MFPBrandy Member

I picked up and put down the Sookie Stackhouse books so many times -- the back just sounded so stupid, I couldn't bring myself to buy them. I finally caved at a used book store, and was immediately hooked. They're brain candy, sure, but that's fine by me. As for the 50 shades books, I have not read them, nor do I have a…

You look great! Kudos on keeping on track.

Good job! Congrats!

Eh. I think I'm the same on- and off-line, but I'm hardly objective. There will, of course, be some differences in how I conduct myself with different groups of friends, and my online world reflects that somewhat. The "inner circle" gets me fairly uncensored, and I get progressively more professional the further out from…

In the end, what's more important to you -- having a child, or having to work harder to lose the weight you might gain? I gained the 25 lbs my doctor told me to (not intentionally; it just worked out that way). I didn't weigh myself coming out of the hospital, but 2-3 months later (2-3 months of total inactivity and crap…

Fruit salad is wonderful -- and most people will like it. To sweeten it up even more, you can drizzle just a tad of honey and squeeze a lime over it -- the lime juice and honey together are WONDERFUL.

For me, it's less about what foods are a definite "NO" and more about reminding myself how certain things make me feel after I eat them. I still indulge in cookies and pizza and chocolate and ice cream, etc., etc., but the "cleaner" my diet gets (and I use "diet" in the "a way a person eats" meaning, not the "restricted…

Pick something and stick with it for a week. Do you have the energy you need to do your cardio and still feel good? If not, eat more of your calories back. If so, stick with it or eat fewer back and see if that still works for you. Weight loss is about calories in vs. out, but health is about more than weight loss. To do…

Right there with you. I think I'm fine, then my toddler has a fit over bedtime and suddenly I'm starving. Getting out of the house at times like these (and evenings are the worst for me) isn't an option, because I'm a single parent. While I'm still working on finding my own answers, just learning to recognize emotional…

I can't find a pair of flats that stay on my feet without having to do that flip-flop-wearing-toe-scrunch while WALKING -- I can't imagine running in them!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :laugh:

^^Truth.

^^This. Having worked with a lot of these guys (and going through some of the less-physical training myself), it all comes down to the mental game. Don't get me wrong, physical preparation is key -- but for every six-foot-tall-barrel-chested-freedom-fighter I met, there were many more guys who just looked...normal. It's…

Sounds like you're being e-maintained. Time to ditch him for a man that sees you as more than a fallback plan.

Yup. I don't know what it is that I'm afraid of, but every time I hit my mid-term goal (a body that is acceptable to me long-term, but still has some strengthening & toning left to do), I start sugar binging. I don't deprive myself during my weight loss -- I eat chocolate, ice cream, whatever. But once my scale gets…

"Gateway" mom jeans --LOL. I need this chick to come sort out my denim collection!

Your boyfriend could be acting like an @$$, I don't know because I'm not there. If he really is putting you down, that's unsat, and ignore the rest of this post. That said, guys have it kind of rough when it comes to women and their weight. First off, many of them suffer from a communication handicap (particularly the…

Wow...I had no idea these shows existed. I cut off my TV when I had my daughter, and now I'll watch the occasional show online, but I've completely lost track of what's playing these days. Well, we can't say we weren't warned before/during the writers' strike a few years ago...

Sorry, just re-read this -- if your partner says men interviewing for that position would wear a suit, then you should wear the equivalent. Women are lucky; we've got a lot of alternatives to suits that are still just as dressy. So if you don't have a nice suit and aren't ready to splurge on one just yet, that's okay --…

^^This. Scout out the office dress code. If you're hoping for upward mobility down the road, you need to look/act the part now. My go-to outfit for that awkward stage between business casual and business dress was nice dressy pants with a tailored vest and a pretty shirt in a bold clor or pattern. Hard to describe…

Good move! I like it.

^This. My emotional eating really seems to kick it up a notch in the evenings. I've by no means won this fight yet, but keeping busy helps a lot. Tea is also nice, both the act of preparing it and drinking it. I go for the spicy chai-type teas, so the smell is really rich and it just feels more satisfying to my senses. I…

This is officially the Best Thread Ever.

Or the flip side--I've never understood why some women get mad when men open the door. Of course, I also don't understand why some men get upset if you open anything yourself, either.

Ah, the fine art of door-opening. Seriously, I don't know how some guys do it. I, of course, hold the door for anyone within a reasonable distance -- it's only polite. But those gentlemen that manage to walk along side a woman, yet always manouver themselves to reach the door first without any awkward shuffling...I love…

Definitely look up an Excel tutorial if that's what they use for their spreadsheets (most likely). That program can do some amazing things if you know how to work it. The basic functions are pretty simple, but there's a whole other world underneath it where you can do calculations, graphs, and a ton of other thngs. What…

It's a bit easier for me, because I'm single and my kid isn't big enough to open the fridge on her own yet. But I do a lot of batch cooking, and much of it is soup. I write down all the ingredients as I add them, and then divvy up the entire pot into 2-cup freezer bowls. Each one of those is a serving, and I take them to…

I'm not qualified to say if it's an addiction or not -- but I definitely have a problem with emotional eating. For example, last night I did pretty well at curbing the late-night senseless (not-truly-hungry) munchies, and was feeling pretty good. Then my daughter woke up and had a massive temper tantrum about going back to…

Hi Tony! Thanks for answering questions. I'm wondering about "complete" proteins. I don't eat a lot of meat, and I get a lot of my protein from veggies, nuts & legumes. I supplement with a whey protein powder and I do eat dairy, eggs, and meat sometimes, but in my daily macros, things like chickpeas tend to make a…

This. You don't know where that trainer started. You also don't know if they're working around any injuries. You don't know their personal goals for themselves -- their job isn't to transform you into THEIR ideal of health, it's to help you reach YOUR ideal. I don't think you can judge their effectiveness by appearance…