40+ Club: Beating The Winter Bulge

Trina22

Hi Frank and all,

I checked in for the first time in about a week this morning and was startled to see your news, Frank. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I expereinced a similar situation 4 years ago when I received that dreaded middle of the night phone call telling me my dad was killed in a car accident. It was life changing for me. I encourage you to really take time to grieve now or it really comes back fiercely if you put it off. My husbands dad passed this summer and he seems to be doing a good job of hiding his grief, or maybe he is just experiencing it differently than I did.

I was in NYC this weekend for my birthday and completely went off my healthy eating program - but I intended to! These last two days I have been doing really well and seem to be totally back on track. Has anyone else had that experience? Ususally if I am off track for a few days it is really hard to get back on track - but not this time for some reason.

Tried a new recipe last night and it was really good - Hungry Girl's Whole Enchilada Soup - only 110 calories per cup and it's really yummy.

Thanks, Trina

duffyzmom

Hi All! Can't believe it is already hump day - some weeks move more quickly than others.

Frank: Just remember that mental health is just as important as physical so make sure you are taking care of yourself. My dad has been gone for almost 15 years now and I still get surprised by moments of grief every now and again. I know as a frequent sufferer of depression - exercise is great medicine for it. I read that piece of advice years ago but honestly after 3 years of consistently exercising - I know really believe it.

Stiring: I forgot to post the Eat for Health tips for this week - Probably because I can't see myself making these a long term habit.
1-Cut back on caffeine if possible get no more than 1 cup of coffee/tea /per day -Sorry not gonna happen - I may be able to cut back to 1 cup of coffee in the morning but green tea is one of my afternoon treats. 2- Use processed food sparingly if you do don't buy any foods with more than 200 mg of sodium per serving (I am cutting back on processed food but I'm not sure I'd qualify as sparingly) 3- Break the sugar cycle (actually not a big deal as I'm not a fan of sweets and eating the 3 servings a fruit a day has really changed how sweet food tastes to me)

Thanks for the superbowl suggestions - I live on hummus so that will definitely be on the buffet but I was looking for fruits and the greek yogurt dip is a great idea.

zebras

duffyz:

Anything but the caffeine! LOL There was a Dilbert cartoon where someone deliberately switches all the coffee to decaf, and Wally is like close to falling down and going "must get help"

tamarads

Morning All! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to you for all the lovely posts, such encouragement and positive advice! Such a great way to start the day! I'd love to get the recipes for the bread and tortilla soup if you all are willing to share them!

Tammy

mkwood10

Good morning all!! It's hump day, the sun is shining in Kansas (for now) and I actually feel human again!!:laugh: The stupid head cold's not completely gone, but I feel a lot better than I did even yesterday. This is day 15, so should be completely over it by the weekend, I hope. Since I'm on allergy meds year-round, I don't get colds very often, but when I do they just wipe me out completely for at least 2 weeks:sick: :frown:

Welcome newbies.........we're a mixed assortment of 40 and 50 somethings.......and we're quite the fun group!!

Duffyz, I could never give up caffeine completely, but I am down to less than one Coke Zero each morning. I usually end up dumping about half of it late morning because it's gone flat. Coke Zero's the ONLY diet soda I've ever been able to stand........no yucky diet aftertaste!!!

Trina............PLEASE share the whole enchilada soup recipe - I need new soup recipes!!!


Headed to yet another meeting...........have a good day all!!!

alf1163

Oh my!! I just realized I have not posted for a while or you guys have posted too much!!!! :laugh:

Great to hear from you Sing!!! As everyone said take care of yourself. It is true what you say, it is imperative that we enjoy life with our loved ones and with ourselves...we never know when our time or our loved one's time will come. :flowerforyou: You are so right about men grieving. When my mother in law passed away I never saw my husband crying but I am sure he did it in private. I have always told him that there is nothing wrong with crying...and asking for directions FORGET IT!! :laugh:

Tex, thank you for the info. I had gotten an email about it. Glad to hear from you!

I am sorry I am not able to answer to everyone's posts. I am glad everyone is doing well. Duffy, I reserved that book from the library and it was ready for pick up. I stopped by today and picked up some CD's and totally forgot about the book. Old age!!! :noway: :laugh: How do you feel following this program?

