Gwen's on a mission

[gwenshack]

Yeah, ok. I have a confession to make. DH and I have been very bad health people. Which is sad, considering I used to be an A-1, super good health person. Um, I'm allegedly a personal trainer. I have a national certification and clients and everything.
Meanwhile, I've been living it up with DH, eating everything under the sun, drinking until the sun comes up, and partying like my metabolism is in 1999. So...I gotta get to cracking. I have been a bad, bad, bad girl. I have no idea how much weight I've gained, seeing as I don't believe in scales, but I do know that I've done a lot of damage.
I did a little damage here and a little damage there over the first few years, but this past year has been just one long vacation - it seems like there's always been an excuse as to why the diet got shelved. And the exercise, well, I was doing pretty good with that for a while, but then I had a bunch of different injuries, giving me creative license to be lazy for a very long period of time.
I've run out of excuses, I think. But I had a LOT of them and made good use of them to live it up.
*Sigh*, I hate when the party's over!
Ok, but look, I'm gonna get it together now. *Finger's Crossed* I was actually supposed to start Wednesday, the day after my birthday, but I got sick on my birthday and spent the past couple of days in bed. So today is the official start day. :bbmrgreen:
So let's see:
One hour long walk this morning in this gruesome heat
Breakfast - 280 calories
Lunch - 370 calories
So we're at 650 for now. I'm shooting for 1500 a day. That's how I lost all the weight last time. Yeah, I've done this before. Right before I met DH was when I had finally conquered the weight demon, so when he met me I was the skinniest I had ever been. EVER.
So, here's where we pretend I'm in a shrink's office, I think part of the reason (besides having a really good time doing it) that I gained the weight back was to sort of test him, ya know? Like, will he still love me if I'm heavier? Ok, cool, he does. Now, can we get rid of it? LOL...
Anyway, I'm on a mission, and I thought I would document it here so you all can tell me to get up off my butt if I haven't posted anything productive...:sweatdrop:
That's all for now. Off to avoid calories and await my healthy dinner sometime later today. Yay vegetables!

[WebLady]

I need to get motivated too; I realized I had gained more than I thought I had when I went to the Dr last week :fear:

Good luck to you; hope you get to wear you want to be!

[ksherlin]

I know exactly how you feel. I used to be very very small and ever since me and FH have settled in with each other, I have started the party! I eat sooo much and never exercise (which i quit after an injury as well). He stills says I am beautiful and that he loves me just as much, but I want to get back to where he is drooling over me!!! I am SURE that your DH loves you and thinks you are just as sexy as always!!! So if you are starting then I am too!!! I have needed to for awhile! School starts back Monday and so does my Zumba class! I hope all goes well for you and you reach your goal!!! You can do it!!!:pompom:

GOOD LUCK!!!!

[gwenshack]

I know exactly how you feel. I used to be very very small and ever since me and FH have settled in with each other, I have started the party! I eat sooo much and never exercise (which i quit after an injury as well). He stills says I am beautiful and that he loves me just as much, but I want to get back to where he is drooling over me!!! I am SURE that your DH loves you and thinks you are just as sexy as always!!! So if you are starting then I am too!!! I have needed to for awhile! School starts back Monday and so does my Zumba class! I hope all goes well for you and you reach your goal!!! You can do it!!!:pompom:

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Alrighty, then we're in this together! :) Thanks for the encouragement!

[kgvettegirl]

I'll join in with you guys. Once I got the diagnosis of type II I've been really working had to drop some weight. I stared at 220, and as of today I'm at 200. I was walking there for awhile but the heat and humidity have been "eating my lunch" I have to have water or G2 in my hands at all times. I've got a nautilus machine and a bow flex in the basement. So no more whining and no more excuses.

[gwenshack]

I'll join in with you guys. Once I got the diagnosis of type II I've been really working had to drop some weight. I stared at 220, and as of today I'm at 200. I was walking there for awhile but the heat and humidity have been "eating my lunch" I have to have water or G2 in my hands at all times. I've got a nautilus machine and a bow flex in the basement. So no more whining and no more excuses.

Yay Liz! :) Congrats on the 20 pounds! Hooray!

[sandy03]

Good for you! Can you share a little bit of that motivation? I can't promise I'll do much to help your motivation (since I feel bad telling someone to do something I don't do myself!) but I am sending lots of good wishes your way!

[f77g4]

Yay Gwen! Good luck!

I'd like to join too but need to bite this cold in the butt first as it's wearing me down.

But DH and I decided that once the wedding was over, the takeout sort of stops as we eat out way to much.

[gwenshack]

Ok, so as of the last post I was at 650 calories. Throw in 150 for snack (an apple and 3 Jolly Ranchers to satisfy my sweet tooth) - that's 800. Plus dinner which was somewhere around 500. I had to estimate that since we ate out, but I was a good girl and ate a few steamed chicken dumplings (no oil involved) and some green salad. No creamy dressing and none of that fried rice that DH ate that looked quite delicious.
Mmmm, fried rice. Oh Gwen, seriously. It's been a day.
Mmmmmmm, salad. There you go. That's better. :bbmrgreen:
So I'm around 1300. Good for me. That still leaves room for some sort of crunching later. I've got some microwave popcorn and some fruit and stuff, so I'm sure I can get through the night without totally blowing it. Besides, you can't blow the first DAY! You HAVE to be good the first DAY - it's like a rule or something! :cool:

[f77g4]

Ok, so as of the last post I was at 650 calories. Throw in 150 for snack (an apple and 3 Jolly Ranchers to satisfy my sweet tooth) - that's 800. Plus dinner which was somewhere around 500. I had to estimate that since we ate out, but I was a good girl and ate a few steamed chicken dumplings (no oil involved) and some green salad. No creamy dressing and none of that fried rice that DH ate that looked quite delicious.
Mmmm, fried rice. Oh Gwen, seriously. It's been a day.
Mmmmmmm, salad. There you go. That's better. :bbmrgreen:
So I'm around 1300. Good for me. That still leaves room for some sort of crunching later. I've got some microwave popcorn and some fruit and stuff, so I'm sure I can get through the night without totally blowing it. Besides, you can't blow the first DAY! You HAVE to be good the first DAY - it's like a rule or something! :cool:

Sounds like you had a good first day!

[jamt]

well done gwen day one over with i love jolly ranchers there are two large packs sitting waiting to be ate down stairs i really should be joining in but think i will give myself 1more week off maybe following your progress will motivate me good luck

[gwenshack]

well done gwen day one over with i love jolly ranchers there are two large packs sitting waiting to be ate down stairs i really should be joining in but think i will give myself 1more week off maybe following your progress will motivate me good luck

Anytime you want to join the, uhhhh, fun, you're welcome aboard! :) Meanwhile enjoy the Jolly Ranchers. They're so good for a little shot of sugar...:) YUM!

[jamt]

thanks gwen just think i need my head in the right place to join in maybe a week of eating pizza fried rice etc would stop me craving them for a while i do love my food an fat foods do taste better i will follow your progress an cheer you on

[yam102284]

Good luck Gwen!

I am doing the same thing. I did counted calories about a year ago, and was so good about writing everything I ate and drank down in a notebook. I lost like 20 pounds in about a year. Then, I stopped writing everything down, and I gained 10 pounds back. Doesn't feel like I did, but that's what the scale said.

Anyways, I use a great website that helps me keep track of what I eat. If you want the link, send me a PM :) You input what you eat, and they have a list of food items. I also have another website that has a list of foods, including restaurant items as well.

[ChristineLS]

I had a realization the other day about how much wine I drink - a glass a day puts me at like... at least 7 a week. :bbeek: And my eating hasn't been that great lately either. I didn't drink until two years ago, and I'm so healthy that all of this went from "It's OK, I don't do it often" to... wait, I do.

So I'm biking to church today to try to start, and I'm cutting out the wine and fatty stuff for a bit.

In conclusion, mind if I hop on the wagon too?

[gwenshack]

I had a realization the other day about how much wine I drink - a glass a day puts me at like... at least 7 a week. :bbeek: And my eating hasn't been that great lately either. I didn't drink until two years ago, and I'm so healthy that all of this went from "It's OK, I don't do it often" to... wait, I do.

So I'm biking to church today to try to start, and I'm cutting out the wine and fatty stuff for a bit.

In conclusion, mind if I hop on the wagon too?

Hop on, girl! And I hear you on that wine thing. :)

[gwenshack]

Good luck Gwen!

I am doing the same thing. I did counted calories about a year ago, and was so good about writing everything I ate and drank down in a notebook. I lost like 20 pounds in about a year. Then, I stopped writing everything down, and I gained 10 pounds back. Doesn't feel like I did, but that's what the scale said.

Anyways, I use a great website that helps me keep track of what I eat. If you want the link, send me a PM :) You input what you eat, and they have a list of food items. I also have another website that has a list of foods, including restaurant items as well.

Writing everything down certainly does make us more accountable for our actions huh? To me, once I get into it, it becomes like a game - how can I cut ten calories here? What can I substitute here to make this even MORE low cal? I can get really into it...but when I get out of it, BOY do I get out of it! LOL :)
Calorie counters are awesome. I have one myself that I use pretty frequently. :) I think most people who use them become way more aware of portion size in particular, don't you think?

[sandy03]

Y'all are making me feel very bad for sitting here reading this as I enjoy my lunch of chicken fingers and half a blizzard!

[yam102284]

Writing everything down certainly does make us more accountable for our actions huh? To me, once I get into it, it becomes like a game - how can I cut ten calories here? What can I substitute here to make this even MORE low cal? I can get really into it...but when I get out of it, BOY do I get out of it! LOL :)
Calorie counters are awesome. I have one myself that I use pretty frequently. :) I think most people who use them become way more aware of portion size in particular, don't you think?

Yep, I agree. Once I started measuring what I was eating, I was actually surprised at what I was eating before. My next step is to get a food scale to measure ounces of meat and other things that I don't have the calories/serving size for. I'm gonna get one soon I think. I also try to eat a salad with every meal - and not with a dressing, with olive oil and vinegar. Makes it less calories than those high calorie dressings.


Y'all are making me feel very bad for sitting here reading this as I enjoy my lunch of chicken fingers and half a blizzard!

Don't worry - as I'm typing this, I'm enjoying my Jim Dandy sundae from Friendlys. :bbmrgreen: Five scoops of ice cream and loads of toppings. I know it's bad for my diet, but I try not to deny myself cravings. It just makes you want it even more, and then you binge on the bad stuff.

[gwenshack]

Y'all are making me feel very bad for sitting here reading this as I enjoy my lunch of chicken fingers and half a blizzard!



Don't worry - as I'm typing this, I'm enjoying my Jim Dandy sundae from Friendlys. :bbmrgreen: Five scoops of ice cream and loads of toppings. I know it's bad for my diet, but I try not to deny myself cravings. It just makes you want it even more, and then you binge on the bad stuff.


*Gwen living vicariously through both of you!*

[gwenshack]

So DH and I went out for a nice brunch buffet this morning at a hotel near our house. I think breakfast is the best meal to go out to eat for when you're counting calories, since you can pretty much guesstimate calorie counts pretty accurately. Brunch is even better because it's TWO meals worth of calories at once and you get the eggs and fruit of breakfast and the vegetables of lunch. So Gwen was a happy camper. I avoided the breads and pastries, as much as I wanted to just dive right in (yuuuuummmm), only had one small piece of potato (who can pass up ALL declicious carbs?), but stuck mostly to fruit, vegetables (they had lots of different kinds of fresh salads and stuff), some eggs, and my splurge of the morning was the chicken apple sausage. Uh, yum. But it's protein so at least I splurged THAT way, as opposed to that really delicious looking chocolate chip bread concoction they had staring at me.
All told, I think my calorie count was somewhere around 700, which is fine by me, considering that it was two meals, and that most of my calories were spent about 2/3 on fruits and vegetables and 1/3 on protein.
The hardest part to resist was that it's a champagne brunch and it's all you can drink! It was really hard to just order the iced tea. I could be totally buzzed right now had I not chosen the road less taken! :cool:
The plan for the rest of the day is to comb through the newspaper (my favorite Sunday ritual), workout, and then go to the grocery store armed with coupons and willpower to stock up on healthy things to eat this week. The one hitch to the grocery store visits is DH - he is a snack machine! So if I don't buy him some snacky food he'll be all whiney, but if I do then it'll be sitting there looking at me.
To let him suffer, to not let him suffer - that is the question...
It's not like he couldn't stand to lose a few pounds either...but he's gotta do that on his own. I'm not going to force my eating restrictions on him. Maybe I'll buy him some healthier snacks and see if I can pass them off as the full fledged high-fat, high-sodium real deal. Maybe I'll buy him some of those Terra Vegetable Chips and some hummus and see if he'll eat those instead of tortilla chips and cheese.
Or, I'll buy the terra chips and hummus and it'll just sit there, uneaten, as DH goes to the grocery store HIMSELF to stock up on fat and salt...:bun:...I guess we'll see! ;)

[f77g4]

I have that issue with DH goes grocery shopping with me too! I wouldn't buy pop or chips unless he's with me and I tend to stick to my list if I'm by myself whereas if he's with me, he's adding this and that.

Maybe you need to designate a space for DH's snack - separate from where you keep your food....that way he still gets his snacky foods & isnt' whining while you don't have to see it every time you open the cupboard.

[gwenshack]

Maybe you need to designate a space for DH's snack - separate from where you keep your food....that way he still gets his snacky foods & isnt' whining while you don't have to see it every time you open the cupboard.

That's a good idea! :)

[kgvettegirl]

I buy RC pretzels. I'm not temped to eat them and he still gets his snack. I found a sugar free Peach tea from Crystal Lite that he actually likes and doesn't mind drinking.

So far today I've had a steak and a small baked potato with only salt and pepper no butter or sour cream, and green beans. I'm wondering what to have for dinner tonight? I know that RC has had a big peanut butter sandwich. I'm thinking a piece of salmon.

[gwenshack]

I buy RC pretzels. I'm not temped to eat them and he still gets his snack. I found a sugar free Peach tea from Crystal Lite that he actually likes and doesn't mind drinking.

So far today I've had a steak and a small baked potato with only salt and pepper no butter or sour cream, and green beans. I'm wondering what to have for dinner tonight? I know that RC has had a big peanut butter sandwich. I'm thinking a piece of salmon.

That Crystal Lite sounds pretty good - maybe I'll try some of that. :)
Next time you have a baked potato, you should try that I Can't Believe it's not Butter spray. Zero calories and totally helps the plain potato taste way better. :)
Salmon sounds good. I think I might do some sort of turkey burger (without the bun...oh woe is me...) and salad concoction later. Or maybe some chicken...We'll see...

[kgvettegirl]

Being diabetic I'm not supposed to even eat a potato. They turn to sugar really fast. I am married to a Texan so if it isn't steak and potato it isn't food. I try and keep them small and don't eat them often.

[gwenshack]

So day 2 is going pretty well. :) Successful trip to the grocery store (with a long visit to the produce department), 30 minutes of kickboxing, and then a healthy dinner.
I made a veggie quesadilla - which basically means the lowest calorie tortilla I could find, about a half cup of mixed vegetables (onions, peppers, shredded carrots, etc), and about a 1/3 cup of the lowest calorie shredded cheese I could find. Hey, Weight Watchers makes shredded cheese now? Who knew. So I made that, and ate it with some shredded lettuce, a diced tomato, some low-fat sour cream, some salsa, and a 1/3 cup of heated up frozen corn. It was pretty darn good, filling, and full of vegetables. Vegetables are always the key with me - I have the compulsion to just keep eating and eating throughout the day - so the more vegetables I eat the better I do with staying within my calorie budget.
I still have about 300 calories left, in case I get all snacky. I bought these nectarines today though that look SO good. I'm super excited to eat one of those next time my stomach starts to grumble.
So, yay! Day 2 should end well!

[f77g4]

So day 2 is going pretty well. :) Successful trip to the grocery store (with a long visit to the produce department), 30 minutes of kickboxing, and then a healthy dinner.
I made a veggie quesadilla - which basically means the lowest calorie tortilla I could find, about a half cup of mixed vegetables (onions, peppers, shredded carrots, etc), and about a 1/3 cup of the lowest calorie shredded cheese I could find. Hey, Weight Watchers makes shredded cheese now? Who knew. So I made that, and ate it with some shredded lettuce, a diced tomato, some low-fat sour cream, some salsa, and a 1/3 cup of heated up frozen corn. It was pretty darn good, filling, and full of vegetables. Vegetables are always the key with me - I have the compulsion to just keep eating and eating throughout the day - so the more vegetables I eat the better I do with staying within my calorie budget.
I still have about 300 calories left, in case I get all snacky. I bought these nectarines today though that look SO good. I'm super excited to eat one of those next time my stomach starts to grumble.
So, yay! Day 2 should end well!

Congrats!!! :)

[fireprincess2009]

Yeah! I'm jumping on this bandwagon. Actually, I've been on it for awhile on my own...sort of. About 6 weeks ago I joined a gym. I've been really good about getting there. I work out at least 4 days a week at the gym - running and weight lifting with additional activities outside of the gym - walking, kayaking, anything to keep me moving.

Food has been an issue. I have a friend who got injured at work and we've been trying to help keep each other motivated. He's training for a bodybuilding competition though, so it's a little different. Writing things down is key but I have a carb problem. I'm working on creative ways to get more protein in my diet and in the process have found my new favorite work breakfast: 1/2 cup egg beaters, bit of finely chopped fresh spinach, dash of garlic & pepper, shake of dry minced onion and 1 Tbsp feta cheese. I brought it to work, microwaved it for 2 minutes stirring once. Yum!

[gwenshack]

Yeah! I'm jumping on this bandwagon. Actually, I've been on it for awhile on my own...sort of. About 6 weeks ago I joined a gym. I've been really good about getting there. I work out at least 4 days a week at the gym - running and weight lifting with additional activities outside of the gym - walking, kayaking, anything to keep me moving.

Food has been an issue. I have a friend who got injured at work and we've been trying to help keep each other motivated. He's training for a bodybuilding competition though, so it's a little different. Writing things down is key but I have a carb problem. I'm working on creative ways to get more protein in my diet and in the process have found my new favorite work breakfast: 1/2 cup egg beaters, bit of finely chopped fresh spinach, dash of garlic & pepper, shake of dry minced onion and 1 Tbsp feta cheese. I brought it to work, microwaved it for 2 minutes stirring once. Yum!

Welcome aboard the bandwagon, Denise! :hug:
Your egg beater breakfast sounds really good! I think feta goes so well with eggs and spinach. And I like your idea of adding the dried onion. :)

[kgvettegirl]

I'm on my 3rd bottle of water this morning. 16.9 oz. I'm going to see if I'm ok without adding the G2 powder. I'm really trying to keep hydrated since that is a problem for diabetics. I found at my local Food Lion they are having a sale on the little tubes of G2 8 for $6.00. That compares to the package of 8 already mixed up for $10.00.

Lunch will be a chicken breast pan roasted with onions and garlic in Olive Oil. I'm going to chop it up and add it to baby spinach.

Dinner I'm not so sure about since I have to add bad stuff for RC to eat and enjoy it. Without trying he has lost 50 pounds and he says it's because I'm starving him. I think not having sweet tea (4 or 5 large glasses each day) is where the weight came from.

[savepaws]

Good luck Gwen! I should probably jump on too. :( I've gained a lot of weight since quitting smoking. And that is on top of the weight I gained the first time I quit smoking. Ugh.

[fireprincess2009]

Yummy egg beaters breakfast...ad it's so easy. I like adding the onion and feta. Just cause I want healthy doesn't mean I don't want flavor. Next time I think I'll try the low fat feta though.

I just polished off my spinach salad that had chicken breast on it that's leftover from our wedding that was 2 months ago...hmm well, its marinated ang grilled and we froze it in small portions. There was so much left over! DH is sick of it but I can never get sick of chicken. So far today I've had 430 calories. I'm trying to keep my total for the day around 1600. It's hard becuase I go to the gym right after work so I want to eat enough before that, but I'm also trying to watch my carbs. They are so easy to pack for work, you know.

Not sure about dinner tonight. I bought some local sweet corn on the cob yesterday so I'll have to have that. Keep it up ladies. This is fun!

[ChristineLS]

It's delightful to read the successes you all are having!

This is my first day. I had a tortilla with hummus, a thin slice of leftover prosciutto, and shredded carrots for breakfast, with a cookie and a cup of coffee... for lunch I had a hummus and cheese sandwich on rye with some green tea. I biked to university. I'm feeling good.

Yesterday was my friend's birthday and we made pizza rolls (tortillas, quartered, with sauce and cheese and then fried), baked Buffalo chicken wings, carrots, celery, blue chese.... I had a slice of chocolate Guinness cakeand we all drank a bit too much... but that's it. I'm done with drinking for awhile. I have school to deal with and that will be my motivation. I did bike to church yesterday, which is about 30 minutes one way on a bike, but with the storm coming in on the way back took 45 minutes.

So today will be a start to being healthier. :)

[gwenshack]

I :heart: that I'm not alone on this adventure. We're going to be the healthiest forum on the internet! LOL...:)

So this morning I had a Jimmy Dean D-Lite breakfast bowl that had egg whites and turkey sausage in it - calorie total 230.
Then I took off on foot...it's SUPER hot here today so I told myself I was walking to the pool, which is half true. There's a community pool down by the ocean but it's ALWAYS booked up. It's about a 2 mile walk down there, so I told myself I was going to go see if I could get into the pool. I, of course, couldn't, but was able to score a pass for Wednesday, that I'm very excited to finally get to use. So, sweaty and denied of my pool time, I proceded up the hill to Santa Monica where I picked up some lunch to bring home. I took the bus home and am now enjoying some soup and salad.
Soup - 105 calories
Salad - 420 calories
So I'm at 755 for the day so far, which I'm happy with. I also walked for about an hour and a half, so I'm pretty happy with how this day is going so far! I get a :star:! LOL...:)

[aznative371]

I will join in with you too. I have exercised my entire life and I am built very stocky. I have just not had the motivation to work out over the past few years. I thought it was having a 2 year old that made me tired. Two weeks ago I went to the dr and she said I need to lose 15-20 pounds to bring down my cholesterol...after talking with her for awhile (and another blood test) I found out my thyroid is low. I started meds and I am beginning to feel better...guess it takes time. For the first time in a long time I have made it to the gym and also done cardio. Bottom line, thyroid or not I just have been not exercising enough and not being consistent on my diet (I dont believe it diets...to me diet is a lifestyle, not a fad).

