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I noticed that a few weeks ago, Madewell had some absolutely gorgeous knee-high stockings (and tights) in a gingko pattern. They're down to lucky sizes, and mostly just in white and burgundy (with the black all sold out), but it made me wonder: Are knee-high stockings coming back in?
These became a lot less common during the days of ankle pants, I think, but now that full-length trousers are coming back, they may have their place again. After all, these can be a great option when you want to wear shoes other than boots with full-length trousers — and don't want to go bare-legged because it's too cold, but don't want something that will be too thick for your heels or flats. Enter knee-high stockings…
(There are, of course, more mid-calf stockings, also, like these, which I've seen styled with some work outfits such as the mid-calf stockings shown with heeled Mary Janes in this recent J.Crew photo… but what are your thoughts on those shorter lengths, readers?)
The featured set of four knee-high stockings is under $15 for all four pairs, at Amazon.
Sales of note for 8.30.24
- Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
- Ann Taylor – 30% off full-price purchase; $99 jackets, dresses & shoes; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Bergdorf Goodman – Final Days Designer Sale, up to 75% off; extra 20% off sale
- Boden – 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Extra 25% off clearance
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything; extra 60% off all sale
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide; extra 60% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 20% off orders $125+; extra 60% off clearance; 60%-70% off 100s of styles
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off (ends 9/2)
- Madewell – Extra 40% off sale; extra 50% off select denim; 25% off fall essentials
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Rothy's – End of season sale, up to 50% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear in the big sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 25% off regular-price purchase; 70% off clearance
- White House Black Market – Up to 70% off sale
Anonymous
I need to aggressively limit the non-billable time I spend doing … everything. Ideas? I’m a lawyer, partner, I’m talking everything from billing to emailing to committee service to hallway chats. It seems to impact me every day, I used to aim for 80% efficiency (work 10 hours bill 8) but lately I swear it’s closer to 50%.
Anon
80% seems pretty high to me for a partner. I shot for that as an associate but didn’t always make it. My understanding is that partners in my group were typically between 50-60%.
Anon
Agree with the above comment, but also…you answered your own question. Drop off committees when you can. Push non-billable work down. Hallway chats I’d reconsider–you can get staffed on adjacent practice area clients and develop your relationships within all levels of the org this way. I’d just limit the length of the chats, not the chats themselves.
Also, consider when your “power hours” are a time-block those off. That’s where you really GSD and hit your billables. If that’s early mornings or evenings, figure out your childcare situation a few times a week to really power through those blocks (and focus on your family the rest of those times).
GL!
Anon
I think Chadwick would drop off all committees except management/executive/comp.
Anonymous
weird question – does anyone make smoothies that don’t have ice or thickeners like banana or xanthum? i find it hard to do frozen drinks in the winter but would like to shove a bunch of protein/fiber heavy things into a blender and drink it. any good recipes or tips to make them not gross?
Anon
Here is my recipe:
1 apple
50 g chopped kale
140 g soy milk
60 g frozen mango (if you use fresh, you can probably cut back the amount of liquid)
10 g chia seeds
10 g raw pepitas
10 g ground flax seed meal
if available, a small sprig of fresh basil or mint
If I am using protein powder, I switch to water instead of soy milk and play with the amount of liquid until it is the consistency I want.
Anonymous
I use frozen mango when I get tired of bananas.
Anon
I just throw Greek yogurt, a handful of frozen berries, a handful of greens, a tablespoon of chia that has soaked for 10 minutes in 2 T of water and a scoop of whey protein and blend. No bananas, no gums. Some days I need to add another T of water to get it going in the blender. I buy giant bags of frozen 3 berry blend from BJs warehouse, I assume Sam’s and Costco carry the same thing.
Anon
Yes, I just use water in mine because I don’t like a really thick smoothie.
Anonymous
My husband likes fruit (and veggies), greek yogurt, and 100% cherry or pomegranate juice.
Anon
I like using milk (traditional or plant) and sometimes yogurt rather than water. I like the taste with banana too. Also, frozen spinach, which really doesn’t impact taste. I’ve never used gums or protein powder or ice.
