What's the secret?

 7:45 am - Tuesday - April 26th - Likely, CA - 43° F, humidity 77%, wind 4 mph out of the south by southwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 61° F.  On this date in 2018 we were having an alfresco dinner in St. Louis with TLE's brother, Creig, wife Kay, their daughters, and significant others......↴

You may recall that it was just 8 days ago that I broke through the 190 pound barrier to 189.8 for the first time since April of 2014.  I pretty much hovered around 189.8-190 until Monday when I dropped precipitously to 186.8.....three pounds lost in just 8 days. I am now just 3 pounds from my 30 pounds lost goal I set on January 31st....

.......I've been hesitant to give all the details of this amazing weight loss program in which I am participating, and my ability to keep off the lost weight.  No, there was no surgery involved, but combined with IF (intermittent fasting), regular exercise, and strength training a few times per week, I have been taking a daily supplement.  It is comprised of all natural ingredients.....it contains a probiotic (better gut health, de-bloats....can reduce, or eliminate acid reflux....TLE confirms this), a prebiotic (lowers food cravings), a phytobiotic (reduces stress-sleep better), and a postbiotic (helps you lose inches).

I heard about this program from a long time college friend through Instagram, and after numerous instant messages, and then a long phone conversation TLE and I decided to give it a try.  By the end of January TLE and I were at our highest weight level since we began our nomadic journey.  We've done Atkins, and KETO previously with mixed results....actually I had pretty good results with Atkins, but eating only protein for the rest of your life is not practical.  I've done the Subway diet, as you know, with pretty good results, but after 3 months of eating Subway footlong sandwiches exclusively, riding my bicycle 15-20 miles a day, and losing about 25 pounds (2014) I went back to my former diet, and slowly gained all that weight back and then some.  Again, it worked, but it was not sustainable for obvious reasons.  When we are traveling it is difficult, if not impossible to get in 20 miles of bike riding every day, and while there are certainly not a shortage of Subways where we travel, one can only do that for so long, right?

So, here we are at the end of January, and at the end of our collective ropes when I see this post from my good friend Lynn.  The thing that really caught my attention was we could pretty much continue eating what we normally eat, but just between 12 pm and 8 pm, and a little less of it.  We could easily walk on a daily basis no matter where we were, so the exercise part was easy to commit to, and stay consistent.  I take pills every day....actually twice a day, so taking another pill is certainly, also, sustainable.  It's the first diet plan I've found that is sustainable....at least for TLE and I.

So, when I say I can still eat what I ate before, what does that mean?  While I no longer have breakfast as I don't eat my first meal until 12 pm, I still, sometimes, have breakfast for lunch.  It could be a bowl of dry cereal, an English muffin with a couple of fried eggs, some oatmeal, maybe a sandwich, or just a plate of veggies (peanut butter on three, or four sticks of celery, 5, or 6 baby carrots, a few slices of cheese.....it just depends on what I'm in the mood for).  During the course of the afternoon I may eat a handful, or two of cashews, or peanuts (I love Spanish Red Skin peanuts).  Once a week TLE makes me a BLT, or bacon and eggs for lunch. If the mood strikes me around mid afternoon I'll have a cup of cold coffee with heavy cream in it.....it kind of assists me in sublimating my food cravings.  We'll usually have a regular dinner between 5, and 6 pm, and maybe a small snack before 8 pm.  Dinner, like last night, can consist of grilled salmon with a side vegetable, a hamburger, a steak, chicken soup with a piece of toast, or maybe a Chicken Caesar Salad with croutons....all the stuff I ate before, just smaller portions.  Half the time I'll tell TLE I'm done eating before I clean my plate.....I'm just not hungry enough to finish the plate....sometimes I'll ask for seconds, but rarely.

How about alcohol?  In my past diets I have stopped drinking beer, wine, or hard alcohol for the duration of the diet....well, that is not sustainable either, right?  Now I will usually will have a glass of wine with dinner, and maybe a second sometimes.  I most often drink a shot of Scotch Whiskey around 9 pm, just before I go to bed, which has been my normal habit for years.

I don't crave food as much as I used to, I sleep much more deeply at night for stretches of up to 6, or 7 hours, and rarely have wakeful periods during the night like I used to.....no acid reflux, ever....much lower blood pressure readings.  I typically only eat two meals a day now....lunch and dinner, and that seems to be enough.  I have no periods during the day of a loss of energy.....my energy levels stay more consistent, and I am rarely hungry until it is time for lunch, or dinner. 

As far as exercise goes, I get plenty when I am working, and on our days off we walk at least once a day, but usually twice for 20 minutes at a time....we cover anywhere from 1 mile to 1.25 miles in 20 minutes....just depends on the terrain.  For strength, and toning I do 30 sit-ups, 30 modified pushups, 15 back exercises on my back machine, and some yoga.  

Essentially, the bottom line is everything we do is sustainable, and I have lost 27 pounds, and 5 inches off my waistline.....I'm wearing clothes I haven't worn in years, and I feel the best I have felt in years (TLE has lost 14 pounds).  One interesting thing is I don't take as many naps, or nap for as long as I did before, and I believe that is because I wake up each morning feeling refreshed, and like I got plenty of sleep.  Frankly, naps have always been apart of my lifestyle since I was in my late 20's when I took a short nap after lunch each day, and now that I'm retired they are even more apart of my lifestyle.  During the past months I have found myself taking 2, to 3 naps a day, but now I'm down to one per day, usually right after I eat lunch....not by conscience choice, but I just don't seem to need as many naps.

Well, enough of that....what did we do Monday?  Some of the folks here drive up to Lakeview, OR, which is about 75 miles from Likely Place RV & Golf Resort, to shop....there is no sales tax in Oregon.  While 150 miles round trip is a long way, we decided to do the drive just for the fun of it.  We left home around 10:30 am, and were in Lakeview around 11:45 am (there was some road construction delays).....

.....one thing you should notice in the pictures above is the complete lack of vehicular traffic on US-395 between Likely and Lakeview.....

.....the scenery was captivating, and the views were long, and big.....

....while in town we checked out the local Dollar General store, then did a big shopping at the local Safeway (part of Albertsons).....the food prices were comparable to Alturas, but no sales tax on non-food items.  Taking into consideration that we burnt 5 gallons of gasoline in the round trip drive at $5+/gallon there is really no savings....in fact it costs money to make the drive, nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed the drive, but our windshield did not....there was a virtual bug apocalypse during our drive.....

...we stopped off at the ACE Hardware store in Alturas on the way home so I could buy one of those amazing YETI insulated travel mugs that keeps your coffee literally HOT for hours, and were home just before 3 pm.

For dinner TLE asked me to grill a wild caught salmon filet (one of the ones Greg at Seal Rocks RV Cove gave to us)....

....and it came out perfect.....medium rare, and crispy skin (I always grill salmon skin side down).  TLE added a side of tomato/avocado salad, and white rice....delicious!

Thanks for stopping by!

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