Oh, and Nanc, I bought a watermelon too. I got one last week and it was wonderful! I hope it's a sign that it will be a good summer for watermelon.

Happy Mother’s Day to all. I was never able to have children but have my fur babies.

I made a 3 bean vegan chili with loads of vegetables. Did not really have high hopes for it but it was delicious today. We had potatoes last night and I could only eat 1/2 and told Brooks he could have the other 1/2 today. I am so jealous as he is putting the chili on it and it looks delicious.

Busy morning cleaning aquariums. They are heavily planted and I use to discard the plants when I trimmed them up. Brooks took all my stuff to our local aquarium store plus a few mystery snails and they gave him $50.00 credit. He bought me a new air pump! I also have a ton of baby fish and mystery snails that they have bought from me but I never considered selling all the plant trimmings. Setting up a new quarantine tank today for new fish I am buying next week. The fish store wants me to breed discus fish for them. They are beautiful and I always wanted a few and they are pricey.

Veggie corn tacos with my tofu seasoned in air fryer plus avocados and lettuce/tomato’s and onion. Love my tofu press. I feel like a whole new tofu world has opened up!

Haha it looks weird with the gnome hat underneath it. Like a tongue.

That's beautiful, Bisky!

Nanc, I'm so jealous. I would love to have a week off. Heck, at this stage I'd settle for a weekend! LOL

Hope you and Lulu enjoyed your spa day.

I ate potatoes and watermelon today. Wasn't too hungry and the potatoes fill me up. I'm going to try sticking to the potato plan for the next 10 days and see how I feel and whether the scale starts moving again. I've been stuck for a long while now. The only things I will add in is some greens and cooked veggies, and a serving of fruit each day.

Hit the treadmill first thing this morning. Finally. I have been oversleeping a lot lately and skipping the treadmill. Not this morning!

Mihani - that sounds like a great plan to break the plateau. We had a lot of baked potatoes in Finland. Plus cucumbers, onions, peppers and fennel. I hope you get some down time.

Magic - how was the spa day?

Carla - now what are you creating?

Day 5 of no coffee or chocolate and 2 weeks of no protein coffee drinks. Drinking lots of teas with no honey, fake sugars or cream. One cup of coffee equals about 3 cups of tea so I drink 3 cups in morning and spend rest of day running to bathroom. 😂

Bit of a rant. My older sister is doing this keto diet since January. Now she is into all this “keto” baking with almond flour and monk fruit. She insists I can eat all these cookies, scones etc as they are gluten free. (Nothing sends me down a rabbit hole as fast as sweets and causes me to regain). I told her my 70 lb weight loss was plant based and that I do better with fruits for sweets. She then stated the only good fruits are berries and she will only eat a few blueberries with her keto diet. Trying to change the fruit subject I mentioned how
I bought a tofu press and am really enjoying tofu lately and it is suppose to be good for prostate cancer. OMG….you would have thought I was taking poison…she went off about tofu. I didn’t get mad at her but the conversation really bothered me. It was like a cloud over me. She only drinks tea…I also mentioned how I have given up on coffee and drinking black teas in am and herbal teas rest of day. Well, I got one upped again. She said I only have one cup of black tea in am and drink green teas rest of day because green tea is so healthy. 🙄 Now, when I lived in Japan they had wonderful green teas including matcha green teas. I asked her if she wanted me to send her some
and she said”I don’t like green teas.”😳🙄😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜 glad I have an appt with eating disorder therapist this afternoon.

Hello Coffee! Welcome back.

I am so sorry for the loss of your sister. That is just so sad. It is a wake-up call. My hubby who is iffy about eating healthy has also had a wake-up call recently for his prostrate cancer. We are following Dr. Fuhrman’s advice about the G-bombs for immunity and plan to make his anti cancer soup later this week. I realized I have to be very proactive with meal planning for better success.

I also see a nutritionist and an eating disorder therapist. I am down 72 lbs from Jan. 2023. It has been a very slow weight loss in last 16 months. I have never lost this much weight before…usually 30-40 lbs and then gained it back as I slid into old habits. I am determined with the help of the nutritionist and therapist to keep it off. I try to only make 1-2 changes a month and then work hard to incorporate it into habits. My one I am working on this month is giving up fish and learning to cook with tofu. So much help and support from Mihani, Magic and Carla over the years. I have said I would never go vegan but I might be eating those words.

I am the laziest food prepper around. I buy precut onions, peppers, brocolli and cauliflower. Frequently from TJ’s. I also buy premade salads frequently with cabbage. I am so lazy I also buy pre sliced mushrooms. How hard is it to slice a mushroom? I always have several packages of frozen vegetables (also from Trader Joe’s) just in case. On weekends I like to make vegetarian soups or chili and freeze half. I always have frozen fruit so I can quickly throw together a fruit/spinach/ginger smoothie for a quick pick up.. It is hard in our society to eat healthy, not all the prepackaged, processed food that is poisoning us. This last year, one month I substituted nuts for chips and encorporated them into my diet. I was sure the amount of pistachios, walnuts and cashews would lead to weight gain but they never did.

