Quick fly by for me, too. Still fighting off the last edges of my cold today. I've been doing well with food even while sick, so that's good.

Birchie - I don't even want to think about winter pants right now.

Congrats on the test results, Jay!!
SB, thanks for your updates. You are changing how I view all of this---it really is very interconnected--sleep, movement, nutrition, and (as Jay experienced) stress/not stressed.
Shannon, yeah, don't want to think about winter pants, either!!

SB - right there with you on the pants! I'll be all set by cold weather WHEN I stay on track and get at least 5 pounds off - there are at least 6 pairs of very serviceable, decent pants in my closet that need just an inch off my rear to be presentable.

sophieeex3 - welcome aboard!

shannon - beat that cold into submission.

Another pound, and as promised, tickers are accurate again. Day 2 under 1700. Not the most nutritionally sound day yesterday, since dinner was at my son's school picnic, but I chose pretty well and the scale seems to support.

Sophieeex3

Midwife, I'm so glad my updates are of use. I'm using them to think aloud about (a) in what way I'm off the rails and (b) where to exert effort with the crowbar first to get me back on. If you see what I mean. Sleep definitely comes first for me. I'll add exercise into the mix in the next few days, I hope. And then it will be gently, gently.


Wednesday

Sleep. 8-ish hours. Lovely.

W. +0.5lb.

E. Some stretching and physio exercises. Good!

F. Mediocre so that's an improvement. Well done!

I'll add the stress-o-meter for completeness as Jay's cholesterol numbers were so starkly illustrative of the part stress can play in our health.

I think all of these low-grade personal worries are affecting my health. They are about:
# money (my work has dried up in this depression)
# older long-distance members of the family who could need me at any moment, one way or another
# this recurring back and knee thing
# finding enough clothes to wear - you know, which fit me
# plus the usual stuff about keeping a house warm enough and weatherproof, homework, national and international politics and inequalities and injustice. Etc.

I'll tell you what: those unflattering trousers I didn't like are going back. When the reactions of the SO and the DB separately are a pause, followed by 'ah', then it's clear the trousers really are horrible. Becky, six pairs? You are laughing! Just lose an inch! What is the problem? (joke) Shannon, I don't want to think about this subject at all either! I don't want to but it's no good to take a head in the sand approach or you will get frostbite.

LOL, girls, I had a little talk with myself -just recently, about the fact that summer/fall is ending soon and I need to fit *comfortably* into my trousers!

Hey guys, I'm a little behind and busy at work so sorry if I don't reply individually.

I have 2 days POP under my belt. 1378 and 1386 cals respectively. The scale is rewarding me by creeping downward -- hopefully the trend will continue. Also hopefully I will be able to stay OP long enough for it to be useful. So far having three 450 cal meals/day seems to be working pretty well. I have breakfast at about 7:30, then get hungry around 12 or 12:30 for lunch, then start getting hungry around 5:00 and get dinner on the table around 6:30. So it's a long stretch between lunch and dinner but it has been working so far.

midwife - agree with you completely that SB's posts are terrific for perspective!

SB - You're absolutely right - it IS easy to lose an inch. I have done it before, and am doing it again! I laughed more at the "pause" from your post. It's a good thing we can't read their minds. My mom did exactly the same thing when I tried on one of the newer styles of pants that sits lower on the waist. To say I am long-torsoed doesn't really quite describe it, and that particular cut of trouser only shortens my little thick legs even more. I suppose if I were to learn to walk on 3" heels, they might work, but I won't trade it for foot, knee and hip pain!

kitty -

Day 3 under 1700 - it was actually 1150. I came home too late for dinner. I won't have that issue tonight, plus there will be much lifting and carrying as we do final arranging for Garage Sale Weekend. And another pound displaced! I must have been more inflamed than I thought.

KC - ha ha! Did you answer yourself back about the trousers? 'Comfortably' is the operative word here, I think.

Jessica - 2 days POP is very good. It has the makings of a habit. I want to be in the place you're in in two days time. I could be! I'll try to be!

Thursday

Sleep. 8-ish hours again. So nice. I'm starting to feel a bit better in that area.

W. -0.25lb.

E. Say 45 minutes *very* gentle strolling with the now-divorced friend. It got rid of the high-pitched spasm-y pains and has replaced then with that dull old 'I've been used' muscular ache. Much preferable. I plan to stroll every day and to start body-weight squats. This is my next priority now my sleep seems to be better.

F. Good apart from a very small piece of brownie which was not very nice. This is most encouraging.

Stresso: low apart from a few back/bottom spasms. The car project is coming up to the boil - hurray! The SO made the tea - hurray. He and I spent the morning together, driving around in autumnal sunshine - very unusual and pleasant scenario. Trousers returned!

Becky - missed you earlier. Thanks.

