Went to my 3 month doctor's appt today and didn't get a physical. Medicare only pays for that every 2 yrs and I had my last one in November 2012. Boy I was glad.

He said all the tests came back negative and I guess the iron wasn't low enough for meds. I told him I thought the problem was the way I had been eating trying to get into a routine to get the weight coming down. The reading was 11.2 and the lowest normal is 11.5. I probably wouldn't have worried about it, but I'm thankful for a doctor who is cautious. He said that my A1c was 7.1 and I was happy. He said "it was 7.0 last time". I was kind of surprised as my daily fbs had been lower than it was on my last visit. But all my other numbers were very good and so was Tony's.

This may sound strange, but we really had fun talking to our doctor today. I told him how I was using MFP to get my ratio of protein, fat and carbs the way it is working for me and that I'm doing low carb although not strict like Atkins. Then I said, "But I'm probably going to leave here and go have a hamburger. But I'll just eat off for one meal and get right back on to my low carb at the next meal" which I did. What was funny was he laughed and made a sheepish grin put his hand up like he didn't want anyone to hear and said "That's alright. I had pizza last night". He is doing MFP right now himself. Said he wanted a second piece so bad, but it was over 300 calories for one piece, but he kept thinking about how it would be over 600 calories. He tells me how he has to make himself do what he does to keep his weight off. He says he usually starts faithfully doing MFP in January like everyone else. He planned to do it 100 days until his pants fit again. LOL I really appreciate his honesty. He really is an excellent doctor. I'm thankful to have him.

Carol Sue I asked him about using vinegar with the fluid pill and he said it wouldn't hurt. I told him that I wanted to use it on my salads. I also asked about fbs reading and the reading after meals. He said that there isn't any need to check it until you get the fasting under control. Then you start watching the 2 hr after. I told him about me checking mine yesterday after lunch and dinner. I told him the 2 hrs after dinner was 139. He said that was good. When Tony and I get low on our present test strips, we are going to get the new meter you told me about that is sold at Walmart. I showed them to him today and it is worth getting in order to pay only $9 for 50 strips.

Rennie I told my doctor that I also told my doctor about how I was stretching to get 1200 calories in yesterday and that I ended up eating when I wasn't hungry to get there. I told him I don't like doing that, but that I know they say don't eat less than 1200 calories. He said that the reason they don't like us to eat diets cut down to 800 to 900 or less than 1200 calories is because when you eat such little calories that it sets you up for cravings and then leads to binges. However, he did tell me if I'm eating Intuitively which is the way we should eat that I should not eat to get 1200 calories in if I am not hungry. He doesn't think it is good to make yourself eat when your not hungry either.

So glad y'all fbs is coming down so well.

Carol Sue No MFP doesn't break down the fats into different types.

Trish, I don't think I will ever get my fasting BS under control. Even when my A1c was 6.5 my fasting was at least 125. The reason I check at 1 hr and 2 hr is because I want to see if certain foods are spiking my BS or not. Your 139 2 hour reading was perfect! Even with the lower carb I've been doing mine isn't going down. That scares me, because if my beta cells are damaged I might have to go on insulin. I don't want that, because of the risk of lows. Right now, I never have a low. I can't even get a good reading, let alone a low.

I have done so much better the past couple days. I am back to onederland at 199, but my BS is still way too high. I hope I can stay in this frame of mind and not blow it, because I really need to get my weight and BS under control. I think the success everyone else is having is inspiring me to do it, too.

My family practitioner is very thin and always has been. My cardiologist is also thin, but has a little bit of a belly pooch. I don't think a person who has never had a weight problem can relate. It doesn't matter how much they have been educated because people gain weight for all different reasons and the road to weight loss has many road blocks and detours. You have to go through it to really understand. My doctors never mention my weight to me, except when I lost a lot after my surgery my PCP mentioned it.

Rennie - Can you tell me your menu for a typical day? I'm curious as to how you are keeping your calories so low.

