STS 6-Month Alumni ***March 2012***

Did you read that article in Cathe's email about spinach? It was great to read it again, spinach, and other greens for that matter have protein... of course not as much as a chicken breast, but I am just amazed because no one seems to know. Anyway, in my smoothie I have kefir that has protein, I also add a good amount of flaxseed and lots and lots of spinach. Since studying more about veganism I am not as worried about extra protein, but am going to add hempseed for balance, Costco just started carrying it. Apparently the body saves whatever amino acids from one meal and others from following meals and then builds protein in the body once all are present. Pretty interesting. I don't for the moment add protein other than what's in the juice from the veggies and greens. For dinners I always make something with lots of beans, tofu or quinoa.
 
Hi!! Okay, I'm joining the weight loss group! Since not working out and being so busy I've gained 7 pounds! I think it's because of being on the computer nonstop and work, etc. So I'm with you guys starting today!!!

So here's what ALWAYS works for me. NO sugar and no processed food. The only meat I eat is fish. Tons of greens and about 4 servings of fruit a day. Let's do it!

For breakfast everyday I have 2 poached eggs, oatmeal and fruit and 8 raw almonds. (It's my big meal of the day.) So today I had mixed berries. For lunch I have a batch of my tuscan kale soup made (with a bijillion vegetables) and tonight I'll have my big salad that will have: spinach, bokchoy, onion, pepper, cucumber, clementine, 1 oz. of walnuts and sprinkling of kidney beans. I use fresh pico de gallo as my dressing. Today I will do some sort of workout (don't know yet).

I'm stoked! Just like the rotations, I do better if I'm doing it with someone!

DH and Ibo went clamming over the weekend so I've been working on my research papers and doing my job search for unemployment stuff. So I'll check back in with you later!
 
Hope you're doing okay Rachael?? I'm sure you're just really busy.

So it's going to be clean eating all around this spring
icon14.gif
I would love to hear everyone's menu when they get the chance as I am probably the least healthy eater here.

I just posted in the Ask Cathe forum. I realized yesterday that I've been working out with Cathe for 20 years!!!!

cendrine, I think I do remember that article on spinach. There are some good nutrition articles in today's newsletter, I'm going to try read them while dd is at her piano lesson tonight.
 
The more The merrier, Jo, you are right, it's better to do it together!

Workout for me was Tm, for some reason my hamstrings are sore... late doms maybe?
Eating went well today, green smoothie for breakfast, beet greens, celery, cucumber, apple, carrot, pineapple juice, and a vegetable curry on brown rice for dinner, was able to stick to one serving, yay. Oh and a little leftover kale salad.

How did you two do?
 
Cendrine, I ate what I said I was going to eat in earlier post and drank a TON of water.

Kim, I'm right behind you! I started working out with Cathe in 1993! Unbelievable huh?

So girls, I was reading my homework today for my 20th century class and it was 4 chapters on WW2. I have to tell you, it was a page turner! I was enthralled with what I was reading and couldn't put it down! For my research paper for this class I'm going to do it on the Cuban Missle Crisis. My other giant paper for my other class is a team project. We are doing it on wireless technology and for my portion I'm writing on economics and political/legal issues. I know I keep bringing this up...so sorry, but I'm so anxious now that I know I'm so close to being done!! Hope you guys can put up with me talking about school for 14 more weeks! LOL!!!

Oh, forgot, I did 45 minutes on the treadmill on 5% incline. Again, I can feel my endurance coming back! Tried to run a little, but my knee immediately got angry. (WhaH!) Kim, I so want to run again! So I guess I have to run through your running stories! Cendrine, how's your back doing?

Hidy Ho Rachel!!!
 
Oh, can we talk goals? My goal is nothing elaborate. I'd like to have these 7 lbs off definitely before I finish school in June, but even better I'd be happy with a pound a week which puts me like the first week of May. What are you guys thinking? I do better if I have a goal.
 
Alright, I'm officially starting tomorrow. I ate perfect today and then DH not knowing I was going to do this made his famous sausage lasgana. So yes I had a couple of pieces. SO...tomorrow I'm going to weigh and measure and my goal is to lose my 7 lbs by May 7. That's the goal and you guys need to keep me accountable! Yes, I'm usually the MOST disciplined person in the world so how did I fall off? I dunno, but thankfully (hopefully) it's only the 7 and doesn't get to 17! Additionally, I gave DH the lecture to not tempt me with his misbehavior! LOL!

