Ok, inspired by Lindasue, I'm going to start my first journal.
Here goes:

30 January 2002

Brkfst:
1 (8oz) chocolate royale Slim Fast milkshake
8 oz of orange juice (not concentrate)

Midday snack:
box of those stick pretzels (100 cal, 1 fat)

Lunch:
1 (8oz) chocolate royale Slim Fast milkshake
1 red delicious apple

Dinner:
Italian chicken, brocolli & rice (it's a great recipe and pretty low fat--I'll have to post it in the recipes section)
salad with ranch dressing (ouch--ranch! hey, I'm just starting out)

Evening Snack:
a couple of grapes
small bowl of New Zealand Potato Chowder (I was experimenting with the new soup cookbook I bought so I had to try some once I made it! It was good--made with yams and sweet potatoes. You add a cup of heavy cream, but everything else in it is very healthy and low cal)

Over the course of the day I had about 48 oz of water.

Not too bad I think. I'm just a 23 year old (well, 24 on Sunday) single gal living in her first apartment. The budget is limited, but I'm really trying to buy healthy items. The slim fast milkshakes are both economical and filling when I don't have time or money to make better lunches.

I didn't get to the gym, so I really had no exercise (unless you count any romantic activity with my boyfriend! ;-))

I'm open to any suggestions and support. I just hope I have the brain power to remember to write everything down and then post it in here.

My father always said that when you cheat at playing solitaire, you're only cheating against yourself. I think that applies to many things in life. If I'm not proud of something I ate or did I'm going to post it in here anyway. How else can I learn from my mistakes?

She inspired me too, I just started my journal yesterday. You look like you are off to a great start. Keep up the great work!

Hey, I like your signature! Thanks for looking at my journal--I'm going to check yours out too!

Welcome to DT! I think you will find the journal writing really beneficial! You have exactly the right idea too...if you aren't honest, this won't do you any good at all!

It took me a bit to get used to the idea of the public nature of these journals, but it actually helps to have people encourage you and give you ideas!

Have fun!

Great job. I am happy that you have started. For that soup recipe, try adding evaporated skim milk (the canned stuff) in place of the heavy cream next time. It may do the trick and knock out the fat. Its worth a try. I'm glad youve found a program that works for you. Chicken sounds good too. You are on your way!! Keep up the good work.
48 ounces is a good start with the water. As a future goal, aim for 1/2 ounce for each pound you weigh. Water does make a big difference.

Lindasue:x

Looks like you're starting off well ... I've got a suggestion - if you feel hungry, try drinking water first. Sometimes we mistake thirst for hunger. Since I started drinking lots of water, I feel healthier! All the best!

Gosh, I've been trying all day to log on here but I've been so busy at work that everytime I log on I have to log back off and process mortgage applications!!

Thank you all for leaving posts--it's so great to know you're all listening. Lindasue, I'll definately try the skim milk thing with my chowder. And I'm trying to take chinadoll's suggestion also. I'm going to my mother's for dinner tonight, which is always a challenge because she's such a great cook. While she's cooking dinner I'm going to drink lots of water so I'm not tempted for seconds of her Pasta Milan.

Anyway, my boss is pushing me out the door,
so here was yesterday's menu:

breakfast:
8oz slim fast milkshake (I use 1% milk by the way)
8oz orange juice

snack:
the same little pretzels as the day before

lunch:
8oz slim fast milk shake
1 red delicious apple

dinner:
2 bowls of the sweet potato chowder I made the night before with 3 pieces of bread (ok, I spread a little whipped butter on the bread)

snack:
strawberry jello & vanilla yogurt (mixed together)

All day long I drank about 80oz of water (72 at work and a glass at dinner)

This weekend will be tough though, so wish me luck with my will power.

Talk to everyone tomorrow!!

Hello everyone! Let's see....yesterdays menu was same old same old during the day. It was night time that got a little out of hand.

Breakfast:
8 oz slimfast milkshake
8 oz orange juice (can you tell I like routine?)

snack:
the little box of stick pretzels

Lunch:
8 oz slim fast milkshake
1 red del apple

Dinner: (uh-oh)
mom's famous Pasta Milan -- to fill me up more I drank water before dinner (like chinadoll suggested), had two pieces of bread and a salad with oil & vinegar. But even though I was getting full I still couldn't help but have another spoonfull of the delicious garlic buttery creamy pasta. Thankfully she only makes this every few months, and she only made it because it's my birthday weekend.

Snack:
when I got home I finished a little bowl of leftover rice and brocolli from the other night (it was really small--not big enough for even a lunch)
a chocolate rice cake

I didn't do too bad considering what I could have done with my mother's pasta.

I got a new haircut last night (much shorter than I expected I'd allow). It's kind of cute, so maybe a new look will help me get more motivated. My boyfriend is coming over later today and we're going to the gym together.

So far so good.......

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :bd

Great job on the control part! brocolli + rice sounds yummy esp. if the brocolli is cooked in oyster sauce!!

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes!

I'm on my way to my mom's house for dinner so I wanted to quick write down yesterday's diet:

Breakfast: (ok, lunch since I got up at 11am)
1 english muffin w/ strawberry jelly
2 eggs, scrambled, w/ 1% milk and a bit of chili powder for zap
8 oz orange juice

Dinner:
spinach
rice
1 frozen chicken cordon bleu thingie (my boyfriend bought them so I felt obligated to eat it even though it was loaded with fat and calories--I made up for it with the spinach and rice though--at least I ate something healthy)
salad w/ tomatoes

Snack:
my boyfriend bought a bottle of white zinfandel to toast my birthday so I had a few glasses of that
a few pretzels to help soak up the alcohal (I'm a big lightweight when it comes to drinking--I get sick a lot)

All day long I had about 64 oz of water

I also went to the gym and did very well--I weighed myself and found out I lost 2 more pounds since last week!

I did 15 minutes on the stationary bike, 10 minutes on the eliptical trainer, 10 minutes on the treadmill, 20 tricep extensions on each arm and 20 bicep curls on each arm

My mother is making antipasta and chicken parmesan for dinner, so that's not too bad. I can avoid the cheese and just eat the chicken and pasta, and the antipasta is very healthy anyway.

My new goal is to not eat until I'm full. I found that the slower I eat the less I eat because my stomach has time to tell my head that I'm full. I'm concentrating on chewing my food completely before swallowing, and not picking up my fork again until I swallow. I only adds seconds, but those seconds add up and pretty soon I'm full.

Talk to everyone tomorroe!

Happy birthday balebis!

Sounds like you are doing great! Have a good birthday dinner, enjoy, and celebrate the wonderful changes you are making for yourself!

Thanks, Cari, everyone at work forgot my birthday (even though I mentioned several times it was on Superbowl Sunday this year) but you guess remembered--and I just met you!

I was very proud of myself yesterday. I stayed within the compounds of moderation for my birthday dinner.

Breakfast: (again, around 11am)
I mixed the left over spinach from the night before with 2 eggs and some 1% milk and a dash of chili powder and scrambled them up
I had 2 pieces of toast with strawberry jam (and again, no butter!)
8 oz orange juice

Snack:
I got to mom's around 2pm but dinner wasn't until 3:30 when my sister's family came, so she gave me a meatball to try while we were waiting.

Dinner:
shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce (I think there were 5 shrimpies)
salad plate of my mom's famous antipasta with a dash of 4 Seasons italian dressing
chicken parmesan--I took 1 piece of chicken with whatever mozarella it was connect to and one spoonful of spaghetti (after the shrimp and antipast I was filling up anyway)
I drank water with dinner

Snack:
2 small (and I mean sliver-like) pieces of my birthday cake (simple chocolate cake sliced into 5 layers with whip cream in between each layer--one of my favorites)

later that evening my boyfriend made popcorn and I had a few bites of it

I didn't do too well with my water intake though, probably only about 24 oz all day. I'm going to try Lindasue's suggestion of a 1/2 ounce of water for every pound you wiegh, which means I need to drink 98 oz of water today. I bought a new Aquafina bottle that's 32oz so if I drink 3 of those I should come close. I started out with a 20 oz bottle, then 24oz...it seems like I concentrate more on accomplishing how many bottles I down, so if I increase the bottle size I don't notice I'm drinking more.

And I didn't get a chance to go to the gym.
I did get a lot of money and gift certificates for presents, so tonight after work I'm going shopping for some new gym clothes. Oh, and my boyfriend got me the Anna Kornikova (sp?) work out video.

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Happy Belated 24th Birthday Balebis! And congratulations with your weight loss so far. You're doing pretty well, even on your birthday!
Are you going to try out Anna K's video today? What kind of exercise is she doing?
Hope you will have a super day today. :rose:

Angie

noenoe, thank you! I watched the Anna K video last night and it was really good. It's not your typical exercise video where a girl is doing aerobics with 5 people behind her doing the same thing. It's more of an instructional video, showing you how to break down basic elements of strength training moves, and then letting you do them on your own time.

It's probably geared more towards athletes, but because she doesn't really do the exercises with you, you can go at your own pace. And she uses a lot of toys--the big bouncy ball, a medicine ball, small dumbells, lateral tension rope, etc so it's cool to see other ways to use things. I really liked it, and trust me I'm no athlete. I did all the upper body exercises she talked about with the weights and tried to do some of the leg moves (without alienating my downstairs neighbors!)

The coolest thing though is Anna's legs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into women or anything, but she has the most amazing legs I've ever seen. When she moves nothing shakes. She's not bulky, just completely lean. She's amazing. And her accent is cute too.

Actually, I hadn't planned to watcher her video last night. I had big plans to go shopping and buy some new gym clothes with my birthday money and then to head straight to the gym. But those of you living in the northeast United States know what kind of a day yesterday was. We had small snow squalls which covered about a half inch of the ground earlier in the day, then the sun came out and melted everything. But then by early evening the sun set and this unbelievable wind came and froze everything--it was so cold!

I was walking to my car last night after work with all my mail and overnight packages as usual. The concrete stairs outside my office building were dry so I didn't even think about ice until I slid on the black pavement while getting into my car. My mail went flying--I lost one piece in the wind--I did a semi-split and came down hard on my left knee.

I was a bloody mess. Fortunately my knee's ok, I don't think there was any joint damage because I can walk fine--just the skin hurts when I bend it because of the huge scrape. Needless to say my big gym and shopping plans were scratched because I sat in my car for 15 minutes sniffling and feeling sorry for my myself and my bloody knee and my ruined pantyhose. So I went home to clean and bandage myself up and then decided to watch the Anna Kournikova (I spelled it right!) video.

I'm sorry I'm so detailed, I just realize how long that story took to type out.

Anyway, yesterday's menu:

Breakfast:
8oz orange juice
8oz slimfast (don't worry, today I'm finally mixing up the daily menu--stay tuned for tomorrow!)

snack:
pretzels

lunch:
1 apple
8oz slimfast

dinner:
2 pieces of bread (nothing on them!)
plate of pasta, mushrooms and brocolli

snack:
2 chocolate rice cakes

But here's the best news: All day yesterday I drank at least 112oz of water! I was aiming for 98oz (1/2 oz for every pound I weigh) and then while watching the video last night I filled up the 32 oz bottle again and drank half of it! I'm so proud of myself, but most of all I can't believe how easy it was. As long as I remember to drink, I do! I just have to keep looking at the bottle.

