30 Day Challenge Part 2

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Replies

  • Ceejay~ I didn't think of nuts my mind went straight for the what shouldn't I eat, haha go figure.

    As for my weakness, i know this sounds flighty but it changes with my moods. I am ALWAYS a sucker for anything with sugar in it. But this week its been a battle in my brain not to order either pizza or chinese. BUT I have been really good and asked my hubs two days ago if he wanted one or the other and he told me to choose and I said "you know we have left overs that need to be finished". So I shot it down by myself. GO ME! ha.
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member


    ********Thursdays Topic of discussion********
    What is your guilty pleasure? Chocolate? Cake? Cookies? Bread? Pasta? Potatoes? Fried foods? I would like everyone to talk about what one food is the hardest to stay away from. Also how do you overcome it? Do you give in? Have a little? Enjoy and then exercise more? Have none at all?

    I know everyone single one of us has our one weakness that is our biggest temptation. So be thinking about it and be sure to post tomorrow. I think it will be an interesting topic:)

    All of those!! LOL...I love sweets so much though, I do not buy Little Debbies anymore, those sitting around are too big of a temptation. Also, fried foods like french fries, especially ones from McDonalds...and I used to live on Iced Vanilla Lattes from there too....now I don't even remember the last time I had one! That used to be my routine every time we went through the drive thru. I overcome it by just making healthier choices when and if we eat out, even if it's not necessarily what I want, I feel better afterwards though. If I do give in to something, I don't beat myself up and realize an occasional treat helps me keep my sanity and then I just work harder the next day. Those treats are now far and few between or are a healthier version. Oh, and I LOVE pizza, but I realize moderation is key and I will opt for the healthier versions.
    Good topic today, losing weight is all about choices!
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member
    Ceejay~ I didn't think of nuts my mind went straight for the what shouldn't I eat, haha go figure.

    As for my weakness, i know this sounds flighty but it changes with my moods. I am ALWAYS a sucker for anything with sugar in it. But this week its been a battle in my brain not to order either pizza or chinese. BUT I have been really good and asked my hubs two days ago if he wanted one or the other and he told me to choose and I said "you know we have left overs that need to be finished". So I shot it down by myself. GO ME! ha.

    That is great, I find myself shooting down a lot now too...we were going to order pizza the other night and it sounded so good, but then I decided to just make my own. Also shot down chinese a few nights ago too because I got to thinking, what in the world could I eat at a chinese buffet that would be healthy? Saves money to eat at home too!
  • nikki8marie
    nikki8marie Posts: 107 Member
    My guilty pleasures are ice cream and chocolate. If ice cream is in my house I crave it all day long, so I don't keep it in my house very often. I did break down last week and buy some but only a little container (although it still has a lot of calories in that little container). Most of the time, I make a smoothie out of frozen berries and milk/yogurt when I want ice cream and that satisfies me. Chocolate is something I have less often because, well, I'm a chocolate snob. I like the more expensive chocolates or the ones with strange ingredients like Tabasco. It's usually my wallet that keeps my cravings in check instead of my will power but I'll take blessings in whatever form.
  • tatiana_13
    tatiana_13 Posts: 325
    My guilty pleasures...hmm...two categories of guilty pleasures. First category is things that I feel bad eating. Cake. And Sweet bread type things. I'm intolerant to wheat (but its so damn yummy that I often can't resist...potatoes and rice..not nearly as yummy).

    Then there are the guilty pleasures that I actually can enjoy from time to time...cheese cake. Mmmm. Or irish whiskey. Or gummy bears (for some reason, I really, really love gummy bears...its not fancy, grown up candy, I know, but I love them!). Or popcorn!
  • aab1
    aab1 Posts: 1,120 Member
    My guilty pleasures are anything that I know is unhealthy. I have no control when I begin eating something unhealthy; so my best option is to not eat it at all. When I do eat something it needs to be when I'm around other people because I'll feel too self conscious to indulge.

