Firstly, let me say how nice it is to receive the welcome messages, after my introductory posting. I am so new at this that I don't know how to reply to those, other than with the button which says post a private message to the sender - is that how you do it?
In any case, someone was asking me to share a bit of my storey, and I am happy to do so. When I started out on my low carb diet, I allowed myself to think that I might "cheat" on my diet, so that I did not feel deprived. In that way, I was able to make the decision daily, not to cheat - it worked for me. After I achieved my goal weight, I have been able to add some carbs, but I monitor weekly to ensure that I do not go over my goal weight.
It is relatively easy for me, because in addition to the weight loss, there are other benefits - including feeling much better, having more energy, and not having symptoms from a digestive disease that I have had since I was 17. With all those positives, it is easy to keep myself on track.
I do love food though, including desserts, which is how I was stimulated to write my cookbook. I couldn't find interesting and fun food to make that kept to low carb principles. It has been a very creative and fun 16 months developing and perfecting a lot of different recipes - made me stretch, which is always healthy.
So, I continue to eat low carb, and now I have a bunch of easy and tasty recipes to do it with! And, daily I allow myself to think that I might choose to eat something high in carbs, but I almost never do. And my weight has not varied more than 2 pounds in over a year. So, it is a habit with me now.
I think the biggest thing is to plan your meals, and organize yourself around your diet. Its not that hard - lots of people have to (diabetics, people with allergies etc) - its just a matter of getting used to it. And any habit needs to be reinforced, for it to become second nature, as my eating is now. I don't really even think of it.
Another benefit is that everyone of my friends wants to know how come I look "ten years younger" - maybe the weight loss, maybe how good I feel, maybe a combination - but who cares?
That's a long monologue so I will close for now and check back later.
PS I also can't figure out how to use the smilies!
Patricia

Pat,

The smilies appear to the left of the Post Reply window. Just click on one of them and it will appear in your post. You can go to the test forum to fool around if you want.

Go wild!

Karen

Thanks Karen - am just learning to navigate the site. Am really enjoying it
There sure are a lot of us out there! This is wonderful
Bye for now.
Patricia

Hi, Patricia, welcome to the forum.

Hitting the private message button sends a private reply; it's best to use this function to send truly private info such as e-mail addresses, since otherwise the system gets clogged. To reply on the forum, just hit the 'reply' button on the bottom of the post you want to reply to. Your message will show up at the end of the thread.

Rachel