Friday Five - Thin On The Inside
1. I am now, finally, as 'thin' on the inside as I am on the outside. After some 14 months of working to not just lose 25 pounds, but also to re-train my brain, I'm feeling like the job is pretty much done. I'm fully settled into my new way of eating and tracking, the food noise is drastically diminished, and I am not feeling deprived whatsoever. But, yeah, it took more than a year to work through the mental process.
It's why the current crop of weight loss injections makes me feel a bit sad - I am thrilled that they are available to help people lose weight, but I suspect (and studies seem to support) that without going through the long slog to rework the wiring in our brains, the 'old ways' will likely return once the drug injections cease. Regardless, I still wish anyone on them the very best of outcomes!!!
2. We are celebrating the advent of the weekend, and a celebration, with a long walk at the harbor, followed by lining up early for Happy Hour at a wonderful steak house at the coast. The food at the steak house is fabulous, but I want only small bites to accompany my welcome-to-the-weekend cocktail, and Happy Hour is the easiest way to accomplish this without annoying either the restaurant or our servers.
The bar area where Happy Hour occurs is gorgeous, however there are relatively few tables for two, so we'll be getting there about a half hour ahead of opening to secure our place in the front of the line. But I'm sure we'll end up chatting with other early arrivals, so I'm looking forward to the entire event, even the get-there-early portion.
After we eat, we'll be walking down to the beach to take in the sunset.
3. The first plums and peaches of the season went on sale this week at one of the supermarkets I sales-shop, and they have been delicious! It just kills me to pay between $6 and $8 a pound at our local Farmers Markets for produce, so I generally just don't. And this early in the season, the $1.49-$1.99 a pound sales the supermarkets typically run on plums, peaches, and nectarines almost always result in fabulous fruit. Later in the season it's a bit more of a gamble, but not yet at this point.
4. I spent a lot of energy reconnecting with friends via text yesterday, and my calendar is now full of lunch togethers. I love each of my girlfriends a bit more each year, as we all move through this odd phase called 'aging', and I don't take any one of them for granted. Illness has already come calling for several of my girlfriends, and I am therefore committed to gathering and keeping as many of them close to me as possible. Plus I love a good lunch date!
5. I am re-appreciating all over again how low maintenance we made the outside of our new home. At this time of year I just want to be outside and enjoy all the good-summer vibes. And our no-maintenance, faux grass and hardscaped yards allow me to do just that. I spend about 30 minutes a month blowing and sweeping, and really, that's it. I call it our 'townhome without shared walls'. The house is big, but the yard is not, and that was one of the goals we achieved during this most recent move.
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The landscaping to the right belongs to and is maintained by the HOA, not by us. We just get to enjoy it, nicely. |
Are you between travels right now? I too prefer Happy hour to dinner but more because I just want to get home. Fresh fruit is a pleasure of summer especially when its better priced.
ReplyDeleteWe are - we leave soon for our Alaska cruise and I'm very much looking forward to the family meetup. We'll have four generations together on the cruise, which will be very special.
DeleteI'm laughing about your Happy Hour gets you home earlier comment. I can relate, as I don't care to dine out late either. I'm not a night person.
The "shots" or weight loss helping "pills" do retrain you how to eat. Protein fills you up faster and things like alcohol and sweets lose their appeal. Over all food noise is very quiet unless I'm starving It's also become more difficult to want to over eat. The pills or shots aren't cheating or taking the easy way out as you have to do the "work". It's also a slow and steady weight loss of no more than a pound a week. It's not a quick fix and it's still not easy. It's also given me more motivating when I'm losing pounds to want to workout and keep my muscle tone. So don't knock it! Be happy that people are able to get to a healthy weight no matter how they do it!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, of course, I do get all that. And nowhere did I mock them, so you need to rein that back in.
DeleteI'm speaking more to what happens after the injections are stopped. Are you off the injections and still doing well? That is wonderful if so.
