Rough week

On the positive side, I was down to 190 on the scale this
morning so that was okay. How I got here (two pounds in two
days) is not good at all.

I have had as rough a week at work as I have ever had in my
professional career, as stressful as it can get. In the
past, were I to get to this state from a stress point of
view, I would likely have found solace in food and would
have started eating everything in sight. No big secret
about how I gained weight in the past. Just for some stress
management I plan on running away to the mountains this
weekend to wander through the woods and listen to the birds.
Anna Ruby Falls in North Georgia should do the trick, nice
hikes in a beautiful place and the weather, on Saturday at
least, should be beautiful.

Now, I'm not posting here just to whine about work as there
really is relevance to low-carb eating and diet in general.
While I don't begin to claim to understand all (any?) of the
physiology involved in this, I can tell you that this week
my body has been screaming for me to feed it, as I've not
had happen since starting this way of eating. Not cravings
so much, just more food than the 1400 calories/day I have
been eating. As nothing else has changed recently--activity
levels an such, though I am back to my nasty habit of only
sleeping about 2 hours/night--the only thing I have which I
can attribute this to is stress. Since Monday I've bumped
my daily calorie intake back up to the 1800-2000 calorie/day
range. The funny thing is that, though I am very cognizant
of the amount of food I am consuming this week, I am not
really counting and intentionally capping calories, I am
just eating more at each meal to the point I feel very full
and literally can't eat any more. The bizarre thing is
that, this week, I am still hungry. So, I've dropped two
pounds, I am eating more, I still feel hungry, and I feel
like hell. That damn stress thing I think. I'm actually,
finally, feeling much better this morning so I think I am
going to go back to my 1400 calories today. I'll see how it
goes. BTW, during this entire time I have managed to keep
my carb count to 45-50g/day.

When I was doing low-fat diets I invariably found myself at
this point about 3 months into the diet and would have
succumbed to it by a binge which would have ended the diet
and started the weight gain again. I'm not guessing about
that, I know it because I have lived it. That I have
survived this week without starting a binge is remarkable
and affirms for me once again that with this way of eating
is sustainable, and the weight loss from it will be
permanent. It's not been fun this week, but doable
nonetheless.

Finally, thank goodness for comfort foods as this helped
last night more than I can begin to state. For me the
ultimate comfort food has long been a simple good meatloaf,
which my wife made for the family last night. I prepared a
side dish of cauliflower gratin (one of her favorites) with
a nice salad and we all, including the kids, had a pleasant
dinner eating to our hearts content. And, since I love my
meatloaf with ketchup, having that new low-carb Heinz
ketchup in the house was an excellent accompaniment to enjoy
guilt free.

--
JJ.
275/190/183, BMI 27.3 - as of Mar 12, 2004
Atkins since Sep 1, 2003
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjsmythe/my_photos
69.1% of the man I used to be.

"JJ" wrote in message news:8jj4c.15405$bP2.80528@attbi_s53...
On the positive side, I was down to 190 on the scale this
morning so that was okay. How I got here (two pounds in two
days) is not good at all.

I have had as rough a week at work as I have ever had in my
professional career, as stressful as it can get. In the
past, were I to get to this state from a stress point of
view, I would likely have found solace in food and would
have started eating everything in sight. No big secret
about how I gained weight in the past. Just for some stress
management I plan on running away to the mountains this
weekend to wander through the woods and listen to the birds.
Anna Ruby Falls in North Georgia should do the trick, nice
hikes in a beautiful place and the weather, on Saturday at
least, should be beautiful.

