Hey everyone, I am lonely over here. I know that there are alot of you who are following the bttb approach..adding fruits and veggies, watching portions and eating lean proteins.. It is a basic approach to good healthy living. I've talked to a few of you privately and have seen a few of you post on the threads but it is so quiet.

Usually when it is quiet I think that you are having trouble. I want to know whats going on. Together as a group we can all help each other out.

Let's try a little challenge. I want you to set a little goal for the week and then work on reaching it... It can be as simple as adding a fruit or veggie to your daily routine..or maybe cutting out a junkie snack and replacing it with something good..You decide. ANd post it in this thread.

With each small challenge we accomplish, we will see our confidence building. And with that we try again and reach for another goal...taking baby steps along the way. I've accomplished many things by stringing these minutes together and making a firm foundation....and I know that each of you can do it too.

So let's start today!! It's not hard to do and it produces great results. So right now, make a dicision... Decide what you will accomplish and then work on accomplishing it it. If it seems overwhelming, break it down into as many small accomplishments as necessary. The little goals do matter, because they build that solid fountation for even bigger goals.

Oh my gosh Lindasue,

I don't know what to put in here. I did the 21 day challenge to get my water consumption up, and so now I'm doing really good in that department.

I already make a habit of eating fresh fruit and veggies every day. About the only real fat I have is like in my salad dressing or the 3-4 oz of meat I might eat, when I eat meat. Tonight that is 4 oz of fresh Salmon.

Maybe you would like to suggest something for me? I'm doing really well. Even after enjoying a Chinese Buffet last Sunday evening, then having fresh roast beef, potatoes and real butter on Thursday, I still managed to LOSE 1 LB! Probably because I usually eat at the low end of my WW points, I do walk most days, and I have been eating White Chicken Chile at least once every day for the past 4 days.......hahahha. Beans are very good for you too. Did you realize that. Lots of protein, and great fiber.

If you can suggest something, I would really appreciate it.

Enjoy!~Enjoy!
Sandie :D

I'm not doing as well as i was in the summer concerning veggies and fruits.. Im struggling to get in the required number.. so my calories are suffering too. Im not replacing them with junk, im just not eating enough in calories. I am going to aim for 5 veggies and 3 fruits daily. To do this i will add a fruit as a snack and add a veggie and fruit to lunch each day. I will continue to record my menus.

Is anyone else having trouble with anything? :x

Well I am still trying to get the new diabetic exchanges figured out seems like it is a little more time consuming. I have plenty of fruits and veggies and have no trouble with water but the bread exchange/starch is giving me a bit of a problem, also the protein is counted differently. MY blood sugars are running a little higher and I seem to have too many exchanges to eat at the latter part of the day. so the main thing I am going to commit to is trying to balance the exchanges into 3meals and 2-3 snacks. to keep my blood sugar levels more stable. I'm not sure if this exchange thing is going to work for me ,I really don't have much time to work on this. I'll give it a month and see what happens.:) :) sandycan

Ok, well I'm going to start off with an easy one this week. I'm going to cut out my pop consumption. I'll replace it with water and a little bit of fruit juice. Until I go for groceries, that's the best I can do. The bttb challenge doesnt go into full throttle until there are fruits and veggies in my fridge. Until then, I'm still on the SlimFast.

Hi Lindasue and crew!
I'm doing good......actually am doing Lean for Life" right now to jump start some weight loss. Today was day 2 of WL....where I have 2 salads, 2 fruits, 1 grain (or additional fruit) plus 2 veggie servings.
I had to take some steps to get control over my night time eating.. I would do fine during the day and get goofy at night.
I have lost 6 pound in 5 days.........I know.........here come the warnings! I'm ok and it's given me incentive to carry on.
this is the first time in almost a year that I've been below 200 and I'm gonna enjoy it!
I am drinking 80 and more oz. water daily, walking 3 miles each morning (1 off day a week if I want).....today got an additional two at FLC so I could play in the hot tub afterwards. I have more energy, feel great and am thankful for it!

My goals for the week ahead:
Walk 20 miles
Drink 80 oz. water daily
Stay OP (it's workin')
Other exercise 2-3X this week
That will do for now!
Bren:D

Sandy, thats cool that you are doing so great. I'm proud of your achievements!!!!:up:

sandycan, I've checked thru the diabetic exchanges and understand that is it is a bit confusing. It is such a healthy balanced plan. I imagine that balancing your food out throughout the day would help make a difference in your blood sugar levels. Starches are a tough one. What kinds do you like? Maybe using more unrefined ones, a little higher in fiber might help. :)

Miss Rena, That is an awesome goal, to switch to water.:up: I did that about a year ago. It makes a big difference. Water is awesome. Dj posted an excellent article about water. It is in the Pub. Here is the link: http://www.diettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23508

