Happy 1st day of June. The last couple of days I've eaten way too much and the scale is telling on me. I'm starting out the new month at 252.1. I've regained the 3 lbs. I had lost. Praying this month will be a lot better. My goal for this month is to drop 6 lbs. That will take care of the pounds I had regained and still show a loss for the month.

Ok, so last night I met with the Leadership Council and they are accepting my resignation and set an end date (June 30). So that is a lot of stress off of me!

This morning I weighed 244.8, so the scale is going the correct direction. I want to lose about pound a week (5 pounds a month, really), but there isn't a whole week left till Sunday, and I am down from last Sunday at 246.

Weight Goals for June:

• 6/4: 245 or lower (already met if I don't gain it back!)
• 6/11: 244 or lower
• 6/18: 243 or lower
• 6/25: 242 or lower
• 7/2: 240 or lower (want to be at 240 or lower by the end of June, 235 or lower by the end of July, 230 or lower by the end of August, and then I can schedule the knee surgery, though I want to keep losing till it happens, and more after I recover.)

Goals for this week:

• Eat oatmeal every day
• Sleep at least 7 hours every night
• No added sugar bought (still going to eat the rhubarb crisp Mom gave me - it's a vegetable, right???? and homemade food is healthier than processed stuff.)
• Eat at least three servings of vegetables every day
• Follow IF plan (eating now, stop at 8 pm tonight.)

I picked rhubarb today. I made some sugar free strawberry rhubarb sauce that I'll either eat alone or with some lite vanilla ice milk. I used the Swerve confectioners sugar which is the sugar substitute I can tolerate best. Swerve brown sugar is good too. 

Melissa, thanks so much for starting these threads for us. How are you doing? I think I read somewhere that you might be traveling this month?

Vicki, come on, you are my weight loss twin, let's lose together. Teri is our inspiration - she lost so much; we can do it too!

Teri, I think I have some of that Swerve in my cupboard, but haven't used it. I want to try it in the crepe recipe my daughter brought.

Margaret, a couple years ago, I stocked up on alternative sweeteners....monkfruit, erythritol, Splenda, Truvia, Swerve, coconut sugar, agave syrup, apple sugar. I still have most of these, except Swerve.  I don't like alternative sweeteners that much. I'd almost rather use regular sugar but less of it.   I like Musselman's Apple Sugar, a liquid, made from apples. Its a little expensive but good. I found it on Amazon but some bigger groceries carry it.  I also use a few drips of buckwheat honey or maple syrup for just that little bit of sweet. 

I'm 203.8 this morning, down from 206.7 on Monday. I have eaten low carb, meat and veg, and NO cookies!  I did enjoy some sugar free strawberry rhubarb sauce last night on some vanilla ice cream.  The nonstarchy veggies with protein has been working for me. I have laid off the bread, biscuits and cookies and Gee Whiz I've lost weight!

Margaret, I'm down a pound today. How are you coming along?

Normally I have been using a little regular sugar if needing something sweet, but I do keep sweet n low on hand. I also started back buying the diet drink powders that go in water (to go drinks). In this way I'm drinking a lot more water. They have a 7 UP flavor I really like. Tastes like a mild lemonade.

I've stopped buying regular bread but am buying hoegie rolls for my tuna salad. Works out well.

Well I failed at most of my goals yesterday, but today is a new day. 
 

I have Truvia and Swerve, I think. I try to stay away from the truly artificial stuff like aspartame. I was gifted some maple syrup made by a person at church, so without all the additives, and I feel better about using that.

Scale this morning was exactly the same as yesterday, but my knee feels about 10 times better, so I'm thinking I can get a lot of work done before my daughter gets here, which will be a stress relief.

when I have the time to cook for myself, I don't make much sweet stuff, but occasionally use puréed fruit (baby food)

Vicki, is that a new picture? Did you change it a while ago and i didn't notice?

Margaret, just to weigh in on the sugar vs artificial sweetner conversation - you might watch how it affects your knee, or other joints.  I did a sugar fast back in March and didn't lose any weight at all, but my joints felt so much better.  I'm not a big artificial sweetner person, but I've heard people say that real sugar is better for your joints than the artificial stuff.

I think I might be about half a pound from last Sunday.  No doubt due to eating out too much, and not sticking to my IF schedule.  Yesterday I did stick to the IF schedule and I'm hoping that was a reset of sorts and maybe I can find that focus again.

I really dislike aspartame. Splenda....meh!  A teaspoon of real maple syrup is much better tasting and goes further than any alternative sweetener. Both Swerve confectioners sugar and brown sugar are acceptable.  I'm happy that my strawberry rhubarb sauce is sugar free and tasty with Swerve.

I made a "real" pie this past winter for a friend and I used the last of my real sugar. I may have a small bag in the cupboard but I'd have to excavate.

A rare day... waking without any alarm, fully rested. I forgot to eat last night before the end of the eating window, so I ate some gluten free crackers with my evening meds. The scale may not like it but I'm not checking till tomorrow anyway.

I don't eat till 2 today, so I'll be hungry. But this is the long fast for the week, 20 hours (except for the oops crackers). I got so much done last night that I definitely lowered stress! And my daughter is visiting too.

I'm finally making progress. I weighed in at 203.1.   I'm basically back to keto. Very low carbs. I'm not fooling with resistant starch now, maybe after I've lost more weight.  I'm eating more eggs, cheese, bacon, fish and veggies. I badly want to get back below 197.  I went to town today to drop off garbage, stop at the farm stand and butcher shop.  I passed by the fish fry wagon. I didn't buy any baked goods at the convenience store. I did get dark sweet cherries at the farm stand and more strawberries that I will cut up and put in the freezer for when the rhubarb grows back.  The strawberry-rhubarb sauce I made with Swerve confectioners sugar is wonderful! Perfect on my homemade greek yogurt.

