WELCOME PAM!!!!!

you are not butting in the more the better!

I too fell into the low carb dessert trap. lucky i cought myself before it got to bad. i was having a bowl of ice cream every night and sugar free chacolates and everything else.

As for your mother in law visiting cant help you there i am still tring to figure out how to handle my parents visiting. they do not eat low carb and make it hard for us to fallow it when they are taking us to dinner and breakfast and stuff. I know i should just stand up and say no we cant have chinese food cause its not low carb but... i guess i am still a kid at heart and cant go against my parents.

well any way welcome and good luck!

As for my update... not good. still at 174 cant get rid of these 2 pounds that i regained but i also have not been very careful lately i did not even bother with fitday yesterday cause i ate so horribly.
SO here is to a fresh start today!

Hi Pam, thanks for joining us. Well I have been consistently fluctuating for the last 3 weeks between 142 and 146 and today I am on the light end at 142.5, which surprised me cuz I ate so much yesterday (stayed low though). Last night I got upset again and I hate when I do that. I had been eating a lot and we were playing this trivia board game with my boyfriend and my 2 roomates and their boyfriends and for some reason I just felt fat and ugly (they are tall and thin). I hate comparing myself and I wasn't trying to at all but I just didn't feel good and I didn't like it. I think part of it may have been me eating so much and afterward I had to have my b/f reassure me (attention time haha) and I felt better. But I keep getting these low self-esteem spells and a lot of it has to do with me wanting to lose weight. I know I am not that large of a person logically, maybe just a little chubby or thick or whatever you wanna call it, but why do I feel like it so often and why do I feel fat around my thin friends? How does anyone else deal with this if they get it?

I have worked hard all day and am waiting for hubbie to bbq my chicken. I just started reading my e-mail and wanted to respond to them. How do you feel when you are in a group with someone who is heavier or less attractive than you? I know from experience that people like me/them need to be included. I was so afraid of being rejected or put down for my appearance. When I see pople like that/ I was now I try to make eye contact and engage them in conversation. Last summer I was enjoying a picnic with friends and let it slip that I had lost 91 pounds. I got quite a double take. I don't much like the thin and beautiful people I encounter in life. They can be very judgemental and thoughtless. I recently encountered a very large woman in a store and smiled at her. She didn't smile back. I think she tried to pretend it didn't happen. A few minutes later she was telling the clerk she had lost her car keys. I began looking for them with her and we started talking. I asked her what she had been shopping for and she recalled them and found her keys. I think she was surprised by my help and thanked me and smiled back. Smiling really improved her looks. Well I am going to get my dinner now. Thanks for being there. Pam

Hi, My name is Brenna.. I orginally started atkins in late July weighing 176lbs I stuck with it until November and got down to 147. I was so happy but since nov. i fell out of atkins and the longest i've committed to it has been 1 week. I just decided to do the May challenge and am starting Induction tomarrow. I currently weigh 155 and my goal is 145 by my 16th birthday June 1, and my ultimate goal weight is 136. I need some motivation but i am hoping to make it on atkins for at least this month, hopefully longer. Count me in on this challenge!

welcome brenna! and you can do it!!
it is great that you are working on a healthy way of eatting at a young age. I wish i had.
Pam i have noticed the same thing i try to be nice to people who are larger then me and they wont even look at me. i know i do not look like i weigh what i do ... but i do. i am 5'10 and when i tell people i weight 175 pounds they say i am lieing. so i dont know if these people are afraid of being ridiculed or what but i think we all have our defence mecanisims.
oh well.

as for my update... Not doing well fell off the wagon Big time and i know its from stressi think i might be offered a job maybe 2 and well one of the jobs i dont want but will take if its all i am offered but the other is a great job and i hope i get it. Now for the stress part. i have not worked in over 2 years so it a little nerve wracking go back into the work force after being out of it so long.i think this week is going to be very hard. so i will need all you guys to help me get through it with our diving in to a big cheese cake and chocolate bars.

here is to a new day on monday and starting over AGAIN! i hope i can shed a few more pounds i am still at 174 right now i want to get down to 170 or below by memorial day weekend.

I just realized I will be starting a second week tomarrow. I ahve 2 eggs over easy with 1T butter with 1T Flax meal for breakfast For lunch I have been makeing stir fry pork and cabbage with orientla almond sauce. I used cherry sweetner yesterday but to day I switched to rice wine vinegar. For dinner I will finish off the pork and bbq chicken wth a ceasear salad. We were invited out to lunch today. I decided to eat my planned lunch and have a snack at the resturaunt. I ordered 4 fried prawns and lemon water. The temptation was decf coffee with half and half or diet coke whuch has caffine. I did not want to get back into the dairy or upset my system with caffien. I picked the light breadding off the shrimp before I ate them. I ordered 4 and my daughter gave me one of hers. That was pretty good considering hwo it might have gone. Iwon't weigh until Saturday. I hope I am in the 170's it is my first mini goal. I need to get out there and work more on the el camino so we can do a nother layer of primer. I am glad I don't have the added stress of a new job. I hope working makes it eaier for you because staying busy helps me. Welcome Brenna it feels good to have others to work on this problem with. I need to plan meals for tomarrow. I have a corned beef brisket. I will have cabbage with it. Aftre that it will be time to make a tri tip roast and start marinating another chicken. Having good hot dinners really makes it a lot easier. I hope it goes well with you all. Pam

Welcome Pam and Brenna!!!

