June 2008 Intermittent Fasting

[LowCarbRachel]

Hi friends!

The other managers asked me out for lunch today, so that was fun. Four cute men and me! Too bad they are all either too married or way too young, but they always remind me that there are indeed a few good guys out there.

Lunch was a chicken caesar salad with yogurt and berries for desert (back at the office.) Dinner is a chocolate-raspberry egg cream YUM and some sunflower seeds. I bought some coconut flour and am experimenting with a batch of muffins, too. I am sure enjoying eating this way!

I came up with a really great list of staples for me and picked up stuff at the store tonight. I am really excited to have discovered the wonderful egg creams and to have found that I can eat high fat without gaining and without any gastic distress at all.

Tonight, I will enjoy my coffee and one muffin for desert (they are just plain, I will just add peanut butter or cream cheese or maybe some homemade jam to them.) Then it's Callanetics and house cleaning--some people are coming by to look at my furniture tomorrow. I don't want to make a lot of money--just get it moved out and help someone else who needs a good deal on some cute stuff. The rest I will donate to a woman's shelter.

Melissa, that cucumber salad sounds really good, no wonder your DS wanted it! Cucumbers are one of my favorite dishes! I am going to start making my own iced coffee at work this summer. I can save about $100 a month by doing that!! Thanks for the idea!

Barb, I am glad that your home repairs are underway!

Missa, another great quote, thanks!

Leigh, you've got such a great commitment to your workouts. I love reading about everything that you do.

Mom, welcome! I agree with Missa. Cheats are much easier to handle in the window. The window limits the extent of any cheat AND when our bodies have more time to burn off our food without us adding more into the digestive mix, it seems like we can get away with a little bit more (just here and there of course!)

Gracie, I will be doing most of my cooking on Sunday. I bought a bunch of veggies and will chop them all up. They'll be ready for either omelets or salads all through the week! Thank you for inspiring me!

Katie, that sounds rough, wow! Glad your computers are now back to good health!

Sorry if I missed anyone! And happy fat burning Friday all!

Rachel

[flower75]

Mom! If you use to skip breakfast anyway, this plan will come naturally for you. I almost always skip breakfast and start eating with a small snack, then lunch, then another snack (if needed), then dessert. I have a really long window and it changes. But for the most part, it's usually 2-10 or 12-8.


Sazzie - What a great idea, to prepare all your food ahead of time like that! The Wedding soup, tuna salad and shrimp cocktail all sound very good! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your dd and sil!

Barb - I hope you had a great time tonight having dinner and drinks with a friend.

Katie - sorry to hear about the viruses on your computer!

Leigh - that's great that you got your workout done early and didn't have to stress about it the rest of the day. I actually did the same thing today. I knew my SIL was coming over after 5 pm, so I made sure to get all my exercising and housework done before she came. I usually ride my exercise bike for 15 minutes, do a 15 minute walking video (1 mile) and do about 5 minutes of ab exercises. I usually do the bike and abs in the morning and the walking at night after dinner. It was refreshing to not have to worry about it tonight. So, I know what you mean by getting it done and out of the way.

Rachel - ooh what a fun lunch you had! Yes, there are a few good guys out there and I'm sure you will find a great one! Sounds like you had a fun time making your staple list and shopping. I don't know why, but low carbing is just so much fun this time! I think because I have fun cookbooks and love making new recipes! Yes, aren't those egg creams wonderful? I think they're so delicious and filling and just love them!


Tonight I had a really great dinner. I haven't had steak in a long time and was really wanting one. My SIL ordered food from her boyfriend's work - which is a really nice restaurant that has steak. I ordered an 8 oz. sirloin and it came with green beans and mashed potatoes. I didn't eat the potatoes and didn't even feel like I was missing out. I really enjoyed the steak and green beans!

Also another funny thing, they ended up getting some strawberry frosties from Wendy's and told me how good they were. I knew I did not want one and would just have my own low carb dessert. Well, I ended up just taking a sip of my daughter's to try it. It was good, but I was thinking that my strawberry egg cream/protein shake that I make tastes much better, lol!

It's great being able to make really great desserts and dishes that are low carb and are really delicious at the same time!

[Ragdoll24]

I ordered a cheeseburger w/o bun at the restaurant. It was so tough that I needed a knife to cut through it. The manager removed the cost off my bill thankfully. I forgot to take my credit card when I left but the waitress had it in her pocket when I returned to the restaurant. I also lost an expensive earing last night. Some nights things just go the wrong way & there's nothing we can do about it but just grin & bear it.

