emmaps55 Member

I've been using a Fitbit Zip (the simplest one you wear in your pocket or bra, not on your wrist) for 2 years now -- the last six months religiously. I find it really motivates me! Often I will go for an extra walk in the evening just to reach a certain number of steps. I have given Fitbits to 4 family members and 3…

Back from 2 weeks at a ranch in Northern New Mexico with no cell phone service and barely enough wifi to occasionally skype my boyfriend -- so I wasn't able to visit with y'all! But I am so pleased that I was able to stay on my moderate carb WOE with not one dessert the entire time! And now in New England, at my family's…

I understand how you feel. I "futzed around" above 200 for over 8 years -- every time I got a bit below 200 I would blow it and gain right back up. I lost the same 10-15 lbs a thousand times. Now at 185, I do not want to stay at this weight for another 8 years. Staying here truly feels like "the dark side" as you put it! I…

@jane Love the pics of Dubai -- thanks! @cdpits -- wonderful pictures, especially the baby birds! @Sk8Kate -- So sorry about your deer encounter! At least you were all alright. I gave away 10 shopping bags of clothes to Goodwill today (yes, I had way too many clothes.) Some of them were the size 18W jeans I bought last…

I think this is one reason why -- when I started all over in March -- I decided to do what I consider moderate carb (50-100) -- which I realize now, from reading other posts on this forum, is higher carb than most of you do, but considered "low carb" by the rest of the non-LCHF world. I know myself enough to know I can't…

It's the smashed part I'm so tired of! I never knew how much pleasure chewing gave me...

@KnitOrMiss I know exactly what you mean! I have clothes I dry and clothes I don't -- one of my favorite shirts shrank a few years back and I am just now able to wear it again. Isn't it amazing how seemingly "small" NSVs like this/what you said really are such BIG things in our lives? Big, true, worthy of celebration!

I'm on Day 12 of a 21 day Soft Foods Diet (having had a molar pulled on June 11) and you guys are killing me! I want to eat your lunches each and every one of them! I am subsisting on egg salad, tuna salad, and hamburger with curry sauce (yes, a processed food but I'm desperate here) all mashed into swallow-able size --…

3 years ago I did 0--25 carbs for about a month, and I felt awful. I got light-headed, dizzy and nauseous -- finally I decided to raise my carbs to 50-100, and I immediately felt better. I had done 0-25 when I was younger, but I just can't do it anymore (at age 59). I average 75-80 a day (counting everything, not doing net…

"Are you living a life of denial or of choice? If LCHF feels like denial for you then you're going to run out of steam sooner or later and go off plan and transition into maintenance. Nothing wrong with that, per se. However, if you don't have the tools/skills in-place for your maintenance plan then it's possible you're…

I use it every single time I eat. Just like I weigh myself every day. Others don't need to, but I do. Because it's so easy for me to kid myself about what I'm eating or how I'm doing weight-wise.....and before I know it, I've regained my lost weight. I feel better about myself and what I'm doing when I keep myself very…

I think one of the hardest things to do is to get back on track. Making a fresh start like you're doing -- getting through that one complete "good" day, after one or more days of overdoing it (as you said you did yesterday) -- is a great accomplishment in itself, and something to feel proud of! A lot of times over these…

I went down a shoe size -- back to my old 7.5! That really surprised me! Also, every year I sit on the bench at the 8th tee in our little Vermont golf course and look at my thighs -- this year there's a lot less to look at!

I guess my question would be, why do you "gain it all back due to feeling a failure?" Everyone here -- and I join them -- think wow, what a success story! You've lost a huge amount of weight, and you've managed to do it 4 times-- more gumption than I know I would have. I know you've said you need to get to your goal…

" I have been eating a lot of grapes for snacks. I also love green apple slices dipped in rasberry nonfat yogurt." If I ate grapes for snacks I would be ravenous! I eat pretty high fat (55% of my average 1450 calories a day) -- a tablespoon of olive oil, or of organic mayo, plus cheese, eggs, meat -- that gives me a lot of…

Hi, I'm Emma -- 59, 5'2", 185 lbs today down from 210 on March 11th -- I'm kind of following Paul Jaminet's The Perfect Health Diet, which is basically moderate carb and allows what he calls "safe starches" -- 1/2 cup of white rice, sweet potato, some fruit.... I find I gravitate to low-carb foods but don't feel well with…

I'm 5'2" and 185 -- I went from a size 18W at 210 in March to a size16 regular at 185 today. Very hourglass figure and I used to carry most of my weight in hips and thighs. But now that I'm post-menopause, I've found that I can wear pants that I barely could wear at 160 15 years ago....but all my old shirts are way tight…

Hi -- completely new to the low-carber forum and happy to have found it thanks to the kindness & private invite of a member -- it's very nice to be in a place with nice people! I decided in March that I did not want to be in the 210's when I turn 60 in November -- I have yo-yoed in a 15 lb range since 2006 -- never able to…

"my daughter should be the size of a house then. she was put on antibiotics within an hour of birth, had numerous courses her first year in hospital, lives on them every winter and several short courses every summer." I'd say she was one lucky little girl and I'm glad for her sake that she wasn't affected by them. "instead…

I'd say eat whatever gives you energy, makes you feel good, doesn't make you struggle with hunger or cravings. I cut out grains because they make me bloat and feel terrible, others feel great on them. I cut out processed foods because they seem to make me crave more and more, and it's easier for me to not have any than to…

Interesting NIH article by Richard Feinman and others (my italics): "A review of simple thermodynamic principles shows that weight change on isocaloric diets is not expected to be independent of path (metabolism of macronutrients) and indeed such a general principle would be a violation of the second law. Homeostatic…

MamaBirdBoss: "This is the FIRST TIME you've ever done what actually works: consistently eating a deficit. Why look for magic unicorn farts when the answer is right in front of you?" I think you are confusing me with someone else. I never said this is the first time I have consistently eaten at a deficit. In fact, I have…

"Btw, eating more carbs than usual leads to water weight gain too, not only sodium so there's your answer for that." Stevencloser: You assume I was eating more carbs than usual with the pasta. Not true. Same level of carbs, same level of sodium. Yet it caused some kind of chemical reaction in my body -- and the point was,…

Snickerscharlie: Sorry for the one liner response to yours. I just get fed up with one-liner smugness and should not have responded to it. It does none of us any good.

Proving that CICO is worthless when it comes to real health and helpful advice.

Though I'll add the advice to all: based on my experience this week, if you want fast and easy weight loss, go have a tooth pulled. Because pain killers and a soft food diet really really work if you can stay off the ice cream!

Rabbitjb -- perhaps we are dealing with semantics. I will agree that CICO is a 4 Laws of Thermodynamics fact when it comes to machines -- but when it comes to weight loss it is almost meaningless, because so many factors (which you yourself mention: hormones, bacteria, medicine etc) affect how our bodies respond. People…

Rabbitjb -- perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I had surgery at age 6 months (in 1956, not 6 months ago). There is some research that suggests that antibiotics given to infants permanently changes gut flora.... Why did I go from a normal size baby to an extremely chubby one immediately post-surgery? That's a question I…

"And that's why you are losing. It's not the probiotics or anything else." MamaBirdBoss: See, I don't think you can legitimately make that kind of declaration. I can't either -- I would never say "I KNOW it's the probiotics." All I know is I am doing these three new things (2 of which, the processed foods and the…

Everyone has their own beliefs about what works for them. I have an endocrinologist who has never had a weight problem tell me "everything in moderation." That doesn't work for me. I have struggled with weight my whole life. This past March I stopped eating anything processed, stopped eating grains, and started taking…