I made my 1st day back on CAD very well. I did have a small snack yesterday evening. Weight was back down almost to where it was before it went up. Just .2 higher. I am going to use CAD along with IE and IF. I will only eat 2 meals and/or a snack as needed, but to keep them with 8 or less hours.

I woke up excited to know that DH and I are both working at improving our health and it is working. We have been blessed with a really caring and attentive doctor. I told him yesterday that I had really hated leaving my doctor in S.C. because I wasn't sure I would find a doctor as good as he was, but that I am so glad that we had found him. He is so thorough and I love how he sits there in front of us and looks up the medicines and choose medicines that are supposed to protect our health. I honestly believe he is even more thorough than the S.C. doctor. In fact, did I tell you that he explained to DH why he wanted him on Lisinopril? It protects your heart and prevents strokes too. I told him that I had always wondered why I was taking Lisinopril since I had never had high blood pressure. He said it was good for diabetics to take it to protect their heart and lowers risk of strokes.

I know I can't lose loads of weight by January, but I want to lose what I can. I also want to lose as much as I can "healthily" by my next birthday next August. I've tried all the different diets and rules and ideas of others and now, I'm going to do this with my own rules and with some modifications CAD is the best way to go for me.

I've decided since I'm doing CAD that I can do OMAD on days I don't go out for breakfast DD and DS which I will have 2 meals on those days. I will go back to eating eggs and either bacon or sausage those mornings. This works because that is allowed on CAD. Since I'm making my own plan and rules, I am sticking to my 20 minutes on the bike during the fasting period as it does seem to help with bs readings as well as weight. I got up early and forgot that my FBS would be higher at that time as it always is. It was 188. Kind of high and not really sure why although I did take a Claritin D (Walmart brand) and S.C. doctor told me he didn't want me taking it because it would raise it. My pulse rate was really high too, but I read up on side effects from flu shot and that is one of the side effects that can happen. It did come down a little after I exercised. I looked flu side affects up because I woke up a little after 4 am and was nauseated the rest of the night, but that wasn't one of the side effects. However, I read in the WebMD/Diabetic magazine that it is very beneficial for diabetics to take a little higher dose of aspirin each day to protect heart. I take a 81 baby aspirin coated each night with 2 Tylenol. So I decided to take 2 since up to 165 is better. I'm thinking the nausea was caused from taking it on an empty stomach. I don't think I'll take 2 at bedtime any more.

DS said she saw a recipe on tv where they took the packaged Ranch Dressing powder and added it to ground beef and made a meatloaf. Since DH doesn't like meatloaf with all the veggies in it like I do which makes it dull to me, I am going to make a meatloaf using enough of it for flavor and just add onions to it. It will be different. Since today is OMAD, I will make some mashed potatoes and add a low carb veggie with the meal. I'll make a fruit salad for dessert and of course start it with a regular salad. Not a lot of calories or starchy carbs for the day. I'm not tracking on MFP because I won't be eating 1000 calories so I know I'm okay there.

I've heard from all but one niece and nephew, but all the others and my DGS who lives close by have confirmed they are coming for Thanksgiving. Now to get this house ready for them.

Y'all have a great day.

I was just reading on the FB CAD group. Without realizing it, the way I want to eat doing 2 meals when I go out for breakfast with DD and DS 3 days a week and OMAD the other days is actually JUDDD. I just read on there of a woman who has been using JUDDD/CAD combo and losing weight etc. She eats 750 - 1000 calories on DD and up to 2000 calories on UD. One thing I see on this group is that they have learned that calories do count. I think it is a good group to be a part of.

Trish, I believe that CAD was always a good plan for you with the way that you like to eat. The only problem you had was when you ate too much carb at your RM, if I remember correctly. I think you will be able to work that out fine.

We went to the casino yesterday and had the buffet. I'm disappointed that they no longer have the salmon that I like so much. They do have a baked fish, but this week it had some type on seasoning on it that I didn't like, or maybe I just got a piece with too much seasoning. The prime rib was great though. My carb choice there was mac and cheese. Theirs is exceptional. I like it on the dry side, not real saucy. And they had a lot of veggies that I like, sauteed button mushrooms, cauliflower with cheese, and fresh whole green beans. DH is not big on veggies but he took some of the green beans and commented on how good they were. He is not accustomed to fresh green beans, and he's only had canned. Now that's something else I can buy fresh for our meals, knowing he will eat them. So I left the buffet very sated, but did a lot of walking around the casino during the evening.

