I made parmesan chicken bubble up which is chicken, marinara, mozzarella mixed up with a can of quartered biscuits and baked and the biscuits puff up. But just one biscuit is 170 calories!!! :eek: So I had one of my Hungry Girl Whole Wheat with Flax Foldit Flatbreads (only 90 calories, 7g protein, 8 net carbs), baked until crisp like a cracker and topped with a little garlic & herb light laughing cow, 4 oz of shredded chicken, 1/2 c marinara, 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. I got way more food for a lot less calories, and it was probably even more tasty. I should make the flatbreads for the whole family, shouldn't I? The Flatout line is my new favorite food!

At 11:00 p.m. I only had 935 calories for the whole day and I wasn't even hungry. But I know that's not enough so I made myself eat some banana to bring it up a little. I just have not been hungry lately. I have, however, been craving soda so much!!!

Everyone has great goals for the week. See some names that are new to me, but I think are familiar to the rest of you. So hello to April and iansteele.

omg I'm so excited! In order to try to help me have more variety and options in ways to prepare fruits and vegetables, I just ordered a Abco Tech New and Essential Tri-Blade Spiral Vegetable Slicer from Amazon. It does vegetable spaghetti and cuts fruits and vegetables into gorgeous curly ribbons. I've been wanting one of these for a long time. I thought about getting a GEFU Spirelli, but the little handheld one is almost $50 and another handheld one is $29.95. This counter top version, which imo is sturdier and has more options, is $29.95. Seemed like a no brainer to me. I'll be looking at the tracking all day every day until it shows up. Can't wait! Does anyone else have something like this? If so, what are the types of things you do with it?

April, I'm so glad you rejoined us. I had lost 43 lbs back in 2011 (still had a lonnnnnnnng way to go to a healthful weight) and regained 28 lbs. It's so easy to do regain! UGH! You have really nice, simple goals this week. People will notice in your signature how much weight you've KEPT off, too, and you deserve many congrats for that! Best wishes with your son's issue. Kudos on an all green report for yesterday. Way to go!

Jedi, kudos on your exercise last night, especially since it was hard for you. Thanks for all your encouragement and help. Also, thanks for the second shout-out to me about the Flatout Flatbread. I must have gotten distracted or called away from the computer when I read your review of it in Food Talk because I completely missed that some are only 7 or 8 net carbs. I went to Walmart this morning and found them right where you said--in the deli department. OOH YUM--REAL BREAD! They didn't have all the varieties mentioned on the website, but they did have the Flatout Light Italian Herb at only 7 net carbs, AND the Flatout Hungry Girl 100% Whole Wheat with Flax at only 8 net carbs. The Italian Herb is HUGE, so I needed only half of it (just 3 1/2 carbs of it! :) ) to make a yummy sandwich of chicken breast, Laughing Cow cheese, and spinach. It was delicious--like eating at Panera Bread, only perfectly low carb for my eating plan. I'll try the Whole Wheat with Flax tomorrow--ooh, I'm thinking pulled pork on that. :) Right next to the Flatout bread I found a package of Joseph's Heart Friendly Pita Bread made from oat bran and whole wheat--quite generous size and only 5 net carbs. I guess I'll try that Thursday.

The chicken flatbreads you made last night sound yummy. :) I want to try to do "chicken pot pie" using the flatbreads--somehow with low carb veggies and roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce instead of gravy.

I love veggies--even have them in my eggs for breakfast, often spinach, tomato, green beans, mushrooms, or onions and peppers and topped with Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce. To cooked and mashed cauliflower one can add sour cream, chives, cheese, and bacon to make them taste like a loaded baked potato. Mashed broccoli is good that way, too. You can layer some veggies like spinach, kale, pumpkin, or squash in lasagna. Pan sauteed and pan roasted veggies are yummy--especially cabbage or brussels sprouts or zucchini.

I don't have anything like your Tri-Blade Spiral Vegetable Slicer. Wishing you a fun time using it and that it becomes a new vehicle for you to get in those healthful veggies.

Kudos on your weight loss!

Mary, I hope you find something for a wheat free crust for pizza. I'll bet someone here will have some suggestions for you. I've heard of the cauliflower crust, too, but I never tried it, either. Kudos on your exercise--both done and planned. I didn't know there were different colors of fat. I guess I'll go read up on that. I so admire you for your exercise accomplishments and for vowing to not let your two weeks that will not be routine deter you from exercise.Best wishes on your April 1 weight and fitness goals.

