Professional Moms... let's group together!

I have other groups online with working Moms... they help me find cool things to do with our 4 year old... help me keep up with my scrapbooking.  But I would love to get into a group of other mothers that also work full time outside of the home... and are trying to lose weight. 

I respect SAHMs... but it's a different perspective to have to pack lunches, work a full day, make dinners on the go and find time to work out as well. 

Here's a bit about me... and hopefully there will be other professional Moms wanting to team up to get rid of some extra weight!

33, 5'5", CW 168; GW 145.  Married x6.5 years; we have a 4 year old daughter.  I work in healthcare 5 days a week (8-6 M-Th; 8-12 on Fri).

spook-I'll have to remember your pack a cooler idea for car trips. dd and I are going on a 4 hour trip in a little over a week.  Going to be staying at a La Quinta though... as they have fresh fruit as part of their breakfast and that should help... with replenishing our snacks for the day.  Also-- glad to hear the logging in is enlightening.  I've been slacking off... but am trying to at least eat healthy.

branblow--I hear you about starbucks.  I get a small (whatever they call it?) sugarfree, fat free cinammon dolche latte and it does the trick.  Not sure how many calories.

copper--I cant live without my am coffee either.  Like what drea mentioned... I get the sugar free creamers (in the refrig. section) as they have less calories than the non-fat... and I add some of that as well as some of my skim milk and I'm set for a fairly low fat drink.

drea--I;ll have to try your frappachino version.  Tried one similiar from hungrygirl.com.

Hello! I am a pseudo part/full time Med Tech (somewhere between 6 to 8 shifts a pay period) and I volunteer 1 day a week at my son's school, which for me feels like full time. I still have a hard time finding the energy and time to exercise. Hope I can still join your group!

ciosa1020: The best drink I have found at Starbucks is the tall Skinny Latte, which they advertise as having 90 cals. I do enjoy the caramel.

 

tdae Calories Grams Fat Carbs Protein Grade 2008-06-21 1,901 1,718 43 256 64 B+

The Starbucks website has a great nutritional info section.  You can customize your drink and find out how many calories you are getting and plan for it.  I find Starbucks easier to tackle armed with information.  We have a lot of good indie coffee shops around here and I just assume, for the sake of simplicity, that there are the same amount of calories in an equivalent drink elsewhere. 

Incidentally I didn't get a lunch break the other day; one of my coworkers was running out and asked if I need anything.  She refused to go to Starbucks for me because she feels they "are getting too big."  This really irritated me because I go with the local guy whenever I can when making my purchases, but as it turns out there is no viable alternative near my work. And what's with the forcing your values on other people?  She gave another coworker a hard time the other day for eating Pringles because they're owned by Proctor and Gamble.  Sheesh.  Like, what isn't owned by Proctor and Gamble?

  Fat - 36.4% (53 grams)
Protein - 12.1% (39 grams)
Carbohydrates - 51.5% (167 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Daily Sodium Intake - 1,480 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 50 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 57 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 15 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 22 grams
Nutrition Grade

 

Date Calories Grams Fat Carbs Protein Grade 2008-06-21 1,249 856 53 167 39 A-

My stats from yesterday-- high fat, but sodium (my culprit) was pretty low.  I need more low fat protein.  I was 51 calories short (for once) but I was still over 1200 so I'm fine with that. 

I'm going to try and keep my stats up here-- hang in there gals. 

We can find a way for all of us to lose some of our extra weight and get healthy!

Welcome djambyb!  Jump right in anytime! and thanks for the starbucks cue!

