April Fool's Day Challenge Week 5!!! Spring is Coming!!! Join Us!!!!

[TaDa!]

Welcome to the April Fool's Challenge!!! A group of us are hoping this will help us get through the next few weeks on track! Whatever we do .. we can really get ourselves revved up for Spring with this one .. by the time we finish, the birds will be singing and the buds will be ready to go on the trees!!! And so will we!!! The rules are: No Rules!

Pick your own personal challenge based on whatever is important to you! and come report in whenever it suits you. Some will have a specific weightloss as a goal and some of us will have goals based only on desireable behaviors. A goal could be as simple as coming in to post .. Think outside the box. What do **you** need to keep you going? We will start a new thread weekly on Sunday evening since we have some different time zones!!

Former week's threads are here:

***New*** April Fool's Day Challenge!!! Spring is Coming!!! Join Us!!!!

April Fool's Day Challenge Week 2!!! Spring is Coming!!! Join Us!!!!

April Fool's Day Challenge Week 3!!! Spring is Coming!!! Join Us!!!!

April Fool's Day Challenge Week 4!!! Spring is Coming!!! Join Us!!!!

Everyone is welcome at any stage of the challenge! and the more the merrier .. so jump on in!!!!

[TaDa!]

Well I just thought I'd come in and report a yummy meal:

On a whim I bought some progresso white clam sauce and had it at lunch over shiratake noodles, shredded sauteed cabbage with a little butter and parmesan. It was really good! I don't usually make any fish at home .. but this was soooo good, lol! I portioned out the can, so I have two more meals out of it if I want .. Anyhow, I think I will spend more time in the sauce aisle at the market looking at random sauces. I love a good sauce I do not have to make myself, lol!!

[BWYA]

I'm sure if I liked seafood it would be yummy! I bet I could do an alfredo type sauce instead.......

We just went to Olive Garden and I had the Grilled chicken caesar salad. Delish. I had some of the "house salad" before that and in the end, I realized I ate too much! I guess I ate too fast because I felt fine and then, all of a sudden, stuffed. I had all of the chicken, but less than half of the salad. (lunch tomorrow!) I'll have to be more conscious about how fast I eat so I don't miss that "enough" cue. Resisted the evil breadsticks and the kids' dessert didn't tempt me at all!

Two weeks and roughly 7 lbs to make that goal. It is still possible!

I had a pretty good week, overall, too.

Thanks, as always, for the new thread!

Hope everyone is well.

[TaDa!]

BWYA, when possible I check the nutrition information at places like Olive Garden before I go. Olive Garden Italian Restaurant - Our Menu - Garden Fare Menu A lot of their meals have outrageous unexpected counts. I am sure the salad was ok (I'd have chosen something similar), but knowing how much it would be if I ate it all is always helpful to me to nudge me to actually follow my appetite -- not that I always know where we are going, etc.

I had a big wakeup call at Olive Garden on a spur of the moment eat out decision last summer. At the time we were watching my little ones weight without her really knowing(we aren't anymore .. yay!). She orders from the adult menu .. well after I got home I realized that the meal she ate was about 2000 calories and she weighs 75 pounds After that, it is one of the restaurants on my "caution" list -- at least for my family who do not watch the carbs.

hahahahaha I hope you don't hate me for this post, lol!



Pauline

[TaDa!]

p.s. I just found lowcarb suggestions on their website under "nutrition alternatives"!! How cool!! Click the tab at the top for low carb ..

Olive Garden Italian Restaurant - Our Menu - Garden Fare Menu

[Phranquie]

I had a brunch date with friends and did pretty good on not over doing the bacon consumption, but I am still up in weight today. I wish I had a little pocket scale where I could weigh everything before I eat it. I do have a nice digital kitchen scale which I use at home. I know that sounds obsessive but I’d like to be certain about exactly what I am eating and how it affects my weight loss so that over time I really can gauge everything at a glance. At restaurants it is harder for me to “eyeball” everything to figure out the volume or the weight even though I am getting better at it.

