Introductions! (Can we re-introduce ourselves in light of recent events?)
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My name is Jamie. I am 32 years old, 5'6" and 192 lbs. I gained about 60 lbs in 2 years and have kept it on for about 3 now, although my highest was 220-something. Something finally clicked in me recently and I decided it was time to get serious about weight loss. I had been trying halfheartedly for all of those years and when I would give it my all, I wouldn't see any results and I would get discouraged and stop trying.
I have PCOS and that was what was making it more difficult for me to lose weight, I knew that and used it as a crutch. A couple of weeks ago I started doing research and decided to really dive in. I have a realistic comprehensive plan which includes eating low carb. It is working so far and I am really happy right now.0 -
Hello. My name is Tammy.
I'm 41 years old.
Mother of 2 - 21 year old daughter and 20 year old son (2 weeks closer together and they would be Irish twins).
I raised them as a single mother since 1995 (they were barely 2 and 1 when I divorced, their father chose to not be in their lives at all).
I had no problem maintaining a healthy weight until my kids got to an age where they didn't really need me anymore, I gained a few pounds and took a couple of years to take them off. I'm 5'8" and my happy place of easy weight maintenance is 150 lbs +/- 5 lbs.
I got married again (for the last time) last year in March.0 -
Hi everyone, I am perhaps one of the very few vegetarians (if any) attempting low(er) carb here. I am 47yrs, 132lbs and 5'7".
I have been on LC starting Jan this year and came across this woe while searching for a way to manage my T2 diabetes. While my weight wan't a problem, it took me 10-12 years in relating carbs to blood sugar. Lol. (I always focused on sugar value on labels and didn't have much luck). I mostly eat veggies and dairy nowadays and find that it is difficult to over eat on these. My carbs are around 60-80g/day, way high compared to many here, but seem to work for my goals.
So far I have been counting calories meticulously in mfp. with my weight 3-4 lbs lower than where I want to be, I am planning to just focus on what I eat for a few weeks and not how much. Of course, I intend to weigh daily. Let's see where it takes me.0 -
Hi there, I was just approved for this group tonight. My RL name is Judi but around MFP, Divediva2. I am 57yo/F/5"1.5"/194.7lbs. I have been on a diet for most of my adult life. Sad really because when I look back my true gain of weight was not until my mid 30s after having my kids. I stayed home and wasn't really happy so I ate. I have worked part time until recently and am now retired. My first retirement project was to get my health back, my weight reasonable and to be fitter. Has not happened. I have been going to a personal trainer and really love what the gym has done for me. I am fitter now than I ever have been. But no weight loss???? What up with that.
About two weeks ago I came across the Whole30 program. I have been researching because I have hypo thyroidism and pre diabetes. From my reading I am most likely insulin resistant but have not been diagnosed. Many of the articles on thyroid mention diet and auto immune. Enter Whole30. If you aren't familiar, it is not a diet for weight loss. It is a nutritional reset program that has you eliminate soy, sugar, legumes, grains, dairy and alcohol. There are some food additives in processed foods that are not allowed, soy letchicin, MSG, carageenan and sulfites. You follow the program for 30 days, in that time you must not weigh yourself or measure. You are not to calorie count either! After your 30 days you can choose to add foods back in but in an orderly manner so that if you react you know which food is the cause.
Lots of prep and planning later and I started on Monday. I have noticed that there is a great deal of Paleo crossover and low carb. As of today, Day 3, I have noticed some change. No bloating or flatulence. I'm eating 3 meals a day and feeling satisfied. It is a ton of work prepping your food from scratch as most processed foods will contain one of the above ingredients. I have learned to read labels very well!
I've tracked my food on MFP for over 1145 days! I am really hoping to continue on and find out if there are any foods I am sensitive too. I'd be lying if I said I did not care about weight loss, I do. I think eating this way may be my answer. Counting calories on their own has not done the job. I have plateaued for 10 months! Seriously I have lost and regained the same 3-5lbs over this time frame.
