<p>I’ve actually lost some weight and am getting close to my goal. Confession: I mostly don’t eat dinner. It’s pretty easy, given the kids’ evening schedules. I know it’s something that can’t be maintained, but I needed to get used to having that “not quite full” feeling. Once I get used to it, I can handle it.</p>
<p>Missypie, you must have something to eat between lunch and breakfast the next morning???! Are you just saying you don’t have a “full” dinner - more of a grab something and run???</p>
<p>With the Olympics on, low fat microwave popcorn is fun. Or a bit of fruit. Or if I’m truly hungry, some cereal. I’m not recommending this for anyone else, but it really helps me to shrink my stomach, so to speak. Once I eat very little for a week or two, I don’t want as much.</p>
<p>Missy - I bought myself a cuisenart popcorn maker and I love it. I only use two teaspoons (not tablespoons) of canola oil and a 1/3 cup of popcorn. It is so much better than the microwave stuff. I know the microwave stuff is easy - that’s what DD uses in college, but really the homemade stuff is very good!</p>
<p>Grrr…just finished lunch. I got veggie quesadillas, which I get all the time. They are relatively low calorie and are yummy and filling. I order with no pesto due to allergies. Well this time someone in the kitchen must have thought they seemed dry, so they added a layer of some sort of sweetish creamy stuff. (A) Yuck (B) Wasted calories. I should have sent it back but my lunch companion was in a hurry, so I just didn’t eat it all.</p>
<p>It’s tougher to do “portion” control or even know exactly what we’re getting when we eat out. We’ve also had too much “junk food” and candy lying around. Hubby and I both find a clothing snugger than we’d like so we agreed to cut back some on all of it. We’ll have to go back to splitting an entre instead of stuffing ourselves by each having our own. Not sure how or why we started – probably the holidays and having visitors.
We also PLAN to start walking more around the neighborhood, but I don’t have great confidence that will really happen.</p>
<p>We also PLAN to start walking more around the neighborhood, but I don’t have great confidence that will really happen.</p>
<p>Maybe you need a dog 
or borrow a baby.</p>
<p>^^^ I hate when that happens!
A couple of weeks ago, H and I were out and ordered a pizza with veggies and “very limited cheese…just a light sprinkle please.” Well, they must have thought we were nuts and out comes this monstrosity with tons of cheese. I don’t order pizza often but when I do , I DON"T like all that cheese. We ate some and our stomachs hurt later…not used to it. Not to mention the wasted calories! Next time, I’ll ask for NO cheese…maybe that’ll work.</p>
<p>I think that in restaurants that don’t weigh their ingredients/portions, they think they are being kind by serving huge portions, adding extra cheese or whatever. There used to be a place down here where you could order Mexican food from a window. I’d get a taco salad (and not eat the shell). If I could get them to listen to me, it was a good option. But if I didn’t stop them, they’d put two HUGE spoonfuls of taco meat, an entire handful of cheese, etc. They were being generous, but so many calories!</p>
<p>HIMom - isn’t that the truth!!!</p>
<p>I LOVE to eat out. I really do. I think DH and I look at each other more when we talk. Now, we are truly good buddies and chat all the time when we are together, but there is something about being in a restaurant - we are just more attentive. However, I realize I have become a snob about food. I don’t like things salty - I love nicely seasoned foods, particularly soup. I like things made with fresh veggies and very little oil. Sometimes I see something on the menu and I want to make all sorts of adjustments, and I do keep my ideas to myself, otherwise I figure the chef will come out and ask if I would rather just come back to the kitchen and make it myself. </p>
<p>Oh, boy. And I think of myself as easy-going.</p>
<p>wip…I am the same way. I read “Nickled and Dimed” a while back and the author spent time as a waitress. She said that the waitresses just HATED those customers who had all sorts of demands. Yikes…that’s me! Dressing on the side…hold the bacon…no cheese…low oil. and do you have any extra veggies you could throw on? And can I have brown rice instead of white?" </p>
<p>Anyway, I now go to places with good local food where the staff doesn’t seem to mind my demands - and avoid chain restaurants. Limits my options big time though. And we don’t go out much anymore. I can make it SOOO much better at home. Tonight? MAHI with roasted sweet potatoes and mixed veggies (eggplant/zuchhini and red pepper). Yum.</p>
