amberlilies Member

I have a cheat meal once a week that I strategically plan for a social event, but I'm still pretty thoughtful and conservative with my calories so I only go over a little and don't ruin all my hard work for the week.

In part--hormones. Once you lose 10% of your body weight your leptin (hunger hormone) shoots up and other hormones work to slow down your metabolism, an evolutionary tool to keep you from starving in the jungle. Interesting read: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I did the Pinterest thing and baked a batch of eggs with kale and avocado in my muffin pan, so one of those and a banana--not bad!

Baby kale is peppery and tasty in salads with lemony vinaigrette or for a caesar salad. The heavier stuff is great roasted in the oven with some olive oil and then folded into any number of things--soups, pasta dishes, etc. I especially love to roast it with other earthy ingredients like mushrooms and squash, plus lots of…

Spray tanner stained all my furniture

Hmm, I read it beginning to end. I've been on 1200 calories for about 4 months not counting December (holidays). I've lost 34 pounds. I kept my one cheat meal a week to one cheat meal a week. I jog 5 days a week and I'm still going strong, so I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree.

SW: 224.5 lbs. CW: 198.5 lbs. GW: 165 lbs. Weigh in Dates: 1/1 = **started late 1/8 = 194.5 lbs. 1/15 = 1/22 = 1/31 = 2013 weight loss: 4 lbs. total weight loss: 30 lbs.

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are pretty routine. During the crazy work day, I don't have time to think about food. But I need dinner to be flavorful and interesting to stay on track.

That's my strategy! Dark chocolate is so rich that sucking on a very small portion will satisfy a craving without making the weight loss process so mental.

I'm a big fan of lettuce wraps. Use a cup-shaped lettuce like iceberg, butter, or Boston. Fill it with whatever you would put between slices of bread, roll it like a wrap, and enjoy! We use this for tacos; cold cuts and deli salads, when you want to splurge on mayo by sacrificing the starch; and my favorite is to grill a…

I love spaghetti squash! To me it's like a veggie burger, which you would be disappointed with if you expected it to taste like a hamburger, but it warrants appreciation in its own right. Same with spaghetti squash: it's tasty if you expect it to taste like spaghetti squash and not like pasta. But it's a great medium for…

1. Skinless, boneless chicken 2. Eggs 3. Arugula (a ton!) 4. Avocados 5. Broccoli 6. Lemons 7. Olive Oil 8. Sweet potatoes 9. Cheese 10. Strawberries In the right quantities, this could literally sustain me in a well-balanced way.

Some of my favorites: http://www.wholeliving.com/130293/creamy-broccoli-white-bean-soup http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/03/vegetarian-mulligatawny.html http://www.goldenearthworm.com/recipes/2009/2/13/tuscan-white-bean-kale-soup.html…

Watched it a while back: great lecture

As I understand it, the fiber in natural fruit helps slow the digestion of sugar so that more gets eaten up by bacteria in the intestines, and it doesn't have the effect on insulin that we normally associate with junk food. However juice is no good. Eat the whole fruit, and berries are better: lower in sugar and higher in…

Spikes in adrenaline and cortisol, as I understand it, trigger an urgent physiological desire to seek out calorie-dense foods. This is connected to the fight or flight response. If you were an animal running from a predator, you would want to consume enough energy to sustain your fight or flight.

Gosh, I need a different pair of Bandolinos. Mine kill.

Usually I don't have a cheat "day" so much as a cheat meal. It's usually connected to a social thing (happy hour, a wedding, date night, Thanksgiving, etc.) I think it's important to allow yourself that so you can continue to feel like a regular person who lives in the world. Diet, exercise, weight loss--they're hard work.…

There's nothing wrong with egg yolks. The calorie content is not that different from a second white. If you buy the right brand, they can be a good source of omega 3s, and they contain key enzymes that help your body metabolize the protein in the white.

Orange flavored vodka

It's stupid and ineffective. It should be a sin tax on ALL sugar-sweetened beverages (to be fair), the revenues from which should go toward fresh ingredients in school lunch programs and other forms of obesity prevention. The amount of hoopla (I'm here in NY) about it is also stupid. The government is rife with insane…

My diet drink: vodka & club soda with lime I usually try to do a Stoli O or something flavored like that to keep life interesting. It tastes clean and I don't wake up feeling bloated.

They are calorie-dense on top of the nutritional value. I think it's great that you're eating them as long as you're keeping track of how much.

Egg yolks get a bad rap. They are very good for you despite the cholesterol: full of nutrition and enzymes that help digest the white. With milk I generally compromise with 2%, but my main use for milk is in coffee, so it's such a small amount in the first place. In cereal or a glass, I'd probably make a lighter choice.

Nope...weekly. If I know I'm on track, then everything comes out in the wash and I'm less likely to feel discouraged by daily fluctuations.

I make a big pot of soup on Sunday and divide into to-go containers for the week right away. In the morning, I throw it in my lunch bag with a spoon, a napkin, and my water bottle and run. I'm a teacher.

From what I've read, it's just not that simple. Your heart rate has a lot to do with how you burn fat, and getting your heart rate up to at least 140 bpm has benefits for burning fat instead of the sugar from your last meal (making you hungry again). Would you burn the same amount of calories? I'm not sure, but you can use…

This is right up my alley. Thanks for all the responses! I can't wait to try some of these.

over-medium cooked with olive oil and some pan-roasted grape tomatoes--nice and simple in the morning!

i started a "detox" 2 1/2 weeks ago using the guidelines on this website: http://www.wholeliving.com/photogallery/4-week-makeover it's not really a detox in the traditional sense--eating some crazy diet of maple syrup and celery--so much as it's a jump start into a "clean eating" plan. it's great because it's equipped with…