Brenda!:D I'm checking over their site right now as I am not familiar with the program at all. I cant argue with fruit, salad, grain & veggies. How many calories is it? I understand the nighttime eating problems. We need to work thru the issues that surround it..maybe come up with a hobby or go for a walk..speaking of walking, you are doing great there too.Water intake is awesome too. :x

Hi Lindasue:

I'm guilty as sin for not posting too much in September. I have been following the BTTB lifestyle though. Not real sure what happened in September but it seemed I never had enough time for everything. I mentioned once in my journal about one of my co-workers being sick and dying from cancer. Unfortunately she passed away Sunday night at 2am. God Speed my friend on your new life She was a very good friend to all who knew her. So this has made me stop and re-think alot about how my life is.

For October I am going to challenge myself into exercising every day. Even if it's only for 15 minutes. My water, and fruits and veggies are still good so I am not worried about that. But having a baked good is the one thing I am going to cut out competely this month.

Also I am going to get back into the habit of posting my daily menu on here.

Judy2

Hi Lindasue! :D Greetings to everyone else as well. :D

For me the problem is that a lot of days I am in pain from arthritis which causes problems in the will power department. I do my best but it is not at this moment resulting in any great weight loss. Fortunately I am not gaining any weight either.

Cooler temps here means I am in the kitchen more which does mean confronting more temptation. Lots of baking and cooking at this time of year. I slipped last week and started having a treat, something home baked at my afternoon coffee break. This week I am back not doing that. Snacking in the afternoon may work for some people but no matter what I eat it winds up having the affect on me that I eat more at supper time. So for me that is something that I need to focus on. I love fruits and vegetables so I don't have a problem there, but water is something I should add a little more of. That is it for now!

Judy, my heart goes out to you on the loss of your friend. Cancer is so scary.. I've been so stressed out as my dad's treatments continue thru spring. Its made me focus more too. You are really in focus. I can see that. Its good to gt back into things before it gets too cool...i know you can keep up with the exercise. :up:
...and one other thing Judy...we have a year long challenge to think about....Im thinking ahead to Nov 2003 with much excitement.

Vxxxt! Great to see you.:hug: I'm sorry about your arthritis. Is there anything that helps to relieve the pain? I have had trouble in the past with baking..even now, if i bake cookies for the kids,I bake like 6 cookies... I think I am over he urge to eat them for now though..I know you can get past that afternoon snack dilemma. Great goal of increased water too!!

Lindasue, About my starch exchanges, I do not eat much refined starches only whole grain or 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice, wheat pastas. for breakfast I have oat bran cooked or wheat bran flakes or cheerios very little sugar, I eat no cookies.cakes or any bakery products. I really don't care for white bread products. MY problem has always been fats and snacks, chips, popcorn with gobs of butter tortilla chips with melted cheese and sour cream nuts, peanuts. That is why I am trying the low fat program. I also was a cookie addict so I don"t have any around ;fat free ,sugar free, you name it , I would eat them all. I normally do not eat that many starch exchanges and that is what my problem is I have too many at the end of the day that is why I need to balance them at each meal and that is going to take a little better planning on my part. Thankyou for your input, I really appreciate the help :) :) sandycan

Lindasue,
I have been flolling the BTTB but keep getting side tracked. So my goal for this week is to add 2 dairy products per day for one week. This is really a challenge since dislike all dairy produts. Well most of them except the fattening kind.

All set starting today!!

Love and hugs,
Lizzie

sandycan, i think that most of us have or have had that problem with the junkie carbs..its hard to break. Your other carb choices are excellent: "whole grain or 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice, wheat pastas. for breakfast I have oat bran cooked or wheat bran flakes or cheerios very little sugar..." They are higher fiber and much better for you. You are right about planning.. It gets easier though..if you can plan out a couple days at a time (I plan 2 weeks at a time) and get some good menus going, you always have stuff to pull from to build new menus. Then it gets alot less time consuming. You are doing great. :x

Hey Lizzie, my dairy hating buddy.:D Have you found anything that you like yet? And have you looked at other foods for cources of calcium? Let me know what you come up with. You are doing great. :x

Stickin with 3-4 fruits and 4-6 veggies a day as my goal. I'm usually shy a couple !:tomato:

Hi all!
I'm baaaaaaack! I have little time to play and so many places to do so! LOL!
OK....I made my wonderful chicken soup yesterday and will have it for lunch and dinner, oh...... probably for the next 5 days!
Lindasue, I like your idea of planning for two weeks and I'm gonna try that. I've done it before. When I don't plan....I get sidetracked quickly.
You had asked if I could have my lentil stew on the LFL plan.....well, put it this way. I WILL have it! LOL! I want and need the veggies and as it's got excellent low fat protein, you betcha! My chicken soup is low fat as well. I use skinless, boneless chicken (usually what I have on hand)....add low sodium boullion....gotta have my onion soup mix, a ton of wonderful veggies and low sodium v-8........yum yum! I'd put my recipie in at Fitday once, last year.....don't remember password to get back in....don't know if info is saved?

