Hey, Sisters!

Today is Monday, a new day, a new week, and I know I'm a walking cliche when I say...."It's the first day of the rest of our lives!!!"

I tried a new piece of cardio equipment at the gym today, and went longer than I had even set as a goal! So I got to thinking about goals, and one of mine has been to try and eat lunch a little later than I usually do so that the snowball effect doesn't occur. I'm usually chomping at the bit for 2:00 to come so I can tear into a snack, and that STILL doesn't usually hold me until dinner. When the kids come home from school I convince myself it's my duty as a mother to sit and have ANOTHER snack with them! So today I'm holding off lunch (still telling the funny noises coming from my stomach that they're not real), and limiting afternoon snacking to once. That's my goal. I'll let you know how I do.

Also, on Valentine's weekend my nephew in Los Angeles got engaged. This will be the first wedding for this generation of our family. AND THERE IS NO WAY IN HECK I'M GOING TO BE THE FAT ONE IN THE PICTURES!!!! So there. Two goals. I think that's about all I can handle today.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

Julie

Winter Squash and Gruyere Gratin

I spend hours and hours pouring through recipe books since my 16-year old daughter, Ali, announced she's a vegetarian. Trying to make sure she gets enough protein in her meals while not adding so much fat from cheese and nuts is a challenge. This recipe, in my opinion, makes 4 servings that are Entree size, not side dish size, so the calories and fat aren't as much as the bottom implies if you're serving a side dish size. Ali loves this so much that she eats it as an entree. To cut down the fat, I found fat free block swiss cheese at HyVee on 135th and Antioch. I'm sure that cuts the fat and calories significantly. Since I've never made it with the Gruyere cheese, I can't tell you how it changes the flavor. Also, I know that the baguette goes against what Bob Greene is telling us, so I'm sure if we found a whole grain or whole wheat substitute, that would make this even better for us.

I thought there were an aweful lot of steps, but in reality it was easy and quick to make. Enjoy!

Winter Squash and Gruyere Gratin

2 medium butternut squash (1 1/2 pounds each)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 medium leek (white part only), chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock or low-sodium canned broth
1/ can (12 ounces) evaporated skim milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 ounces of baguette (thinly cut into 8 small slices) or 2 slices of peasant bread (cut into 4 equal pieces), toasted
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese
8 basil leaves, shredded

Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place the squash, cut side up, in a baking pan. Season with 1/2 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until the squash are tender, but not mushy, about 1 hour. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the leek, olive oil, and 2 teaspoons of water. Cover and cook over moderately low heat until the leek is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in the wine. Increase the heat to high and boil until the liquid is reduced to approximately 3 tablespoons, about 3 minutes. Stir in the stock, milk, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Using a big spooon, scoop the flesh from the squash in large pieces. Place in a medium bowl. (The recipe can be preapred to this point up to 3 hours ahead. Set aside at room temperature.)

To assembel the gratin, preheat the oven to 400. Bring the leek mixture to a boil. Spoon half of the squash into a 6- to 8-cup ovenproof casserole. Ladle half of the leek mixture over the top and cover with half of the toast and half of the Gruyere cheese. Repeat the layers with the remaining squash, leek mixture, toast, and Gruyere. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Bake the gratin for 30 minutes or nutil the top is bronwed and bubbly. Garnish with the basil and serve.

Note: Evaporated skim milk is whole milk from which half the water and most of the fat have been removed. It contains twice the nutrients and protein of regular skim milk.

4 Servings, 397 Calories, 21.2 gm Protein, 12.0 gm Fat, 55.5 gm Carbohydrate per Serving

Live to fight another day…

Depressed.
Fat.
Unmotivated.

That’s how I feel;
Like I’m in a constant battle.

From the lack of blogging activity around here,
Some of you may feel the same way?

So yeah, I’ve been down this week.
But I just now realized…
I’m not out.

We live to fight another day.

When you stop and think about it,
What I am going through right now,
And maybe you are too…
Is the exact reason we started the Sisterhood.

To help us through these times.
To help us remember, it’s a process…
Not a race.

Tomorrow is a new day.
A new opportunity to do better.
A new battle to be won.

I love Google

As promised, we now have an interactive calendar for the group.
It’s available to us through Google.
All this time, I really never thought of Google as anything other than a search engine.
But Au’ Contraire… it is so much more!

Before I get into the "hows" of the interactive calendar, let me point out that I did add a link to the right sidebar called "STF Calendar". You can view the calendar at this site, but you cannot interact with it. Click on the event itself for the details. To interact with the calendar, follow the instructions below.

If you are a member of this blog, you should have received an invitation to register for a Google Calendar if you do not already have one. This entails nothing more than a few quick steps; you will need your Google user I.D. and password to register. If I missed you somehow, shoot me a quick email and I’ll add you to the list.

Once you have completed that initial step, you will have access to your own Google Calendar which I believe will be named whatever your email account address is you used when you first registered.

You will also have access to our group calendar named “Sisterhood of the Travelling Fatties”. It is highlighted in pink and you can highlight your own calendar simply by clicking on the down arrow to the left of your calendar’s name. (Choose any color than pink!)

Tip: At the top of the calendar on the right side are viewing options; Day, Week, Month, 4 Day & Agenda. Choose “Month” for the best overall snapshot of what’s coming up soon. Choose "Agenda" and it will list everything we have scheduled on the calendar to date.