Very good discussion with therapist. Her advice was to not talk about food/diet with this sister. She is on a different journey she has chosen but it does not mean she is allowed to criticize mine or vice a versa. I have asked this sister before not to talk diets with her and I always get sucked in. The therapist reiterated that artificial sweeteners do not help weight loss including stevia and monk fruit. She would actually have me use honey if I felt I really needed to add sweetness to something. The problem with artificial sweeteners is we have receptors in our mouth, stomach and intestines that are stimulated by artificial sweeteners. Causes a release of hunger hormones that are powerful. It is not an immediate affect but kicks in 1-2 hours later. The other problem with artificial sweeteners …they are much sweeter than sugar, honey or fruit and use of them changes our taste buds and fruit no longer seems as sweet and juicy. The new diet drugs are based on suppressing these hunger hormones. Humans can do it naturally by walking away from all processed foods, sugar and hormones in meats.

Today I made a smoothie with soft tofu, 1 roasted beet, Cherry berry mix from Trader Joe’s and 1/4 of a banana. So good!
Tonight I am making a mushroom risotto mix from TJ’s with added sliced mushrooms and spinach plus tofu.

Yesterday at the pool I met a lady who was a competitive swimmer and now teaches swimming to people with disabilities ( not on base). She and a couple of other women meet on base Tuesday am to swim and she gives pointers. She invited me to join then! Then afterwards I was in the sauna and 2 ladies w ere talking about the yoga class they just took! I didn’t even know they had yoga classes on base. $3.00 a class! Score….between endorphin release from exercise and these 2 positives the dark depressed cloud from my sister’s conversation was lifted. 😊

Glad you are feeling better about things, Bisky. I got some precooked beets and am going to try adding those to my smoothies instead of beet juice so that I'm getting the fiber and other good stuff.

Nanc, sounds like you have having a very fun and productive week.

I left the office on time today because I am beyond beat. I'm leaving a little early tomorrow for a doctor appointment. I am going to bed early early tonight.

Good morning. Dressed for yoga and have swim stuff ready.

Mihani - How was your smoothie? Drinking a beet one as I type. I would have alternated with spinach/ ginger/ banana and tofu but I ran out of spinach.

Magic - I bet Lulu enjoys having you home. Did you get the treadmill moved and put back together?

Coffee - My husband was diagnosed in 2019. His biopsy came back while he was deployed to Syria/Jordan. He had prostatectomy in 2020. His PSA levels have been slowly rising which indicates metastasis. Pet Choline scan found 2 areas. He started focus beamed radiation this week. He also has a very aggressive oral cancer that was caught early and is in remission. He is examined monthly. He was exposed to several burn pits during his military career which have been linked to cancer. I was very upset and felt helpless. I realized the best way I could help him would be to ensure he got his “G-BOMBS” in daily to strengthen his immunity. I love to eat but not the greatest cook so I use a lot of shortcuts. Yesterday I took the mushroom risotto from Trader Joe’s and added 1 cup more of mushrooms, 1/2 cup of onions and a cup of spinach to it and it was delicious.

Hey all... the hits just keep on coming! Yesterday I got to the office and my HD was fried. Deader than dead. Called our IT guy to be sure and he confirmed death and swapped in a new HD. I started the verification of data from our online backup but it was taking forever so I came home around 8:00 and it should be finished when I go in this morning and I can start the actual restore. Going in extra early.

I think the whole beet will be better than juice, Bisky, but I haven't tried it yet. I am doing the potato thing this week. I broke my plateau and then some in 4 days. This weekend I'll get back to GBOMBS. *hugs* to you and Brooks

Nanc, yay for getting the treadmill moved. That's great you used it right away.

Coffee, walking during the workday is a great idea! I try to do that in nice weather although usually the day just gets away from me. I barely take time for lunch. It does help kind of relieve the stress if I get out for a few.

A little drier and less sweet than the orange sweet potatoes. Pretty tasty!

Hi all, having internet issues and couldn't get a lot of work done here at home today. It kept going in and out and disconnecting me and it got very frustrating! I am going to bed early and hopefully get to the office super duper early tomorrow.

Thanks, Nanc

Today was good other than not being able to work much. Or maybe it was good because of that? LOL

Treadmill 1 mile and found a 10 minute yoga youtube that was supposed to help with muscle tension. It actually did seem to help! A whole lot of creaking and popping but I definitely didn't feel as tense through my shoulders and neck after. I am going to look for more short videos that I like and do one every night.

Breakfast was sweet potato and steamed broccoli. This may be my new favorite breakfast. Really makes me feel like I'm starting the day right.

Lunch was oats with berries and cinnamon. I used some almond milk and had to throw out the first bowl and make a new one with water. I quit using plant milk in smoothies years ago because I prefer water, but I liked it on cereal. Apparently not anymore. I like plant based yogurts and use plant milk in cooking sometimes, but I guess I just don't like it straight up.

Dinner was a big ol' salad with red leaf, yukon gold potato, beets, pickled onions, sprinkle of balsamic. I used to buy these prepared beets all the time a few years ago so I got some, but I don't particularly care for them anymore. Greatly prefer raw beet in salads. The prepared beets will be fine to use in smoothies though.

Okay, off to get in another 200 steps to meet my goal and read for a bit before bed.

Oh and latest funny disagreement with sister who is doing keto. She started using instant pot she let sit for two years. Of course it was a pot roast. Next she is going to make full milk fat yogurt. I stated they are great for cooking garbanzo beans for hummus or black beans or making refried beans. She stated beans have too much sugar and carbs. 😂I stated milk products have a lot of sugar and carbs too in the form of lactose. 1 cup of plain full yogurt has 12 grams of sugar. She is counting carbs and I think she is limiting it to 20-25 grams of carbs. 😜I changed the subject.