almeeker

Health Goals:

1. Calories 1,400-1,500 or lower. 1,562, 1,888, 3,115, 1,314
2. Water 100 oz daily. 50, 100, 100, 100+
3. Workout 5 hours total. 0 min, 45 min, 101 min, 0 min (total 2:26)
4. Protein 25% or better. 22%, 22%, 16%, 32%
5. Calorie deficit 3,500 or more. -418, -670, +864, -790 (total -1,114)
6. Log everything and post daily. Y,Y,Y,Y
7. Do not be a weekend slacker. So far so good. It's only Tues, and I'm getting weak already. I was a big fat weekend slacker and it's only Wednesday. I was the picture of control today.

Other Stuff:

1. Call and get booth cookie sales arranged and make sign-up sheet. CALL MADE. DONE.
2. Type up new G.S. calendar and note about parade. N, DONE
3. Call 4-H office about mandatory meetings. N,N, DONE
4. Call guy about the elliptical. N,N, DONE
5. Call dad about wagon for Friday. N,N, DONE
6. Call Dr. about appointment. N,N,N, DONE
7. Housework 45 min daily + 1 load of laundry. NN, YY, YY, YY

Lenten Goals:

No white flour N,N,N,Y
No white sugar N,N,N,Y
No skipping workouts, and no more than 2 consecutive days off. N,Y,Y,Y
No cheating Y,Y/N,N,Y
No profanity Y,Y,N,N

Yesterday went pretty well, I need to string some good days together and maybe I can get the scale moving in the right direction again.

Okay yesterday's profanity slip was not completely my fault. The little girl I watch is very hard to understand, for the longest time she would keep her lips closed and make noises. She understands everything and knows a lot of words, and she wants to string long sentences together, which makes her even harder to understand. Yesterday she was trying to tell me something about her brother, whom she calls "Wham". It went something like this, "mumble mumble Wham, dinny wabba bitchy-bitch". She said it over and over again, but I could not for the life of me figure out what she meant. She got really frustrated, and pretty soon was screaming, "bitchy-bitch" at me. So we had to have a little talk about the word and why we don't say it. She's so funny sometimes. We get a lot of odd looks at the grocery store too, they give out complimentary popcorn right at the entrance door, so here is my little blondie screaming "POP PORN POP PORN POP PORN" at the top of her lungs, the minute we pull into the parking lot. And then frequently throughout the store she'll play with it and yell PORN some more. Oi.

Other than the profanity slip and the missed workout, I was in complete control, although it was a near thing. To help combat the sugar cravings I've been using these big whole grain ciabatta rolls. It's helping some, a least it keeps the cravings from getting completely out of control, although at 190 calories each, I can only afford to eat 1 a day. I ate pretty clean, so long as we consider the low-fat, low-sugar ice cream cone "clean".

Mern

Red numbers are missed goals. Any blue numbers mean off target, but not yet a missed goal if I'm going for a weekly average.

Thursday Report:

If I'm not mistaken, this is the best I've ever done this far into the week.

Clean Eating Pact YES, YES, YES, YES
Calorie limit 1600 1387, 1354, 1591, 1299
Saturated fat average 12% of total calories 8%, 12%, 13%, Average of 11% so far, 12%
Cholesterol average 300mg 162mg, 261mg, 213mg, 128mg
Carbs less fiber limit 25g 24.7g, 24g even, 17g, 24g even again
Fiber average 25g 42g, 26g, 43g, 31g
Protein average 120g 130g, 134g, 158g, 124g

Exercise 5 days YES, YES, YES, scheduled day off
Water 64 oz. YES, YES, YES, YES

Mern

Tori, I hope you got in some exercise with your cousin.

Nobe, accountability is what keeps me going, too. Hard to be as bad as I used to with all the support here, although I do fall off the wagon from time to time.

