Mmmmm, yes! I wish cherries and berries weren't so expensive! I'd be eating them all the time!

I know what you mean - but I try whenever I can especially now during the summer. I love them!

Mmm cherries and berries! Ok I have to to go to the store now and get some.

Lost in NY, I am so glad to hear your workout went well. The warm-up is definitely the hardest part (and waking up, lol). Keep the motivation up and you will be happy with the results.

I was so horrible last week and didn't work out in the morning, but I managed to get up and run 4 miles this morning. God, I was dragging in the beginning, but I had a couple run partners to keep me motivated. I think anytime you are going outside to walk or run it is a big help to have a partner.

I tried working out in the morning last Ramadan and, uh, to say the least, it is not easy. I ran 3 miles the second day into Ramadan and spent the rest of the day dying of thirst because I couldn't replace the water. I made it and didn't break my fast, but I decided running was out of the question if I was to make it the whole month. After that I kept the excercise to a minimum. Like I would get on a stationary bike for 20 minutes, do stretching or do the eliptical (sp?) machine. Nothing for too long and also wait awhile after you have sahur (your last meal before fasting). I made the mistake of trying to work out 30 minutes after eating and gulping water, that didn't go too well for me either. These are my recomendations for those that really want to try keeping some kind of routine going and still fast.

S & S - thanks for sharing your recommendations on working out during Ramadan - I bet a lot of ladies will find your advice very helpful.

So the morning work out was a great experience - kept me going through the whole date and left me craving more. I had planned to go back home and do the second part of my work out - the strength & stretch but as always my planes have changed. I went out for lunch and the weather was just so gorgeous I decided that I should walk home from the city. To make a long story short I end up going to Sports Authority and finally purchased the pedometer I meant to get and then stopped at the Container Store and had enough - still did a good amount of walking so I feel good nonetheless - tomorrow is another day.

Lost in NY, thats great that you are so motivated and you got a pedometer! I've been telling myself for years that I should get one of those. You are ahead of me there. Usually I end up just running for a set time and then going back with my car to measure the distance, lol. The pedometer would be a lot easier.

Today I did some squats I can barely walk my legs are so worn out!

They really make all the difference - it is so great to have this track of your steps. When I was in Argentina last year, I walked so much each day just on normal trips downtown. I would have 14,000 steps after 3 hours of running errands around the city. It was unreal! Now, I'm a slug and I have to get my mojo back.

Wadi and I were carrying the groceries upstairs last night and I was ahead of him and he was shocked by the muscles in my arms. I guess he hadn't really noticed since I'm not in the habit of flexing my muscles around the house.

I'm thinking it's not such a good thing though. I have a muscular/athletic type frame and I don't want to look manly.

Should I stop doing strength training and only do cardio and stretching?

I think you might like pilates as a way to keep you long and lean.

Yeah, I think that's a good idea! I had always thought that Pilates required expensive equipment, but after browsing a bit online I see that the fancy equipment is optional. Anyone have any good DVD recs for mat pilates?

Why not check out your local library to see if they have that Windsor Pilates workout - Daisy Fuentes always seemed to look really good. That way you can try a few without having to commit.

Don't miss this thread! http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=141883

A great website to help you choose the healthy option when eating out!

I walked from my car to the building this morning!

Normally I wait for the shuttle since our parking lot is a good 10 minute walk to the building but this morning it was so nice out.

I hearby commit to walking to and from my car to the building. (did that sentence make sense?)

Unless it's snowy or rainy.

Good plan! And the exceptions are reasonable.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

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).

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.

Priceless!

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!

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.

Your story really made me feel better, lol. Now I know I'm not the only one and I have your advice for how to deal with him. That is too funny. Thanks for sharing that!

we (ie my husband) take bronzino (mediterranean sea bass) and prepare it whole, head on tail on. slice each side 3 times in parallel lines, only going through about a 1/4 inch. either pan flash fry over high heat (olive oil only!) or forgo that and grill or broil. he then makes a little pan with a few TBSP olive oil, few cloves garlic, handful of chopped parsley, salt, pepper, white wine (probably not necessary) and cook it for a while. sometimes we add a little butter if we dont care about diet that evening, usually not. oh and lemon juice. cook it until its a sauce then when the fish is done pour it over the fish. its awesome! he also sometimes makes a sauce like what i described above but adds avocado and purees it? i dont know - he is a really good cook.

sometimes we have rice with fish but usually we just have israeli salad (finely chopped up cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado if you have it, green or regular onion, red pepper with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper)

i also like making mushroom sauces for fish i think mushrooms and fish go very well together.

Do those of you who are muslim or ramadan sympathists (ie fasting with your husband) lose weight over the holiday? If I fasted all day I would definately lose weight than is when I do most of my eating. I think about yom kippur and we fast all day and after that I eat a few biscuit cookies and a brothy chicken soup and cant eat anymore so its not like I eat all of the calories at night. I know in mena people stay up all night and sleep all day so could do all of their eating at night but Im thinking most people here work during hte day so its only a limited period during the night, no? Just curious.

I am a ramadan sympathist. I usually lose a few pounds the first week of ramadan, but then gain it back before the month is over. In fact, I'm a little bit nervous about ramadan this year with my improved eating habits and exercise regimen.

baaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ohhhh myyyyyyy gooooodness!!! that is hilarioius! not so much for him though i guess.....

