Hey, Emelia...does this mean that if you hit your 100-pound mark by November 25th and I hit my goal of 190 (162 pounds lost!) by November 1st that we can have stuffing at Thanksgiving? Huh? Does it?

Does anyone plan on having a planned cheat at Thanksgiving? My co-workers who are low carbing with me are already talking about it.

If I DO reach my goal to weigh 190 by then, I don't think I'd wanna mess it up by eating stuffing...(I'd much rather have chocolate). LOL

Seriously, though...the thought of "cheating" just now irks me. I'm doing so well and I don't wanna mess it up.

April
352 / 205 / 180
5'10", large frame, size 13 shoe
www.geocities.com/aprilreinhardt

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I will tell you (and April can back me up on this) that at about the 3 month mark, I was TOTALLY obsessed. That's probably a good thing. Really. Just make sure the obsession is about getting healthy, and eventually it won't seem such a burden...you'll hit the "zen" of this way of eating.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Advice appreciated. I am glad to hear I am not the only one to feel so obsessed. Right now I think I have to be. I am tracking everything and learning lots in the process. The availability of the support boards and diet trackers has been a real god-send. I just wonder when I will settle down and feel confident enough in what I am doing to take that deep breath and say "Yeah, this is a way of life now."

How long did it take you all? Did you actually go full steam ahead until you reached a certain goal?

Rave

I've been overweight since age 13 when a surgery messed with my thyroid...long story. I was very successful with lc...lost 60lbs., still had maybe another 60 to go..and here I am FOUR years later having regained 40 of the 60 I lost? But I am not giving up, just making shorter goals. I mean I committed to staying 100% with meat, lc veggies, one diet soda a day from Wed. thru Sunday...how short can it get. I am not setting a final weight goal, because the issue here is feeling well and the weight will come off when I am eating correctly. I hope then to 'stretch' the time taking it a week at a time. My husband and a young fellow who lives with us is helping to keep me honest!

I jsut wonder how many here have had a long time weight issue and how many of those have lost to their goal weights in the past? I only ever made it all the way ONCE in 44 years of food issues!!!

I am embarassed to post to the boards but I need your help too!! Just because I have tried to restart so many times and failed does NOT mean I MUST fail this time, right? I guess some would say I don't really care...but I do!!

Have a great lc day...

As for Thanksgiving, see how you feel by then! You may want to splurge for the day OR you may want to stay with the program! BUT only you can decide!

MONICA

Granny, it is SO good to see you here!

Of course you're welcome...and yes, it's definitely an ongoing battle, one that I've faced for over 20 years and will continue to face. That's why, along with the right WOE, it's important to do the emotional/psychological/spiritual work on yourself.

Short sprints is a GREAT way to do this! You can definitely do it!


April and Monica: I'm havin' stuffing. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Rave: I was pretty much full-steam-ahead for about a year and a half..it was April/May of this year when I lost steam. I can't explain exactly what happened, but it wasn't as though I hit a particular goal. It just happened. But now I'm full-steam-ahead again...so I didn't lose too much time.

I am doing well, btw...down 4.5 pounds with TOM imminent...enjoying the rush of eating right!

Emelia

"We can only learn to love by loving." - Iris Murdoch, Irish writer
294/208/174 since 25-Nov-01

Great post Em,

I agree you got to give yourself a break once in a while. It really helps to retreat, regroup, refocus, recommit, and start fresh. Sometimes it is neccessary even.
You've done so well for so long. 20 months is a long time, sheesh!

gregg at goal since 5-1-03

Granny, I just had to stop and say Hi! It's so good to see you again. Yes, you can do this.

Rave, yes it is intense for several months, usually, until as Em says, you find your groove. Of course, once in a while the groove moves, and you have to make adjustments, but that's ok.

Gregg, LOL!!! Didn't recognize your signature. How ya doin?

172/108/108
Zone since 4/98

What an excellent topic and right on the mark.

I can relate so well.

Granny, it's nice to see you again! Oh, you might remember me as "lynnrath" - I changed my name.

Don't feel bad! I'm in the same boat. Last December I lost all the way down to 152 and a size 10. That's 1 size and 12 pounds from goal. As close as I've been in YEARS. I then went on vacation and that was it. A downhill slide. Now I'm a size 14 and I could just kick myself.

But hey, better than the size 24 I USED to be. I'm just trying to be thankful for that.

You should too. At least you didn't gain that last 20 as well.

Here we go, plugging away again.

