Man oh man, I have worked almost every day. I had the on call this afternoon and thankfully did not get called in to work. YAY ME!!

To celebrate hubby and I having a night off together, hubby decided to bbq some burgers.... now knowing I don't do carbs hubby makes me a double burger on a bun with ketchup and bbq sauce (the atkins part he says was the double patty lol) to go along with my "atkins" unfriendly burger he makes me loaded smashed potatoes..... of course the atkins part of it he says is the cheese and bacon.... uuugggghhhh! Oh and get this he said since I am eating a good dinner for my "diet" he made me two S'mores..... what the EFF!!?!! Did I indulge dang right I did....... when do you ever see your hubby make dinner and dessert for you with your "health" in mind.......lol.... I told him that if he wants to do more cooking for me then I'll have to highlight some recipes... I didn't eat all of it but I did have the burger patties with cheese with what bbq sauce that he had grilled it with. I had a couple bites of potatoes, and I did indulge in one S'more.

Bad Girl, Bad Girl. Ok I scolded myself enough.... can't beat myself up over something that was done with good intentions. He tried. I ate. It's over....lol.

For the next 3 days I have to work doubles. Friday I work at night and Saturday and Sunday I work doubles again..... no days off for the next few weeks. Vegas Vegas Vegas. I think I'll set aside the money from all the shifts that I pick up and use it as our spending money in vegas. Hopefully that will be a pretty penny.

AppleBuddy

Bethenny's Skinny Girl rules say "Taste everything, eat nothing..." so you did yourself proud by having a couple of bites of potato. And she encourages potential skinny girls: "You can have it all, not just all at once..." so you chose to have a s'more, but didn't go nuts and eat everything on a the table. Good for you!

I've enjoyed reading Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel. It's not a diet, but it is some good ideas and things to think about for all of us who are trying to lose or maintain weight.

I would have to say this is where I disagree. Hubby knew I had a rough couple of weeks as far as work and home goes. He tried his best to make a dinner he thought was on plan. This is where other people's interpretation of Atkins gets misconstrued as far as what is in the diet. He knows I eat a lot more protein and fat than he does. He doesn't realise that our carbohydrates come from fruits and vegetables. To some (me being one of them) even the smallest bit of "bad" carbs triggers my "cookie" monster, that is why I gobbled down the S'mores. It is 5:30 in the morning and I am up with a sugar headache, and bloating.

As much as I love the show Bethanny gets married, I don't agree that a little bit won't hurt. That is how we all got into this mess..... people that keep telling us oh don't worry a little bit won't hurt.... or just one bite won't ruin your diet..... or just start tomorrow, you'll be fine....... next thing you know you are sitting at your next meal thinking that you did good cause you only had one S'mores and not two..... you only had two breadsticks and not three......you only had the banana spilt instead of the chocolate brownie overload.....knowledge and not perception of our way of eating definitely was not something I considered when I approached this lifestyle years ago. At least as far as my hubby is concerned. He understands now of course.

I ate my "celebration" dinner solely for his benefit... he realised something was up when I tossed the bun..... the look on his face was not really sad but disappointed.... so I grabbed a spoonful of potatoes sat down and told him how delicious everything was... when he busted out the S'mores I really wanted to shoot him..... his thing was "I even made dessert and it's not cake"...... it hit home what he considered our way of eating... so when dinner was all finished and we were snuggling on the couch I told him how wonderful he was and how if he wanted to cook dinner next time that we could find recipes together. He liked that idea. So now he is a low carb informed hubby that will not trigger my "cookie" monster ever again.

Tonight we are having tacos. He is doing the grocery shopping. He now knows that instead of the shells I will have my carbs in the form of salad and veggies. He is even going to try his hand at a LC "cheesecake" recipe from here. He loves the cheesecake I make so this is a chance for him to get creative while I am at work. Wish us luck.

AppleBuddy

Hey Raquel - I have been watching and watching for when you and that hubby was going to have the conversation regarding low carb-lol! How sweet that he was trying to so hard to make a meal he thought was on plan.

Good luck getting lots of tips for your Vegas trip!

Wow!!! I have been so busy lately. We were unable to get to vegas this month because a couple of people backed out at the last minute. Hubby felt really bad about it so he booked us tickets for my birthday. We'll be going by ourselves so we won't have to rely on other people. I am so excited. I also found out a couple of my coworkers have booked rooms at the same hotel during the same time. Vegas should turn out to be a fun time.

