What's on your Sunday menu?

Good mornin everyone!

I ended up getting a lot done yesterday. I finally got the Covid and flu shot. Earlier this week they were out of the Covid shot and they finally got it in. My arms are sore and I've got a goose egg where the Covid shot went in. Other than that I haven't gotten any reactions yet. I don't feel "great" but definitely not sick. Just really tired feeling.

Ot a 100% sure what today'll hold. I think we might just stay home. If we do get out it won't be for much. We might go through more of those stamps. They are mostly first day of issue covers. She is wanting to sell those as she mostly does the stand alone stamps. Some of them are really cool and there is A LOT of them!

I received an update on one of my mom's (and honestly partly my own) presents. She saw me crying so I showed her. It likely won't arrive by Christmas but it's a treasure. I follow this pet portrait artist and she had openings in mid October. I ordered a pencil drawing of our late Merlin boy. It is so so good! She even upgraded the size for free! It's roughly 9x6. She is is the UK. Pics to follow!

Reference photo:

Drawing:

QOTD:Any big plans ahead this week?

None here and that's a great thing. No appointments which is nearly unheard of! That'll resume next week but it's nice to not have much going on. I should get an order of supplies this week. I'll prob rehab my room a bit. Oh the excitement.

B: JUST egg bowl and coffee

L: ????

D: I might have a meatloaf ball or we might do something else

S: popcorn and ????

Good morning Mel and weekend menuers,

That is a nice drawing of your rainbow bridge kitty, and a nice way to honor him. It's a great gift, no matter when it arrives. Glad you had a productive day yesterday.

QOTD- This week will be super busy. I'm presenting three projects for approval, which is a big part of why I'm working this weekend. They're the same ones that were supposed to come in the week of Thanksgiving. Have several orgs coming into town that we'll be having two half-day meetings with. Dentist Tuesday and my last paid facial treatment Friday.

I got a lot done yesterday but also got distracted after tripping on my pants outside in the morning. There are some pairs I wear around the house that I have to hold while I walk or they'll fall off. Yeah, I know. So after tripping but not falling, I sorted all of the pants in my closet. The old ones that can't tie on are in the disposal pile, sans that pair of jeans I bought last Black Friday. I was wrong...they were a 28. For some reason, committing to getting rid of things is a bit scary. Maybe because I've been through this cycle so many times.

I got the shopping and most of the cooking done. This week I made a small batch of ketoish stuffed peppers, a crustless quiche with smoked sausage, peppers, onion, and spinach, and a pan of cabbage rolls. Never done those before, so hopefully they turn out well, or at least edible. I do have Anaheim peppers that will be made into ketoish chile relleno soon but I ran out of space and dishes. My fridge, freezer, and cupboards are full to bursting. Clean kitchen and dishes now, though. I also got a load of laundry and some cleaning and organizing in.

Today is work, getting the trash out, and more cleaning. My living room heater died after probably 8 years the other day, so it needs to go. Also bagging clothes that are donatable. Not fancy but functional and someone might appreciate those ones.

Going to keep on with the Miralax for a while. Yesterday wasn't fun for that. Also need to do better with hydration.

Accountability- Black beans, and I swapped out the protein bar yesterday with roasted chickpeas. Delicious, but less protein. The IF eating is going well and I haven't eaten later than 4:30 since last week. I would rather have breakfast at 5am than dinner at 6. Call me crazy.

Exercise- Elliptical

Menu

Last of the sausage, peppers, onions, and black beans

Last of the marinara chicken with spinach

Quiche slice

Yogurt or cottage cheese, seaweed

Happy Sunday everyone!

I gained close to 30 pounds a few years ago and donated a lot of nice things that I thought would never fit again. Now that regain is gone and I do miss a few things.

I always used an old-fashioned pressure cooker and never bought an instant pot. Today I saw a Star Wars mini Instant Pot on Amazon and ordered one. It just looks like fun, but I will be donating the pressure cooker to make room for the Instant Pot. The bean recipe here inspired me to get an Instant Pot.

The regain is what I live in fear of, especially once maintenance starts! I figure letting go of my top sizes should be okay, though. Sorry you regret letting go of some things. Regain is such a long-term battle.

Hope you like the instant pot, and that it's a good trade-off for your space! There have been tons of recipes for them. There were good sales the past few weeks, too! I don't have either a pressure cooker or instant pot...just a well-used crock pot.

Cheers!

If you're good at monitoring yourself for life, you won't need those big clothes again, but after I hit bottom, I did keep clothes that were one size up because I knew that most people experience a rebound (usually 10-20 lbs). I'm glad I kept those because yes, I, too, experienced a rebound (and have put on an additional 10 lbs this past year, which I'm now working on getting off....)

Sadly for most of us, it is truly a lifelong work of diligence. Maintenance is what scares me because I've never hit a healthy balance in the past when my body tries to reset.

