<p>Good job !</p>
<p>(Sorry if this is redundant, we are on vacation and I’m strapped for time, so haven’t read all the posts.) Just wondering if anyone has tried the Fat Flush Plan? I just saw some of the books written by Gittleman who is a nutritionist, and some of the ideas are intriguing.</p>
<p>Sounds kind of like the “Cave Man” diet with modern twists. I attended a lecture by the author of Deadly Harvest about a month ago.</p>
<p>The Analyst- I did hit some plateaus. After I had lost about 20 lbs, I used a spread sheet to track weekly goals and progress. I gained weight some weeks and the last 15 pounds took 12 weeks. I’m determined to keep the weight off this time. I had a habit of eating when stressed; now I try to use exercise to deal with stress. I didn’t do weight watchers but used some of the principles. I’ve had several friends have good success with it. When I started cutting back on what I ate, it would take me forever at the store as I was reading all the lables.</p>
<p>I struggle with lunges. You need to be careful to do them right or you can hurt yourself. I’ve found varrying strength exercises helps. I like using the rowing machine, because it uses some many muscles and improves your cardio vascular fitness also.</p>
<p>vulture3- try looking at runner’s world magazine; they have a good section for beginners. They have alot of online information also. </p>
<p>You also might want to look at Jeff Galloway’s running plan for beginners- he promotes running some/ walking some. Most beginner plans don’t have you running two days in a row. I still try not to do that. Biking is a good complementary activity to running/ walking. It strengthens the opposite leg muscles as running.</p>
<p>Binx -</p>
<p>I tried to post yesterday, but I forgot to save and when I clicked the whole darn recipe was lost. </p>
<p>As for being specific - I told my hair stylist several times about the smoothie - she asked and wanted to try it. Each time she couldn’t find the ingredients. I finally brought bananas, baking cocoa, and soy milk for my hair cut. </p>
<p>Okay - Today’s dish is Black Bean Couscous Salad. Your H may want a burger or something to go with it, but for me it is a meal. </p>
<p>1 cup couscous
2 cups boiling water</p>
<p>1 12 oz jar salsa (or one of those great refrigerated containers with mango or anything else that sounds good) Drained.</p>
<p>1 can of black beans (RINSED & drained)</p>
<p>1/2 -1 cup of finely chopped celery
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped green olives with pimento (skip if worried about salt)
juice of lemon
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. dill (optional)</p>
<p>Fresh cilantro - if you have it
Chopped avocado if you don’t care about calories</p>
<p>Pour 2 cups boiling water over couscous in a heat proof bowl. Cover and let cool, fluffing occasionally with a fork.</p>
<p>Drain the salsa so the excess juice is gone. You can drain it into a small bowl and add it back if you think the mix is too dry. </p>
<p>Mix all the remaining ingredients except the cilantro and avocado. Chill in the fridge. When the couscous is cool, add the chilled ingredients. </p>
<p>I sometimes add those drained tofu cubes I told you about, but usually I just serve this on romaine lettuce and garnish with cilantro. You could add a little oil, but I don’t.</p>
<p>Didn’t see the Analyst’s post. My recipe is very similar, the couscous makes it more of a meal. BTW - I throw in mangoes when they are in season and that is so good!!!</p>
<p>DH needs to eat healthier and shed a few pounds – he doesn’t like lentils or any kinds of beans which rules out lots of vegetarian dishes. Luckily he likes fish, chicken and veggies. I make ratatouille – with eggplant and zucchini – and serve it over brown rice; it’s tasty and filling. I usually serve it witha a salad and fruit. Leftovers also freeze nicely for another time. Making me hungry.</p>
<p>I am going to try the couscous recipe. I sometimes make a similar black bean corn cilantro mix and add some cut up chicken breast and put it on greens with ranch dressing and grumbled tortilla chips. The ranch and chips aren’t healthy but you could leave those out. The chicken might make it more filling for your husband.</p>
<p>I love the grumbled chips. :)</p>
<p>That misplaced word is telling as to how my day is going!</p>
<p>Binx, not sure how I’ve missed this thread over and over. As many wiser posters have stated, the hardest parts are </p>
<ol>
<li>Starting</li>
<li>Consistently continuing</li>
</ol>
<p>Gosh, that’s not so hard! :)</p>
<p>I finally hit the wall late last year and had to do something about it. Starting wasn’t so bad, but I learned after several false starts that it is deadly for me to fall into inconsistency. Business trips have been the worst, but I finally have gotten better at making the trek to the hotel’s fitness room (even if it consists of 1 treadmill and 5 small hand weights), and getting away from room service and finding a restaurant that will work for me. </p>
<p>I’m down 60 pounds since January. Dragged the 12-year old Bowflex out of the storage room and much to my surprise discovered the damn thing actually works if you actually use it. The “Bowflex Body Plan” also works, but there’s no magic there – just a very strict low-calorie/low-fat diet. Any similar plan would work</p>
<p>Iderochi, great job. GolfingMom has a similar success story. For those of us still toiling to get to goal, it’s nice to hear from people that shows it can be done. </p>
<p>Once we hit that magic 5-0 (which comes up in January for me), it really does become a health imperative to (1) attain and then maintain a normal weight; (2) control cholesterol; (3) fight against bone loss (Vitamin D, calcium, and weights); (4) maintain normal blood pressure; (5) keep blood sugar/fasting glucose levels normal; (6) exercise aerobically; and (7) do stretching and/or yoga for balance and stress reduction. I don’t know where the core exercises fit in all this, but those crunches seem like a good idea too. Doesn’t sound too hard does it?</p>
