2017 Weight Maintenance Wrap Up- a normal weight is essential for me

Bye 2017. Good, not so great, and mostly okay. Living life at or near my "best weight" is essential.


LCHF, Paleo, mild- Keto, Time Restricted eating brought great weight control.  Obesity effects my physical, mental, and cuts to my core of my soul in a negative weight. Maintaining a normal weight is one of my top priorities. 

2017 fifth year of long term weight maintenance

I started measuring ketones so I could put some data behind my "mild keto" claim. I'm not sure if it helps me with weight maintenance or not, but certainly, it doesn't seem to hurt. Plus extra energy and all the early 30's feels. I'm 51. So there's that!

I had the lowest HA1c of the decade at 4.8 ng/mL. Whoooooo!!!!

I stopped eating most coconut products in an effort to eat more ancestral.

I survived a case of shingles. The singles anti-viral med works great for me. I'm fortunate.

I hit stairs and did some elevation sprinting. More push-ups, more standing from sitting without using my hands mobility. 

I had some fun travels and dug deeper into my family tree, connected with some newly discovered cousins.

I've had a truckload of fun with my Sea Glass hobby

So. Cal Sea Glass 

2018 is going to be a year of change.

I'm preparing mentally for having my teen (aka Jr. Family member) attend college in the fall of 2018.

Work will continue to be a fast paced and I'll need roll with it, flexibility 100% sort of environment. I've got 15+ years more to work. So I will learn, grow, flex as much as I do with my health and mobility. It's likely to be all about SKILZ. I'm up for it.

Life goes on, however, it's much easier for me to live life at a normal weight.
I see many accounts that you don't find happiness at your best weight or goal weight.

I'm happier  at my weight maintenance range

I feel the best 113-116 lbs.  Even up to 125, it's okay. I'm not okay above 125. At all.

I feel so much better. I've placed compulsive overeating, morbid obesity, Type 2 diabetes- all are in remission. Life for me is so much happier and easier. It's also much cheaper in not being sick as much and not having diabetes, migraines, aches and pains.

Onward 2018 is going bite me in the rump if I don't keep my food sobriety, including my weight in check. It's my truth, I own it.

Here's to 2018. Do what makes you happy and happier than before, even if it's not popular on social media.

I didn't have to run to keep in front of this wave. I stood, observed the biggest wave cycles, then took my best photos and this short film.

Onward. Happy Dry Feet 2018. From just beyond the soak zone. Glad to be away from the mile of denial, obesity, and binge eating. Almost 6 years. Feels good. Not going back.

7th Food Sober Christmas, 2017

Newport Beach Dec 2017

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!!!!!

This is my 7th Food Sober Holiday Season. 

Please know, if you are abstaining, you are not alone. I'm abstaining, fasting for part of the day and exercising. I eat like I care about myself! I care about disease prevention, taking care of myself and my family financially. And physically. 

I can see why the weight maintenance remission period is 2-5 years into a stable weight. I could have easily gone back to my moderating ways in years 1-5.

Once I hit year 5 of abstaining from my binge triggers- all grains, all nuts, most emulsifiers, most sugars

(My exceptions are soy lecithin and a small amount of sugar in 70% chocolate, after careful testing)

This year, same old same old.  Life is GOOD!

LCHF is so delicious. Keto keeps me feeling 31 instead of 51. Fitbit keeps me honest. 

What's working now

1. No Sugars, No Grains

2. Abstaining

3. Time Restricted Eating (6am until 1pm)

4. Daily weighing

5. 60+ minutes of exercise

6. 2 gym work outs

7. Stair Sprints

8. LCHF

9. Keto because I fast

10. Glucose monitoring, because I am at risk for Type 2 Diabetes, HA1c low 5's or high 4's

It's not my fault. I was told a load of junk by many. Weight loss groups (WW), Doctor, employer, (no, eating whole grains is not a good thing it's a fat, obese, diabetic thing) magazines. Good thing I can think for myself now. Putting myself in charge was a game changer. 

We've been told incorrectly.

What didn't work in the past

 1. Grains made my cats sick and me overweight with high inflammation & binge eating

2. Moderation of junk food kept me morbidly obese

3. Eating 6 meals a day kept my glucose high. I was almost diagnosed pre-diabetic

4. Not weighing in kept the door open for compulsive overeating

5. Moving 20 minutes felt like reason to eat a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich

6. Gym is for others

7. My knees hurt so bad, stairs were avoided.

8. Low fat high carb kept me sick

9. I never gave myself a chance to use my own body fat for fuel

10. I ignored my glucose and HA1c until it got to 5.7% 

Hope you are all out having fun with your family. Safe travels. You are not alone. It's not your fault. It is our responsibility to find what works. Onward.

