South Beach Dieters Group Meet Here!

[ColoradoJuli]

Good afternoon all -

I had a 'cheat' day yesterday. I forgot and got the chicken out way to late for it the thaw in time for dinner, so DH stopped by our favorite burrito place and picked up a carne asada burrito for me. It really isn't too bad. It is mainly meat and pico de guyo (sp?). Of course there is the flour tortilla, but I didn't eat all of it. I even stayed away from beer and just had my diet Pepsi. I really have been good about my drinks lately. I have even stayed away from red wine which is my favorite!

Chris - I too had a hard time getting back on Phase 1 after the holidays. I ended up putting on 12 pounds between the holidays and my cruise. I finally had to get all the bad stuff out of the house, stock up on good stuff, and then plan all of my meals. This way I only ate Phase 1. I have done much better (except for last night). I have lost 6 pounds in about 1 week.

John - If you check back in, I hope you have a fabulous cruise! Enjoy your ten days and don't beat yourself up at all. You are on vacation. Enjoy!

Shae - Good luck with your physical! You always have such good advice. I really appreciate you being on the board.

Tami - I think you are right, it is Angie. When does she return from her cruise? She sure deserves it after working so hard over the holidays.

Tami & Shelia - Our best friends have just sold their house. They are looking into RVs and want to buy one and start traveling the country. Paul's business is completely internet related and he can be anywhere and do work. They are in their early 40's and mid 30's and have decided that while they are still young they should get out and see the country. They have a two year old and are trying to get pregnant. They are thinking that they will travel the country until Josh starts school. I think they are crazy, but they really want to do this. I need my home. I am a home body and need the familiar surroundings of my city and house. I can only be away from home on vacation for so long and then I become cranky and homesick. I have been this way my entire life. I went on a GS outing once for a couple weeks and kept calling back home and crying to M&D and asking them to come pick me up because I was so homesick.

Shelia - You really should come visit Colorado. It is a beautiful state. We do feel blessed to be able to live here.

Cindyrella - Hope I didn't offend you. Yes, most of the mountains that we ski are 14,000 feet and I live at 5,280. My parents live in the mountains at 9,500 feet, so it is funny to me when people mention their mountains that they ski on. Didn't mean to offend.

Well, I have the crud that is going around. I am going to lay down and see if I don't feel a bit better. Check in with everyone later on.

[Cindyrella]

Juli, My gosh, it takes a LOT more than that to offend me, if fact it's darn near impossible:) That's the trouble with email you can't detect anyone "tone".

Shae: Those are great tips about the cardio/weights thing. I've been alternating days and I never thought of spliting my workouts. I'm going to try that.

chris2457: I too had trouble getting back to phase 1. Had to clean out the pantry of bad stuff and prepare my lunch to take to work the night before, stay away from fast food, and EXERCISE--much as I hate it, it's theoly thing that really works for me. Once you lose that first few pounds, you'll be motivated to keep going. We're all such instant grativation junkies these days it's hard. I only find going on my first cruise a good incentive:D

[irislady]

John, Bon voyage. Hope you have a fantastic time! Enjoy your cruise and don't worry about carbs til you get back home.

Chris, it sounds drastic, but getting rid of all the bad junk in your pantry/cabinets really is the easiest way to stay on track. If you don't want to get rid of it forever, at least put it in plastic bags that you can't see through and tuck it out of sight. Also, choose where you eat very carefully if you have to eat out. Lots of places offer "low carb", but sometimes you get too much fat. A lean burger without a bun that you make at home is usually much better for you than the high fat burgers you get out.

Juli, I got a chuckle out of your mountains comment. My sister felt the same way when she would return to NJ from CO. My other sisters live on what's called a mountain in NJ, but it wouldn't qualify for a foothill in CO! You should see what people will call a lake around here... I've seen swimming pools that are bigger, but if it holds water around here, it's a "lake".

My "boy" made it through his surgeries just fine this morning. I think he's a bit miffed at me for putting him through it. Usually he's under my feet, but tonight he went to his bed and is ignoring me.
Shae

[WeirdEyes]

Good morning! I spent the day at the hospital yesterday with my brother. They think he had a heart attack at 41! He's not overweight and exercises so I'm quite disturbed by this. The Cardiologist is running more test today to determine if it actually was a heart attack and if there is any heart damage. My brother acts fine, but I think he's sort of scared.

Shae, good luck with the physical. I need to get my cholesterol checked also. I hate to see what it is because high cholesterol runs in my family. I'm glad your dog did well with the surgery. My dog is my baby also.

John, BON VOYAGE!!!!

Chris, you can do it!!! It is really hard to start back, but just make the commitment. The others have great advice. If you follow it, you will do fine. Good luck!!!!

Juli, I wouldn't worry about cheating one meal. You've done so well and you really should be proud of yourself. :)

[irislady]

Shelia, I hope your brother is okay and that it was not a heart attack. Please keep us updated on how he's doing.