Ian, nice simple goals you have! I'm keeping it simple right now, too. Aw, thanks for your kind words about my posted, planned menus. I have to eat that way to keep my blood sugar and cholesterol levels normal without meds. But I love veggies, so that part isn't a chore for me.

Libby, best wishes on your goals this week. I hope I can lose at least a pound this week, too. I dreaded my doctor visit last time--my weight was up five pounds and suprisingly all my blood tests came out fine. Best wishes on your visit tomorrow.

Debbie, wonderful report for yesterday! Congrats!

Aimee, kudos on your goals, exercise, and weight loss!

Me, I ate well today and am about to exercise, but maybe just half today because I did some vigorous housework today and and am pressed for time. Then I need to shower, pick up my grandson from school and take him home, and leave by 3:40 to go to an early birthday dinner across town for my step-granddaughter who is 26 today. We're meeting at a restaurant where I can eat on plan, so I'm really grateful for that.

Mern, I'm so glad you found the breads I've been talking about! Remember, if you want to make them crispy to load them up with toppings, just bake them at 350 for about 9 minutes. Tell me about all the yummy things you make with them so I can try your ideas too. Enjoy!!!

Hi all! :) Had another good day....well at least as far as nutrition and fitness go.

1. Track calories - M - yes, T - yes
2. Exercise 7x (scheduled morning interval workout) - M - yes, T - yes
3. Do doubles (second workout) 4x - 1X Tues - yes
4. Drink 3 litres of water daily - M - yes, T - yes
5. No alcohol - M - yes, T - yes

All this talk about flat breads! I can't buy those particular ones here in Canada, but now I'm determined to come up with a good recipe. I already make homemade pizza at least once a week...maybe I'll need to figure out how to up the fibre content....that would lower the net carbs right?

Off to bed...I'll check back in tomorrow ;)

Goals (win, lose, draw):
Calories in
M-D, T-W
Calorie balance
M-W, T-W
Exercise
M-L, T-W



Jedi - Hello to you too.

Flat bread - Clearly I don't spend enough time in the kitchen because I have no idea what that is :(

I had another busy and good day. My fasting blood sugar was 5.8 which is good. I will get the rest of the results next week.
6 glasses of water Yes, Yes
1200 calorie limit Yes, Yes
Exercise 3X Yes, Yes
Lose 1 pound

I am reading a book by Bob Harper from the biggest loser and he has a lot of interesting things to say. He has a kick start plan which I am going to try.
Let's see how that works and maybe I will start losing again. :D

Looks like the scales has stopped rewarding me. That's what I get for weighing daily. It's almost like playing poker - lots of highs and lows.

Ian I think flatbread is a bread made without yeast. There are several East Indian breads that have become very popular. Naan bread for one. It can be as high or higher in calories as regular bread unless you find the right ones.

Simple goals for first week back
1. post on this thread at least once daily M: Y, T: Y, W: Y,
2. workout daily and record in diary how I feel from it M: Y, T: Y, W: Y,
3. do not eat anything that I didn't bring to work with me or plan unless it's fruit M: Y, T: Y,
4. at least three work cups of ice water daily M: Y, T: Y (2 but lots extra at home,

Yesterday was a very good day. Dinner was a bit heavy as was my snack later in the evening but all in all it was a good day.
I have now worked out a half hour a day every day since March 1st. I think I shall make a mental goal to work out every day this month. It gets harder for me to workout on the days my hubby doesn't work because I could sleep an extra 1-1/2 hrs instead of getting him off to work and then working out while the kids get ready for school. I need to rediscover my motivation to still get up with time to workout when he is all warm and snuggly sleeping in my bed.

Happy Hump Day! :D My day is off to a good start....meals, exercise and water all planned. The scale did a big drop this morning....I was quite surprised! I've had some big ups and downs lately and by the end of the month of February, I was actually up from my starting February weight, so I'm sort of expecting a big drop at some point. It might be this week!

Mary - Getting on the scale daily is what keeps me focused and on track. I weighed daily for years. When my weight started to creep up 4 years ago, I stopped weighing and ignored the scale. For me this was a big no-no....that's how I ended up weighing what I weighed when I gave birth to my kids!! I'll always be a daily weigher and see the daily fluctuations. You're right about it being like poker....lots of highs and lows and never knowing what you'll be dealt!

