7-Day Motivational Thread Starting 3/7/11
 

Good morning ladies, I figured that since I was up I'd get this started.

Health & Fitness
1) Keep total (not net) Carbs under 75g/day
2) drink a gallon of water a day
3) take vitamin daily
4) take fish oil daily
5) 2500 cals deficient for the week
6) workout 3 times
7) do Plyometrics 1 time
8) start my journal
9) post how I'm feeling with low carbs daily here

Non Health & Fitness
10) 4 random acts of kindness
11) makes 50 calls to prospects
12) to push/ encourage the next person to post here to meet their goals

Hi everyone,

My goals this week:

1) stay under 1850kcal
2) exercise every second day plus saturday gym workout
3) fast one day - preferably Tuesday or Thursday

Hi,

My Goals

workout at least 3 times this week
eat healthy TODAY ( just started wt loss )
continue to eat healthy

Mike rubypeanut started one last night, can you fix it so there is only 1? Otherwise it'll be very confusing.

Health & Fitness Goals:

1. Keep calories in check 1,500 M-T-W-Th-Sun and 2,000 F-Sat.
2. Drink 96 oz of water.
3. Exercise 6 hours.
4. Keep carbs to 45% or lower.
5. Calorie deficit for the week of 3,500.
6. Take DDs up to school for "walk the halls" at least once.
7. Inflate new stayball.

Non Fitness Goals:

8. Average 5 items from the "list" daily.
9. Sign up for race and call SIL about same.
10. Clean 2 rooms (15 minutes each) and do 1 load of laundry M-F.
11. Clean out 1 small area of basement Sat-Sun.

Good Morning everyone!

Stepped on the scale this morning -- 201.4 Oh scale, you're a funny creature. That means it hasn't moved in a week. I did randomly check during other times of the day this weekend (after I ate) and it did fluctuate, so I know it's not just stuck or something. It got as low as 201.1 on Saturday afternoon, but that's not an official weigh-in time so I didn't log it.

Whatever the number is, though, I feel curiously "light" this morning. I'm hoping it's a precursor to good things, since I'm a little off-track (I was supposed to be under 200 by March 1st to reach my goal of 140 by October 15th, 2011 -- my best friend's wedding. I know it's a marathon, but still!)

Anyway! To the goals!

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle goals:

1) Drink 64 oz. water daily. Get to 72 if I can.
2) 1400 cal. daily limit
3) Exercise five hours this week, at least 3 hours hard cardio
4) 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
5) No boxed/premade lunches or dinners
6) Eat one big salad a day for lunch or dinner
7) Balance protein to at least 30% of nutritional chart

Other Life Stuff:

1) Re-start my needlework. Try to work on it for at least an hour a day.
2) Call my grandmother
3) Schedule hair appointment
4) Doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon, don't forget!!

Good luck to everyone on their goals this week!

My goals for this week are:

7000 calorie defecit for week
Exercise at least 5 days
Decrease my carb intake to 150 gms/day
Increase my protein and fibre
Drink my water every day

grrr sorry rubypeanut. I don't know how I missed it, but I did. I closed it since the majority of the replies were here. :(

i'm boring my goals are the SAME!!!!!! i'm going to think about them more for next week.

weight:
~ food wise stick with my plan
~ log all foods i've eaten
~ do cardio 6 days m yes
~ do strength training 6 days
~ get 90 oz of water in
~ continue to not emotionally eat. be real with what i'm feeling at the moment & talk to someone, write it down, come here & vent, but don't stuff my feelings down with food.
~ be honest to myself when weighing myself.

non weight goals:
~ put effort in every day in what i'm wearing & how i look
~ get back to my routine in organizing my house
~ write in my fitday journal at least three times.

Good morning,

Feeling great about last week, hope this week is even better!

Fitness goals:
1300 cals/day
1375
875 cals, stressed, couldnt eat
1656, ugh, chips and cheese did me in
lets just say no and leave it at that, ugh
yep

workout five days
yep
yep
nope
nope
yep

fruit/veggies each day
yep
1 cup veggies
yep
yep
yep

Non-fitness goals:

Paint and move bed
not yet
nope
ordered mattresses
took it down and outside, started painting
bed is done!

