Keto Questions

Rig: I feel like 70 is right around the corner. I feel a little sorry for our surprise baby. Her siblings will all be out of the house , and she will be left with two very old, very tired parents.

Ontario: Glad I could make you smile. I haven't been putting the salt in my water anymore. I suppose I should get over it, but ick.

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I feel a little sorry for our surprise baby

I've missed this, are you going to have a new human in the family?

NO! Our kids are 19, 17, 15 and 5. Our surprise baby is no longer technically a baby. Unfortunately for her, she will always be everyone's baby.

You broke your stair step progression for #4. We had 4 in 5 years, with an interstate move between each one. Our baby was born when I was 38.
Your baby will keep you young, just do your best to keep up. Our 4 were busy in all kinds of sports & school stuff, ran us ragged, to the point where I was the "out of town game" parent and my wife was the "in town" parent as we had 4 playing select soccer all over SW Ohio. I think one of us was at every game, almost never both of us, unless it was a tournament or State Cup game.

I know. I wanted a fourth; my husband didn't. Serves him right for not agreeing with me at the time. Now he never gets to retire. Really, it has been great. I recommend that everyone have another when the youngest hits 9 or 10. Things are just so much more relaxed and we had built-in babysitters.

Are you enjoying the crazy SW Ohio weather? 81 here today. 40s tomorrow.

No, I don't enjoy the OH weather. Dayton is OK, but it will never be home. I claim Hotlanna, Ga as home, born there, college there, worked there for about 4 years. I was raised in various spots in the deep South and really don't like Ohio's weather, summer or winter. However, winters here are much easier to tolerate than the flat wasteland of Deeee-troit where we spent almost 4 interminably miserable years from '74 to '78. It snowed in May as we drove away on our move away.

Well, anywhere is better than Detroit.

I think I have turned a corner. Two fat teas in the morning, and I think I'm good until dinner. I've been having lunch around 2:30 and a very small dinner, because I'm too full. May try small snack at 2:30 and small snack in the evening after dinner. Haven't lost any weight, but energy is better and sleep is improving.

Rig D wrote:Ha, you're just a kid, wait till you hit 70!

Haha, my mother (76) says the same thing!

That said, she is as spry as the day is long and is full of piss and vinegar. She is also more hyper and annoying than I am and looks maybe, MAYBE 60.

Hopefully I have that to look forward to... though, cough, she didn't party as much as, cough, cough.. I did from 16 to 40....

JCat! glad to hear you're doing better, yeah!!!

What's the update for the day?

So far, so good. Energy is coming back. Can't tell you how good that feels. It's been a very, very long time. Yesterday was workout day. 15 minutes of KB swings. Sucked. Hate that kind of workout. Felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. But it was only 15 minutes. This time I only had to lie on the floor for 5 minutes or so (last time it took 10 before I could move). Yay for me. Haven't been on the scale. Body is changing, I think. Just not sure if it's in a good way. I'm noticing. Different (bigger?) rolls, but I'm not sure if it because I'm shrinking other places. Does that mak sense? I think I'm slimming a bit below the rib cage, but the rolls above the hip bones look bigger. I don't know. Or maybe someone replaced my bathroom mirror with one of those fun house kind. Just making me look wobbly.

WOW! That is so great that you have more energy and feel better!

And most excellent that you only had to recover 5 minutes instead of 10 after your KB swings.

And yes, the funhouse mirror effect is definitely a thing.. You'll lose in whack places before it gets to the
places you want, making everything else look odd.

Not sure if you've ever read Lyle McDonald's article on Whooshes and Squishy Fat, but here it is and IT is totally a thing, too https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/

The Paper Towel Effect is a good read too: https://vitals.lifehacker.com/the-paper-towel-analogy-explains-why-weight-loss-is-a-1733478690

Continue to be patient, SUMTHIN' DUN BE WORKIN' YO!