The two calendars will look to be combined as one, but only you will see your own personal data which also shows up on the STF calendar, not anyone else. For instance, my personal calendar is highlighted in purple. Anything I put on it will show in purple font. When I click on the STF calendar, I will see “STF Meeting on 2/12” in pink font. But if I added a Doctor’s Appt. on my calendar it would appear for me in purple font on the STF calendar as well, but none of you will see. It sounds a bit confusing I know, but it’s actually pretty groovy. (It would help tremendously if I was a better “technical writer”… but I ain’t!) Bottom line, only data in “pink” is what everyone is seeing. So choose any other color for your personal calendar please.

Once you’ve got all that figured out, let’s go one step further.
On the same page as your Google calendar, over on the left sidebar it says “My Calendars”. Be sure you are on the STF calendar, and then click on “Settings” which is right below it. Again on this page, choose the STF calendar and click on “Notifications”. This is where you can personalize your notification settings. It’s pretty self-explanatory; I clicked all 5 choices to have emailed to me. If it gets to be obnoxious I can always go back and change it.

So that’s our “Calendar Tutorial”… again I apologize for not being more literate in this area… but as Popeye says, “I am what I am!”

Summary of our 2nd STF Meeting

We had a fantastic second STF meeting last night; there were 7 of us in attendance and all contributed greatly to its success. I had planned somewhat of a meeting agenda which we followed quite nicely with some twists and turns along the way. In the end, we covered everything we intended to plus a whole lot more.

Julie for instance shared with us her incredible experience of attending the Presidential inauguration last week with her girls. We were riveted by her stories… which included staying on the same floor of the hotel as the entire ABC news crew. (I love me some George Stephanopoulos, did you know he’s married to a comedienne?) She did meet Robin Roberts face to face and says she is as lovely and beautiful in person as she is on our family room TV’s each weekday morning! Of course the best stories were about the people, the inclusiveness, the balls, the Obama’s and the hope! Thanks Julie, that was a real treat.

We discussed the meeting schedule and decided for now to stay the course and meet every other week. Our next meeting will be on Thursday 2/12 at my house again.

Activity… yes, we discussed that nasty little word again! Our thought was to choose a class at either Matt Ross or Tomahawk CC the morning of Super bowl Sunday. That way we can pig out later with a little less guilt! But I just got off the site(s) and personally none of the morning classes appeal to me, (Bootcamp, Cycling). There is a Pilate’s class this evening, short notice I know, at 5:30 (MRCC), I’d be willing to start my weekend off right by going to it. Call or email me ASAP if you want to come.

A quick blogging lesson was included last night as well. Everyone was shown how easy it is to post and I also tried to really encourage all of you to use the “comments” section beneath each post. Participation is essential for this group to have long-term success. You’ve all got to be tired of just seeing my ramblings on here… this is “our” blog… so blog already! Or at least comment on those who do.

Something else we incorporated into our meeting was a “Show and Tell”. This proved to be a great way to share with each other products that work for us. We had Steel Cut Oats, 3 different kinds of protein/fiber bars; Robin shared a product by Kellogg’s called “Special K20 Protein Water Mix” which she adds to her water bottle. It helps to get her water in for the day and has 5 grams of protein too. And of course I shared the infamous “Milled Flax Seed” with everyone! If you have something you’re using that helps you get through the day, bring it along to the next meeting to share.

Another idea we came up with was to each set one goal to work on until we meet again. They ran the gamut; mine in retrospect was pretty lame… read more of Bob Green’s book. Beth’s was very aggressive; she plans to work out 5 times a week. Go Beth, go! These set goals fit nicely with our attitude that incorporating change into our daily lives will not overwhelm us, but in fact be the catalysts of a healthier and therefore thinner version of ourselves.

Judy shared a real eye opener with us last night as well. She’s the one you might recall who first told us about Fitday.com I added it to the sidebar under “Links we Love” after the first meeting but quite frankly never really checked it out too thoroughly. Judy says that she never really considered herself an over-eater. But when she took the time to utilize the Fitday.com tools, she quickly realized it wasn’t how much she ate but what she ate. Fitday.com is big on Pie Charts… when you plug in what you ate all day and hit the enter button, there is no denying the pie chart. It clearly shows that out of the total calories you consumed that day, where it is they came from. In Judy’s case it was heavily weighted in carbs. Her fruits and veggies were nominal at best. She has since made a conscious effort to eat less carbs, more fibrous fruits and veggies, and the good news is she’s not depriving herself of food, just making smarter choices. Check out the site, you have to join (it’s free), so you have yet another user I.D. and password to remember. But like most things worth doing, it’s going to take a little initial work to get started. Judy says push through it and give it a shot… it’s a great tool.

One of the more animated discussions we had last night was to add a “Social Calendar” to our group. Get your calendars out girls because we are going to Fleetwood Mac at the Sprint Center on Friday, May 8th! This will be a little tricky getting organized, it sounds like it will be a big group… feel free to include some friends, even your skinny ones!

Another night out we are considering is a “Martini-Madness” at the Culinary Center of Kansas City in March. You know what they say… “One martini is all right. Two are too many and three are not enough!” I will be challenging myself to figure out how to create an interactive calendar to put on this site so we can plan these social outings.

And the last order of business last night was our surprise Guest Speaker, drum roll please…. My main man Mikey! Mike being an engineer, understands the fine workings of “things”, be it a power plant or the complex human body. He has read the Dr. Oz book “You on a Diet” and although most of that stuff goes right over my head, it doesn’t Mike’s. We learned about the Hypothalamus which is a tiny portion of the brain which controls among other things, hunger and thirst. (Ok… sex drive too!) This is where I will now stubbornly explain to you the benefits of coming to the meetings; I am not going to even begin to explain here what we learned last night from Mikey, but suffice it to say you should stock up on almonds!