Anon
I just do frozen fruit, greek yogurt, whey protein powder, almond milk and chia seeds in mine.
Anon
Soup? It’s a winter smoothie with a spoon. All kidding aside, you can get tons of nutrients and pack in plenty of lentils, beans, etc for protein.
Anon
I like this idea, I drink my soups in a mug through a straw while I’m working.
Mantra Magic
I love soups and smoothies and never made this connection! Love it. Chia seeds really do thicken up a smoothie, especially if you give it time to set.
ALT
I’ve heard avocado makes it creamy which I would also think thickens it?? Have not tried so not sure.
Mantra Magic
Yes, that’s been my experience.
Anon
I abhor bananas, so I’m happy to see your question. I don’t do a ton of smoothies anymore but I did like to put plain yogurt in my smoothies for body and protein/calcium back in the day. My favorite combo for sweetness and flavor is strawberries + pineapple. Then you can throw in some spinach if you feel like you want some greens because it doesn’t taste like anything, but you do get a weird brown colored smoothie from the combo of strawberries and spinach. Still delicious, though!
Anonymous
Coconut water
Coconut milk
Frozen fruit
Unflavored unsweetened whey powder
Optional: fresh ginger and/or fresh tumeric
Anon
Chia and hemp seeds are good for thickening.
Calrayo
I sometimes do soaked raw cashews for a creamier smoothie with more protein. Soak your cashews in some water for a couple of hours (this requires a little planning; I do this on WFH days mostly) and then blend in whatever you usually use. I like the big bags of frozen fruit from target – they have different blends and are inexpensive.
Cat Adoption
Thinking about really leaning into the single cat lady stereotype and adopting a kitty friend! I’ve had cats before, but I was a kid. If you have a cat, how much do you estimate you spend monthly, barring any emergencies? And do you have pet insurance?
Anon
Oh man, so little. I was buying my cat prescription food, which I ordered from Amazon on autopay and I think it was about $115/bag every three months or so. And then about $20 on cat litter every month or so?
I can’t provide any insight on pet insurance. I never had it and thankfully my cat didn’t get sick very frequently.
anon
Not very much. Food and litter are the main costs. Vet care as needed. I have never had pet insurance. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky, but IME, cat vet care generally has not been an issue until late in life.
Anon
Do you not travel much? I have a dog, not a cat, but the petsitter for travel is far and away the biggest cost.
anon
We get a pet sitter for an annual summer vacation. For short trips, we are usually able to make it work with a friend or neighbor. I probably travel less than many on this board so it’s not something I stress about too much. That’s part of the vacation budget, not the pet budget, if that makes sense.
Anon
Ah yeah, thinking of it as part of the vacation budget makes sense.
Cat Adoption
I personally don’t travel much (wish I could) and I have friends who would be willing to help.
Anon
I have a small group of cat-owning friends and we all cat sit for each other. It’s so much easier to have somebody come feed your cat once a day than finding somebody to stay with a dog.
anon
Oh, and I do like to spoil my kitty with new toys and such. But that’s cheap compared to vet bills!
Nesprin
I buy cat litter and cat food… so maybe 50$ for the two of them? I don’t have pet insurance and vet bills are expensive, but rare.
I will say that cats get lonely and unless you’re home all the time and want to be your cat’s sole playmate, getting 2 cats is less work than getting 1.
Anon
I disagree. I had two cats and the litter filled up so much faster (had to be replaced more often) and I had to clean so much more (twice the cat hair, twice the amount of litter tracked outside of litter box). One sadly passed away and now we have 1. Their relationship was so adorable though and I’m sure my cat may be more lonely now (although I WFH and we’re home a lot).
Anon
I don’t honestly track the costs anymore because they’re not a huge part of the budget. I didn’t get pet insurance since I figured a savings account would be more reliable (I will pay out to myself!). It’s easy to spend way more or less in certain categories (pine pellet litter bought at the feed shop costs <$10 for a gargantuan amount; World's Best costs more like $35 for a month — things like that).
