Laurie's journal - Atkins plan (comments welcome)

[LAinSEA]

Before work today, DH and I headed over to sign the new mortgage papers. Just off the top, I'm glad the whole process is over however, I'm still a little shaky from the experience. Because Washington is a community property state - certain documents we both sign - like that we both own the house. But because we are making the loan on my income alone right now, all the mortgage documents are in my name and my name alone. The weight of this responsiblity is really weighing heavily on me at the moment...it's almost as if I got on the scale right this minute I'd weigh 10 time more than I really do. As of next Monday, we will have no comsumer debt and the money to re-side the house. I had a very terse talk with DH about putting any thing on any credit card unless the cash is in the bank to immediately pay it off. Even if he did get a job tomorrow - no more credit card bills that continue month-to-month.

Tuesday - stayed on plan. breakfast was low-carb roll & breve. snack - cottage cheese. lunch - green beans, salami & havarti. dinner - grilled chicken breast & spinach salad with egg, parmasan cheese & tomato. (no nut snacks needed).

I had enough time to get out and walk for 20 minutes while at work - except that it started to downpour about that time I left the building and ran back. (I forgot my rain coat on the way out the door yesterday). No walk this morning - no time because of the trip to the escrow office. I'm hoping the rain will break sometime later this afternoon so I can get 20-30 minutes in (yes, I have the raincoat today.)

Dealing with the extra stress by getting another breve this morning. (I had been only allowing myself one every other week - trying to stay off the coffee and caffeine as much as possible.) Other people deal with stress by eating cookies or extra ice cream...me all I want is coffee and popcorn (Pop Secret homestyle). I have no trouble walking away from the krispy kremes, the girl scout cookies and now even the red vines that permeate the office. But, boy is it hard to smell the microwave popcorn and not take a handful.

We have a slow start to the day - and a very tight, stressful finish to the night. I'm hoping to do some research on some garden ideas and some catching up on journals and news.

 

[ZerasPride]

Laurie!

I just caught up with the goings in your life via your journal and boy have you been busy!

Congrats on being debt free! My sister and I were talking about consumer debt last night. We both agreed we owed more than the national debt of some small countries and it has to stop. I am so proud of you for getting a handle on things even if it seems a bit daunting having the mortgage in your name only.

You are doing so well with your exercise and your eating is pretty much on plan. We have to tweak things to fit into our busy schedules and you seem to be doing that just fine.

As the week winds down, I hope you are able to relax and spend some more time puttering around your house.

Oh, please send some sunshine to Ohio - first it was freezing and snowing, now it's windy and won't stop raining!

 

[LAinSEA]

Wednesday: we had an extremely slow start to the day at work...I remembered my rain coat and did get in a 20 minute walk to the store and back. Spent what's left of my pocket money on some gardening magazines for ideas for the yard. It felt so good to get out of the control room - even if it was still sprinkling and a little windy and cold. Foodwise, right on track - low-carb roll & breve for breakfast; cottage cheese for snack; lunch was green beans, salami & havarti; dinner - romaine salad w/bleu cheese, tomato, mushrooms & almonds and two Trader Joe's salmon patties. First time I've tried these. The were a little saltier than I'd like. DH grilled me another two for tonight sans added salt - so well see if it make a difference. Taste-wise they are pretty good.

Today (Thursday) we are back to a more normal schedule with a really busy early Detroit show. Somehow it would have been nice to work on some of the special graphics yesterday while we were slow but that would take planning on the producers part...

The Mariners graphics op was back - I got to my machines 20 minutes late (I was right on time at noon.) Watching him work is frustrating - TV graphics, is honestly, all about knowing the shortcuts and getting things done fast and correctly the first time around - no time for mistakes. This guy wouldn't know a shortcut if it bit him on the leg.

OK, I'm done venting for now.

Lisa, thanks so much for stopping by. I'm starting to settle down about the new mortgage. Didn't stop and get a breve on the way to work - I'm going to stick to diet rite and water today and hopefully get in another walk between showers if possible. Our lovely spring weather has disapeared and it's back to cold, wind and rain. I'm hoping things will brighten up for the weekend. I really want to get the rest of the garden beds weeded and start on the big projects.

 

[Strings]

Laurie,

I bet your yard looks wonderful all spring and summer. I'm one of those people who plants and forgets. Forgets to waater, weed, and fertilizer. I keep vowing to be more diligent, but I never follow through.

I'm glad you are feeling better about the refi. We did this not long ago. It is daunting, but the lack of high interest rate is good. I'm sure you will keep DH on the straight and narrow.

