Natalie: hang in there. Learn what works and doesn't for you. No diet is one size fits all. Start low carb, then tweak. Up the fat, lower the fat etc. until you find your formula. Then that too may need tweaking after awhile. Keep it up, you're on the right track, even if it's not the same track as everybody else.

Walking: I empathize. One of my tricks is to cook double and freeze it sometimes. Like paleo TV dinners - got a bowl of primal chili in there right now for a back up. Also, bag of grilled chicken and some frozen hot wings. Good to have a "quickie" on hand. Also, I cook burger meat from frozen (if I'm crumbling it). Also some onion, Cover with a bag of slaw mix. Lid on it, cook until slaw is soft. Add aminos (soy sauce sub). Garlic? Sesame oil after done. WE call it hamburger helper.

OK, that banana thing. Hasn't caused that before. I think it's hormone related - BTW I'm also on clomid - which makes me RAVENOUS. But alas, I"m still responsible for my actions.

Today, breakfast - the usual. Lunch taco salad (with the chips). Afternoon snack: nuts, unsweet tea, 1 bite of apple (it was NASTY). Supper: egg drop soup, few cashews, 1 square chocolate, 1/4 orange. Soon: cup o hot tea to polish it off. I call it a good moderate day. Chips were obviously off plan but allowing for a daily "deviation" is keeping me otherwise on plan. So it's my own customization. I'm not carb counting. Laid little bits of chocolate on each little bite of orange - HEAVEN.

Achievements this far: no soda, diet or otherwise since Jan 2, eating loads of veg, no sugar - not even in my mayo since I found DUKE's (Hellman's still has sugar - what's up with that) - ok, except diving into the pizzert crap at work last night and a small square of 86% dk choc here and there).

Confession: When I started clomid my weight started to shoot up like a rocket. I gained 20 lbs. It stopped when I started W30. Then dropped 4 lbs and held there. I know I'm not doing it perfect. I'm ok with that. But the damage from this med stopped at least. I had gotten fearful I would have to buy all new wardrobe just to breath.

Kel - great tips for food planning - thanks. I'm working on this, but boy, yesterday we had empty cupboards. Great job with your whole30 challenge! The whole loose pants thing for me is better than seeing the scale results! Not to be nosey, but are you trying to conceive? I'll be 43 next weeks, no kids, and the only thing I know about clomid is as a fertility drug. If so, boy, does Robb Wolf have a lot to say about Paleo and fertility!

Natalia - I really believe your continued vigilance and patience will pay off. I had kind of a woosh of fat slide off when I initially began eating primal (9 months ago I think), but it didn't happen for a few weeks. Hang in there and keep eating clean. If nothing else, you'll feel better.

Kiere- the other night I was listening to a Robb Wolf podcast on my walk and one of the questions was about fibro and paleo. His response was extremely positive and hopeful - he said people with fibro will absolutely get relief from their systems from a paleo diet/lifestyle. He also talked about the need for magnesium supplementation for it - if you are interested, I will find and post what he said.

Happy Friday to everyone! Ilene's off to a conference... what's everyone else got planned? Hope you all are digging out from the snow! Have a great day!
***still looking for Sandy and Mikki....

Hey girls!! Darn this woe totally rocks!!!! I had the most delicious breakfast ever... Ricotta creme with Stella ricotta, and then for dessert I had 1/4 cup walnuts, with a sprinkle of Allende and a tsp of butter, microwave until butter melts. Mix together and eat while still warm, mmmmmmm!!

So I got on the scale today and finally it seems headed downward. Not a whole pound but I'll take any loss I can get.

I think for supper I'm gonna make that new recipe for poor mans lobster. Hope it turns out good. Last night we were so late getting home. I had a plate of greens with a few grape tomatoes and balsamic vinegarette and the meat off a mcdouble! And I was thirsty driving home everyones food and I had gotten dh a coke but I didn't even take a sip. Coke classic I just loooooove it but I knew I could be trusted not to have Any or else I would have gotten him yucky root beer! Lol


Kel- I, too have been on clomid.
On the third cycle I got pg.. I upped my third dose on my own.
Unfortunately it was 8 yes ago and I don't remember increased appetite.
But I have been on high dose steroids and boy!! My appetite increases my like triple. In fact I am never full. I remember one night having as a bedtime snack 4 hotdogs in buns loaded with toppings!! I once ate 1.5lb cheese in one sitting.
It was Gouda but still. Lol
After twice gaining major weight on prednisone and not losing any I was determined the next time to not gain any. I gave myself a realistic buffer of 5lbs for water retention. I looked everywhere and read a lot and found up people gain wt on it from it screwing with your insulin levels so I ate low carb (I followed cad which was great at the time so I could still have an indulgence every day).. Did not gain anything the next 2 times on pred!!

Sorry for that long spiel but if you're hungrier maybe the clomid is messing with your blood sugar. If this is true, not only will you be more likely to store as fat any carbs you eat but you'll keep getting a bigger and bigger appetite. I recommend to keep your appetite in check, as low carbs as you can go, until you're off the clomid. This should help enormously!