Juli, Shelia is so right. One bad meal is not going to ruin your progress. When I was younger I had read (and truly believed) that if you are "good" 90% of the time you'll still have significant weight loss and improvement in your health. As I've aged I've had to adjust that to having to be good about 92-94% of the time.

I had a very nice surprise when I got weighed at the doctor's office today. Our old scale is off more than I thought.... it's a full 4 pounds off! (I hopped on ours as soon as I got home dressed in the same clothes). My doctor feels that SBD is an excellent way to lose weight sensibly, and agreed that getting rid of the sugar and white flour probably had the most impact in my not having achey joints anymore. He credited the weight loss for the improvement in sciatic pain. Less weight, less pressure on the nerves. Since I've got a small frame he felt the 15 pound weight loss was okay.

My appt. was in the afternoon, so I need to go back in tomorrow or Monday and have the blood work done in the lab. I really didn't feel like missing 2 meals today. I hope I have the same improvement in cholesterol that DH had.
Shae

[ColoradoJuli]

Good evening all -

I have had a day of cravings, but have won the battle today! I managed to stay away from fortune cookies, crackers, beer, & wine. I just remembered the $$ that DH has promised me and decided that I would rather have the $$ than the weight:D

I forgot to weigh in today, but will try to remember tomorrow.

Shelia - I do hope your brother is doing better. Seems scarey to me that a person that is a year older than me could have heart problems.

Shea - It is always good news to hear Drs approval of SB. I haven't had a reason to go to my doctor, but I do hope to surprise him the next time I go. They make me weigh myself every time!

[WeirdEyes]

Thanks everyone for your support regarding my DB. Got his test results yesterday and everything was negative for a heart attack!!! We're all so relieved. Now they just need to figure out what it actually was.

Shae, that's great news about your doctor's appt.! My doctor also thinks that SB is a good, sensible diet. Good luck on your labs.

Juli, congrats to you on holdings those cravings at bay! Now, aren't you proud of yourself? ;)

[irislady]

Shelia, I'm so glad that your brother did not have a heart attack. I hope the doctors figure out soon what put him in the hospital.
Shae

[adoptmom]

Shelia- So glad to hear that your brother didn't have a heart attack. There are several things including gastric reflux and asthma which can mimic that pain. In his mid 40's my dad was treated for severe chest pain and they finally figured out that the cartilage between 2 of his ribs was inflamed. They think it was from an old football injury that cracked the rib and eventually caused the irritation. Wierd, but better than a heart attack for sure.

Juli- Your friends' plan sounds like heaven to me! I wish my DH did something that could be taken on the road like that! Only I wouldn't stop when the kids were school age since we are homeschoolers. I love to travel with my kids. They get a much better appreciation for things by seeing and doing than by reading about it in some dry textbook. Right now we're saving our pennies for Europe. DH and I have our 20th anniversary in 3 years and I'm hoping to go then.

Tami

[cruiserforlife]

Morning all!

Well,it's 4:47am live from the Sun Princess and this thing is moving so much I can't sleep!For this being my 6th. cruise,I have never felt so much movement.I thought it'd get better once we got out to sea but so far,it hasn't.
The food here is as good as it's always been so for all those who are sailing with Princess,no worries there.I have been pretty good so far as far as the carbs go but since I'm on vacation,I'm certainly not going to sweat it.

Will check-in soon,hope everyone is ok.

John

[adoptmom]

John, hope your movement smoothes out soon. We took our first cruise last May and our last day at sea was horrible. We were at least able to sleep well though. Have a great time!

Tami

[cruiserforlife]

Hanging in there Tami waiting out for better weather..will keep everyone posted.

[irislady]

John,

It was good hearing from you. I hope the seas calm down for you so you can fully enjoy the rest of your cruise. DH and I must be "rough sea magnets" because we had at least one day or night of every cruise that had unusually rough weather with high seas. Our cruise in Oct. in the Atlantic was by far the roughest.

Post when you can and give us some details about your cruise.
Shae

[cruiserforlife]

Shae,

Hi! Purser's desk tells me the last 3-4 cruises have experienced rough seas but that it should smooth out as we head south.

Having a fantastic time none the less.

Haven't been to Verdi's pizzeria yet but it's calling my name...great aroma's coming from that section of the ship!

Will check in later.

John

[WeirdEyes]

John, good luck with the rough seas. Where are you sailing? Glad to hear from you while you are at sea. Have a great time!

Juli, Tami, & Shae, I talked to my sister-in-law again yesterday and she said that the cardiologist said that my DB "episode" was a "warning" re: his heart. Said it was caused from sleep apnea. Evidently, he has it pretty bad and it is causing his heart to strain. They are doing the sleep clinic on him soon and the doc thinks he'll have to sleep with oxygen. My SIL said that sometimes he stops breathing for 2 whole minutes! :eek: I'm just glad they figured out what it was before he had a massive heart attack. Thanks for caring!

[cruiserforlife]

Shelia,

We are on the Sun Princess heading on a 10-day Eastern Caribbean sailing.
We have another sea day tomorrow and then Antiqua on Monday.

Take care,

John

[WeirdEyes]

John, that sounds heavenly!! I'm so jealous!!

