<p>After lurking for 106 pages of this thread, it is definitely time to speak up to say THANK YOU for starting this, and keeping it going. As a result of being motivated by reading your posts just about every day, I am now 10 lbs and an inch or two less than I was when this thread only had 1 page. This is very exciting. I have a long way to go, but I am in for the long haul and amazingly this has not been so hard. We even went on vacation for a full week (which included eating out for every meal and beer/wine) without any appreciable hit which, frankly, was amazing. A vacation with ice cream only once? Who woulda thought? As a WW-alum (with vegetarian kids) who could easily do WW’s CORE plan, I have known forever what one should eat/not eat, and we have always eaten fairly healthy so this hasn’t involved a huge lifestyle change shopping or cooking wise. Our (DH & my) big problems have been portion control and way too much bad carbs. And for me, a ridiculously sedentary lifestyle. Biggest change I have noticed is that I am not hungry so much anymore because of the good choices I am now making. I have still not been able to add in any routine exercise plan, but for eating, here is what is working for me. Hopefully by sharing this I can in turn help others reading/joining the thread: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Tracking: I’m a privacy freak, so don’t like to use the online tracking sites. However, I have set up a form on my laptop and enter there daily weight (yes, I weigh myself each AM), everything I eat/drink, and commentary about good choices I made (ex - ordered iced tea v. a real drink; didn’t eat any bread or dessert when out in a restaurant, etc.) and any emotional stuff going on, and exercise. It’s great reinforcement for me. </p></li>
<li><p>I am not counting carb grams, but have made a concentrated effort to limit them and I do look at the nutritional info on everything so I can be more aware of this. I have had white pasta (for example) just twice in 6+ weeks. Carbs now mostly come only from whole grains or beans, oatmeal, fruits, veggies, and fat free fruit flavored yogurt. And occasional peanut butter. </p></li>
<li><p>I have discovered that for me, oatmeal is a wonder food. My breakfast most days has been 1/2 C plain oatmeal with fresh blueberries (or dried cherries or cranberries), some sweet & low, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. This stuff keeps me full for literally hours. Other breakfasts that work are whole grain high fiber pita with a little PB, or whole grain pita with fat free cottage cheese with a small spoonful of tabouli mixed in. I alternate these so I don’t get bored. </p></li>
<li><p>Go-to drinks have been water, Crystal Lite with seltzer, and McDonalds unsweetened iced tea w/lemon.</p></li>
<li><p>Best hunger controlling snacks: 100 cal packs of almonds or string cheese. Both are good for hours.</p></li>
<li><p>I still like something sweet in the PM but choose between a Skinny Cow ice cream, a 90 cal Fiber One bar, or a Tootsie Pop. (I am a Hungry Girl newsletter subscriber as well as a WW alum … what can I say?) None of those are good carbs, but all are satisfying without a big calorie hit so I am OK with it. </p></li>
<li><p>I try to use a small plate for dinner. If I then want seconds (which I try not to do), I am ending up with only as much as I would have had for firsts if I had been using a full size dinner plate.</p></li>
<li><p>Caltrate’s new chocolate calcium/Vitamin D things are awesome. Way better than the ones that came in the purple container (can’t remember the brand off hand but you probably know what I mean). I try to remember to have at least one and ideally two/day. It’s like a candy that doesn’t count as a candy. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Looking forward to new discoveries and the next 7 weeks. Again, thank you all.</p>
<p>MJSmom,
Welcome and congratulations! I started this thread with selfish motives but now I find myself getting as excited about everyone else’s success as i am with my own. And I am so excited for you!!! Ten lbs is wonderful! Please keep coming. Your tips are great ones and it will be wonderful to follow your progress.</p>
<p>Welcome - this is a wonderful, anonymous place to stay on track with either weight loss or weight maintenance. </p>
<p>I am still pretty restricted in terms of exercise. I am having a bone scan Tuesday to get a baseline. It just doesn’t seem like it feels much better. Oh, well. I am lifting weights and have CONSIDERED doing some pool-walking. UGH.</p>
<p>So far I haven’t gained any weight, but I will have to stay extra vigilant on food choices. Fortunately, I had been exercising really regularly this summer, so I hope I will not be too out of shape when this period is over.</p>
<p>Welcome, MJSmom, and thank you for your detailed post. It’s great that we can exchange information here. I love oatmeal, too, and also find it a wonder food. I am going to start mixing it with Greek yogurt (high protein), rather than having it with milk, as someone here (I’ve forgotten who, sorry!) posted. I also put lots of cinnamon in oatmeal - it’s healthy and takes the place of sweeteners. </p>
<p>My stomach is back to normal today, so I’m looking forward to being back on plan tomorrow. </p>
<p>This morning, S2 came up to me with the platter of cut vegetables he’d taken from the frig (leftover from last night), and asked if he could eat them for breakfast. He had carrots, celery and green peppers!</p>
<p>NYmom, glad you are feeling better. Welcom MJSMom!
I’ve been at the lowest weight in 10 years. Trying to get back to pre-birth weight of D2.
I served spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce. H&I liked it very much. But it was expensive $1/lb.
