Way TO GO AT THE RESTAURANT, CASSIE! Wow, you did really well today to have saved room for both an apple and an orange. Hope you enjoy/enjoyed them! :)

I will be here this weekend, too. I was talking with DH tonight about having enjoyed really yummy home cooked meals all week that met my goals of low saturated fat, low cholesterol, low carb. The turkey, pasta, tomato and green pepper casserole, the baked chicken breasts, and the pork tenderloin chili were good sources of protein, and qualified as true comfort foods, as did my veggie soup. Everything I made at home could be made the day ahead and, except for the leftover chicken, tasted even better leftover and reheated the next day-- or they could be frozen and reheated another day. But leftover chicken can also be made into chicken salad, chef salad, wraps, etc. Sticking to our plans doesn't mean having to eat rabbit food. :)

Oops, the above paragraph wasn't meant to be preaching. I know how lucky I am to have time to cook and many of you don't. I just want to encourage those of you who are tired of the same old, same old foods to try at least a new food or recipe per week to increase the number of choices you have. "Variety is the spice of life" and it can make the difference between staying on track and getting burned out on our healthful ways of eating. Not that I have weeks as successful all the time, but I feel a lot encouraged by this past week's menus.

Wishing all of you a great weekend--and some WARMTH for those of you in frigid weather right now.

Thanks, Mern; I'm just tickled I finally found my willpower again. We've been taking a break from our relationship, apparently :o.

I really like your philosophy...thanks for sharing. We go out occasionally but by and large I cook meals. I try to plan on leftovers or a "go-to" quick meal on days I know I will be late. I use the weekends to experiment with new stuff. I am going to take that challenge and make something new this weekend or week, and hopefully get the boy involved. These days I live in fear that when he leaves for college he will eat out of boxes, cans, and drive-thrus exclusively. But at least he can't use the excuse that I never taught him, lol!

Joanna, just reading back through...I wouldn't be surprised if your blow out day broke through any plateau you might be experiencing. Fingers crossed for you!


1. Calories under 1300 daily. 1276, 1299 (seriously), 1278, 1266, 1272
2. Log everything; post update daily. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
3. Stick to my pie chart rules. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
4. Take vitamins and supplements daily. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
5. Eat clean; no trigger foods. Yes, Not on purpose, but I discovered a new trigger food, Only not clean food was canned soup-was rushing and I made mac and cheese for the boys and I wasn't eating that calorie bomb after having lunch catered! Yes, Yes
6. 4 fruits/veggies per day. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
7. 64 oz. fluids daily. No, Yes, Yes, No, Yes
8. Exercise 6 times.
9. Drive at least 5 times with the boy...last push before the test! One, Two
10. Revise HIPAA forms. *Need to postpone this to Wed...just found out I have a report to get done this weekend

Way to go Mern and Cassie for beating the restaurant menus. I did well today but I am out for dinner with friends tomorrow night I probably won't do as well as you ladies did but I will try to make smart choices and I will be back Sunday night to set goals for next week!

Hi Mike and Joanna its so great that you guys are still doing so well:) Are April, Amy, Terry and Tori still around also?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Mern and Cassie thanks so much for your inspiration. I agree Mern that having the option to homecook gives far more choices. I am always on the go and. like Cassie, try to plan around that (e.g., leftovers) I do find it more challenging than homecooking. One of the things I have done since starting fitday is bringing my lunch to work. Supper choices are more difficult. I have been ok in my calorie choices on supper but not great with nutrition. I have not had a frozen entree or take out for lunch since starting fitday, so that's a huge improvement.

I too am going ok for dinner today....chinese buffet for my birthday. Yep this could be really bad. My plan is to make reasonable choices without feeling deprived. I don't know about logging but I'll try. I am not going to have any dessert (and they have awesome dessert there) because sweets are a trigger food for me. Normally I would go to a buffet starving (get your money's worth) but today I will have a snack before I go.

For anyone who thinks their mind is too busy for yoga- haha- that's what yoga is for- to train your mind to settle down. It might take years. I don't usually get to go to Yin but it is very relaxing for me.

WAY TO GO, CASSIE AND MERN!!!!!

CASSIE AND MERN = SUPERHEROES!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!

Welcome back, Darlene!!! So great to see you on the thread, girl!!!!

Thanks to Mern and Ama and everyone for your good wishes on my vacay.

Well I too couldn't get on the site, then I was travelling home to the frozen north.

I was SHOCKED to find that I actually lost 2 pounds on vacation (back to 132.) I wasn't that active since I blew out my knee about two days before I left but I did walk as much as I could. Also I stretched and did floor exercises every day. I ate more food and more rich food than I ususally do and so my tummy was weird. I think part of what the weight loss came from was what Mike was talking to Joanna about, also the part about sometimes eating more or more carbs. Anyway, whatever it was, I'm grateful and hope to continue in this trend. On that note....

Plan for Saturday
scrambled eggs (not much in the house)
roast chicken and salad
fish (I'm thinking some nice grilled salmon) and veg
Snacks:
nuts
cheese stick
almond milk shake
kippers or sardines

Who was it who talked aobut roasting a chicken for the week? Good idea!!!

I will be back. I'm hungry.

I'm here for the weekend, too! So after my big calorie day, I had another bigger-than-usual day with about 1900 calories, which was still less than I burned for the day. Then yesterday, I was back down to normal. I weigh in on Monday, so we'll see!

I met my goal of doing boot camp class every day this week. Like I said earlier, there was no way I was going to be running in this cold. I'm going to try to do a run tomorrow since it's supposed to be sunny with a high of 30.

Nice job, Mern and Cassie, on your willpower. Major kudos.

Hope, that's awesome that you lost weight on vacation - the best news a woman can hear! Haha, not really, but wouldn't it be nice if that's always the way it worked?

Darlene, I meant to welcome you back the other day but was having log in issues. WELCOME BACK!!! April, Terri and Amy have been MIA for a while. Tori is still with it.
Hope, sorry to hear about your knee. I haven't been around much so I didn't know about your vacation... but I know one thing, if you're down 2 pounds, I know you didn't come to NOLA!

Joanna, yeah maybe I should go away more often!!! haha

Mike, I was NOT in NOLA. I was in Turks and Caicos, lots of yummy (and expensive!) food there. But for food (and fun) I know NOLA is the top.

Yeah, I have knee replacement and I got up to walk to DH and the replacement felt like it moved onto my bone. Yow!!!!!!!!!! I was on the floor. Now I can walk but not as much and my knee feels weird and sometimes not happy. So I have to go back to Dr Scum Sucking Pig and see what's up. Gotta find another doctor too.

How are you? How's the back? You're not getting lost in Blizzards and rum cake, are you? BTW, Joanna, if you're gonna binge, you gotta have pizza. What's a binge without pizza? IMHO. Ok gotta stop with the food porn. I am tempting myself.

) Plan meals - yes, yes, yes, yes no
2) get close to plan -meh, planning meals on vacay not working out so well... close enough W&TH, no but I didn't eat much
3) meditate (I have been and it's been amazing) yes, yes, yes, yes no travel day went to beach instead
4) STRETCH (ditto) yes, yes, yes, yes, yes
5) Write as much as possible -no, yes but not that much was possible I am working so much on this piece I am memorizing it already, yes, yes no