Hello, hello!
Are you busy prepping for Thanksgiving this week? I know I am working as fast as I can to clean places I normally don’t clean (the house, not my arm pits) before company comes on Thursday.
How are you doing with planning what you will eat? Do you plan to eat a few carbier items, or are you sticking with low-carbohydrate choices? I plan to stick to the lower cab items because I want to hit my goals for New Year’s, but I have many friends who are taking the meal off. I say do what works for you as long as you don’t make yourself ill.
It’s Monday, and you know what means: TOPS weigh-in! Weigh-in, in fact, for all of us. How did you do last week? Are you still hanging in there? Remember, even if you eat off-plan for Thanksgiving, you get right back on the wagon and keep going.
Why weigh Mondays for this challenge? Because it typically keeps people honest on the weekends, the most difficult days to stick to healthy eating and habits. I know without Monday weigh-ins, I’d probably be much more naughty. Knowing I have to face the scale each week keeps me honest because I know short-term choices can have longer-term repercussions.
After last week’s gain of .25 pounds, this week I am down 6.5 pounds!
My total losses so far since August: 51.5 pounds
Total for all of our friends so far in this Mid-Year Resolution Challenge: 1342.72 pounds!
Keep it up, everyone! We have about 6 weeks left before New Year’s Eve!
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.
Monday, November 19
I ate this:
Breakfast: Nothing. I’m waiting until I weigh in…
Lunch: Taco Star nachos with chips. They are so amazing. I positively love them.
Dinner: Skipped because I am stuffed from such a huge lunch
Notes: I was able to console a friend today who was upset at having gained three pounds this week. When she talked about what she ate, I knew right away that the culprit was the dill sunflower seeds. I have had so much help over the years that it was nice to help someone else.
What I learned:
Did you know that foods we are allergic to are also sometimes the ones we crave the most?
This is because the stress on the system caused by the allergens also causes a release of endorphins, which are natural pain relievers that make us feel good physically.
And since endorphins make us feel better, this can result us wanting to eat things, even when they’re foods or ingredients we know will cause inflammation, stomach upset and even those other side effects.
Keeping a food journal helps me track what I eat and how I react to it. If it causes inflammation, a runny, stuffy nose, extreme fatigue, a tingling in the mouth, bloating, or other possible side effects, even if the food makes me feel great otherwise, I try removing it from my diet for a week and see if some of that excess weight might decide to drop off, along with the uncomfortable side effects.
your on day 86, and I want to start following you lighter side program. help…where do I begin?!?
Hi, Susan! There’s no plan, per se! I just try to make one new change per week and stick to my plan 90% of the time, with one “slightly off plan” meal every week on the same, exact day. It’s the slightly off plan meal that keeps me going strong, along with an incredibly simple, ketogenic menu. I say get started today!
Hi Jamie – great post (as usual!). thanks for the “why” on those food cravings/allergies. I had seen that happen to me, but didn’t understand WHY.
Amy! I love you! I am thrilled to see you. I wanted to know more about the why, too. I know Dr. Atkins spoke about the allergies causing cravings, but he never really delved into it–at least not in his 2002 book.
My goodness that looks wonderful!
Hey, Anne! That is a cheesecake recipe I haven’t shared yet because I wasn’t sure if I have cheesecaked everyone out yet…
Id love to have the recipe, also, what are taco star nachos, & what kind of chips??
I will put the cheesecake recipe together and publish it soon.
Per Taco Star, it is probably only a Colorado place. It’s a drive-through Mexican stand that was once a Good Times. Now it’s great times for me, because I need their food or I’d literally go through withdrawals. It is real Mexican food. I love them. I go there at least twice a week, and they know me now by my order! lol
Jaime, thank you for confirming what I thought about food allergies. Mostly because it looks like to me that as long as I don’t eat something wheat/gluten related my weight continues to go down. I try to eat low carb at all times, but if I do go off plan I do not eat something I am sensitive to. I didn’t know that eating what I am sensitive to released endorphines! That was amazing and makes perfect sense why bread was a comfort food for me. Thank you Jaime!
I am glad I could help. Julia Ross also covers food intolerances in depth in her book The Diet Cure. Without her, I never would have sussed out glutens, dairy, or nightshades, let alone soy!
We experience cravings for a variety of reasons. Lack of amino acids, lack of protein digestion, endorphins in foods reacting with the opiat receptors in our guts (these, the same receptors that react to drugs) and finally, over production of bad bacteria, yeasts and parasites. All of this can make it impossible for the body to make B vitamins which most needed for serotonin is B6. Serotonin of course is our happy hormone that assists satiety and a feeling of content.
Very true, Misty! I appreciate you following up with the rest of the story. You = fabulous.
Hi! I just closed the forum. The blog will still be here. You think I’d leave you? Pshaw!
The forum itself contained so many people signing up with shill accounts just to spam that it became too time intensive to try and screen them.
THANK GOD………. I like that other person was in shock……….I don’t do facebook much at all if any……..and I can not even think of not having ……..OUR JAMIE…….. geesh……and heaven help us all…………
sending hugs..
If you’re not a Facebook user, definitely keep visiting me here. The group was for anyone who didn’t use Facebook, but in the end, I prefer to chat here, too.
Do you tend to follow Atkins induction or just stick to a certain amount of net carbs per day?
Hi, Jessica! I just stick to the 20 net per day. I like Induction (in fact, a lot of my recipes are induction-friendly), but I am one of those girls who, when I can’t have something, I want it even more. So by giving myself 20 net carbs of anything (so long as I write it down and stay accountable to weighing in every week), I allow myself to have whatever I want to as long as it as close to being under the 20 net as I possibly can.
I don’t do Facebook at all (privacy issues) so no, don’t ever leave us!
I have lost a bit more this week and am down a total of 25 pounds now. And that’s while taking 25 mgs of Hydrocortisone and 5 mgs of prednisone every day (forever), which is like paddling upstream. Low-carb is definitely the only thing that has worked at all being on steroids.
I also started taking Chia seeds twice a day – have you tried that? I know you had some for those brownies.
Deb G
I totally understand, and don’t plan to go anywhere. For sure.
I have not taken Chia regularly, but I have an amazing brownie recipe with it, if you’d like to see it!
I’m so frelieved! Glad you’re here to stay.
I am glad, too. I am so sorry if I worried anyone! Happy Thanksgiving!