That’s it… you still with me? That was a lot to cover, I’m mentally exhausted now! Let me know if anyone is game for Pilate’s tonight, I’m sure it will take someone stepping up to the plate for me to actually commit to it myself on a Friday evening. Tomorrow is out for me, Sunday we already discussed; this is probably my only option for a “group” activity.

Oh… dang. You know I never end it when I say I’m going to end it. One more tidbit of info; I am going to create another (interactive) spreadsheet for us to track our weight loss on. It’s clear from the meeting that everyone wants us to have a way to track our success, pitfalls, and accountability. It will be very simple, once a week you weigh and report the results. We don’t need your actual weight, just the results. So watch for that, it will be on the sidebar as well.

Ok, I’m really done now!

Except for this footnote: Kathy and I will definitely be at Pilate's tonight; 5:30 at the MRCC. The cost is 5 buckaroos and the laughs are priceless. Please join us if you can!

Credit where credit is due…

The sculpture we are “borrowing” for the front page of our blog is the work of Joanna Mallin-Davies. It is called “Fat Ladies” and this is what she says about it:

“Whether in a state of rapture or serenity, the women I create have an innate self-possession, an inner smile, as if finding a beautiful, abundant garden. They share the same inner contentment, living in pleasure with themselves and their surroundings, for their own sake. It is their pleasure.
I carry this feeling of simplicity and strength in the form of the piece. Smooth simple lines and curves accentuated by only slight details of expression in faces and hands, the feeling of peace and balance resonates through the form, even if the tableau itself is not immediately understood.”

My hope is that Ms. Mallin-Davies would approve of our “Sisterhood”.

Just the Flax Ma’am

This journey we are on is as much about better health as it is smaller pants.
So far, our posts have mostly been about weight reduction and increased exercise; both great goals which common sense would suggest will affect our health in a positive way.
But we can do better than that ladies, by being more pro-active in our daily nutritional choices.

This post will be the first in a new category named “Did you know?”
Included here will be little nuggets of healthful information we can share with each other. By incorporating simple changes into our daily living we will surely reap huge rewards. We are all very knowledgeable about healthy living and how to achieve it; the challenge is actually doing it. My thought is if we have a place to organize and share this knowledge, our new awareness will transfer into action.

I’ll go first; the topic is “Flax Seed”. (Riveting, I know!)

First off, when buying/using flax seed, be sure to get “Milled” Flax Seed. Whole flax seed cannot be digested which in turn does not allow the body to absorb the benefits of the heart-healthy Omega-3 oils which flax is a rich source of.

Doctor’s minimal daily recommendation for Omega-3 is 1000 mg per day. 2 Tbsp. of Milled Flax Seed has 2600 mg of Omega -3. Omega -3 cannot be manufactured by the body and must be supplied daily in the diet.

We have all heard the countless benefits of Omega-3”s. Among those are:

* Better brain function and higher intelligence
* Feeling better with much less depression.
* Superior cardiovascular health.
* Freedom from pain and inflammation.
* Protection from heart attack and stroke.
* Reduction of breast, colon and prostate cancer.

Fiber is very imperative to our diets. The average American only gets 8.75 grams of fiber intake a day. To prevent colon cancer, breast cancer, and heart disease you need between 25-30 grams a day. Flax has the highest content of fiber than any other food. Again, by consuming just 2 Tbsp. a day, you will increase your fiber intake by another 15% (4g) with zero calories or Trans fat. And remember… fiber is also helpful in keeping our tummy’s satisfied longer.

Nasty stuff you say? I thought so too at first; you just have to figure out where you can use it that is the least invasive regarding taste (which is sort of earthy) and texture (which is more like flour than grains since it’s milled). I added an entire Tbsp. to my light ranch dressing that I use to dip my veggies in for snacks. That’s probably a 1-2 ratio (1 pt. flax, 2 pts ranch) and I had no issue with it at all.

I will continue to experiment with the when’s and where’s of it’s use; the key for me is that I measure it out in the morning and know I have a whole day to get it in me.

Fish oil pills are another great source of Omega-3’s, I have trouble popping pills so this is the way I’m going to try to go for now. Plus the fiber is beneficial as well. It doesn’t matter how you choose to take these supplements, the goal should be to take them!

Where there’s a will, there’s a way…

I did it!
I created a spreadsheet for us to track our daily activity level.
The spreadsheet itself was somewhat challenging;
that’s typically not a part of my brain I utilize.
The bigger challenge was figuring out how to make it interactive for you guys and then get it onto the blog.
I am thrilled to report my success!

Look along the Sidebars on the right side of the blog and scroll down until you find “Daily Activity Chart”. Click on “Update yours here”. If you are already a member of this blog, your name should be there. If I missed you somehow, shoot me off an email and I’ll make it right.

A (very) quick tutorial: Click on the cell you want to highlight. Then bring your cursor up to the box that looks like a Rubik’s cube. Left click on it; left click on the hot pink box, voila’! If you mark a box in error, just follow the same steps but click on the white box instead of the pink.

This tool, just like everything we do with STF is voluntary. If you are like me and need help with “accountability”… use it. If it does not pertain to you or at least not yet… no worries, just ignore it.

Now that I’ve figured out how to do it, we can add other spreadsheets. Some of you for instance wanted a way for us to track weight loss. My only thought on that is “Be careful what you wish for”… ha ha! These are things we can discuss at our next STF meeting.

Which is a nice segue to that information.
When: Thurs. 1/29 @ 6:30 (note this is 30 mins earlier than last time.)
Where: Chris’ house.
Who: Hopefully all of you and feel free to bring a friend.

