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| The Lounge | What do you think about yourself? | Nov 18 2009 21:15 (UTC) |
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The only complaints I have about myself is sometimes I'm lazy. Its usually hard to get me motivated or moving. Those characteristics are what make the "wish" I have for a better body difficult to acheive. But even as I say that I'm still proud of everything I've changed to accomplish a better healthy (about 15lb less) me. But I'm honest. And I'm caring. And I am a good friend (if you can handle honesty). Most of all I am patient. Very patient. I like me - but I also know that other people don't have to. I don't like everyone so not everyone has to like me (But I still sometimes would like everyone to like me!) All in all - I'm a pretty darn good catch/friend/employee/family. And thats kind of awesome to know I can walk around with that kind of mentality. |
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| The Lounge | Debts, debts and stress, who understands this? | Nov 11 2009 16:24 (UTC) |
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That situation certainly sounds extremely stressful! Although I have never been in debt... I was never born into infinite money either. Somehow taught myself the ins and outs of how money works (or doesn't) early on - which when I read stories like yours I am sooo grateful for. As to how to solve the problem: I agree with the posters before. Its like calorie counting! You have to know exactly what is coming in (after taxes) and going out to see the results. Keep track of the interest you are paying on the credit cards in addition to the final balances. That should help motivate you to pay it off. You're likely paying a LOT of interest and none of your actual purchases. PAY MORE THAN THE MINIMUMS! Otherwise you will never ever ever get ahead. You'll likely have to reprioritize things for a while until you aren't sinking. Which sounds stressful now - but it will be way better to be in control of your finanaces. |
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| The Lounge | Do you talk to your pets? | Nov 11 2009 16:11 (UTC) |
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I seem to be the only person with a bird! I talk to her all the time. I've been told she'll go crazy otherwise. Needs some kind of social interaction and I'm never getting another bird! Despite all of my chitter chatter and "hellos" the bird has not learned to mimick anything. Not even whistles. This is probably a good thing. Talking to pets makes a house much less lonely. And I think it could be healthier than talking to yourself. The bird might think its name is "Shut up" because she probably hears that more often. The bird knows "Go home" "hello" "popcorn" and to stop pulling earrings when I yell "OUCH! NO!". She also has an attitude problem but is completely obsessed with me. Who can blame her??? |
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| The Lounge | Need a quick, cheap, easy, not slutty Halloween costume...ideas? | Oct 21 2009 19:58 (UTC) |
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Last year I was deathly ill up to Halloween and so didn't even think I would be going out - but last minute I was feeling better. I was a paper bag princess (like from the book!). Take paper bags (the giant sized ones used for lawn cuttings/debris) and fashion it into a dress. (I just cut arm and head holes in it and turned it inside out to hide the writing but you could spend some more time making it fashionable) Smear soot/dirt on you so you look like you've been in a fire - wear a plastic princess crown. Ta da! This year I think I'm going as a rockstar and borrowing a 'guitar hero' game guitar and teasing my hair and adding coloured fake hair and wearing crazy clothes & makeup. Perhaps drawing on a tattoo. Cool ideas I've seen:
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| The Lounge | I don't want to grow up! | Oct 21 2009 15:40 (UTC) |
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"I don't want to grow up" "Being a grown up sucks" Doesn't sound like you're putting to much thought on the positive sides of being done school. Being a "grownup" doesn't suck.