    The positive side to this sick behavior - when I don't take any to eat and others around me say "You have such great self control..I wish I could be like that." Those comments make me feel good; making me realize that I do have a stronger willpower than I'm giving myself credit.
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member
    This is a great read!! It will incorporate into tomorrows challenge:

    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1600
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    My guilty pleasure that is the hardest to let go of is bread. I love to make it; I love to eat it. But, it's one of those high-glycemic foods that needs to have a less important place in my diet these days. I'm making do with half a bagel every couple of days.
  • kylakesgal
    kylakesgal Posts: 952 Member
    My guilty pleasure is carbs but mainly pasta. I have to limit myself to once a week and when I do eat it, I use 100% whole wheat. It has fewer calories and a healthier choice. I actually like it better. I limit myself to just 2 oz (a serving) which is way less than I ever ate before. I fixed brown rice last night for the first time and loved it. Moderation is the key though. I'm not a big sweet eater so that is a good thing!:)
  • oliviawink
    oliviawink Posts: 713 Member
    pick my poison.... just one? I'm tempted by so many things, and even to over-eat the things that are good for me. I love food way to much! Chocolate and beer are probably my biggest weakness. Not just any old beer, but good quality craft brews, and any beglian sour beer puts me over the edge, hoppy beer like IPA are great and quality stouts make a winter evening warmer. Of course it doesn't help that I've married a man who make amazing beer. So, I'm being smart about it and really limiting when and how I enjoy. Keeping myself in check is the key. Prime example: today I ate 1 oreo. Just one!
  • ceejay000
    ceejay000 Posts: 402 Member
    My weakness is definitely bread or carbs. I got that from my dad. I have to just stay away from bagels because I could eat 2 in one sitting, and that's probably close to my total calories for the day! I also really like fried foods and finger foods. It's hard for me when I go to a party or somewhere with appetizers because I want to try one of everything. Usually not much of it is healthy, and then I overdo it by eating too much anyway. It's hard, but I'm going to have to figure out how to resist when everyone else is eating.
  • oliviawink
    oliviawink Posts: 713 Member
    I was really inspired by Jess's link on how to get more burn out of your workouts. I had been incorporating some calisthenics into my workouts but wanted to find out more. Found this great site: http://www.calisthenicexercise.com/. These burn lots of cals while you're doing them, but also over the long-haul because they build muscle, which burns calories!
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member
    I was really inspired by Jess's link on how to get more burn out of your workouts. I had been incorporating some calisthenics into my workouts but wanted to find out more. Found this great site: http://www.calisthenicexercise.com/. These burn lots of cals while you're doing them, but also over the long-haul because they build muscle, which burns calories!

    Thanks for the website! Glad you liked my link...I want to get more burn out of my workouts too. I feel like I could be doing more...especially when I see the big numbers everyone else is doing!
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member
    Fridays Challenge:

    Push yourself! Sometimes it's hard to get up and get going. Sometimes I start out exercising and I'm like blah, ugh, groan...no motivation. But then all of a sudden it's mind over matter. If you start out with a bad attitude then you will get bad results. I want to get the most out of my workouts is what I tell myself. I'm sitting aside precious time and I need to make it count.
    So tomorrow I'd like each and every one of you to push yourself. When I do my Walk Away the Pounds dvd I could do it so-so or I could do all their moves and really exaggerate them and push myself. So tomorrow and every time I workout that is what I'm going to do.

    Also I want to find out, what gets your blood pumping? Certain music you work out to, motivational thoughts, encouraging yourself? For me it's telling myself that I can do this, I love my workout dvds, people of all types are on there, older than me and they are pushing it, I want to be like them at that age and I tell myself if they can do it, so can I!
    Also, my mp3 player has been a lifesaver, I just picked a cheap one up at Target, uploaded some upbeat music, and I wear it while I do certain workouts. I could be feeling less than motivated but then a certain song will come on and then it's awwwww yeah! LOL.

    So tomorrows challenge is make time to really push it! Also discussion on what helps get you motivated during your workouts!
  • clover5
    clover5 Posts: 1,640 Member
    My guilty pleasure is not a particular food. I like to eat out. And one restaurant meal usually has enough calories for a whole day. I know it's healthier to eat at home. It's better for my weight and cholesterol. I don't mind cooking, but going out is a treat for us.
  • aab1
    aab1 Posts: 1,120 Member
    @ Jessica & Olivia - good articles. Thanks for sharing the links.

