[CountryMom4Him]

Good morning all! It's hard to believe but Robert took the weekend off. A rare treat. So I haven't been online that much. But I did get to pop in this morning and catch up on post.

WELCOME to the newbies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back Trish!!! Good to see you.

Love and hugs to everyone. Hope to have more time next week.

Crystle

[GatorGal]

Monet--Actually, you can bring the chrysalis inside and put it in a large bowl that you have covered with netting or even put a lid a little ajar on it. If the butterfly emerges while you are gone, it will just hang around in the covered bowl. If you put the bowl in the kitchen or dining table where you spend a lot of time, you can keep an eye on it pretty well there. One day I came home and there were 3 butterflies in the butterfly cage that had all "hatched" and were waiting to fly away.

Monet, I had forgotten that you were a dawg fan. Hmmmm. The dawg are our real arch rivals, even more than Ewe Tee and the Noles. I've been to so many games where the dawgs mistreated the Gators. I'm glad we beat up on y'all for 12 years because we owed you all so much as "pay back." for the 60's, 70's and 80's where the dawgs so often pulled the rug out from under the Gators. I think you all have the upper hand now that visor man is in Washington DC. Richt is probably a better coach than Zook, and that makes a big difference. I don't think the Gators can do again what they did last year with the dawgs and hounds.

BOB--Congrats on the win for yall. We'll see the hounds in 3 weeks.

Susan--I know how that loss must hurt. I've felt that way over some Gator games. I wish we were still playing y'all. It always was a great trip up there.

Still staying the same with my weight. Am taking my Thyrolar faithfully, along with the carnitine, but no difference.
I guess I'll have to count calories forever. I really should be able to live on more than 1200 calories per day. But that is what it seems to take to lose 1 pound a week. UGH!!!

[Ellen]

Monet still feels terrible. Added to the usual complaints are some nausea and heartburn from the peanut butter I had on my apple at lunch. I get heartburn very infrequently, so it is particularly annoying. This is one of those days when I want to ask someone to take a gun and shoot me!

GATOR: Tom scared a butterfly accidently this morning. He said it was on the dill plant. I checked it out, and the crysalis was empty! I am assuming the one he saw had emerged this morning and was just finished drying off! Oh well! I planted more dill, and if I find anymore caterpillars, I will try and put them in a bowl with netting so I can watch. As for the dawgs, what can I say? Did I tell you my two sisters went to Florida? One graduated in about 1968, the other was there until about 1969, then transferred to the University of California. Another of my sisters and I both went to UGA, and football season was always fun around our house. My poor father never knew who to cheer for, for fear of angering on of his daughters! He tried alternating years, refusing to watch the game, cheering for both teams..... It actually was pretty funny. As for your thyroid issues... when do you get rechecked for the Thyrolar levels? I think I have finally gotten to a good level of T3, and will be able to lose some now. At least that is what the doctor is telling me. I hope he is right! I wonder if the 1200 calories is maybe too low. Try eating more vegetables, and fruits. I wouldn't be surprised if you need more of the T3 to lose. I wonder if the doctor would give you Phentermine to help get your metabolism revved up.....

[Toni48]

Howdy everyone. Will get back to my regular posting tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great week-end. A great big welcome to Wildrose and Super Dave. Glad to have you aboard.... Think most everyone is gone off on a holiday and things will get back to normal in a couple of days... You'll like it here theres lots of good support and hey we're all in the same boat.

[SuperDave]

Just got back from France and Beligium for 2 weeks vacation. I am proud to say I gained only 1 pound. Stuck to my guns and ate the SB way. Had lots of red wine and did cheat a couple times. I am very pleased as I thought I would gain 5 pounds at least. The Bread over there is whole grain and no preserveatives(sp) and I had more than usual. My wife and I are history buffs so we walked a lot, sight seeing. It goes to show if you stick with your plan then it works, not bragging just sharing, I really like this board. Hope everyone had a safe holiday .