What veggies do you like in your meatloaf, Trish? My mother just put onion in hers, but I like to add celery and carrots. I mince them very tiny so your don't really know they are in there. I think they add good flavor.

Last night we stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I wanted to get a rutabaga as a woman on another forum was discussing how she prepares them. I like to add different fresh veggies to my diet, so I'm going to try this. I have used them in soups, but she shreds it and sautes it somehow. I want to get back to eating more veggies. DH also saw some pork chops he wanted and I told him they were bone-in, but he said he wanted them. He usually only likes boneless, but I prefer them with the bone. I think I might cook them today.

Carol SueI so sorry the casino stopped having the salmon you like and what they served wasn't to your liking. Sounds like you did make some good choices thought. It is really nice that you found something your DH will eat so you can make it for both of you.

It is true that CAD does fit my lifestyle etc. The neat thing about Reward Meal is that some of the carbs I can have that made me feel like I was eating too many was the fact that even dairy and non-starchy carbs have carbs. By the time I added those along with the starchy carbs, I felt like I was eating too many at one meal. After reading Low Carb for Dummies book, I realize that the starchy carb is the only carb I have to count so that will make this much easier because I know I'm not overdoing the carbs.

I found a new group on FB called OMAD and joined it. They recommend reading a book named Delay, Don't Deny by a Gin Stephens. So I went to Amazon and downloaded it on my Kindle. It is an easy read and it has 20 Chapters and 4 Appendix. I read 8 chapters last night before I went to bed and didn't want to put it down. She shares about the different ways of IF and stresses find the way that works for you personally. As she shares about them she shares her experience with each one and why she eliminated as a day to day way of eating, but how and why she does sometimes use the ones she does. Example she uses 5:2 IF for maintenance or to keep from gaining weight during her journey of weight loss. She has lost 80+ pounds and kept off I think she said for 2 yrs.

She is elementary teacher and said she learns how to simplify things to teach children so she uses the same process of explaining the science of how insulin, etc works in the body. She is good at simplifying what the re search says and then gives reference to go to so you can read the article, etc. She also shares what books she has read and in one of the Appendix she shares the names of the books she has read and recommends if you want to go further. We have read some of those books. She gets a lot of things from Dr. Fung for one. It was $9.95, but I think one of the best buys I have made to understand how to get diabetes under control and why IF is such a good way to eat to lose weight.

She really helped me to understand how insulin is supposed to work as well as other hormones. It was interesting to me to see that insulin isn't the only thing that we need to correct. Glucose is for energy when we need it, but if we don't burn that energy then it is turned to fat. Another problem with high levels of insulin is that our bodies adjust to it and causes more insulin to be released causing more insulin circulating in our bodies which leads to insulin resistance. This results in our bodies to keep releasing more and more insulin because our body has stopped listening to the normal amount of insulin. She relates this to a class full of children who no longer listens to the teacher because she yells at them all the time.

Now our body becomes very good at taking in more insulin and storing it as access fat. She says Dr. Fung explains the complexity of this in his book The Obesity Code.

She talks about the 2 hormones leptin and gherlin. These controls our appetite. Grehlin tells us when we need to eat and leptin tells us when we have had enough to eat. It is my understanding that IF will help us to get these hormones working for us and release the stored fat we need for energy. My mind doesn't comprehend all I read that is the scientific info on all of this. I am so thankful to have found this book to help me to understand how to get control diabetes and make it a lifestyle.

I was actually able to do a OMAD yesterday with only 787 calories. All though I don't have t count calories, I am going to continue use MFP until I learn to recognize when I need to eat and when I don't. I am going to use a 6 hr eating window each day. Although according to this book, I don't have to do a low carb meal for one meal and then have the starchy carb RM, I will be doing it that way for a period of time. She mentions Alternate Day UDDD. I am going to try to keep my calories around 1000 to 1200 calories or less on DD. (She says you don't have to count calories eating this way, but for now I want to continue doing it.)