30 min/day one on one with kids
tball drafts count?
yes, lots of time, just dance 2!
yep
nope
i did!

1 load laundry per day
caught up for now!
yep
did two loads
yep
two loads

Plan meals for each day
steak fajitas
kids eat at church tonight
eating with the parents tonight, gotta be good!
rotissere chicken tonight
leftover nite

I love this thread!! Helps me lots! I actually look forward to posting here!

my weekend was good. Saturday was our bollywood show & boyfriend taped our dance. i might post it, but we will see. i wanted boyfriend to take some pictures so that i could just post some of those...lol. anyways the dance wen't really well. i'm happy with how it turned out. then Saturday night we went to a fundraiser for the highschool band they do a 'big band' event every year & it's dressy. so i got to wear my little black dress i was happy when i put it on as it wasn't as tight as when i wore it at christmas...woo hoo.

Good Morning ladies and Mike

I will try this again, the first time I wasn't too good at keeping my health and fitness goals, but did all of the others

Health and Fitness

Keep recording everything I eat and stay in my calorie range
Keep up my journal entries to keep myself accountable
Drink water.....still pretty iffy on this one
Walk to the store instead of drive at least a few times this week


Other goal for the week is to start doing the wiring in my sons room, this will require hubby to be on board as I need him for the muscle work.

Tried something new this weekend. I had two meals that had become unshakable cravings, so I decided to do a "controlled burn" and allow myself to eat them and get them out of my system. I'm not even going to get into the gory details of what they were, but they were pretty bad.

Suffice to say that I got mildly sick from both and I don't want to see them again for a long time. One of the meals triggered a weird binge on cinnamon-sugar graham crackers (where did that come from???). It wasn't pretty, but I'm done with those now as well. :o

I was back on track Sunday and ready now to begin a new week.


Food & Fitness:

1. Limit calories to 1200 and log everything.
2. Keep BMI under 20.
3. 100 oz. of fluids daily.
4. Trail walk at least twice this week, weather permitting.
5. Take multi-vitamin, calcium and ground flax daily.
6. Lose 1 more pound this week.
7. Floss every day.

Personal Goals:

1. Continue with "do something nice each day".
2. Be a more patient, sympathetic person.
3. Be encouraging to husband and daughter by complimenting them each day on something that they did well.

crazy week ahead
 

this week should prove to be fun in nothing else:
1 eat under 1500
2 go to gym
3 get off the diet Dr. Pepper
4 More water

1 curling monday
2 meeting tuesday
3 pack for kids trip wednesday
4 take kids to Spokane for plane trip Thursday (3hr drive there and then 3hr home)
5 find the tickets to get in to Disneyland or they will just be driving by the park looking in.( all explaind in last weeks thred, last day):eek:

quinn ~ glad to hear that you are back on track. i'm not sure about cravings if giving in at times is good to get rid of them or to just white knuckle it until it passes? i've done both & i'm not sure what even works better for me.

I always tough it out, but this time it went on for a week or two and I decided just to "get rid of it".

I'll see what damage I did on the scale tomorrow.

quinn, how about the gory details? it can't be that bad.

I feel like crap today. I got back on the scale and it read 174.8. 3 poudns in one day. I know it's from salt but it still sucks. I'm going with 171.8 as my "starting weight". I don't know if I'll actually lose much weight on this "diet" but I'm doing it more so as a challenge to see if I can stick to it for a week. I checked my bodyfat this morning (haven't don't that in a while) but I think it's also elevated b/c of me retaining water. I can say that WITHOUT A DOUBT, I've grown to hate eggs. Which will make it that much harder to skip oats in the morning. Oats probably would be better for me but I don't want to give in and make this easy. I need to find other option, the fact that I can't stand eggs now and both of my dogs love them makes it hard. I try to choked them down as they sit there are stare at me with this sad look... well at least Chloe' (my boxer does). She sits there all quiet and tries to get teary eyed while Mystie, my 9 pound badass sits there and gives me this look like "if you don't save me a bite I'm going to bust your ass, then once you leave piss on your pillow, so if you know what's good for you..."

It was pretty bad...

Friday night, a classic Wisconsin beer-battered fish fry...

Saturday, 1/4-1/2 lb. charbroiled burger and homemade fries at this little bar...

