farmgirl88 Member

Wow! You look amazing!!! Congratulations :)

Sugar is hard to part with (trust me, I know!) but it's necessary to lose weight and keep it off. When we eat too much sugar, we overwhelm our liver to the point that it can't keep up, so our body starts grasping for every ounce of fat we eat to safely package the excess sugar away for storage until we're no longer…

Yes! Please share how you got those amazing results in 2 months!! :D

I was in the same boat, too, for most of my life... I worked out and ate right. I started regularly eating GasX and laxitives to help ease the constant pain... And then I discovered that I had a wheat/gluten allergy (Celiac Disease). Within 2 weeks of not eating wheat, I was having regular bowl movements and the constant…

My favorite cheap recipe is Taco Soup: 1 can black beans 1 can dark red kidney beans 1 can light red kidney beans 2 cans diced tomatoes 2 can sweet corn 1 packet taco seasoning Put everything in a big pot or crockpot and cook until heated through. Simmer for a while longer to really enhance the flavors. For less than 5…

How about a triplet? Height: 5'8" SW: 155 CW: 150 Goal: 140 *And I'll be 24 in 2 weeks :)

Cheese sticks are another favorite!!! :)

A lot of places will let you exit the park and return if you have a stamp on your hand or a wristband or something--so check and see if you can do that at this water park... if this is the case, just pack a cooler and some collapsible chairs in the trunk and have a picnic in the parking lot. That way, you can pack whatever…

First, don't feel bad about craving sugar. Sugar acts like a drug; it addicts us to the temporary "sugar high." Also, sugar is probably one of the biggest enemies to fat-loss and is a huge danger to our overall health. Nearly 75% of the fructose (sugar) you consume goes directly to your liver to be processed--the liver is…

Cottage cheese with cherry tomatoes :)

Protein. You must eat lots and lots of protein. Steak, chicken, every kind of fish, cottage cheese, eggs... For me, I can eat 1,400 calories of mainly carbs and feel starved all day or I can try to eat 1,200 calories of mainly protein and struggle to get the last 200 calories in because I feel so full. Protein is a…

:laugh: :drinker:

The caffeine consumption that you are talking about it fine--especially since you are getting the caffeine from a natural source (coffee) and you are drinking at least of gallon of water a day. Caffeine can become a problem if you have too much--if it makes you jittery or overly alert. At that point, the caffeine begins to…

Unfortunately, target training alone won't make them go away. Overall weight loss and fitness and lots of cardio will reduce them over time. To strengthen muscles in the area to help, you can do exercises that target your obliques and back. Pilates focuses on strengthening and lengthening the core and works well for…

I, too, love fruit, but too much of anything can be a bad thing. I think the suggested range is 2-3 servings per day. Berries are a good option because they are lower in sugar and higher in antioxidants than their thick-skinned, high sugar friends (i.e. bananas, oranges, pineapple, etc). But again, all those fruits are…

Lowering how much processed food you eat is a great first step! Another key to healthy living is to eliminate added sugar from your diet--soda, snack cakes, low-fat dressing, ice cream, etc. Here's my shopping list: - Organic baby romaine/spinach (great for quick, filling salads--use olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar for a…

I am that way, too. My guess is that you are losing body fat! We have a nifty scale that shows our body fat %, muscle %, and water % in addition to our weight. If you don't have such a scale or want a free way to check on things, track your measurements and plug them into this calculator:…

Make sure that you are listening to your body. If you're body is telling you you're hungry, by all means eat something! What kind of calories you eat surpasses total calorie consumption in importance. If you are eating 1200 calories worth of lean meat and vegetables, you're probably just fine. However, if you're eating…

Focus on upping your vegetables (and fruit) and minimizing your intake of refined/processed foods. Read a few ingredient labels for sugar content and I bet you'll be amazed at what they pump sugar! I found my "healthy" kidney beans were canned in high fructose corn syrup! Low-fat salad dressing is an awful sugar…

Anything with protein is a great option--it's filling and it's a good fuel to start your morning off with. - Eggs are a great option. - Yogurt is another winner (plain yogurt is best--too much sugar will make you crash later on in the day). - If you have to have something to grab and go, look for a protein shake or bar…

Protein powder also aids in weight loss when you use it as a meal replacement. Instead of having a giant stack of pancakes with butter, syrup, sausage, etc. for breakfast, you can just mix up a protein shake that will fill you up, get you the nutrients you need, and do it all for a lot fewer calories. There are tons of…

To avoid potentially making my friends uncomfortable, I either mentally log what I have and then add it via phone once I get back into my car OR better yet, I plan out ahead of time what I want to eat when going out, put it in the diary before I leave, and then I'm held accountable for eating just that much :)

Chipotle! They use better ingredients (and the food is a lot less processed than typical fast food). You do have to be careful tho... a burrito bowl can have close to 750 or even 1,000 calories if you add too much. The salad is your best bet. My favorite combination: chicken, black beans, fajita veggies, tomato salsa, corn…

I'm pretty good at eyeballing things accurately so I used my kitchen scale and measuring cups consistently for the first few weeks to make sure that I was eyeballing things correctly. When I'm at home, I still use the scale for meat, cheese, and other things I want to be sure I'm measuring accurately. I never measure my…

Squats, lunges, stair-climbing, more squats.... and then this thing I don't know the name for ha ha... - You lay on your back with your knees bent (think sit up position, but with your arms laying on the floor by your side). - With your feet firmly planted on the ground, squeeze your buns together and lift your bum and…

I don't know.... it's kinda like getting a tattoo in an obvious place. Make sure you're 1000% committed before you do it and make sure you do your research on who is going to do it. Also, make sure you've taken into account everything that could go wrong as well as general maintenance and care (EX: you have to replace them…

Yessssssss!!! I'm so proud of you! Way to go! ;)

You probably already know my answer... but I would try cutting out all added sugar for a while. I know this is a big thing to ask... I used to be a huge sugar addict! Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology has a video posted on YouTube explaining what our body does with sugar.…

I sometimes find it helpful to do a mini detox to "reset" my taste buds. If you eat lots of raw fruit and veggies, don't add salt to any of your food, and avoid packaged/processed food for even just a few days, your taste buds begin to appreciate the flavors of the foods themselves and will be able to tell you when…

Sounds like you have a healthy balance going on right now... I'd say keep it up! You want to work out smarter not harder, so hours and hours at the gym are unnecessary if you're giving your workouts 110%... or as Jillian says "Don't phone it in." Do some sort of physical activity every day, push yourself when you workout,…