Hey Amber! I'll just say "ditto" to everything Sally just told you! I know what it is like to be on your own on this deal. My hubby, while he doesn't give me a hard time, and he likes the results, still shakes his head when he sees me melt down a plate of cheese for a snack. I think, deep down, he thinks I'm setting myself up for a heart attack. I tell him to read up on it, to ease his mind, but he doesn't. So, I guess he's not THAT worried about it. Face it, this diet goes against everything that all of us have had drilled into us since birth. "the four basic food groups....8-10 servings of breads and cereals a day"

Anyone else out there with a good argument to give to the doubters in our lives??

Tama

I just dropped by since I was floating through the internet and tell you guys the good news...

As of this morning, I'm 2 pounds closer to my goal!!!!

This last week, I dropped an extra 3.75 inches...

I'm STOKED!!!

Talk later!!!

Go Sally, Go Sally! Woooo hooooo!!!!

Congrats, girl! Send that whoosh fairy our way now, okay?

Yeee Haw Sally! Way to go! Thank you and Tama for talking me back from the smoking gun situation. Geez, and I'm PMSing too, as if I need more stress!

I went down another .5 pound last Thursday, so 1.5 pounds for the week. Not too bad after hitting a kids pizza parlor and game place! I had salad first, but then the pizza came and I didn't want the looks of horror if I took the toppings off of my pizza and ate them! Anyway, I've been off of the computer for a few days. My ISP is going nutso and I'm getting fatal errors left and right. Hopefully, they'll stop soon.

Today is my daughter's bday party for the relatives. Yesterday was the kid's party. I ate the chicken without the breading and had celery with sour cream and chives cream cheese. Mmmmm. I've stayed on pretty well, no cake and sugary stuff. I'm going to experiment with my chocolate cake recipe and see if I can make a low-carb version of it. All I have to do is change the 2 c flour, 2 c sugar, 1 c milk, etc. Maybe this will take a while!

Does anyone know what you do to make up for the lack of dry ingredient when you substitute artificial sweetener for sugar?

I had whipped cream and AS with cocoa powder last night because I skipped the bday cake. It was pretty good, but next time I'll add the cocoa BEFORE I whip the cream, duh! Oh well, I was so nuts for chocolate I'd take it in ANY form as long as it was low carb and wouldn't blow my diet!

The thing with my husband has died down to a sort of tense truce. He won't bug me about what I'm eating (including the vitamins) and I won't go photocopy a ton of med journal papers talking about how good this is and shove it down his throat! He knows I'm a nut for scientific papers and he goes glassy eyed when I start talking excitedly about something medical. I told him that's how I feel when he starts talking about some dusty old history book he's reading! We are in so many ways so opposite! Oh well, his best friend is starting to change his lifestyle, eating at home, cutting so much pop, etc. He told me his friend was changing his lifestyle, like me. I guess that's as close to "I won't bother you anymore." as I am going to get.

I'm hoping you all are getting some good tape measure readings and scale readings! I'm stopping because this and my last post are novels! Amber

How's everyone today

Wow Amber... sounds like you had alota temptation... WTG on not caving in....

I sent the Whoosh fairy in your direction with the understanding that she doesn't stay away too long... You think she may have a staff that works with her... or is she like Santa and handles the "delivery" or in her case the "take away" alone???

Well ... until next time... talk later!!!

Well ladies you sure have been keeping this thread going ! Thank you and although I have not been writing I have certainly been reading. It helps to keep me on track. Thank You All Again!

Amber - you will prove that husband of yours wrong yet! I am amazed that you all can stick with this and not have your husbands eating the exact same way. I am very lucky in that respect. My problem now is that he is staying in induction and I have moved on and added nuts and berries back in. The repetition was driving me crazy.

I do have a sister-in-law who has basically stopped speaking to me over this "Atkins thing" (her words) but I find that to be a motivator when I think about it. Also since I have lost 15 pounds since January 1 (5 prior to Atkins) I am starting to now get some comments on the weight loss so that helps keep me on track.

Amber - if you figure out that chocolate cake recipe please let us know. I am coming into birthday season at my house and would love to be able to bake a cake my husband would eat for his birthday.

Sally - I am watching for that whoosh fairy. Have not spotted her yet but I will take my one pound a week. That would get me to 149 by mid July which is when I leave for a cruise to Alaska. My mother is taking the entire family. When I get back to 149 I will weigh just about the same as when I met my husband.

Also don't worry about the ranting. It helps me feel like I am not alone when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all high-carb people in my life.

Talk to you all soon and sorry for being away so long.
Regards, Judy

Wow we all have such great attitudes, don't we?? I'm proud to know you girls!!!

Judy - Back up. You say you have a sisterinlaw who isn't speaking to you because of the food you eat??!??! What the HE** is that all about!?!?

Sally, you are such an inspiration.... you keep it up girl and for heaven's sake, tell me your secret!

