Hey islanders! Go you, Spring – well done on the FD.😍 A loss is a loss, and control is control. Kicking ass can be tough, boy do I hear you on that score‼️

I’m post meno, so that and my age have ensured that my tdee is about the size of a light dinner in my youth. So it’s no wonder I have gravitated to saving most calories for the evening meal, with perhaps a small snack to tide me over. I don’t know if my metabolism is more efficient or I have naturally slowed down as I age, but honesly (w/o the junk in my system) I can be satisfied with a light snack and an evening meal. But if I change that up and have a big lunch, guess who still wants that big evening meal? You got it – LIZARD GIRL!🐲 So Annette, I could not do the lunch thing at all, and typically don’t. I take fruit to work and maybe some nuts or peanut butter, and the thing that works for me is that it looks and feels like a snack. So I am not really having a meal, thus I don’t expect to be full – my goal is just not to be ravenous. Where I get into trouble is that tipping point where I morph from a deliberately light eater to a heat-seeking missile. Or make that a doughnut-seeking missile🙄😠 Unless I am super busy and absorbed in my work (HA HA), a true lunch just distracts my mind. It thinks “aha, she’s eating a meal, party time!” Seriously, my whole body rebels. I want to relax, have a beer, watch some Tv..and that’s so awkward when it’s only slightly past noon and I’m at school.😏

The no-grain thing is working though. I don’t avoid them like the plague, I’ll have some pasta or rice without making a scene, but I am wary with it and just take a larger portion of the non-carby part of the meal. It’s working, I think? I don’t really miss bread (OK, THAT took a few days) and I’m not stuffing myself. It’s not the most fun, because I’m not eating the things I’d want to stuff myself with 🤔 but hey you can’t have everything! And so I don’t feel exactly normal, but I don’t feel as deprived as before. I do want a decent amount of fruit and veg so I’m not counting carbs – but anyway it seems like something I can live with for now. And I still hope that someday I can lighten up and be more normal. No delusions of actually BEING normal, oh no I think there is a permanent wing in the Rehab Cave with my name on it.🚪🍴

Love and luck to all – we are peas in a pod, all ideas are helping me even if it’s just to cheer you on! 🏋👯💪🎉🌴xxxx

Good morning all.
I’m reading about all your struggles and issues with food and I think, thank god for all your honesty and support. Reading all your posts about struggling with emotional eating is such a comfort because it means I’m not alone in feeling this way and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel is different lengths for different people but there is still a way out. Its hard to put into words how much more positive I’m feeling now.
Thank you all ladies.

I’ve been back 3 days from my holiday and 8 lb weight gain but yay, I’ve already lost 2 lbs. Although I’ve not got back into the my fasting yet it seems as I suspected, most of my weight gain was alcohol. Now I’m not drinking its coming off. I feel much better now.

Annette, it sure sounds like menopause – the sullen teenager with the added fun of lower calorie needs. That is a special wing of the Rehab Cave that has a secret escape hatch, and we’re all smart enough to find it. I do sympathize, it’s SO unfair when my body fails to react properly to my efforts. After all, I’m not doing this for my health!! Oh wait, I am…OK fine but I want the other door prizes too.

Right, so whole foods aren’t the holy grail for us. They’re awesome and they make me healthier, but they don’t necessarily make me leaner. As a teacher, I give whole foods a C+ if I’m feeling generous. Where in the **** are the A+ foods, the true holy grail? I’m on experiment #847 to find out (the lower-grain/carb thing) but who knows. I may always be a moody teenager a certain % of the time, and if so, then that’s me. Carpe diem when I’m not, but keep your children safe when Annette and I are on the prowl!🍦🍩🐊

I think that is just the way I am. Indulging the teenager from time to time, and being more vigilant when I crawl back to myself. We are who we are, and we are all improving but success may not be exactly as we imagined it. (Chubs said it best in her St. Crispin’s Day speech, as I think of it, a few pages back.) Weight control and good health aren’t easy for us, and sometimes we need a righteous break. But the time always returns when we’re ready to give it the good fight, otherwise we would never have landed on this thread. Cheers to us for not giving up. 🌈🔆🌴♥️

Hi all

Hive of activity, and sorry if I haven’t had time to go back through all the posts 😉 we’re on a new screen page. So totally agree with the sentiments that have been wafting through this thread.

Spring, I saw you post a couple of days back and totally get the psychology going on and the 5:2, I imagine we’ve all got private struggles related to food and the 5:2 will not really address these, but does allow some control, and goals to feel better 🙂 I’m guilty as charged of wrecking FD on thurs, I was on track all day, then around 5pm, it was a beautiful evening, met my sis at the station, as we were walking up the hill, I knew we were walking towards wine! my FD was 1 1/2 glasses of wine, some nuts (of course) and an omelette, but worth every minute as we sat in the dusky sunshine. Next day I paid the price with a blinding headache, note to self, drinking on fast days! But I agree with you Spring sometimes (think it was you) sometimes we just have to live!