FB CAD women who use CAD and IF suggested that I not do OMAD more than 1 or 2 days a week. They said they knew people who had tried to do it long term and it back fired on them. I think that is a good idea. I know I can do it one day a week probably on Saturday. I plan to do one meal on Thanksgiving Day and also the same thing on Christmas Day. We don't do anything special on New Years Day so I'm good there and could do only one meal that day too if I need to. My next A1c is in January so if I can keep OP, the holidays shouldn't hurt the test.

My FBS was 164 and before breakfast was 148. It is so strange to me how that one cup of coffee before exercise lowers my bs. I don't quite understand that one. Maybe it has something to do with insulin resistance. My weight for the week is up .4 lb which isn't so bad.

Trish, the casino cut back on it's salad bar, and that's where the salmon was, along with the pasta salads. Maybe there weren't enough people eating it and they were wasting too much food. That stuff isn't good if it sits out too long. The salmon was cold smoked salmon. I loved it, but DH said he could not eat cold salmon, and maybe a lot of others didn't like it either.

I am rereading Diabetes Unpacked, and I'm finding a lot of information that I missed the first time. It is very interesting to me. It really does push low carb for diabetics though, but it's low starchy carbs. Veggies are not really considered carb in these instances. This last section I read was about LCHF, but they called it "Low Carb Healthy Fat" instead of High Fat. That made more sense to me. There are some people on the Low Carb forums who eat low or fat free cottage cheese and yogurt, in order to keep calories low. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'll have to think about that one. I could try it, but I never really believed in eating low fat products other than milk. I'm even changing my mind about the milk. It took me such a long time to get DH to switch to the fat free milk, now that's all he likes. I don't know if I could get him to go back to 1% or 2% now. LOL He does not do well with change.

I still haven't worked up the courage to get back on the scale. My rings are a little loose and that's always a good sign. Maybe in the coming week.

Carol Sue I have always wondered about drinking and eating low carb dairy. I never had a weight problem until I moved in with my aunt and ate started eating 3 meals instead of 1 or 2 and she used skim milk. I remember drinking gobs of milk back then and I often wonder if that was an added problem for me because I had always drank regular milk and it satisfied me. I never could seem to get enough milk when I drank the fat free. In fact, I had never eaten any kind of diet food until I moved in with her. What I couldn't understand about having to drink low fat milk when I went on low carb diets was that there is only 1 g difference in the whole milk and low fat milk. Now they have learned that fat is satiating so was the absence of milk in the skim milk cause me to be hungry and need more?

The only time I remember ever being hungry when I was growing up was in the summertime when I was home all day. My Mama evidently didn't eat during the day when we were in school and when we were home for the summertime, she just didn't think about cooking lunch unless Daddy was home. I read the other day on WebMD that butter is better for us than butter spreads (margarine) because margarine raises cholesterol and lowers the good. I really think they are really beginning to see that fat is good for us, but they seem to still be afraid of encouraging people to eat it in some circles.

As we have talked before, I do not like a lot of fat and I use a lot of sprays for cooking when I don't use the Air fryer just because it makes for easier clean up. However, I do eat some butter and I have thought about going back to whole milk and would if I wasn't afraid it would mess with DH cholesterol.

I may have to give up sweetener in my coffee or at least give up coffee during my fasting hours as she says anything that tastes sweet can cause an insulin spike. Since the goal is glucose control, I will have to only drink water or black coffee. CAD allows it, but I don't want to mess up getting control of the bs and she says you lose weight faster if you don't use it during fasts.

Trish, I use cooking spray when I cook eggs, but DH is usually the egg cooker around here and he uses butter. And his eggs taste so much better than mine. A couple times I actually melted some butter on top of my scrambled eggs.

I used to drink my coffee black until I started using the powdered French Vanilla SF Creamer from Aldi's. I usually have one cup with the creamer and then switch to black. I drink coffee in the AM but rarely after 10AM.

I have overeaten for the past 2 days and I feel terrible. I need to have a DD tomorrow. DH brought breakfast from McDonald's again and that screws me up every time! I have to do the couple bites and then stop. I do so much better when all I eat is my beloved scrambled eggs. I need to learn it's not a sin to throw food away...it's much worse to eat it when you're not hungry.

