My diet and weight loss exercise plan for analysis- HELP me please!

L

Lizabell1

New member
Hi there,

I am looking for help with losing 27 lbs, critique on my current workout plan, diet and how to perfect both. I have already succeeded at losing 6 lbs so far (down from my starting goal of 33 lbs).

Stats: 29 yr old female, 5'2", mother of a 14 mo old daughter, still breastfeeding (2x/day, only morning and night), and I currently weigh ... (wait for it...) 157lbs. :-( My family is living overseas right now (South Korea) and I had been walking with my baby in her stroller or on my back for roughly 2-3 hours a day, about 3-5 days a week. I wasn't losing any weight at all, just enjoying the health benefits I guess. But, though I've been eating clean, Looking back, I think I was still overeating, meaning that I was eating calories to maintain, not to lose.

4 weeks ago, I started dieting and picking up my exercising (since the walking wasn't doing anything for my weight loss, really), I have lost 6 lbs. I am now working out 5 days a week M-F, below is my regimen:

Monday- Interval training 22 minutes: 1 minute jog, 30 sec walk.
Tuesday- Tabata sprints (20 sec sprint, 10 sec rest= 1 cycle, total 8 cycles)
Wednesday- Steady State cardio: jogging track for 20 minutes
Thursday- Tabata sprints
Friday- either Steady State cardio or Interval training

Sat/Sun- no planned exercise unless we go hiking, take part in a spur-of-the-moment soccer game or exploring the island we're on. I occasionally splurge on my diet on the weekends, either enjoying more of the same food or maybe we have a fatty meal like pizza or steak and potatoes.

My diet is as follows (basically the same thing every week, trying to keep in plain so I can cook in bulk and have it ready to eat as soon as we come home):

~ 1350-1700 calories/day

breakfast- 1 bowl of HN cheerios with low-fat milk, 2-3 cups of coffee or a protein shake made with water or an egg with 2 slices of toast
lunch- tuna salad (tuna, mayo, red onions, garlic), lettuce (same thickness as tuna), and 2 slices of bread or bean salad (red and black beans, chopped peppers, garlic, red onion, splash of olive oil)
pre-workout belly filler- protein shake made with water
post-workout belly filler- protein shake made with water
dinner an hour after w/o- grilled chicken breast, 1 cup cooked rice and veggies of either frozen mixed veggies, steamed broccoli/cauliflower or asparagus
pre-bed snack- 1/2 - 1 cup low fat milk


Before you fully analyze this diet, please let me make a few notes:

1. I live in Asia which means I don't really have access to much pre-made or frozen food options. 99% of veggies are fresh only (which is great, but gets pretty time consuming all the time). Also, produce here is only seasonal. eg, I just found spinach for sale and have been buying a ton so I can blanch and freeze it for later.
2. I don't know or can't read or figure out what some foods are at the store, nor know what some veggies are just by looking at them LOL
3. low-fat, no-fat or "alternative" foods are nearly non-existent here since Asia doesn't really have an obesity problem, and therefore, doesn't really have a market for diet foods. For instance, there is no such thing as "low-fat" or fat-free" mayo here, and milk is almost always whole milk. I have found low-fat milk in a couple of stores so I have to make a special trip to just get that milk. Other dairy is only of the whole fat variety, wheat bread is hard to come by and I can't read the language to tell if it is whole grain or not, no whole wheat pasta, etc.
4. The only health food stores here are actually herbal medicine stores.
5. Since whole wheat options are limited, I am stuck using white bread or white pasta and of course white rice for most of my carb choices.
6. I have to constantly reanalyze our meals to accommodate my daughter- I have to make sure she is not eating our "diet" since she is supposed to have ample fats and a variety of foods.

All that said, since we are overseas for my husband's job (not military), I am a stay-at-home mom and make meals for the week while my daughter naps. I cook 2-3 cups of rice for the week, .5-1 box of pasta, and enough chicken to feed us for 4 days at a time. I also make tuna salad, chicken salad or pasta salad (with as little mayo as I can get away with) to last the week for our lunches. I bulk cook because as soon as my husband gets home from work, all three of us go to the track. After our workout, we come home and immediately feed our daughter and get her ready for bed so that she doesn't miss her bedtime at 8-8:30pm. I have no time after our workout to first start cooking anything, so I rely on making a bunch of food early in the week and having it immediately accessible to eat right away.


