*Snowflakes to Sunshine* Week #12 Discussion 3.25.11

Krys_T

Hello Snowflakes! I am hoping everyone had a great week and hope everyone is kicking it into high gear now that we are in the second half of this challenge. What are you going to commit to doing differently this half of the challenge to achieve better results?

TeamLeela

I'm going to continue to follow the motto: Work smart, not hard when it comes to my workouts in the gym. Just like with food, everything in moderation, well the same is true for my workouts. Your body needs a day to rest and I am going to make sure I don't go full speed ahead without a resting when my body tells me too.

Also, I am still trying to eat a serving of fruit and vegetable with every meal. A half of apple or a bundle of grapes with my cereal or oatmeal, toss a banana or strawberries in with my protein. Usually I'll have a salad or stirfry to up my veggies with dinner. The last few nights, I could have done better, but I did what I could do. I am also drinking water with every meal. Ideally, I would like to drink 20 oz, but even if its just 8 oz, that would be good.

A quick tip on drinking more water. In the morning after you brush your teeth, drink a glass of water. When you brush your teeth before bed, drink a glass of water (trust me, you won't wake up in the middle of the night) or just keep a glass of water on your night stand so you can drink in the middle of the night if you wake up thirsty. If you do that, you have a guaranteed 2 glasses of water and you only have to get in atleast 6 more throughout the day.

Well that's my say. I will try to be more vocal this week. But for now, I have to get my daughter off to school.

ltlhmom

Bump for later! You all ROCK!

onlyhalfcrazy

Very excited to see 2.6 pounds gone this week!!!! I am now in the 140's (just barely) :laugh: I am simply amazed how quickly I am loosing weight this time. I lost about 40 lbs a couple of years ago and it took me about 9 months. To date I have lost 25 lbs in about 3 months!! I know the difference has been my exercise. My HRM lets me know exactly how many calories I have burned. I have been pushing myself to burn 500 calories a day 6 times a week and I am so excited about the results!! No all I need is warm weather

simplyxaddicted

Bump!

TATennis

Hello Fellow Snowflakes, Good morning! :flowerforyou:

I lost 1.4 pounds this week, 158.2 pounds (Im thrilled) I was going up 1 1/2 pounds after I tried to switch up my routine to eating more calories 1350 and exercising less from my 2 hour walk to 1 hour, The reason was because I was losing to quickly. So since the gain my plan is to go Back to what I was doing before. I will add some more calories though, between 1200 to 1385 is my game plan depending on how much I exercise for the day.

Thank You Leela for the Water Tip ...... Fantastic Idea!!

I need help eating those veggies, I have been terrible with that & the water this past week. I Have to try harder :frown:

My workouts...

1} Walking everyday of the week ( 2 or 1 hours of walking each day)
2} Weight lifting 30 minutes 3 times a week
3} I also burn calories at my Cleaning jobs. But when I work 4 hours I usually calculate 1 to 2 hours depending on how hard I worked that day

TeamLeela

Very excited to see 2.6 pounds gone this week!!!! I am now in the 140's (just barely) :laugh: I am simply amazed how quickly I am loosing weight this time. I lost about 40 lbs a couple of years ago and it took me about 9 months. To date I have lost 25 lbs in about 3 months!! I know the difference has been my exercise. My HRM lets me know exactly how many calories I have burned. I have been pushing myself to burn 500 calories a day 6 times a week and I am so excited about the results!! No all I need is warm weather

you are doing a great job! this is an awesome group. Thanks for sharing your story. I love my hrm too! I strive for 3500 calories burned per week!

leandread

Second half of the challenge and I am all fired up! I only lost half a pound, but in the first have of the challenge, I gained and lost the same 3 pounds, so I am happy to have two weeks consistently down.