The big things to know are that kittens are usually better in pairs (easier, happier, gentler, better adjusted). If you literally mean a cat though, there are a lot of adult cats that like being an only cat.
A good rescue is a great resource and will make sure you know all of this. They're kind of intense for first time pet owners and will definitely be evaluating you as an adopter, but it's partly because they want to make sure you know everything you need to know. They'll appreciate your questions!
Cat Adoption
Yes, I would definitely rescue an older cat – I was looking at one rescue in my area and they specify which cats would be happy be an only cat!
anon
That’s wonderful! Older cats often get overlooked at shelters. There are definitely some cats who do just fine being solo.
Anon
I have two older cats we’ve had since they were feral kittens. One of them still thinks he’s the boss of the neighborhood at 14 years old (there is no keeping him inside) but when he’s not out running things, he and his bro are the sweetest, cuddliest lap kitties ever.
Anon
We have two older cats and over the last three years, we spent $2826, $2523, and $1462. The variability was mostly vet vists and medication. If you exclude that, it was $882, $725, and $648 (inflation on cat food has been crazy; it now costs almost double what we paid pre-pandemic). No pet insurance. We spent a lot less when the cats were younger and healthier (less than $1k for two).
Anonymous
I don’t have pet insurance, in most cases it makes more sense to just save money yourself. I spend $90 on food every 3 ish months (I get the giant bags of high quality food) and about $15 on litter a month (unscented clumping clay). Cats are really cheap. I’d suggest trying to find a bonded pair if you can, kitties are easier with a friend then you aren’t responsible for all their emotional needs and play enrichment.
anon
If it’s a healthy adult cat, your monthly costs are just going to be food and litter. That can be cheap or expensive depending on what brand of things you buy and how much kitty eats.
A vet I follow online suggested that instead of pet insurance, but back the money you would spend on insurance into an account for pet expenses.
anon
That’s smart advice from the vet.
Anon
I’ve heard that advice (a savings acct rather than insurance) for dogs as well as cats.
ALT
Definitely do it!!!! My two kitties are my best buds and they’re each others best friend. They bring me an insane amount of joy daily.
I don’t spend much on them—~$30/month on litter, $100 on cat food every couple months (I buy 2 kinds and mix because I have high maintenance cats), ~$200/vet visit. There was a few months where it seemed like I was at the vet weekly but that was a one-off. They now each go for annual shots and that’s about it. I buy toys from the clearance rack or make them out of trash (and they usually prefer the trash lol)
No pet insurance now, but I did have a first year of life plan for one cat because she was a 6 week old stray. The plan covered her spay, microchip, vaccines, etc. If you’re adopting from an animal rescue, they’ll already spay/neuter and probably microchip so in that case I wouldn’t have gotten the plan.
They are worth every penny and I truly do see them as family members. Having two little fuzzy friends greeting me at the door every evening makes me so delighted.
Cat Adoption
Lol @ trash toys. I love it.
Anon
I fostered a cat for about 6 months. Cat was fine. I was single and travelled a lot (and when I wasn’t, worked late). On more than an overnight trip, a friendly neighbor’s sister would gladly check litter every other day for a bottle of liquor. I never boarded. For an overnight, cat was fine as is. I didn’t bank on the cat being VERY nocturnal and not liking closed bedroom doors overnight.
Anon
My 14 year old cat is on a prescription renal diet which costs about $250-300 a month (all wet food), and litter is about $30 a month. Vet visits run $500-1000, because she usually needs a lot of labs. I take her whenever the peeing out of the liter box gets out of control, it’s usually around once a year, but sometimes twice. Sometimes it’s UTIs and sometimes just behavioral. She’s a pain, but I adore her. When she was younger and ate cheaper food and didn’t need as much vet care, she was a lot cheaper.
When I go away, I get a cat sitter to come twice a day at about $30 a visit. She needs to be fed wet food twice a day and gets too stressed with less attention than that. I just price this in when budgeting for trips.