Not to mention about a third of a box of graham crackers...

...yeah, it was bad. lol

Maybe it was something in the air...I got into the graham crackers this weekend, too, and normally I leave those the heck alone. I did not plan well this weekend foodwise and therefore ended up in a bad situation both days. Today's been better but I've got to get back to the numbers to be accountable and for damage control.

1. Average a 500 cal deficit daily.
2. Keep carbs at 45%; no more than 50.
3. Exercise daily (need it, for #1)
4. 5 fruits and veggies daily.
5. Sleep 7 hours nightly.
6. 3 sports bottles of water daily.
7. Stay off the scale till Friday.
8. Snack smart: wait 30 minutes & drink water before; no trigger foods disguised as "snacks."

9. One office organizational task five out of seven days.
10. Paint one room of trim by end of weekend.

Sometimes the numbers help me feel in control, and work is really crazy the next 2-3 days, so I need my structure this week.

It's good to see everyone back for another round. Hope you all are off to a great start this week.

Great job Stacey on enjoying the dance and on having the dress feel great on you!

My weight loss goals for this week are:

1) cardio and weights 4X each this week
2) eat mindfully and track everything
3) journal atleast once

I did pretty well this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday I ate around 1500 cals/day after subtracting calorie burn.

Sunday morning I weighed in at 129, I will see what I weigh at WW tomorrow, it will prob be more than that bc I weigh in at night.

My goals this week are a whole lot like those since my January 17 start here, but since it's working I'm going to stick with it. I'm still on target on my weight loss goal to be at 199.5 by June 26, 2011.

Daily
Calories: 1600
Carbs less fiber 25g
Protein 120g but more is fine
2-4 Tbsp. flaxmeal daily (2 Tbsp. is zero net carb, 4g fiber and 2400mg Omega-3)

64 oz. water

Walking 6 days a week--2 miles in home to DVD or at least one mile at park depending on weather.

So I started yesterday on my journey to becoming healthy again! Might as well jump in with both feet and give this a shot!

Fitness and food goals-
1. Walk every day.
2. Go to the weight room 3 days.
3. Stick to my raw diet!
4. Drink a gallon of water a day.

Non fitness goals.
1. Go see my dad in the hospital twice.
2. Keep house clean.
3. Pay a few bills.
4. Record expenses for the month.
5. WRITE!!

Welcome, MakerBabe and beccafries. Best wishes on your goals this week. :)

Terri, if my grandkids ever become obese or develop pre-diabetes, I'll bet they will blame that on me along with blaming me for their missing lateral incisors. LOL But I can only hope that one of them would say "Of course she is probably the most excellent woman I've ever met..." Turkey meatballs and whole-wheat pasta sound quite delicious and healthful. My husband likes BBQ sauce on baked beans, so I can see that your BF would enjoy it on pasta. My DH isn't romantic at all--like with roses and chocolates, either. But I'm a pretty low maintenance type of gal anyway. I'd rather have practical gifts. Wanna hear something REALLY unromantic, though? DH and I had gone together for almost two years back in 1971 and I knew I was in love with him. One night I had cooked him a dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes and green beans and as he was CHEWING ON A PORK CHOP, he complimented me on the meal and made a simple statement out of the clear blue sky: "Well, we'll get married in a couple months." But in that incident roses might have been a nice touch. LOL

feeling very tired & dragging my behind this afternoon *yawn*

I ate 1500 cals today and did an easy-moderate workout on the elliptical this morning for 35 mins, then weights. not sure of my calorie burn at the gym but i'd say 200. so i'm hopefully at 1300 for the day which I think is good. still trying to figure out what works.

i'm proud of bringing a lunch to school even though I was going to a event that provided pizza for lunch. i ate a bit of my lunch before (didn't want to smell up the lunchroom w/ my food), which was delicious punjabi cabbage with turkey, so that I wouldn't be hungry for the pizza. I also brought an apple so I'd have something to snack on while everyone was eating pizza. I ended up eating a slice anyway, which was fine as I was able to work it into the plan.

Later on, I was still really hungry, or maybe just bored, but I felt like I was hungry and I ate another piece at 3pm. Even though I had also eaten the rest of my punjabi cabbage by then.

