I'm curious..... who out of this group is counting their calories and running foods through fitday? And who's winging it?
I am watching closely now as part of my "renewed resolve" .... my goals are <30g carbs a day, calories at 10-12x IDEAL bodyweight, more poultry and less beef. Keep in mind, though, that my calorie needs are much different than ya'll's (yes, that's a word!!) because I have a LOW activity level.

OK, scale is up again today, despite a good day foodwise yesterday. The temptation to chuck the whole thing in can be strong ... I'm sitting here, and I weigh MORE than I did AFTER 2 weeks of eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it, and it feels that it's not worth denying myself what I want because it isn't making any difference . - end of whining rant

Teri, for months I entered everything into fitday. And I was consistently burning off more calories than I was eating, and just as consistently, my weight wasn't moving. And, because I was on Atkins, I tracked net carbs, and they were consistently around 25. It drove me crazy. One of the reasons that I like CAD is because I don't need to track anything ... about once a month, I enter my totals in fitday - my calories are about the same as on Atkins, although my carbs are higher.

FWIW.....I have to say that I too was much like you...for about the past two weeks...making sure everything I ate was LC and watching my intake...yesterday I had company and ate a few no no's and guess what ...I lost a pound...not saying this is for everyone but I think sometime's you have to fool the old bod...I personally do not use fitday but know it works great for most folks....B

I've tried fitday a few times, but found it incredibly confusing and difficult to use. Each time though it gave me results that were fine - good amounts of fat, protein and carbs. So I feel as if my "eyeballing" of stuff is pretty close to correct.

Slimmin, boy do i hear you. I keep reminding myself of how much better I feel now than I did before atkins. Thats a pretty powerful incentive beyond the weight. Remember that TOM is hanging around, and that that is not only adding water, but probably coloring your mood, etc.

kiwi

Slimmin - When was the last time you took a break from working out? Like a week or two? Ever?

Slimmin, Oh boy, do I know how you feel. I have a hunch TOM is wrecking havoc. I have the same problem. Been known to gain 5 lbs or more before and during.

On the counting issue: I found Fitday long before I began LCing when I did a search on a subject called 'pro-ana.' Pro-ana people, mainly girls, are believers that anorexia is a lifestyle choice, not an illness. Many of the pro-ana boards have been removed from the Internet; they are that disturbing and that distructive. All the pro-ana sites recommended Fitday and it makes sense why: Counting everything is part of the illness, according to my LC guru, Dr. Schwarzbein. I have never been anorexic, but I have exhibited borderline bulimia behaviors in the past. I think the only way for me to ever truly concur my eating issue to to manage my health first. For me, that includes a promise to myself to never again count.

I do what Dr. Schwarzbein suggests: I mentally keep a tally of my daily starchy carbs and carbs I get from fruit. Any other daily sums and tallies, including trace carbs in non-starchy foods, calories, fats, are not something I care about. I counted calories since I was a teenager. I counted fat grams during my 20s and 30s. I gained weight throughout! This past year is the first year of my life I have had relief.

I feel like the odd-ball out here! I don't know if that is good or bad??? What I do is wing it! I eat all the meat, eggs & cheese I want, usually a salad with lunch and salad and/or veggies for supper. On salads I either have mayo, or I mix caesar salad dressing with a few drops of lemon juice & sprinkle on parmesan cheese. I also put a tablespoon or so of 100% Bran cereal on salads a couple of times a week to get extra fiber & help with that old constipation problem I sometimes get

I also drink 2 or 3 cups of coffee & one decaf a day - 1 splenda package & 10% cream in each. Drink LOTS of water too!!!

A few times a week I will add in a 5-10 gram treat. Oh, I also take "nibbles" of Atkins bars if I get hungry between meals (usually go through about 2 bars every 3 weeks).

Seems to be working for me. I've dropped from 172 to 131 since July (need to adjust my stats). Getting close to my goal weight, although I may drop another 5 pounds below that, just to give me a bit of a buffer. Do need to start working out more, though - ab muscles are still flabby!

Cheryl, congratulations on your mazing weight loss since summer. You seem to be one of the lucky people who have a consistent and steady weight loss from week to week!

I find that when things are working, there is no temptation to "tweak" the program (why mess with success?). It's when things aren't working that we start to examine everything with a finetoothed comb ... and overanalyse everything!

In my case, that means not drinking diet pop because it might stall me - guess what - I haven't had a diet soda since September, and I'm still stalled! And I never found that it set off cravings. So, I think that I'll start drinking it again.

