Welcome ladies, join us as we try to stay BOP. I did well today until this afternoon.
B- sausage lc toast
L- steak lc toast
S- choc chip cookie - oops
D- chicken tenders cheese sticks - double oops
3 bottles of water so far, hope for another one later.

I'm not sure why I cheated, I just did. Its certainly not helping me fit in these pants for next week! Met with the girls tonight and we developed a workout plan which should work. Tonight, its the bellydance class over at the gym. Should be fun, and maybe I'll work off some of the day's cheat.

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Kitty's Journal

I actually had time to make myself a ham and swiss omelet this morning. It saves time, carbs, and money from stopping at Mickey D's or something. I had a plum, also. All washed down with green tea.

Snack: 3 little peices of chicken out of the "Chicken Minis" at Chick-Fil-A. I had a coupon so they were free. I fed the cute little buns to the birds. (Diet Coke with this.)

Lunch was a fried chicken breast w/mayo, a plum, and some CarbCountdown Chocolate milk. Had 1/3 of a diet Pepsi and some water.

Before dinner, I cut or little seedless watermelon in half to chill and I sampled it. Yummers! Gotta be careful about that stuff.

Dinner was a peice of baked salmon, a salad, and some "fauxtato" salad. And a CarbSmart ice cream....the kind on the stick, for portion control. Green tea with this, too.

Big 5 check off:
sleep.....7 hours
menu....pretty good
water intake....lacking
supplements....taken
exercise.....none

But, at least I'm getting back on track....I'm BOP-ing! Maybe I'll get up early enough to work out before I have to get ready for work.

Can I share some quotes from the Dr.Phil calendar here? I've kept some of the ones that have "spoken" to me.

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Well, I saw in Maxibee's journal about Junie and her getting BOP'd - so thought I'd check it out. Well, I think this is exactly where I need to be. I haven't gone off LCing, but haven't exactly been following it like I should either...I think my 1st change will be to get all my water in each day, boy have I been laxed on that! Maybe if I fill up a big pitcher, than I will know how much to have thru the day. My starting weight it 217, so that's 18 lbs to get rid of by the end of the year; and I think there's about 16 or 17 weeks left in the year, so I better get moving.

Thanks for starting this thread MizKitty!

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Angie



at least for now...

Maxibee, I think I like your big 5 check off. Perhaps I will start doing this too. I'm going to be super good today, I feel it!

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Kitty's Journal

Hey Ladies,
Good to see you all posting here...and if we stick together I see no reason we can not all stay Bop!!!
I saw 208 this morning before taking my routine diuretics
Still Bop and its day 6!!!

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http://www.livejournal.com/users/junee/

Good day here so far. Still eating on plan and TRYING to get all my water in. It is so nice being able to share with people who know exactly where I am coming from. You guys are all great!

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Started Atkins-1/2/04
174 lbs at heaviest



5'0 154/136.5/130

For Kitty!

The Dragon Within...
Ya know, I see so many posts from new and old low carbers alike confessing their cheats and bemoaning the fact that they have no willpower.

I personally think willpower has nothing to do with it. It's simply metabolic. One of the most startling realizations I had a couple years ago was that I WASN'T weak and spineless when it came to food. The cravings weren't in my head, they were a physical reaction to the overabundance of insulin coursing through my system.

Getting the carbs out of my system stopped the insane cravings. To use a friends favorite analogy : I silenced the dragon within.

We all have this dragon. Low Carb keeps our dragon in his cave but it doesn't stop him from rearing his ugly head and rattling the cage. This is when the urge to cheat occurs. The dragon is clammoring to be fed. Chances are the one thing you find the hardest to resist is what the dragon wants. My dragon foods are Almonds and Blue Cheese dressing and Mayo. None of which I can have on my anti yeast existance.

The longer I go without them the harder the dragon bangs on the cage until I give in and either feed him one of those things or give him something else to distract him. When I push the envelope of low carb - maybe have a little of something I shouldn't - the dragon gets even more demanding.

IMO - this is key... you have to face the dragon. Recognize the craving for what it is and deal with it. Accept that the dragon is trying to woo you and ignore him. If it makes you uncomfortable to ignore him - examing WHY you feel that way.

Is it possible that there are some unresolved issues or feelings down inside that you've been avoiding dealing with?

This is something I've had to handle. Once I got to the point that I had the WOE down pat and thought the cravings are under control - BAM I'm slammed with the desire to eat something I shouldn't. But at this point I KNOW better - I recognize what's happening and don't eat to sooth the savage beast.

