I do like steel cut oats, Chubs, especially with an over-easy egg on top. However, I don’t usually do well if that’s breakfast. I seriously think it’s something psychological with me, morning and grains. I’m better off just staying away! Glad you’ve had nice weather there, ha Rose Bowl days but yes I was fooled! Congrats on the two excellent days and getting some good exercise in spite of the knee.

Shoot, now I’ve caught another darn cold!! I guess things have been a bit stressful lately, but I hardly ever catch colds at all, much less this close together. No jogging for me for yet another weekend. Well, good news for appetite I guess, when I can’t taste anything. FD dinner turned out to be half a baked sweet potato, some slaw, and a bit of smoked salmon. I’d actually rather have had the miso, but shared the prep with hubs and that’s what we came up with. He had his salmon on a baguette 😋 but w/ this cold, I didn’t even care. Now I’m having some hot tea and some ibuprofen, oh yum 😁 Glad I have the day off tomorrow and can sleep in. Night all, sweet dreams. 💕💤💤 jade xx

Well done 🐧! It has been a pretty good week on the island 🔆 I’m finding the more distance I put between myself and sugar, the better I feel. I was reading this morning about plateaus and the old “set point” theory, and whoa the Internet almost blew up with conflicting theories 😠 The main “truth” seems to be you keep trying and eventually your system acquiesces. I got to thinking after watching the BBC doco “Why are thin people not fat?” (Here’s a Reddit link with interesting comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1hv8q3/ ) They studied a group of people who never dieted but were slim, then had them overeat. Surprisingly, one man simply turned a lot of the extra calories into muscle, without exercising. Others gained weight, in varying amounts, but shortly after the experiment lost it without effort. So, different effects in different folks but with the idea that their systems fought to maintain the current weight. Beyond that, no startling insights – but interesting.

i don’t have any real answers, except that it’s worth plowing on even if loss has stalled, or even if we have gained. Eventually, we will get there – or we will all have master’s degrees 🎓🎓 in not gaining! And that’s half the battle. Every little bit helps healthwise – mentally and physically. 😍 TGIF (or TGIS to Spring!) all you islanders! 🌴🌴💕 -jade xx

Right? And now the good news about coffee keeps coming in. Yay! I love coffee and have enjoyed it plain since college (or with just a splash of cream). Thank goodness something I love is good for me. Now to finally get over the sugar hump. It’s encouraging to hear that you never think of soft drinks now. I was kind of a diet drink fiend. What I’ve learned from last fall’s sugar ban – followed by the holiday sugar flood – is that I can way too easily get back into the habit, boy its roots are deep. So here’s to permanent new habits! 💪🎉 – jade xx

Hi Jade again:

In my PS I did not mean you personally. I tried to correct it, but this site does not allow much time to edit. It should have read ‘And if a person really believes . . . because they will just gain it all back.’

Sorry.

Hi LA:

English is hard enough as it is, but on a Forum where many have English as their second or third language I try (although not always successfully) to be as precise as I can.

