As I said in my intro I am wanting to drop some pounds, but mostly wanting to tone up the saggy baggies and the floppy sloppies and so on and so forth that are the buttocks of five babies.  I gave up on the saggy, deflated, life sucked dry boobies that were (unless anyone has proof that the old jr. high exercise of ‘we must, we must, we must improve our busts’ really works, because I’d do it).  What hurts?  MY butt, my bum, my arse and all it’s angst.  My belly that wasn’t and now is.  And I’ll have to suffer a few more days before it’s better. And I’m not sure I can.  OOOOWWWWWWW!!

I skied yesterday and I felt pretty good. I think the exercise bike is helping me to gain strength back in my legs. Today I did a routine on the exercise bike and then went shopping. I soon found that I didn’t have enough protein on board and suffered from low blood sugar. But I held on and made myself a nice salad full of lean beef and cheese and now I’m doing better.

I keep telling myself that the best thing for my Insulin Resistance is to get my weight down, balance my diet and exercise so that I don’t develope Type 2 diabetes.

It scares me, and so I think maybe this is what is keeping me on track.

Okay. Finally. It feels like a breakthrough of some kind to have this finally “click” in my head.

I’m going to walk you through how I figured this out, and then maybe you can do the same.

1. Calculate my Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR):

• 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

This is how many calories, at my current weight, that it takes for me to be alive. The base calculation, the bare minimum caloric intake to stay alive at my current weight if I do absolutely nothing but sit and flip the remote. The BMR will decrease as a person loses weight, because it takes less energy for organs to function if a person carries less weight.

My BMR: 1613.40

Not much to say this morning except that you all have posted some really good info and reminders.  Thanks so much!  Today is weigh in day and I have no worries.  I am actually kind of excited to see what their scale shows.  I had my morning of 6 dollar size pancakes and veggie sausage patty with 1 cup of milk.  Will have a yogurt for lunch and a ww chewy bar.  Not sure about dinner yet.  Tomorrow, I have to go to a birthday party at the Olive Garden and am trying to figure out what to eat.  I am thinking minestrone soup and some salad and maybe a piece of bread and a small glass of wine.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  It is nasty rainy here today.  When it is like that, when I am home, all I wanna do is nap and watch movies.  I do walk my dogs for 10 minutes twice a day so that counts as a little.  I would like to crank that up to maybe 1/2 hour twice a day and then do something else.  I’ll make it happen, all I gotta do is start and then I will be okay.  Thats always been the hardest part for me as I have kind of a fibromyalgia kind of thing and that would be the best thing I could do but it always is a struggle at first to get started with exercise.  It’s great to see all of you ladies’ progress. 

I fill a gallon pitcher of water and put it in the fridge every morning as I’m fixing my coffee (for 3 mornings now) and by bedtime, it better be gone. Helps me get it all in. And, if I want something like a diet coke, I have a “must drink 2 glasses of water first” rule. Just a thought.

by Sue Gilbert, M.S., for iVillage

Q: Dear Sue:

Would you please send to me a list of the 10 absolute worst foods you can eat?

Thanks, Leslie

A: Dear Leslie:

There are so many products that belong on the list that I couldn’t limit it to 10, so rather than focus on individual brands I stuck to food categories. Foods and ingredients on this list don’t need to be avoided entirely. Just be sure to eat them sparingly if you eat them at all.

Hydrogenated fats

These are mostly man-made fats that are used in bakery items and stick margarine. Studies show that it isn’t so much how much fat there is in your diet that causes problems, as what kind of fat, and hydrogenated fats are the worst. Avoid buying cookies, crackers, baked goods or anything else that has hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list. Fortunately, the FDA now requires that food manufactures identify the amount of hydrogenated fats in their products—look for trans fats on the nutrition panel.

From iVillage on MSN Health & Fitness:

· Keep track of everything you eat and drink. Write it down as soon as you swallow so you don’t forget! No need to estimate calories—just write down the type of food or beverage and the amount.

· Cut your fat intake in half. That means half as much margarine or butter on toast, vegetables and your morning English muffin; half the mayonnaise on your noontime sandwich; and half the oil in the pan when you saute foods. You get the idea!

· Limit sugary treats to three times per week maximum. On those occasions, make sure you follow our snack suggestions for sweet ideas that won’t derail this diet.

· Include good sources of protein at every meal: chicken, fish, legumes, peanut butter, cottage cheese, eggs or yogurt.