I love being on a real schedule. I love not eating noodles for dinner every night. I love the switch from keg parties to cocktail or dinner parties. I love what I call "playing house" with decorating and styling to my likes. Even though I look back on school with very fond memories - I am glad to have moved on. Besides I promise you if you stayed behind and all your friends moved on it would not have the same "glamour" as it does in this moment (I did that). Life is good - go out there with a positive attitude and don't get stuck in the past by not looking forward to the new things "growing up" has to offer. Right now you've just got the jitters from the "change". You're starting to face different responsibilities from school life - but really not anything more challenging or "Suckier". Keep in mind: You're still the same person - just starting out on a new track. You were probably equally as nervous about the change from highschool to university/college. You can do it - just look forward to it instead of being so down in the dumps. |
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| Health & Support | Need Help: Dieting on Budget | Oct 14 2009 19:20 (UTC) |
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First of all - don't buy prepared foods. Spending some time in the kitchen peeling and chopping your own fruits/veggies/salads or re-portioning some meat you got on sale for individual serving sizes is going to help your budget out big time. (Sale meat is my favourite - often I can get huge roasts for 50% off if you are willing to stop in the grocery store on occasion and only buy on sale items) Eat an orange or apple instead of buying the juice. Coupon clipping sounds silly - but if it is a basic that you USE then why not save 50 cents? ( But don't buy things JUST because you have a coupon). Buy in bulk the things you know you can get through before they go bad. Most grocery stores will have a price/kg (or lb) breakdown on items. Make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck on the brand and size you are buying. Plan ahead. If you know WHAT you will be eating that week then you won't buy extras that will just go bad or be ignored. AND sometimes you can save money and time by re-using items in several recipes throughout the week. Also you are less likely to resort to fast food or something pre-packaged. If you added up the cost of a well thought out home cooked meal it will almost ALWAYS be less than the take out version. |
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| Motivation | I Am Beautiful | Oct 08 2009 13:20 (UTC) |
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Original Post by jcl76: I think its important to know that BEAUTY is not necessarily attractiveness. Being beautiful is more than your hairstyle or your clothes or your weight or even your face. It is how you carry yourself and how you feel and act and treat people. Its about confidence and knowing who you are and loving yourself. I think this is a fantastic thing to throw out in the world. Kudos megham1! I am worth every minute of effort I put into making me healthier. In fact I'm so beautiful I should dedicate more minutes of my day to healthier efforts! |
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| Recipes | Potato help! | Oct 08 2009 13:14 (UTC) |
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You could just splurge once during the year and make the high calorie recipe your family loves? My family always has "cheesy mashed" potato casorole for holiday dinners. Basically mashed potatos whipped in with cream cheese (light) and sour cream (low fat) and onion salt or garlic salt and ground pepper. No... it is not low cal - but we make the lighter choices where we can in the recipe and only eat it 2 or 3 times a year. They're great because you make them the day before and then reheat them in the oven when you need them! |
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| Weight Loss | hello my friends: Thanksgiving is coming up. What you can do is to eat 20 oz. of baked turkey with green vegetables | Oct 07 2009 19:21 (UTC) |
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Hey so did anyone catch the post made with this OP's blogger site? I was lucky enough to see it - it seems to be deleted now. I don't know if I should be on the floor laughing or crying about the state of the world I live in. ahhhhh. Anyways - it made me appreciate my life a whole lot more. I am excited for turkey and family and Pillsbury crescent rolls and apple pies and cheesy sourcream mashed potatoes this weekend. Maybe I'll throw in a few green beans. |
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| Foods | the truth about coconut | Oct 07 2009 18:55 (UTC) |
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Everything in moderation? I wouldn't go basing your diet around it. But it shouldn't hurt to have some once in a while as long as you balance out the saturated fats for the day (you still need some saturated fats in your diet!) I know I was warned not to drink too many coconut drinks on my all-inclusive resort vacation because coconut has a laxative effect. It was too bad because the coconut drinks were fantastic. All-inclusive resorts = NOT good for weight loss. I am so not helpful. |
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| Fitness | Nautious during workout | Oct 07 2009 15:35 (UTC) |
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Sounds like low blood sugar to me.... You obviously should not have pushed through it if you are feeling that ill. So don't feel guilty. You did the right thing by going home. Passing out or throwing up at the gym = not so good. But make sure you have given your body enough energy to push through a workout like that. Have something with some protein and high fibre pre workout to make sure you can get through it. Also make sure you are hydrated. If you just have a bug that is the kind of bug where your body just needs rest to get better. Since it is TOM it could also be low iron so make sure you're getting your dark leafy greens in! HOpe you are feeling better now. |
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| The Lounge | Looking at other people's cart while shopping... | Oct 07 2009 15:27 (UTC) |
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I probably look like a cheap ass. But still probaqbly a 3 or 4 on the scale. They can't tell the bag of flour I picked up is really for chocolate chip cookies.... Making things from scratch really help in the judgement department while you're out in the store! Except for the bare necessatities which probably dragged me to the store in the first place... my cart is usually full of sale items. I love "sale" grocery shopping. 50% off meats, Half price canned beans... its not that I can't afford the full price - I just love a good bargain.
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| Weight Loss | why am I at the grocery store twice a week now that I'm dieting? | Oct 07 2009 14:45 (UTC) |
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Cooking for one often means you get lots of leftovers and also can make it more of a challenge to get inspired to cook for yourself. Freezing meals for those nights where you just don't feel like cooking anything or to grab on the run for a lunch are lifesavers. So any night you are inspired to cook - do it! And then those busy weeks won't result in you crashing on your healthy eating because you'll have a stash of homemade goodness in the freezer! If you are just starting to cook for yourself you will notice the grocery bills will be larger at first - new recipes = new ingredients that you likely didn't have on hand before. This initial higher cost will likely level out over time. If you are worried about things going bad - try more frozen veggies or bags of the frozen fruit so you can get out one serving at a time. Frozen usually means higher nutritional values anyways because they are frozen very quickly after being harvested and lose less nutritional value that way. I will often buy meat in the "Club Packs" and then when I get home divide them up into meal sizes and freeze them seperately. It works out cheaper to buy in bulk and handier to have the meat frozen in meal portions (1-2 chicken breasts, 1lb of ground beef, slice up a big salmon etc). Also buy things on sale and find recipes to suit what you found on sale! One of my favourite things to make for one is a big pot of chili. High fibre beans, cooked tomatoes, some extra peppers and mushrooms and you've got yourself a warm hug of a meal! I dish out single portions into containers for freezing and its my favourite go to freezer meal! Soups can be really easy and yummy too. Try the recipe searcher on here for some great ideas to suit your meal moods. One of my other favourite recipe search websites is myrecipes.com. If you're worried about the portions the best thing to do is get yourself a food scale. You can find a decent one for under $30 and it is fun to see how close your estimating is to the real deal. Good luck and I hope you stick to it! |
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| The Lounge | I can't get to your website ... | Oct 01 2009 19:12 (UTC) |
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Thank you for sharing - this made my day.
