Posts by vegetariangeek

My cousins were in this situation - parents went to the US as visiting professors from England, had kids in US, the kids got dual citizenship. Easy-peasy, just have to renew two passports.

Welcome Colleen! Gymnastics coaching sounds pretty cool!  What kinds of workouts do you do?

VP, glad to hear you got a better appointment. It's soooo frustrating waiting for things like that. First thing in the morning is usually the best time to go.

Oil painting on the beach sounds amazing!! Have you painted a lot before?I guess since it's a late 20s/early 30s group, we'll all have similar TV frames of reference  :)

I think you might have a point about vitamins - I should really have a sit down and look what at what nutrients I'm getting, and not getting. Sometimes I tell myself "I'm a vegetarian, I  eat plenty of spinach" but it's really only a few pieces here and there.  I hadn't heard of Kombucha before, so I looked it up - it sounds really interesting.  I don't think I'm up for making it myself, but I'll check if my health food store has any.

I'm going to see Men Who Stare At Goats tonight! The movie on Sunday was a documentary about Inuit communities - really really good.

I have never tried racketball. Is it as dangerous as it looks? Any injuries?

Welcome nboren and good luck!  What kind of changes are you making that are working for you?

Foxy, falling asleep at your own party sounds tough - I hope it clears up soon. If you're eating well that should help your immune system :) VP you'd better get all your vitamins in there too!  Are you actually puking or just feeling like it? It's great that you've  got the energy to exercise.

I'm hoping next week will be lighter. A few things this week were volunteer commitments that only come up once in a while, but came all at once this week. And the random drop-ins for dinner - pretty out of the ordinary.  I guess I'm spoiled in that I do get a certain amount of free time - I should learn to appreciate it more.

Your weekend sounds great, VP! Date nights are so awesome :) Are you able to put your head down somewhere at work and catch a few winks? Do you have an office door that shuts?

I've been super-busy at work the past few days and "just grabbing a bite here and there" is adding up! I had a really low-cal dinner to try and compensate last night but tonight I'm supposed to go to a movie RIGHT after work so I have to think of something so I don't pig out on popcorn (I will try to find a grocery store on the way to the theatre and grab some baby carrots or something).

The weekend was pretty good, I did a lot of walking on Saturday and went to the gym with my BF on Sunday (that was really fun - we hardly ever work out together). I took a brisk walk at lunch yesterday too. If I can hold out till 8:30 when the movie ends and have a healthy dinner I'll feel like I'm doing well today.

Did you guys do anything fun for Halloween? I stayed home with a big bowl of candy for trick-or-treaters and not a single kid showed up! (I purposely got candy that I don't like so I wouldn't eat it.)

My party food/potluck contribution is usually hummus - people love it and if you make it with dried chick peas it's sooo cheap.  I usually serve it with rice crackers which are also very cheap.

Mashed sweet potatoes are cheap and filling. I usually have lentils on the side.

Veggie chili made from dried beans and perhaps a bit of rehydrated soy protein is CHEAP, yummy, and really really easy if you make it in a crock pot.

Lentil "burgers" are cheap and easy AND nutritious and delicious!

Vermicelli rice noodles are very cheap where I live so I cook a lot based on those - for a treat I toss them with some frozen green peas and garlic, and a combination of soy sauce, natural peanut butter, and red chili flakes.

Another cheap snack when you're having guests: air-popped popcorn (I buy the popcorn in the bulk section). You can make it fancy by sprinkling cinnamon or garlic salt or Parmesan cheese on it.

I'm not getting on the scale for another week. Maybe two.  Last time I did it was SHOCKING.  I am totally feeling your pain Foxy, it's like right before I eat the Oreos my brain says "it's not worth depriving yourself" and right after I eat them I think "nope, it would have been."  I have a concert tomorrow night and I feel like nothing will fit :(

Aunt Flo just arrived so I basically feel like crap and unfortunately have to go out after work when I'd ideally like to be in bed with a cup of tea by 6pm.  To add to the bloat-tasticness, I had to go to my BF's mother's birthday dinner last night and it was soooo salty.  And I tripped and seriously bruised my knee so I'm moving around slower than usual.

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts ... I'm going to the gym at lunch today.  I ate celery and peanut butter for my morning snack and I have apples for this afternoon. I have Saturday free to relax.

Fingers crossed for you VP!

Ugh, I keep sabotaging myself here.

I made it to the gym on Wednesday as well, went for a walk yesterday, and plan to hit the gym at lunch today ... but I've been gorging myself on sugary things. Way over calorie budget yesterday and Wednesday.

I feel like my arms and legs are getting nicely toned at the gym but like the fat is just moving from  my thighs to my stomach. I do not like this spare tire! I really need to keep away from  the sweets ...

Mine was pretty nice - I also enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine on Friday night :) I hit the farmer's market Saturday morning and made a huge fresh dinner on Saturday night - and we're still eating it! My BF seems to be enjoying the stuff I'm picking out, which is kind of shocking (he ate lentil salad for lunch today and said he liked it!)  My gym plan is going a little awry as I had to work through lunch today and I have another meeting tomorrow. Maybe I'll do that 30 Day Shred DVD after supper tonight ...

Exercise is a great way to boost your metabolism.  Foxy's rule of thumb is "Sweat Every Day" - I am trying to live up to that!

I made it to the gym yesterday and Tuesday and I feel pretty good about that.  I've got some of that muscle soreness that says "I worked out!" and I love that.  But I'm also feeling fat, fat, fat after Thanksgiving. I'm supposed to go to a birthday party tomorrow night and I feel so self-conscious right now, I almost don't want to go.

Must snap out of bad attitude!!

Sorry, double post.

Ewwwweww.

Welcome, monsterswan!  Most of us in this group are in our late 20s/early 30s and looking at this as a good way to encourage each other to live healthy lifestyles. We're always happy to have another member :)

If you're sort of new to nutrition and weight loss, one thing you may not have heard of before is "starvation mode."  On the whole, eating fewer calories means weight loss, but there is a certain point that you can get to where you eat so little that your body thinks it's starving (literally, that it might never get any more food!) so it holds on to everything you give it as fat - it's trying to store up as much as possible just in case you run out of food.  For most women, eating anything less than 1200 calories/day will cause their bodies to go into starvation mode - not only will they not lose weight, but they will gain weight.  Something that a lot of people have had success with is "calorie cycling" - where you keep your body guessing - eat 1400 for a couple of days, then 1700 for a couple of days, and then back to 1200 or 1400 (of course this all depends on your activity level as well).

1200 calories is considered a minimum just to keep your organs working properly - you can cause damage if you eat less in the long term.

I also noticed that you don't have too much protein in your usual menu.  Protein is really important to keep your muscles working!  You can easily add a little bit, like flax seed to your cereal and some lentils with your pasta :)