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.

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=^..^=  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! 

angeleyes ... you are officially sanctioned to be grouchy and tired whenever you want about whatever you want!!! YAY for grouchiness! I am absolutely convinced that grouchiness-induced rants burn calories, doesn't it? (grin)

OK, I had 1/2 a banana this morning. My wonderful DH ate the other half last night, and I found this little orphaned banana half sitting in the fridge this morning, so I scooped him up, sliced him, and added him to my high fiber cereal. Crunch crunch crunch crunch slurp slurp slurp. Breakfast completed, I came to the Calorie-Count.com site to log my breakfast calories, and looked up "bananas". Great. Was that 1/2 a large banana? 1/2 a medium banana? 1/2 a small banana? Some of us are .... ummm.... "anal retentive" enough to be precise, where possible. So I head to the bathroom where my DH is trying to take a shower.

"How big was your banana, dear?"  I call over the shower door. I can hear splashing. "What?" he calls back, washing his hair. "Your banana. You ate it last night. How BIG was your banana?" There is a pause, more splashing. "I have to get to work, honey .... I can't "play" with you right now," he replies. "I am NOT talking about sex, you silly man, I just want to know, HOW LONG WAS YOUR BANANA?!"  Laughing hysterically, he turns off the water to figure out just what his looney wife is trying to ask him as he gets ready for work.  We both had a serious case of the silly-giggles by the time we were done.

It was a small banana, by the way.

=^..^=  MOLLY

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  That was funny Molly.  My DH would be the one to "go there" too.  Of course we can't just be talking about a banana now could we?

Ratinhat- Thanks for reminding me of all the wonderful things about the starchy vegetables that I love.  I do know that they are good for me, but I guess my cranky rant was more about that fact that I shouldn't eat them indiscriminately, which would of course be my preference. :)

Slowcoach- You motivate me to want to be more physically fit.  I typically work out in a gym.  But ahhhhhh, to run along the Thames.  While running is not my strong suit, yet, I could imagine myself walking very fast along the Thames.  I live about 10 minutes from the Pacific Ocean.  Now I want to go for a walk at the beach.  Perhaps this weekend with my DH and our dog.  Hmmmm.

"officially sanctioned"...oh, I like the sound of that! Means it's not just OK to be grouchy occasionally, but positively good for me!!

I'm having one of those "my life is unmanageble" days! I missed an online "appointment" at 7 AM because I couldn't reboot the computer after a thunderstorm; I couldn't recall (one of many) passwords for posting a "for rent" ad in my local paper; and I'd forgotten to prepare paperwork for this morning's shipment! Oh, the not-so-convenient world of electronic communications!!!

So why, or why, do all these little things rattle me so??And why does the annoyance make me "feel" hungry? Food can't change the weather, rent an apartment or send a shipment...so why do I think food will "fix" anything???

Thank goodness we have this space to rant in...and be "sanctioned" in doing it!!

There, that should take care of a handful of calories, right??

I am absolutely certain that ranting in this thread is not only good for us, it burns calories, cleans the environment, stops global warming, folds your laundry and promotes world peace.

Pretty nifty, huh?

=^..^=  MOLLY

 

I know I'm late to the party (more than fashionably late too), but I love this thread!  Can't wait to join int with my own rants, which happen more frequently than they probably should.  Although, you guys have taught me that's a good thing because it burns calories ;)

Here's a great butternut squash recipe!

http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.p hp?isid=812

Actually, Molly, you're technically right.  Ranting on this thread burns SOME calories, because typing obviously burns more calories per minute than just sitting still and browsing the forums.  The more furiously we type (i.e., the more passionately we rant) the more calories we burn!  So type, darn you, type!!

I know I've completely missed the gym rant but the one I go to offers 1 week free use of the gym and you are not obligated to buy anything at the end of it. That'd be Fitness World in Canada. It's better than nothing.

However in my experience their trainers are not very good, so if you are looking for personal training go elsewhere.

As for the cost I'm paying about CAD 1.60 per work out yep not even 2 bucks, going three times a week and paying 20 bucks a month.

Well, the Rehab Fitness Center I selected is $100 for the Initial Assessment (it takes three days ... and includes re-assessments every 3 months), plus $32 per month. The facility is staffed by physical therapists and exercise physiologists and is open M-F 6am to 8pm, and Saturdays 8-5.  They will send written reports to my doctors every 8 weeks, charting my progress, too, as well as copies of all evaluations and re-assessments.  They also offer conditioning, strengthening and aerobic classes in their 93-degree 4-ft therapy pool.

For me, it seemed like a great deal.... YAY!

Now, if only could do something about the high cost of "diet foods!"

=^..^=  MOLLY

I also wish lower fat foods were cheaper.

I recently moved back on campus for college and I can't afford the really healthy foods so I ahve to eat bad foods in small quantities.

And sicne the lifestyle change, bad foods have started to taste like cardboard to me.

So I basically live on cardboard right now. Ew.

Molly, you have such a gift.  I spewed coffee on my monitor (through my nose, too) while laughing as I read your rants. 

Molly - your fitness assessment programme sounds good value for your particular needs. I am seriously interested in hearing how you're doing on it.

Danagirl - running by water is very good for the soul; running by the sea (which I do when I visit my Aged Parent on the Suffolk coast, the most easterly point on our little isles, so I always run at sunrise there) is almost magical in my book. But given a free choice between running by The Thames (you can smell the sea on my my stretch of it) and running by the mighty Pacific ocean, I would choose the latter (I've never done it is one reason why). So get out there, and drink in all that fresh air and ozone.