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| Fitness | How can i tone legs | Sep 28 2009 20:22 (UTC) |
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My additional opinion: Runners historically "eat up" a lot of muscle - especially the long distance endurance stuff. (Cardio doesn't just burn fat you know!) Running alone should not be used as your one and only strength training routine! Your muscles need weight training to improve and/or maintain: Squats, Lunges, Deadlifts... I wish I could find the link to the article I'm thinking about but I don't have the time to search for it. Muscle loss could have attributed to the scale reading an overall weight loss.... but your legs reflected that muscle loss by not being in the "shape" you were hoping for. A strong body is a sexy body!
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| Fitness | How can i tone legs | Sep 28 2009 15:45 (UTC) |
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*ding ding ding!* I love when I read replies and don't want to correct any of the advice. Weight training and a deficit of calories for fat loss will give you the best results! so.... ^ what amthystgirl said. |
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| The Lounge | Halloween Costumes | Sep 23 2009 18:48 (UTC) |
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I'm going to be taking a nude coloured pair of bottoms and pasting a wad of dark curly fake hair to it - and then I'm going to have a trench coat on and go as a female flasher. I haven't quite figured out what to do about sensoring the top bits... maybe a nude bodysuit ... or .... madonna cones. Something shiny - headlights? haha. not sure how to deal with them. To be determined... |
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| Fitness | Eat, then exercise in the PM? | Sep 18 2009 16:42 (UTC) |
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I have to admit if my butt hits the couch at home I'm done for the night. I start in the office at 7:30am so considering the fact that I have to eat and shower and that my gym doesn't open until 6am it puts the squash on pre-work workouts. So I am done work at 4:30. I have to eat before working out or I crash and don't have a very good workout - so usually a snack after work then immediately to the gym for a workout. Also my boyfriend gets home around 6 and since he's a lazy pile I feel like I'm slighted if I have to get my ass to the gym and he gets to sit on the couch - I feel like I miss out on... something.... Lazyness I guess. Got to get that workout out of the way right away or I end up napping or tv watching. |
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| The Lounge | Halloween costume idea's | Sep 16 2009 20:24 (UTC) |
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A friend of mine did an AWESOME Medusa costume one year. She had a long sleeve (hangy sleeves) fitted mini dress with wicked sexy heels and had her hair up in ringlets - but with little dollar store rubber snakes woven through it all and then did some awesome shadowy evil/sexy looking makeup.
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| Fitness | Spot Training = Fail. So can I use the theory in reverse? | Aug 07 2009 19:51 (UTC) |
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I guess I'm asking permission to skip doing ab work at the gym. I'm after more muscle and less fat - everywhere. You know - since spot training doesn't work. I know spot training - working my abs for example - won't make the fat on my abs disappear - I know its more complicated than that. But if you don't work out that particular area to exhaustion - are you doing enough to gain/maintain the muscle in that locale (abs for me) through the other exercises? But I like the general answers so far! I know I work my abs in my general weight lifting (example: deadlifts/squats/ even chin ups). I still question if its "enough". |
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| The Lounge | Top or Bottom? | Aug 06 2009 20:38 (UTC) |
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Most of the shelving in my kitchen is high - but I do try to put the things I use most often within reach. too much top is hard to get down if you're short! Things that go down: Heavy things. Like a bag of potatoes. Maybe canned goods. However since I do most of the cooking (and because I'm the better organizer) I put the groceries away myself (or will move them to the appropriate places later) so that I know where to find the things when I go to cook. Otherwise if its not where it is supposed to be... I think we're out of the ingredient! |
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| The Lounge | I had no idea what I was missing. | Aug 06 2009 20:32 (UTC) |
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I hated a bunch of stuff as a kid: but I hear your taste buds do mellow out with age and you will end up developing different taste standards. I'm still working on a few things. Things I used to hate and now like/eat: - cooked tomatos (smooth sauce was ok but lumps? ewww! haha) Things I still hate: - almonds |
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| Motivation | Uh oh...[rant] | Aug 05 2009 16:03 (UTC) |
