Avocado is really good in salads too. I have a ton of good recipes, I need to send them to you. I have a mountain of work to do this afternoon, but when I get a break later tonight I'll type some up. I've found that Hungry Girl recipes are great and very simple. A lot of her stuff uses processed foods though, and I've modified a few to use more natural stuff.

I think a blog is a great idea! One of these years I ought to start one, I just feel like I'd post like crazy for a couple weeks and then forget about it.

I use myfitnesspal.com also! Not because I need to loose weight, but I just like tracking what I eat and making sure that I don't go over board. Ladies, if you have it, send me a friend request and make your food diary public. It's also a great way to stay accountable since you know people can see if you're "behaving" or not My username is fortunalis8. I haven't tracked in a few days, but I'm starting insanity tomorrow and following their nutrition guide so I need to totally be on top of my calories!

I haven't tracked in a few days either. LOL. I am starting fresh tomorrow, because I'm going to start using a trainer at the gym.

My user name is stxtiffersz

I've added you both. This makes me nervous because now you have access to my embarrassing numbers but this will make me even more accountable! I just found out they have it set up so you can blog on there as well so I will use it when I need to vent my frustrations.

26nikita wrote:

I've added you both. This makes me nervous because now you have access to my embarrassing numbers but this will make me even more accountable! I just found out they have it set up so you can blog on there as well so I will use it when I need to vent my frustrations.

Haha! No kidding, I can't fool myself now! LOL!

Got your friend requests! You have to make your info public to friends though. I think that you have to go to Settings and to diary.

Edit: Actually, I can see your diary Mindy, but not Kristina or Tiffs.

I fixed mine!

Feel free to tell me when I need to adjust things. Like I said, healthy is new to me. Day one has produced a massive headache!

I added you Tiff and also you Mindy!

Should be able to see mine now...

Tiff&Kya wrote:

I fixed mine!

Oh, there it is!

26nikita wrote:

Feel free to tell me when I need to adjust things. Like I said, healthy is new to me. Day one has produced a massive headache!

Don't worry. It gets easier. Trust me

arooroomom wrote:

I added you Tiff and also you Mindy!

Should be able to see mine now...

See your profile, but still no food diary

OK NOW hopefully. I got confused w/ profile and diary lol

arooroomom wrote:

I added you Tiff and also you Mindy!

Should be able to see mine now...

Accepted!

Boy there is going to be no choice but to stay on track now! LOL!

Now I see it Kristina!

And Mindy, yep, no choice. I will check up on you every once in a while

So I had my first full day of no processed foods and I forgot to grab my lunch for work. I had just got done preparing it not 10 minutes before I left. I had to go to the grocery store over lunch and just grabbed a bunch of fruits/veggies. Despite this, the day went well. I didn't start feeling hungry until about 3pm so I was pretty happy that I wasn't starving all day. Since I stayed away from the processed/heavy carb stuff I barely broke 1000 calories. The only problem with that is, my fitness pal scolded me for too few calories. I'm not sure how bad that is since I got a bunch of fruits/veggie servings in AND I got 8 full glasses of water in already. Right now I am searching new recipes...

Yay Mindy!

I stayed under my calories, and earned back 400 calories working out. I even was able to run today. It was only half a mile, but after at least 10 years of not being able to even run an 8th of a mile, I was pretty stoked!

26nikita wrote:

Since I stayed away from the processed/heavy carb stuff I barely broke 1000 calories. The only problem with that is, my fitness pal scolded me for too few calories. I'm not sure how bad that is since I got a bunch of fruits/veggie servings in AND I got 8 full glasses of water in already.

The issue with staying under 1200 calories (after exercise is taken into account) is your body will go into 'starvation mode.' Sort of the same deal as an anorexic but obviously not as severe. The setback with this though is if you continuously are going under 1,200 calories, once you go back to a semi-normal caloric intake, you gain weight back very easily and all your hard work ends up for nothing. Last year I ate about 1500 calories a day, but I'd go to the gym every day for 2-3 hours and burn AT LEAST 900 calories so I ended up getting screwed once I went back to normal eating habits when my husband came home from training.

Hmm...well I definately don't want that issue. So then I need to add something else in to my meals. I'm getting plenty of veggies/fruits and meat. I'm pretty sure I'm getting enough dairy as well. Should I throw in brown rice?

I try not to worry too much about that, if I'm not hungry I'm not going to make myself eat to get to a certain calorie goal. But if I am hungry after dinner and it's not late I'll sometimes have a frozen banana covered in chocolate. They're natural and pretty calorie friendly at 120 calories. They're called Banana Babies.

I just looked over your diary and I would try to eat the higher fat and higher calorie meals towards the beginning of the day since your metabolism does slow over night.

Thanks Kristina! I will work my meals out so the heavier stuff is early in the day.

Heather gave you a great bit of advice on the daily calorie intake. Not much more I can add about the 1200 min. intake, as that is the same thing I had to hammer into Beth's head back in January when we both decided to lose weight.

Here4thePics wrote:

Heather gave you a great bit of advice on the daily calorie intake. Not much more I can add about the 1200 min. intake, as that is the same thing I had to hammer into Beth's head back in January when we both decided to lose weight.

It turns out I did reach 1200. I had selected the wrong eggs in my breakfast. Once I re entered that it was no longer scolding me for not enough calories. I added a banana to todays breakfast to help boost todays counts.

A full banana or orange can add 100 calories! Any time I was falling under I just added in a banana, orange, or something of the sort to add an extra 100 or 200 calories. I just wanted to stress to reach 1200 even after workouts because it is really hard on you when you work so hard and then it all comes back- as even if you eat to maintain and not lose or gain, it still ends up coming back. Booking at least 20 hours at the gym a week and eating well and then gaining it back so easily was devastating!

Heather! wrote:

ooking at least 20 hours at the gym a week and eating well and then gaining it back so easily was devastating!

Yeah, I definatley do not want that to happen! I have done the yo yo thing for too long.

Mindy, are you tracking your cardio too? If you are, you gain calories

MelissaI wrote:

Mindy, are you tracking your cardio too? If you are, you gain calories

I'm not tracking the dog walks but when I add excersice I will start adding that in there as well.

I'm pretty happy with myself. I had to meet friends at TGIFriday's tonight and I got the Petite Sirloin with Veggies as my side. AND I only ate half of it! It was really good and now I have leftovers for lunch.