UUBL: Fall 2011 Edition - Final Results in!

I have a feeling that this week for me is not going to go well for my weigh in. I fell to weakness the past couple days. It's not a terrible thing really, but I have munchie cravings and go through this every couple months or so, and have the past couple days. My weakness isn't sweets or things like that, it is pickles, and pickled anything really. Sometimes, I think since I cut salt almost completely out of my regular diet, my body craves it every so often, and I go nuts with pickled peppers, dill pickles, sour kraut stuff like that. The good thing, that sort of stuff is very low in calories, but, on the bad side, VERY high in sodium. Point being, over night it seemed I gained a couple lbs due to water retention from the sodium. So, I am up this week.. But, no worries, when I get off the sodium binge, it the water and weight associated with it goes away and things go back as they should.. But man, I want a pickle..

I am quite thrilled to be down one whole pound this week. I'm traveling, in Atlanta for 10 days, and while I've done well at (most) breakfasts and lunches (have mostly been bringing my own), evenings are tougher. It has been kinda fun to take restaurant menu food and tweak it so it's healthier (leave off cheese, sauce, etc). BTW La Madeleine's Chicken La Madeleine is awesome! Chicken with mushroom sauce (tastes sinful), great steamed broccoli, and wild rice (overcooked for my tastes), for under 600 calories. I left the rice aside and feasted on a tiny piece of bread with real butter instead. Cheating decadence, but not so bad. I've managed to hit the hotel treadmill 5/6 mornings, too. Now, today, well, I am allowing myself a splurge at an Atlanta area Hawaiian restaurant. I'm going to jam with SusieA, one of our UUBLers, and her group, the SE Ukers! This is way cool! Who woulda thought UUBL would lead to traveling ukulele jams.

Thanks to all the UUBLers. It's super to be down 24 pounds. My ultimate goal is another 30 pounds, which will put me at 200, which is still a lot, but that is a comfortable place for me. Keep it up, everyone!

If ya remember me mentioning before, I am a self proclaimed "chef" of sorts. I wing it mostly, and sometimes find it hard to do any of my dishes a second time. But, today I am inventing a pumpkin dish, which so far smells awesome as I am preparing it. I will let ya know how it turns out. But it isn't a traditional "desert" type of pumkin dish. It is more of a vegetable "squash" type of dish. I mean, seeing a pumpkin in really a vegetable in the squash family anyway. It only seems right.. . pumkin itself is only 10 calories per oz. So, it seems to me to be able to make a wonderful low calories platform to play with. That, and the fact that the daughter grew her own this year and we ended up with a bunch of pumkin this year. More to come..

OK... as a group... For Week 11 we have lost 295 lbs:

A Digital Baby Gran Piano:

These guys:

A heavy duty anti-theft safe.

AWESOME JOB GUYS!!!

Mim said:

Congrats to PAULBSA for winning the weekly prize for this week!

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Yay! Thank you! That just capped off a great week. Breaking the 40 pound barrier with 42 total lost since the contest started, going under 300 for the first time, and finally winning a weekly prize all in the same week. Feeling great! Goal is now to break 50 total by contest end.

Conga Rats, Paul!

Congratulations, Paul!!! I'm working towards being in your 'club', the over 40-#'ers lost club. Excellent work!!!!

Thanks. I've really been using Tudorp's posts as encouragement. I'm just about halfway to my long term goal. Hope to be down 100 by UWC next June.

I generally base my snacking to a protein based snack that will be anywhere between 80-150 calories. It is important to keep a steady flow of low calorie lean protein going in to keep your motabolism fueled and amped up. However, I also like to sneak things in that just satisfy the urge to be stuffing something in my face. When I get the munchies, of course I keep a fresh supply of raw carrots, brocoli, celery in the fridge. I love fresh vegies, and I also like em raw, so that of course helps. But, here is another that is a real treat for me, and feels more like a cheat, but it is anything but. I LOVE fresh tomato. The cool thing is tomato is very low calorie and has bunch of the good stuff that your body needs. Tomato is only about 5 calories per oz. You can eat ALOT of tomato for next to nothing for calorie count. 3 oz, makes a pretty meaty sandwhich. I use whole wheat "lite" bread at about 45 calorie per slice, and cheat a little bit by putting a thin layer of horse radish spread on one. About 3 oz of tomato slices, and sometimes peppers (just about all peppers, banana, bell, jalapeno are also 5 calorie per oz). So, 2 slices of the whole wheat lite bread, 3 oz tomato, 1/2 oz or so of pepper, little smear of horse radish, smidge of sea salt, and ground pepper, and I am set. I LOVE these sandwhiches, and the best thing, is it is only about 100 calorie, and makes ya feel like you are cheating..

Another low calorie fresh food I use as "filler". Mushroom. Most varieties of mushrooms are also only about 5 calories per oz. I like em raw too, but I will sometimes take a little bit of olive oil (high in calorie, but also very high in good stuff for ya). A tsp of olive oil is about 60 calories, but that is way more than enough to pan up a 4 or 5 ounces of mushroom. Place a tsp or less of olive oil in a hot pan, toss in a few ounces of mushroom, sprinkle with a light dusting of sea salt and pepper, or whatever your favorite spice is. Pan fry em up, and ya got a tasty low calorie, and healthy snack. (5 oz of mushroom = 25 calories, tsp olive oil 60 calories, total 85 calories)

You can also use this as a low calorie topping on a meal, on beef, chicken or pork and make ya think you are eating at a steak house..

