Creeping Up The Rungs

[imagood1]

we have to stick together.....it's hard being over 30 and having your metabolism half in the grave! I'm bound and determined to loose the weight, plugging away each day - but I'm happy now and that's the biggest difference for me. It's also the reason I keep going everyday.

I read some of the newbies posts and find myself thinking "that was me 20 years ago" or 30 years ago. Full of know it all ways. If Atkins had existed when I was 20 or 30 I wonder if I would have had the stamina to stick with it...honestly, I don't think I would have.

Did you see keriann got married? That's nice. There is another new guy I posted to earlier, he had high blood glucose, started this WOE a couple weeks ago and has brought his blood sugar numbers down by half! He needs to get to a doctor but he thinks he can get it under control himself - but told his wife if he isn't better by the end of the month he'll go. I hope he goes anyway at the end of the month!

Ok I'm going to bed for real this time...LOL. Talk to you tomorrow.

[imagood1]

I'm not getting on the scale or measuring until Saturday because that's the end of the 6WEC challenge. I went back to the sign up for it and got my beginning measurements and my weight so I'll know where I started.

Mom and I were talking about her eye surgery tonight -- she has her right eye done next Tuesday so I'll have to take a baggie of goodies with me. She has to be there at 9:30 and her surgery is at 11:30 so I'll be there over lunch. This is a different hospital than the one I had such a time in when she was there at the ER a couple months ago....but it's the same company that owns both. I'll take food with me but if there is something I feel I can eat I'll do so. I should be able to eat at the salad bar if nothing else! We'll see. Sometime by the end of this week Greg should have his new glasses...so many changes coming here!

I rode my bike 20 miles tonight after dinner -- was reading the DANDR book and went past the 15 miles I had planned to ride so I went on to 20 miles...my legs are sore but I feel real good now.

I'm really hoping to loose some weight this week -- or at least some inches - it's been a couple weeks again. I've made some changes in my eating - going to rung 2 and added cottage cheese last night for dinner. I am going very slowly this time because I went too fast last time up the rungs and did myself no favors! I don't need to have all the weight gone by June or even by Christmas but I'd like to have more gone than I've lost so far. Actually I want to get to 30 pounds....that seems like a milestone to meand I'd really like to see that number in my sig!

Ok - enough for tonight, I'm tired and need to get to bed

[imagood1]

I weighed and measured for the end of the 6WEC and was pleasantly surprised by the results -- I lost 10-1/2 inches and 6 pounds since the beginning of the challenge. That's a pound a week and I'm very happy with that. When I measured I didn't pull the tape super tight -- just tight enough that it was snug.

When you go through the day to day of this WOE and weigh once a week you don't notice the changes as much and it doesn't seem like you loose a lot of weight. It's also hard being older, on meds, whatever excuse you want to insert here, and go to encourage others who are loosing rapidly. At first I really didn't put my heart into the words I was typing but now I'm just as happy for them as I am for myself -- another transformation in my life.

Why is it that this WOE has changed me in so many ways that I never thought of before? I have become a crusader for doing this plan the right way -- to drink pure water --to exercise -- to be a happy person who truly likes to help people.

What gets me upset now is the people who come onto the board who don't follow the rules, think that just because they are loosing weight that everything is fine - they either quit after a few weeks or they use every excuse as to why they don't loose after a few weeks or months. They drink the shakes and eat the bars, chew "sugar free" gum because it's ok -- they don't try to break their addictions - so things don't go as they think it should and they quit. BUT they tell everyone they know that Atkins doesn't work.....I bet to differ -- it does work --- all of us on Stallbusters are proof it works -- we have come through the fire and know what h*ll feels like - but slowly we are winning the race.

Where was Atkins when I was in my 20's and could loose weight like a gizzelle running through the desert??? Maybe the fact that this diet didn't exist when I could do that is best....I would have been one of those who thought of this as a fad diet or ate things I shouldn't have .... I didn't have the stamina or the willpower to loose the weight by the rules AND keep it off.

