BWW Weight Loss Thread: April

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 4/28/2009 1:21:42 PM
Author: EmptyLeftHand
I took your advice Luv - mostly! I have been doing a bit of weight training and aerobic exercise by stripping off more wallpaper, painting the ceiling and walls of my new bedroom and digging the garden. Flipping knackered but 3lb lighter and sleeping like a baby.

ELH - that''s great! Working around the house like that is always great for you too. I know the feeling exactly - SOOOO tired, but you feel really good. Sleeping is another reason I need to get my toosh moving - I haven''t been sleeping well at all, and it''s probably because I don''t do enough during the day to expend my physical energy.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 4/28/2009 4:13:00 PM
Author: sunnyd

Sooo I need a change in diet.

Anyone have good recipes for high protein/low fat/carb/sodium meals? Is there a protein injection I can just get and not worry about eating ever?!?!

Sunnyd - haha your avatar cracks me up every time I look at it.

As far as the meals go - your goal is exactly what I strive for in my daily routine. High protein, low fat, medium carbs (all complex), and low sodium. I also try to incorporate a lot of fiber, since I think my body needs a lot of it. If this is too detailed, just ignore. But this is the easiest way I can explain - here's what I eat every day (Monday through Friday - Saturdays are the same idea but FI and I get turkey subs one day and ChickFilA the other):

Breakfast: 3 egg whites w/ a little yoke, Fiber One cereal, skim milk, and OJ
Snack: Banana, whole wheat bagel with peanut butter
Lunch: Brown rice (with gravy) and either turkey (canned) or chicken breast, small microwave broccoli w/ cheese (or a salad)
Snack: Low fat string cheese, reduced fat Triscuits
Snack: Dannon light and fit yogurt, 100 calorie pack Blue Diamond whole natural almonds
Shake: 1/2 Whey Gold protein shake (only after a workout)
Supper: Vegetable soup, either crackers or a grilled cheese (2 slices double fiber wheat bread, low fat cheese)

I literally eat the same thing every day, so I'm not too helpful with recipes. I know some people would call me crazy, but I'm such a creature of habit, and I'd rather do this than spend loads of $ at the grocery store and have to spend an hour cooking every night. I cook all my lunches Sunday afternoon for the week ahead. And the vegetable soup is a really healthy one I make Sundays also and can just cook a bowl of every night - 5 minute supper!

Well, for my actual meals: the lunch. I use brown rice, a packet of chicken gravy, and canned turkey breast with a little seasoned salt sprinkled on it. The gravy packet has the highest sodium of anything I eat, but it's really not too bad. The rice needed something on it, haha! Then I either eat a small salad of leafy greens and spinack with a little sprinkle cheese and fat free dressing, or a small microwave broccoli my FI showed me. It's made by Green Giant and hard for me to find, but it's called "Just for Ones" - 1.5 minutes in the microwave, and you've got a yummy side of broccoli with cheese, and only 3g of fat in it.

The soup is soooo good. Haha I won't list it in this post, but I can give you the recipe if you want - it's full of vegetables, turkey breast, and is really healthy.

All in all, I eat ~1500-1600 calories a day on average. Varies a little on if I work out, my hunger that day, etc. I eat ~110 grams of protein, ~230 grams of carbs, ~45 grams of fat, ~2500 mg of sodium, and ~40 grams of fiber (which negates the carbs also). This actually needs some work now that I added that up for this - the peanut butter and grilled cheese are recent additions, and I don't like them in my diet very much. When I used to go really hard at it, I ate maybe 20g of fat a day, and kept my carbs under 200g. But the carbs are still ok as long as I'm working out.

Aaaanyway, after WAY too much info than you probably wanted, I think something along the lines of my lunch might be a good recipe suggestion for you. Basically, something that's a complex carb (red potatoes are good too), a meat (lean turkey breast or chicken breast - get the lowest fat content available), and a vegetable with some fiber to it so it keeps you fuller longer. I can give you flavor ideas and such if you're interested. Just remember that these are small meals since I snack a lot, so I'm usually hungry within an hour or two.

ETA - So sorry for the novel.

 

[sunnyd]

Wow!! Thanks for writing that all out for me! I can be a creature of habit, but only for breakfast and lunch. I have a bar for breakfast and usually Subway or vietnamese for lunch. Hahaha. I don''t know how you do it for every meal!

I also am having an affair with salt. Which I need to stop!

