Welcome to the Protein Power message board. Holidays are a blessing in so many ways, so it is important not to major on the minors and get caught up in the dread of what to eat at family gatherings. This not only puts stress on yourself, but can also make it less enjoyable for those around you. Even if you dont verbally say something to them, they can pick it up in your demeanor. So, if you go prepared mentally you will be empowered and be able to enjoy the gathering without 'inner' battles. Enjoy your day friends

Some tips to make it thru meals that you have no control over, here are some tips I have gathered.

Munch
Eat a light snack before going to holiday parties. It is not a good idea to arrive at a party famished. Not only are you more likely to overeat, but you are also less likely to resist the temptation of eating the higher carb foods and sweets.


Don't Give in to Pressure
Is Aunt Edna trying to guilt you into taking a helping of her famed sweet potato pie? Don't give in. Tell her you couldn't possibly eat another bite of anything, but that you'd love to take some home for later. This way you get to keep your steely resolve, and placate your relative at the same time. What you do with the pie once you get home is entirely up to you. My suggestion: freeze it and save it for a special occasion.

Watch the Finger Foods
Mindless munching can add up to disaster even before the main course is served. A handful of salted nuts can pack on hundreds of calories. The same goes for creamy dips, cheese cubes and many prepared hors d'oeuvres. If you want to nibble, go for low-carb options like veggies or cheese cubes. Not only are these choices more healthy, they're also more filling.

Watch Portion Sizes
Small portions can look pitiful on giant dinner plates, so create the illusion of eating more by choosing a smaller plate at buffets and parties. A smaller plate will make your portions look bigger and you'll feel more satisfied. Also, smaller servings will give you the opportunity to try more things without feeling stuffed.

Make New Traditions
Food doesn't have to be the center of holiday gatherings. Instead of meeting up with friends and family over dinner or dessert, plan a shopping outing or a spring hike in the woods. Take your kids biking or roller-skating and invite your friends and their children along. Also, that big dinner you have in the evening, will be less of a concern if you've spent the afternoon involved in calorie-burning activities, like hiking or skating.

Indulge Yourself
Denying yourself your favorite foods right now will only make you depressed and vulnerable to sudden late-night pig-outs, plus it will also make you want that desired thing that much more. In these instances resistance is futile, so just give in. Eating one serving of a gooey dessert or rich casserole isn't bad for you as long as you do it in moderation, keep your portion size small and don't go back for seconds. Indulgence on special occasions won't put on the pounds--making it a habit will.

B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Food)
If you're bringing a dish to a party, the American Dietetic Association recommends that you make it a healthy one. This is a way to ensure that there's at least one "safe" item you can munch on.

Shift Your Focus
Let food be secondary to interacting with friends and family. Zero in on people you want to talk to--not the buffet table--at parties. The goal is to spend more time interacting with them and less time loading your plate. "Remember that the purpose of the holidays is being with people," says Quagliani. "Conversation is calorie-free."

Love and Laughter,
Dawn

Happy Easter everyone! Dawn, what a great post to get us all in the right frame of mind today. I think we all need to be reminded sometimes about what is truly important.

Today weight is holding steady at 147.5. I seem to be in a good groove right now. Yesterday, I decided to run on the treadmill again for my cardio and was able to up it to 20 whole minutes!!!! I was so excited yesterday morning before working out, and even more so later. What is this, me actually looking forward to doing cardio? Something isn't right in the world. It's actually a sad to me that I won't be working out today or tomorrow. My current plan is to workout 4 times per week. I can always add an extra day later. I am quite sore, though, but in a good way. I really feel my quads, inner thighs, and love-handles, which can only be a good thing

