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

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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:07 pm

It wasn't for the first six years for me, either. Not a trick, sadly. I'd rather have the appetite! But it's now not very pleasant to go ahead and have a real meal. Way too full and often a sense that I'm just feeding the body's fear of starving, which is an illusion! This body would have a loooong way to go to starve to death. I just have to tell it to go curl up in the corner until bedtime. The magic processes tend to pull out what they need from the reserves overnight and I start fresh. Or else it's wasting my muscle away and I'll be a blob of fat in five years. 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)

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

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:35 pm

Well, this should be interesting. I didn't feel that my left foot had gone to sleep and in going into the other room, I couldn't control the position of my foot and the left side rolled as I put my full weight on it, realizing the problem too late. It hurt a lot! It took about four hours to go through the process of dealing with it through Kaiser, and it involved a video diagnosis! Using my phone camera, I first sent a photo to a nurse. Then she referred me for a video conference with a doctor---115 miles away! He basically told me what my sister, ex-head of the emergency room at a county hospital, told me: ice, elevation, stay off it, possibly urgent care in the morning. Doc said to go to urgent care because it's similar to dancers' injuries and it could be broken even though it's not that swollen. No compression.

So the rest of me is perfectly fine. Had some dinner and took a Motrin.

Shoot, if it had been worse, i could have been on the floor a long time before I crawled to my phone.

And I got my one-minute exercise in before the crisis! I'll still be able to do two of the three exercises and some floor stuff. Even some Shovelglove moves with my weights in a few days. No excuses!

urgent care at 10 am.
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)

Lilybug
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 11:46 am

Post by Lilybug » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:58 pm

Geez! I hope it heals very soon. Watch that shovel glove if you're standing on that foot. Better to be safe than sorry.

Sending healing vibes!

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

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:10 pm

TX. I won't be standing much on it! I can kneel with that foot on a chair. I won't be using many SG moves because of momentum issues. It's actually kinda interesting. I've so rarely had injuries that really keep me still.
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)

Larkspur
Posts: 438
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:30 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Post by Larkspur » Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:48 pm

Sorry to hear about your foot! Hope it heals soon.

RAWCOOKIE
Posts: 1360
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:01 am
Location: Cornwall, UK

Post by RAWCOOKIE » Wed Feb 07, 2018 6:22 pm

Oh Lor'! Can you get yourself to Urgent Care with your foot out of action?
I love Everyday Systems :3

13.6.15 124.25lbs
11.11.21 101.00lbs

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:14 am

This sounds horrific! I'm so sorry. Please oh please heal up smoothly & rapidly.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

jenji
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Post by jenji » Thu Feb 08, 2018 2:17 am

I’m confused about time zones - did you get to urgent care yet? I hope you can get it checked out and x-rayed. â¤ï¸â¤ï¸â¤ï¸
I'm a 53-year-old mom and non-profit CEO
I am 5' 7.5"
Began No S at 184#, BMI 28.4 - 9/25/2017
Current weight: 181#, BMI 27.9, 12/19/2022

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Feb 08, 2018 2:18 am

Thanks, everyone, for your concern and good wishes. It actually wasn't bad. I was so surprised to find out today that I did fracture a bone! Left pinky metatarsal. Only about a 3-inch square of the foot had swollen, and I still thought it was just a big bruise or sprain or I don't know what. Got a big boot (for such a little toe) and crutches. Everything else is copacetic. But I guess no little soft shoe dance in my musical theater performance first weekend in March. Got some nice meds and a nice sleep 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)

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:32 am

Wishing you a swift recovery! Look after yourself. Hope it heals quickly and you’re not in too much pain. Octa x

jenji
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Post by jenji » Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:49 pm

oolala53 wrote:Thanks, everyone, for your concern and good wishes. It actually wasn't bad. I was so surprised to find out today that I did fracture a bone! Left pinky metatarsal. Only about a 3-inch square of the foot had swollen, and I still thought it was just a big bruise or sprain or I don't know what. Got a big boot (for such a little toe) and crutches. Everything else is copacetic. But I guess no little soft shoe dance in my musical theater performance first weekend in March. Got some nice meds and a nice sleep today.
Poor toe! Glad you got it looked at. Have a good rest.
I'm a 53-year-old mom and non-profit CEO
I am 5' 7.5"
Began No S at 184#, BMI 28.4 - 9/25/2017
Current weight: 181#, BMI 27.9, 12/19/2022

milliem
Posts: 1178
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:30 pm

Post by milliem » Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:12 pm

Sorry to hear about your injury, hope it heals quickly! I love your attitude that you will try and find a way to exercise despite it all, I'd be happily on the sofa, eating chocolate and marking it a sick day :lol:

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Feb 08, 2018 10:14 pm

TX, milliem. On the 1-minute site, the exercises rotate each day between planks, squats, and sitting on a chair lifting your bottom up off the seat (feet still on the ground in level 2). Believe me, today got enough practice with my crutches that I went WAY past a minute exercising most of the same muscles! I have no qualms using the site to run down my minute sitting on the couch - no chocolate except in my dessert mocha after dinner, perhaps.

However, I feel like a freakin' genius because yesterday the doctor said people in my position sometimes have walkers instead of crutches (though you can't really keep the weight off the foot with the walker). But getting around my small apartment with crutches felt like a lot of trouble. I guessed later that they don't offer those little scooters you can rest one knee/shin on and roll yourself around with as too expensive (and I agree; I'm already aghast that there is no way to sanitize the splint for someone else to use later; crutches, too. And not just at a thrift store. It's too late to buy something there if you have to get home from the hospital using the stuff!) I realized I had gotten a cool little roll-around molded seat at a yard sale last year. I put a couple of pillows on the seat to get the height up and have been scooting around very nicely. But I can't use that outside, so I'm glad to have crutches, too.

And "eating down the stores" in my fridge is working out very well.
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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:06 am

I have been wondering about your foot.
Just taught the metatarsals (and other foot and ankle bones) yesterday in lab. Sorry about your injury, but you sure are a trooper!

A question for you that sounds like it's not about food but it kind of ultimately is --
I want to quit my job. So SO SO bad. I would like to spend the next 10 years taking care of my house, learning how to cook (and teaching my kids), and being involved with my kids. But that would reduce us to 1 teacher salary. I am wondering if we could ever do it -- we'd have to give up a lot of the extras, most of the eating out, vacations, etc. I'd have to learn to coupon-clip, buy everything at Goodwill (honestly, that would the very easiest thing to do -- we are not a shopping family). Retirement? Hmm College for kids? Hmmm
I'm probably crazy, and did I even ask you a question? Not sure why I'm posting this -- I guess a combo of your kindred teacher-burnout problems and your not-kindred frugality skills (that I would have to adopt if I quit or cut-back).
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Fri Feb 09, 2018 6:07 am

Tough call, auto. Is it the kids, the hours, the admin, the expectations? You don't have to answer. I just asked in case being an aide was an option. Shorter hours, no outside work, insurance (yes?) a retirement. What does your husband think? If you did it, I would recommend that you take out a big life insurance policy on your husband. Sounds morbid, but that's just reality. If your kids are young, he's probably young enough to qualify for pretty low premiums. In our district, it's also possible for a wife to the survivor's retirement benefits but they are of course reduced. (I never thought about retirement until I was in my 40's. It wasn't why I became a teacher, but it sure seems smart now. But I was desperate to join the middle class, so here I am.)

I really understand wanting to devote more time to family time. I wish all moms could take the years 0-4 to spend with all their children. But if you are attracted to any other kind of work, could you make some progress in getting trained for it while you also take some time off? I do know of a couple of male teachers who are the sole breadwinners for their families. (One of them is not retired. They had no children and his wife never worked. She was of my generation, actually a little younger. I was amazed. Didn't she want to find something, just for interest or a little security? He and I had a lot of talks before he retired and he never talked about her being involved in any focused activities. I would be so nervous thinking I might not be able to take care of myself if something happened, but I guess I've had to rely on myself for a long time, and never had any man but my father ever seem interested in supporting me. How do you even get that gig? :lol:

But if it really feels like you're losing out so much on life, and your family is in favor of it, I think you could learn to economize. I think you should run that by your kids. They'll be affected, too. You might look at some books on stay-at-home moms. Of course, they'll all be "selling" it because that's the nature of the book business. But Im sure many of them deal with finances issues. They could give ideas about how they managed to have fun times with kids without spending a lot of money. My sister told my mom once that she was glad Mom was there when she came home from school, but my sister also worked for most of her kids' lives while they lived at home. Go figure.

I do know that some studies have shown that teens want to spend more time with family or at least have parents around, even if the kids don't give the parents a lot of attention.

I don't know if any of this helped. Would you leave this year? Why not experiment with living just on your husband's salary for the rest of this school year?

Anyway, got around on my crutches fine today, though my arms are going to e sore. Found I could wheel myself around at home on a workshop stool as a relief, too. No dishwasher, so I did the dishes with my knee propped up on it, a pillow on top. Was able to make my meals fine, but almost everything is leftovers in essence anyway. Time to cook up some starches. Will put some winter squash in my 1.5 quart crockpot tonight. It will be plain this time, but i got a cool book out of the library that's all vegan crockpot meals for one or two, all in a small pot. I'm not a vegan but the cooking seems pretty darn easy.
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

Post by ladybird30 » Fri Feb 09, 2018 6:30 am

Hi Oolala, all the best with your foot. You sound like you are managing well at home so far with a bit of ingenuity.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:56 pm

Hi Oolala -- thanks so much for your reply to me. I wrote a novel on my own thread. Thank you!
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

TunaFishKid
Posts: 250
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Long Island, NY

Post by TunaFishKid » Fri Feb 09, 2018 7:44 pm

Just read about your accident. Hope the foot's feeling a little better today.
~ Laura ~

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

Post by oolala53 » Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:38 pm

Thank you! It has actually not been bad even from the beginning unless I step on it. That may sound like a lot, but no throbbing, no shooting pain any time every time I move the leg, no keeping me awake at night. I think if it had been the joint, I would be in a lot more trouble.
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

Post by oolala53 » Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:36 pm

RE: eating. I have not been keeping to my S day mod of saving S's for social situations only. I think I need to let it go until I am more convinced it is worth the adjustment period. I will keep the no social/no sweets, as that was working for a few years. No seconds isn't usually a sticking point. I made the mod because it just felt like I was doing it because I could. But I still get a lot of delight from eating something because I saw it in the fridge. That's about the only thing I snack with. I don't want packaged snacks in my life, so that's not an issue. I'm unlikely to cook anything special for snacks so it's just leftovers or fruit that look tasty. it was never the quality but the "principality" :wink: of the thing.

