@MzCara148 I think Dad was so worried because there had been a recent news article about a couple getting attacked on the Appalachian trail this month. But if I had to wait to do anything until I had someone to do something with me, I'd never do anything! I just try to take sensible precautions - stick to a local trail (don't take the ones that go way out into the wilderness), make sure that someone knows where I'm at, what trail I'm on and roughly when I expect to be back, and then, because I was in a no-cell phone area because of a radio telescope nearby, I dug out my little hand radios and made sure they were working and left one with mom.

I liked the hiking because it was so much more varied. I wasn't walking in front of a bunch of people so I didn't have a bunch of people staring at me like when I walk the back streets at home, and the grade varied from level to very steep so I got a real workout in climbing up those steep slopes and coming down the other side! Plus I just like being in the woods. Walking on a walking track or a treadmill or even the backstreets at home is so boring - the same circuit endlessly. It takes all I have (when I still had the gumption, anyway) to get in a 45 minute walk on a track like that; I hiked 3 hours and didn't even think twice about it!

Not my typical update this time around, because I'm retaining fluid this weekend pretty badly - yesterday, I wore a ring that is normally extremely loose, but yesterday it fit fine, so there's my proof on the water retention, which did help a little in dealing with the devastation the scale triggered at first!

I'm trying something this week. I know that I've been derailed for quite a while and can't seem to get myself to stay under my calorie limit. Back when I started this round in 2017, I had read a book on the 8 week blood sugar diet, where the writer claimed that eating 800 calories a day for 8 weeks would help an obese person get blood under control, lose weight, yadayadayada. I thought I'd give it a try as it wasn't long term (I figured short term couldn't hurt, right?) I quickly found in just a few days that I couldn't sustain 800 calories a day; my energy levels plummeted and I found myself getting the shakes, so I slowly raised my calorie limit up until I found MFP, figured out that at 375 lbs, my maintenance was around 2800 calories at that weight, and upped my deficit to 1800 and proceeded to lose 100+ lbs.

Unfortunately, I lost my momentum by the end of the year, plateaued, and have been struggling to maintain for the last 18 months and have slowly regained 30 lbs of what I lost, which is frustrating to the extreme. I can't seem to get back into the successful pattern I had at first, and can't figure out why.

Thinking back on how I started the successful period, I noticed there was one benefit from the couple days of fasting experiment: my hunger levels dropped. I've noticed this before when I've fasted during the day (such as having to wait for fasting bloodwork in the evening instead of getting it done first thing of a morning). The problem, of course, is making myself stick to an all day fast, especially around 10 am when the hunger gets really strong. I know that if I can will myself through that period, that hunger will drop off as evening approaches, but my will power has been pretty dead lately, so other attempts at fasting have stalled. For instance: I'd determine I was going to fast, but would quickly start compromising with myself, allowing myself to have something around lunchtime, a snack, or give in and eat a dinner, and before I knew it, I'd eaten well over 1500 calories that day and blown the fast.

So I've determined that today, I'm going to fast from get up to bed time and have no more than 100 calories today (and that's because I can't stand straight black coffee and need my unsweetened almond milk). Of course, when I determined to do this yesterday, the desire to compromise started, but so far, I've held firm to it and seem to have slightly more will power to stick to it today (we'll see if that lasts as the day progresses). Tomorrow, I think I'll introduce maybe one meal, or perhaps a small breakfast and a dinner, and skip lunch. I'll try to keep this pattern up this week, slowly working my way back up to 1500 calories, and see if this little experiment will help me get my hunger under control. Because I have noticed that after eating at a lower limit for a while, my body gets used to that and I find that the amount I used to eat to be too much. I think that's why the short periods of fasting may work.

Course this weekend is going to be a challenge as I'm going camping, but hopefully, if I can get my hunger back under control by Friday, I won't be as tempted by the food as I was during the cabin trip, and the extra calories burned by all the walking I'll do won't get eaten up (literally) by extra hunger drive afterwards, so hopefully, I won't lose the benefit of the extra activity.

Anyway, I'm at wits end and since everything else I've tried to get myself back on track have failed, including the medication route from my doctor, I'm going to see if I can't get this to work. Wish me luck!

MzCara148 wrote: »

Starting Weight: 321 in 2018
Goal weight: 161
Current Weight: 309.4
Next Major Goal: 271 (where I fell off the wagon last year.

I am 3 weeks into my reboot. I am finally starting to get past the point where I am starving all the times, the blood sugar crashes where I get the shakes and break out in a sweat are passing - so that’s all good. I am working a Noom program at the same time I am logging here, so fire away if you have questions.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel for the whole month of July with the hubs and my chicklets. We are driving from the East Coast to San Francisco and back again. So I have no clue how I am going to make that work. But I have got to try. So here I am, giving it another go.

Travel is a killer! I gained 5 lbs in May because of being out of town so much and in an area where there weren't many healthy options to be had. But keep trying! and be forgiving of yourself; even if a day isn't completely perfect, look for the little victory points along the way; that goes a long way to keep yourself going and not giving up!

BettJo64 wrote: »

It's been a hard few weeks as far as loss for me. Just when I see the scale drop a few...the next day it's back up a few and more. And I'm doing so well with my foods and walking within my abilities at this time. I feel great about everything else...but this mind game with my scale can STOP any time now!!!

@MzCara148 is right - water weight is a bear and can sometimes be to the tune of 6 to 8 lbs. It can be so disheartening when you think you're doing everything right and your body's retention of water masks your success. But hang in there - keep an eye on the over all trend; you're doing fantastic!

BettJo64 wrote: »

@MzCara148 and @bmeadows380 Thank you, ladies, so much for understanding and quieting down my frustrations. I hope to see that scale move down soon though. I need even the tiniest loss just to boost my spirit again.

@BettJo64 Oh honey, I know the frustration all too well - just go back and read some of my epic whiny posts and you'll see why I call myself the resident Eeyore lol

@BettJo64 I do that whenever I get more active - spend a day working in the house or outside, and the next few days will see a jump in the scales, not a loss, even though I keep to the calorie deficit. I guess its water retention, perhaps due to pushing my muscles to work more than they are used to?