This left me without a way to avoid those hidden problems. Since I no longer ate to forget about them they came tumbling out and I HAD to deal with them I had to FEEL those feelings I'd been using food to eat away.

I guess my point is that by dealing with that inner dragon, we can keep a better handle on our woe and maybe clear out some emotional clutter along the way.

Bt Conniems
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http://www.livejournal.com/users/junee/

Why We Cheat<br />By Di Bauer

I don't know anyone who hasn't cheated on their diet. I'm not talking about just low carbers here, but about all dieters. Everyone I have spoken to, written to, or heard from has cheated on their diet at one time or another. Why do we do this to ourselves?

What Is Cheating?

Cheating is about the abdication of responsibility and control. Notice that I said "abdication of responsibility and control," not "loss of responsibility and control." We don't "lose" these things, we choose not to exert them. We almost always have a self righteous excuse, too, something to make the cheating not our fault. "I couldn't help it! The bread just smelled so good!" "My neighbor brought over cookies for us and I just couldn't hurt her feelings by not eating them." "Everything on the menu was full of carbs! What was I supposed to do, not eat?" "It was my birthday!" When we cheat we are very creative liars.

We Set Ourselves Up For Cheating

We often set ourselves up for cheating. We mostly do this by not preparing ourselves for events ahead of time. We don't get to the grocery store, so there's no good low carb food in the house, or we go to a party hungry and without taking low carb "back up" food to help us fend off the high carb goodies that we are offered. We cruise by the bakery section of the grocery and buy a six-pack of cupcakes "for the kids" when we have two kids and in the back of our minds we know they're only going to get one cupcake each....or maybe none. Rather than dump the apple pie our neighbor brought over into the trash can as soon as she leaves, we let it sit on the kitchen counter until we cave in a have a piece - or four.

Imagine that you are on your way to the mall to do some shopping. It's a nice day, you're feeling fine. The traffic is fairly light, so you don't have to pay a whole lot of attention to your driving. All of a sudden - WHAM! You hit a huge pothole. It feels like a land mine has gone off under your tire and you're afraid that you've broken an axle. The experience rattles you so badly that you turn around and limp back home. It turns out that your axle isn't broken, so the next day you sail forth again, determined to get to the mall and do the shopping that you need to do. You take the same route because it's the most logical way to go. Now let me ask you, what do you do when you get to the pothole? Do you hit it again or do you drive around it? Cheating is a lot like hitting a pothole. We might be caught off- guard once and be able to excuse ourselves because it was unexpected, but if we make the same mistakes over and over again then we have to own up to the fact that we are subconsciously making a choice to fail.

Why Do We Cheat?

The simple, superficial answer is that we cheat because we want what we want when we want it. Our goal of being thin and healthy is weeks, months, or even years away; the chocolate cake is sitting on the table right now. Yes, we want to be thin and healthy, but we can't have that right now, so we settle for what we can have, even if what we can have is bad for us. We can always get back on track tomorrow, right? Or next week..... or in the spring......

There is a more complex answer, too. Remember that carbohydrates are literally an addictive substance for many of us. While we can begin to break the physiological addiction by going through a strict induction phase, the psychological addiction is likely to be with us for the rest of our lives. It lessens over time if we avoid unhealthy carbohydrates like sugar and wheat, but like alcoholics, we are never "recovered;" we are always "recovering." Would you tell a recovering alcoholic that "Just one little drink won't hurt"? Of course not. We shouldn't lie to ourselves and<br />say "Just one slice of pie won't hurt." It will.

Sometimes It's More Than Just The Carbs

In addition to the physiological and psychological aspects of carbohydrates, there are also the emotional ones. Food has been a crutch for many of us. We have used food as a psychological comforter, something to keep us warm and safe when we've been lonely or tired or afraid. We've used food as a "stopper" to keep our anger and frustration in. Some of us have used our heavy bodies to circumvent our sexuality and are afraid of dealing with it when we become thin. We are uncomfortable with getting attention from the opposite sex. What are we going to do when we're thin? The dilemma is difficult to send some of us running straight for the cookie jar.

Some of us have never attempted to achieve our dreams because, of course, how could we possibly do that when we are fat? If we get thin, our excuse for not striving for our goals will be gone, and then what are we going to do?