Carol Sue Congratulations for getting into onederland. We are planning a trip to TX in June. Not sure that I can, but I do so hope that I can be in onederland by then. I am happy for you. I just believe as long as you are going down with your weight and doing what you know to do that it will come. I think taking your glucose reading after food will be helpful. I have a step-sister whose husband when he learned that he was diabetic checked how each food he ate affected his bs reading. From that, he formed a list of foods that he could eat and got control of his fbs. I think that is what you are working toward. Be patient with yourself. You can and will do it. I did that when I was diagnosed this last time, but then I went crazy like "okay, I can go back to eating like I did before" and lost control. Of course for diabetics that is a ridiculous idea. That is where I actually learned that low carb really is what works bet for me although I fought it for a long time. If I had stayed with it, I wouldn't be having to do it all over again like I am now. I mean I got ALL my blood work #s in a healthy range. But that is past. This is now and I must learn from my mistakes and move forward. My doctor told me yesterday that if I keep doing what I'm doing I will be able to do it again. I told him that it seems to have come together for me and the fact that it is working is what motivates me to keep doing it.

So far I'm still in the 227 range for 2 days. Up today to 227.8 from yesterdays 227.2. I figure that is from the higher carbs and not enough greens. FBS was 159 this morning so that is good. I've got my plan done on MFP for today and I will end today with 1431 calories 60 g carbs 97 g fat and 83 g Protein. Just realized that my fat is highest, but not worried as most of it is from extra virgin organic coconut oil and EVOO. I figure that is good.

My breakfast this morning was 1 Jimmy Dean 70% less fat turkey sausage, 1 large egg and a mild cheddar cheese cube. I put it in my little microwave steam cooker that I got for Christmas so that the egg was poached. It was really good. For lunch I took a sirloin beef burger patty and added 3 peppers and onion blend, and some collard greens with mustard, ketchup and worchestershire for flavor and mixed it up like a meatloaf. I had that with green tea. I will make a chicken salad tonight with the last of the left over roasted chicken I need to use. I love polish sausage and will mix it with turnip greens with turnips for a snack tonight. I found these in turkey sausages that I bought yesterday with a lot less calories that I will switch to when these regular ones are gone.

Rennie, Fatmad, Ruthie and other

I made roasted vegetables for dinner with kielbassa. It might be the same thing you call polish sausage. Things are called different names in different parts of the country. I can eat a small amount, but I'm not crazy about it. It's a little too salty for me, but DH likes it. I also added some cubed potatoes to the roasted veggies for DH but he only at one small piece. He prefers his potatoes fried. I didn't eat any of the potatoes. I cooked a little bit of Quinoa for me. I like it. It is high carb, but also high fiber and high protein I think. It is similar to rice, but more nutritious. I cooked 3 T quinoa with 6 T chicken stock for 1 serving.

I could probably buy turkey sausage if DH wasn't with me, then if he found out I would have to say I grabbed it by mistake. He got upset one day because the hot dogs I bought were chicken and turkey and he said he wanted all beef. So I bought some and he didn't like them. All this time he was eating the other ones and he didn't even realize it. I know they have turkey hot sausage which I would like to try. I used to buy turkey salami from the deli and I liked it, but now that we aren't taking lunches to work I don't eat deli meat anymore.

My husband eat so many sweets and high carb foods. Potatoes, noodles, macaroni. Every day. He does not have a weight problem but I worry that he will get diabetes. He will not let me check his blood. He says it will hurt. The big baby. LOL He said if he had diabetes he would not take any meds for it. He said he would do whatever he had to do to control it on his own. It's not as easy as he thinks. I pray that he never gets it. I worry about him because he won't go to the doctor unless he thinks he's dying. I can only hope that he keeps his health.

