Weekly chat - July 23-July 29

shorty313

Welcome to our weekly thread! Please feel free to repost the thread on Monday of each new week. Just remember to change the dates in the topic title.

We post here for motivation and support. Feel free to share your successes and your failures. Really, you should feel free to share whatever is on your mind. Just be respectful and expect respect in return.

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☞ Name/nickname reminders -
Paul (PJYoung2012)
Carrie (camsmommy2008)
Sara Grace (SaraGrace82)
Susan or Susie (susieq101178)
Debbie (shorty313)
Melissa (lissa0040)
Jackie (jaxygirl)
Sonya (sonyachan)
Ellie (ellie78)
CurlyPep (lilpe5512)
Harold (hcdawg)
Jill (Blueyz82)
Dan (G3tR1pp3d)
Stacy (chanstriste13)
Cristi (blueeyedcrist)
Amanda (AmandaK3)
Bishop or Todd(BishopSmurf)
Kelli (daisy51981)
Sarah (SarLem81)
Clare (clareeast)
Amanda (WhiteCloud)
Emma (elstein)
Cynthia (saihtnyc)
Emily (emom3boys)
Randy (Randyamc)
Sandra (Leeloominai01)
Toni (Themoodys13)
Corey (coreyisaacs)
Joe (misterbigg36)
Dee (Dedee36)
Tawnya (RubytOU)
Mariesa (princessmariesa)

shorty313

My first day of no dairy and no gluten turned out too low cal and too high sodium yesterday. Must do better today! Fingers crossed I have no stomach pain today!

PJYoung2012

My first day of no dairy and no gluten turned out too low cal and too high sodium yesterday. Must do better today! Fingers crossed I have no stomach pain today!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that you have a comfy day Debbie.

Well all is well on this side of the Atlantic. The sun has come out at last and people throughout the country are freaking out and preparing for the apocalypse. By which I mean frantically cooking everything on the BBQ and slapping on sun tan lotion. We Brits are really woefully unprepared for any weather other than rain. Feeling a lot better today after my breakthrough. Going to have a night away from the gym though as I need a night off. Have cycled for an hour today and have had a busy day at work so I'm not overly worried. Thinking strength training at the gym on Tues, Weds and Friday and a hike on Thursday. Just hope the weather stays nice.
Hope everyone has a productive start to the week and keep up the good work gang

saihtnyc

Debbie, I just saw your post at the end of the other weekly thread - good luck with the dairy & gluten free. Looks like you had a lot of great, filling food and snacks. You can't expect it to go perfectly on your first day! :-)

Today I wondered if my coffee intake might be causing me the stomach discomfort I am having, it's nothing like what you are experiencing. I have had some increased problems and realized that I've upped my coffee consumption since weaning the baby.

PJ Young - Enjoy the nice weather!


So I have slowly been getting back to my better eating habits with some slips along the way. It is amazing how the healthier I eat, the less I crave awful snacks and desserts. I won't give up the wine though. I haven't been dropping weight but I do fit into my clothes better. I still have 4lbs that I gained when I weaned and went on the internaitonal business trip to ditch but am feeling like I"m on a better track now.

Had to drive through to eat yesterday due to circumstances and got the kids happy meals, made an okay choice on the sandwich (grilled chicken ranch blt) but was so dumb to eat the fries. Should have subbed apples.

PJYoung2012

PJ Young - Enjoy the nice weather!

Thanks :-) and please call me Paul.

shorty313

Logging in a salad with all the bazillion things I put in it are a PITA! And it's not like i can weigh/measure anything at the salad bar at work.

saihtnyc

I know, I log all my salad stuff. Sometimes I think I could just quick add _X_ calories or guesstimate twice as many tomatoes and not log the cucumber or something, but in the end I'm obsessive about it and log it all. For a while when on Weight Watchers, I would just get the same salad every time and copy it over from the previous date.

Leeloominai01

I have a salad that I make most days for lunch, and I just need to add it as a recipe. Logging all the different ingredients is a PITA, you're right Debbie!

I was so close to falling off the wagon, really, but the combination of the weight I'd already lost and the virtual community support made me suck it up and get out Sunday, and focus on my eating again from today.