I'm also proud because I didn't eat ANY of the cookies they provided!

Welcome makerbabe and beccafries!

Hahaha! I hope your grandkids don't blame you for anything!!

I love my grandparents (on my Mom's side). I had a childhood where I was lucky enough to be raised by them for 4 days out of the week, and with my parents 3 days out of the week, until I was about 6 or so. I literally feel they are a second set of parents. My grandmother in particular is QUITE the character - a 5'0" Irish redhead from the South Side of Boston ;) I take after her in body in many ways, but I'm pretty sure she's a one-of-a-kind original in terms of personality. She's just spunky, smart, caring, funny, great role model, great lady! I'm sure your grandkids will say the same for you!! I tease her about "thanks for the curves" but I'm honestly honored to be in any of the same categories as her, really.

The turkey meatballs and whole-wheat pasta is okay, but the barbecue sauce is very much NOT (any recipe that calls for an entire cup of ketchup is asking for trouble!)

And oh my goodness, what a marriage proposal!! Haha! I'm low-maintenance myself, but I've made it clear that if and when he decides to propose, there are baseline behaviors that I hope are observed! :D We'll see how it pans out. Did you have pork chops at the wedding??

Boyfriend just doesn't think of romantic things on his own. I say it's due to a lack of ladies in his life at a young age - it was just him, his brother, and his dad until he was a young teen ;) Womanly influence there was not! Though he did *try* this Valentine's Day. He forgot it WAS V-Day until he got a gentle reminder. And then he was an hour late home from work because he was running around trying to find last-minute roses! :rolleyes: Luckily we still made it to dinner, and I appreciated the attempt at romance. Practicality will win out any day for me, though. Roses die; good, thoughtful and meaningful gifts that might not be so flashy last far longer.

Nice job, Julia! Sounds like a very successful day!

Mern & Terri, you are too funny. I was also lucky enough to have grandparents central in my life growing up (my mom's mom lived with us and my dad's parents lived next door with my aunt and uncle - I believe the technical term is "undifferentiated family ego mass" - and it was awesome). There's nothing like it.

I would say that I came down on the side of practical gifts for a very long time in my life and am now starting to come out of it a little bit and enjoy a few spoilers now and then. I remember on my first Mother's Day, my gift was a leaf blower. Most people were appalled, but it was just what I wanted :). I think maybe my husband regrets not being as romantic as he could've been years ago and is trying to make up for it. After all, his proposal was, literally, "Well, I guess you could go ahead and start planning the wedding." (Although he did talk to my dad first, who, in HIS romantic mindset, asked what we would do for health insurance, since we were in school and I couldn't stay on the family policy.) It's better now, though, by a long shot!

Mike, hope your first day of low carb went well. Keep us posted!

Stacey, hope you got a second wind this evening. My afternoon was like that, too, and it stinks!

Welcome to all new folks who've joined up! You've found a fun thread!

Today's Check In
 

1. Average a 500 cal deficit daily. 679
2. Keep carbs at 45%; no more than 50. 49%
3. Exercise daily (need it, for #1) Yes (weights)
4. 5 fruits and veggies daily. Yes
5. Sleep 7 hours nightly. Very bad 5:15
6. 3 sports bottles of water daily. Yes
7. Stay off the scale till Friday. Yes
8. Snack smart: wait 30 minutes & drink water before; no trigger foods disguised as "snacks." Forgot, but did okay snacking

9. One office organizational task five out of seven days. This was not the day
10. Paint one room of trim by end of weekend.

Today was crazy with work as I knew it would be. I am ready to drop, I'm so tired. Hope everyone had a good day today; thanks for being here, ladies & Mike :)

Health & Fitness
1) Keep total (not net) Carbs under 75g/day 61.9g
2) drink a gallon of water a day 135.2oz
3) take vitamin daily yes
4) take fish oil daily yes
5) 2500 cals deficient for the week -639
6) workout 3 times yes
7) do Plyometrics 1 time no
8) start my journal yes
9) post how I'm feeling with low carbs daily here yes

Non Health & Fitness
10) 4 random acts of kindness no
11) makes 50 calls to prospects too many of them were on the DNC list, ent emails instead
12) to push/ encourage the next person to post here to meet their goals MunaAmin:not yet

