GardenGirl639

[GardenGirl639]

194

Went to Super Wal-mart last night. Repeated what I did last year. Had to load up my shopping cart until I couldn't push it anymore, check out, take the stuff out to my car and than come back in and do the rest of my shopping. Could barely push the cart the second time. I think I am done. I have all the groceries in the house. Most of the gifts wrapped.

Went to the dentist today and got my partial plate. How depressing. I'm not even forty yet and I have false teeth. I know that I will get used to it, but I can't taste anything. Maybe this will help me with my weight loss.

[GardenGirl639]

192

I can't believe it!!!!!

[GardenGirl639]

I posted this in the Main Lobby:

Yesterday, Christmas day, was my six month "anniversary"

I have been around these boards for many years but have never stayed on plan for that long.

I started back on plan on June 25, 2007 and have been going strong, albeit slowly, since then.

Why is this time different?
1) This is now longer a quick-fix or diet. This is just the way I eat now. I really don't care when I go out with friends or visit family what they eat. I think nothing of it and you know what, while they might make an initial comment or two, they really don't care what I eat either. I can just about guarantee that when they walk out of the restaurant they aren't thinking about the steak and broccoli that I had. LOL

2) Because this is just they way I eat now, I make tons of preparations. I take food with me everywhere. When I used to hear people on this board say that, I used to think, "I'll never be like that. I don't want food to control me that much." It is such a wonderful feeling now to come home and not have a carb hangover or upset stomach--to know that I got through an event successfully. I even packed a whole cooler of food to take with me on vacation to my inlaws in VA for Thanksgiving. I made my one minute muffin every morning for breakfast. At first they thought I was a little strange but by the end of the weekend, they admired my commitment and determination.

3) I gave up all the frankenfoods. Sure, I keep a protein bar or two around in my purse for absolute emergencies, but they are not part of my daily plan or even weekly plan. I no longer drink diet drinks. I stay away from Splenda, nutri-sweet, and other artificial sweeteners. I have to say that giving up the artificial sweeteners was harder than the sugar. It left me with nothing for my sweet fix and I think that getting rid of the sweet fix was really the key to finally fighting this demon. I "sweeten" my one minute muffin with blueberries. For Christmas, I made a low carb crustless pumpkin "pie" with Stevia. (I don't eat Stevia very often because I really don't like the taste that much. )

4) I focus on how the food makes me feel and not how much I'm "missing out on." This was my thought process during Christmas...Oh, my mil's dutch wafers. I really love those. They look really pretty and I know they taste great. Yeah, but if I eat one, then I'll eat a ton. I'll start eating and not be able to stop until my stomach hurts. I hate the way my stomach hurts when I eat too much. The food will taste pasty in my mouth. Then I'll get the sugar rush, which really isn't that enjoyable and then I'll come crashing down. I'll feel really disappointed in myself and depressed that I ate too much. You know, I don't think that little cookie is worth that feeling. No, I think I'll pass on the dutch wafer.....This whole conversation in my head takes seconds. I can't believe how much I've changed.

We are all on this journey and some of us take a little longer to learn what we need to learn. Unfortunately, it appears that I happen to be one of those people. I hope that maybe someone can learn from my mistakes.

Never, never give up because eventually, it can happen for you!!!

[GardenGirl639]

Put in our home study for a little one year old boy on Thursday, December 20. Wonder what will happen? I'm sure they will gets TONS of home studies for such a little guy.

[GardenGirl639]

Ann Louise Gittleman; she is a nutritionist, and her recipes use stevia as a replacement for sugar cravings.

Want to remember this for later.

[GardenGirl639]

Things I'm doing to make 2008 a year of success:

Yesterday:
Put the Christmas tree away so that I could move the exercise bike back into the living room.
Created a new schedule for myself and the kids in order to get all of our "goal activities" in.

Today:
Cleaned the basement so I could make it to the weight bench because I intend to start lifting tomorrow.

What have you done?

