Now to Level Off

It's been a while.  Been somewhat busy, but mostly simply not inspired to write.  Seemed like a good idea to check in before the holidays hit.

I've hit my goal weight and have now lost a little bit more.  (see my menus, etc here) That's actually not so good. I now need to stop losing weight but also not go back to eating a ton of carbs and sugar. was wayyy down on my calories yesterday.  Right on track with carbs, but low on fat and calories.  I hunted around the house and ended up eating some sun dried tomatoes, but I don't really like eating just to up my intake.  I wasn't especially hungry.

Not the worst problem to have, but still something I need to keep an eye on as the holidays kick in.

Halloween went well and the three days prior visiting Katie at school, where I ate an enormous amount of carbs and candy (relative to the past couple of months, not compared to what I was doing while I was gaining a pound a week!). I felt a bit bloated, but felt better when I got back on track at home.

Pete had a two week staycation and it was nice having him hanging around!  Now that he's back at work, I feel like I didn't see him at all.  Really we need him to take a month off so we can include winding down from work, getting some rest, getting a little trip in and some home projects.  Two weeks is not enough!

In other news, my hormones are kicking my ass.  Sweats, sleep disruption, moody.  Nice. All that and getting old too! What a deal!

One success was I checked in with my GP who is also a homeopath and got back on vitamin B.  That should help with the mood stabilization and the 3pm blahs I've been getting.  When I went to see her, I was on day three of a headache and possible virus.  She suggested I see the chiropractor in the office and was able to fit me in right then.  My neck had been hurting for about a month and no amount of anti-inflammatory or massage seemed to be helping so I was thinking it was maybe time to consider chiropractic.  Sure enough, he cracked my neck in three places and I left headache free.  A little sore, but nothing I couldn't sleep through and it was mostly gone by the next day. Miracle!  I will definitely use him again.

Zack had his first interview.  They had him work several hours and then decided it wasn't a good fit.  He was very disappointed. That first job hunt is so hard. Hope he lands something soon.

He and I are both fighting off some virus going around.  Not sure if we picked it up in Katie's dorm or from friends around here.  It's running around both places.  I'm hoping to stave off the worst, entirely if I can, but at least through Sunday.  We have a busy weekend including my first time doing a demo for someone else's Tupperware party.  This is where I see if I can make a go of this thing, so send me some good vibes!

The trees are turning and maybe the weather is going to stay fall like?  It was crazy hot this week (or was that just me?!).  It's unnerving to have it so hot in November, but I may as well enjoy the outdoors before we wreck the whole planet.

A recent visitor to the yard.

Tuesday is the election, and I can't wait for it to all be over.  Once again, I will go to bed at a decent hour, remembering that my watching or not watching the exit polls doesn't actually affect the outcome! Hope to wake to a peaceful day regardless of how it all goes. Or at least sunny mild weather, right?

Weight Rebellion

I've lost about 9 lbs over the course of this low-carb eating I've been doing.  I found that out on Friday, the only day I weigh myself.  Since then there has been a decided uptick in my carb intake.  This is no accident, it's what I always do. 

I had hoped to lose about 8lbs and then maybe work on losing about 5 more at the most.  But once I overshot my original goal--which happened quickly and unexpectedly--I started to get rebellious. 

By the way, that last 3lb loss was weird.  I had lost about .5lbs the week before and then was suddenly down by 3lbs.  I thought the scale was wrong, but no, it turns out I really did lose it and am still hovering around there.  No idea why.

My pattern with losing weight is that I feel that my clothes are a little loose and then give a mental "fuck you" to...who?...and eat whatever crap I want for several days.  This usually erases any room in my waistband again and I'm back to square one.

Now, I haven't thrown the whole deal out.  I'm still tracking my menu and thus calorie and carb intake on My Fitness Pal, and that seems to keep me from completely flying off the beam, but still I don't know what I'm pushing back on so hard.  One day I felt like I could barely eat enough to not have the tracker yell at me for not eating enough, then next I'm downing M&Ms the same night I made spaghetti for dinner.

Still some work to do there.  In any case, I am overall still paying more attention to what I eat and why I'm choosing what I choose.  Sometimes sleep feels like the munchies, sometime boredom or loneliness does too.  I'm reading more and I picked up what I hope will turn into a part time job (see previous New Venture post).  More up and out and less sitting and munching.

And still often giving into real temptation with no regrets.

