NON WW & WW NEWBIES, OUR NEW LIFE, THE START OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL

Hi all..been awhile since I've been here. Just plugging along, nothing exciting going on here, lol

@TeresaW1020 I am sorry that Joe is having such a tough time. I hope it gets better for him..and therefore, you too. Like everyone has just said, keep taking it a day at a time.

@trooworld That's too bad about the windshield & the frig. I don't think frigs last too long any more. Dd moved to OK in 2013 & got one after that (not sure when) & it has already died & she had to get a new one last fall. Will your insurance cover the windshield? Ours did. Yay for only having a small piece of the pie. We got a Costco apple one today & I had 1/12 of it, but as big as they are, it wasn't that small of a piece. lol

@roz0810 Good luck..I do think tracking & water are important to start with.

@theslightedgeforever Good job with the exercising! We had a few really nice days this week, so dh & I went for a few walks outside, too. Now it is cold again & possibly snow on Easter Sunday! But they say 70 in a week..I hope!!

Had my Medicare wellness check today. Had been putting it off because I was worried about my BP but it was pretty good today when they checked it. Waiting to see how cholesterol (usually a little high) & blood sugar (usually good) are doing. Overall, she thinks I am doing OK, see her again in a year. That's what I like to hear! & they measured my height...without shoes this time...so I thought oh no, I will probably be shrinking & she said I was 3/4" taller than the last time (with shoes, I think!) Don't think it was right..but oh well, I'll take it!

Dh & I got our 2nd Covid booster this afternoon. It's been almost 6 months since the last one & we are old enough to qualify, so decided we better get it, we wanted to get it before our trip in June. (Dr advised it, too, lol) Feel OK so far other than my arm is already getting sore. (I am assuming no other reaction..we didn't react to the others)

Been trying semi-plant based, limiting dairy, & getting a lot of fiber. By this I mean, I have been having meat only once a day instead of usually lunch & dinner. So far, doing OK..the nondairy thing is not going as well. I really wanted to see how that would affect my allergies. I think I am down a few pounds.

Have a nice Easter!!

@trooworld I love blueberry pie. I like Wheat Thins too. lol I was thinking like your coworker about how things come in 3s but didn't want to stress you out. Glad to see you already had the first one. So you're done. How's your food plan going in general? What good choices other than the pie have you been making?

@gemwolf110 What's the smallest thing you could do this week to change the trajectory of your weight? For me, it could be No eating while I'm watching TV. Part of me wants to add No eating unless it's fruit or veggies. But then I could see myself backsliding by eating fruit and crackers.

@retiredandlovingit Yaaay on growing taller. There's hope for me. Hopefully all of your tests will come out good. I still have a couple of months left to hit the 6 month for me and the booster. Yaaay on the lbs gone and the transition to semi-plant based. That's a good way to describe it.

I didn't exercise the other day and yesterday just did my stretches. Just putting it out there for accountability.

Today is a planned rest day.

Hi all...
Not much for personals today...just wanted to say this booster has really kicked my butt!! I have been chilling since last night, and my arm hurts so bad, it is hard to raise it or even just move it. Couldn't sleep last night because it hurt & couldn't get comfortable. My Dr said you could get it if its been 4 months since last one (& it's been almost 6), it's been 3 months since I had Covid, so the antibodies should be wearing off. I wonder if it's hit me so bad because I had Covid. I was expecting to breeze thru like each of the others. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

@TeresaW1020 Yay for the last round of chemo!! It is nice that your Mom can go by herself...sometimes it seems like all a person does is Dr appointments. You asked about Easter plans..we will be going to church in the am & going over to dd's in the afternoon to play games & eat dinner with them. She wants ham balls (she will make) & cheesy potatoes (I will make) & not sure what else..probably Costco apple pie, lol. We also bought a ham in case the ham balls fall thru, lol.

Just thought of it..we have an eagle nest not too far from our house & 2 of the 3 babies have hatched this week. I love watching them on you tube. (Denton eagle cam) It just amazes me how the parents feed them & take care of them.