SuperDave

[gardenmom]

I am really confused! I have very recently read two books: Sugar Busters and The Zone. It's so frustrating when they both sound like they are right....but esp. in The Zone the author insists his way is the absolute best and healthiest. How do we know this is true?
Sugar Busters had a lot of similar ideas to The Zone, but was much easier to read, and not as scientific. They both claim to lower insulin production to unlock fat cells so they can be burned, which improves diabetes, cardio health, etc.
I guess the real problem for me with SB is that I don't know exactly how much to eat of all the things on the Sugar Busters approved foods list. I am such a compulsive overeater that I wonder if I'll do well on such a seemingly unstructured plan. I weigh 238 pounds at 5'6" tall, and would like to lose nearly 100 pounds. I have a long way to go, obviously, and on top of that my mom, a diabetic for years, recently had a fatal heart attack (62 years old), as did her mom and her mom's sister, as a result of their diabetes. I feel I have a lot at stake. Yet if I go to the doctor for a "diet" he'll surely tell me to eat lots of complex carbs, little protein, etc. I'm really feeling stressed and confused about this! Does anyone have a similar experience or some thoughts to share with me? I need to decide what to do, for my health.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and, I hope, respond!

[Debelli]

Evening Everyone

Can finally get on the board and try to get caught up, at least somewhat. No kids how YET. LAUREN is babysitting and MICHAEL stayed over night at his friend ANNA'S house last night and is still there. Yes, it's a girl's house, my friend DEBBY was surprised, but MICHAEL is all the parent's favorite kid to invite over and there's no love interests at all with him and any of his "girl friends" and the parents just love having over - unlike my friend DEBBY'S son who's a total horn-dog.

ELI and I went up to Broward today, got a late start and didn't do anything special. Did stop at the fruit stand at the end of the day - now I know when to go there and get some great bargains, peaches, plums, pears, nectarines apples, grapes & summer squash .50 cents a pound. 3lbs onions, $1 a bag, honeydew, $1 each, parsley .33 and carrots, 50cents a bag - they aren't open Mondays and Tuesday so they have to sell off everything otherwise toss it.

Got in my walk this morning - 6 out of the 7 days this week. 26 miles total - not too shabby!

AGAPE said to wish you all a HELLO. She has no compute and was e-mailing me from a friends house. She hopes to have it up and running again soon.

SEF, I can see from the list of all you have been doing this week you are feeling like your OLD SEF! Couldn't resist! Gosh, I can be so witty sometimes Glad you read some of the info that I post - I'm always trying to find some useful info to pass along. Thanks for posting the FF - you always come up with some great stuff!

JACKK, I like the ww waffles, they're light and fluffy - I haven't tried the cinnamon, but I really like the blueberry. I think I will go buy some more before they go off sale on Wednesday. I think they were 2/$5.00? I was at my GF house, nothing he's put up for sale would I be interested in getting and I won't take something just for the sake of taking something - have to really like it. I don't have any room to put another dust collector. I think he's buying just about all new furniture when he moves. So, how'd you do this weekend - did I invade your thoughts????

FILLISE, glad to see you check in - I'm sure you'll be back when things are all over and you can once again breath!!

TONI, let us know how the bbq sauce is. I think the brand I have is WALDEN FARMS, though not sure - but whatever brand it is, I really like it. Why not make some yourself, the recipe I have on the board is absolutely AWESOME!!!

GATOR, I only use a 1/3 of a cup of agave in the cheesecake as well - it's sweet enough.

MONET, dinner in my house is always scrounge it seems I think the chicken nuggets would end up being okay. Just remember, as you pair up a high GI food with a lower GI food it gives you a moderate reading. A serving was only 3 of them though, so do be careful if you eat them. I wasn't crazy about the batter part of them - looked at the box today at the HFS. Hope DS feels better. Good job on being down another 2lbs - seems the weight is moving a little better these days

WILLOW, no need to apologize for anything, you didn't say anything wrong at all, it wasn't you, so please, don't worry I hope the pot pie question was answered, but just to put a little more info, there's turkey and chicken. I think the chicken is the best, just don't get the organic, it's not made with whole wheat. If you have a HFS in your area, ask them to see if they have them, and if not, if they can order you some - they are really delish!

ROSALIE, good luck with the job - check in when you can!

