I got a new cookbook that is called Just 100 Calories and tried something out of it last night. It has some really simple things that you just wouldn't think of normally. The one I tried was asparagus wrapped in bacon. It was 3 or 4 spears of asparagus wrapped in a slice of turkey bacon and then broiled. Fast, easy,very good and looked pretty too . They also included a tomato sliced in half, sprinkled with pepper and broiled but I was out of tomatoes. Next time I will throw it on the grill but I didn't have time last night.

There was also another one for asparagus wrapped in filo dough and baked. It has a dip that goes with it too. I will have to give it a try. Asparagus is on sale now at the store :).

I tried spaghetti squash the other night. I had never had it before and had all kinds of people tell me how great it was. Well, it was one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten! It turned out ok and was easy to get all the strands out- it just didn't have any taste at all. I put spray butter and parmesean cheese on it and YUK! I have half of it left and am going to try to put something different on it today and see if that is any better.

Deanna

Good morning, my dears. How is everyone?

Even though I know its bad, I have been hopping on the scale in the mornings, and it does seem that increasing my calories is helping, I've seen a downward shift in the numbers from where I had gotten up a few. That makes me feel better. Not to mention I don't feel quite as obsessed about food. I just plan out the day the night before or that morning, eat what I need to, and then go about my business.

My friend put up some pictures from her son's birthday party back in January, and I don't know if its just because I have on better fitting clothes, or if this is really working, but compared to a picture of myself that I absolutly abhor from September, I really do look a lot better. Maybe I'll see if I can't figure out how to get them in a post and I'll let you guys tell me if its just me. Part of me wants to believe it, and part of me just gives my clothes the credit.

But all in all regardless of what happens with my physical appearance, I *feel* better and that's the most important thing. People in my family have a habit of dying young, and even if I can't get my weight down, if I can just be healthy, hopefully I can break that nasty little trend.

Hello Healthy Gang,

Hope everyone is doing well today! I had a small, and long-time-coming-victory today. I have mainly been walking for exercise, but today I worked out and worked up a major sweat. I need to push myself to do this daily, it is worth it, because I feel great now! What a great way to start the day!

Deanna, Thanks for sharing the recipe ideas; sounds like a very interesting cookbook, I am going to look for it! :) lol I love spaghetti squash! I usually have it with curry, or a dish that is saucy. Great to try new things, I can't tell you what a difference this has made in the way I eat.

Kathie, I am going to try the mock mashed potatoes, I really like cauliflower, we eat alot of it. I don't really love grapefruit either, but I add them to fruit salad and I seem to be able to eat them then.

Diane, Hang in there, it takes awhile for our bodies to adjust. Although I have not lost very much weight (yet), I feel better too, and notice I look better than I did. Maybe it is just because of eating healthier, and actually getting enough water, nutrients, etc. Or that I am feeling happier now with more energy. Health fears are a factor and a major motivator for me as well. Eating healthy WILL result in weight loss...it will. Believe!! ;) :D

So I stepped on the scale this morning, a day early I know...and I am back down to that stupid 164.6!! I was up a couple of pounds during the week AGAIN!! I just don't get it! Up and down the same 2.5 pounds over and over again!! This will be the THIRD week in a row I weigh the SAME!! Talk about frustration!

My food intake continues to be healthy, my caloric intake this week has ranged between 1700 and 800!! That has to be confusing the body, doesn't it?? My one indulgence this week was a breakfast with hashbrowns and bacon, but I still kept my calories inline. Oh and I ate 2 hotdogs and had hot chocolate on Sunday, but kept calories inline then too. Actually this past weekend was the worst eating I have done since Dec of 09! I was suffering from the "I don't really care" syndrome. That has passed, thank goodness.

So I guess I will carry on like the rest of you, continue to eat healthy knowing I am doing my body good....and hope that eventually the weight will start coming off!

Hey y'all,

Thursday is my weigh in day, I'm doing weight watchers. I've lost 2 more lbs! Which puts me at 178. I'm finally getting my calories down, to around 1500/day. Still a long way to go, but I'm psyched.