A new venture

I'm a Tupperware Lady!  I know! I can't believe it either!
But really, I signed up last week and so far it's been very fun.

I've been trying to think of what kind of job I wanted to get, now that my homeschool days are over, and the idea of picking up some full time or even part-time outside the house gig made me feel terrible.  Aside from the fact that committing to something would get in the way of my long-time event planning work.

My hope is that the Tupperware thing will lace in well around event planning and even leave room for volunteer work.

The fact is, since the kids finished homeschool, I've been spending way too much time on the computer and alone.  Not good for me, my psyche or my health.

It was a fairly small financial risk to start up--all in all maybe $200--I'll keep you posted.  It may turn out to be less and I will probably be unwilling to invest more and will instead move on to something else.

So that's my news.  Want to party or look over the current catalog?  Here's my web site:  http://lizen.my.tupperware.com/

In other news, I am back down to the weight I formerly hoped I would never get heavier than, LOL!  I heard once never to judge your body because today's weight gain will be your future target weight!  True for me!  If I maintain this weight, that's fine.  If I lose more, that's fine too.  My clothes fit and that's what I need for now.

Have still been keeping my carbs down under 100 per day and some days I'm really surprised by how much I can still eat.

Zack is still job hunting, but holiday hiring is about to start, so I'm sure he'll land something soon.

I'm already looking forward to Florida in March.  Maybe we can get out of town sooner?

Peace

I'm not a writer.  It doesn't come easily and no one is ever going to quote some wonderful turn of phrase I've come up with.  I like to babble here about stuff I'm up to but it's mostly for friends and family.  Never had many hits or followers and that's fine.

I have a whole post written up about what I've been up to lately, but I just can't post it today. I need to post this first.

It's International Day of Peace according to my FaceBook feed.  Not much evidence of it if you ask me.  Charlotte is breaking out in violent protests.  Stranded motorist Terrence Crutcher was shot to death with his hands up.  Teenage football players get death threats for exercising their constitutional right to peaceful protest.  And more people give a damn about the breakup of Brangelina and feel more outrage about athletes taking a knee than any of this.

To say nothing of bombs in NY, and war in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine. Of windows of Jewish businesses being smashed in France, of right-wing extremists being elected to office around the world.

And Donald Trump climbs in the polls.  Trump is headed to the town where my daughter goes to college and I just suggested  she stay on campus this weekend because I don't want her to be the victim of or witness to all the violence and hate that he inspires.

No, I am not feeling peaceful today.  Instead I am feeling rather helpless, fearful and not very hopeful. 

New Food Tracker

Surfing around the web I came across a rec for a food tracking site called My Fitness Pal  It adds up my carbs for the day plus calories, fat, protein and salt intake and sets a goal for the day based on my target weight.  Not taking it that seriously but will be using it instead of keeping a food diary here.

If you're interested you can see my logs at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/LizEN1.
 
In other news, we're getting used to only having three people in the house but it is still very weird.  I am appreciating technology.  We hear from Katie in a variety of ways and pretty often.  I doubt the frequency will keep up once classes start getting more demanding and her social calendar fills, but it is great to know she is doing well and taking good care of herself.

Zack is back on the hunt for a job. Pete and I both grew up with family businesses so we're not much of a resource on how to get a first job, but I'm sure he will find something.

I am planning to tackle a lot of household projects, but first have to catch up on a lot of housework. Never a fav!

 

Catching up--get used to it!

Yeah, well, maybe it would have been fair to warn you that I'm a flighty blog-keeper.  Sometimes I feel like posting a lot.  More often I start doing other things and then remember this exists.

In any case, it was way more important to spend a lot of time with my daughter before she went away to college and once we got back from dropping her off I had to attend to all the other things I put off while we were getting ready.

It was my goal to go pretty low-carb for about a month and I made it just about through August.  But I had every intention of being very liberal with carbs when I got close to Katie leaving.  I wanted to make a lot of her homemade favs and hit a few restaurants we like and then, during drop off, I knew we would have to be eating some school and restaurant food.

When I'm on a food program, I try to make better and conscious food choices.  On a menu, I try to make the best selection I can from the choices I have.  If I think I'll be indulging, I try to pick my times and keep to the plan for the rest of the day.

