It's Time For A New Life

[Jules]

Carrie, I'm glad the new diet is working out, but especially that you had an enjoyable birthday with your man. I'm glad you two are talking and figuring out why he's acting the way he was, now hopefully you can progress in a new direction. I'm so happy things are going well for you.
Cheers!

[Missy]

I'm glad to hear your night went well and that your guy is finally opening up to you. Hopefully now that everything is out in the open, things will start to build into a relationship.

How does the LA Weight Loss diet work?

[Trying4Thin]

Oh man do I feel like a little oinker...I feel like all I did today was EAT. I found out today that my daily caloric intake is supposed to be 2,000 calories and they think I wasnt eating enough before. Now I feel like I am always full. I still have more veggies to eat tonight and I have no idea where I am going to put them. Strange thing happened today. I was pretty much forced to work over today and luckily I had my food guide with me and I was able to eat lunch (which I couldnt finish even though I thought I was ravenous). Then I ate a Soy protein bar on the way to my appointment with LA. These guys weigh you in everytime you walk through the door. For some dumb reason I got on the scale today after work despite the fact I cheated earlier this week and had only been on the diet one full day. My scale said I gained. So I was prepared for a gain on their scale as well. Since first walking into the center on Tuesday I have lost 1 pound. I havent even started the exercise yet! My counselor was even talking about my license picture to another client; telling them how much I had changed. She even said I was attractive. (I cant remember the last time I heard that.) "My guy" used to tell me that I had a pretty face. He aint seen nuthin' yet! I will talk about him later on. Right now I am hopped up on my diet. This is the first diet I have ever been on where they make you eat salt! I have to eat 1/4 tsp of Morton's Lite Salt a day because it contains potassium. I didnt want to eat too big a banana. Well I didnt have anything to pour it on. I dont add salt to anything anymore. So I uh, just swallowed it whole. I dont recommend doing this. Holy salt overload batman!! Amen it dissolved fast. Blech...I also bought 56 boxes of LA Lites Soy Protien Bars. They look like nothing, but folks they tame the hungries in a major way. I ended up with 1 box of Chocolate Mint and 2 boxes of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Mmmmmm dessert! I go back to see my counselor again on Tuesday. During the weight loss phase they want to see me 3 times a week. I gotta keep myself in line.
Ace still doesnt want to come out of his cage. I should be more persistant in getting him out. He will sit on my finger for a few seconds and then jump off. He is very active and is constantly climbing the bars or his perches. He uses his beak as a third foot. He sleeps on one foot and can really squak when he wants to. I think my bird is a monkey with feathers and a beak. One of these days I will get some pictures. He's a "cutie patooty" as Rosie O'Donnell used to say.
Well my IPod is about fully stuffed. And tomorrow it will back to work while I head to the gym. When Season 2 of "Lost" comes out, I will be back on the bike. Although I do still have some dvds I have yet to watch. I would kill to be at my goal weight in under 22 weeks. I want to be the new poster girl for LA Weight Loss. (hehe).
Well I am rambling because of the food haze I am now in. Anyone want to eat my 1 and 1/2 cups of broccoli for me? I am stuffed to the gills.

~Carrie

[muppet]

Hello Carrie. I'm so glad you're back, and doing so well.
Salt straight? Are you nuts??? Blechhh!
I know how much you love your ipod. I am thinking of getting one of these devices for myself. I'm feeling like a dinosaur, carrying around my little cd player! I also would like to be able to have more options. You know-- I pick a cd, and I'm stuck with it for the duration.
So anyway -- do you really think the ipod is better than other models? What makes it so much more expensive? I don't really need anything that holds a million songs or anything. I'm technologically challenged, so please excuse me here -- but I think 1G??? will hold like 400-500 songs. This sounds like plenty to me! My son tells me that's not very big, and I should get something that will hold more. I can't quite understand why. But maybe after I get one, I'll wish I had more space on it.
Any tips? Any features I should look for that you absolutely couldn't live without?
Thanks!
Carol

[Trying4Thin]

Hi Carol,
You have inspired me to create a new list:

Why My IPod is My Best Friend:

1) My Ipod Mini can hold 1,000 songs
2) I can listen to Podcasts from my favorite shows (Grey's Anatomy!!)
3) It never skips and has a lock feature
4) It is light and comes with a clip so you dont have to carry it
5) Plenty of accessories out there for it (expensive though)
6) Song downloads are 99 cents; unless they are listed as "Album Only"
7) They are really easy to master (If you need help let me know)
8) Battery life is several hours
9) Many cool colors to choose from
10) You can also put your books on cd on your Ipod
11) It has a music quiz on it based on your song choices
12) ITunes has radio channels
13) Only download what you want
14) Create your own playlists or burn cds (if you have a burner)
15) Save a zillion dollars in the longrun

