Never 2 Late 2 Chase the Dream (it's better than liposuction)

[SpacecityPaula]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

Right now I am munching on my fake chocolate ice cream. Just add coco power (I use dark from Hersheys) and some stevia to non-fat cottage cheese and blend until smooth like pudding. Put in freezer for about 2 hours and enjoy like ice cream... Ummmmm...

I might have to try this with some low fat CC

[RedLefty]

I'm all about stuff like that. On workout days I make a cottage cheese / protein powder pudding for my pre-bed snack. My favorite is strawberry-banana.

The dark cocoa powder sounds awesome. I might try it and put a few drops of peppermint extract in there too.

[SpacecityPaula]

I tried just yogurt with Butter Toffee Mixed into it last night. It was not good (to me at least)

[kfisherx]

What kills me is all the talk on this board about "cheat" meals. Who needs those when there are so many unique ways to have good foods. I used to hate cottage cheese and plain yogurt until I discovered they had no flavor and great macros. Now they taste like whatever I want them to taste like. I made a creamy curry sauce for my chicken the other week from cottage cheese as well. Good stuff....

[missjane]

Well, put it this way......life is to short, IMHO, to completely deny myself something for the rest of my life! So, for me, chocolate cake for a special occasion, a couple of hot dogs at the ballgame, or a big pizza, or some Ben and Jerry's Phish Food is what I call a "cheat" or a "reload". And, as long as it's only every few weeks, I'm happy and my body is happy. And, in those instances no cottage cheese or yogurt fakeout is going to work for me!

[Bytsi]

Originally Posted by missjane

Well, put it this way......life is to short, IMHO, to completely deny myself something for the rest of my life! So, for me, chocolate cake for a special occasion, a couple of hot dogs at the ballgame, or a big pizza, or some Ben and Jerry's Phish Food is what I call a "cheat" or a "reload". And, as long as it's only every few weeks, I'm happy and my body is happy. And, in those instances no cottage cheese or yogurt fakeout is going to work for me!

Agreed (well, maybe not the hotdog part, but that's just me )

I met a woman who had lost 200# (without surgery). She hadn't had a bite of chocolate in over 4 years. Not one. Not even a single m&m. Not even dark chocolate ! I guess it depends on what's worth it to you... for Karla, she is happy with the substitutions and doesn't miss the real thing enough to bother eating it. For Jane, it's worth it in moderation, as a treat.

I don't want to imagine a world without chocolate in it ... can I eat that way all the time? No. I used to - I lived on candy, chips, fast food, restaurant meals (usually fried food with appetizers AND dessert)... and it showed. I was fat, unhappy, had high cholesterol and IBS (which magically disappeared when I started eating healthier).

It's all about choices. There are those who are content to say "food is fuel" and nothing more, there are those who consider cooking an art form and good food something to be savored as one of the great pleasures in life. It all comes down to whatever works for you -- and making choices that help you find the right BALANCE in your own life. With food and drink and exercise and everything else.

(sorry for the hijack!)

[kfisherx]

Guys... I was mostly "toungue in cheek" on my last post. Of course this fake crap doesn't make up for the real stuff. It is just funny to me that it has no flavor and so I make it be whatever I want it to be in order to get it into my system. On a more serious note, in some sick way it really does make the cravings go away for at least the moment for me.

[realcdn]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

What kills me is all the talk on this board about "cheat" meals. Who needs those when there are so many unique ways to have good foods. I used to hate cottage cheese and plain yogurt until I discovered they had no flavor and great macros. Now they taste like whatever I want them to taste like. I made a creamy curry sauce for my chicken the other week from cottage cheese as well. Good stuff....

It's funny, but to me yogurt has a taste (one I really don't like). I tried making yogurt cheese a couple of years ago and spiced it with lots of indian-type spices and still couldn't take it. I thought I could hide it with other flavours but couldn't. I made a cherry yogurt sorbet the other week. I took 1 cup of a homemade sorbet mix (canned) and mixed it with 1/2 cup yogurt. Although I can still kind of taste the yogurt I think I can get used to eating the mix. It was an attempt to use up the canned fruit mix with a few less calories.

I don't really think I have cheat meals. In the summer I may stray a little from my macros some days to include a little alcohol. I haven't actually tried to work any in at the moment, so I might still be able to keep the protein levels up depending on the evening meals. I've technically made nothing off limit, but there are plenty of things I'm avoiding (mainly junk food) since I lack the control to take them in moderation.

Originally Posted by Bytsi

I met a woman who had lost 200# (without surgery). She hadn't had a bite of chocolate in over 4 years. Not one. Not even a single m&m. Not even dark chocolate ! I guess it depends on what's worth it to you... for Karla, she is happy with the substitutions and doesn't miss the real thing enough to bother eating it. For Jane, it's worth it in moderation, as a treat.

I think it depends on your personal level of control. Back in late December I bought a small amount of individually wrapped dark chocolate. I thought since I was calorie counting I could work in a piece now and then. They were 30cals each, and quite dark (I didn't log what %). To be honest, I'm not sure I even liked them. 29 pieces later (870 cals) I realized that it was a stupid purchase not even a month into the calorie counting and I ended the day at 2800+ calories.