This has worked out pretty well.  I kept asking myself "is this what I want to spend my carbs on?"  The answer has been yes for cookies and tarts at a reception; tuna casserole; fruit; a doughnut from the Apple House; real NY style pizza; papdum and maybe the sauces at an Indian restaurant; packaged peanut butter and some things I've forgotten but you get the idea.  Not worth it to me were rice; bread; crap pizza; ice cream; chocolate milk; candy and a bunch of other carby things.

Lots of cheat days! I even skipped a couple of workouts!  Still, the bloating has remained at bay, I enjoyed many good times with my family and I even lost a few more pounds (about 5lbs total now).

In other news, I made two kinds of Cloud Bread.  The original recipe was good but then I found one for a loaf of cloud bread and I tried that one. Both were pretty good.  Have to say I like them better right out of the oven, they seem to taste eggier once refrigerated.  But everyone here liked them overall and I was nice to bite into something bready for a change. Not hard to make, but I do need my mixer which means hauling out the ten-ton Kitchen Aid. I'll make it every now and then. It sure is pretty out of the oven.

Carb count, breakfast, workouts and sweating. Food Diary 8/16

Hey--so here's this installment I drafted about three weeks ago and never got around to  posting:



I hadn't been adding up my daily carb count, but decided to get a rough idea today.
WOW-that yogurt has a lot of carbs and relative to other fruits, blueberries are toward the high end.  I thought that meant I'd have to find another alternative.  It can't be eggs.  They make me sick if I have too many.  I hate eating veg for breakfast. Lox is great but very expensive. :-P

But I started adding up the whole day and I'm still coming in way under 100g. If I'm going to spend my carbs, I'm happy to do it in the morning with I breakfast I like.

As far as the effect on my workouts (running), I'm finding I'm sweating a lot more and keeping my pace up might be harder, but can't tell because some days I'm on the treadmill and some days on the street. Reading up on the sweating I found that it's pretty common and way worse for some people.  I'm only noticing it if I exert myself others are sweating all day at first.  Now--I also get fun fun hot flashes, but I can tell the difference but hard to explain how.

Breakfast
Yogurt with blueberries and pecans

Lunch
Egg Salad:
and a few mini peperonis while I waited for the eggs to boil.  Love those peperonis and the label says 0 carbs, go figure.
(note to self, boil eggs to have on hand!)

Food Diary 8/15

Just the diary today.

Breakfast
Running low on yogurt so mixed some cottage cheese in with it
cut up plum
pecans

Lunch
can of Progresso French onion soup with Jarlesburg melted in

Snack
coffee with milk and a little unsweetened cocoa powder

Dinner
spinach casserole-recipe HERE, which everyone loved
flounder, baked with rosemary salt and butter

made potatoes to fill out the meal for the family, I just ate extra spinach.

Missing those carbs, bored. Food Diary 8/14

Still hard to get used to eating all this fat and I'm having the same challenge I usually have with a change to a healthy diet--vegetables bore me out of my mind. As a large portion of what I'm eating, I dread them as the days go by.  I hate cooking in general and when we have to add in chopping, it's even worse! The strange thing is, I really do like veggies but not for breakfast and not for snacks. 

So far the bennies are not making up for the lack of favorite carb foods. Yes, I've tried mashed cauliflower and spaghetti squash and zucchini spaghetti and they taste fine, just not like mashed potatoes and pasta, which I like and miss. They taste like what they are--boring! I think it's because you have to eat so much more of them to feel full and I feel like all I do now is eat and plan menus. I'm hoping that it will become more natural over time and I won't feel like all I do is work around what I need to eat every day.

I like THIS site for easy lists of what to eat and not eat and what the carb numbers are on a lot of common foods.Seeing the numbers is motivating.


Diary
Breakfast
cucumber slices with cream cheese and lox

Snack
Butter coffee (see yesterday's post on this)

Lunch
Ate out at California Shabu Shabu:
Plate of assorted veg and a couple of tofu cubes
Steak and salmon

I passed on the Udon noodles and rice.

Dinner
leftover chicken thigh and gravy
some cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices
slice of Jarlesburg cheese
handful of pecans
Not hungry anymore but not satisfied:  craving salt--added a handful of the wasabi almonds then felt done.

One thing the website I linked to above helped me with was the advice that I should eat until I felt satisfied if I was staying in the low carb range of foods. Since I didn't feel done for dinner, I checked in to see what I was craving and once I hit on it, I wasn't hungry anymore.

