Posts by sunnyhikes

SW: 166ish   GW: 148     (145 By Jan 5th or so)

23rd Oct: 166?

30th Oct: 165

6th Nov: 162.4! (Yay!!)

4st Dec: 163.6 (Much improved)

11th Dec:

18th Dec:

25th Dec MERRY XMAS!

If I can manage to break out of the 160s into the 150s by xmas, I'll be the happiest person ever. I can do it! Broken foot or not, I'm trying!! 

SW: 166ish   GW: 148     (145 By Jan 5th or so)

23rd Oct: 166?

30th Oct: 165

6th Nov: 162.4! (Yay!!)

13th Nov:

20th Nov:

27th Nov:

4th Dec:

11th Dec:

18th Dec:

25th Dec MERRY XMAS!

At 2lbs a week, I'll be able to make it. That's hard work!

Original Post by carrie33:

I'm in! Checking in with you on Mondays has been helpful, but I've been slacking of late.  I've only lost 3 pounds in the last 5 weeks.  I'd like to get back up to 1-1.5 a week. 

Starting Date: 3/16/09
Starting Weight: 220

Current Weight and date: 170 11/4

Goal Weight: 150

Comments: I'm officially down 50 pounds as of today.  Hooray!

Congrats on your progress!!!

SW: 175 (when I started using CC)

CW: 163.3

GW: 145 by January 1st! 

Original Post by thymine:

I got a nasty cold/fever... too tired and weak to get out of bed for food right now or even think about exercise

Sorry to hear that. I hope ya feel better. 

Hey there,

I see this forum has been dead for a time... Any new people in the 5'8" to 5'10" range?

I'm 5'8" and I want to see 145 again. I have 19lbs to go. 

I'd imagine twitter only works through accountability - telling lots of people how you're doing. I'd probably lose weight faster/better if I had to get up every morning and tell 500+ strangers my progress. 

I wouldn't do too much while you're sick. I think walking is about as much energy exertion as you might want. Remember, your body is repairing itself and until you've fully recovered it needs plenty of rest. If you're still restricting calories, your body will need even more rest due to the lack of nutrients its receiving. 

Take it easy. Recover first. 

I hope you feel better.

Ever made a warm salad? If you really like salads, you can start playing with all sorts of additions of warm foods. Spinach is an excellent base for warm salads. Below are some things I might use:

1. Steamed or Boiled Beets (not canned) Very filling!
2. Steamed Broccoli
3. Steamed Asparagus (if you can find it in the winter..)
4. Flavorful rice (I add 1/4 cup right on top for a little body/warmth)
5. Hard boiled egg (if you eat them)
6. Any kind of warm squash! (Bake until just slightly firm. Works better for salads).
7. Eggplant (I lightly cook these in a touch of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette).
8. Spice! Add a little heat to your salad with hot pepper flakes or chili peppers.
9. Warm Dressing: I find that good quality (not kraft/wishbone/etc) honey mustard or green goddess dressings are pretty good when served warm over a warm salad. 

I completely understand how you feel in all this. When it's cold out, I tend to ditch fruit/veggies almost entirely. I have to very consciously make myself eat things like warm salad. 

Have you considered finding a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group? If not, you might want to look into it. I get a giant box of fresh organic veggies and fruits every week and it keeps me eating them because I simply refuse to waste good food!

Good luck!

P.S. Like sukibahsoun says, tea is a good way to go. I highly recommend Genmaicha (brown rice green tea) if you can find it. There's another post on green tea:http://caloriecount.about.com/green-tea-ft155 406#4

Yes and no. I'm obsessed with food but I don't let it control me. If you're a foodie (I totally am) then I suggest you read a book by Michael Pollan called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. I think you might discover a thing or two about the foods you've been eating and you may gain a lot more control over "bad foods". 

The book can be hard to sit and read in small parts so if you don't have a lot of time on your hands, I highly recommend finding an audio version (available at lots of libraries) and listen to it. The reader is quite wonderful. You'll never look at food the same way again.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend checking out The End of Overeatting: Taking Control Over the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler (I think that's his name). There is a little video on the amazon site that's a note from the author on the book. 

I think it's really important for you to understand what you're eating and how it affects your appetite and your choices. You might be amazed at how you're programming your own food desires through what you currently eat.

Good luck!

Favorite Thing to Mix with Chocolate Chips: Cookie dough

Favorite Fruit: Pluot

Nutella or Peanut Butter: Almond butter!

Favorite Vegetable: carrot

Cream Cheese or Butter: butter

Chips Ahoy or Oreo: I wouldn't touch either one. So much crap in these.

Favorite Type of Pancake (plain, blueberry, chocolate chip, etc): Buckwheat! 

Favorite Food to Waste Calories On: Espresso. Is that really a food? 

