Silk Almond Milk has twice as much calcium....
Jest saying...

:cigar2:

Next time I go to the grocery store I'll check it out... how're the calories?

I love their soymilk :) Since I am having issues eating since I got my braces, I've been drinking a lot of milk, yogurt, rice, beans and thin bread until I go back on June 29th.

Zimmeh

I know the Soymilk one has 140 calories for an 8oz glass.

Zimmeh

I've noticed since I moved out of the negative apartment and got a long haired Chihuahua, who loves going for walks; I am starting to loose weight again and my ex sister-in-law noticed it on Sunday. I came home feeling like I was on cloud nine :)

Zimmeh

I really hate that point in losing weight when your friends and coworkers are starting to notice (I'm pretty sure it's just because I got new smaller clothes), but the scale doesn't seem to agree with them.

I've been at a standstill for 3 weeks now, but suddenly people are saying, "You look like you're losing weight!"


:weightshock:

Hey, Grumpy Diva!

RE: your friends' and coworkers' annoying compliments on your weight loss—

You might be "tightening up," or redistributing weight. Or trading muscle for fat, which takes up less volume but weighs more.

Or...your scale might be playing mind games with you.

Or...you're really dressing smart (I consistently wear clothes that are too big for me, but when I wear my true size, I look smaller).

Whatever it is, enjoy, if you can!

:)

Scout
About 7 pounds to go.

This week has been a gift from the gods... previous 5 weeks it's been about a pound a week... this week so far it's 3 pounds O.o.


YAY!

45 min on the elliptical, and another 30 swimming laps in the pool this morning. I feel great!

:)

I found the thin wheat bread from Pepperidge Farms. It has 110 calories for three slices..which is around 73.3 calories for two pieces and I have a teaspoon of nutella on it. I found the nutella to be easier to digest than peanut butter. I also have a 3oz cup -demitasse cup- that I use to drink coffee out of. I drink two of these through out the day instead of at once.

Zimmeh

Found this recipe earlier this week and have been thinking about it ever since. I was going to wait until next weekend to cook it because Gillian has to work this weekend - but I'm thinking at this point.. she'll just have to suck it up.. this is not going to wait until next weekend.

Skinny Skillet Lasagna

I found a recipe for black bean and sweet potato chili. My coworker made it and it was delicious! I'll post the recipe once I get home today :)

Zimmeh

I was proud of myself tonight... ran late due to a meeting and was very pressed for time in regards to getting Gillian fed before she headed off to work. My first thought was well hell now would be a good time to splurge and get a whopper. Next thought was or even better... hot wings! I ran down a very unhealthy orgy of food choices before I ultimately decided to call her, and ask her get showered before dinner instead of after... this made it so I had time to make roasted cauliflower and nuke a couple of veggie riblets.

Yay!

So now my calories for the day will only be just over 1200.

I believe in rewarding yourself when you hit certain weight milestones. Obviously IMO this should not be with some kind of comfort food splurge. To me that just kinda reinforces the belligerant kid in our heads who thinks this is punishment.

What I do instead is line up things I want to purchase. This time around I've lined up probably 200 dollars worth of kitchen knives / utensils / measuring equipment upgrades. All of them are varying amounts of money - with some only being 5 bucks - so I don't have to wait to hit some huge milestone to reward myself and I won't break the bank either.

I've decided to move away from the black and stainless format of most of my cooking supplies. I've selected multicolored knives, utensils, measuring cups and a checkerboard chopping block as well.

Gonna throw some color into my kitchen, make cutting and serving all this good stuff fun and exciting.

5 - 6 more pounds before I hit my first goal of 10% weight loss.

Now I need to figure out which item to get...

Hello healthies :)

One of my strategies for eating healthier is to make sure there's an abundance of fresh fruit and veggies in the house. Snack and I hit the farmer's market today and came home with:

• corn on the cob
• creamer potatoes
• onions
• peaches
• tomatoes
• kiwi
• pineapple
• cantaloupe
• strawberries
• blueberries
• asparagus
• mesclun salad greens
• cheese rigatoni
• organic marinara sauce
• radishes
• mangoes
• plums
• apples
• papaya
• fresh italian bread

I made a big fruit salad for mid-afternoon snack with strawberries, bananas, oranges, apples, kiwi and mango. For dinner, we had the rigatoni with marinara, steamed fresh asparagus and some of the yummy italian bread.

