Morning all! Life is carrying on here -- I havent weighed today but I feel like I am holding my own. I am not gaining but I am not comfortable at my current weight-- I was. I have been at this weight +/- 3 lb for a long while. I used to feel good about my progress and even a little sassy when I first lost a chunk of weight. I dont feel sassy anymore. I feel big .. it is time to make more progress.

It is also time to be real and acknowledge that I need to continue focusing on my mental health-- life is demanding a lot of me right now and I am demanding a lot of me. I am stressed and emotional and I need to do what keeps me steady and pleasant to be around. Sometimes that means ordering out-- or eating something that isnt optimal to my primary long-term goal to lose weight. My strategy is to maintain a healthy diet overall but to not stress any one choice. I may have ravioli one day because it is super fast and I enjoy it-- but I'll make a salad or veggie to go with it and I'll go leaner the next day. That works for me right now but I am looking at it as a "just for now" strategy not a "this is how I am going to lose 30lb by the end of the year" strategy. Because I do have goals for the year and I am not happy with where I am not, I decided that I need to time box it so for now, I am giving myself until the end of June and then go back to calorie counting.

How are you doing? What are you focused on for the coming week?

Finally after 5 months of up and down, I’m at my preferred highest weight. This means I want to be under this weight by a few pounds.

Funky, it also pays to mix things up. Lighter dinner, heavier lunch, at least 12 hours without eating, more water ( a hard one for me)

Not sure if this will work for you but after my daily morning weigh-in, I have a small notebook. I write the date and my weight next to it. I. take a second to look at that number to acknowledge it. If the number went down I can make a decision to loosen the reins for a time out. This can either be a result in staying the same or up.

At this point I am not giving myself that slack.

Counting calories does work but I get tired of it. Sometimes just writing down the items is enough. Seeing those potato chips or ice cream so not to wonder.

I do miss the camaraderie of WW, but that ship has sailed.

Great work, Eld! You are in a great range to stay in control. I am sure you will lose those few pounds and hit your ideal preferred weight very soon.

Water is tough for me too-- in fact, I almost came back to edit my post and mention that will be a focus this week. I just like my water with coffee grounds or tea bags lol.

I agree re: mixing it up but my schedule naturally "mixes it up" lol. I KNOW I need to get back to calorie counting-- it is the best way for me to kickstart and get back on track ... but I get a little obsessive with it and I just dont have the time or focus for that right now. I do think writing down what I eat is a great idea though-- thanks! Just knowing that I will write it down adds a level of accountability and awareness that I think will help!

I am not happy with my weight. Turning 60 seemed to also turn UP the scale.

I stopped taking the reflux med because of (suspected) side effect but today I woke up with a sore throat (which is my reflux symptom). So aggravating. I have made an appt with a functional medicine doctor next month. She spends two hours with patients at the first appt! I think/hope it will be helpful in dealing with my digestion issues and maybe help me fine tune my diet. I feel like I eat mostly healthy and pretty much just have 3 meals a day, no snacking, but clearly I am eating too much.

I was being consistent about exercising with weights before vacation and have not been good about it since we returned. I have been better this past week, but still only 2x. I do feel good when I do it, though. I do 3 sets (of 15 reps) of 6 different exercises, changing them up each time (I have a chart of exercises hanging on the wall). I started with 5 lbs weights but have increased to 8 lbs for most of the exercises.

I went to a low key spa/wellness place the other day and took advantage of a package deal: 20 min infrared sauna, 60 min deep tissue massage, and 15 min foot scrub/massage. It was amazing. I want to install a sauna in my house!

I would say good, bad, and indifferent.

I look like I should be healthy, if you look at physical fitness I am healthy, and I have a good diet.

On the other hand I may need to go on a third medication for my blood pressure because two is not enough. It was for a while, but it's continuing to go back up.

That would mean 5 or 6 prescriptions total. I can't do any dietary or physical lifestyle modifications to lower it. I already do all that stuff. (I had high cholesterol even when I was vegetarian)

Jwm, thank you! I will look at that.

