It pays to complain! Now I lost a few more pounds, just fell off this morning...............weird huh!

now if only MY complaining would have them falling off!
Poofie!

Edie, I have the same sleep pattern I think you have. I sleep for four hours then wake up ready to go. I can watch TV for a little while until I feel a littel sleepy. It would be easy for ma to stay up at that point but I watch for a slightly sleepy feeling and then go to bed for 2 or 3 more hours.

Going to bed later helps me too but it is hard for me to stay up after I put my kids to bed.

This way of sleeping really doesn't bother me. I have mroe energy that before LC so I don't worry about it too much.

Why is it that your weight stays the same and then one day a couple pounds are gone just like that, but before wouldn't budge at all. Does that happen to other people I wonder?
I'm not complaining, any way is fine as long as it's in a downward direction, just seems odd. Well I'm still excited!! Yippee !!

I don't think I mentioned melatonin in my last missive --
It is a supplement I take almost every night -- it doesn't keep you asleep, but it will get to to sleep. Works well for me --

Cheers --

This thread caught my attention because I also sleep only about 4 hours every night. I was doing that before I started Atkins (6 months ago), but the difference was that I would get drowsy around 2 or 3 pm and take a 2 hr. nap...... then I could stay up until midnight or 1am and be up at a "decent" hour, like 4am

Actually, I love those early hours when no one is stirring (not even a mouse). I live alone, but there's no traffic sounds and car radios blaring....just peace and quiet! BUT..... I have a business at home and even though I'm so fortunate to be able to take a nap when I need one, clients don't seem to be on the same schedule! Can you imagine that?

Taking liquid calcium/magnesium definitely helped, but once I started lc and I found out there were more carbs than I needed, I switched to a capsule with powder in it and slowly my sleep got kind of screwy again. Guess I'd better remember to take the cal/mag at night....maybe that will help. I've been waking up at 2 and 3am (feel like I've slept in if I don't wake up until 4am), and I'm just going all day long (on the computer). I have so much energy that I don't even think about a nap, but by 9pm I am stretched out on the couch and asleep by 10 and there we go again.

There are so many of us out there doing this that I'm going to start a "2,3,4am Club" on my site. I'm 54, post menopausal for 13 years and have created a cartoon character called "Minnie Pauz" for anyone who is hormonally challenged! I hope anyone who likes to laugh will stop by. Just don't drink any fluids before looking at the cartoons or you'll be changing your undies!

I've posted on a different part of this board, but can't find it right now.....I think it was about menopause maybe.......
Take care!
Dee

Thank you both for your imput!
Raharris I do have and sometimes take melatonin, as you have mentioned, but have the same results as you do, I fall asleep fine but it does not keep me sleeping.
Perhaps I just don't need that much sleep anymore.
I wonder? Could digesting all those carbs eaten before LC tire us out and cause us to require more sleep to begin with?? Just a thought......hummm.
MinniePauz your site is a riot, but also informational, great work!
Personally I love humor, it works for me, and I really appreciate someone with a good sense of humor, too rare of a commodity I find these days. The early bird club would be a great addition to you site I would think. There are a lot of us out there!
If anybody has any ideas if eating high carbs make you need more sleep, I'd find that input interesting.

Glad you liked the site! I've got almost 12,000 subscribers who feel the same way! I started out by just wanting to share my point of view on all the stuff we deal with as we approach middle age and it has really taken off! My site was even shown on CNN!

When I mentioned in my newsletter that I had started lc'ing, I got so many emails that I had to create a page about what I was doing. I linked to this site to offer the excellent information found here since I'm new at all this and can't really answer all the questions. So many women don't get the connection between age/hormones/etc and I'm just blown away by how much better I feel since losing 50 lbs., I wanted to share the lc discovery!

I'm definitely going to do the early bird club, just as soon as I find some time! Minnie Pauz has become a business and is my only source of income, so I'm always struggling with finding ways to make it pay off and yet still being true to all the women who are looking to me for answers. It's a lot of responsibility and hard to juggle everything by myself. That's why I depend on the encouragement found here!

I hope you'll be a regular visitor and please share the site with any friends who may be experiencing certain symptoms that might indicate that the "changing" process has begun!

I do believe the carbs have something to do with how much sleep you need, but I don't have any specific answers. I don't know how people who have to go out to work every day deal with such a goofy schedule. It can drain you after awhile and can cause depression. That's why I feel the humor is a good centering point.

Take care....
dee

MinniePauz..........I have to tell you I am still laughing at the cartoon, "Squished" under "Mammogram" and think it's just a howl !!! (And I can relate, tee hee).
How long ago did you start LCing? And ditto about your web site?
Well I have to go back and read more of the cartoons now.

Hey Edie.....you around? Or is this one of your "sleeping in" mornings? hahahha....

