Posts by circularroom

I've been a member of several CSAs over a number of years and I Love them. I do a workershare - I don't have to pay anything, I just go out to the farm for at least 40 hours over the season and work off what I would have otherwise had to pay. My farms also allow you to do half shares and half workershares, where you pay half and work half or you get half a box or something. They're pretty flexible.

I get some stuff that I don't care for, but I just give it away, or trade for what I do like. The CSAs are always willing to work with you - if you don't like cabbage but love celery, they can work it out so you get way less cabbage and way more celery etc. I can never eat a whole box quick enough, though. I just chop up most of the veggies right away and freeze them. I also get goat milk, cheese, and all sorts of meats and eggs from my farm.

Hey stephanie, my boyfriend has also been on prednisone and every time he gets on it, he gains a ton of weight. I was recently reading up on some medications that I'm on when I found some people in forums talking about being on steroids and then their doctors added another medication to their regimn to control the weight gaining effects. I don't know if it's true or how safe it is, but you might want to talk to your doctor about how to counteract the weight gain from your steroids. Most likely you're not doing anything wrong, it's almost definitely the drugs.

Good morning all!

As far as at-home exercise goes, jump rope is awesome. You can even do it without the rope if you want ;) and it's way easy to do interval training with it. I should get back into that...

Anyway-  I feel kinda lame cause I'm still crapping out on actual exercise. No Ellipticalizing yet this week. But! I think it's kind of okay because I'm sleeping instead and with my psycho schedule and being completely exhausted all the time, I think it's fair to try and get some sleep for a while. Plus, I'm still doing weight training despite not doing cardio. Man are my triceps sore today from last night!

And I'm still doing well with food! I think as long as I can get and keep food on track, everything else will fall into place.
and since I won't have a scale all weekend long I weighed myself today at 123.5. Which is okay. Just gotta keep truckin.

Leslie Sansome, eh? That sounds interesting! I'll look for that the next time I get over to half price books- (I like to not pay full price for media ;) )

And the recipe is super easy! It's just however much chicken you like - I used about 30 oz of boneless skinless breasts and 14 oz of Jeanie-O turkey sausage, a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes not drained, 1 small red onions, a big red bell pepper and a big green bell pepper, 10 oz of mushrooms, 3 cloves of garlic and tons of assorted spices. I think I put a lot of chili pepper, powdered garlic and onion, a dash of salt, black pepper, oregano, maybe som curry spice - I bet canjun spices would be awesome with it too. I'm a spice-a-holic and stick a huge variety in everything I make. I pretty much just diced it all up, threw it in a giant baking dish at 425 F for like 45 min then took it out and stirred it up and threw it back in for another 20 min.

I think it turned out pretty well and made a TON of servings. And it's great on rice- especially since the rice soaks up any extra liquid. I think it would be neat to add some tomato paste to it - or if you like things sauce-y to add a big ol can of tomato sauce. There was plenty of liquid at the bottom of mine, so it's kind of a taste-test thing.

I tend to experiment with foods a lot. My roommate always makes fun of me cause I'll be like "I'm trying a new recipe!" and she'll laugh and remind me that despite the fact that I have a recipe in front of me, whatever I make is going to be tweaked so much that the recipe ends up little more than a suggestion rather than something I actually follow. But it usually turns out pretty tasty anyways! so Woot!

Well, currently I'm eating waaaay too many calories- but that's because I've been slacking and not counting for the last few weeks. I usually aim for right about 1200 calories. I mess up most weekends though but even with that - I even out right around 1400 cals. I've tried eating more in the past and I just instantly stop losing. Plus, if I actually accurately eat about 1200, I don't tend to be hungry - that is, provided I eat real whole foods and not cake or cookies or something.

My motivation at the moment sucks - so getting back on the bandwagon is my current motivation :P I've kind of been off the wagon for a couple of weeks now.

For exercise: I was using my elliptical machien 45 min a day 5+ days a week but lately that's dropped a bit. About to re-start that tomorrow, hopefully. I also work out with a personal trainer doing really heavy weightlifting and occasional boxing. It's awesome!

I highly recommend getting into kickboxing- it's fun! And lifting weights will help just about anybody. Don't be afraid of the weights!

What is everyone else doing for exericse and motivation?

I'm sorry to hear that you're having so many problems with your IUD. :( I actually got the Paraguard one right before the holidays and though it was intensely painful for about two days, it let up immensely after the third and I even just went back to my normal routine on the fourth day. (I got it on a Tuesday and was doing kickboxing on Friday with no problems). I definitely had breakthrough bleeding for a week after my period was supposedly done but had a completely normal, campless time since that first period. I'm suuuper happy with the paragaurd, but they definately told me to watch out for cramping and bleeding for the first three months.

From what I understand the Minera is the hormonal IUD and because of that, it's going to act very similarly to most other forms of hormonal BC. It's just such an intense process to get it put in in the first place that I would give it at least the 3-4 month run to see if things don't normalize. I know the cramps suck hard but it really might be worth it to stick it out and see. Personally, I feel that the 10 years of no taking pills or getting shots or anything is totally worth the month or three of cramps and bleeding.

Good luck - I hope it works out soon.

