Working on Weight Loss and getting Lean!

[MouseDogMom]

Jeanne - Funny you should ask. I'd been furious with Bill for telling me we could do Williamsburg, then changing his mind and deciding he couldn't take the weekend off. I pouted for a month. Then Saturday Annie told me she'd run the 8K, so we're making a girls' weekend. I registered last night and booked our hotel! I'd almost decided to go solo and just hang with WISHers, but wasn't sure I was brave enough to go that route. Still hoping to make it a big WISH event.

Cindy - Hooray for taper! Soon you get to start hydrating. More water!

Tandy - I hated to see VCU lose, but I really, really wanted Butler to win. Words cannot describe how much I dislike UConn. And it was the worst. game. ever. I thought I was going to stay on the bike through the end of the first half, but it wouldn't end. At 45 minutes, there was still 7-8 minutes left in the half. I was afraid I'd injure myself if I waited them out.

Must drink more water. Makes the blood donation easier. (Can I store up ounces for later days? )

Jackie

 

[mandac]

Hi wonderful Leaners!

I am back ( did you miss me?) Anyway, I had a hard year last year and pretty much fell of the face of the earth. But I am back and happy to be a part of a team like this.

I have been doing well since the start of the year, actually losing about 25 pounds up to this point. I am pretty excited about that! I am almost half way back to my all time low. I have noticed it is so much easier to get up and go now that I am smaller.

However, I started pushing a little too hard and I pulled my hamstring last week. I didn't tear it, so I just need to take it easy for a while and I will be OK, but it is hard to take the time off.

I am signed up for the Disneyland Half this year again, and looking forward to it.

I did the Surf City Half back in February and only missed my PR by 2 minutes. I think I will do better at DL.

anyway - hopefully I will be back to posting more often.

Keep it up!
Manda
__________________

 

[bunnyfoo]

Hi leanies! Sorry to be MIA! We've been moving floors at work and then I had an unexpected trip to ... the land of candy! Too much stress I think and I've been eating tons and tons of candy. The sad thing is, it wasn't even good candy. It was whatever I could get my hands on. But I have discovered that I don't like peanut butter M&Ms nearly as much as I like peanut M&Ms Then I also went ahead and made German Chocolate Cake Cupcakes. They were awesome but I'm not posting the recipe because they're highly addictive... but I digress... (PM me if do you want the recipe).

Given all of that, I only gained 0.7 lbs. I think I was pretty lucky, all things considered I totally expected to gain 2+ lbs. I think I bombed out on the points:

0.5 exercise
0.5 challenge
1 dairy
0.5 veggies
1 new recipe
1 new food (would grapeseed oil or agave nectar count as a food )

3.5

But new month, new week... new challenge! So I'm going ahead with the clean eating! Yay! Last night, I made a Moroccan Chicken Stew using teff. Teff is a grain from Northern Africa - it's really high in protein and I believe it's gluten free (don't quote me on that). Easy to make and even my dad who's developed some internal radar to my healthy cooking came in and said it smelled good! I think he smelled the red wine

I promise to do a catch up thread tonight and post the recipe I found for lemon blueberry muffins. It uses agave nectar which is a low GI sugar.

 

[bunnyfoo]

Moroccan Chicken Stew ​

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Small Onion, diced
• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 tsp Cumin, ground
• 1 tsp Coriander, ground
• 3 cups Chicken Stock (unsalted)
• 1 cup cooked Garbanzo Beans
• 1 cup Tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• 6 to 8 Mushrooms, quartered
• 1/ 2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup Teff (Tef, T'ef) Whole Grain
• 1 cup Green Peas
• 1/2 cup Sliced Almonds

Directions:
1. Heat large dutch oven, add oil, and brown chicken breasts on both sides. Remove chicken, and saute onion over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic, cumin and coriander. Stir for 1 minute, add chicken stock, garbanzos, tomatoes, red wine, mushrooms, and salt. Bring to boil and, using wire whisk, stir in teff. Reduce heat to low, add chicken, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Add green peas and continue cooking until tender (about 3 minutes). Divide into individual serving dishes and garnish each with almonds.

Makes 8 Servings.


NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Servings Size: 1 serving (298g)

Calories 320, Calories from Fat 110, Total Fat 13g, Saturated Fat 2.5g, Cholesterol 45mg, Sodium 460mg, Total Carbohydrate 25g, Dietary Fiber 6g, Sugars 3g and Protein 24g.