I dont have any experience with any other brand. Songs dont wear out and you dont have to worry about having a neverending supply of AA batteries. I bring my IPod everywhere. The fancier models allow you to watch tv shows and music videos. Sorry, but I dont want to ogle Josh Holloway on a tiny screen. I'd probably run out into traffic or off the side of the treadmill. I would get the IPod mini. You say you want room for only 400-500 songs, but trust me...they add up quickly. Songs are tough to move to another computer. No clue how to do it unless I burn them to a cd. You cant use your IPod until it is registered and the software is installed on your pc or you will lose everything. At one point, before I knew what I was doing; my pc erased my entire library. Luckily I hadnt purchased anything yet and it was all from my own cd collection. Hope this helps a little. If you need something; just ask.

~Carrie

[Trying4Thin]

Hi everyone!

Hope you all are having a good holiday weekend. I know I am. The weather is looking good and I think I am going to go and hit the track for a while. No special smilies today cuz there is a script error. Hopefully they will be working later on. Still on my diet although it really doesnt feel like one. I think it has helped that I have lost weight on my own because my stomach has already shrunk some and I am not hungry all the time like I used to be. I am a little nervous about weighing in on Tuesday. I am watching portions like a hawk and I dont use salad dressing anymore since I have zero self control over that. But I am trying to enjoy a variety of different foods so I keep from getting bored. I still have no idea what in the heck I am supposed to put the 1/4 tsp of salt on. I was always taught that salt was baaaad. Talk about weird. But I am going to do what they tell me to. I hope to see some results in the coming weeks. I cant wait to see the new me. I think the "me" that I saw on my birthday was only the beginning. Too bad I had to take a shower and my hair went back to it's normal craziness. I would kill to have a job where I could afford to have my hair flat ironed every week. It really brings out the best in me. I can only imagine what losing the rest of the weight will do for me both on the inside and the outside. I dont think anyone (myself included) has any idea of what is hiding underneath all this excess weight. Well I am looking forward to peeling away the layers. I am hoping that I wont recognize the entire "me" by August. How insane would that be??
Well Ace is still being his typical self. I dont know if the flying away is his idea of a game or what? Right now he is running around his cage sqwaking, and doing what I lovingly call his, "MC Hammer Dance." If you have ever had a bird I think you will know what I am talking about. This bird has the energy of a jr. spark plug. Maybe it will rub off on me.
Well I have stalled enough. Time to hit the pavement. If I dont see you...have a great weekend and keep up the fat burning.

~Carrie

[Missy]

Hey Carrie,

You could always add the salt to some of your cooked veggies when you make them. Or if you eat soup.

I love salad dressing too, I get the low fat italian dressing..it has like 5 calories in it. I only use 2 tbsp on my salads though. It's yummy.

It sounds like your diet at LA weight loss is good for you. I know that the more active you are and the leaner you are, the more calories you need, just to keep the metabolism burning fast for you. Congrats on losing a pound already!

[Trying4Thin]

Hi everyone,

Well I hope that my undereating isnt going to come back to bite me in the butt. I just cant eat all this food!! I feel like all I am doing is eating, eating and more eating. I am on the plan for people who exercise 5 or more hours a week. On paper it doesnt look like a lot; but looks are deceiving.

Well I didnt get to the pavement today like I planned. Instead I popped in "Scream 2" and biked for two hours. I was going slowly in order to boost my fat burn and I did another 60%. Total calorie burn was 282. That is way low for me. But when you figure out what the 60% works out to be; then it isnt that bad afterall. As long as I am burning something; I will be happy. The polar guy says I want to be burning fat and that is what I have been doing. I must be doing something because my skin is beginning to look a little droopy from not being so stretched anymore. Gross I know.

Ace (I am going to now call him the "Monkeet." A cross between a monkey and a parakeet) is still doing laps around his cage. Does he ever quit??

My radio station flew out to California to interview the Idol contestants of past and present. I got to hear part of Chris's interview today. They also spoke with Ace; who said that he is single!! I also came in halfway through an interview with one of my faves from last season; Anthony Fedorov. He is putting an album together and I cant wait to hear it. Wonder who else I missed?

Well I guess that is all for now. I think I am going to relax and put my feet up. I think I deserve it!

