10/16/2015
Oh Adele, so sorry to hear about your wrist!
Today (Friday) I'm having a little adventure...I'm (wo)manning the phones at The Mister's shop. His office manager is away, tending to a sick child, so I offered to keep her chair warm. It's been fairly quiet so far; hope I didn't just jinx myself. And since I can't cut keys or work on locks, all I _can_ do is answer the phone. I have a lot of vacation hours accrued from my university job, so it's no big deal for me to help out. All right, on to food stuff.
Looking back in my notebook, I see I have been hovering between 187 and 186.5 all week. I added two new foods this week, carrots (1/2 cup per day) and sausage (2 patties). I think I need to remove both from my lineup for a while to see what happens. If I was to guess which one is the culprit, I would say the carrots, but who knows. I ate the sausage this morning but did not pack carrots in my lunch bag. I find that broccoli makes my tummy feel bloated, almost to the point of hurting. Maybe I'm eating too much at once... Have avoided cheese since Sunday's foray--lesson learned.
All in all, I think I'm doing pretty good. I'm sticking with Cali. mix veggies, and hamburger patties for lunch. Need to plan better for supper. A lot of this is just getting into the habit of "doing". There were a couple of times this week when I felt stressed, and I thought to myself "thank goodness I'm in control of my eating"--that normally those are the times when I would reach for something quick and easy to shove in my face--junk food, of course. We have to feel the feelings and learn to deal with those feelings and emotions in a different way. Food is not the answer.
Adele's Response:
Well of course you are right here, BUT... Knowing or understanding this is no guarantee that anyone will change this.
Trisha, I'm typing this with my left hand on a keyboard with a lot of the letters scratched off the keys, so it has to be brief and maybe a little scrappy. I would very much like for you to read Jill's thread here because so far you are reminding me a little of her. When I am able to type better I will expound on what I mean by that. Read over her journey at least once, pay attention to the time between her posts and tell me what you might be able to learn from how she handled things.
Again, I'll try to explain a lot more when I can type.
Adele
135 this morning
10/22/2015
No worries, Adele; I'll find Jill's journal.
I am going to stop the daily weigh-ins. I can feel my body is losing inches even though the scale still registers 186 lbs. So even though physically I am feeling the loss, mentally that number is starting to mess with my pysche. Going to drop down to once a week meetings with the scale.
10/27/2015
Weight 183.5 this morning.
Adele, I've put off writing this post because I'm pretty sure you're going to not like what I have to say. However I want to be honest, in the hope it may help someone else.
I've gone back to a zero carb lifestyle. I was on zero carb a few years ago which resulted in a great amount of weight loss. But like an idiot, I chose to start eating carbs again, wanting to be "normal", and of course the pounds flew back on.
I'd say about 98% of my food comes from meat, beef being my favorite. Once in a great while I'll eat a salad or some low carb veggies, but definitely not every day as the typical low carb diet mandates. My energy levels are high, the pounds are slowly/surely dropping, and my mood swings are nonexistent.
Now Adele, I'm not sure how you feel about zero carb eating. However this is your forum, and I will leave without another word if you want me to do so. I know your hand is still mending, so I won't expect an immediate reply.
Take care,
Trisha
Adele's Response:
I have no opinion of zero carb eating, or really any other specific diet or modification. I'll tell you that I spent about eight weeks of the weight loss phase of my journey doing exactly what you are doing now. In some senses, as part of the learning I needed to do anyway, it even worked. I'm a big proponent of figuring out what each individual body needs and then spending the rest of our lives finding ways to honor that no matter what else is going on around us, including facts and feelings. Doing what you are doing now could certainly be a part of that learning process.
I do think that those of us with food and weight loss issues tend to be all or nothing types. One thing I would caution you about, if this is really to be the time you really change, is that when you get angry, tired, frustrated, bored or anything else with such a restrictive program, I hope you won't go in the "nothing" direction, i.e., have a total carb blowout. That is what most of us will do. I hope you will guard against that. I hope when things get frustrating or any other kind of emotional, you'll cook a big pot of green beans and eat them, then come back here and talk.
