Starting today.. anyone else in the U.S.?

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  • posted by Dipgal
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    Hello BSD friends! Today is Day #1 of a tweaked BSD program. I’ve decided to do 800 calories every other day – or 3 times a week at minimum. The rest of the time, keeping to the Low Carb Mediterranean under 1,600 calories. I’ll probably do a bit of intermittent fasting, too – only eating between 12 and 7 each day. I’m not sure whether I’ll do the IF each day, or only on lower calorie days.. I’ll see how I feel.
    I just know me – and if I commit to 800 calories daily, I’ll feel deprived and will fall off the wagon within days (if not hours)..

    I am 100+ overweight and at least want to get to a place where I can move better. My bad knees and bad back, as well as terrible stamina are keeping me from fully enjoying my life. I don’t have diabetes.. YET..

    I’ve loaded up with a ton of different veggies.. Mostly easy to prepare packages that are pre-cut or pre-roasted (beets and brussel sprouts or riced cauliflower and riced broccoli).. or slaws or shredded – just add dressing.. Because everything hurts when I stand right now, EASY is the way I have to go at the beginning.

    So, anyone in the U.S.? If yes, have you found any good fast food restaurants that make it easy to stay on plan? What kind of on-the-go foods do you keep with you so that you don’t have to stop at a restaurant? Thanks in advance for any advice!

    Judy (Dipgal – I used to have a homemade party dip mix business)..

  • posted by alliecat
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    Hi Judy! Yes, you have countrymen (women) here..There are 4 of us, we’re
    small in number for a country the size of this one, but we’re POWERFUL,
    3 of us are in maintenance, and our other sister is well on her way. Happy
    to see you here, and welcome! πŸ™‚ I’ve been in maintenance for 8 months,
    after losing 147lbs. Anything is possible after transitioning to this WOE
    (way of eating). I don’t eat any fast food, just clean, whole food, mostly
    organic and locally sourced when I can get it. But, I do have reliable,
    staple on- the- go foods, hard boiled eggs, and a small bag of almonds
    (8-10) that have seen me through any and all unforseen changes in the
    days routine. I’m sure that with a little thought to your own preferences
    you will come up with an emergency kit of your own.
    Best of luck to you on this life changing journey. This is a very supportive
    and caring community, so make your self at home, and ask anything and
    everything, we’re always happy to help πŸ™‚

    Allie

  • posted by Dipgal
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    WOW – Allie! 147 pounds! WTG!!! What an incredible success story! Thanks for the support!

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Hi Judy! Another countrywoman here. Like you, my weight loss goals were ambitious and the BSD was more than up for the challenge. Since August 2017 I have lost more than 200 pounds and at 116.3 LB now weigh less than I did in middle school. I know very, very well the constant agony of knee and pain back, how it glues you to the couch until your back hurts too much and you have to rig up a fort of pillows to find a single comfortable position. It was a big day for me when, after losing 60 or so pounds, I walked up and down a staircase one foot after the other for the first time in a decade at least. It was so momentous I had to call my mom to tell her. πŸ˜€

    I started exercising with resistance bands because my knees were so unreliable. I got winded and had to take two or three breaks just walking around the block. When I started losing and felt slightly less terrible, I moved on to chair aerobics. Just 10 minutes a day and very low impact, it’s designed for people with mobility challenges and won’t strain your joints the way jump around aerobics do. That’s just FYI. You don’t have to dive into exercise of any kind so early in the process. You might want to stand up once every half hour for your circulatory system’s sake.

    Your shopping list looks excellent. The only thing I’d change is the delicious but high-sugar beets, alas. MM uses them but in very small, measured quantities. I’m stricter about carb intake than he is, though. You’ve clearly given your approach much thought and designed something that will work for you. Well done. One small caveat, though. Don’t get stuck in the mindset that “I know me, ergo x.” Cutting the bad carbs and counting the rest can upend more things about you than you dreamed of, from overall mental outlook to palate to skin to the shape and quality of your toenails. By all means, tailor things to you as you are in the present, but keep a sharp out for the changes coming and adjust your plan accordingly. The person who has 100 pounds to lose is not going to be the same when they put down that extra person they’re carrying.

    Good luck!

  • posted by alliecat
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    Judy, now you know what I mean by POWERFUL! Esnecca is a role model
    here, and she literally knows anything and everything about this WOL to
    the max! She meant say that her journey began in Aug. 2016, not 2017.
    Just a typo! (Hi Essie! πŸ™‚

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Ha! You see, Judy? We’ve all been through the wringer together so much we can copy edit each other’s life stories. πŸ˜€

  • posted by Theodora
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    Hi Judy – sorry, I’m not from the US, but the other side of the pond, but wanted to welcome you aboard. Like my good friends Allie and Essie, I too am in maintenance (8 months and counting) and just wanted to offer my support. You can, and will, do anything you set your mind to – and we are all here to cheer you on, congratulate your successes and commiserate when things don’t go entirely to plan.

