I began taking Vitamin D after everything I was reading here, and feeling I wasn't outside enough getting good sunshine, a year or so ago. I finally settled on 5,000 i.u., and do feel like it may be of help to how I feel overall.
Logged today on mfp, grumbled about the restrictions it does place on me, but thought again about the satisfaction it gave me before in knowing what I was actually eating, and knowing the weight would come off, even if slowly.
Got my breakfast bars and scotch eggs into my recipes, so I could figure out what they are calorie-wise. I wish I didn't need to, but I think I can overeat on anything when trying to use food for comfort.

Even arugula and cucumbers..lol.

hi-
Pat, I think that you are like a scientist with yourself as the subject. You have data and a plan- I now you can be successful at being healthier and feeling your best.

I'm in 'clean out the fridge' mode. We leave tomorrow when I get home from work. Tonight's RM was salad (HUGE), chicken breast with pimento cheese, spinach, and a slice of bread for carb.

Tomorrow's CM breakfast will be eggs, and my CM lunch will be half a chicken breast (no cheese) and spinach, with a can of club soda as a treat.
My plan for dinner tomorrow will be a burger at the airport. I don't eat the food on the plane. I'm also bringing a Quest bar on the plane for my breakfast. It's fine with the airline coffee.

See you in the middle of March!

E

Eno, have a marvelous time with your family

Finally down off the plateau <heh>. Lost 2.6 pounds this past week, and while I don't expect this week to be that good, I am determined to see a drop of more than 1/10th of a pound this week

Hope all are doing well.

Just moved over to this thread. Posting helps strengthen my resolve. I'm working on portion control during RM, balance between protein and veggies and starchy or high-glycemic, and staying within the hour. All of these have gotten out of balance. Challenges (due mostly to moving out of US and kind of temporary situation) include no scales, limited produce resulting in eating a lot of squash, beets, sweet potatoes, etc., difficulty making good salads, and my wife eats very differently and can handle lots of fruit, frequent meals and eating late at night, and cupboards stuffed with things I can't eat. So I'm using a lot of will power right now. Last night RM: wood-fired bbq with chicken, eggplant, red and green peppers, and steamed squash with coconut oil. I ate large--it was very good and I was starving--but I got by fairly well. Cheated with a fig and a small bite of orange. Stayed away from many items I could have gorged on. Glad to find this forum. There was one on Yahoo that closed.

That's fantastic Patricia! Delighted for you!

Welcome GPH,
I seen your question on the other thread where you asked did anyone eat fruit.
I really only eat slightly unripe bananas because I tend to be fructose intolerant and have to follow a diet called 'FODMAP' because I have stomach troubles.

If you don't have a scale, I think buying those portion control cups are really helpful,
Or the whole envisioning a plate with 1/2 of veg, 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbs.
Best of luck with it anyway.

Hi folks. Very contemplative this week, as a dear friend unexpectedly lost her husband of 51 years (and trust me, if you met them, you would not think them to be their age...super bright, fascinating people).

My recipe recommendation for the week - Slow Cooker Kahlua Pig . My changes were to cook on high for about 8-9 hours, and to add a bit of liquid smoke and water to the slow cooker. I didn't have bacon so followed her advice to use smoked paprika instead.

This is beyond outstanding and so totally cm. Just divine. I had found a pork steak shoulder butt (never heard it called that before) on sale last week, and it is now all cooked up, portioned and frozen for my enjoyment over the next week+.

Quick check-in. Struggling and wallowing forward. Still compulsive urges but have reigned things in a bit. Nice batch of chicory last night, cooked italian style in a pan with lots of olive oil and garlic. Big serving of kale for lunch with a lean hamburger. No cravings at all; the RM and nighttime is the hitch. Big pot of spicy beans with ground beef and greens tonight, maybe some sweet potatoes. I have no scale in the house but it doesn't feel like I've lost any at all. A good 8 lbs over I'd say, maybe 10. No cheese in the house, no chocolate, no bad treats.

You don't sound like you've too far to go weight wise GPH,
Well isn't it funny you found the kale helped alleviate the cravings; i find the same when i eat spinach, -i found a low carb green smoothie recipe that i love.
& also i'm having more green tea these days and i find it so excellent for how it helps with energy and to stop cravings.
For me; I've realised i need to just be abstinent from certain foods, probably for life. Its not every carbohydrate that sends me berserk, only certain troublemakers. I'm not always a severe carb addict.

