2011 Weight Loss Challenge!

What you do is awesome advice too Butterfly. I did that last week while watching the Biggest Loser (like I am now). In the commercials I would get down and do pushups and squats and stuff. I just saw how BIG some of those folks were and it pushed me for a minute!! lol Can't get to that point EVER!!!

Misskris, thank you. That's what made me get off the couch, too!!!! Girl, I was looking at them and I was like, let me grab these weights and do something with myself...hahahaha!

That's what we're here for Kekesmom!!!!! )

I went to the gym this morning with my son for the first time. He did ok up until I started doing my cool down stretching!!! LOL The child care girl came out and I heard this baby screaming in the background and I was like, "is that my child??" LOL And sure enough it was!!! I'm glad he at least let me get a whole workout in though!!! Hopefully he'll do better next time!!! Had a good workout though!!!

I weigh in today and I don't think it will be a good day. I have had a rough week and my only comforter was junk food. I am currently trying to tame the beast right now but I can't. I have had a Nutri-grain bar, sugarfree jello, and a piece of fruit and NOTHING! I truly think I am going to make an unecessary trip to the vending machine before I go and pick my class up from P.E. There is always next week.

STEP AWAY FROM THE VENDING MACHINE!!!!! LOL No, seriously. if you pack your snacks at home to bring with you that will make it easier to stay away from those calorie-laden vending machines that charge too much anyway!!! LOL You can pack things like cheese and triscuits, or peanuts and raisins mixed together, or tuna and wheat crackers, (or even the prepackaged tuna and crackers), Popcorn, string cheese, yogurt and fruit!!! I could go on and on. But don't say you'll do it next week! START TODAY!!!!!

Ate a spinach, tomato, mushroom omlett for breakfast... so yummy, sauteed the veggies in coconut oil (all purpose, hair, skin, and tummy product). Ladies this is a wonderful way to incorporate various food groups into one meal. I also added turkey ham (i dont eat beef or pork) had a yoplait strawberry yogurt added blueberries and granola (homemade with high fiber quaker instant oatmeal and sliced almonds) there ya have it. Its also a meal that works anytime of the day (when i was growing up i was so excited when we had breakfast for dinner) and a way to sneak veggies in for the kids

dairy-check
meat-check
grain-check
fruit- check
vegetable-check
fat/oil- check a health one at that

My entire meal was roughly 400 calories (slightly below), 8 grams of fiber very filling, and included two servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit and washed it down with a bottle of water.

TIP OF THE DAY: PLAN YOUR MEALS WHENEVER POSSIBLE AND LEARN TO TURN ONE MEAL INTO MANY[u]

Many keep food journals to track what they already ate. I take the time to write out what i plan on eating for the entire week! I include snacks, meats, healthy starches and vegetables. It sounds crazy but for me it makes it easier when grocery shopping- i spend less $, preparing balanced meals, when im hungry between meals, and it forces me to look at and expand what i eat.

Sunday evenings i brown slices of ham of various thicknesses, i even cube some right away. Now i have cubed ham for my omlett or to throw on top of a fresh salad, sliced ham to eat with a bowl of high fiber oatmeal, sliced ham to eat in a sandwich on healthy bread loaded with veggies, or if i want to have ham as my protein for dinner one day throughout the week its already prepared. Consider making extra chicken on your next chicken night. I shred the remaining and either use it for quesadillas, gumbo (which i did last week with extra tomatoes, peppers and brown rice), chicken salad (either with whole wheat crackers or toast) put on a salad, another healthy sandwich with veggies, or top a frozen cheese pizza add mushrooms, spinach, peppers and a little garlic infused olive oil. The same can be done with any meat, eggs, and even certain vegetables. The key to staying on track with healthy food choices is to make it convenient. If you plan ahead healthy choices will begin way before you put the food in your mouth, they'll start before you head to the checkout lane at the grocery store. Keep up the good work everyone!

LuvMeLuvMyFro wrote:I weigh in today and I don't think it will be a good day. I have had a rough week and my only comforter was junk food. I am currently trying to tame the beast right now but I can't. I have had a Nutri-grain bar, sugarfree jello, and a piece of fruit and NOTHING! I truly think I am going to make an unecessary trip to the vending machine before I go and pick my class up from P.E. There is always next week.

fruit is a wonderful snack to pack to help with a slight sweets craving, the laughing cow cheese and a couple of crackers, apples w/ peanut butter is good and provides a balance of carbs and protein needed to help hold you to your next meal. if you fall off doesnt mean that you cant get back on until next week or even tomorrow, just pick up in the right place at the next meal time! <--- MissKriss and myself cheering you on!

Misskirs, fantastic idea! I always have healthy snacks with me. Even when I think I'm coming right back home, I'll throw a banana in my bag or a baggie with almonds. That way, I am never caught starving and off guard.

Blkbeauty, you are absolutey on point! Planning is key to success in weight loss and healthy eating. I track what I eat on the computer on WW eTools, and I fill in my tracker in the morning for the entire day. I keep meaning to do a week at a time but haven't yet.

