Crab Cakes

This is a favorite recipe of mine. It's delicious and pretty easy to make. I found it in Cooking Light magazine. The recipe includes some baked vegetables and a butter sauce, but I've never made either of those, so I'm not going to include them here. You can find the recipe on myrecipes.com. It's titled: "Crab Cakes with Roasted Vegetables and Tangy Butter Sauce." The nutrition information is there, also, but it takes into account that you're eating the entire meal, not just the crab cakes, so I don't know the exact numbers. I usually just pair these with salad or nothing at all. I use imitation crab because the real thing is pretty much always out of my price range.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
3 Tbsp light mayo
2 tsp Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 lb. lump crab meat, drained and shell pieces removed
1 1/2 cups Panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs - I have used regular bread crumbs as well, if you don't have panko or can't find it.
1 Tbsp Olive Oil, divided
Cooking spray

Preparation:
1. Combine first seven ingredients in a medium bowl. Gently fold in crab meat. Gently stir in 3/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

2. Divide crab mixture into 8 equal portions (about 1/2 cup each); shape into 3/4 inch thick patty. Place remaining 3/4 cup panko in shallow dish. Working with one patty at a time, dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining patties and panko.

3. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil in medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. Coat both sides of patties with cooking spray. Add 4 crab cakes to pan; cook seven minutes. Carefully turn cakes over; cook seven minutes or until golden. Repeat procedure with remain 1 1/2 teaspoons oil, cooking spray and remaining 4 crab cakes.

I have a big enough skillet that I can cook all 8 crab cakes at once and it works just fine. I usually use about 2 Tbsps. of olive oil at once when doing this, but that's just me.

Serving size: 2 crab cakes.

Hope you enjoy!

New People

I invited two new people to join us. I don't know if they will or not, but I hope they do. If anyone new is reading this, please join us! Lori started the idea, then Carrie got us going, we have been posting to the blog for a little over a month now. If you are new and want to join us in our journey, just write a little paragraph introducing yourselves. Welcome to the group!

~Mallory

Molly's Tuesday Goals

I was doing great yesterday until those darn midnight (or 10:30 pm, whatever) munchies hit me. Grrr! Maybe that's when I should drink some fiber? I don't know.

Goals for today:

Track cals: 1500

walk river trail

drink 3 bottles of water

No Eating After Dinner!!!!!

Tuesday Goals

Ok guys, so I feel like I am doing my thing. Sunday we went out to eat, which meant salty foods and overeating. So then yesterday at 2pm I had already eaten my calories for the day. I was hungry all day long so I ate all day long. I did drink water but then last night I had a pepsi (regular) which I haven't had in a long time. And doubled my calories. I didn't know that I had doubled my calories until I MADE myself track them this morning. I generally just stop tracking when I do bad. It was really hard to see how many calories I had eaten yesterday. It undos all of the work I had done for the past week. Ug, I am so mad at myself. So, I need to pull it together and have a good day today.

Today's goals:

1400 cal
eat at 9,12,3,6
3 bottles of water

Weird Weekend

My weight this morning was 173.4, which was down .2, which is totally crazy!! And here's why: Wienerschnitzel. I had Wienerschnitzel for the first time in my life at 2am on Sunday morning. I kinda figured that I would be up at least five pounds just from going within ten feet of that place. I also drank six beers over the course of the weekend, a glass of wine and maybe two glasses of water each day. And I ate a ton of cheese and crackers at like 10:30 last night. So, I'm really not sure how this happened, but I like it!!

And, on an exercise note, I spent the morning cleaning for a neighbor that broke her leg and her husband is a trucker, so he's not home a lot and her kids are kids and don't really get it. It was quite the work out. I cleaned her bathroom, vacuumed the main floor, carpet and wood floors, then mopped the wood floors. The mop was really frictiony (because that's a word) and I was really sweatin'. I feel like I got a pretty decent upper body workout. Then I came home and made myself a protein drink. Woohoo.

Hope you girls have a great week!

What a laugh!

So, I'm serious laughing over here. I took the weekend off this past weekend - I ate Mexican food on Friday night and icecream Sat and Sun... and I lost weight! ha haa haaa - if only it would keep this up. I could seriously live on Mexican food and ice cream! Anyway, this morning I was 156.2. I'm figuring that I probably had too much sodium in my system and it just took a bit for it to get out, even though I wasn't good at drinking my water this weekend. Whatever it is, I'm happy! I wish I knew exactly what it was though.