So, to get back to my original plea for help, I have only lost 6 lbs in the past 4 weeks (not bad, but not fantastic either--I have 27 lbs to go). Is there anything I can do to improve or tweak my diet? How about my exercising? Also, meal ideas to incorporate lean proteins, veggies, and carbs for my family?

As you can see, I do more anaerobic exercise than aerobic since I'm trying to burn fat throughout the day and retain as much muscle as possible (plus, with a toddler, I'm limited on time alone). I haven't added any weight training in yet because I was hoping to lose a bit of weight first (yes, I know muscle burns more energy so it makes sense to do weights, but I'm hoping to get within 15 lbs of my goal before I add weight training).

Last notes: I want to lose weight the right way. I want to lose 2 lbs a week. I've never had this much weight to lose before.

Any help would be wonderful! Sorry for the long, detailed post, but how else can I get proper help without detailing it :)

:seeya:
 
My suggestion is to add the weight training right away.

Resistance training helps you maintain muscle mass, which otherwise you will lose as you lose fat. You want to keep every bit of muscle that you have, if possible. Also, resistance training is good exercise.

If you are in a calorie deficit (which you have to be to lose weight), you aren't going to add muscle to your body. But you do need to keep what you already have.

There's no benefit to waiting before adding strength training. Start now.
 
Thanks CTS,

Any suggestions on what resistance training I should do? I have only a few free weights at home (well, that and my 23 lb baby LOL) and a small not-so-impressive gym in my apartment complex, but it is better than nothing.

Based on my schedule previously posted, what days should I add in the resistance training?

Also, I sometimes walk into town (about 35-40 minutes) with the baby on my back or pushing her stroller up and down hills. Is this considered resistance training or no? You mean free weights or machines, right?

Thanks again,

Lizabell
 
one more thing- I've read conflicting info about what to eat after a workout when you're trying to lose weight. Is it better to eat carbs after my workout (pasta, rice, etc) because my body will use it for repair and such, or is is better to go with a small, low carb, low fat dinner after my workout? After cardio and/or interval training?
 
Hi Leigh!

I'll echo what Cord said. Add weights now. It makes a HUGE difference to your progress from the very beginning.

Here are a few other thoughts for you:

I know that after a certain point it can be harder to lose while bf-ing. It's a hard balance between eating enough to maintain milk production and dropping the calories in order to lose. At this point, my advice would be to focus your efforts on getting in shape and healthy so that when you quit bf-ing, you're in a better position to lose the weight. (Doesn't mean you might not lose now, but I'd make losing a secondary goal.)

The Baylor College of Medicine says that a nursing mom shouldn't drop below 1500-1800 calories a day or you could jeopardize your milk supply. They also say that on average a nursing mom should take in an additional 300-500 calories a day (depending on whether you're exclusively nursing or the bf-ing is supplemental).

Based on that information and your current weight, I'm calculating an estimated 2655 calories a day to maintain your weight (regularly 2355, +300 calories for bf-ing, using the low end of the range since you're only feeding 2x a day). If you were to drop that by 30%, you'd get 1858, which is well within those guidelines.

So I'd focus on hitting 1800 calories daily, at least until you stop nursing. At the point that you start to wean, you could drop the additional 300 calories and work at 1500 calories per day.

It looks like the composition of your diet is good. I see a lot of protein, a lot of whole grains, and a lot of veg. Much better than 90% of the people I see on this site! :) Honestly I think the types of foods you can get overseas are in general healthier than what we get in the states. I think it's far better to have a whole foods diet, than to rely on "diet" foods and "low fat" foods and so forth. (I grew up overseas, myself, in Singapore for a while, so I'm familiar with the type of availability you're talking about!)

The only tweak I might make to your diet is to drop the pre-workout protein shake. I don't think it's necessary and I think you'd do better by substituting some kind of fruit/veg snack for the calories. And the carbs would give you a nice energy boost for your workout.

Also, I don't know how you feel about yogurt, but it's REALLY easy to make at home and it might something you could look into (I'd be happy to post a recipe). It would be something you could serve your daughter as well - with fruit or jam mixed in - and would give you a nice protein boost in the morning.

Ok, next ... exercise.