How's that sound?
 
So you guys, I'm devasted. I just found out one of my best friends in life (we've been friends for 37 years) has a mass on one of her kidneys the size of a baseball!! She saw the surgeon on Friday and they are doing all kinds of tests (including chest x-ray) to see if there is anything else. Regardless they have to take her kidney out. They can't do a biopsy (sp?) because of the location but I'm praying it's not cancerous. From the catscan they don't see anything in her lymph nodes (which is good) but she is freaking out! So am I! I'm asking for your prayers for her...I am in disbelief! I think we all have special friends in our lives and she is one of mine. She isn't overweight, does physical work so doesn't workout like we do, but she is active does eat healthy. I'm in shock! This all started because she just started dropping weight and after getting below a certain level (which wasn't normal) she thought she should see a doctor.

Thanks, I needed to vent, need her to be okay, and pray that she is.
 
Oh Jo! All my good vibes and healthy thoughts are going to your friend for life right now! I do believe in direct intentions so I will do my best to be sending good thoughts!

So sorry I have been absent. We have been working non stop out of town and we did not get back to the hotel room every night until 8pm and then there was just time to eat shower and then sleep. It has just been a long 2 weeks esp. for dh. He worked all those days with no days off but I had 2 days to get stuff together and get everything buttoned up around here.

So then today I was going to go outside and work around the yard and when I walked around the corner I saw the tail end of a very big (what I think to be) of a water moccasin. Which if you are not familiar is a very poisonous and can be very aggressive snake. Luckily I guess I scared it because it was hanging out right by the water spicket which is where I was headed. Now I think it is under the porch so I let the dogs in until dh gets home to check it out!
I am not really too freaked out by snakes but I was not expecting to see one this close to the house and this early in the year so it scared me a bit and now I will be a little leary of that area until I am sure it is gone.

I love that you are all on the big eating clean road. I think I will join you too just to be accountable.

Cendrine, I would love to know what you do with your tofu.. I have never cooked with it but am looking for new things to prepare for dh. He is still not eating meat but I am afraid that he might not get enough protein for a guy his size...6'3. Do you have any meatless recipe sites that you can recommend?

Jo, Talk on about all the school you want to!! I am impressed with you!
I forgot to ask you...Were you and your dh thinking about getting another dog at one point? I thought I remembered that..?

Kim, Both your dd and ds sound very talented and so different at the same time! I know you are so proud!
I hope you got all the credit card issues figured out. I have a big fear of being hacked! If those people would put half the effort into a real job as they did being criminals, they would probably do really well legally!:mad:
 
Glad to hear from you Rachel! WOW you've been busy!! I would be so FREAKED out about the snake. They do freak me out. We just have gardner snakes around here so nothing to be alarmed about, but I still don't like them! I have the willies thinking about your snake!! So when my DH cleaned up eating and was off meat for a while, he really got into frying the hard tofu (not fying but you know in pam and a little water) and also he loved the tempeh. I don't know as much about fixing tofu as Cendrine, but those are a couple of ideas. My DH is 6'3" also!

Okay, got going this morning with weighing myself, measured, and getting ready to get on the TM again. I got something going on with my nose so I better not be catching something! DH was really sick a few weeks back and I escaped it. I hope it's just spring allergy. And, we had SNOW again today! WHADUP???

Alrighty, off to workout and shed these pounds! You know this all happened because of work, school, me not working out, and eating BAD!!! See when I workout I don't want to eat bad! BAD BAD BAD!! Soon to be GOOD GOOD GOOD with the help of my friends! :p
 
Oh Jo ! Sending prayers and good luck vibes for your friend's health. Hopefully she and her family will know the whole extend of the diagnosis soon so they can start dealing with the issues. Have they scheduled the kidney removal yet?

Goodness gracious about the snake, Rachael. Yikes!
 
Jo, I'm sorry to hear about your friend's health scare, I am praying for her and for your own peace of mind as well.

I bet you and me could have some great discussions about the wwII, it is an are of great interest in history for me, I majored in history and the holocaust was one of the main focuses, I still discover new things after all this and it still fascinates me. I am a lifelong learner, as it seems all four of us are, so any time you want to share something you've learned or are studying, I love to hear and get excited right along with you!