My weeks experiment was to see if I could eat within the 1,200 calories(which MFP said I should have as a daily intake rather than the 1500 TDEE) and exercise, lose weight or inches and feel fine. MFP drove me crackers, so i abandoned that on day 2 and just used a notebook to jot down what I had eaten and then tot up the calories. If I am smart then I can eat very well 3 times a day and if I choose to have an ice cream then I can as long as I keep to the numbers.
If, as I have been reading ‘a calorie is not a calorie’ then is there a better way of working out whether the quantity of what we eat is too much? Is it better simply to limit the daily sugar intake (both hidden and visible)to 24g/6 teaspoons?
I have tried both. I eat quality food when I am focusing on 1,200 calories except that I might allow that 300 calories for an ice cream if it is sunny or I am tired etc. If I focus on limiting sugar intake, then the sweet stuff doesn’t get a look in as I am usually at my limit with 1 item.
I have been given lots of chocolate from work as ‘thank you’ from staff who know about my rather sweet tooth. It is hard to find balance. I have eaten some and some is lurking in a cupboard(out of sight out of mind) which I will aim to share with my boys over Easter.
I am lucky enough to be fed at work with cooked food or a salad option. Next week I have to take in my own food for 3 days and am going out for lunch on the 4th with work colleagues. I need to come up with some packed lunch options that don’t involve sandwiches(not a huge bread fan) that can survive my walk in and won’t spoil…but that I will love. No pressure there then!
The scales tell me that I have lost 2 lb, the inches are the same, and the infamous pink shorts fit better. All in all a good week. Either way I have to count what I eat to learn what the calorie or sugar ‘cost’ is for me and keep to that limit, and if I do that, then I shrink.
I remember being convinced that I would never be able to lose weight at all…and I have, or that 11 stone 4lb is my weight that my body wants to be. All nonsense, I just need to eat much less for my short self. I have been losing and gaining the same 8 lbs for ages now, so time to get a grip, head out of the sand and meet that target. I don’t suppose that it matters much whether I count up to 24g of sugar or 1200 calories a day, as long as I do one of them, or perhaps try and combine them both?
Trying to get my fitness up as we have enrolled in a 10K race in 4 short weeks. My goal is to able to run it all and not be last. Currently walk/run 2 miles, so a long way to go.I am happy to get out for half an hour when it is sunny, but so grey and chilly here that I find it tough to force myself out the door.

No FD Jade, I just wanted to see if it was possible to have a day with good nutrition on 1200 calories…and it is. I did go for a run in the perishing cold with a stiff breeze from where the polar bears live. It is too cold to go out for a wander so I am at home with not much that I want to do and the house empty(which is rare) but all are at work.
Thanks for the lunch suggestions,I forgot that I made some hummus. I may have that with ‘dippy things’ and perhaps tuna and avocado.

HA! Chubs you gave me a laugh – thank you! I want to eat the contents of my fridge too, mostly searching for some elusive taste sensation. Good thing I love hot coffee, which is taking my mind off all that. I’ll join you today in your fast so chin up girl, we have strength in numbers. 💪

Annette, congrats on getting out despite the weather 👍 – I joined you in spirit with a dog walk, which included the occasional fartlek when one of them would spy a squirrel. I think all this steely-eyed determination is going to pay off – we are going to be habitually active as we age, and good habits are a good thing.

In my ongoing sugar fight, I’ve seen that my cravings are strongest after a good meal. Some appetite switch takes place once I’m at or past the satiety point. Before that point, I just want wholesome food. After that point, well phooey on whole foods, I want cake. I’ve ignored the cake lust (it helps that there was no cake in the house!), sometime had fruit, sometimes just told it to STFU. Yes, it was hard and I have NO idea if it’s doing any good, but I’m hoping to change my Pavlovian reaction. As I said, those roots run deep! It’s both a physical (blood sugar?) and mental thing. But lately I tell myself that dessert after dinner is one of those “I don’t do that anymore” things that Spring or mcca mentioned recently. Sorry girls, I’d go back and check but you’re both full of good ideas. ☺️

So Master Penguin how’s it going over there? Do stay on the island, I’ve missed hearing what you’re up to. Speaking of school, I have to write an exam and would truly rather sit in this chair and mindlessly watch NCAA basketball. Maybe I can multitask and do both, think they’d mind if the exam had a basketball theme? 🤔 Beats a food theme 😂😋😡 – the weather’s a bit warmer today, perhaps I’ll also indulge my “habit” of getting outside for some activity, no jogging with this cold but the dogs are pretty sure a walk won’t kill me 💕 🐶🐶 – stay strong islanders, another week of fighting the good fight is ahead 🌈 jade xx

Oh! Yesterday was my check in with myself day. I’m still in the same size jeans I have been since before I left LA. That’s frustrating but my hip and waist measurements are going down. And I’m wearing a top today that I’ll probably won’t pull out again because it’s gone too baggy (in the belly region). (Too bad. It’s comfy and warm.)

