oolala53

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Wed Jan 19, 2022 11:18 pm

Very glad to hear that even though you had the bad luck to get covid, you have come through OK.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Amy3010
Posts: 1283
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:48 am
Location: Belgium

Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:44 am

I am very sorry to hear you got Covid, although it is lucky your symptoms have been so mild. Frustrating when you have been careful with everything and still end up getting it. Especially when it makes you feel bad you might have exposed your friend's father. I have to get tested on Saturday so I can fly to Texas to visit my mother on Sunday (haven't seen her since November 2019) and am so paranoid right now about testing positive...I have been trying to limit my contacts as much as I can but like you pointed out, it is impossible to completely shut down your life. I hope you feel better soon!

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:54 pm

Amy and ladybird, thank you. I actually could have chosen to isolate as we did earlier, just for this Omicron surge, and even considered it, but chose differently. Amy, you are experiencing what I went through in spades when I went to England last May to appear in an outdoor play. I had to get tested SIX TIMES, five of which cost me over a hundred bucks each, any one of which resulting in a positive test would have had repercussions beyond me individually, as it always does. Not to mention having to continue to quarantine in a hotel. It was an ultimately rewarding experience, but I was in angst a lot. It would be a drag to test positive before you go, but worse if you were positive and flew not knowing that, IMHO. This version is so contagious!

And I do feel pretty darn good, embarrassingly good. Going out for a walk soon. I've got no reason to do anything beyond that yet, even though theoretically now I could, but I'll wait.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Amy3010
Posts: 1283
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:48 am
Location: Belgium

Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:11 am

I am glad to hear you are feeling so well! Thank goodness all the angst and uncertainty surrounding all that testing (six times? :shock: ) not to mention the cost didn't ruin your trip to the UK. They are incredibly strict there and testing is expensive.

Our news reported yesterday that 10% of asymptomatic people getting tested for travel reasons end up testing positive for Covid, so that makes me feel a little bit better.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:13 pm

Moving my records forward.

see Sunday
Last edited by oolala53 on Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:25 am

I don't know why I didn't do this before, look up reasons older people lose their appetites. Multiple reasons and it seems it's unlikely it can be reversed. I guess if I could gain quite a bit of muscle, it might change things, but that would probably not change several chemicals that are part of the experience. So, I have to really accept this as the way things are likely to be here on out. I'll see if things will feel different now, but it does already seem different. It's different to stop believing that there is something significant I can do that will be surefire. That lifts a weight, even though real hope is gone. Acceptance is making be see it's not THAT terrible. It isn't as if I feel sick a lot of the time; it could be so much worse. And I'd like to think one day a week or so I could fast for 24 or even 36 hours, but I would have to see weekly what timing would be good for internal effects and also working up an appetite, which isn't always predictable. I did my periodic plan and was very hungry Friday night, but I wanted that last overnight for the good stuff to happen; once again, Saturday morning, I wasn't hungry at all, but if I didn't eat before 10 am, it would have been several hours until after my Zoom events. I'm going to have to learn to get maximum pleasure from the experience even without sizable hunger. I inadvertantly kept comparing from memory how I thought it could and should be, but the writing is on the wall! I can still taste well, my teeth are in pretty good shape, I can swallow easily, etc. These are all things that could be bigger problems.

My work is cut out for me to keep finding compelling things to occupy myself between meals, because looking forward to delicious hunger is not one of them.

Unfortunately, I have developed sinus symptoms I didn't have all week and my throat feels raspy. Am I getting a second wave of Omicron? WAs it the long but leisurely walk I took down by the water on Friday? I feel a bit tired, which is unusual for this time of night but fear bed too early because I don't necessarily sleep any longer just because I go to bed earlier. Would really rather not be awake from 3:30 am on, which can easily happen.When this happens, I don't feel awake and rested enough to get up or sit up and read or even meditate, and it's too cold even to hold a book. I don't want to engage with electronics then, either, if I can help it.

First world problem!
Last edited by oolala53 on Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:25 pm

Recovered again, though still cough sometimes.

Doing my periodic (for 30 days at a time, maybe 60) plan- started last July after seeing blood glucose rise- of using BG to determine when to eat. Not the same kind of systematic as set meal times, but it really does make sense to sometimes have to wait for body to clear more glucose from the blood before eating. The promoter of the idea calls it hunger training but that is bogus in my book. Hunger is produced by a collection of chemicals; blood glucose doesn't really touch that stomach hollow cavern feeling. Low bg will make a body feel shaky; that's not quite the same to me. I RARELY feel that, even when my bg goes down into the mid-to-high 70's, though I do remember the sensation ONCE in six months. I rarely feel the other kind anymore, either, and wouldn't you know, I did get rumblings this morning and even made my gruel concoction, then tested and was way too high! I do choose to have my doctored coffee anyway. If I were prediabetic, I might be tougher. Even this is a bit tough because it means waiting longer to have a meal, but it's preferable to having fasting beverages that I just plain don't enjoy.

I've also been reading an anti-diet book. These often make me feel rebellious but they also make me ponder my interest in this whole shebang. I know this one will eventually recommend using hunger and satiety cues to eat, but those are practically nil now. Did I confess already that one time in the last few months I decided to test out that strategy? I think I did allow myself my coffee, which is usually under 50 cal. a day, maybe 100 if I allowed myself two big mugs. I went from Sunday night to WEDNESDAY around 2 pm before I felt any real hunger. Not going to do THAT again soon. But the book does question a lot of the motives, even the health one. However, I'm pretty sure the blood glucose angle is creditable, even if I am being a bit paranoid. I know many of the people in the BG group would kill for my numbers. I also believe where I've gotten in weight is a good thing and I don't' think I ever could have pushed it as much as I have been able to using just hunger/satiety. But I also think I am SUPPOSED to weigh in the range I do and I agree with them that there are a lot of people whose healthy weight is higher than definitely the media standard, and even the medical standard. They posit that all bingeing is a logical result of "dieting" and trying to weigh less than one's natural weight. For me, it was definitely at first related to dieting, although I had been a sweets/flour sneak eater long before I ever dieted. It had a lot more to do with being attached to low-nutrient/low satiety foods. But who knows what would have happened if I had never gone on that first diet at 18? Might I have used sweets enough for stress/boredom/whatever relief to drive myself into the low obese range anyway? Certainly immigrants all over the world show that they often gain weight in their new flooded-with-food environments. Was their native food culture a diet that kept their weight unnaturally low, that they are now reacting to?

lThere should be a way for the medical community to figure out better where individual people might be ok. And then again- Libra flip flopping!-I think almost everybody would be naturally slimmer and in better health long term if they were eating a much less refined diet, even less than pre-1950 America. You can't really know what your true natural weight is, I don't think, unless you are eating a mostly natural diet. So much of the food supply is actually unnatural, but for each generation, the baseline of acceptable unnatural-ness goes up. And the more weirdo-ness is associated with more natural foods.

Ok, it's been nearly two hours since I tested. I have been sitting pretty much the whole time, so it might be asking a lot for BG to have dropped much, but I'll take a look. (the protocol says to wait only 30 minutes, but I got distracted and also guessed it wouldn't drop the necessary 10 points. ...nope, still hasn't come down. Either the body is still cranking on what was still there- a little scary since I had eaten nothing glucose-y since last night-, or it decided to draw on some of its storage, which is a good thing. Or it used a little protein, which is not a good thing. But given the general trend, I think it was glycogen storage.

Lord, woman, take a walk or move around! Lightly because vigorous exercise will temporarily raise BG.