Kathie, I know it must be soo frustrating to be at a plateau. Have you thought about changing your food or your exercise routine? Sometimes our bodies get in a rut. Maybe if you're eating mostly chicken, try more fish like salmon (good because it has the omega 3's). I don't know if you would consider tofu, some people really hate it. I make a mean stir fry with broccoli cut in very small pieces, and tofu cut in wedges fried quickly with Pam until a little crispy, then doused with soy sauce and a 1 tsp of chili oil. This is satisfying and it has fiber, protein, and vegetableness. (I skip the rice).

I've just changed up my workout routine by renting vidoes on power yoga and aerobics. The main thing is to keep moving and try something slightly more challenging. You can do this!

Do i need more calories? Follow up/good news
 

Kathie, Shell, Jan, Patti, & to anyone I missed that offered advice to this question.
Thank you all. Results from my blood test were good. Since I increased my calories I've not been dizzy, or as tired as I was, but one thing I found odd since my calorie increase. I'm really HUNGRY !! I wasn't before. The last 2 nights I went to bed early so I wouldn't eat.

Now for the really good news. I lost 4 lbs. this week, that's the most I've lost in 1 week, even my first week I never lost that much. So I pray that I'm on the right track by increasing my calories, & that this isn't a fluke.
So thanks to all. I find this forum to be such an inspiration.

I bet you are hungry now because your metabolism has sped up, and you are actually burning your calories instead of storing them!! YAY!!!

I am so frustrated and PO'd!! 3 weeks of this and not even a half a pound of weight loss. I really need to exercise more. My food intake really has been good. I have indulged a couple of times, but always within the calorie allowance.

I am going to continue with the healthy eating, as it has to do a body good....

I almost feel like I should stop posting on this forum because I am not inspiring to anyone. I eat healthy and maintain my overweightness.....great. I am awesome. Just shoot me now!

Today my goal is going to be get at least 6 glasses of water down, I have been seriously lacking water...maybe that is the problem....ya right, sure it is....

OK Kathie...
 

So this is the second virtual smack I will have to dole out today.

You are amazingly inspiring on this forum. I challenge anyone to disagree with that. You do NOT need to lose weight every week to be an inspiration and a wonderful source of advice.

Trial and error, baby. You will find what works.

But you won't know if you give up.

You will wear your skinny clothes much better than you are wearing that sarcasm, darling ;)

Hang in there...I'm pulling for you!

Kathie- You are not here to inspire anyone- you are here to help yourself! And just in doing that- you are inspiring more people than you know. You come in faithfully every week and post your weight good or bad. Do you realize what it takes to do that publically? I have deleted so many people off my list because they came in one week and never showed up again. I am assuming they didn't lose or even gained and didn't want to be accountable for that. You on the other hand have stuck with it and that says a lot about you.

Look at it this way- you haven't GAINED anything so that is a good thing right? To me that says you are just kinda "stuck" for lack of a better word. It tells me that you haven't said screw it and just started eating everything in sight. Had you done that you would have gained by now and we ALL would have known it :)

I know you are frustrated but as I type this I have a huge smile on my face because I know you can do it- YOU just don't know it.

Deanna

*joins the line to give kathie a virtual kick up the arse* :D

Don't you dare stop posting here mrs, you were one of the first to post a response to me, and I really appreciated it. And might I point out that at your weight you are positively sylph-like compared to some of the rest of us, it seems the more you have to lose the easier it is in the beginning! I am losing right now, but come the day I get down to 160 I am going to need you here to tell me how to get past that brick wall I am up against! Seriously kathie, we are all going to go through this at some point, and we are all in it together. Don't despair. Look at what you have achieved so far, and believe that this is a blip, you will see the pounds come off again. And get that tape measure out, I bet you will see a difference there. :) And this goes for everyone who is feeling 'stuck' at the moment. Don't give in!

