Pinkbikini

You've all been in suspense way too long... the pink bikini won.

Hooray- and let me tell you them were some very temptin cookies ;)

Caffeine stalls some people. I read the scientific Atkins book and I think it had an explanation in there but sorry, can't remember it.

It never stalled me but I also drink it black (sans sugar and cream) and I only have it 3 nights/week when I work. I drink about 16 oz those nights though :)

I am trying to resist frosted vanilla cookies tonight... pink cookies or pink bikini...pink cookies or pink bikini... who will win???! :p

Donna H-

That's me in my avatar loving my new wii fit :) Thanks for asking. I posted about it a lot this week in the atkins exercise thread. We have a love/hate relationship- me and the wii fit. I hate the way it feels to walk down stairs now... ouch. I love how much fun it is and how dedicated I am to my exercise now! I would totally recommend it to anyone. Only wish we'd gotten it sooner. I just came in to check in with everyone...

To everybody---

DH and I had a tasty breakfast today but I ate whole grain bread. I ate two whole grain english muffins when really one half is about my carb limit on top of my daily diet (and thereby violated my induction eating these next 10 days!!!). But anyway, we had welsh rarebit. I love that stuff. I love the cheddar sauce. I was thinking, next time I make it, maybe I'll get sausage patties or canadian bacon or something and eat mine on that... instead of bread. What do you guys think? Have you had welsh rarebit? What would you eat yours on????

thanks, pink

Eating has been rough this week. Entirely too many sweets consumed for my birthday. It's crazy how bad the cravings get when you've been reexposed to too much sugar.

Yes, I know that some things will taste good. And I have weak cravings when I'm following plan for a long time because I'll remember that something is good. But wow, when I break the plan to eat birthday cake...and then keep eating cake til it's finished- took it home for DH, should've left it for my family... the cravings are soooooooo strong. I almost feel possessed- like I NEED them... today it was root beer, tonight I was needing klondike ice cream bars...

Just know that I DID NOT give into these cravings. I've behaved... but it's very hard to ignore them. It's like the sugar has taken over my body again. I'm headed back to some induction style eating for the rest of this month so I can cleanse my body and not be tormented by every sweet that crosses my path.

Good luck to everyone else this weekend... summer is wrapping up and soon the season of temptation will be upon us. We really need to get our resolve in high gear before October hits...

Pink

Donna, I'm glad you got the custody situation sorted out!

Divah, Welcome! When you lost the weight before (and got bored with the eating plan) did you ever make it to maintenance??? Did you try new veggies? Was your family mostly on board or did you have to look at bread, white rice, and pasta on the table every night? I'm curious. Those are my biggest challenges. Outside of my birthday cake last week I'm not a big sugar eater. DH only has dessert at work and I normally get dark chocolate and popcorn for myself to have as treats when I need something fancy around the house. In maintenance now, I also indulge in peanut butter on whole grain toast with sugar free chocolate. that would have been a standard snack before...now it's a treat and makes me so happy after a rough night at work! Best wishes with your loss this time!

Checking in with everyone... hi!

DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!!!

ABSTAIN FROM SALT :)

NO Cheating... and boom! Still waiting on my wii fit to arrive... why doesn't ups understand how important this package is...hmmm...

Congrats Tom :) Sounds like you guys have a great relationship to begin with. I'm glad you'll finally get to enjoy some of the perqs that come along with it financially, legally and otherwise!

Pink :D

Donna,

Get out your food processor and throw some veggies and low carb broth in there. You can throw in chunks of chicken but no noodles ok!!!!! And juice is not the best thing for you. Water. Lots of water. And vitamin c... some people (esp under LOTS of stress--- hmm, is that someone we know going through a super stressful period???!!?) find their immunity goes kaput after struggling to stay well for awhile. Please load up on Vitamin C to get you better quicker. And drink your water!!!!!!!!

Pink

Alright, I posted it as a separate thread...dont leave me hangin over there guys ;)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=15751965#post15751965

double post...this thing has been sooooooooooo not happy about me posting tonight. grr. third try was a charm.

I'm not particularly concerned with inches and pounds dropped. I'm most interested in consistent FITNESS efforts. So, even if you're cheating with food or gaining weight on the scale you can focus here on the positive strides of working out on a regular basis.

For me, making goal has been especially hard because I've been very lax with my workouts knowing that I can just restrict my carbs or whatnot to control the weight. But I'd love to FEEL physically fit and really tighten up what's left.