I am a planner. I like to plan as much as I can and then go with the flow. We'll be arriving on Halloween. I am not sure if we should purchase costumes. The first day I plan to just hang out visit a few spots around our hotel. The next day is my birthday and I want to do the CSI Exhibit durning the day and that night go to one of the Cirq du Soleil shows. I haven't figured out which one I want to see yet. Hubby wanted to see the shark exhibit last time so we will do that the next day.

My diet has been going well. Exercise hasn't. I have only gained and lost the same half a pound for the last couple of weeks. Not really a big fan of stalls. I will pull through though. I just have to keep remembering it takes patience.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

AppleBuddy

Hi Applebuddy - cool that you are still going to Vegas! I'm with ya regarding excercise. I am havig a leg/back/.nerve issue - haven't figured out which one yet. I get pains down my leg so I haven't been exercising. I am still s-l-o-w-l-y loosing. I too hate stalls, but this time I have learned that this is what they are - just stalls and nothing permanent. I have a trip to San Franciso planned beginning of Oct with some girlfriends - can't wait!! Just a littel worried about all the walking with this stupid leg issue. I even froze my gym membership for now. What a time for this to happen too! Boo hiss!

WOW!! Has it really been almost 2 months. I am totally remiss in my duties to better myself. I have been EXTREMELY busy.

As far as work goes.... we have a new general manager. I guess you could say she is doing her best to make a name for herself in our little store. We also have all new assistant managers. Our most senior manager has only been there four months. So this time has been very trying. This week the scheduling manager forgot to put me on the schedule. So I have only one shift this week. I also am no longer a closing server, unsure why though. So I have had to work my bottom off to pick up shifts every week. I am kind of getting tired of working everyday just to make ends meet.

I am still working on becoming a personal trainer, however, I missed the certification testing because by the time I had the money and time off to apply the class was full. So, I am scheduling for the next one. Registration for that one is the middle of January and the class/test is April 2nd. Once I get this out of the way I am going to try for my Nutrition and weightloss certification. At that point I will be one happy camper.

As far as my diet goes..... I am still low carbing. I just love the lifestyle. I still love Olive Garden too...lol. Mostly the Chicken Gnocchi Soup, talk about yum!! (Funny thing, I really don't like the Gnocchi, I just drink up all the broth..yumm!!) I don't normally indulge in that type of menu item too often, but, I will admit that certain items that are higher in carbs may on very rare occasions pass my lips.... Life goes on.

As far as weightloss goes.... I am maintaining and have also been fluctuating between the same two/three pounds. I am happy with that. Who can't be? I am proud of what I've accomplished so far. It will take some time to get to my goal and I am willing to let it take as long as it needs to.

Cultivating Friendships....

I want to take a moment and write about "cultivating friendships". I am horrible when it comes to maintaining relationships outside of my immediate family. It is not something I ever mean to happen. It's just that life happens. If someone calls me up I can spend hours talking with them just like time had not passed us by. With the whole internet and forum posting people can literally drop off the face of the earth. I don't think anyone ever has a deliberate intention of cutting ties it is just something that happens. So to all my online friends I would like to apologize and let you know that I am still here and am in need of and still available for support. I would like to say that from now on I would like to get better at cultivating all my friendships and if anyone thinks they have lost contact with me just pm me and get my contact info.

AppleBuddy

Hi Sail. Welcome back.

Thank You Freddy.

Last night with my "night off" I went with a girlfriend to a vegan cooking class. It was listed as vegetarian but the classes lean mostly toward veganism.

I told the hostess what my mealplans were like and she was a bit shocked. I wasn't rude, I did try all the foods they put in front of me. There was a sandwich called Oh Boy! Oat Burger that they placed on a whole grain bun (the kind that is really flat) They also served a tomato sauce soup. Basically a can of tomato sauce with some dried herbs. Also on the menu was Coleslaw with a tahini based dressing. I'll admit the tahini dressing wasn't the greatest, the host forgot to bring honey so she used maple syrup that the church had on hand... like I said wasn't my favorite. It's weird you go so long without any sugar and starches and then you are served a meal that their whole basis is starches, sugars, grains and nuts. I realize they are still getting in protien but the meals are just either salty or sweet. No complex umami flavors going on. Nothing that makes your taste buds sing with pleasure. I will take my nice broiled sirloin burger on an oopsie roll ANY day of the week.

Today I am going to be cleaning and baking most of the day. With me not working all week and unsure if I will be getting shifts from anyone I figure it's going to be a really cheap week. I told hubby last night that I was going to bake up some sugary goodness for him...lol... he is a snacker. If I took away his sugar I would probably be a single lady right now. We were looking for snacks last night and couldn't find anything that didn't need to be baked. So today I will be making him brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and maybe some granola bars. For me I will be making Cleochatra's Oopsie rolls for the week, Sugar Free Cheesecake, Sugar Free jello, Low Carb tortilla chips, and a couple bags of scratch popcorn for the hubby..... I just have to find my popper. He was so disappointed last night that we didn't have some microwave bags that he could whip up.

