Mad, so good to know you are okay and just busy with the renovation of your kitchen. Always good to hear from you when you can pop in.

Ann, here in TX we usually have warmer weather by now, but should have another cool down by or around Easter. I can remember always having to wear a sweater or light jacket or shawl on Easter mornings growing up, Then it starts warming up even more afterwards. When I say cool down, I mean maybe in the high 60s or low 70s.

Carol Sue, I am working to keep my protein grams below 90 and my net carbs below 50 grams, I am not worrying too much about the fat because it is whatever is left over percentage wise, but I really don't worry about it. I really thought the fat would cause my calories to be higher but it doesn't seem to. If I stay OP today as I have planned on MFP, my calories won't even be 1100. I don't know how to get it higher because I don't want to go above the grams of protein and carbs I've planned and since the goal is to burn my own fat, I don't want to eat more fat. I figure it will work itself out in due time.

I don't know what I ended up with yesterday because I ate some popcorn and something else but can't remember what it was. So didn't track it. It was carby enough that my weight and FBG was up a little today. Weight was .8 lbs to 181.4 up and FBG 104.

This morning I had 2 boiled eggs and 1/2 small avocado with a splash of pickle juice. I left the cheese and bacon off to see if I have potty issues. It is either the cheese or the bacon. I'm wondering if it is the nitrates in the bacon. Maybe I should research the side effects of nitrates. We will have a meatloaf made with grass fed ground beef and I will have cabbage and plan to have a salad. I am cleaning up my woe and instead of regular salad dressings, I am switching over to EVOO and ACV. When I go to the store tomorrow, I plan to only buy arugula for my salads. According to Dr. Berg, that is easier on the digestive system. But for today, I will have to eat what I have on hand. I still plan to move into full swing of IF/Keto Dr. Berg style of keeping net carbs under 50 grams. I will be doing 16:8 ratio for now since I will need to drink a shake once a day just to get my calories above 1000.

Have a nice day everybody.

I didn't feel well today. I had pain when I got up and decided to take Tramadol instead of Tylenol Arthritis. It didn't work as well and made me a little nauseated. So DH got a rotisserie chicken and made mashed potatoes and broccoli . I ate some mashed potatoes, comfort food. I needed it and I really do feel better. I ended up with 1200 calories and 62 grams of net carbs in 4 hours. It was controlled eating is all I can say. I purposely ate the potatoes, it was not that I slipped up. I am ok with it. It was not a carb fest and not something I will be doing all the time. I sound like I'm trying to convince myself.

Mad, we have a thin microwave over the stove. Our old one broke and it really came down too close to the stove. I like it but its hard for shorty me to reach for cleaning. You will love your kitchen when its done.

When I make chocolate chip cookies or anything else using the morsels, I never use the whole bag.. I leave 10 or 15 morsels and keep them in the cupboard in case I get a craving for chocolate. I don't recommend that for anyone who does strict keto.

Triish, I'm glad you are settling in with a WOE you can live with. That's very important to all of us. I feel the same as you that I want to burn my body fat but I also want to try a higher fat and calorie count to see what it will do. What I was doing before wasn't working. None of it is written in stone.

Well today has been much better than yesterday. I was able to stay around 1200 calories and net carbs less than 50 grams. I really need to work at having more of days like this. I am not sure anyone has perfect days every day, however, I honestly believe that instead of working toward perfect days that I need to just work toward a majority of good days. Calories have been between 1200 and 1300 and net carbs 45 grams. It definitely has been a very good day.

Carol Sue, I hope you are feeling much better this evening. You know I do not want to say or even think about never having mashed potatoes or some other starch that I might decide that I want t ever eat it again. We have discussed that here before. Normal eaters do not have a list of foods they will never eat. There are foods I don't eat daily, but if I wanted to eat them, I could and would.

I got a 1.5 hour nap in the evening and a pretty good nights sleep. I have a little pain but not a lot. I'd really like to know what's causing this but I don't want to go through a barrage of test and then end up on another pill. I've had the hand pain before and it went away. It seems that eating less junk food would improve inflammation. Maybe its the transition to fewer carbs. I wish I could go to the doctor, tell him my symptoms and he would say "you have this or that.". Then let me go home and google. I am starting to think naps are good, as long as I can still sleep when I go to bed. I also didn't get up for the bathroom til 6 AM.

II notice I am getting hungry earlier in the morning. I still try to hold off until at least 11.

Trish, I agree that a day here and there with higher carbs or calories is still a good day. Normal eaters don't know or care how many calories they eat day to day. There are people on the LC forums who would never think of eating a carb. But they are not necessarily slim and trim, and many gain and lose, just like we do. I have not had an overeating day for a good while and don't really think of it anymore. DH still tells me he's not eating if I'm not sometimes. I wish I had the strength to just let him not eat instead of eating something I don't want. After a few times of going hungry he might change his mind.

