Hi DD, happy new year 2022! I think I did try to do an entry awhile back, but had trouble posting and then didnt get around to it until now. Holidays were spectacular and weight gain was part of that package :) Not too much, but boy I overdid it! It's so hard when hubby usually isn't home much b/c of work, and then we spent many nights eating doritos and other junk in bed while watching tv. Some things are just worth it. Weird that he partakes once a year with me LOL. As you may remember, he is not a snacker/junk food eater.
Covid got spread around the family, but all good, no one got sick. My brother in law did only a little, one day feeling flu-ish. I think this variant is more mild compared to previous one. I'm sure it helps that we're all vaccinated (kids only partially so far). My 74 year old mother said it was worth it to spend holidays with family, as being alone all the time is no life worth living. She did not have any symptoms, thank goodness! It's funny because in all this time, what 2 years or something, I don't know anyone that got covid and then over a two week period literally every person i talk to says they all got it. Shows me how much more contagious Omicron is (but also more mild). No one had any issues, so happy to hear. I usually get a horrible cold every year, that leaves me coughing for a month or more, but since all this covid stuff, I havent had anything. Can't complain about that part ;)
Ontario is in partial lockdown. Kids have been virtual schooling since the holidays but are supposed to go back on Monday. Dare I say I have actually really enjoyed having them home this time. My oldest just turned 8 and she's completely independent, even my 5 yr old twins can do it alone with exception I log them on.
Okay, weight stuff. So, I really, realllllly struggled to get back on track. I tried and tried to no avail. I'd have a good day, but then followed by numerous bad days. I actually didn't gain weight over Christmas, but more so afterwards. Two days ago when I was planning to start a strict calorie counting diet, I weighed myself and was 120.6. I thought to myself, if I can eat THAT much (eating until way past satisfaction, usually feeling sick) I don't need a strict diet, I just need some kind of normalcy. Never had luck with it before, but decided to give it a real go.
I decided to do Intermittent fasting like a youtuber I had watched with a similar lifestyle to mine. It's not letting me copy & paste but the channel is called the Daily Connoisseur (Jennifer Scott). I think sometimes I watch people who are in such a different stage of life that it's very hard to replicate their patterns. Young, single 20-somethings are fun to watch but its not realistic for me. Long story short, I've had the best couple of days I've had in ages. Basically, I am aiming for three meals and one dessert per day eaten between 9am-5pm. This is what she does and it really works for me. Many people do different windows but hers very much agrees with my lifestyle. I know there is no magic, its the calories, but a different way to corral them. I immediately lost the 2-3 lbs I put on and I'm aiming to makes plates of food instead of snacking my way through the day. I'd like to post my meals for accountability but this site isn't letting me post more than one picture. I'll try.
Just wanted to update and hope I can keep myself on track with this.
Breakfast: Egg white French toast, blueberries & banana, plain yogurt which I sweeten myself with vanilla bean and sugar free syrup.
Lunch: buttered noodles, meat sauce I made, garden salad (no rhyme or reason why it's posting sideways)
Coffee time: Starbucks black coffee and chocolate chip cookie (with icing on it I tried to scrape off). Yet again it's sideways :-/
I haven't been weighing super frequently but I do keep an eye out. Not sure how my weight dropped to 116.6 but I'll take it. Wow. I should check my scale is accurate with weights.
I feel like I've been getting the hang of things much better. I haven't had perfect days and I have not had any low-calorie days, but it seems that the lack of overeating/binging is allowing my weight to drop. I'm trying to give myself 1600 cal a day and I just track it in this little app I used to use many years ago when I maintained around 110. It's not a tracker like my fitness pal, it's more like you just write down the food and input the calories yourself so I don't have to keep it in my head but to me it's much faster than the typical trackers. I suppose a beginner would be confused but since I know calories really well it's easy for me just pop it in there real fast when I'm eating. It helps me keep things under control because when I try to do it in my head I easily forget and then I give up Because I have no idea what number I'm at anymore. While most days I've gone above above my limit, I'm not letting it turn into giving up
this group has been infinitely helpful. While it's no secret that dieters should be heavy on vegetables and fruits, I never really acted on that knowledge enough. Like last night when I was making dinner, since I didn't have to focus on my husband who eats big proper meals, I made myself eggplant parmigiana, asparagus, and stuff like that which filled me up and kept the calories low. I mean these are all obvious things, but it's just working differently now. I'm trying to work my day around Foods that will fill me up and foods that are fun, knowing I can eat anything I want just not all at once. Here's a picture of the eggplant thing I made in the air fryer for about 300 cals.