I had a fail yesterday. I was going to try to call it another NWS day because I was going to an evening event and wanted to be able to have a snack there. But I started earlier, and it was really from lack of waiting to get over the peak to the next meal. Last "failure fall," I had gotten into the habit of strolling through Costco to eat the samples, even when I didn't have anything to buy. I almost never buy the samples because they are too salty for me for a whole meal, but kind of fun for a nibble. (I used to feel a little guilty for it, but one of the workers once told me that the companies are data-driven, meaning they don't do anything that doesn't end up bringing them more money, down to knowing which days to use. And of course, I see lots of other people take one and just walk off immediately, but I don't always want to use others for such measures.)

The event was the showing of the opening ceremony at the Olympics. Honestly, I'm not much of an Olympics fan anymore, but it was being shown (for only the price of parking) on the Midway Museum deck, which the USS Midway, named after the famous battle in 'WWII and the longest-serving aircraft carrier of the 20th century. Anyway there was a huge screen (good to watch spectacles on) and I don't have a working TV these days anyway.) I felt a little choked up at times because Katie Couric kept saying very gravely that the South Koreans really want to reunite the two Koreas but I read up on it later and found out it's very controversial with many vehemently opposed to it. (So like the media to exploit pathos.) Some believe it would potentially be very bloody of done very soon as the NK elite would fight it, and it would mean more blood shed than in Syria. The millenials there think it is an outdated idea. With the separation coming 70 years ago, and only a relatively few defectors still alive, there aren't many people to yearn for it to see relatives. My mother wasn't interested in going to Ireland to see relatives there and we have never been to war there! She actually thought it would be burden on them, which I doubted because in my travels, most people expressed a real interest in hosting Americans on a personal basis. And her cousin used to go back and visit; those people would have probably been up for it.

Well, I certainly have gotten far afield of No. S.
Last edited by oolala53 on Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:52 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)

Strawberry Roan
Posts: 1208
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm

Post by Strawberry Roan » Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:42 pm

Sorry to hear about your injury, glad you seem to be on
the mend.
Berry

jenji
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Post by jenji » Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:49 pm

It sounds interesting to see the opening ceremony at the museum. I watched it at a bar with my boyfriend.

I don't feel I have anything worthwhile to add to your thoughts on the Korean peninsula and peace-making, but I enjoyed reading them. :)
I'm a 53-year-old mom and non-profit CEO
I am 5' 7.5"
Began No S at 184#, BMI 28.4 - 9/25/2017
Current weight: 181#, BMI 27.9, 12/19/2022

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:18 pm

Oolala,

Just caught up on your board and glad to see you are getting around with your injury. I hope it is healing as well as it sounds like it is and always interesting to see what the media chooses to exploit.

Since I rarely eat samples at Costco anymore, I ALWAYS notice those people who take and "dash" away so as to not have to hear a sales pitch from the person providing the samples. Truthfully, I felt a little "judgy" about those that take samples and don't reciprocate and by the product, but I guess I won't anymore. 8)

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:14 pm

Thanks for continued well wishes! So much on the mend that I sometimes forget and put my whole foot down. The pain on doing that is actually minor but I know it would be a mistake to be fooled by that. I imagine that's going to get a little harder as the weeks progress and the foot feels like it can "take it" even more.

I've got notifications all day on my phone right now that I would have to report errant S's on the February challenge if I have them. Like the actual food, not just the fact. I was a bit afraid that it might backfire and make me want to have snacks! But so far, it's been effective for what I wanted. I do keep procrastinating on taking seriously the mod I do want to go back to from previous times of no more doctored coffee between meals. But I still haven't gotten over the delicious freedom of not having to go into work in the mornings, so I let my coffee turn into two big mugs over the courses of the morning. In due time. After last fall's wackiness, I'm still grateful for what I've been able to do.

And I'm getting my one minute (and usually more) of exercise a day. I will beat my longest streak today. I do more most days, too, though rarely more than five. I'm extending the holds when possible, too. It's cool to have the first 15 seconds and sometimes 30 feel pretty easy now. I can find deviations quite easily for my foot because most of the emphasis is on the torso.

If you'd like even more reason to feel guiltless for eating the food purveyors' wares, it's been found that customers who take samples are more likely to buy even pricier non-food items afterwards than ones who don't! Humans! Maybe I'm only partly human because I leave there plenty with nothing but greens and dairy. Almost everything else is in boxes or some kind of package.

Once again, where would our economy be if convenience and snack foods were eaten at the rate they "should" be? I'll have to ask my amateur economist friend.
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)

Whosonfirst
Posts: 538
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:32 pm

Post by Whosonfirst » Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:36 pm

Geez oolala, what is it with injuries to people approaching retirement age? I can relate, get well soon.

As to your supplemental health insurance to Medicare A/B, I'd suggest using an independent insurance broker, who isn't pushing one plan over another. We lucked out with a great agent, who showed us multiple plans, cost and benefits and how they compliment Medicare's coverage. As you approach that magic age(65), your phone will ring off the hook(probably) especially if you request info. online, or even through an 800-number to get quotes. Not pushing our plan over others, but we eventually went with Banker's Life, and very satisfied, plus Humana for prescription drugs. Our agent called late last year to see what drugs we'd changed or added, he then researched who would be best, and suggested the change to Humana.
https://twitter.com/SipeEngineering
Current weight(9/2020)-212 lbs.
Goal Weight- 205 lbs.
NoS Goal: >= 80% Success days

User avatar
lpearlmom
Posts: 4812
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:59 am
Location: Arizona

Post by lpearlmom » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:43 am

Oh no, hope you’re okay! Our Costco ppl don’t give any sales pitches. Maybe it’s an Arizona thing.

Feel better!
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

LifeisaBlessing
Posts: 337
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:08 pm

Post by LifeisaBlessing » Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:45 pm

oolala -- sorry to hear about your foot! Hope that you continue to heal--don't rush it! And good on you for your continued success with the One Minute routine! I just love Wu's approach, and like you, have incorporated more minutes on most days, just because it's so doable. Consistency is most definitely the key! :)
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean

The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet

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

Post by oolala53 » Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:29 pm

Thanks, ladies. No Costco samples? I don't know whether I'd be happy not to have the temptation or sad not to get some bites sometimes. :?

Regarding exercise: dammit! I had broken the record for my longest streak (10 days straight instead of 9! woo hoo!) and was even thinking of doing the exercise when I got home from a singing lesson in the evening, but forgot! :( I gotta put a notification for that on my phone, too. Well, I had already forgotten another day in Feb. but felt for sure I'd get the rest of the month all done.

BTW, I did my minute before I wrote this post. Putting on some requisite chirpiness about it. I've exercised 25 of the last 27 days: 93% rounded. And some of those were longer.(Why do I feel the need to keep adding that? Am I convincing myself of my worthiness? I wish I could say it's just data,but there's a twitch inside that says no, it isn't. Emphasis on the rising "is.")

Looking forward to my lunch of leftover jackfruit (I had to look it up, too- or is some woman of the world here-no offense, men- who knew what it was? Aussies excepted) pot pie and a killer kale salad from a little place called Pop Pie. I couldn't quite tell what in the pie was the jackfruit, but it wasn't a sweet pie, and it was good! Pie crust feels a little decadent these days, so it was even more fun. Maybe it's wrong to have these little further delineations; so, shoot me at dawn!

BTW, the singing lesson was very interesting. I'm also in a musical theater class (it's called a master class, but I can guarantee you, I can't hear any masters in there. So much the better for my newbie ego.) I've had one other singing teacher, and they're all at least a bit different. How about that.
:P again. I just realized that two of them are using operatic technique and the other is musical theater (duh). His approach is much more to ask for much more exuberance up front. I talked about my tender ego, but I'm actually now more able to set it aside. Dang it, I have only so many years to learn and enjoy my development left! I know that sounds morbid, but it's actually-and gawd, I hate this word- empowering. It's what made me able to commit to No S. Was I really going to keep being seduced by food for 60+ years instead of 40? (I don't count up to 20, when the brain is just cuckoo, and there wasn't much impetus to question the eating status quo.) Last night's teacher offers the group class every week for only 20 bucks. I will find out the charge for Jordan (m.t. teacher) and could add that on: I don't have any direct heirs, so I might as well dip into the fortune I have. :wink:
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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:44 am

Your classes and your interests sound wonderful! I love the hobbies you pursue (whether it's this or cooking, or whatever). And maybe I'm not the one to listen to on finances :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: , but I say -- yes! dip into your coffers! You don't have to save/slave for kids' college!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

I really don't quite get how you have kept the weight off so long. I know that question sounds like - duh - since you journal here so regularly and have been an advisor for years for me, but seriously -- I can't even get into a normal BMI, despite never having been seriously overweight. What gives? Your BMI is enviable. Anyway, congrats on all these years of a TRULY changed lifestyle.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:11 am

I just couldn't stand the idea that food ruled me so much and that I would spend the rest of my life caught by it if I didn't get serious. I strove to keep redefining what moderation meant because it was so central to me. I couldn't let calories rule me, either. I kinda wanted to prove that you can do it just by living more like slim societies do and get similar results. Compulsive overeating had been my problem and the more time went on, the more I actually hated the idea of ever going back to it. Honestly, I would have traded the weight loss for some other things in life, but I would never have been willing to live so full and uncomfortable as I did for all those years. And I'm lucky that I enjoyed smaller amounts of dense food as time went on. Then a couple of years ago, I felt a little more anxious about growing old and having dementia. It is associated with fast food and sweets and has some other guidelines, but those two I cut way back on because the others were things to eat that I was pretty much already eating. I had already learned to fill out my meals with freggies before No S. I also wanted to not depend on doctored coffee between meals and I lost a little more over several months. And I sometimes eat even less on S days than I do during the week just because... I can.

And you know, it's typical for women to lose weight in their senior years. I'm there now! I suspect it's because life is so stressful for American women in middle age and they just eat more, even if its just by a little. I remember an article on some American women and French women somehow trading lives for a bit-don't ask me how- but the French women couldn't believe how much harder life seemed. I wish I could remember the details. But, I think it's also more stressful to eat cruddy food and we tend to eat lower quality food than they do.Stephan Guyenet said there's evidence that the body will raise its set point when a person ingests a lot of high reward/low nutrition food.

I think the less you have to lose, the harder it is. Try not to be too hard on yourself, but do see if you could shave off a bit of this or that without suffering too much. If not, coast for awhile.