Bulletproof coffee, cheating and Food Diary 8/13

Been seeing a lot of references to Bulletproof Coffee in low carb menus and articles online and I wanted to find out what it is and all the fuss around it. First, it seems like there are a lot of individual butter coffee recipes out there AND there is an official (and seemingly pricey) "real" Bulletproof Coffee that has branded oil and coffee products. 

I was skeptical of the brand and its claims and came across THIS article that confirmed my thinking on a "miracle coffee" offering too good to be true results.  I'm also not interested in anything that would have me lose 1lb a day.  That sounds way bad for a body and I could just image how my face would sag lol!  This Old Liz's skin needs time to get used and adjust to body changes! And is regular caffeine intake a good idea for a diet that tends to dehydrate?

As far as the recipe, I tried a lungo coffee Americano from my Nespresso machine (Envivo lungo pod with two lungo pulls) with a Tbs each of unsalted butter (Kerrigold) and organic coconut oil.  I've also seen butter with half and half, with MCT oil, and salted butter. I also used a hand blender for a quick mix up--that means a little frother I have, not my electric stick blender.

It was....fine. I didn't taste any coconut flavor which for me was a good thing. I've had problems with a lot of oil at one time and I think this might be bearing out here too, but nothing alarming.  I might try the butter/half and half on a day I think I will need to ward off hunger pangs.  In the past, caffeine has helped with this and on days when I really need to run around and will get a late lunch that has been helpful.  I think this might have tased better with coffee rather than espresso.

Katie and I are interested in trying butter tea (mentioned in the article linked above), which sounds like it might be a better combo with butter.  Will be ordering some more unsalted butter from the farmer this week so we can experiment.

With all the bulletproof coffee talk I see around the internet, I feel sure that we'll be seeing butter coffee on cafe menus any time now.

Will let you know any results from my consumption of this concoction in tomorrows posting of today's food log.


Food Diary Stuff--8/13
Just to clarify again, I post food diaries at least a day later so I can include the whole day.
 
I decided I'd be fine with "cheats" from the start. I knew weekends would be the toughest, since we tend to eat out or on the run. Not going crazy--especially in this first month, but also not stressing over every little thing.  BUT--one cheat I didn't plan on and was not worth it.

Late breakfast around 10am
2 eggs scrambled with some cheddar cheese shredded on top

Lunch-out
Went to DRP for lunch I love their Belle Haven salad and added some grilled chicken to it, cheated a bit with the dried cranberries in the salad since they are always sweetened.

Snack
Handful of wasabi almonds
5 prunes--THESE were the big cheat I didn't plan on. Looked at the label and WOW a lot of carbs, most of them sugar.  I guess I thought the fiber would balance it out.  So, not crazy off the ranch cheat (not processed crap) but not worth the extra carbs imo. No more prunes for me.

Dinner--I liked this, my kids (older teens) did not
Chicken thighs with smoked paprika, onion powder and salt with a sour cream/pan drippings gravy.
Broccoli Slaw with nuts and seeds and dried cranberries-this was a mix that i didn't realize had the cranberries, which I could have skipped.  I made a dressing of mayo, lemon juice and garlic powder.

A run, a weigh in and Food for 8/12

Friday has been my weigh day for a long time. I try not to stress over the numbers, but I do like to have an idea of what's going on from week to week and admittedly, a high number will bother me.  In the lead up to cutting the crap out of my diet was a month long trend up and an increase in discomfort, intestinal issues, tight cloths and cramps. So far, the lack of grains/carbs has certainly relieved a lot of these issues and that has been true in the past.

So, from last week I am down about 4lbs. Don't get too excited, I was also on my period last  week and now tapering off which can mean anything from a 2-5lb adjustment as I cycle through.  It's way more important to me that I feel better. But I won't lie that trending downward in weight does make me happy.

I've consciously upped my water and a bit of salt and that has helped some intestinal side effects I'd experienced. Feeling good in general.

Went for a run on the treadmill.  Way too hot and humid to run outside today. I ate breakfast before I went. Usually I eat after a run, but I got a late start and was hungry.  I sweat more than usual, but that could be due to any number of things. It was my typical run otherwise.  Didn't feel like I had any special challenges.

Food Diary 8/12

Breakfast
Yogurt with pecans

Lunch
grabbed a handful of peanuts (roasted, salted) when I got in from errands
leftover spinach and chickpeas

Dinner
Stir fry with frozen carrots, cauliflower, broccholi and tofu-tiny bit of honey in the sauce

I probably snacked, but can't remember what or when.

