Healthy Weight Loss

[Miss Scarlett]

Salad recipes from my doc:

Rich Ranch
Skim milk
Hidden Valley Ranch powder
fat-free sour cream or fat-free plain Greek yogurt

Add powder to sour cream or yogurt. Taste intermittently until enough ranch powder is added. Once mixed thin consistency by stirring in milk until it is dressing.

Vinaigrette
Exra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic or rice wine vinegar
Dijon mustard

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend (or in bowl and whisk until blended) When experimenting consider adding dry dill, rosemary or oregano.

Olive Oil and Lemon/Lime
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
One lemon or lime

Drizzle oil on salad. Squeeze either lemon or lime on salad.

Salsa
Use your favourite salsa as salad dressing.

Salad
Field greens or other mixed greens (dark greens are better for you).
grilled chicken or
seared Ahi Tuna or other grilled fish or
grilled lean steak

Toss greens with dressing. Add meat.

Goat Cheese, Sliced Pear and Crunchy Walnut Salad
4 cups chopped Romaine
2 ounces goat cheese
4 TBSP chopped walnuts
1 sliced pear
Vinaigrette dressing (recipe above)

Toss lettuce with 2 TBSP dressing, then top with pear, walnuts and goat cheese.

Comfort Food Chicken Salad
LARGE ingredients:
6 oz cooked chicken breast (may be canned or baked the night before or rotisserie)
2 TBSP chopped green pepper
2 Tbsp chopped red bell pepper
2 TBSP chopped onion
1 TBSP chopped parsley
1 cup dark lettuce
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

SMALL ingredients:
1/2 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp caraway seeds
pinch cumin
pinch coriander
pinch salt

Combine LARGE ingredients in salad bowl.
Combine SMALL ingredients and mix well.
Use the SMALL ingredients as a topping for LARGE ingredients.
Chill or serve immediately.

[Miss Scarlett]

Breakfast ideas from my doc:

Fresh Veggie Omelet with Egg Beaters

Chose 2-5 favourite vegetables: green pepper, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach.
Choose a favourite spice: salsa, pepper & sea salt, chives, basil, rosemary, garlic
Choose: Benecol spread or Smary Balance spray

Over medium-low heat "sweat" green peppers and/or onions for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook an additional 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in garlic and/or spinach for 2 more minutes. Increase to medium-high heat and then add egg whites (or Egg Beaters). Use heat-resistent spatula to loosen egg along edges of pan. Draw half of solidified eggs to mid-part of pan, add dry spice. Once top is no longer wet, fold entirety of eggs in halp, making omelet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Garnish with salsa if desired.

TimeSavers Egg Bake (for people who have no time)

Once weekly, prepare all of your breakfasts for one week.
Begin with a 6-well muffin pan. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare vegetables as above and place equal portions in each of the cups of the muffin pan. Pour desired amount of egg whites (or Egg Beaters) into each well and then beak until solid throughout.
The cooktime will depend on how thick you have decided to make the omelettes. Store in fridge and reheat in microwave each day before running out the door.

Creamy Yogurt, Crunchy Nuts & Fruit (for people in a hurry)

Combine small container of fat-free plain Greek yogurt with your favourite fruit (blueberries, strawberries, chopped peaches, etc). Munch on a handful or your favourite seeds or nuts...or combine with the yogurt and fruit. Examples: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews. (Do not choose peanuts or soy nuts because they're not really nuts.)

[Miss Scarlett]

More Breakfast ideas from my doc:

Cottage Cheese & Orange/Mandarin/Tangerine

Combine slices of one orange/mandarin/tangerine with 1-2 cups of fat-free cottage cheese.

Turkey Bacon with Grapefruit

1/2 - 1 grapefruit and 2 slices of turkey bacon

2 Hardboiled Eggs & an Apple (for people who really have no time)

Throw away one of the yolks.

[PinkieLee]

Thank you Miss Scarlett for those awesome recipes for salads and/or dressings! Whenever I have left over chicken fajita meat, I get a bag of mixed salad greens, add the fajita meat & add salsa... voila taco salad!