 

[mandac]

Hi Ladies,
Sorry for two posts in the same day but I have been looking back at some posts and read about the challenge. I would totally love to participate in this with you!

My weight right now is 199.6 (which is down 27 pounds from January )

I also noticed that a bunch of you are on Facebook. I would love to be Facebook friends with you guys. Then I can't hide if something bad happens again! I need the accountability and it is too easy to just not log in here, even when I need it the most.

 

[bunnyfoo]

Hi Ladies,
Sorry for two posts in the same day but I have been looking back at some posts and read about the challenge. I would totally love to participate in this with you!

My weight right now is 199.6 (which is down 27 pounds from January )

I also noticed that a bunch of you are on Facebook. I would love to be Facebook friends with you guys. Then I can't hide if something bad happens again! I need the accountability and it is too easy to just not log in here, even when I need it the most.

I sent you a PM Manda ... I didn't want to post my FB link here

 

[deekaypee]

Hey gang!

First the numbers:
Loss: .5 (hey, another loss, even a small one)

water: .5 (I fell off the water wagon and lived on caffeine this last week - which means I'm weaning myself off this week.)
fruit/veggies: 1
dairy: 1
new recipe: 1 (but I didn't make it- it was Shakshuka, a Middle Eastern stew)
new food: 0
temptation: 0
weekly challenge: 1

Points: 5.5

Jackie: Oh, I just wish your DD would settle all her college plans. Doesn't she know you and Bill have trips to plan? Seriously, I'm so glad you get a girls' weekend with your DD and Williamsburg. And get to, hopefully, see WISHers. That will lighten your spirit, I'm sure, and having such things to look forward to will help you keep your motivation up. (Although I, for one, think you're pretty darned motivated.)

Ooh, just read about your migraine. Big sympathies! And kudos to you for donating blood.

Tandy: I have to admit, I'm one of those people totally intimidated by Zumba (and, really, any exercise class). I'm not coordinated, and envy those of you who are. And I hope today's run is a breeze and feels really good.

Yay for Harrison - that rounding the bases exercise must have done wonders for his confidence! (Wait...he has a GF?) Yay for getting your taxes done and for (presumably) not pulling your hair out. I overate and drank too much on Saturday night, after we finally finished. Double woo hoo for being an official college student. We'll just call you our sexy co-ed Leanie from here on out.

When's your birthday? I'll probably be offline for it so...HAPPY BIRTHDAY in case I miss it!

Beth: Your consistency and the amount of your weight loss every week is super cool! Yay! And I loved that you're focusing on what you can do, when you can do it, and being grateful. It's a mindset I need to have. But be careful with the running! I want you to be pain free and get good news from the ortho! I'm glad you're feeling pretty good after doing so, of course.

Jeanne: FWIW, I can't believe it's your 40th class reunion coming up. My plans are to do the Goofy again. Although DOOD hasn't signed us up yet, and I'll have to remind him several times or we'll miss the deadline. As for your weight gain this week, what with taxes and all (see AFM) I have sympathy for you and I'm positive next week will be better. Or at least by the 18th. But I can see why you'd have to sit at your desk for so long, and your taxes are so much more complicated than mine.

Maria: I'm taking your "the week is truly over" from last week. And reminding myself to take your attitude - just a temporary lull in the forward movement. You're still hitting all your marks with fitness, health, running and I hope to follow your example! How was Spock's check-out? And Dennis definitely deserves the Boston apparel!

No, no scoop on runDisney. Oh, I hear rumors, but nothing worth substantiating. runDisney is like its own insular division of Disney, and I can't figure out the relationship. That said, I wonder if Mouseskywalker knows anything....

Cindy: Yay for the weight loss! You rock! It's amazing to me how easy it is not to get enough water in during the day, even for those of us who run regularly. So I think you get points for making such steady progress.

Vicky: You know, it's strange. When I'm stressed. I don't even want good candy. I just want quantity. Good candy just makes me aware of what I'm doing. So maybe we should only stock good candy for such instances? (Seriously, now I'm wondering if that would work.) I love Moroccan food, and have never tried teff!

Mandy: Welcome back! We - or at least I - know exactly how it goes with LTO! Congrats on being down 27 pounds. I'll send you a PM, too!

AFM: Okay, let me first say how much sympathy I have for Jeanne. Taxes took me four, yes, four days. It's my first year filing as a freelance writer with substantial travel discounts. Ugh. What a headache. And PA uses a different deduction system than Federal. I couldn't do what you do, Jeanne, and I would have had to jack slap your son. Plus, your term demons has new meaning for me.