5 years, 10 months long term weight maintenance, very fortunate

May 2011 to Dec 2017 LCHF

May 2011 compared to Dec 2017 Low Carb, Time restricted eating

Starting weight 187.4 lbs

Goal Range 113-125  lbs 

2017 best Goal Weight Range 113 to 116

Current Weight  116.8   lbs

Keeping off    70.6 lbs

Time in maintenance 5 years, 10 months

Age 51

Menopause 4+years

Height 5'1"

BMI 22.1

BMI ave November  21.9

BMI ave October 21.6

Sort version update for Nov 2017.

I'm flat lined out in the 116's. I'd prefer to be 116 or lower. 13-116 is my BEST weight So, I need to lose about a pound.

It could take me a couple of months to lose AND sustain the loss... so I'll be doing that work. 

GRAPHS, because, I use my data as a key tool for weight maintenance. 

Stepping back and looking. I'm pretty happy. I feel okay. I won't always feel my BEST, but that's okay. It's good enough. My maintenance plan is sustainable. Sustainability is the best I can hope for, along with my health. I'm very fortunate. 

Weight Related Blog award 2017, Yes, Weight Maintenance is sustainable (for me)

Hello All,

I was ranked #18 on this "awards" site. I have concerns. See the note below.

*** I removed the link****  due to click bait at the site.
Look at the list, but don't click on the list at the other site.
Just google the blogger you find interesting.*****

NOTE:

0. The site itself is a big redirect to a "reader". All the nopes. Look but don't click (google)
1.The linked site has many errors in the bios.
2. Fact check to see if the bloggers are still reaching their goals or who they say they are.
3. Photoshop is used in several cases. Fakers. Several. Keep your eyes wide open.
4. High clicks don't always mean factual blogging.
5. Be weary of commercial bloggers, there are great ones and fake ones.

Choose who you follow and why very carefully. Surround yourself with real folks who are blogging about real results. What did and didn't work. Who aren't shilling expensive products.

Long term weight maintenance is sustainable for many. Don't let media or anyone else tell you it's not. There are lots of folks who maintain their weight loss. Yes, lots do not. I did not for 40 years. I never stopped trying.

6 years, 10 months

6 years, 10 months weight maintenance

I was ranked 18  on this website. The name on the badge is funny because regular readers know how much I kept myself stuck by staying counting WW points.

Moderating the junk food at WW kept me stuck for many years. I can't recommend WW due to the marketing of processed foods, the fruit is free but for me, I got really sick binge eating and got high glucose readings from this plan.

Please, if you are counting points, calories or macros please grab a glucose meter and check fasting and 2 hour post at home glucose readings. Save yourself from a preventable disease. 

Luckily, I broke free of the WW mentality a few months from being diagnosed as a pre-diabetic. . Eating low points bars and WW enchiladas almost had me very sick.

I kept myself stuck for many years.

 Paleo, LCHF, Keto and fasting  and abstaining are much better tools for me. For weight maintenance, disease free living, for not binge eating.

Oh me. Anyway, when I consider not blogging, ranking 18 out of 60 means there is relative content on my blog. I'll keep going. I've only been maintaining 6 years and 10 months now. I've got another 34 years or so to go.

Weight gain post menopausal is common, however not that normal. Don't buy into it. Find your real food tools, bloggers, recipes, habits, and behaviors. Tough to do in this process food driven world, I know.

Here's why I blog: I want people to know as it relates to me and long term Weight Maintenance

Here's what works for me:

1. Weight Maintenance is sustainable (Long term blogging buddies who maintain)
2. Abstaining from binge food is most important (Barbara Berkeley, MD and Gretchen Rubin)
3. Cooking at home will save your finances (Thank you Nom Nom Paleo)
4.  Paleo is sustainable (Thank you Robb Wolf and Melissa Hartwig))
5. Modified AIP is sustainable (Thank you Mickie Trescott)
6. LCHF is sustainable (Thank you Low Carb USA and The Low Carb Dietician)
7. Keto is a great tool (Thank you Keto Forums)
8. Time Restricted Eating Windows/ Intermittent Fasting is a great tool (Thank you Dr. Fung and Dr Panda)


Please, if you are searching for weight maintenance, you can find it, but not without a lot of tools. Find what works best. Find Weight Main Don't follow the fakers.

It's a long haul and long term maintenance takes work by year, month, week, day, and even by hour.

What didn't work in the past

1. Following bloggers who were gaining and giving advice- not just WW, but Paleo, LCHF, Keto.
2. Moderating the candy bars at WW meetings (HEY MAN, only 2 points, eat up)
3. Eating out a slice of pizza or a WW enchilada tray because I was busy
4. Not seeing how I look, feel and perform- and thinking grains were healthy. I got so sick
5. Dairy. It doesn't work for me post Hashimoto's disease.
6. Low fat, high carb.  Grains made me fat. As in morbidly obese
7. Eating high carb kept me from using my own body fat to become lean. Truth!
8. Eating frequently kept my blood glucose super high

Please, choose who you follow very, very carefully. Weight Maintenance is possible for those who seek it. I'm not saying it's easy, but it is possible. If you say it's not, then it won't be. So choose your tribe carefully. Choose your thoughts carefully, too.