I've got a big decision that I need to make sometime this week. Friday I randomly decided to go look at apts. I have to let my current place know at the end of May if I plan on returning next year. I will not be moving until August if I do. I just wanted to see what else was out there. Most of the places I saw were either too small or pricey, but I fell in love with one. Currently I have a one bedroom, 800 square feet and pay 600 per month. This new place has a special right now for 2 bed/2 full baths, 1300 square feet, for 599 per month. Not only that, but it has everything my current place has (washer/dryer included, fitness center, pool, lots of closet space, balconies so I can grill out). It's also a beautiful community. It's a great deal, and the woman was going to see if they would give me the deal for August, which no other complex was willing to commit to. She's supposed to let me know tomorrow. If my current place was going to increase my rent for next year, my decision would be made. I'd leave. So I asked yesterday and explained about the deals I'd been offerred elsewhere. They said that they would keep my rent the same if I want to renew my lease this week. So this is my dilemma. If they give me the great rent at the new place, do I take it? My rent would be the nearly the same, but I'd have a whole lot more space. Is more space good? Or will it just mean that I feel like I need to spend money to fill it, and will I be annoyed b/c I have to clean it? Also, I forgot to mention that the new place has the option of paying 35 dollars per month for a garage, which would be heaven! I am so tired of scraping off my car in the mornings. The thing I'd be most scared of is that the new place is in a completely different location than my current one. I am a 10 minute drive now from work, and right in the heart of civilization, near the freeway, and very close to DBF. This new place is in Delaware, which is a small town. I have never lived in a small town before, and it has a very different feel. It would increase my drive to work to between 15-20 on back, country roads. It would increase my distance from DBF to about 30 minutes, although I am not sure what he is doing next year. His lease runs up in October, and he's in LOVE with this new place. He's actually the one who recommended it. So, do I want to spend more time driving to and from work? Will I feel at home in a small town? I do get sick of Dublin sometimes, b/c everyone is so wealthy, stuck-up, and into themselves, and in a way, I think I'd be more comfortable in a more laid back town. But it's scary and would be a big change. AAAAaaaaacckkkk! So, that's all my jumbled thoughts right now. I need to talk it over with my family tonight at Easter dinner. If any of you have any insights too, I would greatly appreciate them.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Dawn, good insight. Thanks!

Wendy, only you can make this decision. What I try to do is this. Write down all the pluses and minuses. Now rank them in their own lists -- which "plus" is the biggest "plus," down to the least "plus." Then, if you want to go a step further, give each a ranking of 1 to 5 (to make it easier) -- 1 is that it's in the category, but not really all that important; 5 is that this is the most important and will have the biggest impact; 3 would be average. Then add up all the points in each column. You might get a different answer than the one you're anticipating.

Remember to add in the cost of gas, utilities, groceries (would you be shopping in a different area, with perhaps different prices?), etc.

Sometimes, just writing things down helps to bring focus to a problem.
__________________

Well, it's settled. The vacation is off. It's the right thing to do, but I'm still pretty bummed about it. I don't know what's going on in DH's mind about the whole thing. He's not very talkative or open about what he's feeling. I sometimes tend to take his reticence personally, which (in saner moments, which are not often, seeing as how I'm limiting my carbs) I realize is an incorrect assessment on my part. Men are just not as open as women are. We just need to accept that, I guess.

Happy Easter all.Nice opening post, Dawn

Wendy, I am apartment hunting too-man, you have a great deal in OH, apts like that here in PA are around $900. I agree with Bawdy, make a list and include your utilities, new cost for a garage etc. Just a thought -pay attention to your gut feeling too. How did you feel when you went into that new apt-did it feel like home? Or did all the other things you mentioned make you anxious? I know that didn't help much but those are some of the things I am thinking about now too.

Bawdy, sorry about the vacation plans. Keep the tan, let everyone think you went away for a quickie

Darn right I'm keeping the tan! I'm even thinking of keeping it up until I can get it naturally right in my own back yard!

I told him he can cancel this vacation, but he owes me a big one next time!

Dawn, congrats about the pound loss! I take anything I can get these days.

No, we didn't reschedule. The rest of the year is going to be hectic, if things work out the way it looks. It's always hard when you're at the whim of your clients. If all his clients come through with the contracts they're promising, he would be way too busy to take a vacation.

Maybe we can do a couple long weekends or something. As close as we are to Nova Scotia, we've never been there. There's a car ferry called "The Cat" that leaves a little up the coast from Portland (though there's a rumor they will add Portland to their regular stops). It gets you there in less than half the time of a regular ferry, and then you have your car while you're up there. I'll have to look into that.

(Trying not to be bitter here . . .)

Happy Easter everyone!
My goodness, you've been busy this morning, Dawn!! Sending out Easter cards and getting us all in the right frame of "eating mentality"! Thanks for both!
Since I saw my folks last week, I will not be with company today...so, it's just me and the dogs (including the "goose dog" {who may become Easter Dinner!}) so no food pressures!
Hope to get things a bit more scheduled today...not feeling quite as frazzled ! (at least until the "goose dog" starts "honking" again).

Man, she had me so upset a couple days ago that I actually went out and bought a pack of CIGARETTES!!! (I stopped smoking almost 3 years ago!!!!). I even tried to smoke one of those suckers and almost started "honking" myself!(trashed them quick! )

Hope everyone has a very nice Easter Day...especially those of you visiting w/or having family in!