Also, are you getting enough fat? I know you don't track (or maybe you've secretly started, just to please me
LOL, J/K!) but I've found that keeping mine right around 70% is where I feel best. Still not positive why, but I do,
and I notice a huge energy difference when I don't.

Julia

Thanks for the links. Going to read them now. I'm guessing I'm at at least 80% fat. I seem to be settling into 2 teas and one meal. Yesterday didn't have any snacks. It's so weird. I have a small-to-normal dinner and I'm stuffed. This may or may not last. I'm sure my protein could be higher, but it's hard when I'm not hungry. And the energy! OMG I'm almost bouncing off the walls today. My brain is going a million miles an hour. Again, not sure if this is a fluke. I've felt like this befor, but it's pretty fleeting. I'm hoping to get back to lifting this Spring. The big girl weights are in the garage, so it's too cold for me in the winter. We're having a warm spell now, so I could probably start anytime. Just not sure what to do. I was going to give it at least a month with the workouts from the No Fail Fatloss book, mostly to see if they would actually make a difference. We will see. Did you change anything when you started lifting again? Any necessary tweaks or helpful hints? I'd like to avoid the whole feel-like-crap phase this time, if at all possible.

That is PERFECT what's happening with not being hungry.. totally sounds like you're fat adapted to me.

Totally roll with it and DO NOT EAT if you're not hungry.. this is hopefully The Magic starting!

Wow! That is GREAT about the energy too! Holy Moly!

With regard to working out, this time around, during the weight loss part of it, I really didn't do ANY working out
but walking. Honestly. I knew if I worked out For Realz I wouldn't see the drop on the scale because of the whole
muscle-tearing-down-water-retention-thing and perhaps GAINING muscle too. I didn't want to see ANY OF THAT, just a steady drop on the scale and inch loss as I went along.

Did I probably catabolize some muscle, most definitely, did I give one shit? Nope, cuz I knew I'd make up for it AFTER, and then FOR SURE know where the gain was coming from. Hmph!!

But yeah, if you DO continue to do weights and the KB's, just be sure to have a protein drink of some sort before or after. Whatever you like better.

I'm not a big fan of whey, cuz it tastes like crap, but I AM a big fan of Great Lakes Gelatin. Great amino acid profile, zero taste, zero fillers and it MIXES IN ANYTHING. My go-to fave is a bottle of water, one packet of propel and two tablespoons of the gelatin.

I also put two tablespoons of the gelatin in my coffee every morning too. Sometimes I might have some chicken buillion duirng the day at work and will put ANOTHER two tablespoons in that too...

Stuff is great. I have been buying the 8LB bag since 2014 and it lasts me a good 8 months.

The green stuff. Collagen Hydrolysate: https://greatlakesgelatin.com/storefront/buy-products.html

You can go there and read all about it. I just love that it doesn't taste like anything. You can add it to ANYTHING, too to get more protein. Like soups or gravies or whatever. Love it.

But no, besides adding the protein drink I didn't change anything up when I started lifting again. I did pay close attention to form instead of
going up in weight lickety split (i'm usually overeager to bro-out on the heavy...) and only move up when my 3X8s felt too easy.

I do a full body workout every time I go to the gym, two for sure days a week but sometimes three if I feel crazy energy.

Lemme know if I forgot to answer anything... it's hard not to go off on a tangent.. Ha ha.

Julia

I appreciate your tangents. Very helpful and entertaining. I do use the collagen in my tea. The No Fail book by Skye Something (I think) has you working out between 3:00 and 6:00, and then not eating for at least an hour. This is to allow your body to complete the cycle of breaking things down before starting the rebuilding process. If you eat too soon, you're disrupting the cycle. Or some such thing. The workouts are all short -the longest is 20 minutes- but they pretty much all suck. I HATE sprints and tabata, and the one with the pull ups frustrates me, because I can't do unassisted pull ups anymore. You have to take three whole days off between workouts. So it makes the suckiness somewhat tolerable. If I'm working out that late in the day, it's easy enough to wait until dinner. However, weight training would be a whole different thing, I think. Not sure I could wait until that late to do it. Scheduling is difficult, because I'm always driving kids to and from school. We will see. I'm afraid to start and then not be able to keep it up. But I'd also really like to be in decent shape before summer. IDK

Yeah, I hear you about the kids to school and such.

