Hurray for Sherry! Keep up the good work!

good for you, Sherry, keep it up! As for substitutions, believe it or not, I've actually LIKED molasses cookies with some babyfood prunes as a substitute for some of the fat, I'll have to find that recipe.

I also have a pumpkin bar cookie kind of thing that's pretty low in points and it was not bad either.

I like whole wheat pasta, don't like white pasta and cannot stand those weird noodle things that Hungry Girl goes on about, she must get paid a LOT to advertise those!

I also like spaghetti squash, but it's squash, it's not pasta. And check the labels carefully on that turkey, much/most of it is higher in fat than beef. As Peppi said, they add the skin and fat then grind it up, it's not low fat OR healthy.

Annie

Way to go Sherry!

Shaun, the Ronzoni Smart Taste is good, I use it often.

I've actually been looking for those shirataki noodles but have not been able to find them.

My understanding is that to make them palatable you need to rinse well for a few minutes in a colander. Then fill a bowl with water and soak for a bit, then drain again. Then cook them and rerinse them a final time, drain and let them dry.

Seems like a lot of steps, but I am very curious to try them. I'm willing to try it for the amount of calories I'd save.

In the meantime, we've switched to buckwheat pasta, or soba. I like the taste and texture so much better than the other pasta alternatives we've tried. But they're just hard to find.

Regarding the ground turkey ~ I bought a grinder (recommended here) and purchase turkey breast and grind it myself without any dark meat or skin.

My research showed the commercial / grocery store ground turkey was higher in sat fat then the leanest ground beef.

We are also using a ground Bison from a local farm. It is excellent in chili and tacos, not so great as a hamburger - yet - it was snowy & cold and hard to control the temp of the grill, so we will try again ~ it was also dark.

Congratulations Sherry! My next weigh in is Sunday and I've been working on avoiding the scale, but so far, so good this week. One day at a time, right?!

Yes indeed, one day at a time. I've lost three pounds and I'm sitting here with snow peas and hummus for lunch. I really ought to give up the diet Coke too, I've said that about a zillion times, but I just have to have SOMETHING that seems like a treat....

And it's been beautiful weather so I've been walking to work, walking home at lunch to let Cooper out, play with Cooper in the backyard for 15 minutes, walk back to work. Walk home at the end of the day, and just like that, 2 miles of walking!

Annie

Weighed in today - lost 2.2 lbs this week; Total loss: 8.4 lbs. (19.6 lbs) to go. Yay me!!

Wow Shaun, congratulations! I bought a new scale (digital, i didn't have one) yesterday and turns out it weighs 4 lbs HEAVIER than my last scale.... dagnabbit, couldn't have gone in the other direction, could it?! And yes, of course, it is accurate... sigh!!!

susytwo; Are you looking for the Shirataki noodles in with the other refrigerated Tofu stuff? It's usually in the produce section somewhere.
However, my local Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger now) has a couple of aisles with "health" food and bulk stuff. There's a small refrigerated section in there and they just put the noodles in that area so check with Vegetarian Cheeses, meat substitutes, etc.

I'm not really crazy about them. I can eat them, but I agree with Ellen.....takes a lot to get rid of the slimy texture. I think there are other companies making them now too. I found some spinach flavored ones, but haven't tried them yet.

Try some of the other whole grain "pastas" too. Rice pasta, kamut, corn, etc.

My weigh in was yesterday too and I lost 0.4. Not bad considering all the hospital food, crazy schedules and stress this week.

Deanna

Yes, I looked where the tofu usually is. They have chowmein and sometimes udon noodles, but not Shirataki. I've tried a few of the local grocery chains, without luck. There is a specialty store that I frequent, but it's a little out of the way and I just haven't had a chance to make it down there. I'd be surprised if they didn't have them there.

We've tried rice pasta, but really didn't like the texture. I had a box of kamut noodles in my hand yesterday but didn't take them. We really like the buckwheat noodles, but it's hit and miss getting them at the local grocery.

I weighed in on Saturday. Down 15lbs since I started 9 weeks ago. I'm feeling pretty darn good. :)

Susytwo-congrats!

I am now down 11 lbs. Three weeks in a row I lost! Yippee!
I am going to think to myself, 11 lbs. to go and I will be 20 lbs. down. I cannot say, only 59 more to go or I will quit.
I am still motivated and still eating good stuff, just no fats to speak of.