I stopped partiipating much on a maintenance team on Spark because mosst ot the women were working hard - most still tracking after years!- to maintain at lower levels than I was at. It discouraged me because though they talked about health, I think appearance was the major factor, and I feel that has done such a number on the self-esteem of women that I want no part in advancing such an aspiration. Peers in my age/height cohort are not happy until they weigh about 10 lbs. less than I do. It's just nuts.
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)

User avatar
lpearlmom
Posts: 4812
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:59 am
Location: Arizona

Post by lpearlmom » Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:24 pm

Oglala: we have Costco samples but no sales pitch. Everyone just takes it and goes. Your jackfruit pot pie sounds amazing. I want to try that restaurant! Jackfruit is often used as a meat substitute. It’s not sweet and I’m not sure it has much taste but it’s got a good meaty texture.

Sounds like you’ve got some interesting things going on with singing classes and exercises.

I also am amazed at how woman are still so vain as they age. I keep looking forward to be able to relax those standards a bit but I’ve always been fairly low maintenance. I was telling my hair dresser about my weight loss goals and she said then “you can get a tummy tuck when you reach your goalsâ€. Really? Why would I care that much about having a flat stomach? It’s not going to improve the quality of my life in the least. And she’s older than me and always trying these fancy face creams and stuff. Illl stick to my $10 facial wash from Trader Joe’s thank you very much. Anyways I hope she can feel more relaxed about her appearance at some point.
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

Imogen Morley
Posts: 1022
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:11 pm

Post by Imogen Morley » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:08 pm

I'm absolutely terrified of stroke-related paralysis and dementia, but somehow, my fear has contributed to emotional eating instead of curbing my sugar consumption. Kudos to you for taking your health so seriously.

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

Post by oolala53 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:58 pm

Ask yourself calmly and rationally: can you be truly convinced if you eat in response? Are you suspecting down deep that you somehow will escape the consequences, as you know some people do? Or that you'll be delivered from it by a turn of circumstance, which could actually happen, by the way. It's just not predictable. Won't it be rectified later? Will you not find an easier way?
(See above.) That's usually what is going on when people use in spite of fear. They often say they don't care and they will accept the consequences, but if you put them in the middle of the consequences, they want out of the trade. They just don't believe it beforehand, like most people will take the trade of losing their mate 30 years later for the trade that they will very possibly lose them before they die. The pleasure of the moment puts them in denial.

Or this will make no sense or even piss you off or leave you dejected. In that case, I am truly apologize. Sometimes my spiritual teacher says some things, not necessarily directly to me, but still applying to me that leave me very down. But I love enough of the other stuff to keep going. I guess I'm in denial possibly there and hoping something will save me because I sure don't see it as something i can win the battle with, since I'tried so may weapons. I hold out for the RIGHT one.

Octavia, humans in general have a negative bias to begin with, for the reasons you noted. It served our ancestors well both in real situations of immanent death and later as death by not being accepted by the tribe on which survival depended as well. The ones who aren't innately positive are the exceptions or ones who have it so mildly that they have an easier time defeating it with a developed attitude (that may not see the situation correctly, BTW, but they feel better.) Sure, they say you can affect your happiness but the means to do that seem much harder to employ with immediate enough payoff to keep a lot of people practicing. In the mediation world I know, they have started to use an informal term- Velco. We are velcroed to our negative bias. It is NOT a weakness! I hear people say all the time with sober sadness, "I see things negatively so often." Just like some say gravely, as if it meant they are doomed, "I eat for emotional reasons," or I have an eating disorder," as if that completely defines them.(That was my thought process for a long time and one I had to give up.) Awhile ago I read about a male psychologist who got into the field working with anorexics and was surprised how much of the time other therapists focused on it. He started having success insisting on engaging the girls about other areas of their life, who they were beyond their disordered eating, what their life might be like when this wasn't an issue. My life beyond it turned out to be another set of problems. I am currently dipping my toe into the pool of who is beyond that identity.

I am rereading a book that is supposed to be for families of substance abusers who say it's actually better to think of the person as having disordered drinking or disordered substance use. (Yes, sure, some substances are probably very unlikely to be used in an orderly way, but you'd be surprised how many disordered drinkers 1) get well on their own, and 2) end up being able to drink at times and not go overboard. They talk a lot about how people really change and how non linear it is, depending on so many factors. It was very helpful to me to see myself as both a person to be helped, with myself doing the helping, and as a person to help others when I read the book.

I saw an interesting movie based in the true story of a high level bank employee in Canada who stole 10 MILLION dollars from the bank to fuel a gambling addiction in Las Vegas and went to jail for it. (I think the casino he visited got in trouble, too, as it became obvious that they knew he was stealing the money and kept luring him back.) While in jail towards the end of the movie, he attend therapy. Here is a conversation he and the therapist had (don't know if it's true, but he's been out of prison and apparently isn't "using."

Psychologist: How would you rate the thrill you got from gambling, on a scale of one to 100?

Dan Mahowny: Um... hundred.

Psychologist: And what about the biggest thrill you've ever had outside of gambling?

Dan Mahowny: Twenty.

Psychologist: How do you feel about that?

Dan Mahowney: It's okay.

He was willing to put up with the discrepancy because he wanted a regular life more. He ended up marrying his long-suffering girlfriend and moving into relative obscurity.

I say this because honestly, NOTHING has ever replaced the intense excitement and rush I got and still get at times from eating certain foods, and the sheer convenience of acquiring them. Everything else that might compete took a lot of time or certain situations or both and often a lot more money. It's said that the first few bites of anything are the best with waning satisfaction beyond that. Well, I could go WAY beyond that and still get a thrill from the taste and texture in spite of the growing discomfort in my tummy and the heavy feeling all over. For the most part now, I now know where it goes, and THAT I don't want, so I stop beforehand. Having the vision of not wanting it and believing that just because I did it at times didn't mean I wasn't making progress getting it under control kept me going. Even if it looks discouraging to see how long it might take, whats's the alternative? I gave up and gave in for nearly 40 years. I knew what that was like. I just HAD to see what life would be like without it. Turns out it's still not a party, but I don't regret the change or effort.

Lots of times when I write something like this, I feel I'm on the verge of seeing a clear way to how to use the same lens to view my problems with anger, defensiveness, paranoia, etc. But the bright line is not as obvious as three plates a day and extras on S days. The urges to eat in between meals are nothing compared to the quick, intense rush of adrenaline in the face of my quick irrational thoughts. I can so easily look at the situation later and see clearly how I could have reacted, but even when I try that, the response I get doesn't meet my expectation for speed and cooperation, so I don't feel the same reinforcement as I did for No S, and the intense reaction comes, just later. I liked my meals and felt better soon, though intermittently. But I could see the possibilities, so I kept going.

Not so much with my other identities. With them, it's more like I just have to live with the bingeing because though I do see the down side, I don't see much but bandaids for the problem. So bandaids it is for now; one of the bandaids is just putting up with it until things feel better.

Not the first time I've laid it out here.

But it IS possible to divorce eating from all this.

One of the reasons I sometimes consider more radical strategies than No S is just as I read of some people being delivered from the urges by some diet or therapy, I sometimes wonder if a lot of my thinking problems may be very much related to how I'm eating even though it's basically under control. If I went keto, would I really stop having these moods as well as stop feeling the druggy reaction to sweets, as some advocates claim? I guess I don't believe enough to put up with a remedy that looks like a lot more pain than No S . Maybe their right; maybe I'm addicted to starch. But since I feel it's basically under control- I can have lots of grains, potatoes, beans, and starchy squash all cooked up in the fridge and still have reasonable amounts at meals and no snacking in between. If I'm in denial and that's addiction, I can live with it. A high percentage of people live until 90 and beyond and without my mood issues do just that.
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)

Strawberry Roan
Posts: 1208
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm

Post by Strawberry Roan » Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:30 pm

Oolala, very interesting reading. Are you truly saying that food has been more emotionally satisfying than say, a love relationship?
Berry

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:48 pm

Thanks Oolala for sharing all this - it’s touchingly honest and very interesting, every word.

I definitely see the wisdom in the approach of the psychologist you mentioned, who engaged his anorexic patients with things other than their eating disorder. It reminds me of something I read in one of Claire Weekes’ anxiety books - how in one visit to a patient, all they talked about was the shade of red paint the patient wanted to use on their front door. That was a healing conversation.

I’m saying to myself right now, I’m more than my chocolate addiction! More than the low-level anxiety that dogs me! In fact, the more I look outwards, and forget myself, the stronger I feel. Not easy to do this, though! But to prove the point, I’m now going to look up a bird of prey I saw the other day. Just because. It’s only a mild curiosity and not a euphoric passion (a level 20 thrill, not a 100!) but let’s see where it leads! 🙂

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

Post by oolala53 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:00 pm

Linda, you're right in step with your peers. Women do have higher weight ideals as they age. Women at my age/height aren't completely happy with their weight until they weigh 129. Women at X weight want to weigh Y. Women at Y weight want to weigh Z. Interesting, the lighter women want to weigh more until they get to 129, too. NOT going to happen here without a serious disease or an unlikely famine.

At age 24, it's 120 lbs. But it's still pretty punishing since only 6% of women at my age weigh 129; certainly not me. At age 24, it's about 22%. Still leaves 80% unsatisfied. I haven't weighed 120 since I was 12! I was about 130 in my freshman year of high school and wished I could lose. And I was an inch taller. But I didn't make any serious efforts to lose until age 18. Just bewailed my size.

Strawberry, I've been in romantic relationships for less than 10 years in the 44 of my adult life- not by aspiration- so food has had a chance to make itself known a lot more! And there's been only one that felt like "the one:" he didn't agree after a few months, though he was pretty gracious about it. Sure, I'd take romance over food, but it's a lot less in my control. And I've done a TON of online dating, even P.O Box dating that preceded it! It just hasn't been in the cards, is all I can think. And there was only once that I thought, well this is good enough, when I reached 40, but he backed out, too, after a few years, but it was to save me from his eventual descent into alcoholism, which he had been controlling for most of his adult life in secret.

So, anyone for peach cobbler? 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)

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:47 pm

...well I decided that the bird was a Red Kite. Then got sidetracked into researching luminescence! Thrill level rose a little. Maybe to 25!

Oh Gosh, romance and food. What a Pandora’s Box! ‘Give yourself what you really need,’ they said. ‘Ask yourself what you really want,’ they said. Well then, I’ll have that gorgeous man in accounts. And a pay rise. 😉

Peach cobbler is sounding great...I’m in! 😊

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

Post by oolala53 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 11:48 pm

Oh, the lists I made! The paragraphs I wrote describing the life I wanted as if it already was, as was recommended! The money and time and heart I spent! Much like diets: might work for a few, but mostly selling dreams with testimonials. Sure, there are testimonials here; this was based on one except the eating plan is based on millions!
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)

User avatar
lpearlmom
Posts: 4812
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:59 am
Location: Arizona

Post by lpearlmom » Sun Feb 18, 2018 2:43 am

Just wanted to say this is the best “diet†board ever because it’s so much more than that. I love reading all of your thoughts and insights. â¤ï¸
:twisted: SW: 210 lbs
CW: 172
GW:160

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:20 am

I agree with Linda! This is Saturday night reading, ladies!!! Who says we aren't philosophical, Oolala! :lol:
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Sun Feb 18, 2018 8:45 pm

I’ve really been enjoying these conversations, too! 🙂

Strawberry Roan
Posts: 1208
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm

Post by Strawberry Roan » Mon Feb 19, 2018 2:42 am

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply, oolala. I agree with the others that this is the most supportive group of people I have ever met 😊
Berry

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

Post by oolala53 » Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:06 pm

Cheers, all!

