[Dairy Fairy]

Hey all! I have some happy news to share...my scale lost another pound since yesterday. Maybe my body is rewarding me for being so good during TOM and it's finally releasing that weight.

I have now lost 5.5 lbs total. It all started after I had my freakout crying spell day. I almost wonder if there wasn't something physiological going on there because I was more sad/depressed than I have ever felt in my life except for people dying. My husband thinks I was withdrawing from sugar. Maybe he's right. It also coincides with stopping the sweeteners. Who knows. My husband loses weight on sweeteners but I have hormone issues so maybe I cannot tolerate them?

Jacqui- like your graph showed you will be back to 192 and below in a snap. I can't wait till you are 189!

Mars- that sounds too hard core for me! I could help give physicals at a recruiting office maybe, but war??? uh, no...especially since I made my husband promise not to enlist when we got married. We got married right after 9/11 and my husband is soo the type. My mom had just died a couple of years earlier and I told him I could not live with that kind of anxiety yet. He is still kinda upset about it, so no way he would let me sign up. There is a show called The Crimson Field on PBS about ww2 nurses you might like.

[Jacqui_D]

Originally Posted by Bewildered

Jacqui, that is interesting about the Alzheimers. I guess it means specifically lack of exercise? I think of people like Ronald Reagan and people really close to me who worked almost their entire life for over half the day, but in office type jobs. Terrible! I believe that was also one of the MCT arguments that had me almost trying it.

The researchers studied participants for 25 years (beginning at ages ranging between 18-30) and found that those who watched 4 or more hours of tv per day and those who did little "physical activity" had significantly lower cognitive scores by middle age. It's a Motley Fool article but it's one of their serious articles: http://www.fool.com/investing/high-g...e-alzheim.aspx.

[Jacqui_D]

Mary, yay on dropping another lb!!! It's possible TOM or pre-TOM was affecting your water weight and/or mood. Or like you said, it could have been affected by withdrawal from sweeteners. But what great news! And thank you! I'll be excited to reach a new decade!

[Dairy Fairy]

I dunno- in my dads family 3 of his siblings had Alzheimer's as did his mom. His brother had Parkinson's. They were all so active, physical labor, gardeners, grew up picking cotton in a field. It is in your genes IMO. The reason we see it now is because we have so many great drugs for other ailments that we don't lose people as young. My grandmother had it and would move barricades of furniture to walk miles every night. A couch potato she was not, before or after her diagnosis.

My dad passed away in his 70s without a sign of it (auto accident). His other siblings died of other things and one is 86 and just quit mowing her grass this year w no sign of it

[love2b150]

ok first let me say I have not fallen off the wagon (totally) but I have about four pages to read to catch up ....

Well I didn't do well in July, I kind of maintained. I guess that's not bad. Here is my plan. I want to start mixing my own shakes in the mornings and for dinner. I will eat a sensible lunch when I get home from work but I will take a prepared shake with me just in case I get super hungry before I get back here. There are a ton of places that I pass on the way home, so it's not good to be hungry Wish me luck. I'm gonna start Wednesday probably. I'll keep you posted

My weight has been 174 yesterday and today. Up 1.3 on the first with a .2 gain for July.

[Jacqui_D]

Rennie, I'm so glad you have not fallen off the wagon, and good luck on your new plan!!!

Mary, what you are saying makes sense! The article does say they "may" have found a piece of the puzzle, which means they also may not have.

I am dragging so badly today. I missed the Y hours because I didn't even realize what time it was. I don't know what my problem is. I feel like I need caffeine or something. I'm not sleepy, but I have no energy. It's been sunny out all day, so the weather shouldn't be affecting me. I take vitamins every day. It could be menopausal symptoms I suppose, or something related to my RA (although I'm not feeling particularly achy, just regular achy lol), so I'm kind of stumped. I feel like I can't get going and the day is already gone!

[mars735]

Bewildered I hear ya! The art of posting often eludes me! I miss parts of posts, compose in my head and forget to post,or post what should have stayed in my head! I really enjoy the spontaneity & flow of this thread.

According to the official Slow Carb woe, it's a good thing to eat the same everyday. I do it too until I get bored. If my food is too exciting, I just want to eat more and more. So I try to keep it to things i like, but not like too much.

2/10 is a fantastic post Carb Day wt. (I exceeded you tenfold). And I wouldn't even call it up, just a fluctuation of the scale's intrinsic measurement error or your body holding some fluid. If your weight is moving in the right direction & you are eating to satisfaction, you are good to go. I think there is a process of befriending the body and making some peace with it, meaning not feeling starved and white-knuckling everyday to stay on track. It just takes a little longer than we'd all like. Are we there yet???? lol

Horrible to hear about the fire. it sounds otherwise beautiful up there! Waterfalls!!!! Sleeping in sounds like good medicine for body & soul.

