Ellaskat Member

Some people just need 9 hours of sleep. 7-9 is considered normal. I also need 9' which sucks. I started going to an acupuncturist, at my doctors recommendation and it's done wonders for my energy levels. Oh, and I have more energy without caffeine- it seems to interfere and make me tired if caffeine is a consistent part of…

Very cool! If I lose my 9 pounds in 45 days, double cool!

I cook 99% of my meals too. So, I: Use the recipe maker tool and then Measure raw ingredients (I don't weigh anything) to make what I put in the recipe Know how many servings there are and divide by number of servings. So, if I cook for my husband and myself, and know there are 2 servings, I log 1 serving if I split it in…

I do lots of 1 pot meals, with a small amount of meat so it goes far, but still feels satifying. Potato leek soup with bacon; roasted chicken, followed by making chicken noodle soup with the leftovers and carcass; chicken pot pie; spicy corn chowder, again, with a little ham hock or bacon; quinoa with kale, onion, garlic…

yep - I've lost 11 pounds in 8 weeks, and I only had 18 total to lose.... I also started at my heighest weight in the normal bmi range. I drink about once a week, and usually have 1 day of lovely desserts. keep your calories in line and it's fine.

feel free to look at my diary - i am set to 1200 cal; I look at my cals every 7 days, instead of daily so you will see some days at approximately 1500 cals and a few days at 800-900 cals to make up the difference....

Just wanted to add that subway and Olive Garden ARE fast food.... just saying. dont know the jimmy john place....

if you feel like you're struggling, I would suggest instead of trying to make all the big changes at once, (which typically leads to failure) make one small change, and keep adding on, when you feel you are successful. So perhaps if you notice you're always 500 calories over every day, maybe choose to cut back 100…

This.

We live on a hobby farm in the mountains, on 11 acres, surrounded by over 200...we have 3 dogs and were all out romping as much as possible. The standard poodle moves the snow the most. With her long legs, it doesn't slow her down.

Hence the need for logging... Once you do it a bit it's really not a big deal.

I always have a few quick and cheap items on hand if I'm in a hurry, or too lazy to cook: clementines or apples, hummus and baby carrots, peanut butter, real popping corn ( not microwave kind), single serve plain Greek yogurt, a couple of hard boiled eggs, instant oatmeal, some kind of dried fruit. All are cheap, easy and…

One more thought- I used to do Atkins when I modeled, because it could lose weight quickly before a photoshoot. It wasn't sustainable or particularly healthy though. If you want to do Atkins that's great,but only do it if you think you can eat that way forever.

I'm on 1200 a day and totally happy. Feel free to look at my diary. I don't pay attention to how fast I'm losing. Or to daily cal counts. Only my last 7 days cals, and weight lost over time. Works for me. About 11 pounds in 8 weeks.

All about your goal. My goal wasn't a diet. I decided this time, the first time, that I'm making a lifestyle change. So I'm excited by every pound and inch I lose, but I am not reliant on these results happening in some QuickTime frame to feel good about myself. I feel good about myself because I continue it be dedicated…

Try skinnytaste.com and cooking light. A lot if my recipes come from there, but feel free to friend me to look at my meals.

Your body doesn't care what you eat in 24 hour increments, only what you eat over time. For that reason, some of us don't track daily, but weekly, in order to have more flexibility. I'm on 1200 cals a day, so for me, this allows me to eat approx 1000 cals some days, but 1400 other days. D ing it this way works for me…

One more thing - I do meal planning every Friday/Saturday and grocery shop once a week. It's still great for grocery shopping- I buy all fresh veggies but buy family size proteins and break them down into meal quantities in the freezer.

I have a really unpredictable work schedule, so I only plan 1 week at a time becuase it's likely there will be at least 1 night here or there where I get home so late that I can't cook, or something else comes up etc. doing it every week gives me a lot more flexibility, and as the result, I don't throw food away, which…

It can be done, but my husband was previously the cook in iur family, and I had to take over all the cooking. My husband makes amazing food, but there is no way I could control my calories if he was cooking, so now I cook for both of us, and he's losing weight too:)

Some people retain water from exercise/recovery. When I ran marathons I would notice this during heavy workout periods.

This.

You don't have to waste food to eat less. I cook all our meals and lunch is usually leftovers. Learning how to freeze dough or cookies muffins etc helps too. I love always having leftovers because it means I cook less and my grocery bill goes down. What's not to like?

I'm kind of the canary in the mine so to speak - I've always been super sensitive to environmental contaminants. I learned in my twenties (when I first tried diet drinks) that they caused killer migraines for me. Really brutal. That was enough for me and most of my family to stop drinking them - no such thing as 'clean'…

I agree with this - I do log all my food, but I don't weigh anything on a scale. It's entirely possible I'll get to a place where my deficit is so small that I will need to do this, but I've lost 11 pounds in 9 weeks, and I only had 18 pounds to lose.... My feeling is that the idea of how many cals I burn just by living is…

No you don't starve, you just end up in the ER.

This. It is also potentially dangerous- many people- including my sister- have had scary experiences. Why won't people just dedicate themselves to counting calories??????? Aaaahhhhh. Advocare makes we want to scream it makes me so angry.

Successful weight loss has to be to get healthy, not to like my body. If I need to be a certain weight to like my body, when I hit that weight, I'll just find something else about myself to dislike. The journey gets easy when you love yourself, and dont need to punish yourself for looks, mistakes, stalls, etc.

this. One jerk isn't indicative of how everyone looks/thinks about you. And even if everyone did, this isn't about them, it's about YOU. What do you want for yourself? What do you believe about yourself? Those are the only things that matter. When someone else tells you something they believe about you, it tells you…

I don't think he was trying to minimize you OP, just prove a point. It's only a big deal if you let it be. Sound simple, yes? Simple doesn't mean easy, but it is as simple as that.