Hi, everyone!

Jane, congratulations on your progress!
Tammy, hope you are doing well! It's nice to read your post.
Trish, hope you had a nice time going out to eat.
Maryea, I'm glad your husband is doing so much better. I know it's hard when the menfolk are sleeker than we are. I signed up for a challenge when I found 3fc and when I reached my goal for the challenge, I slacked off. Today is the first day in a couple of weeks that I really feel back in weight-losing mode. I just have to accept that I can not eat so that I feel sated as often as I would like. I know it's emotional/mental and not actual missing nourishment. I'm super careful about only eating really nutrient-dense food. Just a question of quantity. Little by little, I'm changing those habits.

Doing chores instead of eating, drawing the line at eating after dinner. Not snacking. Doing my exercises every day. I'm glad to be making progress, even if it isn't splashy.

Hope you all are doing well. Am sending you lots of good thoughts.

Hi ladies,

Doris - I missed your birthday! Hope it was a good one!!

Tammy - it's so good to hear from you! I bet your stores have been so busy!

Trish - I'm so glad that Tony is feeling better. Eating out can sure be a challenge. I used to only order grilled chicken and green beans, but I'm doing a lot better with portion control now, and feel safe ordering other foods. Neal is always happy to snarf down my excess, lol.

Mary - do you think the gain came because you hadn't planned on maintenance quiet yet? When I lost, my sister told me my face was getting too wrinkly, and that I should stop losing. So I immedietely went into maintenance, but w/o a plan, I couldn't control it. I began to eat as I had before the "diet", and we all know that isn't effective! Didn't take long for me to gain it all back. I'm losing slowly this time too, and maintenance will be different for both of us!

Em - you are so right that the need to eat more is a mental thing! Like you, I've cut out almost all foods that are packaged and processed. "Junk" food makes me feel so lethargic, and so I try to stay away from it. It's still easy to overeat healthy foods, though, so there is still that challenge. One thing we all have in common here is losing slowly. That might be what we've needed all along.

Hello to anyone else reading this.

The grands are still here, but will be going home this afternoon. In the meantime, we're going to be doing some crafts. It's just too hot to go outside!

Have a good, OP day.

Hi Everyone

We didn't go out to eat yesterday, but when I got home dinner was running late and I made a quick meal... Tony's favorite which was not SBD and ate it with him. I figured that I really blew it when my 2 hr after bs was 222 mg/dl, but I was right back OP at my next meal. I think I'm seeing a pattern that I do better with 3 rather small meals and a snack at bedtime (bedtime snack is a diabetic thing to ward off what is called the "dawn effect"), but of course only time will tell on that one. I was surprised this morning when my FBS was 110 mg/dl. So strange to me. I found and ordered a book from Amazon.com called The Diabetic Bible which is supposed to explain everything about diabetes... how foods affect the body, how different meds work on it etc. I should have it within 2 to 6 days. I hope it will help me to understand these strange things that happen.

Mary I understand how you feel. Tony is 5'6" tall and even with his weight gain I still weigh more than he does. Hopefully I can get things working right in my body and get this weight down to where I will finally weigh less than him. It is one of my goals in life. His normal weight is 145 and probably needs to lose 10 - 15 lbs. I would love to weigh less than his normal weight at least.

Jane I know you and the kiddos are having a blast of fun.

Better get off here. Hope Everybody has a great day!

Jane - I think you are right about my having no maintenance plan in place when I lost weight before. I didn't even THINK about it really...the Prism program leaders did tell us that we should only add back about 200 calories when we reached our goal, but I guess even that really didn't register cause I just pretty much went back to eating like I did before...a little less...and I did retain a lot of the healthier food choices that they taught us but I still started back eating way too much so no wonder I gained. You're right, this time I have to keep an eating plan in mind for maintenance this time around...gosh, this really is a rest-of-my-life kind thing...gotta remember that! I certainly do not want to have to go through this again!