So, I hope you'll stay here and keep us posted about how it's going. It's your body, your science project. But I do still hope that you will read Jill's thread, and maybe some of the other threads here. My hope when starting this forum was to have the individual journeys so people could learn from others without having to sort through a whole bunch of different conversations and a bunch of-off topic chatter. What I think the most important thing to take away is that despite lots of initial weight loss success, almost no one makes this over the long haul. The odds against success are staggering to me. I think it helped me when I finally realized that – that is, that this is a lonely road and a heck of a lot of work and that it's about a whole lot more than losing weight, although that has to happen before the rest of the work can be done.
That's enough of my rambling for now. I'm dictating this with the talk-to-text feature of a tablet!
Adele
135 this morning
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Weighty Matters 10/08, 09, and 12 of 2015
10/08/2015
Weight 189 this morning.
I write my food intake in a small journal. And last week when I dug out my food journal for this latest journey, I found some entries for January of this year--had forgotten about *trying* to go low carb at that point. I logged my weight as 198. I have never allowed that number to get so high in the past and, I swear, I will not ever allow my weight to creep back up so high. I remember trying to convince myself that weight gain is normal at my age and that it's okay for me to look this way since I am a grandmother. Ugh, what a load of manure. The things we tell ourselves...
All right, let me write down some positives. I am eating clean, only protein and vegetables (low carb). I've been surprised that I have not had the urge to snack. If I'm hungry then I eat but I am making sure it's true hunger and not just boredom, etc. Sometimes I have to talk down the addict, who I know now will never go away. Last night for instance: I heated up some tater tots for my 3 year old granddaughter and I found myself wanting to pop one in my mouth. I don't even like tater tots!!! But I stopped, thought about it and told myself, "Nope, you know what will happen." Then I redirected my focus elsewhere. Ever vigilant I have to be...
10/09/2015
Weight 188.5 this morning. Last night I had a fierce cheese craving, I mean INTENSE. I fried up some hamburger patties for supper and had the most godawful urge to add cheese slices. I resisted though & it only took a moment for the cravings to go away. Yesterday makes one week of clean low carb eating. No cheese, no nuts, no Atkins products, no artificial sweetener--just real food, with mostly salt & pepper for seasoning.
This morning The Mister says to me, "I don't know if we can afford to eat low carb." Granted, money is tight right now. He's a small business owner, a locksmith shop, and the jobs are slow coming in. But I calmly said, "Well, what do think low carb food is?" I pointed to the eggs and bacon on the plate. "This is low carb." He made some joke; I don't even remember what he said, but he backed off. As many times as we've done low carb eating, he should know by now that it doesn't have to be expensive. I think he's just feeling panicky about money right now.
I don't have a computer at home, so my next update will be Monday.
10/12/2015
Weight 187
Had a pretty good weekend. Fall is my favorite season, so I am loving this cooler weather.
I broke my no cheese rule yesterday and the effect was interesting, to say the least. My mother in law came over for lunch; the menu was whiting fish, kale, and a low-carb cauliflower dish that all of us love (even the non low-carbers). Now, in hindsight, I should have served the cheesy cauliflower dish to The Mister and his mamma, and heated up some plain cauliflower for myself. I did not. Almost as soon as I finished eating the cheesy concoction, I felt mildly bloated and my sinuses kicked up a bit. Well....if ever I was confused as to whether or not I need to avoid cheese, there's my answer.
Adele's Response
And so now you get to see whether you will do what you know is right for you or not.
I had a little bit too good of a time with this fall weather yesterday. My husband and I went out for a little walk right before dinner, I tripped and fell and broke my wrist. We spent the evening in the emergency room.
I hope you will keep on keepin on. The first step is to engineer your life so you eat clean all the time no matter what else is going on in or around you. The next step that goes on well the first step is still in effect is to feel all the feelings you will have as a result of following step 1.
I'll be checking in to see how you're doing. Typing is impossible, I'll be dictating from my cell phone.
Adele
137 this morning , I'm guessing two pounds are from the cast that is over my elbow, lol
Weight 189 this morning.
I write my food intake in a small journal. And last week when I dug out my food journal for this latest journey, I found some entries for January of this year--had forgotten about *trying* to go low carb at that point. I logged my weight as 198. I have never allowed that number to get so high in the past and, I swear, I will not ever allow my weight to creep back up so high. I remember trying to convince myself that weight gain is normal at my age and that it's okay for me to look this way since I am a grandmother. Ugh, what a load of manure. The things we tell ourselves...
