Linsy - I think I love you, lol. Thank you for breaking down the reality of Olive Garden breadsticks. They have always been a STRONG craving of mind and somehow, I dont have such a strong desire to want to ever eat them again. haha

On a separate note, Im really afraid the chinese food run I had at lunch, which I thought was GENIUS, was REALLY, REALLY bad. I was trying to look up the carb count for some of the things and this is where Im at:

Beef and broccoli and Chicken and broccoli: 10g
Egg foo Young:3g (I may have to have this again, like a lot, lol)
Spare ribs...now, this is where Im stuck. I grabbed about 5 skewers to munch on all day (finished them since my 11 am lunch, lol). They were dry, and had no sauce, but the "red" color made me question what fillers were in them. When I looked it up, it said 30, but that was with a "sauce". Grrr...I guess I just have to consider this a learning experience. I try not to eat out much for fear of hidden carbs but this time I screwed up.

It doesn't sound like you did too bad. Keep your head up! You're welcome about the OG tip, once you see them made they don't seem nearly as good. I used to have to be the breadstick girl in the kitchen occasionally and at the end of the night I'd be practically covered in liquid butter and I smelled like a burnt oven. The shirt I used to wear was practically brown (originally white) and I had to throw it away because I could never get the smell out haha.

Hi luckylindy! Everyone is welcome I like to check throughout the day too. Mock cinnamon toast crunch is pork rinds, cinnamon&splenda, and cream mixed w/water (genaw.com has the recipe).

I hope that everyone is doing well!

Sandyfanny-I still have issues with the smell of the flax muffin and a slightly funny taste but I am working through it (I put some lemon extract in and omitted the cinnamon this morning).

Linsy-I am amazed at your previous weight loss success. What rung did you eventually work up to while still losing weight?
Thanks for the low down on Olive gardens options and the yucky breadstick info lol.. bread is my downfall usually.

Oh my gosh Tiff! I am SO going to make that for breakfast tomorrow, I have been needing some sort of alternative to eggs and that sounds perfect! Yum!

So, whats the dinner plans tonight? Me...Chicken Cobb Salad, extra egg, hold the tomatoes and bleu cheese dressing. Ill catch up tomorrow, until then...good luck for the rest of the evening. :-)

Tiff, thank you so much! I was on Induction the entire time, though I did eventually add small amounts of almonds and I would occasionally have Greek Yogurt and carb smart ice cream as a treat.

Okie dokie! I am proud of myself today.
Breakfast:3 fried eggs, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 roma tomato
Snack: spicy pork rinds
Lunch: 3 meatballs w/spinach &tomato sauce
Dinner: egg salad wrapped in lettuce, and avocado/cucumber/green bell pepper/sugar snap pea salad w/ranch

My favourite chinese food meal is egg drop soup. The restaurant I buy it from puts a few mushrooms and some green vegetables in it and I think it is 2 carbs for the whole bowl. It is very yummy and quite filling.

Tiff...I dont know WHY I forgot about egg salad but you just gave me an idea for lunch! Yum! I used to eat egg salad like it was going out of style, lol.

That sounds like a really good food day. What phase of Atkins are you on right now? Ill be wrapping up induction on Sunday but I was thinking about extending it one week because I hopped on the scale today (I shouldnt have, but my jeans were tight and I wanted to make sure I hadnt GAINED weight)...and well, I didnt lose anymore this week. :-( Ill weight myself again tomorrow which is my official weigh in day but Im sure there is not going to be a magic number, lol. Its ok, Im still 10 pounds lighter than I was last month and I heard that you dont start losing inches and your clothes feeling looser until the 3rd and 4th weeks because thats when your body starts to feed off the fat. *shrugs sholders* I guess.

Have youhad any set-backs recently? I feel like I want sweets A LOT, Ive been doing my mock cheesecake...creamcheese and splenda; along with your cinnamon toast crunch (not bad, but I cant have a lot of it)...and I wonder if these alternatives for my sweet cravings are impacting my weight loss? Hmmmm.

Canadian - thanks so much for the suggestion! I could totally do egg drop soup. I really need some eating out alternatives. Im not really the cook in the family, and my other half is working with me on the atkins diet but only in moderation, so it really is "fend for yourself" most days. :-?

Egg drop soup is also a really good quick meal for at home too. I learned to make it myself and I add some lowcarb vegetables to it...like sliced mushrooms, celery, baby bok choy and sometimes a handful of baby spinach. I live with a 22 year old carb addict (my youngest son) so I often fend for myself otherwise I might end up eating his crap and I would rather not do that.

I am doing induction. I did the 2 weeks of induction back in July but I kept nibbling on non-induction foods so I decided to revamp it and go full on induction for 2 weeks. Honestly I had a slip up this weekend and ate a piece of french bread which made me feel terrible! No more of that!! I do have set-backs and struggles... mostly because I cook for my family and touching/preparing their foods sets off cravings. I am going to move on to OWL Rung 1 next week. The one thing that has helped me is eating small amount of different veggies instead of eating a large amount of 1 or 2 veggies.

Have you been keeping a close eye on your carbs? I was starting to have a carb creep- where I was eating close to 25-30 carbs per day unintentionally. I limit my artificial sweetener now (before, I was eating up to 5 packets of splenda per day-not good) the most sweetener I will have per day is 3 packets or less. You may be stalling from eating cheese and cream cheese (these have been known to cause stalls), or sugar alcohols/atkins bars and shakes. You may want to make sure you're spacing out your veggies thru the day and maybe try a few days sweetener free (that helped me).

This morning I made myself a One Minute Flax Muffin (chocolate flavored! I'll post that recipe later, it had a good bit of Torani syrup and a few sugar free chocolate chips) because I have been wanting to have something chocolate (TOM, gah) while keeping it as close to legal as possible. I have found that if I am on plan and doing well, I will allow myself the occasional treat (artificial sweetener style) and that does not impact my losses BUT as soon as it becomes a regular thing (say daily instead of every few days) then I stall out. I have also read that some people lose faster on OWL Rung 1 or 2 than they do on Induction - it really depends on your body. Maybe you're bloated or close to TOM?


You're right about losing inches in weeks 3 & 4, that is when my measurements plummeted and my clothes started to feel looser. I guess the main reason I did an extended induction is because my creeping in nibbles (berries, nuts, etc. I am not ready for Rung 2 for sure!)here and there caused some major cravings. How often are you eating the mock cheese cake and cinnamon toast crunch?

ETA: Maybe you could make yourself a crock pot meal to last you for the week, or do a protein and have salads with it for the week. I have to do this for myself since some days I make meals that I cannot eat since the boys need a treat a couple times/week. I also eat at different times than them for the most part.

Today I had the chocolate One Minute Flax Muffin for breakfast
Lunch was egg salad on spicy pork rinds and my leftover veggies dipped in ranch
Dinner will be crockpot salsa chicken with veggies on the side

Tiff, thanks for all the suggestions, they are definately good ones! I think I may have to limit splenda to one day a week because last week I didnt do any splenda and this week, I have one packet every day, but thats it. I only drink water and almost 2 gallons a day so Im not sure.

Tonight we are having sausages for dinner, with some deviled eggs, yummo! I may have to pick up an avocado too, Ive been craving it.

Any plans for the weekend?

Sounds like a good dinner! The avocado is good for getting you some potassium. I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow, kid free Saturday night so I will probably rent a couple of movies. Nothing too interesting haha! How about you?

The scale is finally moving!!! 244