4 weeks til Thanksgiving. (low carb)

stoofers

Had a really rough week last week. Only worked out every second day and barely watched what I was eating. Need to really get motivated this week. Only 2 weeks, 2 days until Thanksgiving!

shar140

nmg8 - glad they finally figured out what was going on with your body - that's so frustrating!!

I just did a 35 min run last night, since I didn't feel like doing sprints, plus I think I am going to do a 5k or some such run around Thanksgiving, that I need to train for (sprinting is way different from longer, slower, endurance runs, I've come to learn). So my legs are really sore now, haha.

Stoofers, I had a bad week last week too, but I feel better now!! You can do it!

nmg8

I feel so good and don't want to shake things up, I am passing up sweets/cake etc on my birthday!

WOW...now that's dedication!!! Good for you!!!

stoofers and shar - glad you're both getting back on track - it's so hard to get back into it after you "fall off the wagon, lol". Hope you're having a better week this week

I've been doing well with my food, but am stressing about this Saturday night - going out with a big group of friends, and I know there will be lots of bad food, and lots of alcohol. I really don't want to cheat so I'm not worried about being tempted - more stressed about getting the "eye roll" or the "whatever, you can take a night off, it's not going to hurt you"...etc etc. if I DON'T cheat. HELP!!

shar140

I've been doing well with my food, but am stressing about this Saturday night - going out with a big group of friends, and I know there will be lots of bad food, and lots of alcohol. I really don't want to cheat so I'm not worried about being tempted - more stressed about getting the "eye roll" or the "whatever, you can take a night off, it's not going to hurt you"...etc etc. if I DON'T cheat. HELP!!

I know what you mean...I hate when it feels like you can't have fun with your friends. I was invited out by a friend for Friday night, but still debating - I mean, I want to go see my friends, but they are going out to dinner then probably to a bar. I've been trying to come up with other ideas on how to spend time with my friends that doesn't involve beer, lol. So far I've come up with indoor rock climbing and racquetball, but no definite plans, yet.

stoofers

nmg8 - you could always get 1 drink and nurse it the entire night so it looks like you're drinking/being social but not really going over on cals since it's only one! good luck!!

stoofers

today is 2 weeks to thanksgiving! how is everyone doing!! i can't wait to eat 3 kinds of stuffing.

i weighed in today at 173.8 which is the smallest that number has been but i'm cautious as to whether or not my scale is completely broken haha. my goal when i joined this group was to (hopefully) lose 5 pounds by thanksgiving and i started off at 177 so either i'm pretty close to my goal or something went horribly wrong with my weigh in this morning. time will tell i suppose.

this week has been a lot better in terms of food and working out. last night i did 65 mins on the elliptical while listening to 1984. today i think i'll do the same as it was the least boring elliptical workout i've ever done. that book is really great. makes the time fly by.

shar140

today is 2 weeks to thanksgiving! how is everyone doing!! i can't wait to eat 3 kinds of stuffing.

i weighed in today at 173.8 which is the smallest that number has been but i'm cautious as to whether or not my scale is completely broken haha. my goal when i joined this group was to (hopefully) lose 5 pounds by thanksgiving and i started off at 177 so either i'm pretty close to my goal or something went horribly wrong with my weigh in this morning. time will tell i suppose.

this week has been a lot better in terms of food and working out. last night i did 65 mins on the elliptical while listening to 1984. today i think i'll do the same as it was the least boring elliptical workout i've ever done. that book is really great. makes the time fly by.

WTG stoofers!! I can't wait to see 170s lol.

Ok so bad night last night...ugh. Today I feel ok, but usually it's the 2nd day that sucks for me!! But I brought a healthy lunch, and making a work out plan for later!!

nmg8

Yeah, I think I will have a drink, but make sure I'm good with my food. It will be a good test for me!!

stoofers - congrats on the weight loss, and hope the scale is not broken!!! LOL

Things are going great here - had a bad food/drink day last Friday but have been good since then. Hoping to make it through a weekend without cheating! Except for my drink that I'll be nursing all night tomorrow night...:)

shar140

Forgot to weigh again this morning - last week I forgot on Friday, too! oops. I'll try to remember tomorrow!