My Journal:

First day of low carb. Weighed 174.8# b/c I'm retaining water. Counting start weight as 171.8.
8:30am Just had breakfast, already hate eggs. Check my bodyfat, it was ~8.5mm (but I'm bloated)
11:00am had 1.2 serving of almonds. I should have brought my protein shake to work. grrr
1:30pm had lunch. Haven't really felt hungry yet.
2:30pm started feeling hungry, ate other 1/2 serving of almonds
3:15pm still hungry, ate an apple (even though heavy in carbs)
4:10pm feeling satisfied. Feeling good, energy is good. I hope I can hold out until dinner (probably 7:00), then hit the gym & finish the day with a protein shake and last serving of fruit.
7:45pm dinner
9:00pm went to the gym (broke weight belt doing weighted chin ups, OOPS!) ***Energy level was low!***
10:30pm protein shake, last serving of fruit and last serving of almonds.

hi all,
another option was turned down by the immigration. Nightmare :( I'm oscilating between pure despair and relief (that kind of felling, bad as it is, at least you know what's probably gonna happen so you can prepare yourself for it).
Right now we have no options left. We will try, with the help of non-gov organisation to write a letter requesting an exepmtion on humanitarian grounds, but I don't hope for much.
Ah well, at least we live in a safe country and if we are patient enough, and fight long enough, we shall be reunited eventually. And maybe a miracle will happen and we won't be even parted.

I'm sorry to hear the latest news, MunaAmin. I know you will do the best you can in whatever situation you find your family. Maybe something will come through, but if not, know that you are strong enough to handle anything.

Got on the scale this morning and the damage wasn't as bad as feared. Up .6 lb. I deserved much worse. After enjoying seeing my back yard free of snow for the last week, tomorrows forecast is for 6-12". If I didn't have my dad's Irish skin, I would seriously be thinking tanning bed.

Food & Fitness:

1. Limit calories to 1200 and log everything. yes
2. Keep BMI under 20. yes-19.57
3. 100 oz. of fluids daily. yes
4. Trail walk at least twice this week, weather permitting. not yet
5. Take multi-vitamin, calcium and ground flax daily. yes-flax is yummy in yogurt. Kind of tastes like graham cracker crumbs! lol ;)6. Lose 1 more pound this week. Trying
7. Floss every day. yes

Personal Goals:

1. Continue with "do something nice each day". yes
2. Be a more patient, sympathetic person. trying
3. Be encouraging to husband and daughter by complimenting them each day on something that they did well. yes

Stacey, feeling any perkier today?

Quinn, .6 lb. regain isn't bad at all and likely could be primarily water weight. I'm up half o'pound and just told my scale it's either wrong or lying because I've been super-good, so I'm not recording it. LOL. You are doing well so far this week. Congrats on that.

Julia, way to go on the food control and exercise!

Muna, big hug to ya! Keeping you and your family in my thoughts and prayers.

Terri, it's really great that you appreciate your grandparents so much, especially that spunky little Irish grandma. My Mom believed children were to be seen and not heard, so when we were around grandparents we were to only speak when spoken to, be polite, and then go outside or into another room to quietly play or read while the adults visited. My maternal grandparents had thirteen children, so I guess Mom figured they needed a rest. LOL "Thanks for the curves." LOL I got my big butt from my paternal grandma, as did both my paternal aunts, and I suspect my daughter and one granddaughter may also battle that in the future. Cute that you have marriage proposal guidelines. Sure was sweet of BF to run around looking for roses on Valentine's Day. :) No pork chops at our wedding reception. LOL

Cassie, wow! Your family had real "togetherness!" Sounds like it worked out great for you. Geez, your DH and mine must be related--marriage proposal(?) very similar! LOL Your Dad sounds very practical. Hee Hee Hee You're off to a great start on this week's goals. Congrats on that.