I know I need to do this for myself but it really helps to have support. My husband can lose weight by just sitting on the couch...which kills me. He does not understand how much more difficult it is for me. He stops ice cream for a few weeks and takes off 20...I think I gain it by thinking about it....

So I am with you sister...count me in for support!!! :cool:

[gwenshack]

I will join in with you too. I have exercised my entire life and I am built very stocky. I have just not had the motivation to work out over the past few years. I thought it was having a 2 year old that made me tired. Two weeks ago I went to the dr and she said I need to lose 15-20 pounds to bring down my cholesterol...after talking with her for awhile (and another blood test) I found out my thyroid is low. I started meds and I am beginning to feel better...guess it takes time. For the first time in a long time I have made it to the gym and also done cardio. Bottom line, thyroid or not I just have been not exercising enough and not being consistent on my diet (I dont believe it diets...to me diet is a lifestyle, not a fad).

I know I need to do this for myself but it really helps to have support. My husband can lose weight by just sitting on the couch...which kills me. He does not understand how much more difficult it is for me. He stops ice cream for a few weeks and takes off 20...I think I gain it by thinking about it....

So I am with you sister...count me in for support!!! :cool:

Alright Jennifer! Welcome aboard! :) Congrats on starting to exercise again. I know the first few days are really hard - but then after that I start to look forward to it, you know?

So for dinner tonight I...*gasp*...COOKED! I never cook, but I figured what the heck. I scoured the internet for a recipe with chicken that sounded good, since I had bought some chicken yesterday, and I found this one...
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/chicken_creamy_chive.html
I'm eating it right now and it's pretty darn good! And only 242 calories a portion. So with that I'm eating a puree of cauliflower (or, fake mashed potatoes...lol) and some frozen carrots that I heated up. Good stuff.

DH is going to fall over and die of shock when he walks in the door tonight and realizes that I used the stove...:rofl:

[ChristineLS]

Alright Jennifer! Welcome aboard! :) Congrats on starting to exercise again. I know the first few days are really hard - but then after that I start to look forward to it, you know?

So for dinner tonight I...*gasp*...COOKED! I never cook, but I figured what the heck. I scoured the internet for a recipe with chicken that sounded good, since I had bought some chicken yesterday, and I found this one...
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/chicken_creamy_chive.html
I'm eating it right now and it's pretty darn good! And only 242 calories a portion. So with that I'm eating a puree of cauliflower (or, fake mashed potatoes...lol) and some frozen carrots that I heated up. Good stuff.

DH is going to fall over and die of shock when he walks in the door tonight and realizes that I used the stove...:rofl:

Lol!

I'm not so sure about this health scheme of yours if it makes you a widow prematurely ;)

I never would have thought of pureeing cauliflower... I'm going to have to try that!

[gwenshack]

Lol!

I'm not so sure about this health scheme of yours if it makes you a widow prematurely ;)

I never would have thought of pureeing cauliflower... I'm going to have to try that!

Hahahaha :)

Yeah, the cauliflower thing is weird - back in the day when I tried the Atkins diet (note to everyone - don't - I never felt more unhealthy than when I did that....) I read all these recipes of stuff you could eat that didn't have carbohydrates in it. This was one of the few recipes that made the cut as something I would still eat now. Scratch that, the ONLY recipe that made the cut. Basically you just steam some cauliflower and then blend it up with some salt and pepper and a little bit of non-fat sour cream and then I use some of that spray butter. Blend it all together. And then I usually mix in some chives to liven it up. I think it's pretty good, some people really like it, but some people just can't get past the fact that it's cauliflower...But if you like cauliflower, and I do, then you'll probably like it. ;)

[aznative371]

You know who has good advice is Jillian Michaels. Her new book is really helpful on what to eat and what not to eat... I think it is worth the money. Also Bill Phillips is pretty good with portion size...one protein, one carb and some veggies but servings are the size of your fist...I really like this because I am not faithful like you with the calorie counting...too complicated for me.

By the way I make the cauliflower mash thingy and it is pretty good. :cool:

[gwenshack]

So today's workout got interrupted with the news that DH's grandmother had died. She's been in hospice for almost a month, so it was, of course, sad, but it really wasn't so much a surprise either.
So I was half way through my workout for the day when DH called to let me know. I had to stop what I was doing to make travel arrangements for the funeral this weekend, but when I was done with all of that - nearly an hour later - I went back to my workout. :sweatdrop:
I was pretty proud of that, because I could have just used a bunch of excuses to not finish.
Today I did a workout that I wrote for a client - it's cycles of cardio, followed by weights, followed by core, so that your heart rate is kept up throughout each cycle, and, just about the time you recover, it's time to do cardio again. It's kind of a little bit of a killer sometimes, because I'm tricky and put the harder cardio stuff in the middle of the routine, when you're starting to get tired. But I got through it. :) I better have, seeing as that when I started training my selling point was "If I can do it, you can do it..." LOL
Food, so far I've only had breakfast, which was 280 calories. I'm either going to have leftover chicken from last night (with some sort of vegetable) for lunch, or maybe some chicken potstickers (steamed, of course) with some broccoli. We'll see what I'm in the mood for when I get there...
Day 4! Woo hoo! :jphappy:

[ChristineLS]

So today's workout got interrupted with the news that DH's grandmother had died. She's been in hospice for almost a month, so it was, of course, sad, but it really wasn't so much a surprise either.
So I was half way through my workout for the day when DH called to let me know. I had to stop what I was doing to make travel arrangements for the funeral this weekend, but when I was done with all of that - nearly an hour later - I went back to my workout. :sweatdrop:
I was pretty proud of that, because I could have just used a bunch of excuses to not finish.
Today I did a workout that I wrote for a client - it's cycles of cardio, followed by weights, followed by core, so that your heart rate is kept up throughout each cycle, and, just about the time you recover, it's time to do cardio again. It's kind of a little bit of a killer sometimes, because I'm tricky and put the harder cardio stuff in the middle of the routine, when you're starting to get tired. But I got through it. :) I better have, seeing as that when I started training my selling point was "If I can do it, you can do it..." LOL
Food, so far I've only had breakfast, which was 280 calories. I'm either going to have leftover chicken from last night (with some sort of vegetable) for lunch, or maybe some chicken potstickers (steamed, of course) with some broccoli. We'll see what I'm in the mood for when I get there...
Day 4! Woo hoo! :jphappy:

Wow Gwen! Way to stay on track! I would have totally been like, "Life crisis, off the hook!" even though in actuality, exercising would make me feel better.

I love how you used your professional slogan to keep your butt in gear! :D

Today I had... weird food...

So far:
Breakfast - a tortilla with hummus and shredded carrots
Lunch - a tortilla with hummus, prosciutto and shredded cucumbers
Half a cookie a professor offered me and my office mate
A powerbar harvest bar I found in my desk, since I was hungry...

And dinner time soon. AND I biked to the university and back for the second straight day. The nice thing about a university with a severe parking shortage is that I have even more incentive to bike. Though there were no bike parking spaces either. Go figure. I Miss the summer :(

[gwenshack]

Wow Gwen! Way to stay on track! I would have totally been like, "Life crisis, off the hook!" even though in actuality, exercising would make me feel better.

I love how you used your professional slogan to keep your butt in gear! :D

Today I had... weird food...

So far:
Breakfast - a tortilla with hummus and shredded carrots
Lunch - a tortilla with hummus, prosciutto and shredded cucumbers
Half a cookie a professor offered me and my office mate
A powerbar harvest bar I found in my desk, since I was hungry...

And dinner time soon. AND I biked to the university and back for the second straight day. The nice thing about a university with a severe parking shortage is that I have even more incentive to bike. Though there were no bike parking spaces either. Go figure. I Miss the summer :(

Weird food, LOL...you're staying on track though! I like the idea of hummus and shredded carrots together - I love :heart: carrots all shredded up - so yummy.
I wish I could ride a bike. DH got me one for Christmas, but being that I'd never ridden a bike before like a year ago I feel really unstable on it and almost never use it. I think I need to take it out early in the morning or late at night, when there aren't a lot of cars and people out, so I can work on being comfortable on it.

[fireprincess2009]

I WAS doing pretty good. Monday I ran for 40 min - 10 minutes longer than usual then worked chest and triceps. I kept my calories for the day just under 1500 which I was proud of. Yesterday was pretty decent as well. DH met me at the gym and we got a bite to eat after at a "healthy" burrito place that has salads so I got salad with grilled checken, black beans and salsa instead of dressing. They did put a couple tortilla strips on top but there wasn't that fat saturated tortilla bowl or anything!

This morning was not so good. I made a nice protein shake and then when I got to work I ate some cheese and crackers! :boggle: Ok, a slip for sure. For lunch I brought grilled chicken breast and veggies and hummus. I'll get back on track and another night at the gym with hubby!

[gwenshack]

I WAS doing pretty good. Monday I ran for 40 min - 10 minutes longer than usual then worked chest and triceps. I kept my calories for the day just under 1500 which I was proud of. Yesterday was pretty decent as well. DH met me at the gym and we got a bite to eat after at a "healthy" burrito place that has salads so I got salad with grilled checken, black beans and salsa instead of dressing. They did put a couple tortilla strips on top but there wasn't that fat saturated tortilla bowl or anything!

This morning was not so good. I made a nice protein shake and then when I got to work I ate some cheese and crackers! :boggle: Ok, a slip for sure. For lunch I brought grilled chicken breast and veggies and hummus. I'll get back on track and another night at the gym with hubby!

You're doing great! :)
As for the cheese and crackers, just count it as a vegetable and move on! :bbmrgreen:

As for me, so far no slip ups, although having to travel this weekend is going to be hard. Especially since we're going to the midwest and I've noticed that there's a lot more fried options involved there. I will do my best though!
I'm currently in the middle of my 280 calorie breakfast. After I'm done reading OW I'm going to get ready to work out - I'm going to walk 2 miles to this pool that I *finally* got a pass to - it's constantly booked and I've been trying all summer to go swimming! :fish: So today I finally get to swim. Yay!

[gwenshack]

I am so sore right now. LOL. It's a good feeling though, you know? Like, I know I've been working hard and I can feel it with every move I make.

Anyway, I successfully walked down to the pool, had a nice swim, and then took the bus back home. There were a lot of kids down there, but they congregated in the shallow end, that is roped off from the rest of the pool, so I basically had the rest of the pool to myself (save for a few other people) to swim and tread water and whatever. It was really deep though so the entire time I was in there I couldn't put my feet down so I HAD to keep moving. So that was cool and exhausting.

Lunch was a tortilla filled with a bunch of vegetables and some low fat cheese, with a side of vegetables and some sour cream. Calorie total was 445, so I'm at 725 for the day so far.

I think I need a nap. Hahahaha :bbmrgreen:

[f77g4]

Sounds like another great day Gwen! Congrats on sticking to your plan!

[gwenshack]

My legs are SO SORE! :boxing:

I mean, it's a totally GOOD feeling, but at the same time, that constant throb can be a bit of a bad feeling too...haha :)

I had the best nectarine ever last night. It was just the right firmness and juiciness and I was super excited about a piece of fruit. Egad. :eat: I have another one that I bought at the same time and I'm hoping this one is as good as the other one! I'm planning on having it for lunch with a turkey burger patty on this bread I bought that's a flat bread and has only 100 calories. I'm curious to try it. I bought it because it looks like a cross between pita and a hamburger bun. I think I can use it for lots of stuff - hopefully it'll taste good too.

Breakfast today was 280. Lunch will end up being about 400 or so, depending on what I put on said turkey burger.

I'm going to walk later - I've worked out 5 days in a row right now and my muscles are pretty sore/tired. I would normally take today off and give my muscles the rest they need, but since we're going to be out of town and busy this weekend with the travel and funeral, I will end up losing 3 days of exercise (most likely). So I have to get some exercise in today or I'll feel like a horrible failure...!

But, so far, so good. On day 6! Only 8,403 days to go...LOL...;)

[fireprincess2009]

Oh, if only the veggie (eh, hem cheese & cracker) breakfast were the worst of my sins yesterday! DH and I had a pretty serious arguement which made me forget to eat lunch. Seriously, I NEVER forget to eat. We were going to go to the gym, but decided we needed to talk & work some things out so no gym. After he had band rehearsal so I ran a half hour - better than nothing. Dinner consisted of a Sam Adams (Blackberry Witbier - OMG YUMMY) and a piece of cheesecake. Seriously bad. This morning I had a granola bar, apple, and a few crackers with 75% reduced fat cheese (better than yesterdays full fat) For lunch I had grilled chicken breast - quite a bit. About to eat my pre-workout banana. I haven't tabulated calories today. I'll get back on track with that tomorrow.

Gwen, since you are a trainer, I have a couple questions:
1: what is the cycle/interval workout that you mentioned in a previous post (this thread)

2: I'm working out at least 4 days so I split my weight lifting focus like this - chest/triceps, back/biceps, shoulders, legs. What's a good leg workout? I have to be careful because I have sciatic nerve issues.

[gwenshack]

Gwen, since you are a trainer, I have a couple questions:
1: what is the cycle/interval workout that you mentioned in a previous post (this thread)

2: I'm working out at least 4 days so I split my weight lifting focus like this - chest/triceps, back/biceps, shoulders, legs. What's a good leg workout? I have to be careful because I have sciatic nerve issues.


Ok, I'll start with #2 first - I think a good leg work out would be to do a couple of exercises to work bigger muscle groups first - like squats and lunges - and then do some exercises to work your individual muscle groups - quads, hamstrings, calves, inner and outer thigh...and so on.

Specifically, some things you can do that wouldn't even require weights - I like to focus on things that require more your own body weight/resistance.

Quads - stand on one foot (you can hold onto a chair or something if you need to) with your other leg up, knee raised and bent. Then you can bend and straighten the leg, foot flexed, and it'll really dig into that quad muscle - no weight needed, although you can totally use a resistance band. http://www.ehow.com/video_2285827_leg-extension-arm-rotation-tubing.html
Like seen here.

Hamstrings - I prefer to do this exercise
http://www.slbfitness.com/uploads/Good_Morning.jpg
Or something like this
http://www.slbfitness.com/uploads/Hamstring_Hip_Extension.jpg

Calves - You just need to lower and lift yourself on your toes to get a good workout in your toes. Add hand weights as necessary.

Inner and Outer Thigh - I really think kickboxing does a good job on the inner and outer thighs, but I really like this exercise as well.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/leg-exercises-tb13.htm

Of course, at your gym, you have the various machines to do exercises for each of these body parts on, but I think with the resistance bands and stuff you get a wider range of motion.
But these are just a couple of ideas. There are so many kinds of ways to work out your lower body - it's sort of insane.

As for the cycles I did the other day, some of it's kind of hard to explain without pictures, but I'll try!
This is just one example of this type of workout, obviously...

Cycle 1
1. Marching in Place, while alternating the march with kicking and with knee lifts - for 2 minutes
2. Squats - 10 reps, 3 sets of both normal squats and plie squats
http://z.about.com/d/exercise/1/5/4/M/pliesquat.jpg
3. Core - Standing crunches http://imgslide.health.com/images/slides/12369/full/standing-obl-crunch-400.jpg

Cycle 2
1. Step Ups for 2 minutes
2. Calf Raises (mostly to stretch out after the step ups...) followed by Back Rows http://kbierek.powweb.com/shapefit-pics/middle-back-exercises-bent-over-two-dumbbell-rows.gif and Good Mornings (the hamstring exercise from earlier in the post)
3. Torso twists http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.hallam3/Medicine_files/medball1.gif

Cycle 3
1. Mountain Climbers http://www.healthytravelnetwork.com/2006/03/travel-fit-exercise-of-week-mountain.shtml
2. Upright Rows http://www.weight-training-guide.net/training/images/back_uprightrow.jpg
3. Pilates Double Straight Leg Lift
http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ss/LegLowers.htm

I'm gonna continue this in another post in case this is getting too long...

[gwenshack]

Cycle 4
1. Burpees
http://myfitnesshut.blogspot.com/2008/10/great-cardio-routineuh-burpees.html
2. Overhead Shoulder Press
3. Ball Roll With Push Up
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/fitness/exercises/jackknife-with-ball.html
Like this but doing a push up after every rep...

Cycle 5
1. Walking Lunges
2. Bicep Curls
3. Bridge on Ball
http://exercise.about.com/b/2006/12/12/exercise-of-the-week-bridge-on-the-ball.htm

Cycle 6
1. 2-3 minutes of kickboxing
2. Punching with resistance bands - same punches as in the cardio, but the resistance bands is going to help you become stronger in those punches
http://www.fightertrainer.com/images/D/g_cables_partner.jpg
Sort of like in this picture, but you can also step on the middle of a band and do upper cuts...
- Butt kick backs
- Quad extensions explained in the previous post
3. Pilates Bicycle
http://www.videojug.com/film/pilates-the-bicycle

Cycle 7
1. Take 2 steps, do 2 jumping jacks, take 2 steps in the other direction, do 2 jumping jacks - repeat for about 2 minutes
2. Chest Flys
http://www.getfit.com.au/html/excercises/images/ex-chest-dum-06.gif
Overhead Tricep Extensions
http://www.parentsconnect.com/editorial_images/3/Dumbbell_Overhead_One_Arm_Tricep_Extension.jpg
3. Just normal crunches...:)

And then you can stretch...

[pinkbride]

hey Gwen! Just catching up in here :D You are so motivated and are doing great!! go you!! :D xxx

[gwenshack]

hey Gwen! Just catching up in here :D You are so motivated and are doing great!! go you!! :D xxx

Thanks! :jphappy:

Another good day here - walked for about an hour in the way too hot sun this afternoon. For dinner I had a Smart Ones frozen meal (320 calories) because I was in the mood for pasta and then I had some green beans mixed with some tomato and some onions and peppers (about 100 calories or so). I also ate some Frosted Cheerios as a snack (110 calories) because I wanted something crunchy. I think eating dry cereal can be really satisfying sometimes! :eat:

Anyway, I'll be out of town for the funeral until Sunday, but I'm going to try to keep my eating on track even though I don't have a lot of control over where and when I eat. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

[savepaws]

Have a safe trip Gwen! Where abouts in Iowa will you be? You're probably already gone so you'll have to let me know what you get back.

Thanks for posting those workouts...I'll have to try them. Maybe next week.

One thing I've noticed is that I'll do real good and workout for a few days in a row...then I'll be sore and give myself a day off and then I end up taking about a week or more off. I can't let myself do that anymore!

[brendalin]

:eat:I LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM!!!

Good luck with your journey to get back in shape!

[f77g4]

Have a safe trip and you're doing so well!

[KMS]

You're doing great Gwen. I'm super proud of you!

[gwenshack]

Thanks everybody! :hug:

Just got back a bit ago...Danielle, I was in Harlan and Denison. We flew into Omaha. DH grew up in Harlan and his grandmother spent most of her life in Denison...although his family lives in Des Moines now. I'm glad we got to fly into Omaha though - DH and I spent some time there on the way in and on the way out - what a cool city. We both wished we could stay a little longer, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be...

I wish I could tell you all that this weekend went all lettuce and bananas, but, sadly, I really wasn't in charge of my own meals this weekend. Most everything we ate was prepared for us by family friends and I was limited to what was made. Unfortunately, since I'm such a picky protein eater, I was limited to the carby stuff more often than not. I didn't dive into a plate of brownies or anything, but it certainly didn't go the way I would have wanted it to.

But...tomorrow is another day so I'll just move forward from here.

Hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend. :jphappy:

[gwenshack]

Well, the holiday weekend is over and Gwen is back on track. I had a 280 calorie breakfast and then I did the Turbo Jam Cardio Party 3 :boxing:, which is 50 minutes of dripping sweat and sore calves. I'm going to have to really try to restrengthen my calves. I think they got really spoiled back when I was a pilates freak - there is a lot calf strengthening that happens with pilates reformer exercises. I guess giving that up was a bad idea...:cloppy:

But anyway, I'm on the wagon...how about you guys? :bbmrgreen:

[fireprincess2009]

No worries Gwen - you're not alone in veering a little off course this weekend. Friday night I met my brother in law for dinner and although Saturday wasn't horrible, Sunday we went to the track (last weekend at Saratoga) and I have the equivalent of 6 beers!!! :beer_smile:
I say equivalent becuase it was just 3 GIANT drafts. Come to think of it, I drank some of DHs too. He was driving and I was trying to help... :parp:
eh, hem...so I topped off all that by having some people over for a little BBQ. I decided to make sausage and peppers (really healthy choice) Of course I HAD good intentions - made gazpacho and low fat chicken salad and then everyone else brought so much stuff that healthy never made it out of the fridge!

Even with all that I did manage to run 4 miles on Saturday which is the longest I think I've ever run without a walking break so I was proud of myself there and DH and I went to the gym yesterday morning and I ran 2 miles at a faster than normal pace and worked on my shoulders.

One of my friends at the track told me that my arms look like they are getting some definition so maybe I'm far from perfect, but I must be doing something right!!! :bbmrgreen:

[kgvettegirl]

Except for the spoonful of chocolate ice cream that RC feed me last night I'm doing ok. I have to say that it tasted really good. I'm down to 197-6 so far.