The damned pneumatic boobs aren’t going anywhere. I’ve had them since I was 13. One day I was in a training bra and the next I was the size of a Playboy pinup. I’d just LOVE to get down to even a single letter size bra but I guess they’re more or less designed by biology to store fat so that doesn’t appear to be in my short term future. 😡

Still, there’s some progress I can measure so maybe those size 12s before too long… And I can really see the difference in my first How Fat Am I pix and the new ones. That’s worth a grumpy scowl in the direction of the fridge. 😏

Ha ha pneumatic boobs. Chubs – but congrats on reducing the hips and waist! That’s where a lot of visceral fat likes to go, so no doubt some health gains that you can’t actually see, as well.

Annette I am so like you, well I guess we all are…disciplined like warriors and then BOOM, felled by a random lizard. But then back on the horse. When I think how not-often I give in, compared to DAILY in my previous sugar dosing days…well, it all seems doable in the long run, right? Not without some missteps, but also with lots of payback for our efforts, so yay us!

I’m playing a cat and mouse game today with my appetite, doing laundry – and to get to our washer and dryer, one must go through the kitchen. So it’s funny, when I feel nibbly I head toward the kitchen and then just keep going to do something – anything – with the clothes. Maybe spray something, or sort something. Then by the time I go back through the kitchen my brain tells me I was there all along to do laundry. Ha ha it’s weird the way I try to psych myself out of mindless snacking!! Still waiting for the temp outside to get me on a dog walk – we’ll see! 🐶🐶 jade xx

You’re doing so well, annette! And you’re smart to keep your fitness and muscle mass at your age so that, at my age, you’ll be so much less limited. You go, girl! You too, penguine. (LOVING my mental image of a penguin flat out running!)

Laundry for you, Jade, shopping and planting for me. 😏 I got enough Spring color plants and some herbs to keep me busy for the week. And I got past lunchtime which is always my biggest hurdle. See! The rest of you are running 10Ks and I’m jumping emotional hurdles. 😈

I hope your student gets the message, penguin, but you did what you could. He’s a talented person who is happy to slide along just under the radar?

Penguin I feel your frustration – I see way too much unprofessional behavior, i.e., being late or inattentive, nothing too hideous for the most part, but still. What they don’t realize is that when it’s time for hiring decisions or recommendations, it comes back to bite them.

Chubs I’m in the same boat. Hubs loves his dinner companion, AND he likes to go out on the weekends. But then we naturally “lighten up” when starting the new week so that’s when I fit in FDs. it would be hard for me to do what you do, eating nothing, but the miso soup is close to nothing and darn if I can’t make that last through whatever he is chomping down on.

I’m afraid I didn’t make it today. Partly because I remembered this week will be upended by nighttime school activities starting Tuesday, so tomorrow’s my best bet for a FD. I can’t do b2b, or maybe it’s that I haven’t done them enough. I’m also more focused now on avoiding sugar, which is still going well! Anyway, we can always buddy up tomorrow ☺️ OK then, let’s all have a great week, shall we? Pink shorts or bust! 💕 😎 -jade xx

Queen it was your honesty that drew me to this thread and I’m all for it continuing, so you can write/rant all you like. You certainly won’t get any judgement from me about victimhood and it sounds as though you have your hands full AND a great deal of insight into your patterns/triggers. That is a damn fine place to be. I do think that with persistence we’ll all get there, it’s just that the going can be very slow and tough at times and this is one of those times for you. Work stress is probably my Numero Uno trigger too – I think of it as a primary trigger as once it happens then I turn to food and no doubt all the other, secondary food-related triggers kick in but by that time it’s a lay down misere 🙂 Just recently my work stress went down considerably with the completion of a big project and now I find that I have to do a lot less swaying as the boat isn’t rocking nearly as much. My FD’s are the same (they are always hard but usually doable) but I’m finding that the non-FD’s are not as frenzied, and that is a huge relief. It’s like I’ve sailed into a sheltered little cove on the Island and I am really enjoying it (and I’m not moving, so there!)

