I just had such a pretty salad for lunch. Spinach, radicchio, yellow peppers, shredded carrots, and broccoli. All the colors looked beauitiful together.

Had it with chick peas and rice, but I still feel hungry. WIll have some soy milk and an apple if the pangs don't subside in 15 minutes or so.

Still feel like crap...

Hello Ladies,

I came over too. Hope all of you are doing well today. I'm the EFS queen.

Man, I've missed alot today. I had to work. UGH! But, I did get exercise in. SO, that's good. I have to confess that I had to add caffeine back into my diet. I tried to quit cold turkey and I have been feeling like crap for 3 days. Not to mention that I have been a total witch. This morning, dh left and then came back a few mins later. He had a diet coke in his hand. He said, "here, drink this!" lol. Poor guy. Apparently I have put him and Joshua through "IT" the last 3 days. SO, I have cut down on caffeine, but I can't cut it out all together yet. I felt so much better after I drank that diet coke. It was like night and day.

Equinata~ HI! I wondered where you were? Glad you are back.

natamars~ Sorry you feel bad... hope you feel better soon. Your pretty salad sounds good. Isn't it funny how we eat with our eyes before we do with our mouths? lol.

sluggo44~ Don't know about the flax seed amount or the ff sour cream. I will see what I can find. But, you have probably already looked everywhere I am going to look. How's your headache?

misskitty~ How was lunch? Do you have a specific day for weigh in on the 4 day diet?

Taurie~ LOL.... I am a long way from where my driver's license says I am.

mleajanko~ Aruba... I'm so jealous. Looks like your psyllium question has been answered. I used to use that years ago.

Matilda08~ Congrats on the 2 lbs! I feel lighter. lol. I actually have "dents" on my sides. I was swollen up like I was 9 months PG! But, I can see a difference after just 3 days.

I am making veg. chili for supper. I still don't feel very hungry. I have just had a yogurt and a banana today. But, I did work 6 hours... no eating then. I'm sure I will make up for it at supper.

Have a great afternoon Smashers!
Sherry

thanks for the pizza recipe, it looks good. remember though, it's only egg whites for the detox of FS, i wonder how the recipe would be w/o the egg yolk? i'll include the pizza crust that saved me through FS detox. it's on the other page, but i found it on the FS thread:

Pizza Crust:
1 cup raw oats
1/2 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1 egg white
>1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, italian seasoning, garlic salt,
to taste

Blend ingredients in blender/food processor until smooth. You may
add a little water to loosen up ingredients. However, make sure to
keep mixture like a dough-like consistency.

Bake in oven at 400 degrees until edges lift off from pan and the
crust looks cracked. Then add the toppings and bake again. I also used it for crackers while in phase 1, instead of bread.

for lunch, it was hard to make a good choice. i ended with a lunch special. i really wanted the tofu, but it was deep fried. i had a spring roll (ok, i know, the oil!, but it smelled so good...), a plain salad, and string beans in a garlicky brown sauce. probably made of soy sauce w/oil, but it didn't seem too oily. and then they served it with white rice. it's a bummer this had to fall on day 4 of module 1, he wants the whole day to be fruits and veggies w/some rice.

just a note. in the 4 day diet, he reminds us to eat most of our food earlier in the day, rather than later. so if we are eating most of our food as dinner, then we should definitely exercise after dinner, at least go for a walk. the only good things about today's lunch were that at least the 'big meal' was lunch, and i walked to the restaurant and home again even though it was an exercise day off (about 30 minutes).

the family is having ravioli, bread and (meatless) meatballs tonight. it's going to be hard to eat the cabbage soup and a salad...

for the weigh in, i have to weigh myself every day. it's a bad idea, i know, but i need that instant gratification. if i can't have it in food, i'll take it from the scale!

i keep hearing large noises from outside. i think the snow is starting to fall off the roof. a boy was hurt today when ice fell off the roof and hit him. happily, not too bad.

later!
misskitty

I only use egg whites. I have never liked the yolk. I forgot what brand it is but it comes in a carton like egg beaters, it's 100% egg whites. I just wish I knew how much flax seed we are allowed. I have searched every fatsmash forum I belong to and no one knows the answer to that and if we can have fatfree sour cream. Hope everyone had a great and successful day. I really am craving a taco salad so maybe that will be dinner. Sure wish my hubby was doing this with me but I'm not one to nag and he knows he needs to lose weight he doesn't need me telling him. Only he can make that decision to do something about it. I've always told him I don't care if he weighed 500 pounds I would still love him the same but for health reasons I would like to see him take the weight off. I keep hoping my good eating habits (almost 2 days worth lol) will rub off on him.

i can't say i've seen mention of flax seed anywhere. i was just happy to see tofu on the list (although it's not in the 4 day diet lists). for the ff sour cream, i wonder if you substituted it for the ff plain yogurt, if that would be acceptable? or i used ff plain yogurt as sour cream - not great, but you get used to it.

i saw a tv show this morning that said that men can 'handle' that extra weight (up to a point) as they age, whereas women can't. so unfair! i showed my husband the BMI chart and just said " as we age, we're going to have watch our weight ". he just said 'uh huh'. but he's only on the just barely side of overweight from normal.

misskitty

i had hoped for a total of 15 pounds by today, 7 weeks since i started the FS with the 4 day tagged on to the end. i was hoping to do 2 pounds per week, but didn't.

