April 13 - Monday!

[gitfiddle]

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw

Good morning! Happy Monday! It's back to work for me today and I'm up a couple of hours earlier that I've been used to. I hope I left myself a to-do list at the office. I think it's budget revision time again. :p

What's your plan for today?

Breakfast will be a protein shake. Lunch will be cauli bake. Dinner TBD, but I've got plenty of good choices.

[Dutchess2009]

Happy Monday everyone!! I have been in the missing for about a week - had to go away again for work and then family was around for the holiday. I completely stayed on Plan for Easter. I was tempted with all of the goodies around, but I had made my mind since I got back on Plan a couple of weeks that I would not throw all of my hard work out of the window on Easter. Phew...it is over.

Breakfast: Tuna salad
Lunch: Shrimp Salad
Dinner: Maybe chicken breasts
Snack: Coffee with creamer

[Karole]

Hi, Carol and all to follow, I've been away from the puder--not away from home --but deserted my postings and exercise. I wasn't feeling very well, but I could have posted thats for sure.

I'm back at it today though and I did get a new great grandbaby last night so not everything was downhill. (A little girl a month or so premie but she is doing just fine. )

My food was all low carb yesterday but I did eat too much of it. We had too many choices and even a little dab of each was too much. I plan to cut back today to get back to my normal meal size. My weight didn't flucutate at all-- I guess I was afraid it would as full as I felt yesterday.

I also did my meditation sessions each and every day but didn't post to fitday Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Back to that too. So it's 9/3 as of yesterday. Today the score will go to the other side !!

[maxlharris]

At work, mostly loose day for work, since the boss is out and my desk is pretty clear until I get my National Finance Center access back (took forever to get, then my account got killed... *sigh*).

Found this, wanted to share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCFZoqmKf5M

[LulaZula]

Good day all,
Today I don't have a solid plan but I want to keep ECC under 20g.
Skipped breakfast - just 1 coffee w/half-n-half.
Lunch - have a meeting at a restaurant. Will either have bunless cheeseburger with veggie, or sashimi tuna salad.
Dinner - not sure yet, probably chicken or beef and some veggie (bad on me for not having a plan...)
I did plan to go to the gym this morning but then I realized there was something I was supposed to do by YESTERDAY and I goofed and forgot. :eek: SO I focused on that this morning and will continue later. Still, I'd like to get a run in, if I can.

I'll report later.

[Belfrybat]

Hello all. Great quote this morning, Carol. I'm back in the saddle again after an evening and a day of feasting -- and I didn't even try to stay on plan. I just took some extra insulin to cover the extra carbs and enjoyed a day of decadance. I just need that sometimes. I'm now back on plan except I will eat the last Cadbury creme egg sometime today. Weight is up a few pounds, but I know it will come back down in a few days of correct eating.

Breakfast today was a LC protein muffin with strawberries and cream. Lunch will be venison stroganoff over shiritake noodles and salad. Supper will be my standby favourite of cheese, lavish crackers, and wine. And somewhere in there three devilled eggs left over from yesterday and the Cadbury egg. That should put me at 75 ECC, which is my current goal.

Now that Lent is over I will be more diligent at posting here regularly. :)

[gitfiddle]

I completely stayed on Plan for Easter. I was tempted with all of the goodies around, but I had made my mind since I got back on Plan a couple of weeks that I would not throw all of my hard work out of the window on Easter. Phew...it is over.Hi, Heather! Aren't you glad you don't have to reconquer old ground?

I also did my meditation sessions each and every day but didn't post to fitday Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Back to that too. So it's 9/3 as of yesterday. Today the score will go to the other side !!Karole, congrats on the new grandchild! You did well, considering you didn't feel good. Are you better now?
At work, mostly loose day for work, since the boss is out and my desk is pretty clear until I get my National Finance Center access back (took forever to get, then my account got killed... *sigh*).Good luck getting your account re-booted. I couldn't open your link, but it was probably a problem here.

Today I don't have a solid plan but I want to keep ECC under 20g.
Skipped breakfast - just 1 coffee w/half-n-half.Sorry, Lula, but skipping breakfast is like waving a red flag under my nose. I believe in breakfast! :) Do you have a reason for keeping ecc under 20? Dr. Mike said (somewhere) that there wasn't any advantage in going below 30 ecc. I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but I don't know that it helps. :confused:
I'm back in the saddle again after an evening and a day of feasting -- and I didn't even try to stay on plan. I just took some extra insulin to cover the extra carbs and enjoyed a day of decadance. Wow, that's pretty unrepentant, BC! :eek: ;) Glad we'll be seeing more of you now.