Had a big lunch yesterday at the end of an Indian cooking class I go to periodically. Also nibbled a lot of the way through, which we don't usually do, but it was at a different venue and snacky things were set our plus we had some people there different from the usual crowd who were fond of talking about getting a lot of food out and eating all of it at one time because it was so good. All of the food the intense, high reward food that's out there. There was also a lot of talk about fat being bad for you while absolutely revering these makeshift dessert affairs pretty much all sugar/refined starch as if they were better. The group was the heaviest we've ever had, too. I guess I didn't realize until now how much I felt buffeted on the inside from what amounted to be the flip/flop diet/excess talk of our culture.

Normally after that class, I would often not have any food for the rest of the day because there was no real hunger even though I might still want the experience of eating. I ate even more than I normally do and yet I did want that experience and had some nibbles in the evening instead of ignoring them. The really annoying part about it for me is that it hangs around as an issue and takes up mental energy. But that may just be the human dilemma. I know there is a story in Zen of people coming to their priest to complain about this or that, and he said you're always going to have 52 problems, meaning it's not about solving all the problems but in how to not let them rule. If it's not one thing, it's another, and all that. I bet it's in the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Rigveda, too.

I took all my anti-cold stuff last night and this morning and stlll feel vulnerable, though better after a morning nap. Damn, I've got my music class showcase a week from Friday. If a cold is going to happen, it needs to happen and get past the worst before then! But I also don't want that to happen because I got lax.

And I'm a bit peeved because the reminders I put on my phone to do my exercise yesterday somehow hit a blind spot. I had put it to read "report S's and 1 min" and just sort of blanked on what the 1 min. was. But I don't want to be peeved over such a small thing. I guess I'm whining about how long it actually takes a target habit to become a habit enough that it really does become automatic because there is mental energy involved. Then I start wondering if I'm spending it where I should be. But I don't want to get caught up in that drama, either.

All just blatherings here, ladies. By the time you read this, I'll be in a different state of mind.
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)

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:40 am

Lol- I like the blatherings. I sure hope that the states of mind you are in now is more peaceful/exciting/fun... or just better. :)

About the cold- 2 people in my family had a bit of congestion for 2 days. They each took some OTC cold medicine (I remember one said Advil Cold and Sinus) and then it was gone. Fingers crossed it will be the same for you!

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

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:50 pm

Holding steady, knock on wood.

Had a little bit of a setback in my singing class. Both songs I wanted to do are written in a key too high for me. We basically use background music on the internet for our songs. The teacher (Jordan) said it would be hard to find some music already produced out there that would be in a lower key, which I had asked him is possible. One of the songs that had been a solo has gotten divvied up among all of us so the key problem is not as much of an issue, except that at the end of class, Jordan said he would work with me on some of the higher notes, meaning apparently, I wasn't hitting them. :oops: I think I knew I wasn't but I guess I thought it wasn't terribly obvious. The other was song I was excited about. However, I feel like I'm screeching it a lot of the time when I practice. I got kind of discouraged because I know several songs I would like to sing but it's getting the right background music that's in the way. So now I'm looking for men's tenor songs. (I started on a site that had many alto songs for women, but I haven't liked many of them.)
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)

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:14 am

Right, orange box time for me. Why are so many women’s songs written in men’s keys - ie. too high for us to sing them up the octave? It’s such a pain! There are so few where the original key is right for us. The theory is that it means the printed music doesn’t have too many ledger lines. But flute music has loads of ledger lines and it’s not a problem. My own theory is that it’s a conspiracy so that female singers are always needing to ask for help from someone who can transpose the music! Grrrr!

Rant over! Apologies.

I think those high notes are always really difficult, if they take you into a soprano sort of register. Maybe your teacher wants to work on the tone of the note, rather than the pitch, so it’s more blended with the rest of your voice? Like, he wants to get more (or less) chest quality or something? That doesn’t mean you are sounding bad or out of tune. 🙂

Have you got the iReal app? It’s got all the songs from the ‘American songbook’ repertoire, written down as ‘charts’ with chord symbols, and you can not only print the charts to give to live musicians, but can play them as backing tracks - they give you piano, bass and drums. You can transpose them into any key and choose any speed!

Singing in front of others is so terrifying! I bet you’re doing great.

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:04 am

Wow, someone who actually knows about music. Unlike me, who's never bothered to actually learn that part.

Unless Jordan has an idea,and I think he won't because he wants us to pick our own, I think I'm going to do "I Am What I Am." It was originally a Shirley Bassey song, but got taken up as a gay anthem. I hope people can see it as a universal declaration of self-affirmation. I've sung along to all the versions I saw on youtube. The only karaoke version of it is corny-starts off bouncy, instead of pensive.

I'm actually not scared about it. I just don't want to be worse than I can be.
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)

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:27 am

Love that song!!!! Love Shirley Bassey!!! You’ll be fabulous!! ðŸ‘ðŸ¼ðŸ‘ðŸ¼ðŸ¾

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:51 pm

Here, here- she IS fabulous!

It's so great to see women living out their other interests in life (besides the one we all have in common around food)! It's very inspiring oolala!

I can't wait to hear how it all goes.

Strawberry Roan
Posts: 1208
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm

Post by Strawberry Roan » Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:49 pm

You go get 'em, girl ! :D

Love that song as well.
Berry

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

Post by oolala53 » Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:58 pm

Declaring a NWS day. A friend invited me to an event tonight that will involve spread out appetizers and dessert. I eat S's only among others, even on S days so I'm doing it. Got only one event with others planned on an S day this weekend.
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

Post by oolala53 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:37 am

I lied, big time. I used the Friday night event as an excuse to start eating in the afternoon. I reported it as a fail because even on S days/NWS days, my mod is not to eat S's out of sight of others. It was about two big bowls of cereal, cereal I came to have under dubious circumstances. The rest of it went out under the thick layer of mulch chips under my tangerine tree. The event food wasn't that good, except for some awesome orange-ish hummus. Not even one chocolate item! I guess people like wine more.

I had pancakes out at the 19th hole with the great view near my house again this morning. I found I was feeling like I didn't want to be known there as pancake lady. I wanted them to understand that I don't eat like that very often. Like they care! Compared to what people chow down there, a short stack is a snack. I realized the good girl syndrome was at play. I think I recovered decently. Pancakes are often so big that in the past, I would actually take half the serving home. Yes, I loved them that much, even reheated. (I'd pack them up before I put syrup on them. But even if I hadn't, I could have pretended they were kind of like fluffy bakhlava without the nuts. Can anyone say disordered eating? I mean, unless we were at war with rationing.) I left some on my plate! A rarity for me.

I vow not to fail by having them again this week at the little Mexican place even closer, where they are 2/3 the price with a sobering view, like I did last Monday.

When I first started No S (I wish I had that as a stock copy-and-paste somewhere, in an old geezerette file) one of the motivations on my long list was a pair of light blue topaz earrings. I left it on the list even after I bought them (have worn them 3x in 6 years) because it still gives me satisfaction that I earned them. It took over a year and they cost under 20 bucks.

Now my tastes are much more expensive. I've been convinced I could use a deck storage container, the ones made of last-a-billion years industrial plastic. I have no good place to keep my vacuum cleaner and a few other things, plus i could probably get almost everything else I have in my storage/garage space except the Christmas stuff, into the one I'm lusting after. Mind you, I have not put a tree up in about three years. But there are some versions of myself I do not want to give up on yet. Another one is that I will someday need my primo sleeping bag, ground pad and rain poncho/pants. I will try to sell the tent someone gave me, still in its box, because I think it's a $20 version that would be more trouble than not. Besides, once I really get the place decluttered, and by God it WILL be before next Christmas, there will like be a spot where a little tabletop tree will fit.

Got pretty far afield. The deck box is about $130 at Costco. How long do I have to stay green? An employee said they might be around for more than a month. That seems like a fair trade, but what if they're all gone before I'm all green for 28 days? It will probably cost to have it hauled here and set up because it's too big and heavy for me, so not a good idea to buy one half way through and then have to take it back if I go red.

Speaking of declutterin, today I lost about 15-20 pounds. I got rid of two cassette-player/radios, a stereo receiver, and an incredibly heavy first generation Powerpoint projector which I bought with my own money (used) for school a decade ago and never set up. It ended up outside for a couple of years buried in a box of stuff on top of my dryer. This is what having to recover from anxiety at the end of most workdays will result in. Or I am just an inferior human being. :wink: But I was willing to suffer their presence to keep them out of a landfill. There was an electronics recycling event at a local elementary school. Yeah, I know the school gets only a fraction of the proceeds, but it still felt noble. (There we go again with that image thing.) And the space they left! Not a lot but they are not in the box by the storage door or on the two empty crappy metal file cabinets! I'm down to about 1/4 of what I had a few years ago. I see a teeny light, like a keyring flashlight, at the end of the tunnel!

Now, the irony is the event I went to Friday (and back to today) was a White Elephant fundraiser! Today, they had a deal whereby you waited outside until the last hour and bought a big paper bag for $5. Then you got to run inside and take as much as you could fit of anything besides collectibles, jewelry, and furniture (lamps were another $5 each) into the bag, but it had to be able tobe sealed. I had a lamp in mind, but for that hour, everything was cash only, and I was out. It was a nice lamp and I hardly ever buy nice things. Oh, I don't have a surface to put the lamp on but there will be after decluttering! I wanted something to be an emblem of my aspiration. Well, another one is waiting for me somewhere. I missed out on a set of tall glasses that someone bought for the sticker price before the $5 sale. See above. I wanted tall glasses because they are supposed to make you feel you are drinking more than short, squat glasses which actually hold the same amount of liquid. These would be for all the guests I will someday have in my non- CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) home so I don't have to serve them so much tea.

I've decided that what I'll do with my clothes, because I honestly do like a lot of what I have, but procrastinate hanging them up because things have gotten so tight, is put the items that are closest to each other in style and color into a few boxes in said storage and either look at them again at the summer solstice or just give away the boxes unchecked. I can put my work slacks for sure in there, and two of the three dresses I own, plus my father's two plaid shirts I saved, plus plus plus. Wait, not my dad's shirts. I wasn't close to my father but I felt such a sense of understanding of him when I saw him in his casket that I want to keep them for awhile more. Besides, I may find a romantic partner who will be very touched if I give them to him. The same one I will go camping with and sit with admiring my little Christmas tree.