Horse Crazy
I have 2 indoor/outdoor cats who are on a special veterinary (urinary) diet. We spend an average of $120/month on wet food, dry food, litter, treats, and flea/tick medicine. We do have pet insurance for both of them, which costs another $53/month.
Anonymous
An ungodly amount I refuse to calculate. My cat is elderly and like to sample 7-9 packets of wet food a day
Anonymous
Almost nothing – her food is $50/quarter, litter maybe $10/month.
I have pet insurance at $150/yr. I never use it. Probably not worth it. But have it just in case.
I splurged and purchased a Litter Robot, auto feeder, and water fountain. This allows me to travel without hiring a pet sitter. I still hire someone to check on her if I’ll be gone 4+ nights, but the $800ish for these items buys me huge peace of mind and my cat doesn’t wake me anymore to feed her – she knows the machine times.
Anonymous
I don’t have pet insurance. I have an 8-year old cat. I think I spend around $50 a month — science diet dry food and cat litter. If I got out of town for an extended time, the pet sitter costs $25 a day. But I don’t travel that much.
Anon
We had two cats who lived to almost 20 and rarely spent money at the vet. Then my son picked the runt of the litter and we call this new cat “2K” because he has asthma and allergies and he runs outside and gets scrappy with other cats. We are at the vet all the time with him.
Clementine
I have a very small powder room on the first floor. Like – 3 foot by 3 foot. This is the perfect place for really dramatic wallpaper.
Unchangeable things: house is a blend of traditional-ish style with some cleaner lines. Rooms are painted in soft sea-glass type tones. Bathroom has no windows and a fun 1930’s black and white small tiled floor with black tile trim, which is staying. White pedestal sink.
Would you chose:
Big green botanical prints.
Graphic navy blue with gold.
Toile (note: I adore toile but I don’t know if it would be right for this tiny bathroom)
Anonymous
Green botanicals. Navy also sounds nice, but not with black trim.
Anon
Green botanical prints, although my answer may change depending on the exact patterns you had in mind.
Anon
Oh fun! With black and white floors I would probably do a bold floral on a black background. Something like this: https://www.elliecashmandesign.com/us-en/wallpaper/floral/dark-floral-wallpaper
Anonymous
I will one day have dark floral II in my house somewhere. Love her wallpaper!
Winter
I did not know how much I needed that in my life until right now. Love.
Anon
Big green botanical prints.
Look at Alice duParcq’s IG – she has a gorgeous green wallpaper behind her for many of her reels. I love it so much.
anon
William and Morris Menagerie or Wildwood.
Anon
Good shout on the William and Morris. All the green forest-y prints.
If you like that vibe, check out Fable England (non wallpaper related.) I could buy literally everything from them.
Anon
My auntie has a very lovely but staid house, and her tiny powder room is full Dia de los Muertos themed, with midnight black & hot pink sparkly sugar skull wallpaper, satin gold hardware, and a white pedestal sink. It is epic once you get over the initial surprise.
Anon
That sounds amazing!
anon
This is incredible.
Anon
We are remodeling the entire main level of our new-to-us house, starting summer ’25. This is inspiring, and I have a half-bath that would be perfect for something one would describe as “epic.”
Anon
Of those three choices, I’d go with navy and gold. This is my dream wallpaper, but I have nowhere to put it. https://www.hyggeandwest.com/products/underwater-world
anon
Ooh, pretty!
anon
Green botanicals sound lovely!
Anonymous
I would suggest the green botanicals. Separately I’m so jealous, I have an old house with a teeny tiny powder room but DH is hard to convince on wall paper, he has so few decor opinions I try and respect that he ‘hates’ it.
Anon
Green… but in a large peacock feather pattern so you can also get the blues and golds. Bonus points if its mylar. (Not being sarcastic…that’s basically my fantasy powder room).
anon a mouse
I would do toile, but look for a subversive toile as a wink. There’s an Alien toile on etsy that’s fun, for example.