@teresaw1020 I don't have the workbook. If you see any pertinent questions that you think I'd like, let me know. I hear you on the dr appts with mil. But now that dh is retired I make him take her. He doesn't ask the right questions or I should rephrase questions that I would ask but I'm learning to keep my mouth shut. Not my problem I keep telling myself. I like to control everything/everyone around me so I'm learning not to do that. If I suddenly died, the world would go on.

@retiredandlovingit It's been interesting watching these vaccines because you never really know what you are going to get with it. Hope you have more energy soon. I'm assuming ham balls are not pig testicles. But something yummy, correct? I'll look for the eagles.

@roz0810 I have same problem sometimes. I call it my switch is either ON or OFF. Once it flips off I have a hard time flipping it back on. So now I'm trying to learn that if it's off to manually flip it back on with little actions. I just wish I knew what flips it off in the first place. I never follow a very strict plan because I know myself. But all of us here keep trying and one day we will reach our goals. What I want to accomplish is consistently keeping myself in my weight boundaries as I lose so the mindset is already there once I reach goal. The boundaries would be for instance if my weight was 195, then the boundaries would be 193-197 (2 lbs over and under). As I lose then I keep lowering the boundaries. So if one day I'm at 135, it would be 133-137. If I go over the 2 lb mark I need to immediately follow a "red day" in my case and keep doing that until I'm back under 137. That causes unwanted potential weight creep like 138 then 140 143 145 and before I know it I'd be back to 165 which could hit 180 then 195. So I'm working on that mindset too. Putting my boundaries where I can see them everyday.

@trooworld Did you take your walk? Woohoo on listening to your body for hunger signals. That's the way to do it.

Today's plan is 20 min cardio, stretching and balance.

@trooworld I'm glad you got your new fridge. I've had them go out before and know what a pain it is. Hopefully, this one will last for many years. That is terrible that you got such terrible service at the comedy club. I imagine that they were shorthanded as so many businesses are these days.

@RetiredAndLovingIt Glad, you are feeling better.

@theslightedgeforever Haha we are the same with our need for control and it is hard to let go but we have to or we will burn out and have nothing for ourselves. I’m learning to do that with my staff at work. Lately, if it is not part of my actual job description, I bite my tongue and let them figure it out on their own. I LOVE what you said to Roz about staying within a weight boundary now and not waiting until you are at your goal weight. That is such a great idea! I’m going to add that to my Never Binge Again food plan and make it a rule. If I had done that maybe I wouldn’t have gained so much back these last few months.


Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good Easter. Mine started out really stressful because Joe was having some serious dizziness when he got up. He even passed out for a few seconds in the bathroom and would have fallen if I hadn’t held him up. Once he ate, he was able to get dressed and we made it to church, which was wonderful! I did have to get one of our deacons to help him to the car afterward just to be on the safe side. I made a nice dinner of pulled pork and the fixings and we had some apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Joe hardly ate dinner but you can believe that man ate every bit of his favorite pie! My weight was up a little today but I did lose 1.2 lbs. for the week, so I’m happy with that. This week is going to be busy with two doctor appointments and chemo on Friday. I just hope nothing unplanned happens! Have a good day!

SW: 273.4

4/17 272.8
4/18 271.8
4/19 270.2

Good morning all. Hope you had a good Easter. Finally I am back on track and seeing some progress, yeay! 😁 Just need to continue this consistency and stay on track!

@cbabie Pick one of those two things and start doing it. Which one would make the most impact for you and your goals? I hope your cold goes away.

So I hope everyone had a great holiday. Looks like the 3 Abrahimic religions have converged at the same time. I read that happens every 33 years. I've been busy listening to podcasts and cleaning out closets.
I went to the doc the other day and they changed my heart med. I take 1/2 of my usual tablet and 1/2 of a new one. We'll see how this goes.