Pauline –You sauce sounds yummy. Thanks for posting that link. I don’t go to the Olive Garden often but it is nice to know there are options beyond salad.

BWYA – I am trying to relearn the “enough” cue too. You did really well to avoid the bread last night!

Gail – How was your busy weekend?

Dollkey, Nancy and Chris – Hope you had a good weekend.

[TaDa!]

I hear you on the restaurant thing Phranquie! I am sure whatever you are "up" today will go right back down with a few friends if you just get back to your usual eating, yanno!!!

I had a good day .. new schedule for driving the kids around and it went very smoothly! My eldest is starting crew (rowing) and so I will need to pick up the younger one, head to the h.s. and drive some kids to the boathouse every day, but it went well and my oldest liked it it is a big leap for her to jump into something that is a sport! and that is a real time commitment .. I am so proud of her!!

hahahhahaha and then I brought the little one to fencing (yanno swords). and when I walked in to pick her up, she was driving another little girl back up into a wall relentlessly like an aggressive little pirate, lol and was being praised by her teacher -- a two time member of the us olympic team -- it was kind of shocking, lol!!

goal weight: 126-131 lbs ... 3/15 weigh-in at ??
goal behaviors: food, ******, exercise (3-4x/wk), journaling, weighing-in

3/14 Mon
3/15 Tues
3/16 Wed
3/17 Thurs
3/18 Fri
3/19 Sat
3/20 Sun
(purple for exercise completed days)

[sk8termom]

stressed to the max, possibly not relocating, too much going on in my life right now. Had a very rough weekend. Will post more later. I'll try to post later on tonight. Just cross your fingers for me. Wish I could be staying on-plan better, and learning not to use food as a crutch

[Phranquie]

I am doing well. Was so tired yesterday I went home and took a long nap in the late afternoon. It was a real indulgence considering I did not work much this weekend but I feel more energized today. So it it back to the grindstone today for me.

Pauline –Sounds like your kids are turning out to be go-getters which is so awesome. Sports really do help girls with confidence and self esteem. Looks like you are going to be staying busy this spring with all the family activities.

Gail – Sorry you have had a stressful weekend. It really is hard to stay on plan when high stress kicks in and old habits of eating comfort food are too easily fallen back on. I don’t have any great tricks or words of wisdom to help with that as it is something I only keep away a day at a time with conscious effort right now. Just know that there are lots of people here who do understand that feeling of being out of control and will support you. Hang in there and take it one meal at a time.

[TaDa!]

Aww Sk8ermom I am so sorry you are having so much upheaval. we are here for you!!!!

Phranquie Sounds like you got a well-deserved rest!!! You do deserve it, you know!! We all do!

I'm having a grumpy first half of the day, lol! There is someone who oversteps boundaries with me and I need to calm down .. I am catastrophizing .. I know it!!! lol! I have to just wait and see what happens and not anticipate problems before they happen .. it is a hard thing for me to do, lol lol!!!!

oh yeah .. my weigh in was 129 which was fine .. I realize I also have pms right now <bleh>! lol!!!

[BWYA]

ooops! forgot to subscribe to this thread!

Gail

Frankie, yay for a nap!

Pauline, thanks... I did check the nutrition info before I left. I chose the chicken caesar salad because it was 10 net carbs. (Me finding something was a deal-maker or deal-breaker. The kids take turns picking a restaurant they want to go to and it was DD14's turn... she wanted O.G., but asked if I could eat there so I looked it up!) I avoided the croutons because the count may be for 6 in a salad but the cooks probably just throw a handful on. I neither love nor hate croutons, so it was all good.

I'm tired today. I'm a little concerned that I may not have eaten enough dinner. I guess I'll see if I'm hungry later. Before dinner I had 1 cup of coffee (attempted 3, but tried 2 new kinds of coffee... blech on the 2 new ones!) and about 2 oz of cheese. Why am I so not hungry? I mean I know ketosis does that, but it still seem strange!!

