September Thread - Bhuz Diet Team

[danidance]

hello everyone from vacation food hell. let's see, ice cream, snacks, out to dinner, and what else - just general bad behavior on my part.

I'll be lucky if I only gain 5 pounds on this trip. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Naturally, I won't really know the damage til I get home and get on my scale.

Pray for me people, I'm in the Bible Belt where the religion is thick and so's the gravy.


ps. did I mention the evil temptation that is my aunt's coconut cream pie?

How's everyone else doing?

[darkangel7631]

I'm doing ok...I've kinda fallen behind though with sweets but I'm going to pull myself together tomorrow and tomorrow for sure! If I have to I'll get my mom to talk me into getting into gear..sometimes u need someone to give u a lil nudge to get back on after a break. Danidance I've been told not to worry about trips when it comes to ur diet cause u sometimes gain weight from eating alot from the worrying and it has been proven...I'm a prime example! I went to my Grandparents one time and came back with weight gained and if I hadn't of worried I prolly would have kept some that I gained off. My grandparents used to eat alot of fating things like fast food* not anymore since my grandmother is on a diet herself* but I found out that since I worried it caused me to eat more! It might be different for other people but i just wanted to be helpful and give u that advice.

[mish_mish]

I'm going to the State Fair tomorrow, so nothing I eat counts!

Deep fried coke anyone?

[Gwoofer]

OK - I'm joining in here.

I'm not doing it to loose weight but my eating habits are absolutely horrible. I haven't seen a green veggie in about six months and sugar seems to be the main survival mode.

This is terrible - I need muscles

[sunshine]

Gwoofer - can you afford to go and see a nutritionist? They're great for sorting out your bad habits and making sure you're eating right for your body.

You need protein for muscle and whole carbs for energy. And loads and loads of veggies to fill you up and give you vitamins and minerals. Oh and fruit and veg is great for your skin too.

I find that seeing a nutritionist has kept me on the straight and narrow. And the amazing thing is that after a couple of months of eating really healthily I just can't eat sweet things any more - they just taste too sugary. And the other day I had a McDonalds and I nearly threw up - it tasted awful!!! And I used to love McDonalds.

[sunshine]

So where am I?

Well, I fell off the wagon for a week. A combination of a Holiday weekend here in the UK, a seventieth birthday party last weekend, and my step daughter and her family coming to stay from Paris - too much celebratory eating for a weak-willed girl like me

But the other thing I find - and I wonder if you are all the same - is that I had my period last week and I just don't seem to be able to stick to my diet during that week. I get starving hungry the first day and for the rest of the week, I feel so bloated and blah that I just seem to have no willpower for the diet.

However, I just got on the scales and I only seem to have put on a pound which I know will come off straight away (Sunshine struggles to type with fingers crossed)

Anyway, it's a Monday, it's a new month and I have one whole month to lose a few more pounds before my big competition.

[Adishakti]

Originally Posted by danidance

hello everyone from vacation food hell. let's see, ice cream, snacks, out to dinner, and what else - just general bad behavior on my part.

I'll be lucky if I only gain 5 pounds on this trip. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Naturally, I won't really know the damage til I get home and get on my scale.

Pray for me people, I'm in the Bible Belt where the religion is thick and so's the gravy.


ps. did I mention the evil temptation that is my aunt's coconut cream pie?

How's everyone else doing?

Hang in there, Dani! You've been doing so good....

I've pretty much been off track for most of the summer. I've been on for a week, off.... on,.... off... bad for the system, but thankfully I haven't gained much as a result. Still, I need to start eating and behaving healthier!

I've been fooling myself that dance is enough exercise, but starting tomorrow, I'm headed back to the gym on a regular basis. Hopefully, being back to work will get me back into a (healthy) routine.

[Egyptianangel]

Hi, new to this thread, but I feel I can't stay away anymore. Need encouragement. I had a baby 11 months ago and I'm fighting to get rid of baby weight. I have recently started to eat porriage for breakfast which I now find it fills me up until lunch. Before I would skip it and start to pick at crap at about 10.00. I'm actually not to bad in the day, but once the kids go to bed and I curl up in front of the tv to watch the soaps I tuck in to chocolate. Can't help it, but I'm on a mission to try and stop it. LOVE maltesers. now I'm thinking of chocolate, sod it. *be strong*. I don't need to loose anymore weight as I'm now 8 stone 9, but I do have extra weight around my stomach and tops of my legs. How do I budge the fat, but not loose weight? Is it just toning with excersice?

