Thanks Carol- I will keep at it too!
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Please to announce a confirmed half pound loss. I will update my sidebar to -40 lbs (from -39.5 lbs).

My other numbers looked better this week too. I think the worst of my work stress is over and after this week things should be much better.

I have noticed that I am wanting to eat to help me manage my stress. I am quite proud of myself for not giving in even though I would really like to. I am still eating higher than my target but I should still be able to see losses even at this level. It is a new week so the calorie overage I was tracking is reset to 0.

Bunny is very sad. The vipers lied and lied about Bunny. There is nothing Bunny can do about it and Bunny is really tried. Falcon turned out to be a bit of a bust. Bunny is losing its job. Bunny knows things will work out for the best but doesn't feel great right now.

Well, I don't know what to think. I ate under my target for at least two weeks this month. The other days that I was over my target I wasn't over enough to stop my weight loss. This is in theory of course because in reality, my weight loss has stalled. Despite hitting new low weights this month and making another 10 pound loss official, it looks like I will have a small gain this month. Everything else is up too. I believe a lot if it is due to stress which will get much better after this week.

Supposedly, weight loss plateaus can last 8-12 weeks which is too long in my opinion. My...

Oh my gosh! I just realized I can actually confirm another half pound loss this week. I will change my sidebar from to -40.5 lbs (from -40 lbs). I was so focused on the unofficial monthly weights I totally forgot to check my official weight from this morning against last week's official weight. More good news, I have another half pound waiting in the wings for confirmation. It is so weird how the official and unofficial weights can vary.

To clarify a little bit for those that may just be picking up my saga, I have a weekly weigh-in day that I consider my "official" weigh-in weight. It is just a random weekday, in this case Sunday, that I have designated to use to compare my weights across time. In order for me to confirm a loss, I need to see it on at least two Sundays. Anything extra is waiting in the wings for confirmation. For my monthly weight check, I look at my weight on the last day of the month and the first day of the month. Of those two, I pick which one to use for the monthly weight. I consider these weights as "unofficial" and they are often lower than my official weight.

All that to say, I seem to be on-track for my weekly loss but the monthly loss seems to be stalled. To carry-on what I was saying above with regards to weight loss plateaus, my last plateau lasted nearly two years. It was a struggle to keep it off. Then when my weight loss started again in July of this year, ten pounds came off really rapidly. So even though 8-12 weeks is a long time, it is much better than two years.

:bunny2:You can do it, Pipsicle!

Thanks Carol!
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New Low Weight!

-43.5, unconfirmed

Bunny has left her job of over a decade. Falcon was a total bust and cost bunny lots of carrots. Vipers are probably laughing. Bunny has new job.

New Low Weights!

-44 lbs, unconfirmed (yesterday)

-44.5 lbs, unconfirmed (today)

This puts me in a new tens place for my weight!

Great news - another half pound loss has been confirmed. I will update my sidebar to show my total loss as 41 pounds (from 40.5). Even better, I have one more pound waiting in the wings for confirmation.

Last week was tough and was my last week at a place I had worked at for over a decade. It was an ugly situation as it was repeatedly stated my work quality and volume were really good. However, someone didn't like me so I had to go. I have a new job which pays better but no benefits. It is also temporary. I should be able to build on it though.

Yesterday, I felt fantastic. I gave up on trying to limit my calories especially with the leftover Halloween candy in the house. I also went out to dinner on Friday night and ate whatever I wanted. So for my calorie window 5 pm Friday to 5 pm Saturday the total was nearly twice what my usual limit is. I was so happy! Additionally, my workout on Saturday was phenomenal! Back to reality today though, or rather starting at 5 pm yesterday. Instead of the usual day midnight to midnight, I have found using 5 pm- 5 pm works much better for me.

In the past when using midnight as my reset time, I would be staying up just to eat. I am unable to fall asleep if I am really hungry. Now my challenging time is 2 pm- 5 pm rather than 9 pm- midnight. It is much easier to muscle through those three hours without eating midday than late at night.

Oh how the tide turns...

