obradovichm

He does come across a bit cocky and it is a bit of a turn off for me as well. But, on the whole, I really enjoy the recipes I've cooked from the Now Eat This! Diet Cookbook. Some are much better than others, but it's got a lot of great information in it. I fully intend to find a few new recipes to try tomorrow while I am…

Alcohol is a tricky one. Even if you're careful, you still need to go into drinking with the mentality that calories in alcohol are used before stored fat calories. I'm 24 and work in the hospitality industry in sales, coordinating weddings and corporate meetings. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that hoteliers…

Rocco Dispirito calls for them in some of his recipes and highly recommends them, as they are almost calorie-less and much better for you than standard pasta. I have yet to find them in any store I've gone into, though, including Whole Foods. I dunno what gives.

So, I figured I'd start out small tonight. I tried making his Watermelon Green Tea Punch Smoothie. Worked out pretty well until I realized I bought the matcha powder with a combination of tea leaves, so it wasn't pure powder. After a bit of work, it came out red (instead of green!) and a little watery and seedy (Because of…

I highly recommend picking up the book "Eat This, Not That" for the Fast-Food or Eating Out Edition. They have great advice on what to avoid and what to get (and why) for almost every chain restaurant. It's hard not to eat out sometimes, but if you choose wisely (getting a side salad with light dressing instead of fries)…

While I am no expert on the subject, I advise you to take my thoughts on this with a grain of salt. From what I understand, you should always be consuming at least 1,200 calories a day. If you eat 1,200 calories, and then burn off say 600 via exercise, I hear it's best to eat again to hit that 1,200 minimum, otherwise your…

Going out is going to pack on the calories, no matter what you do. There are ways to reduce the impact and the number of them, however. On days you are going out, rationalize this "treat" by exercising a little more that day. When you're at the restaurant, especially Mexican, try to find a dish without the following items:…

Glad to hear you're seeing results and are feeling motivated. The most important thing I find is that you be proud of the results you've accomplished and stay on your motivational high. The biggest setback for me is that I tend to crumble a little bit when I stop seeing the "results" after it plateaus or when you lose your…

I have never had any visible adverse effects from Splenda or aspertame in general. That doesn't mean others don't. I've been a Diet soda drinker for years. But I recently found out that I LOVE sparkling water. I seldom drink any pop anymore, as I've replaced it almost exclusively with Perrier, La Croix, and Mendota. Best…

Too funny. I actually am revolted by seafood. I have an almost panicky response to the scent, texture - everything. I know that some fish is very healthy for you, so I did buy a few for some of the recipes. I'll see if I can handle it. If not, I'll avoid buying the seafood in the future. I can't even do shrimp. Gives me…

I am in the same boat as you. I really want to quit smoking, but I'm not willing to do the pill, as I've heard of some really awful side effects. While I know it isn't a smoking cessation tool, I've been looking into the e-cigarette. I know it's still not healthy for you and still a very young product, but without nicotine…

There are so many great, low-calorie options for snacks you can choose from. This is what I do. I always start before having a snack by drinking a glass of water. A.) it helps get your daily recommended water intake up, and B.) it makes you feel fuller so you don't oversnack. Secondly, I ALWAYS prepare my snacks in little…

Amy, I highly recommend stopping by a bookstore when you get a moment and flipping through the pages. If you're adept at cooking, you really don't need to read the first part about shopping lists or meal plans. There are SO many delectable looking recipes in here. My co-workers actually copied a few of them and have been…

Glad to hear from another Minnesotan! I actually grew up in a very small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I went to college in Minneapolis and I love it so much here I can't bear to move (the winters are killing me, though! :cry:) Everyone always tells me that cooking is a skill that you are constantly developing…

Everyone else has recommended all the advice I have to give on this subject. I struggle with the same thing as you. I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and I have a fixation with numbers and accuracy (which is why I like calorie counting so much). I have definitely struggled with having to cope with fluxtuations on the…

As someone who really hates grocery shopping (I'd rather go to the dentist), I struggled. I looked at Rocco's Week #1 recommended grocery list and realized I had none of those things. As I said before, being out of college recently, I have never REALLY stocked my kitchen with the essentials. Outside of overbuying without…

Thanks for the warm welcome Lexie! A lot of people in my "community" are notoriously obsessed with being skinny (almost to the point of it being a problem), and while I don't have much to lose, I am doing this for myself because I want to feel better in my own skin. I used to have a flat, firm stomach in high school, and…

I don't actively watch the Biggest Loser, but I have one of their cookbooks and I have seen the show in the past. I have to say that we need more reality TV shows like this. I despise reality TV and I always have. They are almost all sensationalized examples of overprivileged, spoiled, mentally unstable people who live to…

Hey Vicky! Thanks for the reply! I picked up the book at Borders. It was $23. I know it is MUCH cheaper on their website and I saw another user snagged it at Wal-Mart for about $18. I just went grocery shopping for week one. I'll tell you my experiences with the ingredients and where to get stuff. First of all, I made a…

You know, I just recently started getting into cooking, and Rocco Dispirito uses agave nectar very frequently in his dieting cookbooks and recipes. Doing so, you're able to cut out a LOT of calories and sugar content from your food. He says that even though it has more calories per sugar, because it's sweeter you can use…