Don’t forget to change the default numbers for images. Or else they come up HUGE! I generally set the upper # to 400 & the lower defaults accordingly. I start by zeroing both. Kinda weird & takes a little getting used to.
I think that's incredibly victorious that you are at a spot where you can just let your body find its perfect weight, because the binge eating has stopped (or lessened). Your body will thank you for that :-)
sometimes just listening to others' ideas and plans helps a ton! i have done that so much also! seems you are getting used to some changes. btw, you weight is pretty darn good!
Hi friends!
So my good eating streak ended on Friday. The excuse this time was the kids were off school, fighting a lot for some reason, and it just triggered me to overeat. I couldnt get myself together all weekend either. It doesn't help that I am an introvert and constantly being busy really drains me. I love keeping a journal like this, always used to in my youth, but barely any time these days. Can't complain, it's the life I always wanted, but man there are things that just suck sometimes as a grown up LOL.
Okay, so I managed to pull myself together I think on Monday and Tuesday...but then stayed up late on Tuesday getting stuff ready for advent (kids get the calendars, the "elf on the shelf" comes to visit for the month and it's PURE JOY for them. But takes some prep on my part. My willpower was low, my tasks were high and I gave in even though I *knew better* I just couldnt resist the call of food.
I'm not sure how a person who watches their weight, and eats for emotional reasons, ever gets to a point where that stops happening. Is it just a willpower thing? Will habit eventually kick in? Like, people who have never been on a diet typically don't act this way, I feel it was brought on when I started wathing my diet as a teen. How do I stop "using" food? Maybe I just need to be really really disciplined. I tend to pick at food and then forget exactly what I ate - maybe I should portion and serve - absolutely no random snacking?
On a positive note, I have an easy time maintaining my losses overall. I just find it absolutely awful to actually lose it first!
Husband left for a conference in California this morning. I am happy for him, he's always wanted to go there. I could have gone but no one to watch all these kids and dogs. To be honest, I have no desire to leave them, as much as I would love to go to California.
Progress as of today: 7.2 lbs lost so far, only 8.8 lbs to go!
You are doing okay from the looks of your weight & chart. You are doing the smart thing by keeping an eye on your weight & not letting it get out of hand. Not to worry about an uptick & occasional stress eating. You can compensate.
For me, as an emotional eater, it has gotten MUCH better. That is to say, I am better at handling or avoiding triggers, so that emotional eating doesn't happen AS often. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is almost rare that this happens to me any more.
Things that make me vulnerable to emotional eating: hormones (#1 for sure), fatigue (can't think as clearly when I'm tired), opportunity (if the food isn't in the house, I don't eat it).
I think those are the 3 factors that can make or break me. Also, it seems that, for the most part, I don't have food fits at work any more. The last one was all those jelly beans I had in October, and then I was done. And what caused that? Fatigue and opportunity. I can't remember if hormones were involved, but I'm guessing there's a strong possibility.
Food intake today:
Breakfast: 250
2 frozen waffles - 200
Handful raspberries and bite leftover kids yogurt parfait - 50?
1 black coffee and 1 black decaf*
Lunch: 400
I made a really good low-calorie chicken chilli yesterday. Each huge bowl is 280 cals. Adding some sour cream 20. Broiling some cheese (70 per slice of Monterey Jack) on top of it and it's so good with diet 7-Up. Leftover veg soup 30
*I started drinking coffee more throughout the day and it's really helped my energy levels. I think I thought it is bad to drink coffee in the afternoon so I generally wouldn't or would have a decaf but then would be so extremely drained and tired by the evening I just felt like I couldn't move my foot one more step - and would use food to give me energy. When I realized how ludicrous that is, I started drinking coffee for energy even after dinner. Who cares what The general public says about coffee and how it's bad to drink and it will affect your sleep… It has surely only made my week completely successful in both calorie intake and I have no trouble sleeping. Problem solved. The reason I had a decaf this morning is I just wanted a drink but I didn't need the energy. So I don't want to overdo the caffeine as it could make me jittery, if I drink a whole bunch at once, and then ironically I end up crashing and feeling more tired. So I just want to have enough to take the edge off my tiredness without making my tolerance too crazy high. In the end I'll probably only drink 3 to 4 cups which really isn't bad.
Progress as of today: 9 lbs lost so far, only 7 lbs to go!
You've said a lot of helpful things about letting feelings and cravings pass before actually acting on them. That is really good advice. I know for myself, I find myself taking a "time out" to make sure I'm in a good place mentally, which also is a way to let time pass. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not always about letting time pass. I tried that once, where it was like, "OK let 30 minutes pass" but I didn't do any of the mental work behind letting time pass, e.g. relaxing, refocusing, etc. So letting 30 minutes didn't really mean anything.
