Hi Everyone! I hope you don't mind if I jump in with a little background and then a question. I went very low carb the last three weeks of Lent and began dropping weight after a week or so and very rapidly at that point. The first two weeks I just had diarrhea. I was worried about constipation, but it didn't come until the third week. Easter chocolate, followed by two family birthdays had me eating more carbs for these last few weeks. I haven't gained any weight and now I'm back to low carbing it. I'm still in diarrhea mode, but I'm about ready to shift back to constipation mode. So, my question is,

What do you do about the constipation?

Jacqui, you very well might not have TOM ever again. Did you go through the phase of very irregular periods for a while? That's how it was for me. Sometimes every 3 weeks, then a month or so without, then back again for a month of so. I don't remember how long that lasted. I remember doing a few pregnancy tests during that time, scaring me to death. LOL

Treasa, I'm sure someone will answer you on the constipation. I never have that problem, but I am not VLC.

Carol Sue, yes, I did go through that, and I am so hoping I'm all done with it now!

Treasa, I suffer from constipation quite often but then, I also have rheumatoid arthritis and that seems to contribute to it. I take a probiotic each day that I get at GNC and that helps. Plus, I eat a lot of Greek yogurt daily and that helps too. I feel for you! I know it's not fun!

Happy birthday Jacqui! Today is bro's birthday as well. (Miracle Mark is 50.) I absolutely think that the Coke Zero is the root of all evil. Everything diet wise turned around when I kicked the habit.

The scales haven't budged in over a week, even though Aunt Flo was gone yesgpterday and I exercised four days straight. I feel puffy, and I'm hoping it's water retention due to my muscle healing after the workouts they've been getting.

Break - beef fajita
Lunch - beef fajita, black beans
Dinner - pizza burger sliders, sweet potato oven fries
Snack - cran water

PrairieQueen, thank you, and Happy Birthday to your brother as well! I knew I liked him, lol! He has my brother's name, my birthday, and he's a true fighter! 50 is a big one! I'm so glad he made it! I hope he has many more! Your body may well indeed be holding water to help repair your muscles. Hang in there!

Happy Belated Birthday to Jacqui and Mark. Mark has a lot to celebrate after what he went through the past year!

Today is an anniversary for DH and I. It is the anniversary of the day we met, 39 years ago. Actually, we originally met in high school, when I was 14 and he was 17. We both went and lived our lives until we ran into each other in 1977 and started dating.

PQ, I have been drinking diet cola since it first came out back in the 60s. I never thought of it as contributing to my weight. There was period of time when I drank it to make my stomach feel full so I wouldn't eat. At one point in time, a few years ago I gave up all caffeine, so I was off coffee and diet soda for a while. I didn't see any difference so I am back to both of them, but not as much soda as I used to drink. That's not really intentional. I quit ordering it when we eat out because they fill the glass up with ice and you only get a few sips, and they charge you over $2 for it. I switched to water when I eat out. I also drink more water at home than soda, but still have a few sodas a week. At the time I gave up the caffeine, I was trying to see if it was contributing to my psoriasis. I was off it about a year, but there was no change.

Sometimes when we go out to eat, I will take a can of diet coke with me and drink it in the car on the way. DH said "Why are you drinking that? If I drank that before my meal I wouldn't be able to eat my meal." I was thinking "Hello! I really need to eat less! LOL"

it is protein and fat one must have to survive (and I mean be alive, live, walk, move)
there is protein and fat in junk food. all that processed just has fat and little protein from milk products or whatever going into them or what products you are consuming.

meat is not needeed to survive. you can get protein from beans absolutely.

but we don't need a veggie in our life to absolutely breathe and stay alive is what I meant.

if you read up on veggies all plants are toxic to some level to a person in that is their only defense. they can't run, hide or fight really for survival so they do it in their cells. there are tons of great info out there on toxicity of all veg/plants out there in the world. it is very interesting.
so while that antioxidant you think helps, there is also some toxicity coming with that in your body really. And lets not forget the big time chemical sprays for farming. A veggie is a veggie like it was nowadays. gmo and all. frankenfood almost in my mind but meat production has its troubles also! But again, this is stuff people read and make their own decisions and I don't want to debate too much cause I am so ZC that I can keep going on and on LOL HA

I won't bore this thread with it all. we all got plans that work so well for us and key is keep on trucking along.

HI ALL
misty rainy but sun popping out. going to finish back porch flower pots. love to lounge in my chair and be surrounded by my flowers. so cheery
have some junk drawers to clean out. so much stuff get thrown in them and drives me nutso, time to weed those out!

tuna and mayo for brunch later
big old ribeye for dinner whenever

everything is going well and I am on plan 100% and doing fine. I 'seem' thinner, my capri pants are getting looser slowly. The lbs. are not dropping alot now at all but I see changes and that is always a good thing a real leaner LC body is happening.

everyone have a fine saturday and enjoy!!

ZCA, I agree with so much of what you say and my only objection was to your wording. That it is a "fact" and "natural way of eating" and the "info that's out there." That's your belief, not necessarily fact. There's info out there going both ways. One might feel that their belief is "fact" and others may believe the other. Each person has to read it all and make the decision that's best for them. It's sad that America's food supply is tainted so, and it's true that people eating veggies are getting toxins, other than those like PQ who grow their own. But it's the entire food supply, not just veggies that are tainted, and I don't think you are raising your own livestock. Vegans will tell you how you are subjecting yourself to toxins by eating meat and they will show you info out there that "proves" their position. They think they are right, you think you are right, and I think I'm right. Believe me, I have no issue with you believing what you believe, and the numbers don't lie that it's something that works for you. But I have seen positive benefits to my body from eating a lot of vegetables, and those benefits disappear if I back off. They don't show up on the scale, but they are benefits that I want. So maybe I won't die if I give them up, but I like what I see when I eat them so I continue. I don't want to debate either, because I think we are both right, for ourselves.

