Sunday, February 7th

Hard to believe I'm the first one to start the post today. Obviously a better day for me. Slept much better last night compared to hardly at all the night before. Still taking pain meds. Definitely more pain with this surgery compared to VSG. I can't even stand up straight. No ab exercise for quite a while. 

123.8 on the scale, not even first morning weight. I'm not really going to pay much attention to the scale this week. Surprised I'm not up more with fluids/swelling. 

Hope you all have a great day. I'm not a football fan so kinda sucks to be confined to the couch today. May check out Netflix and have the football lovers go downstairs to watch the Superbowl. At least no party today to have to navigate the food at. 

Glad you are feeling better, Paula !  I'm going to watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, prior to the SB. I couldn't care less about the game this year... I'll try to catch some commercials and half time... no food to navigate except for the commercials !

Weight is exactly the same today, 139.8. I'm wearing a compression stocking today. We'll see if that reduces the edema in my leg. This month's article on "Refuse to Regain" is an analogy about how letting carbs and sugar back in forces us to have to "ride the brakes" to regain control. As formerly obese people, our bodies react even more dramatically to even small quantities of simple carbs and sugars. Dr. Berkeley goes on to talk about what repeatedly riding the brakes does to the braking mechanism itself. Today's "Food for Thought" is about abstinence actually being freedom.

I know everyone has to make their own peace with how often, how much, what foods to include in their plan. How we each arrive at that place will depend on our tapes, previous experiences. I can so relate to Kairk's "Am I willing to pay the price?" filter. I want to do focus work around the foods I have found to trigger me big time and remaining abstinent from them.... not as a punishment... but to restrict uncontrolled craving for more and more. At least during this first year, I am coming to the conclusion that, for me, the only way to restrict the lack of control and potential to binge is to restrict the trigger food. My chocolate cupcake experience Friday night, was frightening. After a few bites, I could see myself wanting to just inhale it and deal with the consequences the next day. There was no savoring or mindful enjoyment involved. If I hadn't smashed it in soap and washed it down the sink....I was that close to wolfing it down. I can't... won't be that person again. While I'm settling into maintenance, there are just foods that are not good for my healthy lifestyle.

You are sooo in-tune with yourself. I love that about you - how you can stand back and objectively look your cir****tances and most importantly make wise decisions regarding what you see! Bravo!

Wise decisions. As Frisco says, we have to protect our skinny!  Also I think we need to get to know ourselves really well as people in maintenance before we loosen the reins very much. 

There will come a time, I promise, if you continue with the work you're doing when you will be able to sit with a cupcake and enjoy it slowly and mindfully. It will take time and practice. And you will probably throw a few more down the disposal! It's all part of learning the dos and don'ts of your individual maintenance program. I have learned I do not even like cupcakes. That's what eating one mindfully did for me. I threw it away because I didn't want it! That was a dance party moment! It will come for you, too! 

Hi all.

Yay for the puppy bowl. Hope they have the hamsters in the blimp. We will watch the super bowl but mostly to make fun of what a big deal is made of it'

Up a half. Not surprising since I drank an entire bottle of water after 110 pm. Had loads of salt in my food yesterday - restaurant charcuterie leftovers and some taquitos from costco and olives. 

Hey I hear you about putting soap on the cupcake and getting rid of it fast.  There were crackers with the restaurant leftovers that i immediately tossed down the disposal. 

Its amazing how much food is available and how we all have to learn to get over the childhood habits of clean your plate and kids are starving in China so eat this and so forth.  I have this little mantra about excess food economics  "you can throw this out or you can pack it on your a$$".  Think about any supermarket. About 90% of the stuff in there is stuff I never eat and about 50% is stuff NO ONE needs to eat. Years ago, trips to the grocery store had me going up and down most every aisle. I think lots of people do that.  Now I skip most of them. I have my little "route" at costco to the produce, organics, frozen chicken, nuts, fresh seafood (and ok wine) and the same thing at other stores. What a difference it makes to have jettisoned most of my stomach! 

Hubby just announced he was going to the grocery store for berries.  I suggested that the grocery store was not a good place to go 3 hours before super bowl.  even in our dinky town. Good news is that they are putting in a natural foods store in our town. Its the same as one in a town 15 miles away and its the best (and cheapest) hippie health food store around here. I may never go in safeway again.  diane s

Hi all. Scale popped right back up to 113. I was awol yesterday - hubby and I made a quick trip down to visit his crazy family but I survived and an none the worse for wear. We also looked at a used RV that might actually be in our price range so who knows we may indeed run away from home in 2016 after all!  

I'm not into football so no Super Bowl here and I've no idea what the Puppy Bowl is but it sounds much more interesting. 

Scale down another .2. I'm at 201.4. 

A client I have not seen since Thanksgiving time brought her dogs yesterday for a trim. She commented on the fact that I had lost weight and that I was looking skinny. LOVED IT! 

Tried a new artisan burger joint in Lafayette last night. Quite good. They serve only grass fed beef, range Bison, pastured raised Elk, turkey, and house made veggie burgers. Fairly reasonable, too, considering quality of food and location. Basic burger is $7.99. I had a burger with caramelized onions, fontina cheese, and bacon. I ate half of the burger sans bun. Was delicious! I learned last night that Ron is unable to take the bun off and eat a bunless burger. He finds it wasteful. To each his own. My bun went in the garbage! 

I'm beginning to feel better in my skin. I still have a way to go, but I'm feeling physically lighter and am really enjoying the infrequent sugar consumption. The more I stay away from sugar, the less attractive I find foods with high sugar content. I know, too, I'm one chocolate truffle away from entering a battle that is very hard to win for me. That knowledge helps. 

It is a gloriously sunny and moderate day (upper 60s - sorry those of you stuck in frigid climes!). Have one more client in a few minutes, but will enjoy the afternoon outside. 

Will DVR the game and watch highlights. I'm not a football fan. I prefer baseball and many single athlete sports, but football never snagged me. I know, it's sacrilege! 

Hello all!

126.2 today.  Unusually stable the last few days. 

Did a slow flow yoga this morning.  I don't think I will be able to go to yin later because time is slipping away and I want to get the house picked up. Honestly, tho, yin is mostly laying around in various 60% stretches.  I can do it here at home by myself.

"Abstinence is freedom."  I can relate.  It was much easier to avoid giant swaths of food types during weight loss than try to incorporate carefully portioned quantities of crap food.  I am hoping to find similar structure (tho with wider variety of foods)  in maintenance. 

Instant pot yogurt report:  super creamy greek style yogurt!  Next time I might have it go 9 hours vs 8 hours to give it slightly more tang since it was ultra mild.  Do I like it better than my Ellenos or Fage?  I'm not so sure, yet.  But it is very good, easy to make and cheap.  

I won't be watching the super bowl but I am sure that it will be on in the house.  There will also be copious amounts of processed snacks with ingredient lists that are miles long.  My (selective) aversion to chemicals in foods helps stymie most of their appeal. However, Fritos has a super short ingredient list so they dance around the edges of my brain.  I can almost come close to rationalizing their scoopers with guac.  But, nah, it isn't worth it today.  

Diane, I have a hippy approved food coop moving into my neighborhood this summer.  It will be nice to have it just over the hill rather than fighting thru traffic to get the next closest. 

Enjoy the rest of the day!  Shel