- Tamara / My Retirement Project
Much congrats on hitting your weight goals and working from the inside out. That's wonderful. Hi. I'm Ivy and I'm new to your blog. I love buying produce in-season for those good deals. I get a lot of good deals at ALDI and then we have other local stores that carry neat things like the corn cobbed. Such good pricing and yummy.
ReplyDeleteWonderful on reconnecting with friends.
Wishing you a fun week. I'm gonna poke about your blog a bit more. Cheers, Ivy.
It was an enormous effort, and I am happy to be beyond it. My advice to anyone attempting to make any change in their life is to simply never give up. Change does not appear to be linear. Rather, it's a series of progress and set back. The goal is to make just a bit more progress each time in spite of any set backs.
DeleteAnd thank you for your visit and comment!
Wonderful. Wishing you a groovy week ahead.
DeleteHi Tamara - I love that you said "a new way of eating and tracking". I despise the word 'DIET' as it has such a negative connotation. As for the weight loss injection craze, I agree that it may be beneficial to many who have struggled with other means of trying to lose weight, however, I think many people try it out as a means of a quick fix. I am of the slow and steady crew. I have lost about 8 pounds and have another 10 to go. Cutting out mindless eating and tracking my calories has been very helpful. I am mindful of getting enough protein in each meal that I don't feel hungry in between. My downfalls are chocolate and cheese. I don't deprive myself of either but I make sure to add it in to my daily calorie count.
ReplyDeleteFresh fruit here in NY is dreadfully expensive. $4.00/lb for plums that aren't even that good. I look for alternatives that are on sale (blackberries, blueberries, watermelon, etc). Your summer sounds marvelous!!! Enjoy your cruise! How fantastic that you are all going together. Please post pictures!
Maura
Part of my mental journey was to work through accepting that my altered way of eating needed to remain in place beyond losing the weight if I wished it to remain gone. I've never managed to get through the mental reset before - in my mind it was any restricted eating was always 'temporary'. But no, that is not how it works. It has to be a permanent change, and I think we need time to work through really accepting that.
DeleteMy understanding of weight loss injections is that perhaps for some folk they will need to be permanent, similar to having to take medicine to lower blood pressure or cholesterol. That makes much more sense to me that starting and then abruptly stopping them.
Congratulations on your weight loss - I speak as one who knows how hard it can be to keep at it! I used to remind myself that not ever, as in not EVER, have I woken up wishing I'd eaten more of anything. And the reward of feeling good in my clothes is so immense.
There is a high protein bar at Aldi's that I enjoy, if you happen to have those near you. They come in Chocolate Mint and Chocolate Peanut Butter, and are 240-250 calories each with 20 grams of protein, enough to suffice as a full meal replacement. I find them to be very tasty and very filling, and I can usually carry on until lunch after eating one for breakfast without experiencing a blood sugar crash.
On #1, I struggled with this quite a bit as I'm going through menopause. The change in your body and metabolism is really stark! I've always been an active person who has paid attention to their weight & focused on healthy habits, tracked calories, etc. My rheumatologist recommended the GLP-1 to reduce inflammation, but I have mentally wrestled with the "it's cheating" thinking. In the end, anything that helps me get and stay healthy is a win, as long as there are no significant side effects. I do think that getting off of the GLP-1 will be an adjustment, much like anything else. I'm on micro dose, so it's a very minimal amount in order to reduce challenges (theoretically) when you go off. But, it's top of mind. Adjusting to the very limited calories, permanently, as you say, because it is permanent, will continue to be an evolution I think. - Hawaii Planner
ReplyDeleteHP, I in no way see it as cheating, but my concern from the get-go was that they appear to work very well at quieting the urges to eat only while on them. From the numerous studies I'm seeing, the urges appear to come back once off them in almost every case. So it appears to short-lived, and that seems so unfair for those that struggle.
DeleteBut changing the mindset can happen, absolutely, even if it follows the weight loss rather than parallels it.