Sue, you are very welcome! I really hope it helps you. I wish I had discovered it sooner.

Sue, what dosage of the Linzess are/were you taking? They have 72 mcg, 145 and 290. 145 is the usual dose but you can go down to the 72 if the 145 causes too many side effects (you know what I mean!) or up to the 290 if the 145 isn't working well enough. If you weren't on the 72, you might try that until they figure out what's going on. Hope you get it sorted sooner than later!

Probably TMI, but I just completely lost the urge to go. Everything was moving through fine, but when it was time to "drop the kids off at the pool" nope, wasn't happening. Only thing that worked was laxatives, and that took several days. No pain or anything, just nothing happening. Colonoscopy was fine other than a few polyps, so it's daily Miralax and Linzess and checkups unless it stops working. It's not a known side effect of any medications I'm on or used to be own, so who knows?

Well, since I stopped the Famotidine, things are improving! So now I’ll see what happens with the reflux…I had a beer yesterday and bam, first sore throat in weeks, so clearly I need to revisit the list of ”no” foods and follow the rules!

The Linzess was 145…I will ask for the lower dose if I need it again.

So far my 60s have been kind of annoying! But I know I’m lucky to have this be my only real issue.

@Sueb20 - I have heard of that happening after a colonscopy - it kind of clears out your gut entirely - have you tried probiotics? Maybe those would help rebuild the gut flora. I had some issues with reflux years ago so and I remember how annoying it is. I tried a lot of different things but I really think mine was alcohol and stress. My nutrionist recommended taking digestive enzymes. I hope you find some solutions.

I know what you mean funky - the sassy part when you first lose the weight :) I feel the same! But you are doing great. Going through stressful times and not regaining weight is a victory. It is easy for me to find comfort in foods, and definitely to take the lazy way out with foods. You're right about there being easy but still healthier ways too - it is a balance. I need to remember that. I feel like if I just focus on whole foods, I can't go too far down the wrong path.

I've been walking and playing pickleball. The stepbet has at least kept me consistently somewhat active. I still need to get back to weight training. DH and I are talking about a week long inn to inn type hike in September that I was hoping would motivate me, but not so far.

My diet hasn't been great. I am always so hungry. I just had an enormous breakfast, but it's like I haven't eaten. And it had all the things - lots of fiber, protein, fat, volume in apples and strawberries. I don't get it. I'm trying to concentrate on more salads, the volume is helpful keeping me fuller, and I know more water would help too. But I just don't like drinking water :)

I'm just bouncing around right now. Only down 6.5 lbs since Feb, but according to the Tanita scale it's all fat, so the trainer and gym are helping there (started at the end of Feb). I am really focusing on the protein right now to see if that will give me the kick I need.

Has anyone here tried any of the clear protein supplements? I can only drink about a third of the Fairlife shake at a time before the taste gets to me, and besides, the sweet ones like that just make me crave candy, cookies, etc. I bought a single serve packet of the Oath Nutrition Clear Protein (Icy Blue Razz) at Target and mixed up half of it Sunday morning for my sister and me to test it out. It was OK, would have been better as a slushie, LOL. However, later I got a really bad upset tummy but it was right aster eating lunch, so I don't know if it was the protein drink, my lunch or the Linzess I'm taking. Gonna test out the other half today.

Oath Nutrition Clear Protein

Lego, the GI doc said it can happen after a colonoscopy but usually for a week or two, not 6 months. I did try a probiotic for a month even tho doc said there’s no “clinical evidence” that it works. It didn’t help.

I did 30 min on the Peloton this morning using my new trick — watching Nine Perfect Strangers on my ipad instead of listening to the instructor! Sometimes I get annoyed with them.

Sorry @Sueb20- that is a long time. Hope you find a solution soon.

Did 4 miles on the treadmill today at 3.6 mph. Not earthshaking, but pretty damn good for me. Still trying to up my protein game though.

Impressive, Jo!!