If anyone is nerdy like myself i found a really interesting article about carbs.
I can't get enough health info; i'm like insatiable for it. (Boring i know! )

http://www.fdin.org.uk/wordpress/wp...ath-Collins.pdf

Anyway; in a nutshell, they compared different diets; low carb, Mediterranean, and low fat.
Low carb produced the most impressive weight loss, especially from 2-13 months, where after that they all became more similar.
I find this interesting in terms of planning for maintenance. After 13 months it may be like the 7 year itch type of thing & the low-carb diet may need shaking up.

Also, they reckon whole-grains are super important for heart health so i'll be including them so much more in my RM's if i can at all. That's my plan anyway.

Patricia; That's so heart-breaking for your friend. I'm so sorry to hear this.
Sudden deaths are just the worst.

hi-
I'm back from 2 weeks with DD and her family. I weighed this am - and I'm the same weight as when I left! Amazing!!I love this plan. DD had lots of good protein and veggies. I was sick with a cold and had soups too.
Did eat more bread than usual, but still OP.
On the plane had a sandwich for lunch - not the best but what I could do. Didn't eat the plane meal or snacks and drank club soda.
later- when I am over jet lag!
E

Happy St. Patrick's Day MaryH!

Thanks so much Patricia!
Am very grateful to St. Patrick.
We had our traditional spring weather yesterday;
pouring rain & windy. Some celebrations had to be cancelled until Sunday.
My local village had a group over from the US- Quaker City String Band to take part in a parade. They got totally soaked to the skin.
I enjoyed the day regardless!

Hope all is well with everyone!
Have recently introduced more gluten free foods & trying to stay away from any high-sugar foods and cereals. Not completely cut out but greatly reduced.
Feel so much better!

That's great Eno; that your DD can accommodate you so well. It must feel like second nature for you all now!

I'm starting to figure out if I eat a bunch of chicken, maybe CM veggie, late in the afternoon, then a small evening meal is much more feasible. I've tended to go into dinner just famished and ready to roll up my sleeves and eat like a farm hand. So rather than struggling with myself at night, I'm seeing how I can beat back the hunger preemptively around 3 PM. Breakfast and lunch aren't so problematic, although lunches are much more difficult than in the States. Broccoli for example isn't in season now, and I can't find green beans either. Lettuce is an ordeal to clean and prep, etc. But I'm beginning to glimpse some ways to turn the ship around.

cabbages of any sort including bok choy? asparagus?

GPH

I Know that feeling GPH.
I'll be taking a leaf out of your book from now on when it comes to eating 'preemptively'.

Just recovering from the worst ordeal.
I spoke too soon thinking everything was going well.
So what happened was that yesterday; because of the decreased carb intake I didn't have much of an appetite at all. So had a smaller than usual dinner (salad & turkey rashers) with not much carbs; just a banana later.
Well, low and behold, a few hours later I woke up thinking I was going to die;
the worst dizziness,(room was spinning so bad) sickness, weakness, couldn't keep anything down & being sick.
Why? I didn't know initially but later learned it was The dreaded low blood sugar.
Also gluten free bread was like trying to choke down cardboard when I was in this state; Only thing that helped in the end was 2 slices of regular white bread.
Only barely starting to feel human now. There are so many nasty side effects from low blood sugar, headaches, irritability, insatiable hunger. nightmares.
It explains why I always was such a 'sugar addict' too; trying to off-set this condition. Something I'm beginning to realise is that stress can set off an insulin reaction too.

So stress + too few carbs + perhaps too many caffeinated drinks (including green tea) =total incapacitation. Lesson learned. Hope nobody else has this happen to them.

Going forward I intend to include more CM snacks, eat around every 3 hours. Prepare more meals in advance so I always have something. Never more than 2 caffeinated drinks per day. Have some kind of fast acting carb like lucozade to hand to off-set this if it every happens again. Eat a regular intake of carbs no matter how I feel.
Taking de-stress seriously.
No joke this!

Hope everyone has a good week!