I need your help please

[shawn116]

Hmmm  very curious that your sugar should spike high.  If you are eating low carb you are more likely to need to adjust your insulin lower.     I'm a bit confused as well.  Maybe if you post what your menu is, including everything that passes your lips.    We can have a look and see what my be causing it.  As for the gluten, I realize not all low carb items are gluten free but a good number are.  We can sure work around that    Just be careful because not all gluten free items are low carb 

At least until you get through sugar detox you should probably just keep it simple.  Lean proteins and greens....lots and lots of good cold water.  Probably stay away from the sugar alcohols.  If you allow yourself fructose or sugar at all it will cause you to crave it for sure.   You are keeping yourself in a viscous circle.  Put those Atkins bars away for a bit and only use them as a special treat down the road if it doesn't spike your blood sugar    You can do this...we are here to help   

[maidmarian]

Hi TooSweet, I forgot to tell you.  I write down everything I eat, every day for years now and the time I eat it.  Also whatever else goes in my mouth (well....food that is! LOL)...Hey, I'm a pro comedienne, I can get away with saying that!  Yes, I'm biting the bullet, very hard, craving sugar madly.  But I am making some whey shakes with stevia and raw cacao, that helps!  Please keep writing.  I tried to put my photo on my profile on here, but it didn't take.  Thank you, Marian

[shawn116]

No worries ....we won't leave you    Here is where Doug explains about the avatars (pictures) and tickers http://www.fattoskinny.net/index.php?topic=46.0  Maybe this will help?

Keep in mind that this is probably why your picture isn't showing up....keep posting    You only have a few more to go!
 

This first thing you need to know is you can create & post a ticker right away, but you have to have posted 10 times before you can post your picture avatar.  That helps keep the spammers from jumping in here with bad content.

[maidmarian]

Ok, thank you, I guess I have to keep posting for a while to put my picture up.  I read Umpa (Sherri) and Doug's posting about Splenda.  But Sucralose IS Splenda, isn't that what is in your zero calories sweetener?  I am looking for ways to help my sweet tooth, but I only am willing to use Stevia, Splenda only rarely.  Any good ideas? I really screwed up badly tonight.  I made some great hot wings...I made, instead of flour, a bowl of finely grated (powdery) parm cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper and rolled each wing in it.  Placed the wings on foil-covered, Pam sprayed lasagna pans.  Baked for 45 minutes at 400.  Delicious...need broiling on other side for five or ten minutes next time before eating for more crispness, but still good.  Then tossed them in Frank's sauce with butter.  Celery and bleu cheese with it.  Very good, great meal.  I could eat that daily and be happy.  BUT then I started eating tonight after this great meal and wasn't even hungry.  I had Suzie's thin cakes (6 net carbs for 3 of them) with turkey, mayo, sprouts (I grow my own sprouts constantly), and cheese.  Still low carb and good, but NOT hungry.  THEN I ate a fairly carby thing with a glass of unsweetened almond milk...but again, the problem was I WASN'T HUNGRY.  What's wrong with me that I want to eat and eat and eat?  I want sweets all the time too.  I have to start over tomorrow.  I have to figure out exactly what to eat, when to eat it and how much to eat.  I am LOST!!!

[shawn116]

Those wings sound amazing    Your best weapon in the FTS lifestyle is to plan ahead.  Decide what you will eat tomorrow and don't sway from that plan.  Have foods ready and prepared ahead of time.  If it's there ready for you, you don't have to think about it again.  Ask yourself....am I truly hungry.  If the answer is no grab a glass of water, a piece of sugar free gum....get busy doing something with your hands.  Sounds to me like you are eating out of habit and maybe boredom.  I am an emotional eater.....in the past it would make me feel better to eat something wonderful.  If you realize your triggers you can avoid them. 