I hear you on the students Jade & Penguin. I’ve just finished a marathon grading session and still have their final exam to mark shortly but I do find there has been a shift in student attitudes over the 15 plus years I’ve been teaching at university level. I notice much more ‘entitlement’ and much less gratitude, although I accept I may just be getting older and grumpier. It is still true that 80% will be fine and that 20% of the students will take up 80% of your time and effort, but I’m sure there has also been a slow leak of manners as well – mobile phones don’t help of course. Anyway, enough of work. WELL DONE to both of you on the doggedness and I hope the cold is improving Jade? Feed a cold and starve a fever comes to mind but I know that to be an old wives tale sadly 😉

Annette, you are working so hard on finding the answers for you, and I am in awe at your persistence and determination. I have absolutely NO doubt that you will make it to your goal and beyond. I so love your little pink shorts, I think they should become the Island National Dress?? Perhaps with optional matching mumu for the I’m-feeling-fat-days and for new arrivals… I still have way too much adipose to be wearing pink shorts (or any shorts for that matter) but they have become my new goal and if I can’t find a pair, I will just go and make some. Way to go on the running too, and get that chocolate outta the house ASAP!!

LA – pneumatic boobs indeed!!! 🙂 you made me laugh out loud!! Sadly, I too have such pneumatic boobs which, so far, have been very reluctant to deflate despite losing about 50lbs. I know my bras now fit much better, but I’m being totally honest when I say I haven’t had to buy a new bra despite such weight loss. I’m ever hopeful that one day I will go bra-less again (my misspent youth was in the 1970’s after all) however (and this will no doubt be TMI) dear hubby would not be so happy to see their demise 🙂 Isn’t it weird the way weight goes off some bits in some people and off somewhere else for others – a friend loses her boobs the minute she starts dieting. LA I think you also have a fair way to go yet too? We can compare our quest for airless boobs 🙂 and no, that does not mean non-hirsute.

The ‘I don’t do that anymore’ is still quite surprisingly effective on some days. Jade, have you ever tried a sugar-free lolly when you feel a sweet attack coming on? I’ve been doing this for a while now and I can honestly say that it has been effective about 75% of the time in satisfying the little craving for something sweet after a perfectly good meal. Even on a FD, when I’ve had my evening lite ham and copious salad, it can be just enough to make me feel as though the meal has ended. They are not yummy so I don’t ever feel like more than one, but it can really do the trick.

Okay, well this has gone on long enough. It has filled in 30 minutes at the fag-end of a FD though, so that’s got to be a good thing. It’s 8:40pm and I have enough calories left for a low-cal hot-chocolate and then it’s to bed for me and a new day tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll keep telling myself that I’ve never woken up and regretted doing a FD but Ihave woken up and regretted that I f’ed one up. Love to all, Spring xx

Hi all. I want to whine a bit. I just had one of those scale moments where, even after three fast days this week, very little cheating, one full-on dinner party, and lots of exercise, I weighed more than I did a few days ago. I know, I know. I shouldn’t weigh myself so often, or even at all. It’s the booze that did it and I need to drink more water. There was maybe too much salt in my FD meal last night (but no carbs/sugar!). I get it, truly. But it is SO DAMN AGGRAVATING to see a number that doesn’t represent how I feel or where I think I should be. My belly is a tad bloated this morning, too, which is odd for post-FD. Anyway, my mantra today is “water, water, water,” despite the fact that I’m drinking coffee right now. But never mind that. And I’m going to make every effort to let this spur me on to treating myself kindly today, making good choices about food and exercise, and looking forward to joining my husband in Florida tomorrow.