Take care of yourself today, and ignore the Mariners guy.


Beth

 

[R_Judy]

Hi Laurie. Just stopped by to wish you a happy Friday.

 

[LAinSEA]

But maybe I should backup and post Thursday's meals first. No too much different from Wednesday...except I had a spinach salad with dinner instead of romaine, 1 oz macadamia as extra snack. Absolutely tried to get a few pages read in "Against All Enemies" before falling asleep - but got the nods immediately. I was just that tired.

Friday meals: low-carb roll, cottage cheese for breakfast; lunch romaine salad w/shrimp, parmasan cheese & 1000 Is. dressing; dinner - sirloin burger on portabello mushroom w/bleu cheese & grilled asparagus. diet rite, lots of water (snacks if I need them almonds, macadamia, salami & cheese).

There was a cake this afternoon for all the March birthdays...I had a pria bar instead - 2 net carbs. (but I don't think that sugar alcohols and I agree with one another.)

R_Judy thanks for stopping by, I haven't got all the way through your journal yet...soon, I promise.

Beth, you are my rock - when I get my garden in a state of organized chaos I will post some pictures.

I'm so ready for a weekend and a good long walk. No chance either yesterday or today.

 

[DoeWDW]

Laurie, I'm amazed by all your yardwork! I wish I had the knack but my thumb is black, not green. Your yard must lood so beautiful!

The Mariners guy - what are we going to do with him! I'd be annoyed if someone was taking up my space and time when I needed it!

The refi is a good thing, even though it's a bit stressful at first. Glad to hear you're feeling better about it.

Well, at least the food thing is going well. I'm a lot like you - I find things that I like and I can eat them every day for weeks.

I hope your week goes well!

 

[marsh0013]

hey laurie, i just had a chance to get caught up on your journal, and sheesh, i must say, just reading about all the work you've been doing is making me tired! how do you do it girl? i guess when it's something you're really committed to (ie, making your yard look wonderful), that's enough to keep you going

you're doing a really great job keeping on track with your food too! great choice eating the pria bar instead of the cake! i don't think i could have been as strong

hope you have a great day

 

[LAinSEA]

Saturday - a lazy day...or maybe it's just that it's been a stressful week and I'm just tired. DH said he felt "run down and just out of it". Funny thing is that I've been in that mode now for the last 2 weeks, feeling just on the edge of getting a cold and refusing to give in to it. Needless to say we slept in and did not get out in the yard. I got some pick up, clean up done and finished "Against All Enemies". We took my Grandmother out for dinner Saturday night to Cheesecake Factory. For the first time in over 4 years, my Grandmother made her own decisions on what she was going to order without any prompting or saying "I'll have, what you have". It was a shock. CF's menu is huge and daunting for anyone to choose from, let alone a 90 year old with short-term memory issues. She chose the shrimp scatter w/fries & coleslaw with coffee & cream "and keep it coming" she told the waiter. We had a delightful evening. (My Grandmother is on Aricep (sp?) - is it making the difference in her memory and attititude?...) I had the halibut and asked for spinach instead of mashed potatoes w/ice tea. DH broke down and ordered jambalya over linguine. He ate half and took half home. Pretty much on plan...until DH decided we'd order two piece of cheesecake to go. It went home with us...not a sugar-free variety.

Sunday - weather rapidly improving and a dry day. No excuses to get out in the yard. I got out and mowed about 11am while DH applied for even more jobs that came in on his autosearch from Monster. He joined me out in the yard about noon - and we tackled the raised vegetable beds and along the side of the house that our Aspen tree seems to think it needs to make an Aspen nursery. (Did you know the largest living thing on the planet is an Aspen grove? - Our Aspen obviously feels the need to populate our entire yard with more of itself.) Grubbing out Aspen shoots is hard, dirty work. Had I known that it would continually seek to reproduce I probably wouldn't have choosen to put one in years ago. But it is a beautiful, double tree and sounds so nice when the wind blows. We also got the little bed under the star magnolia and weeded around the flower carpet roses (another dangerous chore...think thorns around Sleeping Beauty's Castle). Then sprayed the lawn for broadleaf weeds, brush killer on the emerging foxtails (came in on a load of bark a few years back and brush killer is the only thing that works on them for a limited time) and Roundup on the cracks in the driveway and sidewalk. Kept fingers crossed for no rain for 24 hours so it all would work!