Oop, I may have to take those work pants out. I have't officially retired yet, and just may go back for one more half-time year. Guess, I'm going to have to be more selective.

Lastly, a fundraiser sweater I bought would be beautifully complemented by the blue earrings- except I don't have pierced ears anymore, at least not on both sides. Hmm, could a piercing be on the motivation list? I still have some good earrings, though now thanks to WE, I have some nice clip-ons, too.

In my defense, I have probably less than $1,000 total in clothes/shoes because I got so used to buying thrift store stuff when I needed bigger clothes and thought I wouldn't stay in them. I didn't stay in them, but I found such good stuff that the habit never went away. I'd say for most middle class women, that is a low total, certainly for my work colleagues, and they are not fancy dressers.

Good gawd, I have to go hang up my clothes and bring in the WE bag from the car.
Last edited by oolala53 on Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:59 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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:07 am

Well, I don't know if your intention was to have me smiling, but this post totally made me laugh at various points. Almost like reading Bridget Jones' Diary when her "almost-retired" book comes out.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 3:58 am

Thanks! I was kind of free falling. I often sound so serious here, but I drive people crazy with my sounding off in real life.

(There was a woman in my musical theater class who was doing that last night, and it made me thing, hmm, I have to be a lot more judicious about that. She sometimes asks very good questions for clarification, and it started funny, but dammit, we were blocking and it's out last class before dress rehearsal next Monday, performance Friday!)

It's perfectly fine to me that you were amused. I'd like to be amusing. And I also think some of the stuff associated with this whole moderation/habit change thing is just so fascinating. A light tone about that hasn't emerged for me yet.

I had a wheat flour kind of day. After what I said about pancakes above, I thougth, well, wait, it's really the syrup that makes them a sweet. I have passed by an IHOP in another part of town literally hundreds of times, as I did last night and thought I saw a sign for all-you-can-eat pancakes. Normally, I'm wary of all-you-can-eat places, unless I can get it takeout and make three meals out of it. Could I brave AYCE pancakes? I debated it, and finally decided I would go to an IHOP on the way to my singing lesson this morning. I googled it beforehand; it said the promotion had ended on Valentine's Day. Eh, I went anyway. A short stack is under 5 bucks. Guess what. In my region, today they were free. When I arrived, the hostess asked me if I needed a menu or was I there for the pancakes. I still didn't know there were free. "Pancakes, I giggled. Then I googled again because why was she asking if I was there for pancakes if the promotion was over? It was a fundraiser for children's health charities. I ate my stack with one packet of strawberry jelly and a whoosh of stevia. Inside the No S fence for me. I ended up spending twice as much as I would have, but it felt like an okay trade. I found out I probably wouldn't have eaten anymore than the first allotment even if it had been all-you-can-eat.

Boy, I'm a regular goll-durned philanthropist this week. Fundraiser white elephant sale, fundraiser pancakes. Me and Bill Gates, spreading our wealth around.

Actually, with people like Gates or Carnegie, I often think, well, you had so much money because you charged your customers too much or didn't pay your workers what you could have. Someone else paid the price for your philanthropy. But I guess if there weren't individuals to do that, the masses would have more money to spend on pancakes and White Elephant sales. We probably wouldn't have the generosity of spirit or foresight to put aside money for museums, libraries, universities, etc. Of course, I'm pretty sure most of the donors spent a lot of money first on mansions, furniture, ski vacations, cars--really fast or luxurious ones-, etc., before they gave away a dime.

Jeez, I really hope there is some kind of benevolent universal plan this all fits into. (I don' t want to get too political here, but an image of one of the proposed walls to be built came to my mind. It seems 45 is coming to my city to look at prototypes. When I saw the picture, my stomach turned. Could this really be happening? Have any other big walls in history ever worked out? Okay, China, but do we really want tourists of the future come marvel at the wall we spent the serfs taxes on to stop death and destruction? If you want to stop death and destruction-well, death anyway-, you'd regulate manufactured foods and adverting. Over a million deaths a year from heart disease and cancer. Ok, cancer may not be specifically caused by overeating but there is definitely a correlation with a lot of cancers. But it's hard to save people from themselves. I certainly wasn't swayed by health concerns until my late 40's.

Back to food in my day. I was still out at lunch time and got a tuna sandwich at a teeny shop (reviewed pretty well on Google; how did we ever choose where to go before the internet?) near the store I was shopping in. (Shopping! you're thinking. Did you just buy a bunch of stuff last weekend? Well, at the WE, someone else scored a rad spiralizer that I've had on my Amazon shopping list for months for $6, and I today I stopped at just about every thrift shop or non-big box discount store on my route to see if they had one. I was out anyway! And I had work that needed to be avoided at home! The same work I'm avoiding now!) Big enough for lunch and dinner.

Today was officially wheat day, as I think I ate more wheat flour items in a day than I have in a few months. When I was in my rocky phase last autumn, there were a lot of WTH fails on flour items. I've been keeping my distance. Having them in public is an informal mod, though I'd prefer to do it when out to eat with others.

Oh, the magic rules of eating we make up.

But a green day nonetheless.
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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Wed Feb 28, 2018 5:25 am

Oolala, if we lived closer I'd just make sure to relax you with a margarita before we chatted. And if Linda were with us, we'd all have sangria together. Then it would all be glorious! :lol:

What is the DEAL with pancakes? My kids can eat like 10 of them each; I always assumed it was they syrup, too -- no, plain will be gobbled up too! Carbolicious!

I'll be right here -- keeping your sort-of wheat flour mod public and accountable. Just be glad it's not alcohol you feel obligated to report.. :oops:
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 6:51 am

Just about all flour foods can be fit in to the stomach in large quantities. I call it a particle food. (Just about all packaged snack foods are particle foods.) In a certain way, it's already been chewed/ground up, though with no liquid, so it's in essence dry in comparison to how you'd have to make it digestible if you couldn't grind it, i.e., cooked in water so it expands. Foods that already in particles aren't very high on the satiety scale because they are actually very efficient deliverers of calories with no real brakes built in to signal that's enough. That, plus the fat/salt/sugar, is why you can't often eat just one. And our culture that condones excess.

Have I talked myself out of pancakes and into some of the oats I have already cooked in the fridge for breakfast?
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)

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Wed Feb 28, 2018 10:27 am

...Every time I return home, the kitchen is an explosion of flour and egg shells, after DD has made pancakes. I find whole eggs accidentally cracked into the sink and golden syrup streaking all over the surfaces. She is addicted to them!

Love the term ‘particle foods’! You have some great turns of phrase.

Also enjoyed your astute deconstruction of philanthropy! ‘Someone else paid the price’ - so true.

Hope the rehearsals are going well!

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:30 am

You've successfully made pancakes sound disgusting. Particle/pre-digested foods. I'll tell my kids that and see if they stop adoring pancakes.

I am proud to say (haha from my high horse!) that I have never liked pancakes! Yay for lucky me. I seriously won't even eat them. Now a crepe -- ah, there's a particle food for me!
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

elegantportions
Posts: 128
Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 6:06 pm
Location: Montana

Post by elegantportions » Tue Mar 06, 2018 4:52 pm

You remind me of ancient memories from high school. We lived near a commercial bread factory (not Wonder brand but of that ilk). Lots of kids got their first job working on the production line there. Company policy was you could eat whatever you want from the conveyor belt. Most people found the fresh-baked, right-out-of-the-oven loaves irresistible. I don't remember the exact number, but the bread squished down enough that some ate like 5 loaves the first night at work. After eating, it re-swelled enough to put lots of people in the hospital. But even for the ones that didn't land in the hospital, it was painful enough that they were never again even tempted to eat ANYTHING at work.
EP
5'5" Female Age 62
Dec 2018 Year 5 BMI = 25.8

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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:30 pm

I used to LOVE taking the non-crust part and rolling it up into a ball to eat. Then I graduated to batter of other baked things. :shock: But not long before No S, I would buy the dough for bread sold at Trader Joe's and sometimes eat the whole loaf unbaked. And that sick feeling didn't stop me one bit.

On other notes, I go to change out my big moon boot for a shoe that's much lighter and easier. The bone has healed enough that more movement can be allowed in the ankle. It still has to be a sole that will not bend- and for 6 more weeks! Even after that, the nurse practitioner said it will be a few more months before I should attempt activities that will make the foot bend a lot- like dancing! and rope jumping, which I used to for a minute at a time in between other moves when I was doing 14 minutes (actually 11 minutes for me.) Of course, now I'm thinking, oh, if I could, I'd definitely be doing those things and what a shame I can't. Oh, how we delude ourselves!

Secondly, in the decluttering department. I hit a snag because I balked at giving stuff to charities because I know a lot of stuff just sits there (I shop at them so I know), and I wanted to see if I could give them to someone who might use them again and later donate them. (Fantasy) But I also had a tough time trying to post photos online to people in my 'hood to be had for the taking. Each year, maybe twice a year, there is a huge "Really Really Free Market" held in the park of a neighborhood where there are people who could probably use that. I'm so inspired to clean and box up even more stuff! I'll stay and give anything that doesn't go to AmVets, a store I think had fairer prices. I'll be down to probably a fifth of stuff I had a few years ago. The next big purge after that will be paper, and I think I'm working up to the right attitude for that. Plus, got to do my taxes. Some of that will be online, but it kind of fits to category to me anyway.

Oh, because I could barely get any clothes hung up anymore becasue the closet was so packed, I went though about 4/5 of the clothes. (I forgot a top shelf and felt kind of weary looking at it. Maybe today.) Honestly I've been doing a lot of that over the last six months or so because I've been going to other free clothing swaps so I'm down to stuff I mostly like. In fact, what got me to do it was givning myself permission to pack up items I still felt very attached to or believed I really would/might wear later-like true summer stuff. I'll take it out at the summer solstice time and re-evaluate.

In the meantime, I'm still a little shaken up at what's still left in my closet. The fact that it's very likely that I won't be working again made me ask myself when one earth I'll be able to wear 49 long-sleeved tops, 6 light sweater/bolero items, (only a few shorts-sleeved things because I just don't wear them anymore- my one concession to vanity), and FIFTEEN camisole/tank things to wear under very light sheer tops that cover my arms but aren't impossible hot

I do have things grouped by color, something I started doing just about months ago. Boy, does it make sense! I did pick a few things that I wear most often with specific other time and hung them together. (It took me only until I was 63 to do that!) Also, having mostly things I liked made it easier to pick out outfits as well as doing it the night before. So much faster at night than in the morning. Go figure.