    Good luck, and shout if you need help.

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Haha, yeah.. 8/17 – 1!17 is only 5 months! I didn’t think that could be correct..

  • posted by Luvtcook
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    Judy, just weighing in as another US BSDer….I’m the one who has NOT made goal yet. Have lost 40+ lbs and have just under 60 to go.

    Re fast food…..Allie is right that there is not a lot. McDonalds has decent salads with poached chicken. My go to is to run into one of the places offering rotisserie chicken and have that and a salad….or two (if they offer two sides I just get two salads). Boston Market has great salads with chicken.

    Thai places offer a lot of stir fries without heavy sauces….just pass on the rice.

    Japanese sushi restaurants offer sashimi (fish minus the rice) which I love, and come with a salad and miso soup. Or get some sashimi and a great seaweed salad (lots of fiber and I am addicted to them).

    If I am doing errands sometimes I plan a lunch around just popping in and have a seaweed salad and a bowl of miso soup. Acutally very happy with that per your hunger just about disappears on the BSD diet after a while. A relaxing zen cup of tea afterward is good for your soul.

    I have even will have a lunch of a just a meatball side and a big salad at an Italian restaurant. Full and happy afterwards. And while the 1-2 meatballs may have a few carbs in it, I make allowances for it in my overall daily count.

    There is a website called Netrition https://www.netrition.com that is a favorite of some of us on BSD. They carry several good food lines that have low carb pita bread (Josephs), tortillas (Mama Lupes) and bagels (Great Low Carb Bread Company). The Joseph’s low carb pita are handy to take along in a purse….can pop into Subway and get a ham or turkey sub and load it up with every salad ingredient they offer….and just swap out the bread.

    But: Sitting down and mindfully enjoying your food will help you in the long run. Grab and gulp is not good for your diet or your stress level. You deserve better.

    Good luck to you!

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Thanks for the tips! I can also get a chopped salad at Subway. I just remembered, there is a Chick-fil-a near me and a Chipotle. Those would be good to create an on-plan meal.

  • posted by Esnecca
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    This is dangerous ground, especially in the early days. You can’t just casually walk in and order like it was the old days. You have to prepare, read every ingredient, calculate the numbers to make they’re not lying (they lie a lot) and most difficult of all, you have to follow through on the plan instead of winding up with a foot’s worth of Subway sugarsponge bread in your belly before you even realize it. The smell of waffle fries and crispy battered food you can’t have is going to be a major problem. You want to set yourself up for success. Standing in the middle of 8 lane highway thinking you can zig-zag your way through masses of cars coming at you is not the easy route you’re looking for.

    A quick glance at Chik-fil-a’s menu, for instance, finds that the Grilled Market Salad is 330 cals and a ludicrous and offensive 26 grams carbs. And that’s before you dump actual sugar on it in the form of the fat-free abominations they pass off as salad dressings. Even the Cobb with No Meat, the lowest in cals and carbs, is 250 calories and 18 grams. Their so-called Superfood bowl has 25 grams of carbs. Dressing and dips are terrible, bursting with sugar, with only the buffalo sauce low in carbs and has no sugar on the ingredient list.

    Chipotle is a minefield too, even if you manage to avoid hospitalization from food-born illness. No rice. No tortillas. No chips. No beans. That doesn’t leave you with a ton of options. You’re going to find it far more a painful and frustrating experience than a satisfying shortcut.

    I second Luvtcook’s suggestion of Boston Market, which has great rotisserie chicken, steamed mixed vegetables and some surprsingly great green beans. Popeye’s has a single option on the menu that works for us: naked cajun-spiced tenders and green beans. They make them southern style with the hamhock and they’re redonkulous. I bring them home and make my own homemade blue cheese dip, something you are particularly adept at, to accompany the chicken since I can’t use their sugar sauce. It has to be drive-through thing because when you go inside you will smell those unbelievable biscuits, so stay in the car.

    There’s also the chain steakhouses. Lonhorn’s has a solid pepper steak salad with a la carte veggie sides that are not entirely deplorable. The make their blue cheese in house and there’s no sugar in it. Yup, I checked. Those bottled things these joints buy from Sodexo by the gross are a mess.