I am on my 4th week of ChaLean Extreme. I wish I could be lifting heavier but I am still very cautious about my leg. I am telling you, I still feel the pain from time to time. It is very frustrating. Zumba at the AFB is going great, I had 28 students last night. I can't wait for tomorrow night's class, it is so much fun!!! I started at another location (non-military) on Monday and no one showed up, the same tonight. I only get paid per student so both times I wasted my time and gas. Luckily is not that far but I drive an SUV. :grumble: I am going to give them another week and if it does not pick up I am going to cancel my contract. It is not worth it. I really think this is not the greatest location for a class at 7pm. Jazzercise has a class before mine and they have students but they only have about 5 ladies in there. That would not be worth it for me either. They only pay me 70% of $5 that the students would pay for my class. What do you guys think? Should I break my contract? Oh, and I am not finished...then my husband sees me getting ready and he asks where I'm going...he said I did not tell him I was going to be gone 4 nights in a row to teach Zumba. I did tell him but that is how much he listens to me. :grumble: So now he is upset...Ughh!!!! I am inclined to cancel the Mon/Wed class and just offer my svcs as a sub for other locations that the zumba classes are well established. That way I am not commited 4 nights in a row. Suggestions?

Have a great evening!!! :flowerforyou:

singfree

Good morning!

I hope everyone is well today! I'm feeling better each day, but I need to get back to basics with diet & exercise. It's so easy to just sit there and do nothing. That's what packs on the fat. I have a goal to reach in exactly 119 days (but who's counting)? It's our 10th anniversary trip to....(hint: We're flying on Lufhansa)....

Alf, I'm all for honoring one's contract, but if nobody shows up, what's the use? An SUV in Texas??? :laugh: Actually, one of our cars is an SUV (Subaru Forester). It gets decent gas mileage for something with all-wheel-drive. We LOVE Subarus. Since the 70s, this is my 5th one. They last forever! My last one had 250,000 miles on it and never had any major work done. My dream is to have a Mercedes or BMW...just a dream....

Mk, I'm glad that you are beginning to feel better. Just let the bright Kansas sun shine on your face for a while. It's amazing what sunshine can do for your spirits especially in January!

Tammy, we're glad that you are staying here with us. You are a great addition to our "club"!!

Duffy, I'm with you on caffeine. I have it in the morning (this is NOT negotiable). Then I have either decaf coffee or green tea the rest of the day. I tried to cut caff. from my diet at the urging of one of my voice teachers. He said that caff. swells the vocal chords slightly and affects the singing voice. Well, it lasted exactly ONE day. I had such a withdrawal headache I immediately grabbed the nearest espresso...cured!!!

Have a great day!

alf1163

Sing, sie wird in Deutschland in kurze!!!!!! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: I am excited for you!!!! We bought our airline tickets to go to Puerto Rico in March for 2 weeks. :drinker:

ChaLean, done!!! This morning. I increased my weights for most exercises which helped me burn much more calories than expected. Woohoo!! :drinker: Zumba tonight with my favorite class, well, my only class :grumble: :laugh: I keep forgetting to turn on my heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burn. I wear every time but I am so pumped up and excited to start the class that I forget to turn it on. :noway: I have been only estimating but I am afraid I am burning a lot more.

Have a wonderful day!!! :flowerforyou:

duffyzmom

ALF - I really wouldn't say I'm following the Eat for Health program but incorporating some of the main ideas. I have definitely cut down on the amount of animal products in my diet and I have increased the fruits and veggies. But I can't see myself limiting whole grains to one serving a day especially once I start marathon training again. and I know with CX push phase coming I'm really going to need to increase my protein for recovery. My goal for next month is to do a better job of monitoring my exercise calories burned.

See you all tomorrow for check-in day

singfree

Alf, sie kann gut Deutsch als Carribbeanerin sprechen!!

zebras

Happy Thursday all. Mayor Sing I'm glad you're doing well.

I actually have managed to work out 5 days in a row, which means now my body wants to work out and I don't have to whip myself to do it! The life of a reformed couch potato is rough! LOL

alf1163

Alf, sie kann gut Deutsch als Carribbeanerin sprechen!!

What you call me???? :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

singfree

As a lady from the Carribbean your command of the German language is very good! I think you'll need to come along to Germany with us, OK?