For breakfast this morning I had a carb balance tortilla (lots of fiber) filled with 3 egg whites, fresh spinach, turkey sausage crumbles and a little 2% shredded mexican cheese cooked with butter-flavored PAM, and an apple sliced on the side. Delish and filling.

Luvmeluvmyfro, I completely understand what you are talking about. I had a day like that myself on Monday. I just couldn't seem to get satisfied . I was frustrated because I really wanted to stay on plan, but nothing was working. So I went for a walk and reminded myself of my goals. When I got back home, I got my WW magazine and read some articles just to get back on track mentally. Getting my WW materials out whether it be the pocket guide or that new PointsPlus getting started book they gave out or going on my eTools-- that gets me back in the right frame of mind. You have to find little tricks that work for you in times like that. For me, it's just that I can't have those tools right in front of me and ignore them.

@ Butterfly I love that, I so want people to understand that you can eat healthy and have a VARIETY of foods, not just cereal and oatmeal, chicken and broccoli. I too do breakfast tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tortillas, panini's, I sub white rice for brown rice even at breakfast. I love to cook and food network, the channel and website are my best friends. Not a gormet chef at all but I love food more than anything (sad i know) but many of the recipes can be altered and it helps me to expand the types of food ill even consider purchasing. For example tilapia, salmon, trout i eat fish for dinner at least once a week and its not just catfish, perch or cod and deep fried like most of us do. Rachael Ray "taught" me to stuff eggplant which is sooooooo sooooo sooooooo sooooo sooooo soooooo (sorry my inner fat girl surfaced) good, i know will roast some squash in a heartbeat (mix evoo and onion soup mix, rub, sprinkle w/ s&p, throw in the oven). BTW, i went to a weight watchers center yesterday Im considering joining, just mad ill have to repurchase all the materials since they changed to points system, but for now im using my old sliding card. Did you join before they went to points plus?

LMAO @ your "inner fat girl" HAhahahahahaha!!! Girl I know what you mean!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE food as well, but I rarely go to foodnetwork. I feel like all their stuff is too caloric, but I could be wrong.I'll check it out again. Have you looked at www.eatbetteramerica.com? They have great recipes on there. And I just found www.food.com. They also have healthy recipes on there and so does www.allrecipes.com. Thanks for giving me the idea of fish tonight. that sounds good. I haven't any in a few days so it's time. Another one that actually has good recipes (i made one that came out the BOMB!!) is www.specialk.com. You know how they have the SpecialK challenge to lose 6 lbs in 2 weeks? I actually did that a while back and it works and you're not hungry all the time. I wasn't anyway. But they have some really good recpes on that site. Have you tried quinoa?? One of my faves now. Just season it up like you would rice. My kids even like it!!!

Blkbeauty, you are a hoot! I love, love, love food too !! Again, I love what you are saying...people (including my husband who I am working on) think that healthy equals bland, boring, and restrictive, but that is sooooo not the case. Yeah, I joined WW in Sept. '09, achieved lifetime status in Jan. '10. So I have to repurchase all the materials, but I love learning new things and reading all the new things and using the new tools. It just really keeps me interested. I just purchase a little at a time. At the first meeting this month, they gave us a new Getting Started guide and a new pocket guide, which really has a lot of info, and all I purchased so far is the new PointsPlus calculator for $12. I have a few WW and Hungry Girl cookbooks, so I spend some time on the weekends going through there and recalculating the PointsPlus, but by doing that, I'm rediscovering recipes I loved or new ones that I want to try.

What?! I hope they're saying good stuff about it. I really like the WW program.

LOL! yeah, it was all good. Dr. Oz said he really likes the WW prgm especially the new points plus. I have only ever done LA Weight Loss back in the day and I lost 35 lbs the 1st time while I was in grad school. Then I got lazy and gained it back. Then I joined again in 2005 but then had to stop cuz I found out I was pregnant. But because I know what I am supposed to do I have sworn off paying a company to help me lose weight. But I know it workes great for many people. I just don't wanna give em my money again!! LOL But the support is great.

I know what you mean about the money thing. I feel the same way about gym memberships. I know many people LOVE them, but I just think there is so much exercising and different types of activities you can do at home or at the park or playing tennis, swimming, skating, dancing...you know the list goes on and on. I have belonged to many gyms but found that I just don't like paying for it. But yeah, I love the support and the tools and the reading material and things like that I get from WW. I have been thinking though of ending my eTools account. That goes hand in hand with attending the WW meetings, but it's not really necessary to me now that I know exactly how the program works and will continue to get all the information I need from going to the meetings.

You have to pay extra for the etools???