Hi gang, All your words are making me feel better today! I really appreciate everyone hanging in and being here. It helps alot! :) I am UP 2 lb this week...rrgh... :mad:

But it's a new week, and I am still trying. I know it is only 2 lb and weight fluctuates from day to day, so I am not being too hard on myself (well, ok, just being a little hard on myself today...).

We can do this, we can!

Kathie;
Hang in there you will lose. I agree with Cassie, Deanna, & others, I so appreciate your post, & the help & information you are so willing to share. I'm on standby to do a "HAPPY DANCE" WHEN YOU LOSE!! & I will log that as extra cardio for the week. LOL!!

Perhaps increasing your water will help. I drink 10-12 glasses a day. Funny thing is when I was a Pepsi drinker , I never drank water & I was never thirsty. Since I've started drinking water if I wake in the middle of the night I get a cup of water, or first thing in the morning I wake up thirsty & get a glasss. Go figure. I liked your thought about why I'm hungry now.

Hello All;
Are we ready to increase cardio to 45 min. 5 x a week. The challenge is on.

Stay strong be healthy

Hello Am new and have some questions
 

Hello everyone,
I am new to this site, and really have no idea how many calories I am supposed to eat to loose weight.
I am 51yrs old, 5'7" and weigh 300lbs. I am not eating anything white, such as flour,rice and sugar. I have just joined a gym but have not done anything there yet. I am trying to eat lots of veggies and salmon, shrimp... some yogurt and fresh fruit.
Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks.:o

I am also new on how to post and where..:(
kroblee

mmm how do i post????:confused:

Thanks all for you encourgement....I was just SO down this morning. Your words brought a smile to my face, seriously!! I appreciate it. This is why we come here, isn't it!? So we don't just give up in despair. If you guys still want me to come and share my failure with you, I will still come.

Shell, I can definitely feel your pain!! We can commiserate together! I have eaten less than 900 calories today. Not enough, I know. I need more protein and maybe some carbs but no more fat....good grief, how do I do that??

She's baaaack...hooray!
 

Glad you are feeling better, Kathie, at least for now. We will hear your successes, too, just wait and see.

How about a chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread? Fruit and cheese (if you do lowfat cheese)? Oatmeal with sliced apples? A fruit/yogurt/cereal parfait?

I am living vicariously right now. I'm done with cals for the day ;)

Tonight I had grilled honey cajun fish. Oh my it was good! You can use talapia (I used crappie)- put a ton of cajun seasoning on it and either broil or grill it. Right before it is done- pour some honey on it and cook a little more. It has a spicy yet sweet taste mmmmm mmmmm :)

Deanna

Deanna;

The cajun honey grilled fish sounds yummy. I'm just starting to add fish to my "diet" that isn't deep fried by Long John Silvers. I had tilapia last night but it was a bit bland. I'll certainly try this recipe next time.
Thanks. I can always use some healthy food ideas. The mock mashed potatoes that someone posted {Kathie I think} sounds really good too.

I have 2 other really good fish recipes that I will dig out and post for you. My husband found one of them online and the whole family LOVES it. It has a sauce you put on it.

We have a lake house so we fish all the time (except in winter) so we eat fish a lot. Of course it is usually fried so I had to find new ways to cook it for myself. I still fry it for the family most of the time but sometimes they like a change too!

Welcome Kroblee! I have a challenging weekend ahead, 2 dinners eating out at restaurants this weekend - 1 a buffet (!). Will make wise choices and compensate the rest of the time for the extra calories. Deep breath...and moving ahead. Thanks Kathie, I appreciate the support. Hang in there yourself... My goal for this week: EXERCISE, lots of it. :)

Good luck this week, Shell...you can do it! Planning ahead is half the battle.

Thanks for the fish recipe, Deanna. Will have to try that one. I love spicy seafoood!

Oooh, the spicy fish recipe does sound good! Maybe use salmon with that, too. I really do like salmon with horseradish on it. It's not really that hot, but very good when baked/broiled.