Amber...I'm glad you and your hubby kissed and made up....ok, well shook hands and sorta made up. That's better than the alternative. PMSing?? Ugh. Y'know I was just mentioning to my husband tonight about how much better my horrible mood swings have become....actually almost non-existent, really. I am not kidding when I say that before Atkins I was very depressed some days, almost suicidal sometimes. PMS was horrible, couldn't handle any kind of stress, worried about all kinds of stupid stuff, gloomy, cranky, the whole bit. I have been AMAZINGLY even-keeled and quite content with the world. Even when the *&#~$(!!#% scale doesn't move I just shrug my shoulders and say, "Oh well, it will eventually!"

I treated myself to 3 whole strawberries, SF jello and whipped cream tonight. It was DELISH! The things we take for granted, eh?

Speaking of desserts, I made the carbolite cheesecake the other night and Richard has been loving it!! I've been trying to cut way back on sweet stuff so I only had one sliver, but I would say he definitely recommends it!!!

Well, I'm terribly proud of all you girls ( and me too!). Let's stick together and we'll all get there eventually.

and by the way.... do ya'll promise to throw me a party if I ever drop another pound!?!??!?

TeriDoodle - I am with you on the mood swings. Just before starting Atkins I had one really bad day with my 3 year old son just not listening. I felt so out of control with him that I ended up in the bathroom crying my eyes out.

I am coming up on 2 months of low carb and have not even come close to that level of being upset.

My husband even mentioned that he is having a hard time telling when it is That Time...since before LCing I would stomp around the house with a gigantic black cloud over my head. There was just this very negative aura which I knew was there but could not influence.

As for my sister-in-law, who knows, except that she could stand to lose about 50 pounds herself. She has never read the book but does have medical friends - from what she ranted about when I mentioned starting the diet her friends only focused on the induction phase. Which when taken out of context from the entire WOE/WOL certainly sounds like a bad idea - but induction is generally taken out of context.

My Chiropractor on the other hand can't stop raving about how good this is for me. She does the Zone and looks great...just a ball of energy. Every time I go there she has more food ideas for me to try.

Well enough for now...Judy

Good Afternoon all! And I really mean it! I am feeling much better. I would get completely emotional and out of control, but I'd never let anyone see me really lose it. They knew that I had a bad day or something, but that was about it. Then I thought, man, I'm really tired of having my feelings sloughed off as PMS all of the time. Like they don't count for temporary insanity of a woman! Grrrrr! Anyway, I won't let anyone blame it on that anymore, because it's an excuse to ignore me, but I know I was a lot worse before I started this WOE. (I know, you're thinking, OMG, how could you possibly get worse!) I would think about getting in the car and taking the kids and leaving the state! I was baaaaaad!

Anyway, thanks for all of the online encouragement, it has really kept me going and on track. I love so much to come back online proud of accomplishment, I'd hate to ruin it. I know I'll have stalls and stuff, but I don't want to aggrevate the situation!

So, how's everyone else? Oh, hey, my belly is getting squishier. Not bad squishy, but like, less solid with fat squishy. Like my skin needs to catch up it's shrinking because there's not as much FAT to contain squishy! It makes me happy!

I got my first compliment yesterday! My father in law came over for my daughter's bday and he told me I looked great and that I looked like I lost weight! Yay! I thought 30 lbs. would be more noticable, but this was the first notice. He hasn't seen me in 4 months. It really made my day.

I don't mind if the woosh fairy doesn't visit me as long as I keep going along happily the way I've been losing, so if she comes I will definitely send her quickly to you all! We need to share the sparkly dust!

It's good to see you back Judy! I'm glad you were still reading! We are saving a floating cyber chair for you!

princesspp- where did you get your name? Was it Protein Power or something? I'm just nosey. I see so many cool names here, I wish I'd been a little more creative!

Anyway, see you later! Amber

Amber - Way to go on your "squishy" belly!!!
As for where I get my name... My little dog - which is the light of my life since I was never blessed with children, and with the exception of happy hubby and my parents; is named --(her akc name) is Princess Powder Puff X -- her predicessors (same breed) was Princess Powder Puff IX (the 6th ... I can never remember the logic of roman numerals ) so that's where I get PrincessPP. She's a little tiny 3 pound (she's gained weight since she's gotten older - she used to be 2 pounds in her prime) Maltese... and just a wonderful little psycho-therapist... pets are the best for telling your problems too ... because as long as you're talking to them... they don't care... and she is so in tune with my feelings ... If I'm sad she'll come and cuddle with me, if I'm happy she'll get even sillier ... she was the "runt" of the litter, and had health problems when she was a puppy ... her insulin would not produce properly ... and she would go into siezures... and so, since she needed 24 hour care, I had an agreement with my boss to bring her to work ... and instead of taking lunch... I would take care of her when she woke up and "squeaked". I'd have to warm baby food and spoon feed her to suppliment her sugar... then she'd fall back asleep, and I'd put her in her rubbermaid bucket, until the next time (next 2 hour feeding ) just like a baby... she became the office mascot... I used to wear a shirt with big front pockets, and imagine the looks I got (I work in a male oriented business), when I would go to the counter and my "boob" was moving .. I used to be able to carry her in my pocket ... she weighed 1/4 pound then... it was hard not to laugh at the men at the counter, and then all of a sudden she'd pop her head out the top ... and this look of total relief came over their faces ... (okay ... blame this on Amber ... she got me talking about my "kid" ... it's her fault!!!) Anyway, that's where my name came from ... Princess"P"owder"P"uff...

