Posts by sarah_mc21

You could roast a chicken or turkey and use the leftovers for sandwiches.  Roasting a small chicken is very economical.  I get 2-3 meals and a couple lunches out of a 5 lb. chicken.

Also, try basing your sandwich around vegetables instead of meat.  Hummus is pretty low calorie.  I like roasted red pepper hummus on a sandwich as my "protein".  Actually, I like it as a wrap on a WW tortilla.  Or do a vegetarian sandwich with some reduced fat cheese, avocado, tomato, onion, peppers, a little olive oil & vinegar.

How about a big salad? You can really load up on vegetables for low low calories and it keeps me full forever.  Top it with beans & other veggies, eggs, sunflower seeds, chicken, etc.

Oops, I just realized you already said focusing on breathing doesn't work.  I have no other ideas - sorry!  For me the breathing worked.  Don't wait until you get winded to focus on breathing.  For me, it's too late to recover. 

I see your a new member here.  I had the same problem getting all my calories when I started.  But believe me, once the "newness" wears off you won't have problems getting your calories.  But I don't think 1500 is too low as long as you're not feeling hungry.

Maybe add dessert - lowfat vanilla yogurt topped with bananas (and a little natural peanut butter melted and poured on top if you're feeling saucy)! 

You sound exactly like me about 2 months ago.  I had your same stats too - 5' 6" and 150 lbs.  I was working out like mad and thought I was eating well.  I was eating healthy foods, but my portions were out of whack.  And I wasn't taking my snacks into consideration.  The fix....start measuring out your food and count your calories.  I'm down to 140 after a month and a half.

Great job! And I have to add you as a friend because I live in Iowa too and I LOVE Bon Jovi.  Saw the concert in Chicago!  Rock on.

Shrimp.  Yuck!  Unless it's deep fried, then it's so-so.

I ran 2 miles in the time that the army requires for people in my age group.  I'm not in the military, but I've been trying to get my 2 mile run under this time for about a month.  I blew it out of the water today by 20 seconds!

I treat myself to a pedicure!  I love pedicures!

Personally, I think you should try and figure out how many calories you're burning and focus on your deficit.  1,200 calories might be low.  I have a hard time getting all the calories in myself, so I can assume you don't really want to eat anymore because it feels like you should eat LESS to lose weight and not more.  If you're happy with the working out, then go with it.  I'm not a professional by any sense of the word.  I only know what worked for me. 

By the way, how do you like Pilates? I've wanted to try it, but I try to get in and out of the gym quickly so classes always fall to the wayside for me.  I have done spinning and I love that, but it's hard to figure out how to get my weights in before the class and time it perfectly.  I don't want to sit around and wait for class to start.  So I just run.

I just looked at your pictures and you are NOT fat! 

You might be overdoing it.  I was doing a similar volume of exercise and not losing anything.  I was also eating more because of the volume of exercise made me so hungry.  I couldn't sleep and dreaded going to the gym.  Eventually I couldn't even do 30 minutes on the elliptical and I could always do it before.  My legs just felt like cement.  My trainer also told me to have a couple days off each week.  He has me doing less exercise overall and it didn't feel like I was doing "enough", but I've lost 5 pounds this month watching calories and doing the new workout.  I work out 3-4 days a week - weights broken up by muscle group, running 30 minutes after weights, then abs.

What's "Pfeffersweine or Pfeffer steak"? I really am looking for something to recognize on the menu, but I want to know what it is too.  And I don't speak German.  My husband does a little bit, but he doesn't seem to know any of the words for food.

I won't be going crazy about counting calories.  I'll sample everything in moderation. 

I'm a transplanted Chicago girl and I miss the deep dish Chicago pizzas!  Then again, maybe it's better I can't get them.

Original Post by vmcbutterfly:

I do not like eating any bars no matter how nutritious they are supposed to be. Eating 180 cals in less then 2 minutes with a bar that has all artificial flavoring isn't something i like to do. You can eat so much more and so much better for 180 cals.

 Yeah, I was going to add that for about the same calories I can have some yogurt w/ bananas & strawberries on top and 1 oz. of melted dark chocolate.  It seems so much more substantial.  However, the bars are good when you're on the run I suppose.  But then again, a banana is just as easy to put in your purse.  Except it kind of smells after a little bit.  So, I'm back at not really understanding why the bars are any better than another non-processed snack.  The bars do have a little bit of a "fake" taste.  And the smore's flavor tastes nothing like a smore's I've ever had, but no chocolate is bad chocolate in my opinion.

I'm not a professional, but it sounds like ALOT to me too.  Have you been seeing results?  And will you honestly be able to keep this up?