When I go to Subway and order a salad, I usually just have them do a splash of the oil & vinegar with pepper... it never needs the extra calories from the salad dressing!

I make a pretty tasty chicken salad (if I don't say so myself
I boil 1 chicken breast and then shred
Dice up an apple
a handful of pecan pieces
and add enough mayo to mix it all together (the olive oil mayo with 1/2 the calories tastes the best but I have used the lite Miracle Whip)

It makes enough for a few sandwiches for lunches for a couple days. I usually eat it on deli thin sandwich round, with a handful of unsalted saltine crackers or as a wrap with romaine lettuce.

[Miss Scarlett]

You're welcome PinkieLee. i like your chicken salad recipe too. i'll have to try it but with fat-free Greek yogurt or sour cream instead of mayonnaise.

One thing about my doc. He created these recipes and has actually eaten this stuff himself. He has his own weight struggles and practices what he preaches. Following the plan he developed (primarily diet and exercise) he lost weight and kept it off. He's constantly researching and studying.

i love this man. He saved my life.

[Miss Scarlett]

Top 5 Jack LaLanne quotes:

1) Your waistline is your lifeline. (According to my doc this is medically true.)
2) If man makes it, don’t eat it.
3) People don’t die of old age, they die of inactivity.
4) The food you eat today is walking and talking tomorrow.
5) You eat everyday, you sleep everyday, and your body was made to exercise everyday.

[princessbelle]

Monday morning weigh in!!!!!

I lost 3.2 pounds last week. It is so wonderful to weigh and see that weight going down down down. However, slowly, still it is such a motivator!!!!!

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

Today it is back to exercising and planning the weeks food.

We are thinking this soup idea we started a couple of weeks ago is really paying off. Homemade and full of veggies and tomato sauce and oh so yummy. It is now a weekly menu item that lasts a couple of days for the quicky meal.

Tonight is baked chicken, green beans and a sweet potato!!!!

Yum!!!!!

[princessbelle]

Originally Posted by princessbelle

Monday morning weigh in!!!!!

I lost 3.2 pounds last week. It is so wonderful to weigh and see that weight going down down down. However, slowly, still it is such a motivator!!!!!

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

Today it is back to exercising and planning the weeks food.

We are thinking this soup idea we started a couple of weeks ago is really paying off. Homemade and full of veggies and tomato sauce and oh so yummy. It is now a weekly menu item that lasts a couple of days for the quicky meal.

Tonight is baked chicken, green beans and a sweet potato!!!!

Yum!!!!!

OH and about the soup. One more thing. I've noticed, at least for us, since we have that in the fridge, already made and easy to just heat up quickly, it has helped that urge to run by a fast food place on the way home or order pizza.

Sometimes, easy is the key.

[Medusa]

I am trying to do some time-saving stuff for my food this week so this weekend I baked up 4 HUGE sweet potatoes and dug out the innards and slapped them in a huge bowl.
I have enough mashed sweet potatoes for all week and can use them a 1/2 cup or a cup at a time for side dishes on meals.

Sweet potatoes are one of the healthiest veggies you can eat from what I've read. They are packed with fiber and tons of vitamins and have the lowest glycemic index of all of the root vegetables.

I like mine mashed or baked with a sprinkle of cinammon (no sugar or honey necessary since these are naturally sweet). If you are on WW, an entire cup of mashed sweet potato (with no sugar, butter, or other stuff) has only 5 points. That's a LOt of potato so I usually do 1/2 cup with dinner or lunch.

I've even had a 1/2c with cinammon for breakfast with a piece of turkey bacon. YUMMY.

[Miss Scarlett]

My personal favourite breakfast or light meal is to take a small container of fat-free plain Greek yogurt, mix in a chopped orange/mandarin/tangerine, 1/4 cup sliced almonds and 1 tablespoon of unsweetened coconut.

Having this right now for my breakfast/lunch...Mmmmmmmm!!!!

