High School Reunion- overweight, normal weight, and weight maintenance

Highland Park, Kokomo, Indiana

 I've got a 30 year High School reunion coming up in my home state- Indiana.  Back home again.

I've been in San Diego for 20 years , so California seems like home.  My close relatives live out West, too.  I still like visiting with family and friends when I return. I could do without the seasonal allergies, though.

As far as weight goes, my classmates have seen me yo-yo diet all over the place. I put the YO in yo-yo dieting after 40 years. I've known many of my classmates since kindergarten

In the past, I had major life changes at all the reunions I attended.
Graduation:  normal weight, about 5 pounds higher than now. (1984)

10 year - didn't attend that year, about 30 pounds overweight. (1994)

15 year- didn't attend due to to an international trip, normal weight, about 10 pounds higher than my current.  (1999)

20 year reunion- attended, normal weight- 10 pounds higher than current.

25 year reunion - attended, highest weight ever - 70 pounds higher than now (2009)

August 2009 and July 2014

30 year reunion - attending , normal weight,  lowest weight since Freshman year in HS (2014)

Thoughts, beliefs and feelings :
1. I knew I would still be maintaining my weight loss in 2014 when I got to goal weight in 2012
2. I will be rocking a little black dress for the reunion dinner.
3. I feel like myself at the lower normal weight
4. I'm glad I attended my other reunions at all my weights
5. I don't give a rats a$$ what anyone thinks about me any more from weight or other perspectives.
6. I thought my 2009 blouse made me look "thin" when I bought it. When I saw this photo when I returned home, I realized I was very, very overweight, but didn't do anything about it for 2 more years.
7. I DO really care what I think about myself and I deeply care about myself, feeling my best, my best health- physically and emotional
8. I won't be shying away from cameras or photos
9. I will be focusing on remembering the good times and catching up on our lives.
10. It's just good to be me now. 
11. The Indiana humidity and heat and travel are all much easier at a normal weight.
12. I'll stay on my food and exercise template while traveling. Because my food sobriety doesn't take a vacation.

There you go! What I think, believe, and feel in 12 bullet points.

What's working now:
1. Low-inflammatory, Paleo style diet for overall health and weight maintenance
2. Daily habits (weighing, walking, strength training, food template, stress relief and work/family/balance)
3. Good emotional boundaries
4. 1-3 Owning my own stuff, so I can just be myself

What did not work
1. Moderating junk food, eating sugar & wheat, counting calories/points- lower quality of health
2. No daily habits to support my goals (didn't weigh, didn't exercise, ate whatever, used food to cope, didn't put myself first life balance)
3. Didn't know how to set emotional boundaries until I was taught.
4. I didn't own my own stuff, I didn't feel "like myself"

Anyone have any High School Reunion stories to tell?

The take away:

Self-efficacy Rocks!

long road to my friends' Indiana home

Summer mode - sunsets, salt, and a big welcome to new readers

I'm in full summer mode:

What's up with me:

1. Sunset beach walking after work
2. Sweating a lot due to the high heat and humidity
3. Salt. Sea salt and Himalayan salt = awesome
Conventional salt = weight water gain and puff. It's temporary.

I've been working on getting better sleep quality and that's impacting how often I blog.

Fine by me. I've been fully working my food, exercise, stress relief and even gardening!!  Ah, sleep. No easy task during the higher coastal heat and no air conditioning. Coastal San Diego.. I know.... tiny violins are playing a sad song for me... It's only hot for a few weeks here over the whole year.

Welcome: If you are coming over from the Compulsive Overeating Diary podcast #65 where Laurie gave me a huge shout out, welcome. Ask me questions in the comments. There is no right way to lose weight, address compulsive /emotional/ binge overeating. One thing was for sure for me, there are ways that work better for people and choosing one can be a matter of life and death, literally.

Today's big take away for any new readers: Had I not started losing weight, then addressed my binge eating in the form of abstaining from wheat, processed sugar, I would likely not be here right now, or I'd be post heart attack. First things first- getting my weight down and my hs-CRP ( I was at 6.8 mg/L down to 2.8, then 0.8, and finally 0.4. ) allowed me lower my risk ASAP. Then I addressed emotional/binge eating

 For me, it started with food. Food either helps to keep me well or makes me ill. Low inflammation or high.

If you address your binge eating first, then your weight, kudos if that's right for you. There is no one right way. But being alive sure is an awesome bonus. I did not let me get me and I'm standing here typing this and sipping  some coffee, because I prioritized my weight loss and reduced my risk. Differences in Genetics, disease management, food preferences, age and activity levels will all play  into weight loss, weight maintenance, stopping emotional eating, over all health, etc. 

Here's to finding what works for you!

