Thanks gals - not nice that some of you experience it as well, but comforting to know it's not uncommon when LC'g.

Mindy - I think you're on to something. It's after I've eaten egg or tuna dishes with mayo and the night I posted, it was after eating a chicken/spinach dish that had cream & different cheese's. This stuff didn't bother me before, but my tummy has aged a little since then .

Also, I'm with Lacey, the chocolate is more than likely the culprit. Malitol (or any of those -ol- endings I believe) can cause the same spike in blood sugars as regular sugar. Many diabetics who've tested got the same blood sugar readings after eating something with one of the sugar alcohols as they did when they had regular sugar. It's also been known to cause stalls and tummy troubles (gas, bloating, diarrhea).

Robin - I'm with you. It's working and I'm not changing it!!

Brenda - don't you DARE leave us. If you want to put off LC'g till Monday or heck, even the New Year, that's totally understandable. This is a very difficult time of the year to LC. No matter what you do, we are here for you! Besides, I need you to teach me about things like white tail's & muzzleloaders .

Hi Kel...nice to meet ya!

Hope everyone is having a GREAT day! TTFN!

Thanks for the support everyone. I'm not sure why I'm having the problems I'm having. I KNOW that I feel better when eating LC. I KNOW I can lose weight eating LC. So WHY am I NOT following the LC program ALL the time?? I feel SO tired, SO blah. And just don't feel like I have the energy to even try and make the 2 meals (one for me and DH for LC and one for the girls). 'Tis the season I'm thinking. I'm going to try and stay OP during the week (which I normally don't have a problem with) and then just try not to pig out constantly on the weekends. That's the plan until the New Year. THEN there's no excuse. This 10 (by then it'll be more, of course) pounds WILL be coming off. AND I want it off by April (SIL's wedding). So after Christmas I have a goal Thanks again for the support in having me here. It meant more than you all know!!

Brenda, why are you making 2 different meals? I just make the meat and veggies Id have (as well as everyone else) and add a starch to dh's dinner. So Im not really doing anything different, except not eating the potatoes or rice etc. I might add a bit more cheese or something frilly to my meat or veggies, but thats about it. Mind you I have a hec of a time NOT eating mac&cheese when I make it for dd.

Anyway, sounds like you've a good plan layed out for yourself until the new year

Brenda,
It IS a pain in the butt to have to do everything different than everyone else, to always have to ask at resteraunts if they have ANYTHING without sauce on it, etc, etc. But like you've told us many times, YOU ARE WORTH IT. You're worth the extra time it takes to decide what to eat, worth the time out of the day to exercise, worth waiting on in the store while you try on smaller pairs of jeans

You're an awesome person, while you're spending time and money on everyone else this holiday please don't forget yourself

Lacey

I had such a whirlwind few days, I feel like I've been gone for months! I hope y'all are doin' OK.

My best friends parents were taking she and her hubby away for the weekend to Opryland in Nashville, complete with hotel, shows... the whole works. Her DH got called out of town for work at the last minute, and since there were no changes or refunds on the tickets that late, I got an amazing weekend with my best friend of 25 years and her parents! Opryland Hotel and Resort is eyepopping, and certainly not a place I could ever afford to stay - WOW, nice to see how the other half lives. The hotel is under glass, sort of like a football stadium with clear domes. There are many, many different gardens, fountains, waterfalls, etc. and the decorations are stunning. People go there just to walk around and look at the displays, and I actually got to stay there - WOW again! Friday we went to a Pam Tillis dinner show, Saturday we went on a lunch cruise on a paddle wheel boat, and then to see the Rockettes - what a show!! Today we went to see a display called "Ice". It's hard to explain, but picture a huge warehouse that's kept at 15 degrees, and inside it everything is made of ice. There are bridges, walk through tunnels, a castle (complete with ice slides, and YES I slid down LOL). The most amazing thing were the sculptures. O my... can't even begin to describe how beautiful things were. There was a sleigh, all kinds of animals, angels, and at the end, a Nativity Scene that was so beautiful it made me cry. I will try hard to get pictures up for y'all to see, you won't believe it!

So that was the good part, the bad part was food. O man. So much stuff I couldn't have - it was very, very upsetting and seriously makes me question if this WOE is for me. I have no problem eating at home. I can make all kinds of good, hearty, healty and satisfying food, but trying to travel\vacation and eat right is damn near impossible. Breakfast? There was one (yep, one) thing on the menu I could eat, an omelet w/bacon. No juice, casseroles, toast, potatoes, fruit, grits, biscuits & gravy, etc., and it was downhill from there Neither the dinner show or cruise offered any menu choice - chicken rolled around stuffing w/gravy, broccoli casserole, carrots, stuffed pork tenderloin, cauliflower w/cheese sauce, asparagus w/balsamic vinegarette & gorgonzola cheese, dessert bar, hot cocoa (only milk for coffee, no powdered stuff or 1/2 & 1/2) OY! THey have pastry chefs there, and I almost drooled on the Napoleons and sather torte. There was excellent food, and I ended up leaving the table hungry. I kept thinking that if I'd been on a WOE like Weight Watchers I'd have been able to eat some of those things, and wouldn't have felt so consistantly deprived. I'm just not sure what to do now. This WOE makes me feel energetic, supresses my appetite so I'm always satisfied, and it's working on the weight, but it's sooooo difficult, and the frustration over food issues really took some of the fun out of my weekend.