Trina22

A couple people asked for this recipe. I received it through a free weekly e-mail I get through www.hungrygirl.com. I love their recipes and have made loads of them (the seafodd gumbo is outstanding!!!). She also recomends new products to try which I really love - I discovered Pop Chips and low-carb/calorie tofu shirataki noodles through these e-mails.

The pumpkin in this recipe might suprise you but you can't taste it at all (I think it just thickens it). I didn't have green enchilada sauce so I used a can of red and added a little water and it was great! Also, I don't eat chicken so I used a box of Quorn naked cutlets and it was about the same calories. My husband loved this soup and so did I! Enjoy!

The Whole Enchilada Chicken Soup

PER SERVING (1 cup): 105 calories, 1.75g fat, 641mg sodium, 12.5g carbs, 2g fiber, 4g sugars, 11g protein -- POINTS® value 2*

Extra-special thanks to Pam, who inspired us with her swap for Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup. YOU ROCK, Pam, and so does this soup!



Ingredients:
3 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 1/4 cups finely chopped celery
1/2 cup diced sweet yellow onion
3 cups green enchilada sauce
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
10 oz. cooked boneless skinless lean chicken breast, chopped or shredded
1 cup frozen white (or yellow) corn
Optional: dash hot sauce, or more to taste
Optional toppings: shredded fat-free cheddar cheese, crushed baked tortilla chips

Directions:
In a large pot, bring broth to a low boil on the stove. Add celery and onion, and simmer for about 5 minutes, until slightly tender.

Stir in enchilada sauce and pumpkin. Once soup returns to a low boil, add chicken and corn, and mix well. Cook for an additional 3 - 5 minutes, until soup is heated throughout.

Add a dash or more hot sauce. (Or not. It's your soup.) Serve and, if you like, top with shredded cheese and/or crushed chips.

Enjoy!!!

MAKES 9 SERVINGS

StiringWendel

Hey everybody! It's Happy Friday already here in Korea. :drinker: I hope everybody is doing well.

Trina, thanks for sharing the recipe. That looks absolutely terrific. And I'm glad you mentioned you used red sauce instead of green because I don't think I can find green over here. So it is good to know it can work with red. I'm going to need to try this one out.

singfree, thanks for checking in. You've been though alot, so don't worry about the 'sitting here is easier' feeling you've got going on right now. That's your body (and your mind) telling you something, so listen to it. Give yourself a much needed rest, and your body/mind will tell you when it is time to start moving again. Since you are an intensity junkie like me, I have no doubt that will be sooner than later. And I doubt you will have packed on much 'fat' during that time!

mk, hope you get to feeling better soon. That is a LONG cold to suffer through. I hope you can get some rest over the weekend and be back to normal next week. Take care!

duffy, thanks for sharing more of this program with us. I agree.... I couldn't do the caffeine thing and I don't think I could do the whole '200mg per serving' buying restriction. As much as I don't eat much processed foods, I still buy things like salad dressing. And that has more than 200mg of sodium per serving. I suppose it is a good guideline to follow, but I don't think I could follow it strictly. I get by with one cup of coffee a day, but, like you, it is the tea I couldn't give up. If I had better options, I would go to decaf since I don't drink the tea for the caffeine. But I don't have many decaf options available to me right now, so I drink at least two if not three cups of tea with caffeine a day. But I NEED my tea (and coffee), so.......Just out of curiosity, does he make any recommendation on what type of fruit is better to eat over others? I ask this because I have been having the most ridiculous banana cravings lately, and have actually been avoiding eating them because I know they are high in sugar. I hadn't eaten bananas in years before we got to Korea (because I had an ulcer years ago and they upset my stomach so badly that I never tried them again), but we had some in a welcome basket when we got here and I thought 'What the heck?'.....and now I can't get rid of the craving. Are bananas a good food to eat or a bad food to eat? Anybody have an opinion on this one...because I've seen both sides of the banana argument (high is potassium vs. high in sugar) and don't know which one I should pay attention to.

alf, I'm with singfree on the Zumba class situation. I'm all for following contracts....when they serve a purpose. But if you are showing up for no reason and/or the compensation isn't what you were expecting when you signed the contract (thought you would have more students), I would say your energy could probably be better utilized elsewhere.