Congrats to you too! Tomorrow is my scheduled weigh-in but I cant go. So I'll report back the following Thursday.

You go, Sherry!! You'll be a skinny b*tch again before we know it!

Annie

right Annie. I am already a bee-otch, just not a skinny one.

I'm down 8 lbs, which I'm excited about, but worried about upcoming visitors and Easter and how I will master all that without jumping off the wagon. Can we keep this thread going, maybe start a new one at the beginning of each month? (whoever is ready to post first) I wish this was a faster process!

I am sort of at a "new beginnings" stage of my life and I really want to change the way I eat. One thing that is always hard for me is lunch. I really want a nice big sandwich.

Considering that I do not want to spend a lot of time preparing lunch or making a cooking mess to clean up, what kind of lunches do you suggest that aren't killer high in calories? What do you have for lunch?

Ok, I am not sure this helps us here, but I heard the best line today. One of my colleques mentioned that she as an anorexic in remission. Yup, we both need to lose some weight.....

dedtired, I usually have whatever's leftover from the night before!

Actually, today I had some leftover arroz con pollo and I have a sugar free chocolate pudding in the fridge here at work for a snack later.

I like to bake my own bread for sandwiches because I can slice it thinly and so it's still good bread, but with fewer calories. I have found, though, that I'm happy with half a sandwich, as long as I have some raw veggies, a cup of soup or a piece of fruit, it's more like a "meal" then, at least to my mind...

My problem is in cutting up fresh vegetables, I've found that I need to just come home, wash them and cut them up, then put them in the fridge and so I have no excuse to grab something because it's "fast".

Annie

I agree, Annie. It's amazing how "fast" you can eat an entire stack of Pepperidge Farm cookies. I can wolf down one papercupful while I am trying to decide what to have for dinner.

Here's one low-cal healthy item I just love -- frozen grapes! I keep a bag of red ones in the freezer and I can grab a handful any time. They are nice and sweet and because they are frozen, it satisfies that need to chew something. I just love them.

dedtired, I tried those frozen grapes. They make my teeth ache, I don't even bite cold apples because I have those cold sensitive teeth. So, I freeze them but then I have to let them thaw before I can eat them and it just doesn't seem to be the same, LOL.

Annie

You should try Sensodyne toothpaste for cold-sensitive teeth.

The last batch of grapes I got are not very sweet, so I shudder every time I eat them, but I still eat them.

Yesterday and today I went for long walks -- probably 1.5 miles each time. When I got home I was starving so I devoured a few handsful of vanilla wafers. Aaargh. When I get really hungry, I have no self-control. I better get some soon, though.

I target between 400-500 calories for lunch. I work from home, and if I don't have leftovers from the previous nights dinner, I usually make something like the following:

A cup of Pacific Natural Foods red pepper soup. Plus 2-3 slices of ryvita bread with turkey breast or Laughing Cow cheese.

Quinoa Tabouli with pinenuts and chickpeas with some sugar snap peas with hummus to dip.

A vegetarian omelette, made with 1 egg and 2 egg whites, filled with salsa. Cottage cheese and fresh cut pineapple on the side.

Earth salad with slices of chicken breast. (mixed greens, apple slices, grapes, golden raisins, sunflower seeds and a lowfat yogurt dressing)

I weigh some of the foods to make sure I'm staying in my calorie target... chicken breast, seeds/nuts, cottage cheese, etc.

I also plan my afternoon snack ahead of time. If I know what I'm having, I look forward to it. If I skip my snack, I'm famished by dinnertime and am bound to overeat or snack while prepping diner.

My lunches are usually a Weight Watcher leftover from supper the night before. If hubby made something that didn't have leftovers, then I take cottage cheese (no fat) and peaches. Sometimes I have a sandwich with 1 thin slice of low fat swiss and one thin slice of low-sodium ham. I always try to keep cut up veggies on hand too. But lots of times, the cooked veggies from the night before weren't all eaten so I pack those up and heat them up at work.
I now look at calories for everything and figure the WW points. I am in the middle of making cookies for a reception at work. I figured out all the calories, points and discovered that each cookie will be 1.72 points. I get 24 points a day. Do I want to use it on cookies? Not really. I luckily am not as big into sweets as I am into starches, so if given a choice, I would rather have the fresh bread with a tiny bit of butter than 2 of those cookies. I think that makes it a litl easier for me. Does it mean I won't have a cookie at the reception? Hmmm. Maybe jut one, LOL.
Sherry

dedtired, I already use that. It helps a little...

