Thanks, Universe

So, the universe was clearly just waiting for me to own up to the gain, because this morning, I weighed back down at 164.6. Finally!

On the non-scale front, I bought some clothes online at New York and Company -- all medium shirts and size 8 pants. The pants fit perfectly, and while one of the shirts that's meant to be tight and stretchy is kind of tight and stretchy, They all fit pretty well. Josh commented on how skinny I look when I wear clothes that fit. Oh, and I went to the mall last weekend and bought myself two pair of boots, one short and one knee-high. I've never been able to wear that kind of boot because of my CALVES, but all of the boots I tried on fit, so that was a bonus. Oh, and I went to Ann Taylor Loft and was trying on some sweaters in size medium. They all seemed bulky and weird, and I almost didn't buy any of them. I ended up grabbing a medium and a small in one sweater, and when I tried on the small, it fit perfectly and wasn't bulky. So then I HAD to buy it. I also got some SUPER comfy yoga pants that are all stretchy and nice. I think I might live in them from now on.

So, anyway, I'm feeling good, and I'm glad to be back down in the 164 range instead of the 165 range ... I have to fight for every pound these days! Which is a wee bit frustrating, since Josh is losing at a rate of almost 6 pounds per week. He's lost 17.4 pounds since he started three weeks ago! As sad as it is that I can't lose that quickly (I'd be to my goal weight in no time!), I'm happy for him, and I'm excited that it's working for both of us.

An UPdate

I've been holding off on posting lately, because I saw a sudden 1-lb. increase last Monday, despite no change in my eating habits, and I thought it was water weight and would go away after a week or so. Well, today marks a week that I've been completely stuck at 165.8, and so I guess I have to own up to it. Not sure what to make of the increase, but I still think that with as stubborn and persistent as it is, it has to be a PMS kind of thing and will hopefully go away soon.

We're going to be leaving town on Friday, so hopefully I can get my weight back on the downswing by then.

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Well, imagine my surprise (and delight) when this morning I weighed in at 164.6! I'm only about half a pound away from my initial goal (and the normal weight range)!!! And I'm less than 15 pounds from my ultimate goal (although I'd really like to see a 4 in the tens spot ... we'll see)!

I'm seriously excited today! If you can't tell by all of the exclamation points! I've lost 35.9 pounds since April. So that averages out to a little over a pound a week for the past 8 months ... not too shabby.

In the past few days, I've started drinking a lot more water and a lot more tea, instead of quite as much Coke Zero. I wonder if the sodium in the soda makes me retain water? And I sweeten the tea with  Splenda, rather than the aspartame that's in Coke Zero. Atkins is anti-aspartame, so maybe if I actually follow the rules, I do better!

Josh  has lost nearly 11 pounds in the past not-quite two weeks. He was picking on me this morning that before he started, I told him he'd probably lose 15 pounds in two weeks and he's only lost 11. I reminded him that he's had beer at least three days out of the past 12 days, plus a B&B at my company's Christmas party. If he'd been 100 percent, he'd probably have met my prediction. Plus, it hasn't been two weeks yet! Either way, he's done really well, and I'm excited for him.

Eh

Well, after indulging in wine and dessert at our holiday party on Sunday, my weight went up about half a pound on Monday. Then went up another half a pound on Tuesday. Wednesday it stayed steady at 166.2, and this morning I was down slightly to 166 even. So, so far on Induction, I've only lost 1 pound, and Monday will be the end of our second week. I HAD lost about two pounds in less than a week, which is VERY fast for me these days. Maybe I can get that 0.8 pounds back before our two weeks are up.

Yay for Induction!

I'm at 165.2 this morning, which is a loss of 0.6 pounds since yesterday. That's only 1.2 pounds away from my initial goal. Nothing much new beyond that! :)

Other Wins

I went out at lunch looking for a dress to wear to our Christmas party this weekend, and I tried on a whole bunch of dresses. In sizes 8, 10 and medium. Every single one of them fit. Then I had to decide which one I really, really wanted versus which one just fit me but didn't look good. I'm so used to buying "the" dress that fits rather than actually having to choose. It's tough.

Anyway, I ended up picking a sweater-type dress that is super comfortable and super flattering. Now I just need to find some tights. I looked for some there, but they didn't have any that were small enough :)

I'm liking this

This morning, I'm down to ... wait for it ... 165.8! Ha! FatSecret told me this morning that if I keep losing at a rate of 0.6 pounds per day, I'll be at my goal weight of 150 in a month. Which, obviously, won't happen, but it's a nice way to start off a morning.

Also, Josh has lost a little over 7 pounds so far! In four days! I'm so proud of him and so excited for him!

Down again

So, this morning, I weighed in at 166.4! That's 2.4 pounds from the "normal" weight range and 16.4 pounds from my ultimate goal of 150. It's also a new number for me. And I'm wearing my size 8s again today ... just because I can :)

Updating numbers from August

I originally posted these stats back in August, and I thought it would be fun to update them to see where I stand now. I'm definitely losing more slowly than I was back then, but the weight is still slowly coming off. As long as the scale keeps trending downward, I'll be happy!

• I'm 3 pounds away from the "normal" weight zone (164), which is my initial goal, and which would put me in the "normal" weight range.
• I'm 17 pounds away from my ultimate goal of 150.
• I've lost a total of 33.5 pounds in 225 days (about 7 months) that I've been tracking my weight.
• That's an average of 0.15 pounds per day or 1.04 pounds per week.
• In the past 30 days, I've lost an average of 0.55 pounds per week.
• If I keep losing 0.55 pounds per week, I'll reach my initial goal of 164 right around New Years.
• If I keep losing 0.55 pounds per week, I'll reach my ultimate goal of 150 before my 30th birthday.
• I'm 92% of the way to my goal of 164 and 66% of the way to my ultimate goal of 150.

Thanksgiving

So, I actually LOST weight over Thanksgiving. Do people actually DO that? I'm so proud of myself! This morning I was 167 even. And I'm wearing a pair of size 8 pants from the Gap. Size 8! That's smaller than I've ever, ever worn in my life. They're a little tight, but I'm wearing them! And I can't wait for them to be too big like my size 12s are now.

In addition, Josh has decided to give Atkins a try, and I'm really excited for him. I've got to remember how to cook for Induction, though. It seems like such a long time ago and so restrictive now that I've expanded my horizons. But I told him that I would do two weeks of Induction with him if he wanted to try the diet, so we're going to do it together. I hope he's successful!

A Post-Trip Update

Well, my trip went really well. I gained a little bit of weight ... about 0.5 pound ... but that could be attributable to any number of things beyond eating habits.

I'd say I did moderately well during the conference. It helped that I was able to have a big bacon and cheese omelet with bacon and sausage every morning for breakfast. It usually held me over to the point that I didn't even need lunch. But when we did eat lunch, it was either baked chicken or steak at the conference itself or a big, delicious cobb salad from room service. Dinners were where I tended to indulge, and I ended up having dessert a few times, but my meals themselves were chosen wisely, and I usually had a salad or a steak with veggies. It also helped that there were usually low-carb snacks set out at the breaks -- fruit or nuts or cheese or sauteed/raw veggies.

Anyway, I'm fairly proud of how I did while I was there, but I'm even more excited about how quickly I got back to reality and back on track. I didn't let a few indulgences trip me up for a month or more like they did at the last conference. So that's a big win.

I've got another conference coming up in February in San Francisco. It's only about 10 weeks away, and it'll be a little bit different because it's not our conference. Fortunately, California is pretty in-tune with healthy eating, so hopefully there will be healthier options than there were in Orlando last year.

So, so tired

Stupid rain and overcast cold weather. Makes me want to stay in bed. However, it makes having to get up a LITTLE better when the scale says 169.2 instead of all of those crazy things it has been saying.

Nothing too much to share today. I've just stopped eating candy and my own baked goods, and that seems to have helped. I've been doing 40 carbs a day, but I think I'm going to try to stick at that same level while I'm in San Diego and possibly for a while when I get home, just to try to make sure it's an OK level for me. I think it's treating me OK, and sweet potatoes are definitely a good addition to my diet; they really fill me up!

I've made a few treats for my trip. I'm going to try to keep some on me at all times so that I'm not as tempted by the many, many snacks that sit out all the time. I made some of this Peanut Butter Granola, and I found the cutest, tiniest apples at Trader Joe's that I'm going to take. Oh, and I bought some sugar-free candy to help with some of my Halloween cravings, and I'll take any of that that's left. Hmmm ... what else ... I might take some flax crackers and will probably take some nuts. Fingers crossed! :)

Stupid Scale

OK, so I'm not really retracting my love for my new scale. I'm just sad that it keeps showing me these crazy numbers that keep INcreasing instead of DEcreasing. And I know it's my own fault, but I feel like the scale could cut me a LITTLE bit of slack. I mean, it's Halloween and I'm baking like a crazy person and I should be allowed to taste a little teensy bit of the delicious-smelling banana bread that I made for Josh and Oliver, right? I thought so.

Anyway, the scale was up again today. Back to 170. BOO! Now that's scary. I really haven't been deviating too much, but I've been adding back in starchy vegetables like peas, carrots and sweet potatoes, so my carb count is about 40 these days. Adding a bite of chocolate and half a slice of banana bread to that takes my carb count WAY high, and I know that's what's causing the problem for me. I wish I could just get rid of all of the chocolate in my house. I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins about a week ago, and I ate one the night I made them and haven't eaten another one since. Hopefully I won't eat any more banana bread either.

I'm going to try really hard to stick to my plan today and not eat ANYTHING other than what I've planned for. I've really got to get a few good days under my belt so that I'll be motivated to stay on track while I'm in San Diego next week. It's crazy because I KNOW that I don't want to gain weight and I KNOW that I have to make good food choices to do that, but somehow in the moment, it just doesn't seem to matter, and I'll eat that slice of banana bread or sneak a piece of chocolate. And it's all downhill from there. I've got to remember how good it feels when I make good choices and see the results on the scale.

