You guys, I think I have finally beaten the hunger problem! I hope I'm not being premature in saying so, but it's been a couple days now and I'm not starving between meals. I ate breakfast at 6:00 am this morning, and normally I would have been tempted to chew my arm off by 10, but for the past couple days I have been just fine until my lunch hour at 1:00 pm.

That's a pretty major victory for me. I mean, I always say I've been starving since birth, which is not that big an exaggeration, frankly, so I sort of despaired of ever getting to the point where I could go more than a couple hours without eating something.

My night time hunger is still a bit of a problem, but I'm working on it. Herbal tea helps.

Anyway, I haven't lost any more weight this week, which could be the usual week 3 slowdown, or it could be that I am sabotaging myself with too much cream. If this stall continues I'm going to have to get tough with myself regarding my coffee habit, but I'm PMSing something fierce right now, so I'm delaying the inevitable until my hormones settle down. We'll see what happens once TOM is over, which will also put me at a full month on Atkins.

Wow, you are doing great! I'm so glad your hunger is under better control now! I used to have terrible problems with hunger, too, especially at night. I would just eat and eat and eat and then wake up in the morning feeling so bloated and heavier and heavier all the time and just hating myself.

Isn't this WOE a real miracle? I think it is, anyway. Maybe other people didn't have the problems with blood sugar swings that I think you and I had, so maybe it's not a miracle for them, I don't know. It's the greatest feeling in the world to not feel like you're a slave to hunger anymore, isn't it?

Since we all tend to gain a couple of pounds or so during the PMS, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a whoosh within a week of your TOM stopping, and you lose maybe five pounds. Give it at least another couple of weeks before you start thinking about tweaking your diet. During this PMS time, when we gain water weight, it's too easy to get scared and cut our calories way back to almost nothing, and then our metabolism stalls, and then we aren't losing weight once our metabolism quits on us.

I'm PMSing like mad too and the scale is not moving downwards, and I'm not overeating or anything, so I just figure it's more water weight. My body sure does like that water, LOL!

We are going to get more snow on Monday, maybe 4 inches or so. I have to admit I'm getting kind of tired of this snow. I sure will be happy to see April arrive, because I think by then most of the snow will have melted and we will see some nice days.

Keep going, you are doing awesome!

Thanks, Lori! The fact that I am premenstrual and not ravenous truly is a miracle. Generally the week before TOM I can't stop myself from eating everything in sight. The fact that I've only have a few vague, easily ignored carb cravings this week has been a major victory for me. That and the fact that there was chocolate cake in the office this week and I wasn't even tempted (that's my favorite!)

I'm sorry you're still retaining water! Hopefully we will both have a nice post-TOM whoosh. That's what I'm hoping for; time will tell.

We have dodged most of the snow here in the TN valley region, but we have certainly gotten more winter weather this year than usual. I am ready for spring, so I can imagine how you mus be feeling! Good luck with the next snow storm. I hope it is less of an event than they're predicting.

You know a snack somewhere in between there would be beneficial. The reason you were hungry by ten was cuz it's four hours later! I eat every few hours and it helps. Breakfast at 7, snack at 10 (if I want), lunch at noon, snack at 3 pm, dinner at 6 pm, sometimes another snack at 8.

I find keeping myself fueled throughout the day helps.

I should have been more clear; I *do* eat snacks (usually 3/4 oz of cheese or a hard boiled or deviled egg, sometimes chicken breast with mayo) if I've gone five hours without eating, per the book. It's just nice not to *have* to, since that is a novel experience for me.

The change in hunger is what cinched it for me. It's why I feel I can live this way forever. I don't get cravings, I don't get hunger (unless it's real from being several hours after I last ate). I agree w you, it's the real miracle of this way of eating for a lot of us.