yea, i know i've been sharply critical of the atkinsketosis style diets in the past. but i decided that it can't be any worse than feeling like a slug and lugging around this gut and .. well, it's really my (nearly)perfect diet. meat and cheese galore isn't hard to stick to. i had the middle of two jack in the box ultimate cheeseburgers yesterday-- wtf kind of diet lets you do that? i started monday. i've eaten 3lbs of porterhouse steak and roughly 4 chickens. i've eaten two dozen eggs. i've eaten the insides of two ulimate cheeseburgers, plus an additional pound of ground beef. i've eaten cheese and mayo in quantities that would make the food pyramid crumble to the ground. i've eaten several pounds of assorted sausages. all this and more and i've lost a pound a day. one night i fried a hamburger patty in butter and topped it off with cheese and a mess of egg salad. but no beer. no alcohol at all. this is the 'nearly' in nearly perfect. i actually went from beer to belvedere three weeks ago. dropped 5lbs before i even started the locarb diet. but yeah, nate's not a drunk anymore. at the rate i'm going, on June 9th i will cross over to having a negative mass. at at 5'10", this is going to cause a big stir in the universe.

maybe you will turn into anti-matter. hopefully you will still be able to type so you can tell us all what it's like.

i gotta get back on that. i took a fall last friday. half drunk and walking around on stilts, i was doing damn good until my mass caused catastrophic failure of one of the gussets. i wound up ungracefully doing the splits and possibly hyperextending my left hip joint. since then, i've twice had very painful re-aggravating instances that feel like my hip is popping out of joint followed by this bizarre hot sensation that spreads out from the joint, kinda like i peed my pants but on the inside. so anyway, my reason for saying all that is that i was thinking that, along with my developing navel hernia, this may be another big step down into the pit of being an old fat guy. trapped by my own injuries and pain, i won't be able to exercise properly and i'll just balloon up until my arteries clog up and i expire all sweaty and greasy and wheezing. or i could go lo carb and drop a bunch of weight which will take the pressure off the hip and the navel.

nate -- can't you drink hard liquor on the diet? I did a modified version of the atkins diet a few months back. I cut out virtually all sugars, grains, and legumes, but I didn't worry about the carbs in vegetables like red peppers or the corn syrup in ketchup. I stopped drinking beer altogether and only drank wine occasionally, but I drank a fair amount straight tequila. I also lost weight fast. but the scary thing is, I got reacquainted with my old friends cream, cheese, mayonnaise, and salami, and we had no problem picking up where we left off years ago. and crackers, beer, and margaritas have slipped back into my diet, but the cheese and salami haven't gone away. I like them all. then I started making kahlua cupcakes with the extra homemade coffee liqueur. I thought putting them in the freezer would stop me from eating them, but it hasn't. fluffy cake doesn't freeze solid; it just gets nice and cold. has anyone tried the low-carb michelob? is it even worse than the real thing?

I was a lo-carber for about a year 2 years ago. Lost like 25 lbs of fat and I was a size 4 (women's). Then I moved from NY to CO and started drinking and eating ice cream again and gained about 30 lbs. Now, I am back on low-carb since last Saturday and I feel great. I lost about a 1/2 inch off my waist so far and it's only the first week. I don't drink a lot, anyways, so I would not know about alcohol, but sometimes I'll have a diet coke and rum.

there is a two week 'induction' phase where you can't drink any liquor. but once you move out of that i can go back to a nightly vodka or whatever. peppers are ok. most veggies are ok, just no more than a 3 cups a day. heather and i just went shopping. cheese and meat and cream galore.

ha! nate's a low carber! nyah nyah nyah. like i said about a month ago... i added 400 fat calories per day to my diet in the form of oils, peanut butter, heavy cream, avacado, and stuff like that. and now, food no longer controls me. i have like no appetite most of the time. i'm now thinner than i ever have been before. it's totally wild. i feel like a completely different person. no more fruit whatsoever. only vegetables with butter. and steak with butter. oh, and last night i did indulge in cookies. you know, every once in a while, maybe one day a week or one day ever two weeks. and i still drink wine and liquor occassionally. it's the fat, man. i'm telling you. eat more fat, lose more fat. cut the carbs. it's magic.

"oh, and last night i did indulge in cookies. you know, every once in a while, maybe one day a week or one day ever two weeks" dammit...you mean the emergency call for cookies on your page has expired?

Hmm, maybe I should look into that. My belly's getting pretty impressive. Plus I guess some situps wouldn't kill me.

I was doing a sort of modified Atkins diet last month, and I stopped exercising, and I lost 6 pounds. Then I lost all of my discipline during the Thanksgiving weekend, and last week I ate whatever food I wanted, and I think I may have undone my progress. Worse -- yesterday, the insatiable hunger returned. Today, I'll try to get back to the program and take up aerobics again. I tried the real Atkins diet a couple of years ago, lost weight, had tons of energy (Nate, have you noticed this?)......but I caved after about a month. I got sick of eating all that meat, and I just like fruit and pasta too much to go without them for very long.

Yeah, the no fruit thing's kind of rough -- I eat more fruit than I do vegetables.

tons of energy. and i wake up in the morning and actually feel rested. atkins you can actually eat fruit, eventually. it is just the first two weeks that you have to be super carb avoidant. then you start adding carbs back into your diet. i started with a modified atkins: i stopped drinking beer. two weeks of doing nothing else and i'd dropped 5lbs. then i started atkins. it's been one week as of today and i've dropped at least 6 more.

btw nate, i'm glad to hear you're feeling better. good diet and exercise cures most everything, in my experience. kazoo: no no, i *need* cookie recipes. i am having one of my baking sprees. i always take full advantage of the holidays and all the parties as an excuse to flex my culinary/baking muscles. but my cookie recipes are old and boring and i need something new and challenging. not that cookies are really that challenging, but i've grown tired of the tried and true recipes. as for fruit - i don't really miss it at all. here's a carb story: i remember years and years ago when i first got on the meat and vegetables diet, after about a month i thought i was going to kill someone if i didn't get a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese. i wanted one so badly. so i went to the bakery and got the biggest, juiciest bagel i could find, a hunk of cream cheese, and i went home, toasted it lightly, spread a huge amont of the cheese on top, and sat down and ate it. and then i realized that it didn't actually taste that good. i mean, it didn't taste *bad*, it just wasn't as divine as i thought it was going to be. it was then that i remember thinking that my craving for the idea of sweet bread was greater than the actual enjoyment of the taste of it. and if given a choice between a thick, juicy steak and thick, juicy bagel, well, hands down the steak is going to win. from then on, i realized that most bread, all forms and flavors of pasta prepared, and even corn and potatoes... none of it really tasted that good to me, compared to other food choices i could make. fettucini or chicken marsala? steak or fried rice? bbq chicken or a turkey sandwich? baked spaghetti squash with olive oil and garlic or a baked potato with sour cream? does this chicken ceasar salad actually taste any better if i eat the croutons? and so on... then it was easy to stick to protein, fat, and veggies. and if i am going to eat a carb, you better be sure that it's going to be something with chocolate in it, or a homemade baked treat, or a glass of wine. i just can't be bothered with rice, even if it is covered in panang curry. the rice doesn't make the curry dish taste any better. rice/bread/pasta to me is just a filler, a medium for the flavors that go along with them. anyway, i've also lost about 10 lbs and since adding the fat calories i suffered from my usual ravenous hunger or craved carbs. also, when i do have a carb binge like i did on saturday - i ate like half a dozen big homemade cookies, drank a bunch of sweet drinks/cocktails, ate half a bag of chocolate candy - it's just no big deal. it doesn't send me into a tailspin. i can just eat and enjoy and not worry about it, even though i thought it would send my body reeling, but it's almost like you just have to listen to what your body wants and it tells you. i feel wonderful - tons of energy, happy, not depressed or crying, and my workouts are more efficient and enjoyable, and it's even helped to greatly improve my yoga practice. i'm getting my period every five weeks or so, which is a first. so that's my story and i'm sticking to it. :)

nico has gained about 8lbs thus far in the pregnancy. the midwife is pleased, she's kinda militant about gaining unecessary weight. she was worried, even when in france, eating like the french eat (heavy meats, cream sauces, breads) for 2 1/2 weeks that she gained too much. but she didnt. testament to how much beer can put on your bones. i think she's gained more than 8lbs, but dropped so much simultaneously. these diets are confusing and meals shouldnt be complicated. seems to me the real problem is beer.

it seems to be the way nate was intended to eat. for real. sarah- there are magazine issues that have a million cookie recipes that they've tested so they're usually very good. i lost the ones i had or i'd copy them for you. i made the best pumpkin and apple pies ever, my sister even fought over the last piece of apple. sometimes i wish baking wasn't so fun and tasty. and messy.

post the pie recipes, please!

hey nate, heather, you guys should come to the holiday party at my studio this weekend. I have a friend who is doing a Southwest/Burbank 24 hour dealio from SF.

Sarah send me your address. I have something for you.

is it a deluxe food processor?? ;)

nate, how's your breath these days? or should i ask heather?

he had a breath problem?

typically ketosis invites radically bad breath.

ketosis? maybe i missed something.

lo carb diet encourages ketosis (releasing of ketones?) which means your body is burning fat for fuel instead of carbs. or something, like i know. ask dr atkins.

my piss reeks but i don't know anything about my breath. i generally assume my breath isn't pleasant.

Ty-d-bol is the answer.

the cafeteria cashier is often irritated with me because she doesn't know how much to charge me for combinations like spaghetti sauce over broccoli and zucchini instead of pasta.

cyst, did you get one of those sandwiches yet?

So you just eat meat and fat? No booze or fruit? I've put on weight too.

meat, eggs, cheese, and nuts. avocados are good. butter, oil, cream, whatever. you can eat vegetables, but only those that grow above ground. no carrots or beets, go easy on the onions.

