Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

Good morning everyone and Happy Superbowl Sunday. Being from the Seattle area we are of course die hard Seahawks fans here. It really sucks that the year they make it to the superbowl and my hubby wont be home from the boat till nest weekend. Oh well that hasnt stopped the betting on the boat so heres to hoping for a very high scoring Seahawks win so my hubby can win his bets:laugh:
I took the dogs for a three lap walk today. I was going to go longer but the bottoms of my feet are getting some calluses and they were hurting so it looks like a foot spa for me while I watch the game My sons b-day went well and there are enough snacks left to get through the game today as well. The apple pie bars I made were REALLY good so took half of what was left to my dad this morning so I couldnt eat them:laugh: Between Christmas and his b-day about the only thing my son still needs for a long summer of outdoor activities is a tent. We all got him kitted for camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting. Upside is I can join him on some of that and get a lot more outdoor activity this summer.
My February challenge starts today and is going to be no fast food or convenience store food for the month. I might go to a sit down dinner a couple times since hubby is coming home but no fast food for me. I think these are two of the things I had started to let slide a little to much the last few months.
Well heres to a great day for everyone and of course a Seattle victory:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Todays workout per HRM:
45 min
884 calories which I will claim 500
1.91 mile
5300 steps

Hey guys--just a quick check-in. I met friend out to grade for a bit and am more than halfway done with thesis statements. :happy: Now I'm headed home to watch Superbowl with the DH.

February Challenge - Hit today's goal with 123 g of protein. I think I need to really challenge myself because I was being safe aiming for 100 grams each day.

Sunday Share: It's been a very productive weekend. This morning I had a nice 80 minute walk with MFP Glenda. I'm really enjoying our walks on the weekend. Afterwards, I had to run to Target to find Cyrus a new trapper keeper/book bag. How that child destroys his bags is beyond me??!! Oh well. If it helps to keep him organized, it's worth it. I then came home and cooked up the bacon for the week (turkey for Cyrus and center cut for me). I then made the Sun Dried Tomato Meatballs with Creamy Pesto - yum! Fridge is ready for the week to have good food choices all day.

@ Laurie - That stinks. I know you've been waiting for that scale to move. Get through this week and it will come back off I'm sure.

@ Tom - You mentioned the Wal-Greens thing before. I really need to check into that. The last few days I've been over 5 miles each day on my Fit Bit. Crazy I'm not taking advantage of adding those points since I have a card as well. I'm not 100% Paleo, but pretty close. I do feel I have a bit more energy, which is good. Serendipity is so yummy, but there's definitely not too many low-cal options that's for sure. We definitely have some really good restaurants in Vegas that's for sure. I don't hit the casinos too often. Once in a great while I may put $20 in slots. Whether I play for 5 minutes or 2 hours, I do not play any more than that. I've heard of too many stories and people not being able to step away.

@ Jtconst - I think that's a really good challenge for a lot of people. I don't eat fast food hardly at all, but I do get it for Cyrus almost weekly. It's just so convenient especially when my days are long, BUT if I don't want to eat it for my healthy why am I serving it to my child? Bad mom.

@ Karen - 6 more weeks of winter? Yuck. I don't complain one bit about our weather. It's a "little" chilly this weekend, but no big deal especially when I see what the northeast and Midwest have been enduring.

@ Nettie - I can't even imagine trying to get protein in while being vegetarian. I've been really cognizant lately of my grocery store visits. I really focus on the outside of the store, i.e. produce, proteins, etc. . . I hardly ever go down the aisles anymore with all the processed stuff. I do get Cyrus cereal and today was crushed tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, chicken broth, Greek yogurt, cheese sticks and that was about it.

@ p1x - I think your goals are doable, but I also like the fact you are being realistic too. You're just 6 lbs away from losing 50, which is AWESOME!! My old company will be here in September for their national convention and our convention is that month too. I would really, really like to down 50 lbs, which would put me around 225. I haven't seen that number in a very, very long time. I would love to knock their socks off!!!! LOL!!

@susan--with how great you've been doing avoiding those office treats, I'll bet you can reach that 50 lb loss by September. Then we can celebrate it in NY!!

@laurie--that pasta salad sounds really good! I'm not a big pasta fan, but I bet I could replace it with quinoa and it would be just as good. Sorry your loss didn't stick around--crossing my fingers that it comes right back.

@tom--that hockey game sounds like it was a lot of fun--so glad your team won, but that really stinks at how the arena screwed them over for next season. Glad you and Amy left with their money lining your pockets.

@tammy--congrats to your Seahawks!! What a great game! :drinker:

AFM--I don't think I mentioned it earlier but my Superbowl plans fell through. My friend who was hosting the party texted this morning to say her husband was sick. Not a big deal as they were last minute plans anyways. Instead, I met another friend at the bar and we graded for a awhile before the game. We were going to stay and watch some of the game while working, but their internet was down. :grumble: Had to relocate to starbucks.

