nikkibikki

So my mother is a fan of the dieter’s green tea because she claims it cleans out her stomach and told me i should try it out. I looked at the packaging and looked online for info on this stuff - and all the sites claim it just is a detoxifier for the body. Unless you are on a strict healthy eating diet - I dont see how one drink can be a detox machine for anyone. The only conclusion i’ve been able to make about this stuff is that its a laxative. I could very well be wrong - actually tell me I’m wrong so I dont have to tell my mom it needs to be on her no -no food list - it’s a hard concept to tell her. Laxatives, when abused, cause u to not absorb the nutrients you need, making u malnutritioned. So here is the question - should we beware of the dieter’s green tea or is it truly just like green tea and perfectly safe?

hey guys - I came across this poem and thought I’d share it with you guys - a lot of us have been in holes lately and thought this would help raise a lot of spirits…. take care!

Never Forget

Your presence is a present to the world.
You’re unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days, just one at a time.
Count your blessings, not your troubles.
You’ll make it through, whatever comes along.
Within you are so many answers.
Understand, have courage, be strong.
Don’t put limits on yourself.
So many dreams are waiting to be realized.
Decisions are too important to leave to chance.
Reach for your peak, your goal and your prize.
Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.
The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it gets.
Don’t take things too seriously.
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.
Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot . . . goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life’s treasures are people . . . together.
Realize that it’s never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have health, hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a star.
And don’t ever forget . . .
For even a day . . .
How very special you are.

Author Unknown

hey can anyone recommend a good tae bo dvd? I got the cardio but felt i wasn’t getting much exercise out of it…..

hey guys-

for those of u who missed (and those of u who didn’t) - I decided to join the wagon again after falling off. I pretty much decided to regroup and restart since I’ve got more stability in my life now- such as:

- got my hormone pills and am taking them properly

- got my thyroid meds an am taking them religiously

- im taking my depression mes religiously

- got most of my tops picks of caribbean med school applications filled out after being bummed about not getting into a school in the states

- am looking into stuent loans so I dont have to stress how I’m going to afford summer school

- one positive thing - I’ll have my second credit card of three paid off after this month finally - so that means 2 down - only one more to go!

- i’ve pretty much distanced myself from my dad so we are barely at speaking terms - this way i can focus on myself and get what i need done to get ahead in life. My dad just sits and complains about everything in life but refuses to do anything to change it.  It would just make me mad and just cause problems for both of us. So i’ve decided- he is an adult he can take care of himself just like i can - only he can make his life better for himself - not anyone else else (contrary to his belief)

anyways - so ive finally got the stability ive been searching for - now if i can find a better paying job - ill be happy!

and finally - i finally figured out how to use the food journal on this site today - i must say its god sent!

anyways - hope u guys are doing wel - ill be back later!

take care!

neera

So I’m stuck at 173. It won’t budge what so ever. This can only mean I’m doing something wrong. I’ve been hoping to hit 169 for two weeks now but with no avail- wth!!! I am capable of being strict with my diet - can some one please help and give me pointers??

Hey guys! What’s going on? You know, I couldn’t help but notice, while i eat my serving size of doritos (I saved my last 250 calories of the day for them- go me!), that lots of people are beating themselves up for a slip up. Please please please guys don’t do that - y? because u will end up eating worse and feeling bad. Let ME CLEAR Up some misconceptions that are circulating in hopes to give many of you guys perspective:

Lesson Number One: Unless You have been eating a 1400 calorie diet and are taking it down a notch to 1200 calories, NO ONE SHOULD start a diet at 1200 calories unless you want to FAIL!!!

Yes- you heard me - UNLESS you want to F-A-I-L!!! Y?

1.)because 1200 calories don’t give you much to eat to begin with so you will always feel hungry andend up messing up ur diet

2.) if ur used to eating like 2200 calories a day then suddenly drop to 1200, ur body is going to go into starvation mode.

Remember guys, this should be a lifestyle change, not a crash diet course. Start by reducing ur diet to 1500 calories. Remember if ur exercising your going to get hungrier and are going to want to eat. Once you hit a plateau, the knock it down to 1400, then 1200. This way, by the time u r down 1200, ur stomach would have shrunk by then, u will have better control over ur portion size, and ull be less likely to fall off the wagon.

Lesson Number 2: Calories should not exceed what you should be eating for any consecutive 24 hour period, not day. So say u pigged out on some yummy pizza around 4 pm. Count how many calories there are and make sure anything you eat from that point until 4 pm the next day does not exceed what you should be eating. Why is this a smarter way of eating? Let’s face it - we all love to eat that oh so bad for you mexican cheesy enchiladas or eat that bad for ur hips food at parties, not to mention we all give in to our late nite or middle of the night cravings. We all have been guilty of eating our calories for the day thinking we will have a small light dinner or no dinner at all and then end up going out to eat with the family or friends. When we are done, we end up beating ourselves up for being stupid and then try to be healthy starting the next day. By doing the 24 hour watch, we hold ourselves accountable for what we eat no matter when we eat it and are always within our daily calorie allowance. I wanted to reach out to the woman you felt bad about the cake - please hun don’t feel bad- there is nothing to feel that bad about - so what if it as 500 calories- that means for the following 24 hours (several of which will go toward sleeping) you will eat only 1000 calories - just up ur veggies and fruits and guess what - ur still in ur calorie allowance and got a treat! so stop beating urselves up folks! It is possible to have our cake and eat too (with a little work =P)

okkie - i wanted to write more but im sleepy - I’ll tell u guys more later - nite!

