Optimistic October
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Carla, that had to be a really frightening morning. I'm glad he's doing better, I hope nothing serious is found on the tests. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts.0
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Oh Carla! I am glad Joe is doing okay for now and hope all remains well. *hugs*
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Carla, so sorry to hear about Joe. Good job getting to ER fast. Keeping you both in my prayers for good news.
Keep us posted. 🌸0 -
Happy I fell back asleep...coming in now to see if there have been any updates. Hope things are looking better.0
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I actually slept six hours last night (according to my sleep tracker and 2 hours deep sleep)...feeling human at this moment.
Having coffee...making breakfast lunch and dinner for work:
overnight PUMPKIN oats
air fried zucchini with parm shreds
minestrone (no pasta) very low cal density
baked potatoes and romaine lettuce leaves plus TJ dill dressing for dipping
apple - maybe (switched to gala cuz Trader Joe's honey crisp apples are not organic and apples are one of the worst offenders on the dirty dozen list...do not like gala, but it is sweet. I need to check out the HC apples at Sprouts...see if they have them.)
Hope everyone has a good day...special shout to Joe...hope things are back on track and the cardiologist can make you feel better.
later, mates0 -
Thanks for the good wishes and prayers everyone. Joe is feeling 'normal' ever since the A-Fib stopped. We have an appointment for November 2 with a cardiologist, but I think finding the root cause could take time. He'll be wearing a monitoring device for a month, which he hopefully gets on the 2nd. We are considering big lifestyle changes that could reduce his stress. On the plus side, I think his work partners now understand that things have to change.
Nanc, glad you got 6 hours in. Not having enough sleep impacts everything. Are you feeling less anxious about your 2nd knee surgery?
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So glad to hear that Joe is doing better, and I hope you can make changes that will help with stress. It affects everything!!!
Glad you got a good sleep, Nanc!
I have a full blown cold now, Made it through two classes this morning then bailed on the third and went back to bed for a few. I did change them to virtual so I wouldn't be sneezing on everyone. That worked out better than I thought it would but I missed the camaraderie of the in person classes.
I am getting grocery delivery since I just don't feel up to going myself, plus ever since covid people look horrified if you cough or sneeze within a mile of them. LOL
Ordered stuff to make the sheet pan fajitas that were all the rage around here for a while. I haven't made them in months and they sound SO good plus the jalapeno and green chili might help with the stuffiness. Speaking of, I should go get the cashews soaking.
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Carla, so happy to hear Joe is doing better. Stress is so detrimental to our health sometimes, I hope things do get better for you hubby at work.
Magic, yay for 6 hours, especially with two hours of deep sleep.
Mihani, sorry to hear about your cold, but it's great you have an option for virtual classes. It's definitely not the same as in person, but at least your still getting a workout. Your sheet pan fajitas sound delish.
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Spring here's the recipe: https://pinchofyum.com/vegan-sheet-pan-fajitas-with-chipotle-queso The queso needed some tweaks in my opinion. Carla originally shared this recipe and I know she played with it as well although I'm not sure what she added. I use more like 3/4 cup water so it blends more easily, and add 2 tablespoons nooch, about a teaspoon of chili powder and 1/2 tsp each of cumin and smoked paprika. I also usually use a jalapeno instead of chipotle. And I don't use any oil. Great on salad or my favorite is wrap it up in an ezekiel tortilla with some lettuce and salsa.
I went to bed at 6:00 and slept until 1:30 so I'm up having some chamomile and lavender tea. I'll go back to bed for a bit but I think (hope) that I'm over the worst of the cold. Plan to get lots of work done today along with laundry and some cleaning.
Didn't really prep for the week but I did order box lettuce and power greens so I'll have wraps with the fajita veggies until they run out, and keep it simple other than that with frozen veggies, beans, rice or quinoa, smoothies, oatmeal.
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Thanks for the welcome! I hope it is okay to post this here. I keep a chart of my progress. I weigh in on Sundays. Each month I give myself goals for the month.
