Welcome back!!

@DianaElena76. Ive been LC for about 3 years now and have had many detours. And a number of traffic jams, with a few dodgy near misses......

Welcome back @DianaElena76! Congrats to you on the 60 pound loss and congrats for getting back on track before it gets out of hand. We have a few maintainers here but not many who keep their hands on the keyboard.

Maintenance is HARD! At least, for me. Eating keto this last year has made it easier because I don't feel like I'm "starving" all the time as I did when higher carb and lower fat but I still have a bit of an "issue" with...peanut butter. And old eating habits. Some can quickly grasp the idea of "eat only when hungry" and some of us struggle so need a little more structure. I'm a 3 meal a day person with some flexibility. I often have only coffee/cream for breakfast and skip the "food". I keep something in the refrigerator for "lunch" and always "plan" something for dinner. All this to keep me away from indulging in non-keto foods. PLAN AHEAD, even with your busy schedule.

If you have time in your schedule (gulp) it might be helpful to read or listen to a podcast or two by Stephan Guyenet regarding hunger and the brain (The Hungry Brain) or David Ludwig (Always Hungry). There is biological reason the masses of people regain their weight.

That's why the more metrics you have the better...it's not just the scale, or just the measurements, or just the photos, or just the clothing size...it's all of them, everything together that gives you a full picture of the changes you are making happen!!!

Welcome back! Lord working 3 jobs with kids and a hubby is enough to help push you off the wagon. I'm tired just reading that! Ha! I do believe that we all have moments where we slip from time to time. I agree the feeling good part is worth it. The scales don't move much at all for me, but I love how I feel great!

canadjineh wrote: »

I don't know about needing the extra bulk around the middle when you get to menopause! Do men need this too? Sounds like capital 'K' 'KITTEN' to me. If one wants more support of the internal organs, one needs to strengthen the muscles of the torso, not pack on extra fat around them. If one wants to protect joints, don't add extra useless weight, just make sure one has the proper proportions of minerals and vitamins to lay down good strong bone, and stretch and use resistance exercise regularly. Even older seniors in their 80's and 90's can increase bone mass and lessen accidental injuries from falls, etc.

Please don't take this in the wrong way It's not you, it's the stupid idea of a lot of the Western world which is unsupported by hard science.
It just irks me that women are expected to become dull, pudgy, dimwits just because their bodies are done with possible childbearing.
End of rant from a Physio Exercise specialist.
Apologies to anyone whose feelings may be hurt

dull pudgy dimwit...? Ok, well, one out of three ain't bad....!

I completely take your point, and if I am honest, I fell into the trap of 'well if a medical expert tells me something, they MUST be right' a while ago - I'm talking a decade or so - but now, I am far more in your mind-set camp and just want to prove her wrong. But in a nice way.
She's actually a very open-minded person, and agrees with much of what I do (eating butter, not spread, eliminating carbs for a diabetic, eggs and red meat are not the poisons they have been portrayed to be....)

Sadly, her open-mindedness is in the minority.
Recently, I had cause to visit a hospital for an assessment of a condition I have, and the waiting-room had some leaflets on diabetes, talking about the correct diet.... and yes, carbs were in there as an essential. The leaflet was last updated in 2005. Yup, you read that right. It's 12 years out. of. date.
Even today, the clinic my mother attends has literature on general health (including diabetes) which advocates... well, a load of rubbish, really....
My doctor is from Denmark, and is, shall we say, Rubenesque in form. But she's delightful company, and when she first came to the UK 6 years ago, she thought she was somewhat overweight, and should certainly set an example to her patients, by slimming....
Then, she began to observe the British, and their worsening eating habits and decided, on balance, that actually she really wasn't too bad after all....

DianaElena76 wrote: »

nscal wrote: »

Welcome back! Lord working 3 jobs with kids and a hubby is enough to help push you off the wagon. I'm tired just reading that! Ha! I do believe that we all have moments where we slip from time to time. I agree the feeling good part is worth it. The scales don't move much at all for me, but I love how I feel great!

I just wish I could get rid of 30 more pounds to be in the 150s, but truthfully I haven't been in the 150s since high school and that may not even be realistic for me. It's okay. I felt great in the 160s too.

Yeah, my life is pretty insanely busy. It won't be like this forever. Initially I picked up extra jobs to make some extra money while my husband was finishing his degree and to begin to work my way back into the career I want (and for which I trained and credentialed). Hubby graduated and got a full-time job, so I was planning for leaving my full-time job and transitioning to working solely in my field this summer; but then he was laid off almost a month ago now, so I'm still busting my tail at 3 jobs while he looks for work again. *sigh* It'll all come together eventually, but for now this is just my reality. I want so badly to be at home with my kids more, though. They won't be little forever, and I have already missed so much.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I did the same when my H was studying for his Law degree (it paid off; he got a 1st with Honours) but life was tough, and I was the sole breadwinner. No kids to bring up, so you'd think the one job would have kept us buoyant, or at least with our heads above the water, but there was a recession, and I got made redundant from 2 of the 4 jobs I managed to get.... and in one of the remainder, I was unlawfully dismissed, so I took the Company to court. Naturally, with a legal beagle husband, we managed to win, but it was a hard, expensive and stressful slog, and in the end, the victory Pyrrhic.
I won a substantial payout, but the day the Judge gave her findings, officially, in Court, the Director put the company into liquidation, and I never saw a penny.
We were triumphant, but greatly impoverished.
The poor get fat. They get fat because they eat cheap food, much of it crap.
I should know....
At times all we could afford was plain rubbish. A white sliced loaf, or a tin of beans... God I never want to go back to a time when living in a friend's garage was a luxury!

Fortunately, we've managed to claw our way back into the black. But we're not well-off by any means.
Hubby can't use his Law Degree to any measure. In order to do that, he also has to have a Master's degree in one aspect of Law. His course, we got a grant for. A Master's is an expensive add-on, and we've simply never had the funds to be able to afford it.

We now hold basic jobs many might say are 'below our station' (though I am by no means one to look a Gift-Horse in the mouth! I actually love my job!) but all past qualifications, positions and ambitions are in a pipe-dream of supposed entitlement....

I wish you well, and hope the near future brings you peace of Mind, joy, serenity and a welcome rest, soon.... Hugs to you.