I am in-love with my workout routine at the moment. I am at the end of Week 2 of Couch 25K. I've been doing yoga and of course, throwing in the zumba. This last week, my mantra was "Save the Muscle, Burn the Fat. Keep it gritty". It sounds silly, but when I am doing my running intervals and want to stop, it keeps me going. My body has been really responding well to Couch 25K. I can see the progress in the cottage cheese already-- the booty has less ripples, my thighs less dimples. I still have a long way to go, but I am encouraged.

My plan is to focus on more protein and more fruit and vegetables each meal and to work out at least 5 days between Saturday and Friday. I am actually going to cut back on the soy and the beef. (TMI ahead--the tofu, edamame and beef have had the plumbing clogged the last two weeks). I finally noticed the pattern. So the focus is going more toward more fish (low mercury of course;)

ChantalC1969

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barefootbeauty

Happy Friday, Snowflakes!

This week was another big 'ol zero on the scale for me, but I wasn't surprised since it was the first week of solid working out and it was an emotional week all around. There were a few important lessons learned this week:

1. Plan my meals!
2. If I'm going to have a cheat meal, then make sure I only make a really small amount instead of a huge pan which means I end up eating the entire pan all week long
3. My carb eating is out of control and my protein isn't high enough

Next week my routine returns to normal and that means I should be able to get in 3 days of yoga plus my weights. The snow should be gone and I'll be able to hit the bike path and officially start my C25K program.

Those that have me as a friend know that I just lost my job and even though I'm stressed about not having any money and all that goes along with that, I am very excited at the thought of having no money for bad groceries and time on my hands to workout and focus on getting over this massive plateau I've reached. There is a silver lining in every rain cloud!

givprayz

I am so glad the weight I gained while I was super sick has come off, but I'm still retaining water for some reason. Except for yesterday, my sodium is under 2500 mg/day, usually under 2300 mg. I am drinking between 7 and 10 cups of water a day. The only thing I can think of is that the cold I had ran straight into allergies, and the water retention is somehow connected to the allergies. I hope to have a comprehensive sensitivities test done in the next 6 weeks, then hopefully by avoiding the foods I'm sensitive to, I will experience fewer allergy symptoms overall.

My plan is to keep eating as cleanly as I can (which is probably only 85%, but that's better than I've ever done), keep doing fitness frenzy three times a week, and add either weights or yoga/pilates a couple of times a weeks. Today's class was killer, keeping my heart rate above 130 for 37 of the 55 minutes, and burning almost 800 calories by my HRM! I don't know why today was so much more challenging, but whew, I'm beat!

I have decided to follow the general guidelines of my metabolic typing diet plan, but I am allowing myself more food freedom. It was altogether too restricted with no milk, no wheat/gluten, no soy, no nuts, and only three fruits I was supposed to eat daily. I will continue to keep most of those to a minimum, but giving them completely up is nearly impossible if you eat anywhere but home, or cook for anyone but yourself. I will restrict the foods I have sensitivities to once I have that test run.

To get more veggies in your diet, add extras to just about any sauce or casserole meal. I throw spinach in just about everything, and I add squash to numerous casseroles and soups (great in chili.) I also replace pasta with spaghetti squash in tons of dishes. Tomato sauce is great because it has 2 servings of vegetable in a serving of sauce already, and then you can add just about any veggie to it as well. I often just add a full bag of frozen mixed veggies to my sauce, serve it over spaghetti squash, and get like 4 vegetable servings in one dish!

Best of luck to everyone!

healthydoseofglitter

Bumping for later

Positively_Me

bump..