I have been struggling the last couple of weeks. My incorrigible appetite has returned along with extra helping of fatigue. I really tried last week. I was able to stay below my calorie target half of the week. However, the other half I was over by a lot. So much so, when I average the total calorie count for the week, I am eating enough to be nearly twenty pounds above my current weight. Rats!

I was so excited on the fifth when I hit that new low weight. Now, I will be lucky to end the month without a gain. This is such a fickle journey. Historically, I use to lose the most during this time of year. My weight is more or less somewhat steady but I expect it to start edging up soon. The weigh-in this morning was only a half pound above the last official weigh-in. My FBS looked good this morning. My BP is still not great.

We traveled for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, one of our housemates came down with Covid. They learned they had been exposed to someone who had Covid just after we all had a big dinner together. I sat right next to them! As soon as they started showing symptoms, my daughter and I left. We flew home four days early from our trip. So far, I am fine. My daughter is not feeling so well right now though. Since it has been so long since we saw our friend. If she is sick, it seems more likely something she picked up on the airplane or in the airport.

Looks like I didn't post last Sunday. Last Sunday, I was able to confirm another half pound loss. I will update my sidebar to 41.5 pounds (from -41 lbs).

The last eight days have been perfectly on plan. As a result, this Sunday I am able to show a half pound GAIN. UGH!! It is unconfirmed though so no change to my sidebar. I really wish my efforts and failures would show on the scale immediately. This week was hard and it is disappointing that there is no positive reinforcement on official weigh-in day. Most of the unofficial weights this week were lower. My disappointment has translated directly into going over today. The part of me that feels this is a worthless endeavor, feels empowered by the incongruent result on the scale and that part has won over today. It is the part that says if keeping to my calorie limit doesn't amount to a loss, why bother. I may as well eat what I want. I am already over on calories and still have over 5 hours to go.

I like the ketone test strips to give me some positive reinforcement but they have been negative lately. I was thinking this means I wasn't burning any fat. However, I have a vague memory of reading something that said as weight loss goes on the body gets better at using ketones as fuel so their are none left over. As such, the ketone test strips would be negative because the body is using all of it. I really hope that is true. My FBS and BP are still too high.

The last eight days were tough. It's going to get tougher. I have realized that I need to lower my calorie allotment to account for the weight have lost since July, a whopping 16.5 pounds. Some of it was recycled weight but 12.5 pounds were new losses! Plus, it is the holiday season.

This takes me to the monthly wrap up. I hadn't scored October yet because I was waiting for the end of November to settle on the numbers to use. I am recording a half pound loss for each month. As this rate, it will take me six years (i.e., 2190 days) to get to my goal weight. If I use my theoretical calculations based on my daily calorie deficit, it should only be 290 days. Of course, my theoretical calculations are just that, theoretical. My real world numbers never keep pace with the theory.

So eight days with a 285 calorie deficit, four days with a 385 calorie deficit and three days at maintenance level equals a two pound gain. I found this so frustrating the voice that tells me I can't lose weight so I may as well eat what I want has won out over the last two days. Today at 5:00 pm, I have restarted on plan. Still so disappointed.

The holiday spirit is just not with me this year. I had it in early November and I am not sure where it went. Eaten up by the Covid scare I guess. My daughter came down with Covid last Monday and we had to go to the ER on Wednesday. She is fine for now but they found an issue in her EKG. There will be more follow up in the near future and I am really worried for her.

Merry Christmas!!

I didn't post last week because I took a last minute weekend trip. Not the best timing but it was really fun.

No big changes on the scale either way. I am just holding my own at this point. I am hoping to do well enough this week to eek out a loss for the month. It is hard to believe a new year is nearly upon on us.

I am trying to make the most of this week without trying harder. If I try harder, it triggers my uncontrollable subconscious and I gain about 5 pounds. I wish I were being sarcastic or exaggerating but it is true.

To make the most of this week, I will continue doing the things that I know work for me. I also intend to add some things in that should help me. I am avoiding any thoughts of additional restriction at all costs to avoid triggering my uncontrollable subconscious. We'll see how it goes. So far tonight went okay. Only 6 more days until the new year.

