August ETL

Mihani

Hey y'all, couldn't come up with a clever title for August sorry. I just wanted to get it started before I head to the office. Really need to do some catching up this weekend. I am hopelessly behind.

I'm starting the 6 week plan today. I need to stop at the grocery for a few things but I think I'm pretty well set. The freezer is well stocked with home-made soups, berries, greens, steamfresh veggies, and TJ's stir-fry veggies. Started the day with hot lemon water and a bowl of steamed veggies. Lunch will be salad and some melon. Dinner will likely be water sauteed greens, mushrooms, onions and peppers. I have beets, radishes and carrots, just need to pull out the food processor and shred 'em up for my salads this week. I'm going to keep things as simple as possible, not worry over cooking unless I really want to, and just concentrate on eating the GBOMBS and not snacking.

MakePeasNotWar

Sounds great! It's so much easier when you plan and cook ahead. I should take a page from your book and do a lot more prep than I have been.

I realized I'm not quite ready for the 6 week plan, so I'm doing the food exercises from Eat For Health. 1/2lb of raw fruit in the AM before breakfast (usually protein smoothie with more fruit), and 1/2 lb raw veggies before lunch and dinner. I've been having bean soups for lunch and using up the last of my frozen vegan entrees this week for dinner so I guess I'll have to come up with some dinner ideas soon.

Goals for August:

1 Complete my Strong Curves workouts as scheduled.

2 Get at least 3 servings of fruit and 4 servings of veggies (2 green) daily

3 As health permits, get 7k steps on strength training days and 12k on hike days.

4 Eat a mushroom (we all have to start somewhere, lol)

Mihani

Got through the first two days of the 6 week plan just fine. Not having any caffeine was the tough part, I felt tired and headachy on Saturday, better yesterday. From past experience I'm better off going cold turkey even though the first couple days are rough. I'm trying not to think too much about 6 weeks but just concentrate on getting through one day at a time. Six weeks are going to pass whether I stick with it or not, so I may as well stick with it!

Peas, I take it you are not a mushroom fan lol. Maybe just dice a few up small and add to some soup or something. I like the rich flavor they add to things. Your plan sounds very solid.

Phoenix4me18

Morning all. Had a very busy weekend, but, was very productive at least. Saturday we went to a fitness resell store and I got a kettlebell, weight bar and some weights for it along with several things for DD's fall soccer. They had some weight benches there, however, for the price they felt a little flimsy. We checked out a few other places and wound up empty handed on that one. I will likely check out Amazon or Ebay. I just really want the bench, not one with a rack on it primarily due to the limited space which is proving challenging to find. I spent Sunday prepping meals for the week and put together several crock pot "dump" bags for our family and my parents. These are going to be a real life saver when it comes to eating at home. A couple nights a week we will have crock pot meals which will make things super easy. Mom was very appreciative to have some simple meals in her freezer. She is still dealing with a lot of fatigue, but, thankfully some of the other side effects seem to be diminishing slightly.

Saturday one of the sweetest things happened. DH decided he wanted to take the kids for donuts and asked if I would mind. I suggested he allow them to each pick out two that way we don't have dozens sitting around for temptation. While they were gone I had a killer workout on the treadmill for an hour. When they got back apparently my DD and DH had discussed what could they get/do for me for breakfast since I wasn't eating donuts. DD decided to fix me a fruit salad at home. She wrote me the sweetest note about how proud she was of me and how she hoped this helped me stay on track. It made me smile and realize the impact this change has on her as well.

Looking forward to another great week. It will take some tweaking to work soccer practice into the mix, but, I am determined to make it work. I am really looking forward to using the weights this week. It will be a nice thing to help change things up.

sloth3toes

Random meme. Not inspired by any particular post.

Mihani

Day 3 down... 39 to go! I'm happy enough with what I've been eating the past few days, I don't really get tired of salads for lunch, but I will mix things up at night more once I eat up the leftover kale concoction I made. Too early to get overly confident but I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.

Laura, good idea on the crockpot meals. I should try that. And how nice of your daughter!

Work to do tonight, best keep at it.

P.S. to Sloth, I like the meme.

MakePeasNotWar

NewMe9597, how do you make the crock pot meals? Do you just chop up the raw ingredients and combine them, or is there more prep involved? I've been thinking about getting a crock pot for a while, but I don't have a lot of ideas for what to do with it.