Up Slightly

Well, I was up slightly over the course of the weekend. We went out to eat Saturday night, and I had worked all day around people eating bagels and cookies and rice krispy treats and I resisted them until about 5:30. Then I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be there and started to get hungry, so I ate a rice krispy treat. Then I got home and ate a few pieces of Halloween candy. Then we went out to dinner and I ate a piece of the bread. Then we came home and I ate popcorn, because, what did it matter at that point?

Yesterday was better, and I mostly avoided the Halloween candy, limiting myself to one Kit Kat bar. But, the scale remembers Saturday! I was up to 169.8 this morning.

I'm adding back in some starchy vegetables this week. I could probably stick with the fruits a bit longer, but I want to try something else. And I feel like fruit is probably going to have to be a very small part of my ultimate diet. It seems to make me hungry, which makes it much easier to give in to cravings.

Yesterday I made a pot roast with carrots and sweet potatoes, and I seemed to do pretty well with those new veggies. I had it again for lunch today, and it's kept me full in a way that I haven't been when I've been eating mainly fruit as my fruit/veggie portion of my meal. I'm aiming for 40 net carbs this week. I may stick at this rung for a couple of weeks, since I'm going out of town next week, and I don't want to try new things when I'm not really in control of the food/portion size/etc.

Here's to a good week!

Another before-and-during

I thought maybe it was time for another before-and-during photo comparison.

The first picture is me at the start (200.5 lbs.). The other photo is me a few weeks ago at 170. Oh, the difference 30 pounds makes!

At Last!

Well, it was Oct. 4 when I first weighed in at 170, thinking it would be an easy stroll into the 160s from there. Hardly. Today, almost a month later, I finally saw that elusive "6" after the 1 on the scale -- I weighed 169.2 this morning. A new low, of course, and only 5.2 pounds away from a "normal" weight. And less than 20 pounds to 150.

My big worries now are, like I mentioned yesterday, Halloween, then my week in San Diego, then of course Thanksgiving and Christmas. I keep telling myself that I really don't want to take two or three months off of this way of eating, so I really need to stay strong. I have found that one little indulgence usually turns into a month of binging on carbs and overeating in general, and then it's hard to get back on track. I've found that it's easier to completely avoid things like tortilla chips at the Mexican restaurant or Hershey's Kisses than to try to eat just one. Because once I get a taste, it's like crack! Plus, I feel so much better when I'm eating like I should be, so I need to keep that in mind.

I'm thinking about taking my old scale with me to San Diego. I'd take the new scale, but it's glass and I'd hate to break it.The other one is old and it would be OK if it never worked again. There's just something about the daily reinforcement of the scale that helps keep me on track. If I'm down at all, it strengthens my resolve and makes me feel good about the choices I'm making. I need that immediate (or near-immediate) reinforcement of my good choices or I slack off. I wonder if the hotel would have a scale that I could use ... I've never seen one in a hotel room. Probably easier just to bring my own :)

I guess that's it for now. Yay for 160s, and here's to staying there (right up until I hit the 150s)!

P.S. -- I just looked back, and it was July 18 that I first hit the 170s (at 179.5). So it's taken me three months to lose 10 pounds. Which sounds SO slow, until you realize that it's still about 0.7 pounds per week and I'm getting pretty close to my goal weight. And I haven't been anywhere near perfect, and I've often stalled for a month at a time. So, yeah. I'm making progress, I'm getting there.

New scale

I *heart* my new scale. It's SO consistent ... I get the same exact weight no matter how many times I get on it.

This morning, it said I was at 170 even. Not too shabby. That's the lowest I've been, and although I've seen that number three different times already this month, I'm hoping to close out October in the 160s.

Now, to do that, I'll have to avoid all of the Halloween candy that's being thrown at me. Two coworkers have already brought by Halloween goody bags full of chocolate. Now, do I give them to Oliver (who definitely doesn't need candy) or do I give them to Josh (who also probably doesn't need candy)?

I've also got to avoid the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that I made last night. I did eat one, and unfortunately for my diet, they are delicious. I need to keep in mind, though, that this is a dangerous time of year. It's a slippery slope that starts with Halloween candy and continues straight through to the first of the year. I'll have to come up with a few low-guilt treats to take me through the holidays without a fail.

Another challenge is going to be my trip to San Diego. I think I should have some good options available (omelets for breakfast are pretty much universal at these hotels), but I'm a bit worried about my ability to CHOOSE the right thing. Then there's the ubiquitous alcohol; everyone drinks at these things. I've got to make a game plan and stick with it! I don't want to backslide for an entire month like I did after the May conference in Chicago.

Down, down, down

It's amazing how well this diet works when you actually pay attention to what you're eating and follow the rules (who'da thunk?)

I'm down to 171 this morning, so I'm gradually getting back to where I was. Maybe by the weekend, I'll be back at 170. I can't WAIT to see the 160s ... it's been a long time coming. I bought a new scale yesterday, and it's supposed to be delivered today. It'll be interesting to see what the difference is. Hopefully it'll be lower and not higher :) Supposedly it's a very accurate scale, so I'm looking forward to that. It also measures in 0.2 lb. increments. I'm not sure if that'll be frustrating or awesome :)

I'm not going to do my food for the day, since I'm lazy and am tracking it at FatSecret.com. But if I try anything new that I love, I'll post it here so I don't forget it.

Today

This morning I was 171.5. Here's my meal plan for the day:

BREAKFAST
1 slice sugar-free cheesecake
2 slices bacon

LUNCH
Hamburger with cheese
Mock Potato Soup
1/2 apple

DINNER
Queso Chicken
Sauteed zucchini

SNACK:
1 apple
2 slices turkey

Total: 37 net carbs

Stress and hunger

So, I didn't exactly get back on the wagon when I intended to last week. It ended up being an extremely stressful, frustrating week, and all I wanted to do was drink margaritas and eat carbs. I didn't drink margaritas, although I did have about 1/2 glass of wine on Saturday night. But I did eat carbs. Even when I tried not to, I really couldn't resist. I guess that's the trouble in the beginning. The cravings and the hunger are still there, making it very hard to avoid the temptation. I'm going to try again this week and see how I do. This morning I'm at 172.5. I'm going to aim for 35 carbs per day this week, but I'm going to try to avoid beans. They always seem to be the beginning of trouble for me. I'm going to add in some other fruits, but only a little bit!

Here's my plan for today:

BREAKFAST:
1 slice cheesecake - 1.8 net carbs
2 slices bacon - 0 net carbs

LUNCH:
Chicken fajitas from Bravo's (no tortillas, beans, or rice) - about 10 net carbs
1 apple - 15 net carbs

DINNER:
Hamburger and a big salad - about 6 net carbs

Total - about 34 net carbs

Cheesecake

So I made a new cheesecake, and I think it's really good. I used pecans for the crust, and added vanilla and lemon juice to the batter itself. The last one I made was really bland, so those additions were very nice. And I got some sugar-free chocolate syrup, which has, if I remember correctly, just 3 net carbs per 2 Tbsp. And I'm using maybe 2 tsp. at a time, so it's not bad.

Here's the cheesecake recipe: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/lcarbcheesecake.htm

And here's the nutritional info:
Calories: 239.7
Fat: 23.6g
Cholesterol: 105.3g
Sodium: 153.9mg
Carbohydrate: 6.9g
Fiber. 0.7
Net carbs: 6.2g
Protein: 5.6g

The recipe site says it has just 2 grams of net carbs per serving, but I'm coming up with about 6. I think that's because the recipe calculator I used is counting Splenda as 1 net carb per 2 tsp. So that adds 4.4 net carbs to each serving. Without that, it would be about 1.8 net carbs per serving.

Out of Cheating-ville

So, I took a two-week vacation to the land of cheating. After doing really well and getting to a new low, I kind of splurged on our trip to see Laura and Ed. Not only did I eat the french fries that came with my hamburger (they were maybe the best french fries I've ever eaten), I also ordered a brownie with ice cream that Oliver and I split (again, probably the best brownie I've ever eaten). Unfortunately, even though that was just one meal, I indulged a few more times, because, what the heck, I was already off track. That's such self-destructive thinking!

I spent last week basically getting back on track and losing the couple of pounds that the scale had added. (I went up to 174.5 and gradually took it all back off.) We went camping this past weekend, and even though there was a ton of delicious snack-stuff sitting around (including a pack of Oreos that was just calling my name), I decided the splurge smartly -- I can get an Oreo anytime, but I can only have a marshmallow roasted over the fire when I'm out camping.

So today I weighed in at 170.5, and I'm excited (yet again) to see where I can go from here! I've got dinner planned for tonight, but I WILL have to go to the grocery store tonight so that we'll have food for the rest of the week. I've got my menu planned and my grocery list written, I've just got to actually go!

A Loss

Well, this morning I'm at 170 even. That's a new low for me! I'm not finished with my lovely time of the month, so hopefully I'll see another loss once that fun has ended for this month. Still, 170 is 30.5 pounds lost, 6 pounds away from a "normal" BMI, and 20 pounds from 150!

Yesterday, I bought a new pair of dress pants from Goodwill that came from the Gap, and they're size 10 and fit perfectly. And I bought a cardigan from Goodwill that came from Ann Taylor, and it's a medium. That was exciting for me! I even tried on this pair of size 4 pants from Banana Republic because they looked big, and I could pull them up but not button them. Then I realized that size 4 is to size 10 as size 10 was to size 16. I remember trying on my size 10s when I first started losing weight and wondering if I would ever fit in them again. I've come a long way!

I've been gradually adding in foods and upping carbs, and I think it's helped me to track everything on FatSecret.com. I was so hesitant to get out of my Induction comfort zone, but FatSecret has really helped, because I can try to watch my Fat/Protein/Carb percentages, as well as calories and net carbs. I'm not watching my calories too closely, but it's nice to keep an eye on things so I'm not eating 2,500 calories a day and wondering why I'm not losing!

This week, I'm adding in legumes, and I'm aiming for 35 carbs per day. I've already added back in more veggies, more dairy, seeds and nuts, and berries. I'm skipping over the alcohol rung because I just don't drink it that often, and I'd rather not waste a week on it. So here I am at legumes. Next week, provided legumes treat me OK, which they may not, I'll be on to fruit other than berries and melons, then on to starchy vegetables, and finally whole grains.

