My meals are mostly vegetables, low fat protein, little or no dairy, fruit early in the day and nuts and seeds for snacks. I try to avoid starchy carbs and baked goods. We can do it. It's simple but it's not easy.

Calories under 1100 per day: M-915 T-984 W-770 T-707 F-870
Water 8 glasses per day: Y, Y, Y, Y, Y
Exercise 8K per week: T-2K T-2.5 F-2.5
Exercise upper body: M-Y W-Y T-Y
Today was another busy day. I feel like I have more energy now than I use to.

It took awhile to get 'down' to the point I am now, it definitely didn't happen overnight. It helps when I log to note what the high calorie stuff is, and just start dropping that off the list. There were a few surprises. Maybe everyone else knew this, but one thing that helped me a lot was finding a breakfast cereal that is low in sugar. When I start trying to avoid sugar, the calories dropped off significantly.

Typical menu:

Breakfast: 1 cup whole grain cereal (I try to avoid corn since I don't trust GM corn and basically all corn is now genetically modified corn) .. cereal with some type of fruit: now it's blueberries, before that bananas, strawberries, or failing that, yogurt.

Lunch: green salad with some kind of protein (grilled chicken, turkey, tuna, nuts, ham) and at least one other veggie: Broccoli, beets, cauliflower ... add carrots (I usually don't have carrots as the main veggie,) black olives, feta, or 1 oz other cheese. 1 Tblspn Ranch dressing + 1 Tblsp 'lower cal' dressing, or 2 Tblsps homemade dressing (poppyseed something or other) that's a mid-cal dressing. Did I say I love salads? I love salads, especially w/ red lettuce.

Afterwork (after 6): 'Tapas.' I snack for dinner at least half the days in a week: Whole Grain Crackers w/ham & spicy mustard, Apples w/ cheese,
Grilled peaches w/ sliced turkey, some new incarnation of leftovers. (Cook Big on the weekends, eat 'small plates' of leftovers in a variety of ways.)

My downfall: Fresh Sourdough bread, Wine (weekends primarily), and chocolate.

Haha Mike, even the church knows it's true.

Dmartz - Your last 2 posts didn't have a quote :( It was enjoyable reading those everyday.

Hope you all keep it together this weekend.

Goals:

1. 3500 calories of exercise this week...
M-733, T-76, W-0, Th-76, F-406
2. Under 2000 calories intake per day
M-1190, T-2569, W-2599, Th-815, F-2832
3. Under 40g fat per day
M-23.4, T-75.1, W-120.1, Th-31.7, F-101.5
4. 3 fruit/veg per day
M-2, T-3, W-3, Th-0, F-4

I can put yes to all my goals except for water yesterday :(
UGH TTOM and have to go to Dr on Tues. Better make sure I drink more water to help with water retention!!

Going to make a start on cleaning out the junk in the "guest room" which currently is just used as overflow room. Maybe even take my journal outside and sit on the deck. We have had such a rainy summer I should take advantage of this beautiful day.

Jenn

Weighed myself after posting this and am down 1.5 lb :D

1. Don't backslide on the weekend: N
2. Workout every day (>200 min/wk): 70, 0, 60, 10, 0
3. Calorie Deficit -250 cals / day: -459, -223, -572, +12, +308
4. At least 3 Vegetable portions a day: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
5. Sugar less that 40 grams / day: 51, 64, 55, 45, 27
6. Cholesterol < 200 mg/day: 221, 131, 165, 311, 39
7. Protein > 50 mg/day: 90, 58, 68, 75, 47

ok, a quote:

Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?

- E A Poe, from A Dream Within A Dream

Jenn: Yay! Great job on the 1.5 pound loss already this week :)

Kocialapcia: Sorry for the late reply. I started 3 months ago and decided to make a life style change not a diet. The first six weeks, I only ate raw fruits and veggies. I slowly added cooked veggies and beans. A sample day for me would be: Breakfast: orange; Lunch: raw cabbage mixed with low sodium pinto beans, chopped tomato, mushrooms, and onion; Dinner: Baked sweet potato topped with fresh salsa. I only drink water. I try to add fresh lemon juice to the water once a day. Things I do not eat: meat, grains, and dairy. I think different things work for different bodies. This is definitely working for me and after I got used to it, it is simple to follow.

1. post on motivational forum 5 out 7 days: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no
2. log everything that enters my mouth daily: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes
3. continue to work on relieving stress: No, yes, no, no, no, no
4. do something physically challenging this week: Yes, climbed a tree with my son and then got scared at the top and didn't want to climb down :p

You can do it!

Did everyone vanish? This thread has become a graveyard...

Goals:

1. 3500 calories of exercise this week...
M-733, T-76, W-0, Th-76, F-406, S-0, Su-0 Total: 1291
2. Under 2000 calories intake per day
M-1190, T-2569, W-2599, Th-815, F-2832, S-582, Su-1962 Average: 1793
3. Under 40g fat per day
M-23.4, T-75.1, W-120.1, Th-31.7, F-101.5, S-23.5, Su-21.9 Average: 56.7
4. 3 fruit/veg per day
M-2, T-3, W-3, Th-0, F-4, S-0, Su-9 Average: 3

Still not quite making it but it's slowly getting better