Jornal de Luluesq1, 27 abr 11

For dinner out, find out where your going, and plan what your going to order in advance. For the birthday's: Buy yourself some low carb icecream to have at the parties your throwing. Eat a meal before you go to the parties, and have a few low carb snacks on hand. There have to be some low carb cake ideas out there. I'd check the FS's recipe database. :) And just make your own cake on your birthday.  

You forgot Mother's Day! You really do have a lot of potential obstacles coming your way. It would be nice if you had more time on the program behind you before facing all these events, but not one - not a single one! - has the ability to take you off track unless you actually, secretly, want to go off track. You are in control! Is it hard facing these events? Absolutely, at least initially. But you have the power to change any of these events into something a bit different. Change up your daughter's fun night into something that doesn't focus on food. Or plan ahead to have yourself a great big salad at the pizza place. Stef (Ctlss) also has a pizza substitute that is made on portabella mushrooms! Might be fun to make with your daughter. Look into cake recipes that are Atkins-friendly - there was an angel food-type recipe I made for my husband's birthday. Eating out (niece's graduation dinner) is often easier than you think...a nice "plain" steak or piece of fish, with double veggies in lieu of potatoes, accompanied by a salad, usually works great! I was hesitant to ask about more veggies and no potatoes the first time I did it, but I was obviously nowhere near the first person to ever do it, as the waiter handled it as if he'd heard it a thousand times before. It may take you a few times, but before too long, you'll be comfortable with any social event while still easily managing this WOE. Just keep journaling the details of each event and I'm sure you'll get lots of help with managing it while still staying on plan. It IS possible!!!! 

I'd like to address the social pressure you feel from others you mentioned. I have had that thrown at me several times, guilt from my boss because we each lunch out much less often, my friends insisting I eat/drink things I shouldn't, coworkers putting an ice cream cake in my face after I said I wouldn't eat any. And the whole family thing as well. It may sound awful, but you really have to be somewhat selfish to accomplish your goals. You may have to endure some sad faces and objections to those people who would sabotage your goal. Your willpower comes from YOU at these moments reminding yourself why you are on this journey to begin with. I'm getting better at telling myself no. And telling friends no. Today my best friend insisted i get a smoothie, so I got a Jr one, and he teased me. I drank only 1/2 of the 12oz and when he wasn't paying attention I threw the rest out. The point is, I can stand all the teasing and wasting of food, what I cannot deal with is myself at this weight. I would assume most of us feel the same, or we wouldn't be here at all. 

Jada-ok.So,I'm eating ahead of the parties and gonna bring with me some cheese stix and a pop or tea(I know tea-pick tea!!)lol.I took ur advice and looked around for some dessert receipes on here and on atkins website.I actually tried a jello cake receipe last nite(Nummy!).Think you had some great ideas! 

Sandy-I couldnt agree with you more-that its partly an issue of how I mentally handle any situaiton.The fun night is at her school-and its like a carnival with games and jumpers.The food is such a small part of all the other activities.I am thinking we can just avoid the cafeteria altogether and I'll take them to Mcd's instead while I get a hardees lo carb burger.I initially had made it a bigger issue than it was with a simple solution.Haha.And I'm gonna have to find that angel food cake receipe!Love it. 

IcyMaiden-You said a very powerful thing that I could identify with and thats,"I CANNOT DEAL WITH MYSELF AT THIS WEIGHT!"I figure all the stressors and the personal hangups I have because of my weight and I know that saying NO is about the best thing I can do for myself. 

Happy to help! I hope when I feel depressed or tempted others are there to talk me down as well! 

Recipes you might want to try...Angel Food cake; 8 servings in a Bundt cake pan; Cake only: 114 cal, 1.5-1.9 NC; Cake plus glaze: 179 cal., 1.94-2.34 NC; recipe on mariahealth dot blogspot dot com. The range of net carbs is due to the way I made it and the effects of rounding when I divided up all the ingredients. This one I haven't tried as yet: Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Frosting. Recipe states it makes 16 cupcakes. No calorie count given. Net carbs is 3 per unfrosted cupcake or 6 NC when frosted. Recipe can be found on lowcarbluxury dot com slash recipes slash recipe-cake10 dot html. Another possibility that's in my "to try" file: Flax Seed Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Recipe states it makes 6 individual muffin tops, 205.4 calories and 1.9 net carbs....it appears those totals are for the cake with frosting, but it doesn't specifically say so. This recipe can be found on lowcarbbetterhealth dot blogspot dot com slash 2011/01/flax-seed-spice hyphen cake-with-cream hyphen cheese.html. That should be enough to get you started with some ideas for any occasion that you feel demands some type of cake. Good luck.  

icymaiden-thats what this great forum is for!Some days i think its better than Facebook,lol. and Sandy-I copy and pasted your suggestions.lol-looks like I need to go grocery shopping.I'm actually looking forward to trying this out and making my bday scrumptous!!