I totally agree with Cord about the weight lifting / body weight exercises. What I would do, if I were you, is plan to incorporate the weight lifting 2x - 3x a week. You can start out pretty simply with squats (w/ or w/out weights), lunges (also w/ or w/out weights), presses, rows, dips, pushups. Honestly your daughter would be a great weight for overhead presses - and would probably be fun for her, too! Lifting 28 lbs above your head 3x12 would be quite a workout. :)

Steve posted a thread on the exercise area talking about the conceptual side of weight lifting and in it, he posted a guide to how he might develop a routine. I highly suggest reading that thread - there's some awesome information in it.

Once you develop the plan for your weight/bodyweight days, then fill in around that with your cardio. Whether you do sprints, HIIT, ss, whatever, you can do those things to fill in and spend the time on the track with your husband/daughter.

If you have access to a library or can order books from the States, I strongly recommend a book called The New Rules of Lifting. It echoes a lot of the information that is in the thread I mentioned above, and has several different workout plans that you can use. It's geared towards men - and there is a version called The New Rules of Lifting for Women by the same author - but the original version has several different workout structures that you can use and the information in them is pretty much the same.

Hope that helps some - and sorry it's so long. :) I tend to type a lot once I get going!

(And to answer your followup question: Carbs before/protein after is what I've always heard. The carbs before give you the energy boost for your workout and the protein after is when your muscles are most in need of the nutrition and best able to absorb and use it!)
 
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Karacooks, thank you! Awesome information you gave me! Thank you :)

ok, so I've taken your information to heart and will start doing some sort of fruit or veggie snack prior to my workouts.

Also, as Cord mentioned, I will be implementing weight training immediately (like tomorrow morning if my daughter is up to being hoisted in the air LOL). Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said to figure out my weight lifting strategy 2-3 times a week and then build my HIIT/SS running/etc around that, right?

What has always confused me about weight training while trying to lose weight (while doing cardio) is that the soreness associated with recovery from weight training 1-2 days later hinders my ability to perform well at cardio, or in this new instance, my sprinting drills, etc.

So, in all honesty, my butt is spent after the Tabata drills, but I get a high afterward once I've caught my breath and have nearly no discomfort the next day. When I do steady state running, I almost am always exhausted and cranky afterward and need to go to sleep, and may sometimes be sore the next day or two. In general, am I better off doing weights earlier in the day on my SS cardio days or HIIT days? I know I will have to just try it all out and see what works best for me, but I was wondering if one way was more effective than the other.

Well, since I am trying to lose 2 lbs a week, which is technically 7,000 cals/wk, I figured I needed to reduce my daily cals by 1,000. My RMR is 1510 and my activity level indicates eating around 2300 a day for maintenance, so I've cut that down to 1350-1700. This is not calculating in the BF calories, but I think that could fit into the window between 1350 and 1700 anyway, right?

As far as the BF-ing thing goes, my doc says there's approx. 20cal to an ounce of breastmilk, and i believe my daughter takes an average of 6 oz at each feed, so that would make it around 12 oz/day or 240 cal/day. As you mentioned it, I remembered I had stopped accounting for those calories a few months ago because I figured they were trivial at this point. I'm a little nervous relying on those cals since I don't know if i really need them anymore or not. I can't find any info on whether to continue accounting for those calories after the baby is no longer really "needing" those feeds. I was also assuming that I had to reduce my calories in order for breastfeeding to do what it claims: help moms lose weight! I didn't lose an ounce from just BF-ing alone.

It was also cool to read that you lived in Singapore, so you know exactly what I mean about the variety of foods available. The freshness of the produce here is beyond anything I can find at home in the States, literally picked and carted by rickshaw to the market that same day. It can't be beat! I just get tired sometimes that I can't take a lazy day and just grab a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer. The fresh stuff is basically all organic and goes bad insanely quick. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining!

Thank you for hitting all the points I posted- I wanted to be thorough in my original post because I didn't know if anyone else out there would be under the same specific experience. Please, the more you write the more knowledge I gain, so you and anyone is welcome to post a bunch!

Lizabell
 
Glad I could help! :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said to figure out my weight lifting strategy 2-3 times a week and then build my HIIT/SS running/etc around that, right?
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Yes, that would be ideal, IMO. Just as an example, here's what I do:
M - weight lifting, followed by 20 mins of ss cardio
T - HIIT cardio on the elliptical
W - weight lifting, followed by a 20-30 min run (I'm trying to run a 5k in a couple of months)
T - intervals, but not high intensity intervals - 5 min on/3 min off running (see above 5k training!)
F - weight lifting, followed by 20 min of ss cardio again
S / S - I don't go to the gym, but I try to get in some kind of activity.