Starting weight: 270 March 2021
Total loss to date: 61.2
October 2022 Start Weight: 212
October Goal Weight: 208
Ultimate Goal Weight: TBD
October 2: 211
October 9: 209.2
October 16: 209.4 (TOM)
October 23: 208.8
October 30:
@Mihani
So far my journey is going well. I've been vegetarian for close to 30 years. Though I wasn't the healthiest eater, which is why I am here. In March of 2021 I had a health scare which landed me in the hospital. They ran all sorts of tests on me and couldn't find anything wrong with me. I followed up with my doctor and she diagnosed me as diabetic. I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my daughter but was cleared after giving birth. It was really hard for me when I had GD, the nutritionist and endo weren't very helpful at all. I struggled a lot. Remembering what I went through, I panicked when my doctor gave me my diagnosis. I began researching and came across Mastering Diabetes, a WFPBNO plan. I decided to give it a try, come back to MFP and added in exercise. Within a few weeks I started seeing my glucose numbers come down. A year and a half later my doctor has cleared me of diabetes!
I did struggle at first switching to this way of eating. The hardest part for me was I had to relearn how to cook without using oil and cheese. I am not always 100% compliant with the Mastering Diabetes program, on occasion I will have some cheese. I am having a hard time parting with feta cheese on Greek salads. I really love to cook so it has been a lot of fun for me discovering new recipes.
@magic71755
Happy belated birthday!
I've never thought to try making refried beans myself. Thank you for sharing your idea. I want to try this next time we have Mexican inspired dinner.
@Carla_wfpb
I am from NY, the north shore of Long Island. Where are you from? Where is everyone else from?
You mentioned spaghetti, we are having that for dinner tonight. It's a family tradition in my house that started with my paternal grandparents that every Sunday we have pasta Sunday. I decided to keep the tradition going with my own family. Every week or so I make a big pot of homemade sauce. I recently started dabbling with making my own pasta from scratch too. It's so much fun!
Your experience with the ER sounds like it was terribly scary and stressful. I hope Joe is doing better and nothing serious is wrong. I hope his appointment in a few weeks goes well.
@SparkSpringtime69
Ugh, poison ivy is the worst. I am surrounded by woods and am always having to pull it out of my gardens. Over the summer my new neighbor across the street had asked me to help her identify some of the plants in her yard. Her backyard was over run with it. I was showing her how to pull it out safely. When I washed up after I didn't get all the oil off of me. The rash developed on both my arms and my legs. I was so uncomfortable for a few days. I hope you are feeling much better!
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I've finally launched into a cleaning frenzy in preparation for our trip to Mexico. This morning I removed all but the bed and the large dresser from our main bedroom and vacuumed and dusted the heck out of it. Next up is a home carpet-cleaner treatment and then letting it dry overnight. I also ordered a hepa air filtration system. I picked one that removes smoke from the air. Our smoke problem is over for now, but realistically it will be back, probably next summer. The filter also does a great job of removing pet odors. Or so they claim. We will certainly put that claim to the test!
Magic, I hope your work week is going well. Can you post the overnight pumpkin oats? We finally got the cool weather we've been waiting for here in the PNW and now I've got all the feels for fall flavors. Mmm time to make some soup too.
Mihani, I hope you feel better soon. I definitely was a part of that fajita frenzy and then I forgot all about them. I will post what I have for the queso but I fear that I did not record all of the adjustments that I made. I will have to make it again and get a feel for things all over again.
Spring, I hope you are itch-free by now. Did you and hubby get through more of the yard work while you're still in superhero mode? I am waiting on that superhero costume pic
@JNettie73 Congrats on all of the great progress! And especially on being cleared from the diabetes diagnosis. This is a great spot for you to post any time.
I started getting back on track with food and exercise in March. I booked a trip for myself and my husband to go to Playa Del Carmen Mexico for a month this December with the condition/plan of attaching good behaviors with the trip as a reward at the end. The plan was/is to lose 6 lbs a month every month leading up to the trip by eating plant based and exercising regularly, and to begin my Spanish-language-learning journey. My progress has ebbed and waned but I am down around 50 pounds (235 down to 185ish) and although it is the tip of the iceberg, I've put in a lot of effort and come a long way with my Spanish. Now I want to bribe myself every year this way!
I've never been to NY, but I would like to in the future. Joe and I live with our 2 dogs (Ruby & Radar) and our elderly cat "Kittens" on acreage in the country. We're about 2 hours north of Seattle WA. I am Canadian and grew up about an hour further North from where we are now (in BC)
We had a stir fry last night over quinoa. I left the quinoa in the IP longer than intended but I think I like it better this way so it was a happy accident. We're doing a fresh stir fry tonight with the leftover stir fry sauce I made and the leftover quinoa.
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(Edited because the meal above is unrelated to the queso recipe.)
