I was smiling the whole time I read this. I am sort of like the princess and the pea. Super sensitive. Some things are not as good as you remember. But, some are quite yummy. Keep trying and experimenting. Perhaps next time you will just want to try one or two new things. That will also help you to know what you are sensitive to. Your body is pretty clean now. It's used to eating simple clean foods. The concept of the free day never made sense to me because it seemed like it would be taking your body through a roller coaster every week. But, it is design to keep people from feeling too deprived.

Some use it for booze. That day they may drink a whole bottle of wine. It's out of their system. They are good to go for the next week. I wonder if finding one item you think you might really enjoy for your free day might not be a bad idea.

Ah, I may have typed too soon. So, we'll see next week. Weight might be getting back to the normal range.

I am looking into some alternate sources of protein. I need to wean myself off bars and things and I seem to have some issues with some of the things in them. Maybe soy, or whey or some sweeteners. I am looking at pea proteins now. Wish they came in a bar but I am finding some with all kinds of good stuff in there. I stopped taking my supplements long ago so I need to get some of that back into my system.

Finding products with labels I can read is tricky.

But, I am thankful for this diet. Old me used to take my pea protein and mix it with a banana and rice milk. Never lost weight. Seemed to put it on. I thought I was being healthy but I was seriously carb loading so this time around I am really studying the labels. That was over 400 calories just on a morning smoothie alone and I was hungry after 2 hours.

It kills me to see people mixing milk and fruit into their protein. They wonder why they don't lose....so much extra sugar!

2 eggs keep me going for a long time.

Rough weekend ladies....started with subs on Friday night and kept going until lunchtime today. Going for 10 phase 2ish type days in a row....hopefully I undo the Memorial Day weekend damage.

If only someone made convenient low carb food!

I can relate! My return to phase 1 was delayed until today but sun, booze and burgers! Life is good!

I have a fancy dress dinner on Saturday, so that should keep me honest this week!

You're right, I took it slow for 7 days and enjoyed my day...laughed about it, only because I knew how to fix it. I already have plans for next Saturday which only involve some pasta and cheese together. I'm ok with no booze actually, I'm not a booze hound, never missed it. I'm allergic to red wine actually because of the sulfates and never really liked white, nor do I like beer. So if I'm not planning on being at a party I can plan my meals on just that, meals.

thanks for responding to me!

It's part of the common wisdom. I have been actively looking at labels for bars and I had no idea that so many of them were so carb heavy and worse, just a hair away from a candy bar. You can grab a snickers for a fraction of the cost and it has nuts in it.

All the supplements, powders etc. that I have taken always recommended taking it with a glass of juice or milk or one of these alternative milks (soy, rice, almond, oat, hemp, etc.) I never knew to look at a label for carbs or different names for sugar anything like that.

We are trained or conventional wisdom teaches us that if it is natural, it is good. This can become tricky. I used to choose orange juice instead of coffee sometimes because I thought it was a healthier pick me up in the morning. Maybe it was but it was nice dose of sugar in addition to whatever I was eating.

This is also tricky to me, the label reading, trying to follow new rules and guidelines, staring at restaurant menus for what feels like hours to make the best choices. Salad have more calories and fat than burgers.

And everyone has their own philosophy about foods. Don't eat that. Don't eat that. Don't eat this with this. Don't use this kid of pan. Cook food. Don't cook food. Don't drink your nutrition. It just goes on and on.

And then we find out that each one of us is different and a rule that works well for one person is awful for another.

Thank you for this post!!! It perfectly describes the inside of my head and how easy it is to drive oneself crazy being 'mindful'. It's totally worth it but there does need to be a happier medium. Especially with restaurant food... You are so right that many salads will be heavier than an entree. They fly under the guise of being healthy because they are primarily lettuce but dump a ton of oily dressing, nuts, cheese, bacon and nitrite filled deli meats. Get the dressing on the side, take off all the toppings and enjoy your $8 bowl of lettuce. Ahhh well better than 8 pounds heavier and enjoying the whole salad. This has on fact turned me off of restaurants- it almost stresses me out too much trying to order something that they haven't snuck a billion calories into.

Purple Sky; studying those labels can drive you crazy. What about nf greek yogurt..it is high protein..but has carbs. Do you like nuts? It is too bad you cannot eat soy as endame beans are low carb and good roasted. I just eat 100 calorie packets of nuts..
Cap: Those restaurant salads are bad..I do the same .dressing on the side and often no cheese.
Ishbel: I found that sticking to a few foods or one good meal does it for me on the free day..Good luck on your next one.

Still moving..boxes and more boxes. at least I am burning calories.

Now I was wrong..I cannot get the carb book until Aug.