*sigh*

I'm back now, and didn't cheat, even when Debbie's Mom (sweet and wonderful lady that she is) bought me a Sugar Free Godiva chocolate bar from the Godiva store in the hotel. She said she was proud of how hard I was working and wanted me to be able to have a treat to. Wanna guess how many carbs in that selection??? I took one small bite, thanked her profusely, then quietly threw it away later *WEEEEEEP*

I thought about cheating, switching to something else, etc. I just don't want to give up without some thought. I have a lifelong relationship w/food that's been filled with mindless eating and no serious thought, this time, I'm going to make a conscious decision that isn't based on a cheat leading to a land slide of bad eating and guilt.

Thanks if you read all that, I'll let cha know what I decide.

Stacy

I love this quote!

Tenn, Your trip sounds fantastic. We'd love to go there sometime, but that sounds like a place I'd only get to walk through. You did fantastic by staying OP, and now you don't have to deal with that. Congrats.

Stacy,
WOW, how awesome that you got to spend such a fantastic time with your friend!! And what a sweetheart her mom was, how many carbs ARE in a godiva sugar free bar?? DH and I got his family some Godiva for Christmas and I got ONE piece for my girls to give them when I got home, it was very hard for me to even be in the store. Everyone totally has to do what is right for them, and I hope that you find the right way of life that you are comfortable with. How long have you been on atkins?? It IS a difficult way of living when eating out. When dh insists that we go to a chinese resteraunt I just get water because there is NOTHING that is even halfway low carb there. Take your time deciding, but never ever ever leave us LOL

I made 2 chocolate cream pies and my dd made homemade banana bread with whipped topping and I didn't even taste a bit of it Ate some walnuts but don't think they'll kill me

Have a GREAT week girls, drink drink drink!!

Hey Tenn, I'm in Northern Cal. about an hour from Oregon. I haven't been to San Deigo since I was a little kid.

San Diego (Carlsbad) is my favorite place on the earth. I really NEED to live at the beach, I think, or at least visit there regularly to keep my sanity. Something about the sound of the waves hitting the beach is so very comforting to me.

Tenn- We are here for you if you need us. LC is not for everyone - some people can eat carbs in a restricted form (WW, etc.) and be fine but others can't control themselves as the carb intake triggers them in a BIG way. This way of eating does take some getting used to, learning the ropes, but it is rather easy when you've been doing it for a while. Ordering when dining out can be tricky but many restaurants are carrying more LC friendly dishes on the menu. For breakfast I usually can get sides of breakfast meats (just don't overdo it) and some cottage cheese. Chicken caesar salad is usually safe for lunch most places (hold the crutons) and dinner is fairly safe with a meat, veggie and salad choice. I do agree, tho, Chinese is a problem! lol

We will respect any choice you make as it is a personal one.

Kel

Stacy, Congratulations for staying on plan, I don't know if I would have been as good. It must have been very hard.

I've tried some of the other diets ( repeatedly) and I always end way off plan. Although there are times I can't get what I want I find I am much more successful when I don't even have the first bite.One thing I do to try to stay on plan is have something special at home I can only eat if I'm on plan. One of my favorites is a three ingredient induction friendly 2 carb lemon cheesecake. All day I think about that treat, which I like better than most candy bars, french fries etc...But if I eat off plan I know that cheesecake will go right to my hips so if I cheat I can't have it.

Brenda, I was looking at the progress pics last night, you look fabulous, before you give up go look at yourself! Those pics got me up and moving last night, I hope to have half you success

Well I stuck to all your advice yesterday, lots of water no lc chocolate, and I'm back down. I think the lc chocolate will be put in a drawer only to see the light of day in emergancies ( at least I'll know the consequences before I eat it next time).

Just a quick check in so you all dont think I've dropped out. Just been sooooo busy. Mindy, good on you for losing. I think LC choc may have been my culprit too. I am at 265 now, 1 week after starting Atkins, but it showed I gained 6 pounds one day!
Anyways, I will write more later...

Just busy!
Katie

Katie - when you have a chance, come join us in the new thread (Dec. 5 - 11). TTFN