Thanks for that link Meg..I will go there straight away.

I hopped on the scales this morning, day 4. No change. Still down the 2 lbs I lost before I went away. I was surprised because I was sure I had lost a lot of water.. so feel uptight about doing my free meal tonight. I think I'll just have some normal salad dressing and will make an almond meal bowl muffin..the latter is high in calories, but not in carbs. I couldn't see in Lyle's book that the free meal had to have carbs. I would prefer to add fat than carbs..what is everyoe's view on this?

Val

my free meals seem to trigger insane rasacking of my cupboards, no matter what the time. i took today off. i know that will hinder my progress, but i just had a lazy day where i stayed in my pjs, hung out with the kids, and didnt worry about what i was eating. feeling a little sick this evening, but i think it was good for me mentally. will be back on track tomorrow. i find this diet easier to deal with than some others such as the meat and egg fast.

Anyone done estimates of their free meal day total calories? Mine was 1338, of which half was fat% due to eating half an avo, an egg in my almond meal dessert, and about a tsp of normal salad dressing plus a medium size T bone steak. Carbs were still only 31g. So I would imagine with low carbs I shouldn't put on any water weight.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 4 days, seeing as I didn't lose a thing in the first 4. I felt awfully full after the 3 minute chocolate bowl muffin dessert.

Val

Oh man, I tried last time, but the garlic bread I ate didn't have any calorie info on it.

I'm definitely toning down my free meals though and trying to space them further apart. Its helping my weight loss a great deal. Lost 1/2 a pound making the total 9.5 so far! 167.0 a new low for me!

I'm thinking I'll probably just eat a regular PSMF meal and have something extra with it and bigger portions. I actually like the food I'm making myself and enjoying the diet. What's up with that?

I've been chatting on the list Meg suggested...they say to do a big feed on the free meal so that the day's calories are at least your maintenance or more.

Anyway, we'll see what my slug of a metabolism does over the next 4 days..

Val

Hopped on the scales this morning, optomistically...that will teach me to weigh daily....still no change.Ugh. Anyway will carry on given that I feel this diet is healthy and something is bound to wake up sooner or later!!

Val

Ack! Val, hope you see your effort pay off soon. I did have 2 weeks where I lost nothing. That's when I decided to space Free meals out to 4 days.

Today I was absolutely ravenous when I got home. I did make a new pot of my special chili (diced tomotes, turkey sausage, artichoke hearts and mushrooms) and ate about 2 bowls of it. Fortunately it is very low call. I think I'm due for a free meal. I can always tell because my appetite gets big!

Well I went to Curves today and got back on their scales. I had joined and they weighed and measured etc. the day before I left on my trip (after 5 days of this diet), following which I just LC'd while away. Anyway, the good news is that according to their scales, I am down 3 lbs. And I had already lost a bit before then in the first 5 days...so I think I will just look at their scales when I go in 3 times a week.

Val

Well, I am a 195.5 today, that's the lowest I got (for a whole day in April ) when low carbing. If I get below that it will be virgin territory. Unfortunately it is the weekend so my free meals will stall the weight loss. But this isn't bad considering it is TOM.

I didn't measure Wednesday like I had planned, since I wasn't feeling all that great. For some reason I decided to measure my belly this morning and it looks like I might have lost another inch! I will do "official" measurements next Wednesday (just the key parts) and then my monthly measurements (of everything) on the 18th. I'll be interested to see how they compare to last month's.

I've been bad again and haven't exercised all week

Debbie

I've lost 1.5 pounds this week! I'm plowing into virgin territory now with 10.5 pounds gone since June 1!

Debbie, that's great! I hovered over my lowest for 2 weeks, I hope you don't have to go through that.

Wow, my body is telling me it wants a free meal. I'm finding I start getting pretty hungry at about the 3rd day past my last one.

PSMF Beef Stew:
~ 2 lbs very lean top round steak/roast cut in chunks and trimmed of any visible white stuff (I asked the butcher for the leanest meat I could use for a stew, and he handed me a "beef round 1st cut top round steak" ~ $4.49/lb - the 2" thick kind that you would marinate and then grill. I had about 2 oz of gristly white stuff I cut off when I was cutting into chunks.)
2 packets of MBT Beef Bullion
1 15-oz can whole tomatoes (salt-free, because that was what was in my pantry)
2-3 celery stalks, cut into chunks
1 small zucchini squash, cut into chunks or slices
15 or so whole green beans, cut
ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
water to fill crock pot

Assuming 8 servings from this stew, fitday gives me the following per serving:
251 calories
7 g fat (after trimming all visible fat off but before skimming any melted fat from top of stew)
5 g carbs (including 1 g fiber)
41 g protein

More veggies can be added to this, and would probably be better than the meager veggies I added. Next time I'll put more veggies and less water in the stew. I will divide into 8 portions and freeze the extras for future meals.

[Edit: I skimmed 12 g fat off the top of the stew, which was about all I could get. There wasn't much on there. Also, it came out to about 1 cup per serving - about 5 pieces green beans, 3 slices zucchini, one chunk tomato, and about 5 chunks meat per serving. Definitely could use more veggies, but the amount of meat was about right. The chunks, before cooking, were about 1.5 - 2" on a side. Flavor was good, but seemed to me like it was missing something. Maybe more salt? I'll add a little salt and more veggies when I thaw one of the extras to eat. Otherwise not bad for an experiment.]

Sounds fabulous, Joan! I will definitely try this as soon as my chili addiction wears off.

My home scales finally caught up this morning. Down 2 k (5lbs) since starting before the 10 day break. Given that I don't think I lost much water as I have been low carbing for 2 years, this is pretty good. And also given ageing turtle metabolism and no hormones to speak of. So I am pleased. I am finding breakfast hard (seem to be just eating the sweetened with splenda cottage cheese with cinnamon) and also lunch if you get caught out away from home..yesterday I was famished and trapped away from home and so ended up with a Chinese chicken egg flower soup (made with egg whites)..I detected there was a small amount of cornstarch in the soup, but one small bowl wouldn't have had more than about a 1/2 tsp. tops.

Anyone got other suggestions for this situation?

I did a beef crock pot soup before I went away..much the same recipe, but included cauli flowerettes and onions, garlic and some lemon juice. I think some mild chili would be good too. I also plan to do a chicken curry soup, that I would top with minted yogurt.

Val

I carry a "spare, emergency" 3-oz pop top can-o-tuna and a fork in a ziplock bag in my purse in case of extreme food emergencies. I don't have the greatest taste buds, so I can eat tuna without dressing it up. And it's just enough to tide me over until I can get to some better food. I started doing that after I got delayed at the auto place and had a choice of vending machine junk or nothing. I didn't eat anything that day until lunchtime. I was hungry.

Carrying some beef jerkey might work (and it's probably lighter/less bulky), but it's hard to find any that is both low fat and low carb.

I'm trying to find a recipe for a low fat/low carb/no sugar alcohol protein bar that can be carried around in my purse. When I'm not doing the low-fat thing, I used one of the two flavors of Atkins Advantage bars that didn't have sugar alcohols, only glycerine, for sweetener, but at 13 g fat it's a little high for PSMF.

Heh! Funny, I have an emergency can of tuna too. In fact, today I was SO ravenous I had to crack it open. It's a desperation move though since eating tuna right from the can really isn't my idea of good eats.