I think I have a reasonable number of pants since I wear a lot of the same ones and over over with the different tops. I've got a lot of lacy things to wear over the camisoles. See above for concession.

It's so nice to see some space between items now. That's what makes the adds for custom closets look so good. They have even fewer things hanging there, and no riot of color or prints. Yeah, right. Who has ten tops hanging in their closets? Oh, am I about to get embarrassed by some of you who say, well, I do?

Okay, off to do more.
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

Post by ladybird30 » Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:13 pm

Good to see that your foot is healing up.

It sounds like to me that the decluttering is going well. As for 49 tops, well you would never have to clothes shop again if only the styles wouldn't change.
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

Post by oolala53 » Wed Mar 07, 2018 8:09 pm

I almost put this on the general forum, but recently I've been a little sorry that I've posted so much material there that, while I think it supports the eating recommendations of Reinhard, doesn't support his recommendation to simply use a very brief, easy way to record successes and failures, thus NOT depending on gathering more and more information and focusing on the issue. I grapple with feeling I may have been obsessing rather than expressing a passion. It doesn't pain me a lot, but it does bubble up since I'm now not working and had intended to do way more decluttering and concentrating on doing all the things I've neglected at my house over the past 15 years. But instead I still spend hours going back and forth between here and Spark, and still exploring support for NOT using normal diet tactics, most recently for the deleterious affect of low weight loss goals.


However, unlike drug addictions, I do not feel a loss in pleasure doing it nor excessively berate myself for doing it.

So, in the future, I'm going to put a lot less on the general forum unless it's brief encouragement to posters there.

BUT, here's some results of this morning's passion/obsession.

When I decided that weight loss was not my incentive for eating moderately, it was because of a grim statistic I read not about the failure of traditional diets but of the expectation of obesity and weight loss studies. The study designers were practically ecstatic, because of previous losses in studies, that obese patients were able to lose and sustain an average of only SEVEN POUNDS. They thought this was good news. Most of them were still obese. How many do you thing felt that was good enough and went on to give up? The study didn't tell us, but you can guess.

I thought, well, if that's what ecstatic results are, I'd better find another incentive. Because it might very likely I cannot accept a lifestyle that asks for more.

Here are some links or quotes that kept me going.

http://www.weightymatters.ca/search?q=w ... tisfaction

This from Yoni Freedhoff, a doctor/blogger I admire. (Though I am biased against his recommends in his book

“If you’re already struggling with depression, and in many cases, there’s guilt associated with that, not succeeding with your planned behavior changes can make matters worse,†Freedhoff said.

Rather than working toward an ideal weight or size, people should set a goal of being happy, said Freedhoff, author of the 2014 book "The Diet Fix." That doesn't mean that your weight doesn't matter — obesity causes disease and shortens life expectancy — but getting to a healthy weight, for most people, involves small, manageable changes.

[/b]For example, Freedhoff believes people should cook at home and not succumb to the ills of fast food, but while making the transition, he advises people not to obsess about preparing, say, wild-caught salmon stuffed with garlic and kale, but food that you and your family will like.

"Maybe cutting your cooking teeth on less healthy meals will encourage you to gain the skills and comfort you'll need to slowly improve your repertoire, and in so doing make the kitchen a room in which you actually enjoy spending time," Freedhoff wrote on his blog.

“As far as quality of life goes, there’s no doubt in my mind that mental health far more important than what a person weighs,†Freedhoff said."

Not a fan of his admonition to his patients to eat 5-6 times a day, but his realistic attitude I love.
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

Post by ladybird30 » Thu Mar 08, 2018 2:42 am

I'm all in favour of home cooking and making small manageable changes.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Dalia negra
Posts: 276
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:48 am
Location: Barcelona (Spain)

Post by Dalia negra » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:12 am

Oolala, if it's any good, I'm a fan of your publications, and I'd love it if you kept doing it :wink:

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:21 am

Tx, ladybird.

Have been working on decluttering for a few hours and happened on something that seems auspicious now. (It's a little embarrassing, too, because of the time involved.) I was cleaning out the drawers in my night stand and found several random pieces of paper. One of them was the due date slip from the first time I took the No S book out of my local library. It was due November 8, 2008. I know I had two weeks of compliance before Thanksgiving and went off the rails until summer of 2009, when I had ONE good week at a workshop where reasonable meals were provided and there wasn't much junk around the campus. Toppled again until December 26, 2009, a little more than a year after reading the book. I don't know how long before that I had read the site intro or how I got to it. I know I couldn't have kept the slip on purpose because in 2008, I didn't know I would eventually "surrender" to it. This is a piece of clutter I want to keep as the book mark in my copy.
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)

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Thu Mar 08, 2018 3:49 pm

Oolala,

That IS auspicious! What a cool reminder of your journey and how far you’ve come. Speaking of auspicious, I feel lucky that you have such a great presence here on this board. I often think about how you are certainly living out your calling to educate others. I tend to notice that those who have their own love of learning can’t help but have it become reciprocal to others by continuing to help challenge people to think and learn from their own experiences.

I believe that whatever and however much you post on the No S can be a supplement for those of us who need “a little more than simpleâ€. While maybe outside of Reinhard’s intent, your postings are certainly thought provoking and many times help me on my own journey. Thanks!

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:54 pm

...just to add, I have dozens of tops. I could never just have ten! My argument is that I hate faffing around trying to make outfits work, as I did when I was younger and had fewer garments. Having a plentiful collection means I can just grab what I need, and can usually make it work without much fuss. I do have too much now, though. But it’s better than when I was in my twenties and had just one pair of jeans, and couldn’t work out why they didn’t look right with my one pair of boots.

How amazing that you found that old library slip! You must keep it - what a great memento.

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

Post by oolala53 » Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:00 pm

Thanks, ladies. I'm going to aim at fewer choices (not ten) and be more thoughtful before buying how something could fit in so that making an outfit isn't like planning a raid on the enemy camp. I'm even contemplating down the line decreasing the color palette. I said JUST contemplating! It's probably a little like when I'd read diet books and imagine how great it would be to live such a good life. It IS great to live with the right diet for me. (And it's surprising how close it is now to those idealistic diets, but from slowly letting this and that drop away and adding this and that. These are the things the defenders of "everyone's different" point to, but I see them as red herrings You're not that different! You need to eat a limited amount of food at a limited number of times a day! What that food is, IMHO, a smaller player in the game. I really think I would not have come to where I am just by eating my present choices in greater quantity and more often. But as Gandhi once said,
Not even God can change the past."
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)

RAWCOOKIE
Posts: 1360
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:01 am
Location: Cornwall, UK

Post by RAWCOOKIE » Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:48 pm

I hope you get over your cold virus thing asap too. I'm taking an early night and hoping my body can do battle with the bugs overnight!
I love Everyday Systems :3

13.6.15 124.25lbs
11.11.21 101.00lbs

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Sat Mar 10, 2018 9:27 pm

Kudos on the decluttering efforts and also the special NoS library receipt.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

jenji
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Post by jenji » Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:55 pm

oolala53 wrote:Thanks, ladies. I'm going to aim at fewer choices (not ten) and be more thoughtful before buying how something could fit in so that making an outfit isn't like planning a raid on the enemy camp. I'm even contemplating down the line decreasing the color palette. I said JUST contemplating! It's probably a little like when I'd read diet books and imagine how great it would be to live such a good life. It IS great to live with the right diet for me. (And it's surprising how close it is now to those idealistic diets, but from slowly letting this and that drop away and adding this and that. These are the things the defenders of "everyone's different" point to, but I see them as red herrings You're not that different! You need to eat a limited amount of food at a limited number of times a day! What that food is, IMHO, a smaller player in the game. I really think I would not have come to where I am just by eating my present choices in greater quantity and more often. But as Gandhi once said,
Not even God can change the past."
I have decreased my color palette this year for my work clothes, and I love it. I have committed to navy as my main neutral, with some gray. I still own black slacks, of course, but I am not necessarily going to replace them when they go. And I already knew that I hate to wear brown. It is easier to buy shoes and accessories for one neutral, not several, and I always find myself reaching for my navy suit for big moments like job interviews, so why not buy more of what I feel best in? But that is partly because fashion is not really important to me, and having a uniform of sorts helps make my hectic life simpler. I splash out a bit on colorful blouses or sweaters, and the rest is predictable and boring.
I'm a 53-year-old mom and non-profit CEO
I am 5' 7.5"
Began No S at 184#, BMI 28.4 - 9/25/2017
Current weight: 181#, BMI 27.9, 12/19/2022

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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:27 pm

Both black and white are not good choices for my skin/hair color palette but they are sure easy to find, so I have a lot. I do like brown with pinks, peaches and ivory, but it does complicate things more than navy and gray, which also blend with black. Black and brown seem to work only in animal prints. I have those, too. I don't need anything like a suit and find it harder to find casual navy pants- at least at the thrift stores I shop in! I used to see them all the time in stores, but there are just a few of them hanging next to gobs of black or a few other colors. Haven't found the right size among them for years.

Well, I have several months' time to experiment with all this, in fact, probably not until next September will I think of adding anything, maybe even beyond because our summer really lasts intermittently long into October. If I'm working, I will not try to change much since I have plenty for that and because I won't know what I'll really need or want for a non-work life.

But I'm thinking eventually, I'd like to move to the navy/gray as my foundation darks.

Or maybe I just want to be that goofy old lady with the quirky stuff!
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)

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:37 am

I hear you on the blacks and whites.

I also have lots of black (and grays). But I have LOTS of Kittie print- wore some today. In fact, they are really the only browns I have. Ugh, I should probably reorganize myself, unless I want to reach Peggy Bundy status... :shock:

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:27 am

What are Kittie prints?

I reached 3,000 days on No S today, if my calculations are right. Close enough, anyway.

I also finished my spring weigh in of averaging a week of weights. It's pretty low, and I have no idea if it will stay where it is, but it is what it is. I'm doing most of my own cooking, eating pretty simply partly because of limiting myself to the proteins and starches I have on hand until they're gone (freggies and stuff for coffee can be replenished). My starches at home are all what someone called wet starches. No bread, crackers, etc.: things that are dry, that can be picked up and eaten with the fingers. I just ran out of them, so it'a all oats and rice right now. Some split peas and chickpeas, too, though I think of those as crossovers. I like them fine. I use different herb blends or sauces. It's not that different from having chicken 10 different ways. I eat the dry starches when I''m out because that's what's out there. I got caught without dinner before a movie meeting I had. I ate a cheese stuffed pretzel in the theater and allowed myself a banana afterwards.
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)

Whosonfirst
Posts: 538
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:32 pm

Post by Whosonfirst » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:38 am

Big Congrats on 3000 days, quite the milestone! I hope Reinhard sends you a T-shirt, jk.
https://twitter.com/SipeEngineering
Current weight(9/2020)-212 lbs.
Goal Weight- 205 lbs.
NoS Goal: >= 80% Success days

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:26 pm

WOW! 3000 days is a lot of days!