The scale is stuck. For days. ToM is expected (probably) tomorrow so I'm sure that's why. Stuck is better than a gain!

Thinking of you all!!

[TaDa!]

BWYA Good on ya checking the nutritional info! I hate when I can't do that (yanno when there are last minute decisions, etc)! It really burns me though what they feed people .. I mean, to have to look that hard to find the healthy alternative!!! You did really well!

I had a better afternoon! lol!! Food on track, etc! Have a great night everyone!

Pauline

goal weight: 126-131 lbs ... 3/15 weigh-in at 129
goal behaviors: food, ******, exercise (3-4x/wk), journaling, weighing-in

3/14 Mon
3/15 Tues
3/16 Wed
3/17 Thurs
3/18 Fri
3/19 Sat
3/20 Sun
(purple for exercise completed days)

[BWYA]

Originally Posted by TaDa!

I hate when I can't do that (yanno when there are last minute decisions, etc)!

I have one word for ya:

iPhone


Okay, more than one... I agree. It burns my buns what's in "food" these days. I mean even most micro popcorn is made with transfat! Sheesh, even Crisco has no transfat now!!! pathetic. My kids are going to get sick of my preaching, but I want to impart as much info on nutrition, etc., as I can before they're gone (or even after they move out! You may remember that my DS23 called me the anti-carb "Nationalsozialist" ) *sigh*

[sk8termom]

Really bad things going on for me. I guess I'm thankful I only gained 1 lb last week. Could have been worse. Treated myself to an Eat'n'Park salad bar for dinner tonight.

Lettuce, crumbled bleu cheese, black olives, hard boiled eggs, real bacon bits, banana peppers, little ham cubes, some onion and blue cheese dressing - YUM!!!!! Ate too much probably, but it was just so good and basically on plan.

Avoided the pasta salad, cole slaw, muffins. croutons, deserts, and soups that were on the salad bar so I guess I did OK.

[BWYA]

Aww, Gail...hugs and prayers for you and all that is going on with you.

[TaDa!]

BWYA .. yah I was just looking at phones with net access last night ... I'm afriad I'll turn into a monster with one though, lol lol!!!! I am trying to get the right balance of nutrition education without making my kids end up with EDs. I have 2 girls! - and I worry they take in too much information on "what mommy won't eat" yanno?

Sk8ermom, big big Sounds like you had an awesome salad! I am very jealous, lol!!!!

So my weight whooshed down today after I lost some water weight (I can feel it) .. day after the weigh-in, lol! of course!!!! Anyhow, that makes me happy in some weird perverted way. Have a good day everyone! Eyes on the prize!!!



Pauline

[BWYA]

My girls (3 of 'em...12, 14, and 17) are one of the biggest reasons I teach at every opportunity... (that and it's a habit born of 18+ years of homeschooling!) problem is... knowledge is not enough with ED's. (Sadly, I know.) Self-esteem and body image are the real culprits. Still, I want them to have good information about what good food is, what moderation is, etc.


Good ol' ToM did arrive, right on time, so I'm hoping the scale will start moving again in few days. I'm pretty bored with my "reports"... it's the same everyday! I know that's good, but what can I say? Read book #12, house is clean, laundry done, eating on plan, using my charts... *yawn* I am a bit peeved, though. One of the book series that I started and am enjoying does not have books 6 & 7 available in audio. I mean... HUH? Why not?! So I'm going to B&N today to pick up the paperbacks so I can get back on the audio series with book 8. Sure is going to be hard to knit and read simultaneously ~ but since I'm working on a sweater for a Christmas gift, I suppose I can give up some of that time.

Rambling. Again. Sorry!

[LIVE_FREE_NH]

Hi Ladies!

Just checking in, down 1 lb so I'm good with that! Had some time to kill on Saturday afternoon so just for fun, I went to Macy's and tried on clothes "the next size down" and was really encouraged! Bought a new pair of jeans to boot!

Sk8atermom: good job on the salad bar, hold to your plan, lousy that you have all these stressors going on, it's like front seat of a rickety old wooden roller coaster. Are you moving from Cleveland? I'm originally from Rocky River.....