    These options are the least worst, but frankly they’re all bad. The bald truth is that fast food is part of what got you here. I used it as a crutch in the last couple of years of hyperobesity and the notion that you can put on a leash on the dragon and he’ll walk by your side, docile and sweet as a therapy dog, to give you succor in your time of need is pernicious hooey. His agenda and yours have zero overlap. That guy is going to burn you to a cinder the minute you even think about ordering a grilled chicken patty with no bun.

  • posted by Traveling Rose
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    Hi all, I’m an Aussie but in the US! Also just getting started. My husband and I have been eating the Mediterranean way for about a month, and I’m easing into doing the 5:2 as well now. I feel good, and have lost a TINY bit of weight… I am in my 50s, post-menopause, and just have a stubborn 10-15lbs to lose that has crept up on me over the past ten years. I’m at 144 lbs and would like to be between 130 and 135. My diet wasn’t awful before this, and I’m moderately active already– I do the 10, 000 steps and go to the gym. And I’ve just started THE DAILY BURN, an online daily workout program I like a lot!

    I’ve found with previous diet attempts (not BSD) that those last 10 – 15lbs are really hard to budge, so I’m hoping that the 5:2 will work well. I really like this way of eating, don’t miss the starchy carbs, and find it very satisfying. I’ve also given up drinking wine with dinner during the week. Time will tell whether I actually lose weight, or will need to push harder (e.g. doing the 8 weeks / 800 cals) but I don’t want to get into a deprivation mentality, so I’m taking it slowly, one change at a time.

    Glad to have you all here, and thanks for sharing your experiences and optimism!

  • posted by Mixnmatch
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    I’m not in the US but at least partially credit Californian fast food for the first stone of my gradual slide into obesity. Just over 25 years ago I spent my honeymoon in San Diego and Santa Cruz and in two weeks was a stone heavier than I started! I never really lost that excess and gradually over the next 23 years kept putting more weight on, in a classic yo-yo dieting situation. I lost about 110 pounds to get back to my wedding weight last February, and fitted back into my wedding dress on my 25th anniversary.

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Thanks everyone for your support and wisdom. Esnecca – you are a wonderful and entertaining writer! I hope not to be as helpless and hopeless as you describe. I don’t do much fast food, and don’t plan to.. But, sometimes when I’m out and about or traveling, I just don’t want to nosh on a hard boiled egg or packet of tuna in my car. I’m confident I can make it work if I look things up in advance on the web and plan accordingly. There is also a Popeye’s 40 minutes from me – (I’m pretty rural)- the meal you describe sounds perfect! For now, I’m going to aim for <50 net carbs, so I’m not afraid of a few beans in my Chipotle bowl.. lol.. Besides, I’d probably only eat half – they are very filling.

    I didn’t really say much about myself on my original post. I included some of it on my profile.. I’m 61, widowed 6 months ago after coping with an alcohol-abusing and depressed husband for many years. Although I miss him because we DID have good times and he was my only family (parents deceased, no sibs, no kids), I am now free to reinvent myself and my life. The only thing holding me back from being happy and healthy is ME. Although I have no diseases other than Hashimoto’s, I currently lug myself around – very painfully.. Which leads to self-loathing – and a big Catch-22 of “why bother”. I now want to bother, and do this. I am deserving of taking care of me!

    So, yesterday went well.. some hunger pains after dinner which I quieted with some full-fat yogurt so that I’d be able to sleep. I have my meals planned for the day, which include more easy cooking than I’ve done in months! It’s frigid where I live, so it feels good to stay home and cuddle with my cats, prepare healthy meals, and binge-watch Netflix shows..

    Thanks again to everyone!! xo

  • posted by alliecat
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    Oh, Judy, what a traumatic experience you have been through in the past
    6 months! My deepest condolences to you. I came perilously close to
    the loss of my husband last spring, and it was the most terrifying experience
    of my life. We are similar in that my parents are deceased, no children
    either! You are in every way worthy of recreating your life as a happy and
    healthy woman. This is the way to do it! You have friends here, so please
    leap on board, post often, and we’ll travel forward together πŸ™‚

    Allie

  • posted by Dipgal
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    You bring a tear to my eye, Allie! Thank you! I’ve unconsciously been holding emotions inside, and rarely cry or feel like crying, so feeling emotion – good or bad – is a great thing for me. My former therapist calls me “emotionally constipated”.. lol We do have some things in common! We do our best with the “family” cards (or lack of) we’re dealt, right? I’m so glad your husband is okay! xo

