UPDATE 12/5/21. ETeSelle's Testimonial

[MmmCarbs]

Wow! Thanks for the pictures & details on how you eat. Your comments about maintenance make so much sense. It really does have to be for life, doesn't it? I guess I've always imagined I could diet to "thin" then go back to my former way of eating, and somehow just not eat as much this time around. Of course it's never worked so far, but I didn't want to accept that!

[ETeSelle]

Wow! Thanks for the pictures & details on how you eat. Your comments about maintenance make so much sense. It really does have to be for life, doesn't it? I guess I've always imagined I could diet to "thin" then go back to my former way of eating, and somehow just not eat as much this time around. Of course it's never worked so far, but I didn't want to accept that!

Yup. It's just math, really--you have to take in the # of calories that will sustain you AT YOUR GOOD WEIGHT. If you take in even a little more than that consistently, you simply WILL gain weight.

This WOE isn't about calorie counting, but the whole point of it is that the food on the plan is far less calorie dense than SAD food. So we can eat more of it. But if we start adding back in SAD items (or even more calorie dense foods that are on plan), we'll automatically be taking in more calories, and unless we greatly increase activity to offset that increase, we WILL gain weight.

So the key, IMO, is to get used to eating at exactly where you are eating when you hit goal weight, and stick to it!

[evangelin]

ETeSelle,
I have a question for you , if you don't mind. Do you feel as strong as you did in comparison to when you weighed in the 150's? I know you work on horses feet, so you must be strong. I work with people with disabilities and some of them outweigh me by quite alot. I am wondering if I will be as strong for this task if I lose to the 120's. I am still in the 150's so this is not an immediate crisis I was just wondering. One lady I work with ,isn't far from 300 lbs and is unsteady and quite unpredictable. I can barely deal with it now. I can't really imagine it getting much harder. I would love to hear your thoughts on this when you have the time.
Eva

[simoncat]

Can't help but admire you! Hope to get as good as TC reading as you have next time I go have my blood drawn. Wish I had a horse. Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!

[ETeSelle]

ETeSelle,
I have a question for you , if you don't mind. Do you feel as strong as you did in comparison to when you weighed in the 150's? I know you work on horses feet, so you must be strong. I work with people with disabilities and some of them outweigh me by quite alot. I am wondering if I will be as strong for this task if I lose to the 120's.

I am in increasingly better shape, and yes, I feel at least as strong now as I did in the 150s. Yesterday I assembled a cover for my chicken run--thing weighed close to 100 lbs (made of tubular steel) and the instructions said that they recommended using 2-3 people to get it up on top of the 6 foot high kennel run and bolted into place. But I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF! I am woman: hear me roar! Here's a pic of it in place.

[evangelin]

Whoa! I think I heard that roar from here!

The thing that made me think of this is that my mom was a vegetarian for a number of years and switched to a nonfat vegan diet and went from around 130 lbs at 5'6 to about 118 lbs. She looks like a teenager if you don't see her face. She feels good but she thought she may have lost some strength with the weightloss. She does lots of farm chores and is far more active than most women her age. She has had osteoporosis for a long time but has only broken 1 bone. She has taken medication for it. (Maybe they will decide later, that she shouldn't have) It hasn't increased her bone density a whole lot. Anyway, it could be her age or maybe she is just imagining a loss in strength.
I don't have to lift my 300 lb friend but she is becoming a very heavy leaner. I hope my bones are strong
Thanks for your help,
Eva

[Suebcallahan]

ETeSelle,
PLEASE, don't ever stop posting! You could so easily stop posting as you have reached your goal and then some. But your story and willingness to help just keeps we going. You're more helpful than you know. Keep it up!

[ETeSelle]

Don't worry--I won't! Nettie inspired me--if she hadn't been posting, showing how successful she had been, I might have lost focus. So I know it helps to be able to see the end result.

[Faith in DC]

Whoa! I think I heard that roar from here!

