Well, there are some days I just have a lot to say and feel spunky enough to get it all out there for you (I think it’s also the lack of brain fog I feel I am dealing with when I drink loads of aspartame).
I am finally nearing the end of home schooling for the year. Spike that ball in the end zone! wobble those knees! Oh yeah! Oh Yeah! Wave to the kid in the wheelchair. Next year, all kids will be back in public school, which will give me more time for things I take for granted during the day. things like peace and quiet.
Not that I mind home schooling. I love to be around my family. They’re the coolest people I know. Aside from being the only people I know, we share the same psychoses, love of Red Dwarf and and laugh when the dog breaks wind. We’re mature that way.
Atkins in the House
I began Atkins last Monday, after having gained 6 pounds in water weight. I know (omigosh!). So, not only was I stalled out for April, but somewhere a thigh was hanging onto 6 pounds of excess water. Insult to injury over here, and I’ll bet that’s who was stealing my tea when I wasn’t looking. O wily thigh, how you mock me!
At any rate (about 25 hunt-and-pecked WPM), I began Atkins induction last week.
Last Monday (April 28) I began again at 295 pounds after the month-long-drought.
This morning (May 5) I weigh … are you seriously ready for this… 279 pounds.
(For the other English Majors out there, that’s 16 pounds. In one week.)
Now, 16 pounds in 7 days might not be big beans, especially when 6 of those were regained water weight pounds. Still, subtract that 6, and I lost 10 pounds. In one week.
So get this: the news is exciting. I’m jazzed. I’m ready to schmootz. And then I remember I weigh in at TOPS today. The last weigh-in I was stuck at 295. How in God’s blue blazes am I going to explain 16 pounds?!
Then I figured out I won’t have to. In that cleverness of a brain canyon up there residing in my head, I have a cunning plan:
I’m going to put on my wool socks, a lead jacket and some brick underpants and waddle out of the door like there’s a merchant marine vessel in my drawers.
How cool is that Cleo…U are doing so good. The amazing thing about u is taht u arent giving up…Because u know we NEED YOU!Big Kiss from Germany!
Wow, that’s fantastic, Cleo! You are amazing with your weight loss! I’ve never been able to lose weight like that…even on Atkins induction.
I don’t understand why you would not want the TOPS group to see your fantastic weight loss. Why can’t you tell them you restarted Atkins after a month off? Are you not supposed to use the Atkins diet when you sign up for TOPS?
Congrats on your great loss. I know that is so motivating. I wonder if your metabolism was kick started when you took somewhat of a break from your beloved Atkins? The curves diet (which is low carb) talks about recharging your metabolism ever once in a while by eating pretty much everything you want. Maybe it works! Keep up the good work. You inspire me.
You are doing so great! Congrats on the loss!!!
Cleo first off, I love your blog. You are amazing with your writing, weight loss, and OOPSIES! You inspire me! I need to start Atkins. I weigh 430 pounds. I am a grandmother to two lovely grandchildren. I work at a desk therefore I get almost no exercise. Would you share a few daily menus? Thank You.
Congratulations!! Could you please post your menus?
LOL! – wearing lots of clothes to TOPS!
See? – it’s those fat cells, temporarily filling up with water, then shedding it all at once – crazy fat cells! 🙂
congrats Cleo my friend and welcome back from the darkside.
It had to be that talking to that you gave your scale last time around.
You know you really scared it! LOL
Congrats on that big woosh, you deserve it!
Hello hello!
lilipoot– You are so sweet! Smoochies coming your way, you adorable frauline!
anonymous– TOPS is a little bit weird. They’re a non-diet-specific group but they tend towards low-cal and low-fat. That said, no one EVER comes in with a loss of 6 pounds in a week. Most folks are luck to have half of a pound a week. You get someone in there who is low-carbing and dropping weight really fast (my weighing clothes are totally hanging off of me) and they don’t understand. I will eventually say that I am a low-carber, but for the time being I avoid words like, “Atkins” and speak in terms of whole foods and cooking from scratch.
So, you can follow any plan you’d like in TOPS, but the usual misconception of most people is still that low-calorie dieting is the key to health and happiness.
I always duck out early on punch and snack days!
babykikiyaya– It makes me wonder! I had gained that water weight and couldn’t shake it and was becoming so frustrated! And then on top of that I was stalled. Oy! Long story short, maybe starting clean was the answer, and the Whooshie Fairy was good to me.
Thank you, Whooshie Fairy!
Thank you, cc1sillygoose!!! I totally am relieved to be on a downward trend again.
Hi, complex! Thank you so much! I am totally jazzed about low-carb and am so glad to meet others who share the same interest and excitement!
It’s an exciting journey!
The sweet thing about Atkins is that you don’t technically need to exercise as much as other plans. My father initially lost 80 pounds in 6 months when bedridden with a broken back during military training. While exercise is important, lack of it isn’t going to stop losses necessarily!
As for my menu, the main thing is that I eat when hungry and stop when no longer hungry. I think this has made an even bigger difference than anything else I’ve ever done. I’m not diabetic, so I didn;t have to eat meals every so many hours. I only eat when hungry.
The last few days I’ve basically had a Caesar salad for one meal, and flan (I ended up with two, so I’m having to get through them now) or steak or nuking pepperoni on a plate with a slice of cheese on top for a makeshift pizza. I’ve also had the nachos, tacos and other things I’d been testing for Cinco De Mayo. I really think the combination of fat, protein and vegetables has made a huge difference!
