[traveling michele]

Wahoo Saef-- hopefully it stays off!!

My few days of tracking aren't proving as successful. I lost one pound the first day, stayed the same the next, .2 the next day, and BOOM-- it all came back today. Grumpy......

I'm trying to increase my fiber back as I had been good about it but have been slacking and I think it is causing "issues".....

On an unrelated (?) topic-- has anyone noticed they are losing more hair this time of year? My hair is falling out A LOT and I'm wondering if it is seasonal or if my thyroid meds are off AGAIN! I took my BP last night and this morning and it is LOW and my pulse is LOW but that is pretty typical for me.

Jay-- that's what it sounded like you did to me! I'm in Northern Cali. Are you at a University nearby?

Allison-- I bought dd a juicer and when I was with her this summer we juiced. She liked it much more than I did-- I felt kind of weird and nauseous and would get hungry quickly. I don't think she's using it now though because she said it was upsetting her stomach.

[bargoo]

'I have a juicer but still use solid cooked food as well. I don't find the juice comes out thick, either, I don't add water as I want juice not water, I use a juicer because I am lazy about preparing vegies, I only use it once a day or less, I get more nutrients this way, Today I will make juice using carrots, apples, cucumbers, kale, ginger and I may throw some spinach in, too.
I'll be darned if I would prepare all those vegies when I can just throw them in the juicer,

[bargoo]

Originally Posted by Mudpie

It sounds like I'm not the only one struggling with trying to balance all the work demands of life (including those at home) and having a bit of time "off". I think that's why I've taken a couple of months "off maintenance" - it all became too overwhelming and something had to go.

I'm not able to keep all the balls in the air any more. Some of them had to go. I'm looking forward to having time to cook and plan and eat good food again. I feel so much better when I have time for that.

Another month and a bit (don't even know what the date is exactly today)and I'm there.

Dagmar

Interesting comment on taking time off of maintenance, I think of maintainence as a daily thing,, To each his own,

[Shannon in ATL]

Originally Posted by JayZeeJay

Shannon in ATL: I googled the Raw Meal organic meal replacement and found it on Amazon. The reviews had me laughing out loud. You're not the only one to call it sludge! Most reviews said something like "OK, this tastes terrible. I mean REALLY terrible. But you can choke it down in less than a minute. Or maybe add something like sugar or fruit juice or make it a smoothie to get it to go down. But once you do, you'll feel great!"
It was hardly compelling to buy the stuff. Is it really that disgusting? I'm actually curious enough now that I want to try it, just to experience the gritty awfulness.

It is pretty gritty awful, alright. LOL I've only done it two days now, but I think I have actually felt better after it. I haven't had any reflux in the last few weeks, the bread and wheat has helped with that. On the last two days with Raw Meal lunch I haven't felt that heavy, got to nap feeling right after lunch. More energy in the afternoon, and haven't had the urge to snack as much. Now, in the TMI line in case you try it, while it seems to be helping me be more regular, it does make things odd colors. LOL

The chocolate is much better than the vanilla chai. Much much better. And it is a lot better in really cold water. I'm about to go for day 3, I'll report back after lunch.

[Shannon in ATL]

Originally Posted by traveling michele

On an unrelated (?) topic-- has anyone noticed they are losing more hair this time of year? My hair is falling out A LOT and I'm wondering if it is seasonal or if my thyroid meds are off AGAIN! I took my BP last night and this morning and it is LOW and my pulse is LOW but that is pretty typical for me.

I just had this conversation with my hairdresser this week. I'm losing tons of hair, and my hairline is receding. She is getting me some follicle treatment at her salon store next week and gave me a 'wet brush' to use in the shower to comb through conditioner and to use after I rinse out when I brush. I've been told not to panic and buy the Bosley shampoo from an infomercial.

[alinnell]

Bosley stuff apparently really works. Not that I've tried it. But he's a gazillionaire from it (I think he has a house here). Sorry you guys are having follicle failure.

[JayZeeJay]

Wow, I too have been losing a lot of hair lately. A few days ago a large clump came out while brushing after a shower and I told my boyfriend "I'm starting to look like you!" (he's very bald). I may try the Bosley shampoo, not that I know anything about it. I just assumed that I was losing hair from stress, supposedly that happens more in women. Can you get the stuff from retailers? What's the deal with wet brushing?

The discussion about "taking a break" from maintenance due to overwhelming stress is timely for me. I think my issue is: am I taking a break from this ongoing effort to gradually lose a small amount of weight? Or am I taking a break from paying ANY attention to my net calories? There are certainly days where I'm held at work much too long, have to eat a late dinner from some vending machine (because I didn't pack a dinner) and get home far too late to run. Normally, I would beat myself up over that. Lately, I don't have the energy to care.