I've lost my weight so many times I read a post the other night of someone who's having pregnant woman urine shots (or a plasebo shot) daily and was eating 500 calories a day. She was so excited that she had lost so much in a short amount of time.....I tried to reason with her -- I can't imagine going and ALLOWING someone to inject urine into my blood system -- I remember when the same diet (under a different name) was shots of pregnant horse urine. My 1st husband's aunt was on that diet -- she ended up in the hospital with horrible side effects from the urine and from only eating 500 calories a day. This person I was reading about the other night had come to Atkins to use it as a form of maintenance for the plan she was on. I ask her if Atkins was good enough for maintenance why wasn't it good enough for the 1st way she was losing weight. I was so upset by the time I finished typing my reply to her I just went to bed and jelt exhausted. Such stupidity -- and she will be one who says "Atkins doesn't work"....or "The people on the Atkins board aren't helpful or friendly".....I've been on 500 calorie a day diets -- yes you loose weight quickly but you don't learn how to keep the weight off because there is such a limit of what you can eat you either get bored before you make your goal or you make you goal and the next day you start regaining the weight because you eat more than 500 calories. It's sad what she's doing to her health.

Ok I need to get up early in the morning to go to Home Depot -- they are having a buy one get one free sale on either Bonnie brand tomato plants - oregano or basil plants. There is a limit of 6 plants and it's only Sunday (for an Earth Day promotion) so I want to get tomato plants. I'm not a basil or oregano user - not enough to plant them anyway!

To bed -- I need sleep!

[Sunny_0ne]

Carole, you are so right about the dramatic results after 6 weeks. Even though I had to drop out of the challenge due to the dental work, I STILL lost 4.6 pounds. It's not nearly as fast as I'd like, but seeing that bigger number instead of the tiny weekly numbers was a big boost.

I only lost 2 inches, but then I also stopped doing my core and light weight exercises, too, when I dropped out. I am hoping for a more dramatic difference now that I'm back in the challenge.

I truly do enjoy encouraging others over their weight loss. Except that I do have trouble with the ones who drop 20 pounds in two weeks.

I also am so disappointed by the people who WON'T read the book, and keep asking questions that prove they have not even bothered to read the rules of induction. Or the ones who are making up their own plan. There are other boards where anything low carb goes, and I specifically chose this one because it DOES goes by the rules. And with my slow metabolism, I NEED to dot all my "i's" and cross all my "t's".

I also don't have a lot of patience with people who continually cheat. I want to say, "just commit and DO IT!" But then I remember the out of control appetite I struggled with for so long. I DID stick to Atkins foods when I overindulged (except for the Atkins candy bars), simply because I KNEW that eating off plan would reactivate the cravings and I would lose everything I had gained... and I'd probably not be able to get back on track again. So I guess I did have a level of commitment born out of desperation that some of the newbies don't have.

Anyway, I post less and less on threads like that. I do have a lot of compassion for the newbies on induction who are dealing with raging cravings and out of control hunger, though.

I am so amazed at my health improvement. I would NEVER have believed I could improve so much and feel so good at my age. My face is saggier, but inside, I feel like I have found the fountain of youth.

I was anorexic in my teens and twenties, and know all about those 500 and 600 calories a day diets. I just cringe when I see people doing that. I wish they could see what they are doing to their health, metabolisms and future.

I am just so grateful that I found Atkins. It does everything it promises.

[imagood1]

hi Sunny -- someone said we must be sisters because we are so much alike...I liked that! I would be proud to be your sister!!

It rained off and on all day but we managed to get to Home Depot for our tomatoes. I got 8 plants and mom bought 2 lavender plants. The flyer said the only thing on sale were Bonnie brand tomatoes, oregano and basil but when we got there all the Bonnie brand vegetables were ringing up on sale and they didn't limit me to 6 like the flyer said either! I decided not to get pepper plants, I didn't have much luck with them last year, so I'll just bite the bullet and buy them when we need them.

Like you I am going to buy a pickling cucumber plant instead of the one I bought last year - I like the smaller ones also - not the gourd looking baseball bats we grew! A few cucumbers came through the fence from the neighbors last year that were really good (LOL!!) and they were the small variety. Ours didn't have any taste even when they were smaller.

I bought a variety of tomato plants -- 2 early girl, 2 big boy, 2 better boy, 1 roma and 1 grape tomato. That way they will hopefully come on at different times and we won't be swamped with them all at once. Honestly I don't know why I bought that many - I can't eat too many this year because of the carb counts -- I can still have BLT just not on bread so that will be different.

To make sure it wasn't a fluke I rode 20 miles on the bike this afternoon -- like I said, it's been raining and I was bored so I took the laptop and put it on my little table and watched 2 episodes of Moonlighting while I was peddling.

I need to start dinner - mom is sitting here humming and driving me nuts....hear the wind blow dear....hear the wind blow.....sheesh!!

[Sunny_0ne]

Wouldn't it be fun to be sisters? We do seem to have an awful lot in common!

