Good Morning Gals!

Unfortunately, I haven't lost any more either. <Grrrr>

Carol Sue, I know what you mean about being locked up for dieting. There's a show called 600 pound life or something, and sometimes they put these morbidly obese people in a hospital for a month to lose weight before they can have surgery, and limit their calories to 1200 or so. Quite extreme, but one person lost 72 pounds in a month! (so why can't I lose 5???)

I am looking forward to warm weather and to get into biking again. I need to get my bike tuned up, and want to start out slowly and go further each time. I think I live fairly close to April, as the Creekside bike trail is 5 minutes from my home, and I used to ride to the Xenia hub with my kids fairly often (and we got ice cream at dairy queen when there HAHA).
I don't think we have to be super athletes to ride, especially since it's fairly flat here.

Sandy, I like the idea of gardening but haven't made one yet...I'm thinking of a small raised garden in my backyard that's manageable for me (I live alone). I'm sure there are instructions online about how to do that...love my tomatoes, herbs, and would like to grow lettuce!

Still have not received my FakeBit yet (I made up the name). Think it's lost in the mail. At the rate I'm going I'll have to call it a "FatBit" LOL.

Have a good day and keep your mouths shut!

Andi

Andi, can you track your Fakebit? Some things I order take a while to come. I like that made up name. LOL

I watch 600 lb Life. I get so mad at the people who go to that doctor for help, then just refuse to follow his instructions, but then I realize that even thought I know what to do to lose this weight, I still stray. It is no excuse that I weigh much less than they do.

I always say if I could just lose the weight I would make darn sure I never regained. What makes me think I'm better than everyone else? I've heard that the regain can come so fat you don't even realize it. Unfortunately, I've never lost enough to find out.

Sandy, you're welcome to join me in the locked room. I'd have someone to talk to and commiserate with. But remember, there will be no food other than what we NEED.

It was like that when I was in the hospital. I just got the meals served and that's it. Some people have family members bring food in for them. To me, that's just wrong. I had heart disease and diabetes, and they were giving me a diet suited for those issues. It taught me how I SHOULD be eating and I did follow it for a while after I was released and lost some weight. But eventually, I waivered.

Greetings and Salutations!

Carol Sue: I read an article while waiting for my husband at the pain clinic this morning which seemed to imply that increasing exercise, even by a vast amount, doesn't necessarily lead to a greater expenditure of calories for energy. I was only half awake and was having trouble wrapping my brain around it. They compared sedentary people to people who are moderately active who ate the same amount of calories. The active people didn't lose weight and the sedentary people didn't gain weight. It went on to say that increasing activity might lead to a small increase in calories burned for energy. Greatly increasing activity didn't lead to a great increase in caloriesburned to produce the energy required for increasing the activity to begin with. I think the basic point was that we all have certain set points based on our level of activity over time. I guess it makes sense as I've wondered sometimes why friends or relatives with desk jobs who eat as much as I do don't become immense, or, why I, with a strenuous job, eat the same amount as they do and don't become waifish. I didn't get to finish the article, so I don't know if there was light at the end of the tunnel or not. So, don't despair, sister! We are just hapless victims of arbitrary set points! LOL. Let's all have ice cream and call it a day....

Sandy: I wish I had more time to garden. We have an acre lot here and grow a lot of vegetables in three garden spots. The greasy beans are an heirloom bean from Kentucky. They are fantastic. I save seed to replant year to year, but I sometimes run out and order them from an Appalachian heirloom seed company. They say things like, "Ora's speckled variety was found between the floorboards of an abandoned Appalachian homestead and carefully cultivated....." Don't know about all that, but the beans sure are good simmered with a hamhock and eaten with a hunk of cornbread and sliced brandywine tomatoes. I brought creek rock from KY and made a shade garden up here. I love to do it, but seems there's no time. Did you try the crockpot yogurt?

Andi: I think I was in your neck of the woods this morning. I took my husband to Miami Valley Hospital and we stopped at the Golden Corral in Beavercreek on the way home. We call it "Dinner and a Movie", you get to eat dinner and watch the people fight over the hot fried chicken when they put it out. We headed back East on 35, and the trail between Beavercreek and Xenia runs close to there, I think. I've never been on that spur. It's mostly rural where I am, and I've ridden it alone, but it's creepy at times. I've seen an angry beaver, a portly, vicious groundhog, a furtive fox, and two or three guys who gave off decidedly bad vibes. Ohio is an open carry state, I've thought about strapping on my holster and just heading out. I hate feeling apprehensive in what would otherwise be such a peaceful experience.

