Athena53 Member

Yeah, it's called "vanity sizing" and it's very annoying. My older clothes that fit are size 10. My current clothes that fit are size 8 and I'm almost wondering about buying some size 6 jeans. I'm 5'7" and weigh 130. Back in HS (1971 for me), that was a size 12. I've mentioned this before but the big impact for me (other…

1. My heart rate monitor. It tells me when I'm slacking off, and the calorie burn is a great motivator. 2. My iPod. How did I ever exercise without it? I can keep my fluency in French and German, learn new stuff, and then switch over to great music. 3. Latest purchase- my TRX. I've been working through some minor neck and…

Yeah, I get coffee and add a little milk. Add coffee and tea to my list of things that the food industry has turned into candy. Once DS and I shared some new drink from Starbucks because I had a coupon to get it for free. It was white chocolate-flavored, very creamy, and I suppose there was a little coffee in there…

What they're doing is turning everything that used to be healthy into candy in one form or another, and increasing portion sizes. Cereal (esp. granola), yogurt, bagels, muffins- if you don't make your own you have to be very wary of what you're buying. And sugar (or worse, high fructose corn syrup) is in everything. An…

Definitely not the same. Processed foods have lots of chemicals and they're made to slide right down with minimal chewing (or many are), so your body barely notices them and you want more. Clean eating has made me like the processed stuff less; I swear I can taste some of the chemicals, particularly in the aftertaste. I do…

I buy plain and add honey. If I can get blueberries at a decent price I add those, too. I told DH there are only two allowable ingredients in the yogurt I buy: milk and active yogurt cultures!

I'm perpetually snacking- mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, so the calories don't pile up. That's the way I am most of the time and it works for me.

I'm based in the US and I think my count is up to 28 using the Traveler's Century Club list. They cheat a little; places far removed from the mainland of a country such as Alaska and Hawaii count separately; so do the Balearic Islands, Scotland, England and Wales. I've been to most countries in Europe including…

It's not the vacations that do people in. It's the daily excess of calories in/calories out year-round. I'm pretty good at staying active on vacation (walking, hotel gym, pool, etc.) but when we come back from our annual Christmas road trip to visit family my clothes are always a bit tighter. (I don't weigh myself- that…

Hey, I can buy into that! DH and I just celebrated my birthday with some good Ardbegh and we've got a closet full of single-malt cask-strength scotch whisky. Some of it is from a shop in London (Cadenhead's) and you can't get it in the US. Since whisky isn't meant to be guzzled (and I'd get a migraine if I did), a typical…

I did hide one because he couldn't seem to find anything else to post other than pictures of rich food. Oh, yeah- once he posted a link to a site with recipes for "natural cleanses", which you don't need if you eat healthy in the first place. I genuinely enjoy posts from my friends with kids who do funny and interesting…

Interesting perspective. I would have thought that saying I wouldn't make that because it doesn't fit in with my calorie/fat goals would have sounded holier-than-thou and I didn't want to come off that way, either. Last night my wonderful DIL's parents posted a recipe for "Hot cheesy spinach dip".…

It was something on the order of..." Funny these recipes don't include nutritional info, but I found that this is 459 calories per serving with 45% of your daily saturated fat allowance, 91 g carbohydrates,,," I may even have added a smiley face. I NEVER refer to the shape the person is in. I don't want to make people feel…

Thanks for this- will definitely check it out first thing tomorrow . Maybe it will keep me out of trouble!

Yeah, and I'm busy looking up nutritional info. Will get back to you shortly! ;-)

I'm a creature of habit and 5 days a week at work, lunch is a green salad, brought from home, with the same salad dressing I keep at the office. Breakfast is a slice of plain toast. Snacks are the same, too. Only dinner varies. I've been like this for years. It may help that I get a decent mix of things for dinner and I…

My thoughts exactly- thanks!

If, by "you've had your fun", you mean that I went through a stage of living on the couch eating pork rinds and Millionaire Spaghetti Pie with Banana Nut Brownies for dessert, well. not really. I'm 5'7". I weighed 130 when I got out of HS, I'm 129 now and was 147 at my peak (not counting pregnancy). I've been working out…

Well, I guess my original question has been answered. Compared to some of the people who replied to this discussion (and the one I quoted is only the latest), I'm a rank amateur in the "mean" department. :-)

But they ARE getting help from me. As I noted in my OP, taxes pay for a good deal of medical care in this country. More medical care for preventable conditions = more taxes. No way around it. For the insured, more claims that the insurer has to pay for preventable conditions = more premiums we all pay. Not to mention the…

There is an obesity epidemic in this country and we spend an insane amount of our GDP on medical expenses, including the costs of all the conditions created and exacerbated by overweight and bad diets. It warms my heart when I read the Success Stories and read about how many meds people were able to discontinue (with their…

"Personal fitness" is a little vague. Can you be more specific- hiking, biking, running? It would go well with the type of work you're looking for to show that you're outdoors-y. I changed jobs in 2012 and the age of 59 and was participated in the local athletic competition with my previous company. I knew the place where…

That's my feeling and I'm the mother of a 29-year old son who was married last year and has a baby on the way. Rule #1 is "don't buy us (parents) stuff." I'd hate to think anyone was running up credit card debt to buy me a gift. I love my credit cards but I pay them off in full every month and leverage them for free…

Hot sauce makes EVERYTHING more interesting! Do you have enough "crunch" in it? You may want to put in most of the vegetables (celery, carrots, onions) near the end so they're not soggy. I also like to steam a few cups of fresh spinach (it cooks down) and add them to a serving of stew. It adds texture and flavor but few…

I agree on Subway- that's where DH and I go when we're on the road. I go for the lighter ones piled with veggies, no cheese. A plain burger or even a cheeseburger won't kill you- it's the giant ones with the mayonnaise-y sauces and the sides of fries and the fizzy drinks and shakes that pile on the fat and calories. In…

I'm pretty careful about processed foods but I LOVE candy. I'm fine with my weight and I'm careful to eat only a few pieces a day, so there's no damage from the calories, but at the last bio-screen for my company Wellness program, my fasting blood glucose level was 102. It's supposed to be under 100. I have no other risk…

The "stuff" is part of my workout baggage because I get brownie points in my company's Wellness program if my workouts are electronically monitored and uploaded. Yeah, it's Big Brother, but I can't knock saving $1,000/year off the company health insurance premiums and getting the occasional freebie electronic toys. Now I…

375 seems low. I get about that for an hour of cardio according to my Polar FT7 but I'm almost 61 and my average heart rate during a workout runs about 125.

Don't forget some farmed catfish (preferably non-US origin) and ground beef made from pink slime.

Eeuw. I think I'm gonna become a vegetarian. On the other hand, it's legal to sell horse meat for human consumption in Germany as long as it's labeled as such! I'm surprised they didn't mention high-fructose corn syrup. Coke/Pepsi seem to be able to get away with it only in the US.