I love this. In the past it seemed once the weekend was here, it was eat anything and everything without moderation. I fell into a trap of not only eating the same thing, but the almost the same portion size as my 6'4" fiancé - pizza, burritos, beer, ice cream. Any progress I had made diet wise during the week, I would sabotage on weekends. I need to remember that everyday is a "fresh" day and a new beginning....not just "the diet starts Monday".

Good morning ladies! I'm feeling a little sore today, I've been doing water aerobics and yoga with the ok of my coach and I think the 4lb weight in water aerobics was too much lol. But it's a feel good kind of sore.

I too will be spring cleaning, of course in Wyoming I could get rained on, snowed on, and blown away in the process all in a matter of 20 minutes. But this morning looks calm and beautiful and I need to de-clutter. But this morning I'm off to do some homework. Gotta keep trucking on my school work.

Seems we're all getting in some spring cleaning this weekend. I have 4 big trash bags filled with old clothes and home items to donate. Currently working on cleaning (and puppy-proofing!) the downstairs and we're painting the sitting room area. Feels so good to get rid of old things!

It does feel good to get rid of things. My house is pretty small, too small for my family but we make it work, its easy to clutter up though!

My boyfriend has this idea that a diet is worthless if it doesn't have a cheat day. He thinks that if he behaves all week then on Saturdays he can eat and drink whatever he wants and with no moderation. I can't seem to explain to him that it doesn't work like that. I mean if you have to have a cheat day have one monthly or less, and then use some moderation, but a weeks worth of dieting is pointless if on the weekend you eat and drink yourself into oblivion.

So, every time a study is reported in the news telling us something is bad for us, I do more reading.

This week you probably saw the news reporting a study that said too much animal protein causes cancer.

I just read a review of the study.
It was a poorly designed study (imagine that!). Studies usually are poorly designed when there is an "agenda" the funding source is trying to prove or disprove.

The most glaring item was that there were 3 study groups (consuming different amounts of animal protein) and they were not equal size.
One had ~1,000 participants
One had ~4500 participants
and the 3rd had ~450 participants.

In a quality study, these groups should be equal more-or-less.

Interesting, one of the researchers is reportedly the founder of a company that produces an all plant-based meal replacement. This is hardly a non-biased researcher.

A quote from the article I read:
"The usual errors There are two facts that every study fails to clarify:
1) Association does not mean causation (just because we observe singing in the bath, it does not mean that being in the bath causes singing any more than singing causes being in the bath); and
2) Relative risk is a poor measure when absolute risk can be reported instead. (You can double your chance of winning the lottery by buying 2 tickets. Your relative chance is twice as high as it was before. Your absolute chance was 1 in 14 million and is now 1 in 7 million. You’re still not going to win the lottery!)
This study has absolute risk numbers and should share them. There could be 4 deaths in 1,000 people from cancer in the high protein group and 1 death from cancer in the low protein group. This meets the headline “four times as likely to die of cancer”, but it’s hugely different to having a 1 in 1,000 chance of dying vs. a 1 in 250 chance of dying – neither of which is going to lose you any sleep at night. I’ve emailed Dr Longo to ask for the raw data on death rates to see what the absolute risk is. (And remember – this is still only in the 50-65 age group and will be the other way round in the over 65s)."


Long story to remind you,

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ
and
JUST BECAUSE THEY DID A STUDY DOESN'T MEAN THEY PROVED ANYTHING


Happy Saturday!

He's gonna do what he's gonna do.
You do the thing you know is right (no cheating).

I learned a long time ago I can do a lot of wheel spinning trying to change other people but it is hard enough to change myself!

And guys have a whole different metabolism. If it works for him, whatever. It surely isn't establishing good habits that will be maintainable. Most of our maintainers report that even a "fun" day in maintenance needs to be moderated. But again, you stick to what you know is right and moderate yourownself.

I hadn't heard about that "study" but I'm glad you posted that! I used to work in research and it grinds my gears to no end to see bad research with an obvious agenda floating out there.

We especially see this in weight loss related topics, because people are so desperate to find something that "works." Look for discrepancies in sample sizes (especially small sample sizes, remember that generalizations cannot be made with very small groups, and inconsistencies between groups like you pointed out) and the OBVIOUS agendas. Look for peer reviewed studies in reputable sources.


Also if you're interested in misconstrued statistics: damned lies and statistics is a great book to learn more about the misuse of numbers!

Moving is a lot of work.... think of all the calories you will be burning!

Yeah, I'm not on bored with his plan, and it's not working for him, but there's no arguing with him. I know men and women are different, I just don't think he gets what I'm doing all the time, but he can't deny that I'm losing weight and he isn't. It's just frustrating because on the outside he's supportive of my diet and what I'm doing, but then he initiates these conversations about how he could give me a better diet with cheat days blah blah.. so it seems unsupportive.

Oh, that's a "tell him how you feel" in the most gentle way possible kinda conversation.
Keep it about you and the lack of support you're feeling.
Perhaps even point out that it's working for you so doesn't need fixing. You just want unconditional support. And that he doesn't have to "do it" you just want him to support you and help you make it as easy as possible.

My DH has been willing to keep foods out of the house or out of my sight. He has stashes. Its his stuff. He bought some GS cookies and a "serving" is a sleeve. That used to be my life but I know how those items make me feel now. All that gluten and sugar makes me feel yuck. In some ways I'm glad I've had the plateau b/c I phased off for a bit and got to experience how many foods make me feel. It sure reduced cravings for them!

Sorry he's so unsupportive Amber - makes it hard. But I'm with Lisa, you know what you are doing is the best for you so hang in there.

I've been lucky - my dh is super supportive and has been since the beginning. Even on days we aren't eating the same thing he often tells me my food smells better than his! And he's totally on board with eating the same foods when I hit maintenance with some adjustments for him (larger portion sizes, etc.). Plus I'm really proud of him - he needed to gain 10 lbs and yesterday hit his goal weight! We're kind of like Jack Sprat and his wife in reverse.

I hear ya! My hubby was so not sure of this plan when I wanted to go on it as he's very much a calories in and calories out kind of thinker. And with the cost, it didn't help. But, he quickly changed his mind when I started to drop the weight and fast! And inches. I get him to measure me every week and so he sees the numbers! In fact, after I started losing weight, he decided that he needed to get healthy and lose some weight. The calorie counting and exercize is what he chose and lost over 20lbs. It was also motivating that we were going on a trip to Mexico and he said he didn't want to be the 'chubby' husband which made me laugh because I was the chubby wife before! hee hee He truly is impressed now with this plan and it is this plan that has helped us both get back to a healthier lifestyle!

He's definitely not keeping his foods stashed. He can't even keep his drinking to himself and he knows the hardest part for me is not having a glass of wine! Honestly there aren't a lot of foods I miss, an occasional pasta but not really, but I really can't wait to drink a glass of moscato again lol

I want to be thin more than any food or drink. I just keep telling myself that to help reframe/readjust for anything I think I'm missing that much. Those little thoughts of missing out will end up working against us. The Beck Diet book is really helping me change my thought process.