Well, I think I've chatted on long enough! Talk to everyone tomorrow!

I'm very excited today! I went grocery shopping last night and bought some good stuff! Pepperidge Farm makes a light bread (only 45 calories per slice)--I bought a loaf in 7 grain and in oatmeal. I bought apple butter (no fat, 30 cal a TB), low fat waffles, and light dressing (thought I'd give it a try).

Here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast:
1 cup of apple jacks w/ 1/2 cup 1% milk
8 oz orange juice
2 pieces toast w/ strawberry jelly

snack:
pretzels

lunch:
bowl of my mom's left over antipast from my birthday party
1 red apple

dinner:
2 tacos (my tacos are pretty simple: flour tortilla-fajita size-ground meat w/ taco seasonings, nacho cheese, sour cream, lettuce, hot sauce, & salsa)

snack:
grapes

I drank 96 oz of water (yea me! reached my 98oz goal two days in a row!)

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

BTW, my knee is ok, just sore. I'm going to the gym tonight though.

Great job at the store. You are making good choices already. You exercise video sounds good. I'm a bit uncoordinated though, so adding in balls and stuff would be disaster.

Great job on the water too. Thats a good amount of water to work up to so quickly.

Glad your knee is getting better.

I'll PM you later.
Love LIndasue :x

I'm glad you did a good job at the store. :) I'm trying to drink more water too.
I hope your knee feels better
God bless
-Rachel

Rachel--I noticed we have the same goal weight! We're going to have to keep track of each other to make sure we both reach it!

Hello everyone!

I've been pretty busy at work today so I don't have much time. Here's yesterday's menu:

breakfast:
3 slices light 7 grain toast (Pepperidge Farm) w/ apple butter
8 oz orange juice

snack:
pretzels (this is the last box out of the package!)

lunch:
1 red apple
8oz slim fast milkshake

dinner:
mixture of rice and spinach w/ minced garlic, salt & pepper
1/2 a can of tuna with light ranch salad dressing

snack:
grapes
1 slice of light 7 grain toast w/ apple butter (so good!)

I reached my water goal of 96 oz again.

I went to the gym after work and did 10 minutes on the eliptical trainer, 10 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the bike and stretched for 10 minutes.

I think it was a pretty good day! You know, I felt guilty for having that extra slice of toast last night but after looking at everything I ate yesterday it's not so bad!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Julie

It sounds like you're doing a great job :D
God bless
-Rachel

Hello everyone! I went to my mom's house last night for dinner and she made me a low cal meal! I was so happy!

Yesterday's menu:

breakfast:
3 slices light 7 grain toast w/ apple butter
8 oz orange juice

snack:
grapes

lunch:
leftover rice & spinach w/ garlic from the night before
1 red apple

dinner:
bowl of acine di pepe pasta (really small dots, low in fat & cal) w/ TB of olive oil, TB of grated parmesan cheese & dash of garlic powder w/ salt & pepper.
I piece of chicken w/ tomatio sauce
salad w/ 4 seasons dressing (but I was so full I only ate half)

snack:
1 low fat eggo waffle w/ apple butter

and 4 days in a row--96 oz of water!

I showed this journal to my mom--she's really impressed. It was my mother that finally motivated me to do something for good about my weight. She gave me a long lecture a few weeks ago about how beautiful I am and it was time I got confidence and did what made me happy.

She's an incredible inspiration because 5 years ago she quit smoking--completely cold turkey. She'd smoked for over 40 years and one day she woke up and decided not to do it anymore. She took her little leather pouch that she kept her cigarettes and lighter in and nailed it to the ceiling of our screened-in back porch. It was symbolic. She's added years to her life, and she sounds, looks, and smells wonderful now. If she can do it, I can too. But somehow I don't think my landlord will allow me to nail a Hershey bar to my ceiling!

Talk to everyone tomorrow! Oh, and I'm going to the gym tonight!

You are really doing well. I'm glad you showed yor mom your journal. That is a neat thing. And that she is so supportive. She sounds like an amazing woman, just like YOU. Keep up the good work. The weekend is just about here. I think we are having nice weather forcast, at least for today. Think of me when you are exercising. I will probably be walking the battlefields this weekend (when I'm not watching the olympics). Drink that water!!

Take care
Love Lindasue:x

I'm so glad you mentioned the Olympics! I love the Olympics, especially the winter ones. I don't know why. I love olympic hockey because there's no fighting, figure skating is always great to watch, and call me crazy but I get mesmerized by watching downhill skiing. I've never skied in my life, but I love to watch it.

And it's king of depressing that not everyone gets excited about it. Like my boyfriend. I love him to death, but he could care less. I don't understand it because he's a huge sports fan and he plays basketball every other day! My mom and I get so excited!

Also, I wanted to tell you how great the water thing has been. I've been drinking over 96 oz for four ddays now and I really see a difference. I feel better somehow. My complexion looks better (my skin is less dry and its easier to apply make up). I also don't feel as tight and stiff. Like in the morning when I get out of bed, I don't feel like a board.....I'm already loose and it's so much easier to stretch.

I'm glad you're feeling better and up for walking. I think the battlefields would be a great place for exercising. Hey, do you ever see any civil war ghosts? :laugh: There's not too many places to walk where I live so in the summer months I go to F&M University--they have a track--and in the summer most of the students have gone home.

Talk to you later!

Julie

lol, I'm not sure if your landlord would mind the hershy bar. he he
My mom quit smoking about 11 years ago when she found out that cigarette smoke makes me cough like crazy. I was really proud of her. :)

lol, I like the winter olimpics. This is the first year there will be a woman's bobsleding team, probably because in the past years there weren't any women crazy enough to do it. he he
I'm looking forward to watching some of it.

I'm glad to hear water it having a good effect. I just started drinking a lot two days ago, I'm eager to see if there are any changes. :)
God bless
-Rachel

Well here I am again on the weekend. My big challange for this weekend is to maintain my 96oz water goal. It's easier through the week because I'm at work, and sitting at my desk and drinking water seems second nature. On weekends I'm so busy that I don't have time to sip. But I'm going to try my best.

Also, we're going out to dinner tonight. It's kind of my fault.... when I first moved into my apartment I figured that my boyfriend Chris would be there a lot and therefore being eating a lot of my food. So we made some rules: he can only come over 4 nights a week and one night a week he takes me out to dinner. It's been working well for a year, but now it's going to be hard. I'd rather not eat out because it's so difficult.

I chose to go to Cafe Chuckles, my favorite restaurant. At least I know the menu really well there.....but it's going to be hard to stay away form wings!

I'm also a little discouraged today. I went to the gym last night and weighed myself....196. I haven't lost anything all week. To look on the bright side, it was the end of the day and after a work out (I've read it's best to weigh yourself in the morning). Also, this is my time of the month. Chris said that that is a major factor. I retain a lot of water and everything else in my body is affect by my hormones (his actual words were "you're all screwed up this week").

So he's right, I'll have to wait until next week to really get an accurate number. I've read that sometimes when you limit your caloric intake your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to everything. Kind of like plateauing. So that freaks me out, what if I'm not eating enough? But then I think, I'm full after every meal. What if I'm eating too much?? So to be safe, this week I'm going to try as best I can to count calories and list them here. That way I'll see if I'm eating too much or not enough.

:chef: Yesterday's menu: (the calories are in parantheses)

Breakfast:
3 slices PF light 7 grain toast (140)
3 TB apple butter (90)
8oz orange juice (110)

Snack:
grapes (58)

Lunch:
Rice & spinach (339)
1 red apple (81)

Dinner:
lettuce salad (10)
fat free ranch dressing (40)
3 pieces bread (240)
Butter (72)
6 cheese raviolis (300)
2/3 cup tomatio sauce (75)
2 TB parmesan cheese (40)

Snack:
3 chocolate rice cakes (180)

Totals:
B: 340
S: 58
L: 420
D: 777
S: 180

Total: 1775 :(

Hmmm. Not bad. I think the average healthy person eats 2100, and my doctor said that most dieters should stay under 1800. But I see a lot of people on DT are aiming for 1200. I guess dinner was what pushed me over the edge. I was pretty full after dinner, maybe too full. In fact, I was full half way through my meal. But I finished my plate anyway. I guess it's ok to leave stuff on my plate. (of course it's instilled in my mind to eat everything on my plate having been raised by Depression Era parents!)

:water: My daily water intake exceeded 96oz, but I stoped counting afterwards. I kept filling up my bottle when it was half full so I got confused, but I know it was at least 100.

:ex: I did go to the gym and I did very well. I actually broke a sweat which is unusual for me (Chris says I'm a lady under all circumstances). I did 20 minutes on the eliptical trainer (I used to be hard pressed for 5 min!) and 20 minutes on the treadmill and then I stretched for 15 minutes!

Well, wish me luck with Cafe Chuckles tonight!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

BTW, I got most of calorie info from the food labels--however a lot of foods don't have labels (grapes, apples, lettuce, etc) so I found a cool website that enables you to list your servings and food description and gives you an estimate. Here's the link if anyone wants to try it:

http://www.caloriescount.com/

Julie

I've heard it's best to weigh yourself in the morning, because anything from what you've eaten that day, to what you've drank or what you're wearing can make a diffrence.
I'm counting calories too, sometimes it seems like I'm eating too much, but if I'm under 1200 calories I'm afraid I'm not eating enough.
Good luck at the resturaunt tonight, and thanks for the calorie link. :)
If you haven't checked out www.fitday.com that might be helpful too, there's all kinds of useful things there. :D
God bless
-Rachel

Hello everyone. I have good news and bad news. :(

:laugh: Good news--I managed to drink 120 oz of water yesterday (3 32-oz bottles and 2 12-oz glasses at the restaurant). I didn't think I could do it on the weekend, but I did!

:c( Bad news--I had 4 of my boyfriend's chicken wings. He ordered them as an appetizer and when his dinner came it was so big that he didn't think he'd be able to eat it all so I ate 4 wings to help him. But, I orderd a Cajun chicken salad and didn't finish it all because I got so full from the water I drank, so that helped. And I ate really good during the day so I still managed to stay under 1800 calories. I was aiming for 1500, and it's good to know that I would have made it had I not eaten the wings (at least I know it's possible!)

Drazile, I registered at fitday.com--it was really cool. I like how you can make up foods. Their fat free waffles didn't equal the same nutritional info as what my eggos claim, so I created a new food! I think I'll use fitday to help gauge my calorie intake. Thanks for the link!

:chef: Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast/lunch (11AMish):
2 scrambled eggs (203)
1/4 cup 1% milk for the eggs (25)
2 fat free eggo waffles (120)
2 TB strawberry jam (100)
8 oz orange juice (110)

Dinner:
for the Cajun Chicken Salad I broke down the ingredients:
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce (16)
2 tomatos (48)
about 3 TB creamy parmesan dressing (231)
about 6 TB shredded parmesan (118)
1 breast boneless skinless chicken (327)
4 hot chicken wings (353)

Total Calories: 1650

See, had I not had the wings I would have been at 1297 which was well below my goal. There's other things I could have cut. I didnt' need 2 TB of jam on my waffles--it was too sweet, one would have been enough. And of course the salad dressing was way over the edge, but since it was an entree salad (not like a litle house salad where you pick your dressing) I had no choice. Next time I'll ask for the dressing on the side so I can eat less.