Now, I'm not posting here just to whine about work as there
really is relevance to low-carb eating and diet in general.
While I don't begin to claim to understand all (any?) of the
physiology involved in this, I can tell you that this week
my body has been screaming for me to feed it, as I've not
had happen since starting this way of eating. Not cravings
so much, just more food than the 1400 calories/day I have
been eating. As nothing else has changed recently--activity
levels an such, though I am back to my nasty habit of only
sleeping about 2 hours/night--the only thing I have which I
can attribute this to is stress. Since Monday I've bumped
my daily calorie intake back up to the 1800-2000 calorie/day
range. The funny thing is that, though I am very cognizant
of the amount of food I am consuming this week, I am not
really counting and intentionally capping calories, I am
just eating more at each meal to the point I feel very full
and literally can't eat any more. The bizarre thing is
that, this week, I am still hungry. So, I've dropped two
pounds, I am eating more, I still feel hungry, and I feel
like hell. That damn stress thing I think. I'm actually,
finally, feeling much better this morning so I think I am
going to go back to my 1400 calories today. I'll see how it
goes. BTW, during this entire time I have managed to keep
my carb count to 45-50g/day.

When I was doing low-fat diets I invariably found myself at
this point about 3 months into the diet and would have
succumbed to it by a binge which would have ended the diet
and started the weight gain again. I'm not guessing about
that, I know it because I have lived it. That I have
survived this week without starting a binge is remarkable
and affirms for me once again that with this way of eating
is sustainable, and the weight loss from it will be
permanent. It's not been fun this week, but doable
nonetheless.

Finally, thank goodness for comfort foods as this helped
last night more than I can begin to state. For me the
ultimate comfort food has long been a simple good meatloaf,
which my wife made for the family last night. I prepared a
side dish of cauliflower gratin (one of her favorites) with
a nice salad and we all, including the kids, had a pleasant
dinner eating to our hearts content. And, since I love my
meatloaf with ketchup, having that new low-carb Heinz
ketchup in the house was an excellent accompaniment to enjoy
guilt free.

I had a rough week too. Last night, was rear ended at a traffic light.
Ended up in the ER, whiplash. Feeling it big time right now. My
husband had a epidural for pain relief for his back earlier in the
day. He too was in the car when we got hit. I about bit my tongue
off. When thrown forward, I vomitted, then when thrown back, I
swallowed it. My throat is swollen, its just awful. But not meaning to
whine..So on to the point.

I went grocery shopping earlier. I was really tempted big time to get
a bunch of junk food and go on a binge. I had a time passing the pop
machine up, I really craved one. After reading your post, I am now
relating these cravings, to stressful times. I kept my determination
and passed the bingeing up.

I got a great sale on ground hamburger. Made meatloaf twice earlier
this week. It is really good. The cauliflower dish sounds good too.
Thanks for sharing how your week was. It helped me.

In article ,
(Sunshyne) wrote:


I had a rough week too. Last night, was rear ended at a traffic light.
Ended up in the ER, whiplash. Feeling it big time right now. My
husband had a epidural for pain relief for his back earlier in the
day. He too was in the car when we got hit. I about bit my tongue
off. When thrown forward, I vomitted, then when thrown back, I
swallowed it. My throat is swollen, its just awful. But not meaning to
whine..So on to the point.

I went grocery shopping earlier. I was really tempted big time to get
a bunch of junk food and go on a binge. I had a time passing the pop
machine up, I really craved one. After reading your post, I am now
relating these cravings, to stressful times. I kept my determination
and passed the bingeing up.

I got a great sale on ground hamburger. Made meatloaf twice earlier
this week. It is really good. The cauliflower dish sounds good too.
Thanks for sharing how your week was. It helped me.

Are you ok? This accident description worried me... wow... and you're
so good about doing the right thing afterwards, too... good for you!!!

Feel better (and your husband, too).

--
Nancy Howells (don't forget to switch it, and replace the to send mail).

In article 8jj4c.15405$bP2.80528@attbi_s53, "JJ" wrote:

On the positive side, I was down to 190 on the scale this
morning so that was okay. How I got here (two pounds in two
days) is not good at all.

I have had as rough a week at work as I have ever had in my
professional career, as stressful as it can get. In the
past, were I to get to this state from a stress point of
view, I would likely have found solace in food and would
have started eating everything in sight. No big secret
about how I gained weight in the past. Just for some stress
management I plan on running away to the mountains this
weekend to wander through the woods and listen to the birds.
Anna Ruby Falls in North Georgia should do the trick, nice
hikes in a beautiful place and the weather, on Saturday at
least, should be beautiful.