Looking forward to meeting and joining conversations. Ones that are not riddled with bitter comments!0 -
I'm Mike from Vancouver BC. I'm 53 and started my weight loss last September at 255 pounds. Currently at 187# I'm 68 pounds along the way to my goal weight (which is somewhat vague at present - I'll see how it feels when I'm near). I'm a distance runner primarily and do body weight strength work at home.
Am I a low-carber? Don't know! I aim for 35% carbs, might adjust down a bit (was before). When I was gaining and holding weight I was probably eating 60-75% carbs. I'd eat relatively healthy at dinner but found breakfast, lunch and snacks at home were invariably carb laden.
As for mix I primarily try to avoid too-high carbs, attempt to get near my protein goal or at a significant % of the goal on high activity days, and I kinda let fats float wherever they will end. I'm not afraid of fats. My BP and blood work tell me I don't need to be right now anyway.
I've been trying to see if I can be fat-adapted for running but mostly I'm just trying to find a balanced approach to eating that is sustainable for the long term. I do believe very high carb diets are not ideal for me especially if I'm sedentary (which doesn't happen now).
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Hello, My name is Heather. I am 36, 5'5" and 260lbs. I have been doing a Nutritional Ketogenic diet for 75 days now. I decided to do it as Nothing else has worked or has just exasperated my PCOS symptoms. My husband has been a great support and even joined me. He is at a 51lb loss, I am at a 19.6lb loss. I cannot wait until after next week and I am done with classes so I can become less seditary.0
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Hello, My name is Heather. I am 36, 5'5" and 260lbs. I have been doing a Nutritional Ketogenic diet for 75 days now. I decided to do it as Nothing else has worked or has just exasperated my PCOS symptoms. My husband has been a great support and even joined me. He is at a 51lb loss, I am at a 19.6lb loss. I cannot wait until after next week and I am done with classes so I can become less seditary.0
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Hi,
I am 55 years old and currently 229 lb. Have been a yoyo dieter for most of my life until I said enough about 5 years ago. Started eating a healthier diet and sort of fell into lower carb naturally. The weight fell off me and I began to research why. Got down to 205 lb without even trying and maintained for about 2years. (I am 5' 10" so was quite happy at that weight) Unfortunately let things slip and once I started back on the carbage the cravings started again and the weight piled back on.
Have been back lower carbing for about a month and so far lost 6lb. I am eating between 50 and 100 carbs a day. Not tracking calories as that is the way of madness FOR ME! My gerd has disappeared and my asthma much improved. At last I feel like I have some energy. Hoping to maintain this woe for life.
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I'm Diana, but friends and family call me Dee (my name is pronounced like Dee-Anna, unlike its spelling, thanks to my Puerto Rican roots). I'm 38 years old and had my fourth and final child in September (finally got my son!). My oldest is 14 and lives with her father in upstate N.Y. whereas I'm currently in Houston, TX, with the hubby and the three little ones, who are 3, almost 2, and 9 months. I've been overweight since high school (tried to join the U.S. Navy right after high school but weighed too much). I gained just over 30 lbs with my first pregnancy at 23 and took a long time to take it back off. I was vegetarian at the time (lacto ovo), which made my first attempt at Atkins very difficult for me. I quit after just a few days. A few years later I had a roommate who was a decent cook and convinced me to eat meat and try Atkins again. That time I successfully lost a few pounds, but we all slipped back to our old ways after a couple months and gained everything back. In graduate school I got to my lowest adult weight on the Natalia Rose Raw Food Detox Diet. I felt fantastic, but it was difficult to sustain. I kept the weight off for a couple years, but not because I kept eating healthy. I started a half pack a day Camel habit, a pot a day coffee habit, and drank heavily a few days a week. The weight crept back on when I started working full time, being less active, and eating free cafeteria food. I was around 175 when my husband and I got together, but three pregnancies in a row without recovery time between left me at my highest which was 236 this February. I had been researching a bit about weight loss and decided low carb was going to be best once the baby weaned from breastfeeding, but I decided to start reducing my carbs while he was still nursing, so I started slow, cutting down to 80 carbs then 40. I went from 236 to 208 between late February and the end of May. I'm not weighing this month because I was making myself crazy with numbers on the scale. I'm hoping I'll be close to 199 when I weigh again, but I will be happy with an average of a pound a week this month. I've started working out regularly this month too. I'm not sure where I want to end up weight wise. I'd like to wear size 14 pants comfortably and medium shirts. That's the size I was at my smallest, still overweight at around 165 lbs on my 5'1" frame. I currently try to stay around 25 carbs daily, but I'm not stressing too much about it this month as I'm focusing on making this more of a lifestyle than a diet so I will be more likely to maintain it long term. I love this WOE and all the fantastic foods I can eat! The things I don't allow myself always made me feel like crap anyway.0
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Hi All. I am a 53, 5'3" year old female who has struggled with my weight for most of my adult life. I reached a high of 275+ lbs in 1998 and a low of 121 lbs in 2010 (after Atkins). I currently weigh 155 lbs and my goal is 120 lbs. I keep gaining and losing 10 lbs since December. I lost 98 lbs in 10 months from 2009-2010 eating low carb and exercising almost daily. I had skin removal surgery in 2010 and have had pain, swelling, and weight gain since then.