:chef2:

Leptin and Cold Thermogenesis
 

From one of the Spark People teams I am on...


Dr. Kruse says that most of our problems with obesity, resistant weight loss, and chronic disease are caused by leptin resistance. He has a protocol to reset leptin. He lost over 130 pounds himself, and is now helping his patients and others do the same. Here's his blog:

jackkruse.com/

Here's a link to the main topics in the Quilt. You can scroll down to the explanation of each square of the quilt. He calls them levees. Each levee will eventually have its own thread on this sparkteam, a place for us to discuss them.

jackkruse.com/the-quilthow-to-beat-agin/

Dr. Kruse doesn't have each blog post linked to the position in the quilt, so the best way to start is to go to the archives and start at the very first post (In June) and read them in order. They are quite technical and can be overwhelming, so pace yourself. If you jump in to where he is posting right now, you will be extremely lost unless you are either a biochemist or you have been doing leptin research.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

I found him to be very interesting and for me, right on the money. He is a scientist at heart, so know that his stuff might be a bit challenging to absorb. Do not give up!

Mark's Daily Apple
 

I have been eating primally for about a year now. My budget does not allow me to go with the organic, hormone free meat, unless I shoot it myself. I try to get as many organic vegetables and fruit as I can but not opposed to eating conventional.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/#axzz1yoHhBdCV

The primal fitness stuff is good though I do like to ride my bike almost everyday.

Anyway, take a look at Mark's plan and see if you like it. I feel great!

Questioning authority as usual, the ADA is not always right!
 

Primal works for me. Though I am far from perfect.

Moderation in all things, including moderation. Now who said that first? lol

but seriously, primal is just basic to me, when I think about what carbs, especially the refined carbs do once they are in our bodies... I like the image of shards of glass floating along the arteries and veins, which oddly enough sugar sort of looks like at the microscopic level. It literally tears at the inner lumen of the cardio vascular system, and then the clots form, on top of that scabbing. One can break loose and all hell can come with it. I personally really detest strokes and myocardial infarctions, which is what most sugar sensitive aka diabetics and pre-diabetics die from. And lets also consider this, there are a lot worse things than death, imnsho. Yes, we can recover from such life altering events, but it is much better to avoid them if possible.

Considering how most of the women and men die in my family, eating my veggies and proteins, a bit of fruit thrown in, low glycemic if possible... is not too much to ask.

And eventually we can alter our taste buds, which is something that Kruse and Mark talk about a lot, heck... even Atkins spoke of that, and Dukan. I suppose the point is we have a lot more power over our hearts and minds, our very bodies than we sometimes think. For me, it has been very empowering.


I posted something a while back from MileHighMamma, from over on Spark People. I have been watching her dramatic change, her labs were off the charts bad news and within one month, HUGE changes, so much so that her doctor is in shock. He wanted her to go on meds, especially for the cholesterol which was close to 1000 or some such. Between diabetes and that, she was ripe for the conventional wisdom of our day. Medication anyone? She fought that and has been arming herself with new knowledge about how her body works. AND has been Working Her Body! Exercise is the one prescription that I think we can all use, no?
:tea:
Amazing how dramatic it has been to watch. Like many of you here, she inspires me. We never give up on our health and wellness. We love ourselves, no matter what shape we are in and also realize that we are in control here of what goes in and out of our bodies, be it food, drink or thought. :tea:

Feeding my brain today and it is doing my body good!

Enjoying a cup with you all here today... :tea:

had this tonight and it was good! We did find it a tad bland so next time I will add fresh oregano and rosemary and we also love shrooms so we had more of those than called for.

End result was 6 servings instead of the stated 4 and 256 good for you calories!

This will definitely be added to our menu.

