<p>D’s pullups are going to cost us at least $200, because the pullup bar in the doorframe physically cracked the frame – and I doubt she weighed 100 pounds at the time. I’m still annoyed (at the frame is still cracked.</p>
Reporting an excellent day in my universe. Did an hour long cardio workout tape and it was brutal for me. Kind of have a sore right shoulder but hopefully that resolves itself. Ate beautifully, no pop, processed foods or refined sugar.
H is having best friend and dad over tomorrow night for football game and is making lasagna, garlic toast and salad. I plan on indulging in one small piece of lasagna, one slice of bread (he makes garlic toast out of our regular bread with sauteed garlic, butter and then cooks it in oven, it is heaven) and some salad. And of course lots of water!
My husband is too good of a cook and that is partially why I am FAT. He makes all sorts of cookies, desserts etc… and he isn’t heavy!
Tomorrow is the big weigh in. Scary.
<p>Way to go MSPEARL. Cutting out the soda and ramping up the exercise will probably result in noticeable results pretty quickly.</p>
<p>I had a pasta and salad treat meal once a week for most of the first year I was losing weight. Lasagna is probably a pretty decent choice – more meat and cheese than pasta.</p>
<p>I was all set to have my leftover chicken in chicken fajitas tonight, but my jar of black bean salsa had gone moldy in the fridge (arghhh). So, I had to go with chicken caesar salad instead.</p>
<p>Good job on the workout and diet. I like to do fitness and stretching workouts that I find on YouTube to supplement cardio though I haven’t done them for a while.</p>
<p>I had some conflicts with my wife as she likes to cook (and she’s thin too) - I basically started shopping for myself and doing some of my own cooking and directing her on some specific things.</p>
<p>Tried Bob’s Red Mill Organic High Fiber Hot Cereal With Flaxseed this morning. I prepared it last night (I make two servings, put them in the fridge and microwave them in the office).</p>
<p>1.5 servings is 225 calories, 7.5g fat, 0 sodium/chol, 40.5 g carbs, 15 g fiber, 12 g protein, 0g sugar. Nice meaty taste and cooks much faster than oatmeal. My wife took the oatmeal box that I bought to the other residence so I didn’t have that to cook last night. Very hearty breakfast on a cold, windy New England morning.</p>
<p>Got a bit of weights last night and this morning. Didn’t realize how much I miss doing weights. This running routine has me quite tired out.</p>
<p>Ruh roh, my ankle is doing something bad. I noticed it during my run Tuesday, but it was not bad, and went away after a bit. Later that night it was very achy, but when I woke up yesterday morning, it was fine, I poked and prodded and turned it every which way, and nothing. I started feeling it at work yesterday, again not bad, just noticing some pain. Last night, achy again, but just after I had gotten into bed, I had this sudden 5 minutes of stabbing pain! And this was after taking tylenol. This morning, nothing. What the heck?</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s much muscle in ankles, so it’s probably not plain ol’ muscle soreness. Almost certainly has to be tendon or joint related. That means forcing yourself to stop doing whatever initially caused the pain until it is completely painfree.</p>
<p>[Does</a> It Hurt?](<a href=“http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10751&languageId=-1&pagename=384]Does”>http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10751&languageId=-1&pagename=384)</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s good advice, but I’m personally inclined, on something like that, to give it a few days before calling in the doctors. Other than giving you painkillers, they aren’t going to do much until they know whether it will heal by doing nothing!</p>
<p>It makes sense that it would hurt more at night. In the morning, your ankle has essentially been “elevated” all night and any swelling would have subsided. At night, you’ve been on your feet or sitting and swelling will be at its max.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reminder to do some ankle mobility/flexibilty drills! I haven’t been doing them lately and lack of ankle flexiblity is probably as universal as lack of hip flexbility in geezers like me.</p>
<p>blankmind, it sounds like tendinitis my D had (and my current knee problem). You might want to check it by a medical professional to rule out any stress fractures etc. Meantime, ice it and eat anti-inflamatories. My D was also given directions to tape her ankle until it got better and to use heel cups in her shoes.</p>
<p>I am having so much fun and you are all inspirational. Thank you for the support. Put my jeans on that were tight seven days ago and they fit really well. I feel like cutting out salty processed foods and exercising like crazy is yielding amazing results in just one week. How is that possible?!?!?! Not sure of my weight but I am sure it is down from one week ago. </p>