Anon
Harlem toile de jouy?
https://www.sheilabridges.com/product/harlem-toile-de-jouy-wallpaper/
Runcible Spoon
Depending on whether you have full walls to wallpaper, you might consider the “bambusa” pattern from House of Hockney — that’s my dream wallpaper for my laundry room. It might not work if you have white tiles halfway up the wall, although I think they may offer a “half-size” roll of the wallpaper for just this situation. Link in a separate comment.
Runcible Spoon
Here is the link to the wallpaper I suggest in a separate comment: https://www.houseofhackney.com/us/bambusa-wallpaper-midnight-1.html
Anon
Darker sea glass with gold.
anon
A continuation of the morning thread about losing weight in your 40s and beyond. I KNOW that I am unlikely to lose weight unless I’m tracking my food and being acutely aware of my habits. However, I have tried this several times in the past couple of years, and I can make it to about the six-week mark before I start feeling disordered and frustrated with the whole process. Have tried MFP, LoseIt, and at my lowest point, WW. Especially because even when I’m tracking, weight loss is really slow. Would love to hear how others have handled food tracking without getting too obsessive, discouraged, or both. I turned 40 during the pandemic and gained 20-25 lbs that haven’t budged. I’m not continuing to gain, but if I’m honest with myself, I hate it. I’m now overweight after a lifetime of being in the “normal” category.
Anonymous Grouch
I track on LoseIt, and like it because it remembers foods and meals, and I eat a lot of things on repeat. In my 51-year-old perimenopausal experience, if I track my calories, and the total for the day comes in less than what my fitbit says I burned off, I will lose weight – but slowly, like a pound per week. I managed to lose 20 pounds this way before menopause started messing me up. I gained about 7 pounds suddenly last year, but have lost 2 of them. I know I’m never going back to my college weight, but I feel back in control of things.
Anon
The only tracking I’ve been able to do without it turning into disordered eating is texting pictures of everything I ate to my trainer. I’ve also focused a lot on functional goals (long distance runs, lifting) rather than the scale. And, I’m a huge proponent of throwing out all the clothes from five years ago that make you feel bad about yourself.
Anonymous
So I have done WW and it’s a tricky program for losing 15-20lbs, which is also my goal (I’m 39 turning 40 in 2024 and have a goal for my 40th). I do “lazy WW” which is that I make a bunch of meals that fall within the guidelines and just default to those. I meal plan a bit and don’t track 0 point food and I have a whole list of 1-point foods I don’t track (skim milk, lean ground turkey, the splash of creamer in my AM coffee, lean deli turkey, etc.). To balance that out, I mentally try and keep 4 points under my daily limit. It works. It does feel like “dieting” but honestly, it is the only thing that works to get the weight off in a reasonable and healthy way. I eat a ton, it’s just all fruits, veggies, greek yogurt, eggs, and chicken based meals.
It worked for me the last time, then I had 15lbs creep back on over 3-4 years. The 15lbs is the difference between healthy weight and overweight via BMI, as well as the difference between fitting well in my cutest clothes vs reaching for the more full coverage stuff :)
anon
Same. The zero points foods are genius, but I hadn’t heard that this was “lazy” — whatever, it works! I am post-menopausal, down to my high school weight (which was not all that tiny), do weight training, and am now concentrating on reaching over 100 grams of protein a day. I still basically follow the same meals as on WW: eggs, yogurt, salad, salmon, sardines.
This is after a lifetime of struggle and trying just about everything,
Anon
If you look around, you’re going to see magazine covers telling you the secret to “torching fat.” You will see experts telling you to lose “only” 1-2 pounds per week.
Let’s do some math. Assuming that you need to burn 3,600 more calories than you consume in order to lose a pound (not exactly true, as hormones will change things and your body will adjust to the calorie deficit), losing a pound a week requires burning an extra 500 calories per day or cutting consumption by 500 calories per day. Two pounds per week? You need a deficit of a thousand calories per day. That’s unsustainable, unless your diet was completely horrible before you started (like, eating an entire bag of potato chips with lunch).
Over the course of six weeks, if you manage a deficit of 150 calories per day, you will lose a grand total of 1.75 pounds. The scale barely budges – water weight, conniption, where you are in your cycle can swing your weight more than that.
