Danni3ll3 Member

Things with healthy fats will help with the calorie count. I am thinking of things like nuts, avocados, olive oil, cheese, full fat milk and cream. Pasta made with whole wheat will easily bump up those calories as well. Good luck!

Okay, about the food... eat what is available and be sure to adjust your portions to fit your allotted calories or go buy and start cooking yourself. My hubby is the cook at home (even though I am an excellent cook myself) and he tends to cook excellent and high quality food but a lot of it has high fat and calories. I…

Love the story and love your persistence. Keep it up!

I am 5'5" too and I just measured my arm for the first time: 11" around. I consider my arms to be one of my best features (arms, hands and feet stay skinny even though my body didn't when I gained weight). I would not want my arms to be significantly smaller than they are right now. I have an hour glass figure so maybe…

I started at 190 and I am down to 137-139 right now so I have lost over 50 lbs. I have a bit of sag on the sides of my back and my tummy isn't perfectly flat although you wouldn't call it saggy. I believe that with a bit more weight loss, the extra on my back and at the bottom of my tummy should pretty well go although I…

The best thing is to find out which restaurant you are going to and look up the nutrition info online. I went to Applebees today for my birthday lunch (a friend always treats me to lunch for my birthday even though it really is tomorrow) and made sure to look up the nutrition info first. It was a really good thing as even…

Trying using this spreadsheet. It gives you a lot of info that is helpful on setting things up. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE#gid=14 The author is Heybales and will help you if needed. I hope this helps.

Awesome! You should be so proud of yourself and don't worry about posting updates too often. You are doing so well!!!

Awesome post! Actually, you look slimmer in the current pictures. Congrats on doing so well!

I have lost over 50 lbs through walking and most of the time, I am not sweating. I prefer walking to a bike because of the change in scenery (I walk outside, can't stand the treadmill). The going has been slow but the fact is that I still have dropped 52/53 lbs over the last 4 years. The point of this is keep moving and do…

Raspberries are full of fiber. Delicious real food with fiber...can't get better than that!

I agree. If I go over my calories for the day (which may happen one every couple of months due to some special occasion) I log them and try to eat less in the following few days to make up for the overage. This is a life change, not a "diet".

Me too with the yo-yoing but in the long run, the weight is coming off. It has taken me 4 years to go from 190 to 137ish (with a few bumps along the way) but the end result is that I haven't been this slim since my 20s and I will be 55 in a few days. I look at this as a long term thing and know that I will get to my second…

Quaker's Natural Granola is the one I go for. They have several flavours such as Oats, Honey and Almonds or Apple, Cranberry and Almond. I have tried a number of brands and they usually end up getting tossed because they have no flavour. I love the Quaker Natural Granola!

You are sort of right but then again, sort of not. You can declare that you are in Menopause once you have had a full year of no periods or if you didn't get periods like me due to surgery, your doctor does blood work that lets you know that your ovaries are no longer producing eggs. So you are right in that regard.…

I have big calves and before I lost the weight, I couldn't find tall boots that fit over my calves. Unfortunately, I passed that little trait on to my daughter. The positive side though is that my calves have shrunk alongside with the rest of me. I used to be a 16 and half or 17, now I am down to a 14 and tall boots fit…

You can't do that because some food weigh more per volume than others. So a pound of psyllium husks versus a pound of sugar would have drastically different volumes. Think of a pound of feathers vs a pound of lead. You would end up with quite a bit more feathers than you would of lead. I hope this helps.

I track Carbs, Protein, Cholesterol, Calcium, and Fiber. The Carbs and Protein basically to be sure I get enough protein although I don't really care (I hardly ever meet the protein goal) but the other three are important to me. I know that dietary cholesterol doesn't really make that big of a difference but I am not going…

This ^ is what I do. I use Haybales' spreadsheet and it works for me. I started using it after I plateaued for a while. Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE#gid=14

I made this tonight and my hubby and daughter gobbled it up. I love new recipes and at times, they are hesitant about trying my concoctions so I was impressed when they had seconds and thirds. Just a note: my sauce turned out quite dark compared to your picture. No matter though, it was delicious. I am thinking of adding…

I got stuck too and I started using a spreadsheet from HayBales to help me figure out how many calories I should be eating and how many of my exercise calories I should be eating back if any. You will need to take your measurements. Once you have done that, fill out the Simple Set Up tab completely. This tab works well if…

I agree with you needing to see your doctor. Something is going on because you shouldn't be dropping weight that quickly. It might be a thyroid issue or something else. Get checked out.

I am a purist. Granulated sugar or maple syrup only! =)

Yep! My waist is still 30 inches which really bugs me because when I was this weight before, my waist was around 28 inches. My hips are not going down anytime fast and my bust... well... lots there still. I am losing in my thighs and my calves. Very weird!

You need to eat more and continue to exercise to change your body composition. Many on here will tell you to lift heavy to do that. Since you already go to the gym for an hour, you need to look at the type of exercise you do. I am no expert but there are lots of thread here that talk about changing body fat to muscle and…

Welcome to MFP! This is an amazingly supportive community for the most part. There are the occasional Debbie Downers or the male equivalents on some forums but if you just ignore them, you will see that most people are here to help. I am also menopausal and have dropped just over 50 lbs over the last four years. Slow going…

This is my favourite smoothie 1/2 cup frozen raspberries (the raspberries are mandatory) 1/2 cup frozen peaches or cherries 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries or strawberries 1/2 cup stirred organic yogurt (Sometimes I use almond milk, coconut milk or 1% milk) 3/4 water 1 tablespoon chia seeds 1 scoop Kaizen - Natural Whey…

I have a friend who had a RYI done. It is way harder to go that route than to diet and exercise. The limitations on what you can and cannot eat are for life. She cannot cheat or she will get sick. At least we can have a treat once in a while. My daughter considered it for a while until she became a nurse and saw all the…

This ^. The Vanilla tastes awesome in smoothies. No chalky taste.

I am having more success with doing the sedentary thing and eating part of my exercise calories back according to the spreadsheet for which I posted the link. I tend to lose very slowly and have been at it for a few years. I need to be very precise at how much I exercise and eat to be able to finally drop those last few…