Hey did you get signed up at the gym?

You better not flake out on us girl!.. keep going, you can get to where you want to be, just keep at it!

woot! a pound is a pound!

mercy sakes hon... hugs, hugs, hugs and more hugs... just curious that between the dentist and the working out and the dieting and serving your family as wife and mother... what do you do to relax and just have as me-time? perhaps time for a mani-pedi and a girls night out!

Homemade Low Carb Milk - Low Carb Friends Here's one way to make low-carb milk. If you're on the soy rung, you can also have unsweetened soy milk (Silk brand is the best tasting IMO), which is 3 net g. carb per cup I think. The trick is not to expect soy milk to taste like cow milk... it won't. I grew up drinking reconstituted powdered milk (my grandmother's preference I guess) and when I started school thought regular milk was "weird" LOL It just takes getting used to. Now last time I low-carbed I drank Hood brand Carb Countdown, which has been replaced with Calorie Countdown... and I think it's only sold in New England. I wrote the company to find out how to find it in Tulsa, just waiting for their response.

HEY STEPH!!!

Welcome back! I was actually a little worried we had lost you! Don't do that to us again!

Its never easy what you have just gone through, I have been there and right now I think your approaching the sweetest point.. the point where it become clear that you are you, that your motivations are for you.. I have been there too, and to be honest, in a selfish way, its the best place to be!... but then when your not expecting it, wam, someone with the right chemistry comes along and messes all that up!

Anyway, I have a confession to make.. last week.. I fell off the wagon for a whole week!.. I had a good (ish) reason and in the hard bit of climbing back onto the wagon right now and back on Atkins right now.

Anyway, well done, welcome back and please dont let anyone knock you back down again.. we need you round here girl!

Sweety, so glad to have you back! Definitely glad to see how well you are handling everything. You go girl! Stress is hard while dieting and you are an inspiration!

Self care is so important especially when recovering from such rejection. I'm so glad you're doing better.

Great job! Congratulations!

Well done girl! Another 6 months of keeping your options open.. not only that, but more proof that your getting fitter!

Wow, I've never had anyone quote ME before Don't know how I'll get my big head through the door. hahaha

LOVE Spaghetti Squash! Little butta, little salt and peppa...mmmmmmm

Despite the biscuit it sounds like a pretty good day!

I do cut the family out and friends that hurt me out and will be distant but my brother is dyeing with cancer and I don't want to regret not being around them. And as for mom she is 70 years old and is now forgetting things and after a while she just acts like nothing happened. It is hard to deal with things with her as it is but the forgetting is starting to get to me. So far she can remember short term things so I don't think it is alzhiemers and she remembers what she wants. I have already lost one brother to cancer so this is hard on all of us but I am not excusing her behavior. I do realize that this will be an issue I have to resolve with in my self and now as of this week my daughter whom has dealt me all kinds of crap and I am raising all 3 of her children.
I was told things she has said about me and my husband. This isn't the first time I have heard this but the lies she tells so people will feel sorry for her. She has been openly playing the victim for 11 years now. I am at a loss as to how to handle when people tell me what she has told them. I dont have control over this issue so I can't fix it she has to do that herself. She dont see she has issues.

My youngest daughter is mad at me because she was going to have an abortion (she had ask me not to tell her dad but she was having a hard time dealing with it but I told her I wouldnt say anything) and I live 8 hours away and was concerned for her mental well being and expressed that to my middle daughter and she asked for the phone number to her dads cause that where she lives and she called him.. I am not sorry about her calling but I am glad her dad was there for her. But she feels I betrayed her. So I have been ousted for life from her life she says it is forever but I hope it ain't. I apologized to her but I wasnt sorry for not stopping my daughter from calling him.
See I told you I am messed up. I need to fix me and not worry with no one else.

but isn't spaghetti squash just the BOMB???

ItsJustMe...forgiveness is hard. I know what you mean. Without going into great detail I had one of those abusive, compulsive-lying, drug addicted fathers who my mother ran from (taking me with her). He spent most of my childhood popping in and out of my life, lying, promising, and disappearing and it created unbelievable amounts of emotional trauma (hello fear of abandonment and the need for male attention). It took me a long time to realize that I didn't need that in my life and I could choose how to deal with him. I chose to cut him out..but it also meant cutting ties with my brothers and sisters and that entire side of the family. But my sanity and self-respect was more important. It took abother 10 years after that before I learned how to forgive him.