Rachel & Flower I just love the Egg Creams as a nice meal replacement when I don't know what I feel like eating. The scale is still at the same number, I'm more than ready for a nice Woosh!

Sazzie I'm sure everyone will enjoy your weekend menu. It sounds so good, I'm tempted to drive over to your house, LOL!

Katie Sorry to hear about your computer problems. It's a real mess & I have gone through it myself - Hugs

Have a great fat burning weekend everyone.
Hugs, Barbara

[BrandNewMe2004]

306.2 this morning... <doing the happy dance> Oh yeah!!

[Ragdoll24]

Originally Posted by BrandNewMe2004

306.2 this morning... <doing the happy dance> Oh yeah!!

KUTGW Melissa Have you checked out George Stella's recipes or his website? He has lots of great ideas. I understand that he is coming out with a new cookbook in the fall . His other two books are great.

[LowCarbRachel]

Good morning all!

Today will be day 6 of Callanetics for me. I think I am going to need to take some pictures. My weight hasn't gone down at all, but my body shape IS changing, my waist is starting to be more defined. I can hardly believe it when I see it in the mirror.

My furniture sale starts in about an hour! It was a lot of work last night to take most of it downstairs and make price signs and etc. I am excited to get so much cleared out. It's good to look at everything and decide what to keep and what to toss and what to sell.

My coconut flour muffins turned out great--but I forgot to add the liquid to them so they are very dense, ha ha. They are yummy none the less. I used the recipe in the first Stella book as a guide, but I forgot to add the club soda. This is what happens as I learn to cook. I can still eat them dense, or I might crumble some of them for a cheesecake crust.

Melissa, YEAH! I'm happy for you! What a great way to start your weekend.

Flower, I'm glad you enjoyed your steak. Isn't it great that we can make healthy, whole food snacks that taste better than the junk we used to crave? I'd take a homemade shake (egg cream) over a frosty any day!

Barb, what a disappointment to have your burger turn out so tough. I am glad you got your credit card back--I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my debit card handy (I don't carry cash!)

I am going to take out some garbage and get things a little more organized. Will check in a little bit later.

Happy fat-burning Saturday!!
Rachel

[Ragdoll24]

Rachel Hope your furniture sale goes well & that you get lots of buyers Please keep us informed of all the Stella recipes that you try. I always like to try some new dishes.

[BrandNewMe2004]

Thanks y'all. I'm very happy that I don't feel as puffy anymore. I'm also not near-expiring after carrying DS up the stairs.
Had coffee again during my morning. Then took off w/ DH and the kids to go to Chuck E's but the parking lot was jammed, so we skipped that. Just went shopping instead. Bought way too much. lol. Had to find room that didn't exist in my fridge and freezer.
I'm opening my window at 3pm with a cheeseburger open-faced on a grilled portabello cap, part of a polish sausage, a tomato & kosher dill and homemade sugar-free coleslaw. I might have a snack later. I can't imagine being hungry after eating this.. lol.
Hope everyone is doing well.
HUGS!

UPDATE - couldn't finish my breakfast. Packed it up for later if I get hungry. It was so yummy!!

Oh - I wanted to mention that my Dad has chosen South Beach for his weight loss efforts. I'm proud of him. He's already lost 10 pounds in just a few weeks.
Now to convert the world... MUAHAHAHAAAA!!

[flower75]

Barb - I'm so sorry to hear about your lost credit card, lost earring and tough burger. Thank goodness the waitress had your credit card!

Oooh, thanks for letting us know that George is coming out with another cookbook this fall! I'll certainly be looking forward to it!

Melissa - WTG on the loss, yeah!!! That's just wonderful that your dad is doing South Beach! Sounds like you're very happy about it too . You have a very tasty, low carb menu planned for today and I hope you enjoy it!

Rachel - I too, hope you're able to sell all your furniture. WTG on 6 days of callanetics! That's great that you see your body changing already! KUTGW! I think what's important with exercise is consistency.

I think anyone who exercises everyday or almost everyday will really see great results along with whatever eating plan they are following. I now have done 2 full weeks of my walking and bike everyday and it feels great! I almost always will "try" to form a habit to exercise,but it never worked very long in the past. This time, I have committed to it and told myself there is no reason why I can't ride my bike 15 min in the morning and my 15 min walking video at night. I have been sticking to it and it feels great that I've been able to stick with my exercise, water and eating program!!!!