To meet our goal of supporting and motivating each other, I ask you always come to the meetings prepared with at least 2 things.
1) How can we help you this week, what are you struggling with?
2) What tidbit of success or knowledge can you share with the group to help us meet our goals?

I have already heard from several of you so I don’t think this will be an issue this time, but going forward… my thought is if we don’t have at least 4 participants for the meeting we should re-schedule it for a time more convenient for the masses. Again, we can discuss that on Thursday.

Treats. Robin was nice enough to pick up a veggie tray and bring it along to our last meeting. As late as it went, coupled with the fact most of you came straight from work, I think we really appreciated having that! Can I have a volunteer this week to bring some sort of healthy snack?

Also, think about what tricks you have that get you through the day when you are “oh-so-close” to hitting that vending machine for a candy bar. My new “go-to-snack” is the Kashi TLC crunchy granola bars. 4 g Fiber, 6 g Protein, 180 calories for BOTH bars, though I typically eat just one. For you chocolate lovers I shared my love of “Hershey’s All Natural Extra Dark Pure Dark Chocolate”, (yes… that’s really the name on the bag!) at the last meeting. A couple of those and an afternoon cup of Joe; I am one happy fatty! What gets you through your day?

And one final enticement for you to come to the meeting Thursday…
There will be a “Guest Speaker”.
One who will remain a secret!

Please use the comments section below this post to RSVP for Thursday.

Another Way to Lose It

Hey all,

I found a surefire way to loose a few pounds....get the flu! Not quite what I would suggest, but ended up being my weekend. After I took care of some "in-law" details Saturday morning/afternoon, I came home with cramps and that is all she wrote. I actually took today off work to just rest...still pretty weak. Saturday morning I did walk 2.5 miles on the treadmill, did 3 sets of weights, and a Pi-Yo class. I am trying!

Hope all is well,

Shelee

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway…

I wish I could take credit for such brilliant advice, but the truth is that’s the title of the best selling book by Susan Jeffers.
Even though I know the content and fully understand her message, I still have to pull that book out from time to time to help me over my current (and usually irrational) fear.

Fear is not necessarily a “scary, boo” kind of fear; I find it’s more of a paralysis led by negative thinking (Susan calls this your “inner nag”).
My current fear/paralysis has been exercise.
I know I have to start back up, I have a daily intention to start back up, and I’ve even blogged to the entire blogosphere that I’m going to start back up.
But at the end of each day, it’s just been a new day with the same old failed goal.

When in a cycle like this, be it needing to look for work, going back to school, making an unpleasant phone call… doesn’t matter what the issue is; by failing to face it, it seems to take on a much bigger and detrimental role in our lives. It’s the pink elephant it the other room, always there weighing us down.

But if you feel it, face it and then do it, guess what?
It’s liberating; almost anti-climactic.
You may even feel a bit of a fool to have let “it” become such a negative force in your daily life.

This morning I faced it straight on.
Kim, Kathy, Judy and I went to Zumba class.
As my mother would say, “Zumba ain’t for pussies”; it kicked our collective asses!

We moved our bodies for 60 uninterrupted minutes.
Our skinny Zumba-leader would occasionally sprint across the floor to switch the music. Only then could we all reach for our knees and gasp for air. I found myself willing her to trip on these dashes just to buy us a few more moments of rest!

When we were done, (and it was clear we could walk out of they gym under our own faculties), we felt terrific.
I finally faced that fear.
My honest expectation going forward is that I can once again meet my weekly exercise goal.

So feel your fear today, turn off your “inner nag”, think positive and do it anyway.

Hey, I guess I did it girls! I am sooooo proud of myself!
I agree with the Girl Scouts....I always forget how many times I say YES to all of my little darlings that ask me to buy cookies. Luckily I have a 17 year old boy that seems to make them disappear quickly! I have not had one yet!

Ladies, I am giving you the website to check out my daughter's workout. She is the one in the CC blue rowing shirt. WOW! Any takers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NIE73eWvIQ&feature=channel_page

S.O.S.

Our doorbell just rang.
It wasn't the Avon lady!
Much worse...
it was our Girl Scout Cookie delivery!

Who does their scheduling?
Is the whole country this way?
Everyone, even skinny people ratchet down their eating in January.
Why do the cookies come not only in January, but "mid" January when our resolve is being tested for the first (of many) times?
This I don't understand.

I think we must unite.
We must protest.
Deliver the cookies during the holidays; hell we eat everything else then, what's a few more thousand calories to regret later.

4 boxes is all the Baker household ordered this year; that is actually good news.
The bad?
One entire sleeve of thin mints was eaten in a family feeding frenzy that took less than 5 minutes.
One half box of Caramel deLites has also been consumed.
If I wasn't concerned with the resulting wrath, I'd pull a move right out of an old Sex and the City episode.

Miranda was trying to diet so she threw an entire chocolate cake into the trashcan to keep from picking away at it.
In a move that I can totally relate to, she went back in after it being careful to only eat pieces off the top which have not come into contact with the "real trash".
Determined to win out over her weakness for cake, she finally opened the trashcan back up and squirted dish detergent all over what little remained of it.
There... she showed that cake!

I don't think I'm brave enough to destroy the Girl Scout cookies.
Or deal with the resulting consequences.
But maybe I'm onto something about that protest!

If you have any viable suggestions that won't totally piss off my family, please "comment" my way.
I'm in for a long and tempting night!