Thanks, Tony, for the nutritional information! For me, the problem seems to be all the chocolate I eat between my healthy meals. (Well, that and being sidelined from exercising for several weeks while I recovered from a bicycle accident. Fortunately, I've been able to begin running again, and I'll be returning to my boot-camp style exercise class soon.)

Even chocolate is not always a bad thing. Just remember "moderation". If ya have to have it, go with dark chocolate, and fine one that is just chocolate, and not carmel, and other stuff ya don't know what it is... But even that isn't a bad thing in moderation.

I didn't lose any weight this week, but I didn't gain, either. I was out of town for 10 days and dropped 1 pound total. I am OK with that. Dinners and such were tough, and, I had some truly awesome meals (Hawaiian BBQ, homestyle Mexican). So, life is good.

Any tips/recipes to lighten up Thanksgiving? Maybe a barley or bulgur based stuffing? How do I get those buttery/creamy mashed potatoes off the table? I will have to make my hubby one decadent thing, though - a big bag of frozen corn or peas with 1/2 bar of neufchatel (a light cream cheese). I wonder if there's a better thing to use in that than the neufchatel? Right now I'm having an awesome chili concoction I made up - ground turkey, frozen okra, carrots, canned tomatoes, and bean broth (when I make beans I save the broth-I spice beans up a lot). All over a baked sweet potato, thanks to the microwave. Delish.

On to the last week of UUBL. It makes me proud and sad. Proud that I've stuck with it, which is a minor miracle for me. If nothing else, I've proven to myself that, yes, I can eat healthier for 13 (ok, 12) weeks. There's no reason I can't do this the rest of my life. Of course I'm proud of the 24+ pounds I've lost, it's sooo great for clothes to fit better, and for that airline seat to not squeeze quite so tightly. But, I am sad because I will miss y'all.

ckellogg said:

I didn't lose any weight this week, but I didn't gain, either. I was out of town for 10 days and dropped 1 pound total. I am OK with that. Dinners and such were tough, and, I had some truly awesome meals (Hawaiian BBQ, homestyle Mexican). So, life is good.

Any tips/recipes to lighten up Thanksgiving? Maybe a barley or bulgur based stuffing? How do I get those buttery/creamy mashed potatoes off the table? I will have to make my hubby one decadent thing, though - a big bag of frozen corn or peas with 1/2 bar of neufchatel (a light cream cheese). I wonder if there's a better thing to use in that than the neufchatel? Right now I'm having an awesome chili concoction I made up - ground turkey, frozen okra, carrots, canned tomatoes, and bean broth (when I make beans I save the broth-I spice beans up a lot). All over a baked sweet potato, thanks to the microwave. Delish.

On to the last week of UUBL. It makes me proud and sad. Proud that I've stuck with it, which is a minor miracle for me. If nothing else, I've proven to myself that, yes, I can eat healthier for 13 (ok, 12) weeks. There's no reason I can't do this the rest of my life. Of course I'm proud of the 24+ pounds I've lost, it's sooo great for clothes to fit better, and for that airline seat to not squeeze quite so tightly. But, I am sad because I will miss y'all.

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Why avoid any of the foods you love? Have the stuffing the mashed potatos .. the desert .. just have them in moderation. It's one day out of the year. Then ... get back to your healthy eating plan. We don't have to give up anything

Oh .. and I am up 2.2 ... steroids .. ugh. Sokay, I am still eating like I should. It will come off.

This week I am just the same. The same the same the same. I am not that aggrivated because I was semi-happy with where I am weight wise, but I did want to be better by the cruise, so tomorrow I start my P90X and hope to get back in better shape! At least tighten up the chub. I just need to get my husband to stop baking. Pumpkin rolls are going to be the death of me!

No change for me this week, but I'll take that. For some reason, I really had to concentrate to stay on game. I was having a hard time especially last night for some reason. I just had the munchies all day. But, I kept my munchies healthy and low cal, so it panned out ok. Im on a platoue again. Seems I go through one for a week or two every 20 lbs or so. I'll be alright.

As far as the holidays, this will be my 2nd on the health kick. I made it through last year during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and still came up a few pound loss. The secret as stated above, is moderation, and just stay mindful that you are trying to loose. I ate my traditional southern holiday dishes, which even included a very old family recipe that I modified a little of pecan pie. Instead of eating half a pie, I had one full slice, and let everyone else enjoy the rest of it. Ate my corn bread dressing, just kept my health in mind and moderation. Took a taste of some of the other favorites.. I didn't count calories for the day, but just kept it in mind and stay in moderation. I came out through the whole holidays just fine, and enjoyed all our good old family recepies, and still had a loss.. Enjoy your holiday foods.. Just don't gorge and you will be fine..

OK... as a group... For Week 12 we have lost 315 lbs:

The is OVER this much wheat:

This much weed (dont judge... it was all I could find):

The weight of the beef in this cheeseburger.

AWESOME JOB GUYS!!!

Mmm.. That cheesburger looks pretty good. . If we smoked all that weed, I bet we could eat that cheese burger.. hahhah...