D2 always love spaghetti and thought I was serving the real spaghetti. She was so disappointed whe she tasted it. This is the first time she tasted spaghetti squash. She was so focus on the word spaghetti and forgot the word squash. Oh well!</p>
<p>Another fan of oatmeal. I have on occasion been known to have oatmeal for both breakfast and lunch. I eat it plain.
I am getting ready for the camping trip. I have eggs, oatmeal for breakfast. I did buy hamburger for one night. I will probably have half the bun. Chicken and mango chicken sausages. I am happy with the sausage with no bread. I did limit us to one bag of kettle chips! Dark chocolate for the s’mores. I am hoping to come home at the same weight I went with.
I don’t know the last time I had pasta.</p>
<p>If the link doesn’t work, it basically says that clenching your fist (or other muscle) can help you resist temptation. But it only works if you truly want to “summon will-power”.</p>
<p>There was another column with tips to cut 100 calories a day; a mix of advice for this thread and the tough love health thread. This was my favorite tip because I already do it!</p>
<p>A recipe to share - made these a bunch LAST summer and when I made them tonight realized that this was a decent low carb, satisfying meal.</p>
<p>Cheese Stuffed Banana Peppers w/ Marinara Sauce
Several banana peppers - mild or hot - your choice. Cut tops off and then cut a slit long-wise. Scoop out seeds. Set aside.</p>
<p>In a small bowl, choose a selection of your favorite cheeses. Tonight I used parmesean, provolone, low fat cottage cheese, and some feta. Mix together to create a thick mixture. </p>
<p>Stuff each pepper with cheese mixture.</p>
<p>Take a pie pan or shallow casserole dish and pour 1/2 c. of your favorite pasta sauce. Place stuffed peppers on top of sauce. If you have some fresh basil, tear a few leaves and top on peppers. </p>
<p>Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and cheese melted.</p>
<p>SOOOOOOOO good! I like the spicy peppers but all are good. Banana peppers are super cheap around here in the summer - I bought a quart basket STUFFED with peppers last week for $1 at our farmer’s market. This is easy, filling and pretty decent for low carb!</p>
<p>Down another pound this week (WW Online). This one-pound-a-week is really tough. I want it to be faster. I am not feeling significantly ‘thinner’ but I am down 12 pounds, so I guess that’s good. I still have another 20-30 pounds to go. Hopefully I will get there by Dec 26 - when I fly to Italy. :)</p>
<p>^^^^
That’s great! One pound a week is a healthy way to loose and it is more likely to stay off if you lose it slowly. Hang in there! I bet you will start feeling thinner soon :)</p>
<p>Well, I know have an appointment on Wednesday to check out my shoulder, but in the meantime I have lost 2 pounds! I think having made the decision to face up to getting rid of the extra weight has made me much more cognizant of what I put in my mouth. Since I have about 14 pounds to lose it’s hard to convince myself to forego all the “treats” like a glass of wine, or dessert or my real downfall, good bread, but I am limiting the frequency and amounts and it seems to be working. I tend to plateau really quickly and know I need to add a real exercise regime, but I’ll wait until Wednesday to see what the doctor says. Just reading all your posts really helps keep me on track. Thanks!</p>
<p>Runnersmom,
I think i plateau easily too. I wonder if it’s because I am small, in general, so really needed to lose about ten pounds, max. I think the less you need to lose, the more quickly you plateau.</p>
<p>I think losing a pound a week is a lot. I basically lose a pound on weekdays and gain half a pound on weekends. That’s fine with me. I tried on an elastic waist jersey skirt I wore regularly last summer. It’s falling off me. Yay.</p>
<p>I am very happy with a pound a week, even half a pound a week would be fine with me. Even a quarter pound a week would be fine with me, as long as it continued until I was happy with my weight. I know that at some point I will hit a plateau, and I am not looking forward to it.</p>
<p>Perhaps thinking of percentage amount would be a better way to go. I lost two pounds a week for a while until I got to a certain point and then it was down to one pound a week and now I don’t really care all that much as I can feel myself getting stronger on a regular basis. Percentage is more of a pain to calculate.</p>
<p>At some point, if you know that you’re doing enough in the diet, exercise and sleep department, losing weight becomes less urgent - at least that’s what I’ve found.</p>
<p>I’m back to my eating plan now, after some days of stomach trouble. My new favorite breakfast is oatmeal mixed with nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and some cinnamon and a few walnuts. Thanks to whomever posted this suggestion some pages back!</p>
<p>From what I’ve read eating walnuts and almonds also lower cholesterol not just oatmeal. My husband usually has plain yogurt with walnuts, raisins, and applesauce for breakfast, he can’t stand cottage cheese. We also snack on almonds throughout the day.</p>
<p>I have two questions. For those of you who eat a lot of oatmeal…what kind and how do you prepare it? A friend of mine eats steel cut oatmeal every morning with berries. I bought some and tried to make it but it tasted like something I would spackle my walls with. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Also, I saw a woman the other day at the gym doing something that I didn’t understand. She was very fit, by the way. She was using this cylindrical, padded thing, about as long as a baseball bat and about ten inches in circumference. She had it on the floor and was rolling her legs and butt over it, kinda keeping herself elevated with her hands. Her legs were straight and she would roll herself back and forth over the thing while turning side to side in order to get all sides of her legs and butt? I couldn’t figure it out but I am curious. Anyone here have any insight?</p>