[GardenGirl639]

December 31, 2007--road exercise bike for 31 minutes.
Today, January 1, 2008- road exercise bike for 30 minutes. Did some yoga



Dietary changes that I want to try.

No air popped popcorn for January.
Eating my flax muffin in the evening instead of for breakfast. (Actually eating flax muffin instead of pop corn. )
Eating eggs for breakfast instead of flax muffin.
Cut down on the coffee.
Drink some herb tea at night.

I'm very concerned about the month of January. I did great last year through the holidays and then totally crashed and burned in the middle of January. Ate everything I could to try to comfort myself all the way to June when I got back on plan. I don't want that to happen this year.

[GardenGirl639]

Yesterday--Eggs, no popcorn, flax muffin in the evening, less coffee, tea at night.

Today--Eggs for breakfast, less coffee, flax muffin planned for later tonight and tea.

Road the exercise bike for 1.2 hour. My plan was to start lifting weights again today, but I'm very sore from the bike riding (I know, lame, right?) and lifting and carrying the Christmas decorations, so I'm going to start the weights on Monday, January 7. Ease into it, if you will.

I love the holidays, but it is so nice to be back in the regular routine. Eating is much easier.

[monet0329]

Good morning young lady..

looks like you have some good goals set.. and you can and will make it though this month !!

I know you can and YOU know you can!

you have a great day and stick with what your doing !!

[GardenGirl639]

Hi, Monet!!!!!! Thanks, girly!

[GardenGirl639]

January, blah, blah, blah. How's that for a good attitude?

January is really scaring my pants off. ..More than it should....I'm trying not to set myself up for a failure. I'm in such a better place than I was last year, but still.....I was cruising along, doing well on LC, and Bam, went to the dentist and found out I had a massive infection in my tooth, bone, sinus that meant three months of heavy duty antibiotics, teeth pulled, and lots of Vicodin. What happned was that I thought, "Oh, antibiotics. Those tear up my stomach, I'll have to eat carbs." Well, my stomach got torn up anyways, even with all the carbs. And what carbs did I pick? "Healthy" carbs? Nooooooooo, brownies and muffins and donuts. I ate everything I could until June 25 when I grabbed the bull by the horns and took control again. Soooooooo, don't want to do that again. I guess, really, if it's not this January, then it will be something in Februray or March, etc. I just need to learn how to get through this stuff. I hate this part of weight loss.

[GardenGirl639]

1/3-Thursday-no exercise
1/4-Friday-no exercise

What will Saturday hold?

[monet0329]

Come on sweets.. you can do this.. !!!..

sorry you had to go through all that.. I am having tooth problems .. comes and goes.. and I am to stubborn to go to the dentist.... how did you know .. I mean.. was you in pain? explain please..lol.. I don't want to get bad before I break down and go..lol..

ok getting busy here at work.. gotta get..

[GardenGirl639]

Monet,

Unfortunately, I wasn't in any pain. I went in for a routine tooth cleaning and they took x-rays and found it. I have a high pain tolerance. I did have a ton of sinus infections, though.

Basically, the tooth got infected and the infection actually ate through the bone, pocketed off and formed more infection, and drained into my sinus under my right eye. I have some nerve damage now and a partial plate with two false teeth. My Dad's family all have really crummy teeth. I try to take care of mine, but....

Get ye to a dentist, girl!

[monet0329]

Oh wow.. thanks hun..

Let me tell you how I have been doing..

I woke up one day.. right side of my face a little swollen.. no pain.. but if I touched it.. you could feel a little pain.. nothing big at all.. but the feeling went right up along the right side of my nose.. and when I smile.. it feels numb.. so I have been taking aleves.. dh told me it would help.. well it went down.. then a week later.. all over again.. so I took more aleve.. now its better.. but who's to say when it will happen again..

both sides of my family have bad teeth.. my dads worse... I take care of mine as well.. but that doesn't help.. every since I had my boys they got bad.. .. and let me tell you.. I drank milk like it was going outta style....

anywho.. thank you for sharing.. glad your better..