[Medusa]

Originally Posted by princessbelle

OH and about the soup. One more thing. I've noticed, at least for us, since we have that in the fridge, already made and easy to just heat up quickly, it has helped that urge to run by a fast food place on the way home or order pizza.

Sometimes, easy is the key.

Yes Ma'am to this!

This has been one of my biggest hurdles over the last year. Getting home late at night, sometimes after a 12 hour day, and trying to figure out what to eat usually meant I was ordering something or eating crap in a box (which often equated to super unhealthy and loaded with salt and also not very satisfying).

Some of my go-to dishes when I'm tired and don't want to think about it:

Salads - takes literally 6 minutes to wash and chop veggies and if you keep grilled chicken in the fridge, this can really add to it

Soup or chilli - easy and keeps all week

Wraps or sandwiches - I usually keep shaved cajun turkey or grilled chicken at all times. These can go on a sandwich thin or in a spinach wrap with lettuce, onion, peppers, etc. for a quick wrap. I love to add 1 wedge of Laughing Cow cheese to really make it yummy

Breakfast for dinner - I can do a really good omelet with egg beaters and lots of spinach, peppers, mushrooms, and even fat free cheese in just a few minutes and it usually fills me up to the top!

Another thing that is super easy is when you are making coffee in the morning, grab some chicken breasts or tenderloins and throw them in a shallow dish with some light italian dressing, worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, garlic, and whatever else you like and let it marinate until you get home. As soon as you get home, pop them in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes (depending on size of chicken) and by the time you get your clothes off, pets walked, and extras done, dinner is ready. Serve with steamed veggies (the steamer bags take like 4 minutes and are WELL worth it!)

[JustJo]

Thank you June...and that pisses me off too.

Deciding to be healthy and lose weight isn't an effort to put anyone else down...it's an effort to have a longer, healthier (and hopefully happier as a result) life.

I hate sizist, "fat is ugly" messaging as much as anyone. I am, and always will be, on the larger size. It's just how I'm built. As a diabetic, with a history of heart disease....losing weight and getting healthy is to save my own life, to live to see my son grow up, to maybe (if I'm lucky enough) be able to snuggle with my grandbabies.

If someone has an issue with that...screw 'em.

[Zimmeh]

Tell her, i said congratulations from me!

I am sorry someone has done this! It actually embarasses me as a person, who has lost 60lbs and I have managed to keep about 50lbs off since 2007. No kne should be made to feel this way and it can be detrimental to her.

I started my journey after my loosing my dad to heart and respiratory failure.

Hugs,

Zimmeh

Originally Posted by June

I'm kind of fired up this morning.

I was emailing with a friend (she can out herself here, or not. Won't be hard to figure out who it is)

And she is actually getting HATE mail shaming her for her "betrayal" of the "Fat Community" because she decided she didn't want to end up with Diabetes and wanted to live longer.

Who the fuck is she betraying? The Major drug companies who make Lipitor and Insulin?

She's not betraying me, a woman of size.

She's not betraying anyone, and if we feel shame because she has the gumption to get up and move and eat healthier foods, that's our problem, not hers.

She's lost over a hundred pounds on her own. No surgery, no magic pill. Hard work -- Not so she can "get laid" SO SHE CAN LIVE LONGER!

Not only should we be encouraging and congratulating her, we should be looking at her as a role model. Not to be thin, to be healthy. She knew at 400lb+, she was NOT healthy.

I cannot believe that people would send her hate mail. In fact, it enrages me.

And no, I am not a self-loathing fat person. I am a 50 year old woman who feels pretty good about herself most days. But I also know that I am NOT as healthy as I could be and I do NOT move as much as I should. I am not diabetic, I do not have high blood pressure, and I don't want to get it, even though there are all kinds of pills out there to combat it.

I have started walking and doing Yoga again, because, this woman, my friend, woke me the fuck up and made me look at my own lifestyle in a different way.

I don't even own a scale. I don't care what the scale says, I care that I don't get up in the morning with stiffness, that I can walk twelve blocks uphill and not stop, that my body stays flexible as I age.