Here's what's what's working for me:

1. Walking at sunset and early in the AM near the coast to beat the high inland valley heat during the day.
2. Better sleep experiments. Ah... sleeping well is awesome! It's the best feeling ever.
3. Getting sea salt and steering clear of conventional salt as much as possible. I still have some conventional salt, like this Chipotle salad (chicken, lettuce, mild salsa, sauteed onions/peppers, and a heap of guacamole.) Eating out happens. Not very often.

Here's what didn't work in the past
1. Not adjusting my walking and using excuses like "It's too hot out to walk". There are times that are dangerous to walk due to heat stroke, but adjusting my schedule to outdoor walking is totally do- able.
2. Letting the cats, high carb diets, and TV keep me awake at night
3. Eating lots of salty frozen diet dinners

Onward. Feel free to say hello in the comments if you would like. :)

New podcast review- Compulsive Overeating Diary and ready to hit the beach- Summer Saturday

All right! Summer is in full swing. I've got all kinds of blog topics swirling around in my head.
 One thing is for sure.. I've been missing my beach walks recently, so I'll be remedying that soon.

Capo Beach, June 2014

 Here's a new (to me) podcast that I've been enjoying. I'm happy to see more podcasts by long term weight maintainers. I personally believe that there is not enough support, information, tools, education, and real life examples around the topic of long term weight maintenance.

Check out iTunes and download a few of  Lauries' podcasts if you see topics that interest you. Keeping my head in the continuing education part of long term weight maintenance is a critical step for me maintaining my weight. One of the way I do that is by listening to other's stories.


2. Laurie Weaver: Compulsive Overeating Diary Podcast

Why I like Laurie's podcast:
1. She is a long term weight maintainer
2. She records her podcasts while she's thinking on her walk, bird and nature sounds are a bonus!
3. She talks about what works and what doesn't work for her
4. The topics Laurie talks about are very common to many weight losers/ maintainers
5. Laurie is honest with her feelings and thoughts
6. Laurie facilitates and uplifts other people with her shout outs and connections via Facebook, Speak pipe on her blog, Twitter.
7. Laurie gave me a big shout out in Episode 63 (thank you Laurie!).

Laurie's path is on the intuitive side- eating, exercise. For myself, I suspect I'll never be an intuitive eater.. in fact letting go of that goal helped me to move into the right eating plan for me. I do enjoy listening to Laurie's progress and the deeper understanding of what she's thinking!

Bravo to her for sharing her story. I found Laurie's podcast when Alen Standish interviewed her on the Progress Not Perfection episode 42.

What's working for me now:
1. De-stressing by walking at the beach
2. Listening to podcasts on my walks
3. Keeping my head in the game for long term maintenance and adopting only what works for me.

What didn't work  in the past:
1. Not taking time for myself to de-stress
2. Not continuing to learn more around the topics that I was working on that were new to me.
3. Thinking that I HAD to be an intuitive eater to be successful in long term maintenance.  The only thing I HAD to do was to take what works for me and move on!

Safe Travels to you all as you enjoy your weekend. More podcast reviews to come!

An awesome ebook by Mark Sisson "The Primal Connection" on sale 7-17-2014- check it out quick!

Mark Sisson (The Primal Blueprint) book author has a sale. For at least right now, the Kindle version of The Primal Connection is only  $ 0.99

Here's the link to Marks site, the blog post, and attitudes of gratitude.

I can't say how much longer the e-book will be $ 0.99, so download it now. A big shout out to my bloggy friend Lynda over at "Living the Life" for the great reminder. Thank you!

Once I read it, I'll post a review. Thanks Mark's Daily Apple and Mark Sisson. Awesomeness. And Gratitude. Always.

Karen P.

Why I don't eat food I didn't bring to my work

Hello All,

May 2010

The topic:Why I don't eat the food that is set out at work.


I just powered through another big round of potlucks, parties, and food being set out in break areas. Always happy the days after that stayed on my food template.

I even found this old photo of myself  at work, with evidence. Carrot Cake. this is me in 2010 about one year before I started loosing weight. 

Life is so much different now. I would not trade foods with grain, processed sugar and other snack foods for my life now!

July 2014

2 years, 5 months weight maintenance update

I'm over due for my July 2014 weight maintenance update.

For you Paleo-sphere people who just don't like this sort of thing.. move along and skip this post. I weigh in monthly with an update. Daily weighing works great for me.

Highest Weight: 187.4
Current weight : 118.2
Weight Range: 113-118
Years in Maintenance: 2 years, 5 months
Height: 5'1"
Age 48
Menopause: two full years this month.

Weight: I think I've settled in at the 117 to 118 range long term.

Strength training: I've been increasing free weights and the weight on the machines (row, chest, shoulders). I'm the strongest I've ever been in my upper body.  I can move file boxes at work around like a BOSS!