@cbabie I’m glad you are feeling better and trying to get back to normal. One day at a time!

@trooworld that is great that you found your sweet spot for IF. I think I have found mine too and usually fast from 5 pm (we eat dinner) to about 11 am. Looking over your points for the week, I know I don’t need to tell you that your snacks are where you are seeing the biggest issues. Have you tried double-tracking calories lately? It might be worth the effort for a week just to see what you’re actually consuming. I remember how those zero foods can sneak up on you. What kind of snacks are you eating, and do you really need to snack? Would you be better off eating a bigger lunch and then waiting to have dinner? This would give your body time to drop its insulin and maybe help you cut the points more and lose more weight, which I know is your goal.

@theslightedgeforever I hadn’t heard that about the Abrahamic religions. That’s really cool! I have some closets that need a good cleaning too. I also need to do something about my laundry room, which becomes the catch-all for things I’m not sure what to do with.

@roz0810 Great job on your loss so far this month!


Hello! Well, life with Joe is still pretty rough. His urologist is having him wear the cath for another week and then will test to see if he can urinate on his own. This morning he is super dizzy and fainted on the bedroom carpet. He is OK and now back in bed. I’m so tired of all this and we are at our wit's end on what can be done. He has an appointment with his orthopedic doc later today and we will tell him that PT is out of the question. Hopefully, Joe’s shoulder is healing up OK. He feels like it is. In other news, I’m doing my best not to stress eat. Sticking to my IF schedule is helping as is reading the Never Binge Again book and doing the workbook. I did an exercise a couple of days ago where I wrote about what my life would look like one year from now if I followed all my rules 100%. It was fun and motivating. Now I just need to do it!

@roz0810 Looks like you are working your plan. Woohoo! Plus you are thinking in advance of the obstacles that can come your way and how you will deal with them. I was just thinking earlier about the word consistent and then you had mentioned it in your post. That seems to be the crux of our not meeting goal. For me I had realized listening to a podcast that by saying I'm not consistent or if I would just be consistent, the word "consistent" itself was just something abstract that didn't get my brain's attention. Although what did get the attention was the words I'm which is I AM which the brain takes to mean "This is who you are" "This is your identity". So then it shows me short clips of all the times that I haven't been consistent in my life which just reinforces that. So I'm going to begin using the words "doing the habits that work for me" So either I'll be saying Lately, I haven't been doing the habits that work for me or it will be Today I was successful in doing the habits that work for me.

@trooworld So just looking over your points list, if you get 18 points a day it seems like lunch and dinner is almost if not more just by themselves. So how could you be expected to stay within your boundaries if you added in breakfast and snacks. Oh just realized you didn't list breakfast because you are doing IF I assume and not eating in the morning. But wouldn't the first meal you have technically be breakfast because you are breaking your fast. Semantics I know. But if you changed the terminology you could end up with no "snacks" just 3 meals. Now if all you get is 18 the way my mind works is that it's like 6 apiece for the 3 meals or maybe heavier at dinner since that is when you are with hubby and then lighter other times. Questions:

So what are you eating that has you eating 9-20 points for lunch, 9-20 points for dinner, and 3-20 points for snacks. Just go back and look at the 20 point days to start.

Can you make your recipes that you eat a "side" and not an entree? Then supplement the rest with zero point foods. So for instance like MyPlate 1/2 is fruits 1/2 is veggies/salad 1/4 is low point foods and 1/4 is your recipe you made. Are you cooking too much for you and hubby and don't want to waste it so you eat more? Don't want to eat the same thing over and over so you cook more often?

I had the bigger closet originally but then hubby kept buying more work clothes and suits and shoes. (He's part female, I think.) That his closet was overstuffed. Plus he doesn't like throwing, giving away stuff. So one day I just switched closets with him while on a trip. Now I'm doing the same thing since he's retired. (If only he would give up those work clothes and suits. Keep the bare minimum.) Oh well, not my problem unless his clothes start spilling over to my area. I'm still not done as I'm tossing my own stuff while I go. Of course my bedroom is a total disaster as it has little piles all over where I have sorted. I keep thinking Marie Kondo....what brings me joy.