Libby - Glad to hear your blood sugar was good. Are you reading "Jump Start to Skinny"? I quickly perused that book in Chapters one time. Looks pretty good, the calories are quite low which many people will have issue with. However, being vertically challenged (as I know you are too ;)) We need to eat much lower in calories just to even maintain than somebody taller would...so for us to lose, I personally feel our calories need to be quite low. Just my opinion of course.

Ian - What do your goals this week mean? Calories in...do you mean to track your calories...and calorie balance...?

Mern - You had a busy day yesterday! How did eating on plan at the restaurant go? Did you manage to fit in some or all of your bootcamp workout?

Jedi - I've seen some youtube channels where people who eat a raw vegan diet have used the spiral slicer to make zucchini noodles. Otherwise, I've never seen this kitchen appliance. I'm interested to hear how you use yours!

Aimee - You've really made strides upping your water intake!! That's awesome! I've upped mine this week as well and it has me wondering if that's why I saw such a big drop in the scale today? I retain water soooo easily and they say the best thing for water retention is drinking water! Go figure? LOL!

April - You had a great Monday...how did Tuesday go? By the way, I think it's outstanding how much weight you've lost and kept off! That is to be commended!! It's also very brave of you to face up to gaining a little weight back and putting on the brakes! It's so easy to ignore the scale, but that's when we get into trouble. So glad you're here with us and continuing your weight loss journey :)

Have an awesome day all and I'll check back in later to report on how I did with my daily/weekly goals!

April - Looks like you and I were posting at the same time :p Glad to hear you had a good Tuesday. I too find continuing to keep motivated to get up early and workout difficult. I would much rather stay in bed! I sincerely enjoy exercise, but not necessarily at 4:45 am! However, It's the only time in the day where I'm not at work and/or not tending to my kids. I'm guaranteed to not be interrupted at 4:45 and still make it to work on time, so that's my time to exercise.

Have great day!

I drive a 2000 Mercury Sable with no running lights. I used the car at 7:30AM yesterday and forgot to turn off my lights and in the afternoon, when I was supposed to pick up my grandson, my car wouldn't start. My husband wasn't home and luckily my son was and he picked up my grandson (his nephew) for me. We went out last night, so DH is now trying to resurrect the battery with his battery charger. I've got to plan my menu today, after having spent almost half my daily 25 net carb allowance on my yummy lowER carb (for me) French toast with the Flatout flatbread some of us have been discussing. I could have eaten just half a serving of it, but it was just too gosh-darned good, so I ate it all. I'm sure that I can finish out the day healthfully on my eating plan with some good thoughts and choices. :)

Jedi, thanks for the tip on crisping up the flatbread. I was going to enjoy pulled pork on a 100% whole wheat Foldit today, but then last night spied a recipe for French toast on their website and thought of that recipe when I first opened my eyes this morning. I adapted it to suit my needs and slightly varied the cooking method. I posted my recipe under your Hungry Girl Flatout Breads review in the FitDay Food Talk forum at http://www.fitday.com/fitness/forums...tml#post106268 If I come up with new discoveries or recipes I'll post them there, too.

Debbie, congrats on another all green day on your goals! I don't bake often, but I do make flaxmeal muffins (which no one here but I seem to like. LOL) and the flax is zero carb, adds bulk, so lowers the carb content. Oh, you put me to shame gal--meals, exercise, and water all planned and a big drop (congrats on that, too) on your scale. :) Thanks for asking--I DID eat on plan all day yesterday, even with eating out. At the restaurant at 4:45PM I had a six ounce sirloin steak and a tossed salad with blue cheese dressing and a diet cola. Later in the evening at home I had some cold, skinless chicken breast and a 4g carb CarbMasters dairy blend (USA Kroger food store brand fake yogurt) I did just 15 minutes of bootcamp workout in addition the the vigorous housework I counted as exercise earlier in the day.

Ian, kudos on your green reports! Flatbread is just what it sounds like--flat bread. You know how flat pita bread is? Like that. I've heard that Subway near me has an offering of flatbread instead of their sub rolls, but I have to stick with low carb ones, and theirs probably isn't. I agree with Mary, though, you have to watch the nutrition counts on any kind of bread.

Libby! Kudos on your blood sugar! Did you mean 5.8 A1C average blood sugar? In the USA normal A1C is 4-6% and normal fasting blood sugar here is under 100. Way to go on your Tuesday report and best wishes with your kick-start program.

