[Everstorm]

23 hours ago, kcaleece said:

one, may I suggest maybe turning the bare spot into a fire pit/patio sitting area

I just paved a fire pit area last summer lol.  I used the bare spot where the trampoline used to be.  I am considering making (another) garden in the pool's old spot, but I only want to start that if we are absolutely certain we will not replace the pool.  And I was trying not to start any new gardens this year, because I have several others that I am still working on building up 😬

 

6 minutes ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

 

Probably shouldn't recommend this, but my wife introduced me to spice/carrot cake mixes from the box... when added alongside a can of pumpkin puree AND NOTHING ELSE, you get a fairly healthy and nutritious dessert that really isn't far off a true cake.

 

Still trying to perfect protein icing though 🤷‍♂️

👀

 

Sounds yummy!  The pumpkin oatmeal was okay, but not amazing.  The pumpkin-oatmeal protein pancakes, however, were fabulous, as even my picky eater agrees.  I have developed a habit of just putting whipped cream on top of cake-adjacent foods.  It adds moisture and a hint of sweetness like icing, without adding much in the way of calories (15 per serving)

 

On 1/31/2023 at 9:44 AM, Harriet said:

Overcooked chicken is sad, yet very familiar, since my father overcooked everything. How are you doing?

 

I am definitely off my game.  I worked on cleanup in lieu of a workout Friday and missed again on Monday because of an extended grocery shopping trip that took 3 hours.  I got a late session in yesterday, but have yet to do one today.

 

I haven't blown the diet aspect, at least calorie-wise, but I was majorly short on protein yesterday for the first time since the challenge started.  There was no good reason for it except that my brain threw a toddler-esque tantrum of I don't want to.  That feeling has been building for a while and seems to have reached a head.  I am extra frustrated because I have reached a weight loss plateau that probably has to do with hormone imbalance (seeing some odd, mis-timed symptoms), but even though I know it's probably just water retention, it makes it very difficult to stick to the plan when the plan is hard and I am not seeing results. 

[Harriet]

11 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

I am definitely off my game.  I worked on cleanup in lieu of a workout Friday and missed again on Monday because of an extended grocery shopping trip that took 3 hours.  I got a late session in yesterday, but have yet to do one today.

 

Chores are a form of exercise, I'm sure. But I hope you get your game back.

 

11 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

I haven't blown the diet aspect, at least calorie-wise, but I was majorly short on protein yesterday for the first time since the challenge started.  There was no good reason for it except that my brain threw a toddler-esque tantrum of I don't want to.  That feeling has been building for a while and seems to have reached a head.  I am extra frustrated because I have reached a weight loss plateau that probably has to do with hormone imbalance (seeing some odd, mis-timed symptoms), but even though I know it's probably just water retention, it makes it very difficult to stick to the plan when the plan is hard and I am not seeing results. 

Alas. How soon is your next diet break? And are there any delicious proteins that you really like eating and that feel like a pleasure and not a chore?

[Everstorm]

9 minutes ago, Harriet said:

 

Chores are a form of exercise, I'm sure. But I hope you get your game back.

 

Alas. How soon is your next diet break? And are there any delicious proteins that you really like eating and that feel like a pleasure and not a chore?

I had planned to go another 2.5 weeks (so Feb 19 would start the break).  I am finding fattier cuts to be more enjoyable than lean, but I have to be careful with those since they have lower protein ratios.  I think the bigger issue is probably the discouragement over the results.  I am thinking maybe I should just not weigh-in until I hit the maintenance phase, since the feedback I am supposed to be looking for isn't happening.  I was supposed to check twice a week and average the change to see if I needed to make adjustments, but I know what I am seeing isn't right.  There is no way I am not losing fat on 1300 calories a day.  I just need to trust that it's working even if I can't see it right now.

[MaeradCase]

3 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

I think the bigger issue is probably the discouragement over the results.  I am thinking maybe I should just not weigh-in until I hit the maintenance phase, since the feedback I am supposed to be looking for isn't happening.  I was supposed to check twice a week and average the change to see if I needed to make adjustments, but I know what I am seeing isn't right.  There is no way I am not losing fat on 1300 calories a day.  I just need to trust that it's working even if I can't see it right now.

