The USDA now has their complete nutrient database available to download to your computer or pda for free at : http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/srch/search.htm

Well, day 2 is now done and I did OK again. I actually logged only 1300 calories, but I knew I was going to a "ladies tea" tonight where we would have little itty bitty finger sandwiches and sweets along with our tea. I wanted to make sure I had some space left so I could have something. I had a few little sandwiches (they maybe totalled one regular sandwich, but there was not much filling in them), I resisted all the sweets and had a couple cups of tea with a tiny bit of sugar. I'm sure I stayed within my alloted 500 calories. The headache didn't return today either, which I'm very thankful for, as is my family (did I mention how grouchy I get when I have a headache? :mad: ). I drank all my water as well (where's the closest bathroom, I gotta go...). Yesterday when I was buzzzing around all day in my van, I had to preplan where all the bathrooms were so I could hit them. I needed every one of them too.

Kina: Happy Belated birthday. Sorry I missed mentioning it yesterday. My sister also tried the Atkins diet, lost 20 lbs in no time, but has gained it all back :( .

Missy: Thanks for the tip on the Performance software. I've downloaded the trial, now I just have to take time to figure the program out. So do you happen to know where another sneaky person could get an unlock code :devil: ? (Don't tell anyone I asked that, K?) I'm also downloading the USDA nutrient database as I type.

Vermont: Sounds like you're raring to go for the biking trip. With your new bod, iron butt, and fancy schmancy duds you're going to be a babe on wheels. I hope you have a great time preparing for the big day!

Ideal: WTG on your losses. That is absolutely fabulous!!!!:bravo: Thanks for that chicken quesidilla (did I spell that right?) recipe. I'll have to try it. Any idea how many calories? Actually, I'll have to figure it out anyway since we can't get low fat tortillas up here in the Great White North (actually it rained again today). You Americans have such a great selection of low fat and diet foods, not to mention your great labelling laws. It must help a lot. I may have to nip down to Point Roberts to their little Marketplace and check out some of the options there. We're really so close to the border that I don't have an excuse, do I?

To everyone else: Thanks for the comments and encouragement. The recipes and tips too. I have been measuring and weighing my food, drinking all my water, and writing everything down. I'm not going to step on the scale until at least Friday. Since it's Easter weekend coming up, and our family celebrates it BIG TIME, I will have a tough time. We're going to the inlaws on Friday for a big turkey feast, and then my family on Sunday, another feast, but lots of salads (and not the good kind...potato, coleslaw, you know, all the gooey kinds). It will be hard, but I plan to keep my intake low during the day and will make good choices at the shindigs. I hopefully will see some results before the weekend but will weigh again Monday to make sure I didn't lose all my headway.

My download has completed so I'm going to go check out the new stuff.

Ciao.
P.S. Funny how I don't notice I made any spelling mistakes until my post goes up and I reread it. I have to go back and fix it so I don't look like a dumkopf :lol: .

Good morning all!

Hi Kina, always nice to hear from you!! We actually had a freakishly warm day here yesterday, almost 80! That was record-breaking. Normally, in aril, there is still plenty of snow in the woods and on the mountains, but the snow in the yards and driveways is pretty much gone. So usual temps are in the low 50's but there is always the chance of lingering snow showers through May :eek:

Willbe, congrats :bravo: :cb: on doing so well for your second day! Yes, the bathroom visits can be a pain...as your body adjusts to the new intake of water, it won't be SO frequent in the future. That was VERY wise and smart of you to "plan" for the tea party!! That is exactly what one needs to do, with our plan for losing/maintaining. You didn't deprive yourelf of the nice occasion, and special treat; yet you didn't overdo either. GREAT!!

Yes, the family dinner coming up on Sunday will be a challenge. We know you can do it! Maybe have a green salad before going, to help take the edge off your appetite...and you can have small tastes of the gooey salads. It helps to think that, if you successfully resist some tempting morsel, that you are NOT denying yourself of something; you are making a concious (sp?) choice to feel and look great!

