Well, my plan didn't work again. I got into the popcorn tin so my BS was 190 this morning. But I am still trying. I want to use the rest of that popcorn to make some caramel corn for DH then I'll leave it alone. I will continue with my ACV water and go back to the amount and full strength that I used that first day, but if I get tummy issues again I will have to accept that ACV water is not for me.

About the Coconut Oil. When others started using it, I was not in favor of it because it was a saturated fat, and I've always heard that sat fat was the bad fat. But since that time I have read that although it's sat fat, it is not animal fat, but plant based, and that's the difference. I have also noticed that different books and plans say completely different things, and we have to do our own research and decide for ourselves what works for us and what doesn't. Anyone can write a book that says anything. And I think even doctors get it wrong sometimes. My cardiologist never discusses diet, but I am sure he would so no to fat.

For us, eating out is better than eating at home, but it is too costly for us. We rarely go to fast-food places. We go to sit-down restaurants. I can usually order an entree and 2 veggie choices instead of getting a carb side. DH can order his carb, and we are both satisfied. When I cook at home, I sometimes end up eating carbs, such as when I make lasagne and I just have to accompany it with veggies or a big salad and just eat a small portion of the lasagne. If I make a regular meat and potatoes meal for him, I have to adapt the meal to include more veggies for me to avoid the carbs.
Even if you do go to a fast food place, you can order a small burger and throw away the bun, and get a side salad instead of french fries, but unfortunately, most of us don't do that. It's all up to the individual to make up their mind to make the necessary choices. It's not easy. I did so well when I was single and lived alone and only had to make choices for myself, but I know DH will never change, and I would not trade him.

Shannon, there is not a lot of information online about THM. It's too new and they are making sure you have to buy the book. I checked the used book sites I use and there are no cheap copies out there. I will keep checking Goodwill. Someone will buy the book and decide it's not for them. Or maybe I will want it so bad I will pay the price. I am like Trish. I once gave away all the different diet books I had, and now I have a big collection again. I even bought another copy of one I had already given away. I am so afraid of investing in another book that I can't make work for me. It's my problem, that I don't follow through. I am rooting for you, that you found something that will work. You seem to have better staying power than I do.

Trish, your friend was truly a wonderful woman and lived a full life. It was God's plan that she live a long life. While I agree that we should take care of our bodies to have the best life we can, I also believe that when God is ready for you, it's your time, and not everyone lives to be old. I am not saying you are wrong, but just that I think differently.

Shannon The plan is definitely working for you fbs. Looks like you have found what works for you.

My fbs was 125 this morning and weight is slowly coming back down. While 125 is not bad, I know that the plan I was on when it got down to 108 is in the realm of possibility for me. So I have decided to continue doing what I was doing then at least as long as it is working and keeps my fbs low and the weight comes down. I've decided that the only change I will make is I will add the ACV drink. I still drink the small glass of ACV in water before eating breakfast because I don't want to drink the ACV so early. I will still use ACV and EVOO on my salad at our main meal at noon when eating at home. We don't eat out that much so the few times we do should not be a problem. If ever I will keep the book in mind because I know I can always purchase the book if I need to. I am comfortable with my new plan and as my Hubby #2 used to say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

I really believe that we are all becoming comfortable with what we are learning to do to make a plan work for us personally. According to the book I have of people who lose weight and keep it off this is what it takes in order for us to be successful. That is our goal as we learn to make a plan that fits our personality and lifestyle.

Have a blessed day.

I've been drinking the ACV drink all day today. 3rd day drinking it. Since I went to the funeral yesterday, I drank it after I got home because I didn't want to go a day without it. Today, I'm not hungry enough to eat dinner so skipping it. I think the drink is curbing my appetite. I think it is also making me feel bloated, but I suspect that will go away soon. Probably just part of the ACV working. I will continue drinking it. I drink one big 32 ounce glass of it each day and then drink filtered water after that.

I think I ended up eating within a 5 or 5 1/2 hr window. Funny thing is that I've been making myself eat dinner every evening even though I wasn't hungry. I've been afraid I would get hungry past my 8 hr window. Tonight I decided I was not going to do that any more. If I do get hungry, I can eat some kind of veggie if needed. But I am not going to go back to eating when I am not hungry.