The CF cheesecake - DH felt strange Saturday night...I blamed the pasta he ate (even though he eats more carbs than I do on a daily basis). Sunday am he still felt out of it...but since neither one of us had eaten breakfast Sunday am (I just wasn't hungry...) he broke out the cheesecake for lunch. I wanted to have just a 1/4 of a piece and some cottage cheese but somehow DH didn't quite understand and though the cake should be consumed before it went bad. The whole piece was brought out - he ate the key lime, I had the apple stressel...Wow, what a rush. About an hour later I felt like I could fly! I dropped hard about 6:30 pm and I was so hungry! It made DH feel better though - hair of the dog I guess. Then it got really bad - DH didn't want to cook - I didn't want to cook so the idea was hatched to try the new "low-carb" Papa Murphy's pizza. (It's really not all that low-carb when you are trying to stay around 20 carbs a day.) The crust is actually their same crust - just paper thin. The pizza is very good - lots of toppings. Needless to say I ate too many pieces.

Monday - back on track. Haircuts then had Subway LC wrap for lunch. One slice of left-over pizza for snack. Off to my folks with a few stops at some nurseries on the way for plant prices. DH and dad played basketball - mom and I walked for 40 minutes. Dinner was salmon, scallops & mixed veggies & green salad w/bleu cheese dressing.

Tuesday - starting off very slow again today at work. Low-carb roll and breve for breakfast. No walk - rainy and windy this am (It was 70 degrees yesterday, but back down to 52 degrees today!). Weather should improve through the week. The siders should start the end of the week - all the garden beds next to the house are cleaned out and ready for work on the house. We still have the bed along the retaining walls, the rose bed and the major makeover of the perenial bed to go. I wish my back, neck and hamstrings didn't ache so darn bad...you'd think that using the garden muscles more than a couple of weekends in a row that you wouldn't hurt so much.

So Marcia - I guess you could say I had my cake and ate it too this weekend.

Doreen - I like my yard a lot - very peaceful to plant and grow - but I hate the initial work to get in shape for the season. I grow monster weeds - bigger and badder than anyone else in the whole neighborhood.

 

[Castillo Mom]

Hi Laurie! My goodness, your yard and garden sound beautiful. Wish I had a green thumb.

Don't worry too much about that cheesecake (sounds divine). At least you stayed OP with your meal, so that definitely counts for something.

Well, tomorrow is hump day. Enjoy the rest of your week!

 

[DoeWDW]

Cheesecake probably isn't the worst dessert you could have on a low-carb diet. I'm glad it was yummy! Hmm, now you've got me thinking about making a low-carb cheesecake for my breakfasts!

I hope DH's search is going well! I've still got him in my prayers!


Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, Laurie!!

 

[Strings]

I just made a lc cheesecake for a dinner party tonight. I might have to do some experimenting with the recipe. Hmm.. French vanilla and caramel sryups to make a apple cheesecake. Sounds yummy. It sounds like you had plenty of exercise to counteract those carbs. Isn't it odd how awful we can feel. I used to be able to do pasta and cake without a problem. Of course I am now way overweight because of it.

Sorry, I digress. Your yard sounds just beautiful. I'm glad the Aricept seems to be working for your grandmother. It is a great drug. Have a good week.

Beth

 

[marsh0013]

hey laurie, that cheesecake is over and done with! no need to worry about it, just move forward, which i see you have done anyway. good for you

i've been wondering...what is breve? you've mentioned it a lot, and i have no clue what it is! i've gathered that it's some sort of drink...right? i looked it up at dictionary.com, and it tells me things about music and symbols over letters...and i know you're not eating/drinking these things . and if i google it, i get lots of websites in other languages. hmmm. so i'm curious

hope you have a great day today

 

[LAinSEA]

Tuesday meals: breakfast - low-carb roll & breve (latte made with espresso & half & half for a lower carb count), snack - cottage cheese; lunch - sirloin burger on portabello w/bleu cheese & green beans; dinner - flank steak & romaine salad w/ranch & tomatos. No other snacks needed. Diet rite, reg. diet coke & lots of water.

Wednesday: Got up and did our walk for 35 minutes. My lower back and hamstrings are still very tight from gardening. The siding guys were out to do the final measure - they start work on Monday. 20 minute wait for the Mariners guy to get out of my way to start work - opening day is next week. But is it too much to expect that when my shift is scheduled to start that I have a place to start work? Not to mention the cleanup I have to do after they leave. I'm going to discuss the situation with my boss, again.