Thank you all for the comments on Atkins. I have this small resentment, I think, 'cause traditionally DH goes for the gimmick - you would not believe the $$$ spent over the years on exercise equipment that just sits...bikes, rowers, stepper, two-station gym. And I feel resentment that he is buying and preparing these "special" foods that aren't part of the family plan...but I should be glad that he is at least trying, I guess.

And I feel like a witch, because through the years he has always supported me, and told me I'm beautiful no matter what I look like. And supported me with encouragement and compliments with my exercising/eating right. SO, until he breaks our bank account by buying all this MEAT :p I will support him. As I saw in a post by Aphil somewhere else, it's just the first two weeks that are intensive no carbs, then limited after that.

Hello to everyone else! Hae a great day, get some exercise, drink water, make good choices, and enjoy life!

Your friend,
Holly

Hi everyone!
Holly-even with the 2 week induction period of the Atkin's diet-make sure that your husband is eating the few carbs that he is allowed-the salad vegetables, and I believe green beans are allowed as well...and he is allowed eggs...so have him eat some of those-they are much cheaper than meat! :lol:
Well, Easter is this weekend...my son's birthday party is Saturday with the cake and all...and Sunday is dinner at my inlaw's...here is what I plan to do:
We are having dinner at my inlaw's after my son't party-when everyone else leaves. I already know that it is tacos-which she does not prepare healthy enough for my standards-so I will be bringing a little cooler bag with my water, diet soda, some fruit, and a couple of healthy things to eat at the party, and while everyone is having dinner.
For Easter dinner Sunday, I am bringing a tray of fresh fruit as a dessert alternative to all of the baked goods that will be there-grapes, cut up melon, etc. There is usually lonesome salad there, and sometimes green beans, so I am counting on that...I will be bringing a packet of fat free diet dressing in my purse-because I know all they will have is regular. I can have salad, green beans, fruit for dessert-and I will allow myself ONE small ice cream parlor sized scoop of either noodles or mashed potatoes or a small slice of ham, or whatever they have that I decide I can't resist-but I will choose ONE thing-whatever it is that strikes me the most-and stick to that. I find that special occasions are much easier if I have a plan going in-rather than not thinking beforehand until I see all of the food there.
Planning, planning, planning is the key...we often find that we get into the most trouble when we think with our tummies, instead of our heads. :) When we go to Applebee's on our date nights-I plan in advance to order one of their low fat low calorie items,and not even glance at the specials or the rest of the menu...ours has 5 or 6 entree choices for me-so I have a choice-and stay on plan.
It all just takes planning, and getting used to planning. I have Jason trained now-that if he stops by Dairy Queen he picks me up a sugar free fat free ice cream bar instead of some calorie laden treat...he just does it automatically now.
Habit is one of the main reasons we get fat-we get into a habit of eating too much, not watching portion sizes, not exercising...get into the habit of picking up water and diet soda at the store instead of regular, get into the habit of exercising first thing in the morning or a soon as you get home from work...when you make healthy choices a habit-it soon becomes as natural as brushing your teeth or showering...
(I am assuming you all do those things... :lol: )
Have a good day everyone!
Aphil

Hi all :)

Today was another good day. I hope they don't end, but I know the really tough ones will come yet. I did my Curves workout, and took the dog for 2 short walks totalling over 30 minutes. I even kept my calories to 1550. Don't groan, but I didn't mean to. I just didn't feel as hungry today and now that it's 10 pm, I certainly don't want to eat more. I'm sure when I cut my limit to a lower caloric intake I will struggle more. Looking back on my food journalling from before I started counting calories, I realize how much I was consuming and it's no wonder I am at this fat place. I don't usually drink caffeine anymore because it gives me back acid reflux, but today I nipped into Starbucks for a Grande n/f latte but I forgot to say "decaf". Ooops...was I ever hopping after that. When you don't normally drink caffeine, it really effects you if you do have some. Felt good though, and only 130 calories, hehe.

