Note to self: Find SF cranberry juice. . . I think of it each time I read along here and then forget when at the store vi . . . is it next to the regular?

Another carroty op day . . . :carrot: . . . sure to get the whoosh soon. Took a triple long walk 2.1 lake walk and then trusty river trail walk later--was crazy warm today - guess that means snow tomorrow?:dizzy:

I don't ever get the lc flu either anaB *knocks on wood* but do need to keep my "devil-less" streak going for more than two days at a time. Think it makes me complacent sometimes.

Not going to try to stay up tonight - I'll just do the best I can staying awake tomorrow night at work.

TTYAL!

I love the claps!! clap clap to you!

Aud, oh dear, I'm glad you rescued all that stuff before it got thrown out for good!

It's been interesting reading about the stepmonsters, I meant to reply before. I have a stepmonster (the second really since my dad and his first partner after my mother have split up but since she's the mother of my 2 younger siblings, I still see the first). The first one wasn't so bad but omg, the second! I generally go for super fakely nice just because it's easier, but she's done and said so many things that really upset me and I don't get to see my Dad much at all - except a few minutes when he's at work - because they are always doing things she's organised and I'm no longer invited to anything (nor is the other brother who lives in town. The baby sister is a minor so she's still over there regularly) UGH! I hate it but I can't think about it too much, it stresses me out.

I discovered flax muffins last night. So yummy!!! And amazingly filling! lol, I feel like I have a big lump in my stomach where they are sitting :-) (at some point they are going to clean me out, if you know what I mean, but meantime I just keep drinking water and I keep picturing the water and flax swelling me up until I may explode. It's not stopping me from wanting another one though :-)

It got so quiet, where is everyone? Hope all is well!

I've decided to hide my scale for awhile. I'm completely on plan, I'm in ketosis (the sticks were super dark last night, the second darkest. It was quite exciting, I don't know why, lol) I feel like I'm getting smaller but the scale is not budging at all. It was even a little up again this morning. So I'm going to focus on between now and St V Day on keeping on plan and not seeing what the scale says as I don't want it to discourage me. I feel great, couldn't imagine eating a different way. But I want to see the great losses everyone else seems to have!!

hey guys! I've missed you guys! I've been swamped with work and learning a new software program and let's just say that it's been crazy :dizzy:

Originally Posted by aud:
Note to self: Find SF cranberry juice. . . I think of it each time I read along here and then forget when at the store vi . . . is it next to the regular?

TTYAL!

Yes it is! :) They usually have diet cranberry or diet cran-grape, but I have also seen cran-blueberry and cran-pomegranet. I've only tried the cranberry and cran-grape. I may try the pomegranet next! It's sooo yummy and it does help with those sweet cravings. :)

Originally Posted by AnaBee:
It's been interesting reading about the stepmonsters, I meant to reply before. I have a stepmonster (the second really since my dad and his first partner after my mother have split up but since she's the mother of my 2 younger siblings, I still see the first). The first one wasn't so bad but omg, the second! I generally go for super fakely nice just because it's easier, but she's done and said so many things that really upset me and I don't get to see my Dad much at all - except a few minutes when he's at work - because they are always doing things she's organised and I'm no longer invited to anything (nor is the other brother who lives in town. The baby sister is a minor so she's still over there regularly) UGH! I hate it but I can't think about it too much, it stresses me out.

I discovered flax muffins last night. So yummy!!! And amazingly filling! lol, I feel like I have a big lump in my stomach where they are sitting :-) (at some point they are going to clean me out, if you know what I mean, but meantime I just keep drinking water and I keep picturing the water and flax swelling me up until I may explode. It's not stopping me from wanting another one though :-)

sorry you have such trouble with your stepmonster(s). My DD has a half-sister from her dad and stepmonster and the stepmonster just needs to straighten up cause she is stuck with us somewhat for life LOL!

Her dad wants to force visitation on her every other weekend, but he has been gone out of town now since Thursday (the night of their argument) and has not called her or texted her once. she last told him she loved him and he said it back. I think he owes her more than that since the stepmonster texted her Friday and was basically bullying her. Oh well, I've told him time and time again that he should call her more and come see her during the week but he never has. He just recently started keeping in touch with her by text. He demands that visitation, but then he won't be an active part of her life in other ways.

He did tell her Thursday night that she can just call him when she wants to come over. He was angry when he said it though. Idk if i already said all of this or not and i'm too lazy to go look haha!