On another note, I will not be going to kickboxing this morning and I'm so sad! I LOVE going to kickboxing. I even bought gloves this weekend and I was so excited to go today and really try them out for the first time... however the girls are really coughing. I probably shouldn't take them. :( Darn. Sometimes when they're not feeling real well, Aaron watches them, but he has his annual review (which is funny, b/c his anniversary was in June) with his VP, so that won't work. Darn again. I wish there were more than 2 kickboxing classes a week!

Anyway, I'm super happy with 156.2 and I hope you guys all had a great weekend!

Mallory's Monday's Weight

So I weigh 239.6 this morning which I was pretty happy with considering I drank virtually no water this weekend. I made pretty good choices but we ate restaurant food twice yesterday. We went to Fuddrucker's and I had a hamburger with no fries and no soda. Then we had Chinese and I got chicken with veggies and didn't eat any rice since it was 630. I think I will weigh myself again tomorrow morning and see.

I also did terrible on my new goals. I didn't eat at my times and I didn't eat snacks. I went over on my calories each day by 2-300. I didn't drink water. So here's to a new start of a new day!!

Today's goals:

Drink water

Stay under 1400 for calories and 2000 for sodium

eat at 6,9,12,3,6 only

Vacation

So, just FYI - I'm taking a vacation. From my diet. I'll start again on Monday, but I need a break! I have been getting frustrated at gaining when I feel like I'm doing good, or at least ok, with eating and still exercising and so I'm taking a vacation and hoping that on Monday I'll feel nice and refreshed and ready to go again. :) Frankly, I'm expecting that I'll gain over the weekend and have to take it off next week, but ah well.

I hope you all are having a good weekend! I am :) Last night we went out to dinner, then Molly, Aaron and I went and played tennis until it got too cold. Today I took Sophie to the parade and the Fruita Fall Fest and now we're just chillin' while Brielle and Daddy take a quick nap. It's nice not to have something stressful to do, like hosting bunco or a birthday party or a yard sale! - - - - Did you hear that? ... It was the collective <> of family's spirit. ;) Now if the dryer was only fixed....

Weekend Goals

My goals for today are:

Drink 3 bottles of water

Stay within my calorie limit

Eat meals and snacks at 6,9,12,3,6

Enjoy the fact that it's the WEEKEND!!!

Molly's Friday

173.6. Up 1.6. Boooooo. I feel somewhat thinner, though. I was actually shocked and somewhat appalled. But I got to thinking and the last few days I've had quite a bit of sodium and not as much water as I should. And M&Ms. Lots of M&Ms. Scuba M&Ms Damn You!!! Yeah, so um.... Goals for today:

DRINK WATER - 3 bottles

I will try to lay off the carbs in the evening. I can't make promises due to my living situation. Same with eating dinner at a certain time.

And good news: the M&Ms are almost gone...

Gyros

Last night we had Gyros, Justin and the kids had pitas and I had a big salad. It was really good, and pretty good for us, I thought I would post the recipe.

For the Meat:

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
• 2 pounds ground lamb (I used chicken instead)
  
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (I left out the salt)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I chopped the onions in the food processor then mixed all of the ingredients together. Put into a loaf pan and bake in oven for 1 hr. Allow to rest for awhile before slicing thin. Put on a pita with onions tomatoes feta cheese and tzatziki sauce.


For the sauce:

16 ounces plain yogurt (strained on cheesecloth or a tea towel)

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped (food processor, then squeeze out the excess water with a tea towel)

Pinch kosher salt (I left out)

4 cloves garlic, finely minced (I put in the food processor with the cucumber)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tblspoons of dill, finely minced (I bought dill paste)

Mix all ingredients and chill.

So the meal with 2 tblspoons of sauce, 1/10th of the loaf of meat, tomatoes, feta, onions, and a pita was 435 calories or 310 if you had a salad.

Friday Weigh In

My weight this morning was 238.2 which is down 3.2 pounds from Monday and down 2 pounds from last Friday. I hadn't really thought about a long term goal until this morning, I think my first major goal is to get under 200 pounds. Well, and I guess it doesn't matter as long as I keep losing weight I WILL get there. On a related note I am wearing pants that were too tight last week yay!

Today's goals are:

Eat on a schedule 6,9,12,3,6

Drink water

Drink benefiber when hungry

No Carbs after 3pm snack

Friday

Granted it's early, but I was .4 lb UP. And up from my 2 lbs UP on Monday. Arg. I made homemade chicken noodle soup, with homemade noodles, last night b/c Aaron's family was here for dinner, but I even skipped out on dessert. BUT, I did put probably more salt on the soup than I needed. Anyway, I'm frustrated, but here's my plan:

*NO eating after the girls go to bed. I always have problems with this one. I normally eat a fruit, but still, I guess that fruit is catching up to me. Instead I'll drink water (I drank 2.5 of my water bottles last night - which is 80 oz... I was trying to fix the salt in my soup situation) and pop.