BWYA - of your reading, can you recommend? Hubby got me a Kindle for Val Day/Anniversary and I'm totally loving it. WHen I'm not busy on the computer,
I hide it in a file folder and sneak reading so I look busy!

Pauline, nice recipe with the white clams over the noodles/cabbage. LOVE sauteed cabbage, I can eat tons of it!!

Have a good day everyone, Hi to everyone else, and drink your water!!!
Nancy

[BWYA]

Hey, Nancy... I have been "reading" Youth Fiction, so I don't know if you'd like that, but I'll pass titles if you decide you might be interested. Other than YF, I tend to read nonfiction, usually spiritual. Yeah. Boring

Congrats on the pound! w00t! And new jeans! Yay!

[Phranquie]

Hi everybody. I have been doing good and eating on plan. Learning to know when I am hungry and when I just want to much is challenging. I am trying to wait until I am actually hungry before eating and when I feel the urge to munch I sit and access if I am truly hungry or not. Most of the time, especially in late afternoon or late evening I am not. It is just a mental craving for food. But for so long this kind of craving had actually been my cue to eat. Learning new cues will take a while but I know I’ll get there.

Pauline –WTG on the woosh. You are wise to be careful but to educate your kids about food. It must be so much harder for them today with all the total junk food everywhere on top of the hard core push for girls to be perfect and skinny as rails.

BWYA – Sometimes not moving on the scale means that in a few days you’ll drop a few pounds at once,,,especially with TOM. Hang in there.

Gail – Sounds like you did just the right thing at the salad bar last night,,,good for you. I hope your stress gets better this week.

Nancy NH – 1lb is definitely good. That is an awesome feeling to try on new clothes in the next size down and know you’ll be there soon.

Dollkey and Chris - How are you?

[Illy]

Hello everyone, I used to be a member here years ago and lost 50 lbs on lc. I've gained them back and I am restarting. I started last week and already lost 5 lbs. I'd like to join you if I may, only thing is that I dont have too much computer time.
My goal is to loose those 50 lbs, stay lc and exercise 4 times a week. So far so good, I have not been able to stay lc since last time, hopefully this time will stick with me.

Pauline, I must say I'm very proud of you. You lost the weight and kept it off for a long while. I wish I hadnt given up, I usually loose then get back to the old habits and gain everything back.

[TaDa!]

BWYA I bet your scale does start moving soon!!! Darn cycle, lol lol!!!

Nancy! Congratulations on the new jeans!!! How much fun trying on skinnier clothes!! love it!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!

Phranquie Wow! Great job on listening to your hunger!!! I think that is one of the hardest things to work on!!!

Welcome back Illy!!! Congratulations on the 5 pounds!!! Thanks so much for the kind words ... I think we all have probably lost a lot of weight sometime in our lives that we regained. I did too before lowcarb. The thing is, succeeding at this, for me, was only by focusing on what would be necessary for me to keep the weight off .. take the long view and think about it all while you are working to lose weight now.

Check in whenever you like .. that's the way this challenge works! No worries on needing to spend a lot of time, etc etc. We end this challenge on April Fool's day .. so like two days from now. I hope to start up a new challenge then .. and hope you'll come join us there too!!



Pauline

[sk8termom]

I'm still very stressed out about things out of my control, but good news on the weight front. I lost .8 lbs this last week, and I'm finally under 240! I've cracked the 230s, just barely, but I DID IT!!!!!! My clothes are fitting a lot loosers, my 1X 18-20 tops are getting big, getting closer to wearing 14-16s and am pretty much down to all size 20 pants (originally at 26).

Thank you everyone for your support these last few days

Illy - look forward to getting to know you.

BWYA - I'll bet you'll see a huge loss once TOM is done.

Frankie - great job staying on plan!

Nancy - congrats on the one lbs down! Also, not completely sure I'm relocating. That's part of my stressful situation. I used to live in University Heights. My son plays hockey against the Rocky River teams a lot.