I have said this before, I do believe in size acceptance. I do not believe in Health At Any Size. I do not think it is healthy when someone cannot walk more than 20 feet without resting because they are out of breath. I do think it's possible that people who are obese by the Medical standards are healthy because they move their body and eat well, even if it's more.

I have a really great yoga dvd done by a woman of size that I will send to the first person who PM's me (give me your address). Because of the way I am, I need to actually go to the classes and wasn't so good at following DVD directions. I am a visual learner

I think I am done ranting now. For the moment.

[princessbelle]

I agree to the size thing so much!!!!

My goal for loosing weight is of course to live longer. My mother is a diabetic. So, i know i can get it easily.

And more than that, being a nurse, i have to maneuver patients constantly. I have to bend and lift and get in the floor. It would be nice, again, to be able to hop up without embarrassing myself and get up slowly due to this extra weight. I want to be able to hop up steps carting all the medical bags and supplies i have to carry and not stop because i'm out of breath or tired.

Like many of you, my weight loss goals are not about how i will look. It is about how i will feel and move.

A way better reason.

People out there can be jerks no matter what you try and do. Especially if you are trying to make yourself a stronger person. Just shows their jealousy coming through. Sad really.

[Miss Scarlett]

Great post June...hate mail for wanting to lose weight? Betraying the Fat Community? Are you serious? That's crazy!

my decision to lose weight had to do with my health. Mom died from Pancreatic Cancer. She had Type II Diabetes as do Dad and my big brother. i wanted to avoid these things. So far i've dodged the Type II bullet.

A year or so ago i asked my weight loss doc what he set for my goal weight and his response was that his goal for his patients was not a number on a scale rather it was good health.

my journey began in October 2008 at 342.5 lbs. i lost 130, relapsed, lost what i regained, relapsed again, lost what i regained, relapsed yet again and am back on track. (i've managed to keep off 100 of the 130)

If this means i too am betraying the Fat Community so be it...this is for ME. They don't have to live in my body, I DO!!!

[Zimmeh]

Ditto! I was having problems breathing and my heart hurt when I dud to much. If this person wants to chat with me, June can send them in my direction.

Zimmeh

Originally Posted by Miss Scarlett

Great post June...hate mail for wanting to lose weight? Betraying the Fat Community? Are you serious? That's crazy!

my decision to lose weight had to do with my health. Mom died from Pancreatic Cancer. She had Type II Diabetes as do Dad and my big brother. i wanted to avoid these things. So far i've dodged the Type II bullet.

A year or so ago i asked my weight loss doc what he set for my goal weight and his response was that his goal for his patients was not a number on a scale rather it was good health.

my journey began in October 2008 at 342.5 lbs. i lost 130, relapsed, lost what i regained, relapsed again, lost what i regained, relapsed yet again and am back on track.

If this means i too am betraying the Fat Community so be it...this is for ME. They don't have to live in my body, I DO!!!

[Medusa]

Originally Posted by June

I'm kind of fired up this morning.

I was emailing with a friend (she can out herself here, or not. Won't be hard to figure out who it is)

And she is actually getting HATE mail shaming her for her "betrayal" of the "Fat Community" because she decided she didn't want to end up with Diabetes and wanted to live longer.

Who the fuck is she betraying? The Major drug companies who make Lipitor and Insulin?

She's not betraying me, a woman of size.

She's not betraying anyone, and if we feel shame because she has the gumption to get up and move and eat healthier foods, that's our problem, not hers.

She's lost over a hundred pounds on her own. No surgery, no magic pill. Hard work -- Not so she can "get laid" SO SHE CAN LIVE LONGER!

Not only should we be encouraging and congratulating her, we should be looking at her as a role model. Not to be thin, to be healthy. She knew at 400lb+, she was NOT healthy.

I cannot believe that people would send her hate mail. In fact, it enrages me.

And no, I am not a self-loathing fat person. I am a 50 year old woman who feels pretty good about herself most days. But I also know that I am NOT as healthy as I could be and I do NOT move as much as I should. I am not diabetic, I do not have high blood pressure, and I don't want to get it, even though there are all kinds of pills out there to combat it.

