Gaelen, I went over to the official site and registered. Thanks. I'm crunchymonkey over there.

Teresa, sounds like you are settling in very nicely. Congrats on the loss. I managed to gain my 30+ lbs on Core when I quit smoking. I think it was the unlimited fruit and ff milk. It worked great when I smoked.

Lisa, I agree that people can freak out if a person says low carb. I don't know how many times I read on the WW board about how saturated fats would plug up your arteries.
So instead, we were supposed to eat ff stuff loaded with HFCS

Monklet-I just wanted to say that quiting smoking is THE best think you can do for your health, and encourage you not to let the weight gain get you down. I too, used to smoke and have been smoke free for 11 years. I did gain weight, but I also took bad eating habits,like tons of sugar. I really pray my husband quits soon!! My grandfather died of lung cancer when I was a kid and my father in law in Dec. 2002. I want my kids to ever experience losing their father prematurely.
Quiting was one of the hardest thing I ever did, but now I can't stand coming near someone who smokes. I have stopped nagging my hubby to stop, I realize he will when he wants to. Luckily, he has never smoked around the kids, and stopped smoking around me once I quit.

Lisa, I did read some of Babywise with my first born, and after that T.Brazelton, and a lot of James Dobsons books. I used a combination of what I felt comfortable with and what worked. Reading those books have been the foundation of our parenting, and have helped with many other stages along the way.
I am NOT looking forward to the teenage years, but I feel more confident after reading these helpful resources.!

Teresa, your stats are very close to mine, keep it up ! I really enjoy coming here for the support from all of you and the wealth of information!

Blessings everyone,
Tracy

Hello all,

I have recently changed my "plan" from "general low carb" to Protein Power. I like the freedom to choose which carbs I eat, and I think the Drs. Eades give a better explanation of how the diet works.

In order to get my recommended protein for the day, I ate an earlier "meal" today than I usually do. Usually, I eat my first meal after I get to work, say 10:00 AM (usually some sort of scrambled eggs plus something like bacon, sausage, or mock danish), but today, I was hungry at 8:30 AM, so I had a protein bar. I could literally feel my metabolism revving up! I've had 5 smaller meals today with 15-20 gms protein (instead of 3 or sometimes 2 high fat meals) and I feel better for it, I feel I'm "burning" it up all day! Does that make sense to you all?

IOMW. It makes total sense to me.
I looked back over my food journal when I was doing WW Core. I was only eating 30 to 60 grams of protein. I could have eaten more, but I hated all the ff protein options except for skim milk.
No wonder I gained weight. I never got full. I was always looking for something to get me by until I could eat again.

ImOnMyWay...I agree, this makes total sense. I've always done better on smaller, more frequent meals. Now I may combine meals and snacks, but the key is always to allow my body to properly digest this food.** And studies have flown around for years on the benefits of breakfast and how eating actually gets the metabolism going, so the fact that your earlier "light" breakfast (a great choice, btw) got you going for the day is no surprise. I'm just glad you tried it because it will make such a difference! Welcome to PP and keep up the good work!

**I was never really big on getting my recommended protein in one meal unless it was something easy and high impact like tuna. So I've often split breakfast up and adjusted things during the day, concentrating more on the overall daily protein than the "per meal" concept.

Just popping in to say "Hi!" and that I'm still alive and well, eating the PP way, and still working way too hard. I gone back to reading fiction in the evenings, and beadwork on occasion. Nice to have a hobby again.

Jen

Yay! It's good to see you, Jen. I'm still working way too hard too. But it's good to know you're doing some things just for you and that can be considered "down time". I am exercising (which is good for my mental as well as physical health) and reading books at night again as well.

Jen, nice to meet you. I'm still working my way through a few more low carb books, and collecting lowcarb recipes so I don't get bored and throw in the towel. I always wanted to know how to bead, but never did learn. I do crochet and knit though.
Lisa, good for you. I planned to start an exercise routine this week but this beastly cold interferred. I'm going to follow the ones in the PPLP book.