Those ankle biters are HUGE TIME SUCKS. How dare they get in the way of our workouts.. and everything else
we want to do that ISN'T catering to them. Of course, I'm being 40% sarcastic, but there were days that I was
pretty freaking resentful even though IT WAS MY CHOICE TO HAVE KIDS and they didn't ask to be born! Lol.

Ah well, bygones!

How are you doing now? Any more updates?

I had a super shitty day last Friday (seems like clients are dying left and right at work and that means PILES of
super scary and frustrating estate processing paperwork and death certificates and trust documents and, and, and,
and God, just typing about it NOW makes my hands sweat.)

Anyway, the end result was that I ate about 500 of Costco's bakery chocolate chunk cookies. Yes, 500. I gave zero
fucks until that night when I was trying to sleep... eyeroll. Felt about 18 months pregnant. So uncomfortable. But boy did they taste good... my friends, my chocolately chippity goodness BEST FRIENDS.

~Anonymous

Sorry about the rough week. People dying does tend to throw wrenches in the works - even when it's people you don't know.

Things are okay here. The energy of last weekend didn't last. Had a really hard time getting moving several mornings this week. I've never been a morning person, because mornings suck. I happen to be married to someone who jumps out of bed at 4:30 every morning to workout. No, it's not annoying at all. . I did find that midweek I was having a hard time making it until dinner. Even though I tell myself I can eat when I'm hungry, somehow I feel like I'm losing if I eat. I don't know what I would be losing exactly, since there's no prize waiting for me if I wait until dinner. I have to be careful with this attitude. I did go ahead and have a snack. Stupid mind games we play with ourselves. Today was sprint day (which also sucks, but not as much as mornings, since it only happens once every couple of weeks. Mornings seem to happen EVERY day.). Still not losing (I don't think). Really feeling like I need to get back to lifting, just not 100% there yet. In other news, my daughter wants me to take her to karate from now on. I used to do karate there. I have a belt in a different style, but I used to teach for them and have recently done self-defense classes there. I was almost to my black belt in this style. I may jump in and see how much I can remember. My daughter is getting close to black belt. It would be great to be able to help her train. We will see.

I used to be your husband (maybe I am, I mean, have you ever seen us together? Oooh spooky!), but yeah, after kids, mornings just are NOT my favorite.. like ever. 'Cept maybe an HOUR after coffee time. Lol.

Totally hear you about the mind games.. I still play them daily as well. I think it's.. um.. normal? Or maybe OCD,
ah well, WHAT CAN WE DO. Better than shooting up heroin, right? I know, extreme, but I have to compare it to SOMETHING WAY MORE DELETERIOUS.

Super cool about the karate! I would LOVE to do that, but too skurred... You should TOTALLY do it, and your daughter would be OVER THE MOON to have you there in ANY capacity. Man that'd be so cool.

DO THIS NOW.

Don't make Mama Julia fly to wherever you are and pinch you in a discreet area and leave a welt...

Ha! I double-dog dare you to come out here. It would be fun. Somehow I think we'd get along. Find yourself a self-defense class. So much fun. You get to beat people and not get arrested.

Today was super busy, but I haven't needed to eat. It's so nice not to get shaky even this late in the day. I had my first tea early and made a second shortly thereafter to take to church. Spent the morning corralling the kids ( I teach Sunday school), painting their hands for our project, rehearsing the music for Easter, dealing with a crier, getting through the actual lesson. Catching about 20 minutes of church, while dealing with my own whining child, another choir rehearsal, then straight to the range to instruct for two hours. I'm a little hungry, but I can wait until dinner. ( Full disclosure: I did shove two squares of 90% dark chocolate into my mouth pretty much as soon as a walked in the door. I stress eat chocolate. I had to switch to the hard stuff. )

Of COURSE we would get along! Though I can promise you'd get tired of my annoying exuberance... lol, ask my family.. mainly my mother and sister... Not quiet sure why my mother finds me tiring, cuz she is 1000 worse than I am.