Evening ladies! Spent five hours at a good auction today......got myself a few vintage goodies, some to keep, some to sell. I got loads of compliments from folks I hadn't seen since autumn. I was in such a good mood that I fired up the grill for dinner.

Break - leftover wings
Lunch - cheeseburger slider
Snack - lite beer
Dinner - T-bone steak on the grill, last year's sweet corn from the garden, this year's greens salad w/homemade ranch dressing

oh yea wanna I said the meat production has its own problems. I am a farmer remember I had my own hogs, chickens, cows...I processed all my meats with my local friend butcher who has a small family biz. we kept him busy with our livestock.

but now I stopped the farm and and yes I buy store bought.



I think in general it is SO hard for me to chat on any forums being a ZC eater and believing what I know to be true from my fact research. And while I surely understand there is facts that sway other ways and I read them, I sway in my direction and you sway in yours.

It is best I just don't comment anymore on veggies LOL
it is safer that way so we don't go into a bonkers debate that in the end we both won't budge anyway I think guys I will stay on my ZC forums where like minded chat is very accepted. all other lc forums just don't fit me anymore. I am in my own world at this point LOL

Yesterday was chore day: cleaned my truck...looks new again, cleaned the oven .... It'll never look new (circa 1963), baked a freezer pie and made Cinci chili.... some for immediate consumption, some for freezer. My weight is almost back to my old low....a pound to go, and finally feeling normal.

Yesterday's menu...
Break - ham and one scrambled egg
Lunch - two pan-fried spicy chicken thighs w/homage ranch dressing for dipping
Snack - 1/2 piece apple pie
Dinner - Cinci chili spaghetti 3-way

Today's menu
Break - sausage mcmuffin
Lunch - 1/2 portion Cinci chili spaghetti 3-way
Snack - ham
Dinner - pork loin w/rhubarb chutney, oven fries, French green beans

Good morning, ladies! Things are quiet around these parts lately......

Hi Carol Sue, Jacqui, ZCA, Rennie, Treasa....!

Life has been quite busy, but in a good way. I have a little over four more weeks of school and then a big vacation In the meantime, I have my garden, auctions, cooking, and kitchen planning. We were going to wait until next summer to get a new kitchen but hubs thinks it's too important to wait that long! So I'm not going to rush, but I am going to start making preliminary "plans" on what I'd like that we can afford. Then I'll get a couple of bids and make a decision hopefully by the end of the summer. Maybe a new kitchen will be installed before Thanksgiving this year!

Yesterday's menu...
Break - sausage McMuffin
Lunch - one slice of pork tenderloin w/rhubarb chutney
Dinner - grilled wings, Saratoga chips, and I chose unsweetened tea over a lite beer

And I'm back down to 139.8 lbs this morning!

Morning everyone! Gloomy weather here in Ohio today. Bro has to go back in to hospital for a day or two for a bunch of tests....stress test and others to figure out what his night sweats, pounding heart, tingling, etc. is coming from. His bloodwork from a few weeks ago came back excellent and he's not taking anything but antidepressant right now (which is normal they say after a traumatic episode such as his). However, he's been feeling crappy most of the time and is getting worried. His home visit doctor came yesterday and said he should be on other meds still for certain things and set up the cardiologist appt. and tests to start tomorrow. Fingers crossed it's fixable.

Meanwhile, yesterday in Ohio....
Break - sausage McMuffin
Lunch - Amy's cheese/bean burrito
Dinner - cheeseburger on sourdough, sweet potato oven fries, green beans.

My bottom element on my 1960s oven went out two weeks ago and a new one should arrive today......installing it will be my project tonight. I've been baking in the 1940s barn oven and countertop toaster oven since then. That new kitchen is looking better and better. No weight change since yesterday....hoping to keep it moving down Last night I made homemade sausage mcmuffins, which saves me 80 calories per breakfast...every little bit helps.

Is there anybody out there????? Evening all!

Thank goodness it's Friday! What a crazy week at work. Replaced the oven element tonight while the bread machine is doing its magic with the pizza dough.

I think I'm going to go crazy with the calories tomorrow. I've had a deep fryer for two years now and haven't even opened the box.....I know, right. I'm still thinking about some honey garlic wings I had at a Chinese place in Florida over spring break and found a recipe that sounds like it could be "it." So I'm going to Walmart for some oil and firing that baby up (in the barn) tomorrow for dinner. I may call our farmer friends and invite them down. I plan on making fried pickles and fries as well.

Yesterday's menu....
Break - homemade sausage mcmuffin
Snack - almonds
Lunch - bunless cheeseburger
Snack - almonds
Dinner - baked spaghetti from the freezer

Today's menu....
Break - homemade sausage mcmuffin
Snack - tangelo
Lunch - Reds cilantro lime chicken burrito
Snack - tangelo
Dinner - homemade turkey pepperoni pizza

Well, even though I'm alone here , I'm still posting for my own sanity and accountability. This morning I weighed in at a new personal best. However, I had a planned "fry fest" on for tonight and I still did it.....it was yummy. I got my 6-week fix and I don't feel yucky like I do when I get fried food out in a restaurant. I used peanut oil and little salt in my seasoning. I hoped I'm not punished too harshly on the scale tomorrow. I usually don't record Sunday weights because I usually splurge on Saturdays. We'll see....

Break - leftover pizza
Lunch - goetta and a fried egg
Dinner - fried wings, mushrooms, and pickles w/buttermilk-blue cheese dip, lite beer

Now for a snooze.