NancyW

Hi all! I did something I thought I'd never do. I went back to Weight Watchers! They've made changes that bring them more in line with the way I've been eating lately, and I'm totally on board. It's been a few weeks, and I'm down 12 pounds almost effortlessly. I credit my experience with Paleo, Whole30, and IF. It's changed my way of thinking about food enough that I can follow the plan and still fit everything in when it comes to special occasions. Big news: I move in two weeks! I found a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment with all kinds of perks (heated underground parking, swimming pools), that is cheaper than anything else I've looked at. It's an over 55 place, and has a kitchen I can hardly wait to start cooking in! Dec. 22 is moving day, and along with the apartment, I'm getting a whole pile of new furniture. I feel like such a grown-up! LOL I hope all are well, I miss you guys!

Welcome back, Merg, to BOTH of you!

Oh good! Because I'd have continued to check anyway... And I agree about continuing something than starting again. I've found that to be true so many times. I'm still in my less-than-stellar living arrangement, with no word from the 55+ complex that there's anything coming up. I've considered some other places, two of them within a little more than a mile of work. Trouble is, when a place does open at the 55+ place, then I'll have a lease to contend with. I really need my own space again, not because we see that much of each other here, but because the stuff that I need on a day-to-day basis is making me feel SO claustrophobic because there's nowhere to go with it. I think what I'll have to do is put a time limit on the waiting. I know I'm in the next batch of people to get a call when something opens, but there's no way to know how long that will be. So maybe I'll talk to my friend (landlady) and see what she thinks. Paleo and fasting will start again in earnest after the holiday weekend. I've been a bit sloppy lately, and eating too much carb-y stuff, so the fasting is on the back burner. I'm coming up with some more ideas that don't take a lot of time in the kitchen, or that I can put together at work. Ok, time to work on clearing out some crap. The more I get rid of, the less I have to pay someone to move...eventually. Take care, all!

Well, T&T friends, it looks like our journey together has drawn to a natural close. I hope this means that we've all found our own best version of Food Freedom! I know mine involves paleo eating and intermittent fasting. It was wonderful to have you all here to do this with, and I will miss the random friendships we've formed! Maybe check in one last time with an update? Love to you all...XOXO

@misslindy Thanks for the birthday wishes! I'm so glad BLE is working for you. I'm in my first week of intermittent fasting with paleo eating. So far so good. It's much easier than I thought it would be. Who knew I could go without food for 24 hours and not feel like I was starving?

Hiya! Back to work, and happy to knock another month off the retirement count. Down to 78 now. Ha! It'll be over in no time... @vozelle Hopefully your issues will be all cleared up when you test. Fingers crossed! @Crimsann Even though I have a plan now, my eating is "shamble-ized" as well... I talked to my doctor on Wednesday, and he is totally on board with the intermittent fasting. The catch is, no refined carbs or sugar, because fasting while being a sugar-burner will have a negative effect on my blood sugar and I could likely find myself passed out. Not good. So after a few days without those, I'll be a fat-burner again and will start the fasting. I might start with a week of 8 hours eating/16 hours fasting. I'd be eating lunch and dinner, and then fasting till lunch the next day. Then if that goes well, I'll be doing two 24 hour fasts a week, and eating paleo style. We're also doing a blood test for my thyroid, and possibly an at-home sleep study to check for sleep apnea. I'm so damn tired I can hardly stand it! Plus terrible brain fog and my memory is non-existent. <sigh> Aside from that, I'm totally rockin' this 60 thing! I did go back once and look at my food diary post from my first W30 effort. Gosh, was it BORING! I was putting all my effort into just eating compliant food, and none into cooking creatively at all. I guess that's natural when there's such a steep learning curve. I'm glad I'm better prepared now to make more interesting meals! Take care, ladies, will catch up with you soon!

