That's almost 2 of Natalie!

I finally got the dog - Trixie - in to the vet for a weight. She is back down to a svelte 68 lbs. and bikini ready!

Dagmar :

I just read this article, and I wanted to share it with you. Please feel free to discuss.

Click here.

Jay, I read the article as well. I like some of it - working on the poisonous relationship with food, etc. On the intuitive eating though, I fail at that miserably. I wish it could work for me, I really do. I've tried it many times, and I just can't keep on track. My cues are out of whack, so intuition goes out the window.

Although I belong to the Chonky cat group, none of my cats fall into that category. I make sure none of my animals get overweight.

That is an interesting article. I've tried so many diets and always fall back into just eating smaller portions--which I think is just fine. We were in Napa this past weekend, and that was a challenge as you never know what portion sizes are in restaurants. And it's not like we could take some home for later because we were in a hotel. And I don't like wasting food. So I probably ate more than I should have. We're home again and this week's menu looks like two nights of salad, two nights of a small panini sandwich with carrots and celery on the side and one night of an egg dish with salad on the side. All portions relatively small. Lunches are those pre-made salads or an entree (all under 300 calories). Workouts resume this afternoon.

We almost cancelled our upcoming cruise because of the fact we will no longer get to visit Cuba. But it turns out it's too late to cancel and get 100% refund. So we'll be on board the ship for 21 days--9 of which will be sailing. I told DH that those days we'll be spending extra time in the gym.

I think it's good to keep in mind that "intuitive" doesn't mean "constantly indulgent." But it does take a while to get into the mindset. Accepting one's body as it is can be really hard after years and years of disapproving of it.

I found it a lot easier when I gave up worrying about what my body looked like and started appreciating how well it functioned and how strong it was. Age had a lot to do with it. So does hanging out with other dogwalkers. I don't know why but we don't comment on our bodies or weight much when we get together. And we eat the cheeseburgers, rather than the salad.

For me simple is better. If I don't have to make a lot of choices about food it's easier to maintain a healthy weight. So I eat the same things every day except for dinner. And the occasional splurge.

I think everyone has to find out what works for them and trial and error is still mostly the way to go for a lot of us.

Dagmar :

So true!

I don't see intuitive as constantly indulgent, I just tend to miss the full cues and go straight from hungry to uncomfortable.

yeah, I reckon you have to be very confident in yourself to do IE well. There's too many decision points in the day. At any time you can ask yourself 'am I hungry?' which leads to a lot of times when you could fool yourself in to a 'yes'! Personally I sort of do a combo, when I ask myself if i'm hungry, and if I am then i'll eat a meal (no snacks), but once I've had my 3 meals for the day then i'm done - even if the last one is only at 3pm (which is quite often the case!). So at least I only have that decision 3x. I"m not bad at eating moderate portions and good food - the downfall is my slackness at weekends when it's all out the window and I reach for a few wines and junky stuff.

I avoided all the alcohol at the dog sit last night. Now their liquor cabinet is full so the overflow is on the dining table. I temporarily relocated it to the pantry. Fridge full of beer, wine bottles on the counter -

Dagmar

To clarify, we got our cat when she was roughly 9 years old and 18 lbs. She's been on ultra-expensive diet cat food since, but getting weight off a spayed indoor-only older cat is no picnic.

Our cat Oscar was a big cat always, and I mean big in more than the sense of fat. He weighed 20 pounds as an older adult cat. We didn't try to make him lose weight--we just fed him in a healthy way. We didn't overdo the treats and only fed him twice a day. He developed mouth cancer and couldn't eat well--was on baby food toward the end--and he weighed 12 pounds when we had him euthanized. His being "overweight" had nothing to do with his death.

So, Pepper was almost 18 pounds when healthy, and only 10 when we euthanized him b/c of non-responding inflammatory bowel disease. Our other senior cat, Stormy, was chubby at 15 pounds until we switched him to the prescription kidney function food, which he doesn't like very well. He's down to a healthy 12.5 pounds and seems to be fine, although he tries hard to steal tastier food. Two others are young and a bit chunky at almost 17 pounds, and three are normal weight. They are all so different!

Has anyone tried forskolin or coleus forskohlii for appetite control/weight loss?

No. I did look it up. I tend to not be such a fan of herbal supplements as they are not regulated and dosage can be tricky. I do find the whole ayurvedic medicinal system interesting since it uses a lot of the spices used in Indian food.

I did try something herbal for weight loss from China years ago - a type of tea - and it gave me diarrhea. I did lose weight - dehydration from the diarrhea - and put it right back on when I stopped drinking the tea.

Dagmar :

I'm taking DH to a BBQ luncheon today at our local grocery store. It's part of their chef series and should be good . I'm going to make us soup and sandwiches for dinner to pull back the calories a bit - lunch will probably include wine (for DH) and dessert (for both of us). I imagine we'll be taking a long nap in the afternoon to sleep off the big lunch.

Dagmar

None of my cats are chonky. Waffles is about 7 pounds, Silas around 11 and Louie is maybe 14--he's a big cat but in no way fat. He has borderline thyroid issues and just doesn't gain weight. And my plateau that has been nagging me for months seems to have abated. I'm down 2 pounds this week. IF seems to work well combined with small meals. I'll keep at it this week in hopes of more loss.

We almost cancelled our upcoming cruise (September) because our orange dictator decided Cuba is off the travel map. That was a bucket list item and now we can't go (they substituted Key West and we've been there). But it would have meant forfeiting half of what we've paid, so we're still going. Out of 21 days on board, 9 are completely at sea. I told DH that those days will be intensive gym days.