Barb & Rachel - I haven't tried any of George's recipes yet, but I will soon and I'll also let you 2 know if I liked it or not. It will be a lot of fun to do these recipe experiments!


I just came up with a little something new this morning. I'm sure someone else has probably done some form of this, but I've never seen it yet. Anyway, I keep reading on the recipe threads about taking pork rinds and making cinnamon french toast cereal out of it. Well, I don't have pork rinds and they don't sell them at most stores around here - they're actually hard to find. Anyway, I've been craving cinnamon toast crunch cereal now. So, I thought if I took flaxmeal and made those flax crackers (from Cleo's site), that somehow I could do this.

So, I took 2 T. flaxmeal, about 1-2 T. water, cinnamon and stevia and mixed that up. I then took wax paper and made little 1" circles out the flaxmeal and put it in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes until the little flax crackers were nice and crispy. I then made my own low carb milk out of a little half n half & water. I added a little cinnamon and stevia to the milk and mixed that up. I then kind of broke up the little flax crackers and put them in the milk and enjoyed this little bowl of "cinnamon toast crunch tasting cereal." It was pretty good to me and my 1 year old son loved it too. I only experimented with a small amount today to make sure that we liked it. I will be making this again

[LowCarbRachel]

Hi friends!
Wow, I have had a busy day.

Didn't sell as much furniture as I'd hoped BUT I am donating the rest of it to a good cause and can write it off on my taxes next year. It will all be picked up tomorrow. I went and looked at carpet and paint afterwards and made an appointment to have the space measured for carpet and got an estimate. I also made an appointment to see how much it would cost to have someone else paint the inside of my house (will look much better that way.)

I have been thinking about buying a new car for a year. My old car has been a trustworthy friend for 11 years but the A/C is beyond repair, and it's been having problems here and there. I found the car I wanted online this week and went and bought it today. It's a 2005 Chevy Cobalt, and it's a really pretty royal blue. It's a coupe, so it's sportier than a sedan. I got a three year warranty, which will cover any problems that might come up.

It was so warm here today that I just had an egg cream for dinner. It was sweet enough that I don't need a desert. Later tonight, I will do Callanetics.

Barb, I will keep you updated on the Stella recipes! Especially the ones where I include all the ingredients, LOL.

Melissa, that's great about your dad doing SB. Always helps to have someone else around who is doing low carb!

Flower, the Callanetics is really good for me, not just for my body, but I think it's good for me for stress relief too. Can't beat that combination! Your recipe sounds yummy!

[Ragdoll24]

Sazzie How did everyone enjoy your menu? Hope you are all having a lovely time.

Rachel Congratulations on the new car, getting the carpet measured & thinking about professional painters.

Melissa Glad to hear that you DF is doing great on SB. You seem to be doing excellent also.

Flower Glad your home made cereal experiment worked.

I went shopping yesterday & picked up a lovely black dress for my friend in mourning. Will send it out to her tomorrow. I also received a $10.00 gift card from this store since there was a special on buying certain items before 1:00 P.M. I found a lovely Fourth of July T-Shirt for half price & a great silver/torquoise chain belt.

Hope everyone enjoys this

[LowCarbRachel]

Good morning!

Just getting ready to brew some coffee. I got so tired last night that I fell asleep on the couch. So, today will be day 6 of Callanetics.

Barb, your new belt sounds lovely. How sweet of you to help your friend. You're a very kind person!

I need to check on the people who are picking stuff up today. I think they may have flaked out--they won't give me a time that they are coming over. I have other names, but I need to get arrangements made, you know?

Will check back in a little bit later today!
Rachel

[LowCarbRachel]

Where is everyone today? Hope you all had a nice Father's Day!

I listed my furniture on freecycle and have had three people flake on me. The fourth says she's on her way. Let's see if she makes it! I am trying to be environmentally friendly but sheesh...next call I want to make is to a junk hauler!!

I have discovered that I am a really good low-carb cook! For lunch, I had an omelet with eggs, heavy cream, sunflower seeds, and mozzarella cheese...cooked in coconut oil. For dinner, I sauted green and red peppers and pumpkin seeds in coconut oil, added some Artichoke-Parmesan dressing (from a bottle), added some sour cream, and then cooked in all in a low carb tortilla (ok'd by nutrionist.) Desert was a crumbled coconut muffin with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.I think, however, that I am allergic to coconut flour. Whenever I eat one of those muffins, my throat feels really scratchy. So, good-bye to the coconut flour cooking experiments!!

