Hello my post-Christmas cuppiecakes! I hope you had the most amazing holiday ever!
I am not going to fib. Not long after my post was published yesterday, I felt intensely sick the whole rest of the night and into today. I spent last night either throwing up or wishing I could to feel better. The amount of phlegm that emptied into my stomach due to the foods I ingested made me feel as though I’d been the victim of food poisoning, as a friend put it. And that is what I threw up.
Long story short: Sugar was fine yesterday; it was the bread, soy and potatoes that made me starve irrationally to the point of illness. A piece of chocolate here and there did nothing to cause problems. Sugar isn’t particularly healthy, but it wasn’t the demon I had taunting me in the form of nightshades, soy or gluten. I continue to learn so much. I am glad to be feeling better today, but it’s still touch and go. I know there is a lot of phlegm still in my stomach.
Now, I promised I’d clue you in on the next weight loss challenge for our friends of Your Lighter Side (whee!)
Please feel free to sign up here and follow the instructions. <—click link to sign up!
Rules for the Valentine’s Day Challenge:
1.We run from December 31-February 18. Short and sweet, fun-sized and fabulous–like you. Per Quay’s reminder, I typically pick a totally random time for us to start. So how about 8:06 pm on the 31st.
2. Please keep track of your own totals. I would love to input your information, but I need everyone to handle their own numbers for time and for your benefit. It makes the process more invested for you and more fun, too!
3. Please record your losses as positive numbers and gains as negative numbers or a “0.” The way the spreadsheet is set up, progress means moving in a positive direction, so please don’t record negative numbers for losses; only positive.
4. Please do not alter the spreadsheet, save for your line. And remember, we’re not sharing your weight; we’re sharing what you’d like to lose only and how you’re doing. Your privacy is important.
5. Please update weekly. If you plan to never check in, it’s probably best not to commit to the spreadsheet until you’re ready. Nothing looks worse than seeing a lot of friends drop out.
6. Please bookmark the Spreadsheet. This way you can refer back to it as needed. This is the address for the page: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai8RiTHjSJs8dDFhSmtOOHJ2MExiRjN3dk10bDUyQkE#gid=0
We begin next Monday with your New Year’s Eve weigh-in (which is the last weigh-in for the MYResolution Challenge). This challenge runs from New Year’s Eve to the Monday after Valentine’s Day for even greater accountability!
Now on to how I’ve been doing with our Mid-Year Challenge… Be sure to do your thing. I am thrilled share my progress and thoughts, but I’m not the person you should necessarily look to for dieting advice (I’m not a paid nosh-a-titian). Be sure to subscribe for updates by adding your email right (in the sidebar) or through Feedburner in the title bar up top. You can also click the tab up top that says Mid-Year Resolution for regular updates.
Wednesday, December 26
I ate this:
Breakfast: Nothing. I am still sick from yesterday.
Lunch: Cottage cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, green olives (essentially, baseline foods I know that won’t make me sick)
Dinner: 1/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts still in the shell + 1 small slice of cheese
Late night snack: 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
Notes: I am so not hungry today. No shocker there…
What I learned:
Allergies = phlegm = stomach upset.
Sorry you’re feeling so lousy- hope you’re all better soon, Jamie!
I do enjoy getting your recipes that “speak to me”…now if I could get them to cook themselves for me, I’d be a happy camper! :0)
When my recipes speak to me, it’s usually over the ambiance of a flaming oven!
Sorry your sick 🙁 I rededicated myself back to eating clean lc yesterday so this challenge is PERFECT for me…so excited and I love that you share with us your personal menu!! THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks! I feel so so much better already! I might have had a virus, too, but you never know.
Here is to clean, healthy eating!
I can’t wait to get started on a new challenge ! 😀 Thanks for starting this. And, I still have my phone alarm set to 6:42 p.m. 😉 It has been a great reminder, even on the days when I fell off the wagon and it ran over me. 6:42 was LITERALLY a wake-up call in the midst of mayhem. Well, maybe it was more like a slap to the back of my head. But, I digress …
ANYHOOOOOOO !!!
New random time for the next challenge ? (I like the fact that it’s an evening hour. That’s when the munchies usually hit me.)
I love new random times. How about on New Year’s eve at 8:06? That was my address growing up and seems to show up often when I look at a clock.
Perfect ! That’s my birthday !!! LOL
Are you an Aquarius as well, then? I am, too!
Glad you’re feeling better Jamie. I’ve been getting your emails for a long time, love your style. I have a question, how do you spice up an LC “diet” when you can’t have dairy either?
Hi, Vicki! thanks so much for being so sweet. When I just can’t do dairy, I sneak a little in anyway–but in the form of really sharp cheese, shredded and sprinkled sparingly. It is more of a spice/condiment that way as opposed to a major ingredient, and the more aged, the less issues I tend to have.
good to read you are a bit better than yesterday Jamie! Thanks for the invite to the challenge, noted and accepted! Might give me the kick up the butt I need to be held accountable 🙂 Sleep well! x
Looking forward to this. Accountability is helpful. Thanks for hosting this and sharing your journey, it is a source of encouragement to me.
I am so happy I can do anything at all to help. I know the community we have makes it fun for me, too!