So thanks - just for being here!

And I'm 300g (about 11 oz) away from being 'overweight' in stead of 'obese' :bigsmile:

Shrinking_Moody

Now I feel like I want a salad for lunch

Glad to see everyone is doing well. I ordered a HRM monitor that arrived yesterday. It is horribly depressing to find out that your workouts are grossly overestimated on MFP - and with eating back exercise cals - it's no wonder I wasn't losing at my two lb per week plan. Now that I'm on the right track with this - I'm going to have to change my eating habits as I will not have near the dinner cals I've been having based on the MFP burns - that - or I'll have to double my daily workout time which may be tough w/ a toddler and his therapy visits among other household requirements. Perhaps I can give up sleep.:huh:

Hope you all continue to have a super week!

neurochamp

Good morning all!

It is a dark, kinda scary-looking morning in Chicago, with heavy winds and severe thunderstorms. I'll take it, though, since our grass is completely dead. Hopefully the rain actually lasts a while so it does some good (pity it had to come on recycling day, though...big boxes of paper + heavy rain = not a very good mix).

I agree that logging salads is a PITA, but I'm also too obsessive to *not* do it. At home is one thing, but when we go to Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes....so many options! It doesn't help that the food database *does* have a generic entry for the ST salad bar, but it's some huge calorie number per cup that probably assumes I'm loading my salad down with all the unhealthy stuff. Boo.

Debbie - I hope your dairy/gluten-free week is going well so far!

Toni - I found that my HRM did show lower calorie burns for some exercises, but for others I end up way above what MFP estimates, so hopefully you'll have some luck, too... But definitely do not give up sleep

ellie78

Getting into the conversation late, but Debbie did your doctor test you for a gluten allergy or intolerance? I don't know why I didn't think of this but I had a co-worker that was having problems that sounded very similar to yours and it ended it up he was gluten intolerant. Nothing like actually having celiac, he could still have some gluten and be okay but once he made the effort to avoid it made a huge difference with his stomach pains. He was going home sick in the afternoons several times each week prior to his doctor testing for that.

I enter a lot of things I commonly eat as recipes so I don't have to go through the trouble of logging it all. It is a big time saver! Salads in particular are a pain. Some of this stuff is such minimal calorie count I just leave it off sometimes.

The HRMs really are an eyeopener aren't they? I found I was way over on some things and way under on others once I got mine.

shorty313

Thanks all, I'm getting the hang of the gluten free. I've done dairy free before while nursing my son so I knew that wouldn't be a big deal (well, except for getting in protein) but no wheat/gluten is harder!

So far so good. Yesterday I still felt bloated but no debilitating pain, so I take that as improvement. I think this may have started with some bad food (the first day was nausea more than anything) and I just think that it needs a little help to recover this time. Hopefully If I stay off it a few weeks, then test dairy, and if that goes ok try gluten again, I'll be fine. If I have to stay off one or the other for good, so be it (though I'd miss cheese, there is no good fake cheese!).

If I get better, and then worse again once trailing again, I'll probably see a GI to see if I have an intolerance. I think if it were true celiac I'd be dropping weight like crazy, and that's not been a side effect :laugh:

I did grocery shop last night and was impressed/surprised at the gluten-free options they had for things like crackers and pasta, so all is not lost! Even pizza dough mix

Ellie - that's interesting that your co-worker was getting sick in the afternoons like me.

Emma - we sorely need rain here too. It did rain all day Friday and the lawn is starting to perk up a bit, but we need another day to really get it green again. It was supposed to rain last night but never did :grumble:

Sandra - go you for not falling off the wagon! We need a cheering smiley here.

Toni - I found MFP estimates were spot on for running, but not much else. Enjoy the new HRM, they are fun gadgets!

saihtnyc

Sandra - hooray for virtual online motivation helping you stick with it!

Toni - you reminded me that my brother in law gave me a HRM for Christmas a couple years ago, I learned to set it up and then got pregnant and ended up putting it in a drawer. Need to get that out.