So it's time for my Friday check-in. I'm down a pound from last week (104), so that is good. I'm back into all my clothing (which is REALLY good). I feel lean. I'm participating in a line dance competition (long story there :laugh: ) in a week, and I've been wearing t-shirts to the rehearsals this week because the building we are practicing in is so warm. I've had alot of people comment on my weight/fitness level. In fact, I had one woman pull me aside yesterday and ask what I do for fitness. Turns out....she's a Cathe Friedrich 'user' as well, so that was fun. So all of that makes me feel really good. Today is Day 28 of 'clean eating' (no cheats, treats, etc), and I really think that is helping with the leaner look. I'm going to continue this trend for awhile longer because I'm suffering a little.....sadness....this winter, and I think it is best to keep my diet in check right now because I really could give in to a bottle of wine and a bar of chocolate (with peanut butter) with the smallest of enticements. And I don't want to do that....so I will press on in hopes that I start to feel more settled soon. As far as the workouts go....they are going well. I did an STS workout this morning followed by an Insanity workout. That was probably a bit much. :laugh: But it felt good at the time. I'm finding I really need the cardio workouts right now because they are helping me with my mood. So while I know that intense cardio isn't great when I'm strength training, I also know it is best to do what I feel like doing right now until this mood passes. I'm still seeing strength gains from the strength training, but I'm definitely not as 'muscular' as I was a few months ago. But I'm okay with that right now.

I hope everybody has a great weekend. :flowerforyou:

singfree

Good morning!

It's a cold morning here in PA, 10 degrees and windy! I am also off work today. I can take 3 days off with pay for bereavement purposes, which is good. My brother and I have an appt. with our attorney about the estate and the next steps to take.

Thanks, Stiring for your comments. You are right on all counts. I don't feel depressed, but my body is just feeling run down a bit. It's probably the fact that I am adding even more to my otherwise busy plate. I feel guilty about being on a fitness website and not holding up my part of the bargain. I really think that by cleaning up my act with clean eating and some exercise, my mood will improve. About intense cardio and strength training, that is my usual plan of attack. You're like me, you need the tough cardio workout to feel a sense of accomplishment!

Nothing really to report this week for obvious reasons. I WILL have something to report next Friday!!!!

Have a great day!

Trina22

Hi Everyone,

Singfree - I am in PA, too and am not looking forward to going outside. Please don't feel guilty about being on this site! It is probably what you need most right now even if you are unable to stay "fitness minded." That is completely understandable. Yes, the cardio might help you mood but sometime just "Being" instead of "doing" is what your emotional self and your spirit need at a time like this. Be gentle with yourself and don't beat yourself up about ANYthing. If fitness is your habit, it will return when the time is right.

StiringWendel - As for the bananas - perhaps it's your body telling you that potassium (and the other nutritional values) are needed for you right now? I don't consider any fruit bad in moderation. Does anyone else have an opinion?

As for weigh in - I was up two pounds on Monday due to my decadent birthday weekend in NYC. But today, I am 172 - two pounds less that my last weigh-in but four pounds less than my weigh in on Monday - not sure what is going on!!!

Have a great weekend! Trina

tamarads

Good Morning!

Singfree - hang in there, take it slow and everything will fall back into place. Such kind words of encouragement from your friends, take them to heart.

Stiring - your workouts sound very intense, but they also sound just like what you need to keep you sane right now! Keep up the good work, how uplifting it must be to have people complimenting you on your health! I have a friend who is back at Osan now, her husband is a pilot, I believe they moved back this last summer too... If you're looking for some company let me know. I'm wondering about the high sugar content of fruit as well, as I've tried to cut out as much sugar as I can. I'm almost to the point of not eating it because I know the sugar is so high, okay, I don't eat it at all (my true confession). I thought I would give that a try as I started this journey to see if indeed sugar is the root of all evil and my poochy tummy! Any thoughts would be welcome!

Wow, Trina, you must be doing something right! Keep up the good work! I love NYC... did you see any shows while you were there? That is my absolute favorite thing to do there!

