Back at it, woman. Talking to myself here.

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Replies

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,680 Member

    @cmriverside : Hunger is such a complex state of mind. I think we evolved to feel it more when we're idle. When I'm engaged in something, it goes away. I can totally sideline hunger for a time by exercising. Also, my hunger is a brat: when I give in to it, it comes back for more. If I eat cookies one night after dinner, it will remind me the next night.

    I have had good luck with intermittent fasting. For more than a year, I've been skipping breakfast and eating my first meal around 11-12. I also enforce "no snacks after 8" almost every night. (The fancy term for this is "16/8 intermittent fasting," but it really amounts to "skip breakfast and no snacks after dinner.") I still have my tea with milk and honey in the morning, but that's it. It does not replace logging because it's easy for me to overeat at the two other meals plus snacks, but there's something about proving to myself every day that I can stave off my first meal. It's empowering!

    You can also do a "clear broth day." (My wife does these.) You do a day where you drink clear chicken broth for all three meals. It's also important to stay hydrated (I recommend taking a low-calorie electrolyte drink.) She has a cup of black coffee as well in the morning. She actually did this for 4 days in a row quite recently.

    Best of luck!

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member
    edited April 24

    Yeah, I don't really need advice, but thanks for taking the time. Maybe your post will help someone else, Jthan.

    I've been around the block for nearly 20 years. I've tried all kinds of things. To each their own!

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,680 Member

    @cmriverside : I was just rambling. I know from your many posts that you are very knowledgeable. Well, none of us would be here if we didn't struggle at times with our weight! The struggle is unending for me, anyway. Best of luck!

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member

    Thanks, Jthan.

    One Day At A Time, yeah?

    I have been doing my PT, and walking the stairs (250 total stairs) and walking a minimum of one mile daily. I'm not ready to step on the scale again, I'm just focusing on Wins.

  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,826 Member

    @cmriverside that's a HUGE win. 👏👏👏 Definitely an excellent accomplishment. I think the hardest thing I ever had to figure out was that every time I tried one of those crazy crash diets I always ended up gaining. And the weight I gained was fat. You are doing great. One day at a time. sustainability and all that. 🤪🙃😳

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member

    Thanks, SummerSkier.

    It's so hard when I'm already within a healthy weight range, even without losing that 8 pounds, and my doctor says as an older woman that the "more" ideal BMI is 25-27.

    Ugh. I'm not happy at this weight, regardless.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member

    Teehee. Tell us how you really feel, @SummerSkier

    I kind of understand though because some long-term meds such as cancer meds can cause lack of appetite and fast weight loss…and that's not good if there's not much weight to lose.

    I had to go on a long medication regimen about twenty five years ago and it caused me to not be able to eat, it was so bad that I acquired hemolytic anemia and had to go to weekly hospital visits to treat that, but I still couldn't stand the smell or thought of food and I was a walking skeletor!

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member

    Well, not exactly walking. I had zero energy, could barely walk to my car and back.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member

    I hesitate to post that I was less than 200 calories over yesterday. Fair play though, I was 900 over the day before. The yo-yo is getting me.

    HUNGRY.

    Eat too much.

    Cut back.

    You know the rest. The struggle is real with so little weight to lose. Do not likey.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,428 Community Helper

    I empathize, @cmriverside .

    Obviously, I have no useful input that you don't already know, but I'm reading your thread routinely, sitting over here silently cheering for you. It's kinda like those situations where a person watches someone doing some difficult physical feat on video, and subconsciously tightens up the muscles the person in the video is using, and then relaxing when they succeed.

    Which you will. I know that, you know that.

    Hang in there.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member
    edited April 30

    @AnnPT77, thank you. I appreciate your support. I feel much less alone knowing someone is reading along. Thanks for that.

    Thing is, it's really not that big a deal if/when I lose the weight. . .except that muffin top. 😆

    I'm afraid to not try though. It feels slippery.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,904 Member
    edited April 30

    It feels slippery.


    my first thought is the muffintop?

    And then I empathize because yes, yes they do. Like they have a slippery little mind of their own. An explosive one. Like whack a mole. Squeeze and pinch in here and it just pops out somewhere else.

    Like that novelty kids’ pig toy where you squeeze here and the eyes bulge, and you squeeze there and his bottom pops out.

    That’s my slippery muffintop.

    And yet I don’t think that’s what you meant at all, but it’s where my mind immediately goes. 😅

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member

    hahaha, @springlering62 no that's not what I meant, but I've read your stories about the leftovers from your weight loss.

    Slippery as in, "I could just keep eating all the peanut butter and granola. It's good for me."

    …But then I get used to always being full and that's the part that's hard for me to break away from. Eating what I want when I want to until I'm super full.

    Thanks for checking in. I'm out till tomorrow.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,904 Member

    hugs.

    Your choice, but sometimes a permissive whinge among friends is the best medicine.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,428 Community Helper

    I'm sorry this is being so challenging, @cmriverside . Sending you hopes you can find a turn-able corner soon. You're an obviously strong woman, but challenges are challenges for anyone. Best wishes.

  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,826 Member

    @cmriverside oh so sorry that movement is soooo ooooo difficult right now. I had the advantage of being able to use a pool and summertime when I was at my worst. All I did was put a life vest on and tread water. I think the lifeguards about flipped out the first time they saw me crutch to the deep end.

    I think this is a really good thread for maintainers so I hope you continue it. Even if to say you are not actively trying to cut calories but just to keep your head in the game.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,428 Community Helper

    The physical recovery results so far sound really good, @cmriverside, and I know it's taken persistence and dedication to accomplish that. Sometimes people, maybe especially people in our demographic, give up after an event like that, but you are not a giver-upper. Really good show!

    The weight loss progress sounds good, too - taking it slowly while healing is a really good plan, which I know you don't need me to tell you.

    Thanks for the update. Keep on keeping on!

  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,826 Member

    Progress!!!!! Great news. It sounds like things are slowly turning around for you which cheers me immensely! thank you for the update.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,428 Community Helper

    I have no advice (which probably is a plus to the reader), but I'm happy to hear you've made good progress and are getting close to your target weight . . . which I expected you would, but I get that doin it's not recreational, especially while dealing with a challenging injury and aftermath. Slow loss is a good plan alongside a need to heal, though, seems like?

    How is your HDL? If that's low, would raising it help you get your doctor to reduce pressure toward a statin? HDL/LDL ratio is an important health metric, too. Personal hostility to taking a statin was among the things that got me on the weight loss train and onto MFP, so I understand that feeling.

    I'm cheering for your progress, and sending hopes that more improvement is in the pipeline and arriving soon!

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,848 Member
    edited August 15

    Yeah, my ratio is low… well within guidelines. I'm not sure why she's suggested statins, and she just suggested it, didn't push for it at all. She just said, "Your risk is over 10% I recommend a statin. Here are the lifestyle changes you can make," written to me by eChart messaging.

    I mean they use the ASCVD Risk Calculator. By my online calculation with the ASCVD, I'm at a 8.2% risk…the recommendation (for statins) is at 10% or above unless there are other factors. The only other factors I have are age and family history. My father died at age 41 of a supposed heart attack. My mother had two heart attacks, one at age 55 and the second one she died at age 67. There were many mitigating factors involved with both of them. Smoking, drinking alcohol, high fat diet, no exercise, overweight. I have none of those. My average BP is well within healthy numbers too. To be fair though, when I'm at the doctor's my BP is always high so she is probably using those readings. Not sure she believes me on my home readings.

    I'm gonna need a whole lot more convincing, honestly. And they get the blood results after I've already gone home, so I can't (and won't) discuss it again with her.

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