Missy: That software you recommended is absolutely fabulous. I just love it! I'd recommend you others take a look. It's great for tracking your calories during the day, how much exercise you get (and the calories burned from that) and also figuring the calories in recipes. I know you can do this all manually, but I like doing in on the computer and not paging through books looking every little thing up.

Anyway, I'm going to head off to bed. I was up too late last night and need to get some sleep tonight. I'm still wired from that caffeine though, or maybe it was that brisk walk I just came in from.

Later....

Willbe-I am so glad that you are doing so well! You are going to be getting great results with your exercise....a year from now you are going to feel like a new woman!
I went to the fabric store last night to pick up some serger thread, and I cruised the clearance fabric section. I found a gorgeous fabric in a deep red with a gold print...and it was only $1.88 a yard. I brought some home...because I have a red hip scarf decorated with gold beads and coins, and thought it would look great if I made a dance top out of that to go with it....i don't know what made me decide on red...in everyday clothes, I am usually a gray, denim, white, and khaki kindof Gap/Old Navy girl...and when I go out it is usually vampiress or Lilith Krane black...I guess when I dance I am going to be a little more daring....I am telling you, it is LOOK AT ME red!
(As red as Holly's santa suit) :lol:
Today is my cardio day...with some extra ab work....yeeha! Everyone have a great day, I am going to go work out!
Aphil

Hello to all...Aphil, we want to see a picture of you in the red outfit! I love red-it kind of empowers a person and we all need that sometimes! I am off for an Easter Holiday to Philadelphia. I feel like I live on airplanes this month! My whole family is flying out to see my aunt, I haven't seen her for three years and she has never seen our youngest child, so it ought to be a great time. Thanks to everyone who posted their Easter eating hints, but we all have to remember that it is only food. Focus on the holiday and the company. Don't sit at the table, put the food away right after the meal, chew gum and make good choices, if you slip, drink alot of water and cut back on Monday. My kids have to keep thier candy in their room, so I can't see it! Out of sight and out of mind. Hope yours is a great one...off to O'Hare!:angel:

&$#@!!! just spent 15 minutes typing replies to everyone, and because of all the stupid popups interfering, my post is gone. I'll post again when I'm not in such a mad mood :mad:

Happy Easter
 

Getting through Easter isn't a problem for me. It's after Easter when the candy is half off and I have a coupon! I hate missing a sale.

I'm glad you the program Willbe. I especially like the fact it graphs your progress and habits. When I first started using it, I tried to put in that I wanted to lose 5 pounds a week (just to see how long it would take me to get to my goal if I could actually lose that many pounds a week). I promptly got an error message that said that was unhealthy and one to two pounds should be the goal.

Sorry you lost everything Vermontmom, I know how that is.

To all have a happy, healthy, Easter Sunday!

Missy:angel:

Hi everyone,
 

Missy: It's not the half price candy that does me in, it's the candy my kids get from the grandparents that tempts me. I think I'll follow Ideal's idea and have them keep it in their own rooms. They'll eat it quicker that way too. Once it's gone I don't have to think about it anymore. I tried the graphing section of the program today, but with only 2 days under my belt using the program, the graph wasn't too interesting :lol:.

Vermont: Is there a way to avoid the pop ups. I don't seem the get them and I'm not sure why.

Aphil: I agree with Ideal...post a picture with the red outfit. I love red too (that's why the new house is red on the outside).