All right, let me write down some positives. I am eating clean, only protein and vegetables (low carb). I've been surprised that I have not had the urge to snack. If I'm hungry then I eat but I am making sure it's true hunger and not just boredom, etc. Sometimes I have to talk down the addict, who I know now will never go away. Last night for instance: I heated up some tater tots for my 3 year old granddaughter and I found myself wanting to pop one in my mouth. I don't even like tater tots!!! But I stopped, thought about it and told myself, "Nope, you know what will happen." Then I redirected my focus elsewhere. Ever vigilant I have to be...
10/09/2015
Weight 188.5 this morning. Last night I had a fierce cheese craving, I mean INTENSE. I fried up some hamburger patties for supper and had the most godawful urge to add cheese slices. I resisted though & it only took a moment for the cravings to go away. Yesterday makes one week of clean low carb eating. No cheese, no nuts, no Atkins products, no artificial sweetener--just real food, with mostly salt & pepper for seasoning.
This morning The Mister says to me, "I don't know if we can afford to eat low carb." Granted, money is tight right now. He's a small business owner, a locksmith shop, and the jobs are slow coming in. But I calmly said, "Well, what do think low carb food is?" I pointed to the eggs and bacon on the plate. "This is low carb." He made some joke; I don't even remember what he said, but he backed off. As many times as we've done low carb eating, he should know by now that it doesn't have to be expensive. I think he's just feeling panicky about money right now.
I don't have a computer at home, so my next update will be Monday.
10/12/2015
Weight 187
Had a pretty good weekend. Fall is my favorite season, so I am loving this cooler weather.
I broke my no cheese rule yesterday and the effect was interesting, to say the least. My mother in law came over for lunch; the menu was whiting fish, kale, and a low-carb cauliflower dish that all of us love (even the non low-carbers). Now, in hindsight, I should have served the cheesy cauliflower dish to The Mister and his mamma, and heated up some plain cauliflower for myself. I did not. Almost as soon as I finished eating the cheesy concoction, I felt mildly bloated and my sinuses kicked up a bit. Well....if ever I was confused as to whether or not I need to avoid cheese, there's my answer.
Adele's Response
And so now you get to see whether you will do what you know is right for you or not.
I had a little bit too good of a time with this fall weather yesterday. My husband and I went out for a little walk right before dinner, I tripped and fell and broke my wrist. We spent the evening in the emergency room.
I hope you will keep on keepin on. The first step is to engineer your life so you eat clean all the time no matter what else is going on in or around you. The next step that goes on well the first step is still in effect is to feel all the feelings you will have as a result of following step 1.
I'll be checking in to see how you're doing. Typing is impossible, I'll be dictating from my cell phone.
Adele
137 this morning , I'm guessing two pounds are from the cast that is over my elbow, lol
Weighty Matters 10/06/2015
My Post:
It's only October, but I'm already stressing a little about the upcoming holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
However, I'm planning...The Mister and I tend to cook the foods for these holidays, and I plan 98% of the menus. Therefore, I will be in control. My daughter is the only one who would miss the traditional carby foods (dressing, potatoes). Well, she's 35 now so (A) she can just do without the mashed potatoes and (B) I can buy a box of stuffing mix for her. No sense in wearing myself out by cooking from-scratch dressing.
The Mister's brother lives with us (actually my daughter and HER daughter also live with us--it's like a deranged version of The Waltons) and is diabetic. He controls his diabetes with a good diet, so I always fix something low carb for him at every holiday meal. We can have the usual meat and simply add lots of nice veggies. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN.
Adele's Response:
I observe that you're starting to rev up a little--you don't need to think about the holidays right now. There's plenty of time. Stay in the day. Worry about today and tomorrow's eating.
I'll only address your question about snacking for now, Trisha.
I mostly feel that eating full, simple, filling meals is extremely helpful, it's one way you can stop yourself from playing games with food. Snack time is often trouble-time, no? Isn't that when the nuts come out? There's nothing wrong with snacking if you're really hungry--but if it's 5:00 and you want a snack, it's probably time for dinner? Everything will work beautifully if any snack is a bowl of meat (or an egg) and some vegetables with fat--maybe a smaller portion than your lunch? If you don't WANT a meat/veggie snack, are you *really hungry, or just looking for some kind of "break"?
