|}{| South Beach Check In - October 5th - October 11th |}{|

[rose1]

[rose1]

We seem to be having a bit of fall here--middle 50s and raining.

Goal for the week:

[luisafernanda]

Marking my spot. Love this week's pic, Rose!

Will try to BBL.

[Radmom413]

Love the pic Rose!
Fall is my favorite time of year!

Goal for the week - Stay on the straight and narrow and continue to feel good about my lifestyle.......it does wonders for the psyche!

[wiz]

Hello from Key West!!

Although I am enjoying the HOT (90 degrees) weather here in FL, I do love that photo, Rose. I am ready for some Autumn weather. Nothing like pulling your sweaters out of hibernation, putting some pumpkins and mums on the front steps, and whipping up soups and stews for dinner.

We're having a wonderful time down here. Lots of walking, some great meals, and just generally hanging out. I haven't been too off plan, except for an incident with some corn bread on Saturday night! I don't even like corn bread that much, but our dinners took forever and I was ravenous. I caved. Oh well, on Sunday morning, I made my husband walk with me for an hour and 40 minutes.

One thing that has changed for us since starting SB is we used to load up our hotel rooms (or in this case, our friend's vacation home) with chips and other crap. Now we stock things like hummus, wheat pitas, and a small can of nuts. Not to mention that the 2 of us drink copious amounts of water when traveling.

I'm waiting for my husband to wake up so we can take another marathon walk today!! Wear off last night's dinner

I hope you all have a great OP week!!

[Euphrates]

Not sure why I'm still upright. LOL I suspect it's because the mate is getting his fill of shooting zombies before bed. I too love fall, and love the pic!

Okay, enough internetting for me - nighty night!

[OBXbeachgal]

Back to work today after a wonderful week at the beach. We had a cool & rainy summer in WV, so it was nice to feel 70s and 80s for a week. I like the fall, but last year we had 8 inches of snow 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, and I'm just not ready to think about that yet!

Somehow I lost 2 pounds while at the beach! I ate my regular breakfast and lunch and we ate out dinner. I didn't eat as many snacks just because we spent 2 days driving and most of the time on the beach and I didn't think about food. I did some walking on the beach but not my regular cardio, so it's very interesting to me that I lost. I've been going for a month and not losing 2 pounds.

It was NOT easy eating out dinner with my 100-pound friend who eats like a horse! Every night she had wine, bread, appetizer, huge dinner and several desserts. I had just hit my 50-pound weight loss goal the morning before we left, and I was determined not to gain weight like I did on the May cruise. So I'm proud of myself for eating my seafood and veggies for dinner.

I'm curious to see what happens when I add in my usual snacks and go back to my exercise this week - I'm betting the scale goes up.

Hope everyone has a great day on plan.

[Pixie88]

Woke up to snow this morning! My poor ds has to play football in this mess this evening...builds character, right?

Day one and all is well! I got on my trainer this morning and have another session planned this afternoon after I pick up the kiddos. It feels really good to be moving forward! I weighed in earlier fully expecting to be at least 5lbs over the last time I got on the scale earlier this summer. To my surprise, I was a full 10lbs LIGHTER than that! Kicking it in to high gear w/ SB and exercise will surely drop those numbers!

I love the support and information here-it is invaluable!

[vfCookie]

Howdy do Beach Babes!

Ok… back to phase 1 this week (and maybe next) to get back on track.

Menu today:

B – 2 baked ham & egg muffins, coffee, sf ff yogurt
L – salad with shrimp & herb & dill dressing (from SB book)
S – ham roll up with cilantro mayo (from SB book)
D – broiled sirloin, faux tatoes, steamed veggies
Dsrt – chilled espresso custard (SB cookbook… I added some cocoa powder to make it a mocha custard)

Will do an hour of Callanetics this evening after work.

Wiz – Key West? I am as green as the Key Lime Pie I love so much. How fun! Enjoy.

