My New Year’s resolution is that I would like to have some New Year’s resolutions. Seriously–I’ve been adrift ever since I took an early retirement and then the enraging Covid shut-down of the world happened right after my retirement and blew my plans for new directions out of the water. Lost a few key years there, and most of my ummph.

I know you’ve already tried many strategies to see if you could peel off a few more pounds. One thing that made me wonder is, have you had any periods of time—say, at least two weeks or more—where you happened to eat much less due to life circumstances/sickness? It would be interesting to know, as far as figuring out your individual metabolism, if that kind of substantial calorie restriction resulted in any weight loss. The only thing I could think of that, AFAIK, you haven’t mentioned trying already, is eating foods that make you feel satiated. As an example, I’ve found that konjac noodles make me feel very full and that lasts for many hours. I like to add them to soups and definitely recommend the type that is made with some tofu and/or a few other ingredients so that they become a little more like real noodles.

I pray that 2024 will bring blessings to all of us, and that the world will calm the hell down a bit.

You’re welcome! Glad you’ve recovered so well.

As far as walking and weight loss goes (for me, anyway), I’ve walked 3 miles a day at a 4 mph pace 6 days a week for about 40 years. No weight loss at all from it, but I think it helps my back and general well-being.

Seriously, this is about what I have to do to lose weight. One would think that simply cutting out desserts, for example, would result in a gradual weight loss, but it doesn’t work that way for me. I have to make a very serious reduction in calorie input to lose weight, and then it’s at about the rate of a pound a week. I usually drift up by 10 pounds or so, and then force myself into this regimen.

Re: Split infinitive. Thank you so much. As a result of today’s conversation I went to Google determined to finally understand what a split infinitive is (is that legal?)
Happy New Year to all–stock up on food and other necessities.

huxley: it’s late here but I’ll add a couple of recipes tomorrow.

My biggest problem is late night snacking out of boredom. I guess that’s what you would call a first-world problem.

How you taunt us! Perhaps one little recipe… Unless you are under non-disclosure with a publisher.

Seriously. One thing I’ve learned is that strong appealing lo-carb flavors really do make a difference.

Big fan of olives.

Yes, that works well if you’re eating those foods in the first place.

I’m not.

Caesar salad dressing? Fried chicken? No.

I remember years ago people used to say things like “just stop drinking soda” or “cut out desserts” and I would point out that I don’t drink soda (except club soda) and I rarely eat dessert.

As I said, though, I’m not all that overweight. I just would like to lose about 10 pounds or even 15, but no more than that. Another odd thing about my weight is that my setpoint is very very set. In other words, it’s incredibly difficult for me to lose weight and it apparently is also quite difficult for me to gain weight (or at least, to eat so much that I gain weight). There’s something to be said for that.

Neo, I have found over the years that the only reliable way I lost weight permanently was making tiny changes in my food and exercise.

Example: I engineered a Caesar salad dressing that is very low in calories and uses non-fat Greek yogurt as its base. I don’t generally care for the taste of NF Greek yogurt, but the additions make the tartness not noticable. Even my extremely picky husband loves it, so we have a salad with it almost every day. Win-win.

I have dozens of other recipes for foods we love (like fried chicken) but are made lower calorie and more healthy. I use my air fryer extensively.

With many of these small tweaks, my husband lost nearly 2 pounds a month in 2023 and I lost almost 12 for the year. It was nearly painless (because we don’t have to eat small portions).