From Centuries, to Decades and on to Goal--2009 part 2

[vee716]

I'm working really hard at staying optimistic on the scale front, but it was 164.4 lbs this morning, the same place it was about 10 days ago. In those 10 days, I've dropped down about three pounds, regained about 4 and then dropped back down to where I started. My water retention excuse is starting to sound like an excuse.

I had hoped to be at 163 last Wednesday and then 161.5 this Wednesday. Instead, I'm bouncing around 164 still.

I'm not feeling discouraged enough to stop doing this, but I am feeling discouraged enough that I'm worried about an "awfukit" period of eating off plan/overeating. I'm going to a wedding tonight and I'm concerned that I will overindulge big-time.

[lcq]

Originally Posted by Teresa123

Anyone know how long coconut milk will last in the fridge after it's opened? Also--can it be frozen?

Teresa - not too sure about freezing it since I tend to use the powdered kind.........i feel it would separate though...like cream.... so it would depend what you were going to use it in once it was thawed out



Val - I hope you don't go crazy at that wedding....just think the scale might go over 165lbs......i know you don't want that to happen

see you on Monday peeps

[realityjunkee]

Teresa's gone and Kathy's gone this weekend.

Lisa will be offline tomorrow.

Gonna be quiet around here!

Hey Val...you and me I guess!

[Teresa123]

Morning ladies!

We went to see The Proposal last night, I would definitely recommend it--so cute and funny!

Val--have you thought about doing a couple of days of maintenance level and then drop down again? That is something I always think of after the fact--read after the damage is done. Hopefully everything went well last night.

Lisa--so do you think it's just cream that might be the problem or other forms of dairy as well? When you would eat strawberries and cream, how much cream would you use and or how much in a day? Anyway, if it's just cream that might be the problem I thought I'd tell you that I made cheesecake pudding and used coconut milk instead of cream. Not sure exactly how much I used, half the can so maybe 2/3 a cup. Anyway--it is fantastic! The consistency and taste are a bit more like yocheese but richer.

Kim--soooo--I'm still waiting to hear what your new plan/approach is for low carb? Or have you decided to continue doing what you are doing?

Well--another busy day and then long drive home tonight and then a loooooonnnnnnggggg hectic week at work--yikes! I already can't wait until next weekend!

Have a nice day everyone!

[realityjunkee]

Well Teresa, my new plan...I really don't know!

I think I will continue pretty much the same for a week or two. This weekend I have resorted back to too much diet soda. I think I'm going to journal this week and see where exactly I'm at calorie wise and go from there.

[kathy76]

Sorry I've been MIA lately....life has been pretty busy. DH's gall bladder surgery went fine on Wednesday. Since DH can't lift anything I've been pretty busy with Brooke.

I have been struggling with my eating since Christmas time I'm guessing. I cannot commit fully to LC. Tomorrow I am kinda switching my plan to lower fat/ lower carb and I'm gonna try that for awhile. My mom has agreed to try it with me & at least 2 of my sisters are gonna do it. I told them it is gonna be weightloss bootcamp....I think this might help me as much as it will help them! This is the first time in years my mom has ever commited to trying to lose weight (she is now about 100 lbs overweight). We are going to start exercising together also.

[vee716]

That sounds like a good plan, Kathy. It's pretty much what I'm doing, too. I can't keep carbs super low anymore, I'm just too used to some moderate (but healthy) carb choices.

I did okay at the wedding, kept calories to just (barely) under maintenance, though I did have sugar. We'll see if I get a bounce on the scale. I'm hoping that the water retention issue I've already got happening means that I won't gain more water from the carbs. I'm hoping I'm at my water retention limit! I won't know until tomorrow, I find that it takes until the second day after for water bloat to fully register on the scale. This morning the scale was at 163.8, okay but still higher than it *should* be if I hadn't gained that water weight last week.

Calories are a little high today, too, unfortunately. I went to a brunch buffet and ate a bit more than I should have. I should still be within my calorie allowance though.

[vee716]

I'm pretty much decided to take a diet break for 10-14 days. Or rather, call the last 4 days the first half of a my diet break week.