Ugh. I am in the same boat. I had a great weekend but ate / drank to the point where I am disgusted with myself. phase 1 until mid June for me. I feel like I am starting to be too lax with my food choices and need to reign it back in. AND I HAVE A WI TOMORROW! YIKES!!!

The salads often have more calories, but sometimes, ie Caesar salad, it can be good as there are no carbs. But watch the sugar! Restaurants seem to add it to everything... Why??

I continuously choose fat and calories over carbs with no apparent gain.

+1

I constantly chose fat and calories over carbs and stay in my range. I might be up a little because of sodium but I am not full and bloated the way grains make me.

LOL! At $8 bowl of iceberg.
I am finding some alternatives that may work for me but I will have to order them and test them out. I think going simple and sticking to it might have to be the key otherwise yes crazy sets in and that's not fun. I have spent I don't know how long in store aisles reading and comparing labels. I do the same online. It's exhausting.

Sometimes I wish I could just find big labels that read:
Has this, this and this
Does not have this or this or that.

Stores are getting better with gluten free labels but I have been surprised at the amt. of sweetener in items.

But, this is good. All of this is good. I am so much further along in my quest for health than I have ever been. Never in my life would I have eaten 3-4 cups of veggies in one day. Never. 6 months without sugar (or every little). Would have never happened. 6 months without bread. Would have never happened.

Keep moving boxes. Sometimes I try to do laundry or pick up the house as inefficiently as possible. I might take a few garments at a time to the washer. Sometimes I intentionally go up or down the stairs with a few items instead of full arms. It takes more time but I call it a mini-workout. I have been shocked at how many steps I can get on my pedometer gizmo by inefficiently and crazily doing chores. Unfortunately, I don't do it daily.

I do yogurt in the morning. I like the creamy sweetness of it with fruit. Comforting. Easy. Enjoyable. Protein.
I am going to try edamame. Something tells me I can have that. I think I have a soy sensitivity to some soy but not all. I can't fully tell yet. Enjoying the Simply Bar which has soy. A little itchy at first but now I am fine. Cannot do soy milk at all.

I love Caesar. Thanx. I will try that. I also don't watch fat content as much as I do sugar. I accidentally ordered flavored ice tea which I get a lot. Some are flavored and some are flavored and sweetened. One sip and I felt headachy. They stick sugar in everything. Trying to figure out which items do not have sugar is akin to ordering an $8 bowl of iceberg because it is pretty much sugar free. An item may not have sugar but it could have agave or honey or something.

The simply bars do have agave or brown rice syrup. I have decided a little regular sugar (ie 4 g of carbs) is acceptable, especially given I work out so much.
I try to avoid it in anything else prepared.

Thank you to all for your well wishes- they are much appreciated.
I went horribly astray for about a week eating everything I could think I had wanted and missed out on for the past year. Sort of have one of those extremist personalities that's all in or all out . It wasn't pretty but it did make me realize that it was definitely not the way I want to live again. My body just feels so much better when eating healthy whole foods (duh!). Not proud of how I handled the stress and pressure I felt to eat. Very proud of the fact I am eating healthfully again and that I pulled out of the spin. Guess there is something to this whole thing of do it until it becomes habitual because I so missed my routine of eating well it drew me back in. It has finally dawned on me that there are so many benefits to eating well beyond a good figure. My skin is better, my mood is better and my digestive system is MUCH better.
Mom2cs- you're right of course! Atkins style does tend to work better... Have the hardest time wrapping my brain around it sometimes though because calorie counting always wheedles it's way in...
Maile- where are you going on your trip?
SaraBean- sometimes even just following strict Phase 3 is enough to reset eating habits - it's the structure of 3 meals & 1 snack- that I always found to really help.
Ishbel- I didn't exercise at all on Phase 1 or 2 or even 3. Phase 4 since my carbs had increased I started exercising 2-3 x/ week for a half hour. Then read that most successful maintainers exercise at least 250 minutes/ week. So went about making that my weekly goal. I usually do cardio 3-4x/ week for 1 hour and strength training 2x/ week for an hour. Best thing though is to start out slow and easy (walking, DVD, learn to run) that only requires 30 min. Because it's easy to find 30 minutes and so it is an easier commitment to make. Once you're doing 30 minutes 3 or more x per week on a regular basis then think about increasing time and then intensity. When I first hit maintenance woolberger suggested that we do a chAllenge to keep us on track and exercise always figured into our challenges, along with a max of 1 free day, the rest would change but those always stayed the same. I found this very helpful in developing habits...
Pxlkitty- loved hearing about your piano lessons- such happy story!
Jennydoodle- I'm back usin CSP and still really enjoying it. Just feel good...