munchey Our puppy is still very mouthy at 7 months but was easily trained using the "Ouch" method. Anytime your puppy's teeth contact you cry "OW" responding as if you have been badly hurt. The training video says "NO" is too confusing for a puppy, but "OW" teaches the puppy that all humans have whimpy skin, which we do. Hope this helps My best trick for sleep is Kava milk just before bed. I buy Kava powder on line, mix 1 teaspoon into 1/2 cup of any kind of warmed milk(soy, cow, almond,etc). Wait 5 mins. then strain drink. Drink the warm tea fairly quickly as it will numb the mouth. I fall asleep right away and stay asleep longer the nights I drink Kava. For inflammation and cancer prevention I take two Curcumax Pro daily. It is highly recommended, though I occasionally have to take a acetaminophen when I over do my activity. I use to take CBD pills and they helped me sleep and reduced my pain, but created an unbearable morning thirst, so I quit taking them. So far I have had no side effects from either Kava or Curcumax Pro. Good luck with whatever you try.

Week 5 Chart everyone!

https://i.postimg.cc/wxDnyvM2/week_5.jpg

Hey everyone.

Sorry I've been MIA recently, last week I suffered a panic attack due to PTSD that I didn't even know I had. Having said that, it's all self-diagnosed, but the couple of people I have talked to have said it sounds like PTSD. What happened was I experienced something as a young teenager and didn't really process it at the time, but last week I started watching a YouTube video and was suddenly taken back to that moment. It was like I was reacting to the situation 10+ years later, all my emotions came pouring out. It took me a few days to get back on track mentally, but I did have a wonderful weekend laughing with friends and having a good time. Now I'm just trying to re-calibrate my mind a bit, because I have felt a bit out of sorts lately. I feel like there are a bunch of balloons floating around me and I need to tie them all together into one bunch, but when I try to do that they escape my grasp and float away from reach. Each balloon represents something, like work, housework, friends, family, fitness, health etc. I want to see a doctor about this, but my health insurance is terrible and not accepted anywhere reputable. I could take a chance at the one clinic that accepts it, but I'm scared that I'll just be put on meds that will mess me up with intense side effects. I'm at a bit of a loss here.

Sorry to get deep on y'all! I just wanted to explain my silence. I'm determined to finish this challenge, because I have that 5K to look forward to. The weather is not helping me at the moment, I want it to be cold so desperately! I'm so exhausted of the heat, I want to feel the security of wearing warm clothing again. I would not do well on the West Coast! I think I've learned my lesson that I just cannot motivate myself to be a summer runner - I get so uncomfortable running in the heat. Man, I need to stop complaining :lol: But it is helping me to let all this out so I hope you'll indulge me.

I'm going to skip personals today, but I have been reading your posts and feel so proud of all of y'all for weighing in and kicking ***! Even if you're not losing as you'd hoped, you are still here, you are still accountable and that's an incredible thing. Don't give up!

Riestrella: So sorry to hear about your experience; I'm sure it was scary to be forced to deal with an issue you didn't know you had. Best of luck to you get back on track and I hope you're able to find someone to help you sort it all out. :hug:

I've been quiet lately between classes and going out of town this past weekend to visit a friend whom I haven't seen in quite some time. We ate out all weekend and toured some wineries, but through it all I was able to keep keto. It's funny that our schedule kind of naturally fell into an 18:6 IF pattern, which I think contributed tremendously to the generous whoosh that broke my September Stall. I can't believe the first week of October is already behind us! Time sure flies, doesn't it?!

Riestrella, no apology necessary - so much of this weight stuff is affected by various mental states, not just "eat less." So you're right to try to address that rather than suppress it (again). Sorry about the health care difficulties, if you do decide to check out the one place you mentioned, remember that your care is YOURS and if you don't want to go with meds, you have every right to say no to that. Doctors are there to help us, not force us into treatments we don't want. Outside of that, I'd like to suggest you try daily meditation if you don't already. It can help you center yourself and hopefully rearrange your thoughts into a cohesive pattern that makes more sense to you. There are a lot of great tutorials available online about that, or pm me if you want, I can share one process that I find very calming.

munchey, I feel your pain! The back of my right hand is scarred from Brodie's early days - he opened up wounds regularly with teeth and dewclaws until he learned how to be gentle. He too learned what 'OUCH' means, but my previous puppy was so hard headed, that kind of lessoning didn't work at all! I would even put her own foot in that snapping mouth and she didn't care. It took many months before Luka stopped with the playful bites, but she never, ever, stopped being a chewer: every pillow, cushion, and blanket had holes from her, and countless socks and shoes went into the trash because she got to them.

