March 23 - Monday

[gitfiddle]

If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Mary Pickford
Today is a fresh start, no matter where you are. If you feel you're plodding along with no reward, as we certainly all do at times, consider that there are changes going on inside you that you can't feel. :)

Breakfast will be a strawberry shake, lunch will be cauli bake. Dinner will be ribeye steaks on the grill with salad.

How was your weekend?

[Belfrybat]

Wonderful quote, today, Carol. Just what I need since I'm feeling a bit of a failure right now. But I'm not! I refuse to stay down. Am back on Intervention levels until I lose 5# and get below my goal weight.

Am drinking a protein shake for brekkie, small rib eye steak with salad and steamed asparagus for lunch, another small shake and almonds for a snack, and apple, cheese and wine for supper. NO chocolate today -- none -- not even Choco Perfection.

Have a great day and a wonderful week, everyone. :D

[Karole]

Yep, that quote is a definite winner. Probably everyone of us has felt like a failure at one time or another, but we're back here and still working at it, so we aren't down for the count.

I'm going for a ride so will check in with you fine folks after while. Have a great day all .

[Mitra]

Hello Carol, Brigit-Carol :). We're still at my parents' house - planning to come home tomorrow. We had a good weekend, but it doesn't feel as if it's over yet :).

[Dutchess2009]

Perfect quote to start the week. I felt like a miserable failure over the weekend, completely going off Plan. Today is a new day and a fresh start. I have 7 weeks until a big event is happening in my life and I would love to be at my ideal weight by then. No time like the present to letting go of my terrible eating habits.

Breakfast: Egg whites and grilled chicken
Lunch: Shrimp salad
Dinner: Probably left over chicken
Beverages: Coffee with creamer, lots of water

[Ammy]

Ugh...nice to know I can start again anytime, cause that's where I'm at today.
I not only had a carb-fest on Saturday, I carried over on Sunday. And that is odd because we went to brunch with a bunch of friends and the place we went had a LOT of "atkins and zone" items!! So I did great (I fattened up a zone omelet). Then GF and I got in to a fight and for some reason (:rolleyes:) I decided I should eat over it...:(.
We made up, no worries...except how my body feels after carbing it up for two days.
Ugh...
My fault, so I have to fix it. I really have a fresh start today and I'm taking it! Meals are packed and planned, day is too busy to blow it.

8:30am diet v8 juice, cauli-turkey casserole
12pm lc goulash, cuke
3pm iced latte, 1oz nuts
5:30pm 5oz burger, 1lc bread

Pro: 136
Ecc: 30.7
Fat: 120
Cal: 1890

[Angie1313]

Great Quote to get us all through this icky MOnday morning. :p

[maxlharris]

I am outta here. At 3:30 PM today, I'm leaving work and not coming back until April 8th.

Yeah.

Talked with wife over the weekend. I have set up an incentive for myself. There is a place across the street from work that does custom tailored shirts and suits for decent prices. If/when I get to 200, I am going to get a package deal of one or two suits, with shirts and such. Wife is in the process of losing. She doesn't have as formed goals as I do (not that mine are terribly formed), but I'm going to put money into a dress/shoe/purse fund for her, based on loss. Or, give her an equal money commitment if she achieves a similar goal. Haven't decided which is a better way of structuring the incentive. At any rate, she said that would help her, so I'm gonna do it.

In other news, finally stopped wearing the fat guy khakis. I have had this pair of khakis for maybe ten years. Waist 44. Not traditional "fat guy" elastic band job or anything, but 44 is pretty big for me. Had them for maybe 7 years now and they were getting ratty. I went to Macy's big One Day Sale and got some Calvin Klein khakis to replace them at size 38. Am keeping the 44 as "reference pants". They're already a pretty good testament to my journey, but I'd like to get them at least another inch of pull out, maybe 2.

I think that's everything for now. See you in two weeks.

[Dutchess2009]

I am outta here. At 3:30 PM today, I'm leaving work and not coming back until April 8th.



Have a wonderful time!!!!

[Karole]

Bon Jour Maxi. Have a great time in Europe !! Your reward system sounds like a workable idea too. Ought to inspire anyone.

Just finished working in the yard. Whew. I'm tired and need to go report in to ms. Shadowly.

