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<p>If my teen wants to much on iceberg lettuce in lieu of chips (or popcorn), I’m certainly not going to stop her!</p>
<p>I kicked my iPod nazi’s butt today. Workout felt good. Was able to do most of the circuit exercises breathing through my nose. This workout ended with ten minutes of interval on the bike: 20 seconds hard alternating with 60 seconds easy. Both my hard and easy segments were faster on the last interval than the first. Last week, I was barely hanging on during the last interval. </p>
<p>I turned off the ipod nazi for the final five minute cooldown on the bike in favor of dancing to a little Jerry Garcia, then I stretched the five minutes a little longer because I didn’t want to walk away from Freddie Fender and the Texas Tornadoes. A good iPod playlist is a great workout distraction. I enjoyed it on my mile walk yesterday, too.</p>
<p>Still needed a couple of extra breathers during the circuit exercises. It’s the stuff on my stomach that gets me panting like a dog. I think the combination of a belly and an ex-smoker’s lungs isn’t too happy with breathing on my stomach. It’s good to get a handle on why some of these exercises were leaving me gasping for air. Overall, I felt much stronger on most of the exercises. I probably have to get some heavier dumbells or start kicking up the pace a bit.</p>
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I spent some time on this site yesterday and really enjoyed it. I forwarded it to my H and two boys. One interesting comment was that it is hard with an hour of exercise a day to make up for what you do with the other 23 hours. It suggested getting up and doing something frequently to keep your metabolism high. Since I work at home, I could do some jumping jacks or jump rope or something for five minutes every hour. I think I’m going to try that.</p>
<p>Does it say for how many minutes we need to “do something”? I might just get into that on days that I am not cleaning a house. I would just set my egg timer and when it goes off, walk up and down the steps, or dance to a couple of songs on the radio, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t want to read the website, TheAnalyst. I want you to read it and then tell me what to do. No…I’m not lazy at all! :)</p>
<p>I need to do further research and will get back to you, which I will thoroughly enjoy. Reading about exercise is much easier than actually doing exercise (plus I’m a research analyst by trade so kind of enjoy that stuff anyway). </p>
<p>I was stressed today (service unit cookie delivery for 2,000 cases in the rain and I’m in charge of that process) and I actually looked forward to going for my run afterward so I would feel better. Running as relaxation! Now that is truly a first.</p>
<p>eddieodessa- When I think about not going out for my walk I think of you and this thread. I am finding this thread as the reminder of what I want to accomplish.
Yesterday I started out on my walk and it started raining. I went to turn around but thought about all of you out exercising in the snow and the cold of winter. What was a little bit of raindrops. It wasn’t pouring. I didn’t go as far but I felt good that I kept going.
I am finding myself dreading the hills. One of my walks is about 45 minutes and the entire walk is up or down hill. No flat portions. The other walk has some milder hills and more flat. Today I did the easier route around noon. late this afternoon I found myself regretting on going up my hill. I went out at 5 and did a short 20 minute walk up and down my hill. I am still getting out of breath but I keep reminding myself that each day it is better. I find the first uphill portion the most difficult. I am wondering if it is because my muscles are not warmed up. The start of the walk is a short walk down the driveway and then 15 minutes of steady uphill.</p>
<p>To those who dread those hills - consciously shorten your strides. Think of going into a much lower gear on a bike as you head up the hills. If you keep your steps short, you will have much better posture, yo will be less likely to injure yourself, and you will have much better posture and breathing. My steps are very, very short going up hills. It is still a great workout, but it is less stressful on your body.</p>
<p>Somewhat offtopic here - for all of you dreadmill fans, if you have not seen it yet, look up a music video by OK, Go! on Youtube. Searching for “Ok go here it goes again” should bring it up 
Fun!</p>
<p>I did my first Zumba class today! I really liked it. I got a little confused as to class location, so I only did the last half of the class, which was just right for me. 20 minutes of the full-on dance stuff, and 10 minutes of cool-down dance moves. That was plenty for the first time.</p>
<p>It’s a really fun class if you have the opportunity to try it. There were about 60 women in the class!</p>
<p>For all “iceberg lettuce” lovers, yes, it is 0 calories and 0 nutritional values, just fiber to fill stomach, if that is what you are after. When calories are limited, we need to worry about getting enough nutrients in our bodies, especially very young bodies. It is very important to stay healthy, not getting too many colds… We do nto buy “iceberg lettuce”, because I feel it is waste of money / time to consume it. To me, it is the same type of deal as pop-corn. If daily consumption was mostly iceberg lettuce and pop-corn, then daily consumption of needed nutrients was close to zero. Several days like this might lead to malnutrition.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is having a daily consumption of lettuce and popcorn. People are just mentioning snacks.</p>
<p>Thanks BunsenBurner for the Article. </p>
<p>From that list I only like Mangoes, Onions and Zucchini. I already eat onions daily…I will add the mangoes and zucchini now to my daily options. </p>
<p>One thing is working for me is adding the sweet fruits such as Apricots and Peaches. For dinner, If you cut them in chunks and mix them with tomatoes and onions…once in a while a slice of Avocado and few ((chop two) Spanish olives. The plate is full and you will feel satisfied!!! Eureka I found something I like…it works. </p>
<p>The idea is to find flavors that you enjoy! I’m really motivated…so far I have losen 8 pounds. Not eating meat except 4oz of chicken (buy the big chicken breast -cook it put it in the fridge and in the afternoon cut half…sometimes you can eat 2oz with the fruit plate I describe). It is working…walk total of 3.5 hours during the week. Let us continue with our positive and healthy goals…! </p>
<p>“Foods that are sometimes touted as being zero-calorie or negative-calorie include: Apples Asparagus Beets Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Cucumbers Garlic Grapefruit Lemons Lettuce Mangos Onions Spinach Turnips Zucchini.”</p>
<p>I love mangos-
fruit salsa is really good on fish tacos but I am lazy and usually buy it instead of make it myself.