I hope the CBD helps with your arthritis pain and the insomnia as well. I have fibro and one chronic never-ending migraine that standard meds don't do a whole lot for, and recently started experimenting with CBD. So far I haven't quite found the relief I'm looking for, but it seems that a little THC in addition to the CBD makes a difference; the trick is finding the right amounts so that I am still functional! One surprising effect is that the stuff in moderation helps me control my appetite - most days I have to work at trying to eat enough calories.

Yay to all of us for plugging away at this challenge! Hope everyone is enjoying a lovely October. Fall is my favorite time of year.

I have made it to the gym a couple times since the other day :cp: 299.2 today, not much loss but it's something. I ordered my scale that I wanted and just got it yesterday. About 115 pounds of me is muscle :D Unfortunately, it weighs me at 2 pounds more and its supposed to be accurate to 0.2 pounds. I'm going to use my old scale until the end of the challenge since thats what I started with

Rie my local health department has a psychologist, maybe check with yours? A Dr is probably going to do what you don't want, meds, but they may refer you to a psychiatrist instead. I wish you the best! I self diagnosed my mom with PTSD so I know it's not easy but you can and will get through it :goodvibes

somedaysunny ~ Yay to the 200's! That is awesome!

Riestrella ~ So sorry to hear of your dilemma. I can't imagine the trauma that it is causing you. I pray you find an acceptable solution. I hear you about the cozy protection of warm clothes, both psychologically and physically. It is a secure protection that is so often needed in upsetting times. You need your "blankie" to just plain feel better.

Congrats to everyone as we hang in here trying our best!

Rie - I'm so sorry you're going through this. :hug: Maybe the clinic would be able to rec a psychologist who offers counseling and accepts your insurance? I hope finding someone works out soon for you. Health care in the US is such a mess.

Does your apt complex have a treadmill you could use for your training? Running in the heat--I wouldn't be able to do that, that's for sure!

somedaysunny - Congrats on the two's! :cp:

Cattails - I saw on the spreadsheet that you've been dropping steadily each week. Congrats! :cp: Do you have any tips? Are you a calorie counter or using a different method? I ask because we're at similar weights, and I'd love to learn your ways for steady drops. :D

Cattails: I’m assuming that’s your kitty in your profile picture? (S)He’s so cute!

Somedaysunny: Way to go on getting to the gym!:bravo: That’s something I’m really struggling with at the moment. Also congrats on the new scale (is it weird that scale shopping- any shopping really- makes me really happy? :lol:) Great work getting into the 200’s! :cheer:

Chunkahlunkah & MorningGlory1950: :wave:

So I was very excited to see a 218.2 on the scale this morning. We'll see if that sticks. Last time I thought I'd broken the plateau, it turned out I'd just widened it a little. But it has been 6 weeks now, so I'm really hoping that my body has finally adjusted and is ready to move down again. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Huge congrats to MorningGlory and somedaysunny. You two especially are rocking it. But also congrats to everyone who is sticking with it. That is a big win too.

I've been weighing in at 125 the past few days, yay. So far, so good.

Chunkah, I do calorie count as well as follow the principles of South Beach. Thus I rarely eat bread or pasta but eat lots of veggies and some beans and meat. My main issue is with sugar - if I can limit my sugar consumption, then my hunger is much easier to manage. Recording my food on sparkpeople helps me to see what macros I'm high and low on during the day so I can plan out what to eat in the evening. I also try to be mindful about what I'm eating and why. Hope that helps!

Lacerta, gratz on seeing the scale move! Those plateaus are so frustrating.

Thanks, RunningRedHead, that is my lovey, Myshka (Russian for 'little mouse'). She is the sweetest little girl and her name really fits!

Rie: So sorry to hear about your scary experience. It is understandable that you have been feeling out of sorts. I hope you're starting to feel a bit better.

I had a fairly good week and I'm half way through my 12-week weight training program. I'm down .8 this week which I am pleased about.

I hope everyone has a great week:)

So this turned out to be my best week ever, if you look purely at the end number. Interestingly, two of my best weeks bookend my plateau. So if you look at the last 7 weeks, I've lost 7.6 pounds, or more than a pound a week, even though I was totally stuck for 5 of those weeks. Interesting (to me at least). Still not sure if I've broken the plateau, but at least I hung on to the 218s today.

I'm clearly not going to make the goal I set for this challenge, but I was glad to get the scale moving again this week. Hopefully the trend continues.

Thanks cattails.

Hi Rie :wave: I just logged in after a long hiatus on the site and couldn't resist joining this challenge despite it being so late. Your challenges have always been the best and I know this will help keep me on track the next two weeks ;)

Thanks for the congrats everyone! Everyone is doing great too!

I didn't go to the gym as much as ide have liked last week, I have a final today so I have been studying for that like crazy