Terry and Judy ... right on with the PMS stuff... I have had such wonderful "TOM" since I started eating this way ... and I now know that that was the reason ... because I was off of this during the holidays and ate (not much) more carbs than I was used to and Decembers TOM was BAMMMMM!!!!! and I got soo sick, and headaches and the works!!! and January I still was very very bad, (good as far as eating, but bad as far as PMS and TOM) but not as bad as December... and February was alittle bit better - back to hardly no PMS ... and March I didn't even recognize... and I'm back to almost nothing again!!! So I had deciphered (<like that word?) that it had to be the WOE/WOL ... so that's an additional plus to eating this way!!!!

Judy - welcome back ... I don't think we've met yet ...
HI I'm Sally!!!!

Anyway ... I've slaughed off long enough at work here... gotta go talk later!!!!

Sally that is just the most wonderful story!

We had some greyhounds for a while, so cute and cuddly is a little different from ours, but they are very good for you! We have a Siamese cat named Solo because her litter was abandoned in a house and a neighbor lady found them and she was the the only one left alive. So she's "Solo". The lady had bad allergies and gave her to a Construction company, who called the vet where my mom worked to see if they could find a happy home for her. My mom jumped on that! My family bred Siamese cats for years, so we're partial to them. She's a wonderful part of our family!

I love people's stories!

Well, in the diet arena, I've got to really watch myself.

Had eggs and sausage for Br. Beef sticks and cheese and pimento spread for snack/lunch, celery and cream cheese(garden vegetable) and a salad with tomatoes and red wine vinaigrette for dinner.

I had a piece of my daughter's bday cake yesterday. The good thing was that my whipped cream frosting only has 2g carb for 2 Tbsp.. The bad news is the chocolate cake is probably, no let's make that IS astronomical!! I felt I deserved it and it was a special occasion. I didn't have any on Saturday. And I didn't accompany it with ice cream. So, damage control and get back to it today. I need to get to the grocery store soon or my willpower will dwindle. I have a third of the birthday cake in the fridge. It's not calling my name now, but wait until I want lunch and don't have my favorite dressing! "Aaaaammmmberrrrrrr, come and eeeeeeeaaaaat meeeeee." We don't want to see that!

Anyway, I'll check back in tomorrow if my computer will let me on. See you later! Amber

Hello ladies!

I am back and I just wanted to tell all of you how much I have missed you!! It sounds like everyone is doing quite well. keep it up.

Amber, I don't have any idea how you can resist that cake. That is so hard for me to walk away from - leftover b-day cake. That's awesome that you can be so strong!!

Keep us posted girls,
Tama

Just floating around and thought I'd at least say hi ... feel really yucky today ... Got a nasty cold that's going around the office.... so just wasting time before having to take my little dog out for the last time tonight...

Still holding at my 173 though ... so Sat wasn't a fluke ... it's for real!!! << sorry that's all the good news I'm good for tonight... but hopefully after drowning myself in Nyquil tonight, I'll feel better tomorrow ...

So Talk later ... and keep up the Great work Ladies...

Terry, I'm alittle slow on the uptake, but your jello desert sounds really really good ... I love jello... and I'll be MORE THAN HAPPY to throw you a big bash << o not that kind? when you drop the next pound!!!

Talk later!!! and keep up the great work y'all

Good evening ladies!

Thanks to all of you for keeping me amused. I love catching up on each of you at the end of my day. Only problem is I always feel like I have nothing to add. Which I know is not true but it is how I feel.

Curious - I am finding that if I don't do my full water plus some everyday I tend to bloat. Once I get back on the 64+ oz. of water I can eat a modified induction and continue to lose. I have been coming off the weekends bloated (because I if I drink the water I can't get my errands run without stopping at every public bathroom I see - and I hate public bathrooms).

So I am not getting enough water on Saturday and Sunday then I am up in weight on Monday. By Tuesday morning that is gone again because I drank enough water on Monday.

Does anyone else see a similar correlation with water?

For my family news - my daughter will be 4 on April 8th. We are throwing her and 7 friends a tea party on the 6th and I have been glueing rhinestones on everything that is not nailed down!

My daughter loves anything pink or sparkly. She is a girly girl.

I told my husband I think I am more excited than she is. We have been making tissue paper flowers and decorating plasticwear with rhinestones. I am going to attempt and decorate a cake shaped like a flower pot.

Next month will be my sons 3rd and it is a Thomas the Tank Engine theme.

So these two parties and my work consume my time at the moment.

Well off to make some more tissue paper flowers. Keep up all the great LC work. We are all doing great even with an occasional slip!

Regards, Judy

A Tea party sounds like sooo much fun ... your 4 year old sounds like "such a lady" ....

Hope you have as much fun at it as it sounds like she will ...