Good morning.  I love that quote Shayla.  So true too.

I'm doing pretty well keeping up with my 'new habits' since January.  My eating in goal this month has been good for me.

The trainer at my gym left - again.  I am going over to another club that has a trainer for now.  I told him if he leaves I will begin to think it's me running them off.  :)   Hoping my own club - the new one I switched to - will find a trainer soon, but it seems to be a slow process.  The original club I was at still doesn't have one that I know of.  I have a program I can do by myself on machines though now, so that is helpful if I have to be there when there isn't a trainer.

Today's Goals:  IF Schedule; 10K Steps; Gym; Eat 2 Meals In

Have a good one and keep striving towards those goals.

On Sunday morning, I had lost 4 pounds. I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep it off, but I'm sure going to try.

Good morning.  Great job Melissa.  I weighed this morning and was exactly the same as I was Sunday.  Not super surprised by that, but hoping the end of the week will be kind and I might drop an ounce or two.

Eating lunch out today so that probably doesn't really help, but I can make good choices and hopefully make dinner a small meal to offset some of the lunch calories.

Skipping the gym today because I went Monday and Tuesday and I can make it on Thursday.  I know it's actually better for me if I don't do days in a row, but so often that is the way my schedule makes it work out.

I'll make my 10K steps and stick to the IF schedule, find 30 minutes to read, and limit my nighttime TV to the Astros game.  :)

Wishing y'all a good day.

Twice this month, I've walked 10,000 steps. Some days are great and others are not-so-great. I'm going to include a daily weigh-in when creating my summer bullet journal. I've done well calorie-wise today, but it has been high-carb so far. 

Keep up the good work everyone. If you're like me, this is a rest-of-my-life journey. I'm hoping to someday get it right.

Melissa, so true that it is a 'rest of my life' journey.  I think that is why we should just make small changes that stick, rather than try to focus on these big major changes that we can't sustain.  Just my two cents. . . . .

Thank you to everyone who continues to check in here.  

Vicki, I know it was hard to lose Bob and I'm proud of you for your perspective and your determination to take better care of yourself. 

Lisa, I tend to eat more when I'm tired as well.  Especially when I'm trying to stay awake. 

I didn't set any goals for this month and I did not get in as much exercise as I would have liked. When I left for Cape Cod I had hoped to be at 149 or lower so I didn't have to think about all the food I was going to consume. I was at 151 and pleasantly surprised to be 2 oz lower when I got home.  We did a lot of walking but we also did a lot of eating out.

We returned home last Friday night to a mess.  Our A/C was not working, (outside temps are in the high 90s),  our pool was green and one of my dogs was very lethargic.  Almost a week later and nothing has changed.  My SIL is in the cooling and heating business and he came over right away but unfortunately it turned out we need a whole new unit.  We are finally getting that tomorrow.  We have a pool service and they didn't show up last week. We're being told they don't have the staff to cover all their customers.  What???  I guess we are going to have to get a new service to help us get the pool blue again. I would like my money back from the other company!  And I took my dog to the vet on Monday and finally got the bloodwork back showing she has an infection and needs antibiotics.  Two days on the antibiotics and she still doesn't have much energy.

We have a separate A/C unit in a back bedroom which is off our kitchen.  We've been sleeping back there and doing very little when we are in the rest of the house.  So, no walking outside, it's too hot in my house to do some exercising and I can't swim.  So in saying all that, I was 2 pounds lower today.  I do not know how that is even possible.

I'm definitely setting some goals for June.

Melissa, so true that it is a 'rest of my life' journey.  I think that is why we should just make small changes that stick, rather than try to focus on these big major changes that we can't sustain.  Just my two cents. . . .  I like your two cents Lisa!

Keep up the good work ladies!

Good morning.  Friday and I have Bible Study in about an hour, but I'll do a quick catch up here.

Welcome back Nancy, and what a pleasant surprise to be down even an ounce or two after a vacation.  Never my experience.  :)   Sorry you came home to such a mess.  Maybe the 2# loss comes from eating less because of the heat.  Whatever the reason - congratulations.  Sounds like maybe you get AC again today, so yeah for that.   I think my yard service must be having problems like your pool service.  Fortunately they only charge me when they come so I haven't paid in advance for service I'm not getting.  It's been over a week since I've seen them though and my grass is pretty high.  Hope they come before the HOA wants to ding me for it.  I should call them, but I figure unless I get an HOA letter, I'll just see it as 'saving $40' when they don't show up one week.

