I wondered where you were..
Glad to see you back.
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
rated with hugs

Hang in there I am proud of you. R

Small steps is the only way to succeed, small tiny steps. You can do it!

Right on! Sometimes every tiny step is a battle, sometimes running 10 miles is a breeze. Now I have trouble with food but it's the opposite, I don't like to eat and I really don't like to eat alone. Often I'll forget until bedtime and I'm shaking and wiped out.

Through odd events I discovered I'm not making enough melatonin and I was having anxiety and depression. I don't want to add in endless supplements so I bought a bunch of melatonin rich foods and I've been eating them, especially plain oatmeal with over easy eggs, bananas, tomatoes and cottage cheese with black pepper, I like odd foods.

Anyway, in addition to feeling pretty relaxed all the time I somehow lost almost a clothing size eating all these oats, eggs, tomatoes and cottage cheese, brown rice and stuff. At first I got a little frantic because I don't like to get below a 5 to 7 and become angular and gaunt, now it seems to have leveled out. I wonder if I was just getting so much roughage that it somehow "cleaned me out" or changed something in my own chemistry, I feel more "normal" now.

My eldest lived with me for years and I ate a lot while she was around and couldn't get past a size 1 or 3, I was a bag of bones but we ate the same crappy foods and portions, stayed up too late and though she ate a little bit of sweets and I ate chips, she weighed more than double what I did. We went out dancing and did the same stuff so I couldn't figure out why she gained and I lost.

Anyway perhaps you can experiment with different foods like that. Personally after reading more about the pineal gland and melatonin and how it affects hormones, I suspect it was affecting my thyroid a little but not enough to show up on tests. Maybe you have the opposite problem I do. Perhaps you could try melatonin rich foods from the point system for a week and see what happens, I also added 3 mg of melatonin with my calcium supplement (sigh) at bedtime and for the first time in years I sleep hard. Maybe it won't help but maybe it will. Be careful if you take them together, the calcium makes the melatonin like a Valium for me, don't take them together and drive. I could barely walk.

I'm pulling for you, the most important thing is to feel comfortable in your body. It's easier to be too thin but being miserable in your own skin is always the pits.

So glad to see you back!! My daughter and granddaughter are visiting. My mom was all upset that feeding the baby formula too often makes her fat. She told my daughter she can't talk to me about weight or money and my daughter said that most polite people don't talk about those things. It is an individual journey. The little baby is chubby but I thought babies were like that. My mom got the information from a lady at her beauty shop who had five kids and told my mom the baby was too chubby when she took in pictures. It hurt my mom's feelings and scared her. Sigh. Where is it all going to lead to? I don't understand this obese problem in our society. We have too much food I guess of the wrong kind. I like Bleue's idea of experimenting with different foods. I have been tempted to give up bread but that may take more will than I have. I like lunchlady saying it is about small tiny steps. Thank you for being here and being brave. It is a place to communicate something that is darn hard to talk about.

if you handg out with me and eat wild greens you will lose all those pounds in no time and oh so healthily too.

We'll get through our respective struggles with food together. One day at a time. Baby steps. Whatever it takes.

Linda..I wondered where i was as well:)
hugs,me..hangin and thank you.
Lunchlady 2..so true that it's all about the baby steps!!
l' Heure Bleue..that was so interesting .I have thought about taking melatonin for years and never have.I have sleep issues so I'll give it a try.I was going to suggest you get your thyroid checked,but sounds like you already did.I like the idea of adding melatonin rich foods.I know what you mean about feeling comfortable in your own skin.There is nothing like it .Maybe you could do a food schedule at certain times of the day,to remember to eat.We can find balance .Thanks for all the good advice and personal sharing.
Zanelle..sounds like you set some clear boundaries with your mom about weight and money and personal stuff.Love that .The whole thing with babies is so front and center now because an enormous population of mothers ,new and seasoned are obese.Babies are tending to get over fed these days because the mothers have weight issues eat too much and pass that on to the babies.It is sooooo hard.Babies are so precious and I see so many that already have weight issues and I wonder if it is because pediatricians are ignoring it ,and don't speak up when they see baby or childhood obesity. Thanks for being here.
Algis..I will definately check out what you have to say.Thanks.
Jenna..I try not to get into that negative self defeating thinking or I end up eating over my feelings .Sometimes it is hard .
Gerri...yes what ever it takes !!! One Day At A Time !!!