Hello everyone!
There is silence in my house! It is just my daughter and I and she is busy working on a project.
This thread seems so inspirational lately. Great job everyone!!!
Betsy lets both do really well for our Easter dinners and have a all leftovers out the door plan. I even checked my supply of To Go containers this morning.
On my goodness Shan! I am so happy for you! Continuing to be successful with weight loss and getting married!
Terra please remember to plan your meals so you do not run so low on food towards the end of the month.
Pam your steps are so impressive! Thanks for the water reminder. I have been slipping and need to get back on track.
Cindy I bow before you. How you handled that shower is inspirational. Yes, the goal is to be able to eat healthy, or small portions BUT acknowledging that you are not there yet and taking the steps to be successful is admirable.
Tootsie that is very exciting news about your spouse. Having a spouse on board makes the journey a tiny bit easier and less lonely. Good job.
Magpie I Loved Your Post! My current goal is to get down to 250 with my end goal being 220. There is so much truth in your post. Thank you for taking the time to share it.
rabid have you tried walking slower but for the same distance. 3 mph is too fast for me. I do like your monthly challenge idea.
Miss Toni that a girl! A huge part of the battle is attitude.
Sam it is so good to see you. I see you have hit the 250 mark. I am so proud of you! You know if you can do so good after all you've been through and are going through I need to stop using my lame excuses for falling off the wagon. I could really use a pampering day. As always I will be with you in spirit. Will be waiting to hear from you tomorrow...
Fi, Donna, Silent, Bllondy, Andrea, and everyone else, I hope you are doing well.
Whew guess my chatty self is back.
Have a peaceful day.

Good afternoon.

This post is in the vein of "Hey, look what I found out" and I fully expect about half of you to say DUH......she didn't know that?!

My afternoon sugar cravings hit as I was cleaning house, but I was also really, really thirsty. So, I sat down to take a break and watch a show with a big glass of water. I noticed that the sugar cravings had basically gone away. So, I did some research and found that sugar cravings is one of the signs of dehydration. Basically, sugar is one of our basic cravings based on a desire to have fruit although with modern food too often that is satisfied with junk food and processed sugar. But the sugar cravings evidently occur in response to inadequate water coming in.

I've always read that drinking water was important to flush out the impurities that dieting creates from burning fat. Then I read several articles saying that the 8 glasses a day was more of a myth, and I have to admit that my water intake fell off a lot.

So, I'm going to try first just doing better with staying hydrated, but also drinking a glass of water if I get a sugar -- or salt -- craving.

Just passing this along in case I'm not the last person to know about this.

Hi hi, popping in again. Sounds like lots of people are walking and going to the gym and exercising and stuff, so I feel in good company! I did another 22 minutes tonight, a bit slower, so that was right about a mile. Cutting back to 2.8 is a lot better than prolonged 3.0, surprising that just that 0.2 mph can make a difference! I was going to skip tonight but I wasn't sore, it'd been about 36 hours since I last walked. I'll see how it goes this weekend.

And now I'm off to the pub for my one admittedly unhealthy meal a week. A bunch of friends and I play trivia (pretty poorly, too) and gab and eat dinner on Friday nights. I've been skipping the communal desserts, and I don't usually eat all my fries any more, but I tend to get a burger or club sandwich or something. My one time trying salmon convinced me that a sport pub is NOT the place to order salmon!

Editing to add and betsy, I've had sugar cravings be dehydration before. Alas, sometimes sugar cravings are cravings for me. On Wednesday night I was craving ice cream really bad. I told myself no late night ice cream run, but if I was still wanting it Thursday night I'd get something. Well, I was, and I got a small chocolate Frosty and it seemed to do the trick. I'm still at the stage where one or two treats a week is perfectly doable to still lose weight. I'm just trying to avoid my binging (which I've avoided for over 3 months, a record!).

Hi everyone! TGIF

Pam, 7000 steps sounds awesome to me. I don't believe I would have the stamina to mow for an hour and a half. I have no idea how many steps I take in a day but I bet it's not even close to that.

Terra, it sounds like you had a busy day.

Shan, congratulations on your engagement and also on your weight loss. That is very impressive.

Betsy, you're welcome for the dust. It was supposed to cover you, not the furniture. I will try to aim better next time. I drink a lot of water and I really don't have cravings, so there may be a correlation between the two.

I hope you all have a good day tomorrow!

I started at 292 this past December. I was at a very dark place in my life. It was a struggle but I got down to 268 just before joining this forum. I am 260 as of this morning!!

I was very happy to find this group!!

Kate

Hi, Kate, congratulations on your weight loss so far.

