Sandy701's Journal, 29 Mar 12

Walked 3.1 miles this AM....2 miles with both dogs and then the rest with just my Collie guy. The temperature was just over 70 degrees but it was humid and not much of a breeze. My Lab gal was panting pretty heavily, so I thought it best not to take her much further.

Today (date-wise) marks 2 years on this new WOE of mine with 80 pounds gone. Monday was my 2-year anniversary, going by day-of-the-week in the month. I've been as low as 83 pounds gone, but 3 of those pounds apparently weren't ready to leave for good. Overall, that's over 3/4 of a pound a week in loss for each of those 104 weeks, although it has NOT come off in that nice, linear fashion!!

I'm quite thankful that I didn't focus on how long this would take when I began, or I believe I would have never taken the first steps. TWO YEARS sounds almost insurmountable when one begins! (Lately, these last 10 pounds seem almost insurmountable! LOL!)

Anyway, this extended time period has given me time to settle in to this new WOE so that situations that would derail me aren't so ominous anymore. I'm not saying I don't get tempted by some foods or situations....just that I've been through a few now and each time I can successfully get by one of them makes the next "test" all that much easier.

What I HAVE learned, for me, is that I CANNOT go off plan very often!! So many journal entries here on site remind me of my unsuccessful attempts to do this previously....people having all sorts of off-plan foods for one reason/occasion or another, promising that it's just that one time and then they'll be back on plan on Monday (or next week, or whatever). I'm sure we've all seen those entries come up over and over again.

Well, I'm here to say that that doesn't work for me.....been there, done that, and got the t-shirt that wouldn't fit anymore! This time around, I went MONTHS before eating anything off-plan. Even on this trip, everything was Atkins-friendly except for when the Wendy's guy gave us the wrong salad! I knew I could take it back and ask him to change it out for me, but opted not to do so. I ended up eating some pecans that tasted like they had sugar on them and some Craisins that I couldn't pick out, but it was a pretty small "problem" in a day of otherwise completely on-plan eating.

We had another issue at breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way home. They have a couple Atkins-friendly entrees (!!) that include reduced-carb bread and sugar-free or reduced-sugar preserves. (Basically, the entrees are eggs, meat, and tomatoes, all at about 4 NC with the low-carb bread adding 8 NC.) When the plate came, I realized the preserves were the regular kind, so used the butter instead. I decided to try the bread since it was reduced carb and it seemed to be OK for me....didn't feel any after-effects and didn't fall asleep after the meal! While I'm not anywhere near legumes/grains on the Carb Ladder, it was an interesting experiment.

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1676 kcal

Fat: 122.68g | Prot: 112.27g | Carbs: 33.41g.   Breakfast: Sargento string cheese, hard-boiled egg. Lunch: eggs, Jones cherrywood smoked bacon, Pieces & Stems Mushrooms, Johnsonville Brown Sugar & Honey sausages. Dinner: Armenian cucumber, Wishbone ranch dressing, romaine, salad toppins, NY strip steak. Snacks/Other: Ann's House of Nuts roasted sunflower kernels, Jones cherrywood smoked bacon, Endulge Peanut Caramel Cluster Bar, Land O Lakes colby jack cheese snack. more...

2393 kcal

Exercise: Yard Work (gardening) - 2 hours and 15 minutes, Walking (exercise) - 3.5/mph - 53 minutes, Resting - 12 hours and 52 minutes, Sleeping - 8 hours. more...