# I have decided to buckle down with my diet again



## Terri (May 10, 2002)

OK! My original goal was to drop 25 pounds, which would bring me down to what I regard as my ideal weight. But, I slipped up for the entire month of October. However, October has come and gone and I have gotten myself back onto a schedule. 

Current weight loss: 12 pounds. Weight loss to go: 13 pounds. 

Staying on my diet during November will take some thought because of Thanksgiving and because we will be visiting family, but, still it is do-able. I can focus on the Ham and other diabetic friendly foods, and buy a sugar free pie to take care of dessert. I will ignore the calories because as long as my blood sugar does not go up I will not have eaten so much in one day to trash my diet: I will just have eaten a bit too much one time, and then it will be back to business as usual. Sometimes it is good to be the cook: I will make sure that there will not be a lot of sugary foods left over. If I can get my son over I will serve chocolate pie because he loves it, but, I will make sure he takes most of the leftover pie home with him. That way the leftovers the next day will be meat, veggies, and leftover sugar-free pie which I can use for my allowed carb exchanges. 

As for traveling, fast food will be off of the Children's menu, and if/when we eat out I can get salad and choose a main course off of either the appetizer menu, the old folks menu, the Keto menu, of order fish or chicken. I enjoy eating out and 3 times out of 4 I do it without trashing my system. I will not claim to be proof against temptation, but, USUALLY I behave myself!

And that is my plan for the next 2 weeks or so. I have quit gaining weight, I have lost a few ounces of the weight that I have gained, and I am now back on my diet!. Which feels good, by the way. And when I get back from visiting family I intend to buy new clothes. Just because I can. My daughter will be house sitting: perhaps we can go together.


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

What's your progress been like, Terri?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I am nor certain how I am doing. 

I lost a pound and a half before Christmas, BUT I have been eating salty snacks like mad for the last few days and so I am not sure what my weight is right now. I SUSPECT that I re-gained a pound or so over Christmas, if only because the kids refused to take any pie home with them, but I really do not know.

For example, breakfast this morning was Campbell's chicken noodle soup, and that is loaded with salt. AND we ate out tonight and I had the chicken, and restaurants salt and pepper everything heavily. 

I will not get an accurate weight until I go off of my current salt binge. After a couple of days of eating home cooking I can get an accurate weight. 

I do not know


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

Holidays are terrible for diets. I was at work and we had people dropping off giant boxes of chocolate, homemade fudge, hot cocoas, a gift basket, chocolate-covered marshmallows, ahhhh! I was so pleased at how kind people were but at the same time I wanted to light it on fire.

Drink a lot of good fluids to help flush the salt, go for a walk, and you'll be back on track


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

Terri, a year ago I was approaching a weight that had me say to myself, "nope, not going there." I changed what I ate. No more of the go to foods that I had eaten before menopause reared its ugly head. 

I switched to predominantly Mediterranean type foods. The use of spices in the foods made them mouth watering and I pigged the first few times I ate my own cooking. That right there is saying something, I enjoyed my cooking. As time went on I grew up and quit that and ate more reasonable amounts. 

I didn't deny myself anything I might want. That included chips if I wanted the extra salt at the time. I just didn't do the whole hog thing.

I've managed to lose 25 pounds without much thought put into it. Which is a total surprise to me.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Robin416, my Grandfather is from the Azores Islands, and you are talking HOME cooking when you talk about the Mediterranean foods! Because that was how people in that area used to eat, and I grew up on it. I did have to cut back hard on my bread and noodle intake, though.

I realize that the Mediterranean diet as it is found on the internet has cut out most of the grains, but I grew up on how the ordinary working stiff from that region ate, and they LIKE their grains. So I did cut grains way down though I kept almost everything else.

And, yes, like most dieters I get tired of the same-old, same-old from time to time. So I indulge a little, and then I cut back again. AND, after I indulge I usually restart my diet by cooking ethnic: in Honor of the coming New year, tomorrow we will have black eyed peas with plenty of ham (lean ham is better for me than the peas), And tonight I will broil up some pork with a little BBQ sauce and serve it with, I think, a baggie of last years green bean harvest. That is still pretty high in salt, but not as high as Campbell soup is!

I have enjoyed my change in diet, but the holidays are over, and the soup season is just beginning. And so I will make the next pot of soup. I make GOOD chicken soup, using dark meat, a little garlic, and whatever veggies are in the fridge. The more variety of vegetables there are the better the soup will be.


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

Then you're way ahead of me on the Med cooking thing. The recipes I follow are from a single person on the net. She does have pasta in some of her dishes but seems to focus very much on spices and the whole Med area and their dishes. I absolutely love Shawarma. 

I eat little in the way of processed foods anymore. If I've been running around in the city all day I'm not going to cook a complicated meal. If I don't have leftovers in the fridge then I'll eat a frozen dinner. I don't deny myself spaghetti or chili if that's what I have a taste for.

You mentioned your stomach shrunk and it took less to fill it. I've found the same thing. I wonder if it's because of the change in diet as opposed to eating less. 

Of course, living alone means I can do whatever I want as far as cooking.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

When you do stretching exercising you get more limber. I just figured the same works for stomachs

I ate Shawarma once: it was edible but not that good. That's OK, you can eat mine. 

In my opinion a better recipe for chicken is to marinate it in Italian salad dressing and slap it on the grill. YUM!


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

LOL That's a good analogy. 

Thing is, everyone does some of these dishes differently. I don't like lamb so I won't eat it. Or chickpeas, ick! I use white beans instead. Humus? Not going to happen. 

I hate using my grill. We get to danged hot for too many months down here to be grilling outside.


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## Big_John (Dec 1, 2021)

It's happening for the wife and I as well. We have had great success with KETO in the past, but we have to curb our alcohol intake. Couple of times in the past decade we have "fasted" alcohol, sugar and anything with wheat/flour. Made a HUGE difference and we lost a ton of weight. 

We also couple a diet change with walking.... and try to walk at least 30 minutes a day in a brisk pace.... 60 minutes when we have the time.


.....


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

I fell off the wagon when I got sick over the Summer. When I got my appetite back, I ate loads of "comfort" food - ie CARBS. Mostly potatoes in so many ways, but also some bread. Not a whole lot of bread, but more than I was eating when I was being careful about my weight.

Glad I held on to my "big" jeans, but I do not want to see those get snug around the waist (they are still baggy in the butt - LOL). 

Since I have limited self-control during the emotional holidays, I plan to climb back on to the wagon on Monday. 

Making plans to succeed, which includes removing the high-carb grub from the house, and bringing in Keto-friendly food.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Holidays are often difficult. My daughter found it difficult because this year a grandparent was not celebrating with us. 

For myself the culprit is generally stress, and during the holidays there are so many things to stress out about. 

2021 was a lousy year. I am glad that it is gone


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Terri said:


> Holidays are often difficult. My daughter found it difficult because this year a grandparent was not celebrating with us.
> 
> For myself the culprit is generally stress, and during the holidays there are so many things to stress out about.
> 
> 2021 was a lousy year. I am glad that it is gone


Yeah, this one was tough. December in general is loaded with a history of extreme losses, and then lost both parents this past year. Add all the baloney going down in the world, and well... 

On to better things!


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Gentle hugs on the loss of your parents!

2021 was awful. Long live the New Year!


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