I know how frustrating it is. When trying to find my new allergies, I kept a food diary for 6 months. My allergist took one look and said it was a textbook sulfite allergy.Then it all made sense. Things that didn’t say sulfites, like some bread, may have had it in the flour as a dough conditioner. It’s still a sneaky one to find. Salad dressings with balsamic vinegar for instance. Lots of fun. Hope you feel better, Jamie
I am so glad you kept a journal, too! It’s helpful hearing what you’ve been dealing with, because sometimes I feel like there’s more I can’t have than can… *swoons*
Exactly! It does feel like there’s more I can’t have than I can.
Hey Jamie,
Put me on the list for the 2 months, cause this challenge didn’t work for me. Caffeine was triggering my sugar cravings and thus it has been ditched! I’ll weigh in on Monday, Lord willing.
Thanks!
Hi there! Please do add your name to the spreadsheet at the link! It’ll be great to have you! *high five*
I would love to join in if it would be okay! How would I do that? So glad to have found this blog. I had lost 35# earlier this year, but fell off the wagon and gained a lot of it back. (Quit smoking, but couldn’t manage diet and non-smoker-hood at the same time) I am ready to get moving again, and the new year seems to be just the motivation I need.
Hi, Charlotte! Head to the spreadsheet and add your name under the yellow line. I like to alphabetize everyone. I’m a little bit OCD that way.
I know you’ll lose that weight again. Congratulations on quitting smoking! Yeah!!! Also, if you think you might be facing some extra-difficult challenges (nicotine is a dopamine), you might want to check out Dr. Julia Ross’ The Diet Cure. She knows how to work with cravings/brain chemistry through amino acids and supplements you can find in stores! She cured me of sugar addiction and binging.
i put my name on there and am ready to go! Was an idiot and didnt do the last one, but now that i have my accoutrements gathered up (and my head straight), i can do this!
YUou are so not an idiot. Life happens. Things happen. But the cool thing is it’s all another step in the right direction! Every day is a new adventure. I look forward to our next one together!
Hi Jamie, I’m one of the guilty ones that signed up for your last challenge not realizing I had so many underlying problems. I’ve been reading some books you suggested and learning about what was wrong with me!! I thought I was horrible, had no will power, was weak to cravings and never would lose this weight…. Boy did I learn a thing or two. Its amazing a 64 years old i kew nothing about all these allergies etc So, I’m signing up for this new challenge and will not drop out!!
Hi, Susan! I think it’s all such a journey, isn’t it? At the age of 16 I got to goal with low-carb and stayed there for about 3 years. Unfortunately, I had no clue about allergies, nutrition, anything. I ballooned up over the years. Nowm, armed with the thinkiest thoughts and knowledge I never had before, I am losing it for the last time.
It takes time, experience, and someone to say the right thing at the right time to make you think, “wait a minute…” For me, it’s been fairly recent! But it’s never too late to start over with a new set of eyeballs, a pen and some paper to keep track of everything that goes into your amazing body–and how it makes you feel in the process.
In fact, it’s become–dare I say it– fun.
Hi Jamie–thanks for doing another challenge–I ignored the last one and ate my way thru the last several months–time to get serious again and do something about this extra weight–I actually learned how to bookmark the weight page–I am technically challenged!! so it took me several tries and ehow dot com but I got it figured out I think? I won’t know I guess until I try entering numbers–down numbers!!! Again-thanks for doing this and thanks for your site and all you do for the lowcarb community!!! hope you are feeling better by now!! Happy New Year!! and Congrats on the awesome weight loss!! you rock!!
Hey Jeanne! I will definitely share the link each week, too, so no worries! I just love you guys having access to it whenever you want a mental pat on the back and to see how many of us are in this with you! I am so excited. We’re going to do this!
Accountability needed. three weeks of epic indulgence and boy am I paying for it!! Challenge accepted. participation 100+ %. I feel the difference in my energy (low) and how my clothes fit (tighter). thank you for all you do!
Shana, I’m so glad you’re in! This is going to be so much fun. Challenge accepted.
Hi Jamie, not sure what to have in my morning coffee! I usually have splenda and powdered coffee
creamer. I really want to get off to a good start! Suggestions??
Hi, Suzanne! Can you use regular heavy white cream? You know what I love? Chocolate, unsweetened almond milk in my coffee. Just 2-3 Tbsp is less than a carb and it’s so terrifically chocolaty–but sans the dairy.
Hi Jamie! I added my name to the list. Is that all we have to do to be included in the challenge? Thanks and Happy New Year!
I am so glad you joined. We are going to have so much fun.
Hey Jamie! I have been wondering……..regarding the Valentines Day Challenge……how would you feel about a weekly page where people can comment on their Monday weigh in’s, their observations, tips or warnings. Hi’s or Low’s etc……………Or is the challenge deliberately set up the way it is, to capture one’s Monday weight on the spreadsheet and only at the end of the challenge will we discuss it again…………
Hi, Lisa! People typically either comment at the bottom of my weekly “Weigh In” updates or on the spreadsheet o on Facebook. It’s easiest that way and keeps people from feeling they have to commit to so many different options. This way it can be as low-key as they’d like, which I support. Losing weight is work enough some days…
Ok my bad! I did not even realise that there were people commenting on the bottom of the spreadsheet lol……..I will also look for you on FB as I must confess that since coming here, I hardly ever use FB anymore lol……And Yes! you are so right! Too many options will get tedious.. Thanks for responding so promptly hun 🙂
Facebooger gives me a case. If I didn’t have all of my people on it, I’d have left it yesterday.