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649848 tn?1534633700

Sunday Weigh In February 9, 2020

Good afternoon... I've really gotten off schedule today and as you can see I'm hours late in posting.  Everything is fine, so not to worry; I just balance.  

There hasn't been a lot going on this week and nothing seems to have changed much, health-wise.  I'm still trying to work up the nerve to call my gastroenterologist to tackle my digestive issues again, but haven't been able to do that yet, so I guess I'm stuck where I am until I make another move.

It's warmed here, so we're able to get out and do more outside things, which is good, plus that days are getting longer which means I don't do as much evening snacking because I'm outside later in the day.  Of course, that's all better than sitting at the computer or watching TV, while I mindlessly eat potato chips.

Weight-wise, I'm up about a pound from where I was a couple of weeks ago, so although I thought I was holding steady, I'm still not doing too badly, because I've dropped about 4 pounds overall over the past couple of months.  So now, instead of bouncing between a couple of pounds at one weight, I'm bouncing between a couple of pounds at a slightly lower weight... Obviously, I'll take the lower weight any day!!  :-)

Anyway, that's my story; how are things going with you?   I hope the week turned out exactly the way you wanted it to.  

~~Wishing everyone a wonderful, successful week~~
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134578 tn?1693250592
I'm also bouncing, but in the ounces not pounds. Two days ago I happened to weigh (I don't usually weigh myself except on Sundays for these weekly reports) and I was EXACTLY where I was last week, to the tenth of an ounce, fine except I want to be on a downward trend. This morning I weighed and was down .4 of a pound. Any doctor (or statistician) would say that .4 means nothing ... your whole pound,  Barb, is far more meaningful. (I tend to keep a whole pound off once it goes, and but tenths are very here-today gone-tomorrow.) The good news, though, is that last week I did manage to control my shopping, not buying the kind of cookies I personally like the most for my son's lunches and so forth. We also ate several home-cooked dinners that were done in a healthy manner. My husband has lost some weight and wants to keep it off, and my son wants his thighs to be "less fat" (they aren't fat, I am here to say,  but his best friend is a string bean so he thinks so). Long story short, nobody complains if dinner is a hearty soup and grapefruit slices, without dessert. It's helpful that there's unanimity on the issue -- many women complain that their husbands insist on having less healthy foods around, especially snacks. If my husband did that, I'd doubtless dip in to them sometime myself.

Speaking of healthy things to have around, at Safeway in the cooler case that'opens into the produce department (where they have an array of boxed, pre-washed salads), at least our local Safeway also carries Del Monte (I think) big, squarish plastic jars of grapefruit wedges in plain juice. They cost about ten bucks and last a family of three for a week if served every day, and are delicious as well as immediately handy. To describe the amount, I served them mixed with little fennel slices on Christmas Day (with soup and sandwiches), one jar served 25 attendees and it was the only salad.  My little sister was so impressed that she called me from the store for directions on where they were, so she could serve them at a wedding brunch. They are super refreshing, don't taste bitter or wince-y from being too tart, they obviously won't make anyone fat even if they ate the entire jar, and I think the most helpful part is that one can dip in any time and eat them as a snack with zero prep. (Hate to say how often I don't bother to eat an orange because I would have to peel it, and besides, then I would be committed to eat a whole orange.) They come in unsweetened-juice and lightly-sweetened juice versions, I find the unsweetened is fine -- still tastes better then when you peel a grapefruit directly. (Of course, this might be because I'm buying my fresh grapefruit in a state that doesn't grow grapefruit. My aunt lived in Southern California, and the lemons off her tree were way sweeter than any I have ever bought at home.)  In my world sometimes the place where healthy eating fails is not in a lack of  having the healthy stuff in the house, but not having or making time to prepare it. This blows that problem away.

Well, that turned into a longer speech than intended! Off I go to get the tangles out of my hair -- have been sitting with it air-drying as I type and should get it to look not quite so much like I'm wearing a fright wig.

Have a good week!

