Welcome to the daily Protein Power Pals thread. All who are using, interested in or curious about the PP WOE are welcomed to join in. We also welcome friends not using PP to drop by for a large glass of water and some friendly conversation.

Actually got back on Sat. evening but have been catching up with the messages on the board as well as catching up with things at home. Welcome to all our new friends. It's so great to see people making healthy choices about their lifestyles. It still seems hard to believe that well under a year ago I was wearing a size 18 and feeling like a blimp.
Trip went well. There were a few glitches with things on the way down. DS and I missed our connection in San Francisco and our DD and her hubbie's flight was delayed and they had to spend the night in Seattle airport. But the return flights went like clockwork. We spent about half the time in Ensenada Mexico with DS and new daughter-in-law and the other half in San Diego with a sister of my first husband and her husband.
It was definitely chilly in Mexico. Now I knew this in advance and so had brought warm clothes but it still was uncomfortable, especially in our room with no heat. It was great to finally get warm in San Diego. We ate a lot of different restaurants at noon and it was wonderful to be able to eat outside on a patio and bask in the sun. Especially when I returned to the deep freeze here.
Food-wise, the trip was good. We cooked most of our own food in Mexico. Had tacos a couple of times but just ate the "innards". In San Diego we ate at quite a few ethnic restaurants and at one Thai restaurant they even had a low carb menu. Came home 2 lb. lighter than when I left. Since I've been back though, I've wanted to eat everything in sight. So I'm doing a very brief stint of a variation on Wendy's protein days. I'm keeping very low carbs and high protein and eating several small meals in hopes of getting into ketosis and curbing the appetite. I'm less worried about fat as all I have at home is full fat cottage cheese and cheese. My home-made yogourt is made with 1% milk, so that is fairly low fat.
We did a ton of walking in San Diego which is also very hilly. My VCR does not want to work right now so I'm back to walking at the mall. Just a bit too chilly to walk outside currently--and slippery. Means I cannot do my weight exercises either as they are on VCR. Very annoying. Still have Curves though.
It's great to be back. Hope everyone has a great LC day.
Marjorie

PS Never realized that the Atkins Advantage bars are different in Canada than in the US. Never cared for them at all--some chemical taste. Had one in the US and it was great. Then from my brother-in-law I discovered that they must use a different formula and they taste different in the US. However, this was the last night we were there so it was too late to buy any to bring back. I had bought a couple more to eat on Sat. for the flight. I've asked DS who is still in Mexico if he can bring some back with him if he gets a chance to go shopping in the US.

My menu was good yesterday. My weight is still at 175.5 lbs this AM.

Total calories: 1507
Fat: 78 gms 699 cal 48%
Sat: 25 gms 221 cal 15%
Poly: 21 gms 193 cal 13%
Mono: 26 gms 234 cal 16%
Carbs: 53 gms 146 cal 10% ECC:37 gms
Fiber: 16 gms 0 cal 0%
Protein: 151 gms 606 cal 42%

Breakfast:
4 egg beater omelet with 2 ozs lean ham and 1 oz cheddar
1 slice LC toast with pat of butter and .5 T sugar-free blackberry jam
12 ozs coffee and 8 ozs sugar-free breakfast drink with 3/4 T pysillum power

Snack:
1 oz cashews

Lunch:
1 can tuna (water-pack) with 1 T french onion dressing

Snack:
1/2 cup cottage cheese (4%)

Dinner:
6 ozs meat from a turkey leg - baked with small amt olive rubbed on & seasoned w/ seasoning salt, pepper and garlic powder
2 cups steamed cabbage
.75 cup diced tomato w/ 1 T parmesan cheese and 1 t dried onion flakes (baked uncovered at 375 F for 20 minutes)
.75 cup spinach salad (recipe in yesterday's thread)

About 96 ozs water, 12 ozs coffee

Goals for today - go for a walk and order a pair of elastic waist jeans that fit online. I have been unable to find a pair in my size and length (16 long is a popular size) - the old ones are now comically large. I still have days when the tenderness/swelling associated with my recent surgery makes wearing any pants with a fixed waistband impossible.