( I also like mango lassi but my blender is dead)</p>
<p>Greenery,
I eat much less meat than 4 oz / day, I have to wait until I am in mood to eat any fish / chicken / beef, happehs few times / month. I believe that less consumption of animal flesh makes me feel better, but it is not a reason. I just do not care much for taste of it, unfortunately my prefence is anything sweet, most of my intake are fruits and some other food in small amounts in between large portions of any fruit (are there any that do not taste good?). Even my salad has fruits and honey…yes, sweet. I walk 1 hour outside every day - 7 hours / week, again becasue I ejoy it and miss it when it is not possible. I also go to gym every day. However, in a summer routine is changing -swimming time.</p>
<p>I’m not a huge meat eater. I only want it when it is really good…a wonderful steak, a juicy burger. I could live the rest of my life without another dry chicken breast, but a nice curried chicken salad is yummy.</p>
<p>Mom60 - You touched my heart. Makes me eager to go to the YMCA tonight. Haven’t been for the past 2 days. Last night I was asleep by 8:00 - just so tired. Been kind of sad/moody for the past few days. So not motivated to do anything “good” for my body. Have still been eating in a healthy way, though.
Greenery - A wonderful weight loss! Good for you.
I only have 1 pair of jeans that fit right now. I have plenty to get down into, though. Just trying to figure out if it is a good idea to buy a second pair knowing that they won’t fit for long. But I don’t think 1 pair is enough…Yeah - I think I just answered my own question.</p>
<p>Eddie, I only keep one pair of jeans per size and live in workout clothes the rest of the time because they are stretchy and can accommodate larger weight swings. That is the one big negative about losing weight. The larger sized clothes I owned all had elastic in the waist even for work clothes. Once I dropped to smaller sizes they are all closely fitted so even five pounds makes a difference in what is comfortable. That is just ridiculous. My stretchy workout clothes are good for a 10-15 pound swing. </p>
<p>Now that I am trying to just maintain, the first guilty pleasure I allowed are these zero carlorie artificially sweetened drinks like the Crystal Light lemondate. I know it isn’t good for me but I just am not a big fan of water. I’m telling myself I’m just going to drink it until I get it out of the cupboard and not buy anymore.</p>
<p>We did some fake jumping rope in my back to basics class this morning and it was pretty difficult. It is a lot harder to jump up and down with two feet 100 times than say jogging in place. I never did research the desired length of breaks but I think I will just try jumping up and down as my computer break exercise.</p>
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It’s good protection against some kinds of kidney stones. Really (because of the citrate in it)!</p>
<p>Thanks eddieodessa. MiamiDap, I will add Honey too- How many calories in that?
Thanks Emeraldkity4 for the idea. Never heard about Mango Lassi, but found the recipe. Is this the one you prepare?
Mango Lassi Recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped mango (peeled and stone removed)
4 teaspoons sugar, to taste
A dash of ground cardamom (optional)
METHOD
Put mango, yogurt, milk, sugar and cardamom into a blender and blend for 2 minutes, then pour into individual glasses, and serve. Can sprinkle with a little cardamom.
The lassi can be kept refrigerated for up to 24 hours.
Makes about 2 cups.</p>
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<p>Have you totaled up the calories you are eating every day? Last year I lost 50 lbs on the Body for Life program, and now I am doing maintenance. For maintenance, I am counting calories, though that’s not what I did to lose weight. I find that I can only eat 1500-1600 calories per day and maintain my weight. To lose, I need to be eating less than that. And that’s with working out 3-4 days a week (a couple of days cardio and a couple of days with weights).</p>
<p>One thing that helps me a lot is having a protein shake for breakfast and occasionally for an afternoon snack. It is so filling that I rarely think about food for at least 3 hours. I like Myoplex Lite, which is sold in many grocery stores. I put 5 ice cubes in the blender and fill it to 2 cups with water. Then I start the blender and when it stops splashing around, I pour in the packet of powder. That way it’s very cold and slushy, like a shake. I don’t like them very well just stirred or shaken with water.</p>
<p>I would also suggest you start doing weights workouts if you aren’t already. If you build up a bit of muscle, it will increase your metabolism. For me, it took a couple of months of weight training to see a difference in metabolism, but I did see it.</p>