As for me, my official weigh in is on Sunday, has been for years, but as of last Sunday I had kept my weight loss to about a pound or a bit more a week, so I'm down 4 pounds. Yippee! I've set my goals here at mfp and followed the calorie and exercise recommendations, my biggest sacrifice has been the sugar as I mentioned before. I've decided that I am going to wait until I've been here for a month before I start trying on the smaller clothes, don't want to totally derail myself! I can feel the muffin top slowly decreasing in size and that is a huge triumph for me, a great motivator! Happy Friday!!

zebras

Happy Friday Friends!

I can report I had he best workout week and eating week that I have had in a long time. Don't have a working scale right now, which is a good thing, because I can tell by the fit of my clothes that I"m not back to where I was when everything went south.

It got cold again here last night. They said it would warm up for 10 minutes on Monday and that was it. My goal is to get a good work out both days of the weekend.

duffyzmom

Happy Friday All! Beyond cold here this morning -8 with the wind chill. Sounds like a great excuse to work out indoors :drinker:

I did weigh in this morning my weight is down a few lbs but doing the CX has really made a difference I'm trying to avoid the scale and focus more on the mirror. Let me say I have a lot less winter bulges. Today will be my last CX burn circuit and I'm really looking forward to moving into the Push phase.

I made it through this whole we with no cheats and no alcohol -Whoppie! ALF: I will say one of main things I've noticed while incorporating some of Dr. Fuhrman's principles is how my tastes have changed. I really have started to enjoy the flavors of healthy foods more than their less healthy counterparts.

Stiring: Okay once again you have me grabbing my books As you know Dr. Fuhrman ranks food based on its nutrient - calorie ratio.
His top fruits and score:
Strawberries - 212
Pomegranate Juice - 193
Blackberries - 178
Plums - 157
Raspberries - 145
Blueberries - 130
Papaya - 118
Oranges - 109

Bananas receive a score of about 30 - I will say that he has a lot of recipes that include bananas so I don't think he is antibanana. And his is a big fan of walnuts and their score is 29. I say enjoy one of my favorite breakfasts is a light whole grain english muffin with natural peanut butter and banana YUMMM!

Enjoy your weekends all - Tonight is pizza night (I use my bread machine to make a really yummy whole wheat crust and load mine up with veggies and fat free mozzarella)

zebras

duffyz:

Can you share your pizza crust recipe? I'm trying to re-invigorate my interest in my bread machine. I've tried Stiring's whole wheat bread last night, and when I was past the point of no return in measuring out ingredients I realized I was missing something, so it is really chewy and dry. I feel a turkey meatloaf coming on to use some of it up in! LOL I have never tried pizza dough, and it seems like a fun thing to do at home on a cold winter night.

Thanks.

duffyzmom

Bread Machine Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbs Olive Oil
4 cups of Flour ( I use at least 2 cups whole wheat - it is safe up to 3:1)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. parmeson cheese
2 1/2 tsp yeast
I add at least a few shakes of Italian herbs and sometimes a little garlic powder

Texssippian

Hi all! Cold here in north Texas (for us), around 32 with freezing drizzle. Food intake was ok this week but I could not exercise because of my SI joint. It is getting better though. I am finding it takes more time to heal things.

Sing, hang in there. My mother-in-law lived with us for two years before she died. She was in the hospital 10 days on a vent before she passed. My husband's brother flew out from Tennessee to be with his mom. He was trying to find my husband one morning but my husband was not at the house, the hospital or the office. Bill finally showed up at the house (this was the days before cell phones). At first he did not tell me where he was but then finally said that he had been waiting in the Kmart parking lot waiting for the store to open so he could go in and buy a real hankerchief. He said he was tired of crying into kleenix and felt much better with the hankerchief! Sing, listen to yourself and find your "hankerchief".

Son goes back to San Francisco tomorrow for graduate school. We have enjoyed having him. I will have to hire the boys down the street to help put up the Christms decorations which are STILL out. (The ones I am in charge of are put away, but Mr. Holiday has not gotten around to packing up the things he wants to pack because he does not like the way I pack them...)

Take care all!

denimangel

Check in day.... the scale didn't budge from last week. I lost 1/4 inch in my hips though. I will continue with my workouts. New blisters have appeared on my burn... really ugly. But I won't let it stop me. Did 3 miles at 5mph this morning in 38 minutes. For me that is good.

Hope everyone is having a good week and has a great weekend

Angel

singfree

Good morning!