Spring and Jade: I’m glad to hear that you with some experience feel the palpable shift in student attitudes. Given, I didn’t start at university until I was 29 (after a long time in the Army), but I wouldn’t DREAM of behaving the way these kids do. The emails I get… oh lordy. They must be smoking some good stuff in the dorms. I’m only teaching as part of the requirement for my degree (it offsets my tuition), but I feel like I’m a good teacher (lots of life experience, empathetic, relatively smart, etc.) and many of my students are so very good. Really sweet. Unfortunately, I find that every term I have a handful that are just awful. And inevitably I end up giving those few students 90% of my attention while the rest suffer for it. And then I eat my feelings at the end of the day.

Pink shorts… I haven’t worn shorts in a long while, except for the occasional workout when everything else is dirty. I’m just oddly shaped—too tall for the typical rise in many pants and shorts and I have large thighs, even when I’m at a good weight. So dresses are my go-to thing but I’ve always wanted to wear a cute pair of short shorts… I’m not ready to make that my goal yet but I cheer all of you on!

Water water water water water water. Time to clean the house, take out the garbage (literally and figuratively—I need to clean my head out of all the negative thoughts).

Queen: you started this thread and drew me in and you have created something fabulous here. We all can commiserate with the challenges you face and airing them here is perfectly acceptable. If not here, where?

Happy day, everyone!

Thanks, Jade. I’m going to stop weighing myself. It doesn’t matter, truly. What matters is how my clothes fit. I think the only reason I weigh myself is because I like feeling a sense of “real” accomplishment represented in a number… which is flawed logic and likely to backfire, as it did today.

So, no, I’m not going to weigh myself anymore. I will someday, but I’m determined to make it at least a month before I do. Thanks for the message—I got it.

How are you doing, Jade? I hope your cold is a nasty memory. But just in case it isn’t, I thought of you this morning when this appeared in one of my food blogs: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-bourbon-cough-syrup-for-79030

Might be just the thing for a Southern girl such as yourself. …now or sometime in the future.

I want to thankyou all bingers in here. For the last days I’ve been reading all posts from the beginning ( and you have made me laugh several times😀). Most of all; for the first time in life I’ve felt that I’m not alone with all crazy thoughts and the neverending overeating and failed diets.
I tried intermittent fasting for a couple of years ago and I either couldnt make one day fasting ( “I’m so hungry today, I really need a huge dinner and a lot of candy today, I will do it tomorrow”) or if I made one fd I binged big time the day after (“I’m worth it because I was so good yesterday”). So I thought it wasnt for me. But you made me rethink, so yesterday i managed a fd and so far today no overeating! And thats because of you, who don’t know me but have supported me anyway!
So thankyou all and please keep writing💕, and keep up the good work!
And please pardon my english, I’m swedish and find it hard to express myself in english.

Yffan, MOST impressive that you write so very well in your second language! I have tried many times to learn French as an adult and I am hopeless so my admiration is genuine and profound!

So glad you managed your first fast day. Hope it was easier than you anticipated and boosted your confidence to keep going from here.

Welcome to our little spot on the planet! It will be fascinating to learn how you live and fast in Sweden!

penguin, I am soooo impressed that you’re managing in transit. We’ll be leaving for home on Thursday and making a quick weekend of it but I already seem to have thrown in the towel until the disruptions to the routine are over. The “disruption” may continue for a bit though as we have friends coming to stay shortly after we return to Vancouver. 😳

I will try to keep the example of your resolve in mind.