LCE Member since 2001
http://www.ilovelowcarb.com
Low Carb & Loving it!

Granny! It's great to see you here!

I too have been on pause since the end of June. I was relly getting tired of it. Not of the food or anything like that. Tired of the constant vigilance, the always being prepared. All the stuff that I had to do to make my life low carb. After a break, now I'm ready for that stucture again, actually find myself missing it.



Always eat your veggies first!

Baconboy...so glad to see a post from you...we started on this board at about the same time!

Thanks for the 'cheers and welcomes'. I have been on the boards reading ever since Dec. 2002 and have been so proud of everyone ELSE!!

have been out a lot, as we are renting a property for the church in town...so this means lots of chances to stand or fall. Yesterday I had mineral water as nothing else available...and I nearly broke my own arm trying to pat myself on the back...ha ha, but it felt so good to do the right thing. I feel like I have that 'control' again...I can only say it is like 'throwing a switch' in the brain. Maybe down the road I will need a rest or pause...but I am heading down the tracks now.

Glad others are recomitting as well.

I am already contemplating Thanksgiving. I think I will make some LC desserts, make lots of veggies, and attempt some LC stuffing (DH and I are spending it alone this year...woohoo!). If the stuffing tastes icky, well, we throw it away. But, I WILL have mashed taters.

Mmmmm....taters (said in my best Homer voice).

Kellie, F38
Started Atkins 8/1/03 (off and on for the last few years but sticking to it this time!)
206/194/160 -- 9.5 inches GONE! (as of 9/3)

Em, this topic is very relevant to my current situation.

I took a break this summer for about 2 months. It was fine for awhile, but I am much happier and content with the same structure you referred to. I am at peace when I'm losing weight, I like the extra enery and mental alertness. HA! I know what you guys are thinking.

I will never abandon LC. It works, it agrees with my body.

Hey, I'm thinking of Thanksgiving too!

Emilia

What you said about getting into the zen of this wol interests me, because I don't think it's happened to me yet. I'm three months in, having had two lapses, a week on vacation and four days when my sister came, I picked myself up immediately afterwards (which I've NEVER done on diets before).

But just now, with my weight dithering around the same mark for a couple of weeks, and feeling bored with the food, I am NOT giving up, but I keep finding my brain turning around alternatives to this WOE. I NEED to lose weight, I HAVE to lose weight, and I am determined to do so, but the interminability of it is starting to do my head in. I guess I need to vary my meals - well, I do, actually, but the passion I felt is beginning to ebb.

So when does the zen thing take off?

Hmm...when did the zen kick in?

As I read back into my journals and articles, I see I hit the zen sometime around the 9-month mark. For me, it was the moment that I realized that while the obsession was a great transfer of my energy from unhealthy unconsciousness to healthy awareness, I wasn't relaxed at all - and that tension itself was a form of self-sabotage.

While my passion for LC and my drive to reach my goal never left, I made myself stop tracking and measuring every morsel of food....and I found that I knew what to eat and how much to eat...and I started dropping weight again.

It's SUCH a personal thing, Calleva...I think part of it is crossing the line between 'diet' and 'way of eating'...it's when your unconscious eating habits are the healthy ones...some people hit it quickly, some of us are more stubborn..

Part of the zen is also accepting that you have changed your way of life; you've changed some core beliefs about yourself and your weight.

I could go on and on...I think some days I'm fooling myself believing I can ever get under 200, yet the stronger, healthier part of me knows it's possible. And at those moments that I think I just can't do this another second, I look into my shopping cart and realize that without thinking, I've got a load of LC foods.

It will happen. Funny...zen is at once the hardest and the easiest state to be in..but it's a remarkable thing when you realize you're there.

Hope this ramble helps!

Emelia

"We can only learn to love by loving." - Iris Murdoch, Irish writer
294/208/174 since 25-Nov-01

Thanks, Emilia, yes you did help. In my own case I haven't ever micro managed my eating, I don't use fitday and I haven't totted up my daily carbs since Induction. I just eat the things I know are OK and I doubt my carbs go over 40 because I keep to the legal stuff.

Yes, getting below 200 must seem awesome. Over here in Britain, we tend to think in 'stones' where pounds come in bunches of 14 and I think this really helps psychologically by presenting mini-goals. I didn't really notice hitting 199 pounds but I was thrilled to be below 14 stones (196). I just wish I could get down to 13 and a half, it would give me a real lift!
Clare