And yeah, I think daily weighing has been the bottom-line foundation of my longer-term success. I had to "make friends" with the scale. As my mentor Patricia helped me learn, it's not a judge, it's just a tool to help keep me in the land of facts and out of the land of denial where I always went in the past when I starting veering off course. Now I see every day what I am doing to myself. I also post my daily weight with every post. No hiding. The truth is out there for everyone, but mostly for ME.
And I don't think it matters whether you put your tea on Fitday or not. Up to you. As long as it's plain tea and there's nothing else in it, including artificial sweetener or stevia. IMO that needs to be strictly limited. Sweet keeps cravings alive IMO.
Keep going.
Adele
136 this morning
It's only October, but I'm already stressing a little about the upcoming holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
However, I'm planning...The Mister and I tend to cook the foods for these holidays, and I plan 98% of the menus. Therefore, I will be in control. My daughter is the only one who would miss the traditional carby foods (dressing, potatoes). Well, she's 35 now so (A) she can just do without the mashed potatoes and (B) I can buy a box of stuffing mix for her. No sense in wearing myself out by cooking from-scratch dressing.
The Mister's brother lives with us (actually my daughter and HER daughter also live with us--it's like a deranged version of The Waltons) and is diabetic. He controls his diabetes with a good diet, so I always fix something low carb for him at every holiday meal. We can have the usual meat and simply add lots of nice veggies. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN.
Adele's Response:
I observe that you're starting to rev up a little--you don't need to think about the holidays right now. There's plenty of time. Stay in the day. Worry about today and tomorrow's eating.
I'll only address your question about snacking for now, Trisha.
I mostly feel that eating full, simple, filling meals is extremely helpful, it's one way you can stop yourself from playing games with food. Snack time is often trouble-time, no? Isn't that when the nuts come out? There's nothing wrong with snacking if you're really hungry--but if it's 5:00 and you want a snack, it's probably time for dinner? Everything will work beautifully if any snack is a bowl of meat (or an egg) and some vegetables with fat--maybe a smaller portion than your lunch? If you don't WANT a meat/veggie snack, are you *really hungry, or just looking for some kind of "break"?
And yeah, I think daily weighing has been the bottom-line foundation of my longer-term success. I had to "make friends" with the scale. As my mentor Patricia helped me learn, it's not a judge, it's just a tool to help keep me in the land of facts and out of the land of denial where I always went in the past when I starting veering off course. Now I see every day what I am doing to myself. I also post my daily weight with every post. No hiding. The truth is out there for everyone, but mostly for ME.
And I don't think it matters whether you put your tea on Fitday or not. Up to you. As long as it's plain tea and there's nothing else in it, including artificial sweetener or stevia. IMO that needs to be strictly limited. Sweet keeps cravings alive IMO.
Keep going.
Adele
136 this morning
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
8/23/2016
172 this morning
So yesterday I got a letter in the mail from an aunt. I expected it to be a reminder about the upcoming family reunion, but no...Turns out another aunt (who has been deceased for quite many years) had given up a baby girl for adoption back in the 1950s (she was not married at the time). It was like, "Surprise! Y'all have another cousin!" Apparently a couple of the other aunts had known, but had taken the secret to the grave. The letter gave the new cousin's name and mentioned she has a Facebook account, which I've already stalked. (There is a family resemblance...) I'm probably making more out of this, emotionally, than I should, but I'm feeling sad, a little freaked out, and just pissed off in general. It's the secret-keeping that gets to me, y'all. The first thought I had after reading the letter was, "What other secrets have they been keeping??" My husband doesn't understand why I'm mad but, you see, it goes to an issue of trust. And I know, I know...having a baby "out of wedlock" in the 1950s, 60s and even 70s was a SIN. It simply was not done; I get that, really I do. Even in the 80s, when I gave birth as a single mother, it was still a big deal. But why keep it a secret? Why couldn't she/they have simply told the truth?? --That in 1956 she gave birth to a baby and didn't feel capable of taking care of said baby on her own, and by giving her up for adoption she felt she was giving the baby a better chance at having a good life.
Anyway, I'm feeling a lot of different feels today, having trouble processing it. I know I'll get there; it'll just take time. And this morning when I woke up still thinking about the new cousin, I thought, "thank god for Leading With the Diet"...thank god I'm on an even, safe keel with my eating because this situation is one that would definitely have landed me face-down in a cake a few months ago. I would have allowed my emotions to carry me this way and that, and would have tried to drown them out by cramming "dragon" food in my mouth. Thank god for sane eating.
