Candy, My inner since of logic speaks the same language yours does. While eating low-carb does work for some people, when you crunch the numbers it is no mystery how it works. Whether you take WW Points, Atkins, South Beach or Food Exchanges...the bottom line is if you were to take a recommemded day's intake of food and look up the calories you consumed it all they all would add up to 1200-1400 calories a day. A person could presumably under eat or over eat on points if you make the wrong food choices within the program. White bread averages 70 to 80 calories a slice while some whole grains can be as high as 150. Eat five sandwiches a week and you have added 700 calories to your diet. Are whole grain breads healthier? Probably. But I can have 4 servings of ice cream if I eat white bread and still end up the same. Or I can not eat the ice cream and maybe lose almost an extra lb. that month. Fruits and veggies are 1 point? Not if the only fruits you like are bananas and nectarines as opposed to berries and apples. So the programs work so that if you eat a variety of foods it "averages" out to lower calories. Few of us want to eat the same food day after day. All that being said I do think that although some people do OK eating a lot of carbs, I think a higher protein in take helps. I know that I try to get some protein at every meal because if I don't I feel sluggish. Everyone needs to find the plan that works for them and whatever works for you is a good thing. Being overweight is unhealthy and if eating a certain way helps you take some of those lbs off doesn't matter how as long as basic nutrition needs are met. Followed to the letter, every plan used by those on this forum are on meets those requirements. Its just hard to "follow to the letter" because we are social animals and should be able to have our cake and lose it too. So now that I'm off my soapbox let's all continue on and end up being the losers we want to be.

Back in May I was at one of our local Walmarts (Buffalo, NY area) just before Mothers Day and they had just gotten in a large selection of clematis. I went through them and amongst several varieties I have or am familiar with, there were 2 I was not. Fire Flame and Fireworks. I went home and did some research on them and found them to be quite nice, at least from the description and photos found in my Googling. I dashed back to the Walmart and purchased one of each at $12.99. I've posted a photo of the actual plants I bought with inserts of what they are supposed to look like obtained from the web. I planted them as is and after a few weeks when new growth appeared, trimmed them down severely, and now, much more new healthy growth is appearing. I have been nipping that off a few nodes down as well to promote root growth, and both are doing very well. In fact, Fireworks did set a bud which I let open to see if it was what it is supposed to be, and it is, albeit a bit lighter than the photo, but still, somewhat the correct coloration. Fire Flame has not set any buds/blooms, but is growing very well. I am holding my breath. I very much want a beautiful pink/red double in my collection, but am always leery of buying anything at Walmart not in bloom as I have had frequent problems with plants not being what they are labeled. Luckily, I purchased these shortly after they arrived at the store, as they did not look the least bit picked over. Unfortunately, there was only one label in one pot in each flat of 6 pots, so when that pot was purchased, there was no way to know what variety was in the flat. I find that pretty stupid on the growers part and Walmart as well, but then again, it's Walmart. Anyway, I will still be pruning Fire Flame next year to encourage better root growth, but if it does set a bloom, I will let it open just to see if it is what it is was labeled. Keeping my fingers crossed! I will update this when it does.

My Lowes doesn't have the colored pots but our Walmart and Home Depot does. I happened to be at Walmart yesterday and they had tons of pink, yellow, white and red pots with roses and I finally found a tag on a few of the roses. The rose in the pink pot had a tag on the actual rose, not the pot, and it said the McCartney rose, I also found one on one of the yellow pots that said Peace and one on the white one that said White Majesty. I don't know why all the roses didn't have tags but I'm glad I found them so at least I knew what the roses were. Now I'm not sure if that's what is at your Lowes but ya never know.

I eat non-soy fake meat and dairy. Some of the fake meats are being made with better ingredients than even a few years ago but they still all have some carbs. I try to limit tofu. I did keto for a month but stopped when I realized how unbalanced my diet was. I was existing on cheese and fake sausage and just didn't feel good at all. I get sick of eggs easily, unfortunately. I would have killed for some fruit. I was very strict. The good news is I tend to get into ketosis very easily (like 12 hours) and it's always the darkest purple so I have hopes I can increase my carbs a bit. I need a more balanced approach where if I'm craving fruit, I can have a little bit sometimes. The problem is when I do fall off the keto wagon, I go crazy and binge on all the carbs.