Mern

Hope! OMG! Whatever it was that made the difference, major congrats on that 2 lb. loss ON VACATION! Could be extra carbs like Mike suggested, or how the carbs and proteins were combined, but whatever it was, you did it right! Thanks for your encouragement on my control yesterday. I'll bet it was quite a shock coming home to the frigid cold. Ooh, thanks for posting your menu. It inspired me to make chicken salad for tomorrow's lunch. I hope Dr. Scum Sucking Pig can give you good news there's no serious damage to your knee and you're on the mend. What don't you like about this doctor?

Joanna, glad to see you here today. Keeping my fingers crossed for your pleasant surprise on the scale Monday. Way to go on the bootcamp! Keep in mind you could retain a little water in your muscles from bootcamp, but that'll go away quickly once your body accepts you're not trying to hurt it.

Darlene, thanks for your encouragement as always. Your intent to try to make smart choices while out for dinner with friends tomorrow is really admirable. And way to go on your intent to set your goals for next week Sunday night!

Robin, I agree that your lifestyle presents more nutrition challenges than my having more time to do home cooking. Kudos on bringing your lunch to work now and on your plan to snack before you go and make reasonable choices without feeling of deprivation at the Chinese buffet. Yeah, Chinese is especially hard to log--maybe the nutrition tracker has something in the database, but if not, just remember that the log is secondary to how your body responds to your choices. Remember to try to drink extra water to help combat the sodium from soy sauce if you eat any. I don't know that I'm flexible enough for yoga, but maybe I'll see what I can find on the Internet in the way of free videos to entertain that idea as a method of relaxation. Thanks for putting that out there for us.

Cassie, I'm so glad that you've got your willpower back. I do that, too--plan on leftovers. A lot of people don't like leftovers, but I learned to appreciate them in my childhood from what Mom called "get it yourself or go hungry night." Planning on cooking to have leftovers is of great benefit to me since I'm busier than I prefer to be in this stage of my life. It's really wonderful that you taught your son healhful eating so when he does have the opportunity at college he can make some healthful choices. OMG, your report for yesterday was fantastic AGAIN! You're really rocking it this week!

Back to my being busier than at prefer to be at this stage of my life. OK--I've been putting off this announcement--not that I feel I must announce it, but I want to share this mixed blessing which will cut into my FitDay time beginning the end of summer. 18 year old live-in GD got engaged on her birthday last September. Much to my surprise because I thought they both had a better grip on life's curve balls, she and her fiance are expecting a baby in August. Luckily they both attend college locally full time and work about 30 hours per week at their fast food jobs--and we live only 4.5 miles from his family. His family is wonderful, and they are going to help me with babysitting so I won't be the sole caregiver while GD and fiance are at school and work. His parents, my daughter, DH and I are all hoping that with our help they will get at least their bachelor's degrees before getting married. Baby will be sleeping in my room and I will do the night feedings on school nights until he/she starts sleeping through the night so GD will get enough sleep for school. (That's OK--I'm a light sleeper anyway and have always loved the special quality/bonding time of night feedings.) At some point during the day, depending on college and work schedules, her fiance's mother will take some babysitting duty. (Another blessing that she does not work outside the home.) One of her daughters and my daughter have offered to babysit some in the evenings in the event that both GD and her fiance are at work at the same time --to give both his mother and I a break. It'll all work out--I know that. This baby will be great grandchild number 3--the first two being from DH's first marriage.

Mern

Today's planned menu:

Breakfast was a mashed broccoli and black soybean patty, 1/2 tsp. non-dairy creamer in half a cup of coffee

Lunch: pork tenderloin chili with black soybeans, broccoli slaw

Dinner: baked cod, more mashed broccoli and soybean combination, tossed salad with ranch dressing

Snacks: almonds, tuna with Walden Farms Russian dressing, and homemade chocolate, coconut, and almond protein squares

bojibridge

Wow, Mern, congratulations on the addition to the family! I think those two are EXTREMELY lucky to have you and other family members so devoted to making sure things work out well for them. I really, really admire that.

dmartz

• Cholesterol < 250 mg/day: 166, 143, 131, 98, 320
• Exercise > 30 mins x 3: Y(50m), Y(45m), Y(40m)
• Eat Vegetables > 3 servings/day: Y(4), Y(3), N(2), Y(3), ~(2.5)
• Protein > 50 g / day: 82, 72, 59, 71, 57
• Total Calories < 1750 / day: 1445, 1300, 1411, 1859, 1337
• Less Sugar intake (subjective): N, Y, Y, N, ~

Had allergy issues, so didn't do as bad as I suspected. Chicken soup was counted as half a vegetable serving.

Robin: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope you enjoy the Chinese buffet. You can try to 'get your money's worth' by sticking with the high protein items, even if the sauce is sometimes a mine field.

