Still alive and kicking - working practially two jobs right now, so I'm swamped. Sounds like everyone is hanging in there.

My scale has a dead battery, I'm leaving it that way until next Monday - TOM this week and I've been doing good - hopefully will have a nice surprise - I feel like I've lost . . .

Got the South Beach Diet book today and am reading it - very similar to Atkins, but they stay with leaner meats and start adding back some lo-impact carbs after the first two weeks - good reading on how Dr. Atkins has the right idea in lowering carbs and what they do to the body. It is written by a cardiologist. Reminds me ALOT of Sugarbusters.

Hey Jina. Your post of the cinnamon pork rinds intrigued me so I was a guina pig for my own concoction. I took a tsp of butter and melted it, added lots of cinnamon and a small smidge of splenda and drizzled it over the porkrinds. They were very very yummy!! Not sure if this is how LindaBC had them, but none the less I'd do it again. Then I thought....ohhh, this would be good occasionally on .......a rollup (latortilla factory 3gr carbs).....an atkins muffin (2gr carbs).....those mock porkrind french toasts.....THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!! *before I drizzled the butter/cinn.stuff I also dipped the porkrinds into the bowl of butter/cin stuff. It does cool off fast, so either way works.

Hey Everyone!

I had the most pathetically exciting moment today and just wanted to share. This morning as I was getting dressed, I stopped to take a good body eval in the mirror. This alone is amazing but it gets better. So I'm standing there and then I decided to see what I'll look like when I've lost more weight. I tightened my stomach and lifted my arms up (kindof thins you out) and you'll never believe what I saw - a RIB!!!! I almost went into hysterics and my husband had to come flying into the room to see what was wrong with me. I haven't been able to see a rib on me in a good 8 years. True, it stays hidden safely beneath my flesh when I'm standing normally but how wonderful to know that it's still there. I'm such a dork - but I'm a happy dork!

I've also found a solution to the clothing dilemma. First, I've developed a love for second-hand stores. I can get good clothes for very little money. Second, I have an atkins buddy that is about 2 sizes behind me in clothing. We go shopping together and often she'll pay for some of my clothes because when I shrink out of them, she's shrinking into them. We both end up with clothes that we like and we're sharing the cost.

OMG, you showed him who's boss !!!!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!

I would have LOVED to have seen his face..... SHE'S HOT!!

Super sleuth that I am, .....I found the recipie for the sweet cinnamon pork rinds. Its pretty simple and I was on the right track. Here it is......

Dip plain pork rinds in melted butter place on cookie sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and splenda bake on 350 for 3 to 4 min.
Eat hot or cold. great

Ooh... those cinnamon pork rinds sound great!! Great detective work, angel-eyes!! Thanks!! Yet another wonderful use for deep-fried pig skin!!

Take care,
Jina

Angel-eyes, I wonder instead of dipping them in butter (to save calories) if you could just spray them w/pam and then bake them w/the splenda & cinnamon ?

Ohh guess what I'm doing this weekend....

Hey! How is everyone doing? Are you all ready for the weekend? I know I am. I am headed home (Kansas) -- usually that would spell disaster for healthy eating. But, I've warned my parents ahead of time what I can and can't eat, and I really think they'll be accomodating and not force feed me anything bad!

I had some questions for everyone:

How many of you stayed/are staying on induction longer than two weeks? Are you seeing good results by doing that?

How many of you count calories or watch your caloric intake? How important is this?

Have a great weekend!!

Take care,
Jina

Good morning all.

My official weight as of today is 164! Down 10

I still haven't changed sizes but I am working on it. My tops are bigger so I know some of the weight came from there....today I am even wearing a "big girl" bra. One with underwires and everything! I haven't done that in years....I usually where a sporty kind of lycra bra. A friend at work says it makes me look like I have a unaboob!
Not today.....today I have the 18 hour look going!
Non-scale victory!

I went to this store near me yesterday, it is called Grandma's Guilt Free Goodies. They have all low carb food. Unbelievable! I bought some of the wheat LaTortilla Factory tortillas. I ate one in the car because I hadn't had lunch and it was so good! I thought it was going to taste like cardboard. Tonight I am going to make a pizza out of a garlic herb one with some Walden Farms Bruscetta with cheese and pepperoni! It sure doesn't take much to make me happy.
They also had these mini cheesecakes that have only 2 net grams in them! When I reach my goal I am definitely going to go and get some of those. They do have a web site www.guilt-free.com. I know you can have things shipped if anyone is interested. I think it is kind of a mom and pop store so I don't know how impressive the web site is. I haven't checked it out yet.