[gwenshack]

Mmmmmmmmmm beer and sausage and peppers. Sounds like a good weekend! We had our fair share of beer this weekend too - DH loves this beer made in KC called Boulevard Wheat and we can't get it out here - so he had me try it and I thought it was good too! So then we were just drinking it every chance we got before we had to come back home! :drunk:

At least you ran! I didn't do anything this weekend!

[gwenshack]

Except for the spoonful of chocolate ice cream that RC feed me last night I'm doing ok. I have to say that it tasted really good. I'm down to 197-6 so far.


Under 200! :pompom::cheers: Great job Liz!

[gwenshack]

So all that sausage and pepper talk got the cravings rolling - so I chopped up some peppers and onions and some sundried tomato chicken sausage (140 calories a link) and heated it up with some marinara sauce - and YUM!
2 sausage links - 280 calories
1 and a 1/2 cups of onions and peppers - 45 calories (I love vegetables!)
1/2 cup of marinara sauce - 70 calories
Grand total for lunch - 395 calories - Good stuff!

So breakfast was 280, lunch was 395, and I had 120 calorie snack (1 cup of corn chex - yummmmmmy!) for a total of 795 calories so far today. :eat:

[fireprincess2009]

haha! I'd say I'm sorry I made you have a craving but I can see you did a good job using the chicken sausage and you enjoyed it so way to go!

My problem now is trying to avoid the leftover home made mac & cheese my friend made that's sitting in my fridge. I have lots of gazpacho and fruit left too so I'm trying to focus on those. I don't know what it is about cheese, but again I had cheese and crackers for breakfast. Here is where I'm at for today's food plan:

Breakfast
16 reduced wheat thins 130 cal 3.5g fat
1 oz 75% reduced fat cheddar 60 cal 2.5g fat

Lunch
3/4 c my home made low fat chicken salad 250 cal 4g fat
1/2 c gazpacho 23 cal

Snacks
pineapple, strawberries and grapes 158 cal .5g fat
2 twizzlers 75 cal .5g fat

Totals 696 calories 11g fat

This leaves me 700-800 calories for dinner. Not sure about the workout tonight. Justin and I have our first therapy appt at 3pm. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about the gym. I think I may just try to do a little at home. Yoga is stress relieving so maybe a walk and some yoga.

[gwenshack]

Yeah, after a therapy session a nice walk and some yoga might just be the ticket. I hope the therapy goes ok...!
No, your sausage and peppers thing got my imagintion going in a good way so thanks! :star: :star: :star: I made it for dinner too! LOL...

I think your food plan sounds good for the day. Hopefully you'll find something yummy for dinner. :)

So last night I cheated a little bit. We went over to our friends' new apartment - they moved up here from near San Diego - and there was wine. Several glasses of wine. :drunk: Nah, it wasn't that bad...;) But I only had about 185 calories left to kill when I went over there and then I had 3 glasses of wine. So I'm gonna have to be really good today to make up for the difference.

This morning's breakfast was 280 calories. I'm going to walk today for a while, I think at least. That's the current exercise plan. If something more exciting strikes my fancy I might try to do something more ambitious. We'll see. My shoulders and upper back are pretty sore from yesterday's kickboxing so I wanna get my legs involved more today.

Hope everyone's having a good day! :)

[gwenshack]

So the exercise plan changed. I was going to walk, but then I read Danielle's thread about how she was going to do Turbo Sculpt (one of the Turbo Jam DVDs) and I said I'd do it too. Workout buddies! :boxing:

But...Gwen's lazy side got the better of her and she was sitting on her butt, chatting on OW and watching Oprah like a big couch potato. Gwen, get off your butt, you need to move. Come on. Get up. GET UP!!! :irked:

So I had to resort to my lazy day strategy, which is basically to trick myself. Yeah, I play mind games with myself. :bbrolleyes:

I just kept thinking that there's no way I can get myself through an :star: ENTIRE :star: DVD. So when I get like that I pull out a bunch of the DVDs and play 5-6 minutes out of the middle of each one. So I ended up doing a full hour of various Turbo Jam DVDs, instead of one straight through.

The funny thing is...the longest TJ DVD is 51 minutes. Which means I actually worked out LONGER than if I had done one straight through. Hey, I said it was a mind game!

As for food today, lunch I made myself a quesadilla that had some Weight Watchers cheese in it, some salsa, and a scrambled egg. Then I put sour cream on top. Oh, and it was freaking delicious.
Tortilla - 180 calories
Egg - 70 calories
Cheese - 80 calories
Salsa - 5 calories
Sour Cream (low fat of course) - 40 calories
So that was 375 calories for a plate of deliciousness. I also had a nectarine which is 100 calories. A medium nectarine has 70 calories, but this was a huge nectarine so we'll just call it an even 100.

Then, as a snack I had some dry cereal for 115 calories. I'm at 880 calories thus far today. :jphappy:

Denise - Hope your appointment went well. :hug:

[gwenshack]

Just wanted to share this site - I found this a while back and forgot about it. It's kind of cool - you put in your weight and the number of minutes the activity is done and it'll give you an estimate of how many calories you'll burn doing certain activities.

http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/jumpsite/calculat.htm

[fireprincess2009]

Thanks for the website Gwen - really interesting. And way to go :star:Gwen:star: on the workout tapes. I do that sometimes too. I just don't want to do anything so I do a little of this and a little of that from the DVR then walk on the treadmill.

Last night's plan got derailed a bit. I have no idea how many calories I ate. After therapy...ugh...I didn't much want to work out but I forced myself into starting to do an hour long Gilad workout with some cardio boxing and lower body toning. I got 2/3 of the way through it and then lost my motivation (when Justin came home and popped his head in the room to ask if I'd fed the cats) I totally lost my focus. My butt hurts today so at least for the time I did work out, it must have been good work. :penguin:

So today I started the day with 2 Twizzlers, 8 reduced fat wheat thins and 1oz of reduced fat cheddar (I really need to get back to the better breakfast plan!) Then I ate a peach and a bag (yes, the entire bag) of emergency microwave popcorn (98% reduced fat) that I had in my desk. I did pack a nice salad with greens, cucumbers, tomato and a bit of feta and fresh basil for later. I'm seriously lacking in the protein department.

[fireprincess2009]

This was sooo yummy I had to share - a bit weird, I admit.

I sometimes freeze watermelon chucks for drinks. I combined watermelon, milk and 3 Olives Grape. Blend and drink. Frozen yummy goodness.

[gwenshack]

Thanks for the website Gwen - really interesting. And way to go :star:Gwen:star: on the workout tapes. I do that sometimes too. I just don't want to do anything so I do a little of this and a little of that from the DVR then walk on the treadmill.

Last night's plan got derailed a bit. I have no idea how many calories I ate. After therapy...ugh...I didn't much want to work out but I forced myself into starting to do an hour long Gilad workout with some cardio boxing and lower body toning. I got 2/3 of the way through it and then lost my motivation (when Justin came home and popped his head in the room to ask if I'd fed the cats) I totally lost my focus. My butt hurts today so at least for the time I did work out, it must have been good work. :penguin:

So today I started the day with 2 Twizzlers, 8 reduced fat wheat thins and 1oz of reduced fat cheddar (I really need to get back to the better breakfast plan!) Then I ate a peach and a bag (yes, the entire bag) of emergency microwave popcorn (98% reduced fat) that I had in my desk. I did pack a nice salad with greens, cucumbers, tomato and a bit of feta and fresh basil for later. I'm seriously lacking in the protein department.

Twizzlers are my FAVORITE! (Although, unlike the sausage and peppers, there's no faux Twizzlers to satisfy that craving so moving on...moving on...!) I love that you have emergency popcorn in your desk - that's awesome. Popcorn is my emergency snack - I ate a bag of it last night during America's Next Top Model (Gwen's embarassing obsession) - but if you buy the right kind, eating the whole bag isn't such a sin.

I like the idea that you put basil and feta in your great salad - that sounds really good. I forgot how much I like herbs in salad - Trader Joes has this salad mix that has dill in it and it is SO good. I'm gonna have to go over there and get some of that. :eat:

Do you like the Gilad DVDs? I have 2 of them - I do them every once in a while when I feel nostalgic for the 80s. Holy tight clothing!!! Although I have a step/weight DVD of his that is pretty good, leg warmers and unitards or not...;)

Last night for dinner I had some chicken potstickers (steamed) with vegetables. Then I ate a nectarine and the aforementioned bag of popcorn.

This morning I had a 260 calorie breakfast and I'm contemplating what my workout will be today. I think I've gotta get outside. I did DVDs the past 2 days and I get bored with that really quick...:)

[fireprincess2009]

Yup! Here's me on a mission (Gwen's mission really, but I've hijacked it) TWIZZLERS, SAUSAGE & PEPPERS, CHEESE

Can you tell what my problem is??? I love FOOD!!! (ok, just had to get that out...:D)

[fireprincess2009]

Do you like the Gilad DVDs? I have 2 of them - I do them every once in a while when I feel nostalgic for the 80s. Holy tight clothing!!! Although I have a step/weight DVD of his that is pretty good, leg warmers and unitards or not...;)

I have the Gilad stuff on the DVR from the Fitness Channel. I like the hour long ones with the cardio boxing. I do find the outfits amusing (although I haven't seen legwarmers in any of the one I have)

[gwenshack]

Yup! Here's me on a mission (Gwen's mission really, but I've hijacked it) TWIZZLERS, SAUSAGE & PEPPERS, CHEESE

Can you tell what my problem is??? I love FOOD!!! (ok, just had to get that out...:D)

It's a group mission...and a process...LOL...;)

Dude, I love food too. Big time. Mmmmm, food. And DH is NO help in that department! He says he'll support me and then this morning he said "Do you wanna go get free tacos at the bar tonight?" Um, nothing says diet like free tacos and cheap beer! I told him I was gonna skip the tacos and save calories today for some lite beer. But it is gonna SUCK watching other people eat tacos...*sniff*...Gwen loves tacos...:rofl:

[gwenshack]

So I took off at 10:50 on foot, heading toward that pool in the hopes I would be able to swim - got all the way there, dripping in sweat, to find out they have closed the pool on weekdays now that school is back in session. Um, wouldn't more people WANT to go to the pool now that school is back in session?!?

So, I kept walking - and then I saw this...

http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/gwenshack/stairs1.jpg

Basically, you cross this overpass and go over PCH and then there are stairs that allow you to scale the side of the cliff. Ouch. My butt will ache tomorrow.

Panting, sweaty and tired, and an hour and 15 minutes into my journey, I took the bus back to my neighborhood. Grabbed a 6 inch Subway turkey sandwich and brought it home (290 calories) and heated up some frozen vegetables (100 calories) for lunch.

So, so far today I'm at 650 calories. :) :star:

[gwenshack]

I ended up having a mid-afternoon 100 calorie salad to satisfy my need for something crunchy. It was either that or go find some chips!

Dinner tonight was a Lean Cuisine - some sort of pasta that was 250 calories. With it I ate some brocoli, cauliflower, and peas for 110 calories.

So after dinner I was at 1115. I saved a bunch of calories because I was led to believe that we were going out tonight for beer. Our plans got cancelled because the people we were gonna go with couldn't make it, so then I had all these calories to snack with. Should I have saved them? Probably. But I was sitting here watching stupid tv shows and did some snacking. So I killed the other 385 calories that I had banked. That's like a whole meal total! But I guess eating snacks was better than the beer indulgence I was gonna use them on. An Amstel Lite is 95 calories - so I could have basically had 4 - BUT...who knows if I wouldn't have still wanted a late night snacky after I got home after drinking the beer...haha...:drunk:

[savepaws]

You are doing so good at keeping track of the calories!! You even left room for beer! I love it!

[gwenshack]

You are doing so good at keeping track of the calories!! You even left room for beer! I love it!

I'm a professional! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: And there's always room for beer!!! :drunk:

[gwenshack]

Today, so far so good. :star:

Had a 260 calorie breakfast, took a 45 minute walk, and then had a lean cuisine and frozen vegetables for lunch. And then a nectarine for a snack. So I'm at 750 so far. I have a walking date later too, so I'm gonna be maxed out on walking for the day.

So the Lean Cuisine I had for lunch was Chicken Marsala and the box said it was a "New Recipe", which I why I tried it. So good! It had a lot of flavor and it was probably one of the best frozen meals I've ever had. I'm so buying that one again.

[kgvettegirl]

So today I made a big slow cooker full of beef and vegetable soup from scratch. It was rainy and cool here today so I was in the mood. I've learned that to keep my calories low that I have to use smaller plates and bowls. That way I keep my portions under control.

How many calories would a fly have do you guess? I had one caught in my water bottle but didn't notice it until I swallowed. Oh well at least its a protein and not a carb. LOL

[gwenshack]

Oh no, Liz! I can't believe you swallowed a fly! LOL... I doubt they have too many calories...it's a pretty small portion. *gulp...*

Soup is a good thing to make - pretty low in calories, filling, and delicious! I hope you enjoy! :eat: Smaller plates area a great idea - I try to do that. Or fill a big plate with vegetables...:)

I just got home from my second walk of the day. My feet are tired. I'm enjoying some vegetables and turkey and a little bit of mashed potato. I'm at 1175 for the day. :)

The weekend is coming! I find it really hard to keep the calories low when we socialize. I CAN, but sometimes I feel like it's such a drag...:irked:

[gwenshack]

Last night we met friends for drinks at a bar. I had a few beers, but I stayed within my calorie restrictions, which is hard to do when everyone else at the table has ordered snacky food for themselves. But I was a good girl. And I didn't eat anything when we got home either - I went straight to bed to avoid any temptations. :star:

This morning I got up and had my sensible 260 calorie breakfast. Meanwhile, DH went to Jack in the Box and got himself a full on high-calorie grease-fest. :hammy:

I'm unclear what kind of workout I'll do today, or if I'll take today off. My feet are pretty tired from the past couple of days so I'm trying to decide if I want to give them a break today or not. I have some grand ideas of things I could do to kill calories today, but my feet and this bizarre humidity are sort of keeping me grounded. We'll see. ;)

[yam102284]

Gwen, you're doing a great job watching your calories and exercising. I love how you still have time for beer!


As long as I do good during the week, I splurge some on the weekends. Like tonight, we're having Chinese for dinner. I feel a little bad about eating all this fat, but I want it. Probably the worst dinner for me, but I've had a huge craving for it, and I don't deny my cravings. I've done real good during the week, averaging about 1200-1500 calories a day. I also have exercised almost everyday this week, but using the elliptical for 25 minutes a day. It's a great workout and also allows my reading of Twilight :happy:


Keep up the good work Gwen!

[gwenshack]

Gwen, you're doing a great job watching your calories and exercising. I love how you still have time for beer!


As long as I do good during the week, I splurge some on the weekends. Like tonight, we're having Chinese for dinner. I feel a little bad about eating all this fat, but I want it. Probably the worst dinner for me, but I've had a huge craving for it, and I don't deny my cravings. I've done real good during the week, averaging about 1200-1500 calories a day. I also have exercised almost everyday this week, but using the elliptical for 25 minutes a day. It's a great workout and also allows my reading of Twilight :happy:


Keep up the good work Gwen!


Aw, thanks! :) That's rad that you're doing so well too! I really like elliptical machines - such a good workout and easy on the knees (I'm an old lady, I have to think about these things...LOL :rofl:). Enjoy your Chinese food - that's one of my favorite indulgences too. :heart:

[yam102284]

Aw, thanks! :) That's rad that you're doing so well too! I really like elliptical machines - such a good workout and easy on the knees (I'm an old lady, I have to think about these things...LOL :rofl:). Enjoy your Chinese food - that's one of my favorite indulgences too. :heart:

Thanks! I love my elliptical. I never went to the gym when I had a membership (always made excuses), but wanted to workout, so I invested in one to have at my house. Now I workout almost every day. I have to have something that's easy for my knees. I played soccer for about 15 years, and it did a killer job on my knees. All the running and falling, and once I even got kicked right in the kneecap. Yeah, that hurt, I cringe thinking about it now.

Anyways, the Chinese was yummy. Finish that up tomorrow, then back on track for the rest of the week. I think I'm gonna start a journal too; I think it'll help me keep up with what I'm eating and my workout schedule and also keep track of my weight and what I'm losing.

[gwenshack]

I think I'm gonna start a journal too; I think it'll help me keep up with what I'm eating and my workout schedule and also keep track of my weight and what I'm losing.

Nice - I think this whole journal thing is really helping me. As silly as it seems, I feel like I'm accountable to other people. ;) And if you keep a journal it'll give me something else to read when I'm not eating things I want to eat...:rofl:
For lunch I had a huge salad full of vegetables and a low fat/low cal (no taste) salad dressing. It was very filling though.
We're having a little bit of a cheat meal tonight though. Not Chinese, but we're doing Mexican. It's from the healthy Mex restaurant up the street, but healthy doesn't mean low cal either. We ordered it and have to go pick it up in a few minutes. I ordered fajitas though so I could avoid the crispy tacos I love and because they don't come covered in cheese or anything. I figured I could still feel like I'm eating Mexican food by eating fajitas but I feel like I picked the lesser of the evils.

Tomorrow's workout better be good to make up for it though! :boxing:

[ChristineLS]

*runs to catch up with wagon*

I've been too busy to eat much... but the same could be said of my exercise. I'm glad to see you all are doing much better though! :pompom:

[gwenshack]

*runs to catch up with wagon*

I've been too busy to eat much... but the same could be said of my exercise. I'm glad to see you all are doing much better though! :pompom:

Thanks Christine! :) Busy is good though sometimes, right? :heart:

[gwenshack]

We had our Mexican fiesta last night - the fajitas were SO good! :jphappy: I'm gonna have to get outside and walk about 10 miles to make up for it though...nah...it really wasn't that bad - the fajitas at least - I did avail myself of a few of the chips, which is the biggest mistake to make. But at least I didn't COMPLETELY blow it.
I still have left over fajita fixin's so I was trying to figure out what to value them at. I looked at the nutritional information on-line for both Baja Fresh and La Salsa to try to give myself some sort of frame of reference. Although the place we got food from uses much fresher ingredients, no lard, etc - but I thought using the fast food reference would give me a good idea of how much a plate of fajitas typically costs, calorie-wise. It seems somewhere between 800-900 calories, that including the tortillas, which I'm out of. So, to be safe, since I have about half of the mix left I'm going to value it at 400 calories and eat that for lunch later. Hopefully my stab in the dark is somewhere in the ballpark of right...:eureka:
My breakfast this morning was 260 and as soon as I get up the energy to get up from the computer I'm going to set out on my exercise trek. :heart:
Happy weekend everybody!

[gwenshack]

So I almost forgot to post tonight!
After my lazy butt got off the computer this morning I set out on foot - for an hour and a half. My poor feet. They're not the healthiest to begin with and then I do stuff like this. But it was great. I walked down to the Santa Monica Pier (which is pretty stinkin' far) and then cut up into Santa Monica and grabbed the bus and took it back to my neighborhood. I got off a couple of stops away from my place because I remembered that the Sunday Farmer's Market was happening so I hopped off and picked up some fresh fruit and veggies. Strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, salad mix, tomatoes...oh my! And then I bought some homemade garlic hummus (that is delicious!) and some homemade (and healthy - no cream) chicken tikka masala.
So for lunch I had my leftover Mexican food from last night - which I figure was about 400 calories.
Then I had some fresh fruit - and oh goodness - it was SO juicy and wonderful and delicious. I figure what I ate was about 115 calories worth.
So I was at 775. Then I had 3 Jolly Ranchers this afternoon so that put me up to 845.
For dinner I had some of that yummy Indian food that I bought and ate it with some mixed vegetables instead of rice. It was so spicy and yummy. Then as a snack I ate a 100 calorie piece of bread with some of the hummus (50 calories) and some little grape tomatoes.
And then I finished my evening off with a nectarine.
It was a full day and I had lots of yummy yummy yummy food! :bbmrgreen:

[savepaws]

Mmm jolly ranchers! I have a bag in my fridge (I like them cold) and I treat myself to one every now and then.

Sounds like you did pretty darn good this weekend!! I, on the otherhand, did not. Ugh. Weekends are super hard for me!

[gwenshack]

Mmm jolly ranchers! I have a bag in my fridge (I like them cold) and I treat myself to one every now and then.

Sounds like you did pretty darn good this weekend!! I, on the otherhand, did not. Ugh. Weekends are super hard for me!

Yeah, weekends are hard for me too. DH and I like to drink on the weekends, so in order to do that I either have to save calories during the day or go over my allotment - both options suck.
And the calorie counting also minimizes our going out to dinner possibilities.
DH and I have to find some healthy things to do together! Maybe we should take up bowling...LOL...

[fireprincess2009]

Hi there! I did not fall off the wagon (completely anyway!) I just went home to visit family for the weekend. Friday I did not work out. I ate a reasonable breakfast (cereal) and then started on my drive home (3+ hours) I skipped lunch and had a couple beers with a friend. We were so into catching up that we grabbed a bottle of wine and took it to a park and just hung out. At this point...:drunk:...we decided that we needed to stop so we could eventually drive home. Around 9pm, I stopped at a locally owned mini mart and had them make me...peanut butter on a roll. Holy cow! I can't believe how bad this is now that I'm typing it. Maybe I did fall off the wagon and just didn't realize it after all the beer/wine.

Saturday my mom made blueberry pancakes. How are you going to say no to mom's pancakes? Then we went to a military fort. The walk in & out there was about 20 min so a casual 40 min walk total. Unfortunately, there were Michigans there (hot dog with meat sauce - a local classic) Then we went to a historic celebration that involved another 30 min or so of brisk walking from where we parked. A little fishing on the lake with my dad before a nice grilled chicken salad for dinner. Sunday involved the fort again so 40 min of walking. I had an egg and 2 pieces of toast for breakfast. I was stuffed still when I left around 1pm so I skipped lunch, met a friend and walked the college campus for a bit before taking off towards home. This is where things went seriously wrong...

I can't leave my hometown at this time of year without getting apples. Harmless, healthy little apples. And they are picking the MacIntosh right now which are my favorites. Another favorite....apple cider donuts...