I have to have the 'sabotage talk' with dh too...lol! But it seems we are all off to a great start! As far as goals go for me, I'm going by how my clothes fit and my 'comfy' meter.... not very scientific, I know, but like you, I'm hoping to drop 1lb a week, even though in the past that has not always happened. When I was doing the STS 6 month rotation along with Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle dieting and calroie counting and all, it seems I dropped only about .5 lb a week. this may have had to do with gaining muscle at the same time though and I think my calorie intake might be quite a bit lower than it was then. We will see, I guess, how things all pan out, but as far as time goal is going, I am kind of looking to keep it going until school is out for us. I've already been doing this last week so this will add up to appr. 10 weeks. And with you guys to keep me accountable, I am quite motivated.

Eating went well, breakfast and lunch are going to be pretty much the same every day just with different ingredients, dinner was a big salad with cucumber, radishes, corn, green onions, avocado, black beans, tomatoes and a few almonds. Food tastes 3 times as good when you are really hungry! lol!

Rachel, I would freak out with snakes, not knowing where they might hide and all! I have a bad enough time knowing there are black widows in our garage and back yard! I'm glad you were able to come up for air, sounds like you guys are working really hard!

I'd be happy to find you some tofu recipes, until I have time for specific ones, just a few pointers, first off, if you are going to use tofu in stir frys or curries and such, stick with the extra firm, it will hold together better. Whenever you can, marinate the cut tofu for as long as you can, even that morning or overnight, it makes it more flavorful. A fun and flavorful way to cook it is to marinate it and then bake it for 15 or so minutes with the marinade at about 350°. I can't remember what recipe I had done that for but it tasted really good that way. I'll look it up and share with you hopefully soon. For dh, if you are concerned about getting enough protein down him, always serve what you are going to make over quinoa, it's a great protein packing grain that cooks like rice and can take on curry flavor or southwestern or any other flavor you want to go for. I'm trying out a tofu scramble this week (have huge reservations about it, but the recipe swears it's great for people who have never tasted tofu before) so I'll let you know how it goes....;)

Gotta run...
 
I did buts and guts premix overall legs today, I am finding that I do well, repeating the same workouts a few weeks in a row. It was a good workout and it just really is fun to work out with Cathe. (Having been on tm only for a while, I just am reminded how fun she really is)

How's everyone doing today?

Breakfast and lunch as usual here, then the tofu scramble and kale salad for dinner. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how this recipe turned out, all four of us enjoyed it!

Rachel, if you want to try it for dh here's what's in it.

1 cup yellow onion chopped
4 or more mushrooms sliced
1 clove of garlic or to taste

brown in frying pan with a little oil (I used coconut oil)

In the meantime, break one block (about a lb) of extra firm tofu into crumbles, add after onions have browned a bit and cook for about 5 min,
then add
3/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp paprika
3 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste /or soy sauce
3 cups chopped spinach

mix and cook for about 2 min then top with two chopped tomatoes and some fresh basil.

I served it over whole wheat toast, everyone had seconds, except me who is going for the one serving rule...;)
 
It seems like everyone is keeping busy this week! We went from winter to summer this week!:eek::confused::p:D:D Mother nature just decided to skip over spring I guess. Had on parka, mittens, boots one day and capris/ sandals the next. Very strange to be this warm in March. DD and I were out for a bike ride yesterday. I'm on my second rest week with this 3 month rotation so might try to do one of cathe's new yoga dvds today.

The kids have the day off school and I"m off work. Already did groceries, car wash, laundry and sorting through winter jackets this morning. This afternoon ds and I have dentist appointments and I have to go back to my family MD as he wants to discuss the results of my blood work with me, his nurse said not to worry but they needed to discuss it. So we'll see.:confused:

My goal is to lose 10 more lbs. I'm going to do 3.5 more weeks of this 3 month transformation. I won't be able to quite finish before the roadtrip!! When I back from the road trip I plan to switch to a 10 week halfmarathon training plan, which is 4 days of running and I might add some crosstraining the other days.

This is my general eating plan:
Breakfast, one egg or two egg whites, one slice of whole wheat toast and some fruit. Coffee

Lunch Large salad with tuna or chicken on it. I often add some flaxseed/olive oil as well. A fruit and yogurt for dessert.

Snacks Some almonds and more yogurt. Usually a green tea.

Supper Varies alot. But I try to do a lean protein (chicken, fish, turkey etc) with lots of veggies sometimes a whole wheat carb like sweet potatoes, rice, pasta. Sometimes I have another yogourt for dessert if I'm still hungry. Usually a coffee or tea after supper.
I usually just have water with lunch and supper.