I also try to add bodyweight work during the day - I spend my days sitting at a desk and staring at a computer, so I actually set an alarm on my computer and about once every 90 mins or so I get up and do something like 10 squats, or I'll walk lunge down the hall to the water cooler, or I'll knock out 10 pushups on my desk, or something. It not only gives me a little exercise boost, but I get a break from the computer.

What has always confused me about weight training while trying to lose weight (while doing cardio) is that the soreness associated with recovery from weight training 1-2 days later hinders my ability to perform well at cardio, or in this new instance, my sprinting drills, etc.
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Yeah ... this is called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and you'll get more of it at first but I promise it will go away. :) When I first started weight lifting I had the same experience - it impacted my cardio. But as I continued, I found that my muscles adapted and there wasn't nearly so much pain. Now, after a good weight lifting workout, I might feel a sort of gentle soreness - like a well worked muscle - but I don't feel actual PAIN. When you first get started, making sure to drink lots of water, stretch well AFTER weight lifting, and taking some ibuprofen (after, not before) will help a lot with the discomfort.

So, in all honesty, my butt is spent after the Tabata drills, but I get a high afterward once I've caught my breath and have nearly no discomfort the next day.
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I get the same with my HIIT. :)

In general, am I better off doing weights earlier in the day on my SS cardio days or HIIT days? I know I will have to just try it all out and see what works best for me, but I was wondering if one way was more effective than the other.
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When you're talking about specifically cutting bodyfat to the degree that weight lifters and so forth do, or when you're working towards a specific strength goal, you need to be more aware of timing and so forth. I think for people like you and I who are trying to lose weight and get in shape, it doesn't matter so much. I think it's more about what works for you and what you can fit into your schedule. I personally prefer to do weights FIRST ... and then follow up with cardio.

I think that could fit into the window between 1350 and 1700 anyway, right?
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Yes, but you're doing a lot of activity, so I'd keep it towards the higher end of that. While the 1,000 a day calorie deficit is an average, if you drop your calories too much, you'll short change your metabolism, which could cause you to stall. Also a generally accepted good average for weight loss is 1% of your bodyweight per week. I think you could probably lose 2 lb a week, but the closer you are to a healthy weight, the harder that figure is to achieve - so don't be surprised if some weeks you only make 1.5 lbs ... that's still good progress. If I were you, I personally wouldn't drop below 1500 calories, just to make sure you maintain a healthy metabolism. I weigh about 10 lbs more than you and I lose quite well at 1600-1700 calories a day (when I'm being consistent).

As far as the BF-ing thing goes, my doc says there's approx. 20cal to an ounce of breastmilk, and i believe my daughter takes an average of 6 oz at each feed, so that would make it around 12 oz/day or 240 cal/day. As you mentioned it, I remembered I had stopped accounting for those calories a few months ago because I figured they were trivial at this point.
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I think probably because you're supplemental feeding now, you probably have more wiggle room with these calories. I'm not an expert at all in this area, but as long as you're comfortable with the amount of milk you're producing, I'd say you're ok.

It was also cool to read that you lived in Singapore, so you know exactly what I mean about the variety of foods available. The freshness of the produce here is beyond anything I can find at home in the States, literally picked and carted by rickshaw to the market that same day. It can't be beat! I just get tired sometimes that I can't take a lazy day and just grab a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer. The fresh stuff is basically all organic and goes bad insanely quick. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining!
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Oh I know. It's definitely a mixed blessing. :) I try to buy from my farmer's market here - and since all the fresh veg aren't coated in wax or whatever like they are at the grocery store, you have to use stuff quickly. You said that you're blanching and freezing stuff .. and that's awesome. It really helps when winter comes around to be able to have something at least partially fresh!
 
Hi Lizabell,

have you heard of Tony Robbins? He's a Personal Development Guru. He was once overweight, but after following healthy lifestyle, he lost 30 lbs in about 30 days.

I did a research and found out some of his healthy lifestyle tips:
1) Eat at least 70% of water rich content food every day, examples like tomato, cabbage, spinach, etc.

2) Do not eat protein foods with starch foods together. They will become undigested food in your body and it will attract bacteria. Protein foods are chicken, beef, fish, etc. Starch foods are potatoes, rice, bread, etc.