[Michelle75]

Well, I'm still maintaining my 170-171. I quit playing tennis when that horrid heat wave came through last month (102-105 for an entire month). Today it has cooled off nicely and I think I recall the weather man saying it's going to stay in the high 80's which means I can really play tennis and not worry about dehydrating again. I expect to lose a pound or two.

[Souzan]

Stay strong, my vacationing sisters!

I think I am finally on the right track with the weight loss program through my HMO. The scale has finally started to budge in the correct direction. Another weigh-in on Wednesday so I'll know more then.

Part of this program is making changes one step at a time rather than trying to do everything at once. The program leader is suggesting using a pryamid plan to track eating but I find it easier to use FitDay where I have to immediately pay attention to portion size. But I am still guestimating portion size and need to start getting used to measuring more accurately.

Souzan

[Lauren_]

I went on a 'break' for a couple of days about three weeks ago, and I can't get back on the wagon!!! Well, I've almost gotten back on several times...I'm sort of crawling behind the wagon, reaching for it... I've gained back about 4 pounds.

This weekend was the Greek festival AND the Japanese festival. mmmmm noodles.


I've definitely proven to myself that even after 8 months, I can't stop logging my food into fitday or I'm doomed. It's gotten embarrassing to keep saying 'OK, today I get back on then...' but if I stop saying that I'll never make it.

So, today I get back on the wagon.

[danidance]

I'm both sorry and happy to welcome the new Bhuz Diet Team members. I hate that anyone has the struggle, so challenging as it is.

Today I decided to just bite the bullet and get on my aunt's scale which is the same digital scale I have - I haven't gained anything. YAY. I much prefer the scale she has in the spare bedroom on a really plush carpet which tells me I weight 109. Woohoo! HAH. I haven't seen 109 since birth.

I suppose that is the reward for the torturously slow weight loss - the gaining is slow as well. I am trying to be good and will continue to watch the snacking. Tomorrow I'm out of Oklahoma and off to the east coast for meetings so that will be a little easier to handle as I'll be working.

Hey Rachel - I'm sure "Fried Coke" is an Oklahoma specialty that made its way to Sacramento...goes nicely with fried okra and fried icecream and fried pie.

[Souzan]

Oh, Dani, you corn dogs with fried twinkies for desert! Where are you heading east to?

I am limiting fried to once a month and it has to be seafood. Yum.

Lauren, one of the things I like about FitDay is being able to see where I am headed as the day goes on and what I need to eat for the rest of the day to stay balanced. Also love the reports that let me see which nutrients I am not getting enough of so that I can supplement wisely.

Souzan

[tahiradancer]

I am still at 169 - 170. Which is fine. Work stress and 100+ degree temps are not condusive to exercise. But dance classes start Thursday, 3 hours twice a week and maybe Mes on Saturdays. I haven't decided yet. If that doesn't get me motivated, the 3 (maybe 4) showcases I am daning in in the next month should!

{{{HUGS}}}

[bscharf]

Whew! Glad to see the September thread. This is your weekly reiminder from me to eat your veggies.

Mishmish-you can survive a state fair. Allow yourself a little indulgence and then wash it down with a giant diet soda, then call it a day as you visit the pig barn. Animal barns always curb your appetite-LOL.

Vacationing sisters-enjoy lots of berries!

Egyptian angel-I don't think you can lose belly fat without losing some weight and exercise. Exercise alone will just tone it better.

I was 162 the other day. We had our annual dance presentation at globalfest on Saturday. I felt very comfortable in my skin. Attached is a pic of my progress. Definitely smaller around the middle.

Beth

[kat]

Originally Posted by bscharf

I was 162 the other day. We had our annual dance presentation at globalfest on Saturday. I felt very comfortable in my skin. Attached is a pic of my progress. Definitely smaller around the middle.