As for the Splenda...no worries you can use stevia in any of the recipes that are listed.  If you need help converting how much to use just ask.   Someone will chime in    

Hang in there....take a deep breath and make a plan for tomorrow.  This is a lifestyle change not a race...you'll get the hang of it in no time 

[Stephanie]

Hi Marian
Welcome to the forum. I have read what you have written so far in this post, sorry for the late response been offline for few days here.... ahhhh I love comcast lol ! Preparation is they key. I am a nurse and I work 12-13 hour shifts. For example I am working tomorrow and Wednesday and I just completed my meals to bring with me. I usually only eat 2 times a day with a small snack in between. So in my lunch box for tomorrow is 2 fried eggs and 4 slices of bacon.  2 cheese sticks, and one bag of almongs that are prepackaged individually wrapped. I take sandwich steak and chop it up, fry it in oil  and put cheese on it . I also I have 1/2 cup of green beans to go with that. I also drink a gallon of water a day. That is 7 bottles of water for me.  Like many have said keep it simple. I have been living my new lifestyle for 7 months now and I still keep it simple and at times will broaden my horizons by making something new. Simple is easy for me it decreases anxiety. We do not base our eating around here on breakfast lunch dinner. We eat when we are hungry, truly hungry. This is part of learning process you will learn as you go along. Personally if my stomach is not grumbling and I have drank a bottle of water and it still grumbles then I am hungry . This is not just a physical change that we are making but you will emotionally change through this process. I have made such huge changes not only physically but emotionally i am learning new things every day .As woman we often tend to be emotional eaters so trust me we can relate! You have to take the power and dig deep within yourself to find the strength to want to change your life. With the help of this support system here it is possible, TRUST ME! Blessings

[Doug Varrieur]

Hi Marian, eating out of boredom is a typical problem which is easily resolved. All you need to do is make yourself aware when you're ready to reach into the fridge for food when you're not hungry and then do some other activity instead of eating. Take a walk, write a song, write some jokes, log onto the forum, knit a sweater etc... To make yourself aware click the enclosed link and download the refrigerator reminder and post copies everywhere you have food stashed 

click-  https://files.secureserver.net/3sfyrvvrcxarsH

[Maddysmom]

Hi Marian!  So glad you have joined the forum with us! I LOVE it that you are an entertainer! wow!  A few months at this, and I bet you will have a whole new line of jokes.  I love bacon, and I see funny bacon jokes on facebook all the time. ha ha

Anyway,  I know you can do this.  I agree with everyone that if you commit to 2 full weeks, you will be be on your way.  I have no will power, but somehow FTS just works for me.  I never feel deprived because there's so many wonderful things you can make.  The cheesecakes are out of this world.  In the Summer, I love the shakes made of almond milk & strawberries too.  Tonight I am having Doug's macafoney & cheese....I love that!   By the way, my first name is Marian, but my parents always called me by my middle name, Jan.  I was named after my grandpa who was named "Jasper Marion".  .....so all my life I spelled my first name as Marion like he did and only a few years ago realized I had been spelling it wrong.  My birth certificate is Marian. ha ha  Oh well.......   Best of luck to you!  You can totally DO THIS!!   

[maidmarian]

Thank you to all of you for your replies to me, I appreciate it.  I wrote Doug and Sherri an "I give up" email today, but as they are busy people, I am turning to the forum for help.  Yes, I'm an emotional eater.  I also still have a raging sweet tooth that is very hard to deal with and a lot of hunger prob. due to my diabetes. I think I would make the cheesecake or other desserts and not be able to stop.  I know sugar is death, but I can't seem to know how much to eat, when to eat and what to eat.  If I eat when I hungry, like this morning after that binge and less than 3 hours sleep, I am pretty full now.  I had 12 carbs for my breakfast meal.  I figured out the whey shakes I like to make are 6 carbs. Here is the email I sent to them asking for help, it is entitled "I give up", Sherri advised me to post to the forum so here it goes:

I did look at the boards at sweets and snacks, but I don't use Splenda.  Sherri, I am feeling awful this morning.  I feel like crap.  I was going ok for about 5 days, low carb, no sugars or very low carb eating.  The only carbs I was eating was Suzie's thin cakes (6 net carbs per 3 crackers, they are like thin rice cakes, not made of rice) on which I put turkey, mayo, sprouts and cheese,  In my whey shakes, I made those with a bit of unsweetened almond milk, MRM all natural whey powder (very low in carb), 1/4 cup or so of half and half, raw cacao powder, chia seeds, flax meal, decaf coffee.  I would drink that about twice per day, have a green smoothie with greens, avocado, berries and a lean and green meal.  I am always hungry and always have a raging sweet tooth.  I ended up having a binge all last night.  I wasn't even hungry.  It started after a good dinner of hot wings that I made with celery and blue cheese. I baked them, rolled them in parm cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder, tossed in Frank's hot sauce with some butter, they were great.  Then I lost control.  Had a whey shake because I wanted something sweet and I use stevia in those.  Then I have more turkey and cheese crackers/thin cakes with mayo and sprouts...then in the middle of the night, I had more thin cakes with peanut butter and blackberry JELLY...I woke up just now feeling horrible.  I can't lose weight.  I'm so fat.  I can't do this.  I am going to die, Sherri.  I am diabetic, my sugars are out of control.  The only thing that works for me is to eat horrible Medifast shakes and starve to death with those and a lean and green each day.  That is all mapped out for me, but it makes me starve.  The Medifast is garbage, made of fructose, having 10 grams of sugar in each packet.  I am at a total loss and have now given up.  I'm a mess, I honestly feel no one cares and that I can't do this.  I feel even if I'm eating meat and greens, which I DON'T LIKE, my body won't lose the weight.  I feel people care at the boards and that you and Doug care, then I feel no one cares anymore because I am a failure.
 
I'm very depressed.
 
Thank you for your ear.
 
Marian

[Maddysmom]

Marian please don't give up!    You are not a failure!  Try to stop believing those negative thoughts like that.  I wish we lived close enough to spend a day together.  I really feel like if you could hold out 2 weeks to get past detox you would feel totally different.  If you can't do sucralose, have you tried xylitol?  I am a big eater, and I LOVE sweets.  If I could make you a plate of pancakes made from almond flour or flax seed meal and topped with sugar free syrup.....I just believe you wouldn't be hungry all day.  Please stick with us!! 

[Doug Varrieur]

Marian dear you need to get a grip on yourself. First of all you're not going to die so snap out of that thought process. You're an addict just like the rest of us. You are addicted to carbs and food. If you don't like meat then eat fish, poultry and tofu and lots of greens. You are wasting so many carbs on your crackers and your whey shakes, get rid of both. Instead of a whey shake eat another 1/2 dozen chicken wings with zero carbs, you'll fill up and stay leveled. As for me sugar free hard candies got me through my sweet tooth problems and eventually the sweet tooth subsided dramatically.

3 hours of sleep is big problem for overweight people, it gives you more time to boredom eat and not enough rest which in itself will cause depression.

We communicate with our reader base through the forum so everyone can take advantage of the answers and are able to relate and chime in with their own issues and support.

I hope you downloaded the refrigerator reminder from the link I placed in the post above, it will help you.

In the end it's up to you to have the "want to" all the support in the world won't take the place of a person's own commitment to them selves   You have all the tools you need within the pages of FAT TO SKINNY and this reader forum, what I see you lacking is a total buy in to the program. Make a decision today and mark your calendar, get through 2 full weeks and I promise you you'll be well on your way to your new lifestyle and to weight loss  

[Andrea]

Okay, Marian, here's another take on it - same message, another way of looking at it.  Your first emails were a call for help that included a list of things you just can't give up and why?  Have to have the whey shakes for phytonutrients.  Can't use any sweetner but stevia.  Can't lose weight.  Can't calm my sweet tooth.  We need to get you a new vocabulary, girl! 

You are taking information from all your failed diets and bringing bad habits into your FTS world and, frankly, that doesn't work.  You didn't give FTS a very long trial and yes, you will feel awful for a while.  That is what withdrawl is all about.  You and only you can control how long you stay in withdrawl and feel so bad.  It passes.  Everyone on the forum will atest to that.  But, like any drug, if you use again, you withdraw again.   We can't fix that, but you can.  Get all the old stuff out of your home.  Buy eggs, a few blocks of cheese, any green vegetable you can stand (I know, you don't like greens) some ground beef or chicken or any meat you can tolerate and drink as much water as you can stand - a gallon a day is not too much.  A good multi-vitamin is important especially if you aren't eating vegetables.  Keep it simple and GIVE IT TIME.  You didn't get in this state in a day, you can't expect to get out of it in the blink of an eye.