Last night I ran round Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens with my running club and my boyfriend as a pre-birthday treat for him ( 5 miles @ 7:45 per mile). He's 56 today! This morning I brought him a birthday cake in bed. Fortunately, he's taken it home with him, otherwise there's a risk it might magically shrink before he sees it again!

I have a really bad habit of stealing little bits of food - the odd chip from a friend's plate; free samples in supermarkets; a chocolate biscuit from my Dad's biscuit tin. Does anyone else do this? I think I must subconsciously believe stolen food is calorie-free.  Please tell me I am not the only food-thief on here!

How to burn more calories whilst sitting at a computer - try sitting on an exercise ball (I do this both at home and in the office to help with my back problem)? Also try circling feet and ankles as you would do on a long-haul flight to help keep mobile and blood circulating. Incidentally, my 12-year-old son (who's a fidget, which I think accounts for him being skinny), sits on my exercise ball whilst playing on his playstation. His idea, not mine - he thinks it's a hoot! I think it's probably better than staying on the sofa.

 

... not as funny as Molly's rants,. but hope helpful anyway.

Is healthier food really more expensive?? Not when I consider the high costs of health care I'll need because obesity creates diabetes, high blood pressure, etc!

Besides, I'm worth it!

Stealing food?? Oh, thank goodness I'm not the only evil one out there!!! Think it started with competitiveness with the siblings over holiday treat baskets. Years ago I took goodies from patients rooms...yikes! These days, I just try to remind myself that any food not on my plan or my plate is not mine! Guess I thought it was all mine for the taking, before.

Krissmasself - I am relieved too at finding a fellow-filcher! I always blame my extra-strict Mum, who ensured we didn't buy any sweets at all with our pocket money, so I always felt deprived compared with other kids.

But I suppose I should have grown out of that feeling by now...

Runnergirl -  a fellow pavement-pounder I guess from your CCname?

 Anyone else in a soup-making mood? I am fantasising about spicy, warming autumn soups, like lentil and ****; pumpkin; or brussel sprout and bacon. My soups are quite hearty, so I make a meal of them. Although sometimes tomato/basil and tabasco sauce soup hits the spot.

 Roll on the weekend, when I can shop for veggies and make warming soups.

 

Translations:

"pavement-pounder" = Sidewalk shuffler (?)

"lentil and ****" = censored I think by some stupid algorithm on here. How interesting!

Anyway, I was referring to a warm spice, beginning with the 3rd letter of the alphabet, and 5 letters long.

C*min?

OK, we've informed the team. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon. Sorry, folks. 

Wow.... a censored soup ingredient!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My mind has been trying to figure out what word was a no-no and I got the giggles!

Confession: I am a food-filcher. Only, I usually have my dear hubby's permission. For example, when we go out to eat and I order something low fat and healthy and HE gets a bacon burger and fries (darn his metabolism!), I am permitted to "filch" (great word, by the way), up to 5 of his fries. And I may dip them in his ketchup, but he does not want me "gooping" ketchup all over them -- he is some sort of french fry-ketchup purist.  In a similar vein, when we go out to dinner and they serve bread, I am permitted to "filch" one bite of his buttered bread .... with the caveat that it must be a nice "ladylike" bite and I am NOT allowed to shove the entire loaf into my cheeks like some sort of oversized chipmunk.

And while filched food DOES have theoretical calories, I am constitutionally protected from having to log it onto my calorie-count food log. (It's under the "pursuit of happiness" clause, people!)

We are silly, but these little rules work for me!

I made acorn squash last night and it was DELICIOUS! And, silly me, I finally figured out (as I was attempting to saw the behemoth in half with something smaller than a machete) why it's called an acorn squash ... it's shaped like an acorn! (Ok, this may have been painfully obvious to the rest of you, but I am somewhat of a vegetable virgin and before 6 weeks ago I viewed the produce section as merely a colorful detour on the way to the ice cream freezer.)  Anyway, one-half an acorn squash is just 85 calories ... so resist the urge to smother it with butter and brown sugar. (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and cinnamon... yum)

Ahh... the coast.  My DH has booked us 2 nights/3 days at a lovely seaside town in northern California about 3 hours from here called Carmel, California. (It is adjacent to Monterey, California.) Carmel is our favorite vacation spot and the small town is great for walking ... art galleries, little shops, a gorgeous coast line, lush vegetation ... great restaurants (with grilled fish for me!) We stay at a great little bed and breakfast called the Wayside Inn (I'll need to take my own, no low-carb or low-fat options there, trust me) ... and there's a cozy fireplace in the room! We will be there the first Mon-Tue-Wed in December! Won't that be nice to look forward to? I wonder how much less I will weigh in 2 months and how much easier walking up and down all those hills will be? (happy sigh)

I go to the Fitness Center today at 4:30 for Part 2 (of 3) my Initial Assessment. They said to expect to be exercising the whole time.... I am excited, but a bit scared, too. In addition to being 200 pounds overweight, I last exercised in 1982 (that would be high school!). EEEEK! My biggest goal is to not collapse on and squoosh the poor, skinny exercise physiologist who is working with me. (grin)

=^..^= MOLLY

 

Ah HAH! Does the censored word rhyme with human?

Yep, you got it, Molly :)

Working on Decensoring it. I'm sure y'all can see how this got trapped by our filter (take the in out and it's a different thing entierly). Sorry for the issue.

Slow-coach, I am, indeed, a fellow pavement pounder.  I find that, while it's good for my physical well-being, it's absolutely essential for my mental sanity as well!