What a boost!!! You must feel on top of the world! Since the wedding is not for a few weeks, who knows what size you'll be then. Congratulations on seeing the success of all your work

Too funny...I had to Google self-immolation too!! I have to agree even though different life paths have brought us to this point. The past and our reactions to it are valid.

I challenge that you are "terrible" with commitment. You were married for 37 years and raised a family!!! The only thing you may have done is not put yourself first while caring for others. Now you're conquering that problem as well. All the best with quitting smoking!

I have to ask...What type of low carb candy bar did you eat on Thanksgiving? Did you make it or buy it?

mom22- i looked through that cookbook, while waiting for an appt one day. my opinion was that alot of the recipes did not seem practical - and alot of them were not recipes you can cook now. it may be better for a different phaze of the diet. but mostly the recipes i read i also seen on the recipe site here. have you went on dr trans site? he has a recipe section..
but again, alot of the ingredients used may be difficult to get in our little knick of the woods....i am starting to wonder how i will cook once i am closer to my goal. around that time my house will be hockey player free!! i keep billets for our local hockey team...i will no longer have to cook so many carb heavy meals. i will be cooking for my husband and self only, for the first time since i went on this diet... i am looking forward to that. it has been difficult at times planning 2 totally separate meals, several times a day, every day...and although i have done it , i am ready for it to end....christmas is a busy month, with lots of social dates. i am hoping to reach another mini goal by december 21 weigh in - and then go off the diet, in a practical sense, for christmas eve and christmas day. this time i am not going to worry about it the way i did before. i maintained my weight the one time i took a planned cheat, but i never really enjoyed those days because of guilt. none of that this time - going to enjoy my 2 days, my family and my holiday. and get right back on track boxing day. lucky enough i have a big trip coming up that provides great incentive!!

Torchlaker, thank you for sharng with all of us. You are a true inspiration to ALL of us! Hang in there girly-girl.

torchlaker: You also made me cry but not only with sorrow for the things that you have gone through but with happiness also at the strength you have found to go on!! You should be very proud of yourself!!!!!

I beg to differ in that I do not believe that you have taken baby steps, I say you have taken giant steps; baby steps in my mind, were thinking about doing those things for yourself and recognizing that things needed to change, but the giant steps have been in following though and sticking to it and being committed to yourself!!! You are an inspiration to me!!!!

Keep up the good work!!!

i am so glad I found this forum. It is such a support group. I love reading the posts and the positive feed backs that we give each other.

Keep up the good work everyone - girls & guys!

I'm close to going to Phase II. Just interested to see how really different it will be. It doesn't seem to be much, just not eating one of their packets. I sometimes divide my proteins between lunch adn supper anyway, so it probably won't seem much different

I have wondering what my options might be for Phase II and onward (and trying to keep costs down) and found that GNC sells a whey protein powder which seems to be comparable to the Myoflex and IP, in that 2 scoops provides 40 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of carb and 170 calories. It is called Whey ISO burst (whey protein isolate) As one ideal protein pudding has 100 calories and 20 grams of protein I am thinking that this can be used to replace it by making a shake out of it and adding some sugar-free pudding mix for flavour or maybe something else like one of the WF syrups? One scoop would provide the same amount of protein and similar calories and even has some additional enzymes (not sure if they are the same ones as are added to IP)

Anyone tried this before?

I moved some posts out of the "Phase" sticky thread into this daily chat thread. This way when folks are looking for specific info on "phases" they don't have to scroll through lots of chat to get the info they need.

Thanks.. Chickies

Leenie

Boy....you guys really make me THINK! Ottawa...I had thought of them as "babysteps" -- but ya know...you are right. These are GREAT big GIANT steps for me. Mirazon... I also never thought about the "commitment" part of raising a family (well, one son)...and a 37-year marriage! Most of the time, I find myself "not doing anything that would require commitment" -- (mostly exercise...lol!!)...so I just figured I couldn't do commitments. (the Giant Candy Bar was a Russell Stover candybar.....thing is, it was really old!! It didn't really taste that good...but I was feeling sorry for myself, I think (mmmm...that "sorry stuff" probably got me where I am today, too...)

Aaaah....SandraB...what is a billet??? Is that a Canadian term? (but I live so close to Canada....I even say "eh" a lot of times!!) You guys are throwing all these big words at me!! Here, I was thinking you were feeding your son's highschool hockey team friends....You are feeding grownup men?

Ottawa...I had to go pull out my whey powder that I bought at GNC to see if it was the same one. It's not....I think the one you found is much better. ONE rounded scoop of the one I got (called Gold Standard Whey) is 120 cal., 1g.fat, 4g carb and 24g protein. This tastes ok, I guess. Can't remember why I bought it! Did you see the pudding recipes that OgDog posted that use whey powder in them? I hate shakes!!

Mom22 - I THINK I remember my nurse saying that the cookbook was probably best for the last phase....is that Phase 4? I am a cookbook addict (trying to control that now that I don't have anyone to cook for anymore)...and I REALLY was going to get it...but as with most of my lowcarb cookbooks, right now - not much fits into Phase I or even Phase II. The way I understand Phase 2 is that you add another protein (eggs, meat...) instead of the protein pack for lunch. I rarely eat lunch...sometimes a pudding or a shake around 2pm...and a few slices of cucumber or something. I know what you mean about the site going down....I didn't copy down the recipe for the "40 garlic clove chicken" -- and then the site went down. I remember when I was on lowcarb before, I used to "copy and paste" recipes into a separate file on my computer.