We're headed out to Seattle tomorrow - work conference for DOOD and I'm going, well, because DOOD feels guilty he's gone almost every year for my b-day. At this point, I wish I wasn't going, because my parents announced they were visiting next week on their way to see my brother, SIL, and grandbaby. That's what they do - tell me when they will visit, regardless of our schedule.

After telling them that visiting in the middle of the week (their plan) simply wouldn't work, I caved and told them DOOD & I would travel to my brother's for the weekend of the 16-17. So know we're driving 6 hours each to spend 2 days with the family, after one weekend in Seattle and 12 hour work days in between. Yay me. And yay DOOD, who gets to deal with them and me.

All this is a long-winded way of saying my entire goal in the next couple of weeks is to avoid killing someone. I kid, I kid. I'm going to replace my temptation with a food goal - as many salads and veggies as I can get. I know I'll be stressed and eating, so I just hope to make as many meals the crunchy, veggie kind to manage the calories. It'll also help with the clean eating aspect while I'm on the road - which unfortunately I don't know how well I'll do. I'll be keeping a food diary on the Seattle trip, too, the first time I'll try to do that when traveling.

Oh, and for those who asked...I haven't committed to the other writing job yet; still ironing out some details and I let him know I was traveling for the next couple of weeks.

 

[Creativebeth]

Debra: You poor girl....life is a runaway train right now, and your parents are visiting??? Good gracious....when it rains, it pours! You did a great job with the weight loss, despite how busy you are. You have made great strides in the idea of 'moderation'! I am proud of you, and glad you are done your taxes!!!! That is a cause to celebrate!

I miss 'talking' to you, and always glad when you drop in!!!!

Beth

 

[Cindylou]

Am I correct in thinking that today is both Tandy's and Debra's birthday?

If so, Happy Birthday to you both!!

 

[Hockeychic]

Hey gang, sorry life has just been busy lately.....ggeeeeeezzzzz

Hope you are all doing great!!!!!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Happy Birthday, Debra (and possibly Tandy)!!!

Kim -- Great to hear from you, I think a lot of us have been having LTO lately!

Cindy -- You are so observant! A little bird told me it was Debra's big day today, I'm not sure if Tandy gave us an exact date yet, but I know it's soon!

Debra -- Spock appears to be just a little horse of a kitty, at 5.6 lbs at his first check-up, he's going to be a bruiser when he's full grown. We have to bring in for more blood work this afternoon -- Dennis says I have a knack for picking out the kitty that will cost us the most money, and although we didn't really get to pick , I could be credited with this one, too. Hopefully he will not be a very sick kitty. Have a wonderful time in Seattle! And that is a lot of family to handle, I think you can be forgiven if you do your own personal bourbon chase...

Manda -- So great to see you here! And congratulations on the fabulous weight loss, that is awesome! to the Challenge, Tandy is running it for us and doing a fantatstic job!

Vicky -- I love your saying, "New month, new week, new challenge"! I'm going to post about my visit to Sugar Heaven below. Yes, that's a store

Jackie -- A Girls Weekend sounds like so much fun! I just had one for the Princess and I am so ready for another one. How fun that you can share a healthy hobby with your daughter

Tandy -- I can be honest since everyone else is, I'll come clean below...can I just say I am so impressed with your training with Harrison? What a patient mom you are. I would have strangled my ds trying to get him to run

Beth -- You are going to sail right into that new decade! I am so impressed with your attitude, and the way you are handling adversity. You are a champion, my friend!

For the Challenge --

Loss: Last week I was 193.2, this week I am 187.6. I would like a point for the loss (1), but I do not want this to count as the highest percentage, because I'm still a pound above the weight I reported 2 weeks ago. I ballooned up and then came back to reality, and that would not be fair.

water: 1
fruit/veggies: 1
dairy: 1
new recipe: 1 (Two-Tomato French Bread Pizza)
new food: 1 ricotta cheese
temptation: 0
weekly challenge: 0
exercise: 1

Points: 7 (or 6, if the loss this week doesn't count since I'm above the low I had before)