Hi Jen! Wow, beading, now that's painstaking work. Never did any of that. I did a needlepoint project once, that took for freakin' EVER, and it was only about 6" in diameter! I once tried crocheting a doily...but that grew old pretty quick.

I love to read and have been devouring mysteries for the last year or so. I don't know why I'm so fixed on mysteries right now. I've discovered some terrific authors: Ed McBain, Sara Paretsky, Elizabeth George, Michael Connelly, too many to list from memory! I never realized there was so much excellent mystery fiction out there! I love my library!

I hope I'm not eating too much. Today I had

8:45A Atkins apple-crispy breakfast bar thingie (11g protein, 8g fat, 6g ECC, 8g fiber)

11:00A Egg salad and half an "Israeli" salad (cucumber, tomato, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice, S&P) purchased from "Famima!"

2:00P Hot link, mustard, the rest of the "Israeli" salad, cheese chips (made from 2oz hard shredded cheese in the microwave - 1 min on high).

4:00P 1 oz nuts

7:00P Really huge halibut filet (probably over 8 oz) sauteed in butter & lemon, with capers and almonds (they may have used some flour; hard to tell); sauteed spinach in olive oil & garlic; sauteed broccoli, carrots and zucchini. Left behind some of both veggies.

Water about 70 oz plus 12 oz coffee.

That Atkins bar in the morning started my appetite I guess. Four meals and a snack. Yikes!

Whoops! Left off the rest of the post!

I hope I'm not eating too much. Today I had

8:45A Atkins apple-crispy breakfast bar thingie (11g protein, 8g fat, 6g ECC, 8g fiber)

11:00A Egg salad and half an "Israeli" salad (cucumber, tomato, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice, S&P) purchased from "Famima!"

2:00P Hot link, mustard, the rest of the "Israeli" salad, cheese chips (made from 2oz hard shredded cheese in the microwave - 1 min on high).

4:00P 1 oz nuts

7:00P Really huge halibut filet (probably over 8 oz) sauteed in butter & lemon, with capers and almonds (they may have used some flour; hard to tell); sauteed spinach in olive oil & garlic; sauteed broccoli, carrots and zucchini. Left behind some of both veggies.

Water about 70 oz plus 12 oz coffee.

That Atkins bar in the morning started my appetite I guess. Four meals and a snack. Yikes!

I've been eating about 1600 cals a day and losing. So I think you're doing fine.

So, do you like Fitday overall?

I really like Fitday. I'm used to it and I bought my own copy. It is easy to set up my favorite foods and organize them in folders.
I use a different program to save recipes in. It is a program designed for authors. It's called ywrite and it is free.

I just made biscuits using the fake "bisquick" recipe in the recipe thread.
They turned out really good. I'm just getting started exploring all the low carb recipes. This is fun.

Sorry it took me awhile to check in again...life has a way of getting away from me.

I'm eating 1600-1800 calories a day...never quite the same (which is good) and sometimes "net" from the exercise I'm doing (and therefore on some days far lower "net" as a result too). Every day is a bit different and that's great. I use the weekend to "treat" myself with a caloric reset, but I try not to go crazy.

As far as LC recipes, I've kind of backed off on that because I guess I needed a little break, but instead I just use a combination of naturally LC ingredients and sparingly make use of LC foods...such as Davinci syrups and Dreamfields pasta. As I mentioned, I do eat grains and dairy...basically everything...but I'm very choosy about quality. I read ingredients like a maniac. I figure at least this way I'm making the most of my choices and making informed decisions.

While I don't currently use it to the extent I did, I do like Fitday a lot. Again, I had to cut back and logging in everything I ate was something I had to let go of just because of time constraints. I didn't, however, give up on journaling or tracking food, I just do so in a more casual manner now. So I'm still accountable and accurate, which is important. I also use Fitday to track my weight and measurements as well.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm on the run and it's only going to get worse as our season picks up (end of August through early November we have a ton of weddings booked). I'll try to check in when I can.