:water: And like I said before, 120 ounces of water! Yea me!

:ex: I didn't get to the gym because I looked around my apartment and realize what a pig sty it was. I hadn't vaccumed in over a week! And my toaster oven had a small food explosion the other day, so I spent the afternoon cleaning. With everything I did fitday.com says I burned about 284 calories.

Off tonight to my mom's for dinner. She's making one of my favorites, chicken thighs. It's pretty light actually, she found the recipe years ago in a weight watchers book.

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Julie

Chris and my mom were right! I went to the gym today and weighed myself. I've lost 2 pounds!!! I'm now at 194!!! It was just my hormones that botched the whole thing up the other night!

I'm so happy! The funny thing is, I weighed 194 in November. I gained the 6 pounds I just lost at Christmas. A wasted two months! Whatever I lose from now on is brand new territory!

Yea me!
:cheers:

Julie

You are doing so well. I am tickled for you and doing the happy dance too at those 2 pounds. All that water, and even though you ate the wings, it could have been alot worse, so you should give yourself a pat on the back. Fitday is a great place to log into. I can see you smiling :D from here.

Love Lindasue :x

:laugh: Hello! I'm still on my happy high from yesterday's weigh in!

:hug: Thanks Lindasue for checking in on me! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is grocery day and I'm excited about that too. There's more things I want to try! I love the Pepperidge farm bread I bought and I love the eggo waffles. So so far my choices have been both healthy and yummy!

:chef: Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast/lunch (remember, I'm a late riser on weekends):
4 slices PF 7-grain toast (187)
2 TB apple butter (60)
8 oz orange juice (110)

Dinner:
2 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs w/ light breading (295)
2/3 cup mashed potatoes w/ whole milk added (107)
1 cup bread stuffing (405)
1 slice of jellied cranberries (86)
2/3 cup brocolli (56)

Snack:
1/2 cup watermellon jello (80)
1 chocolate rice cake (60)

Calorie total: 1446

I stayed under my 1500 calories! The big downfall was the stuffing...but it's so good!

:water: And again, I made my goal of 96 oz of water! My first weekend of water gulping went smoothly!

:lift: I went to the gym and did very well (aside from weighing myself!) I did 20 min on the eliptical trainer and 10 min on the treadmill. Then I did 30 crunches (10 for the obliques) and some strength training on my arms. I have no idea what the exercises are called but I used 5 pound weights to strengthen my biceps and triceps. I think I did one exercise to work my shoulders too.

It was a good day!!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Julie

Are you having fun yet?? I think I see you smiling!!
Lindasue :x

Julie, Just read through your journal. You are Rocking Girl. Excercising and eatin good.. Good for you. And you have Sunshine in your writing. You are going to do this......

Thanks Maximum & Lindasue! I actually had a pretty crappy day today at work (not foodwise, workwise).

Do you ever just look at stupid people and just wonder.....why? I overnighted a file to our Philadelphia office on January 29th.....they never received it. I just found out today! All this time they've been complaining about me, saying I never sent it---but they never thought to call me!!! I found out they never got it because I happened to be surfing through UPS.com and saw the package had never been delivered!! It's an even longer and more idiotic story than that....but you get the point. Everybody complains about everything, but no one ever does anything about it.

And then we had a guy come to our office to talk about disability insurance and the other people took so long talking to him that I didn't get to leave work until 5:15pm. I quick changed and zoomed over to the gym, but I was too late. If you get to the gym after 5:30 on Mon, Tues or Wed, there is absolutely no place to park. I circled the parking lot 7 times and finally went home. I'll do a Denise Austin video later.

The only thing that kept me going all day was knowing I'd be eating a low fat meal later on! Oh, and everytime I went in the bathroom I smiled because I knew that it was one of the last few times I'd see the chubby reflection in the mirror!

Anyway, I've gotta go--I'll talk to everyone tomorrow!

Julie

I'm so glad DT is back up!! I missed everyone so much!

I tried to keep track of my days at fitday.com so I'd remember and be able to write my journal entries for when the database was back to normal.

:chef: 2/11/02's menu:

Breakfast:
8 oz oj (110)
2 fat free waffles (120)
1 TB strawberry jam (50)

Lunch:
bowl of my mom's alligator soup...cabbage bean soup recipe she found in a woman's day mag for low cal & low fat foods (261)
1 med apple (81)

Dinner:
1 ts mild olive oil (40)
1 1/2 TB parmesan cheese (45)
2/3 cup oriental blend veggies (25)
2 cups Progresso Hearty Tomato soup (220)
3 oz angel hair pasta (300)

Snack:
2 chocolate rice cakes (120)

Calorie total: 1372 Yea!!

:water: I got confused with my water intake and drank the bottle I was filling up for the next day. Yes, I'm an idiot but I drank 128 ounces of water!

I'm going to end this post and start a new one for 2/12

Bye!

Back again!

:chef: Yesterday's Menu:

Breakfast:
2 fat free waffles (120)
1 ts strawberry jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
pretzels (114)

Lunch:
1/2 cupFruit cocktail in heavy syrup (I bought some in lite syrup later on) (45)
I would have ate more for lunch but we had a lady teaching us how to use our phone system at work so I missed my lunch, and by the time she left it was 4pm, almost time for dinner anyway.

Dinner: Taco night!
2 TB sour cream (60)
2 tortillas (300)
2 ts taco seasoning (20)
1/2 cup colby-jack cheese (220)
1/8 cup salsa (12)--not crazy about the hotness of it
1/2 cup lettuce (3)
1 cup ground chuck (332)

snack:
a couple of grapes (15)

Calorie total: 1402 Yea!

:water: Average day....only 96 oz of water. But still up to par!

I'm going to the gym tonight so I'll have good things to report in the exercise area!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Julie

I went to the gym tonight and gave in to the need to weigh myself. I usually wait until the weekend, and because of last week's menstrual debocle, you'd think I'd be scared off the scale!

But it was good news! 1 more pound gone! I'm 193

I was in the grocery store the other night and I bought 5 apples. I realize how heavy the 5 apples were, so I weighed them. 3 1/2 pounds. And I've already lost 7! It's funny when you actually get to feel how heavy 7 pounds really is. I lost the weight of 10 apples!!

:laugh:

While I'm logged on and since I've finished eating for the day, I might as well list my menu.

:chef: Today's menu:

Breakfast:
8 oz oj (110)
1 TB strawberry jam (50)
2 fat free eggo waffles (120)

Snack:
1 cup grapes (62)

Lunch:
bowl of the Alligator soup (261)

Dinner:
Salad: 1 1/2 cup lettuce (10)
1 TB parmesan cheese (30)
4 saltine crackers (48)
3 TB fat free ranch (60)
Entree: (the dinner is all mixed together but to get the accurate calorie count I had to divide it up)
2 TB 4 Seasons Italian dressing (140)
1 cup chicken broth (25)
3/4 cup broccoli (19)
1 1/2 cup diced boneless, skinless chicken breast (396)
1 cup white rice (160)

Calorie Total: 1490 :D

I thought I went over my 1500 goal, but I forgot I didn't eat my apple at lunch time because I was too full from the water, so I had to take that off my list. Yea! 1490!!

:water: I finished all 3 32-oz bottles and then had more at dinner, so probably about 112 ounces

:ex: I went to the gym, but I was kind of tired so I didn't push myself. I did 2 min on the rowing machine, 20 min on the treadmill, 5 min on the eliptical trainer and I stretched for 5 min

So I'm doing pretty good despite having been estranged from DT for 24 hours!!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!!

Julie

Hi Julia, first I want to thank you for stopping by journal and leaving a word or two of encorgement [sorry about the spelling], it mean a lot. Secondly genealogy is a blast, I hope you get time to work on yours.

Thirdly and more importainly I just read your last few post...your amazing. Your doing really well. It is nic to see someone who is going about this whole weight loss sensably. Keep up the good work.

:sweety: Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!!!! :rose:


.....and guess what? We're going out to dinner tonight. :(

But it should be good. We're going to a good restaurant, kind of a sports pub, so he can watch basketball, I can watch the Olympics, and we can both play trivia. I usually have the same thing everytime I go there: chicken tenders w/ baked potato and veggies. I'll check out their salads but I'll probably end up with the same thing.

The other day our governor declared my county in a drought emergency. It must be because of my 96 ounce water goal!

Hope everyone has a lovely day!!! :x

:laugh: How cute are you! Thinking to weigh apples.... I'm going to go weigh some apples too. Good idea. So happy about your pound, WHOO HOOO, do a little dance!!!!:ex:

I agree, the apples are a good idea. I use 5 pound bags of sugar and flour. Then donated it to the food pantry.
Didn't realize your county was in a drought emergency. I've got to watch the news more. I imagine the susquehanna river is very low right now.

Weighing, 2 times monthly right now. I was doing it daily, then monthly, now 2x monthly. In between, I measure. I keep track of waist and hips,etc....

You are doing great.

Love Lindasue :x

Lindasue, that is such a good idea!!! I think I'll do that too, everytime I lose 5 pounds I'll donate a 5 pound bag of cat or dog food to the Humane League!

That is such a good idea!

Thanks! :laugh:

:c( I had a very bad evening. I was doing so good and then......

We went out to dinner and I was afraid to order one of the prepared salads because the salad dressing scared me. So I opted for my old favorite, the chicken tender meal. I got a baked potato (I didn't ask for butter, but they put it on anyway so I scooped it out when the plate arrived--1 point for me), satued mushrooms (that or cole slaw and I had a bad experience with cole slaw in 1984....long story. I only ate a few of the mushrooms anyway), and 7 breaded chicken tenders.

When I think of breaded chicken I think of the way my mom makes it, very light bread crumbs--hardly any batter. I guess it's been a while since I'd been to this restaurant. The batter was a 1/4 of an inche thick! And it was flakey and oiley. I tried to eat only the chicken but there was more breading than chicken so it was almost impossible to disect. I left 2 on my plate (another point for me).

The baked potato was good, I added some sour cream. That was the highlight of my meal actually.

So all through dinner I was obsessing about the breaded chicken when my boyfriend turned to me and asked, "are you having dessert?" I had already made up my mind no, in fact it wasn't even a question until he brought it up. I was like a kid in a toy store who is all of a sudden given a $5 bill. My childlike mentality kicked in.....I thought, if he was asking it must be ok for me to have it. But then my diet kicked in and my head was torn apart from my stomach.

My poor boyfriend was teetering between, "you've been so good, you deserve a treat and it's Valentine's Day" and "if you have one now you may want one tomorrow and you'll be thrown off your diet." Talk about bipartisan support! He was both for eating and against it, hoping I'd make up my mind and he'd be the supporting boyfriend either way.

He finally made up for it by telling me that he was absolutely NOT having dessert. That helped a little bit because I would have looked stupid being the only one eating. But I was still upset. I wanted to cry. In fact, when I called my mom later that night I did. I never knew how hard this would be. I was doing so good until I was faced with temptation. I'm not trying to dramatize this, but I think I really know what a drug addict or a smoker feels like when they're quitting or in rehab.

So 100 points for me. I remembered how short the ecstacy of chocolate truffle pie would be and how crappy I'd feel for the rest of the night. But somehow I still feel depressed. I guess because it was so hard. All over a stupid truffle pie???!!

