This has been a very laid back weekend -- I have been verrrry rundown since Thursday so my home project plans were super scaled back. It doesnt help that I have been waking up at 3am. I don't feel "sick" but I don't feel "right".

I did go out to dinner on Friday .. I chose well (blackened halibut on an arugula lime salad) and the dish was delicious. I had two glasses of wine but that was it for the whole week so I don't feel bad about the indulgence.

This coming week, I am focused on getting lots of sleep and eating well so that I don't continue to feel rundown.

How are you doing?

OOh, sign me up for that halibut dish. We have halibut most Fridays.

I wonder why you are feeling off? Any better today?

My fave jeans are a scooch big, so I bought one size down (poshmark, naturally). We shall see.

I am feeling MUCH better today! Thank you, Mtn! I am not sure what was going on-- dehydration? allergies? insufficient sleep? None of them felt like a certaintly but I will be paying attention to all in the coming days.

I am planning to make the halibut dish here this week -- it really was a great dish and so easy for me to make. I am really going to lean into the fish and seafood dishes-- I love them and they are so quick to prepare. I just need to adjust my process for planning, ordering food for the week. Fish deliveries come to the stores on Tues and Fridays so I'll work around that. I am not opposed to getting some things (shrimp) frozen but I prefer fresh/unfrozen fish.

Its so great to be slipping out of your jean size vs pushing the waist! Congrats! My jeans were falling down this weekend and I figured I had just put on the larger size accidentally-- nope, it was the size I'd been wearing the last 2 months. I do have a few pairs in the next smaller size so I am good for now.

woo hoo! You go! I think last week you mentioned that you have been losing weight for six years! That is amazing. And definitely the way to do it to make it stick (the hard part... or at least the harder part, I think!)

Glad that you had such a great trip for your soul. Sue! All else will work itself out ... but big bummer on the resurrecting hip pain!

Yes, Mtn, I started seeing real losses when I started working at home FT in 2020. It hasnt been completely steady all 6 yr but I managed to either maintain or lose through those years. It has been much more steady since I started Ozempic in late March. I am losing at about the same rate I did when I was super focused-- but it is much more consistent and I don't have to work or struggle as much.

I hear of others who have extraordinary losses on GLP-1s. I am not seeing that .. I am seeing 2-4lb a month. 2-4 lb is great, dont get me wrong, but not in the range many others are reporting. I grumble at times but I really wouldnt want to lose faster. Plus my Dr is pleased that my BS is much improved (it was odd that it became elevated last fall even after losing a substantial amount). He was impressed with the weight loss but his focus is on my BS because it increased when it should have been decreasing and family history.

@Sueb20, Paige

@Funkyart, i bet the people losing more rapidly were are their highest when they started... the easy first few pounds. Your head is in the right place.

Good point, Mtn. Also, my assumption -- right or wrong-- is that those losing more on GLP-1s have bigger changes to make in their diet and lifestyles. I don't eat many sweets, never have full sugar sodas and high calorie foods have been very limited almost forever. I have cut volume and more so eating when I am idle and/or not hungry. .. or when I think I should eat. "Oh it is lunchtime -- let me go grab something".

Seafood must be a theme this week--I stocked up on tuna, salmon and shrimp. I just finished a batch of the NYT salmon corn chowder that was posted in another thread, which wasn't as good as I had expected. But it was healthy. We have rain in the forecast for several days, and I have fresh veggies from a farmers market haul, so I'll probably continue with soup. I ran across a French vegetable soup recipe recently that I didn't save, but was basic enough to recall.

I walked a lot last week, and want to continue doing so. But I need to get to the gym a few more times. I strength trained only twice last week, which is about half of what I usually do.

I agree, Funky, with your progress. Sudden, drastic changes rarely last. You've been making steady improvements, and, in my experience, as least, these hold out much better.

My assumption -- right or wrong-- is that those losing more on GLP-1s have bigger changes to make in their diet and lifestyles.

Yes, I agree.

Possibly it could be habits related, but there are actual differences in the GLP-1 receptors in people that can make a difference. Some people are just super responders on very low doses losing 10 lbs. a month yet there are a very small percent that are non responders. Most people very modest losses from 0.5 to 2 lb a week. I was on the lower end, 97 weeks to lose about 50 lbs. But I got there and have maintained since December.

We were out super late Saturday night for a concert and didn't get to bed until after 1 a.m. So, yesterday I took a rest day from working out and watched football for most of the day. Today I was able to work from home and I think I will do virtual Zumba. I went to the memorial for my colleague. It appears she struggled with addiction. I did not know this. I only knew her professionally and not on a more personal level. But still, someone mid-50's and super fit to pass away is distressing.

I'm very impressed that both mtn's and funky's jeans are too big. That is a very good feeling!

Mine are not too big but when I got my crazy discounted final sale Levi 501 90s jeans and tried them on I thought ugh, wish I'd ordered a size up. But then I wore them out to lunch last week and I was actually very happy with how they fit.

I'm not actually trying to go down a size because I have bought a lot, like really a lot, of jeans over the last few months! I don't think my bank account could handle having to replace!

I have a pair of Paige pants and I also love them. I think I might also have a pair of jeans. Need to look.

Nothing new for me. Again. I think I'm still at the higher end of those +/- 2 lbs. Haven't weighed myself since last week. Too disgusted. I did get back on the tread today (didn't at all last week).

