MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)

RANTING BURNS CALORIES!

This is an open, ongoing, support-encourage-motivational-RANTING thread. Feel free to skip to the end, or spend days reading through all of this ...

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I have decided that "Diet" is a 4-letter word.

I find myself muttering and uttering the word around my house these days with loathing and vehemence previously reserved only for comments directed toward liberal politicians. In fact, I seem to be talking to myself a lot more these days .... sort of a running, sarcastic commentary on all the foods I can't eat, or on various other related topics. I wonder if there is a link between calorie-deprivation and Tourettes Syndrome? Grrrrrrrrr.....

I am now on Day 8 of the dreaded D-word. This is already the longest period of time that I have ever successfully remained on a diet. And I seem to be growing grouchier and feistier each day..... at least when I am alone and no one is around to hear my running rants. (My wonderful DH has heard some of my more memorable rants on the subject of broccolli and reports that I am hysterically funny when I am hungry!) I am counting carbs. I am counting calories. I am counting fat grams. Sheesh ... now my math anxiety is about to kick-in!

Mini Rant #1 .... what masochist decided that the serving size of cereal was anything less than 2 cups? Have you ever measured out 2/3 a cup of cereal? Or even a full cup? And placed it in a bowl? Those few little flakes and pieces just sit forlornly at the bottom of the bowl, shivering and lonely, even when we dribble on a few meager droplets of skim milk! Sheesh. Well, I can tell you that there is simply no way that my oversized body is going to be happy with that tiny amount of cereal ... so I have been eating TWO servings for breakfast. SIGH. And while the side of the box says that I can supplement the cereal with some fruit, they probably don't mean eat 45 cherries with your cereal -- much less 1/2 a watermelon, huh?

Mini Rant #2 .... Things NOT to say to someone who has told you that they have just started on a diet:

1.Good, you sure needed it.
2. It's about time.
3. Really? It doesn't look like it.
4. Again? Haven't we heard this before?
5. Gosh, how much weight do you need to lose?
6. What do you weigh? I've always wondered.
7. I never need to diet, I have a fast metabolism.
8. Really? I can eat all I want and never gain weight.
9. Is THAT why you are so grouchy?
10. I sure hope you plan to exercise a lot more.

AAAUGGH! All of these responses are just the thing to make me even grouchier .... so just smile and say something encouraging and supportive, ok? I will let you know how it is going.

_____

=^..^=  Molly 

WELCOME TO MOLLY'S MOTIVATIONAL RANT / CHAT THREAD ... FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR RANTS, TOO!  YOU CAN EITHER READ FROM THE BEGINNING OR JUST JUMP ON IN ON THE LAST PAGE ... JOIN US! 

Why is it that my husband can lose weight TWICE as fast as I can, eating TWICE the number of calories!!??!?!?!?

 

 

 

MOLLY

Yes, and still eat bread!!!!!!!!!

Bread and ice cream and candy and cookies and donuts and hamburgers and french fries and Doritos!!!!!

** watches her husband eat Doritos, and thinks about POUNCING on him *

=^..^= MOLLY

I bought some really healthy, organic, low-fat Cheetos-wannabe thingies from our local health food store.

They look SORT of like Cheetos, just really PALE Cheetos. Like little Cheetos who've been trapped inside all winter, and not allowed out into the orange sunshine.

They taste vaguely cheese-like, but not super cheesy like Cheetos (or CheezIts, for that matter.) Still, they did have a nice crunch. All for 140 calories.

Hmmm.... I should be suspicious of junk food from the health food store, huh?

=^..^= MOLLY

HI-Ya-Molly Lays has a line that is "natural" if you can find them.  Their cheese puffs are amazingly good.  Good ingredients.  But it's not what I would call "health" food.  Health food to me would be RAW fruits and veggies etc. but if you keep things like that on hand I would pick these b/c they have goood ingredients.  Like it will say cheese and corn meal.  I think a serving of them (about 32 peices) is roughly 140-150 calories and they taste good.  I couldn't loose much weight doing this so I gave them up and now stick to a stricter plan but I see now that it's ok to have a few for a "taste".   So, I like having them on hand for those moments.  I live at the health food stores so I'm quite familar with them.  I have for over a decade now. 