Claire, at the risk of sounding like a total ignoramus, who is Robb wolf? Did he write paleo? I only read pb.

Happy Friday girls! Let's kick it out of the park today--- eat clean and serene!

Hope everyone did kick it out of the park! Early to bed for me tonight.

Natalia - you can check Robb Wolf out here. I love to listen to his podcasts on my ipod while I walk. I have his book in my cart on Amazon and will probably place the order this weekend.

Night all!

hmm, I listened to Robb Wolf last night via your link. Was sweating bullets over if he was going to bash club soda, as I was sipping on an italian soda at the time, LOL Starting to love those!

Those SF syrups are impossible to buy locally unless you go to the cafe and they're $13.99!! and only have vanill, caramel and hazelnut. But from time to time I come across some at Winners Homesense. Very hit or miss. THey had raspberry and french vanilla! So I got 2 of each (t home I only had caramel and irish cream). I am loving the vanilla in club soda..


So, the scale is inching downward! and I am not complaining! Its amazing how grateful you can be for a third of a lb, or half a lb, once you get some perspective. What am I doing differently? Well for the first part of this woe I didnt journal, but I think I was getting more calories and fat (thru nuts)
and drinking less.
I also picked up a bottle of green tea extract and thougtht no harm in giving it a try.

i tried the poor man's lobster last night. So weird, it did have a taste reminiscent of lobster! You wouldnt fool anyone with it, but for plain whitefish it'll be my favorite way to prepare it from now on. and so easy! I also found that smashing the fillet into little pieces and dripping a bit of butter over them was far more belivable than just grabbing a bit of the fillet.

I was jonesing for something last night so I also tried amy's protein cookie and it was so good! except my batter was runnier than hers so i'll have to try it again, but it was fantastic as I made it too. very chocolately , kind of custardy and kind of cakey. Mmm!

Ya, we are TTC. Been on clomid since august, think we're about to up the dose. OH BOY, am I looking forward to that. Other gals at work are also on it and having similar side effects like bloating, appetite of a moose etc. My first month I didn't notice much but a little nausea that was tolerable. That passed and appetite kicked in with a vengeance. And in response my weight began to grow, then I found I was eating nearly constantly without any lessening of the hunger and my weight SHOT up about 20 lbs. I began to panic. I can't get bigger than I started. I found primal while wandering around the internet. I've done LC, Atkins, WW, blah blah blah. But this sounds simple and so in I went feet first into a W30. No test driving first. And it went well. My weight kept going up, but sort of stalled finally then took a small downturn of 4 lbs. I hit my highest weight ever. But Primal stopped the gaining. And if I go munching around at home - the choices are slim - there's fruit, coconut milk, meat, veg It's the munching around not at home I got to work on. If I could limit my off plan a little more I think I'll be just fine with this. I don't think it's affecting my blood sugar - as I already have a weak area there with some rare hypo attacks - but it does boost your fertile girly hormones. I think it's the hormones surging around. It also causes fluid retention - so it's a double whammo. I can tell my body if fluidier, my right knee swells (which it always tended to do a little but now is much worse). It messes with muscle looseness, so I think that's making my knee hurt along the side where the tendons run. it's all really tolerable though, just not the weight gain rocket I was riding. That was awful. My clothes got LITTLE, and I got miserable. Couldn't reach my feet, couldn't bend over and breath, I had never realized I was only 20 lbs from being unable to do everything for myself. Scary.

In a few days we'll know if this round took, if yes or no, we see the doctor the next week. HOPING. Then if I understood right the dose doubles if we're still in TTC phase. May have to cut carbs to manage a double dose. Or cut the sneaks.
Had made some wonderful egg drop soup - hmm, gonna freeze it as soon as it cools. OH man, that'll be good one night when we're short on time and left in a bowl on stove to cool. Came back to find our German Shepard standing at stove on back feet happily eating my soup. Guess it was irrestible....

Today, a little snow on the ground. a little breakfast going in my belly of bacon, eggs, sweet potato, carrots... coffee. Got a roast and veg mix to cook later today. Good day inside.

I think my next goal should be exercise, but plan to wait for better weather to start that! I'm cold natured, I don't think I'll start walking in the snow. I have arthritis, cold is just not that tolerable even now. Maybe I'll work on in indoor idea for now. Shouldn't be hard to come up with. I do have a zumba DVD to play with

Sorry for long post, I got a little involved with it today! Good therapy for me sometimes.

Kel- I am so sorry to hear that. So it sounds like each week u plateau is a big victory bc you are not recording a gain!
I hope this month is the monthfor you. You might have to get acrobatic with your bding so you can burn more calories!!lol
I hear ya on the cold, it's been soooo cold here and I think anyone with chronic illness does worse in the winter. I wish I had enough money to become a snowbird!! Even though I'm only 34.. Haha
My mom calls me a trvl ho I just love it. Thank goodness the kids aren't afraid to fly.. I think they like it as much as me!!

