Wow, this group has suddenly grown! That's great! That'll help us all to shrink.

Ellen, loved your story about the shoes. I've done the same thing. And you're a size smaller. Great!

Cher, it's good that you're squeezing in your workouts even though you're so busy. Keep it up.

I'm enjoying a bit of a plateau right now. Up a pound, down a pound. It may be related to my BFL workouts. I'm probably putting on some muscle. It doesn't help with the countdown to 150 though.

Have a great day.
Amy

It's Friday!! Thanks for all of the welcomes. I think I am going to like this fun group of people. I have been doing really good so far on this way of eating. I am really excited to see my clothes fitting better and not needing to snack like I used to. I was even given a cupcake at work today and didn't even want to eat it!!! That is weird. The only thing I had this week that I wasn't suppose to have was one dorito chip. Yes, just one!!! It really didn't taste all that great. I tell you all I haven't felt this good in a really long time. Well,I need to go for now. I hope you all have a great night. and will write more later....Kellie

Kelli,

This WOE has killed my desire for sugar and carbs. However I miss crunchy and the nuts are just not doing it. I went to the health food store today and got some low carb chips and rolls. Practiced good portion control so my carbs are still under 40.

Exercise today was yardwork, pruning and dragging brush to the edge of the property.

Take care everyone!

Ellen

Ellen,

So far the nuts are doing it for me, but I really just started though. Could you tell me what the name of the chips are? Are they good? I guess I need to go look at the health food store and see what they have. That is the one thing I am concerned with is that I will get burned out on the same foods, so I need to find new recipes that I can make. I also need to get in more excercise besides the walking I get at work......Kellie

Kelli, You've got to start a journal so I can pop on over.

The chips are Soy crisps by Gen/Soy and are 14 carbs minus 2 carbs for a total of 12 carbs. The Rolls are Oh so Low. They have a definate flaxseed flavor, which some people don't like. They are OK by me and will work for a burger. 3 carbs.

Monday I am going on induction for 5 days. I am on Spring break and can better control the food environment. Ooophs...Thursday is my birthday...hmmmmm...OK induction Mon-thurs lunch. I am going to buy an ice cream maker and make my own birthday dessert....

I am going over to my girlfriend's this morning. We will walk and then make a special Atkins breakfest with eggs, bacon and low carb pancakes form the atkins mix. I mixed sour cream with Watkins maple flavor and sweet and low for the topping.

I am still up and down the same two pounds. I am not discouraged tho.

Well gotta run.

Ellen

Hi Everyone,

Kelli, a lot of people swear by the Atkins crunchers. I haven't tried them as I'm trying to break my desire for chips. (of course, I am becoming an expert on varieties of legal chocolate )

Ellen, I really enjoy the Atkins pancakes. They're a nice break from eggs. Hope you had a nice visit with your friend!

Hi Cher and everyone else!

I'm holding strong although faced with great temptation. My babies all returned home from college and jobs last night and we went out for dinner to the Cheesecake Factory. Luckily a friend from work found the menu online and I had time to prepare my dinner plans. We ordered a couple of appetizers and I was very pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed the spinach artichoke dip on a lettuce leaf instead of the chips they provided. I don't think it did too much damage.

Best part was that all my children commented on my weight loss!

Worst part was that my dh, who has been following the program to support me, is trying to get me to cheat. I know he feels guilty because he's cheating but he doesnt' need to lose weight and I do. He wanted me to take last night off (I didn't) and Easter, and our vacation. I've tried to explain that that will probably sabotage this whole WOE but he doesn't understand since he has no food issues. Any advice?

Happy Easter everyone!
Amy

Hi! Am I too late to join? I'd LOVE to be 150 by July, but with the way I'm losing weight it'll probably be July 2004 before I reach my goal.

I find it interesting to see so many people with such different weight loss goals on this board. I'll never be one of those who tries to get down to 120 lbs. -- at 145-150 I look fine but if I go much below that, I just look unhealthy. Of course, it's been at least 10 years since I've gone below 145 so maybe things have changed now.

The last time I dieted I went to T.O.P.S. and I found the support there to be invaluable. I don't think they support low carb dieting though, so I need to get support from somewhere else or else I start to slow down on motivation.

So far, I've been pretty good at keeping my carbs to about 25-30 a day, although today was Easter and I did eat 2 miniature candies - a tiny Snickers bar and a tiny Reese's peanut butter cup. They weren't as good as I had remembered them to be.