I'm still at exactly the same weight as I was last Saturday when I checked in at Weight Watchers.  Because the IF schedule has me in a 24-hour fast (ends 6 p.m. tonight) I should be lower tomorrow if I don't go crazy when I come off at 6.  It was actually supposed to be a 30 hour fast from Midnight through 6:00 a.m. on Saturday.  I adjusted it because I am playing Mexican Train tomorrow and we are starting at 10:30 with brunch.  I didn't want to come off the fast at 6:00 and eat before WW, and I didn't want it to turn into a 36 hour fast.  So, I shortened it and also made it go from 6 p.m. yesterday to 6:00 p.m. today.  Maybe I can stretch it to 8:00 p.m. or so today, but my intention is to just eat one regular meal this evening and then not eat again until the brunch tomorrow.

I'm not really a fan of the long fasts interspersed with full days of eating, but I let the app choose the schedule this week and just tried to go with it.  I think the 'logic' behind these schdules is to learn the discipline of eating moderately all the time.  I still tend to overeat when I have a one or two day period without any scheduled fasting.  I might be getting a little better though.  You'd hope so since I've been doing this for 2.5 years.

So, today's goals:  Fast until at least 6:00 p.m. and then only eat one regular meal - no snacking afterwards; 10K Steps.

I already made the gym 3 times for the week, so not doing that today.  Although if I need a diversion this afternoon to keep me from eating, I could just go walk on the treadmill at the gym to help get my steps.  More likely I'll choose to just march in front of the TV and watch a movie, but I guess I have options.  :)

Have a great day everyone.  I'm gonna try to catch up in another thread here on PBS and then I've got Bible Study.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. Hope you're having a wonderful time and staying safe at the same time.

 I made the decision to go back on the anti-depressants the doctor put me on right after Bob died. I took them for 6 -7 months and felt I didn't need them any more. But I've realized I do still need them, at least for a while yet. I haven't been sleeping well at all, and weekends next to no sleep and my eating has gotten out of hand the last few weeks and I realized I was self medicating with food. When I'm on the meds I wasn't staying hungry all the time and had actually lost a fair amount of weight. Since stopping the meds, I've regained all the lost weight in the last 3 months. And while on the meds I was getting the rest I needed. Now I toss and turn half the night and weekends I might as well not even lay down. Since Bob passed on Fri. night/Sat. morning, weekends are just very hard on me. I have a form of PTSD from him dying and being alone with him for hours before the nurse got here and even longer before the funeral home got here, and weekends I tend to continue to relive it over and over. The anti-depressants help me get thru the weekends much easier. Anyway I requested a refill on the meds and hopefully will have them again by mid week. I didn't have a refill left so the pharmacy is calling in the request but won't hear back on it til Tuesday. So it'll be Wed. or Thurs. before the prescription will be ready for pick up.

 I know what I'm writing here today is personal and not really diet stuff but it is about my health and making changes to get my health back where I need it to be. So hopefully once I'm back taking the meds I'll be in a better place healthwise.

Vicki, we don't have to be strictly about diet and exercise.  Mental health is vitally important too and having a place to share your thoughts is helpful.   Sounds like you made the right decision to get back on the anti-depressants.  Don't let other people tell you where you should be in the grieving process.  Maybe that didn't happen and it was just your decision to stop taking them on your own (it sounds like it might have been), but sometimes other people try to push their advice on you too.  Sleep is critical to the whole health journey too.  When I'm tired I almost never make good choices regarding food.

I need to go get some steps.  I spent almost all day playing Mexican Train, so needed to get a lot of steps still when I came home.  I only need 2K more though and I'll get to my goal.  :)

Vicki- I applaud you for being transparent enough & vulnerable enough to share that as I'm sure it wasn't easy. And I applaud you even louder for making the decision you did as it sounds like it was needed. And I agree with Lisa, this thread surely doesn't need to be about just diet stuff. :) 

Thanks Lisa and Shayla. It was my decision to stop the meds and I know it was too soon to do so. I felt I was supposed to be strong enough without them, but now I know I need to be even stronger to get back on them and continue to stay on them for awhile. I think in some ways I am doing better since I no longer cry constantly ( rarely anymore), but I'm still incrediably sad all the time and I know that isn't the way I want to stay. And my subconscious still seems to be having difficulties, hence the over eating and not sleeping. And the meds will help with that and I don't have the PTSD as badly when I'm on them. Normally I wouldn't say anything about whats going on with me, but everyone here and thru the RAOK group have been so supportive since I lost Bob I felt I could share my feelings. So thank ya'll for that.

