I'm at maintenance now and chose to indulge a bit for the holidays. After the water weight was gone and my normal habits resumed my weight gain was about 2 pounds.... Not horrible but my weight loss progress is only about a half a pound a month. It will take about 3-4 months of moderate restriction to get back to my comfort zone.

On the one hand I want to moderately enjoy the holiday foods that are available, but wonder if its worth it....I suppose this is maintenance, but I don't like being on this end of the 3 pound yoyo string.

Feeling anxious.... Those same feelings I had years ago when I was 90 pounds heavier and could not lose quick enough. Do you all have moments like this?

PMS maybe.....

Love all of your stories .....I like my scale. I think it weighs to the .20 of a pound.....in even increments. 138.2 , 138.4.....I don't ever see a .3......but maybe it is by .10......


Mudpie, have you seen the film Restoration? Robert Downey Jr. Is always brilliant and the story revolves in part around Royal dogs. :-) Its on Netflix.

Oh! I am soooo tired. Sometimes when I don't have enough sleep, I don't feel it. Today I'm really feeling it.

In the box were:
butternut squash
onions
fuji apples
parsnips
brussels sprouts
navel oranges
roma tomatoes
rainbow chard
romaine lettuce
kiwi
italian parsley

I have to confess that I've never cooked with (and therefore no little about doing so) butternut squash, parsnips, chard.....

I'm also not really an apple, orange or kiwi fan so I'm going to have to branch out a bit.

I am fairly new to butternut squash, too! I cut it into 1" chunks, toss with olive oil, sea salt, and cinnamon and put in a Pam sprayed glass casserole dish and cook at 425 until the chunks are soft (about 40 minutes) - HEAVEN.

Butternut squash risotto is wonderful but probably rather carlorie-laden. If you go to foodgawker.com you can search for recipes using it--you'll find tons!

If you like butternut, you'll LOVE Delicata squash. Only available for a short time, it seems, unless you grow your own.

My DH hates squash, parsnips, turnips, beets, etc. I have managed to sneak the squash into some recipes - lots of spices and some kind of creamy sauce type thing cloak it well. I like butternut squash in raw chunks! Lots of great recipes online for all sorts of stuff. I like to experiment too so, given a box of produce, I'd probably produce some steamed things, slow cooker vegetarian things, etc.

I also like to make fruit/veggie combo salads. Some are delish, some not so much. Some fruit goes really well with roasted meats and poultry too.

FYI roast beef and pears is not so good.

Dagmar

Dagmar - you eat raw butternut squash?? What does it taste like? I suppose we eat zucchini squash raw in salads, so it is sort of the same idea-

Kind of sweet and very crunchy - best eaten in small chunks.

Dagmar

Do you have a strong blender, Michele? I've been making a lot of smoothies since I got my Vitamix and apples and oranges work really well in them.

Butternut squash is nice in soup. I add any leftover to whatever soup I'm making. (I roast the whole lot - cubed - in the oven and use it as I want. Could probably freeze too.)

Mmm, chard. Swiss chard, ruby chard - all good as a leafy green. (We eat greens *every* day.)

Roast parsnips are lovely. Curried parsnip soup is excellent (invented in the 70s and now a classic).

No butter or peanut butter on Tuesday. Streak is 14.

This is going well. Not having these two things in my life is cutting down on the amount I eat in the mid-afternoon. I'm tending to have a virtuous apple and some cottage cheese, just like I used to do in the good old days.

I'm also going to the gymn fairly regularly. I'm still working on ironing out niggles in my L foot, ankle, knee but it's nothing appalling. (Fingers crossed, you understand.) I may stop rowing until it calms down. Realistically, rowing cannot be helping matters.

Sleep isn't fantastic but I'm in bed on time and turning out the light at the right time.

I'm wondering where/whether to make my next intervention. I could make a pronouncement about nuts but I think that would be premature. I don't want to change too much all at once - then I'd have too many balls in the air, so to speak. On balance, I think I'll purr along until the streak is a month or so and see how much actual weight I've lost and how I feel.

So I'm halfway there, more or less!

(My tummy looked quite shocking in the changing room mirror this morning but I told myself that I had things in hand.)

Two days POP and my weight went up? I won't dwell on it. Yesterday I came in well under my allotted calories due to a vegetarian dinner (baked spaghetti squash, homemade marinara and a big salad).

I haven't been eating as many nuts as usual. There were times when I'd eat a dozen pistachios every night. In the past two weeks all I've had is about a dozen almonds during a round of golf to stave off hunger.

Once I get into the swing of this I'll be adding exercise. Not sure what just yet. I'd like to do yoga but my head says cardio.

ds - the holidays got me too! My yo-yoing on a short string got a little longer than I wanted it to. Doesn't make me anxious so much as it annoys me about my loss of discipline. It seems to me that the folks like you who came down from big weights feel a little more angst when the scale fluctuates up - it's important to remember that an average is 50% up and 50% down!

michele, that box sounds like all sorts of fun and deliciousness. We like to eat our chard de-ribbed, lightly steamed, and with a spritz of balsamic vinegar. Sometimes we dice up the ribs and steam them too, and sometimes the bunnies get them.

silver - you have a terrific attitude about your streak and the reflection. "In hand" - I like that much!

allison - sure, why not up? Your dinner sounds

Going to the pool tonight. My back feels 100% after a good night's sleep, careful stretching, anti-inflammatories and ice. I will pay close attention to how it feels tonight and I will commit to getting out when I can't maintain my technique.

Food was good yesterday, scale moving down (glacially) as is typical. It's back to the trudge, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Love Butternut squash soup !

Not a good week for me. Depressed and angry at the bathroom mess, and sad at losing another 2 dogs. Plus walking on ice all week and having an extra walk at dinner has taken all the energy out of me . I found it hard to get out of the car last night to come inside my house - just wanted to curl up there and sleep.

Beer and candy are not the answer. I've done that the last 2 nights and can see unfavourable results on my body. I can only sulk so long.

Tonite I will eat fruit and drink mint tea.

Dagmar