The brand we got was "Garden of Eatin'" .... which I thought was pretty funny.   As I mentioned, they had a nice crunch, but weren't as cheesy-flavored as I would like. Still, they were organic and very low in fat and sodium (good things.)

YAY! I finally finished my open package of turkey and my open package of turkey ham, and now I just opened a pack of turkey pastrami. The turkey industry must LOVE me. Want a hot stock tip? Invest in turkey!

gobble, gobble, gobble .....

 

=^..^=  MOLLY

Cabbage.

Is there ANY way to make it exciting?

(sigh)

 

MOLLY

There is always the delicious diet cabbage soup! I believe was one of your rants! HA HA HA

Ahh... cabbage.  I actually have an answer to that.  Hubby does a LOT of stir fries.  Cabbage is excellent this way.  Basically lightly sauteed, he doesn't use oil, but instead just a touch of vinegar.  A rice wine vinegar or a red wine vinegar works well.   Throw in some interesting spices.  Personally, I like hot stuff, so we use a lot of peppers.  But garlic will work too.  Or, for that matter, any interesting seasoning that strikes your fancy.  Cooking it very hot and quick, just enough to barely cook, not mush to death.  Very yummy.

You can do this with a lot of veggies.  I used to think of stir fry as a few veggies with more meat and rice or noodles.  Now it's a LOT of veggies, a little bit of rice, maybe, and some meat.  Now I'm hungry!!  Guess I know what's for din din at our house!

Ooh, I had cabbage last night.  Steam it until it's as cooked as you like it (I like mine quite crunchy) then toss in some lemon juice and black pepper...it's really nice and fresh!

 Rant of the day: why is it, that when you are on your way home from a night out that there is nowhere open to buy healthy food.  Oh yes, you can have as many bags of fries, burgers, kebabs, pizzas etc. as you like but as for food a dieter can eat...nothing. Grrr....

why is it that every time i complement myself , my weight refuses to budge for awhile? is this god way of saying don't be vain?

Why hasn't my weight moved all month?  I thought, ok, I'm in charge of my body and will get the scale to move, one way or another!!!!!!!!  Ate Dairy Queen (710 cal in Peanut Buster Parfait), also pancakes, potato patties, sheppards pie, lots of carbs.  Nothing, nada, zilch.........weight still the same.  then had a freaky thought............what if my scale is broken and stuck!

*running in to weigh a pr of shoes & laundry basket, just to see if the stupid scale knows how to acknowledge a lighter weight*

Maybe it's like #211 said:  I'm being punished for complementing myself (altho what I did was outright bragging) 

Molly, I have a delicious cabbage recipe that uses very little oil (maybe it could be made oil-free???). In 1 Tbsp olive oil lightly saute' (to soften, not brown) 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic and 5-6 crushed juniper berries. Add chopped or sliced cabbage and toss with the oil, garlic and berries. Lower heat and steam (maybe with an added Tbsp of water) the cabbage in its juice. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. This is really good. Juniper berries are wonderful with cabbage. I got this recipe years ago from one of my aunts...it is great on St. Patrick's Day with corned beef! It makes healthy, low-calorie cabbage taste "gourmet".

Ohio, I totally sympathize - my rant - I lost one pound in 2 weeks...one pound...sheesh...I told DH that I'd be HAPPY with a 1/2 pound/week loss but I didn't MEAN it! Half a pound a week...good grief...I realize it could be worse but I really, really want to get below 200 soon. I'm going to the gym and eating between 1400 and 1500 calories. I don't want to cut calories anymore...I wasted too much of my youth on 1,000 calories a day and I hate being hungry. AARRGGHH!!! (deep sigh, as Jane, dutifully updates her food diary)

On the bright side, we discovered several butterfly eggs on our passionflower vine and 7 fat, little caterpillars. I think they're all going to be Zebra Longwings (the State Butterfly of Florida!) This is the first time I've witnessed the butterfly life cycle "in person" and I am absolutely blown away...it's so amazing. I'm checking everyday to see how long the caterpillar phase lasts and when they'll start making their cocoons!

Happy Monday all, Jane :-)

I certainly hope all my bragging isn't going to lead to a gain....but in truth, if I gain it will be because all that bragging made me overconfident, and I gave into a trigger food that led to overindulgence on Sat!

OOoooooo ..... we will need butterfly babies updates AND photos, I think. The butterfly can become the official "mascot" of Molly's Diet Rant Thread Ranters!! WOOO HOOO!

