Oh my gosh.. 2 and half hours to Down town LA.. 6 hours of teaching than 2 hours back to work.  that doesnt count the time I had to drive to and from work which is about an hour more.. I am tired.. I usually am mored prepared but with the short notice I felt stressed all day which is not how I like to be.  I am usually pretty calm.. yes.. I am.. now be nice... so here I finally am at this time of night responding for the first time to day.  YOu all did great if I do say so myself and I am so proud to be a part of this fleet.  You all make this thread a joy to belong too.  I know you are there for each and everyone one of us and I appreciate everyone of you.. Ok off the soapbox.. here was my day.. cant eat when you are talking all day so did lots of protein bars and drinks.. hehehe.

protein drink, 1 serving 110 0 1 25 protein bar, 1 serving 170 17 5 20

Cheddar Cheese, 0.5 oz 57 0 5 4 Sour Cream, 1 tbsp 26 1 3 0 Romaine Lettuce (salad), 0.5 cup, shredded 4 1 0 0 Turkey, Ground turkey, 93% lean, 4 oz 160 0 8 22 El Pollo Loco, Gucamole, 1 serving 30 3 2 0

Pastrami, 4 slice (1 oz) 166 0 7 25 Cheddar Cheese, 0.5 oz 57 0 5 4

Breyers No Sugar Added, Butter Pecan ice cream, 1 serving 1/2 cup 122 14 7 3 protein bar, 1 serving 170 17 5 20

CALORIES

CARBS

FAT

PROTEIN

1,072

53

46

122

Got a good protein number.. actually all my numbers are pretty good. you all have a great day and I am heading off to bed to rest from my stressful day. See you tomorrow Carla

The new diet started today with TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) for cereal. Acts like cooked grapenuts if you ever had that..Not bad. I added dried strawberries. Here's my total for the day: Breakfast: 1/2 cup TVP, 1/4 dried strawberries and a splash of soy milk and butterbuds, Coffee (412, 4, 69, 33) Wow. Too much protein! Pretty filling too. Snack: Mozzarella stick, 12 oz V-8 Juice and a whole pink grapefruit, peeled and eaten in sections (yum) Lunch: Last portion 91 cup) of my Cabbage Casserole, even better reheated Snack: 2 SoBe Drink Mix with 48 oz water, 1/4 cup SF Choc Almonds and 1 SF Choco Peppermint Dinner: Banquet Crockpot Classic, Chicken Stew (but Ididn't use their gravy pouch. Wheat in it) It says a serving size is 2/3 cups but that's NOT a serving. I ate a cup and 2/3 and so I counted that as 2 and a half servings. Good stuff even without their gravy mix added.  No dessert. Dinner was pretty filling.  Totals:  Calories: 1735 Fat: 65 Carbs: 207 Protein: 102

Ok so I got some of that TVP and I am not sure of the directions for making it cereal.  I also see that 1/2 cup is 22 grams of protein.  are we using something different.  I guess with the milk it could go up a bit. so now i gotta figure out how to make it work.  you microwaved it like on the directions.  I am not sure what I will put in it.. maybe some raisins.. but I will give it a try. lol... even with that you didnt go to high on protein.  so day one of the new diet.. how is it going.. not to bad I hope.  I made some chilli out of the tsp chunks tonight.. not bad at all.. plus the cals are way lower.. the things we do to save a calorie around here. I will just my extras to you. nice numbers today for you. carla

The directions on my package of TVP says a cup of TVP to 7/8 cup of water. I figure 1/4 cup to a 1/4 cup of water or just about equal parts. The nutritional label says a serving is 1/4 cup dry before cooking so I stayed with 1 or 2 servings as my serving size. I would add raisins or any dried fruit. I happen to love dried strawberries but raisins are good too. Mine is 12 grams per serving on the protein but that's for a 1/4 cup. A half cup would be 24 so 22 is close I think. The brand I got is Bob's Red Mill. I try and stay under 30 grams of protein at any one time so 22 or 24 is about right and then with the milk I put in my coffee, I'm good. I did microwave it because the stove method looked like it took 10 minutes and I just lose interest if I have to cook my breakfast that long. LOL. When I need food in the morning, it has to be STAT.  It's extremely hard to weed wheat out of my diet. I'm reading labels and into the fine print and nearly everything has wheat. Anything packaged has it tossed in there. If it turns out that I am a Celiac sufferer, I'm going to really toss alot of stuff in my house. I've already set aside all my SF cookies to give to the kids and the neighbors will get my brand new box of Malto Meal, Wheat Germ and Oat Bran..The sprinkles that go on salads, mustard (believe that?) and my favorite salad dressing (Soy Ginger) all are goners. I can't even drink a BEER! What a crock!