I just had my lunch and I'm going to get another glass of water. My day's busier than I really wanted it to be. :cry: I also stayed up to late (like an idiot) and I'm feeling short of sleep.

[Belfrybat]

Wow, that's pretty unrepentant, BC! :eek: ;) Glad we'll be seeing more of you now.

Yep, that's me -- as unrepentent as all get out! :D Don't get me wrong, for the most part I live the straight and narrow where PP and managing diabetes is concerned (last A1c was 5.6), but I will no longer beat myself up when going off plan for a day (or two) a few times a year. I've worked hard to get where I am and I'm certainly not going to sabotage myself, but an occasional overindulgence ain't gonna have any long lasting effects. If I find myself eating off-plan without planning ahead for it, then I'll 'fess up and ask for help. But in the meantime, I'll enjoy life to the fullest, which includes things like Cadbury's creme eggs on Easter. But only at Easter.

Hope that makes sense -- not suggesting others do likewise. But it works for me.

[Gaelen]

The only area I've been compromising lately is sleep--it's tough with a 14+ y.o. dog who's advancing gradually into dementia. He wakes up at odd hours, doesn't know who I am or where he is, and it takes me ~an hour to settle him back in for the night. At that point, *I'm* awake, pretty much for good. Not so bad when it happens around 4:30 a.m., but tough to take when it happens around 2:30. I think I got about four hours of sleep last night...and not in a row. :(

But food and exercise have been good, even with the holiday, and even though work is crazy busy. Today's been a protein shake (with an extra shot of coffee) for breakfast, followed up with an omelet (2 eggs, an ounce of swiss, a chopped baby roma tomato, and two ounces of leftover ham) and water for lunch. Likely I'll need another caffeine boost later--and I've got some Caribou Fair Trade organic at the ready for that.

Thursday night's agility class has been moved to tonight, so I may not hit my targeted 5 flights of stairs (24 up/24 down), but I'll make it up running M. through whatever course(s) get set up tonight.

And it just occurred to me...I got through this entire Easter season and didn't have one single Cadbury egg. I did have three chocolate covered strawberries yesterday, but no Cadbury creme eggs. ;)

Good Mondays, everyone.

[gitfiddle]

I've worked hard to get where I am and I'm certainly not going to sabotage myself, but an occasional overindulgence ain't gonna have any long lasting effects. Trust me, I know you well enough. I just love your spirit, BC. :)

[gitfiddle]

The only area I've been compromising lately is sleep-- Not good. That's my weak area, too, but of my own volition. Poor dog!

But food and exercise have been good, even with the holiday, and even though work is crazy busy. Good for you, Pat!

My bag is packed for the gym. Leaving in ten minutes. I'm exhausted, so I hope I get some energy out of it.

[oceanblueLA]

Hi Carol, and everyone. So happy it's Monday and no longer a holiday weekend. Whew. I did try to enjoy a Cadbury egg. But I was so disappointed in the taste and stopped after one bite. I think I have become spoiled by higher quality dark chocolate and just can't see what I ever saw in the creme eggs. But you know what... that's good news! I'll take it!

I spent some time this morning reading about the plan and exercise in general and it worked to get me more firmly back in the saddle. I pretty easily did my treadmill this morning and will do my free weights and floor exercises tomorrow and twice more this week. I am hoping that my body soon kicks in to "loving my workouts and looking forward to them" mode. I've been waiting for a long time, but in my body's defense, I haven't been consistent with my workouts. Nor has my attitude been good. It's more than just showing up, I've discovered. It's being positive while you are there walking or lifting or whatever I am doing. I am such a positive person usually. Why did it take so long for me to realize that I need to approach my exercise with the same life enthusiasm? I'm working on it.

Hope you're all having a great Monday.