Terapet: Are you ok out there?

You guys take care. I, personally, am taking a nap to sleep off my dinner and a movie...

April

Random Thought: I wonder if Adkins could thwart the set point thing, since it doesn't really work so much by increasing the number of calories burned, but more by changing the fuel which the body burns? I did Adkins 15 years or so ago and lost 30 pounds relatively quickly. But the thought of all that meat.....ugh. I don't eat much meat, and have actually tried to be a vegetarian a few times. It was always bacon that knocked me off the wagon. It's a good thing there isn't bacon ice cream. They'd have to lock me in that room with Carol Sue.....

I've been feeling defeated the past couple of days. Just have to shake it off and get back at it. I'm going to consider Adkins if nothing else works over the next two months. Last resort. Sigh.

Hello O Fellow Aspirants to Weight Reduction:

I've been thus far unsuccessful in my quest to find someone to pick up my Super Bowl Sunday. Probably better to work anyway! Beware the Super Bowl Party indulgences!

Have a great weekend!

April

Hi Girls!

April, don't be 'deflated'! There is no way I could go to Golden Corral and eat with any kind of restraint, and I'm sure I gain a pound with every visit! I like the "Dinner and a Movie" comment HAHA. Also there's a lot of sodium in their food that makes us retain water = weigh more.

Yes, the Creekside trail is parallel with 35W all the way into Xenia...you probably crossed over it when you got onto 35 at N. Fairfield Rd (unless you took the back way).

I've actually done well with Atkins in the past too, and I understand that they have loosened the rules and we can eat more vegetables. There's something about protein that's very filling, which is why it works. I had to stop when my hair started to fall out (true story). It's probably fine for a while, but I wouldn't do it for a lifetime.

Getting ready to leave work... there's a tennis lesson this evening and some extra practice time offered on Sunday afternoon which I plan to take advantage of.

Everyone have a good weekend and be careful of the super bowl snacks!!

Andi

Hi everyone my names Dolly. I've been doing very well controlling my diet (once our house guests moved out recently) I had so many tempting wrong foods in our walk-in pantry but thankfully I'm back on track.

Hi Ladies! I did not mean to stay away for so long. Time just flys by sometimes. Plus, I have just been lax on the weight loss front the past week. Still working on getting in the right mindset!

April-Please do not berate yourself on that small gain when you expected a loss. These things take time! Congrats on that NSV (non scale victory) for avoiding that ride home snack. Now just keep doing that. Perhaps there is another habit to conquer that will speed things up. I have a rather long list of bad habits myself that I continually have to work to keep in line, otherwise I will gain weight big time. I love sweets of all kinds and alcohol and bread and chips and crackers. I rarely can give up everything at once so I whittle away and get used to not eating them until eventually I am doing a good job and then the weight loss will finally follow. Right now I am doing better with some of those things but not all of them and actually still doing pretty bad with some of them. The holidays kind of cranked up the what I call the "bad calorie" demon and I have yet to get things in control. I have before though so I have confidence I will again. Especially with all the kind people like yourself here to help me!

Also-I am a firm believer in the set point thing. I read a book called The Calorie Myth. The good news is you can reset the set point. If I recall this correctly, to move it down will require eating less for an extended period of time. Also, there is a lot about not all calories being equal. Apparently those sugar bad boys are to avoided whenever possible-those convert to fat very quickly and apparently reek havoc in your body. (Sugar refers to more than just the white stuff in the bag-bread, crackers, chips etc are all culprits!)

Welcome Orange2!

Thanks for the welcome Terapet, the Calorie Myth Book sounds very interesting.

Hello Chubby Chickadees!

I was curious about my laser focused obsession with ice-cream and bacon. I did a quick search and this is what I found:

"Studies have shown the same area of the brain that lights up on MRI scans when people use drugs, also shows increased activity when people consume, or even look at, high-fat, high-sugar foods like ice cream or bacon."

"According to The Telegraph, a study performed by the Oregon Research Institute showed that ice cream does in fact have "addictive properties."

"Regular ice cream-eaters experience diminishing returns of pleasure, and seek ever-larger portions to compensate."

"Is Häagen-Dazs ice cream as addictive as heroin? Or, put another way, is heroin as addictive as Häagen-Dazs?"

Sooooo.....that explains a lot! I need ice cream rehab!