I got a great walk in this morning. I had to take our van in for repairs on the brakes and had to walk home, about 45 minutes. When I took the van in I mentioned to the service guy that it had also been doing some other funny things and the temp gauge had shot up and started beeping. Of course, at the time this had happened I was about to enter a tunnel and couldn't stop. By the time I had exited the tunnel, the temp gauge was back to normal. They looked at it all and didn't even get to the brakes, but called to let us know what the other problem was. Seems there's a leaky something or other. It may have allowed some liquid of some sort to leak into the oil, and if that happened, we very likely have motor damage and will have to have the motor replaced :fr:. We have to have the oil tested to see if this other fluid (forgot the name of it) is in there. If not, the repairs won't be so bad...only $1500 instead of $4000 :eek: . We were thinking of selling the van ('95 Ford Windstar) next year and getting something newer, but we may just repair it and get rid of it. Apparently there are lots of problems with the 95 and 96s, so it might be better to let it go now, we just had the transmission rebuilt a couple of months ago and this thing is getting too costly. We went to look at some new vans today, but HI-KARUMBA, are they ever expensive!! Maybe we'll be able to find something that's about 2 years old, but when you start looking at the new ones....well, they're really nice.

Anyway, I'm without wheels now. FIL is going to let me borrow his pickup. We can't drive the van like it is or we may really cause some serious damage. Maybe I'll have to do more walking.

The food situation today was not as easy as it was yesterday. Yesterday I relished the feeling of hunger. Do any of you remember that old arcade game called PacMan? Well, I just imagined those little PacMen eating all my fat away. Today...well, I just want to eat. I've stayed within my limit, and actually have planned to share a bag of popcorn with dh tonight, but right now I just want to stuff my face. I'll drink water instead :cry:.

On that note...everyone have a happy Easter and DON'T EAT TOO MUCH!!!!! :D

Hi!
Willbe-I know the car trouble you speak of...we had the exact same thing happen last year...a blown gasket in the motor, causing antifreeze to get into the motor, and the symptoms was that it would start to overheat when you idled at a light or at a train track, etc. Expensive repairs...We want to get a newer car this year sometime, so I cam concentrating on getting some other things paid off or down so that we can. :) It will be a GM-mostl likely an Aztek, or a Vibe if we cannot afford the Aztek, or a Grand Am or Prix...we have to get a GM-because my grandfather retired from GM, my uncle and stepfather still work at a GM plant, my father sells cars for GM, so we qualify for their discount-plus they would all have fits if we showed up in a Ford or Kia or something like that...:lol:
Raiden is 2 years old today! :hb: His party is tomorrow afternoon! I am not getting on the scale until tomorrow...my mini goal was 175 by his party date, and last week's weigh in was 177...so we shall see...I personally will be happy with any loss at all-so if it is 176 I will still be glad-but 175 would be a bonus. :lol:
One of the things I did this year for the kid's Easter, was not get huge baskets filled with candy-I bought Disney Princess pj's and a set of watercolor paints for Jasmine, and then just a simgle serving M&Ms filled egg, and a plastic Barbie Egg filled with candy...a couple of things like that-more "single serving" type of candy-it comes out more expensive to get the candy that way-less candy for the same $, but then she eats it and it is done, and there is no bag of chocolate hanging around for a month. I picked up a couple of small single serve candy items for Raiden as well...and some candy for Jason that he loves and I hate-like Atomic Fire Balls-so I won't eat those either. (My mom used teh same tactics in the kids Easter stuff from her, so now I just have to hope that my mother in law won't get them mounds of chocolates.)
I will get another picture up of myself as soon as I get these costumes finished and can whip together that red top...
Everyone have a great day!
Aphil

Willbe~~~you and I sound like we are reading from same page of our lives. My van (Ford Aerostar) broke down a week ago and they think it's the transmission. The mechanic wants $800 to pull out the transmission to see if that is in fact the problem. Well with 4 kids, a new/used truck payment, and only one bringing the income...it seems like the van will just have to sit there. We are going to buy just a little car that can carry me and the kids around until we can get the van fixed. Once we pay off the truck, which is in 3 years, we will consider getting another van. As much as I don't want another van...in reality they are so much better for family vacations. So in the meantime, my dad has loaned me his truck. It's an old truck and the seat doesn't go forward for the normal size people like myself. Which means I need to put my bookbag behind me in order to reach the pedals. Well as long as it takes me to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Holly~~~I am so sorry about the pop ups. I have not gotten one since being on here. I think that has to do with the program my husband installed not too long ago. It keeps from those small advertisement from showing. It is really nice. I don't know how else to get rid of them.

