Thoughts, Epiphanies, Insights, & Quotables
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Now we have to snoop out the nameless one's address and order her a set! Though I'm guessing they might end up in the garage and the nameless one will be quite annoyed with us
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I’ve thought a lot about the journey in losing weight. One thing that is so helpful is being acknowledged and having ones efforts recognized by others who are sharing similar goals. Often weight loss is a lonely road.3
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Nah! I'm just here for the bunnies!
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Weight loss is a lonely road - but at least you wake up with that sense of WOOHOO...I'm gonna weigh myself and feel good most mornings. That maintenance road is lonely and no WOOHOO. Then there is the I'm regaining road - lonely and I can't get out of bed and face myself, the scale, the mirror.
If I can find it again - I might just have to stay on the weightloss road for the rest of my life.
so I guess I'll have to make it a very very very slow trajectory. Might have to switch from Kilos to grams? Should take me the rest of my life to hit goal at a few grams a week.
I was joking - but maybe that is what it is going to take.4 -
Well.... I can definitely vouch that if I were to get on a scale tomorrow in a few hours... I would give you a run for your money! Townhouse flipside pretzels (way earlier... but still there)? AND knorr based soup with frozen shrimp (packed in sodium solution), AND Cherry Garcia! Oh my! By the way... does anyone know what a single serve of Ben and Jerry's looks like? Yeah. You're right. It sure ain't the 188ml "portion" on the label by the time you level out that ice cream!2
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It feels really presumptuous for me to talk about my experience of maintenance, given it's such early days for me (day 45...) but I'm finding it just as interesting and enjoyable as weight loss at the moment...and a lot easier to boot.
I've set a weekly calorie budget of 12,600 calories , which equates to 1,800 calories a day. This is my predicted maintenance calories at a couple of kgs below what I currently am, which means I'm running a deficit of about 50-75 cals/day.
I have 4 days of 1,500 cals, 2 days of 2,000 cals and 1 day of 2,600 cals.
This mixes things up nicely. The low calorie days keep the deficit memory-muscle sharp and honed, for when it's needed in future. The two days of 2,000 cals are generous days, when I can have slightly more yoghurt or butter, perhaps, and maybe an extra couple of pieces of fruit etc. And the 2,600 calorie day is a real bonanza day, when I can have something a little indulgent...
The scale dips up and down depending on if I've just had a low, medium or high day....which keeps it fresh and interesting.
So far it's been easy and fun...5 -
Keep it up Garfield, keep it up! I need company ya know. And fresh ideas and perspectives❣️4
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I think it's a good approach to think of yourself as always in weight maintenance. In the past, many of my problems with maintenance arose from the fact that I had the mindset that the hard bit was over and that it was smooth sailing ahead. I'd crossed the finish line and the race was over.
Using the analogy of cycling...- Track cyclists go full gas, powering into the red/black for 2-15 minutes, then collapse in a heap once they've crossed the finish line, with nothing left in the tank
- Cyclocross racers go at 90% full gas, with sustained spikes into the red, for 50-60 minutes
- Mountain bike cross country olympic-distance racers go at 80% full gas, with the occasional spike into the red, for 75-90 minutes
- Road cyclists go at 40-80% full gas, with just very occasional spikes into the red, for 4-6 hours
- Endurance cyclists go at steady pace - rarely if ever spiking into the red - for days/weeks on end, timing their effort so that they can reach the finish point with something still left in the tank
- Ultra-endurance cyclists go at steady pace, never spiking into the red - for months on end, measuring their effort so that they can continue indefinitely, because for them there is no real end point. They're not in a race - there's no finish line - the pleasure and the reward is in the process itself. They never empty the tank, because they know they've got to get back on the bike and repeat the process the next day..and the next day..and the next day. And they can't imagine a life without cycling...
Mentally I'm trying to get to the place where weight maintenance for me is analogous to ultra-endurance cycling. Where I enjoy it...can't imagine not doing it...miss if if I stop doing it...get a kick from seeing myself improve at it...take it steady...discover new things...hone my technique...get a buzz from being efficient...take the odd detour to do a bit of sightseeing...push myself occasionally just for the hell of it...but also go at a snail's place from time to time just because I feel like it...and don't worry that toting a coffee mug, inflatable pillow and gummy bears adds 300g to my pack weight because comfort trumps being super-lightweight.4 -
Second try at this post....
I'm not sure if a "maintenance" mindset will work for me. Not yet anyway. Maybe in time when I mature a bit? Or maybe not
If I can get back into the groove (which seems to be kind of trampoliny lately) I will try to find a way to keep losing - even if it is miniscule amounts - long term. It sounds a bit silly, but the idea of waking up tomorrow at the "same" weight just doesn't light a fire for me. Not enough of one to get me through the urge to eat poorly in moments of duress.