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If quitting is part of your "habit" then you're just trying to follow your old habits - which you know don't work! Break the bad habits! Form new ones! (like the riding!) It's perfectly normal to get the blahs about the whole process. Its hard! And it takes work! And humans are naturally kinda lazy (IMO). So don't quit. Just push through the blahs and maybe give yourself a day off and then get right back to the things you know will work. If you made too many sudden changes they may seem overwhelming? It's a bit of a rollercoaster with ups and downs and humps to get over. But in the end you'll be glad you hung on for the ride. Hang in there! Now is a perfect time to stick to it and do this for YOU. |
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| Weight Loss | WOO HOO! 10lbs so far.... | Aug 04 2009 21:01 (UTC) |
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I think it was really brave of your friend to come forward and talk to you about the weight gain. I'm glad her concern has helped you make better changes in your life and that you've been able to stick to this committment to yourself. Sometimes we just need that kick in the butt to get us motivated to DO something that just nags us in the back of our mind. Hopefully your healthy lifestyle continues! Congrats! |
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| The Lounge | . | Jul 29 2009 21:05 (UTC) |
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I'd just like to state I read the whole thing too. I had to do the comparisons on MIL's and my bfs mom. Here's what I have to deal with: She's an OCD clean freak - I am NOT no no no. I am more of - a collector of dust bunnies! Therefore I don't help ever with preparing for family events (they have a lot of family events) cleaning, doing dishes or organizing of anything because no matter what I do - its not right - and it gets redone - so I just don't do it. I stopped helping. Now I sit in another room and have drinks with his dad. :) I really do think she is crazy though. I watched her vacuum a garden once. I'm not even kidding. And my bf knows if he wants dishes done in our house? He's gotta do them. I'll put them away. But he's gotta do the scrubbing. I'm sorry to hear your deal means you have to do them. Boo. Dishes are the worst. I'd rather scrub toliets - which is my job - except I don't do that either... hmm. But who eats out of a scuzzy toliet anyways??? And what is it with guys not understanding "feelings"? Sometimes I think men are made of cardboard because they can't register what feeling is associated with what word... pouting doesn't make them clue in... withholding sex doesn't work because I can't go very long myself... *sigh* |
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| Foods | Need protein suggestions | Jul 29 2009 20:38 (UTC) |
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in addition to fish - other seafoods can be good for protein lower cal options to: Shrimp, squid, etc. A source of protein in the grain world I've been loving is quinoa - which has complete proteins which is rare to find in the grain world. very similar taste to rice. |
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| Fitness | How important is breathing? | Jul 29 2009 20:31 (UTC) |
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^ good to know. |
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| Fitness | How important is breathing? | Jul 29 2009 19:10 (UTC) |
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Sometimes during heavy lifting people will hold their breathe to concentrate on the moves. This is a bad idea because less oxygen will get to the muscles that are working hard - which can make them less efficient. It can also cause issues with getting light headed (blood pressure is effected) and possibly sometimes even lead to fainting. "Proper" breathing is probably only making things feel harder because you aren't used to it and it isn't habit yet. The "hard" part is likely the concentrating on it. Keep up with it and eventually you will do it without having to think so hard about it. For aerobics I've heard the in nose out mouth theory before although I can't actually remember the exact details I think it was something along the lines of this: the efficiency of getting oxygen in. Something to do with being more likely to take a full deeper breath through the nose than through the mouth. Mouth breathing tends to be shallower (ie less efficient). (A bit of a stab in the dark I will admit) Truth: your mouth won't dry out as much during the exercise breathing that way! :) |
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| Foods | Coffee and Breakfast | Jul 28 2009 13:36 (UTC) |
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THe idea of coffee first thing in the morning has never sat right with me. Literally. I think its too acidy in my stomach if I haven't eaten yet. I love my breakfast first thing or really I can't function. Coffee a couple hours later in the morning is more ideal for me. But I think I'll have to agree on the suppressant part - if I have my coffee mid-morning I'm more likely to make it to lunch without a midmorning snack. |
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| Foods | Sugar sandwich - I'm prepared to be judged for this | Jul 27 2009 21:03 (UTC) |
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My fav: Peanut butter brown sugar sandwiches YUM! Also a fan of the toast with butter & sugar & cinn.
My bf brought home a jar of Fluff on the weekend (marshmallow spread for those who don't know). Fluffernutter anyone? (I had myself a pb & marshmallow sandwich on Sat... *drool*) |
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How come I’m not losing weight?
Your workout routine is commendable but you are eating too many calories to lose weight. 1500-1700 calories a day is more like a maintenance... Read more