This week is going to be really hard for me. I have three exams ... for me studying usually triggers the need to eat. I don't know why. I guess I just get bored. I've been trying to plan my meals the night before and really stick to it. The scale hasn't budged in a while, so it's also hard to be good when I'm not seeing any progress.

I hope everyone else is doing well. Fantabulus, Jen ... how are you guys doing?? Pet, you can do it ... try and fight the temptation to cheat!!! I hope that things get less stressful for you and I hope you get the job that you want. Keep us posted.

Good luck this week everyone.

well here is my update... i got offered 2 jobs. one as a vet tech and one at the bank... i am going to take the bank job. so now i have to fight not stress eating cause i am nervous. I hope i can do this job i hope i am good at it, and i hope i get a long with everyone there.

well i restarted induction AGAIN. but i think i can do it.

Way to go pam you are doing great!
and cklim i know how you feel studing and munching go together. mine was on gummies and boston baked beans, but i know you can do it.

Hiya everyone! Sorry I have been gone a bit. I went camping! I did very well when I was camping. I ate just the burgers with no bun and such. I did have some cheat foods. I ended up really sick (lack of water I think) ended up hospital bound, and they make you eat. Couple of bad sugars and such. Now I am much better now. I kept my weight pretty even. I may have gained a pound or 2. Hard to tell because its that time of the month. I always weigh 5 or so pounds more ugh! Any how. I am back to me. I dont know wether its starting induction over but I guess thats how you look at it. I did not count carbs while camping. I dont think I went over 40 a day.

Welcome PAM and BR!

I need to write down what I am doing becasue I forget what works.
I decided to try Atkins food plan a long time ago because I didn't want to count calories or weigh my food. Here I am counting Carbs and weighing veggies(FYI cabbage weighs the same raw as it does cooked. Who knew?).At least I don't finish all the allowed foods and end up waiting for the next day to eat somthing if I am hungry. I tried Dr. Phils quick start. I want to loose 2 pounds a week so bad. I got into trouble right away. Dairy was a problem as cereal was a food that needed it and he recomends yogurt as a snack. Thats when my ears plugged up.
I started out the morning sanding on the el. We new we had to go shopping and when it started raining I switched my job to garage cleaning. My husband pulled down some floresent bulbs to replace and off we went. I got diet sodas, whole chickens, romaine lettuce, flax meal and Johnnys ceasear dressing. I forget what I have in the frig if I buy too much. I just remembered I have Oscar Myer ham in there for snacks. I just found some gelitin gumies I made weeks ago. I ate them a lot when I lost the weight the first time (0 carb). I realized last night I did not remember to write down the 2T of almond butter with 8 splenda packets I ate before bed time. I hate using the packets they are 1 carb each. I had a bottle of splenda liquid (0 carb) before they discontinued it. I tried the one they replaced it with and it is bad. I had not had many carbs that day so it was still under 21. It is a real treat. I eat it 1/16th of a teaspoon at a time to make it last for as long as I can. I may add another T of flax meal to up my fiber. It is 0 carbs but 4 fiber. I take 2 calcium suppliments and Chromium each day now with my multi v. I didn't sleep well last night so I am going to add some magneasium. I am also adding l tritophane, melatonine and baby asprin. Well thats it. Thanks for the encouragement

Hey all, I'm doing a quick post, life has been pretty hectic around here lately. I havent had a chance to go back through the posts but I hope you all are doing well. Welcome to all of you new to the thread.

I havent been perfect these last couple of weeks...ok well not at all. Dh and I have both been lazy and have resorted to fast food, ugg what a mistake. So needless to say I've gained weight. The good news is that we are back on track this week. It's been two days without cheating, I have lost 2 pounds and feel great. Now to get the other 78 pounds off!! Talk to you all soon
~Anne

Hi all. I have just read this thread from the beginning. What a great, supportive bunch!

I started 1/5/04 at 223 and I am now at 186. I haven't posted in a long time because I have had a death in the family and have been hospitalized. Also work has been really stressful and lots of hours. I completely got out of the habit of being online, but I did stick to the plan.

Anyway, I have been STUCK at 186 for almost 3 weeks now. I have decided that it is time for me to go back on induction. I keep waiting for a whoosh, but no such luck. I have been cheat free, but I am eating the same things all the time and sometimes I think that I am not getting enough calories. Does anyone else think that may be an issue?

Roz.

Hi Roz and welcome!

Well i find if i eat more then 1200 calories i stop losing. and on average i was eating 800-1000 when i was losing the most. but everyone is different.
All I can suggset is upping the calories for a week and see what happens.

As for my update, well i did not fall completly off the induction but was on perfect either i have been stressed out waiting to hear if I had recieved a job. well i found ot today that i did get it!!!! after 2 years of being out of work i finally have a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So i ate a bit to much and not all perfectly low carb. but..... the rest of the week will be hard to starting the new job and my DH has his 30th birthday this week and then the week after thaT I have to go away for work for a week and live off fast food and in a hotel room. so we will see how that goes. so oh well here is to tring to stick to the plan while traviling on buiss.

great news on the job pet. Just eat carls jr on the job lol they have low carb breakfast and burger!! Dennys has low carb meals too

Pet when I travel on business I usually do ok. Make sure that you have a mini fridge in your room and fill it with low carb stuff. room service usually can modify to low carb or just throw out the bun etc. Shrimp cocktail is usually a good option too if you limit the cocktail sauce.

If you find yourself in the bar with a group, order some hot wings and have a glass of red wine.

I was travelling on business for 10 days in march and I lost 3 lbs.

Good Luck.