Elaine (ewinpa):
After doing some reading, it seems something akin to PP's maintenance with an eye toward lower-fat might be a wiser choice for someone with thyroid problems such as yours. This is very close to Wendy's on-going plan.

I'm not sure about the serotonin connection, but it certainly is worth exploring - especially in light of your past success with the fen portion of fen-phen. Have you discussed using any of the serotonin re-uptake inhibitor type meds (Paxcel, Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro and many others)? These increase the concentration of serotonin actually available to the body by slowing down the body's reabsorption of the neurotransmitter (normally is is reabsorbed quickly by the body)

Kathy (Bawdy):
Your kitty remains in my prayers.

Re: cooking eggbeaters - for both hubby and me - I just pour the equivilent of 8 eggs in a 10" T-Fal saute skillet - sprinkle with seasoning salt, pepper and gralic powder - add 4 ozs lean ham cut into roughly 1/4" cubes and sprinkle 2 ozs of shredded cheese on top. I cover this and let it cook undisturbed on low heat while I'm making LC toast, breakfast drinks, and hubby's lunch. I remove the cover for about a minute before removing from the heat (it allows the risen omelet to deflate - makes it easier to flip the halves together - and also allows any steam / moisture that formed during cooking to evaporate. This makes a huge omelet which I cut in half (looks like 1/4th of a pie when served)

Marjorie (Marnie):So good to see a post from you - congrats on the 2 lb weight loss. Hope the appetite wanes soon.

WTG re: eating rigth on vacation - you are such an inspiration to me. San Diego is a wonderful city - I look forward to going back after hubby retires.

Weird Re; the Atkins bars - maybe there is something in them that isn't allowed in Canada???

Gotta run for now - more later

Orang, I've gone back to reading PP, funny you mention that. I have taken Prozac for years, partly due to low grade depression and partly for the fibromyalgia(they used to recommend elavil at night too but that made me drowsy and I can fall aslepp taking a cal/mag tablet instead). I'm going to look at the Eades 30day book that I have and see if I can build some menus from that.

Shelley (Lisette)
Calving in March - shall we send Bawdy your way

Have you decided how to proceed with the WOE?

I tried egg whites - hubby couldn't get used to them because they aren't yellow...


Keith:
Glad to hear you resisted the bread and 'tators at your mom's house.

You like meatless products? I like some of them also - which are low-carb?


Re: the weightloss. Wonderful to see you are caring for your whole self - eating right exercising and tending to your spiritual needs. They are all important.


Smoothblu:
Missed you yesterday - hope all is well.


Ellie (chamellie):
Glad to hear endometrosis has been ruled out - it can cause symptoms like yours if it interferes with ovarian function.

Oh - I stayed out of the carbs last night - ate 2 cups of cooked cabbage instead

I saw your menu - what time is dinner tonight?


Deb (flintstone):
Your menu looked great for someone getting started.

Re: the chest pains... I went thru a similar scare recently. I know it is hard to acknowledge something serious might be wrong, but you need to get things like that checked out. Mine turned out not to be my heart at all - it was more of a tummy pressure thing. If you get those pains again before you get the EKG, haul your fanny to the ER. Glad you are skipping the exercise - I even quit hiking for a while ::gasp::


RobNJ (sasquatch or yeti):
Rob, praying for your sprained wrist - I sure do miss hearing from you, but I know typing is painful right now. {{{ Rob }}}


Charran:
Glad to see you are giving PP an honest try. Keep adding the protein - low protein was likely what caused your draggy feeling with Atkins. Atkins discourages too much protein - says it turns to glucose. This process (called glucogenesis) is very slow and only happens when glucose is needed by the very limited body tissues that only run on glucose.


WendyOH:
Good to see you posting - how is school going? Are the kids settling back into their routines? How's DBF doing?


RobinBeBe:
Missed you yesterday - know you are a busy lady


Unity:
{{{{ Unity }}}} We care about you even went you are tired and cranky. Pull up a chair next to the fire and unwind.


