MaryStregger Member

Well your body needs a lot of water in order for all of its organs to function properly - generally it's accepted that 8 8oz cups a day is required. But when you add in exercise, you need to add at least one cup per hour of exercise (I think) in order to compensate for all of the moisture you lose through evaporation and…

And, I've lost over 20 pounds since mid July - so, yes, it works.

If you are asking if MFP works, my answer is that you cannot just calorie count and expect everything to go perfectly - you have to put more thought into it - it's not just about how much you eat, but about what you are eating. But, MFP is an amazing tool for accompanying my food & exercise plan. There is a lot of support…

1200 would be a very extreme amount of calories to burn while swimming for 85 minutes. Because the water regulates your body temperature, your calorie burn should not be as high as if you were jogging or doing some form of cardio out of the water. 414 sounds very plausible to me - when I do laps for 40 minutes I only burn…

But doesn't that help to motivate you?

I weigh myself every morning - but, warning, sometimes your weight will go up. I only log it if it drops below what it was the last time I weighed in - I made a deal with myself that if it didn't go down within 2 weeks that I would then log that I had gained weight - so far this hasn't had to happen.

I have a visalus shake every morning - two scoops of powder, one cup of tropicana orange juice, one tsp of ground flax seed, one cup of ice cubes. I blend it for several minutes, until it is really frothy. Yum :) It's only 200 calories, and incredibly tasty. I have tried many other brands and nothing tastes as good.

I have a smoothie with 2 scoops of visalus powder, one cup of tropicana orange juice, one tsp of ground flax seed and one cup of ice cubes. I blend it for several minutes so that it is good and frothy before I drink it. I have tried to find an alternate breakfast, but this one is only 200 calories and it satisfies me like…

I totally have the same issue. Sometimes I go for a leisurely walk on my rest day, just to get circulation going - or do some stretching.

Arbonne makes shakes that are vegan - and I believe organic. They are online at arbonne.com.

Well, I have heard of him. But he has not succeeded in convincing me of every single one of his points because I choose to acknowledge his bias.

And - considering that Alan Aragon is employed by the government and the other paragraph you quoted is from a government website, I am going to go ahead and make the assumption that they are all concerned with the plight of US dairy farmers.

Joe - I have learned that, especially when it comes to nutrition, you can find a study that will tell you anything you want to hear about anything. I have also learned specifically to distrust any that are put out by the government (this is what led to the infamous food pyramids which were promoted by the government and…

Totally!

Are you exercising? What are your net calories at the end of the day? If your net calories are less than 1200 you may want to consider upping your calorie intake. That's what I had to do - even though I found it hard to believe that it would work, it did. If you are not exercising, you should start. Also, it really depends…

You are dead wrong about the anabolic window. Spend a little time in some biology and Kinesiology text books.

As a kinesiology student who has studied sports nutrition - I would very strongly question the Science behind this. There is actually a very good argument out there for cutting dairy out of your diet altogether. I personally do not agree with cutting any food group out of your diet altogether, but if you don't even believe…

When you're sick, concentrate on getting better as quickly as possible so that you can get back to your routine as a healthy person. While it may be frustrating to rest - exercising while you're sick may draw your flu out even longer - and if you exercise in a gym you are also going to be spreading germs.

I find it really strange that milk would make a good recovery drink because it digests so slowly, and the idea behind a recovery drink is that your body will absorb it quickly.

I totally agree - only make the amount of food that you need for that one meal. Avoid temptation at the grocery store - don't even have food in your house that does not fit well in your diet.

Hi - for me, I find that it's not just about how many calories, but what kind of calories they are. I have to stick to eating at least some protein with every snack and meal and all my grains are whole grains. I try to avoid drinking any of my calories (ie. pop or booze) except for the visalus smoothie that I have for…

I'm totally with you - although whenever I reach a plateau, I try to switch both my diet and my exercise up a bit.

For every ten pounds I lose, I buy a completely new outfit (or two, depending on how badly I need better-fitting clothing).

As you build more muscle it gets easier to push yourself during a workout. Also, the more in shape you get, the more efficient your cardio system gets and the easier it becomes to push yourself (for me, I know this is happening when I get sweatier, but my face no longer gets really, really red during a workout). Also, I…

I have a smoothie every morning with fresh orange juice and visalus powder, which has protein in it. I also eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with green grapes for a snack - cottage cheese is very high in protein.

Visalus smoothie powder

Make sure you add some exercise, even if it's very moderate at first. The endorphin boost and burning off of cortesol (a hormone that causes stress when it builds up) can really help. At times, I have worked out with only these two benefits in mind - knowing that even if I see no change in the scale or in my clothing size…

I too, now live with my in-laws. One question that I have is - you say you need to drive to the running track ... why not just run? Running outside is so therapeutic, especially if you can do it before your household is awake and you don't have to worry about interfering in anyone else's life. Also - power yoga is both…

I used to wear heals every day for my job and experienced the same issue - I found that yoga classes really helped. All those downward dogs really help stretch out the calves.

Oddly, when I have a day like that, sushi tends to satisfy my hunger (nothing battered or deep-fried of course). Make sure that every calorie that you consume is a truly healthy one - I find that that also helps.