Howdy folks! I may not make personal comments very often, but I want you to know that I read your postngs with enthusiasm. Some day, I hope, I'll be able to be more outer-directed and less obsessed with this weird condition I have.

Yes, I'm stlll having spasms in my legs and even sometimes in my arms. Yes, I'm still in a wheelchair. (If I weren't in the wheelchair, I'd be falling down. I fell down about 20 times and got really sick of it, but I'm pleased to say it's been nearly a week since my last fall.) Yes, I still don't know what is causing this problem, but side effects from serotonin-related medications is a strong contender.

My main problem of the moment is the fact that Bob has a nasty respiratory bug. Until he gets to feeling better, I can't get the MRIs that will rule in or out some kind of disc problem. So while I'm being impatient for him to recover, I'm doing little practice walks around the house. I'm eager to get out of the wheelchair, but that doesn't mean it's happening any time soon. The hardest part is coming to a full standing position: it hurts so much!

So I'm discouraged, but hanging in here. The weather is beautiful, and I wish I could be out walking in it. =sigh= When you post your gratitude comment for the day, be sure to include the fact that you can walk!

Good morning everyone. Hope that everyone is having a good weekend.

Ubee May I please please please keep the asparagus? The rest of the mashed potatoes, some of the ham, and the cupcakes will all go home either with Bill or my nephew, but I'm keeping the asparagus. Glad to see you back in a quiet environment -- there's something soothing about a quiet house.
Rabidstoat Good job on finding a good speed for you. Hope you had a good time at the pub -- sounds like a fun evening. Thanks for the info on your sugar cravings. I'm hoping that by first drinking water when they hit that I can cut down on the times when I give in.
Cindy The will power dust would have gotten lost on my furniture anyway as it's been a while since my last cleaning foray. Thanks for the feedback on the water drinking and lack of sugar cravings.
Kate Welcome to the group! And congratulations on the great progress you've made so far!
Fi Thanks for checking in -- with all that's going on with you (and Bob!) right now, when too many days pass by I get to really worrying about you. Hope that Bob gets over his bug soon so you can get those MRIs done.

I'm going to get the cleaning finished up today -- need to do the floors which will take 2-3 hours as there's a lot of the outside inside. Laundry needs to get done and I should probably make a pass at the grass before it starts raining tomorrow.

Just my younger nephew, my BIL, and myself for dinner tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great day.

Thanks for all of your replies, everybody! ❤ I love this forum so much!