After I die, will I find out how all this fits into a grand scheme?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:35 pm

Doing a little experiment and will post some numbers here for a week or so. The names of the columns are aligned in draft, but not published...
wt bmi bf v sb mm sk BMR
1/17 137.2 22.9 28.3 6 26 92.6
1/18 134.8 22.4 27.6 5 25.5 91.8 42.2
1/19 133.2 22.2 27.2 5 25.1 91.2 42.4
1/20 132.4 22.1 27.0 5 25.0 90.8 42.6 1324
1/21 131.8 22.0 26.9 5 24.9 90.6 42.6 1316

1/22 134.4 22.4 27.5 5 25.4 91.6 42.3 1338
1/23 134.4 22.4 " " " " " "
1/25 133.8 22.3 27.3 5 25.2 91.4 42.4 1331
1/26 same as yesterday
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:12 am

Well, I guess I got tired of posting that info. Yes, I am back to weighing myself, but it's on a spiffy scale that tells about body fat, skeletal muscle, total muscle, water, protein, yada yada yada. I am watching body fat and muscle as much as anything since I want to get back some of the body's ability to handle glucose and I need muscle for that. Yet I am not consistent. I did work on legs today and I know I am going to be sore, sore, sore. I will cycle through arms/chest, core both front and back, and legs for awhile. I don't have a time commitment at this point; the "coach" I am consulting is on the net. He has an amazing physique, works out every day and advocates body weight exercise. One protocol, if you don't want to work the same muscles every day, is to do several sets of different exercises targeting the muscle group, aiming for failure with each set. I think he recommends five different exercises but I started with three. I just have to put my money where my mouth is -always claiming I am doing this for health-because if I really want that function back, this is probably my only option. It has always been easier for me NOT to eat than it has been to DO something like exercise. But its the only option I am willing to consider now. Having to avoid most legumes and grains- verified by BG monitor- is not fun. But neither are the problems associated with BG spikes.

I'm also trying a timing plan. I was doing some time restricted eating at times, but could not find a window I really liked. I hated not being able to eat in the morning even though I wasn't hungry, and I didn't like skipping dinner, also even though I wasn't that hungry. Once again, I listened to an interview with Valter Longo, longevity expert and advocate of what he calls periodic fasting, the 5-day ritual I have been doing for a few years, most of it DIY, which he does not advocate. Anyway he says that only timed eating pattern he has seen not have any adverse reports about it a daily 12-hour fast, but he has for regular longer overnight fasts. He himself doesn't eat a real lunch, maybe some nuts or something, midday. Small breakfast , regular dinner. He recommends this routine if a person is overweight or prone to be. He says he is prone, but looks very slim. But his incentive is to live healthfully until age 100, not be thin. He says centenarians are not a very muscle-y group, but they are usually very slim. For activity, he recommend about an hour of walking daily, plus 150 minutes a week of targeted exercise, some of it resistance. But he rarely talks about targeting fat loss or weight loss, just diet quality- just about no junk and not many sweets, basically pescatarian, eat at meals. He promotes more starch than I can tolerae right now, but the rest of it fits the zeitgeist of No S pretty well.

If I'm honest, I don't get that hungry midday either, but allow myself a coffee-and-dark -chocolate break for now. It's time for dinner and I am hungry, not ravenous, but mildly hungry and glad of it. The plan is to start breakfast by 7 and finish dinner by 7. If I had the appetite I used to, I would still be eating three meals IF my glucose processing allowed it. I am continuing with that as well; I aim to eat by 7 am, but will wait if BG has not dropped to around 94. The exception is if I have just exercised which tends to draw some glucose out, so I can eat at up to 104. I found out that in the last few months, my body's ability to drop back to a good level overnight has deteriorated. That is really putting the kaibosh on night eating. I had gotten into a habit of allowing some nuts or something at night but I don't want to wait in the morning to eat AND I don;t want to eat while I have an adequate supply of glucose available. So it's the night eating that had to give, and it's more honest anyway.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Thu Feb 24, 2022 1:58 am

Thanks for letting us know how you are going. Good to hear that you are getting into the resistance exercises.

I do bodyweight exercises, with different exercises targeting the same muscle group also. I find it more interesting, and the easier exercises help serve as a warm up. Just had a break for a few weeks, so will be getting back into it slowly when I start again next week.

Unlike you, I find it much easier not to eat in the morning. Most of the time I don't eat before mid morning or later, and don't usually eat after dinner time. I tell myself that the overnight fast gives my blood sugar a chance to drop back to normal levels on a daily basis.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:15 am

Thanks, LB30!

The protocol is going decently well. Today I felt the old, legitimate rumblings of hunger and noontime and again mid-afternoon, so I altered the plan a bit by allowing myself to add some psyllium husk to almond milk cocoa. My BG still dropped quite well in time for dinner.

However, I use a substance-ahem- in the evenings now for various reasons, one of which is blessed sleep, but it has fooled me a bunch of times into eating after dinner, despite what I wrote last time. My new rule is to wait until 9- if I am willing to sit in meditation for at least 45 minutes- or 10. Odds of eating after 10 are pretty low. I am not willing to change the sleep-prep habit for now.

Today was my first official day of a committed plan of 3 resistance exercises to failure for one body part, rotating each day, on N days. I am in a coaching certification (for binge eaters) program and we also work on anything else we want, so I told another coach intern I am doing it. It's funny how that makes it seem like, yeah, I'd better do it. I am a big advocate of choosing something that seems darn doable. Since it's the same body part, I want to include some rest time, but it still took me only about 7 minutes. I will work up to 150 minutes per week, though some of that will be on the weekend. I don't have the math worked out yet; I'm not allowing myself to do much planning until the 3xday feels more like a routine. That is just stroking the good feelings without actually doing anything. No free dopamine, at least not on that front. I did a test run on lower body on Friday and boy, it sure takes older bodies longer to recover! I still feel that plenty today.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Amy3010
Posts: 1283
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:48 am
Location: Belgium

Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:32 am

That sounds like a very doable way to incorporate your resistance exercises - with the addition of accountability to give you an extra boost! Funny how that really does help! Unfortunately, the muscle soreness afterwards does take longer to go away for older bodies, I have noticed this too. Hopefully that resolves once your body is more accustomed to the work you are putting it through on a regular basis; it seems to be worst when just starting out. Hang in there!

Soprano
Posts: 1184
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:56 pm
Location: UK

Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:23 am

I just moved some weights to my bedroom in the hope that seeing them will make me use them. I have blood sugar issues to address and think it might help.

I have stuck to my yoga twice a week for years now so hope to slowly incorporate weights too.

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Apr 05, 2022 7:28 pm

Thank you, Amy and Soprano. I have kept up my program every day, still modest but better than I was for sure. For reasons explained below, I will be building it a little faster than I might have, but nothing drastic, as the need for drastic is not present and I fake dire need. I hope I am not in denial...

The rest of this is a response to a post on a thread I started on the main board, and which I realized later was not my personal check-in, so I'm moving it here. I'm too lazy to go back now and see what the impetus was; I think the musings can stand ok on their own. Just my own little drama that might could help others to read? But be warned. It's long and rather self-involved. :lol:

I feel rather nervous about being an eating coach, though, because I know I was so conflicted about my efforts for years, and might have given a coach a lot of grief. In a way, I'm a little glad I failed often because my motivation was one that I have so much suspicion for, much reinforced by the culture. I hate to admit it here but yesterday I heard another potential coach report on problems she was having with a rule she had had me coach her on, yet had left the our session saying she was 100% confident that she would keep the rule. What happened to all the work we had done? Did she go back and look at the record of the session document I sent her? When I first started, I wrote a long list of reasons I wanted to stick to this lifestyle, and I read that every day for months. It was integral, because the food drive doesn't usually go away just because we would like it to and because we choose a new lifestyle. I didn't think with another coach intern I would need to say that. Now I've learned that I will tell people that. But will that make me more successful? If there is one thing I despise, it is people offering solutions to this overeating thing and not being willing to have their feet held to the fire. Of course individuals have their freedom to fail, too, but I don't want to make money on people's weaknesses.