Carol Sue :hug: Just count the last 2 days as UD and try to do a DD tomorrow if you can. I know it is hard to throw food away. I hate for you to feel guilty about the 2 UD. The main thing this woman seems to stress is to get rid of those feelings like you failed or fail off the wagon. That is why she says to just count it as a plan because "Life happens".

In fact, she says there will be days you won't do it, but not to worry about it. We will do better if we don't get upset because we didn't have a perfect on plan day. I think she is right because that is why we end up feeling like we are failures.

Well I sure didn't enjoy not having my diet drink tonight, but I made it. DH asked me if I wanted some of his snack tonight and I told him "No, I'm fasting from 4:30 until 11 am tomorrow. I am counting today as another DD because the calories yesterday were 787 and today I had 993. From what I've read of some people who do DD they eat up to 1000 calories. Tomorrow will be an UD.

Another thing this lady says is that she does not count because it is too much like a diet and a diet means that someday it will end. That is why she calls it a lifestyle. Lifestyle means the rest of your life. The other reason is that some days she may eat a whole lot of food, but then there are a lot of days she isn't hungry enough to eat a lot of calories. I don't think she worries about the carbs, but she doesn't eat dessert everyday. Of course, my thinking on that is I don't get the feeling she is diabetic although she knows a lot about insulin function. After reading the dummies book on low carbing, I feel like I need to eat less carbs to control bs.

Goodnight friend. Catch you tomorrow.

Trish, I am not upset because of weight, it's because of blood sugar. My weight is higher than it should be but at this point it's not going higher and doesn't seem to be a life or death situation, but my blood sugar is. I really hate having to take the glimiperide because of the night time lows. I'm afraid I will sleep through it and go into a coma. I had one last night, 73, and I overcompensated. If I would stay off the carbs I don't need the meds. I never thought I would say this, but in a way, I'm glad I have diabetes because it somewhat keeps me from eating as many carbs.

A lot of people who are not diabetic are becoming more conscious of their insulin, since they have now announced that insulin is the culprit.

Today I want to cook the rutabaga and cabbage I bought and try that out. I think the more veggies I eat the better off I will be. I also got a good recipe to use the rest of the zucchini I have, but I know that's something else that DH will not eat, so I have to cut the recipe in half. He would probably be better off if he would eat these things too, but you can't teach an old dog new tricks. LOL DH doesn't realize it, but he has eaten rutabaga because a couple times I put it in vegetable soup. He will eat that, but not too many other veggies. Just the basics....corn, peas, green beans, and now he eats broccoli since I cook it very soft.

I have tried to go on FB a couple times but I don't know what I'm doing. I joined a couple groups, but I don't know if my comments show up because I don't see them. I'm too old for FB. LOL I do much better with a forum.

Carol Sue I understand completely about the insulin scare. I have always believed that if I could get the blood sugar corrected that the weight would come off, but it seems like we are made to think if we just get the weight off that the insulin will follow.

Now as I read this book, I realized that insulin plays a special part of body function including our eating so we can lose weight. So it seems my idea of getting the insulin under control first is right and I believe that either low carb or Intermittent Fasting is the key to doing just that. From what I can see, Intermittent Fasting gets the ghrelin and the leptin working properly so that you only eat when hungry and eat until satiety. I always like IE, but I see that IE will not work until you get the ghrelin and leptin working. Since they are the hormones that know when to eat and when to stop eating before stuffed. I'm not good at low carb so IF will work for me.

I realized today that when I was young, I practiced IF and didn't know it. Mama always had supper ready when Daddy got home at 5 pm. I never ate until lunch time at school which was usually any where from 11:30 to 1 pm depending on what grade I was in. I usually ate within a 5 hr window and fasted the rest of the time. That is why IF works so well for me now.

I stopped eating at 4:30 yesterday which was a 4 hr window. I took the woman's advice of no sweetener or calories after. I only drank water. I am down 2 lbs this morning and my FBS at 8:50 am was 149 which hasn't happened in a long time. I believe this is going to work. JUDDD will work for me with the guidelines she shares.

I like the idea that she gets rid of all the "diet" words. I read a chapter last night that she titled "We Don't Cheat We Plan". She says get rid of the idea of a cheat and you get rid of the guilt. I like that.