This is a general guide to how I've been eating, any feedback?????
 
Cendrine, I bought a thing of nutritional yeast for a recipe in vegetarian times and that is the only time I have used it. Do you use it a lot? I was not really sure what it was used for. I think I had to add about 1/2 a cup in the recipe I made and I thought it was a thickener, I think.:eek: I can't remember now.
Thank you for taking the time to write your tips down. DH is really trying so I am trying to try a lot of different things to keep him going. Poor Guy! LOL

I think we are going to have a snakey kind of year. It has been pretty rainy and last year we did not see any so starting out this early does not make me feel too good about the whole thing. I guess it is good that I got a warning snake that close to the house though, that way I will stay on my toes. We have black widows too Cendrine but I think all the lizards and frogs we have around the house keep them at bay.

I am making cookies for a baby shower tomorrow so I am trying to sike myself up to not eating any. I know what they taste like. LOL So there is no need to taste. They just happen to be a request and they are my favorite. Shortbread! Yum!

As far as my eating goes, I am eating the same for breakfast which seems to be consistently my biggest meal.Normally right when I get up I eat a little bit of granola to get going and then off to my workout and then a bowl of steel cut oats with berries. Lunch is kind of toss up. Here lately we have been eating out alot (which I hate) but I think we are acclimating still to no meat at lunch which makes sandwiches sort of tricky...esp. where dh is concerned. I guess I need to start looking up recipes for meatless sammies.
As long as I cook something for dinner I do great. Proudly I can say I have cooked for dinner every night but one this week. Tonight will be easy Boca "burgers" since it is Friday...Oh and I have not had any sort of cocktail for 2 weeks. I think having a glass of wine a night might have been the majority of my problem!

Jo-Thank you for the tips for DH...Tempeh did not even cross my mind. I think I need to make a trip to the health food store tomorrow after the baby shower...;)

Kim-I hope all your snow is melting! We are in the low 80's and with the humidity we are melting. I am beginning to wonder what happened to spring?:rolleyes: We just need to give you a few degrees.;)

Y'all are all an inspiration!
Gonna go do some baking!:p:D:rolleyes: Have a great day!
 
I had a couple of busy days too, glad it's weekend...

I did the tm both yesterday and today, tomorrow looks so busy I may not be able to get to a workout, but will make up for it Sunday with weights.
I was extremely dizzy and headachy today after my workout and realized that I was super low in bloodpressure, so in addition to my juice for lunch I had some goat cheese with crackers, which did the trick. I forgot that when I don't watch it, my blood pressure goes way low, and with the cardio/sweating, I was making things worse...:rolleyes: Gotta keep that salt coming....lol!
Anyway, dinner last night was a greek salad wrap in a whole wheat wrap and tonight was spinach garbanzo bean patties with a salad and asian pears for dessert. I'm encouraged to have made it so well so far. And it sounds like you all are on track too, yay, us!:D

Rachel, I have never used nutritional yeast until I started looking at vegan recipes. I don't think it is supposed to be a thickener, but I don't really know much about it. I think it's used for flavor. I made a vegan cheese sauce for broccoli and it called for that for cheesy flavor... didn't convince me though, I think cheese will be the last thing to go out of my animal protein diet if ever it goes...lol
I also used it to flavor oven baked kale chips, and then used it for the scramble, in which it blended in nicely. Sorry I can't tell you more about it, I really haven't read up on it myself....

shortbread is a major temptation for me! Love, love love those darned things!
By the way, since the scramble turned out so well, I am going to make their vegan bacon this weekend, Sunday probably.... with tempeh, another 'yeah, right' kind of prejudice on my part, but won't know unless I try... lol

For sandwiches, you can always use vegetarian patties between bread slices until you figure out what else to do. I think trader joes sells baked tofu that you could slice and use a nice spread and veggies to make a vegetarian sandwich out of it. Something else I love is fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil sandwiches, you ever try those?

Kim, your diet sounds really clean. The only thing I was wondering about are the yoghurts. Are they plain or sweetened? Not that there is anything wrong with enjoying one for a dessert, just because you mentioned you might have several a day, I might get a big tub of greek yoghurt, blend in some agave and vanilla and pureed fruit and make it less sugary that way with more protein, then vary fruits for the next batch to keep it interesting.
You will get a good plateau buster at the roadtrip if you end up hitting a plateau! How many workouts is it again in one weekend? Should be so much fun!

