Wednesday Weigh-In March 25, 2009

Recipe request

I’m a pretty good cook – even if I do say so myself.

We eat plenty of homecooked meals. I do a mean chilli and roast dinner and stir fries, bolognese, meat and veggie pies are the mainstays of our diet.

But I’m looking for something new.

I went to a friend’s Pampered Chef party last night where they cooked the most heavenly chicken and broccoli ring. Hmm, doesn’t sound so heavenly you’re thinking. And, truth be told, if I had seen that recipe in a book I would have instantly skipped it thinking it was way too difficult and I’ve got better things to do with my time.
But let me tell you, it was all encased in croissant dough, it was easy peasy – and it was gorgeous.

So I am looking for some new recipes to bring to the family.

We love pretty much everything and anything. We love pasta (and I’ve just discovered Soba Noodles and need some ideas for those) and we love our veg.
The only thing I will absolutely NOT eat is aubergine. Don’t know why, but I just can’t do it.
Oh and liver. If you’re coming over here suggesting liver recipies can I suggest you go visit doggiedinners.com or grossout.net cause they’re not welcome here!

Tara

Now, for the weekly Wednesday Weigh-In

Tara Cain

I have managed to stick to my Lent promise of cutting out refined sugar, but am finding it hard to control my appetite as I seem to find other things to replace it with!
As suggested by Patricia, I’ve cut right back on regular bread (because boy was I craving that) and this week I’ve tried to stick to snacking on fruit.

I find that by making sure I fill the house with loads of the stuff – and loads of different varieties - I don’t get so bored so quickly. However I’ve eaten so many plums and apples it’s having a slight affect on how regular I am, but that’s another story.

The stats:

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 168 lbs.
• Goal weight: 140 lbs.
• Weight last week: 162 lbs.
• Weight today: 162lbs
• Amount lost this week: 0lb

David Wright

This week has been a big bust. I was good on my diet but not in the exercise department. And I had a few too many late night meals. In other words, no loss. But on the plus side, no gain.

The stats: David Wright

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 350 lbs.
• Goal weight: 250 lbs.
• Weight last week: 328 lbs.
• Weight today: 328 lbs.
• Amount gained this week: 0 lbs.
• Total lost since Nov. 19: 22 pounds

Now it’s your turn. Share your success (or setback) story with us.

If you’d like to post a Wednesday Weigh-In post on your blog and help spread the word of our goals, please do so. Get all the info on how you can participate right here.

See you downstairs in the comments – and let’s all show our support and visit anyone taking part.

Update

As always, thank you to everyone who takes part in the Wednesday Weigh-In.

Thank you!

Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.

Copyright 2009 BlogToFit.com. If you are reading this on any site other than BlogToFit.com or your personal feedreader or email, you may be viewing it on a site which steals content. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust any site which steals content.

Wednesday Weigh-In March 18, 2009

Extreme diets do NOT work

The thing about having a weight loss blog is that we get ALL sorts of spam, email and ad pitches from people who want to sell to our readers. Most of this crap is well recognized diet pills and diet programs.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people still believe in an easy fix for weight loss. How many of you trust advertisements or so-called “health blogs” which are sponsored by phony product pushers.

I don’t know about you, but my alarm starts ringing the minute I see small print or hear an voice over speed up in an advertisement.

Usually it goes something like this:

Warning: This product has not been reviewed by the FDA and in some cases, has been known to cause bleeding, loss of appetite, increased appetite, erectile dysfunction, excessive body hair, glowing pustules, irregular bowel movements and the occasional exploding stomach which sometimes causes instant death.

Yet, people continue to buy into these things.

Part of it a naive belief that that companies won’t risk getting into trouble by selling bad products.

You’d be wrong. Possibly even dead wrong.

Here’s the thing, and I’m far too lazy/tired to go digging up the backup facts to support this (bad journalist!), these snake oil salesmen will ALWAYS come out ahead! They sell soooooo much crap, that even the slap-on-the-wrist fines and court settlements for the “few people who die” is pocket change compared to what they take in from the desperate and uninformed.

And even if a company is forced out of business, they can simply START A NEW COMPANY and do the same thing all over again until they get busted. Again. It is an endless cycle of scams. The plans might be different, the pills/supplements might be different, but the game is ALWAYS the same. And you will ALWAYS lose.

For 99.98888% of people (a stat I’m pulling out of thin air) there is no magic formula, no “secret” plan. No magic juice from countries you never heard of.

It’s ALL CRAP!

You must simply eat less than you burn. Only then can you lose weight the correct way.

Sure, you can try the quick fixes and sometimes they will work temporarily, but usually the fat comes back because you never changed the habits which caused you to gain weight to begin with. Yes, I realize that some people have physical conditions which either keep them fat or prevent them from losing weight. This blog post is not directed at them. They should consult with real health professionals to determine their best course of option.