*I will track my food better.

*I will keep drinking water throughout the day better than I have been. I've been bad about just drinking a little in the morning, then at the gym, with dinner, and then when the girls go to bed. Maybe if I spread it out a little more it'll help. (?)

I would like to say that I won't eat carbs at dinner... but I don't think I can do that just yet.
I would love to see some of what you guys are actually eating that agrees with your diet... so I can copy them basically. If I get time today, I'll post some recipes that I love too.

~Lori

"Biggest Loser" Secrets Revealed!

... or that's what the article is called anyway. I was in the grocery store yesterday and decided to buy the one with Tara from last season on the cover. I read the 7 secrets to weight loss success to Mallory and she suggested posting them here. I think they're great ideas.

1. Fake a fancy diet delivery service....
Make healthy eating convenient or you're make bad choices. I got myself 3 coller bags and I pack 3 days worth of meals at a time. The good stuff is always there, ready to go.

2. Hop on a scale for turbo-success....
I was weighin myself every two to three days - it kept me on track. A Univ. of Minnesota study found that fold who wiegh in daily lose 100% more weight than those on the exact same diet who weigh in weekly.

3. Add a boost to your H2o...
Like most dieters, Tara advised to drink lots of water; she had at least three 32-oz bottles daily. "Water makes you full so you eat less," stays trainer Jillian Michaels. "And proper hydration can speed metabolism by up to 3%." But Tara got even more benefits. "I would add fiber powder to my water. It helps you feel extra-full!" "Fiber is a great way to trick your body into releasing the appetite controlling hormone leptin" says Jillian. And brands like Benefiber and Metamucil Clear and Natural dissolve so completely, you won't even know they're there.

4. Double results with a food log!...
"Writing everything down really helpsl It keeps you aware and accountable." So much so that, according to a study by the journal Nutrition dieters who always recorded their food intake lost double the weight of those who only recorded intake sometimes.

5. Hunger-proof your schedule!...
"With very few exceptions, I have my breakfast at 8:30, a snack at 11:30, lunch at 12:30, another snack at 3:30, and dinner at 6:30 -- after that, nothing." A study in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition found that women who eat on a set schedule have higher metabolisms, produce fewer fat-storage hormones, and automatically wante 250 fewer calories a day compared to women who eat erratically. Adds Michaels, "The strategy also prevcents mindless snacking throughout the day, whcih can make a bid difference on the scale."

6. Get Carb-Smart!...
"Even if others on The Biggest Loser ate carbs at night, I stopped at 4 pm" says Tara. Instead, she enjoyed a mix of lean protein, diary, vegetables, and a good fat at dinner. Good move says Michaels since eating carbs at night interferes with your body's ability to produce HGH. "HGH builds muscle and burns fat," syas the pro, author of Master your Metabolism. The more your body makes, the easier it'll be for you to lose weight."

7. Walk away from boredom eating....
"Every night after dinner, I go for a walk. It's my time to relax," says Tara. During her time on the ranch, it also gave her a serious advantage over competitors who sat around the house at night. "An after dinner walk stimulates the metabolism and helsp you stay away from late-night boredome eating," confirms Michaels.
Some final words of encouragment from Tara: "Don't think about it. Just go for it. Face one challenge at a time. You will lose weight - and it will be so worth it!"

Mallory'sThursday Goals

I am trying a few new things today. Lori bought a magazine (that I hope she posts the list) that had Tara from the last season of the biggest loser's tips for weight loss. I am going to start incorporating them into my day.

The ones I am going to try are:

Drinking a glass of water with benefiber in it when I am hungry.

Not eating carbs after 4:30 no eating after 6:30

Eating meals and snacks at specific times each day.

So, Justin and I are going to get up at 6 and start eating breakfast together, we started this morning. So my meal times are going to be 6,9,12,3,6 and I am going to try not to eat between meals.

Just sticking to these guidelines is going to be my goal for today.

Molly's Wed. Goals

I forgot to do goals yesterday, but whatever. I did go running and I left the puppy at home this time so I could actually feel like I accomplished something besides almost killing a dog. I am sore today, so that's good. I was over on my calories by quite a bit due to a chocolate bar. I was only going to have 3 squares. Yeah, so that didn't really work out. I did drink two full bottles of water, which is good. So all in all it wasn't a horrible day.

