Jacqui, sorry to hear the little guy is having trouble breathing. Hope he improves soon. It would be hard going home leaving him in the hospital, but in this case she also has to care for the one she's taking home.

SeeMyFeet, Jacqui's results is proof to me that carb cycling works, but it's not for everyone. It's only good if you can stick to it and get right back to low carb after a carb day. Most calorie recycling plans, like 5:2 or JUDDD are too extreme for me. I tried it, but find it too hard to stay at 500 calories on the low calorie days. I googled calorie recycling and what I found is not as extreme. They are saying you do 1200 calories some days and 1500 calories other days. That's a big difference from 500 calories/day. I think any plan will work if you are able to stick with it long term, but each person is different and needs to find what works for them.
Congratulations on the 10 lb loss. I will be following in your footsteps by the end of the year.

Rennie, good for you on skipping the biscuit. I know the challenge with Mars is really spurring you on.

I have to go wake up DH. I want to go grocery shopping before the stores get crowded.

Identical twin boys, Jac?? Baby sweetness...Hoping the boys are quickly reunited, so their reign of terror can begin! (Goodness, the thought of my youngest being a twin!) I know you won't have any peace until the two little peas are in the same pod.

Carol, Jacqui is an outlier...you didn't know that? ;) My cycling is accidental and unplanned, and not usually very dramatic. I don't have the courage to plan out a cycling day, the scale has too much power over my emotions....Weight went up again today. Bouncy bounce bounce....And hubs asked if we should go out to dinner. Ugh. If we do, I'm taking my own salad. I don't care if that's rude, I cannot afford to be sabotaged by hidden calories.

SeeMyFeet, :congrat: on the .5 down and the 10.87lbs GONE Woot Woot! :cheer: I know going to the gym will help me. I just need to do it :)

Thanks Jacqui :), praying always :hug:

Thanks Carol, I did try 5:2 and couldn't stick to it. My calorie cycles were similar to what you found. I was looking for the site that I used but can't find it. It seems all of this stuff is current. Ha I went for a few things yesterday but when you go shopping with my husband he'll say we don't need that. It's fine in a department store but since he don't want to hear what we don't need or have room for :) ... I just sent my son out, I texted him a list ;)

Well not enough sleep and a hot dog right before bed just sitting in my stomach (no bread or condiments) gave me a .2 up. Not bad but I know my weight would have been lower with 8 hours of sleep or maybe my typical 6.5-7 :) Better luck tomorrow :) My SIL and kids stopped by on their way back north and I stayed up until they left. Not a good idea when your alarm goes off at 1:20am :no: but I was happy to see them. My daughter and her husband came by to see them also, that was a pleasant surprise :)

NSV, when my SIL got here my niece wanted waffle house. I love waffles from waffle house but all I had was a cup of coffee. I was so proud of myself :) My SIL said you have to eat something. I kept saying, nope! There was also a Krispy Kreme that I could have walked to, man the temptation all around. Delicious restaurants every where on that road :drool: If I make it until Monday, I think I have this in the bag till mars gets back on the 16th ;)

Jacqui sending positive vibes to babe.

Congrats on the losses ladies!

Yesterday's menu....

Break - McD's sausage w/hot sauce and ice tea w/stevia
Lunch - Amy's org bean/cheese burrito
Dinner - 2 pieces Donatos pizza, several light beers

Rennie, when DH goes shopping with me he walks along throwing all the junk food in the cart. LOL Then he'll disappear and come back with a box of Twinkies.

sooooo, I decided to track other dietary components and I (finally!) got on myfitnesspal. "SeeMyFeet" was already taken. So who are these other SeeMyFeets? Well, one is a foot fetishist, others have big boobs...In case you were wondering, None of those folks are me! really!

Setting up this myfitnesspal is a chore! I'm so used to my spreadsheets.

Yesterday's menu...

Break - a piece of leftover pizza and 1/4 of ham sandwich
Lunch - 1/2 of largish ham sandwich w/mustard and dill relish
Snack - skinny popcorn
Dinner - Swiss cheeseburgers, a few sprouts, and butter fried taters
Pub - 3 light beers

LOL Carol :)

LOL SeeMyFeet :) What did you set your user name as? I'm love2b136 :)

PrairieQueen your menu made me hungry, well maybe not hungry I just want to eat all of that :D

up another .2. I've got to get a grip on the eating before bed unless it has absolutely no sodium ;)

Hello Everyone!

New to this thread, but posted a question about carb cycling and Carol was so sweet to respond and tell me about this place!