<p>I joined a great gym, “lifetime Fitness”, but gum surgery derailed me and I just could not get myself to go. It’s just too expensive not to use it, and I’m thinking about quiting and joining the “Curves” that is on my way home from work. I understand that it is “easy in-easy-out”, about 30 minutes, (so I can get home before the dog pees on the floor). I’m like a lot of you guys; good at starting programs but not so good at continuing, post-menopausal, bone density low, could stand to lose 10 pounds, etc. This is a great place to get support! Here’s a great and easy recipe for pinto beans, done easily in a crockpot. Clean and rinse 1 1/2 lbs pintos. Put in crockpot and cover at least 3" over the beans with boiling water. Cook on high 6 hours or so until soft, adding boiling water if beans become uncovered. Add 6 cloves crushed garlic, handful of cumin, (opt) tablespoon epazote. Salt to taste when you eat them. Serve with whole wheat tortillas, cheese, salsa, fresh cilantro. Yummy!</p>
<p>I’m not convinced you can get a good enough workout at Curves.</p>
<p>I’m loving this thread!!</p>
<p>What a great thing to have a support group of all our cyber friends. I don’t know whether we can keep this going on this thread, but I know I would benefit from checking in and letting you know if I am staying on track. For me, the few extra pounds translated into higher blood pressure and I am determined to postpone medication and/or use the lowest dose possible. I am watching my mom cope with the effects of poorly functioning kidneys and I would like to do whatever I can to avoid those problems.</p>
<p>So, I did some speed work with my racewalking today, enjoyed my smoothie for breakfast, hummus sandwich for lunch, my black bean
couscous for dinner and a second smoothie (with soy, frozen banana, mango, blueberries, and raspberries) instead of a coke for a snack. So, all in all it was a good day.</p>
<p>Binx, when I did the Weight Watchers program a couple of years ago they stressed the weekly weigh-in and I found it really helpful to not weigh myself daily – the fluctuations due to sodium intake, hormones, and other factors can drive you crazy, seeming to reflect quick drops in weight that are not sustainable, or small gains that make you (or at least me) want to give up. This time around I am going with a “never weigh-in” approach, just watching my diet, increasing my exercise, and hoping to see changes in the way my clothes fit and the way I feel. Not sure it’s a wise approach, but I’ll see!</p>
<p>Going to the gym four times in the last five days (after staying away for months) has made my arms already feel less flabby – I don’t think they look different, but they feel different to me – and I think the ab exercises (which I hate, probably because I so desperately need them) are helping, too.</p>
<p>I signed up for Curves once but cancelled my membership within 24 hours – worried that the lack of variety would make me tire of the routine, and there was something about the atmosphere that did not inspire me. I have a couple of friends who really like Curves, though. They both do other excercise (walking) in addition to the Curves workout.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, I have found that I don’t mind going to a gym where there are men. Even though I fall in the overweight and out of shape category, occasionally men will offer an encouraging comment or a friendly smile, and I have a feeling like “OK, I’m one of the gang here.” I am just as intimidated, or maybe more so, by the super fitness-buff women who work out at the gym --even though some of them are my friends! But I realized that I was avoiding the gym because of embarassment about the shape I’m in, which is the stupidest possible thing to do, and I am not a stupid person. I am really glad to be back in the gym routine. And, re: my Curves rationale, I generally do the same thing every time I go to the gym but I know I can do something different, or do things in a different order, or do one thing for twice as long as usual, and I like that dynamic feel.</p>
<p>worknp, the couscous recipe sounds yummy and easy. Thank you!</p>
<p>I like working out w/guys…it makes it more interesting. It’s funny to see how much weight they lift (huge amts) and just the variety is fun and everyone has always been very pleasant.</p>
<p>I know that some diet programs say don’t weigh yourself every day, but I feel like I need to. If my weight goes up or down a pound on any given day, I have a better idea if it’s an aberration or if I’ve blown it. If I had only a weekly weight to go by, and it happened to be an outlier day, then I would have a wrong idea of how I was progressing.</p>
<p>I read a news article recently backing me up. Found this on the Internet, although it’s not the exact article I read:
[Weight</a> Loss: Your Scale - Prevention.com](<a href=“http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/does-weighing-every-day-keep-pounds-away/906e68f271903110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/weight.loss/weight.loss.coaches]Weight”>http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/does-weighing-every-day-keep-pounds-away/906e68f271903110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/weight.loss/weight.loss.coaches)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I didn’t have an excellent day. Not terrible, but not excellent. I walked this morning, but didn’t do any other exercise. I didn’t pig out, but I wasn’t as strict as I need to be either. Had pasta for supper, and now I am really hungry. Don’t think I’m getting enough protein - been hungry all day. (Or maybe it’s because I’m thinking so hard about it?)</p>
<p>I saved some soy shake for my D to try. She said it was okay. She said she probably would have liked it better if I hadn’t called it “bean juice” when I handed it to her. :D</p>
<p>I’m saving up the recipes for a trip to the grocery store.</p>
<p>What I tell myself is that feeling hungry is a good and natural thing. Drink a glass of water! I lost over 40 pounds a year ago and the only way I keep it off is by changing my habits and sticking to them. I try to weigh daily. I am recovering from surgery(not life threatening!) but will be out walking this a.m. while the temps are low and I eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, nuts, seafood, chicken but all little portions. I gave up processed food. I eat very little rice, pasta or that sort of thing. My bp is 106/65. I only walk but I do it everywhere since I live in a city center. I was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year and 1/2 ago. That made all the difference. It keeps me honest.</p>