Did I have a little sample piece? Yes. Did I stop there? NO!!! Promptly bought a half dozen (which is really 7) Somehow I only ate 1 in the 3 hour drive home. I had another for breakfast this morning and an actual healthy apple. A serving of wheat thins (yes with a little cheese) for a snack, an ear of corn and a veggie burger with no bun for lunch. Seriously don't want to work out today. Trying to muster the motivation.

BUT!!! I have lost 2 pounds since starting on "Gwen's Mission" :bbmrgreen:

[fireprincess2009]

Oh, and so everyone knows what I'm up against...DH just sent me a text telling me, "Sometimes being bad is sooo good!" I finally got out of him that he was at Dairy Queen and his meal (after having at least 2 donuts this morning) was around 1400 calories, 51.5 grams of fat and 202 grams carbs!

[gwenshack]

Oh, and so everyone knows what I'm up against...DH just sent me a text telling me, "Sometimes being bad is sooo good!" I finally got out of him that he was at Dairy Queen and his meal (after having at least 2 donuts this morning) was around 1400 calories, 51.5 grams of fat and 202 grams carbs!

LOL!!! :rofl: That's a whole day worth of calories for me almost (not counting the donuts)!!!! - those donuts sound delicious though...and do mom's blueberry pancakes! YUM! :bun: You sound like you had a fun time this weekend - I think all the walking *might* have evened out the good stuff?!? I love that you guys were drinking wine in the park. That sounds like a fun evening with friends.

Um, CONGRATS on your 2 pounds!! Hooray! :pompom::cheers: Keep up the good work!!! :jphappy:

[kgvettegirl]

RC asked me to make him a chocolate cake. It is cooling right now before I frost it with Chocolate Fudge Icing. It is screaming my name and I am ignoring it. I wish he would hurry up and get home cause I'm going to need some backup while I'm frosting it.

I celebrated staying under 200 lbs. by having one piece of pizza while watching the football game last night. Thin crust, Veggie pizza. Ok, there were a few pieces of sausage on it too. LOL but it was mostly veggie.

[gwenshack]

RC asked me to make him a chocolate cake. It is cooling right now before I frost it with Chocolate Fudge Icing. It is screaming my name and I am ignoring it. I wish he would hurry up and get home cause I'm going to need some backup while I'm frosting it.

I celebrated staying under 200 lbs. by having one piece of pizza while watching the football game last night. Thin crust, Veggie pizza. Ok, there were a few pieces of sausage on it too. LOL but it was mostly veggie.

One piece of pizza is a major show of some will power! Good for you though - hope you enjoyed it. :)
What a temptation! Having cake in the house?!? :bun: You're a good wife. I don't know if I could do that for DH right about now...LOL...:)

I've been so busy today - I had all kinds of cleaning to do this morning. DH being around all weekend (as opposed to long days at school) always leads to stupid amounts of dirt, debris, trash, and dirty clothes everywhere. So Monday morning is my morning to clean up his slopiness. So I still haven't worked out yet. I'm going to soon though. I had a 260 calorie breakfast this morning and lunch was the rest of the Indian food with mixed vegetables for 440. So I'm at an even 700. I'm gonna work out soon and then run all my insane Monday errands this afternoon.
I'll have REALLY earned dinner by the time I get there...;) :heart:

You guys are all doing so awesome! :pompom:

[NOTKT]

Keep it up! I now have time to work out, hopefully I can jump on the wagon too!

[savepaws]

Denise, your weekend didn't sound too bad!! At least you got some walking in! And congrats on losing 2 pounds! Yay!

[gwenshack]

Keep it up! I now have time to work out, hopefully I can jump on the wagon too!

Hop on board! The more the merrier! :pompom:

I just finished my workout. Must. Shower. Now...! :boxing:

[fireprincess2009]

So off to the gym I went. Every Single Treadmill was occupied! Never seen that before. So I hopped on the elliptical. Went 35 min. 30 min I tried to keep speed between 7.5 and 9.0. Level 3. I got my heart rate up there and was pretty tired by the end. Followed by all the leg machines.

Trying to make fried cabbage for dinner. I've never made it. Anything with fried in the name can't be great for you, but I used Grape Seed oil (just a tiny bit) cause I used Turkey Bacon. Can't be that bad, right?

[NOTKT]

Sounds like a great alternative! :)

[gwenshack]

So off to the gym I went. Every Single Treadmill was occupied! Never seen that before. So I hopped on the elliptical. Went 35 min. 30 min I tried to keep speed between 7.5 and 9.0. Level 3. I got my heart rate up there and was pretty tired by the end. Followed by all the leg machines.

Trying to make fried cabbage for dinner. I've never made it. Anything with fried in the name can't be great for you, but I used Grape Seed oil (just a tiny bit) cause I used Turkey Bacon. Can't be that bad, right?

I've never heard of Fried Cabbage!

[gwenshack]

So my workout today was an hour of randomness. Basically I put on ankle weights and worked out by alternating doing kicks and punches and walking in place for an hour. I just wanted to get moving for a while and get it over with since I was super busy today. The ankle weights really help make it more difficult though. ;)

Dinner tonight was a small salad - 80 calories - a lean cuisine - 290 calories - and a dinner roll - 110 calories - taking me up to about 1150 for the day.

I'm sure I'll snack later so it works out. I didn't want to eat dinner so early but I was starving! The dinner roll may be the love of my dinner but every time I have ONE piece of bread I want another. I'm a bread-aholic. I swear, it's a real thing...lol...:star:

[fireprincess2009]

The dinner roll may be the love of my dinner but every time I have ONE piece of bread I want another. I'm a bread-aholic. I swear, it's a real thing...lol...:star:

Oh I believe that bread-aholism a real thing! Especially when I use my bread machine. Soooo hard to resist.

I had never heard of fried cabbage either but my friend mentioned it to me. He's training for a bodybuilding competition right now so I'm thinking it was ok for me to eat it! It was yummy!!!

[fireprincess2009]

Gwen - Kickboxing with weights - good going! How's your butt feeling today???

[gwenshack]

Gwen - Kickboxing with weights - good going! How's your butt feeling today???

LOL...:boxing: It's a little sore, but not too bad. Fortunately, muscles have memories, so after the initial shock of having to move around again after such a long period of time of being sedentary, they've decided that they remember what they have to do. So although the weight remains (and my clothes still don't fit), the fitness level (for the most part) seems to have returned. I'd rather just be able to wear my old clothes...:rofl:

So I've been good now for a little over two weeks and it's amazing the difference in habits and energy. I get up so much earlier now, without any issue, and when I get in bed I don't just lie there and watch tv for hours, I actually fall asleep...zzz...! My energy level during the day has been a lot higher too. So I think my body is happy with me. :jphappy: I doubt Craig Ferguson is though - I used to be able to stay up to watch him every night...*sniff*...:icon_tv:

[gwenshack]

I just totally pulled an impulse buy. :wub:

I saw this on Rachel Ray so I bought it off Amazon.

http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/gwenshack/hungrygirl.jpg

200 recipes under 200 calories? Hook me up!!

[gwenshack]

Just finished Cardio Party Remix, which is my favorite of the Turbo Jam DVDs - it's a "live" video with "real people" (uh huh...real people with abs of steel) - but it's like a "best of" the routines from the various Cardio Parties. It's only 30 minutes long too, so if you're in a hurry it's a good one. :star: But there are two turbos (which are the 1 and a half cardio push in the middle of the routine) so it makes up for it being ten or so minutes shorter than the other ones.

What's up with the smilie list today? I don't know how often I'm gonna need this one :parp: and I hope I never have to use this one :mad2: or this one :realmad:!

[gwenshack]

So let's see -

Lunch was one of those 100 calorie sandwich bread things with some hummus (50 cals) and some mixed greens and some tomato (35 cals or so) plus a puree of butternut squash (100 cals) and some mixed vegetables (140 I think?) - I remember I just called it an even 400 for the lunch. So I was at 660.

Then as a snack I had some blueberries and some dry Corn Chex so I bumped the total up to 800.

Dinner I had a Smart Ones sandwich that was 290 and a small salad that was 185.

So I'm at 1275 for the day. I'm going to have some lite popcorn later and a nectarine before I call it a day. :p

[fireprincess2009]

Yesterday was alright. By 4pm I had consumed 1085 calories which seems like a lot. Especially because I didn't get a work out in. I had to get rid of the grays :irked: I love my little hair girl. She's awesome!

Anyway, after hearing how DH ran almost an hour yesterday, I went home and had a chicken breast and some....(bet you can't guess)...CHEESE! A couple animal crackers w/peanut butter and called it a night.

Today has been gross so far. I got up starving and 135lbs (welcome back 1 pound :irked:) I ate 1/2 serving of animal crackers for 60 cals. Then I made oatmeal 140 calories and added 1/2 scoop of protein powder to it. (add 50 calories) YUCK!!! I brought grilled checken breast and an apple for lunch.

Tonight I start my Zumba class. Yippee! It's not until 7pm so I'm going to go to the gym before, lift for a bit then grab a light dinner before class. I should be dying later!

[gwenshack]

Interesting, tell me how Zumba goes. I've never tried that! Is it fun? Easy to follow? (Gwen's coordination is really cr#p...lol...:rofl:) I think I'd be willing to buy one of the DVDs to give it a whirl if I heard more about it. I know it's the big craze right now...

I'm taking today off from my workout - A) I'm super busy today and B) my AF is going to come today and I can tell she's coming with a vengence for some reason. I've felt really off the past couple of days.

But I've got my calories figured out for the day. I can't eat lunch at home like usual because I've got a pretty packed day, but I'm going to stop and eat a half Morrocan salad at CPK that is 421 calories so I can stay on track.

This morning breakfast was 260. So between breakfast and lunch I'll be around 680. I'll probably have 150 calorie snack in there somewhere as well.

I think as long as I think things through before those moments when I get off schedule that I'll be much more successful - I could totally fail today, but I'm not gonna set myself up for that. :lafhard:

[savepaws]

What is Zumba? I've never heard of it!

And this smiley cracks me up :parp: - is it a fart smiley??? hehe

You're doing good Gwen! Sounds like you've got a good plan for your busy day away from home!

[NOTKT]

Zumba is a lot of fun! It totally kicks your butt! You kinda need coordination but even if you don't (like me too) I was still destroyed. Its really nice to have someone tell you what to do for a workout, you don't have to think. :)

[gwenshack]

Zumba is a lot of fun! It totally kicks your butt! You kinda need coordination but even if you don't (like me too) I was still destroyed. Its really nice to have someone tell you what to do for a workout, you don't have to think. :)

Good deal. I like not having to think. :p

I stuck to my plan today - got home and I had eaten 800 calories for the day. I also stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home to pick up some more vegetables and also some frozen potstickers, shumai, and wontons that they have there. I make a few of each with some vegetables and have a very satisfying dinner. Grand total for dinner was 490 calories, so I have 210 left to eat some fruit or veggies later. ;)

Tomorrow I definitely will walk for an hour in the afternoon and I'll probably do something else in the morning as well! I wish I wasn't all PMS-y because I suspect maybe my pants might feel a little better, but I'm so bloated! :jp4:

*Why isn't there a "fat day" emoticon??" :rofl:

[fireprincess2009]

Zumba was fun. So many people signed up for the class, they had to add 2 more sessions (it's at a community college.) I was relieved that I wasn't the most unfit person there. I had a little trouble following at times but I suspect that will get better over time. Before class I met DH at gym and be lifted together (chest and triceps) then grabbed some dinner before class. I was at 800 calories before dinner. Not sure what an all natural/healthy taco has for calories but I did have some tortillas and salsa too. After class I wanted to eat but it was late and we needed to record the Healthnews (my voiceover work) and by the time we were done that it was after 9 o'clock. I've decided that I really need to stop snacking late night.

[fireprincess2009]

*Why isn't there a "fat day" emoticon??" :rofl:

here, here!!! :yesnod:

[WebLady]

*Why isn't there a "fat day" emoticon??" :rofl:here, here!!! :yesnod:
LOL - yeah I need one of those :sweatdrop:

[gwenshack]

Well maybe I'll buy one of those Zumba DVDs and give it a whirl, since I've gotten a couple of enthusiastic thumbs up from you guys on that. I like to mix it up every so often and try new things. I think the more different things you do, to mix it up, the more in shape you become. I build up a tolerance to one activity but then I try to do another and feel SO out of shape - :blink: - so I think mixing it up and doing a whole bunch of stuff keeps your body guessing and working hard to burn all the calories I've consumed for the past year while I was partying it up. (Aaaah, the good ol' days...:hearts:)

I had a 215 calorie breakfast - I mixed it up and made something different that ended up being lower cal but I didn't really enjoy it as much. I'll probably do a 30 minute or so workout this morning, before I take an hour walk this afternoon. So I'll definitely get the exercise in today.

Everybody's doing so good! :eureka:

[jamt]

just wanted to say your doing so well keeping motivated i still have not joined in sorry on cake mode at the moment an i am not a big exercise fan funny thing is when i met fh i was going to the gym 4 times a week maybe thats why i am 2sizes bigger now that has just made me think i should go use my treadmill etc in the spare room

[gwenshack]

just wanted to say your doing so well keeping motivated i still have not joined in sorry on cake mode at the moment an i am not a big exercise fan funny thing is when i met fh i was going to the gym 4 times a week maybe thats why i am 2sizes bigger now that has just made me think i should go use my treadmill etc in the spare room

Thanks! :star:

Mmmmm, cake mode! :bun: Enjoy it. I love cake mode...lol :) If ever you care to join in, we're here! :flower4u:

[gwenshack]

So today went great! :yesnod: I took a 45 minute walk this morning and then another one this afternoon. So I'm all set on exercise for the day...hahahaha ;)
Breakfast was 215 calories.
Lunch was a salad from Trader Joe's with my own dressing that was 165 calories. I ate that with some shumai that was 320.
So that put me at an even 700. I had a small nectarine as a snack that I counted as 50.
Yesterday when I went to Trader Joe's I found some chicken sausage that was Italian style and only 100 calories a link - 30 less per link than the Sundried Tomato ones I had found in my regular grocery store. So I bought those and made 2 of those for dinner tonight in the sausage and peppers concoction I had made last week. But it was 60 calories less than last time, and the whole plate was only 300 calories.
So I'm rocking out at only 1050 so far for the day.
Tonight is the premier of the Office so I'm going to make myself a big bowl of popcorn for that. (I :heart: The Office) I'll probably also either eat some fruit or some salad before I call it a day.
Hooray! The weekend is almost here! :lafhard:

[gwenshack]

Another Friday, another weekend staring me at the face to tempt me with the idea of throwing caution to the wind. Here's hoping I can continue to resist the urge. :crossfingers:

This morning I had a "Perfect 10" bagel (I think Western Bagel makes them) that is 140 calories and actually tastes pretty good. The perfect 10 refers to the fact that there are only 10 grams of carbohydrates per bagel. For a low carb bagel it really does taste like bread. With it I had 2 tbsps of garlic hummus for 50 calories. So that was a pretty tasty breakfast for 190 calories total. Good times.

This morning I walked for 40 minutes. Not the most high intensity workout - I didn't even bother going around a very hilly neighborhood or anything - I was just trying to get out, get moving around, and get it over with.

For lunch I had a little of this and a little of that out of the freezer from Trader Joes - a couple potstickers, a couple shu mai, a couple wontons, some broccoli and some snow peas, all thrown in a pan and steamed for a grand calorie count of 465.

So I'm at 655 for the day so far, and I'm pretty pleased with that. :jphappy:

[gwenshack]

I finished yesterday off well - when I had finished dinner I was at 1185. Oh, dinner was some potstickers and a salad with low fat/low cal dressing. So I had over 300 calories left, so I got to eat some dry popcorn (no faux buttery liquid) when we went to see Inglorious (make me vomit) Bast*#&s in the theater last night. DH really wanted to see it, so who am I to say no. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but there were some really bad gore moments where I got really squeamish. :censored:

This morning I got up and had one of those Perfect 10 bagels again, so my breakfast was only 140 calories. I know I should eat more at breakfast but I'm trying to save up some calories to possibly eat out tonight. There's talk of going for tapas, and at least there I know I can eat pretty sensibly. If I have tortilla (spanish omelet), some asparagus con remesco and some watermelon with carmelized onions and tomato (I know that sounds gross but it's really quite tasty) and a little bit of sangria (:drunk:) I can probably stay within my calorie count AND enjoy a nice evening out.

For my workout today I did the Turbo Jam Fat Blaster, which is 8 turbos. You're supposed to do them in intervals - do one low intensity then the next at high, and so on, but I feel like I'm cheating myself so I end up nearly keeling over every time because I try to do all 8 at high intensity. What can I say? I'm an overachiever. Then I did some of a yoga and pilates DVD. I really like pilates, always have, but I don't so much care fo yoga. I know it's really good for you and some of the poses I really like, but all that up and down makes me really light headed. So I can't really do more than 15 minutes without feeling like I'm gonna pass out. So stupid. I can do so many thing but I have trouble with getting up and down from the floor. :boggle:

Happy weekend!

[gwenshack]

I'm so tired. :blink: I took off on foot this morning and walked for an hour and 45 minutes before I decided to hop on the bus and head home. I think that was enough...;)

Last night DH and I went out for Spanish tapas - I had 800 calories left for the day and I probably killed every one of them. A little of this, a little of that and some sangria and I think I probably stayed within my calorie count. I tried not to eat anything overly carby. And I didn't eat anything else after the meal. So I consider that a victory. :star:

This morning I had a 260 calorie breakfast, then my insane walk, and then I had a yummy salad from Trader Joe's for 280 calories - it was chicken and 2 kinds of beets with an amazing balsamic dressing - it's my favorite TJ salad. And then I also had some potstickers so I'm at 790 for the day.

I've been so good on this mission so far! Oh, that's thanks to you guys. I love having somebody to report in to. :jphappy:

[f77g4]

Gwen you are doing amazing!!!

I so wish I could find something that works for me - maybe some day when I'm not studying and not really having any time to myself I can eat healthier and find some easy exercising.

[yam102284]

You're doing great! Keep up the good work! That's one heck of a walk this morning! :p

[kgvettegirl]

Yesterdays exercise was cleaning out the spare bedroom and ripping out the carpet and padding and loading everything into the truck. Today we made two trips to the dump to throw everything away. Then we primed the walls with Kilz. Tomorrow we will be painting everything a lovely blue. I'm worn out and snuffly from all the dust, paint, and mold I've been breathing. Arms and legs are sore from carrying stuff upstairs and out to the truck. I even swung a sledge hammer to break up a old bed frame. Not your usual workout but it worked me out.

[gwenshack]

Yesterdays exercise was cleaning out the spare bedroom and ripping out the carpet and padding and loading everything into the truck. Today we made two trips to the dump to throw everything away. Then we primed the walls with Kilz. Tomorrow we will be painting everything a lovely blue. I'm worn out and snuffly from all the dust, paint, and mold I've been breathing. Arms and legs are sore from carrying stuff upstairs and out to the truck. I even swung a sledge hammer to break up a old bed frame. Not your usual workout but it worked me out.

That's hard work! Good job Liz!

************************************************** *****

Here's a picture of what it looks like when Gwen walks with a backpack on. Oops. :winktongue:

http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/gwenshack/IMG_0935.jpg

[f77g4]

That's hard work! Good job Liz!

************************************************** *****

Here's a picture of what it looks like when Gwen walks with a backpack on. Oops. :winktongue:

http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp84/gwenshack/IMG_0935.jpg


ouch ouch ouch.

[gwenshack]

ouch ouch ouch.

Tell me about it...:yesnod: It seems to get a little more red and tender as time ticks by. ;)

So for dinner tonight I had a low fat tortilla with some low fat cheese and peppers and onions. On the side I had some lettuce, some tomatoes, and some salsa and low fat sour cream. Delish! :)

Then I had some pudding as a snack and now I'm munching some low fat popcorn while I watch the Emmys. :jphappy:

[fireprincess2009]

Sounds like everyone had a great/healthy weekend. I fit in a workout on Friday night - an hour Gilad workout with kickboxing and tushy toning. Saturday we went to visit friends. I tried to be good but did help polish off a bottle of wine. Food was grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and corn on the cob. Then we went to a coffee house to see some friends play and I stayed away from the fruffy/high cal drinks and all the yummy looking pastries. Yesterday was yard clean up day. I made yummy baked buffalo tenders and sweet potato wedges. mmmm...go Giants!!!

[savepaws]

You are doing great Gwen!! I admire how well you do on the weekends! For me thats the hardest time to stick with the program.

[gwenshack]

Sounds like everyone had a great/healthy weekend. I fit in a workout on Friday night - an hour Gilad workout with kickboxing and tushy toning. Saturday we went to visit friends. I tried to be good but did help polish off a bottle of wine. Food was grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and corn on the cob. Then we went to a coffee house to see some friends play and I stayed away from the fruffy/high cal drinks and all the yummy looking pastries. Yesterday was yard clean up day. I made yummy baked buffalo tenders and sweet potato wedges. mmmm...go Giants!!!

I hear you. It's when I'm faced with the deadly friends and bottle of wine combo that I crumble. :drunk: :rofl:
Sounds like you did pretty good this weekend! Baked buffalo tenders sounds good! I got that Hungry Girl 200 recipes under 200 cals book this weekend and one of the recipes that looked good was a play on buffalo chicken wings. I might have to give that a whirl!