Annette, yes agree with the inner child, I can feel mine rising, I checked back to previous FD’s last year, I did about 30 from April to July, but every 4th FD there was a blip, so if that’s the case fine! will have the cake or whatever, and not beat myself up, we are only human, and as I mentioned above, on any one week I’m aware of feeling lonely, fed up, sad, frustrated and angry, as well as happy thank god! I think this is this the peri-menopausal Tsunami, it’s suddenly upon ‘one’ and having to deal with some challenging and for me, childish feelings, and a sadness of having to move on to life’s next stage! luckily now we’re still pretty young at 70 etc….compared to when my granny was around

The metabolism thing utterly sucks, I’m sure I could live on air! if I indulged in my TDEE (1900 cals) I would be making no progress. Basically I lose on 4:3 and quite strict NFD’s and no booze, but I think it’s a lot of stress on my body, and a lot of ‘hangriness’, although if I have a goal it’s useful. I agree with Chubs, distraction is totally the best way to deal with FD’s and food in general. I love the days when I can get out of my own head, and just focus on healthy stuff 🙂 who doesn’t? Yes spring I’ve been doing the 90 day challenge, AMAZING! I also have weekends when I’m practising new routines for my classes, this can be ALL weekend til I get it right, and it’s when I’m happiest, my neighbour downstairs is luckily a bit deaf..

Back to the peri-menopausal thing, I’m so much better in the summer, and for those in the UK (anyone?) we have about 8mths of bad weather and 3/4 mths of reasonably sunny days and lovely light evenings 🙂 Climate change has wrecked havoc on our winters and we now have mild winters with big storms/and wind. When the sun comes out its amazing the transformation! I really suffer in the winter months, am never warm enough (thyroid) etc, but come summer, I have more energy etc…this improves peri-menopause and general outlook! One day I plan to return to Latin/America or Spain…..for the sun.

Jade congrats on the new jeans! I loved the description of them, ‘North of the muffin top’ haha! that’s awesome. I’ve also bought new trousers, and it is an amazing feeling to go down a size..The scales can be rubbish and unkind but in the end the only indicator that things are on the downward trend. Here’s to sucessful FD’s and a fabulous weekend ahead!…

Hi to Lolly, FCanadian, CaliB, Queen, Karen, Caspersmum! anyone else? xx

Hi guys! So good to see everybody here. I’m sorry to see so many of us struggling but, even so, there are markers of success too, no?

I’m in a merry dance of one day up and another day down and remembering wistfully when I felt so confident and got such steady results. Still, today seems like an up day and my knee is much better so I think I’ll be able to go back to the gym on Monday. I think I’m going to have to dial back on the resistance significantly in the interest of being able to maintain daily activity. But, if that’s the way it’s going to be, so be it!

We are in our final month here. And now it looks doubtful that we’ll find ourselves reassigned here again. Real estate in Vancouver has gone certifiably NUTZ and living here is no longer a sustainable thing. This is a realization that many Vancouverite families are coming to as well when their adult kids are having to leave for more affordable climes as well. But we have been extremely *blessed* to have known Vancouver from the time it was a sleepy little city to these heady post-Olympics days of incredible growth. And we will take precious memories with us.

The good part of going home is: air conditioning (in time for Summer!), our 5yo grandson (*obviously* NOT in that order), our own bed and both of us getting to deal with the routine but necessary medical services that keep these creaky old bodies moving. I’m grateful to think that may mean a pain-free knee again and being able to read books that AREN’T IN LARGE TYPE. 😏

My bad news for today is I think I’ve figured out at least part of how I’ve been setting myself up for poor 5:2 results. I’ve been allowing myself cheese, yogurt and kombucha to up the probiotics. I think all of them are acting like triggers for me. I guess I could leave the condensed milk out of the yogurt and see if I tolerate ti better that way. I didn’t use a lot; just enough to balance out the sour flavor but if it has to go, it has to go. The cheese will be tough to adios. Sooooo many ways to make milk delicious!!!! And , if there’s one thing Canada has, it’s an abundance of wonderful cheeses. The kombucha will be the hardest of all to give up as a cold sparkly glass when it’s hot is bliss. And then there’s the personal satisfaction that this SCOBY I grew from start when we got up here was getting soooo good.