Sherry, I also keep a big stack of those Birdseye frozen vegetables in the freezer at work so I never have an excuse to get junk from the snack machine for lunch. It works, usually.

Annie

Oh my... I haven't even attempted to diet in over a year... which is probably the last time I went to the gym though I still have the membership. I've just stopped caring (when I'm not single, I don't seem to care as much for some reason)... I still juice and have limited late night snacking, but that's more of a life style change and not a diet and I'm not doing it for the purpose of losing weight. I'm going to be happy if I'm fat or skinny.

I'm glad some of you are having success though, that's great :) I'm happy for you. Timer just dinged... guess my frozen pizza with donuts and ice cream is done >:-)

Sherry I could have written your post. I do the exact same thing.

WW has taught me to make better choices if anything at all. I'll look at that cookie and think, OK it's 2 pts.... I can have that OR I can have a blueberry bagel toasted with ww cream cheese on it for 2 pts. I pick the bagel.

By the way those alternative bagels are delicious! The Publix Bakery sells them.

Just made up some (4 oz) turkey patties; added fresh garlic, onion, salsa and a boat load of spices. Formed patties, wrapped them in saran wrap and put them all into a zip lock into the freezer. 4 pt each. Great grilled or pan fried in Pam then served over a green salad. OR Wonder Bread makes buns that are 1 pt each. Sara Lee just came out with 1 pt buns too by the way. Just read that on Hungry Girl's site.

I can't wait to go Thursday and see how much I've lost.

Shaun, I can't wait until Tuesday to see how much I lost!

Oooh you get to go before I do. Good Luck! Post how you did.

My niece, who lives a very healthy lifestyle, sent the following link to me regarding high-fructose corn syrup. In the past I have talked to others who are on medically supervised diets and they were all taught to stay away from HFCS. Research is showing that it causes rats to gain weight much more rapidly and to gain abdominal weight -- the worst place to put it on.

I recently discovered (finally read the label) that Heinz Ketchup has HFCS as one of the first ingredients. I switched to organic, which still has sugar but in another form, and I like it much better. It has more of a tomato flavor. Once you've been eating the organic ketchup, the Heinz tastes like syrup.

You can bet I will be avoiding HFCS as much as possible.

Here is a link that might be useful: Princeton study

Well Sherry? How'd ya do?

dedtired, thanks for that link, going to read it now.

2.8 lbs! I lost another 2.8 lbs! I am up to 13.8!! Yippee!

Terrific!!!!!!!!!!!

I go tomorrow.....*gulp*

Congrats Sherry!! Does anyone else have weight fluctuations the way I do? One day I am down two pounds and the next I've put back 1.5. It's very discouraging.

Congratulations Sherry!

Pam it's just because of what you say that my dietitian said DO NOT weigh yourself every day, because your weight can fluctuate easily from one day to another, due of the amount of water you have taken in, or the amount of calories you've burned and the end result is that you become discouraged. I also heard that advice from a physiotherapist who was once teaching my keep fit class.

Weighing yourself once a week is far better for your morale and it will be better for you because if you become obsessive about it you can actually cause yourself to stop losing weight. (So I've been told.)

I'm currently off my diet for a month to see if I can hold my current weight by eating carefully without denying myself too much and then I'll go back at end of April to get rid of the last 5 or 6 lbs. So far I haven't gained anything back and am not calorie or point counting. (I never did the points system.)

Keep at it ladies and good luck!

SharonCb

I agree entirely that weighing yourself every day can be discouraging. Picking one day of the week and weighing in on only that day makes sense. On the other hand, if I weigh every day, it keeps me aware of my eating. Otherwise, I would stuff four days a week, then try to diet for the three days before weigh in!

I am now off for a walk on this fine sunny day.

Okay, this thread is sinking too far down. How's it going? I am home and starving at the moment. It's lunch time and I want to eat everything that's not nailed down. What do you do in this situation?