Congratulations to you- so inspiring to all of us... consistency and the passage of time has brought you much success! Here’s to much more!

p.s. Kittie print=leopard/cheetah print. I love wearing it, and try not to overdo it...

User avatar
Octavia
Posts: 901
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Location: UK

Post by Octavia » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:40 pm

3000 days! Amazing! Me, I’ve just done 3 months, and did a little dance of celebration!

Thanks for being here for all of us! ðŸ’

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

Post by ladybird30 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:06 am

Congratulations on 3000 days, and regaining your eating equilibrium after last years ups and downs.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

Dalia negra
Posts: 276
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:48 am
Location: Barcelona (Spain)

Post by Dalia negra » Fri Mar 16, 2018 6:03 am

Congratulations!!!!

To think that with time I can get to get something similar gives me a lot of hope.

Thanks for continuing to help everyone around!

jenji
Posts: 661
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Post by jenji » Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:51 pm

Congratulations on 3K. :)
I'm a 53-year-old mom and non-profit CEO
I am 5' 7.5"
Began No S at 184#, BMI 28.4 - 9/25/2017
Current weight: 181#, BMI 27.9, 12/19/2022

Larkspur
Posts: 438
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:30 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Post by Larkspur » Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:34 am

Gratz on 3K days!

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

Post by oolala53 » Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:48 pm

OMGosh, I had no idea so many people had congratulated me. Thank you!
The lifestyle's many advantages all on their own feel a little like a congratulations a lot of the time, but I'm touched all the same.

CALORIE TALK ALERT! There has been a lot of time on ES that I did not want to read anything about calories and often not even weight, so if someone doesn't want to get triggered, now's the time to shield your eyes. I'm not even completely at peace with this interest of mine. I fantasize that I'd prefer at this point to have the Flylady habits down and some facility on a musical instrument, but apparently I am too comfortable with the pain of messiness and musical ignorance to accept the sacrifice of the up-front pain of adopting new habits in those areas. I do make my bed most days.

I'm not sure if I've done this three years in a row, but at least last year and this year at around the spring equinox, I've completed a lay version of the fast mimicking diet by Valter Longo. Disclaimer: I'm a little sorry my previous brief mentions of fasting set off a spin-off fascination with fasting here because I was reluctant to say anything on Reinhard's generous site, as if it was like gushing on here about some guru's pet diet, and because it is such a deviation from what I consider the naturalness and joie de vivre of the slim culture practices No S emulates, rather the body-wrenching/manipulating preoccupation of diet programs and nutrient minutia analysis of health enthusiasm which Reinhard blissfully ignored, to our benefit, IMHO. Plus, I'm sure doing it before I was firmly established in Vanilla would have set me way back. (Now do you see why I have such a hard time teaching high school? Too much talk!) In fact, I ascribe the 4-month setback I had last fall at least partly to the previous couple of years of sporadic IF. I also realize I'm not the first to bring up IF, but those have been the milder versions of keeping the basic meal structure in a more concise eating day.) Passing 60 has brought on a bit of a moderate obsession with not life extension for me-I don't actually care about being able to reach 90 or even 80, though I'm probably fated to get to the latter, but functional, especially mental, health. It may be impossible to reverse SOME of the damage done by over-the-top sweet/calorie eating and lack of sleep through middle age, but as Gandhi said, even God can't change the past. Blah blah blah. I know I've said something similar before, but I feel the disclaimer should be repeated.

Okay, so I reported before I weighed for a week. A few days later, I did 5 days of very controlled calorie- and macronutrient eating. The macronutrient ratios are very important, as it's not just the lower calories that trigger the changes I want, and the wrong ones can be a detriment. It is not meant for weight loss, and Longo makes no attempt as far as I know to push that, though the commercial company that sells a meal plan of his recommended ratios slips it in as a maybe. BTW, all the profits of the plan and his book go to his foundation that "Promoting creative scientific and medical projects aimed at the rapid identification of low-cost, integrative therapies for the prevention and treatment of major diseases."

My weighing afterwards is to show it's almost impossible to keep off weight lost after intense calorie reductions. I've said before that I don't consider that I've lost a pound until I weigh any lost pound for three weeks minimum to show that it's not just part of a temporary fluctuation but a side effect of eating changes I do for other reasons and can maintain rather easily. Easy or fatter, that's my motto.

So, on the day after the five days, I weighed 127.4, which is 5.6 pounds less than when I started. BTW, to maintain that, I'd have to average fewer than 1,600 calories a day, which I have no intention to aim at, though I know I have days eating less than that just from knowing what I ate when I was on WW years ago. Plus the body might not like that, and would just lower the metabolism to keep its fat. I have no control over that. It might even lower it more if I exercise more. Yes, dear reader, it does do that. After all, it must not let me starve Those poor skinny early humans who could not put on fat for the life of them- well, it was literal back then. But not for MY ancestors, thank goodness.

The next day, I went to a social event, where I had a lot of snacky things, including little chocolate-covered apricot morsels, a few kinds of cookies, and a lot of cashews. Then I had a combo spaghetti/lasanga dinner with garlic bread and small salad, eating about 2/3 of the garlic bread-that reminds me, I have the rest in the fridge now- and half of the entrees. Later I bought a biscuit I intended to have at breakfast just to get change to make a donation at a performance I attended and ended up eating on the way home. Why? Say it all together: because it was an S day and I could! (That was actually a fail because it's a mod for me not to eat S's alone on S days. Oh, well. Will mark it and move on on the March challenge.) I figured I ate about 2,100 calories which is a LOT for me, but, folks, I did not actually feel really full until I ate that biscuit. I would normally have been distressingly stuffed- wild stuffed- on any other S day, but apparently, the body was adjusting fullness to allow for easy intake. (The unit must not starve! Signed, metabolism) My weight went up to 129.4. Does everyone see that I very likely did not gain 2 lbs of fat, which would have taken eating over 8,00 calories, including my base burn rate? I did probably put on a few ounces from the overage above my maintenance level. (see above on not starving)

Okay, I had to go eat breakfast. Garlic bread (+ other stuff) eaten. Pasta in two servings in freezer.

Yesterday, second day, I was back to relatively regular appetite, maybe a little lower, even. In fact, by my estimates, I ate only 1,200. I ate a bigger breakfast than I normally would have around 10 and wasn't hungry again until just about the time (6 p.m.) I had planned to eat out at a Mediterranean (you have no idea how many typos I had to correct to get that right) restaurant, where I could not down a whole admittedly huge appetizer of fried cauliflower with a tahini sauce and toasted almonds plus pita. (Leftovers in the fridge, too.) At an event after dinner, had a slice of not-so-good cake. Another oh well.

BTW, I was actually wishing I was hungry so I could have a small meal mid-afternoon, but it would have left me too full for my wonderful dinner.

Today's weight: 130. A slight gain, but I ate less than my maintenance calories! So, likely only a teensy fat gain and more water. Cause for alarm? Oh, my God, all I have to do is inhale food and I gain weight? Time to eat less? Yeah, right. Not going to happen. It is what it is, and it's good enough.

I'm going to go ahead and track for a week. It's possible my weight will exceed what I started with, but I'd guess it will be back to equilibrium in a month. I won't find out until the summer solstice. Body might be a little fattier. Will not stress. House to clean, music to learn. Social life to develop. (Harder for me because it's dealing with animate objects I have even less control over.)
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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Mon Mar 26, 2018 8:01 pm

Sorry for being late to the 3K party! Love that!

Have you ever read the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis? It's a bunch of letters from some demon that is trying to mess up a Christian. As I read your post I was thinking someone should write a book with letters exchanged between people's metabolisms (and then she started to STARVE!! Well, I was there to save her and I managed to put everything into SLOW mode!!! She's so lucky to have me!) Anyway, it gave me a good laugh imagining it.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:03 pm

I'll have to take a look at Lewis' work. I bet he didn't think he was writing satire... 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)

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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 27, 2018 4:43 am

I'm having Sparkpeople withdrawal. Its pages are causing my computer to freeze and I've had to restart several times. I finally gave up, but I have teams to give bonus points to and "walls" to post on!

Could not believe how little hunger I had today, but it's not like forgetting to eat. I did feel hungry for lunch by the time I could eat it. My maid (don't snort) was here and I forgot that she was coming later, so she was working right through lunchtime. It's happened before except that I planned for it, actually packing a little lunch and going someplace else to eat it. Ate so late today, I probably could have skipped dinner, but I refused to. I had a class that took me until 6:30 pm and then did some grocery shopping, not realizing how long it was taking me, so i didn't get out of there until 7:30. I had those great leftovers at home, but didn't want to wait any longer so I went to a buffet restaurant on the way home. I ate about 10 oz of food total (You're charged by the pound.) I like eating more carb at my meals than I did but their carbs are not my target ones. I did have 4 French fries! I did enjoy what I got, but wasn't actually hungry, yet am also not stuffed. Good enough.

So maybe I'll have leftover cauliflower tagine for breakfast.
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)

Friyay
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:16 pm

Post by Friyay » Tue Mar 27, 2018 4:44 am

oolala53 wrote:I'll have to take a look at Lewis' work. I bet he didn't think he was writing satire... 8)
He did, which for me, makes the whole thing totally unfunny. To each her own!

Congrats on 3000 days. That's really something.

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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:13 am

I thought Lewis was a Christian. He was making fun of it?

Well, I agree that the other dialogue would be a hoot. Maybe I can work that into my standup act. :!:
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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:58 pm

Hope your Sparkpeople webpages load up for you. A couple of days ago I couldn't get my everyday systems loaded up! I was very impatient in case I forgot what I'd eaten!
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 27, 2018 4:48 pm

AME, ES wouldn't open all day for me the other day either. I was feeling the anxiety then, too. I kept wanting to come on the site to ask if anyone else was having the same problem. You know, like when you keep trying to turn on a light when you look for a flashlight when the electricity goes out... :roll: Glad it's easy to get to now.
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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:17 pm

A few rambling thoughts.

I am still working on finishing all starches and proteins in the kitchen. I'm letting myself off the hook on a frozen raw turkey breast I bought after Txgiving. Some turkey I had cooked and frozen before was pretty tough when incorporated into meals. I'm thinking how I might have some event to cook and share the turkey at, but my main social group is mostly vegetarian. (And I do want a few leftovers, in case they turn out better.) I started this at the beginning of February. I'm thinking I'll be done some time this week, unless I eat out. I already added two portions from dinner Saturday. I just put the last of the steel cut oats in to soak,and I have some pakora batter to try. For breakfast, I had the last of the frozen batch of that with leftover cauliflower tagine (with some slivered toasted almonds) from Sunday night and added some baby greens. The mix of textures was fantastic! I've stopped even cooking the oats after soaking because they got too mushy. I haven't even thought about what grains I'll buy when I can, but I know there will be potatoes! Maybe I can convince Daniel Day Lewis to come out of retirement to make a movie called "There will be potatoes." Martin Scorsese is sure to want to direct.