It was good to hear the master coach say, not in relation to her because he didn't know I had coached her, that clients will stumble along the way and it is part of being a coach to be able to ride that wave without taking it personally or throwing in the towel.

Another good point for me to consider is that the team teaches us that we need to be checking out people for a fit with us, that we should not be assuming it will be a good idea to work with every person who contacts us. The first few sessions will be seeing if it's a good fit. With this woman that I am talking about, I skipped a few steps in the beginning of the session because the focus of the session that I was targeting comes later in the process. She called me on that pretty early on, and not in a very light-hearted way. It's true that officially we should do every step, but I also know that the early steps can be time consuming and the whole point of meeting was for me to target what's called step 4; I had made similar shortcuts with others who expressed no problem before or after, even though they are invited to give feedback. I felt very chastised by her but just went on with the session, my body on fire with shame, though I take responsibility for that. She really had not done it to shame me, but to ask for a proper session, which was her right. I am the one who has all these expectations about how I must be really good at a service I offer and need to feel terrible shame and fear of being ostracized from the tribe if I don't measure up and especially if I have it pointed out. I don't say it's just me; it's endemic to the ego structure, but a lot of people don't recognize it. It's a radical way I am choosing to deal with it and don't usually go into a lot of details because it's not common in the culture and would probably be thought as too hard.

As our session went on, I began to suspect that she had a fair amount of low-level conflict in her life, much like I do, but that she is, as many people are, continuing to believe subconsciously that finding the perfect diet, one likely to be quite idealistic, is going to give the person a sizable measure of virtue and worth by following it, an idea I resist. I do adhere to the idea that there is value in keeping my word to myself, and if one keeps breaking that word, it's important to look and see whether it's the rule that's the problem rather than my ability to keep myself to a certain standard.

As she worked through her food issue with the master coach, it came out that she was actually quite unhappy with some circumstances in her life. I had gleaned that before, even though she had talked about how wonderful the community was that she lived in, how beautiful the surroundings were, etc. I praised her for having made a life for herself there, but thought that there seemed to be an urgency for her to remind herself of the good things, as if the problems were gnawing away inside. Believe me, I recognize that in myself and felt compassion, but also felt reinforced in thinking that there was a lot more going on in that first session when she came to tears in the more recent one. She wanted to have the session fit her desire for control and was triggered enough that she expressed it quite seriously, though she could have been even more histrionic about it, as I have sometimes been on the phone talking to people about house loan issues, phone service, and the like. Believe me, the recordings of many of the calls I have made would be embarrassing for most people I know to hear. Anyway, at this point in my life, I would wish for her that more satisfying things happen in her life outside eating because they will still be there even if food gets handled, and there is more to life, a lot more, than eating in an ideal way. Honestly, even if someone dies of their eating problem, if they have had the social connection area of their life work out, and/or an important beyond-the-personal-concern pursuit, I believe they are ahead of the game. Would anyone trade a happy marriage or good connection with their children for being slim? As I have said before, I would be willing to weigh a lot more than I do now, maybe even back up to my highest weight, for a happy marriage in my last years. I would NOT, however paradoxical it is, be willing to go back to eating poor quality food to do it. I wouldn't even want to overeat. Just let the universe add the weight back on and deliver the other goods!

I'm just being very honest here. I ride the wave of these unrealized desires. It is one of the reasons I pursue the "spiritual" (not in the traditional sense) strategies I do. They supposedly can lead one to "the peace that surpasses all understanding," which is usually relegated to religious or spiritual practices that involve a lot of beliefs that don't really apply. It's an ambitious goal to aim at, and it seems to me that even some people who profess t be there don't see that they are not, because they get seriously rattled by things going wrong. Those things are usually stuff that they would get plenty of agreement from to be upset about in the culture, but that's not surpassing understanding then. Some kind of background of peace even when people close to you are suffering or dying, for example, is pretty radical, I know, but I see what prodigious failed efforts to solve the personal problems leads me to take this tack. I know it can sound like I am trying to escape life's problems. I really don't think I am, but I would like to have a better attitude towards them. I acknowledge that I have made progress! Just like people who have been eating according to their chosen structure may need to acknowledge successes in the face of despair at the latest binge.

On the food front here, I wish I had better news to report although it's not near to being a crisis point and may never be. I found that despite having decreased carbohydrates of all kinds in my diet from 60-70% down to less than 30%, my A1C actually went UP by a tenth of a point! Apparently the body's ability to process glucose has continued to erode, though it was small. Also, about 40% of the small weight loss I had over the last year, eight months on the program that I adopted, has been muscle. Yikes! Not the direction a 68-year-old woman (or just about anyone but an ex-body builder) wants to go.

I can't really blame the diet as I was actually less consistently active last year than I was before and reduced eating without good activity-especially good resistance activity- leads to more muscle loss than with activity. I have started a little resistance program, and kept it up according to my rules every day for a few weeks even before I got the news. But I know I will not suddenly plunge into a terribly ambitious muscle-building program because I know the odds are good that even with more urgent motivation that I would likely crash and burn. I will work up to something more rigorous but sustainable- 14 minutes a day and walking or the equivalent for an hour. (Sound familiar?) Then I may decide to do something more ambitious for a short-term gain, which can be reasonably sustainable with just the fundamentals I will have shown I can keep in place.

To end on a good note (and though I have discussed problems there, there are actually a lot of good notes in a lot of my day), I also did a VO2 test and miraculously, given my inconsistent exercise last year-I'm serious, days and days of not walking 200 steps-, I scored in the superior category for my age group. I hope I don't rest on my un-earned laurels, though. Just thank my lucky stars that I have a system that will probably respond very well to more exercise and not have me drop off like the poor people who do nothing, go out and shovel snow, and drop dead. In other words, I don't have much of an excuse NOT to just do it. And I have been! And I commit myself to reporting here at least in the next month on how I'm keeping up with the habit, no matter what the results are.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

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Amy3010
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Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:07 am

It sounds like being an eating coach is quite intense! It think the fact that you have thought long and hard about these issues over the years, closely examined your own behaviors and responses, and coached many fellow No-S members while doing so, is going to be a major strength as a coach moving forward. But indeed, even as someone's coach, if they are not willing to admit or examine other issues that might be clouding the waters, there is not much you can do, which could potentially be very frustrating, even if they are otherwise a good fit with you.

Your long list of reasons for sticking with this lifestyle, which you shared here a while back, was a MAJOR inspiration and help for me moving forward in my own journey. Inspired by your list, I made my own extensive list of reasons, and read it every single day for a long time. It was an incredibly powerful way to focus my mind on why I wanted to "unlearn" certain disordered eating behaviors and why I wanted to stick to my plan. When I am having a hard time, I go back to my list, I update and edit it, and I read it daily for a while until things improve. So, yes, I would definitely share this with the people you are coaching!

Your question about would we be willing to trade a happy marriage or a good relationship with our children for being slim, just made me stop in my tracks. That is a powerful way to put this journey/battle/obsession in perspective. Like you said, there is a lot more to life than eating in an ideal way. But I also think there is something to be said about what we have learned and how we have grown because of the work we have done in this arena. I used to feel guilty and ashamed spending so much of my life energy on this, but at a certain point, I guess I just decided to accept that this was a major issue for me in my life, and to get on with it with as much balance as I can muster.

Congratulations on your excellent VO2 results - hopefully this is a positive impetus to keeping steady on the muscle building habits you are working on establishing.

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Jun 07, 2022 4:50 pm

Amy3010, so sorry I missed this. Gosh, I wish we still had the feature of getting an email alert when there is a response on a thread I am following.

