Everyday Systems

I don’t think I’ve ever done this but I’ve decided to start a new thread to Mark this next’s years journey. My goal is to lose 37 lbs by May 1st, 2022. I’m going to this with a combination of vanilla NoS and ADF. I plan to workout most days too but nothing set as I usually like to change that up. I would do a step count except my Apple Watch isn’t working.

Today is Saturday so I’ll eat freely. We have a post vaccine party at our house though so I probably won’t eat much till the party just to save my appetite. On the Eat days I’ll do NoS and on the fast days I’ll eat no more than 500 calories. I’ll give myself off a total of 21 days for holidays and vacation. This goal coincides with my Healthy Wager goal which is an app where you bet money on yourself. If you meet the goal you get all the money you put up plus more, I get 1k more. If you lose, you lose everything.

Okay more later but I gotta get ready for this party.

Oh boy, what a weekend. We had a post vaccinated party sat night and had so much fun. I forgot how much work entertaining is but it was worth it. I planned for us to eat outside so I decorated the pool area with candles , flowers and little lanterns. We made fish tacos, salsa and refried beans. Our friends brought, salad, guacamole and flan. I also made my famous jalapeño margaritas. Unfortunately, I ate and drank a little too much and felt a little fuzzy this morning.

It wouldn’t have been such a big deal except that we took our boat out for the first time yesterday. We ended having an amazing time though. I don’t think the girls have smiled that much since the pandemic started. Everyone got up on the wake boarding but me. I really think I need to be lighter. Definitely a bad body image day for me. Wearing a bathing suit as well as squeezing into the same size wetsuit as DH was not great for the self-esteem for sure. I have a long way to go till I’ll feel good in a bathing suit again but am determined to stay on course.

Yesterday:

Fast day: 1 banana, 1/2 c of Asian snack mix, roasted vegetables

Exercise: attempted wake boarding.

Day 2

Today went well. It was really nice to have the structure of 3 meals again.

168.8

Break: oatmeal, fruit, 2 veggie sausages
Lunch: 2 fish strips, tortilla chips, salsa
Dinner: tostada, yogurt w fruit & nuts

Walked dogs

I did really well today with my fast day. I wasn’t super hungry and what i did eat was very satisfying.

We have so many things to look forward to coming up. We have this dinner put on by local chefs in the mountains in two weeks. Then we are taking rosebud to San Diego for her 16th bday. We are surprising her and it’s been so hard to keep it a secret. I keep asking her what she wants to do for her bday and i can tell she’s a little bummed out that I haven’t planned anything for her. Bdays are kind of a big deal in our family. It’ll be worth it to see her face though when she does find out. Then our neighbors are throwing a post vaccinated party in the beginning of may and then for my bday we are going to my very favorite restaurant. It’s an amazing dining experience with a 14 course meal as well as wine pairing. So excited! And then sweetpea graduates. Ugh, im not ready to let go of my girls. At least she will only be a couple hrs away.

Tomorrow is an eat day—yay!

169.4
Green days 3

Fast day: sf mocha, small bowl of shrimp stir fry

Exercise: walked dogs, 30 mins treadmill

Wow sounds pretty fun for Sweetpeas birthday! My dad and his wife are fully vaccinated and so are all their friends so they have been out there in the social world and they are so happy! I bet there will be a lot of post vaccination parties coming up!

My 17 yo graduates too! Is her school doing an in person ceremony?

It sounds like you have lots to look forward to

It was hard to send my oldest off but we’re actually even closer now!! It’s so much fun to visit & he calls everyday, usually multiple times (although at first he was proving his independence & didn’t start that way)!! It was so much less bad than how I thought it would be without him home!!

Hippie: so great about your dad! Really wonderful to get some semblance of normalcy back. Sweetpea is allowed to invite 6 ppl so her grandparents will be able to attend which is great. What about your daughter?

Thanks Jen! That’s reassuring. Im sure it’ll be fine! Definitely going to take some getting used to but will be so good for her self -esteem.

Well im really happy that my weight was down after an eat day Thursday. That doesn’t usually happen. Usually it’s only down after fast days. Hopefully i can get under 165 next week. That would be pretty nice.

I ended up canceling all my plans for this weekend as i just really need to gel. Now that social life is opening up again, ill need to remember not to say yes to everything or ill burn out. Im excited to just be able to do some cooking and putter around the house.

Im really struggling with a situation happening with my mom and sister but not quite sure why. My mom just had knee surgery and is recovering at my sisters. Well during this time my sister decides my mom needs to move out of her old place and into a new nicer place. She’s paying the difference so my mom can afford it. It’s all happening very fast and she will be moving out at the end of the month. I don’t know why this is bothering me as it’s clearly very generous of her. I guess im feeling guilty for not offering to help but we just aren’t prepared to pay that right now especially with sweetpea about to go off to college and rosebud will need a new car soon.

I guess i wish my sister had let me known ahead of time so we could discuss it. Now im worrying that she’s expecting me to jump in and help. Im worried they both think im being a selfish daughter. We are buying her some new furniture and i offered to help her move. The problem is since i just found out about it, i dont know if i can since we’ve got so many other things planned coming up. So now ill look doubly selfish. I did try to talk to my mom about it but honestly she wasn’t very reassuring. We also asked my sister if we could help pay for my mom’s surgery (what the insurance didn’t cover) but she refused to take it. I don’t know. I just feel frustrated but it’s hard to even explain why. My mom just seems so different on the phone when she’s at my sisters. It’s like she’s listening but doesn’t really hear me. I feel like when she’s there she’s acting how she thinks my sister wants my mom to act. I do the same thing when im around my sister. She just has a very domineering personality and us ppl pleasers just fall in line. Sounds crazy i know but even sweetpea said my mom sounded different and wasnt acting as silly and carefree as she usually does.