I'm all about the Primal and low carb these days. Two weeks of no bread, pasta, rice, sweets (etc), and, wow, I'm loving it. Lost some weight and feel great...cravings for carbs are now at a minimum (for some reason, in the evening, I crave sweets now where I used to crave salty). Besides weight loss, my skin has improved (rosacea and breakouts), and I don't feel bloated anymore.

I always thought a carb-restricted diet would be very difficult, but I think counting calories would drive me crazy (and the research doesn't bode well for this method). After the first 3-4 days it became easier, and now it is not a lot of effort at all to avoid high carb food.

Anyway, it's protein and veggies (mainly salads) for me these days, and I hope to continue this way for awhile.

try some low glycemic fruits for that sweet tooth, which is very natural part of our genetic makeup

I simply love frozen wild blueberries, I swear they are better than ice cream!

Today I have a doctor's appointment. My goal was to have lost 18.5 pounds for the appointment (52 days after the previous one) - but I've actually lost 21.5 pounds so I actually beat my goal!

Still doing great... some weeks are definitely better than others. The past 2 weeks have seen a 6.4 pound drop which makes me feel much better about the previous piddling...

I'm noticing a good improvement on how long it takes my heart rate to return to normal after my work outs - and that's fantastic. I'm eating 5 times a day and posting pictures of my dinners on FB so my friends can see that I AM eating and eating well - and I've inspired a couple to start working on their eating as well.

mmhmm

Woooohooo!!!!!

i need to catch up but wanted to share that lately i have enjoyed smoothies...

I use frozen and fresh fruit, i love frozen bananas because they make the smoothie come out creamier and sweeter... i only use a half of one because sugar in fruit can add up quick..

Spinach leaves are flavorless in smoothies and give it a nice kick of vitamins..

Todays was

1/2 frozen Banana
frozen strawberries slices
5 fresh spinach leaves (right out of the garden!)
1/2 c 1% yogurt
a little water

chia seeds to top off with

Tastes like dessert!

update
 

been juicing all week - I feel fabulous! I'm having one meal per day, replacing the other two with juices or smoothies. Not losing any weight right now, but my exercise has come to a standstill this week from just being busy, and it's that one week of the month where you fully expect not to lose anything anyway. But I'm not gaining either, and my body seems to be reshaping itself slowly.

I have a FABULOUS juice recipe for anyone who owns a juicer. It's delicious, and you can't taste the carrots. The perfect breakfast:

• 1 large (or two small) orange(s) -- Peel the oranges, though, because the juice from the peel is bitter!
• 5 strawberries -- pull the leaves off before you drop them in the juicer
• 1 lemon -- if you really like lemon, leave the peel on this one, zest is yummy. otherwise, peel it too.
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 inch of fresh ginger root -- a little goes a LONG way!

Last night we went to a birthday party for a friend. I was so stressed about CAKE !! I know cake is my downfall, I thought one small piece, I mean you HAVE to share cake or its bad luck right?? Imagine my delight when the cake was brought out, it was a fresh cream and peach culinary wonder! I am allergic to peachs.............yippieeeeeeeee no cake for me!! The diet Goddess steped in and saved me!

Just ran across this article which seems to correlate to another article I was reading in Eating Well Magazine yesterday discussing the fact that calories in are not all created equal... It takes more energy to process unprocessed foods versus refined food. Which makes sense. Which means even though you only ate 1200 calories - if it was all unprocessed whole foods - you'll burn even more calories actually consuming that food versus eating the same 1200 calories consisting of refined foods.

All Calories Are Not Created Equal

Cake is the only thing that matters
 

I can't resist sharing this blogpost- mostly because it popped in my head when I read this, and I want it to be stuck in yours too. I'm evil like that.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co...d-of-cake.html

that was hysterical!

well I am joining you all in here. I have added 10 lbs in stress eating, which for someone who had stumach surgery, means i ate ALOT in order to gain these 10 lbs. Havoc wailed on my senses and dulled the affects until the stress was over and now I am dealing with the aftermath. Its DANGEROUS for me to eat like that. I only have 1/3 of my stumach left. So...time to modify and eat more healthy.

