Last night, my son got up at 3 am with a cough. It didn't sound too bad, more of a scratchy tickly thing, but he has had croup enough times that he gets scared and upset about coughing. So he came into my bed for a while, and I had to get up and re-fill his humidifier and get him some water, etc. He did get better after that and fell back asleep, and eventually so did I.

But that hour+ of being awake in the middle of the night is NOT good. And it's TOM and I'm feeling munchy already.

This is the downside of doing a low carb plan - with just counting calories, I am sure I could work something extra in. But with low carb, I'm afraid that it will set me up for cravings and make me go through that initial induction phase again. Do.Not.Want.

Mostly, I just want to go home and sleep, and that is definitely not an option.

I hear you! I have a teething baby, who woke up every 15 minutes (no joke) from 12:15 to about 2. Ugh.

Exercise usually helps me keep the munchies away, and gives me more energy too. The problem is convincing myself to do it!

Lack of sleep is one of my worst triggers. Not only are you hungrier, but it's harder to exercise rationality / willpower and foods that bring comfort just seem so much more tempting. I'm still struggling with this. Do your best to try to ignore the hunger (chemical levels in your brain are off, you don't actually need more food) and just stick to what you've planned or what your normal routine is for the day. Hopefully you can get some better rest tonight!

I feel for you. Staying up with a sick child is exhausting!

As to the low-carb, I know that the plan (any plan, really) works best for me when I have grab-and-go or snacky thing on hand that are also on plan. I would think that's easier in some ways than low-cal. Low-cal has a hard ceiling limit. Most low-carb plans, on the other hand, allow you to eat more if you are hungry.

I keep on hand low-carb snacks like nuts (though I can go overboard with them if I'm not careful), cheeses, creamed herring, cottage cheese, hard-cooked eggs, etc. Sometimes, especially at night, a cup of tea with a dollop of cream is all I need to sooth the midnight munchies and get back to sleep.

thanks guys.

I was thinking about taking a walk, it's not that cold, but it's looking like it's going to rain.

synger - my plan is low fat as well as low carb, so a lot of the traditional low carb snacks are out. I had been packing on plan snacks with my lunch, but I stopped doing that because I wasn't eating them. I do have a single serve greek yogurt in the fridge, so that will hopefully be enough.

If I absolutely have to, I guess I can buy some nuts from the vending machine, I think that would be the best of the available options. Off plan, but at least some protein to offset the extra fat. But I'm hoping it's getting late enough in the day that I'll make it through.

April, I feel you. Last week was my first TOM on program and I totally threw myself out of a good low-carb place. SAD FACE. Even the bars on my program have 20 grams of carbs!!! EEEEEeeeeep!!

Hugs

thanks lunar and mozzy

I really needed to see this today. I'm very good at telling other people that a lapse doesn't mean you failed, but I sometimes don't do a good job of telling myself that. Yes, compliance seems to count a bit more on low carb but an off plan day doesn't mean that 15 lbs will come rushing back on in one day. I have to remember that this is for the long haul, and one day doesn't mean I can't handle the long haul - and there are likely to be many times where a day doesn't go as planned so I have to learn to roll with it.

I'm actually doing ok with food today, after all - still tired, but got past the point of thinking I needed to eat extra for energy. (and thanks for point that out Desiderata - it was really more mental than physical!)

But I'm still really looking foward to going home in half an hour!

Arg. I don't get off until 8 PM tonight- and I am DRAGGGGGING. I hope your son feels better tonight!