MENA diet/exercise thread

[S and S 12]

Great plan!

Good site, Jenn! I don't know if I would stop strength workouts. You're only going to get as buff as you have the testosterone for... and it is only magnified by the ammount of body fat you lose. Maybe less reps on your arms and more stretching. Stretching is the way to make yourself leaner.... you need to work on that I would think if you want to avoid some of the bulk. So pilates may be the way to go as a way to maintain some strength training and combine it with stretching. What are you doing for strength right now?

Well, I gained weight. At first I was depressed, won't lie about that! But I think it's 2-fold: 1) precycle gain and 2) I lost more inches so I think i may be having muscle gain.

When I first started working out I gained almost 20 pounds in muscle over a two month period. I was skinny as a rail so I knew it had to be muscle and it actually made me look more filled out. It sounds like a good sign for you! Also, I definitely put on a little weight and get bloated just before the cycle so I can relate to you there.

[Nasturtium 500]

Ohhh I wish I was still skinny as a rail lol. At least my pants are getting lose though. I had to swallow my pride and buy size 10s for this job... so maybe I am more of an 8 again. I can't wait for 6.. then 4... then 2... I am so impatient!

[S and S 12]

Ohhh I wish I was still skinny as a rail lol. At least my pants are getting lose though. I had to swallow my pride and buy size 10s for this job... so maybe I am more of an 8 again. I can't wait for 6.. then 4... then 2... I am so impatient!

I don't think I was ever a 2. For years I was a six (though I had a few exceptions and wore an 8). Then I married my husband and got so stressed out I got ulcers from not eating enough. That just made me lose more weight. Now I've dropped to a 4, but I'm trying to get back to a 6 because my husband and his family complain I don't eat enough and I'm too small. Ironically excercising again makes me put on the weight and helps increase my appetite.

[Nasturtium 500]

I don't think I was ever a 2. For years I was a six (though I had a few exceptions and wore an 8). Then I married my husband and got so stressed out I got ulcers from not eating enough. That just made me lose more weight. Now I've dropped to a 4, but I'm trying to get back to a 6 because my husband and his family complain I don't eat enough and I'm too small. Ironically excercising again makes me put on the weight and helps increase my appetite.

I was a 2/4, then he came and I became like an 8/10. So, he's strongly encouraging me to get back to a 2/4 lol! Also,, nothing fits, so that's not cool! When I work out, I can bascially eventually eat whatever I want mroe ro less and not worry too much.. especially since I do prefer vegetables 90% of the time.

[S and S 12]

I don't think I was ever a 2. For years I was a six (though I had a few exceptions and wore an 8). Then I married my husband and got so stressed out I got ulcers from not eating enough. That just made me lose more weight. Now I've dropped to a 4, but I'm trying to get back to a 6 because my husband and his family complain I don't eat enough and I'm too small. Ironically excercising again makes me put on the weight and helps increase my appetite.

I was a 2/4, then he came and I became like an 8/10. So, he's strongly encouraging me to get back to a 2/4 lol! Also,, nothing fits, so that's not cool! When I work out, I can bascially eventually eat whatever I want mroe ro less and not worry too much.. especially since I do prefer vegetables 90% of the time.

Wow, you were really small. I can't blame you for wanting to try so hard and get the weight off. Your right about working out, it does give an advantage on what you can eat. Vegetables are great by the way! Though I ruin it somewhat because I steam them and then throw a bunch of butter on them so I might get the vitamins, but I gain the extra fat from the butter, lol.

[Nasturtium 500]

Wow, you were really small. I can't blame you for wanting to try so hard and get the weight off. Your right about working out, it does give an advantage on what you can eat. Vegetables are great by the way! Though I ruin it somewhat because I steam them and then throw a bunch of butter on them so I might get the vitamins, but I gain the extra fat from the butter, lol.

Butter is my downfall as well, it's so fabulous! Yeah, I gained about 35-40 lbs. I think for anyone, gaining 40lbs is not something they usually like... especially when it's all fat, you know?

[S and S 12]

Wow, you were really small. I can't blame you for wanting to try so hard and get the weight off. Your right about working out, it does give an advantage on what you can eat. Vegetables are great by the way! Though I ruin it somewhat because I steam them and then throw a bunch of butter on them so I might get the vitamins, but I gain the extra fat from the butter, lol.

Butter is my downfall as well, it's so fabulous! Yeah, I gained about 35-40 lbs. I think for anyone, gaining 40lbs is not something they usually like... especially when it's all fat, you know?