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Date: 4/30/2009 3:12:30 PM
Author: sunnyd
Wow!! Thanks for writing that all out for me! I can be a creature of habit, but only for breakfast and lunch. I have a bar for breakfast and usually Subway or vietnamese for lunch. Hahaha. I don''t know how you do it for every meal!


I also am having an affair with salt. Which I need to stop!

Mmmmm.... saaaallllttttt....

I love salt. So much. I don''t eat fast food, so I don''t get sodium from there... But I love V8 vegetable juice, salty pretzels, and PICKLES! ::drooling::

Nevermind that there''s probably a ton of sodium/msg in the thai food that FI & I eat (at least) 2 times a week. Yummm...

Have I ever mentioned that I have borderline high blood pressure?

I''m not overweight and my body fat is pretty average... But my super-thin momma and my dad both have high blood pressure. I really need to chart my sodium intake.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Well- last of of April. This month was a big, fat, FAIL. I''m still not discouraged, though

It hit me that my first fitting is in two months (er, I really should push it back a bit further... oh well) and I''m nervous about how my dress currently fits. I tried it on in December, and I''m picking it up from Ohio in three weeks.

Physical activity? What physical activity? I e-mailed a personal trainer yesterday. I can''t afford one. I really, really can''t afford one. And FI thinks it''s ridiculous, but that''s because he''s naturally lean. I need some serious motivation and direction, and dropping $300 sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Eating- Eh. Neither here, no there. I''ve been super-good about writing down everything that I eat WITHOUT making an effort to eat espeically "healthfully", so that I could determine my true food habits. As it turns out, everything goes downhill at about 6:00pm. I usually wait til 9:30 to eat when FI gets home from the pharmacy (

) and am RAVENOUS! It results in me eating enough dinner for 2.5 people. Eek. So while my food choices are all quite healthy, I''m eating WAY more than I need to. Well- I take that back- I''m not GAINING weight, so I''m eating to "maintain." What I need to do is eat to LOSE.

I''ve decided that I need to eat earlier, at a normal dinner time... But I know I''ll still want to sit and "eat" with him when it is HIS dinner hour. I need good nighttime snack ideas. FI suggest a bowl of cereal, but I''m not convinced.

What are all of your favorite nighttime snacks?

Ooooh! And I''ve discovered the BEST daily "treat" that fixes my chocolate craving: Fat-free, no sugar added FUDGESICLES!!! 40 calories of wonderfulness. I have one each night

 

[kama_s]

I fell off the bandwagon for 2 weeks. I didnt go to the gym even once in the 2 weeks, and to top it I was baking a lot so eating way too many yummy goodies. Back on track this week, worked out 3x so far with just a teeny bit of goodies (can''t take that away altogether

).

I was scared I put on weight, but I had my second fitting y''day and the dress fits just the way it did 2 weeks ago. *phew*

It''s crunch time, less than 2 months to go for me :S

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 4/30/2009 4:15:15 PM
Author: PilsnPinkysMom

Eating- Eh. Neither here, no there. I've been super-good about writing down everything that I eat WITHOUT making an effort to eat espeically 'healthfully', so that I could determine my true food habits. As it turns out, everything goes downhill at about 6:00pm. I usually wait til 9:30 to eat when FI gets home from the pharmacy (

) and am RAVENOUS! It results in me eating enough dinner for 2.5 people. Eek. So while my food choices are all quite healthy, I'm eating WAY more than I need to. Well- I take that back- I'm not GAINING weight, so I'm eating to 'maintain.' What I need to do is eat to LOSE.

I've decided that I need to eat earlier, at a normal dinner time... But I know I'll still want to sit and 'eat' with him when it is HIS dinner hour. I need good nighttime snack ideas. FI suggest a bowl of cereal, but I'm not convinced.

What are all of your favorite nighttime snacks?

Ooooh! And I've discovered the BEST daily 'treat' that fixes my chocolate craving: Fat-free, no sugar added FUDGESICLES!!! 40 calories of wonderfulness. I have one each night

That's excellent that you're keeping a journal! That's EXACTLY what it's for - and it's so great to see that you've benefited from doing it and realized what you can fix!!