My daughter got married. Talk about a stressor. and it was complicated. So add more stressors. I ate and ate and ate and ate all the wrong things. Things i have been told NOT TO EVER EAT AGAIN.

so...I feel like i did when i quit drinking...prepared for the jonesing and scared of it. Its not the weight I am worried about. Its the lifestyle. I will kill myself if I keep doing this. And just because the wedding is over doesnt mean the complications are...and they will keep me eating like this...

but they wont. I need to stop.

I am not suppose to have carbonated drinks.

Nor sugars

Nor whites

I am going to fast for a day to get this stuff out of me and then work slowly into introducing foods back to me.

:rose:

Yep, what you put in your body, probably can't be what most people put into their bellies. And that is seriously okay! Do what you need to do.

Keep it simple.

Food, the nutrition you require, protein first... then your veggies, etc. You know the drill.

Hydrate, Sleep and do not forget to get your body moving and breathing!

Food, water, sleep and exercise. We can simplify this to the elemental things we really do need. Each of those are critical aspects in this process. I have to keep reminding my own self, too.

Keep it simple, silly!

KISS~
d

I have those same parameters. It does get easier, what is often suggested to get back on track is this... just go back to what you had to eat right after your surgery. Just for a few days, the liquid protein was what they had me on. Diet aka sugar free instant breakfasts, as I recall. Which I could not drink, as I recall... as I had a wonderful reaction to any and all artificial sweetners.

It is all good, as I like to say, God was doing for me, what I could not and would not do for myself. I feel it was such a blessing to have that adverse effect from something that is essentially so dang toxic to the body. Personally I would prefer to always eat what is real, the way that mother nature makes it. The way the body was built, designed to agreee with. Artificial sweetners may be something most doctors and the ADA recommends. I just beg to disagree.

In fact there is a lot of evidence that diabetes has been going up exponentially due in fact in no small degree to these sweetners massive consumption. I am in complete and total disagreement about the use of and supposed benefits of these artificial sweetners. Many of those substances are like 1000 percent sweeter than the real thing, sugar and it alters parts of how our brains crave sweets. The Sweet tooth and the Fat tooth, are real phenomes, from our genetic pasts, it is positively a evolutionary reality. And why humans beings really really love their ice cream, in fact people do in fact scream for ice cream!

Again, sorry... I digress. A simple fast is a good way to get the crap out of your system. Or a juice fast, where you are purifying and cleansing your insides, does a body good. You end up feeling squeaky clean, inside and out.
Or better yet, just keep it simple. When you do go back to eating again, eat exactly what you know to be right for you. Yes, your friends and family may be eating a ton of other things, just say no thank you. Do this for you! Your health matters.

And you know this drill...

Protein first, it fills up the littler stomach... then veggies, then fruits after that... at first you might want to skip the fruits... they are too close to those sugars you are still having craving for. You mentioned the 'white' stuff... stay away from all the grain products if you can, even for just a month and see how you feel. The carbs, even the complex carbs... they really do a number on a littler stomach. Much less the fact that the simple 'white' carbs are converted by the body into simple sugar. Hard on your liver, big time.

Most folks may not be aware of what a fatty liver looks like. I know it surprised my fellow here, the word cirrhosis is not a good word to hear, not ever. But to think that what we are doing to our livers is a bit much. Alcohol is not the only thing that scars up a liver. Obesity does it as well. I know I need my liver, would die without it. That goes for all of us, the livers job is a super important one. One none of us can live without.

I was also grateful that I became lactose intolerant after my surgery. Since milk has so much naturally occurring sugars, well... the body has a hard time seeing the difference really. Sugar is sugar. I know I have shared this before... but I visual the shards of glass inside my arteries and veins. Brings the reality smack dab in the middle of my consciousness.

:fastdraq:

You can do anything you put your mind to!

thanks for the welcome, Lady DI, and the good advice! Kick started it today and did very good....not perfect, but very good. Tomorrow, another day!