Matterafun

I use it to make popcorn, and it works great! I like to melt it in the microwave before I add it to the popper, though. I also use it to cook eggs on the stove. I've heard you can use it to replace butter or shortening in recipes. I've not tried that yet, but will definitely do it the next time I bake something.

i've heard really good things about coconut oil and am getting into cooking with it, too. If you haven't already done so, you might want to check out some books by Bruce Fife. He gets into all the various health aspects of coconut oil and just put out a book this year on cooking with coconut flour. I hope to check that one…

Just last night I used flax seed meal instead of flour or bread crumbs to coat my baked chicken. Yum!

That's a tricky one. Have you tried strength training exercises? There are some designed specifically that target that part of the back. Of course, in strength training, if you're working your back muscles, you also need to work your chest muscles as well. I really like Cathe's Muscle Max dvd workout. Also, I've found that…

I've got a question. If my BMR is 1614 calories/day and MFP tells me to eat 1200 calories/day to lose 1.2 lbs or so per week, how can that be since the difference between 1614 and 1200 for 7 days doesn't equal even 1 lb per week? I know that when I exercise, I'll burn more, but then MFP tells me to eat those calories. I'm…

:frown: Okay, so I gained 0.8 lbs this week and am totally baffled. I've been drinking my water, exercising and staying at or a little below my calorie guidelines. I have lost a total of 1.75 inches in the past two weeks, but even that's not much. Any suggestions? Start Weight: 210 (12/31/09) Last week's weight: 205.8…

Congrats to everyone! I lost 1.2 lbs this week. I wish it would have been more, but I'm happy to see some progress. Start Weight: 210 (12/31/09) Current Weight: 205.8 Goal weight: 145

Hang in there with the water. Although I'm not a pro at getting all of my water in every day, I have found that drinking it from a pop-up top container really helps. I have no idea why, but it does. You can always squeeze a little lemon in there, too. Good luck!

That will be a challenge! I have found, however, that after the first several days of getting good water intake, my body adjusts and I don't have to go nearly as often. I have no idea why that is, but maybe that will happen for you, too. Good luck!

MFP Start Weight: 208 Last week's start weight: 210 Today's weight: 207 I lost 3 lbs this week, but my ticker only shows a 1lb loss since I originally started the ticker when I was 208. I still have about 63 lbs to go, but I'm on my way!!

Way to go! You've already made great strides toward your goal. Keep it up and you will get there. I know you can do it :)

Bye, bye 2009 and all the weight that came along with it! Here's to a healthy 2010 for all of us! Start Weight: 209 Ultimate Goal Weight: 145

Count me in! I've been awol from MFP since last summer, which has not been a good thing. I'm ready to recommit and get on with getting fit and trim!

I'm so sorry to hear all that you're going through. Hang in there! It sounds like you're the steady rock in the relationship, and I'm sure he's glad to have you there supporting him. I'll be praying for you guys!

WTG PegM! Welcome to the 100s!! I weighed in, but forgot to post on Friday. My weightloss for this past week was 1.8 lbs, so I'm now at 192. Yippee! About 10 more pounds and I will have lost my baby weight from baby #2, who is now 6! Keep up the great work, everybody!

Wow, we've got some endurance squaters in the group! Great job, everybody! Here's my squat report to date: Sunday: 16 Monday: 16 Tuesday: 36

Thanks! I do love him -- lots. Thanks for understanding. Congrats to you on your weightloss! You'll be in the 100s very soon! :drinker:

Thanks, Awestfall! I hope AM is alright. Weigh-in today for me is 193.8 (down 2 lbs)! I'll take it!! :smile: Also, I walked 30 minutes 6 days last week in addition to ab work and additional strength training. Whine/Rant Alert: :grumble: Despite my on-target weightloss, I was a bit frustrated this morning. My husband is…

We're supposed to get storms tomorrow and snow on Friday and Saturday, and I'm in Oklahoma! Thank goodness for Leslie Sansone's walking DVDs!! As for your shins, it sounds like you might need to make sure you adequately stretch them throughout your workout. I used to get shin splints when I ran and sometimes when I walked…

Welcome! Sounds like you're off to a great start. Way to go!

Walking challenge works for me! I did 30 minutes yesterday with hand weights. I love Leslie Sansone's DVDs. They're great for keeping my heart rate in the fat burning zone -- and boy, do I have a lot of fat to burn! :wink:

I've not seen a new challenge yet, so what you suggest for yourself sounds great! In fact, walking was one of our previous challenges, so that's a good one. 20 miles does seem like a lot for just getting started, so you may want to consider walking minutes versus miles and listen to your body. It's good to build up your…

Welcome, its_B!

I'm officially down 1.8 lbs (current weight: 195.8), which is good considering I had gained a pound at last week's weigh-in and my daily weight checks this week had me up a couple more pounds from that. I think it was mostly water weight, but it did cause me to re-evaluate my calories and exercise program. Glad I'm back on…

Congrats to everyone! You're all doing great! I gained 1 lb this week. But, from what I can tell, it's water weight. I am hopefull the downward trend will resume this week.

It's part of an overall strength training DVD by Cathe called Hardcore Series: Muscle Max. The DVD allows you customize your workout, so if you only want to do abs, you can go right to that part of the DVD or if you only want to do upper body one day and lower body another day, you can do that as well. I think you can only…

Thanks, PegM! This DVD works all different sections of the abs throughout the workout, so I think that helps with the soreness -- it's not all in one spot!

Okay, so this sounds ridiculously high, but last night I did an ab DVD workout that included all different types of crunches for every part of the abs. When I counted every crunch, it came to a total of 384 crunches -- really!! Needless to say, I don't do abs every day :tongue:

Welcome! Hang in there. I know you can do it and get back on track. We're all in this together, so we're with you girl! :smile:

Thanks! It feels good to finally be under 200, but now I've just got to keep it under! :smile: Hang in there, get better and get back to exercising as soon as you can. I had a really bad head cold this past week and didn't workout nearly as much as normal. However, if you can keep an eye on your caloric intake and drink…