Trish, sometimes when you haven't had a food for a while it is disappointing when you finally eat it again. That happened to me with Country Fried Steak.I used to order that at 2 different restaurants we went to and it was a favorite. I ordered it once after a year of not having it and I hated it. The same thing happened with Stromboli. I used to love it and also Italian Hoagie. DH got a stromboli last week and I tasted it and it was terrible. I now prefer plain bland food like baked fish. I'm just saying that you might have the opportunity to eat some starches that you've been avoiding and not like them as much as you thought.

I may come back later to relay information I'm learning from Obesity Code.

I just reread the section I was reading last night to understand it better. He says if you are obese and have insulin resistance for years it is going to be much more difficult to lose weight. He actually said decades, not years. No matter how much you change your diet the insulin resistance is going to stay high making it impossible to lose weight. I believe this because it seems that everyone I know can struggle with the scale not moving even though they stay on plan. It is very discouraging. Trish mentioned a woman who went a year without a loss but still stuck with it. It is NOT just calories in vs calories out. Our bodies just dont want to release the fat theyve held onto all this time. It is imperative to lower insulin and hopefully he is going to tell us how.

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Of course, since its Dr Fung,the answer is fasting. Back in the 50s when I was growing up we ate our meals, carb and starch laden, but nothing between. Nothing after dinner. No one was fat. He says low carb will work best, but fasting works even with a more balanced diet. More people gained weight when snacking was deemed to be healthy, in the 70s. Fasting lowers insulin. Trish, I think when you got into IF is when your fasting glucose dropped.

The big thing today is skipping breakfast. I love eggs so I delay breakfast rather than skip it. I have DH delaying it more too. When I was little I ate breakfast daily but I remember some gagging and fighting my mother over eating soggy cereal. When I was in high school I was always nauseated in the morning and didn't eat. When I started working I ate breakfast because no food would be available until lunch time and I was afraid of being hungry. Also, DH always eats something before bed. He says he can't sleep if he's hungry. However, he lays awKe for hours watching TV because he can't fall asleep. I think that's because he's digesting food and his body will not let him sleep until its finished digesting. But I couldn't tell him that. He would never believe me. He is amazed that I fall asleep the minute my head hits the pillow but I think its because I go to bed on an empty stomach. I know many people can't do that.

Dr Fung says your body actually gives you breakfast in the form of a liver dump. That is the Dawn Phenomenon. Your body does this to wake you up and give you the jolt to start your day.

I typed a whole message and lost it. No time to retype it right now. So I will just check in because DH will be getting up soon for us to go to Sam's and Walmart. Today is KFC day so I have decided to just enjoy and go on. It is what it is.

Carol Sue, I wonder what would happen if DH had to wait till you were hungry or eat on his own. But, it is like me, DH and KFC, it isn't worth the hassle. I just work around it.

The things you are reading in Dr. Fung's book is interesting. I would just eat normal and not worry about low carb, but I find that my FBG is better when I do the low carb. I could make my own form of CAD with the things we have learned since the Heller's wrote their books. That is why there are so many different ways of doing low carb/keto these days. I think you have to personalize it. I appreciate it when I watch some of these doctors and I see them begin to change some of the things they have told us to do before. I noticed yesterday when watching something one of them had changed. They used to say you could add fat to your coffee etc, now they are saying that you can't do that because they have learned that your body will burn that fat first not your body fat. Now they say just get your fat in your foods but don't add it.

I've decided today that I am not going to track my food. I think it makes me eat when I'm not hungry to reach certain goals. Dr. Berry says to not worry about how much you are eating. He says that doesn't mean go wild but your body will tell you when to eat and how much. Kind of reminded me of Intuitive Eating but doing it with keto and Intermittent fasting. He said you can have your 1, 2 or 3 meals a day but don't snack. He said our bodies were never meant to graze. I will write down what I eat because I want to know how it affects me as to how I feel after I eat it. Did it satisfy me or did it make me hungry later. I am fasting until we get home and eat today but will have to think about what I will do when I get hungry later. Maybe I will boil some eggs to eat tonight and have a 2MD.

Have a great day everyone.

Trish, I think you should eat later if you get truly hungry,even if its something small. Its not a snack, but a small meal.

I actually did fine. We got the KFC and brought it home and DH was not happy with the coleslaw because it was frozen on the bottom and very dry. He says he won't go to that particular KFC again. He asked if we had any others and we do have another one over by the the big local grocery store.

Neither Sam's or Walmart had kefir or I couldn't find it. I told DH that if we could get a good probiotic that wouldn't need to get it. I got a couple of cans of sauerkraut and a big jar of pickles so that should be helpful for me as well. Prices are really skyrocketing but I'm not surprised with the price of gasoline. It isn't slowing down trucks because there are an unreal number of 18 wheelers on the Interstate.

