ksolksol Member

I find that disconnecting from the outcome of weight loss and focusing on self-care has served me well, whatever the scale says. We all deserve self-compassion. You are right. It is not just about the weight.

Oh my goodness. I am trying that one!

I have the same problem. Clothing is key if you're going to get outside. I've heard it said there's not bad weather, only bad clothing. (Although I'd beg to differ on the 30MPH sustained winds days we get here.) Finding a way to exercise inside is a good thing. I've found making time at lunch to get outside is easier to…

If you have just had stents, your doctor should be advising you on appropriate exercise and appropriate levels of exertion. That said, my general feeling is to do the exercise you enjoy, as you are more likely to do it. Dance, swim, bike -- what movement do you enjoy? When you do what you enjoy, rather than what you're…

Grab and go -- turkey jerkey, mini-babybel lights, turkey lunchmeat, Swiss cheese slices and roasted, salted edamame. If you have gluten issues this won't work, but I'm getting hooked on seitan for meals as a good source of protein.

A little teriyaki sauce goes a long way on fish. It's a flavor that dovetails with it nicely and makes it take a little less, well, fishy. As much as I love salmon, I'd say go with a mild-flavored fish like tilapia. Easy, too, since it usually comes frozen, individually packaged. I just put it in an oiled dish, brush it…

It depends. I use the recipe builder for things I will make a lot, although I make my bean soup a little differently each time and I just go with the original bean soup entry instead of trying to recalculate it each time. Sometimes, I grab something from the database, like sjaplo. Sometimes I'll just enter my best estimate…

Carrots, celery, onion is my go-to on chicken soup, with some thyme and a boullion cube. I find that if I make my own soup, I can make it with less salt/boullion/broth than it calls for. Typically, I'll go half and half water and broth. My attitude is I can always add salt at the table, but I can't take it out of the soup.…

Seriously! :D It's kind of fun, actually.

If you don't have a salad spinner, put your washed greens in a clean pillowcase, go outside and swing it rapidly in a circle to fling most of the water off. You can store the greens in the pillowcase in your crisper. I actually prefer this to a salad spinner.

I learned to drink it by first mixing hot cocoa mix with it... which I grasp adds a few calories! But it got me used to the taste. It actually only took me one morning of hot cocoa + coffee before I moved on to black coffee. Sardines are the things I keep trying to eat and failing. Cheap, convenient, nutritious and... just…

And if you have that many restrictions, you may need to work with a dietician.

Ikes! I feel for you. Let's start with what CAN you have and build from there. What foods are safe? Do I understand rice is safe? Can you have any legumes, or are all beans off limits? Protein may be a challenge from what I can see from your post. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

I'm just under 5'5", I usually fall into a 3 MPH pace or just a little above if I'm not thinking about it, 3.5 if making an intentional effort. The best way I found to increase walking speed is just to keep walking a lot, as silly as that may sound. The more you walk, the more your pace will pick up. Since most of my…

Nilla Wafers. I found a generic brand at my grocery that didn't have the hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup that I think the brand name might have. You'd have to check the label. They're about 15 calories a pop, so 6 of them would put you at 90. Love them dunked in coffee. The basic Nature Valley crunchy…

Have you tried going to the local library and looking at some vegan/vegetarian cookbooks to get ideas? Believe it or not, there are entire cookbooks devoted to vegan cheeses. There's a vegetarian restaurant one town over that makes a cashew queso to die for. I've made "cream" soups using potatoes as the base. You might try…

I like what Dr. Yoni Freedhoff says on this: You can't outrun your fork. It takes a lot more effort to burn off calories than it does to reel yourself in in the kitchen. I can cross-country ski for an hour and more than blow what I burned in 10 minutes with a slice of pecan pie. (Not to say I don't eat the occasional slice…

First thing daily in the morning before I drink or eat anything, post-pee, sans clothes. I don't take any one day's reading too seriously, as I fluctuate within a range of 3-5 pounds. By weighing daily, I get a sense of where my weight is hovering. If you are the type of person who gets worked up over any one-time number,…

I just bought the Bob's Red Mill bag o'gluten and followed the recipe on the side. Some spices, two cups gluten, two cups water, knead, cut into chunks and simmer in water with soy sauce and molasses for I think about an hour. What went wrong with yours? It tends to explode in the pot, it expands so much, but that's the…

Because I like it. :) Yes, there are a lot more foods out there, which I eat with gusto. I'm the person who will have both tofu and steak in her fridge. Never met a veggie I didn't like. It's the rare food I won't eat. Can't quite bring myself to eat sardines, pickled herring (hubby's favorite) or any shellfish that still…

This thread reminded me of how much I loved canned tuna with ketchup and horseradish as a child. Guess what I had for lunch. :)

My parents tried the spaghetti sauce from our garden experiment as spaghetti once... just once ... when we were kids. Not only did we all think it was horrible, but it put me off spaghetti squash for years and years. It doesn't have a neutral enough taste for tomato sauce. I'm not sure what Dad did with the rest of the…

If you have a concern, you might check around to make a connection with someone locally who sells farm-raised eggs. I'm blessed to have a co-worker who has chickens that are basically her pets, so I feel pretty good about eating the eggs. There are others in town I've bought from, too -- they often show up at the farmers'…

Goat cheese and blueberries? Sounds like heaven. One of my stranger burger combinations: I like veggie burgers with bacon on them. Confuses the dickens out of the waitstaff when I order it. I call it "The Hypocrite."

I don't know if I'd call it an alternative, but I have just discovered homemade olive paste -- black olives, capers, a little olive oil. I'm not big on mayo, so this is a good option for me on sandwiches. Beetroot sounds wonderful. Love beets!

So sort of an oatmeal Reese's Cup effect? Hmmmm.... sounds great!

Fair warning if you make seitan using the simmering method -- it tends to expand/EXPLODE in the pot! Use a bigger pot to simmer it in than you think you'll need.

If you can do gluten, seitan is extremely high protein, low-cal and reasonably easy to make yourself. It has a very meaty texture. I used the recipe off the Bob's Red Mill gluten flour bag, but there are a lot of recipes out there on the internet. My sister grinds it up and makes seitan chili that to me is nearly…

Thanks! I will have to try that.

Sounds heavenly -- sweet, salty, spicy all at the same time. :) I am getting great ideas off this thread!