I think I told you all that I bought some organic greek yogurt with 0% fat and 12g of protein. I really don't like yogurt either (well, YoPlait with all the fruit and everything)..but I made some deviled eggs, and used the yogurt instead of the mayo. It certainly tastes much better than the WF mayo (yuk). I am wondering if it could be added to a sugarfree pudding....or chicken salad...or tuna salad? Mmmmm...Ogdog? I will be glad when I get some dairy back....and my OJ (Phase 3, I heard).

SandraB - I think you are right. I am going to TRY not to have any guilt when I go off for the 3 weeks in December (guilt is my middle name...lol!!). We have to enjoy the people around us...remember the Reason for the Season...I intend to enjoy all my family (and Eddie's) and my friends when i go back.

Just exhausted today....got up early to work on Christmas presents (I am making 90% of them) before my fibromalygia support group meeting...and I am just dragging. Had to laugh...one of the gals hasn't seen me since August. First she asked if I was growing my hair longer (yes)...Is it a different color (yes)...am I losing weight (well, ...yes). It was funny cuz she couldn't quite pinpoint it.

Gonna go have a chicken salad with ALL that leftover chicken I have! ..(and be grateful I don't have to feed a hockey team!) Hang tough, everyone!!

Torchlaker.....you are amazing..

Everyone on this forum has so much to offer...I really do feel special to have found all of you. Thank you all for your advice and support!

I just want to say good luck to all of you trying to get through U.S. Thanks-Giving. It CAN BE DONE! I appreciate all your words of wisdom and advice. I haven't logged on for quite a while and I've misssed a lot. I have to admit that my weight loss has slowed down considerably and I'm having a lot of trouble with cravings for things like potatoes and bread etc. Any advice? I've been on the plan for almost 8 weeks and have lost about 27 lbs. but I'm finding it harder and harder to stick to.

I just want to clarify that where I live it is only 10:55 pm so I am not up in the middle of the night!

Vallygrl: I am having a harder time now sticking to plan. Nothing sounds good to eat anymore. I am so sick of salads...and find I don't even look forward to my pudding or my bar anymore! I also have started "small" cheats to see if I can have these things when I go off the diet for 3 weeks in December (like lowfat mozzarella cheese on my salad, or fatfree RediWhip on my puddings).

One thing I am thinking about doing....My doc said I didn't need to buy any Ketostix to check whether I was in ketosis, because if I followed the plan, I WOULD be in ketosis. But after reading your post....and realizing I am having a few more cravings....I was thinking that maybe I SHOULD buy them and use them. I kinda remember from Atkins that if you are in ketosis..the cravings diminish or disappear (anyone correct me here if I am wrong....!!). I am wondering if perhaps you and I are NOT in ketosis if we are craving other things. I don't know if this is "advice" -- but I am just thinking out loud here.

Had been running a fever the last few days....but I feel so much better today...hoping to sew and paint today...and pay bills! I also know that if I stay busy, I think about food a lot less. The last 2 days I kinda vegged out in front of the t.v. cuz I felt too yucky to do anything else...and I found myself digging thru old lowcarb candy!

Speaking of....I got my "Netrition" package with the items I thought I might substitute when I went off IP for 3 weeks. I certainly haven't tried everything....but have tried 2 things...and thought I would "report" on them.

I bought Atkins Endulge bars....only tried the peanut butter ones. Quite good. Not very filling. Last night, I tried a protein bar called "Oh Yeah! Protein Wafers" in Vanilla/peanut butter creme. They were quite good, altho certainly not as filling as IP's Vanilla bars. The calorie count and fat count is quite high...but here are the stats: Calories: 210; calories from fat: 117, Total fat 13g - (6g from saturated fats, 0 trans fat...wonder what the other fats are??); 8g carbs - (dietary fiber 2g..sugars 4g); protein: 14g. These come 2 wafers in a package (kinda like KitKats)...so one could only eat ONE and halve the above stats, I guess....I ate both). There might be a better bar out there...and if anyone finds it - let me know. Not happy about the fat grams or the sugar grams.

Procrastinating....

An added note (no, I don't work for Netrition....honest). On netrition.com, you can look up nutrition facts on items....PLUS you can read people's reviews on them...which I found very helpful. There might be other sites that do this....but I find netritions prices very reasonable. Flat shipping rate of $4.95....and (my favorite part) -- when the box comes..it is almost like "Christmas". It is always packed so beautifully. The DiVinci syrups come packed in styrafoam....they use those little "air bags" (so fun to "pop"!! - I need a life) to take up extra room. AND the boxes are always so nice that I can use them again! (No..HONEST...I do not work for Netrition).

My favorite sugarfree DiVinci syrups lately has been the "pumpkin pie" - I always crave pumpkin pie in the fall. I use about 2 tablespoons in the water for butterscotch pudding...and add a dash of pumpkin pie spice. I also love the toasted marshmallow. I also bought Torani syrups at SuperWalMart. They had the raspberry and caramel in the smaller bottles....both of these are good in the Vanilla puddings. I don't do shakes or drink flavored coffees (give me black regular coffee!!)..but I think they would be really good in both.

I also bought NOW Magnesium and Calcium supplements. Can't remember the price...but it was way lower than IP. Haven't opened them yet (but they still "sound" huge like IP's)....3 tablets are: 200IU of Vitamin D, 400mg of Calcium, and 800mg of magnessium and 15g of zinc. I found it comparable to IP's. So far, I haven't been able to find anything with the amount of Postassium as IP's -- OR a comparable Multi-Vitamin. If anyone has...let me know.

I am NOT trying to put IP out of business...honest. I was just looking for subtitutes while I am gone. I bought 2 hot cereals from Netrition also, but haven't tried them yet because I am really trying to lose the last 5# that doc had set my goal at (150) before I leave...didn't want to mess with a good thing.