One final question?  Do you have a regular doctor you can go to to make sure you a) have normal thyroid function and b) are not clinically depressed?  We aren't medical professionals and we can only discuss our personal experiences but it seems important to make sure you aren't battling other underlying problems that can be handled separately. 

We all wish you the best and I hope you won't be your own worst enemy.

[morgan]

Marian -  How much do you weigh and how much do you think you need to lose? 
             Do you really want to lose this weight?

From the sounds of it, not really.  You want things to change desparately (as we all do/did) but you don't want to change anything.  Well if things aren't working for you now sweetie, you are gonna have to change them. 

I can sympathise and empathise and we all want to support you, but in the end it is all up to you.  We are here for you.  Don't give up on yourself. Ditch all the things you have been doing, detox all the crap out of your system including those shakes.  Clear out those cupboards and pay attention to the book.  Pick out what you can eat, buy them and only them.

Stop with the negative thoughts which only breeds more negative thoughts.  Instead of all the 'I can'ts' go with 'I am able to'.

Good luck.  You really can do this.

[maidmarian]

Andrea, Doug and MaddysMom, I read your replies.  Thank you.  I hope I'm using this site correctly.  Yes, I am clinically depressed and have been for man years with PTSD due to several tragedies in my life.  My thyroid is normal.  I even had an angiogram a couple of months ago showing 20 percent narrowing, which the doctor said is ok and to lose weight.  I do like meat I didn't mean to say it that way.  I just can't stand meat and greens all the time.  I want carbs badly after a while.  I really like all meats and I make a great Caesar salad dressing, that's the only way I like salad, with romaine lettuce and my dressing. I can tolerate green vegs for the most part and green smoothies.  It's not that I use WHEY shakes for the phytonutrients, they don't have phytonutrients.  The green smoothies do.  They whey shakes are a good meal to use, very low carb whey powder...well, I told you what I put in those.  As for my Vitamix blender, I see I will have to turn to making savory smoothies with just greens and peppers in them...how are raw tomatoes, are they ok for carbs?  Having to count things, carbs, calories, anything makes me crazy.  I have succeeded before eating low carb...like Atkins with more veggies.  I did lose my sweet tooth in 2 weeks like you're all saying.  In your book, Doug, which I love, you are right.  Sugar is death.  BUT sometimes (often lately) I know I am killing myself with food and still opt for that.  I keep telling myself dying's fine.  But that's not the real me.  I am on pain meds, albeit small doses, but daily and have been on benzodiazapine medications, very small doses, for 36 years now, since I was young, for my head injury and my PTSD.  I am also pretty constipated, although yesterday I had the opposite happen.  When eating low carb (which I tell myself is cutting out bread, starch and sweets), tell me how to get more fiber.  I use flax meal in my whey shakes and the greens have fiber, but I may need more.  I also want you all to know I don't tolerate gluten well, esp. wheat.  My heart races from it and I bloat from it.  So, no gluten.  I also don't use Splenda or Sucralose (same thing) because I want to get away from artificial sweeteners.  I want to do this in the healthiest way I can.  I would love to make some low carb desserts, but I'm afraid I would eat a lot of them at one time.  I allow myself 2 squares of 85% chocolate per day.  That's low carb, but I'd even like to cut that out as it gives me reflux and just use raw cacao (about 1 carb) with stevia to make some kind of sweet, I would love a recipe or two.  I appreciate the help, but I can't help it, Doug and friends, even though I am one hundred percent committed (even though you think I am not, I really am), I can't seem to really do it right.  I am very committed to this.  I'm off to perform in Las Vegas one week from today.  It can't be too hard to eat low carb there.  Thank you for being there for me, all of you.  I am grateful.

[maidmarian]

Hi Morgan, of COURSE I want to lose this weight, I don't think I sound like I don't want to.  If so, that is not the truth.  I want to and badly.  The shakes I make aren't what you think.  They are whey powder, which is 1.5 carbs, with decaf coffee (0 carbs), flax and chia (I need to have something in me that will help me poop and these are virtually carb-less, a little unsweetened almond milk, a little half and half, some raw cacao (1 carb), stevia.  How does this not fit into my eating plan?  It does.  Aren't I allowed 20 grams per day?  So, why would I give these shakes up?  They make a great small meal.