This sounds too good to be true,no white bread or starches?Did I see that?

no starches {bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, corn, anything made with wheat like crackers, couscous}, no fruit, nothing with sugar in it. stay away from beans, except lentils.

you can have fruit, but only in small amounts and preferably berries. I couldn't do this stuff because then i could never eat Kazoo's cooking ever again.

there are times - most of the time - when i can eat this way with no problems whatsoever. i don't feel like i have to, i just prefer it. i prefer the foods and i enjoy the way my body feels. i feel like shit when i eat sugar or anything carby. that's not to say i don't eat sugary foods. y'all know i bake like a fiend. don't think for one minute i'm not licking the batter off the spatula and munching cookies. i just pay for it the next day or two with blood sugar swings and ravenous hunger. and my clothes fit funny and my gut sticks out and i feel sluggish and slightly ill. there are times though when i get angry about food. because of genetic misfortune, i *always* have to be careful. my body wants to be fat more than other people's bodies. i have to work really hard to burn calories and keep my metabolism going. it sucks. it sucks because there are times when i just want to eat ... well, okay, i just want to drink whatever the fuck i want to drink for a few days, but i know i'll pay for it. and i'm not talking about hangovers. i want to be in the genetic pool of people who can come home and have a drink or two every few days, and eat dessert once in a while, and not have physical meltdown. and when i do eat/drink whatever i want, which sometimes means just a glass of wine, sometimes it means four or five margaritas... it takes a week for the bloating to subside, and a week more to get my weight back to where it should be. it's just so much work, so much monitoring, all the time.

I wish that we could share genetics here. I am at the opposite end of the scale. I am too thin. If I don't eat carbs and sweets constantly (and I don't like sweets), I lose weight. I lose weight to the point of being sick constantly and not having enough weight or strength to fight off anything. I am currently back to having to shop in the children's department for ALL of my clothes. I have to work constantly to gain weight, and it still doesn't work. If I can maintain over 110 lbs. then I don't get sick all of the time, but all it takes is one cold to drop me down again and 6 months to gain it back. I can drink as much as I want as often as I want and my only worry is whether or not I get drunk, and I have to eat A LOT, when I am often not hungry enough to eat what I need, so I have to force myself to eat until I am ready to get sick, just to keep from being sick all of the time. I guess what I am trying to say that in my weird little way I can understand what you are going through and how hard it is because I am on the exact opposite end of the scale. Too bad we can't give each other half and be in the middle, like normal.

eri, that sounds just terrible. i know you said you were little and had a hard time maintaining your weight, but i had no idea it was like that. as much as i enjoy food and eating, i don't think your situation sounds like any fun either. do you think you have an abnormally high metabolism? or is it that you have an abnormally small appetite? or both? and yeah, if we could splice our genes and share, wouldn't that be perfect... maybe they'll figure out a way to do that. or maybe they already have!

Maybe Eri has an overactive thyroid,have you ever been tested for it Eri? I'm for sure going to try that Akins diet as soon as I eat the rest of the ruby grapefruit I just had to have,theres about 5 left.And Sarah don't you have a underactive thyroid?

eri could it just be a matter of slowing down your metabolism? is that what it boils down to?

our internet link at home is on the fritz

yeah, i do. i take medication for it, but sporadically. sometimes it makes me too speedy. the dose never seems to be quite right.

Same for me and I forget sometimes to take it,I wish they had a patch:)

Been tested for overactive thyroid and whatever else the doctors could think of but everything came back normal. I do have an extremely high metabolism. It has slowed down significantly since I had Micki, but that only makes it so that I can find a way to maintain my weight. I don't have a small appetite, either. Spunky was shocked when he saw how much I ate. I outeat most grown men I know without thinking about it because I have been this way all of my life. I went to high school weighing a whopping 70 lbs. After 7 pregnancies I have increased to a dramatic 19% body fat. I looked in the mirror today and my ribs were sticking out so badly that I looked like a poster child for anorexia and the funny thing is that I eat like a pig and almost never excersize anymore. Funny story. When I got pregnant with Hayley I had just started a new job at a new clothing company and helped set up their first store. The manager had just had a baby 8 weeks ago and was really jealous of me being so skinny. I kept getting sick at work and thought it was a reaction to the pill so I stopped taking the pill and kept getting sick. I take a pregnancy test and yep, I'm pregnant, and designing the first fashion show for the company and all kinds of shit. My boss goes around telling everyone the reason I kept getting sick was because I was bulemic. Nope, just morning sickness. I thought it was funny she was so jealous of my children's size 7 ass that she told everyone that I was bulemic. Unfortunately it sucks on both sides, too big or too small. I do appreciate your understanding that. Most people I know who struggle with their size because they are big say that I can look up sympathy between shit and syphillis in the dictionary because at least I am thin. I think that is the worst part of it all. We struggle just the same, only we are trying to accomplish the opposite thing. Sarah, it sucks that we live just an hour apart and still haven't met. We should get together before Spunky's job transfers us to Gumpland.

yeah, i agree. i would love to visit with you, and i need an excuse to go to san antonio. i have friends from hawaii who live there now too. the only problem is that i absolutely HATE driving. let's try to do it in january or february. what do you say?

I wish somebody could check on Droopy.

January is cool, but we're not sure whether or not we will be here in February or not yet. They're saying we'll move around March now, but you know the military. They can change their minds at a moments notice and we're screwed. I don't know if you're up for it, but we have a new club behind our apartment complex (or should I say six clubs in one) and we could go dancing if you wanted. Of course, there is always the riverwalk. Either way, let me know when you want to come out!

pork rinds are 35% fat. the little black dots may be burnt hair! crunchy alternative to carb filled potato chips! they should make fried pork skin taco shells. ingredients: fried pork skins, salt. thats it! no bad chemicals! and less than 1g of carbs per 14g serving. and it's fiber! i can eat fiber! i can eat chicharrones guilt free!!!

There are lo-carb tortillas, I can't remember the name of the company that makes them.

yeah, but don't bother with them. you could wrap your food in a paper towel and it'd taste about the same as those things.

i wish they could make no-carb eggnog with brandy. also no-hangover eggnog with brandy would be nice too. oh well.

sorabji friends shrimps --- heat your frying pan. pour in a few tablespoons of sesame oil. throw on however many cleaned raw 21-30cnt shrimp you want. pinch on some of the course hawaiian sea salt sarah sent to heather. thrown in a spoonfull of sambal badjak that c (cyst) turned you on to. stir it until the shrimp are done. oo easy and man was it good. i love course salt with sauted shrimp. little salty crunch that reminds you where the shrimp came from.

coarse, dumbass.

nate's a low carb evangelist *and* posting recipes. ha! :) excuse me. suddenly i'm having a moment. it just occured to me how long i've known you people. i love how we never change, and i love how much we've changed.

i just now ate for the first time an Atkins meal replacement bar - chocolate and peanut butter. pretty good! there were actual bits of peanuts in the thing. of course, i also ate 6 hersheys kisses as well... heh.

oh yeah, and for breakfast this morning i finished the rest of that chocolate almond torte i baked on saturday.

I tried an Atkins chocolate and coconut bar the other night...I was surprised at how good it was, too! I thought I might have been delusional due to sugar withdrawal. God, they're expensive, though! $2.79 for 1 little bar. I think it was on sale, too. They're like $1.50 each if you get them online, but you have to pay a huge shipping fee.

I re-read what you wrote up there, Sarah, about realizing that the bagels and such that you had craved weren't so good after all. I had an epiphany last night when I recalled a cream-cheese brownie I ate a few weeks ago. I had drooled over it in the bakery window -- it had, like, a 3/4 inch layer of cream cheese drizzled with caramel over a 2-inch thick brownie layer. How could this be anything but toe-curlingly good? When I brought it home and ate it, though, it was woefully disappointing...the chocolate wasn't that rich and the cream cheese was too sweet. I realized that most of the food I now crave, I crave only because I'm not allowed to have it. I'm reading a novel and I come across a character eating bread with honey on it, and my mouth waters. WTF? When I could eat that stuff, did I ever? I know if I caved in and ate a piece of fruit or chocolate, I would feel only a moment's pleasure. Then I would feel like I've ruined everything and gotten nothing in return.

cream cheese brownie? my god.

that should go on your unholy food combo thread

No, it's good! Well, this one wasn't, but I've had some really ambrosial ones before. It's not plain cream cheese on top...it's more of a frosting.

Recipe

it's not cream cheese brownie! it's cheesecake brownie. big difference. fuck those things are delicious. though one with caramel doesn't sound too good. spider, hang in there. if you're craving sweets, i implore you even more to eat more fat! it will take away the sweets carving. my theory about this is that your body starts craving sweets because it wants to put on/store fat (because you're losing weight). but if you're eating plenty of fat in your diet, your body doesn't think it needs to store fat because you're getting plenty at regular intervals throughout the day. your body is more likely to let go of its fat stores because it knows it will get more fat via your diet, and the sugar cravings go away. at least until PMS strikes. then you can throw that theory straight out the window.

D'oh! Interesting theory....must experiment. I just wish I could have my fat with sugar. :( Sweet, sweet sugar...how I love thee.

i got those bars from the website for under $1.50 per bar, including shipping. You just have to buy enough: I think if you spend over $100 they throw in an extra box. the chocolate peanutbutter and chocolate coconut ones are among the best. berry cheesecake and lemon chiffon are pretty good too. they all kind of taste the same after you eat 30 or so, though.

speaking of PMS, today i spent an hour curled on my bed crying and screaming. Heat pad clutched to my lower abdomen in a white-knuckle grip. Popping codeine like tic-tacs. Then i think i passed out. They ask my why i didn't want to go off the pill, even though it was making me crazy. i hate my reproductive system. I HATE it. Since i was 11, i wanted it all out. i hope i have severe endometriosis and they have to cut the whole fucking useless shit thing out. I'll keep it in a jar, have a big party. Tell everyone i'm not really a female anymore. Burn it, laugh. I dream of this. uterus = evil. estrogen = evil. ...anyway, back on topic, that's my plan to loose at least 1 pound forever :) sorry.

you could just get pregnant. PMS goes away!