Mihani, 3 days is a great start. I think if anyone can do the full 6 weeks, it's you. You seem to eat pretty close to ETL even when you aren't doing the plan.

I had a pretty good day today. 15k steps, including a 5 mile hike in Griffith Park. Breakfast was raw fruit and a protein smoothie, lunch was salad and homemade bean soup, and dinner was another salad and then pan seared tofu with veggies and tempeh "bacon". I bought a pint of raspberries today which will be dessert for husband and me.

I'm starting to feel better; if I can stay away from the junk food and wine a couple more days I will hopefully start to get my energy levels back to pre-illness levels. That was the most shocking thing for me the first time I tried the program, I felt so much better, so quickly!

Mihani

Peas, I'm feeling the same thing. After only 3 days I'm feeling more energetic. I slept better last night than I have been too. It has been a while since I committed to full on ETL for more than a couple days at a time.

Phoenix4me18

Morning all! Despite being exhausted yesterday (was running on a little more than 6 hours of sleep for this 7-8 hour person) I went home, changed and got on the treadmill. My 2 minute jogging intervals are still proving to be challenging, so, I am planning to just stick with the 2 minutes until they become easy and then bump it to 3 minute intervals. The 10 minutes of incline work at the end is a lot more challenging than I would have thought. Tonight I am going to break out my new weights and get in some arm and leg work. I debated doing some Tae Bo. I am still on the fence as to what I should do the three days a week I am not on the treadmill. Continue with another form of cardio or work on strength training. Both have huge benefits. Years ago when I was really successful at losing 60 pounds I did it all through cardio 6 days a week. I know now though that strength training can be key to burning calories for a longer period of time - not to mention getting STRONGER! So, still on the fence and know I need to make up my mind and get a true schedule set up.

Peas - for the crockpot meals I stumbled upon this site http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/ and fell in love with it. I modify the recipes to meet my nutritional goals, but, so far after two weeks of doing this I have been really impressed. The bulk of the ingredients for the meal get put into gallon sized bags and put in the freezer. Then, you just pull one out the night before you want to cook it and let it semi thaw in the fridge before putting it in the crockpot. Then, all that is left might be some side items to compliment the meal. An example - last week we did crockpot chicken fajitas. I put together the chicken and all the seasonings/liquids in a gallon bag and froze them. Then, the same day I cut up a super big bag of peppers and onions. We took the frozen bag out the night before we were going to have them, then when we were ready to start the crockpot my DD dumped the bag of cut up peppers and onions in the crockpot then dumped in the chicken and seasoning in set it to low for 6-7 hours and the bulk of dinner was done! DD fixed rice and cut up some lettuce for the guys and I had the fajita filling on a salad with some salsa. I love her site. She has several different collections one is 40 meals in 4 hours, but she has one for 30 meals, 20 meals and 7 meals. I put together 2 meals in maybe 10 minutes on Sunday. You should check it out.

Busy day ahead, so, going to get going. Have great ones!

Mihani

Day 4 done... woohoo! I felt really good today. It was a super stressful day at work, but I was better able to cope with it than I have been recently, and I didn't have a mad desire to stop and grab some alcohol on the way home lol. That's progress. I'm really tired though. Going to hit the pillow extra early tonight. Stopped and got watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. I have been enjoying having melon for breakfast the past few days so I'm going to stick with that for now. Still need to start getting regular exercise.

liapr

Hey guys! We are already well into August! Thanks for starting the thread, Mihani.

I started back at ETL yesterday too! My first totally ETL day in god knows how long... It felt nice. I had a crazy wedding weekend. I am so tired and feeling burnt out, mostly I think I just need a good sleep. I felt like crap all day Sunday though. Probably because all I ate was carbs and junk, because I had that sleep-deprived hangover feeling! haha. So anyway, I am happy to be back to ETL.

I realized that I keep failing and failing and have two small things that I'm going to try this time around:
1. Not focus on how often I've failed and try to forget the weight gained and lost before.
2. Not try to accomplish all 500 goals at once.

I want my goals to be smaller daily goals. ie. do not eat off the food menu today.
I have realized that focusing hardcore on ETL and exercising a lot daily is not going to work, so I'm going to try and be more progressive about it.

Sloth, that vision is actually what I see when I'm feeling shameful about eating something VERY non-ETL lol. Scary Joel.