That's funny that we have opposite thoughts about the gyms and weight loss centers!! I LOVE the gyms!!! And ours is cheap, my husband's is $12 a month and he added me for only $9 a month!!! And they have mostly everything in there we need. Plus I still do the at -home vids and stuff too. When it warms up I'll be doing the walking/jogging outside again. I like to mix it up. But in the end, we all just need to do what works best for us. And there's probably a million different things for what works best for a million different people. lol

Yeah, you're right about that...lol. Yes, you have to pay for the eTools, which I think is a bunch of bull since you're already paying for WW. Now, the only thing that saves me is that as a lifetime member you don't have to pay for meetings as long as you weigh in no more than 2 lbs above your goal weight. But yeah, I'll be letting that extra expense go, and spend my money on more Wii games...lol

I did pack snacks today but I couldn't satisfy that "carb beast". I won't tell you what I ate to soothe the beast but it wasn't good. I even tried increasing my water intake to fool myself into being full but it didn't work. I do really good for breakfast, morning snack and lunch BUT late afternoon right before dismissal and dinner is giving me a fit. I usually blow my points during that period.

Mandi, if you don't feel well, maybe you should listen to your body and take it easy, but drink plenty of (no cal, no sugar) liquids, eat broth-based soups, lots of fruit, and maybe some cool soothing sorbet if you like that. You won't gain the weight back that way... fight it, Mandi, fight it!...LOL

LuvMe, that's great that you know when you're having the problem Maybe you could keep a container of fruit at your desk maybe with some sugar-free caramel dip or some veggies with some low-fat ranch dip (I like the individual containers of the dips). Are you getting enough carbs with your lunch? I love the individual cups of Minute Rice brown rice. Sometimes I'll toast a Thomas' light multi-grain English Muffin add some butter spray and drizzle honey over the top...satisfies my carb and sweet tooth.

I was reading somethin the other day that said you should snack around the 2:00 hour because of cyclical changes in glucose around that time of day makes us hungry. Youre a teacher and I know it hard to stuff your face in the middle of a lesson but consider a sugar free flavorful piece of gum or candy you can put in your mouth for a while until you can dash to the back of the class and much. Great quiet options with carbs and protein include raisins and peanuts, cheese peanut butter or cheese and crackers (spread them at lunch and keep in a container on your desk just open grab and eat- i really like the cinnimin grahm crackers and peanut butter) and yogurt. Have you tried fiber one products? I love the poptarts as breakfast or as a snack (5g of filling fiber per pastry), or the fiberone granola bars, i eat the chocolate chip ones and make it my "dessert" for lunch (9g of fiber per bar. Hopefully that helps.

P.S. MONDAY NIGHT I asked my boyfriend to unloaded the dishwasher and he has not done it yet... I feel like this ---> and I'm so (insert negative emotion here) that I just wanna skip my morning workout and eat ice cream and watch the Today show! Gonna resist the urge to fall off and lash out , put my black girl back in my pocket and go for a run. Yall know his ass been eatin cereal since Monday night!!! *inserting 21 year old black girl into back pocket and proceeding to unload the dishwasher* I'll be back later with a Tip of the Day. Stay strong ladies!

Hey ladies. Thanks for all the suggestions. However, I try to stay away from the processed foods with artificial ingredients like the poptarts. And @ Butterfly...there's really such a thing as "sugar-free caramel"? LOL i thought that caramel was made OF sugar!!!??? I can't even imagine what's in that one!! I also try to stayfar away from stuff that has aspartame in it (which is probably what's in tha sugar-free caramel). Too much of it has been shown to cause cancer. It's in a lot of yogurts too so I only get the all natural kinds without it. I like to get all natural snacks which I LOVE to get from my trusty Trader Joe's. Can't go wrong in there!!!! LOVE that place.

Y'all do what works, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in about the artificial ingredients.

@ Mandi, Hope you feel better soon. I wonder if it has anything to do with those pills you were taking and then stopped. Could be a side effect of you not taking anymore.....??? I don't wanna say withdrawal cuz I dunno how long you were taking them but I know that some of those products can have that effect. But do what you can, and like Butterfly said, listen to your body. If you need to rest, rest!!! Start back easy and just make sure you still eat right and hyrdate.

I don't know, Misskris, I don't want to suggest that anyone take or eat anything that they are trying to stay away from or that they feel is harmful. I stay away from sugar because diabetes runs in my family. I've also read and been told that that soy products cause cancer, especially to reoccur in patients that have had cancer so I stay away from that also. But, yes, natural ingredients are best.

Yeah I don't eat much soy stuff either. I heard the same thing. I also have been limiting my salt intak too --> High blood pressure runs in my family (mom and dad - dad died of a heart attack in 99) I have never had high bp, not even while pregnant but I don't want to risk it either. My husband and I like sushi a lot but the other day I went to the store to see how much sodium was in it....I was BLOWN away....it was like 1030 mg of sodium in ONE serviing and there's normally 2 servings in a pack. So My hubby is the main one who gets them and he usually eats them all by himself (I'll take one piece most of the time) So I was like well shoooooot, with all that dang sodium, I can learn how to make sushi myself!!!!! And save SO much salt!!! So I haven't tried it yet but I have the stuff to do it. Bought some imitation crab meat cuz my hubby is allergic to shellfish and some crab meat for me, seaweed (nori I think it's called) and some short grain brown rice (cuz the short grain rice sticks better) and I'll make it soon. Maybe even tonight!!