I'm sorry it's rough going for you right now. I will be cheering you on regardless of resulting numbers because I am blown away at how well you're doing keeping up your food goals. You're doing amazing things, and I hope you get the results out of it that you intend, or at least a foothold for the next step. ❤

[Everstorm]

18 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

I'm sorry it's rough going for you right now. I will be cheering you on regardless of resulting numbers because I am blown away at how well you're doing keeping up your food goals. You're doing amazing things, and I hope you get the results out of it that you intend, or at least a foothold for the next step. ❤

Thanks.  I have been (pleasantly) surprised myself at how well I have stuck to my goals this challenge.   In terms of adherence, it might be my most successful ever.

 

And I like the imagery of making a foothold for the next step.  Like climbing Everest, you have to reach Camps 1-4 and acclimatize before you head for the summit. 💜

 

[Harriet]

16 hours ago, Everstorm said:

I am finding fattier cuts to be more enjoyable than lean, but I have to be careful with those since they have lower protein ratios. 

 

Me too. There's a limit to the protein percentage that's comfy.

 

16 hours ago, Everstorm said:

I think the bigger issue is probably the discouragement over the results.  I am thinking maybe I should just not weigh-in until I hit the maintenance phase, since the feedback I am supposed to be looking for isn't happening.  I was supposed to check twice a week and average the change to see if I needed to make adjustments, but I know what I am seeing isn't right.  There is no way I am not losing fat on 1300 calories a day.  I just need to trust that it's working even if I can't see it right now.

I understand and sympathise, even if I don't know the solution. I've also been trying to lose weight for several years now. Restricting calories invariably ends up with me losing my mind and eating everything, and gaining back what I lost if indeed I lost anything. I'm also able to restrict for shorter and shorter times with every attempt. Alas.

[Everstorm]

6 hours ago, Harriet said:

Restricting calories invariably ends up with me losing my mind and eating everything, and gaining back what I lost if indeed I lost anything. I'm also able to restrict for shorter and shorter times with every attempt. Alas.

This is a very real thing.  I am getting close to the lose my mind stage.  I am debating the usefulness of extending the diet if it just makes me spiral out of control.  However, the issue is addressed in the system I am using, if I can stick to it.  Israetel et al propose fairly controlled steps to returning to regular eating after a diet because your body is primed to want to eat. They recommend adding calories back in moderate increments and avoiding hyperpalatable foods for the first month.  That way, your body is no longer in starvation mode when you eat them, reducing the likelihood that you lose control.

 

They also mention that you lose less on each successive cycle, and that after a year of weight-loss cycles, you should take six months to recover before attempting again, even if you are still overweight.   Part of me wonders if I have just been dieting too long and need to hold off.  That's really hard to do when I am so unhappy with my weight.  Six months might be more than I can withstand, but I have been thinking I might wait 3 months or so before starting the next cycle.  With the timing of the holidays and spring break, etc, I think I would set myself up for failure if I tried to diet before then, either during the diet itself or by regaining too much during maintenance phase by going on vacation right after a diet cycle (while still primed to overeat).

[Harriet]

19 hours ago, Everstorm said:

This is a very real thing.  I am getting close to the lose my mind stage.  I am debating the usefulness of extending the diet if it just makes me spiral out of control.  However, the issue is addressed in the system I am using, if I can stick to it.  Israetel et al propose fairly controlled steps to returning to regular eating after a diet because your body is primed to want to eat. They recommend adding calories back in moderate increments and avoiding hyperpalatable foods for the first month.  That way, your body is no longer in starvation mode when you eat them, reducing the likelihood that you lose control.

 

Yeah, hyperpalatable junk foods make me gain weight. I think there's a range where food is palatable enough without being hyperpalatable--just fairly unprocessed things that I like--where I don't lose but don't gain, either. Could be a useful resting spot if you can find it.

