Good morning, gang! This week was week 4 on the South Beach diet and I am holding at 8 lbs. lost. Not as well as I had hoped, but I'm going to stick with it. When I did the Atkins plan two years ago I lost 11 lbs. the first month and 11 lbs. the second month - but couldn't stick with it beyond that. I have added a slice of homemade whole wheat toast and one serving of fruit to my regular low carb eating plan for the day. I try not to have either of those at my evening meal, but keep to protein and vegetable or salad. No elimination problems here, and I have found I have more gas when I stray off the plan than when I follow it closely. Am leaving out cottage cheese and V-8 juice as they may contribute to my stall. Ditto too many sugar free items, although I tried the Crystal Light raspberry lemonade this week and consider it my "soda pop" treat - I make it weak and like it that way, plus, I'm getting some "flavored" water in my system. I needed to use up some carrots in the fridge, so I made my marinated spice carrots last night subbing Splenda packets to taste for the 1/2 cup sugar. I know carrots are higher in carbs, but I just don't waste food. Am going to make a marinated vegetable recipe today and sub the Splenda for the sugar again. It has been very hot here, and these cold veggies will hit the spot. One thing I am trying to learn is to listen to my body. It will tell me what fuels me or what makes me sluggish. I have some stress on the job and quite a bit of physical activity for my age (at least I think so!) and I am trying to balance this with eating healthy and trying to lose weight. In other words, I'm trying to take care of myself for myself! This is sometimes hard for women to do because we have been the caretaker of others for so many years. Many times I have to decline activities after work because I'm just too tired - something other people don't understand. But I listen to my body and try to do what it needs. Sorry for rambling on like this, but I hope y'all here will understand as maybe you are in a similar place in your life. Stay focused and enjoy your weekend. Teresa

You can do a tiny bit of lemon or a splash of cider vinegar to help you get your water down. I don't. I really do like water. Be careful not to overdo the lemon, though, because even a squeeze has trace amounts of carbs, and if you add it up over a day's worth (8-10 glasses), you can hit the "hidden carbs" barrier. The basic induction menu is protein/fat for breakfast protein/fat for lunch plus 2 cups of salad veggies off the list protein/fat for dinner plus 3/4 cup cooked allowable veggies or another cup of raw veggies Make sure you are getting some fat at each meal. If you are going too heavy on the protein and trying to eat low fat, then your body will turn the protein into glucose and you might have trouble getting into ketosis. For me, the glucose can easily become enough to fuel my slow metabolism. I need the full metabolic advantage of being in ketosis, and then I need to carve back my total calories while still eating fat in order to lose weight. (This is why I have the most success while journalling. I'm a tricky science experiment.) I have a real challenge tonight. Dear friends have been inviting us over for weeks to have her homemade Asian food. It sounds wonderful, but I'm sure it will not be Atkins-compatible. I've been saving all my carbs for dinner tonight, but it will still be tricky. I hope I don't throw myself off. I haven't lost anything this week, after a gain of 1 pound last week. (Female things going on that are contributing to water retention, I'm sure, but it's still frustrating!) Have you had any trouble with "Induction Flu" symptoms? Fatigue, headache, shakiness? I got a bit of that at first, but it was gone by day 5 when all the glycogen had been used up and ketosis kicked in.

Okay, I'll post something so it will sink. But you folks should check it out, it is full of energy-saving ideas. For a laugh, check out the ideas they did not use, too.

As no such 'Suggestions' forum exists in the Home Forums index, it might be nice to introduce that topic, and also introduce a Website comments and feedback forum as well!