Yeah, I can't imagine you were happy about it. My husband has this habit of trying to force feed me more than what I can eat. Did your husband do that? It is one reason I worry that when my husband comes he will make me gain too much weight. I already told him no force feeding. I informed him it makes me gag and if he keeps doing it I swear I will throw it up and then where will he be? He promises to not do it, but we will see, lol. I swear I will have a full mouth and he will keep trying to make me eat more before I am done chewing so it really does make me gag. I like to eat slow.

[Nasturtium 500]

Yeah, I can't imagine you were happy about it. My husband has this habit of trying to force feed me more than what I can eat. Did your husband do that? It is one reason I worry that when my husband comes he will make me gain too much weight. I already told him no force feeding. I informed him it makes me gag and if he keeps doing it I swear I will throw it up and then where will he be? He promises to not do it, but we will see, lol. I swear I will have a full mouth and he will keep trying to make me eat more before I am done chewing so it really does make me gag. I like to eat slow.

Well, he insists he won't eat unless I am eating, and what happens is he starts starving because we're on opposite schedules.. so i eat something, antyhing, to get him to eat. Then he'll insist we need tons of rice or whatever. he doesn't make me eat things I say I cannot eat because I'll vomit though. We went through that with peanuts and coffee. he tried to force feed me peanuts and I got really sick and just threw up. Next time, he insisted I needed coffee-- I hate it to begin with, and he kept insisting I drink more. I also threw up everywhere for that too. So, after having me throw up (once on him), he's learned his lesson and more or less leaves me alone now. So, you may ctually jsut go ahead and throw up on him-- who knows, it may work. I think they think we're exaggerating.

I also inadvertantly taught him the American meaning of putting your empty, palm-up cupped hand under someone's mouth.... you know how a mom wants you to spit your gum out and does that? Or whatever is in your mouth? Apparently, for them it's that they want some of whatever you've got, from the bowl or whatever... like if you're eating pumpkin seeds they want you to hand them some pumpkin seeds. instead I looked at him really confused while I was chewing and he made the facial indication to "go ahead" (raising his eyebrows, which he meant to indicate towards the bowl on the table). So I just spit out the entire contents of my chewed up pumpkin seeds in his hand. The look on his face was priceless. I immediately asked him WHY he wanted MY seeds. he calmly tossed my seed mush, washed his hand, and said he wanted non-chewed seeds from the bowl.

[Nasturtium 500]

OK, so a few posts ago I asked if anyone had any good low-fat/low cal recipe ideas and all I got was a pizza pic. Does anyone do anything with fish much? I remember Chaishai posting something about Mediterranian Sea bass? Anyway, I have some cod and am thinking about using it with some dill, basil and parsley from my garden, maybe some steamed swiss chard on the side, and?? I can never really think of what goes with fish other than rice. I'm trying to avoid the rice...

[Nasturtium 500]

OK! So I did gain 2 lbs, but so far I've lost:

Hips-- 1.5"

Waist--1.5"

Thigh-- .5"

calf-- nothing

bicep-- 1"

bust--gained .5" lol

[caybee 21]

OK, so a few posts ago I asked if anyone had any good low-fat/low cal recipe ideas and all I got was a pizza pic. Does anyone do anything with fish much? I remember Chaishai posting something about Mediterranian Sea bass? Anyway, I have some cod and am thinking about using it with some dill, basil and parsley from my garden, maybe some steamed swiss chard on the side, and?? I can never really think of what goes with fish other than rice. I'm trying to avoid the rice...

I like broccoli with fish. My husband bakes fish in a glass dish on a bed of sliced onions and covered in sliced potatoes, carrots, zucchini, whatever. He uses a little butter with a lot of paprika and a little garlic on the fish itself. I really like it this way. I could probably substitute cauliflower for the potatoes. Last night we cooked shrimp in the butter/paprika/garlic sauce, and most of the butter drained off.

We've also made tuna stuffed peppers with tuna, rice, green onions, green olives, parsley, tomato, hot sauce (we use harisa), salt, and pepper. I love it, but it does have a little rice. There might be a substitute for that, maybe chopped cauliflower again (I have cauliflower on the brain this morning).

[caybee 21]

Yeah, I can't imagine you were happy about it. My husband has this habit of trying to force feed me more than what I can eat. Did your husband do that? It is one reason I worry that when my husband comes he will make me gain too much weight. I already told him no force feeding. I informed him it makes me gag and if he keeps doing it I swear I will throw it up and then where will he be? He promises to not do it, but we will see, lol. I swear I will have a full mouth and he will keep trying to make me eat more before I am done chewing so it really does make me gag. I like to eat slow.