[yahoudi]

Making another fresh start today after some notable excess both Saturday and Sunday. We did, however, do a big shop for the right kinds of food on Sunday, and we have a meal plan for our dinners this week, at least.

Breakfast: commercial shake (15g protein, 1ECC, 4g fiber)
Snack: Atkins chocolate coconut bar (4 g protein, 2ECC, 8g fiber)
Lunch: ???? (not sure why I didn't plan that out - duh!)
Dinner: Beef arm roast, sauteed zucchini and yellow squash (YUM!!! Need to figure out carb counts on the squash, but I'm sure it will be less than 10 per serving.)

Being exceptionally virtuous right now...someone here at work just brought in a ginormous bag of goodies! :P

At some point I will try to work the commercially-produced shakes and snacks out of my routine, but for now, if they keep me from falling, they help. :P

[gitfiddle]

Max, have a great time! I love the custom suit idea.

Oh my gosh, what a bunch of repentant people we have here this morning! :eek: Well, what better day than a MONDAY to get it back in sync. ;)

Enjoy your ride, Karole.

Hello, Janet. Have a safe trip home.

[Jackie]

Have a great time Max!!!
Good to see so many here today, I am sure glad I dropped in now or I would never have gotten through everything tonight.

I am at school today, day is going according to plan but..................can anyone explain to me why the water weight is still building???? I was up another pound today, I feel icky and very bloated and swollen. I have been drinking min 3 liters a day plus the water I put in my shakes. My rings were even tight this morning, this hasn't happened in months??

I have not eaten much salt and I have been doing my regular exercise (running/walking now instead of so much elliptical)...........I am stumped! The only change is I have started (about 5 days now) taking Conjugated Linoleic Acid (about 4000mg a day).

Help??????

[Ammy]

Jackie...I just read up on CLA...was it prescribed to you??
It's so controversial and has been shown to have a high probability of adverse affects on humans?? I'm nervous for you?


MAX...you and wifey have a WONDERFUL time, as I know you will.

It is raining here...raining raining raining. The western part of MN is flooding. They've been sandbagging for days...I'm over on the East side and not close to a river (I live about 5 miles from the Mississippi but I live UP from the river so no worries), so I'm not in danger, but I feel so bad for the Fargo/Moorhead area. They flood...often!

I'm still on plan today...and I'm 7hrs into my day...that's a good sign.
TOnight I have a meeting, so I won't have time/place to overindulge...so cross your fingers I make it through the day!

[yahoudi]

Clearned the lunch hurdle...had a grilled chicken salad with ranch dressing (33g protein, 17ECC). A bit high in carbs, but I'm not sure I'm going to eat all the salad part...just all the chicken, and enough of the salad to fill me up (and I'm pretty much full already). :P

Jill :)

[itsjustmelm]

Hello all,

I had a honey tree meal Saturday night because it was one of those "why not" moments. It wasn't disastrous, but I still ate a couple of things that I haven't touched in months. After 2-1/2 months on Atkins, 1 week back on PP, I simply am not losing any weight. Some inches, yes, but the scale has not moved at all. I've had "why not" moments that were fleeting and didn't result in any carb damage. I am getting very perplexed at why low carb seems to be good for me in so many other areas other than losing weight :cool: ! Which is good, of course, but still!

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Protein Shake (Almond Breeze, splash hwc, natural p.b., eggs, sf DaVinci syrup)
Lunch: Taco Salad (beef flavored with seasonings, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, salsa
Mid afternoon snack: Cucumbers w/Caesar Dressing (0-carb)
Snack (after work): OMM
Dinner: Planning on chicken with roasted broccoli and cauliflower

[Ammy]

Oh brother....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090323/ap_on_he_me/med_diet_meat_mortality

I'm not sure what is worse for me...cutting out the red meat and dying of obesity/obesity-related illnesses, or eating red me and POSSIBLY increasing my risk for cancer (IF you believe the article).

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Jackie]

Thanks Amy, no it was not prescribed. I was only going on information that I collected about it having effects on reducing body fat. I think I will stop taking it for a few days and see if I start feeling better. I didn't read anywhere about the adverse affects, so I will catch up on some reading after my dance practice tonight. Thanks for the info.