[cdn_gal]

Just poppin' in to say thanks for the thoughts through the holiday season.. It really did mean a lot to hear that from you!
I've been so not here for anyone the past 6 months, but trying desperately to get back into the groove of things!

[GardenGirl639]

Originally Posted by monet0329

I woke up one day.. right side of my face a little swollen.. no pain.. but if I touched it.. you could feel a little pain.. nothing big at all.. but the feeling went right up along the right side of my nose.. and when I smile.. it feels numb.. so I have been taking aleves.. dh told me it would help.. well it went down.. then a week later.. all over again.. so I took more aleve.. now its better.. but who's to say when it will happen again..

Monet, I don't want to scare you, but that sounds like every abcessed tooth I have ever had (except for last Jauary.). Get to the dentist, Girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They need to x-ray it.

[GardenGirl639]

Originally Posted by cdn_gal

Just poppin' in to say thanks for the thoughts through the holiday season.. It really did mean a lot to hear that from you!
I've been so not here for anyone the past 6 months, but trying desperately to get back into the groove of things!

Give yourself time! It takes awhile.

Thanks for saying hi. I'm trying to post more now that the holidays are past.

[GardenGirl639]

Today, the miserable part of TOM is past.

I am going to try to work out today.

Experimented with Cleo's Oopsie Rolls ( http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/ma...er-thread.html ) Made some pumpkin ones that turned out pretty well. Had them for breakfast instead of fried eggs. Tomorrow, back to fried eggs for breakfast. They really do keep me fuller than the one minute muffin. Plus the one minute muffin really keeps me from eating a ton at night. Nice bedtime snack.

Can't wait for all this bloat to go away. Even my pajama pants feel tight.:blush:

[monet0329]

Those look delish..

how is your Sunday? Glad TOM is better hun..

[GardenGirl639]

Originally Posted by monet0329

how is your Sunday? )

My Sunday is lazy. My little girl is sick so we stayed home from church. I took a shower and then got back into clean jammies.

Trying to get the rest of the Christmas decorations down. The trees been down since New Year's Eve, but the rest is still floating around.

What are you up to today?

[monet0329]

Today I cleaned... and washed all the bedding in every ones room..

I don't blame you one bit for getting that shower and back into some Jammie's.... yip.. sounds great.. ..

what was your menu today? I so love reading what everyone eats.. helps me out a lot..

Hope your baby girl gets feeling better..

se ya tomorrow.

[TaDa!]

Hiya GardenGirl Thanks for visiting my journal! I thought I'd pop in when I saw yours! and I have to say .... why oh why are you eating eggs for breakfast if you don't like 'em!!! I'm eating a lot of them lately because I have to watch the $$ .. but how about something else you like - how about some sausage or something like that? I just had some vegetarian sausage and cheese for a snack myself ...

I know how you feel dreading January. I always dread July becasue I spend it with family and I tend to cope by binge-eating so I stress up to it every year for the past five on Atkins (I also don't have computer access when I'm there which is part of it for me).

You are NOT doomed to have another bad spell this spring - keep posting and everyone here will take care of you.

Thanks again for the sweet post!



Pauline

[GardenGirl639]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond, TaDa!

Eating eggs for breakfast was really a calculated decision.....I used to make the one-minute muffin every morning for breakfast...no artificial sweetener, just blueberries and the recipe. I really like the consistency of eating the same thing everyday.

I was also trying a little air popped popcorn at night with tons o' butter. It really satisfied that crunchy salty thing. It also helped me get through the holidays. I haven't really lost and had only maintained since I started eating it. Don't get me wrong, maintaining during the holidays is a great thing!

When I started thinking about my eating habits and what I wanted to accomplish for the new year, I decided the popcorn had to go, but I knew that I loved eating something "treaty" at that specific time at night and knew I needed to replace it with something. I decided to move my muffin to the evening to replace the popcorn.

