The good news: I lost a pound last week! The bad news: I’m having a thyroidectomy Tuesday and won’t be able to exercise until New Year’s. Y’all work out for me, ok? I’ll have plenty of time to be on CC while I recuperate, so I’ll be checking on you!
Finally worked up the courage to face the music after over two weeks of not logging my food and eating more sugar and white flour than veggies. Stocked kitchen with healthy choices and will remove December’s net gain of two pounds on my way to my goal of losing the last 13. Doc cleared me yesterday at my post-op visit to resume exercise. Onward!
How’s everyone else doing?
Weight is stable but habits are bad. I kept up the exercise, but ate at weird times, skipped meals, drank meals, ate crap, etc. Popcorn and cookies are not food groups. This cold weather isn’t helping things. It makes me stay inside. I need to switch to eating more soup.
I started on this thread the first day but then dropped out immediately once I realized that people were checking in every day with numbers and such. I already was doing that with myfitnesspal and didn’t have that need to check in here, too, but I am excited to see everyone’s progress.
As for me, I lost 30 pounds last year. Started out like gang busters, of course, and then the progress slowed. Still going down, but really slowly. I have continued to work out 3x/week and then walk the dog 5x/week, but my diet hasn’t been as strict as it was in the beginning and there have been some real stressors this summer and fall so I’m thrilled I’ve done as well as I have.
As part of my exercise class, we get these DXA imaging scans, which are really interesting. I see progress but, man, is it slow. You would think that losing 30 pounds would translate into a big drop in body fat, but it really hasn’t. It’s maddening. Interestingly, the scan tells me that I am two standard deviations above average in bone density and am in the 75th percentile in lean body mass for women my age so that’s all good, but it means that I’m always going to be a little heavier and that things such as BMI won’t apply to me. And I’m an apple so while my legs and arms are in the overweight category, my trunk is firmly in the obese category and likely always will stay there. Oh, well, it’s a marathon and not a sprint.
The other thing the nutritionist affiliated with the program told me is that because I have plenty of lean mass that I am not eating enough protein. With fat loss, I’m also losing a little lean mass. She said that I should be eating 15-20 grams of protein five times a day. I don’t know how to get that much protein because I don’t like so many of the non-meat protein sources – cheese, eggs, dairy. If anyone else has ideas, please pass them on. I just had an apple with peanut butter as my midmorning snack. She’s given me a protein powder recommendation, which I associate with body builders so that feels ridiculous, but I might give it a try!
@“Youdon’tsay” I actually don’t care that much about weight loss per se, precisely because muscles R heavier than fat, I pay more attention about size changes. More muscles/lean mass also metabolize more energy. I wish u like boiled eggs, since it is the easiest and healthiest way to add protein (about 7 gram/egg) into ur diet.
@“Youdon’tsay” if u ever get tired of peanut butter (which I put in my home-made plain yogurt), u can also try hummus, tahini with Apple/pear/carrots/cucumber/celery.
Tofu, lentil, nuts r some other choices for protein (and good fat), but I don’t think they pack as much protein as eggs.
Yeah, if only I liked hummus or tahini or baba ghanoush. As you can probably tell, it’s a consistency thing
@“Youdon’tsay”, I have added a protein powder to my diet and it has made a big difference. I needed to eat more protein as well, so have been using the Vega “natural” flavor powder and adding it to things like oatmeal to give it a protein boost. Don’t feel ridiculous. It’s just another way to get protein.
@“Youdon’tsay” your results are inspiring! Hope the protein powder works for you - if you like it, please share. I’ve tried a couple but never found one I would repurchase.
Thanks, sabaray! That makes me feel better. I don’t want to use all my daily calories on chicken breasts! lol She made a recommendation of a specific powder called biPro. Here’s what she said: “It is unflavored which means it doesn’t have any added sugar and is whey which is absorbed the quickest and ideal for after your workout. The NSF label means it has been third party tested for safety, which not all supplements are.”
How about beans? Baked beans, bean soup or homemade refried beans with a little cheese and spice for a daily snack? Almonds w/breakfast - on your oatmeal, in your cereal.
You don’t want to do all that hard work losing weight to lose important muscle mass!! 
It is really easy to make hummus urself (organic too!), but it is harder if u don’t like the texture. Lol.
I love baba ghaboush too. Mediterranean diet is my fav since it is so tasty and easy to follow.
Right now, I add nuts to my morning oatmeal. Perhaps protein powder is in my future.
I am not the biggest fan of beans, but I will eat them so that might be a way to go. The ways I normally eat them aren’t the most healthy – baked beans, charro beans, etc. Paying attention to this protein issue is front and center for 2018, and it’s going to take some real effort and attention on my part to figure it all out. I will need to replace carb calories with protein, and I have to figure out a sustainable way to do that.
As for trying different protein powders Whole Foods and similar stores sell single serving packets. It’s a good way to try several without spending a lot of money on a canaster and not liking what you bought. The Vega brand that @sabaray mentioned sells single serving packets. I had never thought of putting it in oatmeal. I’m going to pass that along to my D.
A few other ideas are to add chia seeds to your yogurt or oatmeal. Flax seed or flax meal is also another way of adding some protein.
I gained not quite a lb over the holidays which I think is pretty good. I’m extremely happy with where my body and strength are. I’m inspired by the results I’m seeing and it pushes me to go to the gym more. I’m on a streak right now and today will be day 5 in a row. I find classes work best for me as they push me to do more.
My diet has always been fairly healthy. I just need to be aware of when I’m adding to many white carbs. It is my weakness and they don’t agree with my body.
I know that while I’m focusing on strength training and flexibility I’m neglecting my cardio. Something I need to be aware of.
That’s a great suggestion! Trying the packets will help me determine whether this is something I want to invest more money in … I’ll try swinging by Whole Foods today.
@mom60 I love group exercise classes! It all started with a small group tabata Bootcamp for me and it has not stopped.
FWIW, just read that the exercise “trends” in 2018 - number 1 is high intensity interval training (HIIT, which tabata is one) and number 2 is good old group exercises.
We do tabata in my class. I had no idea that’s how it was spelled.
Youdon’tsay, I am sympathetic. I have big bones and muscles, too, so will never be a light weight.
BiPro Facebook page has code START18 for 18% off.
You’ve done a great job, yds 
Keep up the good work. That’s a lot of protein! I won a big canister in a drawing (in basket with other stuff I’m not keen on either) … and gave it to DD. Maybe I should have at least tried some. Smoked salmon has protein, but a lot of sodium (ok for me, since blood pressure is very low). For an occasional change of pace breakfast I put it on cucumbers with cream cheese. I also like smoked salmon on salads.
After I got to my target weight before Thanksgiving, I stopped logging food/exercise and also took advantage of the holiday goodies. I’m only up 2 lb, so I’m ok with that. I’ll just go back to logging again til it’s gone.