Here's my food for the day ... I'm mostly tracking it all over at FatSecret these days.

BREAKFAST:
Bacon and Spinach Crustless Quiche with Caramelized Onions

LUNCH:
Joey Streaker with black beans and chicken, add sour cream

DINNER:
All-American Fried Chicken
Faux Mashed Potatoes

SNACKS:
2 oz. roasted turkey
1 oz. nut/seed mix
2 T. natural peanut butter
1 slice Sugar-Free Cheesecake

TOTALS:
1850 calories
34.98 g net carbs
14% carbs
60% fat
26% protein

More Low-Carb Recipes

Just found another source of great-looking low-carb recipes: www.dlife.com.

I'm probably going to make their All American Fried Chicken with some cauliflower mashed potatoes sometime next week.

Yum!

Today's Food

Here's what I'm eating (or have eaten) today:

BREAKFAST:
2 slices bacon
1 slice Applegate Farms turkey
1 oz. white cheddar

LUNCH:
Jimmy John's BLT Unwich

DINNER:
Taco Bake
Roasted Garlic Cauliflower


SNACKS:
1 cup strawberries
2 T almond butter
1/2 medium apple

TOTALS:
1604 calories
30.65 net carbs

11% carbs
69% fat
20% protein

Couple of things

Just wanted to throw a couple of things up on the blog so that I don't lose them:

FatSecret.com is a much better food tracking program than FitDay. I've never liked FitDay.

Also, here's recipe calculator that is quick and easy.

Wednesday's Meal Plan

I'm trying not to weigh this week, because I was way up at the beginning of the week because of all of my carbs combined with the normal time-of-the-month weight gain. So I"m not going to worry about weight this week and just keep eating the way I'm supposed to.

BREAKFAST:
Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs (I think it might be time to replace this breakfast!)

LUNCH:
Leftover Italian Meatball Burger
Leftover roasted green beans

SNACK:
1 oz. pecans

DINNER:
Lemon Pepper Pork Chops - 1. 2 net carbs
Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
Salad greens
1/2 c. cucumber
1/4 c. onion

Back on the Wagon

OK, I haven't really "fallen off" the wagon, I've just gotten a little loose with my carb counting since I'm getting close to my goal of 164. I think now that I'm close to 164, I need to go back to thinking of 150 as my goal. Because I don't think I'm at a weight where I'm comfortable, and I'd really feel better if I could get to 150 or 155. I don't want to think of 164 as my goal and only ever make it to 170, when I could think of 150 as my goal and make it to 155 or 160. So, I've just decided to reset my mindset and make 155 my goal. That still means I have about 15 pounds to lose, which is a manageable amount, and it'll keep me from coasting too much.

My weight has been all over the place since Friday, when I weighed 171. That's probably because I've been eating some seriously bad carbs, including taco shells, and beans, which I just don't think are going to agree with me in the long run. I can never seem to eat them and still lose weight.

So, I'm going to try to get back into tracking and COUNTING what I eat, and I'm going to try to add in another 5 carbs this week, so around 30 carbs per day. I'll stick with the foods I've been eating, and I might add in some berries.

Let's see:

BREAKFAST:
Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs

LUNCH:
3 cups butter lettuce - 1.9 net carbs
2 slices bacon - 0 net carbs
1 hardboiled egg - 0.56 net carbs
1 oz. pecans - 1.2 net carbs
1 oz. cheddar - 1 net carb
2 T ranch dressing - 2 net carbs
I was out of cucumber  :(

DINNER:
Italian Meatball Burgers
1 cup roasted green beans - 4.1 net carbs
1 cup butter lettuce - 0.63 net carbs
1/2 cup cucumber - 0.93 net carbs

1  hardboiled egg - 0.56 net carbs
1 oz. cheddar - 1 net carb
1 oz. pecans - 1.2 net carbs
1 T ranch dressing - 1 net carb

SNACKS:
1 cup strawberries - 8.7 net carbs
1 fl oz cream, whipped - 1.3 net carbs

TOTAL: 28.08 net carbs

Back Down

OK, so this morning I was back down to 172. That's only 8 pounds away from my initial goal of 164 and 22 pounds away from 150. Yay!

Now to keep losing!

BREAKFAST:
(a bunch of random stuff)
1 oz. pecans
TJ cheese stick
1 slice of turkey
2 slices bacon

LUNCH:
Went to Bravo's and had a Taco Salad ... ate about 1/2 of the shell because it was delicious. Estimated nutrition with FitDay ... possibly way off.

DINNER:
Baked meatballs - 0.5 net carbs + pasta sauce?
Cauliflower mashed potatoes - 2 net carbs

SNACKS:
3 pieces sugar-free Reese's PB cups
2 pieces sugar-free Hershey's miniatures

TOTALS (not including pasta sauce, because I don't have the jar with me):

Calories: 1,309
Fat: 96.5
Carbohydrate: 65.3
Fiber: 16.9
Sugar Alcohols: 19.6
Net Carbs: 28.8
Protein 59.8

Not bad

So, I didn't blog on Friday before we left for the weekend, but the scale said 172, which was awesome. This morning, after a weekend of indulgences, I was at 172.5 -- not too shabby. I was prepared for that to be much higher ... and maybe it will continue to creep up as the week goes on. We'll see.

Here's my menu for the day:

BREAKFAST:
Flax cracker w/ 1 oz. cream cheese - 1 net carb
3 slices bacon - 0 carbs

LUNCH:
HUGE salad with:
1.5 cups romaine - 0.8 net carbs
1 hardboiled egg - 0.39 net carbs
2 slices bacon - 0 net carbs
1 oz. cheddar - 1 net carb
1 oz. pecans - 1.2 net carbs
1 oz. turkey lunchmeat - 1 net carb
1/4 c. onions - 3 net carbs

DINNER:
Not sure ... just realized I forgot to take out any meat, so it may be leftovers or dinner out. I'd love to try that BOGO coupon from Ruby Tuesday again. We'll see!

=8.39 carbs + dinner

Big Loser

OK, so Tuesday I was at 174.5, and yesterday I was at 174.5, and then this morning I was at 173. So that's a nice little dip ... just in time for another weekend away, wherein I will probably eat too much of too many bad foods and will be right back at 174.5 on Monday. Fingers crossed that won't happen.

One thing I have started doing is adding flax into my diet. It helps, ahem, keep things moving, but it's also almost like a grain, which means I can cook it up in a way that is sort of cracker-like and then spread things on it. It's a nice change from my other snacks, and it's pretty tasty. Here's the recipe I use: http://blog.yourlighterside.com/2009/05/flax-cracker-recipe.html. Mine doesn't actually get particularly crispy, but it's something to smear some cream cheese on!

OK, today's meal plan:

BREAKFAST:
Flax cracker - 0 carbs
1 T cream cheese - 0 carbs
2 pieces bacon - 0 carbs

LUNCH:
Asian-style pork chop - eh ... 1 carb, maybe
1 cup snow peas - 3 carbs

DINNER:
Baked meatballs - 0.5 carbs
Pasta sauce - 2 carbs

Eh.

So, on Saturday, I was down to 173.5. Now it's Tuesday, and I'm back up to 174.5. Sigh. This is getting old. I'm not changing what I'm eating or cheating AT ALL, and yet I'm essentially stagnant. One step forward, two steps back. And now Paula Abdul is in my head. GREAT.

Here's something kind of weird, though: I wasn't hungry this morning. So I didn't eat breakfast. And here it is after 11, and I'm still not really hungry. I feel a little foggy-brained, maybe, but I'm not hungry. I'm trying to respond to my body's cues and only eat when I'm hungry, but this is not what I expected. I had a snack last night at about 9, maybe a little before 9, so it's been 14 hours since I last ate anything. It'll probably be another couple of hours before I eat lunch, unless I get hungry before then.

OK, so my meal plan for the day:

BREAKFAST:
Nothing

LUNCH:
Hamburger with cheese - 1 net carb, 1 oz. cheese
1 cup cucumbers - 2 net carbs, 1 cup salad veggies
Salad dressing - 1 net carb
1.5 cups romaine - 1.2 net carbs, 1.5 cup salad veggies
2 T onions - 2 net carbs
0.5 oz. cheese - 0.5 net carbs, 0.5 cup cheese
1 oz. pepperoni - 0 net carbs
Caesar dressing - 0 net carbs

DINNER:
Hamburger with cheese - 1 net carb, 1 oz. cheese

TOTALS:
8.7 net carbs
2.5 oz. cheese
2.5 cups salad veggies
1,689 calories

Not Much to Report

There hasn't been much downward movement on the scales -- yesterday and today I was at 174, which is exactly where I was a week ago when we left to go out of town. I felt like I was good all weekend, but I think I just ate too much and didn't drink enough water. I went back for a lot of seconds, which I don't normally do. So, lesson learned -- a weekend off means a full week of recovery. Sigh.

Anyway, back on track now! Here's my menu for the day:

BREAKFAST:
Same ol', same ol' -- 2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese

LUNCH:
Lunch at Chipotle for a meeting. I've got a plan, though, and looked up all of their nutritionals.
Salad with romaine, chicken, sour cream, cheese, green salsa and fajita veggies. NO DRESSING (it has 11 net carbs in just 2 oz.!) -- 9 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese

DINNER:
Leftover Green Enchilada Chicken Casserole -- 4 net carbs, 2 oz. cheese
1 cup green beans -- 6 net carbs
1 cup romaine -- 0.4 net carbs
1/2 cup cucumber -- 1 net carb
1/8 cup onion -- 1.4 net carbs
Caesar dressing -- 0 net carbs

TOTAL:
23.8 net carbs, 4 oz. cheese

Just a Slight Blip

OK, so it turns out yesterday was just a slight blip, and I'm back to CLOSE to where I was on Friday -- 174.5. I'll take it.

Still trying to add in more veggies today. Since I averaged around 17 net carbs per day over the past few weeks, I'm trying for around 23-25 net carbs per day for this week. I didn't really go grocery shopping for this week, so we're just eating what we have. I'll have to go buy some higher carb veggies so I'm not eating the same thing every meal to try to get in enough carbs!

