My thyroid doc says it's also something that can happen if the hormones go out of whack. He's had a couple of patients that he had to take off the thyroid replacement for a week to "convert" what they had in their systems, and then he'd retest. Stress absolutely can mess up those levels. It definitely is a weird sensation!

Weigh myself. Done. Daily fluctuation -1.0lb

Make food plan for the day. Done.
B=muesli, cc, summer fruits, semi-skimmed milk, wheatgerm.
MS=small slice gammon, stewed apple.
L=sardines, salad (carrots, celery), 4 oatcakes. .
AS=blood orange, hard-boiled egg.
T= possibly the bolognaise sauce I made yesterday with pasta and greens. The SO may make something different though.

MBF, some walking. Iris, I’ve had niggles with my SI joint over some time. Eventually I found a great personal trainer who does corrective exercise and we have managed to loosen a lot of the jammed-up bits (shoulder, hips, knee, calf, foot etc). Movement-based flexibility and massage are two things he uses. I think that MBF targets the fascia and helps to get everything sliding over each other nicely. You are a medic, I think, so perhaps you could explain why this might be such an excellent thing, as it is for me. At work this morning and could be this afternoon too but the weather is forecast to be sunny (looks glorious at the moment) today and rainy tomorrow. I have said to the DB that we should go out if it’s nice (people aged 14 need to be exercised like big dogs, I think) and the SO will come with us.

Keep to food plan as far as I can, and as appropriate. It’s all looking good at the moment.

Thanks for your nice remarks about my detailed planning. It really helps me to power through the day and have the capacity or patience to cope with unexpected events.

Shannon, that racing heart sounds horrible. I’ve had it once, I think, and decided it was stress-related. I took myself off most duties, went for walks outdoors and it disappeared. Let us know how things are, won’t you?

The last couple of days have seen me loosen up--which is one of the dangers of a less-formal approach--and now it's time to get a grip again. I know from experience that letting attention lapse leads in the wrong direction.

Weight within .2 of my latest low which means I need to lose 7.6 to get to my "new" red line and 12.6 to get to where I'd like to be.

Exercise today will be golf and walking the course and carrying my clubs. I've mapped it with GPS once and was dismayed that it is less than 2 miles. But at least it's fun exercise! I also have to do my grocery shopping which isn't much but I was always amazed at my step count after that. Too bad my Up band died a few months back. I could send it back for a replacement but it became a bit tiresome to deal with.

Food plan for breakfast and lunch is made and will be diet-friendly. Dinner plans are up in the air.

Regarding palpitations.....are you dehydrated and how are your b12 levels.I suggest sub lingual b12 (methylcobalamin) daily.Also low magnesium levels can cause heart palpitations.Low b12 and low magnesium are often caused by proton pump inhibitors like losec.

Weigh myself. Done. Daily fluctuation +0.75lb

Make food plan for the day. Done. Mostly.
B=muesli, cc, summer fruits, semi-skimmed milk, wheatgerm.
MS=blood orange, hard-boiled egg.
L=mackerel, salad (carrots, celery), 4 oatcakes.
AS=blood orange, hard-boiled egg.
T= either lasagne, using the last of the bolognaise sauce, or perhaps roast chicken.

Some walking. Fingers crossed that the weather is not windy and wet. That's the forecast.

Keep to food plan as far as I can, and as appropriate. Yes, good plan to stick to the plan.

Yesterday, I didn't keep strictly to the plan. I ate a few pieces of dried fruit with my lunch. It seemed rather plain, otherwise. I don't always think that but I seem to when I'm at the office on my own at the weekend. I also didn't manage a walk as there were no-shows for my morning Skype meeting and I really wanted to achieve something substantial during Saturday. So I didn't go home and go for a walk. Instead I ploughed on with writing an article, using as my source a very densely written book. It's taking a long time to get the salient points out of this book and into some kind of order. I press on.

Today, the plan is to go shopping for the week's food, do the necessary ironing ...

