I've been doing crazy Medifast diet for about 7 weeks now. It's been working ok for me in part because it cuts down on my choices. With something like weight watchers I still have to plan and decide and figure out what I can eat and how much I can eat the rest of the day, etc etc. with this, I eat five of their bars/puffs/packets a day, and one "lean and green" (protein and veggies) meal. It's not too bad. Though my roommate made blondies and seeing them on the counter has been impossible to resist. I did eat one yesterday.

I go through such ups and downs with what I eat. Right now I'm in a crap phase.

I did find a sweetener that I like -- monkfruit extract or whatever they call it. It's SO much better than stevia to my tastebuds. It's OK in coffee, fine in tea, and great in iced tea. I did a cursory google, and it seems not horrible for a body. I mean, this week, anyway. It's natural don't ya' know? Yeah. So is a lot of crap.

Frankly more important right now is getting back to regular physical exercise, which I'm also dragging my tail on for some reason.

This is what I'm concentrating on. I've cut way way back on sugar/soda and mac-n-cheese (my easy go-to meal) and crackers, none of which are good in the quantities I was consuming them. That allowed me to lose about 14 pounds since Halloween. I still need to start thinking of fruit and vegetables as "food", because even if they're in the house, I ignore them and go for something bread-based. An omelette for breakfast makes a big difference in how the rest of the day goes. But exercise is the big thing. I've become almost completely sedentary, thanks mainly to the depression I got hit with last summer. It's an easy habit to break and a hard one to pick back up again, for me. The treadmill isn't just there for the cats to lounge on, Self.

A couple years ago, I lost fifty pounds after reading "Intuitive Eating", can't remember the authors' names, it's two dieticians. The approach is, you eat what you want, when you want, as much as you want - but the trick is, you pay careful attention to cues from your body as to each of those. Eating when you are a little hungry rather than waiting until you are ready to gnaw a limb off, and then you stop when you first begin to feel satisfied rather than continue face-stuffing until full.

I got tripped up after my doctor was soooooo congratulatory. It felt like such a slap in the face. Decades of following whatever diet crossed my path, hoping to earn the priviledge of being thin, only to get fatter and fatter; then I quit dieting and start losing serious weight? Yeah, no. Cause and effect have come untethered, and I am ill-prepared to face such an illogical world. Also since there is no chance I will get my turn to be young and pretty and skinny, there is also no chance I can treat this body with the care and respect it requires to practice mindful eating.

WindSparrow, I've read that - it's a great book. Another good one is Health at Every Size.

Andi, is it okay if I respond to something in your whitefont, or would you prefer I don't? I 100% understand if this is something you are through discussing/thinking about.

Health at Every Size.

HAES rocks my socks. It makes so much sense. t edit Of course, I say that as someone who *also* needs to get off the couch and start training for the 5K in April. My current excuse is this fucking sinus infection, which is making me feel legit like a wrung-out washcloth. But I'm halfway through the antibiotics, so I expect to start feeling better soon, and then it's back to the track with entertaining podcats.

Threepeat:

Am I jaded when my response to Tim texting to say "I missed gunshots at the corner [where he works] because I was driving the truck" is "Oh, Northside."?

I feel like I should be more worried. But really, Oh, Northside. Love this neighborhood, but it has so many problems.

I'd like some podcats. Do they grow well in the shade?

Teppy, I mostly white-fonted so people wouldn't have to be exposed to that ugliness if they did not choose to. It's not verboten if you want to talk about it.