Thank you for your encouragement, and your insight about coaching is right on. I still am stuck on how to promote myself if I don't want to get people who are overly concerned about weight loss instead of ending truly dysfunctional habits. I started working with mustloseweight; she knows a fair amount about how to use social media for that, but I would need hand-holding. It's recommended by our master coach to let the client come back and ask for more help a few times before reaching out to them- he recommends vetting for motivated people-, but I may wait a bit more and then reach out to her. The master coach was a therapist for around 20 years and he tells us that there are definitely people, a lot of people, who are not going to have enough of the right motivation to accept help.

I am so glad the list idea helped. I read mine the same way for months and months, and intermittently for years. I still have it on my desktop! The survival drive, misguided as it is, is behind just about every thought or urge to eat to excess, and it is on duty a good 18 hours a day. Without an epiphany, we need conscious use of the prefrontal cortex to counteract that, at least for as long as it takes for the benefits to outweigh any difficulties. In the presence of excess food, most humans are wired to overeat. The ones who aren't had very lucky ancestors.

Still at trying to keep the A1c from rising. The body comp fluctuates by a percentage or so. Oy. So much harder than just systematic moderation. I have not found a system that would allow me to just follow it and feel content because I've tried just about everything I am willing to and it's not really budging. But I'm not in any serious trouble yet, and am not throwing in the towel. And I am not going back to old bad -habit foods. In other words, no WTH.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
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Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:03 pm

Hi Oolala, I remember the misery that my eating habits caused me. If you can help people to escape that misery as a coach and someone who has lived experience, then that is a really worthwhile thing to do.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Amy3010
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Location: Belgium

Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Wed Jun 08, 2022 5:59 am

That shift in mindset from being overly concerned with losing weight to realizing that we need to focus on changing our dysfunctional habits is a journey that we have all had to make, I think. Like Ladybird said, how worthwhile to be able to coach someone through that shift! But it is probably very difficult to know ahead of time which potential clients are going to be open to these ideas and are going to be self motivated enough to follow it through to the place where establishing good habits around food becomes a reward in and of itself. The lure of the quick fix is always going to be out there tempting people, whereas what we do here is slow and for the long haul. And indeed, if the client doesn't have some intrinsic inner motivation, coaching might not be enough.

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:15 pm

So true. If they are kidding themselves about what the motivation is, and just saying it's the more successful kind because they think they are supposed to, it will be a wash. Or worse.

One of the other women in the program who just got her official certification has a friend who watched her take off and keep off over 70 lbs. and get off her insulin medication. But the friend says she is not actually interested because it took too long. She has even more to lose and wants to go faster. Of course, we-my co-coach, you, and I- predict that it will end up taking her even longer because she will procrastinate so long trying to find the quicker fix. The defenses are so powerful! Mine were all cranked up for years, and I have a few still, if the goal was to be as slim as my peers and the media says I "should" be. Which would not at this point be optimal for health. I admit that it pulls in the back on my mind. Wouldn't it be cool to have X body fat at Y weight? It's such a red herring in the grand scheme of things and won't get me closer to the other things that really round out a life. I will keep enough attention on food to work with blood glucose and building some muscle, but am not going to- at least at this point- get all bodybuilder OCD about it.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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Octavia
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Re: oolala53

Post by Octavia » Wed Aug 03, 2022 9:04 pm

Just a quick hello from me! :) Hope all is well. Really interesting to read about your coaching journey - seems to me you are a natural, as you’re deeply interested in this topic and study it from so many angles! Are you still acting and singing? Hope you’re finding time for some fun things. Have a great summer. X

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Fri Oct 28, 2022 3:26 am

Thanks, Octavia. What I am not a natural at is self-promotion. I haven't gotten off the ground with that.

Since I last posted, I have been focusing on other things. I had two performances, one of them just a few minutes, in England again, in August. I also did some traveling in Paris and Italy. I left the States on Aug. 11 and returned Sept. 18, so that was quite a long time on the road. Once I was at places, I enjoyed them but I had not done a lot planning before leaving, nor had I checked into how expensive Europe has gotten in the last year, so I spent hours every day online researching hotels, trains, planes, sites. It was actually pretty grueling. I'm sure glad I hadn't intended trying to develop my coaching practice while I was gone. I was having a hard enough time in the first weeks that I looked into coming home early, but I could not change my ticket without losing it. I'm glad now, but it was still hard. But I loved Rome and much of Italy, though not the food. Ironic, huh? My body cannot process starches very well anymore- I had pizza or pasta only a few times in nearly three weeks- and I just kept having a hard time finding restaurants with options I really liked, though I did have a few memorable meals. I didn't even go inside many places, but still loved walking around, walking around. I averaged around 18,000 steps a day. I actually didn't WANT to walk that far every day. I just kept making wrong turns and the GPS I was using for a long time wouldn't alert me that I had gone the wrong way but just redirect, going way farther to get places than needed. Oh, well. I have a hip problem that would be okay while I was walking but boy would it hurt after sitting and certainly after sleeping. Since being home, I've been a slug in hopes of having it heal, but it's worse. I got recommended to a very expensive therapy system while I await an MRI so I went for a consultation. I have to admit I was impressed, so I made an appointment for one session. I will be given a set of exercises for my issues as determined by a wild computer photo program. Or maybe Kaiser will find out from the MRI that they can give me a shot, which I will gladly take.

When I came back, I got involved in two courses for dealing with anxiety, one of them rather involved with a fair amount of "practical" homework, not reading. Some of the stuff is new, some it not but stuff that I had a hard time trying to implement before; it's a little easier now, so I feel I am on a good path. I have often said here that for me, eating was the first piece in a puzzle, not the last by any means.

I've been back for over a month but am leaving for a weeklong meditation intensive in North Carolina. I signed up for that in June, thinking it was a small center. I really like the teacher and from what I had seen, he always operated on a small scale, but there are going to be 100 people there, and I am not happy at the prospect of being in a big room with 100 other people for hours a day right at the beginning of flu season. We had to agree that if we showed any signs of Covid, we would have to leave. I am wondering if they will really stick to it. it just seems the odds are that someone will have symptoms. I just hope it's not me because I cannot alter my plane ticket. They didn't say they would give money back but they better. I am crossing my fingers and taking an herbal supplement that has been very good for me in the past.

I am not following a meal structure these days, but I'm fine with it for now. My blood glucose issues keep the worst offenders off the table, and since last year I lost some weight but it was 40% muscle, I am more likely to fear not eating enough than eating too much. My weight has remained relatively steady for the last few years through several mods, so I think I've found my set point. I've still been circling the airport regarding resistance exercise, but I will have time and space during the intensive to do some bodyweight stuff, so I hope that will kick me off again. I also found out that stretching can actually help preserve muscle. But most stretch based strategies don't build much muscle even in younger people, so I have to add in the resistance work because strength in older people, well, anyone, is apparently correlated with longevity. And strength work can help prevent cognitive decline, which has been a major motivator for some of the dietary changes. You can get slim on refined foods and without a lot of exercise, but it is highly unlikely you are building a resilient system with it. It's nearly 8:30 at night now and I have done very little strength work today. I will do one exercise before bed. And do better tomorrow!
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
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Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:38 am

I posted on the main board about joining a FB group for women over 50 who lift. This HAS to be the year I get consistent with resistance work because it is likely the thing that is going to make the biggest difference in my body's handling glucose spikes or should I say not having them. I also caved and ordered an expensive program that allows me to have a continuous glucose monitor for a few months. I feel a bit bad because I had no idea that some people who have a prescription for one- I could not get one because I am not damaged enough yet- have a hard time getting them. I am so tired of the testing on my own and want to be able to monitor if the exercise makes a difference, though I wouldn't think it would show up for a few weeks at least.