Hey I'm finally trying this out

Hi Girls,

Sorry, I'm going to need some support with this blogging thing. I'm not the best at keeping up with pc correspondance. I did sign up at g-mail. It's a start. Now I'm blogging, I think.
Anyway, have had a good week and hopefully will continue till we meet again. I think it was a good first meeting and am looking forward to more. Hope all is well with the rest of the sisterhood.

lovisimo,
Judy

Put your money where your ass is…

We’ve “talked” about it.
But will we actually do it?
It’s time to walk the walk… or dance the dance!

We made a goal at the STF meeting last week that every other weekend we would try to find an activity that we can all do together. This would help our accountability, introduce us to new activities, promote our new friendships and definitely supply us with plenty of laughs.

This Saturday morning, (1/24) there is a Zumba class being offered at the Matt Ross Community Center in downtown O.P. (Click on Fitness Schedule:MRCC)

A mixture of sculpting movements and easy-to-follow dance steps, Zumba combines high energy and motivational music with unique dance moves that allow participants to dance away their worries. Zumba is a fusion of Latin and international music and the workout is fun and easy to do. Zumba is great for the body, and also great for the mind.

Classes are just $5 each or check out their link for membership. Passes are good at both O.P. locations so peruse their calendar for classes that interest you. Then make your pitch to drag us along!

On another more technical note… it’s time to take the next step in blogging for you newcomers. I think we should all learn to use the “Comments” option; all you need is a “free” Gmail account to do so. At the bottom of each post, along side who wrote it, is the word “comments”. Hover your cursor over it and click. If you already have a Gmail acct, put your user name and password in the boxes. Next I would choose Name/URL and type just your first name in there. Once the initial set-up is done, comments are a breeze. If you don’t yet have a Gmail acct, there is a simple prompt on this page for easy set-up.

Let’s use the Comments option as an RSVP for Zumba this Saturday. This is a very handy way for all of us to get involved with our blog without having to post something yourself… for you “less wordy” types. Give it a try now!

Helpful Blogger Tip:
When you are reading a post and all of a sudden there is a font color change to red, that means those words, are actually a link to something relative to the subject. “Hover” your curser over those words and click. In this post’s instance, the Matt Ross CC info will magically appear!

Chrissy's White Chili

This is a dish I make often in the winter months. It's a nice change from traditional chili and when I was making it the other day (using dumb chicken), I realized how healthy it is. Full of protein and fiber, the whole family loves it.


3 Cans Chicken Broth
5 Cans Great Northern Beans (or other variety of white bean)
2 Cans Green Chili's, diced
2 Med. Onions, chopped
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
3 or 4 Boneless Chicken Breasts (cooked and cubed)
2 tsp. Ground Cumin
2 tsp. Oregano
1 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
Fresh Cilantro, chopped

Saute' onions and garlic in a little bit of chicken stock. Drain but don't rinse beans. Add all ingrdients except cilantro and simmer in a large pot for about an hour. Add a pinch of chopped cilantro dirtectly into your bowl and enjoy!

Optional Toppings:
Shredded cheese
Tortilla Strips (I use the Tri-Color by "Fresh Gourmet" for colorful crunch!)

Get a move on. . .a little faster and more often!

You know, I really enjoy walking when I can do it outside with a friend or with my iPod as my trusty mate. Bring on the cold temps and not-so-great weather and exercise becomes more of a challenge for me. I have exercise equipment available to me, but it takes so much more effort to put myself on the treadmill than it does to go outside and enjoy the weather. So - until Mother Nature begins to cooperate on a regular basis, I am stuck with the treadmill or the bike.
Last week I was watching the Biggest Loser - what a motivator! - if those folks can do it when they have a hundred or more pounds to lose, surely I can get my sorry butt moving! Something that Bob the trainer was focusing his team on was increasing the speed on their treadmills to 6.5 mph for 30 seconds. Now - I'm certainly not ready for that speed (although if the contestants can do it, I should be able to do it also!), but I am trying to increase my speed and run rather than walk for a minute at a time on three separate occasions during my 30 min. workout. I am hoping that, as I get into better shape, I will be able to increase the speed and the duration of my running during my workout. Time will tell if my body will cooperate!
It is my goal to work out a minimum of five times per week for at least 30 minutes. Again, I hope to increase the duration as the months go on.
So - until spring arrives, I am going to do my best to get moving more and faster in the gym.

Two Thumbs Down for Chris

That’s the lingo for sharing on our blog how our weight journey is going.

None of us want to put the numbers out there in cyberspace; you know how that works, once it’s out there it’s out there for good. Just ask Paris Hilton. That would be too much stress and also go against our ideal that it’s not a specific number we’re chasing but an overall downward turn in weight coupled with an upward turn toward better health. For me, this week’s “two thumbs down” means I did manage to lose a little excess poundage and I can only assume that’s better for my overall health.

So if you are a member, add a short (or not so short) blog entry with the title “Two Thumbs Down (or up, it’s going to happen) for “your name here”. This is how we will be able to know what’s going on with each other. Perhaps someone is struggling or is not yet motivated to start making the necessary changes But by reading about someone who has and is already seeing positive results, this might be all they need to move forward themselves.

And if you are making positive changes, share with us what they are. This is the purpose of the blog, to keep each other motivated and encouraged between meetings and activities. I’ll start with some changes I made this week. The thing that really blows my mind is how minute they are, I’ve still not stepped on the treadmill or God-forbid walked through those gym doors. These simple “baby-steps” have already made a small difference.

1) Never being a breakfast person, I now start each day off with a slice of whole grain toast, a smear of Smart Balance (PB) and a drizzle of honey, or a bowl of oatmeal. (Steel oats with walnuts if Mikey makes a batch ahead of time for the week!)