Now, I'm not posting here just to whine about work as there
really is relevance to low-carb eating and diet in general.
While I don't begin to claim to understand all (any?) of the
physiology involved in this, I can tell you that this week
my body has been screaming for me to feed it, as I've not
had happen since starting this way of eating. Not cravings
so much, just more food than the 1400 calories/day I have
been eating. As nothing else has changed recently--activity
levels an such, though I am back to my nasty habit of only
sleeping about 2 hours/night--the only thing I have which I
can attribute this to is stress. Since Monday I've bumped
my daily calorie intake back up to the 1800-2000 calorie/day
range. The funny thing is that, though I am very cognizant
of the amount of food I am consuming this week, I am not
really counting and intentionally capping calories, I am
just eating more at each meal to the point I feel very full
and literally can't eat any more. The bizarre thing is
that, this week, I am still hungry. So, I've dropped two
pounds, I am eating more, I still feel hungry, and I feel
like hell. That damn stress thing I think. I'm actually,
finally, feeling much better this morning so I think I am
going to go back to my 1400 calories today. I'll see how it
goes. BTW, during this entire time I have managed to keep
my carb count to 45-50g/day.


Stuff about how you did well snipped...

Know what you mean. Only, I don't get hungry/munchish, I get "I can't
eat," which can be just as bad in its own way. Additionally, I'm
inclined to mope and not exercise, as exercise is never pleasant for me
in any case.

This week was a lulu for me too - I think I may be leaving one of my
institutions, but I have a month to make that decision, blessedly.
Today, I got in the exercise, had salad with chicken for lunch, and have
a pork roast in the oven as I type. I will eat, and will eat correctly,
and will continue on the exercise routine.

Way for us to go, eh?

--
Nancy Howells (don't forget to switch it, and replace the to send mail).

"JJ" wrote in message news:8jj4c.15405$bP2.80528@attbi_s53...
On the positive side, I was down to 190 on the scale this
morning so that was okay. How I got here (two pounds in two
days) is not good at all.

I have had as rough a week at work as I have ever had in my
professional career, as stressful as it can get. In the
past, were I to get to this state from a stress point of
view, I would likely have found solace in food and would
have started eating everything in sight. No big secret
about how I gained weight in the past. Just for some stress
management I plan on running away to the mountains this
weekend to wander through the woods and listen to the birds.
Anna Ruby Falls in North Georgia should do the trick, nice
hikes in a beautiful place and the weather, on Saturday at
least, should be beautiful.

Now, I'm not posting here just to whine about work as there
really is relevance to low-carb eating and diet in general.
While I don't begin to claim to understand all (any?) of the
physiology involved in this, I can tell you that this week
my body has been screaming for me to feed it, as I've not
had happen since starting this way of eating. Not cravings
so much, just more food than the 1400 calories/day I have
been eating. As nothing else has changed recently--activity
levels an such, though I am back to my nasty habit of only
sleeping about 2 hours/night--the only thing I have which I
can attribute this to is stress. Since Monday I've bumped
my daily calorie intake back up to the 1800-2000 calorie/day
range. The funny thing is that, though I am very cognizant
of the amount of food I am consuming this week, I am not
really counting and intentionally capping calories, I am
just eating more at each meal to the point I feel very full
and literally can't eat any more. The bizarre thing is
that, this week, I am still hungry. So, I've dropped two
pounds, I am eating more, I still feel hungry, and I feel
like hell. That damn stress thing I think. I'm actually,
finally, feeling much better this morning so I think I am
going to go back to my 1400 calories today. I'll see how it
goes. BTW, during this entire time I have managed to keep
my carb count to 45-50g/day.

When I was doing low-fat diets I invariably found myself at
this point about 3 months into the diet and would have
succumbed to it by a binge which would have ended the diet
and started the weight gain again. I'm not guessing about
that, I know it because I have lived it. That I have
survived this week without starting a binge is remarkable
and affirms for me once again that with this way of eating
is sustainable, and the weight loss from it will be
permanent. It's not been fun this week, but doable
nonetheless.