 

19 hours ago, Everstorm said:

They also mention that you lose less on each successive cycle, and that after a year of weight-loss cycles, you should take six months to recover before attempting again, even if you are still overweight.   Part of me wonders if I have just been dieting too long and need to hold off.  That's really hard to do when I am so unhappy with my weight.  Six months might be more than I can withstand, but I have been thinking I might wait 3 months or so before starting the next cycle.  With the timing of the holidays and spring break, etc, I think I would set myself up for failure if I tried to diet before then, either during the diet itself or by regaining too much during maintenance phase by going on vacation right after a diet cycle (while still primed to overeat).

 

Patience and reasonableness is so hard when one is urgently unhappy with one's body. It would be easier if we knew FOR SURE what works, but we clearly don't, otherwise everyone would be as slim as they wanted to be. I can't seem to manage sensible plans or counting. Would they work if I didn't quit them? Maybe. Is there a way to not quit them? Possibly, but I haven't found it despite endless reading and repeated attempts. Which is why I have given up and joined a butter cult.

[Everstorm]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

Patience and reasonableness is so hard when one is urgently unhappy with one's body

This is so true, and yet somehow my chronic unhappiness with my figure does not seem to be strong enough to outweigh the acute unhappiness of sticking to a damn diet.  This, I think, is the primary problem on my part.  I am somewhat hopeful that regularly scheduled "quitting" aka maintenance breaks will make it doable this go-round.

 

Food happened properly yesterday, and I got in movement, mostly weeding my garden in a drizzly cold rain.

 

Onwards and upwards

[kcaleece]

1 hour ago, Everstorm said:

This is so true, and yet somehow my chronic unhappiness with my figure does not seem to be strong enough to outweigh the acute unhappiness of sticking to a damn diet.  This, I think, is the primary problem on my part.  I am somewhat hopeful that regularly scheduled "quitting" aka maintenance breaks will make it doable this go-round.

Oh gods do I feel that first statement! It took me a very long time to get over the concept of "if you don't do it, you must not want it as much as you say you do"...and honestly some days it can still flare up. One thing that has helped was something my doctor said when reassuring me during my struggle to adapt my lifestyle to some medical issues: "we all have more or less the same amount of willpower, but the cost to use it can be very different from person to person, so there is nothing wrong with trying a bunch of different ideas until you find a price you can be happy with".  Hopefully this is turns out to be one of those ideas for you!

[Everstorm]

On 2/3/2023 at 3:21 PM, kcaleece said:

we all have more or less the same amount of willpower, but the cost to use it can be very different from person to person

Sounds like the "spoons" analogy which can definitely  be useful.  I might need to brainstorm some practical applications.

[Everstorm]

Challenge wrap-up:

 

Food:  Stuck to my limits very well although there were a handful of days protein wasn't there..  Food prep (and defending my food prep) is critical, and I learned some useful things about food/macro timing as well.

 

Movement:  I hit most of my workouts, although I didn't quite get the variety in my movement snacks that I had intended.  As time went on, it became mentally easier to walk for an hour than to think of four different things to do for an hour.  Lesson learned.

 

Reflection:  I did well with this at first, but kind of forgot about it halfway through.  Definitely could have used it more during my low periods.

 

Results:  I lost 5ish pounds in 5 weeks, which ain't too shabby (even if I had hoped for 6).

 

 

Moving forward:  I plan to wring 2 more weeks out of this phase, then move to maintenance.  Not sure what all I want to focus on while I am in recovery,  but thinking maybe focusing on improving food quality and/or trying new healthy recipes to have more variety.

[Ziraiah]

You did really well! 5 pounds is a great result. Your plan for the future also sounds good. Variety makes life so much more interesting, and trying new recipes can be also lots of fun.

[Everstorm]

5 hours ago, Ziraiah said:

You did really well! 5 pounds is a great result. Your plan for the future also sounds good. Variety makes life so much more interesting, and trying new recipes can be also lots of fun.

Thanks!  I definitely need to build up my repertoire of veggie-laden dishes.  I tend to fall back on the same couple of things.