Pauline - thanks for all that you do to encourage all of us. You are a huge inspiration to me.

[TaDa!]

sk8termom Congratulations on getting unger 240!!! That is awesome!!! And the clothing milestones are even more amazing!!! Making it out of the tough times still on track is a big big success in itself no matter what the scale might say a particular day imho!!!!

Originally Posted by TaDa!

.... We end this challenge on April Fool's day .. so like two days from now. I hope to start up a new challenge then ..

hahaaaa that is: 2 weeks from now! lol!!! I had a crazy driving day yesterday to get my kids to all their activities .. only 3 more insane Wednesdays like that left! lol! But I must have been half-crazy, didn't even post daily update .. which was fine, on target. I will leave it to tonight ..

Happy St. Patrick's Day!



Pauline

[BWYA]

whooshy, whooshy, WHOOSHY!

I just about fell over this morning! I'd been stuck at 250.2-250.4 for a few days. This morning was 247.2!!!!!!! On 15 Feb, the start of this challenge, I weighed in at 256.4. I set a goal to lose 13 lbs in this challenge. I've lost 9.2 of them! w00t! I've got about a week and a half to lost the other 4 pounds. Doable. If I don't do it, I'm sure I'll be close!

I also realized something last night. I didn't have that "snackish" feeling during PMS (the day or two before ToM kicked in.) I had no head hunger challenge! I am taking that as another sign that this WOE is fixing lots of things. The cramps are nonexistent, too.

I need to get new jeans AGAIN. I know I mentioned that they were getting baggy, but it's just getting bad now. I don't know how much difference there is between sizes, but I'm going to have to go get another pair pretty soon. I'm not going to walk around in huge(r) pants telling myself to wait even longer for clothes that fit. That was kind of foolish last time. I looked and felt terrible in those old baggy pants. This time I'll keep pants that fit. Even if it's just one pair to wear out in public. I don't need to be such a cheapskate. Last time I kept putting it off thinking it would be "better" to wait until I could buy a couple of sizes down.

I'm still on track with everything. I'm even reading an actual, physical book! Well, I read the 6th book yesterday and started the 7th last night. It's nice to hold a book, but I do feel tied up by it. Love me some audiobooks! The timing was good, though, as the back of grandbaby's Christmas sweater is very plain and boring. Putting it down to read will be a good break. I should be good and ready to tackle the rest later today after I finish book 7.

Gail, that's wonderful! I am so proud of you for managing that pound under so much stress! Fabulous!

Pauline, you're a busy mom who's taking great care of her kids. Of course you're half crazy! This week has been crazier than normal with the driving for me. There is supposed to be a field trip with our homeschool group this Friday... HOURS away. Not happening for us. It might be fun, but I don't want that much time in the truck after this week. Besides, DD17 will need rides to and from work. Darn.

Hi, Illy! Welcome back. Come when you can. We understand busy-ness here.

Well, Frankie, you called it! whoosh! One of the first things I did this time around was to challenge myself on that head-hunger vs. real-hunger thing. It's funny how "hard" it can be to even remember to do that. It paid off, though and not only do I pretty easily discern it now, I can actually accept when I'm hungry and still wait a bit if I'm busy. I don't feel like I have to run to serve the belly-master anymore. Sure, I eat when I'm hungry, but it's not so urgent anymore.

Hiya Nancy, Chris, Dollkey, and Nancy!!

[dollkey]

Hello ladies!

I still get stuffy nose and skipped my workout for two days due to chest pains but I'm back on it now.

I also made my own LC noodles using agar agar and Ta-Da's post at the top is almost the same recipe I made with it. so yummy and filling!

[LIVE_FREE_NH]

Happy St. Pat's Day!

A most hearty congratulations to you BWYA for your most excellent LOSS!! Wow!

Isn't it great to move into the next decade down?

And you too, Ska8termom, getting into the 230s! I'm tellin' ya, I'm taking this decade by decade. Loose clothes are good.

