We must find you another form of comfort Lila!
(And me as well)
Dh took me out for dinner last night on my way home from camp. Loaded veggie burger and fries. My weight is creeping up again.

Day 2 -

I am trying to go back to not eating after 7, not having junk in the house, and drinking water.

I also was prescribed phentermine and started taking a half dose yesterday. NOT the dangerous phen-fen.

I want to exercise but an so exhausted. I will try to walk today. I ate less yesterday, drank water, ate healthier and was on my feet a lot.

2/20

Progress update and in case it is encouraging for anyone else:

I'm down about 9 lbs. give or take from the scary high I had reached with my lax habits during Covid and the stressful times (and there are new stresses but I'm going to be vigilant this time around; stress is enough, weight gain makes it feel worse).

The encouraging part is that I haven't done much that strenuous, just stopped doing the excessive eating and that in itself was enough to get the ball rolling. So if you're wrestling with "Do I have to do big hard scary and tedious things?" the answer is no. Start very small and doable, just sneak in the back door with it.

May 1, I am still the same weight, but have hope to walk most days this month and I committed to not buying anymore junk.

2/20

Congrats CM! That is great and yes, encouraging!

I find I am eating a lot more for comfort lately. I've regained 3 lbs and my ankles are swollen and my legs hurt. I am sitting here eating cookies. I know the sugar makes the pain worse, but I feel like I "need" the comfort.

It's a vicious cycle. I eat junky, sugary stuff so then I hurt and feel tired and sluggish. I have no energy when I eat heavy foods.

I know what helps.
- eating plant based NOT junk
- staying off sugar or at least reduced sugar
- taking a walk every day for exercise
- drinking water

If I do those things, my energy and mood improve and I get more done. I will aim to do that tomorrow.

Doing better. Went for an actual walk this week. Eating more vegetables, saying no to junk more often, cutting back on sweets, down 2 more pounds.

4/20

Good morning Lila,
What's for breakfast?

Drink your water!

Good morning everyone else too.

I have so much healthy food pouring into the house right now, it should be easy to make better decisions.

Also I am home all day and there is lots of work to do outside.

I think I might be toning up a little, but my weight is not really moving.

Another pound off, eating a lot of vegetables and such. This is where I usually get stuck. Will it stay gone and keep going this time?

5/20

Ok, last night I finally made a good decision.
Actually, Dh made it for me.

We have developed a habit of staying up until ten or later. He watches videos and I surf online and we both snack.

Last night, he came in from the shop at 9:30 and I had just finished as much clean up as I had energy for. I said "I can't decide wether to go to bed or have a snack." And he said "let's go to bed." So we did. And I got 8 hours of sleep!

I don't like to go to bed without him because I can't fall asleep unless I am completely exhausted (I have rarely in my life slept in a room where I can't hear someone else breathing, and I think my subconscious relies on that for security). And he doesn't like it when I go to bed and leave him alone in the great room.

But I think this needs to be a new habit. Even if I bring a book or the iPad to bed and let him watch videos in bed (which he likes and I hate usually because I'm trying to sleep) I need to remove myself from the snacking zone - and try to get to sleep earlier!

So tonight's goal - in bed at 9:30.

Back to update. My weight went up a little and then back down, so I am still at 5 pounds down. Actually the scale this morning was every so slightly more than 5 pounds gone, so maybe this week will bring a new low.

5/20

I'm glad you are feeling better Lila!

I think the secret to eating better is gatekeeping what food comes into your house. So the best time to buy/order food is when you are feeling motivated and not hungry.

If you don't buy store chips and baked goodies and spend some prep time on things like carrot sticks and apple slices, then when you want a snack, you are faced with "I can eat this healthy snack that is already prepared, or I can spend time making a less healthy snack." Bananas come ready to eat in biodegradable wrappers.

End of the first week my meals and portions gave been better and I have more than met my yoga goals, but I have also helped Dh finish off many of the Christmas goodies. Net weight loss goal - 0%.

Thanks SubC. I don't think anyone could have talked me off the fried chicken today. I have not had any in so long, and I am kind of sad, so it was a therapy feeling. I use food to help me feel better. My main issue is low energy, which is why my Dr prescribed phentermine in the past. Even a half pill makes me just feel like I imagine normal people feel - able to get up and do things. No burst of energy, just normal. Plus it helps curb my appetite.

In the future though yes, some encouragement to skip junk foods and eat what will heal me would be very welcome!

So tomorrow morning I will re-start the half pills in the morning. Then I will follow what worked for me before when I was a normal weight for many years: intermittent fasting 16:8. (16 hours fasting and 8 hour eating window). This mainly looks like me eating between noon and 8pm, but nothing outside that window except plain teas, black decaf coffee, and in the morning a cup of decaf coffee with cream. I try to drink lots of water.