The thing that made me think of this is that my mom was a vegetarian for a number of years and switched to a nonfat vegan diet and went from around 130 lbs at 5'6 to about 118 lbs. She looks like a teenager if you don't see her face. She feels good but she thought she may have lost some strength with the weightloss. She does lots of farm chores and is far more active than most women her age. She has had osteoporosis for a long time but has only broken 1 bone. She has taken medication for it. (Maybe they will decide later, that she shouldn't have) It hasn't increased her bone density a whole lot. Anyway, it could be her age or maybe she is just imagining a loss in strength.
I don't have to lift my 300 lb friend but she is becoming a very heavy leaner. I hope my bones are strong
Thanks for your help,
Eva

Strength is what we demand of our body. If you Mom is doing less, which could be a possibility, then when she does go to lift something heavy it won't be ready. We can always make ourselves stronger. I know as we age we tend to demand less out of our muscles.

Sounds like your 300lb friend may need a walker or cane. I use to do PA work part time, but thankfully my gal was 95 lbs and I didn't have to lift too far.

[smassena]

OH, I so see myself in you. OK, you've convinced me vegan isn't enough as there are too many fattening foods even there. I thought it was just a quantity problem. But quantity is difficult to cut back and being hungry isn't fun. So I printed off the MWL program and started it this morning, Beans are cooking as I type this.

What's really great is that my husband can eat the same things and since he doesn't have a weight problem, he can add things like bread, nuts, etc. It has never quite seemed fair that he can sit and eat nuts and pretzels etc without gaining a pound. I guess knowing when you're full has a lot to do with that

Thanks for the great encouragement. let's see -These extra 60# should be off by Christmas - right?
SharonM

[ETeSelle]

OH, I so see myself in you. OK, you've convinced me vegan isn't enough as there are too many fattening foods even there. I thought it was just a quantity problem. But quantity is difficult to cut back and being hungry isn't fun. So I printed off the MWL program and started it this morning, Beans are cooking as I type this.

Yup. I'm all about eating LOTS of food. If it's calorie dense food, I will eat lots of it. If it's NOT calorie dense, I will eat lots of it. Given that, I need to only have food that is NOT calorie dense around!

Example: I kept hearing amazing things about Medjul dates. And they're healthy, right? So I picked up a container at Trader Joe's and OMG YES! They are WONDERFUL! And I ate almost the whole box w/in 24 hours. That's a TON of calories and a TON of sugar.

So I know now that this is something I will not purchase. If I have a specific purpose for them involving a recipe and other people eating most of what I make, fine. Otherwise, they stay outta my life! I'll keep around things that I like but not so much that I'll gorge myself on them (like apples), and if I want to eat a lot of something, I'll make that veggies and starch!

Thanks for the great encouragement. let's see -These extra 60# should be off by Christmas - right?

If you stick to it, it's very possible! GOOD LUCK!

[smassena]

why the chicken pen if you are vegan? I would love to have chickens again, but have no use for the products.

[ETeSelle]

why the chicken pen if you are vegan? I would love to have chickens again, but have no use for the products.

They're pets. Clarice was a stray, believe it or not--she started hanging around in my horse pasture after her owners moved and left her behind. My former roomie and I built a small coop for her and got the dog pen and set her all up--then the new neighbors helped us catch her. That was 6 years ago. Since then I've added 2 more--Olivia and Svetlana (b/c chickens are flock animals)--both of whom were more or less rescues. They've also gotten a bigger, fancier coop. My dogs (who are raw fed b/c they, unlike me, cannot be vegan) get the eggs.

Just to show you how much they ARE pets--Olivia is getting spayed next week b/c she has an abnormality that causes her to lay eggs in her abdomen. She has nearly died twice and we're spaying her to keep her healthy in future.

[smassena]

Terrific = I like the pets idea.
thanks

[Suebee]

Please help me with suggestions. What do you put on oatmeal? Do you use soy or almond milk? I use unsweetened soy (regular fat because there is NO low-fat, sugar free soy milk); almond milk has too much sugar. I use ONE medjool date for sweetening. Yes, I can eat one at a time! I could never eat a whole box. I tried going without bread (whole wheat) and felt so awfully deprived I couldn't continue. I can't seem to eat a salad (especially a tart vinaigrette dressing) without taking the edge off with a bite of dry bread. How on earth does one stop eating bread??? How do you eat your whole grains? Do you eat them several times a day? Which ones? I really need to lose only about 10 pounds but that seems impossible. I just seem to maintain my weight but losing is an impossible mountain. I was alright with weight until I hit menopause. Now, nothing budges. Unfortunately because of health limitations I am unable to do a lot of exericse, just a mile walk a day on some days.