Goals for today:

drink 3 bottles of water

play tennis

track calories: at or below 1500

Lori

157.0
This is exactly 2 lbs up from Friday. And I thought that I did really well this weekend actually. I knew that my water intake wasn't anywhere it should have been, so that's why I waited until Tues instead of Mon. I had a piece of cake at Molly's but not even at Brielle's party and was running around so much this weekend that I really thought that my weight would be about the same. Ah well. I got momentarily depressed over it, ate two slices of banana bread, and now am over it. lol

Molly's Monday Weigh-In

172.0. I'm Actually really happy with that! I thought it would be much higher. Although, except for a several slices of birthday cake and some wine and a big spaghetti dinner on Saturday, I actually ate pretty healthy this weekend and kept myself busy and moving around. I'm feeling very optimistic about this week. So, goals for today:

drink 3 bottles of water

track calories: 1500 is the goal

go running

Mallory's Monday Weigh In

This morning my weight was 241.4 which is a 1.2 pound gain. I am happy with it because for the last couple of days I have been over on my sodium. I might weigh again on Wednesday.

Today's goals:

Drink 3 bottles of water

stay under 2000 on sodium

Getting stuff off of my chest

So, last night I had a total break down. I am not even sure why. My house is never clean enough, I had gotten up at 6 to take my dad to the airport, spent all day working (cooking etc.) for Justin's friend and his wife to come over while Justin and his mom were sleeping. I went over on my calories, which I wasn't too worried about because I have been doing really good. But I also went over on my sodium. Way over. Which I knew meant weight gain for me. Justin's mom has been here since Thursday, which was going well until yesterday. Justin slept from 2 ish I think until Will and Nicole got here at 5 and man did he feel guilty and apoligized when he woke up. Which was nice, at least he realized it was messed up without me yelling at him. And I could have woken him up. So I won't go on and on about my mother in law problems, lets just say that yesterday was not a good day.

I just don't know if things will ever change. One of my main problems in my house are the dishes. They are like a monster that is out of control. The toys for the kids I can handle, the clutter, the laundry all of that is fine but the dishes haunt me. I just cant seem to get them done. I also want so badly to be under 200 pounds that I am scared to backslide. I am scared to let up because I know that is how my personality is. I get all gung ho for a while and then I lose interest and quit and gain the weight back. Ug, so when Justin came to bed I was in there sobbing, and we had a long talk. He told me I shouldn't feel like I don't do enough with the dishes etc. Ha, never once did he say he would help take over the dishes. He doesn't feel guilt over the dishes being left.

Ah, well thanks for listening to my crazy person ramblings, today is our anniversary and I needed to work some things out in my mind. I just want to have a good day today, we are going to The Melting Pot for dinner which is fondue and I plan on enjoying our meal there. Half of a dinner for 2 is 1800 cal, so I just plan on being really good today and then enjoying myself. I may wait until Tuesday for my official weigh in this week! Then again I might not!

So todays goals:

Go workout (I am going right now while everyone is asleep, yay!)

Take healthy snacks to Estes Park

Drink water

Sorry, everyone about the rambling! I hope everyone has a great day!

Yep, I blew it off

I'm taking a little breather from the weighing myself and obsessing about my weight. I'm going to enjoy my weekend, try not to over eat, but also not worry about every little calorie. I'm going to eat, drink and be merry!

Lori's Friday

Hi all. Happy Friday!
155.0 This morning, which is .8 lower than Monday. So wahoo. I haven't been eating much this week since Aaron is gone. I find myself feeding the kids (like right now) and saying "I'll find something better for me later." And then later never comes, so like yesterday I was snacking on goldfish crackers and said "oh, right. I haven't eaten anything. I better do that." So, not the best eating habits this week, but I've been trying. Hopefully this weekend won't be too bad with two birthday parties in one weekend.

My goals for the weekend:
Actually eat, not just snack.
Drink all my water.
Don't go insane ;)

Friday's Weigh In

This morning my weight was 240.2. That's a 2.8 pound loss. I think things are clicking for me I was feeling hungry and munchy all the time, but I think that cutting out some of the breads has really helped me not have as many food cravings. My mother in law brought ice cream and gummy worms and I really didn't have any desire to eat them. That's wierd huh? But at the same time I certainly would not have eaten a ton of them anyway in front of her.

On a separate note, I am officially lighter than Justin. He was looking at a picture of himself on our computer last night and he said, oh, I look so fat in that picture. And I didn't know what to say, our relationship is not one of placating or empty words, so I said, "honey, I really don't think that you are any heavier in that picture than you are right now. " And actually the picture was before we had gone to Cabo last time so I think he might have even weighed 15 pounds less. And he was like, "No!" And kinda laughed. Hmm, now sometimes he will think about these things and then we talk about them later or sometimes he just blows them off. We shall see.