Mern: Four gold stars for staying on track while eating out! Sounds like you'll have your hands full later this year.

Hope: Sorry your vacation had to end. It sounded awesome.

Cassie: Kudos for skipping the chips at the Mexican place. I can never do that, even though I abhor the thought of eating genetically modified corn.

Joanne: Five days of boot camp! Impressive! Good luck with your run.

et Al: Saw a feature in the Washington post yesterday regarding a new book titled 'Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease.'
WaPo had a photo excerpt called 11 common-sense tips to eat, live healthier, with some really good tips.
I've linked one of my favorite tips: If it has a Nutrition Facts label, you probably don't want it.
The others are interesting, too. For instance, when you eat a Yoplait [my favorite brand] you're getting a yogurt plus [the equivalent of] eight ounces of Coca-Cola!
& Make sure cereal has more than five grams of fiber and less than one gram of sugar.
Check it out if you have a chance. It's pretty quick to flip through it.

cjohnson728

Mern, how lovely to be expecting your 3rd grandchild . I agree with Joanna; your family is so lucky to have you. I'm sure it will feel strange getting up for night feedings again, but enjoy the time. I was lucky enough to have my grandmother live with us while I was growing up and it was nothing short of a blessing and a very special bond. I hope she has a wonderful, happy, healthy pregnancy and that all goes well.

cjohnson728

Those are interesting, Donna, thank you. It's good to see those reminders and learn new ones every once in a while. Yogurt is the one that ticks me off. Those Yoplaits are so popular, but they also have HFCS (or they used to...they may be phasing it out now) and the same with Special K...touting themselves as very healthy. But maybe they are listening to consumers and making changes. And personally, I don't think they should include Fiber One in their list because it has aspartame and some other modified crap in it (but that is a personal opinion/soapbox; your mileage may vary).

You might like these two books: Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink and The End of Overeating by David Kessler. They aren't diet books per se; rather, they are books about why we are compelled to eat (habit, tricks food companies play, etc.), and by extension, how to make better food choices.

Robingen

Thanks Donna for the suggestions about the buffet and the link. The link helped too. I am going to take 1 reasonable plate with mostly protein and eat really slow. Not worry about what others are eating. I have 2 sons who are on body building diets, trying to eat 3000 cals a day. I will try not to be envious lol.

Congrats Mern. I am sure with all the family help things will go fine. I had 2 children while in university and it was definitely not easy but it is certainly possible. I agree with Cassie, having a present grandparent (or 2 or 3 or 4) is such a gift. Lucky her or him!

Joanna I wish you well for your weigh in Monday. I admire you that you can wait.

It's quite obvious to me that food companies have been selling a load of crap calling it healthy because we blindly buy it believing the hype. I personally feel that I am just waking up to this. My rant Cassie

Hope welcome back to realty! Cold and all. What a great time to go on such a lovely vacation.

canary52

Mern, your family is so lucky to have you. I wish you and them all the best. You are such a giving soul. I hope you can always do the same for yourself.

Though I have to say these meal plans are awesome! I want to come eat at your house. Those coconut protein bars sound very intriguing...

canary52

So putting aside my flip flops and putting on boots, grabbing my down jacket instead of my bathing suit, I took a short walk. I bit off a bit more than I could chew (which wasn't much) but I kept telling myself on the way back: you only have to make it to that church and then you can rest; you only have to make it to the pizzeria and if you need to call DH to pick you up, you can. And I made it the whole way that way. I underestimated it. DH said I prolly walked about a mile, a big deal for me at this point.

Mern, you asked why I don't like Dr Scum Sucking Pig. Really I went to the best hospital and got the latest device from the top doctor. But the device has glitches. Last time (two years ago on my DD's birthday) I crossed my leg and the same thing happened. The device moved somewhere it shouldn't have, causing bone crunching pain. When I told the doctor this, he said, "Then don't cross your leg." Really? I accepted that I would never been able to run, never be able to squat. But I was not warned I would not be able to cross my leg or get up from a chair. So I am figuring PT, building up my muscles, hard because of the fibro. I have hope cause - pardon the bad pun - that's who I am. And this time I want to do it sans painkillers so wish me luck, y'all!!

23 degrees out. Reality, huh, Robin? Gimme back the fantasy!!!!!

Great to see so many warriors here. Glad you're here, Joanna. Love how you are facing your struggles. Boot camp. Booyah!

canary52

1) Plan meals - yes, yes, yes, yes no yes
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; yes I had to add pretzels because of my tummy; I think I may have a bug either that or it's fibro; hard to tell
3) meditate (I have been and it's been amazing) yes, yes, yes, yes no travel day went to beach instead yes
4) STRETCH (ditto) yes, 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, no