Morning!

Just a quick post to get us started, and I'll come back later.

Robin, LFL is a low-carb eating plan, not a body-building plan. You're thinking of Body for Life BFL, which Wendy and I have both done. I did a complete challenge last year, and really need to get back into it. I plan to do a workout today. I'm averaging one workout a week these days.

I was back down to 165 yesterday. Haven't weighed myself today yet, but will in a couple minutes.

Catch you later!

Aahhh ok.....but does it stand for Leanness for Life? If so I have heard of it.

Yea, my gym time lately is horrid too. I was trying a new routine and I guess I just have not been able to get into it. Maybe time to switch again?

I gotta see the Dr in a bit......I have tendonitis in my achilles, and nothing I do or take for it seems to help. I know when I lose weight that will help though. Plus my allergies are acting up really badly.

I am going out of town to see friends this weekend.....this will be the first real test if I can stick to this WOE/WOL eating out all the time. Every other diet I have been on, when I went on vacation or out of town, I would blow it completely. This seems much easier to live with all the time though. Plus, one of the friends I am seeing is the one who talked me into LCing in the first place!!

Have a good day all!

Robin

Lean for Life. It's just yet another variation on low-carb eating.

Yes, this weekend will be hard, but just stick to your guns. Just ask yourself if it's worth it. Do you really want it, or do you just think you want it? Oftentimes, after eating something "off plan," I realize it really wasn't as good as I thought it would be. So nip it in the bud before reaching for it.

Or, take a boot camp approach. You chose this eating plan because it will help you lose weight and get healthier. Either do it or don't do it. No middle ground. "I'd do anything to lose weight." Anything, that is, except give up that treat. You get out of it what you put into it. If you make a half-hearted attempt, you'll get mediocre results. That's the boot camp approach.

Or, go into the weekend knowing you'll allow yourself one and only one indulgence. And then savor it. Is it one dessert? One plate of nachos? What? Allow yourself that one thing, and then the rest of the time, stick to your guns.

You have to decide how you're going to deal with it. It's best to have a plan.

I have to start thinking of my plan for Thanksgiving. We might be driving to Michigan to visit DH's family (depends on his schedule). This is the land of donuts and pastries. Bread with every meal. Veggies, too, if you call cream corn ("soup corn," as we used to call it as kids) veggies. And lots of take-out. Pizza, broasted chicken (lots of battered coating), fries, etc.

I've done it before -- resisting all this when visiting -- but it's not easy. When I go there, I always stop at the grocery store first thing to load up on necessities.

So, what's everyone's plans for Thanksgiving?

(PS, holding at 165, but feeling very lean. Hoping for a whoosh any day now.)

Wendy, just wanted to be sure you know how proud we all are of your achievement. You sure are looking good in those rollerblades.

OMG!!!!!! I feel so loved right now. I'm on a really good streak right now in my life and that pic truly captures just how wonderful I feel, even in spite of the "procedure" yesterday. I was all crampy last night, so I called in sick today, and I am just going to take it easy. Now that I've woken up, I probably could have made it through work, but I had left plans for a sub, so I thought I might as well just take the day off.

This morning I experienced my weekly "day after protein day whoosh". All the other weeks I dropped down 0.5 lb after a protein day, but I am down an entire pound from yesterday. Today I am 151!!!! Needless to say, my week of upping calories and trying to maintain at 153 didn't exactly go as planned, but I am certainly not complaining Tomorrow I am going to up my calories to 1300, with carbs up 5g to 60g total for the day, and see if I start to stabilize there.

Robin-I started off doing Lean for Life, but during the weightloss stages, I didn't eat quite as much fruit and as little fat as they recommended. During the metabolic adjustments stages (where you are trying to maintain your loss to give your body a break), my menus do not look like LFL at all! Instead they are much more Protein Power-esque. My goal during this adjustment stage is to get myself back up to ~1450 calories, with 60-70g of that being from carbs, 120g from protein, and ~80g fat. This feels much more doable for me right now, and honestly I have no desire at the moment to add in grains or any of that. I am loving eating an orange or apple and lotsa lotsa veggies, nuts, yogurt, and cottage cheese. I'm even eating pistachios right now, which are much higher carb nuts than I would have eaten in the past.

Also, I know it's very hard not to slip back into old ways with friends b/c food is often sooooo intertwined to everything social in this world, but it's so worth it to stay strong. Like Grady said, the food rarely tastes as heavenly as you imagine, and then you are stuck for weeks undoing the damage if you allowed yourself to go too far overboard. It's good that you are already thinking about all this in advance.

Grady-Congrats on getting back to 165 after the mini indulgences recently It's good to start thinking about Thanksgiving early, so that you are prepared for whatever you decide to do. Where in Michigan are you going? I will be there as well. Both my parents grew up there, and most of my relatives still live there. We will be going to E. Lansing (where MSU is located) to spend time with my aunt, cousins, and grandma. It's good to spend time with your family, but I feel very uncomfortable around my grandma b/c she has alztimers (sp?) and she's progressed to the point of not knowing any of us. It's really sad and I don't ever know how to handle it. Thanksgiving is going to fall right during the end of my adjustment phase, and I am hoping to be at around 1450 calories per day. Originally I was going to eat pretty much whatever I wanted, and I think I still will, but the thing is, I don't WANT potatoes or bread, so I probably won't stray from plan. The next day, though, I will probably do 2-3 protein days and drop back on calories again for a couple weeks to see if I can lose a couple more lbs before trying again to maintain through Xmas/New Years. I can't believe that I might actually see the 140's!!!! This morning, even, I had to step on the scale several times just to believe that it really said 151.