Medically, I had uncontrolled type 2 diabetes even with 2 insulins and metformin prior to my weight loss. That's still over although I periodically have my AIC checked. Diagnosed with a pituitary tumor and PCOS in 2000. Diagnosed with lymphedema in 2011. Diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis last year. Almost killed in a car accident last year and had to have much of my small intestine removed. I have less than 5 feet remaining. I was in a coma and on a feeding tube for almost month and lost 20 lbs. I lost 10 more after being discharged but I keep gaining it and more back. I take thyroid and blood pressure medication and several supplements: zinc, potassium, probiotic, selenium, magnesium, Bs (every other day). and D3. I substitute copper for zinc once a week.
I have been tested for food allergies and sensitivities by an allergist, 2 kinesiologists, and with Leap MRT (blood test). There has been some variation but most agree that I cannot eat grains, soy, nightshades, dairy, fructose, Italian spices, or salmon. I may have left something out and the jury is out regarding eggs. I also loaded my DNA (genes) into Nutrahacker and the results were very similar and it recommended a ketogenic diet. I am following the first phase of Leap MRT omitting the grains and fruit for three weeks. There are 5 phases in which I will add different foods. I am eating LCHFMP. I am usually below 1000 calories and am working on that.
I do not exercise at all now but I hope to soon. In the past, I was only ever to consistently lose weight when I exercised.0 -
I don't know what the recent events were but @Kitnthecat told me it was a carnage. She didn't really used that word but anywhoo...
My name is Astharteea ( Asharteea) I'm 33 years old and I gained 80 lbs in the past 8 years due to depression and some sort of verbal abuse in the beginning of my marriage.
I moved to USA in July 2006 all by myself ( straight out of college) met my husband several months later and got married in Feb 2007.
I gained 10 lbs yearly and 4 years ago I started getting desperate when I saw my weight getting up to 178 lbs and then 183 .
I tried WW and I lost 15 lbs and I was so happy
but then I lost interest, stopped and gained it all back.
2 years ago I asked my doctor for Phentermine, he prescribed it and I frigging loved it. That thing was magic! My depression went away and I couldn't remember to eat. I lost 15 lbs again...but the doc didn't prescribed it anymore since it's believed not to work after 3 months. So...here I was back to 195.
In January, 2015... I reached a new level of desperate, 208 lbs so I decided to start a 13 days metabolic diet so I did, on Feb 23 after I had my annual lab tests and My doctor said I was in perfect health. I lost 13 lbs in 13 days and out of curiosity I looked and checked the macros and realized that besides being a VLCD it was also low in carbs. Some days there were 0 and some days there were under 30 grams. So, I started to think if there's such thing as carb intolerance that I might suffer from. So, reading about it is how I discovered the ketogenic diet.
After the 13 days I had a carb fest for 1 week, from Giant NY style pizza to hoagies and cakes and you get the idea. So.... I started the keto/ low carb in March something.
I had some up and downs when I was in social gatherings, cocktails, chocolate, French fries but I always bounced back the next day or after the weekend was done. So I gained and lost some lbs and here I am 27 lbs later, still obese but on the right path.