And to top if all off the stupid chicken tenders put me over my 1500 calorie goal!!!! @#$*!!

:chef: Yesterday's Horrible Menu:

Breakfast:
8 oz of (110)
1/3 TB honey (19)
1/2 cup grape nuts cereal (195)

Snack:
1/2 cup pretzels (114)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
1 chef boyardee serving (210)--not too crazy about this

Dinner: (yuck!)
1 large baked potato (231)
1 TB sour cream (30)
1/2 cup mushrooms (38)
5 chicken tenders (661)

Calorie total: 1720 AAH!

BUT today is another day, and it's already starting out well.

:water: another point for me! 120 ounces--2 glasses in the restaurant helped that total.

Good luck to everyone else, because I now know how difficult this is!

After last night's debocle (you know, the bad bad chicken and the internal wrestling match between my head and my stomach over the chocolate pie--which my head won! :) ), there is a little light at the end of the tunnel:

I am now officially a Junior Diettalker! No more newbie for me! :hop:

Yah! :cheers: Are you glad your head won and now you don't have that guilt feeling? Wasn't it all worth the effort to resist it? Your bf is so supportive of you ... he helps you to stick to your plan, you should be proud of him!

Hey again Julia, boy you did much better that I did last night. WTG with all that will power:)

About those Lean Cuisine's I eat. They are more pricey that home made, but so much better for you than most fast food places, and with boys playing sports I find them to be my saving grace. I like the Italian type dishes the best, that and their turkey with dressing.

Keep up the good work. We'll both be lighter soon:coach:

:hug: Thanks everyone for the support. I was so depressed yesterday. But you're right, I did well and made the right decisions. And I did really well yesterday, so that made up for it!

:chef: Yesterday's Menu:

Breakfast:
3 slices 7 grain toast (140)
1 1/2 TB strawberry jam (75)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
Pretzels (114)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
Leftover Chicken & broccoli from the other night (264)

Dinner:
dash of cocktail sauce (7)
7 large shelled shrimp (58)
1 1/2 cup lettuce (10)
4 TB fat free ranch (80)
3 saltines (36)
4 raviolis (260)
1/2 cup tomato sauce (71)
2 TB parmesan cheese (60)

Snack:
2 chocolate rice cakes (120)

Calorie Total: 1487 :D

:water: 104 ounces!

It was a good day. Today should be good too! I just finished eating a great recipe I found for Three Cheese Quesadillas--only 142 calories each!! I posted the recipe in the Recipe Forum for everyone to see.

Have a good day!

Hello everyone! Where has everyone been this weekend?

:chef: I did very well yesterday, here's my menu:

Breakfast/lunch:
1/8 cup crumbled blue cheese (50)
1/8 cup crumbled feta cheese (45)
1/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella (80)
3 soft tortillas (210)
1 med tomato (26)
1/4 of a large onion (14)

Dinner:
1 cup lettuce (7)
3 saltines (36)
2 TB parmesan cheese (60)
3 TB fat free ranch (60)
2 cups broccoli (50)
1/3 cup acine di pepe pasta (210)
2/3 TB olive oil (79)

Snack:
1 cup grapes (62)
3 rice chocolate cakes (180)
2 low fat cinnamon graham crackers (110)

Calorie Total: 1278 :D

:water: 96 oz!

:ex: Went to the gym, 20 min eliptical trainer, 10 min treadmill, 10 min stretching

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Hello all! I didn't do as well as I would have liked yesterday. But I still stayed under 1800 calories, which is good. Unfortunately my goal is 1500!

:chef: yesterday's menu:

Breakfast/lunch:
1/8 cup crumbled feta cheese (45)
1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella (80)
1/4 of a large onion (14)
3 soft taco tortillas (210)
1 med tomato (26)

Dinner: (this is my big downfall-eating at mom's)
1 cup lettuce (7)
3 saltines (36)
1 tsp parmesan (10)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
2 TB sour cream (60)
2 small baked potatoes (237)
1 cup diced roasted chicken (396)--I kept picking at the little guy
1/3 cup broccoli (8)
2/3 cup stuffing (267)

Dessert:
1 1/2 slices angel food cake
3 TB cool whip (37)
1/4 cup frozen strawberries (55)

Calorie Total: 1739 :(

:water: average day of 96 oz

No exercise yesterday, but I plan to go to the gym tonight. Hopefully because it's a holiday (even though I still have to work!)most people will go to the gym during the day and leave a parking spot for me at 5:30!!

Have a good day everyone!

X-( Ugh! I went to they Y tonight and I figured it was Monday so I'd weigh myself. The stupid scale says I gained 2 pounds--196!!! So then my boyfriend tried it and it said he'd gained a pound. He said it wasn't right. We fiddled with it for a few minutes and tried to set it to zero. I think we finally did because it came up with 194 which is pretty close to what I was last week (193).

But that really angered me. I've been doing so good. I always trusted the YMCA scale because it was the kind used in doctor's offices. But I guess it doesn't mean much when the entire health club is playing with it.

When I came home and told my mom she was upset because she knows how hard I've been working. So she told my to try my own scale. I never thought it was correct before. She told me something really neat. Weigh something you're sure of and see how off the scale was! I weighed an unopened 5 pound bag of sugar and my scale said it weighed 5 pounds!!!! So my scale was correct all the time! I weighed myself and I was 189!!!!

Ok, I don't think I lost 4 pounds in a week. Probably I never weighed 200 pounds to begin with. But the point is, I weigh 189 now and I haven't weighed 189 in over a year!!!

Yea me!!!! :hop:

Ah....what a good day! I found out the scale I thought was always off is correct, (yea, 189 lbs!) and my calorie intake was way under 1500 and I was still full!!!

:chef: Here's what I had:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB strawberry jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
pretzels (114)

Lunch:
1 cups lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
3 saltines (36)
1/2 TB parmesan (15)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
1 1/2 TB parmesan (45)
1/3 cup acine di pepe pasta (210)
1 ts olive oil (40)
2 cups broccoli (50)
1 TB garlic powder (28)

Snack:
2 pieces gum (5)
4 chocolate rice cakes (240)

Calorie Total: 1238 :D

I only ate the rice cakes because I was at 998 without them! I wanted to make sure I wasn't starving to death!

:water: 100 ounces!

:ex: 20 min on the treadmill, 10 min on the eliptical, strength training for my biceps, triceps and both my inner and outer thighs. 10 mins stretching.

Hey, did anyone see that body human program on Discovery Health last night? I love those shows where they follow a person and show you what's going on inside them.

Anyway, it told the story of George, the chubby Brit, who was trying to get the attention of Lorriane (even though she already had a boyfriend, the hussie!). Anyway, it was really cool because they showed you what happens when you lose water weight at the begining of a diet. Poor George though. He gained all his water weight back by binging on pepperoni pizza! It was a really neat show. I hope someone else saw it.

See everyone tomorrow!

Never weigh yourself on a differant scale silly! awl the Trauma.........

So good for you 189 WHOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

I was gone all weekend out in Glamis, SandDunes!


Your going to do this!

Hello all! I did really good with Taco night last night!

Also I went shopping and bought a bunch of lean cuisines to try. I have one for lunch today and I'm really excited. I browsed kraftfoods.com yesterday and got some good recipes--I'm making one tonight with those Stove Top Oven Classics in chicken parmesan--one serving is like only 300 calories! The only problem is keeping to the one serving rule! :whip: At least with the lean cuisines you don't have much a choice. The oven classic recipe makes 6 servings! But, hey...it'll be good to take to lunch.

:chef: Yesterday's Menu:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB straw jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
1 1/2 cup lettuce (10)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
1/4 ts garlic powder (2)
1 ts parmesan (10)

Dinner:
1/2 cup ground chuck (166)
4 TB sour cream (120)
2 fajita tortillas (300)
1 TB salsa (6)
1 ts taco seasoning (10)
1/2 cup nacho cheese (220)

Calorie Total: 1246! :D

:water: 96 oz!

No exercise unless you count grocery shopping. I bought cat & dog food to donate to the humane league...but unfortunatly they don't come in 5lb bags--just 3.35 (what is that?!) So I bought one bag kitten food, one cat food, & one dog food---10.05 pounds. I lost 11 altogether so that's pretty close. I'm going to drop it off tonight!!!!

I know I bought some other good things at the store but I can't remember them right now. Oh! Drazile said that she put crackers on her salad for crotons. I thought that was cool and I love crotons so I started using saltines. It was really good, but last night I found some french onion flavored Snackwell crackers. They're less fat & cal and they have a better zesty flavor!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

:hop: Julie :hop:

"YOU ARE DOING SO WELL" How disciplined you are to count your lettuce calories. I always let my veggie calories slide....... And your doing so good on your water. Well you are just going to be SKINNY MINNIE, before long. Oh and hey just for kicks, give us a review of your Lean Cusines.

Max, thanks for the sweet comments! It means so much that you're listening. Thanks :hug:

I have to count my lettuce....because....well, I say I'm detail-oriented.....my boyfriend says I have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)....my boss says I waste too much paper. Everything I do has to be perfect....it's very tiring. :)

My office thinks I'm crazy because I insist on typing Airborne labels and I refuse to handwrite anything on closing documents (I work for a mortgage co). I'll hand in a quick database report to my boss and while he's reading it I'll grab it out of his hand and tell him the left hand column isn't centered in the middle.....I'm crazy.

So yes, lettuce counts! (but thank God not much!) It kills me when I post something in here and then see a spelling error. Luckily I'm also very lazy so I rarely edit the posts once their up there. If I didn't have my laziness combatting my OCD I think I'd be in a nut house!!

:laugh: The other day I realize the chewing gum and garlic powder had calories....I was all upset because I took for granted they didn't! I was all discombobulated!

I bought 4 lean cuisines--one with herb roasted chicken, one with shrimp & pasta, one with raviolis, and one with potatoes & broccoli w/ cheese (that's the one I have today for lunch).
I'll let you know....

:hop: Julie :hop:

:chef: It was really really good! I was surprised! And best of all the meal actually looked like the picture on the box :)

It didn't even taste like those synthetic cardboard TV dinners. It actually tasted like real potatoes and real broccoli, and for being low fat & low cal, the cheese was very good. I will definately eat it again!

:hop: Julie :hop:

Thanks for the report sounds "Yummy"

If one more co-worker pushes my buttons one more time........X-( One of these days they're going to push my detonate button and they'll be sorry!

Jerks

Well, needless to say I've had a horrible day (look at my post time--4pm). I don't even want to tell you all my work related issues because it'll just bring me down more.

On to brighter prospects......I feel better already. You guys are more than diet supports, you're life supporters. Just logging on makes me feel better :computer:

Good News: I dropped 10.05 pounds of food off at the humane league last night. One for kittens, one for cats & one for dogs--all weighing 3.35 pounds. That's close enough to the 11 I lost.
It was funny, I actually felt like I left my 11 pounds of fat at the front door and drove home without it! And the puppies and kitties will enjoy it!

:chef: Yesterday's Menu:

Breakfast:
1 TB strawberry preserves (50)
8 oz oj (110)
1/4 cup 1% milk (25)
1/2 cup grape nuts (170)--ok, store brand called "Nutty Nuggets"!