WHOA, your Sunday was packed last week! Holy moly.

And what you did with the chocolate was fine, fine! it's called MITIGATING DAMAGES.. I mean, you could have
succumbed to goldfish crackers, or graham crackers or delicious dry sugar cereal (of which *I* can eat an entire
box of without even blinking).

So what went on this last week? Any more good stuff? Did you start Karate back up or are you still thinking about it?

Not much going on around these parts except I had a VERY NICE LOOKING BLACK MAN (boy, really, he was about 30) hit on me at the gym and had a MILLION nice things to say to me. My favorite was "Does your man know what he has at home?" LOL.

It was fairly cataclysmic because the USUAL men that like me are OLDER. Older like 70+ and nice looking (but still) or older and not so hot. Ever since I was about 18. So weird. So to have an actual HOT younger man say something... man, I'm still living on it.. even though it was super weird. LOLLOLOLOLOL.

Also went to Tommy Bahama's (clothing store, not sure if they're where you are) which is super expensive, but saw a really cute summer dress and it was 50% off so I was going to try one on. The small looked too big so I asked for an extra small and the girl said that the small would probably fit me fine. Listen woman, the stuff in here looks vanity sized, so if you have a freaking extra small and want to make a damn sale, CHOP CHOP (no, i didn't say that, but really?) So she did and I put it on and even IT was still a little roomy. She came by to check on me so I came out and said "well, what do you think".. she said that it was too bad they didn't have an xx-small.

So between My New Boyfriend (ha ha) at the gym and what the clerk said, it put a very nice period to a really, really, REALLY shitty week at work... of which one day I had to go into the stairwell and cry. Jeeze Louise... 49 hiding and crying in the stairwell. Absolutely ridiculous. EYEROLL.

Now gimme an update OR ELSE.

So cool about the dress! Even iwith vanity sizing, I'm pretty much a 4. Which is totally fine. I'd just like to not have stuff hanging over the top on my pants. And, like you, I seem to attract older men. Like over 70. With dementia. And crazy. I attract crazy like a magnet. The crazy ones can be young. When I was in my teens/ early 20s, there were a couple guys in/from high school that were interested in me, for whatever reason. One ended up in jail for murder, the other for attempted murder. It's probably a good thing I didn't date in high school.

Still haven't lost any weight. Energy is not consistent at all. That is the most frustrating part. I'm experimenting with exercise. I am not good working out on my own. I just don't have the discipline and I get bored easily. But I'm going to give it a shot. I used to be a bit of a Beachbody junkie. I did several of their programs. I completed them all, but I couldn't stick with more than one round. Now I can't commit to doing it everyday, so I'm trying something a little different. For like $50, you can get access to all of their programs for 6 months. I'm just going through them and picking out 20-30 minutes total body workouts to do two or three times a week. We shall see if that makes any difference.i can squeeze it in between 4:00 and 5:00. Not my best time for working out energy wise, but it might be for the best, because it makes me HUNGRY. If I worked out in the morning, I would be eating ALL. DAY. LONG. Would probably defeat the purpose.

Definitely a good thing you didn't date in high school.. holy moly!!!

If you haven't lost any weight have you noticed any more body type shifts? Clothes fitting differently?

Sorry about the energy levels waxing and waning. That's got to be super annoying. Boooo.

I used to work out in the morning when the kids were little and I could bring them to the gym with
me every day and put them in the daycare, but since starting back to work 4 years ago, now I go at night
Tuesdays, Thursdays at 4pm and then Saturday around 11... None of it makes me hungry the day of, but maybe
one or two days later. Weird. But then I'm mostly weight lifting, not hard core cardio or high intensity stuff.