Jane and Em - Speaking of hunger often being "mental" I think dieting is largely mental too! My biggest problem has been getting my mind around the changes I need to make. I am slowly doing it but it's been very slow! I guess depends on the person but I'm the kind of person that has to analize things and figure out what and why I have to do, know the steps I have to take etc. Such a thinker!! But it's a process I have to do with most things in life...and then after I do this, in time usually the light comes on and I suddenly understand and can do it. Well it's not always so sudden and sometimes it takes me a few times but it happens. That's the kind of the process I've been working through the past 10 years I guess..learning, applying, messing up and doing it over and over again...but I do think I'm getting there. I've had more progress recently so think it's beginning to kick in..

Patty - sounds like you're getting the hang of this diabetes thing! for many of us the am bs is the hardest to control. Glycogen kicks in to wake a person up in the morning (a simple way it's been explained to me) and sometimes it's a little out of whack in diabetics and kicks in too much. My dh and I can eat right and control our bs all day but often are a little high in the am regardless. Not terribly but like 130-160+. Our doctor said that it that is the ONLY one that's high not to worry about it. We take Metformin which I have heard is good for this problem but we still have it happen most days. My dh does better than I do but even he has this problem. I don't want to spike really high anytime of course, but mostly I look at my overall bs and just try to keep them as stable as possible. I don't focus much on the kinds of food I eat, but I count my carb servings (15gm=1 carb serving) and in my case I try not to go over 3 carb servings in a meal and 1 for a snack. I try to eat a lot of low-glycemic vegetables (esp green) and a little protein each time I eat. If I'm eating something that is higher carb, I make sure I also get protein with it for sure. Protein slows down the rise of bs. The bs will also rise slower after eating whole grains versus the regular enriched white stuff. Just some tips I have learned. Have you taken a diabetes class? I found them very helpful.

Maryea, the way you describe thinking through things makes perfect sense to me. And the ten years of learning about weight loss are very familiar.

There are several diabetics in my family and in reading so much about blood sugar, insulin, and such things on the forums I started reading more about it. After I switched to low carb, I found out that that is one of the best ways to prevent diabetes or manage one's health if diabetes does come about. I really appreciate you all posting about what you do. It helps to know more about what you all have to face and what works and doesn't.

I think I've finally got myself back into weight-losing mode after adjusting to eating a bit differently. I'm definitely not one who can live on an eat-whenever-you're-hungry plan. I do better if I have set meals, and definite lines drawn for when I don't eat. Otherwise, I get into the state of thought that I can eat as much as I "feel like", any time. Maryea, I think you're right about all of it being mental.

I like it that I can trust my food plan and know that my job is to work on the mental part.

Am very much wondering how great a difference menopause has in losing weight and maintaining at the goal weight. I'll be finding out. It is very different living with my body now than it was before I gained weight.

Hope you all are doing well.

Em - I agree that it is important to have a plan...for most people at least. I too have tried the eating only when hungry idea...but I always feel hungry or at least imagine that I do! At least these days I can sense whether it real hunger but I still want to eat. With a plan in my mind (and on paper) I know what to eat and whether it is time to eat. That planning is what keeps me on track. It's when I get away from my plan that I get into trouble. I still struggle with that some days but doing better. I sometimes compare it with budgeting.....I remember when we used to charge stuff if we couldn't afford it. Did that for many years. Couldn't understand how to get out of debt..duh! Finally figured it out...if it's not in the budget, we don't buy it! Now I'm trying to apply that same logic to eating. If it's not on my food plan, don't eat it!

Maryea and Em Great posts. I agree 100%. Great way to look at our woe. Thanks for sharing.

Good Morning, all!

Maryea, I think of it similar to budgeting as well. And I can tell my calorie budget needs to be smaller. I gave myself a "don't buy anything new for a year plan". (Food, house/car repairs, replacing necessary clothing, medical things, professional requirements, etc. notwithstanding.) It was a great plan. I think I'll do it again. I mostly buy my clothes at church thrift stores. Books come from the library, with very rare exceptions now. Letting go of the vanity/self-indulgence shopping has been very similar to letting go of the self-indulgent/unhealthy eating. Being able to rely on myself not to spend frivolously or carelessly is very related to being able to rely on myself not to eat out of emotional reaction to something, or habit, or some unhealthy impulse. I'm getting there. I keep finding areas that need more honesty.

