Debbie Cousins's Journal, 25 Nov 23

Holidays and after are so challenging. Your 12 portions are impressive as is your resolve to get back down to normal. I'll try to follow that lead. :) 

Thanks, JovialJ! May we both continue to have success in our weight-loss journey. Yesterday, I made the menu for our Christmas get-together. I’ve got a month to get down to 175, so it won’t catapult me back up over 180. I ordered three new pairs of pajamas two sizes smaller tonight, because I have my current pj pants all pinned to take up about 5” of slack. 

I am not able to eat much so my meals will last until Sunday or Monday. By then I will be sick of most of it.  

I'm going back to norms on Monday.  

WisteriaSky233 and Morticia, I’m right there with ya. Today (Sunday) is my last day of indulgences. Monday morning, back to the program! I just woke up from a dream that my twin friends were paying for me to go to Hawaii with them and I had decided that I wasn’t going to log any food or restrict myself in any way while I was there. What a nightmare!!! I’ve recorded everything I’ve eaten without missing a day since 6/27/22 (and MOST every day since I joined here in 2017. Besides the Lord Himself, that is probably the single most reason I’ve been able to lose over 80 pounds. There have been many significant ups and downs in my weight from the time I joined in 2017 to that June date. But, through it all, I’ve never given up completely. (I fell off the wagon for almost a year once, but I stuck with it.) Yesterday was about a 3,000-calories day with all these Thanksgiving leftovers. Today won’t be QUITE as bad, but it will still be higher than what I normally eat. I’m going to make some sugar-free Jell-O today to start having for snacks/dessert tomorrow. My weight is a little over 180 this morning (no BM and over 1,000 calories of just desserts yesterday). My weigh-in tomorrow will definitely be up from the 177 it was last Monday, but I’m not discouraged. I made a conscious decision to indulge myself for this once-a-year holiday, and I expected there to be consequences. Being able to not feel deprived was worth it, though! Back on track tomorrow. But, today, I’ve still got Rum Cake and Broccoli Casserole to enjoy. Hope everyone else gets right back on the straight and narrow with me tomorrow. We’ve come too far to give up now! 

I haven't had every single dish at every single meal. I've been serving myself 3 oz of either ham or turkey, along with 1/2 cup of a couple of sides. I only allowed myself one bite of each of the desserts. I logged everything I was going to eat at the "big meal" each day, and then just planned the rest of the day's calories around that. I kept some shredded cabbage for those days when I run out of calories before I run out of day. ❤️ I also upped my calories in the app from loss level to maintenance level. I haven't weighed this week, but I'm hopeful I haven't budged the scale much! 🤞 

GigiDunaway, I haven't put any restrictions on calories this week (but I should have!) Starting tomorrow, I'm going to shoot for 1,800 which is still in the "losing" range for me - especially since I will be striving to get my walking back up significantly this week. When I'm able to get in 6 miles, it burns off almost 700 calories a day for me. Best wishes for a great week! 

I went to a weight loss workshop many many moons ago that had a really interesting approach. One exercise was to go to a restaurant, order our favorite meal with two plates, scoop half into the second plate, and hand it back to the wait staff asking that it be thrown away. This was to deprogram us from the message many of us learned as children never to waste food. That lesson did work for me, although some of the others didn't stick or I wouldn't be here. 🤣 I wouldn't have hesitated to get rid of any Thanksgiving food unless my family (who live with me) finished it in a few days. Most of it was taken home by extended family members. I needed to learn more about emotional eating, which is why I'm still dealing with it. Some of the other interesting ideas from the workshop were to do a deep decluttering of our homes over the weekend -- the idea being that many of us were accumulators, accumulating excess weight on our bodies as well as around us. 

You too, Debbie! 🥰 

Wow, AncientHippie, that would be SO incredibly hard for me to do!!! I always heard, “Clean up your plate,” and “There are people starving in China,” (meaning to be thankful that you HAVE food, and to eat it). Plus, for decades, I’ve had my own mantra that I used with my children and now my grandchildren: “Take as much as you want, but EAT all you take.” I hate for food to be wasted! Plus, we are BIG leftover lovers! Often, we enjoy the leftovers more than the original meal! Thanks for sharing, though. Sounds like a very valuable class. Great that it resonated with you! 

AncientHippie! I DID it (or a variation thereof) - I just threw away all the things that will be a temptation to me on Monday - a slice of cheesecake and about 2 cups of Watergate salad. There IS one slice of Rum Cake still remaining, but my husband really wants to eat that so I’m trying to save it for him. I hate having it sit right there on the counter where I see it every time I go into the kitchen. I KNOW! I’ll transfer it to a saucer and put it in a Ziploc bag on the desk in his office. That way, I won’t be looking at it all day.