I have lost close to 135 pounds so far eating a strictly clean diet. I didn't really watch my calories or anything like that for a good while until I started to finally plateau. I started doing other things to change up my diet and one of them was going low carb. That helped get some of the weight off over the course of a couple of months but then I became lethargic and it wasn't helping me lose weight. I then stumbled upon carb cycling. I'm going into my 3rd week with it and I've lost 5 pounds so far. I know there's a lot of math involved in it to get your amount of calories and things like that. I haven't gotten that far with it because I don't have body fat calipers but I have just been switching out my days just with what I'm used to eating and so far so good until I can get the details worked out.

I just wanted to talk to anyone who has done this and had success with it to see if there's any pointers you can give me, or any place to get good information with it? I follow MorelliFit online and that's where I got most of my info from, also from Chris Powell through facebook and on pinterest but there's only so much info out there from him unless you sign up to work with him or buy one of his books. I've thought about reading his book just to see how that is, but another thing added to the to do book list lol...

Thanks in advance for your help! Look forward to talking with new people! :)

Yesterday's menu:

Break - 2 slices goetta and 1 egg cooked in butter, 1/2 slice sourdough toast
Lunch - small portion chicken/macadamia nut pesto on pasta
Dinner - sausage casserole (one brat w/orange peppers, onions and mushrooms), mashed potatoes

:welcome: to the thread Sam :) it's my bedtime but I wanted to welcome you. I have calorie cycled before and it did work. I just can't do it for long. I will talk to you more tomorrow :)

Good night everyone :)

Welcome SamIAm86! Congrats on your success.

Today's menu....

Break - McD's sausage burrito w/hot sauce
Morning - ice tea w/stevia
Lunch - brat w/kraut and mustard (no bun)
Dinner - Cinci chili spaghetti 4-way w/onion

Welcome SamIAm86! :congrat: on your amazing weight loss, and woohoo on the carb cycling working for you! :cp: Glad to have you join us!

Update: My grandson who is still in the hospital is continuing to improve! At one point, they were supplementing his breathing with 68% oxygen and were about to put him on a ventilator. Now he is down to using only a nose tube and is being supplemented with only 20% oxygen! :carrot: Thank you all so much for the well wishes and prayers! :grouphug:

Week 26:
11/1--DNW (forgot before we started eating breakfast)
11/2--DNW (left at 3:45 am for a 12-13 hr drive)
11/3--174
11/4--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/5--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/6--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/7--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!) Carb Day

Week 27:
11/8--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/9--173.5
11/10--
11/11--
11/12--
11/13--
11/14--

Today's Meals:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
2 slices of bacon
Fage Greek yogurt with Mio
Mio Water

Lunch:
Polish sausage and black beans
Diet Dr. Pepper

Tea Time:
Hot green tea

Dinner:
Loaded cheeseburger salad
Mio water

Today's Exercise:
None (I'm exhausted!)

OMG...I will NEVER go to Applebees again...

Or Macalister's...but that's another, very very VERY awful story..

...lotta skill required to mess up a salad that bad.... :barf:

Yesterday I made a pumpkin pie for DH. I did eat 1 bite of it. I want to make a crustless pumpkin custard for myself one of these days. I will either make it sugarless or use a bit of artificial sweetener in it. I like pumpkin savory, but not the sweet taste of the pie. I usually eat some of the pumpkin right out of the can while I'm making the pie.

Hi SamIAm, glad to see you stopped in. I do not do carb cycling, but Jacqui does and the first post in the thread gives information regarding what she has done for her success with it.

Jacqui, I'm glad to hear the grandbaby is improving. Still praying for his release from the hospital so he can join his brother at home.

Carol Sue, thank you so much! :hug: Oooo, a crustless pumpkin custard sounds yummy! :T

SeeMyFeet, I have the same issue with the sports grill that I go to with friends on Friday nights--I order a salad every time and for some reason, I always seem to be up in weight the next morning! It's a salad for goodness sakes! :shrug: Oh, and btw, lol, I am not an outlier! :lol: I just happen to have found the diet that works best for me! That's definitely the key! :D

Rennie, you're doing great! Keep avoiding those temptations and it will pay off! You can do it! :cheer:

PrairieQueen, your menu's are looking as good as ever! Keep it up! :yes:

Yay! I get to move my ticker down 1 lb! I love when that happens, lol!