Mihani, you're on such a roll!!!! Awesome job, you're doing it!!!!

Peas, your dinner sounded delish. Sounds like you're doing well with your food. Great hike too!

Laura, thanks for the crock pot link! That's a great idea... How's the new exercise equipment going?!

MakePeasNotWar

August is turning out pretty great so far, it seems. I wonder what it is that got us all motivated at once (and where can we get more of it, lol)

I got stuck away from home yesterday and had to eat out for lunch. I had a Chipotle salad with romaine, tofu, beans, brown rice and salsa, which was fine on macros and would have been ETL if not for all the freaking SODIUM!! 1520 mg of sodium in under 600 calories of food! And of course, my Halowe'en challenge weigh in was this morning. I don't know how much water I was retaining, but even my eyelids were puffy!

Thanks for the crock-pot ideas, Laura. I'm going to add veggies and substitute some vegan proteins, but I think the 7 day plan might be a great start for me. I know I'm just a random internet stranger, but I vote for adding some strength training to your program over more cardio. Right now I am hiking M,W,F, and doing the Strong Curves bodyweight strength training (and butt building, lol) program T,Th,Sat, and it's working really well. I find I don't get the type of worn out exhaustion I used to get from doing Muay Thai 6 days a week, and hike days are a rest from the muscle soreness from SC. Just one person's opinion, though, so take it with a grain of salt-free seasoning

Mihani and Lia, you guys sound like you are doing great! I have yet to have a 100% ETL day, but between following the Eat for Health exercises and staying 100% plant based (which I was doing anyway), I'm probably 70+ percent. Maybe I'll have to creep your food diaries for some ideas

Today's hike was a bit short but really steep; according to my HR monitor, I burned 705 calories in just under 90 minutes! Not sure how much I trust that, but since I don't eat back my exercise calories anymore, it doesn't really affect me if its overstated (except making me feel awesome!) I had my protein shake before the hike, steel cut oats after, and my plan for the rest of the day is homemade soup for lunch and tofu burritos for dinner, plus whatever veggies I end up buying at Pavilions today.

Keep up the great work everybody! I think I might print out that meme and put it on my fridge - see if it helps

Mihani

mfp groups were messed up last night and I couldn't post this, but I was able to copy/save it before the connection timed out so this is yesterday's update:

Lia, woohoo! I just hit 5 days, and realized I only have 2 to go and I’m through the first week. It was weird that I started it on Saturday but it works out well because with Friday being the end of my first ETL week I don’t think I’ll want to blow that momentum by doing something silly over the weekend. I really want to get through 6 full weeks. If I can lose 15 pounds in that time I’ll be back into my former range where I was at least comfortable if not at my goal. After that I’d like to keep at it, but allow one splurge meal and a couple glasses of wine one day a week. There seems to be an epidemic of weddings in your circle of friends this summer! I think your ideas for changing your focus are really good. I am doing somewhat the same thing, I have it in my head I want to do it right the whole 6 weeks, but I’m trying to focus only on each day. I’m not thinking too much about what can I eat, I’m just eating salads and veggies and fruit and beans. I might do some cooking here and there, but I think trying to plan and make actual meals just adds to my stress, so I’m keeping it as simple as I can.

Peas, I love Chipotle, but I don’t get there too often. Sounds like you made a great choice, but yeah the sodium, ugh. I agree with you on strength training. So Laura has votes from 2 random internet strangers now.

Today was good. MFP wouldn’t let me close my diary because my calories were 900, but I honestly couldn’t eat another 100 calories (at least not of high nutrient food). I forgot the beans on my lunch salad which is what made me low, so I had split pea soup from the freezer stash and a salad for dinner. The salad was simple but very tasty. Had Boston red lettuce, a diced fresh peach, and a few almonds broken into pieces and a bit of balsamic and fresh ground pepper. I stopped tonight and got some romaine. I usually buy the big containers of spring mix, but I want to mix up my lettuces more this time around. I don’t normally get tired of salad, but 6 weeks of salad every single day may start to get old so I think I need to mix it up.

