Well, shoot, I have to have something to be excited about! Still struggling with water retention, very puffy, and "Snowmageddon" as the Washington Post has termed it is going on as I type. So today I'm happy about my new ticker, LOL.

Ooohhh its boootiful!

Thank you, Honey! I figured the snail is the best symbol for me because this weight is gonna come off very slowly!

Fantastic Lori! And slow is better!

Hope you are okay with this snow storm, we may be getting either a foot or more, or less.. they don't know yet. Good thing I am stocked up with all my Atkins food.. I have my snow shovel ready (exercise) and the bag of ice melt ready too.

Toby

I hope you will be okay, too! We have several flashlights handy with fresh batteries, several candles, and we have gas heat so even if the power goes out, I am hoping the heat might work.

I also stocked up on lots of Atkins food too, LOL. I won't need to go out for a week.

Stay safe everyone who is in the path of the storm! Don't drive unless you absolutely have to!

on the ticker! Isn't it fun? Now if mine will just moveeeeee! LOL! No snow here in the south.....pretty mild...a little cool and rainy. would love one snow day but not to be snowed in!

Oh, Leslie, you don't want this kind of snow, trust me! And we don't even have a snow blower! Plus there's going to be another storm later this week. I am just wondering if we'll have to dig out the poor cherry trees to see the blossoms in April, LOL. I suppose the snow will probably have melted by then. Maybe.

Personally I blame it on a good friend of ours. Everytime he schedules a get-together for a bunch of us who are all friends, a huge snowstorm happens. So we told him to stop trying to host a party and just let us host the get-together from now on,

Don't worry, that ticker will move! At least it didn't go backwards like mine did. My husband said he didn't know snails could go backwards.

Yay! When do we get a ticker, then? I want one.

February 21

Wow, Lori...you are doing GREAT! You're not losing slowly at all....you're moving right along here. That snail is booking!

Love the ticker...nice and bright. I wasn't totally sure if that WAS a snail and was gonna ask but then someone came along and corroborated that it IS a snail.....my aging eyes <<sigh>>

Woo boy...really snowing out there. Looks like winter wonderland. It's so darn pretty when it first snows....then becomes a huge pain-in-the-butt later.

deena

Thanks, guys!

Thanks, Deena, for saying I am making progress...when I regained 5 lbs. of water weight, it was hard not to feel discouraged, but I keep telling myself, it's just water that my body wants to have to be healthy, so it's okay. Every week, I'm burning a little bit more of the fat, and over the next six months or so, I will probably see a difference on the scales and in how my clothes fit. I'm not looking at this as a fast project anyhow - I figured it would take me at least a year to get to a healthy BMI and to become more fit with exercise. It might even take two years. But I will keep going, and I will eventually get there!

Stay safe in this snow - I hope you don't have to go out and drive anywhere! I wonder if a lot of things will be closed on Monday, too? I'm guessing they might be, might take more than one day to totally dig out.

It's pretty, but I'm hoping this will be the last major snowstorm of the season. We'll see. Generally by mid-March we are done with the snow I think.

Hi Lori,

I don't view this diet as a fast project either, it's one day at a time and there's no rush as long as I eat what I am supposed to eat and exercise. I have this vision in my mind of summer! Gardening, planting flowers, and who knows what I will weigh by summertime? I don't know. It will be a surprise!

Well, we didn't get any snow but I hear there's another snow storm coming Wednesday and this one is supposed to hit us! I better go through my frig and freezer to make sure I am prepared. How did you make out during the past snowstorm?

Toby

Hi, Toby! We're just fine here - we stayed home during the storm, and now the roads nearby us are plowed so we can get to grocery stores, drug stores, Target, etc. So we are just fine! I hope you will be okay during the storm. Just hang in there, Spring has to come!

I'm still retaining water like crazy - I literally don't think I've ever been this puffy before. I would estimate I've got an extra 8 pounds of water, because I used to get almost this puffy before my periods and I would gain and lose 7-8 pounds of water then. And I am more puffy than I used to get, now, so I've got somewhat more excess water than that.

But my blood pressure is remarkable, really lower than it's ever been since I started measuring it when I was 18.

Today it was 113/81. The lower number (diastolic) is higher than I'd like it to be - it would be better below 80 - but I am retaining water quite badly so it's to be expected that that number would be a bit higher.

I literally have never had blood pressure of only 113 in my whole adult life, that I am aware of, and I always got my blood pressure measured at least a couple times a month (and often checked it when I was in a grocery store or drugstore, etc.) My blood pressure has never been below 120 before, and in recent decades, it's been more between 135-150, even with blood pressure meds. Amazing.

Anyway, this diet is very very good for me! Not sure when the scale will move down again, or if it will ever move down again, LOL, and not sure how much more water my body will retain, so...just taking it a day at a time and trying to just shrug my shoulders and not worry too much about the extra 8-10 pounds of water I'm sloshing around with. Eventually my body will calm down and figure out it's not dehydrated anymore and will let go of at least some of that excess water.

Stay safe everyone, and hope you are having good days with the Atkins WOE!