I had a nice little dinner tonight...away from the usual chicken! Broiled steak, but it came in a package called Chef's Requested "100 calories per steak and 3.5 g Fat, gluten free product". No guessing and it was satisfying with some quick white rice and fresh broccoli.

Weekends are haaaard...lol. I'm already at 1,200 calories and the hardest part of the day for me, the EVENINGS and NIGHTS, are here! But I still have room for a light yogurt later on. Hope everyone else is doing good....thinking of you all!!!

Welcome kroblee! Probably the first thing to do to get started is to just log your food to see how many calories you are currently eating. Also log your activities, this helps you see how many you need to burn and not gain. I'm trying to eat at 1200 /day. But started at 2000, and have struggled to get my daily intake down close to 1500.

Thanks for the fish ideas. I'm just starting to experiment with ground turkey-tasty and lots less fat than hamburger.

I'm hoping to lose 3 more lbs in the next 2 weeks-I'm headed to Savannah for St Pat's Day. 3 more would put me at 10 lost total. I've promised myself if I get to 10 lbs lost I will get a pedicure.:)

Jessie Gefelicteed with quitting smoking, I quit smoking years ago. But now sometimes I just have a real appetite for dipje have a cigarette but then quickly said what jancamp a walk / run / Zumba such things as I head somewhere else to focus. It is indeed a real insperatie three days as I sit here looking at the stories then you really something that should succeed and everyone gives me such good advice and are so helpful. That was myself when I started really need diets, and now I'm almost at the end of the third week and wish I had discovered this site earlier things yourself and not think others can come with you or help yourself to others is a must if you're losing weight. And the environment is at least something different and I am often told you do not lose weight, you look so good. While I know not, that's a shame because they do not want to hurt but they do just by doing this you will just huge reasons that everyone is in place and all for the same purpose

Hi Kroblee
This easiest way I have found to work out how many calories to eat a day is to set yourself a weight goal (Weight Goal is about the 8th tab across the top of the page) once you select that key in your current weight and then key in weight you want to be and by when, once set there is a box underneath these figures with some other tabs the one labelled Calorie Restriction will tell you how many calories to cut down on a day and then the Calorie balance tab tells you how many calories that actually leaves you to eat.
Having browsed quite a few of the forums I am always surprised by the low level of calories that quite alot of people are eating to lose weight. In order to maintain health and ensure you are getting all the required nutrients and minerals it is recommended that it shouldnt be lower then 1200 cals per day

Just as a reference point I am 5'5 current weight is 168lb and my ultimate goal is 138lb I have lost 20lbs since new year on 1500-1600 cals a day.
Hope that helps

:)

Total gym anyone?
 

Hello All;

I was just wondering if anyone is using the Total Gym. { the one that Chuck Norris & Christy Brinkley endorse} If so how do you log the activity cardio or strength training?

Stay strong.

Hello everyone,

Hope we all got through the weekend OK! Yes, weekends are challenging! Had 2 dinners out this weekend (one a buffet) and did really well. :) Chose wisely, controlled portions, drank water, skipped dessert. Yay!

Thanks for the support Cassie and everyone! We CAN do this, we all can, because we are smart, determined, and we deserve to accomplish our goals we set for ourselves.

Cheers to a healthy week! *tink* :D

Motivation
 

Hi if you read all so you really have a insperatie, I'm doing weight but starts a little hard to me because I very much try to walk at least half hour up to one hours. And yet I'm the best first days off are just now is much more slower (but I hold on although it is very difficult and if you read that you just hold on and do it then I really respect a lot and find my motivation back :D to go against it

Yesterday I wanted chinese food. I know that it is a lot of calories and sodium. I decided to go ahead and get it but portion it out. I looked up the estimated calories. It worked! I got the orange beef I wanted and the scallops, but only ate a little. Now I have 3 more servings packed up ready for lunch or dinner. I also added extra veggies to it and that was a great idea- made the dish more healthy-got the color on the plate-so important. A very good rule to follow-I added carrots, brussel sprouts, spinach, peapods-I steamed them first.