My calories have averaged 2150 over the past 4 days. Thursday was fine at 1800 cals, Friday a little over at 2000, but okay given that I average over the week. Yesterday I went to a wedding and indulged a bit in the sweets and wine, and calories were 2225. Today, I started out poorly by indulging in too many samples at the store and I was hungry from the long run, so calories ended up at 2525! Maintenance levels. So, given my stalled weight loss, getting back to the weights, and the fact that I've been dieting for 7 weeks already, I think it's time for a break. I'm going to stick to maintenance calories less 10% like suggested by Guide to Flexible Dieting, so I'm going to aim for an average of 2250 a day. I'm running at 2137 for the last 4 days already, so I'm right on target for that and I can feel like I haven't messed up for the last 4 days.

This will also let me enjoy the next weekend at a friend's trailer without being weird diet girl. I find it easier to keep calories down during the week, so I'll probably try to keep calories around 1800-2000 during this coming work week and then I'll have more room for the weekend and still keep the average to 2250.

I'm hoping there won't be any more gain than a pound or two. I think if I go beyond 166, I'll rethink this. I should already be up the couple of pounds from water, so I don't want to allow many more.

[Teresa123]

Hey ladies! I'm home, I'm pooped, I'm so dreading this long week --but I'll try not to whine to you all too much! Actually the next 2 weeks will be bad, then hopefully a little reprieve in August, then we gear up for year end craziness! Oh well, it's a living.

Kathy--glad to see you. Of course I'm sorry you're struggling and as you know I can totally relate. But I'm glad you've come up with a plan. Low carb covers a whole spectrum, not just induction as you know. There are lots of ways to eat and live within that realm of healthy whole foods--which bottom line that is where most low carb plans ultimately lead us--you just have to figure out which one is right for you.

I bet you are so happy that your mom is ready to make a change and having your family involved will be so nice for having lots of support!

Val--a break sounds good. I'm working on figuring out when I need those as opposed to pushing it till I burn out and then destroy what I've accomplished. Right now I'm not pushing it too hard but if I don't see the 40's by the end of the month I'm going to have to bump it up a notch!!

Have you re-evaluated your caloric needs since losing 20 lbs? I'm just wondering if it's much different now? I don't feel like there was much difference for me between 150 and 140...but then again I didn't stay at 140 long enough to really know.


Well, somehow whenever I come home from my mom's I have twice as much stuff as I took with me! I always end up with lots of great stuff that she either bought for me, or it was a gift and she didn't want it or something she doesn't like anymore or whatever. So, I came back with lots of t-shirts, Bed and Bath stuff, perfume and a variety of other things! My back bedroom however has become a storage room for all the overage of things I have!

Anyway, I better go try to unpack some of this stuff and get ready for bed. Did I mention I'm pooped?!

[Teresa123]

Morning. It's Monday....blah. They did some kind of upgrade to our computers this weekend and now we can't seem to get into any systems--this is going to be a long day. However, maybe I'll get to play here when I'm not in meetings since I can't seem to do anything else.

Kim--it will be interesting to see what you come up with as far as the calorie thing goes. It might not be calories at all, maybe your body just needs a little shake up? Now that I made it through this weekend with no major screw ups food wise, I'm ready to drop the protein and up the fat. I'm hoping that my body will respond like it did last time and just start dropping without too much effort--but since it already knows this trick it might be a bit more resistant--who knows?! But, I feel better eating that way so I guess that's what really counts.

[vee716]

Sounds like we are all tinkering with our plans to get the weight loss moving.

Thanks for your thoughts, Teresa. I'm dithering (what a great word, I like it) now. I don't know what I should do. My weight bounced up today, to 165.8. No surprise, after 3 days of eating at maintenance levels. It's the opposite of the water loss at the start of the diet. If I kept up the maintenance eating, I can see it bouncing up another 1 or 2 pounds. A real weight at maintenance carb levels of 167-168 translating to a on the low-carb plan, diet plan weight of 5 lbs less at 162-163, which is where I think I'd be without the water retention I've been dealing with.

It's a fine line, isn't it? When to push, when to pull back, especially for me because I have a history of pushing too far, then rebounding with a period of overeating which has me regaining 10 lbs, fat & water, instead of just 5 lbs of water.

However, I've had these last 4 days of maintenance levels of food and I feel pretty good today. And I have a weekend with some girlfriends next weekend that will involve some food and alcohol, so more maintenance eating. I'm debating doing the work week at lower levels of calories. I might be able to strip off the water and maybe an extra pound of real weight by doing 4 days of 1200 calories of lean proteins and salads.