I cannot even bring myself to post for the last two days... Ok I will log it to shame myself... but the hard part will be posting it.
You see... I got a 5 hour nap on Thursday.  We had a big dinner to attend so from 6:45pm until 9:30 pm THE FOLLOWING night.. I was awake.  And eating to stay awake  :(    I didn't eat horribly but it wasn't great... and it was a lot!!   27 hours awake is not fun anymore.    Lucky for me my hubby's twin showed up and cleaned the house from top to bottom!!  Laundry dishes vacuum mop ect.   I'm not sure where this twin came from... as I never knew he had one... but it certainly was not my hubby!  ha ha ha   He made dinner and dessert too!!  I told him to be careful or I'd fall for his twin and kick him to the curb!  Of course he laughed at me since I was extremely GOOFY from being so tired!!!  :) 
Ok... off to log and think of new challenge ideas... since our first one week challenge is officially at a closeing  :)   

Fat - 28.5% (339 grams)
Protein - 14.9% (398 grams)
Carbohydrates - 56.6% (1,513 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Daily Calorie Intake - 1,716 cals
Daily Sodium Intake - 2,012 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 119 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 143 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 16 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 28 grams
Nutrition Grade

B+
Date Calories Grams Fat Carbs Protein Grade 2008-06-16 1,990 985 65 309 61 A- 2008-06-18 1,304 758 42 201 63 A- 2008-06-19 1,435 1,790 45 231 47 B+ 2008-06-20 1,641 2,255 48 226 94 A- 2008-06-22 2,516 1,379 81 370 90 B 2008-06-23 1,413 1,341 58 176 43 B-





My weekly totals  6 of 7 days done!     And I have realized my problem here.   I need one job so I can eat less and keep better track of it!  ha ha   Only one week left of two jobs!!!  THANK GOODNESS!!!   
My personal challenge this week is to find an alternative to the coffee issue.   I found the General Foods International coffee in the can isn't half bad.  They have a sugar free that is ok but the decaffinated one is better tasting.... so I'll add my own milk and coffee and cut over 100 calories out of my big morning coffee cup!!  :)    I am out of coffee creamer now.... so my challenge is NOT to buy more!!  
Anyone got a weekly goal idea? 

Yes, I've been MIA, but I'm back now.  Didn't do well with the weekly challenge (as you can tell) because I hadn't been logging my food.  I know...bad girl.  I have very good intentions of doing this all the right way, but last week, it never failed...I "fell off the wagon" at least once a day.  :-(  That really sucks.  I'm just really down...I can't exercise because I've been told by my doctor not to until my knee heals.  Who knows when that will be...It's already been 2 weeks and I'm still in pain. 

Anyway, enough of my complaining....I'm proud of those of you that were able to stick with the challenge!!! 

As fara as a personal weekly challenge: to do better this week!  None of that daily "one bad food" thing I kept doing.  What was that all about? 

On a positive note...my family wanted to go out for ice cream last night...I found a fat free, sugar free chocolate chip that was fantastic!!  So...I had a "cheat" but it was better for me than the alternative.  Speaking of ice cream...have you all tried the skinny cow sandwiches?  OMG...I love them!!!

The Skinny Cow sandwiches are good.  Even my DH likes them and he usually does not go for low-fat alternatives.  However, I never buy them because I'll eat the whole package if they are in the house.  Grrrr.  If I could get just one at the grocery store then I would totally get it once in a while for a treat. 

We have this fabulous italian ice place in town, all the stuff is made with real ingredients (you know, actual lemon juice in the lemon etc).  The flavor is so intense that a kiddie size hits the spot and is only about 60 calories.  Yay!  Unfortunately there is also a guy that makes small batch gourmet ice cream....the best ice cream in the world.  Good thing DH has to watch his saturated fat intake so we don't have that in the house very often. 

I was going to propose an exercise challenge, but out of consideration to runningbellydancer we can hold off on that one for now. 

How about this:  we each promise to do something by Sunday that we have wanted to do (preferably something enjoyable, like a project, activity, or craft we have wanted to work on, not a chore) for a while but have been putting off because there is no time? 

Here is what I am going to do (now you all are going to find out what a nut I am):  I am going to finish making the solar oven that I started several weeks ago.  This is timely because Freaking Hot Summer is officially here and I can't stand the thought of cooking in the kitchen, which leads to the consumption of unhealthy food.  And one resource we have in abundance here is sunshine.   This is also a job I consider fun and which has been put off because grabby toddlers keep trying to help!

Oh yeah, and I will also cook something in it and let you guys know how that goes.

 

Now, off to work on it....or take a nap?