I love making kombucha. It’s just such an interesting living thing and I like to watch it change from day to day. It’s as much fun as opening a bottle and hearing the pop of all that effervescence that magically develops in the bottle. ::sigh:: But I’ve just got to decide what I want and what it takes to accomplish it. Jade, you are lucky to have an inner teen. I’ve got an inner 6yo running *my* life…

*Love* all of you guys that keep me from throwing in the towel when the road gets rough!!!! I’m proud of what you do and grateful to you all.

Yes, annette, condensed milk does have a lot of sugar. I’m not defending the use of it, mind you. I’m resolved to leaving it out. But Vietnamese style yogurt uses about a 1/4 cup of condensed milk to a quart and a half of milk. Not so very much sugar per serving (if it doesn’t wreck havoc with your metabolism as it does mine) but what it does is add a mellowness that’s lovely and takes off the acid edge.

When I make yogurt I put the inoculated milk in 8 ounce canning jars and put them in my microwave overnight. If you don’t turn on a microwave it’s a big insulated box excellent for yogurt, proofing bread dough and keeping food away from marauding labradors! I put in a teapot of boiling water just to keep the temperature up so they all cool very slowly. In the morning I could turn the jars upside down and nothing would get disturbed. I can do a quart and a half at a time that way and have individual servings.

I also do one 4-ounce jar that everyone in the family knows is off limits so I can start the next batch.

The jars are so convenient for carrying away from home and pleasant to eat from. I also leave about 1″ of headroom so if someone else wants to add some jam or lemon curd they’re free to stir that in.

Hurray!!! You summed it up beautifully Jade when you said “being super mindful but not rigid”. That is the only answer for me and when I am mindful I eat when I’m hungry until I am no longer hungry and I make good choices. When I’m not mindful, I eat when I’m not hungry as well and don’t stop until I am feeling uncomfortable and I make a lot of dumb choices. The difference for me has very little to do with what I ate in the previous 24 hours or even the previous week and so, so much more to do with what I’m thinking and then subsequently feeling and then subsequently DOING. Of course the trick is that the nano-second gap between the thinking and the feelings those thoughts generate often mean I don’t ‘catch’ those thoughts before the anxiety/stress/worry kick in and then, if I don’t face the feeling then it’s action stations at the pantry/fridge door before I can rein it in. I am getting better at it though: better at jumping into that nano-second gap but also much better at recognising that when it happens, not to compound the problem by ushering in feelings of anger, guilt and shame that – you guessed it – also need to be placated with something yummy. Someone on here (sorry I can’t recall who, but perhaps Queen?) likened it to when we drop a phone and crack the crystal, it doesn’t mean we have to then take a hammer to it 😉

I’m also with Jade in wanting to acknowledge that WOW!!! We are all doing a really good job and it wasn’t so long ago that to be arse-up in a tin of caramel sauce for long periods of time or back in the Krispy Kreme drive-through was not so much an aberration but a way of life around here. How much has that changed??!!??

So keep reflecting and refining and trying new things but also be sure to recognise where great changes have been made and feel proud of your achievements. I say this at the fag-end of a FUFD but you know what?? I’m just going to ease up on myself and try again tomorrow. Love Spring xxx

Oh my goodness, Ladies, you know me better than I know myself and you are all far more eloquent! I completely agree with you and it seems that you have peeped inside my head. I had to go to the shops on my way home today, to prevent that tomorrow when it is a FD, and managed to talk myself out of a 6 pack of ice cream. I did allow myself a pain chocolat as i was very hungry and decided that 1 item of 400 calories was rather better than 6 at 300 calories. And I have made dinner and served myself a smaller portion than the boys, which is a breakthrough too.
Tomorrow dinner for them is something that I loathe, so that is easy and I have some smoked salmon and salad which i love for my FD. I am going to try and eat more salad/soup at work and then have something lovely when I get home-which for me is fish/prawns/hummus and salad type foods with some home made dressing.
The muesli is delicious but has rather confused my digestion but hopefully that will settle down.I felt rather good having made it(very easy) and the yoghurt too. I should have glossy hair and fabulous nails with all of the goodies that are in it!
I hope that the sick are recovering Jade. Chubs-yoghurt making sounds ingenious.
I saw on another thread a link to a Ted talk on IF which was really interesting with regards to dementia and why IF might be helpful. Sadly, I can’t find it now, but it was in the US.

I think ‘thugs’ describes exactly how they vanished Jade 🙂

Hi everyone!

Jade you got me laughing, ‘face down in the caramel tin’! hilarious 🙂
I also feel I’m coping a bit better over the last few weeks, avoiding grains and sugar as much as feasibly poss. Like you Jade, I’m not totally convinced grains are bad, but I’ve cut down on porridge oats which seems to make me really hungry only a few hours later, so I usually only have them at the w/e. I also now add protein powder, it’s a make called Pulsin, it’s Sunflower protein, so I use it for a protein drink after Latin class, it does not add up to a lot of calories with milk, a few almonds and blueberries.