2) Accountability. I keep a simple journal of what I’ve eaten throughout the day. If at 3p.m. I realize I’ve been “living large” all day, or screwed up one particular meal; it’s time to stop for the day. Do that once or twice and you learn the lesson of moderation real quick!

3) No hooch. This is not forever; hell my goal is the month of January! But it’s important to start off right, my new best friend Bob (Greene) says to do it, so I’m doing it. Not happy.

4) Never one to snack healthy, I have cut-up veggies and low fat dressing available at all times. I think I’ve identified my single worst habit…I live on processed foods. In the past, a low-fat, high fiber granola type bar would be a healthy snack in my book. Or a 100 calorie snack pack was really going to get me that bookmark. But I think I finally realize that although those things are ok once in a while, I need fresh, natural foods in my diet to lose weight, but even more so to improve my health. Living on Lean Cuisines will eventually bring that scale down to where you want it, but processed foods have so many bad things in them that we must counter them when we can with fresh fruits and veggies. It's about our health. Again, I’m not thrilled, it does not come easily to me but it’s not as hard as I thought either. And I love cauliflower florets and snap peas…who knew!

5) And speaking of snacks, I am eating them. I’ve always followed the “less is more” plan of eating. Sometimes I wonder exactly what fuels my metabolism. It has nothing, nothing, nothing (but massive amounts of coffee) and then at 1 or 2 in the afternoon when I realize I’m ravenously hungry, I make a really poor choice and send my poor body into shock, forcing it to store everything as fat for fear I will starve it again soon. Which I do. So instead of “less is more”, I’m trying to adopt the habit “more of less”. Fuel the machine in a consistent, healthy way.

6) Bob tells us to close our mouths for good at 7:30 at night. In all honesty, when I read that I didn’t even think that pertained to me. Unless I’m out for the evening, I rarely eat that late… or so I thought. Now that I’m conscious of it however, I find myself reaching for just one handful of this or one bite of that late at night. I’m quite surprised by this discovery. But now that I’ve identified it as yet another bad habit, it’s one I can easily change.

Quite honestly, I can’t think of much else I’ve done differently this week. The initial STF meeting catapulted me into a great mindset and fired me up. But that can only take me so far. What I’ve done now is set more goals for this week coming up; maybe I can move from baby steps all the way up to a toddler. Here are my goals for this week.

1) Activity. For those of you in the group and at the meeting, you know that I confessed to being almost paralyzed when it comes to starting back on an exercise routine. We discussed it, you all shared great suggestions with me, many offered to do it with me… but here I sit almost a week later and have still not done one thing to increase my activity level. That all changes this week. And that statement IS in cyberspace forever!!!

2) I am going to be more aggressive at reading Bob Greene’s “The Best Life Diet” book. This book was the catalyst for our group and this blog. It is chock full of sensible knowledge. I just learned today for instance that a healthy calcium-rich snack is a 12oz. fat-free milk latte’ and 8 almonds. Not only is that doable… I’m excited about it. Bob Greene is our new best friend ladies… he just doesn’t know it yet!

3) Hydration. I am a very poor water drinker. Coffee and wine, no problem. I’ve already cut the fruit of the vine out of my diet (temporarily!), I plan to cut down the Joe and force myself to drink the water. This I admit will be a tough one for me.

4) Stay away from the scale. Bob is adamant that we should only weigh once a month. He understands our bodies makeup and how much we fluctuate intra-day, day to day and even he says, week to week. Now I have to admit, in past diets I have become a slave to the scale. I brought OCD to a whole new level. This time I intend to be different. Now I can’t go 4 weeks, holy crap that’s just crazy talk… but I will make it a goal to weigh only once a week. I did take all my measurements on that fateful day I finally stepped back on the scale. I think it is reasonable to re-take those once a month, which will be my plan.

5) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Fatties blog. I see how many of you have joined as contributors, but only one (Thanks Kathy) has posted thus far. I am an experienced blogger; it comes easily to me after several years of a learning curve. I encourage you to try it, its very user friendly. The purpose of this blog is for us to help each other during times we are not available face to face. It’s a place we can share tips and encouragement, recipes and fitness tips. It’s what we make it. Let’s make it great!

Thanks Chris

First of all, I am a virgin blogger so bear with me...I'm sure I will not be nearly as articulate and entertaining as our leader, Chris, who is a seasoned blogger. I just wanted to give Chris a big thank you for getting this great group of women together and motivating us to achieve our "best life". I am excited to be starting the year with some concrete goals and a realistic, motivational and supportive resource to help achieve those goals. I am looking forward to getting to know the women of this "Sisterhood" better and, after last night's meeting, I'm certain I am in for some fun times this year!

And So We Begin...

What a great group! Last night was our first STF gathering and it was better than I’d even hoped. New friends were made, a few tears shed and many, many laughs were shared! They say the first step is the hardest; well this was more than just a step we took, it was truly a leap of faith. To sit in someone’s (almost clean but toasty warm) living room with people who in some cases you were meeting for the first time to share your personal stories with, proved I think to be very liberating for all of us. If you missed it, come on to the next one (1/29 @ 6:30, venue yet to be decided) and be a part of this energetic, inspiring, fun group!

In the meantime, continue to check this site. There will eventually be several contributors but until we all put our techie-hats on, I’ll be doing most of the posting. The goal however is for any member to access the blog and share their story, maybe a great tip they have, a recipe or new gadget… anything that may help us achieve our goals and keep us motivated is game.

You will notice along the sidebar to the right are various fields. Let me explain what those are about.

Our Journey. This is a list of who is a member of the STF blog. Of course you don’t have to be a member to view it, but to contribute to it you do. Click on the name of a member and you will see her profile.