~Carrie

[muppet]

Hello Carrie. You biked for 2 hours, and only burned 282 calories? I have been keeping track at this site-http://www.calorie-count.com/ I logged in my activies for today. I walk at 3.5 mph for 75 minutes, and it said I burned 400-something. Seems like you should have burned more than that. But I know-- you are looking at a lot more than just calories burned. Or else the calculations on the site I'm using are way off! (hope not!) This is the site, I think Patty Ann had a link to. I really like it -- maybe more than fitday. It give you a grade for your food choices. I got a B+ today. Kinda fun...
Thanks for the ipod info. All I really want to do, is load songs from the cd's I already own onto it. But I realize I might want to do more as time goes by. I'm leary of downloading songs online. If I did that, I would want to burn them onto a cd right away. A few weeks ago, my computer completely crashed and we lost everything. It wasn't a big deal, but if I had 100s of songs downloaded, that I had paid for, I would be upset!
I had Napster, before they shut it down, and before anyone was upset about us using it. I loved it. I like a lot of obscure, old stuff. It was great to be able to find anything -- and it was fun to search a favorite artist, and see what all comes up. I miss napster!!!
Thanks again! Keep on truckin' baby!

[Trying4Thin]

Hi Carol,

I too have been wondering about the speed of this site and I was thinking it had something to do with RoadRunner or my pc. Glad to know it isnt. It does seem to be running better today. There is nothing worse than putting a ton of effort into a post and then losing it because the site "times out" or you hit the "back" or "reload" buttons. Grrr...day 2 and no smilies still. I am not a happy camper.

I have become very skeptical of the calorie burners that you can use online. I know I have given links to some on here, and so have other people. I used to bike 30+ mph and the sites didnt even register that high. Since I am trying to fat burn; I am forced to bike slower. If I go with guns blazing; my fat burn will suffer. The problem with the monitors on those sites is that they arent taylored to a particular individual. Yes they ask for weight, but there is more to it than that. In order to come up with accurate info; they need to include fitness level, HR (elevated and normal range HR), etc. Honestly I was shocked to at the number. But the tension was barely on, and I was lollygaging for pace. Increase either of those and the burn would have been higher. Once you do your fat burning cardio; then you can go nuts and burn a crazy amount of calories. Yeah I was skeptical too; but my shape is starting to change. Keep this in mind too...You will burn an insane amount of calories doing a new activity because you arent used to it, or if you are a former couch potato just starting to introduce any sort of activity. However, as you lose weight you will burn less calories for 2 reasons. 1) Your body becomes used to the activity you are doing and will become more efficient at calorie burning. 2) As you get closer to your goal weight your body will realize that it is getting less fuel and it will do anything and everything to hold onto what you give it. Hense the dreaded "P" word. Plateau. So that is why it is good to cross train and shake things up. For instance; I know I am not going to tax my rear end on the bike for another 2 hours so I am going to hit the pavement before the high heat today. Back to the auto calorie pages. I once got the response that I would burn over 1,000 calories doing one thing and when I did it...I was nowhere near that. So I take them with a grain of salt. In the end, as long as you keep your booty moving and you will be constantly burning calories. You can even burn calories watching tv, using the computer, and even breathing. One of these days I am going to wear my monitor for an entire day just to see what my total burn is. But if you keep raising your metabolic rate and lean muscle to fat ratio; you will be burning more calories than you know what to do with. That is what I have been trying to do by slowing down my workouts. Hope this helps. I am not saying dont use the automated sites; just dont measure your food intake by them. And just for the record; a 400 plus calorie burn on a walk is awesome. Do you have a pedometer? That in itself will keep you wanting to walk more and more, plus it will bring out your inner competitor and best of all; it will help you build endurance.

I know what you mean about Napster. I had 400+ songs stored on my Packard Bell that I cant get to now because I dont have a burner. I understand about losing stuff you paid for. If it is in your library and everything is updated then you should be ok. But ITunes always warns you to back up your files. I think putting them on cd is an excellent idea. Cd writeables are very cheap, and can save you the burden of having to rebuy everything you could lose. If I lost 1,000 worth of stuff they would have to sedate me. Check out the Apple site and see if they have what you are looking for. Or if you dont know what you are looking for; then just go in with an open mind. Yesterday at work I had a long layover and one of the dispatchers brought in her computer and she has over 4,000 songs on it. She also has podcasts, videos and tv shows. I watched the episode of "Scrubs" where 3 patients die and Dr. Cox goes nuts. My Ipod doesnt do that; but I can download shows to my hard drive and watch them on my pc. So just choose what you are looking for and go for it!! I guarrentee that your workouts will come alive. Or for a change of pace; load a book on cd to the Audiobooks section. Wonder how many miles I could go in the six hours it would take me to get through the entire, "And Then There Were None."

Well I have blabbed enough and I better get walking before it hits the 80's. Let me know what you decide to do.

Keep on truckin' ??
Ok...Beep beep honk honk!!

~Carrie