Tera: I am also interested in keeping carbs lowish, didn't mean that I was not. Just meant that low carb is not my main focus. I just want to avoid the health problems that I have developed from the wheat and sugar laden goodies that I am drawn to so much. I think I'm not even that interested in gluten free so much as wheat free, but by definition that is cutting a lot of gluten because wheat is the chief source of that in my diet. It has made me interested in being gluten free. I have not had a blood test or anything like that because I am clearly NOT celiac or clinically gluten sensitive. I just like the wheat free way of life and what it does for me.

But yes, the low carb aspect of it is also beneficial. It is all a package for me and a wonderful way of life. My doctor does not disapprove.

It should be said that it is always recommended people don't start a gluten free diet without medical approval, of course.

That said, almond meal flour is purely ground almonds, or it should be. If anything else is added, I wouldn't recommend buying that.

It IS a bit expensive but it seems to go a long way. I have used it for years but for a while here it became unavailable.

If you are baking with regular wheat (or other) flour you can replace some of that with the almond meal flour or you can do as I do and use it for things like breading chicken and for treats like my cobbler.

I am sending you a pm with some more info.

Marie! Woot! I love the idea of being a chicky on the move lol, although I am more a chicky going around in circles some days.

I really envy you the ability to go skiing. I would LOVE to ski. I've tried it, though, and it doesn't work for me. Lol, I love ski lodges, though.

Huzzah, have a great weekend!

Calories yesterday 1750. Was a busy day with eating out & Sunday will be the same, but I made good choices. Dinner was baked salmon & Brussels sprouts. Really good!

Am2-Thank you for the link to the Wheat Belly site. I will check it out although I know I do not want to count anything else. Counting calories is enough and I am pretty good at guessing those off the top of my head. I am trying to decide if the wheat free diet has made a difference. I actually believe I am thinking more clearly now but that may be due to not having to be on a schedule and therefore I always get enough sleep. Or it might just be my imagination.

My magical weight loss streak has gone kaput. Too bad, that was awesome. Well hopefully I can maybe manage to lose another pound by next Tuesday. I am going out for dinner both tonight and tomorrow night so that could prove a bit challenging. I am pretty sure tonight is suppose to be fried fish at a bar. I guess I could just peel off the breading. I have already got my 60 minute step class at the Y so that part is done.

Tera, that isn't the Wheat Belly site, just a link to the 3FC thread. I don't think they are counting anything. The book doesn't seem to have anything to count. I only count calories & abstain from wheat.

Lol, I don't have a schedule either & it makes me think much less clearly. I need a schedule & a stable employment contract.

I am really happy with the no wheat way of life now but totally not advocating for it; it is just something I am enjoying & it has lifted some of the cloud from my life.

Probably me discussing wheat free does not belong much on these boards as it is only distantly related to weight loss for me.

I am assigning self to flit off to gym now. Woot!

OK, now that made me giggle!

Hi Ladies, I have not dropped off the edge, just keeping it together. Have had some interesting talks with DS, may be more going on at school ???

Birthday came and gone, I am now counting backwards, lol. Need to restart focus on both reg exercise and food intake. I figured out how to get back the exercise routine so starting today. I also pledge to write down everything that goes in my mouth, this will probably startle me into action.

Am2( plus Marie & Tera)- those are some awesome mile! Maybe you would like to join another 3fc thread called 1000 miles in 2013. My aim is for 2013 miles in 2013 but some have lesser goals than 1000 miles for the year as well.

I was very good at dinner out last night. However, I was terrible at the impromptu happy hour with my neighbor before dinner out so it was another high calorie day. Total cals-2125-and that is a guess so it was probably higher. I ended up having a margarita and about a third of a second plus chips and queso. I succombed to temptation this time because I do not usually give in. I have sat through so many of these get togethers with a diet coke and no chips and this time I just did it. Well, it did taste good.

Diana-Welcome back and belated happy birthday. Now is always a great time to start logging your food intake. I find it very helpful for managing my weight and finding opportunities to improve my diet.

Am2-Sorry, I meant thread. The one I looked at was under carb counters, so my reference was to counting carbs. I used to strongly disdain low carb diets because I could not grasp eating all that meat and cheese and skipping fruit. I still do not really buy into that but I am trying to eat more fresh vegetables with less emphasis on fruit. Right now I am eating a lot more dairy than in the past but I hope to tweak that in the future when I can figure out some new menus.

Diana, I will take a look at that thread, might be fun, although I am sort of oriented to percentiles as far as my steps go lol. I only notice the miles when they send me a badge. Thanks for the info about the thread.

Tera, yea, I see now, thanks for clarifying. I thought you meant another site. I am with you on not counting carbs. I need to re-read the book but it doesn't say anything about counting carbs. It seems to favor a low glycemic & low carb diet, which is the result anyhow when one reduces the use of sugar (wheat is sugar, kind of). I favor that but I have no desire to count carbs at all. I notice all the nutrients I am eating, plus once a week I measure inches and all of this is kept in my Fitday PC software or wherever I am logging at a given time lol but I don't count anything but calories.

As I've probably said on 3FC a zillion times, back in the day, when I lived in the midwest, I briefly reached more than 100 pounds above where I have been for a long time (two decades). I reduced that over a period of time with ups and downs and am at heart a little ol' lady wannabee bodybuilder at this time in life, very interested in managing my weight and physcal fitness as I age. So that is why I am such an experimenter and poster on all these programs but no, I do not disdain carb counting but don't feel the need to do it.

I am leery of carbs weight wise for a couple of reasons, though. One, as I've mentioned, is wheat and grains in general, which I used to love, now bother me physically and ditto sugar, which is my demon. Grains are essentially sugar, so I am still working out a lot of that stuff in my head.