I have a PILE of pants in 20W and 18W getting ready for the donation box...BWYA: my new jeans are Levi's, 16W that are a stretchy boot cut, and wow, they fit really nicely. The label says "FIT EVERY BODY" so if you see these, try 'em on. They were kind of snug, (had to lay on the bed to zip them up) but after an hour, they fit perfectly. As jeans do.............

And yup, thinking about the mental hunger vs. real hunger. I get the pangs right around 5:30 on my drive home from work. But not as bad these days -- The pangs are very mild and manageable since LCing. I can get some water down and I'm good til dinner.............

I USED to arrive home and hit the cheese & crackers, and then a few hours later eat dinner. Or, if I had to stop at the grocery store, I'd get myself something to nosh on while driving home. Like a California roll from the sushi department. Or a bag of Doritos!!! No way these days!!!

Welcome Illy (congrats on your loss lady!), hello Pauline & Phranquie!

Nancy

[Phranquie]

Hi everybody. Nothing new here for me. My clothes do not seem to be fitting any looser. I tried on some jeans this morning and they fit the same as two months ago. Oh well, when you let yourself go the way I had it is to be expected that it will take a long time to see any physical changes. I’ll give it another 30lbs and hope to be able to see a big difference and move down a size. I am going to measure myself on Saturday as that is my two month mark.

Welcome back Illy. Glad to have you here. You are definitely not alone in having lost and then gained pounds back. This time we will all learn skills for life to keep the weight off forever.

Pauline –I hope your kids appreciate all the things you do for them. They probably don’t right now but will when they are older. Lots of mom's just don't do all the things you do with your kids,,,they're lucky you are so involved.

BWYA – WTG!!!!! That was a really nice drop into the 40’s. You must get a new pair of jeans. The satisfaction of buying a smaller size will motivate you even more.

Gail – Congrats on getting into the 30’s. You are doing really great in spite of all the stress you’ve had lately. Keep up the good work.

Nancy NH – Thanks for the name of some good fitting jeans. When I get in lower sizes I have a hard time with jeans fitting as I have a small waist, big butt and thunder thighs. Congrats on your winning over hunger! I was a chip addict myself,,,would rip open a bag every day when I got home.

Dollkey - Nice to see you and I am glad you are feeling better.

[TaDa!]

Wowowowowow BWYA!! Congratulations on the lovely new numbers! I think your promise to yourself to have a pair of pants that fits is a really awesome important one!!!!

dollkey I'm sorry to hear you are still feeling bad The noodles sound so interesting!!!! very impressive!!!!

Nancy Gotta love getting rid of big old sizes!!!!!! KUTGW!!!!

Phranquie I am hoping you have some earlier measurements for comparison .. I wore the same size for about 20-30 pounds too. it is so weird how it works like that!!!! Then I would go down a size every 15 lbs .. then every 10 lbs, now ever 5 pounds .... You may have had some body changes

OK, as far as me, I'm done for the day .. exhaustified!!! This week has just been very tiring and busy .. but I think it is easier for me to keep to my food plan when I am so insanely busy ... as long as I listen to my urges ... like right now, wanting to eat moremoremore when I know it is not food I want, but sleep. As long as I tell myself that it is a ruse my brain is trying and all I really need is to get under the covers!!!!!! lol!!!! and as long as I do not give in ....

goal weight: 126-131 lbs ... 3/15 weigh-in at 129
goal behaviors: food, ******, exercise (3-4x/wk), journaling, weighing-in

3/14 Mon
3/15 Tues
3/16 Wed
3/17 Thurs
3/18 Fri
3/19 Sat
3/20 Sun
(purple for exercise completed days)

[TaDa!]

G'Morning All!! Good evening Dollkey!!!

So I talked myself down from the ledge of mind hunger last night .. yay go me! I am here this morning having weighed in at the correct weight thinking .... how can I feel so tempted to binge and overeat at night??!! Anyhow, emergency averted!! lol!!

Have a great day all!!!



Pauline