For some it's a compulsion. Maybe it can be controlled, maybe not. For the woman you're talking about, maybe one piece leads to another, and an uncontrollable slide. The silly thing about the chocolate incident for me is that I couldn't stop it. I should have chucked them, flushed them, but no, my solution was to finish them so that they would be gone. I know, not rational, but true. It led to another (worse) binge a few days later on my birthday. Somehow I've managed to get it in check, but not sure that I'll ever be completely trustworthy with some items.

So for some things I create better, healthier substitutes. Pizza is something we used to keep one or two in the freezer. Although acceptable calories they were too high in fat content. The newer version is higher in protein, lower in fat (carbs a little higher, but mine has more veggies on it). And you know something - I like it better. So, I'm somewhere in between. I'm working on the food as fuel, but deep in my heart I'm a foodie - I like good food. Luckily I'm a pretty decent cook, so I can create my own 'treats' within my daily plan.

[realcdn]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

BTW: Yesterday I logged a 1:20 hour run at about 10 (maybe 10.5) min mile pace. It was very nice and initially my body was really sore after the run but a few hours later, all was well. Today my hammies are still a tiny bit tender from Sat workout so am doing quads tonight and no cardio.

I envy that, a lot. I think somewhere inside me there's a runner. It may take a while to get there, but one day....

[tcoy777]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

What kills me is all the talk on this board about "cheat" meals. Who needs those when there are so many unique ways to have good foods. I used to hate cottage cheese and plain yogurt until I discovered they had no flavor and great macros. Now they taste like whatever I want them to taste like. I made a creamy curry sauce for my chicken the other week from cottage cheese as well. Good stuff....

I kind of get your point. My thought is if you fit whatever you eat in your daily caloric intake, is it really a cheat??? If you count whatever you eat you either at too much or too little. Eating some "less than clean" food may make your macros off, but in the end if you maintain your calories I think its ok on occasion. I think some time we tend to obsess to much on one day of eating and not the whole week. I think you can make up a slight mess up on one meal over the whole week of eating good and solid workouts.

[Bytsi]

For some it's a compulsion. Maybe it can be controlled, maybe not. For the woman you're talking about, maybe one piece leads to another, and an uncontrollable slide. The silly thing about the chocolate incident for me is that I couldn't stop it. I should have chucked them, flushed them, but no, my solution was to finish them so that they would be gone. I know, not rational, but true.

Understood... absolutely. It's still all about the balance, isn't it? For some, that balance means "NO CHOCOLATE" because it sets off a slide... I can't do cheat days (or even full cheat meals) because I fall off the wagon. I can handle a little bite here and there (or even dessert sometimes), as long as it's mixed in with my day, so that's what I do... Balance doesn't mean that everyone can have treats - it means that we all have our own balance point for eating and exercising, and we have to find it for ourselves (through, in my case, lots of trial and error and I'm still not completely there!). FWIW, I just had to decide to stop buying beef jerky. Great l/f protein source, but I can't seem to stop at one serving (or even 2)... so I won't buy it even though I love it.

Glad you're figuring out what you can and can't handle...

And Karla - glad to know you were kinda sorta kidding - you're pretty super-human as it is with your discipline. If chocolate-flavored cottage cheese was as good as the "real thing" to you... I can't even imagine!!!

[kfisherx]

Actually Bytsi, I don't really like chocolate that much so cottage cheese with cocoa really is as good as the real stuff for me. That said, the creamy curry sauce and my fake pizza really do not cut it. We all have our little foodisms it seems.

I am with tcoy 100%.. It ain't a cheat if it don't mess with macros and calories over the period of a week.

[kfisherx]

Ah spring came again to Oregon with a blissful 70 degree evening. So I took a run. I did the 5.5 (ish) mile loop of hills around my house with my schnauzer. I PR'd in that I never once walked on the last 1.5 miles uphill. I did the run in well under an hour so I am thinking a 10.2 min mile run for me tonight. I'll take it. My goal on these runs is to not push my HR up too high. My trainer suggested I get a HR monitor and suggested that I look at the Polar brand but I found one on Woot for cheap that I bought instead. I am just now trying it out. Seems to work okay for the basic stuff.

After the run I came home and did some ab stuff

Superset (3x15)
swiss ball crunch (+25lb)
Reverse crunches

Hanging Leg Raises
3x15

Scale told me this morning that I had gained a pound and also that I had gained some bf. Hmmmmm.... Today at work 2 different people noticed that I am slimming. Also after the ab workout and run guess what I could see today. Tummy muscles are back!!!! The cool thing is they are showing up already even though I am at a very high bf still. I might be able to pull off a abs at higher than 10%. In any case I am definately starting to lean out.

That scale is a funcking liar. Fortunately I don't head trip about it anymore....

[Brentv]

Nice abs! You're gonna be so ripped when you finish this cut. Are you still outrunning that schnauzer?

Brent