Margaret, it is a new photo. I just got new glasses a couple days ago so wanted to update my photo.

I'm going to be working more now on just making better choices whenever possible, in what I eat. I've come to realize the more I focus on weight and numbers, the more I'm actually gaining and it's bringing back unhealthy habits to keep the numbers going down. So that has to stop. I'll only be weighing once a week here on out and I'll do my measurements at the same time. That will show me if I'm doing alright or not.

I know I need to do better with my eating but I'm no longer going to put labels on what I eat or don't eat. I'm just going to try to be as healthy as I can and keep my blood work as good as it's been the last 18 months, after over 10 years of being iron poor enemic.

Vicki, I agree that focusing too much on the scale is a negative for me. So I skipped weighing a couple days this week.

for my goals.... here's what I said:

Weight Goals for June:

• 6/4: 245 or lower (already met if I don't gain it back!) (scale said 245.2 this morning, close enough!)
• 6/11: 244 or lower
• 6/18: 243 or lower
• 6/25: 242 or lower
• 7/2: 240 or lower (want to be at 240 or lower by the end of June, 235 or lower by the end of July, 230 or lower by the end of August, and then I can schedule the knee surgery, though I want to keep losing till it happens, and more after I recover.)

Goals for this week:

• Eat oatmeal every day (all but one day)
• Sleep at least 7 hours every night (I think I did this every day except one)
• No added sugar bought (still going to eat the rhubarb crisp Mom gave me - it's a vegetable, right???? and homemade food is healthier than processed stuff.) (I did get a mini frosty at Wendy's one day, but otherwise yes.)
• Eat at least three servings of vegetables every day (yes)
• Follow IF plan (eating now, stop at 8 pm tonight.) (close, but I shaved a few minutes here and there.)

I'll keep the same goals for this upcoming week.

I'm finding that how often I eat beef affects my weight.  I'm going to thaw some fish for today and tomorrow. Wish I had my airfryer, but it won't arrive until Wednesday!  I will slice up the meatloaf into portions to make sure I don't eat too much of it in one meal. I have lots of asparagus, cabbage and spinach for this week. I'm going outside today to finally plant the flowers I bought so I need to make sure I have a protein snack so I don't overeat at dinner "because I worked outside.".  Yesterday I had some dark sweet cherries and I need to be careful with that.  Cherries are certainly better for me than cookies but they still have carbs.  I swear, eating means constant thought and vigilance. But I'm very grateful to have enough to eat!

I've come to realize the more I focus on weight and numbers, the more I'm actually gaining and it's bringing back unhealthy habits to keep the numbers going down.

This is true for me too Vicki.  I become consumed with food and am constantly thinking about what I can/can't eat.  Not healthy for me.  I find that if I work out in my mind what I'm going to eat for the day in the morning and then just stick to that, I do much better.

Sounds like you have a good plan too Teri.  Thoughtful eating is the probably the key.  You do a good job of being aware of the effect of what you eat on your weight.

I did actually weigh 1.4# less yesterday than the Sunday before.  Amazing because it seems like I ate out a lot.  Need to stay on track this week before I go on vacation Saturday.  I'll weight Saturday morning since I'll be gone on Sunday.  That way when I weigh on the next Sunday I will know how well, or bad, I did on vacation.  :)

I forgot to tell you all the amazing thing that happened on Thursday. After discussing air fryers/toaster ovens on another thread and with my family, one was offered on buy nothing!! And I was the requester who got picked! The pan is a litter dirty, but for that price ($0) I can put some elbow grease in it! I may have to clear some space on a counter... Also on Buy Nothing I was given some very fresh rhubarb. Yum!

202.1 today. I'm keeping my carbs very low. I want to see if this will get me back to 196. Then I want to investigate the Mediterranean diet, which allows more carbs but advocates whole grains, veg, fruit. I'm eating all seafood and veggies this week. I put the meatloaf in the freezer.  My book on the Med diet will arrive soon.  I must say that my digestion has been better this week.

I went back to the farm stand for more asparagus and rhubarb.

I got going on power washing this afternoon..... And then the thunder and rain started. Oh well.

Meggie is stretched out across my lap, sleeping. I hope I don't have to get up and disturb her. I'm one of those dog moms who crosses her legs and eyes rather than get up for the bathroom, disturbing the pet.

Thursday.  I'm at 200.9.  Continuing on very low carb. Its a little boring but its taking the regained weight off. This just reinforces that my metabolism is wacky. I feel like I have my focus firmly in hand. Tomorrow I donate blood so I might wind up eating lunch out but I will stay close to keto. Maybe an omelet. Or a steak and salad. Fish. Certainly not a big sandwich or a short stack like the old days.

I ordered a DVD of Chair Yoga, give that a try. 

Oops!!!

Oops!

Unfortunately 202.5 this morning. I ate at Denny's yesterday after donating blood. I had an omelette with ham, bacon and 2 cheeses as well as an English muffin. So even though I didn't have pancakes with syrup, it was a large breakfast.  I wasn't going to have supper but did have a ground chicken burger.  Today for breakfast I had 2 fish tacos with haddock and carb counter tortillas. I used a new olive oil that has oregano, basil and garlic. It made the fish taste good but not quite the smell I enjoy first thing. I'll light a candle.

Once a week weigh in's seem to be working better for me. I'm 248.8 today. I am trying to plan my meals ahead of time and trying to eat more regularly so I don't get so hungry I over eat.

I made a lot of poor eating choices this week. I think mostly it is a lack of planning so I didn't have good choices available when I needed them. So I'll work on that this weekend, but I'm going to a potluck tonight...

Teri, I'm interested to learn more about the chair yoga. That is something I keep considering.