@CountingDown love that green bean casserole, much to my shame, but at least we only have it at Thanksgiving!
When building your plate truly stop and take a look at it. White/tan plates, not good! Add color in the form of raw vegetables for a quick fix.
One thing I’ve been doing this summer. I have a garden - not too big but takes care of at home needs. I put a long rectangular dish on my counter - that’s where I plop most of the veggies after I pick them. They are staring me right in the face as I decide/prep meals. I am making a habit to pick a few things from the plate with my lunch I pack and my dinner I make. And then keep refilling the plate! Don’t hide your veggies - put them where you’ll grab them!
I am always game to try new recipes. On my Flipboard I have a recipe section. I’ve found a lot of great new recipes. Some of the articles are for unhealthy foods but a lot are for healthy meals. Yesterday I read one that gave a bunch of recipes for ground turkey. Last night I made one where I added scallions, shredded sweet potato, chopped kale, ginger, curry powder fresh lime juice and lime zest and garlic along with a beaten egg to ground turkey. I formed them into large meatball size balls and put them on parchment lined sheet pan. I flattened them and baked. They were really good and you didn’t taste the vegetables if anything it made the turkey taste better. I served it with a green salad and quinoa. The recipe called for making a sauce of apricot jam, fresh ginger and soy sauce. I had some apricot jam a friend had made and used that. It gave it a bit of moisture. It was a healthy meal that was delicious.
Confession. Hubby nailed a huge deal today at work. I’m having wine and a cracker barrel string cheese for dinner to celebrate.
I bought a new Kitchenaid mixer and treated myself to the accessory kit. I tried it out last night by spiralizing some zucchini, carrots, and onions. Sauteed them together and added some soy and szechuan sauce. Oh my - it was sooo good and flavorful! It will be my new favorite way to get vegetables in and cut some calories.
I just nearly killed my husband. He went on my old bike and did a class with me. He literally had to lay in bed for a few minutes - lol. He usually runs on the treadmill so this was a killer for him.
@yauponredux - I’ll see you on the bottom. I’m #Amy4theWin I was like how on earth are people higher, I’m dying right now?!
Super hot where I live. I set out before dawn to run six miles and just couldn’t. I ran 2.5. It was already 80 degrees and very humid. But all was not lost. I went to the gym and cranked out five on the treadmill in the AC. I am going to have to rethink my run schedule. Maybe do the short ones outside and the long ones inside until there weather changes.
I think @eyemamom experience with her H shows why it’s good to not only do one form of exercise. Congrats on your new toy. I think it is great when we allow ourself to buy something for ourselves that is extravagant.
I joined the Y about 8 months ago and it has become part of my routine. I had never done strength training before and I’ve found I really like it. I love that I’ve seen progress in the amount of weight I use and definition in my arms and other areas. My flexibility has also increased.I feel so much better.
I also had the realization that one doesn’t get in shape and stop exercising. That one needs to keep on exercising.
I also notice watching my H and kids who are very fit. They each have a different approach to fitness. My D loves the gym. She runs, she lifts weights and is strong and rock solid muscle. She likes the camaraderie of the people at her gym. She hates riding a bike and isn’t a fan of playing a sport. My S lift weights and works out for muscle strength but gets all his cardio from playing basketball. My H has never set foot inside a gym yet he is one of the most fit men I know. He finds activities such as running or long distance cycling boring. He much prefers his exercise to in his words have a fun component and to be competitive. So he plays volleyball, tennis and surfs.If he bikes he wants it to be on a mountain bike with challenges. If he swims it’s in the ocean for pleasure not conditioning. He gets fit through what he calls his life versus what I call exercise.
We are all different and we can all find something that works for us.
^^^ Right and as you say, in addition to finding something that works for “us”…and to keep doing it.
The benefits of exercising are multi-fold : promotes self esteem, is good for you physically, good for you mentally, etc.
You can eat better/less and lose weight on a scale - but exercise will give you results in the mirror that only exercise can do (toning). It’s never too late!
Well my nephew is crawling at full speed now so chasing him around all week has been the most exercise I’ve gotten in a while… and my body is definitely feeling it.
Every time I go see him, I get baby fever bad and it re-motivates me to lose the weight so I can bring my own little one into our family.
Hit my first goal. 259.7 this morning.
