<p>I’ve discovered that 4# is just pee. I’m going to look good on my next visit to my GP, especially when I to a solids removal. :)</p>
<p>The Rat Pack were only thin guys until they hit middle age. Then, they mostly all got fat except for Sammy (and the smoking killed him).</p>
<p>Maybe they stopped with the maritinis and moved to beer . . .</p>
<p>Getting caught up on exercise videos this week. </p>
<p>The Good:</p>
<p>This an example of impeccable form. I just started doing this exercise (it’s another big hip power exercise like a kettlebell swing, using a hip hinge to drive the weight up). I can only dream of doing it this well. Maybe I can work my way up to the 45 pound DB this 120 pound woman is using, but not this week.</p>
<p>[DB</a> Snatch 45x5 - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>The bad:</p>
<p>This is an example of doing everything you could imagine wrong lifting weights. A perfect recipe for getting injured. It hurts to even watch.</p>
<p>[Revival</a> Strongman - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
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<p>I don’t think even Austin Powers had a 4 pound bladder capacity! 
I do think that much of the variation we see is fluids, although maybe more related to overall hydration levels.</p>
<p>There is one theory (who knows if it’s true or not) that fat cells replace initially replace fat content with water to maintain the capacity and then, finally give up the water explaining the sudden drops while dieting. Who knows?</p>
<p>FWIW, a friend keeps telling me about the wonders of Green Tea so I’ve been having a cup mid-morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Perhaps I’m just imagining it but the Green Tea does seem to tamp down my appetite. Friend claims it has helped her lose weight.</p>
<p>^^ I have tried so hard to like green tea, but I just don’t. I can stand it, but it didn’t work as my “go to” drink. I’m better with regular decaf tea in the afternoon with a sweetener packet and lemon.</p>
<p>There are harsher and smoother green teas around. The Japanese Green Teas are usually smoother.</p>
<p>I do tea mixes most of the time. My current is Darjeeling + English Breakfast. Sometimes I do Earl Grey and one of the other two. I also like lemon + spiced apple and a bunch of other combinations.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice and motivation! You have no idea how it helps.</p>
<p>Interestesdad, the pop issue is huge for me. I don’t think I can quit cold turkey. And living in a,house with two skinny teengers and a normal weight husband is difficult because there is always junk in the,house and late at night it sings,to me. Lol.</p>
<p>My gym has been closed for 6 months for a fire but starting Dec. 9th - January 1st it is free. My cousin and I plan to be there. My goal is to run a marathon. I love running, that is my fave exercise. So there is a,race around,the,first,of,June - a 5k and I am determined to compete. So I have about 5 1/2 months to be ready.</p>
<p>My word for this month is CHOICES. I can and will make healthy choices.</p>
<p>mspearl, if I could do it - you can do it, too (run a marathon). I’m absolutely positive that you will be able to run a 5K in June without a problem. My 2 cents of advice: get fitted for shoes and “pre-reward” yourself some new running clothes; it will make your training sooo much easier. :)</p>
Tell me about it. I always had a 2-liter Coke or Pepsi in the fridge. Heck, for 99 cents or whatever, it was almost cheaper than water. Polish off a nice tall glass of that while noshing on a bag of Doritos. That had to change.
While I was in D.C., two large bottles of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice mysteriously appeared in my fridge. They’ll sit there until the end of the milleneum because touching a drop of that stuff (my fav!) isn’t an option. I have to view liquid sugar as poison for me, because I know where it would lead.
BTW, my biggest regret as a parent was having sugar drinks in the house. If I had it to do over, that would be the one thing that was out of the cupboard. Getting kids hooked on soda and juice is a bad deal all around.
<p>mspearl- Do you like diet sodas? I know some say they are a diet no-no, but I am able to drink them without a problem (well, except that I’m not supposed to due to bone density issues…). You could start by mixing 1/2 diet and half sugar soda if you truly prefer the taste of the real stuff. I can’t drink sugared soda at all. I hate it.</p>
<p>Remember when our kids were little and apple juice was the thing we were basically supposed to force-feed them as a drink? My kids were never as big on it as some were, but now they are saying that it is about the worst thing you could give them. I think beer might have been a better choice!</p>
We have free soda, juice, pizza (on Fridays), cold sandwiches on other days, coffee, tea, milk and the occasional donuts, muffins and apples in the kitchens. It can be hard to say no to all of the free drinks and food. I haven’t had a soda in a long time - last I can remember, I brought a diet soda to tennis by accident (meant to bring a can of spritzer).
5 miles, 8:55 pace. Mile times: 9:25, 8:49, 8:49, 8:47, 8:42. I feel moderately better than last week - the cold isn’t affecting me as much - this week it’s much less coughing and somewhat less nasal congestion.