Here are a couple sample menus. Because I am home most of the time, I might only eat two larger meals per day, and they are spaced out more.
Breakfast: Caesar salad
Lunch: Nachos
Dinner: Caesar Salad
(I love Caesar salad! I was also sick so not hungry)
Breakfast: Tacos
Lunch: Caesar Salad
Dinner: Caesar Salad
(Sick, so not hungry)
Breakfast: Flan
Lunch: Caesar Salad
Dinner: Huge steak with mushrooms, cheese, onions, and a side of veggies and Caesar Salad
(Got appetite back)
Breakfast: Rest of the dinner from before.
Lunch: None, still stuffed
Dinner: 3 ounces of Swiss Cheese
(Still full from eating yesterday!)
So you can see there’s no real rhyme or reason to it save for my love of Caesar Salad. The stuff is like crack cocaine. Only with bacon bits.
I also drink a lot of beverages, so my stomach is usually full. I have to work to eat a lot of food. Some days are very hungry days. On those days I eat more. some days are less hungry days. On those days I eat less.
I didn’t feel well last week, so I didn’t eat that much, to be honest.
I hope that helps a little? I do eat the recipes on my blog, so I get a lot of veggies in a week due to the pizzas, nachos, tacos, etc! I love them so much!
Hi, Johanna! You are so pretty!
I posted menus and explanations for the previous commenter. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
I will maybe post more menus as time goes by. Because so much of what I eat tends to be very similar, people might think I am utterly boring!
I definitely break all rules for breakfast. I eat what I like. If I want tacos, I eat tacos!
tara– LOL! I know. those toopid fat cells!
2big– I love you! You always have been so awesome.
LOL congomen!!
You know it, my friend! We have to tell those digital menaces what fer from time to time!
i must have missed a memo about you going off atkins temporarily…silly girl, whadja do that for?
anyway, so glad for you that you’re back in your “losing groove”–KUTGW my pookie! (((jamie)))
I made your enchiladas shells last night for dinner and they were amazing .The only thing I did different was used 50% zucchini about 8 ozs and 50% cauliflower as I can’t eat too much cauliflower or I sometimes have ill effects . I will need to master baking them so they don’t burn but other than that they were great .
They even passed the hubby test and that says quit a lot . I just wish I had more time and energy to cook up more of your yummy recipe. Thank you so much for all the work you do in sharing your recipes and knowledge of low carb. to make this plan nicer for the rest of us.
Janeann
I’m glad to hear you are back to LC and going through sugar substitute withdrawal. I’m so glad to hear about your weight loss. I started this journey with trying to eat “real” foods and then I read Gary Taubes’ book and realized that I needed to eat a lot of real fat and as few carbs as possible. I’ve been steadily dropping weight ever since. I’ve dabbled in “frankenfood” with not much ill effect but I think I’ll follow you and mostly stay off of sweeteners. I just started having a tablespoon of flavorless coconut fat in my herbal teas twice a day and it makes any lurking hunger disappear. Thanks for your website and recipes and humor.
P.S. I homeschool year round so I’m missing the heel clicking dance but I can’t stand going over old material that they would forget in the summer.
hi cleochatra, can u give an example of what u eat on adaily basis? congratulations on breaking the stall!! susan
Cleo-you are doing so good!Keep it up momma.
Keri
Damn girl, you are doing great!!!My problem is that I want dessert to finish off a meal at lunch and dinner (lunch one is usally a Balance gold bar).Probably stops me from losing more but I’ll take the 18 so far!!
I’m really curious about how much you weighed at your “official” TOPS weigh-in. Did you pad your bod as you said you would? Did you still end up with a sizable weight loss?
And don’t the people at TOPS comment on how much weight you’ve lost since the first of the year? Don’t they ask you what you’re eating?
I know if I was a slow-losing TOPS member, I would be wanting to know how you do it!
I LOVE your blog, by the way!
I am hoping you will post you Caesar Salad recipe and of course that means the dressing part . I also like a good caesar salad and Costco was my favorite but I don’t think it is low carb diet friendly. So I am thinking you may have a recipe just as good . Thanks Janeann
LOL! I love your sense of humor! And congrats on the weight loss.
My Bruno asks to be home school when he encounters the occasional bully. (I told him I’d home school him if he ever gets bored with the slow pace at school – he’s gifted. But I don’t know how you home schoolers do it. You are heroic. He drives me nuts after two sick days at home).
You sure don’t look 270 something. From your photo I’d think you were at goal.
hey, you look GREAT and like the commentere above, I wouldn’t have believed you were 270+. your recipes are a super inspiration for me. I have dabbled with LC on and off, had some great successes, but found it so hard to live without bread… thus your recipes have opened a whole new world for me.
I was about to make the oopsie rolls today, and – lo and behold – my boyfriend bought tartar SAUCE instead of cream of tartar while at the grocery store. so it must wait for another day, I’m afraid. but I’m so impressed with your list of recipes that I want to set aside sunday and make EVERYTHING.
I have been reading your blog for about 2 weeks now… I love your writing style, your wit, and you cook too!!! I know you are truly amazing since you are a mother to 4. So, I bow with great respect to you and wish you wonderful mother’s day tomorrow.
I have not tried the oopsie recipe yet though the cream cheese and lots of eggs await me in the fridge.
Great job with the recent loss of 16 lbs… I can’t wait to read more.