Terapet: So good to see you back! I am curious about the set point theory. I'd read before that when you continuously reduce your calories, your body compensates by resetting itself to function efficiently on the reduced calorie amount without changes in weight. This article I read the other day seemed to imply that increasing exercise doesn't necessarily increase the rate at which the food we consume is converted to energy. That's why I was wondering about Adkins, because it works by causing your body to dip into fat stores for energy by depriving it of readily available carbohydrates. I just don't know if I can face it, much less embrace it, as I did in my 30's. Who knows if it would be as effective in my 50's? I don't know. Maybe I'm just too lazy to restructure my entire diet in such a restrictive fashion. That might be what it takes to break the ice cream addiction. But hey, I could eat all the bacon I want!

Andi: Thanks for the encouragement to not throw in the towel. I hope you enjoyed your tennis this weekend! It is so beautiful outside that it seems to be saying that it wont be long before warm weather arrives. I think the trail I frequent is called "The Jamestown Connector". I've ridden to where it ends at the Fayette county line. Nothing out there but cornfields and trees. It's tranquil, but a little unsettling because of the isolation. Maybe I watch too many shows on the "ID channel". The last time I road toward Xenia, the trail wasn't completed yet and dead ended somewhere around Hwy 68, I think. I rode it with my stepson, who was 27 at the time, in 95 degree weather. It about did us both in! I understand there is a tunnel now, and that you can ride all the way into Xenia. It's also a very isolated stretch of corn fields and trees. I heard that someone was raped on the trail somewhere around Hogeye road. My husband said they were talking about it at the gas station, so who knows? I walk my dogs on parts of the trail almost daily. I haven't ridden my bike in so long, I don't know if it is still even salvageable. I intend to find out!

Welcome Orange2! It's so fantastic that the internet allows us to meet folks on the other side of the world as well as on the other side of Xenia! Good job staying on track!

I worked until 3:30am, but did find someone to pick up my shift today. I get to stay home and watch the SuperBowl after all! In the mean time, I need coffee!

"Get busy living or get busy dying"

April

I almost forgot:

Andi: How long were you doing Adkins before your hair started falling out? I wonder what caused that?

Finally got my ticker and moved the wrong way. Grrrr.....

Terapet, I agree with the set-point and I think you have to stay at the new set point for a while because your body will be constantly trying to get back to the old set point. So, you must continue the same as you were for a while even though you are at goal. That explains why we instantly have a regain if we relax even a little bit.

Welcome Orange2. Hello Dolly, well Hello Dolly! Good to hear you got all the temptation cleaned out of your pantry. I hope you enjoyed them instead of just throwing them away, or gave them to someone else to enjoy. LOL

April, I have already heard about exercise not contributing much to weight loss and I agree with that one too. But exercise is important for so many other healthy reasons. It strengthens your heart and lungs, increases lung capacity, lowers blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, and it is the only way to increase HDL, according to my cardiologist. It increases your indurance, balance, mood, and can act as an appetite supressant. Weight training can increase muscle mass and cause you to automatically burn more calories, but the muscle weighs more than fat and will add to the weight on the scale. But lean muscle looks so much better than flab, don't you thing? LOL

We have never been to Golden Corral because it is in a town that we rarely go to. We only go out that way if I want something from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Bad neighborhood. If they ever put one in the opposite direction we will probably try it out.

Andi, I did Atkins back in my 30s. It worked great for me to maintain because I lived alone and didn't have to prepare carbs for someone else like I have to do now. Since that time, I have done a lot of reading about nutrition and I am a firm believer in the need for vegetables in our diets, and lots of them. I post on a low carb forum where many of the people do Atkins Induction all the time, and some actually do zero carb. I mind my own business because I know they don't want to hear it. I realize that being overweight is not healthy either, but I feel that vegetables are necessary for the vitamins and phytoneutrients. I cut way back on starchy carbs, but so many people won't eat veggies because of the carbs.

Hi Chicks!

The subject today is "Sometimes our loved one's try too hard "

I tried to have a healthy weekend, playing tennis on Friday and again for an hour and a half on Sunday...when my DBF volunteered to make dinner and come spend the evening with me Sun evening for Superbowl. He had spend all afternoon making homemade Eggplant Parmigiano and even made the sauce from scratch. Said it was because I usually made dinner for us both once or twice a week and it was his turn. It was absolutely delicious, but at the same time I couldn't possibly excuse myself from eating what was a labor of love for him and hurt his feelings. :-( I guess he thought that because it used eggplant instead of pasta it was healthy in some way. (not)

Although I enjoyed it and told him so, now I pay for it on the scale. Why oh why does food relate to relationships or good times? <your answer here!>

I put the leftovers in the freezer and again am thinking about the dreaded Adkins option. (thanks, April and Carol Sue!).