I've been doing well with exercise and okay with eating. My nemesis continues to be dinner at my mother's on Sunday, along with the leftovers she sends home.

Dedtired, I sent all the tiramisu home with Amanda, that's how I deal with it. If it's not there, I can't eat it! So, take your mother's leftovers, but freeze reasonable portions or give them away or feed them to the neighbor's dog, or whatever.

I just had a nice plate full of fresh crunchy vegetables for lunch, red peppers/celery/carrots. I even had raw cauliflower which is not one of my favorites. No dip.

Good thing I like vegetables.

Before I put ANYTHING in my mouth, I ask myself if I'm really hungry and I think about it for a minute. Most of the time, frankly, I'm not. I just WANT something sweet or salty or carbohydrate laden.

I also set rules for myself. I can have anything I want. If I want a candy bar, I can have it. BUT...I have to walk to the store to get it. Half a mile there, half a mile back, most times I don't want it THAT badly, LOL.

My other rule is that if it isn't something healthy, I can only eat half, the other half has to be saved for another day. Anything that comes in a big package gets divided up into little packages, a reasonable portion. For instance, a package of Oreos would get divided into packages with two cookies. So, I could have Oreos. I can have one and save the other for tomorrow. I've learned to make an Oreo last a long, loooooooong time, LOL.

And since I'm a strong, independent, healthy woman I refuse to be dictated to by an Oreo! That second Oreo can just stay in the cupboard until it's time for me to eat it. So there.

Annie

Well, I've hit a plateau in my weight loss. I've only lost one pound in 2 weeks. Very frustrating, but I'm not discouraged. I'm pretty sure it's because I've been building muscle. I just have to be patient and keep at it.

dedtired, sorry you got to the point of starving. I try very hard to have snacks during the day so I don't get to the point where I'm so famished that I'll overeat, or be rooting through DS's easter basket while making my lunch.

I'm having my mid-afternoon snack right now....cottage cheese and fresh pineapple. Other favorites are low-cal yogurt with a 1/4 cup of granola mixed in, slices of apple with a tablespoon of almond butter for dipping, or sugar snap peas dipped in hummus.

For lunch today I had a big salad with a leftover salmon fishcake from last night's dinner. It was delicious. Having healthy leftovers or ready-to-eat dishes really helps when I get super-hungry.

I keep prewashed mixed lettuce and chopped veggies in containers in the fridge so that I can whip up a quick salad anytime. Once in a while, I make a big batch of quinoa tabouli, and I can dip into that every day as a side dish to soup, salad, ryvita bread with deli turkey, or leftover chicken or fish from the previous night's dinner.

Another way to curb a big appetite, make a smoothie. I blend 100g of low-cal yogurt, 1/2 cup of frozen berries, 1/2 cup almond milk and 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed. Depending on what fruit you use, this is only about 120-130 calories, and is very filling!

We went on vacation and I didn't have a lot of control over my diet due to staying with relatives, but I still did pretty well, plus we walked a ton which helped. I'm back on my "regular" routine again and looking forward to nicer weather to walk and losing more weight!

Well, I fell off the wagon on Friday (went out with girlfriends to a new wine bar) and then did good on Saturday until Sate evening came and I craved fish fry. LOL.
But, Sunday I crawled my fat butt back up onto the wagon. I weight in tomorrow. We did not have a WW meeting last week, so I am curious to see if my two days sabotaged me or not.
Susytwo, don't be discouraged. One pound in two weeks is still one pound. Look at it like this. In two weeks you removed the equivalent of a pound of butter from your body! Then it seems like a lot! As long as you lose a little or stay the same, you are doing well. Just give it some time until a new weight set point is achieved. Don't give up on us. You are doing great!
Dedtired, Annie has some good ideas. Portion control is the key, I think (well, along with avoiding really high fat stuff). I crave thngs like Cheezits. So I bought a box of low-fat Cheezits, figured 29 of them would be 2 WW points, and portioned them out into bags of 29. Then I eat them slowly. It is working. I just have to watch that those occasional binges are not too often or too huge. I am going to make it this time. I am so motivated.
Sherry

I officially Give Up. For now.