I know NO S isn't about particular eating, but I have been researching so much on muscles- after losing so much in 2021-2022 spring- and learning that it's actually a pretty precise process to synthesize protein. And the older you get, more protein it takes and the more likely you are losing what's termed type 2 muscle tissue, which is used in anaerobic work, like heavy weight lifting and track and field. Very different bodies from long distance runners. It's also the kind that is lost in sarcopenia. That can be a real downward spiral. I'm probably too young to worry about that, except that things aren't going to get easier and later may be too late. I've already lost time, but no use fretting over that. Just do my squats, pulls and pushes- and variations-, though I am not set up much for pulls yet. I've been at it a few weeks rather sporadically but I can feel a difference when I do the moves. They are not fun! You really have to push until it's quite uncomfortable, but boy what a whoosh of a great feeling at the end of each exercise. All the organs get a nice "shower" from the pumping blood.

Still not able to eat much starch or even freggies in the amounts I used to, at least the last times I tested. I should get the monitor this week so there will be a lot of recording. I don't love that, but for what I am trying to do, data is king.

I don't if you will be able to see this because you may have to be a member, but I'll post it anyway.
[url]https://www.facebook.com/groups/277400216893091[url]
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
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Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Tue Jan 03, 2023 1:56 am

I love the way my body feels after an exercise session.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

oolala53
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Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:56 pm

I got some real highs from exercise when I was also losing muscle, but that kind of work has value, too. It's still amazing to me that I can know it will feel good afterwards but I still procrastinate.

I did the fasted glucose test that came with my CGM and it was worse than I expected. The reading went up to 270, nearly 100 points above diabetes reading. Who knows how much that was going on before, though it's likely when I was younger and had more muscle, that was less likely.

Adding just two tablespoons of cornmeal to a meal that normally keeps me in good range raised BG about another 20 points, almost to pre diabetes range. Waa! Similar result in a meal where I added a cup of strawberries, one of the low sugar fruits. I am going to try a similar meal with strawberries being the only carb (the other meal had green beans). Oy.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
Posts: 1184
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Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Mon Jan 09, 2023 6:39 am

It will be interesting to follow your your journey with the cgm, thanks for posting :)

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
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Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Mon Jan 09, 2023 9:09 pm

Added some cooked carrots to a common breakfast; stayed in good bg range. Another example of a food that has a high glycemic index, but doesn't cause a spike in me. The load is relatively low.

Tested ONE OUNCE of whole wheat pasta at dinner along with greens, sauerkraut, and sardines, those had always kept me in range. Like clockwork, the rise started 50 minutes later and peaked at about a 40 point rise, 13 points higher than the range recommended. One ounce! I missed that the app had recommended that I take a moderate paced walk for 10 minutes, I think. I don’t like the idea of having to stop what I am doing right after eating, but I will be more aware when I doing a test.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
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Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:47 am

Do you only test once after meals? I know thoughts are changing about when the peak might be?

Interesting re carrots I've been avoiding them.

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:25 am

Soprano, I tested with a manual monitor up the yin yang for a few months starting in the summer of 21. Then I did it only occasionally sometimes before and after, sometimes just after. After all this time, I decided I wanted to incorporate exercise and see what effect it had but I dreaded going back to such frequent pricking, not because it was painful, but it was a hassle. Sometimes strips wouldn't work, etc. I found out about a company that got permission to partner with a continuous glucose monitor company and offer it to non -diabetics as a way to use a blood glucose range to guide their eating. It's kind of expensive, but it was kind of driving me crazy and I have no progeny that I have to try to leave a legacy for, so I'm spending it on me! I put the CGM on last Friday. They last 10 days and then I switch to a new one. I got a 3-month subscription as I think/hope that will be enough time to test different foods and see if after periods of consistent strength building, things improve. The monitor measures glucose every 5 minutes around the clock. I get to see the effect in real time. The testing before and after is done for me. (I may have explained all of this before, so forgive if that's more than you asked for.)

I was surprised to see that I went only slightly out of range after a half cup of chickpeas at dinner. It's so easy this way to just add in something I haven't eaten for awhile because I know what meals keep me about right, and I can see in the next couple of hours what happens. Last night I tried split peas with dinner and glucose rose fast. (Also I was more routinely eating a cup of beans at meals, sometimes with a bit of grain but always with more veggies. Now I find that even just a lot of veggies at a meal can spike glucose.

The app told me to take a walk with the fast rise and that did help, but I won't always be in a situation to jump up from the table and walk, so I want to know beforehand. As time goes on the app will make other suggestions as well. Some people aren't happy that they are not telling us more faster, but I see the wisdom in not reinforcing that tendency that people have to swallow up lots of information but not actually apply it.

I have found out that my body's ability to handle glucose has deteriorated some even with the changes I've made. When I first tested, my glucose at night dropped into a lower range, but not nearly too low, for more hours. There is an advantage to have less glucose circulating. But that was nearly two years ago now.

Anyway, thanks for asking. I know this is such a different orientation from No S, and I plan to say the least necessary about this element of things. But for some people who have come with some actual diabetic issues, it might trip a wire for them. I tell you, having this focus cuts out a lot of dickering. It's completely different for me to consider if I can "afford" extra calories in cake or something and if I can afford a big spike. I can't just eat less later and make up for it. Even eating less beforehand won't prevent a spike.

I should probably be spending more time talking about strength exercises, as I am having devil of a time doing them as consistently, even though I think about them often. But they are so dang hard to do right! Not nearly as much fun as three meals a day, even if with no S's. :)
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
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Location: UK

Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:47 am

Thanks for the update, never too much information, is it the "Zoe" health thing you are taking part in?

Been wondering about signing up to it. I am trying to address my prediabetes.

Exercise is a problem, I love doing my yoga and am ok going for a walk after dinner if weather isn't too horrendous but can't seem to get into any weight resistance work.

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:49 pm

Soprano, if you thought that resistance exercise could reverse the prediabetes, would you be more inclined to surrender?

The more I read, the more I am surprised it isn't emphasized as much as avoiding spiking foods. So much insulin sensitivity, which we definitely want, is enmeshed in muscle and different levels of exercise. I swear today I will sign up for one of two places I checked out. I don't know what your budget is. I don't trust at age 69 that I can design an effective program without risking damage. esp because it needs to be pretty intense to make a predictable difference, and from the demo I had a couple of weeks ago, not an intensity I would be able to ask of myself. I guess I have to run interference and get back to you in a month or two. I would so love to be right about something! But it is not like the other fun stuff we can do.

I did Zoe nearly two years ago. It showed me that I was having spikes but I could tell only vaguely what they were from. I got my own monitor and saw that is was some of the goods they were recommending for me. I lost some faith, but am glad I was tipped off to the issue. They insist that the biome is more important than some other elements, but it's totally a hypothesis.

I succumbed and invested in a program that allows non diabetics to get a CGM. I like having it, but I don't like that I keep finding out that indeed, my body does not process glucose well. ONE ounce of pasta and 45 grams of bread had it shooting up. In a video comment section of an unrelated video, someone told me that it's eating any more than 10% fat that does it. Lordy, that is a lifestyle I cannot see me following unless I really felt like it was life or death. I'd rather spend some dough and find out exercise can do it or at least do it enough.

My body fat scale tells one I just keep bouncing around. When skeletal muscle goes up a little, total muscle goes down. What the what? ok, got a zoom call soonish.

The good news is I am basically continuing to maintain a teeny bit higher than I was last year, most days on three meals. To get the glucose down more consistently, I will be throwing in some time restricted eating in an 8-hour window but not every day.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Tue Feb 14, 2023 1:06 am

I totally agree that one has to be careful not to get injured by a resistance training program, especially for us 60+ people. But my own experience suggests that it is quite possible to start at a low comfortable level and work up gradually from there. Indeed, whenever I have to have time off, I drop right back in intensity and increase it back to where I was over several weeks.

I am no ball of muscle, but I am stronger. My own preference is for low reps (between 1 and 12) of whatever exercise I am doing, and lots of rest, could be hours, before doing the next lot. That way I get a useful workout without feeling shattered.

