Welcome to the Protein Power Pals daily thread. All are welcome who are using, considering or curious about this WOE. We also welcome friends using other LC WOEs to drop by for some friendly conversation and a large glass of water.

My menu was weird yesterday - way low on carbs and my ketosis is rising above the safe range - I will have to eat more carbs today for sure. I was not at all hungry yesterday and it showed. Weight remains at 177 lbs

Total calories: 1341
Fat: 81 gms 729 cal 56%
Sat: 38 gms 342 cal 26%
Poly: 7 gms 61 cal 5%
Mono: 28 gms 251 cal 19%
Carbs: 18 gms 50 cal 4% ECC:14 gms
Fiber: 4 gms 0 cal 0%
Protein: 132 gms 565 cal 40%

Breakfast:
2.5 egg omelet with 4 ozs lean ham and 1.5 oz cheddar
12 ozs coffee and 8 ozs sugar-free breakfast drink with 3/4 T pysillum power

Lunch:
6 ozs pork loin - fat not eaten

Dinner:
Hardees LC 1/3 lb burger - no ketchup, pickle, mustard

About 130 ozs water & 12 ozs coffee

Looks like I may be heading back to my step-daughter's home soon. Things are not going well there. Do not be surprised if I am acting as full-time mom to several children on my return.

Great to see all of the newer members checking in and doing so well.

Missing Keith - hope you are just busy. Check-in -- we care about you and will no matter how you eat.

Bawdy - missing you. Hope you will feel up to posting today.

Ellie - keeping you in my prayers as you go thru the testing.

Elaine - keeping you in prayers as well. How are you doing with the recent WOE changes?

You folks sure are good for my prayer life....

Char - you mentioned making some changes a few days ago - what are you doing?

Unity - the real test - does your kitty have keto-breath

Linda - glad the yogurt is good - will have to try it.

Rob - Hope you will share more. I miss you.

Deb - See you survived the 2 yo workout Would send you some warm air,but your cold air has come to visit us. Great to see you working out.

Robin - have you made it back to Bally's?

Kat - looks like you are off to a great start.

Smoothblu - still in awe over your loss - it is a testimony to what clean eating and working out can do. You have mentioned the challenge a few times - could you be more specific about what you are doing?

Marnie - so good to see you. Glad appetite is back at bay and hope storms are over.

Well, good morning to our early bird Orang

This is cool. We did that contract for fitness at work yesterday. There's about 10 of us in the group. including one guy who was a fitness instructor when he was in the Army so we have a Boot Camp DI, haha. Everyone can do their own plan, we will just meet once a week . You can weigh in anytime in private or with a buddy and we will report pounds lost as a team as well as individually, also measurments if you want. We're doing it starting Monday and going for 20 weeks. I'm doing it to see if I can lose a few lbs before surgery and also to help keep me on plan post surgery without exercise.

Off to get a haircut later, will stop by this aft.

(Orang, I think we posted at the same time, just read yours )

Tryin' to get the next weigh-in lower by any maeans, eh?

It's Saturday...food shopping. etc. awaits
Back later

If yesterday at work was any indication, I'm going to be EXTREMELY busy with this new job. So, I may not post as frequently or in as much length, but I'll be thinking of you guys and popping in when I can.

I looked for that Dannon LC yogurt at the grocery store the other day, but new products usually come to "the boonies" a lot later than for those who live in more populated areas. I grew up outside of Detroit, which had a population of over 1 million people. Then I moved to Maine -- the population of the entire state is about 1 million people. I'll keep looking for that yogurt. In the meantime, since I'm dropping way back on the carbs, I'll switch to full-fat cottage cheese for a while. It only has 4 carbs per half cup, and it's much creamier and richer to my taste.

Slowly I'm getting back into things. DH came home last night, so we shared a couple whiskeys and reminisced over our pets. I was bawling like a baby, and he even shed more than a few tears. He said it was bad enough to think of the pets, but he couldn't stand what it did to me.

That's all about me. I've read all the threads over the past couple days. Orang, you need to stay away from those wicked Chinese buffets. The last time I had Chinese I gained a full 5 pounds overnight (water obviously), but it took almost a week to get rid of it. Definitely not worth it.

So who all will be doing the contract thing? I knew about this because I subscribe to the Oprah magazine. The January edition had a story on a number of those people they previewed last January and how they progressed. Of course, they highlighted people who were very successful. Still, it was motivational.

Ya gotta hand it to Oprah. She has struggled (like all of us) for years. She looks great and has worked hard to be healthy. She's not stick thin, and never will be, but she's strong and fit. And she did it by healthy eating and exercising. I get so annoyed lately when Al Roker is held up to be a perfect example of "doing it the right way -- through diet and exercise." Don't get me wrong, I give him a lot of credit for going through the surgery, but don't then try to tell me that he did it through diet and exercise.

