Yippee Ki Yay's Journal, 01 May 24

Have you been tracking your sodium, is there a way to track on FS? I know if I eat processed meats I will hold water for two days. I would double down on tracking your sodium for the next month to see if that is the issue. Best wishes. 

I've currently went up 3lb since 6days ago that morning I wein the next I went up 3lb mostly due to sodium and overeating but even when I don't go over calories I'm still up in weight has to be sodium and sleep for me. 

@Golfgirl60: Yes, I track my sodium intake on FS. The sodium column can be turned on in Food-Settings. So, I see it on a daily basis when I input my food. However, my nutritionist says not to trust the FS sodium for home prepared foods. My lovely wife never adds salt when a recipe requires it, uses only No Salt Added canned goods, and selects what to buy based on the salt content of prepared foods like summer sausages, etc. So, FS tallies a substantially higher salt than reality. I guess I can double down on tracking my salt after entering recipies the way we cook. Yes, I can do that. Thank you. 

@SaraRiley: Exactly. I often wonder as I scroll through FS posts what percent of red weights have far less to do with calories than salt. I have a feeling that if there were just some way to know the truth to that question, we would be shocked but far less hopeless and confused. 

do you eat processed food? If yes, then it could be inflammation. just keep doing what you're doing and try to avoid the boxes, frozen or canned foods with ingredients you can't pronounce. You will probably get a whoosh drop. We do need salt. You're doing well. when we are most frustrated with the stall, it breaks! I had a blaa April too.  

Thanks Jenjabba.. I love your posts. So encouraging.  

Have you had any additional stress in April? Even good events can be a stress for our bodies...even too much exercise. It puts the body into survival mode and here comes the cortisol and the extra pounds. The body doesn't care where stress comes from. It just sees it as a threat. 

If I gain or lose weight my body seems to hang onto it for a bit ..no matter what I do. Keep moving forward and monitor. It could be what Jen said, processed foods often stay with me longer and make me bloated.  

It could be lymphedema. I called my primary doctor and told her that I want to talk to a nutritionist. I'm glad that I did. A few minor tweaks to my diet- and the water weight is coming off!  

are you eating close to 30 fruits/vegetables a week? Also, incorporating cucumber lemon water? Plus, cutting out fast food and no red meat? Once, I starting do that and logged my calories everyday and stayed below 2000, I lost weight and stomach bloating.  

I know that you will figure this out, and I'm sure it's just a simple tweak. I'm rooting for you hang in there. 

How's your water intake? The way to reduce water weight gain in my experience has been to up my water intake. It seems to take water to flush water. 

@Jenjabba: You are so right. That is something to watch. I thought long about your question. The most processed ingredient I eat is probably bread. I have toast with an egg for breakfast most days. I did eat two processed meals last month. My wife requested a Pizza Hut Supper Supreme Stuffed Crust with extra cheese for our Anniversary Dinner (Yes, we've been married a while). Also, the family brought home one extra Burger King Junior Whopper they picked up for themselves after Church one Sunday (no fries or drink). Thank you. It helps to know I'm not alone in how I feel about my April progress (or lack there of).  

You're all over the place....you starve and overeat. Be more consistent. Up your protein and push down your carbs. Find an activity you like burn calories or exercise. Just dieting isn't enough....you need activity and stamina to boost your metabolism. Good luck. 

Fisrt what diet you're following? Carnivore, Vegan, Keto, Mediterranean, Low Fat? But independently of the diet, I can see you're eating less than your recommended calories, this is can be one of the problems, our bodies have the capacity of adapting quite quickly to a diet, if you reduce your calorie intake the body has the capacity to get accustomed to the calories you are consuming, but moving aside that part you should eat your full calories, counting calories is a bad method because what measure calories is a machine, you burn calories just by breathing or blinking, your organs burn calories, you just need to eat the full amount of calories, if you don't like it, try to eat one week your full calories, and one week a reduced amount of calories like a 70% of your calories, why one week? It's the time researches have find the body take to get accustomed to your calorie intake, others says is two weeks so you can use the first option (one week) or the second (two weeks). Second, what I see is a lot of fat, and an equal amount of carbs, in my book that's bad or you consume high carbs or high fat aka keto, and your protein is low compared to the both mentioned, so try this reduce the fat, increase the protein intake this will help you to get more calories, and burn more calories cause protein if a recall correctly half or a quarter of the calories it contains just to process the protein, so increase the protein intake, if and only if you don't have a kidney problem. Third how much exercise you do? try to incorporate HIIT or weight training, cardio is good to help your cardiovascular system but not much for weight lose. Try consuming chrome to help you to metabolize the carbs, your stool is important investigate more about this and if needed try to take digestive enzymes and probiotics. There is a plethora of supplements you can take, but as ever said first consult your doctor or try to find a naturopath, cause doctors use the range of being health even if your levels are low, if you are in the range of a healthy person you are fine. Try to get more fiber, I don't recommend fruits because some have the same amount of sugar than a soda, so try to research your fruits, it doesn't matter if the sugar is called fructose, in the end it converts to glucose, so is sugar. So to resume my infinite post Reduce fat intake Raise protein intake Use calorie cycling instead of calorie in calorie out, or just consume your full amount of daily intake Take supplements if needed Check your stool Incorporate or increase your exercise, reduce cardio if you do and make more weight training or HIIT I hope you get better at your journey, cheers mate. 

@GillianNRuby: I'm not sure I am capable of answering that question. I was in so many high stress situations in my life that I think my stress sensors got burned out somewhere along the way. At this point I'm kind of like Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore and more just oblivious to stress than strong enough to overcome it. So yes, it is a very real possibility that my body is reacting to something that I am not consciously aware of. I will have to ponder that question further. 

@Diana 1234: Thank you. I will do that. 

Don't reduce fat! That's the old thinking. You'll be hungry! Just go ez on carbs and processed food and get some rest at this point in your journey.  

If you have Amazon Prime, they have a documentary called "Heal". It explores the mind/body connection. I can't swear it's all true but it might help answer the stress question. I wish the best of luck to you.  

I hope you don't mind me asking, but how are you burning 4,700 calories a day? I'm at the gym for an hour each day, and I top out around 2,500.