Yes! lets keep this going!

I am facing the week here at my desk. Faithfully sticking to my eating / activity plan. I am up & down, but a bit of an overall downward trend, yay! Nothing too exciting, staying very committed...

I made it in the pool this weekend, very refreshing. Did some laps, arms only, then legs only. Very tough bootcamp class on Sat., but missed my usual Sunday walk. Was trying to capture a stray cat that I feed, and had spayed as a kitten. She Is not looking well & I'm quite concerned. No success yet, she's onto me!

Healthy meal on deck for tonight's dinner after class.. still chugging away, staying on track. Just gotta be patient, right?

Canadjineh, how was your party? Was you hair color a success? Sounds lovely!

Hugs to you all. What's up?

Canadjineh, how was your party? Was you hair color a success? Sounds lovely!

Hugs to you all. What's up?

Party was lots of fun - we had the threat of a sprinkle of rain but it managed to hold off. I expected there would be stuff like meat & cheese platter there so I planned my carb lite/fat heavy meal for that evening and took zucchini coins raw with homemade guacamole, and a 11% fat yogourt Moroccan Mint & Beet dip that I made. Turns out there was no cheese or cold meat plate, lol. There was homemade chili & rice, and assorted salads I couldn't eat due to being gluten free and not being sure of ingredients. Another GF'er brought homemade Caesar Salad which I had a good helping of. I forgot that a few of the gals that came were on Weight Watchers so there was a bunch of stuff they could eat that didn't fit with my evening meal plan, like lots of fresh fruit and carrot salad, etc. Things worked out in the end, though I was a little higher in carbs that evening than hoped for (thanks to a little helping of chili & rice).

Hair colour was a bit of a surprise as it wasn't exactly like the picture on the box, hahaha. It was supposed to be 'golden blonde' and was quite a bit darker reddish than expected - I'm more of a strawberry blonde with lighter highlites now. That's OK - hair grows and I've never been freaked about anything that happens to mine - change is a good thing, lol. I'd much rather pay $13.00 than $130.00, though my hairdresser got me through a big colour transition in a hair-healthy way. From dark burgundy red to blonde isn't a good one-step process as he said a couple of months ago. So I decided to bite the bullet and pay for his expertise during the transition.

This is a bit rambling so I apologize.

I need to decide if I'm going to continue on this rollercoaster of trying to lose weight (for the past few years I've been gaining and losing the same 12 lbs) or if I'm just going to try to maintain and accept the fact that now that I am over 50 I will likely never lose those additional 20 lbs that my doctor has recommended (that's 20 lbs AFTER the 12 lbs that I have been losing and regaining).

I feel like I need to make some kind of decision here for 2 reasons: 1) my own sanity; I'm driving myself nuts by losing weight and then regaining it and beating myself up about it; and 2) I'm desperate for some new clothes but don't want to invest if I'm going to keep losing weight (which I have not been able to achieve).

This has been going on since about 2010 or whenever it was that I became a member of MFP. Actually probably longer because before that I did WW (which worked for me before I developed Type 2 diabetes at age 40 but not afterward).

Any ideas or suggestions?

Hi Raleigh,
I totally understand about beating yourself up about regaining & driving yourself nuts. I hate to see you give up especially with your diabetes. I have punished myself by not allowing myself to buy any "big" clothes. So I feel even worse about myself in outdated tight clothes, sigh... but I refuse to give in.
I am envious of your ticker, looks like some progress!!
I have a friend who has tried everything for years & has finally had success now following a new way of thinking.. Diets are Fattening. There is a webpage blog, Facebook page & a book I think. I have liked the Facebook page & get the feed. It is interesting. My friend says she has let go of all her "dieting", has remained mindful & has learned to listen to her body. Now that nothing is "off limits" she has fewer cravings, etc. I don't know, may be worth a try: http://dietsarefattening.com/blog/. I'm intrigued, but its kind of a scary thought.

Also make sure you're getting enough vitamin D, as deficiency may impede weight loss & of course lots of water. Not sure if I am one to be making suggestions, but I do hope to encourage!

This is what I am leaning toward lately & also trying not to be impatient about results. Slow progress tends to be more permanent!

Please don't apologize, we are her for you!!!
Karen

This is a bit rambling so I apologize.

I need to decide if I'm going to continue on this rollercoaster of trying to lose weight (for the past few years I've been gaining and losing the same 12 lbs) or if I'm just going to try to maintain and accept the fact that now that I am over 50 I will likely never lose those additional 20 lbs that my doctor has recommended (that's 20 lbs AFTER the 12 lbs that I have been losing and regaining).

I feel like I need to make some kind of decision here for 2 reasons: 1) my own sanity; I'm driving myself nuts by losing weight and then regaining it and beating myself up about it; and 2) I'm desperate for some new clothes but don't want to invest if I'm going to keep losing weight (which I have not been able to achieve).

This has been going on since about 2010 or whenever it was that I became a member of MFP. Actually probably longer because before that I did WW (which worked for me before I developed Type 2 diabetes at age 40 but not afterward).

Any ideas or suggestions?

Check with your endocrinologist but you may need a lower carb type diet to help your diabetes and insulin resistance. Just a suggestion, as that is how I lost my weight (and some other friends with Diabetes Type 2 have done so and lowered or come off meds) and although in maintenance I still stay between 100-150g carb/day not even counting my subtraction for fibre grams. WW can allow a person to 'cheat' their body with crap foods (pardon my bluntness) while still staying within points, just saying so because a few WW'ers have told me that is their problem. Have you figured out what is causing your regains?