3) Eat fruits on empty stomach. Your body is only able to absorb the fruits nutrients when there's no food. It is best to eat fruits in the morning when you just wake up. Do not eat any food for 20 minutes after eating fruits.

Hope these are helpful to you.
 
Tim, thank you for your post. Luckily for me, my daughter has to get out of the house every day or else she gets stir crazy, so that is why I have been doing so much walking. Since vamping up my exercise routine though, I haven't gone walking into town very much, which is a shame since the weather is so much nicer now than it was in the summer. But, since we've been doing the track in the evenings, I spend my daughter's nap time doing meals. So I don't get out during the day too much. The next two and a half weeks may get changed up quite a bit as well since my mom is here visiting. I just hope I can still get in my exercise.

Thanks for your post :)



KaraCooks- again, thank you for so much useful info. I cannot believe the detail you've given me, I am so grateful! In terms of weights, I think I'm going to add the gym downstairs- they've got a few machines. I'm gonna see what works for me there. I will probably only be able to get down there at night when my daughter is asleep, but that is fine. I'm sure sleeping after will be great for the muscles.

Any suggestions on weights?

To all that have responded to my post, thank you so much!!
 
I'm glad I can help. :)

What I do for my weight workouts is really loosely based on the program that Steve suggested in the post called "The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting". It's very close to almost every program I've worked - Stronglifts, New Rules, etc.

It's basically a series of full body or compound exercises, then filled in around w/out other stuff.

His suggestions are:

Template A
Squat - 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps
Bench - 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps
Row - 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps

Template B
Deadlift - 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Overhead Press - 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Chinup - 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps

So that would be the core of the "program" for the time being. I'm going through this to *sort of* show you the steps that go through my mind when I'm thinking of this, assuming you're interested in that, lol.

Once the core is established you can add in accessory stuff which might make it look something like:

Template A
5-min jog on treadmill
Foam rolling and dynamic mobility stuff
Squat - 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps
Bench - 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps
Row - 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps
Single Leg DB Romanian Deadlifts - 2 sets of 8-12 reps
Bicep Curls - 2 sets of 10-12
Planks - 2-3 sets of 30-60 seconds

Template B
5-min jog on treadmill
Foam rolling and dynamic mobility stuff
Deadlift - 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Overhead Press - 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Chinup - 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Single Leg Squats - 2 sets of 8-12 reps
Tricep Extensions - 2 sets of 10-12 reps
Pallof Presses - 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps

To fit this into a weekly format, you could do something like:

Monday: Template A
Tuesday: Metabolic Work
Wednesday: Template B
Thursday: Metabolic Work
Friday: Template A
Saturday: Metabolic Work
Sunday: Off

The following week everything would be the same, however the resistance training would be BAB instead of ABA.
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I don't do exactly this workout, but I try to do at least his BASIC A & B template (with the exception of the chinup, which I just can't do yet - I'm working on them). Then I tend to throw in more bodyweight work - pushups, lunges, planks, reverse crunches, etc.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi KaraCooks,

I can't do chinups either...never have been able to...I grew up playing soccer, and I'm definitely one of those who is much stronger and "built" on my lower end than my upper end. My arms have definitely gotten some work hauling my baby everywhere, but I will start working on really defining them when I shed some fat and can actually "see" the results (or more accurately, ca see my muscles and what areas definitely need more attention).

For now, the full body weights workout seems like a fantastic idea to get as many of my muscle groups worked and maintained while I'm losing weight. I can always fine tune it as I go along and see what areas I need more work on than others.

I also need to get back into my ab workouts. I've slacked off on that once I started the heavier exercising because I was exhausted, but I've already noticed a difference in my posture and my neck, shoulder and back. Should I add my ab work to my weight lifting days or is it sensible to do them the Tues and Thrs morning (I do the metaboliu mc training/ HIIT at night)?

And, in template A, "Row"- is that the rowing machine or something else?

Thanks again!

Lizabell
 
Hey LB ..

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner. For some reason it didn't show up as updated in my subscribed threads! :)

Should I add my ab work to my weight lifting days or is it sensible to do them the Tues and Thrs morning (I do the metaboliu mc training/ HIIT at night)?