[pause to run outside and chase the four rams off the wall. They are so insolent. They really try to take me on. I've put up one barricade which is blocking off the easiest part but the farm has to come and fence along that boundary. It's planned but they haven't got round to it yet. They'll manage it before the lambs come, I hope.]

Where was I? Well, I'm just going to try to get things prepared for the week ahead. As I may be called away at any point, my policy at present is to try to be ahead of myself, just in case.

Good luck today.

Apo - I never thought about b12, I have been low in the past so wouldn't surprise me if I was now. I don't think I'm dehydrated, if anything, I'm a little over hydrated right now.

Worked out yesterday and today, check. We took DSS down to have dinner with my MIL last night, and she is a little under the weather. We ended up getting fried chicken and some sides from Publix and it was not very good. Not worth the calorie hit I took for it. Today DSS is running a fever and not feeling well, so wanted fast food for lunch. I declined it, and ate a leftover serving of spaghetti squash and sausage instead. That felt much better than another calorie dense meal that might have been bad. (Won't think about the fact that it might have been good. )

Weigh myself. Done. Daily fluctuation: no change.

Make food plan for the day. Done.
B=muesli, cc, summer fruits, semi-skimmed milk, wheatgerm. 3 slices buttered toast, Marmite, greengage jam.
MS – none as had a big breakfast.
L – mackerel, carrot, celery. Max 4 oatcakes but may not feel like so many.
AS – blood orange, hard-boiled egg.
T – lasagne, greens.

MBF and weights. Would like to do this but am not feeling great at present. Let’s see how I feel later this morning. ETA (seconds later) that I'm starting the workout now. Posting here has given me the encouragement I needed.

Keep to food plan as far as I can, and as appropriate. Today is off to a poor start hence three slices of toast and Marmite (prompted by the B12 convo) and jam. I am making adjustments elsewhere so we’ll see how things go.

Adjusted food & exercise yesterday quite well and was on my feet most of the day, doing household things indoors and out. I can feel that I’m getting back into the MBF routine. It’s that strange mixture of much improved flexibility and wellbeing together with feeling rather achy and odd from time to time.

Well done, Shannon, for avoiding a fast food lunch. It can only help.

Shannon, I have had palpitations like that when my thyroid meds needed to be adjusted (and also when I was pregnant, but I'm assuming that's not your issue).

No loss here, I'm actually up. Had one meal out this weekend but I probably need to stop treating the entire weekend like a free for all. Okay, that's not exactly true, but I tend to have a glass of wine or a snack after dinner Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday, when really I'm supposed to be limiting that kind of thing to once a week.

Honest fact: I'm afraid of cutting calories. I know I need to do it, the longer I go on like this the more obvious it is, but I'm afraid of being hungry. I know it's really just the first couple weeks to adjust to a lower calorie level and then I'll be fine, but I have so many things going on in my life I am afraid to add to it. In the past I've managed this by using a diet aid like Atkins or Slimfast snack bars that have all sorts of junk in them to make you feel full for the first couple weeks. I hate doing it but maybe that is just what I have to do.

Finally, my profile reflects reality - a weekly average on "the low end of the high 150's". So this week and probably next will look for "the high end of the mid 50's". Mini goals.

Jessica, I'm also needing to force a transition from the nightcap to something more calorically benign, like tea. I can't feign ignorance about knowing how much of my very slow loss is impacted by this. I hear you about being hungry - I have that hurdle too. I think if the snack bars will ease you into it, go for it. No timelines!

Silverbirch, great going on moving ahead with the workout! I am a master at talking myself out of exercise; envisioning the little voices in my head with duct tape over their little yappers has been amusing and (almost) effective.

JayEll - yeah, it takes a while to get in the groove with the constant attention to the detail of weight loss. As mandalinn put it on the support forum in a memorable welcome to a newcomer, "Weight loss is simple, but it's not easy."

Shannon - nice resolve on the fast food! Nothing to regret here, move along ...