And an update on me (starting with my weekend, yep, I'm cross-posting) --

I came home from the 7:15am WW meeting Saturday, ran 3M, took a shower, and had fresh pineapple and a homemade 3 pt. banana muffin. We took Spock for his first vet visit, and Chewie had his rabies shot and a blood test. The local library is next to the vet, so I stopped in when we arrived and exchanged the books I'd read for a couple of new ones, Dear Fatty by Dawn French and Scones and Bones by Laura Childs. Then I went to Hallmark and picked out my new Vera Bradley bag. Turns out the Weekender just didn't suit me, so I ended up with a Miller bag, in simply violets. I really like it and I'm excited to use it. I'm also going to pick up a mini hipster this weekend, I think I'm getting the new watercolor pattern, but you know there's an element of "what am I feeling like" when I buy it

DH and I then drove downtown, and walked about 6 blocks to marathon sports -- they have all the Boston Marathon gear. DH picked out 2 jackets, a shirt and a hat, and he had a 20% off coupon because he attended several pre-race workshops, so that was awesome! Literally right next to marathon sports is a store called "Sugar Heaven" with every type of candy imagineable. But I was very restrained and only picked up a special treat for ds (ok, I might have helped him eat a little of the watermelon and rootbeer licorice...).

Then dh and I made our menu and went grocery shopping. By the time we got home it was after 9, and I was beat. The next morning we went to church, dh prepped all the fruit and veggies and made dinner for Monday night (filet mignon and mashed potatoes (WW recipe!), and Sunday night was a WW recipe french bread pizza with ricotta and tomatoes (yum!).

I had my "Supernatural Sunday" -- I save all my Sci Fi Tivo from the week and watch it Sunday while I eat popcorn (ok, popcorn only lasts for 1 show), and went to bed around 10. I totally stuck to my points on Saturday, so I'm very pleased by that. And I only went over a little Sunday, which is accounted for in my weeklies, so I seem to be on track.

DH ran 12 miles Monday night, so I was totally "on duty" on the parenting front. Since he pre-made dinner, it wasn't too stressful. Just had to make sure the homework is done, and thankfully ds didn't need help with algebra

I did intervals for my run yesterday morning, alternating 5.0 and 5.5 for each half mile for 4 miles. I haven't done intervals in awhile, so it felt like much more of a workout. I was in a workshop all day tyesterday, which was deadly dull. Then I had a church meeting, and didn't get home until about 9. That's why I failed to post yesterday, I just ran out of time.

I got up this morning and ran 3M, and I just had a banana and a triple berry smoothie for breakfast. I have a breakfast forum this morning (I just get hot tea, I don't eat), and then I'm going to pick up lunch at Subway, and add some Special K crackers. Those are really good!

We have vet appt. this afternoon, and then I'll be able to relax and see where I am. One of my bathrooms (the one ds uses) is getting really scary, so I have to find time to clean it.

I hope everyone has an awesome day!

Maria

 

[Hockeychic]

Maria that is a awesome loss this week!!!!!

I am tired just reading what your weekend entailed..

 

[rubato]

Hi guys. Yes, I am 41 years old today. Happy Bday Debra!!!!!!!

Manda: Welcome back.

Kim: We missed you too.

I will catch up with everyone else soon. We are out the door for a birthday extravaganza, so I will need more time to talk to everyone later!

 

[bunnyfoo]

Happy birthday Tandy and Debra! ​

Tandy - The coconut cake sounds yummy! Please post the recipe if you get the chance! I love making things with coconut flour! Can't wait to hear about your birthday plans!

Debra - Safe travels! Have fun in Seattle! Go and check out the Maximus Minimus truck if you can (they have veggie stuff I believe). I always thought it looked cool when I saw it on the 10 Best Sandwiches in the US show. Btw, I like your candy idea

Maria - Good job on the loss! We have several of those candy stores in Toronto. I like getting UK candy when I go! Good for you for resisting the meeting goodies - I'm terrible at that.

I promise, promise to check back in with everyone later!

 

[jeanneg]

Hi Ladies,
Sorry for two posts in the same day but I have been looking back at some posts and read about the challenge. I would totally love to participate in this with you!

My weight right now is 199.6 (which is down 27 pounds from January )

I also noticed that a bunch of you are on Facebook. I would love to be Facebook friends with you guys. Then I can't hide if something bad happens again! I need the accountability and it is too easy to just not log in here, even when I need it the most.

Manda: got a FB request today from someone I didn't know, but when I looked at the mutual friends I figured it had to be from this forum. Are your initials AHC? If so, I will confirm you. With so many weirdos out there, a gal can't be too careful!

And what's this about double birthdays.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOTH OF YOU!!!!