That's a good tip about dehydration feeling like a sugar craving, Betsy! I treat my sugar cravings with hot tea that contains cinnamon and/or mint, and it seems to help, but now I wonder if it's the perceived sweetness of the tea, or just the liquid. ... I need to deep-clean my house, too. Today's a good day for it! Then it'll be nice and clean for Easter tomorrow! (I seem to be doing Easter by myself, which is OK; it was never one of the Big Holidays for my family, and I got myself a tiny ham--which is exciting, because I never eat ham--and some asparagus, which I like a lot. It'll be more fun in a clean house, though!)

~~~

I walked more than 10,000 steps, yesterday, and in the process I realized that I am not yet up to walking more than 10,000 steps per day. I mean, obviously I survived, and I don't really have any sore muscles or anything today (), but the foot with the arthritis in it is pretty sore; doing 10,000 steps for multiple days in a row is clearly not going to be my reality anytime soon. Just another pointer to the "focus on losing weight, and then build up distance" approach I already knew would be best for me. (Well, and also "Get a rheumatologist, and treat this condition." My current treatment has improved my mobility a lot, but it isn't enough to fix the last little vestiges of the arthritis. It will probably be another 4 months before I get to change treatments, though.)

Still, the foot is less sore than it felt like it would be, when I finished the main walking part of the day. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how that went. I'm still slow as molasses going up hills, and it was embarrassing not to be able to keep up with my friends, and my face got all red, and I definitely looked tired--part of that was also dehydration, but they couldn't have known. I do look forward to getting better at hills, as the weight comes off! I just need to walk enough that I don't lose the muscles, you know?

I also cheated--just a little--on IP (I got a chef salad, yay, with oil & vinegar on the side, yay, but it had a little bit of American cheese and a fair bit of bacon, boo*). It was the best option at my dad's favorite restaurant, and I wasn't going to skip visiting my dad or seeing him hanging out with all of his friends -- this place is all Cheers-y ("everybody knows your name"), and it makes me happy to see Dad surrounded by friends.

So, to make that very long story a little shorter, it was a good day, and if I were going to pick a day to get too much fat, that was a good one: MyFitnessPal told me I needed to eat an extra thousand calories, which I obviously did not do. I didn't have any carbs, so I'm still in ketosis. All's well.

* I love bacon, but it is too high in fat to eat on IP. It was delicious.

Betsy & Cindy ~ Yes it was a busy day yesterday.

Ubee ~ Yes I will be sure to budget my food so I dont go low towards the end of the month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up at 8:00 a.m. this morning and its now 1:23 p.m. We'll see if mom gets off after 2 p.m. today. The power is out by her work so they might be just as business as they were yesterday. We had a bad storm night before last so thats why the power is out in some parts of town. We might go to the Chinese buffet for dinner tonight. I hope we do I've been craving Craw-fish/ Craw-Dad's.

Hi everyone.
Terra enjoy your dinner at the buffet and remember your portion control. Chinese food is something I only order for lunch and with no rice. A buffet is too much temptation for me.
magpie I hear you on the bacon. For years we did not eat bacon, now we have it almost daily. I discovered how important healthy fats are when my hair started falling out.
Betsy asparagus is fine. I usually make it but ours looked sickly. I will keep ham, potatoes for my daughter and the green beans. Everything else is out the door. I have a feeling my house will not be cleaned by next Easter! Totally slacking today...
Fi glad to see your update just wish it was better. Do you open the windows for your kitties to sit in?
Kate Welcome and well done! So what is your plan? It seems to be working quite well!
Cindy you don't have any cravings??? Did you used to have a lot of them?
rabid glad you found a solution. Your trivia night sounds like fun. Hope you had a good time.
tootsie how are you doing?
I am coming to realize what a huge impulse control problem I have when it comes to food. If I see food, I reach for it. If I see someone eating on TV, I want food. Hopefully being aware will help. I've been fairly good yesterday and today.
I think I sabotage myself by remembering my weight loss honeymoon and thinking it will be like that again. The whole I've done it before I can do it again whenever I want. (Just not now.) Anyone else feel that way?
Have a Happy Easter!

Ubee ~ My biggest portion was Craw-fish without butter so I think I did pretty good cause I dont think crawl fish is bad for you, I think the butter is what makes it bad for you.

Trivia last night was fun, there was only 3 of us (we usually have 6-10) but a lot of people are on vacation or consumed by other events. We did come in second! And one team got disqualified for cheating, they were caught looking up answers on their cellphones! Tsk, tsk. I ended up having a really good cheeseburger (probably 8 ounces, definitely not low cal!) and I just wasn't in the mood for fries, shockingly, so I had a side salad with balsamic dressing. I took off some of the cheese and it had a lot of veggies, definitely a good choice! I will probably get fries next week, but no sense ordering them if I'm not in a mood for fries.

Today I've been putzing around at home. Slept in, played some video games, did my mile on the treadmill watching TV, and then did some unpaid work for work. I'm such a workaholic, gah. And then a friend called and was able to escape her three children briefly, ditching them with her husband, so we went out for coffee (well, I had tea) and gossiped about people we don't like at work.

Fiona, I haven't been here long so I don't know, are your spasms a diagnosed thing? Because I know undiagnosed medical mysteries stink!

magpie, I am amazed at how many steps 10,000 is. I know it's 'recommended' but for office workers like many people are, this seems unreasonable. I've read that 10K steps is about 5 miles. That's like two hours a day of walking for me! I mean, I know we walk some even in office jobs but that just seems unattainable for a lot of people, simply through lack of time if not lack of motivation/fitness.

Kate, welcome and congratulations on your weight loss.

Fiona, I hope Bob gets better soon so you can get your MRIs done.

Magpie, kudos to you for walking more than 10,000 steps. I am impressed. I walk very slowly and cannot walk very far yet. I am hoping to have a treadmill soon so I can start working on getting better at it.

Ubee, I'm not sure why I don't have cravings. I don't know if it's due to drinking water or to not letting myself ever get too hungry. I plan all my meals and snacks ahead of time. Yes, I used to have cravings, and I would give into them unless I was in "diet mode". Then I wouldn't give in. That could be what is happening now, but if there are any I am not aware of them.

Today I tried on a few shirts I haven't worn in a few months because they had become too snug. A couple still are but there are two I will be able to start wearing again pretty soon. That is a good feeling.

I hope you all have a happy and blessed Easter tomorrow.

Happy Easter!
Cindy the news about your shirts is great! I love closet shopping for smaller clothes. Hopefully I will be joining you soon.
rabid I didn't know you played trivia on teams. That sounds much more fun then individually, especially with my little brain.
Terra craw fish are very healthy for you. Good job!
Betsy just wanted to say thank you for the green bean recipe from genaw. We use it all the time and love it.
Have a blessed and peaceful day!