Posts by shimmercat

You aren't going to see fat loss of any kind in a day.  More likely the loss the second day was water weight, and carryover from the fasting day.  Daily weight fluctuations of even 5 pounds are normal and shouldn't be taken seriously at all.

I would recommend you only weight yourself once a week, rather than every day.  That way you won't get confused by normal daily fluctuations.

They aren't good choices -- as vegetables -- for someone on a calorie controlled diet, however.  Beans and legumes have around 100-150 calories for a 1/2 cup, which is way more than even potatoes, corn, and peas. 

And the food pyramid DOES consider them a protein source: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/uploads/ pyramid.jpg

I guess what I'm saying is that while they COULD be considered a vegetable, it's stretching it, and they are far from the best choice AS A VEGETABLE.  It would be better to eat other, less starchy, vegetables for the 5-a-day, and fit beans in elsewhere in your diet. 

Crazy week and I completely forgot to check in.  :c  Didn't even weight myself on Friday.  The last 5 days have been INSANE.

I'll weight myself tomorrow morning and post it!  Probably won't be great given how stressed I've been, but gotta keep on truckin'!

I agree with the first part of what dove said.  100 calories one way or another can be expected.  Notice that NOTHING was right on.  This is life, not a science lab, and real cooks rarely measure.  (and yes, you do find a lot of real cooks in places like Chili's -- it's not their top choice, but a job's a job, after all). 

While I was upset looking at this at first, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's just sensationalist media.  One of those foods was over the calories stated by six calories, yet it still was red and bolded. 

As far as the items that are more than 100 calories off... those could be a problem.  But they are usually caused by employees not following policy -- grilling the chicken in oil, for example.  Why would an employee do that?  Simply because it's VERY HARD to make a decent product when you are cooking without oil, especially at the speed a line cook has to produce an entree.

Eating in is no more exact than eating out, with the exception that you KNOW what you put on your chicken breast.  But I dump oil in the pot when I saute veggies.  I don't measure, although I do have a decent idea of what a tablespoon looks like.  I was raised by a chef and have formal cooking training.  It's blasphemy to use a measuring utensil.

I think that what it comes down to is this: You will lose weight if you are trying.  Eating a slightly larger portion than the one used for the nutrition on the website isn't going to mess you up in the long run.  Eating a little more oil isn't going to kill you.  The media is desperate to make you THINK it is, though, because stuff that kills people SELLS.  Just keep that in mind!

My dad has a SOUR cherry tree in his yard that produces WAY more than my entire family can eat.  And this year I'm moving closer to him so I'll get a whole bunch.

Unfortunately, I CAN'T eat sour cherries plain.  They are just TOOOOOOOO sour!  Last year we boiled them with sugar until they were a thick sauce and ate them on ice cream and, strained, mixed with vodka as a cocktail.  Plus we made jam.  It was very very good, but far from low cal.  :(  I wonder how we could prepare them this year so that they are lower calorie? 

Wow, you've lost 45 lbs in the last 3 1/2 months!  That's fantastic!  I would celebrate that progress that you'd made -- that's a lot of weight you aren't carrying around any more.

What is your gender, height, and age?  If you give me that information, then I can get you a guess as to what you burn as your BMR (resting metabolic rate -- how much you burn just maintaining your organs and muscle, even if you aren't moving).  The BMR is your lowest you should go to keep losing weight.

You might see a plateau as your body gets its metabolism back on track, but you should start losing after that. 

A plateau really isn't the end of the world, anyways.  Everyone sees them and yes, they can be frustrating, but just remember all the progress you've seen so far and keep that in mind.  :)

You're right -- it's not that important to watch sodium unless you have HBP or renal insufficiency or sodium sensitivity.  Quite a few people do fall into one of those categories, though, and I think that's why the website puts such an emphasis on it.  If you aren't worried about your sodium intake, then don't pay attention to sodium content. 

Others encourage people to eat lower sodium because packaged foods are high in sodium, and they are encouraging people to eat fewer packaged foods.  My opinion is that if the food is healthy enough other than the sodium content, then who cares about the salt?  Some people don't have the time or desire to make all their own foods. 

Me, I've tried to reduce my sodium consumption a little bit, but only because I'm a bit of a salt fiend.  I have no real health reason to watch it. 

You don't seem to really have any snacks.  If you eat between meals, it will keep you more satisfied and thinking better AND will up your calories. 

My boyfriend makes a tex-mex marinated salad with tomatoes, corn, black beans, and edamame marinated in vinegar, sugar, lots of cumin and chili powder and garlic.  It's quite good, high in protein with decent fiber, and holds pretty well, especially in a cooler lunchbox. 

And the old classic pbj is vegetarian and holds just fine, too!  Pack some carrot and celery sticks and an apple and you've got a great meal.

Before we started really watching what we ate, my boyfriend would bake a loaf every other day.  Problem is, we could (and often would) eat the entire loaf that day.  So we don't do it so much anymore.

He got an excellent bread machine recipe book that we make stuff out of.  We make a whole wheat challah that's really awesome.  We've also made pizza dough and naan and all sorts of other things and banana bread with yeast.  I love that book! 

One of my only complaints is that we can never get pizza crust flat enough and it ends up being more like foccacia with stuff on top.  Which is good in it's own right... but not pizza. 

I just wish I could control myself around bread.  :c  It's one of my VERY favorite foods and I could eat half a loaf in a sitting without even thinking about it.

Oh, they are still there.  Still probably 12-16 cookies -- I'm almost certain that I'm the only one eating them!  I discovered that they are very good microwaved for 10 seconds.  :x  But if I can keep myself to one a day I can fit them into my calories and that's not so bad. 

Thanks for all the advice, guys!

Original Post by leileah:

You know what would be kinda fun?

Cornrows.

I wonder if he'd let me do that...

Thanks, guys! I'm down to the last 10 lbs so the mirror isn't a huge factor for me any more, but still, just THINKING about how hard I've worked is good!

And they are not yet stale.  Even if they were, I would still eat them. I ADORE cookies.

I just posted this in another thread, but I thought you might like my take one this.  :)

Some things that helped me:

I don't like very cold water; I prefer it room temperature.  Other people are the exact opposite.  Try drinking water at different temperatures to find one that you like.

If I keep a bottle of water on my desk at work, I sip away at it all day and end up drinking around two BIG bottles (32 oz) a day, just at work.  If I had to get up every time I wanted a drink, you can bet that I wouldn't drink as much.

I'm not fond of tap water.  I've discovered I drink less if my glass is full of tap water instead of bottled water -- I fill up my water bottle at the water cooler while at work (Deer Park).  I'm looking into options that would let me get filtered water at home without buying packs and packs of bottled water, which is what I was doing.  But if the bottled water is what you like to drink, it's a whole lot better than soda!  I found it to be a good first step.

Some things that helped me:

I don't like very cold water; I prefer it room temperature.  Other people are the exact opposite.  Try drinking water at different temperatures to find one that you like.

If I keep a bottle of water on my desk at work, I sip away at it all day and end up drinking around two BIG bottles (32 oz) a day, just at work.  If I had to get up every time I wanted a drink, you can bet that I wouldn't drink as much.

I'm not fond of tap water.  I've discovered I drink less if my glass is full of tap water instead of bottled water -- I fill up my water bottle at the water cooler while at work (Deer Park).  I'm looking into options that would let me get filtered water at home without buying packs and packs of bottled water, which is what I was doing.  But if the bottled water is what you like to drink, it's a whole lot better than soda!  I found it to be a good first step.