SaraRiley's Journal, 14 Jul 23

Sara, stop eating at 6 pm and don't eat again till 10 AM, that is 16 hours, half of that time you should spend sleeping. When you wake early in the morning like you do, drink water, unsweetened coffee or tea, it's a struggle in the beginning to go through those morning hours without eating, but once you discover that it's a habit and not really necessary to eat in the early morning it gets easier. Congrats on the 10 minute workout, I'm so proud! I know how hard it is to do! You got this! You are doing great! 

Part of this journey is removing the control food has over your life and giving that control back to yourself. That is what fasting does for me. I control when and what I eat, not my carb addicted body and not my dopamine saturated brain. My body is my friend and I don't want to hurt my friend by allowing it to make bad choices and eat things that I know will hurt it. Be kind to yourself, by being kind I mean say nice things to yourself instead of beating yourself up because you did not reach a particular goal. Give your body encouragement to move, thank if for all it has done for you in the past and all it will do for you in the future, love it with proper care in the present. This is a mind and body experience and an exercise in self love. Look in the mirror every morning and accept you and love you and give your self a high-five in the mirror just because you are awesome! Have a fantastic day! 

Saran, for me, carbs make me hungry and that includes fruit, bread, pasta, 'snack foods', potatoes, rice. Eat protein instead: meat, cheese, protein shakes. Do a little research on protein and how to eat 30 grams per meal - at least. If you do that it will be easier to eat right and lose weight. Stop snacking: if you eat high protein with plenty of fat included, you won't get hungry. Don't eat vegetable/seed oils: use butter, olive oil or coconut oil instead, also animal fats from meats are healthy for you. Good luck to you! I also recommend going to dietdoctor.com. 

Limit your carbs.  

I'd call this the No Force method: to preface, I'm diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder by my therapist...I like paying attention to my eating patterns. last November, I just recorded naturally: when I eat, when I stop. I started at 12/12. When that is comfortable (a few days to a week) I increased my fasting timer by 15 mins. Small but powerful- especially for longevity/long term gains. Again, this method works for me, who has disordered eating. If you don't have EDs, this may even work more quickly and effectively for you! Adding an extra 15 mins to your fast every other day will get you from 14 to 16 hrs in 2 weeks. When it comes to changing drastically, the ability to maintain that long term may falter. Small changes over the course of a long period will yield the ability to maintain long term. Check out the book/YouTube "Atomic Habits by James Clear" for more info on this topic I touched on.  

Much of our eating comes down to habit, so yes learning how to change habits bit by bit seems like an excellent approach. 

I get about 80g to 100ofprotein but I just wanted to Lower my carbs and sugar intake and exercise more I actually got to walk through Ace hardware and it didn't bother me so I am making progress it's slowly getting there and thank you all for the advice I really appreciate it.  

I'm so excited I have lost a total of 36 pounds but the first year I never changed anything and I lost 21pounds with ozempic for pre diabetes and then I got to 353pounds and wanted to see if I could loose more I'm determined to loose more and keep it off NSV is I put on a pair of my stretch pants that I used to wear alot in the winter time but the last time I wore them they were not tight or anything but when I would lay down or something like to take a nap the front would kind of roll down my stomach and I have not worn them since Feb when I was 353pounds I put them on today and they are loose and feeling good on me ..  

WOOOHOOOO Happy dance!! Sara! It takes time and some discomfort to make progress, but you are doing it! Celebrate the NSV because it's awesome and so are you! 

Thank you so much Debra