Original Post by brockcorydon:

Molly - how did you like the red pepper?  Also good luck at the dentist. 

OK, I went to the store. And I carefully and cautiously purchased a red pepper. And I brought it home. It is now living happily in my fridge... untouched, pristine in all its crimson glory.

I was thinking of making turkey kielbasa tomorrow night for dinner, with some grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and the grilled red pepper.... how does THAT sound?

eeek... new veggies can be scary, huh?

=^..^= MOLLY

Original Post by cassie83:

I've been feeling decidedly un-ranty lately, which is very unusual to me! However today I am back in full flow. Why oh why do restauants and cafes not have low fat salad dressing? I mean why offer the healthy option of a salad and then only have mayo and full fat caeser to go with it? Hmm?

Idiots.

I solved this problem!  Walden Farms makes calorie-free (yep, zero calorie) salad dressings in SINGLE SERVING PACKETS! I bought several boxes/flavors from them and we now KEEP THEM IN THE CAR so that we're ready whenever this "idiocy" arises.

And, even if restaurants have "low calorie" or "low fat" dressing .... it can STILL have lots of calories, and I still have a hard time with measurements and portion control ... so I decided to take charge over my out-of-the-house salads!

You can order 'em online from www.Waldenfarms.com. 

(Salads are about the ONLY thing I have control over in my life right now!)

=^..^= MOLLY

Original Post by danagrl372:

Molly- good luck at the dentist.  Hopefully it's not too bad.

My wonderful DH is a saint. He surprised me last night by telling me that he'd called and cancelled the dentist appointment ... and that he will reschedule it for when he is back in town and can go with me and rub my feet. (Isn't he a dear? He rubs my feet during dental procedures to help keep me calm and distracted.... because I'll do almost ANYTHING to get a foot rub!)

Yay for me, yay for my DH. (Boo on dentists!)

=^..^= MOLLY

So ... is it totally decadent that it's 11:20am and I'm not even dressed yet?

OK, OK, off to the showers I go.

(Ya know, if I actually get that job I've applied for, I'll probably have to go back to wearing clothes and shoes and everything, huh?)

=^..^= MOLLY

Here's another "salad-dressing-down-for-the-count" idea I learned years ago: Order dressing on the side and use the dip method....just dip your fork into the dressing before spearing the veggies. That way you get the flavor without the bulk or quantity of pouring on the dressing.

So, last evening I took myself to Applebee's for a WW dinner. Carefully choosing the WW Southwest Cobb Salad and ordering ice water with lemon. How many times did the waiter stop by to ask "would you like a drink, it's happy hour, 2 for 1?" Or "did you save room for dessert? We even have a WW dessert, you know" Couldn't he see I was perfectly content with my salad and H2O??? No wonder I went home  thinking I was still hungry!

Oh I know that feeling!  I went to outback a couple weeks ago for my mom's bday and carefully selected items that I had already looked up online for calorie content.  Ordered my meal very specifically, no butter anywhere, no croutons, dressing on the side, and a box at the beginning of the meal so I could automatically put half of everything but the green beans and my salad in the box to take home!  The waiter kept giving me funny looks, and mentioned dessert many times (my mom was even going to order dessert originally, but fortunately for me 1. it wasn't something I would have eaten ~ ewww coconut! and 2. she ended up too full anyway and passed on dessert).  I wish wait staff would recognize when people are trying to be sensible!  I understand that they are trained to upsell and that they are hoping to increase their tip, but COME ON PEOPLE!  There is a reason why this country is in the state it is now...pressure + lack of control = increase in pugginess.

Oh, and then we went to Bonefish last week, and they don't even post nutritional information ANYWHERE!  Now I'm trying to be reasonable and sensible and do my homework to help monitor myself, and they can't even help me a little???? *GRRR*

~Brandy~

Restaurants and wait-staff CAN be supportive and diet-friendly .... or they can be just dreadful, I definitely agree.  We went to Macaroni Grill last week and I ordered my salad with no dressing, no cheese and no croutons. The waiter just smiled and said, that leaves just lettuce and olives. Do you want extra olives and some tomato wedges? YES!!! I thought that was pretty cool of him.

Mini Rant ... I misread the serving size on some wonderful, organic butternut squash pumpkin soup today ... and discovered about 8pm that I'd eaten 180 MORE calories today than I'd thought... drat drat drat. This means I only get a 40 calorie after-dinner snack (or go over my daily calories), rather than the 200-calorie snack (a turkey sandwich) that I was planning to have. (sigh) Most of my truly desirable snacks are 100 calories, and if I choose one of them, I go over by 60 calories .... and I can't tell if "that's ok," or not.

Decisions ... decisions.....

