Happy Friday everyone! I hope all of you are doing great. It is a gorgeous day in Central FL, sunny and not too hot. I'm going to enjoy this spring-like weather while it lasts.

This weekend DH and I are taking my parents out for their birthdays, which were this week. We're going to the Cheesecake Factory. Oy. I am fully expecting that I will veer off program but I am going to try and make reasonably sensible choices while I'm there!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Ruthie, my favorite whinger ever, I'm with you! It's pouring here and I've had about enough! It better be nice tomorrow or I'll be in a heap o' trouble! I have planting to do!!!!! :stressed: I'm glad that you are staying away from baking. Less temptation, more money for the sale (plants vs. baked goods) and you get time in the garden and exercise. Sounds like a win, win, win situation to me! BTW, I was just listening to an interview with David Sedaris (love that man...) before he became famous, back when he was cleaning houses during the day and writing at night. He said he loved to clean really messy houses. If they were mostly clean to begin with, he felt like he hadn't accomplished much and had much less job satisfaction. So.... I think you should make sure Candace has lots of job satisfaction! I LOVE the puppy pic!!! What cuties Lucy has! Keep 'em coming!

Cottage, yay for school plays (break a leg, Audry!), yardsales (good luck getting rid of stuff and making a buck or two!), and lots of prayers for your daughter's grandma's knee surgery.

Kelly J, on the spa cert...that's awesome!!! Going off plan for an event makes total sense. Can you share how you're handling it (P1 first, P1 after, etc.) for the benefit of new chickies? Have fun!

MsC, sorry that you feel like your questions aren't getting answered. Some chicks don't check the daily again after they post. PMs can work, but if you have a question you think everyone might benefit from, just start a new thread and ask your question! That way you get advice from more than one person and we can all learn from the info. and hopes that we all see some soon, darn it!

Sunlit, the biscotti sounds awesome...I can't have malitol, though. The only thing that might be an issue is that some women find soy products can mess with their estrogen, especially after menopause. Just watch to make sure if you're one of them.

Barb, you're killing me with your amazing garden and having produce already! We don't even have plants and seeds in the ground yet!

Darn...I have to stop there...wish I could write to everyone, but I have some stuff to get to. to everyone who's posted and yet to post!

Me:
Went to the plastic surgeon this morning. That was encouraging...he doesn't think there's anything wrong with the scar...that it's healing on it's own. He says I don't need to put anything on it and that nothing really helps the healing...it'll just do fine on it's own. He says we can reevaluate it in 6 months and see how it's doing. He thinks the fat might regrow (darn!).

I tutor my literacy student today, then plan on doing some work in my weddinng scrapbook. I started organizing my crafty room into some semblance of order a couple weeks ago after three years of DH and I throwing (literally! ) my stuff in there and shutting the door. Yesterday I organized most of my scrapping stuff and today I'm ready to start scrappin'! So much fun!

Tonight I have group therapy. It can be really helpful...but sometimes lengthy. We'll see what this one works out to be.

Have a great day, chickies! Please no more rain.... We all need to see the sun!

Hi everyone! Hope you don't mind if I just jump in here. I started SB today. I'm doing phase 1 but eating larger portions than the book outlines because I'm breastfeeding. So far, so good.... HA! I'm a whole 11 hours into it. Good thing is, this morning when I was making turkey roll-ups for snack, my daughter wanted one too and actually ate the better part of the dark green lettuce. Big event for a finicky three-year-old!

Cheesecake is one of my all-time favorite restaurants! They have tons of things that are on plan...especially helpful that they have sourdough bread, which we can have in moderation. Their salads are awesome. And best of all, they have a low carb cheesecake, which they will top with fresh strawberries, tossed with splenda, and whipped cream made with splenda! Obviously with the fat in the cheesecake and God-knows-what in the crust, it's not a daily indulgence, but it's really quite good and helpful to keep you out of the things that will really send you into a tailspin!

Enjoy!

Laurie, I LOVE David Sedaris' work. I don't usually do books-on-tape, but I listen to his because I love to hear humorists read their own work. I download them to my iPod. However, I tend to listen to them on the train or at the gym, so I get a lot of funny looks when I can't stop laughing or fall off the elliptical.

Thanks for the suggestions beachgal! I have tried the six-carb cheesecake, and it is really pretty good. Definitely not something for everyday, but OK when I'm celebrating something important, like oh...let's say a family birthday. LOL. I will definitely enjoy myself!

Hi everyone. I'm late getting here. Today has been very busy at work. This is the first chance I've had to get on the net.
I noticed a change today. My morning was great. Less stressful, more upbeat. I can't hep but think this new WOE is the reason 'cause nothing else has changed. I think it is helping me feel good, although I didn't think I felt bad before...