Onward.

New Keto Podcast - Keto Woman, Daisy Brackenhall

Podcast recommendation: Keto Woman (iTunes link)

Daisy's FB page link 

I enjoyed interacting with Daisy Brackenhall over at the Ketogenic Forums, so when she started her own podcast, I was thrilled.

Please go subscribe to the podcast, download some episodes and learn from other woman who have improved their health with a Ketogenic lifestyle.

I need to keep my head in the game, so listening to success stories is very good for my long term game.

PLUS! I can recommend certain episodes to my friends who suffer with some of the same disease states that Daisy's guests have overcome.

Let me know if you like this podcast, too. Fabulous.

I'll be updating my Paleo/LCHF/Keto resources with the Keto Woman included.

Here's to staying well and continual learning.

Leveled out, for now- two types of weight regain for me Nov 2017

Okay, Nov 2017. Another chapter of my Art and Science of Weight Maintenance. In the books.

 My plan was to just get level. I did but not before having a secondary cause of weight regain near goal. It happens. Life happens.

Long story short, I got to my goal of getting level. But there were two different flavors or causes of  my weight regain.

Why did I gain? 
Cause 1: The one in RED seemed more hormonal, due to meal timing, maybe increase in calories in (yes, I if i over eat, I will gain). Fewer longer fasting days.

Cause 2:  The second one in YELLOW corresponds to travel, eat outs, exposure to grains (probably corn) and multiple small spider bites. Short term, yet high inflammatory. I had such bad knee pain going up stairs that I had to hobble. It hurt, a lot.

I have not had the chance to look at what both scenarios look like until late this week. Very interesting. Once I know the process, I can troubleshoot more effectively. Throw in 2 root causes and it is a lot more work.

IMO: It really pays to touch base with your own causes of weight regain (if you can ID them) and get familiar with effective stability tools. Once I boil the whole process down to the right tools, then reversing weight gain at or near goal seems easier for me. Easier than trying to reverse 10-20 + pounds. I found much harder to reverse higher numbers.

Identifying weight regain when part of it is hormonal is tricky, but I can use tools, use data, trend lines and take additional steps. It could be easier, but it also could be harder, too.

Why I address it ASAP:
Once I start trending past my best weight, the gain can become fast and furious. It's not my fault

Why? Weight gain is common. Obesity is hardcoded in my FTO genes. Obesity and Type 2 diabetes. High risk. I was previously obese or yo-yo dieting 40 years. Add in an extra ghrelin gene and "off signals" for eating that are faulty. Weight regain and Food Addiction are BEASTS. Chronic, life long disease.

I deserve the best treatment I can give myself. It's not like the government or most workplace wellness programs pushing high carb grains are going to help me. I need to seek my own solutions.

I am not a bad person, glutton, weak willed, needing to moderate my binge food, unwilling, or any other unsavory name thrown at the regainers. 

Why? multiple root causes of obesity probably have created 2 different kinds of weight gain for me.

I knew this, but to see them within 5 weeks or so, really brought home the art and science of weight maintenance. I have to apply many tools to keep a fast and furious weight regain from happening

Tools last month were:- AKA what is working

1. Time Restricted Eating windows (IF) more frequently. More frequent 17:7 fasts daily, with 11:13 and 12:12 thrown in there. ( helps me lose weight right at goal weight, which is very hard for me)

Hours spent fasting

Bimodal fasting for me! Start times

2. LCHF food template, fasting keeps me in a low level Ketosis. ( I can burn my own body fat & it's nutritious and delicious. )

3. My Fitness Pal and Fitbit  (I can keep track of total intake and activity)

In one of my groups, there is a motto:  Keep Calm and Keto ON  (KCKO). Yep!!!

In the past what didn't work

1. Eating all the time. Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, Dinner, BINGE EAT while watching Biggest LOSER. Um, I gained weight during this time.

2. Moderate eating with a Calories in Calories out approach only. Thinking I could be lean by eating my binge foods. No that Lean Cuisine Pizza was not lean (high carb) and certainly was not cuisine.

3. Not tracking total intake, including macros and fooling myself on activity. NO, no that weight gain was never muscle.

Onward. Keep Calm and Weight Maintenance On!  (KCWMO)

The big picture looks pretty good. Glad I did the work last month. This is the longest I've been this stable. My whole 51 years of life. Let's see what the next meal brings.....

2017 , 5th year of weight maintenance