So another thing I noticed is that when people are ‘feeding’ me so to speak, I don’t have issues with food, so on meals out (quite rare) and in a place where I so some voluntary work, they give us a free, and healthy vegan meal, mostly chickpea sand lentils etc, but occasionally pasta, which I never eat, but in some ways I’m less neurotic about food, if I don’t have to make the choices! lol

Chubs and Spring I also agree cheese can be a trigger, I did ban it out right for a while, but it’s gradually crept in, I try to limit myself to a slice of about 20grms…luckily I don’t like any of the so called smelly blue cheeses, but do like Halloumi and Feta, which have less fat than the yellower ones, my favourite ever is Manchego, but I save that for visits to Spain, hopefully I will be in Sevilla in August!

Chubs and Annette, thanks for the yoghurt recipes, I will deffo try, I eat Greek yoghurt mainly, but would love to try my own, Chubs did you try it without the condensed milk, I’m sure if it’s only a blob it wouldn’t matter too much?

I agree with the ‘nano-second’ theory, lol. It’s like the ilicit kiss, there’s always a second when you know what you are doing, before you get ‘swept away’. I think Annette’s HALT is great, hungry, angry, lonely, tired? Sounds as if it would be the opposite but, a 10 minute stretch or more energetic exercise routine works well for me, as it picks up my mood if I’m about too cheat. I’m finding FD’s ok, but my real danger time is about 7-10pm, I don’t eat anything all day, until the evening, but wondering if an all out fast might work, so I suppose like a water fast? It’s all about the balance isn’t it? the nutrition you can get, while eating fewer calories. I am not allowed to eat certain veg and fruit cos of under active thyroid, so hate the thought of further restrictions. Annette, well done for the pain au chocolat moment, it’s good to be in control. I’m a great cupcake fan, occasionally indulge in something that is yummy, but doesn’t undo too much good work. I practice the same logic with wine, only 1 glass (2 days out of 7) it’s hard, but I used to buy a bottle and drink nearly all of it and feel like s*** (about 5 yrs ago) so pleased with this.

So happy to be be part of this lovely community, shared wisdom and vision 🙂 WE ROCK !!

Tango

AHhh the shoes – good for you, Chubs! Hoping you get the knee fixed up soon. You all have me wanting to make my own yogurt, though at Costco I can buy tubs of the plain Greek pretty cheap, though I think it’s fat free. Not that I can’t get fat somewhere else, I love the taste of the thick yogurt regardless.

Tango and Annette, well done on the control efforts! No way can I be controlled every day, because life. Parties. Sadness. Etc.🤔 Oh good grief so many things can go off right? But as I keep saying…here we still are. We will win🏋🏆 Annette, you started me down the chem-habit path and holy s**t it’s a good one. Long, but good. I’m a firm believer. It’s good to see some of my efforts finally paying off, and I think all I’ve done otherwise is to recognize that I will never be in control all the time. Except that to recognize that IS a sort of control, or at least working around what I can’t change.
Catch up later – gotta run – love you all xxxxx

Holy moley, annette, am I understanding that you were out running in a downpour? That’s *committement*! Bet that shower when you were done felt GREAT!

You’re right about the homemade yogurt! It’s soooo much better BUT I’m sure there must be some serious savings in it as well. I began making my own again (did it back in the 60s) because I found whole milk yogurt so hard to find in anything but the big vat size. And if you want yogurt for Indian food that whimpy low fat stuff just won’t cut it.

I am in my second day of clean fasting. Insane hubris of me to congratulate myself when I haven’t even gotten past lunchtime yet but it *feels* like I’m gonna do it. My fingers are crossed that it’s the beginning of being back in charge. Must be the sexy sneakies are bringing me luck. 😏

I need to get me some of that sneaker action too Chubs!! I’m fasting and it’s 5pm and I’m at work for at least another hour and I’m very, very hungry 🙁 and I know there is a vending machine a floor down from me BUT I. am. not. going. there.

Annette – I loved hearing some of that old determination in your post which has been there all along but just out-shouted by Lizard Girl – glad you’re kicking her to the curb 🙂

Chubs, sorry about the knee pain. I read something over the weekend about a new product that can be injected into knees to stimulate cartilage regrowth and it looked really promising but I daresay it is sometime off human clinical trials. The enforced lack of mobility will definitely be worth it in the end.