[BeccainSC]

Peeking in.... dealing with some things right now that have me doing good to eat at all, much less on plan. Doing my best, but sometimes I just have to force food. I'm going to be cutting back on my 'puter time for a while I think so I may not be here as much as I was (not that it was much before). Hopefully I'll be over things (emotionally and physically) soon.


'becca

[Jackie]

Becca take care of yourself and we will be here when you come back!

Food not great today, meaning not enough protein again!

Breakfast: "cream of wheat" with riccotta
snack: lemon water
lunch: beef sausage with sauerkraut and asparagus
snack: mini babybell cheese/ almonds 24
Dinner: coffee shake (needed a pick me up before dance)
snack: sardines

Totals are:

Cal: 1102
Fat: 76.8
ECC: 16.7
Prot: 77

Off to do some research on CLA.

[Jackie]

It's so controversial and has been shown to have a high probability of adverse affects on humans?? I'm nervous for you?

Help Amy.......the only info I can find about adverse effects relates to gastrointestinal issues (which is not occuring for me) so if you know the link you found the info on please pass it on.

Anyone else with info please pass it on.

[Ammy]

I started with wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugated_linoleic_acid
Some studies of CLA in human diets show that it may reduce body fat,[10] (http://www.eatprotein.com/forum/#cite_note-9) , especially abdominal fat. A maximum reduction in body fat was achieved with a daily dose of 3.4g.[11] (http://www.eatprotein.com/forum/#cite_note-10) However,experts do not recommend taking CLA supplements. CLA supplements contain high levels of the t10,c12 CLA isomer, which has been linked to multiple side effects.[12] (http://www.eatprotein.com/forum/#cite_note-11) Supplementation with this form of CLA has been shown to increase C-reactive protein (http://www.eatprotein.com/wiki/C-reactive_protein) levels, possibly to induce oxidative stress (http://www.eatprotein.com/wiki/Oxidative_stress),[13] (http://www.eatprotein.com/forum/#cite_note-12) to reduce insulin sensitivity, and to increase lipid peroxidation (http://www.eatprotein.com/wiki/Lipid_peroxidation).[14] (http://www.eatprotein.com/forum/#cite_note-13) However, the significance of these findings is unknown, and other studies suggest that CLA may protect cells from oxidative damage by increasing glutathione (http://www.eatprotein.com/wiki/Glutathione) levels without inducing lipid peroxidation (http://www.eatprotein.com/wiki/Lipid_peroxidation).[15] (http://www.eatprotein.com/forum/#cite_note-14) It is possible, however, that the observation of markers of increased lipid oxidation may indicate potentially desirable lipolytic effects. Further studies are necessary to establish the clinical significance of such observations.



then I clicked into footnote 12...
http://www.jlr.org/cgi/content/abstract/44/12/2234
In conclusion, although CLA appears to attenuate increases in body weight and body fat in several animal models, CLA isomers sold as dietary supplements are not effective as weight loss agents in humans and may actually have adverse effects on human health.

[gitfiddle]

I'm going to be cutting back on my 'puter time for a while I think so I may not be here as much as I was (not that it was much before). Hopefully I'll be over things (emotionally and physically) soon.

(((Becca))) As Jackie said, we'll be waiting for you with open arms. We'll miss you, but you have to take care of yourself.

[Ammy]

anyone else having issues with fitday?
I downloaded IE 8 and now I'm having issues with fitday. i can't delete items?!

final counts (although they are appearing a bit high because I can't delete the lettuce I didn't have).

pro: 140.9
ecc: 39
fat: 129.8
cal: 2049

[Jackie]

Thanks for the info Amy. I normally don't use Wikipedia as an information source.......only because anyone can post info on to it and many will deem it as being "the truth". I am not saying that what you found is not accurate I am saying if there is doubt out there it must be warranted. I will keep researching. Again thanks for the leg work:)!!!

I had no problems with Fitday today???:confused:

[Ammy]

I like to start with wiki, then go to the footnotes they cite...and the footnote that I went to (#12) was from the "Journal of Lipid Research".
That seems a bit more "proven" than just an entry in Wiki.

I don't usually just trust Wiki either...but when it's full of footnotes that I can then go to, I have more faith.

You can do what you want, of course.