PS...Dawn...our taste in music must be very similar! I have every CD Sarah Brightman ever made! I think it is amazing how she can be singing along in a very sexy, sweet, girlish way and half way through a line, can switch to belt-out, full- blown opera and blow you out of your seat!!!! Love it!!!!

Kat

One thing I would do is bring my own dessert. Usually there is more desserts than "real" food.

Score 1 for me.

I made DH some home-made brownies, and I didn't have even one. If I don't have one the first day, I'm home free.

I'm making Spicy Chicken Thighs for dinner tonight. The recipe is from "The Ultimate Low-Carb Diet Cookbook" by Donna Pliner Rodnitzky. I'll post it later if it turns out well. It doesn't look too spicy, though, which is good because DH doesn't like spicy foods. It will have a bit of a kick, but I'll make brown rice for him to have with it. Faux mashed potatoes for me.

Down another Lb-6 in 1 week!!!
making good choices today but not going to count carbs...This day is for family not just me if my five year old gives me a peice of chocolate I will take it but say no to the second one..
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

happy easter everybody!!

woa, this new look will take some getting used to!!!

i have been camping all weekend. didn't get a chance to say hi before i left town. we go to sand lake, an area on the coast just south of tillamook. it is our 3rd annual easter weekend getaway. we take the kids, grandma and grandpa, an "aunt and uncle"-who are family friends, a brother and his girlfriend. and we all camp out for the weekend. we have 3 quads that we take turns riding on the dunes, we flew kites, had an easter egg hunt in the campsite, and the weather was absolutely wonderful!!!!!

by the way, i ate nothing but junk all weekend!!!! there i confessed!!!! will be back on track tomorrow.

wendy--congrats on dong so good with the cardio!! my current goal is to run for 2 miles at a pace of 12min miles. i currently am able to walk 5 min, run 1 mile, walk for 5 min, and run 1/2 a mile. for a total of 30 min on the treadmill. also..i agree with what was already said about protein power limiting carbs, not where they come from. so if whole grain is what you want, go for it. also... while you are trying to loose, it will feel like a diet. once you reach goal you will be able to eat more "normal", or less limited and maintain. (at least that is what i plan to do) i know i will not be able to eat as i did when i was GAINING weight, but who would want to do that again?!?! and one last thing.... about the move.... i like the pro/con list idea. and you mentioned that your BF loved the new place also....did that mean you guys might be there together, or that he would be visiting you more often so the drive to his place wouldn't be a issue. as far as more room to fill up and clean, it is still an apartment right, not THAT much more room???? still, it is YOUR choice, make sure it is what YOU want.

eightc-- you mentioned eggnog syrup. i have a bottle and i use it in coffee. starbucks got me turned on to the eggnog latte and so i improvise and use eggnog syrup and 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee sometimes.

nelson-- i did 2 weeks of phase 1 with excercise. felt it was a good way to get a "clean" start with the new plan. i only excercise 2-3 times a week though.

bawdy-- love the comment on carbs and brain function!! what does it mean if my brain didn't function to begin with, then i cut out some nasty ole carbs. it is amazing i can even function at all!!!! of course our body needs carbs!!! that is why we eat vegetables!!!

dawn-- great post this morning. and congrats on the clothes fitting better. i like that feeling myself. (although after this weekend, i am feeling a bit bloated and am wearing sweats!!!)

kat-- way to go on not starting back that nasty smoking habit!!! stay strong.

unity-- yea, down some poundage!!

hi orang, lissette,elaine, ellie, and everbody else out there in pp-pals land!!

Happy Easter!!!

Hope everyone had a good day. I stayed legal which was a bit hard as my absolute favorite candies are in the house (almond joys) but I stayed strong. I had a big breakfast and then snacked on 1/2 apple w/PB and then a few strawberries w/whipped cream. Having a bit of a sweet tooth which I know is TOM approaching I had a wonderfully legal dinner of BBQ baby back ribs w/ low carb BBQ sauce, SF cole slaw, and deviled eggs. Topped it off with a few spoonfuls of Ben & Jerry's SF ice cream and a SF pecan patty. I will not buy the Ben & Jerry's again as it is too good and the tempation to great. Also seems to have more of gastric distress effect than other SF ice creams. I did find a Blue Bunny low carb ice cream bars....vanilla dipped in chocolate rolled in almonds! The are yummy and only 2 net carbs per bar.