Week 26:
11/1--DNW (forgot before we started eating breakfast)
11/2--DNW (left at 3:45 am for a 12-13 hr drive)
11/3--174
11/4--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/5--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/6--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/7--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!) Carb Day

Week 27:
11/8--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/9--173.5
11/10--173
11/11--
11/12--
11/13--
11/14--

Today's Meals:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
3 slices of bacon
Fage Greek yogurt with Mio
Mio Water

Lunch:
Protein bar
Diet Dr. Pepper

Tea Time:

Dinner:
Pulled pork BBQ
Salad with ranch dressing
Mio water

Today's Exercise:
None

Great news on the babe Jacqui! We're all thinking about you and yours :)

You guys and your pumpkins :rofl:. Is it more like crack or kryptonite?

Hope your li'l pumpkin gets to go home soon, Jaq.

It wasn't the calories in the salad, Jaq....it was the nastiness...Good thing is, I couldn't eat it, didn't have to pay for it, and ended up with a very low calorie dinner. Reminded me of a salad I ordered in a Macalister's when visiting another town. On the side was some kind of Southwestern corn and bean mix. I took one tiny bite and that was absolutely positively the NASTYest thing I ever, ever experienced. Turns out, they use artificial smoke as flavoring and they used WAY WAY WAY too much. Tasted like phenol straight from the bottle. I'm sweating just thinking about it. Bluuuurgh. The salad from last night had a dressing that tasted like mop water. This, ladees, is why I rarely go out to eat.

Looks like today is carb day for me. With the recent VLC days and last night's dinner ordeal, I needed something different, and pigged out with 2C of cheerios this morning. Even added a little sugar. Surprised that I'm only at 75g of carbs so far. Hope this helps break up the mini stall I'm experiencing...

Hope you're keeping up your strength, Jaq...those hospital visits are taxing. The little bunny is getting the care he needs so he will be a strong little man when he goes home!

Sam :congrat: on your weight loss so far. That's great that you did it with just clean eating. :)

Thanks Jacqui :) I have had two not so good eating days, yesterday late afternoon into the evening and today. Hoping tomorrow will be better :crossed: I'm so glad to hear your Grandson's breathing is improving, what a blessing. Sending prayers that he comes home soon :hug: Yum on your menu yesterday :) And GO YOU on the 173 :high:

LOL SeeMyFeet, it is bad when a restaurant messes up a salad :) My Mom doesn't like to eat out for the same reason as you. When she does, she always sends her food back for some reason or another :) LOL SeeMyFeet, I did that once with some liquid smoke flavor. It was awful. I could never get the balance right with that stuff so I threw it out :)

Carol I love pumpkin pie and so do my kids. My husband said he would never eat one and I made a few while he was at work once and told him it was sweet potato and he's been eating them since then :). I've made the crustless pumpkin pie thingees in muffin cups. The kids love them :)

mars missing you :hug:

Today's menu...

Break - McDonald's sausage burrito w/hot sauce and ice tea w/stevia
Lunch - brat w/chili and cheese (no bun)
Dinner - grilled wings and 2 light beers

oh my PrairieQueen I would love to have your lunch :drool:

Thanks PrairieQueen! :hug:

Rennie, thank you and please keep those prayers coming! :yes: Don't worry, those two bad days of eating are behind you now. All that matters is what you do today and you are in control, so make good choices and keep that scale moving down! Get determined! You can do it! :goodscale:

SeeMyFeet, thank you, I can't wait to get my l'il pumpkin home! Yes the hospital visits are taxing. I am truly worn out! I just feel like I haven't had time to recover from the emotional and physical exhaustion I've been feeling for a month. But what can I do? It is what it is! :D Oh my, you did a fantastic job at describing how disgusting those salads were! Yuck! :barf: My Friday night salad may cause me to go up a bit temporarily but at least it is delicious! :hungry:

Looks like I'm holding water this morning. I'm up a lb. I definitely did not drink enough yesterday, and if I'm going to eat BBQ with its sugary sauce like I did last night, I need to be sure to drink enough water to help flush out the excess water weight it's going to cause! :cheers:

Week 26:
11/1--DNW (forgot before we started eating breakfast)
11/2--DNW (left at 3:45 am for a 12-13 hr drive)
11/3--174
11/4--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/5--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/6--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/7--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!) Carb Day

Week 27:
11/8--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/9--173.5
11/10--173
11/11--174
11/12--
11/13--
11/14--

Today's Meals:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
Fage Greek yogurt with Mio
Mio water

Lunch:
Pumpkin seeds
Diet Dr. Pepper

Tea Time:

Dinner: @Subway
Large salad with grilled chicken and ranch dressing
Water

Today's Exercise:
2 miles around the track, 3 sets of 12 reps each on 10 leg, waist, and back machines

Hang in there, Jaq. When life puts you on a roller coaster, you have to hold extra tight to the safety bar. Try your best not to worry, and have faith that he is in good hands.