This morning I was watching the Today show. They are celebrating Heart Health for Women Day, all wearing red, and all the women of the show had their cholesterol checked and they had a woman there to review the results on the air. These 5 women are all youngish (under 50) and thin. They checked total cholesterol, LDL and HDL. None of them had all 3 good. The woman gave them pointers of what to do for their particular problem. Only 1 of them had good total cholesterol, but either LDL or HDL was bad, I don't remember which one. She was the only one who said she exercised regularly, but the woman told her that to correct her problem she should exercise more! There was not one mention of cutting back on carbs. All that was mentioned was cutting back on red meat and fat. I was screaming at the TV LOL

Yesterday I took my glimiperide the way I'm supposed to, twice a day, before breakfast and dinner. My blood sugar was fairly good all day. It spiked a little after some carb at dinner, but by bedtime it was down to 119. This morning it was 178. I also exercised twice, afternoon and evening. I am starting to think that the meds artificially lower blood sugar but as soon as it wears off (in about 8 hours) blood sugar rises again. I will continue to experiment, going lower and lower with carbs, exercising twice a day and drinking the ACV water. I know if I get a bad A1c my doctor will just increase my meds, or switch them to something else, but right now I refuse to accept that I can't do this without meds. I am OK with the Metformin because I get no side effects from that. I do know that when you lower your blood sugar, FBS is the last one to come down. I have only heard of one person who had good fasting BS but still had a higher A1c.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post this here but I think it's important to all of us!

Trish the ACV is a hunger suppressant. It's one of the reasons they include it in the GGMS and encourage it as a between meal "sipper". When I feel munchy I immediately start drinking it and it does help!

Thank you so much for sharing about your friend's funeral. That was so heart warming to read.

Carol Sue I am certainly not advocating for anyone to spend money on a book! I am just sharing my experience so please don't take my posts any other way. But, if you are wanting more info there is actually quite a bit to be found online and in fact, though the book has helped me to understand the "whys" behind the plan, I learned most of it online before I actually got the book which is why I was able to start right after getting it. I already knew what to do I just felt like I needed to have the book to be "official". Like Trish has said we all share what works for us and if someone is able to take some piece or whole from that and improve their own situation then we, as a community, are working like we should.

Here are a few links that you, or others, can check out if you would like.

A quick start guide that does not outline the plan but has a lot of good tips and you can infer from many of them how the plan works http://www.gwens-nest.com/wp-content...Guide-9-13.pdf

A book review that more or less spells out the bulk of the plan (which is basically the same things I wrote in my post about the plan)
http://www.gwens-nest.com/trim-healt...a-book-review/

A good overview I found (CAUTION: be careful of clicking any links on this blog post - the blog is totally legit but I did get a strange virus type warning when I clicked one link)
http://savvyhomemaking.com/trim_heal...ew_start_here/

Another overview that has lots of recipe links in case you like that kind of thing
http://www.thecoersfamily.com/trim-healthy-mama/

A huge list of Facebook pages for bloggers on Trim Healthy Mama - from this you can deduce the blog name and go directly to the blog - many of these have book reviews, recipes, etc. Also, the blog this post is on has some seriously good recipes.
http://mrscriddleskitchen.com/thm-bl...acebook-pages/

And, if you made it to the end of this list without falling asleep then you get a special surprise - here is the really awesome free link - this tells you exactly what should be in each meal type (I'm still working on getting my meals to be exactly right, for now they are "in the spirit" of S or E as I understand it and am learning more)
http://seeminglyrandom.com/wp-conten...ing-Blocks.pdf

Anyway, I'm just sharing all this because I know the book is expensive. I waited til it went from $35 to $27 before I got it and I did look for used copies as well. Needless to say, I now have a ruined book and am waiting til the General Mgr at Staples returns tomorrow to talk to him about replacing it. In the meantime they did take my book apart and I reordered it and they punch new holes and rebound it but of course I now have a book with hole punches in both margins which is just unacceptable.

Good afternoon ladies! This has been a really rough week in my house. With all these night classes and all this cooking my laundry and other things at home have just fallen apart so today I spent most of the preschool time catching up on laundry, emptying trash cans, straightening the kitchen, making the bed 9for the first time this week - YIKES!), etc. I feel a little better now. Tomorrow Olivia has (another) birthday party and I need to make a gift appear out of thin air sometime before then, LOL! But I am super excited because tomorrow night Mark is taking Olivia out for dinner at the Daddy Daughter night at Chick Fil A and then to a Daddy Daughter Dance at her dance studio so I get an evening at home to myself - that NEVER happens! They almost never are both gone in the evening. I'm trying to figure out what I'd like to do with my time - Woohoo! LOL!

This morning I had a weird thing happen. I was about to leave to take Olivia to preschool and I checked my FBS and it was almost 140. I can't remember ever seeing it that high on a FBS. I decided to stay at home with her til the quiche was done in the oven and eat breakfast before leaving. A few hours later it was 103. Very odd. I have cheated the past two nights after dinner with sweets though so it could be related to that or maybe it was a liver dump or I suppose it could have been machine error. I think the highest FBS I've ever seen on there was maybe 128 or so. Oh well. I will check it the next few days and make sure it doesn't happen again.

I want to get back over here later and tell you about some of the stuff I've cooked this week, so hopefully later today or over the weekend. Gotta run to preschool now. Have a great day!

Shannon, I did not take it that you were advocating that others buy the book, just that right now it is out of my price range. Apparently you are much better at researching information online! I couldn't find much. I have bookmarked all the links you provided and will look through them all. Maybe I will get enough information to understand the plan without purchasing the book.