Aren't the flax seed muffins yummy? :) I'm thinking about trying some SF jelly with them. I bet that would be great! I never went out of ketosis when eating them either. I haven't had one in a couple of days and I thinking that would be great for breakfast in the morning :D

BTW, I'm looking at our "smileys" and we are doing great! :)

So I'm pulling my hair out here - the only thing I have done differently this week is I had one Atkins Bar and one Qwest Bar and I GAINED a pound! Guess those aren't for me at all ..

Just having a cup of coffee before starting in again on the room that will be hubs office ... I can actually get into the room today - that was my hoarders room for sure ...

You are all doing super! AnaBee I'm thinking of switching to smilies too - but I would have smilies for this past week and I gained - what to do what to do....

rho don't fret over a lb. It will go away. I have total faith

I'm not posting much, living in a wild tornado life right now. Started teaching, working late at main job most nights, then late while I'm teaching at that job. Then home, oversleeping part of the time, can't get anything at home done. Dogs meet me at the door like I'm a stranger.

Then to put the thumb screws on a little tighter, one of my favorite aunts has cancer - mastectomy today. I'm sworn to spend Saturday helping her. sure, who says no to that request.

Then today my boss got fired. The one who supported me taking the teaching job. Now anxious about whoever is next being good or bad. We've had a doozy in that job, that was causing a staff exodus she was so bad. Here we go again. Oh, geez.

Slid off the wagon a little tonight. It was a bad food day. I had coffee and cream for breakfast, with eggs n bacon. Barely got any coffee, day got busy fast. Lunch was a frozen salad (not on purpose) that came with chicken and parmesan. Ate the 2 tbs chicken and parmesan. The frozen lettuce was GROSS. Soda machine took my money, drank diet energy drink I had in lunch box instead. Tried to drink one of those "portable" soup cups in the car. Spilled half of it into my shifter. Ate atkins bar and diet cranberry energy drink. (seemed safer). Supper came and I was STARVING. McD drivethrough on way home from second job. Had 2 small burgers with no tops and about 8 french fries. So today I get a cow. I earned that cow. (oh, wait, I deserve it syndrome is how I got here). I was a little moderate at least.

Ok, I'm posting to myself. I'm exhausted. I lost another pound. I got the clap again today. Ate pretty good today, but was 3 servings of greens due to limited options. S'okay, they were good at least. I decided to set my goal ticker to my actual goal. I had figured out at some point where 10 % weight loss fell, and came up with 222, then I'll adjust it from there to the next goal.

Hey Kel. You made good choices considering a **** of a day! I'm impressed you were able to throw the burger buns away and only 8 fries! Go you!

I'm sorry to hear about your aunt, and your boss :-(

Rho, you are a cleaning machine! De-cluttering is so satisfying.

Vi, it's nice they can keep in touch via text but it's not the same as being involved. And it's hard for her at an age when they want to hang out with friends. My baby sister and my dad had to get used to her wanting time for spending with her friends and not just 'hanging out at dad's'. They'll all get there though, if they keep communicating.

Still very, very slow losses for me (I'm at 179 again!) but I feel leaner, and I'm in ketosis and I'm not being a total guts so the losses will come, right? Did strength training this morning so am reconciled to either no loss or a gain tomorrow morning. I went out shopping today and stayed on plan despite temptations of food courts and late lunch induced grumpiness. I had a diet coke and thought it was sickeningly sweet - a month caffeine free and 3 weeks sugar free has made an impact on my taste buds!!

Kel, I'm glad you got right back on track after a bad day!

Ana, thanks for all the support you give me concerning my ex. It's good to hear from someone who has been there. yay for ketosis and feeling leaner! I know the scale will start moving for you soon :)

What is it about weekends that throws me off? I seriously have to stop doing what I'm doing. Another devil goes to yesterday. even though it's saturday, I'm getting back on track. someone recommended that I follow the 1972 version of Atkins plan, so I'm looking into that. She lost 100 pounds in less than a year. :)

Hey guys, thanks for the support. I really could have done so much worse that day. I was wanting EVERYTHING, especially after I got SO hungry. Like yesterday.... :moo: darnit. I ate a tbs cream corn and a slice of german choc cake so thin you couldn't have sliced it thinner. My aunt's friend made it from scratch - even the icing. I'm not a cake fan either, but it looked SO good. Then DH wanted to go hit our favorite restaurant for his birthday - and I was overcome with desire for pita chips with spinach dip and pizza. I ate the bread and all. I know, I know. I'm only so tough. But today, revisited the aunts. My other aunt made stir fry, but made me a separate one so I could control the ingredients I got. Very nice of her, very good food. Had loads of veg, some chicken. Supper was no bun chili dogs. Breakfast was cheese and bacon omelet (ala DH - great breakfast cook that he his). Had a handful nuts (ok, 2 handfuls). One sugar free mint patty. Not horrible, not :moo: worthy.