Hey- so I took the day off yesterday from diet (bad I know!) since I did well the whole week - I had :

*breakfast - 2 hardboiled eggs and an orange

* lunch - shrimp pasta salad I made at home (instead of using dressing from the store, I made my own using a lemon, a handful of fresh cilantro and one tablespoon of olive oil - was good!)

* late afternoon - binged on doritos

* dinner - a lean cuisine pizza, a slice of a cake i made yesterday (it’s made almost entirely of milk!)

although i shouldn’t have pigged out on the doritos and had the cake, I could have chosen worse so not going to beat myself up for it. Today I’ve been careful so far about my diet - it’s 2:22 and all I’ve had are oranges, strawberries with fat free cool whip, a banana, and a hard boiled egg. I plan to eventually indulge  in a sandwich for lunch and fruits plus raw nuts and skim milk for dinner.

Now for the rantings:

Ranting 1:

I understand many people spend time together by eating together - and my dad’s idea of spending time together is eating together. However, it kills me to eat the fattening foods he is trying to get me to eat. I feel bad saying no to him, but at this point, my health is more important that his feeling bad I won’t eat the food. Worse, I feel it bothers me that at 26 I don’t touch half the things he eats, at his age he shouldn’t even be thinking about them! He already takes blood pressure meds and meds to lower his cholestrol yet he refuses to control his diet -how can one eat so much pizza and taco bell every week with out any guilt is beyond me. Dad is sure he has sugar problems even though his blood report always comes out normal. I told him several times that if he feels that strongly about it to cut the sugar from his diet completely or reduce his sugar and carb intake. He claims he has to eat ice cream and pizza to maintain his sugar levels since he feels his sugar levels are too low or drop. I tried to explain to him that when you eat food high in sugar or processed cards it is normal to have a drop in your sugar levels after an hour because your body is reacting to the excess sugar you ate - when u eat a brownie or something - it is natural to get a sugar ‘high’ - to bring ur sugar levels back down to normal , ur body releases a large amount of insulin to bring it down. Once they bring it down, there is going to be a momentary low in sugar because ur body released all that insulin to remove all that sugar from the blood. Once the sugar is gone, ur body will be like ok insulin, u can go home now - its all clean! and then it will it will adust to normal. Eating another bowl of ice cream an hour later because  ur glucose test is showing a normal dipin ur sugar level is not the answer! Currently dad thinks his blood is too thick so is taking aspirin to thin it out - again utter nonsense - I told him to not eat so much aspirin because it can cause stomach ulcers and intestinal bleeding and told him that if you don’t trust doctors to go to med school urself then diagnose urself and others. Its one thing to try to prescribe stuff to urself, but its another to me and my brothers. My brothers listen from one ear and out the other just to humor him, and let it go, but for some reason - it makes me mad- its like- no! what are u thinking? that is not true nor does it make sense! Sometimes i try to explain the flaws in his logic, others i just stay quiet and dont say anything. What can I say, I’m sure his doctors have also told him that he just needs to eat healthy and exercise just like I have.

thanks guys somuch for ur ideas on how to work out at home - i took the youtube idea (since im a poor college student!) and basically did a 20 minute streaming video of belly dancing - all i can say is ouch my abs and wow those women in the video - such grace! I must saw it was kind of interesting sticking out my chest and moving hips so slowly - almost sensual. The weird part is some how during those twenty minutes i really got into the moves and started liking my body - maybe it was being able to move it like that… I think every women should try it at least once!

so today I started okayish enough- I had a tomato, onion, and cheddar cheese sandwich for brunch along with a glass of skim milk. I had some strawberries later for snack, then for dinner I had three huge tacos. I meant to have only two - but the third one just wouldnt stop tempting me - needless to say - the third one didn’t taste nearly as good as the first two. Dessert- strawberries with fat free cool whip.   I feel terrible about that third taco - I still don’t get why I ate it- i wasn’t even hungry. I was stuffed after 2 bites of it. It just makes me mad that I knew it was wrong and didn’t want to eat - yet I still stuffed it down my face- I’m such a moron! oh well - tomorrow - I’ll be more strict with myself- I have to - I got one week left until my weigh in - I want to see my results!!!!

Hey guys, so today I didn’t make out to the gym. I don’t have any videos at home and don’t want to go to sleep with out doing something beneficial toward my exercise so wanted to know what I can do- any suggestions?