Jho, yeah, we're quite a yacky bunch. Sometimes the best I can do is to simply skim through the posts taking note of any comments addressed to me personally. Major kudos on your attitude toward water intake and motivation. That wonderful. You CAN do it. I very often treat myself to 2 tablespoons (half a serving) jarred Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce over my omelet. Two tablespoons contains 30 calories; 2 1/2g fat; 1 1/2g saturated fat; 35mg cholesterol, 155g sodium; 1 1/2g carbs; 1/2g protein. Also yummy over omelets is Classico Sun Dried Tomato (and basil, I think) Alfredo Sauce, I find them next to jarred spaghetti sauce in Kroger, Meijer, and Walmart grocery stores. I stuff omelets with any kind and any combination of veggies (or meat) I like. You'd be surprised what tastes great in an omelet. The past two weeks I've stuffed them with cooked mushrooms, and with leftover cooked broccoli and cauliflower, spinach, turnip greens, chopped brussels sprouts, green beans, and non-starchy stir-fry veggies.

Luv, I also get a kick out of Tori and Mike teasing each other.

Ama, great job on your clean eating. Your dinner sounded absolutely delicious. I love veggies baked/roasted with olive oil. Yum! Great job of having dessert and still having low calories at the end of the day. Oh, my gosh. I'll be in the car at 9AM and will for sure remember to send you prayers and good vibes on the doughnuts and bagels and stuff! Doughnuts are one of the hardest things for me to resist.

Gotta go get my grandkids off to school. Will be back later

Mern

Omelets Baked in Muffin Tins
Use whatever meats and veggies you like

Preheat oven to 350F and spray each muffin cup with no-stick cooking spray or grease with butter, if you prefer.

Precook and season any meats or veggies you will be using. Add desired amount to each muffin cup. (Note: all ingredients should take up no more than 3/4 of each cup or just below the fill line if your muffin tin has those markings.)

Beat one egg or equivalent of egg whites or egg substitute for each muffin omelet you are going to make. Add to taste salt, pepper, and a spash of milk, if desired.

Pour eggs into each cup until about 3/4 full or just below the fill line.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until no longer wet and jiggly and cooked thoroughly. They will rise above the cups and as they cool will sink back down. Loosen each omelet with a spoon/butter knife/plastic knife and it should come right out onto your plate.

Leftover cooled omelets can be refrigerated in a ziplock storage bag or covered with plastic wrap. Rewarm in microwave for 30-45 seconds on high. Check after 30 seconds so they don't get overcooked and rubbery. Mine took 45 seconds and came out great.

lastri

Thanks everyone for lifting my spirit up. I knew I would get a lot of support here.
I have to put my head in the game now. I just throw out the left over cake last night. In a minutes I will clean out my fridge and stock up with healthy stuff. P90X is a 90 days program but I have only 70 days. I'll move to Germany this summer so, I don't have stuff for at least 6 weeks. But I could walk and hopefully can run.
I have been in this thread before. I know this thread is very hot, I can't really catch up. I will try to response in my best.
Thanks everyone. Have a healthy day.
Mai

almeeker

Mai, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, and I'm so sorry that it was sucky and you were in the dumper. I know exactly how you feel, the year I hit 40 I just couldn't bring myself to party, I was at my heaviest weight ever and I just was depressed over it. But you know what? You can fix this and I have every confidence that you will. Did you get yourself a birthday present? If not maybe you should get yourself some new walking shoes or a workout DVD to help you along your journey. A little pick-me-up to move you in the right direction.

nobe, monsoon? Good grief, but you're a trooper out walking in that mess. I'm really impressed with you getting that done too. Awesome.

April, good luck with the girlie medical issues. Wow, doesn't the medical profession think you have enough on your plate with the son and all, now they gotta poke at your junk too? You poor thing. I'm very glad you're not stressing. I once had a test come back "abnormal" and spent the better part of a year with this tiny feeling of doom lingering in the pit of my stomach. It all worked itself out in the end, but it was stressful all the same. I'm throwing some prayer your way. BTW soup is very easy to make. I make it all the time. It's my "go to" crock pot solution when time is going to be a pinch in the evening. The best recipes are the ones that have all the ingredients of a favorite dish, only in a soup. I make one called "Papa al Pomodora" which is basically pizza in a pot, you start with tomato/pizza (or spaghetti) sauce, add in things like olives, onions, maybe some diced ham, mini pepperonis and then you serve it over a toasted piece of bread and shredded mozzarella cheese (sort of like French onion soup but thicker). Another one I love is chicken veggie, you just throw chicken, whatever vegetables and spices you like, water and chicken bullion in the crock pot and let it stew all day. Yum, and only 90-100 calories/cup. My absolute favorite is "Smothered Steak soup", you take a piece or two of left over grilled steak cooked, dice it up and saute it with some mushrooms and onions in a little olive oil, then add water, beef bullion, spices and let it stew either in the crock pot all day or gently simmer on the stove for about 20 minutes. YUM. I feel I should warn you that once you start making homemade soup, your family will never touch the canned stuff again.

