Dear CalicoCat:
Keep up the good work. Sounds like you have this WOL down pat.


Dear HR:
When (not if) I hit 145, I am going to be so happy!!!! I haven't been down here for a while and it feels so good. I can't imagine what it's gonna feel like to be at my old (128) weight again. I may be just fine at 138, afterall I am older now. Just pray for a whoosh for me.
It's a little depressing especially because it's that time of the month for me AND I'm getting a cold. If I could be just one pound lighter by next Friday, I'll be OK.

It's so fantastic, the more pounds/inches I lose, the more confidence and self respect I gain. What a trade-off, a pound of fat for an ounce of self respect, or an ounce of fat for a pound of confidence. Either way, I'm getting the bargain. What took me so long????

You must look just fine at 145 at your height. That's my problem, if only I could grow a few more inches, I wouldn't have so much weight to lose, LOL. Fat chance of that happening, pardon the fat pun.

Thanks for the welcome! 140 sounds pretty great to me -- and I take your point about those odd chemical things in LC foods -- tomorrow I am going back to start up Yoga again as well. I think the breathing practice in Yoga can be helpful in keeping food panics at bay. It may seem discouraging that I lost all that weight and then gained it back, but I do have the most wonderful memory of how happy and confident I felt when I was at goal weight, and its a great motivator for me now. Can other people on the thread say what dates they have set for their 140 goal? Mine is April. Ruby J.

Jackie S: good idea, if I could strech to be 5' 7" intead of just 5' 5" I would be really slimm by now! Hahaha

Ruby J.: I have no idea when I'm going to reach 140... actually I never set a date for my goals. I got married last Nov 7 and I did my best to be the slimmer I could by then, now and also because the lost is slower as the goal approches, I just worry in keeping loosing and not gaining 1 ounce. When we get there we will... as long as we know we are beeing good, eating ONLY good foods, drinking water and moving our "derrieres"

Cheers,
H.

I think that is a good idea -- just focus on the 140, and not make an arbitrary date to get it done by -- I certainly do feet stronger and readier to do this as each day goes by. but tonight I am going out to dinner -- my first real challenge of the week. My goal is to get through it without anyone noticing that I am making unusual choices, or eating less.... I really don't want to hear anyone telling me how I shouldn't be low-carbing, etc.

Ruby J: do like the psycholigists:

Why aren't you eating that dear?
Not eating what?
Your potatoes?
I'm not eating the potatoes?
No, you aren't.
(silence)
Why don't you eat them?
Sorry... eat what?


Hahahaha

Cheers,
H.

Well, your advice was great, but my anxiety is even greater..so....four hours before I go to this dinner party (its 4pm here in London), I go buy some wine to take with me, and a box of marrons glaces, those candied chestnuts that are a great treat in France, and I come home, put the wine in the refrigerator, and sit down, almost without thinking, but feeling a wave of compulsion overtake me, and have just eaten the marrons glaces -- not one, not two, but all 12 of them, and now have Sugar Remorse and a big tear in my confidence.... Does this count as cheating? The carbs are probably too many to count -- well: sugar, 4 carbs a teaspoon: I'd say 2 teaspoons a chestnue, so that 24 teaspoons = 48 carbs....hardly any in the chestnuts themselves (I'll go check...). If I just go ahead with my plan for eating tonight, I may scrape through..... Anyone else ever have this sort of compulsive grab'n'eat attack?
Ruby J.

Good one!

Ruby J.: that sounds so much like me before Atkins. I had cravings that made me feel like I ould kill somebody just to get to a desired food.

The coolest thing about Atkins is that I don't have those cravings anymore... well I do have bits, but they are tinny silly cravings compare to those godzilla sized cravinsg I used to have just like the one you just described.

Bottom line is: don't feel too bad... 40 something carbs is not the end of the world... 2 days of eating acording to induction will clean you up and get you back on track. To make you feel better thing that you ate 2 apples ( that's the same carbs count) Hehehe.

