WOW thanks for all the really nice comments!! What a wonderful welcome back!

I’m sorry that I haven’t gotten around to catch up on blogs yet - yikes it feels like I haven’t sat down for two minutes since I got back!  Had to pick up our cat from my brother’s house yesterday and then today I had to take him to the vet.  Poor baby, he had an impacted colon and had to be roto-rootered.  This is the 4th time we’ve had to take him in for this problem.  Apparently he’s going to be at risk for this to recur for the rest of his life.  I now have two prescriptions for him: one for a daily fiber additive and one for a daily laxative.  Oh joy.  =D

Grabthebull asked what waterfalls we’d visited in NC and also asked where were my pictures.  I have a kazillion pictures (hubby was in charge of the camera, he always remembers to take a bunch) so it was tough but I narrowed them down to post just these:

This is the view from the top of the steps - there’s a sitting room on the top floor that overlooks the livingroom and dining area.  That sitting room is right in front of the master bedroom which includes a huge walk-in closet and a full bath.

Here’s my daughter looking out at the view.

Yeah, and here’s the view.

Our cabin was on a mountain high above the city of Murphy, NC.

The first waterfall we visited was called Whitewater, and at over 4,000 feet above sea level, it’s the highest waterfall in the eastern US.  This was a view from the top of the mountain where the falls are.  The mountain we were standing on was in NC, but the lake was in SC - it’s that close to the border.  It’s also not far from Georgia - we had to go through a little corner of GA to get to the mountain.

There it is - the Whitewater falls.

Another neat waterfall, this one man-made.  Near Highlands, NC?  I don’t remember!

Down the river a bit.

And then here we are on New Years Day at this cool Trading Post place we visited.

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Okay, totally unrelated, I have to share this:  I got the heart monitor I wanted for Christmas!  Ha!  I sent my “Dear Santa” letter to my husband a couple weeks before Christmas and he was able to order it for me.  I haven’t actually tried it yet but woohoo I’m so excited to have it!!!

Oh, and PS for GTB:  A half-cup of cauliflower is only 2g net carbs (and about 40 calories) - and if ya mash it up like potatoes, it makes a great starchy-like-base for stroghanoff or spaghetti sauce.  I’d never even thought of replacing spaghetti with a pile of cauliflower - but honestly, it was awesome!  It’s just so nice to have an alternative that’s FILLING! 

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I’m home!

The cabin in the North Carolina mountains was FANTASTIC!  Even better than the pictures.  We absolutely fell in love with the house!  I was not, however, particularly fond of the DRIVEWAY leading to the house.  OMG I’m such a flatlander - this driveway went straight up!!  It scared the bejeezus outta me every single time I drove up on it (oddly, it did not really bother me on the way down).

Overall we had a very nice vacation getaway and made lots of neat memories.  Overall.  Yes, overall.  We did have some drama during the trip centered around my 18-year-old daughter but then there’s always drama when she’s involved.  *Sigh*  It’s sad because my husband and both my sons did not want her to come along but I insisted that it was a “family” trip and it would not be right to leave her out of it.  She has several challenges (she’s visually impaired, has OCD, ADD, and an autistic-like lack of social skills) and I think she doesn’t mean to make things difficult but somehow she just can’t help herself.  There were definitely moments during this vacation, though, when I wished I hadn’t insisted she come along.

Please don’t judge my men too harshly for not wanting her there.  She really is a handful and can singlehandedly ruin pretty much anything she sets her mind to.  Being her brother or her step-dad or her mother has been a day-to-day challenge for all of us for many years.  Last summer after she turned 18 she moved in with her grandmother (my mom) and life has been quite peaceful and serene for all of us ever since.  I don’t blame my men for not wanting her to influence (and potentially detonate) our vacation trip.

Anyway…  I’m thinking perhaps I should just delete those last two paragraphs.  The drama we all experienced was definitely unpleasant but made up maybe 15% of the whole trip.  The other 85% was very, very cool.  =D

I thought I’d try to recap the days from the perspective of FOOD intake, like food is the center of the universe.  Sigh - isn’t it?!?  Sometimes it feels that way.  During this vacation I went off-plan-on-plan a couple times and worried with every “illegal” bite that I was sabotaging all the progress of the last six months.  If you happened to actually read the stats up above then you already know… WOOOOHOOOOOO I WENT ON VACATION AND LOST FIVE POUNDS!!!!!  LOL, I can’t tell you how EXCITED I was when I stepped on the scale today (praying over and over please-let-it-not-be-over-245-please-let-it-not-be-over-245!) and not only did I see two-thirty-something but holy crap I saw two-thirty-SIX-something!!!!  YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWW!!!

Ahem.  Okay I’m back under control.  Here’s my recap:

Friday, December 26, 2008.  I stayed OP with food as we ran around like chickens without heads trying to get stuff done so we could get on the road.  The plan was to be on our way before dark but that didn’t happen.  We dropped our cat off at my brothers house and headed out of town at 11pm, drove until 4:30 am, then stopped at a hotel and slept for five hours.  Incredibly, at this, the very start of our vacation… my body decides to start TOM!!  Aii-yi-yi!  I was hopeful, though, because usually after TOM, I show a weight-loss.  After twenty-two days stalled, I would do anything for a loss!

Saturday, December 27, 2008.  I stayed OP with food even though we spent most of the day in the van and our eating choices were difficult at roadside-diner-type-places.  We were supposed to go grocery shopping but got to the cabin after dark and I navigated that steep driveway for the first time without being able to see where I was going.  I was NOT going back down and up again.  So Kevin and I ate low-carb food we had with us and for the non-dieters there was a package of tater-tots in the freezer.  Yummm, LOL.

Sunday, December 28, 2008.  We slept in late and managed to get down off the mountain in search of sustenance (we were all pretty hungry!).  The only restaurant we came across was a KFC with an all-you-can-eat-buffet.  Kevin and I decided if we were eating there, we’d go OFF plan for the day.  I had a little bit of fried chicken and filled up on salad and broccoli casserole and mashed potatoes and gravy.  I definitely did not leave hungry.  After lunch we went to my brother’s house (a little over an hour away) and after visiting a while we all went out to Pizza Hut for dinner.  Kevin had pizza (with crust, wooohoo!) and I had their pasta alfredo.  It felt so decadent to eat PASTA!  We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to our cabin and bought more than $200 worth of food!  It was seven days of food for five people - much cheaper than eating out 3 times a day (at least 40-50 bucks a meal for us all to eat out).

Monday, December 29, 2008.  Back on plan!  We had plans to meet up with my brother and his family and go exploring NC waterfalls.  My kids helped me to prepare a big picnic lunch for everyone with lot of choices: ham, smoked turkey, egg salad, tuna salad, and ham salad sandwiches (Kevin and I used low-carb tortillas for ours).  It was a really cool day.  The hiking for waterfall-viewing was a good workout, no doubt!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008.  Spent the day exploring the town of Murphy, NC.  Went to the local historical museum and the library, and strolled the downtown.  Stayed OP the whole day - Kevin and I were SO thrilled that we found an ice-cream shop with low-carb ice cream!  Just 3 carbs per scoop, woohooo!!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008.  Our friends from South Carolina joined us at the cabin (Wendi, her husband and their 13-yo son).  I had promised them beef stroghanoff for dinner and Wendi made cauliflower for us to have ours over (she low-carbs too).  It was incredible!!!  I am now a cauliflower lover!

Thursday, January 1, 2008.  Wendi and her husband brought their own special spaghetti sauce with them to share with us on New Years Day.  While everyone else had their spaghetti (and Kevin ate his sauce in a bowl like chili), Wendi and I had our sauce over cauliflower.  Again, it was a spectacular substitute for starches!  We played card games, talked, laughed, and had a great time.

Friday, January 2nd, 2008.  Wendi and her family stayed for breakfast (did I mention that I made pancakes for everyone two days in a row?  Regular pancakes and low-carb ones - so yeah, I stayed OP!) and then packed up and headed for home.  My family spent a relatively quiet day exploring the mountain our cabin was on.  We couldn’t believe it was the last day and our trip would be over.  I had an incredible workout coming back up the mountain. 

Saturday, January 3rd, 2008.  It took all morning to pack up and clean up.  We all worked hard to leave the cabin even cleaner than we found it (which was basically immaculate).  It was a little after noon when we piled into the van and went down that steep driveway one last time.  Kevin and I had decided the night before that for the drive home we were going off plan.  We stopped at the Cougar Den Restaurant in Copperhill, TN and had the best home-cooking a person could ask for.  I opted for a grilled chicken sandwich that was cooked over fire - it was delicious!  We all walked out of there groaning because we’d indulged in home-made apple cobbler that was hot out of the oven and to DIE for!  OMG if you ever get to that corner of TN, ya gotta eat at that restaurant.  We had dinner at Cracker Barrel - I had a yummy chicken-broccoli-cheese skillet thing and green beans.

We got home this morning at 3:30 a.m.  I slept in until 10:30.  We had a wonderful trip but it’s great to be home!

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We’re leaving soon for North Carolina - and there’s no internet at the cabin so — see ya next year!! 

Hugs Hugs Hugs,

Eileen

I didn’t add up yesterday’s food until today.  I thought I was being liberal with my portions and my choices.  Certainly I thought I racked up at least 1600 or more for the day.  Ha!  I didn’t even make it to 1300!   I think it’s pretty funny that I can’t seem to eat 1900 calories a day!  There was a time not so long ago that I could have consumed that many calories during just one meal!

It says a lot, I think, about how my mindset has changed.  Even though I’ve upped my calorie limit, I haven’t been tempted at all to start eating anything other than what I’ve been eating all along.  Keeping away from the carbs - the wheat stuff, the starchy stuff, and the sweet stuff - just naturally results in less calories.  Oh, I could rack up some major calories really quickly if I widened my food selections to include french fries and chocolate milkshakes! 

It’s tempting to stop counting everything and logging every morsel that I eat.  On the days when I don’t count-as-I-go, I almost always find that I’ve consumed way less calories and carbs than I thought I did.  How liberating it would be to just trust myself to make good choices every day and never actually log in my food to find out!  Thing is, I guess I don’t trust myself.  Logging my food makes me accountable.  I’m just a little bit OCD so I’m not so sure I could go without knowing anyway!  Sooner or later I think I’d break down and try to recreate any days I missed.  And then I’d be all like omg-I-know-I-forgot-something! 

*Smirk*  I guess I’ll just keep doin’ what I’m doin’.  It would be nice to see an actual LOSS though.  I am still stalled since December 4th - that makes 18 days now!  But hey I’m still plugging away.  =D

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Hubby and I are finally working on our bathroom remodel!  Woohooo!!!

He started this project back on December 8 and then just a buncha stuff came up and it never progressed to the next level, but as of Friday night he’s on vacation so Saturday morning he went into demotion mode!  He tore the whole floor out yesterday.  For you up-northerners, let me clarify.  I live in a typical “older” Florida home.  It does not have a basement.  It does not have a concrete foundation.  It is built up off the ground with a crawl-space underneath.  So this means when he took out the bathroom floor - underneath was DIRT.  LOL!

I mentioned back on the 8th that the bathroom had some structural issues - well, Hubby decided to resolve all the issues by basically rebuilding the whole room.  So yeah, yesterday was demolition day and then today was begin-building-it day.  Of course anyone who’s ever tried to do any kind of do-it-yourself-home-repair can tell ya one basic truth:  It ain’t never as quick or as easy as you plan it to be.  Ha!  My wonderful husband is a whiz at carpentry and repair but he hates plumbing - anything to do with plumbing.  Wouldn’tcha know it, when we got down in there, we uncovered some pretty significant issues that we now have to deal with before putting the new subflooring down.  He knows how to do it, he just hates it, that’s all.

Me, my one strength in this project is measuring.  Whenever measuring and cutting is necessary, I’m the one down there with the tape measure getting the exact measurement needed and then I’m the one outside by the saw with the square and the big thick pencil, marking exactly where the cuts need to be.  When I’m not measuring - well, then I’m the gofer.  I don’t mind being his gofer, I actually like it.  I feel like a surgical nurse, trying to anticipate his next need.  I’m the best damn gofer he’s ever had.  =D

Even just being a gofer has been a nice workout.  I must have stepped up and down from ground to floor to ground to floor a hundred times (a big step for my short little legs, lol) and have been carrying boards around and hauling debris down to the dumpster at my office.  We worked from 11am until 6pm tonight - 7 hours! - and now I feel a little sore and a whole lot tired - so I’m thinking I got enough exercise today.

As far as my food intake, I’ve still been under my target calories but I’ll admit, it has been nice to be able to have whipped cream on my coffee and pistachios in my salad!  I haven’t lost an ounce from when I started this zig-zag thing but that’s okay.  I said I’d give it a try and I’m not even a week in yet.

Hey-hey-hey!!!! My buddy xyourbellemortex checked in today finally!!!  WOMAN, you were SO missed here!  I’m so happy to see you back here in these parts!!!   Mwwwwwah!

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I saw a one-pound gain this morning.  So I still have not broken my plateau.  But I knew to expect a possible gain at first with this elevated calorie-level thing I’m trying (thank you realcdn for warning me of that!!!) so I’m not freaked out about it - yet.  Even though I haven’t seen any weight-loss progress yet, there have been some “results” already, just not the kind I was necessarily expecting… 

1)  I definitely do feel more awake and energetic.  I can feel the difference that it makes to have adequate fuel.  I still get tired in the evenings but sh*t, I’m forty-seven years old, I have a house, a cat, a husband, three kids, and a full-time job.  After a long day I get a little tired.  No biggie.

2) I may not be losing weight but I am burning fat.  The ketosis strips show either pink (for a trace of ketones) or purple (for a higher number of ketones).  Ketones are by-products which are created when the body burns fat instead of carbs.  My sticks are usually either light pink or just a little bit purple.  I did it last night and I set the stick aside (supposed to wait 1-2 minutes) and when I looked at it a couple minutes later I was like WOW that’s purple!  It was the darkest purple I’ve ever seen it.

3) Even though I’ve been stalled with no weight loss at all, my body has changed.  I last recorded my measurements at the end of October, at which time I had lost a total of 25.5 inches.  I measured again two days ago and now my total lost inches is …. drum roll … 29.5!  I lost 4 more inches and that is an awesome thing to celebrate.  Also, I noticed today that when I drove my Mustang I had a bunch of room between my belly and the steering wheel.  Woohoooo!!  This is a really good thing because I love my car and it really bugged me that my car kinda didn’t “fit” me.  I had to put my seat back and cinch the seatbelt really tight to keep my belly from rubbing against the steering wheel.  Now, even without a seatbelt, my belly doesn’t come anywhere near the steering wheel, wooohooo!

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One week from today, we leave for the cabin in North Carolina!  Yeeeeeehawwww!!!  I’m really looking forward to getting away from it all and just enjoying our time and making memories!!

Here are some photos of our rented-home-away-from-home.  I hope it’s as nice as it looks!

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GAWWD I’M IN A GOOD MOOD TODAY!!!  Today was payday, woohooo!  So I went shopping online this morning, that was fun.  Our family has a pull-a-name-out-of-the-hat gift exchange each year and of course I got someone out-of-town (my niece and her husband in Connecticut).  But nowadays it’s SO much easier because I can just order stuff online and have it delivered to the recipient! 

I also ordered something online that’s cool for my daughter - a microphone / karaoke system.  We saw this at the baby shower last month, one of the guests brought this microphone thingie that she just plugged into the TV and voila! - karaoke on the screen with the music and the singing coming out of the TV speakers.  My daughter thought this was so cool because the songs are programmed right into the microphone thing (it comes with a book showing the codes for over 1,000 songs).  They sell for $179 but I managed to find one online for $114.  Now if it’ll just get here in time (I paid $6 extra for 2-day shipping, which I thought was a really good deal).

Yesterday’s zig-zag target calorie amount was 2314.  Ha!  I didn’t make it again.  I was pleased to see that I didn’t gain any weight because of what felt like a massive eating-binge but rather I held to the exact same poundage as yesterday.  *Shrug*  Beats gaining.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens as time goes on.  Today’s target calorie amount is 1928.  It’s 4pm and I’m at only 683 calories and 8.7 carbs so far today.  I’m thinking it’s time for a snack, LOL.

If there are any low-carbers out there looking for snack-food, boy do I have an INCREDIBLE find for you!  Microwave Cheezits! It’s not my recipe (of course, lol!), I found it at Linda’s Low-Carb recipe site back in the summer.  I’ve been avoiding making these because of the calories - but now that I’ve upped my calorie limits I’m happy to add it back into my available choices.  They rock!  And are so easy to make, which is really good for Eileen-who-hates-to-cook!

MICROWAVE LOWCARB CHEEZITS

Ingredients:  Kraft Deli Deluxe American Cheese Slices
                   (This is the kind that comes in a stack - NOT individually wrapped)

Cut one square of cheese into 16 tiny squares. Arrange on a sheet of parchment paper in somewhat of a ring around the edges of the paper. Don’t place the cheese squares too close together or they’ll stick to each other. Don’t place any in the center of the paper or they will burn before the outer squares are done.

Carefully place the sheet of parchment on the tray of a microwave oven. Microwave on HIGH about 65 seconds, or until the crackers are well-browned, but not burnt. Watch closely and add more time if needed.

Remove the parchment from microwave and let the crackers cool slightly before removing them from the paper. Peel them off the paper and store in an airtight container. Repeat this process one cheese slice at a time. These will keep quite well in an air-tight container at room temperature for several days or longer.

Each slice of cheese makes 16 crackers
Can be frozen

Per Serving (16 crackers): 80 Calories; 7g Fat; 4g Protein; 0g Carbohydrate; 0g Fiber

You can also cut the slices of cheese into quarters for larger crackers.  Watch them closely as they cook because they tend to get dark faster than the tiny squares.

Ya gotta try these - you won’t believe how yummy they are!  And what a cool snack for kids (my assistant at work saw me make these and tried it at home with her 9yo who loved it).  For those who are watching their carbs it opens up a whole world of dips and spreads (which are usually low-carb BUT we have nothing to put them on!!!)

Did I mention - that I’m in a really good mood today?!  =D

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Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):        1928  / 40.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1863  /  36.4
Yesterday’s exercise:    30 minutes elliptical
Weight Yesterday:: 241.6    Today:  241.0
Change today::  -0.6 lbs.         Loss-so-far:   44.2 lbs.          bmi:  45.54

As you can see, my hair is getting lighter.  Ha!  I’m aiming for blonde-blonde eventually.  This progression of pictures is bugging me, actually.  It’s a year’s progress - and I still have so far to go!  I know I know - this year has been a learning process and my progress (or lack thereof) in the first half of this year is something I can’t go back and change.  It is what it is.

Another thing that is what it is - is my chin.  Or I should say “chinS.”  *Sigh*  My mother has the very same protrusion on her neck, has had it all her life, through thick and not-so-thick.  Me, I’ve never been anything but overweight, so I have no idea what my neck is gonna end up looking like when I’m less thick.  When the time comes, I will consider my surgical options (not just for that, for all the skin I’m planning on not needing anymore as well).

My first day of zigzagging went well, I think.  I didn’t make it to 1928 calories, but 1863 was pretty close.  I did see a loss this morning but I know that doesn’t mean anything.  Today’s target calorie number is 2314.  OMG It’s 6pm and I’m at 835 so far.  Higher than I usually am at this time of day but dang!  How am I gonna eat 1400 more calories - for dinner?  LOL this is an interesting dilemma for me!  Uncharted territory!

I did get some exercise - YAY!!  I jumped on the elliptical last night during The Biggest Loser finale and put in 30 minutes of SWEAT - wooohoooo!!!!  Then this morning I ran/walked to work (one whole block, lol) and this afternoon I put in another 20 minutes on the elliptical.  I’m planning on an additional 20 minutes after dinner.

It’s probably my imagination, but I feel more energetic already!

Okay - speaking of The Biggest Loser - - WAY TO GO MICHELLE!!!! WOOOOOT!!!!!!  I was SO relieved that Vickie didn’t win!!!  I have to admit, I was VERY amused when Vickie weighed in ONE POUND SHORT from beating Ed!!  HA!!!  ONE pound!  I bet she was wishin’ she’d cut her hair!  Didn’t matter anyway because Michelle beat ‘em both by ten pounds.  Oh hey could you believe the change in Heba?  I was actually happy for her winning the 100 grand, even though I didn’t care much for her participation in Vickie’s game-playing stuff.

I saw the previews for the new TBL which is starting in January - and they showed “the oldest couple ever” on TBL and the old man collapsing and looking like he was gonna die.  I’m sorry - this is not entertainment to me.  I know they need their drama factor to keep the audience’s attention, but let’s not kill off old people in the process.  (Rolling eyes)

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It’s cool that I have this blog because I can look back at my own history and hopefully learn from it.  So today I scrolled back, all the way back to August, and read my own words describing all my good reasoning for cutting back on my caloric intake.  I had read an article about how some low-carbers had experienced slower weight-loss or even prolongued stalls because of their low-carb-but-high-calorie intake.  I recognized myself as one of those who had been indulging quite freely in cheeses and nuts, driving my calories higher and higher.  I had this wondrous insight on August 25.  I started counting calories the very next day.

So now I look back at the weeks before August 25.  Was I stalled?  Was I losing weight too slowly?  In those early weeks, I wasn’t logging in my food every day - and I wasn’t paying any attention to my calories, whether they were high or low, I didn’t really notice.  Well, this is my body - and it is unique - so today I took the time to go back and find those calorie numbers so I could see for myself how my caloric intake changed - and how my body responded.

 Week of   Loss/Gain     Daily Calories                                          Avg. Calories

    7/21     -1.6 lbs.    1656,695,1198,917,1169                                1127
    7/28     -0.6 lbs.     765,785,1033,1091,1353,1585,1425             1148
    8/4       -0.2 lbs.     1282,884,1155,1078,1055                             1090
    8/11     -3.8 lbs.     1175,1371,1286,1519,1464,1490,1565         1410
    8/18    +1.0 lbs.     1390,1134,2037,1812,1498,661,1861           1341

Ok, so in the 5 weeks before August 25, I was averaging 1223 calories a day and my net loss averaged 1.04 lbs. per week.  That felt too slow to me, so I made the decision to start paying attention to my calories.  I set a limit and thought that I was lowering my intake.  But look…

     8/25    -0.4 lbs.     1417,1749,1057,1301,1151,851                     1254
     9/1      -2.4 lbs.     1212,1153,1255,1192,1486                            1259
     9/8      -1.2 lbs.     1050,1123,1637,1158,1706,1161,1418          1321
     9/15    -1.8 lbs.     991,1313,1152,1103,1253,1309,884              1143
     9/22    -1.8 lb.      1311,1381,1081,1399,1407,1800,1311           1384
     9/29    -3.6 lbs.     1399,1216,1433,1241,1211,1702,1232          1347
     10/6    -0.6 lbs.     1099,1357,1275,1255,1388,912,1377            1237
     10/1    -1.0 lbs.     1342,1229,986,1455,1392,1288,1287            1282
     10/20  -3.4 lbs.     1397,1389,1185,1105,1418,1291,1477          1323
     10/27  +1.0 lbs.     1430,1364,1076,1353,1140,1128,1490          1283
     11/3    -3.0 lbs.     1399,1382,1362,1265,1213,1359,1274          1322
     11/10  +1.0 lbs.     1395,1407,1337,1255,1001,1252,1092         1248
     11/17  -4.4 lbs.     1320,1550,975,1549,1239,1161,1208            1286
     11/24  +0.4 lbs.     1074,1345,1134,TG,1534,1793,1148             1338*
     12/1    -3.2 lbs.     1277,1229,1240,1135,1065,1362,1185          1213
     12/8    +0.6 lbs.     1072,1087,1263,1158,1104,932,1463            1154

* Does not include Thanksgiving Day calories

In this 16-week period, I lost 23.8 lbs, for an average of 1.48 lbs. per week.  Better than the 1.04 per week in that first five weeks - BUT… I didn’t lower my caloric intake as I thought!  Actually, I raised it.  From an average of 1223 per day to an average of 1274 per day.  Not much of a change, but how surprising for me to find out now that instead of imposing a caloric limit back in August - I actually increased my daily calories!

So the question is now… If I increase it further, will I lose weight faster?  Well, hell, it’s time to find out!!!  I’m nervous about this step, but it’s a journey, right?!?  What’s a journey without a few scary twists and turns?!  We’ll call it an experiment and I’ll try it for a few weeks.  SOOOOOOOOOOOOO….

Today I went back to the zig zag calculator  that inkheartmeg has been using (which, ironically, I turned her on to!) and plugged in my info.  Here’s how it came back:

Monday         1928
Tuesday        1928
Wednesday    2314
Thursday       1928
Friday            1928
Saturday        2121
Sunday          1928

Yikes!  I’m not even sure I know how to eat 1928 calories a day anymore!!!  And here’s the reallllllly interesting part:  I want to stay low-carb.  How am I gonna get my calories up that high and still stay below, say, 40-50 carbs per day?!  Answer:  Cheese and nuts!  LOL.  So tonight I made myself a yummy low-carb-high-calorie meal, the same exact meal that I was rejoicing about before I started limiting my calories:

Broccoli casserole, cheddar bay biscuits, and a nice salad.  I’m hoping that with this kinda fuel I won’t be feeling so exhausted all the time!

I think I’m gonna like this experiment.  =D

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It’s my own fault.  And I know it’s my own fault.  It’s not like I don’t have someone to blame:  ME.   Except for the home-improvement stuff, I haven’t been exercising.  Since early last week I haven’t been doing the home-improvement stuff either.  It’s like I just don’t have the energy.  The thought of which leads me to, “You’re not getting enough fuel,” and then that thought leads me to, “Eat more!  Cheat!” which leads me to days like yesterday when I just felt like I could not get enough food.  So yesterday I ate.  And ate.  Yet last night I was more tired than ever and fell asleep by 9pm.  Which is probably a good thing because if I hadn’t I probably would have eaten even more food.

From 12/4 through 12/14, my average intake was 1136 calories per day.  It’s not that I starved myself!  I ate good, healthy low-calorie food and I was never hungry.  It’s amazing to me that even without exercising, I didn’t lose some weight because that intake was even lower than usual (I generally keep it in the 1300’s).  I guess that perhaps it was too low?  It’s so confusing to me sometimes.

So anyway, I haven’t been blogging, partly because I’m just the tiniest bit discouraged, and partly because I’m just so tired all the time.  I’m still working a full time job and basically functioning - but just not getting much done beyond what I have to.  Thank you, though, for making me feel special like I was missed!

Oh I did get a little exercise this past weekend — it was fun!  The nonprofit organization that I work for was in the local Christmas parade and my husband and I decided to ride our bikes instead of riding on the back of the (decorated) pickup truck.  We had strings of beads (with little folded flyers attached) hanging off our bikes that we gave out along the route.  What a hoot!

This picture was taken by one of my co-workers who was in the bed of the truck:

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