And lastly, some of us are actually afraid to be thin. We've spent most of our lives fat, and don't even know how thin people act. And to top it all off, we've spent a good deal of out lives resenting thin people. How can we turn our backs on our "true" selves and become one of "them?" Thin people have been the enemy so long that we just hate to give up our comfortable animosity.

Can We Break The Cheating Cycle?

So it's hopeless, right? Wrong! We can break the cycle of cheating if we really want to. It's not easy. It's not fun. Then again, being fat and unhealthy isn't easy or fun either. It's our call. We can be fat and unhealthy and miserable - and get to eat cake and potatoes. Or we can become thin and healthy and occasionally be miserable because we can't eat cake or potatoes. The choice is ours.

If we are really going to succeed, we must learn to see ourselves very clearly. We must get to know ourselves better than we ever have before, and be honest about both our motives and our goals. Doing this may sometimes be uncomfortable, but it is imperative that we understand why we do what we do and why we want what we want. Kathleen Munson, who writes the "Tough Talk And No Nonsense" column, calls it "emotional housecleaning," and that's exactly what it is. Those ???? emotional dust bunnies will get us every time if we don't sweep them up.

How To Break The Cheating Cycle

The first step is pretty obvious. We need to decide that we are going to stop cheating. We can't use halfhearted measures. As Yoda said, "Do or not do. There is no try."

Once we've made that decision, we need to prepare for our weaker moments. We should always have low carbohydrate food available, whether we are at home or not. This means having meat and low carbohydrate vegetables in the freezer, and some low carbohydrate foods already prepared and ready to snatch at a moment's notice. Hard-boiled or deviled eggs, meat roll-ups, slices of precooked steak, real cheese, homemade low carb soup, prewashed bags of salad greens, seasoned chicken breasts, or whatever low carb foods are our favorites should be in the refrigerator at all times.

High carbohydrate foods that tempt us should be banished from our homes - at least until we get ourselves under control. This is a time to be selfish and uncompromising. If our children have to have cereal in the morning, then they have to have cereal that we don't like. If our spouses have to have popcorn or potato chips in the evening and we love those things, then they have to keep them in the trunk of their car and eat them out of our sight. If pizza for the family is a must on Saturday nights, then they can darn well go out to Pizza Hut by themselves, and they'd better not bring back any leftovers.

We should be prepared when we are away from home, too. We can pack a small, insulated cooler to take to work each day. We can have some premeasured bags of nuts or some protein bars in our desk drawers, the glove compartments of our cars, and in our purses or fanny packs. We should eat something low carb and filling before we go to a party so we don't arrive hungry, and we should<br />have some emergency low carb rations secreted somewhere so that we can whip them out if the high carb foods at the social gathering begin to tempt us.

We should not apologize or explain or compromise our pattern of eating for anyone. We should answer only to ourselves, and only do what is best for us.

When We're Tempted To Cheat

We've made the decision that we're going to succeed, that we're going to lose weight and become healthier. We've prepared by stocking the refrigerator, the freezer, our purses, our briefcases, our glove compartments, and our desks. We've got it made in the shade, but....<br />we are still going to be tempted to cheat sometimes.

We can "just say no," but we really need to go further than that. We need to analyze why we're tempted at that particular time. Are we bored? Are we too tired? Are we lonely or afraid or angry? This is where the really hard, often uncomfortable work starts. We need to allow ourselves to feel<br />the uncomfortable feelings, to understand why we feel them, and to ride them out. It's similar to driving through a long, dark, scary tunnel. We'll never see the light at the end if we don't travel through it. In the long run it's worth all the effort.

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http://www.livejournal.com/users/junee/

Going Off Plan For A Special Day? Think Again!


"How many times have we justified going off our food plan because"it's a special day". Truth is there are so many special days in a year.

There are all the holidays :New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independance Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve.

That is 10 right there.

Then there are birthdays, and we all have one. Some of us have anniversaries, family birthdays, graduations, showers, weddings even funerals where food is served

Maybe another 10-15 there.

What about weekends? How many of us feel that we can do this no problem Monday to Friday, but weekends are more challenging. How many times in the past did you say, well I have blown it now, I will re-start on Monday.

52 weekends= 104 days.

So far we are up to almost half of the year. What I am trying to say is there will always be those days when there is temptation. But our woe should not take a holiday."

I also ran across this and thought it fit many of us!
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http://www.livejournal.com/users/junee/

Hello Girls, I have a confession to make.