Alyshahmr

I would love to join. I am on the HMR diet and a vegetarian. I am trying to not gain any weight for the Holiday season going into the new year. I am doing 3 extra sessions, 10 minutes each of walking per day, to my program. I do better at adding activity rather than cut back on food.

yummummum

I've been doing well with my food, but am stressing about this Saturday night - going out with a big group of friends, and I know there will be lots of bad food, and lots of alcohol. I really don't want to cheat so I'm not worried about being tempted - more stressed about getting the "eye roll" or the "whatever, you can take a night off, it's not going to hurt you"...etc etc. if I DON'T cheat. HELP!!

I am stressing a bit over a party Sunday too .... AND I have to make my ALL TIME FAVORITE cake for my son!

My best advice for you is to NOT GO HUNGRY to the group.
Also some things I have learned from weight watchers help me in these situations....
- don't LOOK at the food.
-focus on other things, talking etc.
-mental rehearsing... before you go picture yourself having a good time, talking and passing up food and looking GOOD
- don't go hungry and drink tons of water.

I also put a bunch of sayings in my head like, "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" and repeat these over and over when I get tempted!!! I also remind myself how good I feel. I wear something fabulous and remind myself I couldn't wear this a month ago!

also maybe plan out what you will have ahead of time if you can and stick to it.... if you are planning on alcohol, decide what you will have.

As far as the eye rollers, I just ignore them.
Are you doing strictly low carb or modified?

I think on Sunday I will treat myself to something that is low carb but decadent and yummy like chicken wings! and skip the pizza and cake. That will keep my cravings in check. I am just afraid if I have the cake it will throw me into days or worse of being off track. I have my eye on the goal.

nmg8

Thanks for all the great tips - managed to make my night out a success diet-wise!!! I drank a TON of water, had a couple slices of deli meat, a couple of slices of cheese, and some veggies to eat! Although I did have two glasses of red wine, but all in all I think I did pretty well! And I danced quite a bit, so I figure that makes up for the red wine calories...lol.

I'm doing a modified low carb - still eating some berries (in the morning) and yogurt, but other than that it's just protein and veggies. I find that a little bit of carbs from the yogurt/berries gives me enough energy for my workouts and generally I just feel better during the day. When I go ultra low carb I just seem so weak and have no energy for anything.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and yummummum, good luck avoiding the cake!!

yummummum

YAY! Glad you did well and hey! Glasses of wine are fine on a special night!! Yeah, I have to punch in some carbs after working out hard for a few days, I just start to really drag.

Phew, made it through the bday party today. For me, right now, I just had to stick to my normal regime.

shar140

Congrats to nmg8 and yum! Another less-than-stellar weekend for me - could have been worse, but definitely could have been better. What should I do when someone hands me a drink?? :ohwell:

I tried a tapas restaurant for the first time - I was surprised, it was actually easy to stay lower-carb, as we ordered mainly meat dishes. They were all good!

Yesterday I made a huge pork roast, with carrots & potatoes (ate a little of the potatoes), so I have plenty of leftovers to last me the rest of the week!

shar140

oops, forgot to answer the question, re: Are you doing strictly low carb or modified?

Depends on what you mean by strictly low carb - I eat mostly veggies, meat, cheese, and nuts & seeds, and occasional fruit (maybe once a week), so I'm usually in the realm of 50g carbs a day (when I'm actually sticking to it!!). That's for most days. During rugby season, I had to supplement with more carbs, mostly sweet potatoes, bananas, and apples (have to be careful with apples though, I'll be hungry an hour later!). Even on those higher carb days, I usually stayed under 100g of carbs (don't want to spike my insulin, so I'd eat a little bit more often). I did notice on nights that I would eat carbs for dinner, I would have trouble sleeping, so I had to try to eat them earlier in the day (lunch and before practice). Unfortunately rugby season is over, and I've gained 5 lb in the past month! :sad:

yummummum

Congrats to nmg8 and yum! Another less-than-stellar weekend for me - could have been worse, but definitely could have been better. What should I do when someone hands me a drink?? :ohwell:

I tried a tapas restaurant for the first time - I was surprised, it was actually easy to stay lower-carb, as we ordered mainly meat dishes. They were all good!

Yesterday I made a huge pork roast, with carrots & potatoes (ate a little of the potatoes), so I have plenty of leftovers to last me the rest of the week!

YUM! Sounds so good!!
I am finding it easier to stay low carb when I eat out then it was to "diet" when I was on weight watchers.

yummummum

That sounds like a perfect plan! I consider under 100 gr. low carb. For now, I have been netting around 30 gr. a day but will eventually add in a few more as I get closer to my goal.

yummummum

UPDATE!!!!