But the main thing is finding something you enjoy enough to do consistently.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
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Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Tue Feb 14, 2023 1:08 am

Also, lots of kudos for continuing to maintain your weight.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Soprano
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Location: UK

Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Tue Feb 14, 2023 5:47 am

Yes I think if I was sure weight resistance work would help my insulin resistance I would do it. I have another hba1c reading at the end of march so may consider after that if nothing moving in the right direction. I do have some hand weights at home.

I think it's the thought if going to a gym I don't fancy. I used to love it years ago but now would rather be outside.

I've been considering Zoe but have reservations about the diet for your biome v diet for high blood sugars.

I am doing well with regular albeit short walks after my evening meal so am hoping that might help.

I do find resisting some treats harder than I was. I have however reduced alcohol intake and my weight is maintained.

It's a long journey :D

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
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Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Feb 14, 2023 8:05 pm

You don't necessarily have to go to a gym because the right bodyweight training can take you a pretty long ways, but the issue is it has to be intense either from heavy weight, or many repetitions. Neither will sound fun, but consider what could happen in a year, or five years, if the prediabetes is not reversed. The reason so many of us are in trouble is because the body looks for ways to do the least possible since in early history, food was hard to get so it was smart to conserve. The body never anticipated being able to get so much food for so little effort. Most modern cultures don't support the hard things that could protect us and because humans have for centuries longed for more ease! But it's costing us.

You could at least start with using your weights similarly to Reinhard's shovelglove workouts as well as walking outside. Walking does help with insulin resistance but it doesn't build muscle of the kind of strength that also increases insulin sensitivity. Anyway, just do what you can and it could happen that you feel so much more peppy that you will rather naturally want to do more. If you don't have a manual glucose monitor, consider getting one and testing yourself. It's amazing what becomes more acceptable to give up or do when you see those spikes or elevated numbers in the morning.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Wed Feb 15, 2023 4:21 am

Hi Soprano, being outdoors is much nicer than being in a gym. I do bodyweight exercises at home, and enjoy the challenge of mastering progressively more difficult ones. But what I really love is being strong enough from squats to walk confidently down hill on rough, steep bush tracks.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Soprano
Posts: 1184
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:56 pm
Location: UK

Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:58 am

Thanks both, I need to find a program to follow at home and make it habit !!!
I was researching local gyms last night but find them not only expensive but soulless.
I'll update when I find something. :)


Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Wed Mar 08, 2023 10:03 pm

Aw, dammit, I had a pretty long paragraph written and went move the cursor; it all disappeared. Suffice to say for now I broke down and bought a package from a personal trainer and so far, I am glad I did. Working WAY harder than I would on my own and have made progress just twice a week. I'm figuring out how to do the best stuff for my purposes so that I have something to do on all weekdays. It just won't be the same thing every day. Experimenting with risking big glucose spikes so that I have some data to give my doc some time this month or early April.

thanks all!
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
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Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Thu Mar 09, 2023 5:31 am

Great news re personal trainer!

Can't wait to hear about your experiment :)

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

ladybird30
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Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:55 am

If a personal trainer helps you to keep strong, go for it.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

pinkhippie
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Re: oolala53

Post by pinkhippie » Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:21 pm

That's awesome that you have gotten a personal trainer! Please keep us updated on how it goes!

Ellis
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Re: oolala53

Post by Ellis » Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:57 pm

A personaly trainer sounds great! Do you still monitor your glucose levels with a sensor? I have the freestyle libre, which is a blessing for my type1. :D
SW: 65.8 kg CW: 62.8 kg - GW: 59.9 kg

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WINhappy
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Re: oolala53

Post by WINhappy » Thu May 25, 2023 1:05 am

Hi oolala,

I hope you are still enjoying your time with your personal trainer. I've found that personal training frees up my time and attention. Instead of having to come up with the workouts myself and hope they are well-rounded, I can focus on actually doing them, as long as the exercises seem reasonable and safe. I have also experienced that the partnership encourages me to work harder than I could bring myself to on my own. Good luck and keep up the good work!
Sometimes the coolest thing when you were a kid- remains the coolest thing.

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Jun 27, 2023 5:44 pm

I didn’t realize again that it had gone so long since I posted. Yeah I am continuing with my trainer. I definitely work harder there than I could make myself on my own. Some of those free weights and different things but also some machines that keep track of my progress. I am definitely stronger than I was. Some arthritis issues have kept me from really committing to more of walking, but I think I will actually be better off if I implement that program again. I had a talk with my sister yesterday and she reminded me that my father suffered from arthritis quite a bit in his back as well and she has two. She says she thinks it’s familial. I think it’s more that we didn’t move enough of the right kind of movement. Oh my father did walk a lot, but if they were imbalances , then those probably got reinforced. My sister has only sporadically ever been consistent about any kind of exercise.

I’m no longer using the glucose monitor. All my efforts to lower my A1c netted only a 1/10 of a point down and for all of what I was giving up, that did not feel worth it. I also came across other research that insisted that the fear of spikes was not helpful nor necessary as long as the spikes weren’t going much above 180 and were resolving within up with the strength. them a couple of hours. I know the Was not helpful nor necessary as long as the spikes weren’t going much above 180 and we’re resolving within a couple of hours. I know the other crowd claims that there was research that showed that spikes even without diabetes could be associated with heart disease, but it sounds like that evidence is spotty and , I imagine that even if it does increase some risk, in the overall picture, it’s actually small, especially if I can implement a regular exercise.

I have to admit, I’ve been more sporadic with my eating since I quit the continuous glucose monitor. I predicted I would gain a little weight and I have. I’m just monitoring, not panicking as I really don’t think that the few pounds makes a huge difference in my longevity, or even vitality. I do know that I want to get some thing a little more systematic going, but I’m not sure what it would be so I’m coasting. I was eating a little bit of junk because I am in a play and during rehearsals and backstage, the producer keeps bringing in Other food. I do permit myself food and company that I wouldn’t normally eat but I have bought a couple of bags of goldfish crackers. And I have to admit that I have felt more cravings so that’s over. We have one more weekend and if I feel like I need anything, I can bring it because there’s a fridge in the back. But still basically maintaining about 5 pounds under what I weighed when I graduated from high school in 1971. I’ve always said that wait it shouldn’t be the marker but it is rather consoling that I do seem to have found arrange that is actually pretty easy to maintain.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
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Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Wed Jun 28, 2023 3:27 am

Well done with the training. I know this has been important to you. Interesting re the blood sugars. Have you tried fasting to reduce the numbers?

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

oolala53
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Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Thu Jul 06, 2023 6:12 pm

Hoo boy, I have done fasting up the yin yang. I started experimenting with fasting mods of No S back in 2016. I did not enjoy any of the variations even though I got to a lower weight which I have mostly maintained. The last time was over a period of months using 3-week stints of TMAD, and it never clicked. Plus the weight I lost was 40% muscle! I don't believe anymore that my glucose numbers are a serious problem. I think exercise is the key for me for now, though that could change. Fasting may enter my life at some point, but I think it will be a side effect of changing appetite. I had been worried about A1c but it's relatively stable and I read that people in my age category who develop prediabetes (I'm not there yet) don't typically go on to develop full blown diabetes as younger people do, and sometimes even have A1c drop on its own. So I'm either right or being an ostrich but I am willing to take my chances for now. No more than 10 grams of added sugar on any one day, still keep flour foods to a minimum, rarely have ultra processed foods besides protein powder. I think consistent exercise is key now; my hip issues have interfered with more regular aerobic stuff. Fingers crossed. 8)
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
Posts: 1184
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 8:56 pm
Location: UK

Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Fri Jul 07, 2023 4:04 am

That's an interesting observation re muscle loss. It's all so complex!!

Wishing you luck on your journey and continued good health:)

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

ladybird30
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Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:21 am

Have a good trip.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

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Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Sat Jul 08, 2023 5:59 am

Safe travels! :mrgreen:

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:02 pm

Thank you, all! I'm back. If you get triggered by "diet" talk, skip this next paragraph.