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche -- 2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese

LUNCH:
Hamburger with cheese -- 1 net carb, 0.5 oz. cheese
1.5 cups red leaf lettuce -- 1.5 carbs
1/4 cup onion -- 3 carbs
1 cup sliced cucumber -- 2 carbs
0.5 oz. Monterey Jack -- 0.5 carbs, 0.5 oz. cheese
2 T Ken's Caesar dressing -- 0 carbs

DINNER:
@Ruby Tuesday
Lettuce - 2 carbs
Onion, broccoli, cucumbers -- 4 carbs
Ham -- 1 carb
Cheese -- 1 carb
Ranch - 1 carb
Cheeseburger - 1 carb
Green beans - 3 carbs

TOTALS:
23 net carbs, 4 oz. cheese

Weekend away

So, after a long weekend away from my scale, not drinking enough water and sitting on my butt, I'm not going to accept what the scale said this morning as real. Also, we didn't eat dinner until after 8 last night, and when we did eat, it was a BIG dinner, so I'm hoping that had something to do with it. Anyway, it was only up to 175.5, so hopefully a ton of water and eating right today will get rid of that extra 1.5 pounds. And I'm staying close to my scale from now on ... it keeps me accountable! :)

OK, so here's my meal plan for the day. Despite the weekend "gain," I'm going to head into OWL and add back in 5 grams of carbs in the form of more veggies this week. I might have to explore some higher carb veggies, since there are only so many big salads I can eat!

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese

LUNCH:
1/8 Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese
1 1/2 cups red leaf lettuce - 1.5 carbs
1/2 oz. Monterey Jack - 0.5 carbs, 1/2 oz. cheese
1/8 c. diced onion - 1.5 carbs
1/2 cup cucumber - 2 carbs
1 T Ken's Ranch dressing - 0.5 carb

DINNER:
Cheeseburger - 1 net carb, 1 oz. cheese
1 cup green beans - 6 net carbs
1 1/2 cups red leaf lettuce - 1.5 carbs
1/2 oz. Monterey Jack - 0.5 carbs, 1/2 oz. cheese
1/8 c. diced onion - 1.5 carbs
1/2 cup cucumber - 2 carbs
1 T Ken's Ranch dressing - 0.5 carb

TOTALS: 23 net carbs, 4 oz. cheese

Only 10 lbs. until "normal"!

So, I'm 174 this morning, which means I'm only 10 pounds away from the "normal" weight range. Josh insists that this does not carry over into any other aspects of life; the "normal" just applies to weight. We'll see.

I'm SO excited about this! Ten pounds is so little! After that, I'll probably want to lose another 10-15 pounds to get to a size I'm comfortable with, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it :)

Anyway, here's my meal plan for the day ... it's a little mixed up because we're heading out of town. And I HOPE I can keep up my losing streak while we're gone!

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche

LUNCH:
We're eating out, possibly at Greek Fiesta. I need to look at their menu.

DINNER:
Eh? Something in Fayetteville.

Hello, 174!

Well, the scale showed another loss this morning, so I'm down to 174.5. If I lose another half a pound, I'll be 10 pounds away from my first goal!

Today's menu:

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche (2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese)

LUNCH:
1/8 Sausage Quiche (2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese)
1 cup cucumber (2 net carbs, 1 cup foundation veggies)
2 T Ken's Ranch (1 net carb)

DINNER:
Bacon Beef Roll (2 net carbs, 0.5 oz. cheese)
1 cup green beans (6 net carbs, 1 cup other veggies)
1 cup romaine (0.8 net carbs, 1 cup foundation veggies)
0.5 oz. cheese (0.5 net carbs, 0.5 oz. cheese)
1 T Ken's Ranch (0.5 net carbs)

TOTALS:
16.8 net carbs
2 cups foundation veggies
1 cup other veggies
3 oz. cheese

Another Loss

OK, so I was down again — to 175 — this morning, despite my lunchtime travesty yesterday. I did remember that there were croutons on my salad, which I didn't eat, which would have contributed to the 41 carbs. So at least it wasn't QUITE that many.

I'm back to where I was before I started gaining in the past week, and out of the plateau that had plagued me for a month before that, so that's good. I'm feeling positive here, so hopefully I'll actually see a brand-new, never-seen-before number on the scale sometime this week. (Dare I hope for tomorrow?) Only 11 pounds to go until I'm in the "normal" weight zone!

Here's my menu for today:

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs (1 oz. cheese)

LUNCH:
Hamburger w/cheese - 1 net carb (1 oz. cheese)
1 cup green beans - 6 net carbs (1 cup other veggies)
1 cup romaine - 0.8 net carbs (1 cup foundation veggies)
0.5 oz. cheddar - 0.5 net carbs (0.5 oz. cheese)
1 T Ken's Ranch - 0.5 net carbs

DINNER:

SNACK:
1 cup cucumber - 2 net carbs (1 cup foundation veggies)
2 T Ken's Ranch - 1 net carb

TOTALS:
13.8 net carbs
2 cups foundation veggies
1 cup other veggies
2.5 oz. cheese

Success?!

Well, it seems that the first day of my experimental return to Induction has worked. Yesterday, I was 177 (except for one time it said 176.5), and today it said 175.5 — all five times I weighed just to make sure. So, that's either a pound or a pound and a half in a day, which I LOVE. Now I'm back to where I was a week ago ... now for some actual losing! I can't wait to break into the 160s!

I think it's a bit hasty to attribute all of this loss to a return to Induction, since my period is winding down. But I've never before noticed a slow-down in weight loss during my period, so it's hard to know who or what to blame for this whole "stall" that's been going on for the past month.

Anyway, I'm going to stick with Induction for at least a week and see how it goes. It'll give me an opportunity to add back in foods PROPERLY, rather than all willy-nilly like I did the first time. That way maybe I can actually see if a particular food seems to affect me and not end up stalled for a month again.

Here's my menu for the day:

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs (1 oz. cheese)

LUNCH:
Hamburger w/colby jack - 1 net carb (1 oz. cheese)
1 cup green beans - 6 net carbs

DINNER:
Bacon Beef Rolls - 2 net carbs (0.5 oz. cheese)
2 cups romaine - 0.8 net carbs
0.5 oz. cheese - 0.5 net carbs
1 T. Ken's Ranch Dressing - 0.5 net carbs

SNACK:
2 Cream Cheese Clouds - 2 net carbs

TOTALS:
14.8 net carbs (2.5 oz. + 1 T cheese)

Update: We ended up going out for lunch because today is payday, and we always go to the bank and to lunch. I should have just taken my lunch, but oh well. We went to Cafe Carolina, which I didn't expect, so I had to make the best choice I could. I ordered the cobb salad. It just had lettuce, bacon, chicken, tomatoes, gorgonzola, cheddar and hardboiled egg. I got back, and the nutrition facts said 41 carbs! There's no fiber count available online, though, so I don't know how many net carbs. Although the difference between the Caesar Salad and the Chicken Caesar Salad is just one has chicken, and there's a difference of 15 carbs! What do they put in that chicken?! Anyway, now I'm probably completely thrown off of Induction, even though the ingredients by themselves should have been Induction-friendly. GRRR. I'll just have to make some good choices tonight and hope for the best. I hate it when places are tricky like that.

Maybe a slight loss

I actually saw 176.5 this morning on the scale. I'm not sure if it was for real or not, because I re-weighed (I always do), and it said 177 again. So, not counting any chickens, but it was nice to see a different number for once!

Today is the beginning of my completely clean Induction week. Well, I may have some caffeine in the mornings, but I'm going to try really hard to be 100 percent. I even found some water mix-ins that are made with Splenda so that I'm not getting the aspartame from the other ones. I'm going to try to do this correctly! No sugar-free candy, no aspartame, no nuts, the right amounts of veggies and not too much cheese. I'm basing my Induction on the DANDR 2002 book, rather than on the Atkins site. I think the main difference is that the book says up to 3 cups of Foundation veggies or 2 cups of Foundation veggies and 1 cup of other veggies, rather than forcing the 12-15 grams of Foundation veggies.

Hopefully I'll start losing weight again. If I don't lose weight on Induction, then at least I know that I wasn't doing anything wrong on OWL and I can feel better adding some foods back in. If I DON'T start losing weight, I have read that some people have success by having a cheat day, complete with bread and pasta and all sorts of carbs. They may gain weight briefly, but then they lose drastically again. So, if a week on Induction doesn't work, I'll try that, although it scares me!

I really don't want this to be my final plateau. I at least want to be to a "normal" weight. Anything after that is just bonus (if it happens at all). Anyway, here are my meals for the day:

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche - 2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese

LUNCH:
1/8 Sausage Quiche (didn't have any leftovers to bring) - 2 net carbs, 1 oz. cheese
1 cup cucumber - 2 net carbs
2 T. Ken's Ranch Dressing - 1 net carb

DINNER:
Bacon-wrapped Chicken - 1 net carb, 1 T cheese
1 cup green beans - 6 net carbs
1 c. romaine - 0.4 net carbs

1 T. Ken's Ranch - 0.5 net carbs


SNACKS:
2 packets Splenda-sweetened water mix-ins - 2 net carbs


TOTALS: 18.9 net carbs, 2 oz. + 1 T cheese

New Nemesis

So, everyone I know is losing weight. And they're losing more weight than I am much more easily than I am. Boo. Kevin apparently has lost 31 pounds just by not drinking soda any more. THIRTY-ONE POUNDS. That's more than I've lost the entire time I've been losing weight. And I know that he is a lot bigger than I am, but it's frustrating to be only a few pounds away from my goal and have to fight for each ounce while it seems like the rest of the world is just melting away. Sigh.

All that to say I was STILL at 177 this morning, so it's officially my new "nemesis number." I am planning on doing a really good Induction week starting tomorrow, so hopefully that will help kick me back into losing weight and I can more gradually add in carbs. Last time I didn't really follow the rules for adding in carbs, so I'm sure there's something I'm eating that is helping to stall me.

