In other words, AVOID FRANKENFOODS!

Lovely morning here and I'm off to till and plant the new wildflower bed in the tiny park on the other side of the Village. It will be up to God to water that one so cross your fingers for me. I have the 13 village planters to fill and a gazebo "erection" to arrange. No smirks, girls!

My new washer is to come tomorrow and the laundry is piling up in the meantime. I may never be able to find my way back!

Will pop in later.

How is everyone?

Ruth, i am constantly amazed at how much laundry a family of two can create!
Enjoy your planting-

I am home today, waiting for the "driveway guy" to come resurface our driveway. it has taken two months to get someone to do it, I guess it's their busy season. So I finished up planting some pots on the patio, and put a wash in the dryer. I will make a quick grocery run for fruit for DH and meat for me. Then I am free! I may work on a mosaic tabletop I have been wanting to get to. It is a small old fashioned wooden "tea cart" that had been in DH's DG'mother's house many years ago, and I thought I could re-purpose it as a patio cart, for beverages and such. That will be a fun project.

food is ok, not great. I am up 1 lb, but have been too heavy on the cashews, and taco salad 2 nights in a row for dinner. So, more water and some exercise today would be good. I froze the taco meat for another time, it makes too much anyway. Tonight I'll have something plain, maybe a chop or small steak. I have a head of broccoli I need to use.

I guess that's it. I will make my grocery run now, and then have to stay close to home for the driveway work. So I'll be back later, probably!

have a good one,
dottie

Good Morning Gang!

I just wanted to say HI to all my low carb friends!



hugs,
cathy

from me too. Off to have lunch with DH! a nice invite. Ahecktic day with karate, guitar lesson and spring concert at school tonight. It will be nice to have a little time carved out for DH and I....
Cathy good to see ya!
-L

Hi,
I have lost about 10 lbs on the low carb diet. Most of that within 10 days. How much weight should I lose a week. I don't count only the net carbs,I count all of them.
I have been having trouble getting back on the diet again, I will do alright for a day maybe but I am always craving carbs, I know if I could get by with 2or 3 days with just 20 carbs aday but I know that I want to lose so I at least have to do this another week and then I can add more carbs. Anyone that can help me. Please let me know. Will power is what I need. I know I can do it I did it once already, its just hard after you eat too many carbs to get back with it.

Any tips will help
thank stirfried

may5th
195
may15th
185
goal 140

Welcome, Stirfried. We've all been through what you're going through. You have a terrific loss the first couple of weeks so you start adding in carbs. Suddenly, you can't get enough of them and there goes all your hard work. I think the only answer is to keep your carb intake on the low side for longer than two weeks. You don't have that much weight to lose, really, so it wouldn't hurt you to continue on Induction levels for a month or more. When you do start adding in carbs, avoid adding in fruit or starches or (heaven forbid) those Frankenfoods like low carb chocolates.
There are others here who have been more successful than I who can advise you on what to add instead of those foods that trigger carb cravings.

friday, friday, friday...ahhh. what a relief.

Stayed home yesterday and the d*mn driveway guy never showed. I called the office and they said, he can do you Monday. I said no he can't he doesn't have the job/ I was so pissed, they never called to cancel, just didn't show up. This is after 2 months of rescheduling because of rain, etc. I will call my second estimate today and schedule with him. What a pain.

But i got the last of my seedlings in pots, repotted a plant for DH's office, went to the library, and they sat in the yard and read. It was a beautiful day- just perfect.

PLUS: i ate perfectly, and the scale rewarded me this morning with the loss of my re-gained pound and one more. It's easier to eat at home, and I hope the weekend will help out.

have a great Friday all,
dottie

hi to Stirfried- I do basicly Atkins, but as Linda says, I do best keeping my carbs as low as possible. Plus keep portions small. I have cravings if I eat too many carbs, and find I do best avoiding fruit and grains and sugar all together for now. I could have them later, in maintenence. if you feel you are hungry, just eat MORE! It's the beauty of LC>

Hello and Happy Friday to all my chickie friends....... I guess I've been kind of MIA these past few days. Work has been hectic with long days and training (ANOTHER) new tech - now I remember why I never became a teacher! She's a very nice girl, but it is hard to be "on" all the time. Yesterday was my NYC day (a double shift, so it was an extra long day) - she came to my house at 7AM, and we got back hom at about 8:30 PM.... that's too darn long! It also totally wrecked my eating! No, I can't blame that on her, only on my owndarnself! I feel like such a now! ugh ugh ugh

Dottie, sorry about your driveway troubles....... we had ours done last year.. scheduled for the end of March, it finally got done in July (after rain, reschedules, etc etc etc) and bottom line - they messed up the apron, came to "patch" it and made it worse: when I complained to the company, they told me it was fine, that they had come the first time only to humor me and they would do nothing more. This is one of the larger companies on LI and I am so angry at them, each time I see one of their signs at someone's home I want to go and tell them to NOT use these people! My driveway looks awful! We waited 6 years to do it and now the bottom of it is just not right!

