hi all!

just stopping in to say hi and catch up. wyoming finally warmed up a little so i've been outside some. i'm still hovering around the 159 mark and TOM showed up today so i'm hoping a pound or two this next week. i added some exercise, nothing killer, but 30 min of treadmill or zumba abt 3 days a week. i figure i'm going to have to incorporate it into my routine life and i think it has helped my mood some to so that is a bonus! i wanted to be at 150 for end of my spring challenge on march 10th, but i'll be movin it back to the 21st with everyone else. the weight loss really does slow down after week 5-6 but i still feel great, and don't really have to worry about cravings with this way of eating so i'm good for the time being. A girl at work said i was "inspiring" and she was starting a low carb program but how long did that dang headache last??? hope she didn't flog any of her family this weekend! we all remember how bad that first few days were!

btw- i pierced my nose for my 30# mark. tiny 1/5mm stud. DH didn't even really twitch about it! hmm, maybe something more dramatic is in order for my final goal? and i actually wore a pair of my 11 cruel girl jeans to work. that hasn't happened since about last may. so i think even tho the pounds aren't coming off, my body shape is still changing which is all i really care about anyways!

Hey 2manysizes, I saw this and your later post about maybe moving to a different low carb diet. I don't want to bum you out, but if you think about being able to maintain your goal weight once you reach it, you need to learn to eat differently than you have in the past. Not just for the amount of time it will take you to drop the extra pounds, but forever. Whether you look at IP, Atkins, South Beach or any other diet, they all have some kind of a "maintenance" diet and they all are based on the idea that your future (as a person who has weight issues tied to carbs) has to be one that has lots of vegetables and few carbs. Forever. So, the point on any low carb diet is to learn to cook and eat differently, to think about food differently, and to find new, healthier ways to prepare foods so you can enjoy eating without eating poorly and gaining all the weight back.

I know this is probably not what you were hoping to hear, but I can help a bit by saying (as others have) that if you stick with it, your tastes will change. I am an EXTREME foodie and I was just angry and depressed for the first few weeks because while I saw the weight coming off, I could not imagine this being my life forever. But somewhere around week 6 or so, I began to really like the new foods that became the focus of my life, and honestly? I pretty much prefer them to the things I used to eat. I like the tastes better and I like the way I feel after eating (not all bloated).

So, really, try to stick it out if you can, for at least 2 months, and I think you will begin to feel a lot better about your food choices. I got through it by pretending I had moved to a foreign country where they did not serve any of my "usual" foods and I had to find new things to eat that I liked--I love to travel so that made it work for me.

For the veggies, I think the answer is to make them part of something else rather than standalone foods. People have suggested soups and other recipes. Try a couple cups of fresh spinach in your omelette. Make celery root and cauliflower fauxtatoes and cover with beef stew....roast some eggplant and mix with garlic, evvo, lemon for a great dip for celery. Best of luck whatever you decide and we're here to help you through it! :hug:

Be sure you're getting enough water and shake out some salt on your hand and lick it. If that doesn't help, it's just the carbs burning out of your body. You can take some advil or painkiller, don't worry about that part. It will pass, it was day 5 for me and it was like someone flipped a switch. But my advice: remember this horrible feeling when you are tempted in the future to cheat...if you push yourself out of ketosis you have to go through it again! That fear kept me on the straight and narrow for 4 months--I'm a chicken about discomfort too! :D

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Please continue the conversation and post all replies on today's thread: Monday, 14 March 2011

Hollybear: i would be interested in doing a boot camp this week! Let me know!

I am on day 6 today. I will say that day 3 was the hardest day for me (so far)
I was fine until I ate my lunch, then I felt a little ill every time I would think about eating MORE veggies! I could barley get my dinner down that day.
I weighed for the first time the following morning thinking that If I weren't losing any weight, that I would not be able to keep going!
Thankfully I had lost, and that encouraged me to keep "at it". Day 4 was better and it just keeps getting easier. Part of that is due to the fact that I am learning how to make my veggies taste better and still stay OP.

Hang in there! YOU CAN DO IT!!

WEKABA please look above your post to EATANTS and press the link she has posted. Everyone has moved on to the "Monday, March 14" page and that link will take you right there. I am so happy that you've made it to Day 6!