Anyway, good advice and definitely something I need to be more aware of and practice more.
wow, you get 10k steps without adding in more activity!? that's amazing! i intentionally add in all exercise to my lifestyle as i do not have kids or a hubby/boyfriend, and i do have a car, so it's just easy for me to not push myself or move around...but i try to get exercise and weights in for concistancy and i always feel better, too, when i am moving around. that's really great that you have built in momvement! i have a friend who travels the world as a photographer and she thinks people are nutty who go to gym - lol - she thinks they should be all like her, physically fit naturally but hiking, walking, being outside! i say, good for her! ;)
nice job per yesterday's entry staying on track. the more you stay on track, the easier the habit becomes :) proud of you!
your chicken chili sounds GREAT! plus there's some liquid and possibly a little "heat" to it, both of which are filling and help to satisfy you. i look forward to some more crockpot/slow cooker meals to come this Winter.
i agree, if you can tolerate coffee in later afternoon/evening to go for it.
if it does mess with you sleep and you do end up not being able to fall asleep or wake up, then change the habit to a decaf coffee or tea.
i agree that instead of food, a little caffeine is prob the best way to go assuming there's no negative side effects like not sleeping :)
nice job figuring that one out!
people have gotten used to me maintaining lower weights, so no more comments / people do not really notice the small change of 5 lbs - and like i was saying, clothes fit better but i didn't need to buy new as i like to wear my pants tight so now they are just a little loser and actually fit better than how they did!
and i think in the summer/fall (i mean last year, again), i lose 2-3 lbs which stayed off when i got the new job in the new year. then, with the stress of a new job and commute that i used to always take public trans for; and also being up more hours, my body continued to maintain the lower weight...
this summer i did well continuing to maintain my weight. i was able to take days off of work here and there also each month (like a day each month almosst since spring), to study and finish some courses that are now done...it seemed i was able to balance things well...
and yes, with the new job, when i'm not exercising, i have gotten into the habit of getting home and just being able to relax, eat what i want but not binge,and get to bed at a reasonable hour.
the commute is long enough coming home that i get home just to eat/relax on days where i do some walking by work after work before heading home. i know this answer is a little wordy and i'm not spell checking...at least it makes some sense lol.
but, trying to answer your question a few entries ago: NO, i didn't deliberately try to lose the 5 lbs i guess i lost over this year and a half or year. something like that. it was a progresion of things. i do not think i was eating the low cals that i do now (1800 many days is lower for me than past years where it was more 2000 a day). especially since i was moved to the office i'm in now, since June, and then getting to have to know new coworkers...it's all the changes that have lead to the progression of weight loss...when there's change in my life, it becomes easier for me to regulate my appetite when i'm not used to situations...i think this is a big part, along with taking anxiety medicine like i was telling you which relaxes me...along with continuing all my efforts to be moderate as i like the feeling of being able to wear what i want and not worry about clothes getting too tight...
...i don't know my future, i like this low weight but it's still early at how i will manage it going forward...i don't want to put any more pressure on myself to lose more but i am watching my calories and they have been lower the last few months since like summer.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! I think most of you here are in the US, so if you're celebrating I hope it's delicious and cozy with family & friends :) We celebrated mid-October in Canada.
ive been meaning to update but I'm doing really well. I just took all the great advice here, listened to all your comments and finally something clicked. I don't want to jinx myself by talking too soon, suffice to say I'm feeling in control and very happy about that. I couldn't believe my weight was holding despite the overeating I was doing. That helped to motivate me to see that my body was responding so well to keeping the weight off.
Im basically just counting calories, but upped back to 1600 and thats my hard limit I try not to go over. I don't exercise at all, no energy or desire, but my life has built in activity so I typically get 10,000 steps a day which is apparently good to shoot for.
I haven't had a "what the hell effect" episode going on about 4 days now. Pardon me stating the obvious here, but I'm learning that I can feel hungry or 'not done' eating, and simply ignore that feeling. It passes anyways, and then I feel so good for having stayed in control. It's kinda mind blowing how I typically just give in to every whim. If I can get this truly under control, I'll have this weight thing figured out.
It's been a very busy week. I had I think one really good eating day, the rest not so much. I guess I should clarify I don't really binge in the true sense of the word, rather I just abandon counting calories because I don't like to see the number climb beyond, say, 1600. But then since I'm not counting, I figure go wild on random junk.