I've been on a 100% raw diet for about a week now. I carefully balance my diet to get everything I need and I feel amazing. Best of all, I've dropped 10 pounds. I have NEVER had this much energy and all of my cravings are gone. It's definitely not for everyone but I'm loving it!

Oh ded, don't give up. Or if you do, come back when you're ready.

I'm eating raw celery and carrots right now, along with my Diet Coke. I walked to work, walked home for lunch to let Cooper out, walked back to work. Tonight I have housecleaning to do but Cooper and I will be having chicken livers and something else I haven't decided yet...

Annie

Thanks for the encouragement Sherry. My body is still hanging on to weight like grim death. It's certainly not coming off as quickly as the first 10 did. I've been lifting weights aggressively 3x a week, so I'm certain it's muscle gain. I'm paying less attention to the scale now, and more attention to my measurements, which continue to reduce, so that's more important than the scale.

dedtired, what's up? Are you taking a break, or throwing in the towel completely? I hope it's not frustration that's making you throw in the towel. Or if you fell off the wagon, because you can get right back up there again.

I made a dozen cupcakes with buttercream frosting, for DS's birthday on Sunday. I'm so proud that I only ate one. But there have been 3 leftover ones sitting under the cake dome since Sunday and I'm tempted to throw them in the trash so that I don't have to look at them any longer.

I made some lovely beef vegetable soup with bulgur last night. We had leftover rib steaks from the weekend, and they made a wonderful soup. So filling, and less than 200 calories a bowl.

The last of the leftover steak went into my egg white omelette this morning, with red peppers and onions, and filled with 2 tablespoons of Annie's salsa. Huge breakfast for less than 300 calories. Who said dieting had to be hard? :-)

I have wonderful meals. As long as they are peppered with lots of fresh and cooked veggies to round them out, I am very satisfied. Pam, do you need some recipes that are low in calories/points? I hate to see you fall off the wagon. But if you need a break from it, it's OK. But we will be here to support you.
I lost another 1.8 lbs. I have lost every week since I started 4 or 5 weeks ago. I have lost a total of 15.6 now. That is my best motivation. And I even had a day where I had 7 pcs of fish fry and 2 scoops of regular ice cream and one day of 4 glasses of wine with snacks. But all the ohter day I was very good. So. You can still splurge now and then and still lose if you are really good when you are good.

17.6 lbs! I have lost 17.6 lbs.! Yippee! A weight loss every single week! But I have to tell you, I am working hard at it. How is everybody else doing?
Sherry

Congratulations Sherry!! Feels good, doesn't it?

I'm teetering between 16 and 17 lbs of weight loss. But I'm still on target to have lost 20 in total by mid May, which was the goal I set back in January.

However, being so close to my goal I know that I'm going to have to set another goal to lose some more over the summer. I'm still not happy with the size of my thighs or my upper arms. I'll probably be targeting to lose an additional 15 lbs by September.

That said, starting in May, I'm cutting my cardio down to 2x week and increasing the weight lifting to 4x week. This also means I'll be upping my calories to about 1800-2000/day. That's a huge increase from the 1400 I'm averaging now.

This is a little experiment for a month or two, to see if by focusing on building muscle mass, it will still help me lose inches. The problem is that in order to build muscle, I have to take in a lot more calories, so I'm worried about this backfiring on me. If I don't see success after the first two months, I'll go back to what I've been doing, since that's obviously working.

Congratulations to those who are getting closer to their goals! If you feel like giving up, maybe a change in the type of diet will get you remotivated.

It's been about a year since we switched our eating patterns and we're still maintaining our weight loss with three full meals a day and zero snacks except for a nightly 8 P.M. pot of tea and a sweet like cookies or nut bread. Luckily, we have a neighborhood co-op so I will usually give away 3/4 of a coffee cake or batch of cookies and keep the balance for two or three nights' teatime. Sometimes, DH will stop at the Italian bakery and buy two cookies or a piece of lemon cake to split for that evening.

I have to say that it has gotten easier but I have had to rethink my shopping and cooking styles. No more "one for the pot" any more or having items like Swiss cheese and sour cream on hand.

The best part is that we've lost our fear of overeating when we go out for dinner or to an event or trip where we will not be controlling the menu to the degree that we can at home. We do the best we can under the circumstances and then get back to our regular meal plan.