Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

<p>tewitt…have you tried different kinds of fish? My h used to think he hated fish but it was because his mom served frozen fish without much to go with it…and it had that fishy smell…a real turnoff. It’s hard to get good fresh fish this time of year (lots of terrific fish like Halibut is out of season). But sole or flounder/fluke or fresh shrimp or scallops are still good ( I get them from Wegmans) and low in mercury. I like to saute in a pan and then make a quick sauce with chopped tomatoes, capers, artichokes and white wine. Delicious with chicken too! </p>

<p>Anyway, starting to get better with my habits now after a rough three weeks. Lots of what folks are recommending here (avoiding white, cooking at home, cinnamon, eating almonds), I already do but the weight loss stopped after 10. So I need to kick it up notch or two. We got a Wii Fit from santa, so maybe that will help!</p>

<p>Running is stupid. Running in 5 degree windchill when I still haven’t gotten over the chest cough/wheezing and recovered from the horrific marathon I ran 3 weeks ago is even stupider. Sometimes I envy people who are NOT wrapped around the axle about their athletic goals and training!</p>

<p>Well you must be getting something out of it :wink: but it couldn’t be any dumber than d doing the polar bear swim yesterday.</p>

<p>Okay girls (are we all girls?) - Today is the day. I weighed myself and wrote it down. I hid the peanutbutter fudge from myself. Hope that works. It is 26 degrees here and super windy, so I am going to the YMCA and get on a treadmill. I have a bad back and am getting an MRI on Monday, so will just do what I can do. If I can get through a mile without much pain, I will just tell myself to be happy with that. </p>

<p>And it begins…50 pound weight loss - here I come!</p>

<p>Good for you, eddieodessa! I’m right there with you. Just got back from gym. Let’s remember that it’s one day at a time and we’re all going to have slips along the way. Don’t overdo it so much that you can’t keep doing it! </p>

<p>Re: the hot peppers- I love salsa on a lot of things I eat. Baked potatoes, scrambled eggs, etc. - don’t know if it helps with burning calories, but definitely tastes good. </p>

<p>MOWC, love your posts. If I get through this year and actually manage to run my 5k, perhaps a marathon by the time I’m 50 will be my next goal. I think I’ll just work on the
5k for now.</p>

<p>Sabaray - Horray for going to the gym! We will get this done!</p>

<p>Today I have done 3 good things for my body so far:
I ate breakfast.
I burned 200 calories on a treadmill.
I am writing down what I eat.
Little by little…</p>

<p>I second toneranger - most people who say they hate fish actually never tried good fish prepared properly. My poor H was one of those folks until I introduced him to fresh salmon grilled on a cedar plank. :slight_smile: H is now a seafood addict.</p>

<p>I like some fish but it has to be fresh. I am not a fan of salmon or tuna.
My small start so far has been Organic steel cut oatmeal. Unsweetened with just a handful of fresh blueberries instead of sourdough toast. Also I am adding more vegetables to each meal and making an effort to avoid “white” carbs.
I also am planning on eating more at home.
Any good ideas to snacks to have in your car for when you are absolutely starved?</p>

<p>Thanks 2Blue! :)</p>

<p>mom60, I like Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters. The almond ones for me. Satisfies my sweet tooth a bit. I keep 'em in my desk (not my car), but they would be a good car snack. When we are traveling as a family, we take whole grain goldfish and clementines (this time of year, anyway). And we always fill a water bottle for each person to avoid the temptation of buying soda pop on the road (and avoid the cost and waste of bottled water when we can).</p>

<p>D and I were at the bookstore today and picked up a handy-dandy pocket sized Food Rules by our hero Michael Pollan. Primer for how to eat. If you don’t want to slog through Omnivore’s Dilemma or In Defense of Food this might be a good place to start.</p>

<p>These are mostly common sense, but it doesn’t hurt to consider:</p>

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<p>I’m not going to give up starch at dinner (having a homemade stir-fry tonight with whole grain rice) and I definitely am not giving up my wine. But, I am trying to give up anything with artificial sweetener. I agree that adds cravings for me. I like Pollan’s five ingredient rule for determining what constitutes a processed food, so no more spray butter or spray salad dressing. I ate only “real” foods yesterday and found my appetite much diminished.</p>

<p>Yep, I was disappointed that Pollan’s 5-ingredient rule didn’t apply to Haagen-Dazs 5 ingredient ice cream! I thought I was on to something there.</p>

<p>intparent, I’m surprised about the Granola, isn’t that high calorie? If there’s a low cal granola out there, I want to know about it! DD and I tried to figure out a way to make a low cal one–we love the stuff–but any combo we tried was a lot of calories.</p>

I am often the last to these threads. Sometimes I am actually the last.

But after reading the whole thread, and having had a major change in my life for health reasons in the last two years, I have some input for what it is.

-If you do not like to exercise, DO SOMETHING. I told my hating exercise self to at least do something 10 minutes a day. I could live w/ that. Lift some cans of soup, walk a few blocks, etc. I now work out 4-5 days a week for 40-50 minutes. Others on here do so much more. But mine is better than nothing!

-I was diagnosed w/ life threatening high cholesterol. Was I in pain or any kind of distress? Did I feel it? No. Nor do you fell many other diseases. That does not mean you do not have them.

-Given my high cholesterol, I thought it was time to change my diet. Went to extremely low saturated fats foods. Read labels. Eat red meat infrequently, low or no fat dairy and hight fiber. LET YOURSELF HAVE SOME FOODS, LIKE STEAKS, ONCE IN AWHILE , so that you stay the course.

Lost 20 lbs and am enjoying 50+ men looking at me,( I am over 50). My H is actually getting annoyed!

Also agree w/ much of wnat hmom said.

<p>Don’t know if this has been mentioned but Greek yogurt (Fage brand) does WONDERS for me. A cup has something like 20 g of protein and it is extremely satisfying. I eat it for breakfast with a packet of sweetener (haven’t given that up) and a pinch of cinnamon and / or nutmeg. It’s also a very filling snack. I get mine at Trader Joe’s but I believe it’s available in regular grocery stores too.</p>

<p>Pizzagirl- I also love the Greek yogurt. We get both the Fage and Chio…(something) in plain, non-fat. My breakfast is one toaster waffle (whole grain) with peanut butter and a huge glob of the yogurt. It is filling and healthy.</p>

<p>morrismm, no, you are not the “thread killer” because… I AM! That’s one of the things I need to work on - go to bed earlier (I usually linger in the living room until midnight).</p>

<p>I absolutely second you - GET A PHYSICAL! Many life-threatening conditions do not manifest themselves until they do too much damage, but quite a few of them can be detected and nipped in the bud. Get bloodwork done and see what’s missing. For example, hubby was vit D defficient, so we both started taking D supplements since we have similar light exposure :slight_smile: I got tested, and I’m among the lucky 20% of Seattleites who are not Vit D defficient, but… since I don’t eat a lot of red meat, my iron was low. So now we both take iron supplements.</p>

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<p>LOL- congrats! My H is not annoyed (yet!) with men looking at me (he thinks it is amusing), but I can’t stand 40+ ladies checking out my handsome husband :smiley: just kidding :)</p>

<p>hmom5, it is high calorie if you eat the whole bag :slight_smile: They say a serving is 7 clusters, but I am usually okay with 4-5. 7 is 160 calories, so 5 is about 115 calories.</p>