Shannon - I'm with you on the carb drug. I can't believe
I have stuck with eating so well for so long. It's been more
Than two months with one slip up. That pizza put me over
200 fbs and that cut that carb binge. But the reason I
have been able to do it so long is not eating carbs.
For me that works. Sorry trying to write this on my
Phone!

I switched to decaffeinated coffee and I have not had palpitations for 2 days, but I haven't tried exercising yet. I might still get them when I exercise.

When I was at Aldi's they had big chocolate bars on clearance for 75 cents, and 2 of them jumped into my cart. Chocolate is my only sweet craving. They say chocolate is good for you. Well, my blood sugar did NOT look good! I KNOW not to buy that stuff. I don't know why I had a weak moment. I think it was the clearance price.

For dinner last night DH had take out from Long John Silvers and I made some grilled talapia for me. He won't eat that. He likes the greasy fried stuff!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Yesterday was the last day for my daughter to go to preschool til Sept so I went to a really nice spa (with a gift card I've been saving for two years, lol) and had a fancy massage! I had a low carb breakfast but then after I pucked my daughter up we went to a mexican place and I went bonkers. At dinner I was back to low carb. This is how it was before too. I would have a good on plan day then off then on then off.....it seems like the carb cravings have to sputter out of my system, lol. Oh well....you know what? Even a "bad" day now is probably half the carbs I used to eat on an average day. I really am doing well, in general, even on some of my worst days now....that is progress. I weighed today and the scale is inching up but I'm not in fear of gaining it all back like I used to be. I think mentally I'm making a lot of progress....used to if I had a bad meal or day I just quit, it was too hard. Now I might feel a little bad but I know I'm going to keep trying. It's progress, albeit small :-)

It's library day so I've got to get my daughter dressed so we can leave. We go on vacation on Monday. I'm still thinking about our summer schedule. My daughter likes to "teach" her stuffed animals and dolls everyday and there is at least one craft a day that she has them do. All year it has been a replica of whatever they did in preschool the day before. I need to plan some simple crafts in advance for her. She used to have a very nice FULL crafting area but due to bad behavior I have taken all her supplies away and she can only have whatever is needed for a specific craft.....I loved the montessori style crafting before (I am crafty too so I like to encourage that) but it was such a mess. She wouldn't help clean up and it was completely taking over the kitchen. Anyway, I'm just thinking aloud and rambling.

Have a great day!

I started chapter 3 of the book Thin for Life and it is really helping. People who have mastered losing weight and keeping it off for more than 3 yrs say you have to take responsibility for your own way of eating. About 55% used a diet program that they either followed precisely or tweaked it into their own "personal plan". Others just made up plans of their own. Some took advantage of support groups and some did not.

I've decided to use the basic rules of Weight Watcher's. Started it this morning and I have my plan for today. I did this before and enjoyed it and had no problems until I joined on-line WW and people criticized the fact that I didn't always use all of my points. So I'm going to do this on my own again so I can eat only the amount of pts that I actually need and no more.

Some did exercise and some did not. I will stick to my 30 minutes 3 days a week. All my exercise is done for the week. Of course, I will be more active along the way.

I believe with this plan that it will be much easier to stay OP while on my trip, because this is something I can do anywhere. Never had a problem eating out when I did this before.

I've left MFP as I'm tracking my points with paper and pencil. Since I never used Activity Points earned and don't plan to now, I won't be tracking them. I will save my Weekly Pts for when eating out.

Have a great day!!!

Thought I would share that I tried the shirataki noodles tonight with my spaghetti sauce. I made reg thin spaghetti for family. I thought they were ok. I liked them better than the zoodles or spaghetti squash. I like zoodles just not as a pasta sub with tomato meat sauce. They were kind of pricey though at $1.99. I might look for some coupons.

Trish, when I went to WW they told us to use all the points because they are supposed to say that. But there were a few of the other women who told me they didn't always use all their points. Don't force yourself to eat if you're not hungry. I always kept a few points for later in the day in case I got hungry. Sometimes I used them, sometimes not.

I bought a big bunch of kale at the supermarket, but I also bought a bag of frozen kale and a bag of frozen turnip greens. I never saw them in the freezer case before, probably because I wasn't looking for them. I will have them in the freezer for those days when I run out of fresh kale so I don't have to run to the store for more.