I've been trying a low-carb thing for the last couple weeks. It's alright. I haven't been totally strict (i went out and ahd a few beers one night), but I have lost about 7 pounds. I looked at the Atkins bars and they have 20g of carbs! Now, are those the carbs he allows you to subtract from the carb count or what? I have been using the EAS Lo-carb bars for when I need a small meal. Not too bad. It's these things that keep me off a diet plan. I think I am only going to reduce the amounts of carbs, not follow this guy's thing to the letter. That way, I don't have to freak out if I want to have a beer once in a while or I can go eat at the Flying Biscuit in Atlanta while I am there or enjoy a killer turkey burger. Like Rollins said last saturday, "I have a seven word health program for you. Eat less, Eat better, move your body."

I still had all of the symptoms of PMS without the cramps or bleeding when I was pregnant. The bloating and the cravings and mood swings and everything.

nico has had a easy pregnancy. she's had none of that, but she usually doesnt suffer from those symptoms anyway. the worst part is the activity of milkdud. we've been going out a bit this week, showing our buddy around, (tonight im taking him to a hockey game) and we've been in a few bars with bands and the lil milk dud pounds on her womb to the beat of the bass drum. its hilarious....just like her daddy!!!!!! though nico has had to step out a few times because the kid was completely freaking out and making it pretty heavy on her. its so though cute when she gets the hiccups. you can feel her!!! im telling you, shes going to be born at the stones concert next week

d00d, you'll love the stones concert. I saw them in Houston last week. My lips button is still flashing. :P

no doubt hoss. i've never gone before because i havent felt like shelling a couple of bills for tix.

Sem, those carbs in the Atkins bars include fiber and other things that don't affect your blood sugar. Near the ingredients label on the wrapper is a note about how you should only count the bar as having 2 blood-sugar affecting carbs. I saw the bars last night at Trader Joe's for $1.79. When I need a dessert fix, I'll get them there. I'm resisting getting the Atkins lo-carb breads and the like because I'd like to eat as much natural food as possible. But damn, that fake chocolate is calling my name. (Did you get to see Rollins live, Sem?) Patrick, my mom has told me that one day (when she was about 8 months pregnant with me) she was standing on the curb waiting for a bus, and I kicked in her womb so hard I knocked her off the curb.

thats so far out

I did go see him live. It was awesome. No matter how you feel about the guy, he is very good up there on the stage. I wish I could have sat down though!

the atkins carb controlled cornbread is really good. and you can fry it up in bacon fat. mm. like bacony corn cake.

I have to admit that maple-flavored sausage is damn fine for breakfast. I also had a killer Chicken Cashew salad at lunch with feta cheese. It also had some mandarin oranges, which are probably frowned on by Atkins but I ate them anyway. It's fruit, it's fiber, it's good.

definitely frowned upon. fructose jacks your blood sugar faster than anything. i like that the maple breafast sausage doesn't have any more carbs than regular breakfast sausage. i need to get more breakfast sausage. mm.

so regular syrup would be too much sugar? there is nothing better than bacon or sausage swimming in maple syrup

with bananas and french toast

See that's where Atkins can suck my balls. If i want to eat a couple of pieces of oranges as part of a chicken salad, I will. Fooey on him. Have you ever seen him on a talk show? He's incredibly uptight.

yeah. he says no caffine and no booze, too. he's also not-so-thin. i think that the phase in the carbs plan works, though. start off strict and add on the carbs later on. i think in weekly allowances now- i avoid sweets, but i'll eat a roll and some BBQ or something here and there.

i will be seeing Rollins this saturday! sweeeeeeeeet! 2nd time, baby!

Dang, finally a place for lo-carbers. At first I tried Atkins full-blown but caved in during the induction, I barely lasted a week with zero carbs. So this time, two weeks ago, I cut my carbs like by 75%, and dropped 5 pounds within the first week. I'm trying to lose 15 lbs. at least. It's weird, I first went veggie for awhile to lose weight, and noticed I was gaining instead of losing. This low-carb thing is a trip. I mean, I can eat fried pork rinds and spam to my delight. The only tough part is 1) I have a sweet tooth, chocolate chip cookies and milk are insatiable...and 2) I'm Flip, so limiting steamed rice in my diet is some kinda Twilight Zone. Tellin ya man, I could live perfectly fine on steamed rice and soy sauce. Cool, well I guess I'll keep ya posted on my progress. I'm planning to start running too. Gotta hit that goal. See ya guys.

oh. how cute. i won't say the welcome cause i like him. or maybe the drugs are kicking in. what drugs? you might say. well, there are none really but i couldn't think up a good excuse. i advocate running for all. next week is the last week of this job for me...anyone need a not-really-an-architect?

What do you mean by "not-really-an-architect"? I am going to have one slice of apple pie today. We celebrate everyone's birthdays here by allocating the last friday of the month for it. so, the folks in question requested pies instead of cakes. If you get sick of real sausage all the time, the gardenburger fake sausage patties are pretty good, and the carbs in them are dietery fiber (no sugar).

Greg, my friend: "I barely lasted a week with zero carbs." There's your problem! You're allowed to have up to 20 g a day. I think I've reached a sort of zen-like state in which I can acknowledge my desire for sugar and then erase it from my mind. I don't suffer. Let's see how long this lasts.

spider, a couple months ago i read a book called The Zen of Eating. it was on the deep discount stand near check-out at Book People. total impulse buy. i read it cover to cover, and bought two more copies. gave one to my sister and one to my yoga instructor. it was quite spiritual in nature, not a diet book. it talked a lot about the nature of feeling (or not feeling) hunger and what people associate with it. and cravings too. it talked a lot about how you can just acknowledge and observe your hunger or cravings without having to act on them right away. sometimes it goes away and sometimes it doesn't. then it talked about the process of eating - from thinking about food to preparing it to eating it - and all the different ways people accomplish this and how satisfying (or not) the process is. it also talked a lot about suffering (it was heavy on the buddhism) and how it relates to the psychology of eating. it was totally interesting. it really changed the way i thought about my desire for certain types of food.

how can you not like someone whose first post mentions being addicted to cookies and milk? that's too cute. but then again, it's usually just a matter of time before the hazing begins. give him a few more posts and we'll see.

sure thing. I'm going to another post to mentoin Ass sex, in honor of that.

Just a little rant, The Rolling Stones one of the best rock and roll bands ever,if not the best,back in the day.I've seen them 3 times between 1970-1981.the last was at the A.S.U. stadium.I'm glad Nico won the tickets,I wouldn't pay to see them at this point. I think of them as a big corperation,they haven't evolved musically,all the newer stuff sounds just like the old stuff,but not as good.The Depends tour.

I'll look for that book, Sarah.

i think that you can't argue with physiology. we burn carbs first and then fat. if you are overweight, as am i, eliminating the carbs is a sure way to lose the pounds. i am reading atkins' book right now. ok, he pushes his ideas but even when you cut through the bullshit the statistics are incredible. 200 years ago the average person consumed 10 pounds of sugar per year. today that figure is 158! sugar has absolutely NO nutritive value and it's a proven fact that the swings in our blood sugar level cause us to binge, gain weight and move toward diabetes. the human race survived for many centuries by eating the animals it could kill, the fish it could catch and the nuts and berries it could pick. our bodies are made that way and i believe that we can be healthy without all the processed foods out there. just because our wonderful government dictates that we should ingest 300 grams of carbs every day doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do.

dear sem, by that i mean i am not registered. i cannot stamp drawings for permit.

excerpt from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/15/health/main540776.shtml But another of Atkins' ideas on the subject is far more contentious. He argues that people lose more weight on his plan even if they actually eat more calories. That's a violation of the laws of thermodynamics, skeptics say. "A calorie is a calorie as far as weight reduction is concerned," says Dr. Michael Davidson, director of preventive cardiology at the Rush Heart Institute in Chicago. Or is it? Some of the new studies suggest otherwise. Dr. Stephen Sondike of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City put overweight teenagers on comparison diets for two months. The ones on Atkins lost twice as much as those on the low-fat diet. Yet they appeared to eat about 700 more calories a day than the others. Less dramatic but still startling results came from another study at the University of Cincinnati. Women on Atkins lost twice as much while eating the same number of calories as the lowfat dieters. "Surprised? Definitely," says Bonnie Brehm, a registered dietitian. "We really don't know what the answer is." And the Atkins weight loss was not simply dehydration, as Atkins critics often contend, since the Cincinnati dieters also lost twice as much body fat.

high fat diets protect brain cells? hmmm. http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030228-031834-2377r

I have a cousin who I am trying to get involved (at least learn) with the Atkin's Diet. She is a size 28W and about 5'8" tall. Her 8 year old daughter weighs 115-120 lbs and is like 4'5". M (her daughter) wears 1 size larger than I do and is significantly shorter than I am. I think if they looked into it that it would help both of them. They are both very active, but still have too much weight on them to be healthy.

"That's a violation of the laws of thermodynamics, skeptics say." Thinking that the human body operates in the same predictable way as a collection of gas molecules is a violation of the law of stupid assumptions.

did you hear that Dr. Atkins died? it happened a couple weeks ago, i believe, but i just heard about it yesterday. i guess it was some sort of accident, but i'm not sure. it wasn't health related.

He slipped and hit his head.

really? that's such a shame. that man saved my life in a roundabout way. it was really Protein Power and exercise that saved my life, but Dr. Atkins laid the foundation.

imagine if he was killed by a wild pig or a stampede of cows? i thought it was funny.

The ironic way to die for him would not be by the stampede, but to be hit by a pizza delivery vehicle.

