5 Mins of fame michele4ad

[Laurenfra]

michele is 7 hours of our centeral time zone and is only on the PC from work So any of our questions we post after noon will not be answered until the next day.

[sillyann]

What is your favorite legal atkins food? What do you do for exercise? What is your favorite kind of music? Who has been the most supportive of you in this journey?

[Mary-chan]

Hello!

Where are you from?

What made you decide to do Atkins?

What do you like to do for fun?

If you were stranded on a desert island, and could take either an unlimited supply of music to listen to, or bring all the books you wanted to read, which would you choose?

[2big4mysize]

:wave if you could change the Atkins plan in one way and it would magically still work what would you change and why?

[Laurenfra]

What 2 legged and 4 legged friends do you share your home with?
What is your favorite book, movie, and tv shows?

[Curveegrrl]

If you could live anywhere in the owrld, where would it be? and Why?

[michele4ad]

Hi Everyone!

Here are my answers to the questions:

Sillyann:
1. My favorite legal Atkins food is my 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt that I add 2 strawberries or some rasberries to, with a bit of liquid sweetner. I eat this everyday for breakfast, and sometimes if I am craving something sweet I have it for desert too (even though I know I shouldn't) The greek yogurt they have here is so good, it is calle dcream yogurt and has 10% fat, and only 5 grams of carbs. So creamy and thick-delicious!

2. For exercise I am doing the couch to 5K running program. I started in November and now I can run 2 miles! Amazing.

3. My favorite music is gothic, and I have started listening to indie Brit pop a bit too.

4. the most supportive person has been my husband. He is a chef so he has learned to cook so many yummy things for us. He went on Atkins too even though he normally wouldn't have. But he has lost some weight too, and he feels much better (even though he cheats occasionally)

[michele4ad]

Mary-chan:
1. I grew up in Iowa (the Quad Cities) and I lived in Chicago for ~10 years, I moves to Madison WI for grad school, and now I live in Germany. I have lived here for 2.5 years. I will move back to Madison at the end of August to finish my thesis and finally graduate!

2. Why Atkins? So many reasons. I took a trip to Italy last October and I fell in love with it. But I couldn't see or do half of what I wanted to because my feet hurt and I was miserable. i couldn't fit any of the clothes, I couldn't keep up, I couldn't see all I wanted to because I was so tired. Also I had all teh symptoms of PCOS and learned that the recommended diet for PCOS is Atkins. So I thougt I'd try it. My PCOS symptoms have gotten much better!

3. For fun, I like to go to movies, have people over for dinner, wine and board games, read, T.V., bicycling, go to clubs (sometimes) , listen to music, do crossword puzzles, and shopping (now that I am smaller this is actually fun!!!)

4. Desert island books or music. This question is too hard. I can't imagine life without music, but on an island I think the books would keep me more entertained so I wouldn't get bored. I HATE being alone and reading is what I always do when I am, so i guess I would say books, but that in no way means that music isn't a totally important part of my life!

Michele

[michele4ad]

2big:

If I could change Atkins, and it would still work, I guess I would have to say I would change it so that I could eat anything I want and still loose weight! There are people in this world who never have to think twice about what they eat and I am so jealous of them! But I guess that isn't really a fair answer. I really miss oatmeal, popcorn and chocolate. Those I miss the most. I think I might be able to have them both again someday, just maybe only small portions and only once or twice a year.


Michele

[michele4ad]

lauren:

1. Currently I am living alone in Germany for the summer, but back at home in MAdison waiting for me to return are my husband, and my 2 cats, Gypsy and Vader.

2. Favorites: Book: Watership Down by Richard Adams, Movie: This is too hard. maybe "Say Anything" with a very young and beautiful john Cusack! TV show: Currently my favorite TV show is Stargate SG1 on the sci-fi channel. But I also love "What not to Wear" on TLC. and Six Feet Under (so sad about this being the last season) and I used to love Dead Like Me but It is gone now.

Michele

[michele4ad]

Curvee-girl:

If I could live anywhere:

Right now my answer to that would be Madison WI. because that is where my husband and cats are. I can't wait to get back to teh US. But I am sure that is not what you meant. When I get a job I hope it is in Chicago, I LOVED living there and I really hope I end up there. If I could live anywhere on Earth and still get to see my family and friends (perhaps I can also be fabulously wealthy so i can fly back and forth all the time??) I would choose Italy. It is the most amazing place I have ever been!

Michele

[Mary-chan]

What are you doing your thesis on, or what is your degree? How do you like grad school? (I am in the process of applying to a ph.d program right now and am always curious about other's experiences with grad school)

[michele4ad]

Hi Mary-chan

I am a physics grad student at the University of Wisconsin. My field of speciality is high energy experimental particle physics. I am studying the collisions of electrons and protons. The only place you can study this type of particle collision is at a lab here in Hamburg, Germany. When you collide electrons into protons at high energies, many particles are produced and we have a huge detector built around the interaction point that detects the energy and tracks that these particles leave behind. My thesis is basically about correlations between the amount of energy going into a collision and the number of particles that come out.

How do I like grad school? Well, I really loved being a TA. The research part is ok too, but alot harder than I ever expected, you don't get paid very much and you have to work all the time. My advice is don't even attempt it unless you are passionate about your subject. You will have to eat sleep and breathe you subject day in and day out.

So with that said, good luck getting into your chosen school!

Michele

[Mary-chan]

Wow that is amazing!!! I always wished I was good at physics.. physics was always the bane of my existence lol. It was the only course I ever failed during undergrad, and the reason I graduated a year later then I was supposed to! Of course I contribute much of that to the teacher.. I'm trying to get into cell/molecular biology, I am very passionate about it, and am very nervous about getting accepted.. if I get rejected I have no idea what I am going to do with the next year of my life!!

Anyway, that is simply amazing!! I hope your hard work and effort now get rewarded with a really lucrative position once you graduate!


Do you speak german? Other then missing your family, how do you like life in Germany? Do you find doing Atkins over there to be a problem?

[michele4ad]

Unfortunately I do not speak German. I took a few semesters after I got here, and I can communicate my needs with people, but I can't converse. I can't watch German TV, and allthe shows here are dubbed. (oh well, more time for work!) I really like living in Europe but I wouldn't choose Germany if I didn't have to. There are alot of things I will miss when I leave.

Doing Atkins here can be a problem and a blessing.
There are absolutely no low-carb products here. Germans do not do low-carb. So I don't have that temptation. Fresh produce is much cheaper here and at the outdoor markets you can get very good quality. The yogurt is fantastic, high fat and low carb which you can't get in the US. There is no splenda here (but I brought some with me) I can never eat out, becaue if I don't know what is in something, the language barriert makes it hard to ask, so when I go out I can only order a salad. The salads here are always gross, they make them always with only iceburg lettuce. There is almost always carrots and corn in them. Meat is about the same price as inthe US but you can get much better variety, lamb, pheasant, quail, rabbit, duck all of which I love. Becoming a member of a gym here is prohibitively expensive (the cheapest one I can find is 60 euros a month! And that doesn't incluse classes or the pool, those are extra! ) But there are loads of really great parks with dirt trails to run on and it stays light in the summer until 10:00pm! (I am in the North) I was tempted when I was in the States by all the low-carb candy and ice-cream, and I am a bit worried about it whrn I go back.

Molecular Biology is hot right now I think. I think this is a good field to get into right now. Good luck!

Michele