Speaking of rewards, I bought myself a new leather jacket yesterday for my 10 pound loss. I have been wanting a new one so I just did it. I deserve it. I had such a busy day.....I am having surgery on the 27th so I had to drive into Boston for my pre-op with the specialist and then I had to go the hospital to speak with a nurse and the anesthesiologist! By the time I got out of there I was a little stressed so I went shopping

Well, I should get to work. I will check in with you all later to see how everyone is doing.

jdoggmartin

I am still doing the induction part of the diet. With a few exceptions. I am not being as strict as I was the first two weeks but I am not moving onto the OWL phase until I reach my goal. The only thing I have added is some wine, nuts and the low carb tortillas once or twice a week. I am not introducing fruit or other low carb breads, pasta etc. yet. I think I will have to do this until I lose all my weight.

As for calories, yes I do count them as well as my carbs. I try to stay below 1500 calories and of course below my 20 grams of carbs each day. So far so good. I do want to lower my fat intake a little though. I am going to go back to light mayo for instance. It has only 1 gram of carbs and half the fat. I want to cut some fat wherever I can.

Have a good trip home.

Yup me too!! I'm still on induction and have been on it since Sept 1. I also add a little leeway on my carbs but definitely don't go over my limit of 20 carbs. I made some Atkins muffins (suitable for induction) 3 weeks ago and I still have about 8 left. The latortilla factory tortilla's (3net carbs)....LOVE THEM TOO!! I froze mine and pull one out whenever I want one. Those are the only splurges I have, and still enjoy the induction WOE. As of today, I've lost 16 LBS!!!! So it must be working and I'm doing something right.

Hi everyone,

Hey star princess congrats on finding that rib..I have not seen any ribs on my body since about the age of 5???

Jane...you are doing AWESOME...and I bet you look fabulous in the new leather jacket.

Jina...have fun at home..and be prepared to be strong should temptation present itself. As for induction...I was on induction for a very long time...about 3 months..and only started adding in additional items in the last month.

If you are moving to OWL you should try and follow the progression of additional foods as in the book and you might want to stay a couple of weeks at each rung (which is what I'm doing to ensure I can monitor any adverse reactions). I have added a very little fruit (melon, berries) and only have it maybe 2-3 times per week, the same for full fat yogurt and cottage cheese. I occasionally have 1 oz of sunflower seeds as a snack (only 3 carbs), but have learned that I cannot control my pecan consumption and so I avoid those.

I have recently found a local bread with is low carb (not actually advertised as such)...and while the slices are on the small side (think light bread), they are only 3.9 carbs per slice. I have just added this in my diet..and don't seem to be going crazy with it.

Also found some Atkins banana nut muffin mix, and have tried those as well. In the last month I have also enjoyed a couple of glasses of red and white wine.

I generally keep my carbs to under 30 and while my weight loss has slowed down, I am extremely happy with the variety I can now enjoy. I know I can always go back to induction foods and levels if I need to.

I would caution not moving to OWL until goal because the whole idea is to "test" all the food groups one at a time, one or two weeks at a time, to see how you react. You also need to add those additional five carbs in to see what your critical carb levels are for losing weight and maintaining your weight loss!

As for calorie levels....you don't necessarily have to count calories, but many people do. I know I should stick between 1200-1600 cals. I don't really count them, but monitor them on Fitday. I know when I eat out I do go over. I also look at the "reports" on fitday and can get weekly and monthly carb and calorie averages to check on how I"m doing!

Froufy

Angel Eyes - Thanks for that recipe!! I will be doing that this weekend too!

Jina - Have been on strict induction since August 4th! My doctor asked me to stay that way until we do blood work in December! In 10 weeks I have lost 19.5 pounds and am seeing great results. I am hoping that in January I can move on to OWL and to be down another 15-20 pounds by then.

I am having a great morning. Drank some coffee and DH took the kids to school and is going to the pumpkin patch with DD today!! I was going to go but it is pouring down rain and I dont want to get sick again!!!

So As soon as I get through my email.. I am off to clean house!

Talk to you all later!!

Well I am trying those pork rinds too, as soon as I get some. I have been doing the same as you are staying under 20 carbs but eating food not just on induction. I have continued with slow weight loss. 4 pounds since starting th e Thanksgiving challange.

dinki

Where is everyone today? It is so quiet!