Mike, I have a question, but I suspect the answer is because of the program you're following. Since fiber is a carbohydrate that does not impact blood sugar, why do you not deduct it your total carbs? There are many ways to low carb--I'm just asking. I don't always eat eggs for breakfast. I do just general low carb, not a specific plan, so I can eat whatever I want. If you are not following a plan that tells you specifically what to eat, some other ideas besides eggs are:
--leftover meat and veggies from the night before
--yogurt with ground flaxmeal or textured soy veggie protein
--textured veggie protein as cereal
--a big protein shake
--cottage cheese with cinnamon
--anything rolled up in a high fiber low carb tortilla.
--flaxmeal muffins are great if you can handle Splenda.
--French toast made with Aunt Millie's Healthy Goodness Whole Grain Light Bread--only 7 net carbs per slice.

I love almonds, but don't find them filling enough for a snack all by themselves. But I agree the protein shakes are great for snacking. I guess you'll be compiling a list of "work portable" snacks that are more satisying.

I never feel sluggish on low carb--in fact, I feel the opposite--way more energized without all the carbs that caused my blood sugar spikes and plunges. (But maybe that's because I'm pre-diabetic.) Be sure to allow yourself a good volume of food--just takes practice to figure out the most volume of food you can "buy" with your carb allowance. I measure things in terms of broccoli, which I love: e.g. do I want another tablespoon of salad dressing or a whole cup of broccoli for the same two net carbs.


Monday achievements:

Calorie limit 1600, actual 1450
Carbs less fiber limit 25g, actual 19.2
Protein goal 120g, actual 150.7
Flaxmeal goal 2-4 tbsp. daily, actual 4 tbsp.

Water goal 64 oz., actual 46 oz.

Exercise: 1 mile + 2 minutes non-stop walking at the park

Muna,

So sorry to hear that things aren't going as you had hoped. You're in my thoughts. :)




As far as gifts, I definitely fall on the side of practicality. I'm not a flower or jewelry girl (at all). I'd rather have the cash! lol The leaf blower doesn't surprise me at all... it's sounds exactly like me. I usually ask for something that the family needs and call it my gift.

As far as romance, as I've said before, I hit the jackpot with my husband. I don't know if it's his French/Italian background or that he was raised with 4 sisters within 5 years of his own age, but he can read my mind and anticipate my reaction to a lot of things. I'm a lucky girl. If he was ever "disconnected" to a woman's needs, his sisters would correct him in a hurry!


I need the help of all of you with a personal issue that I am struggling with and I trust you guys to give me honest feedback. There's no one in my family that I can talk to about this. My oldest, married child asked my husband and I to spend Father's Day doing outdoor activities with a small group of people including an ex-family member, that through the years, has proven time after time to be very unstable, both in his life and emotionally. He actually scares me. And, my husband, as patient as he is, can't stand him.

My husband said he can't think of anything he'd rather do less on Father's Day. So, do we tell our grown child the truth or do we make up "plans"? I'm afraid it may become an annual Father's Day event. My husband is such an awesome father that it would kill me to see him spending Father's Day doing something that he would actually hate.

What do I do??? Any ideas? Is it better to be truthful or to "keep peace" and make up other plans? HELP!

weight:
~ food wise stick with my plan m 90%
~ log all foods i've eaten m yes
~ do cardio 6 days m yes, t yes
~ do strength training 6 daysm yes, t yes
~ get 90 oz of water in m only got 60 oz in
~ continue to not emotionally eat. be real with what i'm feeling at the moment & talk to someone, write it down, come here & vent, but don't stuff my feelings down with food. m yes
~ be honest to myself when weighing myself. m yes

non weight goals:
~ put effort in every day in what i'm wearing & how i look m yes
~ get back to my routine in organizing my house m yes
~ write in my fitday journal at least three times. 1 yes, 2 yes

quinn ~ is there a reason the ex family member is being included in the Fathers Day Celebration? as an adult child i think i'd feel better that my parents told me the truth that way i'm given the chance to change things if i felt i had so that my dad could be there & feel comfortable.

julia ~ great job on taking your own lunch. you were smart having the apple to eat while others are eating pizza you go girl. i HAVE to ask what is punjabi cabbage? sounds very yummy to me.

muna ~ sorry to hear that your other option didn't get approved. good luck with the letter. keeping you & your family in my thoughts.

mern ~ right now i'm feeling perkier, but i slept a lot last night.

mike ~ do you have to eat eggs at breakfast? you can make up some ground turkey or chicken patties cook a bunch so they are there to just grab at breakfast. they can all be pre-portioned a head of time. like mern said left over meat is good at breakfast. big thing i've learned is don't be eating something you don't like.

you guys i'm so tired of the cold. it was -32 this morning & yes i walked to work this morning. my son comes home from his dad's today woo hoo can't wait to see him.