[RenoMom]

Busy day toady, no time to post. Just a big ole WAY TO GO to those losers out there. Jo to lose over vacation WOW. Pixie ways less at the end of summer, un heard of, LOL.
You guys Rock

[Danipower714]

WTG Jo and Pixie!

Up a 1/2 pound myself this morning...I'm blaming TOM.

Hope everyone has a great week on-plan!

[vfCookie]

did my hour of Callanetics and stuck to my menu... except that I had some peanuts this afternoon. Even with the nuts, it was a perfectly on plan day. And that mocha custard was fantastic!!! Highly recommend it.

Jo - it's funny, but sometimes when we just totally relax our bodies know it and reward us. Last year when I went to Scotland for my birthday, I didn't watch what I ate but I was so at ease and at peace that I didn't think about it and when I returned I weighed my all time LOWEST adult weight. Perhaps relaxation is the true key. Which may be why Dani's Yoga booty is shrinking so beautifully!

[Euphrates]

WTG folks! Mmmmmm, Cookie - your menu sounds yummy. *glances at clock - yep, time for lunch*

I have some good news myself - I weighed in, and it's working!!
Week 1, and 5.5 lbs down! SQUEE!

I'll tell ya, it's tough to stay on plan on those 24hours-awake days. Not due to food choices, but tracking "okay, what meal/snack am I on now, and what is reasonable for the rest of the day?" can be tricky. I generally count my "food day" from midnight to midnight - so for instance, when I got up today I had 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese and a 6oz veggie juice for breakfast (haven't been brave enough to try eggs again after I got sick last week - I've been keeping breakfast super "light" on my stomach just to be careful), but I counted that on Monday's Fit Day tracker, and will start on Tuesday Oct. 6 with my next meal (gonna go heat up lunch in a sec).

This is what I've been doing menu-wise so far:

Breakfast - 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese and a 6oz can of V8 type veggie juice. I've also done celery sticks with natural peanut butter, or eggs and a salad (depends if my stomach is up to it when I wake up).
Lunch - last week I mostly brought in frozen dinners from Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers -but very specifically only the ones that have no rice, noodles or potatoes included, which seriously limits the choices. However, the ones I've found I really like - especially the Lean Cuisine Garlic Chicken and Creamed Spinache. This week there will be more leftovers from home - like the Texas Chili I've currently got in the crockpot. I've also brought a salad with me every day (I'm keeping salad ready-made in a big tupperware in the fridge, which makes it easy).
Snacks - I've been bringing one low-fat mozzerella stick and one of the sugar-free jello cups with me, and today I also have a baggie with 15 almonds. Something I've done at home is celery sticks with hummus (yesterday actually tried celery sticks with a little guacamole that was leftover from the Chipotle my mate munched on Sunday). And salad - lots of salad. I usually either use Newman's Olive Oil & Vinegar or Ranch - which I measure, but I generally don't use much anyway, I like my veggies practically nekkid.
Dinner - varies, of course. Today, it'll be low-carb Texas Chili that's in the crockpot now. I've switched to only buying ground sirloin, and I make "dead cow on bread" for my mate fairly frequently, which is actually "swiss dill burgers" from my 5 Ingredient Low Carb Cookbook (probably the cookbook I use the most - he's a total carnivore so it works well, and it's SO easy). I just don't put mine on bread. I've got a bunch of "standards" from that cookbook (like today's Texas Chili, and Pork Tenderloins with Dijon Sauce which is one of my mate's absolute favorites - I'll probably make that for his birthday next week before we head out of town), though on SB I'll have to alter a few for fat content and do some substitutions, but that's not hard. I make some noodle, rice, stuffing or bread side-dish for my mate (I have to remind him to eat the leftovers, since I'm not anymore), and make a bunch of veggies for me - I've got a pretty good variety of frozen veggies in my freezer right now so I can switch it up. And more salad.