    I like Friday's challenge. A coworker & I began this week going to the "Y" during our lunch hour; goal is 3x/week. I love working out with others..I find it very motivating and always inspires me to push myself to do better. For Friday's challenge I'll be going to the "Y" to get an extra 30+ minutes workout and will do the C25K training.
  • roselynsy
    roselynsy Posts: 128 Member
    i like this task to ive been pushing myself all week onmonday i gave myself the task of burning 3500 cals from workout exercise in a week (im usally burning 2000/2500) its friday and iv burned 2923 to date so have to burn 577 between tomorrow and sunday. its been a little tougher than id planned but im almost there :) . i love my workout dvds but i also like putting on tunes and doing a free style workout ie me looking a prat dancing jumping joging round the house mixing in moves ive learnt from the dvds. also i aways warm up and warm down.
  • tatiana_13
    tatiana_13 Posts: 325
    Music motivates me. I've never had much success getting through the Cto5K program, but I use many, many Cto5K mp3 downloads that people make free on the internet. I get bored of my own music...and sometimes, I like bopping along to music that I ordinarily hate as "music", like hip hop or techno. As banal as the lyrics are...they have that beat! It really gets you going.

    The weather is crisp, but warm enough to go for a walk outside along with my strength training, so that's my plan for the day. I do so much better about exercising when I can go outside. I haven't been pushing myself about exercise much...I don't tend to much in the winter (not proud of it, I'm just being honest), but I seem to finally have gotten back down to where my ticker doesn't make me out to be a liar, and I am motivated to lose something during the remaining part of this challenge! So, I'm putting my best foot forward.
  • Didn't get a chance to weigh in on yesterdays topic, but I dont have one particular weakness. I guess the only food that doesn't tempt me is chocolate. I have never been a chocolate lover! as for todays challenge, I am not going to have time to workout today, but i totally plan on incorporating this into tomorrows workout. I am doing one of the Jillian Michaels videos, that I ALWAYS have trouble with, so I am going to push myself and not give up when it gets hard!

    As for music - I totally agree with tatiana. I love working out to music, even if its not music that I would normally listen too. Mostly top 40. The music I normally listen to is a little too tame for working out!
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    I'm going to try to add some little jogging intervals to my walk today. Not sure how well that will go, since my knees really don't like running yet. I find that I walk faster while listening to lively ABBA tunes. I'm an old marching band geek, so of course, I have to stay in step with the music--I might have to put some Sousa marches on my MP3 players and see what that does.
  • I'm going to try to add some little jogging intervals to my walk today. Not sure how well that will go, since my knees really don't like running yet. I find that I walk faster while listening to lively ABBA tunes. I'm an old marching band geek, so of course, I have to stay in step with the music--I might have to put some Sousa marches on my MP3 players and see what that does.

    oh - I love ABBA!!!!
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member
    I love listening to music I wouldn't normally listen to on a everyday basis too, sometimes the beat and even the words pump me up. Singer, I used to be in marching band, colorgaurd for three years, I loved it!
    I need to push myself today too, this new Leslie Sansone vid I've been doing has "boosted walking" which is a lot of running in place and jogging in place so I'm gonna do that today all the way through and try to fit in some Fitness Evolved on XBOX.
    I have the Cto5K saved on my computer, I'd love to do that once it warms up here. I have surprised myself with my endurance lately. When I started doing the walk away the pounds videos in January it was all I could do to go one mile...now I'm up to 4 and I can't believe it.
    Hope everyone is having a great day! Push it! Reminds me of that Salt N Pepa song, Push It :laugh:
  • kylakesgal
    kylakesgal Posts: 952 Member
    Oh I love abba too. I like all types of music. I think that is what my workout has been missing. I haven't been listening to music. I did push myself today to do more but I hurt my back the other day doing ab workouts (ouch) so I've had to take it easier. What motivates me to work out.....well a lot of things!! 1. the photos of me at Christmas (ha photos don't lie) 2. all the nice clothes hanging in my closet that I can't wear. 3. I feel so much better when I'm thinner, dieting and exercising 4. My health
    So I have many reasons to work out. I recently bought some of those kids magnetic letters and I write notes on fridge to myself. The one I have up now is : You CAN lose weight! That gets me motivated too. Ok for tomorrows challenge:

    ******Saturdays Challenge*****
    It's all about portion control and learning to eat in moderation. Our meat serving should be about 3 oz or the size of a deck of cards. Veggie and fruit servings about the size of a fist, pasta the size of an ice cream scoop, potato the size of a computer mouse, a handful of nuts or popcorn and no second helpings. Let's all discuss how we are doing with portion control and what works for you.
  • oliviawink
    oliviawink Posts: 713 Member
    didn't really do yesterday's challenge, it was a much needed off day for me. But I'm going to push it today and tomrorow, going to extend my jogging with an extra walk-jog mile.

    so glad to have a challenge about portion control. this i s hard for me. go to have the size references. thanks angela!
  • kylakesgal
    kylakesgal Posts: 952 Member
    Your welcome Olivia!:) Was wondering if anyone knows a good salad dressing recipe or a good low cal/low sodium one. Salads are great but the dressing is what you have to watch out for. Have a great weekend ladies~
  • aab1
    aab1 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Portion control has always been an issue for me. I have begun measuring out some items so I'll know what the correct portion size should look like. I use the salad plate as my dinner plate; less likely to overload on food.

    I have a birthday party tomorrow that will have a ginormous buffet. :grumble: It will be a good test to see how I've progressed with my eating habits. I'm bringing veggies & hummus so I know there will be at least one good thing for me to eat! :wink:
  • jessicamarie81
    jessicamarie81 Posts: 441 Member
    Portion control is a good topic to discuss! Also another tip that is good is using a smaller plate when you eat. That way it looks like you have "more" food and the smaller plate doesn't allow you to pile on much food. I've been pretty good with portions so far. My problem though has always been snacking and "grazing". I can eat a ton of popcorn so I buy the mini bags. But a handful of nuts really fill me up. Sometimes I can eat a lot of fruit though so I have to be careful about that too. Also I find that I can eat a ton of salad too, it's all about what you put in the salad that counts I'm finding out.
    I was looking for a low sodium salad dressing, I love my light Newmans Own Balsamic but it's loaded with sodium, anyone have any suggestions?

    I didn't really push much yesterday either, and it was my own challenge :( Unfortunately Aunt Flo came to visit yesterday on the day of all days. I did "push" out 30 minutes of walking though. I will do better today!
  • oliviawink
    oliviawink Posts: 713 Member
    I traded in my big plates for small ones last year, and it definitely does make a difference. I also try to portion out my food for the day and log it ahead of time so I know how many cals I am eating throughout the day and know how much "wiggle room" I have for other food.

    I just pushed it, really hard (that's what she said! :wink:). Based on the great article from Jess, I did cardio (high-impace aerobics) first, then "integrated strength training" (meaning whole-body strength with cardio). Burned a ton of calories and wow, I feel good. I also only had a small snack before I worked out, planning to eat more after the workout, because the metabolism is faster after a workout. Now I am going to eat "breakfast" and apply portion control! :happy:
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    Portion control has been my mantra since I started MFP. I weigh, measure, or count everything I eat. What helps me the most to stay on track is to plan my food for the day in the morning. I take my dinner to work, so there's no need to choose the "least worst" option from the cafeteria. We do have staff potlucks from time to time, and then I'll need to avoid the sodas and watch my portions.
  • ceejay000
    ceejay000 Posts: 402 Member
    I bought a food scale and weigh almost everything I eat now. I also put my measuring cups and spoons to much better use. I think I've been doing a good job of sticking to recommended serving sizes as a result of this. My biggest struggle is still eating when I'm not the one preparing the food. I went to a meeting today that provided lunch (Chinese food...), and in that situation it was hard for me to figure out how much I could eat. I guess we're all still learning :).
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