Aphil~~~I know you and I will be posting at the same time I see your green light on. RED...ooow La La! I bet you are going to be drop dead gorgeous. The other day I was watching the Bachelor (I never watch it...there was just nothing else to watch) and they had gone to a Morrocan (sp?) restaurant at the end they had belly dancers. They were so beautiful and they danced so gracefully. I hollared to DH and said look I am going to do that one day.

Missy~~~Candy is a tough one. I can't give you input on that one because that is my pitfall also. I just can say I will scratch your back if you scratch mine! ;)

Well I better get out of here. Talk to you all again!
Hugs & Smiles, Kina

Happy Birthday!
 

:cp: :hb:Happy Birthday :balloons:Raiden! :hb::cp: I hope your day is full of wonderful things with frosting all over it!:gift: Make a big wish when you blow out the candles! :hat:


Two years old...what a wonderful age. Mine are all growing up! I wish my little one could of stayed two...well any age under 5 would be nice. Time just flies!

Have a great time with your family Amy! I hope you see 175! That is great! I wish I was near 175 but I will get there.

Talk to you all again!

Hugs & Smiles, Kina

Holly-we have something installed on our computer called "Ad Zapper". Type that in your search engine on the computer, and see if you can find out where to install it at...I still get a few pop-ups, but only about 10% of what I used to get. It is really great.
Kina-sweets are my downfall as well...I have just learned to use my head more with them, rather than emotional or "mindless" eating. if I have a small sweet-I make sure I am not watching tv, or doing anything else, but slowly enjoying that treat. I think watching tv is really unsatisfying eating, because you have no idea when you are done how much you have ate, and a lot of time you don't even really sit and enjoy the flavor-we just keep shoving stuff in our faces. So-I usually sit at the table and slowly savor each bite. :)
Aphil

Aphil: Have a great time celebrating Raiden's 2nd birthday. Those times are so special. I feel like mine were 2 just yesterday, but my oldest will be 13 this summer, my second just turned 10 and my baby will be 8 at the end of this month. That's also a smart move to buy stuff other than candy for the kids. I bought them those Kinder Surprise eggs. They only have a thin hollow chocolate egg, but there's a great little toy inside that they can put together. MIL is pretty good too, she gets them a little candy, but also a beanie baby and maybe socks and a t-shirt. She hides their baskets all over the house (not a small feat for 13 grandkids, but they have a big house), and then they ahve a giant hunt. The kids love it!

I found out that its actually coolant that might have leaked into the oil and dh went through all our past receipts from repairs and turns out the last place that fixed our brakes a couple of years ago noticed the leak, made a note of it at the bottom of the receipt, but never mentioned it to us. We didn't look that closely at the comments on the receipt (dh could kick himself now) so it's been going on for a while. Chances are pretty good it's in the oil, which means its in the motor which means either a huge repair bill or we trade it in on another vehicle as is, and not get much for it.

We're off to the inlaws for dinner today. I made a hazelnut torte for dessert. I made is especially for SIL who has Celiac Disease and can't have any gluten (flour, etc) This cake has only 3 Tbsp flour and I used a special gluten free one. It also has no fat (except for the hazel nuts and whipping cream on top). It's a really delicious cake and I figured out the calories to be 450 per slice, that's a decent size slice, so maybe I 'll have a little tiny sliver...and yes Aphil, I will savor every single bite!

Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to mention...I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down 3 pounds. That's in only 4 days! I realize that a lot of this is water (most 1st weeks you lose a lot more than average), but it's still so exciting!

Well, I better go put the cake together. It's all baked, just needs the final touches.

Happy Easter.