Great excitement! I am going to bed feeling 'airy lightness'! I am thrilled by this!

Thanks to gardenerjoy over at the Beck Diet Solution board for this very useful concept. She writes,

"I'm realizing that, to some extent, I have a choice whether I experience hunger as scary emptiness or airy lightness. Naturally, I want to fill scary emptiness. Just as naturally, I want to feel airy lightness. So, I tolerate hunger much longer if I experience it as airy lightness."

(Can't do quote boxes very easily on phone.)

I'm not sure how much 'scary emptiness' resonates with me but 'airy lightness' certainly does.

Hey folks, should we make a new thread? I have realized it is time for the pre-holiday slimdown so perhaps a new thread would be in order.


138.0 this morning. That's down a whole pound this week (although not officially until I manage to keep my weight down over the weekend). 3 days POP. Today will be 4. Tomorrow will be 5. I nearly caved yesterday since I was still hungry in the evening, but rather than eating I went upstairs to bed at 8:30 and read a book for a while. I didn't wake up ravenous in the night, so I must not have been really hungry after all. SB, I will think of "light and airy" in those instances.

Only difference yesterday that may have contributed to the hungry: I didn't eat a protein/fiber bar with lunch, since my leftovers were already 450 cals. Today's leftovers are 310 cals so I have room for the 130 of additional protein/fiber.

I think my exercise schedule is going to get a little funny. The podiatrist taped my feet again, and when I went for a walk this morning I felt like the tape was chafing my heels. Not sure if I could resolve that with two pairs of socks or not. Next appointment in a week.

I'm not sure if I belong here or not. I couldn't get my mother's scale to work this morning at my usual weigh-in time, before breakfast. I kept getting a "low battery" message. But later, after I ate, went to the gym, and showered, I got on it again, and I was up 1.6 pounds from last Friday. I don't know what that number means.

I must admit to being very frightened about gaining weight and losing my current level of fitness, and a lot of my efforts -- aside from dealing with continuing salvage (washing stuff, sterilizing it, packing away), correspondence with the insurance company and FEMA, and keeping up my job performance as I learn to work from home continuously -- have been aimed at trying to eat well, to keep up an exercise routine of sorts, and to establish a new exercise routine that is airtight.

I feel like I'm in a dangerous transitional state where I could just say, "Okay, my old life is over, and my old routines, so the heck with it all. Let's jettison it all, the way I did a lot of my belongings. I feel real bad & I'd rather lie around feeling injured & sad & do nothing, and eat stuff that would make me feel better."

And I so don't want to do that. I could use the time here constructively, so I'm looking into what is offered.

First, there's a running culture here. The local public school has had a strong tradition of cross country teams for decades & decades, going back to my own stint here. There are a lot of long, winding country roads. I often see runners going by. So I'm trying out running twice a week, tentatively, checking whether my feet and knees can cope with this. In fact, I'm signed up for a 5K tomorrow that winds through the village streets. I haven't run a 5K in years; this will only be my second one. I pick up my packet tonight.

Second, there is a really good yoga studio about 20 minutes away from here. I always meant to give yoga more of a try. Since Pilates is hard to find around here -- a 30-minute or 45-minute drive for an instructor who holds classes in her living room -- I am going to try to turn to yoga for some of what I got from Pilates. I'm going to try a yoga class tomorrow morning, and if I like it, my drop-in fee will be credited toward the large fee for all-you-can-eat yoga over the next session, which starts Monday.

I also plan to look at another commercial gym, again a bit of a drive, which has a five-day free membership deal going. They seem to have the classes that I am missing from the nearby local gym.

Gosh, I don't want to belong to two different gyms & a yoga studio, just to get what I got from one single gym where I used to live. But people up here don't have the same tastes and preferences in their exercise habits -- or rather, the people that I live among now don't, but the people way on the other side of town do, and their facilities are harder to access. And traveling to those further-off facilities will only become more difficult after the nasty winter sets in.

Saef and Jessica, both of you impress me so much at your persistance through hard times.

Let us know how the 5K goes, Saef!

SB, I like that quote (and I like gardenerjoy). Maybe I should mosey on over to the Beck forum. You've suggested it to me before, as has BillBlueEyes. Food for thought.

Jessica, weather's changing. A new thread works for me.

As for the purpose of the thread, it was originally for trying to lose 5-10 lbs to get back under redline. If I was starting it now, I would have to title it "Operation Lose A Heck-of-a-lot-more than 5-10". Does it mean the thread has failed for me? No, I have though. I need to work through some stuff, but I'm taking some steps to be proactive and move in the right direction.

Okay guys, I made a new thread here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/livi...-holidays.html

Saef, perhaps your old life and old routines ARE over. That doesn't mean you have to give up. That just means you have to make a NEW life and NEW routines, right? Like your new running routine?