To answer your questions, I started Atkins in June or July (loss of memory is a sign of menopause too)....... and the website, well... I actually created the cartoon 7 years ago, but didn't show it to anyone for a couple of years (because I didn't know how to draw). Then I finally put her up on the web 5 years ago and old Minnie has become quite popular since then.

Well, I guess I'll have a cup of decaf and do some work on the computer. I've learned not to fight this goofy schedule ....might as well make use of the quiet.
Dee

You have done a great job of LCing in such a short time, I hope I'm as fortunate !
Yep I slept in till 3:30........lazy me.. teehee..snicker, snicker, oh! the guilt, the best part of the day is wasted !! Well, I'll just have to make the most of what is left, the best I can, here's where my coping skills will come in handy......chuckle...chuckle.
Which reminds me, when I think of chuckling, of your web sight.
Very funny, informative, and having recieved quite a bit of recognition I see!! Great work !!!
I was just thinking, one thing about getting up so early, it cuts down on those "night sweats", I think the terminology is, people complain of while they are trying to sleep.........ha ha.
I actually do not get "hot flashes" any more. I was on HRT for them some 12 years till last May, and when I went off them I find I no longer have them any more.........HORRAY........So now I go around telling people that I feel better with NO harmones, than I did with them......which sounds pretty pathetic, but true. I say this at the embarrasment of my children, which get this apologetic look, but hey, you have to walk a mile in these shoes........right(?).

No Harmones.........No Problem.......Edie

As soon as I stayed away from the sugar, bread and milk, the pounds just started melting off. I really didn't know if I could actually stick with it since I've never been on a diet before, but because the bacon, cheese and salad allowed, I felt totally satisfied. Thought I would really miss the milk, as I was a huge milk drinker, but haven't had a drop for 6 mo.

I probably would have lost more, but I don't exercise and don't drink enough water----I TRY, but prefer coffee (decaf) or DietRite cola. I'm sure I use too much Splenda too, and this probably keeps me from continuing to lose at a faster pace, but I'm kind of in a learning mode right now to see what I can do or not do (eat).
I will probably use some of the tips I've found on this board to gear things up again so I can drop another 10 lbs before Christmas. Believe it or not, I go to my ex-husband's house for the family Christmas party and since I know all the ex-inlaws were pretty shocked at how fat I'd gotten (the last 2 years), I would love to show up in a snappy THINNER outfit this year.

I've never done the HRT thing (until I created HUMOR replacement therapy) because 13-14 years ago, when my periods just stopped, it seemed easier to just take nothing than to decide whether I wanted the risk of cancer or heart disease. Actually, I guess I was risking heart disease by NOT taking hrt, according to the theories back then, but I remember that I considered my family's history and figured I had a pretty good chance of not having it anyway. Didn't have cancer in my family either, but that was a bigger risk to me. Of course the news this summer made me happy I had not ever taken it.

I had about 5 years of intense hot flashes, but just muddled through. I don't remember having night sweats, but some women suffer terribly with them..... one of the "problem solvers" on my site has been a big hit.... it's a flat pillow-type thing that you slide inside your pillowcase and it helps keep your temperature at a moderate level during the night.

Anyway, love your attitude! I feel that plays a HUGE part in how we get through everything in life!
Dee
http://www.minniepauz.com/problemsolvers.html

Ex's for your Christmas party........wow you really do have some sense of humor............tee hee.............sorry, just couldn't resist!
Yes, slinking in there in some sexy outfit would be cool..........like they say "Living well is the best revenge". If the ex is there you can cast him one of those 'eat your heart out' looks while you're at it........I'm bad, cause I'm having fun with this, shame on me!

I wasn't feeling too well this morning, I felt like faint or weak or something. I went to Church, (I'm bad and can't afford to miss too many Sundays, tee hee), and by the time I got out of there I was starved. So I came home and ate a salad big enough to set up housekeeping in, with cheese and shrimp added, and began to feel better. I guess I was just plain hungry, humm. Since I don't get those sugar cravings anymore I don't usually experience any affects from needing to eat, other than regular hunger. But I was downright fatigued this morning !! Ever hear tell of that? It wasn't pleasant.......oh well.

Well, still reading your cartoons...........oh, wanted to mention I got a real belly laugh, (no pun intended), out of the one that says about you can tell you are big when you beep when you back up, (forget the exact terminology).

I have one of the kids just drove up to cut a Christmas tree now , (live on hill on 16 acres), so gotta go.

I too have had trouble with sleep since being on Atkins.

I head loff to bed reasonably early, read for a while, until I become sleepy ... and off to dreamland ... BUT ...

On average I guess I am getting 5 hours, and then I am WIDE AWAKE and ready to go - at 3 AM !

I have been taking my kids on bike rides after dinner, maybe I'm getting too much exercise too late in the day ?

Although, my mother (who is 86 - and very sprightly) tells me that when she hit 40 she found she needed less and less sleep ...

Maybe it's just an age thing.

Michael13

Well it very well could be an age thing. But this seemed to happen to me from the begining of Atkins, not gradually.
What was your experience?