As for my weight; I weighed this morning and I'm up 3.5 lbs. from last Sunday, which considering last Sunday was the anniversary of Bob passing, I'm not really surprised. Hopefully this coming week I can get the numbers back down. It was up even higher than today, yesterday morning, so at least it did come down some over night. But I'm still heavier right now than I've been all year. I'm actually only up 12 lbs. from what I started the year at, but in June & July of last year I had dropped 20 lbs., so from that weight I'm actually back up 24 lbs. So I've got to get the numbers back down. And I know I can. Once I get back on those meds, then I won't feel constantly hungry. It hasn't been that I've been eating the wrong foods, I've just been eating too much of anything I do eat. That has to stop.

Anyway, thanks for your understanding. I expect next month to be a much healthier month for me, and I hope for ya'll as well.

Good afternoon.  Quick check in here before I watch the Astros.  Hopefully, not to lose again.  We've lost two in a row to a team we should beat every time out because they are literally last in the division.  We're first in the division, but you'd never know it the way we've played the last two nights.

Vicki, I would imagine the 20# loss was immediately after losing Bob, so you can have some grace for gaining some of them back.  I actually gained like 20# in the 18 months after my husband died.  I lost all of it, but then gained 10# or so back.  I just passed the 4th anniversary and so after 4 years I'm still 10# heavier than I was at the time of his death.  I think we eat differently when it's just us we are feeding.  Not necessarily unhealthy (although I could do that), but more processed and easy to fix stuff.  More heat and serve stuff vs freshly cooked food.  Would I like the 10# to go away - of course, but I'm also not going to be unrealistic and think I am going to cook nice fresh food for every meal.

Today's Sunday so I don't have a goal except to do my IF schedule.  I take a break on Sunday from the step goal.  I did eat lunch in (freshly cooked even) so that is in line with my May new habit.  I'm sure I'll read 30 minutes this evening too, which is the continuation of my April habit.

Hope y'all are having a good day and enjoy tomorrow if it's a holiday for you and you are doing something different than the norm.  :)

Mental and physical health is related.

Good morning.  Happy Memorial Day!  I'm just doing regular stuff except that some friends are coming later this afternoon for dinner and to play a game or watch a movie.

My sister called me earlier and I walked around the whole time we were talking - like an hour or even a little more - and got over 6K steps.  Shouldn't be hard to get to 10K today.  I'll also do my IF schedule (Noon-8 eating), but the gym is closed so that won't happen today.  I'm eating in so that's good for my May new habit.

Hope y'all have a successful day, but it's a holiday so we can cut ourselves a little slack if we need to. :)

Later. . . . .

Hello Everyone! I've had severe back spasms for about a week now. I believe it is stress-related....again back to the mental and physical health issues being related. I've done something quite drastic--I've severed all ties with my mother who lives in a nursing home. I called the director this morning and explained that they were only to call me in emergencies; if they needed something routine (like can she get her hair permed or she is constipated), they were to call my husband and my brother. 

My mother is toxic--she was both verbally and emotionally abusive to me. She was neglectful. I'm just now realizing (at 59 y.o.) that my mother was/is a narcissist. 

I had planned to go visit her this morning. As soon as I made that decision on Saturday, I began having back spasms. I tense up on the left side of my neck/shoulders when I'm extremely stressed. I went to bed early last night with an upset stomach and had a fitful night full of disturbing dreams. I called my mother this morning to tell her that I was coming to visit her. She began demanding that I make plans to take her to her high school reunion this weekend. She is bedridden and requires two people to get her into her wheelchair, which she only stays in for maybe 20 minutes while she goes to smoke. I can't physically or emotionally do it. I told her so, and she hung up on me. 

I called my brother and told him that I'd decided that I was finally cutting all ties to her. He is supporting me as he completely understands. He doesn't visit her at all and only calls once a month. She is well taken care of--her diaper is changed, she is fed, she has a bed to lie in all day. 

I'm still her POA and will continue to make decisions that are beneficial to her health, finances, and legalities. I just have to remove myself from her emotionally.

The June 2022 Health and Fitness Support thread is open.

Melissa, such a hard decision, but it certainly sounds like it is the right one.  I'll pray that you can remain strong in this decision and not get dragged into an unhealthy, even toxic, situation by others.

See you over in June.  I don't have much time right now so am going to get off this computer.

Melissa-sounds like you made the right decision for yourself. Toxic relationships can be so hard on our health.