I didn't see my family back in Europe since 2006 because I'm too ashamed of my weight. Everybody remembers me skinnier. A little round but not obese. When I got here I was probably 130 lbs. as seen in this picture.
I want to get back to that if not even lower.
So I guess you just wanted a name not a life story but hey! ) 0 -
Good to see you out here Ash ! No I didn't say "carnage" but it still was surprising to me, since I can be an idealist who seeks harmony.
This is the best group ever, so you are bound for success !0 -
Hi all. My name is Deb. I've been in this forum (as well as the Keto group ) for quite a while although I'm not a super-active poster. I'll be 56 in a few weeks (how did that happen? ). My highest weight was over 190- not really sure- as I avoided scales for a long time. I'm 5'1. I was told I had insulin resistance about 10 years ago after hypoglycemia symptoms let me to having a glucose tolerance test. This showed me to have glucose levels in the 40s with corresponding insulin levels over 300. Yikes. Funny, no one told me that carbs were causing the problem. I thought I was eating healthy. A couple of years ago I started reading about the Paleo diet and that's where my low carb "epiphany " began. I now eat a ketogenic diet, have lost around 60 lbs and feel fantastic. I can't remember the last time I felt hypoglycemic. My lab work is great. I strength train for muscle and bone health and all around hotness. Oh, I do love a beer every few weeks, but I make it fit my macros (5%c 25%p, 75%f).0
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Hi, I'm Emma -- 59, 5'2", 185 lbs today down from 210 on March 11th -- I'm kind of following Paul Jaminet's The Perfect Health Diet, which is basically moderate carb and allows what he calls "safe starches" -- 1/2 cup of white rice, sweet potato, some fruit.... I find I gravitate to low-carb foods but don't feel well with a VLC diet. Over the past 15 weeks I'm averaging about 22% carbs, 56% fat and 22% protein. I feel great on this, and have had a lot of energy for exercise (mainly hiking and walking.)
I've been fat since I was an infant, with a few periods of thinness here and there with great effort and struggle. The thinnest I've been as an adult was 132 back in the early 80's. Done everything except surgery. Did Optifast back in the 90's. A multiple failure at WWatchers. Atkins I loved but ate too many calories to lose weight. Lost 60 lbs back in 2002-03 by a year of calorie counting -- got to a low of 154 -- then moved in with my boyfriend, ate his large meals, was generally happy, and shot up to 220 over the next 3 years. Up and down 10-15 lbs multiple times, between 200 and 215, for the past 8 years.
My mother once told me that I took after my great-grandmother, who, she said, was "5 by 5" -- we laughed until one day I found one of her beautiful French silk nightgowns from the 1920's in a box, and it was literally 5 feet high and 5 feet wide!
In March I decided I wasn't going to turn 60 in November still futzing around in the 210's. I have flirted with giving up grains for a bit in the past, but this time I made 3 major changes to my diet: 1) gave up all grains except white rice 2) stopped eating anything canned, jarred or boxed (what I call "processed" foods) and 3) started taking probiotics. I also have weighed, measured, counted everything. I chart obsessively, track macros, exercise, weigh myself daily -- on another MFP thread discovered "Trendweight" this week and wrote a blog post about it -- what a neat tool to smooth out the daily ups and downs of weight!
Suddenly, all my struggles over eating have gone away. I've shown a steely consistency which has surprised me. The food decisions -- no grains, no processed foods -- I've made cut out a lot of the "should I eat this or not?" back and forth I used to go through. And it's balanced enough that I can go out occasionally and enjoy a meal and not worry about putting on 5-8 lbs overnight, which is always what happens when I go too low-carb and then eat out.
I've lost 26 lbs in almost 15 weeks -- which is an amazing rate of loss for me. I can see going on like this for the rest of my life. My initial goal was 169 (which used to be, when I was 5'3") the border from obese to overweight. Now that I've shrunk it's 164. Don't know if I can get there by my birthday in November, but I am going to try! If not, by Christmas!
I am so much happier in my clothes -- today I gave away all my "fat pants" and took a pile of stuff to have it taken in -- and in my body; I smile insanely when I'm out walking, and everyone seems to smile back at me.