Monday Report Card:

1. Keep calories in check 1,500 M-T-W-Th-Sun and 2,000 F-Sat. Um nope, 2,425 :eek:
2. Drink 96 oz of water. YES
3. Exercise 6 hours. 2 hours
4. Keep carbs to 45% or lower. Nope 54%
5. Calorie deficit for the week of 3,500. -280
6. Take DDs up to school for "walk the halls" at least once. YES

Non Fitness Goals:

7. Average 5 items from the "list" daily. NO
8. Sign up for race and call SIL about same. NO
9. Clean 2 rooms (15 minutes each) and do 1 load of laundry M-F. NO
10. Clean out 1 small area of basement Sat-Sun. NO

The kids had a scheduled day off yesterday, which I totally forgot until DH reminded me. Of course he waited until after I'd gotten up early and worked out. Geez, I could have slept in another hour :rolleyes:. Oh well, got in a great workout. Then I totally blew my nice calorie deficit by going out to lunch at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. I started out with a plate of sushi which is low cal and nutritious, but ended up at the fried cheese rangoon and ice cream bar and tossed a couple of tiny brownies on the top just for good measure. Yikes, that was a big fat lunch!

You folks are sure prolific, I logged on Monday morning and now again Tues morning and I had to read 4 pages just to keep up, which is a good thing.

Sounds like I have much in common with many of you, extreme practicality, especially in terms of gifts. DH has 2 sisters and a mom who are not the least bit practical, so it took him a long time to understand that yes sometimes the best mother's day gift you can buy for the wifey is a new vacuum cleaner. Or at least it is if she wants a new vacuum and is 7 months pregnant and shouldn't be displeased for any reason...

DH and I have sort of reached a compromise on the gift issue, for Valentine's Day and our anniversary he goes with romantic and everything else (birthday, Christmas, Mother's day) is wide open for practical gifts. But seriously even on Valentine's Day he's not super romantic, usually he gifts me with chocolates (small box), non-rose flower arrangement (because roses are 3x more that week) and a 6 pack of red beer. The red beer is in observation of our first date which happened to be on Valentine's Day. So although it's more romantic than practical, it's romantic in a predictable sort of way. Now on our anniversary I get red roses, one for every year we've been together, and that's getting to be quite an armload anymore.

Stacey congrats on the show going well, I know that you were a little concerned about it last week.

Mike do you eat your eggs the same way every day? I love omelets, and the eggs sort of take on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. My personal favorites are broccoli/mushroom/onion/cheese and sonora. I fill my sonora omelets with shredded chicken and salsa, a little cheese and some salsa on top. The other thing I do with the eggs is to whip in about a tsp of cajun seasoning. You might also consider baking your eggs casserole style (ham, onions, broccoli, sausage, cheese etc etc) and then just heat up what you want for breakfast.

Cassie, that's so nice that you had all those relatives nearby. Growing up my grandparents lived about 2 hours from us, close enough to visit them for holidays but too far away for them to babysit us. My brothers and I used to spend a week with each of them during summer break, and that was always a ton of fun. Of course we live 3 hours from the in-laws now and DH wouldn't have it any other way... We only live 15 minutes from my parents and the kids are really close with them and I count my blessing every day over that relationship.

Muna, so sorry to hear that you haven't been able to resolve your immigration issue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a resolution will turn up and allow your family to stay together.

Welcome aboard to the new folks, this is a really motivational spot, you're gonna love it.

Quin, I don't know what to tell you about the family issue. My gut is telling me that you need to have a gentle but clear discussion of the problem, especially since it doesn't look like it's a one time thing. Chances are that they have similar feelings about that person. But I might also suggest that you plan something better to do for that day, maybe something that can become a regular thing. Maybe something with sentimental value like an annual fishing trip, a baseball game, IDK exactly what, just something that DH loves.