I got up early this morning. DH, for some reason, set his alarm for like 2 hours earlier than normal and finally rolled out after 5 - count 'em - 5 times of hitting sleep. Which is annoying. Because I didn't have to be up at that crazy hour. (Neither did he, I suspect...) But while he can go back to sleep between each blare of that obnoxious alarm, it takes me longer - say, 7 minutes. It seems like right as I'm about to drift away again - RING RING RING RING RING RING RING RING - and I'm up again. DH seems to just be able to roll over and ignore it. So I'm up. And I've been up. I made myself some pretend french toast. Basically, I took a low carb bagel that has 110 calories and I soaked it in one egg, mixed with some water and some 0 cal, sugar-free white chocolate syrup (like the kind they have in coffeehouses) and then put it in a pan. I ate it with some 0 cal spray butter and a little cinnamon mixed with sweet and low - yeah, I said it - I still use the sweet and low. I know, I know, switch to Splenda...lol...:lafhard:
But, sweet and low or not, I had pretend french toast that tasted pretty darn good for only 180 calories. Not bad!
I'm contemplating my workout plan for the day. I'm also contemplating slathering my red sunburn with sunblock and leaving the white block-free to see if I can even out the disaster that is my strap marks from the backpack...haha. :blink:

[gwenshack]

So after my bright and early breakfast I was super hungry for lunch pretty early - 11! Argh. I like to eat later. So I ate a smaller lunch so I could save room for a heavier 2 pm snack that I just enjoyed. :) So I basically I had lunch twice and I'm only at 765.

Have you guys tried those Oroweat Sandwich Thins? They're 100 calories and they're great! :star:
http://www.sandwichthins.com/?gclid=CMTNu-3Ng50CFSFRagodkFiFaw

[gwenshack]

Dinner tonight was a lean cuisine and some vegetables. (Shocker, right? :rofl:)

Then I had a nectarine, a Chex mix bar, and some :popcorn:...

Grand total of 1510. Go me.

Tomorrow I'm plotting some massive exercise. Or I'll be exhausted and take the day off. Either way...;)

[jamt]

got to ask whats wrong with sweet an low oh an want to say your doing great gwen

[gwenshack]

got to ask whats wrong with sweet an low oh an want to say your doing great gwen

Ah yes, the sweet and low thing - people say that the chemicals in it might cause cancer. :blink: So a lot of people have switched to other kinds of artificial sweeteners, like Splenda. :eureka:

[fireprincess2009]

Ah yes, the sweet and low thing - people say that the chemicals in it might cause cancer. :blink: So a lot of people have switched to other kinds of artificial sweeteners, like Splenda. :eureka:

Splenda isn't really great for you either. I confess I drink diet soda so I get aspertame, splenda etc. I've been using Stevia liquid in my coffee though and it's great! I'd like to try it in other things as well. They have a granular form labeled Truvia but it only comes in little packets. The liquid I got at the health food store has lasted me quite awhile.

[fireprincess2009]

So yesterday's rundown...
Breakfast: Apple, fiber one bar - 220
Snack: Banana - 100
Lunch: Baked Buffalo Chicken - 110
Hummus & wheat thins - 300
Snack: 2 servings candy corn :blink: - 280
Dinner: Spinach Salad w/Turkey - 350
Snack: peanuts & raisins - 350
Total - 1710 Yikes!!! :eat:

After work I went to the gym and ran 3.6 miles before I was dying. DH was there and we lifted (chest & triceps) then some abs.

Today had a bagel for breakfast 300. Ok, then I had an apple plum 30.
For lunch I brought a spinach salad with turkey 200. Workout tonight will be legs so I should burn off a lot of calories there!

[gwenshack]

Spinach salad with turkey sounds delicious, Denise. I think I might use that idea later this week. ;)
You're the second person this week who I read couldn't pass up the candy corn - ah the Halloween candy. mmmmm. :heart: I love candy corn too - I'm gonna have to avoid it like the plague. At least it's not Easter time - I have a huge weakness for those Cadbury Cream Eggs.

Good advice on the various sweeteners. I'm just so stinking stubborn. They say everything is bad for you at some point so I've just sort of given up trying to keep track of it all! Between my cell phone, my microwave oven, my coke zero, the smog from living in LA and the fact that I used to chain smoke, the odds are stacked against me. :snide: I can only hope that all the healthy living I've tried to do (off and on and hopefully from here on out more ON!) can offset all the damage I've done. :bbeek: :crossfingers: :crossfingers: :crossfingers:

Goodness, Gwen, more chipper please!

This morning I had a 260 calorie breakfast. I was going to take the day off from working out since I'm a little tired/sore and haven't taken a day off since last Wednesday, but I was supposed to work this afternoon and my client had to cancel because something came up, so now I have this gaping hole in my afternoon where I have nothing to do. So...I guess I'll work out because otherwise I'll sit here and hang out all afternoon being a lazy bum which could lead to me feeling extra snacky. Best not even be here to avoid that, right?

Unless I end up napping which could prevent me from eating too...LOL :rofl:

[fireprincess2009]

Candy holidays are the death of me! With the candy corn, more than a couple pieces and I start to feel sick, yet I keep eating it!!! I really like the Indian Corn (with the dark/"chocolate-ish" bottom)

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have tried the sandwich thins and they are really good! Might have to get some of those.

I think napping to avoid eating could be ok...:boggle:...I'm thinking that the amount of calories you could eat awake verses the lower amount burned while sleeping...you still wind up on top.

[gwenshack]

Candy holidays are the death of me! With the candy corn, more than a couple pieces and I start to feel sick, yet I keep eating it!!! I really like the Indian Corn (with the dark/"chocolate-ish" bottom)

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have tried the sandwich thins and they are really good! Might have to get some of those.

I think napping to avoid eating could be ok...:boggle:...I'm thinking that the amount of calories you could eat awake verses the lower amount burned while sleeping...you still wind up on top.

Oh heck yeah, those Indian Corn ones are super good too! :wub:

I decided to skip the nap and I walked for an hour and 15 minutes instead. :sweatdrop: Then I had some lean cuisine and vegetables for lunch and I'm at 655 for the day. *So far so good...!*

[gwenshack]

OMG :boggle: :boggle: :boggle: :boggle: :boggle:

I was reading this health website and this was the tip of the day.



A good way to deter yourself from inappropriate snacking is to place a scale in front of your refrigerator. You will be more likely to select a healthy snack (http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi#), like a fresh fruit or vegetable, since the scale serves as a reminder to you that you are trying to control your weight.


The idea of that makes me cringe! :blink: I'd NEVER eat, nonetheless healthfully or in any sort of snacky way! I hate scales!

For dinner tonight I had a turkey burger patty on one of those oroweat sandwich thins. I had a little miracle whip and ketchup with it, and some onions and peppers on it. And then I had some salad with it with a low fat dressing. I'm at 1080 for the day so far. :star:

[fireprincess2009]

Ok, so there is a bag of candy corn sitting in my desk. Why, oh why, did I do that to myself???

Last night I did my leg workout. Run at a faster than normal pace for 2 miles, used every leg machine the gym had at least 3 sets. Then I hopped on the Eliptical for another 20 minutes with come resistance. Tonight I'm going to go to the gym before Zumba class at 7pm. Which is good since I ate candy corn for breakfast!!!:bang_head:

Breakfast: Candy Corn 150
Southwestern Style Egg Beaters 90
Snack: Apple 80
For Lunch I brought: Grilled Chicken Breast 170
Banana 90

That will be 580 if I can stay away from the candy corn! For dinner I think I'll go to Panera. Hopefully they have the spicy black beans soup I love so much. Although I'm not sure the others in Zumba would appreciate it. :rofl:
I may have to rethink that one.

[gwenshack]

Hopefully they have the spicy black beans soup I love so much. Although I'm not sure the others in Zumba would appreciate it. :rofl:
I may have to rethink that one.

LOL :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Your workout yesterday sounded great! You've been really rocking it out lately! :eureka:

[gwenshack]

A beautiful sunny day here - perfect for walking - but I *have* to take the day off from working out. It's been a week since I gave myself a break and I have to. HAVE TO! :blink: That's always been one of my biggest problems - I realize you have to take a break, let your muscles rest, but I feel like I'm being neglectful and lazy if I don't work out.

This morning I had my Jimmy Dean D-Lite turkey sausage sandwich for 260 (yum, delicious, filling!). Then for lunch I had a Lean Cuisine cheese pizza and some raw broc, carrots and snow peas with a low calorie ranch sauce. That put me up to 705. And then just now I had a creme brulee flavored Jello rice pudding for 70 calories. That's the first time I've tried this one and it was pretty good! :yesnod:

It's been 3 and a half weeks...

[gwenshack]

:hungry: I feel snack-ish. I'm trying to hold off on that. So instead I'll tell you what I had for dinner.

:yummy: Whenever I tell you all what I had for dinner I feel like one of those Lean Cuisine commercials where there's a pack of unsatisfied dieting women, 2 of whom proclaim they ate something totally random and the third pipes up to announce that she had some decadent sounding meat covered in some savory sauce accompanied by some fresh sounding vegetables that are typically described as delicate for some reason. And then they look at her like "how could you eat that and stay so thin!" and then she says "It was a Lean Cuisine" and then gives a smug smirk like she knows it all.

I don't know it all, but I'll tell you what I had for dinner anyway. :rofl:
I ate some potstickers with an array of (delicate...lol) vegetables, including, but not limited to, an entire yellow squash.

As for my current peckish state, I'm trying to hold off until 8 before I eat a snack. It's currently 7:28. I'm hoping somebody posts something interesting on OW that will require a thoughtful and time consuming response. LOL...;)

[savepaws]

I hope you were able to hold off for your snack!!

[gwenshack]

I hope you were able to hold off for your snack!!

Yeah, but just barely! Sometimes it's hard to hold off when you're all cranky and :hungry:!

I felt super weird not working out yesterday. Yeah, I needed the break, but if I take one day off then the next day I feel unmotivated again. If I'm on a roll I keep rolling - if I take a break I want to keep sitting around like a big blob. :blink: Taking a break rarely refreshes my spirit. It sucks the life out of me. LOL. I'm gonna work out early so I don't come up with an excuse to not do it later.

Breakfast this morning was PANCAKES! :giggle: I used that Bisquick heart smart mix (140 calories for a 1/3 of a cup) with a 1/4 cup of Lite vanilla soymilk (20 calories). Then I cut up a couple of strawberries, used some spray butter and added a TBSP of confectioners sugar. Grand total - 230 calories. Um, yummy! :wub:

[Heywie]

Sounds like you're doing great while still managing to eat delicious food!

I know what you mean about the blob train. If I stop exercising even 1 day, I feel like it gives me license to quit for a week which turns into a month, which turns into... well, let's just say I haven't exercised in awhile!

[gwenshack]

Sounds like you're doing great while still managing to eat delicious food!

I know what you mean about the blob train. If I stop exercising even 1 day, I feel like it gives me license to quit for a week which turns into a month, which turns into... well, let's just say I haven't exercised in awhile!

Thanks Haley! ;) I love the term "blob train" - I might have to steal that!

I think it's ok you haven't exercised in a while - you have other (:baby:) things going on...:rofl:

[gwenshack]

So I did one of my Turbo Jam DVDs this morning - the Kicking Core one - it's part cardio and part work with a ball for core work. It's a pretty exhausting one, I have to say. :boxing:

Lunch was a wrap sort of concoction - a piece of cheese, some chopped up onions and peppers, a TBSP of cilantro salad dressing - it was pretty good, and then I had a mix of some of the frozen vegetables in the freezer. And then as a snack I had a pudding cup. So I'm at 725 for the day. :pompom:

[gwenshack]

So I ended up working out twice today, I didn't mean to, it just happened.

Dinner was a lean cuisine, a 100 calorie chicken sausage, a 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and some green beans, putting me at 1185 for the day. :star:

I have plans for a big bowl of lite :popcorn: later during the Office. :hungry:

[gwenshack]

You wanna hear something weird? I feel full. I wish there was a "twilight zone" smilie...LOL Meanwhile, this will have to do. :whoa:

[fireprincess2009]

Gwen, I have to say that you have amazing self control. I'm a total snack freak :eat:I know what you mean about taking a day off too. I always feel like a loser if I take a day off. If I can justify it by something else active I'm doing like cleaning up the yard or walking around a festival I'm ok, but if its like yesterday when I just did nothing, I feel bad and yes, it is easier for 1 day to turn into a week that turns into months.

So...Wednesday I did NOT have spicy black bean soup before Zumba. I went to the gym after work. Justin met me there and we lifted (back and biceps and of course abs!) and then I took a trip on the treadmill - 30 min run with 10 min walking at incline. Then I grabbed a protein shake and headed off to Zumba. Ok, this week we had a different instructor. I liked her a lot better and got a great workout. I was rethinking all that running for sure.

Yesterday I took the day off from everything - work and working out. My parents, aunt and uncle were passing through so J & I went to therapy at 9am, ran home just pulled into driveway and my parents drove up.

[fireprincess2009]

So for food yesterday:

BREAKFAST
Thin slice of Sesame Semolina bread = 60
Coffee = 20 cals from 1/2 & 1/2

LUNCH
Small portion of spinach salad with maybe 8 shrimp = 150
(I didn't make enough - not used to cooking for 6!)
Small portion of fruit salad - kiwi, catalope, strawberries, grapes = 150
1.5 slices bread (they were small) = 120

Dinner
Feta stuffed venison burger = 400
Baked potato wedges = 100
Small bowl light ice cream = 130
3 peppermint patties type things = 120
Bud Light Lime - 116 :beer:

DAILY TOTAL 1366

[gwenshack]

Denise - You're really kicking butt with your workouts! I keep making a mental note to buy a Zumba DVD but every time I'm on Amazon I space..."What was the other thing I was gonna buy?"...so instead I just end up with the entire series of Ally McBeal. LOL :blink:

Last night I ate the hugest bowl of popcorn ever as a snack and I still didn't get to my calories number for the day. So I feel pretty good about that. Here's the funny part though. DH has come to grips with his weight gain too so he's suddenly decided to count calories. Nothing is funnier than seeing your big man husband in the kitchen delicately pouring syrup into your quarter cup measuring cup for his Eggos. Or showing me that his beloved baby (not me, his Iphone) has a program that can tell him how many calories are in food at Denny's. :lafhard: He also joined 24 hour fitness. We'll see how long that lasts. He went on a workout kick before, last year. It lasted about 2 weeks and then all of the gym socks got stuffed into the back of the drawer. :rofl: This time major investments were made though...:rofl: - let's see, in addition to the gym membership, he went to Target and bought a new gym bag, 3 new pairs of underwear and 3 new pairs of socks to go with his snazzy new pair of workout shorts. He actually did indeed join the gym but he didn't work out when he was there. That seems weird to me. He said he signed up, had a consultation, they told him he should stop eating fast food, and then he left. That was Thursday. Most people would be super psyched - Hey, I joined a gym - I'm gonna go check it out. So yesterday when he came home I asked if he went...nope! So we'll see what becomes of this. Hey, you know, I love my husband, but I've never known him to be a worker outer - I've known him to be a drinker...and an eater...but never a worker outer. So if this craze catches on with him and he becomes Matthew McConnaughey (or however the heck you spell that) I'll love him no more or less. But if the husband I know remains the husband I know, well, A) I won't be surprised and B) I could care less.

As for me, I had a 260 calorie breakfast, I'm hoping to eat a normal lunch, but I'm unsure where this day is going to take me currently. DH and I have some things we have to do, have to leave the comfort of my own kitchen, and will probably at least have dinner out. So it's up to me to make responsible choices. :( LOL... We'll get plenty of walking in today so I'm not too worried about the lack of a formal workout.

Ah, another Friday...:p

[NOTKT]

Just wanted to stop in and tell you how great you are doing! You have amazing self control and its awesome you are working out all the time. Keep it up girl!

[gwenshack]

Just wanted to stop in and tell you how great you are doing! You have amazing self control and its awesome you are working out all the time. Keep it up girl!

Thanks for stopping in! :hug:

So yesterday DH and I went to Disneyland - yeah, I know, it's Friday, but DH doesn't have classes on Fridays and I don't work on Fridays so it's the perfect time to go and avoid the crowds. It's called utilizing the season pass without going insane because of the crowds. Of course, with theme parks come lots of walking...good...and theme park food...well, bad.
You'd be proud though! I had breakfast at home - a 260 calorie breakfast sandwich, then I had a 100 calorie pack of cookies that I brought with me as a snack. For lunch we had grilled vegetable sandwiches that I pulled the cheese off of - yeah, I'm sure the veggies were prepared in a lot of oil, but it was the best option available - and it was served with cole slaw (mayo-free cole slaw!) instead of fries, so all in all it wasn't a bad lunch.
THEN...DH wanted ice cream, so he went to the cone shop to get himself an ice cream sandwich...and I went to the fruit cart and got an apple. AN APPLE AT DISNEYLAND?!? OMG it's a sin against humanity when all a girl wants is a freaking churro! But, yeah, I had the apple.

Then I held the hunger until we got home and had a salad with low fat dressing.

Of course to wash it all down I had 2 shots of vodka with some sugar free red bull. :drunk:

So, if my estimate on how much the sandwich cost calorie-wise (oil can add a lot of calories to a day) I think I may have gone over by 200 calories. I wish that wasn't the case, but I did the absolute best I could, which I'm pretty proud of. :confetti:

Today I had a 280 calorie breakfast sandwich and just completed 45 minutes of sweaty strength training mixed with kickboxing. :boxing: I'm looking forward to lunch, whatever it may be. ;)

[gwenshack]

DH went to the gym this morning. Workout #1. Good for DH. We'll see if it lasts! But, today, he gets a :star:.

Lunch today was a Lean Cuisine for 260 calories and 100 calories worth of steamed veggies. Then I had 2 small nectarines that I guess together would be about 110 calories.

So I'm on or about 750 for the day so far. It's kind of sucky though because it's only 4:53 and I'm already getting peckish for dinner. Distract me! :boggle:

[gwenshack]

So for dinner last night I had another lean cuisine and some more vegetables. Oh the excitement of my life...LOL :bbeek:

I did have a couple of cocktails last night so I suspect I went over by a couple of hundred calories. So...now I must be punished! :boggle:

I don't know quite how long my Sunday walk will be today but I suspect it'll be similar to last week's hour and 45 minute one. I figure it evens out. Saturday night I can have a teensy weensy bit of fun and then Sunday I can take a nice long relaxing (yet exhausting) walk down the beach.

In other news, watching DH count calories is hilarious. He came home from the grocery store last night, all excited because he found some light Italian cheese salad dressing that only had 25 calories per 2 TBSPs. Too funny. :lafhard:

[f77g4]

Ok I have to ask with all the Lean Cuisine's you are eating - are they like other frozen dinners and taste like frozen dinners or are they good good?

I'm not a huge fan of frozen food but would love a quick alternative for lunches to save eating out.

[gwenshack]

Ok I have to ask with all the Lean Cuisine's you are eating - are they like other frozen dinners and taste like frozen dinners or are they good good?

I'm not a huge fan of frozen food but would love a quick alternative for lunches to save eating out.

Eh, they're ok. Some of them are better than others. :boggle: For me, they're convenient and knowing the exact amount of calories in something makes my life easier. Would I eat them if I had a choice? Probably not, but they're not horrible per se.

(What a great endorsement, right? :rofl:)

[f77g4]

Eh, they're ok. Some of them are better than others. :boggle: For me, they're convenient and knowing the exact amount of calories in something makes my life easier. Would I eat them if I had a choice? Probably not, but they're not horrible per se.

(What a great endorcement, right? :rofl:)

Ak ok. Just checking - I'd had the Michelinga ones but don't care for them. Maybe if the Lean Cuisine ones are on sale sometime I will get some to try.

[gwenshack]

Ashley, I like your awesome new avatar and signature! :heart:

I just got back from my hour and 40 minute walk. Stopped at the farmer's market on my way back, just as they were closing up. :sweatdrop: Just made it. I got 2 kinds of salad mix, some grapes, some strawberries, some tomatoes, and some of that awesome low-fat, no cream or anything, Indian food containers that I got last time.

Just being around food made me realize how stinking hungry I was! :hungry: So I decided to eat lunch and check in with my OW peeps before I take a shower.

But mission accomplished for the day - I'm pretty sure I successfully walked of the extra calories I drank last night. The good news (if there is good news) about what I drank last night is that we went to this bar that has these huge platters of real fruit and vegetables and herbs that they mash up into their drinks - so all that was in my drink last night was some vodka, lemon juice, strawberries and basil. Yeah, it sounds weird, but it totally tasted good and wasn't the worst thing I could have splurged on...

[gwenshack]

Legs...so...sore...:censored::helpsmilie::bawling:

But I love this little guy :bb: so I'll take comfort in him.

Yeah, the legs are super sore. I think that's from yesterday's "Brand New Butt" video that was part of my workout. Maybe I don't need a *brand new* butt - maybe I should just sign up for a used one. This is too painful...LOL :rofl:

Of course the very long walk today probably added to the problem...Ah well, c'est la vie.

I just finished my snack - a few cut up strawberries, a 1/2 cup of rice chex and a rice pudding cup all in one bowl. It sounds sorta weird, I admit, but for some reason they taste really good together to me. :drool:

Dinner was some potstickers and vegetables. I have a couple hundred calories left that I'll use some of to make some :popcorn: to enjoy during Desperate Housewives. If I'm not feeling popcorn-ish I'll just eat some fruit or something. :jphappy:

[fireprincess2009]

A brand new butt? I'd just like to sign up for a smaller one!

Friday I worked out at home - Gilad kicked my butt for sure and my thighs. It was an hour long of kickboxing and some serious lower body toning. Saturday we went to the Big E (kinda like a multi state-state fair.) My legs were sore to start with from the week's workouts and then I walked around for 8 hours. Ouch! I did somehow manage to be fairly controlled in the eating department. DH and I shared an order of fries. Then I got Rhode Island Quahog Chili and Maine (no sugar added) Blueberry Cobbler. So not too bad! In the building where they had all the animals there was a place where you stepped on a big scale and it told you what you weigh as much as - 10 chickens, a round hay bale, a mother pig, etc. Apparently I weigh as much as 1 sheep...:sheep:

Yesterday I did a while lot of nothing. So far today I've had a banana and fiber one bar 255 calories. For lunch I brought a salad and cantalope and raw green beans for a snack. Gym tonight...