I ordered some DHA+EPA today. I didn’t buy Dr. F’s brand, it is almost 3 times the price of the Deva brand and it didn’t get as good reviews. Anyway I’ve been thinking about it for a while but just hadn’t got around to ordering it. I’m not sure if vegetarians are as prone to being deficient as vegans, but I’ve been vegetarian for a really long time, and full vegan for 3 1/2 years so I figure I should be taking it. Here’s the article on Dr. F’s website: drfuhrman.com/library/vegans_dha_epa.aspx

Phoenix4me18

Morning all. Well, Tuesday was the big weight day. I think I may have been overly excited for all my new weight equipment and didn’t really test the waters at all – I just dove straight in. The routine I followed started off as a “beginners routine” which then turned into “oh! I remember how we used to do ___at the gym…let me try that!” It quickly turned into a very, very thorough workout which I am still feeling two days later. I vaguely remember feeling this way one time after our trainer (years ago) put us through a “leg day.” I keep reminding myself that this is part of the process and eventually it will get easier…but…right now…geez. I went for a walk yesterday morning hoping it would help, but, thinking maybe I should have gone for a second one or something because I am still pretty sore today. I know it will get better, but, I REALLY want to be back on my treadmill for another run. I haven’t slept real well since and I have no doubt it is due to muscle soreness. I am really looking forward to it easing up and finally getting a solid night sleep. So, if anyone has any “best practices” for helping to ease sore muscles feel free to throw it out there!

Speaking of running – I have had a Fitbit Charge since February and have been loving it so far. The only drawback is after 6 months the band is now falling apart. Not so happy about this. I thought about ordering a new one and decided I really wanted to add the HR monitor to the mix. I also wanted to get something that would buzz at me when I had been inactive for too long, would keep track of my steps and had a reliable (and prettier) band. So I decided to order a Polar A300. It comes today. I AM SO FLIPPING EXCITED TO GET IT!! It is like this huge reward for all my efforts lately. I can’t wait to get it set up and start using it.

Lia – I love the new equipment so far! I have been sore for two days due to the most excellent session of strength training. While I know this is part of the process, the soreness is something I could do without. Lol It was awesome to crack out my weight bar and do deadlifts and various different curls. I did kettlebell swings for the first time in forever which was awesome! I like your shift in thinking regarding smaller goals. I tend to get lost in the larger goals and always feel like I am scurrying around not making any progress. I think focusing on the smaller ones helps keep me reigned in and see the actual progress I have made versus how far I feel I need to go.

Peas – I do tend to double the veggies for most of the dishes for a couple of reasons 1) they are just so good for you having extra is never a bad thing and 2) feeding a family of five with three of them being male makes meat/chicken etc very pricey! I took your suggestion to heart about adding more strength training. It really does make more sense. I want to get stronger in all areas and I know the strength training will help with having stronger runs as well. I love Chipotle as well and try so hard to keep it healthy, but, you are right – that sodium is terrible!

Mihani – 5 days already?! Wow! Awesome job! I really like hear what you eat every day. Seriously, it is like this refreshing breeze that blows through my day as a reminder on what to focus on and that it really can be simple. (I hope that doesn’t sound too weird!) You and Peas crack me up over “random internet strangers”

Alrighty. Time to suck down some strong black coffee and get to work! Will check back in later.

MakePeasNotWar

Good morning everyone!

I just took my husband to the airport for his 5 day trip to Canada to visit his dad. I'm strongly considering doing 100% ETL while he's gone. I guess Lia and Mihani are inspiring me! I have some soup starter veggies and a big bag of mixed beans so I'm going to make a big pot of soup today and try to stick to fruits, veggies, soup and some nuts until he gets home on Tuesday.

I was stocked for fruit yesterday, until I ate 1.5lb of watermelon in a single sitting after lunch. I also ate almost 1/2 lb of raspberries

sloth3toes

MakePeasNotWar wrote: »

I'm strongly considering doing 100% ETL while he's gone.

From this random internet stranger... you should do it.

Oh, I can handle it.... HAH !

Mihani

Peas, that's one of the great things about the 6 week plan, unlimited fruit. Not sure I could do it without lots of fruit. It's filling and sweet. Good luck with the 5 days!

Laura, great job on the workout! I have no words of wisdom on the soreness. I always kind of like that soreness though, makes me feel like I must have really accomplished something. Oh, I find that yoga helps me. Congrats on your Polar, hope you enjoy it. I lost my Fitbit a while back, still sad about that.