Today we are going to the zoo so today's goals are

pack stuff to eat that is not a pb&j sandwich.

drink water

track on livestrong

Protein Drink

So I've been wondering about adding in a protein drink - after workouts or if I can't find anything for breakfast before I run out the door. I've checked out the Biggest Loser ones, but the only place I've found them in town (although I haven't driven around looking for them per se), is Sports Authority, and MAN were they expensive. But anyway, in my kickboxing class today (which HOLY COW! she decided to totally kick out butts today. We all thought we were dying, but that's a different story.) she recommended going home and having a protein shake. She's a nurse, the kickboxing and chisel (one of them) instructor and is seriously ripped, so I think I'm going to try it and see how it goes.

I don't know which one to try, but Aaron had some in the cupboards that he never drinks, so I pulled out the blender, mixed it with 2% milk, and drank it down with a straw (I find nasty things taste better with a straw) and it was actually pretty good.
Here's what the nutrition facts say on the back:
fat: 1.5
sat fat: .5
trans fat: 0
sodium: 55
carb: 2
sugar: 1
protein: 23

So, it seems to be pretty good. I'm sure it would be better for me if I used skim milk or water... but I'm not sure I can handle that. The blender did a great job of mixing it up and I didn't have any chunks, which totally makes me throw the rest of it in the sink. Oh, it's Whey protein, if anyone was wondering.

Anywho - we'll see if it seems to make a difference. I'm hoping that it'll make me not quite so sore or tired after the kickboxing classes. Plus, more protein for me is a good thing.

Carrie - would this be something that would work for you with the vegetarian lifestyle? I mean, if it was me, I think I'd have a problem getting all my protein in without eating the same foods over and over again. I read the ingredients and it does contain milk ingredients, but no animal proteins. Just thinking about you. By the way - are you doing ok? I haven't had the chance to actually talk to you much lately. I know work has been ridiculously crazy for you. How are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help?

The Night Time Is Killing Me!

I was really good yesterday. I drank 72 oz. of water and my calorie intake, without factoring in the running, was 1348. And then it got late and I was a little hungry. I wanted something sweet. So, I had another package of graham crackers, (at least they're all gone now) with Cool Whip. Then I wanted something salty so I had some tortilla chips with some velveeta slices that we brought over from my grandma's house because she's going to be in the nursing home for a few weeks. I didn't track any of that, but it probably doubled (at least) my calorie intake. I don't know why I can't knock this off. And to make it worse I slept like crap cuz I didn't feel very good. Then I started to wish I was bulimic so I could through it up. Then I felt really bad for thinking such a thing. You guys probably think I'm insane.

Goals for today:

Drink water - 3 bottles

Play tennis

Track calories - keep it at or under 1500.

BodyBugg

Hey, has anyone ever considered getting something like the bodybugg? Or known anyone who has it? Hmmm, it looks so cool, but I'm not sure if it would be worth it.

I needed a good day!

So Lori keeps saying, "I bet if you drink tons of water, you'll be fine!" So, after my 4th or 5th weigh in of going up and up and up I thought maybe I actually needed to take this seriously. Yesterday, I was soooo good. I also drank 5 bottles of water (like 160 ounces of water) I also had to pee all night long. So this morning I got on the scale hoping for a miracle because I didn't know if I could handle another day of hard work with no pay off.

When I got on the scale it was 243.0 which is a 6.4 pound loss from my last weigh in. Yay! Seriously, I am not sure I could have done another day without something.

So today's goals are:

Drink water - 3 bottles

Track intake

Eat no sugar - even 1 or 2 m&m's when Ryan gets them

Tracking on Livestrong.com

I was just perusing the activities, and I noticed you can record time you spent reading, either reclining or sitting. You can record sleep. You can record pretty much everything you do. So, my question to you all is whether you track any of that stuff? I only track things that I consider to be work outs, or like yard work or excessive amounts of walking. Basically when I think I've gotten some exercise, I guess. I'm not sure it's worth the time and effort it would take to keep track of every little movement. What do you think?

Molly's Tues. Goals

For today:

Drink 3 bottles of water.

Go running.

Track calories.

1500!

Here's a rundown of yesterday. Was doing pretty good. Didn't track my calories, but wasn't munching all day and tried to make healthy choices. Went running (if that's really what we want to call it.) Made a fairly healthy dinner. Went to the nursing home to visit Gram. That place was pretty depressing. Came home. Ate half a thing of cool whip and a package of graham crackers. Super. I did drink about 80 oz of water yesterday, so that's a plus. I seriously need to take up knitting.