Suzeesmu

BUMP!

whittrusty

Bump.

whittrusty

Very excited to see 2.6 pounds gone this week!!!! I am now in the 140's (just barely) :laugh: I am simply amazed how quickly I am loosing weight this time. I lost about 40 lbs a couple of years ago and it took me about 9 months. To date I have lost 25 lbs in about 3 months!! I know the difference has been my exercise. My HRM lets me know exactly how many calories I have burned. I have been pushing myself to burn 500 calories a day 6 times a week and I am so excited about the results!! No all I need is warm weather

That's awesome. You're doing great! I can't WAIT to get into the 140s! I haven't been there since I was about 12!

whittrusty

I am so glad the weight I gained while I was super sick has come off, but I'm still retaining water for some reason. Except for yesterday, my sodium is under 2500 mg/day, usually under 2300 mg. I am drinking between 7 and 10 cups of water a day. The only thing I can think of is that the cold I had ran straight into allergies, and the water retention is somehow connected to the allergies. I hope to have a comprehensive sensitivities test done in the next 6 weeks, then hopefully by avoiding the foods I'm sensitive to, I will experience fewer allergy symptoms overall.

My plan is to keep eating as cleanly as I can (which is probably only 85%, but that's better than I've ever done), keep doing fitness frenzy three times a week, and add either weights or yoga/pilates a couple of times a weeks. Today's class was killer, keeping my heart rate above 130 for 37 of the 55 minutes, and burning almost 800 calories by my HRM! I don't know why today was so much more challenging, but whew, I'm beat!

I have decided to follow the general guidelines of my metabolic typing diet plan, but I am allowing myself more food freedom. It was altogether too restricted with no milk, no wheat/gluten, no soy, no nuts, and only three fruits I was supposed to eat daily. I will continue to keep most of those to a minimum, but giving them completely up is nearly impossible if you eat anywhere but home, or cook for anyone but yourself. I will restrict the foods I have sensitivities to once I have that test run.

To get more veggies in your diet, add extras to just about any sauce or casserole meal. I throw spinach in just about everything, and I add squash to numerous casseroles and soups (great in chili.) I also replace pasta with spaghetti squash in tons of dishes. Tomato sauce is great because it has 2 servings of vegetable in a serving of sauce already, and then you can add just about any veggie to it as well. I often just add a full bag of frozen mixed veggies to my sauce, serve it over spaghetti squash, and get like 4 vegetable servings in one dish!

Best of luck to everyone!

Tell me more about spaghetti squash!! I've heard about it so many times, but never tried it! How do you cook it?

taletreader

So 173.8 today (between 173.6 and 173.4 yesterday, the scales couldn't make up their mind), 174.6 last week and 175.5 the week before. This after three weeks of really unexpectedly large losses (4, 2.5, 2.5 pounds) with no major changes to my calorie intake, eating well, going cross-country skiing, and no large meals out.

I'm not frustrated about the slowdown but do wonder what gives, and there are two observations that come to mind.

The first is psychological. When I started out I didn't have any goals, except for the general "get fitter and drop weight". For the first 8 weeks or so I didn't have my own scales, and the ones I was weighed in on at the gym seemed cruelly high -- so I used mostly those that are in the locker rooms, which I discovered to be quite a bit less precise and, also, 5 pounds or so lower than that medical scale on the gym floor. The reason -- the gym floor scale had me start at above 100 kg, and I couldn't really face that. So for a while I put my starting weight to 220 pounds (100 kg). Only after getting my own scales and looking at a friend's scales, which both agreed with the gym floor scale, I accepted that, yes, I'd been even heavier than I thought. Anyhow, what does it mean for goals? One was getting below 200 pounds -- I worked on that during the last weeks of 2010 -- and then the second was to reach 175 pounds, where the label switches from "obese" to "overweight". That was the big one. I REALLY wanted to get out of "obese". And I wonder that slowing down with my weight loss RIGHT when I've reached the "overweight" BMI range is really a coincidence.

The second is a discovery about alcohol. My partner and I have been drinking more regularly than I used to. I'm talking one single 3-4 oz glass of red wine with dinner or one shot of whisky before bed, nothing more, and not both. I always counted the calories and stayed below my targets, but can't help thinking about what I've been reading about alcohol metabolism. In the simplified way I understand it, alcohol gets metabolised to acetaldehyde, and the latter is used by the body as an energy source before all other energy sources (body fat, carbohydrates, mostly). I've read about studies showing fat metabolism going down substantially after alcohol consumption. So I'm wondering, even though the absolute calorie intake wasn't excessive, if taking breaks in fat metabolism is really such a good idea. I'm not completely stopping, but I'll chart if overnight weight loss correlates with whether or not I had a glass of wine.