This week I am thinking about doing daily check-ins. It won't really be trying harder and it is a good outlet for my feelings on this. Since it is the last week of the year, it feels like there is more riding on it. In the end though, I need to remember it is just a regular week and there really isn't anything to stress out over.

So far this week of not really trying harder because if I do, I am guaranteed a big gain, I am up a half a pound. On Sunday, my official weigh-in day, my weight was -41 pounds. That's a half pound above my confirmed loss on the sidebar, 1.5 pounds above my starting weight for the month and 3.5 pounds above my unofficial lowest weight. Today I am at -40.5 pounds. No big deal, it is just a natural fluctuation. Thoroughly expected after such a lovely holiday.

I am not doing any additional restrictions this week. I am just going to keep doing what I have been doing with an eye to adding some things in. Nope, no extra trying hard this week here. In fact, going to add stuff. There's no reason to panic because there will be plenty. Specifically, I am going to add in more fiber and just a couple of little exercises for the swelling in my feet. I might add in more fruit and vegetables. Either way, I will still eat whatever I want and keep doing the other things that have worked. Keep calm and carry on.

For the calorie window that ended at 5:00 pm yesterday, I did great. After 5:00 pm, not so great despite my best efforts and I went over. Today, I am just trying to minimize the damage. I am hoping my plan works and will carry me through to 5:00 pm.

I am so frustrated with how difficult this is. Even though I know what I am eating is going to push me over on calories, I do it anyway. This is something I have been trying to manage for years. I'd rather saying I am trying to 'fix' it but there is no fixing this. It seems this will always be my problem unless I've just had COVID.

It is lunchtime and I am really hungry. I have my minimizing damage plan but I am worried it is not enough. I will try though. As long as I keep trying there is hope I can win the war even if I do lose some of the battles. Wish me luck- preferably the good kind.

Happy New Year!

Hope your year is off to a better start than mine. I managed to 'gain' 4 pounds between yesterday morning and this morning. I know it is just a natural fluctuation but, geez, how discouraging. My week of not trying but trying did not pay off. For whatever reason, yesterday morning was hard. I weighed myself. Then I did a couple of things (i.e., changed clothes to ones I know weigh less and a restroom break) that should have edged the scale down. It stayed the same and it was just so demoralizing. It really should have edged down a little bit. Since it didn't, it just made me feel so hopeless with regards to my weight loss efforts. I feel like if it weren't the end of the year and if the last few days hadn't been okay-ish, it wouldn't have hit so hard. I was going to stick to the plan for one more day but at about 2:15 pm yesterday, I just gave up. I just felt like no matter what I do, it just doesn't matter so why bother. It is carrying through to today as well. Although, I had planned on taking a break today anyway.

Ultimately, I have managed to lose 9 pounds this year. It was all in the three months after my bout with COVID. So weird! Anyway, now I am headed into my 'danger zone' with regards to weight. Typically in the spring, I gain weight. Between now and April are nail biters for if I can manage to lose weight or not. This morning's result certainly does not bode well.

I started this recent weight loss journey on January 1, 2018. I am 1461 days in and have lost an average of .02 pounds per day. In 2018, I joined this site and took a year long class geared towards weight loss. The result? I gained 10 pounds. Yes, that's correct; I gained 10 pounds. It wasn't until the middle of 2019 that I actually started losing weight. In fact, I often consider June 1, 2019 as the better start date for this round of attempted weight loss. Below is a summary of my last few years of trying to lose. It really highlights how bad the spring is for my weight. In many cases, the latter part of the year the weight loss compensates for the spring gain. Considering I am down -41.5 pounds 'officially', I have been successful. It is just so very sloooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww!

2018: +10 lbs
2019: -14 lbs (Jun-Dec -17 lbs)
2020: -13.5 lbs
2021: -4 lbs (May-Dec -9.5 lbs)
2022: -9 lbs (Jul-Nov -16.5 lbs)

In theory, 399 days to go. Based on past performance, 857 days to go. Just need to keep at it!!