Finally, thank goodness for comfort foods as this helped
last night more than I can begin to state. For me the
ultimate comfort food has long been a simple good meatloaf,
which my wife made for the family last night. I prepared a
side dish of cauliflower gratin (one of her favorites) with
a nice salad and we all, including the kids, had a pleasant
dinner eating to our hearts content. And, since I love my
meatloaf with ketchup, having that new low-carb Heinz
ketchup in the house was an excellent accompaniment to enjoy
guilt free.

You look terrifc JJ. Sorry you had a bad week. I think you need R and
R and some sleep. Betcha will feel like a newer man as you are already
a new man!!! You tweaked my buds when you said cauliflour Gratin, LC
Cheese sauce?????? Recipe????
Laureen

JJ, Sunshyne, Nancy,

Big hugs to all of you ((((((((( )))))))))))

I hope whatever it is that is making these rotten things happen for you
stops, NOW.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/...0Diagnosed.htm

Sunshyne wrote:
"JJ" wrote in message
news:8jj4c.15405$bP2.80528@attbi_s53...
On the positive side, I was down to 190 on the scale this
morning so that was okay. How I got here (two pounds in two
days) is not good at all.

I have had as rough a week at work as I have ever had in my
professional career, as stressful as it can get. In the
past, were I to get to this state from a stress point of
view, I would likely have found solace in food and would
have started eating everything in sight. No big secret
about how I gained weight in the past. Just for some stress
management I plan on running away to the mountains this
weekend to wander through the woods and listen to the birds.
Anna Ruby Falls in North Georgia should do the trick, nice
hikes in a beautiful place and the weather, on Saturday at
least, should be beautiful.

Now, I'm not posting here just to whine about work as there
really is relevance to low-carb eating and diet in general.
While I don't begin to claim to understand all (any?) of the
physiology involved in this, I can tell you that this week
my body has been screaming for me to feed it, as I've not
had happen since starting this way of eating. Not cravings
so much, just more food than the 1400 calories/day I have
been eating. As nothing else has changed recently--activity
levels an such, though I am back to my nasty habit of only
sleeping about 2 hours/night--the only thing I have which I
can attribute this to is stress. Since Monday I've bumped
my daily calorie intake back up to the 1800-2000 calorie/day
range. The funny thing is that, though I am very cognizant
of the amount of food I am consuming this week, I am not
really counting and intentionally capping calories, I am
just eating more at each meal to the point I feel very full
and literally can't eat any more. The bizarre thing is
that, this week, I am still hungry. So, I've dropped two
pounds, I am eating more, I still feel hungry, and I feel
like hell. That damn stress thing I think. I'm actually,
finally, feeling much better this morning so I think I am
going to go back to my 1400 calories today. I'll see how it
goes. BTW, during this entire time I have managed to keep
my carb count to 45-50g/day.

When I was doing low-fat diets I invariably found myself at
this point about 3 months into the diet and would have
succumbed to it by a binge which would have ended the diet
and started the weight gain again. I'm not guessing about
that, I know it because I have lived it. That I have
survived this week without starting a binge is remarkable
and affirms for me once again that with this way of eating
is sustainable, and the weight loss from it will be
permanent. It's not been fun this week, but doable
nonetheless.

Finally, thank goodness for comfort foods as this helped
last night more than I can begin to state. For me the
ultimate comfort food has long been a simple good meatloaf,
which my wife made for the family last night. I prepared a
side dish of cauliflower gratin (one of her favorites) with
a nice salad and we all, including the kids, had a pleasant
dinner eating to our hearts content. And, since I love my
meatloaf with ketchup, having that new low-carb Heinz
ketchup in the house was an excellent accompaniment to enjoy
guilt free.

I had a rough week too. Last night, was rear ended at a traffic
light. Ended up in the ER, whiplash. Feeling it big time right now.
My
husband had a epidural for pain relief for his back earlier in the
day. He too was in the car when we got hit. I about bit my tongue
off. When thrown forward, I vomitted, then when thrown back, I
swallowed it. My throat is swollen, its just awful. But not meaning
to whine..So on to the point.