Sloth, are you still on nicorette? :huh: (I haven't got to use my judgy smilie in a while, thanks)

Today was good. Another super busy stressful day, but I made it through. Got home late and didn't feel like cutting up veggies and making the stir-fry I planned on, so I nuked a bag of steamfresh veggies and dumped them on a bed of Boston lettuce and added a little low sodium soy sauce. There's still a fair amount of sodium, but as an occasional lightly used condiment I'm not too worried about it. Anyway, I figured that's what the huge pile of steamfresh bags in my freezer are for, days when I don't feel like cooking and it saved me from rummaging through cabinets and finding something starchy to indulge in. I found that the steamfresh veggies were much better with the lettuce. They are kind of blah on their own, but with the lettuce there was more snap.

I'm heading to bed extra early and try to get into the office extra early. Today was terribly unproductive and I need to get a whole lot done tomorrow.

UtahWI

Just had to come say hi! I have been on mfp and reading but not posting too much, anywhere. I finished a research class on July 31, and had about six days of work that left me really questioning how much longer I want to do this for. Sigh. I am sure the mother of my patient for the last few days would say I should keep going...and it isn't the patients or the workload or the families or the stress of being with people in their darkest moments (and sometimes, in their best moments of success). It is that our hospital, which has been in place for 125 years and working in a partnership with a large clinic...is being ripped apart by the business choices of said clinic, as well as our other hospital "partners". It is all business, and business model decisions, and it is awful. Also, our chief nursing officer was overheard in our managers office saying some things that really paint her as unsupportive of nursing staff...and when you don't have that, it becomes hard to keep moving positively. I really feel for my manager...he came into this unit when the culture was awful and he built it into the kind of unit every manager wants, with great culture, minimal turnover, a bunch of competitive people actually working together for the betterment of everyone-as a unit rather than competing against each other,...and now it is being destroyed.

Anyway...life keeps moving. Our puppy is now 7 months old, and lately she has taken to eating the very nice bed I recently put in her kennel...although she has toys in there. Busy bee. So I get to do some repairs on that today. It is POURING rain and has been all morning...I need to check the weather to plan the rest of today. I need to pick todays green beans and add them to Wednesday's haul, and deliver them to my mother to can...her canned beans are low sodium and THE BOMB. Everyone loves them, so we make sure to plant plenty. But at this rate, don't know when I will be picking, it is seriously POURING. We needed a good rain like this though, pastures were starting to dry up, lawn was starting to brown.

As a Random Internet Stranger, I agree with Peas on the strength training! I used to be able to cardio a lot off too...now since induced menopause and thyroid failure, I think my key is lying in strength training. I work out at home almost exclusively, and am two weeks into the Beachbody Body Beast program, and feel changed already. And, I can feel it when I ride- I am already stronger, more balanced, and in more control of my body. I do still run a couple of days a week, and walk on others...as I have summer running events scheduled. Saturday I am doing a 5K for the Colon Cancer Alliance called Get Your Rear in Gear, should be fun!!! I get the survivor Tshirt, so am looking forward to that!

Anyway, off to check the weather...I already had a big stock of veggies for breakfast, and am feeling ready to go! ;-)

MakePeasNotWar

So I made it through yesterday, but I felt a lot of stomach upset for most of the day. Too many beans, maybe? I usually eat one serving, not three. I'm not sure if it's allowed on the strict plan, but I think I'm going to have to use some tofu or tempeh to keep my protein up (I had a lot of muscle wasting from the sarcoidosis and my lean mass is so low the doctor has threatened anabolic steroids if I lose any more muscle mass)

Feeling better today, but I woke up super hungry so I decided to make some steel cut oats my whole grain for the day. I ate the last of my fruit (again, lol), so I'm off to the store again before lunch. They have amazing raspberries at my local Pavilions right now - sweet and ripe, but not mushy.

Sloth, how long have you been using the gum? One of my grad school profs was on the patch for years, but I heard she finally got off it, so it's never too late to quit. I quit smoking cold turkey a few years back, and I found that sipping diluted fruit juice throughout the day for the first 4-5 days really helped with the nicotine withdrawal. Apparently nicotine causes stored sugars to be released into the blood stream, so without that stimulus, blood sugar drops and causes a lot of the classic withdrawal symptoms like dizziness, irritability and light-headedness.
http://whyquit.com/joel/Joel_03_21_blood_sugar.html

Mihani, which steam fresh varieties are you using? I tried the broccoli and it seemed kind of bland and mushy. Are there better ones?