I'm all for eating supper at a normal time - usually by 6pm is a good cutoff. Nighttime snacks are something I use a lot. My specific favorite is a bowl of cheerios and skim milk. Used to put raisins in it, but they weren't that good, especially for me to be eating at night. Just make sure if you have cereal that you use the serving size if you're keeping track of how much you're eating - it's so easy to make a bown of cereal that's actually 2 servings' size. But I do second your FI's suggestion - cereal seems to fill me up but also satisfy that little sweet tooth.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 4/30/2009 3:12:30 PM
Author: sunnyd
Wow!! Thanks for writing that all out for me! I can be a creature of habit, but only for breakfast and lunch. I have a bar for breakfast and usually Subway or vietnamese for lunch. Hahaha. I don''t know how you do it for every meal!

Haha I just do it for every meal just b/c it''s so easy. I usually take my lunch for 4 days a week and go to Subway or something on Fridays. It''s a nice reward. FI and I get a different supper every now and then, but mostly it''s just the soup - it works well for both of us - when we''re on a roll and in a good schedule, the last thing I want to do after working out after work is cook - so heating up the soup is very easy. Like I said, every now and then we get tired of it and want a break, but it''s a pretty good plan overall.

So I guess you''re wanting meal ideas for supper then? Here''s a few I like to mix and match with when I do cook. We really focus on high protein, low fat, reducing sodium, complex carbs, and fiber - so all this falls mostly in that.

For the carbs:
- Peel, cut up, and boil some large red potatoes. When they''re cooked, mash them up with a little bit of skim milk, low fat margarine, low fat sprinkle cheese, and some garlic salt. Seriously, YUUUMMMM.
- Slice and boil some small red potatoes (skin on). Serve with just some butter and salt/pepper.
- Brown rice (real, not instant - instant just tastes weird) - cook and serve alone if you like it that way, or with meat on top, or with gravy. I like the McCormick chicken or turkey gravy packs.
- Pinto beans or kidney beans are really high in protein - and really fill you up - very yummy. Just rinse off all that gross syrup really well first.
- Dreamfields pasta makes pasta that is low in carbs and high in fiber. It''s so good, and you don''t get bloated from eating it like regular pasta does to you. We love to make spaghetti with this on the weekends.

For the meat:
- Thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts. My personal favorite is to marinade them a little while (~15 mins) in a McCormick packet of marinade (my favorite is the Zesty Herb). They also make sprinkle spices - the Montreal Steak is soooo good. I like to put whatever flavoring on a piece of chicken, then put on at a time on my little George Foreman grill.
- 99% fat free ground chicken - usually comes in 1lb packs. Easy to put in a pan on the stove and just cook like ground beef. Just add whatever seasoning you like to it. My only advice is to only cook what you''re going to eat that night, because it''s not very good reheated.
- 99% fat free ground turkey - it''s what I put in my soup. Actually very flavorful - you can also add whatever seasonings you like - same as the ground chicken.
- Every now and then we like to get the 96% fat free ground beef (comes in 1lb packet here) and make burgers. I patty them out and either cook on the George Foreman grill or on a real grill. The McCormick Garlic and Onion is awesome mixed up into the patties. I try to get whole wheat buns to put them on - very yummy!!
- When we make spaghetti, I use the same ground beef as above. I make my own sauce with a can of tomato sauce and flavored tomato paste and add the beef - YUUUMMMM.

For the vegetables (my worst category - I''m not very creative here):
- I think the frozen vegetables you can buy and steam in their bag in the microwave are really handy. Not very flavorful though in my opinion.
- Broccoli, or asparagus baked in EVOO - both good options.
- I once did a stir fry with fresh broccoli, potatoes, carrots, bean sprouts (YUM!), and chicken - again, the McCormick vegetable seasonings are really good on stuff like this.
- Otherwise, I revert to canned vegetables.

Perdue and McCormick seem to have some yummy recipes on their websites if you want some ideas also.

Hope this helps a little!

 

[CDNinNYC]

If anyone needs to lose those last annoying 5 pounds, can I recommend having your wedding cancelled on you thirty days prior to your date because of a flu epidemic?

I have my 2nd fitting today. I may not have a venue but at least I''ll look good in my dress!

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Date: 5/1/2009 11:24:59 AM
Author: CDNinNYC
If anyone needs to lose those last annoying 5 pounds, can I recommend having your wedding cancelled on you thirty days prior to your date because of a flu epidemic?

I have my 2nd fitting today. I may not have a venue but at least I''ll look good in my dress!

Are you serious CDN??? Oh my gosh!!!!