  • posted by Californiagirl
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    Welcome to the forums Judy, aka Dipgal. I’m the other US based BSD’r β€” I’m in California (thus the call-sign!) and I’m also 61. I’m in maintenance since summer of 2016 β€” I lost just under 50 pounds.
    I struggled and struggled with weight gain through my fifties β€” no matter what I did I just kept gaining weight, but I have struggled since I was a child β€” I used hours of exercise (luckily I’m sporty) to β€œsort of” keep it at bay but when I hit menopause, even exercise couldn’t control the weight gain.
    The BSD has changed my life and my entire outlook and relationship to food. Now food is my friend and my body is my friend β€” I don’t hate myself any more. It has been a revelation for me. It has changed my life.
    I’m going to strongly suggest you get a copy of a book called β€œWhy We Get Fat and What To Do About It” by U.S. author Gary Taubes. I think of it as my perfect companion book to the original BSD book and I STILL read both of them regularly to just keep my mind-set fresh.
    The Taubes book will explain the carbohydrate/insulin connection which made all the difference for me (and many others here). Once I started to understand how insulin keeps us fat, I was able to embrace the low carbohydrate life style that finally got this whole thing under control.
    You’ve had a rough year β€” I am so sorry for your loss β€” I am sure it will take a bit of time to heal β€” don’t stress if it takes some time to get this BSD-thing going β€” I had to LEARN how to do it (apparently I was a slow learner LOL) β€” just keep at it and it will get easier and easier until it becomes second nature.
    Best wishes for your journey in 2018.

  • posted by alliecat
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    Hi, Julia! (Californiagirl) I knew you’d be along eventually πŸ™‚ How was the
    family ski trip?

  • posted by Californiagirl
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    Hi Allie! Happy New Year!! Christmas family ski trip was a success and very good snow in Montana β€” only downside was we were expecting the boyfriend to ask the daughter to marry and that did not happen, which left daughter very upset.
    These kinds of things make me tired!!
    I’m planting some new fruit trees today to lift my spirits β€” a new cultivar called a Plucherry which is a Zeiger development of a plum/cherry cross. Will be fun to try!

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Dipgal, I think you’re going to find the BSD dovetails perfectly with your goal of renewal and rebuilding of your physical and emotional well-being. You have been through the kind of wringer that saps the will and whittles away at your self-esteem until it feels that there is no way forward, only a yawning chasm in front of you as far as the eye can see. I’m so glad you posted here and told us a bit about yourself. It’s an important step in breaking with such a long period of trauma and ugliness so that you can focus on you and your goals.

    I hope as you go through the process you’ll find things easier than you expected them to be, and maybe even inspire a revival of your culinary gifts, be it with dips or anything else. Then you can post your new recipes in the Low Carb Cooking thread so we can all steal from you shamelessly. πŸ˜€

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Thank you for the kind words and pep-talk California Girl! Yes, I read Gary Taubes’ book about 5 years ago.. Hopefully, it’s on my kindle so that I can read it again.. Keto/very low carb makes me a bit nervous because I’ve read that it messes with our metabolism if done for a long time… I am going to stay LC (<50), but not VLC – with the hopes the addition of fasting will keep my metabolism working.

    Congrats on your weight loss and happiness! You’re a role model indeed!

    Judy

  • posted by Squidge
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    Hi Dipgal,

    Good luck with the BSD! I’m not in the U.S. but I am in this thing with you and wishing you well. It seems as though planning in advance what you’ll eat is a big help for a lot of people – it’s something I’ve not done before, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Thanks again to you, too Esnecca! It’s funny how being given validity of my trauma from people who don’t really “know” me is so powerful and helpful! I have only a few cousins as “family” and they live several hours away. I have some great friends who were with me through the daily traumas (and couldn’t believe I stayed with him through it all), so they rarely are supportive of what I went through in general. I feel like I was intertwined and connected to my late husband and the trauma – like it was who I was. Now, as I try to pry myself alway from that identity it helps to hear a kind word, even if it’s virtual..

    Thanks to everyone and ((hugs))!

    Judy

  • posted by alliecat
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    Judy, my dear, we do Know You! If you hitch your wagon to our star,
    it’s only a matter of time before you no longer think of this marvelous
    forum as one of virtual friendship, but will feel like you’ve known us
    all for a lifetime πŸ™‚ What we may not have been able to do individually,
    we have accomplished together, and you certainly have friends here
    who are “all in” to help you achieve your goals. We have a lot of fun
    in the process, no matter where we are in this journey called “life”!
    Full speed ahead…

    xoxo
    Allie

  • posted by Esnecca
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    I think it’s hard for even close and supportive friends to watch their loved ones caught in a trap without eventually feeling frustrated or even a little judgmental about it. We all like to think we’d do things differently, that we have all kinds of control of our circumstances but in reality it may not work out that way at all, and next thing you know you wake up and 20 years of steadily increasing horror have turned you into someone you don’t recognize.