Vi: Not that I have the best record, BUT sometimes having easily available LC munchies helps me, especially if I buy something that interests me (just bought a big bag or mini 3 color peppers - yummy, sweet), or making it myself - I love making my own stuff (rabbit bags, sf jello etc) keeps me occupied and soothes my food obsession. Of course, my yesterday was like a non-low carber practically, so it's not like I'm burning up the scales either.

Kel, I'm so you got back on track and had a "no cow" worthy day :) It can be hard eating out sometimes, especially when it comes to any kind of dips.

You are right about me. I need to be more prepared. The weekend comes and I get lazy and turn to easy foods. I'm stocked back up now and went back on plan yesterday. I'm not even going to weigh cause I feel like a bloated cow (no offense to your cute little cows) haha.

The SF cranberry juice really cuts the sweet cravings for me. My sister is doing WW and I told her about this and she drinks it too and says it keeps her from wanting to cheat. I just really don't need to let myself run out of it before getting to the store.

My DD14 knows my plans on losing weight and she is going to keep my accountable. I've never shared with her the times I was dieting because I didn't want her to grow up with a mother who had a weird relationship with food, but now I realize that this will work for me and has to be a way of life and so I can't have her offer me sweets and things and I really need her support. The reality is that she is a teenager and can eat whatever she wants, but that may not always be the case and so she can actually learn some eating habits from me. Also, it's no secret that I'm overweight. I think when she sees that I am strong and can get healthy with sure willpower that maybe it will be a good example to set.

I was a very thin, athletic teen like her and then my 20s hit and the weight war started. I hope I can help her if that should happen to her so she won't be wasting years like I did trying to find a way to keep thin.

Hi All - have really been on a roller coaster since last I posted.:dizzy: Had to take 4 days of "vacation" when my FIlaw was rushed from the nursing home to closest ICU (about 3 hours away) - so critical that we lived in the hospital for 3 nights but the good news is that they got him stabilized and back to the Home by Saturday (CongestiveHF/Alzheimer onset.) The other good news is that while we were there my niece had her overdue baby - a gorgeous lil girl) so got to be there, when ordinarily I wouldn't be able to.:)

I made the best of it for roughly a day and a half, but unlike Kel, I threw in the towel and said to heck with it all.:o Of course that way of thinking is how I got where I am today, but striving to put the brakes on today and brush myself off. I'd reallyreally like to get to a place in my mind where I realize that when I'm stressed and exhausted I need to be GOOD TO MYSELF more than ever, and stuffing face is not exactly being good to myself, right?:dizzy::^:

We had a huge party at my brothers Saturday day and night, took me all day yesterday to recover from . . . not going to weigh in until tomorrow to see if a lot of this bloat goes away/better assess the damage lol.

CYA all in the Wee Hours . . .

Ok guys - here is a little Rho lecture! ;)

You have all done well - you are dealing the some major stressors and you all did the best you could - yes maybe you ate a meal off plan or a few bite of things that weren't perfect ... We will all have times of stress or even celebration where we may have things off plan - but we do our best. It may slow our losses up and we may have a fight with cravings after it but it is only a blip in the road - we are all here for the long haul and will succeed.

I haven't weighed in days so I will weigh tomorrow - I'm sure I'm down the pound and I hope more ... I know I haven't been drinking enough water though have to get back to that for sure.

Had my shock for the year - last Thursday because we worked all day on the room and then went to knitting so I was beat thought I would get a plain McDonald's salad and a big Mac and put it on the salad minus the bun of course - it was over $10 for that!! Guess that shows how often I eat out huh lol.

Husband got home Sunday night and was thrilled with the room and now has to make some decisions on things still in there but he was saying we need to get someone in to re-tape the room and paint and then take the door jam off so we can get the big gun safe out of my living room and in the office so I guess he really is onboard with this -- I figure it will be a few weeks if I can get him to do a little each day and then I can work on getting the other stuff in the office that is taking up my house, my living room, and dining table etc ... It's a start! And much like eating this way every little bit counts :D

Aud, I'm glad your FIL is ok and back to his home. I know that's such a scary time. The good thing is that you got right back on plan and you came here to post. You didn't just throw in the towel for months and then decide to start over, so I'm proud of you!

Rho, thanks for the pep talk ;) You're right, the long haul is what we are here for and we can do this :)

I'm hoping for another loss soon! I'm ready to move that ticker again :D