Where are our missing folks: Dreamer, CityGirl, msk, Shiva, Matt, Karen and Mark ????? Don't make me have to come hunting thru cyberspace for you folks....

Well...I had a successful day today! I was worried about the fieldtrip today to Boston Pizza. They did have pizza available for the adults and it smelled sooooo yummy, but I resisted and had just a cup of coffee instead and engrossed myself in the conversation at the table. It really helped that 2 of the other ladies at my table said they didn't want any either. When oh when will pizza become a non-issue? To treat myself though, I am having the deep dish pizza quiche tonight for supper. The next thing to get through is my daughters birthday and I have decided to make a regular cake for everyone else and also a low carb cheesecake. I'm off to the recipe section to try and find one, but if anyone has a really good recipe, please let me know.

Good afternoon all. I've been feeling very out of control with my eating since eating that low carb cheesecake from Ruby Tuesday's on Saturday. I don't think it is something I am going to do again. First of all, it probably had about 1000 calories (and I don't believe that is an exaggeration at all), and my weight has been up a bit, plus I had terrible diarrhea for two days following. I don't know if it had sugar alcohols in it, but due to my reaction, I suspect it did. So no more cheesecake for me, although it certainly tasted good going down! So I am going to cut back on fat again for awhile and try to keep my calories around 1100. This isn't something I can ever keep up for a long time, but I need to get myself back on track again.

Char-Congrats on following thru with your plan! It does get easier, I promise. With every no I give, I feel less and less like I am depriving myself. I don't even really have to give it any thought anymore. That's great that you are planning ahead and are going to make things that you can eat instead.

Renee-You have a good run going right now with good eating. You should be rewarded very soon!

Things at school have been going pretty well. It's the end of the grading period this week which always means stress as I try to cram things in and get grades finished. I am very much looking forward to having Monday off and then Tuesday will be nice b/c it's a workday to finish up grades, which we didn't get after fall quarter. So next week will be nice and short!

DBF is going well. It's now been three days since I've seen him one on one (seeing him at school doesn't count b/c it's not personal and we are still a big secret at school). Tomorrow we have plans to go see a concert, a local band called Red Wanting Blue. Then next week the plan is for me to meet his mother, so that's kind of exciting/scary. Yes, things are going really well. It's so bizarre to think that it's still really only been slightly more than 2 months that we've been dating b/c it feels like a million times longer

Marjorie-That's great that you didn't do any damage in the scale department while on vacation and that you had a good time. It sounds like we both have to get our eating back under control. How interesting that Atkins bars are different here in the U.S.

Hello to everyone else. I have this huge urge to take a shower now, so I must go indulge it

Orang
"Smoothblu: Missed you yesterday - hope all is well."

Haven't felt well lately.

Thanks for asking...

EKG was perfectly normal today!! (Amazing since I had to drive there during an 8" snow storm today!). Luckily dr knows I'm not a hypocondriac (sp) and don't go in very often. So he took me seriously. I PROMISE to never ignore something like that again. Well...I guess that means I have no excuse to not start aerobics class after work tomorrow.!! DARN!!
Food today was nothing exciting:
2 scrambled eggs
4 slices bacon
2 ham roll-ups (2 sl lean ham, 2 T cream cheese, 1/2 dill pcikle)
1/2 c sf jello w/ topping
1 cup sliced beef w/ gravy
brocolli & celery w/dill dip
chinese buffet for dinner (lots of chicken & brocolli, crab & shrimp w/cheese
probably some almonds for snack tonight

I'm not gonna do fitday today cause I wouldn't know how to enter dinner...since it was a little bit of several different things. I know I did good tho...nothing sweet or breaded.
Went shopping on my way home and tried choosing more chicken/turkey items. Maybe it'll help bring the fat % down some...we'll see!
Well....I've got a refridgerator full of food calling out to be cooked, chopped, mixed, bagged !!!

Have a good tomorrow to everyone!!!!

Deb

Hi all! So many are missing in action today!

