Happy Friday the 13th! My lucky day...

It is tempting to just write 6 oz fruit, 6 oz vegetables instead of the specifics. I often end up swapping out, had 6 oz banana instead of fuji apple at dinner tonight.

Looks like I had days/dates screwed up. I post the night before for what I'll eat the NEXT day.

Going back to 1 oz cashews with fast in rear view mirror.

For Friday 02/13
B: 1 oz oatmeal, 1 oz cashews, 1 Tblspn ground flax, 6 Tblspns half and half, 6 oz orange
L: 6 oz lamb, 6 oz carrots, 6 oz banana
8 oz salad, 1 + 1 Tblspn olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 6 oz steeamed veggies (green beans and brussel sprouts), 3 oz cheese, 6 oz fuji apple

Thanks!

weigh in was 168.4, which was great. So far, it's working.

Here's what I eat:
B: 1 oz oats or oat bran; 2 eggs or 8 oz plain non-fat yogurt or 1.5 oz nuts; 6 Tblspns of half and half in coffee or tea (this is my addition to the program, wouldn't ordinarily be allowed); 1 Tblspn ground flaxseed (hard to stay regular without it, eating so little and lots of protein); and six oz of fruit

L: six oz fruit, six oz meat or three oz cheese or 1.5 oz nuts or three eggs or 4-6 oz soy; six oz vegetables. Veggies are supposed to be cooked, I eat them cooked or raw.

six oz fruit; six oz cooked veggies; eight oz salad in which 4 oz is greens and 4 oz is other (pepper tomato radish etc); six oz meat or three oz cheese or 1.5 oz nuts or three eggs or 4-6 oz soy; 1+1 Tblspn salad dressing, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

In theory I'm allowed eight oz soy but I tried that once and didn't lose weight. Soy is high carb and high calorie so I'm doing less than that at the moment.

I'm having very fancy thick sweet balsamic vinegar, which in theory wouldn't be allowed, it's got sugar in it and it's not plain enough, but I like it and there are so many things I don't have. This isn't going to kill me.

Lately I'm working a 12 hour day on Mondays. So yesterday I melted down .5 oz of 100% cocoa and put in a packet of splenda. It's nice to have a (very little) treat, and Monday is such a long day.

That's my program, in a big nutshell. Pretty straightforward, pretty rigid, takes the guesswork out of eating. Lots of planning ahead. I'm fortunate to work from home which makes it easier.

Thanks for reading - happy to lend an ear to anyone who needs support, just message me.
I'm down 7 lbs in three weeks, probably not sustainable but will keep plugging along, god or higher power willing.

So I've lost seven lbs, with about 15 more to go. 33% of the way. Good news is, I feel great. I think not eating for several hours before bed just makes me feel so much better.

p.s. Thanks for participating in my thread

Where does the "we compulsive overeaters are undisciplined" come from? Is that from OA? The 12 step I did didn't like the "compulsive overeaters" description, preferring to call people in the program "food addicts" which makes more sense to me. And, from what I saw in that group, those weren't undisciplined people. Many of them were highly disciplined, highly successful - and they were able to apply discipline to food, inside the confines of that 12 step food addict program.

Interestingly, when I tried OA, I would describe it as undiscplined. I went to meetings in NYC and people used SO much profanity! I'm not a prude but it was weird. It was as if food had humbled them, so they were compensating in other ways. Then I went to meetings in upstate NY, and people would share for what felt like an hour about the food they ate, the dishes they used, why they didn't do the dishes, whether they preferred tin foil to aluminum foil - it was also weird, and also like they couldn't face their actual problems so they talked about other things.

The program I did is much more difficult, and people still got off track all the time - but it was a very disciplined environment. I don't believe food addicts are undisciplined. People don't get their lives out of control due to addiction due to a lack of discipline. That's my take, anyway.

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Weigh in tmrw A.M. Hoping for the best.

Here's what happened. I weighed in, was disappointed with the result, which then resulted in my all or nothing thinking, "screw it all, I give up" - an emotional over-reaction, and I stopped entering my food here, stopped coming to MFP, stopped trying to stay on plan. As you can see, for about two months. Then about three weeks ago decided to try low carb, Atkins style, lots of meat and fat and made myself kinda sick (though some of those things tasted good!).

A few days ago, I thought, I'd love to do FA, but I hate it. Today I went to my first meeting in a year, and am going to look for a sponsor. Not happy about it, but it's the only thing that's ever worked for me.

Well, food has kicked my %&*# again. In case I needed assurance that I am indeed a food addict. The 12 step credo is, can't do it alone, need a higher power. Well, I for one cannot do it on my own. Though I know I will continue to try!