I pick up those 5 gallon water cooler bottle and scare the be-jeebers out of everyone at work. It's both funny (and a little sad) that people expect you to NOT be able to do every day sorts of strength things. "We'll have to call someone to move those boxes!"  "Oh wait til _____ (name of a man) arrives to refill the water cooler".  "Don't hurt yourself".

I get it. I don't want a back injury, and I'm cautious myself.  I do want to be able to do the majority of regular day-to-day tasks until my last days. I need to lift heavy to keep my bone strength.

I have a family history of osteoarthritis, lumbar stenosis, and many of my relatives being physically disabled due to metabolic bone diseases in the second half of life. I've decided that I don't have to follow this pathway and that strength training in my upper body, a diet that allows good absorption of the right vitamins and minerals- calcium, K2, D3, magnesium, etc.

It's all about absorption, in my opinion. My relatives were all champion milk drinkers. From what I can assume, that calcium wasn't absorbed. Absorption, strength training, low inflammation. I'll be asking for a baseline dexa scan from my doc later this fall.

Bone broth: YES! I've been making a batch of chicken broth and adding to the bones in my freezer. I have a cup at lunch and a cup while I make dinner. I try to off set my thyroid meds in the morning so I stopped drinking bone broth in the morning. I'll do a separate post on that later...

My Fitness Pal food tracking: Switched up one vegetable serving at lunch and I'm less hungry through out the day. One serving of bell peppers!  I'll do a separate post on that, too. I have been tracking my food for carb range data. 

Emotional eating and binge eating: No big urges to do that. Probably the longest I've gone. I attribute it to long term remission, abstaining of trigger foods, eating almost no processed foods, cooking 98% of all my meals at home.  Best choice ever to transition from weight loss to weight maintenance by "opting out" of grains and processed sugar.

My 2 cents: No grains, no processed sugars- underused in the world of weight maintainers who would do well on low inflammatory diets for long term health. Yes, I know it's not for everyone. That's okay.  Glad I experimented with an n=1 for myself this time around.

#NSNG... No sugars No grains... Just saying..

What's working now:
1. Strength training 2X per week
2. Bone broth 2X per day
3. Daily weighing
4. Abstaining from grains and processed sugars

What did not work in the past:
1. Not doing upper body strength training
2. Drinking skim milk thinking I was protecting myself from bone disease.
3. Avoiding the scale and expecting great outcomes
4. Moderating all foods so I could line myself up with the majority of popular diet opinion and not binge eat. (Ha, Ha... gotta laugh, otherwise I will cry on this one... )

Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer ( for my Kiwi and Down Under Friends- your Winter)

Special shout out to the Progress Not Perfection podcast

My fellow blogger friend, Alen Standish, has re-branded the Quit Binge Eating Podcast. The new podcast is called Progress Not Perfection.

If you have a chance and want to listen to what it's like to cycle back through a "slippery slope" process once you've experienced being well for  awhile, listen to this epidsode  (PNP041) The Perfectionist

Alen did a great job of telling his story, the self-talk that lead to the spiral. I especially liked how he has two friends that are his support system. The thoughts that lead to the behaviors. I applaud Alen in having the courage, strength, and mind-set to address his own stuff. To own it. And to share it with us! It's a great gift, so Thank you.


So, two of my own thoughts rolling around in my head this morning:

Support:
I can tell you, that when I am faced with a planned or  sudden stressor ( death, emergency, bad news) I do reach out to a friend who I KNOW will call me on my binge eating. I don't want someone to tell me "Oh, it's okay, don't be so hard on yourself.... eat XYZ".  I tell that person that "I will NOT binge eat over this stuff".  And, I didn't.

 I can tell you that in 2 years having 5 family members placed on hospice (all have since died) and a friend die in an accident , is pretty hard emotionally.  Even without the grim reaper, what good would eating a cookie or a cinnamon roll or some freaking cassarole that some "well meaning" person drops off?  Food doesn't really fix death, grieving, or anything but hunger. 

Putting food in the "fuel" bucket is the right place in my mind. I know others say food is more, but that opens the door for me to justify ANYTHING. So for me, it is fuel to keep my body running. Nutritionally dense. Cookies displace the nutrients that my body requires to run well, think well, and be well physically and mentally.

Eating emotionally always makes things worse for me in the long run. The outcome is the person is no longer on this earth. No cookie will solve that! I feel the pain, grieve through it and hit the gardens or the beach. 

Food templates:  In the podcast Alen said that his personal food template is 85% (on his plan). Trying to be 100% was not the right thing. I'll bet that under 85% would also not be the right for him, either thing- just a guess. Only he knows.

