I actually made it through my first day and i"m well on my way to getting through today. Yipee!!! As long as DH doesn't ask to go out to breakfast I should be okay!

Hi ladies,
I am finally back after three weeks of pure hell. It's so good to be home again.
My mom is stable and she has recovered a bit of vision, but she will never be able to live alone again, so I have been packing up her things and have ended her lease. She is now in a long term care facility in Quebec, and I will try and see if I can have her transferred in an establishment here in Vancouver. The doctors won't let her travel for now though, so there is no choice but to leave her alone in Quebec. A very difficult decision, but there is no way I can move there and abandon my daughter and granddaughter... If only I could clone myself, one in Quebec, one in Vancouver... and one in Hawai for sure, for rest and relaxation!!!
I am totally off plan, of course; carbs seem to calm me down and help me cope. Or maybe, it's just a matter of habit.
Anyway, it's good to be back, and to be on the computer again, talking to all of you.
Danielle

Hi Ladies,
Sure is nice to see all of the posts here.I was doing so well last week watching what I ate but the scales just would not go down.Guess I will just be happy to maintain here at the holiday time.Then after the holidays and the beginning of a new year I will watch really closely what I eat and up my exercise.

I want to welcome the new ladies.I would go back and check on the previous posts but then I would lose what I have already typed out.Guess I should go ahead and send this then read what I have missed then comment on it since this is on a new page.Be back shortly.

Nancy

OK...I am caught up with the messages.Sure was nice hearing from everyone.Just wish I wasn't so discouraged since my weight isn't going down the way I would like.Seems like at my age(56) I will need to watch closely what I eat and add in daily exercise.

Analog6...I'd like to welcome you.What would you like for us to call you.Please tell us about where you live in Australia.You are going into summer and we are going into winter.Jes is having lots of snow up in Canada.I will be looking forward to getting to know you.

Jes...sorry to hear that you haven't lost any weight in the last two weeks.I really thought I was going to see a nice loss last week but it wasn't happening.I seem to stay so hungry too.Think I need to up my protein but that means another trip to the grocery store.Hope Fit Day helps you to track your carb intake closer.

JAnn...way to go making it through your first day of Induction.How is your tooth feeling now?

Danielle....welcome home.How torn you must feel having to leave your mother in the long term care facility in Quebec.How far is that from you? My mother in law had a major stroke when she was only 59.She could no longer live by herself after that.She came to live with us.Our daughters were only 5 months old and 16 months old when my mother in law came to live with us.Needless to say I had my hands full with two small babies and my mother in law.Please keep in touch and let us know how you and your mother are doing.

Nancy

Thanks Nancy.
It's a seven hour plane trip to get to Quebec City from here, quite a long and tiring trip. And my mom is not able to travel for the moment, and we don't know if she'll even be able to travel in the future. It is heart-breaking to hear her cry on the phone. I make a point of calling her twice a day, and so do my sisters, but she still feels alone.
To answer your previous post, quite a while ago, sorry; I just turned 59, yikes!, and my granddaughter turned 6 last May. She is now in grade I, in English, after having done Kindergarten in French. But she goes easily from one to the other.
I plan to get back to Induction any day now! It's great time to get back on track.
Danielle

Made it through Day 2. Tooth isn't hurting as much but I still need to get it taken care of.

Danielle, it must be so emotionally draining dealing with your mom's illness. I hope she can get out to you soon. In the meantime, please take care of yourself.

Nancy and Jes, the weight will come off. don't let it get you down.

Hi to Analog.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Thought I would pop in and introduce myself, joined this site in September, 2006, I'm a recycled low carber.

And oh my, how hard it is to lose this time around now that I'm over 50!! The scale did not move until I added in the dreaded exercise and cut back on my portions. It's going to be a long haul because I love a variety of food and refuse to limit myself to just meat and eggs. Can't do it. Period. Althought I have cut back on cheese.

Although I have several posts on this site and have started a journal, I'm getting kind of lonely even though I have posted in some random threads and journals. I feel invisible.

So, best wishes on your journey, like me, you are probably wanting this to be your last weight battle ever.

Hi and welcome to the thread. I know how you feel about being invisible, I sometimes feel that way myself. I really like this thread although it's not as busy as it used to be. Maybe if we made more of an effort to post here others would join us. One thing to remember, there should be a lot more coming back to LCing and this thread after Christmas.

I look forward to your posts.

Hi everyone.

I live in Nebraska and am the mother of two daughters and grandmother to 4 boys and 1 girl. My oldest Grandson will be 10 tomorrow. (Yikes, that makes me feel very, very, old.) My youngest grandson turned one in October.

I started LCing in 2003 (Atkins) to lose some weight before my DD's wedding. I didn't do well with Atkins so I only stayed with it a few weeks. Since I like vegies and fruits so well, I switched over to SB last year and lost 20 lbs. on my own, weighing myself weekly at the Mall. I don't recall how many months it took me to lose it--but several anyway, 'cause I'm a very slow loser.

I stopped watching what I ate so I could enjoy the Holidays, fully expecting to go back to the SB woe after Christmas, but by then I was well on my way back to Sugar City. I am an admitted sweetaholic.

After gaining 11 lbs. back and having only 2 pairs of pants that I could wear to work, I decided it was time to go back to eating right.