This week will be one **** of a long long week.

If anyone knows of someplace in my area looking for a good hard worker let me know. I applied at several places last night, one place took an hour and a half to complete the application. ::hew:::

AppleBuddy

It was a protein kind of day today.

Ok so a couple of days ago my hubby wanted KFC. He was telling me all about that double down sandwich that they sell. He said it was absolutely delicious. He likes the grilled version of it. Well we went to KFC and I decided to give it a try. That sandwich is beyond gross. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

I took mine home with the intent of having hubby eat it as his leftover meal on Monday. Well it was my birthday on Monday so we went out to eat. I saw it in the fridge this morning and decided to give it one more try. It definitely tastes better the next day. Not sure why maybe it was the seasonings that helped it to marinate a bit more. It wasn't great but it was a bit better. So that was lunch.

I missed breakfast. I was too busy cleaning my home. I'm still not totally done. I also made the oopsie rolls and a pan of brownies for the hubby.

For dinner tonight I had a hamburger on an oopsie roll. Talk about delish!!!

Breakfast tomorrow will be a fried egg sandwich. I will also head down to the little grocery store and pick up a pack of eggs. Two mile walk there and two mile walk back. Perfect!!

Here's a couple of pictures of my burger and my oopsies

AppleBuddy

I cannot believe how much energy I have right now. One thing about this way of life, is I love the amount of energy it gives me. I went to bed at 11pm last night and woke up at 630 this morning and I am totally ready for the day. Not going to be much of a day since I am still not working. So, I'll have a day like yesterday... cleaning and baking.

I plan on cleaning the rest of my kitchen. Hubby just brought up a stack of dishes last night that he had been hoarding downstairs... UGH!!! I also plan on making those chocolate chip cookies. I think I may even make magic bars. Thank the Lord I am not a big fan of sweets. I would be in serious trouble. The only sugary item I really like is cake, any kind of cake. I have yet to meet a cake I didn't like. So, I try not to make it. I did try once to make a reduced sugar cake with the reduced sugar frosting.... I think pillsbury makes it. It wasn't too bad, but I wasn't really impressed with it.

Breakfast is going to be either a fried egg and cheese sandwich or french toast. I just checked my cupboards and found some sugar free syrup. YUM! Lunch will be hhmmmm... maybe a tuna melt. Dinner will be some form of tacos.... I totally forgot to fry up some low carb tortillas... I'll do that today and maybe have nachos tonight.....sounds like a plan.

AppleBuddy

Ok so I made a fried egg sandwich. But, tomorrow I will definitely make french toast.

Now time for cleaning and baking

AppleBuddy

Hey applebuddy = just wanted to invite you to join us in our chat thread for the christmas challenge. You might get more responses!

Thank you for the invite.... I have been reading the christmas invite challenge... way to go girls!!

I usually just write in this thread because I just like to hold myself accountable. I know people are reading these boards so my writing style is like I am talking to a friend. (Which of course I am, they are all just faceless).

I love hearing from people but it's not the only thing I come here for. I come to this thread to vent and again hold myself accountable. If anyone posts I always try to respond... it's almost like blogging, I would have created a blog, but, I really just like to post here. It makes me happy to see people forming their lives and maybe I can even help out a little or people can see what I am doing and help me out, too.

It's like reading a book for me. Or even writing a book for me. It's ongoing since life is ongoing. I do post in other threads though and thought about posting in the christmas challenge. Not sure where I want to be with my weightloss efforts though. Not sure if I am explaining this correctly. I have a username in almost all the weightloss websites that are out there...of all the ones that are out there I LOVE LOVE LOVE this one the absolute most!!

My username currently is not the one I started out with here. I did join a LONG time ago. I was alway on the outside looking in. When I subscribed with this username I was still only willing to just watch from the sidelines. Then came Onederland.... and a need for outward influences to affect my self-motivation was apparent, I could no longer hold things inside. I needed more, even if it was only to write my thoughts down and see where that could take me. As I started writing I noticed a sense of accomplishment when my day would end.... or even when it would start. Just knowing that I had done something good for my body the day before was motivation enough for me to continue posting.

Again, I am not sure where I want to go with my weightloss. Who knows maybe this Saturday you will find my words in that thread. If not, I know I will continue to "fight the good fight" as they say. But please I love hearing from everyone... it keeps me human

AppleBuddy