Today I had 2 slices of pizza with crust. I'm not entirely sure what's going on with me, as I keep making lots of little oopsies, but the little oopsies add up. It seems like the more determined I am to make these pants fit, the more I'm enclined to cheat. Part of me is freaking out that I'm acting this way, but they other part just says 'a little won't hurt and I want it, I deserve it' and I keep listening to this second voice. I want this woe to work for me. I like being skinnier, healthier, I like the attention, and being able to fence and bellydance without being winded and sore the next day. I do want it. Tonight was stupid. I had lunch at 11:30 today and this evening we went to Walmart. I got hungry while we were there, and typical us we spent a good 2 hours wandering around. The girls were getting ice cream, cookies, and chocolate stuff. I wanted the stuff too, and chips, cuz I was hungry. So I got a pizza when we finally left and ate 2 slices like a mad woman. Partly cuz I wanted too, and partly cuz I hadn't eaten enough in the last few hours and was woozy.
I'm getting BoP now. No more cheating. I want to reach my goal. I'm going to start saying No.

B- sausage, lc french toast
L- sausage, cheese, pickle - ghetto college meal: blech
D- pizza (toppings after first 2 slices)
Water - 3-4 bottles
Supplements - yes
excersize - fencing

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Kitty's Journal

Kitty, it is hard to resist pizza....especially when you're HUNGRY! Always make sure you have some sort of lowcarb snack with you: like jerky or some nuts to fend off that hunger dragon!

I had a pretty good day today:
Breakfast: a muffin-less Sausage McMuffin and some lowcarb nut fudge, green tea

Lunch: leftover salmon w/mayo, cauli salad, and a plum

Snack: some lowcarb nut fudge, and some CarbCountdown choc milk

Dinner:cauli salad and watermelon

"dessert": a few sunflower seeds

The "fudge" is butter, protien powder, cocoa, Splenda, and walnuts. I also add in flaxseed meal and kinda coat it with almond meal so it's not so messy. It is very chocolatey, but made with Splenda, and the nuts and flaxseed give it alot of fiber.

Big 5:
Sleep:6 1/2 hours (I'll do better tonight)
Menu: good, but maybe too much watermelon?
Water:okay, could do better
Supplements: yes
Exercise: no....I gotta get going on this!

I'm getting there....slowly! I was down 2 pounds this morning....I knew I released alot of fluid yesterday! I ALWAYS get that carb-bloat when I eat off-plan.

I am more determined than ever now.....and DH has decided to start doing South Beach soon. I hope he's serious and he can stick to it.

Take care, everyone.

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Junie, I like the analogy about the dragon! MizKitty, don't sweat the two slices of pizza..... you'll be back on track today. Maxi, that's great that DH wants to do South Beach. It will make it much easier for you to stay on track. Also, that l/c fudge sounds wonderful, but I am afraid, just like the almonds I binge on, that would be a dangerous thing for me to have around.

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196/135-135

Another day going well here! My big downfall is snacking in the evening and I haven't eaten any junk at all since Monday. (I know this is only Thursday, but hey, ya gotta celebrate the small victories, right?) I feel so much better in the mornings when I don't snack the night before. I won't be at work tomorrow, so I will catch you all on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone!

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Started Atkins-1/2/04
174 lbs at heaviest



5'0 154/136.5/130

I had another good day. I was down 2 more pounds of carb-bloat!

I made myself an omelet for breakfast and had a plum, too.
Lunch was on the road: leftover cauli salad and some fudge and CC milk. Snack later was a plum, a lowcarb juice and some fudge.
Dinner was some of the meatsauce for the spaghettie DD and DH had. I had cauli salad and some watermelon, too.

DD left her dessert plate on the kitchen counter. It had about 1/3 peice of cheesecake on it. Icamethisclosetoeatingit. But, I didn't. It went in the trash right after I sniffed it. LOL!

Big 5 check list:
Sleep:7 hours
Menu: good
water: okay
exercise: completed most of a circuit on my homegym. It started feeling herky-jerky. I think it needs to be oiled.
supplements: taken

I'm having a few sunflower seeds now and I have a bottle of water sitting here, too.

I can only do this if I take it one day at a time. How's everyone else doing?

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I just heard from Nick! He survived helicopter ride, goes through customs tomorrow, heads to Kuwait and then its homeward bound!! He's on his way! I'm so freakin excited, and he just called to say he loved me. Awwww! I'm on cloud nine, no cheating today. I'm gonna go finish my lunch and dash to class. Whee! More later

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Kitty's Journal