<p>We only have sodas in the house for parties and our kids only drank sodas when we went out for meals. But they often drink lemonade, apple cider or orange juice - so I can’t pat myself on the back too much. They also drink a fair amount of water though when they are home. </p>
<p>My oldest was drinking a lot of soda at work, but has decided he was getting over-caffinated and cut back on colas - I’m not sure he’d drinking anything healthy though. He lives on chicken, Life cereal and bread.</p>
<p>Mspearl–you’ve made the first step, which is often what most people can’t do. This is a great place for information and resources. People who have lost weight and have great advice on diet and exercise. You can pick and choose what works for you. Good luck. </p>
<p>Here’s a question for everyone on sugar. Will fruit cause cravings like other foods with sugar? I almost never eat candy or sweets avoid anything with sugar added but I do eat 2-3 servings of fruit every day. I find that on days I eat more fruit I seem to crave more.</p>
<p>Bromfield, I suspect that I used to be a fruit bat in my previous life - that’s how much I love the stuff! I never had a particlularly strong sweet tooth, and even when I ate sweets, fruit did not have the same effect as sugary pastries, etc. - no increase in cravings. I can get queazy if I eat sugary things now, but the queaziness never happens with fruit. If apples and pears and oranges make you crave sugar, can you eat more fruit with lower sugar content, like berries, kiwis, watermelon, cantaloupe?</p>
<p>Lustig says that fruit is not a problem. The sugar would be a problem, but there is so much fiber in raw fruit that the digestion of the sugar is slowed to a point where the body can handle it. It’s the large quick doses that do the damage. And, it’s self limiting because it’s only possible to eat one, maybe two pieces of fruit in a sitting. It’s not like orange juice where you may be eating five oranges in a single glass, with all the fiber removed.</p>
<p>I have to be aware that it is sugar and not pig out on fruit morning, noon, and night. But, all things considered, fruit is probably the best sweet tooth snack. I’ve been on an apple binge lately.</p>
<p>I did not realize that fruit juice was a fairly recent development. Frozen concentrate, that made orange juice and lemonaide and grape juice possible gained widespread use in the 1950s – and ignited the citrus industry.</p>
<p>I don’t know, Idad…I can easily eat a full meal’s worth of fruit in one sitting. It is one of those things where I really have to ration myself. </p>
<p>Welcome, MsPearl…many roads lead to Rome, and there are probably as many ways to accomplish weight loss and fitness goals as people participating (or just watching) the group. I (over)eat out of stress or boredom, too. Probably the very most helpful thing for me was taking the hour to watch “Can Anyone Win (At Losing)” – a lecture by a Stanford University nutrition professor on a huge study that tracked people following several different diet plans. I’ve gone back and rewatched it a couple of times, and each time it seems to give me another oomph to press on. The other was iDad’s concept of the 5 pound win, which he ought to trademark. Celebrate – really celebrate – every five pounds you lose, rather than focusing on how much you still have left to go. I’m on my 5th five pound win, and getting close to my 6th. Five pounds is a lot more achievable goal for me right now than focusing on the big number. It may just be a different mindset, but for me it makes a difference.</p>
<p>Good luck, and glad you’ve joined us.</p>
Today’s run: 2.08 miles then a minute walk break and then 1 mile. I went to a new place to run. It’s 1.04 miles around a lake and is fairly flat, which I think would be good once a week instead of my usual hilly course. I tried out the heart rate monitor with my garmin today. What should I be using this information for?
CJane, I think I’m going to follow the Galloway plan for a 59 min 10k. It’s 3 days a week of running and I can do 2 or 3 days of cross training. Each week you do 1 long run and 1 easy paced run, with the distance and time gradually increasing over 12 weeks. The third day is supposed to be speed work, but I think I might use MOWC’s idea of just adding 60 second pickups to a 2nd easy run. Those 400m intervals are hard, and Galloway’s plan works up to doing 16 of them…I don’t know about that.
<p>arabrab:</p>
<p>I think the whole 5-lb thing works because it makes the process feel like it’s manageable. Giving up Pringles for as long as it takes to lose just five pounds isn’t as daunting as giving up Pringles for, like, forever…</p>
<p>It’s a trick I learned from some very knowledgeable people on kicking nicotine addiction. There is no need to let it overwhelm you, when all you have to do to be nicotine free is not take a puff of a cigarette for the next minute, or hour, or day or whatever time frame is manageable for you at the moment. Worrying about how you’ll get through next month is a needless complication. Next month will take care of itself and you’ll be in a different place mentally next month than today. For example, I don’t even walk down the Pringles aisle to pick up a can and read the calories on the label now, but that’s how I got through the first month.</p>