Bringing our A-Game in April!

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Replies

  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 1,090 Member
    edited April 2018
    Carla you doing great. I have been up and down the same 2-3 lbs for a week. I feel I did better at losing weight with my 2-3 mile walks and ETL than I am doing right now with all this exercise. I have added a lot of starchy carbs this last month.

    That Paws for a Beer club would be fun! I wish we could bring our dogs for the trip this summer.

    Mihani - I need to try that cauliflower curry soup. Sounds delicious. Funny how not having beans, vegetables and fruit for two days makes me crave them more!

    Played a little tennis and then swam. High 80's. On this clear liquid diet today so having Green tea with lemon slushes! So good. Start the prep an hour from now. :#:#:#
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    edited April 2018
    Hope prep isn't too bad Donna! The soup is really good. I liked it even better the second day. Starches are always my biggest temptation. I have trouble with portion control.

    Sounds like the class is fun Carla. You've been a busy bee today! Congrats on another loss! I know my losses are going to slow down again. Adding salads to dinner the past two weeks seems to have made the scale move more for a bit.

    B - fresh blueberries and a few walnuts
    L - big ol' salad with romaine, arugula, tomato, cashew caesar
    D - small salad with same stuff as lunch, sauteed chard, stir-fry broccoli, cup of soup with a little brown rice, pear and a few raisins with chia seeds, couple brazil nuts

    There is a TON of soup still left and I made it Saturday so I'm going to freeze whatever is left tomorrow. I have plans with a friend on Wednesday, tacos and margaritas. I will have one margarita and they have a vegan taco. I'll skip the fried chips. I'm usually pretty good about nursing a drink if I don't want to drink much but want to be social. I make sure I have water and I drink more of that.
  • CoffeeandHumblePie
    CoffeeandHumblePie Posts: 139 Member
    I was just given an electric pressure cooker (not an Instant Pot brand) by my 91 year old father-in-law. He'd had it for 2 years and had never tried using it. It was still in it's packaging. So far, we can't get it to work right. My husband's very savvy mechanically so if he can't get it to work, no one could. We've only tried the test run recommended in the instructions. It's heating up but not engaging the timer as it should. I'm going to try cooking some brown rice in it and see what happens. I'm a bit disappointed! I was all ready to batch cook food for the week!

  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    B - fresh blueberries and a few walnut halves, leftover steamed chard
    L - big ol' salad, 2 wasa crackers, 3 mini pretzels
    D - rest of the leftover chard, salad of spring mix and steamed broccoli with cashew caesar dressing, small bowl of the lentil curry soup (froze two more servings for another time)

    I've been doing better about drinking more water this week.

    Donna, hope everything went okay today!

    Too bad about your cooker C&P.
  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 1,090 Member
    Hi -

    C&P - maybe you can look online to find help with your cooker.

    Mihani - good job today!


    The prep for the colonoscopy went fine. One day of no fiber food followed by clear liquids and then the prep solution. I had two big green tea with lemon slushes for my clear liquids. Today everything went fine. Back to one more bland food diet. They did find and remove a polyp that is considered precancerous. I will get the test results from that in two weeks. Removal of the polyp at an early stage is considered a "cure" but will require more frequent colonoscopies. It all went fine. It has been tough lately. A good friend lost her husband yesterday after a 4 year battle with colon cancer. He skipped his colonoscopies despite retirement from the air force. If they had caught it in his early 60's he would have still been alive. Please don't skip your mammograms and colonoscopies as you get older. Preventive or early diagnosis can make a big difference. The one recommendation I did get was increase fiber in my diet. There are studies that high meat diets are linked to colon cancer.

    I slept all day and then went on a 3 mile walk with dogs and hubby this evening. It was quite the adventure. We saw an armadillo (we think they are very cute), deer, several bright red cardinals and fireflies.

    No prep or shopping today. Can't believe how sleepy I am. Good night.
  • liapr
    liapr Posts: 648 Member
    Yay Donna, good for you for going. My Mom had the same issue (precancerous polyps that they caught early). I've been impressed that my parents have been good about getting their checkups.