Trish, I thank you for all of the questions you asked your doctor. You have answered everything I needed to ask. God used you to be the vessel to help me on this journey I can't speak for anyone else since the questions that were asked were for me in my opinion Thank you again Trish I was on the lowcarbfriends.com website and found some really good induction phase recipes for Atkins and some are really good on their food porn threads. I have started my own cookbook

Carol Sue, on Onederland That's my worry also is going on insulin again. I hated it before though my sugar was definitely in control while on it. I believe that as we lose weight our BS will get better ... LOL Carol Sue I think it's a man thing with the doctor, finger prick and the foods. I have so many times put generic stuff in a regular brand container just so he will eat it and he doesn't have a clue. I don't substitute for anything pork however because my husband doesn't eat it but the kids and I do And the sausage is the same. Hillshire Farms is the brand that I use to buy.

Most days I have a carbmaster yogurt from Kroger (the only place I can get low carb yogurt) and/or an Atkins shake. If I don't have an Atkins shake I will have a whey protein shake with soy milk and sometimes peaches. Then at lunch I will have some type of protein and a vegetable, then lunch either more protein if I'm hungry with a veggie or if I am pressed for time like on Wednesday's we have church I will have another shake.

Carol Sue The polish sausage is the same as the kielbassa, in fact it is called polish kielbassa, but I couldn't spell it so I just put polish. I figured y'all would know what I meant. LOL

I never thought I would use turkey sub meats, but with the calories being lower I decided to try it and so far I like it. I haven't got around to ground turkey or chicken though. I still like the beef.

Rennie Are you doing Atkin's Induction? I thought about doing it but I think as long as things are working with the calorie counting and low carbing I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. If I hit a snag or a stall then I could use the AI to shake things up a bit if I need to. Glad my doctor's visit helped you. I knew we were all sharing info we get so thought I would just share what he said. I asked about the vinegar thing more for my Daddy than me. His bp medicine the doctor just put him on is what I take as a fluid pill and he wanted to start drinking the vinegar water each day. He didn't want to ask his doctor when I told him what Carol Sue had heard. However, it helped me as well.

I'm headed to bed. I try to get to bed early on Thurs night to get me use to getting up for beauty shop on Saturday and church on Sunday. I've got into a habit of staying up late with DH all the other nights. Got to stop that. I do better with fbs and weight etc if I go to bed at least by midnight so I can get up by 8 or 8:30. I hate sleeping late because I feel like my day is gone.

Catch y'all tomorrow.

Trish, I am usually in bed by 9:30. LOL But I turn the TV on and watch something. Sometimes when DH comes in later I am asleep. I wake up during the night, around 3 or so, but can usually fall back to sleep. I like to get up by 8, but sometimes I cannot fall back to sleep and I get up around 5 and read. The only time I can stay up til midnight or later is if I'm out somewhere.

I buy Eckrich skinless kielbassa. It seems to be not as fatty as Hillshire Farms. The skinless is easier to eat but if you cook it too long (as in sauerkraut) it tends to fall apart easily.

I don't use ground turkey at home because DH wants beef, but there is a restaurant nearby that serves a turkey burger and you can't tell it's not beef. I think there's certain seasonings they use so you can't tell that it's not beef.

Rennie - I can't do shakes. I feel as though I didn't eat but just had a milkshake. LOL I bought some when protein powder once and I have a Bullet. I intended to start drinking protein shakes but quit after a couple days. I would still want a meal afterwards. I wasn't hungry, but my head couldn't accept that I didn't food. It's all psychological.

Whatever you're doing, it's working well for you!! BS is still high.

I didn't lose any more, but I'm still at 199.