<p>I feel less bloated. I don’t know if this happens to others but I have been having a few crying spells. I feel like all the toxic junk is getting expelled from my system. Instead of numbing myself with food, I am dealing with it with my head and body. I can’t wait to get my ipod out and start running again. I hope by the end of January I will be in the shape to do that.</p>
<p>But these next few weeks are going to be a terrible test. I am making chocolates, cookies and dealing with amazingly Yummy christmas food. How do I do this?</p>
<p>I am debating on whether to report my actual weight on here when I find out.</p>
<p>Yeah I am thinking tendonitis, except for the stabbing pain?? Based on the location of the pain I’m guessing either the calcaneofibular or peroneal tendon. </p>
<p>When I had my knee bursitis, my doctor told me not to use anti-inflammatories because the inflammation was part of the healing process. He even had me use heat instead of ice. But that was for bursitis, is an anti-inflammatory better for tendonitis?</p>
I think the best approach is to not demand perfection. Look for ways that you can do better than you might have done in the past. You are probably going to eat Christmas cookies, so rather than stand by the plate and wolf them down one right after another, tell yourself that you’ll have two (or whatever). Put them on a plate, walk away from the rest, enjoy your two cookies, and stop at that. Putting a portion on a plate was a big help for me in cutting out the mindless snacking.
<p>Bags are insidious. Same with trays inside cellophane containers where you can’t see the contents. You stick your hand in the bag or tray, grab one, eat it and have no idea how many you had or how many remain in the package.</p>
<p>If you use portion management, you should be able to see how much you have left over in a container.</p>
<p>I bought a bunch of GlassLock containers and the Glad 1/2 cup plastic containers. I put hot food or cereal in the former and nuts or cereal in the latter. That way I can just add up the calories in the container to know if I’m in the ballpark for the day. Basically it’s like rations for the day.</p>
<p>Mathmom, am I reading your post correctly? 10 sets of pull-ups? You kidding me??</p>
<p>I couldn’t do a pull-up to save my life!</p>
<p>Put me down as a fruit lover - have to have my morning orange and afternoon apple . . .</p>
<p>blankmind- I hope you don’t have a stress fracture. See how it does over the next few days.</p>
<p>mspearl- Excellent start! It is a big change, and it sounds like you are really doing well with it. I agree- perfection isn’t realistic, especially at this time of year.</p>
<p>We had nasty weather for the last couple of days. Tues I ran after work in a very light mist with my headlamp. It was really pretty cool. I was on the bike path, which is pretty wooded in many parts, but it is safe. I did not see ONE SOUL! I over-dressed a little, but I just couldn’t stand getting out there in that cold, damp weather and being chilly to start. I LOVE my headlamp and can’t believe I have never used one in over 30 years of running. Yesterday was raining with some snow and I could not face outside. I did 4 miles at the gym after work on the dreadmill and watched the news. Today I HAD to get up early to run since we are flying to PHL after work. Headlamp was great. Clear,m 25 degrees but no wind. Slogged through it. Love the people who sacrifice their electric bills so I can enjoy their Christmas lights at 5:30am!</p>
MsPearl – That’s a great quick win. Good for you. And the holidays can be tough, especially for the cook. I am going to make holiday cookies…but I’m waiting until closer to Christmas, though I’m stockpiling the supplies now and choosing the recipes I really want to make. I also decided to make only three types of cookies, and most of them are getting given away. One is a nut based cookie that while high in fat doesn’t actually involve a lot of carbs, which is my key weakness. I also make cookies with my nieces and nephews, and since those are sturdy cookies meant to decorate with all sorts of colored everything, I don’t find them particularly enticing, thank goodness.
Meanwhile, I’m focused on making meals for the rest of this week and next week very, very healthy. I know I won’t lose weight Christmas week, but no reason I can’t push forward a bit this week and next.
And…I just upped the January clothes budget to reflect that after the holidays I need to go acquire some new duds since too many things are just hanging on me! I’m pretty cheap on the clothing front, but I’m finally at the point where all of my pants are really too lose, and while the tailor could deal somewhat with the dress slacks, I need casual pants that aren’t too big everywhere. Really, of the problems to have, finding money to spend on smaller size clothes is a nice one, even if it does come the same month tuition is due.