[Harriet]

14 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Results:  I lost 5ish pounds in 5 weeks, which ain't too shabby (even if I had hoped for 6).

 

Not shabby at all! I, too, wish to remember the very useful reflection. So useful. So forgotten!

[Snarkyfishguts]

You did really well on this challenge! 5 pounds in one challenge is AWESOME, especially in the winter months!! Walking is so good for you. 

 

[Everstorm]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

 

Not shabby at all! I, too, wish to remember the very useful reflection. So useful. So forgotten!

I am wondering if it would be a better habit to build daily instead of "as needed".

 

1 hour ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

You did really well on this challenge! 5 pounds in one challenge is AWESOME, especially in the winter months!! Walking is so good for you. 

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I really enjoy walking, although I probably need to make an effort to find new trails to walk.  My neighborhood is small, and walking the same route gets dull. 

 

I do find, however,  that when I make a walking goal, I don't get other stuff like gardening done (which I also enjoy) because I already expended my energy.  Not sure if there is a "perfect" wording of the movement goal that accounts for all the things I want to do, but I guess I can keep experimenting.

[Harriet]

3 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

I am wondering if it would be a better habit to build daily instead of "as needed".

 

Well I think so, because it reminds me of things I need to do. But what reminds me to do the reflection?

[Everstorm]

Just now, Harriet said:

 

Well I think so, because it reminds me of things I need to do. But what reminds me to do the reflection?

Haha I was thinking as I wrote it that I need to tie it to another activity in order to remember it.  Maybe during breakfast?  (My reflections involve reading through a list of prompts and answering the questions.)

[Harriet]

11 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

Haha I was thinking as I wrote it that I need to tie it to another activity in order to remember it.  Maybe during breakfast?  (My reflections involve reading through a list of prompts and answering the questions.)

Yes tying to other activities is what's helping me build the organic programme. Tying to times of day doesn't work as well for some reason. Ooh, prompts and questions are a good idea. I'll try to use those.

[Everstorm]

40 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Yes tying to other activities is what's helping me build the organic programme. Tying to times of day doesn't work as well for some reason. Ooh, prompts and questions are a good idea. I'll try to use those.

I agree.  My schedule is generally too fluid to tie things to particular times of day.

[Snarkyfishguts]

2 hours ago, Everstorm said:

I do find, however,  that when I make a walking goal, I don't get other stuff like gardening done (which I also enjoy) because I already expended my energy.  Not sure if there is a "perfect" wording of the movement goal that accounts for all the things I want to do, but I guess I can keep experimenting.

I absolutely get this. On gardening days, if I get anything else done, it's a bonus. Sometimes I might go for a slow stroll in the evening and keep my muscles warmed up, but gardening is hard work. 

[Everstorm]

1 hour ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I absolutely get this. On gardening days, if I get anything else done, it's a bonus. Sometimes I might go for a slow stroll in the evening and keep my muscles warmed up, but gardening is hard work. 

Yeah, gardening can be very physical (and very rewarding 😀).  With spring just around the corner, I wonder if I should just put garden days in the schedule 🤔

[Loveable_Bouncer]

On 2/5/2023 at 7:42 AM, Everstorm said:

Thanks!  I definitely need to build up my repertoire of veggie-laden dishes.  I tend to fall back on the same couple of things.

I'm looking forward to what you find! I personally need more to have on hand... I'm on the side of allowing myself to eat protein veggies meals but meh on actually finding appealing recipes.

 

Too bad you can't forsee how much time you need to garden and win to add the walking as needed. Since those seem to be the two you enjoy!

[Everstorm]

2 hours ago, Loveable_Bouncer said:

I'm looking forward to what you find! I personally need more to have on hand... I'm on the side of allowing myself to eat protein veggies meals but meh on actually finding appealing recipes.

 

Too bad you can't forsee how much time you need to garden and win to add the walking as needed. Since those seem to be the two you enjoy!

Gardening always seems to take longer than I anticipate, making it hard to judge.  Otherwise, that would be a good idea.