Jacqui I know how much better I feel with exercise! I'm trying to read more too--I used to be an avid reader. I read before bed now & I think my sleep is better. Btw, I meant to thank-you for posting the link to online graphing. I will give it a go, also with measuremts.


Mary, That is FANTASTIC. I'm so glad the scale is giving up some pounds. But I'm even more impressed that you are giving up both sugar AND artificials all at the same time. That alone could count for low mood, not even counting hormones. Especially sugar withdrawal.

Rennie It's great to hear ya! I think that's a smart idea to have something handy to keep hunger at bay when you are driving home and passing the food places. Have you figured out the shake recipes yet? You could have a lot of fun with those. I like my shakes to have a lot of protein so I have added protein powder. I'm looking forward to seeing what you concoct!

I have a lot to do but have been really lazy today. At least I got my food ready for the week Somehow I always manage to address food! Well, I get into big trouble if I wing it. I torqued my knee the other day and gave it a few days to recoup. Tonight there WILL be stepping!

[Wannabehealthy]

We ate at the casino buffet again yesterday. The one we went to yesterday has a lot bigger selection and it was harder to stay low carb, but I did it. They had sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecans. I wanted some so bad, but I resisted. They also had baked sweet potatoes, another favorite of mine. I stuck to steak, sausage and vegetables. I was very proud of myself, as this is the 3rd day in a row that I didn't have anything starchy. The next time I eat carbs it's going to be lasagne. I'm craving it lately.

I also went to my grandson's birthday party in the afternoon. All I ate there was some cubes of cheese since I knew we were going to the casino buffet afterwards. They had a long meat and cheese hoagie, sub, grinder, (called different things in different parts of the country) and some breaded chicken, cupcakes and ice cream. I had to laugh because I saw one little boy go up to the food table and come back with only grapes and cookies on his plate. This is how kids eat when they go somewhere without their parents around to see what they're eating. LOL Then he had a cup cake and ice cream for dessert.
I collect cookbooks. I have 3 from Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals that I bought at Goodwill for $1. Now I saw one there on the 1/2 price pile and got it for 50 cents. It's called 30 Minute Get Real Meals. I sat down to look through it last night and it's a low carb cookbook! I have never associated Rachel Ray with low carb. There are a couple recipes in it that I might try. The last chapter is Pasta, and she said you can skip that if you want to stay lower carb. But she uses 1/2 lb of pasta in recipes that feed 4-6 people, so each person is only getting a small portion of the pasta. Good idea for those who want to cut back on carbs but not go extremely low.

Jacqui, the main things that cause me to be sluggish are heavy meals, pain and high humidity. I think the fact that I'm usually in air conditioning causes me to have a really hard time with humidity. They are always warning elderly people to stay in air conditioning on humid days. This past weekend was hot, but the humidity was low and I felt great! My pain was there, but on the low side, too.

Mary I seem to agree with you on Alzheimers being genetic. No one in my family on either side ever had it, and the same with DH's family. No real active people. DH always tells me that it can be caused by drinking from aluminum cans. I have been drinking diet soda from aluminum cans since they came out 45 years ago. Every time I forget something, DH says I have Alzheimers, but denies that he ever forgets anything. LOL I just want to know one thing. Why do dementia patients take their clothes off and run around naked? DH had a neighbor who was always doing that.

Rennie, good to hear that you maintained. That's aways a plus!

Bewildered, I tend to eat the same thing every day, too. I like other foods, but don't keep a lot of food in the house that DH doesn't like, and he's the picky eater.

Sorry to hear about the fire. I hate to say this, but I love the smell of wood burning. Bon fires. But not the idea of forests burning or people's homes. When I was growing up, people burned in their back yards all the time but now there's regulations against it. We can burn on certain days, but it's rare that anyone does it.

Mars, I never seem to have a plan with food. I do plan if I'm making something that takes a long time because I have to make sure I have all the ingredients. But otherwise, DH usually decides at the last minute what he wants to eat. I like to have him choose because he's the picky one. I eat most things even though I do have preferences. For me I just have to have frozen veggies on hand that are quick, and for DH I have to have potatoes of some type. The main entree is what varies. I know that I would do much better if I was alone.

Also wondering about Chickadeee, and hoping all is well.

[Bewildered]

Quick check in this morning. I am heading to the Cascades.
Still not feeling any scale love with the added fat. Sigh.

Have a great day!