I actually found some water mix-ins that don't have aspartame -- they're sweetened with Splenda. So I'm going to drink only those and water for the next week at least. Fingers crossed! I just want to get rid of these last 13 pounds, and I'll be content with that :)

Today's foods

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche (1 oz. cheese, 2 T cream) - 2 carbs

LUNCH:
Jimmy John's BLT Unwich, add cheese (1 oz. cheese, 1 c. other veggies) - 3.42 carbs
Salad (1 cup foundation veggies, 0.5 oz. cheese) -1 net carb

DINNER:
Crispy Nut and Herb Fried Chicken (I'll make it with pork) - 4.2 net carbs
Salad (2 cups salad veggies, 0.5 oz. cheese) - 1.3 net carb
Mock Mashed Potatoes (0.5 oz. cream cheese) - 2 net carbs

SNACK:
3 pieces sugar-free candy - 1 net carb
3 sweeteners - 3 net carbs

TOTALS: 17.92 net carbs, 3 oz. cheese, 2 T cream

Stuck again

OK, so I'm still at 177. Sigh. I'm so TIRED of this INCONSISTENCY. I'm so FRUSTRATED that I feel like I'm doing everything BY THE BOOK, and yet I'm not losing weight. I think next week, I'm going to go back and plan a completely, 100% perfect Induction, including exercise. Maybe that will kick me back into losing weight and I can figure out what the deal is. I mean, I know I'm not going to lose as quickly now that I'm close to my goal, but this is ridiculous. Thirty days ago, I weighed 178. Today I weigh 177. During that month, the lowest I reached was 175. But that's gone now. Thirty days before that, I weighed 186. So here's how my losses have been:

April (last two weeks): 6 pounds
May (only one weight noted, at the beginning of the month): 3 pounds
June: 5.5 pounds
July: 8 pounds
August (so far): 1 pound

So even the month I wasn't really trying, except for about a week, I lost more than I've lost in August. I don't get it. It's SO FRUSTRATING to see 175 on the scale, and then it just disappears, never to return, and I have to lose that weight all over again.

I think a week or two of Induction might help me get back on track. And if not, I don't know WHAT I'll do. I am trying to work out some, just walking/sprinting on the treadmill in the evenings. And I'm consciously trying to drink more water. I guess we'll see! If Induction doesn't take the pounds off, I'll probably have to make peace with 177 being my forever weight. I really REALLY want to get to 164, at least to be at a "normal" weight. But I can't do more than I am!

Down slightly

Despite completely changing up my menu yesterday, I ended up being back down slightly to 177. I'm not sure what's going on with my weight here, but I don't remember struggling with ups and downs like this when I lost weight before. However, I also didn't get this close to my goal before, so maybe that's it. And I was a bit younger then, which I'm sure makes a difference.

I didn't really stick to my planned menu yesterday, and instead ate just about everything in sight. I'm not sure why I'm so hungry lately. I think it might have something to do with the apples and strawberries I've been adding in. Wonder if their sugar/carbs are setting off cravings for me. I'm going to try a few days without them and see if I get back to not feeling hungry most of the time.

Here's today's plan (of course, subject to change):

BREAKFAST:
1/6 Sausage Quiche (I ate 1/6 instead of 1/8 today, thinking it might help me stave off hunger.)

LUNCH:
Swiss Chicken with Spinach

SNACK:
1 slice turkey
1 slice havarti

DINNER:
Probably going out with Amy and Jason ...

Helpful sites

Just so I don't forget, I found a couple of helpful/interesting low-carb sites today.

http://wilstar.com/lowcarb - Lots of information, plus an explanation of the low-carb eating plan that is similar to Atkins but presented in a slightly different way.

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/forum.php - Forum that has tons of information and recipes.

Ugh

So, this morning I'm up again to 177.5. That's dangerously close to my nemesis number of 178. I'm hoping this is weight gain because of my time of the month, but we'll see. I've been eating well, so I'm just going to stick with it and hope for the best :)

BREAKFAST:
1/8 Sausage Quiche (1 oz. cheese) - 2 net carbs

LUNCH:
Leftover Swiss Chicken Roll w/spinach (0.8 oz. cheese) - 2 net carbs (because I didn't make the sauce)

SNACKS:
Slice of turkey - 1 net carb
Slice of Havarti (0.8 oz. cheese) - 1 net carb
1/2 cup strawberries - 5.8 carbs
1 packet Splenda - 1 carb

DINNER
Crispy Nut and Herb Fried Chicken (I'll make it with pork) - 4.2 net carbs
Mock Mashed Potatoes (0.5 oz. cream cheese) - 2 net carbs

TOTALS:
3.1 oz. cheese
19 carbs

On a Positive Note

Even though my weight on the scale isn't going down consistently, I did have two people comment on how skinny I look yesterday. And this morning, I put on a button-down shirt in size medium, and it fit without pulling or bulging. So I'm generally happy ... even though I wish the scale were more consistent :)

Sigh

It seems like it's one step forward and two steps back sometimes with this weight loss thing. I know I must be getting close to my "realistic" weight because it's a lot harder to actually lose weight, and it seems to be taking a long time to lose anything ... and then half of it comes back. So, this morning the scale said 176. Still not my "nemesis" number again, so I'm happy about that.

I haven't been tracking my carbs diligently, even though I've been adding in a few things that are higher carb, like half an apple and more salads. So, today I'm going to track everything here and on Fit Day and see how I'm doing.

BREAKFAST
1/8 Sausage Quiche

LUNCH
Mexican Chicken

DINNER
Apple Glazed Pork Chops
Squash Casserole

SNACK
1/2 small apple

So, according to FitDay, here's the breakdown for that:

Calories: 1,269
Fat: 90.1
Carbs: 19.0
Protein: 93.3

Post-weekend update

OK, so after having gone down drastically to 175 on Friday and then not being able to weigh all weekend, I was expecting the worst when I weighed this morning. I didn't eat too badly over the weekend, but I was STARVING for some reason on Saturday, so I felt like I ate constantly all day long. (And ate waaaay too many cashews.) So seeing 175.5 this morning wasn't too bad! I'm always skeptical of a big drop (2 pounds overnight!), so knowing that most of that stuck around over the weekend is awesome! I'm  not going to sweat the 0.5 pound gain. That's normal fluctuation, right? :)

Meal Plan for the Week

OK, here's what I've got on the menu for this week:

Mexican Chicken w/green salad
Apple-Glazed Pork Chops with Squash Casserole
Swiss Chicken Rolls
Hamburgers with salad
Amy's Chicken Parmesan with salad
Parmesan Baked Tilapia w/zucchini
Crispy Nut and Herb Fried Chicken w/ Mock Mashed Potatoes

Back with a post-weekend weigh-in in the morning.

Hallelujah for real!

OK, so I didn't know what to expect this morning. I ate some new things yesterday, like the sugar-free Reese's and half an apple with some peanut butter. So I didn't know what the scale would say this morning. I was hoping for 176.5 or maybe still 177. But, it said 175! That's a new low! Which in weight loss is a good thing. :)

So, yay for that. I hope I'm over my stall and I can push forward and keep losing. I'm hoping to make it to 164, which would put me in the "normal" zone, and that's only 11 pounds from here. That seems like SUCH a small number! I can't wait until I'm single digits away from that goal. At that point, I'll have to stop and evaluate where I am and if I want to keep going to 150, which has always been my "overall" goal, but which may be a smidge unrealistic ... 25 more pounds from here seems like an awful lot.

OK, so, here's the meal plan for today; I think it's exactly the same as yesterday.

BREAKFAST:
1/6 Sausage Quiche — 2 grams carbs (1.3 oz. cheese)

LUNCH:
1/6 (leftover) Green Enchilada Chicken Casserole — 3.6 carbs (2.3 oz. cheese)
1/2 cup green beans (3)

DINNER:
Hamburger with cheese — 1 carb (1 oz. cheese)
1/2 cup green beans (3)

SNACK:
1/2 small apple — 8.5 net carbs


TOTAL: 20.6 carbs

Free at last?

Well, this morning I weighed in at 177, but I'm not exactly jumping for joy. I mean, I did raise my arms over my head and scream "hallelujah" this morning when I hopped on the scale, but I know that it's perhaps a temporary fluctuation, and I could be right back to my nemesis weight of 178 tomorrow.

I walked kind of a lot yesterday because we went to the ballpark to watch some softball games, and that required a few short hikes carrying a 35-pound kid. So that burned off a few calories :)

Here's my menu for today:

BREAKFAST:

1/6 Sausage Quiche — 2 grams carbs (1.3 oz. cheese)
—I think this is my new favorite breakfast. It's really filling (I'm almost NEVER hungry by lunchtime ... I usually default into eating around 1.), and it's really delicous.

LUNCH:
1/6 (leftover) Green Enchilada Chicken Casserole — 3.6 carbs (2.3 oz. cheese)
1/2 cup green beans (3)

DINNER:
Hamburgers with cheese — 1 carb (1 oz. cheese)
1/2 cup green beans (3)

SNACK:
5 sugar-free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (1)
—This is my first foray into the sugar-free candy world, and I'm going to try not to make this a regular thing, but with such a low carb-count and such sweet taste, it's nice to know it's an option when I'm craving something chocolatey or sweet.

TOTAL: 13.6 carbs (4.6 oz. cheese)

Still frustrated

Well, surprise, surprise ... this morning was still 178. I'm getting sick and tired of that number. But, I suppose it's better than 179. Or 200.5, where I started. But I still can't wait to get past it.

I did a decent job of not drinking caffeine yesterday, but I didn't drink enough water. I'm going to try to remedy that today. I didn't eat any cheese as a snack, but I did have a slice of bacon (or five) when I was cooking up the leftovers from last night's dinner. I was starving and hadn't eaten dinner yet. But I knew I didn't need the extra calories. I didn't work out last night. Sigh ... lazy.

Here's today's meal plan:

BREAKFAST:
1/6 Sausage Quiche — 2 grams carbs (1.3 oz. cheese)

LUNCH:
Houston Chicken — 3 carbs (0.5 oz. cheese)
1/2 cup green beans — 3.9 carbs

DINNER:
Hamburgers — 1 carb (1 oz. cheese)

So FRUSTRATED

Even though I dropped to 176.5 for a few days this month, otherwise, I've been stuck at 178 ALL MONTH LONG. I've got to figure out what's going on with me! I feel like I'm eating right, but I need to get focused again. There was a time when I was losing steadily, and this whole stall thing is really starting to irritate me!