So yesterday I got a letter in the mail from an aunt. I expected it to be a reminder about the upcoming family reunion, but no...Turns out another aunt (who has been deceased for quite many years) had given up a baby girl for adoption back in the 1950s (she was not married at the time). It was like, "Surprise! Y'all have another cousin!" Apparently a couple of the other aunts had known, but had taken the secret to the grave. The letter gave the new cousin's name and mentioned she has a Facebook account, which I've already stalked. (There is a family resemblance...) I'm probably making more out of this, emotionally, than I should, but I'm feeling sad, a little freaked out, and just pissed off in general. It's the secret-keeping that gets to me, y'all. The first thought I had after reading the letter was, "What other secrets have they been keeping??" My husband doesn't understand why I'm mad but, you see, it goes to an issue of trust. And I know, I know...having a baby "out of wedlock" in the 1950s, 60s and even 70s was a SIN. It simply was not done; I get that, really I do. Even in the 80s, when I gave birth as a single mother, it was still a big deal. But why keep it a secret? Why couldn't she/they have simply told the truth?? --That in 1956 she gave birth to a baby and didn't feel capable of taking care of said baby on her own, and by giving her up for adoption she felt she was giving the baby a better chance at having a good life.
Anyway, I'm feeling a lot of different feels today, having trouble processing it. I know I'll get there; it'll just take time. And this morning when I woke up still thinking about the new cousin, I thought, "thank god for Leading With the Diet"...thank god I'm on an even, safe keel with my eating because this situation is one that would definitely have landed me face-down in a cake a few months ago. I would have allowed my emotions to carry me this way and that, and would have tried to drown them out by cramming "dragon" food in my mouth. Thank god for sane eating.
Monday, August 22, 2016
No Matter What Your Season
"No matter what your season may be, remember that God is at work in your life. He is weaving a beautiful tapestry; it's not finished, but it is in progress."
from the bible study Ruth, A Story of Redemption
from the bible study Ruth, A Story of Redemption
Friday, August 19, 2016
Weighty Matters: 10/08/2015
Adele, thanks so much for starting a journal for me, appreciate it.
Well, let me start at the beginning: I am a carbohydrate addict. Over the years I have learned that I cannot allow myself "just one bite" of carby food or The Dragon (as Adele calls it) takes over. For me, it's all or nothing.
The facts: I am 53, I am post-menopausal (surgical menopause at 41 due to hysterectomy for stage 3a ovarian cancer), I restarted a low carb food plan last Thursday, the first day of October, at which point I weighed 194 1/2 lbs. I have never weighed this much in my entire life, not even when I was pregnant with my daughter. I have what I consider a normal amount of stress in my life; nothing I can't deal with.
I had nothing traumatic happen in my childhood, except maybe not enough love being shown (I'm talking hugs, kisses & being told I was loved by my parents). I've been a snacker as long as I can remember, my favorites being anything made from potatoes or wheat/sugar. Was I substituting snacks for parental love? Hmm.
The first time I went low carb was in May of 2005. I've lost count of how many times I've gone off & on low carb since then. I always feel so much better when I'm eating a low carb plan. I realize and admit that I'm a carb addict but, dang, why can't I simply stop?!? For a while (maybe a long while) I'm going to track my food at FitDay, keep count of everything that goes into my mouth, so I can get a sense of calories and carbs, etc.
I think I need to stay away from dairy for a while, to find out how or if it affects me, along with all nuts. If you knew me, you'd know that cutting out those two items is HUGE for me. Cheese and almonds have always been my go-to low carb snacks. As soon as I told my husband I was going to avoid dairy for a while, my brain had a mini anxiety attach...which tells me I really, really need to get off the stuff.
Adele's response:
Okay Tricia...here goes (wink)
1. I don’t think anybody is a CARB addict, but I do think we’re all sugar, grain and very often dairy and nut addicts. I feel positive that you are not addicted to broccoli, right? That’s a carb. I wouldn’t worry one bit about ever becoming addicted to any carbs that come from paleo-correct vegetables.
2. Why can’t you give them up? Oh, you can—anybody can. So far, though, you won’t probably because you don’t think you should have to.