I just knew that I couldn't make myself do it alone again and that I needed some accountability. That's when I found this board in August. The weight is slowly going down and more importantly, my blood sugar has leveled off. My mother has Type 2 diabetes and I know I'm surely headed that way if I don't start taking care of myself.

As of today, I'm down to 112.8 lbs.(lost 14 lbs) and have lost 2" from bust; 3.5" from waist; 3" from hips; 1.5" from arms; 1" from neck; 1.5" from thighs; 2" from upper navel; 1.5" from lower navel. (Wow--I'd never subtracted my current measurements from my starting ones for a while. I did not realize that I've gone down so much.) I started with a size 14 jean in August and am now wearing a 10 or 8 depending on the brand.

I am thankful for this board and especially for the encouragement of everyone on the South Beach forum--as without their support I most certainly would not be where I am today.

Thanks for the Welcome....hope I didn't bore you with too many details. Anxious to get to know everyone here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE.....

Hi Ladibug, nice to meet you.
I live in Vancouver, and like you, I have two daughters; but only one granddaughter; she turned 6 this last May. I would love to have more grandchildren but my daughters are both so career-oriented that I feel lucky to at least have this one!
I follow the carnivore way of eating, because meat is my favourite food and I am never hungry on this plan, but lately, I have turned to comfort foods to ease the stress. Not a good idea for sure, and I am slowly getting back on plan. I need to lose at least 40 lbs before being considered in a healthy range. I need help!
Looking forward to getting to know you better,
Danielle

Hi, can I join you ladies? I am a 52 yr old wife and mother of two sons--one in grad school and one is a Jr in college.

MNLisaB--this is also my second go-round w/ LC and yes, it is tough---everything I've tried (and I've dieted all my life) has been little to no help. But once I got into perimenopause, it was next to impossible to lose, even with running and weight lifting and starving to death!

Well, I'm kinder to myself now and do yoga and walking, and eat LC (again) and even if I just find I FEEL better, that will be a pleasure, but weight loss would be a plus. I'm in Meno. now and feel so much better, but the weight remains a mystery---it just won't go anywhere.

I am loving it so much more this time around, and glad to have found this group of 50-something ladies, too!

Hello, everyone! I'm 61 (62 in February) and have been registered here for about a month, but I've never checked out this particular section before.

I have always had a tendency to gain weight (I was even fat as a little girl), and this is my second time as a low-carber.

For years, my doctor told me that I wasn't eating enough calories each day. She said I had to consume, at a very minimum, 1,000 calories/day to prevent my body from going into "starvation mode" and storing away as fat every bite I ate. So, that's what I do now. I keep my carbs around 30 gms/day, and my calories between 1,000 and 1,200/day.

There are ways to increase the volume of food you eat, without adding much in the way of carbs or calories. You definitely should not have to suffer hunger. The simplest thing to do is to eat 5, 6, or more tiny meals a day, so that your stomach is never completely empty. But I also use another technique. I mix a couple of tablespoonfuls of crumbled firm tofu with 4 oz of hamburger to create a 6 oz patty. I also add crumbled tofu to scrambled eggs, omelets, and other items. Tofu is very high in protein, and is an excellent way to boost your protein intake, which helps give people who follow the low-carb wol plenty of energy.

I realize that many people are hesitant to try tofu, since it really has no equivalent in "standard" American cuisine, but it really has little flavor of its own, aside from a very faint "nutty" sort of taste when raw. When used in cooking, it soaks up the juices and flavors of whatever you've added it to, to the extent that you'd never guess it was there.

Personally, I don't care for the taste of raw tofu. I don't know anyone who does, in fact, except perhaps, folks of Asian heritage. But once it has been cooked, it tastes like whatever it was mixed with. I have discovered that I like it fried in butter until it develops a nice golden crust. Then I slather it with butter and sugar-free syrup, and for me, it's as delicious as French toast!

I'm only offering this information as a suggestion. I've been low-carb (and low-calorie) for the past 25 months, and I've lost 135 pounds. I've very rarely been hungry.

Best wishes to you all!

I have problems with tofu after reading this.
http://www.mindbodyhealth.com/avoidsoy.htm

yes, I too have learned about the dangers of soy and have stopped consuming it.
I am having such a hard time right now with staying on plan. Stress level in my life has sky-rocketed since my mother's strokes, and I find myself in a no-win situation: whatever I do, I am letting someone down and I feel guilty. My mother needs me in Quebec, my granddaugter needs me here. I wish I could clone myself!
I need to find a good comfort food that has no carbs! Any idea??
Danielle

How about good old chicken broth? Throw some fresh parsley or dill, you got a party! Homemade is best, Jewish penicilln, you betcha. I tried to make me some low carb matzoh balls with almond meal, egg and oil, they weren't so good.

Hello you goddesses, how is everyone? THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL STORY. RIGHT NOW I WISH I HAD SOME FRIENDLY FISHERMEN CUTTING MY LINES.

The Whale



If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.

She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to
struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope
wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.


A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so
bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her ...

a very dangerous proposition.


One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.



They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.


When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous
circles.

She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged
them, pushed gently around-she thanked them. Some said it was the most
incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.


The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him
the whole time, and he will never be the same.


May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.

And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.

I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.