I’m also finding that a standard breakfast of 2 string cheeses and one ounce of almonds holds me very, very happily until lunch. Easy and quick. Sometimes I save the second string cheese for a mid-morning snack.
<p>
</p>
<p>Could you share this recipe? I have been feeling very Grinchy about Christmas treats – I think I have gone a little overboard on the “sugar is toxic” theme and I feel like I would be poisoning people if I baked them cookies . . .</p>
<p>I asked my wife about the two bottles of cranberry juice that she brought home from some shindig and put in the fridge. She said, “save them for Christmas”. And, then I thought… It’s only going to be me (who doesn’t touch sugar-water) and my wife (who is successfully dieting) and my daughter (who I’ve been trying to get off the carb train), so who does she think we should be saving the fruit juice for?</p>
<p>I think I’m going to accidently spill both bottles down the sink and drop them in the recycling bin. I don’t need two opened bottles of my favorite juice staring me in the face for the next two weeks only to offer it to my daughter.</p>
<p>My Ocean Spray poisons are Cran-Tangerine and Cran-Grape. They would get discounted at the local supermarket every other month for $2.50/bottle and my son would pick up some Ocean Spray product and I’d pick up one of my favorites. The bottles didn’t last very long, even when diluted 2-1.</p>
<p>We’ve basically stopped buying juice since I stopped drinking it and went on a campaign against juice. We have an unopened bottle of juice on the kitchen counter that has been there for a few weeks. I think that it was in the basement for a few months before that. Everyone is drinking water or tea these days.</p>
<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>Headlights are great because they cast a wide beam. They don’t shine very far, but you don’t feel like you are in a tunnel. </p>
<p>I use mine all the time for household chores. Like, even checking the oil in the car. It frees up both hands while still giving light.</p>
<p>I thought I would go walking after dark, but it’s just too cold for a wimp like me!</p>
<p>I’ve dumped partially used bottles of ginger ale, and I dumped some apple juice a couple of months ago. I guess the only other alternative would be to hide them in the fridge behind something else. I can lose a lot of things that way.</p>
<p>Does open juice even last from now until Christmas? I thought that was something that was a use-it-or-toss it in 10 days kind of thing. Second idea: pop it in the freezer, and defrost if and when actually wanted.</p>
<p>Amesie – This is an old Pecan Puffs recipe. </p>
<p>Pecan Puffs (Livestrong calculates that each cookie is 57 calories with 3.5 g. carbohydrates. Probably could drop that more if you used even less powdered sugar at the end.) Toasting the nuts greatly boosts their taste – I may try only the lightest dusting of powdered sugar since I haven’t been eating much sugar at all. The original recipe callled for rolling the cookies in powdered sugar, but I never liked that much anyway.</p>
<p>About forty 1 1/2 - inch balls
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Beat until soft:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
Add and blend until creamy:
2 tablespoons sugar
Add:
1 teaspoon vanilla
Measure 1 cup pecan halves which have been toasted, and then cooled, then pulse until cornmeal sized pieces or a bit larger. (Do not continuously process or you will get pecan butter. Ditto on using cooled pecans rather than hot ones. Keep a close eye while toasting – you want good toasted flavor, but not burnt pecans.) </p>
<p>Sift before measuring:
1 cup cake flour</p>
<p>Stir the pecans and the flour into the butter mixture. Roll the dough into small balls. (To get the correct #, I divide the dough into quarters, and then halve each of those, and then make five cookies from each chunk. Otherwise I always end up with too few.) Place balls on parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet and bake about 30 minutes. </p>
<p>Move to cooling rack and dust with 2 T. powdered sugar while the cookies are still hot.</p>
<p>There may be cookie recipes out there lower on the carb front, but I haven’t found them, at least not without using artificial sweeteners, and I don’t use them. </p>
<p>I did just buy a bottle of agave syrup, and I’m going to try it as a partial substitute for brown sugar in the sweet potato recipe D likes – Agave is supposed to be much slower going into the bloodstream than regular sugar, but I don’t think it would work in a cookie because of the moisture.</p>