A lot of people say that MFP overestimates the workout cals, that really stinks. I know for walking it gives me tons of calories, which is nuts! And when I've logged runs it seems to be okay. I guess that what Debbie is saying is true. I'll have to find that HRM and remember how to set it up.

saihtnyc

I was in Safeway getting a card for someone on my way to work and got a salad from the salad bar while I was there, plus some healthy snacks to stock up for the office. It helps curb my eating whatever happens to be in the office kitchen just because I'm hungry. Thankfully I've been better about that overall but still it's hard (bags of peppermint patties, chocolates, etc.).

I know we're having a work baby shower today and there will be cupcakes, so I will let myself have one, so having the salad already purchased and in the fridge will help me balance that out with lunch.

PJYoung2012

Toni - I found MFP estimates were spot on for running, but not much else. Enjoy the new HRM, they are fun gadgets!

I struggle with the cycling ones. What they call moderate I call flat out, flying and unable to stop without crashing!

Well all is not well here or to be more specific I'm not well. I've come down with a nasty cold. I think all my recent problems and a complete lack of sleep I'm just very run down. My body is a viruses playground and this particular one is having a ball. So I'm at home playing on my laptop and watching some Anthony Bourdain on TV. Have been printing out a few recipes from the bbcgoodfood website. Will have a go at making this one over the weekend if i get my sense of smell and taste back.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6286/squid-chickpea-and-chorizo-salad

Have stuck to my diet today and as I'm a couple of hundred calories below my limit my fibre hasn't been a problem today. The lack of exercise though has sent my protein over. it's just one day though so I'm not overly worried. Work tomorrow starts at 5am which means waking up at 4am. I'm hoping this virus burns itself out before then.

Hope everyone's doing ok whichever part of the world they're in.

coreyisaacs

Paul - Well all is well on this side of the Atlantic. The sun has come out at last and people throughout the country are freaking out and preparing for the apocalypse. By which I mean frantically cooking everything on the BBQ and slapping on sun tan lotion.

Completely understand. Lived in Germany for about three years and we got sun for about two weeks out of the year. Then snow and rain, and more snow and rain. Still though, being American, I enjoyed BBQ in the rain and snow.

Sounds like everybody's one the same page when it comes to MFP over/underestimating exercise. I like that it's a gauge by which to go by, but no the end-all-be-all. A HRM gives you an accurate ready, but a real PITA to enter each and everytime. I like the ease of the database, but all along know that's not the real number.

neurochamp

So after all the talk about logging salad...we went to Sweet Tomatoes tonight and I ate a gigantic salad. And some other stuff (that's the killer there, really - the other stuff - but I did manage to just say "no" to the delicious mac & cheese). Blew my sodium goal, but I did drink a LOT of water, and, thanks to my Fitbit prodding me on, I managed to climb 50 flights of stairs in my house today :bigsmile:

Well...to be honest, it would have been more like 20-25 (mostly from chores, doing laundry and such), but I made a conscious effort to take more trips up and down (and up and down...) to see if I could reach the next "level" - I already earned the 25 floors badge, and the next was at 50, so... Yeah, I'm sure with that and my weightlifting today my legs will be pretty sore later this week.

Worth it.

ellie78

Going out to lunch today with co-workers to Jack N Grill of Man v Food fame, the Denver place where they have the 7 lb breakfast burrito challenge. Everything on this place's menu is huge! I think this lunch will take care of both lunch and dinner if not more! The best option looks like a grilled chicken sandwich so I think I will stick with that.

I seem to have strained a muscle in my quad. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. It started hurting during my workout on Sunday but hadn't bothered me since and as soon as I got the the lunges in my workout last night it was instant pain! Guess I will just rest it a few days and see how it goes. I'm kind of bummed as I had been planning to hit the gym hard and finish up this stage of NROL4W by the end of next week, ah well better to be safe.

Leeloominai01

My treadmill should be fixed when I get home tonight!! The technician phoned this morning and apparently went to fix it today. So here's hoping it's 100% now!

I'm being bad about what I eat this week. I'm overstepping on the calories but I know my calories are quite low, and if I do exercise it really helps. I've never used the generic exercise on MFP, I always took the calories my HRM or the treadmill gives, so I suppose it should be ok?