=^..^= MOLLY

Salad dressing can be disgusting.  I don't like the really creamy ones to begin with and the only time I get dressing is when the salad is basically all iceberg lettuce (blehhh), then I use the dip fork method.  I prefer my salads with fruit, meat, beans, salsa, etc, so that I don't need dressing.  Anyhoo, I had called in an order for the Southwest Cobb Salad from Applebee's.  The person who took my order WOULD NOT believe me that I did not want dressing.  She told me that I had to have dressing.  I said I didn't want any dressing.  She kept offering different dressings.  I finally said fine to one -- mainly b/c I wanted her to shut up already and because the light had turned green.  ( I tossed the dressing when I got to work).

Now for my YEAH moment.  I cannot stand the fact that microwavable soup bowls contain about 2 servings.  Helloooo!  Who only eats about half of one of those bowls?  I hadn't really looked that closely at the backs of the containers when I bought the soup, but discovered yesturday that my Healthy Choice soup bowl has nutrition facts for its about 2 servings, BUT also lists how many calories the entire container has!  Yeah!  Much better then doing math.  Now, if I could only figure out how many calories I saved by not eating the carrots.....

It's water. Of course it's water. It HAS to be water. I know it's water. My brain tells me it's just water. My common sense tells me it's just water. I know that my diet buddies and friends will tell me it's just water. And my wonderful DH tells me it's just water.

But, I must confess, this pesky water is certainly PISSING ME OFF. (Pun very much intended.)  (Or NOT pissing me off, as the case may be ..... grrrrrr)

I stepped on the scale this morning for a mid-week OSWID ("Unofficial Sneaky Weigh-In Day") and to my great dismay and abject horror, the scale showed a one pound weight INCREASE. Not the loss I was looking for. Not the maintenance I really didn't want to see, but a one pound gain. I know that to gain one pound of "true weight" I need to eat 3,500 MORE calories than my basic needs. Well, in the past 5 days since my Official Weigh In, I've had AT LEAST a 1,000-calorie-per-day DEFICIT ... for a 5,000 calorie (or more) deficit. That should not result in a one pound gain, but a one-and-a-half-pound loss. 

What did that DANG water do with my expected pound and a half weight loss? I want those darn pounds back!!! Hand 'em over right now!!!!

But I know the culprit.... I've done my research, its DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!!!  Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

(sigh)

rant rant rant rant rant rant .....

=^..^= MOLLY

Hehehehe...Molly has taken over my scientific podium!!!! Di - meaning 2, hydrogen (H) and mono - meaning 1, oxygen (O)...Simply put folks, H20 (aka water). Quite clever, blaming everything on chemistry!!!

dawnder, you do have a special power - the power of CC Friends!!!

My rant has to do with the power struggle here at work, but I've decided to just step back and watch them kill each other and this company, then I can proudly say "Hey, I told you so!!" 

Molly - one weekend I gained 6- count them, six pounds!!! I was spitting nails about then. Heck, I am just trying to loose the last 10 and  I was being really good too. If it hadn't been for the CC support I think I'd have thrown in the towel! Now I only do unofficial weigh-ins when I'm SURE it will be good...AND I drink water like a fish. Still one pound bounces are regular occurrences. Keep your chin up, girl!

Mandy, This Star Wars fan sure got a smile out of that one!

So, "may the Force be with us"..... the Power of God as shared through CC Friends!

Mini rant...at myself....why do I look up the calories of a planned meal online, then change my mind as I peruse the menu at the restaurant??? Well, at least I had some idea of the # of calries in my choice! And it was darned good too! Add a Mall walk in place of dessert...and, wa-la! A daily deficit of 500 Calories!! Smooth!

RAVE ALERT! RAVE ALERT! NON-RANT ALERT!

My doctor's office called this afternoon with the results of last week's blood tests (which occurred at the end of 8 weeks of dieting.) So, other than losing 35 pounds (almost 10% of my body weight), what has my diet done for me?

* My blood sugar levels have shown a significant improvement, going from an HbAIC level of 8.7 down to 7.3. (My goal is to hit 6.5 ... so I am heading in the right direction!) I am changing my oral diabetic medication from a combination med (Metformin/Glyburide = Glucovance) to JUST Metformin, which should eliminate my blood sugar lows.

* My triglyceride levels have gone from the "Very High" category down a notch to the "High" category ... a definite improvement. (Improving my blood sugar levels/diabetes will automatically improve this category.)

* My cholesterol level has dropped from 208 to 148 --down to the optimal range .... a 60-point drop! And my "bad" cholesterol (LDL) is now in the optimal range. (The plan is to keep my on cholesterol meds because they will help keep my cholesterol level in a healthy range, and will help my triglycerides.)

YAY! Now I'm not so freaked about that darn one-pound water weight thingy!!!

=^..^= MOLLY