Tango, I wish I could do a quick Latin number to overcome hunger pangs – what a great image I have of you, it brings to mind the character of Fran in Strictly Ballroom when they are in the final competition. Just LOVE that movie. Great work on the wine intake too, which in my experience people often struggle with even more than food.

Jade, recognition IS control and I’m convinced that attention to the nano (or even the pico) all goes to making that nano-second into a microsecond and then into a millisecond and then you’ll have the luxury of a whole second in which to catch your thoughts/feelings and do something different (and yes I’ve been looking up orders of magnitude because I’m still at work and I’m tired and have very little motivation to do anything else!).

Just wondering how the countdown to the wedding is going out there, penguin?? Also hope you’re travelling well Queen and it would be lovely to hear from you too CaliB and lolly & Karen (sorry if I’ve missed anyone).

Okay, well better do a few final things before hubby arrives to collect me and I can go home for my paltry dinner. It does of course taste awesome on a FD! Love to you all, Spring xxx

We can white-knuckle-it through today together, spring, if it would be helpful for you.

I had 2 clean FDs and I feel ready resuming a good program today but I was hungry almost all day yesterday and I have more than typical hunger this morning to get through until lunch at 2. The very good news about this hunger, though, is that it’s a “clean” kind of simple hunger rather than the obsessive out-of-body stuff that I haven’t been able to deny for the last 6 weeks or so.

VERY encouraging news, spring, about something that could generate new cartilage. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I know my orthopedist says it’s a major area of orthopedic research. But, for now, I’ll be thrilled to just get the lubricating injections that make a big difference for 6-9 months.

I have been so far behind and not able to keep up with reading here. I’m sorry I missed penguin and Queen but glad to see they’re out there and they’ve been by here. Hope they are carrying on and exciting to think there could be a wedding in the planning for penguin!

Here are my new sneakers, Karen. http://www.runnersworld.com/the-shoe-room/exclusive-first-run-nike-lunarepic# They’re incredibly lightweight, breathable and comfortable. And pretty snazzy looking as well. I am not runner. God knows! at the moment I’m hardly even a *walker* but I would image these would be great to run in because once you pull them on they’re like a part of your foot because there’s the elasticity of a sock. They just mold to your foot so there’s nothing to rub anywhere.

I see you are an LCHF acolyte. I had really good success many years ago with Atkins and I’m impressed by how many of the things that worked for me for a while in the past fold beautifully into intermittent fasting to make a workable whole. …she says after only (HOPEFULLY) managing to get back on track after 6 weeks of struggle. 😖 😀

My journaling program is starting to pay off. I have a spot to check back and get real information about what’s working for me, what’s problematic and what progress I’m making.

Cheers to everyone for a good, healthy day!

Yup! That’s what I got. In that spiffy turquoise color.

I love them so much I may still get the more sedate silver ones if I hit my 150 goal. I’ve moved back up to size 14 jeans for the time being but my husband thinks I look like I haven’t done any damage. Yay for that!

I missed a lot of what was going on when I was eating badly and feeling like a pariah. Mind explaining about that time thingie is? If it’s helpful I certainly want to have it working for me.

And, finally, so glad to hear that the grain restriction thing is working for you. Hell’s bells! anything that works is good, no? But I really think there’s something about grains for some of us and it *frustrates* me that the medical/nutrition community doesn’t acknowledge it. It would be so helpful to have some real hard information about it — beyond the “processed white flour” thing — so we could balance out nutritional and personal needs and take steps to meet both.

Lucky you that you can manage potatoes!

TCM is doing a Cary Grant marathon and at the moment it’s “Night and Day” and what could be better than Cary Grant and Cole Porter music? What a way to get the day perking!

Oh, good for you, Jade! I am just out to get a few colorful annuals to plant this morning as a distraction from waiting for lunch.

I have missed my garden so much. We left LA in February when it was too early to plant much and it will be the middle of next month before we get home too late to plant the stuff we want most like TOMATOES!

This is the second year in a row this happened to us. I guess I could be glad that my soil got a nice long rest and hope that means great disease-free tomatoes next year. Meanwhile, I put in a few herbs here but I’m planting in containers on a 5′ X 30′ or so deck so that’s what I’ve been limited to this year in the way of edibles.

One other thing I’ve been tending here is a tiny red Japanese maple that I discovered as a seedling in one of the rose containers. I LOVE Japanese maples and I’ve *coveted* one in my LA garden which is too hot and too dry for them for years. But this thing is about 10″ tall and looking vigorous. I may take it home with me and see how long I can keep it going in a pot in our very sunny family room that has 2 walls of big windows.

It would make a great souvenir of my beloved Vancouver!