I have started walking and doing Yoga again, because, this woman, my friend, woke me the fuck up and made me look at my own lifestyle in a different way.

I don't even own a scale. I don't care what the scale says, I care that I don't get up in the morning with stiffness, that I can walk twelve blocks uphill and not stop, that my body stays flexible as I age.

I have said this before, I do believe in size acceptance. I do not believe in Health At Any Size. I do not think it is healthy when someone cannot walk more than 20 feet without resting because they are out of breath. I do think it's possible that people who are obese by the Medical standards are healthy because they move their body and eat well, even if it's more.

I have a really great yoga dvd done by a woman of size that I will send to the first person who PM's me (give me your address). Because of the way I am, I need to actually go to the classes and wasn't so good at following DVD directions. I am a visual learner

I think I am done ranting now. For the moment.

That is incredibly fucked up.

Let me say this, I think it is incredibly brave of Superwoman (I'm calling her that until she decides to out herself) to do her journey in a visible, authentic way with unabashed resolve. It's brave not because there are vile haters out there in the world who let their own self esteem issues keep them from celebrating someone's health success, but because she is brave enough to do it with an audience. That, my dear friends, takes giant ovaries and that, to me, makes her a fucking BAD ASS.

On another note:

This is something that June and I have talked about at length. Back on the Dash site, when I was first figuring out I was a Femme at the age of 22, I felt such an enormous sense of affiliation and love with all ofthe fat people there who loved their bodies in ways I had never been witness to before. I was able to shed much of my insecurity about my own size by witnessing a few people I deeply cared about at the time own their size and space and demand the kind of respect for it that I had always been afraid to ask for.
It was and is amazing.
I am a firm believer that sexy comes and any size. I am also a firm believer that love should come at any size (both self-love and love directed). I do not, however, believe that any of us should be fetishizing size in a way that supports food addiction or destructive eating habits. That may look like many different things to all of us but for me, it means that I don't keep telling myself I'm fine the way I am while I shove Twinkies in my face and can't walk up a flight of stairs or am having a stroke due to high blood pressure while still shoveling over 6000 calories a day into my body.

It's hard for me to even type this because it feels like such a betrayal of my fat politics. The politics I have put a LOT of effort into over the years. Don't get me wrong, I am not ever going to dismantle my fat politics or start being negative about fat bodies but this re-examination has definitely churned some muddy waters for me.

There's another thing that I am remiss to talk about but I think it's important. I think that some of the fat politics that were happening in other spaces made a nice soft bed for willing food addicts to become even more unhealthy under the guise of....fuck, I've written and rewritten this sentence 10 times and am trying to say it in a way that won't sound like an attack. Let me just say that I gained a significant amount of weight when I felt that my fat body was more accepted/desired/fetishized/celebritized/etc. That's what happened for me and I own it and it wasn't because anyone else made it happen. I still hear the echos of fatphobia in "I'm not usually attracted to big girls but I'd date Medusa in a heartbeat" or "Medusa dresses so well for someone her size!" or "I wish I had Medusa's confidence!" (as if a confident fat woman was such an anomaly..and maybe it is but it felt like a headpat more often than not like "Oh look at you, with all of your ADORABLE little self-esteem!")

Sometimes I still feel like a traitor for even daring to make my body smaller, for having a goal of a healthier body, for being so self-involved that I'd want to focus on me. I know some of that is just the old stuff talking. But I also know that some of it is because I am coming from a history and a specific Butch-femme culture where there were some people who I idolized who were severely overweight and who helped me to find the love within myself after a lifetime of hating, both by watching and witnessing them and by creating an atmosphere of acceptance and love. That's a hard thing to examine if it means I have to let go of my safety zone, and for me that's exactly what it means.

Sorry for the gush.