So that's the basic "weekday food plan". Next week will be more of a challenge since we'll be out of town for 5 days, but I have my "SB Dining Guide" to help, and a pretty good feel for what I'm doing, I think. I like one friend's (who lost 100lbs on SB last year) way of looking at it when she eats out: "I'm having a contest to see who can eat the most vegetables!" By focusing on that, she avoids the starchy alternatives, and fills up on good stuff. Makes sense to me!

[wiz]

Good Morning!

Looks like it will be another hot one here in Key West, they've been having near record high heat all week. I love it

Yesterday was not a good day of eating, too much junk. But it was bound to happen sooner or later while on vacation.

Gotta run, my huband just walked downstairs in his sneakers and is ready to do our morning marathon walk!

[OBXbeachgal]

Euphrates, congrats on losing 5.5 the first week - that's asesome!

I like reading everyone's menu - gives me ideas for changing things around.

Was really tired yesterday after first day back at work after vacation but went to the gym, and it felt good to get back into my exercise routine. Was in bed at 9:30 last night!

[RenoMom]

Morning Gang.

Euph - Your menu looks great, and congrats on the loss!!!

Wiz - I already miss the hot weather, its only been in the 50's the last 2 days and I am battling to not turn on the pellet stove, LOL

Jo, Rose, Cindy, Luisa, Dani,Cookie, Jim, Pixie, Serena and all I missed

Well gang I must admit I did not do well this week, so I did not WI today. I couldn't stand the disappointment. Having DH home all day, give opportunity to eat out I did not make good choices. This will have to change NOW!!!

B - WW Toast with PB, Coffee

L - Ham, cheddar and aspargus spears

D - Tri Tip, salad, zucchini

I am really slacking on my water too, with this cold weather it is hard for me to get it in.

[Pixie88]

Day 2 and still going strong! I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy this woe is! I'm not hungry or feeling deprived at all. Usually by this point in a "diet" I'm already either figuring out how to cheat or making excuses for cheating I've done but not this time! My assistant even asked me today how long this diet was going to last...I had to hang my head in shame because she's heard me start and stop more times than I can count but something else happened-I felt firm in my resolve! Even if dh can't hack it (he's already skeptical) I'm in this for the long haul!!

I do have a question, though. I really want to make soup tonight and dd wants onion. I make it with ff chicken broth instead of beef but are the onions ok? I couldn't find onions on the lists (good or bad) last night but it seems that they would be higher in carbs. TIA for any insight!!

[RenoMom]

I use lots of onions and never had a problem, but Ill let the experts pipe in. I do know from Atkins days that subbing green scallions for onion was much less carbs with same flavor.

Okay I just checked the Ph 1 list and they are on it.

[Pixie88]

Thank you!

After I posted I remembered the sticky and found that they are on the list. It's been cold here today so a little onion soup might just do the trick! Chicken breasts, salad, big ole pile of broccoli and soup! MMMMMMMMMM

[ConnieB]

Just checking in. Second day and I feel really optimistic. Have not been hungry at all so it makes this a lot easier to stick to. I stopped at the store on the way home and got me some ricotta cheese and am going to try one of the recipes for the "desserts" tonight.

Connie B.

[vfCookie]

Hi Pixie and Connie. Glad that you're both doing well.

Connie, if you don't like the texture of the ricotta, you can sub cottage cheese. (personally I can't stand the ricotta texture but LOVE my cottage cheese.)

Pixie - glad your green onion question was answered. I have become a green onion junkie. They are great in omlettes, mashed cauliflower... yummy stuff.

Reno - I do NOT miss the hot weather. I much prefer the cooler temps. I really should move to Canada some day.

Menu - basically just a repeat of yesterday...
B - 2 baked ham & egg cups, V8, coffee
S - sf ff vanilla yogurt; 15 pecans
L - sirloin with sauteed mushrooms & onions, twice baked faux tatoes (cauliflower mashed with ff cream cheese, a little lf cheddar, green onions... yummo)
S - 1/2 cup lf cottage cheese
D - salad with shrimp and herb & dill dressing
Dsrt - mocha custard

Did an hour of Physique 57 tonight. Whinged like wuss...but made it through the whole thing.