Snack:
pretzels (114)
4 oz coffee (2) I drank it black--needed something to wake me up

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
Lean Cuisine potatoes & broccoli w/ cheese (240)

Dinner:
1 serving Stove Top Oven Classics Chicken Parmesan Bake (260)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
8 ff onion crackers (27)

Snack:
1 cup grapes (62)--on sale, $0.99 a pound!

Calorie Total: 1189 Yea me! But it seems like I ate so much!!

:water: 96 ounces

No exercises, I pulled a muscle in my right calf the other day and because of it my foot hurts--something about the muscle pulling my foot up or something or another. So I didn't want to aggrevate it.

Well, I've gotta go. Going to my mom's for dinner--meatloaf. The only thing low cal about it is that I don't like it so I'm apt not to eat much of it!

:hop: Julie :hop:

I'm really tired today. I'm kind of in one of those moods. I have jury duty in less than 2 weeks and I'm dreading it. It's not that I mind fulfilling my civic duties, that part I like doing. But I have to go to Philadelphia, a city that I would rather never have to go to (I'm from the New York City area originally and I feel 100% safer there than in Philly). I live almost 2 hours away from Philly and I've never driven there before in my entire life. If I take the trains it will be $40 a day and I won't get paid for 6-8 weeks afterward. I'm terrified. What if they select me and I have to stay overnight?! :c(

:chef: Anyway, yesterday's menu:

Breakfast:
1 TB strawberry jam (50)
8 oz of (110)
2 ff waffles (120)

Snack:
2 cups grapes (123)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
1 Lean Cuisine Shrimp & Angel Hair Pasta (280)--one of the guys I work with made fun of me saying I was eating synthetic shrimp. Why do people with no good health sense make fun of dieters so much? X-( It really hurt my feelings. Just wait until I look toned and thin and he's still watching his beer belly grow! And when I sat down I read the box and the shrimp was real!! Jerk

Dinner: Uh-oh
1 cup boiled potatoes-no skin (172)
2 TB sour cream (60)
1 slice meat loaf (264)
1/4 cup corn (53)
1/4 cup confettie bean salad (59)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)

Snack:
1 slice angel food cake (140)

Calorie total: 1558 a little bit over, but still good!

:water: 96 oz

No exercise but I'm going to the gym tonight. I like going on Fridays because it's not crowded (everyone else is out drinking at happy hour)

I feel so depressed for some reason. I think it's mostly the jury duty thing and my job is really getting to me. The problem is, I make a lot of money for what I do (administrative assistant in a mortgage company). That's good now, but if I want to get a new job I'll have to take a pay cut.

I love history and research. I wish I could get paid for something in that field.

Well, I hope everyone else has a better day.

:hop: Julie :hop:

I feel like I didn't do well last night. I made two recipes that I found in the low cal recipe section at kraftfoods.com but I just kept eating. It's hard to judge my serving sizes but I'm sure I went over my 1500 limit even though the numbers don't show it.

And I didn't go to the gym like I wanted to. I had a massive headache, and even though working out ususally gets rid of my headaches, I just couldn't get myself motivated.

And to top it all off we're going out to dinner tonight. It's a friend's birthday celebration so I'll probably be drinking. I'm just not having a good week. I'm so depressed lately.

:chef: Yesterday's Menu:

Breakfast:
1 TB strawberry jam (50)
2 ff waffles (120)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
ff pretzels (100)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
1 1/2 servings cheesey primavera macaroni (450)
1 1/2 creamy parmesan chicken salad (330)

Calorie Total: 1501

:water: 96 oz

That's about it. My boyfriend is draggin me to the gym in about 15 minutes so I'd better get ready.

I haven't been doing too good lately. I was depressed about work last week and I just always seemed to be hungry. Then we went out last night, and although I did good foodwise, I opted for alcohol and then got nutty when we got home. I would have been under the 1500 goal with the alcohol, but I sat there and ate 3 rice cakes and what was left of my boyfriend's popcorn! I don't know why?!

But this coming week will be different. I'll talk more about that later.

:chef: Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
8 oz oj (110)
1 TB jam (50)
1 cup grapes (62)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine Roasted Chicken w/ Penne Pasta (250)

Dinner: (Applebee's)
Santa Fe Chicken Salad-half size (est 634)-I forgot to order it without dressing
I had water with dinner, but at the Comedy Club I had two Long Island Ice Teas (455)

Snack:
3 rice cakes (180)
3/4 cup popcorn (47)

Calorie Total: 1908 X-(

Oh well! In the words of Scarlet O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day!"

:water: 100 ounces

:lift: I went to the gym and did very well. 10 min eliptical trainer, 10 min treadmill, 10 min this new machine--kind of like a cross training ski machine, 20 min arm and leg strength exercises.

Hello all!

I'm feeling much better today, and I think I'm over my bad attitude hump. Just to make sure I'm out of my slump, I'm going to start a new challange this week. I'm going to start getting up a half hour early every morning to do morning aerobics. I did this last May and I felt great, but after a while the snooze button felt better.

I went to K-Mart tonight and bought a new gym bag (the duffel I was using was too small) and the had Swiss exercise balls on sale. I bought one for $19.99--a silver one and I'm calling it Bode after Bode Miller who won silver in the men's Giant Slalom. I thought the name was cute! So now I'm inspired to work out at home. My goal is 3 or 4 days at the gym and 4 or 5 mornings at home:

:ex:
Monday: morning aerobics & gym
Tuesday: morning aerobics
Wednesday: morning aerobics & gym
Thursday: morning aerobics
Friday: morning aerobics
Saturday or Sunday: gym

That's my little model schedule. Let's see how it works.

:chef: Today's Menu:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
onion crackers (130)

Dinner:
2 garlic cheese biscuits (240)
1 cup chicken breast (221)
1/2 cup tomato sauce (71)
1 cup spaghetti (196)
1 TB parmesan (30)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
1 1/2 pieces angel food cake (210)
1/4 cup strawberries (55)
3 TB cool whip (37)

Calorie Total: 1518 Not bad!

:water: 96 ounces

No exercise, but I have big plans for tomorrow! Wish me luck!

What a excersice ball? Why can't I spell excersice, excercise, It drives me nuts. Anywhoos is that for sit-ups?

Oh, and by the way noticed you asked Nutdoc about ff mayo.

Just my opinion: * Its pretty good. I've tried Smart Beat, and Fat Free Miracle Whip. And you can make your own dressings out of it too. Thanks for stopping by my journal.:rose:

Just a quick hello. I see you are doing well. I agree with Max. the smart beat is pretty good.
The exercise ball sounds fun. YOu are doing great.
Love Linda

Hi Julie
Thanks for checking out my journal. As you've probably seen, a lot of people count calories and it works great for them! Like you said, you gotta do what works. You're doing a great job of watching your calories. Remember....it's a day at a time.
jode

Hello Lindasue!! I hope you're slumber party went ok--I think my slumber parties caused my mom to go on valum! Thanks for checking in!

Max, lol, I hate the word exercise. I misspell it every single time I type it. I did just now and I had to correct it! And it's not like there's an easy alternative......aerobics, calestenics, strength training....they're all stupid lettered words!!!

Yes, I bought a big ball. I don't know how big....probably a little higher than my knee. And it's strong. You can bounce on the thing as much as you want. I was timid at first when I used them at the gym--I thought I would pop them, but you really can't.

You can do anything with them--they're great for crunches and they support your back so you don't pull anything like you can in sit-ups. I do push-ups on it (I lay on it so my lower body is supported). The video was great--they did stuff for your abs, back, arms, thighs, and butt. And it's so much fun. You don't have to be a coordinated genius--anyone can use one.

The only two bad things about it:
My cat was not too crazy about it. And I can't find a good place to keep it because it's so big. You can deflate it, but the pump takes forever (I used my dad's electric tire inflater--took 5 min). I'm going to have to clean out my closet tonight.

:cat: Gypsy on the other hand is terrified. It rolls on its own from time to time....she didn't care for that! "Mommy, that big silver thing is after my tail again!"

I definately recommend it though--try K-mart or Wal-mart. It is so much fun!!!

Thanks, Jode, for the supportive comments. They mean so much!

Max & lindasue--thanks for the mayo tips. I'll have to investigate at Weis Markets tomorrow.

And my new challenge of getting up early went well this morning! I got up at 6am and did a half hour of my ball exercises.

I was working on my webpage this weekend and I got some new pictures on it. My mom did a big Christmas tribute display on her front lawn for the firefighters at the World Trade Center. If anyone wants to check it out, go to my website ( http://www.geocities.com/balebis ) and click on Julie's American Page, then Click on My mom's Christmas Display (I think it's called that, it's right underneath "More Twin Tower pictures"). She did a good job so I wanted to share it with everyone (even though she is a bit eccentric).

Woo Hoo!! I've got three stars!!! :tongue:arty:

Hi,

I just wanted to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the birthday greeting. I really appreciate it

Also congratulations on your marvelous success in achieving your goal.

Take care and make it a great week. Always, Monica

Good Morning fellow DTers!

Well, I didn't do my morning exercises like I said I would start doing this week. But it's ok, I did them yesterday (with my new ball) and I went to the gym last night, and I woke up this morning soar as can be! My thighs are killing me and my shoulders hurt from the rowing machine. And everytime I breath in deep I feel my abs tighten.

It's not a bad hurting, just enough to know I worked enough on those muscles (it's nice to know I did it right). But I also know that had I done it all over again today I'd be really regretting it tomorrow. So I'm taking today off and I'll try to do it tomorrow morning if I'm feeling ok. Either way I'm definately going to the gym tomorrow night.

:lift: After all you can't go diving right into hard core strength training. You don't become an Olympic athlete over night! I'm just happy I know I did the right thing by postboning my morning work out. It's good to do things for the right reasons (I would feel bad if I was just tired & lazy!).

Tonight is grocery night! I'm going to peruse the fat free mayo labels.

:chef: Yesterday's Menu:

Breakfast:
8 oz oj (110)
1/4 cup milk (25)
1/2 cup nutty nuggets (grape nuts) (170)
1 can diced peaches in lite syrup (50)

Snack:
ff pretzels (100)

Lunch:
Lean Cuisne Raviolis (260)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
1/3 cup acine de pepe pasta (210)
1 ts olive oil (40)
1 TB parmesan (30)
2 cups broccoli (50)
10 french onion crackers (34)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
1 cup lettuce (7)

Snack:
3 chocolate rice cakes (180)
2 ff cinnamon graham crackers (110)

Calorie Total: 1497 Yea Me!

:water: 96 oz

:ex: 20 on the ski thing (I've got to find out what it's called!), 13 min on treadmill, 2 min on rower, 10 min stretching

Have a good day everyone! Hopefully I can surf around the forums again today--my job hasn't been too busy thank goodness!

Your menus sound yummy! Hey you are doing great on your
E X C E R C I S E. Was that right! And yes better to take the day off then break yourself down :D

If I knew you were serving my favorite pasta for dinner, I would have driven over to get some.....lol...we make it with tomato, parmesan, onion and white beans. that is really good.

I am impressed with your progress, but knew all along that you would succeed and move right along in your journey. I've been keeping track although I have been busy and not posting.

Catch you later.
Love Lindasue :x

Hello all! I didn't get up and do my exercises again today, but during GMA I did about 10 min of ball moves. I can't believe how effective that is. You think you're having fun and then all of a sudden you muscle join in!