So, things I'm going to try to do:

1. Cut back on caffeine and drink more water.
2. Cut back on cheese. I know it's adding calories and fat that I don't need, and it's supposed to stay between 3 and 4 oz. a day, including cream cheese.
3. Monitor what I'm eating on Fit Day to check calories, fat and carbohydrates, plus keep track of things that need to be limited, like CHEESE.
4. Add in more low-intensity cardio — either walking on the treadmill or hiking/walking outside.
5. Keep sticking to the plan!

I guess one good thing is that my frustration is making me want to adhere to the plan even better rather than drop it altogether and go back to the way I had been eating. It's just hard to see no change on the scale (except upward!) AND no change in my measurements for weeks now.

OK, so here's my meal plan for the day.

BREAKFAST:
1/6 Sausage Quiche — 2 grams carbs (1.3 oz. cheese)

LUNCH:
1/6 Green Enchilada Chicken Casserole — 3.6 carbs (2.3 oz. cheese)

DINNER:
Houston Chicken — 3 carbs (0.5 oz. cheese)
1/2 cup green beans — 3.9 carbs

Total: 12.5 grams carbs (9.7 net carbs)
4.1 oz. cheese

An Update

I hate exercising. I know that I SHOULD do it, but, especially weight-bearing exercise, makes me gain weight. I know, it's muscle and I should be happy. Or, it's just water weight and I shouldn't worry about it. Or, keep exercising and I'll start losing again. But, seriously. Josh and I worked out all of four times, and all of the sudden, I started weighing in two pounds heavier? Not fair.

I've been sort of holding off on recording my weight on Start Your Diet, and I haven't written about it here, because I thought that maybe it was a temporary blip. But here it is, almost a week since I last wrote, and my weight is stuck at 178, which is up 1.5 pounds since last week. I really haven't eaten anything that I'm not supposed to, and I've been exercising, so I can only guess that the exercising is the culprit in some form or fashion. For example, I weighed last Tuesday and was 176.5. That night, we worked out for the first time, and Wednesday morning I weighed 179! So clearly, that's something workout-related, right?

Either way, I'm going to try to keep working out and keep eating right and tracking my food so I can be sure of what I'm eating.

BREAKFAST
I didn't have time to make my Sausage Quiche last night when we got home, and I didn't feel like eating plain ol' eggs again this morning, so:
1 oz. cheddar cheese (1)
8 slices pepperoni (0)

LUNCH
Triple Lindy Streaker at Moe's, no rice (10)

DINNER
Green Enchilada Chicken Casserole (4)

TOTAL: 15 grams net carbs

Math Awesomeness

So, I haven't thought about actual numbers in a while, but here are some things that I'm very excited about.

• I'm 12.5 pounds away from the "normal" weight zone (164), which is my initial goal.
• I'm 26.5 pounds away from 150.
• I've lost a total of 24 pounds in 114 days (not quite 4 months) that I've been tracking my weight.
• That's an average of 0.21 pounds per day or 1.47 pounds per week.
• In the past 30 days, I've lost an average of 1.8 pounds per week.
• If I keep losing 1.5 pounds per week, I'll reach my initial goal of 165 on Oct. 8 -- about two months from now.
• If I keep losing 1.5 pounds per week, I'll reach my ultimate goal of 150 on Dec. 12 -- about four months from now.
• I'm 66% of the way to my goal of 164 and 48% of the way to my ultimate goal of 150.

Feeling Good

So, it might be a bit premature, but I think adding in a little bit of fruit and more veggies has really helped my weight loss. I'm back down to 176.5 today. Whereas I had been reaching for something high fat (like cheese or sunflower seeds) when I got hungry, yesterday I reached for strawberries. And I added spinach to my eggs in the morning. And I didn't eat anything after about 8 p.m. And I limited my intake of caffeinated beverages. And I felt really good. Really full all day, which was awesome.

Because it felt great yesterday, I'm going to try some of the same things today. I checked out the Primal Blueprint from the library, and I've been investigating it. It's also a low-carb diet, but it's not nearly as restrictive as Atkins. It stresses fruits (especially berries) and vegetables as the foundation of the diet, plus protein and fat, leaving out all processed carbs and (gasp) most dairy. Giving up dairy altogether would probably be tough for me, but I see the sense in limiting its intake, which I can definitely do. For weight loss, he recommends sticking between 50 and 100 carbs per day, which is a pretty high number if you're sticking with just fruits and veggies.

Plus, I'm very interested in the Primal Fitness routine that he talks about and outlines on his site. It seems short and sweet and would keep me from having to do hours of cardio to feel like I'm getting anywhere. Getting up 10 or even 30 minutes early, doing a quick workout routine and then hopping in the shower is a lot easier than getting up an hour or more early, getting everything set up, dragging my way through a long routine and then feeling worn out, exhausted and hungry for the rest of the day.

So, basically, I'm reading all of the books and information I can, and I'm taking the parts that make sense to me from each diet/way of eating and combining them into my own plan. Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of fruits at the house because I didn't need them for Atkins. So I'm going to try to stop by the grocery store tonight to pick up a few things. Here's my meal plan for today:

BREAKFAST:
2-egg omelet with spinach, cheese and salsa

LUNCH:
Had a Chicken and Avocado Salad from La Farm again. Upping the count a little bit this time because it seemed to have a different quantity of everything. (6)


DINNER:
Italian Meatball Burgers
Salad

SNACKS:
Sunflower seeds
Strawberries (if I get to the grocery store)

Adding in Carbs

OK, so it's kind of scary, but I haven't really been losing steadily (this morning I was back up to 177.5), so I'm going to try mixing up my diet a little bit and adding in a few more fruits and veggies and maybe a nut butter here and there.

BREAKFAST
3 eggs with 1/4 cup cream (3)
1/2 c. spinach (0.2)
1 oz. cheddar cheese (1)
2 T. salsa (2)

LUNCH
Alice Springs Chicken (2)
1 1/2 c. leaf lettuce (2)
2 T. ranch dressing (1)
1/2 c. strawberries (5.5)

DINNER
Florentine Chicken Alfredo (4)

SNACK
Sunflower seeds (1)
1/2 c. strawberries (5.5) with cream (1)

TOTAL: 28.2 g net carbs

Quick update

This morning, I weighed 176.5! So I've lost a total of 24 pounds, and I'm almost halfway to my goal of 150. If my goal is only 164, I'm 66% of the way there. Oh, and this morning, I put on my only remaining pair of size 10 jeans (the ones I kept to show me how small I USED to be), and they fit! In fact, I wore them out to lunch, and I'm still wearing them right now! Here's my food plan for the day.

BREAKFAST
2 slices American cheese (2)
Pepperoni (0)

LUNCH
Pollo a la Crema at Bravo's (3)
Sauteed zucchini, squash and broccoli at Bravo's (3)

DINNER
Green Enchilada Chicken Casserole (4)

SNACKS
Cream Cheese Clouds (2)

TOTAL
14 g net carbs

Um, excuse me?

Well, then. Here I am, going merrily along, alternating between maintaining and losing, and lo and behold, I get on the scale this morning and it says 179. If I could write numbers in all caps, that number would be in all caps. 179!?! Who does this scale think he is? That's 1.5 pounds HEAVIER than yesterday! And I haven't been that heavy in over a week! So, crap, that's depressing. I mean, I KNOW that I didn't actually gain that much weight, and I KNOW that I'm probably just retaining water (I drank like four gallons of it yesterday; surely some of it stuck around.), but that doesn't make me any HAPPIER about seeing those numbers on the scale. (By the way, after my shower, I tried again, and the scale said 178.5. So, I guess that's a little bit better, but still up a pound from yesterday.)

I'm not going to get discouraged ... or I'm going to try not to. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. I am finding that this diet takes a little more experimentation than Weight Watchers did. I assume that's because Weight Watchers carefully controls calories, but Atkins doesn't. I could eat a pound of bacon for a snack and still be at zero carbs, but it would be a lot of fat and calories and I probably wouldn't lose weight. So I guess I just need to keep using my hunger as a guide. I ate some very salty stuff yesterday, so that probably contributed to my water retention. I ALSO need to look into getting more active. Maybe Oliver and I could do yoga together :)

Anyway, time for the food diary for today:

BREAKFAST
Bacon and Cheese Fritatta (2)

LUNCH
This one's a bit tricky because we're having a potluck lunch for Ron's birthday. I actually brought my own lunch, plus a broccoli/cauliflower casserole to share. I'm going to try to avoid indulging in any of the MANY sweets and other delicious items that I'm sure will be there, tempting me.
Alice Springs Chicken (2)
Leftover cauliflower casserole (4)

DINNER
Leftover buffet -- We've got Bacon Beef Roll, Alice Springs Chicken, Italian Meatball Burgers, and more. Maybe I'll make some green beans to go on the side; I'm probably going to be sick of cauliflower casserole by then.
Bacon Beef Roll (2)
Green beans (3)

SNACKS
Cream Cheese Cloud (1)
Sunflower seeds (1)
Chocolate chip cookie!!!! (25) - I caved ... for some reason, I was still hungry after lunch, and they were just sitting there. I wish I had calculated the nutritionals before I indulged. By that point, the craving would probably have passed, and I would have come to my senses. As it is, my mouth has that gross after-sugar feeling, and my head feels weird.

TOTAL: 15 net carbs 34 net carbs

Food Diary, 8/5

Yesterday, I again made an effort to drink water, and this morning the scale showed a 0.5-pound loss. So I suppose I should take the hint and drink more water! I'm going to try to keep doing what I did yesterday -- alternate water with Coke Zero or whatever other drink I want to drink. If nothing else, I drank a LOT more total than I normally would. I was also trying to be more conscious of my cheese consumption. Atkins limits cheese to 3-4 ounces a day, and I think I've probably been going over that limit. I'm trying to only use cheese in meals, not as snacks, so I'm not getting too much.