Good Morning, good day yesterday then I let those evil Hershey candies get me.....*sigh*.....I'm doing the 5 day pouch test beginning today to try to get the desire for even a tiny bite of sweets out of my life. February 26, 2008  

Foods

	Cals	Fat	Carb	Prot
IDS Vanilla Cream ( 1 serving )	129	2	3	26
Oatmeal, cooked, quick (1 or 3 minutes), fat not added in cooking ( 0.25 cup, cooked )	36	1	6	2
AchievOne Mocha Java ( 2 serving )	240	0	10	40
Coffee Creamer 1 tsp ( 4 serving )	40	0	8	0
Coffee, decaffeinated, made from ground ( 56 fl oz )	33	0	7	2
Starbucks Tall Skinny Vanilla Latte ( 1 serving )	130	0	14	12
Laughing Cow Light French Onion Cheese ( 1 serving )	35	2	1	3
Turkey Pepperoni (15 pieces) ( 1 serving )	80	5	1	8
Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Creme Yogurt ( 1 serving )	60	3	3	5
Peas and onions, cooked, fat not added in cooking ( 0.25 cup )	20	0	4	1
Pork chop, broiled or baked, lean only eaten ( 3.5 oz, boneless, cooked, lean only )	207	10	0	28
Hershey's Candy Coated Milk Chocolate (8 = serv) ( 0.25 serving )	45	2	7	1
Desserts, puddings, KRAFT, JELL-O Brand Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Reduced Calorie Pudding & Pie Filling Chocolate, with aspartame and acesulfame potassium sweetener, powder ( 1 NLEA serving )	34	0	8	1
Total	1089	24	72	127

You are doing so well.. you dont want to loose more weight so why would you do the pouch test.  now you sound like me.. just feel the need to do it.. be careful and dont get yourself sick.. I understand the eating to big of amounts.. not sure if the 5dpt will change that. you had a good day with great protein.. keep up the good work. Carla

Carla, I know I don't NEED to lose any weight, but I like the control I feel after the 5dpt.....as you've seen I've been testing the waters with sweets, I want to gain that control.....knowing that an occassional is ok, but 5 days in a row of something full sugar isn't good. And then, I really get a high seeing the scale move, crazy mind I know.

Good Morning: I'm still trying to keep those proteins up, but I now think I need to watch the calories.  I've lost 3 lbs since last Friday.  Since I need to lose another 50-60 lbs, do you think that my calories should be reduced or should I continue as I'm doing.  My weight management doctor told me that you need to eat more to lose.....and so far this seems to work.  I'm going to try to keep the calories between 1300-1500 for now. I would like to hear your opinion as I look up to you for your sincere advise. Here is my adventures for Tuesday:

