Silver. you may have your two slices of toast with raspberry jam, but be aware they will not be permitted on the May Train.

Well, I'm not telling bargoo this but I got on the May Train a few days ago with Bill. He then went off to the Maine End. I'm lying down in one of the luggage racks. I've got a ticket. If I'm questioned, I'm pleading insanity.

Seriously, though, I think I'll get off at the next stop. External challenges don't work for me at best and, at worst, they backfire. There've been a few pop-pop-pop noises and I can feel the wear in the valves getting worse. I don't want to put on any more weight.

So, have a good journey and I'm sure I'll see some of you around from time to time.

Birchie, don't go!

Silver. Don't get off. I don't want to put on any more weight , either.
Actually I want to lose some.
I enjoy being with others who are facing challenges in the losing game.

Birchie, is that really you talking, or your hormones? Let me put it this way: Are you being held hostage by your hormones?

Mine often seem to relish their control over me and work me like a ventriloquist's dummy. At those times, I say mean things to my mother aloud and even meaner things to myself, silently, and I hate much of humanity.

Hormones are evil. Pure evil! Even my FIL indicated to me the other day that a few weeks back I wasn't being too nice. I knew it at the time, too, but seriously could not do anything to ease the stress the hormones were causing me. I can't say that I actually say mean things, but I do not have a nice tone to my voice when I do say anything.

I guess I should remember to put a smile on my face before speaking in times like that.

Ah, hormones... They make me mean, too. Though sometimes I'm just mean because and then want to blame it on hormones. LOL

My hormones and I are pretty much in tune with one another nowadays. I remember I used to get rather short-tempered and tetchy pre-period but that hasn't happened for many years. Nowadays I just get very tired. So it's really me speaking, saef. I haven't been taken over.

Thank you for asking me to stay on the train. It is the challenge aspect, with a date or time included, though, which doesn't suit me. And it backfires, like it's doing now.

The approach which works for me seems to be a more long-term problem-solving one. So, at the moment, I'm working very hard on strengthening my abs and glutes to stop my back pinging out of alignment. If all the planets and my back are in alignment, then I'm able to exercise properly, sleep properly and eat properly. And lose weight! Some of you have seen earlier attempts of mine to crack this problem. I have to keep investigating it and developing.

I think I'd be better off the train although I'll lie in the luggage rack overnight and think about it. Early night for me. It's about 20:30.

silverbirch I'm pretty sure that's why I will never get to the goal I have stated on my profile. I too rebel at having to get to a certain number by a certain time or event. I sabotage myself every time I get close. But I haven't come up with anything better.

If I look at it from a different angle it's not that I haven't got to goal in the almost 5 years I've been posting here. I have been maintaining a 12-15 lb. loss for 4 years .

To me it now seems that dieting and maintenance are much more about what the mind is doing, rather than the body. Does our mind control our body and emotions or not? Hmmm.

Dagmar

Silver, I also do not do well with goal dates. I consider being "on the train" to mean that I am trying to pay attention to what I'm eating, not that I'm going to lose X lbs by X date. That has never worked for me either. I will stay on the train as long as I need to to get where I'm going, and I might change my mind about my destination along the way.

That said, I just ate a whole bunch of junk today. Oops. :P Going with the hormonal talk, I find that the Monday before TOM I am always extra hungry and crave junk food. At least the really junky food was limited to one cupcake, the other unplanned food I ate was salad and tofu.

Silver, there is no time limit for the train. I hope you will stay.
I made some turkey soup today and it was really lousy. I am not joking, I threw it out.

Turkey meatloaf for me, with sauteed mushrooms, red peppers, Vidalia onions and celery mixed throughout. But I didn't have any, as there is still leftover roast chicken, and it's good, not dried out. I marinated it in pomegranate juice and coated it with a cumin rub. My mother said it was "good, but different" which means she hasn't had any since the night that I first served it.

I'm also on the May train without a specific destination in mind. It's a way for me to stay accountable and committed, to say, despite all the other things I'm dealing with, my health is as important as anything else I might face.

I have become, through many years of stress and exhaustion and "working without a net" , a very linear thinker. I move from point A to point B etc. without a lot of hopping around, mostly because I never have time to lift my head to look at other options. Hence my getting on the May train to move to a specific goal.

This is not a good thing.

You know, if I won the lottery, one of the first things I would do, after buying a house and outfitting it, would be to hire a competent housekeeper who would "run" the place. He/she would hire other staff and supervise them and keep the household running so that I could pursue other things.

Like friendships. And hobbies. And education about the world around me.

Household organization and errands just suck all of my spare time away.

Dagmar

Thanks, all. I'm alighting here and going off piste for a bit. I've got my XC skis, my knife and a warm sleeping bag. I'll be all right and will call in at 3FC Central when I'm on my way back.