But over a year, you will lose 15 pounds. In the spring of 2025, you would be down to your goal weight. Don’t ask where you want to be six weeks from now – that’s a silly question. Ask where you want to be in a year and a half and inch your way towards that.
Sunshine
I also turned 40 during the pandemic. I haven’t hit peri yet. I’m working on losing about 10 pounds that I don’t like having. I haven’t changed my exercise, but I started using the free version of LoseIt about 8 weeks ago. I’ve lost 4-5 pounds. If I track my food 5 of 7 days a week, then I’m staying on track. I tend to eat the same stuff over and over, which makes tracking on LoseIt easier. And I estimate everything. I’m unwilling to weigh or measure. I think that taking a slighly relaxed approach to the tracking (doesn’t have to be every single day and doesn’t have to be exact quantities) keeps me from becoming obsessive. And when I input my exercise, I estimate it on the lower end as to not account for all the calories I may have burned, which gives me a little more wiggle room on the food side.
What I’ve discovered from the process is that I tended to mentally count healthful meals, which is mostly what I eat, as basically zero calories, which I thought left a lot of calories for treats. By accounting for what I eat, I’m realizing my healthful food has more calories than I realized. And while I have room in my day for treats, they are fewer than I was consuming. Additionally, I am paying a bit of attention to macros, which is actually helping with my workouts.
anon
You’ve given me some stuff to think about. My meals are pretty nutritious which I think has given me a false sense of comfort of how many treats I can have. And the answer is, apparently not many.
Anon
I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but since your question is so specific: I’ve struggled with the exact same issues and intermittent fasting has felt miraculous for me. After a lifetime of trying a failing to stick with restrictive diets, I lost 35 pounds in 2022 (mid 30s) and it has stayed off basically without me trying. It’s the only method I’ve ever had success with that doesn’t feel disordered or require sustained intense focus on dieting. I actually think about food less now—planning for fewer meals and basically eating whatever I feel like when I have meals (with some regard for nutrition but none for restriction).
Anon
+1 it gets a lot of hate here, but IF feels very natural to me too, and has helped me control my weight.
anon
Fair, and I appreciate the recommendation. I’ve just never figured out how to make IF work for my lifestyle. I do early morning workouts, then go to work. It’s already a pain to get my lunch together let alone breakfast.
Runcible Spoon
Maybe skip lunch, or sip broth or tea/coffee with milk during the day and only eat breakfast and dinner? Or hard boil eggs and bring one or two with you to work for mid-day, maybe also with a piece of fruit? The only way to lose weight is to eat less, by whatever method is sustainable; you can’t exercise your weight off.
Anon
Skipping lunch might reduce calorie intake, but it isn’t intermittent fasting. The idea of IF is that you need an extended period of fasting for your body to exhaust its recently consumed calories and begin burning fat. 16 hours of fasting/8 hours of eating is the most traditional, although there’s some evidence women in particular can get health benefits with a shorter fasting window. But skipping lunch when you’ve already eaten breakfast isn’t “fasting” in the IF sense.
NaoNao
I realized I am very hungry in the AM and then until about 3 PM where I get a predictable dip in energy. Then after 5 PM or so I don’t have much natural hunger. So I’ve been eating crackers and cheese and a cookie or two for dinner and it seems to be working as far as maintaining and not gaining. I say this to illustrate my advice: take a few days and take note of your natural hunger patterns. Some people feel ill in the morning, some like myself, don’t really have that “huge meal at dinner” hunger. Once you map our your hungriest hours, you can do a 20/4 at first, then a 16/8, then a 12/12 and then down to an 8/16 or similar (if you want!), all within your “very hungry” hours.
Anonymous
The only time I was able to track food without it getting weird was when it was a way to try to identify migraine triggers.
So, instead of tracking food I focus on fitness and lifestyle goals.
I also don’t own a scale so I can focus on how my body is changing and not the number on the scale.
Anon
Did you identify the migraine triggers? I’d be curious to hear!