Favorite Halloween Candy: Reese's, the little M&M sized ones.

Favorite Type of Cereal: Homemade granola

Hot Dogs or Bratwurst: Both :x

Favorite Type of Chip: Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips

Favorite Flavor and Brand of Ice Cream: Pinkberry Froyo Original flavor w/ raspberries!

Worst Binge or High Calorie Food (that you love): Hamburger, fries and beer all in combination. 

Hey there,

My favorite way to find exercises is youtube! Yep, youtube. If you can find 'Plank Glute Kickbacks' and 'Glute Hip Lifts with side extension' they're both super simple to do and will totally get you into shape. I love the Glute Hip Lift with side extension in particular - if my thighs start touching while walking, it's because I haven't been doing these. 

A good thing to remember: all of your muscles are interconnected! Don't focus too much on just your thighs. If you keep your core included, you'll actually be able to accomplish much more through more precise movements! Your workout will be much more effective and the results will come more quickly. I'd look for any exercise that works 3 muscle groups (abs, glutes, abductors) at a time if you want a quick fix. 

Good luck!

(Post edit: I realize that the exercise names might have been kind of vague so I looked for a youtube video that had a good explanation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENCQhDiPCtA )

Original Post by dkn:

2 pounds is to small a variation. That's not fat, probably just water and intestinal content. Always weigh yourself in the morning right after you wake up, before eating or drinking anything.

Agreed. You should look at long-term changes instead of small fluctuations. The human body can gain 4lbs of liquid/food/waste. 

I stop eating at 9pm but I generally don't get to bed before 1am. I guess that's at least 4 hours of awake time (plus 7 hours of sleep) and I rarely eat breakfast before 9am. I don't do "bedtime snacks". I think they're habit forming and a waste of calories.

To each their own! :)

I love green tea and I drink it all year long! There are some good things to know about it if you're going to drink for health purposes.

1. Not all tea is created equal. Choose whole leaf (usually loose) over bagged tea. Bagged tea is frequently remnants/scraps/leftovers. Unfortunately that means it can include stems and other plant parts without your knowledge. 

2. Brewing. Green tea is best brewed at no hotter than 175 degrees. If you brew the tea at a higher temp, you run the risk of scalding the leaves which gives off the trademark bitter flavor. Take a cue from the Chinese traditional brewing: let your loose tea "rest" in cool or room temp water for about 5 minutes. Strain off that water and brew at desired temp. The soaking helps to relax the leaves and you'll receive a much better flavor (and nutrients!).

3. Choose a quality tea. Again, this is similar to the loose vs bagged tea. There are all sorts of wonderful green teas available. I highly recommend the following:

• Genmaicha - Green tea with toasted brown rice. Perhaps the most common green tea in Japan. One of my favorites! 
• Kukicha or Kukimatcha - A delicate green tea either with or without added matcha powder (high quality green tea powder)
• Vert du Vietnam - I realize this one is not widely available. If you happen to find it, it has a wonderful robustness with a rounded finish. I pair this green tea with everything from breakfast to dessert. 
• Gyokuro - The Grand-Poohbah of tea. This is by far the top on my list. Gyokuro requires special handling as its being grown. Just a sniff of the leaves and you'll immediately know the difference between that and the "stuff in the bag". This is the smoothest, softest and most delicate of the green teas. It's also what matcha powder is frequently made from. This tea is highly prized in Japan and has long been associated with good health. Don't be shocked at the price - a little goes a long way and per ounce of tea it's actually cheaper than coke or pepsi!! 

4. Organic over "conventional". I think this one speaks for itself, but if you're not going to drink the organic stuff, you might want to give your tea the cool-temp soak/rinse before brewing. If you're concerned about health, you're more than likely concerned with the idea of steeping pesticides before ingesting them. 

5. If you can find a good local tea shop, see if you can get samples. I'd avoid the "flavored teas." Some of the additives are quite scary.

Good luck!

Sunny

Eating at night isn't a huge problem so long as you're not interrupting sleep to do so. Lots of people have all kinds of ideas about fasting while you're asleep, but as long as you're sticking to your allotted calories, you'll be fine. 

If you're getting hungrier at night you might want to take a good hard look at what you're eating for dinner and when you're eating in relation to when you sleep. 

On a side note, I always try to start a meal with a fruit or whole portion of uncooked veggie like an apple, pear, carrots, cucumber slices, etc. If I eat one of these things (full portion!) before eating anything else in the meal, I'll not only eat less but feel fuller longer. I know there's some technical stuff behind that like the fiber from the fruit/veggies changing the way we digest food. The important part is I eat less and stay fuller longer. 

Good luck!

P.S. There's not a whole lot of nutritional value in lettuce w/ light ranch... :\