Thanks for the explanation! Makes sense to me. And I’d say that’s pretty much what I did in a different way when I was struggling. I sort of decided to give myself a certain amount of permission to “give up” temporarily with a view to getting back on track when I could fully commit and my body would cooperate. Took much longer than I was comfortable with — especially since I’ve gotten so far before only to have it collapse on me and that prospect was *scary* — but it happened so I’d have to endorse taking control of even the out-of-control portions in the way we can.

It’s interesting what we still have to learn about *ourselves* this late in our lives, isn’t it, annette? We are become our own experiments. And why not? If we look at these things analytically we might just learn something that makes our road easier in the end, no?

I am just learning — or trying to learn — about the compulsive hunger that I’ve been dealing with for the last 4-6 weeks v ordinary hunger. One is ever so much easier to resist and deal with than the other but what triggers the beastie one and how to come to terms with it?????

Even now, I’ve managed 2 clean fasts and my first clean food day and I did that because it was easy again. Why was it easy now and soooo frustrating and unsuccessful prior to this????

It’s irritating to me (you too?) to not have these answers. But it’s also sort of a primal adventure that’s been lacking in my life since I became an I-know-it-all-already-adult that I can get a little excited about as well.

Meanwhile, those habits can work *for* us as well as against us. Maybe applying some of that wait-a-minute-and-figure-it-out-first strategy to behaviors and choices as well as food is in order? But tired and stressed is the worst condition for making decisions, no? They make everything seem more immediate, more critical and more intolerable than it really is.

And, BTW, are you up very late or very early? It’s late-isa here on the West Coast of North America and I’m just about to toddle off to bed. I guess that must mean it’s very early there…

Spring, I’ll join you in a cyber wine! cheers

Lots of thoughts and advice to take in, and although I’ve done 11 FD’s since March 29, I’m still not seeing the *numbers going down* although have lost inches and gone down a size in clothes. Chubs I also agree, healthy foods can also be triggers, I think I maybe overdoing on the nuts, they are a good source of protein, but I’m know to eat a whole pack in one sitting: this link is quite useful:
http://www.thekitchn.com/a-visual-guide-to-100-calories-of-nuts-snack-tips-from-the-kitchn-201778

Chubs I sympathize with the knee issues, you were the one who kindly added the link for the Knee guru, hope you’re not in too much pain. My own knee history has got much better, on it’s own, have had to wait so long to get treated 😉 that it’s cured itself. I have had to give up running though ;( have not ran for 7 mths, because prefer to save my ‘legs’ for Latin class. I think this is why my weight has not moved much. This time last year I was doing 3 runs a week, plus all the other stuff. Once I get to see the physio, I might start running again on grass, run/walk run/walk, I’ll virtually have to start again. I’m tempted by those trainers with LED lights along the sides of the sole, would be really cool for dancing.

This WOL of life certainly has peaks and troughs, and the fact we are fasting, and coming to grips with certain food yearnings/issues/feelings, can only be good. I feel that getting through a FD is a testament to having a strong self-belief, it’s worth the pain, and the brilliant feeling the next day. Moreover, for many of us, it’s not something we’re going share *outloud* only mainly on this forum, so it’s very personal. It’s equally depressing to FU a FD but it is life after all. I know deep down if I stick at it, it will work….it’s the self-belief that will help us along.

I’ve got another couple of goals coming up, but I was being a bit hopeful to have lost my 21 Ibs by July! I’m aiming now for August, more manageable. I was given some vouchers at work for 5 years loyalty (if only they knew I want to leave) so went out and got a top, it fits but is something that shows off quite a lot of shoulder, I’m aiming for the ‘launch’ in August (or hopefully sooner)

This week coming, I will try for 2 consecutive day fast, as used to do this last year, and seems to work. Yes I agree with the idea that we have to find the food items that may be triggers only to us, *one man’s meat is another man’s poison* so to speak. I’m finding I’m better off without porridge oats, but will not ban them totes. I’m better at *banning* stuff during the mon-fri, then at the w/e going a bit *mad*

Shout out to Jade, Annette, CaliB, lolly, Karen, Caspersmum, Queen, xxx

One of the things I’ve read is that the grains that are presently grown have been so genetically “managed” that they are just NOT what our grandmothers ate at all. And that applies just as much to them in their “whole” form as their refined forms. When the genetecists endeavor to feed a whole planet despite the challenges of draught and whatever some of our personal needs get left in the dust.

If we learn what our personal needs to consume and avoid ate, we can negotiate around that but, having had to give up so many foods, I’d like to know that I’m getting my big picture nutritional needs met as well. Guess I’ll have to go on how I feel and I certainly feel and function better IFing than I did being a prisoner of my impulses and prisoner in my unwieldy body.