I didn't go out today. Was really tired. Took a couple of naps. It's from the longer biking sessions. I simply don't have the stamina to do big miles. It really drains me! However, I want to continue to do at least 8 miles a day along with other exercise. I need to burn the calories and shape up.

I didn't get out in the rain today. Just didn't feel up to it. Will have to go out tomorrow and get a tomato plant. I'm just doing one Roma this year since I have so many still from last year. That should provide all we can eat fresh.

I just howled... literally laughed out loud at "hear the wind blow" humming. Even had to share it with hubby and he laughed, too!!!

I still think you are a saint!

[imagood1]

"Our" favorite tunes to hum are:

(1) hear the wind blow dear....hear the wind blow........
(2) sixteen tons
(3) OOOOOOOOOOOK - lahoma
(4) Blue Moon.....you left me standing alone.......

of course "WE" don't know all the words to the songs so "WE" sing what "WE" know and "WE" hum the rest. She just bursts into song at the drop of a hat......sad thing is I'm starting to do it too Give me strength..LOL!

[imagood1]

I love my water queen!! Thank you so much sis!!

[Sunny_0ne]

I am still so tickled at the humming and bursting into singing. It really tickles my funnybone!

I sing a lot in my head, but don't do often do it aloud.

DH used to whistle all the time... soft, beautiful, melodious whistling. He did it without even realizing it. I loved it when we went into stores because when I wanted to find him, all I had to do was listen.

For some reason he stopped a few years ago. I honestly miss it. Of course, I never heard him whistle "hear the wind blow, dear."

Glad you like the water queen. It's not my artwork... it was scrounged from the net, tweaked a little, then combined with the water bottles. If you find a cute little animation that's better, do use it.

[imagood1]

I never learned animations -- kept saying I was going to but never did...everyone I know does them but not me....oh well!!

Today was a screwy day....after lunch I mowed the lawn and just a few minutes after I was done I came inside and knew my blood sugar was crashing by the way I felt. I got a couple pieces of ham lunchmeat put a little cream cheese on it and ate it --- about 15 minutes later I was still feeling bad so I had 2 ounces of cauliflower (raw) dipped in some mayo and another glass of water. About a half hour later I felt better, took my blood reading and it was 75 -- I figure from the way I was feeling my number had to be in the low 60's....I didn't eat a good enough lunch to go out and mow afterwards and paid the price for it.

Around 9:00 tonight mom went outside to get some fresh air before bed (she does that every night) and just about didn't make it back to the house - for some reason her blood sugar spiked so I got her in the house, tried to get her to lay down but she said the room was spinning so we got her up and I made her some tea and we watched the basketball game on TNT for an hour -- it had come down about 40 points by then, so we waited another hour and it was down to just over 100 and she felt better so she went to bed.....I think her eye surgery coming up on Wednesday is starting to get to her...she's had so much time to think about it and get herself un-nerved and it's starting to show. Today was the 1st day we put the eye drops in her eyes and it's about the only thing she's talked about all day.......

I've noticed this year all the pots in the stores are bright blues, oranges, yellows and greens so I bought fluroscent orange & yellow spray paint and a can of bright red spray paint and painted 3 hanging pots this afternoon. They came out looking great - then I planted some pansies I got over the weekend at Lowe's (they were on a shelf marked .25 for a 6-pak of pansies....so I got 3 paks and planted them in the hanging pots and put them on the east side of the house on short shepherd's hooks I bought. They really look good...I'll have to take a picture of them tomorrow if the sun shines. I have never had pansies in my life -- I never thought I liked them but ev
everyone has them early in the year and late in the fall here so since I'm changing everything in my life, I'm changing that too!

A girlfriend from grade school and I have been writing back and forth on the internet for about a year - we moved from the town she's in when I was in 8th grade and I haven't seen her since (that was 1970) - tonight I got an email from her asking if I'd meet her in Kansas City for a weekend sometime this summer...I jumped at the chance because I've been trying to figure out how to get together with her. She has moved back in with her 90 year old dad who's been going down hill the last couple years. Since she's there he's gotten much better (eating regularily and having someone to talk to I'm sure helped more than anything) and she knows mom is living with us so we still have so much in common. I told her I'd get the room and we'd have a great weekend!! There is another friend who we'd like to get to come also but her mom has cancer, she's a nurse and the possibility of loosing her job is becomming more and more real everyday. She's in a bad marriage and was just getting ready to get out when this happened -- small town so she can't afford to leave because there are no other jobs available for her. But, we'll find a way to get together with her also.

Ok - I need to get to bed, my eyes feel like someone has poked at them with hot stakes!! Talk to you tomorrow