<p>coureur, I’ve seen some reports linking skim milk to increased prostate cancer risk. Maybe it is BS, maybe there is something, but it is not the reason DH does not drink skim milk. I personally do not like skim milk, so I buy 2% or 1%. 
Most “juices” sold in the stores are not real juices. Even if they do not contain sugar or HFC syrup, they are blends of several juice concentartes and pack more sugar than real, freshly squeezed juices. If I want orange juice, I simply have an orange and wash it down with a gass of water.
I do buy lower cal products, but only if they do not contain artificial sweeteners, fillers, etc. and pay attention to serving sizes. In the morning, I fill my stomach with proteinaceous foods first, then eat the rest. In the evening, I eat the vegetable part of my dinner first, then the rest. And here is the most important part: as soon as I start feeling full, I take my plate with unfinished food to the sink/dishwasher. Not a bite further.</p>
<p>Where did you read that about skim milk, BB? That’s scary.</p>
<p>Suggestions, please…</p>
<p>At the end of the month, we’re taking D on a summer college tour. 8 colleges, 7 nights in 6 hotels. </p>
<p>This will be my one and only vacation all year. I’m pretty sure that I can stick to my calorie limit everyday and do a few workouts, too. I see wine/cocktails as my only weakness. If we’re eating dinner at a restaurant, I’d like to have a drink…especially on vacation. </p>
<p>What’s my best choice? I’m thinking white wine spritzer with chardonnay. I also tend to like rum and diet coke. I’m open to all suggestions…whatever is lowest cal or carb. For example, if it’s the right choice, I’ll go with a Mich Ultra. Help?!</p>
<p>(Oh, and please don’t tell me to skip all alcohol. I won’t. Thanks.)</p>
<p>The way I learned to drink skim milk was to stop drinking milk for a couple weeks; then I tried skim and it seemed ok. I had to get the memory of 2 % out of my mind.</p>
<p>jym626
I can so relate to your biking story. The day after my husband bought me new very expensive ski boots he insisted I was ready to graduate to black diamond slopes. I was terrified the entire run. And I was MAD at him for pushing me and MADDER at myself for giving in. When I got to the bottom, I went to the ski shop sold them back the boots at half the purchase price and went and bought a fur cap. I haven’t skied since. I might still be skiing if he had not pushed me when I didn’t want to be pushed, or if I had stood up to him! I was so content on those greens and blues!</p>
<p>Our meals have been creative around here lately as I am trying to empty out the fridge before we head up to the lake house. I had a salad of spinach and canned salmon for lunch and a salad of romaine and grilled chicken breast for dinner. I made a a big pan of veggie fried rice for the guys.</p>
<p>The shower saga continues so no gym this morning just a 20 minute walk around the block.</p>
<p>I am fascinated by the different takes presented on this thread. What constitutes “lite” and the varied opinions on what to eat. No wonder it is so hard for some of us. I’ve tried everything short of surgery, and I know the ONLY thing that works for me is if I do EVERYTHING. Limit carbs AND calories AND exercise AT LEAST 30 minutes almost every day AND limit the wine, which I confess is the biggest sacrifice of all. All this to lose 1-2# per week. Keeping the motivation going is my biggest challenge.</p>
<p>Good luck to all. I am rooting for you!</p>
<p>I’ve been following this thread from the beginning and you all have given me the inspiration to get serious about changing my eating habits. I’m on my fourth day (yay!) of no white carbs/no sweets/low fat/etc. Like some, exercise is just not going to be a big component of my program – I commute 3 hours a day for a 9 hour work day and there just isn’t enough time in my day. And also like some above, I’ve gained about 15-20 lbs over the past two years as menopause has settled in.</p>
<p>I’m really posting today to join DB in the quest for adult beverages that fit into my diet commitment. I’m eliminating my nightly shot-and-a-beer (ya really, most nights something DH and I share will he’s cooking dinner) but would really like to substitute another “inexpensive anti-anxiety treatment” (thanks alumother) that’s lower in calories. I thought I had read somewhere that alcohol consumption makes it more difficult to lose weight. Any truth to that rumor?</p>
<p>The way I understand it is that the body burns alcohol first, then carbs, then fat so yes, drinking alcohol will slow your weight loss. However, giving up drinking was non-negotiable for my husband and me so I’m here to tell you that weight loss is very possible while still enjoying cocktails 3 or 4 times a week, maybe more now that summer is here. We have stuck to low-carb beers, Michelob Ultra or Miller Lite mostly. I do enjoy a good margarita though, so here is a low-carb margarita recipe: 1.5 oz. tequila, 2 T. fresh squeezed lime juice, 1/4 c. water, 1/4 t. orange extract, packet of Splenda (I use a drop or two of liquid Splenda), mix and serve over ice. 2.5 grams carbs. I personally thought it was delicious, but some of my friends who like things sweet thought it was a little tangy. (Recipe is not mine, not sure who to credit, it’s all over the internet.)</p>
<p>jym - I will look up. It was on Biospace not so long ago.</p>
<p>People normally do not drink without munching on something, so that adds up. This is one of the reasons why drinking alcohol increases calorie consumption.</p>
<p>My brother and his wife who are low carb people drink rum and diet coke or gin and diet tonic. </p>
<p>I would prefer to have a glass of wine - served in my oldest wine glasses, you know the ones we got as gifts before wine glasses looked like the goldfish bowls at a carney stand.</p>
<p>From [LIVESTRONG.COM</a> - Lose Weight & Get Fit with Diet, Nutrition & Fitness Tools](<a href=“http://www.livestrong.com%5DLIVESTRONG.COM”>http://www.livestrong.com)</p>