Andrea: Yes, academics... what euphemism fits it best? Job schizophrenia? I looked that word up lately and the non-psychiatric definition is "the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements". Yes.

Michele: Yep, in Nor Cal. I don't want to say where exactly, because I plan to continue complaining to you all about my job

[silverbirch]

The DB's supper looked good and I was tempted, momentarily, but I walked away and did something else. Huge credit! I must keep practising this - once upon a time I was quite good at it. Perhaps it's like riding a bike. In fact, it is! So now I've told myself that, well, it's true.

And it's like swimming too.

[traveling michele]

Hmmm.... it could be seasonal if many of us are experiencing it? That or we're all similar ages and stressed out! I do have the wet brush and use it at home-- if I shower at yoga I use a regular brush but maybe I should get another wet one. Because my hair is very curly, the regular brush tends to tug a lot of hair out. Bosley shampoo-- will check into it.

Jay-- totally understand your wish to stay somewhat anonymous!

[Mudpie]

Originally Posted by bargoo

Interesting comment on taking time off of maintenance, I think of maintainence as a daily thing,, To each his own,

It IS a daily thing - one or two daily things over what I can handle right now. I can't stop feeding the cats, or doing laundry, or making lunches, or a bunch of other stuff so I'm not tracking my calories and weight and such. Right now I have a bit of time to post here as I lied to DH and told him I couldn't get home to feed our pets. I'm doing dishes and laundry as I post, and the dog still needs to go for a walk, and I've got to empty all the dirty towels out of my car, and fold bags, and, and . . . and I'm not even at my own house(s) with all the things that need to be done at each.

Dagmar

[silverbirch]

Now I've got my own computer at home. Have input the data, have calculated the averages and we can see a steady increase in weight since I decided to lose weight a few weeks ago.

Secret weapon!

No eating supper with the DB, even if it looks great. I can always have it for breakfast the next day if it's that good.

Get real!

It's actually not supper that's my downfall as this happens rarely (but enough to be banned - it never, ever occurred back in the Golden Era of Weight Loss, GEWL, pronounced 'jewel').
Eating standing at the kitchen counter is the real problem. Again, this never, ever happened back in GEWL. So it has to be banned. Frankly, it's uncivilised.

OK, must go to bed now. See you tomorrow.

[saef]

I've been sick for a week & a half, and finally figured out this morning that the two days on which I was sickest, I'd eaten big bowls of my vegetable soup the night before, and soon thereafter in the night, my stomach started rumbling. I think I've given myself food poisoning, honestly.

What I hate is looking on at the sunny, cool weather and missing out on it ... because I'm sick, or I'm working.

Seems a high price to pay for the slight weight loss, which will doubtless come back on once the sickness ebbs.

[neurodoc]

Silverbirch, are you a calorie-counter? Whether you are or not, it may help for you to log your food for a few weeks, just to see how much you're actually taking in.

Saef, I did that once too, with a leftover lentil-beef soup that I apparently let stay out of the fridge just a bit too long. I too assumed that it was a stomach virus the first time, and as soon as I started to feel better, had another bowl of the same soup, because it was soup, and, well, soup is good for sick people. Yeah - never again.

So today marks the 8th day of my new diet plan. I weighed myself only once this week, midway through on Wed, and was down 1 pound. Of course, my weight fluctuates by 2 1/2 pounds over a couple of days, so that pound is well within the "noise" of the data. Unfortunately, even when I was on WW in my heyday of weight loss it would often take 3 weeks to lose a pound, and my recent experiences with weight loss have been even slower. I'll weigh again in the morning, and try not to be too discouraged when it is right back up to where I was a week ago.

Dagmar, you sound crazy busy. Does your dog-walking business take from 8 am to 5 pm straight? Do you have time in between dogs to do any of the tasks you are leaving for the evening? Can you ever multi-task planning meals while you have the dogs running outside? Or make multiple meals in one cooking session, and freeze/reheat it a few days later?

Count me among the hair shedders. But for me, it's a year-round phenomenon. I seem to find a big wodge (technical term) of hair in the drain every time I wash my hair. Of course, I only wash 2x/week (I have very curly, dry hair). So far, I don't seem to have any bald spots, thank goodness.

[alinnell]

I've lost 3.1 pounds in 2 weeks.

I still can't bear to tell you my weight.

Confession.

[ICUwishing]

I have zero clue about where I'm at, weight-wise. This is day 6 without a scale. I've been mindful without being uptight. TOM decided to surprise me again early. We have been very, very busy and the days have been long. I can see resumes in my sleep. Tomorrow is the ride and drives; we have an open session in the morning and then the afternoon is an invite-only for our high-potential candidates. I'm just about at the end of my social rope. Having all of Monday to cruise home alone in total silence will be glorious!