Still safe, Dagmar. Thanks for thinking of me! We've had a little frost in the morning, but nice days and barely any breeze.

I think you did great going six days. Being in a deficit makes it really hard to not stress eat. I feel the same way about the crazy politics. My country has gone mad. I've had to unsubscribe from all my political podcasts, avoid news on TV, and bite my tongue around a lot of people I play pickleball with. I'm in Tulare County, which is a red area in predominately blue California.

Let me know how Holly takes to the nosework. My Greta loves it.

Lost 2 lbs. this week. A really good start to the trek down into the 130's again. Faltered once but picked myself up and continued on. I hope everyone doesn't mind that I'm using this maintenance forum to document a weight loss. You are my "weight people" and I feel I belong here, rather than going back to Featherweights.

Dagmar :

Faltered again. I'm having problems coping with everything being thrown at me and with what's going on in the world. Somehow I didn't picture democracy ending when I retired. And I didn't realize how hard it would be to get anyone skilled to help make my own small life more functional. I had a fully functional house in Toronto. Not here. I find it difficult
enough to get through the days here and am panicking when things break. I have been eating to cope with anxiety for as long as I can remember. I keep falling back into that now. And being at a healthy weight doesn't seem that important.

Dagmar

Continue to think of you, Dagmar, as we all struggle to get our minds around new realities. Food doesn't solve new realities, even though our brains grab it as if it did.

Dagmar, I relate in multiple ways. Not only to stress eating, but to living in a place where it's hard to get services. Last year I had to call six tree service companies before I found one that would come out here. And that was only because we were paying them $10,000 in cash to trim all of our giant eucalyptus trees plus some stump removal, etc. Fortunately we'll never have to do it again in our lifetime. We finally found a reliable plumber in a town 20 miles away, but we have yet to find a competent electrician to come out. My husband can do a lot of home repairs, but at 71 he no longer wants to do major projects.

Do I remember that you have family in the area? Can they, or maybe neighbors, recommend anyone to do what you need? Our little town of 1000 now has a FB group, and you can post if you need help with anything.

Hang in there. I haven't made the scale move yet.

Glad you found someone to help with your trees. My hubby can be handy but usually only on projects he wants to do. He doesn't want to touch plumbing or electrical - understandably - but will help with the interior painting. I have to nag and nag and nag though and he opposes any project to make the house nicer. If something breaks he agrees to get it fixed but if something greatly improves life he fights me on it. We now have a light in our entryway that I can reach to change the bulbs. That took 7 months. SIGH Our family has recommended 3 tradespeople. One - roofers/exterior renos - turned out to be really good and I will call them again for the sliding doors and deck. The other 2 didn't bother to answer our calls. It wasn't that different in Toronto but there I had hundreds of people I could try. Here there are only a few. I get really frustrated by the lack of work ethic here too. No one works on the weekends or in the evenings and a lot of offices completely close down for an hour at lunch time. That is unheard of in Toronto.

Dagmar

I'm holding steady. No weight loss this week - still at 151 lbs. - but no gain either. I will adjust my afternoon tea back. We've been having pastries and cookies again. I'll go back to an egg and half a bun - 180 cals total - and I will try to adjust dinner too.

This is going to take a long time. I can do it. And I will!

Dagmar :

Got on the scale and it says I've gained 1.4 lbs. I was quite disheartened by that. The only off-plan thing I've eaten all week is one donut from the fancy donut shop. I did my weights work out and drank about 10 oz. of water. Got on the scale again - as an experiment - and it says I've gained an additional 1.6 lbs. I will keep weighing myself each Friday but I won't let the number totally derail me as it has in the past.

This coming week is hubby's birthday and Valentine's Day so there will be a special dinner out, cake, and chocolate. I will participate in all of that.

This is going to be a really hard long slog. SIGH.

Dagmar

RIght on, Dagmar, "I won't let the number totally derail me".

Keep on keeping on. The scale will come along in its own good time.

I'm up to 155 lbs. now.

I've been careful this week but I did have a birthday meal with hubby and I did serve cake and ice cream to us for a birthday dessert at home. I am also going to have some Valentine chocolate. We don't have any good chocolate here so I ordered some great stuff for both of us.

I froze the rest of the birthday cake I baked. We will have one slice each for tea on the weekends. Otherwise I'll have to trim about 500 cals per day from my diet.

I can do this but it will be hard.

Dagmar

Now that's Dagmar in action, "I can do this but it will be hard. "

Happy Valentine's Day to all who consciously work to maintain.

I'm up 2 pounds. This morning I resurrected my calorie and weight tracking spreadsheet. It's time to change a few habits. The process of losing weight is inherently punishing in the short term and only rewarding in the very long term. Lately that punishment has not felt acceptable to me, but it's time to just bear up to it like I do with other unpleasant aspects of living. Grrrr.

"Getting old is not for sissies" - Bette Davis. The stuff that comes with getting old can be hard, boring, and downright difficult.

I know you have done this before and can do it again Alice.

Dagmar

Did better this week - down to 151 lbs. My birthday is in around 2 weeks and I'm quite determined to see 149 lbs. on the scale.

Dagmar

Still at 151 lbs. I'm finding it hard to concentrate my efforts on weight loss at this time. Things will get better after Daylight Savings changes to the hour forward. Everyone else hates it but I can kind of rejoin the world. Natalie will let me sleep in til around 4:30 after we shift the clocks.

Dagmar