Generally speaking though, I’m not a big proponent of asking why—especially when you’re just 3 days into giving them up. Those answers might come in time, who knows? But the truth is you will never really need to know why. And even if or when you ever do figure out why, it’s not going to change the bottom-line fact that your body can’t handle these foods. Asking “why” is how a 3-year-old stalls when she doesn’t want to do something, right? (grin)
3. I also don’t think you need to go looking for anything in your past that might have caused you to develop your addictive eating patterns. My essay about that is Working On Our Issues
What I think you DO need to do is sit down and advance-plan every single day’s food plan, staying at least one day ahead of yourself (but no more than 3--because we need to stay in the day and make this a part of every single one). Make all your food decisions (and buying) and have as much as possible already cooked and ready to eat. Nothing more than 1 hour away from ready to eat. Make sure you have good, filling meals with lots of vegetables. That will go a very long way toward eliminating your “need” to snack. If you’re hungry, eat a full meal.
Let everything else about this go for a good long time. Just get your eating right and stop giving yourself permission to veer off plan. (For what it's worth, I already know that I'm having salmon and green beans for lunch tomorrow, and we're having beef and broccoli stir-fry for dinner. I still always have a plan.)
All the other stuff can wait for a very long time—and I’m talking years.
As for nuts and dairy, If you read through my journey, you might note that I gave up diary in order to get to goal and I have *never been able to put it back in. Eating any dairy (even butter) makes me miserable with plugged sinuses and post-nasal drip for about a week. Totally not worth it. Nuts have been something I also had to eliminate to get to goal—and for about 5-6 years after that. I began experimenting with them just a little at the over 5-years-maintaining-at-goal point.
I’ve gone on and off of nuts several times in the past 10 later years of maintenance, even after I was very able to limit the quantities. I am in a no-nut period right now, and my weight is lower than it’s ever been. My body definitely does better without them. I think given your history with them, it’s time to put both dairy and nuts away for a very very long time. At least until you get to goal.
So Tricia, I wish you a firm PLAN, and of course I hope you’ll keep us posted.
Adele
135 this morning
PS: Were you on the old Texas Lowcarb List? I do remember a Trish from then, but I don't think I remember a Tricia.
Well, let me start at the beginning: I am a carbohydrate addict. Over the years I have learned that I cannot allow myself "just one bite" of carby food or The Dragon (as Adele calls it) takes over. For me, it's all or nothing.
The facts: I am 53, I am post-menopausal (surgical menopause at 41 due to hysterectomy for stage 3a ovarian cancer), I restarted a low carb food plan last Thursday, the first day of October, at which point I weighed 194 1/2 lbs. I have never weighed this much in my entire life, not even when I was pregnant with my daughter. I have what I consider a normal amount of stress in my life; nothing I can't deal with.
I had nothing traumatic happen in my childhood, except maybe not enough love being shown (I'm talking hugs, kisses & being told I was loved by my parents). I've been a snacker as long as I can remember, my favorites being anything made from potatoes or wheat/sugar. Was I substituting snacks for parental love? Hmm.
The first time I went low carb was in May of 2005. I've lost count of how many times I've gone off & on low carb since then. I always feel so much better when I'm eating a low carb plan. I realize and admit that I'm a carb addict but, dang, why can't I simply stop?!? For a while (maybe a long while) I'm going to track my food at FitDay, keep count of everything that goes into my mouth, so I can get a sense of calories and carbs, etc.
I think I need to stay away from dairy for a while, to find out how or if it affects me, along with all nuts. If you knew me, you'd know that cutting out those two items is HUGE for me. Cheese and almonds have always been my go-to low carb snacks. As soon as I told my husband I was going to avoid dairy for a while, my brain had a mini anxiety attach...which tells me I really, really need to get off the stuff.
Adele's response:
Okay Tricia...here goes (wink)
1. I don’t think anybody is a CARB addict, but I do think we’re all sugar, grain and very often dairy and nut addicts. I feel positive that you are not addicted to broccoli, right? That’s a carb. I wouldn’t worry one bit about ever becoming addicted to any carbs that come from paleo-correct vegetables.
2. Why can’t you give them up? Oh, you can—anybody can. So far, though, you won’t probably because you don’t think you should have to.