And, in template A, "Row"- is that the rowing machine or something else?
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You can do ab work whenever. I tend to do my ab/core work (crunches, planks, etc.) at the end of my weight lifting sessions. Keep in mind that doing freestanding squats, lunges, etc., will also help your core - they really work your back and abs. :)

Rows - there are tons of different kinds of rows and ultimately it doesn't matter too much which one you do as long as you're doing a "pulling" type of resistance. A press (bench press, overhead press, etc.) is the "push" and the row is the "pull" when you're balancing out the work you're doing with your upper body.

For example, here's a dumbbell bent row:
Dumbbell Bent-over Row
Here's a seated row:
Cable Seated Row
Here's a standing barbell row (similar to a deadlift, w/out the leg motion)
Barbell Bent-over Row

As long as you're "pulling" with your row, you can do any of them.
 
Hi KaraCooks,

Thank you so much :) Once I reread my post, I felt silly for asking what a row was when I could just google it myself. Sorry about that!

Thanks for the specifics on when to perform these exercises. I started this past Friday with squats and lunges before running at the track (yeah, the running didn't go so well after that LOL- not sure if I thought that out too well), but I'm going to start this week off better prepared with the plan you gave me for weight training, separate from the track. I'll be able to work my schedule better once I've got a handle on the routines. And, I'm going to do full body instead of breaking it up. I'm going to use the outline you gave me and see how that works for me. I'm really excited to get this going. thank you again!

Lizabell
 
KaraCooks- one other thing: you mentioned in your first post about a make-at-home yogurt recipe...can I have it? My brother makes his own yogurt and I've been interested in doing the same, just hadn't done so yet. I'd love to have your recipe.

Thanks!

Lizabell
 
Sure. I keep meaning to post it and then get sidetracked and forget. Yogurt is really really really easy. You just need a warm place to keep the yogurt to ferment overnight.

So here's how I make it:

1/2 gallon milk (whole or 2% or skim - it doesn't really matter)
8 oz plain yogurt with live cultures (I use Stoneyfield Farm Organic yogurt)

some kind of cooking thermometer
2 large glass containers (I use 1/2 gallon glass canning jars)
a heating pad
my oven

Put the milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat and bring it to just under a boil. If you're using a thermometer (which I recommend) you want to bring the milk to 180 deg.

Turn off the heat and let it cool to around 110 deg. Do NOT let it go much lower, or the yogurt won't have enough warmth to ferment.

When it gets to 110-115 deg, add the starter yogurt. (If the temp is higher than 120, you'll kill the yogurt cultures, so make sure the milk is cool enough).

Mix it up really well and then pour the mixture into your glass jars.

Put the jars in a warm place and let them sit for at LEAST 4-5 hours. The longer you let them sit, the thicker and tangier the yogurt will be. I let mine sit overnight - a good 10-12 hours.

I put the heating pad on medium in my oven and put the jars in the oven overnight. You can also put the heating pad on medium into something like a cooler with the lid on to keep them warm.

Then move the jars to the fridge. This will keep for 2 weeks at least. Then I use it for tons of stuff. I add honey or fruit to it, use it in place of sour cream, strain it to make yogurt cheese ... whatever I'm in the mood for.
 
What kind of heating pad do you use? I'm guessing just having the oven on 'warm' would be too much? Or using a crock pot on the warm setting with some water in?
 
I just use a regular heating pad set on medium. I do use my oven as well sometimes, but that's because I can set my oven on 115. A lot of people's ovens don't go that low - and you don't want the heat over 120-125 or you'll kill off the cultures.

I haven't tried the crockpot - if you do, I'd set it on low and use a thermometer to test the temp of the water first. If the water doesn't get over 120, then that sounds like it would be a good option.
 
Hi KC,

Thanks for the recipe- I'll have to get a few supplies first, but I'm eager to start. I actually have been using yogurt in place of quite a few things recently, including my lasagna recipe. I use it in place of ricotta cheese. Ricotta cheese at the foreigner's market here is roughly $15 for a 6oz tub, so I had to get creative LOL I figure I'm cutting the calories by quite a bit this way, and it is delicious.

BTW, in reference to my weight training, I weight trained 3 times this week and my cardio has definitely suffered. But, I feel like the weight training is doing me well in spite of the cardio. I guess I'll be able to handle doing cardio after weight training soon enough. I hope! Anyway, I believe I'm doing well with it and as far as I can see, I'm still losing weight. And this is with a few slip ups in my diet this week (seeing as my mom is here visiting).

Thanks again,

Lizabell
 
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