 

[mandac]

jeanne - yep, that was me. I meant to send a message with them, but somehow I missed that step.

 

[Creativebeth]

Happy Birthday Tandy and Debra!!!!

I hope you both have a wonderful birthday (((((with NOT too many treats! ))))

Maria: I hit 179.6 this AM! I was excited about that. Your weekend was busy, busy! Good for DH with the meal prep! Makes life much easier!

AFM: I maintain my eating right on target, and very grateful that the scale is moving pretty consistently. I am hoping to stay in the 170's for tomorrow's weigh in, but who knows what it will say with clothes on!

Beth

 

[Hockeychic]

Happy birthday debra and tandy!!!!!

 

[bunnyfoo]

Hello leanies!

Beth - I was going to say that I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll have a good weigh-in tomorrow but you are doing awesome with the loss! You are so focused and just rocking this challenge! A big

Kim - Sorry to hear about the busy schedule! I'm watching your FB posts and wanted to give you a big too! Maybe you can give me a shove onto the right track. Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!!

Manda - I think I "suggested" all the leanies who are on FB. It wouldn't let me add a message though so my apologies for that. We did miss you and are glad you're back WTG on the 25 lbs loss!! That's fantastic Was it a combination of diet and exercise or one more than the other? And lots of for your hamstring! I hope you're feeling better soon!!

Maria - Did you eat the ricotta cheese by itself as well? Just curious what it tastes like. I've never eatten ricotta cheese by itself, usually it's part of a cannoli filling Good for you for only getting one thing at the candy store. You have more self control than I do right now If I were running Boston, I'd load up on all the race goodies I could! Wow! I can't believe the race is right around the corner!

Cindy - Wow! Congrats on the 1.6 lbs!! That is awesome!! And speaking of Boston... how's your training going? How's work? You must be keeping really busy!

Debra - Happy birthday again!! That sounds like one long weekend coming up. (Even though I have a hard time in other parts of my life...) I have learned to say no to my parents and not feel bad about it. They also have some pretty whacky requests and I figure I shouldn't have to hold in the frustration because that just leads to stress and the eventual blow out. Just my $0.02 FWIW But I'll bet they're stopping by to wish you a happy birthday right? So it should (somewhat?) good And your food goal sounds great and I love the idea of journalling while traveling! Can't wait to hear what DOOD has planned for your birthday! Safe travels!!

Tandy - Congrats on your loss!! And I was going to say that I think you should get a day off from clean eating because it's your birthday but it sounds like you're doing great with the coconut cake recipe! How was your 6 miler? And how are your boot camp classes going? And I thought it was cute that Harrison went shopping for a gift for his GF!

Jeanne - I think just keep drinking your water. I've noticed that even if I go low sodium and if I haven't had enough water, my body will hold on to what it has. Sorry to hear about the gain - me too. But we'll get in the clean eating, exercise and water and we'll rock the scale next week!

Jackie - I had a gain too and I'm sticking with the challenge. I know if I don't, it's going to get worse. This way I have (a little bit of) accountability... But yeah, I know how you feel because I hate posting about a gain. And definitely consider the solo trip - the WISH meets make it feel like you're not solo. I did part of January by myself and loved it! I did the parks on my schedule but met up with people for meals.

AFM - I attended information sessions for the Culinary Management and Hollistic Nutrition programs. Both are interesting but the Culinary Management has more of a focus on cooking/baking while the Hollistic Nutrition program is more focused on overall health, meal planning and nutrition. I love cooking and baking and would love to learn more techniques but the program is pretty strict on grading - you get graded on your appearance (your uniform), your work station cleanliness, your cooking techniques and the taste of what you've made. The Holistic Nutrition program is interesting but I don't think the title is protected. The person at the school was also quite cautionary about going into business for myself. *sigh* So many decisions!

Anyway, I gotta get my butt in gear on the weight loss because I want to go shopping soon for spring clothes. Hopefully that will be motivation enough!

I have an appointment with a podiatrist next Wednesday. I've some how developed a corn on my toe. Go figure - I haven't been running much, I haven't worn heels since January and I've been in shoes like rainboots, Uggs, Crocs and running shoes. So what gives At this point, it's quite painful to wear dress shoes so I just want it taken care of! Especially now that I think my ankle is well enough for heels...

Have a great day everyone!

 

[jeanneg]

I just read over all the posts (my, we've been chatty!) and I can't seem to find this week's exercise challenge. Someone Please enlighten me.