I'm BACK!

I posted this on the daily weigh in thread as well, but I wanted to do a new post to hopefully get all of your wonderful wisdom.

103.2 today!  I'm BACK!  This is more like it!  I am going to listen to MacMadam and see if this is sustainable.  I am going back to eating my normal food plan and will see if the weight stays the same.  It seems to me that the weight is steady except for the hormonal week of PMS and then all heck breaks loose.  It then normally takes me about a week of "dieting" and hand ringing to get the weight back to normal and then all is steady until the next PMS week.  That seems to be the pattern.  I guess I can either just except it and stop with the hand ringing and just diet when I need to, or except a higher weight as MacMadam recommended.  I am still going Hmmmmmmm on that one.  Any opinions would be appreciated.  I am going to post this as a separate post to get more input.

Hooray for you!!  Back to normal is always comforting.

Do you think you can give up the hand wringing?  :}  Maybe it burns calories. 

I dunno, for me, I eat the same but have a once a *month (maybe)* splurge meal. When I know my period is coming, I just tend to push proteins, so my mix of foods doesnt seem to vary that much unless its a splurge meal, but that isnt even really once a month. Maybe my once a month isnt as long of a weight flux because it isnt a spread out deal and its only a meal?

Who knows, but its all very interesting, for sure!

See that is the problem, my "once a month" becomes a "one week a month" splurge.  I don't eat horribly during that week, but I eat substantially more food, more often and with more carbs.  I seem to get horrible cravings for ice cream that I indulge with PinkBerry frozen yogurt and chocolate chips and blueberries.  YUM!  My defenses go down and my need to self soothe goes through the roof.  This month was the worst ever, because for some strange and as of yet unexplained reason the whole PMS thing lasted for 2.5 weeks rather than the usual 3-4 days.  It was a nightmare to be around me, I don't know how my dear husband survived.  My cravings were similar to pregnancy cravings.  I even took a pregnancy test just to be sure that the obvious problem was not it.  No, no one is on board this train, it's all me.  This month was a real trial, hopefully it was a one time, the moon is blue, kind of thing, and I can just go on with my usual neurosis going forward.  No need to add extra flavoring there, I've got quite enough of that already.  :)

I dont know that its a "problem" girlie - I think its a "pattern"  kinda thing, but you have done your dissection and you can know its coming, and maybe you can say to yourself.

You are about to make this choice - with all choices come consequences, is it going to be worth it?

If it were Sublimate or me?  I think for us the answer would not be yes, because we dont have the same "on a dime" wire up stop that you do for the week of just minimal, but definite extras.

She and I get emotionally attached to our habits and patterns it seems!  Or maybe I ought not speak for her and say *I* definitely do, so I have to keep my patterns steady and then have an unusual splurge that is really RARELY ever even a day, and only once a year is a day in my HOME.

But for me, and I think for you, the *knowing* of what is happening/going to happen can really be so helpful because you dont just look around and think WTF IS HAPPENING HERE!!??? and then pile on the neuroses of the past. 

Course, those neuroses are all just waiting for a tender time to jump on in, but I *think* ? maybe your spying your pattern you can say to them "hello! I already have enough, goodbye!" and then just get back down to hospital corners when the self soothing is over.

But man, there really isnt a "hard and fast" about this stuff, because our bodies change and our patterns change and what we were sensitive to before might change next month!

But I think maybe having a skeleton of a behavior pattern will be helpful, at least in seeing what *might* be coming thru the tunnel, and if it actually is the light or is the train!

Anyway, YAAAY for back to standards and learning more schtuff!

I don't know that I'd accept a higher weight because then...where will it end?  Do you keep accepting yourself right back up the scale??  So you seem to have figured out that this thing may be hormonal just like mine is.  I don't sweat it cause I know I'm eating right and exercising and it always just floats back down without any food change...so I know it has to be hormonal cause I don't change food.

Glad you're down in your comfort range again.  We'll be here for you next "month" too. : )

Laura

Yay for you, Elina!!

I think, because you have been so vigilant abou****ching for these patterns, that you can live with it for a while...it will become clear over time what's most sustainable for you: hand wringing and dieting (and the hand wringing probably WON'T go away or the weight won't either), accepting a slightly higher weight, or somehow planning for the PMSing so that you don't do any damage during those times...

Lizanne

Yep Brandilynn, you got me. I don't go off plan because it's too hard for me to get back on.. but I do allow myself more "safer" treats.. a kind of moderate solution. I actually chart my cycle and it comes every 28 days like clockwork.

I start getting cravings about 3-4 days before my cycle which last also about 2-3 days into my cycle. I put a reminder on my calendar about 5 days before my cycle where I get an email reminder saying cycle is coming up. Then I'm already prepared when my appetite changes; I expect it.

During that time I allow myself methadone treats like sugar-free chocolates, chocolate protein cocoa, chocolate protein shakes, cheese and nuts, and accept that I'm going to gain a few pounds of water weight. After my cycle the weight drops off again without me doing anything other than going back to my usual routine and usually I drop another pound or two with it.

Seeing those 2-3 extra pounds doesn't bother me because I know that's normal, and I know I can expect it. I've been trying to convince Elina to start getting a reminder thing going to start knowing when to expect her cycle and also give her a few methadone recipes like my low carb choco cheesecake and protein fudgsicles and such.

I m happy  for you Elina. I will be curious to see how it goes for the next couple of months. I know that since I've been 2 years out, I gain easier and it's harder to lose. I won't  accept a regain
so I have to learn to work with it , like you are.  I don't have cycles anymore so I can't blame that, only my evil desire to snack.

Are your ovaries gone? Because not having a cycle doesnt mean you dont have hormone flucuation.

And if they are then..EVIL!  :}

That's a good observation.  I had a hysterectomy last year, but I got to keep my ovaries.  I'm going to start charting my binging and see if there's a monthly pattern.