For me, I need to be around 98%. At 95% the binge urges come back and I'm back to my old behaviors. Slippery slope thinking, eating processed foods, gaining my weight back. A bad spot I've been hundreds of times in 40 years. A place I choose to not go back. Which means I honor that. 

Picking my own percentage of time to be on my food template was one of the best things I ever did. It's one of my best ways to succeed in long term weight maintenance and food sobriety. Nobody else can do that work. We are all different. 

Trying to apply what works for others without looking at what works for yourself and being really, really honest got me more of the same. Looking at what worked for others and crafting my own plan got me into solid weight maintenance, a clear mind, and no using food for anything but fuel.  

What works now:
1. Listening to great podcasts like Alen's and listening and reading other stories of recovery.
2. Calling friends for support who will not enable my old behaviors.
3. Sticking to a 98% food template all of the time. Even when the going gets tough. 

What didn't work in the past:
1. Getting to weight maintenance without much continuing education. Once a week meetings was not enough in the start.
2. I would hide from people I knew would call me on my own stuff. Not so effective.
3. Moderate eating of "comfort foods" during tough times. Thinking I was being "kind and easy" on myself. 

Alright, head over to Alen's blog and give a listen if the topics interest you. :)  Here's to continuing education, podcasts, and great support. Onward! 

Happy July 4th 2014 - here's to being Independent of processed food!

Happy July 4th, 2014

Here's to What's working

1. Being Independent of processed foods that signaled "eat more"

2. Being Independent of food moderation plans that had me "eating a little of everything" Now I'm tough, not moderate.

3. Being Independent of anyone else deciding for me what I should do, photograph, travel or use my time, talents and money. I tell others what my expectations are.

Here's what didn't work:

1. Eating a LOT of processed foods because it was "easier" to count WW points or calories.

2. Eating a little bit of everything at summer cook outs. It was a mind trap to eat A LOT of everything and binge eat. I "used' moderation to go off the deep end.

3. Making fear based decisions on plans, travel, money- and yes, even what to photograph. Fear based decisions are not so great, most of the time. 

Safe travels to all my  US friends.  I will return later next week to post about my 2 year, 4 month weight maintenance update,  stuff I did and saw at the county fair, and more.

I double dog dare everyone to stay on their food template of choice this holiday.

No Grains, No Gains - July 2014 topic - Favorite Foods

Our Mission Statement : A group a of Primal/Paleo/Grain free women who blog about their experiences/life/benefits without grains. It’s a great way for others (who may be wanting to lose weight, reverse an acute/chronic health trend, and/or transition from commercial weight loss programs) to read about real life women who are living the life and succeeding!

The July 2014 topic is : Favorite foods!

Now that I'm (processed) sugar free, grain free, dairy free, nut free, and legume free, I've got new favorite foods. Foods that are nutrient dense, and that taste great. I've added more real foods to my regular foods than I ever subtracted in the "new normal" Paleo-ish, #NSNG (No Sugar, No Grains)food template.

The processed food products that I ate were just food products. In the list below, I list real, whole foods.  It was a welcome change to add to my favorites list.

I've listed a few favorites, in order of "Like"
See the underlined foods, I really didn't eat these foods before switching to a Paleo-ish template. Now they make my top food favorites. My palate has changed up in a good way.

Favorite Veggies:

1. Tomatoes (yes! I know, tomatoes are fruit.. okay... whatever!)
2. Shredded cabbage
3. Kale veggie mix
4. Orange, Yellow, Red Bell Pepper
5. Celery
6. English Cucumber
7. Onions
8. Asparagus
8. Broccoli slaw
9. Brussels sprouts
10. Green onions
11. Carrots
12. Bok Choy
13. Radishes

Favorite Proteins:

1. Grass-fed Beef 
2. Eggs
2. Organic Chicken thighs
3. Bison
4. Shrimp
5. Crab
6. Langostino lobster
7. Smoked oysters
8. Salmon

Favorite fruits:
1. Blueberries
2. Raspberries
3. In season, thin slices only, peaches, apples, blood orange
4. Rare bite of pineapple, tropical fruit (in season)

Favorite cooking and salad dressing oils and fats:
1. Avocado (whole)
2. Coconut oil
3. Avocado oil
4. Olive oil
5. Coconut milk

Herbs and other spices:
1. Sea salt
2. Garlic sea salt
3. Cinnamon
4. Paprika
5. Curry
6. Cilantro
7. Basil

What's working now:
1. Sticking to my Paleo-ish food template
2. Using seasonal whole foods
3. Using fats to saute veggies, sometimes

What didn't work
1. Eating processed foods
2. Buying according to coupons in the Sunday newspaper!
3. Being afraid of fat and heaping on grains instead!

Be sure to check out my blogger friends ( a few are taking time off this summer)


Gwen at Against The Grain

Jeannette at For Life