Generally speaking though, I’m not a big proponent of asking why—especially when you’re just 3 days into giving them up. Those answers might come in time, who knows? But the truth is you will never really need to know why. And even if or when you ever do figure out why, it’s not going to change the bottom-line fact that your body can’t handle these foods. Asking “why” is how a 3-year-old stalls when she doesn’t want to do something, right? (grin)
3. I also don’t think you need to go looking for anything in your past that might have caused you to develop your addictive eating patterns. My essay about that is Working On Our Issues
What I think you DO need to do is sit down and advance-plan every single day’s food plan, staying at least one day ahead of yourself (but no more than 3--because we need to stay in the day and make this a part of every single one). Make all your food decisions (and buying) and have as much as possible already cooked and ready to eat. Nothing more than 1 hour away from ready to eat. Make sure you have good, filling meals with lots of vegetables. That will go a very long way toward eliminating your “need” to snack. If you’re hungry, eat a full meal.
Let everything else about this go for a good long time. Just get your eating right and stop giving yourself permission to veer off plan. (For what it's worth, I already know that I'm having salmon and green beans for lunch tomorrow, and we're having beef and broccoli stir-fry for dinner. I still always have a plan.)
All the other stuff can wait for a very long time—and I’m talking years.
As for nuts and dairy, If you read through my journey, you might note that I gave up diary in order to get to goal and I have *never been able to put it back in. Eating any dairy (even butter) makes me miserable with plugged sinuses and post-nasal drip for about a week. Totally not worth it. Nuts have been something I also had to eliminate to get to goal—and for about 5-6 years after that. I began experimenting with them just a little at the over 5-years-maintaining-at-goal point.
I’ve gone on and off of nuts several times in the past 10 later years of maintenance, even after I was very able to limit the quantities. I am in a no-nut period right now, and my weight is lower than it’s ever been. My body definitely does better without them. I think given your history with them, it’s time to put both dairy and nuts away for a very very long time. At least until you get to goal.
So Tricia, I wish you a firm PLAN, and of course I hope you’ll keep us posted.
Adele
135 this morning
PS: Were you on the old Texas Lowcarb List? I do remember a Trish from then, but I don't think I remember a Tricia.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
8/18/2016
Hair
Last week, on Monday the 8th, I began practicing the CWC method, which stands for Condition/Wash/Condition, and I have to say I love it. I don't know why I haven't practiced this method during the years I've been growing and re-growing my hair. It's so very simple, and my length feels divine. I'm using up the Herbal Essences body something-or-other for the first condition, my normal Pantene for the wash, and Pantene again for the final condition. Yeah, Herbal Essences was all right, but in the end I returned home to Pantene. Anyway, I have found that I can leave my length down with few to no tangles, and my hair feels wonderful.
Nonsense
I've had a love affair with long skirts for years now. They're comfortable, they're modest, and I felt that I looked decent in them. But recently...I don't know what happened. I almost can't stand to wear the long skirts. They...I don't know, it's weird! They still feel comfortable, but...they're just not me anymore. It makes me a little sad, to be honest. I have skirts that are shorter, that hit just below the knee, and they feel fine. It's just the long skirts that...well, I'm afraid I'll end up giving them away. In fact I'm now more comfortable in trousers than skirts where it used to be just the opposite. Isn't it funny how our taste in clothing sometimes does a 180. Different seasons of life, I guess. Maybe it has something to do with my weight loss and feeling more confident with clothing that shows off a little more of my shape.
Speaking of weight loss, I have been doing so. Last January, 2015, I stepped on my bathroom scale and waited for the digital numbers to stop spinning.
Now...at that time I did not weigh myself on a regular basis. I am one of those folks who believe that a bathroom scale is not an accurate tool for measurement. All you have to do is google "why the bathroom scale lies" and read for yourself. However, once in a great while I used to step on the thing, just to get a general idea of what was going on.
When the numbers finally settled on that first day of January 2015, my birthday by the way, I saw 198. One hundred and ninety-eight pounds...two pounds shy of 200. Holy...I have never been skinny* but I had never, ever weighed THAT much in my entire life. Believe me, I'm all for the HAES movement, and for people living their lives however they please. But for me, 198 was too much. It's not that I couldn't handle being that size; I'm 5' 7.5" and do not have a delicate little frame. But I had lost a lot of weight in 2005 on a low carbohydrate diet**--had gotten down to 150 pounds and felt absolutely amazing.