The weather is nice and cool, so I'm going to go put on my running shoes and get going. Hope you girls have a great day!

Tuesday Goals

So today's goals will be as follows:

Track what goes in my mouth.

DRINK WATER

Oh BTW do you guys drink crystal lite ( or similar)? If you do do you count it in your water intake? Obviously it's water but does it count?

If I accomplish my goals I am going to leave the kids with Justin for bath/bedtime and do something by myself.

Lori's Monday that happens to be on a Tuesday

This morning I was 155.8, which is another loss (yipee!). It's not much, but it's a loss. I also have since (since Sat anyway) thrown all the candy out of my house (that I bought for the baby shower but didn't really use) - don't worry, it went to my hubby, my mother and my g-ma, so no good candy was wasted! :)

"Before" and "After" pictures, lol

This was just recently in Costa Rica.

This was while we lived in Louisiana... probably around 4-5 years ago.

I'm a slacker

Sorry I didn't post Fri - with bunco and all I just didn't get time to do it. I DID weigh in on Fri and it was 156.4... which I think is the same as Monday, but honestly I don't remember. I'm ok with being the same b/c I didn't track my calories at all. Plus, I was much more lax about eating. Not that I ate bad stuff - I just wasn't obessing about it all the time and I ate oatmeal for breakfast... yumm.... oatmeal.

Anyway - today I didn't weigh in. This weekend I think I drank a total of 64 oz of water... if you combine all the days into one, that is. So I'm doing better today, then I'll weigh tomorrow and hopefully won't want to throw myself off a bridge. Or at least my scale off a bridge.

But something else that is bothering me...
I keep wondering when I'll be "thin." I thought that at 165 I would be down. I thought that at 160 I wouldn't have much more to lose. I thought that at 155, or at least 152, I'd look all lean and stuff. And I do feel good, for the most part, about the way that I look, but I keep wondering when I will be "thin." Like when will people go "no, you must never have been that big... you're so thin." You know what I mean? I'm not doing a good job of articulating it. Almost like - when do you cross over from being 'overweight,' to 'average,' to 'thin?'

I was standing around with some of our friends on Fri night and we're talking about weight and exercise and whatnot and someone goes, "no offense Brittney, because you're thin...." (I don't remember the rest of that conversation.) But when do we all get to fit in that category? I know that I shouldn't be fixed on a number or what people say, but I just wonder what people think when they see me. For so long I was 'bigger.' Then I was just plain fat. Now, what am I? Because it doesn't seem I'm in that same category, although I don't think I'm that much bigger than our friend Brittney (who is cute, don't get me wrong!). And if I'm being honest with myself and consequently you, I've always felt a little uncomfortable around skinny people... like I don't fit in. I feel/felt like I stick out like sore thumb. Will that ever change, no matter how much weight I lose?

I should seriously connect my scanner (which I would right now, but it includes finding the cords and downloading the drivers) and scan in a picture of me 5 years ago and a picture now.

Alright, my rant is over. Maybe I'll go see if I can find my scanner cables.

Molly's Monday

Okay, 172.8. Up almost 2 pounds. I started tracking my calories on Saturday and was full of good intentions. Then I decided to go back and track Friday's calories. The number just kept going up and up and finally I was like, screw this. And I let it go for the rest of the weekend. I pretty much put whatever I wanted into my mouth and it was generally not small quantities of anything... Oh well. Here we are again. This week is going to be kind of tough. I turn 29 in a few days and I'm trying really hard to optimistic about that. I've got a friend coming from out of town and planning things has never been something I enjoy. So, I'm trying to just stay in the now and do what I need to do. And hopefully that doesn't include eating a GIANT block of cheese at midnight. Not that I've done that. Last night. Whatever.

Here's to a good week!

Mallory

So I haven't been tracking my calories, or watching what I eat, or exercizing. My weight today is 249.4. Hmm, I'm not a math whiz but I seem to be going the wrong way. So today is a sad day and time to get serious. Time to look at what I am eating and see if I can figure it out. Ug. I am so frustrated.

Molly's Sat. Goals

Well, I woke up today with a case of the munchies. I'm hoping a block of cheese will placate that while I figure out something both munchtastic (no, that's not a word, but it should be) and healthy to eat for breakfast and/or lunch.

Other goals:

Drink 3 bottles of water

Go for a walk

Fix up the Schwinn so I can go for a bike ride

Track calories. Aim for 1500.

Carrie's Friday!