As for the rest of us, I believe the solution is quite simple. It’s just not the one we want to hear. It’s not pretty, flashy or easily attainable in exchange for cash.

It’s hard work.

My brother has lost a significant amount of weight, more than 100 pounds on two occasions in his life. Both involved very simple methods – eating less and moving more. Just doing it day after day. It’s that simple.

And that hard.

Now, for the weekly Wednesday Weigh-In

Tara Cain

I seem to have successfully cut out the crap from my diet (not a single biscuit, cake, chocolate bar has tempted me), but truth be told I’ve just replaced it with another comfort food this week - bread.

Yesterday was the worst when I had toast for breakfast, crusty rolls for lunch, a bagel for a snack and for tea I had homemade bread with my meal.

So this week I am looking for alternatives. I’m afraid I can’t have a bowl of soup without bread to dunk in it, or scrambled egg without some toast to have it perch on so I’m trying to steer away from those things.

I’ve started having omelettes and fritattas for lunch and supplementing it with fruit in the day, but it’s getting BORING.

Any ideas folks?

The stats:

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 168 lbs.
• Goal weight: 140 lbs.
• Weight last week: 162 lbs.
• Weight today: 162lbs
• Amount lost this week: 0lb

David Wright

Last week was a continuation of the sick bug in my house. Finally, everybody is healthy! Though I am a bit wiped out.

Let’s hope everybody stays well so I can get back on track here.

Small change this week. I lost one pound.

The stats: David Wright

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 350 lbs.
• Goal weight: 250 lbs.
• Weight last week: 329 lbs.
• Weight today: 328 lbs.
• Amount gained this week: 1 lbs.
• Total lost since Nov. 19: 22 pounds

Now it’s your turn. Share your success (or setback) story with us.

If you’d like to post a Wednesday Weigh-In post on your blog and help spread the word of our goals, please do so. Get all the info on how you can participate right here.

See you downstairs in the comments – and let’s all show our support and visit anyone taking part.

Update

As always, thank you to everyone who takes part in the Wednesday Weigh-In.

Thank you!

Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.

Copyright 2009 BlogToFit.com. If you are reading this on any site other than BlogToFit.com or your personal feedreader or email, you may be viewing it on a site which steals content. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust any site which steals content.

Wednesday Weigh-In March 11, 2009

What do you want to see here?

As you know, we’ve been treading water the past few weeks since David Fowler left, attempting to figure out what we’d like to do with this site.

Tara and I have talked a bit about it and decided to march onward as we were and for those who want to come along, all the more power to them!

So, here is my question for the faithful – what would YOU like Blog To Fit to be?

Do you like its present format of once-a-week postings? Would you like to see more postings? Would you like to see more writers? Would you like to see this opened up as a community blog where everybody can post about weight loss? Perhaps there’s a few regular commenters who you would like to see writing here?

As we consider our options, we would love to have some input from the people who make this worthwhile – YOU.

Now, for the weekly Wednesday Weigh-In

Tara Cain

This giving up refined sugar challenge has been a bit of a revelation to me, truth be told.

It’s been 14 days (yes, I am counting!) since I gave it up for Lent, and I’m not going to lie to you it’s been tough. But tough as in my husband keeps eating ice cream infront of me and the children still want their Friday chocolate. And muggins here has to sit and watch.
I honestly didn’t think I could do it.

However, my skin is just amazing at the moment. I’ve had comments on it (what are you using? New makeup? When infact I find I’m wearing less make up now to cover my 40-year-old abused skin.)

Also, when I try to eat something high in sugar now I find I can’t. I can actually smell the sugar and fat and I can’t face it! Amazing.
I have slipped up a couple of times. I’ve had a handful of sweet popcorn, a small glass of soda and a bite of chocolate roll. But that’s been it.

And this week I actually feel different. I’ve lost 2lb but more than that I feel like I’ve really lost it. And I no longer crave chocolate or biscuits or cake. Sure I could still eat it, but I’m not hovering around the goodie cupboard having some ridiculous internal argument about why I really should be allowed that chocolate HobNob.

So for any of you who joined me in the challenge, I hope you’re doing as well, and for Suzanne who gave up wine, well I’ll believed that when I see it!

The stats:

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 168 lbs.
• Goal weight: 140 lbs.
• Weight last week: 164 lbs.
• Weight today: 162lbs
• Amount lost this week: 2lb

David Wright

It appears that my house cannot stay healthy for longer than a couple of days at a time. If it’s not me, it’s my wife, if it’s not her, it’s our son, and so on and so on.

In other words, I had very little “me-time” to get things done. I unplugged from BlogToFit for a week (sorry I haven’t posted yet to last week’s comments – I will later today) just to clear my head and think about my fitness goals a bit more.

I’m still not feeling it, though much of that can be due to the sickness on the homefront. Once everybody is back in form, I WANT to get back to doing what I need to do.