I'm not sure I am going to become more rational any time soon so for now I'll settle for understanding how to cater to that whacked out side.
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Let's get started on the way to where you need to be Laurie
Then as you're approaching normal weight let's move on to the mindset you're describing...
Then, hopefully, we'll see how to adjust beyond that!
I mean, realistically you cannot actually keep losing forever--not in an actually healthy situation. But a soft landing? That I am sure can be done!
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Yes - a soft landing - and then, over time, I'll come to terms with this family of hamsters.3
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I know full well that I must track and control my food intake. That I am not nor ever will be an intuitive eater. But maybe it’s just me - does any else experience food fatigue?
Sometimes I am just sooo tired of having to think, plan, log, make choices about food.
I wonder what it would be like to NOT experience this daily.4 -
Me too, Yooly.
But. They payoff is so amazing. To feel good and feel good about yourself - because you look and feel good and because you have control.
This little pep talk is to remind myself also.
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Oh the pay off is certainly worth the constant vigilance. I just get mental fatigue. It’s like having to gear up for exams every day. 🧐4
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AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote:one thing I have learned is that "what works" changes as you go on with this.... So we readjust and do things a little differently, and adapt, and carry on.
@AlexandraFindsHerself1971 this is a golden statement
@Yoolypr neutral curiocity! Not hypervigilance. But experimental observation. The pot is not going to boil unexpectedly. But you do have to visit the experimental still (@janatki probably has something to contribute in terms of experimental still designs....) once in a while and check on progress and tweek some knobs...
*shut up everyone: of course I have NO *kitten* clue how a still operates. DUH! But you get what I'm saying! 2 -
I have a few thoughts on 💦💧💧💧 and want to know what yours are please?
Sorry this’ll be a bit of a ramble! Not change there then! 🥴😉
So, water we know is good (lots of studies) for preventing weight gain in the first place, for weight loss and for also maintaining the weight!
Essential … good for kids & adults alike!
MFP recommends I drink 1,850 mls a day … NHS states adults should drink 2 litres a day.
Another nutrition app that I have come across (Cronometer) tells me I should aim for 2,700 mls per day 😯
Looking at my data - I get in 1,750 mls - some days 2,000mls, sometimes up to 2,500mls others at 1,500mls
(2,700mls OMG I remember days when I was only allowed 30 mls of water every hour for 16 hours a day & then zilch for 8 hours - would have revelled in that much then, but now that turns my stomach🤮)
Ok… back to the issue 💦…Some purists say water only 😒
I can’t do this, only time I drink pure water is if I’ve cleaned my teeth for bed!!
Then & probably only then, I’ll glug the odd glass or two in the night! 😇…Especially if experiencing any pangs of hunger 😬
… I add 100mls of Apple & Blackcurrant Squash to 900mls of water to add 16 calories to my water.
Recently, a MFPer questioned this….insinuating one should only have pure water …. I also count tea water too!
How much water do you drink in a day? Do you add owt? What do you count? All fluids or only water?
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Not sure if thi was the right place to post this… sorry if not! 🥴☺️2
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I worry about hydration, not water. I mistrust this modern obsession with constantly glugging water - my parents and grandparents would’ve thought we were barmy! Tea was all they ever drank...(or beer...) and it didn’t seem to do them any harm.
So I include tea, coffee, sugar-free squash, Zero electrolyte tablets dissolved in water and plain old tap water (of which I drink maybe a litre or two per day but only because I like it! Otherwise I wouldn’t force myself). But it’s ‘normal’ for me to have a glass of tap water after each dog walk and with lunch and dinner.
I don’t worry about how much I’ve had if my pee is straw-coloured. If my pee looks like Lucozade I drink more (again not fussy if hydrate with tea, coffee etc).
Some foods can also be quite fluidy, so don’t overlook those!2 -
Living in the hot and humid south , I always have some kind of drink in my hand….my intake is usually 20 oz. Coffee,2 cans Diet Pepsi,1 large glass of unsweetened iced tea, 3 16oz bottles plain water, and a glass of low calorie Ocean Spray cranberry juice…I should probably add another bottle or two of plain water….3
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Yo, NHS lady straw colored wee weeeeeeeeeeee and all is good. The rest is preference esp if you're trying to fill your tummy. There is some high exactness research as to what quantity of caffeine causes extra net loss of some of the water intake vs another... but really... all that matters is that you have enough so that your kidneys are neither starved nor necessarily on overdrive or risking hypernatremia or other mineral imbalances. And EVERYTHING counts. NET hydration. Beer -- check. Watermelon -- check. Water--check. Gin -- probably a minus with the amount used for processing but minuses count too!