...not worrying is tough for me to do....whhelll...1900 cals yesterday and over 300 carbs :fr:. Not surprisingly, the scale was weigh up. I'm not so sure about this carb day experiment ladees. I can't be the control and the experiment at the same time--who knows if I would lose wt faster if I had not had a high carb day? Anyway I'm anxious to see how, or if, this will shake things up.

Eggs for breakfast. yuk.

Always on the prayers :hug: Jacqui, And yes I will get determined. I joined a 21 day challenge on here to stay away from all of the c's that I have been enjoying. So far so good today. I'm drinking a shake now. Found out I was off today this morning so scheduled a meeting with a college adviser for my son. I had planned to do a shake day to clean out my system but I have never done that before and being home doesn't make it easy for me to do it. If I'm out and about I can do shakes but not in the house most of the day.

SeeMyFeet yesterday I had 2450 calories 239g carbs, only 90g protein, but I think the 8 hours of sleep and my activity yesterday helped some because I was .3 down today surprisingly. Let's see how I do today. Not much movement since I'm home. I have to go to bed early so I can get up go to church and come home and take a nap before work :) Wednesday's are interesting :) I like eggs with cheese for breakfast just not everyday. :)

I went to Trader Joe's for the first time. I bought some sprouted rye bread that only has 4 net carbs, 0g of sugar and 5g of protein. I thought how great, but then I look and see that it has gluten. I will get to see if this really does have an affect on me (bloating). Today's plan is protein and now a slice of this bread with tuna. I also bought some riced cauliflower. I'm excited to try this. I like that store. If I had more money I would have bought a ton of things to try :)

Thanks SeeMyFeet and Rennie! I just got word my grandson was taken off the nose tube today and may come home tomorrow or Friday! :yay:

SeeMyFeet, Carb Day always makes people who are first trying it nervous, but gaining water weight the next day is perfectly normal and should be expected. It's not gaining after it that is the fluke. I gain water weight almost every single week after Carb Day and I'm still losing overall! It's designed to shake up your metabolism. Just give it a chance. I'm living proof it works, and there's no reason why it shouldn't work for you too! Don't get nervous! :D

Rennie, it will be interesting to see how you do with the rye bread with gluten. I love rye bread, yum, but I haven't had any in a VERY long time.
:T

I finally got back to the gym today. Oh my, am I out of shape. I had to put all the weights back down to my starting numbers. But hey, at least I made it there! It's a start! :lifter:

That's great Jacqui, I'm glad to hear he is coming home soon :hug: I just ate a toasted slice of the rye bread with some tuna. We shall see. I don't like the smell of it. It's really strong, yuk. Didn't taste bad with the tuna or maybe I just couldn't taste it with all of the onion I cut up in it ;) Good job on the gym. I hope to get there one of these days. :) And yes it is a start ... a great start, you did it :)

Hello CS group,

Does anyone here know if there is a JUDDD thread. I can't find one. Do any of you do the JUDDD now or in the past? I'm thinking about it but it's hard to find any information. Thanks for your help.

Evening ladies!

Jacqui that is wonderful news!

I agree with SeeMyFeet. I dint know if I could routinely have a big carb day on purpose. But then, the holidays are fast approaching. If I were to start, it would be then :)

Today's menu....

Break - McD's sausage burrito w/hot sauce and ice tea w/stevia
Lunch - another brat w/mustard and sweet relish
Dinner - chicken fajita w/guacamole
Snack - skinny whiskey sour :) :)

Hi Mossy! Great weight loss so far! I tried JUDDD but the down days were too low calorie for me. Same with 5:2. There's a great group on another forum with lots of information. I don't know if I'm allowed to post a link, but here goes!

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/forumdisplay.php?f=89

And of course, you're welcome to stay here and post with us!

So overall, would you say it was too difficult to keep up longterm? That's what I'm wondering. It does seem like it might cause you to yo-yo if you lose your grip on the those up days and keep going. WannaBe, your opinion would be appreciated. Any additional thoughts...up and down, it is extreme.

:welcome2: Mossy! I hope you'll jump in with us here! We are all doing different carb-conscious plans, and this is a great and supportive group! Like Carol Sue said, you are welcome to join us!