Fat - 16.9% (24 grams)
Protein - 11.2% (36 grams)
Carbohydrates - 71.8% (233 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Daily Sodium Intake - 1,939 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 33 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 20 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 9 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 20 grams
Nutrition Grade
 

Date Calories Grams Fat Carbs Protein Grade 2008-06-23 1,266 946 24 233 36 B-

 

 

 

Woo-Hoo!!  I'm back!!!!  Above are my stats for today.  I did fairly well...I'm pretty proud of myself. 

Spook - thanks for thinking of me and holding off on the activity challenge.  Hopefully I'll be able to start exercising again soon.  All I can do is upper body work right now.  If I'm not better by Monday (6/30) everyone can just do it without me.  BTW, a solar oven??  Wow...that seems so...complicated.  Please do tell us how it works out!  I'm very curious about it. 

Oh, and I mentioned the skinny cow sandwiches in an earlier post.  My dh came home today with a package of Smart Ones peanut butter cup sundaes!  I'll let you know how they are! 

I also tried Arborio rice.  Yummy!  I made it in chicken stock and added sauteed onion.  Very tasty!!

Welcome back Runningbellydancer!  Sorry to hear about the knee though... I was thinking about upper body stuff you could do and then read that you were already doing that... good for you!  Every little bit helps!  :) 

Spook... I'm so very intrigued by this solar oven!!  I wish I didn't live in the temperate rain forest... we don't get enough sun to be able to depend on anything solar  :(    But please let us know how it goes!!!

I went for a bike ride tonight!  It was wonderful!   I tried to convince the family to go to the gym and play basketball while I worked out.  It is motivating when everyone goes.  But no one was interested... so I was going to go walk the dog... but the Bachelorett was on an hour early... so I decided to be lazy and watch it. And then when it was over... I was emotional (I can't help it... I love this series!) so I changed clothes and grabbed the iPod and off I went on the bike!!  I'm so glad I did!  Then I came home and got ready for work and here I sit.... feeling pretty good!  Now I need to go log!!
My weekly challenge is TWO more bike rides!!!  Minimum of 30 minutes each.    But the crafty project sounds fun....  this is my last week of TWO jobs... so I will wait on that part until after July 1st!!

Ok... off to log my food!!

Ok... it wasn't too bad... but I thought my new coffee ideas would cut some calories.... yeah not so much  :( 
Breakfast A-  Soup, Progresso Healthy Classics Chicken Noodle - Canned, Ready-to-serve 356 114 B+  Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat Bread 56 80 C   Kraft 2% Milk American Singles - Sandwich Cheese 42 100   Lunch D+  Kraft, General Foods International Coffees French Vanilla Cafe Flavored Instant Coffee, Powder 63 292 B+  Whole Milk 180 113 B-  Pacific Soy low fat vanilla 227 80     Iced Tea - Black Tea
0   Dinner A   Kiwifruit, 1 med. - Fruits 111 75 A   Strawberries 114 37 B-  Cornnuts, Plain 48 214   Snacks C+  Original - Rice Krispies Treats Squares 55 225 B-  Newtons Fruit Crisps 28 100   Total Calories Consumed   1,429

I found the progresso light soups tonight at the store... weight watchers gives them a ZERO!  It was pretty tasty too!  I will buy more for sure!!!  :)

 

 

Oh, I will have to check that out, since I do weight watchers.   I stopped logging here because it is just so much work to look up the foods etc.  but it was helpful to see the breakdown on what I am doing nutritionally.  I find the points thing easier to follow, once the system is mastered. 

Bike rides are fun!  Especially in the evening.  I biked down to have lunch with DH today and then took the bus back...you guys can guess which way was uphill!  I've also been hauling rocks around the garden all day, and managed 15 minutes on the treadmill (no, wait!  it was 16!) before the kids woke up. 

 

Coppertop, I would trade my sun for your rainforest any day.  I lived in New England for 13 years and NEVER thought I would complain about too much sun but let me tell you....it is relentless.  My first summer here I would put a can of soup on the dashboard when I went to work, and it would be steaming hot by lunchtime.  After this solar oven thingy is done, I'm going to work on rigging a solar fan to help ventilate the car!  You can buy these but they are way weak and pathetic, so I got a little panel and DH is going to help me rig the wiring - I am helpless with circuits. 

