MotivationalAid

This page and the pages which have links above detail the meetings and the plans for the group meeting each Wednesday night at 7:00 at our house. Carrie is the coordinator for the group. She will supply the info for these pages each Thursday and I will have the pages updated by Friday morning for each week.

This page will contain the minutes from the Wednesday evening meetings as well as all comments sent in by those unable to attend the meeting.

This page will contain recipes which anyone on the group thinks will be beneficial to the group's goal for living a healthy life style.

This page will contain workouts requested by the group or by any individual based on his/her needs.

This page will contain race dates for possible races the group may use as well as those the group has actually decided to enter. It will contain date, length, whether it has a walking category, etc.

- Next meeting will be at 7pm this Wednesday

Meeting Minutes 2/1/12

Attendance - JoAnne C., JoAnne F., Leah, Joel, Carrie F

I didn't do last weeks Minutes, so this week's minutes. So from now on I will be doing the minutes during the meeting. Last week. So attached is recipe for a healthy burger recipe the Leah shared last week, which sounds wonderful. They are in 3 jpg files. If you have trouble reading any of the instructions, just check in with Leah I am sure she can help out.
I reduced our email list to the people who requested to be involved. If you know of someone else who would like to be added to the list, just let me know.

We recorded our weights on our weight tracker cards. (PDF attached if you would like to print off and use)

NOTE TO PAT. Maybe you can convert the weight sheet so I can work on it. See the recipe for training page for the recipes to convert.

Everyone had a loss - except Joel who gained a pound :(

We made Middle Eastern Pizza for cooking class (submitted by Leah) It was wonderful. Dad added the recipe to the website. It is a must try :) although Joel and Dad didn't try them... We also made Zucchini bread, which has been added to recipe page on the website.

Highlights of the week:

JoAnne C. enjoyed doing her yoga ball workout video this week with Megan. cause having a partner to work out with makes it better :) And she has been much better with monitoring her blood sugar levels.

JoAnne F. bought a wonderful new cookbook with tons of healthy recipes that she will be sharing over the next few weeks. Taste of Home - Comfort Food Cookbook the diet version

Carrie F, had a really good workout this morning at the gym. I burned about 800 calories.. i was sweating buckets

Joel C. Did a 6 miler on Saturday. While Beth ran an 11 miler :)

Discussion topics this week:

Turkey burgers - How do you make them moist
- Add can of black beans
- cook in oven covered in tin foil
- also try Ground Chicken with white beans
- Turkey Cutlets a different alternative

Challenges

- Planning a head for meals.
- researching new recipes for variety
- Scheduling meals for the week prior to weekly shopping

Goals for next week:

- JoAnne F. - Work out at least 5 days
- Leah - Start a work out schedule
- Carrie F - make the Bran Muffin Recipe mom gave me
- Joel - Run both Thursday & Tuesday
- JoAnne C. - work out 4 days (which is one more than usual)

I won't be at the meeting next week, so Leah and JoAnne F. will take care of the meeting notes. Have a great week everyone!

Note: Meeting of 2-8-12 didn't take place

Meeting Minutes 2/15/12

Attendance - JoAnne C., JoAnne F., Leah, Joel, Carrie F

We took last week off from our meeting, and apparently that is not a good idea cause most of us had a weight gain. Hopefully we will get back in the swing of things this week.

We all feel that with illness and getting out of the swing of things has caused a bad trend.

Mom, noted that even though she didn't have a weight loss, she has kept her sugar levels in a very good range.

Joel mentioned there is a Thursday night running club meeting on Thursday nights in March at 6 pm in Manchester.

JoAnne and I had a good work out this morning at the gym before work. Which always makes us feel better when starting our day.

Mom made kale chips for the birthday party on Sunday and it was a fun healthy choice. I thought maybe dipping it in a low fat ranch dip.

Leah has been working 110 hours in the last two weeks, leaving not much time for working out and making healthy meal choices (especially when people bring in donuts to snack on)

When looking at ingredients, look for high in fiber choices. A rule of thumb, you can subtract the fiber grams from the Carbohydrates, the more fiber the better.

Anyone have a good substitute idea for ice cream.. that still taste wonderful. Maybe a good frozen yogurt brand? or a good sugar free idea? Joel mentioned Bryer's or Edy's Slow Churned less calorie option.

Goals for next week:

- JoAnne F. - Do 2 six mile runs

- Leah - Start a work out schedule

- Carrie F - make the Bran Muffin Recipe mom gave me & also to work out at least 4 times

- Joel - Exercise 4 times

- JoAnne C. - do the exercise ball 6 times in addition to our 2 walking days.

Everyone will make a Healthy Meal this week and bring the recipe at next with their review of the recipe.

I will bring a healthy ice cream to test out next week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful healthy week :)

Note from George:

I learned today at the VA a few items:

3500 calories is equal to 1 pound
((That's gain and loss))

Everyone needs a minimum of 25 grams of fiber. That is very difficult to do but is necessary for weight loss.

Liquid calories are almost always hidden and forgotten. Example. Dunkins medium hot cocoa they have out is 800 calories!!!!!! The biggest thing is who after having a hot cocoa removes another item of 800 cals after consuming one.

Hi Everyone! It has been a while. We have been having our weekly meetings, but I have not been very good about getting the meeting minutes out.

Positive Notes:
-Billi has been reporting great weight loss over the past few weeks. Congrats!
-Patrick has been walking 2 miles every morning before work! Awesome :)
-Mom has been doing her walking video and has got up the 2 mile walk a couple times!! The first time she did it on her own! Way to go Mom!
-Joel, Beth, JoAnne and I ran a 2 mile st. Paddy's race on Sunday, although it was a crowded course we were all happy with out times. more races the next 2 weekends:)
-Joel and Beth are running a 1/2 marathon on April 7th
-Nat has been going to the gym and has signed up for two 5k races!

Let me know if I missed things that should be shared! Here is a link JoAnne sent me about working past a plateau. I haven't had a chance to look it over yet, but hopefully you will find it helpful. Keep up the good work everyone!!

http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-break-a-weight-loss-plateau.aspx

When you eat out, you do not need to stick to the so called "healthy"/lower calorie choice options on the menu. Those choices are usually the same price as everything else, just smaller portions. Instead, order one of the regular items and as soon as it comes, divide it in half. If you want to totally remove the temptation of eating the second half, ask for a take home container when you order and then box up half the meal as soon as you get it.

I was watching an interview with a big name chef, I forgot with one and this is something that he says that he does whenever he eats out. He joked about how after he started doing this, he was eating at a friends restaurant and his friend saw him doing this. His friend was initially insulting thinking that the chef did not like his food, until the chef explained what he was doing.