I want to say to both you and Trish that I don't find the ACV water to be a hunger supressant. At least not so far. Maybe with the other ingredients you are adding.

Shannon, we were posting at the same time. I think your 140 was a machine error. There are many things I've heard that can effect a reading. Something that is on your hands, cold hands, etc. That one time my machine was cold from being in the cold car my reading was 100 points above my normal readings as shown once I warmed up the meter. I would keep it in mind, but not worry about it.

I hope you are right! It scared me! I did cheat and have a twix bar from the vending machine at class last night (need to take snacks to these classes!!) but I've done worse than that before and still had a lower FBS so I thought it was really odd.

I totally forgot to update on my weight - so I weighed today since I'm trying to get back to weekly weighing. I thought I'd hold out and only do monthly weigh ins but that is too hard. Anyway, I lost 4 lbs since last Friday but last Friday my weight was up from bad eating all week so I probably realistically had a 2 lb loss and the other 2 was water. I'm happy! It will be a while before I get back to where I was before I started gaining again.

Shannon, if you ever get a reading that seems too high, wash and dry your hands and do another reading right away, using a different finger. If you get another high reading then it's probably right. It wastes strips, but will either give you peace of mind or a really big scare. It might depend on what else you had to eat that day, not just the Twix bar. Either way, you are doing the right thing by getting back on track and the scale has shown that you are being successful.

I could never just do monthly weigh-ins. If I waited a month and didn't show enough of a loss I would be very discouraged. If I weigh more often and am not seeing enough of a loss then I know right away that I have to make adjustments somewhere. I have a tendency to only weigh when I feel that I have lost, but it's usually at least once a week, just not on any specific day. Unfortunately, it's usually the same pounds that I am losing over and over again.

My experiment continues. This morning, due to th 178, I took a glimiperide and ate my usually eggs for breakfast. For lunch I had a piece of grilled fish and a mixed green salad with 1 T of ranch dressing. Oh, and some sunflower seeds in the salad. Walked on the treadmill for 35 min after lunch. Just tested and I am at 135. I plan on eating a low carb dinner without a glimiperide. If I spike at bedtime, I will conclude that my dinner was too big since it won't be from eating carbs.

So, last night before bed my BS was 103. This morning my FBS was 129. ??? I think I must be having some liver dump or something. My dinner last night was a "Crossover" meal - that is when there are elements of E and S but all the food items are still on plan - I had steak (S) and a sweet potato (E). After I got home I confess I made a batch of Skinny Chocolate (S) and because I was sort of experimenting I managed to eat all of it, LOL, so I guess that could have something to do with it but it is made with all low carb/no sugar ingred. so I don't know. I guess I will continue to unlock the mystery of my BS, LOL!

I have a wonderful announcement - my Christmas tree is finally down!!! February 7! My brother came over this morning to help my husband move a big sheet of wood upstairs (for his train tracks) and they also moved the tree - yay! It had been up so long though that now that spot seems really bare, LOL!

hello everyone:

I have been doing better on low carb and sticking to plan better than I ever have without a cheat (planned or unplanned) or deviation.
Kim (jerseygirl) recommended a fat snack when I was craving sweets and I have been doing that. I am also just doing well convincing myself to stay on track. Don't know exactly why I am doing better than usual that way, but happy to stick to plan.
Not exercising as much as I want to be doing, work has been interfering with those plans to some degree.
Altogether tho I am going ok, so hope for some continuation of this for a while.
As lent approaches, I am thinking staying in induction until Easter and see where I get.
Whether I can stick it for that long will remain to be seen.
I am sticking with simply eating the same thing for breakfasts, similar lunches and just mixing it up for suppers.

I may start having water with ACV (can't hurt right?) too. Excited for those finding a way that works for them.

Shannon, yay on the Christmas Tree! LOL I have the same issues with FBS being higher than at bedtime. Like I mentioned, I heard that FBS is the last to go down. Previously, my FBS never got below the 120s but my A1c was always good so my doctor was not concerned about the A1c. I don't know what to do about the overnight liver dumps. Bedtime snacks don't seem to help me.

I am ready to start making a more concentrated effort to get my weight down and not worry so much about BS. I know if I get my weight down, my blood sugar and blood pressure will come down with it. I just CANNOT show up at the cardiologist in May weighing what I weigh now. Although I eat mostly low carb, my calories come in around 1500 or so. I am going to get my calories down to where I start losing, and if that's not enough for someone who wrote a book, too bad. I think it's in the Magic Foods book that they say to figure out how many calories you need, add a 0 to your weight. So I guess I need 1970. Yeah, right!

Mad, I usually eat eggs for a late breakfast, veggies for lunch, and then dinner is whatever I make for dinner that DH will eat. He will eat a low carb entree, but he has to have carbs of some kind with it. I can understand that because he does not have a weight or blood sugar problem. My problem is that I am starting to slip more and more and I am eating more carbs than I was before. I admit that, and I'm paying for it.