B -- egg whites w/ parm cheese, 2 fiber crackers w/ pb
S -- 1 ounce light swiss
L -- turkey and steak leftovers
S -- wasabi soy nuts
D -- salad with chicken, sf jello
S -- sf cocoa

[LulaZula]

Sorry, Lula, but skipping breakfast is like waving a red flag under my nose. I believe in breakfast! :) Do you have a reason for keeping ecc under 20? Dr. Mike said (somewhere) that there wasn't any advantage in going below 30 ecc. I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but I don't know that it helps. :confused:

I used to be a big believer in the 'breakfast is holy' philosophy until I read some of Dr. Mike's recent escapades (and follow-on personal research) into IFing. I'm less convinced of its imperativeness (is that a word?) for health. Having said that, my strategy today of skipping b-fast plus lowering my total daily ECC was to try to reverse some of this weekend's damage and kick-start some weight loss this week. Whether it will work, not sure, but it has in the recent past. My BIGGEST challenge, bar-none, is late-night mindless/emotional eating and snacking. And it seems to have NOTHING at all to do with what and how much I've eaten, as far as I can tell...:frown:
Of course, my goal today (and every day) is to have none of that...

We'll see, huh?!;)

[maxlharris]

I'm pretty sure that Dr. Mike has kind of reversed himself on IF'ing and is back in the breakfast is a good idea.

Here's a nutty idea. What if you did IF on an 18/6 schedule, with your eat from 7AM to 1PM. Gives you breakfast and lunch, possibly in the King/Prince/Pauper mode of Breakfast/lunch/dinner, only moving pauper to homeless. Just a thought. The benefits of breakfast, too large to number.

Failing breakfast, the thing that stood out to me was this:
"Today I don't have a solid plan but I want to keep ECC under 20g."
No plan + no breakfast = recipe for not succeeding.

Here's a thought, reject it if you like:
Consider PP or PPLP as the basic plan. Not beginner's mode, but let's call it the basics. The core that you have to return to. The tiny circles that everything else flows out from. IF'ing is a more esoteric, extended form. Not sure of a shared cultural phenomena to work from, but my favorite here is the Karate Kid. PPLP is painting the fence, waxing the card, sanding the deck, and all the other basic stuff that Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel. That core of skills is the core of skills that Daniel-san uses throughout most of the movie. When those basics are unconscious, THEN Daniel-san is ready to expand his repetoire and learn the one footed style (in ten minutes after he's already had his leg broken... okay, the movie makes no sense) that enables him to overcome his injury and lay waste to Billy Zabka, or whoever played the lead jerk in the Cobra Kai.

PPLP is waxing the cars, painting the fence, etc.
IF'ing is the one footed, hopping around, completely improbable style that Daniel-san can instantly learn, but it only really works because his fundamentals are stictly sound.

What I'm getting at is this, it is your science experiment and all, but maybe you should work on putting together a reasonable string of clean days, with reasonable plans, that follow the core protocols. Work in some exercise, some relaxation, and so on. When that is second nature, maybe it's time to explore IF. By the time that happens, you might not even want to implement IF, because you already have the benefits. (Mike and MD had been doing LC for 15-30 years before they started messing with IF... not saying you have to put in that kind of time, but am suggesting they are at a very high level of comfort and mastery of regular PP... oh, and they are firmly in maintenance).

As for me, today is on plan. Even cranked some pushups (inclined in the elevator between floors... got about 48 in through 4 elevator rides... I think I am maybe jonesing for some physical something... I am Henderon, the Rain King... I want, I want, I want, but I am not sure what I want, exactly.) Went to the Chicken Holocaust for lunch (Chicken Planet... I just call it the Holocaust, because chicken is all they do and they do a lot of it every day... Shunning meat sells, but who's buying?).

[Jackie]

Hi all I have been on quite the hiatus!! On the weekend I went totally crazy over the cinnamon buns I made. Not sure why I sabbatoge myself like that, but I did. (Not nearly the "over the edge" I would have taken 6 months ago, I did practice some restraint). Not a proud moment non the less!!!

Exercise has not faltered, everyday actually now that I think of it!!!

Accountability definitely an issue here, however the new job has taken more at home time than I first imagined. So I have given up evening computer time for school work or sleep. Please be advised I may not post every day, but am consciencely aware of my choices. Helps that I have great support at work, almost everyone is trying to be healthy both in food and exercise.

Back on today and feeling good, scale only went up 2 lbs!

Breakfast: pear shake
Lunch taco salad, carb friendly yogurt
snack: 1/2 pear
dinner: porkchop, broccoli

[maxlharris]

Oh yeah, if anyone were interested, the first set of pictures from Europe (the goofy sign collection) is up at Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016518&l=6b54c9fe7e&id=1541011416

[Karole]

10/3 so I'm back on track again today. Got it all done and over with.