Funky, you are 100% doing it the right way. I continue to be impressed with your dedication and progess.

I have had a weird thing going on for about 1.5 weeks -- more often than not, I am waking up at 3am. I am fully awake and ready to start the day .. and though I have never been a breakfast person, I am waking up hungry. Genuinely hungry.

I think my blood sugar is dipping at night. I don't measure my blood sugar but this seems pretty likely based on how I am feeling and Dr Google confirms. So apparently the fix is to shift my eating schedule to eat 2-3 hr before sleep or at least add a snack. Now that we are approaching soup season, I am thinking maybe just a small cup of soup around 8pm (I generally go to sleep around 11pm-ish).

Anyone else experience blood sugar drops that wake them up? If so, how did you

I don't do well when I wake up at 3am.. it really is a drag on my whole day. My mood isnt great and I just don't function at 100%. I really hope this works!

Funky, I‘m not familiar with blood sugar issues, but I just ran across a strategy from Andrew Huberman for falling back asleep in the middle of the night. If you search ”Huberman how to fall back asleep” you’ll find it. The AI result is most basic, but there are also short video clips where he describes it (he’s been making the rounds on podcasts and tv). I have yet to try this, but I wrote the basics on a post-it and have it on my bedside.

wow, no. But I think your strategy is a good one. Hope it works for you.

Feathers, that is fascinating -- I will definitely give it a try!

Waking up isnt usually a problem for me (falling asleep can be) ... I normally wake up at 5am so every bit of sleep before then is valuable lol.

I do tend to eat my last meal (and often only meal) in the afternoon so I see how it has thrown my blood sugar cycle off... that said, I have read some things that contradict what I read this am. I will try a few things and see how it goes.

Tonight I went to my first mahjong class. It was 7-9 pm and I knew there would be drinks and snacks available. I had just had dinner, I was not hungry, but that doesn’t always mean anything when chocolate is put in front of me. But: I brushed my teeth before I went, and told myself that was my ”bedtime brushing” and so I didn’t eat or drink anything but water. Go me! 🪥

However. There was a muffin incident earlier in the day so I wasn’t exactly well-behaved all day. But I may have learned a new trick for mindless ”social snacking.”

Finally down to my "fighting" weight again! It only took a tracking app and going keto, fully clean with no processed foods! After a few weeks I realized that the keto recommended macro ratios don't work for my metabolism, so I upped the protein a bit, lowered the fats a bit and kept the carbs low. The only negative is that the tracking and planning balanced meals is truly time consuming, specially if you are prone to being very organized/detailed with data.

I also discovered that cabbage, although a keto approved carb, does strange things to my metabolism. I gained 2 lbs overnight from eating a simple cabbage side dish and it then took two weeks to get rid of those 2 lbs. Cabbage is now out of the vegetable rotation!

Also didn't feel great this past week, a sinus infection or head cold. Today was the first day that I didn't feel like my head was in a fog.

Chispa, tracking like that is both hard and insightful. I really do learn a lot about myself when I track. Our bodies react in many ways to our daily habits. Tracking over time can tell us more. I love the "fighting weight" reference.

Chispa, congrats! What app are you using?

Feathers, sometimes I kid myself and think that the cookie, chips or ice cream really aren't an issue. And for me it is more the amount of calories in each and portion control.

I'm currently using Gemini as my “ diet coach.”

Very easy, And I'm always given encouraging feedback.

It now knows when start with my tea with Bliss creamer it is 70 calories.

Sometimes I show a photo of a recipe and it breaks down what my portion would be.

Going out to eat, I tell it the restaurant and we “ discuss” healthy options from the menu.

It's a fun way to be accountable.

Weight is sneaky snd mine snuck up quickly. Back to to trying tonlose 3 pounds.

Plus side: I am at the high end but of my lowest range.

Eld, I am using Cronometer, the free version. I use my PC to enter most of the tracking data, but also downloaded it to my phone so I can check food/quantities while in the kitchen. The upgraded version allows you to get more reports and has some shortcuts for entering data, but I haven't felt the need to upgrade.

I use Cronometer, too (free version). I like the percentage breakdown on macros and the fiber count. That’s about all I need.

Eld, I’d appreciate the recipe breakdown feature of Gemini. I’ll have to look into that.

Chispa, your cabbage reaction is interesting. Was the cabbage raw or cooked?

Ratherbesewing, the cabbage was cooked, a low carb cheesy cabbage casserole recipe, with ground beef, cabbage, onions, tomato, cheese, plus spices. I did eat a good sized portion, but never had an issue with cabbage, although I don't eat it that often. I've never had an issue with raw cabbage in coleslaw, but I don't usually eat that much of it.

Maybe I had been consuming very low carbs for the couple of weeks before and the cabbage just shocked my digestive system? Seeing that scale go up 2 lbs overnight, when I had been losing slowly/steadily, and then having it take two weeks to get rid of them was just frustrating! I was tracking/weighing all my food and activity, so there was nothing else to blame, but the cabbage!

No problems with eating brussels sprouts, which I eat a lot more often than cabbage.

Feathers, I just download a photo of the recipe and ask!

Here is the result:

It even remarks on my side notes!

Chispa, I'm having the same issue. For me it is salt but also carbs. I love salt!

That’s easy enough, Eld! Thanks for noting that.

Chispa, my weight can wildly fluctuate. It’s frustrating, but overall, you’re trending in the right direction.