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| 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.
Merry Christmas, Karen! I appreciate your strength in forging your own path. Do you exercise 60 minutes every day?
ReplyDeleteHi Hils!!! Good to see you. Yes, I do make sure to get 60+ minutes in. On my Fitbit HR Charge, sometimes 50-60. Now with my Charge HR 2, I get a lot more. I go out walking with a buddy 5 out of 7 days during work. That walk is 40-45 minutes in the AM. Then I'll do a 15-20 minute walk in the afternoon, which often includes the stair sprinting.
DeleteSometimes, when I'm trying to drop weight at goal (like right now, I'm trying to drop from the 116 plateau to the 114 plateau) I'll cut back on physical activity a bit. Sometimes cutting back to 30-40 mins during weight loss and lower caloric intake is a helper.
Other days, I'm super active and eat more to match my activity. I think some of my success is having some variety. I still don't get normal hungry and full signals, but LCHF and Keto help with that the most that they can. The rest I do via Tracking on My Fitness Pal. Keeps me honest.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas! How do you know what level to set your calories at with My Fitness Pal?
DeleteGreat question, Hils!!! I try to keep a similar exercise and food routine and then look back at the 4-5 day trend line.
DeleteIf I'm gaining after 5 days, too much.
If I'm staying the same after 5 days, that might be okay and I'll lose slowly
if I'm losing a bit after 5 days, that's an indication.
My maintenance total calories vs my lose total calories vs my gain total calories = 150 to 200. Eeeek!!!
But at least I know and I can trend line easily. Then there are outlier spikes up and down. And plateaus, too.
Hope this makes a teeeny bit of sense. Good luck. Much of my weight loss is hormonal, so the scale is a surrogate marker. I sure haven't been offered the right lab testing (and its freaking free for me). I needed an insulin, frequent glucose, frequent fasting glucose. I could have probably used a ketone test 1X-2X per year, too.
I currently weigh weekly but am considering daily as it might nip sliding bad habits in the bud.
DeleteMy job is very stressful and kind of a struggle, which triggers my anxiety and sends me into the food more easily than I would like.
Hi Hils, yes, I find that I need the 4-5 points of daily weighing to assess my trend lines. Gain, maintain, or lose. Weekly weighing opened the door to stinking food addiction thinking. I played years of games in my head and only had fat pants to show for it. Plus, the food to soothe anxiety was a false fix for me. I still had work pressure and still HAVE work pressure. I have 15 more years of it, but daily weighing helps me find non-food stress relief. Photography, reading, beach combing, call a friend, hot tea, meditation.
DeletePlus the binge triggers can last me 2-3 weeks. No bueno. Take care and let me know how it works out.
I love your photos! Do you just use an iphone/phone camera?
DeleteAlso, are there any teas you recommend?
Hi Hils, I use a combo of my iPhone 6S and my Cannon Rebel T5. I have a nice 28-55mm lens for normal and wide angle, then I switch up lenses to 75-300mm for zoom for bird shots. I'm about due to exchange my very old iPhone for a newer version. Trying to eek out the last bit of value out of it. Thank you!
DeleteKaren, do you know any weight loss or maintenance resources that might suit someone looking to balance their macros but not go super low carb/keto? I currently eat a very carb-centric diet, so for me eating 30% protein/40% carb/ 30% fat would be a big improvement. I am looking to eat mostly unprocessed.
DeleteHi Hils, Try Weston A. Price. Also, Paleo (Google Whole30 or Wired to Eat)is not always super low carb. Also, the Primal group at Mark's Daily Apple.
DeleteSo many of the other plans include franken food (even junk Paleo and Junk Primal). Good luck. I would steer clear of moderation groups unless you want moderation results- for me that mean a moderate case of pre type 2 diabetes and moderate sized large pants. Oh well.....
Grab a glucose meter and let your body tell you what is going to keep you well and keep you stuck and or sick. Very individual. Carb load testing via the Wired to Eat book (Robb Wolf).
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, Karen. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips, especially in the comments. I have a question. Do you walk at a brisk or moderate pace? I recall in the past you wrote that you walked at a moderate pace, but I'm not sure now if you walk briskly. I think I've got to switch up my exercise in the new year if I can get my health issues settled. I suspect I'm going to focus more on moderation in exercise intensity, but I'm not certain yet. I'm currently unable to do my 60 plus minutes of intense workouts, and I miss them.
ReplyDeleteHi Ali, Merry Christmas to you, too!!! I walk at brisk to moderate if I'm by myself. Brisk if I'm half hearted beach combing ( I do a lot of slow, meditative walking when I beach comb for sea glass). Moderate if I know I need my 60 mins for the day.
DeleteWhen I walk at work 5 days of the week, my walking partners pace is faster, so I'm into Zone 2 but sometimes Zone 3 . If I have hydrated enough, I can go fast pace at work and keep high in Zone 2.
I am for 3+ green bars on my intensity on my Fitbit (company has hidden the green bars, but I know where to find them) Green = higher intensity (so that's 45 mins). If I can get 4-5 bars, good. And I will decrease for weight loss.
Come weight maintenance then it's on like Donkey Kong for 60+ mins. I have a lot of low and medim activity during the day based on job assignments, house cleaning and beach walking
Best resources for formal exercise and fat loss:
Coaching with Vinnie Tortorich so he can work with limitations due to health/meds
Keto Gains Facebook group, coach who is used to working with physical/health concerns.
Good luck!!! I'd prioritize intense work outs, then do what you can and be super ninja on food intake amounts. Just my 2 cents on the "easy to regain weight club" for maintenance.
I just wanted to say thanks for the super helpful response! I will look into the keto gains group deifinitely. Right. Ow my goal is just to maintain and not gain with my health limitations and the stress they are causing me. I'm a little heavier than I would like to be though my clothes still fit. I am learning to navigate this time in my life without binging (which is hard for me as my health is a trigger), and I have had a couple times falling down, but I have to get back up--and maintainers like you are so helpful!
DeleteThanks again!
I'll bet you could 100% fast or be diet selective on the fat loss close to maintenance. Two groups spring to mind.
DeleteThe Fung fasting groups on FB.
And there is a fasting group that I"m a part of but I don't post because I can't adhere to the guidelines. The guidelines state 24 hr fasting, but so far, I can only do 18-20 hrs. The group comes with two excellent Excel tools that allow you to set up fasting protocols based on 2 things- scale weight and percent fat loss goals.
I don't post on the 2X monthly updates because I'm not at a 24 hour fast (yet?). Anyhoo, I'm thinking that my IF is seasonal and I may need longer fasts in the winter and fewer fasts in the warm months.
That FB group is called My Low Carb Road.
Good luck Ali!!! Stopping binge eating is hard. I applaud you for doing that super hard work. It will take you far.
PS, it looks like I can suggest you on FB, want me to suggest you to the Low Carb Road group? That excel tool is very helpful!!!
DeleteYes, Karen. please suggest me. I am in Fung's group. I am doing lower carb than I was used to doing. That helps. I'm three years into maintenance with several challenges along the way with regard to my health. I'm hoping to be a bit better by summer. My binges were mostly okay until now though I did have a few binges about two years ago when my health was very bad so I know this is a trigger. But I do remember that gaining weight will only make me more miserable!
DeleteSo yes please suggest me--and thanks for your words of wisdom.
Hi Ali. I recommended 2 groups for you. You may have to answer questions before joining. Good luck!!!
Delete