Thursday August 31

Hope Ben's tests go well!

You are going to be successful, just you wait and see. Can you get started on MFP now as training wheels to practice even if you aren't officially resetting yet?

By the way, what is the first of the month....tomorrow or after Labor day? (That's a bit nosey, isn't it. But, I'm still asking!)

I have never been one to join menu threads, but if you thought having a menu posted daily helped, I would join you cuz heaves knows I could use a bit of accountability.

First of the month is tomorrow!

Devon's very good points notwithstanding, the start of the new school year has always felt to me like a time of optimism and fresh starts in many respects.

Paula, I'm wishing for you the best possible outcomes as "the new month" begins.

Listen, I've walked down this path. My advice is different from those who say get back on track by logging and tracking and prepping and planning. I've been there and done that, but because of my emotional issues surrounding food, my lack of self confidence, my underlying chronic depression, my gift of self deprecation, "getting back on track" or "back to basics" often backfired and sent me spiraling deeper into the throes of the emotional and binge eating cycle.

So, another strategy I would urge you to consider is this: Sit down and focus on your life. Are there reasons you are eating and gaining weight that make sense to you? (Maybe a little stress????) Is the eating helping you deal with an emotional aspect of your life that you are ill equipped to deal with without the aide of food/eating (if the answer is yes, you are in the majority of previously obese people). Think about taking away the foods that you are eating right now, particularly the sweets. How would you feel emotionally without having those foods at your disposal and available for you to eat? Are the foods you are eating serving a specific purpose in your life - at this moment? Are prepared to make the "sacrifices" required to get back on track and "DIET"? Are you frightened to not have those "off limit foods" unavailable to you?

My guess is that you will answer YES to many of the questions I posed above. IF you are indeed answering with all honesty and you are coming out with a bunch of yeses, then I would suggest you rethink your getting back on track and losing weight strategy. Science has proven that will power is a limited and finite resource. You are exerting an awful lot of energy on maintaining structure, love, safety, and positivity for your family, which can leave very little left over for self care. Food is a self care habit that has served us well for a lifetime. "Normies" don't need to think about their eating during times of crisis to maintain their weights, or they accept that they may lose a bit or gain a bit without worry. It is those of us who have eating issues that believe that we must maintain control over our weight at all times. I say maybe it's time for you to rethink that control issue and the hold that the number on the scale has on you.

There have been times on this journey when I have sincerely pondered my emotional state and how food plays a part in it. On occasion I have felt an internal scream well up from my gut. It is a primal feeling of loss and fear and stress. It is a feeling that has been lying dormant and comes to scratch to be let out when I examine my eating deeply. I usually push the feeling down because I don't quite know what to do with it. I look at it more and more though, as time goes on.

So before you embark on a diet regimen, make sure it's something you are really equipped to do. If you find you are not ready, be okay with that, too. You'll be better off in the long run being okay with your current eating than if you try to force yourself to do something that depletes the remaining energy you have left after caring for everyone else in your life.

My 2 cents. XO!

Yes! There were many yeses to the questions you posed. That is the main reason I hadn't tried until now to even address the weight gain. I just didn't have it in me. Life is settling down some, boys will all be back is school and Ben is needing less help. I think I can start focusing on what I need again. That is why I am picking tomorrow as my reset date. I might not be fully successful but I need to start somewhere and at least try! Your words did make me feel better about the why's of the gain though! Thank you for that!

I absolutely agree that if you aren't ready emotionally, trying to "diet" can backfire and set up more failure. But it sounds like it might be time for Paula to focus a bit more on herself?

I have found that substituting something more filling for something I would have gone to previously for "emotional" suppport can help as well. I used to inhale donuts, but I find that something like cheese can provide "comfort" but also fill me up a lot faster (I don't think the donuts would, though I might get a stomach ache from too many).

Weight: 132.8
Macros: Cals - 1,490, Carbs - 185, Fat - 34, Protein - 91, Fiber - 27
Veggies/Fruits (goal 8): 6
Water (goal 8)
Sleep (goal 8 hours): 7.5
Exercise: None (but lots of mowing)

Well, that's a weight I haven't seen since the late 1970s! One thirty TWO! Not sure what this means, and I'm a bit shocked. Maybe all those miles I walked up in Stanley Park are finally showing up on the scale, eh?

Devon, I loved your ode to bathroom joy! I've decided that in Year Four I'm going to heed my bariatric team's counsel and go for as many veggies/fruits as I can stuff in. Therefore, my new daily goal will be 8. Last year's goal was 7, and I usually hit 5; in Year 2 I tried for 5 and usually got 3. So V/Fs are headed in the right direction.

The other thing I REALLY need to do in Year Four is to drink a lot more water. I usually get in only 2 glasses of water, along with coffee, milk, green tea and protein drinks. Truth is that some days I often get only 6-7 cups of all liquids and feel dehydrated -- not good! Bet I'd also lose a few wrinkles if I actually drank a lot more water! So more plain water is now on my radar, too.

The obvious theme is: Track and improve.

Don't have time to post til I saw Catoula which I wonder think might be Catahoula (or some such thing) I grew up with those dogs and yes, our first came from Louisiana. Great dogs! Well, great farm dogs! Not sure about city. Obedience champions, all! Great with cattle, Great with kids. Protectors! Loved my Lilly and Heidi!!! Saw one on the trail this summer running a mountain with his owner. I stopped them to ask about the dog and we talked for several minutes.

Yes, I read about them and told my daughter there would be LOTS of walking (of course you are correct - it is catahoula).

good morning! I do not weigh myself every day, my food consumption stays fairly stat, but I have always had an issue with fluctuations with the scale and thus do not weigh myself daily. Thoughts?

I am off tomorrow to celebrate my youngest sons 17th birthday.

We are camping this weekend and then he will go back to school on the 6th. I have attached a couple of pics for you all to get to know me. I have a standard poodle named Bethany, and also attached pics of a hike my wife and I took in the Adirondack Mountains, 10 mile round trip! Have a great day! Mike