Posts by amelia74

For maintaining, weighing every day helps me a lot, even with fluctuations it helps me see when my weight is creeping up by a couple of pounds and do something to counteract that!

Great post!  I feel more attractive when i am running than at any other time!

Hm, I'm not sure why your glutes would start hurting now, but I can say that in my experience running makes your butt, thighs and legs firmer overall and as for myself, smaller.  The only thing that running makes bigger are my calves, but that is ok with me.

I added you as a buddy if that's ok because I'm looking for friends on CC who are into running.

That is about the same total I get for the veggie bowl with guacamole and no cheese.  I think the guacamole adds most of the calories but it is so delicious!  I will have it about once every two weeks as a treat.  I guess you could eat less of the guacamole but personally I like to factor that in and eat less for my other meals that day.  Other people may disagree but I think the basic ingredients of the bowl without the flour tortilla are pretty healthy.

From your post, it sounds like you have many of the elements of healthy eating and exercise in place and you just need motivation.  It sounds like you know what you need to do to lose weight, but only you can find what will motivate you to start losing.  I just wanted to respond to your post because I started using CC last July but didn't start losing weight until October, I was tracking my calories and noticing that I was eating back everything I burned but for a while I just wanted to eat rather than do a deficit.  Then on my birthday I finally got motivated to start losing.  For me a birthday is a great motivator and I like to make positive changes then.  Anyway it sounds like you are being very hard on yourself, and don't underestimate the benefits of just eating healthy and exercising, you are still improving your health by exercising even if you aren't losing weight right now.

I have a similar HRM to Soliwit and just wanted to mention I think the formula it uses to calculate calories burned is high, below is an excerpt of my journal post on Nov. 9 where I tested it with running, I think the CC activity log was more accurate than the HRM for running.  It was similar for workout videos, I was doing aerobics with weights, when I log mine I usually list it as "calisthenics" using the CC activity log.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this?  anyway just thought my informal test results might provide more info on the timex HRM. I am a geek.

Today I ran 6 miles wearing both my heart rate monitor and Garmin Forerunner.  I don't think I will want to wear both all the time because it is too many clunky gadgets strapped on my wrist.  The stats I got were very different; I ran 6 miles at 11 minute mile pace without stopping to rest.  The Garmin Forerunner said that I burned 579 calories.  The HRM said that I burned 1000 calories!  The CC activity log says that I burned 575 calories. 

I think the HRM is accurate in reading my heart rate but the formula it uses for calculating calories is too high.  I am more inclined to believe the Garmin since both Garmin and CC are coming up with similar numbers.  For the Garmin and HRM, I entered my weight and it uses that to track calories burned.

I tried Seasonale a few years ago and had the same problem with bleeding and spotting all the time, I had to quit it after a couple of months.  I had the best results with Nuvaring.  However, now I'm off the pill after being on it for many years and I'm really liking it.  I didn't notice it at the time after years on various birth control, but I think the hormones on the pill were suppressing something of my personality and now I feel more like myself and more real.  I even kind of like having more of a period now, I wonder when that feeling will wear off though!

I have a similar problem with a busy schedule.  On days when I don't have time to work out I try to pay more attention to my diet instead and eat really healthy.  Also I walk throughout the day as much as possible even if it is 5 or 10 mins. as a break several times a day.  I almost always take the stairs at home (I live on the 8th floor) and wherever else I can.  At night I do 10 mins. of ab exercises and pushups.  Good luck and in my opinion, every little bit helps.

I think it looks cute!

Looks like a good paper, hope you get an A!

I still make the Kraft mac and cheese from the box, but just add skim milk and no butter.  To give it more flavor, you can add a slice of kraft 2%milk cheese and you could mix in some silken tofu for texture and nutrition.  I will mix and match depending on what I have.  I love to add parmesan cheese as well and sometimes, hot sauce or a bit of cayenne pepper.

There are the macaroni and cheese frozen dinners if portion control is an issue, I like the Michelina's one. 

I just went to the store- big bunch of kale $1; bag of lentils $1, I noticed all the other dry beans were really cheap as international said.

rice is cheap, as well as vegetables on sale, butternut squash was 88 cents per pound, grapefruit, $3 for a bag of 6, bag of apples, turnips/rutabaga.  I think the vegetables in bags are cheaper though they may be bruised or not look as good.

turkey chili or homemade chili is cheap, so are PB&J and bananas if you are bringing lunch to work.  Canned tuna, eggs, and milk are usually inexpensive.

Prepackaged and convenience foods cost the most I think.

this thread is making me feel weird.

I lost a lot of weight when I was traveling in India for two weeks last year- more than 10 lbs.  I was not even on a diet, but one girl in our group was and she insisted on us skipping dinner on some nights.  She actually ended up gaining during the trip, I don't know how, but then the other girl and I lost a lot of weight.  We also went on some tours where they only gave you about 15 minutes to go find a meal or some limited time before you had to get back or be left behind.  The weather was 110 degrees each day and there was a lot of walking.  Besides that, in most of the restaurants the portion size was pretty small and the food was almost all vegetarian.  I have to say, by the end of the trip I was feeling great.  I did not see a brownie or chocolate chip cookie, or any dessert I would like for most of the time I was there except when we went out of our way to find western food.

Have you read the book Eat, Pray, Love?  I liked it a lot, and she writes a lot about how delicious the food was in Italy.  I'm not sure what your travel plans are, but maybe enjoy the delicious food in Italy and enjoy being in such a beautiful country, it sounds like you are eating very sensibly and keeping in shape! 

When I was much younger I went to Europe and to save money was eating meals of bread with a piece of cheese in the hostel and maybe a piece of fruit, I lost a lot of weight on that trip too but it was more because I was trying to save money on food.

I have also had sinus problems for a long time and I use something I found at the drugstore called Ayr Sinus rinse, it works similar to the neti pot but uses a plastic bottle for the solution.  It will relieve the pressure and clear things out.  It is kind of gross when the saline solution drains out, I do it when no one is around.  Also taking Claritin D helps me when it is allergy season.  Hope you feel better.

I tried making my own neti pot in a pottery class once but after it was fired the spout was still too large for my nostril.  I think the other students in the class thought it was weird, but they were interested in hearing how it turned out though.  The plastic bottle works better for me.