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-guidelines-and-food-labels/water-drinks-nutrition
https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/nutrition/measuring-and-managing-fluid-balance-15-07-2011/
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I've been all over the map trying out different hydration/water inputs. Finally decided straw-coloured pee the ultimate indicator - plus a reasonable glass with each meal - to just add a sense of fullness until the brain gets the message. Though I know that water with meals thing breaks some rules. But no matter which way you go you are going to break someones water rules.1
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And, as any dialysis patient could attest - so does food cooked in water/milk/broth that absorbs a lot of the cooking medium, such as pasta, potatoes, rice, rehydrated pulses, porridge....
Not to mention the water you use to take your medications...and soup....and ice lollies...and the ice in your G&T...
It all counts when your anuric and limited to 500mls of fluid a day FOR EVERYTHING, INCLUDING COOKING WATER.
So, really, most folks that eat and drink 'normally' probably don't need to worry that they're insufficiently hydrated...
Straw-coloured pee is thesweet spot...2 -
OMG! Such a reminder of those oliguric days!! Will haunt me forever! I would have done a deal with the devil for an extra 30 mls of water!
Love the NHS and NT references Pav!
Up & personal ….My pee is usually light coloured, but never straw, lemon tinged with pink - strawberry lemonade?! Just to put you off your summer drinks!
Thank you for your insights pals… will push on with them fluids & reassured I can count my tea & drink squash ( saying FO to that purist! & if continues … well.. I will… I will close my diary, so there 😏😏😏)2 -
@conniewilkins56 - didn’t think of those in heat! That is a lotta fluids!
Alo fluids in foods @Bella_Figura & @PAV88882 -
Well Atki, I sincerely hope that Connie is not in heat!😻🤣😹😎 But extra perspiration probably requires extra water 😉1
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Drinking water and keeping hydrated helps keep the wrinkles away!3
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@PAV8888 wrote
Being that I am just a poor ESL person, I figured that I might have gotten hoisted by my own petard! Thankfully Connie is a Floridian!
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I stand corrected! I meant no offence @conniewilkins56 ☺️… Bloomin ‘eck .. (Being?) English gets us in to so much bother … and this is not taking any history into account!….
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I am not going to do this justice because I'm pressed for time today.
But it is something I've often thought about. Including while I was losing weight and since then as I continue to manage my weight via loging and continuing to participate in the forums and thinking about food intake and management.
There is a post in the main forums, paraphrasing "my visit to the hospital couldn't explain my symptoms. But I can" Revived from 2020.
Where is the line between I have a healthy relationship with food and my body and an unhealthy one?
The overt behaviors are often very similar. So where is the tipping point, or is it all a continuum, a spectrum?
Is it normal weight management, ED like behaviors, managed ED, or just plain ED free for all?
My "sober second check" has long been the 🐹 metaphor, including taking a minute for self reflection and evaluating my actions against external scientific information. Are they normal or extreme? Supported by evidence? Do they make sense? 0.5% to 1%, maybe briefly up to 1.5% of body weight per week. 25% deficit while obese. Occasional refeed. Don't demonize even if you reduce. Where is the line between good exercise and compulsive? etc etc... pushing towards change but in the middle not extremes
I've often said that the year of losing fast (at an average of 695 Cal a day effective deficit, from MFP start at almost 240 and down to the 160s) was, in retrospect, at the limits. Took me a year+ for self body image to start catching up if nothing else.
But where/what are the limits?
Never engaging in ED like behaviors? Never counting calories, not making food trade offs? Not limiting food choices and quantities? Always accepting social invitations that involve food and partaking freely? Allowing others to dictate to you (but it is only a baklava, fresh, healthy energy, eat, eat, eat) when you will eat extra, even if you had other plans (but I wanted to eat my yogurt with wild blueberries, or magnum ice cream tonight). Not declaring that first year that multiple Christmas dinners and special dishes were cancelled and that only one turkey and one new year gala dinner were allowed?
Or are the limits only in how we feel about all this? How we feel our actions are impacting us? If it's a good impact all is good; but if it is negatively affecting our life it is isn't?
Because I'll be honest: I've never felt more happy about my body health and abilities as an adult and this came about *because* I imposed management on my weight.
It doesn't feel restrictive. I am not resenting it. Yes, I made changes and lost some things. But I gained other things. Things I was no longer able to do. I marvel and enjoy "taking care of myself" and imposing "me time" instead of resenting it and feeling it is imposed on me
But I've seen "looks" from people.
So is it our own viewpoint only? Has anyone else here wondered? Have my 🐹s gone bonkers?🙀2