Ama, if you think the 70% dark chocolate is bland, you are clearly eating the wrong brand. I buy this stuff called "choco-love", it's like heaven in a wrapper, and it comes in several strengths 55%, 60%, 65%, 70% and there's one higher than that I think (start low and work up to it - trust me). Anyway, it's really really really really yummy, especially when it's melted. As for your DH stashing food, well at some point he's going to realize that he's the fat guy married to the hot chick. Hopefully that will be his clue to get in shape eh? You can lead a horse to water and all that. My husband and I have different methods for keeping things in check, and I will say that living with those differences takes compromise, so you may have to be open to that as well. Maybe he's stashing food, but at the same time maybe he's still eating less of it? Dunno, give it time.

Terri, I'm totally with you on Jackson Pollock, his work gives me shivers. I had similar feelings about Vincent Van Gogh, I didn't expect it to be so moved but holy cow!!!

Mern, technically I don't have arthritis, but at this point it's only a matter of time as I do have all the pre-arthritis symptoms. I get swelling from changes in atmospheric pressure because I'm a walking barometer. I can predict the weather waaaaayyyyy better than that woman on channel 8, that's for darn sure. I've been this way my whole life, my mother has it too. I can't tell you how often mom and I have turned to each other and headed for shelter in the blazing sun because we felt the pressure drop from a fast moving storm front. I'm in on the "clean eating" pact. Maybe next week I'll try and put some guidelines on what that means for me. I was trying to think about how to say it in the most clear terms, but the water muddied quickly. I've never eaten a turnip green, usually around here you can get beet greens easily enough, but locally the hematodes are a real problem and our turnips come out holey and unappealing. Do they taste like spinach?

ruby honey you're a real trooper to be on here so soon after having your baby. I'm so impressed with you. When our babies were tiny I didn't have enough time to sit on the toilet let alone live a healthy lifestyle.

jho, I'm totally cracking up over you using a baby bottle to measure your water. I don't know if I could do that because I'd be choking on laughter too much. Also I would lose track for sure. I use a 23.7 ounce bottle and make sure I fill it at least 4 times/day. I figure that the last 5-6 oz comes from brushing my teeth and taking meds.

Hope, I had such a good chuckle from your art exhibit discussion, a tree, ah a tree! Very funny. I actually have a degree in Fine Arts, and in order to graduate you had to hang a show in one of the galleries, so there were student exhibits all over town, all the time. And of course a gallery hang always has an "opening" with food, right? So we would jokingly classify the exhibits in terms of "mood and food", sometimes that information would even be part of the ads and invites. One I remember said "Dark Art, Good Eats". So maybe the show you went to opened with really good grub eh? I did my graduation hang with 4 other students who all happened to be Jewish and strangely enough our opening was scheduled during Passover. We were all into different mediums, there was everything from textiles and architectural models to gingerbread houses and performance art. So our show was deemed "Eclectic and Kosher". I agree completely that menus are a battle. With the new healthcare laws menus are supposed to contain nutritional information, but only the big chains are required to follow it. I'm hoping that once people get used to that information being handy, smaller establishments will be forced by their customers to follow suit. Little people? Hahaha I LOVE it!!!!

Well I gotta get going. The kiddos have a 2 hour delay this morning for fog, and they are on the cusp of destroying the house. YIKES! I also have to build a Girl Scout float for the St. Patty's Day parade this afternoon. Dad brought me a car hauler, a piece of green outdoor carpeting and a whole box of kitchy shamrock decorations yesterday. And he volunteered to come back today to drive it in the parade for me, swarming with little girls. Oi! Some people will take any excuse to dress head to toe in green and white. I had to promise not to mock his taste in college apparel though. That was tough.

Jho82

MERN!!!!! What the Eff!! Thats a lot of green!! A....wait for it.....MAZING! and love the omelette in the muffin tin idea! yummy! Do you think that they can be frozen and reheated too?? I just think for me it would be easiest to make a big batch and freeze them. Thats what I did for all of Makenna's food (15mo). Omigod totally love the classico - just need to find a good sale or some coupons !!