Looks like a snowday here in Michigan. I have a neighbor here in Michigan who runs his snow blower up and down the entire block-and he has a white beard and shoulder length white hair-he looks just like Santa. It's so nice to see someone doing something extra for the community.

I did great on Saturday and then not so great on Sunday! Although I didn't eat a whole lot during the day, and spend about 5 hours cleaning house, vaccuming (even the stairs!) washing floors, all the "fun" stuff! I made roast beef, mashed potatoes (real ones!) gravy, brocolli and cauliflower, corn....and ice cream for desert! It was very very tasty! But wow, pushed calories to 2000! That is the most I have eaten in one day since 2009! Because of the amount of work I did, I am not freaking out too much.

I had to buy some new clothes today...I am too fat for my skinny clothes and too skinny for my fat clothes!! I fit into a size 10 pants, I checked my jean size when I got home and they are a size 14, and way too big now! Now if only the scale would move...down!!!

Shell it is great you are proud of yourself for your efforts over the weekend.

Hi guys, nice to see everyone still at it! Weekends are tricky, I had wine on Saturday evening but was still careful of what I ate, had the munchies on Sunday though :( still, I wasn't too bad.

I got up on Saturday morning, waved my OH out the door, and set about some housework. I put on a pair of 'comfy' jogging pants and got started. I failed to realise how loose around my body said jogging pants had become and halfway through the vacuuming, as I bent to pick something up, I felt them slipping. There I was, alone, (thankfully!) in the middle of the sitting room with my trousers round my ankles! :o:

I had a good laugh about it though, I really didn't realise how big they had gotten on me and it felt really good! I was just so glad the house was empty and I wasn't in the garden raking leaves at the time! :eek:

shell, well done on your restraint at the weekend, I wish I could say the same!

Kathie, I did eat more on Sunday than I would have liked to, but then I think back to what I used to do and it wasn't half as bad. I got back on track first thing Monday though, whereas the old me would have just said 'what the hell'.

Hope everyone has a fab week!

Great Job Kathie!
 

Needing new clothes...your body is changing, changing! Also glad to hear you aren't freaking out over going over on the calories a bit. Sounds like you should be fine.

Gallusgirl, the mental picture of you dropping trou vacuuming is too funny for words. What a lift, to have clothes fall off you instead of squeezing in.

Way to stay strong, Shell, mandevil! Tough choices, good decisions, planning ahead and no one feeling cranky and deprived.

We are going into this week strong! I'm excited for everybody!

Lifting weight by shoveling snow
 

Phew..I shoveled snow for over an hour yesterday. It was a big heavy snow-over 4 inches. I'm adding that to my activity tracker as weight lifting. And this AM I increased my free weights from the 3lb set to the 5lb set.

My jeans did feel a lot looser- I didn't end up dropping them- but I did feel the need to snug them up every 10 minutes or so- what a great feeling. I think these were a size 16, so maybe I'll fit into the size 14 now. That is progress baby!

Shovelling is snow is HARD work!! It should be added as exercise for sure!

Having left over roast beef dinner and ice cream in the house has not been working out for me! I can't resist it. Calorie intake for yesterday was over 1600. But the ice cream is all gone now, so no more temptation there - whew! I really need to get back on track.

I like the new pants I bought yesterday - they are like beige jeans - that I think I am going to go get a black pair today! It is amazing how slimming it is just wearing clothing that fits properly! If they are too tight, you end up looking fatter! If they are too loose you look big and sloppy.

I think I am heading to the big city today, I live in a very small city. Gonna hang out with youngest daughter and get myself a new cell phone as I lost my other one.

Hi, Just checking in and catching up on logging my food from yesterday and today. On track, moving ahead and (hopefully) downwards! :) :) Worked out this morning, got some sunshine and feel great. Have a great day!

My average watt output on my power computer on my bicycle is about 150W. When I do the conversion from watts to kcal I get a number of about 100kcal/hour. When I look at various websites including this one the average calories burned in one hour with my intensity is 700kcal. Why are my numbers so off? Am I missing something?