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