What a delightful bunch of rants! I laughed out loud at "I didn't MEAN it!" I have done the EXACT SAME THING. I told my DH that I would be happy with losing 2 pounds a week ... but, in all candor, I would not be happy with that for the first 3 months of my diet, given my starting weight.

I went grocery shopping today and got MOST things on my list. The store was "out" of fat free bologna. (I know, I know, it's processed .... but it is also just 25 calories a slice and I love it). I refused to get the light bologna, much less the regular bologna (which is 100 calories a slice... eek!)  And they don't carry sugar free chocolate syrup. I know I saw it SOMEWHERE... possibly at a different grocery store or a health food store. I've been jazzing up my 100-calorie vanilla low carb protein shake by sticking it in the blender with ice cubes ... and was thinking it would be nice to "choclify" it. (Hmmm.... did I just make up a new word? Choclify?) Maybe I will just add a 25-calorie packet of sugar free hot chocolate??? YUMMMM!

I seem to be investing a lot of time and cash into small size ziploc bags these days. Since portion control has been one of my challenges for a long time, when I buy something like a box of reduced fat Cheez-its (29 crackers per 130 calorie serving), I've discovered I need to open the box, count out little piles of crackers, then divide them into individual ziploc bags. This has proved absolutely FASCINATING for the kittens to watch! I did this individual-baggie approach with some organic, fat free cheese crunchy-things, too. I now have little baggies all over my pantry!

=^..^= MOLLY

When they take the sugar out of Sugar Free products, why do they feel compelled to replace it with fat?

When they take the fat out of Fat Free products, why do they feel compelled to replace it with sugar?

And do they add sodium to EVERYTHING!?!?

 

RANT: THE MAN IS GETTING ME DOWN.

Or should I say-- men! Or boys. Because a high school gym class of grade 12 boys is in NO way mature enough to be called men yet. :P You might be wondering, "But RILEY, what the HECK do boys have to do with your new resolution to be healthy?!" and since you all asked so nicely, I'll let you know.

I'm taking gym to fit in some extra calorie burning aside from working out...cool right? In grade 12 recreational gym, you can pick from a different set of activities each week. HOWEVER-- indoor games (all the easy things...like dodge ball, bench ball...probably line tag or something ridiculously easy) was full. So me and my friend Jeff sign up for football.

If you're a woman and you want a recipe to make you laugh: Take yourself, plus another girl, and stick them in a football class of hardcore athletic teenage boys. Boys who seem to think that because you have boobs, or because you're out of shape to a degree, you're a handicap. You'll spend the entire class running about the field, not being passed to, or even acknowledged. It's a BLAST for self confidence.

GRRRRR.

(And on another highschool topic, how the hell do you find low cal cafeteria food that ISN'T salad?!)

(And on another highschool topic, how the hell do you find low cal cafeteria food that ISN'T salad?!)

This.

Seriously.  I agree with ribear.  Parents never hesititate to call the school when they have even the slightest indication that their child is endangered.  What I can't understand is why parents on a massive scale haven't mobilized to finally tackle this problem of unhealthy food in school cafeterias!  If anything is threatening the lives of their children, it's the massive wave of heart disease and obesity that's looking to debilitate so many of these kids.

We always knew cafeteria food was bad.   (Come on, ketchup is NOT a vegetable).   However, you'd think that now that we know so much about health and nutrition, we'd try to find alternatives that are not only totally wholesome, but kid friendly as well! 

I always hope that parents, kids and teachers will band together to really push initiatives through schools on a massive scale on this topic.  A well-fed brain is a brain that LEARNS better!  This pre-packaged, bottom of the barrel government food has got to stop. 

Heh..this is my second rant on this very topic in the last two days!
I'll step off my soap box....  for now.

Anyone have ideas on what we can do about this issue?

Molly-

I found sugar free Hersheys Chocolate Syrup at Target.  I thought it was a bit random, but I bought it anyway.  Not sure if I am a fan yet, but may be good in a "milkshake".  I don't know if you have Cost Plus up there, but you can also check them out.  They seem to have a variety of alternative type foods.

Oooooo .... I will check out Target for the Sugar Free Hershey's Syrup! (And yes, we do have a Cost Plus ... and a Whole Foods ... and a Trader Joes!)