Mern, I do that same exercise, especially when I'm faced with things like the 100 calorie packs. Just for kicks make a 100 calorie pack of a favorite veggie and then set it side by side with a 100 calorie pack of cookies. BTW you have to use a gallon zip lock bag to make a 100 calorie pack of broccoli, it's waaaayyyy more than the cookies.

Cassie -- It's funny, my grandparents lived nearby, as well as some aunts and uncles, and now we're all spread out. Some in CT, some in MA, some in SC, and me now in FL. I sort of miss the ability to just get together whenever we felt like it. It's a great way to grow up, knowing there's always loving family around. I felt very safe.

And what is with these proposals?! lol! Boyfriend and I have certainly talked about marriage a lot and things we'd like or not like to do, and financial aspects of it, but none of this "Well, get ready woman!" I expect a baseline of behavior ;) We've been through a lot of ups and downs, and sometimes I just suspect that romance will all come later, since we've been forced into practicality by our life situation (Money has always been tight. If it's between roses and fancy dates and paying the rent, rent wins!). He does find some ways to be romantic, but it's just not in the traditional sense. You gotta tilt your head a little to see it ;)

Mike -- Sounds like a decent first day! I hope your energy catches up with you :D

Muna -- That sounds really tough and stressful. I hope that things work out in the best possible way for your family.

Mern -- I love my family!! They make you who you are in so many ways. I'm lucky that my grandparents are both still with me. And oh my goodness, my family is so loud and noisy and crazy and haphazard, I'm not sure any of us could be seen and not heard ;) My grandmother (Nan) in particular; you KNOW when she's got something to say! But thirteen kids!!! Yikes! My family is much smaller, only one or two kids on all sides. And hahaha, the big butt curse. In my family it's called "The Keen Can" -- "Keen" was the last name of my maternal great-great grandmother, and apparently that big butt gene has just got passed right down. I have the Keen Can, so does my Mom and my grandmother (though my sister has escaped!). And yes, the roses were sweet, and he did find some. I made a HUGE deal about it ;: Maybe we'll have some pork chops at OUR wedding, who knows!

Quinn -- That is a tough one. I can only say from personal experience, with parents who have lied to me about many important things (unfortunately), that I'd usually rather be told the truth. In a gentle way, of course. I think it would be worse to have the day collapse with someone's temper lashing out (or worse) than to simply let feelings be aired beforehand and hopefully discussed in a rational manner. However, I'm not a parent, and I don't know what it's like from the other side of the looking glass. I'm sure others will chime in!

Monday Report Card

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle goals:

1) Drink 64 oz. water daily. Get to 72 if I can. -- M: 91!!!
2) 1400 cal. daily limit -- M: 1,185
3) Exercise five hours this week, at least 3 hours hard cardio --
M: One hour hard cardio at the gym last night. I think I hit some exercise-high in the middle of it for the first time (Total 1 day, 1 hour hard cardio)
4) 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily -- M: 4
5) No boxed/premade lunches or dinners -- M: Yes
6) Eat one big salad a day for lunch or dinner -- M: Yes, had 2!
7) Balance protein to at least 30% of nutritional chart -- M: 39%!

Other Life Stuff:

1) Re-start my needlework. Try to work on it for at least an hour a day. -- M: Nope
2) Call my grandmother -- M: No
3) Schedule hair appointment -- M: No
4) Doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon, don't forget!! M: N/A

Muna, I sorry to hear about the recent rejection. That really sucks. :( I wish y'all the best!


As far as my plan. It doesn't say to go by net carbs but if I can make it through this week, next week I'll probably go by net carbs (just need to figure out how many net carbs to shoot for). I can eat anything low carb for breakfast, so I probably will do leftover meat or a protein shake. I use to love eggs but at one point ate them so often that I almost got myself sick on them. Now, just eating them once seems like more than enough. My energy level felt good until I went to work out. I usually go at it pretty hard in the gym and it took a toll on me last night. It may not have been due to the diet, I don't know.

Today is Mardi Gras! Wooo Whooo.... and I'm staying home. I got invited to go with a friends and his wife and kids but it's supposed to rain, so I'll stay how and be bored. Hopefully I don't eat the house down.

almeeker ~ yeah the show did go well. i was pleased with how it went. i also think the business owners liked it as well & that's the important part.

mike ~ left over meat is always good when going low carb.