Two, carbs mess with my love of a good number on the scale. Carbs hold something like three times the water as protein does (according to my ol' doc/friend).

Three, I like meat & cheese, even though I was an ovo lacto vegetarian for something like four decades of my life (have been eating meat in pretty limited amounts for wow, a number of years now, and don't plan on stopping). But I like carbs better, sigh. It's a struggle I don't need.

Four, first last and always, I believe that though food affects our health and weight in many individual ways, and though now we have various researchers and public health officials arguing about calories NOT being the key to weight, I THINK CALORIES IN/CALORIES OUT is the key. If they want to change the word to points or moonpies or whatever, the unit of energy referred to as a "calorie" is for me the best way to keep track of what I am eating and burning.

Counting carbs works, Atkins works, Wheat Belly works (I think), lots of things work, but for overall weight management I count calories.

The rest is good data to have but not essential.

Marie, yes, my dog did love it, lol, although it is likely to be the last she'll see of snow for a long time.

I just saw a picture of the town where I used to work covered with snow. It was so unique and pretty. We had nothing like that

Your home canned marinara sounds wonderful. I would have no idea how to can it, although I do make a rudimentary tomato sauce. I also love to make salsa and guacamole. That's about it.

So true about the calories and the laws of physics. Can't be denied in my opinion.

I had a fairly low cal day and may have a protein shake later, not sure yet.

Good night, all!

Total cals yesterday-2410, no exercise. Oh my, that was a total bust. I am going to have to be more vigilant when I go out to eat. I at least should have skipped the 370 calorie Long Horn sweet potato. I did say no to the bread and butter, fried onion appetizer, the girl scout cookies and the extra drink at my friend's house afterward so it could have been far worse. Oh socializing, how do people do it, have fun and stay thin? Just kidding. I know I simply need to plan and stick to the correct number of calories or accept the consequences.

Am2-Interesting thoughts on carbs and weight maintenance. I agree that in the end you have to pay attention to the calorie total. BTW, I checked out the different flours at Whole Foods but for the time being I think I will just skip the baked goods. I did buy some Buckwheat cereal to check out. I also bought grain free dog food. I mentioned that to my friends last night and they about fell off their chairs laughing. It does seem kind of silly but my poor dog is sooo old and achey, I thought maybe she could benefit from it.

Marie-Great idea to can your own marinara sauce. I tried canning many years ago when I lived in Seattle. Who could ignore all those wonderful berries. However, it was a short lived hobby and I finally gave all my implements away which is kind of a shame because those were good sturdy pots. Do you use commercial canned tomatoes to make your sauce?

Woot, Tera, you had some real successes in there with that meal, congrats for the things you skipped.

Girl Scout cookies are evil lol. I buy them and tell the kids to donate them to the food bank and military. If I ever so much as had a box of those things in my house, it'd all be over as far as the wheat free and the weight lol.

Good for you for skipping those.

I have thought about taking away my dog's beloved "cookies" (Milkbones) that do have wheat but she literally LOVES those things and I can't do it, even if I replace it with something else. I am kind of on the lookout for a replacement she might like better, though.

I DID LOSE .2 THIS WEEK! Hooray for me! I'm happy. This is a SLOW process getting through that 132 plateau number but I'll do it.

Marie, I forgot to say that I wouldn't be tracking the cumulative miles either without the Fitbit.

For years, I did streaks of consecutive exercise sessions and logged those but those were stated in minutes not miles. It came as quite a pleasant surprise to me that I walked 500 miles.

Have a good day, all!

Total cals-2230? Ex- hike at the park. Another calorie fail but I set myself up for that when I bought the peanut M&Ms on sale. I am a sucker for grocery marketers! Oh well, hopefully I got that out of my system and this week will be better. We had a gorgeous weather day here yesterday and my DH and I took advantage of it (with a lot of other people) and hiked the trail up Kennesaw Mountain. Nicely challenging for the pedestrian hiker with pretty views of the Atlanta skyline.

Am2-That was nice of you to buy the cookies for others. My daughter was a girl scout so I like to support them. My dog loves Milkbones also but then she loves to eat pretty much anything. The funniest treat one of my dogs absolutely went ga-ga over was CheezIts. I used to eat them all the time (with white wine no less) but of course I did not share them with the dog since that would be bad for him. However, one day I did, just for the heck of it, and that was that. My dog went crazy any time I got near a box of those crackers. When I learned he had cancer and only a week to live, I fed him as many as he wanted! He was a good dog.

Tera, your hike sounds great. I love to hike but can't climb like I used to. We are also fortunate where I live to have many great walking & hiking venues.

I am a sucker for grocery marketers too.

Thanks for sharing the sweet story about your good dog.

It is so hard to lose our beloved fur babies, but like all loss of loved ones, it is lovely when we have good memories .

I ate in the 1800s yesterday & didn't feel well, didn't make the 10,000 steps but will make my weekly 70,000. It is a busy week with many appointments.

Looking for a nice weight loss this week.

I always support the the Girl Scouts because of a little great niece but also I am pretty much a sucker for anything kids are selling to support their activities lol. I am a fan of Girl Scout cookies from way back, but in recent years have found they don't agree with me so I am glad to buy some for those who can lol.

Writing down food in my journal, gotta work on carbs late in the day and pm snacking.

Doing exercise in half hour blocks, most days getting an hour in . I walked outside yesterday with 3 dogs, it was so fun to watch them find good smells along the way. Today it is blowing like a banchee, so gonna pop in a walking dvd to get that 2nd half hour as soon as I finish posting.


Hope everyone is having a great day!