Then choose healthy food as much as I can.

When I do this, plus force myself to get up and DO things, I have more energy and feel better about myself. And I really have got to get going on the decluttering again.

Hi Lila,

The hot cereal Bean likes is Bob's 10 grain. He also likes rolled oats. I do not. I put fruit in his and maple syrup in mine. I should put fruit in mine too, but I really LIKE maple syrup.

My day always starts with black coffee. Breakfast is carbs or carbs with egg. The rest of the day is highly variable. Dh makes dinner. Dinner last night was yummy but not healthy.

Today I am eating plain slices of the bread Bean and I made yesterday.

I have a thought for road that I will put here because it is a little off track from the other thread - Road, you said the stairs discourage you from putting things away - the stairs at school are a big part of my exercise routine. Maybe if you think of the stairs as exercise, you can set a certain number of times to carry something up or down and your exercise routine will help your environment. So instead of "I don't want to put this away because I have to go upstairs" it would be "I planned to go upstairs x times - what can I take with me to put away?"

Making bad choices due to exhaustion. Can't go to bed because there are things I truly must do.

Well, here is done encouragement in case I am not here when you need me. I believe you can do this, and I will be back to cheer!

What are some healthy foods that you like? Are you keeping them in the house?

I am going to eat cereal instead of pound cake for breakfast.

So Lila, how are you doing?

I made the mistake of getting on the scale after all the sugar at mil's house. I gained 7 lbs. 😮 I am hoping that some of that is the salt that is also in her food and it will come off quickly.

I would ask how a person can gain 7 lbs in 5 days, but the answer is - trying to fill up on food that is full of empty calories. (And salt. I hope)

After a long break, Dh and I are planning to do yoga again this morning before he goes to work.

Week two -
Did really well with yoga
Mostly made better choices on evening snacking
Drank a lot less wine
Went up and down the stairs a lot at school.
Dh made healthy meals

At 6% of weight loss goal! (Which is within my yo-yo range, but down is better than up or even.)

I'm doing well, thanks, SubC. Foods I like. Well I was raised on junk food and fast food so it is hard. But I don't hate vegetables. I like them, just don't prefer them. I do enjoy fruit so I try to keep some on hand.

This week I managed well with my 16:8 intermittent fasting and made healthier choices, and ate less volume.

Today for some reason when I was out running errands, I decided to have fast food. But, the win is I did not have Coke. I wanted a big Coke in a bad way but I got an iced green tea instead, lightly sweetened with peach juice. I told myself this is my reward meal for a good week. I dunno if that is a good strategy or not, but once a week is a lot better than it was. Dinner will be asparagus, maybe one egg, and some fruit. All within my 8 hour eating window.

I parked in the grocery store parking lot and was going to go in and get chips and queso and some dessert, but I just drove back home instead.

Also this week I am down 2 pounds!

hi SubC,

Sugar and salt both retain water, so a lot of that is water. Drink more water to flush it out! I know the feeling of UGH from the scale, though. I regianed a few, stalled out, and am losing again. But only 13 pounds down from March now, so I still have one regained pound to lose.

This morning I made my homemade spiced Chai with oat milk. My fridge is in a state of disaster because the produce that was in there when I was out of town for medical appointments is in various stages. My goal this morning is to pull it all out, compost what can't be saved, use/eat/freeze anything that is still ok but needs used now. I should clean the fridge but I am not sure if I will get that far.

It is almost 11 and I am getting hungry. Will make a healthy choice.

Good job, SubC!

My husband brings in a lot of junk. I try to send it down to his den so I don't have to see it, but honestly just knowing there are chips, coke and candy in the family room makes it hard. I can't police his food choices. I've tried for years. So all I can do is try to keep the kitchen "clean." He has his own fridge and cupboards so I avoid those areas. Sometimes I go down to the pantry for, say, canned green beans and I find a case of candy bars. Sigh.

I am cleaning out the spice cabinet today and throwing out some things that are not on my healthy eating plan (sugary things). The spice cabinet also holds baking supplies etc on the other shelves so I am cleaning it all out, and looking at all the spices and thinking of healthy ways I can use them.

I was down 3 pounds but yesterday went nutso with the pasta and it came back. I cannot get to my stepper because I am isolating for covid and have to stay upstairs for 5 days. When my 5 days is done I am going to start walking and using the stepper again.

I can't help but keep thinking I need some kind of a diet plan to get this weight off. I know all the talk about "lifestyle change" and just eat less calories and more healthy stuff. I just have struggled with that for many years.

I wish I could just have a meal plan where the food is already prepared for me and all I have to do is eat it. I dunno.