My only wish with Atkins dieting is that I would like to lose faster. I started this WOE back in January, and while I am thinner then than I was, I thought I would be far closer to my goal than I am right now. Oh well.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well!

Pam

Hi Pam! Welcome aboard. I too am a slow loser and I probably start a new board on July 4th called 150 by labor Day. As long as the scale is staying the same ot going down I am happy.

Amy...I am one to talk about adive. I went off for Easter dinner. It wasn't so bad but I did have real ice ceam and some cake and some pasta salad. Everything else was meat, veggies or salad.

I remember when I was on the early weight watcher boards, they would say one week behind for every day off.

You might want to read up on the Zone diet and use that on vacation for more choices to maintain. Hang on to the compliments from your kids. WAIT until they see tou the next time!

Have a good one, everyone!

Ellen

Happy Monday all you (potential) losers!

Back on induction here. Anyone is welcome to post in my journal.

Off for a walk and then today I am getting a beauty treatment at the spa, from a gift certificate I recieved for birthday number...50....last year. Do the math and then you will know what my birthday will be this week.....

Low carb, here we go, slow and steady win the race....

Maybe I will be really brave and try the fitday.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Ellen

PS I DID NOT get ont the scale today, that would be Thursday am....

Greetings to all from MA where the Boston Marathon starts in 30 minutes. It's always been a dream of mine to run the marathon, but since I'm only 2 years behind you Ellen, it'll probably stay a dream. I did walk it once!

Scale was up today even though I was pretty good yesterday. I ate 2 jellybeans and had a couple of tablespoons of baked beans with my dinner yesterday. I also had some wine in the evening after the guests were gone and the dishes cleaned. Oh well, I hope it hasn't put me a WHOLE WEEK?!?

Welcome Pam, I'm glad you're joining us. I don't expect I'll hit 150 by July but that doesn't stop me from "counting down". As far as the weight loss speed, I lost 3 pounds a week last year EVERY week. This year I'm losing incredibly slowly. It is frustrating but hang in there. It will come off.

Amy

This is great! I'd like to be at 128 by September 1, so 150 by July 4 will be a perfect interim goal! At 3 lbs. per week I can do it!

So some interim goals for me are:

4/29: 175
5/23: 166
6/20: 154
7/4: 150

This is wonderful and exciting! Thanks for starting a support group!!! It's always easier with friends to commiserate and to hold me accountable...

Hi Amy, I'd be up for walking it. I always watch the NY marathon on TV. Went to see it live once. Very exciting!

Welcome Jolie! Nice goals and good luck with them.

I have been hitting the books and writing papers. Went to play golf today and on the way it started pouring. Ended up at the mall instead, had chicken wings and the low carb selections from the salad bar.

I have been really trying with the induction with the exception of some low carb chocolate and a few nuts. I know, I know......

Have a good one!

Ellen

Hello everyone!

Welcome Jolie and Pam!

Hope everyone is having a great day. I still can't believe
how I am doing on this WOE! I got on the scale this morning and was down three pounds! I have not lost weight since 1996 for my 20th reunion. I can't tell you how proud I am of myself. It really makes me want to keep trying harder.

Ellen, how's Induction going? I know I need to start a journal, I will try this weekend when the men in my life go fishing. Ah... peace and quiet!

SiriusT, How long did it take you to walk the marathon? Thanks for the tip about the Adkins snacks. I will buy them even though they are really expensive here. (I am cheap!) Well, I hope you all have a great week! Until next time......Kellie

Hi Losers ,

I had an idea, what would you think about compiling all our starting weight from around the beginning of this thread and then seeing how much we lose by the 4th of July?

I'm trying out a current pic here. I can't find any before pictures that are realistic (if they were accurate, I ripped them up!) But I'll be happy to post an after pic sometime this summer!

Kellie, walking the marathon took 9.5 hours! And we were walking fast! The hardest part was the end because they wouldn't let us on the official route so we actually added a few blocks of detours!

Ellen, I'm terrified of having nuts! I bought a few of those individual sleeves a while ago but I'm not good at stopping at a few salty things. I think I'll take those on vacation.

Hi Jolie, glad you're joining us!

Have a great day everyone else!
Amy

Thanks for the welcomes all!

Kellie, rock on with those three pounds! I'm proud of you too!

Amy - I like the compilation idea. How should we go about that?

It's great to be part of the gang. I'm looking forward to all of us losing weight! Here's to our beach-worthy bodies this summer!