Not a great eating week, in fact maybe the worst. However, the numbers are steady and I am managing to be flexible about exercise. Streets were closed where I am right now, so rented bikes and biked up and down for a few hours. The crowd was so large we weren’t fast, but it was fun.
Haven’t posted here too much but read all the time, today I am down 40 pounds from January! About 8 lbs from the beginning of this thread. I was stuck most of the summer gaining two pounds losing two pounds. Glad to have punched through the plateau!
^^^ What is your recipe for success???
@eyemamom and @yauponredux I’m jealous of your Peloton bikes! I would love to hear updates as you use them. I would want to turn off the stats function though. 
@3girls3cats - I didn’t consider myself to be super fit, but I thought I was okay - until I tried the real peloton bike - omg… I hang on to the mantra, it doesn’t get easier, you get stronger. I’m doing something called power zone training. Today was my fitness test. I was lucky to make it through the 10 minute warm up and the 20 minute class! With this info you can generate your zones 1 - 7 and this guy has a 6 week training process to get you more fit by working in the different zones. Then you retake the test after 6 weeks and see how you’ve improved. I just love numbers and stats, so this will be right up my alley. I highly recommend this bike - you can do 12 months same as cash - $197/mo.
I am on the bottom of the leader board, but I figure it can only get better from here. I don’t really care all that much about that, but I do seriously hover usually around the top of the bottom third.
Today I’m officially less than 20 lbs to my goal. And my new smaller pants are feeling a bit too big now. It was beyond a thrill to order some lounge pants from athleta and order a medium. Maybe one day I’ll fit in lululemon - lol (I don’t think they really go over a size 8)
@eyemamom it’s very tempting! I have no place to put it though so it keeps me from biting the bullet. But please, keep talking me into it. I am a pushover. I really like the idea of the fitness test so that your zones are customized to you personally.
My daughter’s BF is a sweet laid back guy in all respects but one–his spin class status. He’s absolutely ferocious there and intensely determined to be at the top. Me? I’m just happy to survive and I’m grateful that I’m not being compared to anyone else. I’m always surprised when the instructor asks who maintained more than 200 watts on a 2 minute sprint and I’m one of the smaller group who has accomplished it. I always figure that my bike is calibrated too easy. I think it goes back to an uncoordinated childhood body and being chosen near the very end in gym class. 
Good for you on the loose pants! It’s the best feeling, isn’t it? I have been shopping in my closet and I have-shall we say-regained use of some pants that I used to love and am close to fitting into my favorite pair.
It is very compact. I can’t imagine it couldn’t fit against a wall somewhere. It really has a very small footprint.
I’m working towards getting to 300 on a ride. That feels far away, I’m in the 250’s now. I have no idea how people do it ahead of me - there are people in the 700’s.
Awesome job on the pants as well! This is the smallest I’ve been in a decade so I don’t have any smaller clothes as a goal. I think I need to buy a smaller pair of pants and a dress for motivation.
Had a difficult few weeks - traveling/eating out, company at home, and indulging in summer fruit - and then I upped my weight training, so who knows what that does to the scale…
But when I weighed myself this morning, I was down again. 10 lbs to go.
@3girls3cats, I am amazed that I am actually so into it that while out of town I got two rides in at the local Peloton store so as not to lose my momentum! This is especially remarkable considering I am still 40 pounds overweight, and one of the main reasons I got the bike was so I wouldn’t be seen in public wearing workout clothes! You can turn off all the stats if you like; mostly I am just looking at where I am compared to the last ride I did. I haven’t yet worked up to doing the power zone training that @eyemamom is doing but plan to do that when I won’t be traveling as much.
You can get a sense of the instructors and types of classes by using the app on any bike, but the Peloton bike is super quiet and has all the stats should you want them. It was a big chunk of change to drop on something that my past history indicated would wind up in a garage sale, but I feel great, and my clothes are literally falling off. This is the first time in 15 years that I have worked out consistently - added a Pilates class last week and getting ready to schedule a few personal training sessions to pick up a weight routine. I’m also tracking what I eat with My Fitness Pal, but I absolutely recommend the bike. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. It has a very small footprint; if you want to do the arm work with weights that some classes include, you’d need a bit more room, but when I rode in store the bike was very near a wall on one side.