April, you're doing a spectacular job with glowing reports on your first week back. Kudos on your exercise plans. Best wishes on rediscovering your motivation and could you try to discover mine while you're at it? LOL

Kumochi, I've been weighing daily, too, and the scale fluctuations are getting to me. I was down to 225.4 a few days ago and now am stuck on 226. I'm eating on plan and exercising, but probably more water would help--AND I know the scale numbers will start going down sometime soon.

Today's planned menu: (edited)

Flatout Flatbread French toast using zero cholesterol egg substitute like EggBeaters, but store brand, spread with sugar free apricot preserves.

Protein shake with flaxmeal

Skinless chicken breast, green pepper with Laughing Cow light garden vegetable flavored cream cheese

Sardines packed in water, and spread with whole grain mustard, cooked spinach

Another protein shake with flaxmeal

More skinless chicken breast, fresh strawberries

Wiggle room leaves me additional snacks up to 209 calories, 2% total calories as saturated fat, .4g net carbs, protein is no issue.

Will end up meeting my goal today of keeping within carb limit. We are having stir fry for dinner (leftover pork roast) so I will put in lots of veggies. Been drinking lots of water today so I'm sure I will probably be up to 8 by the days end!!

I made a good dent in cleaning the basement this afternoon. Put another load of laundry in from picking up stuff off the floor. Filled a green garbage bag. Now if the snow ever melts I need to get a junk removal van in.

no formal exercise but have been up and down the stairs about 4 times--oh I forgot I got a walk in to pharmacy (15 min)
Jenn

debbie, hopefully you won't have to wait too long to get the Hungry Girl line of breads in Ontario. So far it's in Alberta and Saskatchewan (I probably butchered the spelling of that) and they say more provinces soon.

April, way to go on the exercising every day! That takes commitment. Hope you can muster the willpower on hubby's days off. I, too, cherish the days I can sleep in.

Libby, if you can share any of Bob Harper's good secrets, I'd like to know some of the things he says. Interested too in hearing how the kick start plan goes. Great job on your goals so far this week too!

iansteele, if you go to flatoutbread.com you'll see what we've been talking about. In case the url gets edited out, just google "Hungry Girl flatout bread".

Mern, you always plan such great menus for yourself!!

It seems like everyone is doing a really good job on goals so far this week from what I can tell. For me, though, I'm struggling getting enough protein. Yesterday I had a banana in the morning and a strawberry banana smoothie before bed. Not only did I need to try to get some fiber in, but my daily calories were only at 911, and I don't want to go under 1200. I finished the night at 1201. But the bananas are incredibly high in carbs. I'm not super strict with myself on carbs, but I do have a range in mind that's recommended for me by my health coach to keep my blood sugars in the right area. Right now it's only at 95, so I really need to eat something, but the other problem lately is that I'm so not hungry. The only thing I've been craving is soda, which may be due to ttotm that I was gifted with today. oh yea. But I've been finding myself having to force me something to eat to even get above 1000 calories for the day. And, I don't think I'm going to the gym tonight because of the cramping and not feeling good. Maybe I should try it though. Maybe the exercise would actually help that. hmmmm. I'll see if I can muster up the motivation.

Debbie - Yes, working out at 6am is not by choice but by necessity. I can squeeze one in on an evening once in a while but not consistently like I can the mornings. Glad to hear I am not the only one. Thank you for your kudos on my weight loss. It sucks gaining it back and it's hard to see how fast the regain can be. I started to regain in December of 12 (hit my low in Aug/Sept 12) and have fairly maintained since December but I put on about another 7-10 in the past two months and that is it. I am done. I can barely fit my jeans and I refuse to buy more unless they are smaller.

Mern Sorry to hear about your car battery. I am that handy type of gal who would just go get the jump start box from the garage and get myself back on the road. Growing up with a dad as a mechanic and marrying one has done that to me :)

Jedi It is hard to workout daily but I set the goal knowing full well that I may miss it at least one day. The harder goal for me is making it here on the weekends to keep my posts updated. For some reason I can be on & off the computer all day but not take the time to come here because I won't have time to read all the posts so I feel like a slacker for not staying involved in the conversations.