The morning was great. I had energy and felt good but just before lunch I took a dive. I just started feeling bad. I don't know if I had a drop in sugar or what. I had breakfast of eggs and canadian bacon(my usual) around 9. This happened about 11:30. So I went ahead and started my lunch which was a Phase I SBD prepared meal with a cucumber and cheese salad. But even after eating that I still felt bad, so I got a spoon of no sugar added peanut butter. That helped and I'm feeling better again. Wonder what could have caused it?

Anyway, we ended up at a Mexican resaurant last night. I did so good , I didn't touch the chips, and really didn't crave them. I had a steak fajita salad and didn't eat the shell. It wasn't the best but it was fine.

Tonight I'm cooking the almond crusted chicken except I'm using peacans instead. I'll have that with some green beans and a salad. Will probably make some potatos for DH and kids. They requested potatos.

I do have a question though... I'm not eating dairy. I don't like fat free or 1%milk or ff unflavored yogart. I do a little part skim cheese but that's it. Don't you think I need more dairy? How else can I get it? I thought about making chocolate milk with ff milk and sugar free syrup. What do you think? I'm also not too keen on cottage cheese by itself. I've always eaten it with peaches or some other fruit. Any suggestion while I'm on P1?

I've got a lot planned for the weekend. We will go racing Sat night and out on the boat all day Sunday. In between working Sat morning and the other stuff I've got to get my house in order and plant all the flowers I bought last night.

I haven't had a chance to read the other posts but will try to do that now.... if I can stay off the phone with customers...

I mix crystla lite with my ff plain yogurt. ALso I noticed t hat one serving of dannon light n' fit flavored yougurt has less carbs/sugar than plain ff yogurt. (though I'm still unsure of what is allowed in the yogurt category)

As if! Who could forget your Wiggles avatar line? I love that...it always cracks me up!

Bat, speaking of avatars, you look amazing!!! Good for you!

That's great, Sun! I first listened to his work on CD. I found that when I read his books I don't laugh nearly as much. I'm not sure why! In his last book (corduroy and denim) I only laughed uproariously at the two pieces that I heard him read on NPR once. Isn't that odd? I do adore his work, though. He's wonderful!!!

Hotmama, you definitely need more dairy. Try adding low fat cheese to salads or on other things (like the taco bake or Chicken Divan). If you're in P2, you can do tons of things...make smoothies with frozen fruit and yogurt, add fruit to your cottage cheese (though I wonder if you would enjoy grape tomatoes too...they are actually fruit...though we consider them a vegetable), etc. For milk, why not try making chai tea? Two ways:
Try making hot chocolate (this recipe is adapted from the one on the side of the Hershey's Cocoa box):
Hope you can get more dairy in!

you're awesome Laurie!!

I'm checking back in before I leave work. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to get online this weekend.

About planning to go off-plan LOL: I've been doing P1 pretty much all week with the exception of a glass of wine last night (Much Needed LOL) and a little bit of dark chocolate (also Much Needed). For the party I'll try to eat OP before-hand but we'll be there most of the day so I can bring a few snacks (nut, veggies) but I'll need to eat something else so I'll probably have a hot dog and a little bit of salad. I'll just try to watch portions. I'm bringing lots of water to drink instead of drinking (I'm driving). This is pretty much my plan for the next 3 weekends. We've got this party tomorrow. Next weekend DH is best man in a wedding so we'll have a rehearsal dinner Friday, and the wedding Saturday. Sunday I'm going on a wine tour (Yeah!!). Then the weekend after that we're doing my DD's 4th BDay party. I'm planning on doing P1 during the weeks, then moderately consuming off-plan foods at these events......with the exception of the wine tour - can't say I'm doing anything moderate that day LOL.

Wannabe Hotmamma - Have you ever tried cottage cheese with Splenda & cinnamon? Before SBD I couldn't really stand it but since I've started doing that I have it nearly every day. I usually pair it with some almonds for my breakfast and it is nummy I've noticed that the brand matters to me and have been getting Friendship 1% milkfat. The other brands are too glompy for me. For amounts, I usually put 1 pkt Splenda in and cover the top with cinn & mix.

Heather - Welcome It looks like we've got kids about the same age. My DD is almost 4 and my DS was born at the end of September. Yeah for your DD eating the lettuce!! That's one thing I have not been able to accomplish with mine

wow, busy board today. I've been busy with my mom. Her brother died, then today her dog of 12 years had to have a sonogram and they found something in her tummy. My mom has to decided whether to operate - $3000, or just leave it alone. The dog acts fine. I think we should jst leave her alone. We took her in to the vet because she had a sore on her leg...Of course it makes her cry to think her dog is gong to die. Jeepers! All this stress makes me want to drink.

I'm off plan tonight. I had whole wheat spagetti, 1/2 cup and 1 slice of italian bread. Not bad, I know. Just hope it does cause cravings tomorow. I'm still not down any more, but I do feel good. Have lots of energy until about 8 PM...then I'm ready for bed. That's a complete turn around for me.

Sounds like everyone has their weekend challenges in check. Good luck everyone. Crockett, enjoy that trip. I'm all in for the week.