Cat
YMMV but I found daily weigh-ins way more helpful than tracking. If my weight stayed the same or dropped, keep doing what you’re doing; if it went up a bit, course correct. (Don’t worry, I gave myself grace on those 3 lbs that pop up every month for a few days and then disappear….) Yes yes, overall shape and muscle is most important but I wasn’t changing my workout routine so much that the scale was lying to me. My old pants were fitting better and better commensurate with the scale.
Anon
I’ve never been able to make any kind of tracking work without a fast slide into disordered eating. What does work better for me is having fun with exercise. You’ll hear people say “you can’t out-run a bad diet” or “you’re better off calorie-wise if you skip the donut than if you hit the gym,” but that’s too simplistic a view of how exercise impacts your weight. Exercise builds muscle, revs metabolism, and offers improved blood sugar control (you can halve the typical glucose spike after a meal by slowly walking for 10 minutes). If you’re not already committed to an exercise program you love and that you can stick to because you’re having so much fun, find one.
Anon
Giving myself grace is key. I try to log the days where I eat too much junk food and just acknowledge that it’s part of the process and I don’t need to let it derail me, even if it’s many days in a row.
Anon
I’ve only ever experienced tracking as disordered.
I’ve had much more success with (mostly) “cutting out food groups” as it’s so often stigmatized (I don’t eat sugar sweetened foods or starchy grains or vegetables) and intuitive eating. It’s ironic to me that this is supposed to be more disordered since my blood sugar has been so much more stable and I never have to think about calories anymore.
RiskedCredit
My doctor told me that sweaty exercise reduces your cortisol so helps you lose weight. No idea if this is true or not. I went to midihealth because no one was answering my questions on perimenopause. I highly recommend them.
I stick to 1500 calories and run every other day for an hour. I take supplements: b complex, omega 3, cortisol manager, magnesium and I am taking the pill to help level out my hormones.
I have 5lb to go to get to a ‘normal’ BMI and 30lb to go to get to an ideal weight for me.
Anon
Are you hungry a lot? I’d be chewing my own arm off at 1,500 calories a day with an hour of running every other day.
anon
OP here, and holy hell, me too. Running is awesome but it also revs up my appetite.
RiskedCredit
To reply to both of you, I have to think my meals out because if I don’t I struggle to get past 800 calories which is very unhealthy and actually causes me to gain weight. I drink a lot of water, herbal tea, warm and cold. 1-2 cups of black coffee a day.
I don’t eat breakfast. I have black coffee.
About 11ish I have either lentils with frozen vegetables all cooked up, 0% Greek yoghurt with frozen mixed berries and plain no sugar added museli or falafal, plain yoghurt and a whole cucumber chopped up. If I’m buying in I’ll do grilled chicken bowl at cava with all the vegetables and lettuce & lentils as the base.
For dinner I have something like two eggs, salsa and cooked up frozen vegetables with oven baked salmon. Another fav is fish with spinach, mushrooms and quinoa (cooked in chicken stock). I mix peas into the quinoa. My fav fish are salmon, mahi mahi and tuna. If I’m busy and miss dinner with the children I will have a can of sardines on toast with tomato sauce on top. Trader Joe’s does an excellent bruschetta sauce which is excellent.
If I’m still hungry or below my calorie count for the day I eat to complete my 5 fruit and veg. Tonight it’s a navel orange. I have the dark chocolate 100 calorie sticks or some crackers and cheese or nuts (almonds and cashews are my fav) if I’m need to top up calories but feel full.
It’s not a typical diet but it’s what works for me. I use a lot of frozen vegetables from Trader Joe’s. This cuts down massively on preparation as its heat & eat. Meats are generally speaking chicken or fish. My children have the same dinner with me and for breakfast they have either a cooked breakfast (egg, can of diced tomatoes or baked beans, grilled mushrooms, chicken sausages and toast), plain cheerios with raisins, chopped banana and my son likes peanut butter or breakfast sandwiches which is peanut butter, banana and mini chocolate chips on toasted bread.