[gwenshack]

Oh :drool: goodness! Blueberry cobbler (no sugar added or not!) sounds delicious. I'm a little jealous! There's something about blueberry desserts that is so refreshing and satisfying. YUM! ;)

Glad you had fun at the fair - what a fun couple activity. DH and I like doing stuff like that when the opportunity arises. Although not in L.A. - our idea of a fair is a joke. :blink:

I was watching people doing Zumba on youtube last night - I'm trying to work up the courage to say "Hey, you! Yeah, you, Gwen! You could be that coordinated with dance moves! Buy a DVD!"...but I'm still working on that pep talk. :rofl:

Breakfast this morning was a 280 calorie breakfast sandwich. The workout is TBD - DH doesn't have school today because of the holiday so I always get off my game when he's around. I think I might just do some video here quite soon to get it over with. Just get it done and move on with the day. Especially since I've been cornered into a coffee date with my neighbor this afternoon. I don't know if I'm the only person who has this problem, but I seem to always have somebody around who wants to be my BFF and is a major cling-on. I'm not an antisocial person, but I am a little bit of a homebody and I tend to not go out of my way to meet new people - but I always end up meeting these people...the people who want to be your friend and then you hang out with them and listen to them talk for 2 hours about all their various problems and then right as you're about to go they say "So what's going on with you?" Um, I have this really bad friend who's really self involved, that's what's going on with me!

But anyway, I've been avoiding hanging out with her and then last night she called and she kicked out her live-in man AGAIN (this is like the 18th time) over something stupid AGAIN and she wanted to have dinner. I bumped that to coffee since I don't think I can stomach the idea of a whole meal wasted on this dribble. And food/meals is a limited resource right now and I want to enjoy every bite of it when I get it! :hungry:

[savepaws]

You ladies both sound like you did pretty good this weekend!!! Gwen, I have the opposite problem, I have too few friends and have a hard time meeting new people. But I'm a homebody too and I really only like devoting 1 night a week to friends. LOL The rest is ME time...or ME & DH time.


I'm too lazy to go find my thread so I'm just gonna post my stuff here. In fact, I may just join in on this thread from now on. I always come and read this thread first, comment but without giving away what I did (cuz I sure don't wanna repeat myself), and then go all the way to my thread to post about my progress. Hope it's ok if I jump on aboard your thread Gwen.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Weekends are hard for me! I have a routine on the weekdays and it works well, but its so hard to stick to a routine on weekends when DH is around. I'll plan on cooking at home but DH will say "lets go out to eat" or we'll end up making dinner plans with friends.

Both Friday and Saturday I ended up around 1200-1300 calories. I should have taken in more, I guess. Apparently not taking in enough calories? (I'm so confused about that...if I need MORE calories to lose weight, why did I get overweight in the first place??) But I ran out of time to take in more calories because we were so busy. Plus I ate when I was hungry, so not sure what else I'm supposed to do?

Sunday I'm not sure what I consumed. I was at 800 something at dinner time and ate siago pasta bake so I probably was close to 1500 calories.

I worked out on the treadmill on Friday for 20 minutes. It was about all I could fit in. I about blew it off, but I'm glad I didn't. :) I used hand weights to work out my arms, chest and shoulders while on the treadmill. Saturday & Sunday, I didn't work out but I went shopping and walked around for over an hour each time, so even though it wasn't vigorous exercise, it still counts to me!

Today: I'm thinking of trying a new program for the treadmill. My friend has been training to run marathons and she gave me a beginners training schedule. I have no interest in running marathons really, but I suck at running on the treadmill. I can take 1 1/2 minutes max and then I want to die. So I thought I'd give this program a try so I can work up to being able to run for longer periods. Plus I like anything that will spice up my treadmill workouts - I get so bored!

[fireprincess2009]

I try really hard to stay out of the mirror during my Zumba class. I was not able to avoid it last week. It wasn't as bad as I would have thought. I remember last year I taped this Bhangra workout off Fit TV. I thought I was pretty good at it until one night I did it when it was dark outside. We have a huge french door in the room I was working out in. :eek2: enough said...

Gwen - I know just what you mean about the friend you try to avoid. Sometimes I'll be hanging out with someone and worry if I'm talking too much and then I get, "What's the matter - why are you being so quiet."

I'm losing my motivation to work out today already. That's cause I sat around and did nothing yesterday!

[gwenshack]

I try really hard to stay out of the mirror during my Zumba class. I was not able to avoid it last week. It wasn't as bad as I would have thought. I remember last year I taped this Bhangra workout off Fit TV. I thought I was pretty good at it until one night I did it when it was dark outside. We have a huge french door in the room I was working out in. :eek2: enough said...

Gwen - I know just what you mean about the friend you try to avoid. Sometimes I'll be hanging out with someone and worry if I'm talking too much and then I get, "What's the matter - why are you being so quiet."

I'm losing my motivation to work out today already. That's cause I sat around and did nothing yesterday!

:rofl: about catching a reflection - I have to close the bathroom door so I don't catch a glimpse of myself when I'm doing Turbo Jam. I almost had a heart attack when I saw myself one time. :boggle: I like FitTV, but I wish they had some new ones. Those Cathe Friedrich routines are really really really old and I own most of them.

Danielle - You can post here all you want! The more the merrier. :hearts: I think those treadmill routines would be crazy! Good for you for giving them a shot. I know, for me, running is the hardest thing. I can do it to a point, but my feet just don't hold up very well I'm afraid. I always thought that after I quit smoking I'd be able to run, but, so far, that hasn't been the case. Apparently my whole body has decided that running isn't in the cards. DH gives me a hard time because I'll walk for days and days but won't run at all. He thinks it's such a waste of time for me to be walking for near 2 hours when I could probably kill the same amount of calories in half the time - but it's seriously a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I do sometimes wish I could run though!
You're not alone though in the it's hard to meet people camp - making friends is hard. I wish I could meet people who I actually like and have things in common with. Typically the people I end up meeting end up being a drain on my energy. It was so easy when we were in school, right? It was like built in friends you had common interests and experiences with. Now it's like pulling teeth trying to meet new people! And add to that living in LA, meeting good people is even more difficult. (Not to slam my own city, but I guess I just did! :boggle:)

[gwenshack]

I miss the days when I liked shopping. I want to have too many options when I go in a store...ahhh the good ol' days.

DH and I are going to a "black tie optional" wedding next week in New Jersey and my complete and utter lack of fancy pants clothes (ok, fancy pants clothes that fit) compelled me to purchase a dress on-line and hope for the best. It came today and it was BEAUTIFUL - I put it on and it looked so freaking good. From the front, that is. I couldn't zip the stupid thing up. So I went in to DH and he said "Woah, that dress is great!" (good husband!) and I said, "yeah? Can you find any way to zip it up?" Nope. Tugging, pulling, nor praying worked, so I had to take it back. Stupid dress.

So then I wandered aimlessly around the mall trying on dresses, none of which rocked my world. I wanted something age appropriate, occasion appropriate, that is cute, that fits and that I LIKE. Do you know how tall an order that is?!?! :irked:

I finally wandered into Macy's dressing room armed with 2 more dresses that I knew I would resent, when I saw a dress that caught my eye on the discard rack that I hadn't seen anywhere when I was looking around. Thank goodness I saw it too because that's the one I ended up buying. It's cute!

I can't find a pic of it online but I'll model it later and get a pic. I :heart: it.

Lunch today was a Lean Cuisine pizza with some salad, dinner was some dim sum and some steamed vegetables. I didn't work out today - the past 2 weeks I've taken my day off on Wednesday, which is the worst day to take off since I don't have as much I have to do on that day. So I switched it up to take Mondays off since Mondays are the day I do all my cleaning and errands on top of everything else. It works out for the best since I'm super sore still. I had DH press on my back this morning to try to relieve some of the tension. :heart:

[savepaws]

I so know what you mean about people who drain you. I've had a few of those in my day. I'd like to have a couple more really close friends...ones that don't suck the life out of you with their selfishness and drama. It was hard choosing my bridal party because I have so few good friends. I had 3 and really only 1 of them should have been up there. Pretty sad & pathetic!

Awww, I'm glad you ended up finding a dress you liked! That sucks about the 1st one. I went shopping the other day. I had to move up a size in jeans. Boooo! I've been spilling out over the top of my jeans for a long time now, I was way past overdue! I also graduated (if you can call it that) from the juniors section to the misses/womens (depending on where you shop) section. Almost everything in the juniors section is so tight fitting, its hard to find clothes that don't cling to my fat rolls. The good news is that I can wear a medium in the misses section, and a large wouldn't even fit in the juniors section. I think the juniors clothes are so much cuter but I'm 30 now and its time to dress more grown up, I guess. I did buy the jeans from the junior section because the jeans I liked in the misses section came all the way up to my belly button and there's no way I can wear my pants hiked up that high! :lafhard:

I'm the opposite of you girls! I actually prefer to work out in front of a mirror and wish I had a mirrors surrounding me in my exercise room. Must be from my dancing days, there was always a mirror in front of me so I could see how I was doing. I try to catch myself in the reflection of picture frames when I'm working out. LOL

Yesterday I did the walk/jog workout on the treadmill yesterday and I LOVED it!!! Normally when I walk, I'm practically dragging myself to walk for 20-30 minutes. But yesterday the time flew by and before I knew it, I was done! I really wanted to keep going but I didn't want to over do it on my first day. I want to do it again today but the program says to spread them out. I'm really excited to try it again!

I did terrible with food yesterday. For lunch, I ate leftover asiago pasta bake from the night before. Then for dinner I made fajitas and decided to try making homemade tortilla chips to go with it. I didn't expect them to turn out very good because I hate corn tortillas, but they were so yummy! I ate 1 fajita and about 15 chips. That couldn't have been healthy. Then DH made me a chocolate shake. I think it was mostly milk though and maybe one little scoop of ice cream. And I had 2 oranges during the day for snacks. I haven't totalled any of it up yet on my calorie counter. I have no clue what the fried tortillas would amount to anyway. I just know that I did BAD yesterday as far as fattening food. I'm on this huge cooking kick and trying out all kinds of new recipes. Most are not considered health food but its so fun making food that DH raves about since he's so picky.

I have no idea what is planned for today. Probably a workout video. I wish my ballet workout DVD would hurry up and arrive!

[gwenshack]

I'm so glad you enjoyed your treadmill workout!! You get a gold star. :star:

I SO hear you on the waist of jeans. What is up with the mom jeans? I got really spoiled when I was skinny on low rise jeans and now the idea of these high-waisted numbers just drives me bananas. :blink: I hate jean shopping though - it's so discouraging - every store sizes differently, so you never know what size you are, and then you find one that has the kind of leg you want but it's a terrible waist, another makes your butt look awesome but they're those skinny/tapered leg! Is there NOT a perfect pair of jeans out there anywhere?!? Ok, I know there is - and they're sitting in my closet waiting for me to lose like 2 or 3 sizes. I actually have 2 pairs of jeans in there that are just AWESOME and I'm counting down the days/months until I can wear them again. Meanwhile, I've got these ones that will "suffice". The good news is that I can lose all the weight I want and never go jean shopping again - I have a virtual mall of jean sizes, colors and styles in my closet. Drives poor DH nuts - he has 4 pairs - they all fit. I have like 45 pairs and almost none of them do. :rofl:

Last night I had a really yummy snack. They have low fat kettle corn :popcorn: at Trader Joe's in 110 calorie individual bags - :yummy:

This morning's breakfast was the low-fat pancakes with some strawberries for 230. Yippee. Sadly, last night's coffee date with the annoying neighbor/pseudo-friend got pushed to this morning so I have to meet her in a few minutes. Not looking forward to it. That means I have to push my workout til after lunch/before I go to work and I have to sit through her agonizingly annoying saga before I eat lunch, so I'll have low blood sugar and be more cranky and more likely to stand up, coffee cup in hand and scream at the top of my lungs "I DON'T GIVE A $HIT! GET A LIFE! STOP TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF INCESSANTLY!"

But more likely I'll just zone out while she's talking and think that to myself. But the message will be the same. :bbtwisted:

[gwenshack]

OH GROSS! :boggle:

DH just sent me this e-mail.


You know that phenomenon where the morbidly obese (350+ lbs) people you see on tv, when the tv show goes to examine their diet, explain their various repugnant modifications of normally fatty foods (e.g. using cream instead of milk in mac and cheese bc its “smoother”)? This website is a celebration of that. http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/ (http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/)


Beware, some of these food pics will make you hungry - others will make you totally grossed out.

[savepaws]

Maybe I'll wait to look until after my lunch has settled a little! (Lean cuisine) :)

My ballet dvd was in the mailbox when I got home today! Yay! It totally kicked my butt! Its 50 minutes long and I only made it to 30 something. It was so slow paced yet I still was sweating as if I was doing a cardio workout. My legs were absolute noodles (still are) and I figured if I wanted to be able to walk tomorrow, I better not overdo it! I'm really looking forward to continuing with the marathon training tomorrow and I'd be mad if I over did it and had to take a day off.

The sad thing is, the part I did is almost exactly what I used to do in ballet class for warmups. Except back then, it hardly even phased me and it was the easiest part of class. That just goes to show how out of shape I've gotten since then.

Hope your coffee date doesn't suck too much!

[gwenshack]

Yeah, it sucked, but thanks for the well wishes! :heart: It was short though, only 45 minutes or so, and it went pretty much as predicted. She babbled about her life and what she wants to do with it and I "Uh Huh'ed" a bunch. :boggle:

Then I came home and had some chicken sausage ravioli with some marinara sauce and some vegetables. :lafhard:

I'm currently snacking on some of the Trader Joe's popcorn. My workout plan is to do some walking and kickboxing with ankle weights for about an hour before I go to work. Not my favorite workout, but I need to do something and this fits conveniently.

Danielle - I'm glad you like the Ballet workout! Your muscles just have to get used to doing those movements again - it'll be easier in no time. :yesnod:

[gwenshack]

So I did 30 minutes of working out, which will have to suffice, as I got interrupted by the stupid phone and I just flat ran out of time. :irked:

But, I mean, 30 minutes isn't BAD, it's just not what I wanted.

I'm at 1235 after dinner - veggies and dim sum. So I'm happy with that. I'm just feeling like I should have gotten in more of a workout! Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow!

[savepaws]

30 minutes is better than nothing! But it does kinda suck when you are mid-workout and the phone rings, or your house fills up with smoke, and you get interrupted.

Not much to report on my end. I didn't total up calories from yesterday yet...I probably didn't get much since I didn't eat a whole lot yesterday. There wasn't really anything to snack on in the house. I need to go shopping. I hate grocery shopping because I have to go to 2 different places. One to get fruit & veggies and one to get meat. I hate the fruit at the local grocery store, it all seems to taste so bland. So I go to Walmart for the fruit. You'd think a local store would have better produce than Walmart!

Today the plans are to eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch and do Day 2 of my marathon training program! I hope it goes as well as Day 1 did. :) Not sure what we'll have for dinner. I usually figure that out when I find out when DH will be off work.

A little off topic, but still health related, I made an appointment to see the eye doctor! They can't get me in until Oct 14th. They were able to see DH today due to a cancellation, and he got contacts and says it is GLORIOUS being able to see again! I can't wait!!! I haven't been to the eye doctor since I was probably 18 years old and I was still covered under my parent's health insurance. I've never had contacts but I'm going to be getting them. DH & I get free health insurance through my work and my boss just added optical and dental to the package this month! So yay for being able to see again!

[gwenshack]

30 minutes is better than nothing! But it does kinda suck when you are mid-workout and the phone rings, or your house fills up with smoke, and you get interrupted.

Not much to report on my end. I didn't total up calories from yesterday yet...I probably didn't get much since I didn't eat a whole lot yesterday. There wasn't really anything to snack on in the house. I need to go shopping. I hate grocery shopping because I have to go to 2 different places. One to get fruit & veggies and one to get meat. I hate the fruit at the local grocery store, it all seems to taste so bland. So I go to Walmart for the fruit. You'd think a local store would have better produce than Walmart!

Today the plans are to eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch and do Day 2 of my marathon training program! I hope it goes as well as Day 1 did. :) Not sure what we'll have for dinner. I usually figure that out when I find out when DH will be off work.

A little off topic, but still health related, I made an appointment to see the eye doctor! They can't get me in until Oct 14th. They were able to see DH today due to a cancellation, and he got contacts and says it is GLORIOUS being able to see again! I can't wait!!! I haven't been to the eye doctor since I was probably 18 years old and I was still covered under my parent's health insurance. I've never had contacts but I'm going to be getting them. DH & I get free health insurance through my work and my boss just added optical and dental to the package this month! So yay for being able to see again!

Hooray for good vision! LOL...;) October 14 will be here before you know it.
Good luck with day 2 of your treadmill workout. I'm gonna go for a crazy long walk, that I'm really looking forward to since it's so nice outside. :star: Just had a 280 calorie breakfast sandwich. :drool:

[fireprincess2009]

I was MIA yesterday. Work kept me busy for once. I did ok in the food area. Breakfast was peanuts and a fiber 1 bar. Followed by and apple as a snack and then leftover tilapia for lunch. Then the stress came. Last night J & I had couples therapy so I caved and ate some gummy fruit slices. After therapy I couldn't get myself motivated to work out but had the rest of the tilapia for dinner and air popped popcorn for a snack. Today is the big workout day. Lifting, running and then Zumba.

Gwen, oddly enough, some of the foods on that website gave me ideas for Black Fry-day. Yup, it's a holiday created by my friends. We all worked in retail together several years ago. Since we've all moved on, we no longer have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving. We all bring our deep fryers to someone's house and fry anything we can think of. Great for the diet let me tell you. Fried pickles are one of my favorites. oh, wait!!! This is a thread about getting healthy!!!! :boggle:

[fireprincess2009]

I finally wandered into Macy's dressing room armed with 2 more dresses that I knew I would resent, when I saw a dress that caught my eye on the discard rack that I hadn't seen anywhere when I was looking around. Thank goodness I saw it too because that's the one I ended up buying. It's cute!

I can't find a pic of it online but I'll model it later and get a pic. I :heart: it.


Can't wait to see the dress. Glad you found something you love!

[fireprincess2009]

I hate the fruit at the local grocery store, it all seems to taste so bland. So I go to Walmart for the fruit. You'd think a local store would have better produce than Walmart!

Today the plans are to eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch and do Day 2 of my marathon training program! I hope it goes as well as Day 1 did. :) Not sure what we'll have for dinner. I usually figure that out when I find out when DH will be off work.

A little off topic, but still health related, I made an appointment to see the eye doctor! They can't get me in until Oct 14th. They were able to see DH today due to a cancellation, and he got contacts and says it is GLORIOUS being able to see again! I can't wait!!! I haven't been to the eye doctor since I was probably 18 years old and I was still covered under my parent's health insurance. I've never had contacts but I'm going to be getting them. DH & I get free health insurance through my work and my boss just added optical and dental to the package this month! So yay for being able to see again!

Funny, I buy a lot of my groceries at Walmart but produce I usually get at the local store because the Walmart stuff is awful. Guess it depends on the store and where you are.

Yeah, for being able to see!!!

[gwenshack]

Gwen, oddly enough, some of the foods on that website gave me ideas for Black Fry-day. Yup, it's a holiday created by my friends. We all worked in retail together several years ago. Since we've all moved on, we no longer have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving. We all bring our deep fryers to someone's house and fry anything we can think of. Great for the diet let me tell you. Fried pickles are one of my favorites. oh, wait!!! This is a thread about getting healthy!!!! :boggle:

Ok, that's hilarious. Yeah, this is a thread about getting healthy, but we can still talk about fried stuff. Maybe if we talk about it we won't eat it! LOL :rofl: Your Black Fry-Day is awesome. That's a great tradition. It reminds me of one of my best friends, Bill, and his dumb*ss guy friends. In Vegas, down at Fremont Street downtown, there's this place called Mermaids that has deep fried twinkies and deep fried oreos and stuff like that. So these dumb drunk guys go down there and get these deep fried twinkies a few years back and are convinced that this is the most perfect food that God ever created and they are bound and determined to recreate the magic in their own home. So they go back to D.C. and their house of sloppy drunk boys invests in a deep fryer. They used to get drunk and try to fry EVERYTHING to see if it would be good. Watermelon, crackers, anything. :lafhard: Totally cracks me up every time I think of it.

[fireprincess2009]

OMG! We've done twinkies and oreos. I'm usually out by the time the dessert course rolls around. Another good one is fried spinach! Yummy...it melts in your mouth! I'd hate to admit all the things we've fried. It's a little embarrassing! Black Fry-day was so popular that we also have Cinco de Fry-o (in May of course) We're addicts.

[savepaws]

Black Fry-day and Cinco de Fryo! I love it!!! That really is such a cool tradition. I wish I had a group of friends to do something like that with!

I just got done with Day 2 of the running program. It was great! I started out with the speed settings that I used on Monday but it seemed really slow paced so I upped my walking and jogging speeds and I walked an extra 5 minutes at the end. The program says to alternate running and jogging until you reach 20 minutes, but I prefer to have a little more of a cool down period than 90 seconds so I cooled down for 5 minutes. Woo hoo! I am so happy to have a treadmill work out I like!

[gwenshack]

:jphappy: Hooray for a fun treadmill workout!

Cinco De Fryo. That's awesome. I, too, wish I had friends who wanted to get together and deep fry things...LOL :hungry:

I took an hour long walk and then had some chicken sausage ravioli with vegetables and a 1/2 cup of marinara. Then I had some grapes. So I'm at an even 750 for the day. ;)

[gwenshack]

Dinner tonight was leftover healthy Indian food. I love that stuff - no oil, no cream, just delicious. :hungry:

I'm at 1200 for the day and I'm gonna have enjoy something crunchy :popcorn: during my America's Next Top Model fix for the week...:bbeek:

[NOTKT]

Are you losing weight on this strict regime? I know you are doing so well, hopefully its paying off.