Orang, glad to hear that your pants are starting to fall off you! Your menus look good! I am trying to keep a ledger, cals 1000-1400, carbs 20-35, protein HIGH!HA I am not sure on the fat content yet, but I am committing to the treadmill 5-6 times a week!!! Actually I have been consistant with it, but after tonight I will not be able to get back to it until Monday!

I will be going awol until Monday, we are traveling down to Ks for a wedding/photo shoot, My dh has been taking pics, and of course (like a ) I volunteered to use our other camera at our dd's wedding Well I guess I must of been better help than I thought, the parents of this up and coming wedding want my dh AND me to do this! I do not mind, but I am nervous because last time it was just our family, this time is different!! I am planning a lc stratagy, (no wedding cake for me!) but sorda like Wendy said, alot of "off foods" do not tempt me any more! I still have a FEW demons to fight though!!

Wendy, that is great that the DBF saga is going well!! (time flies when it is the right one!!!) Hope that this week won't get to crazy with the grade cards coming out and all! I am thinking of you!
I had read some reviews on the ruby cheese cake, ( it is not here in state!) My folks in Ill. go there and have tried it,sorry about the after-affects! Maybe the extra protein days will level the out of control feelings again!

Marnie, WELCOME BACK!!! It sounds like you had quite a time! AND a weight loss to boot!!! I bet that your body is just trying to play catch-up with everything so your prob. just have the little stress monster nipping at you! Hey Orang, Maybe Marnie needs an exorcisim from the Rev?????????

Elaine, did you get some menus planed out??? You will have to let us know what you "cooked up" so to speak! Thanks for the info that you gave me earlier!!!!

Char, WTG on being strong, pizza is one of my tough ones also!! That is very smart to plan ahead, (you will not feel deprived or as tempted than!!)

Blu & Unity, hang in there! We are here for company and support!!

Bawdy, You must be busy with all of your extra job duties! drop us a line when you get a chance! What are the stats on your baby??? (cat)


Keith, it sounds like you are getting a second wind on health! WTG!

Well I need to finsh packing!Hi to everyone else! If I can't write tomorow, i will see you all Monday! Have a great week!

Oh Deb, i did not see your post! What good news on your ekg!!! Your meals look good! Gotta run!

What a busy day! Just have a minute, I am trying to set up a home network so that DD will have DSL on the puter in her room. Today was a better day foodwise than yesterday. I didn't eat off plan but had evening issues with eating everything not nailed down.
My menu for today:

B - 2 thin slices pumpkin bread w/butter, coffee w/H&H
S - 1/4 carbwise bar
L - Blackened chicken salad, ate crutons, dressing was kinda sweet so probably wasn't the best choice
S - 1 string cheese, salted soy nuts
S- pumpkin bread w/butter
D - chicken quesadilla (grilled chicken w/grilled onion and monterey jack cheese) w/sour cream, guacamole, & picante sauce on Adios carbs lc tortilla (very Yummy!!)

Planning on having a choc swirl Atkins ice cream bar later

Orang - missed ya at dinner Your menu looked pretty good too, I am thinking about fixing some turkey legs tomorrow for dinner.

Shelly - We will miss you I will be sending you some good lc vibes to help you stay on plan.

Char - Good job staying on plan! Pizza is a hard one, last time it was in the house (My DD and her friend ordered it) I caved and ate half a slice. I have a cheesecake recipe, I will have to look for it and will try to post it tomorrow. I usually make half the recipe in a casserole dish. I also have some good recipes for pumpkin bread & coffee cake if you like

Blu - Sorry your not feeling well today, hope you feel better soon

Bawdy - Missed you today, how is your kitty?

Wendy - Hope you get the cheesecake out of your system soon. Glad things are going will with DBF

Deb - Glad everything is ok Your menu sounds yummy!

A big hello to eveyone

aahh if only I had a fire,LOL DH just said the same thing

not getting enough protein
not getting enough water
not getting enough sleep
not getting enough money
not getting enough patience

any good ideas for good protein little money?one can only eat so much tuna eggs

Bawdy I hope Kitty feels better, I had cat scratch fever just before thanksgiving