I've decided diet schmiet. Although I haven't completely given up on it...I'm really tired of falling off the wagon and feeling guilty ... why can't we all be like my father? No, not a hairy dude with danglies... but rather.. a person who stays perfect in shape and eats enough at each meal to feed an entire army. We're talkin he will eat out of the serving bowls and go for seconds! He will eat out of a large butter tub sized bowl and get 2nds!! He eats 2 large pizzas all by himself and I swear he doesn't weigh more than 135lbs!!!!

Amal, how about coming up with some ideas that you think might be easier for you to stick to. I'd hate to see you quit now - you were making such great progress!

oh i've made wonderful progress.. 28lbs gone woohooo but i'm so sick of not eating what i reeeeally want to eat. I'm not actually hungry when I follow my diet but I start rebelling after a month or so and want to forget counting calories/carbs/points/whatever and just stuff myself silly and be a gigantic ball of miserable human rolling on the floor in pleasurable agony lol is that too much to ask

28 lbs...thats awesome. Good job!! I need motivation. Or like some comedian said...maybe I just need bigger friends.

I fast and like you said I can't eat that much at the end of the day because my stomach shrank. My husband told me to eat a little, then pray the maghrib prayer and then eat more. That didn't work out so well. Its like my stomach is shrink wrap and was happy with the little I ate and wouldn't let more in. So after that I just ate as much as I could fit (still not as much as normal) and then tried to eat a small snack before bed. I've never been a big eater when first getting up so that meal was small too. I am really small to begin with so I probably only lost 2 pounds in the first couple weeks (and I had lost about 8 pounds before that which I didn't need to be losing but my stress was high). Then when I went to the middle east we stayed up all night so I could eat more. I gained back the 2 pounds then, lol. This year I will be in America the whole time so I'll probably lose weight again. I put on about 5 pounds since Ramadan so it will not be as big of a deal.

Thanks! I am going to copy down your suggestions. You know how sometimes you just get in a rut and even one new things will be all it takes to get you out...

Same for me. Ammar is so much better now at letting me be in charge of my diet, and he's no longer insisting I need to eat this or that, meat, etc.

So was that 30 mintes 3 times a week or 30 minutes 7 days a week in the study?


LOL no, I don't.... but that's like what I do normally... minus the oil and substitute butter.


Yeah, I have these DVDs... by Jari Love? (sp)... anyway, she does light weight, lots of reps, with lots of stretching and it really does thin you down and not cause the bulk.

A whole fish must be expensive? I had always wondered. Anyway, I saw MSB for sale at the fish market, but it was like $15/lb. I wanted to try it, but I didn't. Lemon juice usually does what the wine will do as far as somewhat similar flavor and tenderizing... although yeah there is a difference. i could subsitute that out though. Thanks!!


I did the first time, second time, no. it depends on if I am sneaking food or not lol. I don't know if I'll do it this year or not-- but I do more or less not eat during the light by default since I am getting off work at 7am and then wake up at 5-6pm, then maybe I'll have something then but most of the day it's not a big deal.

Awwww, don't quit now! You are really close to your minigoal. Think about all the time you've spent already, and how much closer you are now, and think about your health and your son, etc. Hey! my mom is about 100lbs and has been her whole life. I feel ya!


It's psychological addiction! I get the same way. I'm not hungry but oh, I totally crave cheese and bread and all kinds of things.

OK! Well.... I feel thinner today and that counts, right? LOL! Yesterday I ate so many things out of my garden, and I felt really good.. but today when I added up my calories I had only eaten 1216! I did a count at:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

and it shows you what you need to maintain or diet. So I was right on thinking I needed about 1500. Today I have about 1600, so I figure it kind of makes up for yesterday! And yay for falling pants! My pants are getting really loose. I can't wear my other work pants yet though, gotta keep wearing these for a couple more size changes before I can get into those. I think i may have gone down a size. I'm scared to check, though, and get depressed.

I'm so happy for you Julianna. That is so great. Keep up the good work and you will be there in no time!

Thanks for the link to that site julianna!

I totally love sparkpeople.com

I've fasted the last two years, and this has been my experience also. By the end of it all, I haven't lost anything. I don't stay up any later at night though. This year my husband will be working from about 4 pm - 2 am, and I'm worried about getting the munchies alone. I won't be walking during that month either. I've been planning to do exercise tapes an hour or so after breaking the fast, but I might try getting a day pass at the gym and doing some water aerobics. I don't know if I'd get too thirsty doing that before sundown or not.

30 minutes, 5 days a week is what has been recommended. The study suggested we need about twice that much, 275 minutes a week, which breaks down to 55 minutes, 5 days a week, to lose weight and keep it off. But that's moderate exercise, like walking.
link

I'm walking 35 minutes a day, 7 days a week, so I'm 30 minutes short for the week. I walk 7 days just to help me keep the momentum (and have a few extra calories to eat during the day ) but when I start strength training, I'll probably do that every other day.

Almost every day at the park, there's a group of 20-somethings (men and women) playing ultimate frisbee. They must do that most days. There's so much movement, I don't think those women have to do anything extra to keep the weight off. I'm not ready for ultimate frisbee, but there's also a disc golf course around the perimeter, and I was addicted to that a couple of years ago. That isn't aerobic enough for what I need right now, but I could tack some of that on after the walk. It's a great stress reliever.

Today I realized I could, in theory, reach my ultimate goal weight by my birthday, although I know weight loss tends to slow over time as the body adjusts. And I'm not going to cut calories severely because that doesn't work and because I want a plan I can live with. But it's good to see what's possible, at least on paper.

wow, it sounds like you have some good plans

I'm very curious if the water areobics wil lhelp you stay a bit more hydrated. Let us know how it goes!