    Yay for your new cooker, Jacque, but too bad it won't work properly! How did the rice experiment go? Hopefully there is a trick you can figure out?

    Mihani, how's it going in week 8?! I can't believe you're still doing it, woooooooo. So great. I'm sure it'll get easier the longer you've done it. Hope you can really savour and enjoy your marg and taco :)

    Carla, yay about the class too! Sounds awesome, and so nice to get excited about it. How is your visit with your Mom? You were on a roll the other day.

    I've been feeling burnt out lately. Work is busy and the baby is waking up at 5:50 lately... but I can only gym at night after she's in bed after 8, so it makes for a short night lol. I've been pretty good with my 1-week ETL weeks, but I keep indulging on the weekends and then that throws my progress. It's counterproductive for sure! I would like to nip that in the bud, but definitely easier said than done....

  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    Hope you caught up on some rest Donna, and yay for having it over with!

    Lia, I know well the pain of being "virtuous" all week and blowing all progress every weekend. The 6 weeks was hard to do! It was probably into week 3 before I kind of felt a shift where I wasn't thinking about food or wanting to drink on the weekends and fighting cravings all the time.

    B - fresh blueberries and a few walnuts
    L - big ol' salad, 2 wasa crackers
    After work 2 margaritas and 3 or 4 tortilla chips with salsa
    D - small salad topped with steamed broccoli, pear with chia seeds
  • whats_her_name
    whats_her_name Posts: 716 Member
    I have been struggling all week, and I've blown my progress by overeating. Pretzels are also my big weakness this week...

    I have been having bad dreams, and waking up in the morning completely exhausted. First, I was arguing with strangers. Then, I lost my son and couldn't find him for days. When I finally found him he was dirty and dejected and asked if he could please come back home like somehow it had been me who told him to leave. And last night I was being chased by a high school bully whom I haven't seen in 25+ years.

    I missed 2 mornings on the treadmill, and the one morning I did wake up with plenty of time to work out, I was too upset to do it and so I just sat on the couch and played a game on my phone to try to distract me.

    Not a good week... And the worst part is that I don't know why. I don't normally dream at all, so why am I having so many bad dreams all in a row??? Gotta be because we still haven't sold the stupid house...
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    awwww Karrie *hugs* Hope the nightmares stop and you get that house sold soon! Stress does crazy things to us even subconsciously.

    I actually felt mildly hungover today, and I only had two small margaritas last night. I guess my tolerance has decreased not drinking for a few months. I didn't sleep well and was hungry today so didn't eat as well as I have been. Ugh.

    B - sprouted grain toast and a pear
    L - amy's mac and cheeze
    S - a few mini pretzels and a vegan PB cup
    D - going to make a huge salad to reset my tastebuds and get some good nutrients in my body!

    Have to do a load of laundry and I'm going to bed early tonight.
  • liapr
    liapr Posts: 648 Member
    Oh no, Karrie, that's terrible. I hate it when dreams affect my days. Those are sad dreams too :( I find that I'm more stressed now than I have been in years and I find it's affecting so much, and I think that's also why I'm having so much trouble making some progress (even when I'm eating and exercising well). Have to blame something, right?! lol. But hope the house sells and you can close that chapter. Is it looking like spring in Sask yet? That will hopefully help.

    Hope you're feeling back to normal today, Mihani! Nice to have a little break but also reinforce that you're enjoying what you're doing. Thanks for the encouragement too, I hope that I am making progress mentally, even if it's slow!! I've been enjoying my salads lately though!

    Happy Friday, guys!
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    Yay for enjoying salads Lia... I find if I eat them every day, especially with a good homemade dressing, I actually crave and look forward to my salads. I feel like I'm forming some good habits (finally) but it's always SO precarious! Requires constant vigilance lol.

    B - non-dairy yogurt and a pear
    L - big ol' salad
    D - not sure yet, probably steamed greens and some cheezy chickpeas, maybe a baked sweet potato

    Work is beating me up this week. We have an unusually high number of downright mean spirited clients. Generally I love our clients so it's getting me down feeling actual dread when certain people call.
  • Carla_wfpb
    Carla_wfpb Posts: 1,372 Member
    Hi guys! I haven't checked in here for a few days because I had my mom staying over for several days visiting. She ended up helping me clean out my garage, organize and redecorate a lot of the house, and we even got in some weeding! All at her insistence. I don't know how she does it at almost 70 and here I am all exhausted and sore! The garage looks nicer than it ever has, and it feels good to have things reorganized and looking fresh around the house.