Week 1 - High 238.6 - Low 234.0 - Avg Daily 236.0
Week 2 - High 237.0 - Low 232.6 - Avg Daily 234.6

Week 3

8/01 - 233.6
8/02 - 233.8
8/03 - 234.0

[mars735]

Good morning everyone!
Jacqui I had the same thing going on yesterday. Do you think it's from Carb Day? I think the way that I do Carb Day probably contributes, but your Carb Day sounds more restrained. The hormone changes could totally account for it too. Maybe your body is just catching up with itself. It's such a black box in there sometimes! I hope you feel more energized today.

I heard something on the radio yesterday & thought of you: Macbeth Murder Mystery, a James Thurber spoof of mystery buffs discussing the play as a whodunit. It was pretty funny.

Carol Sue Wow, You Go Girl! I am going to remember your description of what you resisted for when I am with my family. I have yet to hold firm to my WOE around them. Talk about inspiring

Bewildered Have a great time in the Cascades!
Hang in there with WOE!
Maybe you need more time to adjust to your plan before you drop back down. The thing I love about this approach, as Jacqui has said, is that you can experiment. By the end of this week, you may be dropping back down. If not, you can play around with the macros. For me, I first needed to establish a WOE that left me completely satisfied before I felt ok to play around with it. I think there's a bandwidth of satiety and maybe wt loss happens on the lower end. But you may already be just right, just needing a bit of time for the scale to reflect that.

I'd better get on that stepper!
Rennie, chickadeee, Mary

[mars735]

Week 1 June 9 169.9
Week 8 High 167.4 Low 164.6 AVG 165.8
Week 9
8/1 165.4 Carb Day (+.8)
8/2 167 (+1.6)
8/3 166.2 (-.8)
8/4
8/5
8/6
8/7

[Jacqui_D]

Mars, yay on the drop back down! And yes, I do think how I'm feeling may be Carb Day-related. The James Thurber MacBeth Murder Mystery sounds great, lol! I'd love that!

Carol Sue, great job on the healthy eating, especially while faced with the temptation of a birthday party and a well-stocked Casino buffet! FANTASTIC! We have lucked out the last couple of days with low humidity here so I can't blame that (this time) for how much I'm dragging, but I do wonder if maybe my Carb Day doughnuts and pizza topping weighed me down. The doughnuts are very heavy cake-type doughnuts and I had meat lover's topping on my pizza salad. This is too much information, but I feel very out of sorts and if things don't move along today, I may go buy a laxative to see if that helps. I wasn't bloated yesterday but I am very bloated today (probably made matters worse with steak last night and again this morning) and I still feel quite sluggish. I definitely think it may all be related. I didn't get in much exercise yesterday (just that minimum 15 minutes worth that your book talks about and I didn't put a whole lot of effort into it), but I am going to make myself get to the gym today! Exercise can only help, right?

Bewildered, I hear you on the scale not giving you love. My scale is doing the same thing! That's okay! We are going to win in the end!

Chickadeee, we miss you!

[Jacqui_D]

Up half a lb today. I'm not surprised. I am quite bloated today!

Week 14:
8/2--193.5
8/3--194
8/4--
8/5--
8/6--
8/7--
8/8--

Today's Meals:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
About 2 oz of leftover sliced steak
Greek yogurt with Mio
Mio water

Lunch:
Field Greens and veggies salad, topped with turkey, leftover black beans, walnuts, and ranch dressing
Mio water

Snack:

Dinner:
Field Greens and veggies salad, topped with fried chicken with removed skin, leftover black beans, and ranch dressing
Mio water

Today's Exercise:
2-mile walk around track, 20 minutes HIIT elliptical, 3 sets of 12 reps each on 10 arm and chest machines

[Dairy Fairy]

Today:10k plus steps
caved and bought a stick of gum w artificial sweetener (xylitol I guess, at least not the 2 I was avoiding)

ate 5 cheese balls in a moment of weakness after a stressful day , but left 2 carbs and 2 fruit on the table uneaten from my meal plan so I think I did well (and I stopped at 5...we have a 3 gallon tub).

[mars735]

Good morning All
Well done Mary on your 10 k & limiting the carbs & cheese balls! I did not do nearly so well and the scale is up.I had leftover salsa & cheese from Carb Day that I was going to parcel out, but I grazed it all after work last night. I feel rested today, though.

Week 1 June 9 169.9
Week 8 High 167.4 Low 164.6 AVG 165.8
Week 9
8/1 165.4 Carb Day (+.8)
8/2 167 (+1.6)
8/3 166.2 (-.8)
8/4 167.2 (+1)
8/5
8/6
8/7

Yesterday
B omelet/cheddar slice/salsa whey shake
L salad, beans, chicken, quinoa,evoo
S quinoa, whey shake
D turkey chili, cauliflower, squash w coconut oil
S cheese salsa, roasted shredded cabbage, veg soup, picked at everything else in the refrig.
2L Egyptian licorice tea (there is no licorice taste whatsoever!)
e 10 minutes stepper