What else have I tried?

nicotine patches (actually worked and raised my metabolism, I think, but not something that I would want to use on an ongoing basis)

Xenadrine SFX (non-ephedrine) - didn't notice any impact at all

upping my calories and/or carbs - weight stayed the same

cutting down my calories and/or carbs - weight stayed the same

changing from Atkins to CAD - weight has pretty much stayed the same - but I like CAD better, so I'll probably stick with it with maybe the occasional 2 weeks of induction thrown in.

increasing my exercise - weight stayed the same

eating whatever and whenever I wanted for 2 weeks - weight stayed within the same range (not that I expect that that would have lasted forever!)

drinking lots of water / drinking hardly any water - weight stayed the same

eliminating caffeine - weight stayed the same - so after a month, I started drinking real coffee again (but only once/day)

I seem to have Maintenance down cold! I just need to get to the weight that I want to maintain.

I have to admit that I can't remember the last time I took an extended (ie 2-week) break from exercise. I didn't work out as much as usual over Christmas (probably 3-4 times/week instead fo my normal 6). A large part of that is that I am terrified that once I stop, I will lose the motivation to start up again. And I feel so good when I work out.

On the positive side ... I have to say that since I started LCing - especially following CAD (I think that the extra carbs in the evening set me up for my workout the next morning) - I feel better than I ever have. I am pretty much maintaining the 8 pounds that I lost the first 2 weeks of induction (back in July), and despite being up a few more pounds right now, I can still comfortably wear my size 6 pants. Finally, I have broken a couple of really bad habits - having 1-2 glasses of wine almost every night (now pretty much limit it to the weekends) and eating BBQ potato chips (I would inhale a large bag at least 2-3 times a week- haven't had any since last July).

Slimmin- The reason I ask about taking a break....and I know it sounds odd... but I have seen a few folks who work out heavily have quite a whoosh when they take a break....sometimes from an injury or whatever. Way back when I was doing BFL...I was 7 wks into the program with NO loss but kept plugging away. Then I hurt my back rather badly...was laid up for a couple of weeks. I lost 6# in a month.... my fastest loss ever. About that same time Nat also took a break...maybe between challenges (?)....and experienced a loss. I can't explain it, but there it is. I can certainly understand the fear of never getting back to it! After I hurt my back I never got back into a regular routine either. But most of that was fear of hurting my back again

Wow, Slimmin, putting it down like this really makes you think, doesn't it? all the things that didn't work. The only thing that has worked for me, since induction, was the week I went off cheese and cream. And that was very hard. Maybe if I go a couple more weeks without anything -- I really do need to try that again - at least for a week.

I'd LOVE to fit into a size 6 pair of pants! congrats to you on that.

kiwi

I'm still frustrated ( up yet another pound today ), but I'm trying not to let my frustration spiral into an eating free-for-all. (I'm saving that for this weekend!)

I am trying to treat this upward blip, not as a trend that will continue, but as a normal fluctuation. That means avoiding the temptation to start analyzing what I've been eating and doing for exercise ... there may not be a "rational" explanation ... maybe it's TOM (over now), maybe it's stress (part of my life), maybe it's the cold weather (can't control that), maybe it's eating my RMs at night (always have, and lost before), the point is ... I haven't changed what I'm doing on CAD, and up until a couple of weeks ago I was losing - very slowly, but I was losing. I have to have faith that since it worked in the past, that it will work going forward - if I stay with the program!

I realize pounds is what we really want to see reduced but also feel that inches lost is equally important so with that in mind am posting stats on measurements today:

Measurements for beginning of February 2003:


Neck: 12"
Bust: 37"
Waist: 30"
Hips: 37"
Thigh: 20"
Knee: 13"
Upper Arm : 11"


I have never been a fan of water and have to force myself to drink it however the last two days have had a glass of ice water handy sipping away...god knows the bathroom was always a room I frequented beforehand but as Rich so aptly stated in his journal ..sure wish there was an attachment one could carry around with them....B

I'd kill for those measurements!!! But I understand....it's all relative!

Mine are something like this:

Height 5'7"
Bust 37
Waist 32-1/2
Hips 40-1/2
Up. Thigh 21-1/2
Up. Arm 11-1/2

Great idea - I am with you!
Here are mine:


Height 5'6"
Neck: 12.5
Bust 35
Waist 28.5
Hips 35.5
Up. Thigh 22
Up. Arm 11.5

(Weight this week, average: 155.9 lbs)

Have had those same measurement for a while, even less before I increased my work outs, but I feel good.....
Keep the posts coming!!!

Okay, here are mine:

Height - 5' 6 1/2"
Bust - 36
Waist - 27
Hips - 39 - Tiggerlou - I'd kill for your hips!

Can't remember thighs or knees.

My weight went up almost every day last week - so, it's back to induction for me for two weeks. And back to using fitday - I want to make sure that no extra carbs are sneaking in.

I'm going to weigh daily and average weekly (a la CAD), and also stick to the no snacks rule from CAD - but I'm also going to keep my total carbs to less than 20 - so the highlight of my RMs will probably be SF jello with whipped cream!

Wish me luck!