Skipped breakfast and need to browse the lunch options. Our cafeteria tends to be a little pricey but with a bit of research there can be some wonderful choices. DH will be gone on business all this week - he knows that I will shortcut the food options so he left us with a fridge full of good stuff (shredded pork w/gouda polenta, homemade pasta sauce, etc). I just need to keep my wits about me on the portions.

I'm enjoying a very hearty breakfast this morning. Leftovers. Very yummy and healthy and fairly low in calories. I'm hoping that it'll get me through until lunch. Sometimes when I eat an early breakfast I need a snack later.

Golf this weekend sucked. My scores were worse than ever! But the little exercise that it provided landed me at new low weight on the scale this morning--157 even. Now I'm looking for 155.

Good morning, fellows.

I've been up since 5:30 - again, I stayed up after getting breakfast and lunch packed for DSS and exercised. I'm learning that if I go upstairs and change into exercise clothes while the biscuit is in the oven that I won't go back to bed. Today I was exercised and in the tub by 6:50, so was able to take care of some personal things I needed to attend to. (In the spirit of sharing like Michele with her wax appointment last week, I got a Veet personal laser hair remover before Christmas and it is a work in progress. LOL)

My fitbit is plugged in to charge. My boss approved my ordering a Varidesk, which I ordered this morning.

I have my day planned out for food, exercise is done. I do have to drive downtown to deliver W2 forms that were shipped incorrectly, so will have a decent amount of sitting time. Glad I got the exercise done early.

I may stop by Ikea on the way back up, that should get some steps in.

Birchie - I'm picturing you stopping your post to chase the rams off the wall and it is making me smile.

Jay - danger, Will Robinson. Seriously - loosening up gets me every time. Good luck.

Jessica - no, not pregnant. Though, as I gained 20 pounds in two months, people seem to think I am. Eek. On the cutting calories thing - I get the fear. Could you fill up on things like carrot sticks, snap peas and broccoli (I love them as snacks) instead of slim fast bars and the like? They have so much junk in them.

Becky - on the skipping breakfast. Hope lunch works.

Allison - 'just two miles' is still two miles, and carrying all the stuff. Win win. Even if the scores aren't great.

Shannon, I've been reading some interesting research about intermittent fasting and what it does for insulin sensitivity (assuming, of course, that you start from an initial normal, which I am). I've forced myself to eat breakfast for years at 5:30, and haven't liked it. On weekends, I am very content to wait til 10:30/11 and then just have 2 meals for the day. Since on weekdays lunch falls at 11, this seems to make more sense for me. The business of forcing myself to eat when I don't want to and/or don't need to ... is counterproductive at best. If I were doing workouts in the morning, I am sure the situation would be much different.

Going badly here. That terrific workout (heavy weights for the first time in weeks) has made me exhausted. I have tried to carry on, using that tried and trusted technique (eating food with sugar in it) and, of course, it's backfired. I have a list of things I want to accomplish and I can hardly see straight.

What I have to do, I think, is just stop. Sleep for a bit (I'm at home) and then see where I am. It's 4.10 pm here and, really, I think the day is a write-off. The builder and a plumber are coming here at 6pm so I have to be able to stand up and talk by then.

Jessica, I understand completely about being frightened to cut calories because you have so many things going on in your life.

Becky, we've known one another some time. I think I can ask you now what your ICU Wishing name means, as I've never understood it. Thanks for humouring me.

Silver, hope you get to take a little nap.

Just finished up my workout, it went pretty well. It's kind of scary how much progress I'm making on weights in so little time -- probably because I was so out of shape to start with. I'm up to 70# on the leg press machine (from 55 ~3 weeks ago). It's weird that for some reason I'm not making any progress on single leg press, just double.

Shannon, yeah, I bought a bag of baby carrots at the grocery yesterday and am munching on some right now as part of my lunch (we were out of leftovers to bring for lunch so I have a cheese sandwich on ww bread and a bag of baby carrots). The problem is that usually when I'm hungry I really want something with carbs in it, and if I don't get carbs, I'll just continue to be hungry. Maybe instead I should keep a bag of bran flakes at my desk -- something with a lot of fiber.