Loved the goofy signs Max, glad to know I won't get soda poured on me if I ever visit Paris or at least the tower.

[rainyday]

Hi everyone. Do any of you nice people know if Dreamfields Pasta and julian bread are truly low carb? Thank you all . rainyday

[LulaZula]

Hi again,
So here's the day when all's said and done:

B: coffee, half-n-half
L: club salad w/grilled chicken (field greens, tomato, hb egg, bacon, avocado), olive oil, ~1/2 tsp buttermilk garlic dressing
S: 1/2 cup coffee/half-n-half, 1 tbs peanuts, 1/3 or 1/4 cold rotisserie chicken thigh
D: 2/3 lb bacon cheeseburger, iceberg lettuce, sliced tom, pickles/jalapenos, 1 tbs mayo, 1/2 tsp catsup, 1 small fry wedge, nibble from bun (like a bird...), coffee w/half-n-half
From Fitday: 1,837kcal;
125.9g fat;
18.8g ECC;
144.6g protein

Yes! under 20g ECC for the day, as planned. And I'm stuffed.
Did not go to the gym :mad:.
H2O - probably a bit low - maybe 5 cups.

BTW, Dr. Mike went back and forth a lot on IF, confusing a lot of people. His final assessment, I believe, is that it can work for many people but he's not sure it's worth the risk that you're one of those for whom it doesn't work, since he heard from a bunch of those too. While I've not reached perfection of PP by any means and have fallen off the wagon more times than I'd like to count, I've been pretty much eating with this plan as my underpinning WOE premise since 1999, I get it. It's very much ingrained. So I think Mr. Miyagi would allow me a one-footed kick (or whatever) now, if I want to try it for an extra kick in the pants when I need it. :p But I hear ya, Max. I am definitely a work-in-progress.

Now - my goal for the rest of this evening is to keep my mouth shut and to stay out of the kitchen! :cool:

Good night, thanks for letting me be accountable, Carol et al.!

[maxlharris]

Hi everyone. Do any of you nice people know if Dreamfields Pasta and julian bread are truly low carb? Thank you all . rainyday

Different strokes for different folks. I like Dreamfields, but I tend to do it in smaller doses than I used to (3 oz vs 4 oz for a dinner plate, with more sauce and stuff) and less frequently. I lost with it before, but as I have less left to lose, I have to be tighter about some things to continue progress.

Don't know Julian Bread.
http://www.julianbakery.com/LOW-CARB-BREAD.html
13g carbs, 12 of fiber. Not sure how they work that with their list of ingredients, but I will assume it is correct. At the same time, I do not believe that soy protein is a worthwhile pursuit, so I will not be getting any.

Hi again,
While I've not reached perfection of PP by any means and have fallen off the wagon more times than I'd like to count, I've been pretty much eating with this plan as my underpinning WOE premise since 1999, I get it. It's very much ingrained. So I think Mr. Miyagi would allow me a one-footed kick (or whatever) now, if I want to try it for an extra kick in the pants when I need it. :p But I hear ya, Max. I am definitely a work-in-progress.

We're all works in progress. Even me. :evil:
I like to put together a string of days straight and clean, simple pp, before I do anything "improvisational." Like working in Dreamfields or tinkering with meal timing. Works for me.

For the day:
Protein: ~190
Carbs: ~25
Cals: ~1750
Water: Good
Fitday: Check
Reporting: Now complete.
Another day, another completion.

[Vikki]

Well, I just started back on the protein power plan today... as I'm sitting here looking at my planner and what I eat today I think I did very well and feel good as well......I'm looking to lose 100 lbs... yes that is alot but with my height 5' 7'' and my current weight being at 278 lbs I got to do something since my doctor told me I'm a walking stroke patient waiting to happen......

Breakfast: 3 slices of chicken breast/ 2 slices of swiss cheese
Lunch: Low carb grilled cheese sandwich (low carb tortilla wrap with 2 slices of swiss cheese)...
Dinner: 2 small boneless pork ribs w/green bean salad

Exercise: 25 minutes on the exercise bike....

[Belfrybat]

Great posts for Monday. I ended the day on-plan -- 85 protein, 72 ECC. Also on task with the other areas I'd committed to: meditation, reading health literature and exercise.

[oceanblueLA]

Max... a mannequin with teeth! My fave. Great pics!