I have a very early doctor's appointment tomorrow am - 8 am! Ouch! Means getting up at 6 am! After getting home just before midnight, that is a tough turnaround for me. It is a full OBGYN exam and blood draw for the study I'm on. I'm excited to know if my cholesterol levels have changed since starting Atkins. My BP is still very low (we have a auto check at home to monitor DH's high BP). I'm also a little in fear of the dr.'s scale...never a pretty sight. Quite honestly, my clothes are fitting looser but I have not lost anything since returning from California the first of the month. As far as the study meds - I'm giving them a big thumbs up. No blue moods, no PMS, no feeling out of it mid-month and my skin looks great. I've had no spotting since the 2nd month. I would say the low-dose BC, taken straight through so no TOM, is working for me.

The weather is improving after yesterday's rain - wishing I could play hookey from work and keep after the yard work. The perenial bed is on the agenda for this weekend inpart to move whats left of last year's load of compost from the side of the house so the siders have more room to work. I'm hoping DH will get motivated to weed the retaining wall beds so I don't have to worry about those over the weekend. Well, I can hope.

The low-carb cheesecake sounds good - I've got a great recipe for regular cheesecake with a sourcream topping that is baked on after the base cake sets up. Splenda should work in the recipe very well...trouble is I don't bake all that often. I can say that my craving for cheesecake is well satisfied at this point.

Thanks Lisa, Doreen, Beth and Marcia for stopping by and your wonderful support. I can't do this without you.

 

[LAinSEA]

Wednesday meals: breakfast - low-carb roll; snack - cottage cheese; lunch - flank steak & green beans; dinner - romaine salad w/shrimp, mushrooms & tomato, bleu cheese dressing and brie & salami. Diet rite soda, lots of water.

Couldn't fall asleep - gave up looking at the clock around 1:30 am. This happens when I know that I have to get up early for an appointment or flight. Not good.

Thursday: Up at 6:15 am (3 hours early for me). Shower and drive to Dr.'s office. Full GYN exam & blood draw. Staff there notices that I've lost weight (although scale only registers a 10 lb loss from December). I ask Dr. about alergies and alergie medication w/study meds and if the study med would affect weight loss. Dr. seems to think the "wrong" alergy med would offset weight loss more than the BC pills. I need to try Flonase and stay away from pill form alergy meds. He also though I should see an endrocronologist about my thyroid - it's a little enlarged...not real noticable but could be a problem. Dr. also noted that my weight does not reflect my size...I'm heavier than what size reflects, whatever that means. He interested to see if my cholesterol has changed with my change in diet, although he thinks exercise has more to do with lowering cholesterol than diet...hmmm.

DH and had time to walk before I had to go to work for 30 minutes - not the full walk.

Thursday's meals: breakfast - handful of peanuts & low carb roll; snack - cottage cheese; lunch - green beans & salami & brie; dinner - romaine salad w/caesar dressing, artichokes, parmasan cheese & avacado with grilled chicken breast. Diet rite, breve & lots of water.

 

[Desiree]

When are you going to find out about your Thyroid? Hopefully that won't be a problem. Hope you have a great day today!

 

[LAinSEA]

Friday menu: same as Thursday...except havarti instead of brie.

DH and I walked for 40 minutes this morning. Weather is absolutely beautiful. I hope it lasts for the weekend.

I start my new schedule next week and have a four day weekend instead of 3. Still don't know what I'm going to do on a 10 hour shift on a Saturday - only 2 shows and usually a 6 hour shift at most.

Weekend holds yard work, yard work and more yard work.

Desiree - I need to find an endro specialist still and make an appointment.

 

[marsh0013]

hey laurie, first off, thanks for letting me in on the "breve" secret . i should have figured it was something as easy as that!

on the doctor's comment about you're heavier than what your size reflects...i think i know exactly what it means! it's something a lot of us around here tend to battle with...size loss vs weight loss. even though the scale may not be moving, you're losing inches! you're getting smaller, because muscle takes up less room than fat does! so this is definitely a good thing

i hope you had a great productive weekend of yard work, and that your new week is going well

 

[Strings]

Hi Laurie,

With all that yardwork, you are definately building muscle. LisaZ posted a picture of 5# muscle vs 5# fat. Gross but informative. It is on the main Wish board. I have a suggestion, you can WISH on your Saturday shift and get paid for it.

 

[DoeWDW]

Laurie, just stopping by to say hi!

All your yardwork - I really MUST do something with my yard. I don't even know where to start! I'm thinking I'll rip out the grass & put down Astroturf - no mowing, no weeds, and it's always green!! Oh, if only it were that easy!!

I like Beth's idea of DISing away your 10 hr. shift on Saturday!

Hope your week is going well! Did you make your endocrinologist appt. yet???