Food Diary 8/11

Forgot to do this.  See if I can go back in time...

Breakfast
Yogurt with blueberries
handful of pecans about an hour later

Lunch
Ate out at a lunch meeting
Salad with pears and gorgonzola with grilled chicken
cranberry juice with lime

Snack
two handfuls of wasabi almonds
I think I had a few baby carrots too?

Dinner
grilled chicken wings
assorted raw veggies
hummus

Felt hungry but not bad and at appropriate times to eat something.  Getting used to not feeling over-full after meals but just sated. That feeling doesn't always kick in right away, sometimes I have to leave the table feeling a little unsatisfied but then in a few minutes I realize I'm fine.

Lowish not no/possible effects on the family/Food Diary 8/10

Sometimes I'll be filling this in throughout the day and publishing later, so I may screw up the verb tense as I go along.

Breakfast
3 egg omelette with leftover veg from dinner-mushrooms, onions, asparagus
handful of blueberries

Snack?
Coffee with half and half with a friend.

Lunch
Leftover steak from dinner
Baybelle cheese

Weird full/not full feeling so decided to wait and see if the desire to eat more subsided.
Still peckish a half hour later so had
5 pitted prunes.
That seems to have done the trick--also, not a good idea to eat too many prunes!

Dinner
Ordered in because we all got in so late.  I used Foodler to order from Namaste, a Nepalese restaurant (similar to Indian food).

Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Curry
Saag (creamed spinach) with chickpeas

I had some of each and skipped the rice and naan that came with the meal.

I haven't been including non-veg carbs with dinner lately, figuring the family was probably getting enough throughout the day. This isn't very uncommon even pre-low carb for me.  Zack has also been having trouble sleeping through the night.  Not exactly aligned with my food changes, but he really loaded up on the rice last night so it will be interesting to hear if he slept better last night. If so, I might need to adjust the dinner menu for the family.

Read up a bit on low carb, high fat diets (LCHF) online last night and this morning.  I've been doing what I usually do when I make a diet change--just going with my intuition at first.  So, I learned I've been on a moderate low carb diet and certainly not a no carb, tho some meals probably have been no carb. Apparently, I've been eating too much of "nature's candy" (fruit), oh well.

That's all fine with me, but still worth reading about.  Learned that there can be side effects and that most of the ones I've been experiencing are likely from not drinking enough water (typical for me anyway) and possibly low salt intake. Salt intake is tricky for me.  My homeopath/MD told me to up the salt, but because I can get vertigo, the ENT docs tell me to limit the salt.  Since I haven't been having a problem with vertigo lately, I will probably up the salt a bit and it's good to know to keep an eye on it.

The only positive I feel so far is the lack of that bloated feeling.  My clothes still fit the same and I only weigh myself on Fridays so have no idea if that's changed yet. But one day in and I didn't feel all blown up and if that's the only benefit, it's worth it!

I try not to stress about food.  Having to prepare meals is a really stressful activity in and of itself for me, so I try not to pile on or I end up really being mindless about what I eat. I don't have a carb intake goal, a target weight (not really, though I always have a number I'd love to get back down to, I try to ignore it!) and I have no intention of doing this perfectly or not going back to the occasional slice of pizza, baguette or bowl of pasta.

As one of the sites I've looked at said: "Don't eat processed crap." Good enough long-term goal for me ;-)

Food Diary 8/9

Breakfast
Plain whole milk yogurt with figs and pecans

Lunch
Leftover crab legs

Dinner 
Steak, sauteed asparagus, onions and mushrooms

Felt very snacky and hungry after lunch, lots of walking around the kitchen and looking into the fridge and pantry.
Snacks throughout the day
handful of wasabi almonds
blueberries
cherry tomatoes
coffee with a lot of half and half

Not eating anything after 8pm was especially hard.

Was planning to make bean soup for tonight but found out that there is barley mixed in with the beans I bought. Grrr.  Normally I wouldn't care, but not in the first couple of weeks of limiting carbs.  If I was going to be cheating, barley is not the fist thing I'd be grabbing!