Continuing the obsession with the body. I just bought two DEXA scans. I often think of Reinhard when I do these things; I so envy that he has pretty much not spent more than the proverbial dime on any of this. Maybe he actually had the sledgehammer at his house already? It's kept me from getting sucked back into a gym. I've got weights and I live in freakin' San Diego. If he can walk to work in Boston, I can walk outside here. I am feeling the allure of the oneminuteworkout site. It's less than 50 bucks, but still. Can't I just do stuff on my own or do other free stuff?

Enuf of that. I've had a scan done at this time of year twice, so it will be interesting to see. My body fat went up slightly last time. It's not low by any means. At this point, I am almost what they call skinny-fat. I swear each time I do this that I'll get more serious about resistance exercise, but it doesn't happen. Okay, there's a little vanity in this, but really, not much. It's more the "principality" of the thing. Come on, body, when you need calories, dip into the store! There's plenty! No need to hoard.

They had a special on two scans, so I'm thinking it might inspire me to set a goal to reach by my 65th birthday six months from yesterday. However, as I've said before, with what I know now, it may be asking for disappointment because the body can do so many things to retain its fat. Even if I increase muscle, it may decide to just slow things down to keep the new muscle from burning my precious 28% reserves. But there would be definite advantages to building muscle either way. Like not falling down and being able to get up out of chairs.

I may have to make a pact with myself that if the incentive doesn't work by the end of September, I cannot buy another scan next spring. Just like not long before No S, I stopped trying and failing every day to eat less chocolate. I wasn't really willing to control myself, so why keep up the mental torture? I just had to get more tired of the burden. Though I'm not aware of my fat being a burden. It's probably one of those things I won't be aware of until something serendipitous brings the change and I see I can do cartwheels or something.
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

Post by oolala53 » Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:53 pm

Ok, results in. The scanner shop is not far from my house, there was a appt. available, I went.

I'm almost astounded by the results because I feel I had a less than stellar year what with rebound/stress eating most of the fall- oh, the boxes of Triscuits and Cheezits I ate! Cheetos! cookie dough! Im pretty sure even half gallons of ice cream!-, and no really long streaks of resistance exercise. After LOSING a bit of lean mass and putting ON fat the year I was most involved in IF (spring 2016-2017), somehow, I've managed to take off 5.7 pounds of fat and put on 4.4 lbs. of muscle. I don't know why it happened but the stats are what they are.

Okay, it's not as if I've been chowing down on plates of nachos all year, so it's not a scientific marvel. Honestly, I think I've admitted that I'm not doing Vanilla every day anymore, though the deviations are loose. I don't usually set out in the morning to skip a meal, but something will happen such that my lunch is late and I don't get hungry again-but I WANT food. If any of you have read my stuff, you'l know that that bothered the hell out of me for the longest time. Why did my body keep torturing me with desire but not real hunger? Sometime over the course of this year, I finally saw that it was often bothering me more that I went ahead and ate than that I wanted to eat even if not hungry so I felt I "shouldn't" eat. So, I sometimes skip meals. Sometimes on N days, sometimes S days. When I sense it's going to happen, I'll eat a bit more at lunch than I would normally. Occasionally, it's a bigger-breakfast/early dinner kind of thing. It's sounding so unsystematic! But there is some system to it I can't explain except that I'm still working with real meals. If I can't have a whole meal, for the most part, I don't eat. Much less often than I used to, I have doctored coffee to bridge the meal gaps.

Besides the fails, I've been moving away from flour foods and towards higher starch meals, but it doesn't mean I won't have a plate of veggies tossed with sardines sometimes. Probably repeating but I'm getting more non-mainstream at home so that when I go out, I try to roll with what others want. If I'm on my own, I'll probably see if there's something nearby that's less bread-y/ pasta-ish, less hunk of dead animal as the center of the meal. (Boy, is THAT hard to find. It just feels like the basics are just about the same everywhere, seasoned and sauced differently but almost universally dense item after dense item after dense item from appetizers to desserts with token veggies along the way. But San Diego is still better than the hinterlands, where it's all pizza, burgers, French fries, chicken of all kinds, and bread, muffins, and dessert. Again, token veggies.

It's been an evolution, and certainly not prescriptive for anyone. It does feel pretty solid, but there's no telling.

Now I have to get back to procrastinating dealing with clutter.
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)

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:49 am

Oolala,

So interesting!

Truthfully, I think it all sounds great but I’m not sure how you feel about it so I didn’t want to say so...lol! 🙃

Thank you for sharing some of your “deviationsâ€, which sound, by the way, totally normal. All of your focus on eating real food seems to account for at least some of the change.

Either way, if all this means you are healthier than the last time you were scanned, then rock on chick!! 😀

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:14 am

Well, your results sound stellar, awesome, amazing. But you are very typically dissecting them in oolala fashion. Did you know my husband knows who you are? LOL!!!! Just today I was saying something about "and oolala is eating all the food out of her pantry and freezer". Love it! You're a star!
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:21 am

Not sure I'm healthier, but I doubt I'm worse off!

Part of the reason I think I've been able to slide into less seductive food, besides just not having any around, is something I probably talked about before but got reminded of because of a vlog by Susan Pierce Thompson, whim I love to dislike, but keep following because I can't believe how her approach has exploded and how expensive it is. She has a huge following and in just affew years has built an empire that requires 27 employees. Her prices make WW look like a child's game. She talked about reading the book I was (and still am) fascinated with called The Hungry Brain. She pointed out one of the facts I didn't know either, though we've known it vaguely for years. The more highly palatable foods are- i.e.,the more intensely flavored and especially in a manufactured way, the LESS satiety they have. But the really new idea is that HP foods, which I will call seductive rather than addictive when I write my best seller, :wink: actually get the body to prefer a higher set point. Blander, unprocessed foods lower the weight the body will allow. (She said back when she was in OA, the longterm successful people all kept telling the newbies,eat simple foods. I don't eat bland food, I don't think, but I started "diluting" my meals by eating smaller portions of the HP stuff with plain veggies and often starches, including mixing bites of salad with the entree. And recently, I've been does less of eating out when I'm out and about, making more of an effort to get done with my wanderings and come home to eat. Plus, I want to get through all my food at home which I took an inventory of last night and discovered a lot more of than I thought. Geesh! You'd think I thought I was getting ready to be in a bomb shelter, or at least one I could cook in.

On a more sobering note, I got a call from my sister today. My brother, who lives on his own in a mobile home and had mild mental health problems that showed up in his mid-twenties and escalate only slightly as he lived for the last 24 years of my parents' lives with them. He deteriorated and had some health problems that let my grown niece find out that he had covered his windows with black paper because he thinks the government is trying to spy on him. He also still had black garbage bags full of stuff that got moved to the his new place in 2006 after my mother died. The kitchen was a mess and the place was filled with junk. All this time, he has managed to take care of himself, pay his bills, and keep a little beagle. Today he went to the mobile home office acting very agitated and said someone has been repeatedly trying to break in his place. When they went to investigate, they found hoarding so serious that there were rats in the place and it has been basically condemned. It's locked up. He was taken to some kind of facility. When he gets released, he will not be able to return. No one in the family is in a position to have him come stay. My sister lives in another state, and I live in 500 sq ft. She said he can probably be declared a danger to himself and kept at least temporarily. She is afraid he is going to end up homeless. I think he can get some help to guide him. He is not without income, so it isn't as if he can't pay to live SOMEWHERE. He and I had had a terrible relationship for a long time, but my sister guessed that he might be bipolar, and it changed my attitude because I stopped thinking he was purposely being cruel. However, he did make a mild threat to kill me while we were going through the activities after my mother's death, so I don't think I should be his main contact. He's never been violent with anyone else; I took it seriously then because he had said other mean things (that everyone else thought I was being a drama queen about) but think now that he was just overwhelmed with grief. He never showed such severe symptoms when he was with my parents. I honestly thought he might commit suicide because he had been so close to my mother. But he survived. He was actually one of the funniest people I've ever known and could probably have been a standup comedian if he had not had so many neuroses.

After my tax appointment tomorrow, I will go there about 2.5 hours away and help my niece handle the plan to get him some services he's probably entitled to, if the administration has not cut the funds. I might be in denial that he just can't end up on the street. I'm sure the homeless have family, too.

Thankfully, my eating habits are in place so that I think I will be fine being away from my own cooking, I said in my last blog, I think, that my intention has always been to be able to live without depending on counting calories or a scale to keep me in line, plus I consider it okay to gain a few pounds because of eating less-than-ideal foods since I have no conditions that would exacerbate. I can always keep to reasonable portions, probably even a bit smaller. I've had to do that before; it can make it a little tough at the end of the meal, but after about a half hour, I feel as full as I usually do. I will bring some perishable groceries with me.

I actually rarely get asked to step in for family issues; I like to think I can be an asset.
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)

automatedeating
Posts: 5305
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm

Post by automatedeating » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:29 am

Good luck with everything, oolala! How long will you be gone?

And, I hope you take this in the positive way I intend -- I find the most brilliant families are the ones with the most mental illness and eccentricities. Your brother is probably highly intelligent and finds coping with this crazy modern world a bit too much (from time to time).

They are lucky to have you coming up. I look forward to hearing your updates.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2

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

Post by oolala53 » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:32 am

Thank you, AE. I wish we had a hug icon!
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)

worth it
Posts: 458
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 pm

Post by worth it » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:33 am

Oolala,

I am sorry to hear this, but I’m relieved that he has you and the family in his corner. I’ll be sending some positive vibes your way.

Safe travels and keep us posted on what happens (if you want to share).

Friyay
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:16 pm

Post by Friyay » Thu Mar 29, 2018 4:32 am

I'm sorry to hear about your family's troubles. You have such good, firm habits in place though, I think that eating is probably the last thing you need to worry about right now.

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

Post by ladybird30 » Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:12 am

All the best Oolala. Some of my friends have mental health problems - I value their friendship, but I wouldn't want to share a house with them or take on their problems. No doubt the pressures are different when it is family.
Three meals a day - not too little not too much, but just right

LifeisaBlessing
Posts: 337
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:08 pm

Post by LifeisaBlessing » Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:16 am

Prayers ðŸ™ðŸ» for you and your family oolala!
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean

The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet

Post Reply