So, as a proposal, your first post to the challenge should include:

-A commitment to post at least weekly letting us know what workouts you did and how long you did em!

-A goal:

My goal is to do some type of physical activity 30 minx5 days/wk.

-Your rewards:

My ideal rewards would be a rock hard body and perhaps a new weight set at the end.

Optional:

-A separate thread for ease of catching up on the challenge (Fall Fitness Challenge or something to that effect)

-Before and After Pics

Perhaps we should just post pics at the end? I don't want to require them if people are uncomfortable for ANY reason. Do we need before and after pics???

-Perhaps a "spice it up" weekly challenge to encourage 1 above the minimum activity or a new activity... we can see as it gets going. It's only 12 weeks!!!!

I've never actually done one of these so I'm not sure what the best means of motivation is. I've just noticed a lot of slacking around here lately (on the boards and in my house- he he!) and would love to see lots of "ship shape" bods in time for the ship's departure!

Thoughts? Feelings? Let's process this together...

Best book to buy when you're starting: Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution (mine has a red cover) but truthfully I went to B+N for weeks and read all of atkins old stuff during that time. Depends on how much science you want to read.

Donna- congrats on custody. you have had a heck of a year girl. way to keep your head up!!!! I'm so glad for you. :D

Erica- When I started moving up the rungs on owl, I too found that staying close to 25-30/day helps cravings. I think its ok to go really slow with owl. Like, spend a month adding each new food in. Have you already added your extra serving of veggies in? My next addition was cottage cheese, milk for shakes, and then other cheeses. Then I moved on to berries. Man, was that a treat. But I also struggled with cravings with many of those foods and frequently had to go back to induction. Taking off these final 5 lbs (I had 20+ to lose initially) was a huge struggle for me but keeping them off has been pretty easy! Hang in there.

Jocelyn- hey, fat fast (modified) helped me a lot after suffering from cravings as I tried new foods. Basically I tried to choose those foods (macadamia nuts, ground beef with spice, cream cheese) and it helped me stay not hungry. I think I ate less. I'm about to revamp my work lunch as I'm getting tired of same old, same old. I will likely substitute macadamias for my almonds (although marconi almonds sugar free sheila has been touting are tempting to try too) and then do some sort of cream cheese rollup with deli meat (in lieu of the tuna salad I've been taking), and sub a pickle and something else for my yogurt. As always, I'll find room for my mashed avocado ;) Good luck. Get back on track and it WILL get easier!

Susan-welcome, we're here to support, let us know how it's going! You can drop 10-15 lbs in no time with a little will power!

Hello to all others. Hope you're well. What a roll call we seem to have going now... it's hard to remember each individual. HA!

I've been introducing brown rice to my diet over the next few weeks. It's chewy and not very satisfying on one hand. However, it's a tasty and filling addition to my usual chicken and veggie stirfry. So far I'm maintaining easily (sometimes 1 under, sometimes a few over, he he!) but still not LOVING parts of my body even though this is about the lowest weight I can imagine staying healthy at. So, one of my goals this fall is a fitness challenge.

HEY, keep reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm eating what I want at this point. I just need motivation and help to do better with fitness. I need to do it. We got our extra room totally cleaned out this summer and setup room for me to elliptical, do my fitness workouts (I have strip tease and a couple of aerobics videos), and jumproping! DH got me new sneakers for my bday which I'll get later this week. I'd like to buy myself a weight set IF I could commit to working out for a few months. Anybody wanna do a fitness challenge with me? We could start a new thread on here or check in here??? Anyone else struggling with this part of it and want to make a pact? I cruise in 3 months from today so I'm really looking forward to putting my all in for 3 months (coincidentally, the holidays will start up shortly after that!!!) so I can post some pink bikini pics for y'all to be proud of me in. Anyone in? Anyone? Bueller??:o

Hey All,

Been busy!!!

Jean, Just wanted to say "CONGRATULATIONS!!!" :p New baby smell is sooooooooo good!

Pink's simple rules for dieting:

Remember, there are good fats (salmon, avocados, olive oils) and bad fats (artery cloggers especially when consumed in excess), just as we know that there are good carbs (veggies, low glycemic index fruits, whole grains) and bad carbs (white anything). And everything in moderation!!! Too many good fats or good carbs = a bad thing.

Behave yourselves this weekend. Choose the good :p

Jean-

Nice job choosing the rotisserie! You go girl!!!! We got a costco run going in a few days. Today we threw a 3lb beef roast into the crock with a half jar of minced garlic, 1 tbl of mustard, dashes of salt and pepper, and 1 cup of water. It smells good and is awful tender after 8 hrs on low. I'll let you know how it tastes. It's so nice to have TASY, EASY recipes.