[irislady]

Tami, DH and I were amazed how much money we socked away for our first Alaskan cruise just by saving our change and dollar bills, plus adding rebate and dividend checks. We've got our next Alaskan cruise covered, but will start socking away again for 06. We, too, are hoping to go to Europe if B-I-L remains healthy enough. He's British, so the hope is that we can sail out of South Hampton in England. Right now all the info we can find is for the 2005 season.

Shelia, now that they know what your brother's problem is they should be able to correct it. They seem to improve on Sleep Apnea treatments quite regularly now. I hope he's feeling better very soon.

John, 10 days on a cruise sounds wonderful. Seven days is just too short for me, and our 4 day cruise was WAY too short (but fun). Enjoy the pizza. It was one of my favorites on both Princess and Carnival. Last trip I really loved Princess's cookies. I had a terrible time staying away from those. And I'm not normally a big cookie eater. Have fun. Hope you enjoy smooth seas and warm weather.
Shae

[ColoradoJuli]

I just wrote a reply to everyone and then suddenly the screen refreshed itself and it is all gone.

Don't want to rewrite. I am checking and will talk later. A little frustrated right now.

[cruiserforlife]

Will do girls!

John

[adoptmom]

Shae- I make it a practice to only spend paper money. The change that is left at the end of the day goes into a big wine jug I have in my closet. When I fill it I take it to the bank where I have a special savings account just for vacations. Each fill is about $250-300. what's killing us lately was that with Grandma in the hospital 30 miles south of us we were grabbing alot of food on the run. Fast food is close to $25 if we don't want total garbage and a restaurant is closer to $50 because DS is getting too big to eat kids meals in alot of places now. Now that Grandma is closer I'm trying to work it out so that we only have to catch one fast food and one restaurant a week. I also have some stuff to e-bay and we've been stocking a booth at a consignment shop. We traded our old kitchen cabinets to the lady for a year's free rent. Most of that money goes into the kids' college account but I need to arrange to divert a portion of that into the vacation account.

Shelia- My DS had horrible sleep apnea until he got his adenoids out. I'm surprised your SIL gets any sleep at night. It can be pretty scary. There are all kinds of things like sleeping with oxygen, using an apnea monitor, losing weight or having the adenoids and tonsils removed that can help. Also sometimes changing beds to one that props him up a bit can help.

Tami

[WeirdEyes]

Tami, my brother works shift work so he doesn't actually sleep with my SIL that much. She can sleep standing up so that tells you about her sleep patterns. ;)

I seem to be stalled again. I've cut down on my portions and am exercsing so I don't know what else I can do except go back to Phase 1. I don't want to do that though because I can't eat like that long-term. :(

[irislady]

Tami,
DH does the same thing using only paper money most of the time. He also squirrels away his single dollar bills... amazing how many of those he accumulates in one week. I know exactly what you mean about how difficult it is to stay within your budget when a family emergency arises. I had to spend a good "chunk of change" this summer while my mom was in the hospital and afterwards. Lately for us it has been unanticipated vet bills... first the tickborne disease & the repeated testing, and then the 2 minor surgeries.

Shelia, (Food for thought... Oh, bad pun)...I have to preface these next remarks by stating that I really don't know how "scientifically sound" this advice is, so don't take my word as gold. However, I have noticed that after both of our cruises that DH and I were able to lose not only the weight we had put on during the cruise (when we cheated fairly often), but also had an additional weight loss. My theory is that those few days of cheating (in moderation) then going back to Phase 1 for just a few days, then to our normal low carb which is probably a Phase 2.5 (keeping carbs below 40-50 g. per day) stimulated the weight loss mechanism again. If you've already tried adding fiber, lots more water, vitamins and protein, plus have increased your exercise load maybe you should try this? If it hadn't been both DH and I who have had this happen I would think it was just a quirk in my metabolism. What do the rest of you think? The "cheat" phase would have to be limited, of course, and the exercise level maintained. I also should emphasize that while on Phase 1 we don't cheat at all, and on the later Phase we monitor our glycemic load as well as the carb intake. I know with exercising the key to keep building strength with the muscles is to "mix it up"- don't do the same routine the same ol' way every time. I don't know if the same principal would apply to eating habits. There is so very much that isn't known about how and why we lose or gain weight which is why there are so many different "diets" always floating around.

I don't want you to try this, gain weight, and then be ticked off at me, though! I honestly don't know if it will work for anyone else.

It also sounds like your S-I-L may be so overtired that she's able to sleep through anything, but may not be getting the true rest from sleep that she needs. I had that trouble in college.
Shae

[irislady]

Juli, How are you doing? You sounded so frustrated that your message had disappeared. How much cruise money have you earned??

John, hope you have smooth seas and sunny weather by now... but even on a gloomy day I'd rather be cruising!
Shae

[WeirdEyes]

Shae, thanks for the advice. We are going to Mardi Gras in Mobile on Sunday so I'll use that as an excuse to cheat.....just one meal though. Maybe that will "shake things up." ;)