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5 Comments
You're luck you can hold steady for a week... For me, it's not unusual to bounce that whole pound or even up to 3 pounds over a 24 hr period.  I know when I bounce that much so quickly, it's not fat, it's fluid and if in doubt, all I have to do is look at my feet/legs or try to put on a pair of shoes after I've been sitting for a while or bend my fingers a few times - there's the proof.   I've been saying for ages I'm gong to start doing my yoga again, but there are just too many reasons not to...  :-)

We have the jars of grapefruit you're referring to and I love them. We also have small single serving sized containers of grapefruit, as well.  They're so much easier to eat from than peeling a grapefruit, even though I do live in grapefruit country and there's nothing better than a good fresh fruit right off the tree.   We used to have neighbors that owned a citrus grove and they had the very best oranges and grapefruit (I'm partial to the pink grapefruit) - I could sit down and eat a couple of grapefruit for a meal and that was my meal.  The neighbor grafted his own trees so he grafted, both an orange and grapefruit tree for us.  He called the orange tree a "salad bowl tree" because it had several varieties of oranges grafted onto it.  It was a beautiful tree and we got oranges from it for many years until it became diseased and we had to cut it down a couple of years ago.  Same with the grapefruit tree.  Unfortunately, oranges and grapefruit cause me to have horrible acid reflux and I can't eat them anymore, but even if I could I take 2 medications with which grapefruit interacts so that takes it off my food list anyway.

I'm one of those wives who would complain that the husband insists on the unhealthy food all the time.  My husband hates vegetables (except corn and tomatoes) and he rarely eats fruit.  He's definitely a "meat and potatoes" type guy.  Having been raised on farms in the midwest, we were both taught to eat things that "stick to the ribs" because we spent hours in the fields and couldn't stop to snack all the time, but now we no longer work in the fields and we don't need that kind of food.  Fortunately, for him, his metabolism works overtime and he maintains his weight, even loses weight when he shouldn't.  We all know it's not good for him because it raises blood glucose, his cholesterol and triglycerides are out of sight, etc.  As for me, with my hypothyroidism and other medical issues, eating like a farmer is disastrous and whenever I try to add more veggies and healthy food, it never lasts very long because it seems like husband is great a sabotaging my efforts.  And no, it's not all his fault because he's not stuffing the food into my mouth, but cooking double meals, buying separate groceries, etc makes it very difficult to maintain any type of healthy eating plan.  If I had only myself to consider, I don't think I'd have much trouble doing it because there wouldn't be all the unhealthy foods in the house to begin with and I'd not be inclined to run out to the store to get something when a craving hits.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...  :-)
LOL

You are totally right about if you live alone, eating stops being a problem. When I was in law school, my husband stayed home in Oregon because that is where his business was, and I was in another state.  I would often eat take-out spaghetti (a big thing in that town) and that was all I'd eat at night, no snacks, no bread, no cookies, nothing, and didn't crave them either. I'd have a homemade sandwich for lunch, or a take-out taco or Subway sandwich, and occasionally go for dinner to a local high-end Italian place for their excellent shrimp and angel-hair pasta, not a small meal.  I did drink a lot of Dr. Pepper. Yet, I was really only eating as fuel, not for any other purpose, and it was not fun or social to eat. I got down to my high-school weight and stayed there. (Looked great, too!) Food just isn't the same when you're by yourself. It has no power, it fills no real need besides just to keep the physical plant operating. My body wanted a certain amount but that was it. If I ever wind up alone, I assume that will happen again. Can still remember sitting on a bench in my kitchen, munching on takeout spaghetti, and wondering why I was even eating.
I was the same way once when my husband and I had marital problems and were separated for a few months.  I lived and worked in another city.  My apartment was on the second floor (without an elevator) so I had to climb steps all the time, too.  I ate very good meals, doing my own cooking, but  didn't overeat at all.  My meals were healthy and substantial and I even allowed an evening snack, but it was fruit or something like that.  I lost almost 20 lbs within a short period and even after we got back together kept it off for a long time.  I did realize that was a hypo stage of Hashimoto's, which I didn't know at the time. I had one more before my thyroid died completely in 2008... since then, it's been downhill all the way, but my husband sure does help sabotage my efforts!!  
I just think there is a social element to eating that matters a lot more than the diet books act like it matters. Lack of company is a force for good or bad, in terms of one's own eating. In my case it means I eat less, and am genuinely not hungry, but in some people's case it might mean that they eat more, anyway I do think it's very complex. We're social animals and act or react in response to the people we're close to.
I just saw your response and totally agree about the social aspect.  We are social animals and without a certain amount of social contact we tend to react in adverse ways.  When I was living on my own, I worked every day and had friends with which to associate in the evenings and on weekends, but that association wasn't always about food.  Had I not had the social interaction I did, I might very well have turned to food for comfort and my weight could have taken an entirely different turn.  
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