BEACH, I guess maybe what good that the weight gain had is that it got you back on the board! There's at least 1 thing positive about this. It's unrealistic to think that we will never gain back any weight over the years, it's inevitable, I know this and if anyone doesn't think it, they better think again. BUT, it's how much you let yourself gain, and how much is part of the aging process that you have to look at-if we could just keep within that 5lb cushion we'd be okay. I know when I got below my goal it was really hard to stay at that number I really liked so well. I just have to learn that when I find myself with a few pounds gain to catch it at that time and not let it get higher, that's something I've not learned, but without having gained all my weight back each time I've been on a diet and lost weight, I'm learning something along the way, so it seems The gal who's post you saw, she posted it twice and I answered her on the other post-not sure if she saw them or not.

HEARTMOM, loved the lawyer joke, sent it to my friends who are lawyers! What great bargains you got - I'm proud and I'm sure BOB would be too! You can now join the BARGAIN CLUB! I'm SURE the DROSTE was delish - I have quite a few bars in my stash, BUT, only a 1/2 ounce should be eaten. If you compare the grams of sugar in that bar, vs something like a Hershey's chocolate bar, you'd see a big difference. MICHAEL got LOTR for his birthday - haven't watched it though - any of the other two movies any good?

BOB, OMG, I can only imagine POOP-CASO painting the town, or at least the hotel room - he's leaving his mark everywhere! Just imagining this occuring, visualizing it, you had me laughing! Maybe you can find doggie depends? When you coming home?

SUPERDAVE Glad you've decided to join us - glad you are being brave enough to join us. You should feel right at home with all the other TEXANS here on the board. Don't worry that we're a bunch of women, as I said, we don't bite (hard) Please, don't hesitate to ask any questions, we're all more than happy to try and help answer any you may have. OMG (Oh my G-d) man, if I went back to Belgium and France, I'd surely gain a good 20lbs - I ate my way through both countries, not to mention otheres - best pastries were def. in Belgium!!! Best candy too! Oh, I love LEONIDAS!!! I can't believe you only gained a pound! You definitely deserve a big hand I'd love to go back there - hope you had a good time! Thanks for posting your BIO on the BIO BOARD - it was nice to learn more about you. What good movies have you seen recently that you can recommend?

WILDROSEPIXIE, Hope you don't mind if I shorten your name to PIXIE, as we have a YELLOWROSE that goes by ROSE Glad MONET got you directed to our board, we've heard nice things about you (pay up MONET!) Of course, just kidding there MONET is a wealth of SB INFO so you are in good hands - and what a great thing to have someone else at work doing SB with you - it should make it much easier. Anything MONET can't answer, feel free to ask us on the board and we'll try to answer any questions you may have. You are doing an AWESOME job so far - what a great weight loss You def. are going to shock your Dr. - you'll have to tell us what he says when you see him!

COUNTRY, enjoy your time with DH!!!!

GARDEN Glad to have you join us and ask some questions. Of course, I think anyone who writes a book, diet or otherwise, wants to think their book is the best and will solve everyone's weight loss issues, but we do know better. Unfortunately, the SB book is a bit confusing, contradictory and misleading at times. To understand this you have to know that the men who wrote SB took the ideas of MICHEL MONTIGNACS book from France and made a US version before he was able to do so. If you read his book you'd understand this WOE better. Anyhow, what you need to do is determine for yourself what WOE you know you'd be able to follow the rest of your life. For me, and many others, SB was it. If you want to know how many calories, etc to take in, just e-mail me and I'll be happy to help you with the number crunches - e-mail with your current and goal weight, height, frame/bone size and age to [email protected] Feel free to ask any other questions you may have, we're all happy to help! AND, you should feel right at home with all the other TEXANS on the board!!!

WOW! I'm caught up - actually, I had finished this post a little bit ago and somehow hit a key and lost some of it. Thankfully, not all of it as I had some of it saved otherwise you'd all here me yelling!

Will be on tomorrow morning to start the new board, around 7amish or so. Going to try and start the week off with a nice walk in the morning.

Nite all!

{{{HUGS}}}

Debbie

[GatorGal]

Momet--What is Phentermine?

[GatorGal]

Dave--We spent a month in France in May. It was fabulous. We had a cook at the villa we rented. She actually was a "chef" and we had delicious meals. Only once did she fix potatoes, and all the rest was just meat and veggies. We did have the bread every day, but it was the regular delicious French white baguette. Nothing like it here in the US. The baguettes they make at Costco are the closest I can find, and they are not the same. We did have ice cream for dessert. But I did not have any pastries and only a croissant once!

