Betsy ~ Thanks for telling me about the breads, I will keep an eye out for them.

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Woke up at 2 a.m. when Scott came to bed, Its now 5 mins til 3:00. I was gonna get up at 4 a.m. anyway so its okay. Right now I'm currently watching HOT Bench while posting on here and one other forum and reading my newsfeed on Facebook. I STILL need to clean the bathroom, I've been putting it off for a few days now so today I really need to clean it and I will. I also need to do my noon chair exercises and my night chair exercises. Mom,Scott and I and maybe my brother Nathan are going to Walmart this morning before Church and then after church we're gonna go to Dillions and then we're gonna come back home and clean the house and that is it for today.

Good Morning!
Fi my salad advice is to stop trying to make it appealing and to just make it mindless. Sometimes I sit with a bag of lettuce and mindlessly eat it while watching TV. Maybe do it while watching the kitties play? Would you like some bok choy or napa cabbage chopped really small in a chicken broth as a soup?
Terra wow that is a big breakfast. I love subs but am staying away from carbs because eating the bread just makes me hungry an hour later. How many calories are in that breakfast? Did you get anything fun when shopping?
Betsy I think my shirt looking big got to me because of my weight regain. I'm trying not to focus on it but it is hard getting it back off. You are 100% right if you make chex mix I will kick your butt big time! Did you make it????? Thanks to you and your earlier post about not making it I am not making it this year. How is the camera?

Last night we had hubby's work party. I ate dessert first. The meal was very salty and I like salt but this was overkill. The rest was all meat with thick gravy, carbs and a small bowl of creamy coleslaw. I also slacked and drank some regular soda. Not feeling so hot today. I don't know what is worse a party with no healthy choices or one with healthy choices and yummy temptations?
Today is another challenge. Thinking of duct taping my mouth shut but there isn't enough tape out there.
Have a peaceful day!

Good morning all. I need to go measure my fence to have a wider gate installed before the storms start rolling in, so this will be a short one (for me).

Terra -- The bread that I've had the most success with is Sara Lee 45 Calorie bread. It has ...... ta da.... 45 calories per slice and 9 gram of carbs. It's usually carried in the regular bread section of bigger grocery stores. Hope you get all your chores done today.

Ubee -- NO CHEX MIX! I'm feeling quite smug which usually lasts about 3 hours until I eat something I shouldn't because in my mind I've been good and deserve a reward. How's that for convoluted thinking! I bought 3 shirts in a 2X over a year ago because I was so close to getting back to my low weight and thought that they might begin to fit by then. Well, they're still sitting on the blanket box at the end of the bed as a "reminder" that I need to get back on track. Maybe I should hang them on the pantry door! So I'm still wearing my older clothes and wondering why I keep sabotaging my weight loss efforts. The camera was actually pretty easy to figure out once I decided that I wouldn't be using any of the 20 different options and would be going with auto everything. They need a section called "Read This If You're Too Dumb to Figure Out the Camera" and it would only need to be about 5 pages with pictures. Sounds like the party was a challenge to put it mildly. However, eating dessert first -- that's either terrible or else illustrates that you're a free spirit. Go with the free spirit approach since your body is rebelling against those types of foods (or maybe your conscience) so you've been punished enough.

Today is picture hanging day. After about 15 years of buying prints, taking pictures, and inheriting several of my sister's paintings, I've decided that it's time to actually hang them on my blank walls where I saved spaces for them. Only been in this house for almost 9 years so I figure I've probably procrastinated enough.

On the diet front, the whoosh was a small one, but still 2 pounds off yesterday. Love my whooshes. The genaw.com site that I referred to for Fi not only has Atkins (low carb) recipes, but has menus of what she ate during the day during Induction. I'm going to look at some of them to try to get some ideas for livening up the menu options.

Hope everyone has a good remainder of the weekend.

Ubee ~ I'm not sure how many calories were in my breakfast yesterday. Nope I didnt get anything fun when I went shopping, Just what I needed.

Betsy ~ I will look for it next time I go to Walmart or Dillions, Those are the two stores we go too. Weekly. Yes I got all of my chores done today.

Good morning all and Happy Monday from China.

Down another 2.6lbs this week and finished week 3 of my atkins induction. Moving on to week four today and continuing in induction cause I'm feeling great and doing good. My goal this week is to add in exercise because I've been slacking in it for months now. I'm going to start with the goal of 3 workouts this week. Will keep you posted as to how it goes. BF surprised me last night and told me he won't be leaving to head on his overseas trip until after the New Year so we will be together for Christmas and the New Year. I was so happy to hear that. Now I want to go out and find a tree and do a few small gifts. He has to travel to Ghana and the UK in January prior to returning to China before we head to the USA for February. I can't express how excited I am that time is going by...I almost wish it was going a little faster. 54 days to the USA and 69 to our cruise!!! Hope everyone has a great start to a new week.