Hi, Trish! Hope you're doing well!


Hope you all have a lovely start this morning.

Em, loved what you said about honesty! That's so true isn't it?!! We only begin to grow when we really face the facts of where we are, how we got here and what we need to change to get where we want to me...and we have to be really honest about these things and begin to apply them to our lives. Guess that's what I have slowly been doing through the last several years. Why it has taken me so long, I have no clue but probably just due to my thick-headedness! LOL I guess I have to see the Truth from so many different directions before I can say...yeah, that's the truth and if I apply it, it will work! THEN, I have to get to the point where I am actually willing to apply it! That means, the pain of where I am has to become greater than the pain of doing whatever it takes to change.

ETA: Em - was noticing your weight and we are similar though you are well ahead of me on the weight loss......at my highest weight I was 187 (quite a bit before I joined this forum), I got scared about then and got it down to around 176, lost down to 145 then regained 2/3 of it in 10 mo, and then for several years have stayed around 160-168 depending on how serious I was at the time. Right now I'm more determined than ever! I think my goal is around 130-140 but not quite sure. I know 145 is not enough!

Maryea, I think you put it very well. It works away inside of us, and then the realization, the readiness appears, and we just do it. I knew when I started a few months ago, that I was going to get slim and stay that way, no matter what. I was finally ready. Being thoroughly serious about it, even if I have off days, has given me a clarity and helped with being much more honest about other areas in life, too.

I like how you phrased having the pain of where I am being greater than the pain of doing what it takes to change. Now that I am seeing some real improvement in the eating and exercising, I find that same focus appearing in other parts of my thinking and doing that need to be included in the same mindful, healthy plan. I didn't put that very well. It's as though the healing that allowed the readiness to eat cleanly and to exercise, is shining into more parts of me.

Am up too late again. I wish you all very peaceful rest.

I am finding this discussion fascinating, Em and Maryea. You both are very insightful.

What came to mind as I was reading both your comments is that dieting is an excellent form of self discipline -- and when I discipline myself to count my calories and be careful of what I eat, it has a ripple effect of sorts, and helps me a lot inside my head -- I struggle with depression and other mental health type issues that I won't go into here, but let's just say that the noise in the head gets a lot quieter when I am applying the self discipline of dieting. When I go thru seasons of self-indulgence and let myself shove anything that looks good into my mouth, my thoughts start to race....

Maybe that was TMI, I dunno -- but that's what I thought of when I read your discussion.....

Wo! I have been gone a long time it seems. After my vacation with the girls in July, it was weddings, fair and farming. finally I think things are settling down, I hope! I have not been doing well with my eating, but am planning on setting some goals and a plan. Other than that things are well, just too busy. Glad to see a few new 'faces' here. I will try to catch up some and post more often. Pam

Thanks for the birthday wishes, my birthday was during fair week, which our grand daughter showed a steer at, so we were busy with that and I didn't get on the computer, now I am playing catchup! thanks again. Pam

Hi all,

Pam - great to see you back! You've been missed. I think we'll have more steady posting as summer winds down and we aren't all so busy.

Karen - you are so right, doing good things for our bodies can affect the way we feel about ourselves. I am a much happier person when I'm OP. Please post often with us!

Em - I like how you make the comparison of saving money to saving calories!

Trish - yes, the girls and I had a lot of fun! I'll have kids all weekend, then there will be long stretches w/o them, since school is starting. I have a project list for those days.

Mary - seems like most of us here are very determined to finally get to our goals this time! Good for you - eating whole grains! Dr. Oz said white bread is like a candy bar for your body - turns to sugar so fast! No wonder foods like that play havoc with our bodies. I just don't eat them anymore.

Coralee - where have you been? Hope all is well.

Hello to anyone else reading this.

Busy, busy today! Swept the floors, did some paperwork, made a double batch of ham salad for my nephew who called and requested it. Broke my grinder, though. Three of Mary's kiddos have eye doc appt. today, so I'm going to meet her there after lunch and help out. She'll have all 5 with her. (blended family)

I've got supper in the crock pot, and hope to have a little time to get in the pool later today.

Have a good one!