I didn't do so well yesterday foodwise. It was a classic case of "don't throw away all that food." Let's call it FDR syndrome (you know....great depression and all). This always happens on taco night. Tacos are not good leftovers (soggy and rubbery). The meat drys out and the overall taco quality is pretty sucky. But there's half a bowl of shredded cheese and about 1/2 a cup of taco meat left.....they taste so good together......I have to learn to eat my 2 tacos and leave the table! Well, I can't leave....I'm the only one who'll clean the table....and left out leftover tacos are 10 times worse! :)

I also had a slight mishap at lunch yesterday. I bought a bunch of those salad bar dressing packets in fat free....well, I must not have looked too closely because a regular ranch wound up in my veggie drawer. And that's the one I grabbed for my salad at lunch.

BUT today will be better. I have a yummy lean cuisine for lunch, I'm going to the gym, and I have dinner already planned (raviolis). As long as I stay away from the French bread I'll be ok tonight.

:chef: 2/26:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
10 ff pretzels (100)

Lunch:
1 cup lettuce (7)
6 onion crackers (21)
2 ts parmesan (20)
2 TB ranch--at least I only used half the packet! (148)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
4 TB sour cream (120)
1 cup meat (332)
2 tortillas (300)
2 TB salsa (12)
2 ts taco seasoning (20)
1/2 cup nacho cheese (220)

Snack:
1/2 cup grapes (31)

Calorie Total: 1692 Not too bad

:water: I don't know....somewhere around 100 hopefully. We've been out of water at work so I've had to bring mine from home, but I didn't have enough bottles and they weren't all the same sizes. I kept drinking glasses of water at home but lost count of ounces. Fortunately the water guy came today so I can refill my good old 32 bottle anytime I darn welll choose!

:ex: 10 min ball exercises

Have a good day everyone!!

Julie,

I might have an idea that might help with clearing away food from the table.

We usually eat in our kitchen (and only on special occasions eat in our dining room); when there are leftovers (and oftimes there are) I don't want to use again (and again) or become the human garbage disposal, I take a plastic bag (the kind we get in the grocery store --when they bag our food)and empty food from plates into the bag; tie the bag up and promptly dispose it in the trash container.

I do this mainly at dinner time; but it helps me refrain from the "not wanting to waste syndrome". I hope my suggestion works for you. As always, Monica

Thanks monicapink--I'll try that. God knows I have enough of those grocery store plastic bags lying around! I just need to have the willpower to fill them! :ha: Thanks for the idea!!

I was so busy yesterday at work that I barely had enough time to post my own journal entry let alone read everyone else's. I hate that because now I'm all behind and I have tons to read. I need my boss to go to lunch so I can catch up!

:chef: 2/27:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
8 oz oj (110)
1 TB jam (50)

Snack:
ff pretzels (100)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
LC broccoli & cheese w/ potatoes--yum! (240)

Dinner:
10 onion crackers (34)
1 cup lettuce (7)
1 TB parmesan (30)
3 TB ff ranch (60)
5 raviolis (325)--actually that should be lower--I had to use generic raviolis at fitday.com but I know my pkg said 250 for 5. I have to customize that. But we'll go with 325 for now to make up for any goof-ups I may have made.
1/3 cup tomato sauce (37)

Snack:
1 cup grapes (62)

Calorie Total: (tenatively) 1256 Oh Yeah!!

:water: 112 oz. I drank my typical 96oz but I threw a 16oz bottle in my gym bag. I thought it might be a good idea to drink more water while working out to replenish something or another...I don't know...it can't hurt.

:lift: I love my ball! I've been doing at least 10 minutes of it in the morning and I did about 10 min last night. It's so much fun!

:ex: I went to the gym (I found out there's more parking the later you go--I got held at work later and got there 15 minutes later than I would have). 20 min on that ski thing...really need to find out what it's called. 10 min on treadmill. 10 min stretching. I didn't stay too long because I got there so late, and I was hungry so I wanted to get home and eat (that doesn't sound bad when you know you're eating healthy!)

So I had a good day....and guess what?!! I weighed myself this morning and I was 186 again!! I was 186 yesterday too, but at night I seem to be 3 pounds heavier. But I'm going to go with 186, because I noticed that lately I haven't been peeing as much so I think I'm retaining a lot of water throughout the day. Plus this is the beginning of PMS week.

Good luck to everyone else, and I hope I can read some more journals today!!

I just came home from my mom's house and she picked me up a few goodies.....she hates when I leave her house empty handed....like she's a grocery store or something. :)

She got me a bag of Quakes....mini rice cakes in nacho cheese flavor. I tried them once before in sour cream & onion but I didn't care for them. But these are great!!! The flavor is amazing!

Just wanted to share! :up:

I've been posting to DT for over a month now and I've lost 14 pounds!!!! As soon as I get this Philadelphia jury duty overwith I will be a happy happy person!!! :hop:

And today Generation IV begins. I'm not quite sure what it means but I'm looking forward to it.

And my hair is starting to look good again. When I got it cut before my birthday it was so short, but it's finally becoming managable. I can wear it freely for the first time today, no headband!!

:chef: 2/28:

Breakfast:
1 TB jam (50)
2 ff waffles (120)
8 oz oj (110)
1 cup grapes (62)

Lunch:
ff pretzels (100)
1 apple (81)
WW Shrimp Marinara (180) I think I prefer Lean Cuisine over WW

Dinner:
2 1/2 cup Dixiana Meal Starter (243) Pasta, veggies & cheese sauce--very good
10 large shrimpies (93) mixed w/ the meal starter
1 cup lettuce (7)
3 TB ff ranch (60)

Snacks:
4 pastal lifesavers (60)
2 chocolate rice cakes (120)
20 nacho cheese quakes (156)---went a little crazy, they're really tastey!

Calorie Total: 1442 :up:

:water: Good ol' 96 ounces

:ex: 10 min of ball exercises

My boss is out of town today so as long as my co-workers goof off, I'll have lots of time to post.

I ordered a sub today from one of the guys at work (softball fundraiser). It's got some type of mystery meat in it so I'll probably take most of that out (I would have anyway--this Lebanon Bologna is something I'll never be able to handle no matter how long I live here). But the cool thing is that I brought a little container of my Kraft light mayo to try. It smelled good when I opened the jar, but I didn't try it because I was too chicken. I thought I'd go for a baptism by sandwich.

Oh, and tonight I'm making my famous chicken & broccoli w/ rice. It's so good because you add 4 Seasons Italian dressing to the pot while it's boiling, it gives it such a sweet zesty taste. I found some Italian dressing in fat free so I'm going to use it instead.

I hope my boyfriend won't know the difference. It's his second favorite meal (tacos is first) and he comes over especially for this when I make it. You'd think he'd come over just for me, but no. I won his heart through his stomach! Seriously, I did. He was 183 when I met him in April 2000. He's 202 now!

Yea! March has come!!

I'm kind of in a hurry because I spent so much time posting at Generation 4 today.

:chef: 3/1:

Breakfast:
8 oz oj (110)
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB jam (50)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
1 6" roll (186)
2 thin slices of tomato (6)
1/4 cup lettuce (2)
2 thin slices of bologna (88)
1 TB kraft light mayo (45)
1 slice american cheese (70)

Dinner:
1 cup rice (160)
2 TB ff italian (10)
1 cup diced chicken (221)
1 cup broccoli (25)
1 cup chicken broth (25)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ranch (40)
10 onion crackers (34)

Snack:
2 life savers (30)
20 quakes (156)

Calorie Total: 1466

:water: 96oz

We're going out to see our favourite band tonight Big Orange Cone because they're finally back in town. But I've decided I am not going to drink! I get sick every time I drink beer, and mixed drinks are too expensive....and too many of those make me sick anyway. Too many calories and too much money! I'll be the DD.

My boyfriend didn't notice that I used ff italian dressing in the chicken recipe!!!!

Hello everyone! Good news! I did my body measurements today and I lost an inch in my hips (45-44), my waist (40-39) and my thighs (26-25). That's the first time I've lost in my hips since I started!! It must be this one exercise I'm doing with my ball--I put it between my knees and squeeze. I really feel it in my inner thighs.

More good news: we went out to the Village last night to see my favorite band and even though I left 500 calories for alcohol, I didn't have any (well, I had a few sips of a wine cooler before we left my apartment). So I ended up being under my 1500 when I assumed I would be way over!!!

:chef: 3/2:

Breakfast/Lunch:
4 slices low fat wheat bread (180)
1 small tomato (19)
2 servings of tuna (140)--almost a whole can...Gypsy ate the rest
1/2 cup lettuce (2)
4 TB lite mayo (180)

Snack:
1 slice frozen pizza (175)--they come in threes and you break them apart...I used to eat 2 whole unbroken pizzas, that's 1050 in one sitting!

Dinner:
2 cups broccoli (50)
1/3 cup acine di pepe (212)
1 ts olive oil (40)
2 ts parmesan (60)

Snack:
4 oz wine cooler (45)
3 choc rice cakes (180)
1 lifesaver pastel (15

Calorie Total: 1298 :sadtohapp:

:water: ......not too good. This is the first day since my birthday on 2/3 that I didn't reach my 96 oz goal. I don't know why either...I think I just forgot. I left my last bottle sitting on the counter full and ready to go....just never drank it! Only 64 oz for the day. :c(

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Wow, sounds like you are doing do great. Keep it up only place to go is down! Hey I wish I would have measured myself, I'll have to find the stupid tape measure, and do it now. I have some old sharted measurements. I bought some of that Ani Pep lu pUe pasta, Now what do I do with it?

Hey everyone!

Max, you can really be creative with the acine di pepe pasta. I boil it with 2 cups of broccoli and add a little olive oil and garlic powder. Lindasue I know adds tomato sauce. I usually do 1/3 cup per serving. It's just like any other pasta, except it's small. It would probably be good in soups too. Experiment!

:chef: 3/3:

Breakfast:
8 Panni Bavarian Potato Pancakes (200)--small little things
3/4 cup apple sauce (135)

Lunch:
WW Creamy rigatoni w/ broccoli & chicken (240)
8 oz oj (110)

Dinner: uh-oh
1 cup boiled potatoes no skin (138)
3 TB sour cream (90)
1 cup lean beef (284)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 Bisquick buttermilk biscuits (225) why did I eat them??
1 piece angel food cake (140)

Calorie Total: 1609 It was the stupid biscuits.

:water: back to normal--96 oz

:ex: 20 min of my ball

I had a little excitement this morning. After breakfast, about 7:30am, I was lying on the floor exercising with my ball while watching GMA when I heard screeching tires and a scream (my apartment is always hot so I usually have a window open). I ran to the window and saw two cars and people running. One guy screamed "call the police" so I did. After I hung up with 911 I went back to the window and the one car had left the scene already. There were still people around and because of the wind and the echo in my courtyard I heard one guy say "God, I hope she's allright." I think one of the cars hit someone and the car that left must have taken the victim to the hospital (isn't that a bad thing to do?). The other car stayed and waited for the police to get there.

What scares me is that I live down the street from an elementary school. It was still very early, but I hope it wasn't one of them that got hit. Hopefully they weren't walking to school yet (they usually go when I leave for work around 8:30). I'm anxious to read the paper tomorrow to see what happened. It must not have been too serious for the one driver to move the victim so quickly, if that's what happened.