Last week I finally got myself back on the Peloton tread. Not wearing my weighted vest. That just felt too heavy and hard. I realized when I got on it the first time that I actually did miss it! And then, bam got sick this weekend. No idea what I had/have. Still recovering. 2 negative C tests. I just felt like I'd been hit by a truck and was very nauseous. Although at times I couldn't tell if I was nauseous or starving. Feeling somewhat better today but still slightly nauseous. Hopefully I will be up to getting back to treadmill later this week.

Have not weighed myself in a week due to not feeling well. Will try to do that tomorrow morning.

The one thing I do not have trouble with is drinking a lot of water. I actually like the taste of plain ice cold water and other than coffee in the morning, it's all I drink at home.

thanks, Sueb20. I'm getting there. Leaving for a summer in CT in a few days which means walking, walking, walking. (It also means lazing on a beach chair reading, but I'll gloss over that part.)

Yes, my niece is in the same boat. Had negative colonoscopy and endoscopy following gall bladder removal in January and still having issues. I need to see what's going on with her updates. It's super frustrating for her too.

So far so good this week. I did Pilates and Zumba on Monday, Zumba today, and have Pilates private session on Wednesday. My weight has been bouncing around. I could be the travel (change in routine, food, more alcohol) or just my dose needs to go up, or else my body is just done losing weight. I have 3 more pens in this box, so I'll see where I am in a couple of weeks. I haven't been walking on the TM after dinner like I did during final grading, so I'm doing that now.

Edit: great to see you JoJoCo! Hope you can have a good recovery.

Straitlover, I like the Fairlife Vanilla, but I bought the Premiere Protein and I don't like those as much. I've not tried the clear, never seen that. I think I'd maybe try bone broth but those are usually full of sodium.

gsciencechick, where do you get the Fairlife Vanilla? Is it the regular, not the Core Power? All I can find round here for the regular is the Chocolate. I know they make Vanilla and Strawberry or at least used to, but can't find them, and I can only get the chocolate at Sam's BJ's and Costco, no regular stores. I might be able to do the vanilla in coffee or in a smoothie. I see it online, but it's very expensive!

This has been a tough week mostly due to my beloved dog. She suddenly seemed sick on Sunday and we ended up rushing her to a vet after she was having trouble swallowing food. After a pricey sedation and exam, we discovered nothing concrete. I am cooking food from her and she's on some medication for pain and nausea (though we don't know which one is the issue). In any case, this derailed my plan for a long trail run on Sunday morning, resulted in some sleep deprivation Sunday night, and truncated my exercise on Monday. At least Saturday I took an extra long drive to a 50m pool and got in a long swim before a long drive home in terrible traffic.

I've been drinking the Fairlife Core Power chocolate protein drinks to try to increase my protein intake. It was something I'd been doing on and off, but have been trying to be more purposeful about it. I may have to try the vanilla on gsciencechick's recommendation. As a vegetarian I do think it's more difficult to achieve optimal protein intake, though I do try to include high protein vegetarian food regularly. I've also been adding chia seeds and hemp hearts to my oatmeal in an effort to increase fiber and protein and reduce (hopefully) glycemic impact. I'm struggling a bit with my Whole Foods being constantly out of cottage cheese, one of my regular breakfast protein sources but have been substituting Greek yogurt.

I haven't felt up to 36 hour fasts this week, just 24 hour 2x/week. I try to listen to my body and not force it if I just don't feel capable. To be honest I've been feeling a bit low energy, including in my workouts. Maybe stress and/or sleep related.

Work continues to be stressful. I have several employee issues. One is a hard worker but underperforming in his leadership role and I have not been able to get him to improve through feedback. Another has had seriously unprofessional behavior that I've had to address. And yet another seems to be reverting to underperformance after a lot of hard work with her to get her back to performing at level a few years ago. I'm new enough to this role that I'm still learning how to manage these situations and I hate that I cannot just fix it on my own like I would a software bug. I feel like I have a million responsibilities and not enough hours in the day.