Beth

Beth looks great and everyone around Troupe Oasis has noticed! Great job on Saturday, Beth!

[mish_mish]

Yeah, nobody can eat anything during or after a visit to the pig barn. They are damn cute, but OMG do pigs smell!!!!!

[Lauren_]

Something interesting I've noticed about belly fat. This is just my personal observation of my own body, clearly anecdotal and NOT scientific*, but I'm curious if others have the same experience.

- The fat that is stored behind my abdominal wall (like a beer belly, or a bloated appearance) seems to respond quickly to simple carbs/high glycemic foods, like corn, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, and of course sugars of all kinds.

- My body didn't start storing this behind-the-muscle belly fat until I turned 40. I think the way I process carbs changed somehow.

- The fat that is stored between the muscle and skin of my belly is just like any other fat on my body. It doesn't seem to care what type of calories I eat, only how many.

- I suspect this all has to do with my omentum, the organ that drapes from the stomach like a lacy curtain and stores fat inside the abdominal cavity. I suspect it works differently than our subcutaneous fat tissue. (go to Oprah.com and search for the word 'omentum' if you're not familiar with this thing, she has loads of great info)

- I further suspect it has to do with hormones -- a woman's hormones protect her from enlarging the omentum during childbearing years because it would reduce the space available for pregnancy. As fertility begins to decline, her body might begin to store fat more like a man's (men get beer bellies starting at a much earlier age -- and beer = high glycemic simple carb)

Does all this seem true for you, too? I'm trying to limit my overall calories PLUS really limit the numer of simple-carb calories I take in. It's hard to give those up, they have an addictive quality...



* I read an article in Time magazine that seemed to me to back this up. It said that apple-shaped people lose weight more rapidly on low-carb diets, twice as fast than low-cal dieting. Whereas pear-shaped folk did better on low-cal diets.

[mish_mish]

I do better on the low-cal, with sensible carbs (whole grains). If I don't eat some carbs, I seem to get headaches, low energy. I am sort of an hour glass--but I don't put on belly fat until I hit about where I am now (about 10 lbs over my lifetime membership Weight Watcher weight from May-June 2005). It's still not horrible, but I notice that I get a little tummy.

It certainly does seem that older women rarely have a defined waist unless they are trussed up or surgeried or incredibly fit. "Regular" ladies seem to lose that definition.

[Souzan]

Since I am an apple and prone to putting on the belly and upper body fat, I've tried to do a lot of reading about body shape and what factors contribute to areas of fat accumulation. Two useful books I found were Apples vs Pears and How to Defeat Your Shape. Both indicated that women who had been hourglass shaped in their earlier years can adopt the characteristics of apple shape as they get close to enter menopause. Presumably this is because the ratio of estrogen to testosterone in the body changes.

In my case I now realize that I have always been an apple waiting to ripen. I never had an hourglass figure at any weight. The closest I got was in my mid-twenties when I starved myself down to 116 lbs and was skin and bones with big boobs.

My experience is that my belly fat does seem to respond to reducing the high glycemic foods in my diet. This is why I am sticking with FitDay rather than going for the pyramid/servings plan. If ate the # of servings of grains (even whole grains) that the dietitician recommends, I would be still ballooning. I seem to do better with green veggies, limiting fruits, small amount of whole grains, and more protein.

Doesn't help that my hubby is one of those tall stringbean guys who can and do eat everything and anything without gaining an once. In 27 years of marriage he his weight has varied no more than 5 lbs in any direction. Boo hoo.....

Souzan

[Lauren_]

clarifying -- I don't believe in giving up complex carbs (vegetables, whole grains, some fruits). But for me, cutting back on simple carbs (sugar, refined flour i.e. white bread & white pasta, potatos, corn & corn products...) so they're not part of my daily life works wonders.

[Lauren_]

My hubby is 6'6 and struggled most of his life to put ON weight. Now he can easily drop nearly 20 pounds in a week just by thinking about it. Grrr.

[Souzan]

Originally Posted by Lauren_

clarifying -- I don't believe in giving up complex carbs (vegetables, whole grains, some fruits). But for me, cutting back on simple carbs (sugar,