Thanks Rennie and PrairieQueen! We are so excited for both twins finally to be home, well, and healthy! :bb: :bb:

Does anyone know when Mars is supposed to get back? :?:

And where is Chickadeee? We've haven't heard from her in forever! Come back, Chickadeee! :hug:

I already lost my post once today. Hopefully it will send this time! :yes:

Yay! A new low! I hope I can keep inching my way toward the next decade! :dance:

Week 26:
11/1--DNW (forgot before we started eating breakfast)
11/2--DNW (left at 3:45 am for a 12-13 hr drive)
11/3--174
11/4--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/5--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/6--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/7--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!) Carb Day

Week 27:
11/8--DNW (too busy with grandbabies!)
11/9--173.5
11/10--173
11/11--174
11/12--172.5
11/13--
11/14--

Today's Meals:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs
Fage Greek yogurt with Mio
Mio water

Lunch:
Large field greens salad with grilled chicken, black beans, pumpkin seeds, and ranch dressing
Diet Dr. Pepper

Tea Time:

Dinner:
Pork roast
baked beans
Mio water

Today's Exercise:
2-mile walk around the track, 3 sets of 12 reps each on 8 arm and chest machines and 3 waist machines

PrairieQueen that's a great idea for carb day ... to hold off till Thanksgiving :) Thanks :)

Hi Mossy, I looked at JUDD because another 3FCer did really really well with it. I have tried 5:2 and even though I did pretty well on it I didn't stick with it (but that's my story with most things I try) :) The high days were my main issue, I couldn't eat enough good stuff and would tend to overeat on carbs. Good job on your weight loss so far, keep up the good work :)

Jacqui, mars comes back on 11/16. :) I'm happy for the family and the twins :hug: Jacqui, 172 GO YOU :cheer:

Carol :wave:

:carrot:...to babies coming home!!

Special request: Please change the conversation from rye bread back to pumpkins...mmmmmm rye bread with butter and honey for breakfast...and coffee.....mmmmm....'scuse while I get a towel for the drool...Seriously people. Stop. Hey, do cravings burn calories? Maybe I'm on to something here?

..I still don't know about this carb cycling thang...My being tired and hawngry was the impetus to try it. I'm exhausted today and feeling despondent about weight loss....but I will keep with it, because the alternative is just too unimaginable.

SeeMyFeet, sorry about the r-- b---- talk ... I personally hate the smell of it and down like the taste. But it has fiber and has way less carbs then any bread I have ever bought, so I have it for when I need it. But it is not something I could just go grab, yuk :) I've been craving also. I just don't know for what ... We'll get through this. :hug:

Ok going to bed now, I'm pooped ... good night ALL

It was difficult for me to go as low as 500 cals on the down days. I could have done it when I was single and lived alone, but I tend to eat when my husband eats now. And Rennie said she tended to go overboard on the up days. You could try it and see how it works for you. We are all different.

Mm mm, I love rye bread. I used to eat pb& j on rye (dark or Cinci style) as a kid. It was always in the house. You're giving me ideas....

Today's menu:

Break - small leftover fajita burrito, Coke Life
Lunch - another small leftover fajita
Dinner - butter chicken and rice w/naan bread
Snack - skinny whiskey sour (I think I've started a bad habit)

Love2b...it's probably the caraway seeds you find distasteful. You can buy unseeded rye bread...or pumpernickel. (Though, without the caraway seeds, why bother? :dizzy:)

p.s. I bought some! The talk of it here sparked a rare craving...there must be something missing in my diet. Caraway seeds have lutein, carotene, xeathanins, which my eyes need. Not sure if I will have the courage to have any, tho.

I love rye bread and pumpernickel but rarely buy it, only on holidays when I cook a ham. It makes a great ham sandwich.

Rennie, did you say it was sprouted grain rye bread? Where did you find it? I buy sprouted bread but I think it's whole wheat. Never saw rye.

I'm back in onederland. Wonder how long it will last this time.

Hope the babies are home safe and sound Jacqui.

Clearly I am doing something wrong. This past week, I averaged 1244 cals; 1103cals over the past 2 weeks. ..and I'm gaining...and struggling mightily to hold on to the 10lb loss. After looking over old spreadsheets, and my new MFP data, I've decided to increase fiber, even though carbs will go up too. Calorie cycling kind of works for me, but when I take the calories all the way up to 1200, I gain back, which doesn't seem normal. Moreover, I feel like something is missing from my diet because I've been pathologically exhausted this week and feel like a major RA flare is imminent.

Anyway, More Fiber...that's my mantra for the next few weeks. Supports the type of gut bacteria found in thin people, helps with pooping, lowers cholesterol (which I need to think about due to the RA meds I'm on)....Bran buds for breakfast, it is. (Man,it's really difficult to get in 25g of fiber per day!) I had this for breakfast, (along with rye bread occasionally :drool:) when I made it to Onederland, so I'm givin' it another go.

Anybody use MFP? ...feeling the need to compare notes...