I'm still thinking it's probably a better idea to rather do the strength training from the link Debbie posted to give my hip flexor a break, but it feels better so maybe it was just a sudden move kind of thing?

shorty313

Hubby asked me to go out to lunch yesterday, and I remembered PF Changs has a gluten free menu, so that made it easy. That meant I had to do my run in the evening, but I wanted until after the kids were in bed and it wasn't too hot by then. I've started phase 3 of the lifting regimen and man are my quads sore, I hope I can manage the workout today!

Sandra - I hope the treadmill works perfectly tonight!

Ellie - rest the legs!

Emma - glad you are liking the fitbit! So far I'm resisting, I don't NEED any more gadgets...

PJYoung2012

Going out to lunch today with co-workers to Jack N Grill of Man v Food fame, the Denver place where they have the 7 lb breakfast burrito challenge. Everything on this place's menu is huge! I think this lunch will take care of both lunch and dinner if not more! The best option looks like a grilled chicken sandwich so I think I will stick with that.

I love that show. Between Adam Richman and Anthony Bourdain lies my cooking show nirvana :-).

Still all very dramatic with me at the moment. The virus is well and truly in control and I'm at the god this is boring stage of any cold. Plus my diet problems have reached a new and scary place. I tried to go and see my doctor today but was told they have nothing until the end of next week. So have been to the pharmacy instead. Just hope this passes and I can get back to training. Have bought my first copy of men's health magazine. I think my fiancée is quite relieved that there are reading materials with handsome men with rock hard places on our coffee table. I should have bought it ages ago. Lots of interesting articles and deit/workout plans. Lot's to think about.

Hope everyone's ok and having a good Wednesday.

shorty313

Paul - Men's health is a great mag, another home my husband likes is Men's journal. How are you feeling other than a cold?

saihtnyc

Paul - I hadn't thought of mixing squid with chorizo and chickpeas, neat recipe. Nobody in my house would eat it, though, but me!



So I had an utter fail today at lunch. Every Wednesday we have "Global Street Food" day in our employee canteen, and it's delicious. Normally the hot buffet is hit or miss, but this is "brought to us by" some chef and it's awesome. Today they had empanadas, a plantain and yam dish, rice, etc. I managed to skip the rice and a couple other things but did get 2 empanadas. The calorie logging for things like empanadas, plantains, etc. is so wildly different depending on which listing I pick in the MFP database, so I'm going to try to go conservative with my calories the rest of the day and stick to protein and veggies at home tonight.

I'm just off since last night I didn't get home from work until midnight and ate pretzels and other snacks for dinner, then ate late night when I got home since I was starving. Then the baby woke at night, and I'm overtired today. If I am not falling asleep at the table tonight and my kids go to bed nicely, tonight is the night I start back with running since it's not too hot out today.

saihtnyc

Rereading that I sound lame about eating too much at lunch, but I have to clarify that I was all over South America last month for work so the food took us all back to our time eating empanadas in Argentina. So I got a little too heavy a meal because of that!

Light dinner is key tonight!

PJYoung2012

Paul - I hadn't thought of mixing squid with chorizo and chickpeas, neat recipe. Nobody in my house would eat it, though, but me!

I have the ingredients in my fridge ready and tomorrow night I'm going to take the recipe for a spin. I'm going to add a little pasta though I think and maybe some extra veggies. I'll let you know how I get on. My better half claimed ownership rights for chorizo and chickpeas apparently. Don't think it'll stop her from tucking in though .

Blueyz82

Hello All! Hope everyone's week is going well so far!

Today was my day off, so I cooked some chicken and sweet potatoes for dinner I made a few pieces of chicken to add to my salads for the next for days

Today I also joined a gym too! Planet Fitness opened like 5 minutes from my place and has a really good deal going on, so I decided that is what I was going to do! I have really missed the gym. I went to Fitness 19 for over 2 years and then moved and cancelled my membership thinking, oh I'll just use the fitness room at my new apt. Well, I have been using that fitness room and it sucks due to lack of equipment and the people that use it have been getting on my last nerve! I really need to get serious about trying to tone and build muscle so that the weight will come off easier...at least that is my hopes!