Jo, hope all is well with you!
 
You are right about the yogourt, Cendrien, I buy some good stuff and probably some not good stuff. The doctor tells me I am premenopausal (sp?) and so I try to get in lots of dairy products which I do love, a little cheese/yogourt/milk each day.

The weather is still incredible, I ran outside in shorts and a tshirt today:eek::eek::eek: in March!!

The whole family, all 4 of us, actually went on a 7.5 mile run (dd rode her bike). It took us 1 hr/18 mins. DH kept going and did 9 miles. We are doing well for the half marathon training, I hope for a 2:10 half marathon, would love to go sub 2 hrs but doubt that will ever happen. My fastest half was 2:01 but I was 10 years younger and 20 lbs lighter.

Careful with that blood pressure, Cendrine!! There are 6 workouts all together. Two on Friday, 3 on Sat and one Sunday morning!
 
This weekend was a wet and cold one! I did not stick with juices for lunch because I needed warmth! I made a hot veggie soup to warm us all up!

Dd and dh went to a father and daughter dance from girl scouts that was super cute and they had a great time!

Today I'm back to juices for lunch. Dinner today was whole wheat ravioli stuffed with roasted veggies and a side of bok choy and leeks, yum!

workout was tm

How's everyone else doing?
 
Girls, I've gotten side tracked! I've been reading and writing, writing, writing, writing, researching, reading, reading, writing, writing! It's crazy! Oh, and applying for jobs! Today I had to go to mandatory unemployment orientation session which actually was very good. Then met an unemployed GF and we drove around (I drove she wrote) a business area to get names of business to apply for for unemployement. They have very strick guidelines. Anyway...

KIM! Listen to this, yesterday I actually did 30 or so minutes of interval RUNS on the TM with no knee pain! Oh how I wish I could go out on pavement! I felt like a queen. I only ran about 3 miles (maybe a little less) while I watched Dennis the Menace but it felt awesome! I so wish I could run again!

Cendrine, I weighed this morning and am down one pound! YAY! I know you are going by how your clothes fit, but for me, I know that weight when everything fits RIGHT! LOL! I plan to keep going! I am inspired by y'all (that y'all is for Rachel!) LOL! Cendrine, I'm concerned about your BP drop. That doesn't seem right. Is this normal for you?

Rachel, sounds like you are doing great on the eating! I'm like you, breakfast is my biggest meal. You're freaking me out on the snakey thing! LOL! That's why I love the NW...especially western NW, we don't deal with those kinds of critters! Eastern WA has rattle snakes but we're pretty safe here. The worse thing is...well I dunno...we don't have bad bugs or snakes here! LOL!

Okay, so I'm pleased. One pound down. Running (intervals, not sustained) with no knee pain. That actually put me on top of the world. I know Kim knows what I mean by that! The only problem is if I run outside it has to be on grass or gravel. I would give anything to run a 1/2 marathon again! Actually even a 10K would please the pants off me! Err...okay, maybe a 5K! Long before I knew all of you, I was a dedicated, committed runner until my knee freaked out. That's when I became a spinner! (Throw tons of Cathe in there! Make no mistake!)

Tonight is TBL and I must get some homework done! Have a great Tuesday night all of you!!!!:p:D:):eek::cool::);):D
 
Congrats on the weight loss, Jo! I can tell I'm making progress too, and motivated to keep it up as well.
It sounds like class is keeping you busier even than usual because of the read and write load! I hope it's on stuff you are fascinated with, because I know it makes the info stick so much better!

I did the tm for workout today. I was trying to get out the door for a fieldtrip to a science center with the kids, so I kept it under an hour. did have time to make my juice so I could stick with my plan for lunch, then we had brown rice and an indian dhal with extra veggies added.

I think the low blood pressure is just something I have. There is not a single time that I am measured at the dr office that I am normal, it's always low, but that one day it was extra low because usually I eat lots of salt (compared to the rest of my family I always pile on the most) and even so my bp is low. So when I switched to juice only at lunch with no added food that would have extra salt, I think it made my bp drop more. So I just figure I will drink a cup of broth or something to keep things up, although I do juice Celery every day because I know it has a bunch of sodium.

Just curious, what are the dangers of low bp other than dizzyness? I've never thought about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top