Utah, enjoy your run! I hope the rain stops for you and you have great weather tomorrow.

Mihani

Hi Jean, glad to see you! Sorry to hear things aren’t cool at work. Especially hard to take when things were going so well before. You will have to post some updated pics of the pup. Good luck with your run!

Peas, a lot of people have problems with their stomachs when they first start ETL. I guess I’m lucky it never bothered me. Tofu is allowed on the 6 week plan, unlimited beans, legumes, sprouts and tofu. I agree the steamfresh veggies are blah and mushy, but I was pleasantly surprised how much better they were mixed with the Boston lettuce. I think it added enough crispness to make me not notice the mushy veggies so much. I just bought a bunch of them because they were on sale for $1 per bag and I need to have fallback plans for dinner when I don’t have time or don’t feel like cooking. But no, there aren’t any that are better. They definitely aren’t something that I think oh goody I get to have steamfresh veggies for dinner lol. The only frozen veggies I really like are the Trader Joe’s stir-fry mixes, they are really good.

I already posted my meals in the new thread that Peas started. Other than that just another crazy day in the office, didn’t get as much done as hoped. Going to go in early tomorrow and treat it like a regular workday, put in a good 8 or 9 hours and see where I end up and if I can make any dent in the backlog. I ate a little more today than I have been this week, my calories were under 1000 for 3 days this past week, but believe me, I am eating a LOT of food. I would be sick if I tried to eat more. I forget sometimes the huge volume 1000 calories of high nutrient food gets you.

Oh, and I got my vegan omega-3 supplement today. I took one after lunch. No aftertaste or anything which some reviews had warned about. I fully expect to be feeling like superwoman after taking them for a few days.

One week full on ETL, done! Woohoo!

MakePeasNotWar

Made it through another day. Two down, three to go. I probably won't change too drastically when my husband gets home, maybe just go back to having protein powder at breakfast and vegan takeout (I love LA

Mihani

Didn't have a very good day in the office, very stressed and feeling pretty hopeless. Every file I touch turns out to have complications and nothing gets done. On the bright side, I didn't let it affect my ETL day, so that part is good. Had my melon for breakfast and the usual salad for lunch. Very low calories today, just not up for eating much dinner, but I made some sauteed squash, carrots and onion (no oil used a non-stick pan and the squash created enough water to keep things from sticking) so I'm eating a bit of that. It turned out tasty, I just used a little garlic powder, oregano and black pepper to season it while it was cooking.

Waiting for a load of laundry to get done and I'm going to crash. I want to be back in the office early. I am starting to hate my job.

Mihani

Up and showered and ready to head to work. I had a bowl of lentil soup from the freezer stash for breakfast. Odd breakfast but I wanted something warm and filling with some protein after being so low on calories yesterday. Just wanted to check in real quick, I haven't been weighing myself every day like I usually would because the numbers tend to make or break my day. So week 1 of the 6 week plan results: 5.5 pounds. I'm happy with that.

MakePeasNotWar

I just noticed my last message got cut off by the iPhone app. So annoying. BTW, I was in the middle of saying I was going to eat take out once a week, lol. The cut off makes it sound like I'm going to be eating it every day.

Anyway, day 4 of the strict program and I'm not gonna lie, getting sick of giant salads and bean stew. I could have planned it better. I bought some peppers and black beans and I'm going to make a very veggie heavy chill today that will help me get more non-salad veggies in. I may stick to crudités for my raw vegetables for a few days.

Mihani, 5.5 lbs is great! You must be pleased! I'll be happy to lose half that much.

I realized today how lucky I am to live in the neighbourhood I do. Zero fast food, zero doughnut shops, and about a million juice bars and gyms. Not to mention two fully vegan restaurants within walking distance and several more places with extensive vegan options. Health and fitness is a very big deal here!

liapr

Peas, that neighbourhood sounds like a dream come true!!! Nice when you have support from unsuspecting places. Vegan takeout sounds like an awesome occasional option too!!

Wow Mihani, you are on fire!!!!!!!!!! That just woke me up a bit. That's amazing. Although I hear you, we are talking a lot lately about how every single file has problems, none of straightforward!!! It makes for long weekends with little feeling of success.

Speaking of, hang in there Jean. That sounds awful but hopefully you can get through thinking "this too shall pass" and that it will hopefully be a rotten phase that won't last too long. I do know what you mean though, it's probably worse feeling like it is out of your (and your co-workers') hands.

