<p>Hey, MoWC, don’t be giving me ways to rationalize!!! ;)</p>
<p>Congratulations, Youdontsay! That’s great progress! </p>
<p>Worknprogress, Where do you find the Wild Grill salmon? I checked Amazon, and they actually carry it sometimes, but don’t have it available at the moment. I found an online grocery, foodservicedirect, that sells it. But they sell in lots of 12 packages, $79.05+$18 shipping (ships frozen). I am balking at buying 12 packages at once. Amazon sells them in lots of 4 packages. I signed up to be notified when they have them again. </p>
<p>Minor progress here - this morning I did not finish my 12-oz Coke. It is starting to not taste so good to me. I threw out 2 oz (it went through the measuring cup on its way to the sink).</p>
<p>Not weighing myself just yet, but after one full week of concentrated effort at no carbs (other than occasional fruit), I am able to get comfortably into a pair of pants that I could barely button last week. So maybe down a 1/4 of a pants size. YAY!</p>
<p>Here’s what I’ve noticed:
I need to go totally cold-turkey on all sweets, chips, breads, bad carbs. Successful for the entire week. Only had to taste one piece of pasta yesterday to know whether to continue purchasing (really), otherwise a whole week without a bad carb. And there were some lovely baked goods at work last week for birthday celebrations.</p>
<p>No beer or other carbonated beverage M-F. Feel great, no bloating. Not sure if that’s due to the no-beer or the no-baked goods. I’m restricting my after-work cocktail to a glass of wine with dinner and then maybe another glass afterwards. Then, 12-16oz of water through the rest of the evening. I also cut back on the alcohol intake over the weekend, but did have a couple of beers Sat & Sun and also mimosas with Father’s Day brunch. Will continue to work on limiting the adult beverages.</p>
<p>Turns out that the salad bar in our building’s cafeteria is really cheap, so my standard lunch is now a spinach salad with garbanzo beans, cheese, onions, nuts, banana peppers, mushrooms and dried cranberries from home (not strictly low-carb, but really dress up the salad). I’m also bringing hard-boiled eggs from home because we always have them on hand and that’s the worst thing to buy by weight at the salad bar. I’m giving away the 5 Lean Cuisines I have left in our office fridge – I was always hungry afterwards and the carb content on the ones I liked was really really high.</p>
<p>Still wish I had time for some exercise. Wish I could pedal my car for the hour-a-half commute, because now I’m noticing how long I sit on my butt each day!</p>
<p>collage1, thanks for the parmesan crisp idea. I’ve made them before for company, and now will stockpile a batch to go with my lunchtime salads!</p>
<p>I do the parmesan crisp type thing a couple times a week too. I just buy it in a chunk, slice off a small bit (maybe 1/2 ounce?) , drop it in a little glass custard cup and put it in the microwave till melted and sizzling (maybe 20 secs - maybe less).</p>
<p>Let it cool a little and peels off the cup. The sharp flavor is very satisfying in small amounts! </p>
<p>Don’t forget to drink water! I don’t worry about the 8 glass a day thing, but just keep sipping throughout the day.</p>
<p>Great to see the effort here. Also interesting to see/hear how cutting out those carbs is showing progress for people. I know it has worked for me. Yesterday we had a family feast of tacos, fresh salsa, chips. I dumped the taco shells and tortillas and had a great meal by just creating a plate with a side of beans topped with chopped onions and cheese , a side of lean seasoned meat with a little cheddar and a side of fresh salsa topping it all (ok, a little sour cream too). It was delicious and satisfying without the carbs of the chips/tortillas etc!</p>
<p>They carry the brand at a local chain - Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill. Thanks for the tip about having them on Amazon. DD will be teaching in rural MS this year (& taking grad classes) and I don’t think the local piggly wiggly will be carrying them. It will be something I can send her that will making cooking easier.</p>
<p>By the way, I had my best chuckle of the morning picturing you measuring your 2 oz. of diet coke!!!</p>
<p>Abasket - I did the same thing at our family’s taco feast last week - and it was pretty tasty.</p>