Thing is, I hadn't felt amazing in a long, long time. You see, in 2012-2013 a couple of life events happened that really knocked me off kilter. My granddaughter was born in July of 2012, and in early 2013 my husband bought a small business. I, well "we", both my husband and I, started taking the easy way out, eating a lot of fast food, and the pounds piled on for both of us. I reached my limit in October of 2015 and rediscovered a site called Lead With The Diet. It's run by a super lady named Adele and well, I'll let you read about her at the website. There's a message board attached to her website, but there isn't a lot of activity. In fact, I think right now it's just her and me. I've kept a journal there, however one must be a member to read, so I think I'm going to start copying and moving those entries to this blog. I'm not sure how Adele feels about keeping the journals around forever, so I'm a little concerned my "record" will disappear. I am going to tag the copied entries with the prefix "weighty matters", in case y'all want to skip over them. I'm telling you though...this way of eating** has changed my life. I'm currently at 172.5 pounds and feel so much healthier. My goal is to hit 150 pounds again, or even lower.
*Except for that one time in my early 20s when I basically starved myself to fit into a size 7 dress. What an idiot I was...
**I hate that word (diet).
Last week, on Monday the 8th, I began practicing the CWC method, which stands for Condition/Wash/Condition, and I have to say I love it. I don't know why I haven't practiced this method during the years I've been growing and re-growing my hair. It's so very simple, and my length feels divine. I'm using up the Herbal Essences body something-or-other for the first condition, my normal Pantene for the wash, and Pantene again for the final condition. Yeah, Herbal Essences was all right, but in the end I returned home to Pantene. Anyway, I have found that I can leave my length down with few to no tangles, and my hair feels wonderful.
Nonsense
I've had a love affair with long skirts for years now. They're comfortable, they're modest, and I felt that I looked decent in them. But recently...I don't know what happened. I almost can't stand to wear the long skirts. They...I don't know, it's weird! They still feel comfortable, but...they're just not me anymore. It makes me a little sad, to be honest. I have skirts that are shorter, that hit just below the knee, and they feel fine. It's just the long skirts that...well, I'm afraid I'll end up giving them away. In fact I'm now more comfortable in trousers than skirts where it used to be just the opposite. Isn't it funny how our taste in clothing sometimes does a 180. Different seasons of life, I guess. Maybe it has something to do with my weight loss and feeling more confident with clothing that shows off a little more of my shape.
Speaking of weight loss, I have been doing so. Last January, 2015, I stepped on my bathroom scale and waited for the digital numbers to stop spinning.
Now...at that time I did not weigh myself on a regular basis. I am one of those folks who believe that a bathroom scale is not an accurate tool for measurement. All you have to do is google "why the bathroom scale lies" and read for yourself. However, once in a great while I used to step on the thing, just to get a general idea of what was going on.
When the numbers finally settled on that first day of January 2015, my birthday by the way, I saw 198. One hundred and ninety-eight pounds...two pounds shy of 200. Holy...I have never been skinny* but I had never, ever weighed THAT much in my entire life. Believe me, I'm all for the HAES movement, and for people living their lives however they please. But for me, 198 was too much. It's not that I couldn't handle being that size; I'm 5' 7.5" and do not have a delicate little frame. But I had lost a lot of weight in 2005 on a low carbohydrate diet**--had gotten down to 150 pounds and felt absolutely amazing.
Thing is, I hadn't felt amazing in a long, long time. You see, in 2012-2013 a couple of life events happened that really knocked me off kilter. My granddaughter was born in July of 2012, and in early 2013 my husband bought a small business. I, well "we", both my husband and I, started taking the easy way out, eating a lot of fast food, and the pounds piled on for both of us. I reached my limit in October of 2015 and rediscovered a site called Lead With The Diet. It's run by a super lady named Adele and well, I'll let you read about her at the website. There's a message board attached to her website, but there isn't a lot of activity. In fact, I think right now it's just her and me. I've kept a journal there, however one must be a member to read, so I think I'm going to start copying and moving those entries to this blog. I'm not sure how Adele feels about keeping the journals around forever, so I'm a little concerned my "record" will disappear. I am going to tag the copied entries with the prefix "weighty matters", in case y'all want to skip over them. I'm telling you though...this way of eating** has changed my life. I'm currently at 172.5 pounds and feel so much healthier. My goal is to hit 150 pounds again, or even lower.
*Except for that one time in my early 20s when I basically starved myself to fit into a size 7 dress. What an idiot I was...
**I hate that word (diet).
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