I just wrote an email to a friend of mine and told her that Fitday has really helped me over the last week to stay on track! And that I believe that with my new water consumption combined with the new multivitamin I'm taking that my body is having a bit of a party - I havent had this much energy in a long long time - it feels great! And its only been 5 days! I really need to stay focussed this weekend though Hubby is gone until sunday and this is when I totally lose control and don't cook healthy - just opt for quick and easy (KD anybody!!!) I hate cooking on a good day but do it for him so when he isn't here its more likely I'll have some cereal for every meal LOL I guess cereal isn't the worst thing in the world!

Question - what is BIDIA?? and I'm pretty sure Mike and Tori are an old married couple awe! Love the bickering! <3

taubele

Mai: Sorry to be late on this, but I agree with all the others - don't beat yourself up. Ups and downs happen, life is hard, and making a lifestyle change will never be easy. We have all been where you are, and it's okay. The important thing is that you're re-dedicating yourself and you're not giving up. That's the important thing. I hope you had a wonderful birthday!! Big hugs for you!

April: I will be keeping you in my thoughts and sending good vibes and juju to you until your next visit and beyond! I think you're absolutely on the right track - as Mern says (and I've adopted )-- there's no use worrying until you know for sure you have something to worry about.

Luv: I just have to say that I think your red dinosaur chasing the green is my favorite emote yet! I LOVE it! And I love this group too

Mern: Sesame chicken is absolutely a weakness of mine, too. The Chinese place we go is absolutely delicious. Luckily for me, it's not a buffet, having a menu to go off of makes it easier. Steamed pork dumplings actually aren't bad at ALL for you in terms of calories - 8 of them is something like 360 calories and really fills me up, though I do think the sat fat content might be more than you're looking for. Peanut sauce is also far better sodium-wise than soy sauce and I really prefer the flavor. Steamed dumplins and beef-and-broccoli (also low-cal if you skip the sauces) have saved me many a time when a chinese craving strikes. Just my two cents/advice about my chinese indulgences!! And LOOK at you! ALL GREEN (that blue is NOTHING!) Wooohoooo!!! Thanks for the omelette recipe too, I MUST try it.

Watching Tori and Mike is like a tennis match, I keep feeling like my eyes are bouncing back and forth and they keep scoring points on each other, lol!

Jho: We totally are chatty, and I always feel guilty when I feel like I'm missing so many posts!! Ugh, interviews, I hate them so much. I'm better in person and I feel more comfortable when there's that personal interaction, but phone interviews are truly the worst. It's not even talking about myself... it's that I'm asking to do a lot of future projection in these interviews that gets me nervous. I'm not Miss Cleo either!!! And in my field the future is...grim, to say the least, so I feel like I don't need to overshoot while STILL looking impressive. The balance is hard to strike and I feel like I'm BSing half of it.

Ama: Great job on staying clean, your dinner sounds delish! You can TOTALLY avoid those carbs, girl, eat something healthy before going in to work so they won't even be tempting. Walk FAR around the room if you can, etc. The bagels don't win!!!! YOU will win!!

Amy: Not gonna lie, I laughed so hard I spit up some of my water reading about you bitchy-bitch and POP PORN. That is something straight out of a movie, girl! You're very patient to both try to communicate AND try to explain to her why the word is bad, and in the middle of a grocery store no less. LOL! I think that's not a slip-up on your Lent goals. I'm glad I'm not the only one mesmerized by Jackson Pollock! I went to MoMa with a big group and I was the only one who was moved at all by his pieces, I think I spent 45 minutes in that room with my friends thinking I was nuts, lol.

Health and Lifestyle Goals

1) Keep calories under 1500 every day, weekends included. M: 1,313 T: 1,620 W: 1,360 Th: 1,177
2) Exercise for a total of four hours or more (I like Amy's way of adding up the minutes, so I will do that, maybe it will help) and post the TYPE of exercise M: 0 T: 52 min Zumba W: 0 min Th: 0 min (Total: 52 minutes)
3) At least 80 oz. of water daily, shoot for 96 M: 80 T: 88 W: 80 Th: 80
4) Calorie deficit of at least 3,500 M: -493 T: -766 W: -441 Th: -624 (Total: -2,324)
5) Protein average for the week of 25-30% M: 32% T: 25% W: 25% Th: 35% (Average: 29.25%)
6) Weigh M, W, F and post M: 160.3 W: 157.5 F: 159.8 (sigh....bouncy, bouncy, bouncy...)
7) In bed by 11:30 M: No T: No W: 11:32 counts! Th: yes
8) Post what I ate yesterday. Every single little thing.