So......I'm LEAN'ing on my veggies, salads.....doing really good with getting the carb cravings under control and that's been a real problem. Fruit doesn't set me off........like you, it's the refined things that get me in trouble so am avoiding them for now.

I am LOVIN' the walking! Never thought I'd get that down but it's been such a boost. Even when the scale doesn't move, knowing I'm doing that for me has helped a great deal. The cooler temps have inspired me! I love being outside, early in the morning before the rest of the world wakes up! :D
Catch ya later.....have a "soup"er day! Bren

Thats a great goal pippen!! I know you can do it!:up:

Bren, you always make me smile when I read your posts. I can tell you are excited and you have a plan and you are working it well. Your chicken soup sounds great too. I will have to try that combination. AND I knew the walking would be a keeper too. Its fun and easy and it does help out tremendously. :x

Thanks Lindasue!
I get such a boost here at DT every day and appreciate all the input, feedback, inspiration and encouragement. You all are great!

In re-reading your previous post, where you suggested working on the issues that lead to the night-time grazing..........GOOD idea. I know I have a problem/habit of unconcious eating while watching TV, so it's a matter of exchanging one HABIT for another. Replacing the bad one w/good......a healthy choice.

I know journaling helps.........I just don't do much of it unless I'm in deep doody! LOL! It takes me 3 days to realize I'm depressed...two more to figure out WHY! LOL!

SO! I will make a list of alternate choices and use it. It takes little to entertain me so adjusting the pattern shouldn't be TOO difficult! I'll work on that in the days ahead!

Thanks again!!
Mz B:D

HI ALL, I have been on other boards here and just came upon this one and liked it to. so here i am. I decided this year that i would start losing this summer and change my eating for life time. we have 2 large gardens. have the land and a well so some do not. so give alot of it away. anyhows i started eating the tomatoes and cukes and carrots alot. it helped as in 13 weeks have lost 24 lbs. 2 gains in all that time. so i am use to vegies and had apples and grapes fresh. oh its been neat. i still have some lefted but is almost gone the garden , but good thing is i am use to eating them now. I got off sugar and chips. this is great for me and do not even crave them would rather have the fresh fruits and vegies. so good luck all sounds like everyone is doing great. i have 3 meals a day. water, and filling things. this helps me alot. i also exercise. LaDean:ex: :up:

Hey ther MzB:D..ya made me smile again. Before you get in a doody start journalling. Keep up the positivity. It is contagious. :x


The garden really made a difference for me too LaDean. :) You have done awesome work during the summer months. That great fruit and veggie habit will stick with you too. There is always something in season. Our garden still has peppers and tomatoes. :x

Thanks Lindasue will DO! LOL!

LaDean! Hello there! I envy you folks with the gardens. I've had 'em in the past and love working 'em....I called it playing in the dirt....if I incorporate play into my work, it makes it easier to talk myself into doing it! WOW! That's great! The weight loss, habit change, getting off sugar! Great going!

I should've grabbed my pen and notebook yesterday at work.....the candy was flying out of those wrappers like nobody's business, Lindasue! I hadn't had sugar in 12 days so was slapped silly,:tomato: ......didn't take much!

TODAY.....yes TODAY....is a good time to get back on track. OK....I am tired of the LFL thing, I think...........I want MORE veggies and I'm gonna HAVE them! Yes....I'm silly but that's allowed! It's my option to change my mind/plan.....right! LOL!

I prefer veggies and fruits to the high protein thing. A half cup just won't do!

Gonna run...........need to play awhile before work.......Catch you guys later!
Mz B:D

:) Hi, goal just to follow the peanut butter diet from www.prevention.com magazine. It on their website. I just started it and I feel good. I am diabetic and just started taking insulin. You use 4 ping pong ball size peanut butter a day. It a good snack on apples I found. Delicous. Use to not eat peanut butter much but now find it worthwhile. If you allergic to peanut I suggest you do not use it of course. Peanut Butter is loaded with stuff you can find out on prevention. I discover it via their magazine.

Interesting plan there...what kind of peanut butter? I know that there are hydrogenated oils and sugar in alot of them. DO you make your own? I dont think that I could personally eat that much peanut butter. That would be way over my fat grams. Are you also getting in all your veggies and fruits? Let us know how you are doing.