Blog Archive. Pretty self explanatory.

Categories. As the content of this blog grows, categorizing each post becomes more important. If down the road you are looking for something and you know Kim (for instance) posted it, you can click on “Kim” and only her posts will come up. That helps to narrow your search. I intend to create a category for each member as they submit posts. We might have Recipes, Fitness tips, Success stories, Rants (my fav!)… whatever! Again… it’s a WP (work in progress!).

Blogs We Like. This is where we shamelessly promote other blogs. I use the word shameless because at the moment you’ll notice the only blog on there is mine! I love blogging and quite frankly I miss it, but time has gotten away from me and so too has my blog. I intend to correct that soon… STF will probably give me a lot of new material… just saying!

Links We Love. This is going to be great. Click on the links and see what they have to offer. Judy gave us a great one at the meeting last night, it’s called FitDay.com. Julie told us about MyRecipe.com which offers a healthy cooking section; I’ll be adding both of those links today. Keep your eyes and ears open for others that we can benefit from, they’re out there.

Sitemeter. Scroll down to the very bottom of the blog and you’ll see where I added Sitemeter. This is a tool that tracks our web traffic. It’s fun to watch how many people are tuning in, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I started the counter at 100. 24 (our current count) may not be too impressive now but my ChrissyCanCant blog has an amazing 15,127 hits on it. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

Bottom line, this blog is one more tool in our arsenal. Ideally we love getting together for some face time, and planning group activities around fitness is something we’re all looking forward to. But when life gets in the way, and we can’t make those times work, we’ll have our STF blog to keep us connected. The common theme I heard over and over last night from the group is this… None of us want to be tied to a number, a size or an unrealistic expectation any longer. Instead, we all have our number one goal set as better health, which will only be achieved with better habits. Eating wiser and moving more, that’s it. We’re not here to reinvent the wheel, the wheel is fine. It’s our tires that need rotated.

Change our mindset, change our lives.
Let’s do this!

Here we go...

Wow... I'm a bit overwhelmed with the response from all of you. It is clear we are of the same mind which is, "I know I can do this, but I also know I need some help". I have one additional thought for myself though... it goes something like "Wow... what the hell have I gotten myself into this time???".

"Together" is the key word in this endeavor. We can participate as much or as little as our individual schedules allow. No one needs one more thing to fit on their calendar or add stress to their lives. That's NOT what this is about. In fact, I don't even know yet what this will become but I think we can create it together. My suggestion is to get together initially for a brain-storming session. I think it is imperative that we each come prepared to contribute. Below is a list of some of those things, I encourage you to "reply all" with some of your own ideas to add to this suggestion list.

"Short" (that's self directed, ha ha) introduction to the group about yourself and what your weight cycle has been. For instance I'm a "lifer"... always been struggling with it.
What do you envision this group to be? We need to somewhat define what it is we want. I for instance need accountability and motivation. How do we accomplish our goals?
Diet strengths, meaning what do you do right when you diet that you can share with the rest of us. (This is so you can help us.)
Diet weaknesses, meaning where to do you fall down and fail to get back up. One weakness of mine is failure to plan (having no healthy food available in the fridge when I come home ravished so I eat anything I can find to cram in my face. (This is so that we can help you.)
Sources, meaning do you know of any websites, magazine articles, etc that you can share with the rest of us. Sue Edgar already forwarded me a great newsletter with lots of good info on it. I personally depend on Dottie's Weight Loss Zone (www.dwlz.com) especially for calorie counting at restaurants. Great source for eating out!
Activities. We will for the most part all have to do our workout routines individually, too many hectic lives and schedules to pretend we could coordinate. What I do think would be fun though is if we can introduce each other to activities we wouldn't otherwise necessarily have tried without starting this group. Kathy Calvert for instance comes from a cycling family. Maybe we plan a bike ride one Saturday in the spring, surely we can all find someone to borrow a bike from. 5K's are going to start popping up as the weather improves, we can sign up for those (walk now but who knows later!) and often times help a good cause at the same time. Robin has a friend who teaches Zumba classes, what a blast that would be. So think about the things that you do that other's don't, or maybe that you always "wanted" to do but not alone and share that idea with us. I think if we mix it up and have some fun together occasionally, that might be enough to motivate us individually for the more mundane (and lonely) workouts through the week.
Buy the book and read it! I have, I'm not even into Phase One in the book yet and I'm feeling pumped. The reason why is because the changes Bob Greene is asking us to make initially are not at all overwhelming. In fact, it's almost like..." what the heck lame ass shit is this???"! I paid $15 (minus my 40% coupon, yay me!) at Borders but Robin found it for $10.75 at Wal-Mart. It's paperback and called "The Best Life Diet" by Bob Greene. He has several books out there including his recipe book which I picked up as well, so be sure and grab the right one.
Let me (all of us) know what I'm missing. Also... don't be afraid to share this with anyone else who would like to join us. We come from all parts of the city so even if they can only meet for occasional activities or the initial meeting, no worries. I hope to have a pretty good online presence for all of us to sort of tether ourselves to. Maybe we even come into the 21st Century and start Facebook or some other online chat service... again, I'm just throwing things out there. This will be a GROUP effort, I'm just the idea gal.

So now it's time for the most crucial step... getting together for our initial indoctrination into the (Mikey named us... not me, don't shoot the messenger) "Sisterhood of the Traveling Fatties"! Take a look at your calendar's, most of you work so we need to be conscious of that. Although we certainly can move our meetings around town, I'd like the first one to take place at my house. How does next Mon, Tues. or Wed work at 5pm.? "Reply All" so that we can all know what we're dealing with, there is a good chance not everyone will be able to make it, I'd call it a small miracle and a huge good sign if we do. Remember.... this is a no stress zone!