My white chili turned out really good! And it's pretty low in calories as well--only about 160/ 1 cup serving. DH decided to make some cheese enchiladas to go with which were also yummy. I made my protein goal again, so that's good as well. :happy: I know it will be harder on days when I don't get as much exercise b/c I'll have to get more protein out of fewer calories. Well, I need to go package up some of the chili into containers for lunch over the next couple of days.

Groundhog Day Challenge:
2/28 days at 100g or more of protein

Grading goals:
1. 27/52 JRP thesis statements

Exercise goals:
Mon--gym (lift + HIIT) NOT DONE
Tues--gym (circuit training + HIIT) DONE
Wed--walk gunner NOT DONE (it was still way too cold!)
Thurs--walk gunner + (lift + HIIT) NOT DONE
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner DONE + gym (cardio) NOT DONE (shoveled instead)
Sun--walk gunner DONE + (lift + HIIT) NOT DONE (shoveled instead)

Exercise & Weight:
Bench press = 85
Dead lift = 90
Squat = 90
Overhead press = 55
Upright row = 60

Overhead tricep extension = 25 (dumbbell)
Bicep curl = 15 (dumbbell)
Lat pull down = 100
Tricep pull down = 90

Fun game. Tammy, sorry your DH was gone. Do they have a way to watch it on the fishing boat? Glad you had a good week.
Jeanette, my daughter does get really excited about the progress of her students. Last week they were teaching one of the girls exercises for relaxation and coping techniques. It was storming so the kids couldn't go outside for recess. They had the little girl teach the exercises to her whole class. She really loved doing that.
Missmanda, congratulations on the new role. I participated in a lot of drama during high school, but didn't follow through in high school.
Robin, I'm so glad you aren't facing cancer. I hope that you can find solutions for your problems.
Hayley, good loss.
P1xy, 7# in one month is great. I hope you can knock the socks off of your in laws.
Susan, looking forward to meeting old acquaintances is a great goal.
Stephanie, you are off to a great start.
Naomi, you are doing great. Singapore sounds like wonderful goal.
Kelley, I love hearing about Zoe. We have had some really big cats, too.
Tom, good to hear from you. I miss your quotes.
Karen, enjoy your little break from grading.

AFM. I enjoyed my walk this morning. Food was a challenge with the super bowl party. I just gave up on logging. My February goal will be to drink 6-8 glasses of water. After all this time, I still don't have a handle on that.
Okay, I know I'm from a small town, but its getting a little weird. I think I'm getting used to people I barely know telling me they see me walking around town, but yesterday was a little much. My youngest daughter went to help an acquaintance get started running. The woman was telling my daughter how great I'm looking. She said I was the smallest she had ever seen me. The catch is that I have no idea who this woman is!
In March I am going to do my first 5K. Three of my daughters and I are doing it together. Youngest daughter is a runner so she will run it. The other 2 will walk it with me. The proceeds benefit the Idaho food bank. I'm excited to do this. I walk 3 miles nearly every day, so I don't expect to have any problem.
Hope we all have a good week. Onward and downward. Kaye

Had a nice Superbowl party with family and made a chili. I did get a scale so it is off to work I go. Last couple weeks I guess was just to get back in the grove.
Wish me luck as I dive back in to logging and starting a walking program.

Was sorry to see the Broncos lose yesterday, but the Seahawks defense outplayed the Broncos offense – I knew it was a bad sign when there was a safety in the first 12 seconds. :frown: Peyton is one of my favorite players, so sorry to see him have the game he had – was hoping it would have been his swan song, it may have been his last season.

@Laurie~I’m sorry your loss didn’t stick. I’m having equal problems with that evil scale, even though I eat right and get my exercise in on the weekend I’m always up on Monday and have to fight all week to lose it – hence I stay the same every week. It’s really starting to tick me off. :explode:

@Tom~I’m not 100% Paleo, I do tend to sway that way in my eating but have found there are some foods I need to feel my best. There are foods that are restricted on Paleo that I do eat – I have a couple of servings a day of whole grains, usually in the form of Triscuits and flourless bread (Ezekiel). I also eat a little dairy (usually yogurt and aged cheese) and legumes (it’s what Ezekiel bread is made from), but I restrict sugar and consume higher proteins and fats. I am most sensitive to foods containing sugar, because I’m hypothyroid high levels of sugar cause too much of a fluctuation in my glucose levels resulting in hypoglycemia. I’m not diabetic but hypothyroidism can increase a person’s potential for diabetes and with my family history, I feel sugar is best left out of the equation. Paleo is really supposed to help these conditions, but for me it has the opposite effect – so I’m probably about 75% Paleo.