Lost an inch on my waist since I measured 2 weeks ago!!

Started 9-18 37.5
4 week Thanksgiving challenge- 10-29 33.75

current 32.8

Now, I have the kind of body where I have a small waist and I lose there first for some reason!!! Now if my THIGHS could just catch up!!! Definitely a PEAR shape. I have my early measurements for those but haven't taken them lately. So will have to update them.

So proud of myself though. Exercising has been great for my body and my brain!! Same with whole all natural low carb foods!! (I was living on Lean Cuisines before desperate to lose weight).

How is everyone doing? Final count down to Turkey day.

shar140

WTG yummum!! :drinker:

9 days to go...I'm not thinking I'll be able to hit my 5lb loss goal, as all I've done is go UP! :ohwell: I am also a pear shape, except I generally notice in my hips (pants) when I lose. But yeah, I heard you on not losing from my thighs!! :mad:

nmg8

WOW, yummumm, you are doing AMAZING!!! Congratulations, those are fabulous results!

Shar - I hear you about the carbs and sleeping - when I switched my fruit to strictly morning I started sleeping way better.

I'm doing great so far - only down about 4lbs since the start of our countdown, but my body has changed so much. My clothes are fitting better every day - and stuff that I was barely fitting in to a couple of weeks ago are already starting to get baggy!! Loving it!!

yummummum

ONLY???? 4 pounds is AWESOME !!! Congrats!!!!!

nmg8

ONLY???? 4 pounds is AWESOME !!! Congrats!!!!!

Thanks!!! But....make that 5 pounds!!!! Whoo hoo!!! 171.2 on the scale this morning...160's here I come!!!

stoofers

5 pounds nmg!!! That's amazing.

I'm down to 173.6 meaning I will likely have lost 4/5 pounds I wanted to when I signed up for this challenge. You guys are awesome!

yummummum

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

It is THE BEST feeling, right???

I am ready to drop down into the next tier too!!! I like making my goals small!! Just get into the next numbers! It was so big for me when I finally left 170s. I had been there yo-yo up and down for literally a couple years !!!

I am HOPING to get under 160 by Thanksgiving but sometimes even with my best efforts the scale doesn't budge so trying not to put TOO much emphasis on the date!! Yesterday was 161.5

yummummum

STOOFERS! yes! so amazing!!!

nmg8

stoofers - that's great that you'll meet your goal!! Congrats!!!

yummummum - I have been the same, yo-yo'ing between 171 and 195 for the last 5 years. For some reason I can never get below 171...so if I can do it this time, I will be seriously doing a big happy dance. Hope you get to see the 150's by Thanksgiving!

yummummum

nmg8- we have got this!!! i am done with the yo-yo!

stoofers

One week until Thanksgiving!! I'm going to try and do my best this week (had a really poor week last week) and focus on working on every day from now until Thanksgiving!

shar140

WTG, I am proud of you, ladies!! :flowerforyou:

I seem to have come down with a cold... :grumble: despite my efforts of every vitamin, herb, spice, and anything else I could think of to take! lol So took the day off from exercise yesterday, and probably today, too. Still doing well on the low-carb, though! I looked for some shirataki noodles yesterday, but kroger didn't have any. BOO. But I think Meijer carries them, it's just further to drive. I want my chicken noodle soup!

shar140

I am happy to announce I am back down 4 lb - the weight that I've gained the past couple weeks! :blushing: haha...but I am also down 1 lb from when we started this challenge, so at least it's going in the right direction now.

The past 2 weeks, I forgot to weigh on Friday (my usual day), and weighed on Saturday - after a night of some drinking & eating what I shouldn't, PLUS TOM. So yes, it was probably water, but at least I don't feel so bloated! lol

I don't know if we discussed before, but my low-carb regime is more primal/paleo style - I saw this link last week on www.marksdailyapple.com, so I thought I'd share!
http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/11/04/feed-a-cold-paleo-style/
Even if you aren't primal/paleo, there are some good low-carb recipes and home remedies for colds. I hate that those Emergen-C packets are loaded with sugar!! :mad: So I got some vitamin c tablets at cvs. I don't know if they work as well, but at least I'm not ingesting 6g of sugar for EVERY packet of emergen-c. :huh:

So what are everyone's plans for turkey day - I mean, eating plans? :laugh: I think I will try to avoid the starchy stuff and go for the veggies and turkey, but, we'll see what happens! Anyone have some good low-carb (and preferably wheat-free) recipes to share??