Hello! I've been off work for 1.5 weeks, and had all kinds of fun things going on. That translates to lots of eating and drinking. I don't feel too bad, all things considered, but I'm ready to buckle down. More reading...The Obesity Code. This is the book that puts together the W30 style eating, adds in some grains/beans, and includes some intermittent fasting. The fasting part would help with my insulin resistance, and with visceral fat--both problems that I have. So when I see my doctor next week, I'm going to ask his blessing in giving this a shot. I also will not likely add grains, but maybe beans. Will see what he has to say. He's already agreed that a low carb approach seems to work better for me. I'm not sure about doing another W30. We'll see how things go with a paleo approach with some fasting. It's not terribly intense, just going from supper one day till supper the next. It's a 3-meals-a-day thing too, which I know works when there is enough fat in the meals. Part of what I've been doing is spending time with my family while my sister was here from GA. Today is my 60th birthday (how the hell did that happen???) and they had a surprise party for me last week with my whole family and a couple of friends. Such a fun evening! We also went to Summerfest (biggest music festival in the world, also our annual sister day), had a chance to try a couple of new restaurants, and spent time on the deck just enjoying each others' company. @misslindy I'm glad the BLE program is working for you! @Crimsann & @C_Cezeaux, I hope you are doing well! Now off to get ready for bed. I haven't really been sleeping in while I've been off, but I also haven't had to get right up out of bed and get out the door at 5:30am. Should be an interesting morning. My mostly W30 meals are in the fridge ready to go, so it might not be too bad! Take care, all.

I bought BLE as well, but I am not in a place right now to follow it. Vacation starts Saturday, my sister is coming in from GA, and we have a full calendar of stuff. I'm not sure how well I'd do with it even with nothing going on, but honestly, I KNOW what I need to do. I just about finished Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat, and it makes it clear to me that the carbs have to go. So why is it so hard to do? Hope everyone is enjoying summer (or winter, as it were...).

@Crimsann Oh boy, this made me laugh harder than it should have! @misslindy Naturally, my first instinct was to hop quickly over to Amazon and order the book! So here's where I am... As has happened twice before, I find that it takes about 6 weeks post-W30 to find myself steeped in all of my bad eating habits once again. Can you say "slow learner?" I'm not sure what's next, although I will be reading Bright Lines to see what that is about. It's got a 5 star rating from almost 900 people, plus misslindy's recommendation, so that says it's worth a try. I've started working with a trainer, and I love her! She's 58 (almost as old as I am!) and had anorexia in her 30s, so she knows what it's like to struggle with food. At yesterday's session, we walked for the first 35 minutes and just talked through all kinds of things. Very helpful! And since her sessions are 90 minutes, she still had time to cause some delayed muscle pain. Fun times! I'd like to do another W30, but I'm not in my own kitchen yet. I seem to have a bit of perfectionism going on (a BIT?? LOL) so I'm afraid it will be hard to commit to less than that. It hasn't worked so far to create my own rules, but that might have to be it right now. Maybe if I write things down, even if it's not totally compliant, I can make it work. Things have been, for the most part, pretty peaceful around here, so I'd like to keep them that way. I guess I'll google some no-cook W30 meals and see what comes up. Wishing you both continued success!!

@Crimsann What do you do with your zoodles to keep them from making the sauce watery? I've tried a couple things, but without much success.

This, SO much this... As I read all these posts, I realize that all of you are my tribe!! I'm feeling a bit lost because I'm floundering badly on the food front. And the only reason I'm doing anything physical is because I'm now paying a trainer to help with that! But I'm also not getting any kind of notification of new posts, so I'm also feeling very alone in my struggle. I finally remembered to come here, and I'm not alone!!! Thank you for that... I blew my reinto again. I was reading a post on a moderated FB group about a woman who said adding in food was like opening the floodgates. That's exactly where I am. I think I may need more than 30 days in a row to get my head right. I'm headed to Ohio to take my parents to see my daughter who is stationed at Wright Patterson AFB this coming weekend. When I get back, I'd like to start another W30. I have to weigh the benefits of that (HUGE) with the difficulties of using the kitchen that's not mine (also potentially huge). I don't know when I'll have my own kitchen again. but maybe I can't wait that long. Off to an early Mother's Day celebration with my daughter here in town. She always asks what I'd like to have, how I'd like to eat, when she has me over. That's a good thing, but she also understands because I've passed my complicated relationship with food on to both of my daughters. Great legacy... Luckily, they love me anyway!

Hi all. Happy Belated, @Crimsann, hang in there, @misslindy, and good for you, @vozelle!! I've just had a week of playing zookeeper and feeding my sugar/grain dragon. I'm holding on to Crimsann's symmetry of Monday and May 1st being the same day, and preparing myself for a return to sanity. It started a few weeks ago with the reintro of (yes, bad idea written ALL over it...) tortilla chips. I rationalized that the guac and salsa were healthy and compliant. Didn't see then that it would backfire this badly. Now that I've had a couple of days of sugar and bread, I can say with certainty that I feel MUCH worse while indulging in these foods. Stomach troubles are back in spades, and blood sugar is bouncing all over the place. Was it worth it? No. No. No. At least I have a freezer full of compliant meals to fall back on--not officially a 30, but very close to it. My Food Freedom has just gotten a bit more clear about what it doesn't include. I knew this before, but apparently had to prove it out. I'd like to try some paleo banana blueberry bread, to add a breakfast option. Will wait a while now to do that. How is everyone else doing? We're missing a few lately...