I added just a few blonde highlights to my hair for the summer, just for fun.

If this next person shows up, I will help escort old furniture out of the house, and then I will make a comfy spot on the floor and do Callanetics via my laptop. And then I will just see if I can find something fun to watch on DD's good television.

Today I added a blender and the food chopper (I had the slicer) to my kitchen mix. I chopped the following: green pepper, red pepper, yellow pepper, green pepper, cucumbers, carrots, radishes. And I have them all in little containers in my fridge so that I can make easy salads, stirfrys, or omelets all week long.

Hope you all had a happy Saturday...see you all in the AM!!

Rachel

[flower75]

Rachel- So sorry to hear those people flaked out on you! I hope that 4th person shows up!

That's so great that you've discovered you're a great low carb chef ! I can't say enough how much fun it is to experiment with new low carb recipes isn't it??? Sorry to hear about the coconut flour!

Barb - Yes, that was very nice of you to get that dress for your friend. How thoughtful!


Today I did a bit more low carb baking and really enjoyed it! There's a new low carb cookie recipe on the recipe thread and the ingredients are mostly egg, protein powder, flaxmeal, sweetener and flavoring. Well because it seemed like a real fast and easy recipe and I had all the ingredients on hand - I made the cookies with my dd3. They came out really good - my dd3 and ds1 loved them too! With my calculations they are around 1.5 carbs each and about 40 cals each because I used light butter instead of regular butter. They taste like little normal cookies and it's a real healthy snack too! I have to go a grad party end of June and my kids and I will be in a car for a total of 6 hours all in 1 day. I was trying to think of healthy snacks I could bring with for the ride. So far, I've come up with these low carb cookies, string cheese, hb eggs, cut up veggies, fruits and nuts. I'll put them all in a little cooler and we'll be all set to go!


For father's day, my dd and I wanted to make something special for my dh. Well, we didn't want to make cake or pie - because we wanted to keep it low calorie and lower carb if possible. So, his favorite is Banana Bread. Now, yes I know bananas are very high in carbs - but I made sure everything else in the recipe was low carb. By my tweaks - each slice of banana bread is only 7 carbs and it came out great!!! I used almond flour and protein powder instead of the regular white flour. I used a low carb sweetener as well. My dh is watching what he eats and when I can, I cook and bake low carb foods and he enjoys everything I make and most times he doesn't even know it's low carb, lol!

So, I was very happy the low carb banana bread and low carb cookies were a big success!

[BrandNewMe2004]

What a day! Made breakfast for DH - bacon, cheesy eggs, homemade biscuits & gravy. I sat and drank my coffee while everyone else ate. After 1 sometime, I made a LC wrap w/ the bacon, eggs, and extra cheese. So yum. I know I had some other stuff, but I don't remember what. Then we all went to the pool and played. DH was reluctant to come in, but he was playing like a kid by the time we left. DS was swimming like a champ w/ his life vest and two floatie noodles. So fun to watch both my kids swimming. Then we came home and grilled up several animals - we did two kids of dogs, 4 chicken boobs, 6 burgers, and bratwurst. Had that w/ sugar-free coleslaw and cucumber salad. I even convinced DH to go out and get us some sugar-free ice cream to enjoy instead of going to Cold Stone. I really don't think the kids need the sugar - and neither does he, frankly. We opened a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti to celebrate his new job. Just had a couple of pieces of cheese, drinking some Perrier w/ freshly-squeezed lemon & lime juice & stevia. Getting ready for bed. AF started today, so I'm going to stay away from the scale until she's long gone.. don't need that agony.
Kids and I are planning on going to the pool every day this week. Plus a trip to Chuck E's while DH is in California for his Grandmother's service. Maybe some time at the lake. Plus a mall walk..
I need to attend an ice cream social for my Mom's group. I'm debating on whether to bring my own sugar-free stuff for me and the kids. I'll ask the hostess what she thinks. I want my kids to play and have fun, but I hate being a shrew and telling them they can't have the ice cream w/ the other kids... but, I also have to live w/ them being hyper afterwards... I think us bringing our own sugar-free stuff is the best solution. If I could, I'd skip attending, but I'm the moderator for the event...
Anyway. I need to get off here before the bubbly makes me write another novel for y'all.
I hope you had a good IF weekend. Can't wait to hear.
Rachel - I wish you luck in getting that furniture to someone who needs it. I wanted to ask if you'd thought about getting something like pergo for your place.. at least here, it's cheaper than carpet.. and it looks so much nicer in my opinion. It's what our place will get before we sell.
Off to bed, I swear!!