When I first tried Atkins, I was in my 40's and competing with my single man boss (about 8 years senior -mild crush) He did great on it because men love big fatty pieces of meat. I can't stand to eat fatty meat so could only tolerate lean protein, which could have been my problem. I was on the plan about 4 months I think, but when I noticed my hair shedding at a faster rate, I quit. Here's an article describing this.

I think a modified Adkins approach is best, and I'm willing to try this as long as low-starch veggies are included. (no potatoes, bread, peas, corn, rice). Believe it or not, after a while you don't crave these things, because they contain the most sugar, which is the thing that creates cravings in the first place.

I may try this for a couple of weeks and see if things get easier...

Andi

Hello Lovely Ladies!

Carol Sue: I agree with everything you said about exercise being an important asset to overall health. What is really bothering me is that I find when I exercise as a part of a weight loss plan, and I don't, in fact, lose weight, I then begin to view exercise as tedious drudgery as opposed to an opportunity for joyful motion. That, in a nutshell, is why I've been kicking around the notion of Adkins. If I can break my sugar addiction and begin to lose weight without relying on exercise, especially since the studies I mentioned earlier seem to indicate exercise isn't necessarily effective for weight loss, then maybe I will ENJOY exercising again.

Andi: I picked up a copy of one of the Adkins Diet books (I think it's called Adkins new diet revolution, but I'm too tired to go look) when I happened upon it at a second hand store about a month before I joined 3FC. I think I will wait a week, just to eat the things I already have so they aren't wasted, and then go ahead and do the induction. What I'm really considering is trying to lose using Adkins, and once I'm where I want to be, weight wise, switching it up to a more Mediterranean type diet for maintenance. I was going to wait a couple of months, but the more I think about it, why wait? It will just be that much closer to summer and I will, more than likely, still be fighting to lose the same initial 10 pounds that I am now. I do, however, sincerely hope to keep my hair....

As for why food is so related to relationships and good times-Food is Life. And let us not forget that Ice Cream is a legal high!

Have a great day and Get Busy Living.....

April

Adkins Diet? I'm with Carol Sue, I don't like so much meat and would quickly go off it.

Enjoying eating with friends is something almost all people enjoy doing. It combines the best of both. Problem to most of us with weight broblems is that we eat MORE when we are enjoying other people and the food is available.

Someone mentioned Golden Corral. We are disillusioned with the place at this time and avoiding it. We eat better at Asian restaurants that serve food that is not breaded and fried!! I'm even learning to eat only about 1/3 of the rice that is served - finally.

WELCOME DOLLY! You live in place Mom and I have always enjoyed reading about. When our "almost son" was there in December he agrees it was hard to come back to the States.

Lent begins tomorrow, thank goodness. I'm in my late 70's and won't be fasting, but desire to learn discipline with food. I'm blaming most of my problem as a rebellious attitude: I WANT IT!!! especially when Ice cream is involved. Surely any habit that I learned can be UNlearned and changed into a healthier habit.

April Like your rock from Ashland, KY, we brought rocks from the mountain streams we fished and now have back in a beautiful shade garden. THEN: Marti's tree became diseased and my delightful neighbor had to cut down that beautiful tree that shaded my "shade garden". Last year I spent time dividing sun loving Day lilies and placing them in that new sunny area. Rocks stayed, Several Hostas went into pots to enjoy on patio, and the place will look very different this year.

Half of the fun of gardening is adjusting to changing situations.

Why can't I enjoy changing my food as much as I do changing the garden?

Haven"t tried the Yogurt yet, DH is in charge of the kitchen and it isn't as easy as it was when I had complete charge. With 5 iron skillets in oven, I don't have room to get in much, and I'd be so angry if I had temperature just right and DD#2 decides to fix one of her delicious specialties and turns on oven to 350 deg!!!

I feel like myself today and asthma is tamed down so I can do normal things. Yesterday I walked the Mall and got lots of steps. Today will be home all day but financial work will comsume the day till WVU plays Oklahoma tonight and I do want to watch that. Help me root for WVU, please.

Sandy