My final goal right now is 155-159 by sometime next spring. I just am longing, after so many years of being "on a diet" and "trying to lose weight" to get to a weight that I can maintain. I never want to have to lose 50-60 lbs again. The way I'm doing it -- and the data I'm gathering -- makes me hopeful that when I reach my goal I will know exactly what I need to eat and how much I need to exercise to stay within my goal range.
Happy to have found y'all through the kindness of a member who said this group is "thoughtful about nutrition." That's great!0 -
It
It's because our brains don't have carb fog.I can't help but notice this thread, and this entire group, boasts of people who are able to employ excellent grammar, spelling and punctuation in their posts.
And with that said, I hope my own post boasts this Hopefully, I haven't inserted any irony here.
Cheers to the uber literate low carb crowd!
Very true!
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Hi I'm Sue and I live in the UK. I'm 47, very happily married to a wonderful husband with 2 sons who are 20 and 18. I'm 5'3" and have lost 15.6 lbs since May 6th. My goal is to lose another 45 lbs and fit back into my size 10 (UK) clothes - actually I'm more concerned about my size rather than my weight - my goal weight is based on what I weighed last time I fit those clothes but nowadays I do much more exercise and so if I fit into them but end up heavier than my goal then that's fine - it's how I look not how much I weigh that is important to me.
I am following a metabolic balance way of eating - also some people know it as SureSlim - it's what I would call medium low carb - I tend to average around 50-70g of carbs per day - with calories falling around the 1200 to 1500 per day mark. So the macros work out to around 25% carbs, 50% fat, 25% protein. I do have preplanned off plan meals occasionally as I want this way of eating to fit in with real life which involves socialising and holidays etc - but so far I've always managed to get right back on plan at the next meal and so far it's not had too much of an effect on the losses - I keep reminding myself that it's a marathon and not a sprint and so far I'm very pleased with the weight and inches lost in the last 5 weeks.
It's been really nice to read about everyone on this thread - happy to meet you and if anyone wants to friend me you'll be welcome - just mention the low carb forum. I log on everyday and my diary is open to friends.
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I joined this group today apparently after all the drama was over so I'm not sure exactly what happened but I'm super happy and grateful that this group is still here!
I'm 55,female, and have about 100 to lose. I've only been on the keto diet a few days so I'm cautiously hopeful this will be the trick. I tried Atkins many years ago and the part I just couldn't deal with was no fruits at all. I just read the Eat Bacon Don't Jog book and he recommends eating very low carb fruit-- basically berries.
I have a couple of extra hurdles due to some health issues. I have severe hypothyroid and adrenal fatigue and also my liver can't handle very many toxins at all so I eat organic food and drink clean water. Anyway, consequently it is extra difficult for me to lose weight. I think the only thing that really helps is HIIT exercise which I'm working into doing. I'm doing the keto diet because I want to be able to lose weight if possible from something other than exercise. I still plan to exercise I just want more support to get the weight off if that makes sense.
I'm in the process of getting better at selecting the right foods and getting a handle on how this all works. I drink whole milk in my coffee but that actually has higher carbs. I'd rather drink cream or half/half and have more carbs to use for other things. For example, today I'm going to have meatballs (made with almond meal) with tomato sauce so that will add more carbs of course.
Lychee season is here and I'm super bummed they are so high in carbs because that's my fav food but hey I can deal with it in order to get to a healthy weight.
Anyway, as I said I'm really happy to be a part of this LCDF group and I really appreciate how everyone is really responsive to posted questions and willing to share so much.0 -
Calboy2015 wrote: »Hi everyone, I am perhaps one of the very few vegetarians (if any) attempting low(er) carb here. I am 47yrs, 132lbs and 5'7".
I have been on LC starting Jan this year and came across this woe while searching for a way to manage my T2 diabetes. While my weight wan't a problem, it took me 10-12 years in relating carbs to blood sugar. Lol. (I always focused on sugar value on labels and didn't have much luck). I mostly eat veggies and dairy nowadays and find that it is difficult to over eat on these. My carbs are around 60-80g/day, way high compared to many here, but seem to work for my goals.