I had a nice long fast until after 3 pm and I will either boil a couple of eggs or just grab a few cheese cubes and slices of Canadian bacon to get through the evening depending on how hungry I get and how much I need to eat. I've decided I like Dr. Berry's idea of how to do this with the combo of Intermittent Fasting Intuitively with low carbing since I'm not tracking on MFP. As you know, I've always loved the IE rules of when hungry eat and eat what you want, savor it and when you are satisfied, stop eating.

I got a bag of shredded cabbage at Walmart, because I want to try a new keto recipe I saw on a FB. They put a layer of shredded cabbage in bottom of a pan and added the a layer of shredded cheese and cooked it. Then added tomato sauce like you would spread on a pizza dough. In fact, I plan to use pizza sauce. Then they added more cheese and slices of sausage and baked like a pizza. It looked delicious and I thought I would do that for me the next time I make DH pizza since we always have a personal type pizza I can make a small version for me and lose the dough.

Carol Sue, I meant to comment on what you said about eating things you used to love but taste the same. I do the same thing. There is a restaurant that is in the little suburb where DS lives that I always loved their chicken fried steak. The last time I got it, I ended up taking most of the batter off of it and then realized that the big problem was that it was more batter than steak. Also one day in SC, I realized one day that they used a steak pattie instead of actual steak. I guess this southern/TX girl is spoiled, but when I cooked homemade Southern/Chicken Fried Steak, I actually used steak that I either bought tenderized or I tenderized which is how I learned to cook it. Those 2 experiences caused me to decide that when I want steak that I want the real thing.

Now it is time for a short nap.

I fell asleep and had a short nap but I was freezing so couldn't really sleep. Trish, I think we are talking about the same meal. Chicken Fried Steak is called Country Fried Steak here. It is made with cubed steak and has white country gravy on it. My step daughter said she makes it but she doesn't like it with the coating on it. I don't know what other way she could make it. I've heard some people call it Chicken Fried Steak but on a menu it always says Country Fried.

I was disappointed because I ordered fried shrimp at Bob Evans. On the menu it said 290 calories. I ordered broccoli and carrots instead of a potato. When I came home to put it in MFP the calories were much higher and carbs were high, too. I thought maybe they were including the sides but even on the Bob Evans website it was higher, too. It was very good but I'm disappointed that I ordered it based on the calorie count on the menu. It was lightly breaded and I didn't think it would be that high carb. So I learned a lesson, order what you know. Texas Roadhouse has grilled shrimp, not breaded. So I had 3 days higher carb than i planned. Time to get back on plan.

I am like you that I want to burn my body fat instead of dietary fat but I've tried that so far and it didn't work. So I'm going to try upping my dietary fat like they recommend and see what happens. I need to lower my insulin and they say that will take a long time because its been high for years. If I start to gain I can always stop. We are all different and there has to be a plan that works for me. I will continue to track on MFP because I want to know the carbs and I will have a permanent record of what I ate.

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Trish, I just read online that Dr Sarah Hallberg passed away. RIP.

Carol Sue, Country Fried Steak and Chicken Fried Steak are the same. I said Southern Fried Chicken which I have heard it called too, and it is also the same. Sorry about the calorie count on the shrimp. I hate it when that happens.

I actually got curious as to how I did with my eating so tonight, I tracked everything on MFP and I actually did very well. Calories were between 1300 and 1400 and my protein, carbs and fat ratios were right on as well. I just ate when I was hungry and only 3 meals within 7 hrs. So today has turned out to be a very good day after all. Tomorrow I will go back to my 2MD with brunch and dinner.

Goodnight.

Hi all: 156 today. I finally fasted yesterday. I have not stuck to fasting, or low carb when eating.
After the fast, today is a new day. Committed to low carb for today. I have put away the carbs and sweets into the basement pantry to take them out of sight.
Going to finish packing the kitchen up today and DH will start removing the upper cupboards. Thats the easy part, the lower ones have the counters. I want them in as long as possible so that I can keep cooking and food prep in there. Its an adventure.
Freezing rain here today will likely affect my walks with Buddy.
Have a good day friends.

Mad, our kitchen is pretty small. DH and his brother took the old cabinets out and put the new ones in in 2 days. We replaced without any changes, in other words the new cabinets were the same size as the ones we took out which made it easier. They did the tear down and bottom cabinets the first day and upper cabinets the second day. They took them out without destroying them and we sold them to a guy who wanted them for a rental apartment.

Still not a lot of pain, just a little annoying. I'm wondering if it was from eating very low carb. For 3 days I've had more carbs and the pain let up. I will find out when I go back to VLC. Also, I had started taking a higher dose of D3K2, then recently went back to my original dose. I no longer think it is from when DH pulled on my right arm because when it was very bad it was also in the left arm but not as bad. And blood sugar has been good too so its not that I don't think.