I know I am going to sound really fruity and hippy when I say this but I couldn't have learned to truly forgive him without forgiving myself first, and with the help of my spirit guide. Through meditation and guidance I came to realize that he was imperfect and would never change and it was more important for me to forgive him for not being what I wanted him to be rather than him wanting to be forgiven. I did it slowly...I forgave little things first and worked to the big ones.

I know, it may sound cruel to cut a parent out of your life but sometimes you have to do it to save yourself. The only one victimizing you right now is you! You are allowing her to do to you what she's been doing to you over and over again. Yes, you need to forgive her, but you don't need to allow her free reign over your emotions. Yes, people will think you cruel and heartless, cold and even a b*^&h for cutting her out of your life but you HAVE to protect yourself. Its your life. You need to do this for you AND your grandbabies. They deserve the best YOU possible. Teach them through example that it is NOT ok to put up with this, that they can stand up for themselves against their parents if they need to, that THEM being healthy and happy is the most important thing.

Definitely keep posting here sweety, keep trying. You can do this. It can be done, piece by piece. We are here for you hun!

Hey, you want another sister? Count me in! sending you a HUMONGO hug right now girl. Maybe it's something in the water that Texas mothers drank while they were preggers with us. I think you've hit on your trigger and now you can begin to fix it. Or at least duct tape it Mothers are SO frustrating. I decided that I would be the one to dictate how much involvement I let my mom have with my life. They LOVE denial for some reason. As long as WE know the truth, nothing else matters. I finally just let it go, and let her go too. We still interact, but only on MY terms and I steer the conversations. I call her out if she gets all goofy and backpeddling.... but I have put my hoof down. It's not written anywhere that we MUST love our mothers., although I do find it mandatory that we love OURSELVES. Muah. You're on the right road. Glad that hubby is making an attempt at changing. Just like Texas women, Texas men are stubborn as longhorns
Keep posting girl, we will all make it through this together! xoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

S, here's what's on the menu so far for the kids.

Stuffed cocaroaches - dates filled with cream cheese and nuts

Used Q-tips - marshmallows dipped in carmel

Scabs - dried cranberries in some kind of sauce

Monster Toes - little weiners, wrapped in part of a tortilla and the toe nail etched out and covered with ketchup

Worms - gotta come up with a good name for that one. Pour rasberry jello and mix cream, put in straws and squeeze out. Picture on internet looked real

Booger Dip - Ranch dressing with green food coloring

Eye balls and fingers - we made a few trials yesterday. Looks pretty cool.

Serpent Sandwich - just a sub that looks like a serpent.


I'm going to get a pumpkin and have it look like it's puking and have the dip with veggies

I'll take some pictures and post them.

Thank you for responding positively. I know when I put stuff out there I opening my self up for all kinds of comments but I feel it is helping me so much. And atkins is also the best thing I could have ever found for me. Thank you again.

Just wanted to offer you a virtual hug and to say that I'm listening. I'm also wondering if we're half-sisters because your mom sounds a LOT like mine LOL Atkins is about the best thing I've ever done for myself. I'm glad you're posting here.

Well looka you with your meals all planned That's AWESOME! So much easier to stay on the WOE when we plan ahead. Your menus look awesome with all those veggies. I googled a bit using "kids recipes halloween gross food" and found tons of links. What a cute idea!!!

I agree whole-heartedly with Sarbirus on this one. Your friend was probably just not sure how to handle things and just started talking to fill the silence. It happens to the best of us.

Dating...don't think about it. Don't worry about it. Don't let it even be a consideration because you have a LOT you have to sort through before you'll really be ready to start thinking about that again anyway, right? You have to mourn your old relationship before you will be healthy for the new one....unless you are like me and met your true soulmate 2 weeks after ending your VERY long term relationship. You never know when it will happen, so best not to dwell on it.

Do the best you can with the diet sweety, you are allowed to have bad days as you struggle through this. Just try not to allow it to get you so wound up that you really blow it. Getting you healthy and happy is of top priority!

Wish I could give you a great big hug hun!

Oh sweety, so sorry to hear that. But I guess its the body's way of reinforcing what its been trying to tell you. I have similar issues but not with wheat, with dairy, and I keep ignoring my body and eating it anyway and paying for it later. My excuse is that the women in my family all end up with horrible IBS and diverticulitis once they hit their late 40s so I'm trying to enjoy the bad foods while I can still stomach it. I know, not smart, but I'm 31, I still have some growing up to do