Shannon, sometimes some carbs sneak into my diet. Like yesterday, when my husband had mac and cheese, I ate a couple forkfuls, but that didn't come near to what I would have eaten if I had ordered it myself. Sometimes it's a couple french fries. I would probably lose faster if I didn't do that, but I don't do it every day.

I bought some coconut oil and the jury's still out on it. I don't know if I really like it or not. I WILL use the whole jar though, because it was expensive. I also bought a zucchini to try my Vegetti, but haven't done that yet. Probably over the weekend. I don't think I will like it with pasta sauce either. I'm not sure what seasonings I will use. Probably just some parmesan and romano, parsley.

My husband bought a couple zucchini plants to plant with his tomatoes, so if the rabbits stay away, I will have some home-grown zucchini this summer.

I want to try the sharitaki noodles but I haven't found them yet.

Carol Sue i found mine in the refrigerated section of Walmart, by the wonton wrappers.

Wow! I clocked a new low on the scale of 189.2 and my meter, 92, this morning! I'm not sure I've ever seen a fbs <100 on my meter. Hooray! DH and DD are going out for a few hours so I can clean, do laundry, pay bills, etc. our house is a wreck and we leave Monday.

Carol Sue - I have been putting coconut oil in my morning smoothee. Don't really notice a different taste, just a smoother smothee! And I agree it costs a mint!

Shannon - I bet that massage felt wonderful!

Patty - I agree with what you are reading. We have to stay on this WOE after we reach goal. That's why I like low carb. I'm not ravenous any more and I hope to not worry about calories after hitting goal weight. Just keep the low carb and high protein/fat/veggies/fruit mentality with a carby treat now and then.

Weird, my FBS was 125 this morning and I had no carbs yesterday except for fruits and vegetables. Had my usual proteins, in fact I've started adding more fats with the coconut oil. Exercise is the same. Not sure why my FBS is higher, when other days I might have had an actual processed carb at dinner and my FBS was lower. I eat a lot of the same stuff every day so it is usually easier for me to see patterns. This has me perplexed. I think I'll start doing some time on the treadmill in the evening, that should help the FBS regardless.

SHANNON - Yea for under 190 and yea for under 100!!!! I have not been under 100 yet. You are doing something very right!!!!!!!!!! Good for you!

Carol Sue I would love to re-join WW on-line because you get all the updates on new foods etc, but I don't want to get with any groups that tells me I have to eat all my pts. I think the reason I don't get hungry on WW is because of the fruits and veggies and even the fiber I'm eating. Example, I have my supper planned out as a sandwich. I got off the phone talking with my DS and thought that I would eat supper. Not sure how much is the fact I'm looking forward to an 8 pt dinner or was real hunger. I looked at the clock and realized that it was too early to eat a meal. (I would like to eat dinner around 6 or 7 and call it quits.) I decided to have an apple instead and was amazed at not only how good it was but satisfying as well. I will end up today with 20 pts. My WW calculator shows that I get 29 pts a day (I'm thinking with the weight I've lost that I need to check that again because it may be too high.) I do not believe that I have to eat all my pts and I will only eat as many as I need and no more. Doing it my way is part of learning to take responsibility for my diet by making this "my own personal" plan. Drinking green tea and water is helping me stay satiated as well. I have no intention of letting anyone determine for how many pts/calories that I have to eat ever again. Thin for Life also mentions the importance of us feeling the power of being in control of our own life and eating habits.

I've been looking at what WW calls "Power Foods" and all greens cooked or raw are not only power foods but they are also 0 pts. I'm trying to learn to use more of those 0 pt power foods.

Shannon I like the zoodles as a stir-fry with butter or broth, but not with spaghetti sauce. While I do like the spaghetti squash, it just is too much trouble to fix just for me. Hope you have a great trip.

Kris This fbs readings has always puzzled me. I don't know how I can have a reading of 113 one day and have 135 the next day. In fact, one day this week I had a ready of 145, the next day 113 and the next 135. No big changes in my eating, so I've decided that I just don't know enough about this stuff.