This meant I had to eat something else for breakfast because I couldn't eat two muffins in one day...stomach issues. Eggs are quick and easy. Actually, since I've been frying them in my cast iron skillet, they aren't as as before. I probably should try to make a quiche to eat.

It's an ongoing process. Thank you for your observations. Maybe I should think some more and come up with a better plan.

Oh, also, yogurt totally stalls me or I would eat that for breakfast. Maybe I should get some cottage cheese next week. Mmmmmm, cottage cheese.

[GardenGirl639]

Originally Posted by TaDa!

I know how you feel dreading January. I always dread July becasue I spend it with family and I tend to cope by binge-eating so I stress up to it every year for the past five on Atkins (I also don't have computer access when I'm there which is part of it for me).

You are NOT doomed to have another bad spell this spring - keep posting and everyone here will take care of you.

Thanks again for the sweet post!



Pauline

Thank you so much for that encouragement. I feel like I a walking a tight wire. On one side is "Don't think so much about it because you will self-sabotague." On the other side is "You don't need to think about it at all....Oh look, you weren't careful enough and just fell off." I know that if I can keep my head up and just keep looking ahead, putting one foot in front of the other, one on-plan bite at a time, I can make it across this precipice. Writing this out has just helped me, so again, thank you for the encouragement.

I also have to tell you, I had that same brown suede jacket that you were wearing in one of your before pics.

[TaDa!]

How you doing GG? Seems to me that you are in January and doing fine so far

(I have to laugh about the brown jacket!! and I thought I looked ok in it -- I am sure yours looked better on you!!!!! lol!!!)

[GardenGirl639]

Originally Posted by TaDa!

How you doing GG? Seems to me that you are in January and doing fine so far

I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. I'm pondering something right now and not sure what type of "action" to take.

I am one of those people that hate to blame anything on PMS or TOM. Maybe it's because I have PCOS. Anyways, I'm finding that PMS and TOM are effecting me deeply. I have no problem at "normal" times knowing that I am following the right plan, making appropriate food choices, having self-confidence, etc. Then BAM! I start feeling low about myself, craving food, eating everything I can get my hands on (LC of course), and then as soon as TOM is gone and those hormones are out of my body, I'm my "normal", rational self again. This isn't just effecting my eating, but other areas of my life as well.

This is where I was for most of last week and this weekend. Even my posts reflect this low feeling. Today, I'm okay and not fearing January or eating off plan or making any type of decision.

What the heck can I do about this? Are there supplements I should/could take? I really don't like it when I'm that way.

Originally Posted by TaDa!

(I have to laugh about the brown jacket!! and I thought I looked ok in it -- I am sure yours looked better on you!!!!! lol!!!)

Nope, I'm 5'3" and was 229. You can pretty much be assured that nothing looked good on me.

[GardenGirl639]

Back to working out today.

30 min. on the stationary bike
7 miles
152 cal.

Yeah, me!

[GardenGirl639]

08/01/07
ii. Waist (at most slender place)-45.5"
iii. Hips (at widest part)-51"
iv. L Upper Thigh-26"
v. L Upper Arm-15.25"
vi. L Calf-17"

09/14/07
ii. Waist (at most slender place)-44"
iii. Hips (at widest part)-50.5"
iv. L Upper Thigh-25"
v. L Upper Arm-13.75"
vi. L Calf-16.5"

01/08/08
ii. Waist (at most slender place)-42.5"
iii. Hips (at widest part)-49"
iv. L Upper Thigh-24"
v. L Upper Arm-13.5"
vi. L Calf-16.25"

I wish I had taken measurements earlier.

I just read some of my old posts. Each day does really build on the next one, doesn't it?

[GardenGirl639]

Did an upper body workout today.

Not eating enough and then get really hungry and shaky. Not smart. I'll do better tomorrow. It's like I forget to eat and then wonder why my hand is shaking.