I am at a playcentre right now typing on the ol itouch amid the chaos. Took the kids out to kill some time as dh is having a friend over to game,
I think there's like 7 parties(
For breakkie I tried the new recipe for flax pancakes. They were okay, a nice change from eggs I guessand way better than the wet recipes I've tried like with cottage cheese.. I put becel on it and sf vanilla.
I would make it againbut I bet it'd be better with ground almonds.

I don't know what I'm going to make for supper ...something quick I think. And were low in greens...guess I need to go to Costco but dh is being the food budget police lately for some reason... Though funny enough doesnt mind spending hundreds online and getting extra nunchuks etc

cacao nibs......anyone ever had them? Know what to do with them? I bought them at WholeFoods because i remembered I wanted to try them once but I can't remember why? They are interesting...not very sweet.....trying to find something to make with them.

Natalie: thanks for the support, sorry I didn't share that upfront, it's just been kind of a personal thing but it did make more sense for ya'll to know where I"m coming from. I'm doing well as far as I'm concerned. If I don't go chasing a cow down in a field with a fork in hand anyway when the dose doubles if this round didn't take.

wildviolets - I've seen those nibs used in nearly every way - even ground up and used in a meat rub. Google it and let us know how it goes down. I've thought about trying them myself, but haven't came across them anywhere yet. Maybe I'll find a coupon.....

I started something new last night - new and EXCITING. Didn't realize it would be so either. I started couponing. My BFF has been doing it and I reaped a little benefit from her, and a girl at work is into it on a "needs intervention" level. Anyway, there ARE coupons everywhere even for our diet - plus H&B stuff. I plan to do this aggressively to reduce our bills. I found 2 coupons for salad mix alone! Anyway, the trick is to get loads of coups, swap the unneeded ones with each other, and buy when that item is onsale - then use multiple coupons for multiple items at sale price. There's already some success in our little group of beginners. Look into it. They have gotten brand names cheaper than generic - and a few items practically free. BTW I got some really good coupons by going to the manufacturer websites of stuff I ALREADY buy and registering for their emails. Also it is recommended that you visit them and either ask for a coupon &/OR tell them how great they are and they'll send u some good ones!

On the TTC front - no change so far. Cross your fingers gals.

Oh yes- very familiar with couponing.. There are websites where someone has already done the legwork and matched all current coupons to current sales.. On many cases they pay you to take the item home!!

Also don't forget two little tips most of the cashiers either don't know or don't want you to know- SCOP- scanning code of practice, if the item rings up at higher than the shelf price you get it free up to $10 maximum. Do you have that in the states? It has to be nonstickered though. But each UPC counts. So say you have 3 flavors of granola bars that are ringing up higher. All three will be free.
2nd tip, on each coupon in the fine print on the back, it usually says, tax is included in the face value of the coupon..but they never do this without u telling them!! It only comes into play when you're getting the item almost free.. So if you have a $2 off coupon for something 1.89, the remaining.11 can and should be used toward tax. Cashiers don't do this and even some argue you can't use a coupon for more than the cost of the item.

There's also coupon trains which are so handy bc many coupons are only distributed in some parts of he country. Coupling has enabled me to have a stocked pantry downstairs as well as contribute generously to the food bank. It really is an art!!

Erm anyway as for me a huge itchy rash developed on my face last night. I saw online that is a common reaction to an allergy to green tea?? So I am not taking more tabs and see what happens.

Confession time- I got an indulge Atkins bar for hub to put away for me for valentines day and I got an extra to see how they tasted. Not bad. My first time ever having sugar alcohols so who knows I could be allergic to them. I stayed off the scale today. Going to lowcarb it and have lots of fluids and see how it goes. Def not planning to have them regularly.. It's funny after my research I was hoping to have d and gas so that would mean I wasn't absorbing the sugar alcohols.. Lol I did have some gas and a few weird noises but no d. But there weren't a lot of sa's in the bad either..

I have no clue what's for supper. Ugh!!
Is it always this slow here on the weekend?!? It seems like the activity practically slows to nothing.?

Natalia? You coupon on Canada? I really thought we didn't have much to work with here. I guess I'm not looking in the right places. Hmmm ... must investigate.

Hey girls had a wonderful weekend with the girls at the fitness conference in Montreal... Saw some great demos on Gym Sticks, TRX, BootCamp I didn't participate to the BootCamp but it looked extremely tough! Didn't eat completely Primal, had a few carbs ie: rice and a wrap and a bagel, no biggie at all, lotsa wine though and a couple of shooters ... Great fun!!

Clomid: I took Clomid also to get pregnant when I couldn't .... I can't remember if I had any weight gain side effects I was not in tune with my body back then at all.... I took it for one month and got pregnant that same month... I was one of the lucky ones ...

I have no foods made for the week, but plenty in the freezer...thank goodness....tomorrow I'll do some groceries...

Coupons: I used to coupon years ago, I haven't in a while though... I used to find it fun and saved lots of money doing it...

Good day, food wise, but super tired. I'm going for a short walk and may post later... read everything but a little too sleep to respond right now.

Hope everyone's having a great Monday.