    That’s how it was with me and my weight, and I was fortunate enough to have an endlessly loving and supportive partner, friends and family. The abyss doesn’t appear overnight, and by the time you realize how imprisoned you are, extrication seems impossible. The BSD completely restructured my body’s systems, my attitude, my determination and my understanding of myself.

    That constant drumbeat of debilitation and self-abnegation, having to figure out paths through the maze of your husband’s pathologies just to have some semblance of a life is no longer holding you back. You’re already beginning to feel it, that much is clear Now trust it and you will discover your intellect, ability to research, open-mindedness, stamina and braveness will come to the fore. Liberation is anon, Dipgal!

  • posted by Dipgal
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    How’d you all get so wise?? xoxoxo!!!

  • posted by Luvtcook
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    Judy, you just gained a sizable family who have been there and done that…have not all had the exactly the trauma that you have been though, but certainly understand it. We all have lost our way over the years and for the first time are starting to again recognize the person emerging from the fog.

    We are largely women on this formum so I hope the wonderful guys also on it will excuse me….but we are a powerful band of sisters. There are a lot of strong and caring women here and it really is a privilege to get to know them. So glad you have joined us.

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Hey there all.. just checking in on this thread I started. I’m hanging in over here in the frigid U.S. A week in and I lost approx 10 lbs.. Of water weight I know, but that’s okay. My knees are thanking me anyway! I say “approx”, because I couldn’t bare to weigh myself on day #1. It was a number that would freak me out totally and I didn’t want to start the week depressed.. So, I weighed a couple of days in, and that number was expected.. And, then a few days later I was 5 lbs under that. So, I’m thinking between 8 and 10..

    I’ve yet to do an 800 calorie day. My attempts have come in at about 1,000.. which for a larger girl like me, is pretty good. I’m trying not to get down on myself.. if I have to ease into it, so be it. Hopefully next week I can get a few solid 800 calorie days and do the BSD 5:2 as intended.

    I’m making good choices both at home and when out.. so, no complaints here. I hope everyone else is doing well! Thanks again for the support!

    Judy

  • posted by alliecat
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    Hey, Judy! I’m rather glad that you started this thread, because now I always
    know where to find you πŸ™‚ You sound like you’re off to a very good start,
    and aren’t finding any of this too difficult. Whereabouts in the midwest
    are you? It’s been frigid here (CT) too, and a real impediment to walking
    outside, earlier in week. I never noticed the cold when I was morbidly
    obese, so this winter has been a shocker! A 10lb loss is an impressive
    start. I am curious about one thing, however. Did I somehow miss why
    you are opting for the 5:2 instead of the Fast800?
    Please keep in touch,
    Allie

  • posted by Dipgal
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    Hi Allie, and thanks for your continued interaction and support. I live in Galena, Illinois – formerly from Chicago which is 3 hours SE of here.. It’s a touristy area close to the Mississippi River where Ill, Iowa and Wisconsin meet. A beautiful hilly and scenic area that resembles Ireland. 8 months of the year it’s fabulous to live here.. I live in a golf course resort community and still feeled blessed to do so – we moved here 15 years ago. The other 4 months – Dec. through March – not so fabulous. It’s not being cold I despise, it’s being afraid to go out and about.. slipping and falling.. getting into a car accident. The roads here are curvy with steep hills. I have 4 wheel drive, but still.. I’m a chicken after getting into an accident on the ice some y ears ago.. and slipping and breaking my arm in the past.

    Why didn’t I choose the Fast800? I want to – but I seriously didn’t think I can do it right now – and didn’t want another major fail for my negative self-talk to go to town about. Also, I have a vacation at the end of this month to warm and sunny Palm Springs, CA and another one at the end of February (a themed Flower Power 60’s Caribbean cruise) – and then off on another cruise to Hawaii through mid-March – (yes, I’m very fortunate in that respect!). I went crazy with planning trips after my husband passed away.. Anyway, I kinow I’d be able to stay relatively LC, but not 800C. I figured I’d tame the appetite beast first with the LC and some fasting days.. And then do the Fast800 when I’m done traveling in March.

  • posted by alliecat
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    Hi there, Judy! I haven’t seen a new post from you in awhile….How are you managing? Just thought I’d check on
    you before you head to Palm Springs πŸ™‚ You must be a golfer!

    Have a wonderful trip!

    Allie

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