[gwenshack]

Are you losing weight on this strict regime? I know you are doing so well, hopefully its paying off.

LOL...I hope so! ;) I don't believe in scales - I think they're evil so I don't even know what weight I started at. :lafhard: My pants do feel looser lately though. ;) Thanks for asking!

[NOTKT]

That's all that matters then! I heard you say they were lose in another post, didn't know if you knew the numbers or not. I envy you, I wish I didn't need a scale.

[gwenshack]

That's all that matters then! I heard you say they were lose in another post, didn't know if you knew the numbers or not. I envy you, I wish I didn't need a scale.

My DH can't stand the fact that there's not one in the house! When I had one I would weigh myself like every ten minutes - not helpful!

*Talk about no self control, right?*

[NOTKT]

True, I guess I definitely need more self control but I just have to see the progress I've made or I'll go crazy!

[gwenshack]

I'm tired. I sort of want to crawl up and go to sleep! LOL...I won't though.

I had yummy "french toast" made with a 110 calorie low carb bagel this morning and I wanted to lick the plate. I put some confectioners sugar on the top...:yummy:...hence the licking desire. :rofl:

I'm supposed to walk later for an hour but I'm gonna try to do something before then too. Maybe the 30 minute Turbo Jam Cardio Party Live. Or, and more likely, I might just take a shorter walk this morning out around my neighborhood.

But all in all, things are looking up I think. I'm really looking forward to next week - a week from today we're going to Atlantic City to attend a wedding a week from Saturday. So DH and I are already contemplating our cheat meals - :rofl: - we've been on-line reading menus for different restaurants and drooling. I'm such a dork. I'm looking forward to a meal like a week away. We agreed that we're going to be good and eat breakfast buffet and fill up on fruit and stuff in the morning, have a healthy snack in the afternoon and then enjoy a nice meal in the evenings, so that we don't completely blow our diet. Oh, and we also plan to be a little...uh...:drunk:...:pompom: I'm also going to try to do a lot of walking and exploring to get some exercise. We've never been there before. Living in LA there's really no reason to go to Atlantic City when we're so close to Vegas. When I lived on the east coast I was 18 and under so no reason to go then either. So this is probably the one time we'll go there.

But, in the meantime, while I'm looking forward to my upcoming meeting with a dinner roll (:rofl: says the bread-a-holic) I'm going to continue to keep pushing on. It's been almost 5 weeks of this now.

[savepaws]

You are doing great Gwen! Thats great your jeans are feeling loose!
That's cute you are already planning your meals in AC. I have such a hard time eating right on the weekends, I have no idea how I would handle going away on vacation! When I go out, I like to enjoy my meals so I hate getting something just because its considered healthy. Maybe that's why I'm not losing any weight since we tend to eat out on weekends. *sigh*

I think I'm gonna take today off from working out. I should probably do a workout video but DH is off today due to rain so I won't be bouncing around to a workout dvd in front of him. And its my day off of the treadmill.

The whole calorie counting thing is getting on my nerves and I've semi-given up on it right now. I can't seem to reach my suggested calories for the day. I'm guessing it is because I don't eat breakfast. I don't eat breakfast because it upsets my stomach if I eat too early in the morning. I should start bringing some grapes or something with me, just to get some calories in me, otherwise, I don't eat until I get home from work after 1pm. I'm sure that puts my body into starvation mode and probably keeps me from losing weight. Anyway, back to calorie counting...I can't seem to reach my goal, according to my calorie counter log. I'm always under and I can't eat more to reach it...I eat when I'm hungry as it is. And it takes almost an hour a day for me to figure out what the previous days calories equalled out to. I look everything up on the website when I get to work. Plus I just have to guess with portions, since I don't have a scale and I have to guess with our dinner meal, since I don't know if I eat a whole serving of something that I put in a casserole or whatever. That's why I like Lean Cuisines or boxed meals or even fast food, its easy to count calories because its all figured out for you. But when I cook from scratch I have no idea and I hate trying to figure out what each ingredient cost me calorie-wise.

[gwenshack]

You are doing great Gwen! Thats great your jeans are feeling loose!
That's cute you are already planning your meals in AC. I have such a hard time eating right on the weekends, I have no idea how I would handle going away on vacation! When I go out, I like to enjoy my meals so I hate getting something just because its considered healthy. Maybe that's why I'm not losing any weight since we tend to eat out on weekends. *sigh*

I think I'm gonna take today off from working out. I should probably do a workout video but DH is off today due to rain so I won't be bouncing around to a workout dvd in front of him. And its my day off of the treadmill.

The whole calorie counting thing is getting on my nerves and I've semi-given up on it right now. I can't seem to reach my suggested calories for the day. I'm guessing it is because I don't eat breakfast. I don't eat breakfast because it upsets my stomach if I eat too early in the morning. I should start bringing some grapes or something with me, just to get some calories in me, otherwise, I don't eat until I get home from work after 1pm. I'm sure that puts my body into starvation mode and probably keeps me from losing weight. Anyway, back to calorie counting...I can't seem to reach my goal, according to my calorie counter log. I'm always under and I can't eat more to reach it...I eat when I'm hungry as it is. And it takes almost an hour a day for me to figure out what the previous days calories equalled out to. I look everything up on the website when I get to work. Plus I just have to guess with portions, since I don't have a scale and I have to guess with our dinner meal, since I don't know if I eat a whole serving of something that I put in a casserole or whatever. That's why I like Lean Cuisines or boxed meals or even fast food, its easy to count calories because its all figured out for you. But when I cook from scratch I have no idea and I hate trying to figure out what each ingredient cost me calorie-wise.

Oh, don't get frustrated! I do think the breakfast thing would help you - perk up your metabolism in the morning. A lot of people have that problem though - they don't eat breakfast, don't like breakfast, can't stomach it, whatever - and it does make your metabolism more sluggish. I think the trick is finding something you can stomach - even if it's not traditional breakfast food. ;) Have you tried drinking water in the morning? Maybe that would help settle your stomach?
I'll tell you what I do when I make a casserole or something - I add the calories for the entire thing when I'm making it - like if you put in a cup of milk add up the calories for the entire cup of milk. So then you have the calories for the entire casserole. Say, 2000 calories. Then I pre-cut it before serving. So say you know there are 2000 calories in the entire casserole then just cut it into 10 pieces and you know there are about 200 calories in each piece. ;)
I know it's hard to have to look up calories in certain foods all the time but it gets easier - you start to remember what's in everything. And, if you get frustrated, just put it down here and I can help you if you can't figure it out. Even if I don't know I'll help you look it up! ;) Just don't give up!
I hear you on the eating out on the weekends thing - DH and I were chronic restaurant diners on the weekends. I miss that! :( (I guess that's why I'm all excited about next week...LOL...)
It'll be ok. We're here for you to vent to! :hug:

[kgvettegirl]

Not to side track the thread but RC and I will be in Atlantic City on October 10, for the Kerbeck Toys for Tots Run. A bunch of Corvettes will be heading to Atlantic City and as far as I know we are staying there Sat. night. I'll be on the lookout for you guys.

[gwenshack]

Not to side track the thread but RC and I will be in Atlantic City on October 10, for the Kerbeck Toys for Tots Run. A bunch of Corvettes will be heading to Atlantic City and as far as I know we are staying there Sat. night. I'll be on the lookout for you guys.

Not a side track! That would be SO cool if we ran into you guys. All the OW ladies would be super jealous...;) I doubt it'll happen though since the wedding is on the 10th, so we'll have checked out of the AC hotel to move to the town where the wedding is being held about 30 minutes away. We'll be around til noon though so I'll be watching out for the Corvettes and my fellow Vegas wedding folk! :heart:

[gwenshack]

It is BOILING outside today! I mean, it's been really warm and lovely lately, but today it is H to the O to the T! I went out for a 45 minute walk in it anyway and I was drenched when I got home! :sweatdrop:

Lunch was a salad for Trader Joes and a baked potato with chives and low fat sour cream (30 calories). Then I had some of that popcorn from TJs. So I'm at like 780 I think. I dunno, I wrote it down in the other room. But it's somewhere around there. ;)

[f77g4]

It is BOILING outside today! I mean, it's been really warm and lovely lately, but today it is H to the O to the T! I went out for a 45 minute walk in it anyway and I was drenched when I got home! :sweatdrop:

Lunch was a salad for Trader Joes and a baked potato with chives and low fat sour cream (30 calories). Then I had some of that popcorn from TJs. So I'm at like 780 I think. I dunno, I wrote it down in the other room. But it's somewhere around there. ;)


Aww I wish it was warm here - it's freezing - like glove weather here. :(

[gwenshack]

Aww I wish it was warm here - it's freezing - like glove weather here. :(

That sucks...:( It's supposed to cool down after today. By the end of the month it'll be cold here too. It takes a little longer, but we do eventually get cold. :(

[gwenshack]

It actually did cool down a little bit here - not a ton, but it was really comfortable walking weather this morning so I took off on foot for an hour and fifteen minutes. I wanted to just keep going, but, alas, I had other stuff to do and there's only so much my poor feet can take anyhow.
Breakfast - 260 calorie breakfast sandwich
Lunch - 1/2 Moroccan Chicken Salad from CPK - 420 calories
Snack - 1 cup of Rice Chex - 120 calories
Bringing the grand total today so far to 800. ;)

Anybody have any good plans for the weekend?

[yam102284]

Great job Gwen!

I didn't count calories or workout today. I think I did okay though. My parents and I are having Panera for dinner. Mmmm - hope I can get my bread bowl this time!

I'm going to very very northern Vermont this weekend - think Canadian border. We're going to see my great-grandmother and helping my grandparents close up their cottage for the winter. I'm going alone, no FH :( And there's no internet access up there, and very limited cell phone coverage. I've got my Twilight book and some movies on my computer.

Have a good weekend!

[gwenshack]

Great job Gwen!

I didn't count calories or workout today. I think I did okay though. My parents and I are having Panera for dinner. Mmmm - hope I can get my bread bowl this time!

I'm going to very very northern Vermont this weekend - think Canadian border. We're going to see my great-grandmother and helping my grandparents close up their cottage for the winter. I'm going alone, no FH :( And there's no internet access up there, and very limited cell phone coverage. I've got my Twilight book and some movies on my computer.

Have a good weekend!

Enjoy visiting with your grandparents! That'll be fun, even if you are cut off from the outside world and FH isn't going with...:( But, it's so true that distance makes the heart grow fonder. DH always seem to like me more when I've been gone a while...:rofl:
Have a safe trip!!

[yam102284]

Enjoy visiting with your grandparents! That'll be fun, even if you are cut off from the outside world and FH isn't going with...:( But, it's so true that distance makes the heart grow fonder. DH always seem to like me more when I've been gone a while...:rofl:
Have a safe trip!!


Thanks! Yeah, when I was gone for 4 days at the end of July, it's like he hadn't seen me for months. He was all wanting to hug me, and cuddle, and everything. He's totally not like that on an everyday basis!

[f77g4]

It's even colder here today - brrr - stupid cold weather....actually I quite enjoy fall - it's the snow that comes after that that bothers me...lol

So I am now getting a bit of daily exercise - woohoo! :) Due to the crazy parking downtown I've decided to pay a monthly parking fee in a parking garage to save the daily fees I was having to pay and it's 3 - 3.5 blocks from my office building so I walk down there in the morning and then again after work - and I've been parking where there's 3 flights of stairs both too so that will be a start for me. I get free parking from work but it is for the entire govt and don't actually have assigned spots nor enough spots for every employee. To get a spot it requires me to be at work basically 1/2 hour before I start and well I'm not a morning person so I'm biting the bullet and spending the $60/month (vs $8/day).

My plans this weekend include studying, housework and attending some of my cousins bachelorette party.

You doing anything Gwen?

[kgvettegirl]

I had the best salad tonight at Ruby Tuesdays. Spring mix with baby spinach, edamame, English peas, beets, ham, a little real bacon bits and ranch dressing. YUMMY.

[gwenshack]

I had the best salad tonight at Ruby Tuesdays. Spring mix with baby spinach, edamame, English peas, beets, ham, a little real bacon bits and ranch dressing. YUMMY.

That sounds good! I :heart: English peas and beets. My salad at lunch had beets in it. They just liven up everything. :hungry:



It's even colder here today - brrr - stupid cold weather....actually I quite enjoy fall - it's the snow that comes after that that bothers me...lol

So I am now getting a bit of daily exercise - woohoo! :) Due to the crazy parking downtown I've decided to pay a monthly parking fee in a parking garage to save the daily fees I was having to pay and it's 3 - 3.5 blocks from my office building so I walk down there in the morning and then again after work - and I've been parking where there's 3 flights of stairs both too so that will be a start for me. I get free parking from work but it is for the entire govt and don't actually have assigned spots nor enough spots for every employee. To get a spot it requires me to be at work basically 1/2 hour before I start and well I'm not a morning person so I'm biting the bullet and spending the $60/month (vs $8/day).

My plans this weekend include studying, housework and attending some of my cousins bachelorette party.

You doing anything Gwen?


I'm not a morning person either, so I would have totally sucked it up and paid to park too! The walk to and from will be good - and it'll give you that moment to clear your head and take a breath before you start your day - and, sometimes more importantly, when you end it! :winktongue:

Hope you have fun at the bachelorette party! Will it be a wild and crazy night?!?

I don't know what our plans are for the weekend! I know we're supposed to hang out with these people tomorrow - the ones who are getting married next weekend - but they have these tentative plans that are dependent upon whether or not they can get into this bar. So we are sort of holding off on commiting because we don't want to to go all the way over to this place to find out that they couldn't get in. Stupid L.A. "hot spots"...we're not too keen on those kinds of places. We much prefer kind and happy places where they'll let you in no matter what you look like or who you know or don't! So we are sort of planning on going to a bar up the street from the one they're trying to get into - let them make fools of themselves - and then if they get in we might go over and join them. It's so stupid...LOL.

Don't know what's up for tonight! Hopefully some quality time with DH. :soppy:

Ack, I'm so hungry. I'm gonna go over to the grocery store and see what kinds of sensible foods I can find to make myself some yummy dinner. :)

[f77g4]

That sounds good! I :heart: English peas and beets. My salad at lunch had beets in it. They just liven up everything. :hungry:




I'm not a morning person either, so I would have totally sucked it up and paid to park too! The walk to and from will be good - and it'll give you that moment to clear your head and take a breath before you start your day - and, sometimes more importantly, when you end it! :winktongue:

Hope you have fun at the bachelorette party! Will it be a wild and crazy night?!?

I don't know what our plans are for the weekend! I know we're supposed to hang out with these people tomorrow - the ones who are getting married next weekend - but they have these tentative plans that are dependent upon whether or not they can get into this bar. So we are sort of holding off on commiting because we don't want to to go all the way over to this place to find out that they couldn't get in. Stupid L.A. "hot spots"...we're not too keen on those kinds of places. We much prefer kind and happy places where they'll let you in no matter what you look like or who you know or don't! So we are sort of planning on going to a bar up the street from the one they're trying to get into - let them make fools of themselves - and then if they get in we might go over and join them. It's so stupid...LOL.

Don't know what's up for tonight! Hopefully some quality time with DH. :soppy:

Ack, I'm so hungry. I'm gonna go over to the grocery store and see what kinds of sensible foods I can find to make myself some yummy dinner. :)


By the sounds of it they are planning a wild and crazy night later on. It's starting with dinner at a kind of expensive place, then laser tag & bowling (??) and then to the hotel room for drinks & games (??) and then out for some dancing. My cousin is only 19 (which is legal age here) actually she'll be 20 on Sunday and well I'm 25 so it's sort of not really my scene. I've never been much of one for the bar scene so I think I will likely just join them for supper and maybe the bowling/laser tag and then I'll play the rest by ear and how my sister is doing...lol...

I hate when people can't make definate plans - it kind of stalls your whole weekend. Hopefully you won't have to wait around a long time before they decide to see if they can get in or not.

Have fun!

[gwenshack]

So last night DH had pangs of hunger - he hunted in the fridge, desperately trying to find something both yummy and healthy, but he wasn't happy with the choices available to him. So at 10 pm last night he came in and asked if I wanted to go to the grocery store with him...eh, why not.
So we pull into the grocery store parking lot and there are like 5 cars parked in the whole lot. One, a Lexus SUV had taken up 4 spots in what was quite possibly one of the biggest acts of jack a$$ery in parking I've ever seen.
We got out of the car, totally grumbling about what kind of jerk face would park like that, even late at night, and then I spy freaking Spencer and Heidi coming out of the grocery store, each holding a 24 pack of toilet paper.
Gwen, in a voice loud enough to be heard: "Well that f$#&ing figures..."
Spencer shoots me a dirty look, apparently used to having people talk about him, and then gets in, um, another car. Not the jerk faced parked car! :bbredface: Oops! But still totally funny...

I did manage to find some blueberry applesauce to eat while I was there (50 calories!), to wash down my crow. :bbeek:

I actually finished, calorie-wise, about 90 under last night. I was just too tired to be hungry. ;) This morning I had a 140 calorie "Perfect 10" bagel and I just took a walk that was almost an hour. :jphappy:

[f77g4]

So last night DH had pangs of hunger - he hunted in the fridge, desperately trying to find something both yummy and healthy, but he wasn't happy with the choices available to him. So at 10 pm last night he came in and asked if I wanted to go to the grocery store with him...eh, why not.
So we pull into the grocery store parking lot and there are like 5 cars parked in the whole lot. One, a Lexus SUV had taken up 4 spots in what was quite possibly one of the biggest acts of jack a$$ery in parking I've ever seen.
We got out of the car, totally grumbling about what kind of jerk face would park like that, even late at night, and then I spy freaking Spencer and Heidi coming out of the grocery store, each holding a 24 pack of toilet paper.
Gwen, in a voice loud enough to be heard: "Well that f$#&ing figures..."
Spencer shoots me a dirty look, apparently used to having people talk about him, and then gets in, um, another car. Not the jerk faced parked car! :bbredface: Oops! But still totally funny...

I did manage to find some blueberry applesauce to eat while I was there (50 calories!), to wash down my crow. :bbeek:

I actually finished, calorie-wise, about 90 under last night. I was just too tired to be hungry. ;) This morning I had a 140 calorie "Perfect 10" bagel and I just took a walk that was almost an hour. :jphappy:


LOL thats kinda funny re Spencer and Heidi....the two of them are quite something....I liked his comments to People magazine re how they aren't having sex because he is afraid she will go off his birth control without telling him because she wants to be a young mom and he doesn't want kids so to save that he is refusing her sex.

Yeah for being under the calorie limit last night....thats awesome.

[SkippyNXC]

LOL thats kinda funny re Spencer and Heidi....the two of them are quite something....I liked his comments to People magazine re how they aren't having sex because he is afraid she will go off his birth control without telling him because she wants to be a young mom and he doesn't want kids so to save that he is refusing her sex.
:blink:totally off subject but i wonder if he is aware of this magical invention called condoms where he's in control of the BC....lolol ppl are so weird and what do they need so much TP for?? lol

[gwenshack]

:blink:totally off subject but i wonder if he is aware of this magical invention called condoms where he's in control of the BC....lolol ppl are so weird and what do they need so much TP for?? lol

That's so funny - that's exactly what I was going to say! :yesnod:

I didn't know he was holding out on sex (although probably for the best that they don't procreate...) - I don't pay much attention to those two, but the media is so oversaturated with them that it's hard to completely avoid them. Also hard to avoid them when you are just trying to go buy some applesauce. :rofl:

As for the toilet paper...I guess when you're so full of $h!t?...LOL

[gwenshack]

What a day. I've been all up in the air all day long. I like to have everything set in stone! :boggle:
So lunch was a lean cuisine and some squash and some green beans - very tasty! Then I had some fruit and some very bland crackers (not the Special K kind, Amy, I have yet to pick them up!) with some of that laughing cow 35 calorie a wedge spreadable cheese. I ate the snack at 1. I usually don't even eat lunch until 1, but we got up early and then I did my workout earlier than normal and I got hungrier earlier and I got thrown all off track!
So then DH comes to me and asks what I want to do for dinner tonight - and I told him I needed to be good because of the next weekend's vacation. So he tells me that 2 friends of his called and they need a ride to the airport at 6:45 pm TODAY because the person that was going to take them flaked out. So DH agreed to do it. So he asked if I could hold off on dinner until later and we'd have dinner around 8 something and then meet the people at the bar we're not sure we can get into.
I hate holding off eating. But I agreed. So as the hours ticked by I got hungrier and hungrier and crankier and crankier. :irked: 5 hours + of not eating doesn't really fit into my game plan these days, but I didn't want to eat a snack because I knew we were going out to eat and then going out for drinks. And every calorie counts!
So at 6:45 DH comes in and says that the flight got pushed back and now he doesn't have to take them to the airport until 8:45 so I made a bee line for the kitchen and made another lean cuisine and some more vegetables. Then I ate some fruit and then I had a Chex Mix bar.
It is still unclear if we're even going to try to go out for drinks seeing as it's after 9 now and DH won't be back for a while. And then when he gets back he'll have to change and blah blah blah blah...it might be better if we don't go out anyway - I mean, save the calories and all...
I'm really looking forward to a little calorie craze next weekend. :jphappy:


Of course nothing TOO crazy...;)

[f77g4]

So did you end up going to the bar?

[gwenshack]

So did you end up going to the bar?

Yep, we went around 10:30...the snooty bar let our party in so we got in too. Definitely wasn't my kind of place. Good mojito, but I was pretty much standing in a sea of jerks. LOL...we only stayed for one drink though and then we went to another bar...

How was the bachelorette party? Did you stay for all of it or did you just go to the first activities? :coolblue:

I did end up having 3 drinks last night and then a 160 calorie snack when I got back to the house. So I went over my calories last night. So today I'm going to take my (what has become tradition, it seems) hour and 45 minute or so walk. It's good to clear my head too...;)

Just had my 260 calorie breakfast and I'll be off on my happy-exercising way soon.