Th: Breakfast - One container of 0% fat greek yogurt (vanilla flavor). Forgot my multivitamin.
Lunch - One pint of wonton soup with 2 oz. fried wonton strips folded in
Dinner - 5 oz. roasted turkey breast (all white meat) with steamed veggies (zucchini, squash, green beans) and probably a tablespoon of leftover gravy from last week spooned over the turkey. I also had a few forkfuls of BF's mac-and-cheese side (he hates all the veggies I was eating so he made a single-serve mac-and-cheese thing). I am proud of myself though, because he also served himself some leftover mashed potatoes and I didn't indulge. Mashed taters are a weakness.

I'm starting to realize all the leftovers in the fridge and how much I'm actually using them! I can't even tell you how wasteful BF and I used to be about food. I've been trying REALLY hard to go through all the containers every morning and also date them when I put them in there, so I know when I really need to use up the leftovers. For instance, the gravy had been in there since last Saturday and I figured it really needed to get used up. BF also noticed the leftover taters and that was it, he just made himself a big 'ol side of it.


Other Stuff

1) Get BC application in M: No T: No W: No Th: No
2) Prepare for phone interview Thursday (nervous!!!!!) M: Confirmed people I will be interviewing with and scanned their profiles T: Busy with other essential work W: yes Th: Did more prep in the morning and HAD interview!
3) No more than 30 minutes daily on non-work related websites at work, other than FD. Yes, I'm timing it. I have been a procrastinating procrastinator due to stress. M: It was more like 50 minutes T: 45 minutes W: 25 minutes! Th: I honestly don't know, but it wasn't much.
4) Call Dad on Wednesday after eye surgery M: N/A T: N/A W: He called me before I could call him, haha. Th-Sun: N/A
5) Make an effort on my appearance every day M: yes, no makeup (breakout) T: yes, no makeup W: yes Th: yes, and I got a lot of comments. New shirt is a keeper!
6) Buy new workout clothes and underwear!!!! M-F: Weekend goal

My weight is up again today, le sigh, but I'm blaming it on chinese food and TOTM, which should be starting either today or tomorrow. I was almost expecting it to be up, because I am on the Plateau of No Sense, after all, BUT sodium + TOTM makes sense at least.

Had a good food day yesterday and I'm feeling really perky today despite a headache that always comes with the TOTM. I think I'm happy to have my interview over. The Skype interview I have next week should be interesting, but they told me they're sending the questions ahead of time so I can prepare answers. I believe this is because they want to keep the interview fairly short so they want to be able to ask and have my thoughtful answer without making me think slowly on the spot. I'm told it's unusual to have the questions ahead of time, but I'm not complaining! I've never been good on the spot, I'm a thoughtful person in general, and I come to decisions/conclusions slowly, so the ability to write things down and rehearse answers will be really good for me, and I appreciate it.

Got a couple of job apps to get in today (including the BC app!) and I need to administer a make-up exam tonight, but hopefully today will be overall less crazy/long than yesterday, and I WILL work out, there is no excuse! I also pledge to post on the weekend because I've been flaky about that.

I heard from my Mom that Dad might be up to his old tricks with food, though hopefully it was a one-time thing... after his surgery (when he was still a bit high from the anesthetic drugs) he insisted on getting Wendy's because "he deserved it." Part of me is always worried that he just ate clean to get to the surgery and now will go back to his old habits. I intend on asking her about it this weekend to see if it was just from the drugs or if he's back to buying/eating chocolate every day. I hope it was just the drugs talking!

Happy Friday!
~Terri

Mern

Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow.

Flanagan's Flock - animated Flash ecard by Jacquie Lawson

01gt4.6

Jho, BIDIA stands for But I Did It Anyway. Tori may be old but she was never lucky enough to be one of my exes.

Terri, she only gets points when I feel sorry for her. So how's it going doll face?