Well, he insists he won't eat unless I am eating, and what happens is he starts starving because we're on opposite schedules.. so i eat something, antyhing, to get him to eat. Then he'll insist we need tons of rice or whatever. he doesn't make me eat things I say I cannot eat because I'll vomit though. We went through that with peanuts and coffee. he tried to force feed me peanuts and I got really sick and just threw up. Next time, he insisted I needed coffee-- I hate it to begin with, and he kept insisting I drink more. I also threw up everywhere for that too. So, after having me throw up (once on him), he's learned his lesson and more or less leaves me alone now. So, you may ctually jsut go ahead and throw up on him-- who knows, it may work. I think they think we're exaggerating.

I also inadvertantly taught him the American meaning of putting your empty, palm-up cupped hand under someone's mouth.... you know how a mom wants you to spit your gum out and does that? Or whatever is in your mouth? Apparently, for them it's that they want some of whatever you've got, from the bowl or whatever... like if you're eating pumpkin seeds they want you to hand them some pumpkin seeds. instead I looked at him really confused while I was chewing and he made the facial indication to "go ahead" (raising his eyebrows, which he meant to indicate towards the bowl on the table). So I just spit out the entire contents of my chewed up pumpkin seeds in his hand. The look on his face was priceless. I immediately asked him WHY he wanted MY seeds. he calmly tossed my seed mush, washed his hand, and said he wanted non-chewed seeds from the bowl.

Oh, gosh!

My husband did the force-feeding for a long time, but then I think it occurred to him that I wasn't getting any smaller! Now he'll push veggies on me, but he'll also tell me straight up that I'm "forbidden" to eat this or that, and he watches my eyebrows go up. He's learning how many calories oil adds to things also. Yesterday he made fries to go with our shrimp, and I baked a small potato for myself instead. A few months ago, he would have pushed the fries on me, but this time he just nodded when he saw what I was doing.

I've been walking 2 miles a day every day for a couple of weeks, and he usually plays soccer during this time. Yesterday, he couldn't find anyone to play with, so he kicked the ball around by himself for a while. When I finished my course, he suggested that we do one more short loop together, so in all I did about 2.8 miles yesterday. So the bar has been raised. I also just read a study suggesting that 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days isn't really enough for weight loss (doncha hate those studies?), and I've been walking for 35 minutes a day as well as counting calories, so we'll see if extending the time will rev things up a bit. In any case, I feel a difference in my energy and mood even if I can't see any physical changes yet.

[Jenn! 918]

I also inadvertantly taught him the American meaning of putting your empty, palm-up cupped hand under someone's mouth.... you know how a mom wants you to spit your gum out and does that? Or whatever is in your mouth? Apparently, for them it's that they want some of whatever you've got, from the bowl or whatever... like if you're eating pumpkin seeds they want you to hand them some pumpkin seeds. instead I looked at him really confused while I was chewing and he made the facial indication to "go ahead" (raising his eyebrows, which he meant to indicate towards the bowl on the table). So I just spit out the entire contents of my chewed up pumpkin seeds in his hand. The look on his face was priceless. I immediately asked him WHY he wanted MY seeds. he calmly tossed my seed mush, washed his hand, and said he wanted non-chewed seeds from the bowl.

Priceless!

[Jenn! 918]

OK, so a few posts ago I asked if anyone had any good low-fat/low cal recipe ideas and all I got was a pizza pic. Does anyone do anything with fish much? I remember Chaishai posting something about Mediterranian Sea bass? Anyway, I have some cod and am thinking about using it with some dill, basil and parsley from my garden, maybe some steamed swiss chard on the side, and?? I can never really think of what goes with fish other than rice. I'm trying to avoid the rice...

If you're talking whole fish, I just throw some herbs, olive oil and lemon and wrap it in tin foil and bake it. I'm guessing you don't have a whole cod though!

[Jenn! 918]

Great plan!

Good site, Jenn! I don't know if I would stop strength workouts. You're only going to get as buff as you have the testosterone for... and it is only magnified by the ammount of body fat you lose. Maybe less reps on your arms and more stretching. Stretching is the way to make yourself leaner.... you need to work on that I would think if you want to avoid some of the bulk. So pilates may be the way to go as a way to maintain some strength training and combine it with stretching. What are you doing for strength right now?

Thanks! I do stretch a good amount, I think. But I feel there's only so much I can do with my arms and spend much more time stretching my bottom half. I should look up some different arm stretches.

Yeah, I think I need to lighten the weight and up the reps, actually. I'm up to 100 lb lat pull downs, for example, and I'm sure that's not the best way to not bulk up. I do 2 sets of 12 reps at the highest weight at which I can compelte the reps. Maybe I need to step away from the machines and just use the dumbells.