I think I brought it up before, but have you thought about just focusing on diet for now and then work out later when you're really feeling it? I know you said you wanted to look decent for summer, but if you don't FEEL decent to work out won't the exercise just cancel itself out and you'll just feel worse?

Just trying to help, NOT BEING BOSSY.. which I tend to do, but I -AM- your elder so.. lol.

I said it before and I'll say it again, i only just walked the 7 months I was losing the weight I wanted to, then
started working out when I was done, and at almost 50, I really wish I would have figured out to do that the 100
times before. While it almost killed me not to work out, because i was programmed they went hand in hand, it was SO MUCH easier to just focus on the food and calories instead. Then I didn't have to wonder "which was working" to help me lose.. the exercise, or the food!

ANYWAY, hope you're doing well and everything is better!

So I want to know how you keep your calories so low. I probably have 200 calories in my tea alone. That's just one. I often have two of those.

I was tired of feeling so squishy. I'm getting the definition back in my arms, which makes me happy. Weight is on the higher end of normal. Hard to tell with the clothes. My fat is just above the waist in most of my pants. I do feel different, but still not sure if it's because I'm losing or gaining.

I kept calories low by making low food reward choices.

Food that is boring as hell but gets the job done that I don't want to over-eat because it's tastes too good? That was my go-to.

Super boring and basically "means to an end" kind of food.

But like I've said before, I don't know what was so different about this time around losing weight. Maybe since I can't afford that mid-life crisis corvette (lol, like I'd even choose that), this was what I did.

Not to get too deep, but I really think it has to do with my current situation at home. It's tolerable and I'm not completely UNhappy, but the absolutely ONLY thing I can control is myself, and by gum it, for the second half of my life, I'm going to look freaking good doing it.

Gives me something to focus on other than the B-S around here, too.

I'm also not an emotional OVER-eater. The more pissed or sad I get about something, the less hungry I am and if that means feeling a little hungry for a day, bring it on because I'm just a little self sadistic in that regard. Not freaky eating disorder level though. I wouldn't ever do that.

You have parents (or in-laws) living with you? I'm sure that is stressful, even if you're happy to do it. My husband's mom got herself a boyfriend a few years ago. My husband wasn't sure he was happy about it, but I pointed out that he would be one more layer between her and us. The two boys decided that their sister would get their mom, if it ever came to that. Now she's second in line and we are probably fourth. Win-win.

I have things pretty easy, but still find myself a bit stressed. Fighting kids make me crazy. And we're the house that my youngest's friends play. Two of them don't get along terribly well, but they're here all the time. I don't mind, but sometimes. ARG! And I've heard from my 17-year old's boss, that my son is thinking of joining the Marines. That is keeping me up at night. He's not 18 until December, so hopefully he changes his mind. I don't think I could handle that.
So that was a bit off topic. Let's see. Things still good food wise. It's actually pretty easy to eat this way. I don't think I could do low fat. This is much better. Husband thinks I'm losing weight, but he's not the most reliable source. He has ulterior motives. The bathroom situation is, and has been, a bit off. Not as regular as it was pre keto, even with the magnesium. Not happy about that, but it does make for a mini celebration when things happen. How sad is that. Found a site with some amazing recipes. I won't post it, unless you ask. Might mess with your low reward food thing.
Hope things are looking up for you. Try not to let the stresses of life get to you. Keep your sense of humor.

JCat, trust your son's judgement on the military option. I never served in the military, thanks to the draft lottery during Viet Nam, and was not thrilled when my younger son dropped out of college and enlisted in the army. Like many other young men, joining the military was a very positive thing for him. He went in being pretty directionless and unmotivated, came out 6 yrs later with some definite life skills (medical field), greatly matured, highly motivated, and very focused on achieving his goals.

I would encourage you to talk to him on his reasons, and try to help him in selecting an area where he can develop some post-military life skills. Whoever is recruiting him should be willing to work with both of you in doing all this.