By the way, that guy at work who had the surgery is now down to around 195 (he's lost about 160 pounds since August 4, 2003). I was worried about him for a long time, but he seems to be doing well. And get this. Yet another person in my department had the surgery done just this month. She, however, is not doing nearly as well. Apparently she has had heart problems for a while now (she's in her early 30s, I think) and they even made her lose 100 pounds on her own before they would consider her healthy enough for the surgery. She did it, and then had the surgery. Now there seem to be some complications. They think she might have developed an infection and told her they will probably have to do additional surgery. She had a different doctor and a different procedure performed from the other guy in the office.

Well, I brought home a ton of work that I need to get going on. Catch you all later!

Hello to all! Hope everyone is having a great week-end. Orang...what I'm basically doing is making some changes in the way I feel and think about food. I have upped my carbs abit and I'm trying out new recipes to add some variety in my menus. Today I'm baking some low-carb bread. I can only hope that it tastes as good as it smells!
Ewinpa- That fitness thing you have going at work sounds really cool. A really good motivator to keep you on track!
Bawdy- Sry to hear that you're being overwhelmed at work. Maybe things will calm down soon. That surgury really worries me too. My aunt had it done a few years ago. She lost alot of weight really really fast and looked horrible for a long time. She was very ill for months afterwards and could hardly eat anything. She got to the point of almost looking anorexic. Now she has gained back some weight and looks much better, but she still has trouble eating alot of things and has to be very careful about how she eats or the side effects aren't pleasant. Her experience made me NEVER even think of that as an option!
Sasquath- Good luck on that grocery shopping thing. I just did that this week and it is NOT a pleasant experience as far as I'm concerned...lol!

Smoothblu - still in awe over your loss - it is a testimony to what clean eating and working out can do. You have mentioned the challenge a few times - could you be more specific about what you are doing?

Orang - Thank you.

I have joined three challenges…..

I was asked why my Stats 305/280/255 goal weight was so high at 255 and not something like 150 etc, as many people have a much lower number for goal weight. My first challenge is to Lose 50lbs in 2004. For this challenge there aren’t any “steps” or “goals” to do each week other than send in your weight once a week. My goal for that is 50 lbs thus making my goal weight at 255. Once I reach that goal then maybe I’ll set another goal. My goal weight will be adjusted in 25 increments.

I think it would be self defeating – to me – to write some number I can not even picture in my head at this time. I do not know if I want to be 150, 175 or even 200. I do know that at this point of this new wol I want and can see the 255 goal easy. That does not mean that it will be easy to get there, but I can “see” it.

The next challenge that I joined is the 10k Challenge – or 6.2 miles. Your first week is 25 minute walk, 20 then a 25. Each week the minutes and distance will increase until you can walk a 6.2 mile.

I took up this challenge because I really needed some direction as to what type of exercise a person of my size could handle and I believed that I could handle walking. <I have no interest in going to a gym.> Short distances at first and then building up to more seemed to make sense. I’m up to .5, 1.5 and 1 miles a week now.

The Third is the TDC 4th Fitness Challenge and it is just starting. I can not give any details on that one yet. I joined this one to learn and become more aware of what is available and to be motivated and give motivation when needed.

I weigh every Thursday and will have my measurements taken once a month on the last weigh in. This Thursday will be a full month for me. It will be interesting to see what the scales states. BUT, for me it will be more exciting to see what my measurements say. For it is the tape measurement that mean more to me than the scales.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Hope everyone had a great day!! I DID NOTHING....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
DH & I decided to take a break from projects around the house and just chill!! Haven't done that in a while....but it sure felt good to just stay in your jammies and read or whatever the whole day!!! Will pay for it tomorrow cause stuff still has to get done...but oh well!!
Blu....how did you manage to loose 25 lbs since 1-1!! I'm still in awe and hoping you would post some of your days menus. Perhaps I can pick up some ideas !! You definately are an inspiration!
Bowled a 201 last night! Haven't done that in a while...caused a few too many Mich Ultras afterwards...which probably leads to the reason I have no ambition today !!!
Yesterday our work cafeteria started carrying an Atkins yougart made by Hood. I think it had like 4 carbs...but the taste was definately different from regular yougart. I ate a few bites then put it away. Maybe the taste will grow on me. It would be a nice alternative to eggs and bacon every morning.
Kat..thank for the Must have worked as the thermometer climbed slightly today!! Made it all the way to 18 today..but overnight low is supposed to be -8. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!! (PREFERABLY SOMEPLACE IN THE CARRIBEAN!!)
Night All !!!

Total: 2076
Fat: 159 1434 70%
Sat: 53 479 23%
Poly: 37 329 16%
Mono: 58 522 25%
Carbs: 48 139 7%
Fiber: 13 0 0%
Protein: 119 476 23%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%