<p>Today’s personal challenge: all through last week, when I got into the spirit of the low carb thing, was that I was on vacation (well…a stay-cation) and not in the office. Today’s my first day back. I can already feel the after-lunch cravings for something sweet trying to take hold. (in the voice of “The Mask”…“SOMEBODY, STOP ME!”)</p>
<p>JustaMom,</p>
<p>I was one who always hit the staff candy bowl after lunch;
now I have pecans and/or almonds handy for afternoon snacks.</p>
<p>Look at y’all go! Glad to see the low-carbing is working out. Everyone I talk to either thinks I am completely wacky or they go home and start the diet right away. For you snackers, I just bought some Carolina Barbeque Blue Diamond Almonds and I will highly recommend them. They’re pretty strongly flavored so maybe they can help override the sweet cravings.</p>
<p>When I absolutely had to have something sweet in the afternoon, at work, I’d walk to Starbucks and get a low-fat hot chocolate, one pump of chocolate, no whipped cream. Felt like dessert. Also, hot things cut appetite better than cold, I find.</p>
<p>Worknprogress, that was 2oz of real Coke down the drain! Now I will work toward reducing the number of oz going down my throat each day. </p>
<p>I just tried the Parmesan crisps using abasket’s “lazy” method. A chunk of Parmesan in a glass bowl in the microwave - first batch burned, second batch turned out pretty well. It’s thick, though, so next time I think I’ll use the glass bowl but grate the cheese so that it comes out thinner. Lunch just now: the Parmesan crisp, a frozen hash-brown potato pattie, a fried egg. I know the potato isn’t good but it’s replacing bread. </p>
<p>And drinking cold, unsweetened tea all day. I wish it were iced, but my ice-maker is broken.<br>
What is giving me the hardest time is all the crunchy nibble foods - crackers, chips, cookies, pretzels. I used to buy relatively healthy forms of them, but they’re still all carb (and salt). This is what I miss.</p>
<p>Question: is bubbly water bad for you? I’ve been thinking of getting a seltzer-maker. I love carbonation. But a couple of comments seem to imply that this wouldn’t be a good idea.</p>
<p>NYMomof2…time to buy a bag of ice. $1.69 for a big bag. Nothing worse than warm iced tea. 
Either that or an icecube tray (if you have good water).</p>
<p>NYMomof2 -</p>
<p>I don’t think it is BAD for you, I just found that since I have eliminated all carbonated drinks, my tummy is flatter. I was drinking a lot of sparkling water and was frequently bloated. I think everyone is different, but avoiding has seemed to make a difference.</p>
<p>One of my favorite snacks when craving chocolate or sweets is to dip fresh strawberries in Jello sugar free double chocolate pudding. Yum!</p>
<p>Collage1–I don’t really notice a big difference with stopping the Diet Coke. I don’t remember if there was some reason–and it could have been the bone density because I take that GERD med that is supposed to be bad too.</p>
<p>I do drink coffee though not in excess. I have one of the single serve machines and quite frankly, I love it so much I think I could sell them. I use it for both hot and iced drinks. I think that I will have an iced coffee now…</p>
<p>But before I go, for those of you who are really craving salty, crunchy, try the Special K cracker chips. 30 chips have 100 calories (23 carbs, 3 grams of fiber, 230 sodium). I really like them and they get me through the crunchy cravings.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay – Congratulations – that is awesome.</p>
<p>I do something similar with sharp cheddar in the skillet – take a slice (tillamook sharp sliced) and cut it into quarters, place in a non-stick pan heated to medium. Turn it over as soon as it is solid enough, give it just enough on the other side, and drain on a paper towel. (A bunch of oil comes off, which I don’t think is a particular loss.) The result is a crunchy super cheesy treat – like a grown-up Cheese Nip, minus the carbs. Takes two minutes. (The don’t keep. This is a here-and-now kind of thing, but when you’re really wanting some crunch it delivers.)</p>
<p>Pizza without the bread and tomatoes.</p>
<p>For salty snack, wrap some deli roast turkey slices around either a hard cheese slice, or a little cornichon - those French pickles…</p>
<p>Thanks, guys. I wouldn’t say I’m low-carb yet, but consciously cutting back on them and just being more aware of what I’m eating. For me, that means fewer sweets. For instance, that pie I made for dh yesterday? Had a piece but today made sugar-free Jell-O so I don’t have a second (and third) piece.</p>
<p>Sorry - duplicate.</p>