Food Diary for 8/8 (and all those pills I take)

Forgot to mention that I take a bunch of supplements daily also.
Premier Digest (Digestive enzymes)
Culturel (MWF only)
Vitamin C and D
Fish Oil
Iron
Chelated Magnesium
Folidren (Vitamin B)

I also sometimes take a cortisol inhibitor to reduce anxiety and heart palpitations due to my crazy peri-menopausal hormones (fun fun fun!)

and 3 weeks a month I use a progesterone cream called Proganol to help with hot flashes and mood swings.

Food Diary 8/8
Breakfast
3 Eggs Scrambled with milk, water to drink

Snack--met up with a friend
Fruit cup
Iced herbal tea (no sweetener added)

Lunch
Carrots dipped in sun butter-a new fav.
Seltzer

Munching
A fig and maybe some nuts, I can't remember

Dinner
Crab legs, corn on the cobb
Seltzer

Munching
Couple of handfuls of wasabi soy almonds

Was hungry most of the day until after dinner and snacked more than I would have liked, but I think grazing might come with the no carb territory.  The corn was my first major carb intake since starting AND the first time I really felt full after a meal, but then I felt too full.  A little goes a long way with carbs according to my stomach, but not according to my appetite yet ;-)

OK, off to get my day started!

Routine

I used to think I should be this spontaneous, go with the flow person.  Should is such a damaging word, right?  The fact is, I thrive on routine.  If I don't have a foundation of routine, then I can't break it! For me, the dull, dreary day to day stuff of getting through life gets done faster, easier and more reliable with routine.  I'm still not great at it, but when it sticks, I am able to keep up with keeping up and then have more time to do the fun stuff.


Here's my current routine:
Mornings--Can vary, but I usually get these basics done: See Pete off to work and handle the dog.  Do all the bathroom stuff then, check email etc, have breakfast, get dressed and get the bed made.  When I'm really organized I get the whole bedroom/bathroom cleaned up, but that's hit or miss.

I did that program where you kept the sink clean all the time--Fly Lady was it?  Didn't stick with it, but took the advice to get everything I had to do upstairs done before coming downstairs and when I can do that it works really well.

Mondays--30 minute run
Wednesdays--over to the gym to lift, mostly do upper body because I find it incredibly boring and figure the running takes care of my legs.
Fridays--30 minute run

I usually cover just under 3 miles in my runs, but it varies depending on whether I run outdoors, the weather and how I'm feeling that day.

I sometimes skip it, but have been able to maintain this schedule for a few years.  I used to run three days a week but I gained a lot of weight and heard tell I could be stressing my system.  Moved to two days and leveled off nicely. Not trying to prove anything to anyone or even be especially fit, just want to keep moving so I can move to do the things I want to.

Food yesterday and today so far:

No/low carb was easier yesterday

Breakfast--plain yogurt with pecans and peaches
Lunch--canned salmon with cream cheese and mayo mixed in.
Snack--carrots with guac and some almonds
Dinner--sausage with green beans.  The kids had rice with this that I skipped.

Felt peckish around 8pm and decided to ignore that.  Drank a lot of water.

Today
Breakfast--3 eggs scrambled with some milk mixed in. Water.
Heading out to meet a friend for coffee.  Will be tempted to get a cookie.  Have to find a nice alternative.

Have a great day!

No Carb/Low Carb

It's time.  Been putting it off for a while, but the "right" moment hasn't come with fireworks or a big arrow announcing itself. So I just picked a random day to knock out the carbs and sugar for a while.  All I've been doing is gaining weight and enough is enough.

Also have noticed my portions are out of control, but first things first.  Clean up my food habits, then if needed work on portions.

This was day three and I woke up famished! But a breakfast of yogurt/pecans/peaches did the trick and I lasted right til lunchtime without feeling hungry.  Very different from yesterday when all I thought about was being hungry.  So what I've read seems to be bearing out. It gets easier and my idea of "full" will adjust.

To be clear, this is not a diet.  It is a reset. I can get on a jag of snacking, grabbing quick convenience foods and basically not paying attention to what I'm eating.  This was fine in my 20s and 30s but now that I'm a woman of a certain age, what I eat shows up in how I look and more important, how I feel.  Having tight cloths affects my body image--and if I go a size up, my wallet!

Starting this blog to keep track of things, try to stay aware of what I'm doing and discuss anything that pops into my head about how I feel about the body changes and other things that are coming with my second half-century.

I welcome comments that are not abusive, judgy or shaming.  If you want to troll, you won't find an audience here.

Be nice.