Weighed in at 253.8, no change.  This week has been non-stop stress since I am a one woman show at work.  Today it took me 3 1/2 hours to finish eating lunch at my desk!  I'm pretty sure that the phone was surgically attached to my head for about 5 hours.  That makes it really hard to get enough water and nutricion.  This week I am going to focus on drinking plenty of water and taking my vitamins when I suppose to.  Also, sticking to my eat to live program, shich sounds easier than it is (meat is everywhere!).  

Molly's Friday Weigh-In

171.0, down 3.8. I'm pretty sure I weighed this a few weeks ago. But oh well. Even if most of it was water weight, it's still a major drop!

Goals for today:

Drink 3 bottles of water.

Track calories, aim for 1600 (I have a feeling it's going to be tough to be really good today with bunco and hospital visits and what not.)

Sidenote:
Have any of you read Eat, Pray, Love? I have a friend that's been trying to get me to read it for a long time and I'm thinking I might. I generally like to use my reading time for good stories and escapism, but I could maybe use something motivating in healthy lifestyle arena and this really motivated her.

Mallory's Friday Weigh In

246.0 So it's not the loss I was hoping for, but it's also not the gain that I was dreading. All in all it's ok.

Today's goals:

Drink three bottles of water.

Record on Livestrong

1500 cal

Walk to library - check out the book Carrie is reading

work in yard while kids are playing

Thursday

Today I ate lots of stuff I shouldn't. And drank little water. I am worried about tomorrow's weight but there's not much I can do about that now. Justin and I got so much accomplished and by the time dinner time rolled around I was so tired I didn't even want to think about making dinner. The house is picked up and we got tons of laundry done. We painted the bathroom red. It was a good day, just not a good eating day. I am strangely ok with it. I can't wait to hear from everyone in the morning about how their weight is!

Molly's Thurs. Goals 9-10-09

Drink 3 bottles of water

Track my calories and keep them between 1300-1550

Go for a walk

Be positive :-)

Molly's Wed. Goals (09/09/09)

Drink 3 bottles of water

Track my calories

Eat 1300-1550 calories

Rake the yard for my dad

Play tennis

Mallory's Wednesday Goals

Today's goals are:

Three bottles of water.

Track everything I eat.

Eat 1300-1600 calories

I am cooking for the people at Justin's work today for their store meeting tonight so hopefully it goes well without me sampling it! LOL.

Molly's Tuesday Goals

Today I am going to go for a run/walk on the river trail.

I will drink 3 nalgene's worth of water. (I'm totally copying Mallory on this one)

I am going to cut up the pineapple that has been sitting on the counter before it goes bad and eat that for desert instead of ice cream.

I will track my calories.

Mallory's Week Goals

Tuesday I am going to finish up the rest of the weed pulling that we started over the weekend.

I will drink 3 bottles of water and track my calories.

Labor Day Weight

I didn't weigh today. I've been house sitting and I didn't know where their scale was and it just didn't seem that important today. I will weigh and post tomorrow. My house sitting stint is over, so it will be back to my normal routine, which may or may not be a good thing.

This last week has not been so good. My car broke down on Wednesday after tennis, which sucked. I, of course, start immediately thinking the worst. In the end wasn't too big of deal. Had to replace $9 hose and add more anti-freeze. Done and done. Unfortunately I spent the three days before it was fixed thinking like this: there's no way I can afford this right now, then I'll never get a job because I won't be able to get to interviews and then I'll have to live with my parents for the rest of my life and I hate my life and myself and I hate having my baby brother have to leave work and come rescue me at the Clifton City Market and why do I even bother getting out of bed in the morning and I'm never going to get married or even get a date because I can't even get a job and I'm going to have to get a bike and work at taco bell in clifton, but I think I'd rather kill myself than work at taco bell in clifton at the age of 29 and on and on and on. This is what my anxiety does to me. And it's hard when I'm in the middle of a downward spiral like that to realize that that's what it is. I did think at one point, oh it could just be a cracked hose and that would be no big deal, but for some reason I have a hard time latching on to hopeful positive stuff. It's so much easier to imagine the worst. So, anyway the point is, I was in a major funk for most of the week. And what do I do when I'm unhappy? I eat! And eat and eat and eat. And then I drink. And then I eat some more! So finally last night I was fed up with myself. I went to bed a reasonable hour and I slept. And I slept hard. And then I got up at 6:30 and played fetch with the puppy because she was wound up and wouldn't go back to sleep. Then I went back to bed and slept hard some more. And I have to tell you, there is something so theraputic about a good nights sleep. I feel both mentally and physically better. I feel like I can maybe I can actually do this thing now. I want to do thing. I want to be healthy, in every meaning of the word. And I know getting there isn't going to be easy, but it'll be worth it.