[vfCookie]

double post... oops

[RenoMom]

Cookie those pecans remind me of a "treat" I used to make on Atkins...

Pecans in a fry pan sprinkled with cinnamon and splenda, warm them up, OMG delish

[Euphrates]

Originally Posted by vfCookie

L - sirloin with sauteed mushrooms & onions, twice baked faux tatoes (cauliflower mashed with ff cream cheese, a little lf cheddar, green onions... yummo)

Mmmmmmmmmmm...oh those faux tatoes sound SO good...

*glances at clock - must remember NOT to read Cookie's comments before lunch again*

The chili turned out WONDERFUL (and isn't it great to come home to a house smelling so YUMMY?) and I have leftovers to use later in the week.

And with that, I'm off to eat my lunch! Which is wonderful, as a few weeks ago I'd be thinking of taking a trip to the snack machines after reading about food - now I'm bringing stuff I love and can't wait to eat, and it's good for me.

[ConnieB]

Day 3 and feeling positive!

Cookie, thanks for the tip about the cottage cheese in place of ricotta. I used to sub in my lasagna but didn't think about it for this. Will have to try it tonight since I wasn't real thrilled with the ricotta last night.

I'm with Euphrates, those faux taters do sound delish!

Thanks for the tips and support everyone!

Connie

[tinatina]

COOKIE - I just saw your new avi in Dani's journal. OMG you look FANTASTIC!!!!

[vfCookie]

Tina, you're so sweet. How have you been? You are missed, my dear.

I'm exhausted today. Got woke up at 4:30 by the trash truck, couldn't get back to sleep so I did stuff around the house... and now I'm knackered.

[OBXbeachgal]

Just checking in. I'm still trying to get back to "work" mode after being at the beach last week. I'm having trouble getting up at 5:30 a.m.! This cool weather just makes me want to sleep. Getting back to my gym schedule has been good. Tonight is my 2-hour night, so I'm planning on extra protein this afternoon.

I printed out a bunch of soup recipes from this website yesterday and plan to make something this weekend.

Hope everyone has a good day on plan!

[Danipower714]

Originally Posted by tinatina

COOKIE - I just saw your new avi in Dani's journal. OMG you look FANTASTIC!!!!

Yes she does!

[Euphrates]

Okay, it's official - cashews = evil. EVIL I say.
I have unsalted roasted almonds that I bring to work (premeasured baggie). But that can of cashews is there when I get home, waving at me...and I LUVS DEM! And it's too easy to grab a HANDFUL (which is NOT 15 nuts).

Must not cave and buy the cashews again. Yeah, they're allowed (and I could be doing MUCH worse things), but at a specific limit. And it appears when it comes to cashews I have no willpower.

*sigh*

Other than that, things are going swimmingly well. Yesterday I made fish (baked tilapia, I just spray on a little butter-flaver cooking spray and sprinkle with seasonings - this time it was Chesapeake Bay Seasoning, usually it's dill and maybe a dash of lemon-pepper) and finished off the asparagus from a couple of days ago. I've been eating tons of salad - I think I'm winning the veggie game! I made myself eggs when I got up tonight, and so far no tummy troubles, so it appears I just had some bug or another last week (I've noticed I'm sleeping better and not nearly as tired this week either, so I must have just been fighting off getting sick or something).

Today I'm making pork chops (I buy the boneless kind and trim the fat). I have cauliflower - I may just have to stop at the store and pick up some ff cream cheese so I can try out those faux taters. And make more salad - I finished off the huge container for this week already. LOL My mate likes a lot of veggies in his salads, so I tend to slice up green, red and/or yellow peppers, cucumber, and green onions to mix in with the lettuce (he doesn't like tomatoes so I buy a container of grape tomatoes for me and just add a couple when I'm dishing up). Mmmmmmmm....veggies....