The past 2 times I've been to Wal-Mart they had very little chicken. I wonder if that is due to the Avian flu. No bone-in breasts at all. I was able to get the thin NY strip steaks I like. I bought sausage links instead of bacon. The sausage is half the price of bacon. I want to switch between the two.

It was freezing cold yesterday with more snow. Today and tomorrow are going to be in the 70s then back down to the 40s. I guess that's April in Pennsylvania.

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I was reading more of Obesity Code. Insulin is the answer. I wish I had taken notes. Too much to remember. The part I'm reading today says not to eat unless you are hungry. I know that makes sense but if I do that I don't get all my nutrients and calories in in my eating window. Fasting is a big part of lowering insulin. I don't know what to do.

I talked to my DD this morning and she had the phone # for Amazon customer service. I called and finally got things straightened out so I could pay for that order that finally came over a week late. I'm so glad to get it taken care of. I'm glad to know that my postal service though shaky that it did finally find it and delivered it to us.

I won't be taking those pills at night any more. I'm back to taking them with food today. I was so sick with indigestion that I didn't go to sleep until 4 am. So running on 5 hrs sleep and I am not sure we will eat what I had planned. I am still tracking on MFP because I like knowing what I'm doing. I am having the problem of reaching 1000 calories. So not sure it is good for me to use it or not because I think I'm eating to reach 1000 calories when I am not really hungry. I heard there is a low carb place to track but I haven't checked it out yet. I think Dr. Berry called it quest.com, but I must have it wrong because that is diet food site. I'll have to try to find what he was talking about.

I planned on shrimp scampi but may end up eating soup if my stomach doesn't straighten up. I think I will take a short nap and see how I feel when I wake up.

Have a nice day everybody.

So, I have been looking around at different approaches to weight loss. Since they came out with sugar free everything, I remember saccharin and cyclamates as the calorie free early sweeteners, I know they took cyclamates off the market, I don't hear about saccharin anymore, But we all thought it was the easy way to weight loss, and it wasn't then all the fat free stuff, and again was going to be wonderful, Does anyone else remember the oil that wasn't oil? I think it was called OLEAN, and among other things it was used in certain potato chips but the bag had a warning that it could cause anal leakage.
I read that diet books are often written just to sell, Just about every time I google looking for a new approach I get to take a quiz and at the end they have the solution just for me. For only $99.00 they will send me a 3 month supply of their supplement and a food plan. It did say I should be eating 1740 calories a day. Don't know how I would lose as Fitbit has me burning 2000-2500 per day. One was supposed to 'reset' my hormone balance but when I goggled the product and the ingredients, i was just minerals like you would get in a multi vitamin., and the one odd ingredient was the last one so it was the least amount, independed nutritionists said it wasn't enough of any of those to address a severe deficiency of any minerals in the body.
I have books and cookbooks from WW, Atkins, Wheat Belly, South Beach, Plant Based diet, Clean Eaing cookbook, Dr Oz yada yada.
I know when I did IF when I was going to WW and stuck, it seemed to shake up my weight loss.
Honestly, I am tired of all of it. I do feel low carb is a really good approach. I was a carb addict and once I had a serving of pasta I was out of control. i am going to keep at it. Low carb, healthy veggies, lean protein.
I am going to keep doing what I am doing with a focus on getting in more steps, As the weather is better I am ouside and more active. I have been bobbing from 221 to 220.1 for I think 2 weeks. I can move better, more clothes fit and I am just going to have to ride it out. It hit me that perhaps when I was overeating a LOT, that I wasn't gaining fast or stayed the same for a long time before it crept up. So short of cutting off the fat with a knife-and it has crossed my mind- I am going to just put myself on cruise mode and keep on my program . I would like to get back to IF, not sure I am up to it right now. I feel like that is the only tool I have left and I hate to use it up.

Ann, IF has become second nature to me and even moreso, Trish. Fatmad does extended fasting, a day or longer. From what I read in Obesity Code it is a very effective tool. I don't know what you are able to handle but I recommend starting at a 12-14 hour eating window and then delaying your first meal a little at a time and moving your last meal earlier a little at a time. Its hard to take advice from me because I barely lose anything. I don't really understand why you aren't losing the way you eat and move.

I don't know what happened today. I am stuffed at 758 calories and 61 carbs. I had planned on cooking steak for dinner but I can't eat it. I don't like going below 1000 calories but don't want to stuff myself. I know MFP will not let me enter it but at least I have a record of what I ate. Now I'm starting to question whether or not the need for more calories is true. Everything else we've been told has been proven wrong. Normal eaters don't count calories, carbs or anything else. They just satisfy their hunger, and probably no two days are the same. I think if I am no longer hungry at 758 calories then that's what my body needs for today.