Got to go. Going to meet DD and DS for breakfast. I can carefully have what I want for breakfast as this is my UD. We are having chili and cornbread for dinner. Someone on OMAD had it yesterday and showed and it look really good. I always put a salad with our dinner so I will have veggies.

Carol Sue You always do well with veggies because you like them so. Is there any way you can do JUDDD with it? I saw a woman on OMAD post a picture of her meal of all veggies. You can make this work the way it works for you and you don't have to eat only 500 calories a day. Just a thought.

BBL

Today I ate some rutabaga cooked the way a woman did on another forum, and I added a bit of cabbage, onion and kale, and seasoned with salt, pepper and cumin. Very good. That's my kind of food, actually. I ate this way before I met DH, and I was thin and healthy. He liked the way I was back then, but didn't realize I wouldn't stay that when when I adopted his way of eating. He grew up eating a lot of sweets and treats, but none of them ever got fat.

I usually had 3 meals growing up, whatever there was to eat, but breakfast was cold cereal and lunch was usually jelly bread. Then a cooked dinner. It was when I lived alone that I stopped eating dinner because I didn't want to cook for 1. I did IF eating breakfast and lunch, but didn't know it was called that. It was just what kept me thin. If I lived alone again I would probably go back to that automatically, but with DH, he will never forgo dinner. He starts around noon asking what we're having. LOL That's the reason why I have trouble doing JUDDD. I COULD only eat dinner on DD, but I much prefer eating early in the day, so that would be very hard for me. Right now, I will be happy not to have any spikes, and hope to lose a bit along the way. DH always tells me I'm not that big, but 200lbs is 200lbs, no matter where it is.

From what I have read, every time you eat you trigger an insulin response, and that is why IF is so good. You are going longer between meals without releasing insulin. And that is why grazing is so bad because by constantly eating, you are constantly triggering insulin. I also read somewhere that you have to do at least 12 hours of fasting before your body switches from burning glucose to burning fat. I also recall Dr Fung said that the >500 cal days of either JUDDD or 5:2 are not enough to trigger a big insulin response, but he's talking about the DD very low, the way Dr Johnson wrote the program.

A lot of time I think eating my scrambled egg before bed is OK because it's just protein and fat, but it still triggers an insulin response and disrupts my fasting period. I have to keep that in mind and change my thinking. We've been taught so many things that are just wrong.

Carol Sue I understand the situation your in. My DH #2 was like your DH. He would get up from breakfast wanting to know what was for lunch and before he left lunch table, he wanted to know what was for supper. LOL I hope you can figure out a way to make things work for you.

I got a call from the doctor's office with bone density results. I have osteopenia. I don't know how far it has gone, but I hope that since he had the nurse call to tell me that he wants me to take 1000 I.U. of D3 and 600 to 800 mg of calcium. I already take 3000 of D3, but just started taking calcium and I have been taking 500 mg. However, the calcium has 1000 I.U. calcium so I haven't been taking the 3000 D3 and calcium but about a month. I took another calcium today and will continue to take 2 calcium supplements which will bring my D3 to 4000. I usually drink 1 c milk a day, but not a lot of cheese just to keep calories down. He suggested drinking milk and eating yogurt which I don't do much any more. I read online that it is better to get this from the food so I will start having more milk and yogurt. I also read online that riding the bike as well as swimming and walking are good for building stronger bones so I will work at being more diligent with my exercise. I didn't see anything about being able to reverse it but it can be slowed down so it doesn't necessarily have to turn into osteoporosis. So that is my goal. I will do everything in my power to keep this from becoming worse and becoming osteoporosis. . I did ask the nurse if that could be why my back hurts and she said that it could be. So I would think losing weight and correcting the blood sugar could help as well.

My 5 hr eating window UD ended up being just under 1600 calories. So I am very happy with that. I ate the taquito at Whataburger and didn't have any coffee until I had breakfast. I did drink only water until breakfast. I did 25 minutes on the bike before I left and walked about 15 minutes at grocery store. Caffeine and cold drinks are another thing that I am going to have to give up. So this new way of doing IF has come just in time, because I only drink water during my fasting hours.