I am doing good with the intermittent fasting but my actual intake today is mainly junky types of food. I wish I had more motivation or self control but I really just want cake.

Well, only 3 of tge pounds were water.

I am currently down about 14% of the weight I wanted to lose, after 6.5 months. But I yo-yo.

My current goal is to eat as much of what my garden is producing as possible. Right now that is leafy greens, garlic scapes, beets, and radishes. Peas and onions soon. Also I have stored things.

I try to think of the junk food as dh's. Like, if I had a treat, I wouldn't want him to eat it. So I think"that is his treat, don't eat it."

Sticking my weight at the moment. Are you doing the stepper?

Well forget a diet plan, I have dropped about 8 pounds in a week. Turns out I have the c word. They did surgery and got it out, they think. But maybe that was what has been causing a lot of my health problems, who knows. Now I am on an anti-cancer diet. Basically like the Mediterranean diet. Won't know more until I see the specialist. But I know being overweight is a risk factor so I will be working on reducing that. Just eating less and mostly plants, some fish. I feel exhausted but am trying to get up and walk a bit. Anyone else still working on this? We could be accountability buddies.

I think it's getting off the ground. After we got the big repair done it was easier to settle into a routine, and let go of the stress eating. I'm just being super chill about it, seeing if the weight will start to come off a little bit on its own, and it seems to be starting to.

Then soon I can kick it up a few notches with exercising and little focused eating changes. I don't use the D word. Too many years of that have soured me on it, to the point where it messes with my head.

I am curious, though, about possibly trying a bit of intermittent fasting. Being a picky eater with sensory issues around a lot of foods especially vegetables, IF may be more user friendly for me. And I've seen that people trying to lose SSRI antidepressant weight have had good results with it. I still am on a quarter of the dose, and one of these days hopefully will be ready to get off that and be done. It's just a placebo effect by now anyway, I would be willing to bet. Like a final leap of faith to be completely off it. So ironic to have this need to cling to it when I never liked the stuff anyway. I'll wrestle with it and eventually find my way.

Oh hi, just saw this a day or two ago. I think I'll chime in from time to time. I've been wondering if I've put on the "Covid-19," lol. Pretty sure a few pounds at least. Jeans feeling snug. I had been going to get back to the gym and continue the exercises I was given at physical therapy last fall, and those would lead in to further work on the weight machines.

Then omicron hit...

This house has no place much I can do the exercises - even back in the bunny room with the bunnies, where I was going previously, now my roommate is having her bunnies out to play and doing her remote work there in the mornings. And running her bunnies in the evenings (mine have their playtime in the day).

So I'll just start real simple, try to cut back on excess amounts of food. I'm a picky eater so veggies and salads aren't going to be on the radar for me much. And some of the things I used to eat - fruit for instance - I've had to cut back on for reasons that are too weird to go into here. Portion control is the main thing I can do for now. Baby steps.

Hi Lila,

I am feeling really discouraged.

I gained five pounds last week because we were busy and stressed and I had a lot of restaurant food (pizza, burritos) and alcohol and dessert.

I talked with Dh and he has been really great. Yesterday he was rushed, but stopped at a grocery and put together a really take out box of healthy food bar choices for dinner, and then did not open a bottle of wine to go with.

But I am also not making time to exercise.

Well, after two days of working hard in the garden, planning my meals around what I am growing, and drinking gallons of water, the scale moved down a tiny tick. Still not back to where I was in May, but I'll take any progress.

Somehow I have accidentally taken back cooking dinner. This will need to stop next week when I am working at camp.

The key tie ins with the hoarding here for me are "grow it, pick it, eat it, preserve it, feed it to the chickens, or give it away - keep it moving and don't put so much energy on the production side that you get buried in over abundance", and "don't stockpile processed food at the grocery store no matter how good a deal it is."

I made eating a green vegetable one of my daily habit goals - which has caused me to realize that Dh doesn't cook green vegetables much in the winter. Not doing great on it.

When the kids were snowed in here with us, they cooked lots of yummy food and I found myself eating way too much (I could feel it, but couldn't bring myself to stop. I definitely have a "people cooking for you = love" complication from my childhood.)

Also we didn't do yoga while they were here. Now we are back to yoga and smaller meals, but I made a poundcake because we have so many eggs.

I am currently a touch above where I started.

I'm afraid to weigh myself. But I had a small victory tonight. I was going to buy myself a pint of ice cream, looked at the calories (1100 for the pint) and told myself, that's an entire day's worth of food. Small victory.

Sweets are my problem. I love them so much. Lila, how are you doing? I seem to recall you have a penchant for fast food. Are you able to balance some of that out?