[JerseyGyrl]

It's a new week ladies...whats on your agenda?

[monster66]

Let me run something by you folks if thats okay. I have been going up and down with the same 2 lbs for the last couple of weeks. I have been doing a lot of exercise, mostly cardio with a little weight training which is something I have always done. My eating is clean...I pretty much eat the same thing every day. Breakfast is 2 sausages and 2 eggs scrambled with butter and heavy cream and a tablespoon of ground flax. Lunch is a salad with chicken (or shrimp) sauteed with mushrooms in olive oil and some avocado along with full fat dressing. Dinner is fish, shrimp or chicken or beef cooked in olive oil and some type of veggie also cooked in olive oil depending on what it is. Has been asparagus lately. According to fitday, I am around 1500 cals, about 70% fat, 20% protein and 10 percent carbs. I am not hungry and according to my keto sticks I am in ketosis. Am I just being impatient? I drink about 64 ounces of straight water a day and a pot of green tea. Any ideas? Thanks!!

[monster66]

I guess I could have said good morning first!! Good morning everyone!

[aud]

Mornin' All!

Today I'm headed for the gym FIRST . . . then have to go on into work for some unpaid follow ups. "Gym/Ex FIRST" is my new mantra in Life . . . thinking the rest will follow?

What's your day look like, JG?

Your menu looks faboo to me monster . . . hmmmm . . . maybe add a veg @ lunch? Maybe mix up the cardio to freak your system? More fat/olive oil etc?

Just ideas I've seen successful folks kick around . . . haven't been successful lately (I know why) . . . but I do read a lot.

Planning on having a Great Week/Day/Moment!

[SherryA]

Good morning girls. It is Monday, the official day of new starts. My Saturday was all messed up, yesterday I am not sure if I made up for it or not, I think weight wise I did. Scale was at my lowest so far since re-starting so I guess I don't have anything to complain about.

It is really hard right now though to stay on this plan. I made myself a hamburger patty for lunch yesterday and then couldn't eat it. I think the meat was too old and I took one bite, spit it out and then didn't really eat for the rest of the day until late at night when my husband finally made dinner. I did eat an orange though mid day.

So I'm at 11.5 pounds off right now. Same as the low I hit last week. Clothes are fitting better and I'm not going to complain, I feel better because there is less stress on my knees, it is easier to stand from a sitting position, I think my butt and belly are smaller. My face looks thinner.

Still I would like to get back to true induction and see some new losses this week. Yesterday was almost true induction (except for the orange and not enough food all day).

Still with hubby not working and finances getting very tight it is hard to stay on a high protein diet. Actually it is hard keeping the 4 of us fed at all. I was looking last night at the income requirements for food stamps. It looks like I make maybe 50 dollars a month too much to qualify. With our household expenses (basic expenses like house and utilities that is) it doesn't make it easy.

I'm not even sure however that we wouldn't qualify if I applied. They might take all that into consideration. It is such a hassle though to apply only to be turned down, that I'm not sure it is worth it. I could drop my family's dental coverage at work and increase our household takehome income by a little. But I hate to do that. We all need so much dental work that we can't afford to have done even WITH the insurance.

The times we live in are very "critical" (to quote the Bible). It is hard to get by.

Anyway I guess eggs are still cheap. so will have to eat those for protein.

[Leenie]

Good Afternoon

Donnie, are you losing inches ? some times we lose inches instead of pounds.

.

[JerseyGyrl]

Donnie,

Your menu looks very good You may want to make a few "tweaks"...adding another small salad with dinner or increasing your veggies. Try this for a week or so and see if that makes any difference.

Leenie is correct, sometimes you lose inches and may not necessarily see a change on the scale.

Just a thought, does the green tea you drink contain caffeine?

[monster66]

I actually havent measured myself but some days I do feel like I have lost some inches. I picked up some coconut oil to cook in instead of the olive oil so I am going to give that a try. Didnt get to the gym today because DS4 has strep! Hope the rest dont come down with it!

Sherry- sorry to hear of your troubles. As for the food stamps, you wont know unless you check it out. It might be what you need to do to get by right now. No harm in that. We have all been at that place where we just need a little extra help. Lord knows I have and help has been there in some form or another. Hope things do look up for you! (())

[monster66]

My green tea does have caffeine in it. It is my " mothers little helper" to get me going in the morning! I have been drinking a pot a day for about 4 -5 years now and really dont want to give it up!!

[JerseyGyrl]

Originally Posted by monster66

My green tea does have caffeine in it. It is my " mothers little helper" to get me going in the morning! I have been drinking a pot a day for about 4 -5 years now and really dont want to give it up!!

Caffeine doesn't affect some people at all and then there are people like me...the least little bit is a BIG no-no. As the saying goes "If it ain't broke...don't fix it!"

[sylvia78]

Good morning all. Hoping everyone had a lovely weekend.

Caffeine didn't bother me at all until I stopped using it. Now it will bother me if I have it more that once in a week. That is the main reason why I don't use those weight-loss teas, as they are full of caffeine. You really don't know how great you can feel without it until you go without for a while. But as long as you continue to lose and you are not plagued by cravings, don't give up the tea/caffeine.

It's that TOM and I feel really bloated and crampy and don't really want to workout. I didn't do the morning walking for this reason and I may not walk in the afternoon. We'll see what happens.