I’m curious to see what readers want to see at this site.

The stats: David Wright

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 350 lbs.
• Goal weight: 250 lbs.
• Weight last week: 329 lbs.
• Weight today: 329 lbs.
• Amount gained this week: o lbs.
• Total lost since Nov. 19: 21 pounds

Now it’s your turn. Share your success (or setback) story with us.

If you’d like to post a Wednesday Weigh-In post on your blog and help spread the word of our goals, please do so. Get all the info on how you can participate right here.

See you downstairs in the comments – and let’s all show our support and visit anyone taking part.

Update

As always, thank you to everyone who takes part in the Wednesday Weigh-In.

Thank you!

Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.

Copyright 2009 BlogToFit.com. If you are reading this on any site other than BlogToFit.com or your personal feedreader or email, you may be viewing it on a site which steals content. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust any site which steals content.

Wednesday Weigh-In March 4 2009

Not feeling it

By DAVID WRIGHT

Every week, I come here looking to write something inspirational, funny or at the very least, interesting.

Today, I’m not feeling it.

Haven’t been feeling it for a while, actually.

Fact is, I’ve got so much on my plate, so much up in the air, that fitness has been the last thing on my mind lately. Like a lot of people, I lost my job last year. I’ve made drastic cuts to my spending and am living on less than I thought I could. And the financial stress has made me numb to most other things.

And yet here I am attempting to motivate other people to lose weight. Who am I kidding? I am probably the last person that should be writing in this blog these days. I loathe that I’m even admitting this stuff, it all sounds so damned whiny. But to write anything else would be dishonest.

My recent weight loss, while it has been dramatic, hasn’t been due to hard work and dedication so much as it’s been modest changes.

I still eat crap I shouldn’t.

I still don’t exercise enough.

I still make excuses to myself for both of the above.

I’m still fat.

So, what to do? The easy thing would be to quit blogging about weight loss and leave Tara all by herself. Hell, Fowler made it a viable option a few weeks ago when he needed to leave. But I can’t quite bring myself to do it.

I have to plug on. I have to find some way to break through the mental malaise which clouds many of my days. I have to clear my mind and find something to cling to which carry me forward.

This week’s question:

So, how do you all plug on when you’re just not feeling it?

Now, for the weekly Wednesday Weigh-In

Tara Cain

l AM feeling it this week. Bloody angry (sorry), that’s what I’m feeling.

I gave up all refined sugar for Lent. No chocolate, no biscuits, no cake – not even my beloved fizzy cola drink.
And what do I have to show for it? Nada, nothing, NOTHING.
HOW. CAN. THAT. BE. RIGHT?

Seriously, I have been really strict with myself. I texted a friend (Michelle who sometimes comes over and comments here) to say I’d been really sticking to it and wasn’t I just marvellous and she sent a message back saying: “E**ing hell! My diet is mainly sugar!” (sorry honey, hope you don’t mind me sharing!) and then I felt even more virtuous.

I admit I fell from grace on Sunday night when I caved in and had a handful of sugared popcorn – but then I felt so bloated and uncomforable afterwards, I wished I hadn’t bothered.

So, it’s been exactly a week and it hasn’t made a single bit of difference.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not giving up. Seven days down, another 33 to go . . .

Maybe just like Dave, I too need a bit of advice and encouragement to keep me going.

The stats:

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 168 lbs.
• Goal weight: 140 lbs.
• Weight last week: 164 lbs.
• Weight today: 164lbs
• Amount lost this week: 0lb

David Wright

I have a stomach virus, so I’m on a liquid diet for the next 3 days. Which might help me lose the 2 pounds I seemed to gain this week. I love chicken noodle soup but I’m getting sick of it.

Anyone have some soup ideas?

The stats: David Wright

• Starting weight Wed. Nov.19: 350 lbs.
• Goal weight: 250 lbs.
• Weight last week: 327 lbs.
• Weight today: 329 lbs.
• Amount gained this week: 2 lbs.
• Total lost since Nov. 19: 21 pounds

Now it’s your turn. Share your success (or setback) story with us.

If you’d like to post a Wednesday Weigh-In post on your blog and help spread the word of our goals, please do so. Get all the info on how you can participate right here.

See you downstairs in the comments – and let’s all show our support and visit anyone taking part.

Update

As always, thank you to everyone who takes part in the Wednesday Weigh-In.

Thank you!

Want a bit of humor and motivation delivered via email every weekday? Subscribe to get each BlogToFit post delivered for free! Email not your thing? That’s okay, you can also subscribe via RSS – like all the cool kids do. It’s also free. Unless you really WANT to pay us.

Copyright 2009 BlogToFit.com. If you are reading this on any site other than BlogToFit.com or your personal feedreader or email, you may be viewing it on a site which steals content. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust any site which steals content.