I just discovered Atkins bars in S'mores flavor. Check this out -- 3 g "net carbs," 11 g fiber (almost half a day's value), 17 g protein, and 32% of your daily supply of calcium. They're pretty dang good, too. Not as good as the chocolate peanut butter kind, but better than the other flavors. I have reached a new state of being in which I no longer care that I eat essentially the same thing every day. Back when I ate whatever I wanted, I couldn't stand to have the same thing every day. When I first started the low-carb thing, it killed me that my options were so limited. Now I think I'm too broken to care anymore. Also, when I cheat (like this weekend at a birthday party), sweet things are sickeningly sweet. Regular soda? Gross. Cake icing? Gag. Hell, even this Atkins bar is a little too sweet. That half a Cadbury's milk chocolate bar I ate on Saturday nearly put me to sleep, too. (*That* was good, though. Mmmmm...Cadbury's.) I wonder how long this phase will last.

spider,try drinking chocolate with a high coco solids content.,like 40 percent,its heaven---

today i bought a bag of Russell Stover Low Carb Peanut Butter Cups "For Low Carb Dieters". i ate half the bag, after eating a 4-count box of Russell Stover full carb truffles. i'm not due to get my period til exactly one week from today, but i'm spotting for some reason. i know the chocolate cravings must mean my body wants to or thinks it's about to have a period. the peanut butter cups are not bad. i also bought - just in case of an emergency - a box of chocolate covered peanut clusters, a Snickers Marathon "Long Lasting Energy Bar" Chewy Chocolate Peanut with Quadratein [tm] protein blend, with 16 vitamins and minerals, 13 grams of protein (which i bought just for the big ludicrous factor), a chocolate santa, four Atkins bars, and a bottle of perrier. tis the fucking season. i heard on the radio the other day that the average person only gains one pound over the holidays. but the problem is that they don't take that pound off. so 20 years times a pound is twenty pounds.

You know what are good and low-cal? Weight Watchers (or dammit! Slim Fast?? ARGH) chocolate ice cream bars on a stick. They're, like, surprisingly amazingly good. They're not low-carb, but they might be sugar free. Next time I go to the store, I'll look for them so I can tell you what brand they are.

Try the Adkins Advantage shakes. They're pretty good, not as greasy tasting as they used to be. The Russel Stover products rock! I ate most of an Adkins Advantage ice cream pint last night before going to sleep. Still lost 1/2 pound yesterday. :)

i'm up 8lbs since i moved to berkeley. but i still look hella good.

My mother gave me Kellogs bran bits while I was home last week and I've been eating it almost every morning since. It's got psyllium in it.

i ate a bowl full of cooked barley malt last night. husky. we made beer.

Ya'll sure do eat some funky sheeeeit in that there berkeley.

Hey, Nate, if you ever meet a lady in Berkeley named Kim Parke tell her I say hi. She'll shit on the spot, I guarantee it.

I ate a cereal bar last night. It was dry, rough and sticky. Awful. I hated it. I think I'm going to try eating less prefabricated shit.

i ate vodka lastnight i ate 600mg ibuprofen this morning.

Try eating a B complex vitamin before you go to bed. No hangy over! Also, a bit of milk thistle for the liver can't hurt for long term damage control. You can get it in some interesting ways. :)

speaking of vodka, i am making the very high carb Russian Eggnog for the worst xmas gift exchange party this saturday. not because i have to, but because i want to. can't wait til my work holiday party. vodka, kahlua, eggnog, club soda, ice. hoooooohah! also, eggnog and brandy!

are you *trying* to make me spew?

oooops, sorry. heh heh. so has anyone else discovered the Whole Foods 365 brand of mineral water? they have strawberry and lemon flavor, which i am addicted to, and apparently so is every other whole foods shopper, because it's always the first of the 4-5 flavors to be out of stock.

Yes! I like the Orange-Lemon-Pink Grapefruit flavor.

that's my second favorite, the back-up for when they're out of strawberry lemon.

I'm addicted to the gallon jugs of diet Arizona green tea. I've got a jug at home and a jug at work. Jug-o-rific!

JUMBO TEA wow you're really southern now tiggy

JUMBO TEA wow you're really southern now tiggy

JUMBO TEA wow you're really southern now tiggy

JUMBO TEA wow head really severed now satan

I thought I made up the word "carbolicious," but google returns over 9,000 hits.

I started low-carb again a few days ago because I was 10 pounds up from fitting in my favorite red pants and my favorite velvet pants. I was afraid that the holiday season would end before I could wear them. now it's four days later and I weigh four pounds less. I figure I'll stay on it for 14 days or 10 pounds, whichever comes first. then I'll just be more careful. I'll choose just one day a week for sweets/starch/granola/margaritas, but I'll eat as much plain nonfat yogurt with berries as I want. top round steak was $2.49/lb. yesterday. I made fried it with a bit of onion and a bunch of mushrooms, then added sour cream, wasabi mustard, and sambal badjak (which I knew nate would like so I mailed him some a couple years ago). I drink a lot of water and still feel thirsty all the time. I know I'm in ketosis; I can feel it in my mouth. I'm sure my breath is awful. my urine reeks. but it's all about the pants.

i really would like to get into my red velvet pants again. man. the low carb doesn't really work for me the way it used to. i think it's because i exercise too much and need to eat carbs, otherwise i stay hungry all day long and overeat on protein anyway. sucky. i remember when i was in the middle of losing all that weight, it was easy, and i was thirsty all the time and i could tell i was in ketosis too. i wish i could get that back. last night i drank 1/2 cup of eggnog with brandy and club soda. oh well.

I had five whiskey-and-diet-cokes last night. I have the first three out with friends right after work. I'm starving and the only thing I can order is caesar salad without the croutons. I get home around 8 and I'm kind of drunk and I slice up some leftover top round and fry it with a shredded jack-cheddar blend, a dollop of cream cheese, a few slices of red pepper, and a heaping spoonful of tartar sauce. it was good, though it would have been even better if I used some onion (which I was too lazy to do). but it was a lot like the goopy inside of a philly cheesesteak. I eat this mess in a bowl while watching special features from the extended version of "two towers," wishing I didn't have to go out again. but I do go out, till like 1. I have two more whiskey-and-diet-cokes, irritated that there's a long line at the bar (glad now, otherwise I would have drunk more). so I get home and I'm hungry again. I know I can always have some string cheese, but that is getting old. but, wait, there's a styrofoam box on the porch. what the fuck. oh yeah, a friend stuck out in one of those former soviet -stan countries said she wanted to get me a wedding present. and it's from hickory farms! so at this point I am imagining a brand-new summer sausage and maybe some sharp cheddar or smoked gouda or maybe a basket full of high-fat treats. so lovely! it's dark and cold and I'm tired and a little drunk and hungry, and I tear open this styrofoam box, and it breaks, and dry-fucking-ice comes flying out. its plastic bag had broke, and I couldn't remember how big a deal this might be, to have chunks of dry ice on the floor. a little note says something about not touching it and disposing of it outside, but I'm not sure how to get the dry ice off the floor, especially without turning on the lights (which I am too lazy to do) and looking for some sort of utensil that we probably don't even own anyway. so I take chunks of styrofoam and try to clasp the chunks of dry ice between them, but I'm so uncoordinated that I can't even use chopsticks, so this takes forever, and I'm sort of terrified about touching any of it because I can't remember what happens to you if you do. does your skin burn off your flesh or something? anyway, so I finally collect all the chunks on a big piece of styrofoam and go to open the back slider, which I first discover is not being held shut with the wooden pole and which I secondly discover is not even locked. I am generally so paranoid that I will lock the bedroom door if I am alone, just to act as an additional barrier to, you know, all those nighttime marauders that plague seattle. I do this even if my husband is coming home later, even in just an hour, and I know I will have to be woken up, get up, and let him in. I wonder how long the door has been unlocked, I wonder if it matters that I'm dropping chunks of dry ice on my way out, but, fuck it, I don't care all that much. I want to eat all those disgusting little hickory farms treats before my husband comes home! so I open the box that was in the box, and there it is, this beautiful, delicious-looking, perfect cherry cheesecake. I eat some string cheese and go to bed, with bedroom door locked.

this is day 6. I haven't been following the atkins induction plan (I've had plenty of alcohol and caffeine), but I've lost 7.6 pounds so far. I tried on the red pants 1.2 pounds ago. too snug yet, and I think I may need to ratchet up my gym routine too, or my ass just isn't going to look serious enough for them.

them alcohol would have made me eat half that cheesecake. i'm impressed by your relative restraint. i'm trying a stricter low carb this week. cyst, will you post what you're eating?

yeah, I'll try to remember, but... 1. I'm probably not being very good, and probably because of that... 2. I seem to have plateaued and have not lost any weight beyond the original 7.6 pound sin the first 6 days. (some of which was likely water loss.)

yesterday was over the top. * an americano * 7 slices of bacon with a small amount of spaghetti sauce * a small amount of ham * chicken satay with a tiny bit of that sweet peanut sauce * salad (cucumbers, avocado, goat cheese, lettuce mix, red pepper, red onion, balsamic vinaigrette) * quite a bit of roast beef (it was the first time I had ever made roast beef) * broccoli cooked with a bit of shredded cheddar-jack and cream cheese * a little more roast beef, dipped in wasabi mayonnaise * half a bottle of red wine

today was more under control, but, wow, I've been eating a lot. * americano * 2 string cheeses * anipasto/salad. a bed of lettuce mix and some chopped hard-boiled egg topped with a greasy anipasto mix that contained a bit of vinegar and olives, salami, olive oil, vinegar, cheese, mushrooms, and other high-fat, low-carb yummies. * a few too many salami slices in the afternoon * a bit of cold roast beef * a chicken breast is in the oven I'll go to the gym later on instead of drinking red wine.