I got in some exercise and healthy-eating on Saturday but Sunday we had an afternoon wedding. The veggie option was indian, which was DELICIOUS, but very rich and heavy. And then I couldn't say no to dessert. So I sort of bombed yesterday. My workout also made me realize how out of shape I am because I feel so sore again! I need to be exercising more than once a week though, even if it is just walking on the treadmill. Our dog is the slowest walker in the world... Anyway, I am hoping to buckle down this week like you, Mihani!

Phoenix4me18

Hi all. In recovery mode right now from a weekend where my emotions drove my eating choices. ;( Friday night my DD had planned to have her first ever "friend" birthday party. Out of the 6 of her closest friends that said they were coming only one showed up. She was completely crushed. I was so hurt for her and really mad at the girls that said they were coming and were going to spend the night and then didn't even have the manners to call her and let her know. We wound up with a whole lot of leftover pizza and other goodies in the house that were not the best idea. Then, Saturday and Sunday were spent running all day getting together back to school stuff with lunches on the go. By the time we finally made it home Sunday night I was wiped and hadn't had time to even plan anything for dinner. So, we picked up Chipotle and I enjoyed it along with a much needed glass of wine. Back to it today. I haven't been working so hard just to let this past weekend become the norm!

I did manage to spend some time prepping more food for this week. Three crock pot meals that will save my butt and my meal plan. Soccer starts up in full force and we will be on the go for at least three nights during the week. These will be essential to successful "pizza free" weeks. I am looking forward to getting back to feeling better and more energetic. Amazing how eating so freely can make you feel so bad.

Still loving my Polar A300! I love it mostly because it beeps at me when I need to get up and move. Seriously, I think that in and of itself is worth it. There is an awful lot you can do with this gadget and I am not sure I will ever have it totally figured out....speaking of that.. .it just beeped at me, so, gotta move!

Check back later - have great days!

whats_her_name

I'm ba-ack... My holidays were wonderful and totally relaxing, but it's good to be back into a routine - I actually was looking forward to work today...???? Wait; what???

Good for you, Mihani!! I am on my day 3 the 6-week plan -- I ALSO started on a Saturday.... I was REALLY headachy on the first day, but yesterday wasn't really all that bad at all, and today I think it'll be just fine... This morning the scale tells me that I'm already down 4.2 lbs. YES PLEASE!!! That's what will keep me going. Progress!! My weight was creeping back up and it was time to say ENOUGH!!!

And it's funny that you had lentil soup for breakfast. I've been really craving the OSG red lentil & kale soup. I really need to make that again, it was so tasty!!

I haven't been working out as regularly for the last few weeks. Need to get back into the habit. I did do 80 squats the other day for no reason. It really wasn't hard at all, so maybe I should shoot for 150. And I want to start doing the same thing with push ups, bench dips, crunches and lunges. I'd really like to be able to do 100 push ups, and 200 of everything else, and I'd like to do it every single day. Gonna start building myself up tomorrow. Today I'm focusing on groceries and meal prep...

I had one of the best salads ever on my day 1... SO GOOD! I made guacamole with cherry tomatoes, lime juice, avocado, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper, then I added 1 green onion, 1/2 of a red pepper, 3 stalks of celery and a whole bunch of chopped up romaine - probably about 4 cups. YUM!!!! That was one BIG salad!! I will definitely be making that again!!! I could have added black beans, too - but I was without a car and on limited groceries, so I made do...

I also had a really wonderful smoothie too - might be my new favorite. Coconut water, 2 bananas, spinach and frozen cherries. It was SOOOOOOOO good!! It turns muddy, but I think it just looked chocolatey.

Peas WOW - walking distance to vegan restaurants!! That's incredible!! I have NOTHING like that here AT ALL.... :P

Mmmm... thanks for the idea of a veggie chili -- I should definitely make that, too!!


Alright, I've gotta get to it. Have a wonderful day everyone!!

whats_her_name

Oh, and New, that SUCKS about the bday party. That was completely ignorant of people not to call and say they couldn't make it; for whatever reason. My DD has a summer bday too, and I get that it's hard to coordinate a party with holidays all over the place, but at least have the consideration to let people know!!!

Mihani

Peas, I wish I had more vegan options close by. Or maybe I don’t lol. How did your chili turn out?