Trish I do like the ground chicken I have used it for chili and for spaghetti.It doesn't look good but it takes on the seasoning well. Turkey chili I have had when others make it but when I tried to cook it the taste was weird. It's like the season couldn't get in it if that makes sense so I don't buy it. Beef still gives me what I need protein wise we just have to buy low fat percentage. I'm not doing induction but I figure whatever I need to do to get the taste of things that I like I'll just look up some low carb recipes and Atkins seems the best way to go. LOL I went to bed at midnight on Wednesday and I was like a slug on Thursday. But I have to get up during the week at 5:30 because of the kids

Carol Sue 9:30 works for me also. Thank goodness the tv in our room needs a projection bulb or I'd do the same thing Jennie-O makes a very good seasoned turkey burger even the kids like them. The plain one is icky to me/us. Try your shakes with some added fruit and spinach it is definitely filling, just a thought. I think I need to figure out what to do to get the fbs under the 120's again.

... we are all doing better, we need to keep that in mind and just continue to tweak what we're doing to get healthier

so I suppose that if I had adjusted my ticker up at the beginning of the month, it would show that I lost 3 pounds this month. So I am still not quite true to ticker, but am under 180 for the first time since the new year, so no complaining.

Mad, good job on the new decade

Fatmad Good to hear from you. Congratulations for getting back under 180. Still an accomplishment.

Carol Sue I saw the Eckrich skinless kielbassa. Can't remember why I chose the Hillshire Farms instead, but I think the calories and sodium was less. I do think some things test better made with beef, but where I can sub with the turkey I will.

Rennie I have to be in the mood for shakes. I may use them this spring and summer and perhaps some in the fall on days when I'm in a hurry, but no way can I do it in the winter time. I think it's because when I was in Overeater's Anonymous they stressed the "chew factor" insisting that it was better to chew your food than to drink it. I know that isn't true these days but it is ingrained in me. I have never tried ground chicken although my Mama did give me some ground turkey years ago. I threw it out because it smelled funny and I was afraid for us to eat it. I don't know if it was just us or if it was ruined and she didn't know it. Since then, I've never been able to force myself to buy it. I think I have eat it when Tony's daughter cooked with it, but not even sure about that. Besides, I'm not convinced that beef is all that bad for us as I read one time that there are enzymes that we need that we can only get from beef. I eat a variety of chicken, fish, pork and beef so it isn't like it is the only thing I eat. However, I do think there are people who cannot eat beef. I had a customer who came to the car wash where I worked years ago in TX who owned a cattle ranch. She told me that she had had a severe case of osteoporosis and someone told it was the beef she ate. She didn't believe them but finally decided to stop eating beef altogether and her osteoporosis improved tremendously. So it is another one of those cases like we dieters have learned... what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

Well, I always share when I was good so I'll confess when I mess up too. I ended up just eating like crazy last night and have no idea how many calories I ended up with. Being an Intuitive Eater who is learning to listen to my body signals, this morning I got up and my body was really begging for oatmeal. So I fed it oatmeal. I've learned from IE that you don't have to eat a whole serving of anything just because the box says 1/2 c dry is a serving. I made 1/4 c dry oats and used smaller serving of fruit and yogurt in it.

We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel. Following the IE rule of eat what you really want, I actually ordered fried chicken livers (ate 4 pieces), mac 'n cheese (haven't had that in ages since it isn't low carb or diet and was amazed that I only wanted about 1/2), steamed broccoli and ate about 2/3 of a corn muffin. I was satisfied and not full and really enjoyed it.

Came home and had 2 snacks (dinner was so small it can only be counted as another snack not a meal). I'm finished for the night and nding the day with less than 1500 calories and within my allotted fat and carbs and sodium so I count it as a really good day.

I've decided (for me anyway) the key is that we are probably going to have a set back sometimes like I did last night, but we just have to face the fact that it happened and don't let it waylay us. We need to just get right back on track at the next meal or next snack or next day. I am so thankful that I have grown to the place where my slip didn't become a disaster like it would have in the past. And I hope that the way I handled it will be the way I will handle those situations every time it happens. I'm hoping that IE is what helped me do that.

Ruthie, Bonnie and Darcy Hope y'all are okay.

Trish I say good for you! Enjoy your meal and time out with Tony You didn't binge you didn't overeat and you stopped when you were satisfied, good for you

March 1 - I started the new thread for March.