oh, look. atkins at tgi friday's: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2003-12-04-fridays_x.htm

kevin's brother ryan is a waiter at fine dining restaurants all over austin and he says he has noticed a profound change in the way people eat and order their food. he says so many people ask for vegetables to replace rice or potatoes, and nobody eats bread and butter anymore, among other things.

after Mexico, i think i will try to get back at that type of eating. the way my life is now, it's eat and run. and I'm not avoiding carbs in Mexico - why limit your choices of cuisine when you're in a foreign country? But I just saw a crew photo with me in it from this summer and I did not like at ALL how my belly was sticking way out over my pants...

sem, i think you said the same thing about a month before we all met up in new orleans, and you did not at all have a belly! you looked incredibly fit.

well, I will admit that my carharts are snug.

hee

yesterday, as I recall: 2 string cheese taco salad: chicken, cheddar, olvies, sour cream, lettuce, salsa sloppy yummy mess of beef, onions, cream cheese, sour cream, hot sauce salami smoked edam pepper jack red wine today: 2 string cheese a little bit of salmon caesar salad -- I started eating it, then saw a big bettle wriggling through it, and I got a refund eggplant parmigiana with broccoli and cauliflower. I know this was definitely more carbs than I should have eaten. sloppy mess of chicken, sour cream, shredded cheddar jack, and a bit of enchilada sauce, and a red pepper later: whiskey and diet coke?

oh, yeah. today's day 10, and this morning I was down 9.6 lbs.

jesus

wow, that's amazing. why can't i do that anymore?

last night I ended up having 3.5 shots of bourbon and two bud lights. (anheuser-busch reps were giving them away.) today: steamed cruciferous vegetables with lots of beef and some ginger sauce salad with vinaigrette a small amount of broccoli cheddar soup three chicken skewers one glass of red wine small greek salad prawns and artichoke hearts baked in a tomato and mizithra cheese sauce

I had planned to quit atkins after I lost 10 pounds, but I'm afraid to. now I think I'll keep it up until jan. 5, just because I'm afraid that without some real rules, holiday eating and drinking will get out of hand. it's comforting to know I can go to parties and drink wine and liquor and eat meat, cheese, and vegetables. I want to get back to a healthy diet, but there's just too much goodamn food around this month. easier to just pick a few things (and eat as much as you want) instead of worry about how much you're consuming.

My great-grandfather ate whatever he wanted but would only have one plate per meal. Sometimes that might even be a plate of fat from everyone else's meat. He was skinny as a rail. He was a woodworker, and spent time in his workshop well into his nineties, I think he finally stopped when he was 94 and drove his pickup truck off a loading dock.

I'd just like to point out that I am 800 grams AWAY FROM 10 KILOS. I've nearly lost half the body weight of my friends four year old. Go me!

yay!

so i hadn't eaten meat in ages yesterday i had lamb shawarma my intestines are angry

go moonit go moonit go moonit

cyst, that sounds like a logical and do-able way to get through the holidays. i drank a LOT of my russian eggnog drink last night at my work holiday party. 1/2 gallon organic eggnog or light organic eggnog 750 ml vanilla stoli 1 cup kahlua 1/2 liter club soda a few healthy shakes of nutmeg stir and pour over ice and drink. you cannot taste any alcohol in this beverage whatsoever. very dangerous. very yummy. it got a lot of people at the party quite drunk. i also brought a salad dish, a vegetable dish, coconut cookies, a bottle of petite sirah, a bottle of brandy, and a bottle of ginger ale. salad: - red leaf lettuce - romain lettuce - 1/2 large braeburn apple, diced, with peel - large handful of oven-roasted walnuts sprinkled with cinammon and a tiny bit of sugar - two large handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved - handful of crumbly gorgonzola dressing: 1/2 cup light olive oil 1 tbs grainy mustard salt freshly ground pepper 1/8th teaspoon ground cayenne 1 tbs sugar 1-2 tea thyme 2-3 tbs organic lemon juice 1/4 cup old champagne vegetable dish: 2-3 pounds fresh brussel sprouts, halved 1 pkg bacon, fried to extra cripsy 1/2 red onion, cut into big chunks 2 cloves garlic crushed or minced 2 tea garlic powder salt pepper 2 tbs olive oil 1/4 cup lemon juice fry the bacon, set aside, discard all but 2 tbs bacon grease. on low heat saute red onion for 3 minutes. add brussel sprouts, garlic, and seasonings. drizzle 2 tbs (or more if needed) olive oil on top and toss. let cook for 5 minutes, tossing at least once. add 1/4 cup lemon juice and sprinkle crumbled bacon on top. cover and roast in pan for 10 minutes, until brussel sprouts are cooked but still crunchy. DO NOT OVERCOOK or they will taste like sulfer and smell just as bad. coconut cookies: 1 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut 1/2 cup sweetened angel flake baking coconut 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk 1 egg white combine coconuts with condensed milk and stir til absorbed. beat egg white on high mixing speed until stiff. stir into coconut mixture. form balls and drop onto *lightly greased* baking sheet. bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until tops of cookies just start to turn brown. let cool for five minutes before removing from baking sheet. makes about a dozen. tomorrow my friend catherine is coming over and we're going to have a big xmas cookie bake fest all day! i'm going to aerobics tonight and tomorrow morning so as to undo all the cookie dough eating damage.

i made greek meatloaf the other night and it kicked ass. Greek Meatloaf 2 lbs ground lamb 1 egg salt and pepper 1/3 cup greek salsa Combine ingredients, put it in a bread pan, bake for 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees. Greek Salsa 3 oz feta cheese, finely crumbled 1 tomato, diced 2 green onions with tops, sliced thinly handful of kalmatta olives, chopped olive oil 2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped 1-2 tbs dried oregano combine all ingredients in a bowl, cover and chill overnight.

I just discovered that Monster energy drink comes in lo-carb. It's even spelled that way on the can..."lo-carb" Fuckin' tastes great. Better than the sugered version, imnsho.

I don't mean this in an anorexic or otherwise unhealthy way, but I'm so tired of having to eat. I'm tired of having to put things in my mouth and chew for sustenance. Food is boring and gross to me now. If it weren't a bother to pack for work, I'd just eat cereal three meals a day. For real.

But in other news, my knitting ladies group took me out to lunch today, and I did have a really good crab cake sandwich. AND they gave me a scarf they had knitted as a going-away present -- they each contributed sections to it in their favorite yarns, and then it was all assembled into one. It's awesome. There are so many colors and patterns and textures, and even better, I could tell who made what just from knowing their styles.

Meals are a real hassle for me too. I get frustrated when I'm hungry and nothing sounds good... Which is a lot. . Scarves are the coolest.

spider, you're not depressed, are you?

today i've eaten so high carb it's ridiculous. you should see this place where i work. the whole building has puked up christmas everywhere. cookies, candy, candy coated cookies... food, food, and more food. these texans are completely out of control.

Eh, maybe I am. It's probably a combination of hormones and my upcoming job-quitting and moving. I hate saying goodbye to people, and I hate moving, and I don't know what I'm going to do once I move. And, Christmas is going to be weird, since my mom is coming down from Boston to spend the holidays with my dad, brother, and me, and my mom hasn't been doing too well psychologically. Once again it will be up to me to take care of her, since my dad would like to wash his hands of her completely and my brother is a thoughtless ass. Well, damn, if I wasn't depressed before, I am now. :P

I didn't ever hit my goal weight, but I don't care too much. I found the receipt for the red pants; I may take them back. I'm eating carbs again but so far it's under control. I'm trying to stay away from starch and sugar, but I'm not worrying about the carbs in things like cherry tomatoes or plain yogurt or lattes. I even had a couple pieces of battered calimari and half a small brownie today. to make up for this, I've also cut out the excessive fat consumption. I'm no longer adding sour cream/cream cheese/mayonnaise to everything I eat. that was kind of fun, though.

balance must be the key after all. the low-carb frenzy is all around me now. even the huge ladies in payroll - the chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, green bean caserole, cheddar corn bread, apple pie every day for lunch full-on Texan ladies, the ladies who get to work early on thursday to hoard the cookies we get delivered, i saw today the three of them in the breakroom gingerly placing big hamburger patties atop salads of lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers. before they headed off to the board room to watch their soap opera, i said, hey, that looks like an atkins meal right there. no, it's more of a south beach meal, the one said. what's the difference, i asked ironically. well, the south beach diet lets you have some carbs. bread? i asked. well, not in the first two weeks. fruit? i asked. same thing, she said. what about after 2 weeks? you can have one piece of fruit a day, i think. what about bread? i asked. they say try to have just one slice either with breakfast or dinner. i hope they have success with it. i'm really curious to find out how many overweight people doing some low-carb thing actually become not overweight over the next year.

When I first went on it, I lost about 18 pounds. Then I think I just started eating desert and pasta again, just out of the blue. I gained back all the weight I had lost, plus a few extra pounds. When I decided to go back on the low-carb thing last week, I realized I had failed last time because I had been thinking about food all wrong, and I had been trying to stay in the induction stage for too long. This time, I'm feeling like my attitude towards eating has changed, and I think it will be easier to stick with the plan. Last night, my brother brought home a big plate of brownies his girlfriend had made, and I didn't feel tempted or even sorry that I couldn't eat them. Another motivation is this: a couple weeks ago, I went out for dinner and drinks with a few of my friends and a couple of their other friends, and as we were squeezing through the crowded bar to get to our table, I realized I was the "fat one" in our group. I'm a size 12, and I know no one else I was with was over a size 4. Not that a 12 is objectively fat, and not that I want to be a size 4, but being the odd one out made me feel awkward and, to be honest, bad about myself. I wish I weren't that sensitive about my weight, but there it is.

size 12 is not fat, not even overweight. some of my clothes are size 10, most are size 8. i've long given up on my size 6 jeans, even though i cannot get them out of my closet. anyway, i'm rarely the big one of the group, even when i'm size 10, and that's like not that much smaller than size 12. although i admit i hate being on the size 10 edge of my weight range.

I'd like to be a size 8 -- I think I would look fantastic. When I was cleaning out my drawers a little while ago, I found a pair of suede shorts I wore when I was 14. Size 6. I can't remember what it felt like to be that small, and looking at the waistband on those things, it's hard to imagine I could ever be that small again. Just on an aesthetic level, I like women with thickness to them. Truthfully, I think a little rounded belly looks better and more comfortable than a flat belly. This goes for men, too -- insulation is nice.

spider, you could be a size 8 if you want to. just take your time, don't rush it. be sensible about it. anyway, some people aren't genetically meant to be smaller than that. i honestly can't remember how i felt when i was size 4-6. was i hungry all the time? what the hell was i doing? i know i was training w/ lonny and probably had a healthy fear of food in general. after the gnarly surgery was when i evened out at size 8, about 150 lbs. haven't dipped down much lower than that but once, since. it was during a period where i had no appetite for like 4 months, for no apparent reason. my friend sara told me she was having lunch at her desk the other day, a plate of pasta something or other, and all the girls in her office were freaking, saying "oh my god, look at all those carbs!" sara is a small girl, size 6. i asked her if she diets or does anything to stay small. she said, she pretty much eats whatever she wants, she just makes sure she doesn't overeat. i think a low-carb diet is a great way to lose weight. i think a lower-than-food-pyramid-carb diet is a great way to stay healthy. but i think it's more than that too. it's having balance and eating sensibly. somehow i'm starting to think that low-carb isn't sensible for people who don't need to lose weight. whenever i gain weight, inevitably it's because i'm drinking too much alcohol. and i usually crave alcohol before my period. also, dave and i go out a lot, a lot more than i ever have since being in austin, and certainly WAY more than when i lived in hawaii. we never "went out" in hawaii because there was nowhere to go. anyway, we go out, i drink. i love them alcohol, esp them margaritas.

The night I mentioned up there, when I went out for drinks with my friends, we went to a martini bar in Philly and I had a Josephine (companion to the Napoleon). It had raspberry schnapps and was really nice. The Napoleon was nice, too, but not as.

bacardi and diet coke - all the low-carb rage. BLEAGHHHHHH

i don't really care what i look like any more. i'm just tired of tying my shoes with a basketball in my abdomen.

I had my first appointment with a physical trainer today. Most of it was intake so nothing to report as of yet. She did say, based on the few exercises we did, that I had good form and to keep doing what I was doing until we meet again. Most of my clothes are either size 8 or 10. When I was a size 14 my goal was to be a size 10 and now my goal is to be a size 8 and if I get to where all of my clothes are a size 8, I'll want to be a size 6. I always want to be thinner. thinner.thinner.thinner. that word sounds foreign right now. For me it's all about eating the right carbs and the right fats and in reasonable amounts. I hardly ever eat pasta and when I do, I eat a big ole spinach salad or something first. all of my breads are grainy and sprouty. the induction phase of any of these diets would have me smashing all the windows in my apartment but I don't really need to lose any weight anyway. now, if I could actually convince myself of that....

I had a spicy broccoli soba saute for dinner. I think soba noodles are my new best friend. They are not particularly low in carbs, but they are more filling and satisfying than regular pasta and have a little more protein.

holy cow. i just took a bite of a Balance bar. This thing tastes like fucking styrofoam with cocoa mix sprinkled on top. who eats this shit outside of stranded hikers and campers?

Yeah, most of those bars are horrid. The only ones I like are Zone bars. To bad they're not lo-carb. But they're lo-ish. :)

They make my jaw hurt but I buy them anyway because otherwise I end up eating something really bad or really expensive at school. The Zone bars aren't too bad. I also like the Kashi ones but I wouldn't recommend them. I can tolerate Lunas and Balance bars. The Clif bars that are fruit based are okay. I'm having a wicked craving for gingerbread and whipped cream or black forest biscotti. Did I tell you that Ben and Jerry re-released my favorite flavor? oatmeal cookie chunk. fuckers.

first time I ever read this thread, as far as I know of.... Anyway, I dont trust that Atkins

"we went to a martini bar in Philly and I had a Josephine (companion to the Napoleon)" Did it have celing lamps shaped and painted like olives with toothpicks in them and leave the shakerthingy with extra drink in it for you? I've been to that one. They have a dean martini that comes with a lucky strike cigarette. I didn't have that, I stuck with the frilly cocktails.

yeah, most of those bars taste like crap, but i eat them all the time, because they are convenient. i keep them in my desk drawer and in my purse, so that if i get really hungry i don't grab just whatever is available, i know i have something w/ protein and fat and low net carbs to keep my blood sugar stable. i think the best ones in order of taste are: CarbControl - chocolate peanut butter Edge Advantage - chocolate chip brownie Atkins - chocolate peanut butter the others... Balance, Luna, Tiger Milk, i don't eat them because they're not low carb, but i also don't eat them because they all taste like utter crap. except for the Zone ones, which taste like candy bars.

kazu, that's cool you got a trainer. if you get a competent one, they really make a big difference. you will definitely see progress in your level of strength and fitness. i know the thinner thinner thinner routine. i've come to accept that it never ends. there's never going to be thin enough, unless i could stay at size 4-6 without it requiring constant work and struggle and mindfulness and rigidity. maybe then i'd be okay. the thing is, i can be happy and eat and drink and live a normal life now, even if i would like to be thinner. the former constant obsession with food and dieting and exercise and being thin has finally and substantially waned over the last year or two. i still don't like the way my body feels from the inside when i edge up toward size 10. i don't like the way my clothes fit either. size 8 is okay, though even then my thighs are a bit too chubby for comfort. i think for my bone size and height that a size 6 really is ideal for me, but genetically it's hard for me to get there and stay there and live a normal, fun life. that's the key. that, and being fit. even at size 10, i'm fit. way fit. strong, muscular, and i can run 6 miles without batting an eye. i can hike and bike and kayak. my heart rate is low, my blood pressure low, my cholesterol is good, body fat in check. i can stay healthy and still eat cookies now and then, go out for drinks and get tipsy if i want to. but there will always be a level of attention and vigilance. there will always be lunches made up only of a can of tuna fish mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil. there will always be periods of time when i have to make myself go to bed feeling hungry. there will always be sacrifices, checks and balances, habits that i have to nurture in order to keep my weight down. it's just the way it always will have to be. sometimes i go through phases where i feel physically hungry all the time. no matter what i eat, i'm never full. i don't really know what causes this. PMS? IBS? overexercise? i don't know. but when it happens i get mad and frustrated and eventually end up saying fuck it and eating whatever i want. it's scary and satisfying at the same time. other times, no appetite at all. i can be exercising maniacally, and barely need or want to eat a thing. the sight of sweets is completely uninteresting. what causes this? again, i have no idea. i love it when that happens though, because the rest of the time i feel like a slave to hunger, to appetite. i wish i didn't get hungry. i'd still eat, it just wouldn't always be so hard to control. i've had too much coffee this morning. this is all totally stream of consciousness, things i'm sure i've said hundreds of times before. sorry for being long winded.

Kazu, I think you must have gone to the Continental (pictures here). They have really neat ads on the back of the local arthouse movie theatre programs. I went to Paradigm, on Chestnut and 2nd, which is very dark inside with dark blue lighting/blue walls, no lamps save candles on the tables, and freaky bathroom doors that are clear when unlocked and frosted when locked. (Hey, I found this -- Sem and I and my best friend ate here when he visited Philly many years ago).

That was a good restaurant.

It was the contintental which did not feel much like a martini bar to me. the good life in Boston (the one near chinatown) is a personal favorite. Dark, with leather walls. downstairs there is a stage where they play jazz and have lots of those little tables that barely fit two people.

I'm really bad about weighing myself. I do it every day and OBSESS about anything over 142. This morning I weighed 144.8 which is more than yesterday (143) which was less than the day before (144.2). I almost wrote Sem an e-mail to complain about it, but he's tired of it. I'm tired of it and as much as I don't want to be like that, it's harder to pretend it doesn't bother me. And even though I KNOW that one shouldn't worry about day to day fluctuations of 1-2 pounds, I fret and fret and fret, thinking that my fluctuations should be between 138-142 and not 142-145. They were in the former range when I wasn't eating enough and I have to force myself to remember how miserable I was then, (forgetting everything and having no energy and so forth) lest I fall back into that horrible cycle. And even while all of this sounds bad, I am getting better at talking myself out of really bad body anxiety.

What was your temperature?

nice you all are beautiful and have lovely bodies with working functions to state the obvious but happy truth i should go outside

I'm going to the gym, even though I feel a little tired. It's been too long and I need to get some momentum. I'm going to just do some really basic weight lifting for a couple weeks until I get my muscles used to exercise again, then get back on track with my old program, which I left off with before I went to Mexico. I also need to break this habit I have gotten into of staying up late reading after going to bed and getting up a half-hour before work.

lo carb

im sending a couple of coworkers to their therapist with that in mind. that ruled.

Fuckin' schweet!

despite me still thinking that Atkins is one of those things that South Park will eventually trash in an episode... I'm curious. I'm thinking of trying it, just cause.

I just got back from a half-hour run. Now I'm going to drink a couple of mountain dews and eat some oreos. . A friend recently decided to go Atkins on us. We let him whine about it for a couple days before we started to point and laugh. All he needs to do is get off his ass once in a while and get his heart rate up. He said he gave up the diet because he didn't want to have to buy all new clothes. . My girlfriend and I bought a package of Atkins brownie mix just to see what it would taste like. It was something like 5 times more expensive than your average brownie mix and made a half-pan of brownies that tasted like feet. I tried to eat them but my body rejected them as not being food. . I'd almost rather eat mutant turtle spooge. . Almost. . . . And I'm in a bad mood because my hosting provider took my server offline and is holding my data hostage. The power and phones have been cutting out a lot in the past several days too.

ben forgetting to pay the bills?

Nate- my question is, why Michaelangelo? why not Bebop???!!

My bills are paid. . The power went out at work yesterday. It's fun to hear the whole building swear in unison. . Dammit, I forgot to eat dinner.

Yeah, the fake foods usually aren't good at all. The textures are off and invariably they taste like chemicals. Sometimes, though, you can find items that, while they may not taste anything like the real thing, taste all right as a new food altogether. The fake oatmeal I have doesn't taste like real oatmeal, but it's got a pleasant enough flavor as it is. I'm enjoying these new sensations of hunger I have nowadays -- I just feel hungry. I don't have any of the irritability, difficulty of focus, or occasional nausea that I used to get around mealtime. At my last job, I would eat lunch around noon, and at 3:00 I would all but stop functioning. I couldn't concentrate or do most of my work because I was so hungry. I had to eat literally within a few minutes of arriving home. Now I do feel an emptiness in my stomach around 5, but I have no emotional or cognitive impairments, and I can easily put off eating after I get home. I also don't fall asleep or want to take a nap after eating, like I used to. I've fallen asleep in restaurants before. I'm also eating more healthily than ever. I'm eating more fiber, more vegetables, and more protein, and I'm taking vitamins regularly. I eat fish, shrimp, eggs, chicken, cheese, and vegetables. No red meat, a small amount of butter, a healthy amount of olive oil. My skin is clear, I sleep very well, my digestion is in order, and I have a consistently high amount of energy. Now I just have to start exercising. Do they sell yoga mats at sporting goods stores?

rowlf, don't let your guard down. atkins is a fucking sham. it has to be.

why does it have to be? my triceps are sore as hell. my new thing at the gym is this old-school body building thing, i think it's from back in the 50s or so. anyway, what you do is just a handful of exercises, with a weight you can do ten reps with, and not feel like you really had to exert at all to do it (but not so light that you could do 20 without feeling anything). The thing is that you do ten sets of ten reps with a minute rest in between. so at first, you're working your fast twitch muscles, then the slow twitch, and by the end you're forced to cheat to complete the reps by enlisting other muscle groups to help out. For example, I was doing incline dumbell bench presses with 2-30 lb dumbbells. At first I was strictly using my chest, but by the end my triceps were doing a lot of the work. Then I moved onto the lat pulldown, which at first should work your back but by the end you should be really using your biceps but I wasn't using enough weight, even a 70 lbs, so I have to up that on monday. I finished with shoulder presses, and i could really feel it in the triceps, so much that my shoulders were forced to do all the work. and I was only lifting about 12 lbs! The whole idea is to work your muscle groups in tandem, instead of strict isolation. I like it so far.

Patrick. Dude. Did you read what I just wrote? Lean meat, vegetables, cheese, and fiber and vitamin supplements. I feel fantastic and I'm down 6 pounds in 12 days. At the weight training/aerobics classes I took at my old apartment, we'd do this exercise where you'd get on your knees and drape yourself over your step stool, extend your arms straight in front of you with palms down, and lift a two pound weight in each hand off the ground in a scissor motion. (I hope that's clear.) Holy cow, was that hard -- I must not have ever worked those shoulder muscles in my life. I ended up having to use my back and even my stomach and leg muscles to provide the leverage to haul that weight up in the air. I don't know if I worked my shoulders at all. :) I have a treadmill in my basement, so I was thinking of restarting the weight lifting program I had learned and pairing that with walking for 30 minutes and maybe some yoga for fun.

TBone: "All he needs to do is get off his ass once in a while and get his heart rate up. " While exercize is important for weight loss, sometimes it isn't enough. A few years ago I was practicing Aikido 10 hours per week. It involved lots of flipping, tumbling, falling down and standing up hundreds of times per hour. After a year of this I'd gained twenty pounds. Why? I was eating a low fat diet but I was addicted to pasta and other carbs. I probably ate about 2000 calories per day. These days I eat lo-carb. I'm not exercizing, I eat about 2500 calories a day, and I've lost 20 pounds in the last two months. Other times, when I've lost significant amounts of weight, I changed my diet in similar ways. What I eat definately affects how I retain fat.

sem, wow, that sounds exactly like what i need to get excited about weight training again. i have been in such a rut for so long. i switch up the exercises i do for each muscle group, but even my switch-ups have become routine and boring. what you did sounds like fun, sounds really challenging. it actually makes me *want* to go to the gym and try it - though not tonight, because i lifted last night. i'll definitely go tomorrow after work, or saturday afternoon while dave's at tennis. keep me posted on that, will you?

oh, and same for me, antigone. at one point in my life (seems now like an entirely different lifetime) i was going to aerobics class 3x a week, and swimming and hiking on weekends, and at 200+ pounds just kept gaining weight... the key really is diet and exercise, very rarely is it one or the other.

Yeah. Reactionary nutslappers like patrick just don't understand. :)

Update: Ouch. ouch. ouch. my triceps. ouch. shoulders. ouch. biceps feel fine, slight soreness in chest. i might switch to flat bench presses next time to see what it does.

I dont think its a sham... however, I dont see how if I simply gave up candy and fast food completely, and did the 1/2 hour walk a day, I wouldnt get similar results... maybe not rapid weight loss but I think that makes sense. question before I go buy books: whats the deal with sauces and drinks? What salad dressings are OK and not OK? what of BBq sauce? ketchup? Swiss Chalet dipping sauce?

Read the nutrition label for carb grams vs fiber grams. Subtract the fiber from the total to get the "effective" carbs. Try to minimize that. Avoid suger.

"Avoid Suger" is that Avoid Sugar? or Avoid Seger? or both? probably both.

both. does anybody else find the new quiznos commercials absolutely terrifying? I also just saw an ad for "What's Love Got to Do With It?" and I want arms like Angela Bassett.

I love those commercials. They're a fucking riot. My girlfriend is disgusted by them. Min you, this is the same woman who was fascinated by a toenail fungus medicine commercial that showed a computer generated imp ripping off a giant toenail from a giant toe.

i found a recent commercial for milk to be disturbing when a dude, as an example of what happens when you dont drink milk, trys to lift something heavy and has his arms ripped off. im not sure i've seen any quizno commericials recently. my favorite was the flamer who was raised by wolves. "yes. yes i was."

the guy who did the quiznos commercials has a website of tons of shit like that at rathergood.com

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040218/COCARBS18/TPHealth/ this kinda takes the Atkins intrigue from me....

You people are all psychotic, for the record.

Can you share your recipe for german pork chops?

jeeez agatha, doesn't that go without saying? if after all these years it hasn't been unquestionably established that i am a complete and total psycho, then clearly none of you have been paying attention. last night dave got carry-out from waterloo. i had "southern ranch chicken". grilled chicken breast topped with bacon and jack cheese, side of black beans, side of spanish rice (ate the beans, not the rice), salad of lettuce, carrots, and tomato with blue cheese. dave had fried catfish, mashed potatoes, salad. we both ate one chocolate covered strawberry apiece, which he bought for me from Amy's, leftover from v-day. the portions you get here in texas are absurd. i don't think in 2-1/2 years here i've ever been out to eat and been able to clear my plate.

From Rowlfe's link: "The Atkins "diet revolution" is a four-phase eating plan. In Phase I, carbohydrate consumption is limited to 20 grams a day, primarily from salad. Phase II adds carbohydrates, particularly fibre-rich foods. Once your goal weight is achieved, you move into phases III and IV, in which you can eat all the carbs you want, unless you start gaining weight. Then you start over again. The diet also calls for supplementation with vitamins and fish oils, and for exercise." Uh, no, phase III and IV do not involve eating all the carbs you want until you gain weight and have to start all over again. That's what happens if you do it wrong. This is how you do it right: ************* When you were doing Ongoing Weight Loss, you learned how to increase your carb intake in increments of 5 grams. In this phase, you can shift into a higher gear: Increase your daily carb count by 10 grams each week as long as you continue to lose. ... If you introduce new foods slowly and increase your carb grams gradually, your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL) should increase gradually. This new and higher CCLL will reflect the fact that you are now losing weight more slowly. As you continue to make 10 gram incremental additions, you'll quickly reach a point at which you will find that you are no longer losing. If you are at your goal weight, stay at that level for a month or so before you increase your daily carb consumption by another 10 grams to see if you can consume that level without gaining. Once you do begin to gain, drop back 10 grams and you should have established your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance (CCLM). --http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-743804.html ************* That CCLM is the level you should eat at for the rest of your life.

I resent being called psychotic. And I don't mean this in a PC-it's-rude-to-use-that-term kind of way. But personally, I carry the history of mental illness in my family and the trauma that it resulted in with me all the time. That doesn't mean that I obsess over it; but it does mean that on a very deep and fundamental level I do fear losing my mind and doing something to hurt someone. It's something I am overly sensitive about, and I recognize that, but that doesn't make it easier.

i'm always telling agatha she needs to tone it down a bit with the hurtful words. why do some people never see the damage that their casual, off-handed remarks can cause in others? well, agatha, if you're reading this, now do you understand? bad, bad agatha.

agatha not bad kazu very sensitive. For the record, I'd rather people feel free to be a little spirited and mean than police themselves and have dry discussions. I just wanted to let my feelings and personal experience be known. Besides... she's right ;)

Okay, let me amend... you are all psychotic except for Kazu. J, I got the recipe off the internet, I'll see if I can find it later.

god damn it agatha, the only things you should a'mend' are dave's tighty whities that his fat ass keeps blasting a hole in. when what you eat is being considered in terms of 'Phases', its gone too far.

shut up, skinny boy. when what you eat makes you fat fat fat it's gone too far. when what you do every day is spiritual poison, when the beep of the cardkey punctuates the passing of another slice of life, when you sit in a cubicle and stare at a monitor, life sublimating away, thinking maybe a fatal accident on the way home wouldn't be such a bad thing, when it doesn't happen and you get home and those dishes are still sitting there in the sink, the mailbox contains more bills and snarky past due notices, and your family deserves so much more than you have been able to give it, it's gone too far.

buy ya a beer? a hug?

thank you. i'm listening to npr. there's a guy talking about old airplanes or something. he said fokker.

i had one of the worst Fokking rides of my commercial jet airline experience on a Fokker 100. American Airlines uses those god damn Fokkers for short semi-regional trips. It was on our honeymoon to London. We had a layover in Chicago from Atlanta. Anyone who has flown into Chicago in the winter knows what a Fokker that can be weatherwise. We had the very last seat of the Fokking cabin, we couldnt recline our seats. We experienced turbulance that literally put my wife in tears, her nails deep in my arm, and our beverages all over the place. Upon landing the Fokking pilot made three not so soft bounces before the Fokker would stay down. Scared the Fokk out of us both. This all could have occured on any type of plane, but i laid blame on the Fokker.

i had one of the worst Fokking rides of my commercial jet airline experience on a Fokker 100. American Airlines uses those god damn Fokkers for short semi-regional trips. It was on our honeymoon to London. We had a layover in Chicago from Atlanta. Anyone who has flown into Chicago in the winter knows what a Fokker that can be weatherwise. We had the very last seat of the Fokking cabin, we couldnt recline our seats. We experienced turbulance that literally put my wife in tears, her nails deep in my arm, and our beverages all over the place. Upon landing the Fokking pilot made three not so soft bounces before the Fokker would stay down. Scared the Fokk out of us both. This all could have occured on any type of plane, but i laid blame on the Fokker.

Hee. Are those the little planes that have about 12 rows, and there are two seats on one side of the aisle and one seat on the other? I flew in one of those (well, two) to and from Boston in January.

no. these are jets that look like this. Maybe you were on a turbo prop plane. Its two and two and they can seat 100+ people I think. i keep very close tabs on what kind of jets i fly on. Boeing and Airbus are by far the best. Recently I flew on the new 777s from LA to Atlanta. Those are fucking nice, in terms of comfort, space, leg and overhead, each seat has its own monitor. Also bigger planes don't get tossed around as much as the small ones. If you've ever flown in a small personal aircraft like a Cessna you'll know what I mean.

the only planes that fly in and out of my home town are turboprops. I had some really bad turbulence flying out one christmas, while we were over a bay of Lake Superior with mini-ice ergs floating in it. NOT FUN. I thought "great, if we crash and survive, we'll still be in the middle of the woods in January."

would you have to eat people because like dude no cannibals OK!

I understand that exercise alone won't do it for everyone. But I think he should at least TRY raising his pulse once in a while before he starts making radical changes to his diet. His diet isn't that bad. . On another note: I currently weight the most I've ever weighed in my life. My weight seems to have nothing to do with what I eat and everything to do with how much exercise I get. Oh, and my mood. Depression makes me fat, too. . I bet if everyone would just make a habit of running around like a lunatic at every opportunity, fewer people would have weight problems.

I went to the gym yesterday for my first post-personal trainer workout and what a difference it made, just from the tips like "don't do that with your shoulder" and "put your head back" and things like that. I'm pretty sore today but not as much as I thought I would be though I feel really good otherwise, more energetic than I have in a while. My problem with the low-carb craze has little to do with the specific diets but more with social perception in general. Suddenly all carbs become bad just like all fat was bad before and, without reading books or specific articles, people make food choices based on that perception. I'd rather people eat in phases or follow a program than make stupid food choices. Then there is the not-for-everyone aspect. I think balance is a key for most people, but some I know some people who have insane sugar cravings that they can't manage. My uncle's exwife had that problem; it wasn't medical she just couldn't control her cravings. Even if she could control her intake, it made her miserable. Atkins worked for her for this reason. And everyone must move their bodies. Exercise is not just for losing weight.

Yet so many people treat it that way. (Why do I keep losing the ends of my posts?)

shake it like a polaroid picture. recently i saw several man-on-the-street or person-in-the-mall type interviews on television where people were saying "bread is bad for you." ha ha. talking to bricks!

I read an article about bakeries losing business. I don't think bread is bad, but I have to freeze the bread I buy now because it takes me about 3+ weeks to finish a loaf and because no preservatives.

I meant to say that about exercise, too. Everybody needs to move their feet. And that there's more to being healthy than just your weight. . One of my favorite meals is extra sharp cheddar and hard rolls. I love bakeries. . Beer is liquid bread.

I hear you Dave,when I started posting here I was thin,skinny,now everything I wear has elastic.I don't even eat that much,it's the lazy.

"Suddenly all carbs become bad just like all fat was bad before and, without reading books or specific articles, people make food choices based on that perception." i don't think any of the low-carb diet plans say that all carbs are bad. carbs aren't bad, but eating too much of them is bad, and eating the wrong kinds is bad. carbs that spike your blood sugar are bad, but carbs that don't are not. it's not that a low-carb diet means no carbs or that all carbs are bad. i think it's more carb awareness, and the de-evilization of fat. that said, i had a follow-up apt w/ the gastro doc this morning and was horrified by my weigh-in. now i am in a very, very bad mood and feel shitty about myself. no wonder my pants haven't been fitting right. duh. i gotta go get a scale and start using it again.

"i don't think any of the low-carb diet plans say that all carbs are bad" I never said that they did. I was talking about social perception...it's the general lack of awareness of proper nutrition, and what jack's example illustrated. The good/ bad way of thinking about food doesn't work, but i still think that is how many people still operate.

true. does anyone remember the pineapple diet from the late 70's? my mom made me go on that.

is it me, or did the 70s and early 80s spawn a lot of those single-food type diets? grapefruit? cabbage soup? I don't remember the pineapple diet. my mother was really into the diet workshop which just ww under a different name. she was the only one of her friends to keep the weight off because after they all quit she kept eating sensibly and exercising.

Last night I had Mardi Gras early and ate roast pork loin in a molasses-and-rum sauce skewered on sugar canes on top of roast pineapple, sweet potato puree, and whole plaintain chips. It was like having pirates of the Caribbean on a plate. Then I came home, had three rectangles of Cadbury chocolate, and nearly fell asleep at 7:30 pm. This morning I saw I had gained 3 pounds or retained the equivalent in water. Whatever. It was worth it.

so i started this on sunday. again. last night at about 8pm, i started cooking some no-bean chili. i loosely based it on recipes from here. today, 16 hours later, i'm happy to announce that it's delicious! it's not as lo carb as it probably should be. i didn't use the bouillons since they usually have sugar added but i did put in a pinch of brown sugar at the end, just to knock the edge off. i like how the recipes all have totally white trash seasonings for the ingredients. piggly wiggly gourmet. yum!

I like my bread and beer and cookies and pie and fruit too much to ever do this.

from the picture i saw of you a couple years back, you wouldn't need to. if you were a lard-ass like i am, you might consider it. goddam, that was good.

speaking of beans....*safety* Last night I thought seriously about doing a modified seafood/vegetarian induction phase, just to see if I could since I don't really eat that many not-so-good-carbs anyway. I may still, but not until I understand more specifically, how many carbs I can remove from my diet and not freak out. I found a website that claimed you can do the induction phase of atkins as a vegetarian or a vegan, but the only sample menus were for a seafood/vegetarian one. Now, it may be the case that you can, but does anyone know how? I'm just curious. And I don't mean general low carb eating, I mean induction level. When my diet was mostly vegan, I could keep carbs low but not that low.

From the Atkins website: ********************************************* Can a vegetarian follow the Atkins Nutritional Approach? Animal proteins are a vital component of doing Atkins and it is difficult to follow the program without them. Meat, fish and poultry contain many essential amino acids that cannot be found in any other sources. However, if you are willing to eat eggs, cheese and tofu for protein, it is possible to do Atkins. Nonetheless, the limited options would make it a boring program to follow and most vegetarians do not stay with it long term. If you are willing to also eat fish, doing Atkins becomes more enjoyable. A vegan cannot follow Atkins. A pure vegan diet could never be low enough in carbohydrates, because there are no plants that are carbohydrate free. ************************************************

And to add on to the last paragraph: Not only that, but the only foods you *could* eat during induction would be vegetables. No nuts, no beans, no rice -- hence, no protein. Just green vegetables and oil. That sounds like hell *and* is nutritionally unsound.

I forgot about tofu. Well, whatever....tofu and vegetables. Blarg.

Yes, but you can only eat so much tofu before the carbs in that will catch up to you...I think. Soy beans are still beans after all. I could be wrong, still blarg is right. I don't even know how I could handle the tofu without the sauces I make, which have carbs of some kind in them.

have you tried Beano? my dad and dave are both fans.

no. i really need to leave here now because i am just wasting time and i want to cook Sarah's Pumpkin Kale Curry Soup tonight.

this is a good soup. I added a little more curry paste. next time I'll add more garlic and ginger.

I love tomatoe soup,the kind without chicken stock.I love potatoe soup,but I guess that's high carb.I love bread too,the staff of life.I can only drink one beer and that is so wrong.

I have a question for all you lowcarbers out there. Did any of you have trouble sleeping?

nocturnal hypoglycemia. *sigh* I thought since I was not scary-cranky I was doing okay.

"Min you, this is the same woman who was fascinated by a toenail fungus medicine commercial that showed a computer generated imp ripping off a giant toenail from a giant toe" I finally saw that ad last night. I was on the phone with Sem. OHMIGOD it was awful. And what you don't mention is that he steps on to the nail-less toe and plays on it with other imps. ew.

Yeah, ain't it kewl? :P I've never had that sleeping problem, but I usually snack a bit before going to bed.

are boogers low carb?