Well I definately got "Me" time this weekend. Didn't do much of anything but hang out here at home. I just relaxed and watched TV. Well I did cook up a roast and cleaned up a little but basicly I just took it easy. My little min pin was in doggie heaven just because I stayed home with him. Too bad I can't teach him to clean, at least to pick up all his toys he drags all over the place.

Awwww......nothing like "me" time. Have a great week!

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Hi babybluejay1, Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week also.

Here I go neglecting my journal. Just seem to run out of time to do things anymore. But I need to try harder to keep track. I've been holding my own. I haven't lost any more but then I haven't gained any either. I am going to try harder to work on that the next couple of weeks. Some of my lunch meetings have ceased so I don't have to worry about eating around the food supplied. So that will make things easier. Only have one day a week there now to worry about as far as those meetings go.

I've started exercising more. I've been pretty slacked on that the past few months, but now I am doing more and hopefully that will help get things on the right track again. I like the cooler weather, when it's hot I just don't feel like doing much. So now is my time of year, Yeah!

Hi Nicola!
I just returned from an extended outage. I surely understand whatcha mean with the results of dropping off. How are things going with the carb monster? Which plan are you on? I found that my biggest issues with carbs came about when I started utilizing the "net carb" stuff. For me a carb is a carb, unless it is fiber. When I stick with that rule, I have my best results. I also have less carb cravings. Consider that for yourself.
Have a wonderful day!
Tom.

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Tom

Hi Tom,

I try to stick to Atkins, basicly because it is what I know best. I can do really well for a month or two then I stall and I have to regroup and figure out how to break the stall. I have been toying with the idea of having a couple high carb days every couple of weeks and then right back to lc. Of course I know I would have to control those carbs so they weren't bad choices. Haven't made up my mind about that though. I hate that carb monster. It is a never ending battle to overcome. And with the holidays fast approaching that could become an issue. I never had too much a problem with the net carb thing but then most of the time I try to keep it under 25g a day. If I go higher then that I seem to want to go off and eat something sweet. So I can see your piont in just counting a carb as a carb, and lately I've also been paying more attention to that and the fiber content. Just makes good sense.

Thank you for stopping by and welcome back from your extended outage.

From my experience, DO NOT do the high carb days. I was able to get down very close to my goal weight and then just sat just out of reach. I tried experimenting with regular days and high carb days and oh so many "other" days. By the time the endless cycle finished, here I am within 18 pounds of when I started LC over 5 years ago. For me there just is no option of high carbs or such. I should have worked with portion control and calorie counting within LC boundaries. The other thing was to recognize that some of the physical traits I was searching to change are hereditary. Had I realized and accepted that years ago, I would still be down at my goal weight. Good luck with your efforts. This is a great community for support in so many ways. We are all in this boat together.
Have a Wonderful Day!

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Tom

Hi, Nicola!

Tom's right, cycling high carb days doesn't really work. All eating higher carbs does for me is make me hungrier, and wanting more food. Keeping my carbs very low keeps me from getting so hungry, I'm usually satisfied with my meals and perhaps one evening snack.

I'm pretty much following the first phase of the original Atkins plan. It worked for me before, when I was much younger (LOL!), and I'm hoping it will get me to where I want to be now. Counting net carbs just does not work for me.

I hope you have a really good rest of the week!

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Nita

Nita, Tom,

Thank you so much for the imput. It's just something I've been considering, but I think I will take both your advise and scrap the idea. With the holidays coming it could be a real disaster. I was 5 lbs from my goal weight just about 5 years ago and somehow got totally off track and gained about 40 lbs back. But I did lose 20 of that, need to work on the other 20. With all that in mind it would probably be a good time to get back to the basics. I know it works, been there...done that and need to just get back to it.

Thanks again for the advise, have a great evening!

Nicola,
For the Holidays I usually concentrate on Turkey, salad and steamed veggies like Broccoli. We love to deep fry Turkey. I do love the skin. For desert, we may have a piece of SF pie of some sort. I'm usually so full of Turkey, no dessert for me. I end up picking while carving and then stripping the bones. Buuurp.

This year will be a little challenge for us. We are headed to So Cal for TG with friends. I dunno how they eat for the Holidays. It is really just a matter of making choices. I choose to eat only meats, cheese and veggies. I just respectfully pass the dinner roll dish to the next person.

It really isn't hard to stay LC any time of the year. Eating home or out. We eat out often without issue. Most servers will work well with me.
Once the sugars out of your system the cravings will lessen to a controlable level. It was that way for me.

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Tom

Hi Tom,

We are going to Ohio this year for Thanksgiving, so I know that is going to be a challenge also. Like you said meat and veggies and cheese are always a good choice. Can't screw up too much it you stick to that. We are usually on the go all the time, just too may people to see and it seems never enough time, just hope they aren't all trying to feed me. For Christmas I plan on spending a nice quite holiday at home, haven't done that in years, so the boyfriend and I hopefully will do just that. No big dinners to cook, just whatever. He's trying to lose a few lbs himself, have had some trouble convincing him to do LC but he is starting to come around.

I know that once the sugar is out of your system your cravings stop. But I really have to watch those sugar alcohol's too because they have the same affect on me. I quit buying any sugar free candy, even the ones with spenda. (to many of them and I get an upset stomach). But I do have a SF desert once in a while. Doesn't seem to affect me as much.

Thanks for stopping by, have a good day!

Nicola, those cravings do subside, especially if you keep your carb count low. I, too, focus on meat & cheese, adding just a bit of veggie for variety. And I've cut out most artificial sweeteners, too. I find that they can also cause cravings. Well, I did have a few sf pickles for lunch, but not enough to derail me.

It's hard to avoid carby foods if you don't have enough lc choices. Eating at someone else's house can be a problem. Eating out usually isn't, although in West Texas they look at you like you have 2 heads if you say you don't want the bread or the potatoes! It's like is sacreligious or something to not eat it! LOL!

Have a fantastic weekend.

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Nita

Hi Nita,

I don't eat out much these days, but I don't worry about what they think or anything else when I do. I'm buying so it's like this, skip the bread, leave the potatoes off my plate and no dessert. With that said it usually works out well. Now I don't know about when I get to Ohio. We eat out a lot there. The biggest problem is usually pizza. My BF loves it and since you can't find a good pizza here in Florida he is usually on a mission to get some when we get up there. But he's on this diet now so maybe he won't want to go that route.

I usually stay away from Pizza except when a group of us go to Pizza Hut for the lunch Buffet. I love their Ceasar salad and then I will demolish over 2 whole pizzas stripping all the stuff off on to a plate. They pick up a huge pile of crust with the plates.
Here's a couple a simple SF desserts that take care of my cravings at night...
Cream cheese with Splenda and vanila extract & whipping cream (it is in the recipe section).
Another real quick thing I found was to simply sprinkle some Splenda on regular old Sour Cream. This is great when you are eating out. They always bring extra SC for someones Baked Potato. It makes a very small simple dessert so that you can "have your dessert and eat it too."

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Tom

I will probably give in and let him one pizza night, but that's it. We'll probably be running so much he won't have time to think to much about it.

I've tried the cream cheese and spenda, it's a quick fix when you have a bad craving. And believe me I always have some in the fridge. BF gave me a menu yesterday for a dinner we have to go to while we are up there. I chose the steak, I was glad to see I had a choice of something that would work for me. The rest was all pasta dishes. Nope don't need any of that.