My weekend was not good at all. Had too much stuff I probably shouldn't have. But I had my granddaughter all weekend, so who cares?!

Back to basics today. Skipped breakfast - wasn't hungry until right before lunch. Had some leftover chicken and homemade coleslaw. Supper will be more leftovers. Gonna eat them until they're gone!

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Nita

Yesterday wasn't a bad day for me, probably just so-so. Today will be better. I am going back on my salad kick for a while. And hopefully back into some exercise. I swear that I am going to put that treadmill in the middle of my living room before long. Just need to get my mind set on getting back to business.

LOL! When the exercise equipment is tucked out of the way, it sure is easy to ignore!

Yesterday was better, but still not up to my plan. Today I will aim to do much, much better. One step at a time........

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Nita

Finally a good day. Didn't eat anything that I shouldn't. Exercise, didn't get any at home but at work I was on my feet all day on my feet running between departments so I can say that I got my exercise there. Today will most likely be more of the same.

I did really well until last night, just got hungry, and grabbed the easy stuff, took some bran crisps and broke them up in a bowl, poured on some almond milk and a bit of cream with a touch of sweetener, and had a bowl of bran cereal. Then later I had another. Should have stopped with one! Lots of fiber, though. I probably was well within my carb limits for the day, anyway.

I put on a new pair of pants that are sort of clingy, and was thoroughly disgusted at how lumpy my thighs look in them, so I put a dress on over them, one that I'd bought last winter, but it's too short to wear as a dress. Makes a great tunic for over these pants. So now I can wear the dress and cover the lumpy thighs, and still have a great outfit! Now that I see how awful my thighs look in these pants, I guess I really need to start getting in some walking exercise and try to do some toning. Now that the weather is cooler, some good walking should be in order.

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Nita

The cooler weather is always a plus, seems to help get me motivated also.

Yesterday was a good day for me also. I didn't eat any dinner though, I was so tired when I got home I layed on the couch, didn't wake up until almost 9, didn't even hear the phone ring, guess I need to take a weekend and just relax to catch up. Probably won't happen though. I'm looking forward to my vacation in November. That's less then a month away, which reminds me that I need to drop a few more lbs before then.

It's so easy to skip eating when you are so tired, or to just grab anything to satisfy the hunger. Sometimes when I'm exhausted I'll just make a quick protein shake, easy to do, easy to get down, and it doesn't just sit there in your tummy while you're trying to sleep.

I brought some homemade jerky to work this morning, nibbled it all morning, and didn't have those hunger pangs right before lunch. We made it last week with ground beef, just a pound, trying a newish recipe, or actually, a combo of several recipes. It turned out so well that I'm going to make another batch. Gotta thaw some ground beef now. It's much easier for me to eat than the kind you buy. I have a hard time biting off and chewing regular jerky, but this is easy to eat.

Nicola, I envy you your vacation. I'm ready to go back to Ohio for another visit, the last one was so enjoyable.

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Nita

Nita, I can't wait to get Ohio. I love the weather, any cool air feels great to me after a long hot summer here. My boyfriend and I grew up in the same area there, we both have sons and daughters, and grandchildren there so we end up going once or twice a year to visit. And it usually works out pretty good since they can't always afford to come here.

Yesterday wasn't a bad day. I got to sit down and get some work done for a change, didn't have much time to think about eating much. That's good though. And when I have a good day there its usually carries over when I get home. Hurray for that! My boss asked me to work Sunday, I managed to work it out by doing a few extra hours during the week, because I need at least one day a week to rest. Thank goodness she went for that. What I need is an exercise room at work. They put one in but in another building that you can't walk too.

I hear you about needing exercise at work. Once it awhile I just have to get up and move around.

I love Ohio this time of year. Well, I love fall, it's the calmest and most peaceful time. Here in Texas, November is a very, very pretty month. We get a little color, not brilliant, but soft, muted colors. Usually browns and yellows, with the occasional burst of red from some bushes. The November sky is usually the most brilliant blue color you've ever seen. And I love the fall and winter sky the best. You get the prettiest clouds, and the colors at sunrise and sunset are just way too pretty!

Back to low carb! I stayed on plan yesterday. I'm still not losing anything, but if I can at least maintain, it's so much better than gaining. I want to do the original Atkins plan again, but won't start until after next weekend. We have camp with our grandson the 31st through the 2nd, and it will be impossible to eat completely on plan, the food choices there are typical fare for kids. Hot dogs, corn dogs, mac & cheese or spaghetti, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, etc. Lunch & supper always has a salad bar, so I could make do with that. They offer deviled eggs, but they are sweet, so I'm sure they have too much sugar in them. I can easily avoid the cookies, smores, etc., because I know that one bite with push me into a carb binge. I'm going to have to make some nibbles to take along so I'll have enough to eat without having to rely on their food. Boiled eggs, homemade jerky, perhaps a few OMMs, etc.