I have to think losing weight is also about the best thing I can do for my knee. …until they come up with that replacement cartilage.

Speaking of which, I’m so very glad that website is useful for you, Tango. I know when I was recuperating from the surgery that repaired my patella I got FAR more information and encouragement there than I ever got from my doctor. My physical therapist was great but PTs are so much in demand that she didn’t have a lot of time to talk about the millions of concerns and issues I was going through. The Knee Guru folks, on the other hand, were inexhaustible and companionable!

I have good news and bad news from yesterday. It marked 5 days of clean fasting and eating and did a world of good for my confidence. I took some measurements and found that I had lost some girth from my last ones about 2 weeks before. And I’d lost even more compared to the time when I started going astray. My boobs remain stubbornly pneumatic but both my waist and hips are down so that felt great.

But I made the mistake of having a fruit-infused kombucha with lunch and was more hungry. Then I had a celebratory dinner with lots of caramelized onions. More sugar. By the time I went to bed I’d had chocolate, applesauce (homemade and YUMMY! with brown sugar) and a junky thing my husband loves that’s made with lots of processed foods as well as the really (FABULOUS!) fatty pork belly I made myself for dinner. 😩 😩 😩

I’m mad at myself for spoiling the week. But if I white-knuckle through today and tomorrow I’ll have a couple more FDs coming up to get myself back on track. I’m concerned, though, about a lot of upcoming disruption. We’re traveling back to LA on Sunday (airline food). Then we’ll return to packing up and we’ll be driving back home in a few weeks. I need my routines to support me. All that unconventional coming up one thing after another will be a MAJOR challenge.

Everyone seems so quiet. I hope it’s because you all have a wealth of interesting things to do!

GREAT weekend, all!!!

Hi Ladies, it’s been a while since I last posted – I had a real come to terms with myself about my refusal to cut my carbs down. I stubbornly allowed myself to eat all kinds of high sugar foods on feed days with the illusion that fasting would somehow cancel it all out. What started to happen was my body was beginning to gain back the weight I had lost and I was also feeling lousy from all the junk I was eating. Two months of this was enough and I read someone’s post here (maybe Karen?) that mentioned a book by an author about HFLC eating. I looked into that man and that took me to the new Atkins book. I read that and then started to realize (duh!!!) that my high carb count even on FD was creating a state in my body where weight loss was impossible.

You girls are very wise with your knowledge of your carbs and its effect on your bodies…. I was reluctant as I thought I was somehow different… Well guess what??? I’m not!!!

I downloaded the free Atkins carb counter app and I’ve been keeping track of my carbs not my calories on feed days. My high end is 40 g and boy does that add up fast. I feel great and the weight-loss is moving along much faster now. Fast days are still hard sometimes and easier other times. Yesterday I had to just go to bed instead of giving into eating. I feel like the combination of fasting and the HFLC way of eating is my ticket to meeting my goals. 10 more lbs to go and I am feeling so much better now. Hopefully this will stick as in the past I would find something that worked for a while and then it didn’t. I am hopeful this time!

Your posts are invaluable to me…. I read them everyday and find inspiration from each of you…

GOOD FOR YOU, annette! So much to celebrate!

It feels exciting to be excited for you!!!

Hey islanders, looks as though we’re all on the right path….And Annette it’s as you say, sometimes when the path doesn’t feel normal, then we might take a short side trip but ultimately we all want lasting health more than anything else. I’m sure I’ll keep taking the side road to chocolate. Like you said, Tango, not banning anything “totes”😇 just setting a goal to cut back – but I have so much more information now about what certain foods do to me. I enjoyed my chocolate stroll the other day, but I also recognized that I was irritable and off kilter until the next day. I know I’ve said this before, but that’s how I lost my appetite for ice cream – the payback in how I felt was not good, and finally I began to associate even the taste of it with a bad experience. And if that can happen to me, it can happen to anyone, believe me. Cali, keep going girl – when it feels right, it is right. 💪

I know also that this idea could be taken to the extreme: If you overeat anything, you’ll feel a bit sick – so I’m not advocating false logic. But for me, the key has been to figure out exactly what foods are too easy to overdo. Bread, sweets, pastry, cookies…. Without grains and sugar, I still have a wide choice of foods that won’t waken the lizards. I feel very lucky that I don’t have to narrow the list further. But I encourage everyone to search for that list of safe foods, the ones you happily eat when hungry but that don’t tempt you to eat past the point of satiety. I had to start simply with whole foods, to wean myself off the sugar, and of course was still overeating some of them (ahem, BREAD). So I had to go a step further, which resulted in the avoidance of grains (not just wheat), at least temporarily. Because grains, right? The latest in food marketing. Yes, I can overdo new grains, ancient grains, it really doesn’t matter how old they are😡