Suny, I'm so sorry. That sounds just terrible. I wish you a speedy
recovery.
Monica
--
______________________________________
Started 01/20/04
362/330.6/250
______________________________________
"First do no harm."
- Hippocrates


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.619 / Virus Database: 398 - Release Date: 3/10/04

"Sunshyne" wrote in message
om...
I had a rough week too. Last night, was rear ended at a
traffic light.
Ended up in the ER, whiplash. Feeling it big time right
now. My
husband had a epidural for pain relief for his back
earlier in the
day. He too was in the car when we got hit. I about bit
my tongue
off. When thrown forward, I vomitted, then when thrown
back, I
swallowed it. My throat is swollen, its just awful. But
not meaning to
whine..So on to the point.

I went grocery shopping earlier. I was really tempted big
time to get
a bunch of junk food and go on a binge. I had a time
passing the pop
machine up, I really craved one. After reading your post,
I am now
relating these cravings, to stressful times. I kept my
determination
and passed the bingeing up.

I got a great sale on ground hamburger. Made meatloaf
twice earlier
this week. It is really good. The cauliflower dish sounds
good too.
Thanks for sharing how your week was. It helped me.

My goodness, what an experience you have had to endure. I
hope you and your husband have a speedy recovery.

I am happy to hear that this post was helpful to you.

--
JJ.

Laureen wrote:

You look terrifc JJ. Sorry you had a bad week. I think you
need R and
R and some sleep. Betcha will feel like a newer man as you
are already
a new man!!! You tweaked my buds when you said cauliflour
Gratin, LC
Cheese sauce?????? Recipe????
Laureen

Thanks, I am working hard at this.

The recipe is simple, with as many variations as one can
imagine. Sorry, no low carb cheese sauce, though that would
be fairly simple to make.

It its simplest form:

1 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup of cheese of choice (I used shredded cheddar last
night because that is what I had)
2-3 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup half and half
1-2 TBS butter
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

All quantities above are to my taste, not hard and fast by
any means.

Break the cauliflower into florets then boil it in lightly
salted water with the garlic cloves until the cauliflower is
tender. Drain and put cauliflower and garlic in a food
processor and process until smooth. Place in a bowl and mix
with half and half, butter, onion powder. You don't want it
runny, just the consistency of soft mashed potatoes, so you
might need to increase or decrease the half and half. Fold
in the 1/2 cup cheese then pepper and salt to taste. Place
in a lightly greased gratin dish and top with the Parmesan
cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven until hot through, about
20-30 minutes. I finish it for about 5 minutes under the
broiler to brown the top if not brown enough already.

Variations are endless and limited only by imagination:

The choice of cheese for both blending in and topping
impacts the dish in interesting ways. Whipping in about 4
oz. of cream cheese is wonderful. More or less of the
whatever cheese is used lets me balance the flavor and the
amount of fat in the dish.

Topping with a chopped nut/cheese mixture makes for good
topping.

Crumble a couple pieces of cooked bacon, diced ham, crumbled
sausage, or whatever meat might suit your fancy, is a very
good addition.

Adding a peeled quartered turnip in with cauliflower adds a
slightly different taste and is very good.

Adding a couple stalks of Broccoli makes for an interesting
color and a very pleasant taste.

I've mashed the vegetables by hand with a potato masher when
I'm too lazy to drag out the processor. This gives you a
chunkier version than the food processor but this is
sometimes the preferred texture. If I had a food mill or a
potato ricer I also might use that instead.

The veggies could also be steamed in the microwave instead
of boiled, but this is just a personal preference.

--
JJ.
275/190/183, BMI 27.3 - as of Mar 12, 2004
Atkins since Sep 1, 2003
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjsmythe/my_photos
69.1% of the man I used to be.

Jenny wrote:
JJ, Sunshyne, Nancy,

Big hugs to all of you ((((((((( )))))))))))

I hope whatever it is that is making these rotten things
happen for
you stops, NOW.


Thank you Jenny. My stress is coming from working to
prevent a bigger problem later by doing the right thing now.
Sometimes, in a work environment, doing the right thing is
the most difficult thing to do.

--
JJ.