Elaine & Ellie-Are you feeling any better today? Thinking of you both…

Renee-So glad to hear that your health is cooperating more again. How are you feeling today?

Lissette-Thanks for the kind words. You are right. The positives right now are definitely helping me through. Yesterday didn’t feel nearly as bad as I expected. I am hoping that I will be like the 95% of people for which this procedure "fixes" things.

Wendy, I'll be in Livonia (outside of Detroit), but one of DH's sisters and family live in Holt, near East Lansing. Both she and her DH are MSU grads and 2 of their kids are currently attending (the third will be attending next Fall). They are fanatical about MSU. She even works there in some sort of administrative capacity. They're so fanatical, they missed the parents' 50th wedding anniversary party because of an MSU football game they had tickets for. (The family has still not forgiven them for that; at the time, they had the only grandkids. Can you believe it?)

When will you be there? Maybe we can get a chance to meet in person sometime during the week? I'd love to actually meet one of my pals. I mean it! Wow, this now gives me extra incentive to convince DH to drive out for the holiday! I'll keep you posted.

Grady-It would be so fun to meet you! I don't think it would work in Michigan, though. We will be driving up Thursday morning and then driving back that very same night. I don't know if you'd be interested in taking a slight dip south to Columbus on your way to Michigan, but that might work best. I have off both the days before and after Thanksgiving.

I guess it wasn't meant to be. I just came back to post that DH doesn't have his heart in driving back. It takes about 16 hours, and it's a real pain. I don't have any relatives there (except for a sister, and you know all about that), so it would just be visiting his relatives. He was just there in September on a business trip, so it really hasn't been so long since he's seen them all.

So it looks like the trip is probably off.

Good afternoon I am feeling much better today thank goodness. Still have a touch of a sinus headache but dizziness seems to be gone. I started feeling better yesterday afternoon, even made it to gym for a workout.

Wendy - Glad to hear you are doing ok from the procedure. You continue to inspire me!! Your dedication is amazing, I am really trying to get better control so that I don't slip back into my former habits. It is very easy to get carried away when you are maintaining rather than trying to lose.

I have given Thanksgiving alot of thought and plan on staying legal but with higher than usual carbs. I made the WPI version the pumpkin pound cake and it is absolutely wonderful!! Tastes just like my high carb pumpkin bread did. The main difference between the recipes is the texture. The recipe with just almond flour has a moist cakelike texture while the WPI version has more of a bread texture. I am going to make a few lower carb dishes. I made a pumpkin casserole but while it was good, it was not sweet potatos. So I am going to make the same dish with sweet potatos and limit my portion of it. I think 1 sweet potato is 18 carbs. Mashed potatos is about 18 carbs per 1/2 cup serving so a small serving is ok. I bought some SF cranberry sauce as well. WPI pumpkin bread for breakfast. I am also going to look for some whole wheat dinner rolls, hopefully they make a light version with lower carbs if not then I will skip it. For dessert I am going to make a low carb blueberry coffee cake, very yummy!! I plan on doing the same thing for Christmas.

Stopping in to say a quick hello........HELLO!!!!!
Had a chicken cesear salad for dinner tonight(even managed to get some of the chicken away from the cat!!)
i might not get around to posting, but check in on you guys!!
Back a little later!
Rob

Hello everyone,
Did anyone else have a wild day weather-wise? We had 60 mph winds and snow squalls. At one point in time, all roads in the county were closed due to poor visibility. All rural schools closed. Fortunately we didn't lose power. My husband didn't come home at noon and didn't know if he would make it tonight. Hopefully he will because it's not nearly as bad as it was, although still very windy. It was a good thing I didn't have to go out today.
Wendy, so glad the procedure yesterday wasn't too bad. And congrats on more weight loss. And I can surely relate to your situation with your grandma. My mother had Alzheimers and it is such a terrible disease. You watch them go inch by inch. And it's so sad when they don't have a clue who you are. Mom was a high school teacher and very particular about how she dressed. And to see her with spills all down her clothes or her dress backwards was enough to break my heart. I didn't visit her all that much towards the end as she didn't know who I was and wouldn't remember for 5 min. that I had been to visit. At the same time my husband was dying in the hospital and I could accomplish something by visiting him. I tried not to feel TOO guilty about not visiting Mom that often.
Had an e-mail tonight from new daughter-in-law. Both she and DS are now on Atkins. Just a few days ago she said she could never do LC as she loves her carbs too much. She said Steve loves it as he's very fond of meat and eggs. And he's the type of person who would likely do very well on it too--young active male. Some things in life just aren't fair!
Elaine, thanks for sending that site for Mastercook. I ordered it. I figured I probably wouldn't be able to as a lot of those offers are for the U.S. only, but had no problem getting an order to Canada. It's something I've been meaning to get for some time.
Hope I sleep better tonight. The wind kept me awake last night making our 40 year old windows rattle.
Marjorie

Bawdy....my DH is from Redford TWP....how ironic!! He was back there recently too, his family is there still.

I am going to go into this weekend determined to stick to plan. I think maybe picking up some cheese and some meat or something to snack on may be a good idea. I guess I am determined this time, given at how easily I am passing by certain foods. For instance, tommorrow work is ordering pizza, and chicken wings for lunch (they are breaded too!!) I figure I will have to pick and choose very carefully.

I will let you all know how I did

Robin