This weekend I am going to make up a big pot of stock. I have a turkey carcass and the bones & skin from 2 rotisserie chickens in the freezer, and some chicken bones & fat in the fridge, they will all go in a pot with onion & celery and simmer for a few hours to cook out all that goodness. I should also do a beef stock. I have a supply of beef bones in the freezer, it's just a matter of roasting them first, then simmering them. Might take them out of the freezer at lunch.

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Nita

Another day gone by, I ate less then usual, just didn't feel much like the eating. That's good though. I need a day like that once in a while. But now the weekend is here. I think I am going to make a pork roast with mashed califlower and a salad. I need to try to maintain through the weekend because next week I have to suffer through more meetings at work. Hopefully they will have a salad day there too.

I love the winters in Ohio. I have what I call 4 to 5 months of fall here in Florida, it's like 2 seasons here fall and summer. So I rather enjoy Ohio in the winter. I guess I should go to Northern Florida more offten because it does get rather cool up there in the winters, just don't know anyone up that way.

Yesterday I was bad, I had a donut. Oh well, I'm over it now. Today was good, I did well. I got my jeans out though, I need to lose 10 more lbs, so it's going to get serious here tomorrow. No more excuses. I started doing crunches today and tomorrow I will hit the treadmill and do even more crunches. I am just one size away and I do not want to go out and buy all new jeans right before my vacation. I can do this. I know I can!

I'm not fond of shoveling snow, or driving in it. If I could stay put, then I'd love to spend a winter in Ohio. I love the peacefulness of a snowy day. I actually like to walk in the snow.

The weekend was pretty much a bust. Sunday is just a bad day for me. I had peanuts a bit after lunch, the roasted kind in the shell. And then a low carb fudge bar.After that it went downhill. We had nice steaks for supper, but I knew there was low carb ice cream in the freezer, had some with nuts and unsweetened coconut on top, it was too good, I had another bowl, this time with nuts & blueberries. And after that I needed something else, so I had more blueberries with cream. And I still wanted something, so I had some bran crisps crumbled in a bowl with almond milk and cream on it. Sheesh! No wonder I wasn't hungry this morning. BTW, this is NOT typical for me. But Sunday evenings are a problem, I just want to eat and eat and eat for some reason.

Today is a much better day. I polished off the little bit of homemade beef jerky I had on my desk, then lunch was roasted chicken and cucumbers with ranch dip. Tonight we might finish off the beef shanks I cooked over the weekend.

I'm making my plans for food to take with me to camp that will keep in an ice chest. Boiled eggs, maybe chicken salad, jerky. This is just to supplement or replace the camp food. They serve stuff aimed at kids, like chicken nuggets, corn dogs, pizza, burgers, mac & cheese, spaghetti - a low carb eaters' nightmare! I want to make sure that if the only thing available is the salad (they always have a fantastic salad bar), that I'll have enough protein to be satisfied. Thus, the eggs & jerky and maybe chicken salad.

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Nita

I know about those snack attacks. I felt on ecoming on last night but I managed to avoid it by keeping busy. Hurray for that. All in all yesterday was a good day, I got through our Mon meeting during lunch without blowing it. Hopefully these meeting end soon so I can get back on schedule....I'm not gaining any weight...just standing still. And another month is almost here.

Hi,

I live in Ohio and I want out!!! Not that Ohio is so bad, but the winters can be brutal. I am afraid we will get a lot of snow this year because we had a drought this summer. Same thing happened last year and we had a terrible snow storm. Temps can get really cold too...but if you've lived here you know that. We are planning to move someplace warm when we retire...which isn't soon.
I am starting back on my exercise program. I do Turbo Jam. I am starting back on the 20 minute workout and will try to do that daily. I plan to also throw in some yoga or resistance training on different days. I do enjoy working out with the dvd's much better than walking or going to the gym. So I am off here in just a few minutes to work out,
Hope you have a good day.

~Joyce

Hi, Joyce! I love driving through Cincinnati, it's a pretty city, with lots of character. Last time we went to Ohio, though, we flew, so missed your town entirely!

I hope you stick with our challenge. I'm trying to do month by month. I'll post a new challenge on Friday, for November, as I will be w/o computer access from Friday afternoon until we get home Sunday evening. Feel free to pop in whenever you want, and make the challenge whatever will suit your needs. We used to do 100 day challenges, but it got really hard to stick with it for that long. So just one month at a time.

Today I've done ok. Had a shake (whey protein) for breakfast, leftover beef shanks & broccoli for lunch, a few bites of homemade jerky for a snack. Supper is anybody's guess!

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Nita