Doing WW is really going to make my eating on the trip so much easier. For one thing my sister and her hubby both do WW and we are staying with them 4 days. The only time that might be a challenge is being at hubby's son's. However, I think I can even work that out. I can take some 0 pt fruit and veggies, yogurt and maybe some snack foods although I don't want to make a habit of using the snack foods. However, I could use them the 3 days at his son's house. When we leave there, I can use an ice cooler and since motel rooms have refrigerators and microwaves, I should have no problem staying OP for the rest of the trip. I can finally feel like I can relax and look forward to enjoying my trip.

Rennie, Ruthie and others :wave:

Hi, Sweeties! I have been around but just run off my feet with hiring summer staff and getting schedules together for opening last weekend. Just back from a long day of Doors Open where we had lots of visitors, had to answer lots of questions and served a simple ploughman's lunch to a lot of visitors to both the Mill and the Old Town Hall.

We just had a flash rain and hailstorm. The sun is out and I'm going to light the grill for a burger and grilled fresh asparagus with an arugula salad for dinner. Planning to have a glass of wine too because I deserve it.

FBGL has been fine - usually around 5 although I have not been regular with my Victoza or Metformin. Yes, I will go for HA1c but methinks it'll be OK since I've been doing fairly low carb and weight is dropping slowly! Gone are the days of a 5 pound weightloss every week!

Hang in there. We can lick this!

Ruthie So glad to hear from you and glad you are doing well. Enjoy your nice weather today. You had so much snow this past winter you deserve some good weather.

I put my 20 pts of food into MFP and I will not be worrying about me eating only 20 pts because it comes out to be about 1200 calories. In fact, I'm finished eating today and fully satisfied... not stuffed. Total calories today is 1221 for my 20 pts. That is exactly how I want to feel at the end of OP everyday. So this will be my goal. The weight will come off in time. Now I must learn to be patient with myself and the plan.

Trish, I think you can still get on WW online even after you quit, but you can't log in to everything. I can still get on there, but I rarely go there because I'm no longer following WW. I think the reason everyone says you have to eat all your points is if you complain that you're not losing. If you are still losing using 20 points, go for it! That's what it's all about.

The first time I had spaghetti squash I didn't like it because I expected it to taste like spaghetti. I tried it again and made it with butter and onion and then I liked it.

Shannon, Way to go reaching 189! And with a low FBG, too! You must have been a very good girl.:angel: Have fun on your trip, and don't be too worried about what you're eating. I think you will do well!

I never thought to look in the refrigerated section. I'll look next time I'm there. I at least want to try them.

Kris, what are the benefits of coconut oil? Sometimes when I hear what it's doing for me it justifies the cost. I think I expected it to taste like coconut.

I too will probably never change from low carb as nothing else works for me. I'm probably not doing it strict enough because the weight is not falling off quickly, but at least I'm not gaining like I do with other plans.

Ruthie! So glad you stopped in! It sound as though you are keeping yourself very busy. I have a conversion chart that tells me your "5" is around a "90", so that's really good. Keep up the good work. We lose a lot slower than we used to but it will come off and stay off.

A quick flyby as I'm running late and we are going to church this morning. I overslept. Couldn't go to sleep until sometime around 3 am, not good when I need to get up at least by 7:45 am.

Still up a lb this week, but my fbs was 105. Lowest it's been in years.

Shannon I forgot to congratulate you on your 189 lbs. Enjoy your trip and try not to worry too much about your weight.

Carol Sue I found a thread on another site where they do low carb on WW and just eat protein, fruit and veggies and no grains. I'm thinking about joining that group. I realize that if I really want to when I get back from trip that I can do lowcarb and WW. So that just may be my goal. I'll see. However, if my fbs stays down with the way I'm eating, I just may keep things the way they are.

Got to run. BBL

Went out to eat at Huddle House after church and I got home to figure points. Figuring conservatively, I've blown the whole weeks weekly points and today's and maybe tomorrows. Counting calories conservatively, I have not blown my calories. Thinking maybe calorie counting is the wisest way to go. Either way, the only thing to do from here is to just keep eating OP the rest of the day and forget this mornings meal. There was a time when I would have just consider the day "blown" and just go wild the rest of the day, but I don't want to do that any more. So I feel good about the fact that I have changed and I see progress in my attitude.

One thing I've learned is to be extremely careful when eating anything at the Huddle House as it seems most of their food is extremely high in calories.