I need to not make this about me though. Ultimately it’s going to be a good thing for my mom and if my sister wants to pay for it, I shouldn’t worry about it. I know she’d never do anything that might hurt her financially and we will just help my mom in our own way. It’ll be nice to spend time with her when she’s away from my sister.

Yesterday:
166.8 lbs

Breakfast: oatmeal, fruit, yogurt
Lunch: open faced sloppy Joe’s, sweet potato fries, watermelon
Dinner: poke bowl, wine.

Taking the week off of exercise

Linda 6 people can go to my daughters graduation too! Im not sure if she wants to go though. I need to sit down and get a yes or no from her. She will be fully vaccinated by that time and so will all the people who would come so that would be good, but she is still pretty freaked out by the idea of being in a building with a lot of people. They are doing it inside an auditoriioum. Im a little freaked out by that idea too!

Family stuff is so hard! I can totally understand where you are coming from worrying that you seem like the selfish daughter. I guess this is where you have to try not to worry about what other people may or may not think of you even though it is your family, so I know how hard that is! It is too bad that your sister didn't let you know ahead of time though! Seems like she is just making these plans without you and you DO have lots of other stuff going on. It sounds like you tried to help and your sister wouldn't let you, so I guess all you can do is let your mom know you are there for her and leave it at that. Sorry, family stuff is tough.

Thanks hippie, yeah it is complicated. I did talk to my mom today though and got her to hear me a lil better. She said she said she absolutely didn’t feel like i was being selfish at all. She said my sister just has a different financial situation. I think part of my frustration is that my sister manages to show me up in every part of life and now this even. Sigh... such is my fate. We did work out a time for me to come help my mom so that’ll be nice.

Ive struggled the last couple of days. Sunday was an off day but i went a bit overboard and today I couldn’t manage to stick to my 500 calories. Maybe its time to switch things up again. I seem to be getting burnt out.

Sf mochas, air popped popcorn, 2 small slices homemade pizza, 2 chocolate pretzels, v small glass wine

Walked dogs

Im glad you were able to talk to your mom and she was able to hear you and reassure you, and that you are able to work out a time to help your mom.

Maybe switching up your eating pattern could be helpful? I know a while back you realized you get burned out on ways of eating and decided to switch it up occasionally? Could you need to do something like that?

Thanks hippie. Im glad too. Feel much better about that. Yeah i dont know what to do eating wise. Today was a disaster & Im feeling super down about it all. I have this challenge and have to make it work but it feels impossible sometimes. Im also feeling pressure because of the boat strangely enough. I just feel like there’s going to be a lot of time spent in bathing suits and i want to look decent.

Dang, im just going to have to pick myself up and keep on going. Failures just really not an option here so i need to stop feeling sorry for myself and just make it happen.

Okay pep talk over. I can do this. Definitely not weighing for a few days.

Ate a lot.

Walked dogs.

Welcome to the NoS boards, Linda! Oh wait, you're LINDA LINDA.
You have a new thread! I was like - wait, this is not fitting into my life paradigm - I'm so confused.

Swimsuits always make me feel the pressure too! I just try to get the most flattering swimsuit possible. I have a 2 piece bathing suit where the top is like a ruched camisole in an amazing shade of blue and the bottom is a little skirt. I love it and feel good in it regardless of weight.

Hope you are doing well!

Hi Linda! I am sorry you are struggling with your new plan. I hesitate to share as I keep changing up my plan as well - but I am trying to look at this as a "journey of discovery" instead of just more failed attempts, I am finding what does and does not work. We are all individuals and need to find our own path to success...

I have recently started Eat Stop Eat - fasting from Dinner to Dinner so about a 23 Hour fast, but instead of two days a week, three alternating days, with little rules accept not to over do it for the remaining four.

Example Week:

Three alternating days a week: from 7 pm the night before until 6 pm the next day = water, black coffee then at 6 Supper plus an after supper snack. So about a 22-23 hour fast 3 times a week.

Remaining four days: Three meals and some days an afternoon snack, done eating by 7 pm.
Trying to eat healthy and balanced, lots of produce and protein and less easy-to-over-do-it-foods (ranch Doritos with cheese dip is the latest indulgence!)

I found this schedule to be VERY doable - to my absolute shock; this after experimenting with so many different IF schedules and sometimes combining with NOS, this (so far it's only been two weeks) has been the easiest plan, and honestly amazed I like it so much - I thought I would hate it. I always thought a daily regime made the most sense for habit and ease of implementation but over time it got more difficult and I became more and more hungry each day.

I have so much more energy on both fasting and non-fasting days using a 3 times a week Eat-stop-eat plan. Author is Brad Pilon, the book is from 2007. He recommends one or two 24 hour fasts spread out over a week, and to eat "responsibly" when not fasting, but I find I need three alternating days to see the scale move. You don't need the book - that's it in a nutshell and you can find that summary in any google search.

Just thought I would share in case it helped at all

I have mostly stopped posting in my check in but still a big "lurker" as I find it helpful to see what and how others are doing on their own journeys. If I have some wins/losses stacked up for a while I may post again on the regular.