I love Man Vs. Food! Adam was at a restaurant in Cleveland, Melt. I don't think I could ever do "The Melt Challenge", which is a 5 lb grilled cheese sandwich! I love their sandwiches! I have also been to Primanti (sp?) Brother's in Pittsburgh where Adam has done a challenge. Good stuff.

Yes, Men's Health Magazine is a popular one. lol, Paul, I like to look at the covers, myself...

and yes, Debbie, logging everything that goes in a salad is a PITA!!! When I first read PITA, the blonde me, was like huh, what does that mean and then it clicked! lol!

Shrinking_Moody

When I first read PITA, the blonde me, was like huh, what does that mean and then it clicked! lol!

My initial thought was pita bread :laugh:

How is the GF going Debbie? I thought about trying it out on my son - for other reasons - but have only researched it at this point.

I need to have my husband check out the mend's mags. He is trying to bulk up. He works for a foody delivery service and is constantly lifting 50+ lbs of food. As he puts it - "I'm getting a free workout" and he's started taking creatine or something from GNC to build lean muscles. It's nice because we are all eating healthier (except for the picky toddler - but we are working on that). Nick just gets to eat more food than I do I guess.

My I've dropped a couple pounds since Tuesday when the HRM came - probably water weight - but with my calorie burn being more accurate I'm not over eating now. I've noticed that if I do a 30 minute elliptical workout, MFP is lower than the HRM - anything over that MFP is higher than the HRM - and I'm doing the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred DVD - that was only about 100 cals over on MFP. At least there is some balance. After sticking to this for over a month - I wanted to get serious about it - so I do highly recommend it. It's great to know what you actually burn.

Is anyone else as excited as me that the weekend is approaching!

shorty313

Toni- it hasn't been too bad actually, but trying to be dairy free at the SAME TIME has made it hard to get all my protein in, so I'm just ignoring macros for now :laugh: The hardest thing is to go without sandwiches, as that was my usual lunch, ad GF bread seems to be the hardest replacement. But I found GF cookies (not that I really eat cookies, but it's nice to have that option), pasta, crackers, pizza dough mix, cake mixes, pancake mix, etc. The other things in my diet were fairly normally non-gluten anyway - fruits, veggies, meats. You have to be careful with dressings and sauces though, apparently soy sauce (all but 1 brand) have gluten, many marinades use it as a thickener, etc.

My son decided that 4:40am was wake up time today :yawn: WTF? He was all chipper. By 6am I was tired of going to his crib and meeting one demand or the other so I brought him back to our bed where he promptly fell back asleep and slept til 730 (I had to wake him) while I essentially just stared at him :mad:

Shrinking_Moody

:laugh: They always sleep better in "the big bed". Sometimes I think Jordison (2 1/2) stays up later and later just so I'll give up and stick him in bed with mommy and daddy.

ellie78

I realized last night that I'm starting to feel like that character in the movie Airplane, the control tower guy, who every scene is saying "looks like I picked the wrong week to quit (fill in the blank)". Between hurting my quad and massive amounts of eating out I just keep finding myself way off track! This week has pretty much been a total loss that will be further pushed down by a work potluck today and will cap out with a charity pub crawl tomorrow night. Sigh. Next week, I guess. I don't have any plans for next week at this point so the plan is to get back on track!

Hope everyone's weekend is off to a good start!

shorty313

I am SO SORE from phase 3 of my lifting plan. Holy cow. I think I have to take today off. My abs and hams are killing me! Who is the sonofa***** that thought of T pushups? Big fail there. Day 1 also had an exercise that I just could.not.do.

Because of work conflicts I couldn't run yesterday, but did get to yoga. I think I'll just skip it today too and go for the 4 miles on Sunday. I think my left leg needs the rest.

Back out to lunch today. I think PF Changs again to make GF easier. One of my dear friends who I don't get to see often enough took the day off and asked to meet up, I can't say no!

So today's weekly weigh in, I was up 0.5 lbs from last week. Last week's weight might have been low due to dehydration from being sick, so I guess this is more real. :grumble: Mentally, I REALLY need to break below 140 by the end of this month! I hung out at 139.5 a few days last week during the sickness and I was hoping it would stick.

Ellie - it's always something, isn't it?