I'm doing Phase 1.5 again starting tomorrow. I thought I'd be a smarty pants and move from Phase 1.5 to Phase 2 right away. It was a total disaster. Now I have to backtrack.

Belle - the sticky on moving to P2 slooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly really helped me. In the end though, it was a guessing game. After awhile I learned which foods triggered me and which foods didn't, which ones I could eat without a gain and which ones, albeit seemingly safe, made me gain like crazy.

Good luck

Thanks! I think that I know which foods are triggers. My problem is that I just can't seem to stay away from them. I'm starting counseling this week so I hope that will help.

Hi all! Sorry no time for personals- Hope all you chickies in the path of Gustav are safe and sound! I did pretty well, very badly yesterday but Ll is forgotten and I am totally on track today. I did buy a couple of items to add back in slowly to my diet. I couldn't find any bran flakes at the local store without sugar in them so I bought shredded wheat. Anyone else eat this? Also, I found some whole wheat and whole grain tortillas made from the tortilla factory. All the ones that said whole wheat didn't really look good from the ingredient list! They try to be tricky!

rdw1 - I love shredded wheat - especially in the winter when I pour hot milk over it. I usually toss a few blueberries or whatever fruit I have on hand as well. Warms the belly and soul!

Phase H....girls I LOVE IT!! hahaha...

Talk about irony...we drove up to the hotel and there's a freakin popeyes in front of the hotel! (For those that might not know, Popeyes is a new orleans born fried chicken chain). Just ironic that I'm trying to get away and that it's just following me!

We've made it up to Arkansas safe and sound. It was me, my grandmother, and my two (large) dogs and all our luggage in my Jeep. Not as bas as it may sound.

The journey began around 4 this morning (after sleeping for a whopping 30 minutes). My parents and sister and all of their animals arrived at my house in Hammond around 4 and we headed out. Contraflow on the interstate was supposed to begin at 4...so we got stuck sitting on I12 for about 35 minutes, but I'm thankful we did. We were in the lanes of traffic that were sent to the "southbound" lanes and there was no traffic. Looking over at the traditional northbound lanes they were just sitting....after a while it lightened up on both sides and we were flowing just as regular interstate traffic would. Contraflow continued until just before Brookhaven, MS. This also makes me wnder where Louisiana sends their money for their roads. I've been in LA, MS, TN, and AR today....and all of the roads have been exceptional once we got out of LA. On a side note, I was watching one of the local guys practically begging people to leave the viewing area at 330 this morning. At that time, that made me feel better about leaving.

We arrived at the hotel before check-in and before the room was ready, so Phase H hit and I actually did have a piece of that horrid popeyes chicken. But we've now gotten in the rooms, took a nap, and now watching the news. No local new orleans news...although I'm going to try and watch the webcast of one of the local stations. I miss Bob Breck!!! It's funny watching the national people for a hurricane...it's really scarey the discrepencies they present.

ANyhow....time to go walk the dogs again.

Cat and Zeph....good luck girls!!! Next time I HIGHLY doubt I'll leave. This is for the birds. Safe is safe, but crazy safe, is well, crazy. Cat you are right...I never remember having this many evac orders for this many parishes. Did you hear that the storm surge may reach as close as Pontchatoula!?

Good luck to everyone that may be impacted with this crazy situation!

Mandy - did you just watch Jindal's press conference? He said that the storm surge predictions were less now - between 8-15 feet.

I have to wonder if the state is being overly cautious because of Katrina with all of the evac orders. A friend of ours works for a hospital in Iberia parish and isn't allowed to evac....fortunately, his wife's baby is due tomorrow so they are just moving into the hospital!

Glad you made it to Arkansas alright......we just left that horrid state.....ugh ugh ugh.

Have fun on Phase H It is definitely one of the more enjoyable phases!

Michael, Maria and Robert's sister, Janet were at the hospital when we got there today. Janet says she is his next of kin because of stuff related to the criminal charges. I didn't want to start a scene when Robert was being very nice but I felt like asking if that meant she would be responsible for his hospital bills. They did get something notorized so that she can go get his motorcycle out of impound. It has racked up $300 in storage fees because they wouldn't release it to Michael. I bet they would have released it to me.

Oh, well, Robert had a nice visit with Brian and he is getting better and that is what is important.

Mandy, Zeff, Cat, my heart has been with you all day. I started this morning watching the progress of the storm on Fox News Network and haven't been able to turn it off ... until now. The NASCAR Race trumped my wanting to watch the storm coverage. Oh well, DH has tolerated me all day I guess I can give him a little time watching what he would like.
I do hope that people are being over cautious and the storm isn’t as bad as expected but I would rather see everyone prepared then caught off guard.
Stay safe.

Based on the amount of people at the grocery store this morning...people are definitely getting prepared! Thanks for your thoughts

This bowl of nectarines and raspberries is absolutely perfect....mmmmmmm....