Gary,

Thanks for posting healthy indulgences blog!!!

Tom,

You've got quite a variety of cruises under your belt. Carnival on the one hand and Queen Mary on the other???! Do you find having been on the nicer ships that it's harder to go back on Carnival? We really enjoyed our first cruise on NCL (the food was never the BEST we have ever had but certainly edible and plentiful) and are going on Princess in a few months. I'm surprised at how upset frequent Princess cruisers are when they take an NCL cruise. I'm hoping we're easy to please and that it's easy to go back and forth between the two should we continue doing so.

I also wouldn't mind tackling one of those nicer cruises some day.

Are you fairly happy with the food/service on all your cruises after having gone higher end??

Ok, final post tonight (gosh, aren't you guys glad I didn't get called in to work??).

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22145/52070-20-healthiest-foods--1/2

Found this article on 20 healthful foods for under $1 (portion size works out to that actually) and thought I'd share it since you'll often hear me complaining. Many good atkins friendly (at least at higher levels) recommendations on that list.

My own well-priced induction favorite foods are eggs (from costco at less than $1.50/dozen when bought in bulk), albacore tuna, bags of spinach ($1-$2 at regular store if theyre about to go bad) or romaine at costco (2 weeks worth for $3) and boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a bag (3 lbs for $7 at grocery stores or 10 pounds for $20 at costco).

Now that I'm maintaining at goal I'd like to venture out more. All the baked treats require almond flour and xantham and these weird ingredients I've never purchased but that cost A LOT OF MONEY at my local stores. Yikes. So, with the budget in mind, two things I'd like to incorporate into our budget later this year are brown rice (it's different than the wild rice listed here right? Isn't wild rice still full of sugar??) and oatmeal. We'll probably get a big thing of oatmeal at costco later this fall and start eating that as breakfast a few times/week. DH will need sweetener like syrup or honey though I'll try to get him to enjoy it with frozen berries like me at first... He eats lots of white pasta and rice which is cheap but not very healthful for him. I'd like him to be healthy too especially if we could buy in bulk and still keep the cost down!

Does anyone here use a brown rice or oatmeal that they can recommend that is healthful, not carb laden, and cheap (even if getting it cheap means buying in bulk somewhere- we're costco members)???

Curious,

pink

(and no, I haven't actually tried these foods out for myself to see if I stall yet or whether I can use them to maintain but the brown rice, even in small amounts, would be a huge coup for me... it's the last barrier between me and satisfying chinese stir fry meals! DH makes me jealous with his large side of rice on the side...)

Tom,

Yes, I know far too many people who think staying in shape is effortless and that their weight problems are some sort of genetic mishap or, age-related. They all tell me to watch out for menopause- that's when I'll pack on a hundred pounds that won't budge. Some people run for an hour every morning but eat junk (I consider that extreme and unhealthy!) and others eat high carb laden foods and don't exercise at all (which I also consider extreme and unhealthy!).

Then there are people like my mum. She doesn't really exercise but she always seems to be going a million miles an hour. Her diet is extremely unhealthy. I learned from her- we always had chips, cereal, soda, toast and junk around the house. I never learned to cook properly. She doesn't ever gain weight. She's taller and not much heavier than me. It's just crazy.

But I don't envy her like I used to and now I don't eat like her either. It's not just about what you weigh. There's something to be said for making good choices about what goes in to your body. You feel better when you eat things that are good for you. And the physical benefits of exercise (at least in moderation) can't be obtained by just keeping weight low. The balance is important- physically and emotionally. I feel stronger and healthier when I eat healthy foods. And atkins allows me to do that.

Eat well everyone!

Easy sailing-

Stick with it- I had the flu when I first started last summer. Perhaps DH brought home a bug from the Emergency department. Perhaps it was "induction flu after years of really bad eating!" DH thought I was friggin nuts. I was outside (exercising by walking the track across the street- how's that for convenience?) in August in, get this, a hat, scarf and jacket. No, it wasn't that cold. I was so sick I was not well enough to keep my own body warm. I sweated through it because I knew myself well enough to know that if I "waited until I felt ok to exercise"... well, I think we all know that time would not have come. So I got through it and did really well for several month of exercise until the snow came and then it all fell apart in winter.