So, I am offically rededicated to the cause. Besides, being healthy and in good (or at least decent) shape will make my bike ride to taco bell a lot easier... Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

it's Monday, even if it is a holiday.

So it's Monday. My weight this morning was 156.6. Which is two-tenths of a pound lower.

On another note, Aaron fried our motherboard today :( so I'm blogging on my iPod. Yuck. Like buying a new computer was on my list :(

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Carrie's Monday

Weighed in at 253.8.  Woohoo! A loss on a weekend, glory be!  This new way of eating is awesome! I'm Reading the book "Eat to Live"  by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  I suggest you guys check it out.  Here's to a great week ahead!

Mallory's Weigh in

I weighed in today at 245.8 this morning. That's 1.6 pounds higher than I was before.

I am going to start posting goals in the morning and then checking back in in the evening for how I did. Today we are going to go to a lake and take a picnic.

- I am going to get up right now and bake some chicken and cut up veggies instead of getting cheese and deli meat and crackers.

- I am going to drink 3 water bottles of water.

- I am going to fast walk/jog holding one of the kids at the lake for 30 minutes.

- I am going to track everything I eat today.

- I am going to have between 1200-1400 cal

- I am not going to cry because my weight was up.

Weird Happenings?

I weighed myself this morning and it said 256.4, so I lost 3 1/2 pounds, yay!  

So I had a weird happening this week.  I was checking facebook, like I do every 5 minutes, and I got an email from a friend that I haven't talked to since I was like 19.  Some backstory is that I have been doing research on vegetarianism for about 3 years, not super intense research, just a lot of reading on how they treat animals and the pro's and con's of all animal products in general.  So it was really weird when and old friend comes out of nowhere and writes me this intense email about a Vegan/Vegetarian diet, and how she thinks it is the answer to my weight issues.  So now it's time to, pardon my french, shit or get off the pot.  I get good feelings when I think about trying out this lifestyle, so this next week I will be doing some intense research and deciding if I want to take the plunge, and turn my eating life upside down.  It's one of those things where you are doing the research, but you know the answer is yes, and your groaning inside your head because you know its gonna happen and its gonna be hard,  but the best thing for you personally.  Wow that was one long run on sentence.  Anyway, thats what my week has been filled with, I'll let you know how the studying is going come next week!  

Oh Yeah, it's Friday...oops

I just realized today is Friday about 20 minutes ago. I've already sucked down three pretty large pieces of banana bread with butter and a cup of coffee (working on number two right now...) So, I just weighed myself and it wasn't pretty: 172.6. That's up almost three and a half pounds. Now, I knew it was going to be bad and I know that weighing after you've eaten/drank doesn't provide the most accurate results. But it's still discouraging. Of course, having my car break down on Wednesday while I was driving home from tennis was a major trigger to some major binge eating. I was well aware of what I was doing, but I'm really good at rationalizing my over-eating to myself. So, now I'm back to the beginning.

Goals for today and this weekend:

drink lots of water.
(I'm off to a good start today - I woke up really thirsty. I guess eating an entire package of white cheddar rice cakes in under an hour will do that to you.

Start a food journal. I don't have one of those. I really like livestrong, but it's hard for me to sit down at the computer and enter stuff as I eat it, or remember everything I ate. So, I think that if I write it down then I can enter it all at once or maybe a couple times of day to see where I am and it will be easier to track everything.

Move around. I'm going to go horse back riding either tonight or in the morning. Also I'm watching the neighbor's dogs, so getting out and playing with them will be better than nothing...

244.2 no change

244.2 This morning I was the same as last Monday. Last night we had a really salty dinner so I am hoping that it's just from the high sodium content. Hopefully after two days of good eating I will have lost some. I also only worked out once this week, however I took the kids to the library and walked quite a bit. I guess if I don't start losing more weight by Monday I will have to look at my food. Molly, I am going to start posting daily goals too. I think I am going to just start out with two goals today though because I am not feeling great and I have three sick kids at my house.

Todays goals:

eat between 1400 and 1600 calories
drink 96 oz of water (my water bottle 3 times)

WTH?

156.8...... On Tuesday I was 157.4, so it is a loss, but just .8 lbs and I have to tell you, I am SO frustrated. I have tracked my calories every day on livestrong and every single day I am under my calories, fat, sodium ---- everything. I have worked out 5 times this week. I have eaten SO good and passed on all the yummy stuff that my kids or hubby have eaten. I'm trying not to get discouraged, but I really thought it'd be more. And .8 of a lb? That's so not worth this week.