@teresaw1020 So sorry about Joe. Do they know why he's fainting? BP too low or glucose too low? That's great that you are not stress eating. Keep it up. What do you call your Pig? I've named my Beast and he shrieks. Great journal exercise. Isn't doing it the hard part? I've been listening to old GTD podcasts and the main thing seems to be that if something isn't working in your life then your system is not working for you. We tend to blame ourselves. We aren't consistent. We are lazy. We aren't motivated. It's not US it's just the system we have chosen. Make it simple. Make it where you only have to think about it once a week. The rest of the time just follow what you already planned because the mind(beast/pig) will always come up with ways to do something different than what you planned. I heard today Get the physical part moving before the mind kicks in. I read that Abrahamic thing on Twitter and I thought interesting that Jesus was supposedly 33 years old when he died.

@cbabie Yaaay for all the things you did right yesterday. Give yourself credit. What does a great exercise day look like to you? You said I think the key is consistency, partly because it then becomes habit and we don't have to "think" about what to do. LOL That is just what I told roz As I've been listening to GTD which has been interesting since I read his book and started his system 20 years ago probably. That has been turned into Trello for me. But listening to these old podcasts I now see a fatal flaw in my system that he says is in everyone's systems. We make lists either on paper, computer, or head but we don't simplify it down to the "next action". So for instance eat more vegetables would be a card in my "health and fitness" list. Can I do that right now? No because I don't have cut up vegetables that are easy to grab. Or I haven't looked up a recipe for cauliflower that's in there. So I continue to procrastinate on eat more vegetables. I continue to not lose weight. I continue to stay unhealthy.
So you said focus on tracking. What causes you not to track on a regular basis? Breaking it all the way down to the simplest form would be "enter my food into MFP while I'm eating it" No way to forget. If you have a no phone rule at the table, then take a pic. Why do you drink so much water? You never forget to drink your water. Because you had that annoying sound on your phone to remind you to drink your water until you formed the habit. Do you still have that sound?

I need to get my rear into gear and exercise. I have a daily goal of 1 hr to stay in the closet but I was in there 2 1/2. Then just was drained from all the mental deciding what to do with things. So what did I do? Went and played with dead ancestors on Ancestry.com So rule today is exercise before closet. My knees are really hurting when I get up so I need to strengthen my thigh muscles.

@cbabie I love three year old and their excitement. I follow this three-year-old named Lily on TikTok. She is beyond cute and so precocious. Being aware of those small things in your life that make you excited is a great way to help battle depression. Keep it up!

@trooworld I know that many fasters, including myself, have a real problem opening our window with carbs. Maybe that would be something you could switch up and open with protein first. Or is it possible to open your window with your lunch? Or…maybe instead of thinking of it as a snack, you could make whatever you open your window part of your lunch. Like an appetizer. You just keep tweaking and you will figure out what works best for you.

@theslightedgeforever They don’t know what Joe faints. He was diagnosed with Orthostatic Hypotension which basically means if his blood pressure is too low he faints. He takes three pills a day for it and we think it works most of the time. I think yesterday could have also been low blood sugar and I wish I would have thought to check his glucose. He hasn’t been eating much and hopefully, that will change once he is done with chemo.


Hello! Joe had a better today than yesterday so that was good because I was able to go clean the church. Tomorrow, he has his fourth and hopefully last chemo treatment. We are really praying that we will start to see improvement in his health. I didn’t go to church to help with the kids last evening because I just didn’t have the energy. I know my children’s director understands but I still can’t help feeling guilty. I am doing well with my fasting and eating. Today as I was cleaning the church, I listened to some interviews that the author of Never Binge Again has had with different people. It was super motivating and very helpful. If you are interested give one or more a listen and see what you think. https://www.neverbingeagain.com/general/WorkbookExamples.html