Got my hair done, ended up taking 4 hours by the time she did my whole head and cut it. I keep my hair blonde, natural colour light/med brown - no grey yet - and I keep it on the longer side. Was happy with the outcome. Super pricey but it does make me feel good.
Saw my friend who is moving down to Florida. Although we don't get together much bc life gets in the way, I feel very sad. She was like a sister growing up. I hate that we did not get our kids who are close in age, all girls, to know each other better. Ayways, what a treat to see her before she leaves.
I have been vacillating between diets in my head. Not really diets, but what I should do with my eating. Wanting to get back on a good track, or else I'll lose all the progress that i made getting into the 'teens'. At this point, I think I need to be okay that some days will go into the 2000 calorie range, or I'll just keep overeating when I see I won't make a low number. Dang, wish I wasn't so caught up in my head all the time.
Bet your hair looks gorgeous! I have some grey & do L’Oreal at home. Had it professionally done when I worked. Hair very long and straight like all my life, so easy to trim the ends myself.
Ok, I'm a little insane on the tracking, I know... BUT... I tracked this intensely for 3 months to see why I was suddenly spiking calories. Since I would say the exact same thing about my habits... this might apply to you too... I manage to keep it around my calorie allotment most of the time, I stay below my burned by about 500 a day.. I lose weight then it slips. I discovered that after several days in a row of -500, I will hit a day where I burn more than I usually do, sometimes even only by 100... then the binge happens, then the next several days are high and the weight comes back on... but also the irregular eating triggers insomnia. If I total all the calories over the 3 or 4 days, I'm only like 100 to 200 calories more than I was negative since the last binge cycle... but I had them all at once so I gain weight. I made a little calorie forecast calculator for myself off of my Garmin data and checked it for a month before my fasting window started... I successfully avoided a binge cycle while I was checking it. I need to get back into that habit.
It's an odd thing about binge-eating. I can eat an extra 300 calories in peanut butter and feel binge-y, but other times eat an excess of many more calories and feel OK about it. So do I deal with the mental/emotional part or do I deal with the actual extra calorie intake, if that makes sense?
Practically speaking, it's the "many more calories", because that is what will affect the scale more than emotional feelings. Still, I think it's important to examine the mental impact too - like a reality check (maybe?).
i tried black bean brownies once, but cut them before they cooled so they got a little dry. i should try again! yes, great fiber!
Donkey asked me a great question.
"Maybe look at your days to see why a "good" day is a good day, and what makes a "bad" day bad. What works to make a good day?"
This is probably the most important thing I could figure out when it comes to my weight/dieting. If I could make the time to think about this at the end of each day, write it down so I remember, and try to find some patterns that I may not realize or know I can actually fix. I overeat pretty much every day, and I don't care by the end of the night, figuring I'll just do better the next day.
I can blame it on my busy family life, but honestly I weighed a lot more back when I was single. I'll start to contemplate this a lot more.
Any tips? How do some of you never say "screw it" and give in to food just because it's fun to eat - with the mindset that you'll start over tomorrow?
The major triggers making me overeat are foods that shouldn’t be in the house: M&Ms, chocolate cake etc. I grew up without them on a daily basis. My parents were thin & health conscious. Deserts, chips, cookies etc were for Sunday or holidays only. No soda in the house except on special occasions. No sweetened cereals or chocolate milk, ever!
That’s how I’d raise my kids if I had any.
I hear you on the sweets in the house. Although, for me, it doesn’t actually cause me too many problems. When I was fatter, I had none of that stuff around, but could still find things to overeat on!
As for me, I said “screw it!” Many, many times ! I got sick of looking a way that didn’t match how I wanted to be seen on the outside and it wasn’t easy but I learned tricks and tips to be able to still eat large volumes at times but without such a detriment to the scale. I did lots of research at the supermarket and kept up with all the new and interesting health foods as well as online tips from all sorts of resources especially healthy eating emails that had recipes as well as articles on food. I learned a lot as well as learned a lot about what works and doesn’t work for me personally. It was a journey and so totally NOT overnight. I wished it to happen way faster than it did but now that I’m basically at where I always wanted to be, I do realize it needed to be that way, that journey for me (plus there’s no going back!) when I was 26-28 there were times I was so embarrassed of myself and how I let myself go a second time in life due to a change of occupation and going back to school and pausing the gym….life was complicated in some ways for me and I was not looking my best especially from 26-28 when many girls look their best. So it wasn’t my bed then, but at least I have a handle on it now. It’s never too late and nobody is perfect. We all have struggles. For me, my weight struggles were then. I didn’t lose the weight right after those years but it kept coming down here and there mostly steadily except for an injury, I stalled a bit, but then it all worked out pretty well until now ..