I'm going to see how today goes. If my hunger levels are low, I'm going to shoot for 1200 calories. If I struggle, I may just go back to plan A and eat maintenance this week.

[Teresa123]

Val--what about an every other day thing? I've never done it before but have wanted to--just haven't got around to it! If you drop way down for 4 days you'll likely get the water off, maybe a bit more, but maybe not in that short of a time. Your body will just be getting used to the lower cals and then bam it goes back up for a few days and likely all that water weight will be back. Depending on how insulin resistant you are, likely some fat as well just from the spikes due to different foods. But--if you eat at maintenance every other day, and lower on the opposite days, maybe you can still get most of the water off and not get the water gains over the weekend? Or, at least not as much of a gain so that overall on Monday you start out with a much better number. OK--no idea if it would work, but it's a thought. Want to be the guinea pig for this theory?!

Actually--a lot of people have at least some success early on when they do JUDDD which is similar but more extreme. It might work kind of like that, maybe....?

[Teresa123]

Hey Liz---don't know if you're out there but I'm not sure how to find you. Anyway, clean out your PM's!!

[vee716]

It's just that the 4 low days right now work because I can do it easily during the work week, and it will be hard to have a low day on the weekend. It's an idea to consider for later though.

I do average calories usually. So when I say I have calories of 1800 for the week, some days will have been 2000 or 2200 and there will have been a day of 1400 or 1600 in there, too, so I'm sort of doing that already, just with no formal upday, downday plan.

[vee716]

I'm not telling you guys anything you don't already know when I say I'm scale-obsessed, right?

I went home for lunch, hopped on the scale, just for fun, and in clothes, I'm .2 lbs less than I was naket this morning. Go figure. I'm actually kind of hoping it means I'm finally releasing some water retention.

[Teresa123]

I'm scale-obsessed

you have definitely earned the title of Scale Ho!!

On the every other day thing---I just meant for during the week this week. I really don't know for sure, but I kind of think you would come out the same if you alternated 1200 and 1800 daily during the week and then maintenance over the weekend. That way you drop some water weight this week but don't gain as much over the weekend when your cals go up because it won't be so drastic to your body. It's just a theory, but if you had a clone we could test it out! I think I just always cringe when I see people eating like 1200 cals, but I'm sure for 4 days it won't cause any damage.

Well, since I wasn't here to make any food this weekend, I have nothing ready to eat. Guess I'll go make an omelet or salad or something easy. This weekend, I will be doing some cooking/baking/prep for sure!

[vee716]

Well, I don't have the stomach (heh, no pun intended) for 1200 anyway it seems. Cals were 1525 today. DH brought home a gyro salad for me for dinner and I couldn't resist.

So, now I'm back to square one. If I keep calories to 1500 for tomorrow, I've met my weekly target even with the extra eating this past weekend. Of course, who knows if that will show on the scale.

[Teresa123]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!!!

Hope you have a great day!

[Teresa123]

Morning!

Val--1500 cals sounds like a much healthier place to be. I'm kind of thinking for the next 10 lbs I'm going to take it 2-3 at a time, then maintain, then 2-3 more. Since I've never learned how to maintain yet, maybe I'll have a better chance of keeping it off that way. It goes against my every instinct to just 'do it' and get it done with, but it's about time I start working on my all or nothing attitude.

Busy day again today but most of it is at my computer instead of in meetings so I'll check in later. Not that we've had a lot of action going on here lately Val, if you decide to leave just let me know so I don't end up talking to myself for very long!

[vee716]

I'm here, and I can keep checking in today.

Kim - have a great day!

Today is the last day of week 8 of being back on dieting - and sticking to it, I might add. I had one weekend that brought calories way off target for week 3, and even factoring in that week, my calories have been low enough to produce (in theory at least) a weight loss of 1.2 lbs per week. That's pretty good and pretty consistent for me. So, today, I'm celebrating my consistency even though that consistency and hard work hasn't been showing on the scale for the past two weeks.

[lcq]

...Happy Birthday Kim

Originally Posted by Teresa123

Lisa--so do you think it's just cream that might be the problem or other forms of dairy as well? When you would eat strawberries and cream, how much cream would you use and or how much in a day? Anyway, if it's just cream that might be the problem I thought I'd tell you that I made cheesecake pudding and used coconut milk instead of cream. Not sure exactly how much I used, half the can so maybe 2/3 a cup. Anyway--it is fantastic! The consistency and taste are a bit more like yocheese but richer.

