h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This week I have played with the same 2 pounds up and down. I ended the week with an average change of 0.1 pound. I know that tortises are expected to move slowly, but I am a very slow tortise indeed.

It appears that I am spending around 3 months in each 10 pound weight range. I was in the last one for 96 days, but that included the 2 weeks in Blighty and the following week which I decided to also take off from the plan. I have been in the current one for 62 days now. But I am just 2 pounds away from th enext one, so maybe I'll get out of it soon. Hope so.

Good luck everyone. I hope this week shows losses for all of you.

I've definitely slowed down. I've lost only two pounds over the last two weeks. Of course I'd like to see it go faster, but I'm not really disappointed at all. After all, it is still a loss.

I picked up some grape seed extract at Costco yesterday. Boy, that stuff is expensive! I hope it is worth it. I am going to start with a single 150 mg capsule per day. Putting it in perspective, that 7.59 cents per day. I guess I can afford that.

Witty, I buy my grape seed extract mail order. We don't have a Costco. I have no idea if it actually helps or not. But I figure it can't do any harm. I think I pay $18.99 for a bottle of 180 capsules. Course I have to pay shipping.

Okay, since I've held at this weight for more than three days, I can safely say that I've lost 14 lbs since I started this thing. Unfortunately, not all according to plan. I'm likely going to be moving in with a friend within the month and the worry is driving me insane...so I haven't wanted to eat much of anything.

God bless friends, though -- I am *so* grateful for my friend's generousity! It will be a long distance move (420+ miles) and she's going to drive down and get me and the cats and a couple of boxes of stuff, if I can't find work in about three weeks. I've lived in the LA area since I left home, 37 years ago, so it'll be a brand new experience; much easier if I can just find a job, instead! Send in a good word to Saint Cajetan for me!

with the move. Moving house is something I don't plan to do again until absolutely necessary.

Last week was stressful enough, as I had almost daily evening rehearsals for a show starting this Thursday,as well as assisitng in preparation for Farmers' markets that at the last minute were cancelled due to Foot & Mouth precautions , and crisis steps to minimise losses were put in place (we succeeded in selling everything we had prepared that needed to be sold on Saturday ) - to celebrate this victory from jaws of defeat we had a generous Chinese meal.

This unsettling state of affairs is my explanation for being up a pound and a half on last week (so 8 pounds down after six weeks). To be honest though I think it more due to being too generous with the evening meal on down days. I'm ok on breakfast and 'lunch', but not strict enough in the evening.

Not sure how the show tech and dress rehearsals and performances are going to affect me this week, but definitely some late nights due.

I always gained during tech & dress rehearsals. I'm a stress eater.

I'm not a stress eater. When I am under a lot of stress, I don't eat at all.
I just eat too much, period.
I had lost 13 pounds--then gained three. It has taken two weeks to get 1 1/2 of those pounds back off. The down days are getting easier, but the up days still kill me!! I just can't eat whatever I want on up days--I still have to watch the carbs.
Today is an up day, but I plan to take it easy on the carbs and fats anyway. I need to have today be an upday since we are taking the grandsons school shopping Wednesday, so I'm glad it worked out that way. Eating out is best done on updays.

When I'm under a *lot* of stress, I can eat loads of fatty foods and still not gain weight...

Several years ago, my life went completely crazy, meaning I'd leave home at 7 am and not get home until 11 pm - and no, it wasn't all work related... I'd go straight from working late (due to having advanced career wise and then manager quitting and two persons returning from maternal leave and budget for next year to create, with those two freshly back and not really into things yet) to intense Flamenco rehearsals (due to having said yes to participating in a big production my teacher put together). Yes, it was crazy of me to say yes to so many challenges at once, but I did really want to do it all...

And when you know you'll get home late, the idea of cooking dinner isn't something you look forward to - and there are no salad bars open at that hour. So it was a lot of s and s.

And then, when things finally settled down again, I had not only acquired unhealthy eating habits - I also gained weight like POOF!

I am definitely a stress eater. But there is stress and then there is STRESS. Regular stress is what causes me to eat. Extraordinary stress causes my digestive system to sort of shut down. I can barely swallow, let alone digest food. Fortunately, extraordinary stress doesn't come along that often.