@Kaye~Hooray for your first “official” 5K, with all of your walking I’m sure you’ve got it in the bag. Have a great time!

@Alupinsk~Sounds like you had a terrific weekend! You’re right that 300# mentality is really hard to overcome, I struggle with that as well.

AFM~Had good session with trainer yesterday, he worked on my calf some – lots of knots which in turn were causing the knee pain on Saturday. I can still feel inflammation in my knee, but it feels better after he used the tiger tail on my calf (I hate that thing). I may run tonight on the treadmill, we’ll see. Not quite sure what my fitness goals are this week – I have training session scheduled for Wed but he said yesterday he may want to train me Tues so we can play racquetball on Thursday. I’ll know more tonight. I was short yesterday on both of my Groundhog Day goals. :frown:

Fitness Goals:

Monday~Gym, elliptical or running on TM
Tuesday~Gym, arc trainer or training session
Wednesday~Gym, training session or arc trainer
Thursday~Gym, treadmill/stairmill or racquetball
Friday~Gym, elliptical
Saturday~None, shopping
Sunday~Gym, training session

Monday Check In - My weight has been fluctuating all week. I did see some new lows but this morning I weighed in at the same weight as last week. I had two really nice losses over the past two weeks. So I am not upset over this morning's results. I know another loss is headed my way and I am ok with that.

This morning I was startled awake at 5:30 am by the ringing phone. I jumped out of bed, thinking the worst, and answered it. It was district calling to tell me that due to the weather they would be closed. I looked out the window and thought "WTH? It doesn't look bad out. Why close?" Yesterday was in the 50's and I had the windows opened airing out the house, today snow. I climbed back into bed and attempted to go back to sleep but was too stirred up by being startled. 15 min later my cell phone began ringing with the same call. I decided to just get out of bed and start my day. I lounged on the couch, snuggling under a blanket, cuddling with kitty while watching the sun rise. The snow quickly changed from rain/snow to pure snow and it looks like we have had a few inches so far. I cannot believe how quickly the storm changed. It is supposed to last all day. I definitely will be burning some extra calories today outside!

In the meantime, as I lounged, I began thinking about food. We ran some errands yesterday and picked up a ton of veggies as well as my protein powder. I couldn't help from thinking about what I should make for dinner. That quickly turned into what can I make for breakfast. Today's breakfast was homemade waffles with a scoop of protein powder, I was experimenting. It wasn't that bad! I made Brian some bacon, a waffle (no powder) and an omelette. For his omelette I diced up scallion, spinach, and a few roasted red peppers. I mixed it with the egg, added a bit of salt, pepper. chipolte flakes and a garlic herb cheese wedge. I hate the taste of eggs so naturally I don't cook them. I was completely experimenting and making stuff up as I went along. I have to say the omelette looked and smelled really good. Brian said it was excellent, so I suppose I did something right! :laugh:

Kah - I am glad to hear Zoe has a clean bill of health. WOW, she is a big cat! My kitties are only 7 and 8 lbs. Misti looks significantly bigger though due to all her fluff but she is actually very tiny. Wahoo for being able to take advantage of the sale!

Skinny - LOL to the goat statue. That made me laugh.
I am not sure what to pick as my protein goal. The powder I picked up has 30 g protein in it. We stopped for lunch yesterday and I ordered a smoothie and had them add protein powder. When I got home I didn't want to spend more calories on powder so I didn't try it out last night. I am going to see what my protein is like today and make a decision. The powder in the waffles wasn't that bad. It did change the flavor of the waffles, gave a hint of vanilla to it, which wasn't bad. I was happy it didn't change the texture of the waffle at all.
Glad to hear your chili came out good and you made your protein goal!

Tom - the "Dreadmill" LOL I love it. :laugh: It is definitely difficult to eat healthy at Serendipity but that tomato soup is outstanding!!!

Laurie - Sorry about the TOM gain. That always is frustrating. Your pasta salad sounds delish. I will have to try making it. Thanks for sharing.

Susan - Same with me when shopping. But being veggie it is really easy to stick to the outside. Yesterday we stopped at my favorite store for produce - Meat Farms. They have a huge produce section with some pretty good prices. I found huge bags of tomatoes on the clearance rack for $1.49. The tomatoes were starting to get a bit softer so not ideal for slicing but perfect for making sauce. I made a huge pot yesterday and froze batches of it. I also picked up cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, kale, scallions, peppers (they were HUGE), oranges, grapes, eggplants, carrots, arugula, broccoli and fennel. My fridge is packed solid. I plan on doing lots of cooking this week. I am thinking some nice soups, chili, stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers, quinoa spinach mac and cheese, stir fried broccoli and eggplant steaks with roasted onion mashed potato and arugula salad. I am pretty excited about the upcoming menu.