Dear Friend...

This was the original email I sent out to a few "select" friends which led to this whole crazy journey:

I'm fat. If you're getting this email, you probably are too. At least YOU think you are, I think you're perfect. I have been lamenting since before Thanksgiving about what kind of diet program I'm going to have to start this January. I hate diets, I hate exercise, but even more... I hate being fat and unfit. I've been dreading January... in my mind it's like the day life ends. No more food, no more drink, no more fun. Lot's more stress, lot's more feeling of failure... lot's more misery. I convinced myself right before Christmas that my drug of choice is going to have to be Weight Watchers (again)!!! It's the only program that ever works for me and it allows me flexibility... i.e. I can eat AND drink... as long as I don't go over my points. ha ha. But then Mikey pointed out to me that the last couple of times I did WW, I was not only a miserable failure, but a stark raving bitch to live with. I could not even achieve the 5lb bookmark. (For those WW virgins, WW rewards you with every 5 lb weight loss you achieve. The first one is this stupid little cardboard bookmark, it's bright red. After that you get a Gold Star sticker which most fatties apply to the coveted bookmark. 5 lousy pounds for a bookmark... most people get that in 2 weeks tops. Last time I was on week 8 and still had not been rewarded with said prize. And I was following program!) My poor friend and neighbor... the shit she had to come up with to justify my lack of success was in retrospect really quite amusing. "Muscle weighs more than fat, water retention is a bitch... maybe you grew a couple of inches..." she was grasping! Home life became less than pleasant. The kids were asking their friends fat Mom's if they had a Red WW bookmark they could "borrow"... anything to shut me up and calm me down. Finally, after I think week 10 or 11... Mike convinced me to NOT bring a gun to the meeting and just "live my best life". I went to the dreaded gym faithfully, worked hard if I wanted to, had a light workout if I wasn't up for it. I ate smarter, most of the time... and by the end of the year... my poundage was not necessarily where I would have thought it to be, but I was about 2 sizes smaller in clothes. And I had fun all year, didn't become a hermit because I couldn't eat or drink so therefore not have or be any fun. It was almost effortless... (except that whole gym part!) But I had forgotten all that in this latest self-deprecation party I've been on regarding my fatness. I called my friend/neighbor who still goes to WW and asked her what day and time she goes and how has the magic program changed this year. She called me back and I swear... this is what she said on the message. "Chris... you do NOT need to go to Weight Watchers. You are not an over-eater (note... nothing was mentioned about my over-drinking!) You just need to get back in the gym and get your metabolism back up and build some muscle." I was flattered.... for about a minute. Then I realized her true message which was, "Oh my God, no.... please don't ruin my WW experience with your crazy obsessiveness, I'll just give you my bookmark"!!!

And then came Oprah yesterday. Now let me say right here, I've been kind of "over" Oprah for the last few years. I think it was when she turned 50 and got all full of her fine-belly-showing-self. Quite frankly, I never understood what took her so long to lose the weight... for God's sake she had a trainer, a chef, all the money in the world AND the whole world watching her. That would keep me honest. But then yesterday she came clean... well sort of. I still think she's in denial... she told us she doesn't have a weight problem, she has a "love" problem. News Alert Oprah... your fat... just like the rest of us. (I'm very fearful for poor Steadman now... I think he might be on the chopping block, she certainly laid the groundwork yesterday yakkin about that whole "love starved" gibberish.) Oh... and by the way, I don't believe for a minute the woman is only 200lbs. She's 220 if she's a pound! But no matter what my feelings about Oprah are... I do like me some Bob Greene; I think he is the real deal.

So what is this big idea I have you wondering? I want to give the ol Bob Greene way of living a try. But I'm a pack animal when it comes to diet... oops, we don't use that word anymore, and exercise. I need accountability. I also need help in staying motivated and planning. My thought is this...

If you would like to join me on this journey... maybe it lasts a week, a month or at least to Pool Season, I would love for you to do it with me. In fact, I'd love for a bunch of us to do it together. "Many hands makes little work" Mikey's Grandma always said. Think of it as a book club. We get together twice a month at my house (double whammy for me... motivation to clean my house every other week too!), we share what works for us, what doesn't work for us, we (gasp) track our progress, and YES... we all get a friggin bookmark just for showing up!!! And a gold star each time for coming back!!! This is how I think we can help each other:

Meal/Snack planning... share what works for you (If I don't plan, I don't loose. We can plan together.)
Accountability... say no more
Motivation... I love other people's success stories and want one of my own
Pity Party... for when we do fall down, we help each other back up.
Activity Planning... maybe we find some 5K's to walk, or meet at the Arboretum for a walk. Mix it up & have fun.
Rewards... and I'm really not talking about a stinkin bookmark. Real rewards, like a girl's weekend away, or a pot of money. Bring ideas!
New Friendships... pass this along and then bring along that friend.
Zero Failure Rate... we may not get skinny, but we will get healthy, make some friends, and have some laughs along the way. That's a Win!

So what do you think? Still undecided? Check out this link... http://www.thebestlife.com/ I'm willing to throw $70 bucks at this... heck, that's one night out and probably 2000 calories saved! But we don't have to "buy into it" either... we can do it ourselves together, or better yet both! Gotta buy the book though.

So you decide... is this a hair-brained idea or do you want to give it a whirl? I'll report back with responses once I have them and we can plan from there. Love you all and my wish for your New Year is good health, happiness and inner peace. (But we wouldn't balk at a smaller pant size or two either!!!) cb