There are other factors -- for example the body fat measurement on our current scales has gone down while the weight stayed the same, and also I'll go to the store in a few days and try out a size 12 pair of jeans (of a style where I know that size 14 fit me very well a month ago). Things are good, no reason to be disappointed. If anything, a 1 lb per week loss might be the healthy way to go from where I am now -- even though it lacks the gratifying speed of the first 5 months of my journey.

Dhathri

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bhonniered

bump for later

forgiven4life

Hello ladies! Glad everyone is doing really well this week.
I lost almost 3 lbs this week, but it was mostly all water weight from TOM. Today is not starting out so good. A lady at work brought this AMAZING lemon cake to celebrate an achievement we met and I have already had 3 pieces! :noway: Thank goodness it is gone now, but jeez. I will have to exercise extra hard tonight to burn that and my breakfast off. I had a cheat meal this morning (not anticipating that dang cake!) and was going to eat lightly the rest of the day. I will just have to pick myself up and dust me off and keep going.

givprayz

To get more veggies in your diet, add extras to just about any sauce or casserole meal. I throw spinach in just about everything, and I add squash to numerous casseroles and soups (great in chili.) I also replace pasta with spaghetti squash in tons of dishes. Tomato sauce is great because it has 2 servings of vegetable in a serving of sauce already, and then you can add just about any veggie to it as well. I often just add a full bag of frozen mixed veggies to my sauce, serve it over spaghetti squash, and get like 4 vegetable servings in one dish!

Best of luck to everyone!

Tell me more about spaghetti squash!! I've heard about it so many times, but never tried it! How do you cook it?

A recent addition to our diets, we love spaghetti squash. You can cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and loose threads in center, and either boil for 10 minutes, or place the halves open side down and bake for 15-20 minutes. Then, with a fork, shred the "meat" of the squash away from the skin. It will come off in spaghetti-like shreds, and only a thin, tough skin is not used. Then I use it with every conceivable topping. A recent suggestion from an MFP forum was to put a wedge of Laughing Cow Swiss, some garlic, and Parmesan cheese on each serving and it's like alfredo sauce. I added chicken and mushrooms and it was delicious. I've had it with just butter, just Parmesan, or under chili, spaghetti sauce, even under stir fry! It has a very mild, slightly sweet flavor that blends well with just about anything. The texture is not like pasta, being a little crisper, not at all sticky, but if that change doesn't bother you, you'll love spaghetti squash.

Pretty1one

Hello Sunshiners

Lost 2.6lbs this week and I'm trilled since I had a wedding last Saturday
a viewing Wednesday and a funeral yesterday. Also weather has been horrible
so no much tennis either and I'm 6 days away from TOM:frown:

The only thing I did different this week was drinking one cup of tea before going
to sleep. I'm using my BodyMedia Fit armband and found out if I drink a cup of tea
before going to bed my sleep percentage increases.Although I'm still not being able to
sleep 8 hours (I don;t have the time :grumble: since I usually work till 10pm) but with a cup of tea
I sleep longer and better.:laugh:

Wasn't for TOM this week, my mini goal would be get out of the 170's but a 2.4lbs for a week is a little
bit too much, since I'm also trying not to go over the 2lbs a week.

Let's see!