Stay well away from the middle aisles of the supermarket except for beans, lentils, certain soups, canned tomatoes and refried beans. I eat bread but it’s the organic super bread from Trader Joe’s. Egg and cheese bagels are one of the few cravings I get. The other is ratatouille which isn’t very calorific but I can eat bowls and bowls of it. I make my own bagels and pizza because I’m not in NYC or North Jersey anymore.
RiskedCredit
To be clear, I’m very rarely hungry. In 2023 I can count 2-3 times which was when I hadn’t eaten anything and it was 5pm.
My ex husband has been horrific and relentless with his harassment/scary behavior. The exercise helps me manage my stress/tension/anxiety. In my 20s I didn’t pay any attention to my diet. I ran to/from work.
When I was married I was never ‘allowed’ to exercise and the diet at home was awful. I would eat his food because otherwise it was days of nagging about his damn cooking. I was lucky if there were any vegetables on the table and if they were there it was made with a stick of butter. I spent my 30s with the worst nausea from his horrendous breakfasts and dinners. I threw up at least 2-3 times a week. This might be why I have no appetite.
I absolutely love running. If it makes you hungry don’t fight it. Eat things like lentil soup, ratatouille or canned salmon. All of it if until you aren’t hungry! Just make sure you drink enough water. I drink at least 1L after a 1 hour run. In total I probably drink 3L a day.
Anon
I turned 50-something and went through menopause during lockdown. I’ve used the free version of LoseIt! For just over a year now, and I agree with the comments about estimating amounts instead of weighing/measuring and that it’s useful because I tend to eat similar meals over time.
Recently, I watched “You Are What You Eat” on Netflix (?). Four episodes. That was enough to get me back on track after lots of eggnog etc.
Anonymous
I posted on the other post, but I just tracked everything in MyFitnessPal. I set the initial goal at whatever the lowest is (1/2 a pound a week?) — then wrote what I ate. McDonald’s, salads, whatever. I didn’t give up everything, I just ate less of it. Of course long term I’m trying to eat more veggies and other things, but I didn’t try to do ALL of those things at once.
Anonymous
I always wore full-length pants, so for me knee highs (and thigh highs) were never ‘out’ lol.
Anonymous
has anyone tried to install wallpaper yourself, with a dense pattern like we’re discussing above? i’ve been eyeing this pattern for my bathroom (for the top half of the room only) but we can’t find anyone around us to install it, so i’m wondering if i should go for something easier.
https://www.spoonflower.com/en/wallpaper/10348780
Anon
I have and I don’t think the pattern makes it harder, fwiw.
Anon
Wallpaper is the hardest DIY, IMHO. Try asking a painter – a lot more of them do wallpaper these days as it’s gotten so popular.
Anon
For this morning’s commenter going to a Madonna concert. When I was an OG Madonnawannabe back in the day, I wore lace stockings pretty much every day!
Anon
I’m the OP from that post and man I love me some lace stockings! great idea!
Anon
You can just wear them under ripped jeans if you don’t want to go full leg/skirt/shorts. But shorts with lace stockings would of course be great!
RiskedCredit
Looking for some recommendations for a place to go in Dallas to have tension knots relieved. I need them to be open late and have availability ideally 6-9pm but 6-8pm works too.
So far it’s all appointments during the day midweek with very restricted hours at the weekend, if any. I have a job that doesn’t enable me to take time off like that. I also don’t want to be paying $300 for a 90min massage because it’s a ‘luxury’ place. I’m happy to pay for an excellent sport massage/RMT but last time the quality at a luxury place was underwhelming for a deep tissue massage. I was left bruised.
Anon
Not in Dallas, but we have a sports masseuse come to the house monthly (for us, it’s Sunday). Could something like that work for you?
RiskedCredit
It would work but I’ve had a hard time here in Dallas because the culture is that very few people are willing to work Sundays and most places except the super expensive spots like equinox and ritz close at the weekend.
I don’t mind ritz or equinox but it’s the most expensive option out there. I have so much tension in my body I know I need weekly sessions to work out the knots for 8-10 weeks.
Anon
Don’t you have a chain like massage envy? It is hit or miss at first but I have two regular guys who I see for deep tissue every month.