<p>I found “Nickled & Dimed” to be extremely depressing when I was browsing at the B&N, waiting for D to finish visiting with her friends. I never did borrow it, but do realize how fortunate we are to have options. I am amused that my kids have both realized early on that they could not physically handle the rigors of food service or any job that required them to be on their feet for many hours.</p>
<p>My second day of a workout program. I’m so out of shape, I wrecked the exercise bike tonight…</p>
<p>Badda bing.</p>
<p>Interesteddad! You wrecked the exercise bike last night? lol. I love it. Congrats on your second day of a workout program. How many days are you planning on working out this week? You know you are going to be talking to a bunch of women here - but we are all kind and supportive.</p>
<p>It’s Tuesday - let’s all have a great day. Eat healthy (real foods) and get some movement into our day!</p>
<p>I need to get back on track. Went out to lunch last Thurs, Friday and Sunday.I consider myself lucky that I am only up 1 lb. My bookclub is going out tonight but we are going to the healthy natural cafe. The food is so healthy that it isn’t that good which makes it easy to not overeat.</p>
<p>^Take it easy, enjoy!</p>
<p>* I am amused that my kids have both realized early on that they could not physically handle the rigors of food service or any job that required them to be on their feet for many hours.*</p>
<p>I think one of the points of Nickel & Dimed was that many people, don’t have a choice about taking physically demanding jobs but actually a physical job can be much better for you than a desk job, unless you get hurt without L & I or other insurance of course. :(</p>
<p>[Maybe this should be linked to the stressless recliner thread ;)](<a href=“Apart From Lack Of Exercise, Prolonged Periods Of Sitting Are Harmful”>http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/176376.php</a>)</p>
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<p>Pretty bad, huh? That wasn’t the worst of it. I dropped the iPod and in fumbling around to put it on the counter managed to stop the timer. So I pedalled for some underdetermined amount of time without it counting before I restarted the timer and pushed on to the end.</p>
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<p>Four total on the calendar this week. I may add a fifth day of just light cardio. </p>
<p>Typical guy… I had to buy an iPod workout program. A three month schedule of workouts, four days a week, with a fitness nazi in my headphones. I hate him already! I spent about 10 days just working through some of the basic exercises 15 minutes a day to get started and then jumped in with the first full 50 minute workout on Sunday. A non-stop sequence of five minutes warmup on the bike, a circuit of six exercises using a ball and dumbells – plank, pushups, curls and so forth with 30 seconds in between – followed by five minutes of interval on the bike alternating between light recovery and high speed to get you panting and burning – followed by a 2 minute break – followed by repeating the whole sequence.</p>
<p>Did OK although I had to take a couple extra minutes between sets and an extra 30 seconds between some of the exercises in the second set to stop panting. But I got thru it. I’m not expecting miracles out of the gate.</p>
<p>Day two was a rest day – just 20 minutes on the bike. Two more days of full workouts with a rest day in between.</p>
<p>* I had to buy an iPod workout program. A three month schedule of workouts, four days a week, with a fitness nazi in my headphones. I hate him already! *</p>
<p>Im gonna try couch to 5K
[Couch</a> to 5k - C25K Running Program](<a href=“Couch to 5k - C25K Running Program”>http://www.c25k.com/)
But first I have to get my old playlists onto my new hard drive so I can sync my ipod.</p>
<p>( & then I am gonna have to get a higher impact bra- guys are so lucky)</p>
<p>I am one pound above goal, still hoping to make it by March 1. I had a good run today, doing my entire 5k at 4.8 mph with the warm-up and cool-down separate from the run. I started on Dec. 29 with the couch to 5k nine week program. I’m not able to do the 5k in under 30 minutes yet but did go from being able to run for less than a minute to running for almost 40 continuous minutes, which is what it takes for me to complete a full 5k. Now I just have to work on the speed part. I’ve been good with the diet, I think, but it’s a really slow process.</p>