I have to report that my eating this past weekend was great. I had three meals with protein, veggies and fat. I got enough calories and even managed to get some exercise in on Saturday. Now I just have to see how the week goes. I have my meats cooked already for lunch and dinner.

I am waiting on the new season of Doctor Who to start on BBC America. I seems that we are a season behind, as Martha Jones has already shown up on Torchwood this season. My DS9 really likes Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Hope everyone has a fabulous Monday!

[KrisR]

'morning all-
Busy day planned here if the rain stays at bay....time to pick the last vineyard. Not my favorite job but needs to be done. Means I won't be going to the gym but 6+ hours as a field hand will offset that time!

Finally got the call that GCBC has arrived so hope to pick that up tomorrow and start reading. Did pick up a book on Symptom X yesterday which has been very interesting. Insulin Resistance.....it seems like I keep coming back to that as a possibility for my slow weight loss.

Aud-good job on putting exercise first!
Monster-your menu sounds good. Maybe another serving of patience? That was one thing I listened to on a podcast yesterday, that we give up or try to tweek too soon.
SherraA-sorry about your situation.
Sylvia-glad you had a great weekend!
JG/Leenie/Fay/Azure and anyone I missed-hi!

[RubyJan]

HI Everyone, from Ruby in London:
So I just made it through another day. It's been kind of a hard one, not because I ate anything off-programme, but because I feel like I lost a friend with Sugar gone now....I know that for the last two years at least, I looked at sweets as my reward for just getting through the day....and now I just have to find other pleasures I guess.

Did 90 minutes at Pilates this morning which was great, and then spent the rest working on my book. Things always go better for me on the eating front when I work in the LIbrary rather than at home. I brought a bowl of salad with chicken in it for lunch, and had smoked salmon for breakfast with SUGARLESS coffee. Tonight I had crustless quiche and a slice of fried Halloumi cheese.

I put on a ring of mine today that I used to just wear for special occassions -- it was made by a London studio jewller and its quite, well, let's say, experimental -- he takes metal (silver or gold) and melts it into a puddle and then crushes coloured stone and drops them in the metal, so the rings end up looking like pieces of ancient greek jewellry. ANYWAY, I am telling this because I decided today that it I AM going to wear it all the time until I am at goal weight -- that it will be my good luck charm and my inspiration when I need it. No point in letting it sit in a box -- better to put it to work to help me reach my goal. Anyway, it may be too darn wide to wear once I have lost the weight!

SO, hope you are all having a good day. And thanks Jersey Girl for the yogurt info. I guess I will wait until I am farther along before I start putting my spoon in it.

RubyJan

[Azure]

I wanted to check in with you LC Ladies! My boyfriend came up Sunday afternoon and he just took off now. I've got a lot of homework to get done before class tomorrow (A paper and reading galore), but I wanted to check in and let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet! My weekend food-wise was good except for one meal while the boy was up--and that meal included drinks (bacardi and diet coke with lime).

I've got to be more firm with my boyfriend when he's up visiting and we go out. When we're out at restaurants, he practically rolls his eyes if I say I don't want a sandwich because of the bread. Or when I say in response to his: "I can't believe you order those things [chicken caesar salad]--they're so bad for you!" that I'm aware of just what's in them, that on my diet I'm not concerned about fat content so much as carbs, and that I'm more concerned about the crutons than the dressing.

That boy is going to have to get it into his skull that I plan to eat this way for the rest of my life. It's not a diet. He believes in moderation in all things, but he's never had a weight problem. I don't think he understands how "just one bite" or "just this meal" can turn into an entire week of being off plan for me. Maybe once I'm in maintenance and I feel like I have better control, "just one bite" might be okay...but definitely not now. He and I are going to be living together in our first apartment around June or July, and I think he needs to be prepared for our eating two different ways! I've been with this boy for 2.5 years and he still doesn't get it. *sigh* Men.

Anyway, I'm going to go get some things done! I'll come by tomorrow evening to say hello to my girls Thanks to everyone who checked out my new podcast about LC living--I appreciate all the support!

[RubyJan]

Hello, its 8 am here and I just got back from the gym, where I did my 60 minutes of cardio -- I am trying to learn the right technique for the rowing machine -- cos if you do it wrong you can build up big neck muscles -- no thanks. SO i have had to slow down to get it right, but they got a new machine called a POWERPLATE. Any of you ever use one? I can't really tell what it does -- I think it just vibrates while you do isometric exercises.

Kris -- does that vineyard remark mean that you are a vintner (right word?). Australia is such a mystery to me.

Jersey Girl: you are so consistent in your food, its amazing. Do you ever get totally sick of those eggs, or does it just feel like fuel for you? I am curious because I have spent so much time thinking about food -- i.e., always thinkng can I eat this or that, and then eating it, and then regretting it.

SO today its day 6, which means that after tomorrow I am going to do my first weigh-in. Then I will stop counting the days, and just act as if this is my life from now on -- they say that acting some way can turn into really feeling that way.

Azure: when I did Atkins in the early Noughties, my partner used to drive me nuts with his this is so bad for you. But as I got slimmer and slimmer he stopped making such a racket about it. And when I fell off the bandwagon....well, he didn't like that at all. .

Hope you all have a good day. I have got a full 8 hour day in the British Library, so I am having a fish fillet now for breakfast, and taking a salad with me for lunch.

Ruby