Betsy, Ubee-TMI- I experimented this week with my veggies and it felt good but I definitely had more aggressive bathroom trips with it afterwards so might slow it down a bit this week because I don't have that kind of time at work when I'm teaching to be running to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Ah well, still on plan and only 4.5lbs away from my Christmas goal now. Come on ladies we can do this!!!

Terra - What are chair exercises if you don't mind me asking. On IP we are not suppose to work out really but I have seen some people who do yoga which I just cant do and am curious about your chair routine .... It doesn't sound extremely intense as if I were in the gym on the treadmill, elliptical or lifting weights.

TOgden3 ~ I just looked on youtube and found a video I liked, Here's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xC9khisFPA Let me know what you think.

Good Morning!
I am really struggling with sugar cravings and emotional eating. I have given into both of them this weekend and this morning. Hoping to stop the train wreck with this post.
Terra those exercises look intense! You may be sitting in a chair but that is one heck of a workout. Good for you!
shan good job on the 2.6 down! What a special gift to be able to spend Christmas with your hunny. Your countdown must give you extra incentive to stay on plan. Sounds like veggies keep you moving!
Betsy so happy to hear you did not give into the chex mix. Why do we sabotage our weight loss efforts? I wish our insurance covered therapy because I could sure use some. I am going to take your "I am a free spirit and run with it" thanks. Why do you need a wider gate? Also, did you get all your pictures/art hung?
Tami sorry but another question...why are you not supposed to work out in the beginning of IP?

I am determined not to be in a foul mood. I think I am struggling with my boundaries and I feel like everyone is pulling at me. I am using that as an excuse to overeat. Today I ate the last of my daughters candy before I came on here. The urge was so strong. I am a sugar addict.
Grateful for all of you.
Have a peaceful day.

Good morning everyone! It has been a long time since I've been on here. Last week was a VERY high stress week for me. First off, my hubby was out of town working Monday-Thursday (I hate being away from him) and second, we had a boatload more paperwork and crazy stuff to do in our home buying journey. I do believe they have the last of what they need. We are praying that we are able to close by the end of this week. I'd be happy to move in this weekend too but sellers asked for a couple days after closing to move.. We'll see. God is well able to make it happen as fast as He wants. I also had 3 kiddos all last week and the oldest (just a couple months over 2) was SO naughty. She pushed every button I have and some I didn't even know I had.. There were a lot of timeouts for her.. I wanted a timeout for myself too but that didn't happen til the end of the day. This week, I am going to focus on getting as much packed as possible. I figure, if we want to close and even move in by this weekend, I need to prepare for it.. otherwise, I didn't really want it in the first place.

Ubee, since you ate the last of the candy, don't buy anymore.. I'm glad you share what you share on here.. It truly does help to be honest myself with what's going on. I've often wondered if I could trick myself into believing that I will get terribly sick if I eat a certain food.. like, pretend I'll be horribly sick if I eat fast food.. or pizza.. or nutty bars (yum..).. I don't know if I could trick myself like that.. but the thought is fun. I saw a pin on Pinterest that said something like this: You're not hungry; you're bored. Go drink some water. I know that's usually the issue for me.

Betsy, way to go on staying away from the chex mix (I think that's what you said it was).. I love that stuff.. but have never made it so I don't have to worry about eating too much of it. I don't like to buy it because store bought never tastes as good as homemade. Your post about feeling good about yourself then eating something bad later as a reward made me laugh because it reminded me of one of my pins on pinterest.. It says, "You're not a dog. Don't reward yourself with food." I'm such a Pinterest addict!! Which is fun with us getting a house.. now we can make all kinds of neat changes to it from ideas on Pinterest.

Yesterday we had a potluck at church.. I was a little worried about overeating but I think I actually ate less there than I do at home.. Nothing really appealed to me, plus, I ate some delicious homemade green chili that was so hot (spicy) I think it burned all the calories I ingested earlier.. I am almost finished with my smoothie this morning. I've been pretty good.. I'm down 2 lbs from last week. I need to change my ticker. Hope all you wonderful people have a great day!

Good morning all. The sun is shining, the mountain is out, and Toby has finished off his kong treat for the morning. Now to my friends/therapy group!

Terra -- Sounds like you needed the extra sleep -- I do think our bodies try to get what they need. Glad you got your chores done. I looked at the chair exercise video. Thought it would be great for so many of us on here and loved it except for the annoying drum beat "music" in the background. Thanks for sharing it with us..