Awesome job Penguin – remember, we’re not after perfection. The peanuts and pretzels or whatever are not bad at all! Go you, and enjoy the spring break. And hell yes, compare yourself to anyone you don’t want to look like – it beats hating yourself. And it’s not like you said it out loud!
Hey Yffan and welcome to the island! Thanks for reading up – I love the natives here, so funny, wacky, smart, and compassionate. Do stay and tell us about yourself. Your English is better than mine, by the way.
CHUBS, omg I am going right now to make that bourbon syrup. my whole chest is on fire, despite trying to fight this thing off. In fact, I thought I had beat it yesterday and probably let down my guard for all of 10 seconds and now today I can barely breathe. Bleah. Oh right, off I go to the liquor cabinet. Thank you!!! jade xxxxx

I´m at work right now, I’m tired, stressed, have a bad day and just want to have a lot of candy. Usually my cravings come in the evenings but today…. I have discussions with myself and they all come to the same: go and buy sweets you´re worth it. Of course i`m not worth it. I´m doing this mostly because i want to improve my health (rheumatic disease with inflammations in knees and back, always tired, asthma, depressions, some overweight etc) and I know that I wouldnt improve if I still keep eating all the junk.
I cant think of anything else right now. I have a break and should prepare my lessons and check some tests (I´m a teacher) but I just want to hide somewhere with my candy.
Can someone please tie me to the chair or glue my lips together or maybe a brain surgery?

Oh we all know that feeling Yffan – if you have access to any lemons, cut a slice and just eat it. Seriously, it is magic in the way it distracts your senses. Or squeeze some into tea, ice water, anything. Tell yourself you will feel flat AWFUL if you eat the candy, your blood sugar will blow sky high, you’ll feel jittery and b*tchy and all that. Go for a walk even around the office or the block. Have some hot coffee with real cream as an indulgence. Remind yourself the craving is temporary and can be defeated, though it seems strong in the moment. But whatever you do/have done, just move on. Each battle with cravings is another chance to show them who’s boss. 💪 jade xx

Yffan, I’m sure I’m too late since we’re on such different parts of the globe but can you get up and walk down the hall? Stop in someone else’s room and have a short conversation? Go into the art room and squeeze some clay? Something to break your routine and put your brain on an alternate track?

How about tomorrow you have something else on hand? A fig. A handful of raisins. Anything that’s high in fiber.

Be tough! You’re dealing with some conditions that can cause a lot of pain and limitation in your life. You don’t want to be enabling that stuff!

PS You seem to have landed in teacher/professor/graduate assistant land. Were you aware? 😄

Thanks for the support!! The thing about the cellphone is great, and no – I wouldnt jump up and down on it. But with me its a different story… jump up and down and smash me into the wall more likely. Hmm wonder why we ( I) can’t treat ourselves ( myself) better. But I will think of the cellphone!
And I think I will do like coldpizza and have the clever words of jade at my desk.
It feels better now, didnt fall of the wagon completely; had a questbar ( not so good but 300g of milk chocolate is worse- thats what I really wanted) and some pieces of dark chocolate. I will spend the evening doing hot yoga so I think I might be safe for today.
Tomorrow is my next fasting day, I find it hard to be hungry, I’m almoust nervous already… But I will try to be strong!
Hope you all have a nice day!

I just saw the great idea from chubster about go to the artroom and squeeze some clay. Can’t stop laughing, just the thought of the look on the face of the artteacher when she finds me there ( and I’m telling her that I just try to avoid sugar).Definetely have to do that😀

This blog article says that your brain is like a small child. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-simple-trick-will-make-your-positive-habits-stick_us_56f19cc2e4b09bf44a9eceab It wants positive guidance and positive reinforcement to turn new constructive behaviors into healthy habits.

So NO MORE beating yourself up! It isn’t necessary AND it doesn’t get the job done. Remember penguin’s cell phone. If something went wrong, pick it up, get it fixed, keep going. And remember to notice the positives and congratulate yourself for them.

I’ve got a positive. Today I was on the recumbent bike at the rec center and I was in an interval that was really taking some serious effort. I looked down at my lap and noticed it wasn’t full of belly so I congratulated myself on how much harder that would have been if I were still fighting a belly that was the equivalent of always having a small child in my lap. Gotta respect that!

I’m sorry I had to give up the hill climb but I’m glad I’m going to the gym 5 mornings a week.