Dissolution's Solution

[Ruff]

Welcome back dissolution,

I'm sorry to hear the weight has come back, me too. The holidays make it difficult though, don't they.

But as ever we resolutely climb back on the wagon and set off again.

Remember

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says "I'll try again tomorrow" Mary Anne Radmacher.

[carollynne]

Dear Dis, So glad to hear from you again~!! You know you can do this, and I too, would have given to to that much in the kitchen. I have trouble at the check out counter, and have to do a lot of self talking to get away without me giving in to some kind of a non food toxic item too. So you are not alone!!
Wonderful that giving up soy might be the cure of your hands. How is your wife, and her issues, hope she is doing better all the time.
Hope you are staying warm in all this cold here in PA.

[Melinda]

Great to see you back Dis! I would have caved too with a dessert spread like that! All the best to you!

[fulenn]

Nice to hear how you are doing and that your wife is still not smoking.

So jump back on board and get eating healthy again. You did it before and you will be able to do it even quicker now that you know all of the ins and outs.

Fulenn

[dlee]

Hi Dis, Everyone has missed you. Just get back atter!
Strangely enough I think the temptations can get less. I was coming home the other day and hadn't had a chance to have lunch. I had to stop at a grocery store for a couple of things. I was starving,and tired standing in a line at the check out and looked at all the junk food around me. It sort of hit me that it had zero appeal, it didn't look like food! That's never happened to me before, so things could turn around for you too. Thanks for the update, Dlee

[Lesliec1]

Nice surprise to see your post. I started tanking around the same time as you so I'm in the same boat. Your admission is a huge inspiration. 2013 was not the best. This year will be great. We can all do it!

[JohnLarson]

I am right with you. Glad to see you posting.

[Dissolution]

Here I am, back again. Wish I had awesome news to report.

All in all, I haven't done too bad. I think February was a lost cause, but in March I gave up soy/almond milk, which means I gave of breakfast cereal, which means, I mostly gave up breakfast.

I've switched to using lots of frozen vegetables. It's just easier for me to prepare. I've done really well this past week. Getting back to the Whole food, plant based eating, rather than low-fat vegan. Was starting to feel GREAT again. The only down side is, my hands get worst the healthier I eat.

And then today, that beast came out. It started with pop tarts, then candy, potato chips, cookies, peanut butter, powdered soy milk with cereal. I feel like crap physically and emotionally.

I'm not even sure what triggered it. There's just SO much temptation laying around. I even get pissed when they (Wife and #3 son) buy junk food (chips or candy) and then leave it sit for weeks at a time in the middle of the kitchen island. I get pissed because they DON'T eat it in the same time frame I would have eaten it, if I had been the one to buy it.

It's just SO frustrating. I know what I should be eating. I know why. I don't doubt the science. I've been doing good at the grocery stores for the most part. I can go in, buy my stuff and the wife's stuff, in full control. I can stand at the checkout line and not even think about the candy bars. But when I walk past a bowl of candy or a pack of bars 20 times a day for two weeks, I snap. I guess I need to start throwing stuff away again.

I do seem to have trigger foods. We bought strawberries last week. The wife dipped hers in chocolate, I gave it no thought. She prepared mine for me but cutting them up and then dumping a couple of cups of sugar on them, and letting them sit in the fridge. After eating those I think I raided the 5 lbs bag of candy she keeps on the coffee table in the living room.

The wife is still not smoking, but is probably 30 lbs heavier. I haven't weighed myself since January. I haven't had to buy new clothes, but the ones I have are running a little tight now.

I know I know, I'm rambling and whining again. I posted tonight to remind myself of how crappy I feel right now. Headache, heartburn and just generally crappy feeling. Seriously Me, stop eating that crap. This feels awful. You felt so great earlier this week, what were you thinking?!

Good night all

[Katydid]

Diss, good to see you posting again. I think it's time to start a Clean Counter Club. Put away anything left out in a drawer or the refrigerator. I wouldn't provoke the wife by throwing away her C.R.A.P. If she gives you any flack tell her you saw a mouse run across the counter and some of the packages of food looked gnawed on. The only thing that should be on the counter should be fresh flowers. Do a sweep of the counter every night before bed.

Also, don't put yourself into a state of self-denial. Make sure your fridge is full not only with cooked rice and baked potatoes, but McDougall-friendly desserts and treats. Don't think and act like your on a diet. Think about how you can incorporate the things you love (or their WFPB equivalent) into you daily and weekly menus so you don't self-sabotage.

For example, I like chocolate. So I add a teaspoon of organic cocoa powder to my morning oatmeal along with some berries and some stevia. The cocoa adds maybe 10 calories to the oatmeal, but gives it a rich chocolate flavor. I couple this with a cup of chocolate tea (from Republic of Tea) and I've satisfied my chocolate monster for the day.

As it happens, I'm currently reading Dr. Fuhrman's new book The End of Dieting and I like the following quote:

Don't make any changes to your diet that don't support your long-term health, and don't make any changes to your diet that you don't believe you can maintain for the rest of your life

Kate

[Chile]

Another alternative to Kate's great idea to have clean counters is to cover the candy dish with a pretty towel. That's what I started doing at my MIL's house years ago when she always had candy out. Every time I'd walk by, I'd grab a piece. "See it ... eat it." Amazingly, once I'd covered it up, I quit snacking on the candy. Of course I knew it was still there but without the trigger of seeing it, I was able to resist it completely.