Oh my gosh, I love the new avatars!!! And I didn't realize there was a place to put your stats on the left side below your name! That saves a lot of room in my signature!

And now I have a black cat...just like my Gypsy!!! :laugh:

Good morning all. Well, tomorrow starts my very first attempt at jury duty. I'm not as upset as I was before (not about the jury duty, upset about driving almost 2 hours to Philadelphia). I'm looking at it as an adventure.

The only thing that worries me is my diet. According to the handbook you cannot bring anything into the jury room with you. I've heard that people usually are allowed to break that rule, but for the first day at least I won't have my bottles of water with me. And I don't know what I'll be having for lunch. There's nothing I can take with me that I wouldn't have to refrigerate. I just have to hope that their cafeteria has some low cal choices and some economical ones as well. This trip is already going to cost me $120 which won't be reimbursed for 6-8 weeks.

At least I won't be at work for 3 whole days! Have to look at the bright side of things!!

:chef: 3/4:

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Lunch:
LC broc, potatoes & cheese (240)
10 ff pretzels (100)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
1 cup mushrooms (40)
1/3 acine di pepe (210)
1 cup lettuce (7)
10 onion crackers (34)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
3 ts parmesan (90)
1/4 cup tomato sauce (18)
1 1/2 cup spinach (140)

Snack:
3 choc rice cakes (180)

Calorie Total: 1460 Yea Me!

:water: 112 ounces. I'm trying to make up for my loss from the other day....and plus, the next 3 days may be low.

:ex: 20 min ski machine thingie, 20 treadmill, 10 min ball exercises

Have a good day everyone!!

My Dh just did Jury duty, He had three days off work, and he said it was actually fun! I'm pretty sure they let you out at lunch then you can go somewhere to eat, Just remember to ask how they cook it, and ask for it without mayo!, no cheese, nothing fried! And there is always salad, just figure, two teaspoons of dressing and mix mix mix, or the dipped fork trick! Doing great on your excersice!:rose:

Julie, next time jury duty rolls around ask them to come to Adams county. You'll probably end up here in gettysburg. I would have pleaded "No Car!" You are becoming an exercise and water queen. Awesome. Great menu too BTW. :x

I'm home from jury duty!! What a day! First of all, let me tell you about last night. I badly burned my pointer finger on the taco skillet last night (I've got a big ol' blister now), I burned my barley and had to throw it away (I was making barley soup for something quick to eat when I came home from Philly) and I forgot to tape Buffy...and it was supposed to be a good episode.

Soooo, then my mom and I had a fight over the phone...not really, she was just really worried about me going to Philly all by myself. When she gets worried she tends to obsess and I get stressed and hence the fight. After we worked it out we both cried.....all over stupid Federal Court! I just did not want to go to Philadelphia...I'd gladly serve jury duty here in Lancaster or Harrisburg, or any other city in my area.

I was up at 4:30am this morning, got dressed, got to the train station by 5:45am, met a nice man named Stan who I stuck with until we went into the court room, boarded at 6am, got to Phillie at 7:30am, walked in circles at the Septa station at 7:45am, finally got someone to answer questions at 8am, boarded a filthy dirty disgusting Septa train at 8:05am, got to Market Street by 8:15am, still had to walk 3 blocks but got to the courthouse by 8:25am.

The jury room didn't start until 8:45am, then we (only about 26 of us) listened to a 1 1/2 hours of orientation. By 10am we were all assigned numbers and sent to the 10th floor to a courtroom. It was a civil case, a lawsuit about an inmate suing the Department of Corrections because he got Hepatitis while serving time. We sat in there while a bunch of lawyers pointed and whispered at us, then finally about an hour later they picked 8 of us (which oddly enough was the first 8 people in the front row). The rest of us went back to the jury room and then a lady came in and told us to go home. I don't have to go back tomorrow or Friday! It couldn't have been more perfect!! Poor Stan though, he was one of the 8 jurors selected.

Thank God that is all over. To make matters worse I got my period this morning. Luckily it wasn't until my way home that I started to get the dreaded cramps.

I also met a lovely couple in the septa station on the way home who were in town from Malvern to see the flower show. That is actually very important. I'm not one to strike up conversations with strangers. I mean, I'm a very pleasant person but 'hello how are yous' are about it for me since I lost so much confidence in the past few years. I was talking a lot about this in Generation 4 the other day. I felt completely at easy talking to the couple. I think that is from spending so much time with you guys. Thanks everyone :stoh:

Ahh...so back to normalcy. No more impending doom over my head....ahhh...

The only good news from yesterday is that I went grocery shopping and got lots and lots of new things. I bought some Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal (per monicapink). I had a quick bowl this morning and it was really really good. I didn't even need sugar it was natually sweet I guess. And it has more fiber than grape nuts and grape nuts are 170 cal for 1/2 a cup while kashi h to h is only 140 cal but for 3/4 cup! So a good time can be had by all!

I also bought boca burgers....just had one....not too sure about this one. It was good with mayo and tomatoes and lettuce on an oat bran english muffin.....but I think the sandwich may have been better without the boca. I don't know I'll have to give that one a few more tries. I also bought soy milk.....ugh. I can't believe I bought soy milk. Soy milk and tofu burgers....never thought I'd get to this point! I found a recipe for a banana soy smoothie so I'm going to try it. There's really not much a difference in calories between the soy I bought (they didn't have light soy) and 1% milk, but we'll give it a try.

:chef: 3/5

Breakfast:
2 ff waffles (120)
1 TB jam (50)
8 oz oj (110)

Lunch:
1 apple (81)
LC Cheesey Lasagna Cassarole (240)

Dinner:
4 TB sour cream (120)
3/4 cup meat (249)
1/4 cup lettuce (2)
2 tortillas (300)
1 TB salsa (6)
1 ts taco seasoning (10)
1/3 cup cheese (145)

Snacks:
10 nacho quakes (78)
8 oz veggie juice (50)

Calorie Total: 1561

:water: 96 oz

no exercises unless you count running around the room screaming when I burned my finger :up: <--that's my finger

Ok, gotta go....there's tons of posts to read!

Hi Julie,

Since you were nice enough to visit me .... I thought I would return the favor.

Just a suggestion ...use a spicy hot mustard on the bread instead of mayonnaise ..fewer calories and it really does give the Boca burger a unique taste -add a couple of slices tomatoes -and sliced cucumbers (I use the pickling cucumber sliced lengthwise) adds a lot to the sandwich. Also if you can find it in the produce section ...buy Grimmway Carrot Chips .... I just love it because it looks like rippled potato chips and it is a nice addition to my lunch. (If you can't find it ask the store manager to order it ....my store managers lol already know me to ask for certain products).

Make it a great day ....THIS IS OUR YEAR TO ACHIEVE OUR GOAL. Always, Monica

Monica, thanks for stopping by! I did use light mayo on the boca burger but spicy hot mustard sounds exciting. I'm not a fan of mustard...never could stand the flavor. But I have tried the spicy mustards in Chinese restaurants and they are less mustardy and more va va va voom. I never even thought of them, that may solve my "don't care for mustards...." problem. Thanks!

Julie,

I use the Hickory Farms Mustards (I really like all of them --I buy them in December ) but if you can't find it you might want to try French's Deli Style Spicy Mustard. Also ...just as a thought try putting some minced onion on the boca burger.....I like to make it as close to a hamburger as I can . Monica

I can't believe I did so good yesterday!!! I thought I'd be so screwed up from the trip to Philly but I was smart and brought nutragrain bars with me. I DID NOT GIVE IN TO FATTY FAST FOOD!!!! yea me!

:chef: 3/6:

Breakfast:
1/8 cup 1% milk (I'm not crazy about milk so I only use enough to coat my cereal) (13)
3/4 cup Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal (110)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
2 Strawberry nutragrain bars (280)

Lunch:
1 oat bran Thomas' English Muffin (130)
1 roasted garlic boca burger (100)
2 slices (6)
2 pieces lettuce (2)
1 TB light mayo (45)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
LC potatoes w/ cheese & broccoli (240)

Snack:
30 quakes (233) I got a little nuty with them...they're good!

Calorie Total: 1350 Yea me!

:water: my only downfall of the day. I couldn't bring water with me so I had to wait until I got home to drink some. I was only able to get in 64 ounces before I fell asleep.

I can't believe I'm actually buying tofu items....fiber stuff....oat bran? what happened to me? It's so funny, at first it was about losing weight. Now it's about completely changing my life. I'm even getting tempted to start working with the food pyramid....who knows!

Gosh Julie it sounds like you are doing so well! Good for you. Isn't it neat to dicover all those new healhty foods, that you can indulge in. I was just mentioning how shopping has become fun looking through things, and calculating. I aslo have thought of the food pyramid. Looks good to me.

Good afternoon everyone! Well, I'm back at work. I wasn't supposed to come back here until Monday, but I figured I'd take off yesterday to catch up on sleep from the previous day. If I took off today too I'd feel guilty. So what happens? I come to work and my boss says, "hey we weren't expecting you until Monday, you should have stayed home even though jury duty was over!" So now I feel like an idiot, but that's ok. At least I'm getting all my back work finished. I won't have to worry about a pile of work on Monday.

I had a big problem yesterday. I accidentally used the wrong bottle of dressing for a recipe I was making....I was supposed to use fat free but I confused the stupid bottles.... Well, needless to say the recipe should have been 290 calories and no fat, but it ended up being 650 and 56 grams of fat!!! I had to rework my dinner to stay under 1500 calories, but wow, talk about a cry-session. I was so upset that I was that stupid. I thought the recipe tasted too good to be true.

:chef: 3/7:

Breakfast:
3/4 cup Kashi :sweety: to :sweety: creal (110)
1/8 cup 1% milk (13)
1 cup grapes (62)

Lunch:
1 whole wheat pita (140)
1/8 crumbled feta cheese (45)
2 tortillas (140)
1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella (80)
1 tomato (26)
1/2 cup ranch dressing :c( (520)

Dinner:
1 tsp olive oil (40)
1 cup broccoli (25)
1 ts parmesan (20)
1/3 cup acine di pepe pasta (210)

Calorie Total: 1431 (I may have had more than a cup of grapes though)

:water: 96 ounces

:lift: I did about a 1/2 hour of my ball and I included lots of upper arm strength training with my 2 five lb weights.

So it looks like pretty good day, but that traumatic event of the ranch dressing.....and to think I used to pour piles of that crap on my salads....no wonder I weighed 200 pounds!

Oh! and I weighed in for Gen 4 this morning--184!! Yea me!

Talk to everyone later!!

Looky Here Ms. Ms. Balebis!!!!!! You are passing me in my weight! What the HECK!!!!!! Alright, Now i'm really motivated..... Were head to head, (take a pound)

LOL:laugh:

Well good for you. Gosh darn doesn't it make you mad that they even make such high calorie stuff. O'well. Gosh your journey to Philly did sound scary, But you made it through. Hey, That Acini Pepe, i bought the Razoni and it has a recipe for Frogs Eye salad, Wonder what thats like. Still haven't tried it, it seems like such a little amount for the calories, or does it seem like a lot once it is cooked?