Also trying to plan for regain. It's part of why my personal goal weight is 140 when my clinic's goal for me is 156. Honestly not sure my goal is feasible with my frame but I'm just aiming to offset a bit of regain based on what I've learned here.

I read your posts, and your journey is inspiring. Those last ten pounds, as you've said, are the hardest to go and just take forever. But you've got such a focus on it...I have no doubt you'll make it. :)

You are smart not to consider maintenance until you are well below your goal weight. That extra 20 after the honeymoon is pretty much guaranteed. Lose as much as you can before the rebound starts.

My maintenance plan is to eat 10 times my desired weight in daily calories. My goal is 136 and I stay around 1400 per day. When I diet, I go to 900 per day to lose a pound a week.

Glad your maintenance plan is working for you! My hope is that the malabsorption will actually reset my brain and body's set point, so to speak. The last time I hit maintenance at 152 in 2017, my body just wouldn't comply. I tried eating at and below maintenance on top of all the exercise and the weight just crept back on. It didn't matter what I cut out of my diet, and my PCP at the time accused me of being malnourished because I told her all my hair was falling out. The blood tests back then were all fine, but the weight still came back.

She also never seemed to believe me when I reported what I was, or wasn't eating. Just eat less...we've all heard it. So yep, I do want to lose what I can within the honeymoon window while being healthy. I'm 5'7.5" (lost a half inch in the last year, somehow), and I have a sturdy frame, so I'll work to be happy wherever that lands me. I'm fine with a higher number on the scale if it means I'm building muscle. I foresee a DEXA scan in my future to help assess where that line is.

Bit of rambling but all of this has been on my mind lately. :) cheers!

Mornin' Weekenders!

well I did OK at the lunch thingie yesterday. People brought dishes from the cookbook we were discussing (it's a cookbook discussion group - I joined it recently). There were six of us there - one person brought soup, another brought one of those Middle Eastern salads (cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, onion, olive oil, and lemon juice), I brought scones, and the other three brought desserts. We were all served about a half cup of the soup, and I didn't go back for seconds (even though it was really great soup!!). Same with the salad - about 1/2 C, and that was it. I didn't eat any scones since I brought them, and there were leftovers that I took home, so figured I didn't need to eat one there. The desserts were rugelach, this delectable triple chocolate pie, and cherry tarts. I had a tiny sliver of the pie and half a cherry tart. I love rugelach but decided to just take one home with me rather than eat it there. Even with just that, I did get a lot of calories, but I ate very lightly the rest of the day and ended up with just over 1600 kcal, which is my maintenance calorie level, so I'm OK with that. I'm proud of myself because it could have ended up a disaster. We still have lots of events coming up between now and Christmas. If I can manage on those days to just eat at my maintenance level, or just a little over (maybe by a couple hundred calories) and eat 1300-1400 the other days, I should be able to get through this season unscathed.

DH's birthday is Tuesday and we were going to meet the family (our two moms plus my niece) at a pizza place, but he went to a bakery and picked up a cake while I was at the luncheon. I know that bakery cakes generally don't have preservatives, and I was a little worried that it might be past its prime by Tuesday - and if that was the first time we cut into it, we'd like have 3/4 of it left, and it would really go downhill after that (unless we freeze it). So we decided to reschedule the birthday dinner with the family to tonight - or at least the celebration that involves the cake (we could do something else on his actual birthday - which would probably include eating more cake). So I sent out a message to the others to see if they were available tonight. My mother and niece were fine with it (I knew the two mothers would be since they don't work and really don't do anything else - but I wasn't sure about my niece). But his mother absolutely blew up about the change. She wrote a very nasty reply that went to the whole group. I was shocked. She has major anxiety issues and the med she's been taking for years to manage it isn't really working anymore, so I wrote it off to that, but still, I was really shaken by what she wrote and really don't want to see her for a few days. So we'll just go to dinner with my mom and niece, and if his mom is feeling better by Tuesday, we can do something with her Tuesday night (and have some cake). We really don't need to have her around family - she's really out of control and irrational, and I don't want her making a scene. I hope she gets in to see a psychiatrist soon - DH has been pushing her to make an appt for nine months now, but she still hasn't done it. This is really starting to affect everyone else now. I had to deal with a father who was bipolar and sometimes quit taking his meds (he was OK when on them, and unbearable when he was not), so this is nothing new, but I really don't want to be dealing with it now.

QOTD: it'll be a lighter week then last week. Birthday dinner tonight, potentially another birthday dinner on Tuesday, luncheon on Thursday, in person class (the last week!) Tuesday and Thursday, and a holiday party on Saturday.

B: it's 10:00 am and I haven't had breakfast yet, so I may just have a protein shake (want to eat lightly again today since we're having pizza and cake for dinner)

MS: nothing

L: maybe just cottage cheese and fruit

AS: Ratio yogurt and a couple of Wasa crackers (i.e., lots of protein + fiber - hopefully it'll keep me from overeating a dinner!)

D: 1-2 pieces of pizza, small piece of cake

have a great Sunday, everyone!