So, this morning's scale reading was 177.5, which, by the way, is the least I've weighed as an adult. It was the lowest point I reached when Josh and I first started doing Weight Watchers ... 6 or 7 years ago. So, yeah, that's a pretty big deal! Especially since I don't feel like my resolve is wavering or that I'm getting bored with my diet. So maybe I'll actually reach my goal of 150! My "absolutely must reach it" goal is 164. That's the point at which I just barely squeak into the "normal" BMI range. And now, that initial goal is only 13.5 pounds away! Very excited!

 OK, here's what I'm eating today, to be updated as I go.

BREAKFAST
Bacon and Cheese Fritatta (2)
2 slices bacon (0)
Cream Cheese Cloud (1) - I was putting them in a container so they don't get freezer-burned, and I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so I couldn't resist the temptation!

LUNCH
Bacon Beef Roll (2)
Cauliflower Casserole (4) - Need to check on this. I thought I was going to make JLSBP, but I ended up making this slightly different version.

DINNER
Alice Springs Chicken (2)
1/2 cup Roasted Green Beans (3)

SNACKS
Sunflower seeds (1)
Cream Cheese Cloud (1)

TOTAL: 16 g net carbs

Food diary, 8/4

This morning, still at 178.

BREAKFAST:
Bacon and Cheese Fritatta (2)
-1/6 cup cream
-2/3 oz. cheese

LUNCH:
Not sure, going out somewhere.
Ended up with a Chicken and Avocado Salad from La Farm, so I've got to guess at the carb count. It was several ounces of chicken, romaine, about a tablespoon of blue cheese, a small slice of avocado, a few slices of cucumber and their house-made ranch dressing. Let's say 2 for the dressing and one for the romaine. (3)

DINNER:
Bacon Beef Rolls (2)
-1/2 oz. cheese

Just Like Stuffed Baked Potatoes (4)
-1 1/3 oz. cream cheese
-1 1/3 oz. cheddar cheese

SNACKS:
Sunflower seeds (1)

TOTAL: 12 net carbs (3.8 oz. cheese)

Update and Food Diary 8/3

So, the trip to Charleston was pretty successful, food-wise. I ate a few things that I knew I shouldn't, but I mostly stuck to the plan. For breakfast, Papoo made eggs and bacon/sausage, and I know the bacon and sausage were maple-cured or contained sugar, but I let it slide. Lunch was a burger at a cafe with Mom, and dinner was a burger at home. The second day was lunch at the family reunion, and there was LITERALLY nothing there that wasn't a carb except for green beans. I grabbed a piece of fried chicken and ripped of the breading and had a piece of fried fish. It had a cornmeal breading that didn't really come off, but I ate it anyway. Dinner the second night was on the road, so I had another burger from McDonald's without a bun.

Yesterday morning and this morning, I was still at 178, so no loss or gain over the weekend. Kind of a bummer, but oh well. I'm going to explore some of the Ongoing Weight Loss stage of Atkins. I think I'm basically doing that, just adding in a few things here and there, but I'm not upping my carb count. Maybe I'll try adding in a few carbs. As counterintuitive as it seems, I've heard a lot of people say that's what helped them get back into the swing of losing.

Let me see what my weekly losses have been so far:

Week 1: 4 pounds
Week 2: 2.5 pounds
Week 3: 0.5 pounds
Week 4: 1 pound

So in a month of doing Atkins, I've lost a total of 8 pounds. That's not too shabby. The last two weeks have been less than stellar, though, so I'm going to go read up about Ongoing Weight Loss and see what my options are in that regard. I've already added in a few things, like sunflower seeds, so I'll try to mix it up with some berries and other things. Maybe mixing it up a little will work for me!

Oh, food diary for today:

BREAKFAST:
Bacon and Cheese Fritatta (2)

LUNCH:
Italian Meatball Burger (4.5)
1/2 cup green beans (3)

DINNER:
Bacon Beef Rolls (2)
Just Like Stuffed Baked Potatoes (4)
We ended up going to Bob and Gina's house for dinner. She made chicken with black beans and taco seasoning. I'm not sure how much I ate, but it was probably about 1/4 cup of beans. That would be about 10 grams of carbs, so I'll estimate that.

SNACK:
Sunflower seeds (1)
Cream cheese cloud (1)

TOTAL: 21.5 net carbs

Food Diary 7/30

This morning, I'm still at 178. Unfortunately, my scale only measures in half-pound increments, so I don't get to see it go down every day. I should really get our other scale up and running again. It was nice to see those little downward ticks (although it also showed little upward ticks, so maybe I'll stick with what I've got).

We're heading to Charleston tonight, so we're going to be grabbing dinner on the road. I'll probably get a burger with no bun. I probably won't be tracking this weekend, but hopefully I'll have lost some weight when we return. I'm so tired of little slips completely messing me up for a week or more that hopefully I'll stay on plan while we're out of town. Hopefully.

BREAKFAST
2 eggs with 1/2 ounce cheddar (1.5)

LUNCH
Moe's Joey Jr. Streaker, no rice, add sour cream (4)

DINNER
McDonald's Double Cheeseburger, plain, no bun (3)

SNACK
Sunflower seeds (2)

TOTAL: 10.5 grams net carbs

Food Diary, 7/29

I'm super excited, because it really seems like drinking water helped me yesterday, so I'm going to try to keep that up for the rest of this week. It's been so hot, that I really need to do it anyway. This morning, I was at 178, down 22.5 pounds with 18 pounds to 160 and 28 pounds to 150.

Here's what I'm planning to eat today; I'll edit it as I go throughout the day and actually eat it.

BREAKFAST
2 eggs w/butter and cheese (1.5)

• Trying them scrambled with butter because I heard of someone else doing it. Didn't make a big difference in taste, but maybe the added fat will keep me fuller? If I had bacon grease, that would make a big taste difference, I bed.

LUNCH
Leftover Bacon Cream Cheese Chicken (0)
Leftover Cheesy Broccoli Casserole (3)

DINNER
Broiled Tilapia Parmesan (0.5)
Leftover Cheesy Broccoli Casserole (3)

SNACKS
Sunflower seeds (2)
Cream Cheese Clouds (2)

TOTAL: 12 grams net carbs

Food Diary, 7/28

OK, so I think that to keep myself accountable, I need to actually keep track of everything I'm eating/planning to eat. I'll try to post my daily menus with net carb counts so that I stay on track! And I'm going to try to track artificial sweeteners as 1 net carb, which I haven't done in the past. (We'll see how I do with it!)

BREAKFAST
2 eggs, scrambled (1)
.5 oz. cheddar cheese (.5)
Coke Zero (1)

LUNCH
Hamburger with havarti cheese (1)
Romaine (1) (.5)
Cheddar cheese (1) (.5)
Ranch dressing (1) (.5)

• Note: Once I opened up my salad, I realized it was pretty gross and ate maybe half of it, so I'm cutting down my carb count for this one.

DINNER
Broiled Tilapia Parmesan (.5) I was out of Parmesan cheese, so we had this instead:
Bacon Cream Cheese Chicken (0)
Cheesy Broccoli Casserole (3)

SNACK
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (2)
2 slices of bacon (while dinner cooked) (0)
Probably 3 more Coke Zeros (3)

TOTAL: 13 net carbs

Down slightly

I've been sticking solidly at 179.5 lately ... I can't seem to break past it. I'm going to try drinking ONLY water today and see if that helps. I did see 179 this morning, so hopefully I'm back on a downward track. It was a week and a half ago that I first saw 179.5, but I haven't been sticking solidly to the diet, so I've gained and lost weight during that time. I need to get serious again, counting carbs. (I still haven't really done that, despite my last post.)

I found a website a while back and actually looked at it last night, and it has the best group of low-carb recipes I've found. I'm so excited about trying them all out ... especially since it lists the net carbs per serving, so I don't have to guess (and probably underestimate). Oh, and for my own future reference, the site is www.genaw.com/lowcarb. Never want to lose that reference! (Although I've already printed out most of the recipes and added them to my low-carb recipe binder!)

Splurge!

OK, last night was a bit of a splurge. OK, so it was a major splurge. I'm trying (trying!) to be good 100% of the time, but I really wanted to go out to eat last night. We ended up at the Mexican place because I love it and we always have coupons. Well, not only did I end up eating basically a whole bag of chips, I also ate about 1/4 of the fried tortilla shell bowl that my taco salad came in. So bleck. I felt pretty awful afterward, and regretted it hard. The chips weren't even that GOOD, they were just WARM and THERE. Sigh.

I really need to make a commitment to being 100% no matter what for at least a week, just to see how it goes. I feel like when I do eat too many carbs, it takes a couple of days for my body to get back into weight-loss mode, and by that time, I'm thinking, "I've been really good for two days, I can indulge a bit," and then I'm right back to stalled.

So, starting today, I'm going to be 100% on plan for a week, with only the minor exceptions I've made so far -- one caffeine drink, not worrying about aspartame (although I guess I need to count the carbs) and occasional almonds.

I've actually COUNTED my carbs for today, and including my expected lunch, I'll have eaten 7 grams. Most of that is CHEESE, and only about 1 gram is from veggies (salad at lunch). If I focus on the ORIGINAL Atkins, though, it says to eat 2-3 cups of foundation veggies per day, and that's about what my salad is, so I'm not going to worry about it. I might eat another hamburger for dinner, which would only add another 1 gram for cheese, bringing my daily total to 8 grams. On the other hand, I might make the chicken and spinach casserole ... the chicken has been sitting around for a while now, and I don't want it to go bad. I'd have to calculate those carbs, though.

Oh, and scale this morning said 181.5, I'm sure mostly as a result of the sheer VOLUME of food that I consumed yesterday. Bleck.

Before and Now

It's not a before and after post, because I'm not to "after" yet. But, here's a picture from when I first decided to lose weight 20 pounds ago and a photo from when I was at 182.5, down 18 pounds. I've lost about three more pounds since then, but it's a pretty accurate picture. I'll have to be more consistent on where I'm having Josh stand (and where I'm standing) to take these pictures so that I can get a more accurate comparison. But I can definitely tell a difference!