 

I can't wait until my kids grow up a little and realize their parents are lunatics :)

Here's my log for yesterday (although a little late):

  Fat - 8.6% (13 grams)
Protein - 18.8% (62 grams)
Carbohydrates - 72.6% (240 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Daily Sodium Intake - 2,557 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 53 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 33 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 3 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 21 grams
Nutrition Grade

Date Calories Grams Fat Carbs Protein Grade 2008-06-24 1,251 440 13 240 62 B+

Just thought I'd update everyone...my knee is doing better !  yay!  So, hopefully I'll start walking or jogging next week.  I don't want to do anything too soon and hurt it again. 

Yeah, I've been doing upper body work..I had to purchase some inexpensive dumbells,  and sometimes i do crunches on my exercise ball.  I looooove my exercise ball!!!  I don't know why...I just do. 

But not being able to do my normal exercising has made me somewhat of a couch potato!  I mean, I do my dumbells, but I do it while I'm watching TV or a movie.  I guess it's better than sitting there eating a snack while watching...right?? 

Now...for my weekly challenge to eat better and not have my daily "bad food"...I've done pretty well and I'm half way through!!  I'm even down like .4 lbs, which I wasn't expecting.  It's not much better, but better than zero!! 

I'm so envious of those of you who can ride a bike to work!  I would love to do that, but it's way too far for me!! 

Coppertop - congrats to you on your last week of having TWO jobs!  I don't know how you do it!!!  And congrats on the bike ride!  nothing wrong with you taking a little time for something you like (watching Bachelorette) either!  You got up after it was done and had your bike ride!  Impressive!! 

Ok...enough of this LOOOONG post! 

I built the solar cooker and have been testing it over the last few days.  I think I need more insulation because it seems to be heating up but not retaining heat well.  Today is the first day I will actually be at home when the sun is out to play with the thing, so we will see.  I was going to bring it to work, but it is so big and weird looking that I don't want to do anything to add to my eccentric reputation at the moment! 

So with that done, it's time for next week's challenge!

I challenge you all to do some activity -anything you want - for 20 minutes three times this week.  Bonus points if you ratchet it up in intensity or duration from whatever you have been doing.  More bonus points if it is something you actually like doing.  Post here by tonight if you are in!

I personally commit to 20 minutes on the treadmill, at 2.0mph and 10% incline, three mornings sometime during the week. 

And remember ladies, even if you are not currently losing weight, you are making positive changes for your health and body!

Good luck!

Challenge accepted!  And thank you for posting that because I needed a kick in the butt!   I have been telling myself that the time I used to work the 2nd job was between 4 and 6 hours and that there is no reason I can't get AT LEAST 30 min. worth of activity in that time slot.    So... instead of going home and right to bed... (since I'm house sitting for my parents) I will get on the old wanna be elliptical my mom has for 20 min.     Then I'll go to bed feeling better about it!
And after a long day, an hour nap, and then my 8 hour night shift... even after the exercise I"ll still PASS right OUT!  ha ha

Any other takers on the challenge?? 

Runningbellydancer... you can simulate exercise without using your knee.  Arm circles, punches, shoulder rolls, sit ups, stand with your dumbells and twist from side to side.... there is no end to what you can do  :) 

Hi All!

   I have been soooooo bad about logging anything, and rather doing anything!  I have been bouncing around with my eating...some days it is really healthy to start out with and then BAM! I will eat something of no nutritional value! And the past 2 weeks I have not been to the gym!!! I was doing really well with it , going 3-4 times a week for a few hours. I think I weight lifted one night, but that was it. I was too tired and not motivated to do a damn thing.

I have an appointment for a nutritionist this afternoon so maybe that will be helpful.

I think this weeks challenge will work better for me. I generally do more than 20 minutes at the gym, but the last 2 weeks have been sorta on the outs for me....I will get back into the routine again this week.