Chubs, you made an excellent point – we have no idea how modern grains have been altered from what we used to eat, back when “eating in moderation” was effortless. Who knows, maybe nothing, maybe it’s the old romantic saw, “it’s not you, it’s me”😂 especially given the beating my blood sugar has taken over the years. But I’m convinced now that it is possible to be normal. We just have to determine which foods we react normally to! For everyone, there are SOME, probably enough to constitute a healthful diet. Who can truly binge pig on lean meat, veg, even fruit (all prepared without sugar of course) well past the point of satiety? I mean, sure, I CAN do that, but unlike cakes etc., that stuff doesn’t signal mindless noshing.

Chubs, 😄 re the tree. Reminds me of flying home last year from Ireland, and I had an apple in my pocket and I dearly wanted to keep that apple. And I just clutched it in my hand and somehow made it through. And you’ll be driving so…even easier.

Time to get out and enjoy some sunshine because they’re predicting a solid week of rain starting tomorrow -Monday, how fitting…can’t trust that day🎧 Have a great day anyway, gang 🌴🔆🌴xxx
ps YES and a big cheer to you Annette for the reward at the scale🏆🏅!!

Hi all, so good to read all your posts!
Cali, glad to hear that the LCHF seems to work for you as well. Right now I am really really strict and try to stay below 25g/day of carbs, but will change that once I am in maintenance mode. But am eager to live in ketosis forever and a day. Ketosis is such an amazing energy booster, I feel so much more alive – am really addicted to this feeling. Much better feeling than any carbs could do 🙂 Not missing the bread at all – who would have thought, as I always loved that. But no more appetite for that. Sweets, no thanks. But I admit that the thought for some nice ice-cream is tempting. Phinney/Volek have a nice walnut ice recipe in one of their books, might try this at some point.
I didn’t lose any weight for 2 weeks now, all stable, so today I decided to cut out the cream and berries for a week. See how that goes. But the two weeks were very useful for me to find out what I can eat to keep things in balance.
Can I share with you guys my diet fact of the last two weeks? We humans lived for over thousands of generations (really, like 2 million years) on a diet that was mainly based on meat and veggies. Grains and fruit only entered the scene a couple thousand years ago. And as you guys all rightly pointed out, the grains that we eat today are muchos different from what even our grandparents had. Same for fruit: to start with, it wasn’t available all year round, and then they were also much less sweet. The fruit we get, are really sweets with vitamins.
That part I don’t like about LCHF, but after I also read “Why we get fat”: I increased my meat consumption. And I was pretty much a vegetarian. But meat, fish, fowl seems to be best for our bodies. Our metabolism is actually functioning best with meat and green veggies. *Sigh* I always found these paleo people pathetic. Somehow. Now I am living on a pretty similar diet and feel great.
The good thing about LCHF is that you really can stop counting calories. I only count carbs now. I eat as much hard cheese, green veggies, olive oil, meat, fish, eggs of all kind, butter and coconut oil as I feel like. Not that one can really binge on these foods, but it is very liberating to eat until satisfied.
And I got two new pants today. Both are two sizes smaller than what I had. Yeah! So all this experimenting and trying and testing what works best for us does pay off at some point.
But I am not kidding myself: trying the “be mindful about what you eat, eat everything in moderation, listen to your body, then you can eat anything” simply does not work for me. And never will work.
Greetings from the LCHF cave 🙂 Karen

Hi everyone,

Short but sweet message. Well done to you Karen, glad it’s going well 🙂
I’m carb *mindful* and keeping them quite low, and enjoying some fats. I’m also about to do a ‘zero’ FD, let’s see how I go. I’ve plateaued, and think it’s maybe my FD’s which need tweaking, i.e less or negligible calories, so will have *nose to grindstone* today and tomorrow 😉 will let you know how it goes! Luckily a beautiful morning here in the UK, so already feeling hopeful.
Annette fab news on the downward trend! always great to hear of success 🙂

love to all and happy FD’s and NFD’s
Tango

Hi Spring, don’t go away. Stay with us. We are here for you. In good times and in tough times. We all know exactly how that feels to fall into that hole. Please, you are not alone in this. Don’t be shy, maybe it helps if you write about what is going on right now. Again, here when you need us!!! We are much better company than the most delicious cakes & cookies 😉

Jade, the cocktail mention made me smile. I am so glad that this LCHF doesn’t condemn you to not drink any alcohol. Could not really do well without my 1-2 glasses of wine in the evening.

Tango, good luck on your zero FD. That’s a real challenge, very brave of you to try that!

Love to all, xx Karen