Listen Here Skinny pants........Racing me to 183 would only but a mere pound for you where it would be two for me, But thats just fine! I'll race you there and and and, I one more pound for that matter. Ok! Maybe not, BUT!!X-( OOOOOOFFFFFFFF, You've got me so geared you'll be in my Fat Dust! Come Monday when I'm 100% My Treadmill will be wimpering from the pain I put it through, And my body will be scared into dropping excess fat... BAH HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Well, like I posted in Maximum's journal, she's already got a head start.....it finally happened. Pizza invaded my house!!

It's kind of a weird day today....cool and breezy yet humid. It's pretty overcast, in fact it rained on the way back from the Saturn dealership. I needed 2 new tires plus the oil change.....when it rains it pours. Then I had to send my taxes off today--my company didn't take enough federal out of my paycheck so I owed $149! Now that I'm about broke.....hopefully everything that needs paid for is paid.

I decided to sacrifice breakfast this morning for an extra 15 minutes of sleep....bad idea. I had to sit in front of the pastry buffet at the dealership....perfect little cupcakes.....lovely cheese danish......yummy chocolate streusel cake......what the heck? All I've been doing all week is sitting in front of bad food! But at least I didn't eat any.....but it seems like the fatty food industry is aiming it's obese campaign at me!

:chef: 3/8:

Breakfast:
1 banana (125)
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (50) what? when did I start using soy?? :)
1/2 cup calcium fortified orange juice (55)
-----all three were pureed together for a milkshake, very good! Thanks, Shape Magazine!
1/8 cup 1% milk (13)
3/4 cup Kashi Heart to Heart (110)

Lunch:
LC Cheese Lasagna Casserole (240)
apple (81)

Dinner:
1 1/2 cup barley tabbouleh (248)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
8 onion crackers (27)
2 slices 12" pizza (327)

Snack:
about 25 quakes (194)

Calorie Total: 1518 Not bad!!

:water: 96 ounces

wow....just had a sneezing fit. Freaking spring is on it's way!

I know I should go to the gym today, but I'm so tired from getting up so early, and I've got so much work to do that I don't think I'll get there. For some reason it closes at 6pm on weekends. Besides, this week has been all goofy anyway from being off work. I'll start a new on Monday, or maybe I'll even go tomorrow. Either way I'll do my ball stuff tonight.

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Good morning everyone!! My Aunt Barb & Uncle Joe are driving down from Jersey to take us all out to dinner. We're going to Cafe Chuckles, my favorite restaurant. AND THIS TIME I'M GOING TO ASK FOR THE SALAD DRESSING ON THE SIDE!!!!!!!!! :super:

Yesterday was good, except my calories added up fast. I spent so long in the saturn dealership and I was so hungry when I got home that I ate a huge lunch. All good things, just a lot. And good news, the burn on my finger is finally healing! :nurse:

:chef: 3/9:

Lunch:
1 large banana (125)
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (50)
1/2 cup calcium oj (55)
----all part of milkshake
1 1/2 cup barley tabbouleh (248)
1/8 cup feta cheese (45)
1/4 cup mozzarella (80)
2 tortillas (140)
1 tomato (26)

Dinner:
2 hard boiled eggs (155)
1 1/2 TB light mayo (67)
1 1/2 cup spinach (140)
2 slices light wheat bread (90)
1 cup lettuce (7)
2 TB ff ranch (40)
8 onion crackers (27)

Snacks:
1 apple (81)
2 chocolate rice cakes (120)

Calorie Total: 1497 Just under my goal!!!
Fat Total: 44g
Carb Total: 228g
Fiber Total: 33g Yea!
Protein Total: 57g

I'm trying to be more well-rounded so I'm going to attempt at posting all my nutrition info. My new goal is to increase my fiber, and so far for the past two days I've been doing good! On 3/1 it was at 11 and now I'm up to 33!

:water: 96 ounces--back to normal again and it feels good.

:lift: I did exactly a half hour of ball exercises focusing on my arms w/ 5 pound weights, my abs and my legs. I actually put the timer on for 30 minutes and I still did a few more after the "ding" went off.

Have a great remainder of the weekend ladies!!

Julie,

I will be putting the recipe for the Spinach-Parmesan Pie in the Low Fat forum .....I have some time -- LOL I am waiting for my daughter. Let me know if you enjoy it. Always, Monica

Wow, 6 months ago our whole world changed. I hope everyone held a moment of silence and reflection this morning at 8:46am.

But if anything, the last 6 months have taught me how precious and precarious life is. One minute we're here, the next we're gone. And what have I done with my few minutes of life? I want to live the rest of my life the best way I can, and thanks to you all here at DT, I know I'm on my way. :rose:

On a lighter note, I think my scale is all screwed up! {now, maximum, don't be angry with what I'm about to say.......:laugh: } This morning I weighed myself and the scale said 180. Now, that's impossible! Just this past Friday it read 184! Ok, I did have my period last week so that may be affecting it, but a whole 4 pounds in a weekend??!! So I'm going to have to weigh myself every day again to see what the heck is going on here. I refuse to celebrate a 4 pound loss until I investigate the alibi of my bathroom scale.....what's that thing been up to when I'm not around? Is it weighing caribou and getting all thrown off??? I don't know.

:chef: 3/10:

Breakfast:
1 large banana (125)
1/2 cup soy milk (50)
1/2 cup calcium oj (55)
1 cup Kashi heart-heart (147)
1/8 cup 1% milk (13)

Dinner: Cafe Chuckles
2 cups romaine lettuce (16)
2 cups cajun chicken (estimate) (631)
1/2 cup grape tomatoes (16)
5 TB hard parmesan cheese (98)
3 TB parmesan dressing (222)

Snack:
banana muffin (128)

Calorie Total: 1501
Fat Total: 64
Carb Total: 144
Fiber: 16
Protein: 94

:water: Not to great again...about 80 oz. I don't know what's been with me, I think just laziness. But this is a new week, and I'm going to the gym tonight so I'll be drinking at least 112 today.

Well, good luck to everyone today. And God Bless America.

Made it to 183 on sat. befoer your 180. But we shall wait and see.

P.S. back up to 184 185 today! So sounds like our scales are in cahoots!

Wow....I love it when my boss is in meetings....I get so much DT posting done and I've already drank my first bottle of water!!

Well let's get right down to it.

:chef: 3/11:

Breakfast:
1/8 cup 1% milk (13) I only consume what gets soaked in the cereal
1 cup Kashi Heart-heart (147)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
Fruit & grain cereal bar (140)

Lunch:
LC potatoes & broc w/ cheese (240)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
1/2 cup ditalini pasta (210) little round tubes, very small though
1 cup mushrooms (40)
2 cup broccoli (25)
1 TB parmesan (60)
1 ts olive oil (40)

Snack:
4 of Lizzie B's sweet muffins (364) really tasty!
1 TB apple butter (30)

Calories: 1500--crazy! I was putting my info into fitday last night and I had 1318 calories, so I thought I'd have 2 more muffins (I already had 2 w/ apple butter)--it worked out that 2 would be exactly 1500! Couldn't do that again if I tried!

Fat: 29
Carbs: 267
Fiber: 22
Protein: 53

Carbs were a little high, but overall pretty good.

:water: 112 ounces! Back up again! I drank an extra 16 ounce bottle at the gym to add to my 96 ounces

:ex: Went to the gym, 20 minutes on treadmill at 3.5 to 4.0 speed and 2 on incline (that's the first time I raised the incline from zero ever!), 20 min on bike ranging from 1-4 on resistance. Then I stretched for 10 min. Not too bad. I think when it gets warmer I'm going to buy a fanny pack and start jogging around the university. Of course, someone better remind me of that because this may be the last time you hear that idea!

Have a :super: day everyone! I know I will because it's grocery day!!

Julie, I haven't been around for awhile, but I just spent a couple minutes reading your last couple entries.

Sounds like you are doing great! I love your attitude! Don't be too quick to disallow that weight loss though...that is exactly how I lose weight. I lose really fast one week (right after my period) and then very slow, or not at all, for the next three weeks. I swear that the loss I see in that one week is really my total loss for the other three, just hidden by water retention. Celebrate away!

Thanks Cari, I'll keep that in mind. It's been two days in a row now that I've been at 180.....it seemed too good to be true, but after what you said it's more believable, thanks!

When it rains it pours.....after jury duty, buying 2 new tires, owing on my federal taxes.....this morning the spring in my curling iron broke (I actually have to hold the clip down to get a curl now) and for some reason the TV in the bedroom will not turn on. I fiddled with it for 15 minutes this morning...unplugged it, tried different outlets....neither the remote nor the tv power buttons would work! And to make matters worse I get paid on Friday but my pay is going to be much less because I had to redo my W4 because I owed so much on my taxes this year! March Madness?? I'll tell you who's mad! X-(

Annnnyway, on with the show. I went grocery shopping last night (another problem....my grocery bill has gone up since my diet started.....I'm eating less so shouldn't it be the other way around? :) ). I bought Grimway carrot chips and hot mustard for my boca burgers like Monicapink suggested. Oh, I also got the Kashi go lean (they had it in stock!). I bought all the ingredients for the spinach parmesan pie, some baking potatoes (I think it was Lindasue who suggested putting ff salad dressing or salsa on baked potatoes), fat free popcorn, splenda (that stuff is expensive for such a small box!!), butter spray, lots of veggies & fruit and tons of other stuff.

:chef: 3/12:

Breakfast:
1 cup Kashi heart to heart (147)
1/8 cup milk (13)
8 oz oj (110)

Snack:
fruit & grain cereal bar (140)

Lunch:
LC cheese lasagna casserole (240)
1 apple (81)

Dinner:
I did something new, instead of listing all the different ingredients for some of my regular dinner recipes, I broke them all down to measurements and added them all up and then dived by serving size. I did it for my tacos (I call them Julie's Tuesday Tacos because I always eat them on Tuesdays) and my chicken & rice dish which I'm having tonight.

2 Tuesday Tacos (651)--each taco is 1 tortilla, 1/4 cup meat, 1 ts seasoning, lettuce, 1 TB salsa, 1 TB sour cream, 1/8 cup cheese

Snack:
6 cups fat free popcorn (110)

Calories: 1492.....Columbus sailed the ocean blue....
Fat: 44
Carbs: 230
Fiber: 51 (that seems too high, but everything checks out)
Protein: 41

:water: 96 oz......I think, maybe a few ounces under.

No exercise, but I'm going to drag myself to the gym tonight.

I'm kind of tired today. I was up pretty late though, so that's probably why. Sunday is Gypsy's birthday (1 year old) so last night I bought her the "big girl food" at the store.....drumroll please......Purina One CAT Chow!!! No more kitten chow for the Gyppie-pop! :cat: ....I think I really need to get a hobby. :frown:

I'm wearing my boyfriend's belt today! I wore it on Sunday too--my pants are a little bit too big and are getting uncomortable because they're constantly sagging. It never dawned on me that that is what belts were made for! I haven't owned a belt since high school! So I had to borrow his! Wooo hooo my waist is a man's 32!!!

Hows the scale readin?

Well, Max, what I'd like to say is that I have no idea what the scale is saying because I threw the damn thing out the window!!

...unfortunatley that would be a lie because it's still next to my potty in the bathroom. Ok, Monday the stupid thing said 180....Tuesday morning it said 179.....