[LowCarbRachel]

Hello all!
Yay, had a girl and her dad come by and get most of my stuff. It's going to be two trips, but I know she'll be back. She just got moved here and had nothing. So I feel really good about her being "the one!"

Flower, your banana bread sounds wonderful!! I am allergic to bananas or it would be on my list, yum, yum!!

Melissa, after the floors are measured, I am going to ask about the price of the pergo. My daughter would be thrilled if I put it in, but I guess I thought it would cost much more. I will definitely consider that for an option!!

I am hot and sweaty from helping move stuff! I might not get Callanetics in tonight, but that doesn't lessen my commitment at all.

See you all a bit later!
Rachel

[Ragdoll24]

Rachel Glad to hear that the gal who really needed the furniture was able to pick it up. You're doing great with the LC cooking. The best thing is it's REAL whole food.

Flower The LC cookies & banana bread sound great. Glad to hear everyone enjoyed these treats.

Melissa I agree about the Pergo. It is a nice solution & easier to keep clean.

Had a nice weekend. Experimented with having a Dreamfields pasta dish & a few drinks & the scale is up, YUCK! Looks like my body doesn't allow me to get away with much.

[sazzie]

Hi IFers,

Back posting again after a fun-filled weekend. Kids left 5 am this morning, and the house is quiet again, but not for long, because dd2 will be coming in tomorrow night for 5 days. I love it when I can see my darlings often!! Son and family were here for most of the day, also. My grandbaby is getting cuter all the time!

Our weekend was filled with a lot of low carb meals and goodies, and there wasn't anything to snack on that wasn't low carb. Truly, a low carb kitchen!

My daughter made a delicious snack of roasted walnuts smothered in butter and cinnamon. They were excellent!!

We've been using a lot of Wasa crackers lately, and they don't stall me, and they do provide that crunch that I love. They were great w/tuna salad and sil tried them later with cream cheese. He was a happy S/B camper!

Anyway, I haven't weighed yet this morning, and it's just about that time, so I'll get off of here, and get my exercise in, then get ready for whatever the day has to offer.

Hoping it offers all of you a happy fat-burning day!

[nitenurse]

Hi everyone-enjoying the recipe ideas, haven't done much innovative lately, but think I will keep writing down your ideas for when the cooking muse strikes?
Question-is the chopper you speak of manual or electric???
I got a manual one and it is so dull it doesn't chop anything!! Maybe I just have extra tough green peppers.
Back to the gardening, that has been keeping me outside the last few days, trying to beat the mosquitoes to the outdoors, they'll be here in a couple warm days.

[LowCarbRachel]

Good morning all!

All my old furniture is gone. I made a very comfy place to sleep on the floor last night with blankets and pillows. I don't want to order my new furniture until this old carpet is out and until the walls are all painted. So, I will be "camping" out. It was really fun.

I did get my Callanetics in last night YAY. That's 6 workouts. I will take some pictures at 10 to share--that's the "magic" number. And then again at 20.

TOM arrived, so my scale is up a bit. We'll see what happens after he leaves. If the weight remains the same this week, then I might need to adjust my calories down a little bit to keep losing. But no adjustments until at least Friday AM. And no "big" adjustments.

Elaine, the slicer and chopper that I bought are from a company called Vidalia. They have an infomercial, but I bought the items at Target. The chopper is a rectangle shape with a lid that lifts up and when you press it down, it "chops" the veggies through a grate.

Barb, yes, real whole food is truly the key! I know I'm doing really good things for myself nutritionally, too. One thing I like about whole foods is the way they look--they are just so colorful and appealing!

Gracie, oh, you sound like you had such a happy weekend!! That's wonderful!

Time to get ready for work...see you all later!
Rachel

[Missalissa]

Good Monday morning everyone! Sounds like everyone is doing great! Keep it up!

The family reunion was a blast. Lots of shocked people when they saw me. I couldn't keep from laughing!

BBL for personals, right now I gotta get some work done!

Love ya!