Oh boy, I can see some old favorites sneaking in... I need an infusion of better judgment and some food honesty. Still no sugar (yay!), but I have had some things with sugar as an ingredient. That's not the real problem (YET!). It's the grains--I can more easily let myself off the hook with those (I'm talking to you, corn tortilla chips!) because they seem less harmful than sugar. But it is still the beginning of a slippery slope. Pull back, adjust, then onward!

Hi Kids! I've done some experimenting this week with non-compliant foods. So far, so good. I have lots of occasions coming up, and will have to be hyper-vigilant to get through them. Yesterday was a rough one. After another (now smoothed-over) kerfuffle with the roommate, I got a bit carried away with some Mexican food and drink while visiting a BFF who lives almost 2 hours away. It was not as good as I had hoped it would be. I should have just gone with a grilled chicken breast and fajita veggies. The margaritas tasted fabulous, and I had no headache from what I'm sure was very cheap tequila. But this cannot be my default setting!! Dinner out Tuesday, and that will be a bun-free burger and an appropriate side dish, along with one lower carb adult beverage. Most importantly, foodwise, I have had no candy/donuts/other sweets. On the fitness front, I've decided to work with a trainer for a few weeks to help me get back in shape and gain some strength. She's my age, so she's familiar with how to train old ladies! And she's a very good fit personality-wise. I'm looking forward to getting started. Crimsann, I've had that same disappointing situation where you make something and it just isn't right. Wasting food isn't good, but neither is eating food we don't like. On my last cooking binge, I made three recipes. One isn't as good as it sounded, so when I grab that one out of the freezer, I'm a bit disappointed. I eat it, but I'm not happy about it. That's a tricky situation. I feel the same way about chicken thighs--blech. I was going to buy some the other day because they were cheaper, but in the end, I just couldn't do it. I have a serious aversion to fat on meat--can't stomach it at all. There are legendary family stories of what I used to do to avoid touching or eating a piece of fat on meat. And one day, while trimming chicken breasts while a friend was over, she was hysterical at how little meat was left and how big the pile of scraps was! Nope, can't do it. Believe it or not, I've never eaten prime rib in my whole entire life! Filet all the way... I will be finishing Food Freedom soon, and making my rules. I've tried to do that before (make my own rules), but I didn't have any clarity about what the rules should be, and I made every exception a rule. That didn't work...no surprise!

First and foremost...Pineapple vinegar? YES, please! Now, on to my post. I'm 3 weeks in, and used regular butter for my mashed cauliflower yesterday. Why? Because my living circumstances are SO not conducive to spending time in the kitchen. We had a blow-out because after verifying that my "land-lady/friend/roommate" wouldn't be home on the Saturday afternoon before my W30, I spent that time in the kitchen. But she never left. And was upset with me because, "I feel like I can't even come in my own kitchen!" There is, of course, more to the kerfuffle, but the upshot is that I now feel in the way. All. The. Time. I've been using whatever time I have available alone in the house to do my cooking, but it's difficult to take care of those last minute (and somewhat messy) kitchen chores like clarifying butter. I'm ok with knowing that butter is not an issue for me. And I'm playing with the idea that I should have bacon when I go to breakfast this morning because bacon on its own is not a problem. I'm not starting over. But I'm almost done with the Food Freedom book, and it all makes sense. I've been thinking, hard, about what my Food Future looks like, and I have a much better idea now than before. And I can see it happening. But I don't want to jump in too quickly. So no non-compliant bacon today. Just potatoes, eggs, and veggies. No toast. No pancakes/waffles. NO syrup. And while I technically have not finished this W30, I will continue on as is. Circumstances are out of my control, and I'm looking forward to the apartment building I want to move into having an opening. Then I will set up my kitchen and spend as much time in there as I want, making as big a mess as I want, and maybe not cleaning it up till the next day! Off to breakfast. I'll check in later when I have more time to read and comment. Thanks to you all, I have a safe place to chat about this, and now it seems less awful! XO