Kaye - I love the story about the little girl in your daughter's class. That's great!
That is a wonderful compliment that you got from the woman, even though you don't know her. But all the same, I would be a little creeped out knowing strangers are watching me and commenting on my progress. I guess that is what happens when you live in a small town. Congrats to your first 5K. It will be here before you know it!!!

SraCr8on - I make soups fairly regularly. For some reason I don't like peppers in my soup but I love eating peppers. I toss in whatever veggies I have in the fridge. I prefer using fresh rather than frozen. I am not a fan of canned veggies.
Veggies I have used in soups/stews before are onions, garlic, scallion, celery, carrots, asparagus, fennel, string beans, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash (butternut, acorn), turnips and various greens such as spinach, kale, escarole. Swiss chard is also yummy in soups or stews. I have never tried mustard greens but I am sure they would add a nice flavor too.
I am not a huge fan of mushrooms (its a texture thing) so I usually don't add them, but I have seen a lot of soups made with them as well. You can try dicing up a nice handful of fresh herbs and toss in for additional flavor. Or you can tie up an herb bundle, submerge and simmer. Just remove before you serve the soup. I prefer to dice and toss rather than the bundle. Fresh herbs really do not add many calories. I do recommend using dried beans rather than canned. It cuts down on the sodium a bit. Plus you can get a nice big bag of beans for a decent price and it will last you much longer than a can. I also enjoy adding barley, a small cut pasta or rice to soup.

Monday Check-In: Weekend was good and very productive. House is ready for the week. Food is prepped and no excuses for poor choices. Work doesn’t have many meetings (thank goodness). I’m really going to focus on getting some filling done that I’ve been putting off. Tomorrow night a good friend is in town for a convention so we’re going out to dinner. She was one of my suppliers at Arby’s so we’ve been friends for quite some time. I can’t wait to see her!!

@ Karen – I think September is a great goal for me too. I’ll have so much to celebrate and with my friends who helped cheer me along. Can’t wait! You’re having a great start to the February Challenge. Keep it up!! I’ve not done a Glow Run yet, but the Bachelor took one of his dates on one a few weeks ago. It looked like a lot of energy, loud music and fun – my kind of race!!

@ Kaye – I’m so proud of you. There is so much energy at races, which is why I’ve participated in the past plus there normally benefiting a good cause. I will walk/run, but mainly walk. My goal is to run the majority of the T2T that Karen, Laurie, myself and whoever else wants to join us in NYC in September. I can’t wait and this is going to be a great challenge for me to strive for.

@ Ushkii – Yes, baby steps. I was in a funk myself, but pulled out of it (thank goodness). You feel so much better about yourself and the journey ahead. Just try to check in with us as much as you can. You know you’ve got our support!!!

@ Alupinsk – It sounds like a fun weekend. Good for you!! I think one of the hottest football coaches is the Pittsburgh coach. He’s a hottie in my book. What is cubical tunnel syndrome? Is it similar to carpal? Hope you get some answers soon.

@ Kelly – It was a sad game that’s for sure. Peyton had one of the best years of his career and the win would have been the icing on the cake, but Denver was never in the game. Knots in the calf are no fun. My trainer will stretch me at the end with that stupid foam roller and those knots I just want to scream. So painful to get out, but does feel a lot better when they come out.

@ SraCr8on - Way to bounce back! So you enjoyed Friday night and went a bit over, but you rallied for a great weekend – good for you!! I do great during the week because I’m at work, meals all planned out and I’m good to go. Weekends give me a little too much free time, access to the fridge, and I just have a tendency to snack ALL day. I was really good this weekend too and it felt great!

@ Nettie – School closed again? You guys will be going until the middle of July at this rate. LOL!! I know it’s better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully, Atlanta finally learned their lesson. It’s always so funny to hear everyone’s different qualms about food. For many, it is a texture thing. Where I love eggs and can’t imagine NOT eating them, you don’t like them. I love mushrooms, but its texture for you. One of my little quirks are raisins and strawberries. I love them both fresh, but not cooked in things, i.e. raisin bread, strawberry ice cream, etc. . . yuck for me!!! Crazy people we are that’s for sure. LOL!!

@ L2T – Hugs to you. I think there’s quite a few of us in the same boat. We’re making good food choices, exercising regularly, but the scale just kind of sits there. I definitely do not have any words of advice because I can’t get past it myself. I’m thinking I need to lower my calories, but my trainer tells me NO and I need those calories. I’ve changed my eating pattern and leaning more towards high protein/fat with low carb. It’s still early, but I’m hoping the scale will cooperate with this new eating. I guess I just have to wait and see. Sigh.

@Susan--Jim Tressel in his younger years always did it for me. Dat sweater vest. nom nom nom.

Cubital tunnel syndrome is where the nerve that runs from the shoulder to hand gets "caught" in the elbow or irritated. It causes the pinky and ring fingers to go numb.