Heh, I've actually changed my goal weight several times - I'm just over 5' and about 118 now. I usually change my goal weight down though, not up. Alas, now I'm at a point where I'm actually gaining muscle and leaning out without dropping weight on the scale so I'm not sure what to set a goal weight at. :P

Pretty much, I think that if you're happy at the weight you're at stay there :) Potentially, you could just have more muscle making you lean without actually weighing much less. So, since you're at a healthy weight and feel good about it, it couldn't hurt to maintain for a while and see how you like it. You can always try and lose more weight later if you feel like it. :)

That said, I'm not sure how to maintain as I, too, have been doing the slow weight loss thing for so long now that I can't remember what it's like to stay one weight :P My guess though, would be to just eat more (good) calories (adding slowly if you're not comfortable just jumping from 1300 to 1800 or whatever your maintence should be) and don't cut back much, if at all, on the exercise. Exercise is good for you and will keep you healthier in the long run - besides, everyone likes to eat more :)  

Congrats on your weight loss thus far and good luck!

I know how you feel about the back fat :P Alas, ankow is right: unless you're taking steroids there is no way you'll bulk up your neck and there's no way to spot reduce.

That said, I'm not sure how this would work for you in regards to lower back pain, but I've noticed a real difference in how my back feels since I started doing boxing with a trainer. It doesn't work out your arms like you would think - it's all your back and core. Plus it's way fun. You might want to consider taking some different classes and things just to spice up your workout. In the meantime though, really all you can do is wait for the rest of the fat to drop off in whatever way it chooses - usually being where ever you want it gone most will lose it last. :p

Congrats on your loss thus far!

I don't have a wii fit (but I want one!) but I DO have Pump It Up - It's like Dance Dance Revolution, but it actually came out before DDR and has 5 pads instead of 4. It's two up corner two down corner and center. Now THAT game is a waaay better workout than DDR, IMHO. Especially if you use it in normal or hard mode instead of easy and do songs that keep the beat up. Like all of the artist Banya's songs. It's pretty much my favorite game. It's only for the PS2 and computer though (if you have an emulator). I'm sure it would also work on a PS3, but I've never tried. And! It's way cheap 'cause hardly anyone uses/knows about it.

someday I'll get a wii fit though! I'm glad to see that people actually like it!

aww yay for kitties! My girls (who happen to be my profile pic) were both adult adoptions from humane societies. I found through trial and error with my parent's cats that a kitten will not always look like it does - the color can change drastically as it grows and a playful kitten will not necessarily become a friendly adult cat. Hence opting for adult cats to adopt. Personality of a cat makes a huge difference, and I liked the idea of knowing what I was getting into when I got my girls.

As far as cost goes, Wanda- the tabby - has crystals in her urine that had something to do with the way her body processed phosphorous so she's on perscription cat food for life now that costs a good $20 for a 4 lbs bag from the vet (which lasts about 2 weeks)- but it works to keep her from being uncomfortable and peeing on all my furniture. There's no way you can be sure your cat or kitten won't have that kind of a problem, but if it does the cost to treat it can be pretty high. Not to scare you or anything, it's just a possibility. Actually, I've heard a lot of good things about getting pet insurance, too. Just in case.

So for cost, I actually end up spending $60/ month on food (both dry and wet) and somewhere between $10 and $20 on litter plus normal vet bills of about $100 per cat per year since they're both young adults.

Hi! I too have been away from CC for a while, but I wanted to reply to this! As some of the previous posters mentioned, it really depends on where you live. But that said, I met my current boyfriend on plentyoffish.com and we've been dating for nearly two years now and I completely adore him :) And since our first "date" was just a coffee date, it went fantastically.

If you go through free dating sites, chances are that the same bunch of people are going to be on most of them, so you don't have to wade through all the profiles. And you just have to be really picky about who you respond to. I pretty much refused to respond to anyone who didn't write me a coherent message or anyone who couldn't be bothered to use basic grammer skills in their personal messages. It also helped to mention things that i was interested in that are more eclectic and that got real conversations started.

I wouldn't be too terrified of meeting anyone as long as you can hold an interesting email thread with them for a while first. And as long as you keep the first meeting or so public and tell all your friends the wheres and whos, it should be fine.

Internet dating is actually getting to be more of a norm, so it's pretty unlikely you'll meet the next Ted Bundy ;) Good luck!

honestly, a lot of these questions you should really ask your doctor about. you won't HAVE to use any other form of bc, but it's safer if you do - especially if you're switching partners or don't have a steady partner etc. but you definitely won't have to take pills AND be on the ring. It would be more like, be on the ring and use condoms or spermicide or a femcondom etc...

How much it costs is often entirely dependent on your insurance or lack thereof. If you're really looking for an estimate though, I pay between $20 and $30 a month.

If you're really serious about getting it, make an appointment with your gynie and bring a huge list of questions to ask them. Asking questions is awesome! They should be able to tell you ALL this stuff and write you a perscription to boot :)

I've been on it for well over a year and a half and I absolutely love it as well. It hasn't caused any trouble in losing weight, either. I was never really moody in the first place, but as far as mood swings go, it definitely hasn't caused any. I really haven't actually seen any bad side effects.

Personally, I think it's wonderful - and I've tried pills and patches by the bunch and this is the best (for me) by far. You don't feel it, you don't have to worry about it but once a month and it's super easy to use. I just have to number the weeks on my calander to make sure I don't forget about it completely. I think that it's one of the lower estrogen ones, so that helps too. And I'm pretty sure you don't have to have any certain type of body or genes to use it - you just have to be comfortable enough with yourself to put it in and take it out :) And yeah, anyone can get it.

I highly recommend it :)