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Mihani and Carla, thanks for the queso recipe - I was going to make my standard cheese sauce next week, but I think I'm going to try this instead! I just have to pick up a can (or three) of green chilies. I don't understand how the original recipe doesn't have nooch, how does it even taste like cheese?
I have to be careful with the chili powder, I bought some last year in an Indian market and it's SUPER strong! I only use half of what a recipe calls for, and I love spicy food.
Mihani, good to hear your cold is waning, I hope you're all better soon.
Carla, you must be getting really excited about your vacation, when do you leave?
Phil and I got all of the clearing done that we plan on doing for now. We have to switch gears and get the garage doors fixed - the back door has a little rot at the threshold and the roll-up door needs a new seal around it (not sure where we get one of those, I have to research it). We have a guy coming tomorrow to take away all of the stuff we cleared and to cut down a tree that's hanging over our roof. We would have done the tree ourselves, but neither of us wanted to climb up on the roof to cut those branches back, LOL. Superhero costume and before-after pics are forthcoming
JNettie73, Huge congrats on being cleared of diabetes!! That's such a big win for your health. I'm not oil-free, but mostly WFPB; I occasionally eat cheese as well, sooo hard to give up but I"m getting better at it. I never really liked to cook, but now that I've gone (mostly) vegan, I'm really enjoying it!
I grew up and spent most of my life in NJ, but have been living in SC for about a year now. The new home's been a lot of work, but is coming along nicely.
My left wrist is still very itchy and I'm almost done with the prednisone, I hope I don't have to go back for another shot. I think that arm was probably the original starting point. But with all that we got done, it was worth it
Hi Marilyn!
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Gals, this morning I took the last roll of toilet paper out of the roll holder (a metal cannister) and inside the holder, under the last roll of tp was a desiccated bat!! idk if he arrived somehow in one of the tubes or was stuck to the bottom of the roll in the original packaging or how else did it happen? We DO leave the cover off of the holder when the last roll has been used so we remember to refill it. But we've never had any other bats in our house (though we did see a cute one hanging outside our front door for a while).
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Carla - YIKES and Happy Halloween!!! 1
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Sorry I have not been posting but have been really sick and am still in recovery mode. Am working at getting the strength to be on the computer a bit longer every day - will try to come here tomorrow (Tuesday) and give an update3
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Yikes, lots to catch up on. I am still tired and grumpy and sniffly but definitely on the mend.
JNettie, glad to see you! Please feel free to post anything you'd like and we're all here to support goals any of us have. I was vegetarian for a long while as well, then went vegan over 10 years ago and it did take a while before I thought cheese sounded gross. LOL
That is totally awesome you got your diabetes cleared!
Spring, glad to hear you are feeling better and that you got a bunch more of the yardwork done. I'm all for leaving climbing around on the roof to professionals.
Carla, EEEK on the bat! Oh how awful. I think I would have to throw that canister away. I have thought about those HEPA things for the house. I only have one dog now but geeze there's a lot of hair and dander here.
Nanc, I want to hear more about the overnight pumpkin oats too!
Marilyn, good to hear from you and I hope that you recover quickly!
Bisky, where are you?
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Ladies, the pumpkin overnight oats: 1/2 cup oats, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1 tsp pumpkin spice...1 t vanilla...1 T maple syrup...plant milk to cover...3/4 cup usually for me. Mix mix and let set.
It worked for me...but someone else asked and they did not like it. So...buyer beware.
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my weekend...just finished walking Lulu...two coyotes ...one had a fresh kill in his mouth...rabbit, I reckon...the other was following the one with the food.
I have a whistle and an air horn and my eyes are peeled all the time.
today's plan
coffee is still black, but I am not happy. One of the gals I follow on Youtube, Cheap Lazy Vegan aka Rose... loves her Americano...(black)...and she always says such nice things to her cuppa when drinking...I did try that today and it helped.
I always do this...give up the creamer, throw it out in fact. Then cave and buy more. Gaaaad zooks!
over night oats...banana and PB powder with soy milk...maybe a touch of jam
refried bean tostada
last of the minestrone with extra spinach and rice noodles
ninja creami ...no sure what I have in the freezer
raw veggies and Trader Joe's dill dressing thinned out a bit.
Off to the sauna.
Make today delicious.0 -
Yikes, Nanc. Glad the coyotes don't seem to bother with you and Lulu.