Ruth, would you send Harry here to do some laundry? I really want to get a new washer and dryer

to everyone........ I'll check back later....... gotta go make some coffee! Have a great Friday..

stirfried: I know the induction period is awful. I tried it at least 10 times. I could never do it. I felt so sick and craved more variety. I decided to do something different this time. I decided to do low carb without the induction period. I started low carbing, limiting my carbs to 20 - 50 a day. I research online and find wonderful recipes. I am making my own low carb book with eat-out info, recipes, carb counter...anything to help me stay on target. I drink 4, 25 oz. bottles of water a day. Sometimes I trade a water for a diet green tea. I replace condiments that I use to need with the low carb versions simply because I don't want to give up what I love. I have been pleased with all the low carb versions except the yogurt. The yogurt was some kind of nasty. If I am going out to eat I take my 0 carb salad dressing with me. I don't leave home without it. I usually end up sharing it with everyone at the table. It's that good. Yesterday I was craving Italian...real Italian. I almost gave in and ate pasta. I remembered that some time ago I bougth some frozen Celetano eggplant roll-ups so I decided to check the carb count. It only had 20 carbs. I had only had 10 carbs so far so I went for it. It satisfied my craving. It was really good. For dessert I always have fat free/sugar free jello with whipped cream on it. Sometime I switch for a low carb fuge bar but I usually crave a fruity taste so I opt for the jello. I've only been doing this for 10 days. My first week was blessed with a 7.5 pound weight loss. I don't have any time limit on my diet. I didn't set a time limit on gaining it and keeping it so why rush into losing it. My main objective is to find a plan that I can live on. That means finding some kind of low carb food to satisfy every craving. That means to never have to say I am through with this low carb diet so I can start adding carbs again. When I get at my ideal weight I plan on adding enough carbs to keep me from losing more weight but I don't ever want to get addicted to carbs again. Since I started watching crabs I haven't had on episode of "the shakes" . I was having them every day and they would stay there until I ate something loaded with carbs and sugar. I have more energy. I have started walking the mile a day again and hopefully by the end of summer I will be up to 2 miles a day. I have a bum knee so I have to take it slow. I'm not saying this is easy. I would love to be one of those people that can eat everything they want and not gain weight. Unfortunately, I gain weight when I smell something fattening and yummy. I spend a LOT of time browsing and reading and finding recipes to satisfy my cravings. I never count net carbs. I always count total carbs. A site that I love is called netrition. I can't post urls yet but you can put that in google and find the site. It has products like protein powder and stuff that aren't as expensive as other places. If you are having problems with induction please don't just give up. Opt for other solutions. I know how much we all want to lose weight. It has haunted me for so many years. I am so tired of being a quitter. I am so ready to be a winner. I am a substitute teacher and we just got out for the summer. I want to lose as much weight as I can over the summer and go back to school with a new shape, a new hairstyle and a new attitude. We are all so lucky to have computers and forums such as this to help us get through the hard times. I'm not a pro even though I have read just about every diet book and tried every diet out there. Weight Watchers is good, but I find it too trying to count portion sizes. I would rather know what I can and can't have and eat until I'm satisfied of what I can have. I never over-indulge because I really don't eat a lot...even before I dieted. I was just born with too many fat genes. My kids are the same way but they watch what they eat simply because of my struggle throughout my life. I'm sorry if I rambled. I just want others like myself to know that there's people going through the same thing they are going through and the help is out there. Feel free to private message me any time. I really do a lot of research and I have banked tons of sites to help me with this thing. While I am here I want to thank each and every one of you that has taken the time to share your trials and tribulations with us. I don't think you are aware of how much you have helped so many people. God bless everyone of you. Good luck to all of you that strive for healthier lifestyle. Time for my daily protein shake. I also have a site with tons of low carb protein shakes, coffee drinks, milk shakes, etc...it may be in the links here. I haven't checked.

Have a great weekend.

Gail

Quick fly-by this evening as I've got oodles to do. Hi to all the newbies and oldbies!

I'm starting to do a slow simmer toward a fullout freak-out since I'm trying to whip the house into shape for the stbx-inlaw visits starting on Wednesday for Melissa's graduation. Someone please tell me that it doesn't really matter WHAT they think about my housekeeping practices.....please???

Thinking good thoughts about you guys - soooo glad I have my little LC family here.

Kel

Kel, I used to clean, clean, clean before I had guests just like you. By time they got here I was too exhausted to enjoy them. When they left everything would be in worse shape than it was before I got started. My poor sons would have to help me get ready for the company...they worked hard as well. It got to where I dreaded seeing anyone because I knew how much work would be involved. Finally, I said ENOUGH!! My house is always fairly clean...it's comfy. I had a meeting with my sons over the holidays one year and they thought it was going to be the dreaded "we have a lot to do" speech. Instead, I said...just make sure your bathrooms are clean and things are picked up and there's not an inch of dust on the furniture. As far as everything else goes...Happy Holidays..I'm tired!! They thought I had lost my mind, but we enjoyed that year and the years after that more than any of the times before. I'm 51 years old, the boys are on their own except for my twelve year old and now the company I have to get ready for is them...my sons and their families and or friends. We joke about the cleaning issue when they are all here. There's so much to worry about all the time. I am tired of staying so stressed out. By adding the cleaning detail it just added more stress. Who in this world needs more stress? If your guests have a complaint about your housekeeping just tell them that your maid was on vacation. Enjoy Melissa's graduation. This is a special time for her.

Now, go put your feet up, have a cup of coffee and pretend that you don't see that dust on the back of the bottom shelf of the entertainment center.

Good luck and tell Melissa congratulations!!

Gail

Thank you, Gail - your story is very helpful to me. It's a complicated issue having to do with old emotional baggage from stbx about me not being good enough at anything. BUT I vow to get my head in the right place - AND I won't hesitate to show someone the door (or I will remove myself) if I feel they are trying to push the old buttons.

Thanks for posting.

Kel