Hey, check out FitDay PC. You'll be glad you did :) Add a Food search browse All Foods Beverages Dairy and Eggs Meat Fish Poultry Pasta and Grains Breads & Baked Goods Cakes & Cookies Beans, Peas, Nuts Fruits and Juices Vegetables Fats, Oils, Dressings Snacks and Sweets Fast Foods Spices and Herbs add recent Apple, raw Bacon, NS as to ty... Bread, whole wheat... CHUNK LIGHT TUNA I... Cake, banana, with... Carrots, raw Cheese, cottage, l... Cheese, processed,... Chicken or turkey ... Chicken soup with ... Crackers, standard... Egg omelet or scra... Grapes, raw, NS as... Ice cream, regular... Lettuce, salad wit... Milk, cow's, fluid... Peach, cooked or c... Pizza with meat, t... Pork chop, stewed,... Pudding, canned, l... Pure Protein Bar SLICED CHEESE Squash, winter typ... Vegetarian vegetab... White potato, chips White potato, mash... Yogurt, fruit vari... ALL RECENT FOODS... add custom New Custom Food! ATKINS ADVANTAGE BAR CHUNK LIGHT TUNA I... CHUNKY CHICKEN WIT... Pure Protein Bar SLICED CHEESE weigh****chers th... ALL CUSTOM FOODS... Calories Eaten Today   grams  cals %total Total:   1583    Fat: 60  541  35%   Sat: 21  186  12%   Poly: 10  87  6%   Mono: 24  218  14% Carbs: 178  651  42%   Fiber: 16  0  0% Protein: 89  355  23% Alcohol: 0  0  0%  Fat  Carbs  Protein  Alcohol Today's Foods   Food Name Servings Serving Size Cals Fat Carb Prot Milk, cow's, fluid, lowfat, NS as to percent fat cup fl oz can (10.75 oz) school milk carton (1/2 pint) Guideline amount per fl oz of beverage Guideline amount per cup of hot cereal Guideline amount per cup of cold cereal Quantity not specified 109 3 12 8 Bacon, NS as to type of meat, cooked cup, pieces oz, cooked oz, raw (yield after cooking) medium slice (yield after cooking) thick slice (yield after cooking) thin slice (yield after cooking) Quantity not specified 86 7 0 5 Egg omelet or scrambled egg, fat not added in cooking cup (about 3.4 large eggs) extra large egg jumbo egg large egg medium egg small egg Quantity not specified 158 10 3 13 Pudding, canned, low calorie, containing artificial sweetener, flavors other than chocolate cup snack size (4 oz) Quantity not specified 70 1 11 4 Pudding, canned, low calorie, containing artificial sweetener, flavors other than chocolate cup snack size (4 oz) Quantity not specified 70 1 11 4 Pudding, canned, low calorie, containing artificial sweetener, flavors other than chocolate cup snack size (4 oz) Quantity not specified 70 1 11 4 Vegetarian vegetable soup, prepared with water cup Quantity not specified 145 4 24 4 Cheese, processed, American or Cheddar type, nonfat or fat free cubic inch slice, NFS (.75 oz) Borden Lite Line slice (2/3 oz) Quantity not specified 62 0 6 9 Apple, raw cup, NFS cup, quartered or chopped cup, sliced oz, with skin, yields crabapple large (3-1/4" dia) (approx 2 per lb) medium (2-3/4" dia) (approx 3 per lb) ring slice small (2-1/2" dia) (approx 4 per lb) thin slice Quantity not specified 63 0 16 0 Squash, winter type, mashed, NS as to fat or sugar added in cooking cup, NS as to variety cup, acorn cup, butternut cup, hubbard Quantity not specified 139 6 22 2 Pork chop, stewed, NS as to fat eaten cup, cooked, diced oz, boneless, cooked oz, boneless, raw (yield after cooking) oz, with bone, cooked (yield after b... oz, with bone, raw (yield after cook... cubic inch, boneless, cooked large (8 oz, with bone, raw) (yield ... medium (5.5 oz, with bone, raw) (yie... small or thin cut (3 oz, with bone, ... Quantity not specified 271 15 0 31 White potato, mashed, NFS cup large (3" to 4-1/4" dia, raw) yields long type (2-1/3" dia, 4-3/4" long, ... medium (2-1/4" to 3" dia, raw) yields small (1-3/4" to 2-1/4" dia, raw) yields Quantity not specified 226 8 36 4 Grapes, raw, NS as to type cup, NFS cup, seedless cup, with seeds, yields oz, seeded, yields grape, NFS grape, seedless grape, with seeds, yields Quantity not specified 114 1 28 1 Totals 1583 60 178 89 Have a great day.  Kathy

Kathy, finding the right calories can be tricky.....if you're losing with the 1300-1500 calories per day stay with that a while and see what happens.  Congrats on the -3.

You are doing great Kathy.  I find upping the protein over a hundred and getting the carbs down to about 80 really does the trick.. yes keep the calories up just change up what you're eating a bit.. still you lost 3 pounds so it is working.. go with what works for you Carla