A quick update

I think the 179.5 is official, since that's all the scale would say this morning. So I feel good declaring that my real, actual weight. Now, to keep losing from there!

Wherein I feel bad for not losing and then realize I actually AM losing

I'm not really sure what's going on with the scale situation. This morning, I weighed and it said 179.5, just like on Sunday. But then I tried again, just to make sure, and it said 180.5, and then kept saying that for the rest of the morning. So I don't know what to think. I guess I should just start taking my first reading and then stay OFF of the scale for the rest of the day.

I do know that I'm losing inches, though. I measured myself last Wednesday, and I've lost an inch and a half on my waist since then and I think an inch from my hips. So that's inexact and maybe I'm just holding the tape measure too tightly now or something, but I think an inch and a half is too big of a difference to be a fluke.

So, that's about it on the diet front. I feel a little bit plateaued, but I think that's only because I was losing so quickly early on that I came to expect a loss of a pound a day. But, I'm not hungry, and for the most part, I don't crave carbs or sugar ... although I did almost overeat because of stress yesterday, which would have been a bummer. Josh pulled out the chips and dip, and I really wanted one, but I just didn't give in. I know myself well enough to know that if I eat one, I'll eat half a bag. So yay for me!

Hope to have some more exciting news tomorrow ... maybe I'll have actually lost weight! :)

Edited to add: I just looked back, and a week ago, I was at 182. So I've lost between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds (depending on which scale reading you believe from today) in a week. So, yeah, that's great, right? I need to get out of the day-to-day frustrations and realize that I'm really continuing to lose weight at a steady pace!

P.S.: Today is actually the end of my first two weeks on Atkins, and I could technically move out of Induction at this point. I think I'll probably stick with it, except maybe adding some nuts, for a while longer. I feel comfortable where I am, so I think it'll work a while longer. Oh, and depending on which of this morning's scale readings you prefer, I've either lost 6.5 pounds or 5.5 pounds in the first two weeks. Not too shabby!

170s

Well, at long last, I finally saw the 170s this morning. Not sure if I'll stay there tomorrow morning because I've had a couple of days of sub-par eating that I'm sure are going to catch up with me sometime soon.

So, I'm at 21 pounds lost, with 19.5 pounds left to lose ... or 29.5 pounds if I want to get to 150, which I'd probably rather be. But we'll play it by ear.

If I keep losing at 2 pounds per week, I'll be at 150 by Oct. 30. And I'd be to 160 by Sept. 25. So excited to be so close to where I want to be!

UGH

It's two days later, and I'm still at 182. Yesterday I was 182.5. This is probably WAY more information than I want to remember later, but I hadn't, ahem, pooped in a few days, but I just did, and I honestly think that will help some with what the scale says.

For the past couple of days, I've been eating mostly on plan, only deviating as much as I did that first week, when I was still losing like crazy. And yet the pounds aren't coming off. So, I'm going to be 110 percent good today. I'm measuring and counting and trying to do absolutely everything perfect. I'm not even going to drink anything with aspartame in it today. Just water, meat, cheese and veggies. That's it. We'll see if that, combined with my, ahem, digestive situation, will help me see a loss tomorrow morning on the scale. I certainly hope so. I'm very tired of seeing that "2" pop up!

Still stuck

Today is the start of my second week on Atkins, and I'm stuck at 182. Not "stuck" like, "I have no idea what happened." More stuck like, "I need to stop eating crap." So today I am recommitting to eating the way I was earlier this week, when I was losing a pound a day, before I got cocky and started eating things I know I shouldn't.

Four pounds in a week isn't bad, but I HAD lost five pounds. And those five pounds were lost in five days.

If I get back on track and keep losing a pound a day, I'll just have a day of catch-up to get back to 181, then I can start losing again, and hopefully I'll see the 170s before the end of the week. COME ON! I CAN DO THIS! I've got a long ways to go, so I'm not trying to fall off the wagon now. That wouldn't be a good birthday present for myself, now would it?

I'm hoping that by the time we go to Charleston at the end of the month, I'll have lost at least 25 lbs.That's about 2 1/2 weeks away. I bet I can do that, no problem. Let's GO!

Repenting?

I know that I shouldn't let celebrations/parties/holidays/etc derail my weight loss, but I've done it anyway. Again. Today I was all set to be good, since I had splurged last night. But then lunchtime came around, and I really wanted to go eat Mexican food. I actually did much better than I could have, eating fajitas with no tortillas (so just chicken and veggies) and the refried beans. But I ate several tortilla chips, so I wasn't that great. I'll make myself some yummy hamburgers for dinner and repent from all of my carb-tastic ways. Then, hopefully, I'll be back on track, with no holidays to tempt me for another four months (Thanksgiving). Hopefully by then I'll be maintaining and will be in a better position to eat a little more yummy stuff.

One other thing coming into play here is the curse of 20 lbs. There's something about having lost 20 pounds that makes people notice you've lost weight. Getting compliments means that I feel good about how I'm looking, and I overestimate my success. I know I'm doing really well, and I'm excited about the progress I've made, but I need to remember that I'm not there yet! And if I want to get to 150, I've still got 32 pounds to lose ... which is more than I've lost so far. So I'm not even halfway there; definitely NOT time to give up and go back to eating carbs!

Hopefully I'll be able to check in tomorrow with some better news and some positive results!

Happy Birthday to Me!

That's more of a sarcastic headline than anything, because I really overdid it a bit yesterday in celebration, and the scale this morning reflected it ... I was up a pound from yesterday. Likely this is a combination of eating a brownie with ice cream and the normal gain that I make around this time of the month. Because I probably didn't gain a pound just from an ice cream sundae.

So, no 170s birthday present, but I bet I'll get there this week. I didn't really eat TOO badly yesterday. It was really just the volume of food I ate (also blaming that on hormonal fluctuations) ... plus the brownie and ice cream. But it was a momentary lapse and I'm back on track today.

Josh actually got up early this morning and made me eggs and bacon for breakfast, so that was super sweet. I brought leftovers from last night (we went to TGI Friday's) for lunch, but I'll have to check online to see if they're actually OK before I eat them. It was just chicken, cheese and vegetables — or, at least, that's what it APPEARED to be.

Dinner tonight ... not sure. I went to the grocery store last night, so I have plenty of options. I might just go with hamburgers since they're quick and easy.

Eh, a slow day

This morning I weighed in at 181 even, which means I lost 0.5 pounds yesterday. It's pretty sad when losing half a pound in a day is disappointing, but that's how it felt. I know it's around that time of the month, and I'm probably retaining some water. I TRIED to be good today, and mostly I was. But we went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday a day early, and I ended up getting a chocolate brownie with ice cream. It was almost too sweet to eat, and I didn't think it was very good ... too overwhelmingly chocolate and richness and bleck. But I ate most of it, and I kind of wish I hadn't. So, I don't necessarily expect any sort of loss tomorrow morning, but it would be nice if I stayed steady at 181. A brief setback, but I'm going to be 100% tomorrow! It's my birthday present to myself! I'm so close to 20 lbs. lost and the 170s, that I don't want to lose it now!

Another pound

So this morning's weight was 181.5, so I lost another pound. I've lost 19 pounds total, and I've got 21.5 pounds to go to get to my first goal of 160 pounds. And I've only got 2 pounds to go to get into the 170s.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, but I was still a little bit surprised that I actually lost a full pound because I ate a little bit more carbs than I have been. I ate my normal egg casserole for breakfast (I wonder how long that will keep?), and then I went to Moe's for lunch. I got a "streaker" burrito, which was just the insides of the burrito on lettuce in a bowl. It was actually REALLY good, and by not getting the tortilla or the rice, I saved something ridiculous like 75 carbs. Which is WAY more than I think I can eat right now and still lose weight. Plus, I got it free with my birthday coupon, so that wasan added bonus. Then for dinner, we had leftover cheeseburgers. So really the only thing not Induction-friendly were the beans on the burrito at lunch. So I guess they didn't slow me down!

After dinner yesterday, I went to Kohl's with Amy to find some new clothes. I didn't have what I'd call tremendous luck, but I did find one really dressy pair of pants, a pair of nice Dockers khakis (for $3.50!) and a button-down shirt. All of those were 14s and the shirt was a large. Then we went to Old Navy, and, again, nothing too thrilling, but I did end up finding a pair of jeans on clearance for $7.50. And they were somewhat tight, but they were 12s! I feel like jeans need to be a little tighter than dress pants, and after a few minutes in them, they really felt like the perfect size, albeit a bit tight around the waist ... which I blame entirely on Oliver!

Oh, and today's meals were pretty good as well: egg casserole for breakfast, a cheeseburger with no bun and steamed broccoli for lunch, and a beef stroganoff (sans noodles) for dinner. Plus, Amy and I went to IKEA today and walked around for HOURS, so I was a lot more active than I normally am (which is kind of sad).

Overall, I'm feeling a lot less hungry these days. After two or three days where I was hungry hungry hungry, now I sort of eat my fill and then don't think about it after that. And I think having lost so steadily and being so close to the 170s (and, soon thereafter, brand-new weight territory) gives me a lot of willpower; I don't want to mess it up just in order to eat something that will make me feel like crap and will not keep me full for very long ... and will only make me crave more.

Can't wait to see if I've hit the 20 lb. mark tomorrow, and DEFINITELY can't wait to see if I get my birthday present of the 170s :)

Down again!

Weigh-in this morning puts me at 182.5 — a loss of a pound since yesterday and a loss of 18 pounds total. Which means that in the 3 days I've been on Atkins, I've lost 3.5 pounds. And three more pounds and I'll be in the 170s! If I keep up my pound-a-day losing, I'll be in the 170s by my birthday!! Isn't that awesome?!

I KNOW it's unrealistic, but if I were to keep up losing a pound a day (like I said, unrealistic), I'd be to my goal of 160 before the end of the month! I know there's no way that's going to happen, but it's awesome to think about how close I'm getting to my goal! And I could be at 150 by the second week in August.

I'm SO excited about this! It's actually been pretty easy to stay on track, but I may try adding in some more carbs since I'm losing weight so quickly. We'll see ... there's something nice about losing weight fast and then just working on the "keep it off" phase.