Yea i think it's just cream........I was able to lose and not bounce on other dairy stuff HOWEVER the eating sweet things after eating a protein makes a big difference and does not affect the scale as when i eat a sweet alone....of course when i eat strawberies and cream it is by itself as a meal..........it is hard for me to eat something sweet after a protein meal....to me it is EITHER/OR KWIM.......except ice-cream or course

Your cheesecake pudding with the coconut milk sounds great will have to give that a try sometime

On another note........the proposal was cool eh.........I could see it again

Val & Kathy

[Teresa123]

Morning ladies

Val--8 weeks of consistency is a long time--good for you!! So what's next? Continuing on or taking a break?

I was reading a couple of challenges last night with people in them very close to goal. I was so glad to see that they are having many of the same struggles as I am---however I also really want to see people who are coming out the other side. I don't want to believe I am going to live the rest of my life continuously trying to lose the last 10 lbs. Don't get me wrong, there are worse things--but I would love to have a period in my life where my weight wasn't the major focus.

Lisa--yeah--sweets (or even a sweet taste) alone is a bad combo for me when it comes to weight. I have no problem though having it after a meal--that's when I like it best and I think that's why I don't overeat them because I'm not really hungry at that point--it's just about enjoyment.

I would totally watch The Proposal again, and it's been a long time since I've said that about any movie. When she was running around with that white puppy offering it up to the eagle and everyone was watching---I was seriously laughing so hard I was crying! Ahhh, I love moving that make me laugh like that--as well as when they have a good ending.

I am about ready to fall asleep at my computer and my contacts are now stuck to my eyeballs. I think I need to go take a walk or something, I am not used to sitting for this long...and my butt is starting to hurt!

[vee716]

I want to see the Proposal. I haven't seen it yet, but I love Sandra Bullock.

I have a wicked sweet tooth, too. Always my downfall. I find I can't just ignore it, so I have to find ways to give in, but in a way that won't sabotage me. I've been eating Jello pudding cups lately, the SF, FF ones.

I'm not sure where to go from here. More of the same, I think. My calorie deficit is fairly small, I'm still eating a fair bit of food, so it's not too difficult to do. The worst part is dealing with the scale lately, not the food. I *really* should get off the scale for a week at a time, just weigh in on Wednesdays. Maybe I'll try this week.

[Teresa123]

Definitely check that movie out--very worth it!

I can't ignore the sweets thing either--it would just drive me into carb land if I did, I know myself too well. So, I just make them a part of my daily plan and no problems.

Oh--and stay off the scale!!! As you know, the amount of obsession goes way down when you're not watching the scales every movement!

[lcq]

Originally Posted by vee716

The worst part is dealing with the scale lately, not the food. I *really* should get off the scale for a week at a time, just weigh in on Wednesdays. Maybe I'll try this week.

Val - if you stay off the scale for a week.... I will do induction for 2 weeks

[lcq]

Teresa - I can't remember which parts I liked the most but i know i laughed a lot too....me Sandra Bullock

[lcq]

Those Last 10lbs!!! - July

[Teresa123]

I love Sandra Bullock too. Miss Congeniality is one of my all time favorites!

I went to a friend's swearing in (to be a US citizen) ceremony this afternoon. It was really an interesting experience and I feel so honored that she asked me to go. It definitely was a good reminder of all I take for granted. It's amazing how hard people have to work and how much they have to sacrifice to have what others have simply because of where they were born....just kinda made me think.

[Teresa123]

Lisa--I think that was one of the threads I was reading the other night that kind of made me feel better....in a weird way. I think it really reinforced for me that the last pounds are hard not so much because the body is stubborn--but because of the emotional/mental stuff including how we can slip into not so great habits cause...well I guess because the 'desperation' isn't so great, just more cosmetic at this point. Some days I feel like if I didn't have half a closet of clothes that are a bit too snug, I wouldn't bother. But then I remember that I overall just felt better 10 lbs down....so I keep plugging along.

[lcq]

Originally Posted by Teresa123

I went to a friend's swearing in (to be a US citizen) ceremony this afternoon. It was really an interesting experience and I feel so honored that she asked me to go. It definitely was a good reminder of all I take for granted. It's amazing how hard people have to work and how much they have to sacrifice to have what others have simply because of where they were born....just kinda made me think.

You ever saw the movie Greencard I did not realise all people would endure just to be an American until I saw that show