Hey, all! I'm very new here, so I thought I'd introduce myself specifically to the low-carb community because this is where I'll be spending the bulk of my time.

So I've never been drastically overweight, but between 8th and 12th grade I managed to drop a good 35 pounds from 180 to 145. Now I'm headed for that final 15... in other words, I wanna make my "Freshman 15" something to celebrate!

I lost most of my weight gradually, but a large portion of it was between 8th and 9th grade when my mom and I went on the Curves 6-week Challenge. It is a low-carb diet, and I remember it being very effective and easy.

For the past few months I've been following a fairly low-carb regime (30 - 40 a day) but then every few days a sugar attack will sneak up on me.

I do usually work out 5 - 7 times a week even during school (love getting my CNN fix on the elliptical during election season!) but lately have had a bad persistent cough and am waiting to get better to continue my work outs.

ANYWAY, today I started my Countdown to the Holidays Plan, in which I plan on staying on a 20/day routine until Thanksgiving (that's my planned "metabolic boost" day) and then going back on the plan until I come home for Christmas.

I had:
Brunch, 10 am: two sausage links
1/2 grapefruit, 11 carbs
2 tbsp peanut butter, 4 carbs
Coffee
Total: 15 carbs

Snack, 2 pm:
2 oz dry-roasted peanuts, 6 carbs

Dinner, 7 pm:
Two hamburger patties
Lettuce
Italian dressing
Tea

Total: 21 carbs. Not bad. Let's see if I can stay with it... Wish me luck, and hope to meet all you lovely ladies!

- Madelin

Welcome MadelinRose , You seem to know what you are doing so Way to GO
and best wishes with your school and the weight loss

So, an update...

I am on day three today and after yesterday, when I was feeling pretty lethargic, today I feel great! I had to basically force myself to eat lunch, because I wasn't even hungry. I don't know if it's 'ketosis' per se yet... but I'd like to think I'm close!

The greatest part is that I have no cravings for any sweets whatsoever. Bring on the proteins and salad!

I just came upon a discovery that Italian dressing has more carbs than I thought... it is around 3 for a 2 tbsp serving, and I'm pretty sure I get more than that... we serve ourselves dressing with a ladle here at my college, and I tend to nearly drown my lettuce... it's a bad habit. I think I will have to stick with Caesar from now on!

Also, I think I need to watch my morning peanut butter serving a little more carefully... again, those darned 2 tbsp can really sneak up on you, turning four carbs into possibly six or seven. But I just loooooove my peanut butter.

It's been a bummer not being able to work out with this persistent deep cough, and I feel like I could not be losing as much weight as possible if I were able to burn some extra calories like usual... but I'd rather get better first. Hey, doesn't your body use calories to fight a cold anyway?

That's all from here. Hope you all are having a wonderful Tuesday!

One piece of "college" advice... avoid Ramen noodles! Those things nearly killed me...

Haha, I have successfully avoided Ramen for over two months now! I'm pretty proud... I just make sure to keep my room stocked with South Beach bars and peanuts. Of course the bars are 20g each, but I have one in the morning when I can't get to breakfast, and then I eat Caesars with meat the rest of the day.