Lia, I really don’t know what is going on with our cases lately, but I just wish I could take a file, get it done and off my desk, and lately nothing seems to get done. I’m in a holding pattern on so many things. Very frustrating! And I can soooo relate on feeling out of shape. I decided to take on the 30 day shred last night and even with cheating some of the sets it was brutal lol. I really need to stick with it and build myself back up. I’ve let myself go far too long and have to acknowledge I’m starting from scratch when it comes to fitness. Seems like you are going to weddings every week this summer!

Laura, that is awful about your daughter’s party. Poor thing. Hope she’s feeling better now. Great job prepping some dinners for the week. I find being prepared is such a huge help.

Welcome back Karrie! Is the treehouse all finished? Wow, great start on the 6 week plan! I made the red lentil kale soup during my cooking spree a couple weeks ago and froze 6 containers. It freezes well. I have liked all the soups I’ve tried from OSG actually, the 10 spice veggie is decadently delicious. I don't know why, but starting the 6 week plan on a Saturday seemed to make a difference in getting through that first week. Now I'm thinking it's Tuesday and I'm almost halfway through week 2 already.

I brought some files home to work on last night, but got home later than anticipated and then a thunderstorm rolled in, and while I was debating on whether I wanted to fire up the computer while it was going on I crashed on the couch. It was only 7:30 so I woke up at 1:00 and need to get back to bed for a couple hours.

whats_her_name

Lovin' all the motivated peeps in here this month!! There's something in the air (or maybe in the water...)

Mihani I do NOT know how you do it. And then to find time to cook and freeze food in advance on top of all your crazy hours!! I barely have time to cook for today!!!

That's good to know about the 10-spice soup. I've not tried that one yet, and I might not have if you hadn't just given it a gold star.

The treehouse is not done yet. It's 90% done on the exterior - it just needs soffits and the windows and door need to be framed in. Then the exterior is complete. After that, we just need to insulate and panel in the interior, and that will also be complete. So it's REALLY close. There won't be any decorating done this year, but I'm going to measure the windows and sew some curtains over the winter, and I'm going to make some matching cushions for the benches that we'll be building next year.

My dad has been gone on holidays for 3 weeks now, so we haven't been doing any construction. But it's nice, because it gave me time to hang out with my kids at the lake. He should be back either today or tomorrow, so construction will resume soon, I'm sure.

I ruined my salad yesterday. I made the guacamole salad again because I liked it so much, but I accidentally spilled the cayenne pepper into it, so instead of just a dash, I ended up with somewhere between 1/2 tsp to a full tsp. It really wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable, but I made myself finish it anyway, because I didn't want to waste all those veggies!! (It smelled so much better than it tasted...) Oh well, I won't be making that mistake again!!!

Got a bunch of groceries last night for the next 2-3 days. Tonight I'm going to make a coleslaw with cabbage, beets, carrots and whatever else (can't remember) and the dressing is made with a juiced orange & a lemon. Sounded tasty, so I hope it really is. If it's worth sharing, I'll post the receipe tomorrow...

I'm down another full pound this morning, putting my day 4 total weight loss at 5.4lbs. Yahoo! It's this initial fantastic loss that really motivates me to keep going. I'm now only .2 lbs higher than my last MFP check-in. Thank goodness!! I'm already feeling better - less bloated, and I've already noticed that my skin is looking nicer; in a week or two it'll be amazing!!

I hope you all have a fabulous day!!

liapr

Hey guys!! So nice to have you back, Karrie! Sounds like you're off to a wicked start too! Too bad about all the cayenne lol. I LOVE cherries in smoothies!

SOOO proud of everyone here. Just in case no one tells you that. I am super impressed and big fans of you guys. It is not easy to have completed what you have completed!!!!

Man, Laura, that is just awful about your poor daughter's party. I hope the girls have apologized or made up for it. Seems like so many people (and parents) are in their own worlds....

I also feel constant pangs for wine every single day!!

Mihani, I'm not sure what's going on. It seems that now that it's busy, and when there is no time for problems, that there are dozens of problems lol. Oh well. I'm trying to stay on top of my sleep! How are your hands btw?!?!

I'm terrified of weighing myself because I feel like I'm still too inconsistent but maybe I will give myself a target weigh in day for next Friday. I need some more smoothies in my life I think!