<3

[Rockinonahigh]

Screw any one who puts anyone else down for getting healthyer and loseing weight.I didnt gain the weight till about 15years ago when I was in an accident that origanialy hurt my back,between meds and no activity from the injury I went from 120 to 200 so fast I couldnt beleave it,then over time even tho I was some what active I was still on the meds (steroids) wich made it worse so I was ove 300 when I just stoped takeing the meds and told the doc to kiss my fat italian a** cause he was makeing a killing from the inshurance co and drug companys by keeping me on all these meds that were suposed to be helping me.Getting off the meds wasnt easy nor was loseing the weight because I was fighting the effects of steroids for years,I gess I will always be battleing this tho I hope I could be free from its by now.I have lost from 303 to 252( water gain I gess) it was 248 a week ago.The weight goes up and down but mostly down so I know in doing something right,but I swear if I could ever get the $$$ I would have this belly fat cut off cause its the main prob I have with my back holding all this up is like carying another human on my back. Plus now I have diabetis to deal with,it sucks.No im not the mistry person June spoke of.

[Rockinonahigh]

Originally Posted by Medusa

That is incredibly fucked up.

Let me say this, I think it is incredibly brave of Superwoman (I'm calling her that until she decides to out herself) to do her journey in a visible, authentic way with unabashed resolve. It's brave not because there are vile haters out there in the world who let their own self esteem issues keep them from celebrating someone's health success, but because she is brave enough to do it with an audience. That, my dear friends, takes giant ovaries and that, to me, makes her a fucking BAD ASS.

On another note:

This is something that June and I have talked about at length. Back on the Dash site, when I was first figuring out I was a Femme at the age of 22, I felt such an enormous sense of affiliation and love with all ofthe fat people there who loved their bodies in ways I had never been witness to before. I was able to shed much of my insecurity about my own size by witnessing a few people I deeply cared about at the time own their size and space and demand the kind of respect for it that I had always been afraid to ask for.
It was and is amazing.
I am a firm believer that sexy comes and any size. I am also a firm believer that love should come at any size (both self-love and love directed). I do not, however, believe that any of us should be fetishizing size in a way that supports food addiction or destructive eating habits. That may look like many different things to all of us but for me, it means that I don't keep telling myself I'm fine the way I am while I shove Twinkies in my face and can't walk up a flight of stairs or am having a stroke due to high blood pressure while still shoveling over 6000 calories a day into my body.

It's hard for me to even type this because it feels like such a betrayal of my fat politics. The politics I have put a LOT of effort into over the years. Don't get me wrong, I am not ever going to dismantle my fat politics or start being negative about fat bodies but this re-examination has definitely churned some muddy waters for me.

There's another thing that I am remiss to talk about but I think it's important. I think that some of the fat politics that were happening in other spaces made a nice soft bed for willing food addicts to become even more unhealthy under the guise of....fuck, I've written and rewritten this sentence 10 times and am trying to say it in a way that won't sound like an attack. Let me just say that I gained a significant amount of weight when I felt that my fat body was more accepted/desired/fetishized/celebritized/etc. That's what happened for me and I own it and it wasn't because anyone else made it happen. I still hear the echos of fatphobia in "I'm not usually attracted to big girls but I'd date Medusa in a heartbeat" or "Medusa dresses so well for someone her size!" or "I wish I had Medusa's confidence!" (as if a confident fat woman was such an anomaly..and maybe it is but it felt like a headpat more often than not like "Oh look at you, with all of your ADORABLE little self-esteem!")

Sometimes I still feel like a traitor for even daring to make my body smaller, for having a goal of a healthier body, for being so self-involved that I'd want to focus on me. I know some of that is just the old stuff talking. But I also know that some of it is because I am coming from a history and a specific Butch-femme culture where there were some people who I idolized who were severely overweight and who helped me to find the love within myself after a lifetime of hating, both by watching and witnessing them and by creating an atmosphere of acceptance and love. That's a hard thing to examine if it means I have to let go of my safety zone, and for me that's exactly what it means.

Sorry for the gush.

<3

Girl u rock,tell it like it is.

[Miss Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

...the main prob I have with my back holding all this up is like carying another human on my back...

It really is like carrying around another person. There have been times when carrying heavy things either into the house or office that i've reminded myself (as encouragement) that i used to WEAR at least this much...