The good thing is that it doesn't take much to keep the weight off if you control what's going in once you get a move on. Walking or light exercise 3 or 4 days/week (or nursing shifts if those float your boat!) will be sufficient. I love that! Of course I would like to start weight lifting but... anyway, my point is, exercise when you can but know that eating right will rid your body of toxins and gunk and will make it so much easier to lose weight than hours of exercise daily.

Hang in there and feel better!

Pink

Welcome to the thread Gary.

I believe it was you that asked about ongoing support. One of my best resources continues to be DANDR 2002. I know it sounds silly but I find something new EVERY TIME I reread it. IF I need a new recipe or I need to go back to induction again to drop a few lbs, bam! Rereading it reaffirms that for me.

And my DH and best friend are the only ones who really know I do atkins. Beyond that my friend and family know that I generally avoid sugar and desserts and that I tend to make a lot of stirfries and complain about the rising cost of meats and fresh veggies!! The word "Atkins" still has far too many negative connotations even in the healthcare community where I work. It amuses me that so many people won't advocate for "low carb" but almost everyone is a proponent. From the medical experts to gossip magazines that relay star diets all I read about now is how the person cut out white bread and sugary desserts and dropped x number lbs and x number cholesterol points. Keep your eyes open and you'll see how many people have figured out the secret. Many don't give Atkins his due!

My favorite is when coworkers watch me avoid sugar and go "You're so skinny. If I were your weight I wouldn't even think about eating one" and I think "If you would put that one back you too could watch the pounds melt off!" It's about choices. I make good choices and bad choices but they're always conscious choices now!

Good eating everyone.

(This week I'm enjoying a large chicken caesar daily with cardini's caesar dressing. It's supposed to be the original-- yum is it good with loads of fresh grated parm- I love it!!)

Blonde,

HE HE! Sorry, glad you asked about what the heck to do with the broth. I reread the recipe and forgot to add it in there. Let the chicken cook up for a few minutes (depending on how small your chunks are to get it going and how cooked you like it- my dh likes his chix cooked real well though we like our steaks rare so I brown it up for about 5 timed minutes) and then dump in the broth and stir it up. From there it's just a few minutes. Best to keep it separate right up til the end there so that marinade doesn't wash off. I like it soaked in quite a bit. The broth just juices it up a bit at the end so it's not too dry!

Thanks!

Pink

Hey All,

Have some downtime at work and thought I'd share the ginger chix recipe from a healthy living magazine in early 2003 that I'd have in the recipe box a few years and just recently pulled out.

Ginger Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger plus ¼ cup grated fresh ginger (don't be tempted to use the powder, I'm told it makes a difference!)
  
• 4 teaspoons canola oil
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  
• 4 scallions chopped up
  
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
  
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted in pan

Directions

1 Slice chicken crosswise into ½-inch-thick pieces. Toss with ground coriander, tsp grated ginger, 2 teaspoons oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Marinate at room temperature 15 minutes (or until you remember it four hours later).

2- Stir together broth and garlic in a separate bowl.

3- Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet (or wok) over medium-high heat. Add scallions and 1/4 cup ginger; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry until thoroughly cooked, 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle with toasted almond slices and serve.

I didn't use the almonds because I didn't feel like buying those in addition to my large costco bag of $12 whole unsalted almonds. I wasn't sure if I could chop and toast those the same way... but I bet it would add a nice touch.

Welcome to all the new (and returning- welcome back Tom- remember you from last year!) people on the boards :)

Been busy. Enjoying maintenance eating (yeh, I have air-popped popcorn and wheat bread too!!) and outdoors. For everyone new here, get outside and enjoy the summer weather! Exercise, exercise, exercise!

Will write more with more time (likely next week)

And Jean... I will share my ginger chix recipe then too ;)

Pink

Welcome TinyBubbles!

Just remember that weight loss isn't linear. You don't lose at the same rate every day (or every week when it gets near the end). Don't get discouraged if some days go by without weight loss. Sometimes you get 3 or 4 lbs all at once when you least expect it. :p

Again, welcome,

PinkB

Jocelyn,

Good luck on midterms. Hubby is struggling with 7 credits ( a lab science in there-- thank goodness I'm here to tutor but still!) this summer. 17??!!! wow crazy girl. Hang in there. It looks like you just got back from your first cruise on Royal Carib (Empress of the seas). When you finish your midterms link us to a trip report or at least let us know how it compares. My MIL didn't love R.Carib after trying NCL. We're hitting Princess (which of course you've cruised a lot of) this fall for the first time. Not sure whether to ever give Royal Carib a try now. Look forward to your review in particular!

Pink