    Our water co-op is having work done on the lines, so I've had a few days in a row now with the water off for most of the day. It should be back later tonight. Fingers crossed! I'm tired of boiling water to wash dishes and to wash my hair in the sink. We're lucky that we have a back-up well in addition to the group water so I can go out and fill up buckets with water as needed.

    My mom and I had simple, quick meals that were healthy, with the exception of a treat meal out where I had vegan veggie pizza and ginger beer. We also had a few of the lemon pie date balls. They were a nice treat! (Thanks for the recipe, Karrie!) I missed lunch today because I was at spinning class and when I got home I had peanut butter on sprouted grain bread. Not the best, but it could have been worse.

    Mihani, that's all you need right now, mean clients on top of being so busy! Ugh. Hope you are getting some time away this weekend and relaxing a bit!

    Donna, nice job getting the test done. It isn't fun but you're right, prevention is so important.
  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    That's so nice your mom helped with all that Carla. Sounds like a really nice visit. When is Ruby's surgery?

    I was up 2 pounds this morning. I know it's water retention thanks to indulging in the salty/snacky for a few days, my ankles are all swollen, but I am going back 100% 6 week plan starting today. Last night I made a batch of the OSG tortilla soup (left out the oil) and I cleaned and chopped veggies and greens for cooking and salads. Eating crap made me feel like crap and zapped my energy.

    Plan for today:
    B - leftover tofu scramble and a slice of sprouted grain toast
    L - cup of tortilla soup and a salad
    D - same as lunch with the addition of some sauteed kale with onion and mushroom
  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 1,090 Member
    edited April 2018
    Mihani - your meal plan sounds delicious. I am sorry about the stressful clients..you don't need that.

    Karrie - that house must be weighing you down to cause bad dreams. Hoping it sells soon. Now is the time people start to buy! Sending positive thoughts your way.

    Lia - are you making a variety of salads or sticking to a certain type? I need some inspiration.

    Carla - that must feel so good to get the garage cleaned out! You inspire me. Your mother is amazing. I hope you get your H20 on soon.

    Jacque - did you get the pressure cooker fixed?



    We drove down to Corpus Christie Friday night and Saturday we did the bike ride at King Ranch. King ranch is located on 825,000 acres (larger than Rhode Island) with roads throughout the ranch. The bicycle tour was well organzied but lousy food beside apples & bananas. It started early and I was a bit cold but later in the day it was high 80's. Saturday evening we took a 4 mile walk with a full moon. This morning we did another 10 mile bike ride along the coast of Corpus Christie before it got hot.
    Swimming tomorrow and going to YMCA to ride a spin bike to work on cadence.

    Brooks took pictures of the King Ranch but I don't have those yet.

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  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    You have such beautiful places close by to walk and ride your bikes, Donna! Love the pictures, and how active you and Brooks are!

    I had a decent day at work. Got out kind of on time which was nice, although I brought home a big pile of work to do tonight, but at least I'm home.

    B - oats with chia seeds, fresh blueberries, cinnamon
    L - threw together my salad this morning then left without it... had a few pretzels for "lunch"
    D - salad that was supposed be lunch (spring mix, chopped zucchini and red pepper, steamed kale, dressing of some coconut aminos, dijon and some spices... it's tasty wish I knew what spices I threw in it), and a cup of tortilla soup

    I wanted to treadmill when I got home but I was so hungry that I am having dinner first. I will take a break from my work later this evening when I've digested and hit the treadmill for a while.
  • Carla_wfpb
    Carla_wfpb Posts: 1,372 Member
    Beautiful pictures, Donna! Amazing bunch of activities this weekend!

    Karrie, I also hope your house sells soon! It can be super stressful. When I was working a lot of overtime, I'd sometimes have dreams about work that felt like they lasted all night...then I'd wake up and have to go to work for what felt like the second time that day!