Anyways, wish you all a wonderful week
Keep losing, girls
. :drinker:

Christine1110

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simplyxaddicted

Great job all of you guys!!!
I was hoping to get out of the 160's this week but here i am stuck at 161... But i will not let this bother me because I am lighter than I was when i first met my fiancée...( i was around 170 when we met)
I am so happy to have a man like him , he encourages me to workout and he tells me that he can see the changes in my body, like my arms getting smaller and so on!!!
This week i am gonna try to do a little bit of exercise in the morning as well as in the evening and we will see if I can kiss the 160's goodbye!

whittrusty

To get more veggies in your diet, add extras to just about any sauce or casserole meal. I throw spinach in just about everything, and I add squash to numerous casseroles and soups (great in chili.) I also replace pasta with spaghetti squash in tons of dishes. Tomato sauce is great because it has 2 servings of vegetable in a serving of sauce already, and then you can add just about any veggie to it as well. I often just add a full bag of frozen mixed veggies to my sauce, serve it over spaghetti squash, and get like 4 vegetable servings in one dish!

Best of luck to everyone!

Tell me more about spaghetti squash!! I've heard about it so many times, but never tried it! How do you cook it?

A recent addition to our diets, we love spaghetti squash. You can cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and loose threads in center, and either boil for 10 minutes, or place the halves open side down and bake for 15-20 minutes. Then, with a fork, shred the "meat" of the squash away from the skin. It will come off in spaghetti-like shreds, and only a thin, tough skin is not used. Then I use it with every conceivable topping. A recent suggestion from an MFP forum was to put a wedge of Laughing Cow Swiss, some garlic, and Parmesan cheese on each serving and it's like alfredo sauce. I added chicken and mushrooms and it was delicious. I've had it with just butter, just Parmesan, or under chili, spaghetti sauce, even under stir fry! It has a very mild, slightly sweet flavor that blends well with just about anything. The texture is not like pasta, being a little crisper, not at all sticky, but if that change doesn't bother you, you'll love spaghetti squash.

Awesome!! Thanks for the tip! We'll try it out this week!

dinareed

Okay, so I am stoked! I've been struggling with losing weight since we started this challenge but now maybe I am finally seeing a downward trend. I missed a couple of workout days last week due to not feeling good, but I'm not going to sweat it since I usually work out everyday. I am adding a lot more veggies to the diet which helps keep me full. I am eating about 1600 calories a day, which I thought was really high, but maybe its working.

BTW... love spaghetti squash! I like it plain with just a little bit of butter flavored grapeseed oil and pepper. YUMMY! I use plain yogurt instead of sour cream on my baked sweet potatoes...i mix in just a little bit of cilantro and pepper for flavor. I have found the plain yogurt can be substituted a lot for sour cream. Just an idea...

mkingraham

Weighed in at 222 again this week. March is just not my month. I'll enter it into the spreadhseet on Monday as of right I only have my phone to login. Keep up the great work!

CuteMommy88

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crystal_sapphire

i'm happy to see another 3.2 loss. i have not been working out as i picked up full time shifts at the hospital where i spend 8 to 12 hours running around on my feet. i think picking up more shifts at work helps because when i'm home i get anxious and want to binge. haven't had as many urges at home since i picked up more. maybe i'm more satisfied working?

anyway, way to go everyone

Kkmama

Hello Sunshines!

I am happy with my loss this week... .almost a pound (.9). I'll take it and stand proud because I achieved one of my mini goals 4 weeks early!

I am going to get in more water, a constant battle for me! I am pretty good on the veggie front, but need to increase my fruit intake a bit. For March I challenged myself to do JM's 30 Day Shred. And have not missed a day. However I am taking my time. The first 21 days I did Level One, am now on Level Two, but prefer L1 much better. I think it is because I have bad knees. So I will go with how I feel everyday and not set self up for feeling bad. I am doing more than I ever thought possible.

Now that the weather is supposed to be getting better I am getting out for more walks with my dog (who is basically going for a drag!) and my ipod. My husband, in his endevour to support me signed me up for a 10km walk at the end of May! He's running a half marathon!!!

For the next half of this challenge I will continue on eating well, staying under my cals and eating a good portion of my exercise cals, since it seems to be working for me.

Here's to the Sunshine part of our challenge! Bring on Spring/Summer.