I bought a 30 lb Kettlebell yesterday at Sports Authority and a workout book at B & N. I did one of the prescribed workouts last night. It is a very good workout and gets (and keeps) the HR very high throughout. I could probably go up to 35 lbs, so I'm considering returning it for the heavier one.

The workout book I'm using is actually geared for a woman, but all of the exercises are exactly the same for men, just using a heavier weight. The workout lasts around 45 mins. If you add some cardio to the mix, it will be a very good fat burning program.

Stiring, I think you will like this a lot when you get back Stateside.

Have a great weekend!

Trina22

Tamarads,
Yes, we got to see two shows in NYC - One was Hair - which I have been dying to see. The costume designer for the Boradway production costumed me as Mae West in a show a few years's back and he has been updating me on the progress of the show. It's moving to London next month. It was AMAZING and the actors really interact with the audience. I even got kissed by the lead (and so did my husband!) ;~ )

So this is what I am doing - sticking to a 1200 calorie diet courtesy of My Fitness Pal and going to Planet Fitness 3 times a week to do weight training on the no brainer machines they have (and it's 10 bucks a month!). I also do between 20 and 30 minutes on my elliptical at home 2 to 3 times per week. I try to eat whole, natural foods rather than processed. I have cut out anything with HFCS and Trans Fats but other than that, nothing is an illegal food for me as long as I stay around the 1200 calorie mark.

Any feedback??? I would appreciate advice from others because I really want to keep it off this time. My short -term goal is to get into my size 14 pants before I go to Disney in 3 weeks (I am in a 16 now).

Thanks! Trina

singfree

Trina, I say this from experience, eating minimal calories and heavy exercise is not going to get you to your goal weight-size faster. Actually, you might be sabotaging it. By eating more calories and having the proper balance of carb-protein-fat will give you much better results. I used to think that by eating a small amount and exercising a lot would give me great results..I was flat-out wrong. On those days that you exercise, consider adding a few healthy snacks. Even a banana or some peanut butter would help. I don't mean snacking as in cake or ice cream, just something light and sensible. I still find it hard to get out of "diet" mode at times. Think of it this way: If you eat 1200 cals and do 500 cals of exercise, you are only eating a net 700 cals per day....way under. That's almost what someone with an eating disorder is consuming. On this thread we've all been guilty of this and we learned the hard way. Good luck, you can do it!!!

BTW, where in PA are you from? I live in eastern PA (Schuylkill County).

StiringWendel

trina, surprisingly, I have a few slightly different thoughts on the matter from my dear brother, singfree, but that is because I don't know things like how tall you are, etc.

I'm 5'2", and when I went on my diet (I lost 45 pounds last year), I dropped my calories to 1200 (usually between 1200-1300 a day) and worked out six days a week, and the weight came off relatively easily. But I needed to do that because in order for me to create a calorie deficit of at least 500 calories a day, I needed to add workouts on top of the food calorie deficit because my body burns so few calories on its own because of my height. In other words, I was creating something like a 200 calorie a day deficit from food, and the additional deficit came from working out. So, if you are in a similar situation, you may be fine on what you are eating/doing. If you are significantly taller, then I DO agree with singfree, and might suggest bringing your calories up to closer to 1400 (if you aren't eating back your exercise calories).

Regarding what you are eating, it all sounds really good. I think the key to success is making sure when you cut back on foods/cut out foods, that you are cutting things out that you can live without for the bulk of the time for the remainder of your life. In other words, I think it is important to alter your diet in a way that you can still live with what you are eating and aren't counting the days until you can get back to eating 'normally' again. For instance, everybody here knows about my peanut butter habit. Stupidly high in calories and fat, I know. But it stayed in my diet right through my weight loss because I knew that any food plan I was going to have the rest of my life was going to incorporate peanut butter, so it was better for me to learn how to control the portions, find the healthiest alternative, etc from the get-go of my diet instead of getting to my goal weight, saying to myself 'Peanut Butter!!!' and eating an entire jar everytime I sat down (which I could easily do!). And that approach has, by and large, worked very well for me. When people ask me what I eat, and I mention things like tacos, meatball subs, etc, they raise their eyebrows. But I can because I've found healthy alternatives that I enjoy AND I watch my portions.

