Sunday December 13th

Good Morning Everyone -

     I've been up for a bit, and about to head out with my walking poles for some motivated, music driven walking before my massage. It sounds like Paula and Mary have been busy with kids' activities this weekend. I do miss those days... mine are 26 and 28.. no grandchildren yet. I've read back on some of the posts on the last month. I am motivated by how proactive and deliberate all of you are. I am learning a lot, and confirming some predictions, like looking at a net week rather than getting too much on my head about "today's number".

     That being said, I am at 147 even today, 2.8 pounds down since a week ago Monday. I'm going to hold at 1000 for another week. I've got plenty of room to drop another 2.8. I want to experiment a bit with what happens when those extra calories are nuts/seeds vs. fruits. I want my carbs below 80, and am new to healthy fats.. so trends take time to identify.

Good morning all!

I get up freakishly early on the weekends.  I love my morning coffee which is vehicle for my carefully measured half and half.   My weight was 130 this morning.  It feels like it has been at that for a while.   But, I looked back and see I had a 2.5 loss since 7 days ago.  Funny brain. 

Thanks again for the warm welcomes, yesterday.  Diane O, I love watching you learn!  I enjoyed the talk about body fat % between Paula and Linda.   I hope to have a dexascan sometime soon to see where I stand. 

Count me in for kid activities this weekend.  My 14 year old daughter is in her dance studio's Nutcracker production so we have two days of shows.  It warms my heart to see those kiddos grow and develop over the years.  It also warms my heart to have lots of space in my auditorium seat.

There was some unexpected weight related emotional turmoil yesterday in the theater.  A woman, who I would guess was my former size, fell as she maneuvered from the stairs to the seats.  

Once I saw that she was ok,  I projected all of my negative feelings of weight and self loathing into the situation.  I felt overwhelmed with humiliation.  She was arriving just before the show was started so everyone saw.  I KNOW how hard it is to get up from the ground at that size! Audience members that were nurses, etc, rushed to her aid but it was really difficult to help her because she was wedged (WEDGED!) in between the rows and there was little they could do to help.  (I would have wanted them to turn round and no****ch.) 

Anyway, after a couple of minutes, she stood fully up and gave a show bow to the audience.  She was beautiful.  The audience cheered.  Good for her!  If it had been me, I would have behaved in a similar manner and then internally suffered for a very long time afterward.  In fact, it wasn't me and I was still tearful thru the first couple of numbers.  I hate that I might be sounding judgmental about this lady when I have know nothing about her.  I projected my worst emotions about myself onto her unfortunate situation.

Time for another tablespoonful of half and half (with some coffee thrown in....)

I don't think you sound judgmental at all, more empathetic then anything.

I noticed how much better I fit in the auditorium seat yesterday as well!

I'm excited that there are several of us starting maintenance around the same time and thankful for those that have been in it for a while and can offer up their wisdom!

Morning all:

Once again have not been able to get on the scale as the visitors beat me to it.  ( a v. small house, one bathroom) 

Good for the wedged lady!  I know it IS hard to watch my former MO-self get into predicaments and not feel terrible for the other person and my former self.

Have a good day everyone. 

Scale up a little which is odd since my calories were low yesterday but I did have Chinese, thus lots of sodium and very well may be holding on to water.

My oldest son's concert was awesome. Last song even made me cry - ya know it is good when the music moves you to tears. The gentleman beside me was wiping some tears away too so it wasn't just these peri-menopausal hormones acting up again!

Son #2 turns 16 today. He will take his driver's test in a few weeks. Will be nice to have another driver in the house (I think). He and his older brother will be sharing a car and I'm sure a few fights regarding that will ensue.

I'm getting very anxious to resume exercise but think I should hold off for a bit still due to the swelling I am still having (especially around my right knee). Maybe I'll do some upper body resistance training today. That would be good!

I have a plan for our bible study potluck. I'm bringing shrimp ****tail so I know I will have a good low calorie, high protein yummy option. A friend said she was brining mini quiches, so I could probably have 1-2 of those as well.

I misspoke earlier.  My 14 year old daughter recently turned 15 and is BEGGING to start driver's ed.  Heaven help us all!

I love shrimp for all the reasons you mention!  I think I will copy your idea and take it to my sister's for Christmas. 

I like the idea of looking at a weekly trend instead of a daily number.

Happy Sunday my friends. I forgot to weigh this morning but maybe that was deep down intentional after a much too loosey goosey day yesterday. I'm reminded over and over again how important it is for me to consistently eat structured protein forward meals. If I don't, the jonesin' thang gets me in trouble. But today I have a clean slate and will act accordingly. 

Omg Shel the woman in the theatre brought a tear to my eye. Like you, it reminds me of myself and that old embarrassed self shaming memory kicks in. Good for her for taking the bow. I would have been paralyzed and unable.  I'd forgotten how often I fell down when I was obese, but I was constantly tripping and boy it was hard to get up. 

My two cents on using the weekly calorie trend. I think it can work but it isn't necessary it for everyone. Some folks even 'save up' weekly calories for an upcoming splurge but again I think we have to look within ourselves to see if that's right for us.

For the most part, I still think of daily limits rather than weekly trends because I'm not the type of person who can put all my expenses on the credit card to get the points and then pay it off in its entirety at the end of each month. Sometimes I'll look at weekly totals and use up what's left over but I can't plan forward, so to speak, or I get in trouble.

Also, as I got further out I stopped routinely tracking daily calories so going from memory would not always be a reliable method for me. And I do tend to 'forget' those earlier splurges. My fat brain has that convenience factor built in!  I've been temporarily tracking again for the past few months though, so lately have been able to look backwards at my calories with some certainty. 

So new maintenancers, from my perspective, it may or may not work for you. Looking forward to hearing from others on this 

Linda-

     I completely agree about banking calories... I can see where it may not work for me. Having now what I'd "pay for" later sounds like a slippery slope. What I meant about the trend was the number on the scale. I'm holding at 1000 calories for a week no matter how much the scale goes town. I may be up a pound one day and down two the next, as I experiment with which healthy calories to add on. I want to look at and evaluate all of the movement, but base whether or not to add more calories on a weekly basis. Your insight is valuable.

D.

Greetings

back to 128 and a danger event approaching - art gallery party.  taking carrots to share.

glad the lady that fell was not hurt and able to respond with dignity.  we have all been there. 

Spent a lot of time yesterday fighting with temperamental art gallery computer. finally got my way but i am sure it will punish me in the future.

Diane