It is such a struggle to stay on a low-carb diet. I have been working at it for more than a year now. I’ve managed to lose 35 pounds, but it hasn’t been easy. I’ll stay on the diet, then fall off of it, get back on and so on. At least when I do fall off, I don’t go hog wild. The problem is often that there are not any low-carb foods available. When I do grab something that’s high in carbs, not only does it begin to derail my weight loss efforts, but I feel rotten. I’ve gotten to the point where I need to keep protein bars handy so that I don’t reach for a candy bar, or my biggest weakness, which is bread.

Yesterday was not a good diet day. I ate almost an entire bag of chocolate-covered almond candy. I had oatmeal for breakfast. A sandwich for lunch–definitely too many carbs. Today, I am going to skip breakfast and have some coffee. For lunch, I’m going to eat the rest of the split pea soup. For dinner, we are having grilled chicken breasts with cauliflower and Brussel sprouts, so that ought to get me back on track. If I need to eat a snack, I’ve got a pear and an apple. Hopefully, a couple of days of being back on my diet will get rid of my puffy “carb face.”