I'm doing a few days of a periodic fasting protocol partly because I shut down my fridge while I was gone and will again when I leave for a month in Europe on Aug. 10. I do not want to fill the fridge with more food so I have just what I need for the next four days and will supplement with what I have in the larder that will requite the least time to prepare and clean up for the few days before I leave. It's a renewal program. Some people lose on it and keep it off, but I never do. But I do believe the rebuild afterwards is valuable and I am so much better with not compensating afterwards. That's key. I'm very aware that any loss can trigger what seems so natural, to overeat later. It's one reason I don't try to maintain my lowest weight. It just takes too much precision. But I'm open to weight lifting making a difference over the next year, though I won't be able to do a lot on that while I travel in Europe.

I have probably lost ground on strength, but what can I say. I did a fair amount of hiking while I was gone but practically no strength moves. I hope I'm better in Europe. I won't have weights but bodyweight is possible and I think I have some strong bands I will experiment with the week. I think I will also pay for a session of two with my trainer before I leave; I was on a discount plan that applies only when I buy a package and I might try something else when I return in Sept. so I don't want another package now.

It was interesting to be around other people so much, nearly all of whom were with overweight or obese. I hate to admit that some of my success on No S has been because I spend a lot of my time alone, and have so much control over what and how much food I am exposed to, as well as away from the cultural pressures to overeat. It's almost impossible for me not to notice the immoderate habits of others, though I admit that the normal weight couple didn't look like they ate that differently in public. I will say that at another dinner I had with five heavier people, I ate a lot less of the tortilla chips, macaroni and cheese, and cake than everyone. At least in company, they ate way less protein than I do and I got no indication that they eat it privately. Also not a lot of fiber in the carb foods they ate. An obese couple has a fantastic veggie garden and made a deal about organic grapes the wife bought, but ate big hunks of cake after a full dinner. How do I know, maybe they are at their genetic low, but it's hard to tell on low nutrient food. I keep my mouth shut on the topic most of the time in that kind of company because I know most of them have been through the mill on it, and they aren't asking! Plus the odds that some short remark on the topic (all that's possible at such an event) isn't likely to change anyone's mind and will likely make people defensive or self-critical then or later. I know it probably would have me when I was caught by food. I can get triggered even now by "losing weight" talk and it's on my mind more than I would like in company. I have sometimes wondered if that means I am still shaky with my habits after all these years, but I think it has more to do with not feeling I connect well with a lot of people and wishing I could more easily. But it's not all that's on my mind. I do listen and engage in conversation. But I think this month away and with other people has made me appreciate what I like about my life on my own.

I need to mention that one evening, the couple who were "normal" weight joined us as well. They partook of snacks at the house I was staying at: cheese, crackers, a few veggies, even something that looked like chocolate-maybe it was dates?-, but I didn't have any and wasn't sitting nearby. They also ordered hamburgers and French fries at dinner. I think they had beer. Their plates didn't have much left on them. So it isn't as if they were eating that differently, at least in public. I just know that most people of the same height and weight, per research by Herman Pontzer, burn about the same number of calories, so if someone is heavier, they have to be taking in more than their body burns. And different bodies treat different foods differently, though it's not usually by more than a few hundred calories a day. The rest are exceptions.

In any case, people are entitled to eat what they eat and have the bodies they have, I know. But the conclusions I have come to about eating and knowing that so many people would like to make changes but are discouraged affect my lens when out and about. I wonder if I could get a few clients for the binge control coaching I trained for that were successful would make me more peaceful with it all or worse? My one person was having some relapse without telling me but is doing pretty well now. However, she also got a big scare because she needs an operation for a non-malignant tumor and I think she also thinks she might be eligible for gastric bypass surgery but knows it's better to have lost on your own and have a good handle on intake before the surgery. She's quite heavy but has lost 14 pounds. Having a convincing "Why" is really helpful. If one is still slipping a lot, it's a sign that either the plan is too ambitious at this point or they why is not more powerful than the lure of food. IMHO.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Soprano
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Re: oolala53

Post by Soprano » Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:03 am

Happy travels! Which countries are you visiting?

You are so right about the why. When I decided to lose weight for health reasons and not to look better it was so much easier and maintainable.

Jx
Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

ladybird30
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Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Sun Aug 06, 2023 1:14 am

Great to see you doing so much since your retirement. Happy travels also.

There are so many reasons why people eat more than their body needs, but I think normalising eating large amounts of energy dense foods has a lot to do with it. Genetics can help explain weight variation in a given food environment, but not the large population increase in overweight and obesity since the 1950s.

Unless of course all humans are genetically susceptible to overeating modern foods. Which is quite possible.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Amy3010
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Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Sun Aug 06, 2023 5:41 am

And that trend has become the norm here in Europe, as well, as I am sure you will observe when you are here. Over the past 34 years living here, it is striking how overweight and obesity have become more prevalent, as the food culture has become more and more Americanized.

Wishing you a safe journey! :mrgreen:

oolala53
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Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Sun Aug 06, 2023 3:20 pm

Thanks re: what I'm doing with retirement. Though honestly, I still spend way too much time online. But I love communicating about this stuff and I don't know anyone in my daily life who wants to!

Yes, normalizing big portions is an issue, and I would say it's becoming clear that all humans are subject to overeating modern foods, unless there is already a strong leaning toward moderation in the culture. I'm pretty sure I've read that average weight has risen in the Middle East with the introduction of fast food-and there was plenty of overweight already-and little emphasis on moderate eating. (In fact, women in these countries have been known to fear losing their sexual appeal if they lose weight.It's a conundrum as obesity and rates of heart disease and diabetes have risen, too. They don't even have the societal pressure for thinness for supplemental motivation.) Stephen Guyenet begins his book The Hungry Brain with a story about an indigenous man who had gone to the city then returned for a visit. He was 50 lbs heavier than the heaviest person in the tribe and he had left normal weight. Herman Pontzer lived with a tribe; he said they would have been all over pizza and other high palatability food if they had the opportunity. In France, smaller portions are served, but I think the trend toward accepting lower quality food and bigger amounts is increasing there. But since I was new to both France and Italy last year, I noticed no heaviness trend. People looked like they were mostly in the normal BMI range, with some more chunkiness. Even in Italy, where I saw the servings in restaurants. But apparently they don't eat like that at home. And I suspect they don't eat out as often as we do. But I also read that Italian children are among the heaviest in Europe when they used to be quite thin. They don't eat like their grandmas and will pay the price.

I have become a food curmudgeon. A tavern burned badly during shutdown, and the neighborhood seems to be rejoicing that a new restaurant and ice cream shop next door are opening. This is in essence a rather small neighborhood; there's already an ice cream shop a few blocks away, and it had to close for monetary reasons at one point, though it's reopened. The restaurant is a pot pie shop: all heavy food. I saw only one offering that had any appreciable veggies in it and they were drenched in what I'm sure is a fatty gravy. Exactly the kind of food that encourages overeating, though the prices might lead people to snack afterwards instead of paying for two. I feel I have to monitor myself so much in restaurants now, even though I don't go out that often just because I am so used to serving myself the portions and proportions of food that I can just eat the whole plate and not feel lousy later. I do see people leave food, even heavy people. I used to ask for a doggie bag and sometimes still do, but as I've aged, I prefer not having the food even as leftovers because it's still the same issue; they're still often low nutrient but high palatability, leading to a lack of true satiety. Oh, the burden of "delicious" food! It's actually become almost a dirty word to me, like it means that it's going to deliver a dopamine high, but not much else. Some might say I have an eating disorder, but isn't consistent overeating a kind of disorder, too?
Last edited by oolala53 on Sun Aug 06, 2023 3:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Sun Aug 06, 2023 3:25 pm

I'm doing my 5-day FMD. It actually feels kind of good to get quite hungry- which rarely happens anymore unless I eat a lot less- and then eat and realize I get full. It's also rather nice to have the whole day of food planned ahead. I've done even several days' planning when I've been trying to eat what I have on hand and it can be liberating. When I come back from Europe, I may try that out again.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

pinkhippie
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Re: oolala53

Post by pinkhippie » Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:13 pm

Hi oolala! Looks like I missed you in between trips!