[carollynne]

Diss, Hang in there, remember how far you came, from all your heart attacks and wt loss... you can do this... I do a lot of self talking to keep on track too...

[Dissolution]

Thanks Katydid for the Clean Counters idea. The wife was out of town last week Tues-Thurs. I cleaned the whole kitchen Thursday night. Not just putting her junk away, but cleaned everything. I figured when she got back Friday, she would be very happy.

Early this year I switched from Soy milk to Almond milk for coffee and cereal, to see if it helped with my hands. It didn't. So I quit plant milk completely. I had been eating way too much cereal. The blend that we have been using for a number of years, wasn't doing it for me anymore. I had mentioned it to my wife, and she seemed to have no problem searching for a new blend. Well, while she was out of town, I picked up a different type/brand of coffee to try. We still had plenty of our old brand though.

When she got home Friday, he delight about the kitchen being so clean was quickly trumped by the anger at me having brought a new flavor of coffee into the house, she ranted about it until I left the room. She changed clothes and went to her chair in the living room. I soon heard one of our new puppies crying in pain. (BTW we got two new puppies earlier this year, chorkies) She said she was trying to pick up the 4-year old Yorkie-poo and as she put her hands down one of the chorkies hit her arm and bounced off, flipped over and hurt it's leg.

The little dog was very upset and hurting, the wife was very upset. I was pissed, because I'm thinking the wife while maybe didn't do it on purpose was in such a bad mode that she might have knocked her away a little too hard or something. The wife kept asking me if the dog was going to be alright, I cussed at some point and told her I didn't know. After an hour and the dog couldn't put any weight on it, we took her to the vet at 11pm Friday night.

Turned out that nothing was broken, although she has just started putting weight on it the past couple of days. Probably the bigger issue with the dogs is the 4-year old. She has put on a lot of weight since we got the puppies. We keep a high quality dry food out for them all the time, and the wife makes chicken and rice for them. She makes large batches and then freezes it in portions. She had been doing 10oz bags, and a month ago upgraded to 16oz bags. I tried to stop her, because feeding 1lbs of food daily to a dog that should weight 10lbs max, and 2 puppies that should weight 5lbs, is way too much food.

The Yorkie-poo, who weighs 15.5 and should weigh no more that 10lbs, started coughing last week. In doing some research, it seems likely that the dog is suffering from a collapsed trachea. A condition VERY common in small dogs, especially yorkies and especially if they are obese. I explained this to the wife and told her we HAVE to get this dog's weight down ASAP. I suggested we stop feeding them the chicken and rice and have them eat the dry food only. She was not happy with the idea. She has agreed to not feed the yorkie-poo, but wants to still feed the two chorkie puppies the chicken and rice. I explained it wasn't necessary, and she said she would feed them while I was at work, if I didn't like it.

The good news is, I started taking the yorkie-poo for walks. She can so far only manage about 20 minutes of up and downhill at about 2.5 mph, but her coughing has diminished noticeably after only 2 days of walking. So maybe I finally found my training partner.

I went to the dermatologist today. I went to this one twice last year, and then went to a different one in October. This one wanted to know how my hands had been since she had last seen me. Since so far, neither dermatologist has acknowledged that what I eat could have ANY effect on my condition, I decided to lie. I told her that last fall I had switched back to a SAD diet and my hands had gotten better, but I had put on weight and it wasn't good for my heart condition, so I had switched back to a vegan diet first of the year and my hands got a little worse and then when I stopped eating flour and ate more vegetables, my hands got much worse. She said that was "weird". But I got my steroid shot, which is why I was there, it will give me a few weeks of relief.

I've been good with food since I last posted. I few jelly beans at Easter didn't get out of hand. I gave away any Easter candy that she had sitting out to a friend tonight.

Good night...

[nicoles]

Dis, great to hear about how things are going.

We have cats, or should I say Fat Cats, lol, and I well know the difficulties of getting their weight down. I hope your plan for the dogs goes well.

Just wanted to put a thought out there about your hands. I have psoriasis, but it it pretty much gone from this WOE. However, stress and lack of sunlight can also cause it to flare up. You might find some benefit from exploring either or both of those in your situation.

Cheers!

Nicole

[lmggallagher]

Hi Dis:

Glad to see you back sorry though your hands have not cleared up!

On the plump animals - I had an obese cat and tried everything including ( I hate to say this calorie control) nothing worked.

I ran out of cat food while I was sick last year and could only make it to my store at the end of my street.

Of course they didn't carry the food the vet had the cat on - so I picked up some Newman's Own Organic Cat Food.

The cats loved it and I got more as soon as I was better. The girl cat went from 14 pounds to 9 and the vet says she's right where she should be. Meanwhile the boy cat has maintained his perfect weight all along. The vet was thrilled with her progress at their annual check up this year and exclaimed that not only the weight loss but her coat is entirely different, which is in fat true. She is a mink now.

Anyway I know you have dogs - but they make dog food as well. Canned food is not as ideal us home cooked but IT IS PORTIONED CONTROLLED. Plus the profits from the food go to animal protection organizations - so I feel good about that.

Best wishes to you - Michelle

[Tabasco]

Hi Diss,

This may (or may not) be relevant to your rashes.

http://www.wsmv.com/story/26008664/got- ... ign=buffer