Trish, why do you have to give up caffeine and cold drinks? I gave up caffeine for a while, but didn't see any difference, so I went back to it. I can drink decaf coffee with no problem. For a while I was making a little pot of it for myself, but DH makes a big pot of regular coffee every morning and it's just easier to drink that instead of making mine separate. I still drink some diet soda, but not nearly as much as I used to and I buy the caffeine free. I know only drink about 1 a week but the coffee is a few cups a day. I drink water when we eat out now, because the price of a beverage has gone up over $2, and they give you so much ice that you only get a couple sips of your beverage. They all have free refills, but they don't usually come back to offer them until I'm finished eating and ready to leave. So I order water. It's much better for me. I do need to start drinking more water at home.

I liked my rutabaga so much that I bought another one. I think it will keep for a few days because I don't want to burn out on it. I have a spaghetti squash that my step-daughter gave me and I think I'm going to cook that today and mix it with pesto. Did you ever try that? I don't like it with tomato sauce, so I bought a small jar of pesto and I like it on spaghetti squash with parmesan cheese. I buy the green pesto. They also have red pesto so I should try that too. It would make it look more like spaghetti, but it does not taste at all like spaghetti for me. I like the pesto on zucchini noodles too, but I always forget to make them.

I did not have any eggs yesterday. DH did not make breakfast, and I didn't think about eating until I was ready to make my rutabaga for lunch. Breakfast AND lunch is way too much for me.

Today is Halloween and we have trick or treat tonight. We haven't had any trick or treaters come the past couple years but we buy treats to pass out just in case. We see some at the houses across the street but those houses are level with the ground. The house on our side all have steps, so I think they don't want to come up all the steps. Most of the families in our neighborhood are retirees, and any kids we do have are usually grandchildren. DH has enough candy to last for a while, and the ones he bought are ones I don't really like.

Carol SueThe reason I am thinking of giving up the caffeine and diet drinks is that I read it isn't good if you have osteopenia or osteoporosis. I drink 1/2 decaf, but for right now I am still drinking 1 c of 1/2 decaf and will drink decaf the rest of the time. I don't usually drink colas which is what it actually says not to drink. However, in the OMAD book she says sweeteners can keep you from losing weight so that is why I decided not to drink them when I am fasting.

I did have my eggs with cheese and drank a glass of milk this morning. Although I have upped the calcium to get what the doctor wants me to take, I read on WebMD that it is better to get it from food. Since the weather has turned cold, I will not want to be eating ice cream so I will start having a helping of yogurt for dessert instead at last meal of the day.

I want to lose the weight and then add dairy to my diet and take another bone density test in a year and see if I have stopped or slowed down its progression.

I honestly believe this is the reason strict low carb like ZLC isn't good for people to eat. The lady who babysat my niece before I moved here and took care of her went on the VLC diet back when it first became popular again and her bones deteriorated very quickly. I remember that was possible and I believe it is because people stop drinking milk, etc. I remember reading that was a possibility back when I started doing LC, but I ignored it because I thought it was a lie. I won't be doing a low, low plan any more. However that is just my opinion, but my goal for me is to live as healthy a life as I can as I become and not be come feeble if I can prevent it from happening. Saying that I need to get more greens back into my diet as well.

Busy day. DH has follow up eye doctor appointment and will decide today whether he wants to have the other eye done. We then go do Daddy's meds and shopping. Not sure what dinner will be but hope to keep my calories down today. I don't want it to go too much over 1200 and prefer for it to be less since this is my DD.

Trish, I also don't agree with people who follow ZC or VLC. Mostly it is not the way I want to eat, and since I only know my own experience and what I read, I will not try to tell others what to eat or not eat. I don't want others telling me what to eat, so I won't do it for them. I know I cannot eat starchy carbs and that's as far as it goes for me. We are all different.

I think some people are effected differently with sweeteners. When I was thin I used a lot of artificial sweeteners and feel that they helped keep me thin. I don't use many now since I no longer like a sweet taste, chocolate being the exception, and I would rather have a small piece of good tasting regular chocolate and skip the artificially sweetened.

So far today I have had scrambled eggs and some spaghetti squash with pesto. I don't know what we're having for dinner because we have to be ready for trick or treat by 6, just in case we get some kids.