i know that 11 pounds over 7 weeks is 'normal' and will be better in the long run for keeping it off, but

i have to go into the office today, so i'll be packing all the food i need!

talk to you guys later,
misskitty

Hello Ladies,

Misskitty 11lbs is great. You ladies are doing great so far and as the weather warms up I'm sure it will be easier. Shae thanks for noticing my missing in action.

misskitty, you know that 11 lbs in 7 weeks is awesome, especially since you don't have much to lose! congratulations!

i'm on day 6. it's been going fine, and i haven't cheated once. this w/e will be tough - my stepson turned 21 yesterday and is coming down for a visit. i asked what he wanted to eat amd he wants chinese buffet. ugh! i hope the place has some brown rice and veggies, or i will be starving! i made my own "chinese" rice(brown rice w/ scrambled egg whites, tofu, and lots of veggies) - i'm tempted to bring a container with me just in case. also, he asked if i would make a cheesecake. maybe i'll freeze a sliver to eat one of these days...

didn't exercise yesterday because i was feeling so awful - went home and rested. wanted oj so bad, but was too lazy to squeeeze any fresh so i stuck with tea. not sneezing today but my throat is still sore.

really starting to worry that i'm still not losing. i put some jeans on today that really don't feel too different. i will be so disappointed if after busting my a$$ for 9 days and not weighing in i don't lose anything. or maybe i'll only lose the 2 lbs. of water weight i put on in the 2 days b4 i started this.

ok, enough rambling - hope everyone has a great day.

I wish I could lose 11 pounds considering I'm only 4 9 1/2. When I lose just 2 pounds it shows but the bad side of that is when I gain 2 it also shows alot.UGG! I still have not ate any meat and still feeling really good about that. More and more I am thinking I was meant to be a vegetarian or maybe in another life I was a vegetarian I did go with no meat or even chicken for 10 years and once I got pregnant I so craved steak. My doctor said my cravings meant my body was needing the iron and protein. Well did I go hog wild (no pun intended) on the meat, I would pan fry steak at 7 in the mornig. Hum, I wonder why I gained 57 pounds during my pregnancy and Jacob was also 6 weeks early. Well I guess I need to go ahead and confess The sugar monster found me last night! I am so mad at myself due to I'm suppose to be giving up sugar for lent. Normally when I belong to a forum and cheat I just stop posting but I refuse to do that this time. I just feel a connection with you peeps. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I know I'm under extreme stress but even when the stress is "normal" I still have problems with sugar. At one point I thought something was chemically wrong with me and went to the doctor to have blood work done to make sure everything was ok and it was. I just wish I could have a "light bulb moment" and something would click as to why I keep doing this to myself. Anyway I'm glad I still have not ate any meat and continue with my exercise program but exercise has never been a problem, it's the eating I need to get a handle on. I hope everyone has a great day and wonderful weekend. Thanks for letting me go on and on with my soap box.

Hello Sluggo,

Go ahead and get it all out, it helps. I've learned to bake or make my own candy that way I could control the sugar intake. If it is not on the diet try to stay away, but if you can't you'll have sweets that you can control the content and it would be better for the family as well. I now bake with Almond flour and splenda or agave nectar. I have this now as my sugar substitutes so when I cheat it's not a huge huge setback for me. We have to find ways to live - lifestyle change... Find comfortable substitutes that you can deal with for a lifetime to guarantee you will not put the weight back on.

sluggo, good for you to come back after the sugar. we're all going to slip up sometimes. i agree this woe is teaching us something about what works for us. i had missed oatmeal and brown rice and beans when i was low-carbing, and they are good foods. keeping my portions under what is recommended so i should be ok.

if i continue to be stuck i am seriously thinking of getting a bmr test done. just feels like my body is burning nothing. just about everything i lost has been water after months of effort. not saying i didn't get frustrated and slip, but i've done measurements too - no real change and i feel very stuck. never had this much trouble. it sucks to get old!

Thanks guys for the encouraging words. Amen to it sucks getting old.

Hello natamars,

Don't get discouraged because you don't see a change yet. I for one would go weeks with nothing and then all of sudden it seem like the weight is melting off. Be consistent and it will show in time. I use to get down, but when it seemed like one day I woke up and looked different. LOL I've been on my journey for the last and final time since July of 2009 and I am proud of my 45lb loss and have not put a time frame on my next 28lbs as long as I reach it. The less you have to lose the harder your body will fight to keep it.

Equanita, thanks fo rthe kind words. Your weight loss is awesome!

I am trying really hard not to get discouraged. I'm rewarding myself every 5 lbs. and not expecting things to happen quickly. When I wanted to lose some weight for my wedding, I joined WW and the weight came off so fast - I averaged 2 lbs/week no problem. Now, 13 years later, I'm happy with .5/week. I just keep questioning whether I am doing something wrong. The last time I was at the doctor and talked to her about the weight gain(I had put on 8 lbs in 3 weeks and was SURE it was the pain med I was on), she asked if I was sneaking ice cream at night. I told her I was on 1500 calories/day - she said that was too much , I should be on 1200. I said either way, I should not be GAINING weight on 1500/day when I'm at the gym 5 days/week. She said most people lost weight on the med I was on - apparently I'm not most people. I'm off all meds now.

How are you liking EFS? Do you find it too strict? I didn't even know it existed when I started FS, but I would think of trying it - sounds like it tells you exactly what to eat?