<p>Chardonnay (Yellowtail):</p>
<p>6 oz serving
114 calories
3.6 g carbs
0g fat</p>
<p>Beer (Sam Adams Boston lager):</p>
<p>12 oz serving
160 calories
18 g carbs
0g fat</p>
<p>Bourbon (Jim Beam):</p>
<p>1.5 oz serving
104 calories
0 g carbs
0g fat</p>
<p>Other than the calories, a drink of wine or whiskey isn’t going to be a big diet killer. Track your food/calories for a week or two and then it’s much easier to make informed decisions about which “treat” calories you can and can’t live without. If you want the wine with dinner, then you are probably going to have to skip the cheese and crackers or the dessert or whatever it is that is racking up the calories when you track for a week or two.</p>
<p>Personally, my splurge is half and half in my coffee all day rather than two glasses of wine at night, but you could just as easily make the opposite choice and we would both end up in the same place calorie-wise.</p>
<p>I think the key is to invest your daily calories in the best tasting, most satisfying foods you possibly can. Then, it doesn’t feel like a diet because you are eating great tasting stuff you really enjoy and enough of it to be satisfied. Since I think most of the “low cal” and “lite” and “low-fat” versions of processed foods taste disgusting, I simply don’t waste my daily calories on them. Instead of fat free American “cheese” slices, I’d rather just skip the cheese on my grilled hamburger and save 100 calories for real blue cheese on my salad. Those are the tradeoffs that you see when you track your food for a little while. We all have different acceptable tradeoffs. I love cereal, but I’m better off investing those calories in olive oil for homemade salad dressings to make huge salads full of fresh veggies taste like a million bucks.</p>
<p>idad, just to add to your post: 6 oz of wine is a nice size serving, but a 12-oz beer is a puny glass. Who really drinks 12 oz when it comes to beer?</p>
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<p>No, not skim milk per se but dairy products in general are weakly associated with increased risk of prostate cancer - for perspective it’s about the same relative risk as the association between alcohol consumption and increased breast cancer risk in women.</p>
<p>The study that generated all the “Skim Milk Causes Prostate Cancer!!” headlines a while back came from a study of the risk of prostate cancer in men who drank skim milk compared to men who drank no milk at all and derived their dietary calcium from non-dairy sources. It did not compare skim milk to 1% or 2% milk. So skim milk is no riskier than any other milk as far as prostate cancer goes.</p>
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<p>I didn’t like it either when I first started drinking it. But like I said, if you want to control your weight you are going to have to make cuts somewhere. After a short while I got used to the skim milk and now I like it just fine. Now that I’m used to skim, 1% milk seems too creamy to me, and 2% nearly makes me gag - like drinking half & half.</p>
<p>coureur - I use your calorie-shaving technique too. Great way to put it. It has worked for me too, over the years. The most recent shaving, as urged by my doctor due to the breast cancer research, was to roll back from 2 glasses of wine/night to 1. I’m now a really cheap date. But it did help with the weight creep.</p>
<p>I’ve been drinking skim milk for year and, like coureur, milk with fat seems too thick to me, and not refreshing. Maybe a gradual transition, mixing 2% with skim in gradually changing proportions, would be a way to make the change?</p>
<p>One thing that I like that is fairly reasonable in terms of calories is nonalcoholic beer. There are some good brands out there. I like it in the summer because it’s a refreshing but not sweet drink.</p>
<p>I’m lucky in that I don’t like hard liquor and never touch it. I do like wine, but 3 oz a couple of times a week is fine with me. I don’t feel great if I drink more than that.</p>
<p>Yeah. You knock down three or four beers a night and weight control is going to be very difficult as you hit middle age. Five or six hundred extra calories a day is a lot. I’m fortunate in that I probably have a beer or a glass of wine or some single malt scotch about once a month, so it has made shedding a little fat easier for me. When I do drink, it’s usually one glass, which is about the same as a handful of pistachios or any number of the small treats I fit into my calorie goals every day.</p>
<p>I’m really trying, trying, trying, to convince myself that my breakfast of an omelet with cheese and turkey sausage, with a side of fresh fruit (no toast, no home fries) was truly the best option. Am I interpreting this “lower the carbs” thing correctly?</p>
<p>(It was a celebration breakfast, S’s HS graduation is this afternoon!! 
)</p>
<p>Thank you all for the beverage ideas. I rarely order apps or dessert, so I don’t think I’ll be at risk of sabotaging my goals. :)</p>
<p>JustaMom5465 - I think you’re on the right track. And, congrats to your S!</p>
<p>Oh. Mah. God. I started a new medication a few months ago and just realized last night that I have gained 30 lbs.!!! I’m 270 lbs. at 6’2". I knew I was getting a belly, but I had no idea my weight gain was so dramatic. I shall be following this thread with great interest.</p>
<p>Absolutely, Justamom, as long as it was made with real eggs (no eggbeaters) and full-fat cheese. Keep it up, have a grilled chicken caesar salad for lunch with full-fat dressing and no croutons and a steak with steamed broccoli with real butter for dinner.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, I’ve cut back on my wine consumption by drinking some kind of carbonated water + a little grapefruit juice, or even on occasion an Izze gingerale, first. Then I have the wine only once dinner is in front of me. It was the wine pre-dinner and then wine WITH dinner that was problematic. I do best to substitute, rather than try to refrain altogether from something liquid.</p>