It's also true that what I consider ordinary stress and what someone else would might be two different things. I was under so much stress for so long that I suppose I adjusted to it, like we adjust to other physical situations over time - like heat and cold, for example. Or altitude.

Anyway, I ate myself through my problems for a lot of years. That is a hard habit to break.

Witty, this is the place where I buy my supplements. I haven't ordered this particular one. I've been getting the grapeseed extract. But this looks like a fair price for the strength.

http://www.wholehealthproducts.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=214

Not sure if that link will make it past the censors. If not, I'll e-mail it to you.

Course if the link is failed, the entire post will be and you won't know the difference.

Equalizing the dosage and quantity, this is 4 times the price I am paying for grape seed extract at Costco, manufactured by TruNature. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10030797&search=grape%20seed&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=0&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=grape%20seed&Ntt=grape%20seed&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

I just double checked the label, and it is all grape seed, skin and fruit. No knotweed at all. The emphasis on the type of resveratrol (trans vs. cis) is interesting, too.

It's impossible to know if any of that justifies the increased cost, though. The supplements market is rife with unsubstantiated claims.

I honestly don't know the differences between all of them. I have a feeling that the more expensive one is probably not worth the extra money. But it is cheaper than some other brands. The markup in supplemts is horrific.

Diet food 'may fuel obesity risk' (in children):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6933686.stm

Personally, I think it's madness to feed kids diet foods - teach them healthy eating habits instead

Diet foods for children? Indeed, teach them healthy eating habits. It's a very good idea.

Now, tell that to a ten year old whose favorite food is pizza.

Our littlest grandson will eat and try anything. The ten year old is offered the same things, but will not try them. I even tell them if they don't like it, they can spit it out. He still won't try new things. He doesn't even like corn and heaven forbid that he should eat a green bean. He will eat salad though.

You could insist he have a salad with his pizza or no pizza.

Warning! Do not eat a pint (?) of ice cream right before bed. Here's what happened. I did Monday as a down day. That's normal. But I usually do Tuesday as an intermediate day. I got home from work around 8:20 and was fritzing about when it occurred to me that I was supposed to be starting the strict every other day rotation this week. I needed more calories.

Sooooooooooo, I had part of a carton of Edy's slow churned chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer that was calling out to me. And since I am going to start being more careful about sugars and starches for a while, I figured I needed to finish it off so I wouldn't have the temptation in the house. Besides, it was too late for me to cook anything. Who wants to cook at 9 o'clock?

I ate it. All of it. With a long handled teaspoon right out of the carton. Then I had such indigestion all night that I was miserable.

That makes perfect sense to me. Too bad about the indigestion, though.

I could insist that he have a salad or veggie or no pizza at all, but he would choose the no pizza option. OK so here is the thing:
pizza has cheese (dairy) pepperoni (meat), sauce (vegetables), and crust.........probably the least nutritious in the lot, but I would rather he eat pizza than a hotdog...........Of course, that is a nutrition decision.

We are under a severe thunderstorm warning as we speak. I am shutting down for the night. Y'all have a good evening, or morning......


mar.

So, I threw out the rest of the junk food littering my pantry last night. Except for the Cheez-its. I ate them. The only thing I have left that could in any way be construed as snack food is the All Bran crackers. And they are so high in fiber for the amount of calories that I think they have genuine merit.

I'd really like to get another few pounds off before Labor Day. So, for the remainder of the month it is healthy JUDDDD rather than junk JUDDDD. Junk JUDDDD works fine for maintenance, but I've already lost enough and slowed down so much that it isn't very good for weight loss.

More veggies.....will eat more veggies. The great thing about JUDDDD is that you can season them properly with butter, olive oil or drippings or melt cheese on them. And you can have real oil and vinegar dressings on your salads - not some low-cal, fat-free disgusting garbage. I'm very particular about my salad dressings. I don't like 99% of the bottled stuff. Can't even choke most of them down. Including Ranch, which seems to be a family favorite. And I nearly gag trying to eat French dressing of any brand or variety. Thousand Island was my dad's favorite. I think it's disgusting. Russian is really bad. I don't want anything with a mayonnaise base or sugar or tomato. Yep.....good old oil and vinegar is the only thing I actually like. And there are so many variations that you don't get bored with it.

I like olive oil, balsamic vinegar & dijon mustard wisked together into dressing. mmmm...