So far I have been counting calories meticulously in mfp. with my weight 3-4 lbs lower than where I want to be, I am planning to just focus on what I eat for a few weeks and not how much. Of course, I intend to weigh daily. Let's see where it takes me.
How are you doing now with the Diabetes? Are your blood glucose levels lower? Are you taking meds to control your Diabetes?
Dan the Man from Michigan
How I got Off of Diabetic Prescriptions Drugs Since I Started Keto
Blog #13 DittoDan's Milestone's, First's And Good Changes Since Starting the Ketogenic Diet0 -
Hi All! I've been lurking for a few weeks, and apparently landed just post drama as well. Glad to have missed the drama. I've been a moderator on other boards (scuba related) and am very familiar with fanaticism and how people lose their minds behind a keyboard.
I am 58, 6', 330lbs and desperate. I have a history of yo yo dieting, (which I won't bore you with here, pretty typical, I'm guessing) and am coming to loathe my morbid obesity more than I love food. The only thing that gives me a remotely workable strategy is carbohydrate restriction.
To make a long story very short I did Atkins about 15 years ago, lost 50 lbs or so, but got bored and started compromising my carbs and fell off the wagon.
A month ago, depressed, heading for my maximum weight (350ish) the only place I could turn was a low carb regimen. Calories in Calories out and exercise had left me stuck eating under 2500 calories and gaining or barely maintaining.
So, I dove into the internet and research. I discovered the science has changed much since I did this 15 years ago. I also discovered the high fat piece that was missing when I did this 15 years ago as well. Thank God for Stephen Phinney, Jeff Volek, Gary Taubes, and other doctors / researchers / etc. I have found it helpful for me personality wise to immerse myself in the literature and in the scientific lectures.
I am three weeks into this (weigh in tomorrow), and can feel the change in my body. I weigh once a week, but am trying not to focus on the scale. My mental clarity is way up, and other than some constipation am doing just fine physically. I am not on a diet, but am trying to eat like I will for the rest of my life. The "try it" thing does not work for me. Hearing stories of the people who have been eating ketogenically for 10 plus years and doing well really inspired me. I know it can be done.
So - I am feeling great! My appetite is delightfully under control. I can "feel" that my body has switched from burning glucose to burning fat. I am eating 20 carbs or less, and NOT measuring net carbs. That will be for far in the future when I begin adding carbohydrate in again to see where my level ends up settling. I'm fighting for creativity in my eating. Even though I get in ruts eating the same thing I know that if I'm not creative I won't do this long term. I am often skipping a meal or two simply because I am not hungry.
I am counting calories using MFP, but it is to track carbs not lower calories. I find the Carb / Fat / Protein percentages HUGELY helpful during the day so I can make sure I'm getting enough fat and not going too high on the protein. I'm maintaining my rations around 65 to 70% fat, 25-30% protein, (miniscule carbs) with only slight variations. I'm eating 1500 to 2500 calories a day without trying to cut calories.
If anyone is interested in conversation and support or wants to see my food diary feel free to add me. If you tell me you found me on the low carb forum and if you have an open food diary I'll add you.0 -
Hello! I just joined this group! I am 37 and hope to lose weight and improve health on a ketogenic diet. I have done low carb years before- in college, successfully, but I got bored with my food choices (I lived on bunless burgers) and gradually the carbs crept back in. Many years have passed and I am much older and much wiser. I feel as though I have done my research and I have found a new love of trying new recipes- so I am pretty sure the boredom won't be an issue this time around.
I plan on staying at 60% fat, 30% protein, and %10 carbs. 20 grams of carbs or less for quite a while. The thing I love about this WOE is that I am not in a constant battle against my will power anymore. When I eat a high- or even a moderate- carb diet- I feel like I am constantly ravenous and go to bed starving. On a high fat diet, I am never starving, which means I am not tempted to snatch a fry from my son or eat off plan at all. I can easily stay within my calorie range! That is a refreshing change.
I started this new lifestyle on Monday. As of this morning my current loss is at 6.4 pounds. I have struggled a bit in adapting to ketosis (insomnia, low energy) but I feel like that is getting better, especially since adding in some minerals back into my diet.
Glad to have found this group!
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