OK everyone, my last caterpillar went into chrysalis today. it was so fascinating to watch him shed his skin and the new little "being" harden its shell for its pupa stage. I have 21 chrysalides in all. Zebra long wings, Eastern Black swallowtails, and gold rim swallowtails. Monet, you probably have the black swallowtail that was eating the dill. They also love carrots and fennel, besides the parsley. Actually, I think they like the fennel best of all. I will post a picture of one of the chrysalides tomorrow, a very unusual looking one.

Well, gotta go. Have a great Labor Day, y'all.

[Ellen]

GATOR: Phentermine is a metabolic boosting diet pill. The brand name is Adipex. Phentermine is the generic name. My doctor uses it with his patients who are hypothyroid, or hyperinsulinemic. The first month I took it, which was a while ago, I lost 15! Man, was I excited! Unfortunately, my thyroid took another step back the next month, and I only lost 5. I have used it off and on for about three years now. When my thyroid levels are good, and I use it and stick to program, I lose better. Like now, I am using it some, and seeing some results.


GARDEN: I have looked at the Zone, and it was more confusing to me than SB was. Eating should not be a mathematical chore in my opinion. I picked SB to follow for its simplicity. As you can see from the people on this board, it does work. I am sure the Zone will work well too, if you follow it, but SB is easier. As for amounts, let your hunger be your guide. I bet most of the people on here will tell you when they first started they did not worry about amounts, but just sticking to allowed foods, and eating enough not to be hungry. You do that first, then start working on the portion sizes if you need to. We are so ingrained with the idea of eating like a bird to lose that we forget eating TOO little is almost as bad as eating too much. Your metabolism slows down, because your body thinks you are starving. I would say, eat fresh fruits, and veggies, and whole grains, lean protein, and drink plenty of water. Eat only enough to satisfy yourself, and then stop. Eat more frequent, smaller meals, and you will probably be amazed at the results. Another new board member, Wild Rose Pixie, has mainly cut out sodas, and replaced her grains with whole grains, and stopped eating sugar, and lost eight pounds in less than a week! While not everyone has such dramatic results, most people can tell a big difference in energy levels within a few days, and most people lose pretty well. Why not give the program a two week try and see what happens? We are all here to help! Come by often and ask away!

[Ellen]

Oh, duh! I got on here to post and just did a post with two replies and forgot to post anything! Yes, my brain is on vacation.

Went to church tonight. I feel better for having gotten out. I did load up on vitamin I (ibuprofen) before we left. After church, a group of us usually goes out for dinner, but the group wanted to go Mexican, so we hung around and chatted, then headed home. We got into a good discussion on the way home, and went to a Thai/Chinese place for a light supper instead of going home. It was nice to sit and chat with my dearly beloved for a little while. I got coconut soup, and a finely diced chicken dish that was supposed to be wrapped in lettuce. I was not too happy with the lettuce wraps. The lettuce was not the right size for wrapping, and when it arrived, it was laced with whole kernal corn! I picked as much of it out as I could. It was pretty tasty, inspite of that. Tom got a beef dish that was excellent. We did not eat rice, but had hot tea with splenda and lemon. Ah! I probably won't sleep tonight from the caffiene!


Gotta work tomorrow bright and early, so I am going to toddle off to bed now! Good night everyone! Sweet dreams!

[gardenmom]

I appreciate your words of encouragement regarding the SB plan. I think I will check out the Montignac book, if it's available in English now. I noticed some contradictions in the SB book, as well, such as the need to eat whole grains, like oatmeal, but then in the eating plan they offer instant oatmeal as a breakfast, which I thought wasn't a good option. Also, I wondered if the milk, cheese, etc. in the acceptable dairy section should be lowfat or fatfree, not just regular whole products as it seems to be listed. Anyway, I think I will give it a two week minimum try, and see what happens. I guess I can't go wrong, as increasing vegetables and fruits can't be bad, as long as they are "acceptable." Thanks for your help...I'm sure you'll be hearing from me again soon!
GardenmomSteph