I still have triggers - reading jacky’s I figured I could add my two cents about triggers. However, due to my habits changing and not having had a crazy thousand plus binge or 2k plus in forever, I am able to stop easier before getting to that point. I take my food to the couch where I admit I eat and also usually bring a glass of water/ sweetened stevia seltzer. I usually, especially at dinner, relax with a guinea pig even during dinner or after and I get to the point where I am relaxed and do not need food to knock me out like I once did.
brussels look really darn good, again!
next, i will look into your bran muffin link. maybe make them soon, on Thanksgiving weekend or so :) :) 152 sounds good, especially if there's some real bran. plus, i could use all erythritol and no actual sugar to bring the cals down a bit more...though a little sugar doesn't hurt :)
The weekends are always so busy because everybody is home, so I don't get much downtime to myself. I also spent more days than not overeating. I seem to follow a good day/bad day pattern. I definitely lost the motivation I had in september/oct. Now I am just trying not to undo the weight I did manage to lose.
Anyways, I typically dont bake because I end up binging on it, but I made these zucchini apple muffins. Dang, they're good. I just calculated the calories for each of 12, came to 152 not bad at all. I only used 1/2 cup sugar, and the other 1/4 was fake sugar, plus I don't put the topping on. Link in case anyone interested :) HOP, try these - and I hear you on bran muffins, seriously have to read the labels right. https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-apple-zucchini-muffins-recipes-from-the-kitchn-207380#post-recipe-10727
Also made air fried brussel sprouts. OMG these were amazing. Reminded me very much of the fried ones they are serving all over the restaurants in recent years. Steamed a bit, then spray oiled, air fried, topped with tbsp of Nando's sauce. I'll try to post a pic.
Lets see today's calories:
B: keto bar and coffee - 200
L: brussels and muffins - 550
Up early 5am. Usually don't sleep much past this time. Happy Friday everyone!
i also LOVE real bran muffins. i once bought a package of tiny ones with hardly anything except a little bran and honey. they were meant to add toppings onto them.... high fiber.
many of the bran muffins in the store are really regular muffins with hardly any bran. like 1g fiber for the tiny muffins...and 100 cals too. not great fiber for the serving size.. you remind me, i should make my own.
i have a bag of bran at home, but it may not be good. i should do that this weekend....ty!
Welcome back! Glad you and your Family are all well.
Thank you!
Jacky82020 on 01/13/2022:
The breakfast looks wonderful!
I’m reading Omicron is highly contagious & almost everyone in the US is expected to eventually test positive. JFC! But those vaccinated & boosted are usually asymptomatic. Or very minor cold like symptoms. Saw Op-Ed article yesterday in NYT by ER doc. He’s outraged by all the antivaxxers coming in & taking up beds.
My husband had to go to the ER recently & it was a miserable over 12 hour rate because of all these unvaccinated jerks that were kept in separate areas but affected everyone. I finally went home & left poor hubby there alone. Nothing I could do & all the cats & dogs needed me. We needed each other.
I hope he’s okay. What a miserable time the ER is in the best of times, but as you say now it’s made worse. I heard recently that it is hard to get an ambulance because people are taking up space with very minor issues when they call 911. I can imagine how bad you felt leaving him. So hard when there are other little creatures that need us to.
bearcountrygg on 01/13/2022:
Your breakfast looks good....glad to hear that you are all okay now.
Thanks Bear :)
Donkey on 01/14/2022:
So glad to hear from you! I liked reading what you wrote about normalcy in eating. I think you have a good plan for yourself and your goals :-)
legcramps on 01/14/2022:
Love your pics!
Horn_of_plenty on 01/15/2022:
Hi Coffee!!! Happy New Year!
I didn't remember your hubby isn't a snack eater! wow. That's good for you, as most hubbies love the treats and the wives get annoyed with all the treats in the homes right!?
I know people that got the first round of covid as well as now the Omicron. I'd glad everyone is OK in your family. it's true, life is not worth living is you do nothing forever...it's nice your family got together.
it's good to hear you have been managing quite well with the kids home the past couple weeks. it's so good they have been able to do things on their own, too! not all kids are that way!
your meals look great.
most people, like we've discussed, cannot to drastic regimens like intermittent fasting and continue them for a long period of time. and i'm glad you are trying something that works better for your lifestyle. i totally get you and wanting to follow these drastic people who seem to have such success using their methods; but unfortunately they do not work best for us...so that means listen to your own mind :) nice job so far.
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