I have onely one advise: next time don't buy them! I like to think I'm strong but to keep things safe nothing with sugar enters my home

One more thing... I know I'm beeing bad, but just thinking of your expression of pleasure eating and all box of it is making me laugh! LOL

Cheers,
H.

Red: and it can go on and on...

- Eat your potatoes, are you trying to change subject by not answering me?
- Me, change subject? Of course not! What was your question?
- The question was: you are not eating your potatoes, it looks like you are doing that Atkins "thing" again, are you?
- What makes you say that?
- Because I'm not blind and I CAN SEE YOU ARE NOT EATING YOUR POTATOES * starting to raise voice*.

Hehehehe

Well, I am back on track today -- woke up with what I think can only be described as a sugar hangover, and having been having lovely cups of hot water and lemon as a way of cleaning up and starting in again. I am not going to weigh in until Tuesday, to give myself a chance of catching back up..it is a beautiful sunny day in London today, and it is getting very Christmas-y --
Ruby .

Ruby J. : hummmmmm hot water with lemon... that sounds god and soothing... I'll try it

Cheers,
H.

RubyJ, never be hungry next to a sweet treat. 4pm is one of the worst hours for me. Actually 5pm is the worst of all. The last time I cheated was at that time. It’s a time when we start to feel hungry but don’t want to fix ourselves some real food because it would ruin our appetite for the next meal.

Here is what works for me:

1) When I am hungry, I eat some real food. If I don’t have much appetite for the next meal, it doesn’t matter, what I ate was good for me.
2) Like Hellraiser said, avoid buying the sweet treats you like. When I buy desert to bring elsewhere, I make sure it is something I am allergic to. That way I know I wont eat some.

Hellraiser, I lost another pound! Now I am getting so scared I will all gain it back during the holidays… I have already scheduled 3 occasions when I will cheat. Help!!!

CalicoCat: you are doing really well. Schedule as many cheat times as you want, just make sure you stick to THOSE cheat times and don't create others and that you only cheat with planned foods and not everything that happens to be there and is tempting.

I envy your fast loosing latelly!

Cheers,
H.

Dear Calicocat:
Hello and thanks for your tips. I am sure you are right about the eat when you are hungry thing....I did get very nervous about that dinner party, and the weeks are stretching ahead around the holidays that are danger-filled. Thursday night I am cooking for others and am going to focus on the chicken and broccolli part, and have some cheese and fruit and coffee for desert, and make cous-cous for the others, which I know I can pass on if I get enough chicken in to me to begin with. I saw an article in the paper today and eating fat and getting breast cancer, which was quite scary to read as well....but my goal at the moment is to get thin, and then presumably I can move off to eating less bad fat.... Do you guys ever worry about these things? I know it didn't when I was going strong on Atkins the first time round -- I wonder if my worries aren't ways of just letting myself off the hook...anyway... I admire and am inspired by your confidence and success so far!
Ruby J..

Hellraiser, thank you for your holiday tips. I will follow those to the letter. I am now done loosing weight for this month. I went as low as 141 lbs but today is fist day of PMS and for sure, I was 141.5 lbs this morning. I know it will go up a bit in the next days, but I don’t worry about it. I hope to lose some more next month.

RubyJ, if you are really concern with the kind of fat you are eating, on Atkins, you can always choose your fat. Go for some extra-virgin olive oil and things like that. Make yourself some homemade mayo with sunflower oil (first cold press, of course!). Eat fatty fish like trout and salmon.

Now, if you worry that you are eating too much fat, you can still low carb with less fat like I do. Too much fat alienates my liver so I don’t have any choice over the matter. I usually feel great around 60g of fat daily. More and my liver makes me sick. Less and I get cravings. Like all of us, just try to find what feels best for you and try to stick to it for the rest of your life (it all sounds so simple… )