Today was Relax at Work day. LOL ... A local massage therapist/chiropractic office brought in massage chairs and did 10 min chair massages for anyone interested. I got one. It was wonderful. Wish it had lasted much longer though. LOL They convinced me to sign up for an in office consultation for my hip pain from sciatica. The eval is free and if you do it, then the second appt is a free 30 min full body massage. I'm thinking it's worth it for that even if I don't keep going and stay with my current chiro we have had since 1997. LOL ... They are coming back each Wednesday this month for more 10 min massages. :) I'm already signed up!

I'm still on track foodwise, did half my bootcamp exercise and will do the rest before 7PM.

Jenn, kudos on keeping within your carb limit and for loading up the leftover pork roast with veggies. Way to go on the water, too. I'm sure you burned a lot of calories cleaning the basement and picking stuff up off the floor, going up and down stairs, and walking to the pharmacy. You had a really productive day! Big hug to ya! :)

Jedi, I have a long way to go to make meeting all my nutrition goals easy work. But I have a couple things I do to help me get in my protein. One is to always keep some cooked chicken on hand--I love cold chicken, so when I bake chicken breasts I bake a couple extra. I think I already told you about the Eden Black Soybeans I get from vitacost.com when I stock up on my protein shake mix. I just happened to spy those beans in a local healthfood store Sunday, but they're higher in price than at vitacost. At 1 net carb per half cup serving because of being so high in fiber, they're great to toss into soup, salads, or mash with favorite herbs and spices. Oh, dear, I can't do anything to motivate you to go to the gym to exercise with cramps. When I was young enough for that monthly crampy visit, I just wanted to curl up in a ball until they went away.

April, don't feel like you have to keep up with all the posts and respond to everyone. I don't have the time to do that, either. A lot of times I have time only to skim the posts, being careful to try to catch to see if anyone addressed me personally. Try to come in daily and just say hi and briefly let us know how you're doing: "I did OK yesterday" or "struggling" or whatever, if that's all the time you can spare. Know that we will support you no matter how many or how few words you have time to type. We don't have a jump start box, but DH put my car on the battery charger today and got it started. He drove it around for a while and now has it back on the charger to see if he can get it fully charged. Good for you for being that handy! My daughter is like that--she's fixed a lot of things on her car herself, but I'm not mechanically inclined--actually prefer to not be. I have DH and an AAA club membership. LOL So nice that you got the free massage and a chance to get a free evaluation. Best wishes on the pain management. Are all the Wednesday 10 minute massages free?

Happy Hump Day everyone! Just checking in with my week's progress.
Goals for the week:

1. Workout 5-6 x week -- M/Y, T/Y, W/Y
2. Drink 5 glasses water & 2-3 glasses green tea per day--M/Y, T/Y, W/Y
3. protein shake after workouts -- M/Y, T/Y, W/y
4. keep tracking food & journaling each day -- M/y, T/Y, W/y
5. lose 1-2 lbs this week -- so far so good

I'm not looking forward to daylight savings time as I currently get up about 6:30 and start my sauna heating up and do my yoga. Next week it will be a challenge to get up and get it all done in time to get to work. Early mornings work best for me too for my home exercises.

Amiee, great job all this week! Way to go!

Mary, I was looking forward to the extra daylight in the evening from daylight savings time, but forgot that means it's darker for an hour longer in the morning. I hope you get used to it again soon.

Turns out setting weekly goals is really motivating me to keep on track! Another good day! :)

1. Track calories - M - yes, T - yes, W - yes
2. Exercise 7x (scheduled morning interval workout) - M - yes, T - yes, W - yes
3. Do doubles (second workout) 4x - 1X T - yes, 2X W - yes
4. Drink 3 litres of water daily - M - yes, T - yes, W - yes
5. No alcohol - M - yes, T - yes, W - yes

Sadly the hardest one of my goals is the no alcohol....fine during the week but with the weekend coming up I usually have some wine. Probably by losing those empty calories is what's making the scale move so quickly this week! I'll try to use that as motivation when the weekend is here ;)

Debbie, you are doing such a wonderful job and have come such a long way in your weight loss, healthful eating and exercise already. Keep up the good work! I struggle with giving up Hershey Sugar Free Dark Chocolate and have found that when I eat them on a regular basis, I don't lose weight. Is it possible to limit yourself to just one or two glasses of wine over the weekend--weekends only?

Going to bed early--babysitting great-grandbaby tomorrow and Friday.

Goodnight, pals. :)