[f77g4]

Yep, we went around 10:30...the snooty bar let our party in so we got in too. Definitely wasn't my kind of place. Good mojito, but I was pretty much standing in a sea of jerks. LOL...we only stayed for one drink though and then we went to another bar...

How was the bachelorette party? Did you stay for all of it or did you just go to the first activities? :coolblue:

I did end up having 3 drinks last night and then a 160 calorie snack when I got back to the house. So I went over my calories last night. So today I'm going to take my (what has become tradition, it seems) hour and 45 minute or so walk. It's good to clear my head too...;)

Just had my 260 calorie breakfast and I'll be off on my happy-exercising way soon.

Well at least you got into the bar so you could see your friends.

The bachelorette party was ok I guess. I went to dinner, played laser tag & bowling with them and then went to the hotel room with them for a couple hours until they started getting ready for the bar and I left as it was starting to get a bit awkward. Dinner was ok - I had chicken nachos. I hate when they pile all toppings in like one spots instead of spreading it out & mine got a little burnt. Laser tag was ok, as was bowling....it was mostly gutter balls for people. I did come in third though. Then back to the hotel room where they all were drinking - I wasn't drinking since I had my car and was driving - so it was a bit boring. They played this Never Have I Ever game and let's just say it's not really a game family members should play - I know way too much about my cousins' sexual activities as well as my sister's..lol....they made a penis cake and the room was decorated. Then there were a couple other games involving plungers for one and hot dogs for another.

I left after the bride kind of had a meltdown and kinda flipped out at my sister and another cousin then locked herself in the bathroom - they so didn't do anything. Waiting to talk to my sister to see how it all played out later.

[gwenshack]

They played this Never Have I Ever game and let's just say it's not really a game family members should play - I know way too much about my cousins' sexual activities as well as my sister's..

Oh I HATE that game! I've watched other people play that before, but Never Have I Ever played because that stuff is never anybody else's business...LOL ;)

I left after the bride kind of had a meltdown and kinda flipped out at my sister and another cousin then locked herself in the bathroom - they so didn't do anything. Waiting to talk to my sister to see how it all played out later.

:boggle: Sounds like an episode of bridezillas...kidding. Sounds like somebody had a little too much to drink and created some drama...oh drama...good times...

[f77g4]

Oh I HATE that game! I've watched other people play that before, but Never Have I Ever played because that stuff is never anybody else's business...LOL ;)



:boggle: Sounds like an episode of bridezillas...kidding. Sounds like somebody had a little too much to drink and created some drama...oh drama...good times...

Yeah can't say I've ever played that game either....and man the stuff that some people have done - ugh! It got to the point they were having to say stuff that they had done and just drink.

Yeah she has been a bit of a bridezilla this whole 4 months! My sister is in the wedding and the things she has demanded and said to my sister are crazy! Like my sister is a certified aesthetician and when she asked if they wanted her to do the makeup they said no we want a professional. Like ugh...but yeah she had too much to drink for sure.

[gwenshack]

I just got back from my walk...I'm really beat! The wind was whipping all around too so that added some resistance to my journey. I'm super ready to eat lunch now - super psyched to - I have some potstickers and vegetables steaming on the stove right now. YUM! :)

[gwenshack]

So for dinner tonight I mixed up an awesome salad - some lettuce, some dill, some sprouts, some grape sized yellow tomatoes (they were SOOOOOO good), a little raw broc, cauliflower and carrot, and some Reduced Fat Cilantro dressing from Trader Joes. Have any of you had that dressing before? It's super yummy. It's a creamier dressing and only 40 calories for 2 TBSPs - it's exactly what I've been looking for. ;)

Then I had the smart ones 3 cheese ziti marinara, which is my favorite boxed meal. Although with a 320 calorie price tag, it's not the cheapest, calorie-wise. :blink: Yummy though!

Then I had 2 apple sauce cups, for a 100 calories.

I still have 110 left for the day - they may or may not get used. We'll see how snacky I feel later. For now though, I'm totally feeling satisfied. That's a good feeling! :jphappy:

[savepaws]

Glad you guys had pretty good weekends.

I had a pretty laid back weekend, which is what I needed with AF and the cramps she gave me. Friday we stayed in and watched movies. Saturday, we got together with another couple, went out to dinner and then came back to our place for game night. I found the softest, most comfiest jammie pants when we went to walmart to buy a couple of new games. :) Sunday we went to "Cruise to the Woods", its a car cruise in Iowa where people all over Iowa with classic cars & muscle cars & custom cars all go on different cruises, depending on where you live, and meet up in a little town and then drive to the town I live in for a big car show. Well they always go through this particular park so DH's family all takes their 4 muscle cars out & watch the cars drive through the park. Then DH went to the car show, and I went home. Then for dinner we went to DH's grandmas for my BIL's birthday dinner. Talk about comfort food. :) If only I could have worn my jammie pants! I hate winter and hate that it is coming, but I love how things calm down when it gets cold and we can stay in more during the weekends. I love being all warm and cozy.

Enough jibber jabber - so far my post hasn't mentioned diet or exercise once. I did my running workout Friday, it wasn't the greatest so I think I'm going to repeat week 1...I don't feel ready to move to the next level. I didn't workout at all this weekend, I thought about doing my running workout yesterday but then that would have thrown my Mon-Wed-Fri schedule out the window since I need to skip at least 1 day in between workouts.

As for food, I don't think I did too bad. I went and got fruit Friday after work so I would have healthy food to snack on since all we had were chips and ice cream - things I don't need! I do need to get back on track with counting calories and will start doing that again today.

I've seen those commercials that say to take the Special K challenge and you'll drop a pant size in like 2 weeks. How is that even possible? I eat Special K cereal and its like only 1 cup for a serving. No way can I replace 2 meals with cereal and still survive and not feel like I'm starving to death. Unless they mean "snack" when they say "meals"?? :shrug:

[gwenshack]

Danielle - Again, yay for AF (even if she was a real b!t#h once she showed up)!! :heart: Glad you had a nice weekend - the car thing sounds fun. And nothing is better than a meal that makes you want to wear your pj's. :)

As for that Special K challenge thing - Yeah - those commercials bother me. A pants size in 2 weeks? It's been 5 weeks of responsible eating and working out and my pants just feel LOOSER, but I don't see going down a pants size for another couple of weeks. I can't imagine eating a bowl of cereal 2 meals a day anyway. That just seems all dry and boring!

http://www.specialk.com/challenge/instructions

For breakfast I had 260 calorie breakfast sandwich. I think for my workout I'm going to give the whole yoga/pilates video a shot again. I've done cardio multiple days in a row and haven't taken a day off since last Monday, and can't take off a day until Thursday. That's the day I leave for Atlantic City and I don't want to take a day off before I go since there will be cheating. :bbtwisted:

[savepaws]

Oh excuse me, a serving of special is 2/3 cup, not 1 cup. Yikes! I won't be doing the challenge, but I'd like to try the shakes, crackers & waffles to see if I like them.

You are so good Gwen, planning ahead for your cheat weekend! :) Good luck with the yoga/pilates. I don't have any videos like that yet so I'm not sure how well I'd do with them.

I'm going to run for my workout. I need to do some major stretching today. My body feels like its all tense and knotted up.

[gwenshack]

Oh excuse me, a serving of special is 2/3 cup, not 1 cup. Yikes! I won't be doing the challenge, but I'd like to try the shakes, crackers & waffles to see if I like them.

You are so good Gwen, planning ahead for your cheat weekend! :) Good luck with the yoga/pilates. I don't have any videos like that yet so I'm not sure how well I'd do with them.

I'm going to run for my workout. I need to do some major stretching today. My body feels like its all tense and knotted up.

Ditto on the stretching - that's why I'm gonna roll with the yoga/pilates video. I'm just not a big fan of yoga - all the stand up, sit down makes me dizzy! :frantic:
Enjoy your run!!

[fireprincess2009]

You guys are so good about keeping track over the weekends and checking in. I was off work on Thursday to tour a couple colleges with my niece so I'm not even going to talk about what I ate! We did have Subway for dinner, but there were also gummy worms involved. :worm:

Friday I drove from the hotel straight to work with no food. So I had a corn muffin from Dunkin Donuts with my coffee for breakfast. That was not a good move. I think 520 calories and 17 grams of fat! :boggle: OMG! Ok, so then I went to the grocery store and bought fruit, cans of tuna and rice cakes to keep at my desk. Lunch was much healthier. I did work out Friday night - running 3miles and leg workout. DH made dinner so I didn't have much to say about the perogies. Only had a couple. Saturday we were healthy but no workout. Sunday we went to a baptism and then brunch after. Lets not discuss the specifics.

I totally have monster cramps today but I'm determined to be good. On Saturday my Halloween costume came - German Beer Frau and it's really short! I need to figure out what to do with my legs - augh!!!

So far today for food I've had:
Oatmeal with raisins - 200
Small Banana - 80
3 c air popped popcorn au natural - 90
Salad and grilled chicken - 200

I brought a protein bar if I need something before my workout. Not sure what I'll have for dinner but I'm looking at about 700 calories to play with.

[gwenshack]

Lets not discuss the specifics.

This line cracked me up!

I totally have monster cramps today but I'm determined to be good. On Saturday my Halloween costume came - German Beer Frau and it's really short! I need to figure out what to do with my legs - augh!!!


What a fun costume! :beer:

You're doing good though! At least you ate gummy worms with Subway instead of gummy worms with McDonalds. You seem to have some balance somewhere in the chaos. I guess, except, when we're not discussing the specifics...;)

[fireprincess2009]

This line cracked me up!



What a fun costume! :beer:

You're doing good though! At least you ate gummy worms with Subway instead of gummy worms with McDonalds. You seem to have some balance somewhere in the chaos. I guess, except, when we're not discussing the specifics...;)

Yes, McDonalds would have been worse...

So I have awful cramps so I wimped out of the gym and worked out at home. I'm a little disappointed in myself but I did get in a Fit TV Celebrity Kickboxing workout and walk another 30 min on the treadmill. Better than nothing, RIGHT!??

[fireprincess2009]

I have half a Luna bar on my way home 95 calories.
Dinner was a strawberry pineapple protein shake for 175 a piece of cheese (70) and some imitation crab meat (80) Right now I'm eating an Atomic Fire Ball :yesnod: hehe. So WITH THE 40 calorie fire ball that puts me at around 1100 calories for the day. Interesting, I'm not feeling like I need to eat anything else today...huh.

[gwenshack]

OMG I used to LOVE fireballs! :yummy:

And you're darn right that the workout you did is better than nothing. I think that's an even more satisfying workout - when you don't feel like doing anything and you push through regardless.

Speaking of, about to get my butt moving...!

[gwenshack]

So I did 45 minutes of the yoga/pilates video. I did a little better with it this time. I finished the entire segment I was trying to do - I only got light headed once, half way through, when we were doing a lot of floor exercises and then I had to get up and do a sun salute. I almost felt like I had stared straight into the sun cuz it almost all went black. LOL :rofl:

Again, the pilates stuff I don't mind, but the yoga is just super hard for me. The thing I don't get is that they mix the two kinds of exercises seamlessly in the video but they also expect you to switch seamlessly between the type of breathing. The yoga breathing is supposed to be big belly breaths in and out through the nose, but pilates breathing is more of an in through the nose and out through the mouth deal, which is just how I breath normally, so the yoga breath requires me to really THINK about breathing. Who wants to think about breathing?!? ;)

[kgvettegirl]

I think I found my new favorite lunch. Mom and my two oldest nieces came over yesterday for lunch so I made us something healthy.

Chicken marinated in Olive Oil with garlic and onions, salt and pepper. Drain and cook. Take a FlatOut Healthy grain Honey Wheat and cut in two (100 calories, High Fiber 0 trans Fats)so that makes 50 cal. 1/2 teaspoon of Vidalia onion vinaigrette spread over the flat bread, some leaf lettuce, cucumbers, green peppers, a small sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese and roll it up. Yum

Today I'm planing on walking 3 miles.

[gwenshack]

I think I found my new favorite lunch. Mom and my two oldest nieces came over yesterday for lunch so I made us something healthy.

Chicken marinated in Olive Oil with garlic and onions, salt and pepper. Drain and cook. Take a FlatOut Healthy grain Honey Wheat and cut in two (100 calories, High Fiber 0 trans Fats)so that makes 50 cal. 1/2 teaspoon of Vidalia onion vinaigrette spread over the flat bread, some leaf lettuce, cucumbers, green peppers, a small sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese and roll it up. Yum

Today I'm planing on walking 3 miles.

Enjoy your walk! :heart: That chicken sounds delicious!

[gwenshack]

My core is super sore from yesterday. :blink: Just lying in my bed I was pretty much unable to do my usual toss and turn this morning. Ouch ouch ouch! I mean, it's good, I like to feel sore - makes me feel like I did something, but this is a little too much.

Breakfast this morning was 260. I'm planning on walking for a while today - it looks really nice outside and I need to get out. I'm probably going to eat a bigger lunch today. I have tickets to see Pearl Jam tonight (a birthday present from my sister that I've been waiting to use) and the show starts at 7:15. DH is meeting me there - he's going to have to basically drive 2 hours in rush hour to the venue from his school. I think he's gonna end up being really late...but anyway...my plan is to pick up Subway on the way to the show. I figure I'll leave here at 5:30, pick up a sandwich, fight LA traffic all the way across town and then eat my sandwich in my car when I get there, before I go in. I don't want to eat before 5:30 because then I'm going to be starving later, so I figure this way I can cut off the hunger. A preemptive strike, if you will. ;)

But anyway...I'm excited about the show. Good thing I kept all my old band t-shirts from 1992 so I'd have something to wear tonight...:rofl: They collect dust 99.9% of the time, but tonight one of them gets to get out and breathe. :star:

[fireprincess2009]

Pearl Jam - fun! Good thinking on the preemptive strike. Subway is a savior when you need to eat on the road. I don't know how you do LA traffic. I'd lose my mind.

Today I'm determined to get to the actual gym and not the one in my house. Of course J & I have counseling today and that always makes it harder for me to get that motivation. But, I'm going to stay positive.

Today for breakfast I've eaten:
huge bowl of oatmeal - 200
rice cake - 45
Salad w/veggie patty - 200
Milky Way Dark - 230 (Ok, I'm cutting myself some slack. Chocolate is necessary right now to make the cramps bareable...)

So I'm at 675 right now. I'll probably eat the other half of my Luna Bar on the way to the gym later then finish up with grilled chicken and veggies for dinner. Maybe a fruity protein shake.

[gwenshack]

Pearl Jam - fun! Good thinking on the preemptive strike. Subway is a savior when you need to eat on the road. I don't know how you do LA traffic. I'd lose my mind.

Most times I have to deal with the traffic here I want throw things at people. ;)

Milky Way Dark - 230 (Ok, I'm cutting myself some slack. Chocolate is necessary right now to make the cramps bareable...)

:rofl: Slack permitted. ;)

Took a walk for an hour and 25 minutes - every time I get out in the sunshine I get all sappy because I know that the cold is coming soon and so I try to stay out there as long as possible. I've been getting so TAN since this whole mission started...! I :heart: it.
Lunch was a salad and a smart ones. Then I had a chex mix bar. I'm a little over 800 right now.

[fireprincess2009]

So how was the concert Gwen? (of course you're probably still sleeping over there on the west coast. I'm on my 2nd breakfast already!)

[gwenshack]

So how was the concert Gwen? (of course you're probably still sleeping over there on the west coast. I'm on my 2nd breakfast already!)

Oh I want to still be sleeping! I just finished (a 260 calorie) breakfast actually and am catching up on the OW haps. :)

The concert was awesome! Ben Harper opened and that was really cool since DH and I have been really into him lately. I think DH is afraid to admit it, but I could tell that was his favorite part. :lafhard:
Then PJ played and they were really good! I wore my tee shirt from 1992...:rofl: They played a lot of the new album, which I don't have yet since I don't do Itunes (I'm an old lady) and when I walked an hour to the Barnes and Nobel last week to buy their CD I was informed that they only sell it at Target...Whaaaa? :bbconfused: So I ordered it from ten club on-line and am still waiting on it! But the new stuff sounded good and the crowd really seemed into it. The highlights for me were the 2 encores they did - they played only old stuff during the encores and the crowd was singing along at the top of their lungs so that was really cool. Then he brought Ben Harper out to play Red Mosquito with them, which was super awesome. THEN he says that sometimes you luck out based on who happens to be there that night and brings out Chris Cornel from Soundgarden! WhaaaaT? So they did the Hunger Strike song together and that was AMAZING. And then he brought out Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains to play Alive with them. It was a crazy grunge reunion or something! :jphappy:

The good news is that DH skipped his class and we went together in one car, but he wasn't feeling Subway so I ate a lean cuisine really quick before we left. I still had 300 calories when I got home so I ate a turkey sandwich when I got home and I came out on schedule. :)

[fireprincess2009]

OMG - that sounded awesome. What a show! Yup...jealous!

Good for you coming in on target. :star:

[savepaws]

Oooh that concert sounds like it was awesome Gwen!!

I haven't done so hot this week, so far. AF has made me do some things I'm not proud of. She made me make a whole batch of brownies last night with heath bar crumbleys mixed in them and chocolate frosting on top. Now AF is gone and I have a bunch of brownies that I need to figure out what to do with so they aren't tempting me. My meals haven't been too bad but I definitely didn't need the brownies or the reeses peanut butter cups I've been snacking on during her visit.

So I'm going to have to spend some extra time on the treadmill today to pay for AF's bad behavior, she's such a bad influence! I think DH is working today so I should be able to fit in a workout video as well! I need it!

I still haven't lost any weight. The scale says the same thing every morning (at least its being consistent now) DH thinks I look slimmer but I don't see a difference. I really need to get back on track with the calorie counting - I've really dropped the ball on it last weekend & this week.

[gwenshack]

Stupid Aunt Flow! What an unruly houseguest! You love seeing her come by but you're always more than happy to see her ungrateful a$$ go. :winktongue:

Those brownies you describe sound delicious. I might chew my arm off out of jealousy and deprivation! :hungry:

[fireprincess2009]

Oooh that concert sounds like it was awesome Gwen!!

I haven't done so hot this week, so far. AF has made me do some things I'm not proud of. She made me make a whole batch of brownies last night with heath bar crumbleys mixed in them and chocolate frosting on top. Now AF is gone and I have a bunch of brownies that I need to figure out what to do with so they aren't tempting me. My meals haven't been too bad but I definitely didn't need the brownies or the reeses peanut butter cups I've been snacking on during her visit.

So I'm going to have to spend some extra time on the treadmill today to pay for AF's bad behavior, she's such a bad influence! I think DH is working today so I should be able to fit in a workout video as well! I need it!

I still haven't lost any weight. The scale says the same thing every morning (at least its being consistent now) DH thinks I look slimmer but I don't see a difference. I really need to get back on track with the calorie counting - I've really dropped the ball on it last weekend & this week.


Oh sure, you're fed up with Aunt Flo so you ship her off to my house!:rofl:Geez that lady gets around. And such a bad influence. She was responsible for my Milky Way Dark breakdown yesterday!

[gwenshack]

So for lunch I had a lean cuisine (290 calories) with some frozen vegetables - so I ended up at 695 after lunch.

Then I walked 4 and a half miles (I google mapped it to find out how long my route was today....). My legs are so tired! I've worked out every day since last Monday and I've been pushing myself really hard because I know that I'm going out of town. But that's all over now - I'm off in the morning! :jphappy:

Dinner tonight was a veggie burger and salad from the health place that was at the end of my walking route. Yummy. I love their veggie burgers- they're made in house. Like nothing I've ever had before.

Then tonight I had 2 eggo waffles and some terrible tasteless crackers that I bought. So I'm good to go.

I put a DVD in my bag to do some kickboxing if things get too bad. DH is bringing his laptop so I can throw the DVD in if I have too many things to feel guilty about. Yeah, I'm gonna eat some bread this weekend and I'm gonna have some drinks. But I'm gonna try really hard to eat sensible meals early in the day and confine my cheat meals to dinner and drinks. I'm also going to push for some exploring on foot so I can burn a few calories along the way. But, mostly, my sore butt and thighs and feet are psyched for some rest.

Hope you all have a great weekend! :heart:

[NOTKT]

You too, have a great time! Enjoy!

[yam102284]

Have a great trip! Have fun and enjoy yourself! Don't worry too much about the food. You've done an awesome job so far, you deserve a little fun this weekend! :star:

[fireprincess2009]

Dear Gwen,
If you get this message before you board that plane, immediately take the DVD out of your bag. I admire your determination, but don't worry about working out this weekend. You deserve a break!!! Have fun!
Denise

[savepaws]

I'm with Denise on this one! You so deserve a break!! And if you slip up with food, no biggie! I'm sure you guys will be active enough to burn the calories off anyway.

I hope you have a wonderful time! :heart:

[kgvettegirl]

Oh sure, you're fed up with Aunt Flo so you ship her off to my house!:rofl:Geez that lady gets around. And such a bad influence. She was responsible for my Milky Way Dark breakdown yesterday!
It's about a week before she is scheduled to show up here, and I already a mean as a black snake and craving carbs like no-body's business. Why can't menopause just show up and stop all this madness, I'm old enough for that lovely part of womanhood to rear her ugly head.

[fireprincess2009]

Yesterday I didn't count calories. Not doing so well with that today either. BUT I did manage to go to the gym last night even after having a beer! DH & I went to a short private show at a club (BTW, Jason Castro is much better now than when he was on American Idol thank goodness!) After I knew that I needed to fit in a workout since we're going to an Oktoberfest this weekend! About 2 minutes into my run, I burped and all I could think was what the girl running next to me must be thinking! Like Why is this drunk girl running! I wasn't "drunk" but I probably smelled like I was! :beer_smile: