Ezma

Yay Denise! I'm so glad your shakes got there. Let me know if they are good frozen cause ice cream has been calling me big time. I've avoided it some days but others have been horrible. The other thing that has me in it's grips now is pumpkin scones from Whole Foods and zucchini walnut muffins from Starbucks. Hoping hubby gets out of the hospital today so I won't have to face Starbucks all the time. There's one right in the hospital lobby and I have to walk by it every day. Well, I don't walk by it or it wouldn't be a problem. LOL

I'm getting very excited about Thanksgiving. I might not be able to eat much but it'll be the first time in a long while that the family has all been together. I'm bringing the vegetables this year, very excited about cooking something new for dinner. This is what I'm making - Green Beans with Bacon and Mushrooms Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts ( It has fresh roasted chestnuts, parmesan cheese and lemon in it. It's also supposed to have bacon but I'm already using bacon in the green beans.) Cauliflower with Brown Butter, Pears, Sage and Hazelnuts

This is my biggie - Cuisinart Hard Anodized Non-stick 10 piece cookware set But this is what I want most - Healthy Hubby

Becca - good to see you back again. I went and got caught up on your blogs too. Sorry to hear you were having trouble with your band. Did you get back to a good restriction yet?

Well, I decided I would get back on track when hubby gets out of the hospital. It's just too hard right now and quite frankly I'm in a "piss on it" mood about food. Good news is that he's coming along really well and looks like he should be out tomorrow or the next day, most likely the next day.

Gibson - I missed you. Where the heck have you been? Never, never, never feel like you have to avoid this site please. We're here for you when you're losing and especially when you aren't. Frustration seems to be a partner of the band. You know there's bound to be someone here that has been or is going thru the same thing you are, sometimes they are just quiet about it. Let it out and let us help if we can. Come back little Gibson. You're doing good by the way. With all the frustration you had, all the time without any restriction and you still managed to keep from gaining it all back. Way to go!!!!!! :thumbup:

I'm really struggling right now. I have a double whammy making it hard to eat right. First off and probably the toughest is that I'm so tired and so busy with the hospital and all that goes with it (phone calls, paper work, emails, etc) that I don't feel like packing and dragging food with me so I end up eating out. It's very difficult to eat right. And secondly, it's hard to want to eat right. I just want to give myself some pleasure and for me, food is the easiest way. Old habits really do die hard. I'm getting better each day but it's really a struggle and I have 4 pounds to lose again, only 2 up from Tuesday but still it's up. I have to find a way to care about losing weight again. I know it's for me but it's so hard when I'm getting more energy to do all those things we always wanted to do and he's getting sicker and less energy. Okay, enough of that. Pity party is over. Time to move on and get back on track. Please!

Ready - you two are just so cute. You're both truly blessed to have such a wonderful relationship. And you deserve it!

Just gonna say a giant ditto to everything you said there Tap. DITTO

He is doing better. Thank you for asking. The antibiotics have cleared up half of the infection and got rid of the fever. And either the blood thinner or reduction of his steroids have helped to reduce the swelling all over his body. He has been up and moving around move. Yay! Right now it looks like he'll come home on Saturday. Today I get to learn how to give him a shot in the belly then it's off to work. At least I hope that's the way it will go. It's tough to miss so much time at work right before Christmas.

Hey Tap. How was your portion size on that peanut butter? If you kept that to a reasonable amount I'd say you did really well. That apple helped to bulk it up and make you feel like you were having a lot. Plus the preparation made it so much better than mindlessly chomping away at nuts and having no idea how many you were eating until the container was empty. Sounds like you did great! I think I'm over the ice cream as long as I keep the mint chocolate chip out of the house.

Guess who came to visit me again last night? Yep, Mr. Ice Cream. And it tasted not so good. Can't say it was horrible but it was blah. Bad news - I finished it anyway even though it was only mildly edible. Good news - Sugar Free pudding sounds so much better now. Yay!

Well, I'm doing it again. I'm doing the stress eating and the "whew, I'm done with the diet, now give me that" eating. But the good news is I'm posting here so I can get it out in the open and move on. I'm determined to eat healthy today. It's amazing how fast you feel sluggish after eating a bunch of sugar. Plus I think I figured out how I was gaining even when I thought I was being good on south beach. Turns out starbucks breve latte has a lot, and I mean a lot, of half and half in it. Explains why it tastes so good and why I could gain a couple pounds in a couple days of strict dieting. Probably would have been alright if I had only had one but I was drinking 3-4 large size ones at the hospital. So now I'll make it at home and take it to the hospital. That will also keep me away from the healthy, yah right, zucchini walnut muffins and the whole wheat cranberry scones. Today is fresh and clean and new. I intend to keep my body that way also.

Thank you Tap. I really needed to hear that today, more than you will ever know. Thanks.

Ready, I'm glad you posted. We all have bad days. Lord knows I've had some very recently. So I'm glad you posted because I know it means you are ready to get back on the program. You go girl!

Down 1.6 this morning but still up 1.4 from my lowest point. Switched to phase II today and boy or boy do strawberries taste great. I'm amazed that I didn't cheat at all this last week or so. I've been extremely tempted because my husband is back in the hospital again. This time it's due to a blood clot in his leg. They are supposed to put a filter thing in today since the normal long term blood thinner they use doesn't react well with his chemotherapy. I knew something was wrong the past weekend because he was so down and tired, he was running a fever and the back of his calf thigh and behind his knee was hot, angry red and super sore. I'm really getting tired of hospitals and I get to go rip someone a new hole this morning. They tried to give him the wrong dose of chemo and wouldn't listen when he told them it was wrong plus the pain meds they gave him weren't doing much and they wouldn't get new orders for something different. They did finally give him the right dosage of chemo but it was 2.5 hours late. Plus on top of that, he's still sitting in an ER room because they don't have a hospital room for him yet. Makes me so sad to see him feel like no one wants to care for him because he's dying anyway. Man do I want some ice cream! But I am stronger than my cravings~!

That sounds heavenly and super healthy too. I'm gonna have to try it soon.

Tap is not bad! Tap just had a very normal, though not so kind to the band, food adventure yesterday. Tap is motivated and strong and back on track today. :thumbup:

Going to go on phase 2 tomorrow. That should be a piece of cake. Well, no cake but should be easy. It's pretty much the way I want to eat anyway. Only problem I have with it is the artificial sweetners. The fruit should help me get rid of most of it but I still need some sweet in my coffee. It's the price I'm going to have to pay to get rid of this weight I guess.

Okay, the chickpeas sound wonderful and I'd love the recipe. But 4 cups? Wow! You were having a day weren't you? Oh well, it happens and we can move on. You are stronger than your cravings, dear Tap. You've proved that over and over again. I'm sure you don't feel that way today. All is good.

How's everyone doing? Did you make it thru the weekend without the addictions kicking in big time? I've been doing pretty well. I've had ice cream only twice in the last three weeks and I think that's a very good rate. I still crave it and know it can take over very easily so I have to be very vigilant with it. Tap - nuts still being kept at bay? How are you doing? Ready - you've been doing pretty well, did you make it thru the weekend? Denise - Was the Stone Cold delicious? Hopefully it hasn't made any more visits to you. sms - how's things going in meatless land? Is the candy all gone now?

Okay, now I'm just completely confused. This morning I was up another 2 pounds. I've been following the diet with no cheating for the last week and I've only lost 2 pounds from last Monday until now and gained 3 in the last two days. What the heck? Maybe the battery in my scale is going out because I got a couple different weights this morning but do think it was accurate in the end. I'll know tomorrow when I get weighed in the doctor's office. If today was correct I've lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks with two days in the middle that I cheated slightly. Well, if nothing else, the diet showed me that I can lose weight again and helped me see how bad simple carbs are for me. At least I feel better now.

I keep hearing that you have to up your exercise as time goes on but this doesn't seem to be helping me at all. Just wondering if anyone else is seeing the same thing or if I need to do something else. If you guys wouldn't mind posting what you did at the start, what you're doing now, are you still losing weight and if you think it's helping. Thanks. For me its - Starting out - nothing, then after surger I was doing a short, 10 minute walk. The I switched to an aerobic workout and recently added a walk back in. Now - I do about 20 minutes of aerobic workout and walk just under a mile in about 15-20 minutes 6 days a week. I'm still losing but I think it's just because I changed my diet a bit. I didn't see any improvement when I added the morning walk every day.

Well, I'm up a full pound today. This is the most bounce around weight loss I've ever seen. I'm sure it's natural but it's just so chaotic. I've been really, really good on it since Monday so there doesn't seem to be any reason to gain. But since it's been going up every few days I'm just gonna have to assume that the way my body loses on this thing. I'm sure I'll be down again tomorrow and Monday is the last day of phase 1. Woot!

Down another 1.8 this morning and think it was down .8 yesterday. Anyway, I'm now down a total of 9 pounds since starting this diet. Would have been nice if I hadn't cheated and had to lose 3 pounds twice. Oh well, it's all a learning process and I needed to learn how bad my body reacts to bad carbs. I'm really looking forward to that fruit when I switch to phase 2 on Tuesday. Have I said that often enough? LOL