Shan -- You're definitely in the zone! Congrats on getting another 2.6 pounds off this week. I did chuckle with he veggie experimentation as sometimes we become much more "regular" than we want to be! If you can, a lot of times your body will adjust to the various veggies, and they won't have such an impact. So excited for you with your anticipation of your upcoming trips and having your BF home for the holidays.

Tami -- Is there a reason why exercise is not recommended on IP? I don't exercise for weight loss or even weight control because I don't go at it hard enough, but mainly to keep my arthritic joints moving. It would be interesting to know the reasoning behind no exercising.

Ubee -- I think we should try to find a therapist that would let us come in together because we have the same problems with eating. Since we were both raised in the Midwest, the causes of the problems are probably in the same ballpark. How's that for convoluted logic. Why do we sabotage our diets? Because food brings us comfort. It's our best friend in many ways. We get a rush from the endorphin release. It's a habit. Lots of reasons. I'm ignoring the "because we don't have enough self control" reason because right now I'm in the mindset of looking for other causes. The wider gate is because in some moment of delusion, I didn't think ahead and realize that living on a 13% grade means that while getting things downhill is pretty easy, the coming back up hill is the pits. So, I'm having a gate put in the fence that can open wide enough to drive a pickup down there. Since Toby and Becky have already ruined the grass, it's not like the lawn will be destroyed. The pictures all got framed yesterday. As usual with my projects, I may have underestimated the effort of the project. I had to unbox everything, carry all the cardboard out to the car to go to the recyling bin, separate the trash, and then get everything framed which involved removing and replacing all those little picture spikes. I'll hang them today. Hopefully. Of course everyone is pulling at you -- you're the mother and it's the busiest time of year. It's also traditionally a time of year where everyone allows themselves the cookies, fudge, chex mix, candy, etc. that is forbidden the rest of the year. Except we not only can't have it, but have decided this is a good time to try to lose 10 pounds. Hang in there.

Off to the gym, hit the recycling place, and then home to hang the pictures. I'm having leftovers for dinner tonight, but have made myself start eating breakfast. I really want to spend more time studying the genaw.com site and reading the menus. One of the problems that I always have with menus is that they serve something once, but the recipe makes 4 servings. That means I'm going to be eating it for 4 days (or, more likely, eat too much and makeit into 2 servings). She seems to take into account that some meals may be repeated over the course of a few days. Anyway, thought I might try to look at her menus and see if I can't replicate some of them.

Have a great day. It's been very quiet on here lately -- hope everyone is doing ok.

Ubee— Thanks for the advice about making the salad be mindless eating. That's often how I eat the sliced turkey I have for lunch. I don't watch TV—not since "Breaking Bad" ended, the "Game of Thrones" season ended, and Formula One finished for the year. And I don't have time for movies these days. But I often eat my sliced turkey while driving, reading, or doing stuff on the Net. I could put my salad into that same category, and stop thinking, as I have been, that I had to pay full attention while eating it. My full-attention activities these days are (1) spending time with the kittens, and (2) making art. I'm so obsessed with both of those, I've been resenting the time that salads take to eat. By the way, did you ever get Brooke Castillo's book? It has so many good ideas in it, I recommend it to all of y'all. Here's a link to its Amazon page so whoever's reading this can check it out.

Betsy— Thanks for the suggestions about my salad problem, but recipes are not my thing. I've already figured out my favorite ingredients for salads, so I think I'll start making salads with those, and eat them mindlessly with my hands (no dressing is fine w/ me) while doing other things, the way Ubee suggested.

I'm deeply involved in a big project right now: making my first collage on one of the fiberboard (aka masonite) backings that Bob made for me. It's 11" x 17"—instead of my usual 6" x 9" or 8 1/2" x 11"—so there's a whole lot more to do in terms of cutting out the pieces, planning the composition, creating layers, and so on. I've given myself three days to make it, and today is Day Two. Work, work, work! But of course it's fun work. =smile= I'll give y'all a hint about it: the title is "fur-people day at the water gallery." (I know that makes no sense without the picture.) Fur is challenging to cut out!

HEY LADIES ... I DID IT ... I FINALLY AM IN THE 420s ... Have seen these guys in almost 2 years!!!

To answer Betsy and Ubee from my understanding exercise is not reccommended I believe in the beginning of Phase 1 because of the very low carbs being taken in and they allow your body to adjust to the diet. I also believe there is something about exercising without carbs will cause your body to search for energy which could result in the loss of muscle and stalling of weight loss. I spoke with my doctor today and she said I can walk on a treadmill but I need to be able to carry a full conversation without being out of breath or I can do something like yoga.

Ubee & Betsy ~ Thanks for commenting on the work out video I found on youtube, Once I get the hang of it I'm gonna mute it and listen to my music while following along cause I find the back ground music annoying too.