So, over time, if you are relying on more processed foods, maybe you can find healthier alternatives to those processed foods, but I think your approach of eating what you enjoy within you calorie limit is a good one. But also know that, by and large, if you cut back on the amount of processing, you may be able to eat alot more food and lose weight more effectively. I know the weight dropped off me when I cut out the bulk of processing even though I was increasing my calories every week (because I had already reached my goal weight....but ended up losing another 10 pounds without trying!)

hisangel, I've been thinking about you and your hand. Is it better? Blisters on the backside? Now that doesn't sound like fun!! But congrats on the change in measurement. I always like it when I can pull that measuring tape a little tighter.

singfree, I'm glad you enjoyed the kettlebells! Do you find they put much stress on your lower back....more than regular weights? I think that is always one of the reasons I've been hesitant about kettlebell use, but that could be that the people I saw demonstrating them weren't using them properly. I hope you are continuing to feel better. And don't ever feel like you shouldn't be posting on a fitness/weight loss site!! You are such a wonderful example to all of us here, and a one week 'break' for the loss of a dear mother does NOT negate that in any way, shape or form.

duffy, thanks for the fruit information!! I'm sorry I keep asking you to pull out your book, but I'm finding this information really helpful right now.

TxMs, good to see you! I hope your injury heals soon. Thanks for checking in with us.

Well, it's early Sunday morning here, so I need to get moving. I'm going to be doing another STS workout today, and probably some cardio. I took yesterday off, and my body was thanking me all day. I have a couple more STS workouts and then I start my 'recovery' week from STS before moving on to the next cycle. I'm looking forward to that as well. I'm not good with recovery weeks, but I'm going to try to at least stay away from weights during this recovery phase.

Hope everybody enjoys the rest of their weekend.

singfree

Sister Stiring, I can see your point. I was assuming that Trina was creating much more than a 500 calorie deficit on her exercise days. I was also considering her goal weight which looks to be around 10 lbs or so. We both know what a balancing act those last few lbs can be!

The kettlebell training is going well. Actually there is no added stress to the lower back because when you get the kettlebell in motion, momentum and gravity take over and there is no stress as there is in traditional weight training. I can also see how important good form is so that injuries might be averted. The best advice is, do it right and don't try to do too much. Those little weights really give you a great workout.

G'night!

AnahitaCanDoIt

Hi there,

I'd like to join, too! Last year, in January 2009, I turned 40. I didn't want to be 'fat and forty' and I'd lost a considerable amount of weight between 2007 and 2008. By January 2009, I put a lot of it back on, but not most of it. So, now in January 2010, I've put back that and more on!

Here's a little timeline:

mid 2007: 209lbs
mid 2008: 143lbs
mid 2009: 180lbs
January 10, 2010: 215lbs

Now, the bad news is all this yoyo dieting has played havoc on my body. I did all the weight loss through diet only and illness (had a hysterectomy with serious complications). The gain was all through bingeing, not moving and depression.

The good news is, I've started taking fitness and my health more seriously since January 10th! I had my bloods done last week and my blood sugar was high, despite 3 weeks of clean eating (no white carbs, lots of veg, no sugar, no alcohol, no processed foods, lean meats) and moderate exercise. My weight was slow comign off despite the massive increase in water I was taking in. Since I have other health issues, the doctor referred me to a dietician and he did the full bloods (thyroid, cholesterol, etc) as a baseline to pass on to the dietician. I'll get the results back this week. I think the shock of thinking that I might be developing Type 2 diabetes was enough to reaffirm my committment to weight loss and fitness. Plus a lot of back episodes of The Biggest Loser (which I'd avoided up until then)!!

So, here's my results so far.

January 10, 2010: 97.7kg/215lbs size 20
January 31, 2010: 93.5kg/206lbs size 18/20

My goal is to get back to a size 10(UK, which I think is an 8US) adn to be physically fit. Working out 3-4 days a week. Here are some of the exercise tools I'm going to use, some I've already started.

2-4 training sessions in total with a personal trainer
kettebells and kettebells dvd (just ordered)
TurboJam (I can't do it yet as haven't gotten them!)
Exercise bike at home
1x/week boxercise 60min
1x/week shallow water aquafit class 60min
Possibly Jillian 30day Shread if I can get to that level of fitness

Lots of water!

Around 1400 cals/day up to 1500 if it's a heavy working out day.

I'm 5'7"!