    Yay to getting out on time, Mihani! Have a good walk!

    I had my first physio appointment today. He videotaped me walking on a treadmill and showed me the various angles and foot rotations as I moved in slow motion. I have a series of exercises and stretches to do every day. He is holding off on making up custom orthotic inserts for my shoes for now. I am bringing in my old running shoes next time so he can see more of the wear from running. He spent a lot of time checking the strength of various muscles, and my range of motion. I'm happy I went! I have another appointment a week from now.

    I was up slightly in weight this week. Under half of a pound, but the wrong direction for sure. I was super active with all of the cleaning and gardening, but I did have vegan pizza and a few more snacks than usual. I also didn't have my routine of salads for lunch.

    Joe has been away for the week and is coming home this evening so I'm excited to see him and show him all of the cleaning and organizing that went on while he was away. Ruby has been looking for him and she's going to be so excited to see him.

    Here are the two hanging baskets I picked up today. I have some other things to plant and I got some moss to line the black wire basket you can see in the background on one of the pics.

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  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 1,090 Member
    Oh Carla those are beautiful flowers! The physio appointment sounds very interesting. I wonder if they have that in San Antonio. It seems very proactive to prevent running injuries.
    Don't worry about that 1/2 lb. It could easily be water weight.

    Mihani - did you get to that treadmill? How is the weather there now.

    For some reason the more active I am the slower the weight loss. I swear I did better by walking. I feel frequently feel hungrier and making bad choices - all carbs not meat or cheese.

    I swam 35 minutes today...I got to the pool less than an hour before closing. My bad. Then Cleo and I ran 2 miles and walked 2.5 miles. I bought new running shoes from Amazon that arrived today. Same Brooks Ravenna that I have now. They feel even better. My old ones are a year old with lots of walking miles and very worn out. 6 more days for the rookie T. Getting very nervous.

    After almost a year I am starting to like Texas. It has slowly grown on me. We met a nice couple on the bike ride who are newbies. They are just slightly older than us and we are going to meet them for more bike tours.





  • Mihani
    Mihani Posts: 4,102 Member
    Pretty flowers Carla! Was Joe impressed with your organizing? I'm sure that half pound will be gone and take some friends with it in no time.

    Glad you are starting to enjoy Texas, Donna. That's cool you met a couple to take bike tours with.

    I managed the treadmill on Monday but not last night. Will shoot for tonight.

    B - oatmeal with blueberries and chia seeds
    L - leftover collards/chickpeas/mushrooms over a bed of romaine, baby spinach and arugula
    D - probably same as lunch with a couple corn tortillas and will add some watercress to the salad too

    I finally found watercress! It's "living" so the roots still in dirt you pick/clean/eat. I tried it out, it's a bit peppery but not so much as mustard greens. Watercress is supposed to be about the superfoodiest of superfoods so I have been on the lookout for it in my ongoing quest to eat ALL the greens, except turnip which I just can't seem to develop a taste for.
  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 1,090 Member
    MAY 1
    ....HAPPY MAY DAY!
  • Carla_wfpb
    Carla_wfpb Posts: 1,372 Member
    Funny that you posted that on May 2nd, Donna ;) Good news that Texas is growing on you, Donna. Are you guys thinking you'll stay there for a few more years?

    Mihani, you are brave with your greens! I am in a mixed baby greens rut. Mostly because they come pre-washed in a container! Joe is happy with the garage but didn't notice other things like the hall closet. He said he didn't know what it looked like before!

    Time to come up with a thread title for May. Not it! j/k but I don't have any ideas.

    I finished plying 2 different yarns today. Also did more weeding and planted a few more things. Buying plants makes me thankful for all of the lovely plants previous owners of this home have planted.

  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 1,090 Member
    Hahaha. I am not up to date....well happy May 2.

    Titles:
    All things seem possible in May.

    Moving more in May

    May you stay forever young

    May your wishes all come true

    May you stay healthy in May....

    I am not good at this.

    What plants do you have Carla? I love love that heat set water color paper you suggested.
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