I took a day "off" today but really I'm working from home. Just didn't tell my boss that so hopefully he won't bug me today. I am getting stressed about the end of the year approaching and I have to get on top of some things before then. Plus I am feeling kind of grumpy with people and want to avoid other humans. LOL0 -
Hope u have a productive day, Mihani and you are feeling a whole lot better.
Yeah, the coyotes are upsetting. I finally am out there with Lulu and this happened. I have my air horn ready ...the whistle is a back up.
today's menu
another day of black coffee just drinking it as a wake up helper and not really yum time
homemade almond milk with oatmeal (raw with blueberries and 1 oz grapenuts)
tostada
salad
ninja creami
have a delicious day everyone0 -
Marilynsretired wrote: »Sorry I have not been posting but have been really sick and am still in recovery mode. Am working at getting the strength to be on the computer a bit longer every day - will try to come here tomorrow (Tuesday) and give an update
@Marilynsretired Sorry to hear that you've been so sick. I hope you start feeling better soon! Please do update us when you can.
Work continues to be very stressful for Joe. We are looking for how to improve this in the future, but for now we're in a bit of a situation where there's work that only Joe can do.
We're looking into lifestyle options that would be healthful and give us a good quality of life. For example, we might spend some time in Portugal to see how we feel about getting residency there. Portugal is extremely expat friendly, they have excellent medical, they are currently the 6th safest country (Canada is 12th and the US is 129....
) There is incredible value for the money there, and expats can own homes (which are affordable). To retain resident status once obtained, you only have to "live" there 7 (yes seven) days of the year. And if you chose to become a citizen, Portugal allows you to retain any prior citizenships. Which would be important to both Joe and I.
I don't know how likely any of this is, but I do like knowing that there are some pretty good sounding options out there.1 -
Magic, thanks for the oatmeal recipe. Coyotes, wholly cow!
Mihani, I hope your home work day has been a productive one.
Carla, I've read about Portugal being very expat friendly. I think I'd love to live in Europe, but the looonng flights back and forth to visit family would be too much for me, and I know Phil is not into the idea AT ALL. Maybe your next trip after this year's Mexico could be Portugal
The weight loss challenge I'm in at my gym has me in a bit of a quandry: They're all about a high protein/low carb diet, and the nutritionist wants me to significantly increase my protein. I'm not sure how to handle this. I generally get between 45 and 55 grams a day on 1200-1400 calories. They're suggesting bumping it up to 100g/day. So I'm just curious, does anyone here regularly get anywhere around 100g/day?0 -
Carla, a friend visited portugal some years back and she loved it there! The pictures she took are beautiful.
Nanc, your menu sounds tasty!
Spring, I can just barely get to 80 grams of protein if I have beans or lentils and a couple helpings of protein powder, which I'm not convinced is the most healthy thing to have on a daily basis anyway even though the brands I buy are pretty clean and don't have a bunch of junk in them. So I'm trying to get 60 to 80 most days, but I'm not going to add more protein powder to try to get over that.
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"Sorry I have not been posting but have been really sick and am still in recovery mode. Am working at getting the strength to be on the computer a bit longer every day - will try to come here tomorrow (Tuesday) and give an update" @Marilynsretired
Wondering how you are doing. Hope better!0 -
My scaled jumped up a 1.5 today...that's discouraging since I really did great yesterday. I made my own version of vegan pho...will post a picture. I just kind of winged it...when I make it today, I will write down my ingredients and measurements.
so...today
another day of black coffee...LOL NOW, it's a challenge. I am not caving to the creamer. I don't care how delicious you are!
oatmeal, my usual...1/4 cup oats 28 grams grape nuts, almond milk, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, cinnamon, flax meal
vegan pho
baked potato and broccoli
ninja creami, strawberries and banana
the end
make today delicious0 -
Vegan pho 🍲1 -
NOT up a pound and a half...up ONE POUND. Just checked. Darn.
Lowest was on 10/24 147.4
today 148.4
I know it jumps around a bit...I was hoping to be 145 by Nov 1
just keep swimming, Dora!0 -
Mihani, thanks for sharing your protein info. I'm going to try to bump mine up by 10 per week. Yesterday and today I got 70+ in, next week I'll work towards 80. I'll see from there. I always thought 100 was something weight lifters shot for. I'm with you on the protein powders, I'd rather avoid them.
Magic, your Pho looks delicious. Sorry to hear your scale jumped up. I think that, sometimes when we're sick, our body does not do everything it normally does - it's too busy trying to heal us.
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