I hope that your fast went well. Really interesting observations that you shared about normal weight and overweight folks and their eating habits. I hope you have a good trip!

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WINhappy
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Re: oolala53

Post by WINhappy » Wed Aug 16, 2023 11:21 pm

Hi oolala,

I hope your trip is going / went smoothly.

Best regards, WINhappy
Sometimes the coolest thing when you were a kid- remains the coolest thing.

Amy3010
Posts: 1283
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:48 am
Location: Belgium

Re: oolala53

Post by Amy3010 » Sat Aug 19, 2023 6:02 am

What FMP protocol did you do? I'd love to hear about your experience with it! I am planning to do a DIY version starting today.

I hear you on becoming a food curmudgeon - my hand is raised in solidarity. I find most food outside of my own home and my own preparation just not worth it most of the time, and hugely disappointing.

Hope your trip goes smoothly and that you find good healthy food while in Europe!

Ellis
Posts: 78
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Re: oolala53

Post by Ellis » Wed Aug 23, 2023 6:37 pm

I loved to read your insight and observations about other people and their eating habits. I find it very interesting too. Especially the habits of skinny/thin people.
SW: 65.8 kg CW: 62.8 kg - GW: 59.9 kg

oolala53
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Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Tue Oct 10, 2023 3:53 pm

Hi, LL. Well, I had some pasta just before I left England and it tripped a wire that I am still trying to recover from. I had some pizza and pasta the last week in Italy last year, and it didn't make a dent in my habits at home, but this year...I just can't get my meal program going again. And I've been eating flour foods way too often when I was quite happy on only a few portions a month before I left. (I don't want to get too obsessed with the glucose spike issue, but 180-200 just sounds too high for me to have often. Grain flours do it. I"m also not interested in baking with alternatives. Doughs and batters were binge foods of choice many times. It's not worth the proximity.)

I thought I might try having some stuff-pancake mix and frozen self-rising pizza- around, but I've decided that much like junk snack food, it's better to have them only out of the house and preferably in social situations. For me they just aren't worth keeping to reasonable portions; I almost always want more, no matter what else I'm eating. It's definitely jonesing, not hunger. It's almost shocking how little I want other food when that stuff is around. I had forgotten that element but a memory popped into my mind of rat experiments where they preferred strong sweet over cocaine or sugar over their chow. They would eat less of their chow to compensate but were of course not getting regular nutrients. I haven't decided if I'll keep what I have and try apportioning it out-I was able to yesterday- or just chuck it all. I"ve never believed in those grand sweeps, but it may come to that. I have gained a few pounds, which is not ideal but not the real issue. The issue is that I don't feel very good a lot of the time, but still don't wait to eat a satisfying meal, which is what life was like (but on a LOT more food) before No S. I'm doing pretty well not letting myself get too down on myself for getting into this situation after all these years, but I don't feel like I can be too cavalier about it, either, and think it will take care of itself.

I've decided I will start making my lunch ahead of time, like I used to when I was working, so I know what I"m looking forward to and have the meal ready when I determine it's lunch time. I think I may also decide in the morning or day before what dinner will be.

I realize a fair amount of it is that I've been at loose ends since returning. It's really the same old thing. Few things are really compelling, my social network is even slimmer, and the things that might bring some forward movement will demand a lot of difficult decisions. So Im binging on TikTok-which I just read is not uncommon among adults who know better- and flour. It seems so obvious what is needed yet some delicacy is involved in getting the fish in. Tugging on the line too often just makes it fight harder.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

ladybird30
Posts: 1118
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 10:41 pm

Re: oolala53

Post by ladybird30 » Wed Oct 11, 2023 4:25 am

It takes a long time. While binge thoughts don't plague me like they used to, they still do occasionally. Like today. For no particular reason except perhaps not having any structured activity today. I had to remind myself about how awful I would feel if I did. And went and sat in the sun in my garden.

All the best.

.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

oolala53
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Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Fri Oct 13, 2023 5:40 am

Boy, don't I know it, ladybird. I've been at No S since 2010. I've gone through a few phases where the binge habit came back, though only once for long enough or intensely enough to cause a regain that got scary. That was back when I hadn't lost a whole lot. I never lost the desire to eat after students left when I was still teaching, even though I had done No S for years. I also haven't kept junky food hidden on top of my fridge for many years, but I will still catch myself looking up there sometimes!

I got to the end of the pancake mix today. I've got plenty of alternative choices. I'm going to make sure I prepare the most delicious versions of them I can. I still have some pizza in the freezer but did not feel like having any today. Miracle.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Thu Oct 19, 2023 11:39 pm

Pizza gone. It was a brand called Freschetta and gotta say for my purposes- l love thick dough- it was the best pizza I've ever had, bar none. But Trader Joe's used to sell bread dough that was pretty good so I might get that and make my own on S days only, if they carry it. It would make a smaller amount-I'd rather not have leftovers- and cheap enough that if I want to throw out some of it, I will be okay with it. I will only go out for pancakes, not make them at home. There is a golf course near my house that has a restaurant with great pancakes, if I feel I need them, but right now I think it's better we have a cooling off period... I wish I knew someone in the neighborhood-really anywhere in the city-who'd come split an order with me. Just not in the cards right now,

Got some yogurt draining now to make Greek yogurt. I like yogurt much tangier than most commercial kinds so I make my own from scratch in my Instantpot, letting it culture for 24 hours.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Re: oolala53

Post by oolala53 » Wed Dec 13, 2023 9:07 pm

Wow, been almost two months. Here is something I posted on the main discussion board.

I"m taking yet another course on the fine tuning of this dang "food" thing. The originator brought up an interesting idea to consider- or that's the way I would put it. She claims it as truth, and yes there is some evidence, but I just don't believe it's the whole picture. Yet it's a useful idea for many long time dieters, esp women who feel desperate to change the look of their body. Is there a way to loosen the hold of that desire to possibly take some emotional pressure off?

Anyway, the idea is that the degree to which we focus on weight loss (rather than how we want to live in a friendly way with food and activity) is the degree to which we will use food to solve emotional problems, if not right away then likely down the line when refeed forces arise.

BTW, the originator says that making that (emotional eating) forbidden makes the habit even stronger. I believe No S helps solve that because sometimes, our routine meals are pretty close to emotional eating in that sometimes, we aren't really hungry, but we partake because of needs beyond survival, such as sharing with others or just wanting the pleasure of eating. It also allows for such choices on S days or NWS days. The originator would not be in favor of such specific time limits, and I can see some reasons for that, and ways to flow with that perhaps as a precursor to more formal "fences" around our eating.

I bring this up not to declare the solution but to suggest once more that members consider if there are any other reasons to change their eating besides losing weight to look better. You may be here for other reasons already, but this is also an invitation to look again. Although I admit that there were some appearance-based advantages I suspected when I started, it was really more that I just couldn't see spending the rest of my life on a seesaw just about every day because of my eating. It's not as if getting off the seesaw solves all problems: not even close! In fact, I would say that's why I'm even still circling around the issue in my life.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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WINhappy
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2023 10:32 pm

Re: oolala53

Post by WINhappy » Fri Dec 29, 2023 9:47 pm

Hi oolala, Thank you for posting this information. It's definitely thought-provoking stuff. Wishing you all the best as we head into 2024! WINhappy
Sometimes the coolest thing when you were a kid- remains the coolest thing.

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