AAARGH! Today is not quite going as planned... I got waylaid because one of my big planters decided to take a dive off my deck balcony and crashed onto the ground (I didn't hear it so sometime late last night or early this morning) and broke all over, chopping my geranium flowers off and several of my cute little vines with the purple flowers. Dad managed to find another planter that will work -doesn't exactly match but at this point in the summer, WHATEVER! So replanted that and grieved for the flower compost on the grass. Laundry, and internet bill paying for dad, and a bit of browsing for a new Caddy (my dad's car of choice) on the web and here I am 3 hours behind my planned schedule. I still have to get my Avon clients their stuff and replace the brochures at the Curves in the neighbouring town. At least I am off work today and don't go to work til 8:30 pm tomorrow, so some things will still get done. OK, now must turn off computer!!

Screwmenopause: Moving AND building, Yuk! lol

Apparently my DH saw the neighbour cat somehow knock the planter off the balcony and it freaked the life out of the cat - just a young cat so hopefully he will learn his lesson and figure out he is not welcome on our balcony. I don't mind if cats travel through the yard to get to the field behind our house for a bit of mouse hunting, but don't invite yourself up on our deck, thank you very much.

Hi gals, worked last night and again tonight, so my 'day' runs from Noon when I wake up until 4 am, when I go beddy-bye. Makes for a bit of a confused eating day. Breakfast is lunch with my DH (he's home early from work) and then lunch is at dinner with him, and a middle sized protein sort of snack at midnight or 1 am.
We set the tent up in the yard yesterday to measure it out, but it's too big to fit on the camping site along with our car at the music festival we are going to, just by a foot, but that means that we can't take the newer 'cabin' style tent now. We'll have to go back to our old backpacker dome tent - :grumble: we are getting too old to crawl around in a tent and would like to stand up once in a while, lol. At least it will fit on site and give us a bit of room to have a mini roll-up table and a couple of chairs for a relaxing breakfast/lunch. Looking forward to this but there will be a bit of alcohol involved (although not overdone - that's not our style) and possibly some crazy eating that isn't exactly on my maintenance plan :drinker: . I am going to try to stay as 'clean' as possible - I have to watch out for gluten anyhow, so I think we'll be doing a lot of salads from the grocery deli after making the rounds of town on the shuttle before all the shows. I will be dancing like a maniac for hours every night so I will definitely burn the calories, heheheh; it's EDM DJ's and Bands for three nights from 5pm to 3am.

Wow, it's Wednesday already, where is everybody, lol??
Back from my amazingly dusty, loud, and sleepless music festival weekend. No actual salads were consumed during the weekend although I kind of thought we would. There were lots of cut up fresh veg that last ok in the heat, but dipped into Garlic & chive cream cheese; lots of pepperoni and green olives and tequila with fruit juices were also consumed. That and salted caramel Chapman's Ice Cream (seriously, the best in the west, lol) At least I did up a brown rice and lentil room temp dish with cooked carrots & onions in it - which we had for dinner one night, and a quinoa with greek salad veggies and dressing dish that we had another night. Anywhooo, I only gained 2 lbs over the long weekend, and it's coming off now as I buckle down to be a bit more strict with my maintenance plan.
I did a lot of dancing, and realized I can no longer function well on 3 hours of sleep a 'night' like I did 30 years ago.
Hope everything is going well with the rest of the gals here!

Sprint! I love your Pokey & Gumby pic.

Back to normalcy. Crazy summer so far. I actually logged my food again after a couple of weeks away from it. It feels good to be back at it.

Crochetluvr-I am with you. I am at the same weight I was in March. I lost and gained 5 or 6 pounds over the summer. I delude myself that snacking at night is not doing me in. I have been hard at it since the beginning of the month, too, and WILL lose 5 pounds by the end of October. Another 5 by Christmas. I can do it. We can do it.

Still at maintenance weight even though I just had a bunch of visitors who just left and had a crazy week of night shift work... Of course if I'm sleeping like a sloth to recover, I guess I'm not snacking or eating the wrong things at that time, lol. Finally back to 'normal' whatever that is. Slept for 10 hours last night... so I guess I need the recovery.

Hey everyone! How's everyone doing & where ya been?!
I have been busy... staying on track with eating within goal for the most part & my exercising.
MFP goals are set for a loss of 1 lb. per week, though I am losing about 1 lb per month while sticking to the plan for the most part. Okay I'll take it... until today...

I finally used my heart rate monitor, all set up with my height, weight & age, turns out my I have been UNDER estimating my calorie burn for my walk/jogs and my bootcamp class. I had been logging the class at about 353 calories when in came in with the HRM at 496 calories! That said, I am baffled at what my consumption should be. My goal calculates at 1250 net calories & I am not making progress there. How do I find my sweet spot? Or am I just at an age that only complete deprivation will work. I keep hearing not to eat under 1200. Just frustrated at the moment.

I will not quit! Have got to be able to manage this.

Thanks for the ear ladies & keep at it!!! Good job to those of you getting back on track & not letting a set back de-rail you!

Hugs to y'all!!!

Its so quiet in here! Still chugging away here...